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iHow this transcript is madeUnGovr transcribes the official recording with automated speech-to-text, separates speakers by voice, and matches voices to the seated roster. Names and attributions are AI estimates and may contain errors.Verify any quote yourself: click anywhere in the transcript and the official video jumps to that exact moment, so you can check any quote against the recording.0:00 – 0:028 turns
Good morning, everyone. It's my honor to call to order this meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors this morning on September 16th. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.
Roll call, called by Clerk of the Board
Show transcript
Okay, the first item of business is to approve the meeting minutes from our last meeting last week.
So moved.
Thank you Supervisor Nelson. Thank you Supervisor Labanino we have a motion and a second all those in favor please say aye.
Aye.
Motion carries. Okay Madam CEO do you have a report today? No report this morning Chair. Okay. Madam Clerk are there any announcements or changes to our agenda?
Chair Caps and members of the board, I do have a few announcements this morning. An addendum was posted on Friday, September 12th 2025 adding administrative item number 19 to today's agenda. Administrative Item Number 19 is from Supervisor Nelson. It is regarding direction to report on the status of orphaned and idle wells in the County of Santa Barbara. The addition included in the addendum has been posted and made available online to both the board and the public And with no request to speak on this item, the board may add it to the balance of the administrative agenda. Additionally, we received a request from Supervisor Lavinino's office to continue departmental item number one regarding the Santa Maria Sports Complex to the October 14th 2025 meeting.
And lastly, 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 2 if you have any questions please contact the clerk of the board's office at area code 805-568-2240 again
Okay thank you so much then let's see. Right now I have on my script that we go to item number one.
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Chair Caps and members of the board, unless the board would like to pull that item we have no request to speak on departmental item number one so we can take the continuance October 14th.
I'll just comment on the continuance if I could. It's just that we wanted to have the city of Santa Maria here as well to talk about sports complex and they are away at a conference and weren't able to make it so we just rescheduled to the next Santa Maria hearing.
Makes sense.
Agenda Discussionitems moved / continued / pulled, click to expand
So, I'll make a motion that we continue item 1 until October 14th. Second.
Okay. We have a motion in second. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Okay, then we'll move on to our administrative agenda. And would any board members like to pull any items from this administrative agenda? I have already previously pulled A8, A9, A12, A17 and A19. Any in addition from the Board? Supervisor Nelson?
No, I was going to make a motion to approve The administrative agenda without a 8, 9, 12, 17 or 19.
Okay great let me just check with the clerk any members of public
have they pulled chair caps members of the board we have no further requests to speak from the public on the administrative agenda
okay I'll second okay. We have a motion a second all those in favor please say aye.
Aye.
Motion carries. Ok now we get to the fun stuff we will talk about our resolutions Madam Clerk, when you're ready let's move to our first resolution.
Chair Caps and members of the Board. Administrative item number one is sponsored by Supervisor Capps and Supervisor Hartman. It is to adopt a resolution recognizing the week of September 15th 2025 through September 21st 2025 as Diaper Need Awareness Week in Santa Barbara County. And joining us in person today we have Lori Lander Goodman. And Lori if you can please make your way to the podium?
And I will go ahead and read the resolution. Whereas diaper need, the lack of a sufficient supply of clean diapers negatively impacts the health and well-being of children and their families. And whereas national surveys show that nearly one in two families struggles with diaper need and 48% of families report delaying diaper changes in order to stretch their supply, a practice that can lead to infections and other health concerns requiring medical attention.
And whereas access to a sufficient supply of diapers is often required for babies and toddlers to participate in child care and early education programs, enabling children to thrive and parents to work or pursue educational opportunities. And whereas, diaper need is both a public health and economic issue and addressing it strengthens families promotes economic stability and supports the healthy development of children.
And whereas Santa Barbara County is proud to be a home to community-based organizations like LEAP, Learn Engage Advocate and Partner which distribute diapers and other essentials to support families in need thereby promoting health well being and economic stability Now therefore, be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Barbara does hereby recognize September 15th through the 21st 2025 as Diaper Need Awareness Week in the County of Santa Barbara and expresses its gratitude to LEAP, their staff, volunteers, and donors for their service while encouraging all residents to support organizations working to ensure that every child and family in Santa Barbara County has the basic necessities to thrive.
Passed and adopted today.
Thank you, do I need to push something or it's on? You're good. All right thank you so much Supervisor Capps, Supervisor Hartman and all of the supervisors for this meaningful proclamation recognizing National Diaper Need Awareness Week. I am deeply honored by your support and your commitment to addressing one of the most basic yet overlooked needs in our county LEAP mitigates the effects of poverty, racism and trauma by providing high quality trauma-informed child care, comprehensive culturally sensitive community support and visionary community leadership.
Since 1971 we've been supporting families in South County and since this last year we are countywide with a children's center in Lompoc And distributing diapers to families across Santa Barbara County from Carpinteria to Santa Maria. This year we're partnering with Hearts Aligned to provide special diapers for critically ill children. In the last year alone we've distributed more than 60,000 diapers.
Thanks to you in part and this is not just a number each diaper represents relief for a parent who was worried about how to keep their baby clean and healthy Each diaper represents dignity restored and stress reduced. As you know, we're living in uncertain times. Families are facing rising costs, housing insecurity and unpredictable changes that can turn their lives upside down in a minute.
In the midst of this uncertainty, LEAP serves as a steady reliable resource. A place where families know they can turn when they need support. This reliability isn't just about diapers. It's about trust, community and the promise that no family has to face these challenges alone. Thank you again for this proclamation and for recognizing that something as simple as a diaper can make such a profound difference in a family's life.
Your support helps us to continue to be that reliable resource for our community needs especially at this time. Together we're building a county where every family has what they need to thrive. Thank you.
Supervisor Hartman.
Well I just wanted to commend LEAP for jumping into the void this isn't diapers aren't covered by WIC they not covered by food stamps it can be a hundred dollars a month and for a family facing economic challenges it really means you can't get your child into childcare if they don't have diapers you can't and if you can get in childcare then you can work so it's really fundamental And that you identified this gap and have filled it so amazingly, we all give you thanks.
Yeah thank you Lori and I just wanted to thank LEAPT as well because more than ever right now out and about in the community people are saying to me and you know I'm sure my colleagues what can we do? How can we help? People really want to pitch in And providing diapers is such a tangible way that you can help families and moms and kids. And so, parents who are looking for volunteer opportunities for their kids or teenager kids to go help at the diaper bank. So this is a tangible way that you can help LEAP donate some diapers, go to Costco drop it off at LEAP. So thank you for being here and showing a tangible way to help. Supervisor Lee?
Just a question in addition to diapers do you need diaper wipes as well?
Yes.
Diaper wipes.
Got it.
Thank you. Thanks for being here. Good work. OK, Madam Clerk.
Chair Caps and members of the board, Administrative Item number two is sponsored by Supervisor Hartman and Supervisor Lavanino. It is to adopt a resolution proclaiming September 15th 2025 through October 15th 2025 as Hispanic Heritage Month in Santa Barbara County and joining us in person today we have Esmeralda Garcia Corazon de Pueblo Executive Director and Samuel Duarte Corazon de Puelo Board Chair and if you can please make your way to the podium.
And I'll go ahead and read the resolution. Whereas National Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to honor and recognize the countless contributions, leadership and achievements of Hispanic peoples whose roots trace from diverse backgrounds including indigenous, Latin, African and European roots. And whereas according to the U.S. Census Bureau more than 64 million people nearly 19% of the nation's population identify as Hispanic or Latino including approximately 45% of Santa Barbara County residents Making these communities a vital part of our local identity, economy and cultural fabric.
And whereas in 1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress first established Hispanic Heritage Week, and in 1988 President Ronald Reagan expanded it to a month-long celebration observed from September 15th to October 15th each year. And whereas the theme for 2025 Collective Heritage Honoring the Past Inspiring the Future reflects both the resilience of our communities and the urgent need to uplift Hispanic The board of Supervisors serves as a platform for people of color, immigrant and indigenous voices during a time of increasing devaluation, discrimination and harmful rhetoric.
And serves us both the celebration and a call to action ensuring that their rich heritage is not only honored in the past, but safeguarded for future generations. And whereas in the face of challenges including economic inequalities, housing insecurity, language access barriers and targeted attacks on immigrant and indigenous rights, the Hispanic community continues to lead with courage as farm workers feeding our nation, educators guiding our youth, health professionals caring for the sick The Board of Supervisors is committed to advancing equity for all. Innovators driving economic growth and artists, inspiring cultural pride and advocates advancing at equity for all now therefore be here by order to resolve that this board of supervisors of the county of Santa Barbara does hereby declare October 15th throughout or September 15 excuse me through October 1520 25 as Hispanic heritage month in Santa Barbara County and calls upon all residents to join in honoring respected and empowered,
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passed and adopted today.
Thank you so much. Can you all hear me? Yes yes okay on behalf of Corazon del Pueblo and our indigenous Latino and immigrant communities thank you for this resolution at a time when we're witnessing rising anti-immigrant sentiments it's more important than ever to highlight and celebrate our culture our resilience and our contributions So it's important to have spaces where we can do just that. Where young people are able to tell their stories, share their experiences and see themselves in a positive light. And so in this way I think we can see how we have shaped the economic and cultural landscape of this country in profoundly beautiful ways. And we will continue to do so with dignity and with courage. Thank you.
I will also like to remind everyone, our allies, supporters and community members that our mission of Corazón del Pueblo is to empower and celebrate the richness of our cultural creativity in the performing visual and literary arts. Our organization creates spaces for healing connection wellness and social justice through the power of artistic expression. I believe that through our collective efforts we can aim to dismantle the racism actions occurring globally, nationally and within our local community. También para todos ustedes, nuestros compañeros que se encuentran, Corazón del Pueblo es un espacio que creamos para la salud, también la sanación y a través de eso encontrar justicia social.
