Board of Supervisors — 2024-06-25

Okay. Next item of business is the approval of the minutes from our last meeting June 18th. Move approval. Thank you Supervisor Hartman.

Second.

Second Supervisor Nelson. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Okay next we go to the CEO's report.

Good morning board members. Thank you. This morning I'm pleased to share with you another video from our series Your County, Your Heroes. It features unsung heroes throughout the county who embody the spirit of selflessness and dedication. The videos in this series are played on channel 20 throughout the week and are highlighted in our monthly county newsletter as well on CSB TV's YouTube page and social media, in both English and Spanish. So this morning we are featuring Margie Hunt from the 24-7 Access Line. She is Access Line Supervisor for Behavioral Wellness. She works behind the scenes to respond to crisis calls that come into the county's 24- 7 access line linking callers to services and aiding distressed callers. The video highlights the people who answer the call Welcome to Santa Barbara County, where extraordinary individuals shine bright.

Join us as we celebrate the unsung heroes who embody the spirit of selflessness and dedication. From tireless volunteers to dedicated public servants, these remarkable individuals inspire us all your county your heroes.

I'm Margie Hunt. I'm the Team Supervisor for the Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness Access Line. The 24-7 access line is a crisis and referral line. We take crisis calls, but we also do screenings to see what services people need and then we make referrals to appropriate services whether that be mental health or substance use maybe they are feeling suicidal And the person on the other end can help get them connected to whatever services they need.

We

get about 40 to 80 calls per day, about 1,300 per month. We have a team of eight access screeners and we have two offices one in Santa Barbara and one in Santa Maria. Half of our staff are bilingual and bicultural. We try to make it as comfortable as possible for people because we know that it can be really scary to pick up the phone and make a call for help. So, we try to be very warm and engaging just to find out what services would best meet your needs.

Margie should be considered a hero because she is willing to help anybody. She goes way beyond in helping them, she is someone that within 20 minutes is able to connect and move them forward to better life.

The reason I got into this line of work as my mom had bipolar disorder and she had two suicide attempts So I've been personally touched by mental illness and I really want people to know that there's really no shame in having mental illness. And she was able to turn it around, there is so much help available and I wanna be that person to make sure that people get the help that they need. So I treat every caller as if it was myself calling about my loved one with that same empathy I really feel that the team morale is extremely important because there are calls that can really impact you. I really work hard to have a close-knit team that can really lean on each other. I

came back specifically for her, she's been one of the greatest supervisors I've had. She knows how to work with employees and Margie supports us 100%. She just brings great teams together

We had a recent call of a young man who wanted to go kill his ex-wife's new partner.

That particular call was very worrying. Having Margie there to walk me through this whole process was very helpful.

Eventually, through their talking together and building some trust and rapport He finally agreed that law enforcement could come, and it was the best possible outcome. Working on the Access Line is extremely rewarding. It makes you feel like you're making a difference. Sometimes we go home and we're exhausted but we know that we've given our all. We're not going to save the world but one person at a time can really make a difference.

Margie, if you could stand and be recognized.

Thank you, Margie. And thank you so much to our CEO. And now Madam Clerk are there announcements or changes to our agenda schedule?

Vice Chair Caps and members of the board, I just have a quick announcement this morning. For the Board of Supervisors' methods of public participation and to provide public comment on general public comment or an item on the Board's agenda, please see page 2 of the agenda. Individuals that would like to provide verbal public comment may do so via Zoom by registering in advance via the link available on page two. If you have any questions, please contact the Clerk of the Board's office at area code 805-568-2240. Again, that number is 805 568 2240.

And that concludes my announcements for today.

Thank you, let's move to the administrative agenda. Would any board members like to pull any items from the administrative agenda? Madam Clerk do we have any? I guess okay. The ones that we have.

Yeah freeway is no joke right now. All right.

I feel hopeless about gun violence in America. There was a moment two years ago that really rekindled my optimism, had a lot to do with the organizing of Moms Demand Action. I was in D.C. to see the floor debate of our Congressmember Sleut Carbajal's legislation that replicated the gun violence restraining order legislation that we pioneered here in California. And you could see the mall just full of orange and red shirts, largely youth and mothers there advocating on behalf of That schools should be a safe place to be.

