Board of Supervisors — 2023-02-07

Good morning. I'd like to call the February meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to order. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you Mr. Chair, members of the board. There's one item for closed session today public employee appointment reappointment general services director and the time estimate is 1 hour.

And we will return at 10 o'clock for closed session We are reconvening the meeting of February 7th, 2023. Will county council please report out from closed session?

Thank you Mr. Chair and members of the board. The board met in closed session for one item, public employee appointment for general services director and the board took no reportable action.

Thank you. I want to welcome all of you to the ceremony in recognition of elected officials for 2022. Every two years, we meet to honor the officials who have been elected or reelected to represent the residents of Santa Barbara County. This is a special day for Santa Barbara County and an important moment for us to celebrate democracy at work in our local community.

The incoming chair, which is me. I'm Doss Williams, is given the opportunity to design the program and feature special guests. I had the honor of planning this recognition with much help from my staff. And before I begin, I know there are many illustrious guests here but when we have some of our former colleagues, I especially wanna call them out. And we have in the audience today former supervisors Janet Wolfe, Doreen Farr and Susan Rose and we just wanna welcome them for being here. Oh, and Gail Marshall!

I can't forget my own constituent. And that's also Gail Marshall. Thank you. We will begin with the color guard

Chair Williams and members of the board, I would now like to introduce the Santa Barbara County Fire Department's Honor Guard who will be leading us through the presentation of colors and the Pledge of Allegiance. The Santa Barbara County Fire Department's Honor Guard proudly serves as ambassadors of the department in a positive display of professionalism and patriotism. The Honor Guard was established in early 2003 at the direction Of then Fire Chief John M. Chere, the need for an honor guard was realized as a result of the in-line-of-duty death of Engineer Inspector Robert Mosley. The Honor Guard represents the department by presenting the colors consisting of the flags of the nation, state, county and department.

The colors are protected by axe bearers. The Honor Guard can be assigned to a multitude of civil events, including funerals, dedications and memorial events on state, local and federal level and also participates in multi-agency color guard functions. The Santa Barbara County Fire Department's team consists of 12 active duty International Association of Firefighters Local 2046 members of all ranks. The honor guards unique uniform and precision marking marching techniques enables them to achieve a high level of excellence for each assignments they are detailed to perform, please join the board in welcoming the Santa Barbara County Fire Department's Honor Guard.

Thank you

Hello.

Not only because they respond to all of our largest emergencies, both in the city and the county. They're our largest fire department that gives mutual aid. And because they managed to do that in the tightest space. We should give them an extra round of applause. Well, we normally do this ceremony on the first meeting of January. That meeting took place the morning after a terrible flooding event so we all both you and the various institutions of that various departments of the county Had much to do, so we canceled that and moved it to today.

But I want to... So it's not formally an installation anymore because I've been installed but we wanted to give our outgoing chair Joan Hartman who did an incredible job to have a chance for statement.

Thank you. When I handed off the gavel five years ago, it had been quite an eventful year. The El Capitan debris flows, the Ivy Bluff collapse, the Whittier fire, the Thomas fire and the 1-9 debris flow whose anniversary we are marking today. So when I was preparing for today's originally scheduled ceremony, I was planning to say this past year has been relatively calm. A time of consolidation, regrouping, gathering our feet beneath us after the great unplanned experiment that was COVID.

But then we were hit with the massive atmospheric rivers, and we are still digging our way out. As an organization, we've learned to continue with our normal business while also addressing many emergency situations. Our CEO has declared I think 21 different emergencies in her tenure here. It's an extraordinary adeptness of our county staff that they can rise to these demands, and I'm humbled to observe the dedication and ethos of service that runs throughout our organization.

So some of the big accomplishments for the past year include our budget. We passed a $1.41 billion budget including 27.3 million for ARPA allocation Much of which was devoted to addressing homelessness and housing, co-response and criminal justice. We had some new policy directives. We adopted new supervisorial districts determined by the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, the first in the state created by initiative. We conducted powerful diversity equity inclusion joint training for our executives. We committed to a community action plan to address homelessness and encampments, a regional cross-jurisdictional model. And we are continuing to allocate ARPA funds and to secure additional grant funding due to our on the ground successes.

