Recreational Trail Immunity

By Alex Mellor, Senior Risk Manager

In the spirit of Henry David Thoreau and John Muir, National Hiking Day, November 17, brought opportunities to exercise and appreciate the peace and beauty of the natural world. The protection afforded by California’s recreational trail immunity empowers public entities to encourage residents to explore local trails without fear of liability.

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Under the California Tort Claims Act, public entities are afforded a variety of statutory immunities. One such immunity is recreational trail immunity, which shields public entities (and private property owners who grant public easements to public entities) from liability for injuries caused by a condition of any unpaved or paved recreational trail [¹] . This immunity exists to encourage public entities to allow their property to be used for recreational purposes without the fear of potential litigation resulting from public use of the property.

Located in northern San Diego County, City of San Marcos offers approximately 63 miles of multi-use recreational trails to residents and visitors. Stewardship of the trail network is a true community effort. While the city has park operations staff who maintain the trails, they are supported by park rangers who regularly hike the trails and provide education and assistance to the public. These efforts are further supported by the Friends of San Marcos Parks and Recreation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the city’s parks and recreation facilities.

According to Andrea Gonzalez, Recreation Program Manager with City of San Marcos, the city’s trail network is an invaluable community resource and has become even more important as community members seek safe and effective ways to recreate during the coronavirus pandemic.

“During the pandemic we have seen a 100% increase in the use of city trails. Residents who used to engage in other forms of recreation that are currently unavailable are now taking advantage of city trails.”

Gonzalez also highlighted the easy accessibility and mental health benefits of hiking and other outdoor modes of recreation.

“One of the great things about hiking is its inclusive nature. All you need is a pair of walking shoes and the motivation to get outside. Outdoor recreation also has benefits for mental health. Recreating in a natural environment stimulates feelings of relaxation and tranquility. I think that’s something we could all use in these challenging times.”

When asked what impact the absence of recreational trail immunity would have on the San Marcos community, Gonzalez didn’t beat around the bush.

“It would be devastating. If the city had to assume liability for injuries that occurred on our trails, the financial impact would be immense. Some or all of the trails might have to close and that would have a hugely negative impact on the San Marcos community.”

Recreational trail immunity is an absolute immunity that applies to the “condition” of the trail. However, it does not apply to conditions unrelated to and not part of the trail.  For example, in 2013, a branch fell from a eucalyptus tree and struck a woman while she was walking through Mission Bay Park in San Diego. An appeals court ultimately held that the city was not entitled to recreational trail immunity because the claim was not based on a condition of the trail itself, but rather on alleged negligent maintenance of the adjacent eucalyptus tree (Toeppe v. City of San Diego).

For any unpaved or paved trail on a public entity’s property, there is no duty to maintain the trail, or to warn of any condition of the trail, or liability for a hazardous condition of the trail. Conversely, for any paved trail, walkway, path or sidewalk on an easement granted to the public entity for the purpose of providing access to unimproved property, the public entity must reasonably attempt to provide adequate warnings of the existence of any condition that constitutes a hazard to health or safety.

In light of this, for any paved trail that provides access to unimproved property that is obtained through an easement, the following suggestions are made to help trail managers reduce their entity’s exposure to liability[²]  :

• Create comprehensive, written standards for trail-building and maintenance and adhere to them.
• Regularly inspect and maintain paved trails, and indefinitely retain documentation of inspections and corrective actions.
• Warn of known hazards by installing signage where appropriate.

For any trail, paved or unpaved, the following suggestions can be considered:

• Close trails if dangerous conditions such as wildfire, extreme heat, land movement, etc. exist.
• Install bollards or similar barriers at trailheads to prevent motorized vehicle access.
• Install informational signs at trailheads indicating authorized use. For example, e-bike use is permitted on some trails but not on others.
• Create an emergency plan that facilitates providing rapid assistance to trail users who may get into trouble. This can include ensuring first responders are familiar with the area, know how to locate and access trail users, and have access to any locked gates.
• Ensure that developed trailheads are ADA accessible. While certain individuals with disabilities may not be able to access the trail network, public entities have an obligation to ensure facilities such as restrooms and visitor centers are accessible.

To learn more about how Authority member agencies have leveraged trail immunity to provide increased recreational opportunities for their communities, click here or contact your assigned Risk Manager.

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[¹] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV&sectionNum=831.4.