Supervisor Herman.
Well, I just wanted to say that Santa Barbara County's culture is really inextricably intertwined with Hispanic culture. It really defines much of our whole county. And yet there hasn't really been a cultural center for Hispanics, for Latinos. And I'm proud to say that Alma Hernandez who works on my staff was one of the founders of Corazon and how extremely important it really came to me once sitting in a coffee shop in Guadalupe when two young men came in to talk to us And their eyes were aglow because they just discovered music from their own culture. And it gave them such a sense of pride, and it was really visible that culture grounds people. It tells you who you are, who you came from, what you stand for. And Corazon works to help people understand that and then build on that.
And I think it's extremely important. Can't overemphasize it, and so just wanted To underscore that today. Thank you. Thank
you very much, Madam Clerk.
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Chair caps and members of the board administrative item number 3 is sponsored by supervisor Hartman it is to adopt a resolution of commendation honoring the California Natural Art Museum upon their 25th anniversary. And joining us in person today we have Kevin Patterson and Stacey OD demand gate if you can please make your way Whereas the California Nature Art Museum, originally founded in 2000 as the Wildling Museum by conservation advocate and artist Patty Jackman was created to inspire stewardship of nature through art and education.
And whereas the museum has presented more than 120 exhibitions showcasing the work of local, regional and national renowned artists together with educational programs and community outreach furthering awareness of nature's beauty and fragility. And whereas the museum serves as a center for environmental education offering enriching experiences for all ages including free school group tours, free admission for children under 17 seasonal nature excursions and art workshops that connect all ages to the natural world.
And whereas the museum actively supports local artists by providing exhibition space, opportunities to sell their work and community art shows featuring students and seniors thereby enriching the cultural life of Santa Barbara County and the broader Tri-County region. And whereas the California Nature Art Museum is also a home to Lulu High Glee, a whimsical troll sculpture by Danish recycle artist Thomas Dambo which was attracted thousands of visitors and garnered national attention further enhancing Solvang's reputation as a destination for public art and cultural tourism. Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Barbara does hereby recognize and commend the California Nature Art Museum on its 25th anniversary for its enduring contributions to art culture environmental education and community engagement And for its strong partnerships with conservation organizations, museums, schools, universities and artists in advancing environmental awareness and creative expression on California's central coast.
Passed and adopted today.
Thank you very much, thank you Supervisor Hartman for sponsoring this. We so appreciate the acknowledgement of our 25th anniversary. I'm sorry that our founder Patti Giacomini was not able to be here today but she is the reason we exist and we want to acknowledge that. We opened up our doors in 2000 in Los Olivos but we were incorporated actually in 1997 thanks to Patti's vision and that original Board of Directors As an artist, Patty knew that art can connect people to nature and make them care in a way that scientific facts and reports perhaps might not reach them.
Since then we've organized over 125 art exhibitions often working with local artists to help them also find new audiences for their own work Our programs offer lifelong learning opportunities for all ages, whether it's a citizen science excursion which we recently did where volunteers were capturing insects for a research project on Figueroa Mountain or creating ceramic bee baths both for children and adults in partnership with Community Clayworks in Buelton.
We have a new opportunity that we've just found out about to work in Solvang schools and have our assistant director help teach art classes. And we always do free tours for school groups at any time, and if anyone's listening and you're a teacher please reach out come to us we would love to have you there. So on Friday, we will be having the formal celebration of our newest show Wild in California which features Patty's amazing mosaic art that showcases the biodiversity that our incredible state has.
And we'll really be educating our visitors that might know where they are but not understand the entire state and our role in that state and how amazing California is and how our nature needs to be protected for future generations. We hope to see many of you at Friday for our celebration and we're very much looking forward to the next 25 years. Thank you so much.
Sam Cohen, Vice Chair of the California Nature Arts Museum. I wear a few other hats however and please come visit The Troll take some photos. Solvang and San Ynez are becoming museum centric. And I speak on behalf of both the California Nature Arts Museum and the tribe's new Chumash Museum Make a day of it, even make a weekend of it. Thank you very much for your proclamation.
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Sounds good. Okay next resolution.
Chair Caps and members of the board, administrative item number four is sponsored by Supervisor Lee and Supervisor Lavanino. It is to adopt a resolution of accommodation honoring the Community Health Centers CHC of the Central Coast for exemplary service and extraordinary response during the Gifford Fire. And joining us in person today we have Nancy Benuelos, Community Health Centers of the Central Coast CHCCC.
And if Nancy can please make her way to the podium? And anyone else you'd like to join you? Whereas for nearly five decades, Community Health Centers of the Central Coast CHC has served as a trusted safety net provider ensuring access to high quality affordable and compassionate health care for all residents regardless of income insurance status or circumstances. And whereas CHC provides essential comprehensive healthcare services to patients across Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties including the communities of Arroyo Grande, Guadalupe, Los Alamos, Lompoc, New Cuyama, Napomo and Santa Maria. And whereas Santa Barbara's architects have worked diligently to preserve the architectural heritage of our community through service on local architectural review boards, various public outreach and educational efforts and service projects.
And whereas during the Gifford fire of August 2025 CHC demonstrated exceptional resilience and commitment to patient care, even as the new Quyama Health Center was forced to close by swiftly shifting services to its Santa Maria Telehealth Center to ensure patients many of whom were displaced maintained access to critical health services. And whereas CHC staff went above and beyond in their service securing Red Cross special passes to travel through Taft into new Quyama during the fire and delivering life-saving medications directly from CHC Nipomo's pharmacy to patients in need.
And now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Barbara hereby commends and expresses its deep appreciation to Community Health Centers of the Central Coast, and its dedicated employees for their unwavering service, innovation, and extraordinary commitment to the health and well-being of Santa Barbara County residents particularly during the Gifford Fire past and adopted today.
Thank you. On behalf of CHC, we truly appreciate this recognition but it's not you know it's not me that's doing all the work. It's really the frontline staff our health center managers are medical assistants and those that really have that direct patient facing interaction so I would be dismissed if I didn't allow Myra to share the story of how we took care of the patients in Yucayama and met the needs in regards to their medications
Good morning, I just wanted to say it was a pleasure working with CHC gives us the opportunity to serve our people in our community. This is what reminds me of why I love what I do. I just want to say thank you. It was a pleasure. Go ahead.
Good morning, thank you Board of Supervisors for this acknowledgement and proclamation. We are very proud to be acknowledged we've been in the community for 47 years and we appreciate all your support and one mantra that we continually ask our employees what would we want for our family? What would we do for our family And Myra along with our operations, Nancy our COO we conferred and said you know this is an opportunity Red Cross and others came to us.
And lo and behold Myra our manager took the medications out there through A long way around, right? So she drove about an hour and a half two hours to deliver medications to our patients out there in the community. And so again thank you for this acknowledgement and we will definitely share this with our team back at CHC. Thank you very much I appreciate it.
Thank you so much thanks for being here Okay, let's see. I'm Kirk we will take up the next administrative item.
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Chair caps and members of the board administrative item number 8 is from the General Services Department it is to consider recommendations regarding a purchase and sale agreement for the Oasis senior center site in Orkut folio number 0, 0, 3, 9, 7, 7. And this isn't the 4th district.
Okay, Supervisor Nelson.
Yes thank you Chair Kapsch I just wanted to pull this and highlight it and just thank a few people for making this possible. Those of you that are not aware of the community of Orchid it's as big as the city of Goleta but it's also an area that is very underserved by community spaces often in the Orchard area the community has to rely on schools churches and non-profits to kind of fill those gaps on trying to create community For many years, they've been working on developing a senior center. The Oasis nonprofit has selected the site and has plans. And at the same time here at the county we've been working on trying to find a permanent home for the Orchid Library. And after much deliberations and searching, we've actually identified a opportunity to co-locate the Orchid Library and the Oasis Senior Center on the same location.
And so this is just actually signifies one of the first of many steps towards that end today. The Board of Supervisors, my colleagues authorized negotiations between the county and Oasis on Purchasing the site that they have had entitled for their future senior center. We've also are working to acquire some of the neighboring properties so that we can co-locate both of these community assets in the same place, so that not only nonprofits but the county can partner together on creating a community space that would really be impactful to the Orchid area and the Santa Maria Valley and the county as a whole. So just wanted to pull this I just want to thank General Services, wanted to thank Oasis. Wanted to thank the friends of the Orchid Library.
I want to thank my staff and that just the general community who's been engaged on this project and hope to see some more progress as we advance into the future with this so I'm just really excited about it wanted to highlight it and when it's written if anybody else has anything, Supervisor Lavinia has something to say but I'd also like to make the motion to approve this.
Yeah, thank you. Well this thing has been languishing for probably close to a decade. I remember when folks came in to try to fundraise for Oasis and trying to build this giant senior center it just seemed like it was never going to happen and that piece of property actually brought a lot of issues. It was basically a ball of snakes and It could have just, you know there were many times along this path where it would have been easy just to say that's not going to happen and move long. I got to give you a big shout out Supervisor Nelson.
Got in there, rolled up his sleeves along with staff and really untangled this thing to the point where the community went from that the county is getting in our way and doesn't want us to have this center. And it's kind of putting up all these roadblocks to the point now where at the last gathering of the Oasis members I was at they were cheering on County staff and talking about how How the tide and the momentum had really turned and changed. And a lot of these people, we see the silver tsunami out there that's coming. We're going to need these resources more and more as more people like myself get older inside I want to play pickleball. So I appreciate the work that you did because it honestly could have under somebody that was less enthusiastic and get in there and do it yourself You really made this thing happen, so I think it's a great win for ORCID.
