Board of Supervisors — September 1, 2026

I saw Supervisor Long. Supervisor Long, so we're gonna start here. I'm gonna call to order this meeting of the Board of Supervisors for Ventura County on September 1st and Madam Clerk please call the roll.

Thank you and I'm going to correct fellow scout who is also known as her bestie is how she's referring it to us so well thank you Chair Gorrell uh you've kind of given all of my bells and whistles I would like to say Dr. Savette love the scarf thank you for representing Girl Scouts well and Dr. Savette also sits on our Board of Directors so very happy that we're a partner I think we have a video so I'd like to if we could turn to the video before I continue. Sure, we can do that right now.

Hi, I'm Dr. Tammy Helmuth CEO for Girl Scouts of California Central Coast. Girl Scouts California Central Coast serves six counties in California. We start at Ventura Santa Barbara San Luis Obispo Monterey Santa Cruz and San Benito And since 1913, Girl Scouts of the United States has been tracking girls who have earned this life-saving award. And as of this year there are less than 300 girls that have earned the Medal of Honor recognizing young girls who have saved lives.

On January 3rd of 2026, our Thousand Oaks Service Unit was holding a camporee at our sister Girl Scout Council Camp Lakota. One of our Girl Scouts named Gemma Kleinswick saved the life of her best friend during this camporee. Girl Scouts of the United States is awarding Gemma the National Medal of Honor and this is her story.

Hello, my name is Michelle Kennetts and I am the Director of Mission Delivery here at Girl Scouts of California Central Coast. Here's what happened. Gemma and her friend were at camp when her friend began choking on a marshmallow and could not breathe. Gemma didn't wait for an adult she stepped in delivered back blows cleared the obstruction and then she stayed with her friend and kept her calm until she had fully recovered.

Now, let's hear from Jemma herself.

My name is Jemma and this is what happened I was camping with my Girl Scout troop on a Girl Scout camping trip in Camp Lakota and it was movie night and we were watching the movie A League of Our Own. We were drinking hot chocolate and eating popcorn when my friend started choking while she was drinking hot chocolate. I knew it must have been choking on a marshmallow so I started to hit her back I knew what to do because I live with a nurse in my house and sometimes when we all sit at the dinner table he tells us stories about his job. So, I knew I just had to help my bestie because it was kind of like instinct that I wanted to save her.

I kept hitting her on the back like four or five times, and I knew she was okay when she started reaching for water. I stayed with her to comfort her until she got up and went to the nurse. When she came back we finished watching the movie A League of Their Own which is a great movie.

I'm Rachel, Gemma's mom and I could not be more proud of my daughter. Through Girl Scouts she's learned new skills, she's become more independent and her confidence has grown so much. She's even a multi-year cookie super seller! At camp when i found out that she had saved her friend I was so proud but not surprised. Her confidence has led to her being able to take action without second guessing herself Seeing Gemma take action, I'm so proud of her and the woman she's becoming. Girls are capable of so much and seeing Gemma perform the way she did, I know she is a true example of what Girl Scouts can do.

Gemma, Girl Scouts of California's Central Coast. I'm going to speak from the Board of Directors we want to thank you. Thank you for being a girl of courage confidence and character who not only makes the world a better place but actually saves lives. You represent the best of what we do so thank you again Now granted, less than 300 girls have received this since the incorporation of Girl Scouts. And this year only 12 girls across the nation of 1.8 million Girl Scouts received us and I believe it's our council's first time in our history that we're awarding this and it is not so simple saving the life of somebody is difficult getting through the bureaucracy of getting this award is So I want to recognize Michelle Kennan's one of my staff who actually helped her get recognized and I would love Jeff if you can Dr.

Savette knowing my passion for your love, if you could help present this to her.

I'd like to invite the board to come down with Dr. Johnson and take a photograph and present the award with you, if we could do that. We don't typically come down for moments of inspiration but this one is uniquely inspiring so we're very excited. And I see that the fire chief is in the back of the room he's already getting the paperwork out to sign you up Gemma as a paramedic firefighter. So we're gonna come down and take a picture and everyone can join us in another round of applause for Gemma.

