BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

Good morning everybody and welcome to this regular meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors of March 13, 2012. Mr. Allen would you call the roll please?

Ms. Wolfe? Here. Ms. Gray? Present. Mr Lavagnino? Here. Mr Carbajal? Here Ms. Farr? Here Would you

public comment and Supervisor Carbajal I'm going to go ahead and turn to you to introduce this wonderful resolution you're going to present

Thank you Madam Chair, if we could have Erica Reyes come forward to the podium please. Erica is going to receive this resolution and again this is a resolution proclaiming March 10th through the 18th AmeriCorps week in Santa Barbara County And while Mr. Allen is going to go through the particulars of the resolution, I just want to point out that the one thing that I realized was glaringly omitted from this resolution was The Peace Corps is associated with President Kennedy having started it. The AmeriCorps was started by President Clinton and there was no reference to President Clinton, I just wanted to reference that because of his significant legacy in starting this program. And Erica here I think represents the program working with the County Education Office and the Santa Maria YMCA And she'll be saying a few words after.

So Mr. Allen, if you could read it please?

Madam Chair, members of the board. Item A1 is a resolution proclaiming March 10th through 18th as AmeriCorps Week in Santa Barbara County whereas since 1994 nearly 775,000 AmeriCorps members have served in non-profit organizations public agencies and faith based organizations nationwide providing over 1 billion hours of service to build capacity expand service develop new partnerships and create innovative sustainable programs And whereas each year 80,000 AmeriCorps members serve communities throughout the country to meet critical needs in education, economic opportunity, environmental stewardship, disaster services, healthy futures and veterans and military families. And whereas AmeriCorps members recruited trained and managed 3.4 million community volunteers in 2011 and over 72% of AmeriCorps alumni choose to pursue a career in the public or non-profit sector.

And whereas, the Santa Barbara County Education Office coordinates a chapter of the AmeriCorps program that serves over 800 at-risk students annually throughout the county of Santa Barbara by providing essential educational services such as daily tutoring and recruits hundreds of volunteers to support educational programs and service projects that benefit local schools.

And whereas AmeriCorps fills critical needs within our local school system that have arisen due to budget cuts impacting staff and service levels, and the work of AmeriCorps members is an essential component to the educational success of at-risk students. Potential funding cuts to AmeriCorps programs across U.S. may impact their local programs. Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that the Board of Supervisors declares the week of March 10 through 18, 2012 as Ameri Corps Week in Santa Barbara County And commends all residents who volunteer their time and energy as part of the AmeriCorps program passed and adopted today.

Good morning members of the board. My name is Erica Reyes and I am a volunteer recruiter working with the Santa Barbara County Education Office AmeriCorps program here in Santa Maria to get volunteers into our classrooms as teachers request to help out with anything they need, as well as in our ACES after school programs. So I've been doing that since last August and I'm getting near the end of my term and it's just been an amazing experience but on behalf of Santa Barbara County Education Office, I'd like to thank you guys for recognizing the work that we're doing In the last, since mid-year we have served 875 students in promoting literacy and reading in schools throughout Santa Barbara County which has resulted in them improving by entire grade levels in their reading.

Skills in addition our volunteer and recruitment program has mobilized over 1,200 volunteers In near 9,000 hours of volunteer service throughout the county in promotion of education and literacy and community building efforts here in Santa Maria and Throughout the entire county so I just want to thank you guys for recognizing the work that we're doing And hope that you guys will continue support of the program with education Budget cuts happening the last five, seven years and only continuing. Programs like this are vital to providing all the support that we need in our schools and in our classrooms.

And just for all of your awareness AmeriCorps is also on the chopping block potentially so your continued support definitely means a lot at these times. So thank you for that. And I have a little present for you. Especially good for Mr. Carvajal last night, Carpinteria passed the banning of single-use bags so I have some AmeriCorps bags for you.

All right, yay!

Thank you. And Erica is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz and maybe before you go Erica if you could maybe share with us why you were drawn into working with the AmeriCorps because I think for those that are watching sometimes the big question is how did you get connected? It might inspire others to do the same.

