Board of Supervisors — 2019-09-10

Hello, everyone. Music playing Hello. You. Good

morning everybody. I'd like to welcome you to this meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for September 10th. Madam Clerk, can I get a roll call please?

Mr. Williams? Here. Mr. Hart? Here Ms. Hartman? Here Mr. Adam? Here Mr. Lavagnino?

Can I get a motion to approve last meeting's minutes?

So moved, Mr. Chair.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right at this time I'd like to pass it over to Supervisor Hart with some comments about the

conception. Thank you, Chair Lavinino. Sadly our community has experienced another tragedy. The victims of the Conception Boat Fire came from across the country and like so many Santa Barbarans were united by their passion for the ocean and adventure. Once again we come together to honor and mourn the victims of a tragedy in our community. For those who are struggling with this event or have loved ones who are struggling, the Community Wellness Team Is a collaboration of many local agencies working together to support the wellness of our community that was founded in the response to the Thomas fire and the one nine debris flow.

If you are in need of assistance, the Community Wellness Team can be reached at 805-364-2750. That's 364-2570. Before we take a moment of silence, I thought that a quote that Father John Hedges used at Friday's vigil by Isaac Denison is appropriate to restate today. The cure for anything is salt water, sweat, tears or the sea. Thank

you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Supervisor Hart. Okay with that we will go to our CEO's report. Ms. Misato?

Good morning, Chair Lavagnino and board members. Along those lines we have a report to you today on not only the conception disaster emergency that we had last week but also a couple of others. So I'd like to bring up right now our Sheriff Bill Brown and Fire Chief Mark Hartwig to give you an update on the conception dive boat incident. After they are done, I'd like Chief Hartwig to give you a quick update as to the McMurray fire which occurred yesterday.

In the third district and then followed by Kelly Hubbard our director of Office of Emergency Management will give you a quick update on the electricity de energization or the PSP that was from Friday to Sunday Sheriff Brown

Thank you Ms. Miyasato and good morning supervisors, I'm going to give you a briefing on the overall summary of the overall conception incident. I'd like to just preface it by once again saying to those family members who will be watching this we understand that there's information here that is very difficult and very painful for them and our hearts ache for them We understand that and we want to just let them know that they're still in our thoughts and that we're here for them, doing all we can do for them. The dive boat Conception operated by Truth Aquatics out of the Santa Barbara Harbor was chartered by a company called Finstead's Worldwide Diving Adventures for three day dive trip to the Channel Islands over the Labor Day weekend It left the port of Santa Barbara on Saturday, August 31st and it was scheduled to return on the evening of Monday, September 2nd.

On Monday, September 2nd at approximately 314 a.m., the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles Long Beach heard a mayday call From the conception, which was fully engulfed a 75 foot commercial fishing diving vessel. Crews from the US Coast Guard, the US Department of Fish and Wildlife, Ventura County Fire and Vessel Assist responded as well as ultimately a fire boat from the Harbor Patrol in Santa Barbara.

The Coast Guard launched two 45-foot response boats, a Dolphine MH65 and an MH60 Jayhawk helicopter, and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Narwhal. The vessel was located in Platts Harbor on the north side of Santa Cruz Island, and at the time rescue crews got on scene they determined that it was fully engulfed in flames. The crews actively fought the fire and got it out somewhere at about 523 AM.

It flashed up again several times, and ultimately the vessel sank at approximately 720 AM. Total of 39 people were reportedly on the vessel at the time of the incident. Five of those victims all crew members We're ultimately rescued from the water during the initial response by a good Samaritan boat, The Great Escape that was in the Platts Harbor nearby. The conception, the vessel itself was built in 1981. The design of the vessel is what's considered to be called a T-boat. 75 feet in length it had a bunk capacity of 46 with 13 double bunks and 20 single bunks all located As you can see on that schematic on the right, on the lower deck of the vessel along with the shower room and toilets.

The center deck or the deck level deck had the galley what they called a parlor deck that was enclosed with doors and then the dive deck at the back of the vessel. And the top deck had the wheelhouse and the cruise quarters and a sun deck. A particular note is that the main stairs and the escape hatch into the galley were on that second deck. The stairs adjacent to the galley and the hatch that came up out back into the parlor deck.

