 Good morning everybody. I'd like to call to order the January 15th morning meeting of the board of supervisors. We could have a roll call, please Good morning. Happy New Year supervisor I'm not on I think you are hello. Okay Supervisor Leopold here Coonerty here cap it McPherson chair friend here and if you could join us in a brief moment of silence in the Pledge of Allegiance I Yes, there are a number of changes to the agenda on the regular agenda item 11 There's additional materials a replacement attachment F packet page 39 on the consent agenda item 16 Additional materials. There's a revised memo and packet replacement packet page 66 item 37 Staff requests that this item be deleted Item 46 There's a correction the item should read Schedule a public hearing on January 29th 2019 at 9 a.m. Or thereafter To consider amendments to the unified fee schedule reducing the fee for year-round special event organ is organizer from 380 to 190 dollars For events concurrent with certified farmers markets and take related actions as recommended by the director of health services There's also additional materials. There's a revised memo packet pages 432 and 433 On this item that concludes the corrections to the agenda Thank you. I'll now ask if there's any supervisor Like to pull an item from consent a walk through supervisor cap it any item you want to pull from consent today supervisor McPherson Unity and leap hold nothing from consent. Okay. We'll now open it up to public comment It's an opportunity for members of the community to address us on items that are not on today's agenda But are within the purview of the board of supervisors any item that's on the consent agenda Any item that's on the regular agenda if you're unable to stay We don't actually have a closed session Item today, but this would also be your opportunity normally for you to comment on that as well So please feel free to step forward. You'll have three minutes. Good morning. Welcome back My name is michael spadafore. I'm the owner of java junction. I've been here several times now I think this problem has been going on for about two months Want to make sure nobody forgets about what's happening? And I don't think you guys can what's happening up at the ross camp on a daily basis We have the employees the customers the owners go through constant Painting ass things that we go through The owner of soya car practice clinic owns his business. He just had two people turned down leasing spots in his unit Matches discounters just called for hazmat to clean up puke and Feces on a sider building the city put up a fence for us to fence off The river levy from our area, but the fence was Clipped together at the top The bottom I mean people open the fence We only have fence maintenance between 9 and 10 a.m. After that the fence is breached about 10 30 every day And people walk up and down the levy again, which which was great because some family needed to Get back to the outside of the levy there on their bicycles. So the woman opened the gate The two kids rode through the um gate and they closed the gate again. So it's actually a gate. It's not even a fence I don't know if you guys know but there's probably about 200 tents there now And those people are all in the rain. There's four bathrooms I don't think there's a health code that allows because I know if you own a restaurant if you had seats for 200 people You would need more than four toilets. So there's four toilets. There's about 200 tents probably about 400 people And it's all in the rain I don't know what is going into the soil. I don't know what is going into the sidewalks where my customers are I mean All during the christmas season because the last time I was here spoke was probably mid December, but we have on a daily basis. I got cars being uh rated for drugs You know, I got cops with guns drawn. I got ambulances. I got The manager of pet smart coming up to me I got the manager of ross coming up to me. I got the manager of office max I mean, we're all at our wits end. I mean, it's just all our sales are down and it's just a nightmare So any help you guys can do with the city because the city seems to be overwhelmed with this Nobody we talked to really has an idea of what you guys are going to do But on a daily basis, this gets worse and worse and worse and there's no alleviation There's nothing we put up a $15,000 fence. They've cut it now We just paid to have a uh repaired yesterday. They cut it twice overnight. I mean, it's just You know We're all we all spent a lot of money to have our businesses there I've talked enough if you guys can do our help us that'd be great. I really appreciate it. Thank you Thank you anybody else during the public comment time Good morning and welcome Good morning. My name is Tori Del Favreau and I'm with the us census bureau And I'm actually based in capitol and I serve Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz county And today I am calling a census hat trick because on um The agenda for Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz county is a resolution supporting the 2020 census So currently I'm working with county staff here in Santa Cruz We've got peter that's doing a great job and his staff that's helping out. I look forward to having a robust I look forward to having a robust complete count committee with the county of Santa Cruz Most of you know the importance of the decennial census and what it means for federal dollars in this community We can go down the list with section eight housing with medicaid with title one funds with head start There's so many programs that federal funding touches and our goal is to have a complete and accurate count here in Santa Cruz county And we absolutely need the board's support to make that happen And I appreciate your support peter has my contact information if you can think of constituents that It would be helpful trusted voices in the community that I can reach out to that I can touch with that I can meet with that would help us Push into our hard to count populations. I would appreciate you passing along my contact information You know the people in the community. You know the people that are the trusted voices in the areas that you serve And you know how important the census is So even though it seems far away it will be here before we know it So I truly would appreciate you guys helping myself out again My role is a partner special partnership specialist, which is communications and outreach with the census bureau And it's vital that we get the messaging out early on how important the census is Thank you for your time. Thank you for your support Thanks for your work. Thank you And I also just saw that the federal judge has ruled against the citizenship question I don't think that'll Solve it the problems we have associated with that question I think it'll go to the supreme court, but uh, it's that's a good first Shot at the in the courts. So hopefully that'll help us with our complete count anybody else during public comment Good morning. Yeah morning Before I pivot into my public comment I want to remind members of the public what it is to be a good flag waving americans because we are good people I truly believe that there's good men and women that do run the system And I want to be able to tell them Thank you, but I want to be able to speak to the mexicans In this county. What's good for a mexican is good for latino What's good for a mexican is good for hispanic. What's good for a mexican is good for people of color In in this community, right? I want to be able to share with members of the public because I dialogue with a lot of mexicans And people of color and they're telling me that the da office is a corrupt Institution that's constantly using their powers for nefarious means to oppress Today, I got a malicious prosecution and alan timberlake is laughing because she thinks it's funny. I'll press me right And I want to be able to share with members of the public That the da which is right there and I have every right to my first amendment and I'm going to exercise all the rights I have every right to criticize you and I I'm not ashamed of my humanity I want to be able to share with members of the public the malicious prosecution. They're consolidating two cases first amendment Now when you criticize your government what they want to do is they want to criminalize political dissent And which is shameful they consolidate two cases and they have no case They withhold excorporatory evidence From the sheriff department. He has a body cam. Then they they try to get me for resisting arrest in this dirt bag They didn't provide the the excorporatory evidence. So they dropped the charges right Prosecutorium misconduct is three years in state prison. I'm being maliciously prosecuted and today I got to go to court to deal with it. It's a kangaroo court My a public defender is acting as a surrogate prosecutor There's constantly missteps and it's all meant for the political machination to try to convict me on crap We're tired of the abuse of political power We're not going to my activism doesn't stop at the door. This community needs to understand that. Hey Are you are our rights matter? So they dropped the charge Now emily allen timberlake In emily bali are imposing this arbitrary rule. Just just address us you can this arbitrary rule This is a political arena And these are members that I can't go to their agency to complain and criticize them You are healing administrators that do nothing I have to come in here invent my political frustration But this is resonating with a lot of people And we're tired of the abuse of political power. If you're going to be a healing administrator Why don't you go take the document and tell him hey stop politically oppressing him Tell the da's office to clean up their mess and stop funding them and tell him hey stop oppressing Segments of the political community Justice is a war an element spirited men are going to stand up for their democracy for their freedoms and for their liberties Thank you. Is there anybody else who'd like to address us during public comment Okay, see none we'll bring it back to the board for the consent agenda Are there any comments that would that you'd like to make on the consent agenda Supervisor Caput? No, Supervisor McPherson Yeah I'd like to uh, is that on? Yeah, okay. Um, I'd like to um Address several issues. Uh item number 18 on the legislative agenda. It's on the consent agenda I want to thank each of our departments for their thoughtful and thorough list of Legislative priorities for 2019. It's great to see that each priority is tied to one of our strategic plan elements as well Uh, we have a new governor new legislature Um, interesting to you. I was uh overall impressed with uh, what the new governor had to had to say Um states in good shape for the time being at least in a fiscal matter, but uh, I think it uh, this also highlights How difficult that is to tackle these issues in one legislative session And it'll be more interesting with the new legislature new governor But I think as we work through the california state association of counties Um, we can advocate and do a very good job. We have a great team effort up there in sacramento On item number 31, uh, margaret niven uh an appointment of arts commission. This is a stellar person for us to have She's an accomplished artist and teacher who lives at the tannery arts center And I just want to welcome her to the arts commission Um, it's very important issue in this community On item number 34 the monterey bay uh community power board appointment Since launching last march, uh monterey bay community power has paid off all of its startup debt While still providing 100 carbon free energy at 3 less than pgne rates We have also formed a community advisory board To assist the policy and operations and boards regarding future and uh investments in our region And are now building reserves which should reach uh 150 million dollars in the next few years As well, we are going to reach our 2030 state Mandated greenhouse gas emission reductions uh this year in 2019 Um, it's been a really a incredible success story which has been a tremendous collaborative effort Among 16 cities and soon to be 18 when san luis abispo and moro bay uh the cities uh joined us this uh in uh 2020 Um, and I it's been a privilege to be the chair of that policy board uh for the past 18 months And I want to thank the the board for the confidence it has in in me and monterey bay community power as it's Been developed and really done the job that it said it was going to do On item number 44 the in-home support services rate change package submittal to the california department of social services we have Been working on that issue here, and I think it's one of the most important issues in the california state budget that is As you know, um the human resources and health services departments has been making this Rate change that we want to have a reality Um this fiscal burden that our county faces and every other of the other 57 counties Is really something that's moving over our heads But again with the governor having addressed it in his budget recommendation. I am really confident that we can Balance this so it doesn't really have a financial burden on us and we can provide the services that are were needed for For the people who really depend on this in-home support services that we have um the on item number 49 we've been away for a while, so I just wanted a couple of these but uh This last weekend I was uh up at a meeting on the water management basin and then went over to the the new library that is building Being built in felton, uh, they reporting the concrete for the foundation and uh So I want to thank everybody for that support system, especially those the voters and measure s in 2016 But uh, we we also have now received a grant That uh back in may and so I want to repeat my appreciation to the parks department and director jeff gaffney For applying and getting this 400 000 dollar Grant, uh, it's going to be one of Probably the first of its kind in the state where we have a library in an interpretive park right next door So it's great to see that all coming together And on item number 54 the winter storm updates You know not a week goes by where we don't see my office Here's about the status of roads or people saying when are you going to do mine? We have to do what we can do to speed up I think our public works department has done a fantastic job with the resources it has But we need to ask our members of congress to assist us with FEMA and the federal highway authority so we can get these projects moving along There's a big issue of funding in those areas that has Really held back our efforts to really get some of those projects done But we're going to keep working on it and I want to thank the public works department for the job It is done with the resources the financial resources it has Over since those 2016 17 storms and I guess we're going to be headed into another one over this week But the public works department has done a fantastic job with the monetary resources it has And I want to thank them for the job that well done Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor McPherson. Good morning. Supervisor Coonerty. Hi Good morning. Just a couple items to comment on On item number 17. Thank you for the outreach and I look forward to working with you and my fellow board members To make sure that everyone in santa cruz county is counted per as per the constitution And I was also very happy with their ruling this morning, which is an important step for Fairness and protection in our country On item number 18 our legislator program It does cover It's got a lot of good programs in there. I spoke to the cio yesterday about whether we can Narrow down our focus to a couple key goals and then meet with our legislature legislators and And really try to work to get those goals advanced And as well as our advocates at both in washington dc and in sacramento and so Thinking about how we can make sure we're being heard in a In a large state in a large country to make sure our priorities are being meet are being met And finally on item number 50, which is a report from the planning department about building permits And the times it's taking to process them. First of all, I want to appreciate the report as informative and good And I the tracking is excellent Uh, I really am excited about this primo process, which is looking at all of our processes and figuring out You know, who needs to see what and when and why so that we can process them faster Uh, I think this the board reduced the fees for both solar and ad us In an effort to match our community's values and policy goals But uh, one of the things I said when we lowered the solar fees was I didn't want to do the same amount of work for less I wanted us to re-envision the process So that we're meeting the end goal, which is to make sure that solar systems are installed safely But not uh, not trying to do it through the sit with all the same people along the way. So can we Can we look at certified installers going back and spot checking? Can we look at other ways? To make sure these systems are safe, but without the same amount of staff time I think the primo process is a really good effort And and will allow us to reduce some of these permitting times and And take some of the burdens off staff as they're trying to get through these many many applications Thank you. Good morning supervisor leopold. Uh, good morning chair I just have a couple of things. There's just some additional language I wanted to add to the legislative program on number 18 Um, it has to do with the transportation housing and land use piece Uh, the first item on there talks about sp1 and measure d And the need for additional funds on top of that But I wanted to add a line that said the county opposes adding additional mandates in order to access the sp1 funding You know, there have been some discussion that they're going to try to make it Additional ways in which we uh with things we have to do in order to get that funding But the voters here in santa Cruz, uh By a 75 margin Turn back prop six because they want to access these funds. So I have this written down for you Also, uh, just a little bit further down the page. Uh, when it comes to the housing and homeless It says the county supports Legislative actions or programs that increase affordable housing through density bonuses and similar measures Aimed at addressing the housing shortfall and I would just add a comma saying prioritizing transit oriented development While retaining local control over land use choices Um, I think this goes along, you know, uh with uh with what we've been trying to do And I think the land use decisions are best made at a local level and you would be hard pressed to To point out where we haven't done our job here Uh, this board hasn't done its job here So, uh, the other items that I'll just uh briefly comment on is item number 43, which is the Report on the blaine street jail facility We're going to be having an item about the from the justice and gender task force later on today That'll talk about issues about women in the criminal justice system I want to appreciate the work of staff to provide a broad range of programming for the women who are in the blaine street facility I'm glad to see that that facility reopened and in use for women as our only dedicated facility for women um In our criminal justice system On item number 50, I think there has been good work. This is about