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Music Welcome everyone to the installation of officials elected in 2018 at the convening of the 2019 Board of Supervisors. It's my pleasure to have a few more minutes as chair of the board. My name is Doss Williams and will everyone stand? I would like to introduce the Los Prietos color guard under the direction of Jim Clark
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to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Order arms, right face, about face. Gentlemen, please come out. Let me hear the sound of your left foot, the sound of your right foot.
It's now my pleasure this morning to introduce several of our special guests. We'll begin this program, this morning with an invocation from Pastor Jeff Schaefer. Pastor Schaefer attended San Jose University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in religious studies. He studied at Western Seminary in Los Gatos before moving to Santa Barbara with his wife Julia in 2002.
To pastor Community Covenant Church in Santa Barbara. He was the interim senior pastor there, but left to join Christian Associates International in 2005. At that point he began working with marginalized individuals in Santa Barbara County. In 2005 he worked with Friends Without Homes at Persian Park to start a meal sharing program. He organized a tutoring program, kids club and helped create a library for Youth while director at the Village Apartments on the west side and helped initiate the first vulnerability index in tandem with our point in time count.
That's for the number of homeless individuals, in 2011. He is currently the Director of Community Engagement with Home For Good under the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way. He's also the Director of Initiatives with Santa Barbara Act. A local nonprofit dedicated to working with and for the marginalized in Santa Barbara. His latest effort there is to help develop more housing for local female survivors of human trafficking in Santa Barbara, and create an education plan to increase awareness regarding the issue. He's been married to Julia for 28 years and has three children.
If my Greek is correct, Keros, Kenna, and Kalem. Ladies and gentlemen, Pastor Jeff Schaffer. Thank you.
Thanks for having me this morning I want to give a special thanks to Supervisor Lavinino for inviting me to be a part of this and I have to tell you, I didn't really sleep much at all last night because I take this seriously when I think about what I'm going to be able to share with you as valuable important trusted leaders of our county so I decided share two terms with you to ponder and consider as you take leadership in 2019. And then I'll share a simple blessing at the end.
So both of my grandparents on both sides lived in Weed, California. Yes there is a Weed California in Siskiyou County. I never wanted to stay at my grandmother Rose's because the two bedrooms, the two options I had for sleeping a night were both I considered as a young boy deadly. The first one was my grandmother's guest room and she collected porcelain dolls so if you know anything about porcelain dolls and if you're looking at a room of 40-50 their eyes follow you wherever you go and when you try to sleep at night they glow Right? So it's not a great sleeping room for a young child. I would go in the corner and pull all the blankets over myself and never look at them.
The other room was the living room with an uncomfortable couch and a huge clock that would go tick, tock, tick, tock. And every half hour, the chimes would go. And of course, at every hour 1, 2, when you get to 12, right? That's Kronos time. That's time as in a clock, the ticking of a clock that's nine to five. That's one way of looking at time. The first word I want to have you consider is a different term and it's a Greek term. It's kairos we named our first born after it because kairos is a Greek term kairos and it means appointed time. It means appointed Time as in a gift that's been given and though many of you have been elected, you've also been divinely appointed.
And the reason to consider that kind of time rather than just the nine-to-five ticking of the clock is that it also ensures that you see your time as having a certain power behind it that's not just dependent upon you. There is a spiritual dimension and a spiritual force that is here to assist us as we all try to carry I was asked to do the first point-in-time count in 2011 and combine it, the first vulnerability index and combine it with our point-in time count.
Two years we had four months to be trained on how did we needed to do it and we needed Needed to bring together the entire county, all the homeless providers. Get all organized in one direction and then ask volunteers to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning three days straight and go out through the entire county and do a 30 minute survey with people on the streets.
And I could have looked at that 9-5 job Or I could have considered it as my divinely appointed job meaning that I believe there was a sovereign plan behind that. It was so important for us to begin to line up housing for the most vulnerable individuals on the streets. So as you consider this year 20 2019 and moving forward in your leadership all of you I strongly encourage you to view time in that way and not become isolated by the ticking of the clock The second term is a more well-known term.
It's a Hebrew term, it's shalom. How many of you have heard shalom? Shalom is a common term and most people consider it means peace and it does mean peace but it means something far more than just peace. It means holistic welfare. There's a scripture that says, seek the shalom of your city. Seek the shalom of your county and it will become your shalom. The idea is seek the well-being of the citizens of Santa Barbara County and it too becomes your well being as we care for others our county becomes strong.
So it's everything, it's psychological, emotional, relational, financial. It's all we're currently as leadership involved in overseeing in our county but it's more because I'm not really a pastor. I don't have a building. I don't do Sunday services but I have become since 2005 more of a pastor to those on the margins I work with people on the streets. I work with at-risk families.
I'm beginning to work with the Human Trafficking Task Force to try to find housing for who I believe is the most vulnerable people group, those who have suffered trafficking and sexual exploitation. And the term Shalom means that we who have power must pay special attention to those people who don't, to those people whose voices maybe we don't hear on a daily basis To those people who maybe they do have power but they don't know.
So I would really plead for you plead as a pastor of those people that in 2019 a special attention to those who are on the margins of our county. So want to end with a blessing it's pretty simple. It's a Celtic blessing. I rise today through a mighty strength God's power to guide me God's might to uphold me, God's eyes to watch over me. God's ear to hear me, God's word to give me speech.
God hand to guard me, God's way to lie before me. God's shield to shelter me and God's host just to secure me amen.
Amen thank you for bringing us to the source Pastor Schaefer let's give him a round of applause Before moving on to our formal dance and musical presentation, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank Josue Hernandez. Josue or El Charro de America as he is known provided the beautiful mariachi guitar as we arrived on the fourth floor after listening to his first mariachi by the iconic Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez.
Josue discovered that he truly enjoyed singing this genre. He has performed in some of the most iconic stages For Latinos, including the Universal Studio City Walk Five Towers. The historic Placita Olvera in Los Angeles and at the Miss California Latina Beauty Pageant. Josue hopes to keep traditional and colorful mariachi music alive for many years to come. And of course that's very important to our county. Ladies and gentlemen please join me in thanking Josue Hernandez.
So for our musical presentation today, I'd like to now introduce the Regetti High School Marimba Band and Ballet Folklorico under the direction of Ricardo Cabaldon. And we love to have you here, even though my chief of staff is from Santa Maria High School. We welcome you here today. The Regetti High School Marimba Band and Ballet Folklorico was formed in 1975 and has since done over 1,000 performances for schools, community events, and celebrations throughout the Central Coast.
The group was created to provide a special opportunity for students to learn about, identify with and express pride in Mexican and Latino culture. And to explore regional traditional dances from Mexico emphasizing footwork, regional styles, stage presence, choreography as well as the historical background of Mexican folk dance and regions from which they come.
Especially popular are the dances from the states of Sinaloa, Veracruz, Nayarit and Jalisco. Each were known for their brilliant costumes, vibrant and inspirational music, and for the gaiety and joy they reflect. Performances at the Marimba and Ballet Folklorico enhance the development of positive self-esteem among all youth and are an important method of promoting cross cultural understanding and respect.
Group members are provided the opportunity to showcase their talents, develop leadership skills and to receive scholarships. And I have to say my three year old is really bummed she's not here because she would've loved this. Ricardo Gabaldon was born in Santa Maria and was himself a four-year member of the Marimba Band and Ballet Folklorico at Rio Getty. The group, by the way, was organized and founded by his father, Ricardo Gabaldon Sr. He attended Fresno State where he studied Spanish in Chicano Studies with a minor in music. In addition to directing the band, Ricardo teaches Spanish at Rigetti High School. Ricardo and his wife Michelle have a daughter Izzy who also enjoys dancing folklorico and who looks forward to one day carrying on the family tradition by dancing for the Rigetti High School Ballet Folklorico.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Regetti High School Marimba Band and Ballet Folklorico under the direction of Ricardo Gabaldon.
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Thank you very much. Buenos dias a todos, good morning everyone. We have a small crew with you for you guys today. We're missing our main instruments because of transportation limitations so today we're going to do one selection from the marimba bands and we'll have a couple dances following and I'd like to introduce Sandy Nunez-Corona who will be singing Mexico Lindo y Querido ♪
Voz de la guitarra mía, al despertar a la mañana quiere cantar su alegría. A mi tierra mexicana yo le canto a sus bobocanes A sus praderas y flores Que son como talismanes Del amor de mis amores México lindo y querido Si muero lejos de ti, que digan que estoy por mi vida y que me traigan aquí. ♪
Que me
entierren en la sierra Al pie de los magueyales Y que me cubra esta tierra Que es cuna de hombres cabales Voz de la guitarra mía Al despertar la mañana Quiere cantar su alegría A mi tierra Mexicana México lindo Y querido Si muero lejos de ti, que digan que estoy dormida y que me traigan aquí. Que digan que estoy dormida, y que me traigan aquí. Thank you.
Wow, que linda.
Thank you she's got a terrific voice
no?
All right next we'll have the dancers come out this couple is Jose and Janet and they're gonna be performing La Negra which is from the state of Jalisco it's probably Mexico's most recognized dance region and so once again this is la negra
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Hi!
Hey!
Cuando me traes a mi negra, que la quiero ver aquí Con su rebozo de seda que le traje desde el pi. Cuando me traes a mi negra, que la quiero ver aquí Con su rebozo de seda que le traje desde el pi. Para cortarle chincharrones, cortale bien con mi comal de chincha
And for a final selection we have Naomi Chris, Daniel and Cynthia they're going to perform a dance for you called El Sinaloense from the state of Sinaloa.
♪ You. Yeah.
Hi. Thank you very much. It was quite an honor to partake in this ceremony with you.
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Now I'd like to now turn this over to Mona Miyasato, our County Executive Officer. She is the head of the executive branch of the county who will present the Santa Barbara County officials who were elected in 2018.
Good morning everybody! That performance was really something that was amazing fancy footwork let's give another hand That was probably some of the best tap dancing we've seen in these chambers, which is quite something. For those of you who have been following the board. So now it's my pleasure to introduce those elected in 2018. When I call your name would you please stand and face the audience? First we'd like to begin with those elected to judicial positions in the Santa Barbara County Superior Court. To begin with the Honorable James Edward Herman.
