Board of Supervisors — 2019-05-14

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All right, good morning everybody. I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for May 14th. Madam Clerk can I get a roll call please?

Mr. Williams? Is Mr. Williams in Santa Barbara?

He's there.

Mr. Hart? I'm here. Ms. Hartman?

Here.

Mr. Adam? I am here. Mr. Lavinino?

Can I get a motion to approve the minutes of the May 7th meeting?

So moved.

Second.

Moved and seconded, all those in favor? Aye. We got to do a roll call.

Mr. Williams. Sorry

about that Mr Chair.

That's okay. Aye.

Mr Hart? Yes. Ms Hartman?

Aye.

Mr Adam? Here. Chair Lavinino?

Aye Do we happen to have a CEO's report today? No report. Okay that takes us to Our resolutions to be presented, can I get a motion to approve our resolutions A1 through A3? So moved. Oh, A1 through A2. Okay.

So moved.

Moved. And seconded. Roll call please.

Mr. Williams? Aye. Mr Williams?

Aye.

Mr Hart? Aye Ms Hartman?

Aye

Mr Adam? Aye Chair Lavenino?

Aye Okay, that takes us to A1. Madam Clerk can you read that into the record please?

Chair Lavinino and members of the board, administrative item number one is sponsored by Supervisor Lavinino it is to adopt a resolution proclaiming the month of May 2019 as Transitions Mental Health Association Month in Santa Barbara County and if I can have Jill Bolster-White, the Executive Director to the podium and anyone who would like to join you this morning.

Thank you Whereas 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of Transitions Mental Health Association, TMHA providing mental health services on the Central Coast. And whereas TMHA is dedicated to eliminating stigma and promoting recovery and wellness for people with mental illness through work housing community and family support services And whereas TMHA provides services to over 4,000 individuals and family members in the region annually. And whereas TMHA has successfully operated programs like Growing Grounds Farm of Santa Maria, the Recovery Learning Communities of Lompoc in Santa Maria, Santa Maria Supported Community Services, Lompok Act, Partners of Hope, Supported Employment, The High School Program and Continuous Outreach Education on Mental Health all of which have a positive impact on our North Santa Barbara communities.

And whereas, TMHA continues to guide the conversation around issues of mental health and the acceptance of mental illness as a treatable condition. Now therefore be it resolved that the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim the month of May 2018 as not only National Mental Health Month but Transitions Mental Health Association Month in honor of 40 years of service to the Central Coast region passed and adopted today.

Thank you very much. I'm Jill Bolster-White, I'm the Executive Director of Transitions Mental Health Association and I've actually been part of the organization for 29 of those 40 years if you can believe it. I was very young when I started but I thank Chair Lavagnino and the board for this recognition. It is really exciting to celebrate mental health awareness month May is mental health awareness month as was mentioned and we've been really delighted to be partners with Santa Barbara County For many, many of those years. As I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago Dr. McMillan was the one who reached out to me to talk about initiating services here in North County. So for 40 years Transitions Mental Health Association has been working to help people with mental health diagnoses Work towards recovery in various ways.

And we also add value by working closely with Hancock College, we've done outreach and education to high school students locally. We have a project that teaches folks who have mental illness to advocate for themselves in the healthcare setting. And we also have another grant project that works with people who are primarily Spanish speaking, who have a mental health diagnosis and who are interested in working in the healthcare field. So we're really delighted to be close partners with the county but also add value through foundation and philanthropic efforts to do this very, very important work. I thank you for the recognition.

Thank you very much. All right that takes us to item A2.

Yes, Chair Lavinino and members of the board. Administrative item number two is sponsored by Supervisor Lavinino. It is to adopt a resolution of accommodation honoring Eric Pinedo-Tovar as the 2019 California Coastal Area Council Youth of the Year. And is Eric Pinedo-Tovar in the audience today? I believe he might have gotten

it. Okay, well he does not get the special attendance award.

