Board of Supervisors — September 16, 2025

Well, good morning. I will call to order the Ventura County Board of Supervisors meeting for September 16th 2025 and will a clerk call the roll?

Good morning, Board of Supervisors. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Gabby Cifuentes, co-founder of Body Brain Train and I'm here to share with you about what we do. Our program is dedicated to supporting seniors and people living with Parkinson's disease through movement fitness and wellness We know that as people age, maintaining both physical and cognitive health is essential for quality of life.

With Parkinson's, specialty exercise is not optional. It's medicine. Body-brain train combines physical activity With brain challenges to improve balance, coordination, memory and confidence. What makes this program unique is that it's not just about exercise. It's about community participants come together support one another and build friendships that combat isolation so many seniors face.

We've seen remarkable progress, people who walk more steadily, who feel sharper mentally and who report greater independence in daily living. We want to take this moment of inspiration to highlight some of our members that inspire us through our program on a daily basis.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Nikki Lee and I'm one of the co-founders. Sorry about my back turn. But I hope I do it justice every time we come in front of a council to ask for money or grants or something like that. We have what's called the BBT Army and we have about 15 to 20 of our members come up and tell their stories. And there is usually not a dry eye in the house. So I hope I do this justice. We're just going to highlight a few of our fighters here. This is Steve too. We have three Steve's so he's Steve too. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's 10 years ago, he's been with us for about eight years and he shows up to every class our regular classes are senior classes he shows up to every event every fundraiser we have he's very active in volunteering and We just wanted to highlight Steve too because his doctor told him 10 years ago that in 10 years, you're going to be in a wheelchair and you're not going to be able to work full time.

And ten years later he's fighting hard. He's got a full-time job. He is self sufficient and he works really hard so that is Steve too. That is our Steve too. Our next highlight is Debbie. Debbie was diagnosed with Parkinson's 20 years ago, so it was very early onset in her 40s and she's been battling and every case of Parkinson's is different. So if you look at her pictures hers is a little different. She uses a walker. She sits in her chair during our workouts But every time she falls, she picks herself back up. Someday she comes to class and she's not even really able to do much. But the fact that she shows up is a huge inspiration to all of our community, all of our fighters in class and to the instructors as well.

And last but not least, we have Bob Two. So we have two Bobs. So Bob Two his story he's a senior, he's 89 years young and he doesn't battle Parkinson's but he is full of life and one of his caregivers or friends said hey I'm gonna take you somewhere today get in the car so he got in the car and they pulled up to the gym and Bob Two actually thought he was going to breakfast because our gyms right next to eggs and things So he's like, no we're not going to breakfast. We're going to exercise so Bob's been with us probably for about two years in May. We do what's called a punch-a-thon that's our biggest fundraiser of the year. So a lot of our seniors for 90 minutes hit the bag and Bob was one of our seniors this year that sat in his chair for 90 minutes and just punched the bag Unfortunately that night he got in a really serious car accident.

He broke his neck and he had 46 stitches in his head which she loves to show pictures of at this was in May. And I just remember he Being told he died twice that night, but the next morning he woke up and he remembered everything. He remembered the firefighters' names so we went to visit him within a few days of him being in the hospital and I didn't know what to expect but I walked into his room and he's sitting there with his neck brace on and he just looks mad and he said you know I'm mad. I said why are you mad Bob? You're still alive So he said, no I'm not going to be able to get into the gym for like four months. And in my head, I'm thinking four months? Like you're lucky like four months is not a long time and he said, you know, four months is a very long time for someone who's 89 years old so anyway sure enough Two weeks ago, he walks back into our gym and is Walker ready to go and ready to hit his bag.

So again these people every day inspire us we would love to invite you to come check out a class and just be around them they're great inspirations and thank you for having us today.

Nikki

and Gabby that was wonderful thank you so much And our next item is agenda review. I would ask the board if they have any Levine Act disclosures? None, none.

All right with that Dr. Johnson. Thank you Madam Chair good morning supervisors staff and all in attendance today. The agenda review for today September 16th 2025 is as follows Item 4, moment of inspiration body brain train a PowerPoint presentation was submitted. Item 33 resource management agency receive and file information regarding enforcement of the county's outdoor events ordinance.

