Correcting Misinformation

During public comment at board meetings and in other venues, we continue to hear misinformation about various aspects of the County's policies and operations. Below is a list of corrections to some of this misinformation, with the most recently added corrections provided at the top.

14. Myth: The County refuses to release video from the Board of Supervisors’ January 2022 workshop.

The Board’s workshop was not included in our contract with Nevada County Digital Media Center (NCDMC) as it is not normally live streamed. However, due to Covid protocols in place at the time, the County requested the additional service of live streaming the workshop which was available to the public and the media for viewing during the event. Unlike regular and special Board of Supervisors’ meetings during which action is taken, the annual workshop is informational only; for this reason, written minutes (rather than a recorded video) are the official record of the event. These minutes can be found here Version OptionsCorrecting MisinformationHeadline. We recently learned that a saved recording of the livestream is accessible, and have uploaded it to that same link Version OptionsCorrecting MisinformationHeadline. [Added 5/19/2022] 

13. Myth: Nevada County is tracking children through contact tracing.

Fact: Contact tracing does not involve tracking anyone. “Tracing” involves a voluntary interview with the COVID-positive individual to determine who they may have been in contact with during their infectious period so that close contacts can be notified and provided guidance and resources. We have no ability or desire to track anybody. 

Additional Information:

• Contact Tracing: This is a long-standing practice to limit the spread of communicable disease. This involves contacting people who have tested positive (or their parents/guardians in the case of children) and connecting them with information and resources to help them manage their illness. This process also includes voluntarily interviewing them to determine if they have been in close contact with others during their infectious period who need to be notified of their possible exposure, and following up with those close contacts as needed. 
• Nobody is Tracked: Contact tracing does not involve tracking people. “Tracing” involves a voluntary interview with the COVID positive individual to determine who they may have been in contact with during their infectious period so that close contacts can be notified and provided guidance and resources. We have no ability or desire to track anybody.
• Participation is Voluntary: The people who are contacted are those who have sought out a COVID-19 PCR test and received a positive result. They are contacted using the information they voluntarily provided specifically for the purpose of follow-up. They do not have to respond to that follow-up or provide any information. We do not track anyone, nor do we have the ability to do so. After three failed attempts to make contact, there is no more follow-up with these individuals unless they reach back out to the Public Health Department. 
• We Only Talk to Adults: Neither Rapid Trace nor the county talk to minors. Again, contact tracers reach out to people using the information they provided, and if they reach a minor they ask to talk to an adult or make an attempt at a later time or using a different mode. 
• Access to Data: Rapid Trace staff do not have access to any of the information obtained through the contact tracing and investigation process. Rapid Trace staff worked as part of a team with county staff, and input data directly into the state required CalCONNECT system. This is the same system required to be used by county staff involved in contact tracing, and is governed by stringent HIPAA and confidentiality requirements. Access is limited to those who need it to fulfill their duties and have been properly authorized. No Rapid Trace staff have ongoing access to CalCONNECT or any of the data obtained through contact tracing. Even while the contract was active, Rapid Trace staff had their access toggled on and off so that they only had access when they needed it to actively work cases.
• Reporting: Because Rapid Trace worked alongside County staff and in the state-required computer system, their work was directly observable on a daily basis, and reportable in CalCONNECT. As such, requiring them to provide reports of their activity would have been duplicative of our direct observation and our ability to run reports and quality checks ourselves. As a courtesy, we have run a report of the activities of Rapid Trace staff in the CalCONNECT system. The data below shows initial interview attempts by Rapid Trace staff and the outcome. A “case” is someone who had a positive PCR test result, and a “contact” is someone identified by a case as having been a close contact. Again, talking to contact tracers is voluntary, and these individuals were not ever tracked by County staff or our contractors. 

• Status of the County's Contract with Rapid Trace for COVID-19 Contact Tracing: The County no longer has an active contract with Rapid Trace. All activity under the contract ceased at the end of March 2022, when pandemic-related case investigation and contact tracing declined significantly, and the contract is not being renewed or extended.