And thank you for making time of your amazing calendar. Knowing Gemma is one of our top cookie sellers for multiple years.

That was fun. Thank you, good to see you. Agenda item number five is our agenda review but first I'd like to ask if any of the board members have any Levine Act disclosures?

No.

Okay not hearing any and I have none. I'll turn this over to Dr. Johnson for some agenda review.

Thank you Mr. Chair, good morning Supervisors, staff and all in attendance today. The agenda review for today September 1st 2026 is as follows item 8 general public comments six public comment letters have been submitted. Item 28 supervisor Lopez presentation proclaiming September 15th 2026 through October 15th 2026 as Latino Heritage Month in Ventura County a PowerPoint presentation has been submitted Item 29, Supervisor Long. Presentation proclaiming September 2026 as Hunger Action Month in Ventura County. A PowerPoint presentation has been submitted. Item 30, Sheriff's Office. Authorization to execute a contract for a drone as a first responder system and related maintenance software data storage and equipment with Axon Enterprise Incorporated.

A PowerPoint presentation and two public comment letters have been submitted. And finally item 44, Public Works Agency Waterworks District. Receive and file report an emergency contract entered into by the public works agency director with Toro Enterprises Incorporated for the Peach Hill Wash Access Road to prevent the collapse of a 12-inch sewer main buried under this access road. A revised agenda has been posted to add this item to the

agenda. Thank you Mr. Johnson.

Good morning. Thank you all for your patience while we wait for the live feed to get back on in the technical difficulties. This is a change in law that recently went into effect, so congratulations. We're all being tested on it. While the live feed is not operating, we have to stop the open meeting. However, the state law does allow us to go into closed session to talk about the closed session items. So we will be doing that while staff tries to get the meeting back up and running. So we will go into closed session as indicated on the agenda For agenda items, sorry.

It is agenda items 38 through 42. There will be no announcements out of the closed session but I just want to thank you all for your patience while we continue to work on the technical challenges. Thank you.

Testing one two testing. Yeah we're good we're good OK. Testing Zoom audio feed testing 1 2. Testing zoom audio testing zoom audio. Oh, Testing 1, 2. Testing 1 ,2.

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2, 3.

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Buzzard Buzzard Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Second clerk mic check, second clerk mic check.

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Testing 123.

Good morning to our remote participants. I'd like to make an announcement, it appears as though we have reconnected with our zoom participants and are able to proceed with the meeting remotely with a remote participant at the board is currently in closed session so when the board does return from closed session then we'll reconvene our meeting in open session thank you

Testing one, two. So testing one, two.

Testing 1, 2, 3.

Thank you.

All right ladies and gentlemen we're gonna give this another try I think we're doing great kudos to our IT team and our clerks for all the work they're doing appreciate that. There was some question about audio related to item number five but before we do that I'm going to turn over to County Council see if there's any announcements out of closed session.

Thank you chair and thank you everyone for your patience, there is no announcements out of closed session

Thank you very much. We're gonna go back to item number five because I understand that there might be some questions related to our audio Agenda item number five is agenda review and Levine Act disclosures Are there any members of the Board of Supervisors who have any Levine Act disclosures?

No,

and I do not have any myself so that is no and I'll turn it over to Dr. Johnson for agenda review item 5

Thank you Mr. Chair, agenda review for today September 1st 2026 is as follows item 8 general public comments 6 public comment letters have been submitted I am 28 supervisor Lopez presentation proclaiming September 15th 2026 through October 15th 2026 as Latina Heritage Month in Ventura County A PowerPoint presentation has been submitted. Item 29, Supervisor Long. Presentation proclaiming September 2026 as Hunger Action Month in Ventura County. A PowerPoint presentation has been submitted. Item 30, Sheriff's Office. Authorization to execute a contract for a drone as the first responder system and relate maintenance software data storage and equipment with Axon Enterprise Incorporated. A PowerPoint presentation and two public comment letters have been submitted.

