 Morning everybody, I'd like to call to order the May 9th meeting of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Madam clerk We're gonna begin with a roll call, please certainly supervisor Cummings Yeah Hernandez President McPherson your friend here Tony gets absent. Thank you If we could begin with a moment of silence, is there any board of Supervisor? I remember the board supervisors like to dedicate this morning's moment of silence All right, if we could just begin with a moment of silence, please Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands for my nation under God and invisible with liberty and justice for all Good morning, Mr. Plasio, are there any changes to today's agenda? There are no changes to the agenda Are there any board members I'd like to remove an item from consent to the regular agenda before we open it up To buzzer Cummings I'd like to remove item number 24. All right, there's a request to remove item 24 item 24 will become item 15.1 any other items to remove All right, see none will now open it up to the community right before we do that I'd like to turn over to Supervisor McPherson I'd like to open it up for public comment and then the opportunity will be for public comment This is for an opportunity for members to address those items that are not on today's agenda But within the purview of the board of supervisors or any item on consent or in the regular agenda if you're unable To stay or if it can feel free to start lining up, but I'd like to turn it over to Supervisor McPherson Really some happy news After years of discussion the Santa Margarita groundwater agencies sustainability plan has been given approval by the state State Department of Water Resources and This has been a long years long process Among five agencies mid-county had its approved as was expected earlier in the schedule at last year But this was a tremendous effort a cooperative effort between the county The San Lorenzo Valley Water District The city of Santa Cruz city of scott's valley and the well owners it it was Hours long meetings time and time again, but we have to get it right Santa Cruz county having no We don't receive any federal or state water So it's critically important that we protect our groundwater resources And I think there's going to be some people that comment on that I just want to thank those who participated in that effort. It was a long and some would say arduous Campaign to get this far, but we're Well on track and it's really welcome news that we had this sustainability plan In place and we're going to move onward and upward and forward From now on so it's it's great. I want to thank all the participants It was really a really a nice cooperative effort and we have a lot of work to do still but We'll keep with it. Thank you Supervisor McPherson. Are there members of the community that would like to address us? Please feel free to Step forward Okay Good morning. Welcome. Good morning. My name is Jennifer Herrera I am one of the assistant directors for the county health services agency And I just want to thank chair friend and board for proclaiming uh, May 6th through to 12th as national nurses We can Santa Cruz county I also want to do a special shout out to all the county nurses as in our health services and human services department This is my third year actually Being having the opportunity to I thank the board for nurses week And this is my first year actually having the experience of being a patient myself in Santa Cruz county Giving birth to my first child over at dominican hospital the nursing care I received there was excellent and I just I'm extremely grateful for the care the empathy And the the competent practice that I received over at dominican as a patient I'm also delighted to be here with fellow nurses behind me and we will take turns reading the proclamation That was signed by the board So proclaiming national nurses week whereas the american nurse association 2023 theme of nurses make a difference Could not be a truer once again for Santa Cruz county Santa Cruz county nurses more than ever are vital to the well-being of our communities as we recover and continue to respond to the multifaceted threats to health and Good morning. My name is jennifer holman. I'm here in my capacity as the director of the cabrio college nursing program And whereas for the 21st year in a row according to the gallup poll Nurses are ranked number one as the most trusted professionals And the nursing workforce is the largest among all the health care professions And is nearly four times the size of the physician workforce And whereas nurses practice in a wide variety of care delivery settings And they provide care to people living in both urban and rural areas and to vulnerable populations Including women people of color individuals facing health racial and social inequities low-income individuals and individual with disabilities and Good morning america. Right. I am the chief nursing officer at dominican hospital Whereas the needs of santa cruz county Change post covet 19 nurses responding to training and education The workforce and future nurses to protect promote and preserve health and nursing Is evolving to care for its community roles such as care coordinator faculty team leader Informatics specialists community nurses primary care partners and whereas nurses are uniquely trained to address some of the greatest threats to community family and individual health Which include improving access to primary health care the effectiveness of primary care delivery Systems improving material maternal health outcomes and delivery of maternal health care Including the care provided to the nation's aging populations particularly frail adults And controlling health care spending reducing costs and increasing the value of nurses contributions to improving health and health care delivery and Nurses from across the santa cruz county continue to respond to natural disasters and emergencies that are increasingly driven by climate change nursing practice care They care for the heart mind soul and body of patients their families and communities The appreciation for our nurses during this time simply cannot be overstated Thank you to the leadership team that from all Entities of santa cruz county that came today to support us in this effort to recognize the nurses during nurses week and i'd like to Send my thank you as well to allow us to be here to proclaim Nurses week and the efforts that we do to provide Care in our community. I'm also a nurse at dominican hospital and I teach at cabrio as well and my name is april Dr. Whitley also while joining us Thank you I'm greg whitley and the chief medical officer at dominican I don't have a statement But I just like to thank all nurses at our hospital and all across the community Because health care doesn't happen without nurses Thanks for the time. Well, thank all of you. My mom is a nurse special place in my heart. I appreciate the work that all of you Uh to believe me. I know the long hours the tough shifts. I know there's a major nursing shortage Not just here, but across the country. You're doing very very important work. So thank you all you deserve it Good morning. Welcome. Good morning board of supervisors. My name is ronda rena I have been maliciously prosecuted for prompt trying to Help and protect my daughter who was Family court kidnapped under color of law in violation of federal laws 18 usc 241 and 242 I've been maltreated by multiple law enforcement agencies including the santa cruz county sheriff's department I'm really glad to see sheriff jim heart in the audience here and the santa cruz police department I did a public records request for the o's of office of every deputy because my civil rights were violated Well, I was wrongfully put in the Uh county jail. I was not given three phone calls in three hours. I was not able to make a phone call for 24 hours My glasses were taken away so I couldn't see anything and I couldn't call for help I had to use a bathroom a toilet in that everybody could see including men And I bravely had to pee in front of everyone which could be a very humiliating Experience to women and the other women in the cell with me were very ashamed and embarrassed and asked us to help conceal that That is against all policy. I wasn't given access to clean water I had to use the water spigot over the dirty toilet the smell of urine and in all these covid lockdowns that cell was never cleaned All the crappy food that we were given was left there. No one took the garbage out It was a horrible treatment and violation of my rights of an innocent woman and that was proven in court later I watched a woman dying of look like she was dying from heroin withdrawal I asked for the oaths of office and I got redacted forms, which to me is a violation of us Code 18 2071 in contrast I have the signed oaths of office certified by secretary weber of both rob bonta and judge rebecca connelly Every signature is on these documents In contrast to what sheriff jim hearts Agency gave me. I would like all these oaths of office signed. Thank you. Thank you morning chairman supervisors What the people saw earlier was one of the reasons why this Board of supervisors has cut the public time down to two records. Those are called designated speakers You should be doing that on a saturday on your own time to kiss each other's rear end I saw the chairman of the board kissing some of the speakers out here in the hallway. You can get that from right there The california state legislature had this lady before them under democratic control It was reported that the democratic state legislator Catherine fog testified she wanted to twist the long the communist party long before I did I was told I could not quit Quit and a picnic you delay see wiggle this finger at my nose and said Catherine fog We made you and will break you you have two monuments out there by the courthouse right now There is a supervisor here that threatened both the grains The people and the property and the sheriff over here has not and will not take a report just like the lady ahead There's something really wrong when you have the courthouse With a communist enforcer It turns out that The community foundation has a social action program named after Hugh DeLacy That was founded by Leon Panetta who gave both military and policy information to the red Chinese. He advocated the communist control both sides of the Panama Canal his co-chairman is Lenny Mandanka who advocates going into regions which you are going into that was my executive order by ronald regan In the state and by nixon In the white house you're pursuing that you should pull out of any regional agency Because they're designed like Lenny Mandoka wants to get rid of 80 percent of the counties and cities And so does lily brown wants to get rid of all of them Oh, thank you. Good morning. Welcome Good morning. I also have a little complaint against the city um on april 4th of this year I was attacked By knob in knob hill. I was violently attacked Stoked by this man. Okay, so he gets arrested. He's got three counts of felony assault three counts Serious bodily injury toward me. Okay He uh first he comes to court. He says, oh i'm deaf. I can't hear he's playing the system My position this morning is I don't want this man falling through the cracks So so the jail releases him with no bail three felony accounts and no bail Oh, he's got coveted. So he's sent to a nursing home Then I find that he's all then he's released to some nursing care somewhere All just let go with no bail I find this really really disgusting I don't feel that the county's doing their job. I wrote a letter to counties super the supervisors To to tim Hart whatever But anyway, I want somebody to help me not let this man fall through the cracks This is no excuse. I don't think this man should have ever been let out of jail with no bail And I would like someone to help me see that it doesn't fall through the cracks. Thank you Thank you. Good morning and welcome Good morning. Good morning chair and members of the board. I'm Sierra Ryan the county's water resources program manager I had the honor and the pleasure to work on behalf of the county during the creation of the Santa margarita groundwater agency And the recently approved groundwater sustainability plan since the process began in 2016 There are 29 000 people who live within the groundwater basin Many of which are domestic well owners and recipients from small water systems There's also critical habitat that supports threatened and endangered species that relies on the groundwater for survival The groundwater sustainability plan represents a robust resiliency planning document Which considers all uses and users of groundwater in the basin. It's a pillar of Future water management and advances county priorities for climate change adaptation And environmental stewardship over a 50 year planning horizon I want to thank supervisors McPherson and Koenig for their commitment to the Santa margarita groundwater agency And for their hard work as supervisor McPherson alluded to Through the development of the groundwater sustainability plan I also want to acknowledge the work of my predecessor John ricker Not only in the development of the groundwater sustainability plan But also in establishing the collaboration between the county and all of the partner agencies Long before the passage of the sustainable groundwater management act Well in many ways the approval of the plan by the state is really represents the beginning of our work Not the end. We have built a strong foundation for the future and I look forward to continuing to represent the values of this county With our colleagues from the partner agencies and with the community. Thank you Thank you. Thanks for your work Ms. Ryan. Good morning. Welcome Good morning My name is gale may hood and I'm here as a representative of the san lorenzo valley water district And as their representative on the santa margarita groundwater agency And like the previous speaker sierra I'm here to Laud the department of water resources recent approval of the groundwater sustainability plan And especially the fact that it came with minimal Comment or corrections that needed to be made and this is a welcome reward for more than five years of work by representatives from numerous agencies And interest groups in the county including supervisor McPherson and supervisor conic While the exception acceptance of the plan marks an early important milestone for santa margarita agency What actually impressed me most about this process was that in the process of developing the plan It we all developed a new awareness And we changed operations enough that together with the conservation efforts of the residents of the basin We've actually have a basin that's in better shape now Then it was at the beginning of this process even before we've begun to implement Some of the projects that are outlined in the plan The stunning effort epic excuse me the stunning effect of lowering the groundwater use Of san lorenzo valley When we were able to move water between different parts of our service area following the cz u fire Despite the destruction of surface water shows how important it is For us to be able to use our water efficiently and how important it will be and how affected it will be When both the city of santa cruz and san lorenzo valley is able to change their water rights petitions to move Water to the places it's needed To use our water most efficiently The city and san lorenzo valley are now working together to figure out how to best Convey san lorenzo valley's allocation of loch loman reservoir water And a newly funded pipeline between scott's valley and the city will open up the possibilities I'm optimistic for the future of our groundwater basin. Thank you. Thank you for coming today Good morning. Welcome back Good morning chair friend members of the board. Thank you very much for your time this morning Nate armstrong. I'm the chief of the cal fire san Mateo santa cruz unit. I want to spend the next minute and 50 seconds just chatting about For members of the public the kind of transitional confusing time of burn permits in santa cruz county Only because in santa cruz county Residential burning season is a little bit different than a lot of the state That residential burn season is from december 1st till april 30th And does not require a cal fire residential permit in santa cruz county and that's by local ordinance What it does require is a residential burn permit by the monoray bay air resources district And in concert with that m barred issues a little partner document that's cal fire safety regulations The only reason i'm addressing this now is as we moved out of that residential burn period on april 30th Cal fire did issue a press release advising that it is still possible for land owners and managers