Board of Supervisors — 2014-06-03

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We okay? Yeah, of course you're okay. So you gotta have that song. Good morning. I'd like to call to order this meeting, June 3rd meeting of the County Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors. Mr. Allen can I get a roll call please?

Miss Farr. Here. Mr. Adam. Here. Mr. Carbajal. Here Ms. Wolfe.

Here

Mr. Lavagnino.

The tragedy that took place in Isla Vista is something that no community or individual should ever endure. The loss of any life, especially of those young and innocent, is an unspeakable horror. At this difficult time, please know that while words cannot express our sorrow, our thoughts and prayers are with each of the victims' families and loved ones at this time.

On behalf of the Board of Supervisors, I want to express our appreciation to our dedicated first responders, How grateful this Board of Supervisors is for the professionalism and duty of our entire county family. At this time, I would like to ask my colleagues to make any comments that they may wish. And Supervisor Farr.

Thank you Mr. Chair. Well, sometime during the past week as I was thinking again and again about this terrible tragedy that occurred in Isla Vista. Some phrases from a famous poet written about 400 years ago came to mind. I'm sure they'll be familiar to many of you too, and in modern speech the lines go like this. No person is an island entire of itself. Every person is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

Any person's death diminishes me Because I am involved in humankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for you. On May 23rd 2014 the bell started tolling in Isla Vista. It told for 22-year-old Katie Cooper, who loved to dance. For David Wang and Christopher Michaels Martinez, both of whom were also 20 and loved basketball. It told for Chang Hong, 20, who liked to be called James and who loved nature.

It told for George Chen, who loved computers and video games, and Veronica Wise, who was a star water polo player and math whiz, both of them just 19 years old. Their sudden and tragic deaths forever changed the lives of everyone who knew them, their families, friends, co-workers, teachers and fellow students as well as the casual acquaintances who saw them from time to time in the community of Isla Vista where all of them lived.

Fortunately even more deaths were averted by the bravery and quick thinking exhibited by a number of Ivy residents while the shooting spree was going on. They risked their own lives to shelter bystanders in their homes and businesses, and cared for the wounded until help arrived. I have been so proud of how the community of Isla Vista has responded since that terrible night.

Despite their deep shock and sorrow they came together to honor and mourn the victims with a somber candlelight walk and vigil from UCSB to Isla Vista and a very moving memorial service in Harder Stadium both events attended by thousands of people Through it all, the residents have stayed strong and supportive of each other. Deliberately choosing to not let this violent and hateful event define their community.

And defending it from overzealous media attention with signs that said respect our home, let us grieve in peace, and our tragedy is not your commodity. The work of the Isla Vista foot patrol deputies, both sheriff deputies and UCSB campus police who were on duty that night was phenomenal. Absolutely exemplary and clearly prevented an even worse tragedy. I know the sheriff's going to be giving us some more details about their work in just a few minutes but I think I speak for all of us when I say that those deputies as well as all of the other emergency personnel responded Have our very deepest and most profound thanks for all that they did that evening.

The shockwaves from this horrendous event have been felt all across our state, nation and even in other parts of the world. But it happened here. These were our kids, our students, our constituents, residents of our county. We may not have known any of them personally but as the poet John Donne wrote, the bell also tolled for all of us and our lives are also forever changed.

Here in our county, we have struggled to try and comprehend something so incomprehensible. To make any sense out of something so senseless. To try and understand the unthinkable. But we've also turned our grief into action assisting in all the ways that county government can to help the friends and families of the victims, the campuses of UCSB and City College, and the community of Isla Vista to cope in the aftermath of this tragedy.

In the days and weeks to come there will still be much more to do, and we will continue to be there for them for as long as we are needed. In addition I am planning to bring forward to this board before the end of the year a number of items related to improving Isla Vista that were initiated even before the events of May 23rd. Unfortunately, we can't guarantee that a terrible tragedy like this won't happen again.

But we can do everything in our power to try and prevent it and make Isla Vista and our entire county as safe as possible for everyone. Thank you Mr. Chair.