And finally item 44 public works agency waterworks district receiving file report an emergency contract entered into by the Public Works Agency director with Toro Enterprises Incorporated for the Peach Hill watch access road to prevent the collapse of a 12 inch sewer main buried under this access road. A revised agenda has been posted to add this item to the agenda and a board letter in exhibits one, two, and three have been submitted. Thank you Mr. Chair that concludes agenda review.

Thank You Dr. Johnson I'd like to ask the clerk to read the vote into the record for agenda item number five

Thank you, Chair Garrell. During the disruption item number five was previously moved to approve as stated by Supervisor Lopez seconded by Supervisor Veer and that passed unanimously. Thank you.

Great thank you we were handling agenda item number six which is a consent where were we on public comment with that Madam Clerk?

Thank you Chair Gorrell. So we were in item number 15, we had heard from one speaker Kent Bullard who addressed the board in person our other speaker was Wayne Morgan who was participating via Zoom when we lost our connection. Kathy Morgan is here to speak on behalf of Wayne Morgan who unfortunately had a meeting to attend and so Kathy Morgan if you please like to proceed to the podium?

Thank you. These comments are from Wayne Morgan and they state, my comments are in regard to item number 15 which is to give authorization to participate in SCE's charge ready transport program for electric vehicle chargers. This program will provide 57 chargers at a very low cost to the county saving from three to five million dollars if the county did it on their own. This helps to address the challenges of some unfunded mandates I would urge the board to approve and take advantage of this opportunity in front of project. Thank you.

Item number 6, motion to approve consent items 9 through 27 and 44. Motion to approve has been submitted by Supervisor Veer seconded by Supervisor Parvin and that passes unanimously thank you.

Thank You item number 7 that's the minutes of the previous meetings there any questions by the board I'd invite a motion

Yes, thank you Chair. This morning I am very excited to bring forward a proclamation designating Latino Heritage Month in Ventura County from September 15th through October 15th. This is an opportunity to celebrate the unity history and diverse cultures of the Latino community Ventura County is home to approximately 44% of residents that include residents originating from Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean who are making significant contributions to the cultural and social fabric and economic vitality of the county.

In 2025, the US Latino GDP reached 4.4 trillion and of that 1.3 trillion was contributed by Latinas. So with that today I would like to highlight the work of the LULAC Council number 3147 The Women's Committee A group of Latinas who are empowering others, developing grassroots leaders and fostering a strong network of professional support throughout Oxnard in the greater Ventura County community. So with that I would like to invite the chair of the Women's Committee Alisa Miralez for a presentation.

Good morning Supervisor Lopez and members of the board. On behalf of Oxnard-Lulac 3147 Women's Committee, thank you for this recognition and this proclamation in thinking of our committee for Latino Heritage Month. So Latino Heritage Month is an important opportunity to celebrate our history and our culture and the contributions and leadership of Latinos throughout Ventura County.

We're very proud to be part of a community with such a rich Latino history It's an honor to be here representing LULAC and the amazing women in our community. Our Women's Committee has been serving our community for about a year now, and we're continuing to grow our committee, strengthen our mission, and expand the work that we do. And we wanted to just take a couple of minutes to share more about who we are and some of the work that we're doing in Ventura County.

So our Women's Committee is part of Oxnard-Lulac Council 3147 and the Ventura County Lulac Foundation. At the heart of what we're trying to do is uplift women, inspire leaders and strengthen our community. We are a group of women with different backgrounds and experiences and what brings us together as a shared commitment of service leadership and creating opportunities for others As our committee continues to grow, we've been intentional about defining what we want our work and impact to look like. So that brings us to areas that guide our work.

And I'm going to introduce Carol who's one of our co-chairs.

I think we did help with the next slide.

Okay, thank you. Go ahead.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen our work centers around five areas recognition leadership education culture and community we want to recognize women for the work that they're already doing create opportunities for women to lead and grow celebrate our culture and heritage and build meaningful connections throughout the community A really important part of our mission is investing in our young adults. We want the next generation to have opportunities to learn and connect, develop leaders and see themselves represented in spaces of leadership. We believe investing in women and youth today helps build stronger leaders and recognize a stronger community for tomorrow.