in santa cruz county To still burn but with a cal fire issued hazard reduction or agricultural permit Those permits can be applied for online at burn permit dot fire dot ca dot gov And the only difference between that and that m barred permit is our permit does require the property to be inspected by a cal fire official And we'll put very specific Language in that document not allowing the burners to burn above a certain degree of temperature wind or relative humidity We just want to afford every opportunity for land owners and managers in santa cruz county to reduce that hazardous fuel vegetation loading on their property But just to note that we will at some point have to issue a suspension of all of those burn permits as we move kind of deeper into the fire season And i thank you very much for your time this morning. Thank you chief Morning Yeah, good morning. My name is james ewing widman. I guess I couldn't sneak in to be first, but i'm so i'm speaking now You know, it's really quite amazing. Um, i'm addressing the board of supervisors in the county of santa cruz california united states um Some people are pleading for you gentlemen to do something, you know when this document right here describes in 1917 That city and county boards are controlled by their city and county managers that are not elected officials So you guys are just really reading scripts, you know, our friend put a book in my hand this morning It's called not exactly the cia. We were going over some stuff this morning And I thought this was really interesting as far as scripts. This was written in 1976 So slackly and the perfect terrorist plan it describes the world trade center Situation in 1976. Wow, isn't that just fascinating? So to listen to all these doctors and nurses this morning talk about the stuff that they're that they're talking about It's just truly scary how beguiling things really are Um, most people that live in the united states call themselves americans You know, there's over 900 million people that live on the north And southern american continents. We live in the united states. That's only uh, Well, it was 300 and 33 million So talking about the doctors and nurses a lot of people have been doing some research And it's my understanding and I can provide that information that there have been over 26 million people that live in the united states that i've had Adverse reactions to these vaccines You know, what are those things, you know nanotechnology biosynthetic bioweapon parasites You know, I've got this stuff. I printed up a bunch of stuff I'll say that in the city council you can speak for three minutes on many subjects including the consent agenda And why are you men are not allowing that? I don't know. Why are people wearing masks too in this room? It's really set in a bad example for children Thank you. Is there anybody else who'd like to address this from chambers? Madam clerk anybody online? Yes, sure Chuck your microphone is now available Yes, hello Great. Thank you. Hello. My name is chuck shillings. I live in the first district on the meeting agenda today sent out by the board There was a chart under sp9 explained and under sp9 What is allowed is is two primary dwellings and two additional units ADU is on a single family lot without explained without splitting My situation is I live in a large lot Approximately twice the size of lots around me and I have a small house in an adu and only 20 percent of my lot is covered And i'm not ready to develop or split yet I will one day but um what i'd like to do is add a 240 square foot tiny home And when combined the tiny home and the adu together Will will uh average combined the square footage will be less than what's allowed for an adu by itself But i'm not allowed to have an adu and a tiny home on the same lot under the current tiny home ordinance And really it doesn't make sense to me that I can have two primary dwellings and two adus but I can't have an adu And a tiny home when combined they they they are they're less than just a tiny home I'm in an adu by itself And especially in a situation where um my lot would only be 23 coverage covered and I would add um Parking and all of that so um we don't want to over build in our neighborhoods but there are situations like mine that have large lots and um and plenty of room Where a tiny home should be able to be added especially when they're less than the size of an adu and a tiny home together Um and so what I'd like to do is ask the board to take a look at that tiny home ordinance again and look to see um if there is Situations such as mine large lots and all of that where it does make sense to add a tiny home and an adu Especially when a under sp9 when you can add two homes And two adus so please take a look at that and maybe think about revising that to allow special situations like mine Where it makes sense. Thank you very much Thank you Colin user one your microphone is now available This is Marilyn Garrett and I'm horrified to hear the reports of the two women And the violent treatment by the sheriff's department I witnessed a friend of mine on a so-called wellness shag with six sheriff deputies brutal militarized like assault force injection Uh This should not be the behavior of the sheriff's department. It doesn't generate trust I'd like to address the 5g That is being installed upgraded on every utility pole antenna Etc And I'm reading from safe Tech international.org The 5g satellite internet of things data a i chug are not entails the manufacturing use and disposal of thousands of satellites in space millions of new Committers on the earth and trillions of iot gadgets devices appliances and things That together pose one of the greatest threats of all human Generated corporation health and environmental assaults They'll be sold to the public as a way to address climate change the gargantuan global technology Print is itself a major contributor to environmental devastation On top of this the 5g infrastructure on earth and in the space will escape and the inescapable Unescapable planetary microwave radiation surveillance grid Which will constitute a huge threat to personal freedom and autonomy. This needs to stop. Thank you miss garret We have no further speakers chair. Thank you. I'll bring it back to the board for extra on consent supervisor Hernandez do you have any comments on consent? Just on item 27 I want to thank you supervisor If your microphone, please Just on item 27 I'm going to thank and congratulate the appointment of my new arts commissioner ermenia reyes borges Onto the arts commission That's it. Thank you supervisor. Hernandez supervisor comings I think the supervisor McPherson. Yeah a couple items item number 25 the seismic hazards map. I want to thank Supervisor Koenig for bringing this item forward with my office We found that our fire recovery process that are double identifying and mitigating Hazards can pose a time consuming and expensive expensive barriers to rebuilding Having this countywide understanding of seismic hazards would be helpful in our efforts to address the housing needs here As mentioned in the board member And also on item number 43 the emergency repairs I can't mention enough And thank the public works department team to address the emergency repairs that we've had to address in fires atmospheric rivers you name it All this work including the bridge replacements Slip out repairs retaining wall repairs Take a lot of time and money And comes even as the staff is still completing work from the storm of six years ago that we still haven't caught up with that yet It's a tremendous amount of work and they've done a really great job with the funding that they have And I just want to say thank you to all those in the public works department and our especially our road repair group Um, we all get calls that the pothole in front of somebody's house needs to be filled and we get it We're trying to get it those things as quickly as possible And the most highly traveled routes is what's being addressed and especially for the road program that we've had in the county With what you have you've done a tremendous job, and I want to say thank you Thank you. Supervisor McPherson. I'll just briefly comment on item 52, which is a contract Uh for design services for the children's crisis center It's hard to overstate the need for this within our community Both the increase in beds and stabilization services for Youth locally. Uh, this is a very significant project for the county and a very needed project in our county And it's moving forward very quickly appreciation for both our health services department as well as Um our cio for the leadership on that project. I'll now ask if there's a motion for consent Second We have a motion from supervisor Hernandez and a second from supervisor McPherson if we could have a roll call, please Supervisor Cummings Hi Hernandez. Hi McPherson and friend. Hi And that passes unanimously with supervisor conig absent We'll move on to our first item of the regular agenda Which is item seven which is a public hearing to consider Accept and file the county's fiscal year 23 24 proposed budget and 23 25 operational plan to approve the fy 22 23 Realignment of appropriations for various general fund departments including 1.15 million for the January to march storm disaster cost to adopt resolutions accepting unanticipated revenue the amount of 1. 22390 million in the general fund and 344 381 in the library fund to continue the public The budget public hearing to may 30th and take related actions as outlined in the memo We have the memo the proposed budget including a series of Resolutions we have our budget manager marcus pimentel our assistant county administrative officer and nicole coburn Is this being kicked off by the cio or is it okay? I'll hand it over to mr. Pimentel. Welcome Thank you chair friend. I'll open it up and continue with a carlos's review and we'll conclude with nicole Finishing up on the operational plan. My name is marcus pimentel. I'm your county budget manager I'm pleased to start this year's budget hearings earlier than we've done in the past Where you will be considering as a board our 23 24 proposed budget that was released on april 27 2023 Just some of the information included in our proposed budget is the cio plosius's budget message Our economic and financial budgetary outlooks Information about county services and more importantly how our tax dollars are allocated across two other agencies throughout the county And a lot of information about our demographics a lot of information that leveraged to our partners with a to share Santa Cruz information about aging and Home construction trends as well as updates to our proposed 2023 25 operational plan and details A lot of details in our award-winning online budget on departmental changes Aftertaste budget hearings the hearings will continue For our two-day budget hearings on may 30 and 31st at those two days departments will present an overview of their budget changes and including detailed information within the budget hearing parrots agenda packets Our proposed budget will then be updated following the With the may 30 and 31st budget hearings with our supplemental budget materials. Those are typically things Coming out of the may revise budget that it's expected to be released this friday And other changes that might be delayed from our incredible 10 plus weeks of storm response and recovery And some of that is still ongoing so that's Just the intro, um, we will Move into what we plan to cover today's Cio plosius will go over highlighting elements of his budget message I'll provide an overview on our county's economic and financial outlook. I'll provide our The first preview of the proposed 23 24 budget again We have a lot of information online and available in other documents And we'll conclude with the proposed 23 25 operational plan I'll turn it over to co glossios to update us on The big objectives of our county Okay. Thank you so much chair friend and members of the board Um, I wanted to start off by giving you an overview of the Um economic context that we find ourselves because remember so much Of our budget is dependent on what's happening at the national level and the state level Um, our local economy certainly plays a role Uh, but we are really subject to what is happening at the national and state level and that Very much drives, uh, our own budget So the first thing to note is that we are currently entering a time of uncertainty of economic Recession more than likely Remember, we've been an expansion Um for more than a decade It was 2011 when we had the Great recession we've pretty much been uh in an expansionary period that whole time and so, uh We had a brief recession when covid started but that quickly was Was countered with a very significant and sharp rise in federal spending both Um at the federal reserve through their policies and also through fiscal policy Of the congress with the various bills that were passed that provided a lot of Local relief both to our businesses and our government And so, uh, right now we find ourselves in an environment in which the federal reserve Um is projecting a recession to start in 2023 Um, so this is again, um Their federal open market committee recently issued this prediction The recession they think will last, uh recovery would last over two year period So that's the official word from the federal reserve Um, we also continued to be in a high inflationary environment Uh with inflation, uh last year being over 5% Um The um consumer competence level is also dropping Uh consumer competence has dropped by 17 percent since uh july of 2022 Um average, uh 30 year fixed mortgage rate Has increased from 3% in january of 2022 to 6.7 percent today And the men most notably the national average savings rate which had reached a high um of over uh 17 percent in 2020 which was And I think the highest it's ever been Uh and largely due to a lot of the federal policies Is down to 3% So I think that's important to note that that the national savings rate Has dropped from 17 percent to 3% and so, um In that context the state of california finds itself facing a 30 billion dollar deficit um, you may have recently heard that the Santa Clara county are much richer Neighbor to the north of us has facing over a very significant hundred million dollar deficit And they're spending so we're seeing the science all around us About the economic uncertainty that we're entering And we own we also face our own systematic challenges in our county One of the things that we did that I think, uh We really should stress and that is a success is that We were able to absorb without any budget cuts The significant mo use salary and benefit increases in this last But in this budget And so, uh, and this is all all agencies are facing this across the state is that Um salaries are increasing as we fight over more and more scarce workers We have health increases are significantly arising And purrs continues to increase as well And so one of our first challenges in developing this budget Was just to absorb that big increase for our most important asset that we have in the county and also the biggest part Of our budget, which is our employees And so we're very proud that we have a balanced budget that we're delivering to you Having absorbed these salary and benefit increases The health market is something we really can't control and purrs. We really can't control Um, and we did absorb that so I think that's a significant achievement But it is also a challenge that all local governments are facing across the state is how to absorb These cost increases as you move forward We continue to have deferred capital improvements For years we have been, um facing capital deficits in our infrastructure This includes both our buildings and facilities That we need to do more and more repairs and also our Road infrastructure and bridges and culverts and all of those very essential community infrastructures needs So those are needs that we really do have to think about how we're going to address in the long term Another thing that we are facing is more recent is the cost of our disaster responses We were already facing a Need of $67 million That we spent in funds to be reimbursed By the federal government through FEMA that largely still remains outstanding And then we had this current winner Which is also significantly increased our exposure We think conservatively that we are facing now up to a hundred million dollars In outstanding past and current Disaster response Recovery needs and so that is a significant amount of money hundred million dollars conservatively From past emergencies and the current ones that we face. That's another challenge In addition, um, we have to think about other policy Changes that are coming at the state level. We are you will hear from our health services and human services