Yeah, so last June I graduated from UC Santa Cruz with my degree in sociology. I've always had a desire to work in nonprofit work and do community building kind of things as well as dipping into politics. So I'm very happy to be in front of you today but it's just been...I wanted to give back to my community as much as like I could and AmeriCorps provided that avenue and has given me the freedom and flexibility to kind of work towards my career goals as well as serving in a capacity that helps the entire community. So it's been really good and it's also influenced me to continue into politics a little bit more. I currently serve on the Lucima Unified School District school board, as the youngest trustee from representing Nipomo so AmeriCorps has definitely given me that drive and ambition to keep going and doing things.

Thank you, and Supervisor Lavinino is holding his seat warm for you when you're ready to go into this.

Thank you. I have seen the AmeriCorps volunteers at work at San Inez Elementary School when we were over there for the Dr. Seuss reading day a couple of years ago and you really do provide such an important service and if you are improving whole grade levels for school children that's incredible and really really an important service So thank you for that. Supervisor Gray?

Yes, thank you. Congratulations Erica. I wanted to even though this is not it's an honorary resolution and we won't be presenting it. I'm going to be talking about a couple deputies and so I want to go to that now. Thank you very much. Chris Nelson is retiring and Chris has been a deputy for 26 years So thank you, Chris. And thank you for all you've done. He's been a great deputy and a custody officer. Anita Grace Diaz. So we were losing two folks in our sheriff's department that have been a big part of it. So thank you, Chris Nelson and Deputy Diaz Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Supervisor Gray. All right. Let's go to public comment then Mr. Allen.

I'm sure we have five requests to speak. Actually, we have six. One in Santa Barbara. We're going to start in Santa Maria though with Kevin Kennert to be followed by Richard Vail.

Okay and I just want to remind our public speakers that you do have up to three minutes and the lights there on the podium kind of tell you where you are so go ahead.

I tried to condense my entire speech onto one page it's tied right at three minutes so hopefully be patient with me Dear members of the board, approximately eight years ago my neighborhood was covered in dirt due to the farming practices of Darren G. He paid to have our homes cleaned. One year later my roof leaked causing ceiling damage inside my home. A roofing company came out and found that the fine-grained dirt had filtered way underneath my ceiling tiles and had caused premature failure of my tar paper expansion and contraction caused it to rip wide open and water poured into my home Dirt storms from Darren's property have hit us several times, and the latest one was on March 6th of this year. It was similar in magnitude so now I must have a roofing company come out and open up all my valleys in order to get the dirt out again because I'm sure it's there.

I have an estimate for $5,000 for that. The wind is being told as an act of God, and so he's not controlling it or he can't do anything about it. But the wind and the normal debris in that is not damaging my home. My home continues to be damaged by Darren's inability to prevent topsoil from leaving his property. A dense fog of fine powder would not fill the air if his land was not bare and dry.

In addition to the dirt and loud noise from his pumps, the volume of toxic chemicals that blanket my neighborhood and filter into our homes year after year has to be a health hazard. We have repeatedly tried to compromise with Darren but he continues to implement ineffective solutions year after year. I called DB Farms on March 8th. They believe adequate measures were taken and they refused to accept any responsibility for March 6th. In reality their attempts to be proactive as in this case fail us year after year DB Farms provides a significant revenue to our community. I think we all understand that in these hard budgetary times, I can understand the county's reluctance to disturb that source of revenue. However, DB Farms' right to farm does not include a right to cause repeated structural damage to my home.

In this case, I believe their right to farm this property needs to be revoked. And I'm coming here asking how can I start that motion? I'd like to see how many people are here supporting me from my local neighborhood and I've got a list of 20 people growing who want to be on this list petition whatever it is that we do so you know he says he's making changes year after year The only changes I've seen are the continuing decline in my home's structural integrity and the increasing risk to my family and my neighbors. Thank you very much for hearing me.

Thank you, thank you for being here.

Our next speaker is Richard Vail to be followed by Jeff Pawley. Good

morning Mr. Vail

Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to address the board this morning. I'm going to mirror some of the things that Supervisor Gray is already aware of, and comments were made by the previous speaker regarding DB Farms located in Orkut Community Plan Keysight 22. DB Farms operators have repeatedly and most recently this month, as mentioned on March the 6th, failed to successfully manage the soil condition of the field resulting in abnormal dust storm events constituting discomfort to residents health hazard and costly cleanup measures in time and dollars to area residents. As mentioned a wind warning was in existence on the date of the sixth however by mid-afternoon surface dust had abated or ceased in total from area farms The opposite occurred from the DB farm site as a dust cloud continued to increase from the field in intensity and density and intensity of dust and dirt producing a cloud 30-40 feet in height enveloping several blocks of homes, rolling over residences reducing visibility and depositing layers of dirt and debris upon a wide area well beyond those properties in the near proximity of the farm site.

