Board of Supervisors — 2026-01-27

All right, good morning. I'll call the order. The January 27, 2026 meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Hartmann moves approval.

Second. Okay, so motion from Hartmann, second from Lee. Roll call vote, please.

Motion passes unanimously.

The next item of business is the CEO's report. Do we have a report today?

Good morning Chair Nelson and board members. I have just two announcements or actually one announcement and we have another edition of our video series this morning. The first announcement is just recognizing our public health department. They recently were recognized by being awarded a 2025 operational site visit badge which recognizes it's their commitment to high quality care, strong operations, and continued service to the community from the Federal Health Center Program. So it's quite an achievement to reach full compliance and get that recognition.

The second is I'm pleased to share another video in our 175th anniversary series which highlights the history of Santa Barbara County. As you know these videos air on channel 20 throughout the week and are featured in our monthly county newsletter on CSB TV YouTube page and across our social media channels in both English and Spanish. This latest video focuses on natural disasters that have impacted our county and is another good reminder to sign up for emergency alerts through the county at ReadySBC.org which is on the screen. So let's take a look.

Welcome to Santa Barbara County, a place with immense natural beauty and rich history. Founded in 1850 as one of California's original counties. Join us as we acknowledge the 175th anniversary of the County of Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara County has always lived at the intersection of beauty and risk. Our landscape defines us, and it also shapes the disasters we face.

Santa Barbara County has experienced many natural disasters in its 175 years. In 1925, Santa Barbara County experienced an estimated 6.8 earthquake, which damaged or destroyed 600 buildings. Additionally, we have had, unfortunately, other significant impacts in our county. I think some of the ones that really sit with the community are some of our largest fires.

So what you see on this map here, I'm pointing to, is just how unique the microclimates of Santa Barbara County are governed in large part by the terrain. And you can see in the brown area here, that's the San Yanez Range. That really determines the microclimates when we talk about sundowner winds. These canyons, the dry downslope winds, is what brings such a dangerous conditions in terms of hotter temperatures, but also for the wildfire threat. The fire

officials worried about a big one, and the big one is happening right now.

From a historical standpoint for Santa Barbara County, in terms of wildfires, a few really come to mind, starting with the legendary Painted Cave Fire in 1990. That's kind of like the benchmark for all major wildfires. And what made that such a unique fire is it was very fast-moving that jumped the 101 Freeway and really impacted very urbanized areas of the South Coast. As we come to more modern times, some notable fires would include the Tea Fire and the Hesed Cedar Fire. Hesed Cedar being a May fire, that was 100 degrees temperature, so very hot.

Whereas the Tea Fire occurred in November, so an example of a fall sun down or wind event. And then even closer in time was the Thomas Fire. When you have the fires, not only do you have that threat, but what happens with the burn scar after the fires. When you lose the vegetation, there's going to be greater runoff. It doesn't take as much rainfall or rain intensity, but every time there's a burn scar, those areas are going to be much more at risk for significant flooding and debris flow.

Santa Barbara County has historically been susceptible to debris flows, landslides, flooding. You go back to 1969, one of the most significant events prior to what we're more familiar with more recently, the 1-9 debris flow in Montecito, which took 23 of our community members' lives.

And it's not just rain and fire. The county faces other natural hazards that can cause major damage, including high surf, coastal flooding and erosion, wind events and earthquakes. Every natural disaster leaves lessons behind. By understanding our hazards, we strengthen how we protect our community

in the future. Our hazard mitigation plan, as well as the county's climate vulnerability assessment, looks at what type of disasters we have risk at, and some of those disasters are increasing in their risk and probability. One of the reasons why we come together in the Emergency Operations Center is because we want to bring everyone together, sharing information, making sure we have a consistent message that supports the community, what they need to be doing to stay safe, and how to recover after that disaster. It is so important that community members consider registering for alerts at ReadySVC.org. Go to our website. Check out our new evacuation zones map. Know where you are in the community. Know multiple ways how you can get out of your community.

And the last one that I think is so important, know who around you in your neighborhood might need help in that disaster and make sure you're ready and able to help them if you can.

And once again if we could thank Kelsey Butita who put that together for us. And I also want to acknowledge the person you saw on there and that's Kelly Hubbard. Thank you Kelly for all your work on that as well.

