Board of Supervisors — 2024-07-09

I'll get everybody to quiet down. If you can find a seat, grab a seat. All right folks if you can we don't mind people standing but you can't be in the doorway so make sure we have access. If you can find a seat find a seat appreciate it. Thank you everybody for being here this morning. Good morning, I'd like to call to order the July 9th 2024 meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Madam Clerk can we get a roll call please?

Move approval.

Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Madam Clerk, are there any announcements or changes to our agenda today?

Chair Lavinino, members of the board I do have a few announcements this morning. We posted an addendum to today's agenda on Friday July 5th amending the administrative item number six from the behavioral wellness department regarding an agreement for services of independent contractor with Davis House with David Guest Home Inc. Davis for provision of intensive residential program for structured mental health rehabilitation services. Administrative item number six was amended to include ratify to the recommended action A. Recommended action A should read approve, ratify and authorize the chair to execute an agreement for services of independent contractor with Davis Guest Home Inc., not a local vendor, for the provisions of the intensive residential program for structured mental health rehabilitation services.

This addendum was posted online and has been made available to the Board and the public. We posted an ex-agenda item request on Monday, July 8th, 2024. This ex-agenda request was from the County Executive Office and is regarding a report on the 2024 Lake Fire. The agenda, the ex-agenda request was added to today's agenda and distributed to the Board and the public Tuesday, July 9th at 820 AM.

Since there is a need for immediate action, that need for action came to the attention of your board subsequent to the agenda being published on July 3rd 2024. Your board will need a vote to hear this item pursuant to government code section 54954.2. A forfeits vote is required. 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 two of the agenda. Individuals that would like to provide verbal public comment may do so virtually via Zoom by registering in advance via the link available on page 2. If you have any questions, please contact the Clerk of the Board's Office at 805-568-2240. That concludes my announcements for today.

We'll take a vote on that in just a second. I just want to make an announcement The conference room next door has the ability to listen and see in here, and if anybody would like to take advantage of that. We also have the planning commission room open downstairs as well. So we need a vote on the ex-agenda item. It will be a four-fifths vote. Can I get a motion?

I'll make a motion to add the ex agenda item to today's agenda.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. That takes us to

Good morning, Chair Lavagnino and board members. I have two reports today both regarding wildfire and before we have an update on the Lake Fire, just a quick brief announcement about behavioral wellness. This is some good news. The community wellness team was highlighted as a feature in the CNN opinion article this past week. The piece highlighted the impacts of surviving a wildfire. It applauded the county's work of providing the community wellness team, a team of professional counselors for the first year of the Thomas Fire and the 1-9 debris flow. It acknowledged that the, acknowledged the important work that these teams did in helping our community decide between being a victim or survivor and in the end empowered the community to become more resilient so acknowledgement to behavioral wellness and the community wellness team Now on to the Lake Fire.

Our Emergency Operations Center is currently activated for the Lake Fire. It was sparked Friday at 3 p.m. near Zaca Lake and has prompted evacuation orders and warnings in a rural part of the county. Currently, the fire is spanning the third and fourth districts of our county. I also want to thank Congressman Carbajal who personally called many of us to offer whatever federal assistance is needed.

Today we have in the room Anthony Stornetta, Chief of Operations for the County Fire Department as well as Todd Hopkins from CAL FIRE. Also available is Ryan McKee from Caltrans on Zoom and Chris is here from Public Works should there be any questions. And with that I'm going to hand it over to Anthony.

All right, good morning. Good morning. Chair Lamplinio, member of the board, thanks for having us here today. I have with me Todd Hopkins who's one of the other incident commanders. Just for a little information at the ICP is myself as incident commander, CAL FIRE and the Forest Service we are in unified command due to the values at risk and the direct protection of the different areas so we have federal land, we have state land and because of the state lands in our contract with CAL FIRE that's why we're in unified command with them So I'll have, if you don't mind, can we put the map up if you don't mind?

