Board of Supervisors — 2014-08-19

♪ Yeah. you Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the August 19th meeting of the Board of Supervisors for the County of Santa Barbara. Mr. Allen can I get a roll call please?

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

All right, can I get a motion to or are there any changes to the minutes of the July 8th meeting 2014?

I'll move second.

Moved and seconded all those in favor?

Aye.

Any changes or I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the July 29th 2014 special meeting.

I'll move approval.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. None opposed. Passes unanimously. We will go right into our resolutions. Oh boy, take off a few weeks and forget about public comment. Alright let's go into our public comment period Mr. Allen do we have any requests to speak?

Chairman Lavinino members of the board we have three requests to speak for public comment. We're going to start in Santa Maria with George Alvarez and then return to Santa Barbara for Aurelio Bola Negra.

Mr. Chair, and when the public comments speakers are done if I could just make a comment.

Very good morning George.

Good morning Board of Supervisors long time no hear or see. I'm here basically to educate the general public about the status of Guadalupe as you're well aware we're having financial problems that was predicated by the incompetency That was discovered all over the last 15 years in basically playing shell games with our funding and it got us to this point where we're in financial scraps now I have to thank the mayor of Guadalupe Francis for her sincerity or hard work. And actually, she made a public announcement which I did not see in the Santa Maria Times few days after. Which normally in the state of affairs of Guadalupe would have made front page. She's asking for a full grand jury investigation which I support deeply. We need some clarity, we need some transparency.

We need the city of Guadalupe and its residents to get back its decency among the state of affairs of the County of Santa Barbara. We have been the laughing stock for the county of Santa Barbara for many years because of the buffoonery that has occurred in this city. And yes at one time I defended the city when you guys in a grand jury report stated that we were dysfunctional. I apologize, you were right.

We have a dysfunctional community there but with your assistance There's a grand jury report. We could bring this to rest and go forward. It's it's a hard thing to ask, but it's needed because basically we're small community. I hope you guys have a contingency plan. Just in case our initiatives don't pass in November so we can figure out what we can do together because it'd be cheaper for the County of Santa Barbara to assist us in our financial woes than to really absorb the costs that might come with the police department, the fire and whatnot. And then with public safety, our time frames are gonna be drastically not in favor or the people need help. So with that I thank you all.

Keep us in mind, but please a grand jury is needed to clear the water of what's going on in Guadalupe. Thank you. Thank you.

Our next speaker here in Santa Barbara is Aurelio Mola Negra to be followed by Jose Arturo Ortiz de Martinez Gallegos.

Good morning, Chair Lavagnino and fellow supervisors. The last time I stood before you along with several others the board demonstrated some courage and solidarity when it voted unanimously to make all county parks and beaches non-smoking I would also like to remind Carbajal during another meeting with another group who was advocating for tenants' rights. I believe you stated that you wanted to continue to work on this, but not for people who are destroying property and so I agree with that statement. I'm not here to advocate for people who are destroying property.

I had a longer statement to make but because of the limits here today, I really have to focus on just a few words. I would like to notice that the county health department is present and as I submit this DVD titled Life and Death in Assisted Living, I'm not here to address assisted living facilities but it's the information that is in here That I thought most interesting because as I started watching it, I saw similarities in what is going on here locally with nonprofits and the approach to substance abuse.

The concept that I have witnessed on housing first and the behaviors later, I think is a disaster. I live at a property where basically they're just giving them a key and saying have at And there's no accountability. The administration, if they are trying to do something about it I'm not aware of it and so it's a really difficult place to To live. Every time I try to raise a concern, which I think is legitimate their mantra is well if you don't like it here why don't you move?

If I had the resources I would have left a long time ago but I'm at the bottom of the food chain so for people like us most of my time is spent just trying to maintain my own sanity and not let what's going on around me affect I'd lose my perspective on reality. I want to quote Martin Luther King, there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor popular he must do it because conscience tells him it is right and I'd also like to quote Cesar Chavez the course of the poor the marginalized the ones that have been ignored These people have names, faces and families. I guess what we want to give these people is a voice but will this be enough?

