Report 2015-102 Recommendations

To ensure the stability of the district's operations, by June 2016 the district's board should establish a formal policy for hiring for the general manager position. Because the current general manager is on a contract set to expire in May 2017, the board should initiate the hiring process for a new general manager or begin the process of renegotiating the contract with the current general manager in the fall of 2016.

To better address potential ethical violations, the district should implement by June 2016 a means for investigating board members' and staff's potential violations of the district's code of conduct and conflict-of-interest code that would insulate those investigations from undue influence from either the board or the general manager.

To evaluate its progress toward its goals and objectives, the district should use its recently adopted strategic plan and issue an annual report that describes the steps it has taken toward achieving the goals and objectives in the strategic plan.

To ensure its long-term financial sustainability, the board should complete a long-term financial plan no later than December 2016.

To ensure its water rate structure is appropriate to provide the revenue necessary to cover its legitimate costs, the district should complete its planned water rate study no later than the spring of 2017.

To strengthen its financial stability against present and future uncertainties, the district should follow its recently adopted reserve policy.

To ensure that it continues to take steps to improve its financial condition and avoids additional costs due to downgrades of its debt credit ratings, the district should immediately create a formal debt management policy. This policy should clearly define its credit objectives and provide guidelines for suitable debt agreements. This policy should also require the district to periodically monitor its specific financial ratios, such as its debt coverage ratio, that are relevant to its credit rating.

To help it maintain its current insurance coverage and better position it to negotiate for more cost-effective and appropriate coverage in the future, the board should immediately adopt a policy requiring a four-fifths majority to terminate the district's general manager. Further, the board should review the district's insurance coverage annually and renegotiate costs and coverage amounts as necessary, particularly as the district resolves outstanding legal claims against it.

To ensure it holds itself accountable to the public, the district should follow the law and operate in an open and transparent manner by, among other things, disclosing to the public the true nature and purpose of all of its expenditures. To ensure its board makes informed decisions on when it is proper to hold discussions and take votes in closed-session meetings, the district should require its board members to attend training—as soon as possible and biennially thereafter—specifically focused on the Brown Act and its closed-meeting requirements.

To make better use of the funds it spends on services, the district should amend its administrative code by June 2016 to limit its sole-source contracts to emergency circumstances and circumstances in which only one vendor can meet the district's needs. Further, before executing any sole-source contracts, the district should require written justification demonstrating the reasons for not competitively bidding the services. The justification should include the background of the purchase, a description of the vendor's uniqueness, an explanation of the consequences of not purchasing from the vendor, market research to substantiate a lack of competition, and an analysis of pricing and alternatives.

To ensure that it does not unnecessarily use amendments that limit competitive bidding for its contracts, the district should amend its administrative code by June 2016 to require that it rebid contracts if it significantly changes those contracts' scopes of work, specifically the nature of the services or work products.

To ensure its contract amendments reflect the authorization of the board, the district should revise its administrative code to require the general manager to submit a quarterly report to the district's board detailing all its contracts, contract amendments, and contract and amendment dollar amounts.

To ensure it receives the best value from its contracts, the district should adopt and implement a policy by June 2016 requiring that it include in all its contracts' scopes of work specific, well-defined deliverables, measurable results, timelines or progress reports, and evaluations of the contractors once they complete the work.

To ensure it receives the best value from its contracts, the district should ensure project managers verify services were rendered before approving invoices for payment by June 2016.

To ensure it receives the best value from its contracts, the district should create processes by June 2016 for project managers to organize and retain contract files that include important documents such as vendor performance and deliverable verification and acceptance.

To ensure its employees are able to properly administer contracts, by September 2016 the district should follow through with its plan to require that staff responsible for project management attend training by a reputable trainer on contract management.

To minimize its risk when contracting with vendors, the district should adhere to its administrative code and execute all contracts only after approval by its general counsel. Further, the district should amend its administrative code to prohibit engaging in a verbal contract. Finally, the district should continue to report to its finance committee all sole-source contracts and contracts entered under the general manager's authority.

