By clicking on the portal below you can download a PDF of the June 6 edition of the San Bernardino County Sentinel.

Sentinel 06-05-15

By Mark Gutglueck
There was strong indication this week that the Upland City Council will reject the fiscal 2015-16 budget being prepared for the City of Gracious Living by city manager Rod Butler and finance director Scott Williams which was previewed last week unless they work into the spending plan an effort to head off or otherwise mitigate the unfunded liability crisis looming over the city as a consequence of burgeoning retired employee pension costs.
The city of Upland’s finance committee meetings, which are low key and relatively obscure events that involve two members of the city council, the city treasurer, the finance director and the city manager discussing arcane fiscal issues, are normally not well-attended events. They are traditionally held in the Pinky Alder Room at Upland City Hall, a conference room with a capacity of no more than 25. But the June 1 finance committee meeting was held in the forum of the city council meeting chambers and it drew over 40 attendees.
Perhaps sparking interest in the meeting was the approaching passage of the upcoming 2015-16 budget, the inclusion of a report by Russ Branson, the senior managing consultant for PFM Group, a San Francisco-based management and budget consulting team the city has employed, as well as word that members of the committee were intent on discussing a comprehensive adjustment of the city’s employee retirement plan.
Indeed, before the meeting concluded, committee members Glenn Bozar, Debbie Stone and Treasurer Dan Morgan made pointed reference to the increasingly unwieldy burden keeping current on pension contributions represents.
While Branson said that in terms of population and population growth, income levels, poverty and unemployment and home values, Upland “remains stable,” according to other economic markers the city is facing challenges, he said. “Upland has fewer resources to provide services,” Branson said. “Property taxes are just now returning to fiscal year 2010 levels.”
The economy is looking up slightly, Branson said, giving the city grounds for confidence on a certain level. “Significant increases in sales tax – with added retail and a better economy – helped Upland return to positive budgets,” he said.
Nevertheless, Branson said, the city is simultaneously wrestling with “underfunded liability, workers compensation and unemployment insurance funds requiring additional payment from the general fund.”
So while the Upland’s municipal ship is currently staying afloat, it is on the verge of taking on a significant amount of water through an existing perforation of its hull, Branson intimated.
“We forecast Public Employee Retirement System rates will have a significant impact on the city of Upland’s finances through fiscal year 2021,” he stated.
In previous years, particularly during the tenure of former Upland Mayor John Pomierski, the city offered to its employees very generous retirement benefits through the California Public Employees Retirement System that will result in the city having to pay $11.9 million from the city’s $41 million general fund into the state retirement fund in 2016-17. The Pomierski regime also reduced or eliminated the city employee contributions toward building and maintaining employee retirement accounts, transferring that financial burden to the city. Upland’s payments to that fund have been increasing for the last several years and will continue to grow as more and more city employees retire.
Branson said that “Increases in California Public Employees Retirement liabilities will be a major challenge for the city’s budget in coming years, with California Public Employees Retirement contributions increasing almost 65% by fiscal year 2021. California Public Employees Retirement contributions will take up a greater share of the budget, increasing from 28.9% of total salaries in FY15 to 41.0% in FY2021.”
Thus, within six years, more than four tenths of the money the city spends will go toward covering the pensions of employees no longer working for the city.
Simultaneously, city manager Rod Butler and finance director Scott Wiliams have prepared a budget for the city next year that essentially keeps the city in a holding pattern, reflecting a continuation, with slight adjustments, from the current 2014-15 budget.
Branson suggested that in order to improve its fiscal position, the city might consider seeking resident approval of a sales tax add-on. Both Butler and Williams were supportive of that concept.
But in response to questions about the improving sales tax situation and boosting sales tax even further, Williams conceded that “the projected $11.9 million in projected pension costs are going to eat up whatever revenue you obtain.”
Treasurer Dan Morgan, while recognizing the city is in dire financial straits, emphasized the need for demonstrating to city residents who must approve the tax that city officials have done all that can be done to redress the problem with the city’s overcommitment to its pensioners before soaking the taxpayers for more money. He made repeated references to the pension crisis as “the 800 pound gorilla in the room. How much of an effect can we have on this?” he asked rhetorically. “Can we cut back [on the amount being paid to the California Public Employees Retirement System] enough to eliminate the pressure and pain on our budget? In terms of the pension benefits for our employees, that is not in the cards anytime soon unless the California Public Employees Retirement System changes the way they operate.”