department about the implementation of cal aim Which is a very significant change in how we implement medical And our behavioral health and health services This is going to be a huge lift for us in the coming year Also, we know that we have to prepare for care court and this is at this point a State mandate that we are not sure how it's going to be in reimburse, but could result in significant costs And then we have other local challenges. For example, we need To improve our public safety radio system The implementation of the next generation Radio emergency communication system has begun. We began meeting with all of the cities in the county and all so special districts and fire agencies To figure out how we can make sure that our radio communications are compliant with new federal standards And also meet the public safety needs of our various public safety agencies And so that's going to be a very significant cost. We think it's going to be in the range of 30 million dollars The end result will be a state-of-the-art radio communication system When which we do not have the dead zones that we now have in some parts of our county But it is going to be a significant lift to address Also, we have to think about how we're funded Just to give you one example of how our county is funded We have the lowest sales tax rate in our county right now our sales tax rate is nine percent The city of Santa Cruz has nine point two five percent City of watsonville scott's valley at nine point seven five percent Just one example of how our we have various funding challenges. I know Our budget manager Pimentel will go over more of those issues in his presentation At the same time, I want to make sure that we acknowledge that we have faced numerous challenges in the past and we have been successful Uh, we want to celebrate the achievements. We've had recently Most notably the coastal rail trail Uh grant funding that we have been allocated and the progress we're making on that project is very significant It's going to be a community-wide generational project We also Uh in terms of generational projects We want to make sure and note the pottero river funding And which we've just secured over 400 million dollars of state and federal funds and also a local assessment district past um with With a very significant local support that was a huge huge achievement that our county should be very proud of We also received grant funding to establish a children's crisis and stabilization center Which will be there to support our youth and our families in Who are having mental health crises? There will be eight emergency beds and 16 longer term recovery beds that will open in this fiscal year We completed the sustainability update to the general plan Which created much more opportunities for housing and more sustainable community. That was after over a decade of work We are implementing the climate action and adaptation plan to reduce climate impacts And we want to make sure to note that we are at the forefront of decarbonizing santa cruz county Also through our membership of central coast community energy energy very proud of that membership Uh, we also have established a broadband master plan Uh to increase access to high speed internet for all residents and businesses And we are completing the county equity framework to reduce disparities and help residents thrive Uh with all of this I want to mention that we also have done a number of Project home key supportive housing projects to serve unhoused residents And also we uh fully reopen Simkins swim center after a major renovation of that facility Uh with that I want to say that uh despite the fact that we serve a number of different challenges we've had a lot of successes as well And I'm just highlighting a few of them For the board to I think it's important to note that despite the challenges we have We've done a lot of good work and a very significant generational work Um, I'll tell you that the paro river project and those of us who've I've worked on it for more than 30 years Just to see it get to this point and I thank the board for your leadership on this It's truly an amazing accomplishment And so uh with that I'll go ahead and turn it back to The budget and manager pimentel for the rest of the presentation on the board on the budget. Thank you Um, so I'll try just the backstop of the county outlook This is more explaining more detail on the budget and the online budget and in the board packet uh board letter As we discussed at our mid-year we we updated and we built our forecast model to look out five years And our model is more based on actual Results than budget authority with that we are still projecting deficits between eight and ten million dollars a year We believe those deficit gaps are credible We've also factored into this projection a reduction in the economic slowdown reduction in sales tax revenues And and revenues and resources for our public safety departments And in particular our health and human services department to rely on Relignment revenue backed by sales tax So we have a lot of revenues across the county that we're expecting to go down and that's already built into our forecast We are pessimistic or optimistic I should say on some of our key revenue bases within the general purpose revenue tax base We're projecting strong continued growth and property tax over the next five years We're also projecting reasonably strong growth in the vehicle license fee. That's more pegged to property taxes than vehicle license fees Um, so as property tax curl, it'll pull that line up We are projecting a momentary slowdown in sales tax about a 1% decline for 23 24, but that it will start recovering in the out years Cannabis tax, although a small revenue stream is one that is just it's the performance has been disappointing We talked about that a lot more in our february mid-year report More recently we have been tracking the early preliminary results of our single use disposable cup tax That amount is trending towards 75 to 100,000 a year well short of the 700,000 that were originally projected So we're working with staff in the auto controller's office in particular is Coming through the the the early preliminary filings to try to understand what what what the difference in variance is between The projection and what we're actually seeing in returns Diving a little bit deeper we've talked over the last year in our systematic underfunding and we want to dive a little bit deeper into the sales tax base And I'll begin with property tax while we do receive 13 cents on the dollar and property tax paid it is lower than our peers and lower than state averages And conversely we have to spread that lower 13 cent allocation across a greater percent of our population than most counties And certainly across many major roadways and infrastructures across our entire county We serve over half that population and most of the roadways Live in the unincorporated area. So we we get a smaller share of property tax But we have to spread it over a larger base Ourselves our sales tax is an area that we're we're concerned about and it's more of a the trend towards online sales While we appreciate the opportunities for consumers that have more buying opportunities We're we're systematically underfunded in sales tax When somebody when a resident in the county whether they've felt in correlated is Soquel Raptos they go and they buy in a brick and mortar in a store in unincorporated county We get 19 cents on the dollar and sales tax paid when they buy through the same retailer online We get five cents and the other 14 pennies are allocated 14 cents on the dollar allocated to the other cities in the county Because we have a lower share retail sex sales tax base When that is purchased online and the online retailer Ships it from warehouse that they own maybe it's in bakersfield or anywhere in southern california That entire sales tax base is rediverted away from our county and goes to where the warehouse is located So we're we're estimating about five million dollars a year and just general fund sales tax is being lost in this allocation methodology There's nothing illegal about it. It's more of a state Historical way of how they've allocated sales tax over the years largely printed generated in the 50s 60s and 70s When occasional deliveries would come into your county, but that same model is how sales tax is being allocated online now Um So it's it's an area of right for reform and I know cities and counties have been working over the last decade to try to get that area reformed We've talked about our general fund reserves, but just a reminder that while we are Cobbled together a 10 reserve for our general fund It's largely predicate on the back of our health department funding which is requiring us to hold Significant amount of dollars that could be used for our healthcare population whether investments in capital or services But we have to hold on to that to maintain our 10 reserve We've our general purpose reserves have been depleted because we've been front Fronting costs on all of our storm damage to that and other disasters. COVID cz u fires most read most recently So we're expecting that as female reimbursements come in we'll be able to backfill those Reserves that were used to front those costs and then free up some of those healthcare dollars in our out years Moving into just a recap of where we're at with our recent storm damage Um, we are estimating about 50 million dollars in response costs and damage costs from january, february and march events We've recently been added into the february march event as a In the federal declaration that happened just last week So we're starting to compile those costs and we'll be submitting that this chart in front of you represents only COVID-19 Pandemic response costs and cz u fire costs from 2020 Um, while we're thankful the FEMA has Increased their payments to us by $800,000 since january. It's well short of the five million We were expecting to get this year We're still hopeful that we'll get closer to the five million number by the end of next month But it's something we're actively working on and with that we appreciate sincerely the board chair and this and this board's leadership and support And working with state and federal congressional representatives and getting a lot of advocacy on our part We're seeing a lot of more activity from FEMA. It hasn't yet translated to cash flowing into us, but we're seeing a lot more activity Um, it's something we're going to have to keep up and be very persistent about over the coming year so our proposed budget Just a reminder where we're at in the process today's may 9th. We are starting our first of four budget hearings We will continue the budget hearings on two days of hearings on may 30 and 31st These are presentations by the departments across the county and the conclude on june 13th The budget will then be compiled and reconciled by our controller and we brought back in september for official action I know the slide is busy, but if there's a lot of good content on here In total the county's budget is 1.1 billion. We have 731 million towards the general fund's primary service operations This budget is built on the back of a legacy of strong financial stewardship by this board and staff That has led us to have a triple a bond rating that has the result of lowering our debt interest costs One of the outcomes of funding so much money for our storm disaster costs is we're anticipating an increase in our annual borrowing this year To perhaps 55 to 60 million dollars so that we can cover our payroll and operating costs per the months of july through december That's unfortunate that we have to borrow money to make to cover our current operations for the first six months of the next fiscal year But because of our strong bond rating those interest costs that we still be a little bit less We are as carls plosios rco has mentioned we do have some challenges in front of us both from mandated costs public system systematic upgrades And expansion and the need for Facilities and services across our county So our budget is going to be constrained over these coming years with a with that economic downturn It's just going to create a lot of pressure for us to try to meet those needs Our general purpose revenue we're projecting it on the whole going up from last year to 210 million The bulk of it is in property tax revenue 80 89 nearly 90 million dollars and vehicle license fees of 42 million dollars Notably we were including the expectation of just over 14 million dollars in FEMA reimbursements So we're really going to have to work hard and make sure FEMA is delivering on what we need to see from them in the Outyear we're also including a higher base of our transit occupancy tax and recognition of the voter approved increases That we received last year that will be fully implemented in the 23 24 fiscal year We'll take that 210 million and allocated across the general government departments to the tune of 220 222.6 million dollars and support the largest Departments needing that support in our public safety and justice departments Those are the departments for the sheriff probation public defender District attorney our office of response and recovery for example Our next big commitment is to supporting our health and human services deliveries of services Well, most of health services is funded through federal and state programs Our human services requires a little bit more funding to make sure that their activities remain Viable Mr. I just to interrupt the the board. This is a really important slide to pay attention to because When we think of our 1.1 billion dollar budget people go wow the county has you know your billion dollar budget But when you look at this slide, this is what we would in the past would call net county cost This is our discretionary general fund money and so uh when especially for um board members Cummins and Hernandez when you are in cities and you think of your general fund Many much of that most of that in the city is discretionary When we think of our general fund most of it is non discretionary. This is the only piece that's truly discretionary And so even though we have this very large budget This 222 million dollars is really How we spend most of our discretionary funds and you can see where you know how it's allocated here Thank you So we included in this is also our debt and capital Funding commitments and this is explained in more detail in our online budget and in the budget memo But included in here and I'll cover in the next slide some examples of the increases We're seeing next year across our departments And as Carlos boss has just mentioned This really is is our is our dollars that we're committing and if you might recall in the slide prior 210 in general purpose revenues allocated To leverage 222 million dollars in spending so From that perspective, we're spending 12 million dollars more than our revenue based supports And we're expecting that to be offset by salary savings and other operational savings that we're expecting to occur next year So to get a balanced budget, we're already going to be requiring 12 million dollars in reduced operating the savings Some of the increases by those same categories in our proposed budget include less than 1 percent of Position increases are full-time equivalent of 21.2 positions. That's seven tenth of 1 percent Our budget guidance that we sent out in the fall to departments was to hold the line wherever possible And we thank the departments in this entire county. Hey, I should really stop and pause and said we appreciate all of our departments We've been Challenged once again with three months of storms 10 plus weeks of direct response ongoing response by many of our departments And yet we produced a Fully developed budget reasonably on time just you know by two days late And met in large our directions and guidance So most of the positions that are included in this year's proposed budget are funded through external sources Whether federal state funding and so we're really appreciative of the department's struggle to hold the line Because we have a strong demand and increases in services across the entire county But recognizing that we just do not have that funding source We appreciate all the work by departments to keep that line smaller Across the entire county our expenditures have increased by 30 million again for the size of our budget That's pretty modest about a 2.8 percent higher than we expected Some examples that are more detailed in the board report and certainly more detailed in the budget Include investments in our health and human services department is plus Carlos Floscos mentioned bringing on Implementing the Cal AIM investing in our child's children's crisis youth center investing in A master plan for a freedom campus expanding services