Board of Supervisors Regular Meeting

Good morning everybody, thanks for joining us. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Ventura County on March 3rd 2026. Clerk please call the roll.

God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

We always start off with a moment of inspiration and today is going to be fantastic. Dr. Vaca, you and folks might want to start making your way up to the podium here but we are during this month of the young child here in Ventura County I am proud to share a video created by the students of Somos Union School As this 100 year old, century-old campus celebrates its hundred year anniversary serving SOMA's families.

It's also embracing the future students are engaging in hands on learning through science technology engineering arts and mathematics from video production to drone technology to hydroponic farming a lot of amazing things going on Dr. Baca at the campus it's inspiring to see young minds learning by doing in a school that honors its history while investing in the next generation.

Now let's hear directly from the students and let's play this video. Kind and confident. I love that, that's a great theme. Dr. Vacca thank you for helping us kick off the month of the young child and I wanted to open it up to you as are the superintendent and the principal of Somos Union School please share some remarks and introduce your school family

Sure, Chair and Supervisors thank you so much for inviting us. A lot of times we assume what schools look like this is what Ventura County Schools look like in a very small nutshell I can voucher all my superintendent colleagues the schools are at the core of our community and so thank you for inviting us. I want to introduce and actually I want you guys to come and tell our supervisors and our community who you are please Ella.

Hi, I'm Ella and um I had really fun filming those videos and I want to say thank you to Dr. Vaca for letting me be in this video and it's a it's an honor to be in the video. Thank

you. Emiliano these are camera guy little shy but he is an outstanding camera.

Hello I'm Emiliano and I wanted to say that directed the whole video basically and I want to thank Dr. Vaca for choosing me to do this part, and I really enjoyed filming and that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Leila. We did the agriculture video to show what we have been doing for the past two months about our garden and we're actually making a scaled model right now

Hi, my name is Ximena and I'm in eighth grade. And I was also in the other video of agriculture that we've been doing for our garden. And it was just an honor for Dr. Waka to let me do it. Yeah, we're also doing the scale model like Leila said, where I manage her garden.

Hello, I'm Francisco Becerra. I'm the support instructional aid for the school and I've been teaching the kids how to fly the drones and doing a couple of extra things that Dr. Vaca needs

We actually are talking about agriculture. I want to share with all of you that we're going up to Sacramento in April to showcase not just the outdoor lab, but also they're building a cell model with 3D printing sensors and other stuff. We are proud of our agriculture here in Ventura County and we're gonna go show it off. None of this would have been possible without the partnerships, Mars Farms, SoCal Gas and all our community here including the County Office of Education. Shout out to the CTE program which allows us to remain strong here so thank you all very much we are inspired by all of you in the work you do, the support you provide all of our residents and I'm a very proud resident Philmore during my first 18 years so never forget how strong Ventura made me.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you all very much for being here round of applause. Thank you.

We're going to go ahead and take the kiddos back to school.

Yeah, let's get them back to school. Well that was inspirational thank you all for being here and for that amazing video we're gonna go to agenda item number five which is agenda review but before before we do so are there any Levine Act disclosures by the members of the Board of Supervisors?

None.

I'm seeing none so thank you very much Dr. Johnson would you please review the agenda?

Thank you, Mr. Chair good morning supervisors staff all in attendance today the agenda review for today March 3rd 2026 is as follows item 8 general public comment 11 public comment letters have been submitted item 25 Sheriff's Office approval of the purchase of equipment designated by Ventura County ordinance number 4 6 0 3 as military equipment 7 public comment letters have been submitted Item 32 supervisor long presentation proclaiming the week of March 15th to the 21st 2026 as agriculture week in Ventura County. A PowerPoint presentation has been submitted and finally item 36 Supervisor Gorrell recommendation of Supervisor Gorrell to direct staff to pause the proposed transition of the Area Agency on Aging Administration and evaluate service options six public comment letters have been submitted this concludes agenda review thank you Mr Chair

public comment on that are there any comments or other actions by members of the board? Okay thank you any public comments Madam Clerk

Chair girl there are no requests to speak for a consent item. Thank you. Oh sorry.

Item 20

thank you for that

okay so there is public comment on one of the items in consent is that correct?