We adopted a hybrid remote work model for county employees. We passed a hemp ordinance and a conditional use permit requirement for new cannabis cultivation projects, and we supported steps towards a Santa Maria River Trail along the levee, a farmworker resource center, and purchase of a building for the Orchid Library. We've completed major infrastructure projects such as the Randall Road Debris Basin, Recycled Water Project at Waller Park, the Dignity Moves project for homeless in Santa Barbara, our Northern Branch Jail and we're nearing completion of the Better Avia Center microgrid and new EV charging stations at county facilities. And we've made significant progress on electrifying our county fleet.

We've made some major outstanding new hires. Our Chief Information Officer, our Animal Services Director, our Public Information Officer, our Ag Commissioner, our Public Health Director and we're about to hire a new General Services Director. I'm always sad when friends, colleagues, department heads retire when we get that notice. But I believe we are unassembling an amazing new team. Each of these exceptional leaders will bring new insights and strategies to move our county forward.

Our county this past year has been recognized with several awards. CSAC awarded our county a challenge grant for its three-year post COVID health and human services recovery and resiliency strategies. CSAC also recognized the novel Public Works Bucker Brigade partnership to build a new network of community pedestrian paths. The South Coast Chamber of Commerce acknowledged our co-response team, a collaboration with B-Well and our Sheriff's Office with its Innovator of the Year Award.

The California Arts Council awarded our County Office of Arts and Culture $4.75 million to support community resilience in the Central Coast region. And at the National DA's Conference, former DA Joyce Dudley was given the 2022 Champion for Kids Award. As the chair's prerogative we celebrated the diversity of cultural contributions by different ethnic groups to our county.

And some Arab American Heritage Month, the Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month where we celebrated Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian cultures and their particular contributions here in Santa Barbara County among many others. This is a proud record of achievement But I'd like to note three subtler things as well and why I'm so proud to serve with my colleagues on the board.

The first is investment in technology throughout our organization. We are investing in new technological systems, an enterprise system internally, a cellar for permitting, coordinated entry for homeless, and the new systems for criminal justice partners And I have confidence that with our new Chief Information Officer, along with all the preparatory work done by Jeff Frapwell, these systems are going to knit us together in wholly new ways and improve the quality of experience of working with the county.

It takes a huge investment in these systems And you have to work not just with the technology, but with the people. And I have to admit, I'm not always the first who wants to adapt Teams instead of Zoom. So it takes getting over some resistance. But we're an innovative organization and we're doing this. We're also a board of financial prudence. Each of us on the board is committed to a balanced budget, and by that I don't mean that we're just not running a deficit but that we aren't neglecting important but less visible investments such as technology and infrastructure, rainy day funds and reserve funds. These are the foundational scaffolding for government and they're also what gets us through in these emergency situations so there are no It's visible, but they're extremely important.

And the last thing I want to mention is the commitment to the democratic process. I often hearken back to John Stuart Mill. It's like an article of faith. He argues that democracy, messy as it is, is superior to a benevolent dictator. But then the question is why? And he says, in a democracy individuals grow and learn and discuss and debate and fight. But they learn from each other.

And in a civil society we also grow when people in groups are able to tackle more and more demanding projects by the skills of learning to work together. Yes it's messy. But we're up here trying to find common ground, understanding that each of us is a voice for important constituent groups. And each possesses an important piece of the puzzle we are trying to solve. We stay open-minded and willing to listen and explore compromises. And increasingly, we are asking that the people who come to us do the same. We are prudent with taxpayer money, we are investing in the future and we are demonstrating what a functional democracy looks like. It's been a privilege to serve as your chair for the past year and I know that Supervisor Williams will certainly take us even further down the path of achievement.