But I can go ahead and read it.

Let's read it into the record.

Whereas Eric is a junior at Pioneer Valley High School where he has been an active participant in Keystone Club, a team group dedicated to leadership skill building and community service. And whereas Eric has completed over 500 hours of community service and is passionate about helping others especially younger club members who often look to him for advice and inspiration. And whereas Eric inspires his peers through leadership by example excelling at academics while living a healthy lifestyle. And whereas Eric will go on to contend for the State of California Youth of the Year title And a 5,000 college scholarship from Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors joins the community in honoring Eric Pinedo-Tovar as the 72nd Youth of the Year awarded by Boys and Girls Club Coastal Area Council passed and adopted today.

Well, I'm sure Eric is at school where he should be and doing very well. So we wish him the best, especially a $5,000 scholarship would be very nice. Okay that takes us to the balance of the A agenda. Do members of the board have any items that they wish to pull? No, are there any? Supervisor Williams? None to pull Mr Chair. Okay do you, are there any items from the public?

Chair Lavinino, members of the board I have one request to speak on item A8.

Okay let's read that into the record

Chair Lavinino, members of the board. Administrative item number eight is from General Services Public Works Board of Directors Flood Control and Water Conservation District. It is to consider recommendations regarding the acquisition of 640 Randall Road by the Santa Barbara County Flood Control and Water Conservation District for flood control purposes APN 7120-036. And this is in the first district.

Good

morning.

And we have Andy Caldwell as our public comment this morning.

Thank you, Chairman Lavinino, members of the board, Andy Caldwell representing Colab. I don't know if you knew or board members have noticed that I haven't criticized the Public Works Department for flood control in probably 25 years because they always have a reason for what they're doing. So I'm not here to criticize this action but to call your attention since otherwise it would not have been read I can't recall the Flood Control District ever having to spend $4 million to buy one acre that has a house on it for flood control purposes.

And, and I don't know why the property is still worth 4 million. Now, I know a vacant lot in Montecito can go for over a million but I don'y know why the house is still worth that much over and above the lot value when in fact I don''t think it's inhabitable right now. I also don't know how many more properties they may have to buy like this and how much money will be left when we're all said and done. And so, I think this is concerning in terms of spending $4 million for one acre and then the question is what happens to the house?

And I thought that was worthy of your discussion, not because I'm second guessing them. But because like I said you're going to run out of money sooner rather than later if you're doing that just for land acquisition. Thank you.

Thank you very much. All right we will- Happy

to answer some of that if

flood control

isn't sitting there.

They are here. Mr. Farram, would you care to respond? This was something we did have quite a bit of discussion on.

Mr. Chair and members of the board, well on a couple of points first the overall Randa Road project involves hopefully ultimately eight parcels this is the only one with a house on it and just as a side note I mentioned to Mr. Caldwell before I did get a call from a neighbor who, if we ended up buying this and would otherwise remove the home. We have to buy the house with the structure because that's where the basin has to go. But there's possibility that there might be interest for someone actually come in and go pick up the home and move it off to another property. And so that would be ideal if we could do that. That's not a done deal but we would certainly explore those options.

And the house is intact.

House is intact,

yes. And according to the flood maps, it's actually

inhabitable? It's habitable but it is in a high hazard zone.

Correct. Okay, Supervisor Adam.

And this is all out of South Coast Flood Zone money? Mr Chair, Supervisor Adam that's correct.

Yeah okay thank you All right, very good. Seeing no other questions on the- Supervisor Williams go ahead. Mr

Chair I just add that I think it's important to note that even though our general services folks do due diligence and this was considered below market value not above.

Okay, seeing no other lights on. Can I get a motion to move the balance of the administrative agenda? So

moved.

Moved and seconded. Roll call please.

Mr. Williams?

Aye.

Mr Hart? Aye. Ms Hartman? Aye Mr Adam? Aye Chair Lavenino?

