Board of Supervisors — 2014-04-22

Good morning, everybody. I'd like to welcome everybody to the April 22nd meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Mr. Allen can you get a roll call please?

Ms. Wolfe? Here. Ms. Farber? Here. Mr Adam? Here Mr. Calderon? Here Mr. Lavinino?

Indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right,

hope everybody had a great Easter weekend and see if I can get an approval in the minutes for April 15th 2014. Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Takes us to our public comment period. Mr. Allen, do we have any speakers?

No request to speak.

No requests to speak from the public. Okay very good. We'll move on to our administrative agenda Do we have any, well you know what? Yeah. Do we have any people who would like to speak from the public on the administrative agenda?

Chairman Labnino and members of the board, we've no request to speak from the public. I have just two quick announcements. First all on item A5 from Alcohol Drug and Mental Health Services. This is regarding the agreement with Traditions Behavioral Health and I'd like to note that the department has requested that that item be withdrawn and not continued at this time. And they'll come back at an appropriate date that they'll set later on.

And second, on item A14 from Public Works. This is regarding easements for public utility purposes in the Goleta area in the 2nd district and Public Works has asked that this item be continued to your meeting on May 6th. And those are my changes.

Okay very good Mr. Allen. So before we go to the board why don't we take our resolutions first? So can I get a motion to approve items A1 through A3 please? Moved and seconded, all those in favor? Aye. None opposed, passes unanimously. Okay we'll take A1 I guess I'm resolution guy today so can I have Sandra Talamantes please come forward? Sandra is going to be recognized today for her very brief period here with the county of 34 years.

Wow, unbelievable and you're going to hear in the resolution that she's worked in some of the areas that she's been involved Exactly what we do here at the county and that's trying to help provide a safety net for those that have a hard time providing for themselves. And Sandra, we really appreciate all the time you've spent working in the community and We just hope that the next phase of your life is just as exciting as the last 34 years, hopefully more so. Mr. Allen can you please read the resolution?

Chairman Lavinino, members of the board. This is item A1 it's a resolution recognizing Sandra Telemontes upon her 34 years of public service whereas Sandra has dedicated almost 34 years of her career to the residents of Santa Barbara County over 13 years with the Department of Social Services and 20 and a half years with the Public Health Department And whereas Sandra provided social service support to clients and programs that included aid to families with dependent children, Medi-Cal gain employment related services. In home support services program for the elderly, adult protective services, multi purpose senior service programs and maternal child adolescent in health program. And where as Sandra's provided quality care and commitment to client throughout her life span from high risk newborns to fragile elderly populations.

And whereas, Sandra has demonstrated the true quality of public health service and has consistently made a difference in the lives of her clients through preventative education and access to needed services. And whereas, Sandra has empowered and encouraged her clients towards self-sufficiency through patience and respect for all of her clients. And whereas, Sandra has demonstrated expertise, kindness and humility throughout her career.

And whereas, Sandra has acknowledged that she has learned valuable life lessons from her clients and continues to share those lessons with others on a daily basis. Now therefore it is hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors of Santa Barbara County do hereby acknowledge Sandra Talamantes for her lifetime commitment to quality care to the citizens of Santa Barbara County pass and adopt it today.

Sandra, no you don't get to just walk away. You are required to say something actually.

All right. I've got it written down here. Good. Esteemed supervisors, I'd like to thank you for your acknowledgement of my 34 years of service to the residents of Santa Barbara County. 35 years ago when my husband and I relocated from Texas to California I had no idea that we would be staying here for this long, and I plan to stay here. Santa Barbara County is a great place to live, to raise a family, and to work.

I've enjoyed providing social service work for the people of our area. Throughout the years, I've had the support of supervisors and co-workers. And what I've learned from my years as a county employee is that it takes a team to accomplish the mission that each department develops. When everyone works together, the work always gets done well. Thank you once again and I'm honored and I wish all of you success in the future of our community.

All right, A2 is a resolution proclaiming May 2014 as Military Appreciation Month in Santa Barbara County. I'd like to bring up Frank Campo the local veterans employment representative for the state of California with the Employment Development Department Workforce Services Branch. Frank you know I just want to publicly thank you for all the work that you've done for our veterans.

There's a lot of, big part of stand down for us and we try to provide a lot of services for our veterans. But without a job that's like the first thing that we need to take care of. So Frank's a great resource for us and a lot of our veterans that are out there looking for work. And while we're talking about appreciation for our veterans for everything they've done.