That is correct we actually have two so first speakers for item number twenty we have Siddharth Murata who's joining us today on zoom I will ask IT to promote Siddarth Hey Siddharth, I see you've been promoted. If you unmute your mic you'll be able to give your comment.

Yes ma'am. Item 20 as I need scarcely remind you supervisors means it's putting up signs saying no overnight parking in certain parts of Simi Valley. There are already plenty of signs like that around the county. In fact, I believe there are too many such signs often people in a state of destitution or other distress rely on parking spaces as to spend the night before moving on ultimately to a permanent residence They may need it for many nights. They may need it only for one, but to exclude them a priori and without exception even in cases of distress seems to me a very short-sighted and unnecessary measure.

When I've said that, I've said yes and hence my remarks. That should be all.

Does that conclude your public comment?

On that subject, yes.

Okay thank you very much. Our next item is going to be item number 25 and for that we have Suzanne Coy. Suzanne Coy is joining us on a phone today so Suzanne if you push the star six you'll be able to unmute your phone and give your comment Suzanne if you press the star six on your phone, you should be able to give your comment. Hi Suzanne I see that you're joining us today on Zoom we did send you a prompt to be promoted.

You also need to press star six to give your comment. Okay I see you've been promoted so once you press the star six you should be able to give your comment. Hi Suzanne if you press the star six on your phone you'll be able to give your comment.

Hi thank you, I couldn't get my phone to connect. Thank you please proceed. This is Suzanne. I live in Oak Park. I'm sorry, I'm hearing a lot of echoes through the Zoom meeting. Oh, I know where that

is. If you have two devices please mute one of your devices.

I am sorry, I am hearing like the delay because I also have the meeting open. I've been testing to try and get this open. I am sorry to waste the board's time. I hope you're hearing me. I just want to say that I was really surprised to see that a military rated surveillance drone would be on the consent calendar, particularly when seeing what has been happening in this country.

The kind of intense invasions not only kind of, I mean let's just call it what it is like We're seeing ICE just take families and disrupt people. I mean just sorry it's so distracting to hear this echo. Okay turn this down.

Suzanne if you have another device that your have feed coming through if you can mute that device or turn the volume down you should be able to proceed with your comment without

the echo. Thank you I appreciate that. Just in general, I don't want policing by drone and this request is coming from the sheriff's office. I'm not a particularly private person. I don't have anything to hide, but I don't like it. And if the county is going to have drones and anytime there is some type of purchase or action or decision, I would absolutely want to see and hear with public full public transparency and discussion what the protections are going to be for the people who live in Ventura County for the surveillance to be appropriately And yes I mean it is not just because of ICE. I would feel that way even if ICE hadn't come through kidnapping people but now that we see just the extremes and I don't think we've seen the full extremes yet.

We've we've seen efforts just escalate over the past year to a crazy degree. What I want to see from the leadership in our community is an attempt to protect people and that includes through these types of decisions thinking through what we're doing. What could happen if we have this military style surveillance drone? So I don't know what the best practices are, this is not my area of expertise but I absolutely want to know what the protections are and what the commitments are of this board And to serve.

I think that's all i've got to say and i'm sorry for the technical difficulties. I think that if people knew what was happening right now there would be a great deal of concern. I only learned about this last night it took me about 40 minutes to figure out even how to find the agenda item and get in here so thanks for hearing me but I don't think the public would like this And I don't think they would like it to be adopted on a consent calendar, and I don't think they'd like it to be done without understanding fully what their protections are as we move into an era of increased kind of incursion into our private spaces.

Thank you, Suzanne. Thank you for your comment. You've used your time. And Chair Garrell that concludes the public comment for our consent agenda. Thank you.

All right thank you unless there's any other comments waiting for a first and second?

All

you Great. Thank you moving on agenda item number seven the minutes of the previous meeting held by the board on February 10th Are there any questions or concerns about that cons that those minutes? I We have a first and second.

Item number seven motion to approve move by Supervisor Lopez, seconded by Supervisor Revere please vote and that passes unanimously thank

you. Thank you we're already on to agenda item number eight that's general public comments Madam Clerk are there any general public comments on items not on the agenda?