Thank you Supervisor Farr. And I think I speak for the entire board of also commending you and your staff for Countless hours and the outreach that you had with that community, and the part that you and your staff have played in the healing process there as well. So any of my other colleagues wish to speak? Supervisor Wolf.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Supervisor Farr, your words were just perfect and I feel like if I even tried to add anything it would diminish the sentiment that I feel I guess the one thing that I will add is that, or emphasize is my gratitude also for the first responders and to the community. The Santa Barbara Response Network therapists who came out to Isla Vista.

I went to school at UCSB and lived in Isla Vista, and periodically my husband and I would go back in Ivy. And I think like a lot of us we'd go down Del Plye and look at the places where we used to live. On Sunday, my husband said well let's go to Ivy tonight. And so after just the most horrible week of the vigil and the memorial I went with my husband and we walked around and it was very quiet and we ended up at the memorial where at the Ivy deli and we just stood there and it was almost as if these Two angels appeared, they were part of the Santa Barbara Response Network.

And on the back of their T-shirt it said Compassion Patrol and I thought later, wow wouldn't that be great if everyone, if we all wore T-shirts like that? That just said Compassion Patrol, that's what we stand for as a community and we shouldn't wait for something like this to happen. It was a horrible mass murder that happened in our community. And to the families and to the friends, I feel devastated and I'm so sorry.

Supervisor Carbajal.

Thank you to my colleagues for their comments, I think in particular Supervisor Farr. I think you've captured at least my sentiments and the sentiments of many of us up here on the board and I think in our community very well said.

At the end of our meeting today at the request of Supervisor Farr we will be formally adjourning in memory of the innocent victims The Isla Vista tragedy. George Chen, 19 years old. Katie Cooper, 22. James Hong, 20. Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, 20 years old. David Wang, 20 and Veronica Elizabeth Weiss, 19 years old. Supervisor Farr?

And now everyone please join me in a moment of silence as we remember and mourn the victims of this senseless tragedy. Thank you.

Thank you, everybody would like to ask now that our sheriff Bill Brown come forward and provide an overview of the events in our next steps following Sheriff Brown or CEO Mona Miyasato will have several comments. Sheriff Brown. Thank you

Chair Lavinino members of the board and citizens of Santa Barbara County To the extent that I can at this point, I want to brief you on the mass murder case that culminated in a shooting rampage in Isla Vista on Friday May 23rd 2014. I want to begin by saying on behalf of all the men and women of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office, how profoundly sad we are that six fine young men and women were murdered that day.

Taken from us in the prime of their lives under such evil senseless and cold-blooded circumstances. Our hearts go out to the families of all those who died that day including the suspect and we extend our deepest sympathies to them We also send our best wishes for a full and speedy recovery to all those who were injured. As you are well aware by now, a 22-year old suspect named Elliot Roger killed six innocent people and wounded 13 more before committing suicide.

This atrocity was one of the largest mass murder cases in our county's history. This case stunned our community and captured the world's attention. The initial calls of gunfire in Isla Vista came into our Emergency Communications Center at 9.27 p.m.. Less than eight minutes later, Elliott Roger after crashing his BMW coupe into a number of parked cars took his own life with a gunshot to the head.

In between those events he had shot and killed three innocent young people and wounded 13 others by gunfire or by using his car as a weapon. In the aftermath of this shooting rampage, an additional three innocent young victims were found brutally murdered in the suspect's apartment. All had been repeatedly stabbed. Three semi-automatic 9mm handguns were found in the dead suspects possession along with 410 rounds of ammunition loaded into 41 10 round magazines.

We believe that during his brief rampage, Elliot Roger fired more than 50 rounds of ammunition changing magazines five times during the shooting spree. In the aftermath of this diabolical and heinous crime as there always is in the wake of such outrages, there has been much Monday morning quarterbacking. Analysts paid to grandstand and engage in conflict with one another have delivered much opinion, conjecture, supposition about what happened. Why it happened and how it could've been prevented?