That concludes my report. Thank you CEO Miyasato. All right Madam Clerk are there any announcements or changes to our agenda today?

Chair Nelson and members of the board, I do have a few announcements this morning. We received a request from the department to withdraw administrative item number 17. Administrative item number 17 is from fire. It is regarding a local cooperative fire protection agreement number 26-FI11050700002 between the Santa Barbara County Fire Department and the United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, Forest Service, Los Padres National Forest, This withdrawal request has been posted online and made available to both the board and the public.

Additionally, please be advised that Chair Nelson has indicated he will be rearranging the order of today's departmental agenda. Departmental items will be heard in the following order. Departmental item number one, regarding the extra help service and retirement waiver for the Sheriff's Office. Departmental item number two, progress update on the One Climate Initiative.

To be followed by Departmental Item Number 5, Ordinance Streamlining and Housing Accommodation Amendments. To be followed by our closed session. Next we will have Departmental Item Number 4, First Quarter Update on Cannabis Taxation Permitting and Licensing. And our final item of the day will be Departmental Item Number 3, The Conclusion of the Enterprise Pilot Program. For those of you listening, we are just switching the order of Departmental Item Number 3 and Number 5.

And lastly, for information on the Board of Supervisors' methods of public participation and instructions on how to provide public comment on items listed on today's agenda or during general public comment, please refer to page 2 of the agenda. Individuals that would like to provide verbal public comment may do so via Zoom by registering in advance via the link available on page 2. If you have any questions, please contact the Clerk of the Board's Office at 805-568-2240 Again, that number is 805-568-2240. If the board would please include the withdrawal of administrative item number 17 to the balance of the administrative agenda, that concludes my announcements for today. All right.

So we'll make sure we do that. The next item of the business is the administrative agenda. Would any board members like to pull any items? I'd like to pull A34, please. All right. And do I have? A20. A20. All right. And do we have any items being pulled by the public?

Chair Nelson and members of the board, we have item A20 pulled by a few members of our public. Yes.

All right, so I'll go ahead and take a motion to pass the balance of the administrative agenda with the withdrawal of item number 17 and items 20 and 34, which will be spread separately. So moved. Second. Motion by Lavagnino, second by Hartmann. Can we get a roll call vote, please?

Motion passes unanimously. All

right, thank you. At this point, we'll now go move on to our board resolutions. And the first one up is Board Administrative Item Number 1. Will you please read that in the record, Madam Clerk?

Chair Nelson and members of the board, administrative item number one is sponsored by Supervisor Hartmann. It is to adopt a resolution of commendation honoring the Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation, its Board of Directors, and its volunteers for their outstanding service and dedication to the community. And joining us in person today, we have Linda Greco from the Santa Barbara County Animal Foundation Board President.

And a few of the Board of Directors as well. And if you can all make your way to the podium and I'll go ahead and read the resolution. Whereas the Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation was established in 2002 to assist and benefit the animals of Santa Barbara County and whereas since its founding the Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation has demonstrated steadfast dedication by raising funds and implementing programs that benefit both animals and residents of the county.

And whereas the Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation has been operated entirely by committed volunteers who generously contribute their time, expertise, and energy in service of animal welfare. And whereas through its efforts, the Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation has raised millions of dollars and positively impact the lives of thousands of animals and people.

And whereas Santa Barbara County is deeply grateful for the support of a non-profit partner whose contributions have been essential to the success of one of the county's key programs, animal services. Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors and the County of Santa Barbara does hereby honor and commend the Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation, its Board of Directors, and its volunteers for their outstanding service and dedication to the community passed and adopted today.

Good morning Chair, Supervisors, and friends. On behalf of the Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation, thank you for this tremendous honor. Being recognized by our County Board of Supervisors is deeply meaningful. To all of us who believe how a community treats its animals reflects the very best of who we are. We are truly grateful, not only for this recognition, but for your continued support of Animal Welfare across our county. Your leadership, advocacy, commitment makes it possible for life-saving work to happen every single day.

We exist for one simple reason, to support the animals and the people who care for them. We work hand-in-hand with Santa Barbara County Animal Services to provide medical care, enrichment, emergency support, and second chances for animals who have nowhere else to turn. We choose to share this recognition with the dedicated Animal Services staff, who show up day after day with compassion, professionalism, and heart.