[²] https://headwaterseconomics.org/wp-content/uploads/trails-library-legal-overview.pdf

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Assembly Bill 1963 – Expanded List of Mandated Reporters

By Maria Galvan, Senior Risk Manager

The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, or CANRA, (California Penal Code, Sections 11164-11174.3) requires employees who may have direct contact with or supervision of children (under the age of 18) in the course of their professional duties to report known or suspected child abuse or neglect. Child Abuse and/or Child Neglect can include any of the following:

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• A physical injury inflicted on a child by another person other than by accidental means.
• The sexual abuse, assault, or exploitation of a child.
• The negligent treatment or maltreatment of a child by a person responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances indicating harm or threatened harm to the child’s health or welfare. This is whether the harm or threatened harm is from acts or omissions on the part of the responsible person.
• The willful harming or endangerment of the person or health of a child, any cruel or inhumane corporal punishment or any injury resulting in a traumatic condition.

Failure to fully comply with CANRA reporting requirements subjects a mandated reporter to criminal and civil penalties.

Effective January 1, 2021, AB 1963 adds the following positions and training requirements to the current California Penal Code list of mandated reporters for businesses with five or more employees that employ minors:

(48) A human resource employee of a business subject to Part 2.8 (commencing with Section 12900) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code that employs minors. For purposes of this section, a “human resource employee” is the employee or employees designated by the employer to accept any complaints of misconduct as required by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 12940) of Part 2.8 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(49) An adult person whose duties require direct contact with and supervision of minors in the performance of the minors’ duties in the workplace of a business subject to Part 2.8 (commencing with Section 12900) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code is a mandated reporter of sexual abuse, as defined in Section 11165.1. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to modify or limit the person’s duty to report known or suspected child abuse or neglect when the person is acting in some other capacity that would otherwise make the person a mandated reporter.

Employers subject to paragraphs (48) and (49) of subdivision (a) shall provide their employees who are mandated reporters with training in the duties imposed by this article. This training shall include training in child abuse and neglect identification and training in child abuse and neglect reporting. The training requirement may be met by completing the general online training for mandated reporters offered by the Office of Child Abuse Prevention in the State Department of Social Services.

A complete list of positions defined as mandated reporters is provided in California Penal Code, Section 11165.7(a). As of the publication date of this article, the list has not been updated to reflect the positions added under AB 1963.  Along with the addition of these positions to the list, most members have other classifications meeting the definition of a mandated reporter, such as police and fire, code enforcement, childcare, parks and recreation, and senior center personnel. Thoroughly reviewing the list of positions and identifying your agency’s mandated reporters is advised. Employers must provide mandated reporters with a statement informing them of their obligations under the law (Penal Code §§ 11165.7, subdivision (c)(1); 11166.5, subdivision (a)).

Based on the face of the statute, the language may be perceived as ambiguous, and thus, interpretations may vary. As a best risk management practice, and to seek to ensure that employees understand their responsibilities under the law, the California JPIA recommends that all designated mandated reporters receive training in child abuse and neglect identification and reporting.

Free general, childcare, law enforcement, and volunteer mandated reporter training is available through the Child Abuse Mandated Reporter Training Project , funded by the California Department of Social Services and Office of Child Abuse Prevention. The California JPIA also offers instructor-led mandated reporter training. To schedule training, please contact Michelle Aguayo, Training Coordinator.

The California JPIA is committed to assisting member agencies and employees in following the requirements and understanding responsibilities under the law. Mandated Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting and Mandated Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse and Neglect Reporting policy templates are available in the Resource Library. The policy templates are intended to identify employees who are required to report child, elder, or dependent adult abuse under the law, set forth the timeline and procedures for making reports, identify safeguards for reporting parties, identify penalties for failing to comply with reporting obligations, and establish additional obligations of the member and its employees and volunteers.

If you have questions, please contact your assigned Risk Manager.

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Q&A with Dylan Feik, City Manager of Monrovia, and Recipient of Two 2020 ICMA Local Government Excellence Awards

The Authority takes great pleasure in highlighting the extraordinary things our members do. This month, we focus a spotlight on Monrovia and City Manager, Dylan Feik. The city is the recipient of two 2020 ICMA Local Government Excellence Awards, which recognize outstanding local government programs.

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Q. Could you give us some background on Monrovia for members not familiar with the city?

A. As the fourth oldest incorporated city in Los Angeles County, Monrovia is home to nearly 40,000 residents and nestled up against the San Gabriel Mountains. Monrovia maintains its small-town charm by: supporting our historic Old Town with events and programs; serving over 150 local historic landmarks and 2 unique historical districts; and maintaining over 1,500 acres of the Monrovia Hillside Wilderness Preserve, a dedicated open space across the northern end of the city. Our calls for service frequently include mountain lions and bears! Monrovia is a full-service city and works closely with California JPIA members Alhambra, Azusa, Bradbury, Duarte, La Canada Flintridge, San Gabriel, San Marino, and Sierra Madre.