A PowerPoint presentation and five public comment letters have been submitted. Item 34 fire protection district first public hearing regarding adoption of Ventura County Fire Protection District Ordinance number 34 Five public comment letters have been submitted. Item 35, Resource Management Agency Planning. Public hearing to consider the adoption of county-initiated amendments to Articles 1 through 15, 17 and 19 of Ventura County Non-Coastal Zoning Ordinance. A PowerPoint presentation has been submitted. Item 36, Resource Management Agency Planning. Public hearing regarding adoption of an ordinance of county-initiated amendments to Articles 2, 4, 5 and 9 of the Ventura County Non-Coastal Zoning Ordinance. A PowerPoint presentation and one public comment letter have been submitted.

And finally item 45 closed session threat to public service or facilities a revised agenda has been posted to add agenda item number 45. Thank you Madam Chair this concludes agenda review. Thank You Dr.

some very powerful outside interests outside the Pleasant Valley Basin where we take that, where we clean up our brackish groundwater from OPV agricultural landowners The adjudication has been going on for as the letter details for more than four years. And in the last six weeks, the United Water Conservation District, the Pleasant Valley County Water District, other landowners and other parties in the Oxnard Basin have all aligned themselves in opposition to the City of Camarillo and together they're seeking to impose limits on the groundwater available to the city of Camarillo and its residents pursuant to the groundwater desalter and it threatens our ability to utilize our desalter. You'll see in the letter, the specific adverse impacts that could come out of this.

Let me just leave two thoughts number one why would anyone in this county spend money to develop new water if this threat proves true? Number two imagine yourself at Thanksgiving dinner You have many out-of-town guests. Your grandmother prepares an incredible dinner. She has a wonderful pie that she's done with mostly ingredients that she's grown. The dishes get cleared, your abuela comes back out of the kitchen to have dessert and the pie has already been all carved up by outside interests with none left for your abuela or your family.

That's what we're facing here. Thank you members of the board.

Thank you, and can I ask you a question? So this judification the lawsuit how How is Fox Canyon groundwater management listed on this lawsuit

Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency is a defendant in this lawsuit brought by these agricultural landowners, as is United Water and many other parties. Although at this point United Water is aligned based on its water models which we believe are very flawed but it has been brought by several and they're detailed in this letter several agricultural landowners on the Oxnard Plain

Okay, so Fox

Canyon

was not the one that initiated this lawsuit in any way shape or form.

Absolutely not and in fact this desalter and it's state-of-the-art because even the governor's office has come down to tour it This groundwater desalter was in fact approved by the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency To operate and now what the city is facing and its residents are facing is stranding is potentially stranding that desalter and not it being allowed to operate as a primary water supply or at a minimum cutting back on its operation, which actually is not only from a primary water supply. If we can't operate that desalter to the extent that it was intended to operate, Promote environmental continued environmental degradation in the watershed basin in this watershed basin which everybody is responsible for.

But you have a situation where it's the Oxnard interests against Pleasant Valley.

Thank you, Councilman.

And I'd like to just add, if I may Madam Chair that Mr. Tremblay, I appreciate your testimony here today, the mayor's letter. I forwarded it to Michelle Guzman our Director of Government Relations for some follow-up conversations on how to evaluate the county's position in this and how to advocate and position ourselves to support our city so I just want to let you know that we'll continue to look at this deeply and figure out ways that we can support all of our cities.

Supervisor, if perhaps you're asking me what you might do there is a specific call to action on page four of the letter. What you can do and among the things that we ask that you do is contact United Water Conservation District and Mauricio Guardado it's general manager and Lynn Malhart the president of the board and ask them why is united aligning itself with the Oxnard Pleasant Valley agricultural landowners against the city of Camarillo?

Thank you very much Madam Chair thank you members of the board

Thank you, Mr. Chairman for your comment. Our next speaker is going to be Michelle Ascension followed by Frank Filipelli and Michael Shaw.

Good morning I'm Michelle Ascension your county clerk recorder and registrar voters and I'm here today in recognition of National Voter Registration Day which is commemorated every September ahead of the November elections as a day dedicated to bringing awareness to millions of Americans and inspiring them to take the simple but vital first step of participating in our democracy by registering to vote Here in California, to register you must be a U.S. citizen and a resident of California at least 18 years old not currently serving a state or federal prison term for the conviction of a felony and not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court. There's also a pre-registration option for the 16 and 17 year olds which allows them to go ahead and get in the registration system and then they'll be automatically registered to vote once they turn 18 Remember, if you have moved changed your name or need to make other updates to registration.

