Board of Supervisors — 2018-09-18

I'd like to convene this meeting. Roll call, please.

So moved.

Motion and second, all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Let's take the ceremony, we're going to do CEO's report.

Good morning, Board of Members. I have a couple of announcements to make. First is just a quick update on the Lompoc Riverbed Assistance. We talked about it last week. Things have continued and our staff from Be Well Social Services, Public Defender and Public Health continue to engage individuals at the triage centers. Our departments are continuing outreach to determine needs and coordinate services and care. Approximately 50 individuals are at the site. Multiple individuals have been referred to housing detox beds Medical treatment when needed and social services has assisted with 22 eligibility applications.

CARES for PAWS is on site and providing vaccines, spay and neuter services. So our staff is continuing to be active out there and we'll be evaluating the situation through the next 30 days which is at the triage period. In addition, just quickly that our recruitment for our planning and development director has been opened. Interested applicants can find the full job description on our county website. Just link to employment resources on the county's website through the HR page.

And lastly I just want to introduce to the board and to our residents Joni Maiden who as you know you selected last week as our child support services director Joni has worked for the county and in the department for 24 years. She worked her way up from child support officer beginning in 1994, and has been in the past 12 years as our deputy director for the department. In 2017 she served as the interim director. And as you know Joni has experienced talent and education to lead the department into this next phase. We congratulate her and welcome her and I asked her to just come and say a few words.

Thank you, Chair Williams, board members, CEO Minnesota. I just wanted to thank you for the appointment. It's a responsibility that I won't take for granted. I feel very proud to work in a program that's offering support to the families in our communities. Privileged to work with people in our department that manage 12,000 cases and work hard every day to do it. And I'm excited to work with county colleagues. To increase efficiencies in our Renew 22 projects and beyond.

Thank you so much.

That concludes my report

Supervisor Hartman has a question.

Thank you, Mr. Chair I just wanted to say that I have heard nothing but positive feedback about our county partnership with the city of Lompoc and particularly wanted to Commend supervisor Adam in his office's leadership on this issue

With that we will take the ceremonial items first, that's 823 824 and 825 Can you read? A motion for the ceremonial items. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Motion passes.

Thank you Chair Williams, members of the Board. We have three ceremonial resolutions this morning to present. We're going to start with item A23. This is sponsored by Supervisors Lavagnino and Hartman. This is a resolution proclaiming the week of September 23rd 2018 through September 29th 2018 as Child Passenger Safety Week in Santa Barbara County from First Five Teresa Jones here and we also have Lieutenant Mike Brown from the Santa Maria CHP and Lieutenant Kurt Cruz from Buellton CHP If there's anybody else from first five that you'd like to have come on up, come on up. Let everybody come forward and I will read the resolution into the record.

Whereas the number one preventable cause of death and injury of children is the automobile collision. And whereas car seat use reduces the risk of death to infants by 71% and to toddlers aged 1 through 4, by 54%. And whereas the use of booster seat for children four to eight years of age reduces the risk of serious injury by 45%. And whereas nine out of ten car seats are installed improperly and if used correctly, car seats can dramatically reduce the risk of serious and fatal injuries making those statistics preventable.

And whereas the state of California requires all occupants of a motor vehicle to be properly secured in children less than eight years of age to be secured in appropriate child safety seat. Remaining in the back seat until 8 years of age or 4 feet 9 inches and is the recommendation that children under 13 years of age remain in the backseat. Now, therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved at this Board of Supervisors proclaims the week of September 23 through 29 2018 as Child Passenger Safety Week in Santa Barbara County and encourages all residents to support and participate in child passenger safety activities passed and adopted today

I just wanted to say on behalf of First 5 Santa Barbara County, I thank the Board of Supervisors and particularly Supervisors Hartman and Labanino. I have today with me Bealton Area Commander Lieutenant Kurt Cruz and Santa Maria Area Commander Lieutenant Mike Brown who have a few words to say about this important safety topic.