So I have the map up here and I know it's gonna be difficult to read and see but I'll kind of explain it to you and walk around. But I'll just give you some stats real quick at where we're at on this fire so currently there's 20, it's at 26,178 acres as of this morning. It's 12% contained. We have 2,485 personnel that's probably going to go up another couple hundred today with the resources that we have on order Currently we have 190 fire engines, 70 hand crews, 11 helicopters and last night we actually ran those helicopters at night and did night water dropping above Brinkerhoff Happy Canyon just because of the values of risk in the homes up there. So this is something that's out of the ordinary that we haven't done in a long time and hopefully either tonight we're looking at bringing some CAL FIRE helicopters as well to do that night dropping with us to protect those values at risk.

Maybe go back to the other map real quick if you don't mind. The previous one, yeah. So I'll try to give you guys an update. Is this a point up there? What's that? No. Okay. So if you look up to the far left there, that's the very north end of the fire and what that is is that's a sysquak drainage that goes around the top of that that goes all the way into the forest and to the far left of your map, that's the sysquak area. The fire on that side is looking really good.

We have some dozers and hand crews all working in the CISCWOC drainage there. Coming down the left-hand shoulder where you see a little bit of black, that's our containment currently. So what that is, is that's all along Fox and Canyon Road. If you know where Tracer Manos is and the Diamond JT we're to share as the Rancho CISCCWOC and La Laguna Ranch, that follows that all the way down. We have some good containment on that, some good dozer line. There are a few places where we have to walk some fire down and just really tie that in. And that comes around to the Zacca Lake entrance and then down to Zacca Station. So I know we have a road closure, a hard road closure there right now where we're not letting anyone in. That's because that's not totally secure line.

As soon as we get some secure line on that and some more containment down to Zacca Lake We'll lift those closures and open those wineries back up. I know there's a lot of concern about some businesses in there, and that is our priority of ours. We want people to get back in there, and we also want those wineries to get opened up too. As you look down there to the blue area, that's the Cedric Reserve right there.

All the way to the Cedic Reserve, we have it tied into the Figaro Mountain where the Neverland Ranch is. But as you go from the Cédric Reserve to the back of Would stop in Brinkerhoff. That's where we have that fire sitting way up on top of the hill at Brinkerhof. We had a lot of crews and a lot of resources there last night, put some dozer line in. We have a line in between the homes and the fire right now.

And we're just watching it, and that fire is just slowly backing down. We're going to try going direct where we can but just for an example yesterday was very, very hot out there. If anyone may have been up at 11 o'clock at night looking at the weather station, it was 86 degrees with 6% RH. That is incredible, 11 o clock at night. Fire behavior acted as if it was like that as well. Today's fire behavior will be a little worse. I mean we'll have a lot higher temperatures and we'll get into that in a second. As you keep on walking around, you look out there and you can see the Branch 5 so that's kind of where the fire is heading. It's heading out to the forest and we have confirmation it's in the wilderness now Our main plan and our values at risk is everything along Brinkerhoff, Happy Canyon.

We want to keep Skirting away from all those homes. Most of our resources in our night dropping helicopters are working in that area. We can switch to EVAC now if you want. For evacuation, so if we look at the bottom there and we see those two orange polygons. So the way the evacuations work is with the team and then OEM and the sheriff. Myself and I give Frank Vasquez from the Sheriff's Department a lot of credit he has been side-by-side with ourselves on the team at the incident command post. And then Kelly Fire and also the team member and sheriff are all in OEM together too so of everyone communicating to each other. That's how we look at evacuations, build these polygons and eventually send them out so it's a team effort. So at the bottom there those two orange polygons are the Woodstock area along Sedgwick Reserve and then the one a little farther out is more towards Happy Canyon.

And if we need to build it out again we'll go to the right just a little bit more. Everything else in front of the fire is in a mandatory and at the back there that's that Sisquauk Fox and Canyon area If we had to look further, we hope to leave all this in a warning and not pull any more orders. That's what we want. But this is our current situation on evacuations.

I'd be happy to answer do you have anything else Todd you want to

add?

Should we get questions for Anthony Furster? Do you want to just do the whole thing? I'll just do the whole thing. Okay, let's do the whole thing

and then we're going to questions. So in addition to the firefighting efforts will also be starting today suppression repair efforts so along if you go back to the other slide of the fire It's kind of hard to tell but if you see along the southwest portion of the fire where the black line is, that's our control line. So we'll start doing suppression efforts in there so we'll start and what we'll end up doing it's also bringing in what we call a work team or a watershed emergency response team because we know with the vegetation that's being burned off, the steepness of the slopes of what can happen for the future with the rains So not only are we battling the fire, but we're also looking at those efforts of trying to put the land back into some type of repair and not just leaving a mess out there for everyone to deal with in the future.

