Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

to the community. Aaron is passionate about helping others through both ministry and public service. He's been married for eight years and is a proud dad to three children, a son and two daughters.

Thank you. I appreciate you having me. If you would, at this time, bow your heads as we go in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for today, Lord. And honestly, my prayer today is simple. As we walk in this room, we see a big emblem on the wall that says, In God We Trust. And that's simply because you are trustworthy, Lord. And so I pray, God, that you would settle in on every heart here that would allow you to. God, we understand that within your will, there is peace. God, within your will is fulfillment and purpose. There is multiplication and increase. Within your will, there is reconciliation. There is success. Lord, so over every piece of business, over every conversation, God, we don't want you merely to be here, but God, we give you the helm today. We ask that you would be in charge, Jesus, that you would lead our conversations, that you would just simply be at the helm and lead us into prosperity today in every area, mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, relationally, Lord, in a community. We give you praise today because you are a God worthy of our praise, Lord. We ask again, Holy Spirit, that you settle in on our hearts. We understand that if you are in this room, then everything is okay. And we give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We've got to work on getting that in sync. Agendas are on the back table for anyone wanting to follow along. Madam Clerk, the first item.

Item number one, approve agenda.

Is there a motion and a second to approve the agenda? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously.

We now move to item number two, approved consent agenda, item numbers 21 through 67. Mr. Chairman, Sue Eiser-Magsick wishes to pull item 41 and 47 due to the Levine Act. And Mr. Chairman, I believe you wish to pull item 21? 22. 22.

These matters are routine in nature, usually approved by a single vote. Would any board members like to have an item removed other than the ones we've mentioned for discussion? Okay. Is there a motion and a second to, oh, I'm sorry. Would any members of the public like an item removed from consent for discussion?

Mr. Chairman, could we please have item 26 hold for discussion? Of course.

Anyone else from the public wanting an item removed from the consent for discussion? Okay, seeing none, is there a motion and a second to approve the rest of it? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously.

And Mr. Chairman, members of the board, we'll hear all three of those items, or four of those items that were pulled following item six.

Okay.

We now move to item number three under Board of Supervisors presentation for retired plaque to Sherry Kephart, Department of Public Works and Planning, 22 years of service.

Okay, welcome.

Good morning, Chair Bredefield, Board of Supervisors. I'm Lemuel Asbrek with the Department of Public Works and Planning. Today we have the privilege of celebrating and honoring Sherry Kephart, who's here with us today. Sherry began her career with the county in January of 2003 as an office assistant. She moved to account clerk in 2005 and later to program technician in 2016. Over her 22 years of dedicated service, Sherry has been an essential part of our department. She has provided customer service to the public, processed invoices, reconciled and prepared our monthly labor billing, handled journals, and supported her coworkers whenever needed. Sherry has been a reliable source of knowledge, a supportive colleague, and a team player. Sherry, thank you for your hard work and your commitment to this department and to the county. And at this time, Sherry, if you'd like to say a few words.

It is my honor to receive this plaque when I did my interview that got me the job in public works. One of the things that I stated was I wanted to be part of the family and that's what the county is. It's a family entity. My husband also works for the county and it's a great career to have and I'm honored that I was able to work and grow in this governmental agency and thank you for this honor.

Any comments from the board? Any comments from the public? Okay, Sherrilyn, please step forward, receive your plaque, and take a photo with us.

Anybody with you? Yeah, they can come on up.

Yeah, Sherrilyn's family, come on up. Congratulations, by the way. Great. Congratulations.

We now move to item number four, under Supervisor Chavez, proclaiming April 2026 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month in the County of Fresno.

And I'll turn this over to Supervisor Chavez.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This year I have the honor of presenting the recognition to have April be Child Abuse Prevention Month. And we know that's a big issue in our community. I think last year there were over 400,000 reports of child abuse across the state of California. 16,000 plus of those were in Fresno County and about 1,537 had substantial abuse allegations. So with that, I want to recognize the organizations that work every single day to make sure we keep our children safe and healthy. With that, Esther Franco from the Fresno Council on Child Abuse Prevention is here, FCAP, our friends. And with that, Esther, if you want to say a few words.

Thank you so much for this opportunity to create awareness. I know it is a very difficult subject matter. I've been with the agency 18 years, and this year is our 45th anniversary serving as the official counsel for the Fresno County. I brought today Jennifer Webb, who is our prevention education coordinator. And also I work with CPS, but they'll introduce themselves. I want to get quickly through this because I want to just give you a snapshot of the scope of the work that we do. This is, we serve also, I serve as the president of the Central Valley Coalition. And the hard truth is that we're ranked 35 out of the 50 states for child welfare. And we're working very hard. hard to change those numbers. Unfortunately, it's been that way for the last five years. It does take a village. I know it's a tired phrase, but it is true, and we are working more closely with other agencies to address this. What we teach is there are five things that are the highest risk to families. And they are substance abuse, parenting, mental health, sexual predators, and then poverty. But there are also five protective factors. And we know that the majority of offenders are parents. So it's very difficult. It's a big challenge. Department of Social Service has the biggest part of it. We try to work in primary prevention by keeping up with laws. We do provide the largest number of mandated reporter trainings every year. 60% of reports are by teachers and 65% is neglect. There was a law that was passed three years ago that redefines economic disadvantage. What we're trying to do is moving from the paradigm of mandated reporting, instead of calling it CPS or DSS, then be a community supporter. Learn what the five risk factors are, what the five protective factors are, and we're asking for family members to be more supportive and intervene. We've had some successes with SPS has gone down. We implemented that program in 2011. But unfortunately there was a case in Madera that made news and so we're working to provide our information, Adam's project, to other hospitals. We also do child death review and I need to say right up front that we cannot conduct conduct child death review without the involvement of Department of Social Services. They've been extremely supportive and as you can see children don't die of maltreatment. You'll see the graph of the age of the child. The first year is the most dangerous, and it's safe sleeping. Next is motor vehicle accidents. You'll see the five-year evaluation there. It's safe sleeping, motor vehicle accidents, natural deaths, and you'll see the last one is child abuse. So children don't die of it, but if you'll watch on the kind of inverse bell curve, when they hit their teens, they start exhibiting high-risk behaviors because they survived ACEs, adverse childhood experiences. And so they have risky behaviors, drug use, motor vehicle accidents. And so we share this information to the community. And that's part of wearing the blue ribbon, which I appreciate all of you wearing your blue ribbons. That's great. And here we just updated, again, substance abuse is the largest contributing factor. You'll see under the 13 deaths there at the far right, that's a new bar graph that we had to create. We're having a lot more intrauterine fetal demise. So more women who are pregnant are substance misusing, and so we're addressing that. We work very closely with Community Regional Medical Centers and Valley Children's Health Care. So we've been working on prenatal and perinatal substance misuse. It's actually the first 1,000 days of them that are imperative to the child's well-being and April is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month. We cannot, we can't ignore the fact that 70% of all child abuse is sexual abuse. And there's been a lot in the news on it, and so I won't go into a lot of detail, but we do provide prevention-focused and evidence-based programs for children and adults. And we're constantly working with ICAC, Internet Crimes Against children law enforcement to keep us updated on what they're seeing and protect children. Thank you.

Sonia Bouquet, Director of Social Services. I want to thank you for the proclamation and take one minute to acknowledge that with Esther's leadership, but also with partnering across the board with community-based organizations, schools, hospital, this really is a community effort. And April being a month of awareness to both do prevention and invest in prevention. So I agree. There's a lot that we do as a department when it comes to intervention and services, but we are also part of the prevention system. And highlighting that for the entire community, April is an important month. So thank you for your support.

Any comments from the board? Yeah, I think child abuse, sexual abuse is one of the most heinous acts committed. These are innocent, helpless victims. And I'd love to see, and when our two colleagues go up to the legislature, strengthening of criminal laws that really have a serious impact If you do this, again, as I say, it's a heinous act against innocent victims who can't defend themselves. And so I hope that at some point we really strengthen our criminal laws so people really pause before they want to engage in this kind of conduct. But I appreciate all that you're doing. I know you all have a tough job in dealing with this. And there's nothing more heartbreaking than victims of this kind of crime. And any comments from the public?

Is there a motion and second? Mr. Chair, I'll make the motion for the proclamation. Is there a second? Second.

No, they're good. Okay. All those in favor. Any opposed? No. Opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Yeah. Okay. Come on up.

Come on down.

Yeah, you guys got to move right, stage right.

We now move to item number five under Supervisor Magsig. Claim April 18th through the 25th, 2026 as Tree Fresno's 40th anniversary week in County of Fresno.

Supervisor Magsig.

Yes, here with us today from Tree Fresno is Mona Cummings. And I just can't say enough about the incredible work that Tree Fresno has done over the course of the last 40 years. I think somewhere around 55,000 trees have been planted. And actually, they are performing some work right now here in Courthouse Park. So really appreciate the partnership that we have with them, the great work that they've done. And Mona, if you can share a little bit with us about the significance of this proclamation and things that you're doing today.

Sure. Thank you very much. Thank you to all the Board of Supervisors for this proclamation. I particularly enjoy working with each supervisor in their area to get more trees. I'd like to share a little bit about the history of Tree Fresno. You might learn something new. I was learning as we've grown to develop a program for celebrating this month a whole week of activities for the 40th anniversary. So in 1985, several groups decided to celebrate the city of Fresno's centennial with the planting of trees. A telethon raised over $28,000 and this inspired co-founders to establish a non-profit corporation and they obtained approval for the articles of incorporation and created Fresno Tree People. When LA Tree People challenged the use of this name, the name was changed to Tree Fresno. Since then, with the mission of expanding the urban tree canopy across the central San Joaquin Valley, 55,000 trees have been planted at schools, parks, along streets, in front yards, with businesses and churches. Major projects, which you might take notice when you're driving by, McKinley Avenue Canal planting, which created a greener entrance to Fresno Airport. That was the first major effort to planting trees and landscaping in one of the city's most prominent commercial thoroughfares. We also collaborated with the Fig Garden Homeowners Association to create Christmas Tree Lane Walk, so many, many years ago. And then Blackstone Beautiful was a major planting to beautify Blackstone Avenue. Caltrans, we've teamed up with them on numerous urban greening projects over the years, including East Shaw Avenue, the medians with over 300 trees, and several vegetative barriers along the highways designed to improve air quality. We continue to work with them today. In fact, April 18th, we have a huge planting of over 100 trees at 41 and Jensen, and that's in combination with the City of Fresno's Beautify Fresno. So we've also planted about 8,000 trees under CAL FIRE's Urban and Community Forestry Program throughout Fresno, Madera, Kings, and Tulare counties. Much of it funded through the state's cap and trade program, California Climate Investments. So we have a long-term partnership with PG&E to administer distribution of shade trees and education about right tree, right place, which I think we can all appreciate that. Other longtime partners, we are partnered with 24 Central Valley cities, over 30 school districts, and all of the region's institutions of higher education, including Fresno State, and dozens of businesses and churches. Since 2024, so this is our current work, Tree Fresno has been primarily working under two major grants managed by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, or Valley Air, totaling $3.1 million for urban greening and vegetative barrier projects. This is funded through California Climate Investments. And these grants are targeted specifically at South Central Fresno under AB 617, and that's designed to improve air quality. So we've planted about 1,000 trees under that grant at this particular time, and we're still looking at locations between McKinley at the top, at the north, and then American at the south, and then Peach to the east, and then west of 99 to the west. So if we have new locations, talk to me, because we're always looking for planting partners. Thank you so much for having us today. Today I have my other coworker here, Carlene Jackson. She's our financial management person, and she helps me to document our expenditures for our grants and documentation, mostly to the state of California. And then we have a board member, Roger Brown, joining us today. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for appreciating the value of trees. And if there's any way that I can help, we're already going to plant out here at Courthouse Park on the 24th of April, which is Arbor Day. Thank you for that.