Animal welfare is not easy work. It is joyful, heartbreaking, exhausting, and expiring, sometimes all in the same day. It requires patience, collaboration, resources, and above all, a belief that every life has value. The county has demonstrated that belief time and time again and we thank you for that. What makes Santa Barbara County special is the way public service and community support come together. Our foundation is powered by donors, volunteers, rescue partners, veterinarians, and advocates. Quiet heroes who bottle feed kittens at 2 a.m., open their homes to frightened dogs, fund life-saving surgeries, and say yes when it would be easier to say not now.

This recognition tells them their efforts matter. It tells them that the county sees, values, and stands beside them. To our Board of Supervisors, thank you for recognizing that animal care is not a side issue. It's a community issue. It touches public health, safety, education, Your support helps ensure animals are treated humanely, families are supported, and our shelter can continue towards a future where every adoptable animal finds a home.

We want to acknowledge the partnership between the County and the Foundation. Strong partnerships are built on trust, shared goals, and mutual respect, and we are proud of the relationship we have. Together we've increased life-saving outcomes, expanded programs, and strengthened the safety net for animals and people alike. This moment of recognition is not an ending.

It is encouraging us to keep going. There's still work to be done, still animals waiting, still opportunities to do better and reach farther. And with partners like you, we are confident that we can. In closing, thank you for believing in our mission. For honoring this work and for helping make Santa Barbara County a place where compassion is not just spoken, it is practiced.

We accept this recognition with gratitude, humility, and renewed commitment to the animals, the community, and the values we all share. Thank you very much.

Thank you Linda. Stay here one more moment.

I just wanted to add my personal thanks for the wonderful event that you held this year and underscore millions of dollars that we wouldn't have otherwise and I think between the lines tens of thousands of hours of volunteer effort and so it lifts all of us up and so thank you so much on behalf of the board.

Thank you. And Madam Clerk, will you please read Administrative Item Number 2 into the record?

Chair Nelson and members of the Board, Administrative Item Number 2 is sponsored by Supervisor Lavagnino. It is to adopt a resolution honoring Lorena Chavez upon her retirement from the County Health Department after over 29 years of faithful and dedicated service to the citizens of Santa Barbara County. And joining us in person today, we have Lorena Chavez. If you can please make your way to the podium.

And anyone else you'd like to join with you, I'll go ahead and read the resolution. Whereas Lorena has dedicated 29 years of service to the residents of Santa Barbara County, serving in roles such as health service aide and medical assistant at the Santa Maria Health Care Center since 2005. Throughout this tenure, Lorena has contributed to multiple departments, including obstetrics, gynecology, adult medicine, pediatrics, the homeless shelter clinic, and retinal screening services. Lorena has consistently sought opportunities to address challenges and implement solutions, thereby making a meaningful impact on patients' lives.

And whereas at Santa Maria Health Care Center, Lorena worked in multiple departments, which enabled her to deliver high-quality care. She also educated patients, parents, and caregivers to promote better outcomes. At the homeless shelter, she recognized the challenges of homelessness and ensured individuals receive compassionate care. And whereas Lorena trained and served as an electronic health records EPIC super user, assisting clinical teams in optimizing workflows and maintaining accurate documentation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she contributed to large-scale vaccination clinics that serve both the community and patients. Additionally, she managed various assigned projects, trained new employees, and supported prospective medical assistance students.

These experiences demonstrated her ability An initiative and strong commitment to fulfilling both organizational and patient needs. And whereas Lorena's role as a medical assistant has enabled her to apply her comprehensive training. She values contributing to a collaborative team environment, advocating for patients, and sharing insights with physicians, nurse supervisors, and other healthcare professionals. The support and trust of her colleagues have been integral to her effectiveness in this position. Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Barbara does hereby acknowledge a resolution recognizing Lorena Chavez for her 29 years of service and commitment to the health and well-being of the residents of Santa Barbara County.

Passed and adopted today.

I just would like to thank the opportunity for the space. It means a lot for acknowledging me. I also want to thank county for allowing me to be a part of the community and help. It was a great honor. I would have enjoyed to do a little longer, but COVID had other plans for me. I just want to appreciate Dr. Preciado as well. She was one of my big mentors in helping our community in a lot of roles. Thank you so much for everyone.