With all this resistance. Once social change begins it can't be reversed. You can't uneducate someone who's learned how to read. You can't humiliate someone who has pride and you can't oppress someone who is not afraid anymore. And so I'll end again by just quoting why I'm here. And that's just to address this concept of housing first, behaviors later is a disaster for me. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jose Arturo Ortiz de Martinez Gallegos to be followed by Jeff Bard who's our final speaker.

Good morning. I was here last month bringing up the issue about those with disabilities, senior citizens with disabilities. Why is it that we have such a long wait to get into housing? Seven to 15 years. But it's those with substance abuse, they get fast-tracked into housing. They get into a rehab program. They get fast-tracked within 18 months and then what happens is they fail and it's the revolving door. This is the nonprofits, the government agencies, and the empire builders, they make money.

They make money off these individuals who have substance abuse and they get into housing. But people like myself, senior citizens with disabilities, we have such a long wait to get into housing. I just talked to a fellow last week, and he found out he has cancer. He's disabled. And I asked him how long do you have to wait to get into housing? He goes, I have 15 years.

He says, I talked to somebody at Common Ground and they told him That in order for you to get into housing, you need to sign up in a drug rehab program at Casa Esperanza. The man is not a drug addict and he's not an alcoholic. And he has a 15 year wait to get into housing and he has cancer. There's this woman that I just talked very briefly, I'm not sure if she's in her 70s or 80s, she's in an electric wheelchair with a service animal.

And I asked her, are you with housing? She goes yes in a very angry mode. I have 15 years. I don't get it. I don't understand why is it that those with serious disabilities have such a long wait to get into housing? But like I said, it's the non-profit groups, the government agencies, the empire builders they make money. Of those who have substance abuse. This is a waste of taxpayers' money, it really is.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Our final speaker is Jeff Bard.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, I was going to speak in other comments but I really have to say I concur with what we just heard from the previous two speakers and I will disclose I have been homeless living outdoors in this county for 10 years. I was born two counties away and I don't really see a light at the end of the tunnel and I do see active IVDU users and drunk people, the town drunk being prioritized on milpus and IV and maybe there's a good reason for that but I'm holding on. My attitude is I want to serve the community, and I'm camping outdoors with a wink and a nod so I'm not a 602 violator because the landscaper likes the work I do of keeping the place calm.

That said though, I want to continue and serve the community and give you an update on my public health activism. As you know, I've been at odds with the warming center and other players about infection control regarding influenza tuberculosis and pneumonia. And since I began my campaign, it was ostracized and punished for my criticism and opinions by service denials which are assuredly in violation of fair housing. But rather than litigate my fair housing claim, I've continued to serve the community by following public health issues. And since then we saw a homeless centered tuberculosis outbreak in Los Angeles. We saw national influenza epidemic and last year we saw an H1N1 that was little scary because it affects young people.

And we dodged a bullet, but I'm giving you an update. In three other California counties we had influenza outbreaks in the jail which put custody deputies at risk, it put service providers at risk and it put inmates at risk. And two of those three counties were Ventura and Slow. And I may mix up some of the facts, but overall what happened was in a little jail in Ventura.

They had a shutdown in court operations in one of those three counties. They had hundreds of inmates and guards having to wear respirators and they had a lot of sick people. There were some at least one I think there was a couple maybe three fatalities it was at least one fatality in slow and it's quite alarming because it was a very unpopular inmate. And I have a very actually I knew Sheriff Parkinson before he was sheriff when he was still chief of police or a police captain and slow and he's good man he runs a good department. But I would think that we need heightened scrutiny if we have an in-custody fatality.

And if it's an unpopular inmate, we have to ask did this person get medical attention that they deserved? Not through any willful act of omission but just through humans, people are people. And just because someone is coughing and sneezing, it's very easy to say well yeah he's got a cold. All right this guy is dead and slow. And fortunately none of the deputies, none of the custody deputies became extremely ill But we have had county personnel that have gotten pneumonia, and it's time to quit playing around. If I have my third winner excluded you're going to hear more from me on the influenza prevention front. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Supervisor Wolff, I know you have some comments that you'd like to make.

