Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

uh board of supervisors meeting. Um supervisor stopper is um unwell and will not be attending today. So with that, if you could please stand for the pledge, will you?

Thank you, chair. I pledge it to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We will start with staff announcements. Lisa Good morning board. Lisadena Environmental Management Agency and we have Shauna and Weemen. So we came in with a group of related dogs similar look and size who unfortunately had not been received socialization or proper care. Aren't his freckles cute? Sorry.

Hello, Alexa. Wean have been the most confident pup of the group and is responding well uh with loving care from our staff and volunteers. He likes and is very interested in other pups and seems to get along with almost everyone he meets. Weman is quite pleasant on walks, though he seems to have zero training prior to arriving at our shelter. At first he was very afraid uh to be touched by people because he had and his u pup group had no social skills at all, socialization skills. At first he was very afraid at um by all touch of people. But over time and lots of love and care from our skilled dog volunteers when we call them whisperers, he learned that he is safe and sound at our shelter. He now accepts loving touches. And though he's still getting over being a little bit of headshy, he's not a cuddler, but that's okay, right? We all have those non-cuddlers in our lives. Our hope is that once he settles into a loving, calm home and has a chance to bond with an owner, he'll feel much more relaxed. Be able to trust that he's safe and will continue to welcome increasing levels of contact. Weman needed surgery and our volunteers, thankful to them, were able to come up with a muchneeded funds to support and help Weman. So, Weman was very successful with the surgery and I want to give a huge shout out to our volunteers and those people that were able to come up with the funds. They go above and beyond all the time and we couldn't do it without them and the help at our shelter and we would not be successful without them. So, thank you volunteers. The March clinic that we held recently a few weeks ago was another success. 147 rabies vaccines were given and 61 microchips were given. Thank you to focus and our volunteers and staff that work the clinic. Thank you again Dr. Mike Hayes for donating your precious time for our clinic. Our next clinic free and a microchip clinic will be held

on Saturday March 11th here at the government center from 9 to 11:30. Dr. Kathle Gatlin will be attending will be the attending veterinarian and donating her precious time to our community. We hope to see you there. Do you have any questions? Thank you. Thank you, Sh. Thanks, Wayne. Are there any other staff announcements? Okay, see no other staff announcements. We'll move on to recognitions and acknowledgement. Clerk, could you please read item one?

Item one, proclamation. clerk of the board of supervisors adopt a proclamation designating March 2026 as arts education month in Calabaris County and I'll turn it over to supervisory.

Thank you chair. Whereas March is officially recognized as California arts education month by the California Department of Education. And whereas the state of California defines art education to include courses of study and interdisciplinary learning in dance, music, theater, design, visual, written, and media arts. And whereas the arts are an essential part of a complete education, no matter if it happens in the home, school, or community. And whereas these experiences encourage creative learning in children and young adults. And whereas a well-rounded education should include the stimulation and creative thinking that the arts help to develop. And whereas it is important that we recognize and celebrate the essential role of the arts education in our schools. And whereas students of all ages benefit from artist artistic learning, innovative thinking, and creativity. And with that, I'll open it to public comment.

Abigail, I'm gonna embarrass you. Come on. This is Abigail Fukwa. She is the Calverse champion of the National Poetry Out Loud competition and you represented us in Sacramento as well. Congratulations. And you have art that's hanging down at the Arts Council. Yes. And you're a ballerina. You should come up to the podium. Tell us about your experiences at Poetry Out Loud.

Yeah. It was really fun to go meet everybody else who's like really passionate about poetry like me. And it's cool because like everybody's really good and it's like it kind of gets like that competition aspect and it's more just like engaging with each other and just sharing because we all like poetry. So it was really fun. Thank you. Thank you. Do you want to introduce yourself? Yeah. Hi. You've come up with the I'm Slavic. I'm the new executive director of the Calaveris Arts Council and this is our our board uh president Barah Roberts. Super. Well, thank you very much. Is there any other public comment? Bring it back to the board. Any comment?

Congratulations on your new role. Thank you. Okay, I'll ask for a motion. I'll move to second. I'll second. All in favor? I I zero one.

Now therefore, it be proclaimed that the Calaver County Board of Supervisors recognizes March 2026 as arts education month in Calaveris County as a way to further strengthen the importance of the arts and share the message with friends, family, and communities. Passed and adopted by the board of supervisors of the Calver of Calver County, state of California this 24th day of March, 2026. Congratulations. because you called me to ask. That's so open. I am. Okay, it's on.

Yes. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay, we'll move on to item number two. Clerk. Item two, proclamation public health proclaim April 2026 child abuse prevention be the one month in Calabaris County. And I will turn it over to Supervisor Tanel.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This um this proclamation for April 2026, child abuse prevention be the one month in Calaveris County. Whereas all children deserve to grow up safe, supported, and cared for, free from maltreatment and neglect. And whereas child abuse and neglect can cause long-term harm to a child's health, learning, and well-being, but we can prevent by stren strengthening families and providing support early. And whereas research shows that families are better able to protect and neuter their children when they have strong support systems and access to five key protective factors that build stability and resilience. And whereas these protective factors include resilience, the ability to manage stress and bounce back from challenges and relationships, positive connections with family, friends, neighbors, and community members who offer support and knowledge of parenting and childhood development. Understanding children's needs and using positive parenting practices and concrete support in times of need. Access to essentials such as food, housing, health care, and other services during a crisis. And communication, helping children express emotions in healthy ways and build positive relationships. hand. Whereas this year's child abuse prevention month's theme, strong families, safe futures, reminds us that preventing child maltreatment is a shared responsibility and we can care

together with families that thrive. And whereas the Be the One campaign encourages each of us to make a difference by showing care, building connections, and supporting children and family in our community. Are there any staff comments or excuse me, any board comments? No. Any public comments?