Aye

Motion passes. All

right very good that takes us to our public comment. How many requests to speak do we have?

Chair Lavinino and members of the board, we have four requests to speak on general public comment today. We are staying in Santa Maria with Elizabeth Schneider to be followed by Verana Savidra.

Good morning, your board. My name is Beth Schneider and I live in Santa Maria. I'm here today to show my support for the more than 2,000 IHSS providers who serve Santa Barbara County's most vulnerable elderly disabled and sick women and men. Through the hard work of the IHSS providers there are multiple benefits to fully funding this program. Recipients receive high quality care The local economy is stimulated with an influx of revenue generated by our AHSS caregivers' local spending, and the burdens and financial pressures on first responders, doctors, hospitals, and other emergency services are reduced.

As a retired County Social Services Director in San Luis Obispo, IHSS has a cost-effective program that allows eligible Californians to receive high quality care in their own homes As compared to more costly institutional settings, IHSS allows recipients to live their best qualified dignified life without being forced into a more expensive alternative for your board in Santa Barbara County. To refresh your memories, Santa Barbara County benefits greatly from investing in IHSSS Research verifies that every dollar invested in IHSS by the county, $5.26 are matched by the state and federal governments over time that equates to a 425% return on investment.

The United Domestic Workers, UDW members and their clients rely on the In-Home Supportive Services Program. Today your constituents will share some of their unique experiences with IHS and how you, their elected representatives can positively impact recipients' lives. These UDWA providers, your constituents deserve a living wage in benefits. Please invest in the IHSS program for greater savings in the future. Thank

you.

Our next speaker is Viviana Saavedra to be followed by Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt.

Good morning board, it's such a pleasure to be here again my name is Viviana Saavedra and I'm also here in behalf of my union. I am a very proud member of UDW number 3930 if you've never been to our offices they're located on the corner of Cook and Miller right here in Santa Maria And I'm here with some of my fellow co-workers because bargaining, we're in bargaining now. We're not here to talk about specifics but I am here to talk about two things. One is I enjoy bargaining periods which other people may not.

We need to highlight the importance of this IHSS program and the caregivers who provide the care for the very indigent, the very poor, those who are disabled. And unfortunately, those of us who are contracting that terrible disease of old age. And there are more and more of us. I'm a baby boomer, and there are many more out there people who are getting to the age where we need extra help around the house in order to stay in our homes. Now, I am a caregiver that means I'm front line worker.

I always like to mention that this is legitimate work. Yeah, we do things at a low level that people consider to be grunt work. I clean toilets as do many of my caregivers all right? We clean toilets why do we do that because the home for the person we care for needs to be tidy and clean. Now, take the other end of it. I also discuss saturation levels with my daughter's doctor, with her lung specialist, with those people who provide a higher level of care for my daughter but we're in the whole picture here as frontline workers. We really need to make sure one that program stays healthy and It's not going away, it's going to be here for decades to come. And secondly that we remember in home caregivers need to be treated with respect. One of the ways we do that is we give them a pay raise All right, $12.10 an hour and we just got that extra 10 cents this year is not enough to live on.

Many of us left good paying jobs to take care of our folks. And that also means that we need to contribute to the economy in some way. We need to have more pay. That's the first thing. The second thing is benefits. Like every other worker, we need to have the benefits that give us a better quality of life. Vision for example, dental. I'm asking you and specifically to look at what we're bringing to the table. What are we asking for? It is not unreasonable for us, as a worker in the county, again remember, we save taxpayers four times the cost of putting them into a rest home or a convalescent home. We save a lot of money for the county and the state. So it's important to look at the investment you're making. You're getting a lot back for the work that we provide.

Again, as frontline workers we need to make sure that we are bringing qualified people into the business. We can't do that without a pay raise. We can't do that without benefits. When I'm across the county line and I'm doing a presentation, I'm always jealous because in San Luis they have vision benefits provided by the county. So we should be doing the same if not more. Thank you.

