Board of Supervisors — 2022-04-14

CEO Miyasato, do you have a report today?

No report this morning.

Madam Clerk? Chair Hartman and members of the board I do have a couple quick announcements this morning. I'd like to remind the public that on Tuesday April 12th we continued the special issue on maintenance and capital projects to today's budget workshop agenda and that will be heard after the policy and executive functional group and before the special issue on digital transformation update.

Additionally, I would like to remind the public that the Board of Supervisors meetings are being interpreted and broadcast live in Spanish. We're broadcasting our meetings in Spanish both for Cox Cable subscribers in South County as well as Comcast cable subscribers in North County. Members of the public can now view our meetings in Spanish by turning on the secondary audio programming also known as SAP or SAP under their language settings.

That information is currently being provided through the TV scroll. Lastly, I would like to remind the public who are participating in our meeting today of the board's updated methods of public participation. For the Board of Supervisors' methods of public participation and to provide public comment on general public comment or an item on the board's agenda please see page 2 of the agenda.

Members of the public can attend the meetings in person both in Santa Barbara Board Hearing Room Chambers as well as the Santa Maria Board Hearing Room Chambers. Please note the board is following all local and state guidelines and are no longer requiring face coverings indoors. If you attend the board meeting in person, you will no longer be required to wear a face covering but please be advised that the Public Health Department is still strongly encouraging all county staff and members of the public to mask and socially distance themselves in crowded areas.

I would also like to remind the public that if you require any special accommodations please contact the clerk at the board to make that request preferably on the Friday prior to the board meeting Individuals that would like to provide verbal public comment virtually may do so via zoom by registering in advance via the link available on page 2. After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing important information about joining the virtual meeting Once the chair has announced the item you want to comment on, please join the meeting with the information provided.

You'll be placed on mute until it is your turn to speak. The clerk will call you by name and when removed from mute, you will hear a notification that your line has been unmuted. If you are using a touchtone phone, you may need to press star six to unmute yourself. Each person may address the board for up to three minutes and this is at the discretion of the chair.

If you have any questions, please contact the clerk of the board's office at area code 8 0 5 5 6 8 2 2 4 0 again That's eight zero five five six eight two two four zero that concludes my announcements for this morning.

Thank You madam clerk so that brings us to the business of the day which is To look at the policy and executive departments and then turn to our special issues We will have public comment at the close of each functional group and then after each special issue. And our general public comment will be at the very end of the meeting. So with that, our Assistant CEO Nancy Anderson.

Good morning, Chair Hartman and members of the board. Today we will be hearing the last functional group policy and executive.

For instance, our current attorney assignments include an attorney that advises the auditor and treasurer tax collector on all things financial, also advises the elections division, reviews contracts, advises the historic landmarks advisory commission, and helps the county file a claim if we need to seek bankruptcy. We have another attorney that advises the Sheriff's Department, reviews contracts for social services, litigates land use cases and personal injury cases, and is the primary attorney for Southern California Edison.

Another attorney advises Public Works Transportation, sits with the Montecito Planning Commission, advises flood control, reviews software contracts for multiple departments, and handles federal and state litigation. And my last example, I have many but I just picked a select few. Is the deputy that litigates bail bonds, writs petitions for the Sheriff's Department, probate cases for the Public Guardian, advises probation and works with nine Brown Act committees including the Ag Preserve Advisory Committee, Air Pollution Control District Hearing Board and the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council.

We met all of our Renew22 goals, including financial resiliency. We did this in part by implementing innovations from InnovateSBC. We had almost 25% of our staff attend Innovate SBC this year and we are very proud of our retention rate. This past year it was 98%, so we had another strong year and we sought and implemented feedback from the CEO and county departments We also met or exceeded all of our performance measures.

Our goal is to resolve litigation at 85% or less than the amount we reserved for that case, and we are estimated to end the year at 90%. Our goal is to resolve 60% of our cases with no payout. And as I said before, we exceeded that at 83%, and we completed 100% of our employee evaluations on time. Since my appointment last year, this is my first chance to publicly thank you for the opportunity to serve as your county council.

I want to thank Chief Assistant Amber Holderness and the rest of the County Council team for their support and hard work this past year. It really has taken the whole team to have the Office of County Council have a smooth transition in a successful year. What I love about this job is that as legal professionals we always have the opportunity to learn and grow. As you can see, we have plenty of variety and there's always something new.

And working for the county gives us all an opportunity to have an impact every day and do work that we're proud of. So that brings me to my quote, that you cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. And with that I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Supervisor Nelson?