To ensure its expenditures do not constitute gifts of public funds, the district should immediately eliminate its allocation of funds to individual board members for community outreach.

To ensure its expenditures do not constitute gifts of public funds, the district should develop policies that specify limitations on the types of activities it will sponsor in the future to ensure that it funds only those organizations whose activities have a direct link to its authorized purposes. For example, it should eliminate its purchase of holiday turkeys.

To ensure its expenditures do not constitute gifts of public funds, the district should revise its administrative code by June 2016 to include more specific guidance as to what constitutes a reasonable and necessary use of public funds. The guidance should establish restrictions on the amount spent for board member installation ceremonies. It should also include a process for the district to ensure that expenses are reasonable and necessary before it pays them.

To ensure it considers the most qualified candidates for positions, the district should follow its established hiring policies. Specifically, it should use a competitive hiring process and ensure that its board first formally approves all positions for which the district recruits. Further, the district should consider for employment only individuals who meet the established minimum qualifications for the positions for which they have applied. If the district believes certain qualifications are not necessary for a position, it should indicate in the position description that such qualifications are desirable but not required.

To ensure that it does not inappropriately grant undeserved raises to its staff, the district should follow its policy to provide annual performance evaluations to all employees.

To ensure it is efficiently using its resources, the district should eliminate its board members' automobile or transportation allowances and instead reimburse them based on their business mileage or transit use.

To ensure it is efficiently using its resources, the district should periodically analyze and, beginning in June 2016, report to the board whether all elements of its board member compensation, including health and related benefits, are appropriate and reflect the common practices of special districts.

To ensure it is efficiently using its resources, the district should adopt a policy that its general managers will participate in benefits at the same level as district staff and that the board will negotiate the general managers' contracts on the basis of salary and not other benefits, such as retirement.

To ensure that its travel expenses are reasonable and necessary, the district should take steps, such as issuing a clarifying memorandum or providing additional training, to ensure all board members and staff, especially those who process reimbursement claims, are aware of what the district considers to be proper expenses incurred while traveling, including only paying for air travel that is coach or an equivalent class.

To ensure that its travel expenses are reasonable and necessary, the district should take steps, such as issuing a clarifying memorandum or providing additional training, to ensure all board members and staff, especially those who process reimbursement claims, are aware of what the district considers to be proper expenses incurred while traveling, including only paying for meetings and conferences that have a direct connection to water policy or the district's mission. It should update its list of such preapproved meetings accordingly.

To ensure that its travel expenses are reasonable and necessary, the district should take steps, such as issuing a clarifying memorandum or providing additional training, to ensure all board members and staff, especially those who process reimbursement claims, are aware of what the district considers to be proper expenses incurred while traveling, including only paying for lodging expenses that reflect group or government rates, unless there is documentation that such rates are unavailable.

To ensure it reimburses only reasonable and necessary meal expenses, the district should take steps, such as issuing a clarifying memorandum or providing additional training, to ensure that all board members and staff, especially those who process reimbursement claims, are familiar with its meal reimbursement limits.

The district should revise its administrative code by June 2016 to prohibit paying for or reimbursing meals that occur within the local area that involve meetings either between only district representatives or between district representatives and the district's contractors.

The district should revise its administrative code by June 2016 to prohibit paying for the costs of meals provided to third parties.

To ensure it complies with state law and its own administrative code, the district should require board members to report back to the board on meetings and conferences they attend at the district's expense. The district should record these reports in meeting minutes or document them in expense files before it reimburses the board members for their travel expense claims.

To ensure the efficient and effective delivery of imported and recycled water in southeastern Los Angeles County, the Legislature should pass special legislation to preserve the district as an independent entity but modify the district's governance structure. In doing so, the Legislature should consider a governance structure that ensures the district remains accountable to those it serves; for example, the district's board could be changed from one elected by the public at large to one appointed by the district's customers.