One of the biggest I'm sorry one of the most meaningful ways we've brought our mission alive is exactly through us through Viva La Mujer

Thank you.

Last year we launched our first Viva La Mujer women's empowerment brunch. We wanted it to be more than just an event, we created a space for women to come together build connections celebrate one another be recognized for their leadership and service recognition is especially important to us there are so many women in our community who lead with compassion and strength serve others and make a difference every day often do work behind the scenes without recognition Viva La Mujer gives us an opportunity to celebrate and uplift those women.

It also brings different generations together, from established community leaders to students and emerging leaders. After seeing the impact of our first event we knew we wanted to continue building on it

We're excited, thank you for the slide. We're excited to host our second annual Viva La Mujer that will take place on Sunday October 4th from 11 to 3. This year we'll bring together approximately 200 community members women students professionals community leaders and families. Our focus this year can really be captured in three words honor connect and invest.

We're proud to create opportunities for local students and young women to participate Ultimately, we want Viva La Mujer to create relationships and opportunities that continue beyond the event itself. Celebrating today's learners and inspiring the next generation. Thank you.

And again, we're just really grateful to Supervisor Lopez and the Board of Supervisors for this recognition. And as we continue to grow it means a lot to be recognized throughout the county and we're really proud to represent Oxnard Council 3147 in the Ventura County LULAC Foundation so and also thank you for recognizing Latino History Month. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair. And with that, I agree the last year's Viva La Mujer was a very, very energetic event, very empowering and it was a great gathering. I'm sure this year will just go beyond last year's event so that we do have a proclamation but Supervisor Parvin

Thank you. I just wanted to bring attention to the Hispanic Heritage Festival that will be at the Cultural Arts Center in Simi Valley on September 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. It's a great event, it's their third year doing it and you're welcome to come to that event as well so thank you.

All right and with that we can step down for a picture thank you

All right, moving right along. We're going to take item number 29 that's a presentation by Supervisor Long.

Thank you very much chair today I'm pleased to welcome Monica White from FoodShare Ventura County who is here to accept our proclamation recognizing some summer September as hungry hunger action month in Ventura County. As many of you know food insecurity affects and Estimated one in four people in Ventura County. I can't say that much, one in four people and FoodShare is on the front lines to address these needs and with the help of 4,500 volunteers and a network of 200 community partners, FoodShare distributes over 23 million pounds of food each year. Nearly 19 million meals to families, seniors, farm workers, individuals experiencing homelessness and other needs. I know it's in your presentation but we can't say that enough.

of how much our community needs our food banks and food share. And we are grateful to Monica, I just want to take a moment in your entire FoodShare team for your commitment to making sure that no one in Ventura County goes hungry. And Monica, I just want to say thank you for being here and I'd like to invite you for a few words. Also we have IT stuff going on but we do have a presentation if we can pull that up and as you're here I just also want to recognize the other members of your staff here today Jennifer Caldwell Chief Development Officer Christy Pollard And Chief Strategy Officer Brian Fisher, Chief Operation Officer. And I believe Drew West is here too? No he wasn't able to make it but it's a team that makes us so successful and also I just want to congratulate you on the commitment and just your team of nine million dollars from Trade Desk for your building, that's huge.

That's just another commitment to our businesses knowing how valuable this is for our community so please go ahead I think it works it might have need a clicker I'm not sure. Well thank

you so much Supervisor Long and good morning supervisors Chair Gorrell and Dr. Johnson my pleasure to be here once again as we kick off Hunger Action Month. I have my orange shoes on for the color of hunger awareness But today we're just going to talk a little bit about the state of hunger in Ventura County and Chair Long you did, sorry Supervisor Long you did cover a lot of those stats. I'm going to show you pictures to back those up. So this is a great picture. This is how we started back in 1978 following tractors in our local ag fields to be able to collect as much produce as possible.

You can see there they are literally running in front of the tractors saying hurry up pick up that food. The first year we collected 34,000 pounds of food today we do that in about three hours So things have really changed. Jewel Petty, who is our founder who just passed away up until the very end was still calling us and making sure are you still feeding people Monica? Yes Jewel we're still feeding people so we have in our logo our heart is actually called our jewel in her honor.