Thank you Board of Supervisors for recognizing Lorena Chavez, Medical Assistant. Today we honor the retirement of an extraordinary medical assistant. After 29 years of dedicated services to the County of Santa Barbara, Health, PCFH Division, Santa Maria Health Center. Throughout her career, she truly embodied the mission of county health, to improve the health of the community. Like many of our outstanding medical assistants across the health centers, she was an essential member of our care teams. But she stood out for her deep connections she built with patients and colleagues alike.

As a long-time member of the Santa Maria community, she knew many of our patients personally. That familiarity, combined with her compassion and professionalism, allowed her to engage patients in a way that made them feel respected, heard, and cared for. Patients often commented on her exceptional bedside manner and the trust she inspired. Every physician at Santa Maria Health Center wanted to work alongside her.

I was lucky. She was the medical assistant that worked with me for over eight years. And I could not have performed my work without Lorna. Where are you, Lorna? I just couldn't. And I depended on her so much, I can't even tell you. She was known for her attention to detail, her strong work ethic, her follow-through with patients after the visit, and her unwavering focus on patient-centered care.

She made our teams better and our care stronger. Her legacy is one of service, excellence, and compassion for the community she served so faithfully. She will be deeply missed, and we are grateful for the lasting impact she leaves behind. Congratulations on a well-earned retirement and thank you for 29 years of service.

Thank you, Dr. Bresciato and thank you, Lorena, for your service to our county. We now take up the administrative items in the order that they were pulled. I believe, Madam Clerk, will you please read item number 20 into the record?

Chair Nelson and members of the board, administrative item number 20 is from the Planning and Development Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding the California Coastal Commission conditional certification of the local coastal program amendment for rezones for the 2023 through 2031 housing element update and we have three requests to speak from the public on this item.

All right, we'll go to public first or Supervisor Lee, you pulled this. Did you want to speak before public or? I do. There's some questions I want to ask Lisa if she's... Yeah, absolutely. We'll go ahead. We'll have the questions from Supervisor Lee and then we'll go to the public. Thank you.

Let me know when you're ready. Yes, good morning. Lisa, so the developer, will they pull their builders remedy project on the Baylor site? I just want to confirm that.

So, in our conversations with the Housing Authority and Red Tail, they have indicated once the site is rezoned, they will pull the builder's remedy application.

Got it. Just in case, if they don't, then what happens? Is there a scenario

that... I think it's really unlikely that they wouldn't pull it because there's a much longer process in front of them with a builder's remedy application than there would be under the rezone.

Got it. And are any of these re-zones subject to CEQA?

So the re-zones that are approved as part of the housing element were covered under the programmatic EIR. And so there will be no additional CEQA done for projects that are built on these re-zoned sites. They're exempt.

They're exempt. Got it. So can you explain this by right thing to me? It's a new term to me. Sounds like

Certainly. So as part of the housing element update, the county was required to identify what our housing need was. And SBK gave us numbers through the state, and so in order to meet our RHNA allocation, we were required to rezone properties. And when a jurisdiction rezones properties to meet its RHNA allocation, The state has a law that says if developers follow a certain set of protocols, that being they develop the site at least 20 units per acre, there's a minimum of 16 units on the property, and they provide a minimum of 20% affordable, they are processed in a buy right process, meaning that it's a ministerial approval.

And so the rezone sites across the county all have that ability for a developer to process a by-right application. But as I said, they have to meet those standards that are outlined in the state law.

So this is a state standard, not a county standard, correct?

It is a state standard and a state mandate. That's correct.

Got it. Just a follow-up. So are there any other discussions, any review, SBAR, any PCs that has to go through?

So for multifamily housing, we have objective standards that were developed because this has to be a ministerial process all the way through. So we have the objective design standards that are on our website if the public's interested that set forth what kind of architectural style and guidance on landscaping. So that sort of serves the purpose of the design review that would happen at a Board of Architectural Review.

And would CARP Firesomeland Department have a say in these housing projects?

They will. They will review all of them.