Well, thank you very much and good morning. So we're certainly honored to be here today and thank you very much. We believe the proper use of child safety seat preventable cause of death and injury of children who are involved in a motor vehicle accident. And I'd like to put something on the screen if I could. Thank you. It's a success story. So on May 9th, The Sunray Times ran a story where the Bealton CHP area presented two groups The San Diego Valley, the group is called Mops. It's mothers of preschoolers and the presentation was about the importance of child safety seat program tips specifics of our California laws my technician Todd Sparks who's also my auto tech for the area talked about in proper installation Laws laws and whatnot and the group is about 90 People from this group.

The family, one family in the audience kind of took exception to the presentation and gave credit to the instructions from the class With the saving lives of their daughter, a two-year-old daughter there. The family ensured that her daughter's car seat was properly installed as they went on a trip in Los Angeles on Interstate 10. As they were on this trip, there was a drunk driver hit their vehicle from the rear. Their vehicle hit the freeways center divider twice before landing outside. Their daughter remained in the car during the entire event uninjured. And as the family stated, we escaped the worst possible outcome thanks to her being safely secured in our child's safety seat.

So we stressed to protect your children or our children by properly using age appropriate passenger restraint devices, safety seats or safety belts for older children and it's a free service so we ask that anybody contact the nearest CHP office fire department Or the first five of Santa Barbara County. Thank you very much

Good morning. I just want to thank you and thank the County of Santa Barbara on behalf of the California Highway Patrol. This effort towards reducing fatal injuries due to child passenger seat belts is something that's near and dear to our hearts, and we go out there every day and try and fight for that mission. And so this is another example of how the county of Santa Barbara takes it seriously I can't help but think of a case where a child passenger was properly seat belted, but the mother wasn't. The vehicle became involved in a collision and the mother actually caused fatal injury to her child because she wasn't belted. So it's even beyond just having your child belted any person or any object in your vehicle we have to make sure that everybody is restrained And so part of the mission going forward for the CHP is going to be in San Riero specifically, is to specifically seek out those people that aren't restrained and educate them through enforcement action.

So thank you for your time.

You all are very incredible sources because we all know that your officers see some of the worst and most tragic situations, and we hope that we can contribute to not seeing more of them. And as maybe the member of the board who has Recent experience installing car seats, with Steve there because he's got a couple grand babies that are recent as well. It really does not decrease your manhood to go and ask for help on child safety installation. I mean the fact is the seats are a lot better but A little more technical, I want to especially thank the staff of Montecito Fire.

And especially when you're calling a small agency, you should try to give them notice because I didn't, and there's obviously a lot of things that are bad signs. If you take a sharp corner and the seat moves or even almost falls over, that's a bad sign. If the child is taller than the seat, also a bad sign. So it's not all common sense, and it's good to get the professional opinion when the safety of your little one is at stake, so thank you.

A24.

Chair Williams, members of the board item a 24 is sponsored by Supervisor Lavagnino and this is a resolution of commendation honoring Penny Powell upon her retirement from the Public Health Department after over 30 years of quality care to the citizens of Santa Barbara County and Penny is here. Penny could come on up and I think we have representatives of the department.

And I will read the resolution into the record. Whereas Penny has dedicated 30 years of her career to the residents of Santa Barbara County, all of which have been with the public health department community health in various positions and cities. And whereas Penny has provided excellent nutrition education and support to the participants of the WIC or Women's Infants and Children Program.

And whereas Penny has been an excellent representation of the dietician profession by her professional and up-to-date nutrition conversations with providers as well as being a mentor to dietetic interns. And whereas, Penny has mentored, trained and coached staff on the fundamentals of nutrition, customer service and team building. Leaving in place a foundation for the next generation of Santa Barbara County Public Health WIC program staff.

Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors of Santa Barbara County does hereby acknowledge Penny Powell for her lifetime commitment of quality care to the citizens of Santa Barbara County pass and adopted today.

Good morning. On behalf of the Public Health Department, thank you for this opportunity to recognize a long-term employee to the county as well as to our department but I'd like to introduce to you quickly Paige Batson who is our Interim Deputy Director for Community Health and Susan Lyles who is the WIC director and she has a speech for Penny.