So I will second your motion when you get there.
Supervisor Harmon? And I just wanted to add we don't always hear praise for our Planning and Development Department but they really did have to turn every rock over to figure out how to make this work and so I just wanted to acknowledge their work as well. That's great.
Okay, Supervisor
Nelson. Yes well I just want to thank my staff for their kind words and appreciation on this project and hopefully support here so I'll make the motion that we adopt a staff recommendations for A8. And I'll second that.
Okay we've got a motion in a second with enthusiasm all those in favor please say aye.
Aye.
Motion carries on A8 I think we have A9 next
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Chair Kaps and members of the board, Administrator Item number nine is from the General Services Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding sunlight power purchase agreements for seven countywide locations. Supervisor Hartman.
Yes, I have to recuse from this vote. Enelo CEO Randy Arniston donated $1,000 to a musical event in March of 2025. I had nothing to do with the selection by general services of the contractor but I must recuse
Okay, well let's move ahead but I'll take the opportunity to say oh yeah.
Yeah, I was just going to go ahead. No we needed a motion but
no no
that's great.
I know I'll take the motion but this is a great thing that this is moving forward with these solar.
I guess we have to wait for her to leave
she has to leave the room okay I'll
make a motion to move staff recommendation
and I will second it. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Let's see. Okay. Supervisor Hartman is back in the room and now we'll move to A12 which was an item that I pulled
Chair Kaps and members of the board, Administrative Item number 12 is from the Public Works Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding a cooperative agreement for cycle 6 of the Measure A South Coast Bicycle and Pedestrian Safe Routes to School Programs County Project Number 864058. And this is in the 1st 2nd and 3rd districts and there is a 4th vote required on this item.
Okay, well I pulled this in the spirit of highlighting great things also in the aftermath of a very robust conversation that I very much appreciated last hearing by my colleagues on the safety of walking and cycling in Isla Vista. And I just wanted to give a shout out to the community partners that helped secure this grant. Isla Vista Community Service District, Isla Vista Foot Patrol. This is, I understand it scored really well with SB CAG and Measure A funds to go towards making sidewalks safer in Isla Vista. So Mustafa if you could just fill us in briefly.
Chair Caps and board members yes this was a great news for us as well and we had dedicated and talented staff that was able to pull this grant push forward and highlight what Isla Vista needed in terms of the some side bugs that needed to be placed into close the gaps in the sidewalk networks in Isla Vista but also you're not able to do this without the help up as mentioned 17 community stakeholders that helped us and supported the grant application, and we were able to get this grant by the input that was actually provided with them. The high priority locations in Isla Vista was chosen by close collaboration with Isla Vista Community Service District. And so we're super thankful of them as well.
Great. So I know again we there's a lot of need there in Isla Vista but there are some very good assistance along the way so this was a good thing, so I'm happy to make the motion to accept this looking for a second. I'll second. Okay all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Thank you. Motion carries. I think that brings us to A17
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Chair Kaps and members of the Board, Administrative Item number 17 is from the Social Services Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding a Memorandum of Understanding MOU with Allen Hancock Joint Community College District for General Educational Development Testing Center and there's a four-fifths vote required on this item.
Yeah I just pulled this item because This is not going to be any big grilling today. No, this is just a highlight this as far as I didn't know this but if you wanted to get a GED in Santa Maria before this MOU, you either had to go online which for a lot of people in Santa Maria especially if you're searching for a job you might not have internet access Otherwise, you had to drive to Paso or I think Santa Barbara City College. So obviously a huge hurdle for somebody that wants to complete their GED and in the staff report almost 20% of Santa Marians do not have a high school diploma or GED so this is something strongly needed.
I really appreciate the work of the Workforce Development Board and Social Services combining with Allan Hancock College as well. This is now going to provide us a place where somebody can come in and take a test This is a good plug for you Louise. If we see unemployment numbers starting to rise now, I just want to remind folks about the great work that the Workforce Development Board does connecting businesses with job seekers. If you just want to give the 30-second plug on what you guys do at the Workforce Resource Center, that'd be awesome.
Thank you so much Supervisor Labadino through the chair. So we in the workforce development board, we have a dozen workforce programs that we offer different workforce services paid work experience on the job training vocational training. So if individuals want to go back to school, we offer funding for us to be able to pay for their programs. So we serve on a yearly basis about 1,000 job seekers with individualized services through our two one-stop centers that we have. We serve about 30,000 visitors in partnership with EDD. So we are trying every day to do better and to be able to engage our community This GED testing center has been in the works for about a year, and I want to thank the leadership at Allan Hancock College for listening sometimes to our crazy ideas.
But this center is going to be in the heart of our community. It's going to be able to provide more additional resources to our adult learners, and it has been one of our board priorities for us to be able to tackle this issue and for us to be able to bring more resources and more services to our adult learners and our job seekers.
Great and just in Santa Maria, I don't know the exact address but for everybody that's been here before it's right next to where the old Sears building used to be. It's across the street from the JCPenney Shopping Center. Nice you just walk in do you have to have an appointment or can you just walk in?
We're going to have a registration online so we're working with the certification agency. So it's well, it's we were hoping that's going to be operation in a couple of weeks but it's going to be in partnership with Alan Hancock. We're going to have registration online. They could also work into our center will mean more than happy to assist them is 1410 South Broadway right?
All right awesome. Thanks a lot Louise. Thanks Daniel.
That's great
and I'll make the motion to move staff recommendation to approve this
second. Okay all those in favor, please say aye.
Aye
motion passes. Okay. A-19.
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Chair Kaps and members of the board, Administrative Item Number 19 as previously read into the record is from Supervisor Nelson. It is to consider recommendations regarding direction to report on the status of orphaned and idle wells in the County of Santa Barbara.
Supervisor Nielsen.
Yes, thank you Chair Caps I just wanted to I think there might be some other comments on this but I wanted to at least share with my colleagues what I was trying to do what I am trying to do here is I know we have a feature item coming to the board on potentially phasing out oil and gas production in Santa Barbara County You know, it's not something I personally support at least the way that we're going down that route at this point.
But what I am trying to do through this item and in that future discussion is have a conversation about what that means For our community in our county beyond that, which means also dealing with our orphaned and idle wells that we have. We have quite a few in our county as well as the potential of adding a lot more as we begin to phase out oil and gas production through our county most of them in the fourth district so I like to have a report on that from planning staff. I think a lot of information is readily available for them to present to us and so I think it's just good as a frame of reference as we go into that conversation so that we can start Figure out as we try to accomplish the board's goals, also some other greater community goals that ultimately will have to be dealt with and want to make sure that we're going through that process eyes wide open.
So just being completely transparent on what I'm trying to accomplish here in that discussion so that's why I think it'd be good to have a presentation from county staff prior to our next hearing on the oil and gas conversation.
Supervisor Harmon. Well two points really, the first is that at some point we used to have regular oil and gas presentations by our County Planning and Development Energy Division then we moved it to APCD and in March of every year they do and I actually have them here. So they did one in March, they will do one again in March and that would be something our planning and development department could rely on and perhaps work together. I think that would be helpful.
And I would like to see the meetings, the second point I have, the meetings combined so that we can focus on energy so advocates can come at
Yeah. I appreciate the concern for the environment that was indicated in your letter, for sure. And I would like to be more educated on the impacts of our existing abandoned wells and orphaned wells and the differentiation and how many exist. It's good to know that APCD is charged with looking at this annually as well, and the more that we can sync those processes up, the better. So I guess my question is also along the lines of Supervisor Hartman's Would you be open to combining these conversations so that we're not having I think I have some concerns about having a conversation.
One week and then sort of continuing at the next week just from an agenda management perspective as chair,
Well, I have no objection to that at all. You know my thought process was not to make that meeting any longer because it probably will be a long meeting already and just give us a chance to absorb the information that we received potentially week before but there's I think we are pretty bright group of people that can probably take both those at the same time so I have no objection. So if you like I'll make the motion I'm just going to kind of check with director arm is in term because this he's the person doing the work.
Chair Caps through the and board members. Yes, that's an excellent time frame gives us a chance to gather the data we can deal with Cal jam. We can deal with other sources and bring that forward
I make sure that with supervisor Hartman's homework here that AP CDs process is
will take advantage of that and see if we can incorporate that in the material that comes before you
okay sounds like we have a plan
so I'll go ahead and make
All those in favor. I motion carries. Okay, I think that wraps us up for the administrative agenda is that correct. This is a time in the agenda for those of you in the public that would wish to speak on anything that is not on our agenda today. Either in person or by zoom or in Santa Santa Barbara. So madam clerk when you're ready.
0:43 – 0:494 turns
Yes, chair caps and members of the board we have 9 requests to speak from the public on general public comment today we're going
Good morning, Board of Supervisors. My name is Reyna Montoya. I'm an IHSS provider here in Santa Barbara County and a proud member of the UDW. I care for my son Daniel who has autism. I am here today because I am deeply disappointed in how this board has treated homecare providers during contract negotiations. At a time when the federal government is cutting support, this county has also failed to protect the people who make independent living possible—people like me There's a saying my elderly father often told me, daughter if you really want to get to know someone.
Give them power and see what they do with it. That alone will tell you everything you need to know, we the people gave you power. We elected you represent us on this Board of Supervisors. Now it's time to show us not with words but with actions that your words mean something. That your values for our communities are more than just slogans. That you're willing to stand with us not against us. I would hate to think that the power we've given you has earned us nothing more than pennies in return.
It would be deeply disappointing to believe that the trust we placed in you is falling short of the values you claim to hold. I want to believe that your word is your bond, that you lead with integrity, honor and respect because when you offer us pennies it sends a clear message that our hard work, our caregiving, our labor is only worth that much to you. As a Board of Supervisors you have a choice to make. You can choose to stand and fight with us and show our communities that you are who you say you are But please don't turn your back on us.