Very excited to have you here. We appreciate great work. And I know that through all corners of Fresno County, you have been involved in making our community a better place. So thank you for that. That's all I have.

Any comments from the board? Yeah, I know that you've done that. When I served my very first time on the council many years ago, I'm not going to say how many, but Tree Fresno was actively working to make the city of Fresno great. You've been doing it for decades now. And so we greatly appreciate it. You probably don't get a whole lot. Well, maybe you do. Maybe people do thank you. But yeah, I thank you. And I know many people are grateful for your work.

We have a lot of volunteers that help make that happen. I know in Northeast Fresno, we had historically a huge planting that was planting 4,000 trees in one day. And there were a couple of thousand volunteers coordinated that day.

Yeah, amazing work. Thank you. Any comments from the public? Okay. Oh, okay. Come on up.

That sounds pretty good. You had like plenty of volunteers. I was kind of trying to factor in the cost of how much the cost was on each tree. I'm just kind of like .

Why don't you talk in the microphone? I can't hear you.

Just 1,000 trees, $3.2 million with plenty of volunteers. I was just wondering, trying to break down the cost.

So we plant 15 gallon trees and we coordinate the development of tree plan and irrigation plan. I would say in the Central Valley, the most expensive component of planting trees that are gonna last for the long haul would be irrigation. So installation irrigation, working with our partners, whether in parks or schools, et cetera. So we average out, or when we request in a grant how much a tree costs, it's about $1,000 a tree. And that gets the tree started in an establishment. And then afterwards, the planting partner takes on those long-term responsibilities, which we all know is an investment in itself.

Well, you want to come on up? We've got a proclamation to take a picture with.

I will move for approval of this proclamation. All right.

Thank God I'm going to be replaced. Eight months. Good to see you.

We now move to item number six under Supervisor Pacheco, present certificate in recognition of Chief Kevin Carey's appointment as fire chief of the North Central Fire Protection District.

I'll turn this over to Supervisor Pacheco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This morning, I would like to introduce to our board and to the Fresno County as a whole, our new North Central Fire Chief, Kevin Carey. If you would come forward with, I see our board chairman here in Abrahamian, you can go ahead and come on forward too. Chief Carey brings more than 25 years of fire service experience to our community. He replaces Chief Tim Henry, who was a longtime Fresno City firefighter. Chief Carey served 20 years with Torrance Fire Department and four years serving as fire chief in Crescent City, California, before coming to Fresno earlier this year. Over the course of his career, Chief Carey is estimated to have responded to more than 45,000 emergency calls for service. Similar to Chief Henry, Chief Carey is committed to supporting the district's mission by integrating into the community and exceeding traditional service standards. And I can tell you as a resident of North Central, we greatly appreciate that. Chief Carey was born and raised in Westchester in Southern California. Graduated from UCLA in 2000 and completed his paramedic program in 2001. Chief Carey is a family man and a father of 10 children ranging in ages from 8 to 20. And this is an interesting thing. I can tell you as a new grandfather of a set of twins, he has three sets of twins. So that's pretty amazing. That's just once is unbelievable, but do it three times. Oh, man. Yeah. So his faith and family remain central to his life. And Chief, on behalf of the Board of Supervisors, the residents of North Central, I want to personally welcome you to Fresno County.

thank you for that uh every conversation i have ends up going towards you have how many and how many twins so i can always appreciate that but uh mr chair and to the rest of the supervisor board uh thank you for this opportunity just to do a brief introduction i look forward to leading our department with integrity and accountability um already in my fourth month it's going by very fast we're very busy trying to provide better service to our community I look forward to reaching out to each and every one of you and building those relationships, collaborating any way we can and serving our respective communities. Already, we have our board, our administrative staff, our responders top notch focus on training and getting out there and giving that that best possible product in emergency services. So thank you for this opportunity. My door is always open. My phone's always on. I encourage you all to reach out as you see fit. And I look forward to meeting each and every one of you. So thank you.

Well, you rely mostly in District 1. Supervisor Bredefield and I, we share North Central. And I'm sure he'll be a great ally for you as well. Absolutely. Mr. Chairman, any words?

Just briefly, Supervisor Pacheco, I've had the pleasure of serving with, I think, about six fire chiefs. And I'm really excited about serving with Chief Carey. I think he's going to lead us in a new direction, a positive direction. And I'm impressed so far with what I've seen. So again, thank you for this recognition. And if there's anything we can do at North Central to help the betterment of the Fresno County, we're all for it. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Yes, Supervisor Magid.

I have two questions. Three sets of identical twins.

They are all fraternal. They're all girl-boy twins.

Got it. And then the sets are what? So eight to 20, which brackets are the three in age-wise?

Now you're putting me on the spot.

Oh, yeah. 10 kids. It's a test.

I have a hard time to keep track of three. Almost 14 and then eight-year-olds. Awesome. Yeah. So we had seven kids under seven at one point. And it was five in diapers. It was a lot. So I worked a lot of overtime. Okay.

Any other comments?

No. I would just say, Mr. Chairman, I don't believe this requires a motion, but we do have a certificate. I'd like him and any other members that he would like to come forward to please come take a picture with the board once we go to the public.

I also want to welcome you. Thank you for coming. Sounds like a great resume. I'm an identical twin. You're the best. Being a twin is a wonderful thing. I'm amazed. Ten children, three sets of twins. You're an amazing man. Thank you.

And I thought you were unique, Gary. I had no idea until today you were a twin. There is another one. Oh, man. I thought when they made you, they broke the mold, as they say.

He's much calmer than me.

Much calmer. On any given Tuesday when we have these meetings, you don't know which Gary we're talking about.

You'd be able to tell the difference.

I've met his brother. He's much more subtle.

Being married to a twin matters?

Oh, yeah, buddy, yeah.

Well, Chief, I have one set of twins, and you have three, so I know you're not getting a lot of sleep and haven't been sleeping for a while, but congratulations on your new position. I've earned my gray hairs. You've been trained well.

Any comments from the public? Yes, come on up, Sam. very true very true any other comments from the public no okay is there uh we need a motion congratulations Welcome.

Mister chairman will now go to the items that were pulled from this morning, starting with item 22, which was pulled by chairman bread filled proclaim April 19 through the 25th 2026 as national crime victims with rights week in County of Fresno.

I'm sorry, I didn't hear which item did you pull 22?

Okay.

Each year, Chief Haynes and the James Rowland Crime Victims Assistance Center under the Probation Employee and Victim Resources Division recognizes the National Crime Victim Rights Week at this time. I want to invite you, Chief Haynes, and your administrative team, along with the victim advocates, to accept this proclamation.

It's all yours. Thank you so much, Chairman Bredefield. And thank you all to the board for inviting us here this morning. I'm Kirk Haynes. I'm your chief probation officer for Fresno County. And I am really pleased to be able to be here with you this morning to recognize this week that we look forward to every year, to be able to proclaim April 19th through the 25th of April, 2026 as National Crime Victims Rights Week. I have here with me, I have our Assistant Chief Cliff Downing, I have Assistant Deputy Chief Karen Roach, and we have just a portion of our folks from the James Rowland Crime Victims Assistance Center. And so let me just talk a little bit about the work and really how important it is that we recognize this week. This year's national theme, Listen, Act, and Advocate, reminds us of why we are here. When we come together to listen, act, and advocate on behalf of crime victims, as pieces of a puzzle, we form a community of support that helps victims heal and to move forward. This theme aligns with the work being done each and every day by CVAC, which we affectionately call our Crime Victims Assistance Center. As noted in the proclamation that has been presented by the board, in 2025 alone, CVAC served more than 5,100 crime victims throughout Fresno County, continuing its mission to provide a voice for victims and ensuring that those harmed by crime receive the compassionate justice and resources that they deserve. Looking back on the prior year, the scope of this work becomes even more evident. Last year, in 2025, we assisted 1,900 victims in preparing victim impact statements. We helped 1,850 victims complete victim compensation applications to provide critical funding to survivors of violent crime. And we also accompanied hundreds of victims and their survivors as they navigate the complex criminal justice court system. When we consider the recent increases in violent crime in our county and also in the state of California, these numbers reflect more than just services delivered. They represent lives supported at their most vulnerable moments. We never want to forget that. Each statistic is a person, a survivor trying to reclaim a voice, a family striving to rebuild, and a community working together to restore hope. So National Crime Victims' Rights Week is a time not only to honor our survivors and remember victims, but also to recognize the victim witness advocates, the probation officers, the volunteers, community partners, and yes, all of you who come together as those pieces of that important puzzle. I want to say thank you to this board for its ongoing commitment for victims of crime and for once again proclaiming this important week in Fresno County. Your recognition reinforces the value of this work and the message that healing is a shared responsibility as we commemorate this year's national crime victims rights week i also invite you to our entire in our entire community to join us for our 2026 honor walk and community project event now i'm going to turn it over to assistant deputy chief karen roach who will talk about some of the details of our honor walk

Thank you, Chief. Good morning. My name is Karen Roach, Assistant Deputy Chief overseeing the James Rowland Crime Victim Assistance Center. I'm honored to be here today for this proclamation alongside, just like the Chief said, a small portion of the staff that work to help victims in our community. They have dedicated almost their entire professional career to serving this community, providing services to the citizens of Fresno County who have been touched by crime such as, and just not inclusive, we're talking about homicide, sexual assault, human trafficking, elder abuse, crimes against children, vehicle crimes. We know Fresno County is having some stuff with vehicle crimes. just to name a few. Victim advocacy is a central piece of the puzzle of the criminal justice system and public safety, oftentimes occurring away from the public eye. They all work tirelessly to uphold victims' rights, provide specialized services that are tailored to each victim's needs, treating each victim with care and compassion and the care and compassion that they deserve, and assisting and supporting them throughout their healing process. If any of you ever find yourself or a loved one, a friend, in need of our services, rest assured, you will be taken care of. in recognition as chief talked about our upcoming event which is wednesday april 22nd we will be doing i think our third honor walk and all of you have received your invitation and we're excited to see you out there supporting community members as well as the staff and that's at five o'clock starting in courthouse park right by the gazebo Thank you again for recognizing the essential work that is being done on behalf of crime victims within our community. Thank you again.

thank you any uh did you have something else just one last word i would just say thank you again um chairman brettafield for all of your support and to the board as well this is the eighth year that i'm um presenting on the national crime dickens rights week and um really important as you all know um for those of you who have an opportunity at some time in the future to serve in the state legislature the voices of victims are missing in sacramento And so the cool thing that I think about what we've done in Fresno is to make sure that you all are informed about the important work that happens here, but also that victims' voices are right up there with anyone else's. And so I just wanted to make that plea to you before we turn it back. Thank you so much.

