Agenda

Return

C. 35

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	Kathy Gallagher, Employment & Human Services Director
Date:	January 11, 2022

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Add one Departmental Fiscal Officer position and cancel one Social Services Fiscal Compliance Accountant position

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 01/11/2022

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:	Reni Radeva (925) 608-5036; rradeva@ehsd.cccounty.us
cc:	Sylvia Wong Tam

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: January 11, 2022
Monica Nino, County Administrator

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

ADOPT Position Adjustment Resolution No. 25865 to add one (1) Departmental Fiscal Officer (APSA) (unrepresented) position at salary plan and grade B82 1724 ($7,698 - $9,854) and cancel one (1) Social Service Fiscal Compliance Accountant (XASH) vacant position # 16288 (represented) at salary plan and grade ZB5 1643 ($6,894 - $8,379) in the Administrative Services Bureau of the Employment and Human Services Department (EHSD).

FISCAL IMPACT:

Upon approval of this action, the total cost adjustment of salary and benefits will increase by $3,903 this fiscal year. There will also be an annual increase in pension cost by $2,762. The Net County Cost (NCC) will increase by $234 for the five (5) months remaining of this fiscal year. Both positions are Administrative Services Bureau positions with funding sources/ratios of 60% Federal, 34% State and 6% County.

BACKGROUND:

The Employment and Human Services Department is the second largest department in Contra Costa County, receiving millions of dollars of grants and funding, and administering over 66 different programs, numerous contracts, and sub-contracts. In addition to working with a large number of contracted agencies, the Department interacts with tens of thousands of individual clients receiving various services. The financial stability and health of the Department and the success of the services provided to the community require extraordinary strong fiscal management and administration including enhanced internal control, implementation of ongoing department-wide monitoring and auditing systems.

It is our responsibility to put in place mechanisms that safeguard government funds, and we have identified an opportunity to improve our auditing and sub-recipient monitoring processes. Through an in-depth analysis of the events and the current staffing and talents of the Fiscal Unit, the Department determined that it is in need of an additional Departmental Fiscal Officer (DFO) position charged with the main responsibility to upgrade and strengthen the auditing and sub-recipient monitoring function in EHSD. This DFO will focus on five very specific areas in the financial stability of the Department:

Auditing and sub-recipient monitoring,
Research, compliance evaluation and development and testing of department-wide audit plans,
Budgeting and realignment,
Program Analysis, and
Financial Reporting and operations.

Adding an additional DFO capacity will allow for more evenly and fairly distribution of the workload among the current DFOs and will give them the opportunity to take on additional higher level finance management functions and other special projects. The DFO responsible for auditing and compliance monitoring will work closely with the Social Service Fiscal Compliance Accountants.

In order to add the Departmental Fiscal Officer position, the Department will cancel a vacant Social Service Fiscal Compliance Accountant position (# 16288), thus reducing the total number of Social Service Compliance Accountant positions to two. For the last almost three years, the Department operated successfully with only two of three approved Social Service Fiscal Compliance Accountants positions filled.

With adding a DFO who will be focusing on compliance, monitoring and systems control and on enhancing these areas, the Department will not need the support of three Social Service Fiscal Compliance Accountants. This new DFO will work very closely with and will oversee and manage the work of the two remaining Social Service Fiscal Compliance Accountants. Trading the remaining vacant Social Service Fiscal Compliance Accountant position for a Departmental Fiscal Officer and equipping the EHSD’s Fiscal Unit with this position will ensure the Unit’s ability to monitor adequately its contractors and sub-contractors and to ensure compliance with applicable laws, ordinances, statutory, and administrative requirements, and policies and procedures relating to financial matters.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

Failure to add this position to the EHSD’s Fiscal Unit may result in inability to monitor adequately the Department’s contractors and sub-contractors and failure to ensure compliance with applicable laws, ordinances, statutory, and administrative requirements, and policies and procedures relating to financial matters.