Board of Supervisors — 2019-10-01

Good morning. I'd like to call this meeting of the County Board of Supervisors to order for October 1st. All right, all right like to call this meeting of the Board of Supervisors to order for October 1st can I get a roll call please?

Ms. Hartman? Here Mr. Adam? Here. Mr. Williams? Here. Mr Harte? Here Chair Lavagnino?

Can I get a motion to approve the meeting minutes from our last meeting?

So moved.

Moved and seconded, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Pass unanimously. Madam Clerk do we have any changes additions to our agenda for today?

Yes Chair Lavanino members of the board I do have one announcement to make this morning we received a memo yesterday from the department regarding departmental item number one from public works and general services this is a hearing to consider recommendations regarding for an all point lane bridge replacement resolution of necessity project at Romero Creek acquisition of temporary permanent easement and this is in the first district and we received a continuation request to move this item to our October 15th hearing.

All right will there be any Mr. Gazzone, do I have to ask for a public comment on? Okay any public comment on D1 just on the continuance matter?

Chair Lavinino, members of the board, I did not receive any requests to speak on this item. Okay

then can I get a motion to continue D1?

Move that we continue. Do we need to specify

a date? Chair Lavinino, members of the board yes they request to move this to October 15th.

October 15 great. Second. Motion and second all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Do we have a CEO's report today?

We do, good morning Chair Lavagnino and board members. As you know, one of the board's priorities has been working to reduce the number of those with mental illness in our jail and to address them through our justice system. So I'm pleased to announce that the county's Sheriff's Office and Behavioral Wellness have been awarded a grant of more than $2 million to staff and support two law enforcement mental health co-response teams, of which one will be in the North County. The funded staff positions include crisis intervention trained sheriff deputies and clinicians from behavioral wellness. The funding is from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, known as Byrne JAG.

And it's been allocated through the Board of State and Community Corrections. Dr. Cheryl Lynn Lee who manages the Sheriff's Behavioral Sciences Unit will oversee the grant in its operations. And generally, as you know, co-response teams involve a sworn officer who has partnered with a mental health or substance abuse professional and may include mobile crisis intervention teams, outreach and support teams. So it's great that we've gotten this. We'll be having more co-response teams in the field and we'd like to recognize the city of Goleta who helped provide grant writing assistance. A team of staff and community partners will work together on implementation data tracking analysis and outcomes and as it progresses we'll provide updates to the board.

Great news, very good. Okay we have Supervisor Hartman with a few comments.

At our August 27th board meeting we celebrated World War II veteran and D-Day paratrooper Bindo Grasso of Guadalupe for his extraordinary service. Last week I was saddened to hear that we lost former Staff Sergeant Grasto to undetected liver cancer. Staff Sergeant Bindo Stasi Grasso was a member of the greatest generation who fought in the most significant war in human history. In not one but two of the most consequential battles in the annals of the American military, D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge.

Staff Sergeant Grasso was a very important part of our community and the pride of Guadalupe. It has been 75 years since D-Day and Bindo was the last surviving Pathfinder. On the day that we honored his service, we had a packed room of supporters who wanted to be here to honor him and share in the celebration of his 96th birthday. The outpouring of people eager to honor him is expected to reach record numbers at his funeral services. Services will be held Saturday October 5th at 930 AM at the Guadalupe American Legion and there will be a flag line for family and friends with full military honors.

Bindo was a humble, unassuming man who didn't seek out the recognition. But I wanted to take the time to acknowledge him once again and express gratitude that we were able to honor him and his efforts because they were nothing short of remarkable. Let's observe a moment of silence to reflect on the life and service of World War II paratrooper and Staff Sergeant Bindo Grassl A member of the greatest generation and consider the debt we owe to that generation.

Thank you.

Thank you very much Supervisor Hartman All right, that takes us to our honorary resolutions. Can I get a motion to accept items A1 through A5? Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Pass unanimously. Let's move on to A1.

Chair Lavinino and members of the board, administrative item number one is sponsored by Supervisor Williams. It is to adopt a resolution proclaiming the week of October 6th 2019 through October 12th 2019 as National 4-H Week in Santa Barbara County. And if I can have Ron Vieira, Carolina Barajas Rodriguez and any members of the Carpentry 4-H Club to the podium.

