Board of Supervisors Regular Meeting

Good morning everybody. We are going to get started here. I'm calling to order the Board of Supervisors meeting of May 19th, 2026. Madam Clerk please call the roll.

One way I make an impact every day as a nurse is by advocating for our patients and educating them on resources offered to the community. I like seeing them when they come back, and they'll be like, yay! You helped me last time. Thank you. And I just like being

their help. I think nurses are powerful because we're problem solvers. That's how we get the job done.

It keeps me going and gets me up in the morning because I know I'm making a difference. The most important thing is that these patients are being treated with respect, giving them their dignity back that they often have lost during their lifespan. And they truly, truly appreciate it when they feel the compassion and kindness that I can give to them.

Hospital nursing is fantastic. It's one of the only places where you can make an extreme difference in somebody's health care and life in under 12 hours. There's nothing else in the world like that.

I had the Gold Coast Health Insurance, and the county took care of me when I wasn't making any money. And so I really wanted to work for the county to try and like pay it forward, help other people that were in my situation. That's what I love about my work.

It means every mother, every child, every father Every family, it doesn't matter where your story comes from is that there's always someone who has always got your corner and refuses to give up on

you. I love being a nurse here at Employee Health. I love serving my community. The one way that I feel the most fulfilled here serving my community is definitely helping introduce new employees to our community

to Ventura County. It's an honor to like help out nurses and to help out our own people, our own employees being like with Employee Health Services it's just kind of nice to give back to our own employees.

I used to work in the hospital before with the babies both jobs like in the hospital and over here at Employee Health Services I feel is both rewarding because You know, nursing is not just a profession for me. It's like a way of life and I'm practicing.

I take care of a lot of pediatric patients and the moms and the dads are like we couldn't have done this without your help. And then I feel like I get to help people. I get to connect them when they have a hard time getting connected with physicians or anything like that.

I chose to work in county when I was in nursing school, in 2000. I saw a resident helping a CNA with their chemistry homework. And I was like, this is the place for me because everyone was so approachable and they really are. Another reason is because I wanted to serve my community and take care of people.

That's great. Please invite some comments.

Thank you so much Chair Garrell Board of Supervisors CEO Johnson my name is Salida Dabrowski I'm the director of public health nursing and we're going to do just quick introductions of our nursing leadership team

Good morning Supervisors, Dr. Johnson. We are so grateful to be here my name is Danielle Gable I'm a proud nurse and the new CEO of The Hospitals.

Congratulations.

Good morning Board, Dr. Johnson, I'm Cynthia Fenton the Chief Nursing Executive for Ambulatory Care.

Good morning. It's a pleasure and honor to be here. Sherry Block, the interim chief nurse executive for VCMC in Santa Paula Hospitals.

Good morning everyone. I'm Jennifer Zapata, clinical nurse manager for Ventura County Behavioral Health.

And we know our time is very limited so we're each going to just share one aspect of nursing in our various departments that were proud of and thank you for having us.

I think we do have a PowerPoint ready to go.

Okay, all right.

Today we are honored to recognize Nurses Week 2026 and to celebrate the extraordinary contributions of the nurses who serve our community each and every day. Nurses are the backbone of our health system, providing skilled care, compassion, and unwavering commitment in every setting from our hospitals and clinics to our public health programs and community services.

Over the past year, our nurses have continued to demonstrate resilience, innovation, and leadership in the face of evolving healthcare challenges. Their dedication ensures that individuals and families across our county receive safe, high quality patient-centered care. As we mark Nurses Week we extend our deep gratitude to these professionals who strengthen our community's well-being and embody the very best of public service. Today we ask the board to join us in honoring and celebrating our nurses for their outstanding contributions.

All right, the one area that we've chosen to highlight for both VCMC and Santa Paula hospitals is shared governance. And the endeavor was led by Dr. Daniel Gable and Dr. Kelly Johnson who is here with us today as well. Shared Governance in Nursing is a participatory management model that empowers bedside nurses to have an active voice in clinical decision making practice standards in the work environment It shifts leadership from a top down hierarchy to a collaborative partnership and the benefits of this most importantly are improved patient outcomes, higher job satisfaction and it actually puts us on a path to receive magnet recognition as we move forward that celebrates excellence in nursing and patient quality of care.