Morgan suggested it might be worthwhile to begin “looking at the employee counts” and determining what municipal services are absolutely essential to maintain and then “seeing about having the work done without hiring in-house employees or during the collective bargaining process creating new benefit tiers so that future employees pay a greater portion of the employees’ share of their pension contributions.That is an area that can be negotiated. There has been statewide pension reform that will allow it so that new employees hired in Upland will fall under that new tier benefit formula that is less generous than what our past employees are receiving, so we will be paying half of what our California Public Employees Retirement System contribution now costs and all city employees from here on down are paying their full employee share.”
Morgan said it should be very easy to get new hires to accept making larger personal contributions to their own retirement accounts, but that for “existing employees that’s a tougher sell.”
Morgan then referenced the city of “South Lake Tahoe, where they established entirely new medical coverage based on the Affordable Care Act,” he said. “They saved 70 percent by opening up negotiations. We are looking to get our union representatives to understand what our dilemma is and work with us and get something positive to come out of this process. In the private sector if the costs get too high you lay off people. In the public sector we don’t do that too often because of the protection of the unions. The public sector had always been a place where the pay was not that good but the benefits were good. Now, both the pay and benefits have risen to a point where they have both gotten out of line with what the city of Upland can afford. We are now stuck with this 800 pound gorilla. From my perspective, this tax proposal that was thrown out there by Russ [Branson] indeed may be a possibility if it had a restriction that would not allow it to be made into bigger pensions.”
Councilman Glenn Bozar, the chairman of the finance committee, said that it is “The citizens of Upland who will have to deal with these increased pension expenses” by seeing their service levels drop to defray the cost of the increased California Public Retirement System contributions. He said he wanted to thank Butler for having “the managerial courage to bring in Russ Branson to lay out these projections. He identifies this structural deficit that not going to go away.”
Nevertheless, at that point Bozar expressed the view that merely recognizing a future financial problem is awaiting the city is not sufficient, given the drain on city resources. He called upon Butler and Williams to actively address the problem by incorporating into the budget due on July 1 steps toward offsetting the increased pension costs. The budget I see here is just maintaining the status quo,” Bozar said. “That is the problem. We are tightening the budget and I appreciate what is going on here but it is just not enough.”
Bozar noted that the police chief is currently reviewing his department’s staffing and is going to soon present his recommendations on expanding the department. “Whatever request he has is going to have to be baked into these numbers,” Bozar said, adding that the previous chief had pegged the cost of hiring a new officer at roughly $100,000 per year. Bozar said he wanted to know of every proposal to increase staffing or hire a new individual, which will involve an uptick in future retirement benefit costs to the city. “What are your costs and commitments in terms of pay and their benefits?” he asked Butler and Williams. “Costs are rising. I’d rather not do that [i.e., hire more city employees] if I cannot get my management team to commit to certain cost controls. Until we solve that [the city’s unfunded pension liability] you should not project this business as usual on us.”
Bozar acknowledged that in the past “Managerially and politically” the city was unwilling to make drastic cutbacks. He suggesting things have now changed.
This was given further emphasis by the other council member on the committee, Debra Stone, who questioned indicators in the tentative budget that positions that have been vacant for several years will be backfilled in the coming fiscal year. “I’m looking at your bringing in someone we haven’t had for three years and it doesn’t make sense,” Stone said. “I want to see the breakdown and why you are asking for that position. I want to see all the positions that are definitely in the budget. This is not ready to go to the council yet.”
In response to Bozar’s assertion that the budget had to be more thoroughly thought through in terms of its impact on future demands for pension fund service, Williams acknowledged, “This budget solves nothing. It gets us through to the next year. It is the same thing, assuming nothing goes wrong.”
Bozar and Stone represent only two-fifths of the council, and represent two of the three votes needed to approve, disapprove or delay passage of the budget, so their resistance, alone, to the budget draft does not assure that it will not be ratified. However, in attendance at the finance committee meeting was councilwoman Carol Timm, who immediately upon its conclusion, conferred briefly with Bozar, which was interpreted by at least some of those present that the budget will not be accepted by the full council as currently framed.
