Board of Supervisors — 2022-09-20

Good morning. I'll call to order this September 20th, 2022 meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors here in the Santa Maria hearing room. Madam Clerk, would you call the roll please?

So moved second

and any discussion seeing no lights all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed passes unanimously CEO report

Yes, good morning Chair and members of the Board. CEO Miyasato is out today she is in Columbus Ohio where she is presenting at the International City-County Managers Association and she is presenting a capstone project on regional efforts regarding equity and inclusion so she'll be back with us next week I'd also like to provide a little bit of an overview of some awards received by several of our employees in the Probation Department. The California Association of Probation Institution Officers selected Supervising Probation Officer Tiffany Phillips as the Supervisor of the Year for their Southern Region and Juvenile Institutions Officer Crystal Perez for the State Jerry Darling Award.

SPO Phillips was selected for her dedication and leadership in the successful implementation of juvenile facilities, de-escalation and crisis intervention training project. There she successfully oversaw classroom and hands on de-escalation training approaches designed to prevent and if necessary intervene in behavioral interactions. Utilizing her own excellent skills, SPO Phillips was able to lead her training team and join them in personally delivering the training to all juvenile facility staff.

And Crystal Perez was awarded the Jerry Darling Award. That award was created in order to honor Jerry Darling, who is instrumental in the development of programs and standards within juvenile institutions. This award is designed to acknowledge individuals who are devoted to the highest principles in the operation of juvenile institutions for their contributions to the field.

J.I.O. Perez was selected for her work and dedication to the trust unit where she was instrumental in design, launch and subsequent success of programs which opened in January of 2020 and was created around the tenets of positive youth development. That's all I have to report today.

Thank you Ms. Masnuchich and they've done us proud. And now clerk

announcements Chair Hartman and members of the board, I do have a couple quick announcements this morning. We posted an addendum to today's agenda on Friday September 16th amending the closed session agenda. The closed session agenda was amended to include two additional closed session agenda items. The first is under conference with legal counsel existing litigation paragraph one of subdivision B of the government code section 54956.9 United States of America, XREL Judith Zizza versus County of Santa Barbara at all. United States District Court for the Central District of California case number 214 CV 06891 The second is under conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation, paragraph four of subdivision D of the government code section 54956.9 deciding whether to initiate civil litigation one case.

This amendment was posted online and has been made available to the board and members of the public. 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 on 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 meetings 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's office to make that request preferably 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 in the registration confirmation email. You will be placed on mute until it is your turn to speak.

The clerk will call you by name. When removed from mute, you will hear a notification that your line has been unmuted. If you are using a touch-tone phone, you may need to press star six to unmute yourself. Each person may address the board for up to three minutes at the discretion of the chair. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Clerk of the Board's Office at 805-568-2240. That concludes my announcements for today.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. So turning to our administrative agenda I have that items A9 and A13 have been pulled. Have any other board members pulled any items or like anything else full? And do any members of the public have any items to pull?

Chair Hartman and members of the Board we have two requests to speak from the public on item 13. All

right thank you would you read A9 into the record please?

Chair Hartman and members of the board, administrative item number nine is from the General Services Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding an amendment number two with Endless Energy Inc for the Bettarabia campus and Fire Station 12 renewable energy project number 19026. This item is located within the second and fifth districts this item requires a forfeits vote.

Supervisor

Levin.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I pulled this item just had a few questions that I didn't see in the original report and this one's this one's close to me because this is right across the parking lot so I see it every day and I was a little bit dismayed to see that where we're at because it's not It's not too surprising in the climate that we're in, that we're having problems with supply chain. So I get that what I'm most concerned about is the payoff period and we did get a late email. So payoff period, the payoff period that we were anticipating, I think was nine years or seven.

Was it nine years? And now we've moved to 11. I just want to make sure about that.

That's correct. Supervisor Lavinia did the chair.

And then is there one thing I'm worried about? So, I don't know that much about solar. So, I talked to Supervisor Williams about this but I just want to be clear on this too. Is it so those panels have been up there for a couple of years already. What's what's the degradation? What have we lost by the time that we get it plugged in? What have we lost in the use of those and what's their lifespan in this?

So I'm going to hand this over to John Green, who has taken on this project too. To get it moving forward so with that

John go from the from the jail to the next. Yeah, they only give them hard, easy ones. You get all the easy ones. All right.

