18100-18110
WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE
SECTION 18100-18110
18100. In each county, except where county boards of public welfare or boards or officials with like powers are otherwise provided under a charter, the board of supervisors may constitute a county board of public welfare. 18101. The board of supervisors making the appointments shall designate one member to serve for one year, two for two years, two for three years, and two for four years, and upon the resignation or expiration of the term of each, his successor shall in like manner be appointed for the term of four years. Appointments to fill vacancies caused by death, resignation, or removal shall be made for the residue of such terms in the same manner as the original appointments. 18102. The members of the county board of public welfare shall serve without compensation, and no person shall be appointed or shall serve on such board who is in any manner officially connected with any charitable or correctional institution within the county and supported wholly or partly at public expense. 18103. The clerk of the board of supervisors shall notify each person appointed to the county board of public welfare of his appointment. Within one week after receiving the notice, the persons so appointed shall appear before a judge of the superior court and qualify by taking an oath faithfully to perform to the best of their ability the duties of members of the county board of public welfare. Within one month after receiving such notice, they shall meet and organize by electing a chairman and a secretary from their own number. The secretary shall file a report of such organization, signed by himself and by the chairman, with the clerk of the board of supervisors, for the information of the board, and shall send a copy of the report to each state department having jurisdiction over any institution or function subject to supervision, inspection, or other control by the county board of public welfare. 18104. The board of supervisors shall appropriate and allow a sum, not exceeding fifty dollars ($50) each year, for the actual expenses of the county board of public welfare for stationery, blanks, postage stamps, traveling, and other necessary incidental expenses, presented and sworn to by its secretary, and approved by the board of supervisors. 18105. The county board of public welfare shall meet quarterly and as much oftener as it deems necessary. It may make such rules for the regulation of its own proceedings as it deems proper. 18106. Whenever the annual report of the board of public welfare to the board of supervisors shows that any member has been absent from two consecutive quarterly meetings, such member shall be deemed to have resigned from the board, and the board of supervisors shall thereupon fill the vacancy caused by such resignation as provided in Section 18101. 18107. At least once each quarter and as much oftener as it deems necessary, the board of public welfare, as a body or by committee, shall visit and inspect the county hospital, the county infirmary or relief home for the aged, and the county jail. As often as it deems proper, or as it is directed by the board of supervisors or by a judge of the superior court, the board shall visit and inspect, in like manner, each jail or lockup in the county, and any charitable or correctional institution in the county, which receives any support from county funds. It shall examine every department of each institution visited and shall ascertain its condition as to effective and economical administration, and the cleanliness, discipline, and comfort of its inmates. It shall carefully study the rules prescribed by the board of supervisors for the control of each county institution, and the suggestions offered by the state departments having jurisdiction over the respective institutions, and shall ascertain whether or not such rules are being complied with. 18108. The board of public welfare may make suggestions for improving the administration to the persons in charge of such county institutions, and may report to the board of supervisors, or to any other official having jurisdiction, any facts which the board believes such officials should know. If the board of public welfare or one of its committees finds in any institution any condition contrary to public policy and good order, or which it believes is injurious to the county or to the inmates of the institution, it shall report such condition to the board of supervisors or to any other officials having jurisdiction, stating the facts observed and suggesting remedies. 18109. On or before the first Monday in March, June, September, and December of each year, the county board of public welfare shall make a report in writing to the grand jury of the county, if there is any, and if there is none, the board shall file the report with the district attorney who shall present it to the first grand jury thereafter constituted, as soon as impaneled and sworn. Annually on or before the first Monday in June of each year, the board shall present a report to the board of supervisors, which shall be filed as a public document with its clerk. In such annual report the county board of public welfare shall include a report of the attendance of each member of the board at each of its quarterly meetings. 18110. Whenever the county board of public welfare presents any report to the board of supervisors concerning an institution or function under the jurisdiction of any state department, it shall at the same time transmit a copy of such report to the state department having jurisdiction over the institution or function.