Thank you, Chagra. We currently have nine people in our queue to speak on this item and as a reminder to members of the public who wish to address the board today with public comment on any agenda item please visit VenturaCounty.gov forward slash VOS comment for participation information and instructions For in-person public comment, please check in with a deputy clerk at the entrance of the boardroom. If you wish to make comments, you must be in the boardroom or if you're participating remotely, you must be connected to the meeting via Zoom or telephone before the close of the public comment period for that agenda item. Requests to make public comment on any agenda item will be accepted until the public comment period for each agenda item is complete.

For our remote participants, please accept the prompt to be promoted and unmute your mic when it's your turn to speak and for all public comments. The in-person speakers present in the boardroom will be called upon first, followed by remote participants. At the discretion of the chair, general public comment regarding county related matters that are not listed on the agenda but are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board may be moved to the end of the meeting and we are going to start with our in person public comment.

I'm gonna call your name in three. Our first speaker is gonna be Jenny Hansen followed by Don Schmidt and Greg Ross. Jenny Hanson please proceed to the podium and you will have three minutes to give your comments.

Good morning. I am here to encourage all of you to restore the voter integrity and transparencies of our elections. When you first decided to run for office, I doubt it was for comfort. I doubt it was to go along with the crowd or to protect a seat at the table. You ran because you believed you could be different You believed you could serve your community with integrity. You believed you could make decisions rooted in principle, not pressure.

You believe that even if it meant going against the grain, even if it meant losing endorsements, losing support or facing criticism, you would hold the line. You would answer to your conscience first. Somewhere along the way that clarity seems to have faded Today, many in this community feel shut out. We see decisions made behind closed doors. We see responsibility passed along when courage is required.

We see fear of losing half the public outweighing the duty to do what you know in your heart is right. This is not the leaders you once promised to become. I'm asking you to remember who you were when you started Remember the fire that made you willing to stand alone if necessary. Remember the conviction that integrity mattered more than popularity. Yes, politics erodes people clearly.

The system can pressure you to conform but just because so many politicians choose compromise over character doesn't mean you have to. This is your moment to decide who you are Not the version shaped by power, ego but the version guided by principle. The public is watching and more importantly your own conscience is listening. Be the leaders you once set out to become.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Our next speaker is going to be Don Schmitz followed by Greg Ross and then Jeffrey Lambert

Good morning. Morning Supervisors, my name is Don Schmitz I'm here on behalf of a number of concerned property owners in the coastal zone very concerned property owners and what I'd like to speak I've given you another copy of the letter which was sent to last week. The planning division is making this interpretation that if somebody has an existing home, no matter how small if they wish to do in addition to that House and it will precipitate more brush clearance in environmentally sensitive habitat area pursuant to the amendments of the local coastal program all upland chaparral areas are considered And if they do not comply with the zoning ordinance then they will not be allowed to make an addition to that house. Now this is in contradiction which makes the interpretation definition of what is an economically beneficial use.

And that is because to implement ordinances in such a fashion that results in a constitutional taking that's obviously inappropriate and illegal, which is why that section is in there now I'd point out to you that we have We received strong guidance from the Supreme Court of the United States in regards to this in Dolan versus a city tie guard. It indicated that implementation of restrictions on private property needed to be proportional to the identified impact and in Palo Alto versus Palo Alto versus Rhode Island, which is also a Supreme Court case. It said that local jurisdictions and statewide and federal agencies must take into account I'm going to talk a little bit about this. This is an example of a property owner now here's the scenario if this is implemented in the way that the planning division is currently communicated You could have an adjacent property owner with a 10-acre parcel that is completely undeveloped, and they're allowed to build a reasonable size home on a 10,000 square foot pad.

That also clearly is in contradiction with the 14th Amendment as it pertains to equal protection under the law. I don't like coming to bodies like this start. I'm not banging my fist on the podium and start talking about the Constitution, but the Constitution is the foundation and it is reflected in the ordinance was adopted by the count the county of Ventura March 24th you're going to have a hearing You directed the resource management agency to streamline the permit process and that includes interpretations of ordinances. I think that this is a train wreck waiting to happen, I think it's absolutely imperative that this is front and center and that the Board of Supervisors has a comprehensive interpretation on this. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your comment our next speaker is going to be Greg Ross followed by Jeffrey Lambert and then Mary Gallegos

Hello, good morning. My name is Greg Ross. I've lived in Ventura County for 56 years. For the last 26 years we lived in South Ventura County. I'm here with one message and that is we need protection at the port. I can hit a nine iron into the port from my house. Thing is, I could hit a sand wedge back because the wind is always 95% of the time blowing from Carpinteria to Malibu So over the course, many of us have lived in our homes.

