 Good morning everybody. We'd like to call to order The September 25th meeting of the board of supervisors just to note that Supervisor Caput is in route He's just on highway one, but he will be here So if we could have a roll call, please Supervisor Leopold here Coonerty here Caput McPherson Friend here if you could all join us in a moment of silence on the Pledge of Allegiance Good morning, Mr. Plasios. Do we have any changes to today's agenda? There's just one revision on the consent agenda item number 14. There's additional materials. There was a strategic plan poster That was not included in the original agenda that we're including now Thank you We're now going to open it up to the community. This is an opportunity for Public comment. This is for items that are on the consent agenda items that are not on today's agenda or Items that but within the purview of the board of supervisors as well as items on a regular agenda If you're unable to stay for the regular agenda item, this is your opportunity to speak. You'll have three minutes To address us on those items Feel free to step forward. Good morning. Welcome Mr. Chairman members of the board. My name is Jeffrey Ellis Live in the first district where I've lived for more than 30 years and I'm here to address the board on item 16 on the consent agenda, which is the Shelter crisis Clearly you need to pass some kind of resolution like this in order to access state funds to construct homeless shelters and However Passing the proposed ordinance would completely wave state housing codes That apply to the construction of these shelters As you know state housing codes by the most basic requirements for housing There has to be plumbing there has to be heating there has to be a Way to exit quickly in case of fire things like this Under Senate bill 850 you can elect not to waive these requirements and you can still get the money And my request is that you consider that More fundamentally, I mean the consent agenda is for items that do not reflect policy decisions But you really have important policy decisions here Not just are you going to wave the code, but which codes are you going to wave? What are you going to do when the shelter crisis? Comes to an end and you have substandard buildings. Are they going to be upgraded? Are they going to be demolished? Are they going to be grandfathered in? So my request then is to remove this item from consideration for today Refer it to staff for recommendations on the policy questions. I believe you've got plenty of time To apply for the state funds. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. Welcome Good morning Board of Supervisors and Santa Cruz County My name is Jimmy cook. I'm the program director at Casa of Santa Cruz and I'm here specifically to Celebrate and thank our former executive director Cynthia droolie Casa of Santa Cruz Casa stands for court appointed special advocates and we train and recruit and supervise Volunteers in our community to work with children in the foster care system and under supervision of the dependency court Cynthia worked with Casa for over six and a half years steadily and During her time with Casa of Santa Cruz. We're able to increase our budget by about 50 percent Our staff by about 25 percent and we were able to assign volunteers work with kids in the dependency court system And during that time, I think we served over 700 new children Um, it was quite impressive. She did a lot of advocacy in the community as well Helping to make sure that our school districts understood the need To help children be successful in school so they can have a chance to be successful in life So I wanted to welcome Cynthia droolie here today so she could speak for a second as well Cynthia Thank you My retirement, um, I feel like um, I retired from Casa, but I'm going to continue to be a champion for Casa in the community Um, the work that we've done over the past few years Really has I think changed the landscape for children in the foster care community And I specifically want to thank um the board of supervisors for the support that you provided over the years and the funding And the work that you've done And also I want to thank Ellen Timberlake and family and children services and human services department for the partnership that they provided with Casa We grew quite a bit over the last few years and we ventured into new realms Supporting infants and toddlers specifically and in fact it became the fastest growing program for us in the last couple of years Um, Lynn Petrovic, um the new executive director Planned to be here today, but she's caught in the traffic Coming from south county right now Um, so I want to welcome her too because uh under her leadership. I know that Casa is gonna continue and grow um the work that I did for Casa the last few years um in my 50 years of working It was the most rewarding work that I ever did in my life. Um the work Um in working with children in foster care. I think those children are the most deedy um the most Under misunderstood and um the most neglected and I think the other thing that was most rewarding for me Was the way that the community of Santa Cruz stepped up Um the the work that we did with just uh 12 staff members We had 300 volunteers in our community who stepped up And the work that we did um required so many people To volunteer and stand side by side with those children every day two to four hours a week That really made a difference and I want to put out one appeal as long as I'm still a cheerleader and ambassador for Casa The neediest thing that Casa has right now Is because we're serving infants and toddlers and working in the homes with children is for spanish speaking volunteers So i'm gonna put out that appeal because um the