Appointed to the bench in 2005, Judge Herman has served as Santa Barbara County Superior Court presiding judge and currently presides over a criminal calendar in Department 1. Prior to his appointment he practiced law in Santa Barbara County for 25 years and served terms as president of the Santa Barbara County Bar Association and State Bar Association. He is married to retired Superior Court Judge Denise DeBelfay And he begins his third full six-year term of office today. Please congratulate Judge James Herman.
Next, the Honorable Timothy Staffel. Judge Staffel was appointed to the Santa Barbara County Superior Court by Pete Wilson in 1998 And was re-elected to the Superior Court in 2000, 2006, 2012 and now 2018. During his time on the Superior Court he has presided over virtually every type of case from small claims civil matters to million dollar plus judgments to criminal infractions to death penalty cases. Judge Staffel was elected 4th District County Supervisor in 1992 representing the Santa Maria and Lompoc Valleys. He was re-elected in 1996, serving until his appointment to the Superior Court. And he served in fact as a chair of the Board of Supervisors in 1995 and I asked him does he miss it? And he just kind of smiled at me.
Judge Staffel also served as the governor's local government representative to the California Coastal Commission from 1995 to 1998 and today he begins his fourth term of office. Please congratulate Judge Timothy Staffel. Next, the Honorable Clifford Anderson. Judge Anderson was born in Pasadena, California and was raised in Southern California. He graduated from LaSalle High School in Pasadena and then he attended the University of Notre Dame where he received his BA in English. He then attended the University of California Hastings College of Law where he received his JD. Judge Anderson then went to work at Hillsinger and Costanzo in Orange County practicing insurance defense and litigation, concentrating in the area of product liability and malpractice defense.
He moved to the Santa Barbara office in 1987 and in 1995 opened his own law practice. He was appointed to the municipal court bench in September 1997 by Governor Pete Wilson but with the unification of the courts in 1998 Judge Anderson became a superior court judge. He was the presiding judge at the Santa Barbara Superior Court in 2003-2004 and currently presides over Department 8 handling criminal arraignments. He is also the supervising criminal judge in Santa Barbara. Judge Anderson begins his fourth term of office today, please congratulate Judge Clifford Anderson.
Next the Honorable Arthur Garcia. Judge Garcia was born and raised in Santa Maria, and attended St. Joseph High School. He also attended Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, and served as a Superior Court Commissioner from 1996 to 2003 before being appointed Superior Court Judge in 2003 by Governor Gray Davis. He's the past presiding judge for Santa Barbara County Superior Court, and is currently presiding judge of the Juvenile Court. Judge Garcia begins his third full term of office today. Please congratulate Judge Arthur Garcia.
The Honorable Patricia Kelly. Judge Kelly was appointed to the bench by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010 after a career as a prosecutor in both Riverside and Santa Barbara counties. As a deputy district attorney for 16 years, the majority of her caseload focused on gang and major narcotic cases. Judge Kelly attended Pepperdine University School of Law graduating in 1994. In 2011, Judge Kelly was appointed the criminal supervising judge for the North County. And in 2015 she was unanimously elected to the position of assistant presiding judge and became the presiding judge of the Superior Court in 2017. And she just completed her two year term. She is the first woman to hold this position in the history of the court.
She is a member of the Judicial Council's Trial Court Security Advisory Committee, Identity and Access Management Workstream, and Joint Emergency Response Work Group. She also continues to serve on the court's Executive Committee. Judge Kelly received the Santa Barbara Women Lawyers' Attorney of the Year Award in recognition of her work and accomplishments during her presiding judge term. Today begins her second full term of office. Please congratulate Judge Patricia Kelly.
Also elected to judicial positions in 2018 but unable to attend today are the Honorable Donna Geck, the Honorable Colleen Stern and the Honorable Raimundo Montes de Oca. Please join me in congratulating them. And now those elected to countywide positions in 2018. First Betsy Schaefer Auditor-Controller Betsy Shaver was born in Seoul, Korea and was adopted by the Miller family when she was almost three years old. She's lived in Japan, Virginia, Oklahoma and moved with her family to Santa Barbara County when she was 10. She attended Rigetti High School, Cuesta College, and Cal Poly SLO where she earned a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting. Ms. Shaver started with the county of Santa Barbara in 1991 as an accountant auditor and has held the positions of Financial Systems Analyst, Division Chief, Internal Audit Chief, Chief Deputy Controller and Assistant Auditor Controller.
Ms. Schaefer is a certified public accountant and a certified public finance officer. She lives in Santa Barbara with Peter and their four-legged kids, an Alaskan husky named Sylph, Sylph? And a cow cat named Moo Moo. Betsy begins her first four year term of office today. Please congratulate Betsy Schaefer. Next, Joe Holland, Clerk Recorder and Assessor. Joe Holland was first elected to the office of clerk recorder and assessor in 2002 And in 2018 was re-elected, this is his fifth term of office.
As a County Clerk Recording Assessor, Mr. Holland oversees a multifaceted department that provides election, recreation and property assessment services to the residents of Santa Barbara County. He received his BA in Business Economics and an MA in Economics from UCSB. He graduated from the UCLA Executive Program at the Anderson School of Business as well. Joe holds the designation of a Certified Public Finance Officer from the nationally recognized Government Financers Association and currently serves as President for the California Association of Clerks and Elected Officials. Joe and his wife Kathy live in Goleta where they raised their three children, Scott, Bridgette, and Michelle. Today, Joe begins his fifth full term of office. Please congratulate Joe.
Next, Joyce Dudley, District Attorney. Joyce Dudley has a BA in psychology and two master's degrees in education, one with an emphasis on early childhood education and the other with an emphasis on educational administration. In 1990 she received her JD. That very day she passed the bar she was hired by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office For 20 years, Joyce was a Deputy District Attorney specializing in prosecuting violent crimes against vulnerable victims. In 2010 she was elected district attorney. In 2016 she was appointed by Governor Brown to be the chair of the Police Officers Standards and Training Commission known as POST. A position she still retains. Joyce also presently serves on the Executive Board of Fight Crime Invest in Kids and works closely with the national organization Prosecutors Against Gun Violence.
Joyce has received numerous awards including Attorney of the Year from the Santa Barbara Women Lawyers, Woman of the Year from the Junior League and Mentor of the Year from the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Joyce is joined today by several members of her staff, or as she refers to them, her work family. And today begins her third full term of office as District Attorney. Please congratulate the one and only Joyce Dudley.
Next Bill Brown, Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown was first elected Sheriff-Coroner of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department in November of 2006 and was reelected in 2011, 2014 and now in 2018. He previously served with the Pacifica and Englewood Police Departments and then as Chief of Police for the cities of Moscow, Idaho and Lompoc, California. Yes I did take a pause looking at that.
Sheriff Brown is a strong proponent for community policing, for effective inmate reentry programming and for diverting mentally ill offenders from the jail. For the past eight years he has served as a commissioner on the state's Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission having been appointed by both Governors Schwarzenegger and Brown. Sheriff Brown was awarded the Sherman Block Law Enforcement Professional professional of the year award from the California Peace Officers Association in 2016 and was given the Westmont Medal from Westmont College.
He is the only person ever to have been elected by his peers to serve as both, the California Police Chiefs Association and the California State Sheriffs Association. Sheriff Brown has been happily married to his wife Donna for 38 years and has three grown children. Sheriff Brown begins his fourth term of office today. Please congratulate Sheriff Bill Brown.
Next, Harry Hagan, Treasurer Tax Collector Public Administrator. Harry Hagen is a 54-year resident of Santa Barbara County with 23 years of public finance experience for the county. Harry is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Public Finance Administrator, Certified Public Finance Officer, a Certified Fixed Income Practitioner, a Certified Government Investment Professional and an Advanced Certified Public Funds Investment Manager. You can only get the advanced for one, huh Harry?
He and his wife Julie have two daughters, Melissa and Mandy. Today Harry begins his third term as Treasurer Tax Collector Public Administrator. Please congratulate Harry Hagan. Susan Salcido, County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Salcedo was named the county superintendent of schools in July 2017 by a unanimous vote of the County Board of Education and was elected to the office this past June. The Santa Barbara County Education Office supports 20 schools, nearly 70,000 students and partners with organizations countywide. Dr. Salcedo also provides support and leadership to statewide educational committees and projects. And in 2016 she was appointed by the California State Board of Education to serve on the California Practitioners Advisory Board She is recognized by the Association of California School Administrators as administrator of the year in 2017.
Susan grew up in Santa Maria and has led and served Santa Barbara County for most of her life. She earned her undergraduate and master's degrees from UC Santa Barbara, and recently completed her doctorate at USC where she focused on organizational change, leadership, and student equity. She has spent her career in the field of education as a teacher and administrator, and as an advocate for all families and children. Susan sincerely appreciates the incredible support of her team at the Santa Barbara County Education Office, including her cabinet members who are here today.
She wants to thank the Chang and Salcido families represented today by her parents Nancy and James Chang and her mother-in-law Mary Jane Salcido. And sends love and appreciation to her husband Bard a classroom teacher for 30 years and their children Samantha and Nicholas. And she wanted to point out all three of whom are in school this morning. Susan is proud to serve as the county superintendent of schools and begins her first full term of office today. Please congratulate Dr. Susan Salcedo.
And finally, to those elected to the County Board of Supervisors in 2018. First from the Second District, Greg Hart. Greg Hart grew up in Santa Barbara, attended local schools and graduated from City College and UCSB with degrees in political science. He began his public service career working as a legislative assistant for California State Assembly Member Jack O'Donnell. Greg has worked in a variety of positions at the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments for the past 19 years and recently retired from his position as Deputy Director. He was elected to the Santa Barbara City Council in 1995 and re-elected in 1999.
Governor Gray Davis appointed City Council Member Hart to the California Coastal Commission in 2000, where he served four years. In 2013 Greg was again elected to the Santa Barbara City Council and re-elected for a fourth term in 2017 where he served as chair of the council's finance committee. In 2018 Greg ran unopposed and was elected as county supervisor representing the second district. He begins his first term as second district supervisor today. Please congratulate Greg Hart.
