Board of Supervisors — 2022-06-28

Good morning. I call to order this June 28, 2022 meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors here in the Santa Maria Hearing Room. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

So moved.

And a second? Second. And is there any further discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. CEO Miyasato do you have a report today?

I do have a report good morning board members. A bit of good news recognizing some of our departments the first is regarding general services and they recently won the 21-22 employer of the year award for companies with more than 20 employees for the International Right-of-Way Association. The General Services Real Property Services Team was presented with the award and it recognizes associate companies which actively support their employees in right of way issues. Each company demonstrates strong employee support and commitment, and the recognition comes after years of continued involvement with the chapter. Susan Freeborn, real property agent three, Alana Chumney, real property agent are also both involved as well as Connie Smith so congratulations to them.

Also this morning, your board knows that Public Works celebrated a substantial completion of the Laguna Sanitation District Recycled Water Distribution Project with a ribbon cutting at Waller Park. This is the county's first significant recycled water project and it delivers recycled water over a 3.5 mile pipeline from the Wastewater Reclamation Facility to 1 million gallon tank at Wallard Park. Connecting recycled water to the park will save water and money by reducing groundwater use from its wells. Laguna Sanitation processes 1.8 million gallons of wastewater daily for 35,000 residents in Santa Maria and Orcutt including new Northern Branch Jail so congratulations to Public Works for this huge accomplishment Lastly, I want to recognize the Community Services Department and particularly the Office of Arts and Culture.

The Office of Arts and Culture was recently recognized with the Art State Partnership by receiving the highest possible ranking in a competitive grant process for county-designated art agencies. The criteria for the grant process includes reach and depth of engagement across the entire county, programs and services that support cultural diversity and traditional arts from the entire county, responsiveness to community needs, values, and priorities I've asked Mr. Chapchin to come up and say a few words about this recognition.

Thank you, CEO Miyasato. Good morning Chair Hartman and members of the board. It's a pleasure for me to come up here and really brag about Sarah. You've all worked with Sarah. I have to tell you as a department head she is a star among... We've got some stars in our department but she is outstanding. She has, you know before DEI was even an issue Sarah came to me and said you know we do need to do some outreach in North County. We don't have enough art in North County the ethnic communities out there Guadalupe and she went above and beyond her own time weekends she's not getting paid for this And she's just excellent at what she does. It's a pleasure, real pleasure for me to work with such a professional as Sarah and I think hopefully she'll be around for a long, long time with the county.

What else can I say? She's wonderful so thank you for recognizing her.

We were just at Waller Park and saw one of the art installations there. It looked great! That concludes my report, Chair. Thank you CEO Miyasato. Madam Clerk?

Chair Harmon and members of the Board I do have a couple quick announcements this morning First, I'd like to announce that we posted an addendum to today's agenda on Friday June 24th amending the closed session agenda as well as amending administrative agenda item number 44. The closed session agenda was amended to add two additional closed session agenda items first with conference with labor negotiators employee organizations all bargaining units unrepresented employees managers and executives agency designated representatives county executive officer Mona Miyasato and human resources director Maria Elena de Guevara Second, conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation significant exposure to civil litigation. One case based on these facts and circumstances Jean Broussard of AMG and Associates LLC alleges the county is in violation of government code section 65913.4 And other state laws.

If the county does not grant its application for a 60 unit affordable housing project at 1331 East Foster Road Santa Maria 93455 8pm 107-240-040 by July 4, 2022. Additionally, we amended the recommended actions for administrative item number 44. Administrative item number 44 is from the district attorney's office. It is to consider recommendations regarding a first amendment to the agreement for services with child abuse listening and mediation calm for sexual assault response team for fiscal year 2021 through 2022. The recommended actions were amended to reflect that recommended action A should be read as follows.

Approve and authorize the chair to execute the first amendment to the agreement for services with POM for the period of July 1st, 2021 through June 30th, 2022. For a new adding the word total contract amount not to exceed $177,635 in deleting recommendation B from the agenda which updates recommendation C to now reflect recommendation B 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 general public comment or an item on the board's agenda please see page 2 of the agenda. Members of the public can attend meetings in person both in the 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 of 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 two. 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 information provided in the registration confirmation email. 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're using a touchtone phone, you may need to press star six to unmute yourself And 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 805-568-2240 again that's 805 568 2240 And in addition, Chair Hartman and members of the board I would like to know when we do get to the administration agenda.