Q. The city received a Program Excellence Award for Community Partnership for its GoMonrovia transportation program. Tell us what makes GoMonrovia a unique, affordable, and efficient way of providing transportation services to the community?

A. The city lacked a convenient, reliable method of transportation so most often, residents relied on their own private vehicles to meet their transit needs. Ridership levels on Monrovia Transit (the city’s historic bus service) were low, providing 39,000 rides per year, despite being an open system that allowed both residents and visitors to request rides within the city’s boundaries or to pre-approved medical centers within a 3-mile radius. With an average ridership of 3,243 passengers per month and an average trip length of 1.19 miles, it was costing the city around $19.70 per ride to operate Monrovia Transit. Monrovia Transit vehicles were often providing trips for one or two passengers in shuttle vans that could hold up to 12 people.

GoMonrovia served as a new mobility model for suburban communities across the country. Monrovia successfully transformed our traditional dial-a-ride model found in most suburban settings into an innovative, cost-effective, and user-friendly form of public transit. Whereas Monrovia used to provide 38,000 rides per year with its dial-a-ride program, we have now provided over 1.2 million rides since March 2018. The city was able to leverage the strengths of Lyft, in combination with retooling our dial-a-ride program to focus solely on serving ADA passengers, to provide a new form of public transit that is beneficial to all who live, work in, and visit Monrovia.

In terms of cost savings and efficiencies gained, the dial-a-ride program cost an average of $19.70 per ride. The current average prices on GoMonrovia is $4.13 per ride, a nearly 80% savings per trip.

Q. The city also received a Program Excellence Award for Monrovia Renewal, the city’s innovative multi-year initiative to prioritize street, sidewalk, water, and sewer system repairs and restore infrastructure to a healthy baseline state. Can you tell us about the initiative and the city’s focus on an issue that many cities find challenging to address?

A. As I frequently like to say, “The answer is money…now, what’s the question?” Similar to every other city, Monrovia’s aging infrastructure was plagued by a backlog of deferred maintenance with 65% of streets in less than satisfactory condition, and average Pavement Condition Index of 57.1%, and a significant backlog of cracked and undersized water and sewer lines increasingly prone to leaks and sewer overflows. At one point, the city averaged a water main break every other day. To assess the extent of needed repairs, the city commissioned four master plans to identify major deficiencies in the street, sidewalk, water, and sewer systems, respectively, and the estimated costs to restore these systems to healthy, reliable conditions the city can maintain going forward. The end result is Monrovia Renewal, an innovative five-year initiative comprising of $55.7 million in priority repairs to the city’s water and sewer pipelines, water facilities, and street system including sidewalk, curb/gutter, and driveway approach improvements. This initiative allowed the city to strategically prioritize repairs where they will have the greatest impact in our community and restore our infrastructure to a healthy baseline state, which can then be proactively maintained moving forward at a reduced cost to improve fiscal stability. Throughout implementation, the city planned and executed the work, from coordinating all underground work prior to street repairs to reduce the number of pavement cuts, to performing sidewalk repairs using a cost-effective diamond-cutting technique as an alternative to removal and replacement. The project incorporated public input and participation throughout and included regular, weekly updates showing street closures, parking availability, and overall coordination of construction activities across 13 square miles. Since the Monrovia Renewal began in the summer of 2015, the city has successfully completed infrastructure improvements to more than 90% of the project areas throughout the city, while keeping the community engaged along the way. Our recent PCI assessment rated our street condition at 87.3% and we still have one section left to complete!

To finance the project, the city utilized revenue bonds, utility fee revenues and successfully committed funding to the project.

Q. Are there additional programs or initiatives that the city will be exploring or implementing in the future?

A. We are always pushing ourselves to get better. “Pursuit of Excellence” is our vision and with that vision comes change, goal setting, and pursuing hard things. The city created an ad hoc Committee on Equity & Inclusion to look at our current and past practices which are barriers to equity and racial justice. Out of this plan is coming new reforms, hiring practices, ADA Transition Plan and implementation, and much more. Construction is beginning on our Station Square Transit Village, a visionary project which includes over 2,200 new residential housing units, +30,000 sq. ft. of office space and if that’s not enough, we’re adding a 170-room hotel. We purchased our first cadre of electric vehicles and are preparing plans to install EV charging stations throughout the community. Finally, in November 2019, residents approved Measure K, a ¾ cent sales tax increase which will generate up to $4.5m in perpetuity. This general purpose tax revenue will be annually allocated with an emphasis on addressing infrastructure, building reserves and enhancing community partnership programs like our award-winning Monrovia Garden Pilot Program and Housing Displacement Response Plan. I could not be more proud of our City Council and the staff who lead in times of change. I look forward to big things in Monrovia.