And finally from the 5th District, Steve Lavinino. Steve Lavinino was first elected as Supervisor for the 5th District in 2010 was reelected in 2014 and again in 2018. Prior to elected office, he spent 13 years as a staff member working for constituents in both state assembly and congressional offices. He also has close to 15 years experience in the aerospace industry. Steve is the founder and driving force behind Santa Barbara County's annual Veterans Stand Down. And for his work in helping veterans in need The Vietnam Veterans of America have named him Honorary Lifetime Member, and the Santa Maria Elks honored him as their Citizen of the Year in 2013.
Steve and his lovely wife Marion are Santa Barbara County natives, and spend most of their free time with their seven grandchildren! Today Steve begins his third term as Supervisor for the 5th District. Please join me in congratulating Steve Ravunino. Now I'd like to introduce the Honorable Michael Carrozzo, the presiding judge of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court who will administer the office. Judge Carrozzo graduated from UCLA in 1989 with a Bachelor's of Arts in Political Science and in 92 he graduated from Loyola Law School and proceeded into private practice. In 2004 he joined the U.S. Army and was commissioned as an officer in the JAG Corps. After serving three years of active duty, he transitioned to a Deputy District Attorney in Santa Barbara.
Judge Carrozzo has served as a Reserve Officer in the Army Reserves assigned to trial defense services for three years. Appointed as Superior Court Judge by Governor Brown in 2014, Judge Carrozzo was elected in 2016 and is currently assigned to Criminal Trial Department and Veterans Treatment Court. Judge Carrozzo could you please come up and administer the oath?
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Will the elected officials please stand and raise your right hands. Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic? That you will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution in the state of California. That you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. And that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which you are about to enter.
Congratulations to all of you. Please take your seats.
Would members of the board please take your seats on the dais? It is now my pleasure to introduce the 2019 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. From the First District, Supervisor Doss Williams. From the 2nd District, Supervisor Greg Hart. From the 3rd District, Supervisor Joan Hartman. From the 4th District, Supervisor Peter Adam. And from the 5th District, Supervisor Steve Lavinia.
It's my pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker today, Santa Barbara County retired Superior Court Judge Rogelio Flores. He's a graduate of UCLA Law School in 1979. Judge Flores began his judicial duties in January of 1987 as the first court commissioner for North Santa Barbara County Municipal Court. In 1997, he was appointed to the municipal court bench. And in 1998, he was elevated to the Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
From 2000 through 2016, Judge Flores was assigned to various collaborative courts in Santa Maria including the Substance Abuse Treatment Court, Also known as the drug court, the drug treatment mandated by passage of Prop 36. He was also responsible for the mental health court and calendars specializing in co-occurring disorders. He presided over the DUI high risk offender treatment court and helped organize the first veterans treatment court in Santa Barbara County.
From October 2012 through February 2016, he was assigned to a felony trial calendar while presiding over the Veterans Treatment Court. For March 2016 until his retirement, Judge Flores had been assigned to the Lompoc Division of Santa Barbara County Superior Court. Since being transferred to Lompoc, he helped start the Veterans Treatment Court and the Domestic Violence Review Calendar.
Among his many accolades, Judge Flores has received certificates of recognition from the California State Legislature. Congressman Bob Lagomarsino, Congresswoman Lois Capps, Congressman Salud Carbajal, the National Latino Peace Officers Association, the County of Santa Barbara, Probation Peace Officers Association and the cities of Santa Maria, Lompoc and Santa Barbara. The Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce, the Community Recovery Network and he was granted the Achievement Award for 2001 by the Santa Barbara Hispanic Achievement Council.
Judge Flores was presented the Hero of Justice Award from the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County, and was recognized as Judicial Officer of the Year by the Chief Probation Officers of California. Judge Flores retired in May of 2018 after 31 years of service to the county of Santa Barbara and the state of California. He is the longest serving judicial officer in the history of Northern Santa Barbara County.
Please join me in welcoming Judge Flores.
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Happy New Year, everyone. Or as we say in Santa Maria, happy new year. Feliz año nuevo! I want to thank you for the true honor of inviting me to deliver the keynote address today And I want to personally congratulate each elected official and my colleagues who are sitting here today. I miss you all dearly, and I miss the work that I did for 31 years a little bit.
I'm going to share with you in the next few minutes some of the things I learned in 31 years of public service. And I'm going to try and be brief but it's very difficult. Surprised me when people invite a judge or a lawyer to deliver a keynote address because we come from a career that will file a 5,000-page document and call it a brief. The first lesson I learned...I was asked 31 years ago, 32 years ago when I first took the bench what I thought the most important quality for a judge to have And it didn't take long, because I'll share with you why in just a minute.
It's humility. Now it's difficult when you think about the fact that when you're a judge, you're referred to as your honor. They give you a robe. You sit in a courtroom and the bench is elevated above everybody else. You have staff that basically does, you snap your fingers and everybody snaps to attention sometimes. But humility is an important trait And I suggest that all public servants should really focus on this. Now how do they learn about that? Well, I was fortunate 42 years ago to marry a kindergarten teacher and she's since retired. She's sitting here in the audience my wife Arlene thank you Arlene for being here. And in 1987 January of 1987 when I first took the bench as the first commissioner I was also the first Latino appointed to the bench in North County.
Now, Santa Maria is a predominantly Latino community. Well over half the population of North County is Latino so it was a big deal when I got appointed to the bench and I thought I was God's gift to legal profession. So that night we had a couple hundred people at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Santa Maria. The community came out as a big celebration and After the celebration and after the pomp and circumstance, and the party died down, Arlene was driving me home. And I said, sweetheart you're married to the first Latino appointed to the bench in Santa Maria. What do you think of that? And she didn't say anything. And that night we went to bed and I said, darling you're sleeping next to the first Latino.
Appointed to the bench in Santa Maria and again, she didn't say anything next morning woke up beautiful January morning 70 degrees in Santa Maria And I said sweetheart. How does it feel waking up next to the first Latino on the bench? She said honey. I'm gonna take you to breakfast so she gets she said I'll drive So she gets in the car and I sit there, and I'm really full of myself And instead of going to breakfast she drove directly to this chicken egg ranch in Santa Maria called Rosemary Farms.
And there, under the chicken coops was this man about my age scooping droppings up into a plastic bucket. I said why are we here? She said that guy over there used to be my boyfriend. I said wow and you're married to the first Latino on the bench and she said if I would have married him he would have been the first Latino on So yes, it's important to be humble. And remember that I've never met a self-made person in all my life.
Lesson number two, we, all of us, not only judges but in every career that we have can and should be agents of change. Let me explain that. About 26 years ago, I was calling the DUI arraignment calendar in Santa Maria and back then it was done a little differently We had so many cases to call that we would line them up 10 at a time, 12 at a time. You know, DUIs are 20 a week in Santa Maria. We'd line them up and most defendants in a DUI case would plead guilty at arraignment and I was the arraignment judge.
So you know, you waive your right to an attorney. Henry Ford would have been proud. We were moving this calendar like a clock And back in those days, the DA would file in writing the blood alcohol content on the cover of the filing document. So I'm calling 0.15, 0.16, 0 .14 and I stop and this man is 0.46. Now, I know I'm speaking to a bunch of novices here but you may not know that the legal limit of alcohol consumption, blood alcohol content You see all know that, right? .46 is a lot of booze.
So I was the first defense DUI and traditionally back in those days we had what was called a standard disposition. So this defendant normally would have gone to a three-month DUI class get his license suspended or revoked for three months and you know go to the classes. That's basically what it has done but I was troubled a little bit by this blood alcohol content So I told the bailiff and the public defender DA were in court.
And I said, Mr. Bailiff remanded this man to custody. He was out of custody. Those of you who are in the legal profession know there's no change in circumstances. There wasn't any grounds to do that. And I told a public defender DA this person is killing himself and he needs help. And I tell the public defender, find him a residential program and I'll release him immediately from custody. But we can't allow that kind of blood alcohol content on a defendant in this court. We can't do it because he's going to kill somebody. He's going to kill himself. He was 19 years old.
So sure enough, he goes into custody and a couple days later parents find him a residential program in LA County, in LA, and they come and pick him up. I go release him and he goes to the program. And the story should have ended there Months go by and I call the last case in court and this gentleman sitting in my courtroom, very back of the court. And I said did I forget to call your case? He said no, I don't have a case on calendar today judge. So why are you here?
He said I'm at .46 DUI. Wow son, I remember your face but of course remember your case. Why are you here today? He said can I approach? I made my deputy so nervous because people were always approaching the bench, and it drove you guys crazy. Can I approach you? Of course. So he approaches and comes up to the bench, and he says, I've got something for you, Judge. I've got this coin. Today's my first year of sobriety.
And I wanted to give this to you because you saved my life. I said, I did nothing. He said no, you have to understand that you sent me to a residential program. I was there for six months. I'm now secretary at a local AA meeting I go to meetings every day. I was drinking myself to death and I was drinking every day since I was nine years old. I wasn't going to school drunk and nothing could stop me.
My parents my godparents my grandparents my girlfriend my brothers my sisters everybody you know I was on a freight train to dying. I came into this court and you scared me. You put me in jail where I needed to be and you sent me to this program and I want you to keep this coin as a symbol of the fact that You took a chance to do something different and it changed my life.
I've seen him several times since then, he's still sober 26 years later. And I kept this coin on the bench in front of me every day to remind me that sometimes we have to do things a little different not because we want to be draconian and punish people and be mean but sometimes we have to look for solutions to problems that are not traditional It's important to recognize the fact that we can be, in all of our careers, agents of change.
The third lesson I want to share with you is the fatal nature of drug addiction. I went to a retreat in Santa Maria years ago called Santa Maria Search for Christian Community. It was a weekend retreat and they put you at a table with different people and I sat at a table with a young man named Bobby B. was the kind of guy, he's a little homeboy from Santa Maria.
But he had the personality that would walk into a dark room and it would light up. He was effervescent. He was wonderful, he was funny. And we hit it off immediately like two people who should have met years ago. And he shared with me his addiction to heroin and how he was struggling with his addiction. He had six kids and his wife, hardworking guy And during the retreat, we've promised each other. You know Bobby, after the retreat, we're going to get together. We're going to have lunch once a week. We're going to talk and we're going build a bridge between the bench—I'm a judicial officer at the time—and this little attic because we hit it off.
