Saying they need more time to look into the cost and implications, county supervisors postponed a decision on reducing the authority of the county’s elected Public Administrator.
The proposal involves splitting the Public Administrator and Public Guardian positions — now headed by the same elected official– and giving oversight authority of the Public Guardian office to county chief executive Tom Mauk. And it comes on the heels of two scathing Grand Jury reports alleging mismanagement by Public Administrator John Williams.
The Public Administrator, which protects the assets and manages the affairs of OC residents who have died and left no heirs, would remain an elected office. Supervisors would appoint the Public Guardian, a job charged with investigating and overseeing the care and estates of people, usually elderly or mentally ill, who are unable to care for themselves.
The supes only danced around the grand jury allegations during their discussion about the proposal, characterizing it as procedural and not punitive. Even Mauk recommended reappointing Williams to Public Guardian if they approved the proposal.
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Public Administrator's Authority Safe at Least for Another Week
As we are learning, the most critical problem in guardianship is a lack of monitoring, oversight, enforcement, and penalties.
ReplyDeleteRe-appoint Williams? Come on, they can't be that naive, can they?
ReplyDeleteI believe the public administrator and the public guardian should be seperated in duities and have seperate powers.
ReplyDelete