children who need spanish speaking volunteers right now are on the wait list twice as long As any other child So if people know of volunteers who speak spanish or people who speak spanish who might be willing to volunteer That would be very very helpful So I want to thank the board of supervisors and I want to thank the community of Santa Cruz For giving me the honor and the privilege of working with Casa and for working in this community for the last 30 years I love Santa Cruz. Um, I've loved working here and I've loved volunteering here As a community member. Thank you All right, Cynthia and don't leave yet Because the board actually has a token of our appreciation for you We have a proclamation that was done For you by Supervisor Caput since your since Casa is located in the fourth district and Supervisor McPherson because we understand you're a proud fifth district Resident and we have a couple things in here That I think that the community should hear that was written in this proclamation about some of the remarkable work That you specifically have done in your leadership first This wasn't your original career path, which I think that a lot of people don't know That you had a career path that started in high technology And uh, you decided that you wanted to give back in a very unique way and you've been doing this For quite some time, but but your contributions here Over the past six years Casa has steadily increased the number of children served by 10 a year and last year served 283 children and youth in foster care And after your 50 years of working You plan to spend more time reading relaxing and traveling But this is what I thought was beautiful after seeing the many beautiful handmade quilts donated to the children at Casa And they really are quite remarkable. You now aspire to become a quilter so you can do the same thing On a personal note, I had a close friend of mine that volunteered at Casa She was a local attorney and she passed away And she had told me that the greatest meaning that she had gotten was her volunteer time at Casa the work that you do And the people that you touch So we want to present this To you it's a small token for the remarkable work that you do for The youth in our community, but you have left a remarkable legacy and we appreciate your contributions to our local community on this Thank you I just want to take a moment and also thank Cynthia and the entire team at Casa and all the volunteers for the extraordinary work You do it's really uh the way that we Make intergenerational change the way we improve lives is on a person by person basis and cannot Casa really connects people With with kids and families when they need it most and so thank you for your leadership I'll also add that you know last year the board of supervisors held a special meeting at the museum of ardent history to look at the issues of foster youth We heard some powerful testimony. It was a very powerful exhibit Which a county staff was involved in and lots of community members and lots of kids who were involved with Casa Were involved in And it really brought home the the special challenges that that uh that young people face who are in the foster care system And the important role that Casa plays Thank you for your leadership And good humor and being a such a positive role model for women In leadership positions here in santa Cruz county. We really appreciate it I also want to thank you and uh, I remember when I was on the city council and Casa was going to move into the The new house there on freedom boulevard And there was opposition at the time from the neighbors But when I talk to the neighbors now, you're the most popular Neighbor and the whole neighborhood People really like having you there It's uh, you know, thank you for everything you're doing and keep it up Thank you We'll continue with public comment. Good morning. Wait. Uh, welcome. Thank you for waiting Of course. Thank you. I'm always happy to recognize people who do good work in the community and volunteer their time My name is Becky Steinbruner. I'm a resident of aptos Um, I want to thank the gentleman who stood up first and brought to your attention the seriousness of declaring a crisis As a shelter crisis in our county and ask as I did in a very late email last night That this item be pulled from the consent agenda put on the regular agenda Or as he suggested, uh delayed and continued for further study. This is a very significant action And has no place on a consent agenda um under that, uh, it would declare Uh declaring a crisis enables the county to suspend any state or local regulatory statute Regulation or ordinance prescribing standards of housing health or safety To the extent that strict compliance quote would in any way prevent Hinder or delay mitigation of the effects of the shelter crisis and quote It enables the county to enact alternative health and safety standards to be operative during the shelter crisis For this one time Nearly 10 million dollar grant it has much farther reaching impacts And as I said in my message to you in the wee hours of this morning I think we also need to look at how it could impact our county's image for possible, uh financial investors and for tourism Um, so I want to ask that you pull this item from the consent agenda at the very least And wait until mr. McPherson gets here to be part of the discussion I want to bring to your and the public attention measure g the proposed Half-cent sales tax that your board has put on the ballot the wording for that Measure says that it will fund Continue and i'm reading from the election material to continue funding 9 1 1 emergency response paramedic sheriff fire Emergency preparedness local street repairs mental health services Homeless programs