Well thank you Chair Hartman. It's also an opportunity for us to publicly thank you for applying for the job, Rachel. You've done a fantastic job I think your presentation here today is a good reminder not only to this board but the public and the county about the impactful work that your office is doing. Mike was very beloved by everyone but you've stepped in and I think it's hard to do but exceed expectations so thank you Rachel and thank you County Council team

Thank you. And I just wanted to add, I learned something. I didn't realize what a broad portfolio each attorney has and that really does make it exciting but you have to really hustle to learn all those different areas of very complex law. Supervisor Lavinino?

Thank you Madam Chair and you mentioned something at the beginning that a lot of what you do is invisible work or at least to the public But I can assure you that it isn't invisible to us and to other department heads. I always think it's humorous that we go into closed session for like two hours, and we come out, and the phrase no reportable action is always given like we didn't do anything. But it's because of your hard work and the skill of your team that we find ourselves a lot of time with no reportable actions.

All I can say is keep up the good work. You have an amazing team around you and I always just like, I would say almost without a fault with our department heads in our CEO's office that we get approached all the time weekends at night those kind of things from constituents raise concerns. A lot of times it does have a legal angle to it You know, I always feel like I can call you at any time. All of our department heads are so good at responding and just a joy to work with. Thank you.

Supervisor Hart?

Yeah, I just want to echo the comments of my colleagues. I'm just so grateful for the work that everybody in County Council does on behalf of the county but personally I want to thank Ms. Van Molen because More than one occasion, I've created a little crisis on a Friday afternoon and she has just without hesitation stepped into that. And I know it's not just her, there are other... That my crisis turns into her crisis which turns into all of your guys' weekend work and you know I get things on Sundays that are super responsive and help me answer constituent questions and I'm on a regional board we're having a crisis right now. I really appreciate the extra work that you put in to help with that I just know every time, and I don't overuse it.

It may seem that way at times but I do restrict myself. But when I do call and push the bat line number, I know that you're gonna be there as soon as needed so thank you.

So I guess that's all. When people ask you, it's the best law firm in this state. Thank you Madam Chair, members of the board. So turning now to the Board of Supervisors, CEO Miyasato.

Board members this year the board has a status quo budget and I've asked Wesley Welch the business manager for the county executive office and for the board offices to present the budget. And while he's walking over there I do want to first of all recognize your board and also talk about Invisible Work thanks to your board chiefs of staff and your board aides We work day in and day out serve our constituents problem-solving connect residents to the Wright County resource So we just want to say thank you to them and all their hard work In the past and in the coming year, I also want to note something that I've said before And that's that when I look around other counties and other counties at some of our employees have gone to this board never went fully remote in the last two years and I a couple of newspapers picked it up.

But I really want to emphasize why that was important Even though you socially distanced, you wore masks. At times some members were in Santa Maria, some were here at times somewhere on the dias. And somewhere down below, as we lovingly refer to as the pit. You continued, you stuck it through and that continued your personal rapport, your relationships and even as you disagreed with each other, you were always civil and committed to working on the best solution. And so as Supervisor Adam used to say, you continue to ride for the brand.

And that's made us a better brand and I think it reflects in next year's budget. So thank you and I'm gonna hand it over to Wes.

Thank you, Mona. Good morning Chair Hartman, members of the board. I'm here to present the Board of Supervisors budget for the year. The board's budget does include six budget programs, the five districts individually and a board general program that encompasses items that do not fit in any specific district. Key challenges and emerging issues for the board this year include ensuring long-term financial stability of the county while addressing community priorities and compliance with mandates.

To continue working towards a more inclusive and equitable future for the county, to ensure resiliency in addressing our water supply and drought conditions as well as changing climate impacts, and to continue to adapt to new district boundaries with new constituents and community partners added through redistricting. Our COVID-19 impacts. We work with state, federal and nonprofit partners to advocate for and implement COVID-19 relief and recovery programs for businesses, individuals, tenants, property owners and underserved communities.

Work to ensure accuracy and transparency of information related to the COVID- 19 public health crisis and ensure access in Spanish and Enhance public safety by facilitating equal and easy access to COVID-19 testing and equitable and efficient access to the COVID- 19 vaccine. Continue to cover in person from board chambers both in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara providing ease of electronic access to the public.

The budget summary The operating budget is $3.9 million, it is entirely funded by general fund contribution. It supports 19.62 FTE. As Mona indicated this is a status quo budget with no service level reductions, no restoration requests and no expansion requests. Source of funds 100% general fund and that is split amongst the five board offices in the Board General.