One of the things that we're really trying to concentrate is alerting our employers that veterans make outstanding employees. So I know you're going to have a few words to say about that, Mike if you could read the resolution please?

Chairman Labnino, members of the board. This is a resolution proclaiming May 2014 as Military Appreciation Month in Santa Barbara County. We're asked that people of our community have great appreciation and admiration for the many local men and women who served their country in the armed forces to protect and preserve the freedoms enjoyed by our community and by all Americans.

And whereas in war, international conflicts and peacekeeping missions men and women have been wounded, taken as prisoners and died in the line of duty. And whereas veterans possess a wide variety of valuable skill qualifications including experience, maturity, leadership and loyalty that make them ideal candidates for employment. And whereas, local veterans employment representatives, disabled veteran outreach program representatives and other employment development department staff are committed to ensuring that veterans receive the services and programs to which they are entitled. And promoting employer interest in hiring veterans.

Now therefore it be resolved and ordered that this board of supervisors in the county of Santa Barbara proclaims May 2014 as Military Appreciation Month in Santa Barbara County. And urges all local employers, organized labor, veterans organizations and other government leaders to support this worthy campaign to increase employment opportunities for the men and women who have faithfully served our nation in the military past and adopted today.

Thank you Chairman Lavinino. He whispered in my ear that veterans make good employees and Supervisor Carbajal said they also make good supervisors, so he

did

a good job for being a Marine. So I just want to thank him also for his service to our country and to our nation. Thank you to the board for this resolution. Not only do I work for EDD as a local veterans employment rep, I cover both Santa Barbara and St. Louis counties but I also serve on the Santa Barbara County Veterans Services Advisory Council representing Supervisor Adam from the 4th District and I'm also the chairman of the committee so we're also trying to do a lot more good stuff with our veterans. I just want to update the board since my last appearance here last year August of this past last year we hired another veterans rep to assist me. From January 2013 to August I was the only person covering both counties so I did get some additional reinforcements to kind of help me out.

He, Neoni Sonora is the Disabled Veterans Outreach Program Specialist he's working one-on-one with veterans that have barriers to employment and I'm working with employers trying to get those employers to hire those veterans So we've been very busy the last six months. There's been three job fairs in September and October, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara and Lompoc and then we just had one in Santa Barbara about a month ago when Supervisor Wolf was there to speak. We have one coming up next Friday May 1st in Lompoc and then On May 20th, we have a older worker job fair here in Santa Maria and then in June we're having another job fair in Santa Maria. So the economy is starting to rebound back and what we're seeing folks go back to work I believe the unemployment rate for Santa Barbara County is about 6.2% which is a little bit lower than what it's been the last four or five years of course the North County carries the burden of mostly unemployment rate but we're doing pretty good But as Supervisor Lavaniello said, I just want to encourage employers to hire veterans.

Most veterans or all veterans, most of them were 18-19 year old kids out of high school and didn't know what to do. They went to boot camp and they went through the training 90 to 120 days they learned a trade, a vocation. A lot of these men and women were in charge of multimillion dollar pieces equipment when they were 20 years old so they bring a good work ethic to the workforce They're a lot more mature than their civilian counterparts, so I encourage employers out there to just hire veterans. And again, I just want to thank you. I know we're a couple weeks early on the resolution but thank you.

All right. Thank you very much Frank Okay, our next resolution is A3. It will be if I could have Jim Talbot, the Executive Director of Smooth come forward. We will be adopting a resolution of commendation recognizing Smooth upon its 40 years of community service in Santa Barbara County and for those that don't know about Smooth what a great resource. Picks up the elderly, the disabled, takes them to their appointments.

I saw in the resolution 678,000 trips since the inception of SMOOTH. And for somebody that has an 84 year old mother-in-law living with them, I can tell you that there are a lot of medical trips associated with the elderly so what a great service and Mr. Allen could you please read the resolution?

Chair Labnino, members of the board. This is a resolution recognizing SMOOTH for 40 years of community service. Whereas the first meeting of the Community Services of Santa Maria Valley Senior Citizens Transportation Committee was held on May 15th, 1974 and was attended by leaders from 15 community groups. And whereas, the name Santa Maria Organization of Transportation Helpers or SMOOTH was suggested by Judge John Goodmans and was approved by the group in August 22nd of 1974. And whereas, SMOOTH's first contract with the County of Santa Barbara was in 1977 to provide transportation services for elderly residents in unincorporated areas surrounding the city of Santa Maria.

