Grand jury report moves forward

The Ventura County grand jury released a report in April along with eight recommendations for action by the Ventura County auditor-controller, the county executive officer and the board of supervisors.

In June, Christine Cohen, auditor-controller, agreed to some extent with six of the recommendations, and John Johnston, the county executive officer, agreed at least in part with five of the recommendations.

The board of supervisors has not yet responded to the findings in the report.

The recommendations agreed upon so far by Ventura County officials are:

+An independent auditoversight committee should be established by ordinance.

+The county needs to "maintain an adequate internal auditing system" as required by County Ordinance 4235.

+Actions on agreed recommendations by the grand jury need to be coordinated among county departments and elected officials.

+Periodic reports on audits of internal controls should be presented by the auditorcontroller to the Board of Supervisors and the independent audit committee.

+Resources should be allocated to conduct audits of each county agency more frequently.