So we are turning now to the administrative agenda. I understand that this is the most items ever, uh, that we've had on an administrative agenda. It's the end of the year and so lots of contracts and items need to be completed before July one.

to our appointed department heads, which was about 5% this past year. And Mr. Pisano do you have anything to add to that?

Chair Hartman, members of the board. Yes I think it's best to pull this item. I want to make a distinction though there's a separate recommendation for the undersheriff which would align that position Sally with the Sheriff's Managers Association and then another recommendation was affecting the elected department heads. I do think there's additional work that should be done with the elected department heads By way of brief background, County HR recognizes that the elected department heads like their appointed department head counterparts manage complex operations and we think they should be compensated appropriately.

When the December changes to the management compensation and salary plan took effect for appointed department heads it included a two-and-a-half percent general wage increase sometimes referred to as a COLA And a 2.5% EPR, successfully EPR based increase for performance. So the recommended action on today's agenda would address the general wage increase but there is nothing equivalent to what the appointees are getting as a merit increase. So human resources could look further at that and consider what that might look like, and then return to the board at another time with that item. We would like to go forward with the change to the management compensation salary plan to align the undersheriff with the sheriff's managers.

And I'd be happy to answer any

questions. So you're recommending just the undersheriff be approved today or the COLA for all?

Just the undersheriffs again, there's two separate recommendations. So if we could begin there are two different resolutions that govern compensation. So for all managers included in appointed department heads, there is a management compensation and salary plan that was amended in December. One thing that was not included in the December amendment was to align the undersheriff with the sheriff's manager's compensation And then separately, there's a different resolution that governs wage increases for elected department heads. Although there is a recommendation before the board today, that's the item that Human Resources thinks or I think should be pulled for further consideration.

Supervisor for clarification on your board letter, the recommended action A is Mr. Pisano is requesting B can be adopted today are voted on and C the CEQA but not B. Is that correct? Mr. Pisano?

That is correct.

And then do we have to continue B?

I would not continue it because it may come back in a different form and so I would just, sounds like Human Resources is withdrawing recommended item B and return to the board.

OK, may I have a motion

to that? I have a question. Sure. Yeah. Thank you. So I'm curious why so. But if we did that then they wouldn't get the COLA at this point at all.

That is correct. We would come back to the board with them, I guess, a potentially more comprehensive recommendation for both the cost of living or general wage increase as well as perhaps some other component of pay that would be equitable with the merit increase that's based on successful EPRs for the department heads who are appointed

I'm curious, though, that if I was the employee and be like, I'll take my colon now and let's continue negotiating my EPR. Why? Why wouldn't we be able to go ahead and grant the two and a half percent now? And then we all think it sounds like HR is in agreement as well as you are that this is something we need to discuss and we could then kind of put that on the back table, you know, move that forward.

Supervisor Lavinier through the chair. The initial recommendation was exactly along those lines, we thought well since the compensation for a general wage increase for elected departments was tied to a wage pool that doesn't exist anymore because it was eliminated in December, we should take that forward now but no thought was really given to a more you know overall comprehensive component so there's some thought that we should not do this piecemeal and should come back with one you know recommendation that the board can consider in its totality OK,

well. Who was it? Wimpy that said I'd rather pay you for a hamburger today, but if it was me, I'd rather have my money now. But

OK, I think we're trying to honor the request of at least three of the elected officials who contacted me yesterday and they understand that they would not be getting a CPI adjustment at this time. And they requested that it come back in a more quote unquote comprehensive package to the board.

OK. Well, in that case, I'll make the motion that we move A and C. And I guess that's all we need to say. And

may have a second?

Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Madam Clerk number 75A75

Chair Hartman and members of the board, administrative item number 75 is from the Public Works Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding parcel map number 14,844 Williams 19 TPM5 and public utility easement dedications per said map and this is in the first district and we do have one request from the public on this item and we are going to Zoom with Alec Perez. Alec?

Hello, Madam Chair Hartley and members of the board. Alec Perez here with SEPS. Apologies if I incorrectly registered. I'm actually representing the applicant and monitoring this hearing to make sure your board approves this item and wanted to be present in the event that any questions came up. So again, apologies there. I have no comment.

Thank you very much for letting us know you're here. So I don't think we, I don't see any lights. I don' believe any board members have any questions about this item so it'll be included with the balance of the agenda. Madam Clerk, Administrative Item number 80.