Our community is watching closely and we're not just listening to your words, we're watching your actions and believe me action speak louder. You've warned us about a tight fiscal future, but we've already lived in tight budgets every day. We're not asking you for luxuries. We're asking to survive. We stretch every dollar to care for our clients, seniors people with disabilities and veterans, but we can't keep doing this on poverty wages. You offered us pennies when we really need our wages that reflect the real value of our work. Let's look at other counties have done. San Luis Obispo is at $21 an hour, Ventura County is that $20 and 15 cents an hour, Santa Cruz County is that $20 and 50 cents an hour. They chose to value their care providers.
Why not Santa Barbara? We need a livable wage just enough to pay rent by groceries and take care of our own families while we care for others. As a mother caring for a child with special needs, I've had to choose between food and rent. Between medication and bills, I can't afford to provide my family with pocket change. Please don't offer us pennies, we are caregivers not panhandlers. We work hard, we deserve respect. This county has the resources you talk about rainy day funds? Well for us it's been raining for a long time. That's what those funds are for. And now is the time to use them. We're not asking just for respect, we're asking for real leadership. For a county that says it values care to work, please prove it. With real investment, care work is essential work.
Santa Barbara County can and must do better. We need change. We need justice. We need dollars not cents. Thank you.
We will now go to Ralph Bruster then we will return here in Santa Maria with Joyce Ellen Lipman. Ralph?
Good morning chair caps and board members. It's good to be here over Zoom, I wish I was in person. My name is Ralph Armbruster Sandoval and I'm a professor in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UC Santa Barbara. And I'm also the faculty director of the UCSB Community Labor Center. I'm here today to speak about my dad. My dad nearly passed away five months ago after he fell at home He was hospitalized for two weeks and then spent another week at a skilled nursing facility.
Our family then hired him when he was released from the hospital. She's been a godsend managing his medications, preparing his meals, doing laundry and socializing with him. He's doing much better now because he got the care to make him well. Caregivers in Santa Barbara County, like the last speaker just spoke about very well do life-giving work because but they aren't paid what they deserve. So they're doing all this amazing work but not getting the pay that they deserve. In these hard times caregivers deserve a raise and they deserve good benefits and dignity we must find ways to support We will now return to Santa Maria with Joyce Ellen Lipman to be followed by Maria Alina Millings.
0:49 – 0:556 turns
Good morning, Mrs. Capps and members of the Board of Supervisors. My name is Joyce Ellen Whitman and I'm here today as a member of the League of Women Voters of North Santa Barbara County. Basically, I'm here to just announce and celebrate today is National Voter Registration Day so we all know how important elections are and we all know how important It's really important for people to understand what voting is and as the League of Women Voters nationally and many other organizations today we celebrate our ability to register I think it's important for people to vote and for people to realize that every once in a while they need to probably think about checking their status.
And as a registered voter, you know did they move have they changed their name have change political parties has I want to start by saying thank you to all of the board members for being here today. I hope that they don't have any difficulty when they go to the polls or fill out the ballots to vote. Elections are very important. We all know that you especially know The best part of your agenda is always the first part when you do all those proclamations and we get to see what wonderful things are going on in our community.
So I thank you for always having that if, if I don't get through your whole agenda on zoom when I go back to look at it um I always do that part. We have a special election this year, one that we did not anticipate as the League of Women Voters but we're getting prepared. We will be coming out statewide with a pros and cons document that we have just purchased a couple thousand copies of to distribute throughout North County We'll have them in your office, the City Council's libraries all those wonderful public places and hope people will take the opportunity to look at.
I want to thank you for the good work that your county We have had some very successful tabling events and Hancock. I'm here this morning tabling so anybody here who isn't registered to vote that would like to register. I'll be here. I'm right out there with registration forms, although you can always go I just wish you a happy National Voter Registration Day. Thank you.
We will now go to Maria Alina Millings, to be followed by Norma Alonzo.
Good morning. My name is Marielena Millings. I'm a family child care provider, a proud member of UDW and the president for District 8 Central. I am here today to stand in solidarity with my union sisters and brothers that pay they currently receive does not reflect the vital importance of the work they do for this community. As a child care provider, I know firsthand what it feels like to be undervalued and to receive insufficient pay for essential work.
That is why today I urge this board to support and take a step forward. Work with home care providers and offer a meaningful wage increase in the upcoming IHSS contract so we can continue supporting our clients. We are the safety net for our clients, but where is ours? Where is the dignity and respect for care workers? You offer a pennies are not only insufficient. They are dangerous. They show that you are playing with the lives of providers and with the lives of people who depend on their care.
This contract is not only balancing the county's finances. It is about the life of home care providers, their families and their clients. We need you to come to the table with a respectable offer that begins to close the wage gap. Don't bring crumbles. Bring dollars. Our county needs this now because pennies do not pay their rent in Santa Barbara County and care simply cannot wait. Thank you.
We will now go to Norma Alonzo, to be followed by Elena Magana. Norma?
Good morning. She's going to say it in Spanish and I'll translate it into English.
And Chair Kapsch, members of the board, I did just want to note that I will double the time so you have plenty of time. Yeah.
0:55 – 1:013 turns
Okay. Buenos dias. Gracias por darnos este espacio. Okay, pues mi nombre es Norma Alonso. Soy provedora de cuidado en el hogar aquí en Santa Maria. También desempeño con orgullo como representante del condado de Santa Barbara y como miembro de nuestro equipo de negociaciones de UDW. Yo soy provedora de mi hija, mi hija tiene 21 año. Mi hija se llama Roxana. Ella tiene una discapacidad de autismo y discapacidad intelectual.
Al igual que mis compañeras y compañeros del sindicato estoy aquí para alzar la voz contra la ofensa injusta frankamente respetosa que esta junta ha hecho a los trabajadores de servicio de apoyo en el hogar. Algunos de nosotros nos convertimos en proveedores debido a un accidente o al deterioro de la salud de un ser querido. Otros elegimos este trabajo porque vivimos la necesidad desesperada de cuidado en el Pero sin importar como llegar aqui, sabemos una verdad. Nuestro trabajo salva vidas. Y sin embargo no podemos seguir haciendo este trabajo en el condado de Santa Barbara con salarios de pobreza mientras que ustedes acaban de agarrar un nuevo aumento.
Necesitamos salarios que realmente reflejen el costo de la vida aquí Para que todos los proveedores puedan permanecer en esta comunidad y continuar cuidando a las personas que dependen de nosotros. Sin los proveedores de IHSS, los adultos mayores y las personas con discapacidad pierden su independencia, su dignidad y la posibilidad de vivir plenamente en sus propios hogares.
Mientras tanto, en este condado ustedes continúan dejando atrás demasiados residentes. Personas que luchan por encontrar el cuidado que necesitan porque realmente no hay suficientes proveedores. En nuestra comunidad se ven obligados a esperar meses por el cuidado que nunca llega Ofrecen centavos a los provedores del IHSS. Es inaceptable, solo profundiza las grietas del condado que se niegan a los provedores con dignidad y con el respeto de nuestro trabajo, que nuestro trabajo merece.
Es hora de un cambio. Es hora de algo más que centavo y falta de respeto. Good
morning. My name is Norma Alonzo, I'm a home care provider in Santa Maria. I also proudly serve as the Santa Barbara County representative as a member of our negotiation team. I care for my daughter Roxana who is 21 years old, who lives with autism and intellectual disability. Like my fellow union siblings, I'm here to speak out against the unjust and frankly disrespectful offer that the board has made to the in-home support service workers.
Some of us became providers because of an accident or a loved one declining health Others choose this work because we saw the desperate need for care. But no matter how we came to it, we all know one truth our work saves lives. And yet, we cannot keep doing this work in Santa Barbara County on property wages. We need wages that actually reflect the cost of living here so providers can afford to stay in this community and continue to caring for the people that depend on us.
Without IHSS providers, seniors and people with disabilities lose their independence, their dignity, and their chance to live full lives in their own homes Meanwhile, the county, that's you. All of you continue to leave too many constituents behind people who are struggling to find the care that they need because there simply aren't enough caregiver providers in our community and so they keep waiting for months and months for care that never comes Offering IHSS providers pennies, it's unacceptable.
It only deepens the cracks in our already broken system. A system broken in part because county leadership refuses to treat providers with the dignity and respect our work deserves. It's time for a change. It really is a time for change. It's time for more than just pennies and disrespect. Santa Barbara families deserve better, and we need you to step up now.
Thank you for your time.
We will now go to Elena Magana to be followed by Yesenia De Casas. Elena?
1:01 – 1:083 turns
Hi my name is Elena Magana And two years ago, my mother elderly mother who's 91 was found to be practicing extreme self neglect. She was falling suffering fractures and not seeking any medical attention for it. So my brother and sister went in retrieved her She was out of the country at that moment. COVID trapped her over there at that time and she was taken to Marion Hospital and with the care, she was near death.
There was everything wrong with her internally and externally. And the doctors kindly revived her. And she was at the extended care And when they got her better she was, I asked her do you want to go home or do you want to stay in the care home? And she said I want to go home. This home is in Guadalupe and an older track home where we've lived there for more than 50 years so With the help of in-home supportive services.
Back to her, she had given up on life. She thought again she was near death. She had no will to live but with the help of in home supportive services her spirit has been revived some her quality of life hasn't been improved Her caregiver will wheel her around to the old, old time neighbors and friends to visit or some of them visit her in her home. These in-home caregivers supply all her physical needs. She's incapable, she's disabled and again they've extended her quality of life so that we can have a few more years with her I see her happier.