the uh, uh, Continual process improvement around the uh, permitting functions. There this report details good work I know that we all got uh, uh, a note from Constituent talking about how long it's taking to get simple permits out of the planning department and whatever we can do to help Speed this along even in the documentation here for a simple remodel permit that the number of days that someone has to wait for a permit Is a lot And so I encourage the committee to keep on working to reduce these delays To allow people to do especially fairly straightforward projects On item number 54 This is uh, as we head into the rainy season Trying to remember our 2017 storm damage It's still present and we get concerns and I know Mr. Machado and I went up to the summit area recently for a meeting and We looked at some of the roads Some of them we did great work and some of them were still waiting to do great work And I would encourage us to really engage our legislative partners um in congress To help us out here I appreciate the letters that have been sent in addition and I think they should be copied to our legislative Team because we need their help and uh with the change over In the house of representatives our congressional members have a lot to have more power than they did last year So it's it's a good opportunity to take advantage of it And with that i'm done Thank you I don't have anything to add beyond what has actually been said specifically on item 54 And I appreciate the work of public works during the difficult Uh rebuilding process of we could get a motion for the amended uh consent agenda. I would move the amended uh Consent agenda a motion from supervisor leopold and a second from supervisor coonerty all those in favor I opposed That passes unanimously. We'll move on to the first Item of the regular agenda which is to consider the selection of chairperson a vice chairperson for the calendar year 2019 as outlined in a memo of your current chair, uh, we have In accordance with our standard procedures nominated or requested that the board considers supervisor coonerty for chair and supervisor cap it As vice chair, I appreciate the opportunity to serve as chair for all of you this last year But I will happily hand it over to a new chair So, uh, I would make that motion To appoint supervisor coonerty as chair and supervisor cap it as vice chair So we do have a motion from supervisor leopold and a second from supervisor mcpherson anybody from the community like to address us on the chairmanship Good morning, mr. Alexander. Yeah, I want to be able to share with members of the public The political conflict these are real conflicts We need to sit down with the threat from down below leadership and we need to be able to negotiate A better deal because when it comes to community justice for people of color, we're not getting in here Right, the judges are corrupt, right? And what I what I'm gonna ask is that hey, well, let's give a cap it a chance To run it. I gotta say this under your leadership man You're putting a bull in our public comment and I don't appreciate it Thank you. Okay. So supervisor cap it is nominated for vice chair. That's what the item The recommendation was anybody else like to put a motion. Are there any other nominations? There's no other public comment. I say there's no other nominations. So we'll vote on the nomination all those in favor All right opposed it passes unanimously. Congratulations supervisor kundry. I'll switch spots with you The peaceful transfer of power So let me just uh take a moment and thank my colleagues I've served uh four years So I've had the opportunity to serve under every one of my colleagues as chairs and this this would be my first time my commitment to This county is to continue the leadership That my colleagues have shown and that the staff have shown In a real commitment to solving problems and getting things done for our community Unfortunately, I'm it seems to be a little bit rare these days many levels in government to have to have a collegiality And a commitment to to service and to getting things done But I'm gonna do my best to make sure that the county continues Continues its its efforts and leadership over the years And that brings us to our next agenda item, which I think really fits within that theme Which is the presentation of awards the first graduating class of the santa cruz county leadership training program Known as leap which stands for learn engage apply and perform as outlined in the memorandum from the cao So When carlos plasios was selected as cao one of his real emphasis One of the areas he wanted to really emphasize Was supporting the tremendous talent we have in santa cruz county Developing the next generation of leaders and working to make sure those leaders worked across the departments To build relationships and trust with each other a common language He recommended to us that we create a three-year Program to support these leaders and this is the first class who have gone through the classes to look at continue continuous process improvement performance measurement strategic planning We're already seeing the fruits of those labor's play out And it's a really exciting time to be able to invest in In our our most valuable resource as an institution, which is our people Um, the first graduating class has completed program We like to to honor them by presenting them certificates of completion. I'm going to ask We're going to name the graduates And as by name and department and we're going to ask them to come up and stand in front of the room And so i'm going to start by asking uh, andrew steward from the human services department to come forward Then i'll ask beatriz baronco from the department of public works carol johnson from the general services department carol and burk planning department chris clark sheriff's department jason heath our county council jessica randolph from the health services agency Juan hildalgo from the office of the agricultural commissioner Mary chavez parks open spaces and cultural services nisha patel personnel pia levine from the planning department And tara george from the district attorney's office And will you please join me as we give our first leap leadership academy graduating class a round of applause And uh, so now, um, i'm gonna ask you where you could return to your seats But now you're gonna get a lot of good things said about you Oh, sorry, we have uh proclamations to give you and then we'll then we'll take it As we're doing this, uh I think this class is going to be in large to 30 people next year So that is just that much better So we're gonna probably have a class of three times the size next year and it's uh, I think it's a tremendous um Move by our our county administrative officer to have this Program here in santa criss county And uh, I really want to congratulate each and every one even thank you for the time and commitment that you have made This word is going to spread throughout our 20 what 300 400 employees in santa criss county I will add that I appreciate uh the The time that staff is giving to this program I appreciate the leadership from our county administrative officer to to establish this kind of program to invest in our workforce And to try to get people to thinking out of their silos and working together on critical issues So thank you for your work And I'll just briefly add that I think that it really speaks to The creation of a new culture in a in a new day within the county of santa criss And you really are at the forefront of exactly that it's something that the board has sought but really realistically It's something that all of you actually asked us to bring back forward to you This was something that was driven from all of you at the beginning And uh when I look out actually at all of you I recognize that we are looking at Remarkable leaders within our workforce and a supervisor a chair Coonerty had said It starts and ends really with the work that all of you do. So thank you I'll just add in In my comments that when I took this position I envisioned a day when we'd have our first class of graduates and here you are so it's like a dream come true for me I really do appreciate the effort that each of you put into this. I know that they took 10 classes in sacramento five classes on site a total of 15 classes Completed the credential for institute for excellence in county government from cesac It's a lot of effort and I really do appreciate it and you guys you you folks are all Going to be the forerunners of what I hope is going to be many years of graduates and in the years to come So thank you each of you very much for your efforts. I appreciate it So we have a reception out in the hallway under the Long known wisdom that if you can feed him you can lead him and So we're going to take a 15-minute recess And join and invite everyone to join Out of the hallway to celebrate our leap graduates and then we'll be back At What nine fifty Okay, okay, perfect I Definitely helps Thank you We will call the meeting back to order and we will move to agenda item number nine Which is a public hearing to consider the activity Consider activities and authorize the middle of a 2018 Community development block grant cdbg application to the state of california adoption of a resolution authorizing staff to apply for 28 cdbg funds and related actions as outlined in the memorandum of the planning director and we have a presentation for Good morning board members persilla wilson and susanne isa from the housing staff Before we get started. I do want to let everybody know we have a sign-up sheet at the rear of the chambers And we'd appreciate it if everybody signed in for records The 2018 state community development block grant notice of funding availability was released on november 1st 2018 Applications are now due on february 26. That's an extension from the original date, which was february 5th Eligible jurisdictions such as the county can apply for up to three million dollars In one or more activities Activities must meet one of the national objectives all county proposals We received currently meet the number one, which is the benefit to lower income People or individuals the county has gone through the required process and held two public meetings Where only one is required One before the housing advisory commission and one before the board both were held in november Three proposals were received staff recommends all for inclusion in the county's application The first two proposals are public capital projects And the last one is for a planning grant. I will be going into a little more detail on each of these Staff's recommendation for inclusion of the two capital projects in the county's application increases the chances of funding The planning grant will be automatically awarded if either of the two capital projects are awarded The first proposal is for the live oak Community health center, which would replace the current east cliff health clinic The new health center is part of the mixed-use project being developed by midpen housing at 1500 capitol a road in live oak Santa Cruz community health centers is requesting two million dollars. I'm sorry three million dollars Staff is recommending two million four hundred seventy nine thousand And that is to allow for the inclusion of the two other proposals as part of the county's application The new health center will increase the capacity and assisting more clients annually The center serves primarily lower income clients, which qualifies it for cdbg funding The second proposal is for the 18 unit hardiness of lya apartment rehabilitation project Departments are 100 affordable and rehabilitation includes interior and exterior work This project does not expect temporary Or permanent relocation of the tenants The third and final proposal is by the davin port sanitation district The district is requesting a hundred thousand dollars and that is for a planning and technical assistant grant To perform a water feasibility study Planning grants are not scored and are awarded if either of the other two capital projects are awarded Staff recommends you take your board take the following actions Number one hold a public hearing to consider the proposed county application under the state's community development block grant 2018 notice of funding availability Number two consider and select activities from the proposal submitted for inclusion in the county cdbg as recommended by staff For the public facility live oak community health center for two million four hundred seventy nine thousand Under housing rehabilitation hardiness of lya for four hundred twenty one thousand And planning and technical assistance davin port domestic water feasibility study for a hundred thousand Number three adopt the resolution authorizing staff to apply for the 2018 cdbg funds for the selected proposals And for direct staff to notify your board of the results of the application evaluation as soon as the 2018 cdbg awards are announced by the state Staff and representatives for each proposal are available. Should you have any questions and this concludes staff's presentation Thank you so much. Are there questions from board members? Supervisor caffman You bet Thank you. It's good to see this for the hardiness day via housing project on murphy road and I think it's going to be a you know a great benefit to It's a lot of migrant families there and Years ago it was really run down and that that was years ago and it's been Improved and changed over the past about 10 12 years So it's good to see that the families are actually living there And it's a you know a good place to live With the asphalt project Do you know how big of an area that they're going to actually do and the front part there where it slopes down? Right now. It's pretty much gravel So they the proposed scope of work just includes repairing the existing asphalt paving on the site So it would just be patching smoothing cracks and that sort of thing It doesn't include adding any new areas to be paved right But the area that's going to be improved They're going to redo the whole part or they're going to just do potholes I think it would be best if the applicant Answered questions of that level of detail. So she's she's available She'll speak during the public hearing and she can address the question at that time. Thank you very much Supervisor, yeah, I just want to repeat. This is a good set of projects a great set of projects for the cdbg Application and it's I think it's terrific that they're spread throughout the county the north middle and south county and like to thank the planning department and those public Community service partners who helped with this application process It's going to help literally thousands of people and well. Thank you very much for a job well done And I think we're going to be very successful in getting these grants Supervisor Leopold Thank you This is a very exciting list of projects and I would just point out that The one for the live vote community health center Is part of a project in which this board has prioritized by dedicating land for this activity By meeting several of our strategic goals around health By supporting Both the other clinic that will be on on the site and the 57 units of affordable housing So we should be doing everything we can to support this application because it helps us Achieve so many of our goals and I appreciate the leadership of the Santa Cruz community health centers And and having a vision for being involved in the mid county for being An effective safety net clinic and being a leader in helping improve the outcomes for families In live oak it has made a tremendous difference in the clinic in which they operated just four Five years ago. I guess it opened They've already made a huge difference in the lives of so many people and They've been a great partner with the county with the school district with other community based non-profits I just appreciate their leadership and I look forward to voting from this proposal Ditto So, uh, this is the opportunity now for public the public to comment on this item Anyone who's interested in hiding and commenting if you can please stand and Come to the microphone Good morning. My name is Aditi Mahmoud. I am with mid-pin housing development corporation And I'm here to discuss the hardiness del via project the 18 units affordable housing property For very low low-income farm workers who've been there for for a long time Supervisor Caput asked you asked about the asphalt that we Have presented on the application. We would like to repair areas of Of the asphalt just just to bring it up to safety Safety condition and make sure that there's no trip or hazard from any of the residents there Okay And a few years back. They replaced the pump the water tank Correct, correct. It's a it runs on a switch system. So they've done quite a bit of capital improvement work for that reason Thank you Thank you. Thank you Hi, leslie connor with center cruise community health centers. I just wanted to thank you for considering our project It's a really exciting project that combines medical health behavioral health oral health a partnership with dientist right there on the Campus and 57 units of affordable housing. So it's a really exciting convergence of a lot of social and health And community needs that hasn't been done before in the community. It expands access to almost 3,500 people and improving outcomes for Vulnerable homeless individuals were a health care for the homeless grantee Also for other complex adults with substance abuse and mental health issues and In increasingly a strong pediatric program to help us prevent Childhood traumas and childhood conditions from escalating and becoming those complex problems that we see in older adults That are really hard to address. So we're really excited. We have a lot of Community partners and early investors in the project and we welcome working with the county And thank you for your consideration. Thank you. I'm benjamin kogan. Hello supervisors I always hear the term affordable housing, but I never really know exactly what that means How much the housing is going to cost and all that And then who's building these affordable housing and where does the Is it in the private sector or is it a government or is it the contractors that you hire are going to get the revenue for the rent? um And maybe that's been disclosed or maybe I can just there's just some of my concerns um Also in terms of our budget make sure that we're able to do these projects and the city beautification without going in debt Um, I know that our country's in debt the states in debt San Jose's in debt and there's a little bit of debt in Santa Cruz. So having a balance is really important um Definitely want to acknowledge you guys for taking care of the homeless and having that as And something to take care of their health and well-being And so projects like this are something that will help us But do we need to you know, spend all the money if we can have the the means work with what we have and um Also Maybe there's a way where we could also provide health and care for homeless and a place for them to have a place to Stay like pitch a tent pitch a car shelter something like that Because right now it's kind of hard for people with uh, who are homeless to to really get back on their feet So if they could park their cars get on their feet get health and well-being they can be a contribution to society And I appreciate you guys for listening and um, you know being able to hear my