at our freedom campus Those are examples of really strong work that we're supporting in this coming year Human services department is expanding in the workforce development programs as well as supporting As our population tends to be on a direction of becoming an older population Human services department is investing in resources to support that our aging population needs Our public safety department the largest increases we're seeing in that 7.3 million is in our detention centers for jail and And youth services for medical and mental health services combined about three million dollars of mandated increases Just to support our medical and mental health services in those areas Other examples in in our public safe in our public safety category include district attorney supporting victim witness support activities and increasing To one attorney to help with backlog and cases our public defender adding some illegal support and an attorney to also help with The massive amount of backlog that they're experiencing our office of response recovery as they're continuing to prepare for the next disaster event unfortunately and preparing for one Investing in more training and and setting aside some modest amount of contingencies So that we can do some immediate storm response and recovery efforts And then within our land use and community development departments It's notable that this currently shows a decline that number will will reverse Our largest one of our largest departments to the division of department of public works Their budget has been delayed. It'll be shown up in the supplemental budget and discuss in their supplemental budget hearing they've been the most impacted department in all of our storm response and it just it took it was just at a point in time when we had to Allow ourselves a bandwidth to let that budget be presented in the supplemental process So that negative number of 3.8 million drop will actually go up when the supplemental is included But some other investments in our land use category include fully reopening the simpkins swim center including the Previously board directed investments in vacation rental code compliance And then across finishing off with our general government departments some examples of our increases there in our assessors department Prop 19 was a property tax reform that will bring new revenue to our county But that is going to require more work by our assessor recorder's office So they're adding staff to help support those new activities In our capper projects we have proposals for new capper projects that include costs to finalize the construction of our Westbridge facility center and other costs across the county for capital investments Again, there are much more details in the board report. There's extensive details in our online budget We invite the public and all of you to to Preview those budgets and then departments will we'll dive deeper on those two days of budget hearings in may 30 and 31 That's a real great opportunity. We'll go into the details of all those budget recommendations Just recapping what you'll find on our online budget and including this packet. We have Two one page summary schedules of the entire county budget by department So you're able to see their revenues their expenditures and what how much of the county's contribution is required to support departments Most of our departments are not fully funded So they require contributions by us to help them maintain those services So we have a one-page schedule on that We have another one page schedule That we'll show you last year's budget compared to this year's budget and where the increases are And then we have about 11 page schedule that we'll describe some of the changes that are being requested in the department budgets And of course our award-winning online budget is available Since april 27th and we invite the public to to look through it and we're happy to go present to Community group meetings that want to talk budget And again on may 30 and 31st departments will provide an overview I want to turn this over to our assistant county administrative officer Sort of Nicole Colburn who will go over our proposed 20 through 25 operational plan So this year as we were developing the budget Departments were also asked to develop new objectives for our new two-year operational plan covering the 2023 through 2025 years and so we did that successfully and Um this july once we bring a final plan to the board at the end of june will kick off this new operational planning cycle So our new proposed operational plan. Um, that is also online on our budget website Um currently proposes 133 new objectives These include some of the major projects and initiatives that are funded through the budget And if you're looking at the online interactive website As you're scrolling through the budget, you'll actually see objectives tied to various service areas, which will help provide that linkage In developing objectives, we set out and met three process goals. The first was to Have objectives that were more measurable We wanted to increase our objectives from 67 measurable to over 90 percent measurable Currently 92 or 122 of our objectives Are measurable with a baseline and a target this compares to some of our previous plans where departments set out to Just achieve Implementing a plan or something that was more binary. So I'm hoping as you'll look through the objectives, you'll see and take a look at what those targets are The measurable objectives really lead to greater accountability and better results for our community and align with our strategic plan The second goal was that we wanted a more inclusive process with staff And so we had over 800 county staff Throughout all of our departments participate in the development of objectives Some of these staff participated on adaptive assistance teams They were they were working on actually identifying data and ways to make our objectives more measurable These 800 staff equate to almost 30 of our full-time staff who participated in this process Being inclusive really leads us to greater ownership of objectives by staff and makes the objectives more likely to To be successful And then thirdly we wanted objectives that were aiming for more equitable results. So as you can see here 50 of our objectives use disaggregated data And in the context of what this means for the operational plan Equity is using this disaggregated data to better understand how needs differ across our communities And then create targets that improve results for our communities That have the furthest to go In the january when we came and talked to you about developing this plan we talked about putting a spotlight on housing and climate action, which are two of our key initiatives currently And as you can see more than a third of the plan across both of these areas Contains objectives that contribute towards meeting our housing needs And ensuring that we become more resilient as we recover from our current our past and current disasters So we do have an opportunity for plan feedback If you're looking on our website, you'll notice that our objectives have a tag that they've been proposed Today through the end of may we're going to be collecting feedback on our objectives We'll also be meeting with each board office to talk about the objectives and and get obtain Further input from you But the feedback button on the online objectives will allow for the public to provide their thoughts on the objectives About how we might accelerate and strengthen our work Once the feedback period closes our office is going to be working with departments On final revisions to the objectives and we're going to do this within the constraints of whatever Budget or legal authority we have And then we will be presenting the final plan to the board at the regular meeting on june 27th I will note fall subsequent to that. We are closing out our current two-year operational plan We are bringing an update on that the final update of that two-year plan to the board in august And there will probably be objectives within that plan That are roll into this new new two-year plan So we'll we'll provide those updates and make those incorporations when we come back to you in august So with that, uh, these are our recommended actions I'm not going to repeat them But if you have any questions for us marcus myself and carlos are happy to answer them Thank you, they're questions from board members to advisor and then is do you have any questions right now? Okay Surveys are coming I'm have I guess the one question I had I do have I know the board provided direction the previous Meeting to have some funds incorporated into the budget for Um stipends for commissioners and I'm just wondering at what point we'll be able to kind of see those items and other items That board members want to bring forward We have already taken note of that and that's included on our june 13th list of action items that the board will consider So we've already got that set up for For to take action on on june 13th Thank you. And I guess I'll just say I appreciate all the work that's gone into us, especially under um, you know The circumstances that we've been facing this entire year and also just want to express my appreciation of um Meeting with the board members to get their feedback on the operational plan. Um as being part of Having an inclusive process and so that ends all my questions and comments. Thank you. Thank you. Surveys are coming Surveys my person. Yeah, I have some comments. Um Welcome supervisors come in and and this Even it wasn't like this five or six years ago So this is a heck of a challenge and I just want to thank our cao and marx and mittell our budget manager for Um this online budget that I think it makes it more understandable for the general public of what kind of a situation we're facing It's really not a pleasant one, but it that's been especially challenging as we know because of um The past two years and more the 2016 17 storms on but covid sees the fire of the atmospheric rivers And um what we're still owed Boy, if that doesn't come through, I don't know. Uh, we're in a world hurt Um, we've endured these challenges very well I think as best we can and I am very much appreciative Uh, appreciative of the uh, ceo and the board and all our partnerships with our county employees We know we're well aware of how much extra time you have put in and what you've done under these Uh, terrible circumstances that we've faced it And um this our workforce has really sacrificed, uh, above and beyond the call of duty To meet the challenges that are that are facing us. Um through no fault of our own This is not mismanagement of a budget. This is um natural disasters personified, uh over and over again here in santa cruz county Um, and I think we we do need to uh continue our cautious approach as we weight these reimbursements up to a hundred million dollars it appears For the disaster response and when I look at the projects, we'll be able to tackle With this facing us. It's truly amazing to me That we have online to do a lot of great things additional things In the areas of health public safety parks and recreation and housing Uh, it's to me, it's pretty amazing that we're able to hold in line And uh keep it 10 reserve too at the same time because we may well need it in the near future um One thing that I will say, uh, it's um, this is realistic, but I uh the state I think the the but may revise is going to be coming out this friday, I believe And it's not going to be as pretty as it was. We thought it might be the first part of the year It looks like they're going to the state's going to be in a 30 billion dollar deficit. So that that really raises concerns to us and that in addition to um, the new programs that the state is demanding that the county's implement that two of them were mentioned The cowlame and the care court um Please just uh You know cool your jets. Please state on unfunded mandates. Uh, I these are all great programs They're needed and we want to implement them But we absolutely are going to need the funding to do that and uh, I just can't I just hope and I know our state representatives Gail Pellerin John Laird There's uh, Robert Rivas, uh, soon to be speaker of the assembly. I believe They're they're they've taken note of it. We've let them know but we face some undaunting Really not Almost unrealistic challenges if we don't Hold the line the state doesn't hold the line and demanding what we have to do for them And what we want to do for the people of santa cruz county and the people of california uh, this is one of the most Uncertain times that I can recall in my my years of public service and state and federal government We we're going to do what we can with what we have and I think you've done a phenomenal job And I really appreciate the online budget again because people are They're better able to understand what we're facing. Thank you Thank you super cosmic first. I'll make a double brief comments. I think that we've seen how the The systemic underfunding in santa cruz county structurally Um has led to a lot of the challenges that we faced even during the winter Um when you're receiving less than half than some of your neighbors or comparable counties In tax allocations because of a prop 13 formulation uh, when you have Uh, a topography that's unique and more likely for natural disasters And then you have infrastructure failures because of the lack of investment over it because that's systemic underfailing underfunding We have issues that will then continue to put pressure on the budget moving forward In ways that at some point Something we'll have to give There'll either have to be a fundamental shift of how the state allocates resources Because this isn't a question of how many how much is paid by local residents I mean you have local residents paying a significant amount of property taxes. Just the money just doesn't even stay necessarily locally But if you were to put this in perspective, I mean we have over 10 of the total budget but much more of the discretionary budget In funds that were just simply owed and reimbursements for federally declared disasters over the last few years And yet we receive Less than half than many of our comparable counties and local tax revenues. So if you think about What this is going to look like as we move into a recessionary period With costs increasing revenues decreasing and continued natural disasters Occuring, you know, the county's going to have significant budgetary pressures Uh facing it in the next five to 10 years in ways that will need action not just locally but above our level in order to address And the reason why there hasn't been these investments is because of the need to address these issues over and over and over again Not just in the last couple years, but historically in Santa Cruz county And I think that it it says a lot about the restraint also the board I mean there hasn't there haven't been the there's a lot of pressure to make investments in individual programs or desires or individual requests from board members may come and go On these situations that the challenge is is that we we have made decisions as a board to Try and reduce as many of those so that when it comes when the inevitable cut time comes the cuts just aren't that Or as bad as they could be supervisor McPherson and I The old timers on the board Have been through situations where we've had to make really painful cuts and The employees have have also Uh, we've done furloughs. We've done layoffs. We've been through a lot of challenges here And I see a lot of that coming down the pike is if the so the board's going to have to Ensure that our our costs are contained Um and our requests are contained Until we can really receive our fair share Of what we we pay Um, I know that I hear all the time. I mean I pay X thousands of dollars in property taxes. Why can't you do why issue? You tell them that 13 cents of the dollar stays here People just don't they're not aware of that situation, but also Um, you know that so this the system will have to change I think that it's going to be tough for this county moving forward without that systemic change at the state level Or we're going to constantly get the same budget price. I mean I almost feel like it's a little bit of a groundhog data That's right. Same presentation from CAO every every year no matter what the situation is That we don't have the funding systemically underfunded. We need to hold the line Departments that are asked to do more with less Um, and they're struggling and and at some point the band will break And we saw break this winter and and now we're also not receiving the The reimbursements back from the federal government in a timely manner and and it's it's a It's a very challenging situation, but I appreciate the professional management of this