[Updated 6/2/2022]

12. Myth: The County's contact tracing vendor for COVID-19 is a military organization.

• While the parent company to Rapid Trace holds contracts with the military, these contracts are not related to or connected in any way with the contact tracing/case investigation contracts they hold with the county and other jurisdictions. The county is subject to strict confidentiality laws and regulations, and these are passed along to Rapid Trace through their contractual agreement with the County.
• Rapid Trace is a DBA of Over the Ridge, LLC and is a Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. 
  • Over the Ridge, LLC appears to also provide military training and offers national security services, but these are separate from and unrelated to the contact tracing services they provide the County. 
• Rapid Trace gathered professionals with healthcare and military leadership experience to help address contact tracing staffing shortages across the country and work to support public health efforts to mitigate COVID-19. 
• Rapid Trace teams are skilled interviewers and are cognizant of the need for sensitivity, and understand the importance of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and the assurance of patient confidentiality. 
• In our experience, they have been able to respond quickly and effectively to the unpredictable demands of this pandemic. 
• Many of the Rapid Trace staff assigned to Nevada County are recent college graduates who are eager to learn, quickly trained, empathetic, tech-savvy, and committed to supporting our department and our partners. [Added 2/7/2022]

11. Myth: Nevada County leadership / executive salaries are out of line with their peers.

Fact: The County of Nevada uses a systematic process to determine and maintain competitive salaries for all our positions. To do this, at least once every three years, we compare all our salaries to eight counties with similar demographics, population size and economy to ensure we maintain an average salary range that is competitive and ensures we can recruit qualified candidates for our positions. The comparative counties are, Butte, El Dorado, Mendocino, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba. In addition to salaries, we provide healthcare and a retirement plan through the State’s retirement system called CalPERS. The base salary combined with these benefits is what we call “total compensation.” The total compensation of every public employee in California is listed on a website called Transparent California because public employees’ compensation is a matter of public interest. 

The County of Nevada’s County Executive Officer (CEO’s) salary was surveyed in 2018. The result of this survey found the salary was 4.07% behind the average of the CEO/CAO (County Executive Officer or, sometimes called the County Administrative Officer) salaries of our eight comparative counties. The salary has been adjusted modestly in fiscal years 2021-2024 by 2% and receives the same equity cost-of-living adjustments of the subordinate department heads to prevent salary compaction. The current salary of the County of Nevada’s County Executive Officer is $248,545.62 per year. [Added 1-29-2022]

10. Myth: The salary of the Public Health Officer (PHO) is not consistent with other counties ($90K was quoted for the City of Sacramento’s PHO).

Fact: The County of Nevada failed to recruit a PHO twice before finding Dr. Cooke. Her rate is consistent with other recently negotiated Public Health Officer salaries and reflects the current market rates. This is an exceptionally challenging time to hire physicians, particularly those with specialties such as Public Health. 

The City of Sacramento does not have a PHO – all local public health duties in California are performed by 61 local health jurisdictions, consisting of 58 counties and 3 cities – Berkeley, Pasadena and Long Beach. The current salary for the Sacramento County PHO actually tops out at $264,444 per year for salary only. This amount does not include benefits, overhead or ancillary costs such as travel, which are expenses directly incurred by contractors, and thus are factored into hourly rates. When you factor in a rate of between 35% to 50% for benefits, the compensation of the Sacramento County PHO rises to between $357,000 and $396,667 per year. This still does not include travel and overhead but, clearly, the cost of Sacramento County’s PHO is significantly more than $90,000 per year.  

9. Myth: The county has only addressed the pandemic by promoting vaccinations and masking restrictions that limit freedom.

Fact: The County recommends non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), as well as pharmaceutical interventions (i.e., vaccines). The recommended NPIs include masking, distancing, avoiding indoor gatherings, testing when symptomatic, treatment when ill, staying home when ill, and maintaining overall health. The public health department does not provide treatment to COVID-19 patients but does serve as a liaison and resource to local healthcare providers who wish to request FDA-approved treatments (that are sometimes provided via California Department of Public Health).

8. Myth: The County requires masks, which are not effective against the COVID-19 virus.

Fact: There is a significant amount of data supporting the effectiveness of masks in preventing the transmission of COVID-19, which the California Department of Public Health cites in their masking guidance:  https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/guidance-for-face-coverings.aspx.  

7. Myth: The County has not provided transparency in its operations and use of federal COVID funds.

Fact: All County expenditures must derive from an adopted budget before they can be incurred. The fiscal year budget (July 1 – June 30) is adopted in a public meeting by a Board of Supervisors’ resolution, following a public hearing, which is advertised to the public no fewer than 10 days prior to said hearing. Changes to the adopted budget may only be made by Board of Supervisors’ resolution in a public meeting, requiring a 4/5 affirmative vote. These actions are always taken in public meeting and are open to public comment. The publicly elected auditor-controller will not authorize expenses that do not derive from a Board-established budget.