Got it. And just a follow-up, are there any other parcels in the county that has by right or all of them have

it? All the sites that were rezoned as part of the housing element, and we have sites in the North County, we have sites in, we have a site in San Yanez, we have sites in Goleta, they all have the by right status provided a developer meets those standards.

Got it. Thank you.

You're welcome.

All right, thank you Supervisor Lee. Madam Clerk, let's go to the public.

We will now go to Zoom with Tristine Raynor to be followed by Betty Jebson and our final speaker is Carl Sonken. And Carl, I do believe you have a video and you just received an email from my office that we have not received that video yet, so if you can please send that to the email address that was sent to you, that would be greatly appreciated. We will now go to Tristine.

I am not ready, so could we go to Betty before me?

Absolutely. We will now go to Betty Jebsen to be followed by Tristine Rayner, then we will go to Carl Sunken last. Betty?

Good morning. I'm speaking today against the

Betty, we did hear you and then you just went away. You still are unmuted on our end. Perhaps you got disconnected somehow?

Yes, I am.

Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Please proceed.

Let me start again. I'm speaking again to...

Betty, are you stopping because you can hear the video? If you could just mute any other streaming on your end to provide your comments.

I'm speaking against the project at Baylor. The Baylor project was...

Betty, we seem to be having some technical issues. You're cutting out every couple words. Could you by chance switch your microphone?

I've stopped one of the, can you hear me now?

Yes, we can. Please proceed.

I think I've solved it.

I

am speaking against the project at Baylord. The Baylord project should not be bundled with the two Van Wingerden parcels in Carpinteria. They are completely different.

Betty, if you could just ignore the video and please proceed with your comments, we could still hear you.

The Van Wingerden parcels are completely differently situated than Baylord. The Van Wingerden parcels have the infrastructure necessary for development. Baylord does not. The City of Carpinteria has a file on its website that completely goes through why this project should be denied. The City of Carpinteria sent its City Administrator and Assistant to Sacramento to speak against this project for the California Coastal Commission.

They submitted a 75-page report why this project should not go forward. There is a death trap for the one exit to all of the parcels, Casitas Village, Villa Del Mar, and the proposed development, and that is Baylor. The fire marshal is against this project. There is no available infrastructure. The developer was denied by the city of Carpinteria, therefore they went to the county. As of the city...

Council meeting last night in Carpinteria. It is assumed that that parcel would be annexed back into the City of Carpinteria. Thus, the developer is trying to make an end run when it was initially denied by going to the county and then back to the City of Carpinteria. The City of Carpinteria does not have the infrastructure to support this development. There is a lack of exits. For a fire, the Thomas Fire being the main example, there is lack of parking. There is lack of community development. It should not be built.

Please don't ignore all of the excellent work done by the City of Carpinteria, analyzing why this project at Baylor should not be built and unbundle it from the Van Wingerden's parcels that can be built. Thank you.

We will now go to Tristine Rayner to be followed by Carl Sunken, who is our final speaker on this item. And Carl, just another announcement. We have yet to receive your video. So if you are intending to play that, please send that video to the clerk of the board's email. Thank you. Tristine.

Hi. So I have read the exhibit A9CZO. And the wording of it is so broad and general that we who are residents who live nearby and are very concerned about emergency exits here wonder whether there will be any Review allowed under this language. The language of use by right says, means that the county's review shall not require a conditional use permit, development plan, environmental review under California Environment Quality Act, or other discretionary review, or other discretionary review, or Approval pursuant to government code section.

Well, that's these last words. Other discretionary review shall not require other discretionary review. Sounds like it could be interpreted even to eliminate the fire marshal's review. Now, I would appreciate If somebody could point out what the limits are, because I don't find it in the language that the amendment that you are asked to approve of today. I would request that there be more time to make sure that we will not be exposed to dangers actually to our lives because of the problem of congestion that Carl's, if you could give him the exact place to send his film, can show you how serious this is.

Thank you.

And we will now go to our final speaker, Carl Sunken. Carl?

Good morning, Supervisors. If my video hasn't arrived at SBCOB, let me just say that what we're trying to show is that the parking in the Casitas Village, Villa Del Mar area, It's absolutely impossible that there are, you know, more than 500 homes here already, and people own two or three vehicles. There are often more than three or four people in each unit.