Good morning and Supervisor Levin, you know through the chair so we understand that panels kind of degradate about half a percent per year. Okay?

So even in the Even in the early stage. I mean, aren't they at their most potent or do they did they degrade exponentially as they get older? Or so in the first year, we're only losing a half. So we're going to lose a percent and a half is what you're telling me

that's

somewhere

around there. Supervisor Levin, through the chair, it's about a half a percent per year.

All right. Every year. And then I guess one of the other questions I'm most worried about, too, is so it seems like we're in this position where There are parts that due to supply chain issues, that the contractor is not able to get. Or just kind of explain it to me a little bit about I want to know the details of now we're buying the parts or explain that out a little bit.

Yeah, Supervisor Lavinier to the chair. Great question. So the county or general services is going to procure the materials and they are out to bid currently through public purchase. We're being told that we should have the materials first. We're seeing supply chain issues on all of our projects But we're being told that we should see everything in the first quarter of 2023 be delivered. And then, we anticipate about a three months period to install that equipment. Okay

and then I'm trying to figure out where the increase in cost is it kind of fleshed that out for me because if we're now procuring the parts Have the parts gone up substantially increased or was it due to raw material increase in cost? Why are we paying 30% more?

Supervisor Levin, through the chair. It's kind of a combination of things so material costs have increased since this contract was awarded in 2019. The cost of steel and concrete copper has all risen significantly and then addition to that you know labor costs have gone up and you know it's just kind of a perfect storm about this project.

As a general practice, when we have a contract with a vendor and we see a situation like we have right now where inflation is going through the roof and supply chain issues and costs are going up. Is this common practice that we would renegotiate? I mean is it allowable under our

Supervisor Lavagnino to the chair. I don't know that it's a common practice, but in this particular project there were a lot of changes made during the course of construction that also created cost impacts to the project.

So we are now anticipating June of 2023 and we will be producing more electrical power than we'd originally anticipated.

Yes, Supervisor Lavender to the Chair. We are generating I think it's almost 0.9 megawatt versus the 0.8 megawatts when this initially went into design so we're generating more. We're confident that we'll have the system completed and installed in June 2023 and then will go operational shortly after that depending on approvals from PG&E and when we can start generating power

And all the other work inside the buildings replacing all of the lighting and all that's already done. Yeah,

correct. The LED upgrade is complete.

OK. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

You're

welcome.

I had a question as well on the 11 year payback period. If the cost of energy continues to rise, will that then be shorter?

Chair Hartman, that's a great question. So yes what we're seeing is when this was put together initially in 2019 it was about 19 cents a kilowatt hour and currently we're looking at 25 cents a kilowatt hour and that's expected to continue to rise so if you factor that into the formula that we put together the actual payback period is still about nine years But using the original formula that was put together for this project, we're at 11.8 years.

Okay, thank you. I don't see any more lights and I'm still a very enthusiastic supporter of this project. I think with unstable energy prices the more we can produce here on site with solar is a very good thing.

Thank you. Thank you.

A13 would you read that into the record Madam Clerk?

Chair Hartman and members of the board, Administrative Item 13 is from the General Services Department. Is to consider recommendations regarding the contract renewal for countywide security services with Triumph Protection Group.

Supervisor Nelson?

Yes, Chair Hartmann I understand there's some public comment. I'll be happy to go after that.

On A13.

Chair Hartmann and members of the board we will begin with Andy Caldwell via Zoom.

Chair Hartman, members of board, Andy Caldwell representing Colap. We understand the necessity of this item but we want to talk about the necessity of this in the context of this issue Whether or not crime rates are going down, whether or not you need the South County Jail at near full capacity and the like. Because obviously some of these buildings are in Santa Barbara, the city of Santa Barbara, some of them are in the City of Santa Maria and some of them are in the County of Santa Barbara.

And what this item means is that the county staff Doesn't feel safe, nor do they feel that their buildings and facilities are saved by way of regular police and sheriff protocols. IE that well if you got a problem you call 911. Well, the reason we're speaking here today is that we believe that there's an upwards of 84% increase in crime in our rural communities.