Any comments from the board? Again, thank you for all the work that you do as we talked about the child abuse. And as somebody who's worked in the field of psychology for over 30 years, these people who become victims, whether you're adult or child, linger for a long, long time. They don't go away. And so we need to do something at the legislature. You're absolutely right. And I have no doubt my two colleagues will. do something about it. There'll be a strong voice for us here in the Central Valley to make some real positive changes in the legislature, which is clearly needed. Any comments from the public? Can I get a motion to approve? All those in favor, say aye. Passes unanimously. Want to come up?

You're a great promoter.

We now move to item number 26, adopt a resolution approving election consolidation request filed by the city of Fresno and the city of Kingsburg for the June 2nd, 2026 statewide direct primary election. This item was pulled by our county clerk register voter, James Kuss.

Good morning, Chairman Bredefeld and Supervisors. I'm James Koos, your County Clerk, Registrar of Voters. I've pulled board agenda item number 26, not because there's any issue with the item. It is a regular pre-election item that should be on the consent calendar, and I do ask that you approve that consolidation request after our discussion today. Instead, I've asked that this item be pulled today so that I can inform you and begin educating the citizens of Fresno County about a new and important aspect of the upcoming election that developed after we published this agenda item. For the first time in modern Fresno County elections, we will have a two-card ballot for the June election. Multi-card ballots are fairly common in other California counties, but Fresno County has endeavored to maintain the use of a single-card ballot as voters have indicated they prefer the simplicity of that format. That just was not possible this election due to the multiple extremely long statewide races and the presence of seven superior court contests on the ballot. The governor's contest alone will take up the full front page of card A on every voter's ballot. One contest, the full 18 inch card. Every active registered voter will receive a vote-by-mail packet with the two-card ballot the first full week of May. I always encourage every voter to take their time to review the ballot and make their decisions at home, even if they intend to vote in person. Every voter has the right to complete as much or as little of the ballot as they desire, and that applies for a two-card ballot as well. However, voters need to understand that when they return their ballot, that completes their voting process. It is the voter's right to return just an A card or just a B card. But if they do so, they may not return the missing card later. I would encourage voters to return both their A and B cards, even if one is blank, so that ensure that there's no confusion in the process. Voters must also be careful not to return two card A's or card B's. We have found that families in Fresno County often complete their ballots socially, discussing the issues and candidates together. If you do this, please be careful not to mix cards between voters. County election staff will reject ballots with multiple of the same card included in the envelope or at vote centers. The two-card ballot will also have an impact on in-person voting. Printing new ballots at vote centers will take twice as long as will tabulation.

There we go. Sorry.

Sorry, but we're trying to get this information out there and get this going. When casting their ballots at vote centers, voters should expect additional security regarding ballot cards, including a request to verify that only one of each card is present in a voter's materials. Election workers do not need to see and do not want to see your votes. They only need to see the top right corner of your ballot cards to verify the presence of an A and a B card. Voters heading to vote centers are encouraged to take advantage of early voting days when wait times will be near zero and support staff will be readily available to assist them and answer questions. Additional information regarding the implementation of the two-card ballot in Fresno County will be sent to voters via direct mailings, the county voter information guide, and the department's website. We will also look to do videos showing the two-card ballot and changes to the voting process, which will be available on our website and to the media. I'd like to thank the board for its continuous support of our Fresno County elections, and I'd be happy to answer any questions at this time.

Yes, Supervisor Magda.

I just have a dumb question, but is it possible to print the two ballots and have them connected and then at the elections office they can tear it and then feed it through the machine? That way they don't get separated easily?

Not the way that both our vendor printing operation works or how the printers are available to handle it out in the field. So not... And to the best of my knowledge, not a process that is certified within the state.

Fair enough. With the two ballots, how many different types of ballots do we have in Fresno County? Because even though, I mean, it's complicated enough to have two, do we have like 170 different versions in the county alone based upon where you live?

Not quite that many, but also yes, kind of. We have 62 ballot types for this election, 222 precincts. Every precinct has its own ballot. but the difference, multiple precincts may have the same ballot type. It actually turns out that most of the ballots will be exactly the same as we have a lot of statewide races or countywide races, but there are differences between ballot types due to rotation. to avoid a primacy effect where having the same order gives an advantage to someone. So across those 62 types, even though everybody has the governor on that first page and the next two columns are exactly the same for everybody, there are some changes in the order of candidates on those.

Any other comments?

Yes.

I would just say, I appreciate you going over this, because this will be record-setting. At least in the last 20 years, we've not had a dual ballot.

Yeah, going back... As far as I can see, at least in 1999, we have not had multiple ballot cards in Fresno County. As I mentioned, it's not uncommon. There are actually some counties, I mean, throw San Francisco out there, that go to five or even as many as seven cards in prior elections. So two is not as bad as it could be. Yeah.

That's too bad. I thought Supervisor Magsig had a great idea. Even if you couldn't be side by side, if they could have just been long ways and just print two at a time, keep them together, that would have been a great thing. My question is, I know in like our special election, we had some issues involving voting centers in all of our incorporated cities. Hopefully that won't be the case this time. Each one of our incorporated cities will have their own voting center.

We had locations in every incorporated city locked down prior to that special election for this election and the upcoming November general election. So we're everywhere out there. We've actually expanded due to increasing numbers of registered voters. We will have 54 vote centers open for this election and in the November elections. We're actually expanding the number of vote centers we have available out there and will be in every city in Fresno County.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Yeah, thank you for that presentation, County Clerk Kuss. My question is, you mentioned that there's a possibility that some ballots might be rejected if they get mixed with A, B card. For those situations, will those voters be notified via mail that there's a discrepancy, or what's the process for making sure that people have their vote counted?

To the best of our ability, we will do that outreach. But if that's occurring after election day, we won't be doing that type of outreach because it will be a will be focused on that tabulation process. But whenever possible beforehand, we will be reaching out to let someone know that we received. As we do regularly when we receive. checks or random statements in those materials. It's actually fairly common that we get.

And I know in the past we've allowed folks to quote unquote cure a ballot. Will that window also be in place for rectifying any issues with regards to these two ballots?

Not for this process. A cure process isn't available here. We actually have to get to the point of opening it. But we would be notifying the voter, and the voter would have the opportunity to go vote in person or request an additional replacement vote by mail ballot, at which point they would be able to vote that one. No history of voting would be applied when we do a challenge of this type, so the voter would still be able to vote.

So I think the challenge I'm trying to work through is there'll be folks that for whatever reason, as you said, mix and match some cards. What I want to make sure we're not doing is we're not disenfranchising folks that wanted to vote, but for whatever reason, mixed up card or had that, or at least give them an opportunity as you're receiving these ballots and these double ballots. How quickly will your staff be able to tabulate and then notify these folks that, hey, there's a discrepancy you can fix?

So we'll find this issue before we do tabulation. So we have to find that issue before that point. As soon as we get that, we back out the history and we can that day be able to look at reaching out to the best of our ability, sending out a notice, calling or emailing when possible. We do that activity now when we receive what we call crossover ballots, where a family member has signed another family member's envelope. We will hold that ballot. We will reach out to them, let them know that their ballot has been challenged, but we're also gonna be looking for that crossover where a husband has signed their wife's envelope and vice versa. And so we were always looking for that opportunity to assist the voter to be able to vote. In this case, in some cases, it's gonna need to be We can't count this ballot because we can't differentiate. And the reason why we can't make that count is you cannot differentiate which card is which, which one should be counted here and which one shouldn't be counted. And so we need to let them know they need to go have their voice heard by requesting a new vote by mail envelope or by going and voting in person.

Are those ballots tracked with that barcode that we have assigned to each of the voters?

Yes. So there are unique identifiers assigned to every voter as well as every VBM ballot that is sent out. So we have that information tracking both of those. That's why when we do sometimes have to send out a second or even third vote by mail ballot, to a voter, we're able to differentiate between those and block any of the other ones. So we do have that tracking process that is unique to the voters, as well as the BBM envelopes that we've sent out to them.

I think last thing I'll say is I think for me, I just want to make sure that anybody that wants to vote at Tellers Woodrow has an opportunity to do that. Whatever you're going to do with regards to this process or model, I just want to make sure that we're doing everything humanly possible to avoid any potential litigation by folks in the future, whether it's a very close race, very close ballot measure, or any other thing on the ballot that there's challenges and lawsuits. You've seen how messy it gets in the past. So I think I, for me, I like to see that. And if that requires additional work, then I think we need to look at that too.

I fully agree. We want to have every active eligible voter have their opportunity to vote the way that they want to vote. And as we say in election land, we'd love to see wide margins.

Is the first page with the governors because you have so many candidates listed on there? That's why that whole page, that's it?

61 candidates plus a write-in spot fills the whole page. This is actually a little, it's actually an 18-inch ballot, so it's a long ballot. and it still fills the whole page. It comes down to font, required font sizes, legal required font size, and just the absolute number that's there. That's not the only long race we have. We also have lieutenant governor, insurance commissioner, state superintendent of schools, all with double-digit candidates in all of those races.

Okay.

Yeah, I got it. Then you have seven judges, which is highly unusual.

Yes, we do have seven contested judicial races, superior court contests. That is very unusual. As Supervisor Mendez indicated, we usually only maybe have one. So seven is a, and those are all counties. So they're on every single ballot.

Going back to vote centers now, how many do you have in unincorporated communities?

Make me sit here, bring up the map in my head and go through each one of them there. Can you give me a list? Yes. Absolutely.

Within, within, you know, three or four days.

Within a couple of days. Yes. I can get to that list.

Okay. Any comments from the public? Yeah. Hi, Cindy.

Hi, Cindy Fukuyama.

Wow.

This is a rough one. This is big information. I just want to know, is there a way, and I know he's starting to get this information out here today, that this can get spread out quickly so people will understand what's coming? Because it will be confusing for a lot of people, especially older people. That's my comment. I don't know how to get the word out, but this is a lot of information. Also, quick question. I know you said there's identifiers, unique identifiers or codes. Are they on the ballot or the envelope?

Yeah. Voting in California is secret. So there are no unique identifiers to the voter on the ballot. And so we will actually have to implement special procedures to actually slow down our processing a little bit to make sure that no person incorrect pairings, two A cards or two B cards, actually go through the process there. So we're implementing those procedures within our process to be on the lookout. We've always been on the lookout for situations where two cards were in an envelope or where someone had returned money in an envelope, but there is no identifying information on a ballot itself, which is one of the reasons why it's always been true. Once you've cast that ballot, it's in it's counted it can't be backed out do you have any as cindy was alluding to any plans other than obviously today educating the public about this so this is the first public but actually we have a mailer that's going out that i put in less than absolutely specific because at the time that i had to prepare that a week and a half ago we didn't know we didn't have an absolute certainty that we were going to be multi-card until uh early late last week so that meant that we couldn't, and we didn't want to create any confusion. So we had to be careful going forward. All of our messaging is going to include, this is a two-card ballot. You need to be aware of it. Ask the questions. Here's what you need to do.