The image here in terms of the site of the fire is such that one on the right depicts the path that the vessel took from its departure. It had bounced around Santa Cruz Island making several dives during their trip and ended up at position number five, the site of the fire. The image on the left is depicting the conception as it was identified by its vessel tracking system The initial response was primarily out of Ventura County. The Coast Guard assets are located there and Ventura Fire assisted with the initial response as I indicated, the Harbor Patrol in Santa Barbara was notified and they launched their fire boat as well.

It's important to remember that this is at some distance from both harbors. The Ventura Harbor is about 26 miles and the Santa Barbara Harbor is about 22 miles to the location of the incident, and the Santa Barbara fire boat was launched at 0351 hours. Ultimately It was determined that this incident occurred in Santa Barbara jurisdiction, and ultimately our EOC was activated. And we and the sheriff's office took initial command of the incident since this was our jurisdiction and had the potential for a large coroner's response.

We have still several of our management team members who are on the local IMT3, Incident Management Team 3 which is assuming management responsibility for the incident. We initially directed them to once the operation shifted from a search and rescue to a search and recovery operation And our investigators were also embedded with federal and state investigators who are also looking into this incident.

Our dive team responded with many others during the initial days in the aftermath of the event for initially search and rescue, and then search and recovery efforts to locate any of the passengers who were lost. We have been heavily involved in directing the search and recovery efforts for the missing passengers. And as we speak, we have an operation underway today and will be heavily engaged in the next three days to that effort. Simultaneously there'll be a salvage operation that barring any inclement weather will be under way tomorrow and Thursday possibly as well.

The coroner's duties have involved identifying and determining the cause and manner of death of the victims, 34 victims who are presumed to have died in the fire. The preliminary indications from our coroner's office and from our pathologist are that all of the victims who we have recovered 33 victims who we have recovered all died of smoke inhalation and that they had died prior to being burned by the fire.

There has been as you can imagine an extensive public information effort underway this is captured International as well as national and local news on this incident. I'm sure you've heard at this point is qualifying as the worst disaster in terms of loss of human life in the recorded history of our county, and it is a significant event obviously in modern times in terms of a maritime disaster in California.

The efforts are continuing to identify and release remains of all 34 victims, most importantly to recover the 34th victim who remains missing. As I indicated we are intending to put divers in the water today to resume that search which has been suspended over the weekend and up through today because of weather issues. The montage only represents a few of the 34 victims but.

Underscores how devastating this incident has been to the families of those who are lost and to our community as well. The victims represented here in this montage are representative of all of the people who were missing and presumed lost. 21 of them are female, 13 of them were male. They range in age from 16 to 62. Many of them were from the Northern California area, the Bay Area, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, Los Altos, Stockton.

But there were others from Southern California, from Oxnard, from Santa Monica, from Goleta. There were also several that were from Phoenix, Arizona and Stamford, Connecticut. The nationalities and the family members are impacted from across the globe and we've reached out to people across our country as well as in China, Japan, India and Singapore. We are in the final stages of doing the DNA analysis. We have been waiting for some of the last samples to get to us for comparative purposes, but we expect that over the next few days we will be able to complete the analysis of the victims.

This list is, I'm not going to read all of these agencies but I just want to give you an idea of the tremendous mutual aid response that has occurred here. And this is something that really should make all of us proud to live in California where we have the finest mutual aid system in the world and we have been blessed with a cavalcade of law enforcement fire Other public safety agencies, dive teams, boating units, air support units as well as our own local assets in terms of behavioral wellness. In terms of our emergency operations center, in terms of all the other support that we have here within the county family as well. It really is truly a team effort and as I said during the debris flow it really is a team of teams that comes together at times like these two to help us manage.

We also have a lot of community support out there as well, everyone from organizations like the Red Cross and Hospice of Santa Barbara, Salvation Army, our chaplains groups, just a host of local organizations that have also answered the call to come and help us and help the victims and the victim's families as we go through this terrible event but That is really about all I can give you at this point. As I say, I hope to have some updated news this week in terms of the last victim and the diligent search for that person is continuing now and we're doing everything we can do to try to recover the remains of that person.