And so, um, I think the board members are very aware of the high cost of living for a basic needs from when I interact with utility companies, I asked them Are you planning rate increases? They'll tell me yes gas electricity when I interact with insurance companies they tell me Yes we're going to do increases You know food is increasing, people have to be selective when they go grocery shopping. So if you know that the basic needs of every household are the prices have been increases and they need maybe a higher wage to meet those needs I think these in-home caregivers are providing a valuable service to the whole community, not just my mother. Thank you, Elena, that is your time. From the elderly to the disabled and they would appreciate a higher rate than what you currently offer.
I think they'd be well worth it. Thank you very much.
We will now go to Yesenia Deca Suasi To be followed
by Joy Hoover. Yesenia? Thank you, good morning I have my notes here to make sure I don't go over the three minutes. Good morning to the chair and all the members of the board. My name is Yesenia De Casaus. I'm UDW's director of organizing and member engagement in one of the negotiators at the table currently negotiating a contract with this county I'm here today to express our frustration with what we have been hearing at the table. I think you've heard from others, although we understand that the county as a whole and especially the Department of Social Services is having to make tough decisions right now.
The offers we have received so far just unacceptable. You see when someone who is an hourly employee gets an increase of cents, we hardly see it after taxes. Particularly when someone's a low-wage worker and making close to minimum wage with by the way no other type of benefit you have to buy medications transportation etc out of pocket. So that adds to the problem The IHSS unit is not pensionable.
We have accepted to give up health benefits due to the unfair funding rules of the program in the past. We are negotiating in good faith and not even asking for the living wage in Santa Barbara County. In fact, we're not even asking for the market rate of our work which ranges up to $30 an hour. All we're asking is for you to utilize the full state participation of around $2 over a period of three years.
Only full dollars make a difference in our bills right now, and you have the opportunity to do the right thing and bring wages to at least $20 an hour now and work to catch up with counties like San Luis Obispo that are already at $21. By utilizing all the state participation, you not only invest in us. You invest in Santa Barbara County's economy because as you know, you only pay 17 cents to every dollar that you invest. I negotiate contracts for UDW and other parts of the state and I'm particularly disappointed that the county where I live and love is hesitating to invest in a meaningful way We are now and have been negotiating in good faith.
Please stop telling us that you can't afford our modest wage increase proposal, please be the leaders that I know you are and work with us to find the funding. You do it all the time for other things. We are counting on you to protect this program that is essential for thousands of our clients in Santa Barbara County. And you can do that as you invest in thousands of IHSS providers that live here. Thank you.
1:08 – 1:157 turns
We will now go to Joy Hoover, to be followed by Karen Hauenstein who's our final speaker. Joy?
Good morning Supervisors. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Joy Hoover and I am from Mission Hills. I was unable to attend the meeting last week where further funding was approved for the Brisa Encina project. I wasn't able to watch the video of the meeting but I did read about the meeting in The Independent and the news talk. There was not a lot of information given on the project, but I would like to make some comments on what was there.
First in the independent article just the shock that the total cost for 49 units has ballooned to $51 million. Thank you Supervisor Nelson for acknowledging this. Another thing in the independent article I wanted to bring up is the fact that the developers quoted as saying I don't think we put too many nice things in there Well if you can't put nice things in there for 51 million, what are we doing here?
Who is benefiting from this? Is it the existing community of Mission Hills? Is it our new neighbors or is it the developer? From the Newshawk article, the county approves funding for recent SENA after project delays significant cost increase. Quote, neighborhood concerns about the size of the project prompted several redesigns and the funding now includes 49 apartments, 56 parking spaces and other supportive services.
Speaking of the Brisa Encina project, Supervisor Hartman was quoted in the article that in Mission Hills every sign at every house opposed this project. And quote, she said that Thompson and his team bent over backwards to hear what the community was saying like reducing the number of apartments from 70 to 49. You must be aware because it is on the county website that Frank Thompson has proposed further development right across Burton Mesa Road Plaza de la Bandera a 47 unit development on 2.34 acre parcel.
At the NBAR meeting, a panelist on the courtesy review of this Plaza Bandera project called it a monstrosity. He blasted the developer for not considering The comfort or safety of the people who will live there, noting the lack of storage and the lack of even a place to have an outdoor barbecue. I don't understand how you can praise the developer for listening in the community and reducing the size of the project when he has actually added 30 units to the original number I don't think the community of Mission Hills understands how these projects as a totality are going to impact the community. All this development will greatly impact the community from the ability to safely evacuate in the event of a fire, to daily commuter traffic. I would like to ask the supervisors to hold a community meeting with the developer to inform the community of the details of these projects just like the fire safety meeting Ms.
Hartman graciously held when she was our supervisor, let's have a meeting in the multipurpose room of Los Barros Elementary School and make sure that everyone knows what is coming. I will help organize it Supervisor Nelson if you would like. I only count one actual community-wide meeting on this project and the project has gotten bigger since then, not smaller.
Thank you
for the opportunity to speak.
We will now go to Karen Hauenstein who is our final speaker in general public comment. Karen?
Good morning Supervisors. Karen Hauenstein from North County. I am Coast Audits on YouTube. I'm here to talk to you today about the Brisa Encina money wash project. This needs to be examined closely. The residents of Mission Hills know Brisa Encina is corrupt. Who is Brisa Encina Limited Partnership? Much like the manufactured organization called Enterprise for the project over in Guadalupe, these people are not readily available.
The $18 million in tax credits that's supposed to cover this project, how is that being gamed? Developer Frank Thompson has spent considerable time shopping this project around. We need to examine closely the relationship between the developer Frank Thompson and the owners of the land because that builder is now professing there's going to be new commercial development on Alex Uribe's property.
And that is supposed to somehow make us feel better about this outrageously expensive and unneeded project. Yes, I said unneeded because of the systemic failure of Hasbarco to house low-income residents from our community. Hasbarco has turned itself into a gatekeeper Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting. We have a board member who serves outsiders only. They keep the Section 8 lists closed all the time, not allowing services to local needful residents.
Has Barca with their high paid staff who drives Cadillac escalades and other luxury cars from out of our county and out-of-state. Now they are allowing rampant abuses of fraud and widespread chemical drug use to take over their already developed properties in our county. Hasbarco's locations all over the county are turning into ghetto centers Allowing overpopulation of individual units, frequently allowing prohibited double and triple occupancy into studio and single room apartments.
We are documenting this on Coast Audits look for more Coast Audits on YouTube thank you. And that concludes
general public comment for today
1:15 – 1:209 turns
Thank you to the members of the public for speaking. We will now move to our department agenda, which
we'll move to item number two.
Chair Capps and members of the board, Departmental Item Number Two is from the County Executive Office. It is a hearing to consider recommendations regarding an amendment to the 2025 county legislative platform.
Miss Tobin, welcome. Thank you. Thank you Claire Tobin County Executive Office legislative analyst So at the July 15th 2025 meeting the board directed staff to undertake several actions in response to concerns from the board and community members about recent enforcement activities by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE In the county at the August 26 meeting, the board voted to support two state legislative bills. These are SB 627 and SB 805 which would prohibit the use of face coverings and require identification displayed by law enforcement officers.
The legislature passed both of those bills last week with some amendments these were Mostly non-substantive, some broadening of exemptions. It did exempt state law enforcement so it would only apply to local and federal. It also removed the urgency clause so those bills will be in effect in January assuming the governor signs them So today I'll be presenting another follow-up from that July 15th meeting and that is amendments to the county legislative platform.
The board requested that in addition to supporting those specific state bills, that the platform be amended so that the county could be flexible to support similar legislation going forward. So the legislature has actually concluded its business for this year as of Saturday, but there is some pending federal legislation that the platform could apply to if you want to make those changes.
So the current language in the platform says that the county wants to advocate for Congress and the president to enact comprehensive immigration reform that improves and simplifies the current legal immigration system, and includes a national strategy for coordination among federal state local and tribal authorities. Based on input from the board members at the July 15th meeting, staff has drafted these additional statements. These would be added to the existing language and those statements would be support policies requiring law enforcement officers including immigration agents to clearly identify themselves in their agency affiliation during public operations including the prohibition of face coverings or disguises by agents except for specialized gear personal safety equipment or where there is a clear and specific threat to officer's safety Uphold constitutional civil rights protections including due process, equal protection, freedom from unlawful searches and seizures.
And urge Congress and the administration to reinstate and codify policies that prohibit immigration enforcement in sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals, and places of worship. So the recommended action today is board members you could approve this language which we would add to the county legislative platform. That concludes my presentation. Thank you. Questions
from the board? Supervisor Harmon? Excuse me, I think you did a very commendable job following through with exactly what we asked. Yeah thank you.
I just wanted to...I had a question just for context Do you know when this platform was last updated in terms of immigration? It just, it seems kind of quaint to ask for comprehensive immigration reform at this stage in our history.
That's a good question so we refresh the platform every year and last year the office went through a big editing process. The platform was Many, many pages and it was made to be more concise so I imagine that exact language was kind of composed last year but I don't know exactly what it had been previously.
As supervisors we haven't really changed the gist or the content of the language in quite some time. We summarized it but I don' remember the board bringing that up at least in the last five years
So I think again, I echo Supervisor Hartman. I think that we had a really good discussion if we all remember that seven and a half hour item on July 15th and you summarized the essence of the conversation of how at least the majority of the board wanted to update our legislative platform so you did a nice job in succinctly capturing
1:20 – 1:276 turns
Thank you Madam Chair and I appreciate that we're keeping it broad. So this allows the legislative committee to be able to weigh in without bringing every immigration item back to the board, that this gives them direction to be able to move forward. And when you said in this time it seems quaint it does but I remember asking when I worked for Congressman Gallagher, he had been in Congress 24 years. And I said what were you working on 24 years ago? Now this was, I asked this question 15 years ago and he said well comprehensive immigration reform. So yeah it's one of those difficult items that I'm not sure either side wants to fix but I'm glad that we are on the record as pushing for something that makes sense nationally.