They have commented on what policies, procedures or laws must be changed. What training there should be, what gun control measures are needed. What additional resources could've been provided to the mentally ill, to the treatment community, to law enforcement and so forth. Certainly all of these questions are legitimate and they should cause us to reexamine how we have traditionally approached the problem of violence committed by the mentally ill.

I hope that the dialogue and the debate will spur some positive changes in the wake of this tragic situation, but Elliot Rogers journey from innocence to homicidal rage was a long and complicated one with many different elements twists and turns As is usually the case with difficult, complex long-developing problems there is never a quick easy solution to them.

We all want to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill but we need to find ways to do so that don't stigmatize the mentally ill and that might tend to keep people who are mentally ill from seeking treatment for their illnesses We also need to refrain from trying to make sense of a senseless situation. We must remember that in a free society, we constantly have to balance public safety with individual liberties and this is sometimes very difficult to do.

Elliott Roger was very clever and very adept at convincing people that he was functional and not a threat to himself or others. He convinced his family, his friends, his roommates His neighbors, his teachers, his mental health professionals and law enforcement officers alike. That while he might have been socially awkward, perhaps even odd, he was not a danger to himself or others.

It is apparent that this tragic case will join ranks with far too many others each of which has an all too common denominator. All committed by someone with a severe mental illness that is untreated or undertreated and who has access to firearms or other deadly weapons. The FBI's definition of mass murder is the slaying of four or more people in one incident.

One mass murder occurs in our nation roughly every two weeks. In the last seven years, the death toll from these crimes has exceeded 900. As Richard Martinez, the father of Christopher Michaels-Martinez who was slain in Isla Vista that awful night has said we must find ways to stop this madness. So what can we do and where do we go from here? Well first of all we at the Sheriff's Office will be finalizing our investigation which will take at least several more weeks to do We will continue to work with other stakeholders as we were before this awful crime, to seek ways to enhance the safety of the people who live and visit and work in Isla Vista.

We will work with our state and federal legislators to craft and support common sense legislation that will provide more and better community-based health treatment Mental health treatment, more and better crisis response resources for both mental health and law enforcement organizations. And it will provide us with tools such as gun violence restraining orders that can help keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.

We will work with the alcohol drug and mental health department as they implement their recently obtained $11 million crisis response and triage teams that may include a co-response with law enforcement. Although I'm not at all certain that it would have made a difference in this case, given Elliot Rogers' ability to mask his demons from others. We nevertheless want to provide every resource possible in identifying and helping those who suffer from such burdens.

Lastly, I have asked the Police Foundation, America's oldest non-member, nonpartisan police research organization, to come in when we are finished with our investigation to conduct an objective, critical incident review of this tragedy. One that will allow our agency and the American law enforcement community at large to learn valuable lessons from our experience.

I want to close my comments this morning by thanking two groups of people First, I want to thank and say how immensely proud of I am the men and women of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. And of our allied public safety agencies who worked together that evening and through to the present time to stop the threat and investigate this complex case. I'm grateful that none of them were killed or injured that night.

I am also gratified to know that we have people in this county Protecting and serving us people like the dispatchers who answered dozens of frantic 911 calls and directed first responders to those who needed help. The Isla Vista foot patrol deputies, the UC PD and CHP officers who responded to the situation by running towards the sound of gunfire rather than away from it.

Who valiantly rendered first aid and performed CPR on victims who were dying And whose actions in at least one case have been credited with saving the life of one of the victims. Who engaged the suspect in two separate gun battles, wounding him and putting him to flight just prior to crashing his car. Their actions were heroic and saved lives. The paramedics and firefighters whose rapid response and triaging skills that night no doubt saved lives as well.

The members of my executive and command staff who responded to Isla Vista in record time, set up a command post and quickly dug through the chaos to determine what had happened. The investigators from the Sheriff's Office, the Santa Barbara Police Department, and the District Attorney's Office who interviewed a host of witnesses and have prepared or are in the process of preparing hundreds of pages of reports.