Thank you.

Across Ventura County, ambulatory care nursing teams have led important improvements in quality access to care and patient safety. This year our clinics have achieved 90 percentile in our QIPP performance in multiple areas through an evidence-based practice strong interdisciplinary collaboration One thing that we're super proud of is our launch of our HPV self swab program that extends cervical cancer screening for patients who may decline the traditional exams. Helping reduce barriers to care while supporting patient's dignity, comfort and early detection. Next slide.

Safe Harbor Program provides our trauma-informed forensic nursing services for victims of violence and abuse throughout Ventura County. We have five specialized forensic nurses and one amazing RN coordinator. Nurses are available 24 hours a day to provide compassion examinations, forensic evidence collection, advocacy, and supportive services. The program works closely with law enforcement district attorney offices And other community partners to support patient safety, healing and investigations.

Whole person care team provides a long support services through enhanced management. Enhanced care management is a patient centered approach designed to support high need managed care plan members by addressing both clinical and nonclinical needs the program provides coordinated physical behavioral and dental care through an interdisciplinary team and community based support Each enrolled member is assigned a dedicated care manager to help improve and coordinate access to services and overall health outcome.

The highlight for public health is very timely. California Department of Public Health Emergency Preparedness Training Workshop, our sheltering system was presented to the CDPH emergency preparedness workshop in Sacramento in June of 2025 The audience included hundreds of people from departments, agencies and municipalities from all over the state. Our very own Kyle Culkin, senior public health nurse received an award for innovative solutions with our alternate care site and medical shelter program. The sheltering presentation led to meetings and communications with several agencies and departments throughout California that are developing their sheltering system based on the VCPH model.

We would like to recognize the VCB nursing team for their leadership, service and continued commitment to our community. Our nurses play an important role in supporting safe high quality person centered behavioral health care for Ventura County residents. They strengthen care coordination by supporting communication among clients treatment teams programs and community partners They also contribute to system improvement by helping align nursing practice with CalAIM, CARE Act, FSP program, person-centered care priorities. Through training operational support and ongoing development of nursing standards of practice they help promote clinical excellence, stop support and safer care environments.

Okay, and last but definitely not least we want to recognize the nurses of the Ventura County Health Care Plan. They are undergoing a leadership transition in their area but they continue to provide really robust support and all of us who are recipients benefit from that. All right so thank you to all the nurses of Ventura County and thank you for your time.

Yeah thank you doctor. Madam clerk are there any public comments on this agenda item.

Check girl during a request to speak for this item thank you.

Any comments from the board. We do have a proclamation that we'd love to come down and present to you and all of the nurses who are gathered here today. And I just want to say that we're so grateful for everything, and this PowerPoint was a reminder of just how influential nurses are across the entire spectrum. Everything from forensic health to behavioral health and seniors and youth and everything. So thank you very much for being our healers and our lifesavers. We're going to come down. Thank you.

Okay. Sorry.

One, two, three. Hold it. One, two, three. Smiling.

One,

two, three.

We're going to take things a little bit out of order, but we are going to do. We are going to do I'm going to punt over to the CEO at this time and maybe have the fire chief come up. I think he's here so maybe this would be good opportunity as before I do though I'm footprint of the Sandy Fire yesterday and at the command post. And what I saw was amazing. It was just inspirational ballet of professionalism, precision and heroism all together. And I don't say that lightly.

I saw the airdrops, I saw the strike teams stopping the fire before they got to the homes. In one instance I looked up on a ridge line it was a razor-thin ridgeline and it looked like there was a tiny structure up on the top right where the flames were shooting up and I said what is that a structure up there? And an Oxnard firefighter one of our mutual I'm telling you it was out of a movie and some so impressed with our first responders led by the Ventura County Fire Department supported by the sheriff.