No, I agree. I spent a few years of my life working on it in the United States Senate in 2000. Five and six. So I'm happy that it's still front and center, and the lead of what we would be potentially changing here but that we're adding to it because there are so many new issues that have arisen in the last several months due process, the face mask issue of hiding. And so I think we've done a good job at this point. I think we'll go to public comment. I understand there's three requests to speak
Yes, thank you Chair Caps and members of the board. We have three requests to speak on this item all three requests are on zoom we're going to begin with Larry Barrett to be followed by Ivan Vega. Larry?
Chair Caps and Supervisors I'm Larry Barrett leader of Indivisible Santa Barbara and a member of the 805 Evergreen Coalition We were told that during today's meeting, the board would review the actions it took on July 15 to address the ongoing crisis caused by federal immigration enforcement. Chair Caps, as your office put it to us, much of this crisis is rooted in a lack of information coming from the federal government.
Two months ago, this board authorized a county FOIA request and then asked for ICE officials to appear here in public forum. And of course, ICE is never coming forward with the information you requested. It should not come as a surprise. ICE operates in the manner of a secret police, invading our community and unmarked cars with heavily tinted windows sometimes without license plates its officers unidentified and sometimes masked their lack of transparency is part of their plan to terrorize our community into submission and self deportation To get the information you need, you will have to look elsewhere. Start with a county sheriff.
He routinely receives de-conflicting notices informing him when ICE enters our community and where they will be so he can protect his officers from harm. He might share the same information with us to protect the rest of us from harm but we know that isn't going to happen. What could happen is this. The sheriff could share these notices with you after the fact so you would know when and where ICE had been here.
With this information, you can gauge the extent of ICE activity here and measure trends. You are not helpless when it comes to the sheriff. You control his budget. And per the Values Act, SB 54, the Sheriff's cooperation with ICE is subject to local policy. That's literally what the law says and you set this policy. The extent of the Sheriff's cooperation with ICE, the very cooperation that Sheriff illegally refused to report to the State Attorney General is under your control Two months ago, you asked ICE to fill you in on what's going on in the community you govern. That was a futile ask then and today it can't be the end point of your effort to learn what is happening in our community.
You can get some of the information you need from the Sheriff and you can work with the community to get the rest. It is your duty as our elected officials, as the body we trust with our public safety, to actively monitor the harm being done and report back to us. Thank you.
We will now go to Ivan Vega, to be followed by Vanessa Turan who is our final speaker. Ivan?
Good morning board members, my name is Ivan Vega. I'm the Associate Organizing Director with Future Leaders of America and also a member of the Unified Immigrant Coalition. I want to thank Chair Katz for your leadership in calling attention to the harm caused by the federal immigration policies. Your statement makes it clear that while we cannot control the federal government's cruel tactics, we can control how we show up for our community.
And the board's decision to allocate $340,000 to legal aid and mental health support is a critical step forward at this time. In addition to that I encourage the board to continue Justice for immigrant communities right now in our county. Communities as we speak, family members are being threatened to be separated since our last meeting from January 15th. Families have been separated, deportees have happened and kids have been left home alone without their parents.
The issue is ongoing, so we need you to continue leadership to continue pushing forward for accountability and to require our local sheriff's department not to collaborate with ICE and for full transparency from the work that they're doing just to keep our immigrant community safe. And I also want to just elevate the addition of adding mental health resources to youth through these funds and their families that are being affected. These services are super needed right now, many families are being Um, traumatized and terrorized because of the current immigration enforcement. I urge you to continue to prioritize mental health services for American youth and to make this investment permanent through the creation of a Santa Barbara County Youth Fund.
These supports are not optional. They are essential to healing resilience and for the future of our county. Thank you.
1:27 – 1:3416 turns
We will now go to Vanessa Turan, who is our final speaker on this item. Vanessa?
Good morning Chair Kaps and Supervisors. My name is Vanessa Turan, Director of Policy speaking on behalf of MICOP and as part of the 805 Immigrant Coalition. As part of the Steering Committee we urge the county to support an amendment to your legislative platform to protect immigrant communities not only in this county but across California. Due to the rising wave of immigrant enforcement across the Central Coast, we urgently request your support for SB 627 known as No Secret Police. This bill will prohibit law enforcement from covering their faces during operations with the exception of limited circumstances such as SWAT or undercover work. As you know recent raids in California have featured masked officers detaining community members in full public view When families cannot identify who is taking their loved ones or even whether they are legitimate officers, trust is shattered.
SB 627 restores accountability and ensures that those who hold state power do so transparently. We'd also urge your support for SB 805, the No Vigilantes Act. This bill addresses the alarm and rise of individuals impersonating law enforcement often targeting immigrants with harassment threats and exploitation from a man posing as ICE to stop at a school bus stop to perpetrators using deportation threats to commit assaults these impersonators destabilize entire neighborhoods SB 805 would strengthen protections by requiring proper identification, prohibiting bail agents from engaging in immigrant enforcement and holding impersonators accountable.
It also ensures that authority in California is real, accountable and cannot be weaponized by vigilantes. Due to this we urge you to support both measures as they're soon to be signed into law by the governor and affirm California's values of accountability safety and human dignity Thank you for your commitment to protecting our community and our constituents. I'd also like to close with asking for full support for UDW's requests for better wages, health care coverage and other necessary elements that protect their labor. As you know, MICOP is a pro-labor, pro-immigrant organization and strongly believes in those values so we also stand in solidarity with UDWS requests today. Thank you for your time.
And that concludes public comment on this item.
Thank you to our speakers. Madam CEO, one of the speakers brought up the Freedom of Information Act that was part of the action we took on July 15th. Could you give an update? I think there isn't one but that's just as a refresher. We did ask ICE for information about those who have been detained from Santa Barbara County Thank you, Chair Kaft. Yes we did
ask and there was two ways we submitted a letter and we also submitted information through the federal portal which is what we're instructed to do and we have not received response.
Okay I need to think of other ways perhaps engaging our congressman for that and also I did request that ICE come to our meeting which was another request from from advocates and we have not received a response to the invitation so need to be more creative in that.
Correct
we've
not received a response
Supervisor Hartman?
Well, I thought the suggestion by Mr. Barrett was a good one to ask our sheriff if he would retrospectively report on what's happened in the previous period of time in terms of deconflicting notices that he gets from ICE.
Yeah, I think that's a good thing. I mean we do need to track it. I'm with you on asking the sheriff.
Yeah, I'm not sure he has that information but at least he gets notices of I think where they're going to be and when ahead of time we're not asking for it ahead of time but at least after sure
So Supervisors, I'm hearing you right. You would like to have the Sheriff on a post basis maybe with the prior quarter provide what information he has? I don't know if he has all the information as well. We can work with the Sheriff and if you make that part of your motion we can make that request of him. Okay.
That'd be great. Again, we can move forward but I think it's important just in light of what's happened since July 15th when this action took hold and we're now really just formalizing it. You know the Supreme Court, We had the courts ruled that these roving detentions needed to stop and yet then we just had a ruling by the Supreme Court. That's just extremely alarming and unfathomable to me, and too many that watch the court that they just gave a ruling without any explanation.
It was unheard of that the Supreme Court would just do that. So now, that has stopped and is causing so much confusion within the courts. So it's a really terrifying time and really confusing time in our judicial system on the streets for our workers, for our employers. This was a topic at the South Coast Chamber event that so many employers don't know what to tell their employees.
And I think it's important that our legislative platform reflect that and really which is much beyond calling for comprehensive immigration reform, which again that's the ideal that we need still need to aspire for. And then we still need to hold our president to that standard and our Congress to that standard that that's what our federal government should be working on as opposed to creating this chaos that we are now living in.
So with that I will make the motion to accept staff recommendation with the request of our sheriff to provide information as Supervisor Hartman has suggested
I could give language for that if you'd like. Sure. To ask the sheriff to report retrospectively on ICE deconflicting notices to his department on a regular basis?
1:34 – 1:5212 turns
Supervisor before you conclude that motion, would you just like information provided to the board as a memo or are you expecting a presentation? Just a memo to the board.
The memo is fine in my opinion I think ideally an A item where were the public had an opportunity otherwise I just think we want to make this as transparent as we can Again, I don't know if it includes
personal information. I'm not sure what it would
include. I don't think those notices they just say where we're going okay? It's not.
We can do that. We can ask him to provide a item periodically.
Okay.
Thank you.
I'll second your motion. Thank
you for the presentation staff and my colleagues. You know I'm looking at this, you know there's some of these changes that I can accept you Especially upholding constitutional civil right protection including due process, equal protection and freedom from unlawful searches and seizures. I couldn't be more supportive of that. That said, I think this is wrapped up in a certain amount of politicalization especially with SB 627 and SB 805 which I'm already on the record as not supporting.
It's interesting that the state then exempted themselves from this and we also know that this really doesn't apply to federal law enforcement so you know Under different circumstances, I might be able to get there under these. I can't so having things in here that I can support and some things that I can't support, I'm just going to abstain on this one because I don't want to send the message that I'm against some of these things because I think there are some really important things that we should be advocating for especially due process and equal protection but I think there's some politicization here that I don' necessarily want to have my name on so I'm gonna go ahead and just abstain from this vote.
Roll-call vote Passed 4–0
Show transcript
Motion passes 4 to 1 with one abstention.
Okay thanks for that conversation let's have a let's just do 15 minute break thank you Okay, we are back and
we'll move to our next department item number three.
1:52 – 2:014 turns
Chair Kaps and members of the board, Departmental Item Number 3 is from the County Executive Office. It is a hearing to consider recommendations regarding a response to the 2024 through 2025 grand jury reports on deaths in custody.