And I'll go ahead and read the resolution. Whereas 4-H is America's largest youth development organization having supported almost 6 million youth across the country thus far. And whereas, 4-h has helped 790 club enrolled youth in Santa Barbara County to become confident, independent, resilient and compassionate leaders. In addition, 4 H has provided 12,643 hands on research based curriculum opportunities for youth in Santa Barbara County. And whereas, 4 h is delivered by Cooperative Extension a community of more than 100 public universities across the nation That provides experiences where young people learn by doing hands-on projects in areas including health, science, agriculture and civic engagement. And whereas California 4H is delivered by University of California Cooperative Extension the research and outreach arm of the University of California's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

And whereas National 4H Week showcases the incredible experiences that 4H offers young people and highlights the remarkable 4H youth in Santa Barbara County who work each day to make a positive impact on those around them. And whereas 4-H network of 600,000 volunteers and 3,500 professionals provides caring and supportive mentoring to all 4-Her's helping them to grow into true leaders entrepreneurs and visionaries Now therefore, I, Supervisor Doss Williams, do hereby proclaim October 6th through 12th 2019 as National 4-H Week throughout Santa Barbara County and encourage all of our citizens to recognize 4-h for the significant impact it has made and continues to make by empowering youth with the skills they need to lead for a lifetime passed and adopted today.

Hi, my name is Emma Bishop. I'm one of the three Santa Barbara County Ambassadors and a member of Lucky Clover 4-H in Los Olivos. I am also a junior at San Ynez Valley High School. I've been in 4-h for eight years. I show goats and poultry but I also participate in non animal related projects such as sewing, leadership and public speaking. 4-H is important to me because it has taught me a great work ethic and a large sense of responsibility. With this proclamation at 4-h, I hope that our members can spread the word about 4- h and help bring more youth into this wonderful organization. I hope that more adults like yourselves can learn about the value of 4- H and continue your generous support of this important youth development program. Thank you Supervisor Williams and thank you for all of you today.

Good morning, Supervisors. Think for a moment of one important influence in your life as a kid. Maybe it was a parent or a coach or it might have been a class or an experience that helped shape your character or your future. For me, that's been 4-H. Hi! I'm Olivia Berman. I am a senior in high school and this is my ninth year in 4-h where I am Santa Barbara County Ambassador and President of the Lucky Clover 4- H Club.

Now think again for a moment about 4-H. Do you think only about animals and agriculture? If so, that's actually what most people think what 4-h is about. 4- H is an important program for growing American farmers but it is so much more than that in 4- h I have discovered my passion for public speaking and want to study communications in college so I can be a positive voice for the ag industry in America I may have never found my spark without the training I received in the public speaking program that 4-H provides.

As America's largest youth development program with more than 6 million members, 4-h offers learning opportunities such as robotics and rocketry and sponsors a nationwide STEM program. Thank you for supporting this very important program in Santa Barbara, and I encourage you to become a 4-H volunteer where you can lead a civics project on local government. Thank you again.

Chair Lavinino, members of the board. Administrative item number two is sponsored by Supervisor Williams. It is to adopt a resolution proclaiming the week of September 29th 2019 through October 5th 2019 as American Institute of Architects AIA Architecture Appreciation Week in Santa Barbara County and if I can have Michael Holliday and any members from the AIA Santa Barbara chapter to the podium please?

I'll go ahead and read the resolution. Whereas more than 100 licensed members of the American Institute of Architects, AIA practice in the Santa Barbara area where they serve the public interest through their concern for and understanding of sustainable design practices. Energy conservation, accessibility for people with disabilities, urban planning, historic preservation and sensitivity to the relationship between nature and the built environments.

And whereas, architectural foundation volunteers guide public tours of the history and architecture of Santa Barbara. Provide children the opportunity to sketch local architecture with Kids Draw Architecture. Work with teachers to establish a built environment education program, BEEP, in Santa Barbara's public schools and provide scholarships to county students. And whereas, Santa Barbara's architects have worked diligently to preserve the architectural heritage of our community through service on local architectural review boards various public outreach and education efforts, and service projects. And whereas the AIA Santa Barbara Chapter has produced Architect Tours, an annual inspirational and educational tour of noteworthy residential and public projects focused on high-quality design and showcasing application of sustainable and green building practices.

Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors designates the week of September 29th through October 5th as AIA Architectural Appreciation Week in Santa Barbara County, and commends the American Institute of Architects and the Architectural Foundation for over 160 years of preserving and enhancing the architectural heritage of Santa Barbara County passed and adopted today.

Thank you Mr. Chair and members of the board, we're very honored for this designation thank you very much. This is our biggest celebration ever in the history of AIASB for architect tours. We've also got a city proclamation for architecture appreciation week so it's very special. This Saturday we have architect tours, we have nine projects that are selected from Goleta to Montecito If any of you would like to come, we can get you the bro deal. So let me know but it's going to be very exciting everything from direct relief one of the largest newest commercial institutional projects to custom residences here so thank you very much there was a powerful quote by Winston Churchill that said we shape our buildings Thereafter, they shape us. And I can't think of anything more powerful than for us here in Santa Barbara with the architecture that's around this community to reflect upon that and to celebrate that.

So thank you very much for all you do to acknowledge this. Thank you for being here.

Thank you.

Chair Lavinino, members of the board. Administrative item number three is sponsored by Supervisor Hart. It is to adopt a resolution honoring the Crisis Intervention Team of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office and the Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness for a successful first year of service. And if I can have Dr. Sherri-Lynn Lee and Dr. Alice Gledcorn and anyone else who'd like to join you to the podium?

Go ahead and read the resolution. Whereas since September 14, 2018 the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office Behavioral Sciences Unit under the direction of Dr. Sherri Lynn Lee has deployed the Crisis Intervention Team a mental health co-response team staffed by a sheriff's deputy and a mobile crisis services clinician of the Department of Behavioral Wellness. And whereas the Crisis Intervention Team serves our community by responding to calls involving people experiencing mental health crisis and by proactively building relationships with people living with mental illness in our community.

And whereas since the launch of the program, the Crisis Intervention Team has worked more than 130 shifts, responded to more than 350 calls and conducted more than 370 proactive engagements. And whereas the Crisis Intervention Team has used diversion efforts to prevent criminal justice system involvement in more than 70 situations that would have otherwise resulted in arrests. And whereas the Crisis Intervention Team has helped de-escalate interactions between law enforcement officers and people with mental illness And whereas the Crisis Intervention Team has received the California State Association of Counties Merit Award and has received grant funding from the Department of Justice Burn Justice Assistance Grant Program, and the state of California's Prop 47 Grant Program.

Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors congratulates and commends the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office and Department of Behavioral Wellness on a successful first year of the Crisis Intervention Team passed and adopted today.

Thank you Chair Lavinino, members of the board for your support and recognition of this important work. My name is Dr. Cheryl Lynn Lee. I'm a first responder psychologist and I'm the behavioral sciences manager for the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office. Thank you to our sheriff Bill Brown and Dr. Gleghorn for your leadership and willingness to work diligently and collaboratively to execute missions such as co-response.

The numbers tell a story. It's these guys Bradley and James that are writing that story. It is my absolute pleasure and honor to work alongside these gentlemen as they care for some of our community's most vulnerable persons. What they see and what they do is extraordinary, from helping the kid in Isla Vista through his first psychotic break, to assisting elderly patients who are too afraid to sleep in their own bed, to keeping persons with mental illness and a propensity for violence away from firearms. This is the team that gets the job done.

I am grateful for the opportunity to support and guide them as they serve our community. Thank you.

Good morning. I'm Dr. Alice Glykorn, I'm the Director of Behavioral Wellness. A year ago we began a small experiment with a simple question. Would pairing an experienced mental health crisis professional with a law enforcement officer have a positive benefit for individuals in the midst of a crisis? For their families, for the community and for law enforcement itself.

While the team started with less than a full-time allocation of effort It soon showed benefit in all of these areas. Crisis situations deescalated, families proactively requested the co-response team during crisis events but also prior to a crisis developing in response to concerning signs with their loved ones or behaviors that raised questions from neighbors and other community members.