And what you get, you change the gavel but all importantly you get the battery charged phone for emergencies

This is a stark reminder, it's essentially the bat phone. And it's a stark reminder of that once again we have had a terrifying reminder of what a climate enhanced disaster can do. Five years ago we had the debris flow concentrated in Montecito. Just a few weeks ago, we had flooding that was all over the county. Particularly hard hit were parts of Santa Barbara, Orkut, Guadalupe and elsewhere.

And these present us with a challenge. A challenge to become more resilient. A challenge to not forget past events. A challenge to build, in some cases, infrastructure for the next century. And a challenge to us to do our part to fight climate change. I want to remind us that it is this long term that really government has the task, the mission to fulfill is not just look for the next few years but to look for the arc of history and to look into the future.

The county and all of its people must do what we can do for energy decarbonization, there's three basic ingredients to this. Energy decarbonization is one that's the one that we're most successful on. The county has joined Central Coast Community Energy and we just signed a contract for the first compressed air storage facility in the world that doesn't use natural gas.

That would be, for us, 200 megawatts of storage but this is not going to be enough. We think we need to do about 600 megawatts of storage between now and 2030 for the whole Central Coast community energy region. The second ingredient is housing close to jobs when we have jobs and are job centers. But when we export growth to neighboring communities, we not only tear apart our families, we not only tear apart the fabric of our society but increasingly the data indicates we destroy the environment too.

And when we all got into preservation For sake of protecting the environment, the moment we realize that we're actually destroying the environment with us it should cause us to reevaluate our priorities. This part of the puzzle, transportation is 55% of our emissions in this county and statewide it's 60%. And so really this leads me to the last part which is that you hold the keys to that, because not only building housing close to jobs is part of that mission but the electrification of transportation.

That's a fancy way to say electric cars and transit. We need to increase not only what the county has done. As most of you know, we now have a policy of only buying electric cars for our sedan fleet except for their public safety departments and now beginning this month or last month, we have a policy of only buying it electric trucks for light duty fleet as well.

But we also need to make it easier for you to be part of that. We are ambitious in the hundreds of chargers that we want to build as a county and that we want to make sure that County employees and the public in general can use electric cars and can be part of this effort to save the environment, but also to save ourselves. One of the things I'm most proud of about serving on this Board of Supervisors is something that Supervisor Hartman alluded to.

We live in an age where, of intensity, of belief, of a mistrust of people who have different beliefs than us. I think we saw this heightened even more in the last couple years with the nationwide COVID emergency And I can tell you, especially our public health staff but all throughout the county we have felt that increased intensity. It's become more dangerous. People have become more angry and what I'm most proud of is in that time the Board of Supervisors has instead of mistrusting each other more, instead of being caught up in this nationwide cycle of anger and partisanship That we've drawn together.

We see the world in different ways, the five of us. We have sometimes differing priorities. We are not all moderates. We don't just get along because our ideology is similar. We get along because we trust each other's values. We trust each other's heart. And we want to work together for practical results for the county. And we hope that this will be an example that government and relations with government doesn't have to be angry and intense, it can be respectful, we can learn together, work together, and make solutions.

Thank you for being here. And now it's my pleasure to introduce Associate Rabbi Daniel Brenner of Congregation in B'nai Barith. Rabbi Brenner joined CBB in July of 2018 and is currently the associate rabbi. In addition to providing clergy support to meet our community's growing needs, he teaches confirmation classes, melt-in classes and works with our young adults and young families.

He also helps to run a number of special projects, including strengthening our community of respect and understanding. I met him and just really wanted him to do this because I've seen him as part of our efforts with dignity moves to house the homeless, and I've seen his active role in the interfaith community and reaching out to other communities and drawing them together.

He was ordained in May of 2018 by Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. Rabbi Daniel has served as the student rabbi of Congregation B'nai David in Visalia, California, the rabbinic intern of Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills and most recently the rabbinic intern right here at CBB. During his years of HUC study, he was also a rabbinic fellow for NFTY in Israel and a member of APAC Lafell Fellowship which brought rabbinic students from seminaries across the religious spectrum together for learning and engaging around Israel.