But a little bit about how FoodShare works. We collect food, source food, purchase food, rescue food from a variety of different sources in addition to going to retail stores every day we are also receiving government commodities through the Farm Bill through USDA to be able to feed our hungry neighbors Those all come into the food bank of Ventura County which is FoodShare and goes out through those 200 non-profit partners who get food from us at no cost. We do not charge a penny, we don't charge for delivery anything it's our job Jen's job to be able to help raise that money to be able to continue to feed our neighbors Here are some stats. So last year is as a supervisor long mentioned two hundred and fifty four thousand individuals that's an unduplicated number we know our numbers are unduplicated because all of our pantry partners are on the same system it's called pantry track so when somebody does come to one of our pantries We only ask their name, we ask their zip code and how many people are in their household so we know how much food to give them.

And as you can see we had a huge spike during COVID and we really thought that maybe we might go back down to pre-COVID levels but as you can see we're leveling off at about that 254,000. One of the key stats on this one, talking about again our volunteers 4300 volunteers donated 47000 hours of service last year. We only have a staff of 40 so you can imagine how important all of those 4000 plus volunteers are on an annual basis and also the retail value of all of that food that we distribute that 23 million pounds of food. If we went to Vons and we said load up our pickup, we need all of this food they'd hand us a bill of 67 million dollars. Our annual budget is only 10 million dollars so as you can imagine that donated food is incredibly important to to our mission and to our neighbors.

Here are some of our local did I go off? No Here are some of our larger pantry partners that are throughout Ventura County. As part of Feeding America, we have the territory of feeding of Ventura County but we work very closely with our fellow food banks in California and also throughout the United States but these are the partners who are feeding our neighbors today.

We have an app that allows everybody to be able to find food now. If you go on there, it's a geotechnical thing that's beyond my capability but you can find food or a pantry that is open within five miles of you 10 miles of you 15 miles of you we have found this is incredibly important for our neighbors but also for people who want to help their neighbors instead of saying hey call FoodShare you can find food through them. You could actually pull up this app and you can find a pantry that is open right now or nearer to them.

So here are some pictures of our hunger relief in action this is our drive-thru distribution that we started April 1st 2020 it's been over six years we still continue this weekly distribution of serving 1000 cars it's 5500 individuals, it takes 70 volunteers to in order to be able to run this but they're getting fresh new nutritious food and they line up for hours before it even starts Our kitchen-free bags. So these are for our unhoused neighbors and everything in there does not require a kitchen, it's pop top. There's even utensils in there doesn't require refrigerator or a stove so we have found these are very helpful to our pantry partners who pick them up for them to be able to give to them and not having a big huge box which if they're on their bike they can't take all of it.

We have found these to be incredibly useful And then also our farm workers. So as you know, there are about 45,000 farm workers in Ventura County. We have specific programs through our purchase product that we're buying exactly what our farm workers are asking us for Fideo hominy rice beans masa oil all of those things that we may not get through our government programs but we know they're important for our neighbors so we are spending some of that two and a half million dollars of purchased food to be able to provide to our farm workers and we're going directly to the fields to be able to give to them. You can see there, there's also feminine hygiene products that we've been able to do and in addition we are now providing diapers through a state diaper program that were able to do millions of pounds billions of pounds millions of diapers and also working with Ventura County Medical Center they are distributing some of those diapers as well This is our senior program.

This is another government program, 3500 of our seniors are receiving this incredible box. Our volunteers love helping pack these so it's seniors feeding seniors. It's beautiful and this is our kids program where they get a recipe. They get to make the meal. They get to taste the meal. They bring home the items that they just made along with Recipe to be able to show their parents what they learned on what a healthy meal looks like. And we have been so fortunate that a donor just gave us a very gracious grant to be able to fund this for the next five years. So while it's been a year-to-year program, this will be continuing on well into the future.