Our next speaker is LaWanda Leones Pruitt to be followed by Andy Caldwell who is our final speaker.

Good morning. It's been a few years since I've been here. My name is LaWanda Lyons Pruitt, I represent the Santa Maria Lompoc branch of NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. I am also a retired county employee. And I'm happy to say that I was employed for Santa Barbara County for over 37 years, having worked for five years with the Department of Social Services.

And then 32 plus years with Santa Barbara County Public Defender's Office where I retired as the Chief Investigator. And one reason that I stayed for so long? I enjoyed my job. Another reason I stayed is because every year when I got my evaluation, I knew that you all were going to reward me with a cost of living for my hard work. And you showed me that you valued me and that you appreciated me by giving me that cost of living increase and I thank you.

We know the caregiver's hard work and recipients they're allowed to stay in their home care while they're in their home. We know that things are continuing to increase. I just got a cola, but all of it is probably going to be going to the cable bill if I don't fight it. Rents in this area are averaging between $1,800 and $2,000 a month. Home care workers cannot sustain on $12.10 an hour. You need to show that you appreciate them, the cost of living increase and also by granting them dental and vision benefits. Thank you so much for your time and it's good to see everyone today. Thank you.

And our final speaker is Andy Caldwell.

Chairman Lavinino, members of the board, Andy Caldwell representing CoLab. I want to talk with you a little bit about the proposed Lompoc Wind Energy Plant. The project includes constructing 30 wind turbines 492 feet tall with a span of 450 feet across which is larger than a 747. It will impact 3,000 acres of farm ground. They will need to move nearly 1 million cubic feet of dirt.

They will have to take out over 600 oak trees and it'll generate 16,000 construction trips and require upwards of 400 tons of steel per tower. And this is what we call green energy. There's something worse than all that, and I've been doing shows on this for 10 or 15 years. Wind turbines even if a bat doesn't fly into them the vibrations kill bats. And one bat can consume between 500 and 1,000 mosquitoes in one hour or 6,000 per night.

Wind turbines kill one million bats per year in the United States alone which represents literally tens of billions of mosquitoes that are going to get reprieve in life. Plus hundreds of thousands of birds, including endangered species. And I really, I'm bringing this up, we're not against wind power per se but it's got some serious drawbacks. Including the cradle to grave impacts and what it takes to mine in ore, make the steel, fabricate the stuff, erect it and then the toll on the ecology once they're erected.

And the other thing, they have to be spaced. It takes 3,000 acres because they have to be spaced or they interfere with one another and usually in windy areas where they operate that's also places where birds fly through that area because of the updrafts. And I've always felt for a long time now that you look at oil and gas or nuclear, they don't get a fair shake or comparison compared to oil and gas in terms of footprint ecological impacts and the like. But this thing with bats and things like Zika virus and things like that, I keep wondering if we are going to unleash an epidemiological crisis of biblical proportions by wiping out the number one mosquito predator known to man.

And I think we need to take a serious look at whether or not we should keep calling this green energy. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other requests to speak?

And that was our final speaker.

All right, well we will close the public comment period. We thank everybody for being here today that spoke and we will move right into our departmental agenda. Item number one please.

Chair Lavinino and members of the board, departmental item number one is from community services. It is a hearing to consider recommendations regarding county employee commuter benefits options.

Yes. So what you want to do is take the next left. Greg's already here, he knows how to get to the county building. This is part of the commuter benefit, we're going to allow GPS. Good morning Mr. Chaplain.

Good morning members of the board it's nice to be here I'd like to introduce Ashley Watkins and Sean These two are from the Sustainability Division and they've done a lot of work on the Commuter Benefit Survey. They'll be doing a report with regards to the recommended actions we have here today, there is supportive enhancements that can be considered low-hanging fruit that we'd like you to consider. Maybe the board can give direction applicable to departments to pursue those and then however there are other longer term enhancements that would require HR human resources to conduct more research on costs and impacts on departments so With that, I'd like to turn this over to Ashley Watkins and Sean Burns.