Rabbi Daniel is proud to hail himself as a local boy because he was raised in Ventura at Temple Beth Torah which I've attended many times.

That's what my wife says.

Close. He received his bachelor's degree in Israeli and Middle East politics from American Jewish University in 2011, has a master's in Hebrew letters from Hebrew Union College in addition to his rabbinic ordination and is a frequent Israel traveler having both participated in Birthright and staffed many of their trips. Rabbi Brenner.

Wow. Thank you. Hi everyone. Thank you, Supervisor Williams for giving me the opportunity to speak this morning. I'll have to admit when you asked me to offer an invocation, I Googled invocation. So now that I'm an expert, I'd like to start with something a little less traditional. I'll take a moment just to offer a reflection on leadership. Around the world this week, Jewish communities are reading the same section of Torah which is our sacred text. We're reading a portion called Yitro and in it Moses has just led the Israelites out of Egypt across the Sea of Reeds and once he's on the other side, he is visited by his father-in-law Jethro Jethro is the high priest of the Midianites, which is another group of people practicing a different faith.

And yet when he visits the Israelites, he acknowledges the power of the Israelite God over all others, which is quite a statement. Jethro, ostensibly from across the aisle, acknowledges the other Could a politician today survive lauding the good work of others contrary to their belief system? They should. Jethro offers Moses some advice. He sees Moses as burdened by the responsibility of caring for the entire community.

Moses thought that he could and should handle the task on his own, but Jethro sits him down Appoint helpers, he says. Delegate the tasks needed to be completed. Then you might actually have time to lead. Moses follows Jethro's advice and by the end of the reading, the Israelites have arrived at Mount Sinai and have received the Ten Commandments. I'm curious how these lessons of leadership from Torah would enhance this county's work.

To know when to take advice, to not need credit for the things being done, to congratulate the individual who worked hard despite your own personal stake. Maybe that already happens here and if so Kol Hakavod all of the honor to all of you If we could remove the feeling that all burdens fall directly on our shoulders alone and no others, what would that do for our ability to serve our county?

That could be why there's five of you. But don't be afraid to widen your circle of individuals willing to improve the community. As a prayer of invocation I'll offer words that our community says every Shabbat morning We offer this intentionality as we go about our day. We say that we cannot merely pray to God to end war or disease or prejudice, for we have been given every tool necessary as human beings to combat these plights.

There's no challenge that humankind lacks the capacity to overcome. Instead, we pray God grant us strength, determination and willpower to do instead of merely to pray that our world may be safe. And in turn, our lives be blessed. To you are County Board of Representatives supervisors. I pray that you make decisions according to the needs of the many over the fancies of the few That you seek guidance constantly.

That you become experts in listening, not in speaking. That you are known for your compassion and generosity more than your accomplishments. That you are leaders, not politicians. Do this and I know that there is nothing our county cannot handle. No need or challenge too great for this body and its supporters to find a solution to. In Hebrew, I'll close. Baruch ata Adonai. Sh'natan lanu hizdamnut l'taken ata olam. Thank you Holy Source for giving us the opportunity to do good in the world.

Thank you.

Thank you so much Rabbi Brenna. I would like now to introduce Dr. Azam Faiz Dr. Faiz teaches courses in Persian language and literature at UCSB. She has a BA in English Translation from Alame University, an MA in Linguistics from Madaris University in Tehran, and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Florida in Gainesville where her dissertation received the Distinguished Third Guild Award.

She's also obtained a Certificate in Second Language Acquisition and teaching from the University of Florida. Previously, she taught Persian courses in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Illinois. Her research focuses on the structures of Persian language psycholinguistics and second language acquisition. Her interest is in the field of psycholinguistics and it's in language processing, eye tracking, and subject-verb agreement.

