The
PA manages the court-ordered administration of estates for Orange County
decedents who do not have someone qualified or willing to act for them. The PA
is also responsible for General Relief Burials of indigent decedents, and
provides deceased indigent veterans an honorable burial.
Posted
By CotoBlogzz
Rancho Santa Margarita,
CA – as a result of a grand jury released a report (In 2008-2009, ) in
regards to the Public Guardian (PG) and
the Public Administrator (PA,)which at
the time was one single agency.
The PA manages the
court-ordered administration of estates for Orange County decedents that do not
have someone qualified or willing to act for them. The PA secures a decedent's
property, locates qualified heirs and/or beneficiaries, administers the decedent's
estate, and also processes claims for the decedent's creditors, marshals the
estate's assets, pays taxes on behalf of the estate, and transfers the estate's
assets to the decedent's heirs and/or beneficiaries. The PA investigates
referrals from the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner's Office, when there is
property left behind and the decedent's next of kin is not located. The PA is
also responsible for General Relief Burials of indigent decedents, and provides
deceased indigent veterans an honorable burial. The PA derives its operating
revenue from a small statutory commission for their services, and the bulk of
the funds are distributed to the heirs and/or beneficiaries by court order.
In March 2014, the PA
was assigned to the OCDA by the BOS to address and repair the mismanagement.
OCDA senior management and then-Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Henderson
was tasked with evaluating the agency and restructuring and rebuilding the PA
and inherited a large caseload backlog, an agency with low staff morale,
unnecessary top-heavy bureaucracy, and mismanagement where staff cuts were
routinely made year after year to make the yearly budget. Henderson had just
retired after 28 years with OCDA, including 10 years as the assistant district
attorney in charge of the Major Fraud Unit, five years as a homicide
prosecutor, and a record of over 100 jury trials, with wide administrative and personnel
experience. The BOS formally authorized her re-employment as an extra help
retiree to act as Interim Chief Deputy PA with a 4 to 1 vote. She was tasked to
manage the PA and hire a permanent Chief Deputy. She has since overseen the day
to day management including personnel decisions and discipline, reviewing and
re-structuring the PA office, recruitment, problem solving, and the interaction
with the PG and HCA.
Today, the Orange County
District Attorney (OCDA) announced today that the Public Administrator (PA) has
made big strides in improving the agency and has reduced its backlog
substantially after the OCDA was assigned the agency by the Orange County Board
of Supervisors (BOS) in 2014. The Orange County Grand Jury also made public
today a report titled, "Changing of the Guardian: Life after
Reorganization of the Public Administrator and Public Guardian Offices."
After the OCDA restructured the PA, the reported results according to the OCDA are:
·
The PA is now moving
real estate and personal property to auction more quickly and has held four
real property auctions since 2014 with an increased attendance,
·
The PA's backlog has
been reduced by 65 percent,
·
Held a well-publicized
old car auction which brought in approximately $130,000,
·
Increased the speed of
posting cars on Govdeals.com,
·
Launched a social media
campaign promoting the July 2016 auction of nine houses throughout Orange
County. For more information on the upcoming auction, please visit the PA
website at http://ocgov.com/gov/pa/div/realproperty/auctions/properties,
and
·
Has successfully managed
the 2015-2016 fiscal year budget to achieve needed revenues, while
simultaneously holding down administrative costs below budget, which means the
PA is now living within its means.
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