I have photos which will provide the staff provide you an opportunity to see the origination of the cloud itself and the impacts on the neighborhood. Briefly regarding the noise pollution, last year again mentioned previously DB Farms expanded cultivated acreage at or about the same time they instituted a vehicle engine as a means of pumping the water. From the outset, use of the engine has produced long periods of excessively loud and disruptive noise unlike that produced by any other farm in the area over the years and currently.

DB Farms operators were contacted by homeowners The supervisor's office planning and development but failed to take any action last year indicating they would do something to mitigate the noise at the close of the planting season. On March 5th, the pump started again anew with excessive noise disrupting the entire neighborhood. If any steps were taken in the interim, they were ineffectual.

Regarding the right to farm, my purpose today is not to attack DB Farms' right to farm but to challenge those practices at this site that have destructive or disruptive conditions imposed upon the surrounding community. I would ask the board to direct staff or appropriate department to further review the grievances aired here today Conduct some form of conflict resolution and mitigation of complaints against the practices versus the complaints. And in the long term, potentially enact a Santa Barbara County Conflict Resolution process attached to the County Right-to-Farm Act modeled to that of San Luis Obispo County or City of Gilroy or others. Thank you very much for your time this morning.

Thank you.

Supervisor Gray? Mr. Vail, when you were talking, you said that there's a farm, there is another field... I missed this.

There are several fields in the area.

Next to the D...

Yes, surrounding

it. And they control the dust on...?

They did. As the photos I think will demonstrate on a couple of the photos, fields that were tilled Other fields were affected. In the morning of the 6th, there was a wind weather warning and a condition did exist and there was dust that could be observable throughout the valley and surface dust blowing from a number of farms but by mid-afternoon all that had faded and the storm that affected the remaining neighbors in our area and the surrounding area came exclusively from DB Farms And I think the photos will demonstrate that. I have others if the board would like to see them.

Thanks, because I missed that and wanted to hear that for sure. Thank you.

Thank

you. Oh, and the other question was, remember last year they told us they were going to take care of that pump?

They did.

But they haven't done one thing.

I don't know if they haven't done one thing but it started back up again on March the 5th and it still is audible within the house. Now, I am a good distance. I'm not a neighboring property. I am a good distance from the farm and with doors and windows closed dual pane windows doors you can hear the pump operating inside the house starting sometimes from 8 o'clock in the morning until late evening and outside the backyard is just not usable.

Thank

you. Thanks

Chair.

Yes thank you. Next speaker. Our next speaker is Jeff Pauley to be followed by Brenda Artopias.

Hi, thanks for letting me speak today. My name's Jeff Pauley and I live on Beverly Drive approximately one block east of DB Farms. I've lived there for the past 11 years. The first five years were great terrific no problems no issues nothing. The last six years there have been some issues no doubt about it. Some serious issues with DB Farms. Last Tuesday, DB Farms sent out a flyer to our neighborhood warning us that it was supposed to be very gusty winds that day and that their meteorological expert has said that was going to happen and there might be a chance some dirt would blow off the fields so they recommended this is in a flyer they recommended that we should close our doors windows cars in the garage stay inside you know the whole bed some people think that might be mightily neighborly but I knew better Twice in the past few years we've had some pretty serious damage from sandstorms from the fields, roof valleys like other people have addressed, windows, solar panels, cars, the whole bit.

Some people even had damage inside their houses because windows were left open or whatever. And about two years ago, this had happened before and Darren evidently was out of the country at the time or out of the area. He realized that he was negligent because he had a farmer plowing the fields on the windiest day you could ever imagine. So he offered to pay for cleaning our houses a couple years ago and he knew he was negligent at the time.

So he sent out this flyer knowing that this was going to be a problem. I mean, this is premeditated. This wasn't a surprise. He knew what was going to happen no doubt about it. I called DB Farms on Thursday and the secretary said that the storm is an act of God and not negligence. She also admitted that they were in between crops between strawberries and carrots and they pulled the plastic off the fields. They knew this was going to happen.