And law enforcement was also able to function more efficiently when the co-response team was available About half the team's time was spent responding to crisis as they happened and half in proactive visits. The data collected from this small experiment allowed us to apply for grants to expand the model, and we've successfully received, as you've heard this morning, two three-year grants that will provide three fulltime dedicated co-response teams to Santa Barbara County.

The Department of Behavioral Wellness has also launched a small pilot program With Santa Barbara City Police, which is focused on co-response with homeless. And we hope to expand this model to other police departments in the county as well. I want to appreciate the Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement partners' willingness to join us in developing these innovative approaches to reducing community harm and to the Board of Supervisors itself for early Encouragement of the stepping up initiative whose ultimate goal is to reduce the criminalization. Of those with mental illness in three years we hope to return to you with data that will support long term sustainable local funding of these efforts and we appreciate your support.

Well, I just asked Deputy McCarroll if he'd like to say anything and he deferred to me. But I will just say at the risk of sounding like a mutual admiration society, I want to thank behavioral wellness and particularly Dr. Glaghorn for her leadership The collaborative effort that has come together as a result of our two organizations looking at ways to do things differently, to get out of our silos and to deal with the common problem and common issue.

And as a result of that, and as a result of the incredible efforts of these two gentlemen right here who were the pilot, the first ones to trailblaze the way into doing business differently in how we deal with mentally ill people in the field. As a result of that, as you've heard, Receive these additional grants we're going to be expanding this program- as a result of it already we've seen a decrease in the number of people in our jail. We have seen- more appropriate treatment for people with mental illness. We have seen that through the follow up process people who are adhering to community based treatment which is really.

Always preferable to putting someone in jail typically that. The jail has been used as a last resort for Coming into contact again and again and again with people in public and creating disturbances or creating problems or issues that really can be, and we're proving are being better served by delivering services in the field and encouraging people. And these two guys have an incredible knack for just that to be able to encourage people to seek and obtain and benefit from treatment as a result of that there's a lot of hope In the community that there wasn't before, I'm incredibly excited about what's going to happen with our expansion of this wonderful program to the North County where it is also desperately needed. And I want to thank you, the board for taking the effort to fund Dr.

Lee's position in the last budget which has been instrumental in working to craft this program and coming up with a framework for not only this but many other initiatives that we're involved in, in terms of mentally ill people in our community. So thank you to everyone who's standing behind me and all the other people and the two organizations that have made this work. And to you, we much appreciate it.

I just needed to add that I used to get a lot of frantic emails and calls from parents of adult children who were in the jail because of a crisis. And lately, I've been getting a lot of emails grateful, thankful, singing the praises of the response unit. James and Bradley are fondly known as the gentle giants, and they go out and they're calm just de-escalates And can find the proper mode to serve people so this is a tremendous program. It's one that I like to tell people about Government the local government can be creative and I think the prevention aspect of it can't be overstated to have you out in the community and identifying people and Item 8-4.

Chair Lavinino, members of the board. Administrative item number four is sponsored by Supervisor Lavinino. It is to adopt a resolution of accommodation honoring Juan Rueda de Leon of the Treasurer Tax Collector's Office as the October 2018 Employee of the Month in Santa Barbara County. And you're already at the podium, so go ahead and read the resolution. Whereas Juan Rueda de Leon began his career with the Treasurer Tax Collector's Office in 1999 providing exceptional IT system and desktop support. Juan's contributions to the department over the last 20 years have resulted in continual process improvement, new technology implementations, and IT security compliance. And whereas property taxes are the largest source of discretionary revenues for the county and are significant revenues for many of the cities, schools and special districts within the county.

And whereas WAN manages and supports the county's critical property tax billing. property tax collections, and treasury systems. In addition to providing critical system support, Juan provides desktop support to all department staff. And whereas Juan's varied responsibilities include security administration, mobile computing administration, server hardware and software administration, desktop and printer administration, cashiering system support, and banking services support. Whereas Juan is a very patriotic American and believes in giving back to his community Before coming to the county, Juan served in the United States Marine Corps 1st Marine Division 4th Battalion Weapons Company stationed in Hawaii. In his spare time, Juan works as the NCAA Division I softball, football and lacrosse official.