Thank you Mr. Chair. I wanted to address my comments, of course, to the board and to the public here and to those who may be watching at home. Last week as many of you know our community experienced a tragedy when four members of the Holzer family were taken from us. They were residents of the unincorporated second district. I will speak more to the qualities of the Holzer family as we adjourn this meeting. But at this time, I've asked Deputy Director Suzanne Grimacy to speak briefly on the collaboration that mental health professionals, the school and the community worked on during these past, I would say the past very difficult week And also the services that will be available to families and students, and staff of the schools. So I miss Grimacy if you could come forward and speak to that.

Thank you Mr. Chair

Chair Lavanino and members of the board, thank you. On the evening of August 11th we experienced the tragic loss of four members of our community William and Sheila Holzer and their grandchildren living in the home Vincent and Sebastian and the family dog I have been directly involved in the response efforts to this tragedy Despite this unimaginable event, I could feel no greater pride than to live within our community and to work as a public servant.

The incredible collaboration of our response to this effort and to this event is beyond words. There's not time now to list all of the countless individuals who volunteered their time but I would like to mention and to recognize and appreciate the organizations involved. Alcohol Drug and Mental Health Services, The Santa Barbara Response Network La Colina Junior High School, Foothill Elementary School, local clergy, the Family Service Agency, Casa Pacifica, community counselors, the County Executive Office with Terry Mosnisch's role and the incredible support and presence of Supervisor Wolfe and Mario Gorman.

On the morning following the event, I received an email from Chief Navarro of the Fire Department requesting a critical incident stress debriefing for his team of first responders. The same morning outreach was made to La Colina Junior High School and Foothill Elementary School offering support. That evening, I contacted the Santa Barbara Response Network to seek support in initiating a response planning.

On the morning of the 13th following the critical incident debriefing, a community response planning meeting immediately convened including the majority of the organizations I noted earlier and we continued to meet daily. Compassion Centers were opened at both schools, August 13th and 14th. There are nearly 30 individuals volunteering their time in counseling at these centers.

On Friday, community and parents at Foothill School organized a memorial service. Over the weekend through Santa Barbara Response Network's organization, Compassion Foot Patrol went out in the neighborhood and provided outreach and support. Currently the planning efforts focus on how to support teachers, faculty and students as they reenter their campuses over the next two weeks with the loss of Vincent and Sebastian.

Ongoing counseling and support remains available to the community Through La Colina Junior High School, Foothill Elementary School through their on-site and district mental health professionals as well as calling our Santa Barbara County Alcohol Drug and Mental Health Services access line at 888 We are a strong community and we will get through this tragedy together.

In the weeks ahead, we will continue to stand side by side supporting one another, the school faculty, the teachers and the students. I want to once again give special thanks and appreciation to Supervisor Janet Wolfe for her support and her presence in this response and in the healing process of our community. Thank you.

Thank you Suzanne. Could you thank you for your comments and I want to express my sincere appreciation to you in pulling this all together it's an amazing task could you just do me a favor and repeat the phone number that you that you mentioned so the

access line is available 24 hours a day seven days a week and the number is 888-868 1649

Thank you, and just my final comments if I could In the midst of all of this that was going on, I can't tell you the number of people who came up to me and expressed their appreciation for the county and the services that were provided by the county and the organization. So I just again want to express my appreciation to you and to all the organizations that you mentioned. Thank you.

Very good, and thank you so much for your service Supervisor Wolf. And I know your staff was out there on the front lines as well in a very tough time for our community, so thank you. Okay, I think that completes our public comment period. We'll move into our presentations of our resolutions A1, Supervisor Farr?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't-

We should probably vote to approve them. Can we get a motion to approve A1 and A2 please?

Second.

Moved and seconded all those in favor? Aye. Not opposed they pass unanimously supervisor Farr

Thank you. I think that Debbie's not in the audience. I think that the fire department was unable to get in touch with her to remind her to come, so we'll just go ahead and if she happens to show up here while we're still doing the A agenda, we'll go ahead and present it then. Otherwise, we'll try to reschedule it or at least make sure she gets it via the Fire Chief. Thank you Mr. Chair.