All of the agencies throughout the county that were there, I saw all of them and then our mutual aid responders from outside the county. So Chief thank you for leading the show and look forward to getting an update on the Sandy Fire.

Chair Groh, thank you for kicking it off. You know we don't get a... We don't claim to be ballerinas very often so that was a nice start.

Well I didn't think you looked like ballerinas personally. I was watching you guys out there too and it looked awesome but it wasn't a ballerina

So I'll kick it off. Chair Garrell, members of the board, Dr. Johnson, good morning for the record Dustin Gardner your county fire chief and with me is Assistant Fire Chief of Operations Dan Horton. I'll give a quick update on the Sandy Fire. It's currently sitting at 1385 acres with 5% containment Our crews took advantage of the increase in RH and the decrease in winds last night. They worked through the night, and I'm sure as you were all watching, you saw the three heavy helitankers flying all night long doing coordinated night dropping which again is such a cutting edge Advancing technology and ability, it truly remains a game changer that we can fly those things all night under direct supervision. We have more than 750 firefighters out on the incident last night and through today.

The fire is a long ways from being controlled right? We've got it pulled into the box and now we're getting the box built around it but you know that country. It's steep, it's rocky, its remote and we have north and northeast winds returning again today so They'll be in for a fight again today with single digit RHS and spotting up to a half a mile like we saw yesterday.

Our fire operations have moved away from a life-saving structure defense posture into a direct fire line attack posture which, again we saw last night with the hand crews and the bulldozers going direct you will see them out there for the next few days. You will see a lot of line construction going in primary lines secondary line containment lines to keep that thing boxed in You'll also see secondary lines and tertiary lines getting opened up because that fire sits in two main critical spot, one keeping out of Santa Susanna Field Lab and out of Bell Canyon. And the other keeping it out of Lang Ranch Sunset Hills Oak Park so you'll see a lot of containment lines going in And I'll ask that all of our folks watching this and all of our folks at home continue to monitor because the fire is only 5% contained.

So let's stay on our toes, continue, you know, continue watching VC alert, continue watching the situation awareness updates and be prepared to move if told to do so. And I would also, I think a May fire. It's only mid-May and we're seeing a fire that was spotting half a mile out in front of itself. We're seeing this fire that openly ate through retardant lines all day long is... I think it's an opportunity for us to acknowledge a couple things. And one, Chief Horton had command of the Fire Department yesterday and did an extraordinary job with it. He was able to deploy... We deployed 50% of all the resources in the county to that fire We were able to deploy 50% plus have all of our partners but with deploying 50% of the resources in the county, we have to backfill all those stations.

And we have a labor force and a labor group that dropped everything they were doing and came in and backfilled. We didn't have a single empty station. Right. And that doesn't just happen, we know that doesn't happen by accident that happens because we have a workforce that's committed they're committed to living here they're committed to protecting their neighbors they're committed to serving and I want to thank this board for that because you all help set that stage so your continued support matters the support of our workforce matters and the fact That we had such great recall matters and I want to say thank you for that.

I want to also acknowledge the relationships, we talk about relationships all the time but the relationships you all have with Cal Fire with Cal OES with the governor's office for us to be able to get an FMAG submitted it within two-and-a-half hours of an FMAG submitted reviewed by Cal OES and then approved by FEMA is extraordinary and the resources that will bring back to the county because this was a 95% LRA fire Meaning that 95% of all suppression costs were coming directly out of the fire department.

That FMAG is extraordinary and that happens because folks are prepared. Our partners, our mutual aid partners. We had resources coming from Los Angeles City, LA County, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Kern. They were sending everything they could without asking. We had aircraft coming over that hadn't been everybody was sending because we all knew we needed to keep these fires small because we've seen what they can do. I was getting calls from our public works director last night who is letting me know the status of tanks being filled and where his folks were operating. That's never happened before. So just the teamwork and the preparedness.