There were several key city staff members present at the meeting, including department heads, who included police chief Brian Johnson, fire chief Rick Mayhew and community development director Jeff Zwack. Also present in the audience was Stephen Dunn, who left as city manager in 2014, with his last substantial work assignment being formulating the current 2014-15 budget.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has nominated Deborah Ale Flint, the aviation director for the Port of Oakland who is the chief executive at Oakland Airport, to lead Los Angeles World Airports.
Los Angeles World Airports is the public corporation acting on behalf of the Los Angeles Department of Airports, which oversees Los Angeles International, Ontario International and Van Nuys airports.
Flint will replace Gina Marie Lindsey, the outgoing executive director of Los Angeles World Airports.
During the last five years of her stewardship of Los Angeles World Airports, Lindsey had become the focus of much of the city of Ontario’s discontent with the city of Los Angeles over the manner in which Ontario International Airport has been managed and operated.
Lindsey’s departure comes at a critical juncture in the relationship between the city of Los Angeles and the city of Ontario.
Ontario International Airport has been under the control of Los Angeles for more than 47 years. In 1967, when Ontario Airport yet had a gravel parking lot and fewer than 200,000 passengers passing through its gates annually, the Ontario City Council ratified a joint operating agreement with the city of Los Angeles to permit the larger city to use its stronger negotiating position with the airlines serving Southern California to induce them to utilize the Ontario facility. Using the leverage it possessed by virtue of its control of gate positions at Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles persuaded a whole host of airlines to begin flying into and out of Ontario, transforming the former backwater air field into a world class aerodrome, eliminating one of its obsolete runways, improving its existing east-west runway and constructing another, and providing the facility with an ultra-modern concourse and two new terminals. After all of the performance criteria in the original joint operating agreement were achieved, in 1985 the city of Ontario deeded the airport to the city of Los Angeles for no consideration. During the more than two-decades after that transition, the airport continued to prosper, with ridership rising to an all-time record 7.2 million in 2007.
That same year, on June 4, 2007, Lindsey, who had decades of experience in airport management and a record of success in renovating and improving international airports, including with Seattle-Tacoma Airport, was appointed Los Angeles World Airports executive director.
Lindsey’s arrival coincided with two sets of events that ultimately fueled the souring of relations between the cities of Los Angeles and Ontario with regard to Ontario International Airport. The first of these was Lindsey’s push to step up the modernization of Los Angeles International Airport, which would ultimately lead, at least in part, to soaring passenger numbers there. The second event was the massive economic downturn that transitioned into a lingering national, statewide and regional recession that perpetuated itself for nearly seven years. Airlines, in an effort to shield themselves from the continuing economic decline, began cutting back on flights, particularly to locations outside heavy population centers. Beginning in 2008 and until mid-2014, passenger traffic at Ontario International declined steadily. This led to a deterioration in the working relationship between Los Angeles and Ontario. In 2010, Ontario officials, led by city councilman Alan Wapner, initiated a campaign aimed at wresting control and ownership of Ontario International Airport back from Los Angeles. Los Angeles officials, including most prominently Lindsey, at first ignored and then began to resist that effort, which grew increasingly strident and uncivil. Ontario officials, with Wapner in the lead, began to openly charge that Lindsey had evinced hostility toward the city of Ontario and its airport, and was deliberately managing, or mismanaging, Ontario International operations to raise costs and minimize both revenues and ridership there as part of a plot to increase revenue and gate numbers at Los Angeles International Airport. Lindsey and her staff denied those accusations, pointing out that the airlines were being pushed by their own economic imperatives. In 2013, in the waning days of Anthony Villaraigosa’s tenure as Los Angeles mayor, the city of Ontario, through the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, sued Los Angeles in the neutral forum of Riverside Superior Court, charging Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports with willful mismanagement of Ontario Airport and seeking the return of the aerodrome to the city in which it is located.
That lawsuit is yet pending in Riverside Superior Court, where major portions of it have been dismissed. For their part, Los Angeles officials at all levels, from the city council through to the management ranks at Los Angeles International Airport, have been offended by the vitriol and tenor of Ontario’s campaign. It is unclear whether Lindsey’s departure came at her own initiative or was imposed upon her by the political leadership on the Los Angeles City Council and the airport board. Her leaving has presented the cities of Los Angeles and Ontario with an opportunity to undertake a reconciliation, one that calls for similar statesmanlike action on both sides.