So I get to work one day. Back in those days in Santa Maria, the judges had a parking spot that would mark judge. I don't know. That was probably not a good idea, you know? I parked in the judge's spot, and there where I parked was Bobby B. Bobby stopped me and said, hey Judge how are you? Hey Bobby what's going on? So what are you doing here? He says, you know I just stopped by to let you know how well I'm doing. I'm still clean sober. I am doing well.
My family is great. I just came to say hi maybe we're gonna go to lunch someday. I said lets do it soon promise. A week later he was dead. He died of a heroin overdose. The problem of opioid dependence in this country is not new. It's not a 21st century phenomenon. There are people every day for decades now that have been dying on the streets of this county and it's important for us to recognize the fact that we can and should do more for those people, all of us which is one of the reasons why I got involved with Drug Court because of my experience with Bobby because I figured we can't do more and we did and we have This next lesson I want to share with you is very close to me because these stories all are.
I call it America is a Living Dream. I was fortunate to start a night court in Santa Maria, night court was a traffic court we had a chance on a Tuesday night if you were working and you had to see the judge to come on Tuesday night to see the judge for your traffic matter and that was our busiest calendar we have 60 or 70 cases every Tuesday night it was hopping And a month after I was on the bench, I called my last case of the day.
The buckets are empty and there's a man, a Mexican man and his wife and two children in the courtroom. And I asked him, did I forget to call your case? No habla ingles. So I asked him in Spanish, did I forget to call your case? Simplemente, you might have some counsel. He said oh no judge we don't have a case here today. He said, you know Judge, when we saw in the Santa Maria Times you were being sworn in as a judge. I had to bring my kids here to see this truth.
I had to bring my kids here to see what this country is about and I told my children work hard, work diligently, stay focused and look at us, we have a judge. We have a judge in Santa Maria. Wow! I was sobbing. I was crying my eyes out. This is an amazing country. We live in an amazing county. You are amazing public servants, but never forget the fact that people are dreaming about being in here and loving this country and giving them a chance to love it as much as we do.
The next lesson I want to share is be a mentor. I was fortunate enough in the 31 years on the bench to be a mentor to 30 students, college students. 26 of them are now practicing lawyers There are young people out there, not only judges. There are young people out there that want to learn about politics, about business, about schools, about the courts, about law enforcement and we need to develop I believe a mechanism for giving them into the system so they can learn about what we do because that's where our future is You know, I'm an old tired beat-up judge. But I'll tell you what, I see the things that I help teach some of these young people carry forward.
My first student I mentored is Maria Martino. She's a public defender in Santa Maria. The second student I mentored, Jared Grant. He's the assistant DA in St. Louis County and all walks of life, all types of law. And some chose not to go into laws of career. They chose something else but they learn from us And students are sponges, man. They want to learn. They're hungry and we should not put walls up to block them from access to learn the things that we do.
Finally I want to talk about veterans. Those of you here in the courtroom who have served in the armed forces please stand or remain standing. If you have served in the Armed Forces of the United States please stand and be recognized. And those of you, those of you who have family members who have served in the armed forces. Family members who have served or are serving now please stand and be recognized.
Thank you. Please be seated. Let me tell you from the bottom of my heart Every American really needs to take our hats off to you, the sacrifices that you've made either personally or through your family members. That's what we fight for. They fought for us men and women of the armed forces to give us representative democracy, to give us a chance to break bread with brothers and sisters, and to work for each other.
I want to thank Steve Supervisor Lavagnino, my neighbor and good friend who for years ago started the stand down in Santa Maria for veterans. And Steve I couldn't thank you more it's a wonderful project and I look forward to collaborating with you in the future and making that happen. I want to acknowledge my brothers Frank and Raul Flores stepbrothers my father's first marriage. My parents were married for 51 years my dad was married before that I had two kids. Frank just died of cancer, Purple Heart recipient in Vietnam.
Raul, both born in Mexico. They came to live with us as adolescents. Frank was drafted. Raul joined. Frank was 13 when they came to live with us. Raul was 12. They didn't have to serve but they knew they had to because they bought into what this country is about And they put their lives on the line for all of us, both combat veterans. I'm in the Miami airport and I'm flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico to deliver a speech about mental health courts in Miami. You know, remember the lesson in humility I started with? Sometimes we forget these things.
I met the tarmac in Miami ready to fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico because I'm a big deal internationally. I want to go do a talk about mental health courts Ladies and gentlemen, this is the pilot. I'm sorry we're going to be delayed about 30 minutes. Oh man really? Really? Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry this is the pilot. Our delay is actually closer to an hour.
And now you know there's like a mutiny. I am ready to lead it. You've got to be kidding me! Ladies and gentleman, this is the pilot again. Another 20 minutes. I promise we'll get you off the ground. Now you can really hear the grumbling in the plane. Finally, the pilot says I apologize for the delay folks. I apologize for the delay but let me tell you why we're waiting if you look out the window on the right side you'll see that they're loading the remains of a soldier who died in Afghanistan onto the plane the color guard This young man is being flown back to his home in San Juan, Puerto Rico because Puerto Rico is in the United States.
And I started thinking to myself, you know, Rogelio, I felt about an inch tall. I said, you gotta be kidding me, man. Here you are complaining about an hour and 20 minute wait, what this GI would not have done for another 80 minutes to talk to his mom and dad. To talk to his girlfriend. To say hey guys I'm not coming home but thank you. I love you guys. But no we're so full of ourselves sometimes that these veterans put their lives on the line and we forget that which is one of the reasons why the job of my life Besides veterans court, besides drug court, mental health court, the DUI count, all that stuff was important. The trial department was important, working in law enforcement, it was all important but working for veterans especially those veterans who were returning from combat and giving them a chance if they got caught up in the criminal justice system to get their lives back was my life's work.
It's best stuff I ever did. John McCain wrote in faith of our fathers, nothing in life is more liberating than the fight for a cause larger than yourself. Something that encompasses you but it is not defined by your existence alone. That man was a hero. That man was a legend and we can learn from him all of us. So Veterans Court was fantastic. I want to thank Judge Eskin who's since retired, who helped start the court here and I want to thank Judge Carrozza who has carried this on.
I want to thank the judges in North County for allowing this project to continue forward because it really is important and I've seen people's lives change in drug court, in mental health court, in veterans court. One of my mottos folks okay is that when I was on the bench is to take tax consumers And make them taxpayers so they can contribute to Judge Flores' retirement.
I served on the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous for six years as a non-alcoholic Class A trustee, so every three months I'd be flying to New York to these meetings and I learned so much from the Fellowship of AA. These people are wise in their sobriety. They've woken up and they share a wisdom that is so profound And when I was moved out of drug court into a trial department, some people were concerned and they said, judge, you know we don't want you to leave. No it's okay.
You know rotation is important. It's important for us to do different things and learn different things. You know what? It was time to do some trials. So I got a couple of notes from members of the fellowship. One note said at a picture of a flower growing through a crack in the cement And under the picture of the flower it says, grow where you're planted. Well there's a lesson for ya. That's how AA people think right? Grow where your, I said well that's pretty cool.
The idea is wherever you are be the best that you can be and grow. And we tried that. Another person said and this is what I wish all elected officials and all members of the board and anybody in public service and all of us in this room My wish for you in 2019 and the rest of your lives was shared with me by a member of this fellowship. Judge Flores, I wish you serenity and acceptance.
Let me explain acceptance to you judge in this letter. Acceptance is when you're in the supermarket and you're in the 10 items less checkout line and the person in front of you has 17 things in their cart And you don't say anything about it. That's acceptance, okay? Serenity your honor is when you don't even bother counting what they have in their cart. That's my desire for all of us in this room, serenity and acceptance and thank you for the invitation and God bless all of you.
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Thank you, Judge Flores for moving our hearts and our minds. It's my pleasure to call to order the 2019 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. This marks the 169th convening of Santa Barbara County's highest legislative body. And I will now accept nominations for the position of chair. Supervisor Hartman.
Chair Williams, may I have the honor of nominating Supervisor Lavinino for chair 2019 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors?
I see a nomination second With pleasure, I will ask all those in favor please say aye aye And And can I get a nomination for the position of vice-chair
Supervisor Adam. I will nominate supervisor Hart.
I'd like to second that motion There is a nomination and the second all those in favor, please say aye aye We have a new chair and vice-chair for 2019 of the Board of Supervisors Who will sit as the board of directors of the Water Agency? the flood control and water conservation district the Santa Barbara County Fire Protection District The Laguna County Sanitation District, the Santa Barbara Fund for Public and Educational Access and other special districts. Yes, some too numerous to name though this gives a backdrop to my remarks as outgoing chair.
When I was elected two years ago, I didn't necessarily campaign either as a partisan for or against. Most people when they run they run against the county right? Though as an institution with great expertise it has great potential But just by virtue of its size, most institutions of this type move very slow. And for people like me that kind of burn with an innate And.
Pain in our hearts with the way things are versus the way perhaps they should be. That sometimes can be hard. We're frustrated. Thought that this institution could not. Move quickly for those in need and deal with crises. I asked to look at these last two years because I have seen first with in the first year, this institutions willingness to tackle its financial crisis.
And then in this last year, With this institution's passion for responding to the fire and debris flow. I've seen by the sheer dedication of individuals within this institution, and their willingness to put much more time and life into it than you would typically think of as a job. They think of it here as a family, the county family. And particularly I see this throughout the institution but in the last year saw it in fire, in the Sheriff's office, in the OEM, the executive office and flood control.
In response to tragedy And in preparation for disaster, these individuals put their lives into being there for those in need. We as an institution brought all our resources to bear. Our expertise, our financial resources and I would also argue We need to do something deeper. Our spiritual resources and the community did too. And I think we did something very different last year as in it as a community, I mean were typically pretty fractious bunch right?
I mean go to any City Council or Board of Supervisors hearing you're going At least action. Sometimes it can be about small matters, but conflict right? That is the nature of democracy we resolve our conflict openly sometimes embarrassingly openly rather than behind closed doors. And so in a community famous for fighting with each other, we did something really different last year.
We fought for each other at At a deeper level in a community known for its fences and its neighborhood conflicts those fences. Both physical and emotional were ripped down by force by a force greater than our ourselves. And we responded to it as a community with compassion, with thoughtfulness and with hard work. I want to thank for that time, because it was definitely an eventful time to be chair.