You will need to re-register registering or read registering is easy. You can do so online at register to vote dot ca dot gov or at your next DMV visit or using the old reliable paper registration application found at local libraries post offices your City Hall and of course here at the County Government Center To vote in the upcoming November 4th election, the deadline to register is October 20th. But no worries if you miss that cutoff you'll just need to go in person to a Vote Center.

You can verify your voter registration online at voterstatus.sos.ca.gov but if you got one of the postcards from our office last week then you're already good to go. And if you need any assistance or you're looking for more information, please call our office at 805-654-2664. Or visit our website at vote.venturacounty.gov and follow our social media at VC Clerk Recorder. Thank you for your time and happy National Voter Registration Day.

Thank you for your comment. Our next speaker is going to be Frank Filippelli followed by Michael Shaw and Ed Alamillo

Good morning, Supervisors. My name is Frank Filippelli. I've been reading recent news about the Simi Valley Landfill residents like me deserve better accountability from waste management and from the board. I'm deeply concerned about waste management practices accepting hazardous wildfire debris without safeguards like failing to provide protective equipment for employees.

I've also heard about red flags like the underground fire at another waste management facility in Riverside. My question is simple, who's protecting the workers and who's protecting our neighborhoods? Who is regulating waste management? Why should they continue to profit off our community? They practically have a monopoly yet cannot protect workers or limit fire tons coming into our neighborhoods.

The board has a duty to put residents first by demanding stronger safety rules, real transparency and rate structures that make waste management pay if they cut corners or discourage bringing hazardous waste into Ventura County. Okay. That's it. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Our next speaker is going to be Michael Shaw followed by El Alamino and Audrey Salado. Do we have a Michael Shaw? No, Michael Shaw. Okay we'll go to Ed Alamino followed by Audrey Salgado and then Jasmine.

Are we ready?

We're ready please proceed

Good morning CEO Johnson board members and county staff and the Honorable Jeff Berg you're looking younger every day I've been here since 1991. I know I don't look as old as I seem, but I've seen a lot and I work for Environmental Health Tech 3. As you know we started bargaining a couple weeks ago and we want to share some of the issues addressing this bargaining team not only for workers but affect our local community You'll hear comments from my co-workers on major issues of the inability to live and work in the community we serve. This may seem like a micro issue, but the day-to-day life in our departments at county employees is tough.

This affects each stage of their life no matter if they're married have kids or three years two months from retirement I'm going to beat you. The reality is there's major issues and it's very tough to learn, to live in a county that is a coastal county. This is a Mediterranean County. I've been fortunate enough to travel the world and living in a county like this is very expensive. We don't live in a desert community like Riverside or San Bernardino we live in the coastal counties. We are all blessed here to live in this great county But it also costs us a lot of money. It's not cheap, the average house probably 850 to $1 million.

There's a lot of county employees behind me that don't make close to that money. I am fortunate that I can afford to own a house very unfortunate and I'm thankful for the county to give me that opportunity but asking this board of supervisors to give the same chance to my co-workers that I have and that sure majority you have also I'm asking you to listen to my co-workers and their issues.

And I call upon the Board of Supervisors to step forward and be a leader in helping me.

Thank

you, Mr.

Alamino. You've used your time

being able to afford living in Ventura County. Thank you.

Our next speaker is going to be.

Can I remind everybody of the rules of decorum in the boardroom? If you agree with public comments, I ask for no audible clapping or if you disagree, no audible booing. Thumbs up, thumbs down, the board can see it and then it doesn't impact anybody else feeling that it's a safe space to speak. Thank you.

Thank you County Council for that reminder. Our next speaker is going to be Audrey Salgado followed by Jasmine and Anna Hernandez.

And I'd like to just make a comment that after those three speakers, I would like to go to the regular agenda item 30 and then come back to public comments.

OK, so after Anna Hernandez. Thank you.

Good morning Board of Supervisors. I had prepared something that was about three minutes long, Try to time it down for your two minute timeframe. My name is Audrey Salgado and I'm a respiratory therapist at VCMC. I specialize in neonatal intensive care, caring for the tiniest most fragile lives in our community. For more than a decade, I have given my heart to this hospital but the wage disparity amongst Ventura County employees has pushed me to a breaking point. It has forced me to say fight for fair pay or lose the people who keep running this hospital.