Good morning Chair Kaps and Supervisors. I'm Tanya Heitman, Assistant County Executive Officer and with me today is Principal Analyst Nicole Parmley and Deputy County Executive Officer Ronna Warren who will be assisting with the presentation. Representatives from County Health, the Sheriff's Office and the Behavioral Wellness Department are also here today. They each greatly assisted us in preparing today's materials.
We're bringing before you today three grand jury reports that were issued on June 24th of 2025 regarding three custody related deaths that occurred between September 2024 and March 2025. We note for the record that the PowerPoint was slightly revised with respect to slide 8, and we will detail that change for you when we get to that slide. Rana will be providing a high-level overview of the proposed responses to the grand jury's reports with the full responses found in attachments A through C of the board materials.
First, I want to acknowledge the grand jury. They reviewed a significant body of records, toured the jails and conducted over 20 interviews. The county likewise spent many, many hours analyzing these incidents and addressing the grand jury's findings and recommendations. We want to thank the grand jury for its commitment to understanding the jail environment and the challenges associated with it.
As you know, the county has committed considerable resources and has focused on collaborative efforts in addressing the complexities of providing care in the jails. Ronna will highlight some of the system improvements for you.
Thank you Tanya. Yes, the county takes its responsibility to this population very seriously from increasing jail health care staffing by nearly 22 positions to enhancing jail medical oversight. From expanding medication assisted treatment to serve 250 patients, to creating and expanding our behavioral health units. And from increasing data sharing to physical plant improvements the county has consistently demonstrated its commitment to serving our criminal justice population and is continually evolving to best meet the needs of that population.
Though there is always work to be done, the departments and our contracted jail healthcare provider are collaborating to make system improvements and enhance patient care. Turning now to the first grand jury report entitled Fatal Head Injury at Northern Branch Jail, a custody related death investigation. This report reviewed the death of an individual referred to as AAO, who was arrested by the Santa Maria Police Department and taken to the Northern Branch Jail on August 29th, 2024.
The report found that AAO experienced a traumatic head injury following a seizure that occurred while he was in custody. Immediately following the injury, he was transferred to the hospital where he died 19 days later on September 17th, 2024 The grand jury focused on jail medicals intake screening process and information available in the electronic medical record.
Turning now to the summary of the county's responses to the grand jury's recommendations. First, the grand jury commended your board, the sheriff's office, behavior wellness and County Health for their roles in overseeing The jail health care providers contractual compliance as well as the adherence to national care standards. To summarize, the county has already continued to make jail system oversight and process enhancements. To that end, the county has implemented or will be implementing all of the grand jury's recommendations in this report.
To ensure that patients' charts contain accurate problem lists that detail a patient's diagnoses, County Health and B-Well conduct systematic audits of patient charts on a quarterly basis. The county's contract with the jail health care provider includes service level agreements or SLAs and financial penalties for any failure to meet specified performance requirements.
The SLAs include maintenance of a current and accurate patient problem list in the electronic health record. The SLAs also include performance measures related to appropriate placement on withdrawal monitoring and treatment protocols for those patients. The healthcare contract also includes financial penalties for any non-compliance related to withdrawal monitoring and treatment.
To increase data sharing, the county and WellPath are working collaboratively. And per the sheriff's response to the grand jury, automatic data sharing between the two systems is anticipated by January 1st, 2026. The next report is entitled Another Suicide in the Santa Barbara County Jail. Inmates' death should have been prevented. The grand jury reviewed the November 13th, 2024 death of an individual referred to as CC who is incarcerated at the main jail.
The report focused on the events leading up to CC's placement into a cell with a telephone where she was found deceased by suicide. Before turning to the substance of this slide, I would just like to note for the record that the approximately 34% that's referenced in bullet three of this slide is the correct figure. The county has devoted substantial resources to make enhancements to jail system staffing, oversight and processes.
Thus, the county has already implemented or will be implementing almost all of the grand jury's recommendations. The county established the correctional health care team and enhanced County Health and Bewell's monitoring and audits to oversee jail healthcare services and optimize patient care. In April of 2025, the county approved a $7 million increase to jail healthcare services including nearly 22 additional positions to the WellPath contract and also included contractual liquidated damage provisions for failure to meet performance measures related to jail healthcare.
Additionally, the county has removed phones from all holding cells that could be used for mental health observation. Formalized refined and implemented specific suicides watch step down procedures. Revised policy to ensure healthcare records are sought from external providers when clinically indicated and expanded data sharing. We are also increasing training and process improvements for sharing health information, and we'll be updating the electronic health record to improve information sharing among departments and outside providers.
Lastly is the report entitled Preventable Death at the Northern Branch Jail, a death in custody investigation. The grand jury reviewed the death of an individual referred to as CF who is incarcerated at Northern Branch Jail. The report indicated that the autopsy results found that CF died from peritonitis, which is an infection in abdominal cavity. The report focused on the care provided to CF prior to her death on March 24th 2025.
Consistent with the grand jury recommendations, county and WellPath have collaborated to create a comprehensive joint mortality review that includes root cause analysis findings and corrective action plans. These mortality reviews have been enhanced with increased information sharing and independent review by County Health and B-Well. With the board's creation of the correctional health care team, County Health has assumed a greater responsibility in monitoring and advising on the quality of care provided at the jails.
Consistent with that responsibility, County Health co-chaired the mortality review for patient CF and co-authored the formal mortality review submitted to the Board of State Community Corrections. That concludes the summary of the three grand jury reports.
We would again like to acknowledge and thank the Grand Jury for its attention and analysis of these custody-related deaths, each of which is a tragedy that merits careful assessment while recognizing the complex and challenging circumstances. As our responses have indicated, the County is aligned with the Grand Jury's desire for continued process and policy improvement. The county is committed to providing support and safeguards for the incarcerated population, particularly those most at risk.
The criminal justice and health and human service departments are working closely to provide coordinated care and to leverage existing opportunities for system improvements. For your consideration today we have recommended actions A through C here on this slide and were available for any questions that you may have.
2:01 – 2:066 turns
Thank you so much. Any questions from the board? Supervisor Hartman?
Yes, I'd like to know more about the joint mortality review how that plays out
Supervisor through the chair. Yes, the joint mortality is conducted by collaborative efforts with WellPath, BeWell and the Correctional Health team. In fact, the correctional health care team now co-chairs that meeting and has a much more active role in that meeting. And they do independently review the records related to the patient as well as make recommendations and independent analysis
So that raises, I see that Assemblymember Hart's representative in Santa Barbara County will be on in public speaking but the assembly member has a bill that would have independent review for small and medium counties. And I think that's worth considering in addition because Ultimately the county, the sheriff reviewing the sheriff may not be so good. Maybe the county reviewing the sheriff of a county agency I think maybe a third party outside might be something we'd want to support. So I'm eager to hear what Mr. Burton has to say
I mean Supervisor Hartman we, I asked Mr. Bertrand to be on the Zoom and he's politely waiting in public comment but we can certainly ask him to speak about the legislation because it did pass both the House and the Senate and looks as though it's going to be state law soon so if Ethan Bertrand would like to just speak about this legislation that would be great if you can get him from Zoom.
Yes, thank you Chair Kaps and Supervisor Hartman. Ethan Bertrand here, District Director for Assemblymember Hart. On Saturday the Legislature passed Assemblymember Hart's bill AB 1108, the Forensic Accountability Custodial Transparency and Safety Act of 2025 known as the FACTS Act. It is now on the Governor's desk This bill will require independent medical examinations following all deaths in custody in California. This bill was inspired by a previous report of the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury.
Currently, in 48 counties including Santa Barbara, the elected sheriffs also serve as the coroners. In the 10 other counties, including some of California's largest counties and also our neighboring county of Ventura, there are independent civilian-led medical examiner offices. In counties where the sheriff also serves as coroner if someone dies in their custody or in the custody of another law enforcement agency, the sheriff oversees the medical examination process This has created the perception of a conflict of interest and raised concerns about the independence of these investigations.
Our bill addresses this issue by requiring counties with combined sheriff-coroner offices to refer these sensitive cases either to other counties with independent medical examiner offices like Ventura, or to contracts with private physicians Your board would be responsible for entering into these agreements. Importantly, with Assemblymember Hart's background as a former supervisor, this bill was designed with the needs of small and medium-sized counties in mind.
Rather than requiring all counties to separate their sheriff coroner offices as previous legislative efforts attempted, the FACTS Act simply requires this small number of sensitive cases to be referred to independent medical doctors. The Sheriff-Coroner can continue to work on the bulk of their caseload that is unrelated to in custody deaths. Additionally, counties will have time to develop these service agreements and create new procedures with this law being actionable in January of 2027 if signed.
The bill passed with bipartisan support. We're pleased to have it on the governor's desk. In closing, I'd say there is currently a two-tier system of medical independence and transparency in California with some counties guaranteeing independent medical investigations and many not. AB 1108, the FACTS Act will create a uniform standard to promote just outcomes for all involved. On behalf of Assemblymember Hart, thank you for your work on this topic.
2:07 – 2:135 turns
I had a question. Is it too late to offer support for this? How quickly might the governor sign, what do you is there anything we might do if so inclined?
Thank You Supervisor Hartman. The County of Santa Barbara's support towards the governor would be most appreciated
Great and I thank you, Mister Bertrand. I didn't realize that this suggestion came from a previous grand jury so that's helpful context and also that it was received such strong bipartisan support so good work on that bill and thanks for explaining it to us today. Okay Supervisor Hartman did you have other questions? Well, I had a few so just switching gears to Director Navarro. I'm going to put you on the spot here because one of the recommendations from the grand jury from the second grand jury report is to explore agreements with neighboring counties for inpatient treatment if no mental health treatment beds are available in county. So I just wanted to ask you to provide an overview of how that's going. I know that there is work in progress on that pipeline for individuals with severe mental illness, so if you could speak to that question of beds that always comes up.