And whereas, Smooth also operated contracts for the county in 1979 and 80 assisting consumers of the CETA employment program and providing on-the-job transportation for recipients of AFDC support. And whereas, Smooth entered into a contract in 1984 with the county to provide curb-to-curb transportation for residents of Santa Maria and the North County region to medical appointments in the Santa Barbara area.

And whereas that contract is now in its 30th year and it's administered by the County Public Health Department, and it continues to provide access to medical care not available in North County. In 2012 and 2013, the medical shuttle van provided over 1,800 passenger trips covering over 29,000 miles, in many cases to life-sustaining appointments. And whereas, Smooth was designated by the county in 1999 as the Consolidated Transportation Service Agency for the Santa Maria Valley and has subsequently provided over 678,000 passenger trips to seniors, the disabled and recipients of social services in the county.

Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Barbara commends and congratulates the Santa Maria Organization of Transportation Helpers or SMOOTH on its 40 years of community service in Santa Barbara County, and encourages all residents to join us in celebrating SMOOTH's positive contributions to our community. Passed and adopted today.

Chair Lavinino and Supervisors, thank you very much for this opportunity. I'm joined today by our Board Vice President Jeremy Moreno. I also have several of our board members and I took a quick scale of our board members present and we have over 45 years of volunteer service represented by Our six directors here today, very proud of that. Thank you very much for this proclamation.

I wanted to give a brief, very brief update to you on your investment in SMOOTH as your consolidated transportation service agency It's difficult to single out a single service to highlight with 40 years of service. But I'd like you to know that the trust that you put in SMOOTH by awarding it TDA and Measure A funding on an annual basis, we receive about $285,000 in TDA allocations on an annual basis. And I'd like you to know that the result of that $285,000, we leveraged that money with fee-for-service contracts, private foundation grants and community donations, and create over $1.1 million in transportation services for our region's seniors, disabled and social service programs. $285,000 in TDA Measure A.

1.1 million dollars in service I think you're getting a good bang for your buck and a good investment in smooth But we do thank you very much for this proclamation from our board of directors our staff management We thank you very much for this proclamation And your trust over 40 years, and we're looking forward to 40 more years of driving for this county Thank you very much All

right All right, our next item is could I please get Herman Parker to come to the podium please. Herman is the director of our community services department and Herman we are not going to grill you. Today's a sad day for us, as we always hate to lose an employee. Herman was hired in as our director of our community services department. He came in under very trying times. We had just consolidated the department.

I think we dropped a heavy load on him as far as dealing with some audit issues that we were dealing with at the time. Herman's represented the county very well, and Herman, we really wanted to recognize you today. We know you're leaving on to greener pastures but just wanted the board have an opportunity to thank you publicly. And I think we also have a little basket here for you, everything Santa Barbara so.

So I'll open it up to my board members. Herman, I just want to say for everything you've done for us, I think you've represented the county very well and we really appreciate the service that you've given our county. We just wish you and your family all the best moving forward. We'll just go down the line here, Supervisor Farr.

Thank you Mr. Chair. Herman I've already said goodbye to you but I just want to say publicly in front of everybody how much I've appreciated working with you. How I've always found you to be so caring and responsive. And certainly with the issues in my district, with the parks. Always a lot to talk about with Kachuma and Halama and the parks in Isla Vista. Of course also the whole side to do with housing and the community development block grants.

And so we're going to miss you. I certainly wish you well. It's definitely San Diego's gain and our loss, so best of luck.

Supervisor Carbajal.

Thank you, Mr Chair. Herman I know you came to our county when we were going through some serious challenges financially. We consolidated a number of departments and I think you did an extraordinary job in dealing with With that transition and that change for us. And it was a trying time, and I think you've persevered and provided extraordinary service to the residents of our county. Thank you very much for your service and good luck in your new horizons.

Supervisor Wolk?

Thank you Mr Chair and Herman yes we've been through a lot these past few years and I think through your leadership And the respect that you have gained from the community and the folks who work for you. We've seen some tremendous positive changes, and you've been there on the front lines. And I really do appreciate your service to the community. And just want to say that you are a great embodiment of a public servant, always responding in a very respectful way and listening to people And I will miss you and you are leaving your department in good hands, and we appreciate that. And best of luck to you and your family.