And it was truly, truly inspirational and rekindled a lot of my hope. Excellent.

All right that takes us to administrative item number three Madam Clerk.

Chair Lavinino and members of the board, administrative item number three is sponsored by Supervisor Lavinino. It is to adopt a resolution of accommodation honoring Jeff Rathwell upon his retirement from the county executive office after over 37 years of faithful and distinguished public service, seven of those working for Santa Barbara County. And this resolution will be read by our very own county executive officer, Mona Miyasato. If Jeff can please join us at the podium?

So I asked to read this resolution if the board wouldn't mind, because I wrote it Jeff. And first of all Jeff said everyone said Mona Jeff's gonna hate getting a resolution and I said that's fine cuz I hate that he's leaving so we're even So Jeff, whereas Jeff Frapple began his tenure with the County of Santa Barbara in February 2017 as budget director and assistant county executive officer after 30 years of just honing his skills in Kern County. Whereas Jeff was instrumental in our most transformational efforts such as a standalone IT department, and we have Chris here in the audience, Renew 22 Innovate SBC and Workday. And Jeff fueled by his morning venti Starbucks and unflappable frapple focus that line is written by Terry Nisich by the way Jeff improved budgeting practices and inducted us all into what Supervisor Nelson calls the School of Frapwell.

Making us more strategic, fiscally prudent and able to meet the board's priorities. And during his tenure Jeff oversaw, mentored and guided many department directors, the budget research team, the cannabis program, risk management, led the issuance of 98 million in certificates of participation which generated a triple A bond rating for us. Oversaw upgrades to the board hearing rooms, and he promised me before he left He would modernize the CEO's office because he said he was allergic to 1970s wood paneling.

And whereas after his departure, frapple-isms will live on in the county like quote I may have been born at night but it wasn't last night or technology is great when it works. And whereas CEO Miyasato has called Jeff one of the most effective public administrators with whom she's ever worked because he applies both art and science to his work always grounded in ethics good governance and sometimes for all of us who know Jeff a bit of cunning So now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that the Board of Supervisors thanks Jeff Frapple for his innovation, commitment and dedication to the county and wishes him and Lauren many happy years of adventures in grandparenting passed and adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Santa Barbara County this 25th day of June 2024 by unanimous vote of all members present.

Jeff didn't want this resolution. When he left Kern, he didn't want a resolution but because he has really appreciated his time here, he's always spoke highly of this board and this county so we appreciate you Jeff being here. I'm going to miss you more than anyone so thank you for your time with us.

Well thank you Board Members for the resolution. I feel a little at loss without a PowerPoint presentation to present to you. I actually debated putting one together, but I thought better of it. But I really couldn't help myself today without having at least including some numbers in my comments. So let me share with you four numbers and two amounts. The first number being 32.

The second being 9. Third being 42. And the last number being 27. Let me share what those mean. So the first one, 32. And I think Supervisor Nelson already knows the answer to this is the number of Board of Supervisors members I've served and had the privilege to serve and participate with and join with in accomplishing some great things for county residents.

So to me hats off to you and other board members who I've served because really this is a team To get great things done for the county, it takes a team. It takes leadership at the board level. It takes leadership in the CEO's office and it takes a lot of people working and rowing in the same direction. So hats off, 32 board members. Some of which I've worn out, okay? I appreciate some I probably exacerbated over the years but nine is the second number and that's the number of county administrative or executive officers I've worn out. I mean, I've served with They've been mentors and coaches, and always friends. And I'm pleased as I reflect back on that.

I didn't wear out Mona, although I probably exhausted her several times. But you know, Mona is one of those people who among her many, many positive qualities and attributes, I often describe, now she may not like this, but I often describe as wickedly smart and incredibly astute. And I mean that in the highest respect. Those are extremely good skills to have as a leader, 42 being the number of annual budgets totaling an excess of $63 billion to provide key services to the residents on which we've served.

Through those years, I've seen cycles of boon and bust. I've been realigned and shifted by the state more times than I care to remember. I was collateral damage in what seemed like the longest divorce case in states history when the courts separated from the counties but I've never wavered on my commitment to recommend well-reasoned sustainable and balanced budgets.

The last number, 27, is really the number of debt financings that I've participated in. Whether those are long term or short term it's an area that I developed a skill in and learned a lot about. I didn't know that I wanted to do that when I joined public service but it was one of those things that I've always enjoyed. It's very interesting and complex and fun to learn.