She's been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Education Undergraduate International Studies in Foreign Languages for this project. She is accompanied today by one of her students, Emma Safahi. Dr. Faiz has been active in highlighting the protests in Iran which were touched off by the killing of a woman for wearing a hijab. She's been faithful to this week in and week out. You can see her all around town, but often at the Dolphin Fountain weekly reminding us all that the community of humankind is never free until all are free.

Dr. Faiz?

Thank you so much. I am very honored to be with you today, and I am very thankful from Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for providing me with this opportunity to be the voice of people in Iran. Today we are going to read a poem from Saadi Shirazi, 13th century Persian poet from Shiraz, This is a part of his poem, Bani Adam, which emphasizes humanity's need for unity and empathy. Dr. Faiz,

could you just get a little bit closer to the microphone? Great. Thank

you. Yeah this is a part of his poem Bani Adam which emphasizes humanity's need for Unity and Empathy, Especially in Light of the Iran's Current Uprising. This part of the poem has been woven on a large land made Persian carpet installed on the wall of the entrance of the United Nations building in New York. I will go with Persian part and then the English translation.

It says Bani Adam Aza Yeyik Peykarant All human beings are members of one frame. Since all at first from the same essence came. When time afflicts a limb with pain, the other limbs at rest cannot remain. A human being is no name for thee. This poem, as you see, highlights the importance of international solidarity for people of the world. People of Iran at this time they are currently fighting for their basic human rights Iran has a rich history of civilization and culture.

As an example, the first declaration of human rights was established in Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great 2,500 years ago. It is so unfortunate that at this time In 21st century, people of Iran they are deprived from the basic human rights and women's rights. And this is why we need international solidarity to help the people of Iran. I am so thankful from Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to provide me with this opportunity to be the voice of people of Iran.

Persian literature is a treasure to the world for those who know about Persian language literature we have a millennium of Persian literature maybe the biggest epic poetry in the world is in Iran, Shahnameh from Ferdowsi who has revived the Persian language. But today I want to read another poem which is actually a song by Shervin Hajipoor. The reason to read this poem is to highlight The Current Uprising in Iran. This song was written by Shervin Hajipour, a young Iranian artist who dedicated it to the people of Iran fighting for the regime's change and has since become the anthem of the current revolution in Iran.

This song was inspired by the tweets from the young generation in Iran

After releasing the song, Chervin was arrested. But due to the song's worldwide popularity and resonance, the regime released him from prison on bail. Two days ago, the song was awarded a Grammy for Best Song for Social Change. It is a song about the various freedoms that the people are fighting for and are currently deprived of. And now we are going to play this song.

Yeah. For dancing in the streets, for being afraid of the time of decay. For my sister, your sister and our sisters, for changing the minds that have decayed. For shamelessness, for poverty, for longing for an ordinary life. For a child whose wishes are trash, for this ruling economy, Hi. Oh, yeah. Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting Zendegi azali, aray azali. Aray azali, aray azali

you

And now we want to go through all the lines and explain why this song is so important. This song was seen by 40 million people in two days, in the situation that internet was shut down in Iran. People had to use VPN and accept the risk that this VPN has been created by the government People, they just used the song. They sang the song and after people sang the song in different dances around the world, they had to release Sherwin on bail.

And two days ago when he received, when it was announced that he has received the Grammy Prize last night, he has been arrested again by Islamic Revolutionary Guard. We are going to read line by line. So it says, Bara ye touye kouche raghseedan, for dancing in the streets.

Dancing in public in Iran is illegal.

Bara ye tarseedan be baghte booseedan, for being afraid at the moment of kissing.

Dating in Iran is illegal. If you're unmarried, being seen in public with a significant other is illegal

For my sister, your sister, our sisters.

Women's rights in Iran are neglected. They are considered half of

men. For changing decayed minds and values.

The current dictators of Iran govern on a centuries-old and outdated theocratic belief system

For embarrassment from poverty.

Because of this crippling economy, due to governmental mismanagement people are ashamed of not being able to afford basic necessities for their family.