All right very good. Now nobody out there dial 911 and try to get a hold of her okay? Not required. We'll move on to A2, which is my chance as chair to honor our employees of the month for Santa Barbara County. If I could have Roderick Scott Perkins and Matthew Victoria of the Ag Commissioner's Office, the Weights and Measures Office. They are our August 2014 employees of the month.

And on behalf of the Board of Supervisors just want to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation for all of the great work that you guys do. And I'm sure we're going to be hearing more about that in just a moment. Mr. Allen if you could read the resolution please?

Chairman Lavignino, members of the board. This is item A2. It's a resolution of commendation for Roderick Scott Perkins and Matthew Victoria. These are the county employees of the month for August 2014. Whereas Scott Perkins, weights and measures inspector 2, and Matthew Victoria, agricultural biologist 3 with the Agricultural Commissioner Weights & Measures Office are recognized for their exceptional performance initiative and dedication. And whereas, Scott and Matthew are a positive force in the department who embrace the county's core ACE values in their willingness to hold themselves accountable for commitment to customer service and their motivation to improve efficiency. And whereas, Scott and Matthew contribute their opinions and ideas openly and honestly.

Their unique enthusiasm encourages communication and they treat everyone professionally with courtesy and respect. And whereas Scott and Matthew understand all aspects of providing public outreach to industry, stakeholders and the general public as they continue to maintain the challenging dynamics in the department's weights and measures heavy capacity programs and the pesticide use enforcement program. And whereas Scott and Matthew are recognized as valuable resources both have contributed suggestions to improve internal processes and their overall compassion and commitment to public service serves a model for the entire department. It is hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors recognizes Scott Perkins and Matthew Victoria for their exceptional contributions as Santa Barbara County's Employees of the Month for August 14, passed and adopted today.

Now you have to say something, sorry. You just don't get to walk away with employee of the month. It's required.

Thanks everybody and thank my supervisors for the tutelage and the training so thank you.

Great.

And I just second that and I just thank the department for giving me an opportunity to do a good job for them.

Very good. Thank you very much for your service we appreciate it thanks. All right with that we'll move on to our administrative agenda Mr. Allen, are there any changes, additions?

Chairman Lavinino, members of the board, just so the board is aware I have requests to speak on three items item A6, A10 and A18 and then additionally we have a request to continue item A3 that's a resolution from Supervisor Lavinino to our meeting next week in Santa Maria.

Okay very good. Any of my colleagues wish to pull any items. Supervisor

Farr? Mr. Chair, I'd like to pull A11 and A12 please.

11 and 12. Supervisor Carbajal is 18. A18. Supervisor Wolf?

15 and 29.

Okay we're going to do the whole. All right. Supervisor Adam? You've whipped him into shape

now.

Mr

Chair, I have a question on A10 as well.

Okay very good so Mr Allen why don't we take them in order? So you got them all?

Got them all. Chairman Lavinino and members of the board starting with item A6 this is from Child Support Services and our request to speak is from Carrie Toplift and the action is to receive and file a presentation from Child Support Services for child support awareness month

Very good. Good morning, Carrie.

Good morning Chair Lavagnino and members of the Board of Supervisors. Thank you for acknowledging Child Support Awareness Month today. As you know we serve 13,000 families in Santa Barbara County. We're open to anyone regardless of income or immigration status and we can help you establish parentage find a missing parent and also establish a fair order for monetary support.

We have a few things that we've been doing for Child Support Awareness Month, one is that we redid our website with the help of Ian Dickin in general services and I want to tell you that we scrubbed all the legalese from the site and it is very lay friendly now so I hope that you'll check it out We also, always in August for Child Support Awareness Month make a special outreach to people who may have gotten crosswise with their families and with the program. Perhaps they've lost their driver's license because they haven't paid their child support and we work very hard with them in August to get them back on the right foot and give them the tools to move on for a successful life.