And then a continual message, and I heard Chair Gorrell mention it several times in the community hall last week to our communities about being prepared right? We saw yesterday 100 foot clearance works we saw yesterday home hardening works we saw yesterday that folks being ready to leave and evacuate works right? We had 7800 homes in the footprint of that fire And we lost one and one is always too many. And my heart goes out to the homeowners that lost their home and some we had some scared homeowners in Simi Valley last night. We saw it then. We always want them to be ready. We always want them to be prepared. We always want to be paying attention.

And then I think just an overall reminder is the support that you all give that Dr. Johnson, that you give for pulling this county together because it was a county response. It was County Fire. It was County Sheriff. It's County OES. It was County Public Works. Our health care agency standing up and we had animal shelters stood up last night. We had human shelter stood up last night. We had rehab centers stood up last night.

Traveling the country and doing this for a living there are very few places that do it with this kind of precision. So, that comes from your support so thank you for continuing to support those teams and building those teams. It was days like yesterday where it matters so we appreciate you. We appreciate all the support and I'm open for questions and we have Chief Horton here if we have specific Sandy questions.

Thank You chief there was some public discussion on the source origin cause of the fire. Do you want to say anything about that?

So I will acknowledge yes, there was a I won't say conflicting but there was information given out on the source. Our fire cause investigators and Cal Fire are working together we won't well I'm going to say this the sources are the causes under investigation until we have a firm and complete rock solid case right before we announce it. So some news did go out yesterday about a probable cause and it is highly likely that probable cause was accurate but our investigators are going to lock that down before we say anything. Yeah all

right thank you keep us posted. I will for sure. Supervisor Long?

Thank you. You know, I really appreciate the updates to our board. Thank you to Chair Garrell and Parvin. I understand how hard this is on our communities in our districts and I just want to say the confidence that we have in all of you is just I want to share that it was odd not to be at a CP this morning but it's not my district. But it was just great to know the confidence. I think that's really it, to have the FMAG so quickly gotten to us to make sure that we are doing everything, the fixed wings to be out as quickly as it was and also the coordination with all the teams with LA County. I know no one wants these fires to get to our residents and to make sure that whole boundary is really secure with the winds. I just really appreciate the objective and to make sure that people are not hurt, homes are not lost but that we take care of everything so i wanted to say thank you very much.

I know resources is a key issue and I think what we've done as a board has really helped to get us where we were for this fire so we could get it out as quickly as we can so I really want to say thank you very much in our public All public safety, public works, our sheriffs, our fire, everybody. I just want to say thank you.

Supervisor Portman?

Thank you. I had the opportunity to spend a few hours with Mr. Horton there, the assistant chief relative to the fire was very active at the time fact he took one of those videos that he shared while I was with him so but I wanted to take a moment to say that the residents of Simi Valley are so confident in the work that you do That I kept hearing that yesterday about how they trust you, how they believe there that you're the best fire department in the entire country. These are things I'm hearing from our residents and I wanted to say that your leadership yesterday where it was an action the whole team.

I saw all of them. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to know that we attacked it Everybody had our back and it's just wonderful that work that you do. And I wonder if people truly appreciate it, but under duress like they were and still are trying to find a hotel room last night working on trying to find them a hotel room last night. Thank you for all the work you do And in public works and all the dozers and all of the activity. And thank you for Lake Bard being so handy, right?

Because we had a nice reservoir filled with water that we needed and it was there for us. So appreciate all the work that you do. And I just want to thank you on behalf of the residents Simi Valley.

Supervisor, thank you for bringing that up and Lake Bard. Yes to have all those rotoring aircraft in the sky which is a miracle and a blessing all on its own but the fact that they open up to us and let us dip out of their water source and give us a two minute turnaround. That's extraordinary so again it's a team effort by all of us and it pulls on all of us and takes all of

Be safe out there. Thank you for everything you're doing and keep us posted how we can help you. Thank you. Well done, Dr. Johnson. I saw you out there too, Supervisor Parvin and yourself and so

None.