Thank you Sheriff. Before we go to the Fire Chief, if anybody had any questions of the sheriff or comments All right, sure. I just wanted to, before we move on to the fire chief, just thank all of our, the county team that was, you know, I watched the press conferences. I thought there's a balancing act that needs to be done in a time like this of disseminating the information needs to be done and still being very respectful to the families at your office did an outstanding job.

I don't want to miss anybody. But the DA's office, the fire department, CEO's office, our PIO, behavioral wellness all came together as a team. Public health and I think unfortunately we're getting better at responding to these tragedies and would just hope that this is the last one but I thought you did an outstanding job in the whole team so thank you very much.

Well thank you, Chair Lavagnino. And I can just let you know that I'm immensely proud not only of the members of my organization but of this entire county team that came together and as you say we have had more than our share of these terrible tragedies during the last few years but on every occasion including this one our people have really risen to that and Just incredibly professional and they make me very proud as well. Thank you. Thank you very much All right, Chief Hartwig

latest

good morning chair if I could just add just a couple quick things to Sheriff Brown's presentation on the on the conception incident Immediately after being notified of the incident, I was able to contact the Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen. And to tag on to what the sheriff had alluded to, the relationship we have between our partners here in this county and our neighbors is exceptional.

Nobody sits around and wonders whose area it is, they just start immediately and respond. And that's what happened here. The Ventura County Fire Department launched two of their fire boats out of Ventura County, of course a long travel time to the scene. Once the fire department realized that they didn't need any more resources on scene we effectively mobilized our incident management team, a team that's been used across the country.

And really supported the incident. And then as the sheriff and his team, and his cooperators search for loved ones to be reunited ultimately with their families. We really shifted our focus to cause in origin of the incident. And as first responders I can let you know that we're not used to not being able to save and preserve life. That was probably the most frustrating part for us and I think I can speak for the sheriff in his team as well.

But after we realized that it was going to turn into an effort to reunite families with their loved ones, we are committed in the fire department to investigate and find the cause of an origin of any fire within the county And we're working closely with, and I must tell you the resources that have been brought to bear by both the ATF and the NTSB. Not just financial but technical resources, I think will go a long way to finding out more about what happened in those last moments on this dive boat.

I do have to give a shout out to OEM. I think we pride ourselves on being all risk in the fire department and the sheriff's department, but I will tell you that the EOC is filled with people who do other jobs during the day in the county and they kind of take one hat off and put the other hat on and they show up put a vest on and they support the incident and the way that it was supported The county's efforts was nothing short of remarkable and impressive as well.

If I could, as we move to the fire yesterday it seems as if we don't get much of a break when we're ready to respond but men and women yesterday were notified Along the 101, we have investigators on scene right now but appears to have been started off of the 101 in multiple spots between Buellton or McMurray Road all the way up almost to the highway 154. So it was between the 246 and the 154 off of Highway 101.

It was all on the east side, immediately put up quite a bit of smoke. And by the evening had laid down quite a bit. We had about 600 firefighters on scene at peak and this morning I wanted to give you the very latest I asked for before I got up here but This morning it is holding at 200 acres, 30% containment. We still have 200 firefighters on scene. We've released most of the help that we received. We'll have 50 again on tonight to continue to cut line and mop up and reinforce what they've already established.

Again, a strong thanks to the cooperators evacuation. Some evacuations were undertaken by the sheriff and the fire department and then all our cooperators all the way from San Luis Obispo all the way down to Ventura County. And it's actually we got a hand crew from LA county so It's great to yell for help and be able to have your neighbors say what do you need? And it's on its way. So thank you again board and I'm available for any questions.

Thank you. I know Supervisor Hartman was busy yesterday.

Evacuating horses, dogs and cats. Thank you that the response all the planes and people it was quick and it was very effective and we're all very grateful.

Great thank you very much. Ciel Miasato anything further to add?