And with only one exit at this point from the proposed project, it's going to be impossible if there was a repeat of the Thomas fire. People who live here, who've lived here for a long time, remember how difficult it was to get out of the projects during the Thomas Fire, and that was well before any project went in at the Baylor Farm. And I think what's really important here is, as Tristine pointed out, there's not going to be really a lot of oversight from the county, from the state, from other organizations over what gets built there.

And I think that what we're talking about is really getting something back from the Coastal Commission with these baked-in restrictions And I think that the supervisors may want to reconsider approving matters that don't allow the people of Santa Barbara County to have a say in what gets built there or how it gets built there. None of us are against affordable housing. But let's take a look at what the size of the project is, or excuse me, what the size of the project was. I understand from Supervisor Lee's office that you really don't even have a potential project, but that this resolution, this A-20, We'll pave the way for a very dangerous situation. I'm sorry that my video, which was pretty dramatic, by the way, I'm sorry that my video wasn't able to get to SBCOB, but at the email address is a pretty large file.

So, but thank you for hearing us, and I'd really appreciate it if you reconsider approving these resolutions from the Coastal Commission that don't really allow CEQA other organizations to have a view of this project that will go in there. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Sunken.

And that concludes public comment on Administrative Item Number 20.

All right, actually I think we have Director Plowman up just to kind of answer one of the questions there about the concerns that exist about whether there would be potential review for fire and other things. My understanding is that life safety issues are something that we still are allowed to have input on, that we don't, we wouldn't be able to sign off on those if those were not addressed and mitigated. Could you speak to that for the comfort of those that were speaking today?

Yeah, certainly. Thank you, Supervisor Nelson and members of the board. So we still have a review process at the county, and the projects are required to meet objective standards, and that includes fire protection standards. And if there is a public health and safety issue, then the county has the ability to Thank you, Director Plowman.

So during my time on the Carp City Council, I have always voted against these rezones because they conflicted with the needs of the city and the city's building standards. I get it. I have an 18-story housing development right outside my neighborhood, so I understand the frustrations of the speakers. But we do need more housing. We need more affordable housing.

These rezones are about affordability. Raising the percentage of units required to be affordable is important. Is this the best case scenario? No. Do I love this? I hate it. So I've been going back and forth on this, supporting whether or not, but It does set a new standard for affordable housing percentage in our county, and I hope we can get more developers to live up to these percentages, more than just 20%. This is above 30, which is great. A lot of us hope for this, and I want to respect all the hard work that our colleagues and our staff have done in this housing element.

The state is forcing us to do this. I don't like it. My district hates it. But I believe we can work towards better projects. So right now we're working with the city and the developers to address the worst aspects of these developments. So when the Van Riegel projects do come up, I'm hoping we can work with them to come to some common ground and make projects better.

So if we don't do anything, then future Carpentarians won't have a home to live. That's not our goal. We should work towards creating more housing. But it should respect the character of the community, something that we're proud to say in CARB, and many of us who have worked decades to maintain that. So I want to see it happen. So I'm going to vote for this, but I'm worried and hope these developers live up to the promises they make to our community. So I move to support staff recommendation.

All right.

Thank you, Supervisor

Lee. Can I get a second on this? I'll second. Is there any additional comment? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, will you please give us a roll call?

Motion passes unanimously. All

right, that now brings us to our final administrative item. Administrative item number 34.

Chair Nelson and members of the board, administrative item number 34 is sponsored by Supervisor Lavagnino. It is to consider recommendations regarding a Santa Barbara County stand down update.

All right, good morning. So you all have, we've passed out a few of these. These are Little thank yous that we handed out to our volunteers this year. I'm going to give just a quick update on our 13th annual stand down, which was held October 25th at Santa Maria Fair Park. Just some of the numbers we'll run through real quick. We serviced 427 total veterans. 69 had declared themselves homeless.

Just to give you an idea, when we first started, that number was closer to 200 homeless veterans. There were over 130 services provided. Everything from health care checks, housing, employment, clothing, new boots and shoes, haircuts, showers, legal services, mental health counseling, dental care, pet resources. Started with a hot breakfast and we had, of course, it's Santa Maria, so we had a big time barbecue to close it out.