The forensic investigators and criminalists from the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office and the State Department of Justice Crime Lab, who combed through and processed 12 separate crime scenes containing a huge amount of evidence. The coroner's personnel who investigated the deaths of the innocents and the killer, who handled their remains in a dignified manner, who conducted autopsies and worked so compassionately with so many grieving families.

And to our PIO, Kelly Hoover and Assistant PIO Sergeant Mark Williams who arranged press conferences, prepared press releases and worked tirelessly fielding a massive wave of media inquiries from throughout the world. All of these men and women did outstanding work under very difficult circumstances. They're an extraordinary team and they make me proud to be the Sheriff of Santa Barbara County Lastly, I want to thank the people of Santa Barbara County and beyond. And especially the members of the Isla Vista community for their amazing outpouring of gratitude and support in the wake of this terrible event.

I have lost count of how many people have written, telephoned, texted, emailed or stopped me on the street in restaurants, in church and at other events to shake my hand, to hug me and to let me know how appreciative they are of the manner in which the Sheriff's Office responded to this tragedy. Students in Isla Vista put up a banner on the walls of the Isla Vista Foot Patrol and wrote dozens of comments expressing their appreciation.

They also organized and participated in a variety of fitting and poignant tributes and memorial services to those whose lives were taken. Their response to this catastrophe has been both humbling and gratifying, and just goes to show that most of the problems in Isla Vista are caused by people who do not live there And who are not invested in that unique community.

We are grateful for their support, we share their grief and we pledge to do all we can to learn from this tragedy and to seek ways to prevent others like it from occurring in the future.

Thank you very much Sheriff Brown.

Thank you. I just want to echo the comments stated by others, but also to say on behalf of all county employees we offer our condolences to the families and friends of George, Katie, James, Christopher, David and Veronica. And also to commend the men and women of our Sheriff's Department in other public safety agencies they showed and continue to show professionalism dedication and commitment to the community and compassion for the victims and their families.

I also want to take this time just to thank our county staff. This tragedy has been very personal to many of our county staff, not only was it because it's in our backyard but because we know Isla Vista well. Many employees or graduates of UCSB have children attending there, reminisce as Supervisor Wolf said of their time there. And mostly many of us were shocked, experienced the horror and grief as did the entire nation.

And continue to have heartfelt sorrow for the families of the victims. I also want to thank our county employees who jumped in quickly without hesitation to offer assistance and support to the public safety efforts. So specifically, I'd like to thank the Office of Emergency Management. County Council, our Public Works Department, the District Attorney's Office, Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health, and my staff in the CEO's office for their immediate response and assistance as well as the continued leadership by the Board and Supervisor Farr and her staff.

In the last week we've continued to keep lines of communication open with our employees. We sent messages, offered grief counseling, and we're continuing to provide that support And in the coming weeks, months and a year ahead we will continue to provide assistance and help the community heal as well as help our employees heal in this recovery effort. And again, as the sheriff said, we are all committed to ensuring the health and safety of Isla Vista. Thank you.

Very good, thank you very much CEO Miyasato Okay, with that we'll begin our regular meeting and I would ask for a motion to approve the minutes of the May 20th 2014 meeting. Moved and seconded? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. We'll now move to our public comment period. Mr. Allen do we have any public speakers?

Chairman Lavnina, members of the board. We have three requests to speak. We're going to start with Beatrice Contreras here in Santa Barbara, followed by Lupe Montano here in Santa Barbara.

Very good. You'll each have three minutes to speak

Good morning, Chair Labagnino and members of the board. My name is Beatriz Concheres and I'm the new external vice president of local affairs for Associated Students at UCSB. I just wanted to come introduce myself. Hi as well my name's Allie Guthy. I'm the new Associated Students president at UCSB. So I just wanted to thank all of you for your support of our community in this really tragic time. More specifically, I want to thank the Sheriff's Office and first responders for their swift response And the board for their kind comments and support throughout this period, especially the third district. Supervisor Farr made some really touching comments and I'm very grateful to hear that there are some proposals for Isla Vista that are on its way.