In addition, Juan provides volunteer income tax assistance. Now therefore be it hereby resolved and ordered that this Board of Supervisors recognizes Juan Rueda de Leon as the Employee of the Month for October 2019 passed and adopted today.

Chair Lavinino, members of the board. I'm very honored to be able to present Juan today. You know every department has these people behind the scenes that make the department and the department head look good? Juan's one of those people. He does...I mean when you read the resolution there are so many things that he supports in our office and property tax being one of the largest When Juan says he's a patriotic American, he certainly is. He is a Marine still. If I asked him to bust through that door right there, he would. He would do it for me.

And you know one thing that's really interesting in this world is so small when Juan was stationed in Hawaii in the weapons company Sergeant McGulpin was there too. They served in the same company together. What makes this county and this country and this world great is how small it is, but I don't want to take up one's time. Do you want to say anything?

Sure. A few words. Good morning supervisors. I'm honored and humbled And I would like to thank Harry and all my co-workers for the years we've had together, and being part of this highly successful and productive department. Thank you.

All right, very good. That takes care of our resolutions for the day. Are there any items that board members would like to pull from the administrative agenda? Supervisor Allen. Nine and 19, just need a roll call. Nine and 19 for separate vote. Anybody else? You're missing your...

I'll live. What's that? I'll live. You'll live?

Oh, oh without the, okay. And then from the public we have a few.

Chair Lavagnino, members of the board, I've request to speak on A3, A15, and A16. Three, 15, and 16.

OK let's start with three.

Chair Lavinino members of the board administrative item number 3 was previously read into the record this was our resolution on crisis intervention team and I have one request to speak and that's been remote.

Thank you. I was a little confused it's been awhile, but I just wanted to come as a private citizen. I'm not working for any agencies or anything like that but I just want to share that crisis intervention team project and that program. It warms my heart as someone who grew up here and has seen the The many systems and efforts to help those living with mental illness in our community.

And I think it's super important that we, as a community, commend bureaucracy when it does a great job because we often bash that bureaucracy. That bureaucracy is made up of people who care a lot. It's made up of people in government. It made up of people in the nonprofit sector. And it's all meant to serve people in the community, many of whom are very vulnerable And dealing with life situations that many others could never fully comprehend. This partnership, the Crisis Intervention Team to me is bureaucracy working the way that it really should and I think those leaders who are implementing it, folks on the ground, I forget their names but Sheriff Brown, Director Gleghorn should all be commended and just really supported and I think it's important for To to say that we appreciate it as well.

I've seen other examples that I'm really excited about and that you'll you have on your agenda later, so I won't Take all your time with public comment on all of those but all the efforts that are being made in terms of housing. I recently Was able to visit Polly's house an opening of a permanent supportive housing program that behavioral wellness is supporting in partnership with the mental Wellness Center all examples of multiple agencies including your community services department coming together and working together in a highly efficient highly effective way saving taxpayer dollars as we're Preventing challenges and difficulties in people's lives that lead to incarceration.

And that is the most costly option, and the least humane for how we deal with our friends and neighbors who are living in homelessness and who are living with mental illness. So I just want to commend the county, used to be part of this family was always proud to work for the county but as a citizen who no longer does by choice you guys didn't can me or anything but just as a private citizen I just wanted to commend you from that vantage point as well so thank you. Alright thanks Ben.

That was positive public comment October 1st 2009. Item 9.

Chair Lavagnino and members of the board administrative item number nine comes from community services it is to consider recommendations regarding an annual coastal permit service agreement with Wood Environment and Infrastructure Solutions Inc for the Goleta Beach project and this is in the second district.

OK

Supervisor Adam I just want a separate vote.

Can I get a motion to move item 9 please? So moved. Second. Moved and seconded, roll call please.

Ms. Hartman? Aye. Mr. Adams?

No.

Mr. Williams?

Aye.

Mr Harte?

Aye

Chair Lavagnino?

Aye

Motion passes 4-1

Go to item A15

Chair Lavinino and members of the board, administrative item number 15 is from the county executive office. It is to consider recommendations regarding amendment number one to the agreement for services of independent contractor with KPMG LLP to perform departmental financial organizational and operational reviews. And I have one request on this item and that's Tracy Farhad.