You may remember that back in December 11th, 2018 Sustainability Division staff provided a progress update on the Energy and Climate Action Plan that showed that we are not on track to meet our 2020 GHG reduction goals. As a result, the board directed staff to return with actions that could be taken to demonstrate leadership in reducing transportation-related Electrification, transportation related GHG emissions which are the second largest driver of greenhouse gas emissions in our unincorporated area.

General services has returned and provided information on electrification of the county fleet. And this board briefing provides information on commuter benefits that can help reduce GHG emissions. The information and options for enhancements that are provided in this board briefing really reflect the work and feedback of A large group of entities, both the County Sustainability Committee, employee feedback through a countywide employee survey. Interviews with department supervisors and managers, input from county human resources. And then finally the assistance and input of the Santa Barbara County Association of Government's Traffic Solutions which helps local employers develop and implement commuter benefits programs.

So commuter benefits are an important tool that employers can use to incentivize commute options other than driving alone, such as taking public transportation, walking or biking, participating in a carpool. And they can also promote the use of less Less polluting vehicles like electric vehicles, or they can promote not commuting at all by offering telework or alternative work week schedules such as the very popular 980.

By reducing trips and the number of cars on the road, computer benefits cannot only reduce GHG emissions but they can also reduce forms of air pollution and roadway congestion. As an added benefit, commuter benefits can also increase employer attractiveness and job satisfaction. We heard recently that department directors have expressed that retention, succession planning is one of their number one needs for 2019 so this is particularly important.

And then finally, commuter benefits can also improve organizational resiliency Productivity during storms and other travel disruptions. When we did some department interviews with managers and supervisors, almost all of them expressed that having some employees who had access to remote capabilities helped work continue during the debris flow event and the Thomas fire.

So in spring 2018, the County Sustainability Committee partnered with Traffic Solutions to conduct a survey to try and better understand how employees are getting to work. What influences how employees commute? And what commuter benefits employees want? 926 employees responded which is roughly 24% of our workforce. Employees most frequently cited a desire for Increasing the existing transportation demand management vacation benefit and also scaling it.

Providing laptops for telework eligible employees, establishing flex hours to facilitate transit use and reduce time spent in traffic. As well as reduced cost transit passes and greater flexibility overall related to scheduling. What's sort of interesting is that these findings from the survey are really similar to a survey that was also conducted by the county and traffic solutions back in 2006, so employees are somewhat consistent with what they're sort of wanting in terms of commuter benefits.

So in the 2018 survey, you can see in this chart that employees who responded indicated that about 74% of them are currently driving alone to work with carpooling and taking the bus being the next most frequent modes of commute. It's interesting to note that the way employees come to work sort of changes based on their work location So for example, staff working in downtown Santa Barbara had the lowest drive alone rates at 56%, while staff who travel to Cal Real reported driving alone at rates of 73%. And then Santa Maria commuters' drive-alone rates were nearly 90%. Supervisor

Adam? Do you know where all these people live of the 73%?

The survey did ask for information about where they live, yes.

And where is

that? Actually I will get to another slide right after this that breaks out the actual commute.

Okay

So just a couple of other things that we kind of thought were interesting from the survey were that, you know, that the drive alone rates seem to indicate that factors such as access to parking, transit connectivity, safe walk or bike paths are really sort of influencing how people choose to come to work. So for example, in downtown Santa Barbara we think that the lack of access to parking and the expense related to parking combined with the fact that there's more transit opportunities is what results in that lower drive alone rate.

So also in 2018, the County Human Resources compiled the most frequent county homework locations. This chart uses that information and shows the number of southbound commuters and the distance they travel. So you can see the blue bar shows the number of people that travel a specific route. And then the red line shows the distance traveled in a one-way increment.