Well, I just want to echo everything that's been said already and remind you that you were one of the first department heads that I didn't know that called me up and told me that you had some problems and that you needed me to solve and put me to work. So I thank you for that and I thank you for all the good interactions that we've had in the last year or so, a year-and-a-half, and I wish you the best of luck

Mr. Chair, may

I?

This is a wow. First of all, I'd just like to thank the board so much for your kind words. It's truly been an honor to serve this community in the county of Santa Barbara. I've truly enjoyed it, learned a lot, grown. So I want to thank the board. I want to thank the CEO's office, Renee Ball, my staff at the Community Services Department, just a wonderful group of folks and I'm just so appreciative of the opportunity to be able to serve here.

And it's not cool for big guys like me to get emotional, so I'm going to stop now.

All right. So there was a late request from the Public to speak on A5, but A5 has been withdrawn so I'm hoping that individual if you still feel the need to speak on it.

They're going to speak on D3 now?

They're going to speak on D3 instead. Okay, perfect. All right, are there any items that my colleagues would like to pull?

821 Mr

Chair. 821. Supervisor Wolk?

A9 and A10.

Salute, Supervisor Cobb-Hollis 21. And so let's just take them in order then. Mr.

Allen? Chairman Lavignino, members of the board, items A9 and A10. A9 is from planning and development. And it's to consider recommendations regarding the Pacific Coast Energy Company SEAP can number 94. This is an emergency permit. And then A10 is probation. And their recommendations are regarding an application to pursue 12th year allocation funding under the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act.

Supervisor

Wolf. Thank you Mr. Chair I have a question of staff regarding this item, you know this is another emergency permit for a seepage can on a petroleum field and my question is the status in that In this report, we're basically stating that this is not a project pursuant to CEQA guidelines. Although we continue to have these seep cans and I know that there is another project coming before the county for another oil field project. And that perhaps these seep cans will be incorporated into that project But I just wanted to confirm that, because it just feels like we should have an environmental review on the cumulative impacts of these seep cans.

And we're not getting that. And I see Mr. Drude there. Thank you for being available to answer.

Yes, Mr. Chair, Supervisor Wolfe, we indeed are going to be processing the seep cans in an environmental review which we are about to embark upon. We're currently reviewing proposals to prepare that EIR for the Pacific Coast Energy Company's oil drilling and production plan. And a major portion of the focus of the EIR is going to be looking at past occurrences of seeps and what we can do to limit them.

For the future, and so as we embark upon that, that's going to be a main focus of that EIR. And that will be begun in probably a month and then we'll have public comments and hear people's views on this process as we move along through it and be bringing it back before decision maker for consideration with that discretionary permit in the near future.

Okay, that's very good. Thank you for that Mr. Drew. I appreciate it.

Perfect, well let's go to 810?

So I sit on the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council, and I have since I've been a member of the Board of Supervisors. And I just want to commend all of the folks who sit on this council from the public defender that district attorney probation department ADMHS, it's an incredible group of folks. And I think that this report that we have in front of us is very reflective of the positive results that we have been seeing from county probation and all of the partners In that there is definitely a decrease in juvenile hall admissions.

We're seeing a decrease in number of violent offenses, daily population is being reduced but I also think it's important To highlight and to bring to folks attention that there still are issues that need to be addressed. One is the amount of drug use among our youth, the number of female offenders has not gone down in the same proportion as our male offenders.

And finally, and I've talked about this before the serious mental health issues that some of our juveniles are experiencing. So those three issues are being addressed in this report and again I just want to thank all of the folks who are involved in working with our kids. And we are seeing positive results, but again we're seeing some additional challenges. So I just wanted to bring that up to the board's attention that we're moving in a positive direction but we still have some issues that we need to work on. Thank you Mr. Chair.

Very good thank you Supervisor Wolf. Supervisor Carbajal? Mr. Allen did you read all of them or do we need to read 820?

Chairman, members of the board. Item 820 is from Supervisor Lavagnino. It's regarding the approval of a contract with the Santa Maria Fair Park for the 2014 veteran stand down and then item 821 was pulled by Supervisor Carvajal from planning and development. It requests that the board set a hearing for May 6th to consider the appeal of the decision on the Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission to move changes to county landmark number 34. That's the Juarez-Hosmore Adobe in the first district.

