The following updates were provided by Riverside County District 1 Supervisor Kevin Jeffries. District 1 encompasses the cities of Canyon Lake, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, most of the City of Riverside, and several unincorporated communities.
By Kevin Jeffries
Job Experience, a Degree, or Both?
With over 70 percent of our county residents 25 years of age and older not having a college degree, and with most or many job openings at the County of Riverside requiring some form of degree as the default qualification, is the county locking out hundreds or thousands of otherwise qualified applicants from seeking and obtaining local employment?
At a time when our departments are desperate to fill vacant positions, we need to determine if we are handicapping our own efforts. Our office is going to propose that our county do a little soul searching and determine what unnecessary barriers we have created to employment across multiple job classifications and look for ways to make the county application process and eligibility criteria more user-friendly for our constituents and potential future county employees.
Turpin Report Being Held Up
For those of you following the hard-hitting news coverage on the Turpin children and the reported partial breakdown of services to assist those and other children (and adults) who need care and assistance, it is taking longer to get to the bottom of this issue than we had hoped.
The short version is, the retired federal judge that was hired by the county to conduct a full investigation into the various social services has not been able to obtain court authorization to conduct the deep dive and evaluate what went wrong and what needs to change.
It has been reported elsewhere that the county is withholding these documents, but a court must approve any investigation into the care of any juvenile as their privacy and the services they receive is fully protected by state law. This is one of the reasons these cases can so easily get stuck in the bureaucracy.
The final report is now due at the end of May, but if you would like to read the initial update from the Ad Hoc Committee (to which I was appointed) on what the county is doing to improve services, and/or my expanded official comments on the matter please visit https://tinyurl.com/AdHocReportMarch29 and/or https://tinyurl.com/JeffriesAdHocComments
Break Out the Weed Eaters!
Although I’m not sure it ever ends anymore, the traditional wildland fire season is about to kick off. The grasses/weeds/fuels are tall and quickly turning brown. During my previous volunteer firefighter days, the homes that had good clearance of ground vegetation and tree limbs around them were the easiest to defend and save. So do yourself and your local firefighters a favor and help them help you and make sure your property is ready. For more information on fire hazard reduction, see: https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Fire-causes-and-risks/Wildfire/Preparing-homes-for-wildfire
A Contact Sport?
Three seats on the Board of Supervisors are up for re-election in 2022. Yet only one seat drew a challenger – that being in the Fifth District (Hewitt). While the other two incumbents (Spiegel and Perez) have worked very hard and are thoroughly engaged in their respective districts, which certainly discourages opponents, I can’t help but wonder if the political environment (at nearly all levels) has become so confrontational and hostile that people aren’t as interested in running.
Many good people are just not willing to run the gauntlet or have protestors in front of their homes or be confronted while shopping for groceries. Seeking and holding elected public office is not for the faint of heart or for those with thin skin. Elected officials meet a lot of really good caring individuals and some really hard-nosed cusses, but it seems like more and more of the latter lately. But that does come with the job.
As always, feel free to email us with your suggestions or comments to help improve Riverside County or if you need help with a county government matter.