And a few weeks ago, we had a meeting with about 40 farmers and business owners both in the county and in the city of Santa Maria. And they talked about getting ripped off and vandalized on nearly a weekly basis. And we believe we need the extra help too, just like you feel like you need a $1.5 million supplement to police and sheriff, we need that supplement as well. And what we're asking for Is if you would consider spending another one and a half million dollars for a vertical integration prosecution unit of rural crime deputies in criminal investigator and a prosecution unit. Because these thefts and intimidations are happening on a, like I said, a weekly basis in the rural areas and the cities. Now we know that you can't do that in the cities but certainly you could help us in the rural communities.

And the bottom line is some of this is done by the homeless which I think is part of your problem but some it's also being done by crime range. And the damage is astounding to the farmers and also other businesses. So we would ask that you would not just in essence look after your own interest with this extra effort, but you would consider making an extra effort for your residents and taxpayers as well. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Caldwell.

And now we have Jim Stolberg here in Santa Maria.

Good morning, board. My name is Jim Stolberg. I'm a partner at Hampton Farming and also sit on the county's Ag Advisory Committee. We grow wine grapes and avocados from Santa Maria down to Lompoc and San Ynez. Over the past four years our company and our clients have suffered more than a dozen thefts and destruction of our property and our equipment. These damages have cost us well over $100,000 We work closely with Detective John Fleming in recovering property and attempting to prevent further damages.

However, frankly he's just spread too thin. We need you to allocate significantly warm funds for patrol officers in the county and to a dedicated prosecutor for crimes against business. I'm asking this before you are entering into this multi-million dollar contract to secure government locations. You really need to look at allocating funds to protect our businesses and our employees.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you. Does that conclude

public comment, Madam Clerk?

Chair Hartman and members of the board, we received a request to speak for items A1 through A4. We'll go back to those but on this item yes it does.

Supervisor Nielsen? Yes thank you chair Hartman I think there's two issues here there's that the contract which i wanted to pull this item to talk about the contract and then there's a real crime issue and I think there's some additional speakers that might be speaking in public comment and I'll be I'll delay my comments until after they've spoken about this important issue. The reason why I brought the contract up specifically is, you know, I was opposed to this enhancement for security in the past.

We're not there as a society that we need to have that level of protection. And so I voted against this when we previously proposed it, so I'm gonna again stay consistent and vote against it today. I don't think these two issues while they're expenditures whether we move forward with this contract and whether we address some of the property rule crime out there are two important issues in our county but not necessarily connected. I'll be glad to move a little bit further ahead another time. I just wanted roll call vote on this.

And Director Pelz, did you have something you wanted to clarify or say are just available? I'm just available for

questions.

Supervisor Labadino.

Thank you Madam Chair and I wish I remembered maybe it was you Jeanette that gave me an update on the type of items that are being confiscated at these checkpoints. I think it was you.

A

lot of meetings could you kind of just give us a rundown of what you're seeing

So I would like to introduce Gary Thompson, who's our physical security coordinator and he can give us a quick update on that. Thank you.

And while Gary's coming up, I agree with Supervisor Nelson. I think these are two different items. I'm totally in support of increasing rural crime oversight. But I think this is I understand why publics trying to mix these two together, but I'd be happy to deal with that also later.

Sure, Gary. Good morning. Good morning, Supervisor Labanino through the chair. Thank you for the question. Just to give a little background, security screening began on July 13th at our administration buildings. The technology in place is x-ray scanners and walkthrough metal detectors. So our primary focus is to reduce exposure to external risk. As the seat of county government, the administration buildings are high profile They host public hearings, are subject to protests and may have contentious debate.

We often receive visitors suffering from mental illness and erratic violent behaviors. County employees have also been targeted by opposition to political and social issues especially over the past several years. So without access control measures it was a greater disadvantage for physical security services to screen for hazards So since we implemented the security screening at the administration buildings, we ran some numbers from July 13th through August 26.

The total number of visitors combined at both locations were a little over 3,000, 3,087 persons. The total seized items were 159. That's a seizure rate of 5%. Of those items, 126 knives and those knives were anything from pocket knives to hunting knives of different sizes. 19 tools, when we say tools we're thinking about box cutters, razor blades things of that nature. 12 pepper spray canisters, two tasers and two persons with valid CCW authorized to carry were directed return their weapons to their vehicle which they did without incident and that's part of our procedure So that just gives you a little oversight of what we're collecting through this screening process. And it's not that these items are illegal to carry, I mean you can carry these legally in this country.