For yearning for an ordinary life

Many people have to work very hard, often with multiple jobs, to afford a simple affordable

life.

There are many kids in Iran who have to work very hard to support their families. Once one of these child laborers was asked what his wish for his future was and he asked what the meaning of the word wish was because he hadn't heard it before. He never had the opportunity

to have a wish

The government is responsible for this crippling economy. Much of the wealth of the country is in the dictator's hands and it's not spent for the people. Tehran and many other cities in Iran have some of the world's worst and most polluted atmospheres. The government has made no effort in helping this climate crisis. Barayas is a main street in Tehran where the trees, like many other places in Iran, are neglected. Many forests and other areas of wildlife are turned into places for governmental profit such as offices and apartment buildings.

Baraye pirooz o ehtemaleh engarazesh. For pirooz anticipated extinction.

Pirouz, pictured here is one of the last living Asiatic cheetahs. There are currently only a dozen of these Asiatic cheetahs left in the world, mostly in Iran. The government does not care for supporting endangered animals such as pirouz and environments on the verge of crisis.

For the innocent forbidden dogs

Walking a dog as a pet, my bad, is illegal because it is considered a resemblance of Western culture. Picture here is a six-year-old girl at her mother's grave. Her mother, Feresha Ahmadi was shot and killed while standing in her own house in Kurdistan. She was not even attending a protest.

For the language of repeating this moment.

Pictured here is Dr. Esmailion and his daughter. On January 8, 2020, his wife and daughter were part of the Ukrainian flight PS-752 which was tragically shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard with two missiles only three minutes after takeoff from Tehran's airport. In total 176 passengers and crew were killed. Many people like Dr. Esmailon yearn desperately to re-experience the memories they experienced with their loved ones.

The couple here are newlyweds Pune and Arash, 25 and 26 years old respectively who are both graduate students of computer science. They had gone to Iran to celebrate their marriage three days before the flight was shot down. They were both killed on this flight.

For future students

Iran has been experiencing extreme brain drain since the revolution. The rate of immigration of college students and graduates has increased three-fold due to high unemployment rates in Iran and a desire for more freedoms. People are forced to practice compulsory religion. Islam is a religion forced upon students regardless of their actual practiced religion. Women, for example, are forced to wear the hijab and have to obey religious rules such as no dancing and no

music. For the imprisoned intellectuals

Some extremely gifted students are in prison for no valid reason or with shallow accusations after sham trials. They are charged with corruption on earth and sentenced to years in prison, or death. An example of this are two students Ali Yunusi and Amir Hossein Moradi. They're award-winning students at Sharif University and winners of multiple astronomy Olympiads.

They were arrested in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison, and they are still in prison.

Afghan

children are not allowed to receive an education in Iran. The government wants them to be repatriated and will not continue their refugee status.

For all these unrepeatable causes, For all these empty slogans, for the ruins of flimsy houses.

The government builds poor quality housing structures this leads to a collapse of the infrastructure such as the collapse of the Metropole Tower pictured here and the MET departments because of this many people are killed and the population is left without shelter

For peace of mind. For the sun following the longest nights.

Long nights are often used as a symbol of hardship in Persian poetry, whereas fire and sunlight are praised for bringing life and prosperity.

For the sedative and sleeping pills

Depression and insomnia are common among Iranian people because of the past 44 years Girls in Iran wish to have equal rights and opportunities as men, and not to be considered as less than them. For example, women in Iran cannot go into stadiums to watch sports. If they attempt to do so, they are arrested. One example is Sahar Khodaryari, pictured here on the right, who attempted to enter the Azadi Stadium disguised as a man to watch the game.

She was arrested and then tortured brutally. After she was sentenced to prison, she went into the street and lit herself on fire in order to avoid the brutal torture she would receive in prison.

Thank you.