Very good. On 820, I just wanted to pull it and publicly thank the Santa Maria Fair Park for once again hosting this year's stand down. The location, the way that the grounds are set up is just perfect for that event and without The Fair Park and especially the CEO, Dennis Pearson. Joe Bringle and Yvonne Beely being a big part of the stand down team in providing the location at a much reduced cost.

I'm not sure stand down would really happen it definitely would not be as effective as it is so I just wanted to publicly thank those individuals and the fair park. I know Dennis Pearson is on his way out he's retiring. And so here's the message out to the new CEO whoever you might be or prospective CEO. I would really appreciate it if you follow Dennis Pearson's lead. And so, and I also want to thank my board members for allowing us to move forward again this year. So that's all for 820, 821 is Supervisor Carbajal

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is an appeal that's coming to the board dealing with the Juarez-Hosmer Adobe and I've asked council to examine if we could provide a facilitation opportunity between the parties here as we have done on other land use issues in the past. And I'd like to hear from Mr. Gazzone if that is feasible, oftentimes we can narrow the issues or resolve the appeals and I'm just wondering if that's something we could do?

Chair Leno and Supervisor Kerr-Paul. Yes, we have reached out to the landowner and the appellant. This appeal involves a mix of procedural and substantive issues. And we're going to see if we could sit down with them perhaps over a cup of coffee and maybe narrow a couple issues before this comes back to the board. And we reached out to the parties yesterday by voicemails and are probably going to be in contact with them today to move this along quickly.

Great, thank you

very much. Okay, very good. Can I get a motion to approve the balance of the administrative agenda please? Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. None opposed. Passes unanimously. Since we're on, it's just short time let's go ahead and move right into item number one. Mr. Allen.

Chairman Lavnino, members of the board. Item one is from the county executive office. It's a hearing to consider recommendations regarding the transient occupancy tax increase ballot measure for the November 2014 general election ballot.

Okay, very good. Mr. Buzanich? Good morning. Good morning members

of the board. Good morning chair. Before you today is a consideration of one of two options that you requested to be brought back for your consideration on increasing the transient occupancy tax putting a measure before the voters to increase the transient occupancies tax. Just to review a couple of the basics, that the transient occupancy tax, the TOT is a paid percentage of accommodation. Typically we think of it as a hotel room but may include other vacation rentals that is charged and paid for the privilege of occupying that said space.

Currently the county of Santa Barbara's transient occupancy tax rate is 10% of that charge. The city of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Goleta, Solvang and Buelton currently have a 12% TOT rate. And if your board were to choose to put an increase on the ballot for this November, the vote would be a county-wide vote but the measure would only apply to those properties in the unincorporated areas.

The proposed ordinance before you would increase the tax to either 12% or 12.5%, depending on if you select option one, 12%, or option two at 12.5%. The tax collection and administration of the tax would continue to be the same. It would be collected by the treasurer-tax collector and deposited by the auditor controller. It would continue to be a general tax for general government purposes, and it would be available to the board for annual appropriations.

The measure language in the resolution that is included in your option one and option two, is as follows. It says shall an ordinance to amend section 32-12 of the Santa Barbara County Code to increase the transient occupancy tax rate from 10% to 12%. Or again if you choose option 2, 12.5%, Upon transience, occupying defined hotels located only within the unincorporated areas of the county be adopted.

The revenue estimates in, I want to personally thank auditor controllers department for helping us to refine these numbers. But as you'll notice here with the proposed ordinance and resolution before you today we would look at a partial year collection during the 14-15 fiscal year. And we will look at a full collection of the new TOT rate in 15-16. And so you'll notice that in FY 14-15 beginning on January 1st, the tax would be collected at the new 12 or 12 and a half percent rate. And if you look at the third column there that says proposed 12% rate, Some odd, almost $700,000 difference between what would be collected in the latter half of the year versus the estimate in the first column of 10%. And if it was at 12%, it would be nearly $800,000.

If we look at then the first full year of collection, the variance becomes $1.5 million and an increase of 1.9 million roughly if you selected the 12.5% tax rate. The process before you today is the introduction of the ordinance, and your consideration of option one or option two of the 12 or 12.5% rate as requested by your board. The adoption of the ordinance will be bring back on the administrative agenda for May 6th. It would submit the ballot measures and the resolution directs the auditor to prepare a fiscal impact analysis, as well as council preparing the impartial legal analysis.