And so like predicted dirt went everywhere. And I mean it's not just a little dirt we're talking about quarter inch of dirt on everything. I mean, siding the house and who knows like Mr. Keinert said you don't know about roof damage that's going to happen the first time it rains. So this is one issue just the dirt and this has gone on numerous times. The other issues is the noise from the pump About one year ago he dug a new well that was close to the houses and it's the loudest pump you could ever imagine. It sounds like, it sounds like a diesel semi truck idling in your backyard. And we're a good distance away from it and depending upon which way the wind is blowing I mean you can't even sit in your backyard. I mean it's just not even possible.

I mean it's really really loud And, you know, he fired it up about a month ago too. It's the same thing as like we had a little reprieve for winter. He stopped farming or it was raining or whatever but here we go again and last October, November, December it was pretty rough You know, my feeling is that he's got to figure out a way to muffle this sound. He's got to figure out a way to secure the soil you know and ideally it would be great if he just stopped farming out there of course. Thank you Mr.

Paul

your time is up. That's my feeling. It's a big problem for sure thank you.

Our next speaker is Brenda Artopius to be followed by Carl Artopius

Welcome, Ms. Artobias.

Thank you. Good morning and thank you for the ability to come speak. We have lived in this area for over 10 years but it's only been in the last years that these people have been talking about that we've had the problems that have occurred. And can you hear me first of all? Yes. Okay good. Progressive downgrading of the use of our home, the value of our property and our health due to D&B Farms, Mr. Darren G.'s refusal to operate his farming prudently To avoid as much as possible the sand, fine dirt, dust particles being dumped on our home and property in huge quantities during windstorms. Whereas other farmers in the area do mitigate the sand, dirt, dust problem as much as possible.

And by the way we live at probably what's considered ground zero. Ours probably gets it the worst of all. We have pictures that show that severe problems come up from D&B farming. Other farmers operating this is our driveway by the way We have sand dunes on it. Other farmers operate properly in very close proximity to DNB farms, and they're keeping the problem controlled on their property.

In the past years when we and others complained vehemently that he has dealt with a problem by using professional cleaning crews and telling us he's trying to keep the pollution down, he tells us that but the severity of the problem continues over and over In September 2010, the deluge of a windstorm was so bad that it took four days for professional crews to clean our home. Mr. G paid the bill.

I tried to get a copy of the bill but they wouldn't give it to me because I didn't pay the bill. This year D&D Farms put a letter in some mailboxes saying about that and I'm not going to go into detail yet if that's been said. When we called after the winds came on March 6th this year his staff said we are no longer cleaning up and I'm quoting You received a letter telling you it was coming.

Although his staff said Mr. G would call us, a call never came. The reality is that D&B Farms continues to disk huge areas and have them bare all at one time often for considerable amounts of time. Now he does not even return phone calls. We called a professional cleaner after the current storm to come out and got an estimate and I have a copy of that. It's over $3,000 for cleanup.

And this is because the roof, the gutters, the entire house on all sides, all of the different patios, the sidewalks, everything inside is totally immersed with this dust. Here again it will be a nerve-wracking time for us as a family of cleaning up this huge mess and this time it appears Mr. G is refusing to take any responsibility. In addition to failing to farm prudently with respect to residential areas near his farm, Mr. G has also created an extreme nuisance by installing a car or truck engine as they've mentioned, as power for water pumps near residences. The irritating noise goes on for hours and hours and hours.

Thank you. Your time

is up. Okay that's it. One thing is I washed some towels afterwards and I thought that they were clean when I put the dryer, put them in the dryer and then lit little The thing that you put in there, the little sheet that usually comes out white when you do it. It's beige. That means that's happening to our lungs.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Carl Artopius to be followed by Dr. Robert Johns in Santa Barbara who's our final speaker.

Yes I I'm not double dipping, my wife is pretty well giving the presentation. I did want to bring up a couple points that I've noticed. One is that the engine that everybody talked about is a Chevy big block driving on water well. Now that Chevy big block has no muffler on the system at all, straight pipes. Also his walls that he's put around it only go halfway down or three quarters of the way down and they're not all the way around the building there's no insulation on it so you know in my industry we insulate for noise control it very well I'm not sure why we can't control this This pump.