All right let's open it up for questions. Supervisor Williams. Oh you wanted to go there first? Supervisor Hartman

I think one thing that comes up repeatedly with my constituents is there's a difference on where you go for information about services to people and evacuations and about fire behavior, but you're communicating. So if people are interested in knowing more about fire behavior, the wind, the weather, what's the best source of information for the public on that?

I think at a very high level, it's at the radiosb.org sends out all the information but if you're going to look at a high level what the weather is going to be doing it's the National Weather Service site and the NOAA site will have it on there. Today we'll go in red flag again at noon. Unfortunately we're going to experience some pretty significant winds tonight. And if they want to look at that, it's mostly on the NOAA website in National Weather

Service. So significant winds tonight in the fire area?

Correct. We'll get a northwestern push again and that's the reason we're putting all those efforts on the Happy Canyon side because that northwest wind is going to push down. Like I mentioned last night, 87 degrees. It's burning all night long. So Santa Maria last night, I think I put on a jacket about 8 o'clock at the command post up there. It was really hot still.

So the people who are evacuation warning, big winds come. So they should be getting alerts from GetReadySB.org? Correct. And then will they also get door-to-door sheriff or I mean how, I think the question is how do you move from evacuation warning to you gotta get out of here?

So we're going to get plenty of notice. There's a lot of people out there on the line, our divisions and our branch directors. They all know that we need plenty of notice to get that up and rolling. Working with Frank Vasquez at the command post, we know that delay could be an hour to get all the search-and-rescue and all the sheriff in there for the order to get all those doors knocked. They'll go in there and actually knock on doors. I know the sheriff was proactive and knocked on doors even in the morning when we sent that out, so I know we're going to try getting we will get way ahead of that and give them plenty of time to get out.

Okay but my take away and I wonder if this is correct is that we've got high temperatures and heavy winds and so it's a very precarious situation tonight

It's the fire is still up on the hill pretty high. And we'll give plenty of notice to get out when that time comes. Okay.

Supervisor Nielsen?

And then one other thing is, the areas that are in evacuation warning, that is where we want the residents to be ready to go at that moment's notice. So if you're an evacuation warning, the resident should be prepared and have their documents that they need to bring with them. Their pets have something to do with them. And be ready. So when they do get that call that we're putting into an evacuation order, that they're ready to get out because the longer that they stay and we also say if during evacuation warning it's still a good time to leave and leave the area.

If a lot of people don't leave during evacuation warning and they wait for an order it's harder for us also get resources in why everyone's coming out especially if there's any narrow roads in the area

Excellent point. And I think people understand that and people with large animals should have already gotten out if they're in a warning area

Supervisor Nielsen.

Yes, thank you Chair Labadino and I just wanted to thank you both for being here today considering we're in the middle of a fight for you guys to come here and speak to our board and the public is really important so it's a lot of good news but also reason to be cautious moving forward. Status on structures? I had heard that we hadn't lost any structures. What is that status now?

I can speak on behalf of the SRA lands. There's no confirmed structures. I know in the forest they're still trying to make some access up there and trying to get confirmation up there, but I know for the state lands in our area that there have been no confirmed structure loss.

That's great. That's great news. I

really think that that's a tribute to maybe one damaged outbuilding, maybe in the four. OK, so we do have one damaged outbuilding and in the forest.

That's great news. And so also wanted to thank you for the work with the Ag Pass program. It seems to be a successful program that a lot of our farmers are still able to access their property. And that's the work that you guys did in advance to prepare some of our farms or agriculturalists so that they'd be able to handle these situations and still be able to attend to their livestock or their crops In the fourth district, in the Sysquak area so it's moving away from that direction. So Tepscay Canyon is looking okay at this point as far as your projections are concerned? And will those lines be shored up pretty soon? Will those go to black?