Chair Hartman and members of the board, administrative item number 80 is from the Public Works Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding an edible food recovery memorandum of understanding MOU with the cities of Buellton, Carpinteria, Goleta, Lompoc, Santa Barbara and Solvang.

And Supervisor Nelson?

Thank you, Chairman. I just had a couple questions for staff. Thank you, Ms. Wells. I had a question about, you know, obviously that six of our eight cities are going to participate in this program. I noticed that the cities of Guadalupe and Santa Maria were left off and I was just curious if they're gonna be having their own program or if there was outreach done to them?

What's the rationale there?

Sure, so Supervisor Nelson through the Chair. We have a task force that meets quarterly and it has representatives from all jurisdictions including Vandenberg. And we talk about trash and we talk about all good things waste related. So when SB 1383 came on our radar food recovery is one of the components And we had worked regionally to come up with an RFP for a contractor to assist us with that.

The amount of money that came back, all of the jurisdictions felt was much too high. So the county volunteered to offer a regional program and so I believe the cost is under $100,000 a year. It's spread by population of folks in the jurisdictions. Cities of Guadalupe and Santa Maria chose to not participate

And this is a program that they will have to participate in by state law, but they're not gonna be participating in the regional program.

That's correct. The benefits that we saw is many of the food recovery organizations, for example the Food Bank or smaller organizations like churches they don't recognize jurisdictional boundaries. We wanted to have consistent messaging for them the same forms that they complete so that's why we chose to pursue a more regional approach.

I just wanted to compliment you on what it looks like to be a very cost-effective program that you guys have put together to comply with the state law and the state requirements I hope the cities of Santa Maria and Guadalupe can match such a more efficient program or hopefully take advantage of joining that group at a future date. Great, thank you. Thank you.

So that was just a question. Okay

sure all right then we can Turn to the balance of the agenda. May I have a motion to approve? And that motion should reflect that 844, the changes to recommendation A.

So it's a motion right

into the record

for the recommended changes to. A44, but also to approve a 53. Is that right? A and C did not be so I'll go ahead and make that motion with the changes to a 44 second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? So the administrative agenda, the largest ever is approved. Madam Clerk turning to this celebration part of our agenda today item number 102.

Chair Hartman and members of the board, yes. Administrative item number 102 is sponsored by Supervisor Hartman. It is to adopt a resolution of accommodation honoring County Veterans Services Officer Rhonda Murphy and joining us in person today we have Rhonda Murphy and Harry Hagan. And I'll go ahead and read the resolution into the record Whereas Rhonda Murphy, a veteran of the US Navy began her career with the County of Santa Barbara in 1997. And whereas Rhonda is one of the two longest serving veterans service officers in the state of California and whereas Rhonda was elected as president of the California Association of County Veterans Service Officers this past January and is the first woman president of the association in its 77 year history which is quite a significant achievement and a point of pride for our county And whereas the Veterans Services Program serves veterans in applying for, obtaining and maintaining all available benefits and entitlements to which they may be eligible.

Applying for veteran's benefits is a very complicated process and without professional assistance many veterans lose benefits that they have earned with their service often thousands of dollars a year. And whereas calculating benefits for veterans depends on a wide variety of factors, when and where one served. If service was in combat or during a congressional congressionally approved wartime period, the cause and severity of a disability and other individual factors. Additionally, Congress, federal courts and the Veterans Administration are constantly changing what benefits and services those who served in the military are eligible to receive. That is why county veteran service officers play such an important role in their lives as veterans.

And whereas studies show that veterans receive more benefits when they come to a professional for help, veteran service officers do their jobs well. In fact in California they turned 42 million in county and state funding into more than 402 million in earned benefits for California veterans in the 2020 through 2021 fiscal year. And whereas there are more than 20,000 military veterans living in Santa Barbara County and Rhonda and her small team including Joseph Fletcher and Kerry Garrison served them with dignity respect and professionalism. In 2020 through 2021 they handled more than 3 000 in-person visits from county veterans and nearly 30 000 phone calls and email requests for service Through more than 1,300 new claims they were able to secure more than 10 million in benefits for our veterans which is an average of more than 7,300 per veteran.

Almost double the state average and whereas now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors recognizes that Rhonda Murphy exemplifies the best of county employees and we congratulate her and her post as president of the California Association of County Veterans Service Officers passed and adopted today.

Mr. Hagan.

