Drafter
Clerk 08/26/2025
Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to contract management and compliance monitoring protocols for the department of community and human services; and amending Ordinance 11955, Section 5, as amended, and K.C.C. 2.16.130.
Body
PREAMBLE:
1. On August 25, 2025, the King County auditor's office produced an audit report titled Department of Community and Human Services Needs to Strengthen Financial Stewardship, outlining the department's contract management practices for youth programs from 2022 to 2025.
2. The department has awarded more than $1.5 billion in grant funding in 2023 and 2024 combined, up from $22 million in 2019 and 2020.
3. Amid rapid growth in grant funding, the department of community and human services took on greater financial risk as a strategy to reduce contracting barriers among organizations with limited government experience.
4. The auditor's office found that the department could do more to manage its financial risk of these programs by applying internal controls more consistently.
5. The audit report revealed gaps in several areas including enforcement of contract terms, validation of invoices, and communication of expectations to staff and grantees.
6. The report noted that the department runs its own procurement processes to award these funds, resulting in contracts known as community grants. Unlike other contracts, community grants are outside the scope of King County's central procurement group, limiting independent oversight. In this environment, the department of community and human services faces a higher risk of fraud, waste, and abuse as it allocates public funds.
7. The King County council is dedicated to supporting the department of community and human services's' commitment to safeguarding public resources, by creating legislation that will provide more tangible measures to strengthen that work.
8. Ten recommendations were mentioned in the county auditor's report that highlight where improvements can be made and how they should be addressed.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Ordinance 11955, Section 5, as amended, and K.C.C. 2.16.130 are each hereby amended to read as follows:
A.1. The department of community and human services is responsible to manage and be fiscally accountable for the children, youth, and young adults division, the behavioral health and recovery division, the developmental disabilities and early childhood supports division, the adult services division, and the housing and community development division.
2.a. As part of its fiscal stewardship responsibility, the department shall develop, document, implement, and adhere to best practices regarding contract management and compliance monitoring, including, but not limited to, the department's current contract compliance monitoring policy to ensure that publicly-administered moneys are being used in a manner consistent with contract terms and conditions.
b. The department shall at least annually perform a risk assessment of its contract agencies receiving county-administered moneys and, in addition to general contract management and compliance monitoring activities, perform an in-person site visit of each contract agency at least once every three years. Site visits conducted in response to a complaint of suspected fraud, waste, or abuse of public moneys shall be prioritized by the department for scheduling and initiated as soon as possible.
B. The duties of the children, youth, and young adults division shall include the following:
1. Working in partnership with communities and other funders to develop, support, and provide human services that emphasize prevention, early intervention, and community education, and that strengthen children, youth, young adults, families, and communities in King County; and
2. Managing programs that promote healthy childhood development, enhance youth resiliency, reduce justice system involvement, strengthen families and communities, and ensure all children, youth, and young adults have the opportunity to achieve their full potentials. The division shall also provide staff to support the King County children and youth advisory board.
C. The duties of the behavioral health and recovery division shall, subject to available resources and to its exercise of discretionary prioritization, include the following:
1. Managing and operating a comprehensive continuum of behavioral health services including prevention, mental health, substance use disorder, and co-occurring disorder treatment services for children, youth, and adults who meet eligibility criteria;
2. Managing and operating a twenty-four-hour crisis response system, including civil commitment as a last resort;
3. Selecting appropriate agencies for the provision of behavioral health services and developing, implementing, and monitoring the provision and outcomes of contracted services;
4. Being responsible for resource management of a comprehensive behavioral health system including provision of staff support to appropriate advisory boards, and serving as liaison to federal, state, and other governments and relevant organizations in carrying out planning and allocation processes;
5. Facilitating the continuing availability of appropriate treatment services for eligible individuals with a diagnosis of a mental illness, substance use, or co-occurring disorder; and
6. Developing and maintaining a continuum of appropriate treatment services for eligible individuals.
D. The duties of the developmental disabilities and early childhood supports division shall include the following:
1. Managing and operating a system of services for infant mental health, early childhood development screening, and a system of services for persons with developmental disabilities in accordance with relevant state statutes and county policies and to provide staff support to the King County board for developmental disabilities; and
2. Negotiating, implementing, and monitoring contracts with community agencies for the provision of developmental disabilities and early childhood support services.
E. The duties of the adult services division shall include the following:
1. Working in partnership with communities to develop, support, and provide human services and programs that emphasize health and safety, self-sufficiency, and healthy aging. The programs are to include, but not be limited to, providing employment and training for adults to achieve self-sufficiency, providing supports to survivors of abuse and trauma, and providing health, socialization, and wellness services to promote healthy aging in place;
2. Providing assistance to indigent veterans and their families as authorized by chapter 73.08 RCW; and
3. Providing staff support for the women's advisory board as specified in K.C.C. 2.30.040 and for the veterans, seniors, and human services levy advisory board and its committees consistent with state and county requirements.
F. The duties of the housing and community development division shall include the following:
1. Managing programs that address housing and community development needs, and helping implement improvements identified in subarea and neighborhood plans for low-and-moderate income communities;
2. Administering the county's federal housing, homelessness, and community development moneys and other housing, homelessness, and community development moneys;
3. Developing housing, homelessness, and community development policies and programs to implement the growth management policies throughout King County to provide affordable housing to low-and moderate-income residents; and
4. Providing staff support for the renter's commission as specified in K.C.C. chapter 2.150.
SECTION 2. The department of community and human services shall offer, by no later than March 31, 2026, to provide a briefing to the committee of the whole, or its successor, to update the committee on the status of the department's contract management
and compliance monitoring activities, including, but not limited to, activities initiated consequent to any recommendations from the King County auditor's office.