Yeah, very north part of the map there. Unfortunately, we've had a lot of fires in areas you know. We had La Brea. We also had the Alamo come around that side. So with that, we have all the old maps that we used for those dozer lines and they're actively in there pushing through the CISCWOC. And I say as we push through the CISCWOC, we have our tribal partners with us as well so we're looking at all the sensitive sites as well.

But, yeah we're looking at opening that up around the north end. Thankfully that fires back in really nice and gentle so it's given us opportunities to actually go direct on it instead of opening about Sysquak all the way but we also have a contingency plan about opening Dozier line up on the east side on the ridge line above Tepeskaya Canyon into Colson if we need to do

And I just know from the storms that we had a couple of years ago, a lot of the access is still limited out there to the forest from Tepeskaya and that area is obviously a bit of a tinderbox. So I know there's a lot of concern about you know the fire getting up in that direction but it's good to hear that things are moving away from that. Obviously there's some other communities that are absolutely in concern and so thank you for all the work guys are doing out there.

Yeah and just in Supervisors to finish up is every spot we have for a line We're looking for that next one. So we'll have three levels of protection. If we can get a fourth one in, we try to do that. That's what we're doing now. We have people way out front planning the next line so we don't fall on our heels and we're behind the curve.

Supervisor Williams. Well I just wanted to back up Supervisor Hartman's point about evacuation warnings being a good time to get out if there is bad prognostication ahead in my district, you know the first district we have gotten used to frequent evacuations for fire and flood danger and Many in my district have come to regard evacuation orders as get out fast and evacuation warnings as get out more leisurely.

And so especially if there's large animals or other reasons why it will take you a while to get out, it's a good time to get out. And then I just want to express the board's thanks to all of you, the firefighters and all emergency personnel that are involved in the incident including probably some of the folks back here since all county workers are emergency workers and go in and work in the EOC. So we want to appreciate your all of your participation and work.

Supervisor Caput?

Thank you, I'll just echo the gratitude. This is a time when we understand the collective nature of our work and the gratitude that we all feel for first responders and those here who work for the county and others. I did have a specific question that's somewhat related to evacuation. I spoke with the CEO about this and I've gotten some concerns from neighbors south about the closure of 154 or the partial closure now and how that might relate To evacuation plans if anyone could give an update or any speak to that it would be helpful

Yeah, I've been talking with Zeke from Caltrans. And it's nowhere near us having to evacuate that direction but again we're always looking ahead in case that happens so I've been speaking with Zeke about it if we evacuate the Roblar Happy Canyon we would most likely send them in the same as 101 but talk to him if we need to send them up over the hill for any reason at all he'll one way the light there on the south side here at San Antonio until everyone just comes out they'll be no entrance in Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

All right, any other questions? Thank you very much. We appreciate all the work you guys are doing. Thanks for keeping us updated. Appreciate it and the public. You're welcome thank you. Thank you.

Supervisors if I could just add this because Because OEM was not available, they are at the incident command post today. But we did have a shelter open in Solving, at the Solving Vets. No one visited the shelter so it's on warm status meaning it's on hold but it can be opened with any request. I just want to let the public know that. All right

great thank you very much for the report. Our

A17 please.

16 and 20.

16 and 20. Supervisor Nielsen, I have you for 5? A5

and I'd like to make a comment on

A17. 17. Okay Madam Clerk any members of the public wish to pull any items from the administrative agenda?

Chair Lavanino, Members of the Board we also have two requests from the public to speak on Administrative Item 17

17. It's a popular one today. All right, cool. Can I get a motion to approve the balance of administrative agenda except for items 5, 16, 17 and 20 please?

So moved. Second.

Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The balance passes unanimously. So we're going to go to the resolutions to be presented At this point. So can we, Madam Clerk, can we please read item A-1 into the record?

Chair Lavanino, members of the Board, Administrative Item 1 is sponsored by Supervisor Lavanino. It is to adopt a resolution of commendation honoring Ryan Estes, Jose Garcia, Debbie Haldeman, Salvador Lara, Manuel Ledezma, Andy Marquez, Richard Mayer, Inma Morales, Octavio Ochoa, George Ruiz and Ron Vicente as the July 2024 Employees of the Month for Santa Barbara County.