So good morning everyone. I obviously can't say all the accomplishments and achievements that Penny has done in her 30-year career, there's just too many things to say and not enough time to say them but over time with us she's really helped work on local initiatives and state ones moving the women infants and children's program as well as a couple other programs forward to improve the health of our community through nutrition and breastfeeding education We're sad to see her go but we're also joyful that we got to know her, that she was able to work with us for such a long time and congratulate her on everything she's done and wish her the best of luck in this next adventure of her life. So thank you for everything Penny and she will be missed!

I want to thank the board for their support of the Women, Infants and Children program that I've worked for such a long time. And also for nutrition services which includes especially with our work population our lactation services program and your support of our county employees Especially in continuing education with our employees, university with our employees.

And also I was a part of the staff training program at the local level and also I served for three years up at the state level and that was through support of the public health department. So having continuing education is an important aspect of support of employees, and thank you very much for recognizing my 30 years.

A25.

Chair Williams, members of the board. Item 825 sponsored by Supervisor Lavinino. This is a resolution honoring the Veterans Treatment Court of Santa Maria for the many contributions to the Santa Barbara County community. We have a large and illustrious group here to receive this so I'm going to try to get everybody's names and if I miss anybody I'm sorry but from courts we're gonna have Judge Kay Coons, Lupe Paez, Ginger Pryor From probation, Julie Lara, Kim Sheen, Holly Benton, Amber Flores.

EDD Frank Campo, Ryan Barney. Treatment providers Donna Flores, Christina Vasquez, Mark Durham, Good Sam, Kirk Estes also is here from Veterans Administration. Sue Dolan and also Rhonda Murphy County Veteran Services and from the community Steve Baird. From Band of Brothers, also Amy Lopez and Garrett Bakke from Behavioral Wellness. And if I missed anybody, I'm very sorry but I think I got most everybody. And I will go ahead and read the resolution into the record.

Whereas Veterans Treatment Court of Santa Maria was established in 2011 with a goal of serving justice involving veterans. And whereas, Veterans Treatment Court promotes sobriety, recovery and stability for veterans in Santa Barbara County. And whereas, the Veterans Treatment Court works to establish a viable option for a select group of veterans whose needs are better met through treatment rather than incarceration. And whereas, the primary goal of Veterans Treatment Court is to affirm veterans military service while addressing their unique needs and to link a veteran to the appropriate program and services available as to reduce incarceration and facilitate their integration back into the community. And whereas, Veterans Treatment Court has a peer mentor component which is an integral part that makes the program successful.

This program gives the opportunity for other veterans to volunteer as mentors and help a fellow veteran through their journey. And now, therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Barbara does hereby recognize the Veterans Treatment Court of Santa Maria for their many contributions to the Santa Barbara County community pass and adopted today.

My glasses on. Chair Williams and members of the board, we were actually hoping to also get an award for having the largest group here today so maybe you'll take that into consideration. The Santa Maria Veterans Treatment Court was implemented in 2011. This endeavor is a collaboration amongst the Santa Barbara Superior Court, the offices of the public defender and district attorney, the probation department, the Department of Behavioral Wellness, Santa Barbara County Sheriff, UCSB, the Veterans Administration, state EDD and several community based organizations some of whom are here today including Coast Valley, Good Samaritan Shelter Services and the Band of Brothers.

Since 2011, approximately 200 veterans have come through the Santa Maria Court. This program collaboratively addresses the underlying issues that many veterans struggle with daily including post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, substance use disorder and fighting suicide. Without proper tools, guidance and support many veterans become entangled within the justice system. Some have used substances to self-medicate, some have struggled with reintegration into civilian life and others have simply lost their way.

I've had the honor of meeting each and every one of the veterans in our court program and I always find myself in awe as I watch and experience their transformation. We have been successful in housing homeless veterans, in treating long-term mental health issues and substance abuse. And in accessing VA funded treatment programs and services. Since 2011 the Santa Maria Veterans Treatment Court has graduated 140 veteran defendants who are required to complete a yearlong rigorous program including treatment, counseling, community work service, probation supervision, and numerous court appearances.

As a wife of a military veteran and a mother of a future veteran, I am beyond proud of the work that we have all done collaboratively. I would like to thank the Board of Supervisors for your continued support of our efforts to serve justice-involved veterans. We're all honored to be acknowledged with this resolution. September also marks National Recovery Month. This is truly a celebration of Veterans Treatment Court, even more importantly this is an acknowledgement of the sacrifices that the veterans have made to serve us and to serve our country.