And then I'd also like to give a shout out to our line supervisors. Our Juanita Hernandez, Maria Aguila, Martha De La Mora, Teresa Washington, Tony Mohamed and Sally Castaneda Padilla made wonderful arrangements for our line staff to be out at community events all over Santa Barbara this month. So if you have the opportunity to hear about our program somewhere in the park, it's because they had a great vision of really getting our staff out there and of course all that the great services we do are moved by the wonderful people that we employ so thank you very much.

Outstanding, thank you very much

Our next item is Item A-10. It's from County Council. The request is that the Board consider recommendations regarding a contract with Attorney Constance Horning, and our request to speak is from Mark Shatillo.

Morning.

Good morning chair loving, you know members of the board. I'm Mark Chaitilla I'm here on behalf of the Gaviota Coast Conservancy We just got wind of item 810 and we're able to get a letter in we have some concerns that We may be putting the cart before the horse here in making commitments and expenditures of the county's enterprise funds To pursue a particular Component of the project or maybe it's a different project. It's unclear from the materials that are That are in the public domain here The contract as it's described is vague and generalized. However, it's specific as to a project that's noted as the Resource Recovery Anaerobic Digestion Project.

That in and of itself is not the Teague West Landfill Expansion Resource Recovery Project, so it's not clear to us exactly what the project at issue is and what the role of this attorney and this contract will be in that larger project. And as a result we feel that it's appropriate for the board, and we'd ask that the board defer taking action at this point With respect to this contract, I think it'd be helpful for all of us to hear exactly what it is that this contract entails.

And understand how that fits into the process of environmental review and the county's consideration of its options with respect to the Tejiguas Landfill Expansion and Resource Recovery Project. We wouldn't want a decision now to prejudice the inadequacy of the EIR In the future- so it's our concern this is premature and so we would ask that- your board defer. I think the period of time maybe something on the nature of six months the draft EIR has been released in his currently in circulation public comment period is the end of September.

And so it would seem to us appropriate that before the county makes commitments To spend these funds for the purposes as stated in the staff materials to negotiate The operation and construction and operation of this part of the facility It would make sense to to defer that action until the project itself has been formulated It's gone through the environmental review process and your board has had an opportunity to get to offer its views on it. Thank you.

Thank you very much Supervisor Carbajal. Thank you Mr. Chair, this is the item that I wanted to ask a few questions about. You know, I'm fine with this moving forward but I think in light of Mr. Sciatullo's letter I'm wondering if Mr. McLaughlin and Mr. Gazzone could kind of help us Explain the process of what we're doing, why we're doing this and how it fits in or not with the procedural EIR process that's ensuing at this time.

Not only from a legal standpoint, well you might be able to cover it all so Mr. Gazzone?

Chair Carbajal and Supervisors, I may discuss this item after seeing Mr. Citello's letter with both the CEO and with Mr. McGulpin. And I'll start off with a non-legal comment, This draft subsequent EIR is posted, available and online in a public comment period that's running until September 24th with the public hearing on that EIR on September 4th. And within that EIR it describes the anaerobic process.

So what's before you today really is my office asking you to make a policy call, to provide us with specialized outsized advisory council. To assist resource recovery in doing preparatory legal work. It does not commit the county to building a project, to not building a project. It allows us to talk with specialized legal counsel and better inform the client department and ultimately the board as we move this forward.

In California, the question of timing on EIR is always discussed. And the California Supreme Court in a case called Save Tara has made clear that at least since 2008, the test is whether a particular action by local agency like Commits the county to a definite course of action in this case regarding the proposed landfill itself Which this contract does not? This contract would commit the county To having an opportunity to talk with specialized outside counsel But it doesn't require you to sign any follow-on contract with an applicant to build or not build a Tejigawas facility More recently in this area, an appellate court in a case called Cedar Fair went as far as saying that not only could you talk with people without any EIR but you could actually sign a term sheet with an applicant and have an agreement to agree so long as that final agreement was subject to CEQA review.

So in this case the board has essentially a pure policy call with no CEQR risk. In terms of talking with an attorney, there is no case or rule that requires the board to complete an EIR before discussing a project with council.

Mr. Chair thank you very much I just wanted that assurance and I really appreciate it.