There would be a period to submit direct arguments in favor of the ordinance, which would be between July 14th and 23rd. Election day is November 4th and the new rate would be effective January 1st 2015. So before you today is a couple of recommended actions. You could select option one to place a 12% TOT rate on the November ballot by moving recommended actions A through E.

You can select option number two to place the 12.5% TOT rate on the November ballot by moving recommended actions F through J, and if you move actions E or J, you may appoint members to draft the arguments for future board consideration. With that concludes my remarks, if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them. Supervisor Farr then Supervisor Wolf?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Buzan, it's just looking at the timeline here. If the board decides to go forward with this today and then you said it comes back on the admin agenda on May 6th, is right now only planning to meet twice in July, on the 1st and 8th? So if members of the board were going to be appointed to submit arguments in favor That would have to be done probably prior to July 14th, right? So would any of this need to come back to the board and be agendized for the full board prior to the boards break.

Chair Lavaniello, Supervisor Friar, the short answer is yes. You'd want to bring back that argument for board's consideration prior to that break. There does exist another possible option and perhaps council if you wanted to weigh in I saw you moving the microphone. Maybe you want to weigh in on that?

Chair Lavigno and Supervisors, so the board has really two choices. You could within either option when you have the choice of designating authorizing supervisors to draft the argument. You could also authorize them to sign on behalf of the board or you can bring it back for further discussion. So it's really a policy choice as to whether you want to bring the argument back after its drafted by one or more supervisors.

Okay, thank you. Well Mr. Chair I just wanted to get clarification on that because if this is something that needs to come back to us we want to make sure that's on the long range calendar in time.

Absolutely, thank you very much for that. Supervisor Wolf?

Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Bazonich, the way that the language is noted here it definitely does reflect a general tax with no specific allocation correct?

Chair and Supervisor Wolff, given that it's amending section 32-12 of the existing county code which does specify this as a general tax. The amendment would continue to be relevant to a special, pardon me, a general tax for the General Fund. That's correct?

The requirement for passage is 50% plus one.

Chair Lavinino, Supervisor Wolf, that's correct.

Okay,

very good. Do we have speakers from the public?

We have four requests to speak. We're going to start in Santa Barbara with Kathy Janenga Dykes and come back to Santa Maria for Mary Harris.

Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. My name is Kathy Janega-Dykes. I'm CEO of Visit Santa Barbara and we are the tourism marketing agency for the South Coast. Today you're being asked to support an increase in the transient occupancy tax from 10% up to 12 or 12.5% in unincorporated areas. We support an increase that mirrors the TOT assessment in our incorporated areas, which is the 12%. And we also understand that this will bring much needed new revenues to the county. So while we support this increase in the TOT, TOT, we also urge you to look at new ways to continue to invest in our industry on an ongoing basis. Not specifically dedicating a certain percentage but looking at new ways to invest that will in turn bring new revenues community as well too.

And in fact, as a marketing agency we are responsible for tracking all of our specific programs so it is important for us and for you to know that the funding that you do give to us is spent wisely. In fact, we have impressive research and results to back up the statements. In fact, when Visit Santa Barbara doubled its marketing dollars really combining our county funding along with our city funding and our TBID funding with visits to our website increased 84% to 1.2 million. So why is this important? Because we know from our recent research that 50% of those people that travel to our website actually traveled to our destination. And we know specifically that between 9 and 10% are specifically influence from our organization. We're also able to report with certainty that Visit Santa Barbara marketing efforts directly increase lodging revenue here in the South Coast from $28 million to $44 million in only two years as well.

So our message is that if you invest in our tourism industry on an ongoing basis, You will easily see an increase in revenue from the county. And in fact, the ROI for our marketing efforts right now at Visit Santa Barbara is $10 for every dollar spent. So obviously that's a good investment. We also work really closely with our other tourism organizations throughout the county. You're going to be hearing from them shortly and in fact in the next couple of months you'll be hearing very shortly about a new program. That we will be working collaboratively to promote Sideways, a movie that was released in Santa Barbara about ten years ago and it's our ten year anniversary. So again we thank you for your ongoing support. We support the request to increase the transient occupancy tax to 12%.

And we look at ways to hopefully have you invest in our industry in the future. Thank you.

To be followed by Lana Hunter.