requests and concerns and ideas Thank you. Thank you All right, that concludes public comment I'll bring it back to the board for action. I would move the recommended actions Motion by leopold second by caput all in favor. Please say aye. Aye opposed that passes unanimously We are going to now recess until 10 45 when we come back for this I think it's 10 30 10 34. We'll come back for the zone 7 board meeting And item number 11, which is the uh justice and gender task force Still good morning everybody. We're going to call the meeting back to order. I might hand it over to Chair friend of the first the zone 7 meeting Thank you, chair coonerty. Uh, so like to call to order the January 15th meeting of the zone 7 flood control and water conservation district if we could have a roll call for zone 7 please directors leopold here McPherson banister billichick here And chair friend Here and director capitz here as well. Oh, I'm sorry about that. That's okay And so we'll move on to item b which is consideration of late additions. Uh, mr. Strudley. Uh, is there an announcement of our new member? Yes, thank you chair friend. I received a letter january 14th. Um, just yesterday Indicating that dwight linn the representative from uh power valley water management agency has retired and pv water would like to appoint Mary banister as representative to the zone 7 board of directors Welcome as banister as banisters, you know at a very distinguished career in local water including as director of pvwma We're glad to have you back In zone 7 you've had a large role in zone 7 historically, so I'm glad to have you back on that Are there any additions or deletions today's agenda? Other than that no additions or deletions great So we'll start off with oral communications for zone 7 There's an opportunity for members of the community to address us on items that are not on today's agenda We're specifically within the purview of zone 7. Is there anybody like to address us during oral communications? Oral communication is public comment. Correct, right for zone 7 specifically Issues that pertain to those seven which is power or river levy I do appreciate that because last time don't do anything wrong last time You guys allow members of the public to do oral communication or public comment. Yeah, we did on the radio agenda This is uh specific to zone 7. So we're acting as a different body. That's why there's different people up here And so you're allowed to comment on things that aren't on today's zone 7 agenda But within the purview of the body zone 7 so uh flood control water protection specifically along the power or river levy area Okay, okay So anybody else? Seeing none we'll move on to item 2 which is approval of zone 7 board meeting minutes. Are there any questions or changes to the minutes? With a motion from director leopold and a second from director billisich. Are there any comments from the community on the minutes? Seeing none all those in favor Opposed passes Unanimously item 3 is as board of directors of the zone of zone 7 to consider the nominations for zone 7 board of directors chairperson Vice chairperson as recommended by the district engineer mr. Strudley Thank you chair friend board of directors in conformance in the rules and regulations zone 7 the board must nominate and elect a chair and vice chair for 2019 The board and the district has been very effectively Um Managed under the incumbent chair and we would like to request nomination of chair friend to continue as chair of the district Um, it is not in the board memo, but we would also find it valuable to have representation As vice chair from the city of watsonville Which would mean director billisich correct so maintaining the current chair and vice chair Correct. Okay. Is there are there any other nominations? I would move the nomination of friend and billisich second There's a motion and second. Is there anybody from the community who'd like to address us on the chair vice chair for zone 7 Okay, all those in favor Opposed it passes unanimously Moving on to item 4, which is the board of directors zone 7 to adopt a resolution accepting unanticipated revenue in the amount of 213,586 dollars and approve the transfer of funds and the amount of 18,449 is recommended By the district engineer. We also have the resolution director strudley Thank you much chair and board of directors. Um, this is an administrative matter. Um, very mechanical. We have received Some reimbursements from the state as well as the federal government for Storm damage projects repairs that were made from events in 2016 and 2017 and due to some errors That I made in projections last year and anticipating that revenue last year It had come in a bit late and so we need to shuffle a small amount of funds within zone 7 to make our funds come into balance. So We're recommending the board adopt a resolution accepting and appropriating unanticipated revenue in the amount of 213,586 dollars From cal OES And for reimbursement of project costs associated with repairs to district facilities from state and federally declared disasters in 2016 and 2017 And approve a transfer of funds in the amount of 18,000 dollars 449 from object 86 110 buildings and improvements to objects 62 3 3 0 dpw services general money to achieve appropriate fund balance Thank you for that uh inspirational presentation. Are there are there any questions on this? administrative move I'll make a motion to approve Second so we have a motion for the recommended actions from director bill sitch and a second firm directly pulled anybody from the community on this issue Okay, seeing none all those in favor. Hi Opposed it passes unanimously moving on to item 5 Which is the direct board of directors of zone 7 to award a contract in the amount of 2,499,312 dollars to peterson bruestad incorporated for program management consultant services In support of the papa river flood risk reduction project and take related actions as recommended by the district engineer We have the certificate of insurance the ica from peterson bruestad the peterson bruestad revised scope budget The adm for peterson bruestad and the presentation of the contract award program management all attached mr. Strudley Thank you, chair friend board of directors like to direct your attention to the presentation on our Program management consultant selection. I'd like to dive into this right away if we could Okay, um, so at our last board meeting in september We requested authorization to advertise solicit proposals for Program management consultant services in support of the papa river flood risk reduction project federal army core project Um, we're coming before your board now to request an award of contract to our preferred consultant that Came out of that selection process Before we dive into those details. I'd like to just give you a brief update on the core project to set the context We're expecting completion of the feasibility phase for the project in march of 2019. So just a few months away A feasibility report will Be included as The beginning of that phase of the project and it'll be accompanied by a director's report There's a lapse in federal funding right now We were hoping for an award of fiscal year 19 work plan funds And we will go into discussion more in a different board item on this topic But we did not receive those funds. So we have a delay in the start of the design phase of the project Our next federal funding opportunity will be the fiscal year 20 work plan funding opportunity next fall or winter Uh, and as this project has exhibited over the last at least several years We have ongoing questions about funding and phasing of the project But nevertheless, there's a lot we can do in the meantime even in the absence of federal funding And that being selecting a program management consultant to help guide us in developing New governance and finance strategies to support the project as well as supporting The process with the core So notably this consultant would help evaluate and establish a new governance structure since the project goes across county lines and includes a very significant City municipality in the area Evaluate and design locally preferred project enhancements if we choose support Us the district in project delivery from the army corps Support some of the technical aspects of the CEQA process which we will hope to embark on this year as well technical support for financing the project Adopting a new rate structure to fund and design Fund design and construction of the project and to inform and engage stakeholders and the public through this whole process and to reengage them There were two consultant teams that responded to the RFP there was one that was notably heads and shoulders above the other and that was the peters and bruestad team They are proposing to Work as the program manager and to work together with larson-wurzel and associates on the finance and governance Opportunities kim floyd communications on the public outreach and engagement and morrison consulting On the property management and real property acquisition aspects of the project PBI Was head and shoulders above the other team Not only because of their proposal and their Thorough knowledge of core projects, but they have a very long proven track record with other flood control agencies Who have had similar difficulties as we do with Their core projects and have successfully been able to help those flood control districts and agencies build their projects and get federal investment Their references were exceptional. I went out of my way to contact others Apart from those on their reference list and they all came back glowing They have promised to commit abundant resources from their team members to Work with us on our project and that is something that I asked of the references as well And they did confirm that strategy that they tend to employ and that attention And they have experience in all aspects of living improvement programs So this this presents an opportunity to meet not only our scope But to help us strategize to get a project successful So what are they going to be doing for us? They're going to be working on the governance aspects to establish a new governance structure evaluating options and providing recommendations for us Identify actions necessary to establish that new governing body and facilitate discussions with key stakeholders and work with us on necessary agreements They're going to be working with us on the financing aspects of the project Develop preliminary financial plans to fund implementation long-term ops and maintenance of the project Identify a project beneficiaries and apportionment of local cost share for the rate structure and implementation of local funding mechanism They're going to be importantly working with us and the core on project delivery completing hydrologic and hydraulic study aspects of the project reviewing core deliverables and the process that will unfold with the core And assisting us to navigate the very complicated minutiae of the core policies and process that goes along with the project like this And to assist with any necessary project agreements They're going to be working very hard with us on public outreach and engagement a very important part of this project They're going to develop a coordinated public outreach plan resolve stakeholder issues preparation of information materials Conducting public opinion research notably for the rate structure analysis Conducting community and stakeholder meetings And although it seems like this contract covers a lot of ground There are some aspects that it does not cover that we will either seek Outside or do on our own those include design of locally preferred enhancements That is an optional task with them, but not currently in the proposed contract Real property acquisition Full suite of hydraulic modeling necessary for the core to keep moving through the beginning of the design phase Developing a governance charter strategic plan and implementation plan for the new governing body. Those are optional tasks under this contract And importantly FEMA certification to help attract The right kind of results that we want from this product Which is namely getting a lot of people out of having to pay FEMA flood insurance behind a newly developed project Sequa this is not Going to be a contract to perform sequa, but they will assist with technical aspects of it And we're not including legal examination of funding efforts And again, we are going to seek this legal expertise through a separate contract to assist in this whole governance and finance strategy So the financial impact to the district Is steep it is expensive to undergo program management consultant services like this The fee estimate is currently just shy of 2.5 million One million dollars we have currently in unspent funds that were going to be directed to the core to match the fiscal year 19 work plans But we were not awarded those federal funds So we have one million dollars still available to apply towards Moving the project forward We have a prop one e grant balance of just over 1.5 million approximately two-thirds of that We are planning on dedicating towards this effort as well We would like to fast track the governance and rate structure aspects of this program management Contracts so that we can help meet the financial obligations of the contract under a new rate structure and governing body And we still have our california subventions authorization that may be able to contribute towards implementation costs The contract costs are going to be spread over 3.5 years. So Zone seven can sustain this spread of this distribution of costs And we can always pause or cancel the contract if the project goes south for whatever reason, but we are Really not going to let that happen This is a somewhat cartoony representation of how the funds um, how the revenue for this contract might apply During the first year of the contract we envision a rough 50-50 split between our prop one e grant balance And flood control district funds initially they're going to be coming from zone seven If monterey county water resources agency finds themselves in a more Opportunity and financial spot. Um during the process of this contract. We hope that they would join in that cost share as well 2020 the Expectation is a similar 50-50 split Between the prop one e grant balance and district funds for the flood control project with invoicing being Expecting to be slightly less 2021 the costs are going to go down a little bit further But we hope to have a new revenue source through a new Governing body and financial plan to apply to this project And then we expect a tail end of the contract to be funded by that new revenue source And with that, um, I would uh recommend The board authorize the district engineer to select peterson bruestad to provide program management consultant services for the pahar river flood risk Management project to authorize the district engineer to award negotiate and sign contract a 19 d zero three two zero with peterson bruestad incorporated in the amount of 2, 499, 312 dollars in extending through july 2022 And to direct staff to return with regular updates on governance and finance public engagement and outreach and related items associated with this contract To take place during the program managers report on future zone seven agendas and before we break for your questions and consideration I'd like to introduce uh, Dave peterson and microsper here sitting in the first row from peterson bruestad Who um with your authorization? We can invite to the dais to respond to certain questions that I may not be able to answer Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Strudley director billich and then director cap it please I just um first of all, I want to thank you for your research And finding the best people for the for this job Um, I think it's good that we do a rate structure analysis sooner than later Because we've been going on but people have no idea what it's going to cost and we did have meetings And then we kind of backed up so it'll be good to get those going again um And the FEMA flood insurance if there's any way that we can get that reduced because we hear about that all the time People are just so upset about the fees and the insurance that they have to pay even though we continue to make progress It doesn't fit their criteria yet But I know we will and I I appreciate your leadership I think you've done a great job and um, I'd like to move the Motion forward when it's time when it's time. Okay director cap it please. You bet Yeah, thank you for all the work you're doing and With is this any different than what we were doing like three four years ago As far as the fees and the consultants and all that So what happened in 2016 was a governance and finance committee was established to look at Kind of some broad aspects to the whole governance finance strategy that would be Potentially employed to support the project There were five committee meetings and then the committee was disbanded because of elapsed in federal funding and a hiccup on the federal side with the project So this process is much going to be much more comprehensive And it will go to completion. The objective here is is to Reengage the governance and finance committee and repopulate that committee And to use that committee as part of the public engagement and outreach strategy But it's going to be much more comprehensive than that in terms of developing And actually Following through with developing a new governing body a new financing plan and strategy and implementation and reviewing core Core deliverables And this is the same Peterson and bruestad was Who we were working with before no no Peterson bruestad is is was not working for the district before We had a Harrison associates working on some of that work before In support of the project Last year there was Kind of elapsed as far as getting money. Is this like a catch up by getting money from last year and also this year So we were hoping around To hear around november-december time frame that we were going to get the fiscal year 19 work plans That's what you're referring to The work plan funds from the core that did not happen. So we do have some unspent Revenue that we can apply towards this project We're going to be in line for those work plan funds next year and we'll have to match those but it's important To proceed with the project and to Button up all these other loose ends that will need to be accomplished regardless of whether we have federal investment or not And to me, it's important that we get a project built regardless of federal investment I hope there is federal investment But the important aspect here is to get a project built and I think Peterson bruestad Is the right Consultant team to help us get a successful project built and then With a positive outlook if we get to go ahead from army corps and everything What if what if we don't then this this money We can modify the contract Or if if we let's let's say army corps pulls the rug like they have in the past Yeah, so there's a there's it's difficult to speculate on exactly what may happen And what decisions may be made because they're not going to be made just by me They're going to be made by a whole host of different people Weighing in on what the direction the project should take if there is no federal investment I hope there's a way to figure out how to build a project with perhaps state investment And I think again, I think bruestad has They've had great success with other flood control agencies and getting federal investment, but they're very smart in their strategic Thinking about corps projects and about flood control projects in general And so I think there's a lot of opportunity to be had with Folks like pbi working on our behalf right no, I I agree with you on that, but what i'm getting at is The contract is we'll say what two and a half million and If If we don't have the federal funding You're saying that it would shift to going after state funding, which is would not be enough to do the 100 we're looking at the 100 year plan right Yeah, I mean that will be part of the exploration process is if we discover that there realistically isn't going to be federal investment Then we're going to have to look for that investment elsewhere and see what kind of project we can build from that investment that is available So I guess the the straight question is a two and a half million is the contract regardless of what happens in march when we get a Correct Correct There if we do not have certain tasks like review of army corps deliverables Because the army corps if the army corps pulls out their investment from the project and the army corps won't be developing Designs for the project someone else will have to design the project It could be under a separate task order or contract with someone like peters and bruestad or someone else entirely But the objective with this project here is that this meets aspects of the project that need to happen regardless of who ends up designing the project There's going to need to be design review. There's going to need to be a new governing body There's going to need to be a financing strategy to To fund the project Okay, so with the contract there There's no opportunity to cancel it No, there is we can cancel the contract at any time and the aspects related to the task pertaining to Core review of corps deliverables that task would no longer be relevant And so those costs would not probably come under this contract Because we've been doing this the plans and the strategy Let's go back even 10 years ago or go back seven years ago. This is very similar, right? I mean it well, hopefully we're getting closer to maybe moving forward, but what I'm getting at is Is this what we've been doing? You're like one million for the past Actually 25 30 years So we're we're approaching the point at which the federal government is going to be making their investment decisions on designing construction the big costs related to this project and Peterson and bruestad will be with us along the way to Watch what happens to advise on our activities with the core and how we might get a design a project that will be successfully funded It may mean that we change the project in some ways to make it more more attractive federal investment okay, so Some of this will be answered in the next when you make a report on the march We'll wait for some of it some of it will yeah, okay. Thank you Director banister Thank you for your good work. I'm really encouraged that this work is going to move forward now We've been waiting a long time And I think that's a great job. You did selecting this firm. Thank you Am am I correct in that there is no at this time Contribution anticipated for Monterey county water resources agency at this point They're not in a position to contribute to this contract. That's correct. Is that because they don't have an equivalent zone 7 funding mechanism? Roughly speaking. Yes Is there any plan to do a presentation to either their board or Monterey county water resources Either board of supervisors or the water agency about this work because I think it's important That they're kept very aware of them not contributing and all the good work y'all are doing I'm I'm happy to provide a presentation to their board. We do work with their staff very closely there They've been quite engaged over the recent past My latest understanding was that they were going to provide an update at their december board meeting Which apparently got a bit derailed and didn't happen. So i'm still catching up with their staff on what kind of updating They're doing to their board Their representation is is apprised of all the project developments and is aware And has been involved with The governance and finance process through the governance and finance committee in the past and they'll continue to be involved So we'll continue to work with their staff and and see if they need us to provide an update to their board Otherwise they may end up doing it themselves Great. Thank you. And then lastly, I just want to emphasize the importance of Pahro valley water management agencies college lake project, which I know you're aware of that that is they're Aggressively moving forward with that project and there is a linkage between the flood project and that in terms of flows and flood flooding So I think it's important that we communicate closely with them And thank you for that and we do continue to communicate regularly with the general manager at pv water to make sure We're both on the same page. Thank you And then we'll open it up to the community. There are any members of the community that like to address this on item five Okay, we'll close it and bring it back director bill stitch Yes, I'd like to move approval of the of the hiring of Peterson first that incorporated Second All right. So just to confirm director bill stitch. It's a motion for all the recommended actions Yes, okay So there's a motion from director bill stitch and a second from director leopold all those in favor I opposed it passes unanimously. Thank you on that and thank you to them for being here as well Moving to item six as a board of directors zone seven to accept and file status update on flood control facility maintenance equipment purchase Authorized in the 2018-19 supplemental budget for department of public works As recommended by the district engineer. We have the supplemental budget We have the john deere tractor with mower the rodent control machine the pickup truck With spray system and the pickup truck before we'll drive as the attachments director strudley Thank you chair board of directors. This is just a transparency item We like like chair friend said we had 265 thousand dollars that was allocated in the budget for purchase of equipment the articulation of those expenditures and the supplemental budget was slightly different than the um estimates and invoices for the purchase of this equipment and so Just for transparency sake, we're making the board and the public aware That there were some slight differences, but the total costs still leave a surplus of 15 461 Dollars and 78 cents. So we're still within that budgetary limit. I just noticed there's an extra comment here. So it looks like Kind of like 15 million in the executive summary It's 15,461 thousand dollars in surplus So our only recommended action is to accept and file the status update on the flood control facility mains equipment purchase authorized under supplemental budget request Questions director bill such I just want to say I appreciate the fact that Zone seven and public works are working together on equipment and getting things going. I mean, you know, it's nice when there's collaboration and you're using resources together Appreciate that they are yeah, they are zone seven resources, but then they're funneled through the internal services fund and yeah There is a partnership there. Thank you Anybody from the community on this item? Okay, I'll bring it back to the board for action. So moved second I'm sorry the director cap it please So road control machine look like It's it's a device that's towed on a trailer That purges the rodent burrows with gas and To prevent rodents from chewing through our levies essentially Yes So we have a motion from director bill sitch and a second from director leopold all those in favor I Opposed all right it passes unanimously moving on to item Seven as the board of directors is on seven to accept and file status on the shell road pump station is recommended by district engineer We also do have pro lagoon historic aerials in the attachment mr. Strudley Thank you director a chair friend with your in the board's promotion. I'd like to invite Rusty to the dais to present this item Welcome, please Good morning members of the board. My name is rusty barker. I'm the civil engineer for flood control zone seven We're returning to the board to report on the status of shell road pump station pump system Since the last board board meeting I've reviewed historic documentation the pump station performance maintenance and utility costs And looked in some of the hydraulic modeling that's been done and feasibility of that My findings showed that the pump station is currently performing adequately annual average costs which include utilities labor maintenance repairs Is roughly 25 000 dollars per year um Looked into the modeling and there's been some modeling by Pajaro Valley water management agency of the lagoon system And I think they're currently looking at the the lagoon or the lower lagoon Right now, but the main findings. I found that the pump station and the pump system's Primary function is for water quality and less for flood control The system helps to inhibit intrusion of salt water into the upper slu while keeping water levels low In the slu to help promote drainage and then The main finding was sea level rise will likely impact the effectiveness Of the pump station's performance It's estimated that we can see six to ten feet of sea level rise by the year 2100 The plan moving forward is to develop a scope Of work to investigate the impacts of sea level rise Some of the questions we're looking to answer are how much will sea level rise impact The pump system When might we expect it to become completely ineffective? Our pump station improvements pragmatic Doing a facilities assessment Does the pump station need to be redesigned? relocated removed And then looking into cost-sharing opportunities with the army corps Through the continuing authorities program That concludes my presentation I asked that this be accepted and filed As recommended by the district engineer. Thank you. There are any questions director caput Yeah, thanks. Thanks for addressing this problem money has been collected over the years for Maintaining that pump, right? So are we we're actually going to replace it now or we're are we're gonna You were talking about the improvements there so so money is is collected through district District fees, but that money is applied towards maintenance and operation of the facility We did have a line item in the this year's approved budget to Examine potential improvements or replacement to the facility since it was mentioned as a capital improvements project and the formation documents of zone seven And rusty has been working hard over the last several months looking at what What is the best recommendation to make in terms of potentially rehabilitating that facility and his recommendation at this point is that We need to do some more analysis and look into What the condition of the facility is through some expert engineering eyes that we might hire out and also to look at The lifespan of this facility related to sea level rise as well as its its condition itself to see what the best recommendation was would be to Either replace it abandon it at some point seek investment for Rehabilitation through either the army core or Somewhere else So we're still in the exploratory phase shall we say sure now How much money has been collected over the years for this project? So it's it's difficult to answer that question because there has been a line item for shell road pump reconstruction in our budget, but It was well before my time here with the district when that line item actually had an allocation to it So we brought in an allocation this last year to answer some of these questions. So I can't tell you that there was money specifically set aside for shell road pumps, but it was mentioned in the capital improvement Projects list for the formation of zone seven. So it's been on the minds of some for for quite some time Right, and that's what I'm getting at is where that money is and You mentioned there's a possibility we could abandon the pump Well 100 years down the road if we do indeed have six to ten feet of sea level rise that pump will most assuredly be Quite ineffective at doing anything other than sitting there in the ground So the question one of the questions we have is at what point does sea level rise make this Facility obsolete and we don't know the answer to that question right now. Okay. So we're we're looking at it now What would we have an answer on what we're going to do with it? so We would either if we're required to go to the board for a large enough Consultant contract we would bring that to your attention at one of our upcoming board meetings Or if the contract is small enough, we'll go off and seek that Consultant expertise on our own and try to answer those questions and we're happy to report back to the board on on our findings And that consultants work well With let's say time goes by and it would be up to one of us to ask for another report on this Will we have some kind of a report on it? six months from now I can't guarantee a report six months from now But we can continue to update the board on on the progress and the findings that we do get as we go through this process I'll just ask that we ask for an update in maybe uh, june when we're doing the When we have a zone 7 meeting during the budget hearings Okay, I'll ask that that we have an update in Okay, okay Is there any buddy from the community would like to address this on this item? All right, so we'll bring it back to the board It would be a motion for the recommended action with a additional direction for an update During the budget hearing on this item so proofed So moved Sorry We have a motion from director bill sitch and a second from director leopold. Thanks for the additional direction director capitol. All those in favor I opposed It passes unanimously moving on to item 8 is the board of directors of zone 7 to accept and file status update Pajaro river flood risk reduction project as recommended by the district engineer We also have the Pajaro dc meetings agenda And the u.s. Ace visit to Pajaro agenda mr. Strudley. Thank you chair friend Board of directors just here to provide another update to you on the Pajaro river flood risk reduction project with the army core There has been a lot That's gone on since we last spoke about this project As I said to you during the Board item for a word of contract to pbi We are expecting completion of the feasibility phase in march and that will include the feasibility report and the director's report We will have to wait until the federal government gets around to passing their next army core budget next federal fiscal year to ask the core to Provide work plan funds from fiscal year 2020 They will be going through that process Development in february and march right around the time that we get our report So we're continuing to work very closely with the core to make sure that they are including us In their request that's going to be going up to headquarters for the budgetary process next year We had hoped to bring Some progress to your attention on our plans to embark on sequa for the project But because of the lapse in federal funding as well as some of the hiccups with the Hydrology and hydraulic analysis We weren't able to move quite as quickly on that front as we had hoped and so it's been somewhat difficult to develop An appropriate scope of work with cardinal who you authorize to award contract to for the sequel analysis at our september board meeting We are having a call with them later this month And the work that peterson bruce dad will be doing for us initially on the hydraulics Corrections to some of the core's work will help us in in that way and in completing sequa um so We uh, we went on a visit in october to washington dc Um, and we visited with a number of entities there and had representation both from zone seven from ordinary county water resources the city of watsonville And we had a fairly successful visit one of the notable visits that we had was with senator feinstein herself And so along with her support as well as senator harris We're hoping that they can assist with us in our relationship with the core and getting this project built Um, we continue to have great success and partnership with congressman panetta as well Um, and we were able to meet with zoe lofgren's staff congresswoman zoe lofgren um from santa clara area and because of the Fact that the pahoa river and the pahoa river system reaches up into her Neck of the woods and so we made her aware of our project and interest and she is supportive as well um We also had a visit from uh top brass of the core on december 6th, so Brigadier general kim colleton who is the head uh military officer at the army core division office in san francisco As well as lieutenant colonel travis rayfield From the san francisco district Visited us along with their new deputy district engineer stue townslee. So stue townslee is someone i've known for a while He's definitely more helpful than some of the core personnel. We've been involved with in the past And so i hope that will pay us some dividends We were able to show them around the pahoa valley to important spots make them aware of how important this project is And i'm continuing to discuss the project with stue On quite a regular basis since he stepped in and so i'm really hopeful that he's going to help us Build a successful project here We continue to work closely with our our friends at the state of california department of water resources and their Subventions program. We still are authorized Under that program to receive funding, but that funding hinges on federal investment So we are still continuing to work with them in arranging that that investment from the state And mark stone continues to assist us in our relationship with the state and our subventions authorization I'm happy to answer any questions you have about the nuances of this project and developments and The recommended action here is to accept and file the status report on the project Thank you any questions dr. Bilsich not a question more of a statement And I just want to say how much I appreciate what you're doing mark because we know whether this project goes or doesn't go is all political and We we've talked and talked and talked about it for years, but it's great to see Under the leadership of chairman friend and You and and others In the in the department have made some significant progress I mean we actually saw boulders being put on this, you know repairs being made On the south's way to screak That wouldn't have happened. I don't think 10 15 years ago. It's like now people understand we have a problem And it's whether it happens or doesn't is political So congressman panetta senator feinstein, whoever we can get involved and realizes that little watsonville Pa harrow needs our help Thank you for all you're doing appreciate it No, thank you and thanks all the support coming from from the board and elsewhere to make this project happen. Thank you You know the question is director capitan You bet. Yeah, I want to thank you also and Uh, we're we're coming up on a critical phase, right? In march, but is the government shutdown going to end up delaying this or is there going to be some Possible diversion of money That would go to be taken out of the Army corps hands and put into maybe something else Ie a wall I was wondering if that was going to come up today So the core budget was passed in late september. So they are unaffected by the shutdown. So they're continuing to work through Finishing the report responding to the comments that they've received from headquarters. So we still expect to get our report in march The the the banter about Core funding being taken away and applied to something like the wall is not affecting our project directly That is The that is being discussed as it might affect other projects that are authorized to be designed and built And are we're not at that stage yet? And real I'll make a comment or question on The south suppot is Creek putting the boulders building up the dam walls and and all that Who was the final paper we had to do on that? I think it's great that it's done But we had to have an approval And we were able to do it. Was that a fishing game fishing wildlife? So so we that was a core project and a core responsibility So they were because it was their responsibility They were the ones that coordinated all the necessary permits from the resource agencies Yeah, and I what what changed them before they used to be always the stumbling block on that What I what I'm impressed by is the fact that they actually Seem to be pushing it Are you still speaking of the repair projects? Of course, uh, you know They were very cooperative is what i'm getting at for years They wouldn't touch anything almost except for the bench excavation I can't speak to maybe some of that historical perspective But um, we we did have to poke and prod them quite a bit to get them to repair those those sites And they did it a year after we had hoped we wanted to get them To button up those sites before the next winter and of course it was it was one summer after that that they actually succeeded and In repairing those but um, we had help from Uh from from the board from letters from the board to The army corps we had help from congressman panetta And we had a lot of activity at the staff level to try to poke and prod them and make that happen and It it succeeded. Yeah, no, that's good. Uh, what was the final cost? To the district zero The project costs to the core for those repairs were somewhere in the vicinity of six and a half million dollars six and a half Okay, thank you very much Good work Anybody from the community like to address this on this item Okay, we'll bring it back to the board. It's a status update, but it serves an accept and file action We have a motion from director leopold a second from director coonerty all those in favor I opposed It asks us unanimously move on to item nine Which is the board of directors zone seven to consider adoption of a resolution amending the zone seven rules and regulations Related to regular meetings agenda materials in order of business and take related actions as outlined in the memo of the district engineer We have the resolution amending rules and regs for zone seven and the previous agenda materials Mr. Strudley, thank you for bringing this item forward after we discussed it at previous meetings Thank you chair friend board. This is an administrative matter that will hopefully make things more efficient for our operations here Notably the changes that we are recommending is to include additional wording to clarify that in the rules and regulations That ensures the coordination of the board With the board of supervisors meeting schedule So that we don't run into a pitfall with scheduling a board of directors meeting With the board of supervisors meeting conflicting We wish to Have agenda materials to be distributed in conjunction with the Ralph and brown act Require agenda and related material be posted and distributed no later than 72 hours prior to the meeting um, we would like to Have a both a consent and regular agenda And include a program managers report in that agenda and We would like to reorder the agenda configuration moving oral communications to the third item of the agenda and to Conduct the order of business as indicated in the board item beginning with roll call and going through The items listed there And including the program managers report Which at director bill is such as request includes a power a standing item for power river status update No cost obviously so our recommendation is to consider changes to this zone seven rules and regulations related to regular meetings Agenda materials in order of business and to adopt resolution amending resolution number two dash z seven approving said amendments Any questions from board members where we open it up No questions anybody from the community All right, we'll bring it back for action So moved Second We have a motion from director billisich and a second from director coonerty all those in favor I opposed That passes unanimously and the final item of business as the board of directors is zone seven Is to approve the 2019 zone seven board of directors meeting schedule as outlined in the memo of district engineer Mr. Strudley on this item. Thank you chair friend another administrative item Confirming the meeting schedule listed there including today's meeting as well as march 26th 1045 a.m. In Santa Cruz June 17 7 p.m. Budget hearing in watsonville on a september 17th 7 p.m. Meeting in watsonville as well So recommend an action is to prove the 2019 zone seven board of directors meeting schedule The director cap it no, I'll make a motion to approve But if there's any public comment first any questions, okay, anybody from the community on the schedule All right, bring it back director cap it. I'll motion to approve Motion from director cap a good job there director McPherson getting on the record there a second for director mcpherson all those in favor I opposed it passes unanimously that'll end the zone seven meeting. Thank you Uh to mark for all of your work on these issues. I'll turn it back to the chair of more supervisors Thank you, and we will Thank you, and we will resume our meeting For our final item of the day, and thank you to everyone who's been waiting patiently For it to be called up. This is item number 11 Which is to consider a report and presentation of the advisory task force on justice and gender Adopt a resolution supporting the bill of rights Uh for children of incarcerated parents and take related related actions Recommended by a task force as outlined in the memorandum of the county c.a out And we have nicole cobert So in april of 2017 Dr. Susan green presented a report to the board that was supported by the sheriff's office Entitled the gender matters A profile of women in santa cruz county jail It was based on 31 interviews with women in the main jail in blaine street In response to the report the board convened the advisory task force on justice and gender for a 20 more 24 month term representatives from health and Justice leaders from county agencies community-based organizations and the community were appointed to the task force The task force began meeting in december 2017 and is facilitated by dr. Susan green Dr. Green has over 20 years experience in the criminal justice system She has conducted and published a number of studies on women in jail with a focus on their social histories Risk fast risk factors that contribute to their incarceration and what women face upon release from jail She was also the founding director of the jama program and is currently a research associate in this psychology department at ucsc Today dr. Green and members of the task force will be here to present recommendations in three areas The first reducing harm to children of incarcerated parents Second housing for women and lastly preventing and responding To sexual abuse in jails and with that i would like to turn it over to dr. Green Good morning members of the board and thank you for convening this advisory task force on justice and gender I want to start by asking task force representatives to please stand And be recognized for your full commitment and participation in this effort To address and identify the unique needs of women cycling through our local criminal justice system It's truly an honor to work alongside these helping justice leaders in our community And I also want to extend thanks to our assistant county administrative officer nicole coburn And senior administrative analysts fen stafford for your guidance and support And to supervisor john leopold for serving as the board's representative and showing up regularly And to my ucsc research assistants for your dedication and lots of research behind the scenes And I would like to again acknowledge the sheriff's office for supporting the gender matters research with women in jail that laid the foundation For this task force Finally, I want to thank the fairfield in ensweets on 41st avenue where they generously Hosted our meetings in their beautiful conference space because they too support our mission We've had 10 meetings to date And we're here today to present recommendations in the three areas that nicole just identified Thank you Of the 31 women who participated in the gender matters study nearly three out of four are mothers And more than half had a parent who was also incarcerated It is these cycles of intergenerational incarceration that guide the work of our task force We've talked a lot about childhood trauma with a focus on prevention and intervention Intervention to help women heal and reduce recidivism And prevention supporting healthy families so that their children do not continue to suffer similar cycles of trauma and pain and incarceration We try to be trauma informed in our own meetings too And to that end I want to acknowledge that some of what we'll hear today is painful But it is important that we talk about these issues to instigate positive change And I encourage people for whom some of these issues may be triggering to please reach out for support as needed Generally discussions about criminal justice reform focus on individuals And less often consider their children or their roles and responsibilities as parents I want to invite you for a moment To think of a person in your childhood who mothered you maybe your biological mother Maybe somebody else and think about that relationship Our primary caregivers have significant influence on our development during at least the first decade of our lives And often for years following Those relationships often complicated Are central to human development I think we can agree that there's no question about the importance of the first years of life And I know this board supports several related initiatives Including thrive by three first five nursing family partnership and cradle to career As the task force considers issues from the perspective of women and the effects on their children and families We are committed to including people With lived experience in the criminal justice system and there are several identified representatives on the task force Who bring experiences to life and are also models of resilience healing and transformation They are not just there to share their stories They are experts and help strategize Organize and lead in efforts to help reform our criminal justice system to do less harm to individuals and their families It is my honor to introduce to you one of those leaders chad platt Who's going to speak about his experiences related to our first recommendation reducing harm to children of incarcerated parents Chad is a youth advocate who's a model of resilience strength and power and a true leader dedicated to positive changes for youth and our communities Thank you Susan and thank the board for having me here today as well um What i'm sharing with you today Happened some time ago However with my work in the community as a youth advocate. It's something that I see reoccurring It's something that we can end And it's something that we can come together as a community with to better serve children of incarcerated parents I was nine years old When I witnessed my mother being arrested I had so many questions And it was all a mystery to me um There was a raid at our residence and my mother was taking it into cuffs I was told to take a bag of my belongings And we were separated um I strongly advocated To be able to speak with my mom Just to have some sort of understanding um at nine years old I was aware that my mom had a substance abuse problem but The fact that there was you know police at our door and my mom in handcuffs. It was a complete mystery to me um The officers at the time Were explaining to me. I wasn't able to speak with my mom and although I was nine years old I wasn't taking no for an answer. So the officers did An amazing thing for me. They let me hug my mom in handcuffs and she explained to me that the people that I would be going with would take care of me I was moved into a temporary foster care situation. I actually had two separate Short-term living situations before I was placed at a comfortable foster living arrangement And during this time not being able to speak to my mother not being explained what was going on Although I was a child these were things that I was asking for these were things that I was ready to hear And by not explaining and by not telling me it only um Painted a very dark picture in my mind With the media with what we see on movies I was under the impression that you know my mom's in the big house and Not understanding that it's whether it's Blaine street women jail or santa Cruz county jail. It's a lot different than what's put on the media However at nine years old. I'm only putting together what I see on tv During my mom's stay at blaine street woman jail There are several things that would have ultimately made her stay there more comfortable and also had a better Time for me simple things like pictures um, I remember being able to visit my mom and The difference between playing hangman through the glass at the county jail and not being able to hold her hand Not being able to hug her Versus going into blaine street and having that opportunity to touch and feel was amazing However being in the foster care system There's no opportunity to take pictures with your parent and although it's it's a jail setting um It would have been amazing to have some photographs to have something to look forward to Um Although this happened when I was nine It is something that is still happening in our community today Looking over the bill of rights for children of incarcerated parents It's something that I would love to see adapted. It's something that This community absolutely needs um It's been adopted by the state of california and uh With the steps forward that i've seen the community making since I was the nine-year-old that this had happened to There's been leaps and bounds and I absolutely appreciate the opportunity to tell my story And hopes to create change and impactful change in this community um To speak more about the bill of rights and ways to support children of incarcerated parents I'd like to invite synthia chase up Thank you I also want to express my thanks to the chair and the board members for making this issue a priority by hearing from the justice and gender task force today Several of us on this task force have been working locally on this issue for decades And it provides us and those we're advocating for with hope to see the board give its time and attention To hearing from the broad highly skilled group of subject matter experts including those with lived experience Who have crafted a series of recommendations for your consideration We believe these recommendations will improve the lives not just of justice involved women But also their families and the community at large One of the many things the justice and gender task force has addressed is how we can reduce the collateral damage That is caused at as many decision points as possible when a woman is engaged in the justice system Generally the justice system is viewed as a necessary Interruption to harmful behaviors that are occurring in the community With the intention of addressing and preventing those behaviors from occurring again However What we also need to recognize are the decades of research that shows that these interruptions Don't just affect the life of the individual But because most women are the primary caregivers for their children. These children's lives are also interrupted Sometimes in highly traumatic and damaging ways As chad outlined in his own personal experience Their family home school health and well-being may be impacted and often decisions are made for them without them What data has also shown us is that incarceration is intergenerational Children who experience a parent or primary caregiver's incarceration are much more likely to experience the same life path The way to break that cycle is by responding differently to circumstances that we know can be harmful but are preventable A key way to recognize protect and provide better outcomes for the children of women who are justice system involved Is by following the lead of the california legislature who adopted the children of incarcerated Bill of rights in 2009 Therefore the justice and gender task force requests that the board of supervisors adopt a resolution Supporting the bill of rights for children of incarcerated parents and direct the human services department health services agency probation department and sheriff's office to identify opportunities and partners for implementation And to report back to the board during budget hearings in june 2019 We very much appreciate the opportunity to come and speak to today to present these recommendations And is now my duty to turn over the next part of our presentation to probation division director of adult services sarah fletcher Thank you Good morning. I'm sarah fletcher and in addition to working for the probation department as the adult division director I'm also a community member I want to start by saying that it has been a privilege to participate in this task force And I truly appreciate the board's efforts in supporting the group's formation I'm here this morning to briefly talk about how reducing harm to children at the time of arrest Is a prevention effort to reduce psychological trauma that often contributes to intergenerational cycles of pain and incarceration As you can see from the image up on your screen Memories endure kids who witness their parents arrest event may be traumatized by the sounds and images for years The experience may lead to nightmares separation anxiety aggressive behavior withdrawal trouble concentrating in school Or a variety of other mental and physical problems A well coordinated response by the agencies involved at the time of arrest to make sure a child is safe and informed Can make a difference this helps to support the relationship between children and their parents Which enhances a child's healthy development and finally Negative experiences can color future interactions with authority Children's images of police developed during these encounters can have lasting effects on their views of law enforcement And their future willingness to cooperate with police and abide by the law The international association of chiefs of police has identified an on scene checklist for law enforcement to safeguard children of arrested parents It is understood that many officers already use a number of these strategies and that there are situations where it's not possible or safe For arresting officers to put these into practice Police officers can make a powerful protect be a powerful protective factor That decreases the potential harmful effects of parental arrest on children In october we invited chad and susan to attend the monthly commanders meeting to introduce these efforts and provide an opportunity for our partners To hear a portion of chad's story as you had the opportunity a few moments ago Most local law enforcement agencies have written policies on this subject That many do not provide ongoing training or implement data collection in this particular area The task force representatives are now working with several agencies to schedule trainings and include presenters who as children Experienced the arrest of a parent With several of our agencies being both members of the task force and regular attendees of the commanders and chiefs meetings We are committed to using these roles to keep the dialogue ongoing I'll conclude with our task force's second recommendation Which is to request that the board chair write a letter to the mayor of each city The santa Cruz county law enforcement chiefs association and the california highway patrol Highlighting the importance of each law enforcement agency having a regular training On reducing harm to children who are present at the time of arrest along with data collection and annual reporting Thank you for your time and I will now hand it over to patty quillen a community representative on our task force good morning Women are the fastest growing segment of america's jail population Nationally their numbers have increased 14 fold from 1970 to 2014 and in california the women's jail population increased almost seven fold from 1,725 in 1970 to 12,054 in 2014 Close to 80 percent of women in jails are mothers of children under 18 years old and many of them are single mothers The 2017 gender matter study by dr. Susan green Found that here in santa Cruz county jails nearly three out of four women were mothers and out of all the mothers in her study Only one in five received a visit from her child while in custody Relationships between children and parents are the foundation upon which children learn how to trust and depend on others As we heard from chad when a child loses a parent to incarceration it can be traumatic When the parent child bond is interrupted it can have long-term effects leading to issues like Antisocial behavior poor school performance physical and mental health problems Due to these issues children with an incarcerated parent are also at increased risk for criminal behavior contributing to the cycle of intergenerational incarceration There are some children for whom it would not be in their best interest to have contact with their parent for a number of Reasons but when family visits are appropriate studies show that they can help maintain the familial connections Mitigate some of the trauma of separation for both the parent and the child and reduce recidivism Parent child visits are consistent with one of the central tenets of the children of incarcerated parents bill of rights Specifically that children have the right to speak with see and touch their parents A growing body of research supports the use of contact visits Which allow children to see that their parents are safe and healthy while in jail and can help reduce the children's feelings of abandonment and anxiety Physical contact and privacy during visits can benefit both parents and children helping them reconnect with each other Many experts believe that contact visits conducted in supportive safe and child friendly environments are the best option To help families reduce the harmful effects of parental incarceration Research indicates that visits are most beneficial when they are part of a family strengthening program And provide proper emotional preparation beforehand as well as debriefing afterwards And now i'll just read the the task force Request the task force request that the board asked representatives from family and children's services Court appointed special advocates the sheriff's office and the task force to consider the value of visits for children of incarcerated parents And to facilitate more opportunities for communication and visits between children and their parents who are in local jails The need to understand barriers to visitation by speaking with mothers in jail has been identified as one of the first steps Thank you The next area topic area Is related to housing and although housing was not a specific meeting topic that we focused on to date Concerns about the lack of safe housing and the high rates of homelessness among women in and out of jail came up consistently Task force representatives reiterated the reality that the lack of safe housing for women is the biggest barrier to safety Both for individuals and the community and often leads to further trauma relapse and reincarceration Women are not only the fastest growing population of people in our jails and prisons But are also the fastest growing population of people who are homeless I'd like to introduce nicole katal one of our local leaders and task force representative I'd like to start by saying thank you to susan for this opportunity And john and nicole as well for all of your help on this committee In the roughly 11 years I've lived in santa cruz county housing has never been anything that came easy for me Prior to my own personal involvement in the criminal justice system Even as a doe-eyed college student. I was taken advantage of trying to secure accommodations for myself Fast forward to 2013 and I'm completing my jail sentence at blaine street and asking But where do I go from here? I don't have money. I don't have contact with my family yet and all of my friends are either addicts or criminals I was scared to leave jail In jail. I was able to get clean I was able to eat and have a warm place to sleep every day And the people around me didn't cash cast harsh judgments based on my current reality I was lucky And I know that may sound confusing because who in jail is lucky But I was I was offered the opportunity to go to the jemma house The one and only all female no initial cost program for formerly incarcerated women in santa cruz county Little known fact Did you know that the last time the county invested a large amount in a property for that kind of housing was in 2007? For the jemma house and it hasn't happened since I was grateful for my time at jemma But with little skills and an attitude that none of my clinical team could reign in I was discharged from the jemma house in late november of 2013 I had nowhere to go An old boyfriend Offered me to stay at his house for a few days, but that wasn't a safe situation Sadly, I had no other options after a few terrible days and trying my hardest not to use drugs I ended up moving to southern california and leaving behind all of my support systems There were no options for me in santa cruz I didn't have the money to get into another program I didn't qualify for ab 109 and I didn't have kids. So none of those special circumstance funds were available to me I was lost And I found myself in a place. I did not want to be with people who did not understand me at that time I wanted to use to quiet the uncomfortable feelings of wanting to do better for myself But having every door of opportunity Shutten my face because I wasn't financially financially capable of paying for my recovery Again, I will state that I was lucky I had a grandma who was capable And able to rescue me and could support my placement in an all-female sober living environment run by sobriety works I was lucky because I made it into one Of only five programs here in santa cruz for women Janice and encompass both also have options for women, but the bed space is limited and the wait lists are long There isn't enough capacity to meet the need ever I've lived and managed a 12 bed female sober living environment for three years It was a great opportunity for me and truly saved my life Not everyone gets that opportunity though Not everybody who has a grandma who confronts the cost to get into safe housing Sadly the story of women who have to go back to unsafe situations Abusive relationships or homelessness is way more common than my story of success Countless times living in the sober living environment. I heard stories About women who lost their children to the cps system because they were unable to secure housing in a timely manner Or women who were able to receive ab 109 funding packed funding or another great funding opportunity But then lost that and what comes next? Self-sufficient living in santa cruz county. I think not Even working full-time in santa cruz here today. I can't afford my own housing Due to the high cost of living and wages and yet we expect these women To just put their lives together Stop using drugs get a job get housing take care of their kids and become happy content members of our community In dr. Green's gender matters reports 75 percent of the women in santa cruz county jails interviews stated that they had experienced homelessness And 50 percent of them stated that they had nowhere to go after their release It's a terrible feeling Knowing that you are doing everything you can to work on yourself Heal from trauma Focus on recovery And at the end of all of that your only options are to go back to the streets that led you to jail in the first place Or another trauma inducing environment The obstacles stacked in front of women as they exit incarceration are hard to dodge Even for those of us who fall under the lucky category Even I was discharged from a program with little hope for what was coming next For the women who end up on the streets back in traumatic or abusive relationships and situations Or left alone After every door they've knocked on has been shut in their face The feelings of hopelessness create a pool so deep that you can drown in I say it's time we stop shutting doors in the face of women and create more opportunities and pathways for success in this county That opportunity can start with you Take a chance like the board of supervisors did in 2007 That chance that choice saved my life What choices what chances can you take today to save the lives of many others? Thank you Our final recommendation is related to preventing and responding to sexual abuse and custody The me too movement has helped more people understand How vast and pervasive sexual assault and sexual harassment really is Sexual violence against women is about power relationships deeply rooted in the subordination of women to men And pervades virtually all cultures races and classes incarcerated women report Disproportionately high rates of sexual abuse rape and domestic violence And are in an environment where they are under the control of mostly men with power over them Where they cannot escape their abusers and where they often fear retaliation if they speak up Next I'd like to introduce cassie gazapura representative from the public defender's office Good morning Tens of thousands of women experience sexual violence and custody each year with more than half perpetrated by jail or prison staff Sexual abuse in jails and prisons is a systemic nationwide crisis That is generally received less attention than sexual abuse outside of custodial settings This crisis led to the u.s. Department of Justice's issuance of national standards called the prison rape elimination act or PREA Which requires detention facilities to give those in custody multiple ways to report sexual abuse and mandates that every allegation is investigated Correctional staff does now receive pre-training But abuse is still prevalent and women in custody are often reluctant to report sexual abuse for fear of retaliation In response to the arrest of correctional officer marco del reyale for unlawful sexual contact with a woman in custody at the county jail Sheriff jim hart convened a serious incident review board to examine the reporting and response systems in the jails and make recommendations for improvements The task force applauded sheriff hart's actions and commitment to eradicate this abusive behavior The recommendations that came out of this review board were presented by the sheriff's office to the task force last fall Overall task force representatives were encouraged by the recommendations and the progress reportedly already moving several of them forward As a group we also expressed concerns specifically around the recommendation to designate a sheriff's detective to investigate all allegations of sexual abuse in the jails The task force has ongoing concerns about the optics and trustworthiness of hiring an internal detective Who is employed by the same agency they are hired to investigate and we recommend a contract with an external investigator for that reason We believe it is in the best interest of the sheriff's office to use an external investigator and other government agencies have data that supports this practice The u.s. Department of Agriculture for example recently released a report on the us forest services process of handling complaints of sexual harassment Stating that there were many problems with their own internal investigations They ultimately concluded that the practice of using internal investigators may have deepened the mistrust in the system And the report recommended switching to a process of independent contract investigators To look into these types of claims for the purpose of creating more trust in the system overall The second reason we recommend an external investigator is to ensure that women feel safe in coming forward Particularly when we know the statistics around underreporting According to jesse learner king like of just detention international a group that works to end sexual violence in all detention facilities Rates of underreporting are even higher in custody She says quote on top of feelings of shame and the victim blaming that all survivors face Detainees who are sexually abused by staff are faced with the horrifying prospect of having to report the assault to their rapist colleagues and friends and quote The jag task force looks forward to continuing this conversation And working together with the sheriff's department to explore different models that use external investigators for claims of sexual assault in custody Thank you That concludes our presentation and i want to thank our speakers again And task force representatives for bringing us to this point today These recommendations are important steps toward reducing harm to children of incarcerated parents increasing safety from sexual assault for women in jail and women experiencing homelessness And improving community health and safety I want to thank the board again for convening this task force and recognizing the importance of our work We're not alone in our efforts as there are thousands of people across the state and nation Also working to strengthen families directly impacted by the criminal justice system and to do less harm I came to graduate school here at ucsc interested in working with children of incarcerated parents as a point of prevention And quickly learned That they're often an invisible group and the best way to help them was to help their mothers Here it is 25 years later, and i'm working with some of these children of incarcerated parents as adults Working in partnership with these local leaders on the task force I'm as motivated as ever to continue And I continue to feel that the more I learn the harder it is to walk away and pretend it's not my problem Thank you for joining us in this important effort. We're happy to answer any questions you might have Thank you On behalf of the board and behalf of the community and women experiencing incarceration and their families I want to thank all of you For your really amazing work. It helps to not only have the solid research And the best practices, but then also the input from lived experience So we can get a real sense of how we can bend these systems Or change these systems to get better outcomes for everybody involved. It's now an opportunity for questions Supervisor cap it you bet Yeah, I want to thank the task force for everything you've done Uh, I remember this came up about what two years ago. Was that about right? Year ago. Yeah a little a little over a year. Okay, and uh, you've done a remarkable job Uh, I remember on the list, uh, when we They were talking about different problems In the women's part of the jail and Sometimes some of the easiest things Were very, uh, you know to fix were very irritating to some and I'm just curious on There were two on the list that should have been able to be solved very quickly and easily One was if you make a phone call You're allowed so many phone calls or whatever And if you called home and the children weren't home, you weren't allowed to call back Has that has that been uh rectified? Let's say the mother is in the jail. She calls home, but her kids happen to be Somewhere Are they able to call back again, or are they lost their phone call? I think that I'm not sure that this specifically came up with relation. I think phone calls are made. Um There's a whole procedure and they have to be made collect from the jail So I don't know if you have So anybody who's in custody Makes collect phone calls. So if Somebody on the other end is able to accept it and they're able to speak with their children And in their home, otherwise they have to call back later Okay, they're allowed how many what one phone call? I think there's I don't think it's a number of phone calls They they have all phone calls made by people in custody have to be collect calls to the person They're calling so the person they're calling pays for the cost of the call Right, even if it's a local call. Yes Okay, and then the other would be the television Uh, is that that should have been solved a long time ago, but anyway Yes, so I had a feeling you might ask about this. Yes, we have solved the television issue It is much more complicated than one might think to just have television in a jail But the issue has been addressed and it's not necessarily on the same channel as the one in the midst Correct, and that's particularly an issue right now when football's on because the women really don't want to watch that Well, actually, yeah, you remember that movie by Ken Kesey one flew over the whatever and One of the biggest things in that movie was about the television during a sports program and Whether or not somebody wanted to watch this or that So those are those small things if you can't fix the small things It makes people wonder if you can fix the bigger problems So I want to thank you for that. Of course. Thank you So President Pearson, yeah, I want to thank the task force and Dr. Green for for bringing this to us And I'm very pleased to be able to support your recommendations, especially those that are designed To reduce the harm to children and all and To appreciate the wreck. I also appreciate the recommendation on housing, which is a tremendous problem overall here But uh, you know, it's going to be interesting I think we're going to get some reports back during budget session on several of these The state This county has tried to address housing issues overall But I think we this Reminds us and directs us to pay some special attention to this To these formerly incarcerated women and their their families. So I do appreciate that It's a huge problem or a huge issue that we need to confront and we're going to do the best we can to do that And I think it's uh legitimate to say that this uh, you know, the Those who have been women who have been incarcerated and those especially with children Should get some special attention in this regard. So I hope we can do what we can I might ask um, I don't know who would be the right person to ask if there Have been any recent housing relationship issues, which is a huge issue throughout the state That the state has implemented that I might not be aware of of Addressing this issue specifically. I'm not sure that that's the case But uh, I surely think we should look into it to see if there are any recent pieces of legislation Grant program prospects and so forth and how we can specifically address This population. So if I don't know if anybody has that answer now, but I Would like to have that be part of the report back and maybe it was going to be But I'd like to see if there's anything Recently that has come up that we should pay special attention to to address this issue Thank you So now we're going to hear from members of the public I'd ask if you're interested in speaking today To please line up if you're able and uh, we'd love to hear your comments Good afternoon. I am Lynn Petrovic the executive director of the court appointed special advocates of santa cruz county Good morning supervisors. My name is jimmy cook. I am the program director at cost of santa cruz and also a member of the gender justice and gender task force We are both Social workers and together we have about 50 years of experience working with traumatized and abused and neglected children So we thought we would come forward today One because it's our job to advocate for traumatized children But also to offer our support for the task force findings the three recommendations Specifically the adoption of the bill of rights of children of incarcerated parents The that action be taken to reduce the harm experienced by children who are present when their parents are arrested And that steps be taken to facilitate contact between children and their mothers who are incarcerated We'd like to address the last concern Contact between children and their mothers who are incarcerated Uh as a former social worker here in santa cruz county and child welfare I know firsthand that separation from a caregiver from a parent Especially a birth parent is is traumatizing for a child Um, we've seen young children so stressed after their parent is arrested They don't even play. They might not eat. They might not sleep. They have nightmares Um, they can at times just sit motionless with no expression at all on their face to say the least These children are not at all in a position to thrive And we also know that palaput told relief that they experienced as soon as they have that first contact with their parents Even if it's by a phone call Unfortunately, what we know is oftentimes mothers who are in prison or in jail Don't know where their children are and they can't reach their children So weeks can go by before this initial contact and those children are left in that state of fear and anxiety and trauma Over the last couple of decades, there's been a lot of literature And research done about supervised contact between children And their parents it's been established that regular frequent contact is beneficial To the outcomes of these children for this reason We believe that contact between mothers who are incarcerated and their children should be frequent and regular Unless deemed detriment by the court to that child We also know that the environment that this contact is held in is very very important the outcomes For those children are much better if it's the contact is held in a child friendly environment And for that reason we're asking three things one that you consider Having visitation and contact set up very quickly That it be regular and frequent when appropriate and that it be held in a child friendly environment In summary, we're very respectful That the board consider these steps That the justice and gender task force is presented before you So that the contact between children and their incarcerated mothers be established very quickly And and we thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you Hello, my name is mary and um, I would like to address the Um, the children thing, um I have been State raised. I have been in prison most of my life Um, I also have two children that have been affected by my Stay in prison and in jail. Um, I have a son that's 15 years old and I was pregnant through Um, my whole incarceration. So um, you and when I was let out I was using drugs. So my son was drug exposed and I was incarcerated taking away And they both both my children have been affected affected by my incarceration And so they have been We have been separated. So now my son is part of mental health And so is my daughter and I have no relationship at all with both of them And so now I am trying to Get reunified with them and cp. I'm cps involved, but cps is not They don't contact me at all like they don't you know, try to like say, hey, you know I want to try to reunify with you at all So what I would like to see is because now I'm part of bhu mental health And I would like to see like maybe probation And like the court systems try to help me Get involved so that way we can have like maybe like some type of visits or something Since you guys are talking about this is you know, it's bringing up some feelings, you know Around that. So maybe you guys can like, you know, maybe probation or like maybe judge guy with the bhu You know, like try to like work something out With that and then like also with the homelessness thing about What's that? Oh, I got 59 seconds. So with the homelessness thing Um, I also was affected by that. I was um doing very good in Blaine street and um, I had no resources And um got let out and went back on the levy and without bhu and probation right now I'm doing good and I'm healthy but without you guys without probation and stuff I wouldn't be doing good But please help the women in the jail system, please Thank you. Thank you Good afternoon. I'm emily balli the deputy director of the human services department And I also have the privilege of being Our department's representative on the justice and gender task force I just want to say that this experience has been Really great For me personally and to hear from people with lived experiences and their children To help us inform our policies and procedures has been I just can't express how invaluable that is to us I also want to give some thanks to susan for her dedication and commitment to this effort And I look forward to our department working with the other county departments and our community partners to move these forward. Thank you Buenos dias. Good morning. My name is Teresa carino And I am on the task force and I'm also a commissioner for the Santa Cruz county women's commission Co-founder and director of saluti carino and after school program that promotes health and wellness for middle school girls So as a woman as a mother as a community Advocate, I strongly urge the county board of supervisors to To listen to these recommendations that we've put before you I'm honored to work on this task force and I am proud of the recommendations that were presented here today. Thank you Thank you. Hi, my name is shona reilly And um, I am grateful. I live at jama and thank you to jama So i'm fortunate enough to have come from jail to um, a place where I get to go to school and I don't have to worry about a tent city that's growing And it scares me because I know it goes on there and it's domestic violence and drugs and a perpetual nightmare And I wanted to let you know what happens in jail When you don't have a place to go And there's not enough programs for women you you You get morale goes down for women. You you go. I don't have any hope, you know, so they don't think okay. Well I'm gonna get out of jail and i'm gonna get my kids back and it's gonna be great and i'm gonna Strive they just go back to some bad situation And then they come right back to jail So then they they they commit an even worse crime So then when they come back to jail now, they take a prison sentence so they can get ab 109 funding I don't know if you guys all know that So now they're committing worse crimes so that they can get ab 109 funding So that they can get into a program I know it doesn't seem smart But that's how you can get into a program in this county So i've been into a lot of other counties where you don't have to take a prison sentence To get a program you can go to a thu You can go to a program, you know like And you and it's kind of to me A little strange that you have to take a prison sentence to get a program in a county jail So Just kind of take a look at that. That's all. Thank you. Thank you Good morning. My name is Jane weed pomerance. I'm with positive discipline community resources for over 20 years We've provided classes in the detention facilities for positive discipline for parenting recovery and worked with the jama program We highly support the recommendations before the board of supervisors today and commend your interest and efforts related to this issue The children that we're talking about face incredible hurdles in their lives And I want to just draw the parallel to the many women and also men incarcerated There's a child inside each one of them who are trying to contend with and understand and make meaning Out of the trauma that they've experienced in their lives So, uh, it is a lifelong process Uh, I just wanted to say that without the stability and routines And also continued encouragement The children of those that are incarcerated Do not have the ability to learn The cortisol is surging through their brains and even if they are sitting in at a desk in school They are likely not able to learn to be, uh Successful students So we have to be thinking about how this relates to a holistic approach and how it relates to The individualized needs of the people involved I we support as I said, we support the recommendations strongly And urge that in that holistic approach That we do a lot more to make sure that it's not a one-stop This is your treatment and good luck, but actually that there's a Continual and sustained effort To help these these families. I know from my experience teaching those classes that it is an Educational problem those children um because of their distrust Because of their fears because of their traumas are likely to be repeating the same patterns that got them into They got their parents into those chairs Those relationships skills For any relationship require, um New understandings awareness and continued practice So we do urge that you continue with educational opportunities for parents both on the inside and also once released To continue to learn how to rebuild those relationships that have been so severely damaged building the trust solidifying the families and helping them Re-enter civic society is a holistic endeavor and I thank you very much. Thank you Hello, good morning My name is Sophia. I am a survivor and i'm a mother of two young children ages two and seven months After experiencing dv and needing to vacate my apartment for the immediate safety of myself and my children In december of 2017. Um, I have been unable to find stable long-term housing Um For my um for my family in santa cruz county This is through no fault of my own as I have been extremely diligent in my searching Uh transitional housing for women particularly survivors Um rearing families is a necessity in this area There is um simply not enough affordable housing available Um even with resources the current market value is far beyond reach Women like me need a a place to call home while rebuilding and healing Um after becoming homeless or transitioning in and out or out of short-term shelters or on the streets Um rapid rehousing is not a bridge to civility But perpetuates the cycle of homelessness Uh, we need to aid them and Women like me in their journey to becoming a stably housed long term And set them up for success as members of the community It is within your power to strengthen the lives of myself my children and many other women and families I hope that you can help us thrive here. Thank you for addressing these issues Hi, my name is natalie blackburn and I've been involved in um women's jail ministry with peace united church for eight or nine years um The first thing that I realized I had in common when I started visiting women in the jail is Being a mother and having concern for my children And that is the number one thing that women talk about and cry about and pray ask us to pray about Is um their children and that concern for them They often have family members or ex partners or Their kids are in foster care and those um in those situations. They're often those people Don't bring their don't bring their children to jail and to visit them So the children also lose the right to see their mothers Another thing that I realized I had in common with them is being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and assault Um when I share that story at all when I go to the jail I have heard a lot of stories about their Experiences too including fear of being on the street because of the um the amount of rape And also gang rape that they experience being afraid to sleep outside They all they often have to go back If they don't have a place to live people talk about their fear of not being able to stay clean because they have to go back to um homes or family members who are using And also involved in crime um They also ask us to pray about them being on the jama waiting list as a common theme um being able to um get onto a drug treatment waiting list Or um also a large proportion of them have mental health issues And as we know this is also um a big concern in our community is also a not not enough mental health treatment and mental health housing Thank you Hello board, um Thank you for your listening and I just wanted to acknowledge the task force and all these beautiful men and women For standing for our future and our children's and I also too want to acknowledge the bond between the mother And the child and when the parents are separated for the kid kids, it's blatantly apparent The impact on the life and their future that's going to have and uh, so i'm in support of uh having A parental visitation with their kids And also a request that some of the Incarcerations and crimes are due to maybe drug related Unusatory issues and that can just be of a change of the way we see things We can actually put people in rehab not have it so criminalized and offer help and services As well as cps It's been shown that when kids are taken from their parents with cps and there's been several other speakers that have spoke on this um, it's more detrimental to the kid and the kid is uh Is that lost without the parent And so instead of taking away the kid having structures in place and help for the parents so that um, they can uh, they can then Excuse me. Let me gather my thoughts So then they can then have predominant lives and all that so as a couple requests housing was mentioned I mentioned earlier this morning having like a place where people can go like a sanctuary They can pitch their tent maybe have some rules no drugs You know, you can be searched to make sure you don't have anything on you, but a place where people can get back on their feet um, so if there's anything you can like really look into to like, you know D deregulate all the stuff so people can be more free and expressed that'd be awesome And I just really want to acknowledge all these beautiful women here today. So Thank you My name is Laflora Cunningham Walsh. I live in the fifth district. Love it up there So I'm here today basically to support my family whose issues were brought up here today As well as just to support the task force and say just as one extra community member I really really value what they do. I really value the recommendations that they put forth I know that this board is a board that can take those recommendations and implement them and even improve upon them in the future Um, I'd like to encourage you to fund this as properly as possible Um, and yeah, it's just really great to see that this issue is being addressed It's great to see they learn a little bit about the history here today And I would really like to see that today be the day just like 2007 where some progress really gets made in 10 years from now And we come to address the address the next set of issues that today is a day that we can look Back at as a cornerstone of our future all together Thanks you guys Hi, my name is Alisa Dakiwag. I'm the clinical director of the jama house First of all, I want to say thank you to the task force for the wonderful work that you're doing. It's really amazing Um, I have only been working for the jama house for about seven months And I've been working in treatment in santa cruz county for about a decade and I was unaware of the unique Capacities of the jama house and I have to say since working there. I am so floored by what we do Um, we offer women a unique place to heal from trauma from all of the things that were mentioned here today Um, we offer a place for them to heal from that and not have to worry about the heaviness of bills And we offer them a place to reunify safely with their children So I would love to see another place like jama be funded I would love to see more opportunities like this for the women in our county. Thank you Thank you Hi, my name is katie mayetta and I work for the courts. I am a social worker within the courts. That's funded by a grant I wanted to thank you guys so much for not only supporting this effort But also financially backing and listening to all of the recommendations Thank you so much to susan green for not only her passion and her research But also for just continuing to keep this at the forefront of our minds The women that I have the opportunity to work with are so inspirational All of them have a heart in order to Want to do better. That's not the issue The issue is how do they get from where they're at to where they where they long to be And that is the journey that we're talking about we're talking about providing support providing education Most of the most of the people who are struggling right now have experienced trauma in their past They are a child of parents who have been incarcerated They are the actual patients that that we are striving to serve Who are trying to make it out of the criminal justice system? And we we are asking for recommendations for housing, which I know is Difficult, but we also need to recognize that housing is so much more than just temporary understanding or treatment Some of the treatment that's provided is very limited And a recovery journey takes longer than 30 days takes longer than six months Takes longer than a year and so when we're asking for these recommendations We're also asking that the housing is housing with children There a jama house is fantastic, but we also need an opportunity for these women not only to go into Housing where they can be successful But also that they can bring their children with them as they as they actually go beyond Just finding housing. They're able to actually Accomplish what they need to to reunify with their children They they create a foundation to reunify with their children some of the housing opportunities that are there Do not offer that do not offer the ability for them to even go beyond their trauma And be able to come become the parents that they want to be And so we're also asking that you consider those factors as we're talking about children and we're talking about women All of them need the