I have raised five children in this county. Even working full time, the county's low wages have kept me in a constant financial struggle. When my father recently fell ill, I became his caretaker and I gave up my in-house shifts or my extra time and my full time pay has not been enough to sustain me. At work, I step into C sections, traumas, code blues, rapid responses. I resuscitate newborns. I manage ventilators and I know that my hands mean life or death in that first few seconds of life for a newborn.

We are mandated to work every other weekend without a weekend if that means years of missed family moments with no compensation for that sacrifice. At BCMC our responsibility goes even further, we are the only hospital in Ventura County with the PICU. We care for critically ill children when no one else in this county can. This is not just a job, it is a great responsibility.

My daughter is in her last year of nursing school like me her heart is pulled to serve the people of this county but I hesitate to encourage her to do so because I do not want her to live through the same financial hardships I've had to endure She deserves to be paid fairly for the calling she is answering. I represent SEIU's direct patient care table but I speak for many, lab, radiology, pharmacy, CNAs and more and I can say with confidence we speak with one voice.

The time has come we demand pay that reflects the skill, the responsibility and the sacrifice of our work. We are the ones at the bedside, at the code, at the trauma in the NICU, at the ventilator We should be paid fairly in line with local hospitals and the specialized care we provide. Thank you.

Our next speaker is going to be Jasmine followed by Anna Hernandez.

Good morning, my name is Jasmine Navarro. I began my career with the county in 2011 where I've held various roles at various agencies including for the probation department, the district attorney's office. I currently am employed as a behavioral health clinician too with the healthcare agency. I'm a proud member of the SEIU 721 bargaining team and chair of the board.

The main commonality I have experienced while working for these various agencies is a lack of pay and amount of responsibility we are given. Every day my colleagues and I face new challenges while supporting our most vulnerable community members, we have shared responsibilities to ensure that our community members are safe. We're responsible for assessing evaluating and providing mental health services including individual therapy rehabilitation services in crisis intervention My colleagues and I are often first responders to our client in crisis, and often independently manage the crisis on our own with the support of a clinical supervisor. We find ourselves risking our personal safety to ensure clients' and community's safety. To put this more into perspective, over the last 90 days we have lost 75% of our behavioral health clinicians at my specific site.

This is due to lack of pay, an increase in ethical responsibilities, pressure to meet unfair productivity standards, and a lack of appropriate staffing. What does this mean? This means in terms of providing individual therapy for our clients, an additional wait list will entail. In addition we're forced to run additional groups and are responsible for all the intakes that come in day-in and day-out. Not only does this lead to burnout but impacts the timeliness and quality of service were able to provide to our clients. The county takes pride in sharing that Ventura County is a great place to raise a family, yet we can't afford to do so. I like many of my colleagues would like to comfortably live in a county we proudly, ethically and justly serve.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Our next speaker is going to be Anna Hernandez and then we'll transition to our regular agenda item.

Good morning. My name is Anna Hernandez Twitty. I have been with the county for 12 and a half years. All of those years at the Public Defender's Office, I'm a Legal Management Assistant Level 3. I am a bargaining team member representing Table 3, the clerical and support staff. Our members have spoken. We are listening. And these are our truths, concerns, and needs.

20% of our members participated in a survey and with that we have determined startling facts about our members. Many of our members live paycheck to paycheck, 36 percent of our members are one paycheck from homelessness. Let that sink in. 36 percent of our members are one paycheck away from homelessness. Another startling fact is that nine percent Members rely on public assistance, let that sink in as well.

9% of our members rely on public assistance and why is that? It's simple county employee incomes have not kept up with the skyrocketing rate rise of the essential costs housing health insurance groceries gas utilities and more many families are going without getting second jobs and forget about owning a home. Home prices have gone up 39%. In the past five years, this is happening in most job classifications and we are the ones keeping agencies open and functioning daily operations. Working for the county no longer is a stable option for our families.

We are asking for a wage increase to meet the needs of our members, a wage to meet the rising cost of absolutely everything which means a living wage And I'm here delivering petitions on behalf of our co-workers members that are also asking for a fair contract so that they can live in this county.

Thank you, Anna. Thank you.

And here are the petitions.

Okay.