Our next VTC graduation will be held on Friday November 30th you are all invited and we hope to see you all there thank you

I

also want to thank the Board of Supervisors, not only for the recognition and honor that you give us today but for your continued support. Not only in Veterans Treatment Court but all of our This county is indeed very fortunate to have leaders that are receptive to these types of courts that help individuals get back on their feet, try to make a more productive society for everyone. So again thank you so very much for your continued support and on behalf of all of us and you can see it is a very collaborative effort that we have here and that's what makes it work. Thank you once again.

I just want to say that if you've never been to a Veterans Treatment Court graduation, I know we go to a lot of events. And Amy coaxed me into going to my first one and it is, you see people whose lives have been changed. It is probably the most moving ceremony I've ever been to. And I think the reason why we have so many people here is because as Judge Coon said, it is probably the best thing we do at the county as far as collaboration.

All of our different departments working together. The court system working hand in hand with us. The community getting involved not just Band of Brothers which does a great job but A real integral part of this, where members of the community offer their services free of charge to try to walk with these individuals who have found themselves in the justice system.

And it is really the whole community coming together I am also, I have to mention because he's a neighbor of mine and he's probably out on a walk right now. But if he does happen to watch this, Judge Flores, I want to thank him also for kind of getting the wheels turning on this but I highly recommend you attend one of these graduations that will definitely change your life so I want to thank this whole group did a great job.

So we have a request to trail item A13. We have a request to poll item A6 and items A19 through 21, is there any other requests?

There is. I'm trying to find it on here, this is the problem with the computer. Whichever one deals with the Triumph contract, my computer hold on a second. A9.

So with the exception, can I get a motion on the balance of the agenda with the exception of A6, A9, A13 and A19 through 21? So moved. Is there a second? All those in favor please say aye. Aye. And then maybe a motion to trail item A13. Second. All those in favor please say aye. Opposed? It's unanimous. So let's go to A6.

Chair Williams, members of the board, item A6 is from community services. It's to consider recommendations regarding the California Emergency Solutions and Housing Program application.

Thank you Mr. Chair. First of all, I want to thank staff for bringing this item forward and moving us in this direction. I do have a question however and that has to do with in the board letter page two of six number four there is a mention of navigation centers and I would just like, there you are. I would like you if you could to please explain those navigation centers in more detail.

I did before this meeting try and find some information and What I found, and I'd like you to either confirm or tell me that I'm wrong. But it looks like these centers may be on public land and if that is the case how will the county board of supervisors be involved in those decisions as well as the community?

Thank you for this opportunity. Just to clarify, navigation centers are really resources that are provided to homeless individuals and households. We at this point are anticipating using existing shelter sites and service locations as navigation centers so we do not anticipate Establishing a separate navigation center at

this point. Okay, thank you so much for that appreciate it Thank You mr. Chair I will move this item

there's motion And a second all those in favor please say aye aye aye opposed Let's take up a 9

chair Williams members of the board item 89 is from General Services The request is to consider recommendations regarding an award contract for countywide security services to Triumph Protection Group

Supervisor Lavender. Thank you, Mr Chair. I just wanted to express concern about the fact that we only had two bids and This is hard for me because Yvonne, who handles all of the security up here for a lot of the events that happens after is actually on vacation. And I didn't see this before she left. But she has expressed concerns that Triumph has not been very responsive. So I just want Triumph to know, I don't know if they're here today or Please take this job seriously.

This is a two year contract, I'm going to be following this very closely and I want to make sure that the services that we're contracting with are provided and If they're not, I'll be hearing about it and it will be rolling that way. So it's just so difficult when we're anticipating somebody to show up as a security individual which again happened last week and the person doesn't show.

It means that one of our county employees has to stay late and it just really causes a lot of problems. Just concerned about this, I want to make sure that we have parameters in place. We have some benchmarks that I saw that are in the contract. I want to make sure that we're following those and this is just more a shot across the bow to make sure that we're taking this job seriously.

And I would just say that if she's having an issue, that means the whole board is having an issue so- I'll be supporting this. I'll

make a motion that we go ahead and move A9. Is

there a second?