Two amounts, hundreds being the number of special projects assignments committees and working groups that I've been able to participate on. And the last amount which I appreciate is not really an amount is really in a measured amount of admiration respect and gratitude for the many colleagues and co-workers who make up this wonderful work life family. At the end of day we spend almost more of our waking hours at work with our coworkers than we do at home sometimes And so to make that successful, to make that meaningful and to really enjoy that means you have a work-life family.

I've always had tremendous support and admiration for that. So as I reflect on my career, I am now and will be eternally grateful for the opportunities I've had to serve others, to grow personally and professionally To partner with others proving that the end value of a project or assignment is worth more than some of the parts that went into it. That collaboration, teamwork as I mentioned before whenever it's rowing in the same direction provides great results and I've always tried as referenced in my resolutions always tried to maintain a sense of humor and have fun while working hard So finally, and the hardest part of this I'd like to acknowledge my wife.

Stand. Lauren in addition to being my best friend and the love of my life has often played the roles a work therapist and trusted advisor throughout my career so thank you very much. I appreciate that resolution and the kind words.

Supervisor Nelson.

Yes, thank you Chair Labadino. As supervisor number 31 I wanted to just say a few words when I got elected Jeff said I'd be his last but luckily we had Laura come to join us here on the board so it's been off my My great pleasure to get the chance to serve with Jeff. When I first got to meet Jeff, I was staff and I came from an office that was very adversarial to staff.

And I came in aggressive at Jeff, I think on his first day about some budget numbers. And Jeff put me in my place and he said hey we're gonna work together, we're not gonna work against each other. And really set a tone for myself and my work here at the county. Jeff's been a mentor and advisor, and he's helped make me the supervisor I am today. So Jeff, I just really wanna thank you for everything you've done.

While the rest of our neighboring municipalities are suffering significant budget troubles, that's not happening in Santa Barbara County. And it's because of a whole team and all the departments and the boards. But I think the singular person that has had the biggest influence on that has been Jeff. And so I really wanna thank you for that, Jeff. I think you've set up this county for generations Moving forward with what you brought to us. Kern's loss has been Santa Barbara County's gain, so again thank you for these seven years. It's made an impact on me and this county.

Thank you.

Anybody

else? Well Jeff, I'd just say whether it's natural disasters or ones that somehow we've created which probably are equal. I mean every time I look at like a major undertaking that the county was dealing with the jail, COPs, technology, cannabis anything you always were the calming influence on it and We're gonna miss you, no doubt about it. And just the relationship that you and Mona had, the ability to work so well together was a benefit to all the residents of Santa Barbara County. So thanks for being here. We really appreciated it. I'm glad you made Santa Barbara your final destination. I was gonna say resting place but that didn't sound right.

All right. Well, good luck to you and hope you enjoy your retirement and your grandkids and all the fun that you get to have together. Thank you. All right. So I think that takes us to the items that have been the administrative items that have pulled a numerical order. Let's start with from the public was first with A-6

Chair Lavinino and members of the board, administrative item number six is from the Behavioral Wellness Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding Synergy Programs Inc., fiscal years 2024 through 2027 services agreement for institutions for mental diseases adult residential care renewal and we have two requests to speak from the public on this item. We are going to begin on Zoom with Gail Osherenko to be followed by Suzanne Gordon here in Santa Barbara.

Okay,

can

you hear me now.

Yes we can please

proceed. I'm a little rattled. I don't actually disapprove of this contract with Synergy. They appear to be a really good outfit that's delivering mental health services to people in our county, although they're in another county. But we have concerns about the information For the public and public input on this. And so many other issues related to mental health, there's a brief summary of performance outcomes in this item which I hope you looked at while synergy met four of the seven goals they did not meet three of the other goals and If you just look at the middle one, 36% of the 27 on average people who are in their facilities per month. 36% were discharged to a higher level of care.