You guys are staff.

Good morning. Um, my name is Michelle and I am the program coordinator for the prevent child abuse um council. I want to thank you for recognizing this important proclamation today. As you said, our work is guided by the five protective factors that are proven to strengthen families and reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect. Those include the parental resilience, social connections, knowledge of child development, concrete support in times of need, and the social emotional competence of children. Together, these factors shift our focus from reacting to crisis to building strong, stable families and communities. They provide the framework for prevention, helping families thrive before challenges become emergencies. So, as we enter April, child abuse prevention month, I encourage all of us to continue viewing children and families in Calaveris County through a strength-based lens. And that is more focusing on what is strong in the families uh versus what is wrong in the families. So while wearing our blue shows our awareness, lasting impact really comes from everyday actions in supporting families, building connections, and investing in prevention. It only takes one caring, committed individual to make a lasting difference in a child's life. So each of us has that opportunity to be that person. I want to thank you for your leadership and your continued support of prevention in our county and our communities. and I brought you some goodies, so I'm going to hand them over here for you guys to disperse as you like afterwards. So, thank you. Thank you. Good morning, chair and uh vice chair and members of the board. I'm Amy Eves, first five Calaveris executive director. On behalf of Prevent Child Abuse Calaveris, our community partners, families, and most importantly, our children, I want to sincerely thank you for adopting this proclamation declaring April as child abuse prevention be the one month in Calabaris County. Your

recognition reinforces this that the safety, well-being, and future of our children are a shared community responsibility. The be the one message is simple but powerful. Each of us has the ability to show up, offer support, and make a lasting impact in a child's life. This year's theme, strong families, safe futures. When we care together, families thrive, reminds us that prevention happens when communities come together to support families. When families have strong connections, access to resources, and the knowledge they need, they are better equipped to nurture and protect their children. That spirit of community care is also reflected in the light of hope awards. Throughout March, Prevent Child Abuse Calaveris and Kasa of Calaveris are accepting nominations for individuals who have made a meaningful difference in the lives of children through mentorship, advocacy, and support. Uh these honores will be recognized at a ceremony on April 24th hosted by the Calaveris Children's Advocacy Center in Valley Springs. We encourage community members to take by take part by submitting nominations. and Michelle has some forms we'll put on the table outside if anybody has has nominations or they can be found on the first five Calaver's website. Um, thank you again for your commitment to children and families and helping elevate the importance of prevention in Calvary County. Together we can ensure that every child in our community grows up safe, supported, and thriving.

Good morning. I'm Farah. I'm an associate director with Nexus Youth and Family Services and as well as the Courtointed Special Advocates program of Calaver and Amador County. So every April we pause as a community to shine a light of hope on something that touches us even when we cannot see it. Child abuse prevention month is not simply a time of awareness. It's a call to action. reminder that safety and well-being of our children is not a responsibility of any one person, not a family member, not a teacher, not anyone agency. It belongs to all of us together. We know from research and from lived experience that the most powerful force standing between a child and harm is not policy. It's not a program. It is the community. There's a neighbor who notices, a teacher who asks twice, a grandparent who opens the door, a friend who stays behind. These are what we call protective factors. The connections, the resources, and the strengths that the family builds around their children like a shelter. The color blue that surrounds us this time of month in pin wheels and ribbons in the clothing that we wear is a symbol of calm, clarity, and the bright future every child shares and deserves. But simples only hold meaning when they are backed by action. So today, who is our village? Who are the children we are watching? What neighbor might need a kind word, a meal, a hand. Not because of anything that's going wrong, but because it's what community does. Every light of hope represents a child. It represents a family. It represents

every one of you who choose to show up. It represents the belief and the fierce, unwavering belief that things can be different. that communities like ours can be places where every child is nurtured, safe, and loved. We carry the light of hope forward, not just today, but every day. And we have a chance to be someone's protective factor. Thank you. Any other public comments?

Morning, board. Robin Carter, director of the crisis center and children's advocacy center. And this is Sarah Graham. Sarah is our community outreach coordinator. She goes into the schools um early head start um all the way up to high school. Talks to the kiddos about everything about safety and um so I want to have her do a little whatever you and to do do when you were in the schools.

Sure. So thanks for having me. Um, this is Toad Do the Frog. And a lot of the kiddos, um, from TK all the way up through elementary into middle school are familiar with him. He's been around a long time. And, um, we always say, I know what to do. So, it's all about personal safety. I always tell the kiddos, we have a um, we have a mascot for fire safety, Snokey the Bear. Well, you also have a mascot for your safety, your personal safety, and do. So that's what we always do and we talk a lot about just everything from car safety to anti-bullying to um gun safety, everything in between and we have a great time doing it. So also we have a new manager down at the Children's Advocacy Center, Shayen Webb. She couldn't be here today. She's on spring break in Tahoe, but um anyways, I will have her here. I would like to introduce her to everybody who has not met her. Um, we do a lot of great things at the advocacy center, um, as far as advocating for our children and for the forensic interviews that happen down there. It's a really safe place for the kiddos. If you haven't been down there yet, please come and take a visit. You can come on the 24th, right? 24th. Yeah. For the event that we're going to have down there. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comments? Seeing none, I'll bring it back to the board. Any board comment?

