To: County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector
Staff Name and Phone Number: Amanda Ruch, Assistant ACTTC, 565-3274
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): All
Title:
Title
Position Allocation Change - Add 1FTE Disaster Finance and Administrative Officer
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Adopt a Personnel Resolution effective June 9, 2020, adding one (1 FTE) 5-Year Time-Limited Administrative Services Officer I, working title: Disaster Finance and Administrative Officer to the Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector's position allocation list.
end
Executive Summary:
The Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector's Office (ACTTC) is seeking to add one (1 FTE) 5-Year Time-Limited Administrative Services Officer I, working title: Disaster Finance and Administrative Officer. Effective disaster financial management is critical for the County’s successful cost recovery from the six currently active disaster grants, as well as successful response to future disaster events. A dedicated Disaster Finance and Administrative Officer will help the County obtain the resources needed to support our community, increase the efficiency of recovery efforts, and reduce the likelihood of audit findings, funding deobligations, and financial penalties. Fiscal and grant regulations are strict and it is imperative that the County has a robust, scalable, flexible, and adaptable disaster financial management plan and processes in place. The Disaster Finance and Administrative Officer will develop and maintain a critical in-house expertise in FEMA and Cal-OES disaster grant administration.
Human Resources has reviewed the job duties and determined that the Administrative Services Officer I is the appropriate classification for this position.
The Disaster Finance and Administrative Officer will work under general administrative direction and will have the following responsibilities:
• Administer the six currently active public assistance disaster grant programs
- Oversee the finance and administrative aspects of the five currently active public assistance disaster grant programs.
- Provide regular updates to County management, including the Board of Supervisors as requested.
- Act as a liaison between the County, FEMA, Cal OES, local agencies and mutual aid agencies.
• Post Disaster Activities
- Collaborate with the CAO to budget and manage funds needed to respond to disaster events.
- Monitor and track financial resources to ensure projects are executed in a cost effective manner and accurate documentation is maintained for claiming purpose.
• Longer-Term Post Disaster Activities
- Ensure all funding agency requirements are fulfilled as projects are closed and documentation is properly retained for audits.
- Represent the County during Office of Inspector General audits and respond to audit requests.
• Pre Disaster Activities and Ongoing Preparedness
- Build awareness of program rules, regulations, and common audit findings amongst County and mutual aid agency staff.
- Review and codify emergency fiscal policies and procedures, ensuring funding agency requirements are addressed.
- Organize for disaster cost reimbursement and recovery funding operation, establish relationships and document financial management roles and responsibilities.
- Develop/update financial systems to address disaster related transaction processing needs.
- Develop internal control procedures to reduce risks of fraud, waste and abuse.
- Participate on disaster financial management team.
- Provide disaster finance related training as needed.
Discussion:
Local natural disasters are increasing in frequency and severity. The County has experienced two fire and three flood related disasters in the last three years, incurring more than $165 million in disaster related costs and damage to County property. In addition, the County is currently responding to the COVID-19 emergency. In the 20 years prior to 2017, the County had experienced just two federally declared disasters, both floods. The six currently active disaster grant programs represent a tremendous body of accounting and administrative work, which is to a large extent performed by staff within the ACTTC. Since the 2017 fires, the ACTTC has absorbed this workload with existing staff; however, the three additional disaster events that occurred in 2019, and now the 2020 COVID-19 disaster, make this model unsustainable for our department. There is simply too much disaster finance work to layer on top of existing workloads. The County’s lack of a dedicated disaster finance resource jeopardizes hundreds of millions of disaster grant dollars, funding that is critical to the County’s recovery efforts.
It is imperative that the County manages existing disaster grants and prepares for future disasters in a manner that maximizes the County’s ability to fully recover and minimizes interruptions to operations and impacts on citizens. For this reason, the ACTTC is requesting a dedicated full-time Disaster Finance and Administrative Officer who will be responsible for developing and maintaining an expertise in FEMA and CDAA grant finance and administration, taking a lead or advisory role in managing the six existing disaster grants (as appropriate), coordinating with departments on documentation and grant claim preparation, hiring and supervising extra help resources, acting as the County’s liaison with FEMA, Cal OES, and local agencies, working as a Finance Chief designee in the EOC, developing and maintaining policies, procedures and training as needed for County departments to be proactively prepared for disaster events, providing key stakeholders with updates on disaster costs and reimbursements, and other disaster finance duties as assigned.
Disaster finance has become one of the County’s most critical needs and biggest risks. The ACTTC is requesting that the County address this risk by investing in a robust, flexible and in-house disaster finance function, which includes a dedicated Disaster Finance and Administrative Officer. Additionally, the ACTTC anticipates a continued need for extra help staffing to assist with the disaster grant and claiming workload, and will request annual appropriations and a General Fund reimbursement of all costs associated with these positions on an as needed basis. Extra help costs are currently estimated to be $50,000 per year.
Prior Board Actions:
None
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 19-20 Adopted |
FY 20-21 Projected |
FY 21-22 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
|
183,000 |
192,000 |
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
|
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
|
183,000 |
192,000 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
|
183,000 |
192,000 |
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
|
183,000 |
192,000 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
The salary of the 5-Year Time-Limited Administrative Services Officer I, working title: Disaster Finance and Administrative Officer, and the extra help resources will be appropriated in the ACTTC Auditor-Controller Division (General Fund). The ACTTC estimates that the Disaster Finance Administrative Officer and extra help will be 100% reimbursable from federal and state disaster grant funding sources. All disaster grant reimbursements related to the position and extra help will be deposited into the appropriate Disaster Fund within the General Fund. The ACTTC will be reimbursed for all direct and indirect costs from the appropriate Disaster Fund(s)) receiving administrative cost reimbursements from FEMA and CalOES in a given year.
|
Staffing Impacts: |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
|
5-Year Time-Limited Administrative Services Officer I |
6,824.88 - 8,294.56 (3924 - 4769) |
1.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
Addition of 1 FTE 5-Year Time-Limited Administrative Services Officer I, working title: Disaster Finance and Administrative Officer.
Attachments:
A) Personnel Resolution
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
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