That's not the point. We look at a comprehensive approach to security and safety so we're looking at the big picture without screening People who want to do harm to persons would have a greater advantage to do so if we allow these items to enter our facilities. So, we're trying... We can't stop 100%, right? But we can mitigate the risk by eliminating those vulnerabilities and that's what we're trying to achieve. Thank you.

Thank you.

Well personally I want to thank you for what you The others do in protecting not only us, honestly if this was just me up here and us I think we wouldn't feel like we need to do this. We have employees here that are threatened you know we have tax collection here where people get really upset if they have to come in and pay a tax or they're told that they can't do something that they want to do I think it would only take somebody out in the public about 10 minutes to look through our emails and realize there are a lot of very disturbed individuals out there.

And I just appreciate what you do, and I have no problem moving this forward. And like I said for me it's two different things, rural crime and protecting our employees that are here. I think anybody that has an issue with this all you have to do is go back and look at what happened in San Bernardino County. Ethically, just tell our employees show up and with no protection out there. So I'll be supporting this and I'll move it if once we get done with any other comments

supervisor Williams.

Well, I think it's important to address and having Gary and his team about because of attraction and retention. We have a one department in particular that is exhausted from the last couple of years worth of work, and we need those folks to stick around. And you know, the death threats that were made were very real. You know, sometimes people make those and they are not deemed by law enforcement to be serious in the past six months we've had or past 12 months we've had death threats that were deemed investigatable and prosecutable.

And in that context you know it makes sense for us to be proactive instead of wait for a tragedy to happen On the issue of rural crime, I very much want to have more proactive policing. But I think people are under the false assumption that if we augment the Sheriff's budget for more personnel in rurals crime that we would actually have more people in the department. That's not what would take place.

The undersheriff came to us and said very clear what he would do is staff it with any augmentation that we made, he would staff it with people from another part of the Sheriff's Department because he is not able to recruit enough personnel to staff it with new people. So what that would do is it would just take away from patrol elsewhere or proactive policing elsewhere. We are not in a good position to be augmenting it because we would essentially then pay twice for the same officer, we would pay once for them supposed to be doing patrol in one area of the county and then chasing the next thing that we budget, we'd be paying the Sheriff's Department twice to do it over there with the same person. And obviously that person can only be in one place at one time so that the way to solve this is we need to improve attraction and retention of our sheriff's personnel and that means you know morale in the department.

That means addressing morale in the department That means addressing, you know, issues in the department. And it means going out there and, you know, recruiting great young local people to join the Sheriff's Department and do a little bit of heroism in their hometown. And, you know, judging from some of the folks that have done really well in the last couple years, you may think you're too old for the sheriff's department, but you are not.

So, yeah, If you have a clean record, come talk to us.

If we could keep our comments to this item that is security. Rural crime really isn't on our agenda today. We can ask that it be agendized and get some options coming back from us. Supervisor Hart?

Everything's been said except that and I think I would welcome putting another item on the agenda to talk about.

Okay, Supervisor Nielsen?

Yes thank you. You know I don't want to debate the merits of security or I just want to make sure that we don't poke holes in what the efforts that are being done, because I understand there's you know if we're going to pay for this. I want to make sure it's done in a way that is effective but you know we need to consider you know that some of these things out there that make us want to protect our employees A crime that was an employees on employees.

You know, I'm the expert U.S. Postal Office using employees on employees so you know when we talk about crimes against government employees when you look at the whole picture again I want to make sure Again, if you're spending these funds that they're done in a way that it really does provide protection. You know the list of things that were screened there sounds like a barbecue in Santa Maria I mean that's just not there's not a lot there that concerns me.

That's you know best thing to prevent a bad guy with a weapon is a good guy with a weapon and so Hopefully that's a police officer, but in some cases when minutes count, you know cops or with seconds counting cops are minutes away. So it isn't good sometimes to have good citizens that are willing to step in the gap. So anyway I'm again made my comments about this and I would like to roll call

vote. Supervisor Labanino will you move that? I'll

move A13.

All right and may I add a second?

Second.

And Madam Clerk, could we have a roll call vote please?