Thank you, Emma. Thank you. Next in our program we have a musical presentation by Kelsey Klein. Kelsey is a singer-songwriter born and raised in Ojai who began playing the piano as soon as she could sit up and reach the keys on her own. She trained classically for 10 years, began creating original compositions at the age of 12 drawing inspiration from Chopin, Enya, Tori Amos, and Moby.

An artist she discovered when I brought her to a concert for the album Play right here in Santa Barbara at The Arlington. Throughout her youth, she performed her original music locally in Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. She attended CSUN and graduated Graduated cum laude with a BA in Communication Studies, and afterwards lived and worked in Los Angeles doing hours in the studio honing her craft writing and producing music for herself as well as other artists.

While on a extended trip to Europe Kelsey has had the opportunity to record some new to be released this year at the legendary residential recording studio La Fabrique in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France. She's honored to share a song that's really meaningful to my family especially to my daughter Ya'ash here today. Kelsey?

Thank you so much I think this is a great song to follow up after that presentation of poetry and the last song

You call me out upon the waters The great unknown Where feet may fail And there I find you in the mystery In oceans deep where faith is And. Great. No. Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. Let me walk upon the waters wherever you call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever go. me. Yeah.

Thank you so much, Kelsey. Now I'd like to turn this over to our clerk Ms. Leah Graham who will introduce the elected officials that I'm excited to present here today.

Thank you Chair Williams and members of the board. It is now my pleasure to introduce official elected in 2022 beginning with County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Susan Salcido. Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Susan Salcido was elected to lead Santa Barbara County Education Office who supports 20 school districts 10 charter schools and nearly 70,000 students ages 0-22 countywide Dr. Salcido grew up in Santa Maria. She earned a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in education from UC Santa Barbara, and completed her doctorate in organizational leadership in 2018 at the University of Southern California.

Dr. Salcido has served in education for 28 years as both a teacher and administrator, and she is an advocate for all children and families and for excellence in teaching and learning. She is proud to be entering her sixth year as our county superintendent of schools. Susan indicates that she is deeply grateful to work alongside her phenomenal executive leadership team along with her parents and family all of whom she dedicates this morning celebration.

And now the County of Santa Barbara's elected department heads beginning with Bill Brown, Sheriff Coroner Sheriff Bill Brown was elected to serve his fifth term as Sheriff Coroner, continuing a law enforcement career that spans 45 years. He states that he is proud to lead an outstanding team of more than 800 full-time, part-time and volunteer members of the Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff Brown is a past president of both the State Sheriffs and Police Chiefs Association, the only person ever elected to both positions. He is currently the vice president of the Mayor County Sheriff's of America and is slated to become the president of that national organization in 2024. Sheriff Brown is the longest serving commissioner in the state's Mental Health Commission, and he leads both Santa Barbara County's versions of Stepping Up and a national framework to reduce the number of mentally ill people in jail and Project Opioid, an initiative that brings community leaders together to combat opioid overdoses plaguing the nation and our county. Sheriff Brown states that he is blessed to protect and serve the people of our great county.

Harry Hagen, Treasurer Tax Collector Public Administrator. Harry Hagen is a 58 year resident of Santa Barbara County with 27 years of public finance experience for the county. Harry is a certified public accountant, a certified public finance administrator, a certified public finance officer, a certified fixed income practitioner, a certified government investment professional and an advanced certified public funds investment manager.

He and his wife Julie have two daughters, Melissa and Amanda. Harry begins his fourth term as Treasurer Tax Collector Public Administrator Joseph E. Holland, Clerk, Recorder and Assessor. Joe Holland was elected to the office of Clerk, Recorder and Assessor in 2022 and was recently re-elected to his sixth term of office. As the county clerk, recorder and assessor Mr. Holland oversees a multifaceted department that provides necessary election recordation and property assessment services to residents of Santa Barbara County Educational credentials include a BA in Business Economics and an MA in Economics, both from UCSB. He graduated from UCLA Executive Program at the Anderson School of Business and additionally holds the designation of Certified Public Finance Officer from the nationally recognized Government Finance Officers Association.