I want to thank my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors who with great empathy and great understanding were willing to have the attention of the institution focused on the disaster areas and to get more than our share of resources And I have never heard a complaint from them for that. And I also want to thank my staff. If you ever think that we get this stuff done on our own, you got to know the people who work in our offices.
My staff includes one person who took the job right after the debris flow. Another person who is the polar opposite of me personality-wise. She's calm, collected and methodical. She likes things to stick the way they're supposed to stick while I'm chaos energy and maybe force of will sometimes. And then another individual who Has fought for me, with me and for our shared ideals since 2008.
And these three put their lives and their hard work in this. And sometimes the women that worked for me I think of as warriors. Even when they're wounded and their guts are hanging out, they hold those guts in and press on. To help those in need. So I'll tell you it is. Maybe with a little relief that I pass this gavel to you up Mister Lavanino. I wish you.
A quieter year but oh and this is the bat. Here's the bat phone by the way. This is an important thing. Are those launch codes? It is not the launch codes. And a quieter year but one where we still can make progress make progress on being the people and institution that we should be on diversifying our economy, improving our finances and moving towards alternative energy. Got to put that in there because to me life and maybe public service is all about a story Of us trying to live up to our ideals and bring the world from where it is into what, what it should be. And we can make together a little bit of progress in the coming year.
Thank you We
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should swap out names. All right, well I'll try to make this short. There are some people though I do absolutely want to thank. First off, Mike Allen and the clerk's office for helping me put together all the entertainment for today. If you notice it had a little 5th District flair to it. I don't know who is going to be the chair four years from now but hey good luck living up to that one.
I also want to thank our CEO, Mona Miyasato. It was the best hire we ever made and for Greg you're going to learn just don't mess with Mona. Stay out of Mona's way. Also somebody that doesn't get a lot of love, keeps us all out of trouble. Mike Gazzone and your staff we appreciate everything you do. So once again I want to thank Josue Hernandez the Rigetti High School Folklorico Marimba Band and Judge Flores now people when I talked about Judge Flores providing the speech some people came up were little concerned You know, he's my neighbor but they said hey what kind of time frame do you have?
And I found out it actually takes Judge Flores 90 minutes to watch the show 60 minutes. He takes a while. That's
why we cleared the calendar
man! Yes well we did clear the calendar and awesome message really appreciate you being here and Arlene thank you for coming as well so thank you very much So I have my lovely wife Marion here today. Thank you for being here. Now, I got a sad one. We all know Yvonne Bailey if anybody like you said our offices are run by very professional people that try to make us look good sometimes that's not easy to do. Yvonne has done an outstanding job for four years she's decided it's time to retire Spend more time with her husband Mike.
I support that decision 100%. I'm going to miss you big time, but I just wish you well in your retirement. We're going to take care of that later on in this month, but thank you for serving our county. Right next to her is her replacement. Going to step right in is Yesenia Cuevas, she'll be running the office up in Santa Maria and right next to my wife on the other side you all know my Chief of Staff is Cori Bantalon so that's the 5th District team there.
And I can't forget Sandy Agalos who is extra help but is the brains and motivation behind Stand Down so I want to remember Sandy as well. And I do know that my dad is watching, so shout out to Channel 20 or whatever it is. So Doss talked about the debris flow. I have to tell you this, I called Darcelle because Doss was out of town and I said hey, I want to know what Doss is speaking about so I don't say the same exact thing and she said that's going to be really hard for And I said, yeah, unless I quote a 13th century French theologian.
I'm probably on safe ground so but I do appreciate you know what you had to say about the debris flow in our county response because I think that's really indicative of how county government differs from our federal government right now we have DC has ground to a halt and it seems like leadership from both political parties are more interested in Castigating the other side than actually solving our problems. And I'm very thankful and proud to serve with colleagues who, while we don't always agree on the issues, we strive to do the people's business.
And if we look right now for 15 years grand juries have pushed for a North County jail it's going to open this year. For decades county residents have waited for the widening of the 101 While we've completed phases one and two, phase three will be completed this year. And we received $420 million from the state to finish the final segments. After many years of false starts, the Rosewood Miramar Beach Resort in Montecito will open this year bringing a much needed influx of property tax, sales tax and TOT.
For years, the county clashed with the Chumash over land use Now we have a government-to-government signed MOU, and I want to recognize Tribal Chairman Kenny Kahn for being here today. Thank you. And for the first time that I know of in Santa Barbara County history under the leadership We'll be developing a multi-year budget outlook that actually anticipates an economic downturn or recession. A smart move, thank you.
There is much work left to do. There are looming issues that still threaten us, keeps me up at night. Pension fund instability, our maintenance backlog and our changing climate all present us with future tough decisions but I'm confident Working together across all ideologies, we will find solutions. I'm also proud of our employees. We have an outstanding management team that I would put up against any private sector and I'm always amazed at the spirit of service that I see when I visit our frontline employees. You make me proud to work here.
Finally, I'll be making a few minor changes to our agenda management Which means we will eat on time. But the most important change I'll be making is that we will be having the addition of a Veteran of the Month resolution, that will be presented at the last meeting of each month. Each district will have a chance to honor a deserving veteran in their district. The first district will be kicking off this new program during our January 29th meeting.
I'd like to welcome Supervisor Greg Hart, ask him to make some comments and then we'll get to work.
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Well thank you, Chair Lavanino. It's really an honor and a privilege to have this opportunity to serve our community in this capacity. I'm filling big shoes. Supervisor Wolf served the 2nd District with grace and dignity and passion for 12 years and I've learned a lot watching her do her job. I will try to emulate The professionalism and the commitment that she brought to the job. She was always prepared, did her homework, worked well with staff and with the members of the public. And that's a really high standard that I hope to try and achieve as well. I've been doing this community work for quite a while and bring some experience to the job but there's a lot to learn being a county supervisor. There's tremendous expertise, the elected officials that I'll be working with my colleagues here on All have tremendous unique abilities and I hope to learn from them and to better serve the residents of Second District.
I want to take a personal moment to thank some people in the audience here, my mother Janet Hart is in the front row. I want to thank her for adopting me and bringing me to Santa Barbara County when I was two years old. That's probably the greatest gift that you could have offered me, but in addition to that, you instilled a sense of public service in me. My father was a library director for the county and city of Santa Barbara. My mother was an elementary school teacher and public service was part of our daily dinner table conversation. I learned a lot about local government listening to their conversation engaging with them My son Justin Hart is here. I want to introduce him as well.
The reason I do this work is to look out for the next generation of folks in our community so that he can have the opportunities that I had and all of the folks in his generation have an opportunity to live here, be successful, raise a family, and enjoy Santa Barbara County. I also want to thank my girlfriend Leticia Haynes who's here in the front row as well The love and support that you give me on a daily basis, and the patience and understanding that you offer to me when I'm talking about these crazy things that we all do incessantly. I really, really appreciate it. Couldn't do this without you so thank you very much.
And I want to introduce my team as well. Molly Culver is my Chief of Staff. Molly was here earlier and I think she's out working which is so... Molly? Oh there you go. Molly's back there. I've known Molly for a very long time. We worked together years ago for Jack O'Connell, and both started our career in public service working for Jack. He was an incredible mentor, and so grateful for that opportunity. Molly has been working for decades at the state, federal, local level. Extremely experienced, very capable, committed, passionate person with the biggest heart of anybody I think I know. And it is really an honor to have her working with me on our team here for the second district.
Ethan Bertrand is a new young elected official and leader. Ethan's going to be a district representative here for the 2nd District. He's sitting in the front row. Ethan's a member of the Isla Vista Community Services District. He's a student at UCSB, he's going to be continuing to do his college work and work for me full time. He is completely capable of juggling all those balls in a way that is amazing and inspirational to me and it's really an honor to have him as part of the team.
I just am very, very proud of this moment. I don't want to talk a lot about policy and issues. There's so much work to do and I heard a really wise elected official one time say how do you tell people what your priority is when you're responsible for health care, criminal justice, social services, potholes? All of these issues are really important And I'm going to do my best to help and lean into those issues. But I did want to tell one brief little story.
And it struck me that walking the streets, you didn't see folks living on the streets and panhandling and suffering the way we do in our country. And I was really curious about that. And eventually, I walked up to a police officer in Amsterdam and said why is that? You know, I live in California. And this is something that is a constant challenge in our community. And he said something very simple and profound to me, he said we take care of people in our country.
And that really hit me and it inspires me, and I know it inspires all of you. That's why we're here today. That's why we do this work to help people on a daily basis. And Judge Flores said it very clearly and I thought beautifully every day, a little bit at a time as much as we can, we need to help people. And that's why I'm here to do my best to try and move that ball forward. And I am so honored to have this opportunity to represent the second district. Thank you.
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All right, thank you. I'd like to now recess this meeting for reception next door in the Board of Supervisors conference room which is that way and all are invited.
Hi. Good morning.
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2:12 – 2:184 turns
Music Music Music
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Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. All right, I'd like to reconvene this meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Before we get started on our A agenda, although it is listed as an A item, I think we should move to our resolutions. Let's start with a roll call.
Roll call, called by United States · 1 under review
Show transcript
All right, so let's lead off with a 38 So moved
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and second all right moved in
second at all those in favor of 838 the resolution is I okay. Okay, he knows no. All
right Cheryl Avenino members of the board item 838 is our only resolution to present today and it's a resolution for Elizabeth Farnham upon her retirement from the County of Santa Barbara Elizabeth come on up to the podium And I will read the resolution into the record Whereas in 1990 Elizabeth Farnham, affectionately known as Betty Farnham to those closest to her began her career at the County of Santa Barbara and for more than 20 years has served in various capacities including as an attorney for county council, planning commissioner and most recently as a third district representative for both Supervisors Dorian Farr and Joan Hartman. And whereas, while at the County Council's office, Elizabeth served as Deputy County Counsel speculating on land use, air quality and CEQA issues.