In this way, Flint exists as the fulcrum upon which the interests of the megalopolis to the west and the smaller city to the east might be balanced.
Flint has served as the director of aviation in Oakland since 2010. As of press time, her appointment needed to be confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council. She brings to the table experience in facilitating a regional approach to transportation issues, which included a public transit rail connection serving all of the East Bay with a terminus at Oakland International Airport.
As of 2012, she became a member of the Aviation Consumer Protection Committee, which advises the Department of Transportation on the rights of air travel passengers. She holds a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University.

The county of San Bernardino has quietly initiated drug testing of its employees. For various reasons, the program has gotten little publicity. It loomed into the public spotlight this week, when the board of supervisors approved a three year contract with one of the two companies that perform drug and alcohol testing.
According to Laurie Rozko, the director of the county’s purchasing department, “The human resources department requires specialized services and handling processes beyond the requirements of other departments, including pre-employment physical examinations, random testing for certain employees with safety-sensitive job tasks, post-accident clearance for personnel, and reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol testing as needed. Testing regulated by the Department of Transportation also requires independent medical review officer confirmation of certain testing results. Without local services, human resources may experience delays in turnaround time for test results, which could also be non-compliant with Department of Transportation requirements.”
Rozko asked the board of supervisors to “approve [an] agreement with Addiction Medicine Consultants, Inc. for services at fixed rates for the period of July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2018, with one option to extend for an additional two-year term. The fixed rates include $37.35 for a 10-panel drug test for alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, phencyclidine (PCP), opiates, amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, methadone and propoxyphene; all to be collected at a lab-provided facility, with the cost to include the drawing/collection of the specimen and testing of the specimen; and $39 for a 5-panel urine drug and alcohol tests, per Department of Transportation standards; collected at a lab-provided facility, with the cost to include the drawing/collection of the specimen and testing of the specimen.”
While it appears that Addiction Medical Consultants’ profit on negative tests will be marginal or non-existent, it stands to make money on positive tests.
The laboratory director, supervising technical representative and technical representative with the company are to be remunerated at a rate of $100 per hour for their court testimony in addition to a $250 per diem for that testimony.
According to Rozko, “In April 2014, a request for proposal for drug and alcohol testing services was released on behalf of multiple county departments. On September 23, 2014 the board of supervisors approved Agreement No. 14-820 with PhamaTech, Inc. Since that time, Purchase Order No. 151285 has remained in place with Addiction Medicine Consultants to meet the specialized needs of human resources. In addition, Addiction Medicine Consultants was coordinating county testing sites under contract with PhamaTech, Inc. Addiction Medicine Consultants was the second highest ranked proposer in the competitive process, and works closely with a local medical review officer.”
Rozko told the board of supervisors that approving the agreement with Addiction Medicine consultants “will give the department the ability to have specialized Department of Transportation related testing services, as well as a secondary vendor for countywide services if needed.”
The county has not publicized its drug testing policy. Neither have the unions representing various county employee groups seen fit to vector attention to the testing the county is conducting, their acquiescence in allowing the testing to take place, the frequency with which the testing turns up positive results or the punishment or discipline meted out in such circumstances.

By clicking on the portal below, you can download a PDF of the June 5 San Bernardino County Sentinel.

Sentinel 06-05-15

(June 2) he county is paying a Portland, Oregon-based firm at a rate of over $370,000 per year to provide the county hospital in Colton with an operating room manager in the wake of the recent departure of Karen Jarvis, who previously worked directly for the county in the operating room manager capacity.
The main campus of the county hospital, known as Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, opened in Colton in 1998. It offers a full range of medical services, including surgeries.
In September 2014, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center received notice that the operating room manager was going to retire. A request for recruitment for the position was completed and still remains open. Two candidates applied for the position, but only one had operating room experience. That candidate was interviewed in February 2015, but did not accept the position. As there were no other qualified candidates, consultant quotes were requested and received from four vendors. Of those vendors, Whitman Partners was deemed the most cost effective, and the only vendor who offered operating room managers as a specialty.
On March 6, 2015, Master Blanket Pusrchase Order No. 152837 was issued to Whitman Partners in the amount of $67,940 for the period of March 1, 2015, through May 15, 2015, for the provision of an interim operating room manager.