Okay very good

Chairman Lanier, members of the board. Items A11 and A12 are both from the Executive Office of Emergency Management. A11 is to consider recommendations regarding the fiscal year federal 2014 Homeland Security grant program. And item A12 is regarding the 2014 emergency management planning grant authorization.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just wondering if Mr. Rockebrand could come forward? I pulled A11 because I've had a question from somebody in the community about the process and for making the decisions and how that works. And so as I looked into it, it appears that unlike other grant processes that the board has Craft or fish and game or CDBG and all that where?

We apply for the money. We accept the money and then pertinent staff make recommendations as to how The money would be spent and then it comes back to the board for a final approval This process is different in that we apply for the grant and we accept the grant But we don't get to make the decisions for how the grant is spent so maybe you could explain that

sure I You're right, this is a little unique in terms of how the process works. This specific federal grant requires the designation of an approval authority which is members of five member body. So you have the public health officer, sorry? Okay.

Yeah, just trying to get

closer to the mic. This is a reoccurring problem sir, I apologize. So the public health officer representatives from the Police Chief's Association, the Fire Chief's Association, County Fire and Sheriff. And so that body gets together we look at what the gaps are locally. We identify what expenditures we would like to pursue. We do provide an opportunity for the op area to make requests for certain projects that they may feel is a necessity at the local level. And then the approval authority weighs that, we submit that to the state for approval and then we get the grant award.

Okay well I guess it sounds like its embedded in who gives the money to begin with as to who makes the decision and thats not the board in this case?

Correct so we are a sub-grantee really its Cal OES, the State Government Office of Emergency Services that makes that call ultimately as far as who the sub-grantees are and what those allocations will be.

Well, you know I think the reason why in most processes this comes back to the board is it sometimes when purchases may be made of equipment that might require additional funding for storage maintenance repair or if there's staffing involved that could have additional costs outside of the grant. That the board would at least be made aware of that so we would understand Not just what the grant is going to get, but what other corollary expenses might be attached to that going forward. So I'm just wondering if because we kind of looked back and we couldn't find in the records even the result of the decision making of this group comes back to the board as an informational item. So I'm just wondering whether we could do that from now on so that, I mean, I don't have any problem with applying for the money and I certainly hope that we get it but it seems like you know the board should at least know how the money ends up being spent in that there would be a public record at the board so that we could ask and comment on that.

Mr. Gazzani? Chair Lavagnino and Supervisor Farr, and that's something that OES could address separately but as to if the county is fortunate enough to receive the grant funds, OES did recite that they would come back to the board for a subsequent budget revision if the funding comes in and that would address some of the concerns you've just stated.

Okay, I think that that is one piece but that's just the whole dollar amount what I'm looking for is how that money's being spent and where it's going in and I think that because it is the whole operational area that It's my understanding that depending on who applies and what the group decides That you know some of them may come to the Sheriff's Department or County Fire But some of its gonna go to the city of Santa Maria City of Santa Barbara And you know and other jurisdictions besides ours So I just kind of want to see that all outlined And if there were other applications for it that the group decided not to fund, it would be kind of nice to know what those were and why they chose the ones that they did.

Chair Lavanino, Supervisor Farr, absolutely I did have a report here for the allocations pending for FY 14 and we can provide a deal to a report going back five years plus if necessary.

Okay, I think that would be helpful. Thank you.

Supervisor Carbajal?

I guess I've been a little befuddled by this grant funding as Supervisor Farr has been. It just, I just would like to understand it a little bit better in terms of what we're getting. To my understanding there's a website through the New York Times that identifies Santa Barbara County is having two grenade launchers? Well, I want to corroborate whether that's accurate or not so if you could get back to me on that, that would be great.

Having been in the military, it caught my attention on why we have two grenade launchers instead of something else. So again if you could corroborate that, that would be

great. The one thing I just wanted to ensure was demonstrate here today that a lot of the stuff that we're hearing with militarization of local law enforcement and There is a complete distinction between the federal Homeland Security grant money and the program that's being run by the Defense Logistics Agency. So, that funding mechanism for local law enforcement getting surplus materials from the federal government is completely separate from the DHS funding that we do through Homeland Security Grant Program.