I also want to thank CEO Miyasato for her Dedication to the job as well. I ran into her at the press conference a couple weeks ago And we chatted for a bit and it was nice to see that there were support from the county I also saw a few of the supervisors at the memorial, so it was great to see Everyone who's really invested in our community So I thank you for your support and I hope to see more support from all of you in the future Thank You

Very good. Thank you for being here

Our next speaker is Lupe Montano, be followed by Eduardo Oseta in Santa Maria. And then we have one last speaker from Santa Maria, Christine Farrow. That'll be our final speaker.

Lupe?

Good morning Board of Supervisors, Chairman. My name's Lupe Montaño and I'm a worksite organizer for SEIU 721. I represent Santa Barbara County social workers as well as other workers within the SEIU 721 bargaining unit. For the past 11 years, I was also a social worker at Tri-Counties Regional Center. I worked with many families and children with special needs and many of whom were also receiving services through the Department of Social Services. I had several children on my caseload who were in foster care and work closely with some of the social workers who were dealing with the variety of issues that families and children face in our community such as substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse, mental illness, and developmental delays just to name a few.

These workers are some of the bravest and most admirable individuals I've ever known. They risked their lives many times to prevent our children from continuing to be abused and neglected. They work long hours to find appropriate supports for these families with the number one goal of keeping children safe, but also trying to successfully reunite them with their loved ones.

This job requires specialized skills, and our social workers are getting the job done, but they need your help. Let's work together and make child safety a priority today. Thank you very much, and I also want to thank everyone in the community. The firefighters are first responders in the tragedy in Isla Vista. I'm also a Gaucho alumni and so it was very, I lived in Isla Vista as well. And it was very hard to deal with. So thank you everybody. Appreciate it. We're

going to go to Santa Maria for Eduardo Zeta to be followed by Christine Fara who's our final speaker.

Mr. Chair, honorable members of the board I'm here as the Chapter Board President of SEIU 721. I'm also in support of the social workers. Eligibility workers also support our social workers and I'd like to commend the board, the county all of the first responders and everyone that assisted the students, the family members Just to let them know that as a county employee and many employees that I work alongside of, this was really heartfelt. And I commend the county for stepping up and taking care of the community. Thank you. Thank

you.

Christine Faro is our final speaker.

Good morning. First, I want to say thank you to our sheriff's department, the first responders, anybody that showed their compassion during the tragedy in Isla Vista. Secondly, I'm here to support our social workers and our children in the community who we strive to keep safe. And by safe, I mean we do our very, very best on our investigations. We only remove children from the home if we have to, to keep them safe.

Yet, there are so many children and too few social workers. We manage to do our jobs so well because we don't care about the time it takes. To get the job done, we get it done. We have children who are graduating from high school this year. We've got 24 of our youth, our foster youth, graduating high school this year. It's just huge. But it's taking its toll on the social workers and our retention rate is poor because we ask So much of the few social workers we have.

So I'm here today to urge the board to prioritize child safety when it reviews its budget by allocating sufficient funds to social services, it can help with recruitment and retention of social workers Santa Barbara County kids deserve nothing but the best and dedicated social workers for our county. Right now, our social workers are leaving for other counties that have lower caseloads and higher pay.

And I'm not here about higher pay. I'd probably do this for free. We don't do what we do because of the money. We do it because it's in our hearts and we want to help the community Please don't wait for a tragedy to happen before child safety becomes a priority. Thank you very much.

That closes our public comment period. Our final speaker, thank you very much Mr. Allen. All right I will take a motion entertain a motion for approved items A1 through A4. Moved and seconded all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? They pass unanimously. We'll move on to A1, Supervisor Carpajal and Supervisor Wolfe.