Okay.

I appreciate that. Did you have anything else?

Thank you. And also, I just want to say that I have a lot of respect for Mr. Coos. He does an amazing job.

Thank you.

Anyone else from the public?

All right, I'll bring it back. Is there a motion to approve? All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Passes unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Coos.

We now move to item number 41, pulled by Sue Reiser-Magsig due to the Levine Act. Approve and authorize the chairman to execute amendment number one to agreement number 25-499 with HRH Community Builders, effective upon execution with no change to the term of September 23, 2025 through June 30, 2030.

OK. Good morning, Chairman, members of the board, Susan Holt, your behavioral health director. Happy to take any questions.

Any comments from the board? No. Any comments from the public? OK. I'll entertain a motion. Motion.

Second.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Passes unanimously. Thank you. Next, we'll have item 47.

Item 47, pulled by Sue Reiser-Magzig, due to the Levine Act, approve an authorized chairman to execute and direct the director of general services department or their designee to deliver the county's purchase and sale agreement with 7355 North Palm Avenue, a California limited liability company as to undivided 77% interest and Asimi Investments, a California limited liability company, has shown undivided 23% interest for the county's purchase of 650 O Street and 705 P Street.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Ed Hiller, Chief Operating Officer here presenting on behalf of General Services. I'm here to answer any questions or I can present the item.

Any comments from the board? Any comments from the public? Seeing none, I'll, oh, go ahead.

Are they going to give a presentation? What is this exactly?

You would do a very brief presentation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This item is from your General Services Department. It's the purchase sale agreement for the property mentioned during the briefing. If approved, it will be the possible future home of the Sheriff's Department as well as your administrative office and your board. I say maybe because it starts the 90-day due diligence phase to make sure the property meets all of our needs.

Okay.

And I will say I'm very much looking forward to this and the process and hopefully the purchase of those buildings. So the sheriffs have their needs met and this body has its needs met and the people in this building will have their needs met as well. Any comments other from the board? Any other comments from the public? Seeing none, motion to approve. Second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Passes unanimously. Thank you.

That concludes all our consent items pulled from this morning. We will now come back to the regular agenda items, which is item number seven, under Chairman Redfield and Supervisor Chavez, provide direction to engage a consultant for an independent audit of practices within the Department of Social Services to ensure children are being protected and legal requirements are being met for reports and recommendations for placement of children when there are allegations of abuse or neglect in their homes.

Supervisor Chavez. Thank you, Mr. Chair. For my colleagues and the public, this is a very straightforward request that Chairman Bredefeld and myself have been working on for a little bit. I think this is probably one of the most popular topics to discuss here in Fresno County. And I think it's because we all care about our kids and want to make sure they're in the most safe and healthiest environment. I also want to commend my colleagues. I know a couple years ago there was some issues, and you acted. You held folks responsible, and more importantly, you improved the system. I think that's been recognized by members of the public. And in that same spirit of trying to improve our model, Supervisor Chairman Bradfield and myself would like to have some options considered by the board on what that would look like to have an independent audit come in and Tell us what we're doing well, what needs work, but more importantly, keep always as a guiding light. How do we make sure that kids are in the most safe and healthiest environment possible? A component of this that I would like included in that in speaking with our legal counsel. is to ensure that any decision that is made for our children, whether it's right before presenting options for the child's placement, be vetted through our legal counsel and have them sign off on what that decision would be, just to make sure we have some ongoing independent eyes on decisions that we're making. I think for me, it's something very near and dear to me. Having been a foster parent for the last seven years, I've seen a lot of the trauma that our kids go through, the challenges, but more importantly, the support services that our county has been able to provide for those families. And let me just say this for the record. I think my preference is always to reunify that child with their biological parent, only if it's in a safe and healthy environment. And in that spirit, that's what I would like for this independent audit to just take a look at what we're doing, again, what we're doing well, what needs work, and more importantly, how do we improve our system? Because to me, I think just a system that does well is not okay. I would like for us to be really the pillar and the example of across the state. And again, we've done some great work, but I really feel that any model could always use some improvement, especially with children. Our CAO has been working on some options. I know that we've chatted a couple of times. CAO, if you'd like to kind of maybe go through some of those right now and flag it for my colleagues and see where we land on this, where we have consensus on this request.

Thank you Supervisor Chavez and appreciate this. I mean your board has identified child welfare as a top priority and it has been a top priority in my office but one of the options to proceed with if your board gives this direction is to work directly with the California Department of Social Services to assist in this process whether they are actually doing the audit or bringing the resources to assist I've already made contact with them, but we'll be having a call with them if your board directs proceeding that direction. In addition to that, through a conversation with County Council, Doug and I have agreed for a joint review of complex cases that include County Council and our quality assurance representative, Kathy Huerta, and that they would begin that process as soon as possible. So that is an option to begin and open to any other options that your board may direct.

Thank you for that, Mr. Chair.

Any other comments from the board? I have some comments. Several months ago, we heard at our board meeting from a longtime social worker, Lorraine Ramirez, who has dedicated more than two decades of her life to protecting vulnerable children. She made several claims at that board meeting that were troubling. some of which included children being placed back in the homes where abuse, neglect, violence, and substance abuse were still present. And then in some cases, these decisions were being made despite the objections of the various social workers tasked with protecting them. Now I, along with my colleagues, take these allegations seriously. Our number one priority is to protect the children that are entrusted to Fresno County and the Department of Social Services and to ensure that every decision made on their behalf is solely in the best interest of every child. Since Ms. Ramirez came before the board, I've met with the director of Department of Social Services, some members of her executive team, our chief administrative officer, and our county council. I've also met with Lorraine Ramirez, the Department of Social Services Ombudsman, Kathy Huerta, the chairperson of the county's Foster Care Standards and Oversight Committee, Rosemary Alanis, and the director of a very respected foster family agency and their staff. In regard to the Foster Care Standards and Oversight Committee, there were concerns expressed about a lack of transparency from the Department of Social Services. Instances where it was felt the information was withheld from the committee, questions being met with defensiveness and the committee being prevented from seeing the data, and trends necessary to properly understand how the system operates. If accurate, this is unacceptable. Additionally, in speaking with the foster family agency, they raised concerns that the county is not providing enough follow-up with families, not enough parenting support, and not enough oversight, which these outside agencies have often been better equipped to provide. That lack of greater oversight can, of course, create conditions where abuse and neglect can go unreported. Now, I want to be very clear. The Department of Social Services is a critically important department doing very important work. As a clinical psychologist that practiced for over 30 years, I know that social workers in the Department of Social Services have one of the most difficult jobs imaginable. Every day they're making difficult decisions under pressure, often with incomplete information, always with the weight of a child's safety on their shoulders. They deserve our respect, our support, and every resource needed to do their jobs effectively. Likewise, the leadership at DSS also have very difficult jobs and are responsible for thousands of people and the decisions made that affect their lives. But if there are problems, as reported by some members in the community and by many of the letters we've received, then we take that very seriously. We'll address it openly, directly, and with transparency for the public. I want to ensure that no child is ever returned to an unsafe home, that there's meaningful and effective oversight, and that leadership in this department is closely working with social workers and other community members to ensure decisions are being made always in the best interest of the children entrusted to our care. We're talking about the most vulnerable population among us, children who depend entirely on adults and institutions in Fresno County to protect them. Our responsibility is to ensure that every decision made puts the safety and well-being of children first, above everything else. That is why I support an independent outside audit of the department. We need transparency, accountability, and we need accurate information. I would encourage the firm that does the audit to speak with everyone in the Department of Social Services, from leadership to supervisors to social workers, other frontline workers, people involved with emergency response, hotline, adoptions, family reunification, the oversight committee, and outside family agencies. My goal in this audit is not to ascribe blame to anyone, but to find what changes are needed and make them with the sole goal of ensuring that decisions are being made that are always in the best interest of the children we care for. We must be committed to having accountability and having positive outcomes for these children. Our children deserve this, and we're going to make sure they get it, period. Any comments from the public? Yes, come on up if you have some comments.

I went ahead and brought a letter for everybody because I'm not going to make it through in the three minutes. My name is Stefan Montenegro. I am a a resource family for the last 16 months for two children that are biological family members of me. I have had such problems. We received the girls. We provided a safe and structure. We got them into school, got them potty trained. They were having great success. Upon having to go back to unsupervised visits, we had regression where One of the children regressed back to night terrors, peeing the bed every night, peeing the bed at school. I'm reporting to my social worker. I don't get a call back. I don't get no response. I've gone to my social worker, Taylor Wesley, no response whatsoever. Went to Natasca, which is her supervisor, still was not getting any help. I've emailed, I've called them, and In the emails, I went ahead and attached their attorney, their clinician, everything to get some kind of help or support and received nothing. Went to Kathleen Miller, the division chief, twice. received no help from her. I mean, these children are just being neglected. And at CFT, I was asked, I was stopped by one of the supervisors and asked not to give my concerns, only talk about the children's strengths. And at that time, it was to move them to overnight visits, which ended up causing my niece to come home with learn sexual taught behavior that she experienced at this home. I'm calling the 600 number line. I'm telling the social worker, hey, this kind of behavior, no investigation, nothing was ever done. I mean, this is neglect. I mean, I just want to be clear. This is a matter of inconvenience. This is a matter of Negligence, negligence on the duty of care, negligence in response, negligence in documentation, negligence that has caused furthermore trauma to kids that are already in the county's protection. I followed up with Division Chief Kathleen and she asked me, Mr. Montenegro, what do you want me to do about it? I want you to do your job. I want the county. My sole purpose is for these two children to have the safety. When a four-year-old is so traumatized that the regression has caused her to go back to toddler-like behavior after growing, that is ridiculous. And you guys got to do better. I mean.

Thank you.

I appreciate it. Thank you. Who do I give these to?

Mr. Chair, may I say something, please? Because of state confidentiality laws, please nobody share any specific information about any particular children or cases, okay? Thank you.

Thank you, County Council. Yes.

Good morning. We are here today to acknowledge April as National, I'm going to probably cry, National Prevention Child Abuse Month.

Why don't you say your name?