Any by the members of the board? You want to do first?

Yes I'm going to be recusing myself on item 17. I received more than $500 within the past 12 months from Fence Factory Rentals.

And I too need to recuse myself from item number 17 on the consent agenda for donation over $500 from R.A. Atmore & Sons, one of the named contractees in that item so... What's that? Thank you for putting that into the record as well

so both

of those were. Conflict me out

You can vote on the rest of agenda item 17.

That's good to know, thank you. So I would make it clear for the record that I would intend to recuse myself for those particular contracts.

Perfect. Thank you Mr. Chair Good morning Supervisors, staff and all in attendance today. The agenda review for May 19th 2026 is as follows. Item 4 a moment of inspiration proclaiming may 6 to 12 2026 as National Nurses Week in Ventura County at PowerPoint presentation has been submitted. Item 10 county executive office receive and file fiscal year 26-27 Department Budget Presentations. Seven PowerPoint presentations have been submitted. Item 31, Supervisor Garrell. Presentation proclaiming the week of May 17th to 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week. One public comment letter has been submitted. Item 34, County Executive Office. Public hearing regarding adoption of resolutions establishing and amending the service rates and fees for various services at the county.

Watershed Protection District and Fire Protection District for fiscal year 26-27. A board letter and attachments 1 through 19 have been submitted. Item 35, resource management agency planning De Novo hearing to consider approval of a project located at 4884 North Ventura Avenue. Additional exhibits 29, 29.1, 29.2 and 30 additional public comment letters and PowerPoint presentations from staff the applicant into appellants have been submitted. And finally item 44 closed session conference with legal counsel regarding Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center at all versus County of Ventura there will be no reportable action on this discussion Thank you, Mr. Chair. This concludes agenda review.

Thank you. Are there any comments on the consent agenda item 6? Public comments? Madam Clerk?

Chair Garrell, there are no public comment for our agenda review item number 5 and we don't have any public comment for our consent items either. Thank

you. Supervisor Lopez did you have a comment?

Sorry I was gonna make a comment on item six but I think we're taking action on item five.

Thank you on the item number 6 a consent agenda. There's a comment. Supervisor Lopez?

Yes, thank you chair just wanted to call out item number 10 which was the pre-recorded budget presentations from the departments in Agriculture Weights and Measures Airports Animal Services CEO Child Support Services Harbor Library and the Medical Examiner's Office Just wanted to thank them for doing that. I know it's a very different way of doing the presentations, but I thought they were very informative, very convincing cases that were presented and just appreciate the work that everyone is doing. And as we go into the budget Thank you chair. Yeah, thank

But a board is can I just defer to the county council to help us frame a motion on this.

Thank you, Chair. So the motion for the consent agenda would be approved consent agenda items 9 through 30 as recommended with Supervisor Parvin recusing herself on item 17 for the annual service agreement with farm fence factory rentals and Supervisor Garrell recusing on item 17 for the annual service agreements with RA Atmore & Sons and Sheet Metal Workers Local Union number 104

Item 6 has been motioned to approve as stated by County Council by Supervisor Long, seconded by Supervisor Loehr. Please vote and that passes unanimously. Thank you

We are getting closer to public works week, I'm excited about that but I do want to do item number 7 for the minutes of the meeting is there a motion second related to the minutes of the meeting from May 12.

Item 7 motion to approve by Supervisor Levier seconded by Supervisor Parvin please vote that passes unanimously thank you.

This is where we're going to take things out of order and I'm gonna call up our director Greg Strakoulos for National Public Works Week very excited about this I think we got some helmets and some vests up here ready for action. But the Ventura County Public Works is welcoming community groups and visitors to campus today, to our beautiful county campus here to celebrate all things public works and highlight the essential services that keep our communities safe connected and running smoothly every day.

And I just add here, Ventura County considers our public works team are first responders too. We just saw that plain and clear yesterday. So I'm going to turn this over. Thank you, Greg and thank you to the entire public works team for your continued continued dedication of public service and I'm turning it over to you to lead the presentation if you would.