Good morning, Chairman. Supervisors, member of the county staff. I'm Tracy Farhad. I am here representing the Santa Barbara County Coalition for Responsible Cannabis. We are a small but mighty group non-profit organization of concerned citizens, farmers, business owners and parents. That's me! And it is for the protection education and advocacy for all. We saw two items that were actually up on todays agenda which was A15 and 16 and even a little in 19 as well. They came as a bit of a surprise to the coalition, and we were just requesting if you could please put those on departmental agendas in the future or be given a little more advanced notice so we can get some of our questions answered. We had a lot of questions regarding the taxation et cetera but there wasn't enough time to go for the Public Records Act.

And of course we understand the need to be able to keep things going. Regarding 15 it is an increase for the third party contractor to review departments and quote, to perform an assessment of the cannabis permitting process for ways among other things to reduce permitting time. Well we're concerned that that focus could substitute for a thorough environmental impact review due process and essential public notice so we ask you to please keep the public in the loop and we will post all the workshops and the meeting notices on the santabarbacountycoalition.com And I know I'm number 16.

Chair Lavinia and members of the board, administrative item number 16 hasn't been run into the record yet but I can. Go ahead. Administrative item number 16 is from the county executive office it is to consider recommendations regarding an update on cannabis compliance enforcement and taxation for the fourth quarter.

And along that same line, because they tied together very nicely. We do appreciate the opportunity to have a public forum with community and public officials in charge of the cannabis ordinance for some real outreach and education on both taxation issues, health concerns. There are many. There are a lot of people who have a lot of questions. We ask you to please seek those answers from your staff as well In your board letter, there was no mention about the direction you gave staff two months ago to quote engage the planning commission and return to the Board of Supervisors with recommendations and strategies to mitigate the odor and other impacts end quote. When Chairman Park asked when the potential amendments were coming back to the Planning Commission your planning director hinted at quote sometime next year So please reiterate that directive to your staff today.

For immediate attention, this is all equally important. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Any other speakers on A16?

Yes, Chair Lavinino and members of the board we have a final speaker on A16, Winford Van Winkerdon.

Good morning. Members of the board, staff thank you for allowing me to speak my comments are also very positive Very important today. I'm here to comment on A16 on behalf of Carp Growers, which is a local association of licensed and compliant industry leaders in carpentry. We represent over 20 licensed farmers and continue to foster positive relationships with the community and the members of carpentry.

For example at one of our farms we host over 50 people on tours each month. Everyone is welcome Whether you're for or against, we want to show you who we are, what we do and how we operate. More recently, Carp Growers funded a full-time school counselor at the Carpinteria Middle School which was identified by the school district as a top priority for the school year.

Of course, we still require new members of our association to have the best available oat control We continue to support the county's effort to regulate the cannabis industry. This includes enforcement of bad actors, collection of taxes to fund important county programs and the land use permitting process. We are all seeking to secure our land use permits and have been in the process for several months.

This is an exhaustive, expensive and time-consuming process especially for those of us in the Carpinteria Agricultural Overlay. Additionally we're also focusing on submitting our business license applications and look forward to the online portal being active so we can submit our applications electronically In conclusion, we continue to support the county's efforts to regulate this program and enforce those who are not playing by the rules.

And again, this is really important to us. Again, we've been here for over 50 years. We've been in the nursery industry. We've done and are still doing flowers and vegetables. This is a new crop for us. We want to be compliant. Remember 100 years ago, we were in prohibition You know, we were all looking at alcohol then. We're looking at cannabis right now. It was approved in California. It was improved and approved in this county and we want to play by the rules. We want to pay our taxes. We are paying our taxes. And so thank you very much for all your support.

And we hope that this process will continue to move forward in a very expedient way. Thank you.

Supervisor Williams? Well, I'm going to take the opportunity just to urge carpentry growers because they're represented here. To ensure now that I guess the last place in Carpinteria that doesn't have odor control will have it this month. To really move on to really internally policing the efficacy of odor within your association and obviously help us do it within the whole Carp Valley, especially since we're headed into one last warm spell.