parks economic development and other general county services County fire gets no money from the general fund But you are making it appear with this that money would go to county fire County fire officials asked mr. Palacio to put on this november ballot And measure that would have increased county service area 48 the sole mechanism of funding county fire He pushed it back to april Now people will read this and think oh this is going to fund county fire If this goes through how will they accept another request in the spring to fund county fire because this does not Thank you Good morning. Welcome. Thank you for waiting. Good morning My name is lana brazilovsky and our son has a serious mental illness At 16 he attended uc santa cruz being two years ahead of his class He was a straight a honor student and lettered athlete He loved the ocean and received awards for his underwater photography. He loved to snorkel and windsurf When his illness manifest during second semester his personality changed drastically From one who was a serious student fastidious about his appearance to the shoveled ragged And wild eyed individual He left his dorm overlooking the ocean to live on the street My husband and I have devoted the past 27 years to getting him the best help available With the goal of keeping him out of the criminal justice system We failed He has been in and out of school jail prison and the hospital for most of his life Second story peer respite house is a quiet unseen jewel in our community There are so many unseen ways that it's improving the lives of those with and without mental illness health challenges We all see the effects of untreated mental illness on our streets Swelling courtrooms and our jail population We do not see the effects of those who are saved from this suffering and in turn helping others Peers are in a unique position to help each other in ways that clinicians can't We are so lucky to have this Entirely peer run facility in our county In this case the most compassionate thing is also the most cost effective thing I urge you to take every step possible To protect and promote this precious jewel. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you Good morning. Welcome back Good morning. Thank you all for being here. It's good to see you guys again. I'm jessica brown and I'm here to ask you guys to find the funds to keep second story respite A residential program It is a jewel in the community. It does the people that come through our program Are given an opportunity to become A part of the community. There's healing. There's health And people that were On their way to the criminal system Locked institutions do heal they give back and then it is cost effective for our community These people are not dependent on the resources repeatedly I just think it's really important that you consider and do everything possible To keep us residential and not community-based. Thank you. Thank you Good morning. Welcome back. Thank you. My name is Tracy Kennedy and I just wanted to share some information about second stories Change over to a community-based program as I speak to more people in the community The feedback that I'm getting from them is that That type of program is not going to offer the support that they need Being able to be in a home 24 7 you know for 14 days really offers more opportunities for them to connect with people and to Really get the support at the exact time when when they're needing it Which can be at like three in the morning or you know 12 in the afternoon It really can't be something that's scheduled, you know We can't schedule a time to go out and meet with someone in their home And have that be a really Important time for them to be able to connect with someone also My understanding is that it's difficult to find us an actual brick and mortar home to run that program out of and I think that's an important aspect that needs to be looked at as well And the difference between the funding for the two programs is $300,000 And it seems like if we can get halfway to funding second story, then maybe there should be You know, there's got to be another way to find the other half of the funding. So thank you very much. Thank you Good morning and welcome back Good morning mark linder Speaking on behalf of copa today on item number 17 Item 17 is the proposed three-year pilot program to waive certain fees for ad use As an organization that is Fighting hard to get more and more housing here. I think this is a great program as a former retired now city manager I love three-year pilot projects because there are ways to really test things out and to make adjustments rather than get locked in So very much support this and hope it goes through today. Thank you. Thank you And I thank you for your acknowledgement of Cynthia Julie. My wife was on the board for a while And I've been a court appointed special advocate. So it was very nice to see that gesture today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Good morning. Welcome back. Good morning. I'm gail pellerin. I'm your county clerk register our voters and today is national voter registration day It's the largest one-day effort in the united states to register voters out in our communities We are partnering with the libraries and these our local starbucks So you can read and register at the libraries or drink up democracy at starbucks And I want to thank all of our volunteers who are out there registering voters a deadline to register for the November elections October 22nd and just wanted to say get out there and register. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks for your work Good morning. Welcome back Good morning. We really do have the best voter registrar in the state So many ways Um, i'm betsey clark. I'm here today in my role as a nami board member And i'm not going to stand here and tell you how wonderful second story is how awesome how unique how cost effective because you've heard all of that I'm here to thank you for your patience and listening and engaging on this topic. I think that You know, everyone has been really open to hearing us Kind of endlessly and I don't know if you read all the letters, but I know there's been a lot So I just want to thank you for keeping an open mind on this And I want to also encourage you to keep to continue to keep an open mind And as you know, not only we've People have been sending you letters telling you what a great service it is You've also got a lot of letters that have to do with like Ways this can be saved and things that we have, you know, looked at and appreciate The fact that you have taken the time to look at some of those and I would just encourage you to do that And hopefully we can find a solution. Thank you. Thank you Good morning. Welcome morning Alan broslovsky i'm an attorney And I've had the occasion to represent clients in different counties who have had mental health problems And I have seen that anything we can do To take people out of the criminal justice System and give them the help they need rather than warehouse them Is a benefit for this county? It is an excellent return on investment And the second story Lights need to stay on Not only to illuminate the rooms But to act as a beacon For people who need help And who can and will be diverted out of the criminal justice system, which will save this county Time energy and money So I urge you anything that can be done Any agreements any? Added a box thinking that would save this entity Would be of great value to this county and of great value to the greater community Of santa cruz. Thank you Thank you Anybody else like to address us in the public comment time? Okay, we'll close public comment. We'll bring it to the board for consideration and action on the consent agenda Uh morning supervisor cap it. Is there anything you you would like to discuss on the consent agenda? Good morning supervisor. Kennedy. Sure. Uh, I have just a A couple items to discuss and then an additional direction The first item is number 17 And I want to offer my appreciation to the chair and to the staff for bringing this pilot program forward To reduce fees on ad use. I think this is an important step We can take among many to increase the supply of Housing in our community, especially for workforce Housing and and so I'm supportive of this effort On item number 23. We have a contract with sobriety works. This is similar to a contract we had at our last meeting To expand drug Medi-Cal and increase treatment in our treatment options in our community It's absolutely essential that we do this I'd like to direct hsa to report back on drug Medi-Cal ODS performance measures in a year to include the additional performance measures That's number one the number of clients who remain sober six months post treatment and two the number of nights The residential treatment beds go unfilled. This is the same direction that I gave next week in the future if we can just make this A regular metric that we have Going forward. I'd appreciate it. But for this particular item To add these performance measures would be great And then an item on number 28 this is thrive by three and I just want to commend ellen timberlake and the human services department They're going after new state home visiting dollars This this is a lot of additional resources for families And babies in our community. It's incredibly important to make that investment as early and it's um I just want to note that this is a product of both this county's commitment to this population But also ellen timberlake's statewide leadership to be able to really influence how state regulations are set up and spending And so we're we're lucky to be able to apply and we're lucky to have her representing us at the state level Thank you supervisor leopold. Good morning. Good morning chair Just a couple of items to to speak about them item 16 about the the shelter crisis I understand the concerns raised by members of the community. I do Recognize also the 82 of the people who are homeless in santa cruz county who have no shelter and that these are thousands of people and We should need to be doing as much as we can to provide shelter For people who are unhoused here in santa cruz county Although this gives us some waiver on Uh The pieces of our code you should be assured that anything in which the county is involved in Is going to make sure that it's safe and that it's reasonable for the people who are there and provides a better opportunity for them Then living in the trees By the creek beds and other places here in santa cruz county So it's a very important issue and and we have to Take big steps to address the the number of people unhoused here in santa cruz On item number 25. I want to thank the health services agency For uh bringing this item about student loan repayments For people who are working in health care in our clinics I think this is uh really critical to making sure that we have quality staff and that we Make sure that the people who are doing that public sector public health work Um, uh can help get their uh loan uh repayments made so I know we approved this earlier This is just improving this one, but thank you to health services Um, also an item number 27. I'm glad to see that we're making Progress sometimes it seems slow on the silicon valley regional data trust initiative Uh, this is a really critical Piece that could really help us break down the silos that often separate us Um and sharing information that could help out individual community members