Thank you Chair Gorel. Thank You Supervisors LaVere, Long, Lopez and Supervisor Parvin. Good morning Dr. Johnson and good morning ladies and gentlemen. I was gonna say good morning to the future Public Works leaders who are now returning. I thought they were going to become first responders for a second instead of Public Works but they're back So I'm Greg Strackalus, your Public Works Agency Director. And on behalf of every single member of our public works team, I want to thank you for the special proclamation recognizing National Public Works Week. It's an exciting week for us to share a little bit about how we serve the community and celebrate some incredible staff this year is American Public Works Association theme rooted in service powered by community is perfectly it perfectly captures not just what we do but why and how we do it When I think about being rooted, I think about sustainability, history and the solid foundation we all depend upon for our quality of life.

Much like the infrastructure your Public Works Agency manages, the most vital parts of public works are often literally right under our feet and many times out of sight. Our routes include the miles of flood control channels protecting our valleys and plains from stormwater They include the network of pipes, reservoirs, pumps delivering clean drinking water to our customers and the wastewater systems that protect our public health in our environment.

And of course they include the hundreds of miles of roadways and bridges that safely connect our families every single day. Our work is one cornerstone of Ventura County's exceptional quality of life. So for our team being rooted in service, that means this community is our why it's why we do it It means striving every day to be reliable, responsive and accountable for the responsibilities bestowed upon us.

We aren't just an organization of workers we're your neighbors. Every one of us takes immense pride in being the stewards of the land and systems that make Ventura County the greatest place in the world to live, work and thrive. While our roots provide that sustainability, the second half of this year's theme is truly what drives us forward. The energy momentum and power behind our agency come directly from the people of Ventura County.

We are powered by the feedback received at town halls, the cooperation we see during our construction projects and the shared vision that this board and our CEO champion so clearly. Every innovation we pursue is fueled by the evolving needs of our community designed to reflect deep-rooted values of the people we serve. So thank you board. Thank you for your vision, your support. Thank you Dr. Johnson for your mission and guiding principles by which we thank all of our community for being the true energy behind our efforts were profoundly honored to build protect and enhance Ventura County the place we also proudly call home so with that I'd like to transition to the awards component of to recognize some very special Public Works employees.

So we'll start with employee of the year So the candidates are Julie Taylor in Central Services, Najmeen Reema in Central Services, Kristen Selby in Central Services and April Hernandez in Engineering Services. And if you could all stand as candidates and the next slide will be... So Najmeem, if you would come down. If you'd come down.

All right next year I was going to give you a drumroll. You just jump right into it.

We can do that operations and maintenance employee of the year. So our nominees are Joseph Valdivia Aiden Armenta Ivan Gonzalez and Anthony Apricio and without Dremel it is Ivan Gonzalez All right, next. Moving on to Rookie of the Year. This is someone who's been with the organization for about a year now. So the candidates are Jill Sarick and Charles Bell from Water and Sanitation and Central Services. And the winner is Charles Bell.

All right. So moving on to manager there are five managers candidates Toby Mitchell Central Services Debbie now a model from engineering services Matt Hespin Hyde from roads and transportation David Lack watershed protection and Homer Aaron Dondo from water and sanitation and the winner is David Lack. Okay. So that concludes our presentation again, thank you board for the recognition and the proclamation for public works day. Thank you for everything you do Mr. Strakoulos and let's

give them all a round of applause We couldn't do it without Public Works. We're so grateful for everything you do and congratulations to the winners and all the nominees, and we've got signed proclamations resolutions for each one of those individuals up here as well that we'd like to present. And now we have a proclamation we'd like to bring down as well but before we walk down any other comments from the board members?