Mr. Holland currently serves on the board of California Association of Clerk and Election Officials, and recently served as president from 2018 to July 2020. His community involvement includes volunteering for the United Way of Santa Barbara County for over 25 years, and is currently serving on the board of the Friendship Center. Joe and his wife Kathy are longtime residents of Goleta where they raised their three children Scott, Bridgette, and Michelle.

Betsy Schaefer, Auditor-Controller. Betsy Schaefer was originally sworn into her first term as Auditor Controller on January 8th 2019 and is currently serving her second term in an office that fulfills statutory responsibility for the financial accounting property tax allocations disbursements audits and internal controls of the county Betsy originally started with the county on August 5th, 1991 as an accountant auditor and has held many progressively responsible positions before being elected auditor controller. She earned a BS in business administration with a concentration in accounting from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Betsy serves as a chair for the Accounting Standards Committee of the State Association of County Auditors and is a certified public accountant and a certified public finance officer.

Personally, Betsy lives in Santa Barbara with Peter and Cat Moomoo and loves reading and writing and having adventures in their Sprinter van. That is correct. John Sabernock, District Attorney. John was elected District Attorney of Santa Barbara County in June 2022. DA Sabernock states that he is dedicated to fulfilling the mission of the district attorney's office which is to pursue truth and justice by employing the highest ethical standards in vigorously prosecuting the guilty, protecting the innocent and preventing crime. He began his legal career over 30 years ago. Prior to coming to Santa Barbara County, John was a prosecutor for Fresno County District Attorney's Office for 23 years and held leadership roles for nearly half of that time.

D.A. Savernoff joined the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office in January 2015. He served as Deputy District Attorney, Chief Deputy District Attorney and Assistant District Attorney. John led the office through several major innovations and initiatives and help implement positive community programs. He received a Bachelor's of Science and a Master's of Business Administration from Marquee University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. John attended law school at University of Wisconsin where he received his Juris Doctorate in 1990.

As the district attorney, John states that he will bring his extensive knowledge and experience to this honorable office working tirelessly to keep the people of Santa Barbara County safe and ensure that we have a fair effective and efficient criminal justice system. It is now my pleasure to introduce members of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors elected in 2022.

From the 2nd District, Supervisor Laura Capps. Supervisor Laura Capps was born and raised in Goleta and Santa Barbara. She is a proud graduate of our public schools. She indicates that she is passionate about combating poverty and forging a new, more sustainable future. For six years she served as trustee of the Santa Barbara Unified School Board and believes that when we do right by our children, we do right by us all.

Supervisor Capps has served in the White House as a speechwriter for President Clinton, a senior aide for Senator Edward Kennedy and Senator John Kerry, and UC Berkeley's Director of Government Affairs. Additionally she helped lead Golden State Opportunity, an organization focused on expanding the earned tax income credit, one of the most vital tools to alleviate poverty. In Santa Barbara County she has worked with No Kid Hungry to help provide more food for kids in need Laura has also served as president of the Community Environmental Council, chair of the Commission for Women, trustee of UC Berkeley and on Planned Parenthood's Action Fund Board. Laura has a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and a master's degree from London School of Economics.

Laura states that her greatest job is being mom to her son Oscar.

Supervisor Caps.

Thank you, I've been waiting a few weeks for this day. Chair Williams thanks so much for this amazing ceremony and for all of you for being here. I was very taken by Supervisor Hartman's comments as well as you Chair Williams about this board and democracy and what it means to be drawn together. I watched as a constituent during COVID as this board rose above. Other local bodies across the country didn't always do that, and I take great pride and am 1,000% committed to being a team player with each of you, this five, as well as being a servant of the public. I wanna thank, speaking of servants of the public, the four former supervisors that I invited today, the women who are here, Janet Wolfe, Doreen Farr, Gail Marshall and Susan Rose. It's fitting that you're kind of off to my shoulder here because in these last few weeks as I've walked around this building getting to know things like Rabbi Brenner, I've been Googling a lot of terms.