And it's a more complicated phase but it's a phase we've been looking to is now really trying to make sure that all of the odor control systems out there work well and that people are not engaged in venting techniques that frustrate their own odor control system. So just implore you to work hard, particularly in the next month on that and then a just a thing out to all of our personnel in the Sheriff's Department and in planning it's obviously from this report that some of the numbers of the folks who either did not report or reported no gross receipts are folks that have expired temps because there's more operators that you guys are tracking. Then there are folks who have provisional or permanent licenses in the county.

And just, I would love to hear back that we have made sure that all of the folks with expired temps are not operating. Since if you have an expired temp and no permanent or provisional license, you cannot legally sell onto the legal market. And so just hope that is a priority that we articulated on the 16th of July And I hope that that continues to be an area of where you're spending a lot of time.

Thanks. Supervisor Hart?

Yeah, I'm interested in the cannabis tax compliance audit process and I know that's a very high priority for the board to make sure that that program is going. And I see in the staff report that it is only beginning to get ready to start in October that the vendor And the program's gonna begin. That is money that really is owed to the county, that is helping to properly balance the black and legal market. And it's extremely important to get those tax revenues in. So could you give me some more update as to why it's taking a little bit longer than ideal to get this program going? And what's the status of that effort?

Chair Lavagnino, Supervisor Hart happy to provide some little bit of additional clarity. So one of the considerations we were actually the first entity in the state of California looking at a fully tax compliance audit system and so part of that has been to create the scope of work that we would go out and look for a vendor in order to accomplish that So that's been one of our major tasks. There wasn't anything we could go and grab off the shelf, and just plug-and-play that would work for us here in Santa Barbara County. So being on the vanguard sometimes means it's a bit more of an iterative process so that's why it's taken a little bit of additional time.

Additionally they can't... One service provider kind of Embellished some other services in there. We wanted to pull some of that out and really focus on the meat of the of the tax compliance piece So it's very close And so we should have some something very soon for your board to consider

Is there any concern that there won't be vendors that bid on this work?

Supervisor Hart through the chair, I don't think there's a concern overall. I think the real challenge is getting the right vendor that can work within the state's track and trace system and be able to pull meaningful data out of that to be able to do that tax compliance work. And so I think that's the real trick of it. So we want to find the vendor that is most capable of doing that.

It's important to note that with now the provisional licenses that are mentioned in the staff report that you have today, that conversion from temps to provisionals required them to now enter every single plant, every single transaction into that track and trace system. And that has been a dramatic learning curve for many of the operators in the county because These little blue RFID barcoded tags have to literally follow every single plant throughout the supply chain, all the way to the store shelf for a licensed retailer.

That takes a lot of effort. Many other growers are having to hire additional staff to do that but that data is now available to us in terms of being able to do this kind of tax compliance work.

Is there any concern that there is a level of transparency at the state level that isn't transparent to us, that we need to get through to be able to make these things fit together?

Supervisor Hart for the chair. I don't believe at this point there's an impediment on the state level to us accomplishing what we need to do locally.

Thank you.

Okay and I'll just address As far as noticing goes, it's the same noticing for an administrative agenda item as a departmental agenda item. But I do feel that in the future we've talked with the CEO and the clerk's office and our cannabis updates will be on a departmental agenda from here on out. And as far as the frustration with the timeline at the planning commission I think both sides have expressed the same frustration that we do have a major backlog right now at the Planning Commission. And for items, whether they're projects to be heard or ordinance changes to be heard, it's going to take awhile. So I know the Planning Commission is going and trying to deal with this as best as they can.

But we actually have to, as our board being independent You know my wish is that they would look a little bit more at maybe scheduling more meetings, doing some things differently so that we can get through the backlog that we're seeing there right now. So that takes us to item A-19.

Chair Lavagnino, members of the board. Administrative item number 19 is from Planning and Development. It is to consider recommendations regarding consulting services for the Cannabis Program Environmental Impact Report Agreement for Services with Wood Environmental and Infrastructure Solutions Inc.

Supervisor Adam. Roll call please. Okay can I get a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion and seconded roll call please