My name is Lorraine Ramirez, and I'm a newly retired social worker. Again, we are here today to acknowledge April as National Prevention Child Abuse Month. And with the yes vote for this outside agency audit for the Department of Social Services, CPS, we are also asking for IHSS. audit. I just wanted to let you guys know each of you on the board have demonstrated your dedication to addressing the concerns that affect the most vulnerable in each of your districts. The audit will uncover a culture that was created by the current director of social services which led to negative effects caused to children and the elderly. It will expose the abuse of that position held and how it trickled down to some of her closest administration, which affect not only the community, but the workforce at DSS. It will reveal the reason for high turnover rates from early retirees, as myself, and employees who left with or without a job, and for some employees who participated in the Title IV-E program, leaving with a student debt rather than staying to pay it back. It will show administration's override of social worker and social worker supervisor's assessments and of her own counsel, which led to children and elderly being exposed to ongoing abuse. Even though attempts are currently underway to clean up house, I am confident that the audit will demonstrate that children and elderly of Fresno County have been placed at risk of abuse or neglect, not solely by the workers or the supervisors, but by those in the highest of power at the Department of Social Services. For many, many years as an employee of DSS, I have fought alongside with my coworkers and deputy director and social worker supervisor's office to advocate for children's safety and welfare, but our pleas were dismissed. As a SEIU Local 521 representative, I have sat with other employees voicing concerns raised by working staff to address these concerns in administrative meetings, but our concerns, again, dismissed. So today, as I stand here now as a newly retiree, my heart is overjoyed that all those

That all those unhurt pleas of current and past employees will now have a voice through this audit and the lives of our most vulnerable in this county can now be heard loud and clear. Thank you for your vote and for your dedication to our community.

Thank you.

Good morning, Chairman, members of the board. My name is Riley Telford, SDIU chapter president. I stand in strong support of former Vice President Mr. Ramirez's championing of this effort. For years, you know, employees have brought concerns to management that were just pretty much unheard. Employees are your subject matter experts on things that are happening in the field, and when their voices are not heard and concerns are not honored or appreciated, You get outcomes that wind up in the press, that wind up impacting the county. So we're definitely in full support of you doing this audit because, hey, if there's nothing to hide, if everything is great, wonderful. But if there are issues that can be corrected and resolved, we just look forward for what an audit can help solve any problems or issues that are within the department. Lastly, I want to say that we just look for employees that are spoken to or who are reached out to kind of give comment that they don't receive subtle retaliation or retaliatory acts from the department for giving their take on things that they feel or receive that are happening within their department. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning. I'm Rosemary Alaniz, chair of the Fresno County Foster Care Oversight Committee. I have with me Vice Chair Kevin Liston and two committee members. So I thank you today for allowing me to speak. Our committee takes all allegations related to child welfare with the utmost seriousness. During our most recent meeting with DSS, we discussed several requests that would strengthen our oversight efforts. One is access to case studies that exclude protective sensitive information, collaboration with the Ombudsman on incoming referrals and receipt of compliance reviews and state audit findings to help us identify trends and address systemic issues. Our mission is to ensure the committee operates as a highly effective partner and overseer to the Department of Social Service, working together to safeguard the well-being of every child in care. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning, and thanks for having me. My name is Kevin Lesitsin. I also sit, as it just recently explained, on the Foster Care Oversight Committee underneath you, Gary. I'm happy to be here, and thank you again for your time and your willingness to listen. I respectfully request the board to authorize an independent review of the Department of Social Services, specifically as it relates to the outcomes, practices, and accountability within our foster care system. And earlier mentioned something pertaining having the state help within the DSS. If there's an option for us to have something outside of a government and give us an additional insight, I think that would be extremely helpful. possibly in this situation because this is a unique county. I do believe Fresno County is the only county that has a foster care oversight committee and we could set a good standard possibly for the rest of the state. I think uninterrupted would be something to consider again if that's an option. Our job as an oversight committee exists precisely for moments like this. Our job isn't to rubber stamp. It's to ask hard questions on behalf of youth who have no one else in the room. An independent review is an adversarially and a responsible governance. It's there to be able to help us see the wins and the opportunities for us to do better in a community like this. I urge the board to take the step, authorize an independent review, and let the findings speak for themselves. Absolutely will. Those youth are counting on adults who won't look away, are not scared to ask the difficult questions, as that we try to do so very diligently. at every meeting that we have as the foster care oversight committee. And as someone who's been there for a few years now, this audit would help us also understand what exactly we're there to be able to help support in the community needs, because it would show us conversations we're having that are telling us something that's really negative, like where's the balance to that, and what are we trying to oversee, like what's the standard that the Department of Social Services should have. This would allow us as a committee to be able to oversee that, I believe, very fairly, and to be able to help all kids that go through our program. I appreciate your guys' time, and thank you. Thank you.

Good morning. Thank you for having us. My name is Pamela Hancock. I'm also a committee member on the Foster Care Standards and Oversight Committee. And to add to that, I do agree with both the people who have spoken before me. Also, when we do, if it is a yes vote, then please also interview our school personnel. Our teachers are the ones that actually make so many of the reports. I would also, we have 31 districts, and each one of those district liaisons need to be interviewed along with teachers who are sitting there in those classrooms with each of those teachers. And that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you.

Hello. My name is Hunter Morton. I was a previous social worker at Fresno County. I didn't have a speech today, so it's kind of an informal kind of presentation. But I just wanted to say a little bit of background about me. I'm a foster care kid my whole life. I grew up in the system between group homes, exiting out at 18 to obtaining my master's and working at the county as a social worker, thinking I had to follow in all the years of experience growing up that I needed to fix all these problems. I was hired at Child Welfare, transferred to In-Home Supportive Services, and from there is kind of where I speak to where my colleagues kind of state that the lack of being heard and kind of the issues are just kind of county-wide. Personally, just experienced a lot of just kind of neglect for our whole clients. At IHSS, we fired our nurses. We fired our fraud department. We have no MOU with the county for fraud. Right now, we have 22-year-olds coming in to IHSS managing a $20 million caseload pretty much autonomously. They got rid of our trainer for a brief period. So you hit the floor, and you're there to understand complex medical cases from adults to children of all ages. that we're ill-equipped for. And managing 600 cases a year when you're doing some overtime, it's not manageable. It's pretty neglectful, and our standards are just kind of deteriorating over there. From what I would see is we're not qualified for this medical stuff. We're not qualified to do all this level of care and to allocate these resources appropriately. And then our workers or our clients try to reach us. There's there's no standard of getting back to them I mean I'm at a different agency now and it's the same thing where you can't reach your social worker Just like one of the guys that spoke up about what he's dealing with with his social worker It's difficult and there's no real standard of care. There's no Sorry. So I'm just kind of here to kind of present our concerns. I've tried to escalate things up in my own personal capacity, but waiting two months to speak to a supervisor or going to HR and told them it's not our problem, took like a month to get an appointment to escalate it up, and then it takes another month or two to get to Sanja, and it's like, Well, if there's urgent concerns, especially in child welfare, where something's needing to be addressed, I think taking up the chain of command, taking two to three months is just not an appropriate time frame, especially in child welfare when there's more urgent matters where it is these placement options. And there's a lot more concern there. I know with IHSS, it's a little different, but I'm just kind of here to speak on everybody. It's a department thing. I know we're kind of a separate department over there in Building 5, but... overall it's just kind of the structure here that it's just it's really negligent and I think it's costing every clients just have a disservice on what they're experiencing and what they have I mean depends on the social worker you get with our department and from that depends on your team and everybody's operating completely differently and it's completely autonomously and yeah okay thank you thank you

Good morning. My name is Denise Wyatt. I'm the director over at Family Healing Center. We are the child advocacy center in Fresno County. We provide the forensic interviews for children that are abused that we are seeing in our center. We do 300 interviews per year on children that are abused. We also are in support of this audit. I am also a foster parent, adoptive parent who has gone through county services and worked with social workers over the past 16 years. And I have seen the difference. I have seen the change in social workers are overworked because there are very few who are willing to stay in the environment that they are in right now. I have worked with many social workers who have spoke their minds on, you know, the protection of children and that we are no longer focusing on the protection of children, but the prevention um aspect of it as we heard earlier with the award given it's all about prevention it's no longer about protection of the children i also ask you know include us the child advocacy center in your in your audit and questioning those forensic interviews who work hand in hand with law enforcement and and the da's office i would also recommend you know because we work on these cases every day and we need the support of our social workers but when they're not willing to stay because of the environment, that really impacts our kids. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Danielle De La Torre, and I'm here on behalf of North Star Family Center. And I kind of want to speak on behalf of the FFA's. We are out there on the front lines with the children. We meet with them weekly, sometimes twice a week. We are in constant contact with our homes. In transitioning from doing recruitment and placements for the past close to 15 years, I now have stepped into a different role supervising the visitation center. and so i'm seeing a different side i'm seeing these parents and every single day they're coming into my lobby and they are having concerns about calling their social workers calling their social work supervisors and they're telling me that they're going in person to dss and they're being turned away we are making we are calling the care line every other night reporting incidents We had one incident that we reported where a young girl was taking off her clothing and she was gesturing in an inappropriate manner. We called and reported that in and we were blatantly asked, what do you want us to do about it? Tell me where the abuse is. So, I think it is important that a review is conducted in efforts to collaborate better with DSS. I think that the core values of DSS are still there and it is still, you know, we can do a lot of great things for the youth.

Thank you. I'll bring it back to the Deus. Just a quick question with the CAO. I think you and I talked, you were looking into possible audit agencies. Have you come across folks who do this kind of work or are you still pursuing that?

Still pursuing that. I've got a list, but frankly, I want to make sure I heard the scope before I engage directly. And I have already put in a call to the California Department of Social Services, whether they provide assistance or whether they are helping to perform the audit, but wanted to hear your direction before proceeding further.

Yeah, so it is, as I mentioned, you know, is making it as comprehensive as possible. I talked about, you know, touching base with schools as well. I mean, I want this to be as very comprehensive as it can be so we can get all the information that we need so we can make the best decisions that we need to make, especially in light of, you know, budget coming up and things of that sort. Yes, Supervisor Magzik.

A couple of things. I think from my standpoint, I think it would be good for us when it comes time to make motions because I'm supportive of an audit. I've got no issues. Sometimes we can find out what other agencies are doing, where there are best practices to be utilized just to improve our processes. And so when the motion is made, I would suggest maybe we empower Paul to be the one to go out and identify a firm. I'm okay with him just selecting that firm to begin right away with the auditing if that's amenable to all of you. But before we get to that, one thing I'd like to do, if it's okay, is I'd like to have Sonia Bouguet come forward because I've got a couple of quick questions for her. Sure, of course. Because there was a lot of information presented and... But I want to talk a little bit about our Department of Social Services caseloads specifically for social workers, because I know that this board in the past, we've authorized pay increases. We want to make sure that we've got positions filled. So do you have significant issues with vacancies right now when it comes to your caseworkers, your social workers?

So we actually have improved caseloads in child welfare significantly in the past couple of years. And depending on the area, the caseloads are still in good shape. That said, workload for our social workers has really increased when it comes to the amount of work per case. So I want to share a couple of examples. And I want to answer that we do have a 14% vacancy rate. Part of the reason for our 14% vacancy rate was really intentional. As our cases were coming down, we actually didn't need to hire as many social workers. We have recently recognized we needed to hire workers for both the caseload's reasons, but also preparation for our CARES implementation, which will be significant. probably the most impactful change in child welfare for the next year or so. And we actually received an approval, which I appreciated very promptly, to hire 35 social workers, 10 for IHSS and the rest for child welfare. So our turnover is actually better than it's been in years. It's better than it's been pre-pandemic and during the past couple of years. But we're at the point that we needed to hire, and actually hiring is happening at the moment. Our social worker caseloads in IHSS and child welfare are very different. So in child welfare, our caseloads are actually down compared to three or four years ago. When I started, which actually is four years ago this month, our social workers in FR and FM carried on average between 38 to 40-some cases. Right now, our caseloads for social workers are below 20. We have few social workers that have just above 20, but majority of caseloads for social workers are below 20. Our ER social workers, if they were in crisis, they were in good, crisis referrals, they were in good numbers, but our non-crisis referrals were in the high 20s. Some with 30, which is not doable work. We're now averaging mid-teens. Mostly trying to stay in 13 to 15, but it depends on the month. Our social workers in permanency planning and in adoptions, every social worker caseload is below 25. And we were in, for adoption social workers, we were in the 50s. So cases per worker are in actually a good spot. That said, we are better about trying to do every piece of work that's required, and with child and family team meetings, and assessments, and CANS assessments. Some of these are new requirements. Some of these are existing requirements that we are better, are doing more due diligence to follow up on. That is a lot of individual case work on an individual case. So with that piece of it, how the workload feels versus the number of cases may feel different. The story is really different for IHSS. IHSS is probably our, it's not probably, it is our highest growing program every single year. We've experienced age to 12% increases every single year in caseloads. The number of applications and caseloads across the board, we're not unique as a county in that space, but we're there. Keeping up with IHSS social worker caseloads, we have not managed as well. We're trying to do better, and we actually are keeping up with some of our reassessments in a number of our programs, but not across the board. So social worker caseload in IHSS is for sure challenging, and we're trying to manage as part of the challenge, and social work for IHSS is really funding.

Thank you.

Anyone else? No. Okay, is there a motion?

I'll make a motion to, as my colleague mentioned, direct and empower our CAO to do an independent audit of practices. And you'll come back and just go ahead and engage. I think you have consensus on that, but also incorporate the legal requirement, the oversight that we discussed, incorporate that into our model and codify that to ensure we have some on our legal folks and then bring that back to the board as a report.

You're able to hire the person without bringing it back to the board. Is that the will of the board?

That's what I think. Yes, I can proceed with that direction and report back on the progress as well.

Yeah, and I would just ask that you update the board, you know, what the status is with that. And I'll second the motion. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously.

We now move to item number eight, under Chairman Bredefield, Cesar Magsic, and Public Health, conduct first hearing to amend the Fresno County Ordinance Code Title 8, Health and Safety Chapter 8.30, Land Application of Biosolids to Add Subsection 8.30.045 to amend Subsections 8.30.010 8.30.020, 8.30.040, and 8.30.070 to include prohibition on the land application of reduced human remains or human compost, waive reading of the ordinance in its entirety, and set the second hearing for April 24th. April 21st, 2026, designate county council to prepare a fair and adequate summary of the proposed ordinance and direct the clerk of the board to post and publish the required summary in accordance with California government code section 25124B1.

Chairman and members of the board, Marilu Valencia, principal COA analyst. The item before your board is the first hearing to prohibit human compost from being spread or integrated into the soil in the unincorporated areas of Fresno County. Current county code regulates the land application of biosolids, but it does not address reduced human remains or human compost. In 2022, California enacted AB 351, which authorizes natural organic reduction, a process that converts human remains into soil, with the regulatory framework effective January 1, 2027. State law also allows local governments to prohibit the use of human compost in soil within their local boundaries the proposed ordinance will prohibit human compost from being spread or integrated into soil in the unincorporated areas of fresno county the prohibition will not apply to private property that is not open to the public except on private land where food is grown that will be made available to the public Violations of the proposed ordinance may be enforced as misdemeanors and through administrative citations with escalating per day fines. This concludes task presentation. Joe Prado, Director of Public Health and CAO staff are available for questions. I will turn this over to Supervisor Berthels and Supervisor Magdick for discussion.

Thank you, Supervisor Magdick.

Yep, I'll just note for the record that when we do open the public portion there, I know there's at least one representative here that I've met with last week, just who is representing a firm that does do application of human remains. We talked, because again, I want to make sure that with this ordinance that we're proposing, there's no unintended consequences. For me, I want to I just thank the Department of Public Health as well as our County Council's office. I think the whole goal here is, at least when I first became aware of human remains applications, I was questioning, okay, what kind of standards are in place? Have all the pathogens that potentially could be present in human remains, has that been disposed of? Some of the pictures that I saw where some of this compost was being spread out was in close proximity to a vineyard. And so I had some concerns. And I really appreciate the Department of Public Health. For me, it is, first and foremost, human remains. I think, for me, it's a sacred thing. And I'm one who believes that when it does come time to spread human remains, it's something that should be done in a manner that pays respect to individuals. On a health side, if there is no process that's in place about how human remains are disposed of, I did have concerns. So I appreciate this ordinance that's before us. I believe it's one where people on private lands have an opportunity to continue to dispose human remains if they choose to do so. It doesn't preclude that, but organizations or individuals that might wanna spread this on public lands, there are restrictions in place not allowing that, as well as individuals who might be selling food for consumption. So I appreciate the thoughtfulness in all of this. Hopefully some of the comments and concerns that were offered up to my office through the advocates representing the industry that's involved in this process. And by the way, in meeting with them, they shared with me how they do this and they do it very responsibly and respectfully. So I appreciate that, and I'll let them speak to their methods and what they think about this ordinance in a little bit. But I just want to say thank you to all the departments involved. It's kind of a... The different ordinances that we deal with here at the county sometimes can be unusual. This falls into that category. But again, we want to be respectful. And what's paramount to me as a supervisor and all of us is the public's health. And so we never want to have unintended consequences by things that we do or activities that other businesses do here in Fresno County.

Any other board members wish to speak on this? I would just say, echo pretty much a lot of what Supervisor Magdick said. I didn't even know this was a thing until months ago when the San Joaquin Trust had dispersed human compost out by the river. And I think it was unwise to do so. It is utilized by the public. It was also by a vineyard. And so I think we've been very careful to ensure that people's private property rights and how, if they want to engage in this, as long as it's their own private property, it doesn't involve food production, and it's not accessed through the public, you're able to do exactly what you want to do. We want to respect people's private property as well as their own personal rights. And I think this ordinance does that, and I too would thank the Public Health and County Council for the thoughtfulness in this and the research. I think there's still a lot that isn't known. I'm sure the advocate for this will say it's all been thoroughly vetted, but I've read where there's still some concerns. We will see where this goes. This is a new, I think, relatively new process. But with that, I'll open it up to the public. Anybody who wishes to speak, yeah, please come forward.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the Board of Supervisors. Alan Fernandez on behalf of Earth Funeral, which is a group of funeral professionals and scientists that have come together to really modernize and advance an ecologically safe and responsible approach to funeral care. want to thank in particular um just the county staff they've been very uh great to work with already and i want to actually thank the chair and and the co-author here in your leadership in this uh this is a sort of a case of first impression as has been referenced um the legal standing for this application is relatively new in California. There are 14 other states that have legalized this process. And so I cannot speak to the process for other companies, but I can speak on behalf of Earth and to tell you that it is a very deliberative and responsible process that takes place over about a month. to actually have the human remains converted into a nutrient-rich soil. It is after that lab tested to ensure that there are no pathogens or metals in that NOR soil, as it's called, which stands for a natural organic reduction. I think the threshold question is, do we want to treat this problem Oh, we're back. And we're back. No, no, thank you. I appreciate it. As I was saying, the process once complete is sort of the soil is lab tested by an outside entity to determine that there are no pathogens or metals in the soil. And so that's why I want to leave you with do we want to treat this process differently than traditional burial or cremation? And while we are generally supportive of the movement to protect public health, there are a couple of specific in the draft ordinance that I kind of want to call attention to and consider a revision to in the future. First and foremost is the measure, this specific item is placed within your larger section on biosolids. and understanding the need to beef up code enforcement. I dedicated most of my career to county service, so I think it is the best level of government for sure, and I know the challenges of code enforcement. However, included in the ordinance is a private right of action that sort of amplifies code enforcement's authority, and I think does so in a manner that might invite frivolous lawsuits to not just this industry, but beyond. And then the last thing I would say respectfully is that to tighten perhaps the prohibition on public land, I think there's a mechanism to do so currently as drafted. You could have a vineyard that is immediately adjacent to private land that would be banned, but that land isn't. And so I think there is a way to sort of draw a tighter definition of that keeping, you know, and preserving the need for food production and safety and this material not to be close to that. So with respect, I want to thank you for your time and effort in this and look forward to seeing the evolution of this ordinance as it proceeds.

There you go, okay.

Council, if either you or the person at the podium, could you further clarify when he uses the term private right of action, can you tell us what that is?

Yes, it means that if there were a violation, somebody that may be affected could bring a lawsuit to enforce the ordinance. It's not that unusual. Like it was mentioned that if there were frivolous lawsuits, then the court would deal with that and potentially somebody could owe attorney fees for bringing a frivolous lawsuit.

So what's your concern? I don't follow that.

We're completely okay with the other enforcement provisions. The current private right of actions includes treble and punitive damages. So it is really sort of, I think, fraught with the possibility that some trial lawyers can enforce the provisions of that code, not just on this industry, but on biosolids generally, which I think in a community that, in a farming community like Fresno, I think might be a concern.

Okay, thanks.

so why was it put under that aspect of our code rather than under um funerals or something why are we putting this in the ag code in the way in the biosolid section i'll let county council speak they looked at all different sections that we have here at the county and i don't want to speak out of turn but they felt that that was the most appropriate section to place this since really the human remains are being used as soil amendment for lack of a better term but and i'll let doug speak further on that

Yeah, it was placed in that section because that appears to be the closest statute or ordinance that actually applied, and it's somewhat analogous. As far as the private right of action, that's purely a policy call, whether or not you want to include that.

And I've got no problem removing that. I think what county council did when they drafted this is they wanted to have something that absolutely had teeth from us, but also teeth from the outside for enforcement. And again, ordinances, we can modify these things on the fly, but I've got no issue removing that particular provision to move this forward.

Nor do I. That would be good. Yeah, just being from that the ag community. I just I don't want any unintended consequences. All of a sudden this is going to branch out other other areas because again, from the ag community, the people in the organic industry. Obviously, they don't like commercial fertilizer. They use organic, such as animal fertilizer. And I just, again, don't want any unintended consequences to hurt those of us in ag. Other than, I would just make this comment, other than the ick factor, i don't really have an issue putting it over over ground because i believe mother nature through the plants filter anything out anyway and i have less of a concern all that but i have no issue with doing that from food but i want to make sure we don't branch out While I don't intend to use it, if someone on the west side, and we have enough property that we can do that without having food grown on there, but it's easier to put it on like say someone would use cotton ground, fine. But what if we were to put it on like wheat ground or dry land farming that is to feed cattle in the future? Does that count as food or is that cattle feed? Again, I just don't want any unintended consequences. and that's really my my main issue so um but fully support it and did we uh yeah i want to make sure we can address human consumption yeah so we said human consumption in the ordinance

I think what you're talking about is like a third deal. Like, okay, like say you put it before you plant alfalfa. Yeah. Okay. You end up, if alfalfa comes up, you cut it and feed it to the cows. which people will drink the milk and eat the meat of the cows. So it's like a third.

Which is like three times removed. That's what I'm saying. Mother Nature is going to filter this out. I have less concern that maybe the general public fully support it. It shouldn't be on public land, and that's our job to protect that. I have more issue when we start talking about private property, especially in ag, and putting restrictions on those that own private property.

And I have no issues if we added a line in there. So as you define, because in the ordinance you have to define what human consumption means, I would say that the first crop that's being produced after this is applied would be used for human consumption. So to your example, if they're using it for hay that's going to be used for feed, then that does not apply. Because as to Buddy's point, it's a third removed. And we all end up... back in the dust as well.

Kind of ironic here on Easter, at least those of us that are Catholic, you know, remember man, you are dust and to dust you shall return. So let's not disrupt the whole ecosystem and let us go to where we started from.

So we can make those two changes, removing that private right of action language and then making sure that what human consumption means is that it is where If you're doing any row crops, humans are going to be consuming that. Trees, fruit trees, so where the first fruits are being used for human consumption, that is not allowed for cattle.

Like a tomato, vegetables, those kind of things. I fully support that.

Right, so we could add that amendment to Section 8.30.045. Just clarification, yeah. Right. And then we would be deleting Section 8.30.070E, which is the private right of action. Yeah. Correct.

That's your motion.

That's my motion.

And I'll second. I can support that.

Thank you. Okay, thank you. We try and listen most of the time.

Yeah. Sir, you wanted to come up and speak on this?

Sure, she's already spoken. My name is John Halpin, and I am a volunteer out at the River Parkway. Gary is familiar with what I do. I want to thank you, Chair Redfield and supervisors, for allowing me to speak to you today. I'd like to offer a brief comment on this item regarding proposed amendments to the county biosolids ordinance, including provisions related to reduced human remains. I want to begin by acknowledging that this is a complex and evolving issue. It touches on public health, land use, environmental considerations, and developing state policy. Because of that, I would respectfully suggest this item may benefit from additional review before moving forward. California has already taken steps to establish a regulatory framework for natural organic production, but that system is still in development. Allowing that process to unfold could help ensure that local decisions are informed by consistent statewide standards, operational experience, and emerging scientific data. There are also several areas that may warrant closer examination, such as lifecycle environmental impacts, appropriate safeguards for land application, and how other jurisdictions are approaching this issue. These are technical questions that could benefit from additional input. Given the complexity and the evolving nature of this topic, a short pause to gather information, engage stakeholders, and review best practices could help avoid the need to revisit or revise this policy later. So rather than taking a position today, I would respectfully encourage the board to consider continuing this item or directing further study before making a final decision. I'd also be happy to be a resource as a volunteer if additional input would be helpful as this issue is further evaluated. Thank you for your time and your consideration. Thank you. Anyone else from the public?

I appreciate all the input. I think we can make amendments in the future if any new information is needed. If the board's willing to proceed, if you're still willing, I've seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously.

We now move to item number nine in the administrative office, approve revised administrative policy number nine for the board of supervisors meetings, incorporating updates to public participation procedures, provisions for remote public participation, including a policy addressing disruptions to telephonic or internet service during board meetings and revisions to management responsibilities in the courts with government code section 54953.4.

Good morning, Chairman and members of the Board. Amy Riles with the Administrative Office. The item before your Board recommends approval of revisions to Administrative Policy 29, which governs Board meetings. These updates are driven by Senate Bill 707, requiring counties to provide remote public participation and adopt a policy to address service disruptions by July 1, 2026. The proposed revisions include procedures for handling service interruptions, public participation rules including updates to speaker time limits, and expanded departmental responsibilities. Additionally, as noted in the errata being distributed by the clerk, the policy adds a remote public participation section requiring advanced registration. Approval will bring the county into compliance with Senate Bill 707. That concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions.

Okay. Any comments from the board?

Yeah, I think Bernice is passing out something. I think that we need to clarify and make this a little, just a little bit better. It talks about remote in red. did you want to address it yeah no i mean what it does is kind of formalize exactly how you get on you know that you have to pre-register to get on before the item is heard and i think that makes it a little better that you're not um I mean, we kind of allow people here to just to come up, but you must be present to win. You know, it's really important, you know, if you're just going to randomly decide at the meeting. Now, once upon a time, I think it was maybe pre, I don't know if it was 2010 or was it since you've been here?

I don't remember the year, but you used to have to register.

You had to fill out a number deal and give it to the clerk before you couldn't speak. But we changed that. I got changed before me and Brian came.

So you're suggesting, uh, no, to do a telephonic. Yeah. To, to register. If you're going to register first, how would they register?

So the software that we're going to be utilizing for the telephonic service, it allows for not only remote speakers to register on the items that they want to speak on, but it also allows in-person participants to register as well.

Supervisor Mendez, the Air Board, if I remember right, has a pretty robust public input. Yeah. Is this the same format that, like, you serve on the Air Board that the Air Board uses, or is this a little different?

I think this is just a little different, kind of.

kind of buttons it up okay and just for additional information for the board and um amy and my staff have been working very hard with county council regarding this item but just to clarify it's registration for telephonic but not registration in person right and we will have instructions on our website for the for folks to know and we will also have the information on the agenda that folks will have to register if they're going to call in right we'll have prior to the item yes if they come and want if you if the item is presented to the board and they say oh i want to speak to it it's too late they have to register

So to my two colleagues that are from the city, you implemented something like this, I believe, sooner, obviously, than we did. How did they do it in the city?

When people would call in or Zoom in, they would register and they would queue up and the clerk would put them up on the queue and then pitch them up to the chair that would then administer them and get a tally of folks that were punched up and were ready to ask them.

So similar to what Supervisor Mendez is asking for. I have no issue, but I'm sure we'll learn as we go and we can modify it. Absolutely. We could start like that. You guys can learn as it goes. When does this take effect, Mr. Seale? We'll have six months. We'll have it perfected before we leave, buddy.

You'll get it squared away for us. Any other comments from the board? Any comments from the public? Yes.

the way that the board runs this meeting compared to city council. We're able to make informed comment or ask questions or kind of put out our concerns when we're able to hear presentation first. It's not allowed at city council, which is really frustrating. And so I guess, yeah, thank you for running it in this way. Thank you.

Leslie Martinez with Community Advocacy Manager with Leadership Council for Justice and Accountability. Happy to see some new faces and old. We're encouraged by the county doing its due diligence on implementing the legal requirements of SB 707 by the July 21st deadline and thank staff for revising the AP 29 to reflect that. SB 707 is intended to diversify and increase public engagement in local government to ensure that regardless of location, residents are able to participate in democratic processes that help guide policy and programs that impact their everyday life. Public participation is a crucial component for this body as it makes decisions impacting the entire county. As currently drafted, the amended ordinance effectively limits taxpayers' opportunity to engage in your decision making by capping public comment from just two minutes to a change from the three minutes that we have today. The proposed amendment also restricts public comment on topics from 15 to 10 minutes and give this board the discretion to censor speech by allowing this board to hold public input if it deems comments are repetitive and irrelevant. Such board discretion is unnecessary and as a public servant, we should all be working to invite as much public input as it contributes to good governance and improves your ability to better serve the county. After being here today too and just waiting for this item and listening to all the folks who came in here to share about the DHS stuff that's happening and listening to you all interact and learn from a lot of their experience, I especially am very passionate about it today. So I'm respectfully requesting that the board reject the proposed amendments and instead continue to allow the standard three-minute for public comment, eliminate time frames on topics to ensure all Fresno County's new residents can be heard and eliminate language granting this board carte blank discretion to halt public comment. Although here we are doing a great job of it today, we don't know what's going to come after us as we know that some of you are leaving us forever and we don't know who's coming after you all. So thank you so much for your time. Look forward to the discussion.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, I just wanted to respond. The reason why we took it down to two minutes was to allow for more participation for those to call in. However, in the policy, it does say speaking times may be altered at the discretion of the majority of the board. So there is flexibility.

Great. Excellent. Yes, sir.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. My name is Radley Reap. I do have an observation and a question. First, my observation. From what I can see, the county is reluctant to disclose that modification of administrative policy number 29 will reduce by a third from three minutes to two minutes, the amount of time available for public testimony. I say this because this information is not found in the board agenda and is not found in the staff report to your board. The information is elsewhere. The only way for the public to know that the time allotted for public testimony is being reduced is to open the attachments to the agenda item and read the proposed change to policy. The agenda only hints at the change, saying that the purpose of this item is to incorporate updates to public participation procedures. And while the staff report adds that the updates include modifications of speaker time limits, it doesn't say what those changes are. The proposed time change should be clearly stated in the agenda and if not in the agenda, then in the staff report to your board. County residents should not have to search through attachments to learn that the time allotted for public testimony is being reduced by a third. And now for my question. Policy number 29 is previously written and is proposed for revision states that the rule regarding time limits does not apply to quasi-judicial items that come before your board. These are matters where your board applies existing policies to a specific set of facts, often requiring findings based on evidence, common examples being board action with respect to the approval of conditional use permits or the granting of variances to the zoning ordinance. Now, in the past, your board has applied the time limit rule to quasi-judicial matters despite the directive in Policy 29 not to do so. So my question is this. From this time forward, is your board going to honor policy number 29 and set aside the time limit rule when considering quasi-judicial matters? And I think it would help the community to know the answer to that. So if you could let me know, I'd really appreciate it. I'll pass the information on to others.

I'm not sure anybody's going to answer, but do you have any other comments?

Well, I think an answer would be appropriate because it's going to come up as soon as you have your first hearing on a conditional use permit and you set the time limit at two minutes, someone's going to point to your policy and say it doesn't apply. So we might as well get it out in the open right now.

I think as the clerk said, this board can, by majority, decide how they want to extend time if it's necessary. And so that's what we'll do.

okay any other comments because not at all thank you so much okay anyone else from the public okay i'm going to bring it back to the board is there emotions oh i'm sorry supervisor magazine go ahead yeah quick question so you know there was some uh comments uh made by the last speaker i just want to hear from our county council so the way we agendized this item um was it legal and proper

We believe everything in the proposed ordinance is legal, yes.

I just wanted to make sure so we can proceed accordingly. And one thing I would just want to note for the record. So, you know, the public is every election cycle is very involved in picking their representatives for the five of us up here. And I appreciate the public coming and commenting. But one thing that I believe firmly is in our form of government, anyone can run for office. And then you have in this case at the county, the five of us that were on the ballot, duly vetted by the voters. And some of us have done it multiple times. Some of us, this is our first time up here. So that being the case, if my constituents from District 5 have questions about anything, they're more than welcome to reach out to my office. That's what I'm here for. So I just wanted to make that clear on the record. And I know from time to time, we have individuals who come up, say they represent the public. And individuals from the public are willing to say whatever they want. But looking at what we do and what our jobs are, we're the only ones who appear before the voters during an election cycle. So I just wanted to make that clear.