Chair Hartman, members of the board I'm honored to be able to introduce Rhonda Murphy today. Many people in this audience know Rhonda having gone to her for services and I had the pleasure of meeting her when she started at the county in 97 and she's been in our office since 2000 first as a veteran service rep and then as a stellar veteran service officer that was one of the easiest decisions I ever made was making her that It's an amazing accomplishment for Rhonda to be the first woman to be the president of the State Association.

Just it's tremendous and the association has recognized what I've seen for a long time in her, and I'm just really proud of her and what she's done. One of the things that you mentioned was the amounts of money she brings into the area. I think it was about 10 million last year and you have to remember during the pandemic, you know she came up with unique ways of meeting with people and still putting claims in and you know you look at some of the metrics when you say she brought in her team brought in $10 million last year If you look at studies that those dollars when they come into the area, they turn over seven times. So that 10 million turns into $70 million of economic stimulus to the county residents. So it's not just for the beneficiaries that she's helping but she's actually helping the community at large too.

I can't say enough nice things and I'm not here so I'm not gonna steal the spotlight. So I'm gonna step back.

Thank you Madam Chair and Board of Supervisors. I wanted to thank you for the opportunity Keep continuing to support the veterans of this community. I also want to thank Harry for his support for our offices, and I want to thank for the new two people that are going to come and help me next year. That'll just be able to bring more benefits to the veterans in this community with a new pact act that's coming through the federal legislation we're gonna have a lot of new Presumptives and new conditions that are coming down the pike for all of our veterans from all the wars. So that's going to bring a continued increase of people coming through our offices, and we will continue to serve them the best we can. Thank you so much.

Thank you. And before we come to the board, Madam Clerk, we had a public commenter

Yes, thank you Chair Hartman and members of the board. We do have one request to speak on this resolution to be presented and that is here in Santa Maria we are going to Alvin Salgi.

Good morning. Good morning, supervisors. We the Santa Barbara County Veterans Advisory Commission thank the Board of Supervisors for honoring Veterans Service Officer Rhonda Murphy with this much deserved resolution. We have been aware of Rhonda's longstanding support of county veterans by educating, guiding and helping them get the federal state and county benefits that they deserve.

Rhonda, in her tireless efforts to assist veterans has inspired us to successfully get her additional veteran service representatives to expand our veterans outreach. As we say in the military when a medal is awarded for outstanding service Santa Barbara County Veteran Service Officer Rhonda Murphy distinguished herself In her dedication and devotion to duty for 25 years, providing outstanding service to Santa Barbara County veterans to obtain their deserved benefits that improve their health, education, living and well-being.

She reflects great credit on herself. Santa Barbara County, the state of California and United States of America. Thank you, Rhonda. Congratulations.

Thank you Madam Chair. Well, it takes a special type of person to do the job that Rhonda does. Rhonda's office for a few years was across the hall from mine and a lot of times her clients would spill out into my office and so I got to have a few conversations Because of the fact, unfortunately that the system is so complicated, which it shouldn't be. These are for folks that have served our country and we should be making the path as easy as possible. Unfortunately, it's such a labyrinth of regulations and codes that takes like somebody like Rana to be able to unlock all of those things but Many of the ones that I saw were beyond frustrated. They finally got to the point where they had been trying to do this themselves and had to go to a professional.

Rhonda was, you know she knew how to handle each one. Sometimes it was a gentle approach but more often than not Rhonda has that ability to have that toughness and that comes from her Navy background of being able to tell somebody a hard truth many times they don't want to hear either they're not doing something properly or they're going to need to go to a different appointment Sometimes the benefit didn't get approved. So I'm proud of the work that she's done for our veterans. She has been a great resource for us and also appreciate all the great work that you've done with Stand Down, how you've worked to make that successful. So, I feel like she's retiring today when she

isn't!

And we're very...I think we're all excited about giving you some help. It's much needed and we appreciate all the work that you do.

Supervisor Nielsen. Yes, thank you Chair Hartman. You know, veteran service officer that's not just somebody sitting behind the desk you know and I think that there is probably veteran services officers out there in within the state in the country that all they're doing is processing paperwork. Rhonda is so much more than that she's a veteran advocate and you know I got it I've got a chance even though I'm not a veteran to spend a lot of time with some veterans groups here in the Santa Maria Valley and to see Rhonda through their eyes is really It really changes your perspective on the service that she provides our community. She's out there, you know at Veteran Service Court, she's out there at stand down, she's out there playing softball with the Vanna Brothers and other groups.