The goal was to get to 15% or less. And others were discharged 25, only 25% were discharged to a lower level while their goal was 85%. We would like to dig beyond that those and know more about well what level where they in at because they have different levels and synergy. And what levels did they have to go up to and where some of these sub acute care. Because we are lacking sub acute beds in the county, and we seem to have a lot of differences with behavioral wellness department and the CEO's office about how we can.

kind of move people out of the jail and have some kind of a locked, subacute facility that judges will feel comfortable sending people to because the jails are not the right place for real treatment for people with severe mental illness who are in an acute stage. And so we're really concerned about how we can have A serious kind of gathering on that and maybe what we need to do is another study session involving some supervisors who would help bring the public and our nonprofit groups together with Be Well, the CEO's office, Public Health and the hospitals.

And I guess that's why I wanted to speak to this issue. Thank you.

We will now return to Santa Barbara with Suzanne Worden who is our final speaker on this item.

Good morning Chair and Supervisors. I wanted to expand on what the last speaker said. I'm with Families Act, we were created about 17 years ago when our kids died of overdoses and suicides and they all had a mental health diagnosis and were young adults 23 years old 24 years old with incredible potential And us, mothers and fathers came together at that point. And we didn't really have a lot of argument about what we wanted to change about our system. We wanted to have more treatment beds and fewer jail cells for this population that's struggling with a whole spectrum of mental health conditions.

So the reason we wanted to speak about this item is that we happen to love Families Act, love Synergy. It's a fantastic facility but we can see from the report and the statistics that some of the people are falling through the cracks still at Synergy. A portion of the people that we send there from our county need a higher level of care and that is illustrative of what we're trying to argue for the county. We met with some of the members of the county CEO And with the head of behavioral wellness yesterday and what we're arguing is that we don't have enough treatment beds. We have treatment beds in various categories across the spectrum but not enough, especially in a facility that's secure and we've heard this relates to another item on the agenda There's been some discussion of creating some kind of a facility on the northern branch jail property that would be a treatment facility.

We've heard, this is a rumor because we stakeholders who have been arguing for years and years that we need more beds have not been included in this discussion and this planning session And we don't know the details, but we know that we're interested in having more treatment beds for people that would normally be cycling through the jail living in our riverbeds or on the streets and dying there. So we're interested in being involved. We know that Prop 1 could potentially provide a huge amount of funding, potentially $43 million for programs administered by the State Department of Health Care.

Maybe, but the application for that portion of Prop 1 funds is due in July. So we don't know if the group that's working on this potential plan for 30 beds at the Northern Branch Jail or on their property that would not be locked, they would be treatment beds, are they going to get their application in in July? Or are we going to miss this opportunity to get up to $43 million?

So that's why we're here. We're going to be watching this process very carefully, and we hope to be included a number of organizations now as you know are interested in this issue of the mentally ill cycling through the jail and dying on our streets. And we stakeholders all of us would like to be included in the planning. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Suzanne.

And that

concludes public comment on

Administrative Item No. 6.

Yes, thank you Chair Lavinino. And for the public I apologize for the laryngitis. I'll try to keep my words somewhat short today but I think the speakers bring up some issues here that it might be nice to have the behavioral wellness director just comment about those performance measures so if Ms. Navarro would mind just commenting. It did jump out at me the fact that They were not meeting their numbers towards discharge to higher levels of acuity as well as their goals on lower levels of acuity.

So I'd like to speak to that, but before you get there, I am gonna be comfortable with moving forward with this contract. Actually visited Synergy's facilities in Morgan Hills and found them to seem to be a good operator as far as their facilities are concerned and their patients. But I also wanted to note That today we're actually approving 16 contracts for public health and mental health, totaling over $45 million of services to those in need as part of that. And this is just one meeting. So I understand the advocates out there and appreciate all the work you've done. You brought our county along.

But we are working together and we understand and hear your voices but I think it would be important to have Director Navarro at least respond to those performance measures that Synergy is currently missing. And why is that? What can be done to resolve that or are those even performance measures that are reasonable?

Yeah, so in looking at the data and drilling down on the numbers is this seemingly large number represents a small number of persons who are discharging to a higher level of care. I think it was two in the last quarter. What is contributing to that ending up in a higher level cares acuity of clients as our client population ages? Clients who have been chronically on psychotropic medication all of their lives, there are complex medical issues that also arise and do not allow them to be stepped down to a lower level care but rather a higher level care for their long-term care.