Yes. Uh, Supervisor Tanelli. Um, I just want to say thank you, Michelle, Amy, Robin, uh, Sarah to do the frog. Farah, you all are the one every day in your work mainly. Um, thank you for leading us and being the one and, um, you know, spreading your message throughout the community. It does make a huge difference. All of my children experienced to-do with Liz and you know, that's that's the foundation. And that's where we're getting that messaging and the building blocks and teaching children their strength and their messages. So, thank you all for your work. Supervisor Ditto. Thank you very much.

Well, all right. And ditto ditto. So, all right. So, I'm open for a motion. I'll make a motion. Supervisor. Motion. Second. Second.

Motion and a second. All in favor? I oppose. Passes 401. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the Calabaris County Board of Supervisors this 24th day of March 2026 does hereby declare April 2026 as child abuse prevention be the one month in the Cal County of Calveras and encourages all residents to promote these protective factors, strengthen families, and help ensure the well-being of every child. Picture questioning. 11. Yes. Thank you. Show us all.

I'll wait for the thing. Okay, we'll move on to general public comment. Quote, "Any item of interest to the public that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board and is not posted on the consent or regular agendas may be addressed during the public comment period. California law prohibits the board from taking action on any matter which is not posted on the agenda unless it is determined to be an emergency by the board of supervisors. If public comment is completed before the 30 minute allotted time period, the board may immediately move to the next order of business. If public comment is not completed during the allotted time period, it will be continued as the last item of business in order to provide an opportunity for the remainder of comments to be heard. So please um so I don't get accused of cutting anyone off sooner than they should be. Please do yourself a favor and pay attention to the light. Okay. Any public comments?

Good morning. My name is Christopher Butner, publisher of Calaveriswatchdog.com. Martin, on March 16th, 2026, I filed criminal complaint 2600946 against you with the Calaveris County Sheriff's Office alleging you've committed serious violations of multiple California penal codes and corporation codes, some of which are felonies punishable by multi-year prison sentences. Susan Weatherbeby, president of the Calaveris Visitors Bureau, is also named in my criminal complaint for the same alleged violations. My criminal allegations, Martin, include grand theft, misuse of public funds, your intentional and persistent fraudulent misrepresentation of the CVB's legal type as its executive director, and your violation of fiduciary responsibilities to the Calabaris County government in your capacity as Calaveris District 3 Supervisor. Sarah, I filed criminal complaint 2600947 against you on March 16th, 2026 with the Calaveris County Sheriff's Office, alleging your complicity in aiding and abetting Martin and Susan's criminal activity in their commission of serious violations of multiple California penal codes and corporation codes. The Calaveris Visitors Bureau may rightly be called a criminal enterprise, having contractually fraudulently misrepresented its nonprofit type for several years to the governments of Calaveris County and the city of Angel's Camp, collectively receiving on the order of $3 million in public funds. On the afternoon of April 14th, I anticipate filing additional criminal complaints with the Calaveris County Sheriff's Office absent the voiding of the tourism promotion agreement. Each of you seated on the deis is implicated and will be named in that criminal complaint except for Martin and Sarah having all having criminal complaints already filed against them. My complaint will allege each of your continuing complicity in aiding and abetting Martin and Susan's persistent criminal scheme in the commission of serious violations of the California Penal Codes and Corporation

codes. It is strongly advised one of you sponsor an agenda item for the April 14th board of supervisors regular meeting or al alternately call a special meeting prior to April 14th to avoid the intentionally fraudulent misrepresented four-year tourism promotion agreement signed by you Gary in August 2023. A closing note, Martin, the US House of Representatives oversight committee would find your sworn testimony quite valuable concerning your knowledge regarding Sarah Ferguson's mother's army business venture, especially her post 2008 financial dealings with Jeffrey Epstein. Your role as Sarah Ferguson's business intermediary and her decadesl long trusted associate renders you a primary candidate for providing sworn testimony for a congressional inquiry specific to the structure of the mother's army business venture and Jeffrey Epstein's proposed 51% ownership stake absent Sarah Ferguson's voluntary testimony. A house oversight committee request for your voluntary cooperation if refused would prompt a congressional subpoena for your sworn testimony. My name is Christopher Budner, publisher of Caligar Watch. Thank you. Are there any other public comment? Okay, being none, we will bring it back to the consent agenda. Consent agenda items are expected to be routine and non-controversial. They will be acted upon by the board at one time without discussion. Any board member, staff member, or interested party may request the removal of an item from the consent agenda for later discussion.

Okay. any board memb um in the notes from the last meeting or that were in the package. I have a typo. Do I have to pull the item in order to just say that there's a typo? Oh, the minutes. Yeah. Yeah. But we can do that easily enough. Okay, I'll pull item three. Okay. Okay. Are there any other board members that wishes to pull a consent agenda item? No. Okay. No. Okay. Are there any staff members? Are there any public? Okay, bring it back to the board. Um, we will pull item number three. Um, is there a motion to approve all other consent agenda items? I'll move it. Is there a second?

I'll second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Passes 401. Martin, you poll number three. Yes. I just wanted to say that I am district three supervisor and throughout the notes it says I'm district four. So sorry. No worries. I mean I got enough to handle. I can look at that. Is that super he is that that's throughout the minutes. Okay. Okay. We can make that. Yeah. There was Yeah. Sorry about that. Okay. Is there any uh other board comment on that? Good. I didn't even see that. I was I was sneaking it in there to give you more word.

Thank you. Good enough. Um, is are there any other board comments on this? The public comment. Okay, I'll move it back to for the board to um approve second. All in favor? I. Any oppose? Pass 401. Okay, we'll move on to regular agenda item number 18. Clerk My computer item 18formational item administrative office receive an update from the Calaveris County Chamber of Commerce.

Good morning. It's just errors. Fantastic. There we go. Down. Awesome. There we go. underscore district.

Good morning. Can I hand it over to you guys?

Hi. Hello. Thank you for having us here. um excited to kind of show what we've been doing and what we plan on doing with um the TOT funding for the Calver Chamber and for all of our businesses. Um, first, so what I plan on kind of hitting the main points on, trying to be as concise as possible, is uh all of our workshops that we've been doing, the marketing plans that we have, um, the employment training panel, which is also called California ETP, which I can explain later, and um, just a kind of a budget breakdown of what has been spent and where, and our capacity building efforts for the county, for all of our businesses, and for tourism. So um as far as workshops go, we in 2025 we completed um over 23 of them um even including one that was like a seven course workshop specifically targeted towards rural marketing itself. So um it you know it was it was a longer class but we've also had things like social media and graphic design and business management. Um we gave out certificates for the rural marketing even for over 12 businesses I think. Yeah. Um and then in uh 2026 we this is already already out of date. Uh because we had over 26 planned we have now over 30 planned and we've already completed 13 workshops just in this year. Um things about AI tools. Um SEO optimization is on the docket. Uh we're currently doing a Canva three course workshop for branding and design for our businesses and um we've also completed business certifications for people as well. So um these are either completely free to whether you're a member or not. Um some of them we charge for non-members but most of the time we're able to keep them completely free regardless of membership uh depending on the teacher and the and the location. Um

so uh workshops another other good highlights is we have had over 90 businesses participate uh just in 2025 alone for the one-on-one consultations. I think there was 100

yeah over 100 one-on-one consultations and those are 4hour consultations that businesses get um or individuals get with experts um and those are completely free of cost. Uh we've also been working closer with the um Valley Springs Area Business Association um working on having um after hours with them and events with them and and working with workshops to try to focus more on that west end of the county and hear their needs. Um our workshop Wednesdays are kind of what we've been doing as far as where why so many are happening. We are even taking requests if people want to teach a workshop they can. We have almost every Wednesday filled through May currently um with a workshop. So then those are all mostly free. I'm trying to make them all free. Um and then um marketing goes it is um um our next item here. So the provided services we've had for marketing is um social media promotion and email campaigns as far as digital stuff. So with um the social media um just in 2025 alone we were able to um we shared over I think over a thousand it was like something like 1,200 different unique businesses posts and um there were the views just in 2025 were um over 920,000 and that was just for one social media platform for Facebook and then Instagram we were able to increase in 2025 the reach of where it goes out by 17,000. So that's been our goal is to make it go outside of the county as well to bring people in. Um we worked started working on a printed media campaign uh kind of like a business directory but that focuses on kind of you know high waves and so that way businesses can promote themselves but it also focuses in tourism as well but we you know to keep

it kind of unique. Um and of course continued referrals for our businesses as far as marketing goes constantly. Um planned services in 2026 is completing the local leaper. I have it set for um for actually April to start our first event.

Um and then we also created an event registry on our website. So any any business no matter what you can go on to caliver.org and you can register that your event is happening and we will put it on our media calendar and everything else. So it's no matter what it's all all free. you can post your event. Um, and then plaid pages I would like to bring back this year as well where it's more of a holiday shopping guide that that focuses on businesses, but it's also printed media. Um, and then of course continued workshops. We we've been moving the workshops to either utilize like in local businesses so that way local businesses make money off of the people there for the workshop or we're using local libraries so that way they're spread around um so everybody has access to them. They're not just in one location. Um, yeah, this is kind of an example of the local leaper, some of the ads that would be in there. So, there are going to be ad spaces and we plan on doing 3,000 copies for our first printing just to test it out. The spaces were either discounted or completely free. Um, so far what I have logged in there is 125 West End businesses specifically and 25 West End attractions. Um, of course the whole county is included. I just wanted to highlight the West End there. And um yeah, we'll be planning to print in in April and then November we want to do plaid pages. Um so this is California ETP. So this is um something that um we've been we work we started working on it in February of last year and we just were awarded in December. So it is a um it's a it's a it's a program where we had to we had to research our local businesses. We had to create a proposal for the board, do a presentation, and in December we were awarded 339 awarded is a weird word, but it's we were basically like we we were able granted access to that funding. Um, so through 2026 and what we have begun

doing is registering businesses for this program, collecting rosters of what employers are training their employees for and how long they're training them. So that way we can begin, this kind of complicated, but it's a three-part application to where we can then distribute funds to try to break that down a little bit. So employees who employers who train their employees have the ability to get reimbursed around $20 an hour, how much they for however much they train their employees. So if um if a business, you know, has to hire on new people and they keep them on for 6 months, they can then get reimbursed $20 an hour um for those training times. So it helps businesses, it helps employee retention. It's also in in the it's trying to upskill the the idea is that employers will then upskill their employees and create a better workforce. Um so far I have eight businesses in process with this. Five of them are on the west end. Um, and I'm going to be doing our first submission for reimbursement in May. Kind of comes in three sections. Um, and then I'm hoping to spend all of that. It's not We don't have the money. We apply to get the money and then they send it. It's a little I can explain that more if if you need more detail on it. Um, but then I plan on we can reapply again in in 2027 if we use all of the funding so I can continue to bring in California ETP training funds to the county if it goes well. Um so that's so I know it's a little complicated. Sorry I didn't explain it very well. Um and then as far as the budget of what the tot has gone for gone forth uh in 2025 um as you can see the the bulk share of it was spent on events. Um and we had um a lot of marketing that we spent on as far as you know online services and getting kind of things designed and printed. um services we've given out to people such as um

building websites for people um you know for for no cost um doing consultations things like that and then uh the staffing percentage that we have there that some of it did go towards our own staff. Um so for capacity building this is kind of like our little summary you know things we have completed is so far trying to give businesses tools trying to target our our networking um to introduce the right businesses to each other and even outside the county to us uh doing those personal consult consultations and giving accessible advertising opportunities. Um and then for our plan tactics it's just to continue doing workshops to continue to advertise. Um, we plan on maybe distributing local leapers and things more on in different areas where social media has shown hotbeds like Sanwaqin County and Modesto and things like that. And then, um, working on those ETP reimbursements for everybody and just increased visibility. And yeah, I think that's I haven't done much. Sorry, I know I talk fast. I apologize to So, thank you board. Uh, my name is Sheri Roo. I am the board president for the Calibaris Chamber of Commerce. And as you can see, we're exhausted. We do lots of stuff in our county. Building capacity, helping their businesses to um to just overcome some things. You know, having a mom and pop in rural county sometimes is really tough and they work seven days a week and sometimes, you know, 10 to 14 hours a day. So, we're trying to do everything we can to give them successful tools so that they can hire employees and how to hire employees and making sure that their HR stuff is taken care of. Making sure that they have um all of their uh employee handbooks up to date and making sure they can market and teaching them tricks so that they can plan social media post for a week and not have to do it every

day. So, we're doing everything we can to build that capacity and with that capacity building then that brings in, you know, people to come in and shop and we want to shop local as much as possible. So, that's that's what we do. Other questions, any board questions? Gay.

No, I I just want to say thank you guys very very much. you guys have just last few years just stepped up and you you just got involved in everything and all the businesses and in partnering with Valley Screams ABA um and those businesses down there. I I think it's wonderful. Rachel, you do a great job and not only marketing the businesses but marketing Calaveris County itself and the chamber. I think you guys do a wonderful job and thank you so much for doing it. Thank you. to the end.

Yeah, I'll say thank you as well. Um, I really appreciate the classes. I think it's like you said, Sherry, with the mom and pops to be able to learn how to navigate Canva and social media and all those items. That's really helpful because that's, you know, where people are getting their information primarily. So, um, I think that's a great thing with the ETP reimbursements. Is that, um, tailorable? I mean it doesn't matter the training whether it's a restaurant or you know a bookkeeping business they can train according to their business. So there are um like there are guidelines of certain like if it if the training is required like if it's OSHA training or something like that that is required that is not reimburseable training hours but if it's a um you know you're a carpeting business or you're an accounting business and you want to upskill you know an employee to be able to handle a different kind of account or to be able to do a different kind of flooring that kind of those hours are um reimburseable. Of course, there are guidelines and things you have to follow as far as, you know, how long they have been employed and you have to keep them retained for a certain amount of time afterwards because the whole goal is employee upskill and retention. That's the main drive. But yeah, um there's not many businesses that are excluded. Um I've there you know I think there's some forms like you know county administration our kind of work does not count but um you know any a lot of uh education medical restaurants construction it all falls in the categories and it's all reimburseable.

Fantastic. And that info is on your website. Uh yeah, we have meetings every Monday um or every every first Monday of the month where people can come and ask me questions about that or you can always just schedule a one-on-one because every business is different. It's much better to just reach out to me so I can explain how it works for your business because it's a it's it's pretty tedious to Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both. Thank you for giving the community the tools that we need. Um, I just had a question. The ETP program, I don't know whether I missed it or not. That's new. Or

we were just granted it in December, but um, I'm I've been working with a few businesses to kind of get it rolling for our first application process of it. I have eight businesses kind of enrolled right now. Um, but the goal is to kind of create this constant turning thing where we just keep applying and we keep getting more money and I can keep giving it out. How do people find out about it? Um, right now it's it's like I said, very Yeah, it is it is rather new. So, it's just um if you want to come to our membership Mondays um they're just on our website, you can sign on for caliverse.org, go to our events, sign up for a workshop or work the Monday um it's a zoom perfect

and then I can explain it to you. Uh and there's of course there's information online about it, but it's really convoluted. So, thanks. Thank you. I have a couple questions. Yeah. Um, thank you for all you're doing with supporting the local businesses. Um, how are you measuring the success of these events and workshops with the correlation of tourism on the west side? What's the methodology behind um that like specifically with West End? Yes. Because I think that's what

the funding were for was the focus on the tourism for the west side. So how is that how is that correlating? How are you measuring the success? Are you seeing the growth of tourism or are you not?

It's mainly my conversations with businesses themselves um that I would say you know as far as that goes of them getting better um you know people through the door. I know that our first year we did a lot of events in copper pushing people over that direction. This last year we did a lot of McCollamy Hill and we brought a lot in there and me talking to you know I work a lot with um Jessica from the hotel Leger and you know she's able to kind of say that people have now that don't come there have been booking um you know rooms and things like that and that's why this year we're focusing on bringing it to Valley Springs. So, as far as those metrics go, besides the metrics of just where social media puts the pings of where it shows that people are reaching out to our site from, that's where I've noticed the, you know, the Modesto and the Sanwaqin kind of wave um towards this.

You are collecting that data to make the informed decisions on where the investments go. Yes, that's kind of that's the idea. It's to try to focus it on those areas and then bring the right resources and the right events and people to those areas to show them off, I guess. Yeah, you're good. The analytics basically show us um because you can look at Facebook and Meta. You can kind of go um and Instagram, all of those. You can look at the analytics and kind of see where your targeted areas are and where it's hitting and what's what your return, how many clicks you get. I mean, it's all there. So we can um easily provide those kinds of things, but that's that tells us our matrix of what the newsletters do too. Yeah. Yeah.

So the return and investment of the $50,000 from the county is showing a gain. I mean that's I'm trying to connect this because a lot of this is putting investments into businesses but not at least for me showing what is the result. So the result is building that capac um basically building that capacity of our businesses which is also which is very fundamental right that's important and then using those things doing mugshot Mondays doing um our newsletter that has over 3,000 people uh who look at our newsletter um getting out everything that we possibly can. So our return would be all the analytics showing that there are hits, there are clicks, there are things and there are people outside of the county coming in.

Okay. And businesses just you know saying using the tools I would say in that area. We have a lot a lot of our focus has been on those West End businesses. Okay. If that makes sense. Um and then with that is there a positive response with membership growth to continue to support the chamber longevity? We are still at 200 members. That's okay. I mean, we are we're at 200 members currently. Um, and we do service members and non-members. So, we try to, you know, we show them the benefit of beingcoming a member of the chamber. Um, and some people just, you know, it's it's

we've changed our membership cost to be a little bit lower for businesses who are interested. So, you can come in at a at a $70 level if you choose just to be a part of it. So, we're trying very hard to make sure that we, you know, um hit every possibility to make people uh aware. Um we also give uh reciprocal memberships to all of our ABAs so that we can make sure that they're involved. Um we try to attend all of their things so that they're included. And um actually in April, I'm going to speak at the Valley Springs ABA. So, you know, talking about the chamber and what we do.

Any one more question. How is the how is the messaging getting out for events especially on the east side? How is that working?

So, we utilize um our newsletters that get opened. We put out two um a month and I would say they get yeah like roughly 3,000 opens each time. Um we of course use social media. Uh that is huge. So we use a ton of you know Instagram and Facebook. We cross share. Um, you know, we we I know we often kind of share between the visitors bureau, too, where we share events and then they share with us and then we, you know, make sure we post all the same things so everything gets double the exposure. Um, and um, yeah, it's it's all it's a lot of online stuff plus just having events there. I know we had a I did on the we did a Bank of Stockton um, mixer two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago. Yeah. And so we, you know, we try to touch on those locations as well. We'll also be having an event at panels, you know, so it's it's a it's, you know, trying to spread everything around with having focus on certain areas. Um, so how would someone like me even find out about that? Uh, it would be through our social media accounts, through our our our website, through our um our newsletter, through anywhere. I mean, a lot of those Google things. I've been working on a lot of our SEO settings to where if you just Google like chamber events, it pops up because I've been trying to increase our SEO uh as we go. So, it it's getting more pings. Um,

and you can always do calaver.org and everything is there.

Yeah. Well, there's feedback on that. There's a reason why I asked that. Um, there's a breakdown with the communication. the people that are expected to be at the those events are not always getting that messaging and so they're not showing up. Um and it's been primarily in district 4. I can't speak for other districts, but um I think maybe maybe figuring out a different way to get that information out so people in the community um don't find out about it the morning of um because there's been a lot of that happening. Um for example, I didn't even know about bankrupt until I literally got a phone call from the bank manager. So, I think if if people are supposed especially in RC are supposed to be showing up to these events and and supporting you guys too um and these businesses, I think there's a breakdown in acknowledgement. And I'll be the first to admit, yes, I'm on Facebook, but I'm not on Facebook enough to know what's happening. And so, I know that some um other individuals are in the same position as that. Um, and truth be told, sometimes I need to be told to my face. Um, but I just want to get that um, let you know that, um, cuz I think if more individuals knew there would be a broader support um, especially like for me um, when I would I'm I'm a prime example of why I wasn't at that event.

Yeah. And I had already had other commitments. So, I don't know how to build on that. I'm happy to work with you outside of this room to discuss that. But sure, um that's been an issue. Yeah, if anybody anybody listening now or anybody here, if you go on the website, you can click the uh sign up for our newsletter button and it will you just put in your email and then you will get every information every two weeks. Like you will get everything that's going on, not only our events, but also all the local business events that we promote as well. Thank you for that feedback, Amanda. That's really good. And we need to hear that. So yeah, we'd love to work with you offline to see if there's ways that we can do that better.

And maybe that's what it's all needed was how do how do we get those um maybe those governmental emails to accept be signed up for the note. Oh, good idea. Thank you. That's all I have. Okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be there to go. I just no a lot and I think this is a great opportunity to have that dialogue.

Absolutely. Well, I I will say this that um it does take some um personal involvement in it and just going to the websites. I I get their newsletter every time it's sent out. I've been on that list for a long time, so I'm aware of everything. I open it up and look at it and they do post a lot of things on that that email that they send out um with that newsletter. Uh not only the events that are happening, but all these workshops and everything else is going on in the county. So, um it I'm right now if people are listening or going to watch this um go to calveras.org or and click the button for their newsletter because that newsletter will keep you informed not only events happening now, but it projects what they're doing over the next six months or so. So, you can stay in tune with it and then that way you you know what's going on in Calabaris County as far as business wise or with the chamber or other business associations uh because they post all of that along with their workshops. So, it's a great newsletter. Um so, Thank you.

Actually, I was just going to say that um the 200 is a sweet spot with the membership. And I know that my time at the at the um chamber, it's it's it's like membership is a bucket that you're constantly filling. It's got a hole in it. So, don't don't say, "Oh, just 200." Because 200 is hard to get and it's hard to maintain with businesses closing, people changing, new businesses coming in. I just want to recognize how hard it is to keep that membership up. So, thank you for that. Appreciate that. Any other any other board questions? Uh, any public comment? No public comment. This was anformational item.

And we also have no public comment online. Oh, sorry. Yes. Online public comment. None online. Okay. Um, oh, with public comment, it screws me up here. Um, thank you ladies for both being here today. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks guys. Yes. Thank you very much. Hello, Mr. Lester. I was he needs to return by phone call. I'll tell.

And next we have agenda item number 19. CL item 19formational item human resources one receive information and discussion or I'm sorry and discuss the rationale for human services to transition from merit systems and two give direction to staff to either proceed with the preliminary steps necessary to begin withdrawal from the merit systems or alternatively to maintain the current status quo.

Good morning vice chair, members of the board. Judy Hawkins, human resources and risk management director. So, bringing this to you today has been 10 and a half years in the making. When I first started with the county over 10 years ago, um the uh HHSA director was on my interview panel and came to me saying, "We have to leave the merit systems. We have to leave them now." We had bu fire. We've had so many things in the meantime. Plus at the time, human resources did not have the capability to handle uh the being an alms agency which is approved local merit systems agency. Now we have a fantastic staff in human resources. We have the um electronic uh recruiting system which at the time I first started paper applications were turned in. And so now we've got the ability to um leave a merit systems. And so we just want to give the board some history of why we want to leave merit systems and what it looks like going forward. many we Nick and I did some analysis of why counties are leaving merit systems how they've done it all of that and one of the biggest reasons is recruiting and so right now merit systems is a federal and state program and they ensure that um the recruitment process the classification process and the due process protections of employees in human services meet a certain standard. When I first started, um, CPSHR managed merit systems for the state. We didn't have a lot of problems

with them. They were easy to work with. Since then, the state has pulled back the program into Cal HR. They have we've uh witnessed high turnover in our account representatives. the account representatives. Each one we get tells us different things. And so although the purpose of AR systems is to have this consistency, we're not always seeing the consistency for the recruitments. Right now we have a recruitment for human services that we put the request in um 40 days ago. Nick has been consistently working with them, constantly emailing, calling to see what the holdup is. Um over the holidays we had several positions that took over 30 days for them to post and they right now they won't even post until 7 days and HR usually gets um recruitments open within 24 hours. So it is a hindrance for us when we're trying to fill these critical positions in human services. So we're talking about social workers, eligibility workers, and then those support staff under those positions and the management staff over those positions. So it's very important that we have the ability to get the recruitments out there faster and also keeping the recruitments. A lot of times for uh merit systems, it's a statewide recruitment and they will get all kinds of applications from other areas and the candidates never show up. We see the same candidates all the time and they don't show up for the interviews. And so then we have, you know, staff sitting there on the panel waiting for the next ones. And so there's a lot of

efficiencies that are lost with merit systems that we can gain by bringing it inhouse. Like I said, it's a heavy lift for HR, but you know, if we just keep waiting, we'll never find that perfect time. There's always something going on. And so now we're already looking at rewriting our personnel ordinances. And so now's the time um to make this change. With being an alms agency, of course, we will have to be approved by Cal HR that we have everything in place to meet their requirements which we have to show them that we have recruitment selection and advancement processes in place. We have compensation policies, training policies and practices, performance appraisals, corrective actions and separations in place which now with we have NEOG perform we have we have the steps there to be able to prove this and we have to show overall fairness which is what we try to accomplish with our with all of our staff and so we're focusing on EEO non-discrimination and equitable treatment and then conflict of interest safeguards which were prohibiting political coercion or election related influence on our employees. We also have to certify that we meet these requirements of uh merit systems. We also have to sign and renew a certification showing that we meet these requirements. And then of course records have to be retained. So, one of the um advantages with being an alms agency is that we can request a

certain amount of flexibility that we don't have now. We do have to get it approved by merit systems. But if we're wanting to do something outside of their norm, we can request it. And being a small rural agency, flexibility is really important to us. And then of course we have to um meet their audits and enforcement which putting everything in place we don't think that will be an issue. So basically we have to meet the underlying principles of hiring and promotion equitable compensation training performance retention and management fair and non-discriminatory treatment and protection against partisan coercion. So those are what we need to do. The first step is making sure the board um is uh the board approves our moving forward because this will be a lot of work and we want to make sure that you're on board. And then also we've already started talking to the labor groups regarding this and this is something that everybody wants to see happen management line staff and the labor groups. So um can I answer any questions?

He thank you Judy. What does this look like monetarily? So it doesn't change the salaries of the positions or anything like that. Um right now it's just more a heavy lift for HR in um updating our policies which we're already doing and but it doesn't change the compensation because right now merit systems does not tell us what the compensation is for these positions. We just have to make sure they're fair and equitable. And do we Marcos did a brilliant job of educating me on this before, but I did the one question I didn't ask is do we pay merit systems then to do this? Yeah. Okay.