Motion passes four to one and

so we have the public A1 through A4 and people would like to comment on each of those individually I gather is that correct madam clerk

Chair Hartman and members of the board, it is one public commenter that would like to comment on looks like the bundle of those items.

Okay I think we have to read them each end of the record and then you can make your comment but we won't read them individually and have you comment if that's all right?

Chair Hartman and members of the board, administrative item number one is from the Behavioral Wellness Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding agreement number 22-20133 with the California Department of Health Services County Mental Health Plan fiscal years 2022 through 2027 Administrative item number two is also from the Behavioral Wellness Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding the First Amendment to the agreement with the Santa Barbara County Education Office, fiscal years 2021 through 2022.

Administrative item number three is from the Behavior Wellness Department. Is to consider recommendations regarding the behavioral wellness staffing contract with Stock Star Medical Partners LLC, fiscal years 2021 through 2024. Administrative item number four is also from the Behavioral Wellness Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding the Behavioral Wellness American Rescue Plan Act Mental Health Agreement with Flanc Perp Valley Community Healthcare Organization, fiscal years 2022 through 2024. Thank you.

Thank you. Sorry, I did not realize that my request to speak included that. I'm Jill Bolster-White. I am the Executive Director of Transitions Mental Health Association. We're a contractor with the Behavioral Health Department and I just wanted to indicate my support for the department and these items. We've just been really happy to work with Director Navarro and her team. And so that's really all I wanted to say. I did want to mention, I'd be remiss as a mental health advocate though, just to mention in the last presentation It's important not to conflate mental health diagnoses and violence. It's really important that we acknowledge that people who have a diagnosed mental illness are usually the victims of crime and not the perpetrators, so it is a distinction I wanted to make.

So thanks for...

Thank you very much, and thank you for being here. We appreciate your work. So that concludes our administrative agenda. We'll go to public comment. I imagine we'll hear more about rural crime there, and can you give direction? Yeah, we'll get there. All right. So may I have a motion to approve the balance of the administrative agenda?

I'll make that motion

in this second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The balance of the administrative agenda is approved. So now we'll go to resolution number 16, the administrative item number 16. Madam Clerk, would you read that into the record?

Chair Hartman and members of the Board, Administrative Item 16 is sponsored by Supervisor Labanino. It is to adopt a resolution proclaiming the month of September 22, 2022 as National Recovery Month in Santa Barbara County. Joining us here in person we have Amy Lopez. And I will now read the resolution into the record. Whereas the Santa Barbara County Behavioral Wellness Department provides, in partnership with community-based organizations, a continuum of care which includes the prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery for mental health and substance use challenges. Promoting the message that behavioral well, behavioral health is essential to wellness. And whereas mental health and substance use disorders affect Santa Barbara County and all communities nationwide And with the commitment and support, those impacted can embark on a journey of improved physical health, emotional health and overall wellness.

And whereas the Recovery Month theme, Recovery is for Everyone, Every Person, Every Family, Every Community celebrates all people that make the journey of recovery possible and spreads the message that people can and do recover every day. And whereas Recovery Month promotes new evidence-based treatments for those battling addiction and focuses on recovery practices that need, and the need for a strong recovery community with service providers who help people who are undergoing recovery. Through Recovery Month people become aware and able to recognize the signs of mental health and substance use disorders and encourage people in need of recovery services to seek support and treatment And whereas the County of Santa Barbara Behavioral Wellness Department collaborates with partner agencies and community-based organizations in all areas of the county to ensure everyone has the opportunity to achieve and sustain long term recovery by improving their health and wellness, living a self directed life, and striving to reach their full potential.

And whereas we encourage continued collaboration and integration of services to ensure success for individuals and groups who are in long-term recovery. And whereas the Recovery Month observance will continue to work to improve the lives of those affected by mental health and substance use disorders, by raising awareness and educating communities about the effective services that are now available, and by celebrating all recovery achievements. And now, therefore be it and it is hereby ordered to resolve that this Board of Supervisors proclaims September 2022 as National Recovery Month in Santa Barbara County and encourages all residents to support men, women, youth, and their families who are in drug and alcohol addiction treatment and mental health recovery programs throughout our county passed and adopted today.