Joining us here in person we have Ryan, Jose, Debbie, Salvador, Manuel, Richard, Irma, Octavio, George, Ron and via Zoom we have Andy. I will now read the resolution into the record Whereas Ryan Estes, Jose Garcia, Debbie Haldeman, Salvador Lara, Manuel Ledezma, Andy Marquez, Richard Mayer, Irma Morales, Octavio Ochoa, Georgia Reese and Ron Vicente exemplify the county's organizational values of accountability, customer focus, equity and inclusion, innovation trust and ethics. And whereas Ryan Jose, Debbie Salvador, Manuel Andy, Richard Irma, Octavio George and Ron model the transformative behaviors of collaborative problem-solving alignment with the county's vision risk taking data driven decision making and strategic thinking.

They make up the extraordinary facilities team with a combined 127 years of dedicated service to the Department of Social Services. And whereas, the facilities team supports the mission of the department to help our community be safe, supported and self-sufficient by providing excellent customer service to over 900 employees in six buildings across the county. And whereas the Facilities Team is known for their exceptional service and willingness to go above and beyond, assisting to address security concerns, building specific demands, and creating new workstations overnight for our growing workforce. And now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that the Board of Supervisors recognizes the Facilities Team of the Department of Social Services as the Employees of the Month for July 2024 passed and adopted today.

Good morning Chair Lavinino and members of the Board. I'm Rachel Lipman, the Assistant Director for Administrative Services in the Department of Social Services. And on behalf of Director Nielsen and the rest of the executive team, I'd like to thank you for honoring this facilities team today. I'd also like to introduce Susan Freeborn our Facilities and Disaster Services Manager who is the amazing leader of this amazing team.

We who work on the administrative services side of social services often stay out of the spotlight. Much of what we do is behind-the-scenes and this is the case with our facilities team here, Ryan, Jose, Debbie, Sal, Manuel, Andy, Richard, Irma, Octavio, Jorge and Ron Support over 900 employees in our department every day. Efficiently distributing supplies to all buildings, keeping our stock rooms well-stocked and organized and making sure our employees have the tools and materials to best serve the community.

These dedicated employees display an incredible work ethic, stepping up during disasters, safety events and anything else unexpected that comes our way. They are the first ones reporting to work in the mornings, opening up the buildings, welcoming their co-workers with smiles and friendly greetings Which they did this morning. Many of them were on the road at 630 so they could check into their buildings on their way here and They have a couple of their former peers who are now working in our IT division who were able to cover the mail runs this morning.

So, it is an honor and I'm proud to be here to share in taking some time to honor this team and the critical role they serve for our Department of Social Services and the County of Santa Barbara. Thank you.

Looks like you all want to say something. Anybody want to speak now? All right, the behind-the-scenes crew. Thank you for being here this morning. That takes us to item A2. Madam Clerk.

Supervisor Labanino and members of the Board, Administrative Item 2 is sponsored by Supervisor Labanino. It's to adopt a resolution proclaiming the week of July 21st 2024 through July 27th 2024 as pretrial probation and parole supervision week in Santa Barbara County. Joining us here in person we have Chief Probation Officer Holly L. Benton, DPO Rita Guzman Senior DPO Miguel Ochoa, JIO Lizette Cruz Zamora. And now I'll read the resolution into the record.

Whereas during the week of July 21st through the 27th 2024 probation parole community supervision officers criminal justice and juvenile justice professionals and the community across the nation will join to celebrate pre-trial probation and parole supervision week Whereas the Probation Department today consists of over 328 dedicated professionals working collaboratively with other agencies and community partners to deliver evidence-based programs to justice involved adults and youth, while focusing on the enhancement of safety, the reduction of recidivism and racial inequities, the protection and compensation of victims, the promotion of crime prevention services, intervention, rehabilitation, positive youth development, and restorative justice principles.

And whereas probation officers and juvenile institution officers provide an efficient and cost-effective use of public resources by supervising approximately 2,639 adults and approximately 273 youth within Santa Barbara County. The Probation Department conducts pretrial assessments and currently monitors 555 individuals on pretrial supervision utilizing the least restrictive options necessary to ensure public safety. While allowing them to remain in the community and avoid incarceration and assist with the reduction of local jail population by providing supervision, assessment, and safety referral to individuals approved for release on alternative sentencing programs.