No, but we're a vast OM director Hubbard to come and give you an update on Friday through Saturday through Sundays Energy D energization which is PSPS. But I also want to also let you know this is Director Hubbard's third week here and I was in it now I was in the EEOC last night for the fire and Assistant CEO Pontus has been standing by her side the whole time and helping direct efforts there but it was first time the OEM staff said that they had actually three things happening at one time. We had the conception, we had the PSPS and then yesterday McMurray Fire so three different events all within that team so I just want to say thank you to our OEM team and to applaud our new director.

And as chair, I knew if I put a list out I was going to forget somebody and I forgot our newest addition. So welcome to Santa Barbara County this is how things happen here so. Thank

you Chair and supervisors. So first I want to speak to the fire yesterday just for a moment PG&E did lose about 20,000 customers yesterday. Our understanding is related to the fire. This was not a proactive public safety power shutdown so just so you are aware it was related to the fire and was not a proactive event and my understanding is that they have all if not most of the customers back up. I think they were having trouble with a few circuits last night but I think everyone's back up and running.

To the PSPS event that we did have with Southern California Edison, just wanted to give you kind of a little timeline overview. Edison did notify us 72 hours out per regulation and their protocols. That was on September 3rd and that was for the Mist and Kachuma circuits is what they call them. So starting on the third, we did start to coordinate with Edison. Those circuits did continue to change throughout the week as wind and weather conditions changed and they were very cooperative coordinating with us the entire time.

Starting that day, we also started coordination with National Weather Service, our department heads, executive leadership here in the county, as well as our OA partners so our cities and jurisdictions that were within that potential shutoff area or closely related to it so they may have impacts. Edison and then following OEM sent a notification to the public on September 4th, which again follows regulation and protocol of trying to meet that 48-hour window prior to shutdown.

Some of those circuits were actually notified more in advance than required but because they were so close we didn't want confusion And as a group, we decided to notify all at the same time. Actual shutdown started on September 7th. I believe that was Saturday. As I mentioned my days are running together a little bit. We did get notification just prior to that shut down from Edison. We allowed Edison to push that notification and then OEM followed up with additional notification to the public.

Due to that, we started OA conference calls. Leadership in the county as well as county family, as well as our OA partners. We did one Saturday night as well as Sunday morning. Opportunity for agencies to check in what are your concerns, impacts, problems? Addressed a few considerations, traffic considerations with our streets, CHP, Caltrans. Considerations of water at some of our parks that may not have water that's dependent more on power. Some continuation of general services, making sure that our generators and our fuel planning was working the way we had planned and intended. And so that's what those OA conference calls were. Additionally, SCE did deploy what they call a community outreach vehicle. And sometimes you might see it an acronym COV.

And so these are modified vehicles that they have. They have water snacks charging on there. So charging for small devices like phones laptops but they also have some larger not sure quite I haven't seen what they are but larger charging generation for maybe equipment like a powered wheelchair that type of thing. They deployed that late Saturday night I think it was out till about midnight at Gersh Park in the city of Goleta, and that was coordinated with the city. And then it came back out on Sunday for majority of the day early morning through early afternoon when the power did come back on We asked us SCE for some count on anyone who came and visited them So we get an idea of how well the community utilized that resource, so we'll know in the future But they're getting back to us on that Power was turned back on To various circuits throughout the afternoon evening on Sunday September 8th and all customers were restored that day great coordination with our leadership here within the county our OA partners and Supervisor Hartman.

Thank you. This is a new era for us with these power shutoffs and this was kind of our first one as I understand it, it was in my district. I had a lot of people very concerned about this, concerns about noticing and different notice from the county and from SCE And a lot of concern going forward, particularly about cooling centers and how we're gonna deal with people. So your report sounds very positive and I'm glad to hear that there's good communication but I think this is a very serious issue that's gonna require a lot of ongoing attention and we haven't got it solved and I don't wanna pretend that we have because there's a lot to do on this front.