Q. A focus as a member of the California JPIA is on risk management and reducing the cost of risk for members.  What is your overall risk management philosophy, and how do you promote it within your organization?

A. To me, risk management isn’t a “thing you do,” but rather a frame of mind. Much like finance or emergency management/mitigation, I believe managers should learn these important skillsets to assist with overall leadership and management of an organization. When ideas are presented, does a manager consider the risk involved, much like the way we consider costs of the effort? Do we review and ensure appropriate forms, waivers, and indemnification agreements are in place? During the first few months of my current position, we invited the California JPIA to do the onsite risk assessment with all of our departments participating. It sends a positive message to everyone when the manager shows care towards risk management. We also require certain California JPIA risk management trainings for all employees and attempt to build a culture that “risk management is everyone’s job.”

Q. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and budgetary constraints facing local governments, how do you keep risk management as a top goal for your organization?

A. At the onset of the pandemic, the city’s leadership team came together and discussed a shared approach as we lead through uncertain times. We developed key goals like “employee safety first,” and “set an example for other cities to follow.” We also knew the pandemic would pass so we would take care of our employees always, knowing decisions about furloughs and layoffs would never be considered until the most dire times. The approach was shared across the organization so we could give employees at least something concrete…the city leadership approach. We developed our own Workplace Safety Plans back in April to share with the staff exactly what we were doing to protect them. During the pandemic, our organization shifted 26% of our workforce to remote work while the remaining staff continued their field services (police, fire, and public works). We did this to reduce face-to-face interactions with the public. We implemented online crime reporting so we could reduce law enforcement daily interactions down from approx. 60 to 20 per shift. We isolated employee workgroups from each other to prevent community spread while also creating a daily “Monrovia Strong” newsletter to enhance employee connectivity while we remained isolated. We transitioned most every other city service to virtual service delivery – planning & building, crime reporting, records requests, utility billing and much more. We’ve been afforded time and opportunity to think critically about how we do things well, and where we can improve. Employee safety was always the #1 priority and I believe employees would agree.

Q. Final thoughts?

A. One of the most profound messages I received as a youth was “Dylan, go thrive in awkwardness.” That message encourages me daily as we lead through uncertain times. There is an abundance of leadership and excellence occurring right now in Monrovia but also throughout the state and country. I hope to continue learning about how other managers are demonstrating excellence during these uncertain times.

Congratulations to Dylan Feik and the City of Monrovia.

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Beatriz Dieringer Elected League of California Cities Women’s Caucus President

The California JPIA congratulates Rolling Hills Mayor Pro Tem Beatriz (Bea) Dieringer, elected to a one-year term as president of the League of California Cities Women’s Caucus. She has been a member of the Women’s Caucus Board of Directors since 2017. The Women’s Caucus, a non-partisan organization of local public officials, advances women as leaders and advocates for issues affecting the well-being of women throughout the state.

“The City of Rolling Hills applauds Mayor Pro Tem Dieringer’s election as president of the League of California Cities Women’s Caucus,” said Rolling Hills City Manager Elaine Jeng. “Mayor Pro Tem Dieringer is very involved with regional issues. She provides the city with external perspectives with respect to risk management, crime prevention, and policy insights through her engagements with industry organizations. The city commends her work for the community of Rolling Hills and for local government throughout California.”

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First elected to the Rolling Hills City Council in March 2013, Dieringer was selected as mayor in 2016 and elected to a third consecutive four-year term this year. She represents Rolling Hills on the California JPIA’s Board of Directors, the California Contract Cities Association’s legislative committee, and the South Bay Cities Council of Governments’ board of directors. She also serves as a member of the legislative committee for the Los Angeles Division of the League of California Cities.

“As a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, Mayor Pro Tem Dieringer provides an added layer of risk management to the City of Rolling Hills’ policies and practices to minimize risks,” said Jeng. “She encourages the city to seek resources from the California JPIA whenever possible, and highly values and often attends training opportunities designed by the California JPIA.”

“The City of Rolling Hills is committed to protecting the public from injury and liability through active review of contracts, prompt attention to claims, and compliance with mandated programs,” said Senior Risk Manager Melaina Francis. “Mayor Pro Tem Dieringer’s knowledge of and advocacy for risk management best practices will be an asset to her new role as League of California Cities Women’s Caucus President.”

Dieringer’s Women’s Caucus leadership team includes two additional California JPIA members: Second Vice President Rachelle Arizmendi, mayor pro tem, City of Sierra Madre, and Director-at-Large Cheryl Viegas-Walker, councilmember, City of El Centro.

Congratulations, Mayor Pro Tem Dieringer, on your election as president of the League of California Cities Women’s Caucus!

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