Yes, we're ready. Ready for item 30 and then we'll come back to public comments. Item 30 is approval of an authorization of Ventura County Emergency Services to accept a donation of 50 Jackery solar generators and 100 solar panels from Everything Lifesaving Foundation Inc with an estimated value of $35,000. Mister Maynard.

Good morning, Chair Parvin and members of the board. Dr. Johnson certainly appreciate you allowing us to jump the line here and get our volunteers out the door and back to work. So again, as Chair Parvin stated, the request today before you is seeking approval to accept a donation from Everything Lifesaving and Jackery of 50 portable lithium battery boxes in 100 solar panels. Quick background on this. We were contacted about a year ago on the heels of a lot of public safety power shutoffs Mr. Paul Herrera, who you'll meet in just a second was looking to help and he had a connection with Jackery and said hey how would you guys like some of these battery boxes and could you potentially use them? So we said absolutely fast forward to where we are today and those battery boxes have been made available to us With your approval, it's our plan to distribute those to our search and rescue volunteers um to use out in the field.

To distribute those to the Ventura County Fire Department Urban Search and Rescue Team and also provide a few to each one of the Ventura County cities. Um with that I'm happy to answer any questions otherwise i'd really like to invite Mr Paul Herrera to come up he's got some local ties to the community as well which he'd like to share with you and tell you a little bit about his organization so any questions I can answer?

Sounds good any questions

Perfect. All right, Mr. Paul Herrera.

You have a very friend with you.

Oh yes. Hey good morning Chair Pervin and Supervisors and staff my name is Paul Herrera I'm a former Army soldier and also the nephew of Carmen Ramirez she loved this community very much and I want to be able to continue her legacy by taking part in helping out with what I can Long story short, I was always frustrated being overseas deployed in Afghanistan. Obviously there's a lot of tragedies and stuff that happened overseas but a lot of the technology we had wasn't being utilized here in the United States at this time right for saving lives whether it be search-and-rescue using FLIR cameras drones obviously are a lot more common now these days but in 2016 I was injured And you know, like one thing I realized a lot of other former military members have is they feel like they don't have a purpose or they don't know what to do.

I started volunteering with emergency management agencies first responders public safety across the United States and I saw huge needs for a lot of education purposes equipment and for example I was at the Paradise wildfire some of the first people to be really affected are the pediatric geriatric elderly kids Right now there's a lot of recommendations to be ready for 72 hours of an emergency.

Well, what I'm seeing out there whether hurricanes- I was up in Western North Carolina Hurricane Ian it's people aren't getting power for up to a week or two so then the need the endurance of people to be their own first responder is growing and my goal within thank you to Jackie and our partnership is to work with Patrick and the community to grow efforts, to grow resiliency, to help this community prepare for whatever may come at next. And whatever comes across us in the United States.

So yeah it's an important need. Power systems are needed for something small from CPAP machines, communications for search and rescue teams, keeping oxygen concentrators running, refrigerators going for people who have diabetic concerns. These are small things that often get neglected. And one thing I really promote is go out there and see what you absolutely have to have in your daily lives because it's the small things that are going to get you, not the big things. We always joke around about doomsday preppers and saying hey what about EMP attacks? I'm like well do your kids know how to cook?

Do you know where your electrical box is? Do you know how to shut off your water? It's small things like that, that I'm really working on educating and preparing in hoping these communities understand. These battery systems by Jackery are a powerful tool. The mobility the way we could deploy them field them. I'm trying to work with them to grow this capability in the future making mobile response trailers public charging stations.

Also, we were working on getting other veterans involved that are transitioning out of the military. We're helping them get their commercial drone license which is the Part 107, to help them assist with search and rescue emergencies and other things as well. So I really look forward to working with you guys in the county and this Patrick Emergency Management Agency and all forest responders here in the area and I hope our relationship grows from here.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. I love the work you're doing. It's wonderful.

And this is Freya by the way she's a little unofficial mascot

I can't really see. So, I was going to offer to hold your dog while you were speaking but she's so well trained.

Thank

you. First of all thank you for your service. Really appreciate it and the thoughtfulness. I know that Patrick doesn't bring things to us that wouldn't help us, and this is going to help us greatly and really do appreciate it. I was online checking out which one and how long and you know all the things. I think it's very important that we're continuing to educate because you're right, it's not just 36 hours. It could be power off for seven days Thank you very much.