Federal funding provided to the County in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency does not circumvent the requirements for expenditure authority as described above. All expenditures related to the CARES Act (CRF) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding have been presented to the Board of Supervisors as presentations (i.e., not on the consent agenda) and were then adopted by a Board of Supervisors resolution requiring a 4/5 affirmative vote. A robust public transparency portal for both CRF and ARPA has been active on the County’s website since April of 2021 at https://www.mynevadacounty.com/ARPA.

6. Myth: The Board of Supervisors voted to increase taxes on Truckee residents (Measure T).

Fact: On August 10, 2021 the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution proclaiming its support for Measure T, a ballot measure proposed by the Truckee Fire Protection District - not the County of Nevada. Registered voters in the Truckee Fire Protection District, which spans both Placer and Nevada Counties, voted overwhelmingly to increase taxes on themselves by passing Measure T with 82.65% of Placer County voters in support and 78.52% of Nevada County voters in support (for an overall yes vote of 78.93%). The proponent of the initiative was made clear in the text of the ballot, which read, “To reduce the risk of wildfire/improve wildfire prevention, including removing dry brush, dead trees, fuels and fire hazards; improving emergency evacuation systems, routes and procedures; supporting defensible space around homes, neighborhoods and critical infrastructure, providing more green waste disposal options; shall the Truckee Fire Protection District measure levying $179 per parcel for eight years be adopted, providing $3,700,000 annually in locally-controlled funding for wildfire protection, with independent audits, exemptions for low-income residents, and citizen oversight?

5. Myth: The Board of Supervisors is not committed to transparency and public participation.

Fact: The Board of Supervisors’ regular meetings are set in a resolution that is passed at the first meeting of each year, in January. The board can hold special meetings, as needed, but regular meetings are rarely canceled, as doing so negatively impacts the County's ability to carry out its business. Meetings can be viewed live on TV at Channel 17 (Comcast) and Channel 17 and 78 (Suddenlink), as well as on the live stream accessed through the County website. Anyone not able to attend in person can provide comment via eComment (this tool is available from the time the agenda is posted until 4 pm the day before the meeting), or by phone (see the meeting agenda for the call-in number).

When a snowstorm is forecast, Facilities staff arrives on location between 3 and 4 am, depending on the severity of the anticipated storm. At the Rood Center, staff and hired contractors use heavy equipment to remove snow from the parking lot, walkways, and entrances. Around 5:30 am, the facilities director, IGS director, and CEO assess the situation and determine whether the facilities are safe to open for staff and the public. This is based on progress clearing the lot, sidewalks and entrances, local road conditions, and the current and forecast snow fall rate. The building closure public information line (530-470-2641 for Western Nevada County) is then updated. If closed, the media is also notified. The County does not coordinate closure decisions with local schools, as different factors affect our ability to operate.

4. Myth: The County continues to withhold relevant requested data.

Fact: The California Public Records Act (“PRA”) guarantees the public has access to records of governmental bodies. Anyone can make a PRA request and the County is legally required to respond to that request. Over the past 18 months, numerous citizens and groups have made PRA requests for records related to COVID-19. The County has complied with its legal obligation and responded to all these requests.  In doing so, the County has provided requesters with thousands of pages of records.  These records include every Board of Supervisor-action related to COVID-19. The County has also provided public health records and financial information, including transaction-level data for the County’s Coronavirus Relief Fund expenditures and summaries of how the County compiled that data. Where the County has not had responsive records, or where it could not legally release records to the general public (e.g., confidential records such as death certificates), the County has assisted requesters by directing them to other entities that may have those records, or informed them of other processes through which the records may be obtained.

3. Myth: The County will use drones to infringe on privacy rights.

Fact: The Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Program is a pilot program only for verification and enforcement of unpermitted cannabis cultivation. Privacy rights were a consideration in developing the UAS pilot program procedures. The tool can only be used to take photographs of unpermitted cannabis cultivation and associated violations. No photographs or video recording of persons will be captured. Data collection and retention is consistent with current department policy and as allowed by law.

2. Myth: The oath of office is not valid.

Fact: All of the oaths taken by the board and county counsel are on file and are consistent with legal mandates. The California Supreme Court ruled that only the first paragraph of the oath listed in section 3, article XX of the California Constitution is valid, and the 2nd paragraph was held to be invalid. (Vogel v. Los Angeles County, 68 Cal. 2d 18, 26 (1967).)

1. Myth: The County will not provide copies of the supervisors' oaths of office.

Fact: Any member of the public can obtain this information by submitting a public records request to the clerk of the board at 530-265-1480 or through the website at: County of Nevada Public Records Requests.