I'll second it. And I just want to ask Mr. Gazzone if there's a standard provision in there that we have a termination for convenience.

That's correct, in the termination area there is a 30 day convenience termination as well as the non-appropriation of funds and the forecause but there is flat 30 day termination. The county can exercise for no cause. Okay,

good to know. So if- Good catch Mr. Atwood. Well that's because we have such great legal advice that we always have those kind of provisions in there which enable us to cancel at will and so if they drop the ball then we'll just go out to bid again.

There is a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? It's unanimous. And for A19 through A21 it would be my suggestion. No, A13 is trailed. So for A19 through A21 I think we could do them all if that's okay with the board.

Chair Williams, members of the Board. Item A-19 is sponsored by Supervisors Williams and Hartman. It's to consider recommendations regarding a resolution in support of Propositions 1 and 2. A-20 also sponsored by Supervisors Williams and Hartman is regarding a resolution in opposition to Proposition 6. And 821, sponsored by Supervisors Williams and Hartman is to consider recommendation for a resolution in support of Proposition 12. And I have requests to speak from the public on item 821 from Lee Heller and all three of those items from Mr. Caldwell.

Mr. Caldwell, I think you may have another Request to speak is there any questions before from the board? Mr. Caldwell

Thank You chair Williams members of the board. I'm Andy Caldwell representing Colab and our concern with this is multifold You know for instance you put this on the admin calendar Which means it's not even slated for discussion. Think about that for a minute, you're weighing in not as individuals, as individual supervisors or individual citizens. We don't care if you go out there and campaign for it, make speeches for it, sign your name on petitions, get the signatures to get it on the ballot. That's your prerogative.

But when you sit as the Board of Supervisors, you're supposed to be a deliberative board representing the voters and all the citizens. And his supervisor Centeno used to say why do you think you need to weigh in when the people themselves are going to get to vote? Are you trying to influence them without even a debate or Do you actually pretend that you speak for all of your constituents?

Because that's really what you're doing, you're pretending. because none of you got 100% of the vote and not even 100% of the voters voted at all. They don't even bother to register. Again, we don't mind you as individual politicians, public servants and citizens doing whatever you want on your own time. But you're on our time right now. You're supposed to be doing the people's business not weighing in on election issues without even a debate, without even a forum.

Without two sides being represented it's no sides being represented. It's just a vote because you think you have three votes. That's not how our system is supposed to work. At a minimum, if you're going to do this, you should invite pros and cons to come up here and present the two sides. Because many of these things came out of either Sacramento and or they came out of hundreds of thousands if not a couple million people signing petitions.

And then you weigh in without even a word being spoken pretending to represent 430 or 440,000 people in this county? And secondly, what's it got to do with the Board of Supervisors business today? Again silence because it wasn't even agendized for a debate or discussion. That it borders on abuse of power and privilege is what it does. And like I said, I've been doing this for 28 years. Joe Centeno was one of the most deliberative board members we had and he was firm in this in saying let's not try to lead people where they may not want to go when they didn't ask for our opinion. Thank you.

We're going to go to Santa Barbara to hear from Dr. Heller on A21 and then we'll hear from Frank Thompson on A19.

Members of the board, good morning. Thank you for pulling this item in order to provide an opportunity for public comment and forward debate of the kind that you've just been told you're not providing. I'm here on behalf of the Yes on 12 campaign which has multiple sponsors including the country's oldest animal welfare organization, the ASPCA as well as United Farm Workers and the Center for Food Safety.

I won't take up my full three minutes reading you the list, but the point is Prop 12 has support from farm workers and food safety advocates as well as the animal welfare community. More to the point, Santa Barbara County voters passed Prop 2 by 70% in 2008. Demonstrating strong support here for humane farming of the kind that we practice in this county, where we're blessed to not have these large confined animal farming operations.

Our county recognizes that humane farming is also healthier for consumers and better for the environment. It has long been understood that eggs produced by battery cage housed hens have led to a huge increase in salmonella contamination. County residents want a safe food supply. The reason that we need Prop 12, and then we are asking for your endorsement is to level the playing field for California farmers and to clarify food choices for consumers.