There's five to six thousand people in this area hard to the port. It's the closest high density residential area on the West Coast from a port over the course of the last six seven years. Lithium ion batteries have proliferated through the EVs that come off, plus they're turning some of the cranes into electric vehicles and the trucks. So we've got a problem because there's been four major fires in 2025 lithium ion battery fires you can't put them out according to Gene Fong assistant fire marshal for the county of Ventura they have to self mitigate and it takes weeks What comes out of these fires are hydrogen fluoride, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, cobalt and nickel.

If the fire happens we have to evacuate immediately. We need an Amber Alert-esque system for our county down there because all these lithium ion batteries. This is a problem and elected officials are ignoring my pleas. I've written to Steve Bennett, to Julia Brownlee, Supervisor Lopez. I've been to the city council in Port Hueneme. No one seems to be listening.

I'm asking for you to protect us. If there is a fire and we don't get notified, there will be many dead bodies. And guess what, the liability for the port will be huge. You might as well just back up a bunch of cement trucks and pave it over because their port will be gone. So that's my message. There's a packet for each of you. I hope you read it because it's important. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Ross our next speaker is going to be Jeffrey Lampert followed by Mary Gallegos and James Greenfield

Good morning members of the Board of Supervisors. Jeff Lambert, CEO Ventura Housing. I'm actually here to say thank you. We are well along the way in completing our Valentine Road project. We completed construction about a month ago. We have over 100 households living there today. We're going to be at 134 by spring. That project would not have happened without your support. The county started with a $5 million loan and a $ 5 million grant that money gave us the ability to bring $32 million to Ventura and HomeKey money that allowed us to build that project. We're very proud of that, and very proud of our partnership. I see that Kimberly and Tracey are in the room. I want to give a shout out to the community development team. Without them at our side every step of the way we wouldn't be here today.

They're a very powerful partner for us. But I also want to highly shout out the behavioral health team. Dr. Dennering and Sarah Sanchez are incredible people that have been at our side every step of the way. One of the things that made this project happen is 40 units are subsidized by the BHBH program. I know that's soon to end, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that money will continue. I know how hard they're working to make sure that happens.

Your board just a couple weeks ago increased that number from 40 to 60, so half the people living at this property are subsidized by the county's behavioral health team and supported by their team. And then finally I want to give a shout out to behavioral health people on site. Lucy and Annette are the case workers on site they are incredible partners to our onsite team we've had many challenges with the residents living there but they're a seamless relationship between your staff and our staff on site And then finally, that's all good to say that we're a great partner. But what I want to tell you about is the community that we built there and some of you have mentioned this too on Thanksgiving. We had people living at Valentine Road had their own potluck had nothing to do with us.

We didn't manage it. We didn't support it. The residents have created their own community there and that community is strong and it's going to help those folks have a good quality of life. So I'm here today just to thank the county for your partnership and thank you very much.

Thank you.

And thank you for your comment. Our next speaker is going to be Mary Gallegos, followed by James Greenfield and then Bruce McVicker.

Good morning. Last year you established the Ventura County Elections Advisory Committee I applauded you for that move and expressed my in my comments that we all wanted this committee to work. We felt this committee could be an effective tool to address our concerns and get resolutions to the problems we had reported. We advised for more frequent meetings, we advised for recordings of the meetings, and asked for Zoom capability to allow other people with busy lives to call in and state their concerns.

I have attended and participated in all the meetings. The first meetings were mostly procedural, not much other business was accomplished. The last meeting in February was a major disappointment. The committee needs a major change, a major readjustment or it just needs to go away. A majority of the committee members do not understand the voting process, the procedures much less the voting system. These are competent people in their chosen fields but have yet made the effort to understand and thus can advise you on Ventura County elections We can have no significant disclosure if the members do not prepare and do not have a basic understanding of how elections work in Ventura County.

Last Thursday, I submitted an open records request directly to the Ventura County Register of Voters and to you that asked for specific information regarding the Dominion voting systems and maintenance contract. And any modified or new contracts you have in place for the Liberty Vote USA voting system during the February Elections Advisory Committee meeting they failed to discuss these contracts in depth and fail to second a motion to bring this to your attention.