And whereas after her tenure at County Counsel, Elizabeth served as Third District Planning Commissioner appointed by Supervisor Gail Marshall And whereas Elizabeth's extensive experience of the county, her encyclopedic knowledge of the San Ynez Valley and its issues, and her close relationships with valley residents were instrumental in providing wise counsel and practical advice on a wide variety of policy issues such as the San Ynez Valley Community Plan, water parks and open spaces, libraries, senior centers, the Gaviota Coast, and the Highway 154 safety improvements. And whereas throughout all of the challenges and emergencies that arose over the years, Elizabeth retained It remained a stalwart, calm, unflappable, trusted and loyal employee.
And whereas Elizabeth forged strong relationships with staff from the cities of Buellton and Solvang County Departments as well as the California Highway Patrol and other public safety advocates. And whereas constituents got used to dropping by or calling third district solving office where Elizabeth worked tirelessly to address their varied and sometimes complex problems. And many concerned residents found comfort in her demeanor professionalism and the fact that Elizabeth seems to know just about everybody.
And whereas a steady hand and always cool under pressure, the only time Elizabeth ever frazzled was when it was suggested to use her small office as a remote testimony outpost for public comment during the Board of Supervisors meeting. And whereas Elizabeth is an avid reader and a member of several book clubs, enjoys adventure, travel, gardening, and gleaning for veggie rescue, delights in long walks and ocean swims. She will now have more time to pursue these and her many other interests including sharing time with her wonderful and woody husband Jim Farnham. And whereas Elizabeth's retirement is certainly well-deserved and she will be sorely missed by so many residents for whom she has worked incredibly hard to make Santa Barbara County a better place to live for everyone.
Now, therefore I hereby order in resolve that this Board of Supervisors honors Elizabeth Betty Farnham for her years of dedicated service to the citizens of Santa Barbara County and congratulates her on her retirement passed and adopted today.
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I just wanted to say a few words and then Doreen's going to say a few words, and Elizabeth if she would like to. Doreen has served the county for twenty years in ten years she's worked as third district representative too for us. And when i came in like Supervisor Hart is coming in now it's almost overwhelming it's just a whirlwind of people you need to meet and issues you need to learn about and uh... people who want to meet you They want answers to questions they may not have liked the answers they got before and so it's very difficult to sort all of this out. And so Elizabeth from that day has been our rock, our foundation, our grounding force She really has been someone who has set the tone and culture of our third district office. And I think it comes over from Supervisor Farr's, and we're really glad to keep that tone going forward.
So she is the rudder that has kept the boat afloat and on track. But she's also in the third district been the face of county government. When I go to solving for office hours, we're there and at the end of the day you can't believe what fatigue you feel because there's such a range of issues and such an intensity of people's concern about these issues and you have to be responsive to that. And they're hard issues and sometimes Elizabeth has to explain to people why it's not as simple as they might think.
And so there are issues why we can't make Verizon put their wireless service up sooner or various things about road speeds and explaining all of that, or how you appeal a preliminary decision from the CBAR. She has to be able to educate people, she has to do research, she has to put them in touch with the county And it is an extremely demanding job. And through all that, Elizabeth is the face of county government in the third district and I feel a little bit like her husband Jim Farnham when I go around with Elizabeth we get to accompany Elizabeth in parades and things because she is an institution in her own right. She's also been the heavy lifter on all kinds of water issues for For us and those whether it be Kachuma operations or CCWA or Sigma or Erwump.
She's been really, those issues take years and years to master. The thing that I admire most about Elizabeth and probably contribute all of these is that she's a curious mind. And despite all she knows, she's always eager to learn more and to share that. It's with really mixed feelings that we say fare thee well today, Elizabeth. But what I can tell you is that the kind of culture that you've helped instill in our office is our legacy and we will carry it forward. And now I'd like to have Doreen Farg, former supervisor third district say a few words.
Well Elizabeth, first of all let me just thank you again as I have many times for all the years of service that you put in working with the 3rd District. With our wonderful team Chris Henson is here, Aaron Weber, Esther Aguilera we really worked well together as a team and you were such an integral part of that As Supervisor Hartman said, the third district is so big and so diverse that all of us had to deal with a wide variety of issues.
And you were involved with all of them, Right on point, you were there, you were steadfast. But I think also for those of us that have had the privilege of sitting up on the dais and have had staff, we know that we have to work as a team so that we can provide the best kind of service to the people of the county that expect no less from us and should have no less from us.
And Elizabeth, you have done it as the rest of my staff did. Whether the sun was shining, whether the weather was bad, whether there was a wildland fire, whether you weren't feeling well, whether there were personal issues, we come to work every day and do the people's business and you have done that. And I think it's probably most surprising for me all these years later that I first met you when we served together on the County Planning Commission and I never would have guessed then That all these years later we would be standing up here in the board hearing room doing this. So I'd like to also say congratulations to Supervisor Hart.
You know how important having good staff is, you have been staff but in county government it is absolutely critical that you have staff that will do the work that needs to be done And they do make you look good. And Elizabeth, for whatever we might have accomplished particularly in North County, Elizabeth gets so much of the credit because she always made me look good. So thank you very much.
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I'll be brief, because we've had a lot of speeches and whatnot today. But thank you very much to both my wonderful bosses, Doreen Farr and Joan Hartman, and our staff. We really have a good time working together. I think all of you supervisors know that the staff chemistry and collaboration is super important. But I also just wanted to say as a district rep You do have this opportunity you're like an intersection between the political and the constituents residents and the staff and It's an opportunity to show Our taxpayers residents of Santa Barbara County that we do care that we try our best and All of the departments, I haven't worked with every single one but just about have been so helpful to us in working with our constituents and getting answers even if they're not the answers that the constituents want.
And particularly third district, of course that means a lot of interaction with planning and development. But it's all good and so shout out to all the staff and particularly to Public Works because really is all about infrastructure and I've certainly learned a lot about that working for this county. So thank you.
Supervisor Williams.
So I'm going to dispense with tradition just a little bit because I got to give you a shout out, Elizabeth. Part of the reason why she knows everybody is because she's had so many years of activism in a district renowned for its long lineage of activists and You know, everybody knows the 3rd District has been a battleground and that no one in Democratic politics can really say they've earned their spurs unless they did a tour or two in the 3rd District. But Elizabeth has done far more than a tour or two.
She's been there and just as a former 3rd District warrior to one I need to tip my hat to one greater than myself for the time effort and the life that she's put into making the third district work. So thank you, Elizabeth.
Great. Congratulations. All right. Are there any items that board members would like to pull off the administrative agenda? A22. Anybody else got anything? Do we have anything from the public Mr. Allen?
Chair Labnino, members of the board. I have one request from Mr. Caldwell in Santa Maria and it is on item A8. So
if
we could-
All right well In the interest of the fact that we have probably a couple million dollars of employees standing around I'd like to move this one forward. So, I know Mr. Caldwell has been waiting patiently but let's go to A22 and let's get the sheriff and everybody back to work.
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Okay, Supervisor Lavagnino, Chair and members of the Board. 822 is from the Sheriff. It's to consider recommendations regarding the transfer of ownership of a retired sheriff's canine and that is Ako Van Brockpedal to Senior Deputy Kenneth Rushing for the sum of $1. And we have some pictures of Ako in action up on the screen.
And I just wanted to pull it because I think this retirement is an important one and should be celebrated. I believe the reason why his name is German is you guys train in German, is that? He's from Germany.
Aww.
Sheriff Brown. Well thank you Chair Lavagnino, members of the board. It's a pleasure to be with you today to recap for you the career of a very fine four-legged member of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. As you see up there, Ako's true name is Ako Von Brackpetl. And he was born in Germany on March 29th, 2010. He's a Schutzen trained German Shepherd. He was placed into service on February the 23rd 2012 after he and his handler Deputy Ken Rushing completed a 200 hour patrol school.
Next, Ako and Ken completed a 200-hour narcotic detection school. Completing that in May of 2012, Ako was certified in locating five different types of narcotic odors including heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, opium and cocaine. After that he went through another 200 hours of training with his handler in tracking school. That was completed in October of 2012.
Over the course of his remarkable career, Akko has had 31 physical apprehensions of criminals. And he has found 200 criminals that were hiding either inside a building or inside of a perimeter somewhere. He has found 1,000 pounds of various types of narcotics. Akko and his handler Ken have completed 70 different public demonstrations of a police working dog for members of schools and community groups all across our county.
Akko has also commonly trained and deployed with the sheriff's special enforcement team during dangerous criminal apprehensions. Akko was known as the best dog ever by the training group that Deputy Rushing and Akko attend each week. Deputy Rushing's most memorable moments with Ako were when the two were tracking suspects. And Deputy Rushing felt that when Ako was tracking, he was truly at his best.
Ako has served our agency and our county faithfully and honorably. He was dedicated, he was brave, and he protected his partner on every shift that they worked together over the past seven-and-a-half, almost eight years. Of course, I want to take this moment to recognize and thank Akko for his service. But I also want to thank Deputy Ken Rushing and the Rushing family for the devotion and love that they have provided over the years to this dog.
And that they will continue to provide from this point forward to Akko. Ken is an extraordinarily talented dog handler. Akko is his second dog, it's a rare opportunity for a deputy to handle two different dogs in his career and Ken has done it magnificently with both of his canine partners. And for that we convey our respect and our gratitude today to you Ken and certainly to you Akko for the great work that you have done. Now we have a retirement certificate for Akko but we also have something else that I think he will appreciate a bit more And I want to just say thank you, Akko and Ken for a job especially well done. We wish you both a great future and Akko in particular a very long healthy and happy retirement. Congratulations.
Ken would you like to say anything? I'd just like to say that I'm thankful for the opportunity to work ACO and work with the county of Santa Barbara. So thank you.
Awesome.
I think he really
likes that resolution more than we thought there! I think he does. ACO would you like to say anything? Yeah, I thought so. Maybe it's the dog.
We're going to pretend you're General Fund. Sheriff Brown, you'll be happy to know that kind of by acclimation we've decided to move that $1 for the sale into your general fund apportionment. Appreciate it. We can use all the help we can get so thank you. Well done guys. Thank you. Moved to A8 I believe.