All the meat, For over 600 meals provided free of charge by the Santa Barbara County Cattlemen's Association and cooked to perfection by local Elk's Lodge 1538 members. As each veteran entered the fair park, they were greeted by our American Legion riders from Orkut Chapter 534. They were then paired with an active duty Vandenberg Space Force Base escort who ended up carrying their duffel bags and sharing stories throughout the day with their veteran.

We had 576 volunteers manning stations across the ground with 140 of those coming from the base. It was another great day. One of the highlights was provided by some students from Santa Maria High School. We historically open our ceremonies with a bugler. We've had the same bugler for all 13 years, David Rackley. He was unable to attend this year. He usually plays Reveille and closes with a retreat to the colors.

And one of our volunteers, this is what happens at Stand Down, one of our volunteers found out that our bugler wasn't going to be able to make it, so they thought, hey, let's fill the void, and they took some students from Santa Maria High School Band and figured out in a few weeks, I think we can learn how to play this, and they played beautifully on Stand Down.

Stand Down is all about giving, giving our attention, our time, and our resources to our vets. And there are some county employees who have been with me on this since day one, and I would like to recognize them today. I also want to say that so many of our departments participate in Stand Down. Public Health, Mental Health, Social Services, Public Defender's Office. I'm going to leave some out, so just, if you're a department, we appreciate you being there.

I want to start with, first off, our stand-down coordinator, Sandy Agalos. Stand-down does not happen without Sandy. She's recognized now nationally as a go-to person, an expert on stand-downs. We have other stand-downs held throughout the country that are like, how do you guys get all this really cool stuff? And it's because Sandy knows how to go into the system, and I would say manipulate it, but I'm going to say work. to get us the best stuff. She was recognized at this stand down by Congressman Salute Carbajal who presented her with a certificate for all of her hard work.

Frank Mejia from our Social Services Department heads up all 130 service providers. He makes sure everybody knows exactly where they're going to be, at what time, at what table. He's the genius behind the one whole facility that Heather Gardner brings her entire family, her husband, her kids, and they all volunteer providing new shoes and boots for our veterans.

So every year our committee gets together. And we recognize those who went above and beyond that year. And so I'd like to hand out a few certificates today. And if you can just come up to the microphone when I call you out and I'll come down and provide those for you. First is our business of the year was Mission Linen. And Raymond Barron is here from Mission Linen. Mission Linen has provided us towels for our haircuts and our shower areas for all 13 years. But what was really cool this year was we went into our storage unit where we have all these awesome coats that were donated to us, brand new, and we had had a leak in the storage facility and so it was flooded.

And so here we had all these brand new coats that we weren't able to give out. Somebody decided, hey, maybe we could call Mission Linen. They probably have something that could fix this. Showed up, picked up the coats, went and got them laundered, brought them back the next morning for stand down, and they looked like they were brand new. So I really want to appreciate Raymond and his team.

Then we have also Volunteer of the Year is Vince Lopez. Vince, many of you recognize Vince. His company has done amazing work for our county, especially digging out Guadalupe in the last flood. But the reason why, and by the way, Vince, Navy Corpsman, His son is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and is studying to be an F-35 pilot for the United States Marine Corps. But Vince drops off a utility vehicle, drops it off, picks it up, works stand down. His wife works stand down for us. Vince has just been an amazing asset for us.

From our Business of the Year, another Business of the Year was a Starbucks, Hazel McGrady. She is also a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. Starbucks, she's the Orchid Store Manager, and they donated 40 gallons of coffee this year. That's a lot of coffee, kept everybody awake. And finally, one of our own from Santa Barbara County Animal Services, Esme Medina.

Esme has dedicated her life to working with animals and it's such a critical service at Stand Down that many of these veterans, especially the homeless ones, they have a special bond with their pet and they won't attend unless they're able to bring their friends. Esme has had There's been some activity at PetZone that takes us strong individuals. Some people bring some very large animals that might not be completely under control, but she's done amazing work. We provide everything from free food for the pets to microchipping, leashes, grooming, medical care, shots, all kinds of great stuff. So just this is the crew that Steps up every year and just really want to appreciate them and I'll be handing out some certificates and if they'd like to say anything.

I've got to get my county employee crew up here too so I can get a quick picture with them. Sandy.