Yesterday, legal counsel apparently denied my request stating your request does not specify what records or provide the time frame. How can I provide the time frame when there is no acknowledgement of any kind from your offices that these contracts even exist yet you incurred operational costs during the November 2025 elections? What contract was this under what legal domain why will you not tell us I need a justified response to my request. My request was very specific.

I called the Legal Compliance Office and McKinley yesterday asking for confirmation that the request is indeed denied. I need confirmation we are asking questions and not getting answers. As the representatives of the Ventura County voters, you need to exert your oversight responsibilities and release the requested documents and information to the Ventura County voters.

Thank

Thank you for your comment. Our next speaker is going to be James Greenfield followed by Bruce McVicker and then Siddharth Murata

Good morning, Supervisors. Congratulations, Chair Garrell on your seat. Last Ventura County Election Oversight Committee meeting member Debbie Cohen brought up questions and concerns about the lack of an elections contract. These issues were presented to this board last October after Dominion voting was bought by Liberty Vote. Was the reassignment clause exercised by the ROV? Was a contract executed?

Is this board aware The reassignment clause does not allow for increasing expenditures. Ms. Cohen could not even get a second for a vote to refer the concerns to this board. Most members of the Advisory Commission are not doing any serious work, as you heard. I ask how was the November 4th election conducted without a contract? What entity was paid for services? Liberty Vote is not an approved election system provider at this time. Many questions, no answers. The ROV's office is refusing public records requests for answers. How do we get the answers?

Some of you think we don't have any problems with our election system. Why look I was elected so credit card fraud must not exist because your credit card hasn't been compromised in the last year or does murder not exist because we're all alive here I could go on. Each of you have been provided exhaustive amounts of data to support legitimate election integrity and potential fraud concerns.

We made it easy for you, we've sent you videos on Dominion Software in action demonstrating countless ways results can be manipulated without leaving a trace. Nobody will ever know Have any of you bothered to view them? If you have, I would think it would at least evoke some pause. How about inviting the ROV for questioning? Is there any merit to the concerns demonstrated in the videos? How about inviting Mark Cook for a presentation demonstration?

We have an election crisis denial syndrome. I'm asking for legitimate curiosity at least how about an audit? Let's move on. I've been asking for an audit before DOJ was even DOJ. We still don't know how much of our taxes are being spent on services for illegal aliens. I have a friend who can barely afford to live in her property after mom passed away with the increased assessments.

What would our property taxes be and what would the reduction be in county overhead if we stop billing property owners for services and stop providing services where people are here illegally? We have the right to know how much fraud is taking place in Ventura County. Thank you.

Thank you for the comment. Our next speaker is going to join us on Zoom, we're going to hear from Bruce McVicker and then Zedharth Morota and then Debbie Cohen. Bruce McVicker I see you've been promoted please proceed with your comment.

Good morning can you hear me?

Yes we can please proceed.

Thank you elections code 19207 states that the governing board may adopt for use at elections any kind of voting system including hand counting Don't shirk your responsibility and defer to the ROV. The time for election reform is now, return the voice and sovereignty back to the American citizen as prescribed in the Constitution. One day citizen only hand counted paper ballots at the precinct level with full auditable transparency. Free fair and honest elections unmarred by fraud errors or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional republic.

Unbeknownst to the general public, fifth generation unrestricted warfare has been waged against American citizens by foreign communist countries and traitors within our country. They have been stealing elections across the globe for decades using electronic voting systems. The hardware firmware and software for these systems are sourced from several communist countries and were sold as a convenience to the population. Convenience will be the death of liberty.

Voting on these systems is like playing a casino slot machine. They started slowly with low level elections, like school board and judicial races to misshape the culture of our great nation. Eventually they got greedy and stole some of our highest government offices including the presidency. This was a mistake and now the American people are awake. Many people no longer trust these systems and are disenfranchised. There's an abundance of evidence to back up my claims. Go back and review my comments in the documentation I've provided to the board for over two years now.

How are the private cybersecurity agencies used to certify the corrupt Dominion systems qualified for this task? Several computer software experts have demonstrated how easy it is to infiltrate the systems, and manipulate vote tabulation and reporting. According to whistleblowers that help design these systems, they are intentionally designed to allow undetectable remote access.