As it turned out, the interim operating room manager began work on April 24.
On May 20, 2015 Whitman Partners announced it placed Nancy Hungarland at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center as the director of surgical services. Hungarland was previously the interim perioperative team manager at University Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hungarland oversees the operations of the operating room, pre-operative, post-operative, gastroenterology laboratory, and pain clinic. She plans, directs, coordinates, controls and evaluates the operation of the department and oversees staffing and budget for nursing care in the surgical services department in compliance with established standards, and is scheduled to provide an operational assessment at the end of the contract period.
According to R. Richard Pitts, the interim director of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, “The experience and knowledge of this manager is vital to maintain compliance and efficiency in this department for the provision of patient procedures and care. Of these vendors, Whitman Partners was the most cost effective, and the only vendor who offered operating room managers as a specialty.”
A change order was processed to revise the effective dates of this purchase order to April 24, 2015, through December 31, 2015.
The original eight-week period agreed upon for the services of the interim operating room manager provided by Whitman Partners ends this month. The increased amount requested will provide sufficient purchasing authority for the extension of the services to be provided by Hungarland. The agreement document with Whitman Partners includes a provision requiring the vendor to find and provide a permanent candidate to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center for this position. A placement fee of 25% of the candidate’s first year’s income upon hiring of a permanent candidate is required of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center as part of this provision.
The search is being conducted by Colin Mahoney, executive recruiter at Whitman Partners and he is being assisted by Jim Carver, partner and executive recruiter.

The Board of Supervisors today unanimously selected an experienced executive with more than 30 years in the health care industry as the new director of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
William L. Gilbert, who has held chief executive officer positions for several large health care systems across the United States, will oversee Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton beginning July 6, 2015.
“Mr. Gilbert is the right person to serve as Director having years of experience in the health care industry,” said Board Chairman James Ramos. “I believe he will bring valuable contributions to the ARMC community.”
Most recently, Gilbert worked with Deaconess Hospital in Spokane, Washington and Foundation Surgical Affiliates in San Antonio, Texas.
Gilbert has a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration from the University of La Verne and a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University. He has also been a board member for the Washington State Hospital Association, the California Hospital Association and several other healthcare associations throughout his career.
In his position as director, Gilbert will supervise 3,691 employees and manage a budget of $451 million at the state-of-the-art acute care hospital. His employment contract calls for him to earn a salary of $299,500. Gilbert succeeds William Foley who left ARMC in May for another healthcare position in the Midwest.
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center is a Level II trauma center which also operates a regional burn center, a primary stroke center, a free-standing behavioral center, four primary care centers including three family health centers and more than 40 outpatient specialty care services.

The city of Grand Terrace has selected former Compton City Manager G. Harold Duffey as its new city manager effective June 1, 2015. The council approved a three-year contract at its May 26, 2015 meeting.
“We believe that Mr. Duffey brings the desired ‘business focus’ and clear understanding of the council’s vision for the future,” said Mayor Darcy McNaboe. “His experience with municipal budgets, public safety, infrastructure maintenance, and development are an important base of knowledge that is essential for ensuring that Grand Terrace remains a sustainable, fiscally solvent community.”
Duffy brings more than 25 years of municipal experience to Grand Terrace. He started his career at the city of Riverside, and later held positions at the county of San Bernardino, the city of Sacramento and the county of Yolo. He also served as city administrator in Oroville, California. He is a graduate of the University of Redlands where he received his Bachelor of Arts in political science and sociology. Duffey also received a Masters’ Degree in public administration from California State University San Bernardino.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for me professionally and personally. I started my higher education and career in the Inland Empire,” said Duffey. “I am excited about returning here to work with policymakers that value fiscal prudence and service standards to maintain or enhance the quality of life for the residents of Grand Terrace.”
Duffey will be paid an annual salary of $180,000 plus $51,775 in benefits including an annual $4,800 car allowance for a total of $231,775. He will also receive a one-time moving stipend of $3,500 and a laptop computer not-to-exceed $1,300. The city of Grand Terrace is a partial-service council-manager form of government. The city manager is appointed by the city council and is responsible to the city council for the administration of all municipal affairs placed in his charge. Duffey replaces interim city manager Carol Jacobs who has held the interim post since January of 2015.