You know if veterans are in our community Rhonda is there and every time one of them see her They embrace her, they come to her. And so it's just a great example of the county to that community and so thank you Rhonda for being that point person for us and again I'm also ecstatic too as a board to approve those extra positions. So get you guys some more services

And I just wanted to add that I can't tell you how many veterans come through my office and sing your praises, and say you do the work of three. But it's time to get you some help. And I'm just thrilled as a woman that you've reached the height of your field in this state in the first woman. That's really an extraordinary accomplishment. And thank you for everything you do to help us in the county keep faith with our veterans. It's more appreciated than we can ever say, thank you.

All right and turning then to item number 103, Madam Clerk.

Chair Hartman and members of the board. Administrative item number 103 is sponsored by Supervisor Hartman, it is to adopt a resolution of accommodation honoring Shannon Barcelona of the Public Works Department as the June 2022 Employee of the Month for Santa Barbara County and joining us in person today we have Shannon Barcelona and Scott McAulpin our Public Works Department Director and I will go ahead and read the resolution into the record Whereas Shannon Barcelona is a dedicated and meticulous safety, risk and disability manager in the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department. She's committed to staff safety at all times and is the departmental expert on family and medical leave.

And whereas Shannon has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting. Her efforts allowed Public Works to continue providing essential public services to all the communities we serve. And whereas Shannon uses her intellect and her critical eye to identify potentially unsafe situations and correct them so that our staff are working in the safest environment possible, she uses open communication is a dependable team player and provides mutual respect to all that she works with She is loyal and committed to her work and is always willing to go above and beyond the call of duty at all times. And whereas Shannon demonstrates the Public Works leadership commitments of communication, seek opportunities for all employees to understand their importance to the organization, development, empower decision-making through the organization, and culture model the way by bringing enthusiasm energy and passion every day.

And whereas Shannon is strongly committed to her family and spends much of her non-working hours with her husband, children, parents and her dogs. She is also dedicated to helping family and friends whenever a need arises. Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors recognizes Shannon Barcelona as the Employee of the Month for June 2022.

Madam Chair and Board Members, thank you for providing this distinguished honor for the month of June to Shannon Barcelona. As you can tell from Shannon's facial expression she hates this. She's an invaluable asset to our public works team. She's extremely knowledgeable in her job duties as our department safety officer and our lead manager, she's wonderful.

She's also very dedicated hardworking and really a dedicated part of the team You know, it doesn't matter what time of day you call Shannon or what day of the week you call Shannon. She picks up her phone right? She understands her responsibility and she's committed to our team and we can't thank her enough for that. She's been instrumental through the whole COVID pandemic You know, from day one working with our office staff and our field staff so we can continue providing essential services to the public. And you know I'm proud to say because of the work that she did We never had a workplace transmission of COVID in our department and over 70% of our people came to work every day To fill potholes, to collect trash, to clean flood control basins To do the work that people expect from Public Works.

And as the resolution mentioned, she was constantly scouring CDC guidelines, OSHA guidelines, local and state public health guidelines just to make sure that we had the best information available. We didn't like a lot of the information but we lived by it and she kept us safe throughout so... Her outstanding leadership and customer service during the pandemic was just phenomenal. So we have an employee of a quarter program, and she was an employee of all quarters, COVID quarters for public works which was I think like six quarters or something like that?

She's amazing. The one thing I really appreciate about Shannon is her wise counsel on just about every item in public works, even when I don't ask for it. So I can't thank her enough for that and their tireless efforts so she's awesome we just love her.

I don't like public speaking, so thank you. And thanks to Cotton Dooley because they gave me an opportunity to just go with it. They trusted me and thanks for giving me an opportunity. Thanks.

Thank you, Shannon. We have the after action report on the EEOC post-COVID and it talks about how the county workers really rose. And Shannon, you're the example of that, how throughout our county organization, county employees are emergency workers and so you rose to the challenge and thank you so much. All right, Madam Clerk turning to general public comment. Do we have any members of the public who would like to speak today on matters not on today's agenda?

Chair Herman and members of the board, we do have one request to speak on general public comment and that is here in Santa Maria with Beverly Taylor. Beverly?

Good morning, Chair Hartman, members of the board. And first I want to apologize, Chair Hartman, I think in my memo that I sent on June 24th, I listed Doss Williams as a chair and so I apologize. I don't know how I shipped every year. It's hard to keep track. Well, good morning Chair Hartman and members of the board. My name is Beverly Taylor and I'm here this morning to request that you as a body or as individual members would oppose California Assembly Bill 2223.