Are there any other questions? I'm not allowed to go outside of merit. We can only use merit. That's it's like a contract or something. I I I I I fail to understand what's going on here. unless there's some type of contract or something that's going on that prohibits us from doing what you want to do outside of NAR.

So these positions, this is a federal and state program. These positions, we have to meet the the federal and state merit requirements. And so to be able to be our own agent to to be an approved local agency, we have to prove we meet their standards. We can't just do anything different without going through this or we risk funding. I believe don't I'll let Marcus speak a little bit more to merit systems because what I'm understanding Marcos is we can only go through merit. We can't go outside merit to to recruit or anything like that.

That is correct. Um right now we are um subject to using merit job description. So we have to accept their job description as is which doesn't always meet the duties of what our employees are doing. Um we cannot post for advertisement on our website. We have to use the merit website. So even when we have uh recruitments up for social workers or eligibility workers if you go on our website it says please see the merit website. So people locally trying to find it um have to manage those ways. the benefit uh the benefit for merit they are far reaching um as they recruit in different states they don't cost us anything uh to use but as Judy said many of those that we get from out of states um don't show up to the interviews and so we have the panel just sitting there that time slot just waiting for the next time slot um so but the benefit is they are farreaching um the downside is uh as she mentioned it's been 40 days I've been asking for a position to be posted It's still not posted as of today. Um, I had an entry- level position that I asked for at the end of November and I finally was able to get through the process. Um, and it looks like they'll be starting in April, but it took five months and a lot of that is trying to get the job up and posted so we can start the process.

Yeah. Okay. I understand. Any other board questions? The public comment online public comment. We have no online public comment. I bring it back to the board for any discussions, questions, motions. Yeah. So we need a we need a motion, right? They are just kind of looking for the board to

Okay. So that's why so I can we just give a thumbs up like be clear like to give this and just so the board knows every step of this. So like once we start we get our personnel policies in order the board has to um adopt those. We also will bring a letter forward for the board to approve and sign that we send to merit systems. So every step will be brought back before the board. We just want to make sure that the board has the appetite to leave merit systems. I'm seeing nodding head. Am I incorrect?

Yeah, I I'm in favor of of what you're asking here to move forward following the actions that we initiated to go forward to withdraw from merits. Okay. Yep. Thank you very much. Do what you do best. We will be back. Okay.

Thank you. Okay. We um uh toward the end of our agenda um I am going to bring supervisor announcements up um before close session agenda um if that's okay with the board and then we'll have the sorry excuse me the clerk uh read out the closed session agenda that we have. So, supervisor announcements. I will start with supervisor tapenelli. I attended the LAFCO meeting.

Okay. You ready to end off?

I attended uh the CMCAA meeting on March 12th. Uh the West Point Lions Club meeting on March 16th. On March 19th, I attended the Sierra Nevada regional meeting. That was um the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force in Tulle County. Uh the following day, I toured the UMRA MAC phase 1 fuel reduction project tour on Highway 88. On March 21st, I saw a wonderful melodrama in Valley Springs. And on March 23rd, I attended a strategic planning committee meeting.

Supervisor Heidi, thank you.

On the 12th, I was also attended the CMCA meeting. Um, we had an awesome Irish day. I think we're somewhere around 12 14,000 people. It was crazy. It was fantastic, gorgeous day. Um, and also I uh yesterday attended the strategic planning meeting as well. Okay. Um I too attended LACO. Um and then I too attended the wildfire conference in Walami County as well as the following day toward the MAC one uh project um phase one project. Um thank you to supervisor he for um going to RCRC this week for me and next week is Ken TA and that's all I have to report. So with that, we'll go into close session and we'll have the clerk read out. Um we will be coming back just to note um after these two close session items, we will be coming back in this room to report out before we convene for the day. Close session agenda items for today. Item 20, pursuant to government code 54956.9D1, conference with legal counsel regarding existing litigation, Maxwell versus Calabaris County at all, Calabaris County, Superior Court case number 22 CB 46415. Item 21, pursuant to government code 54956D1, conference of legal counsel regarding existing litigation and re national prescription opioid litigation county at all versus Amerasaurus Bergen Drug Corporation at all. United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, member case number 1 18 OP45 645. And with that, before we go, we have public comment.

Oh, sorry. Thank you. No, it's okay. Um, is there any public comment for either for either item? We have no online public comment. Okay. None in the room. Okay. We will uh go into close session and be back when we're done with close session to report out. Okay. Thank you.

out clerk will right clerk will read out uh the two items report out the two items sorry I mean how about

I don't have an audience so yeah I can make fumbles I can't put my mic on my head. So for item 20, present to government code 54956.9D1, conference with legal council regarding existing litigation, Maxwell versus Calaveris County at all Calaveris County Superior Court case number 22 CB46415 board action. No reportable action taken. Item 21, pursuant to government code 54956.9D1, conference legal council regarding existing litigation and re national prescription opioid litigation county of Calaveris at all versus Amerasource Bergen Drug Corporation at all United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Member case number 118 45645. Board action on a motion by supervisor Huberty and a second by Supervisor Topinelli. The board voted 40 to authorize staff to execute a settlement agreement as the to defendants associated Inc. and American Associated Pharmacies, JM Smith Corporation, Louisiana Wholesale Drug Company, Inc., Morris and Dixon Company, North Carolina Mutual Wholesale Drug Company, Inc. and the United Natural Foods Inc. including its subsidiaries Super Bell and Advantage Logistics. Okay, thank you. And with that, we'll see everyone back here April 14th here in the chambers. Thank you. Have a