Thank you Mr. Chair. I'd like to call Ben Pitterly from Santa Barbara Channel Keeper to the podium. Did you want to come up? Okay. Well, this is a resolution that Supervisor Carbajal and I are presenting which proclaims June 7th and 8th as Marine Protected Area Awareness Weekend in Santa Barbara County. And as will be stated in the resolution we're fortunate in this county to have 18 marine protected areas. And I think it was sometime within the last year that Supervisor Carbajal and On the Isla Vista Bluffs, and it was truly amazing and a spectacular sight. And I remember Supervisor Carbajal saying it's a protected site and it was beautiful but we didn't exactly know what was going on under the water with all those amazing species that are being protected.

But anyway, we're here to celebrate this amazing statement in our channel. Supervisor?

I just wanted to add that the strategy of the Marine Protected Areas is to really protect the ecosystem out there, not only for marine life but for fish and support. While it might be a little painful to reduce some of the fishing areas for our fishermen In the long run, it actually provides an abundance of fishing opportunities. But this is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world and when you understand that, you realize why it's so important that we take this type of action. So I just want to congratulate Channel Keeper for their advocacy All that you do to really make sure these areas are protected. And I know it's not just Channel Keepers, it's a number of other organizations. As a matter of fact the name of the organization that's actually leading this with Greg Helms is escaping me at the moment but I'm having one of those moments so when you say a few words- A senior moment, I am gonna be 50 this year.

But thank you very much, you're right Supervisor Wolfe it was great to be out there and to see it first hand how just great it looks in terms of our ecosystem so.

Chairman Labnino, members of the board, this is a resolution proclaiming June 7-8 2014 as Marine Protected Area Awareness Weekend in Santa Barbara County. Whereas the county of Santa Barbara is located immediately adjacent to the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Barbara Channel, an area considered to be one of the most biologically diverse locations throughout the world.

And whereas, in 1999 the California legislature passed the Marine Life Protection Act. Which required the redesign of the state's network of marine protected areas where take up marine life or fishing is prohibited or restricted with a goal of protecting and restoring habitats and ecosystems. Providing a refuge for all sea life, providing reference areas for research and educational opportunities, and protecting our nation's marine natural heritage for future generations. And whereas, since 2003 a network of 18 marine protected areas has been established within the Santa Barbara Channel along the county's coastline.

And whereas it is recognized that the adoption of MPAs within Santa Barbara County represented a major sacrifice made by many members of the fishing community which is doing its part to comply with the new regulations by sharing and disseminating information in supporting recreational fishing in waters that remain open to fishing. And whereas, the Santa Barbara County 25,283 jobs rely on coastal tourism and recreation. And approximately 60,000 people visit the Channel Islands each year for aquatic recreation such as fishing, sailing, kayaking, wildlife watching, surfing and diving. And whereas, a series of events and activities are being held on June 7th and 8th as part of this year's Santa Barbara Ocean Festival to commemorate a decade of protection at Santa Barbara Channel's MPAs, educate the public about them through remote local ocean-based businesses and best practices, and demonstrate responsible use and enjoyment of our ocean areas.

Now therefore it is hereby ordered and resolved that the Board of Supervisors proclaims June 7th and 8th 2014 as Marine Protected Area Awareness Weekend in Santa Barbara County passed and adopted today.

Thank you very much, and I'll keep this quick. On behalf of Channel Keeper and many other groups as Salud pointed out that support this resolution including the Environmental Defense Center, Christy Burney is here with me today in the audience, Ocean Conservancy, and Explore Ecology, I'd like to thank the Board of Supervisors for this declaration and for helping us raise awareness about the Santa Barbara Channels Marine Protected Area Network.

Many people don't know, but California is actually a worldwide leader in marine protection. It's home to the second largest scientifically based network of MPAs in the entire world and of course the Santa Barbara Channel in Santa Barbara County is core to that with 13 MPAs off the islands and another five recently adopted off our coastline A lot of people hear the word sanctuary or conservation area and there may be a tendency to think that maybe people aren't allowed to visit these areas, or that humans and people can't be part of that equation. But it's very important to us that people understand that when California did establish these underwater parks they didn't do so to keep people out actually quite to the contrary.