Sure, so Chair Lavinino and Supervisor Hartman if I can just point out that OEM staff we are going back looking at our draft PSPS planning. We're talking with Department of Public Health who has a lead role as it relates to our more critical care patients in the community. Looking at our notification, talking to SCE about their protocols, procedures. Looking to see what we can continue to improve upon. I know we got some calls about the notifications Why did some customers get them? Why did others not we're working with SCE because that's both on a CE side as well as our side So we'll continue to take those in and rework and refine our processes as we move forward

Thank you, and if I just might add I think the county is doing a terrific job But I think the utilities really have to step up a lot more

Okay supervisor Williams So if you could, either now or later it would be useful to understand in what hours they were able to inspect the line and how quickly after the wind event dissipated. Were they able to repower? Because I think this is sort of Really relevant, particularly if a larger shut off is anticipated. And then maybe your analysis or whether that time frame is radically altered by a number of more people being affected by future shut off.

The accessibility of the lines very much also determines how quickly they can do inspections and therefore repower. But I just wanted to get some kind of idea in a similar event with say three times or four times as many people, are we talking about three or four times as long to repower? We're talking about twice as long.

And Mrs. Hubbard, before you answer Mr. Gazzone would like to weigh in just a second here.

Chair and Supervisor, so I think in the CEO report you're receiving a series of brief reports one of which was expressly agendized the passenger vessel conception and the others I just recommend that they be kept as brief reports or agendize for more in-depth report in the future. Okay go ahead.

Chair Lavignino and Supervisor Williams. So one, we will go back and look at that information so you know as CE anytime a power utility does do a proactive shutdown they are required to file a report with the California PUC within 10 days. That report should have details as to their steps, their justification, customers what were the factors involved for both turning off as well as turning back on that power So we will be monitoring and can provide that information back.

Supervisor Hartman?

Just a quickie, we did have a presentation about these power shutdowns at I think it was our last meeting and now we are actually experiencing it. I think you're coming back in whether three to six months but so we're asking questions now for when you come back. I just wanted to say that one of the issues that I heard a lot about was how difficult it was to interpret the utilities maps And for people to know whether they were in or out of the area. So I hope that gets communicated back loud and clear.

Thank you. Okay, thank you very much for those updates on reports. Is there anything else in the CEO report?

Nothing else, Chair.

Okay, I've got a chair report just for a second. It is very nice to see back in our midst in his holding his post down Is the returning chief of staff for Supervisor Hart Chris Henson is back. So thank you for being here and welcome back in the Henson corner right on. All right so do we have any addendums or changes. Madam Clerk.

Chair Lavinino members of the board. We posted an addendum on Friday amending the posted agenda for today's meeting. We amended closed session as seen posted and available online as well as in the back of the room We also added administrative items A33 and A34. Administrative item A33 is from the County Executive Office, it is to consider recommendations regarding an update in local proclamation ratification for the passenger vessel conception incident.

Administrative item 34 is sponsored by Supervisor Williams, this is to adopt a resolution of accommodation honoring Patrick Murphy as the September 2019 Veteran of the Month in Santa Barbara County. We also had a request from the department to continue departmental item number four to October 1st, 2019. This is from Public Works General Services. It is the hearing to consider recommendations regarding Fresno Point lane bridge replacement Resolution of necessity project at Romero Creek acquisition of temporary permanent easement in the first district. And lastly, we had a late request from the department to withdraw as administrative item 13 on today's agenda from community services This is to consider recommendations regarding the execution of a grant agreement between the County of Santa Barbara and the City of Santa Barbara for fiscal year 2019 And the only item that we need an early vote on would be administrative item a 34 before we read that into the record.

Okay supervisor Williams. Wouldn't we need a motion on all of them eventually yeah so why don't I'll just move continue and some of item for the addition of items 33 and a 33 and a 34 and the continuance of the of the Agreement between community services in the city of Santa Barbara a 13 813

Mr. Gazzani, mr. Chair just when the board comes to the item D for the departmental item concerning Fresnel point I just recommend receiving any public comment on that before acting

very good Seconded by Supervisor Hart. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, those all passed unanimously so let's go to our honorary resolutions. Can I get a motion to approve items A1, 2, 3 and 34 please?

So moved.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Those passed unanimously.

