County Ordinance Code Section 24-4.008 requires the County Administrator to develop a system of Administrative Bulletins, which are designed to provide guidance to County departments to ensure compliance with County policy and practices. From time-to-time it is necessary to review Administrative Bulletins for potential updates to the underlying policy or to make sure that the guidance being provided to departments reflects current policy. Depending on the subject and materiality of the proposed policy, Administrative Bulletins can be updated administratively or submitted for review by the Board of Supervisors, including its standing committees.
Today's action requests the Board to refer certain administrative bulletins to the Internal Operations Committee for review prior to listing on the Board of Supervisors calendar for approval, including:
Administrative Bulletin No. 525, "Office Space,"
Administrative Bulletin No. 525.1, "Requesting Real Estate and Capital Project Services," and
Administrative Bulletin No. 526, "Real Estate Asset Management Policy."
On September 20, 2022, the Board of Supervisors adopted a 20-year Capital Facilities Master Plan (CFMP) to guide budget decisions on capital facilities spending in subsequent fiscal years. Previously, Contra Costa County had not adopted a Capital Facilities Master Plan since fiscal year 1999-2000, which was approved by the Board on January 25, 2000. The 2022 Capital Facilities Master Plan serves as the primary policy document for all capital facilities planning, with the exception of those facilities operated by the Health Services Department and County detention facilities. For this reason, it is appropriate to review this suite of Administrative Bulletins for update or possible repeal.
Administrative Bulletin No. 600, "Purchasing Policy and Procedures."
Since 2021, the County Administrator’s Office, County Counsel’s Office and Public Works – Purchasing Services Division have been working to identify and understand the various policies governing procurement within the County. The primary goal has been to establish a baseline procurement policy that can be easily understood by employees working to secure goods and services for County departments. In crafting a baseline procurement policy, the guiding principles have been twofold:
1. Reduce bureaucracy and provide greater flexibility to department heads to operate their respective departments; and
2. Establish accountability measures to ensure that minimum standards for procurement equity and proper contract oversight are observed.
On April 14, 2023, the County Administrator's Office opened a four-week, Invitation for Comment period for department heads to review the proposed policy updates and provide feedback on the proposed policy updates. Following receipt, the County Administrator's Office will review comments received and determine what feedback to include in the final proposed policy update for review by the Internal Operations Committee. Any feedback that is not recommended for inclusion in the final proposed policy will be responded to with rationale for consideration by the Internal Operations Committee.
Creation of New Administrative Bulletins.
Social Media Policy. On June 17, 2014, the Board of Supervisors approved a Social Media Policy governing the use of various online engagement tools by County employees for business communication purposes following input and direction from the Internal Operations Committee in 2013 and 2014. The Board initially referred this issue to the Internal Operations Committee in 2012. More recently, the County Administrator's Office - Office of Communications and Media has been coordinating with department public information officers to propose updates to the County's Social Media Policy. The goal is to coordinate a common set of procedures for County departmental use of social media, including types of information to be posted, use of social media during emergencies and record retention requirements. Further, the updated policy is proposed to be codified into an Administrative Bulletin to make the policy more accessible to all County staff.
Cybersecurity Policy. The Department of Information Technology (DoIT) has been working on a countywide Cybersecurity policy to establish minimum requirements for cybersecurity infrastructure by County departments. The draft policy is still in development, but will include procedures for cybersecurity incident handling, vulnerability management, data protection and recovery and maintenance of audit logs.
The Administrative Bulletins listed would not be referred to the Internal Operations Committee for input.