Staffing summary remained relatively flat for the past five years at approximately 20 FTE. Operating revenue and general fund contribution, again 100% general fund. It's crept up with salaries and benefits, other charges. Anticipated accomplishments The board has made significant investments to address homelessness through services, programs, encampment cleanup and creation of temporary and permanent units.

The board has funded a study to investigate options to provide housing to county employees, funded part of the acquisition of the West Mesa of the San Marcos foothills and allocated funds toward additional trail acquisition throughout the county. We're moving forward with the first ever County Recreation Master Plan and have provided businesses and rental assistance grants and expanded economic and regional opportunities at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

In the coming fiscal year, the board will continue to work with the community on recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic efficiently and effectively use public resources and maintain the long term fiscal health and sustainability of our county Continue to support and enhance economic vitality in Santa Barbara County. Continue to develop proactive solutions to the homelessness crisis, and finally continue the 18% maintenance plan previously adopted by the board.

No service level reductions. And basically in summary, the Board of Supervisors works to provide quality public services to the people of Santa Barbara County in response to their need for a safe, healthy and sustainable environment and to establish and maintain a workforce which reflects the diversity of the community. Thank you.

Thank you. Supervisor Nelson?

Yes thank you Chair Hartman. You know this department You know, being a previously staff member as Chief of Staff and now serving on the Board has been something I've always kept an eye on because that was partly my job before I moved up the seat. And you know, I really understand how important it is the different functions that come from our board offices. Not only do we have the policy and the judicial responsibilities and the executive responsibilities but the constituent services that we end up providing for our Our residents, you know especially in an incorporated area our offices tend to be and as I like to tell people. You know we're the city manager mayor City Council all rolled into one sometimes public works director too so with that you know the allocation of funding for the board offices you know has because Fluctuated over the years and sometimes based on some on demands now that we've gone through redistricting.

Is there any plans to? Look at those those numbers and making sure that each office has resources to properly address the needs of their constituents

Supervisor, we have started looking at that and I'll let Wes provide more detail, but I believe there's a meeting next week

That is correct, Supervisor Nielsen to the Chair. We will be having a meeting next week to ensure that all of our constituents have equitable representation through their board offices. Okay thank you

and I just wanted to add one point to that did a little work looking at how many new constituents each of us has people who didn't vote for us but they find themselves with us and that we have to get to know So D1 has about 3,500 new constituents. D5 has about 8,000. D2 has about 27,000, D4 has about 46,000 and D5 62,000 so it looks to me like D4 and D5 have a lot of work and I know D4 has more unincorporated than it's had before so I think there is an argument for D4 and D 5 At least for this year to have enough resources to deal with these new, this transition in a smooth way.

Supervisor Lavinino?

Are you sure I have 62,000 new people?

You have 8,000. Okay, I thought you said D5.

Okay. Oh, so you went backwards. D54321.

I went in order of the least.

The least? Okay. I was like there's no way I have 62,000 new people. No, I had

to do that

myself. You picked

up some San Luis Obispo County?

I was like yeah, I've got to take another look at those lines because this is about 50,000 people I haven't met

yet. But I have 60,000 and Bob has 46,000. Yeah,

I understand. That's an interesting point. I think there's a million different ways you could look at this And I'm sure Wes is going to do a great job of listening to everybody's issues and then coming out with something That's equitable, and I would imagine it's something that we would have to approve as a board Or is it would just be a policy action or?

We would come back to your board if there was any changes to your district budget

No other lights Just a big smile from Supervisor Hart

Counting all those 27,000 new people.

Okay. I think, Wes, we're done with that one. Thank you. So turning now to the CEO's office. CEO Miyasato.

Good morning Chair and Board Members. I'm going to start this off and then I'm actually going to give Wes Welch an opportunity to do our budget because he prepares it every year. And but I'd like to start off by starting with the end in mind and opening with our quote. You don't have to go to it, but I'm going to open with our quote and that is vision without action is merely a dream.

Action without vision just passes time. So vision with action can change the world. And I think that's why all of you are supervisors today. That's why all our staff are here working for the county to change the world. And the CEO's office is charged with executing your vision Sometimes it's five visions, sometimes it's one vision. Sometimes it's 10 visions!

But we work in part with and through our departments and doing it in a way that ensures financially sound operations, and that's why we're here today. A dynamic organizational culture, and that's why we introduced Renew 22. We manage risk through our Risk Management Department division, respond to emergencies through our OEM, and keeps the core processes of a democratic government functioning.