The other thing that was not brought up is that numerous times I have called the sheriff's department at three in the morning, four in the morning because he's got tractors running down his fields and we listen to it you know you finally give up. The Sheriff's got a lot to do. The trouble is he's he's go two or three tractors running out in this field And they got gates up and they can't get in. One time the sheriff had to take a flashlight, shine it at the tractors and they finally pulled them over. So these are some of the things that we've lived with, we still live with. We recognize that a farmer has to farm, that's what he does but he has to be cognizant of the fact that you know he's got neighbors too so that's all we're asking is that some way we'd be able to control this character.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here. Supervisor Gray, this is in your district. It's very surprising to me that most farmers don't want to lose their soil so I'm wondering whether we're going to contact the Ag Commissioner's office or APCD or if there's some way that we can address some of these concerns?

No, I completely agree and the thing I think that is the most I tend to want to believe people, and I'm not getting good answers from the farmer. It's very upsetting. So I contacted Ms. Waller this morning when we got the letters and Mr. Marshall. And so I think I'd like for the two of them to address what we're going to try and do. And I think one of the things we need to do is a dust ordinance possibly.

So if I love to have them talk about this.

Thank you Supervisor Gray. CEO Waller or Mr. Marshall?

Yes, I have some people back in the office now looking at this issue. Just starting hearing about this morning, one of the things we want to do is work with the Air Pollution Control District to determine whether or not there is a regulation controlling dust particles. I know in the Central Valley there are efforts to control farming dust regulation requiring watering.

The other issue we would look at One would be the noise. I'm assuming we have a noise ordinance in the county, we need to work with P&D on perhaps some regulations. Those are sometimes difficult but those issues can be proved up and the other issue we would want to analyze would be whether or not this constitutes a public nuisance that would be actionable. Those would be the kind of regulatory frameworks and the CEO may have some others that have occurred to her but those will be the three

Thank you, Mr. Marshall. CEO Waller?

Chairwoman, Supervisors, Dennis and I didn't get a chance to talk but basically we are completely aligned in where we're going on this. It's my understanding that APCD is investigating. I don't know that they've made a decision yet on the violation We will stay in contact with those individuals. On the pump, I recall this issue coming up several months ago and I don't know what the outcome was on that but I just sent an email to our planning and development code enforcement folks and asked them to follow-up as well and get back to us so we'll have some information probably later this week for you all.

I can add to what the, what we're going to get from P&D they're going to say that they went out and they tested it and they ran a noise test and it passed. So we're stymied. Isn't that right you guys? That's what keeps happening. They go out, they run a noise test and say it's not a problem So, I think what we have here is a problem that nobody sees except the people that are living through it.

And that's why we need some kind of a way to address the noise nuisance, which is one issue. But the dust issue, we just have got to come up with some kind of ordinance if the other farmers are able to do it and so that's why it's so frustrating. And then we all know too, if it would rain We wouldn't have this problem. So that's why I'd like to turn it over to staff and get us to move in that direction.

Actually, I'm sorry we can't take the comments from the audience but Supervisor Carbajal wanted to make a comment.

I know we're working on a buffer ordinance and this may be apples and oranges, but certainly I would encourage our planning and development staff to look at these issues. And they probably are being considered as we look at that ordinance in the near future. But these are exactly the issues that everybody's concerned about. Pesticide drift, dust drift, and noise.

When there's the ag-urban interface how do we address? There should be something that bumps up Mitigations or procedures that are utilized because of the proximity between homes and ag. Certainly, we don't want to overreact to burn agriculture. But the reality is that this is a problem and we have to address it. And this points to us how being proactive is better than being reactive because now we're fumbling around. What do we do? What do we do? And yet the quality of life of a number of residents is being impacted and we need to be more proactive as government. So I would ask us to look at a comprehensive approach to how we deal with all the various policies, all the various agencies to deal with the interface issue because if not we're going to continue to have these issues on an ongoing basis.

In my district, Cuyama, we have similar issues as well and when we address them in a proactive way we avoid problems in the future so I think it would be good to look at it comprehensively.