And whereas during the department's 115 years of service, probation's role has evolved dramatically and probation now serves as an integral partner in local law enforcement and the criminal justice system. The Probation Department serves as an essential connector in the justice system bridging the gap and maximizing the resources available to reduce recidivism by carefully balancing direct human services with research-based deterrence and interventions.

Probation department staff possesses and continues to display a high degree of professionalism, commitment and pride in their work they perform for the courts in our juvenile justice facilities and in the community. While striving to guide and support justice involved individuals towards becoming productive and successful members of the community. Santa Barbara County Probation Officers, Juvenile Institution Officers and Pre-Trial Service Specialists dedicate their lives to rehabilitation and community safety in order to improve the quality of life for all of our community.

Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors hereby proclaims the week of July 21st through the 27th 2024 As pre-trial probation and parole supervision week, and recognizes these officers for the significant contributions to making the County of Santa Barbara a safer place to live. Passed and adopted today

Good morning Chair Lavanino, members of the Board and CEO Miyasato. I'm Holly Benton, the Chief Probation Officer. It's my privilege to represent the officers and staff of your probation department today and to thank your board for this resolution which spotlights the important work our dedicated professionals do in our community and in our Juvenile Justice Center every day.

Through our work we offer the power of hope and a second chance for success. And I'd like to thank your board for your continued support of our department with me today are three of our line officers who represent our adult and juvenile divisions in our Juvenile Justice Center, and I'd like to give each an opportunity to briefly introduce themselves here board and to share a little bit about their work

Good morning Supervisors to the Chair. My name is Miguel Ochoa, I'm a Senior Deputy Probation Officer. Today I'd like to share a few of the initiatives juvenile probation is undertaking this year. First we are expanding the use of child and family teams meetings to all youth assessed to be at risk of removal from their homes These meetings include the youth, family, service providers and other identified supports.

They are led by a probation officer specifically trained in meeting facilitation. These meetings allow the youth to advocate for themselves as they are able to voice their needs. The goal is to strengthen family relationships by providing needed supports that would allow the youth to remain in the community and in turn lowering the number of youth entering foster care or being rearrested.

Juvenile probation is also continuing to conduct two wellness operations per year, one prior to the start of the school year and another prior to the holidays. During the back-to-school event youth and their siblings are provided with backpacks, school supplies, healthy snacks, and support to ensure school enrollment. School attendance has shown to be an important factor for our youth to stay on track.

Lastly we will have reentry navigators through Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley to serve youth detainees at the juvenile justice center ranging from a few hours to several years. Through these efforts we support our youth in making positive changes, demonstrate compassion in our juvenile justice system, improve outcomes and also strengthen families and communities as a whole. Thank you for the opportunity to highlight our Juvenile Division today.

Good morning Supervisors to the Chair. My name is Rita Guzman, I'm a Deputy Probation Officer in the Adult Division assigned as a Department Services Navigator. This initiative was launched in March of this year as part of the Coordinated Entry Pilot also known as Whole Person Care. In this role I contact individuals who walk through our doors and assess their specific needs so that I can connect them with any and all available resources within the various county departments.

I have worked closely with community services, public health and the Department of Social Services to meet the needs of those I contact. We have been able to work as an effective team to help those in need. I would like to share a success story that I had the privilege to experience. A client reported to probation and requested assistance. He was in need of medical care, substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment and housing.

He was unhoused and not from the area. Using our resources, the individual was connected with the access line, community services and public health. The client was provided with a same-day appointment with behavioral wellness. He was thankful for the attention and help he received and appreciated being heard as to his concerns and needs. It was rewarding to see this client connected with three services all on the same day.

Thanks to the teamwork of multiple departments. Although this is a new assignment, we made an impact on numerous lives in a short period of time. Thank you for the opportunity to share on behalf of the adult division.

Hello, my name is Lissette Cruz and I'm a juvenile institutions officer at the Juvenile Justice Center. As a JIL, I work with detained youth to provide them with supportive services that will assist them upon their reentry into the community through a network of support our goal is that they will make better decisions and not continue into the adult system To that end, this year we implemented a Restorative Justice Specialist who specifically works during the evening and on weekends to assist youth with conflict resolution.