Synergy also as many might be aware takes a very difficult population clientele so I think one The issues there is that again, the level that they provide is not a lock-level. They are very successful in working with folks but there are sometimes one or two a quarter for whom that level of care is not enough even though they have gone through the entire program so I think it is a complex situation and it's really about an aging population and it is really about the level of acuity that this particular organization specializes

Thank you. I think that's a reasonable explanation of that and with that, I would be happy to move this item forward. Motion to approve Item A-6.

Okay. Is there a second? Seconded by, we'll say Supervisor Williams. We own that one. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you. That takes us to item number 35

Let's read

32 back into the record. Chair

Lavinino and members of the board administrative item number 32 is from the county executive office it is to consider recommendations regarding a report out on the jail health care study session.

Supervisor Kaps.

Thank you I just wanted to highlight this. You'll see a strong theme today of health care in our jail and making sure that those who are severely mentally ill are treated well, and I just wanted to highlight since so many people pay close attention to this issue that this item is a readout we're going to be discussing it more later at depth in our departmental items but we did have an excellent I want to start by thanking all of you for joining us today. We're going to get started in just a moment, but first I'd like I just wanted to flag it so that it doesn't get missed because, again, I strongly appreciate how closely our advocates and family members and others who just care so deeply about these big huge issues are in our community and really help us be a better county.

So just want to flag that. Thank you.

Excellent. Okay thank you very much. That takes us to Supervisor Nelson. Oh okay let's go to 835.

Chair Lavinino, members of the board. Administrative item number 35 is sponsored by the County Executive Office. It is to consider recommendations regarding amendment number one to order form number 003446.0 with workday for subscription rights.

Supervisor Nelson?

Yes, thank you, Chair Lavinino. So this workday project is something, I think I just had a poll at Jeff Rappel item even though he's out already gone here. But work day is something that I've been monitoring for quite some time here and I see that we're paying for the subscription rights and I wanted to know the progress that we're currently looking at. I know originally we were supposed to go live on this last summer and I know we're not there yet. Would you mind CEO or somebody from the project team to give the board an update?

Supervisor Nelson from the chair, I believe Chris Shergwin is here who can just give a quick update about the workday project and our subscription.

Well good morning Supervisor Nelson through the chair The Workday project team is actively working on phase one of the Workday implementation. Phase one is the finance module of Workday. As you're aware, there have been several delays to this implementation largely due to resource constraints and a handful of change orders. The Workday Steering Committee has been aiming for an October 1st go-live date but based on the latest information from the Workday Project Manager, this timeline may be at risk Phase two, the HCM module which includes payroll was put on pause recently by the steering committee so that county resources could focus their efforts on completing phase one.

The county recently contracted with Guide House, a third party ERP consulting firm to assess our phase one readiness. Their report published on May 29th provided several recommendations including support for achieving an October 1st date if a concerted effort was made to complete the remaining items. The Workday Executive Sponsor will be coming to the Board in the next several months to request additional funding in order to resume Phase 2 at that time.

We estimate the additional funding for Phase 2 may be around $5 million to complete that, so that is where we are at as of today.

Okay thank you Director Sherwin. We started off in August of 23 that we thought we'd go live. I'm hearing now October and that's potentially at risk. My concern is twofold. One, we're spending money for the subscription service well over a million dollars a year as well as the lost productivity that we might have once we finally move to work day and so this has been a frustration of mine I think some of my other board members have shared that frustration.

We want to make sure that you have the resources that you need to accomplish this. So I was considering potentially putting If we could direct staff, and maybe a committee of the board could work with the work team so that we maybe can meet on a regular basis or maybe monthly to make sure we give you guys the resources. Or at least we know what's the problem so that maybe we can come back to the board and bring those things forward. This is a huge project. There's a reason why we haven't moved to this in a long time. And it's one of these undertakings I think It's been delayed so much that I think at this point, it probably needs some board engagement. So if my colleagues would support it, I'd like to create a informal ad hoc committee to meet with the work team.

This would be preferably not a Brown Act Committee but a committee where we could just get reports back and see if there are some resources that we might be able to provide. And I know Supervisor Hartman and I both worked on the Ad Hoc Committee to bring the IT Director into On board, I think we might be a good power couple here to help bring you guys along if my colleagues would support that.

So I would like to make that as part of the motion today is to direct staff to create that committee and if I have the support of my colleagues. Let's