So the need still continues. As you saw in that original graph, our numbers still continue to climb. So how is FoodShare going to meet the future of food insecurity? We need a bigger boat so we need a bigger building. We have outgrown our current facility so we are building a brand new food bank as you all know and the County of Ventura has been so lovely and generous and prevent providing some of the funds for it for this new food bank 12 acres. It's located in Oxnard and we are this close to be able to actually start moving dirt. We have our ceremonial groundbreaking to be able on September 11th at 3 p.m.. You are all invited to be able to help come shovel some dirt with some big spoons. It'll be really fun But this is a rendering of our new building.

It's gonna be 85,000 square feet three times the amount of storage space that we have today to allow us to be able to accept more food. The cost of this project is $50 million. We have raised to date, this is actually even outdated, we've raised $46 million to date. The 3 million from the County of Ventura that was allocated to us is part of that 45 million so thank you so much for your support. You really helped one of those boosters to be able to really get us going.

In order to raise that last four and a half million dollars, we are doing a paver program. So all of those pavers you see in the front entrance there we are offering to the community if they would like to purchase one they can buy a small medium or large one at starting at twenty five hundred dollars to seventy five hundred dollars to be able to Be part of the foundation of our future and forever home. And thank you so much to the County of Ventura, as you can see there is your paver that will be included as part of this and thank you too I don't know if it's Dr Johnson or your team that helped to come up with what was going to be on there but we love what you picked and that is actually what it's going to look like So thank you so much for your support.

Thank you for allowing us to be able to share more about what's happening in Ventura County and we can't do this alone, but we love our community because everyone steps up to help. So thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Monica. Always a pleasure to have you here and it's just fabulous. So does anyone have any comments on this item?

I just wanted to share it was nice being at the Ventura County Fair on Food Share Day and I ran into Miss White but there was all these people at the front. A lot of them were high school students and others showing up with cans and other non-perishables to get free turning those into food share and then getting free tickets to the fair. It was neat to see so many people showing up and supporting And it was

Junior Livestock Auction Day and everyone was buying animals. Jen, how many animals did we get? 83 animals were purchased specifically for food share. I think we even got four steer this year so banner year at the fair.

Unless you're an animal.

Yeah, but you could tell there was a lot going on for you because you'd walk by going that way with the big smile during the auction and then she go by that way. You both were doing that

back and forth. It was a great day for food share for the community. We're gonna come down to thank you.

Yes we

are. Please

join me.

So ladies and gentlemen, my intention is to take one more item before we get to the general public comments. General public comments are agenda item number eight but we're going to take out of order item 30 and invite up to the podium Mr. Tennyson and any other members presenting today. Good

morning Chair Gorel, Supervisors, Dr. Johnson, staff and those in attendance today for the record my name is Eric Tennyson I'm a commander with the Sheriff's Office and I oversee police services in the City of Camarillo and in that capacity I am Camarillo's Police Chief also here with me today is Commander Jeremy Paris who oversees delivery of police services for the city of Thousand Oaks and he is their Police Chief The item for your consideration is the approval of an agreement between the county and Axon for a drone as first responder program or DFR in the addition of two deputy sheriffs to be used as DFR pilots.

DFR is an automated public safety solution that allows a remote pilot to deploy aircraft directly from a docking station to emergency incidents, providing our responding personnel with immediate aerial situational awareness before our patrol deputies even arrive on scene. DFR consists of a network of drones or what we call unmanned aerial systems that are stored in weatherproof enclosed docks strategically placed in pairs throughout the city to maximize coverage.

As I mentioned, the unmanned aerial systems are piloted by a remote FAA certified deputy sheriff who will be stationed in our dispatch center. The UAS that we are looking at is made by Skydio and it weighs about six pounds and contains a parachute for added safety. It starts up and launches in under 40 seconds and can fly up to 45 miles an hour with a range of seven and a half miles.

The battery can recharge to 95 percent within about 35 minutes Through Skydio's partnership with Axon, there are a number of direct integrations with our existing systems. The DFR program can be managed through Axon allowing us to view flight logs, capture data and statistics on the flight. There is also a direct media integration with Evidence.com which is where the Sheriff's Office has been securely storing digital evidence for over a decade This means unlimited digital evidentiary media from the aircraft can be captured, categorized, stored and searched within Evidence.com and we can share that evidence with the District Attorney's Office for criminal proceedings.