team I don't you know if you look across I'm fortunate to serve on the national association of counties executive board I was going to tell you I mean there are a lot of counties that aren't managed this well across the country That aren't just making massive cuts. I mean they're making massive cuts but they're also dealing with a lot of other issues on the in particular on the financial side and so I just uh, appreciate our professional management team here Doing everything you can to hold the line I like to open it up for the community as an opportunity for you to address us on these All right, before I open it up supervisor Hernandez, you did have a comment And then I will open it up for the community for the public hearing. Yes, supervisor Hernandez I want to thank staff for the for the presentation thorough presentation um, you know just two comments, uh, I just wanted to make sure that we uh continue to pursue to find a way to to fund uh The 181 uh park space sooner than rather than later I think there might be some some uh opportunities for us to pursue Uh for that park space and I just want to make sure that we stay the course on that one And also, uh, just to for us. I want to keep the discussion going with murphy crossing Uh, keep it on the front burner, uh, as we continue And if there's any any opportunity to expedite it that'd be great. Um It'd be great to be greatly appreciated if we continue that project But let's keep the discussion going on that one That's it. Thank you Thank you. I'm sorry to hold you up on that. So now I'd like to open up the public hearing on this Welcome. Thank you again. First of all, I disagree with many of the statements that were made. Um, particularly with, um, Mr. Palacios report. I'm experiencing much higher than 5% inflation I feel like there's a lack of understanding of economics and biology Um, we're we are carbon-based organisms. We're humans. I feel like there's an anti human agenda I'm forced to walk by 6 6 6 on the ground with just the sign of the beast in the book of revelations And that makes me feel very uncomfortable. Please add one more six. So I don't feel threatened by that Um, I am grateful that palacio did point to the discretionary funding And I see that the safety and law enforcement expenditures far exceed anything else And as we can tell by public comment that we are not actually safe It's a complete waste of money The deputies have not proven that they're under oath of office So, um, we can slash and cut that budget because they're putting innocent people in jail and harming them And they're letting violent offenders out and that is a disgrace and that is not for our safety It is also clear by the kidnapping of the children here in santa cruz county That there is a lot of question to the nefariousness and a trustworthiness of mental health as senator rubio has draft Senator rubio has drafted piki's law that's currently going through With these fraudulent reunification therapists I'm very concerned about the over expenditures and mental health funding and I don't feel safe by any of that I am more than happy to participate in these budget discussions And I would like to know how to be more at the front of it rather than at the end of it and sitting here in these Two-minute, you know where I'm giving a two-minute comment on my ideas and my feelings about how things are being spent here I'm a resident of santa cruz county. I was born here. Mr. Friend. I think you're from san diego Mr. Cummings, I think you're from chicago and conigas from massachusetts and only the two n supervisors are local I disagree with a lot of what you said mr. Fierck McPherson Thank you Morning, welcome back Yeah, hello. My name is james ewing wittman. Uh, I was here last year for the four days of the budgetary hearing. What was it? 1.3 billion Oh, I could make a lot of comments, but even three minutes really isn't enough. Maybe I should have asked to talk for 15 So, you know about the covid cvu 67 million deficit, you know, it kind of reminds me of some stuff I brought up in that Activist groups I was in I think I wrote something was at october or november 7th about how to Stop what's going on with these bioweapon injections? But I suppose moving forward to rather than talk about lawsuits um wrote something maybe five or seven years ago About how I feel this county could gross in a three or four day weekend at least 300 000 with a uh capital and renewable investment of less than a hundred thousand dollars And I mean and I kind of mentioned that because as far as solutions, you know, I already brought up this book About the cia stuff and about how things are really controlled But I wish I'd brought the book the doctrine of the lesser magistrates because all of us as individuals are lesser magistrates and We actually have a lot more freedom and rights than those who actually took a oath of office Whether it was to the original constitution or the corporate constitution so I know that there's lots of ways where the community can work together And I was very happy to engage with the officer in capitol the last the sunday before last he had been an officer for 25 years And it was just a really fun pleasant conversation and I asked if he was familiar with the bsa program cope And he said that he was and then I Asked him if he was familiar how You can get groups of young individuals to really work together and and isolated so they all work together just mean so I really I don't like to talk about solutions But this is interesting. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else in chambers? I'd like to address us. Good morning and welcome Good morning becky steinbrunner. I see the The barrier is still here only For the public please take it down. It's symbolic and I'd like to see it taken down I um, I have arrived late. So I haven't heard the full presentation But I understand the issues That are before the board and before the public regarding the budget situation And it is shocking news to hear from you supervisor McPherson that the state's budget is even worse than we thought Since it had such a great surplus last year So in keeping with all of that, I think that Your board Needs to really look at the wisdom of the large Property purchases that you have authorized in the last year The west marine complex in watsonville is wonderful, but that is a huge drain on the county budget Purchasing the um the new building next to the sheriff's center on socal avenue Is very nice From bay federal, but it's a huge strain On our budget at a time when as you've said we don't have the money I also question the wisdom of selling the tower on fire station two in watsonville the county calm tire tower And now being a renter on a tower Up on mount madonna from aetheryx And I I want to point out that maybe you can start looking at excess property That the county owns or leases such as the offices on claire street And 41st that staff has admitted is very underused It was supposed to be a place where people could take kids that had been Abused and interview them in a in a more comfortable place. It's not used So we need to look at our own excesses you need to too And please consider the issues that I brought to you this morning. Thank you Is there anybody else in chambers that like to address us? Please um, I'd like to uh I'd like to make a recommendation that Uh the board invite more senators state assembly people and congressmen because a lot of the issues that are facing us were made someplace else and They need to really get more involved with what's happening on a local level And you guys we're all being forced to do things That were made over the last 30 years either new laws enacted by the federal or state government Laws that have been reinterpreting or courts that have reinterpreting the meaning of laws That has basically forced a lot of these issues on all of us So I think it would be incumbent on everyone Including individuals to get more involved in state and government Officials to say that we really do need some help here to take care of some of these problems I think that you guys and everybody here in the county are doing a wonderful job You're really trying to cope with all these issues that basically have been thrust upon all of us And so I know how difficult it is to for everybody So that's all I wanted to say. Thank you anybody else and chambers like to address us ma'am clerk anybody online Yes, sir. We do have speakers online Call an user to your microphone is now available Maryland era I heard of state that the broadband master plan Is to reduce disparities and help people thrive I think that's a why because There's no evidence of it and what people need to thrive Is food and housing and good employment and a healthy environment and Broadband actually violates Our right to public safety and health Here's some basic facts. You've been provided over a 20-year period by me and disregard And I consider omission of facts form of lying This is from a group called kids field cell tower concerned Citizens and Massachusetts opposing a cell tower And all of these amid radiation 24 7 here it is radio frequency is a pollutant It's a toxin and a high hazard Let's ensure everyone has the facts the national institute of health has absolutely found damage from radio frequency radio frequency radiation Far below FCC guidelines quote Non-thermal exposure has been shown to alter human brain metabolism by NIH scientists electrical activity in the brain and systemic immune responses Chronic exposures have been associated with increased oxidative stress and DNA Damage and cancer risk. I also want to refer you to an article. Thank you, Ms. Is there anybody else online? Yes, chair colon user 1192 your microphones now available I'd like to Comment on what the other caller just said about the harmful exposure of microwave radiations And I have a manual from the air force Rome laboratory in New York And it is from 1994 That they have known That exposure to microwave radiation has been observed to cause physical operations alterations in the essential cells of the immune system And a degradation of immune immunologic responses Experimental results published by the soviet union and eastern european researchers indicate that Irradiation can cause injury and trauma to the internal body work and that comprise the immune system Even exposure to low levels of radio frequency microwave radiation can impair immunologic function Also exposure to the eye Radiation causes physical duress that can lead to damage of the ocular tissue Exposed to radio frequency microwave radiation is known to cause cataracts in the human eyes Several cases have been documented that report That microwaves induced cataracts in humans Typically lens opacities have resulted from exposure levels that are greater than specified by the various safety standards However, minimum exposure levels are sufficient to cause ocular damage. There's not certain about that But there's another thing I want to bring up is that there's something called. I think the confidential financial report That's a separate set of books that the government keeps And there is a federal law that I think applies as well And the kite and I'm going to read that 26 federal law 26 34.901 A the confidential financial reporting system set forth in this subpart is designed to complement the public reporting system Established by title one of the act high level officials in the executive branch are required to report And this is a public hearing on the budget So if we could keep it topical that'd be appreciated. Are there any additional speakers online? We have no further speakers chair. Okay, we'll close Uh The first element of the public hearing and bring it back to the board for action There are a series of recommended actions. Is there a motion for recommended actions? I wouldn't recommend that All right, we have a motion from supervisor McSterson and a second from supervisor Hernandez Excuse me and a comment, please One comment I forgot to make earlier was that just that with the Disposable cup tax My hope is just that we can try to figure out how our numbers are so far off on that and you know, if there's any need for us to Have similar enforcement that we do for tot that we really think about how we can Make sure that we're maximizing the amount that we're getting from that tax because um I think we were all hoping that we'd be generating more revenue from it And it's a little sad to see what where we're at But um, hopefully we can figure that out and try to get more revenue from that tax as well All right, thank you We have a motion and a second if we got a roll call, please Supervisor Cummings. Hi Hernandez. Hi McPherson and friend. All right That passes unanimously with supervisor conig absent We'll move on to item eight Which is a public hearing to consider resolution confirming proposed fiscal year 23 24 benefit assessment rate and service charge reports for county service Area is number 53 53 n and 53 s for mosquito abatement and disease controls outlined in the memo the agricultural commissioner We have the agenda item memo the rates attachment the resolution. I think miss bolster. Are you given the presentation today? Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Just like and I think uh Yeah, we good morning. Welcome. Thank you for waiting Um, good morning. I am Amanda polson I'm the assistant manager for the mosquito and vector control division of the agricultural commissioner's office with me today Is our interim eye commissioner. Dave sanford um, so the county service area Csa 53 was established in 1993 and then expanded in 2004 and 2005 for south and north county respectively To provide mosquito control and public health services to santa cruz county These services are funded by a benefits assessment and rates are adjusted each year to account for inflation On april 11 2023 the board set today may 9th as the public hearing date on the proposed benefit assessment rate reports That will provide operational funding for mosquito and vector control in 2024 The csa rates presented have previously been approved by the board and are outlined in the rates attachment And either remain at the same level as in 22 and 23 Or have rates at a and a consumer price index increase of 3% as approved in previous elections These rates have been posted in the local newspapers and made available to the public at the clerk of the board and mosquito Infect control website prior to today's hearing If approved rate reports will be forwarded to the otter controller by august 10th to be included in the 2023 to 2024 property tax assessment role We recommend the board open the public hearing to hear objections or protests to the proposed three assessment rate reports for csa 53 north south and original Then please close the public hearing and consider adoption of the resolution confirming the benefit assessment rates reports for the fiscal year 23 24 Thank you for your support. Thank you miss polson Look, this is a de minimis investment that pays significant public health dividends. I appreciate the work that you and your team do Are there any comments from board members before we open up the public hearing See none would like to open up the public hearing. Is there any member of the community that would like to address this on this item? Hello, I am addressing item number eight the mosquito abatement and disease control I want to say for the record that both on item number eight and number seven I at least one member of the public should raise their hand at having some questions You know, it's really quite fascinating The commentary on the previous one that is very similar to this one and there are elephants in the room that people aren't talking about I don't expect people to believe a word. I say but 24 gigahertz kills insects the methods that can be used to effect Kill make things infertile Then with frequencies are just not really being talked about so I'll be brief in respect everybody's time, but I Do want to make a note on number eight and number seven. Thank you Is there anybody else in chambers like to address this on the benefit assessment? Thank you, Becky Steinburner. I appreciate the health benefits of mosquito control I just want to make sure that the The mosquito vectors department does use non-toxic uh methods of controlling mosquitoes and um I do not agree at all if there is any plan to release genetically modified mosquitoes to reduce the breeding In in the areas where mosquitoes gather And I think this is uh something we have to look at in terms of where mosquitoes are In the food chain. It isn't just that they come bite us But there are many birds that and fish that rely upon them. So we have to think beyond ourselves And the effects of this piece of the food chain The the cliff swallows come here from Argentina every summer To raise their young because there