Chair Lavinino, members of the board. Administrative item number one is sponsored by Supervisor Williams and Supervisor Hart. This is to adopt a resolution proclaiming the month of September 2018 as Suicide Prevention Month in Santa Barbara County. And if I can have Gina Carvalho and Sharon Byrne to the podium please? Whereas this resolution recognizes suicide as a national and statewide public mental health problem, and suicide prevention as a national state-wide responsibility. And designates the month of September as National Suicide Prevention Month in Santa Barbara County. This month overlaps World Suicide Prevention Day, September 10th recognized internationally and supported by the World Health Organization. And whereas in California one person dies by suicide every two hours with 47,173 In 2017, 4,302 Twelve residents of California died by suicide, and several thousands friends and family members were changed forever by losing those people.

And whereas the Board of Supervisors who are dedicated to reducing the frequency of suicide attempts and deaths and the pain for those affected by suicide deaths through research projects, educational programs, intervention services, and bereavement services urges that all Californians One, recognize suicide as a significant public health problem in California and declare suicide prevention as statewide priority. Two, support the development of accessible behavioral health services for all regions of our country implementing national best practices in reducing suicide risk for people of all ages and backgrounds. Three, acknowledge that no single suicide prevention effort will be sufficient or appropriate for all populations or communities.

And four, encourage initiatives based on the goals and activities contained in the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. Zero suicide of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention and the way forward by the Action Alliance Suicide Attempt Survivor Task Force is hereby ordered to resolve that this Board of Supervisors recognizes the month of September as Suicide Prevention Month in Santa Barbara County passed and adopted today.

Many thanks to. The Board of Supervisors for your ongoing support and recognition of this public health issue that's affected so many of our community lives. Today is World Suicide Prevention Day, and there are many activities locally happening but also around the world to deal with this issue that we all... And I stand here with a team. We are all part of a team that's responding and that's been dealing with this issue over many years.

We are not alone. As the sheriff so eloquently put, we all come together and we have over so many years as part of the community wellness team and all of us have been addressing this issue in the schools and in our communities. And I thank you for this recognition and I'm honored to be part of this community that steps up all the time. All the time. So thank you and Suzanne will announce some of the events that are happening over this week.

A bit of a somber note to talk about suicide awareness on top of our other incidents, but on the other hand I'm glad that we are because it's something that should never be forgotten. So a couple of things that are coming up this month if you'd like to go out and support Suicide Awareness Month and Worldwide Suicide Prevention Day. Tonight in Carpinteria there will be a candlelight vigil. It takes place on Linden Drive at the Seal Fountain at 7 o'clock On September 13th, Transitions Mental Health Association is having a suicide prevention mental health forum taking place at the Pacific Conservatory Theater on College Drive. There will be a resource fair from 5 till 6 and then the forum will take place from 6 until 8 PM.

And then a very special opportunity, encourage all to consider joining on September 16th at Santa Barbara City College. Kevin Hines will be joining and speaking at 630. Kevin Hines is the survivor of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge and if you've never heard him speak he's very powerful. And again thank you so much for your recognition this month.

On behalf of the Behavioral Wellness Commission of Santa Barbara County, thank you very much for the recognition of how serious a problem this is. What it means to our community and how we can best respond to it. We really appreciate it and want to thank you for that.

Thank you Sharon. Supervisor Hart?

Thank you. I've been hearing a lot recently about teens and especially girls in social media and the role that that plays in increasing rates of suicide in that population in particular, and I just wanted to call that out because that is really alarming.

Let's move to item A2 please.

Chair Lavinino, members of the board. Administrative item number two is sponsored by Supervisor Hartman. It is to adopt a resolution proclaiming the month of September 2018 as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month in Santa Barbara County and if I can have Dr. Evando Reynoso, Kristen Hughes, Adrienne Starr and Kelly Berrigan to the podium please? And anyone else you'd like to join with you?

Whereas nutrition and physical activity are the foundation to a lifetime of good health. In America, the percentage of children affected by obesity has more than tripled since the 1970s. And whereas childhood obesity is a major public health problem that can lead to lifelong physical and mental health issues. Children with obesity are at a higher risk for having other chronic health conditions and disease. Children with obesity can be bullied, teased, and are more likely to suffer from social isolation, depression, and lower self-esteem. And whereas in 2018, Santa Barbara County had 40.3% of fifth graders were identified as overweight or obese while 23.8% of children age four and women infants and children WIC program were identified as obese.