(June 2) An indication of just how much of a property tax burden county residents are bearing came this week when the board of supervisors authorized spending $150,000 to pay for the paper upon which the county property tax bills will be printed over the next three years.
The board ratified County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector Larry Walker’s request to issue a no-bid. non-competitive blanket purchase order to Newport Printing Solutions in an amount not to exceed $150,000, to provide property tax bill design and paper stock to the tax collector’s office for the period of June 2, 2015 through June 1, 2018.
According to Walker, who is prone to illeism and therefore often speaks about himself in the third person, “Costs for property tax bill stock average $48,000 each year, and are not expected to exceed $50,000 annually during the term of the three-year purchase order. In 2014-15, the tax collector distributed over 850,000 property tax bills totaling over $2.3 billion. Property tax revenue is used to fund key public services including education, police and fire protection, social, and public health services. The issuance of a blanket purchase order with Newport Printing Solutions will ensure that the tax collector has sufficient tax bill stock to generate and mail tax bills pursuant to California Revenue and Taxation Code Sections 2610.5 and 2910.1. Bill stock must have proper perforation and printing must be in the precise location for the high-speed remittance processing machines to correctly read and process payments efficiently.”
Walker offered a justification for awarding the non-competitively bid contract to Newport.
“The enterprise printers used by the information services department to print tax bills perform optimally when using paper that exceeds the manufacturer’s minimum requirements,” Walker stated. “In June 2010, the tax collector requested that [the county] purchasing [division] conduct a competitive procurement for tax bill paper. Newport Printing Solutions was a part of the solicitation, but since they did not have the lowest bid, they were not selected. Due to quality issues with the paper received from the selected vendor, both the annual secured tax bill form and the secured property memo form were returned to the vendor to reproduce. The sample paper received from the corrected order still had significant quality issues, resulting in excessive paper jams and misfeeds which resulted in an increase in time and administrative costs to correct and rerun the print jobs. To resolve the paper quality issue, the tax collector contacted Newport Printing Solutions which had supplied paper to the tax collector in prior years. The tax collector completed a non-competitive purchasing requisition with Newport Printing Solutions in September 2010. Since then, the tax collector has continued to purchase paper from Newport Printing Solutions on a non-competitive basis. Newport Printing Solutions has consistently provided quality paper and pre-printed forms.”

The town of Yucca Valley and the city of Twentynine Palms together provide animal control services to 5,313 square miles of San Bernardino County’s Low Desert.
According to Brian Cronin, San Bernardino County’s head of animal care and control, the two municipalities which lie off of State Highway 62 in the county’s remote desert outback act as service providers to the unincorporated areas that surround them in terms of animal control and animal sheltering.
“The town of Yucca Valley provides services for the county in the vast portion of that part of the desert,” Cronin told the Sentinel. “We also have a contract with the city of 29 Palms in that region, so there are two shelter facilities called upon to serve this square mileage area. Yucca Valley serves the primary area. As for the immediate area around the city of 29 Palms, we have a contract with them on a simple purchase order. Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms together serve approximately 5,214 square miles of the unincorporated low desert area of the county.”
The town of Yucca Valley has 40.015 square miles within its boundaries and Twentynine Palms counts 59.143 square miles within its city limits.
This week, the county, thorough an act of the board of supervisors, renewed its existing contract with the town of Yucca Valley to continue to provide animal shelter services in the unincorporated areas of the Morongo Basin region, extending the contract an additional three years, and increasing the total contract amount by $837,321, from $257,686 to $1,095,007, for the period of July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2018.
Cronin said “The San Bernardino County Department of Public Health’s Animal Care and Control Division provides animal shelter services to the unincorporated areas throughout the county of San Bernardino. Animal care and control utilizes contract shelters in outlying unincorporated areas of the county where the county does not own or operate a shelter. These contract facilities reduce travel time for field animal control officers and make it easier for residents to retrieve and adopt impounded animals. Services provided by these shelters include housing, rabies quarantine, stray animal impound, and stray animal euthanasia in accordance with the county ordinance and California law. In addition, these shelters collect licensing revenue and other fees on behalf of the county, and may also contract with local veterinarians for spay and neuter services of adopted animals. The town of Yucca Valley operates the Yucca Valley Animal Shelter, which is jointly owned by the town and county.”