Finally, Skydio is capable of integrating with other Axon Digital Media products like our body-worn cameras, our in-car video systems allowing us to view all of the media in one location As an agency, we've utilized unmanned aerial systems for nearly 15 years through our patrol-led Unmanned Aerial Systems Team. The term patrol-led is the most important distinction between what we currently have and the gap that we're trying to bridge with a DFR program.

Our UAS team is frequently called to assist in suspect searches and apprehensions, missing person searches, building searches, to assist in traffic collision documentation or to assist in managing natural disasters. The team is a collateral team consisting of about 36 members. This means each pilot has a regular assignment somewhere else in our agency and their response to a call comes from wherever they are stationed in their regular assignment.

In 2025 alone, our UAS team flew 687 missions. The most prevalent mission occurred when our patrol personnel from one of our five contract cities or the unincorporated area of the county request assistance on suspect searches or building searches. A certified pilot responds to the scene and finds any deputy on scene who can act as an observer. The pilot flies a mission, and the observer communicates information from the pilot to the other deputies on scene.

While the patrol-led UAS unit provides a significant benefit to our operation, there are drawbacks to the operation as designed. First it can take a significant amount of time for a pilot to respond from their primary assignment to the scene of the call for service In many calls, time is of the essence and those delays make for a less effective response. Second, the requirements of an observer results in two deputy sheriffs being tied up to operate the UAS instead of being available to assist with the ongoing operation.

As I mentioned, the DFR program eliminates those issues and closes that gap. With a deputy sheriff pilot operating out of our dispatch center they can monitor calls as they come in and immediately dispatch the UAS to those calls for service With the UAS now pre-positioned in a dock strategically placed in Thousand Oaks or Camarillo, the UAS can be on scene providing relevant information to our responding patrol deputies very quickly.

Without the need for two deputy sheriffs in the field acting as a pilot and observer our teams can more effectively manage the unfolding incidents. With the description I just provided about how the DFR program works it quickly becomes apparent how this program will benefit public safety Routinely, agencies from around the country are seeing UAS on scene in under two minutes.

For context, the response time in Camarillo for high priority calls in 2025 was 6.76 minutes and in 4000 Oaks was 7.9 minutes. Having a deputy sheriff pilot on scene within two minutes or less through the DFR will provide responding deputies with about five minutes of real-time situational awareness before they even arrive on scene. This will result in formulating better response plans, improving suspect identification and apprehension, improving officer and citizen safety, and more effective and efficient use of our resources among many other things.

All of these will enhance the level of public safety being delivered to Camarillo and Thousand Oaks. So the first thing I'd like to point out is that this will cost the County of Ventura absolutely nothing. The cost of this program is completely covered by the City of Camarillo and the City of Thousand Oaks. The DFR program with Axon will run through October 31, 2034. It was designed for this length to coincide with our existing contract with Axon for body-worn cameras, tasers and in car video systems.

Extending the contract from the standard three or five years out to eight years provides the cities with static costs and also locks in the cost for them, potentially saving the cities in the long run. The total contract cost with Axon will be just over 6.9 million dollars through the life of the contract. The cost will be divided between Thousand Oaks and Camarillo on a 60 percent 40 percent cost share based on the number of calls for service the DFR program is expected to respond to in each of the cities In addition to the contract with Axon, the program will require the addition of two deputy sheriffs who will act as the program's pilots.

At this year's contract rate, the total cost of the two additional deputies is $635,850 annually. Similar to the cost of the DFR contract with Axon, the deputy sheriff pilots will be covered 60% by Thousand Oaks and 40% by Camarillo. The Camarillo City Council approved their 40% portion of the total program costs on June 23rd, 2026. And the city of Thousand Oaks approved their 60% portion of the total cost on August 25th of 2026 Before I end the presentation, I think it is very important that this board and the public understand not only what DFR does but what it doesn't do especially from a privacy perspective.