Hello, Chair Lavagnino, members of the Board of Supervisors and staff. My name is Mary Harrison. I'm Executive Director of Visit the San Ynez Valley, newly formed to join the forces of our 33 hotel members and the over 100 members of the former San Ynez Valley Visitors Association. At our board meeting on April 3rd, we discussed the initiative before you to raise the tourism occupancy tax in the unincorporated areas for Santa Barbara County up to 12%. The board felt that this move would create a level playing field among our 33 hotels. Nine of which are in the unincorporated areas of Santa Barbara County in the towns of Ballard, Los Alamos, Los Olivos and Santa Ynez. As you know, the cities of Solvang and Builton raised the TOT to 12% two years ago and there have been no problems with our visitors in accepting this increase.

Our visitors recognize the value and variety of lodging options in the beautiful San Ynez Valley, and they also appreciate the care taken by our cities and the county to maintain a wonderful environment for residents and visitors alike. And by paying TOT, our visitors are doing their share to maintain and enhance this environment through allocations for roads safety police and fire protection and so forth We would like to thank the supervisors for their continuing support of the tourism industry and to let you know that the destination marketing organizations of Santa Barbara County, such as with Kathy Janega-Dykes in her group at Visit Santa Barbara, cooperate fully and freely to make visiting our county the best possible experience it can be.

While we realize that you cannot promise increased tourism promotion funding if the TOT is raised in the unincorporated areas, we know that you are aware of the competitive nature of tourism promotion among destinations in California and throughout the country. We ask you to hear our requests for support with open minds and hearts. The hospitality industry gives back not only in TOT, but in sales and property tax and in the employment of a growing number of county residents.

Thank you for your attention and on behalf of Visit the San Ynez Valley Board of Directors I'm here to acknowledge your interest in asking the voters of Santa Barbara County To raise the TOT in the unincorporated areas of the county. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Yes, my name is Lonnie Hunter, Chair Lavanino and members of the Board of Supervisors. I'm here today not to take a stand on what you should do on the TOT tax but to maybe share some thoughts on things that are very close to my heart. I am the founding chair and a member of the Economic Alliance of Northern Santa Barbara County. And that's a grassroots effort that was formed about three years ago to really educate people about possibility thinkings on the economy. So it's really about bringing jobs to our region and how could we Take a step back and maybe look from the stratosphere about how that might happen. And so I completely support the role of tourism, and the tourism industry providers in providing jobs and bringing people to our community.

But one of the things that I just want to plant a seed about maybe some creative thinking as you go forward in this process. For North County, I think you're all aware of this but Santa Maria still has an 11.3% unemployment rate as of February of this year. Lompoc is 12.7, Guadalupe is 12.3 and Los Alamos is 10.3 and we all know that it may be higher depending on how counts are done so we have economic issues in North County I'm also a local employer here and have been for 35 years And I own a property management company. And so one of the things that we see in the property management company is people coming in, they can't pay their rent because they don't have jobs or they're underemployed and that's a huge issue.

So I want to continue to have you keep your focus on what can you do for North County? So as you go forward looking at this TOT tax, I would encourage you to think about the possibility of how could maybe a portion of this money be used for economic development efforts. Now, of course, I would prefer that to be North County. That may not be realistic. But we really have got to figure out how do we get people into jobs that they can support their families. And how do we do it while we're keeping the quality of life that we also enjoy in this county? So I think personally now, not speaking from the Economic Alliance, I would support that tax increase and absolutely support the wine industry and In the work they're doing, in fact one of our new teams will be tourism and wine.

And we'll be tourism wind, the Economic Alliance has seven teams working on different issues. So we support that but take a step back and really engage in some possibility thinking as you go forward in this process and how could some of this money be used to help us create jobs and get this unemployment rate reduced? Thank you.

It's close enough. You're on a strict three minute clock, Mr. Armendariz.

Good morning, I'm Joe Armandariz representing Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association. You all know how much I love new taxes so I just couldn't miss this opportunity to come down here and speak. Look, I understand very well that we have competing needs in our county. We have a need for more revenue. We have a need for economic development as articulated by Lenay. And so I just want to go on record as saying the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association, Santa Barbara County Technology and Industry Association is very receptive to what's being proposed here today. Particularly the taxpayers association because we do understand that To the extent that the county can generate more revenue and create a more robust muscular economy through economic development is a good thing.

A rising tide lifts all boats. I would caution my friends in the South County, and to a certain extent up here in the North County, to not so quickly foreclose on this idea of a 12.5% rate because It seems to me that a 12.5% rate, that would generate an additional nearly half a million dollars of revenue to the county is not insignificant. That's a fairly substantial amount of money to be allocated in productive uses.