California Victim Compensation Board November 19, 2020, Board Meeting Minutes

The California Victim Compensation Board (Board) convened its meeting in open session upon the call of the Chair, Gabriel Ravel, who was present via Zoom, Deputy Secretary and General Counsel of the Government Operations Agency, acting for, and in absence of, Yolanda Richardson, Secretary, on Thursday, November 19, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. Also present via Zoom was Member Richard Chivaro, Deputy State Controller and Chief Counsel, acting for, and in the absence of, Betty T. Yee, Controller.

Executive Officer Lynda Gledhill, and Chief Counsel Kim Gauthier, attended in person at 400 R Street, Sacramento, California. Legal Secretary, Andrea Burrell, was also present and recorded the meeting.

The Board meeting commenced with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Item 1. Approval of the Minutes of the October 15, 2020, Board Meeting

The Board approved the minutes of the October 15, 2020, Board meeting.

Item 2. Public Comment

The Board opened the meeting for public comment and Ms. Burrell reminded everyone that, consistent with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, items not on the agenda may not be discussed at this time but may be put on a future agenda.

There was no public comment.

Item 3. Executive Officer Statement

Chief Executive Officer Ms. Gledhill updated the Board on a few items:

Federal Grants Audit

The Federal US Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General completed an audit of CalVCB’s management of $45.7 million in federal grants for fiscal years 2016-2018.

The audit found that CalVCB appropriately distributed the VOCA funding it received. However, it also identified areas for improvement and made 11 specific recommendations. OIG made the audit, which included our responses, public and posted it on its website on November 10.

CalVCB agreed with the recommendations and is working with the Office of Justice Programs, which administers the grant, on each of the recommendations to improve CalVCB processes and documentation. Ms. Gledhill expressed her confidence that CalVCB will have no issues resolving all the recommendations within 180 days as specified by the audit.

Advisory Committee Reconvened

Ms. Gledhill reported that we have reconvened the CalVCB Advisory Committee, which had been inactive for several years.

The Advisory Committee is made up of various stakeholders who have a role in the victim compensation process. On November 5, 2020, the CalVCB Executive Team held a virtual kick-off meeting to discuss ways we can work better together to achieve our goals and improve our outreach, communication and services for victims. It was a good opportunity to introduce our team and talk about the priorities we bring to CalVCB. The members of the Advisory Committee expressed interest in working with CalVCB to increase access to services, address issues of social and racial justice, and find stable long-term funding to meet those needs.

Ms. Gledhill mentioned she is looking forward to continuing those conversations with stakeholders and strengthening our partnerships with them. The next advisory committee meeting is tentatively scheduled for February and will be held quarterly thereafter.

Strategic Plan Revision

CalVCB has been busy working on various projects that will take us into 2021. We are revising our strategic plan, as the current one for CalVCB ran only until 2018. We have surveyed staff and are working with those results to develop our Mission, Vision and Goals for the organization.

Employee Engagement

Another top priority for CalVCB is employee engagement, especially as we continue to primarily telework. We are looking at several initiatives to engage CalVCB employees and help them feel connected, even when we aren’t physically in the same space.

Ms. Gledhill also advised the Board that she will be sharing the draft annual report for fiscal year 2019-2020 at the December meeting.

Chair Ravel thanked Ms. Gledhill for the information, and stated that the OIG report is great news, and speaks very highly of the conscientiousness of Ms. Gledhill and all the staff at CalVCB. He also stated that he is excited to see the recommendations of the advisory committee as well.

Victim Compensation Program

Conclusion of Board Meeting

After no more questions or comments were posed, the Board closed the open meeting.

Closed Session

Pursuant to Government Code section 11126(c)(3), the Board adjourned into Closed Session with the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Counsel at 10:06 a.m., to deliberate on proposed decision numbers 1-51 of the Victim Compensation Program.

Open Session

The Board reconvened in Open Session pursuant to Government Code section 11126(c)(3) at 10:13 a.m.

The Board adopted the hearing officers’ recommendations for proposed decision numbers 1-51 of the Victim Compensation Program, with the exception of item number 42, which was removed from the agenda at the claimant’s request.

Adjournment

The Board meeting adjourned at 10:15 a.m.

Next Board Meeting

The next Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 17, 2020.