DATE: June 21, 2022
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Daniel C. Cederborg, County Counsel
Sanja Bugay, Director, Department of Social Services
SUBJECT: Salary Resolution Amendment
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve Amendment to the Salary Resolution adding two Deputy County Counsel I/II/III/IV/Senior and two Legal Assistant I/II-Confidential positions to the County Counsel Org 0710, effective on June 27, 2022 as reflected on Appendix H.
REPORT
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action, which will add staff to the County Counsel’s Office to assist the Department of Social Services (DSS) in representation of social workers in Child Welfare matters. The recommended positions will be funded with Intrafund Revenue. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If the recommended action is not approved, the County Counsel’s Office will continue to have limited staff to represent DSS social workers in Child Welfare matters.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The cost in FY 2021-22 for the added positions is $9,724; $591,942 for FY 2022-23. The total cost ($601,666) for the recommended positions will be offset with State and Federal Social Services funds ($520,150), 2011 Realignment ($54,077) in lieu of State General Funds for CWS and Adult Protective Services Programs that were realigned to counties through Assembly Bill (AB) 118, 1991 Realignment ($23,033) and the required Net County Cost ($4,406), which offsets the General Relief Program share of cost. The Department will utilize salary savings from the FY 2021-22 Department Org 5610 to fund the positions. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in DSS Org 5610 and County Counsel Org 0710 FY 2021-22 Adopted Budget and will be included in future budget requests.
DISCUSSION:
County Counsel represents DSS social workers in Child Welfare matters.
The County Counsel’s Office currently has six deputy county counsel positions assigned to Child Welfare matters. The deputy county counsels make hearing appearances, prepare for multiple hearings, participate in training, handle writs and appeals, and provide general advice to the Child Welfare Services (CWS) unit. Due to the heavy workload in CWS matters, deputy county counsels, although present in juvenile court, were not assigned to cover all the hearings in which CWS staff appeared. Recently, the County Counsel Office has taken steps to cover all the hearings in Juvenile Dependency Court, including routine matters. The additional deputy county counsel positions will enable the County Counsel’s Office to provide that coverage and increase deputy county counsel involvement in training CWS court and field staff. It is anticipated that the additional legal assistance and training, along with staffing and training efforts for social workers by DSS management will help DSS to move cases through the Juvenile Dependency Court system more efficiently, thereby reducing the number of overall CWS cases maintained by DSS.
The County Counsel’s Office also has approximately one full-time equivalent of legal assistant/paralegal positions that support the Child Welfare deputy county counsels. The non-attorney staff maintains files, obtains, and assembles documents from the client, checks calendars and handles routine filing matters. The two requested legal assistant positions will increase the County Counsel’s Office capacity in this area, freeing up attorney time, by handling many of the routine communications and documentary requests with CWS staff to ensure that case files are fully prepared for hearings.
Approval of the recommended action will add two deputy county counsel and two legal assistant positions. These positions will require training to familiarize with the Child Welfare process and procedures. The County Counsel’s Office and DSS will continue to evaluate whether additional positions are necessary to better represent social workers in Child Welfare matters.
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Appendix H
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander