 Check one two two check one two Check one two live caption testing do we have a signal check one two testing for live captioning? We're good Buenos Dias. Good morning para aquellas personas que necesitan servicio de Interpretación por favor vengan a buscar el transmisor en la mesa Donde se encuentran las botellas de agua para aquellas personas que necesitan Interpretación en español por favor vengan y recojan el transmisor En la mesa donde están las botellitas de agua muchas gracias Everyone hear me in the back. Please find a seat. We want to get started Please please find a seat Thank you to everyone who came out this morning and Thanks to all of the folks who are here to answer questions I think you'll find that there's a good array of of folks who will be able to answer just about any question That you have I want to go over I'm Mike Thompson And I want to go over a little bit of the of the format This morning for you the first of all we're going to work off the agenda the golden There's index cards that will be passed out the index card and The questions will be asked and answered off of those index cards It's much easier to do it that way and we'll have a record of all of the all of the questions As I said there there's a ton of staff here. Rosa FEMA Army Corps OES and they're all here to answer questions That that you brought with you today, and there's also representatives from the Department of Insurance Who are here, and I know there's probably a lot of insurance questions So they're ready to meet with you at the conclusion of This meeting a number of us are going to just make very brief remarks about what's going on in our Jurisdiction of disaster recovery, and then we're going to get to the questions I'm here with my colleague Jared Huffman. We represent the area we represent you in in Congress I'm going to just make a brief remark, and I apologize, but I'm going to leave I have a tax seminar that I have to do in another part of the area and But I did want to come by and let you know that We're here. We're working. We're with you We'll do everything that we can and I wanted to give you just a brief update on the Disaster supplemental bill that was the Emergency legislation to fund all of the aforementioned Agencies who were working so hard to get us back to where we need to be You probably read or heard that it was an 81 billion dollar bill And this was money that will be approved across the country. So this is Our share of this year Even more money here, and they'll be there'll be subsequent bills that will be brought up as it's needed I also want to clarify. I know that when the tax bill was passed out of the house There was a provision that out the ability This is and they're truly Disturbing because the people that wrote the bill of the chairman of the committee is from Texas That just went through the hurricane problem and they grandfathered in their constituents in Texas And it was a real slap in the face, and we were very very vocal about it and we fought it hard and When the final bill came back Although the bill wasn't much better. It did take care of part of our concern So going forward any casualty losses can be written off provided It's a federally declared disaster Which would be good for a situation such as ours, but it's bad if there's you know of 20 houses burn or 20 houses get flooded That's not a federal disaster and folks in a situation like that would not be able to take Take advantage of that, but we can hopefully fix that As we try and fix other parts of this of this tax bill, but the fight right now is in the Senate and Please contact your senators tell them how important it is that this money go forward The good news is that FEMA has enough money Now to continue to do the work they're doing But at some point we're going to run short and this disaster Relief supplemental needs to be done. So thank you all very much for being here Thanks to all the folks who are going to be helping and I know there'll be a lot of good information I'm going to turn it over to Jared. All right. Thanks, Mike Thank you congressman Thompson So I'm congressman Jared Huffman together with Mike Thompson We represent Sonoma county and I also represent Mendocino county where many people have been impacted By the terrible fires as well As Mike Thompson just told you we want to make sure you know that your federal representatives are 100% committed to making sure that that federal disaster funding continues to flow We will do that and we're in it for the long haul whatever it takes but Maybe a little further back in the the less high profile news is an awful lot of other work that we're engaged in and we want to make sure you know that as well Every week every day Our staffs locally are engaged in working shoulder to shoulder with our colleagues in the state legislature With county government with city officials and community leaders to make sure that this difficult process of recovery and rebuilding is moving forward When we gathered in this gym Literally as the flames were still burning And the evacuation orders were still in place Many of us told you that this was going to be a very long haul And I think today's gathering is very important to show that we're going to keep that promise of staying with you all the way through That is our commitment just because the flames are out and the evacuations are over doesn't mean we don't have An awful lot of difficult work to do We want to make sure you know that your representatives at every level of government Are going to be with you every step of that way So thank you to senator maguire and others for pulling this important Meeting together We hope that we answer a lot of questions that you may have and of course the listening side of this is also important that we hear from You how things are going and how we can do the best possible job of representing you One of our great partners at the state level senator bill dodd Thank you very much jared. I'm not going to be long because you came here to to listen to People that are going to help More in this recovery. I did want to mention though that this you can if you got people at home This is being live streamed by the california state senate the state of california city of sonoma and the county of sonoma I think it's For those of you that Are in the sonoma valley. My office is organizing a town hall there The latter part of this month so that will be coming out for those people In the sonoma valley that were impacted By these fires. I do want to let you know that You know in sacramento First of all, i'm the state senator in the southern half of Sonoma county and I shared that with senator mike maguire And we have been in sacramento and it's been absolutely amazing your fire chief your city administrators Your county people have been in our offices Over the last two To help with recovery I also want to mention because I just don't think people really realize the the impact that Cal oes who you hear from tonight and fema have made in this progress that's being made These organizations are operating at the top levels. I'm so impressed. I'm so appreciative because we could not do this Without them I do want to Also thank my colleagues who have been working so hard on this with us And at that at this time, I would like to introduce The other state senator from sonoma county senator mike maguire. Thank you very much Good morning I want to just take a quick moment to say thank you all For coming together This is still an incredibly emotional time for I think all of us in this room And being a third generation sonoma county resident I have never seen this community come together like we have since october 8th And what I will say is that we have a lot of work ahead But together we are making incredible progress Some quick updates and uh one I recognize senator dod Assemblymember wood and agar curry along with mr. Huffman and mr. Gore and mr. Corsi We were able to move forward and securing Almost 24 million dollars to be able to backfill property taxes for the county of sonoma Our local fire departments county minnesino and lake and napa county and that has been so important to make sure We have continuous services here in the years to come I think the other really big. Thank you. I'd like to be able to make here today is to the california office of emergency services We had a an unfortunate incident where A large firm protested a contract here on monday that would have halted debris removal in our four counties And by an innovative workaround by the director of office emergency services who will be who's going to speak to us in just a bit Debris removal will continue and we have a brand new team coming on board and starting work this morning to continue moving forward On debris removal in our communities. I just want to say thank you so much My last item will be a promise We promise that we are here for you now We promise that we're going to be here for you In the months to come and we will be here for you when we rebuild this community And it is without further ado. I'd like to better introduce A fantastic colleague and a wonderful advocate for the north bay both assemblymember wood and assemblywoman agar curry Thank you. We'll be extremely brief you want to hear from them not so much from us at this point But you you have never you will never see a more unified group of folks working together whether it's the state Are your legislators here? We are here for you. Absolutely through this through this crisis and through the rebuild There there have been so many stakeholder meetings as recently as this week having members From all the communities all the counties together in sacramento with us And this will continue until we get this job done for everyone here in snowman counties so we can recover So thank you so much for being here. We look forward to the information And I got I got to say our state agencies have been really really amazing. I can't We have never seen anything like this and they're going to be here for us as well And specifically want to call out mark gilducci with the oes and his team and bob venton with fema amazing amazing work So thank you so much and i'll turn this over to cecilia I too want to thank all of you for attending today It's amazing all the work that we're doing in the capital trying to make sure that we get this taken care of And do it quickly for you again My hat goes off to everybody that's come to the table Again mark. Thank you so much for what you've done Can you imagine being in his Role right now and dealing with the fires as well in southern california in a mud slide So we have to take off our hat to his entire department as well as fema so make sure let's give him a round of applause for what he's doing So I want to guarantee you that not only at those of us that are sitting here But we all have a field representatives that are answering your questions every single day And we try to get back to you as promptly as possible So if there's some questions that arise today that we might be able to help directly You can call our offices in our field offices and we'll be more than happy to help you Thank you for attending today and let's get this done at this point I'd like to bring up cinema county supervisor james gore and san rosa mayor chris corsie I'd like to ask my colleague charlie zane to come on up to and charo bratton from the county and maybe chris You can come on right afterwards if that's okay My name's james gore incoming chair of the board of supervisors charlie zane was the chair last year And I want to thank her for her leadership in getting us through a tough time charo bratton our county administrator Basically the ceo of the county in terms of what we need to do operationally to make sure we deliver There are two things that guide me and our board and and charlie and I and everybody And that's number one is making sure that we don't fail you Why because at this point you didn't have any choice To get evacuated from your house or not to receive an amber alert or not To get to where you went that night To get to a safe place for the coming weeks the coming months or even now how your insurance company is dealing with you You finally have a say in what happens going forward That fire did not make you a victim If we fail you in this world, that's what would be victimizing So what we're doing right now is the board of supervisors jointly and i'll let the city of san rosa speak for themselves Is that from now through the mid february we're going to be having all of our board meetings focused on our recovery and our resilience plan Recovery is how we get back to basic level of where we were Resiliency is how we come out of this stronger and when I say that we're talking about natural disaster preparedness Making sure our communities are safe and prepared and resilient to what's coming on and not platitudes Things like how do we get vegetation management this year up into the hills? So that we don't have another fire come next year for the areas where the fuel loading still exists that didn't burn this round How we make sure that the office of emergency services at the county of sonoma Is prepared to do everything in its power to get out to you the word and the messages you need And the other constituents need in this area This is our number one focus You're going to be hearing a little bit later today about permitting and other things I want to assure you that our goal is that you don't have to spend a single extra dollar Outside of what potentially staff time would be to actually execute things like your plan checks and your permits So we are negotiating with private providers. We are negotiating internally I see some people happen and I respect that because you're wondering if we're going to deliver for you And that's actually my challenge is that I do want to look at that and I want you to Instead of scoffing when I say we're here for you is for you to look at us six months from now and say They didn't just do government as usual. They did what was needed to benefit me. So I take that as constructive criticism We're going to have board meetings on the 29th to cover our housing and our permitting would love for you to join us That's going to be a special meeting We're going to continue throughout the month of february to build that recovery and resilience plan If we do not hear from you We can't act on your concerns Even if that's frustrations I want to follow up by just saying I see two friends in the audience um bob and shirley What 50 50 plus years in your home? I I honor that Shirley anything you want to add Say that you know one of the things absent on this agenda is about the mental health services Our community is is grieving We've had this horrible catastrophic fire and disaster and there's also long-term effects of trauma And it manifests itself not only in emotional ways, but physical ways too So please don't hesitate to reach out For yourselves and maybe for loved ones too It's a really tough time. We get lots of calls at my office feel free to call um the third district office anytime we will The 24 hour hotline for the mental health services is five seven six eight one eight one five seven six Eight one eight one you can find a lot of different lines for mental health services on the sonoma county recovers Dot org page as well. Take good care of yourself We care so much about you and we know how difficult this is right now. Thanks Good morning, everybody. I'm chris coursey. I'm the mayor of santa rosa You know, it's been three months and three days since we had the first How many people are going to turn out on a cold january saturday morning? And it really heartens me to see hundreds of people here Here with us And what I want to tell you is that we are here with you as well And that's that's the only way we're going to have a success in this recovery is if we're in it together So I want to just reiterate what's been said a couple of times up here From the federal level to the state to the county to the city We are working together on a daily basis to try and make this This process as smooth as we can for you Today, we've got a number of subject matter experts who are going to follow me Thankfully the political speeches are going to end in just a second here, but We want to listen to your concerns We want to answer your questions and we want to smooth the way for you Now that doesn't mean that we're always going to be able to solve your concerns And it doesn't mean that we're going to have answers necessarily right away for your questions We're going to find those answers We're going to work as hard as we can to make things smoother for you But we need to keep working together and I'm pledging to you right now that all of us are here for you in the long hall We're going to work together. We're all going to work together on both sides of this microphone So one one more thing if your questions aren't answered in the in the big room here today There are resources in the hallway All of these folks most of these folks will stay here and answer questions one on one afterwards So don't leave here feeling frustrated that your question didn't answer it didn't get answered. Make sure you ask it At this point i'm going to introduce The director of the california office of emergency services mark gillarducci and fema's regional administrator robert finton Well, good morning everyone And let's start off with this sonoma strong Right all of you You know In california have been literally an unprecedented time We've had starting in the october fires over the last four months a number of catastrophic events that have plagued the state from Mendocino to san diego In all in four short months We have lost over 11,000 homes and businesses And and unfortunately More than 65 fatalities It has really been an an incredible Impact and effort and the way We have all continued to work through these Challenges has been as we do here Together as a community as a whole of community local state federal nongovernmental non-profit and all Saying to you all and when we first were met here in this gymnasium three months ago That this was going to be a marathon not a sprint That there were going to be hard days But that we would get through them And and we continue to work With that objective in mind um The big thing here, of course has been to getting the debris cleared Uh is really the largest debris operation debris clearance operation that we've seen in california since the 1906 earthquake It is a very complicated Debris removal operation Uh encompassing many many kinds of terrain and areas Uh facing weather conditions and other kinds of issues um And our challenge uh the fires As that was we're in the same It's moving fast enough It's it's Something like moving the biggest debris operation in the state's history modern history So after the 19 uh, sorry after the 2015 butte fire In calaveras county 2015 We had 800 lots that needed to be cleared. It took us five months terrain, etc um In 2015 as well during the valley fire in lake county. We had 1100 lots And that took us a little over three months to be able to get 1,300 lots Since october and fire started and really we started here Actually with debris operations beginning in mid november To now which is roughly about two and a half months We've cleared well over 1800 lots In in in sonoma county And and that's thank you That's resulted in more than a million tons of debris Being removed and getting those lots cleared now The metrics that we put in place for completion I think you remember me saying that we were shooting for uh early january And you know the reality is is that Parts of it will be done by early january coffee park Is expected to be completed within the next two weeks And um and and as we move forward we are we remain on the metric To be able to get the remainder of sonoma done in um By the end of february And maybe a few outlying in an early march Senator maguire mentioned that uh, you may have heard about these bid protests. There's a lot of Things that come up in the media I want to be clear with you that The the challenges that we deal with sometimes with with contractors In these kinds of situations really what I I and I know it's hard sometimes It's sort of part of something of this magnitude that we need this kind of Uh of these kind of big debris contractors And if you understand that we also are doing debris operations in ventura in san diego and now As we are actively involved in heavy search and rescue operations in santa barbara Uh a massive debris operation there as well to clear 20 foot walls of mud and debris Uh that came down out of those mountains following the thomas fire That there's there's you know only so many resources that go around But we were concerned as i'm sure you were that the protest would have Delayed the ability to meet the metrics we put in place So um that wasn't going to work for us And uh working with our great partners at fema and I I just want to publicly Recognize one of the best partners i've ever had the opportunity to work with at fema Administrator fenton he has your back. He has our back He clearly is engaged And and um and he's a get the yes kind of guy To make sure that we are all working on this As one team one fight in moving this forward We got we set an agreement yesterday and pending agreement with The company based out of berlin game called environmental chemical corporations ecc To undertake the continued cleanup operations so that there would be no There would be no break in the effort to continue to remove The debris and uh and move forward I want the the the bureaucratic protest issues to be transparent to you what I want for you to know Is that our intent is to get your lots cleared and that is what we're going to continue to do so So with that, um, I just I think the core of engineers will speak a little bit but they have put up Posters out in the front You can kind of see where Or the debris operations have been completed Where they're going to be completed We're continuing to refine this so that you know, I've asked them Bob and I sat and work with the core of engineers who have who've had a heavy lift as there's no question To be able to coordinate this to to to develop a timeline that is helpful That so that you can get a sense of when You're part of the community Your neighborhood will will be cleared or is expected to be cleared and uh, you know getting through all these of these Other challenges. I think we're in a good place to be able to do that and and by today We should we will have that that information for you before you leave so with that I'll turn it over to my great partner bob fenton and just just want to be and was saying thank you to all of you For your patience and your understanding We will continue to be here with you and we will make sure that As these things pop up We'll address them in local state federal Whole of community approach. Thank you very much Well, let me first start off by saying thank you And also let me Thank all the local officials here today. Uh, your congressional rep representatives They're here today. Uh, it's been uh They've been a great team and and they've had your backs all the way through this As mark said i'm the regional administrator for fema region nine our office is in the barrier Many of our staff come from sonoma and and outline barrier nappa east bay so We had staff That you know have friends that have lost Friends that have lost homes So we feel very connected and want to make sure that We give you guys 110 of our effort from our office during this event and we'll continue to do that In fact, my own grandma lives in sonoma and had to evacuate during this event. So we're we Well, we'll probably never truly understand each of your needs and losses You know our hearts and condolences are there with you and you'll continue to get effort from our office I think there's three principles that uh, you know, we've tried to To undertake in doing this and and mark talked about them and the speakers before me talked about them But the unity of effort Is is critical. Uh, how do we make sure? Uh that we Collectively all the different federal agencies that are here State agencies local agencies continue to work together with you Toward the common goals that meet your needs Hold community not only government, but You as individuals private sector nonprofits Need to be part of the solution and then And then understand that all events are local. We're here to support you And they'll end Local and so my job is to fully you utilize my authorities to help Respond to this event and recover to this event very early on I uh, you know as we got the declaration from the president In october one of the things that he's done is he's made 100 of the costs for the immediate firefighting Eligible for federal reimbursement. So Essentially the federal government's paying for the majority of the firefighting costs Mark's talked about the debris operation here, which Being in fima for 21 years now and being through 9 11 and katrina In mississippi and a whole host of other hurricanes and floods and uh and events This is probably one of the most complex debris removal operations That i've been a part of As I look right now and this has been an unprecedented not only year for california, but for our nation with what's happened in Puerto Rico, texas and florida Just when you look at what we're doing here In in the amount of generous debris generated It's going to be the the costs to move it and and to deal with it and the contaminants They're there and the asbestos and all those kind of things Is probably about three times to four times the cost of any other event happening right now in the united states Just giving idea of the complexity and the size Of this event And and the fact that we've removed Already 50 percent in less than 60 days and we'll hopefully have the majority done in in in uh less than the next 60 days So we look forward to continue to work on this I'm going to give you some uh To give you uh their perspective in a little bit more detail, but I would be remiss if I didn't point out that uh Another big partner that's been here to help us with the debris removal is not only the core of engineers But uh us epa who's done all the household hazardous waste and completed Uh removal of all the lots out there of household hazardous waste And now helping us with specific uh issues on lots with uh that that may have other contaminants asbestos and those kind of things So uh great partnership here from the federal government and we'll continue to make sure that we provide you Uh the support in an expeditious manner, so let me turn I don't I can't hear your question, but let me turn it over to the core of engineers And if you put your question on a card, we'll get it go ahead and let me just say So so thanks bob Thanks bob So two things for questions that you may have specifically about debris Uh removal or specific properties They can't be asked in the lobby right after right outside the gym right after the meeting The core of engineers will have a number of personnel there to be able to specifically talk about Your area and give you some information. In addition, I wanted to recognize The deputy insurance commissioner. I know there's been a number of questions about insurance deputy commissioner deputy insurance commissioner joel Joe can you stand up? Where are you? There you are So he's right over here and he'll be here this afternoon as well for answering some questions Okay, with that i'm going to turn it over Uh to our partner uh colonel McFadden from the army core of engineers Yeah, thank you sir. I appreciate it and uh, first of all, thank you I am honored to be standing in front of you here today as the commander of the us army core of engineer debris removal operations up here I can't think of anywhere else. I'd rather be right now than assisting the community and returning to normalcy as quickly as possible I do want to thank senator maguire For allowing us to speak in front of here today I think we have some valuable information to share and our goal is always open and transparent communication to the best of our ability As was highlighted by both the director and the administrator over 50 percent completing across four counties a million tons moved That is that is no small feat and really it takes a whole whole of community of effort and we couldn't do it without you Uh specifically in sonoma county alone over 1800 properties have had to be removed in 777 properties have been returned back to the county Roughly 45 percent complete in sonoma county Some of the most significant successes Are the ability for the students to return back to school on time In the carlin newman high school the rebly elementary in the schaefer elementary schools as well as the completion of the efforts Of fire old fire station number five allowing the red construction efforts to begin for that fire station Now as was highlighted earlier and as many of uh, you are aware of there's currently a protest to our contracts They're awarded on 29 december and i want to provide you some information concerning that process In accordance with federal contracting regulations any bidder has the right to protest Our responsibility is to respond to that protest in the most expeditious manner possible however As this process runs its due course We are committed to developing solutions in concert with our partners to rapidly return to dream of operations It's a complete coffee park In two weeks and the completion at the end of february in the beginning of march for the remainder of the parcels As we speak right now The us army corps of engineers is currently having discussion with two different contractors To begin an execution of removal operations as soon as possible And as was highlighted earlier by callow. Yes The award of the contract To ecc a use case will provide technical support It will be no changes to the program What that means is the websites remain the call in center remains the quality assurance and the safety program remains There should be no change to any property owner and how we resolve issues and execute the operation for this point forward Additionally asbestos removal by epa continues Vehicle removal by dmv continues And also issue resolution is ongoing across all four counties We've heard from many of you that while your debris removal is complete. You may still have concerns and rightfully so The rest assured that we are actively engaging with property owners with unresolved issues and concerns If you have an issue or feel that we have been non responsive Please this is where we need your help If you see something, please say something Our call center is still standing by to answer your questions and address your concerns And in accordance with our issue resolution process the first step is identifying and documenting issues Then assessment and follow-up for ultimate resolution As our operations continue recovery rebuilding remains our highest priority and public safety and help is our foremost concern We ask that you maintain an increased level awareness of heavy equipment and trucks moving throughout the area And please maintain a safe distance for ongoing work Also, as everybody knows in this room winter is upon us And with winter brings rain During major weather events. We will redirect work from two areas that will minimize impact in the environment And allow for safe and deliberate operations to continue In closing we're committed as as part of a whole community effort to the rapid restoration across all affected counties We have a number of core people standing by within the room here as well as outside And they're happy to talk with you one-on-one And they can provide you with the latest status of your parcel as well as to capture your issues and concerns Be reassured. We're doing everything in our power to help you move on And our core motto is building strong and our team is Sonoma strong. Thank you So at this point, I'd like to bring up read a miller and michael gossman They're going to give us an update on watershed and protection the things that they've done The things that they that need to be done and the things that will be done So it's read a read a miller and michael gossman. Thank you so much Thank you Good morning. I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you today about what's been happening in our watershed In late october the watershed task force was formed to support collaboration between the city county state and federal agencies As well as a number of local environmental nonprofits The task force has truly enhanced our ability to get things done First it's significant to note that close to 10 of our watershed was burned during the fires Considering the fires magnitude The state quickly evaluated the burn areas and developed a report Describing threats to life safety and property and what should be done to protect the public and the environment That state report has guided much of our work What have we done so far? We've installed controls to filter runoff and protect water quality And to prevent fire debris from washing into storm drains and downstream To avoid blocking culverts and flooding roadways Steep slopes were hydromulched to keep soil in place and to encourage regrowth In nature has assisted too with a lot of green coming up in the burn areas To the watersheds huge benefit The state directed cal fire to come back to the area shortly after the fires ended to help with our watershed work They were immensely helpful and we're really grateful for their time Um in helping the watershed mission We also found that sections of our storm drain had burned through creating underground voids and we replaced those sections immediately Many ask about how the runoff from burn areas have affected water quality in our streams We've collected water samples from both storm drains and creeks and what we found is good There's really no increase in pollution above what would be expected for rains of that size However, we will continue our sampling in the future Many of you may have seen the hazard assessment map that was developed by the state That shows risk levels in burn areas for increased flooding and debris flow Essentially burned soil gets hardened and can't absorb as much water So combined with burned runoff. I mean combined with burned vegetation These areas tend to have rain runoff more quickly and that can cause flash flooding We want to keep the public informed about their increased risks If people are aware, they have a better chance to stay safe and out of harm's way So before I turn it over to mike, uh, here are a few things that you can do Be informed and pay attention Have a plan ready and leave your property if Support our mission to protect our creeks May shine your property after the fire debris and during rebuilding Please ask your contract guidance about what to do. Please ask Can help you So last person To turn it over to mike oswin though We're not done to assess hazardous areas and inform the residents, but we really want to Text your zip code to 8 8 also sign up for soco alert One of these identified area and with two evacuation routes and then share your plan So aside from the work that we've already done the best management practices that we talked about to Protect our watershed. We wanted to let you know that we're also identifying long-term projects that are going to Protect our community and our environment in the in the long run We're working with state and local partners to do that and we're also installing an early warning system It's made up of 33 rain and stream gauges and some advanced radar technology That we're going to share not only with like national weather service and fire and emergency services and many other local agencies We're also going to have a website that people can go and look at and get real-time data on what's happening in streams and creeks in your area I think that that's going to improve emergency response and help inform forecasting Rita and I are going to be in the lobby after this if you want to have any questions that you want to Ask us about the work we've already done or questions about your area We'll have some maps available where the hazardous areas exist. So thank you very much So to move the program along. We are going to now have state and federal finance assistance for recovery and building I'm sure we're all interested in that. I will welcome back to The dais here is director mark elliducci bomb fitting as well as we'd like to bring up Have a briefing on long-term temporary housing And um, I think we've got everybody on that So welcome and um, I know there's again a lot of questions. Make sure you get a card So your questions can be answered after this. Thank you Okay, thanks some member um, so I wanted to take a few minutes and um, just kind of run down a number of things that have been taking place in sacramento uh, and our efforts working with, uh, your local representatives, uh, and um, state legislators and members of congress to address the issue of Economic impacts and other kinds of things that are necessary To help rebuild the community after after disaster So we continue to work with with with all of the the state and federal elected officials and our and our, uh and our local government folks, um As as maybe you may or may not know the governor did release his proposed budget for 2018-19 fiscal year just, uh, on on last wednesday and, um, The a lot of that budget speaks to impacts from these disasters um, the budget specifically included 23 point seven million dollars in general fund to backfill Property tax revenue losses that the cities and the counties and the special districts Encourage as a result of the 17 18 and 18 19 wildfire so The first thing is doing that backfill on on property loss because as the as the homes, you know, the burned down They go off the the tax rolls and and that is a major fiscal impact to the to the communities Um, and then as more information becomes available from from the county assessor as time goes on Uh, funny estimates will be adjusted and then we'll the state will revisit this in the may budget revision, uh, and and adjust accordingly um the During the may revision that that adjustment will include backfilling, uh of of of any tax revenue losses Um, uh as well in the southern california fires, so we're trying to address the the whole of of the state, um Uh together with respect to schools The wildfire related property tax revenue losses incurred by schools specifically Will will be addressed in the what prop 98 school funding and that is that the governor insured That money was placed into through prop 98 and school funding to adjust and and um, uh and and help, uh School districts that have suffered losses and that again that is to ensure that our schools remain resilient through these through these fires um, the budget estimates, uh, the budget did estimate that area schools will incur will incur Roughly 24.5 million dollars in cumulative property tax revenue losses In 2017 and 18 And 18 and 19 due to these fires So it is a significant amount for our school districts here Uh, and so that was one of the more uh, key things that the that the um, governor wanted to focus in on and as uh And as has already been mentioned, uh, not just uh, fema providing 100 percent for the response cost to address Uh, our public safety agencies police fire, uh, ems emergency management to ensure that they remain resilient in whole But through the public assistance programs by fema is to be able to help to build back the losses of the fire station and And any schools that burden down as well, uh, to help those those recover Um, in addition, uh, this past week, I I did receive a letter as well as the governor Um from your elected, uh, local elected leaders, uh, outlining various fiscal and policy requests Um, and this was a letter that was cosigned by uh, the counties of lake mendicino napa and sonoma And they came up with some really phenomenal ideas and great suggestions That we are already working on These requests were a result of all of them meeting together In this task force round table again one team one fight effort And um, and and there was you know, I want you to know that, uh, we have already some of the things we've already addressed Um Even before we got the letter because we had been meeting with them Um, but um, there are a number of requests that we will work closely with our legislators Um, uh, to be able to address any legislative issues our department of finance and our other administration officials to address What we can administratively Um, we're also working with our federal partners, uh on the third supplemental Uh disaster appropriation bill, uh, it's hr 4776 On a 4.4 billion dollar uh request for california to support the overall state's Uh disaster recovery from the wildfires. Let me just say that um, that uh, not since really 1993 Uh, have we been able to get all of the california congressional delegation? republicans and democrats alike To sign on together Uh, uh in an effort to address The need for this supplemental and uh in the in the way the politics are today Everybody coming together is a testament of of the fact that everybody gets it and everybody's doing what they need to do Um, uh to get this done And this funding would be really directed specifically Um to help, uh, both federal and and then ultimately state and local agencies Like fema and housing and community development and department of agriculture the small business administration And others be able to provide the funds down to the local uh local areas that are necessary to meet the need I want to specifically thank And highlight the tremendous effort by congressman's thompson and husband and and huffman and their leadership In the house fantastic Their their work on this their work on this was was phenomenal and was really An effort to get this to get this bipartisan effort pushed through the house passed that Passed that disaster funding bill last month and it now is in the senate And is our hope that the senate can get that thing passed here within the next Next few weeks So that's kind of where we're at on the on the state funding the resiliency what we're doing to ensure that the community Rebounds let me turn it over back over to bob on some of the federal programs Thanks mark I'm just going to quickly go through because I want to get to your questions Some of the uh federal programs and and maybe it'll help you if you uh, you know, uh focus your question, but Uh in all when we look at the estimate for uh, these fires we look at from at least from FEMA's perspective We'll probably be providing uh over two billion dollars in assistance And I talked about some of the programs earlier, uh, but really they come into three Main categories our public assistance program is going to Pay for the reimbursement of damaged public infrastructure The firefighting costs I talked about earlier And the debris removal that's happening right now that we talked about so, uh, we will Pay for those costs In those areas summer cost shared at a hundred percent 90 percent 75 percent depending on which category, but that's between us And, uh, uh, local or state government is is how that works Um, uh, basically I could pay for things damaged or destroyed by the fire Uh, uh, and uh, but there's some things that I can't pay for And and uh, what I can't pay for is lost revenue. Um, so I have to pay for things that are directly damaged or destroyed by the event Um, and I can't supplement what insurance provides means I can't duplicate Another authority so if insurance is out there, uh, or there's some other federal agency that has funding That needs to take place force. Uh, so so using that we will work with the state and local governments to, uh, To make sure, um, that we provide all the funding we can, uh, to them in public assistance As far as individual assistance Assistance to you all that have been lost or damaged homes. There's a number of programs not only in FEMA, but But other federal agencies that that assist you So, uh, many of you registered for assistance following the fires About six thousand six thousand of you were eligible for some type of assistance Provided a little bit, uh, almost 15 million dollars just for, uh, to help you, uh, rent Uh, um, rent something in the interim or to provide some type of minimal repairs Uh, in addition to that, uh Many of you that needed, uh, somewhere to stay we've put you in hotels through our, uh, transitional sheltering assistance program Um, even though that program is authorized by time periods as some of you, uh, may be concerned that are in The transitional sheltering assistance program that, uh, the timeline ends February 2nd What I do is, uh, we do case management when it comes to our individual assistance program So if you're in one of our programs Where we have you, uh, in a hotel or we're directly paying a lease for you Or we're providing you rental assistance Uh, or some type of direct housing assistance where you're in a travel trailer mobile home, uh, that we've put up for you Then then what we'll do is continue to work with you and, uh, determine what your needs are And so, uh, with regard to the transition sheltering assistance program we will Request an extension of that program And and work through the individual is there in some cases. Uh, some of those individuals, uh, Will will will be able to stay in that program and continue on that program and some of those Will move to other programs because remember as I said that I can't duplicate assistance So if you have insurance and you got, um, Assistance through insurance to rent something you should go do that Additional living expense or if we're giving you rental assistance We want to get you out doing that and and again, we will work with you and we have case managers They'll work with you and help you do that In addition to that, uh, direct housing as I said, there's a number of Individuals I think we've housed over 350 people In some type of direct housing where whether we leased a unit for you Or put you in a travel trailer or a mobile home. I'll have my team talk about that a little bit more, uh, and a little bit More specifics here in a second In addition to that, there's other avenues to like sba who's here and can answer questions Over a thousand loans, uh, over 130 million dollars through sba to individuals and businesses Um, and and uh, they're here, uh, and and we'll be here to continue to help you In that respect In addition to our individual assistance program the third program that we have is called hazard mitigation And one of the things we want to do is work with your communities and as we start talking about long-term recovery and rebuilding is make sure that we Make things more resilient and make sure that we build backs and almost stronger As as we've talked about and one of the things that we do is We take 20 of the funding we provide and we set it aside for those type of projects. So whether those are specific infrastructure upgrades or Green space or those kind of things we look at those and and provide funding for those types of projects So with that, let me just turn it over to my team to talk about Uh Long-term housing and and direct housing just in case you have specific questions and you're in that area and we'll help you capture those questions Sorry, ryan burris Good morning, everyone. Uh, first off. I want to thank everybody here like bob said I've been around the agency for a while to work many disasters including katrina You have never had more support from a local county official perspective. So thanks to us to osenoma um One thing on the direct housing. There's several programs what bob just mentioned One of them is a direct lease. It's where we actually go lease in a corporate type apartment We lease that and we house Eligible survivors in those units the other option that we house and we have over 60 residents in sonoma county in Those types of units direct housing as far as the units go mobile homes or travel trailers We can put those in your private site. We have currently 16 requests Private sites and take a little longer just because we have to remove the debris And do site inspections to see if it can fit the unit and then we will install a unit It could be a mobile home and or a travel trailer for those we also working closely with the sonoma county fairgrounds They've been great to work with we have over a hundred survivors house there We are actually expanding this sonoma county fairgrounds right now That work should be done in march to house additional units and when we leave that infrastructure will stay for the county To use in the future And that's what we have currently for direct housing. We have people We have five or six FEMA staff in the back if you want to talk about your individual cases I encourage everyone to go talk to them there in the back corner by the pool. That's what I was heard That's where they are and also we have teams embedded here christine is actually here with her daughter She's embedded with the local housing task force on a daily basis without alternative to uh, mr. Troy to talk long-term housing Good morning. I'm robert. Troy also with fema region nine. I work for administrator bob fenton You know when this disaster happened administrator fenton brought in fema staff from all over the country out here To support the response to the to this disaster Every also every regional asset is out in the field working this way either embedded out in the field Or with director gillo duchy's staff in their offices or the county and city offices with staff there To provide a short-term and immediate response and all the resources that are available But we're also dedicated to be here being here for the long term And so my job is to work with our state partners at callow. Yes to work with all of the other state and federal agencies That have a role in recovery to make sure that we're spending tax dollars as effectively as possible We want to rebuild as as quickly as possible. We know that that is a Priority for local communities, but we also want to rebuild as intelligently as possible And so to help do that, um, we have a strong partnership with callow. Yes Um partners can support you and we have that with with snowmen mendicino counties in in the city of santa rosa Without that strong partnership, we're all operating in the dark, but everybody is here today Um, it's a it's a great testament to the partnerships that are here to make sure that we're spending your tax dollars as wisely as possible So that in the years to come and we'll be here for years that we're rebuilding the communities that are going to be stronger And more resilient in the future. So thank you So you may have seen in the in the newspaper last week That the first house is the first burned house is under reconstruction in coffee park This week if you drove down carry lane, you'd see the walls are framed out on that house It's a tangible indication that recovery is under we'll do that We want to introduce the people who are in charge of of permitting planning and building in the city and the county david guin is santa rosa's assistant manager and director of planning and economic development And tennis wick is the snowman county director of permit and resource management Thank you and good morning. And as the mayor said and as you've heard before I'm going to get very clear that on behalf of tennis myself the city of the county And our permitting agencies were committed to helping rebuild santa rosa's quickly As efficiently as possible and the rest of the county The board of supervisors and the city council have taken immediate action and put in place policies and resources to help get us there I mean, you're going to hear a little bit about that in terms of the the permit centers that we've opened up The resources and the policies we put in place to help ease the process and expedite the process for you and your rebuild Um, there's slight differences between the city and county process So when you come to rebuild making sure you understand if you're in the city limits or you're in the county Making that's the first step But with that in mind and we'll go into the we'll go into the more specifics about where they differ But there are a lot of similarities between the city and county and what we're doing and how we're helping to ease the process Uh, first is that we've um are both we both have a dedicated permit center And we're working on setting up a dedicated permit center in both locations A counter directly for fire response So you'll have consistent information expedited review and dedicated service as you move through the process And we're establishing time certain permit return Turn around times to make sure your plans are turned around in a timely manner We're streamlining the process and both organizations have put into effect emergency ordinances that allow us to streamline the process Look at certain policies to make sure that we can move them through quicker Allow temporary housing and temporary units on properties that were damaged Temporary connections of utility Electrical water connections to make sure that you can get up and operational and help with the rebuild All those are in place and we have information about all those In addition, we're also both encouraging second units during the rebuild So as people are looking to rebuild if you want to put a second unit We're going to help facilitate that process and we both put in place Ordinances that allow that to happen and also reduce the fees on those for the smaller units In addition, we're looking to uh, Estab work with customers and developers and builders to add energy efficiencies into these new developments So we want to help enhance these these homes And we want to do that in a way that's not going to increase the cost and not delay the rebuild But we want to make sure we add those in as as soon as we can So we'll be reaching out to the developer develop the community Reaching out to you identifying resources that we can bring to the table and help upgrade these homes So their energy efficiency and provide a lower long-term cost to you as a homeowner So with that i'm going to turn over to tennis to talk about what the general process is for rebuild What you're going to see as you come into our offices To uh, submitting a permit to getting getting into your home and then we'll talk a little bit about specifics about our two departments Thank you, david. Good morning everybody David and i get a lot of questions from people as they're going through the real rebuild process about what kind of design Professional to start with do you start with the general contractor or architect or an engineer? It really depends upon your resources and the circumstances on your property So we'll be offering Contacts to the different local organizations that represent engineers architects And contractors on the sonoma county Recovers website And of course we'll continue to take those questions and offer our best advice on where you should start As you all know there have been a number of communities that where subdivisions have been completely or substantially destroyed And we are working in especially with a tubs fire with a Organization of block captains it meets every wednesday morning at 7 30 at cafe mocha out by the airport And we found it a really good way to Constantly update and send information to Specific communities will be expanding that process to sonoma valley in cooperation with supervisor gore's office So we'll have a weekly Place for you to go and collect information David back to you for uh specifics on the permit center Great, so the city of santa rosa opened our permit resilient city permit center About a month ago since then it's We've seen over 600 people come through that permit center to ask questions Get information about the rebuild that we've had over 800 calls over the past couple weeks So people are interested in asking us good questions Those questions are being converted into materials that we're populating on our website If you go to sonoma county recovers dot org you can get to both the city and the county's specific building websites on there There's a lot of information. So in there it's updated on a regular basis So please take a look at those websites in addition. We have hard copies. We have folders f a q's Submittal checklist everything you need to know on what to do to submit a plan These are available outside and we'll be able to answer questions more specifically as well Our permit center is at city hall and it's in room 6. It's open from 8 to 5 monday through friday And as the mayor mentioned, we have one home that's currently under construction And i'm pleased to announce that last night we issued our fourth permit Out out the door. So things are moving through and we're starting to see some actions We have had some questions That have come up some f a q's and all we can talk more about that during the question time But one of the questions that have come up in terms of landscaping do we have to have landscaping plans The city is taking a creative approach to landscaping to develop pre approved Irrigational landscaping plans that people can use off the shelf to help reduce the time and and review time that you can use on your project So keep an eye open for that The other question that comes up is building code We are requiring that everyone is building to the current building code standards And we can talk more about that out there or if you have additional questions, we'd be happy to answer those And then the checklist I think that's the most important thing If you are in the city of santa rosa and also with the county Look for the checklist of submittal requirements because the more complete you submit your plans the quicker it'll turn around And we can get you out the door with an approved set of plans. So With that i'll turn it back to tinnis on the county's permit Right. So the county resiliency permit center will be open By mid-february or sooner. We're taking a negotiate contract to the board on 29 january 8 30 if you want to attend for that. We've negotiated substantially reduced fees We have Which will which will be publicized soon I would assume the first part of next week We'll have a guaranteed turnaround times just as david mentioned in the city of five days or sooner Three days on rechecks and an aggressive Green line or red line process to minimize the number of Rechecks that are necessary. We want to get those through the process as quickly and as cheaply as possible For those of you who don't want to wait for that and we have had customers who have been submitting plans to rebuild You can come in now and there's expedited review We have issued permits for reconstruction. That's happening now in the burn zone And have a number of properties that are just waiting For debris removal clearance from the environmental health officer, and they'll be able to move forward I want to make clear for the people who have submitted applications under the existing fee schedule Which is more expensive than what will be happening in the permit center that we will Be sending information out to you for refund Uh, so, uh, I can't imagine people won't want to do that We'll be identifying the difference between the two fees and letting you know We will probably have to get your permission to do it, but I can imagine again people will want it To process those refunds to you so, um That process again, there'll be more information out the first part of this next week on all the details related to that center Shall we transition now to question and answer absolutely all right ladies and gentlemen If it works for everyone what we'd like to be able to do is we have Several questions for the county and the city the army corps the office of emergency services fema the insurance commissioner's office so what we'd like to be able to do is we're going to be Repeating the questions that have been asked via the cards And we're going to go into a bit of a lightning round Worth of questions and answers with a reminder We have over 50 staff from the army corps of engineers office of emergency services and fema City santa rosa in the county of sonoma the department insurance outside They are going to be hanging out For the next 45 minutes to an hour After this town hall concludes to be able to answer any specific questions that you may have about your own personal property Or your rebuilding project so without further ado if it's okay with everybody We're going to turn it over to tennis wick david going to be able to answer questions In regards to the county sonoma building and city santa rosa building departments Thank you senator so dav I'll read the question and then offer the uh the answer Will the city and county allow people to rebuild wood burning fireplaces? So as dav mentioned, we are rebuilding the current code And current code in The south county that's subject to the air quality district regulations there Banned fireplaces In the north county Fireplaces are permitted, but the the newer epa style that burn wood pellets or other Similar products So if you have any specific questions about which district you're in See our folks in the back after the after the meeting Is there anything that can be done to expedite building for the elderly beyond negotiating with a builder? Again, I would just repeat that we'll work with you to identify design professionals and where you can go and contractors to Get the people you need for your particular circumstance As I mentioned, we're going to have expedited review reduce permit fees The ability to apply for the board to the board for waivers. So I think those are the The major steps that would be able to help the elderly Okay Once plans are submitted to prmd. How long will it take to complete permitting again? five business days three days for rechecks And a redlining process that will minimize That to the minimum necessary FEMA recommends we rebuild in our homes in fire areas that are fire resistant should our community require homes In the fire to be built To resist fire. Well, again, we're requiring people to build to the current building code Especially in the county. There were a number of older homes Um, so just building to the current code will include a number of fire resistive measures So I don't think there's a specific need for you to worry about that particular an important design detail Okay Can we use the building plans already on file with the county building department? Or do we have to redraw them? What happens to waive the permit? So we've gone over the permit fees Um, as far as plans well, I mean literally thousands of you have been in to see us since the fire And try to recover as many of your records as possible Um Most of those are on microfilms. So they'll provide you with guidance to uh rebuilding The other place you can go is the county assessor's office, and I see mr. Rousseau Here this morning. I'm going to bill In his office has been great for going to people they have information through their field notes that May not be in the permit center Either because the work didn't get a permit or it just predated permit requirements So that's another really important resource that we would strongly recommend My property was left with a big hole in the middle That that's turning into a lake Should I be worried? Yes It's always good to get reassuring always a hole in the property. How do we get the dirt back? And where does it need to be? For rebuilding um, that's a question I Unless it's a really big hole you're probably not going to need a grading permit 50 cubic yards in the county is the threshold But that's probably one that's better for us to answer specifically in the back Hopefully not a lot of people are facing that problem Can the county in the city of santa rosa provide homeowners a list of required building code upgrades based on construction data their home? Yes, those are available on the city Website now and will be available The first part of next week on the county's website Yes senator can the county and he's he's still my boss one way or the other County and city engineering specs Are they different? Really no we're we're building to the same building code and you should if you're a county or a city You should go to the specific agency to if you have Really specific questions and again will be in the back So the question about uh tree removal So we have a lot of tree removal questions in here The city does have a tree removal permit process We understand that a lot of trees were damaged during the fire and need to come down Where we are identifying an expedited process for that And we're we're encouraging people to take pictures of those trees bring them in and we have an over the counter process to make sure that that's done quickly Um efficiently and not requiring a full arborist report. I think that's a question that has come up multiple times Again, we'll be back there at the end if I if I didn't quite get to any of these specifically Is the city going to resurvey the plots or we are are we on their own? So the city is not planning to resurvey all the plots We do know there are some organizations and people that are grouping together to Do surveying all together at one time of certain sections Also, there's certain developers out there that are looking to do master plan type development. So bringing on Between 20 to 100 units at a time They will probably bring in their own surveyors to survey the area as well So we're looking at different approaches to that and we'll facilitate Any approach that people want to want to do to move that forward Is the city committed to waiving or keeping firm permit fees to a minimum? Yes, we we have reduced and eliminated a lot of the fees in terms of the rebuilds all the impact fees Those don't need to be paid again any discretionary fees such as planning or hillside development or debris removal All those fees have been waived the only fees that we are collecting are just the plan check and inspection fees Which total to about $5,000 for a lot. So that's that's pretty much it at the city How can you The geotech report a question has come up about geotech report in terms of what's needed Our position has been that if you don't expand the footprint of your house by A certain amount then you don't have to provide a geotech report. You could rebuild on that lot. So Again, it's it's going to depend on your specific Layout and if you're moving your your home or expanding a certain percentage That will help us understand what we need to require to make sure it's safe And and we address the liquefaction areas Specifically in the city of santa rosa. So please come talk to us and we'll help you through that process Is there a check check off list that details the step to the rebuild? Yes We have it and it's published now Again, we have hard copies in the back It's online you can pick those up and it walks you through the process of everything that you need to have During the rebuild process A large redwood tree on the property to be removed again the tree removal process That would follow the same process as I mentioned before and we'll put that in that's a question that we've got a lot of So we're going to put that on our faq on the website quickly after this So everyone has access to to the latest information um Coffee park will the whole neighborhood be graded before building can begin The debris removal process is leaving finished dirt lots Each developer will come in and grade it depending on how you want to develop that lot So there won't be one massive grading Each lot will be specific based on the design and build that you want you want on your property Is the rebuild and coffee park going to follow the wildland urban interface code as established in the rest of santa rosa? The wildland Urban interface is a defined boundary primarily in the fountain grove area that adds additional fire requirements on the rebuild such as siding and roof material events That is a defined boundary that's in the fountain grove area. It does not cover the coffee park area at this time Okay, well the rebuild homes require sprinklers, yes The sprinklers are required as part of the new building code What we are doing is looking at ways to reduce the cost of adding the sprinklers One big change that we've made in the city is that you do not have to upsize and we've worked with the fire department on this The service from the main to the meter. That's the typically the most expensive part because you have to dig in the street What we are also doing is where we've instituted automatic meter reading, which is specifically coffee park We're allowing inline backflow Flow valves that are Underground they're not above ground and they don't have to be inspected every year They you put them in and replace them every 10 years So it reduces the cost the ongoing maintenance and it's a lot more efficient for um sprinkler systems And we're also working with developers to encourage recirculation of the sprinkler systems and other things to help with water quality And make it easier for the homeowner during the rebuild The cement between the street and the sidewalk was crushed during debris removal who is responsible This is a question we get a lot of a lot of times in terms of during construction during debris removal During the fire, please document document document before anything happens before your developer starts working on your property We need to know what was damaged before and after We'll work with the core of engineers if it was if there was something that was damaged during the debris removal And we'll look at site specific Again document during construction again your contractor will be responsible for fixing other than that we're going to Not require the homeowners to replace their sidewalk in front of their home Like we typically would do on a new development Understanding that that's a big burden to people to get back into their homes as quickly as possible So please document and we'll work with you on a site specific basis Oh, yep, well, we'll be back here at the tables with any additional questions. We'd be happy to answer them. Thank you Okay, next up we're going to be talking insurance. Uh, Dave Jones, the state of california insurance commissioner I believe he's down in southern california Commissioner joel loucher. He's Thank you. Um, I hope many of you were able to attend our claims workshop that we heard held in in december And I hope you found that helpful if Edition a late late edition I do want to tell you You can go to insurance dot ca dot gov That is where you can do a request for assistance And our consumer services people Most of whom who have claims backgrounds are are there to help you We very much encourage you to contact us. You can also call 1 800 9 2 7 4 3 5 7 so please take advantage of our free services In helping you with your claims issues or underwriting issues We really want to help. Uh, that's what we're here to do. I'm going to answer a couple questions Yes, certainly it's 1 800 9 2 7 4 3 5 7 so Insurance which I know you all know how to spell now dot ca Dot gov Insurance dot ca dot gov All right, and I'm sorry for speaking quickly. We're trying to get through as many of your questions as we can The first question I was presented is a question about the percentages that insurers are paying out without doing an inventory Asking if the department is going to make public that information I think I think our intention is to make that public I'm not sure of the degree of specificity to be honest And I have to say this about Uh personal property limits They vary from insurer to insurer So some insurers Offer 50 percent of your dwelling limit for contents Some offer more And that means that when one insurer offers 75 percent of your limit And another offers 100 percent They may be rough equivalents And I'm I'm not here to represent the industry. I'm just trying to tell you kind of the facts Of how the policies operate Uh from what we've heard thus far not many carriers are going to be offering 100 percent Most are at something less than that And it you know again their limits vary The contract is based on paying the actual cash value upfront And then the replacement cost once replaced We don't have the authority to make them do otherwise. It's there's not in statute So whatever they're doing at this point is voluntary And we are certainly trying to contact them to get them to up their game I had a second question that their insurer hasn't Done any allowance to um Still is requiring line item itemization of each and every item without giving some percentage at all Uh what i'm going to suggest you do uh maybe to get another one of these question cards Write down the name of your insurer And uh give that to me And we will certainly contact that insurer as we are reaching out to many of them Specifically to ask if they will willingly Allow to pay at least some percentage without the inventory So we are we are pushing insurers to do it, but as I said we can't require them Again the next question is we have a two-year limit to make claim to additional living expense and replacement costs on contents And what happens at the end of that time? again You know the the laws as they're currently written Don't necessarily push limits out for all of these coverages beyond that two-year period You know unfortunately events like this kind of expose weaknesses in these laws We're hopeful that we'll be able to take action with some of your legislatures Legislators here have been working with us to propose some fixes, but at this point Most of this takes place through negotiations with your insurers To be willing to extend time to pay There's a clear realization that a lot of the rebuilding is not going to be done in two years So again, if you're having issues, please contact the department I I don't see that there's just going to be this bright line With the marketplace cutting off your coverages Okay Um You know of course the key here The amount of your living expense doesn't change even though the after a disaster you get an extended time We hope everybody's managing that Those dollars the best they can to make it last the two years Again, this is a discussion with your insurer If you want to push them to do something beyond what they're obligated to do But please contact the department. Maybe we can help you in that negotiation If you're an insurer is unwilling to extend the time frame So please we're there to help you contact us and uh, we we'd love to help Thank you Thank you, sir The army corps of engineers to help address some of the questions we've had on debris removal colonel Thank you They've arrayed themselves in the focus area And so many of these questions commercials to what I would ask I sit at the individual level in some cases to give you this specific Try to read these as fast as possible as I have a rather large stack um And so in coffee park we have located existing piers so the new ones can be properly located in the new building design And searching for the piers we have run into concrete that was buried by the core Can they pick it up? I would say please. Uh, whoever property this is Ask the have the issue documented outside So we can capture that and address the specific concerns on that site Will the treatment be removed by army corps of engineers? Footprint yes, if it's outside then generally no other other things you may Access to be able to remove the debris in the ash footprint. So some pruning or or limb removal may occur, but that is purely to gain Bottom line of this question is when will petrified forest area? Discussion last night given the fact that call we as this contract In conversation with two other contractors petrified forest is included in the removal plan Uh, and we'll be how do we know it's being done properly soul samples, etc I have observed and asked many questions. I know there are many mistakes being made And we have no recourse under our agreement What I would ask is that the individual who owns this property Please bring this up as an individual issue so we can address individual concerns We we do spend a lot of time and effort to train our quality quality assurance representatives to ensure that the contractor Is executing the contract in a technical manner That's actually technically accurate in the courts in the contract as well as safe and secure as we conduct these debris removal Talked about that Debris removal was completed on my property, but FEMA USACE left a large crevice and fence in it When will they pull it out and remaining wall will will FEMA USACE regrade and fill in hole When I would like to sell land And I would ask Please please address your individual concern outside We can capture it and we can take a look at the existing site Site conditions and make an assessment on how to move forward When will the vehicles and thank you to their hard efforts Okay, I think I hired debris removal contractors. That's part of our mission We provided a quality assurance as well as safety oversight and work directly with their quality control measures put in place by the contractor Individual mark west creek Question about bridge access. Please ask or have this dress the specific parcel location outside And similarly with the county having a hundred percent access to home sites If not, will that be delayed cleanup? So again, uh, please address that individual parcel concern outside How does the army court contractors decide which property is cleared and priority of that property that to us Provided to us from the county to the state to us and we Those priorities and from this point number one being coffee park and continue to move forward I talked about ash footprint The timeline for My property was cleared december 10th. We still do not have erosion control grass again Please, uh, please have this issue documented and we'll address it as soon as possible Has fema and the debris program done any testing of the foundations? Would the debris program be be able to save foundations that are sound? again Specific questions and please have the documented outside and we can address Specific concerns about foundation removal. Thank you Folks, I know it's been a long time. We've been in here a while Can we have it toned down a little quieter in the back so people can hear we've had Complaints that they can't hear over the crowd noise. So please at this point in time. We're going to uh Go to the city of santa rosa. Thank you very much Questions about journeys and journeys in mobile home part was partially destroyed I hope that's those sites So two things one is a private property. We are in contact with the owner about access to that park To the utilities. I think we're destroyed during the fire. So we're looking at that to see what what is going to take to get those repaired Three it is going to be it's on the cleanup list to be cleaned up of by fema in terms of the debris cleanup And so that will be happening If people are having troubles finding a place to stay or they're They don't have a place to stay and they were residents of journeys in please contact fema fema's outside in the In the front And we will work with you to try to identify that solution But the city is committed to talking making sure we're in communication with you We will set up a meeting a journey's in How we can help facilitate that moving forward They'll make a determination And we'll continue to work with them We also have brought HUD into the discussions to talk to them and other agencies to see what we can do there, but at this point If those going out can keep quiet on the way. So what I was saying is The gentleman from the They're You know, we'll remove the privately owned and we'll continue to talk to the owner to see if there's Things we can do but it's really up to the private owner of the facility to make a decision On what he does next and the interim I do have people outside to the right of the door when you go out there that if you Temporarily need assistance, we could help you And and if you're already registered in the program We will continue to support you in those endeavors I got a bunch of questions Here and I'm just going to go through my questions There's a question I got here from india Has two kids a lily mother And it looks like maybe Her husband and applied to there might have been some confusion of multiple applications And so that compounded Are confused Registration What I would do for whoever that is Case Will work with you on that Get your information and and work with you individually on that There are With uh With regard to other individuals That have your file in front of me the best thing you can Or take your name and number And then pull your case up and talk to you individually about your situation But we want to as I talked about earlier that are in our transitional sheltering assistance program. They're currently in a hotel Where the program Needs to be renewed after february 1st We will work with you individually. We'll be contacting you if you're in that program again if you have Ali through insurance or we've given you rental assistance funding We want you to go ahead and use that funding To go ahead and rent something in the interim and Eventually we will work with you to move you out Of the transition sheltering program and use the resources that we provide you For renting That's the the intent of the sheltering program is an interim program to get you into Uh, we will be working with you individually to do that for those that Don't Rentals assistance through fema. We uh may continue to provide you Assistance through our transition sheltering program as we're requesting to extend it for another 30 days for those that will still need it Okay Yep Two more questions here they got one is about our fema resources able to replant trees and unfortunately no, we don't Replant trees in our public assistance program. However, we will help with Watershed and the hydro seating and all those kind of things that have been done will reimburse for those costs But we don't replant trees what we will do though is if there are trees their threats to public health and safety Widowmakers we will pay to take those down, but we don't replant trees Last question I got is there appears to be a dispute between The union union and fema and the cleanup effort Now there's a work stoppage which as you heard earlier Really not Why hasn't fema included budget to cover union wages and health so a little complicated but The federal government Uses a service act the service act has set rates between the department of labor Obviously When there's bids for contracts vendors bid on those rates My understanding is that all rates so far underneath our contracts have been paid to California prevailing wage. I haven't seen where that hasn't been the case yet But we'll continue to monitor that and and make sure that that's the case. All right That's it for me. Thanks. Thank you, mr. Fenton. We're going to bring up now supervisor james gore chief Gosner and paul lointhal to answer some questions related specifically around cinema county policy and fire related questions So please gentlemen come on up Thank you very much jim assembly member wood I'm going to hammer through a couple county questions real quickly right now and then pass it over here So the first thing is is it says what steps are being taken to ensure the local workforce is prepared For the rebuild effort and what efforts are being made to use this disaster as an opportunity to grow the local economy Very quickly. I think we all have to realize that there's You know, there's a huge amount of money that's coming in In different ways to the county as much as there's a hit to property taxes in other areas The insurance claims the billions of dollars that we talk about in damages that come back in that We've already seen that happen in terms of debris removal If you look around the operating engineers the engineering contractors association both private Companies unionized and non-unionized have really deployed. They've gotten hundreds of people Certified for hazmat for the debris removal process That is exactly the kind of want to work We want to see is where people are earning good wages that they're going to spend back in their community local higher We're trying to do the same thing to ensure that that's what's going to happen going forward when we get into contracting But the reality is is that we do have workforce shortages in those areas here in the county And so there will be people from out of town come in here to work Why is because if you depended only on your local workforce You might be delayed years to be able to get back to a point where you can rebuild Second thing why was the permit fee for the county waiver passed on october 10th rescinded on november 7th So we passed it two days into the fire as an absolute let's go and do this we talked with Mr. Fenton and fema and they said we want to let you know that was great That's what you did but you need to look at this because we are not allowed to recuperate lost revenue for that So what we did is we said, okay, well that being the case that this could be a 20 or a 30 million dollar hit to the county Which means you and your services and how we can provide stuff. It's not like that money is sitting in other categories Um, we said, okay, we need to look at this more long term And so what you've seen is us coming back number one with this flat fee reduced expedited But then also we're going to look at hardship waivers Which is another thing that we talked about the goal there is to get things down to the bare minimum Because yes, even though your insurance company might provide For you to cover those fees that could take away from the aggregate of what you get back, right? Which could reduce your ability to rebuild So the goal is to get that down to the lowest number possible that and we're around that number of in between $5 to $6,000 as opposed to 10 to 20 as it might have been before we're talking about streamlining But we're also going to be looking at over the coming month. What kind of other Could we create and I'd love you guys to engage as much as possible on that I have I have two two two questions that came up one that said Why is the city of santa rosa's information so much better than the counties and the other one is why did the city Why did the city lag so much behind the county? so The reason I say that is that's a classic example of our need to coordinate and that's why the sonoma county Recovers.org website and all of our communications are there and ongoing if some of you were happy with with one where we're emergency interested in and I Warning go out to all of you in those area. Would it have caused more damage more death and See services we are expecting that I do want to remind everybody if you look at what happened This morning if you look on your phone right now, you'll see that an emergency alert went out to the entire state of hawaii Saying there was a missile coming in and it was completely false This is an interesting the reason I say that is because the two congressmen hosted a Study session yesterday that we went to and we talked about the wider issue of this We had in this region more than 70 cell towers that burnt down on that night Many of the areas were not reachable. Many of them were early There is no eye in the sky methodology like a tv program that We have in santa barbara county both an accusation that That people did not leave when they got a mandatory request to leave and then on the other side Folks who said the the mandatory evacuation order didn't come out until too late This is an ongoing issue. It demands two things. One is us on the front end of figuring out the new world with technology and response But on the other edge is back to the old world of citizen empowerment Responsibility local groups organizing around cert teams and coke teams And that's a program that we're going to try and build out this year in terms of resilience for those of you in those areas That that leads into the pgne question about undergrounding and rollout blackout grids. All that is on the table post Oakland Hills fires Undergrounding happened on their utilities post san diego fires Shutdown parts of the grid during high wind events. And then the final thing is I have a couple questions on trees There's a lot of groups working on tree restoration and management and watershed protection We are funding that if you have any interest in following up contact my office James goers Sonoma count everyone tony gozer on the fire chief here senator Questions for or we are absolutely there to help So please reach out to the fire department. We will make sure somebody's there If we're not asked, we don't know that you need us So please reach out if it's uh, if it's not the city We will help you connect with the fire district or the county and possibly participate even in the Conversations as well. So please reach out and we'll do what we can Second question what new regulations are being considered to improve prevention of wildfires fire resistance homes and better emergency warning systems So all of the houses not all of the houses Most of the houses in in fountain grove and the mark west brings road from napa county All the way to Sonoma county fell within the old standards All those houses now fall into chapter 7a, which is the wildland urban interface standards Which means they will be hardened even further Which will help reduce some of that part of the prevention is defensible space that really works in the intermix Which is the mark west springs area as soon as you get into the urban areas It becomes a density issue with houses So we are looking at that but there are current Current codes on on the books now that all those new structures will have to be built with So it'll be hardened from the outside to resist And it'll also have sprinklers interior One note our new fire station up in Station five up on fountain grove was hardened and then I did not survive That's partially because the winds were so great This event was a wind driven event that we don't typically see in our area and that was what caused most of the Devastation the third question when will we investigate the results of the rest of the cause of the wildfire? And be released to the public right now cal fire is in charge of that I'll remind you there was nine fires in sonoma county that started within a three hour window And every one of those fires hasn't Know that they're working diligently on it, but they didn't have a release date I will remind everyone the valley fire took 364 days to get any kind of release of Investigation so it's ongoing and it's going to be a while longer. Thank you Good afternoon paul with all with the fire department as well a couple these are a little bit repetitive But I need some clarification and got a total of six to get through So a general question about cars again Ultimately, if you're private opt out the vehicle is your responsibility to have removed through either yourself or through your insurance company If it is one of the roe sites that was part of the process that was talking about earlier The dmv is facilitating the paperwork process and eventually it will be removed through the roe process What are we doing about burnt trees and brush? Both on the property and at the curb Due to the complexity and the size of this incident and the amount of green waste that's being generated We have a sonoma county debris task force That's meeting regularly monday through friday daily to address this specific topic right now as well as many others So we're working on the ability to provide options to people that are left with burnt waste that needs to be chipped or removed So look for that information on sonoma county recovers.org in the next week to two But we are working on a plan with several different agencies as well as private companies to help facilitate that need also the There's questions that come up about the The brush and the planter strip that is ultimately the responsibility of the private of the property owner that's immediately adjacent to the property So in between the curb and the sidewalk that question comes up a lot as who's responsible for that and that is the property owner There's also questions that are coming up about the tagging of the trees PG&E has completed about 99 percent of their tree removal that they're required to do under the cpuc The california public utilities commission however the trees once they are fell are not their They're not their they do not own the wood So ultimately if there's concerns about the wood that was left over from a pgne operation You can reach out to pgne at 1 800 pgne 5000 to ask about the status of any logs that were dropped on your property There's also a lot of questions that are coming up about the silver tags the silver tags are fixed to the trees And that's a tree removal operation that's taking place by sonoma county department of public works That is trees that threaten the current right away right now. So that's what's going on with that Another tree question about what are we doing to mitigate the hazard with the downed trees? Specifically those are in the that were in the creeks The santa rosa and sonoma county Uh water agency Stormwater and creeks divisions. They have a watershed task force much like we have a debris task force And one of the missions they had cal fire do was remove that brush from the creeks early on to help reduce any threats of flooding If you do still see areas where there is a significant amount of dead brush or In the creeks that you feel could be a concern. Please reach out to either the county or the city's stormwater divisions Uh going forward will coffee park be considered part of the Potential wildland airbender interface area coffee park is not in a wildland urban interface area Um, unfortunately based like chief was saying earlier This was a wind driven event that blew out of the wildland airbender interface area through a commercial industrial park And then carried into a high densely populated area So at this point in time there is no direction to shift the boundaries of the wildland airbender interface area to include coffee park The house next door to me opted out of the debris removal program. Do they have a deadline to have their property cleared? Uh currently with the debris removal process moving forward under the army core of engineers Both the city and county are currently meeting and hope to set deadlines for debris removal for both Residential and commercial we hope to have those consistent So there's no confusion between city and county and hope to have a date secured within the next week to two weeks And again that information we posted at soma county recovers dot org. Thank you Okay, up next is uh supervisor susan gorn who's going to talk about a uh town hall meeting coming up in the sonoma valley And also following her christine sasco from environmental health We'll talk about some of issues related to environmental health in sonoma county I want to thank you all for sticking around. I know this meeting is running along and you still have a lot of questions If you know me you understand i'm one of you i lost a home and i'm navigating insurance and debris Cleanup and vegetation management and rebuilding Uh, uh, i also represent a good part of sonoma valley that lost a lot of homes And we will be organizing a similar forum On january 30th in sonoma. So if you know folks in sonoma do that want to receive similar information Let them know and we will hit the media I'm organizing and working with james gore to organize Housing fairs in february in march to help you Navigate the rebuilding process sort of taking this information a step forward About what you should be thinking about during rebuilding But if there is any silver lining in all of this it's that neighbors are coming together to learn from each other to support each other and to uh and to Organize on cleanup and rebuilding I intend to hold some similar meetings for the folks in mark west at rincon valley glenn ellen kenwood And if you are working with your neighbors and have self identified block captains To help us communicate with all of you. Please let me know who you are and james and i will be Working with the block captains to help with the information that you desperately need and so that we understand what information you need So thank you so much. I'm one of you Hi everyone. I'm christine sosco And I have a couple questions. Most of them are concerning the process once they Give the roe and your property has been cleared up kind of what are the next steps? and um So what happens is once your property has been cleared There's a period of time where the soil testing is being done And so you'll see your property just kind of a little You know just sitting idle Testing has been cleared and approved Then the army corps is sending a letter over to the county Um the county is then updating the map that is on the sonoma county recovers website it's um On the sonoma county recovers website under debris removal And uh, there's an interactive map if you go there you will see as soon as we receive the letter from army corps We will update that map to turn your property from blue to Green and as soon as it's green that means it's ready for rebuild There's a robo call that will come out to you and the number it sent it that call is Sent to is the one that you provided on your right of entry And then there's also a letter that will be sent We understand that the mail service and that it takes a little longer So as soon as your property shows is green the um planning building departments are accepting that So you don't have to have your physical letter to go Start your building process um There was also a question about um the bill for cleaning the property from army corps And The county will be receiving a final packet from army corps on each of your properties This comes a little bit later We didn't want to wait for that final bill to come before releasing your properties for rebuild so That's like the next step And so when that final um Final um survey of your property and everything comes Will be sent to the county and that will also include a cost analysis at that time the The billing and your insurance and that Yeah for the So So I guess so what i'm hearing from you is your question is you You you were told originally that the right of entry will cover All costs not even those costs in your so Okay, so so let me clarify that the There is a piece of debris removal that your insurance company will reimburse you And that is it's it's independent on what what insurance policy you have So i'm i'm going to let the Insurance commissioner maybe answer that a little more, but there are several different insurance policies the Insurance reimbursement and then public of funds piece So what we're going to do if it works i'm going to get your phone number We're going to sit down you right afterwards. I promise you if you don't mind just hanging out We're going to come right over to you right after this and then be able to work through the exact question If that's okay, um in i promise you i'm going to come over there personally as well So i'll be right there Thanks, we have about two minutes. Okay, so the other two questions. I had um really were related to health and And the debris removal and where is the debris going the debris? Every every piece of debris has a certain classification whether it's Concrete metal whatever it is and it has a process that's approved by the state and how that is handled and so part of what Army course health and safety plan and what environmental health and everybody is looking at for quality insurance Is to make sure that all that debris is going to the proper places where it can be properly and thoroughly disposed of um the other question i had was about um any updates on You know health effects anything like that any time we Learn any new information? Gather information We are updating the sonoma county recovers website So that would be the best place to check If you have any concerns around that or if something new has developed So thank you Ladies and gentlemen, uh first of all, I want to say thank you so much for your patients And for hanging with us this entire time on your saturday morning I want to up and talk with you about And in the parking lot we have To be able to work with you on any debris removal rebuilding We have everyone that you need here today Right out in the lobby as well as out in the parking lot and we encourage you to please take some time to get our talk with them I also want to take a moment to say thank you to our federal state and local agencies and all the representatives who are here today I think we need to give them a round of applause and say how grateful we are for their continued service to this community For every town hall san rosa high school has been our home away from home Thank you to superintendent kietamara for her incredible work and support and getting the schools back open Also be able to get home because you left your keys So if Here we're going to give him a director gear douchey. So uh, and he has promised There it is. All right. Hey, here we go And now uh, if you uh, if there we can also Much uh, but that you're here today And while there is a lot of work ahead We have made incredible progress And we are with you every step of the way Thank you so much for coming out. We'll be with you here in the months and years to come Thank you so much and please check out right outside Brian batari is also here from PG&E. If you have any related questions as well, brine Thank you so much for being here on any items. Thank you so much PG&E for your