And I want to add that I'm really conflicted because I am so ag and so pro-ag, but everybody has a responsibility to get along is what you're saying. And I felt that the people who testified today addressed that. They said we understand there's a right to farm. We want to farm. We want people to farm. But how do we coexist? And that's what we're looking for. So, it hasn't been noticed that it's an issue today. So what I want to do is ask us to move it into the staff level. They've seen the problem. I think everybody here gets the problem today. We all get it. Everybody thinks we get it right? Okay. So we get the problem now let's get after it.

Thank you. Thank you Supervisor Gray. All right next public speaker Mr. Allen

We're going to go with Dr. Robert Johns in Santa Barbara and then come back to Santa Maria for our colleague Zulu who will be our final

speaker. Dr. Johns?

Yes, thank you Madam Chair. Good morning Supervisors. I see the problem also and I think you have measurements that could solve the problem And you need to go to the area where the problem exists and not use so much outside data. And that's exactly what I'm attempting to do here today. We do have a problem, and we need sort of like a scam warning for the county.

You see it's very psychological So not all of us see it. Some of us do not understand psychology, and you have to be something of a psychologist to understand the Levy Syndrome. I'll just put it that way. Does that strike a fear in the hearts of the supervisors? If you've been around here long enough, you know who Levy is. He scammed the city and had a fallout Right now, how many years later? Over 20 years later the city is still suffering from the Levy Syndrome.

Right down there on State Street near the beach they're trying to put up one of the levy scam projects and that's what's going on right now with the second big scam, the Caruso scam. And this county needs an ordinance, I don't really need an ordinance, I mean sort of a lever, a levy, a lever? Sort of something to detect when a scam is coming along. Historically we have it Someone bills the Paseo Nuevo, pardon me for my lack of Spanish.

And then they say well he's successful and then all of a sudden he starts getting loans from everybody and now, and he's a bum. They had to pull him out of his office, they pulled him out of his home, the sheriff did. And if I told you where he was right now people would be running at him right down the street trying to get him. So the Caruso pie in the sky I know it hasn't gone through yet, but it's scam.

And Carvajal you're involved in a scam. You should have recused yourself last week, but your corrupt county council allowed you to participate and vote. You got $15,000 from him. You're a part of the scam. So we'll put this to Carvajal Caruso scam. And the years down the line, this county will have to be paid for your scam. Thank you Madam Chair.

Our final speaker is Carly Zulu here in Santa Maria.

Good morning. D.A. Joyce Steadley wants violence in the public to continue to receive federal funding to protect her and Dan Pedersen and other officials from county charges or charges of conspiracy, murders, and attempts of. The current complaint filed upon me for allegedly committing battery and cruelty to a child by endangering the health of victim witness program D. A. Joyce Steadley post chemical enhancement infection easy T for anger was never my idea. Violence is not my idea. The complainant in this case I told twice leave me alone.

To escalate the interaction to this level, victim witness staff Lisa Field said again with emotional intensity she won't stop unless you do something. Strike her, hit her, batter her. I didn't and now the DA wants me to make me pay for not doing it. This is surreal. I in no way seek to harm others but the DA just said that the victim witness staff will not stop harassing me.

Who do you know that will indict and or file appropriate criminal charges complaint upon DA Joyce Sedley and victim witness staff Lisa and Doug Fueld? Those county employees are responsible for the soon-to-be medical murders of a mom and dad that you know in this county. You, the board have the public turn to you to say what is next I stand here in self defense by person because the Public Defender's Office has absolutely no point at this juncture D.A. Joyce Steadley boasts about the protection she provides to victims of rape and hand out t-shirts at UCSB with student pattern Monroy for the Women's Center Sexual Assault Awareness Month campaign.

However, in every woman's face in a public display to support her victim witness program she normally fails to protect county constituents for PISS. How many women have to be raped until you're satisfied? How many men and women have to be medically insulted for fraudulent medical care from medical research? Thinking means correct strategy. Consideration means thinking of plans to advance realities.

I have inculcated upon you and the FBI the need to step in, take control of this Attorney's Office victimized program and insult every American family. I draw myself to an honest confession of the simple fact that I've always been a FBI agent, lying in wait to expose the federal program to mayhem and insults and murders. The beginning and end of criminal DA's, especially in this county is always about my care and concern for women.