So the highest number of commuters traveling south are located in Santa Maria, Lompoc and Goleta. And if you look at Santa Maria and Lompoc alone, you've got nearly 600 employees who are traveling an average of 120 miles a day. Also something interesting that came out of the survey was that employees who have long distance commutes are more likely to use transit or carpool options, which sort of suggests that long distance commuters might be more motivated to try alternative modes of transportation such as taking the bus.

To reduce costs associated with fuel and also just reduce the stress of driving.

Supervisor Adam. Okay, so back to the last slide where we had the 73.7 or 74% of driver loans. Do you know where they live?

We do. So that pulls together all of the people that responded to the survey and we do have some information about zip codes that was collected via this survey.

Yeah because slide seven is not really responsive to that question.

We could certainly get you additional information that has the zip codes that were indicated in the survey.

Well, it won't be useful at that point. I mean, I think the point is we have a jobs housing imbalance that we all know about and the people that live up here tend to drive themselves. I think that's going to be a really high percentage of the 74% that's coming from Lompoc in Santa Maria and not so much from other places because there's so many people that are coming in from And it really points out that we should take every opportunity that we can.

Last one that we were talking about was dispatch to put stuff in the North County where the workforce is.

So yeah, I mean looking at the number of responses you can see There are a significant number of employees, I think we said something like 600 that are in Santa Maria or Lompoc alone that are traveling south. So that's a big chunk of our workforce. We've got about 3,900 staff members right now and that's with only 24 response so there's obviously more people that are living in North County that didn't potentially respond to the survey.

They say that, I'm not sure but the city government of Lompoc is taking position that 6,000 people leave Lompoc every day to go to work in South Coast. So that's a major fact that needs to be remedied at some point.

So the next slide shows northbound commuters and the distance that they travel. The highest number of commuters traveling northbound are located in Ventura County, traveling to Santa Barbara with approximately 300 employees traveling on average 72 miles round trip in a day. While the commute and mileage is shorter than the southbound commute, the Department of Transportation estimates that there's about 20,000 people coming in from Ventura to Santa Barbara County every day. Which results in these commuters having to face quite a bit of congestion during their commute.

So the county does currently offer a number of commuter benefits to incentivize commute options other than driving alone. But there's currently low participation in almost all of the benefits offered, so we have had a TDM vacation or transportation demand management vacation bonus in place that allows employees to earn up to two extra vacation days a year if they use a qualifying commute at least 80%.

of the days worked in a pay period. We also provide a $10 pre-tax contribution to those who use the bus fare and then the county will match with $10 whatever the employee puts aside in pre-tax contribution There's a free ride sharing program that we offer where a county employee who commutes with at least one other county employee can apply for a parking permit for either the Garden Street lot or the admin lot.

There's also two programs that offer guaranteed ride home for people who are using alternative commute modes and have an emergency. They have the option of getting a supervisor approval to use a motor pool vehicle, or SB CAG Traffic Solutions also has a free ride home program where they'll reimburse you for costs associated with a lift or a taxi. I'm utilizing alternative work weeks such as the 980 or 410 where you're working longer hours and then you get every Friday or every other Friday off.

We also have an existing policy for teleworking, which eliminates the need for trips to the worksite altogether. In general, I would say the low participation rates suggest that we need to better promote the benefits that we have now and consider some enhancements to make them a little bit more attractive as well. Potentially offer some new benefits. So commuter benefit, there's some different ways that we've categorized commuter benefits.

We can raise visibility of existing benefits, enhance existing benefits and then implement some new benefits. And then we provided some estimated budget impacts for what we thought some of these benefits would result in but those really need to sort of be cross-checked and HR needs to do some additional research on what those budget impacts will look like. So in terms of commuter benefits, we would suggest based on the feedback that we received from the employee commuter benefits that there's some low-hanging fruit things that we could consider just consolidating information on a single internet and public facing internet page. Right now that information is sort of spread out across different different department websites and so it's sort of hard for people to be able to access that information.