Well, thank you so much going to your caps board and county staff. Thank you for the opportunity to give you an update just a quick update yet of the growing number of beds that have been created in this county just in the last 9 years and even in the last 2 years as well as some things that are in the pipeline that directly address your question regarding inpatient beds for inmates. So I think I'm going to go ahead and get started. So as you can see on the side of an inpatient beds for acute need, the county overall has seen a 39% increase since 2016.
And we added locked inpatient contracts out-of-county just in the last 2 years. We've added 5 new beds We're going to add two beds there specifically for this population, and we'll begin negotiation this week with Vista Del Mar as they are changing leadership in the last month to add two beds there for this population. I think it's important to note that we did reach out to our local county partners and Ventura County currently has no hospital of their own. They were just awarded a BCHIP grant and they will be making one but We're also going to be looking at other counties that have their own hospitals such as we have our own path. They really restricted to the needs within their own counties for that population and it would be with these private hospitals that we are actually reaching out to Crestwood Vista Del Mar which is part of the Aurora behavioral health family those are We also have increased just to note as we look at crisis beds across the county, you know having someone address this need prior to needing inpatient care.
There's since 2016 we've seen a near 400% increase in the number of crisis beds available to us in this County We've had a number of increases in contracts for crisis residential treatment including through sobering center. The expansion of our CSS recently the Marion CSS and then, of course, crisis residential treatment beds just in since 2023 there's been a 30% increase within our county at these beds and those are accounted for by increases in contracts and the reopening of ours that has doubled capacity from 4 to 8.
In the sub acute level, which is folks needing to step down and needing treatment in a in a in an unlocked facility we've actually seen 25% increase in the number of beds that we have in a mental health rehab center since 2023 and a 200% increase in skilled nursing facilities as And even among our jail population that are needing to step down to care. We are glad to say that just in the past two years, there have been some skilled nursing facilities coming online here that specialize in our population in Santa Barbara County and we'd be able to secure contracts there so. Thank you. Thank you very much. So overall we're really focused on this and working on it and in the pipeline.
We actually are And we are putting forth an application for two more crisis residential treatment facilities that will focus specifically on forensic population. It's a much more specialized group of professionals that run those facilities and we hope to add 32 beds to our continuum over the next few years And we do know that in round one, the private hospital Signet Health was awarded an inpatient hospital contract in North County and they will bring online reportedly 90 beds within the next two-and-a-half years for inpatient care within our county. for the full range of children through to adults. And we hope to be and have already met with that CEO and expressed our intention to have Medi-Cal beds, and their hope, of course, that we as well as surrounding counties will have Medi-Cal beds for these populations.
It's not only impressive for what you're, what's coming but how you'll keep it all in your head too with all these different pipelines of funding. Thank you and I know this is, I want to thank the grand jury too they remain so focused on these Heartbreaking tragedies in our jail, but I also want to just zoom out because there's been so much work at the CCP level to improve these systems. So that Everything is improved, but of course these tragedies don't happen with these systems. So our Chief Benton I know is on Zoom. I think that's perhaps a good question for her or for anyone to answer just if you can talk about how these systems are being improved from starting with the data. Just give us an update here. I know this is I think she's online.
2:14 – 2:207 turns
Good morning Chair Caps and members of the board. I am the Chief Probation Officer Holly Benton, and as your board will recall in April of this year your board expressed some interest in having a clearer picture of the individuals in the jail and what that population data might reveal. And also there was some interest in understanding whether or not some of those individuals might be better served through additional diversion options for the population. So your board made a request and a recommendation to the Community Corrections Partnership to have a look at that data. And as the chair of that body, I referred that to our work group who then created a subcommittee.
One of the reasons we wanted to do it through a subcommittee is so that we could have additional community input and that group which is chaired by probation has also included community voices. Clue NAMI NAACP League of Women Voters among them have been coming to those meetings, which has allowed for community input and a broad mix of perspectives on this particular project.
And it also has included the Sheriff's Office, the District Attorney, Public Defender, Behavioral Wellness as well as representatives from the CEO's office and from your board. The subcommittee has been meeting since May. I think they've met seven times, and they began by looking at what would be the useful metrics to understand who actually is in our jails?
Charge types, booking and admission, who comes in and how long do they stay really? What are their classification levels? What types of things contribute to how long someone actually stays in custody? Um, they looked at jail population snapshots that have been provided by the sheriff's office and data from their jail management system as well as probation case load management system. And, um. Data from risk assessments as well.
They have had some very robust discussions, I would say and they've touched on a number of topics of interest that are adjacent to this such as substance use disorder and mental health treatment beds as Director Navarro spoke about but also available housing resources so what is available in the community when these folks you know go through the doors of the jail? What's there for them?
And what are the existing jail population reduction strategies? Because there has been a great deal of work in this space over the last few years. So, the subcommittee has developed some recommendations which will be presented to the full CCP on October 2nd that is a Brown Act meeting and it is open to the public and that report will include some projected impacts and next steps And then I anticipate bringing a report on this work in conjunction with our partners at the Sheriff's Office to your board, on behalf of the CCP on October 21st.
And I think it's also important to note that the CCP had prior to this commissioned a countywide diversion study also which was completed in the spring and the results were presented to the CCP in August. And there is already a strategic planning effort around that steering committee for that strategic planning effort has met It will include community listening sessions. It will include long-term actionable system wide goals for diversion, so there does continue to be a great deal of work in this space building on existing collaborative work that has been done and honing in on those jail reduction strategies.
That's great thank you Chief Benton appreciate it. That's it for me right now let's take it see if there's members of the public that would like to speak
Yes Chair Kaps and members of the board, we have two requests to speak from the public on this item. We are going to begin on Zoom with Lynn Gibbs and then we're going to return to Santa Maria with Karen Hauenstein. Lynn?
Thank you. Chair Kaps and Supervisors I'm representing NAMI and Families Act and my intention had been to highlight Assembly Bill 1108, and the fact that it just passed the legislature. And Ethan Bertrand has done that very well. It just makes sense to us that we should have independent examinations of in-custody deaths so we're very grateful for this legislation.
In the most recent factsheet I was struck by a late addition to the bill which says, I'll read from it In light of increasingly aggressive and violent immigration rates, the bill was amended to also apply to any deaths of people being arrested or detained by federal immigration authorities in cases that fall under county jurisdiction. So thank you for the opportunity to speak and continue to highlight this important legislation.
We will now return here in Santa Maria with Karen Hauenstein, who's our final speaker on this item. Karen?
Thank you. I want to talk about the fentanyl crisis because I believe it intersects this issue strongly. I'm aware that right now in all of our jails in our county there is significant occurrences of people who are detoxing from fentanyl while in custody And that right there needs to be addressed fully because it creates additional stresses. Our our custody employees, the sheriff's office and also local law And it's important to me that we recognize that fentanyl is causing a crisis in our communities.
And it's also terrorizing people, not law enforcement. Law enforcement is doing everything they can to deal with This crisis on the bottom line and they have to do that every day. So thank you for your time. And that concludes
public comment on this item.
2:20 – 2:2314 turns
Okay, any other comments? Supervisor Hartman. I just have a procedural question probably for County Council. Are we allowed in under today's agenda to include direction to support AB 1108?
Supervisor Hartman, members of the board I think that that's going beyond what we have agendized today, but you could direct staff to come back with that. Or as an alternative it might be part of the legislative platform already. I'm not sure so that staff could do that.
Supervisor Lavanino?
Madam Chair, and I haven't read the legislation or anything. I mean on the cursory level it sounds fine but always on these circumstances because I think it can only sit on the governor's desk for like 30 days anyways before it becomes law. October 12th
right?
So I would just maybe recommend individual offices could also on your letterhead if you're in favor of it could move forward without us having to take a vote on it and that might even be actually more effective if there were more members than just one that would like to write
I think it's always more effective when we can speak as a county but if we're hamstrung by timing, I think that's a great idea.
Okay so is that the there isn't enough time? I'm just looking at County Council Or it's not, it's too much of a stretch to do with this item.
Madam Chair I mean there are meetings before the 30 days is up if you'd want to bring it back but I don't think it's included today.
Okay. So Supervisors you give us direction and come back with an A item with a letter next week? I think we could do that if it's... I do thank you Supervisor Lavinino that was going to be my suggestion as well but if you like for the full board we can bring something back for next Tuesday
Okay, Supervisor Harmon you'd like to? I'm good with that.
Sure. Are you ready for a motion? Sure. That's good. So I would move A through C and then on the aside direction to come back with an A item in support county support of AB 1108. I will second that.
Okay all right. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Motion carries thank you so much okay We're moving so fast that I've lost track where we are. We are going into closed session now.
Yes, and Chair Kaps, members of the board before we proceed, I did just want to note for that last motion and second action, I wanted to note that Supervisor Nelson is absent. So it was 4-1. Okay.
2:23 – 2:246 turns
Great, so County Council please
preview what we'll be doing in closed session. Madam Chair and members of the board there's one item for closed session it's conference with labor negotiators. The employee organizations are SEIU local 620 and 721 and Union of American Physicians and Dentists. The agency designated representatives are CEO Mia Sato and Human Resources Director Christine Schmidt. Time estimate is 30 minutes.
Okay thanks. We'll come back
around noon
Hi, we are back from closed session. County Council will you please give us a report?
Thank you Madam Chair and members of the board. The board met in closed session on conference with labor negotiators for SCIU Local 620 and 721 and Union of American Physicians and Dentists and the board took no reportable action.
Okay with that we are adjourning at 1215 and we will see y'all next week thanks