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Item 8 is from County Council. It's to consider recommendation during a contingent fee contract with the law firm of Keller Rohrbach LLP This is for litigation services in an action to be filed by the county against certain opioid manufacturers and distributors We're gonna go to Santa Maria for mr. Caldwell And mr. Caldwell, I will let you know when your time is up because we've I think our clock is not operating up in Santa Maria So mr. Caldwell
Thank you Chairman Lavinino, members of the board. We also want to welcome Supervisor Hart to the board and we're looking forward to working with him. I thought it was very ironic that you had the keynote presentation from Judge Flores today. And I would like you to think about what he said In his presentation as somebody who helped start the drug court and dealt with lives destroyed, families destroyed by drugs. And some places in America entire communities have been destroyed by drugs.
Now we have a system here And I've done a lot of shows on this over the years where it takes $1 to $2 billion, and it could take 10 to 15 years to get a drug approved for market. Most drugs don't make it, and even those that do people end up getting sued because of one or two or three bad reactions to them or addictions or failures. But it takes billions of dollars to get drugs to market.
And we have drugs at work. And it's controlled by the FDA. And then it's controlled, the pharmacies are controlled and then the doctors are controlled in terms of their prescription. Nonetheless we have a bona fide genuine opioid crisis in America. And I go back to what Judge Flores said look for solutions that change things. Look for solutions that produce change.
And I think of all, if I had to sit there and think of a hundred things we could do to help stave off the opioid crises. At the bottom of the list even if it made the list would be suing the drug manufacturers. Why? Well first of all they have got a license to manufacture because the product they're selling is needed Number two, they sell it legally to pharmacies. Number three, the doctors control the prescriptions and number four people have to bear responsibility if in fact they are abusing the drugs but that's only half the story. The rest of the story is the number of opioids that are coming from Mexico and China.
And the number of opioids that aren't sold by drug dealers, but are given to among family and friends as leftovers after surgery. The point here is you're not solving anything by suing the drug manufacturers except driving up the cost because they're already regulated by more laws than you could shake a stick at. And the overwhelming majority of fentanyls coming from China.
So how is suing our drug manufacturers going to affect change there? Or they're coming from the cartels, including heroin. You dry up the legal drugs people should go to heroin because it's easier and cheaper.
Again
repeating Judge Flores look for a solution that actually produces change and not the kind of change you're reaching into somebody's pocket for. Thank you.
Thank you. Is there any other comments on the agenda? All right, sure. I'm
a supervisor on a, you know, I think that Mr Caldwell rightly points out that there are many other dimensions to this opioid crisis but a significant entry point for this opioid crisis was the overabundance of legal opioids that were on the market. And while done legally, perhaps the maneuvers that the drug manufacturers did to control the scientific information to lobby governments to make it harder to have safeguards in place made sure that Doctors were under the impression that these weren't addictive, made sure that they were prescribed in large amounts so that it's much easier for some of the excess that you get in a bottle to find its way onto the black market.
And without a doubt enhanced the opioid crisis that we are in and I mean just as This is the first time I think, you know in modern history that the lifespan of white men is going down in our society. And this is one of the two major factors behind that and if you think we're immune just ask our first responders what they spend a lot of time responding to It is something that we're a part of and that we have costs from.
And it will take resources for us to improve the situation, and I think that this part of the drug epidemic is something we should do something about in this action. I also think provides a measure of justice and accountability so that people don't know or know that they cannot act with this kind of impunity to create this amount of human misery without anyone noticing.
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Okay, anybody else? I'll just say that I actually agree with both I think what Mr. Caldwell also said is if that was on the list, that would be the last thing he would do, if at all. It is one of the boxes that I feel compelled to check and in a court of law we will find out if there was deceptive marketing like it's being claimed and if it's not then the other side will prevail but With the facts that we know you have to hold somebody accountable supervisor, Adam.
The only thing I'm going to say is it's been well known for hundreds of years that its addictive and I think everybody understands its addictive and if a doctor doesn't understand its addictive before they give a prescription or The potential for somebody to get addicted while they are prescribing, then that's an irresponsible doctor. And these things are like all drugs, they have a place in medical treatment from time to time and Probably should be something that you get to use sparingly and maybe people have gotten a little too comfortable with it but You know, I think to put it on the on the drug companies. You know, I think I voted for this or moving forward Or no we didn't vote on this. Okay Good
Supervisors the closed session report was a 4-1 vote Director County Council to proceed in litigation with supervisor Adam as a no.
Okay, there you go All right. Yeah, so my initial Feeling on all these kind of things is I don't like them very well and I think there's other things we can be used using our time for in County Council to To be higher productivity but I understand people's frustration with this and The desire to to Be trying to do something rather than nothing I get that and I respect that but I don't know what the real I don' hold out a lot of hope that there's a real Solution lying underneath. There someplace that kind of council's office is gonna dig out so There we go, okay Do we have a motion on
a 8? So moved.
Second.
It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay, passes 4-1. I think it needed a fourth or fifth vote correct okay all right is there anything else on the A agenda from board members of the public we move to public comment oh so we need a motion on the balance of the agenda.
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Correct thank you
So moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Mr. Allen.
Just one housekeeping item, can we get a motion please to approve the minutes of December 11th?
So moved. Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? None. Minutes pass. Oh Greg will, Mr. Supervisor. He read them. Yeah. Alright he's going to abstain. You've been forced
Now if he said I watched the tape and it corresponds to it and voted for I would be really impressed with that
All right, that moves us to our public comment period we have any public speakers
chair Lavinia members of the board We have one request from Ed Kowalski. Mr. Kowalski. I
First of all, I want to say that I appreciated Doss Williams being chairman. Very good sir For the benefit of Mr. Hart, this is a model of our house and we wanted to put second stories on you see it's over the dining room kitchen laundry room and the garage The board downstairs ruled that it was over the garage and Alex Peugeot kicked us out We for the members never even saw the drawing Alex Peugeot really needs to be removed This has been going on for far far too long I call my thing the kill, Alex Pujo's method. And this is in response to stuff below I have.
My blood pressure had been over 200 for a while and over 185 for close to a year. It's amazing that I'm still alive. My mother died from high blood pressure stroke. So once Alex reads the edict, that is once he decides they're going to decide. You cannot ask any questions and so we have a lady down there an old lady she's She's been trying to figure out for the last year or so what does Alex Pujo want. Basically, I believe it's a little money under the table at least by all appearances many of which put the other this is 15 items which they basically do illegal functions downstairs but let me tell you about this little lady because You know people can't withstand this I had a very hard time. I had 2 of my friends pass away.
Basically because I didn't Members here the supervisors get involved downstairs. What is going on because obviously at least 3 of you have no clue as to what is going on downstairs. It would be a little more humane for this lady. The three of you go down there, one kick her in the shins, one push her down and the third one run off with her purse. And if she doesn't let go of her purse have Alex kick her in the face and step on her fingers.
It would be a little more humane. You would know where you stand not this tit-for-tat common Show your project again. Oh no, you can't show your project? Get out of here in our case! Kicked out in 15 seconds. Is this the way that our government works? It's so despicable. I've been here for five years starting this January. Not here but I started my project five years ago.
Thank you. Please do something, have him removed I don't care who you put in there get a person off the street to run the board of architectural review thank you.
Thank you that ends our public comment period and moves us to our departmental agenda item number one
Chair Lavinino, members of the board. Item one is from the County Executive Office. It's a hearing to consider recommendations regarding the Board of Supervisors' 2019 appointments to boards, commissions and committees. And the board has been provided with in attachment one and also in an addendum to the agenda, the list of available boards, commissioning committee positions. I did want to highlight the one that was added on the addendum that was recommendation Y, the funders collaborative. Of home for good the 2 regular member appointments from the board that was formally see 3 H this is the new entity there.
And also if I could just highlight to others the retirement board position of that was a formerly held by supervisor Wolf that was a 3 year term that for her would have ended in 12 of 2019, this will be a new 3 year term on the retirement where they would end and December 31st of 2021 and then on LAFCO There's a vacant regular position on LAFCO, which was occupied by Supervisor Wolf and that position would expire on March 1st Of this year 2019 in the event that another board member or supervisor Hartman moved into that position that we would need to appoint an alternate and that position expires in 3-1-22 if And we would come back to the board based on a request from the Lafayette executive director in March to extend that term of office for that position.
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OK, I think probably the easiest way to do this is let's just go. Committee by committee and figure out somebody raise your hand if you're on it and Mr Allen, you can maybe tell us who's on it now and see if they want to keep that. If somebody else would like to take
OK, then. Right?
I was just going off of what's on the agenda so we'll start with like Behavioral Wellness Commission you wanted right? Let's let Mr Allen get organized first so we can make sure where we got this ironed out at the
end. So that was that's two regular members and behavioral wellness commission and that it's 101 or sorry one regular member. That's Supervisor Williams.
So It meets every other month on Wednesday for, in theory two hours. Sometimes a little bit longer, sometimes a little bit shorter. I have learned a lot on it. I can definitely continue in the capacity unless there is somebody who's passionate to learn the labyrinth of funding streams and tasks that behavior allows. You may have a taker.
Well, I would love to learn more about that. That's something that I'm interested in but if you want to continue, I'm happy to defer to you too and I could just attend as an alternate whatever.
I'm okay with you being part of it. Can I ask a question? Sure. What's the mechanism on the PUF governing board? We'll get to that one.
Okay. All right. So number 2, Area Agency on Aging. That's one
regular member and that's currently Supervisor Labanino.
Well that meets in my office so it's probably if anybody else wants to attend that one that would be great but I'm okay with it. Seeing no takers, I have it still? Okay. Library Advisory Committee.
That is currently Supervisor Williams
I love serving in that capacity. We're in the midst of a subcommittee work on some of the long-term issues, and I would love to continue. Seems like a
very noncontroversial committee? Well, that's the way it seems, right? Yeah, that one is an easy duty. All right, Supervisor Williams you get that one. The Retirement Board of the Santa Barbara County Employees' Retirement System. Supervisor Hart?
I would like to nominate Chair Lavinino for that.
Well, thank you. I would like to take that one if everybody's agreeable. Thank you. I'll take that. CAC, Community Action Commission in Santa Barbara County.
I believe that was the one position that had been held by Supervisor Wolf and also Chair Lavinino.
Yes, I have. I have. I believe I'm the regular member and I believe she's the alternate.
Correct?