Also just updating and streamlining some of the forms, integrating commuter benefits into new employee orientation materials. Right now HR has moved forward with having a monthly HR orientation That could be a great venue for us to really promote some of these benefits. And then finally, just offering an annual commuter benefit fair in coordination with the regular benefits fairs that we have.

Employees also expressed a strong desire for enhanced IT support for remote work so Having departments consider defaulting to laptops upon replacement of tower computers would be a way to help promote that further. And then also another supportive enhancement is reporting and monitoring, just sort of trying to raise the visibility of benefits by continuing to do an annual survey like the one that was done in 2018.

Bringing attention to commuter benefits by providing updates to the board. We also spoke with general services about the potential to assign dedicated van pool or carpool spots at all county facilities That seems like it would be a relatively low cost item to implement. As I mentioned, employees also were interested in increasing the pre-tax contribution benefit.

The existing benefit of $10 just doesn't seem to be enough Actually change their commute mode. We would also suggest expanding eligibility to include train and van pool, those aren't included right now it's specific to bus. Traffic Solutions also offers a subsidized vanpool program. They will actually pay for the first year of a vanpool as long as the employer agrees to a modest subsidy for the second year. I think any costs associated with that could be rolled into that pre-tax contribution if it is expanded to vanpool and does get increased.

In terms of the amount that employees match. Providing zero emission vehicle purchasing benefits to employees. General services, as you know has been directed to purchase additional electric vehicles for the fleet and so we've spoken with them about expanding that purchasing to include having a discount for employees who might be interested in electric vehicles as well.

Several departments and divisions are working together to retrofit the engineering courtyard. And they're going to be putting in a water-wise garden, and they have the option to add in some additional bike parking and bike maintenance facilities to replace the existing one that's there now. As I said from the survey, one of the things that employees are also interested in is the TDM vacation bonus and sort of changing that a bit. The survey showed that people were cited this as one of the big ways that the county could incentivize alternative commute options and so some of the suggestions Again, to expand eligibility to include train and zero emission vehicles because those aren't included right now.

And to also replace the 80% participation rate with a sliding scale. So a lot of employees expressed that they would like to try some different alternate forms of transportation and that this could encourage them to do it but they were hesitant to commit to the 80%, emergencies or child care issues, so having a sliding scale where they don't have to commit to a full 80% could help increase some participation.

Also increasing the vacation bonus from two days to three days could help drive some additional participation. Creating hoteling workstations at county and our partner organizations is also something that has some potential given how many people we have that are driving from locations like Ventura or from Santa Maria into Santa Barbara. There's been previous HR reports where they've looked into the potential of maybe utilizing shared workspace with Ventura County, and there did seem from that previous 2006 survey At least 13% of the employee population that would be amenable to working from a remote site at least one day a week. Overall, just expansion of alternative workweek schedules and teleworking. So when we did department interviews, teleworking is definitely something that departments have some concerns with.

related to maintaining confidential information. Concerns about productivity and ergonomics. We do have a pretty comprehensive existing board adopted teleworking policy, but it does need some tweaks that hasn't been updated since 2011 so it could probably use another round of legal review to make sure that it complies with any sort of new regulations. We could also, there's been some examples from the city where they've implemented 980 work weeks.

They close their offices every other Friday and overall they've reported that customers actually like the longer service hours and that they've been able to sort of mitigate any negative feedback with pretty aggressive campaign for, pretty aggressive campaign to just sort of make people aware of the changes. So overall, that completes our briefing on employee commuter benefits. Recommended actions are to receive and file this briefing and provide input as appropriate.

As George mentioned there may be some low-hanging fruit that the board feels comfortable with directing staff and applicable departments with pursuing but other more comprehensive measures probably need to have the HR director Return with their specific recommended actions so that there's some time to do some additional research on costs and confer with the affected departments. And then finally, the final recommended action is to determine that these actions are exempt from CEQA.