and the community as a whole And I just want to encourage to keep on pushing hard To get this up and running because I think it could have a great impact on santa cruz county On item number 29. I want to thank the parks department for their ongoing efforts and advocacy to identify funding for the, uh Hard to soak hell or the soak hell creek linear parkway Park staff has done incredible work And as we were out there last thursday for a soak hell family movie night You realize what a great resource we have that right in the heart of soak hell And I appreciate the efforts by staff to help make that plan become real Lastly on item number 32 The update about the winter storms. It is helpful to have this information. I appreciate The work by our staff and the advocacy trying to get these projects completed. I know it takes a while I'm hoping that in future Reports we can also get some idea of target dates of when Constructions might start with a big asterisk that you understand that that that it's an estimate because there are a lot of other pieces involved there I've checked in with staff or my staff has checked in with public work staff to find out When projects might start It's really helpful for us to have that information But I appreciate the ongoing work and the difference that it's already made In fixing the roads damaged by the 2017 storms That's it. Thank you supervisor leopold a couple items. I'd like to briefly discuss item 17 Which I brought forward. I wanted to thank the ceo and the planning department for their work With me on this in order to consider a three-year pilot program to reduce Or actually eliminate some of these fees for ad use for small ad use It would cost about 7500 A unit on the county for this we pay in some cases about a quarter of a million dollars in subsidy unit for affordable housing Apartment developments and so if this can incent Any kind of small unit development within our community? I think it would be a faster and be a lot more cost effective than what we currently do and it's in looking throughout the state While other Communities have looked two ways to reduce fees for ad use this actual program seems to be unique in the state And I think that this is something that we should be proud of that we're moving forward with I'll share my colleagues compliments to miss timbrillek on item 28 And also I'd like to thank supervisor kundry for his leadership on this item He's been and his staff both allison and rachel and his staff have been working very hard to ensure That thrive by three succeed and they are a strong advocates for The youngest in our community On item 32, I'd also like to thank mr. Machado mr. Wiesner for your work And also note that the financial impact that you mentioned On item 32 doesn't mention the element that a lot of these funds on the local match will come from sp1 which is under Threat with prop 6 so just to note that that the timeline is what it is But if we lose the funding on the local match the timeline will slip and we need to ensure that we have that local funding Because there's a lot of storm damage still in all of our districts And in some parts of our district that are still limiting Access down to one lane or less in areas where people live and we've got an upcoming winter So these it's essential that we continue to have the funding streams that we have And losing it would be very problematic So that's all for the consent agenda. We have our request for additional direction on 23 Is there a motion with that additional direction? So moved the consent agenda with the amendments Second so we have a motion from supervisor leopold and a second from supervisor kundry with additional direction on item 23 All those in favor I opposed it passes unanimously with uh supervisor mcpherson absence supervisor mcpherson is is uh with his family today Nothing's wrong. He's just had a travel thing that he needed to do with his family today But so your regrets not being able to be here today We'll move on to the regular agenda These are items that we did consider last week, but there was additional direction on them From supervisor leopold. So we've decided to continue the items to today. That's item six Bear with me is I have to reread the item which is to consider ordinance amending chapters 1.010608 2.02030406 10 12 18 24 40 42 45 54 56 58 60 64 70 and 78 80 90 92 96 2.117 121 122 and 124 the santa cruz county code To address miscellaneous code provisions correct typographical errors and update agency titles and statutory References to return the next available agenda for final adoption is outlined in the memo the county council We do have the ordinance and the code updates for all of these that win the strikeout and underlines Mr. Heath welcome back. Good morning board jason. He's the county council's office Last week we brought this item to you it is part of our county code update project You instructed us to go back and change make a couple of changes to The gender pronouns we've done that work and now we're returning with the ordinance I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about this item Are there any questions? Thank you supervisor leopold for your request last week. Do you have any update to that comment? No, I would just thank the staff for taking the time to to review this and making sure that we're in As inclusive as possible And I was over the weekend. I was with Therapists who does a lot of work with the transgender community And when I shared what we were doing that the appreciation was was great because they recognize the All the different ways in which there are barriers in language and other actions To people who's don't register as binary in terms of their Their gender identity. So thank you for that Any other comments