And explicitly marine protected areas were created for the people of California It's a visit and enjoy and recreate in. And so for several months, our groups have been collaborating with the coalition of NGOs, local agencies and businesses including some recreational fishing businesses to plan and promote a series of events that are already taking place To help people explore our coastline and learn about marine protected areas and partake in some of the many recreational opportunities that they have to offer. So this Saturday, the 7th at West Beach at this year's World Oceans Day Festival many of our groups will have booths with information about ways people can get out on the water and explore the coastline including some exciting opportunities there are going to be free coastal cruises offered to the public scheduled and available later this month so Hope that some of you can join us this weekend and thanks once again for helping us raise awareness about our NPA's.

Thank you.

Very good, thank you very much

Thank you, thank you Mr. Chair. Supervisor Wolfe and myself are co-sponsoring this resolution proclaiming June 2014 as CalFresh Awareness Month in Santa Barbara County. If I could have Maria Gardner, look at that. Without, just like clockwork. Thank you for coming up. Obviously our board recently undertook the poverty study which underscored the many individuals in our county that are facing such circumstances and how And the challenges associated with their socioeconomic status.

And CalFresh, also known as SNAP is an invaluable program that the federal government provides states and counties to be able to provide benefits so that they could purchase food in almost any market in our area. And it's tragic to know that there's still much poverty amongst us. And counties, in addition to public safety, one of our charges is to really take care of the needs of the indigent or the poor and I think that this is an invaluable program Aims to equalize and provide a better quality of life for those that are disadvantaged in our county. So I'm very proud that we're able to do this, I know for awhile we were not faring well on really getting this program to flourish in our county and at some point maybe even right now.

I'd love to hear how we have made progress on extending these benefits to those that are in need and that qualify for these services. So, Supervisor Wolf?

Yes, just quickly. Thank you to our department for everything that you're doing with your outreach and working with our community partners. I think people helping people in the food banks have done a lot in outreach too. I think address the situation Supervisor Carbajal mentioned and something that was of concern to the board and that is that we had so many people who qualified for this program but were not able Access that benefit and I think with the help of you know, the excellent work of the departments and And our agencies in the community that and you'll probably tell us about the improvement that we've seen but this is so important and it's great to get the word out also to folks to make sure that they understand the eligibility and the Availability of this program.

So thank you very much for all the work that you do

And before you read the resolution, I see Bonnie Campbell's also here with the food bank. Bonnie come on up. You and your colleague, I know you guys are a major part of our ability to feed our community and to participate with our CalFresh program. And you guys are one of the many partners that we have so thank you for all that you do. If you could read the resolution please?

Chairman Labnina, members of the board this is a resolution proclaiming June 2014 as CalFresh Awareness Month in Santa Barbara County. Whereas as an estimated 16% of county residents including 20% of county children are living in poverty in households that sometimes struggle to put food on the table and whereas families that cannot consistently afford enough food face a variety of consequences including hunger higher risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension depression and poor mental health and poor academic outcomes for children And whereas CalFresh, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is a federally funded program administered locally by the Santa Barbara County Department of Social Services.

It can help by providing low income families with a monthly benefit to help them purchase food. And whereas CalFresh is a powerful tool against hunger and malnutrition helping nearly 35,600 individuals many of them seniors and children in over 15,080 households in our county to put nutritious food on their family table every day. And whereas these benefits total nearly $5 million per month, providing significant economic benefit to our community for working families, farmers and grocery stores. With $1.70 in economic activity generated for every dollar spent on CalFresh benefits.

And whereas up to 43,460 individuals may be eligible for CalFresh in our county but do not receive it. Leading the Department of Social Services to collaborate with community-based organizations such as the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County, the Children's Health Initiative of Santa Barbara County and the Network of Family Resource Centers to heighten public awareness of and access to CalFresh programs. Now therefore it is hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors recognizes June 2014 as CalFresh Awareness Month in the county of Santa Barbara passed and adopted today

Well thank you. As we've just heard, the CalFresh program is a powerful tool against hunger and poverty. Social Services staff and our community partners are working hard to meet this area of need in our community. We've made tremendous progress. In the past few years, we reached initially fewer than 30% of the potentially eligible individuals for this program. And recently, we have reached the 40% mark. We have more work to do.