is so much food in the Watsonville slough area And we need to be mindful of that and effects Cumulative effects of any treatments that we use to control mosquitoes. Thank you very much Anybody else in chambers? All right. See none. Madam quirk. Is there anybody online? No speakers online chair. All right. We'll close the public hearing bring back to the board for action Is there a motion for the recommended actions? I'll move A second. We have a motion from supervisor McPherson a second from supervisor Cummings. We have a roll call, please Supervisor Cummings here. All right. Sorry McPherson friend Hi, Hernandez absent All right that passage unanimously with supervisor Hernandez and supervisor conic absent We'll move on to item nine, which is a continued public hearing to consider certification Of the vote results for county service area three aptos seascape adopt a resolution confirming previously established benefit assessment as outlined in the memo the deputy ceo The director of community development infrastructure. We have the board memo the certification of the votes cast in the resolution We have Mr. Machado who is our deputy county administrative officer and director of community development of infrastructure. Good morning. Mr. Machado Good morning chair friend and supervisors The item before you is a continued public hearing for csa three Ballots were mailed out to the effective property owners within csa number three and the tabulated results confirmed Majority of property owners within the service area disagree with the increased assessment rates The ballots that were mailed we mailed 1,498 to the effective property owners 805 were returned with 398 yeses and 407 noes The recommended actions today after a close of the public hearing are to accept the certification of the vote results And to adopt a resolution confirming previously established benefit assessment Rates and i'm here to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Mr. Machado any questions for board members All right, we'll open up public hearing. Is there anybody from the community that like to address this on this item? Is there anybody online madam clerk? Okay, we'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the board for action. Is there a motion? Just a question if if it's not going to get done what less is going to get done or Yeah, so they were at the community had asked to do an increase And so they are just going to not be able to increase the services that they already provide So the current assessment stays in place Is there a motion for supervisor McPherson? I'll move the recommended action Second we have a motion from supervisor McPherson and a second from supervisor Hernandez so we could have a roll call, please Supervisor McPherson. Hi Hernandez. Hi and friend. Hi Cummings absent Why that passes unanimously with supervisor Cummings and supervisor Koenig absent move on to item 10 Uh, which is a continued public hearing that to consider the certification of vote results for county service area 40 Ralston way and adopt a resolution authorizing and living assessment for road maintenance and operations Is outlined in the memo the deputy ceo. We have the agenda item the certification of the votes for resolution Mr. Machado. Thank you chair friend and supervisors. So this is a continued public hearing for benefit assessment rate increase for csa 40 Ballots were mailed out to the effective property owners within csa number 40 the Ralston way And the results show that a majority of the property owners within the service area agree to the increased assessment rates The ballots that were mailed were 14 14 ballots were mailed to Effective property owners 12 were returned with 11 yeses and one no vote The recommended actions after close of public hearing include accepting the certification of the vote results and adopt a resolution authorizing and living an assessment Rate as described and I'm here to answer any questions. You may have I think I don't have any questions any board members have questions All right, we'll open up the Or the continued public hearing anybody from the community you'd like to address this on Ralston Service area 40 anybody online madam clerk No speakers online chair. Okay, we'll close the public hearing bring back to the board for action. Is there a motion? I'll move the uh recommended actions Second we have a motion from supervisor Cummings and a second from supervisor Hernandez We got a roll call please supervisor Cummings. Hi Hernandez. Hi McPherson. Hi and friend Hi, this is unanimously supervisor Koenig Absent we move on to item 11 Which is a continued public hearing to consider certification of the vote results for county service area 51 Which is Hopkins Gulch Road and adopt the resolution authorizing and living assessment for road maintenance operations and projects is outlined in the memo The deputy CAO With the board item the certification of the votes and the resolution mr. Machado Thank you chair friend and supervisor. So this is a continued public hearing for csa 51 Um ballots were mailed out to the effective property owners The tabulated results confirmed the majority of property owners within the service area agree to the increase in assessment rates Uh, we did mail out 63 ballots to the effective property owners 25 were returned with 23 yeses and two knows Uh, the recommended actions after close of the public hearing are to accept the certification of the vote results And to adopt a resolution authorizing living and assessment for csa 51 And I can answer any questions that you may have questions from board members Seeing none anybody in the community during this continued public hearing that would like to address us Anybody online madam clerk. Yes chair. We do have a speaker online. Thank you Call in user to your microphones now available Carolyn Garrett that seems like a very low turn out of voter response. I wonder how well it was publicized and also seems like our taxes should be Already taking care of assessment for road maintenance and as I've stated before I feel like Um Much of the money from the county and as Becky Steinbruner stated Is being unwisely invested on products? Projects that don't really help the public. We need the road repairer our taxes should pay for that That's my comment Okay, is there anybody else online? No further speakers chair Okay, we'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the board for a motion. Is there a motion? So moved Oh second Thank you. We have a motion for the recommended actions from supervisor. Hernandez a second from supervisor coming so if we could have a Roll call, please Supervisor Cummings. Hi Hernandez. Hi McPherson. Hi and friend. Hi passes unanimously of supervisor conag absent. We'll do the Davenport county sanitation district We do have a 1045 zone 7 meeting That's item number 12 is the board of directors of the Davenport county sanitation district the public hearing to consider an ordinance Amending district code title 3 chapter 3.08 article 3 sections 3.08 160 through 1.8 180 water service charges in an ordinance amending district code title 4 chapter 4.08 article 3 sections 4.08 160 through 1.180 sewer service charges for the Davenport county sanitation district To direct the clerk the board to place the ordinances on the may 16th 2023 agenda for final adoption and set June 13th 2023 at 9 a.m. Are there after is the date and time for a public hearing on the service charge reports and take Related actions is outlined in the memo of the district engineer. We have the ordinance The sewer charge reports in the board memo. Mr. Machado Thank you chair friend and supervisors The item before you is a public hearing for a 23 24 Davenport county sanitation district Water and sewer service charges On may fun. Excuse me on march 14th. The board said today is the public hearing And the time for the public to consider the attached ordinances In addition, we hosted a community meeting on april 12th where we presented in detail the rate increases We provided q&a to the public. It was well attended and uh, we um We believe we answered all their questions And so the item today is a public hearing and after the close of public hearing We have the recommended actions that the chair graciously described in detail So I will turn it back to the board for any questions that you may have thank you mr. Machado questions from board members Are coming no question. Just I wanted to thank director machado and their team for Taking the time to go up to Davenport and meet with the residents It sounded like there was a lot of concerns before that meeting but being able to understand fully the reasons behind The need to increase the rates and just the work that the county is doing to You know bring in grants to also help support the infrastructure up there I think a lot of people were very much appreciative of you taking the time to do that And I know that there's more that folks want to do to address water issues and to have importance I'm hoping we can continue to work on that and have those conversations, but um, I haven't been receiving Much negative feedback on this given the fact that we were able to take the time and go up to Davenport and answer questions And so just wanted to thank you again for that the one Corresponds I did receive was there is a resident who was concerned with the fact that Rates are going up and there's some historically low-income families that live up there and just them wanting to See if there's anything the county can do to help low-income residents with the rate increases And so if there's any opportunity to work on that to be happy to follow up with staff Sure, just a comment on that Current law proposition 218 does not allow us to create a lower rate for For disadvantaged members. So unfortunately we can't I know that was a big topic that evening And I do believe the community is looking at other options where they could create their own Private fund to help those individuals out, but it's a great question And I wish we could do more just limited by the state law, but thank you for the Thank you for being a part of that and hosting that yourself. Thank you Thank you. We'd like to open up the public hearing. Is there anybody from the community who would like to address us on the Davenport uh sewer item Water and sewer Thank you, Becky Steinprinter I'm not a resident of Davenport, but I am aware that there is a very large recycled water facility there that is not used and I would like staff to include a report At the the next hearing about this why this investment Is not being used. I have spoken with some staff and understand that when it was The project was designed there were some Informal formal agreements with area farmers that the recycled water would be used for irrigation But now none of those farmers are using that water for various reasons And I think that this uh this district should be given an accounting of all of that And why the the purpose of the recycled water plant is not being met Couldn't it be possible to run? um Some purple pipe so that people could use this recycled water For the area parks the school lawns things like that that would reduce their dependence on the potable water for irrigation so it is uh unfortunate Or even consider that purple pipe could be run down to the city of Santa Cruz where indeed there would be Use for recycled water For parks and things of such and could be sold to the city by the Davenport sanitation district Thank you Thank you anybody else in chambers. Is there anybody online mad madam clerk's chair Call an user to your microphones now available water is a big problem and Being contaminated all over by SSI youth and also I want to refer people to geo engineering watch daughter org with dane wiggington who talks about the weather intervention Operations like held by Lockheed and Raytheon and What is coming out of the patents that they have to jump? um nanoparticles of strontium barium et cetera Contaminating our water. I'd like to see the board Take action on stopping these weather intervention Operations that are polluting our water and soil from bodies. Thank you Thank you is there anybody else online We have no further speakers chair. Okay. We'll close the public hearing bringing back to the board for action I'll move the staff recommendation on this item A second would be appropriate second. All right. So we have a motion from supervisor Cummings a second from supervisor McPherson If we could have a roll call, please Chair supervisor Cummings Hernandez Hi McPherson and friend. All right passes unanimously with supervisor conan gaps and the freedom items very brief And so I'll go ahead and do that with you here Well, I think you're probably staying anyway for zone seven, but we'll go ahead and do item 13 That will move to zone seven item 13 is as the board of directors the freedom county sanitation district A public hearing to consider an ordinance submitting district code title three article three chapter 3.08 sewer service charges and direct the clerk of the board With the ordinance on the may 16th 2023 agenda for final adoption To set june 13th 2023 at 9 a.m Where thereafter is the date and time for a public hearing under service charge reports and take related actions We're the member of the ordinance and the sewer charge report mr. Machado Thank you chair fran and supervisors The item before you is a public hearing for our freedom county sanitation district sewer service charges I do want to spend two minutes and explain the rate increase it is significant this year It is being proposed that overall increase of nine percent There are really four drivers to that and I'll just briefly explain them first is inflation at 4.9 percent The second factor is uh is a direct 1.7 percent increase due to sewer treatment costs Which we pay to the city of Watsonville The third component is uh is a significant investment in capital The I'd like to share a bit on this The district is currently finalizing an agreement with the state water resource control board for a six million dollar grant That will fund the second phase of the freedom sewer rehab project This project is planned to rehabilitate nearly 10 000 lineal feet of sewer mains and 30 manholes The capital can contribution from the increase in sewer service charges will fund the expenses of this project that are not Reimbursable by the state water resource control board That contribution is is at 173 000 Which is a very small component of the six million dollar grant that we received And then the fourth component that's driving this rate increase is that in uh in may of 2020 We received a very large grant and a loan A loan of four and a half million and a grant of four and a half million for a nine million dollar project where we rehabbed 13 000 lineal feet of pipe and uh and more than 50 manholes And so we're still paying debt service on that loan And so those are the drivers that that require this uh nine percent overall rate increase that said um The item today is a public hearing And uh, I appreciate the chair reading the recommended actions and I can answer any questions that you may have Thank you any questions from board members All right, we'll open up the public hearing on this item. Is anybody can you know you like to address this on this item? Anybody online madam clerk? We have no speakers online chair. Okay. We'll close the public hearing and bring back to the board for action Is there a motion? Second we have a motion from supervisor McPherson a second from supervisor Hernandez that we get to have a roll call please Supervisor Cummings hi Hernandez. Hi McPherson and friend. Hi and that item passes unanimously with supervisor conic Absent we will now move to our 1045 schedule item, which is the board of supervisors will now move into a zone seven meeting Uh, madam clerk, do you need any additional time? Are you okay with us? Getting forward and calling roll call on it. Um, I believe that everyone is going to be attending in person as far as I'm aware if I would just take one moment to do a review of the online attendees one moment sure Thank you chair Okay, we'll move into the flood control and water conservation district zone seven board of directors regular Meeting is about 10 53 On may 9th if we could begin with a roll call, please Certainly director Cummings here Hernandez here McPherson friend here conic absent carers carter absent culbertson absent We do have quorum and so we'll move on to the first item which is consideration of additions and deletions the consent or regular agenda That's or anything Mr. Machado. No additions nor deletions. Thank you. All right We'll open up with oral communications as an opportunity for members of the community to address us and items within the zone seven Per view but not on today's agenda. Anybody like to address us on phone seven today Okay, we'll move