In the interim all I hear from Ken Watts is how Hooper was a quote criminal as he cannot consider conspiracy or intentional hurt by public members as it is quote too painful. FBI Director Jacob Hoover considered and accepted a calculated risk, hired me. That meant he was devoted to political powers that inhibited the FBI from defending the U.S. Constitution, me, and protecting the public from government officials i.e., Department of Justice, District Attorney's Office involved in keeping people's belief in an illusionary ideal, God. God never existed.

That concludes our public comment. So we've already done our administrative agenda, so we'll go ahead and we'll move into our departmental agenda item number one. Staff wants to go ahead and set up for that while Mr. Allen reads it into the record please.

Madam Chair, members of the board. Item number 1 is from the Treasurer Tax Collector. It's a hearing to consider recommendations regarding the Montecito Retirement Association conduit financing

Thank you. Good morning Mr. Hagan.

Good morning Madam Chair, members of the board. The item before you today is a conduit financing for the Montecito Retirement Association. Section 147F of the Internal Revenue Code provides the mechanism For qualified 501c3 non-profit organizations. The ability to issue taxes in debt. A little history of this proposal, in 1993 the county acted as the conduit financing arm for the association and those proceeds were used for their Casa Dorinda facility Again in 2004, the county was approached and we acted as the conduit financing arm for the refinancing of that debt from 1993.

Today they have the ability to call that debt and to reissue new securities in the amount of about I believe it's $12 million. The Debt Advisory Committee heard this item on January 31st and recommended it for approval with certain conditions. The first condition was we would hire our own bond counsel to limit or mitigate any risks to the county of this financing.

Secondly, the association was asked and they agreed to compensate the county for any costs associated with our bond counsel and staff time. And so, our bond counsel and which is Orrick Herrington Sutcliffe and the bond counsel on the deal that was also hired by the association Quintin Timig reviewed the documents and certain provisions were put in those documents to limit our risk.

One of them was The bank agreed to acknowledge the county has no liability for any of the repayments of the debt. And additionally, the association indemnified the county for this financing. We have had history in this type of financing before in addition to the Montecito Retirement Association. The one that comes to mind is the Academy of the West. The county acted as a conduit. There's members of the association I'm sitting behind me, Robin and Ron.

And additionally Gary Hicks their financial advisor and Brian Quinn from Quinn and Tibbing the bond counsel on the deal is also here and I'm here to answer any questions that you may have on this.

Thank you, Mr. Hagan. Questions? Supervisor Carbajal.

Thank you Madam Chair. This is something that we've done in the past so it's pretty straightforward. I appreciate that the Debt Advisory Committee unanimously agreed to move forward on this. It was the Debt Advisory Committee correct?

That's correct yes.

And I appreciate the Montecito Retirement Association. It's kind of hard to say that, I always think of Casa Dorinda so it throws me for a loop but I appreciate that we had a double assurance of their bond counsel and our bond counsel that we were able to hire to double check the risk and to make sure that the risk is minimal to none for the County of Santa Barbara.

You know I feel very comfortable moving forward with this. I'll make a motion to move forward with this item.

Okay, let's see if we have any public speakers first.

No request to speak.

All right Supervisor Wolf?

Yes, I serve on...I'll second the motion. I serve on the Debt Advisory Committee. We had We had some very good discussion about this particular issue, and we did send it back as Mr. Hagan said to work with the association and I feel very comfortable in the recommendations as we move forward so I'm fine with this. Thank you.

All right, thank you for the advisory's work on this. Thank you Mr. Hagan. We have a motion we have a second all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you our next item number two is a time certain at 10 o'clock so the board will take a break until then. I just wanted to let everybody know the order that we're going to take for this item. First is, we're gonna have Mr. Allen read it into the record Then Supervisor Wolf has asked to make some introductory comments. Then we will have the staff presentation, then I'm going to ask council to comment on a letter we received from the mobile home owner group on various language changes to comment on that. Then we will have the board ask whatever questions they want to then we'll go to public comment and then we'll bring it back to the board for deliberations and a vote.

So, Mr. Allen why don't you go ahead and start us off and read it into the record please?

Madam Chair members of the board item number two is from planning and development The request is that the board consider recommendations of the County Planning Commission to approve case numbers 11 ORD 17 and 18 which would amend respectively the county land use and development code in the county coastal zoning ordinance To implement amendments establishing a permit process for the closure of mobile home parks