Okay Mr. LeVere

Thank you, Chair. I appreciate you mentioning the importance that our Public Works Department plays or agency plays In terms of being part of the first responder team that's sometimes forgotten, but you're a critical piece of that puzzle. But also I think so much of our job is dealing with constituent requests, constituent concerns and oftentimes they have to do with roads or parks or watersheds or so many of the calls that we get deal with public works and the entire agency is so responsive to me, to all of us. And I just wanted to say thank you for that is that whenever we have concerns in our district, you're always so quick to jump on it, to solve problems and having that problem solving mentality really sets you apart and I just so appreciate that.

So thank you. Supervisor Long?

I also would like to join in on that. It's just amazing what you can do and how quickly, I appreciate the preparedness and really looking at our locations and seeing where we need to do better and how do we clean things up so that we can be more prepared for the next storm, the next fire, There's always going to be a next time. I just don't know what it is, and I don't want to jinx it because you know here we are today with the Sandy fire and I just want to say thank you because our constituents might not understand what city jurisdiction is or county or state and they just need help They need something cleaned up. They need something cleared, we need water. There are so many things that our departments are doing for public works. I geeked out and just heard something about how welders were going to be lacking welders.

We're going to be lacking people that can do the engineering and to really highlight today what important work that our community, our people do that have those skill sets is really important And so I just wanted to say thank you very much and hopefully the little ones out there want to like dig in the dirt and play with water, and who knows who you'll become.

But thank you to the teachers for being here as well and thank you.

Yeah. Supervisor, Supervisor Harmon

just just quickly I just wanted to touch base on the fact that you're always there in the middle of the night when you needed sometimes feel like your department's taken for granted by the community because our water still runs our sewers still flow but you're going to hear from it if they don't so we don't really get a lot of calls regarding issues there And the fact that you were up all night working relative to the Sandy Fire, your whole team is much appreciated. So thank you. Thank you to your department and I'm glad I only have two miles of roadway in my district.

Well with that we'd like to take a photograph would you like us to put on our vests and our hard hats? All right yeah okay I'm excited we're gonna do it Thank you. You know, I think we can get started. The other two are going to come out and just hear in a minute but we are going to go to agenda item number eight general public comments. Madam Clerk, are there any general public comments on items not on the agenda?

Thank you Chair Guerra. We currently have four speakers for this item and just as a reminder to members of the public who wish to address the board today with live public comment on any agenda item please visit VenturaCounty.gov forward slash BOS comment for participation information and instructions For in-person public comment, please check in with the 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 an 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 our first speaker today is going to be Nina Gluskiter followed by Winona Virgie Krantzoff and Stephen Blair.

Nina proceed to the podium and you'll have three minutes to give your comment.

Good morning, supervisors. My name is Nina Glaskoter and I'm here today about Bruce in the Ventura County Animal Shelter Services dangerous dog procedures. Bruce remains at risk temporary court protection has only paused the emergency has not resolved it. The county and the city have also agreed to request additional time from the court this creates a narrow window for transparency accountability and careful review I understand that the board may be limited in what they can discuss today because Bruce is not on the agenda. I am not asking the board to try Bruce's case, I'm asking that at least one supervisor request a staff report from VCAS and County Council The report should answer a basic question. What process does Ventura County use before it seeks the most extreme and irreversible outcome available, the destruction of a dog?

The public deserves to know whether VCAS has written standards for that decision. Does VCAS require independent behavioral assessment before seeking destruction? Does it evaluate whether a dog could become adoptable, manageable or safely placed with reasonable effort? Does it consider conditions short of death? such as rescue transfer, professional handling, containment training or restrictions? Does it evaluate the dog's full history including conduct before the incidents after the incidents in veterinary handling in shelter custody and with staff for volunteers.

Why is the document being rejected? These are public safety questions. A serious public safety process should not only rely on labels, it should examine the full facts, the content of the incidents, the dog's actual behavior, expert advice, management failures and available safeguards Bruce's case raises such serious questions about what happened. So, my request is narrow and appropriate. Please ask VCAS and County Council for a staff report explaining the standards used before VCAS seeks destruction of a dog including whether independent behavioral assessment is required, whether treatability or adoptability with reasonable effort evaluated and whether alternative short or death are considered and documented.