Eggs sold in California must be cage free regardless of where raised. Requiring the same standards for veal and pork would ensure that California farmers are not disadvantaged in the market by cheaper CAFO practices than other states. It also means that California consumers can rely on the fact that any pork or veal sold here is raised humanely and with fewer health and environmental risks.

I ask you to endorse Prop 12 to send the message that our county supports a market where consumers are assured of humane, healthy food and farmers are competing on a level playing field. Thank you.

We're going to stay in Santa Barbara for Frank Thompson on A19 and then we'll hear from Mary Dockterman on A19 after that.

Good morning, Supervisors. It's the first time for a remote broadcast for me so I don't know where to look but at any rate, I am here to talk to you about Proposition 1 and Proposition 2 on the November ballot and say that I certainly am in support of these measures. This is the first housing loan The program has a well established record of success. This will provide about $100,000 per unit of direct financial assistance which usually leverages about four times as much other loan and private money so you're really getting big bang for your buck.

On the money that would be provided from Prop 1 and 2. And those are intended for the homeless, mentally ill, other homeless, veterans and then low income families. So it really has quite a substantial record of success. This also provides financial assistance for a total financial package, which will further the efforts of your existing county staff and county programs to solve our current homeless problem and our long-term low income housing. Thank you very much.

Our final speaker is Mary Doctorman on A19.

Hi, I'm Mary Doctorman also with Frank Thompson Housing Consultants. And I just want to echo what Frank Thompson said about the opportunities that this money will provide from these two propositions to extend our work in providing affordable housing in Santa Barbara County. Thank you.

That concludes public comment

Well, I will just offer an explanation and definitely one of the public speakers mentioned that this probably should have been a D item. And my tendency is to facilitate brevity in meetings but I will provide a mea culpa Issues as important as this, the D item would probably be more appropriate. My reasoning is bringing forward three of these items is the fact that they are of vital interest to the missions of the county.

The financial interest of the county, I don't understand how you could possibly argue that this is not within our purview. The difference that the SB1 funds have made in providing an adequate amount of road repair and speeding up the 101 project In my view, whether you view the funding source as good or bad. The effect on our ability to do our mission is in my view undisputed and of course the prop one and two helps us fulfill the mission of housing first and I don't want to say solving our homeless problem, but taking steps to reduce our homeless population and the amount of veterans that are in danger of homelessness or are homeless.

I want to express that in my district, the ability to complete the 101 project is probably the most widespread bipartisan issue. None of the doors in all of Carpinteria that I walked, none of the doors in all of Santa Barbara and only a couple people elsewhere in my district dissent from the view that the 101 project should be completed with all alacrity. Updated timetable that the funds I have provided to me makes it just a no brainer. Anybody who uses the 101 freeway should be voting against Prop 6 and I feel like I am representing the interests of my constituents in bringing that forward. The last one, Prop 12 is simply an expression of the citizen's ability to contact us and ask for something to be on the agenda. I think that should be open to all and we can decide whether we want to sponsor that or not but To me, that's a basic question.

One speaker charged us with telling the voters what we think without being asked. This is clearly a question of being asked by at least some of the voters in Santa Barbara County for our opinion. Supervisor Adam?

Well, I'm going to take the opposite opinion here. You know, I don't want it to be a D item. You know, I appreciate the fact that if you're going to burden us with these things that are beyond our jurisdiction that they just sort of roll through and you guys can take your stands which I believe are... Which is why I don't make a big deal out of them Want to vote on the record. I just want a roll call vote So that I'm not on the record as supporting these things but generally, I feel like anything that's beyond our jurisdiction is inappropriate to be Dealt with here You know entirely and I think that I Using this for what amounts to a personal forum, to promote our personal favorite items is just wrong. And it's not the right forum to be doing these things with and I realize that I'm in the minority here and That's okay, but I'm just saying if we concentrated on the things that were in our direct jurisdiction and leave the rest for our own personal time.

I think that would be better and more appropriate.

Mr. Gazzini and then I'll go to Mr. Labonino.