support necessary and I want to thank you guys for even Just considering this and also making the steps necessary for this to really better our community as a whole. Thank you Hello, my name is lila and i'm 19. I've been Um through the foster care system and my parents have been incarcerated um And i've also been homeless like for a long time through high school and I just wanted to say that there are a lot of Young people who are homeless and even though we have programs like cps um sometimes You know, it's just not taken care of and um and I just wanted to mention that and um That these individuals who are young and trying to get their grasp on the world and figure things out um If things were Maybe went a little bit differently Maybe they wouldn't end up in a situation where they end up incarcerated or they end up being homeless in the future Thank you Hi, my name is maria and um I'm very I just first want to say thank you to everyone that spoke today and thank you to susan I am on the task force sorry for the tears that are coming but um I also work for monarch services. I'm an advocate And I am a mother and a grandmother When I I just have to just say that I hope you all had your ears open and really took all of this and Because it's just not words These are people's lives women um I have heard so many stories from women in my office I have Responded to women that just got out of jail that was that were out in the street and got sexually assaulted I have seen more than I wish I would have seen here in santa Cruz county and I just want to Just say how thankful and fortunate I am Working with such amazing people. I have my eyes have just been open to so much more And I just want to thank you all for taking your time Thank you so much So I waited patiently I heard the reports heard the presentation I heard the functionary bureaucrats and I heard the design talkers Come up in here. I'm well aware of this You know my sister raised chad Right And you know I consulted a lot of times with with the foster care You know with my sister regarded the the parenting she said a lot of the parents were not they shouldn't have kids Right, she did her best and she raised chad and he's a good kid You know And I want to be able to say this it's it's interesting because as I listen to this I just see the bureaucratic system want to expand Right want to invade the home and start taking care of the kids now and start acclimate them For jail start taking them to jail Our best bet is to deal with the get down to the root of the the problem and deal with the Undetended consequences political oppression And if we're not going to deal with this oppression how it's going to we're going to bring it true healing It's not just the women that need to be healed. It's some men All right, you guys want to come in divide the home and thing now you guys want to assert the nanny state to come in Take care of the people There's a lot you know on this panel they they don't have no mexicans They're coming from the community Right, there's no faith-based organizations back in this I would say I would say they need they need real people from the community To be able to talk on this issue. I was patient enough to hear you guys, right? I'm offering a countervailing perspective, right? And that's that's what debate's all about because I don't want get I don't want members of the public to get caught up And in the demagoguing because there's a lot of hard-working men and women that are struggling We understand that the that the gentrification is real, but we're not going to deal with that We understand that the that the criminal state wants to bring in the predatory culture and the punishing state And yet the da office in the sheriff department Hey, no one's dealing with that You know, I'm going through a malicious prosecution. I got 130. I got to go and deal with it right And there's a lot of men that need to be Reunited with their children And there's men in jail that that chad needs his father and there's a lot of other Fathers in jail that need to be a part of their kids lives so they can inspire them All right, we understand housing is important Right, but the gentrification It's real You know, will I come in and day in and day out in these meetings and we hear it all the time? You know members of the public needed we needed we need to start reordering the public defender's office And have one organization that's going to represent the people's political rights human rights and civil rights So that they're not dividing the families and they're not allowing the sheriff department to pick on them And not allowing the da's office to pick on them And just divide and ruin the home. Thank you Good afternoon. I'm craig wilson under sheriff I want to acknowledge the work of the commission We've been listening very closely and on behalf of the sheriff heart and myself. I just want to thank you the work that you've done We wanted to comment just briefly on the third recommendation about preventing sexual abuse in jails We certainly appreciate everybody's interest in keeping our jails safe and Everyone whether they're in custody or out out of custody and we work toward this When sheriff heart learned that there was an allegation of an officer who Had abused someone in jail. He immediately started a criminal investigation that led to the arrest of the offender an officer He also conducted internal investigation that led to sanctions against employees for reporting delays But we didn't stop there. We formed a serious incident review board, which you've heard about And we wanted to include community members and people with lived experience It included four prominent women That work with the commission for justice and gender We heard from investigators and prosecutors and considered best practices And they came up with 10 recommendations. We're coming back on january 31st for an implementation report with that group So we do take these things seriously The board recommended that we adopt body warrant cameras We've done that that we enter a contract with monarch services to to have third party options for reporting for women in custody And that we produce a video which now is running daily and other things They also recommended that sheriff's detective Is the most effective way to investigate all Claims and complaints in the jail And we support that So I can provide additional information about the work we've done there at the request of your board But I just want to acknowledge and again, uh, thank the commission for the work they've done And thank you to the board for supporting the commission's work. Thank you Thank you. That'll be our final speaker and i'll be bringing it back to the board for action Thank you chair First, let me express my great appreciation For all the people who participated in the justice and gender task force The this effort has been part, uh, college course part support group Part, um, policy workshop And that I think has been very helpful Because we didn't Dr. Green at the beginning of her Efforts laid out a a map of different islands that we were going to visit as part of this And we started off on looking at trauma because we felt like if that was important to Started a place where we could look at some of the roots of the reason why people end up in our criminal justice system And we heard from lots of speakers. We heard from Women who have experience in the criminal justice system. We heard from children Whose parents have been incarcerated? We Every meeting Had some readings So we could be better informed so we could have informed discussions The conversation was always very lively at these meetings And when we sat down to sort of look at what we had done over Over nine or ten meetings to come with recommendations It was very thoughtful conversation in which there was consensus On all all the items that are listed here One of the things that uh, I think is important That we heard today and which should help drive some of our work in this area is we aren't just talking about the An individual woman who's in the criminal justice system, which on average is about 20 to 22 days In our system We're talking about all the other people in their lives including the children When we hear from young people who've Who've experienced the trauma that has been created by the arresting Of their parents We think to ourselves these are something that we could change and we heard from law enforcement Representatives from a number of agencies Some who who had written policies and some who identified that they needed to create written policies And I think that's is very important coupled with training and collecting data Seems to be also very important there To think about this bill of rights, which the state has already adopted But it should be prominently to displayed so people know what their rights are becomes critical and to talk about Something that seems kind of simple That that children should be able to visit their parents and that it shouldn't be just through a cage or A glass but to have physical contact to be able To talk with them to have that happen as soon as possible becomes really important to limiting the trauma That that child is already experiencing seeing their parent go into jail Possibly being placed in a foster home having their life upended And when you look at the statistics of people who are in jail Who uh, I think the numbers are half of them had parents who are in jail We're Anything we could do to reduce that number makes a big difference to the public safety of our community On the issue of housing This is an issue which this board has taken very seriously and has worked very hard To address a number of different elements to increase the availability of housing This recommendation asks us to come and look at our own properties and try to see if we could use our own resources to To address this critical need When I hear from a mother who has been in jail who's cleaned herself up who has Gotten the job is ready to to reunite with her family. But for the lack of housing Can't be with her children and their children can't be with their mother It seems to me that we're missing out on a great opportunity to again bend that arc Uh, to be able to uh ensure greater or better outcomes for both the mother and the children um, this is going to require leadership on our part, uh, because if sites are identified and uh, We not only have to back that up with some resources But we may also have to back it up with our commitment to the in the community Because no one ever seems to like anybody who isn't like them Um, uh, moving into their community and when you say we're going to be We're creating some spaces for women coming out of the criminal justice system so they can be with their family Um, that that may be wildly accepted or it may need that we need to stand up and talk about the value of what we've learned through the reports that have been presented to this board and through this task force So I encourage My all my colleagues to think about this and be ready to to show that leadership when the time comes In regards to the final area When we when this was discussed within, uh, the task force there were, uh, Clear issues that were identified By members of the task force about an independent, uh, agent being the one To do the investigation for all the reasons that were laid out This, uh Becomes important for how it looks but also how it would actually be Carried out and I think it's important for us to ask the the sheriff to consider that as part of Of the work in addressing the the the outstanding work the sheriff has done to to look at this issue um, I want to acknowledge that Um, the sheriff office has been has already in the in the course of time that this task force has been meeting Has already done a number of great things reopened Blaine street. Um, that, uh, has created this division of reentry that, uh Took suggestions about guidelines about the video that undershelf Uh, the undershelf just talked about And has been very committed to open dialogue And presenting and being part of this task force The judiciary and the and the district attorney's office has also been involved in this task force And the fact that we after a recent discussion about restorative justice have been taken seriously Just had more conversations this morning with the district attorney about this About the issue of restorative justice could play a role in helping deal with the issues that women face in our criminal justice system So the the to my fellow task force member. I want to acknowledge that Having the conversation is already creating change And we are working with partners who Share some of these same interests the task force didn't drive all these changes But the but the the the county system is working to address some of these pieces um I want to thank uh, uh, susan green for her leadership, uh as part of this. Uh, she has uh faced when When you take 25 years of experience and you say fit it into two hour increments Over that only happened once a month with, uh, 20 people who may or may not all show up Um, you have to really be thoughtful about how that's done and uh be able to connect with people And I think the richness of the conversation has ensured that most of the time we have almost everybody there Um, and the outreach that susan has done to make sure that people who aren't there are included even if they can't make it to the Meeting makes a big difference. I also want to acknowledge, uh, nicole coburn and spenn stafford, uh, who have Also attended every single meeting Have helped out with technical aspects of it But I feel as though they are partners in this effort as well and I just want to recognize that nicole has many years working, uh with the sheriff department on budgets and in her role as assistant ceo has a broader Portfolio, but the time that you've committed to it and the time that spenn has committed to it has been really Outstanding and I want to thank you I also want to appreciate the other departments Who have put in time hsa and hsd who have already started looking at their own policies and programs to be able to address these issues The task force is going to continue to meet And we have there are other areas in which the task force is going to be taking a look at and we'll come back to our This board at the end of 2019 Uh with additional policy suggestions But I think it says a lot for our board made up of men Who are committed to addressing the issue of women in our community their families Um and in a way that not only, uh helps Reduce recidivism but increase public safety in our entire community And with that I would recommend uh that we adopt uh all the recommended actions and all the all the different, uh Uh suggestions that are that are in this report Motion by leopold second by mcpherson Is there any other discussion? I just wanted to ask uh, nicole colmore This the number three or excuse me number four to identify the safe housing Uh, and that's a cooperative effort. Is that realistic? I mean, it seems like it should be and uh Where we might be able to place this type of housing Do you think we will be able to have this ready by uh, june? It seems like I think we should and I surely want to make that direction as if it needs a stronger support Emotion of any type, but uh, do you think we can we can accommodate that? I think the preliminary report coming back in june, um, will be fine and will you know, there might be future additional information that we need to return to the board with but We wanted to be aggressive and provide an initial deadline in june good. Okay. Thank you Greg Yeah, uh, you the task force you've really done your homework. I We we need to get this information The the thing that shocked me now there were 31 interviews. They were all in the jail and 30 out of the 31 And If I read it correctly were Arrested on an average of 12 times before Am I is that correct? I think you got to come to the microphone if you're going to respond I believe 30 of the 31 had been incarcerated before An average of 12 times had been arrested before. Yes, that's correct So then we get I'll do this quickly Then we're talking about once they're released from jail how important it is to have the cooperation of Well, we have the probation department Then we have child protective services mental health Housing I I mean How is the cooperation we we can help try to to solve something in the jail But then how is the cooperation once they get out of the jail? What's what would You say about, you know child protective services the mom gets out The child was placed somewhere else For I know they have hard work And all that yeah, I would say that particularly family cases And every case really is unique right these are individual lives. We know our own lives lives are complicated There's a lot of different People and influences so I can't really speak to that I think that the division of reentry under sythia chases leadership at the jail is a Direct effort at coordinating what you're talking about And you know you brought up the High rate of recidivism for women in our jails and I know one woman talked about Talked about it as these women are serving a life sentence 30 days at a time Wow, so I think to to really recognize The rate at which so many people are cycling in and out for the reasons that have been discussed today And the costs Both in safety and dollars public dollars. I know we can do better. And so thank you Yeah, and I guess with the child a lot of times No matter how bad the situation might be they want to be with mom, right? So how do you deal with that? I mean this is going to be part of the bill of rights, right? So I think that again every situation is unique and there are some cases where it may not be legally Or otherwise appropriate, but we can support healthy relationships With parents and children even if they're not always living together or have lived together before so to where when that is appropriate and and Legal and healthy. I think that there can be more done to support healthy relationships And as we started we know how important those relationships are Thank you. This is a very serious and sad situation that we're actually dealing with it is uh Of utmost importance that we we look at it. Thank you very much Zach Thank you, chair. I just wanted to actually compliment the people that that spoke This is not an easy forum to share your personal stories It's there's never an easy forum to share a personal story like this, but this is disproportionately difficult and You taking the time to share that is is how change actually occurs and you should be commended for taking The time to do it and having the willingness to share that in this space that means a lot And the commission's recommendations are practical actionable and necessary And uh, it's important that When recommendations come back, there's actually something real about them that can be implemented And they don't just end up on a shelf somewhere and I think that What came forward are those things they will be action Actionable not just for the board but for the community at large and so I appreciate the work of the commission for that Reason as well. Thank you. Thank you. We have a motion on the floor Uh, I'll call for the vote all those in favor. Please say I Opposed that passes unanimously that will Thank you to everyone here today and everyone who couldn't make it today who made this happen Uh, this will adjourn our meeting to our next review scheduled board of supervisors meeting on january 29th