on to item four, which is approval of the zone seven board meeting minutes Are there any are there any questions from board members on zone seven minutes Any member of the community like to address us on the minutes In chambers anybody online? We have no speakers online chair. All right. We'll bring it back to the board fraction on item four Is there a motion for the minutes? Move the minutes We have a motion from supervisor Cummings or excuse me director Cummings the second from director McPherson If we could have a roll call, please certainly director Cummings. Hi, Hernandez. Hi McPherson and friend. Hi, and that passes unanimously with three members absent if we'll move on to the first item of the regular agenda Which is the program managers report for zone seven It's a public hearing on the zone seven assessment rate for the 23 24 fiscal year to hear objections and protests If any and consider adoption of resolution confirming the rate report As outlined in the memo of the district engineer, we have the agenda board Memo the summary of the rates and the resolution mr. Machado Thank you chair friend and directors the item before you is our 23 24 zone seven assessment rates The assessment rates form the basis of the zone seven revenue stream and adoption of the resolution confirming the written report on assessment rates for fiscal year 23 24 Will allow zone seven to perform its flood control responsibilities Inconformance to commitments made to the parol regional flood management agency The two recommended actions today are to open the public hearing hear objections and protests If any to the proposed 23 24 assessment rate report for zone seven and to close the public hearing Upon conclusion of the hearing consider Adoption of the resolution confirming the written report on assessment rates for 23 24 fiscal year and I can answer any questions you may have No, thank you. Are there any questions from Directors All right, we'll open up the public hearing any member of the community like to address us on the zone seven assessment rates I see none in chambers madam clerk anybody online. No speakers online chair All right, we will close the public hearing and bring it back to the board for a motion We'll recommend that second a motion from director McPherson for the recommended actions in a second from director Hernandez So we could have a roll call please Directing Cummings Hernandez hi McPherson and friend Hi that item passes unanimously three directors absent and moving on to item six the final item on the zone seven agenda is to consider Approval of the 23 24 proposed budget for zone seven flood control water conservation district is outlined in the member of the district engineer We have the board memo and the budget narrative mr. Machado Thank you chair friend and directors that and before you is our zone seven fiscal year budget Um presented in this memo and attachments for your consideration is the proposed 23 24 district budget The bahara river flood management agency perfuma Will take over most of the roles and responsibilities previously undertaken by the district And because of the transfer of the responsibilities a cost share agreement regarding contributions for operating expenses Buying between the district and perfuma was approved by the board on december 6 2022 This budget anticipates the net amount to be transferred to perfuma estimated to be 2.9 million dollars The recommended action today is to consider approval of the 23 24 proposed budget for zone seven Flood control and water conservation districts, and I can answer any questions that you may have Thank you. It's pretty self-explanatory any directors with questions and seeing none We'll open it up to the community any community member like to address this in chambers on the proposed budget for zone seven Good morning. Thank you It would be helpful for members of the public if the budget were displayed on the screen as you're describing it um But I want to raise an issue that came up in a recent discussion I had with Second district monterey county supervisor mr. glenn church Where and he was talking about how there's a real need To evaluate the culverts that feed into the paharo Paharo river and the levee system there There were improvements that were considered and We're going to move forward in the 90s that were dropped So I would like to request that public works review these issues as part of the budget for potential Rehabilitation of culverts and the feed system of local creeks and drainage systems into the paharo river levee system And I also would really like to see some discussion with dr. Helen dahlke from uc davis about managed managed flooding of fields for groundwater recharge it is a very Positive thing that can happen when it is managed. We don't want to repeat of what has happened with the levee braking But when managed it is a very effective tool for groundwater recharge And I would like to see it considered in some of the capital improvements or research analysis for the district. Thank you Thank you anybody else in chambers Seeing not anybody online We have no speakers online chair. Okay. We'll close public comment and bring it back to the board for actions or emotion All right We have a motion from supervisor McPherson for the recommended actions a second An enthusiastic motion from supervisor McPherson enthusiastic second from supervisor comings. We could have a roll call please certainly chairs Uh director comings. Hi Hernandez. Hi McPherson and friend. Hi that passes unanimously with three Directors absent that will close our zone seven item. Thank you mr. Machado for spending so much time up here and we'll move back to our regular agenda which is item 14 Which is to consider the sheriff's office 2022 assembly bill ab 481 annual report on military equipment acquisition and use Approving concept the uncodified ordinance to adopt amended military equipment use policy pursuant To ab 481 schedule the uncodified ordinance for second reading and final adoption at the next available agenda and take related actions Is that line in the memo of the sheriff coroner? We have the agenda board memo the annual report on military equipment acquisition and use the ordinance The policy 706 sheriff heart reporting supervisor friend board of supervisors jim heart sheriff corner With me today is lieutenant d baldwin who among his many duties. He's our ab 481 coordinator And today we're going to go over A synopsis of the annual report in your pack. You'll see a detailed accounting of how the equipment That is to find his military equipment was used during county year 2022 This bill also requires that every law enforcement agency hold a well publicized community meeting We will hold our community meeting at the sheriff's office at 5200 socal avenue on tuesday may 23rd at 6 30 p.m We've posted the announcement of the community meeting at the county building the sheriff's office and on our social media and this afternoon We will send out a press release to all local news outlets A copy of the approved report will be posted on the transparency section of our website And now lieutenant baldwin will go over the report the report with you. Thank you Thank you Friend chair friend and supervisors. Thank you Uh, like the sheriff said i'm here to present the 2022 annual report on military The purpose of this presentation is to provide the board with the ltv to speak a little bit closer to the microphone a little better Okay There we go Morning, i'm here to present the 2022 annual report on military equipment The purpose of this presentation is to provide the board with relevant information Relating to what a b41 is a review of the annual reporting requirements for a b41 and provide an overview of the 2022 deployments And also provide information relating relating to the community engagement event that the sheriff mentioned scheduled for later this month A quick review of what a b41 is this was signed into law september 2021 It's effective january 1st of 2022 It established a series of requirements for the acquisition and the use of military equipment within the county It requires that we obtain board approval for those items. It also required Elements that we establish a policy which we post on our website Hold a public hearing concerning military equipment and submit an annual report regarding the use of this equipment To start we'll summarize how the military equipment was used. You'll see in the report that our Narrative includes information on the type of equipment used in the circumstance surrounding each of their use This information helps us evaluate the effectiveness of the military equipment And provide the community with a summary of how this items were used The summary of deployments is found between pages three and five of the annual report On this slide, you'll see a summary of the deployments. This is broken down by category The uses are actually expanded further within the report to show the circumstances of how they were deployed into the field The code requires that we summarize any complaints received regarding military equipment To date the sheriff's office has received no formal complaints received regarding the use of military equipment during 2022 Part of the code also requires that we conduct internal audits and the sheriff's office Places great emphasis on maintaining the highest standards and readiness for prepared Issues using our military equipment to ensure that the equipment is in good working condition and ready to be deployed At a moment's notice we conduct regular audits In addition to assessing the equipment's condition, we carefully track each deployment for this annual report The results of the internal audit showed that the sheriff's office military equipment is in good working condition And the internal audits found no violations of the military equipment use policy The body of the annual report further includes the quantity of items possessed for each type of military equipment The total annual cost for each including acquisition personnel training transportation maintenance storage upgrade and other ongoing costs And from what source those funds will be provided for the military equipment in the calendar year following submission of this annual report This information is available between pages 8 and 32 of the report And like the sheriff mentioned We are hosting a public meeting may 23rd from 6 30 to 7 30 at the sheriff's office This will give the public the opportunity to to provide feedback and ask questions that they may have regarding our military equipment Moving into the modifications that we've made this year to our policy 706 regarding military equipment In an effort to increase clarity within the policy. We made the following changes We amended section 706.9 in regards to public submittal of complaints concerns and questions These changes that we made to the policy address How the public can submit complaints concerns and or questions in an effort to achieve More clarity on how those issues are resolved Finally, we added a section 706.10, which is the mechanisms to ensure compliance the sheriff's office policy Includes a portion about compliance with departmental policy and law It also includes auditing the use of the military equipment and investigating allegations of misconduct and submitting the findings in the annual report The recent legislation sp2 also establishes a process for decertifying police officers found culpable of serious misconduct such as physical abuse or excessive force In closing, I'd like to thank the board for your continued support in our mission to keep the county and community safe and secure We're committed to transparency and accountability in our military equipment and acquisition And usage and believe this report helps us maintain the trust and support of the community Mindedly, I asked the board to take the recommended actions and I welcome any questions that you may have at this time Thank you the time Baldwin. Other questions from board members Surveys are coming Thank you for that presentation and It's great to hear that we haven't had any complaints this year as well I have been getting some emails from aclu and I just wanted to see if I can ask the questions that they even bring into my attention One of which was around the the having ar-15s listed under the military equipment and the other was They were interested in why the Then the community meetings coming after the board takes action So just wondering if you have any comments on those two items. Sure. I'll take the uh the patrol rifle first the m4 And if I don't know if you have the the actual bill in front of you or not But in section one subsection 707 zero c10 It says that military equipment means the following specialized firearms and ammunition of less than 50 caliber including assault weapons As defined in section 30510 and 30515 with the penal code with the exception of standard issue service weapons standard issue service weapons and ammunition So all of our patrol deputies are issued and are required to carry their service pistols and patrol rifles Every deputy and peace officer in the county is trained how to use these rifles And we have them assigned throughout the sheriff's office. These rifles are standard issue Last year we consulted with the attorney general's office as well as our own county council And both county council and the attorney general agreed with our position that our patrol rifles did not qualify under ab 481 and You can see in the report that we have another rifle. It's uh, it's a 308 that our swat team uses And because that's not standard issue for every deputy we do list that in this report Great. No, thank you for that clarification and then in terms of uh the sequence of Of the of meetings um under 707 to be of The law itself it says within 30 days of submitting and publicly releasing an annual military equipment report, which is obviously What we're doing today The law enforcement agencies shall hold at least one well publicized meeting where the community can ask questions And so for me, it doesn't make sense to release Basically a rough draft to the community and have that meeting and then come to your board and If you make any amendments or changes to the report, then I I did not give the public The completed report so in my mind Yeah, it makes sense to get you receive the board's approval on the report Get get a completed report send that out to the community today And then and give them time to have the the comment period before the may 23rd meeting That's helpful. I appreciate that. Um inside and thank you Thank you. Supervisor Hernandez Let's see the little green. I don't get but anyways So so the the community is able to do input then at this 20 the meeting for the 23rd that will be um, you know Taken into consideration then yes. Oh, okay um I'm glad to hear that the uh outreach efforts are going to be continued, you know with the press release and Uh to the news outlets as well. I know it's been two weeks away. It's done 10 days before but It's good to get the outreach done as well to the public That's it. All right. Thank you Open it up for the community other members of the community that like to address us on this item. Please feel free to step forward Good morning. Welcome. Thank you for waiting Good morning. Uh, lee brokaw chairman of the police accountability transparency committee ACLU board to santa cruz chapter um I take great umbrage with the way that the sheriff is dealing with standard service issue I refer you to the police executive research forum and the way they define it. Um, the The standard service issue is like the High the patch the badge the uniform It's something that the officers wear all the time including a sidearm Um, they do not get out of their car carrying an ar-15 Um, this is a word game And it is disingenuous uh, the point of having a public meeting Um before the presentation to the board according to ab 481 is to promote transparency and public input and there cannot be any public input to uh Uh, a report that is a fatal complete. It's already before you Um, if the public were to get the sheriff to change his mind Then this meeting would not be the first reading you'd have to have a first reading a second time So it is actually backwards. Uh, I take umbrage with the, um ar-10 the 308 rifle Where the sheriff says that the sheriff's office is not aware of any additional ongoing personnel training transportation maintenance storage upgrade and other ongoing basis This kind of repetitive statement is throughout this report and is unbelievable Unbelievable in order to have a sniper Who is actually a good sniper? He has to practice all the time and the sheriff is unaware of any further practice That is necessary. Um I I'm I know I'm running out. I already have run out of time. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Worker. Thank you for waiting Good morning. Welcome back Good morning. Thank you for the um presentation. I'm wondering about sb2 Legislation does that only relate to decertifying officers with regard to the misuse or misconduct of these military weapons? Or is that in general? I also want to know who conducted the audits I'm raising the issues of bias and untrustworthiness by michael genico Who is an alleged independent auditor of law enforcement for many agencies? My uh complaints on mr genico's untrustworthiness can be found in agenda item 21 Attached public documents to today's santa cruz city council meeting. I would highly encourage you to read that And i'm going to request some civilian audits I think we need civilian oversight into what's actually happening instead of these in-house audits that can be very biased It can be misleading and I don't think it's true transparency. So i'm going to make that request. Thank you. Thank you Good morning. Welcome back Hello, my name is james euling wittman. I know in the past maybe eight weeks I've spoken three times on this subject in the city of santa cruz So i'll try not to repeat any information, but I do appreciate the public comments before and I do appreciate this presentation Uh, this book the doctrine of the lesser magistrates just describes many things that are quite interesting and um There's a lot of information and there could be more community involvement. I think that there actually should be more community involvement Uh, I don't know the 308 is an astounding tool. It's amazingly loud to But one of the elements in the room that's not being talked about and I believe it's on page 206 in there under 14 b under all the various Tools that law enforcement can use Or stuff that's not really being talked about. I know the first time I was in a city council meeting almost four years ago Um stuff came up about the frequency weapons And after the first 13 or 14 people spoke I why did no one not say that? Why are these military weapons being installed in civilian areas now? I've spoken Maybe the first or second time in the city about how law enforcement only people being thrown under the bus more than the Teachers and youth are law enforcement that has to do with the stuff. They physically wear which they should be Educated of how easy and cheap it is to shield yourself from that But there's frequency weapons all over the place that aren't being discussed And uh anybody can look at uh 8500 declassified documents in 1976 by almost every three four five six seven eight nine letter agency About how these silent weapons affects all of us whether we want to acknowledge them or not and um I wasn't exactly what I was going to talk about but it's a good start. Thanks Thank you anybody else in chambers Okay, steinbrenner before you start my clock. Can you please put back up the slide that showed the number of Deployments and the different things that are were deployed. Can you put that slide back up? Please Lutana, do you have that on yours? We can do it very briefly. Thank you Because didn't stay up very long and we can go ahead and start the clock because you're you're coming Okay. Thank you in reference to that slide there were a number of acronyms of things and I don't know what those things are It would be helpful to have them defined It would be helpful for the public to understand what caused those Instruments that equipment to be deployed And you know, I want to back up a bit and first of all, thank law enforcement for the job you do Thank you I do appreciate that you're out there. I do appreciate how dangerous your job is and I do appreciate that you're there to protect the public And to enforce the law. Thank you So at this public meeting, I'm happy to know about it on May 23rd I hope that This slide and the information that's in it will be a little more defined and more public friendly You know what it is, but most people don't I would like to know if there are As the previous speaker said the electronic or microwave for lack of a better use Weapons or or equipment that can be activated. I was made aware that some of the Inner major intersections in the city of Santa Cruz and possibly in the county of Santa Cruz may have Something like this. I would like more information on that I want to know, um, I want to be sure that at this May 23rd town Public meeting that there is a Spanish translator available For everyone to be able to understand what's being said and to be understood I think it would be helpful to And reassuring for the public to see the training schedule That officers are required to To meet in order to have access to and deploy these weapons. That would be great I would like Thank you. Ms. Timeburner. Thank you Anybody else in chambers when I seen on madam cork is there anybody online? Yes, sir. We do have speakers online Collin user three your microphone is now available. I say no on militarization of police The sheriff's office already has excessive equipment and force and misconduct that has been repeated to you And there's inherent misconduct with military weapons of war this seems to me like laying the foundation for military rule Note military war And I don't like what the u.s. Military is doing all over the world with infasions and occupations and 800 military bases And this also is a waste of counting money With this military equipment as I read through It's like in the millions of dollars. I don't know what the total is And then you say it's like for crowd control well Who defines that? And the list of this military equipment This is a war on the public as far as I'm concerned The military equipment and you say oh, it's for safety. No, it's for the opposite Military equipment I'm reading from 14c includes but it's not limited to the following This should be read out loud by you chair friend Unmanned remotely piloted powered aerial or ground vehicles. This is microwave by the way remotely piloted Mine resistant ambush protection vehicles tasers, which we know have killed people shockwave microwave weapons water Anybody else online madame clerk peter your microphone is now available Thank you. This is peter galblum. Um, I submitted a lengthy email which I Hope you've read that I doubt it and I will summarize that very briefly And I have some comments about the annual report. I second the Suggestion that you continue the this hearing until after the may 25 community meeting Which what makes most sense and ab 40 This this statute was primarily intended to increase transparency And community input into the acquisition and use of military weapons. That's the purpose of this statute having the community meeting After this board votes completely undermines that and what can be done In response to sheriff heart's suggestion is you submit the draft report To the community let the community have input on the draft report And then come back to the supervisors to you with a final report that includes the community input Otherwise you're completely undermining any sense of community input in the supervisor's decision Which is the only decision that matters here secondly The assault rifles are not standard issue weapons. There are 155 Peace officers and only 83 assault rifles So they obviously are not standard issue and I ask one of you to please ask sheriff heart to clarify How they are standard issue if only half the officers are If there are only half the weapons if there are for Half the weapons compared to the number of officers As to the report itself Ask why are there 24 drones? Why are 24 drones necessary? The report says there are not not a single penny of storage or maintenance costs for any of these weapons Even the vehicles that is simply not possible If there are no maintenance costs for these weapons including vehicles and those storage costs It's not possible. Please look at this carefully. Thank you Thank you Bernie your microphone is now available Yeah, uh, good morning, uh, what was the good afternoon chair and board. Um, I just have urged the board to um Just direct the sheriff to have uh the public Meeting first before coming back over here, you know, I think it's very important that You as a board and representative of constituents, right have the full scope of The conversation that's happening within 481 with the sheriff and community, right? Um, it's just uh, I think that just makes sense. Um If not, you know, just again just going back and forth and back and forth and just kind of Redundant, but I think this board, you know, um, really deserves And I would hope that would want to know what the community input is around Uh, militarized equipment in our communities, right? Um And there's this national You know conversation around these type of assault weapons, you know, we're seeing All the atrocities that are happening. So they are militarized military grade weapons, you know, regardless Standard or not, I think this board should want to have a full, uh, item my list of what type of military equipment is, uh Is there an or, you know, just, uh Whether or not the sheriff believes it It should be there or not. This bill also gives the authority for this board to Request these types of things, you know, that go above and beyond just a simple status quo um, but again lastly just again just urge the board to, um Have that meeting first with public and then have that this, uh This report come back to you with the full scope of community input. Thank you Thank you We have no further speakers chair. All right. I'd like to bring it back to the board for action. Is there a motion? We'll recommend it A motion from supervisor McPherson. Is there a second? You know, I'd like to second. I just like to make a uh, not a recommendation But you know, I'd like to continue to make sure that we that we continue what we're doing But also I want to see how this plays out with this meeting, right? And maybe If it plays out well, that'll be good. But you know, if you think that if you want to consider maybe doing the meetings uh in the future doing them prior to the to the To the meetings prior to the board meetings, uh If this if the way we're doing it now doesn't work out Let's consider moving it so that we do the meetings prior to the board meeting uh, if that's Okay with sheriff hard. Yeah, I I'll I'll consider that supervisor I'm not I'm not going to commit to it, but I will certainly consider and I'll talk to my staff and and I know peter gill bloom and he knows he can call me comment. He emails me and we we we we communicate So he knows he can always express his concerns to me as mr. Broca and others But I will definitely consider next year having the community meeting ahead of the board meeting It's just when you get multiple documents out there. You have a rough draft. You have a final draft. Which one are we going off of? It just gets a little bit confused and I've experienced this before with other projects So I like to have that final draft board approved presented to the community We'll take their input and if there's something good in there We can always come back to you or we can put it in the the following year's report Okay, there's a motion and a second any additional I think it would also just be helpful to know how many people attend those meetings Whether that comes back in a memo or what have you but just trying to understand the community's interest in this And you know, how many people attend the meeting? I think we'll be helpful for us We'd be happy to yeah And if there's any feedback that you think will be helpful for us as well that comes out of that meeting It'd be great for us to receive that as well But I do want to say to one of the points that was brought up there is a In the annual report on military equipment. There is a detailed list of when the Equipment was used and so just so that people are aware that some of the Information that people were requesting is within this report and you can find it looks on Page four and page five of the AB 41 annual report Thank you All right, we have a motion and a second if we could have a roll call, please Certainly chair and to clarify for the record. I have supervisor McPherson moving and supervisor Hernandez seconding. That's correct. Thank you Supervisor Cummings. Hi Hernandez McPherson and friend. All right, and that passes unanimously supervisor conic absent Thank you. We do have one more item. We had a pulled item from consent Which was was item 24 is now item 15.1 to direct the chair to send letters to the chairman of the house committee on transportation infrastructures aviation subcommittee Congressman Panetta and the san francisco international airport community round table supporting inclusion of the noise metric and community impact related policy As part of the faa reauthorization act of 2023 is recommended by supervisor conic, but pulled by supervisor cumming supervisor Cummings Yes, so um after reading through the agenda report and based on the motion language that's before us, um You know, one of the things we're supposed to be voting on is supporting inclusion of the noise metric and community impact related policy And going through the packet that policy wasn't present for us to review and so I just like I know that this faa And fly path issue was something that was um controversial in the community And there's a lot of work that was done to try to address flight path related issues And um before we kind of move forward with supporting a policy I'd like to have an opportunity for us and for staff to be able to review The policy recommendations that are supposed to be considered under the federal aviation administration reauthorization act of 2023 And I also know that supervisor conic isn't here today to be able to respond to any of our concerns And so I think that's even more of a reason for this to come back to us so that we as a board can ask questions as to you know, um, what its intent of moving this forward and um, you know be able to better understand this policy and how it's and Um, yeah, I'll just leave my comments there Continuing the item to the next meeting would be totally within the board's purview So if you are open to that we couldn't make a motion to just continue this item with um What can you continue with additional direction? I guess you can't you can So continue maybe with the additional direction of the policy being attached. Yeah, all right So if there's no additional comments on this I'll open it up to the community on This item is or anybody would like to address this on this item Okay, I'll bring it back to supervisor. Come in. I'll move it. We continue. I'm sorry. Sorry My mistake is there anybody online? That's my mistake. I apologize. Yes chair. We do have a speaker online Sorry about that calling user three your microphone is now available Garrett this sounds like an important inclusion To have and I'd like to have something else included with the in your letter to the aviation uh, house committee on Transportation and infrastructures aviation subcommittee I know I had read about The 5g interference with the airport equipment and There are major cell towers for instance at these airports than the one in Watsonville This is a problem and the potential of equipment failure And therefore causing crashes um I think that needs to be included in there was something I maybe you know the status About not having 5g Near the airports. I don't think it should be anywhere. I think what is dangerous frequencies should be prohibited And made to they need to prove what they're using is safe And not harming the public you talk about safety a lot What about protection of our Making sure we're safe by not being assaulted by these Military and microwave frequencies. I'd like to have that included. Thank you Anybody else online? We have no further speakers chair. Okay. I apologize about that. I'll bring it back to the board now for emotion Yeah, I'll move the um That we continue item number 24 To the next meeting and Upon this returning to the agenda that it includes the policy The noise metric and community impacts related policy second All right. Yeah, I'd just like to say thank you. I think it's well Well deserved that we we look at this the county who's been frustrated for years About of the transparency of the f a and this issue as we all recall who were there at the time The f a is a federal agency and that's where the decision is made based on safety and and And economy is what they put it but I'll look forward to seeing with this in more detail. Thank you Thank you. We have a motion from supervisor Cummings and a second from supervisor Hernandez. We have a roll call, please Supervisor Cummings I Hernandez I McPherson I and friend I and that passes unanimously with supervisor Koenig absent We do have a lengthy closed session Kind of councils or anything expected to be reportable out of that. No All right, then we will adjourn our regular meeting going to closed session