Do we have two grenade launchers?

I can't speak to that sir, I would have to defer to

the Chair.

The Chair of Mr. Patterson. Our other chair was

here. Mr. Patterson if you'd like to come forward. And if we do have them can they be in the North County?

Supervisor- You don't even know how to use

them first.

Mr Chair, Supervisors the short answer to your question Supervisor Carbajal is yes we do but we use them for less lethal munitions they are the caliber that all of the gas and the munitions are fired we use them extensively in Deltopia and that sort of area so that's what they're used for we don't have actually grenades or anything like that that we shoot out of them

Thank you. Supervisor Farr?

Mr Chair, don't go away yet. Is it through this process that we got the Bearcat?

We don't have a bear cat. We actually have a bear, which is the larger version of the bear cat that was achieved through a grant I believe three or four years ago through the non-profit I think that the Sheriff's Office has. I can't remember if the funding came actually through the Homeland Security Grant or if it came through another nonprofit but we actually have a full grown bear and not a bear cat.

Okay, because maybe we need a primer sometime on all of this equipment. Because kind of back to my original point about getting equipment like this but then the costs don't end there because it needs to be stored, needs to be maintained, needs to be repaired and all that. Sometimes free isn't free in the long term. So, you know and I've heard about some other equipment too. So I think that you know You really need to come to the board and you need to tell us about Some of this big equipment that you have so then we're not reading about it someplace else or hearing about it from somebody in the community

Mr. Chair, um Supervisor fire. You're absolutely right. It's not sometimes freeze-and-free. It most of the time frees and free So I totally agree with you and we'll come back to you and and have that discussion Thank you. All right

Very good

And then, thank you Mr. Chair and then to go on to A12 and Mr. Rockbrand if you could come forward again this is actually a similar concern to the previous one but perhaps on a smaller scale this is just for money that assists your department specifically with services and supplies and staffing for the work that you do correct?

Yeah, Chair Lavagnino, Supervisor Farr. Yeah it covers a lot of personnel costs and planning initiatives but most of the plans and annexes that we do in support for the Emergency Operations Center are facilitated through the MPG funding

Okay, so my question is more of timing and process. I'm not sure if I'm reading this right but it looks like we're applying for the money. I guess we're assuming pretty positively that we're going to get the money but we don't have the money yet and yet it's already programmed into your budget and staffing. So is that your usual routine? And we're just so confident we're going to get it that we're not worried that we won't and then what are you going to do?

Sure, in its current state we're confident that that will continue. That funding in its current situation as allocated by Congress federally through the State of California is census based so we are always projecting that we're going to get that allocation moving forward.

Okay, so it's not really as discretionary as it sounds? Correct. Thank you very much. Thank you Mr. Chair.

Supervisor Wolff.

Thank

You Mr. Chair. Mr. Rockebrand on both of these items and I do appreciate the comments made by Supervisors Farr and Carbajal and I think it would be a good idea for us Have some specific information, but on the other hand I want to compliment you and your staff though for moving forward and applying for these grants because They are there. They're substantial and As I understand it they support Your office which you know at every time I go there And I see what?

You and your team has been doing Thank you, Ryan.

Next.

Chairman, members of the board. Our next item is Item A-15. It's from the County Executive Office. The request is that the Board adopt a resolution that updates changes to departmental position allocations corresponding to the fiscal year 14-15 proposed budget including changes approved in fiscal year 13-14 by the CEO pursuant to Resolution 99486.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I asked Jerry Mew, thank you for being here Jerry to speak to this items. There's a lot of information in this item and I think some of the issues in here are very substantive. And there's just an example that's embedded in here that has to do with public health and positions which were the elimination of program administrators, and downgrading them to coordinators.

I happen to be aware of that and had expressed concern about that change. So, I know that's in here but there are so many other changes and you know when you see titles like department business specialist and moving to a business leader it is really hard to understand what that means in actual terms. Some of the positions are much more Easy to understand, but some of them are not. And so if you can give me an idea of what the implications of these changes are.