After being repeatedly warned about the vulnerability of these systems, the BOS renewed the 2018 Dominion contract in October 2024 through June 2033 for upgrades and modifications which will require recertification. These computers will be over 15 year olds by contract end If they are not certifiable to current standards now, how are they going to be certifiable nine years into the future?

Now that Liberty who also runs electronic old books has acquired the fraudulent Dominion systems. Is this ill-advised contract renewal with Dominion still valid? If so, how does covering the Dominion logos on the machines with Liberty stickers solve the many problems identified? If not, now is the time for the BOS to put the contract in the trash where it belongs.

EO 14248 orders the EAC to recertify voting systems under new standards and to rescind all previous...

Mr. McVicker, you've used your three minutes. Thank you for your comment. Our next speaker is going to be Siddharth Murata followed by Debbie Cohen.

Thank you. My name is Rotra Ahmed, just for identification. Thank you. But having said that my principal concern and the principal concern of many whom I am surprised not to find here with me is this. The county, the state, the nation perhaps the world has been for the past year under what amounts to a military occupation calling itself Immigration Customs Enforcement They have behaved with impunity, snatching people off the streets and bullying whoever questioned them.

They have attacked, they have tortured, they've imprisoned in some cases they have killed. And all without the permission of the county government or any other authority entrusted to public safety. They have threatened legal observers. They have arrested and deported people with no charge for defaults, no crime. And we have committed this. Indeed, we have made it very difficult to stop it.

And stop is what we must now. We may commit on grounds of our own sovereignty. We may speak of the civil liberty or personal liberty We may speak of the sheer injustice of making innocent people wait a lifetime to gain their citizenship in a nation they have come from around the world to be part of and then punish them for having to wait. To my mind, last is the greatest injustice of them all.

And it seems to me we can do Much more. The first thing we must do is put a stop to this occupation, to ICE and DHS and CE and ESA and NSA and all these other mysteriously originating agencies. These police states imposed on us ostensibly to protect us from foreign threats which simply do not exist anymore Then we have let ourselves become virtually prisoner of what we call our security agencies.

And now, now we are seeing the consequence. I am sorry to repeat myself like this but in very simple terms ICE must go and they must release those they have taken prisoner without further ado thank you

Thank you for your comment. OK, our next speaker is going to be Debbie Cohen. I see that you've been promoted. Please unmute your mic and you'll have three minutes to give your comment.

Hi, I have a question. Am I allowed to share? A screen.

No, all presentation media must be submitted by 830 AM on the day prior to the board meeting per our board protocols so next time you can email that in advance.

We'll do. I'll email it after so it can be part of the record maybe? Also the echo is very distracting. Okay so good morning supervisors. Dominion voting systems have been used to run Ventura County elections for many years. Five months ago a company named Liberty Vote owned by Republican named Scott Weindecker announced that it acquired Dominion Voting Systems for an undisclosed sum of money Scott Leyendecker also owns NOINC, another elections technology company that is the largest provider of e-poll book software in the US used by counties across the country including Fulton County Georgia and Bayer County Texas.

A few days ago, a detailed forensic analysis report was released and revealed that Bexar County's No Ink Poll Book system fabricated 4,110 voters out of thin air in the middle of an election based on 745 real voters that cast ballots during the early voting on February 18th, 2026. The evidence in the full report is stunning and it's available for anyone to read. There'll be links in my full letter that I'll be sending to the Board of Supervisors later today.

Seasoned IT professionals and elections observers have presented to you over and over for the last two-and-a-half years, but these hardware and software companies and systems cannot be trusted And now Ventura County is engaged in a business relationship with Liberty Vote, a new company whose owner's other company, No Ink was just exposed for what appears to be election fraud.

A few weeks ago we learned that the county hasn't yet provided written consent to allow the assignment of the Dominion contract to Liberty Vote. Since no new contract has been brought forth for consideration by the Board of Supervisors, it appears the county and Liberty Vote have been operating without an enforceable contract for months. If true, Ventura County ran an entire election in November with a new unknown vendor that provided all the machines and all the software to run the entire election.

Time is running out but there are still things your board can do to try to address these concerning issues. I've listed them in a letter i'll be sending to you later today and for anyone in the audience who would like to learn more, you should be able to find my letter with links to references attached to this agenda when the clerk posts it in a few days please take the time to read it there's a lot of compelling information in there thank you

Chair Gorrell, that concludes the public comment for this item. Thank you.