And whereas the built environment our children live in become compounded by social and individual factors like gender, age, race, ethnicity, education and socioeconomic status that influence a child's ability to eat a healthy diet, stay physically active and achieve or maintain a healthy weight And whereas the Public Health Department is committed to providing children with healthy futures and provide a number of programs working together to overcome inequities leading to childhood obesity, including the CalFresh Healthy Living, the Women Infants and Children WIC Nutrition Program, the Maternal Child and Adolescent Health Program, the Children's Medical Services Program, and the Federal Qualified Health Centers. Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors Does hereby proclaim the month of September as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month in Santa Barbara County.

Pass and adopt it today.

Good morning chair, members of the board. As you know across our country childhood obesity is a serious problem and it is a problem here in our community putting children and adolescents at risk for poor health. The obesity epidemic in our country in our community is a complex problem with no single or simple solution to reverse the obesity epidemic we're taking a multifaceted approach by building partnerships with policy makers Community organizations, business, community leaders, schools, child care providers. Healthcare professionals and individuals to create an environment that supports healthy eating and active living. An example of that multifaceted approach I'd like to introduce you to my team. Adrian Stark who is a nutrition supervisor in Lompoc.

Kelly Berrigan, our MCAH Director and Dr. Kristen Hughes, our provider at Franklin Health Center.

Good morning Board of Supervisors. My name is Dr. Kristen Hughes and I'm a pediatrician at the Franklin and Carpinteria Health Care Centers. Thank you for addressing this very important issue of childhood obesity, and for proclaiming September as Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. The National Institute of Health characterizes childhood obesity as an epidemic on a steady increase and states that obesity from unhealthy eating and inactivity has rapidly become the social norm in many communities across America.

Childhood obesity affects our youth, In not only physical health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, fatty liver disease, bone and joint problems and obstructive sleep apnea but also psychological conditions such as depression and lower self-esteem issues. These conditions not only affect their childhood but many individuals carry them also into adulthood.

I used to think it was a simple math equation calories in calories out. But in my experience every day, I hear how my family struggle to choose healthy options. Find it hard to exercise regularly and worry about the effects of obesity on their children. And now, I've come to appreciate more just how complex the issue can be. One particular case comes to mind of a very bright teenage girl who was really trying hard to make healthy changes. Her mom was with her at the appointment, and we were discussing barriers to her goals of eating more vegetables and exercising daily.

When I asked her mom if she could help her out by having less junk food in the home and more vegetables readily available, she shared with me that she doesn't live with her mom anymore because they ran out of room in their car where her father and brother also live. As it turns out, she'd been couch surfing with relatives for months. Working hard after school just to provide for her own basic needs and shopping at a local liquor store late at night for dinner. Her father had recently had a brain aneurysm that left him gravely disabled and her elderly mom was now looking for work again after years of child rearing.

Tremendous stress, lack of resources in limited parental support are all real factors for her and many of our patients seeking to improve their health. Childhood obesity is multifactorial in its cause and takes many approaches from the entire community to change the social norm towards healthy eating and active living. Some ways that we can help to reduce childhood obesity are by designing cities that encourage walking and other physical activities, increasing access and affordability to fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious foods, and increasing self-knowledge and efficacy for making necessary behavioral changes.

Excess weight is gained slowly over time, and thus reducing and even preventing childhood obesity epidemic is going to be a slow and long term process. However as we bring more attention to the issues that what each of us can do to change the social norm towards healthy eating and active living, we truly can turn back the tide on childhood obesity. Thank you for your time.

Hi, on behalf of the Public Health Department's WIC program and Nutrition Services Program I want to thank you for addressing this issue. Every day we work hard to help families learn how to change their behaviors and adopt healthy habits. And every day we see kids coming in with pre-diabetes and fatty liver disease So it's a real issue and we're gonna need a team to address it. So, thank you

Thank you All right supervisor Oh, okay Supervisor Williams

Well, I just wanted to be real a little parochial and give special thanks to director do Reynoso and Dr. Hughes And all of their colleagues down at the Carpinteria Clinic for your I mean, they see thousands of patients in teeny little clinic and they do great work for the community of Carpinteria. So wanted to thank you on their behalf.