from board members? We will open it up for the community. This is on item six. Does anybody have any Comments on item six on the regular agenda Like a morning welcome back Good morning becky steinbrunner um, I spoke About this issue before you when these were all before you last time And again want to point out that the changes in wording that really critically restrict the duties and purview of the county water advisory commission Is more than just changing grammatical misspelling errors. It really Changes what they What their role is The annual county water report is a substantial document And it is a compendium for the the state of the water in this county and three of the five of you Sit on a board for One or sometimes both of the Groundwater sustainability Committee boards for our county the mid county groundwater and the santa margarita groundwater Which I happen to notice both of you were missing from at the board meeting And I really think that We we can't we can't have this kind of change that gets just read off summarily In a string of numbers It's not transparent to the public that there are very critical changes being made at least in this commission That's the only one that that stuck out at me Because I go to those meetings when I can But but to remove a very critical piece of The ability of a citizen oversight Group to be able to weigh in on content and implementation Of the county's annual water report. I think is a disservice to the public And I did have a an email exchange with mr. John ricker He does not agree with me But there are many in the water community that do So I would like to ask that you pull that particular change From your approval today And bring it before A wider body Perhaps the mid county groundwater the santa margarita groundwater agency and get their take on it Because this is a big change. It's not just a change in a typo or a punctuation. It is limiting the purview And I also want to speak that in terms of the historic resources commission. I also go to those meetings And they have no minutes Other than action minutes So there is no record for people to see the decisions that they actually make they are not recorded I pay someone to come and video record them and put them up on youtube But this commission is making Serious Decisions as to bulldozing our county historic resources and I ask you to pull that one as well. Thank you. Thank you Anybody else on item six? Marilyn Garrett I concur with Becky steinbruner and urge you to pull those Two sections and it seems like often We say oh things are minor changes. They're typos were streamlining And what you're actually doing so often as with what you've done with the consent agenda And not letting the public speak and someone asks you to pull it. You don't pull the item Is you're streamlining the public Out of any discussion Or decision-making These are important changes and you've got such a lengthy list Anyway, what I I've seen over the years is more and more Decisions are being made behind closed doors therefore In the interest of corporations and muddying interests like the svensson project developers And it doesn't and it's not really in the interest of the the public These are I just saying What semblance of democracy There is is being more and more diminished And your obligation is protect the public health and well-being And what Becky just brought up and previous Policies seem to be going the other way It's very disheartening and not What People have elected you to do As I see it Anybody else like to address us on item six Supervisor Leopold, we'll close that and bring back to the board. Supervisor Leopold. Thank you chair I think I appreciate the comments by members of the public But I think it should be clear to the public who might be listening That the changes made for the water advisory commission are not more restrictive. They're more explanatory and and the The the slight change in the warning does not limit what they do It actually cast it more broadly in my opinion and you should also know that the the county Coordinating with Lafko and water agencies has been actually trying to highlight and promote our water report Over the last couple of years with public events so people could better understand what's going on around water The county also participates as was mentioned in two advisory groups Formed out of the Groundwater Sustainability Act Even though we do not Control any water systems. We participate in these and pay to participate in these and are represented by some members of this board To participate and their goal is actually to do public outreach and to better inform people about water issues So I think the the the county of Santa Cruz is doing a lot To better inform the public engage the public And the water advisory Commission is one of the tools in which we use Um, I support these changes and I would move the recommended actions On the second we have a motion from supervisor. We have pulled in a second from supervisor. Coonerty before we go to that vote Mr. Heath last week you had asked whether the I just want to make sure you have the clarity you'd asked whether the board Wanted them to come back this way. Do you feel that you have clarity moving forward on future modifications for process Yes, I'm going to continue doing it this same way If it ever becomes problematic The way this is being presented. Just let me know and like I can do it a different way I expect to bring another ordinance to you next month Along the same line. Okay. Thank you. All those in favor I opposed it passes unanimously with supervisor McPherson absent That's actually all the items that we have on today's agenda. I'd like to thank Community tv for covering and we will see you back here on october 2nd