Together with our community partners, we will continue our effort to close this gap With summer upon us it's an important time to highlight this program because with school out family food budgets are being stretched very thin. Thank you for this opportunity to highlight the CalFresh program during the month of June.

Amy Lopez, Outreach Manager for the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County and first of all I would like to thank Department of Social Services for our collaboration for the last five years doing CalFresh outreach and secondly the Board of Supervisors Recognizing the CalFresh Awareness Month. Thank you.

I'm Bonnie Campbell, the Director of Community Impact for the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County and we're proud to work with the Department of Social Services and thank you so much for bestowing this honor upon our joint endeavors to reach those residents who have a meal gap in their lives and for Supervisor Carbajal-Wolf for putting this forward in June. I would just like to add speaking to the meal gap coming up this summer We're adding to our programs to do a picnic in the park countywide 18 sites. Last summer we served 33,000 lunches to our children this summer we plan on serving 38,000 lunches to our children, including a backpack component for the families to close that meal gap and continuing our CalFresh outreach to reach as far as possible.

And internally in the food bank we have increased our ability to enroll more families for CalFresh benefits by a train-the-trainer model and working with our over 300 community nonprofit partners. So we thank you for this chance to share that information with everyone. Thank you.

Great. Thank you very much. Okay, we'll go on to item A3. Supervisor Farr?

Thank you Mr. Chair. Well given all of the well deserved praise that we have been bestowing today on our sheriff's deputies and UCSB campus police it's certainly appropriate although it was coincidental that we also have a resolution to commend Officer Phillip V. Robasco, who is retiring from the University of California Santa Barbara Police Department after 25 years. So I'm hoping that he will come forward and I see other members of UCSB campus police please feel free to come down.

Phil's retiring after 25 years of service. He started in 1989, worked a variety of assignments including criminal investigations, field training officer, armorer and a rage instructor and as part of that implemented various tactics and training for firearms. So we're so appreciative of the work that you've done for our community, for the campus, for Isla Vista over all of these years. And I'm very proud that the board can present you with this commendation.

Mr. Allen would you read it please?

Chairman Labnino and members of the board, this is a resolution of commendation for Officer Philip V Provasco upon his retirement from the University of California Santa Barbara Police Department. Whereas, Phil retired from the University of California Santa Barbara service on Friday June 27th 2014. Having faithfully served the campus community for 25 years during which he served as a police officer. And whereas, Phil faithfully served as a first class boatsman's mate on US Coast Guard from 1972 to 1980. And whereas, Phil began his law enforcement career in 1989 for the University of California Police Department working as a police officer.

And whereas during his career, Phil was assigned to Corporal, Criminal Investigations, Field Training Officer, Range Instructor, Armorer, Fleet Officer and Honorary Honor Guard Bugler. And whereas Phil proposed implementation of various firearms tactics and trainings of such firearms. And whereas Phil is especially known to his peers, supervisors and the community has served so well for his dedication professionalism and his commitment to the job and profession of law enforcement. Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that the Board of Supervisors commence Phil V. Probasco for his faithful and distinguished service to the citizens of Santa Barbara County. He congratulates him on his retirement and wishes him continued good health and many years of happiness passed and adopted today.

On behalf of the men and women at UCSB Police Department, I'm Assistant Chief Kathy Farley. And on behalf of Chief Olson we thank you for honoring and recognizing our partner and our brother Phil. The dog, Probosco. And as Doreen's already laid out a number of things that he's done through all his career. One of the other items that he's very recognized in the county and different cities for is being one of our memorial service buglers. And he is one of the most dedicated and loyal people I've ever worked with, that we've all ever worked with.