The specialist utilizes community resiliency model and restorative justice circles during individual and group interactions. Youth can be referred for services by staff or can request services to prevent or resolve conflict. This gives youth tools to handle their emotions better and teaches skills to understand others' point of view. As we now can have youth committed for several years, the facility also implemented a Youth Leadership Council which meets weekly.

The council consists of three youth who have demonstrated good behavior and who have the ability and desire to represent the needs of all the youth at the JJC. This forum allows for youth with long commitments to have a voice in facility events and program improvement. It also enhances each youth's development and increases program participation. Recently, the council organized a facility soccer tournament and barbecue which all the youth really enjoyed. I appreciate the opportunity to highlight the good work of the Facility Division. Thank you.

Thank You chief and thank you all we really appreciate getting a little insight into your daily activities so much appreciated

Chair LaVanina, we have so many members of probation here. Could you just stand and be recognized? The whole probation team that's here.

All right. That takes us now to our administrative items that have been pulled by the board and the public. We'll take them in numerical order. Madam Clerk, can you please read Administrative Item No. 5 into the record?

Chair Lavanino, members of the board. Administrative item number five is from the Behavioral Wellness Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding the Regents of University of California Agreement for Crisis Recovery Engagement Diversion and Outreach Proposition 47 Research and Evaluation Services for Fiscal Years 2022 through 2026 and Data Transfer and Use Agreement for Fiscal Years 2022 through 2026.

Supervisor Nelson.

Yes, thank you Chair Lavagnino. My concern with this item was that as I looked at the contract it technically began in 2022 and we're sitting here in 2024 almost two years later and I'm unsure whether those services have been going on and the contractor just hasn't been paid. I think it deserves a greater explanation. I went through the material to determine why it had been so long. The Credo 47 program seems to be a very effective program and I'm not opposed to that, but just on a process basis approving a contract that's over halfway through a four-year contract is troubling as well as a data use agreement that's included in here.

If that wasn't in place for the last two years, how's the data been sharing? The contractor is supposed to provide quarterly reports. How does that all work if we don't have an agreement in place? So I was troubled by this item and trying to understand exactly how something like this shows up in 2024 when it should've began in 2022 and that we're almost halfway through this contract in general.

So I was just hoping maybe get some explanation from the behavioral wellness department You know there was also supposed to be an initial evaluation done by the contractor. Is that in place? None of that was in the narrative on this item so just from a process point of view, not a programmatic point of view I had an issue with this item. So I don't know if anybody from behavioral wellness is here.

Director

Navarro. Yes, good morning Chair Lavendino and Supervisors. I am joining you from online this morning yes so this item is actually for the evaluation part of Credo 47 a contract with Jill Sharkey and UCSB To evaluate credo seven overall and its performance. Unfortunately, so to first note yes the team from UCSB created an initial evaluation plan which was Reviewed by our team. It has been a protracted agreement and negotiation on this contract because the respective HIPAA experts on both the B-Well side of the house and UCSB were at a disagreement regarding projected health information And how that would be shared and collected. Our respective councils also went back and forth over the past year and a half trying to decide who, how this contract could get written in such a way that we would be sharing information legally and appropriately And not violating any of the HIPAA rights of the clients whose data would be shared.

So that took, unfortunately a protracted amount of time and each time we thought we had come to an agreement there would be one more piece where UCSB or the proposed contractor may say well there's this piece of information we'd have to reevaluate again So while there are quarterly reports to the state on Credo 47 that are provided by our teams in-house, this overall evaluation of the project has not yet occurred but now can begin that process and be completed by 2026 which is the end of the funding.

Okay, well I think that's a better explanation. I didn't quite get that out of the board letter and so I appreciate you giving that. It does kind of beg the question on whether the scope should have changed because there has been work that should have been done over the last two years it seems like hasn't been done at this point now. So is it still $130,000 for your life since some of that work was obviously unperformed since the data wasn't being shared for the first two years?

Yes, as the evaluation context and content has not changed it just now needs to be performed. What was only performed thus far was a plan for the evaluation but not yet the full evaluations we were not able to come to an agreement until now on how to share the data in such a way that was beneficial to the clients and to the program evaluation.