And that's why we're here today with our Clerk of the Board. So I want to take a moment to thank our CEO staff and not just for this past year in the year to come, but for the last two years. And we've so if you don't mind, I'd like to take that opportunity now. We've been led by our able and talented assistant county executive officers Terry Nisich, Jeff Rathwell and Nancy Anderson and our division heads and their staff Greg Milligan who is our new risk manager and his whole risk management team Kelly Hubbard and are ever ready for action OEM team Jacqueline Alexander and the always helpful clerk of the board staff including their 16-pound mascot Chase.

Chase the dog, I'm sure some of you have met her already. Paul Clemente in the ever analytical and inquisitive budget team. Brittany Heaton in our very busy cannabis licensing group. And board members, I want to let you know that our target next year is issuing 100 licenses as well as Lindsay Walters who helps oversee health and human service coordination and Jasmine McGinty our legislative coordinator who takes on everything we throw at And of course Wes, our business manager. Anthony Sandoval, our accountant and of course Kathy Chizik who keeps the team organized and on time most of the time. I wanted to say while my department staff had people leave during COVID like all departments we also gained employees from other departments and city governments so we benefited from their losses So thank you to George, Tanya and a half thank you to Daniel because while we took one of his staff he took two from us.

So we do a lot in the county executive office as many of you know we work closely with the board and Wes will describe some of the things we've done and what we plan to do next year but we can't do everything. And Barney Meleckian is in my ear every morning when I think what he always says was we can do anything but we can do We can't have all the staff that we would like or all the resources we feel are necessary, even though my staff constantly asks me for more. But we strive to do the most important things well to execute on your behalf.

And we believe our budget next year reflects that. So without further ado, Wes?

Thanks again, Mona. So the CEO's budget, as Mona described, is broken into three main budget programs. County management, emergency management and risk management. Some key challenges and emerging issues for our office next year will be developing long-term strategies and policies to maintain service levels, and ensure fiscal stability. To ensure the delivery of countywide services and communications in a culturally competent and linguistically appropriate ways to meet diversity equity inclusion and accessibility needs. To ensure compliance and accountability for mandates and funding Recruiting, maintaining and developing staff and advancing effective secession planning. And finally changing organizational structures and processes to proactively adapt to new circumstances.

COVID-19 impacts. We dedicated ongoing executive staffing to the oversight of county pandemic response and recovery efforts. We've increased our responsibility to administer the CARES and ARPA funding We've utilized enhanced technology to provide services to the community and to accommodate hybrid work capability. We've developed positive relationships in proactive communication with chamber and businesses, and have advanced efforts to facilitate public access and improve language accessibility through public materials and translation services for board meetings.

Our budget summary, as Paul mentioned, our operating budget is $57 million. This is the majority of which is in our risk management division insuring the county. Our general fund contribution is approximately 7.9 million. This supports 46 FTE. We have no service level reductions, no restoration requests and there is a hundred thousand dollar expansion request which I will get to later in the program.

Source of funds. 50 percent of our funds come from risk management, and these are basically charges out to our county departments to cover their general liability workers' comp and unemployment insurances. Another big chunk of our funds recently have come from intergovernmental revenue pandemic related revenues such as ARPA, the emergency rental assistance program, et cetera. And then our general fund contribution makes up the bulk of the remaining Risk management again, 77% usage of our operating budget. Again and this is just basically funds in from the department, funds out to our insurance providers.

Staffing summary, we have shown some increase over the last few years with some board approved positions. Specifically from the 21-22 adopted to the 22-23 recommended, we are going to have a net 2 FTE increase. This basically consists of the four positions that have been added during the current fiscal year. A Chief Information Officer, a Compliance and Accountability Officer and two ARPA funded Outreach Coordinators.

We did lose two positions that were with the CSB TV function that will be transferred to general services in the coming fiscal year. As Paul mentioned in the overview, the thing that jumps out on this slide is the large increase in operating revenue the last two fiscal years and again this is primarily pandemic related sources of funds such as ARPA. Anticipated accomplishments For the second or third year we've led the COVID-19 emergency response, fiscal and budgetary recovery and organizational resiliency efforts. Some specific things that we have done have included a Health and Human Services Community Recovery Plan, an ARPA plan performance report on our website. We've obtained some state microbusiness grant funding and coordinated COVID- 19 safety efforts and ensured compliance with OSHA and local health orders.

We have completed two amendments to the cannabis business license ordinance and have continued Spanish interpretation of all Board of Supervisors meetings and call-in options for public testimony. Goals and objectives for the coming fiscal year include moving beyond 22 and working with the board to develop better aligned strategic initiatives and performance measures Develop organizational criteria to promote compliance and accountability countywide. This will be done partly with the addition of the Countywide Compliance Officer.