Chair and supervisors, since there's a discussion as to what the board's options are on these three items, just want to summarize that in 2009 the California Supreme Court in the Vargas case looked at this issue and stated that it is clear it is permissible for a public entity to evaluate the merits of a proposed ballot measure and to make its views known to the public. So you have legal framework to do this and then you have a policy discussion as to what you want to do?

Thank you, Mr. Gazzani. Mr. Lavinia? Thank you, Mister Chair. Well I'm going to be abstaining from these and my abstention on these matters doesn't reflect my personal opinions on the propositions but rather my hesitancy to kind of spend time at our meetings telling people how to vote. I strongly encourage people to get out to vote. But I really don't see too much difference between this and kind of just going down the ballot and giving our endorsements in each race. I think the argument could be made that whoever gets elected governor or member of Congress, or a state representative could also strongly impact this county. So I'm going to leave those decisions to the voters.

Supervisor Hartman?

Thank you Mr Chair. The county has a ledge committee that influences or tries to influence the federal and state governments on issues that have to do with county policies, county budget. In the case of propositions, the citizens, the voters are the legislature. And I think when there's a clear impact on issues that affect the county it's up to us to stand up and make that clear to the legislators i.e., the voters. And in this case with housing, with animal welfare and especially having to do with money for roads and infrastructure where the county has pulled way beyond its weight with over 400 million for the 101 widening project.

It is critical to our county how people vote on this. So I think it's very important that we make that as clear as we possibly can, so I'm very supportive both of this process and also the policy to support these matters.

I want to thank Supervisor Hartman for reminding us of the law. And I just want to reiterate or summarize that because the voters in the case of a proposition are considered the elected officials, that legally this is the same thing as lobbying the state legislature and Congress. Does suit our interests to be able to lobby Congress and the legislature, and this is the same thing under the law. Supervisor Wolfe?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm actually glad that these items were pulled and I think what it does is it brings a little bit more attention to the public about why these items are important to the Board of Supervisors. We're certainly not telling people how to vote but we are letting folks know how they impact the county of Santa Barbara. And I just want to point out in item A-20, there is specific financial information about Proposition 6 and the impact it would have directly to the County of Santa Barbara if Proposition 6 was to pass.

It's noted and we talk about this at our board meetings about the backlog Of our roads and highways, and in the board letter it says that there is a backlog of approximately $315 million. And again I'm quoting now from the board letter that this new source of funding would allow the county to leverage local measure A and general fund revenues to address the unfunded backlog of deferred maintenance.

In addition to the funding directly received by the county, our region will also receive $184 million in RRAA funding to the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments for the 101 HOV and parallel projects. This absolutely does affect Santa Barbara County. And I do believe it's really important that the Board of Supervisors explain to the voters the importance of this initiative, Proposition 6 and the importance of voting no because we need to keep the funding stream that has been available to us continue to flow and Proposition 6 would stop it in its tracks. So I'm pleased that you brought these items to the board. I'm pleased that we're having this discussion and I trust that the voters of Santa Barbara County will look at all the information, take all of the information into account before they vote.

Thank you Mr. Chair

Thank you for bringing it back to the policy matter at hand. And I'd like to move A19, A20 and A21 that is that the board have a resolution in support of Propositions 1, 2 and 12 and strong opposition to Proposition 6 and determine that those actions are not projects under CEQA.

Second?

Motion and a second all those in, roll call please.

Ms. Wolfe? Aye. Ms. Hartman? Aye. Mr. Adam? Abstain. Mr. Lavinino?

Abstain.

Mr Williams? Aye Passes with three ayes, two abstentions

And we are ready for departmental item number one

Chair Williams and members of the board, item number one. Pardon me, we do have a request to speak under public comment if we could do that first?

For items not on the agenda.

Correct, we're going to go to Santa Barbara for Ed Kulaski. We have one request to speak. Mr. Kulaski.

I want to apologize, Mitch Kulaski did not want to skate over that Democratic right.

I'm not sure I understood that correctly. Okay, for four and a half years I've been trying to remodel my house if you can show that but You know you bring up the question about people voting it's kind of like who would vote? It's hopeless here I titled my talk today, I cannot remodel my house because our supervisor has not granted us permission. This has nothing to do with the guidelines. They ruled that our second story is solely over the garage when it is not.