Great thank you everyone for your comments moving on to agenda item number 29 it's beginning of our 9 a.m. time certain for everyone that's been waiting thank you very much for your patience we apologize we're a few minutes behind but Supervisor LaVere would you like to introduce 29?

Yes, thank you Chair and it's my absolute privilege this morning to welcome the Ventura High School Cougars to our boardroom and to honor them for the 2025 CIF Southern Section Division 6 Championship. We are joined as you can see by many of the team members, including the coaching staff and school administration. And if I could just kind of briefly talk about the championship.

They played a school down South St. Pius, St. Matthias Academy in the championship game in division six and they won that game in a record breaking 63 to 28 just romp it was actually It was the third time that the Cougars have won the championship, but the first time in 25 years. And it's actually the most points ever scored by a Ventura County team in a CIAF Championship game.

Yeah. They were led by their senior captains Tristan Phillips, Derek Garcia, Jack Cunningham and Jordan Butcher who demonstrated leadership and perseverance throughout the playoffs. But as anybody who knows football understands captains play a big role but football is a team sport it takes every single member of the team And a contribution from every single member of the team to win a championship. So I want to recognize each and every one of you for the role you played in achieving this incredible milestone.

Head coach Tim Garcia, historic 13-3 record. He actually surpassed the record for the most career victories in the entire program history with 90 wins cementing his legacy as one of the all time greats at Ventura High for coaching And there were numerous individuals on the team who received both all county, all CIF and all state recognition including Tristan Phillips, Derek Garcia, Jack Cunningham, Jordan Butcher, Jesse D'Alba, Paul Iniguez, Dylan Klinzing, Tristan Savage and James Watson.

So congratulations to each of you for that for those individual awards. But really, it's just my pleasure to be here and to recognize all of you because of the way that you were able to rally an entire community around your season. I was able to go to three of the games and it was incredible to see the crowds there to cheer you on and you had the whole town behind you and you represented the town so well each of you are true representatives of why Ventura special and I say this with Truly meaning this is that the future is bright because I've seen the leadership that all of you displayed in winning the championship and bringing such pride to the community. So my honor to bring up Coach Garcia, and I believe Principal Rodriguez is here as well.

I'd love to invite each of you to the stand to say a few words about what this team meant to the school. Good morning Madam Principal.

Good morning County Supervisors. My name is Marissa Rodriguez I'm the proud principal of Ventura High School on behalf of our entire school community, I am incredibly proud to stand here celebrating our team's CIS championship victory this achievement represents more than a title it reflects discipline resilience teamwork and a commitment to excellence Our athletes balanced rigorous academics with the demands of championship level competition. They showed what it means to lead with integrity, to support one another and represent Ventura County with pride in class.

This championship belongs to our coaches family staff and community who believed in these students every step of the way most importantly it belongs to our players who prove that hard work character and heart truly matters Thank you for honoring their dedication and for continuing to support public education and student success in Ventura County. Thank you.

Good morning, Coach. Good morning. I'm glad we can liven this place up a little bit for you.

Much appreciated.

We do that well. All right, good morning Supervisor Levere and members of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. My name is Tim Garcia I'm the head football coach at Ventura High School and on behalf of the entire Cougar Football Program i want to thank you for honoring our team and recognizing the unforgettable 2025 season we experienced together This past year was nothing short of historic for Ventura High School.

Our athletes worked tirelessly, broke records and represented their school with character, determination and heart but the real story of the season reached far beyond the football field. What made 2025 truly special was the way it brought people together across Ventura County. Week after week, we felt an incredible surge of support families alumni community members and local businesses rallying behind our players in a time when the world often feels divided.

These young men created something powerful, a shared source of pride that united our city and our county. County football or cougar football became a spark that brought people closer. Friday nights turned into community celebrations. Our players felt that energy and I believe it shaped who they are becoming, not just as athletes but as young leaders who understand what it means to represent something bigger than themselves.

To Supervisor LeVere and the entire board thank you for acknowledging their hard work and for recognizing the impact that high school athletics can have on a community. Your support reminds our players that what they do matters and that their efforts are seen and valued across Ventura County. We are proud of our season, proud of our school, and proud to represent this community. It means the world to these young men to be honored at this level, and it motivates us to continue leading with purpose, unity, and pride.