Advance commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Amend Chapter 50 again to address some unused cannabis cultivation acreage and cultivation area measurements, to ensure our county employees are educated on and trained on disaster service worker responsibilities. And finally, to develop and implement quarterly dashboards to track each department's risk control and prevention strategies, policies, and procedures. We're hoping this can help.

Potentially minimize our drastic increases in risk premiums over the past few fiscal years. Our new 22 goals and objectives, we've met the majority of them. We are trying to get 100% of our non-executive team through InnovateSBC either a green belt or a black belt. We're not quite there but our goal is to get there in the coming fiscal year. We have successfully retained 100% of our new employees that started with the county in that particular cohort, one of which as Mona mentioned came from another department and so we are benefiting from him staying within the county.

And we are continuing to develop our leaders by sending them through leadership development programs. As you can see, our performance measures reflect the focus on bilingual notifications both emergency and otherwise. And you can see it's a goal of ours to increase the county workforce trained in incident command structure and so we have that as a performance measure moving forward.

Our KPMG recommendations, we have a couple in progress Basically surrounding countywide strategic management and communication plans, and we have gone through and reviewed the ACEO responsibilities and realigned their activities to be more proactive and coordinated. We do have no service level reductions And as mentioned, the $100,000 expansion request is a waterfront infrastructure feasibility study through REACH. It's a one-time cost of $100,000. The goal of the study is to determine where and how waterfront and supporting infrastructure can be enhanced or created to enable offshore wind and commercial space on the Central Coast and position the region to capture jobs and economic benefits associated with them.

The study includes Sloan County and the City of Morro Bay, and both of those entities will be contributing to the study. In summary, the department will promote organizational and financial stability through long-term fiscal planning, continue COVID-19 recovery planning, plan implementation and coordination, prepare and plan for secession, and work to recruit, recruit retain and develop department leadership, advance diversity, equity inclusion and accessibility efforts throughout the organization.

And again, develop the steps beyond Renew22 and foster organizational growth through consistently modeling behaviors and values." We're going to end with the end in mind too with the quote that Mona brought up earlier.

That is a great quote. Any questions from the board? Supervisor Lavinino.

It's not a question just You know, I think I can't let the time pass without just talking about what a great job CEO's office does Not just Mona Although she is our perfect CEO but that whole team There's folks there that including Jacqueline yes and I got a chance to meet Right No, what's Chase yesterday in the parking lot? So no I'm talking about the puppy.

The little one oh that's Chase okay all right get our dog straight here our mascot but when you look at the folks that are in that department that are in the CEO's office you know we always talk about retention and generally by the time somebody gets into that office they're kind of getting to the point where we might be losing them at the end of their career Thank God we have some younger individuals now in there.

But the level of work and the quality of work that comes out is second to none, and really puts us in a position to succeed. If we didn't have this support system and us in kind of a symbiotic relationship, you know, the taxpayer's going to go unserviced. Sometimes when I look out from the dais and I see some of our very senior CEO's office members, and I always think of Terry when I say this is a lookout. And I think if she leaves what's going to happen? You know and but I always know that there's another person my dad has always told me there's quote that he always lives by that cemeteries full of indispensable people you know and I know Couple years from now there'll be somebody else sitting in this seat and that seat and that's the CEO seat And somebody will take Terry's place, and it'll continue to happen But I'm very happy with the people that we're working with right

now Supervisor Williams

well, I'm hoping no one ever takes Terry's place but but but III know those are inevitable Inevitabilities to some extent, but you know I do think it's good to reflect on either for The staff that haven't worked in these kinds of other kinds of jurisdictions. I've had both the pleasure and misfortune of working in multiple jurisdictions, and some of them have City managers offices or CEO's offices that are very much at odds with multiple board members or vice versa.

We either because of ideological differences, personality differences, the inability to build a team among a board or a city council you know a harder time relying upon recommendations Information and I just think we are really fortunate to have an integrated board and CEO Team that really can rely on each other. And that is You know for those of you that are just used to that it's it's not actually the majority of jurisdictions out there That have that and it's special

Supervisor Lavinia

Thank you, I forgot to mention and I think this is Nancy your first time taking over the budget or is this your second one?

Second

time. Okay well I just want to say it's been a very very smooth transition and that could have ended up you know imploding and being a mess and I appreciate the fact that we really brought it all together and it's seamless.

Supervisor Hart

Well, I've learned in my three plus years here that the county organization is very complex and the range of issues cover everything that people do or need in our county. And we are super fortunate to have a visionary leader like Mona and she is calm when things are not and a creative when she has a moment, and her quote I think summarizes her approach to her job really well because it isn't enough to have creative ideas and people with a lot of energy thinking of things we oughta be doing.