Are you the alternate? Okay. Would you like to become the regular member? Okay, you'd be happy to be the alternate? I see silence. I hear silence. I will...I can take it. That's fine. CAC is still not All right, let's go to SenCal Health. Oh I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'll be the regular member of CAC and Supervisor Hartman will be the alternate. SenCal Health. SenCal Health.
I would like to continue.
Supervisor Hartman there. Good old beacon two regular members one alternate member.
I have been serving on Beacon as a member of the City Council and would happily continue as a member of the Board of Supervisors if that's agreeable.
Who is the two regular members?
Supervisor Williams, Supervisor Wolf were the regular members and Supervisor Hartman was the alternate.
So how do you want to play
that? I'd love to continue though Supervisor Hartman's district has Coast as well but it It meets in Carpinteria, I've been on the
committee. Sold! I'll be the alternate.
Twisted her arm so it's Supervisor Hart, Supervisor Williams as the two regular members, Supervisor Hartman as the alternate. The Law Library Board of Trustees. I am the chair so I'm the ex officio member apparently unless you would like to take it?
I would love to continue if you don't mind.
I do not mind.
Alright.
Perfect. Supervisor Hartman. Law library attorney at large.
This, this is a position that we decided to put on the appointments list. This has been held by Michael Cooney for awhile now and had been sort of at the pleasure of the ex-officio board member who had been on there so if we just want to continue with Michael Cooney we can just...that's up to the Board.
I would strongly recommend
that. I would as well. Done. Mr. Cooney thank you Kids Network is there can we assign these to anybody that's not here. All right kids network policy. Yeah, you
know that
now that's an idea yeah. Kids Network Policy Council two members
this was currently supervisor Hartman and Supervisor Adam.
And I would like to continue.
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OK it's a done deal legislative program committee two regular members I believe that's Supervisor Williams and myself. I'm open to a replacement on that, if anybody is interested?
I would love to do it.
Would you? Okay. I'd love to continue just the good use of my skills. So we'll go Supervisor Williams, Supervisor Hartman. Oops, that's a ledge. Okay, advisory committee, one regular member, one alternate.
That was a regular member with... No, no, I just
wanted
to give
you, you know, It is possible for something that Italian-Americans don't like to get out of the committee.
We will kill it later, don't worry. Death advisory, one regular member, one alternate I think is supervisor. I'm the,
yeah, I'd like to keep doing that.
Okay, so Adam and I think I'm the alternate but I don't think you've ever missed a meeting right? That's when you really like... I had to appear telephonically once. I'll stay at the alternate then as long as you're not planning on going anywhere. Okay, Adult and Aging Network one chair and one co-chair.
I'm the co-chair would like to continue.
Who's the chair?
Supervisor Williams.
And I'm happy to continue though very open to someone else doing a tour of duty. See Supervisor
Hart is kind of cruising through here. I know,
man.
Aren't you the blue guy? Don't you need a couple committees? We're loaded up on page two here. Exactly. All right. The Juvenile Justice Coordination Council, two regular members. There's a North County and a South County position. I'm not sure if they...
Supervisor Wolf was the South County member.
And I'm the North. You
must have been in the North. And Supervisor Adam was the North County.
And would like to serve that position. Okay. Perfect.
Stays in the second district, first five. I believe that's Supervisor Williams? Isn't
it? I'm the alternate. Joan is
the... And regretfully but because he has two girls under 5, I think I should yield and so we'll switch roles.
That sounds great to me.
Good.
The Multi-Jurisdictional Solid Waste Task Force. So exciting.
This is Supervisor Williams as a regular member and...
It hasn't met but it's a role that I've played since the... You got no credit for that one. Since, I think almost the turn of the century because I served on it with the city before doing that. So I'd
love to continue. Okay, it takes us to the Indian Gaming Local Community Benefit Committee which is another one that I think kind of, I used to serve on that and there's no money involved in it so meaning that there was no money to hand out yes who's on that? I
have been we've only had one meeting yeah and it was dispensed maybe the last
bit. Supervisor Williams, Supervisor Hartman again on a ghost committee okay NACO. One regular member, one alternate member. I'm the regular member. I would like to stay there. I would love being the alternate. Okay? I don't know who is the alternate. Was it Supervisor Wolfe? Yes it was. All right CSAC California State Association of Counties It's been Supervisor Williams?
Yeah, that's currently me and I serve as the chair of the Health and Human Services for CSAC now. Though if there's an alternate that wants to come up with me together up to Sacramento, that's also a good thing too. I think Mr. Adam has been our alternate.
I was in ledge, NACO and CSAC so that's a lot of traveling. So yeah, I would just as soon give up the alternate position there. I mean not that...I think I still go to CSAC anyway. You want it? Okay Adam. Supervisor Adam. The Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act Board. That would be me but it is up for bids. Man, it gets quiet.
All
right default now when I go back to that meeting hopefully this wasn't broadcast at that point actually I love it just giving somebody else the opportunity to learn more about WEA all right so Local Area Formation Commission LAFCO. And I'd love to move into her old slot.
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And I just want to throw my hat in for the alternate, because there's obviously a lot of discussions about special districts and community services district or city head in Montecito right now. And there's a lot of conversations about annexations in Padaro and the Carp Sanitary District.
Well, and I will tell you that out of all these meetings that I go to, the alternates in LAFCO Are more connected than in any other alternate all the alternates attend all the meetings. And you know if we get to a situation where there's a vote I've done this before, a vote that's in your district. I will step down as the active member and let you come up as the alternate and I will leave the building so that you can be If you want to be the alternate, that's cool.
Great, thank you.
Are we all good with that? So it'll be myself and Supervisor Hartman as the regular members and Supervisor Williams is the alternate. Community Corrections Partnership, CCP Board, one regular member which was Supervisor Wolfe.
Correct. I'd like to continue in Supervisor Wolfe's stead.
Great. Supervisor Hart. Psychiatric Health Facility Governing Board. I'm the regular member. This is an active, active committee that meets regularly and there's one alternate member that was Supervisor Wolfe. I'd love to be the alternate. Okay. That meets in Santa Barbara well actually in Goleta so you would be very welcome to attend the meetings as an alternate as well. So that one is very informative.
And that takes us to the Child Care Planning Council. One regular member Which who was that? Item X. This doesn't say much for the Child Care Planning Council. We should know. Who are.
Yeah, I'm not seeing it
OK. Well, it was in the agenda. It was listed as item X child care planning council. I guess we can. We'll leave it as the member that is currently serving or how do you want to handle that? Mr. Gazzone?
Well, the board's not facing any deadline on this. You could say member currently serving asks staff to research and come back if there's a change required.
Sounds good. Supervisor Adam? Well, the only thing I'm going to say is if nobody knows what it does maybe it doesn't do anything. Or maybe Supervisor Wolf had it. Ghost committees or something.
Actually, I'll volunteer for that. Research that way? Yes, I'll let you know what it does and...
Good.
So Mr. Allen you had mentioned something about the funders collaborative and I don't know if we decided we were going to talk about that here or at this point
Well, this was formally C3H and it was determined that there would be opportunity here for two regular members to be appointed by the board.
Supervisors as you know C3h disbanded and so the collaborative has stepped up in its place they don't have a formalized bylaws yet or formally structured I know some of you and your staff attend but just so that we're clear not violating the Brown Act rules we're recommending that you appoint two people to attend to represent the county
I believe Supervisor Williams and I have been attending those meetings. But there might be some desire on the 4th District to take this one? I would volunteer for that if
you're not interested
in it. No, I'm interested in it. I think we should have on this one actually we should probably have a North County and South County presence because we're talking about housing in both different areas and there's a lot of activity in Santa Maria on it but I thought... So, I got it. Supervisor Williams. Myself and supervisor Williams were already working on this one.
So I think that takes care of all of those do we have to need a motion to move forward with all the appointments to item 1? Yes, Supervisor Hart.
We haven't put this in place yet but I am going to just on my own initiative attend the Fire Safe Council meetings before SB CAG and if possible work so that that does become something that a supervisor would be part of but so I just want to get that on people's radar.
And I'm planning to attend that meeting as well next week.
All right, Supervisor Williams. We're good? OK.
And Supervisor Lavagnino, just to clarify the comment by Supervisor Hart and Supervisor Hurtman, I'm reading that as an announcement not a board action. And I say that only to avoid any formal action by the board that would make their discussions Brown Act discussions.
Perfect. So can I get a motion to move forward with the appointments as read for item 1 of our D agenda? So moved. Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay, passes unanimously. And I think that moves us to closed session. Mr. Gazzone?
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Chair and supervisors, today in closed session the board is agendized for three matters. The first is a litigation appeal concerning Santa Barbara County Mental Health Services, an appeal to the State of California Department of Healthcare Services for fiscal year ending 2009. Next matter is the board sitting as the Flood Control Water Conservation District one case of anticipated litigation. And then followed by public employee appointment for fire chief.
The two litigation items should be very short and then CEO could discuss her, just the expected duration of the fire chief interview so we'll know when to resume here. Is that about an hour and a half?
All right sounds good. And don't run off, we're doing a little photo after this. Sounds good.
So I think the wrap on that was estimated closed session time is about two hours.
Music The The Good morning, everyone. You. Yeah. You. Thank you. you Music you Music you Yeah. Yeah. Music playing. Yeah. Yeah. Hello. Hello.
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Music playing Music Music The . . . You. Good morning. Yeah. Hi.
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you. Hi. You. Music you Yeah. ♪ Music playing Hi. you Hello. Hello everyone.
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There we go, all right. We're going to come back from closed session. Mr. Gazzone do you have a report?
Chair and supervisors today in closed session the board considered three matters. The first was concerning Santa Barbara County Mental Health Service with an appeal to the State Department of Healthcare Services. The second was sitting as the Board of Directors at the Flood Control and Water Conservation District anticipated litigation. And the third was a public employee appointment concerning Fire Chief The only reportable action concerns the first matter, which is the appeal to the State of California Department of Health Care Services. In that matter, the Board of Supervisors directed county council not to further appeal the results of the fiscal year 08-09 audit by Department of Healthcare Services now that the county has obtained additional payments from the state in this matter of about $1.3 million.
That was a unanimous vote and that's the only reportable action.
Okay, very good. Thank you At this point we will adjourn this meeting and we will adjourn to Tuesday January 15 2019 and that will be in Santa Maria I