Good morning, Chair Hartman and Supervisors and County staff. We're really excited to be here today to celebrate National Recovery Month. I'm going to turn it over to our Alcohol and Drugs Program team. I'd like to introduce to you all though Melissa Wilkins who is now our Division Chief over Alcohol and Drug Programs for the first time announcing her and introducing her to you all in that new role. And this is Amy Lopez, Program Manager of Alcohol and Drug Programs and they have a presentation for you and they brought goodie bags for you so if I can pass those out to you while they're speaking.

Thanks, Tony. Chair Hartman and members of the board, thank you for having us here today. This is always the fun part of the meetings and we really appreciate your acknowledgement. Tony stole some of my thunder. This is our new division chief Melissa Wilkins. I'll just say it again. Very excited to have her here today and glad that they came down from South County to join us here In our favorite North County.

And I would, I wanted to introduce the team that I brought here with me today if you all could just stand up from Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse we have Deshaun Chavez and Victor Vega wave your hands from Good Samaritan Shelter Services we have Lindy Morabito And Christina Vasquez, Anna Chase and Donna Flores and Kirsten Cajun. This is just a small fraction of some of the representatives from our treatment programs. We do contract our services out into the community. This is just a small fraction of those who are working the front lines even throughout the pandemic to ensure that all of our beneficiaries in Santa Barbara County have access to services.

So like Tony said, we did bring you I'm going to rephrase that they're not gifts or goodies. These are actually outreach packages so this is similar to what you would receive if you were in the community. We are in the middle of an opioid and fentanyl crisis in the country here in Santa Barbara County it's hit us pretty hard and we are like everybody else I heard I think it was Supervisor Williams talk about staffing. We struggle as well with getting the manpower out there to match the need or the demand for Narcan and overdose prevention.

We actually gave you a flyer in there, this is brand new hot off the press with information on overdose prevention, what an overdose might look like and how to administer Narcan because technically we can't give that to you without educating you on the topic There's also, we're getting really good with technology. You'll see a little scan code right here so you can go online and watch the video. Very exciting that we recently launched our Fentanyl is Forever campaign. You may have seen some commercials, radio ads in English and Spanish but we also are in a pilot project for Naloxone Now Santa Barbara.

Just this week alone, we have sent out I think 10 kits To members who log, who go online to our website, to Fentanyl's Forever. Go to Get Naloxone. Click on Get Naloxone Now. Enter their information. Acknowledge that they reviewed the video on how to administer Narcan and then we mail a kit to them. It's pretty innovative. It is very unfortunate that in Santa Barbara County we're in the situation that we're in. That this is what we have come to but it's exciting Support from our department head, from the Board of Supervisors and from all of our contracted providers in getting the word out.

Educating the community and providing treatment to our beneficiaries who need it. Did I miss anything? It is recovery month, and that's why we're here. We're celebrating recovery. Recovery is for everyone. I do have to say that substance abuse does not discriminate. It impacts all communities, all walks of life north south. And so we are here to celebrate recovery in every small step of recovery is a celebration.

And we had two events so far one in Lompoc One in Santa Maria, and we have another one on Monday the 26th at Sunken Gardens from 4 to 7 p.m., again to celebrate recovery and all the efforts that families make to be in recovery. And we have two amazing guest speakers, music, games, prizes, and food. So we encourage you all to come out with us and celebrate recovery and celebrate the efforts that the community has made to be in recovery themselves.

Thank you very much. I just wanted to say, I was at a Labor Day picnic and B-Well was there. I was at the event in Lompoc and B-Well and many other county departments were there. And what strikes me is that you're not sitting in your office waiting for people to come. You're getting out You're hiring people. I went to an Allan Hancock College event where they featured somebody who you've hired, somebody who had been in gangs, been in prison, been addicted and recovered got his AA degree now he's working towards his So I'm going to start by saying thank you to the Board of Supervisors.

All that you're doing in outreach and meeting people where they are is extremely important. And I just wanted to add, Supervisor Nelson and I have participated along with B-Well and others in the Sheriff's forums on fentanyl and can't overestimate How devastating that is and that fentanyl is sneaking into other drugs. For example, in Hollywood the stars no longer use cocaine because it may be tainted with fentanyl and kill them so it gets into other kinds of drugs and you don't know that And it comes in pills that look like they're legitimate and they're not. So you have to be really, really careful. I don't know if you'd like to say any more about that Director Navarro but about the camouflage and why you may not be having what you think you're having and why you have to be so careful?