And I'll also add that, you know, I am a strong advocate for having the public come up. I give a lot of leeway to have many people come up. We have rules in place about 10 minutes or 15 minutes. And I think I'm I hate to use the word, very liberal in that, but I am, because I think it's very important. We work for the public. We work for all the people that come in here, and I believe everybody has a right to address their government and express their concerns or support or criticism, and I will always continue to do that. I've done that ever since I've been in elective office. Anyone else from the board? Motion approved. Second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously.

Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to thank County Council and Amy Riles, who worked closely with Dean Delacruz for my office on this item, which they knew was very crucial to us.

Absolutely. Thank you.

We now move to item number 10. Under administrative office, conduct first hearing to amend Fresno County Ordinance Code Title IV to add chapter 4.14 transit occupancy tax, waive reading of the ordinance in its entirety, and set the second hearing for April 21st, 2026. Designate county council to prepare a fair and adequate summary of the proposed ordinance and direct the clerk of the board to post and publish the required summary in accordance with government code section 25124B1.

Good morning, Chairman, members of your board. The item before you today is the first hearing to amend Fresno County's ordinance code specifically relating to proposed transient occupancy tax or TOT tax. This would be coming back pending your board's approval for a second hearing on April 21st. Paige is queuing up a brief presentation of what this ordinance is about and also the timeline for this process. Paige.

Good morning, Page-Benevides County Administrative Office. As a reminder for the board and for the benefit of those joining us from the public, a TOT is a tax imposed on a short-term lodging, typically paid by visitors staying in hotels, motels, tourist homes, short-term vacation rentals, and RVs at campgrounds, et cetera, for periods of 30 days or fewer. The tax does not apply to county residents in their primary or long-term residence. Transient occupancy tax revenues typically support a wide range of county services, including public safety, infrastructure maintenance, health and human services, and general government operations. TOT would be a general tax and would be discretionary for countywide use. The item before you if approved would add chapter 4.14 transient occupancy tax to the county's ordinance code, setting the TOT rate at 12% for lodging in the unincorporated areas. The ordinance outlines the collection requirements of lodging operators describes the penalties that would be imposed for non payment and provides remedies for collection for the tax collector. Now, to be clear, approval of the ordinance today does not officially adopt or increase the tax, nor does it quite yet commit the county to a ballot measure. And we'll review the timeline, the next steps in our timeline shortly. But I just want to emphasize here that today's item essentially sets the framework, lays the groundwork for implementing a TOT should the voters approve the tax in November. The ordinance would not become operative until the first calendar quarter beginning after the date of the election at which it is approved by the voters. As I mentioned, the ordinance sets the T O T rate at 12%. And this chart you saw in our last presentation in February shows that most counties in California have implemented a T O T rate at 10 to 12%. And again, County of Fresno is the only county that has lodgings that are that could be subject to the tax but does not have a current T O T. Similarly, 12% is the most common rate among the cities in Fresno County. And based on the analysis and recommendation of HDL, the county's consultant on this matter, a 12% tax rate would align with the most common rate while demonstrating meaningful revenue potential. So on that note, based on HDL's analysis, a 12% estimated, at 12%, I should say, estimated revenue that can be generated from a TOT is up to approximately 4.5 million in discretionary countywide revenue. Our next steps in the process after today's hearing will be to return to your board with a consent item for the second reading of this ordinance. We are also beginning public outreach to ensure that there is a clear understanding of what a TOT is and who it would impact. This outreach will continue for the next several months and will include polling of your constituents. in june we will return to your board with that measure for a referral to the ballot in the november election with that i am available for any questions thank you any comments from the board yes i want to ask mags a good question is how many rbnbs are there in uh like shaver lake and stuff

hundreds. I mean, and it's, it's, it's significant. So if you go on VRBO, just to take a look at what is, you know, what's available between Shaver, Aubury, Crather, the Hume Lake area, and even Dunlap, Miramonte, Pinehurst, you can find them all over in eastern Fresno County. And I will say, I'm glad you asked that question. The county, I think, looked at doing a TOT maybe 15 or 20 years ago. And when they looked at it, we just had a handful of hotels and this VRBO and Airbnb situation that we have today didn't exist. So I think now more than ever, we get a lot of people visiting Fresno County that stay at these facilities. And we've got volunteer fire departments that respond to emergencies that they may have, whether they be medical emergencies. I've seen vehicles catch on fire, crazy stuff. And these folks passing through our communities, use our roads and everything else, spend their money, which we want, but we are unique as a county and not having our own TOT.

Thank you.

Yeah, got a couple things. So a question I have. So I think you showed a slide where there were 12 cities. Fresno County's got 15 cities, but 12, if I counted that right, 11, 12, that have existing TOT tax. The reason that the other three cities aren't on that list is because they don't have hotels?

They weren't part of the analysis, but that would be my guess.

it's my understanding too the the counties that do not have the tot in california don't have they don't have hotels or rentals and we do have some counties you know a lot of people they know mariposa county and this might be a bad example but it's the closest to us Mariposa County only has about 17,000 people, but they do have hotels, so I'm sure they have a TOT tax. But there are some counties further north where maybe you've only got 5,000 people and they're so rural, there's no need for the TOT. So a question that the cities may have, if we were to bring something forward for the voters to decide if they wanted to pass a new TOT countywide, Would this tax be on top of what the cities already have, or would it only be in the areas that the county has full jurisdiction?

The latter. It would only be for the unincorporated areas.

Yep, so we wouldn't be stacking tax on top of tax. Correct. That's very important to communicate. And the 4.55 million, is it possible for the county to receive more discretionary revenue than that? Is that a conservative number? would say that is that's the upper bound yes and then two i look at like the cities of fresno and clovis uh they participate in what's called the um the fresno clovis convention and visitors bureau where that entity promotes uh fresno and clovis uh activities try to help the hoteliers So what would that look like? Would there be another small sliver of that money we would raise that would go to the Convention and Visitors Bureau to help them with marketing of the area?

gonna turn that to paul it's a possibility we we've talked to them about what they do uh currently uh and certainly it could complement so that is an option we really we would first try to get it passed but certainly we could join that partnership and probably help because frankly a lot of the tourists are going to your district and some of the open areas where we've got these airbnbs so that is certainly an option

I think about Harris Ranch, which is amazing. There's a lot of people who go through there. There are some conferences that take place at Harris Ranch, which is great. And then I also think about the Airbnbs and some of the facilities, the motels that we have in Eastern Fresno County. Is there a way that we can make sure where a lot of this tax revenue is derived, on the west side and then on the east side, where at least a portion of that maybe could help develop trails or help fire stations. Is there any way that we could carve that out? Or is that something that this body would have to decide every year? I don't know if there's a way to put something in the language if we were going to go to voters saying that this money is going to stay here for certain projects.

This is a general tax, of course, requiring only simple majority approval. If you put in any specifics like that, it would turn it into a special tax requiring two-thirds. Now, in the budget process, you can designate, of course, how the money can be used.

Okay, excellent. And Paige, can you talk a little bit right now, it's almost like Fresno County is at a little bit of a disadvantage because when it comes to revenues and resources we have, we're the only county that has rentals that doesn't have this TOT. How significant would generating another four and a half to five million dollars in our general fund be for us. What does that look like? I know that we've got a little bit of a shortfall in the budget that we've created this year. Can you talk just briefly about that? Would that provide significant relief?

It would provide over 1%. That would be the equivalent of adding an additional 1% for, say, property tax. So this is significant. And it would fund the general fund operations, which costs are increasing rapidly, as your board is well aware. And for the benefit of the public, this would significantly impact the general fund operations.

As I understand just our budget process and what employees cost, this could be really hiring somewhere around 40 district attorneys or public defenders. It could be this amount of money could help to hire 50 new deputies if that was the route that this board wanted to go. And then looking at, we had a presentation today from the Department of Social Services and there were discussions about pressures potentially in IHSS and of course foster care. So these revenues could be used to hire positions broadly here at the county and really it wouldn't be an increase of taxes to residents here. It would just be those who came to travel here and visit our area. Is that correct?

That's correct.

Thank you.

Any other comments? Any comments from the public? Seeing none, is there a motion? All those in favor, say aye. It's approved unanimously.

We now move to item number 11. Under the administrative office, consider and take action on request for determination of public convenience or necessity in regard to application for alcoholic beverage controlled license type 21.

Good morning, Chairman, Supervisors, Ron Alexander with the Administrative Office. I'll be brief. As mentioned, this is an application for a Type 21 ABC license, which allows the sale of beer, wine, and liquor to be consumed off of the premises. Management directive states three criteria to make this determination of public convenience or necessity, which you have in your packets. The applicant has provided a written response to those criteria. Public Works has been contacted. There are no zoning issues with this location and the Sheriff's Department has reviewed the application as well. The applicant is in census tract 75. Four off-sale licenses are allowed by ABC within the census tract. Currently there are 10 existing licenses. The applicant has a type 20 which is one of those 10. He is applying for a Type 21, which will also include a liquor within his sales. Here is a census tract map detailing where the current licenses are located. This is a depiction of all the licenses and their proximity to the applicant. And we have an aerial view of their location. We've got the applicant storefront. We've got the northeast view, southeast view, northwest view, as well as the southwest view. And this concludes my presentation. I'm available for questions.

Okay, this is in your district.

I don't have any problems with it, and I think you can make the findings. That's correct, and there have been no objections. Although there's one deal on this map, I don't think that there's a place that exists there on your map where it shows the ones in that area. I'm just saying, I don't. And another one's closed.

Oh, yeah. So if they're, it's still... They still have an active one, but they're closed. Whether or not they're closed, that's correct.

At least two of them.

Right. And this won't increase...

I'm just saying that because I know that area pretty well.

Right, right. And effectively, when the applicant, if this one gets approved, the Type 20 license is surrendered to ABC. They still own it, but they can't use it within that location. So effectively, it doesn't really increase. It will increase it to 11, but only one's getting used of the two.

Right.

Any other comments from the board? Any comments from the public? None. I'll bring it back. Is there a motion?

Motion to approve.

Second. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Passes unanimously.

We now move to item 11.1 under human resources. Approve a retroactive addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding for Representation Unit 1 Law Enforcement Personnel represented by the President, Deputy, Sheriff's Association effective September 23, 2025.

Hi, good morning, Board. Hollis McGill, Director of Human Resources. The retroactive item before you is cleanup, and it is an addendum to the MOU for Unit 1. Approving the item will only impact one employee going retroactively, but it will impact anyone getting a dispatch who may work as a backup for dispatch. There's minimal impact. John Zanoni is here to answer any questions.

Any comments from the Board? Seeing none, any comments from the public? Seeing none, I'll bring it back to your staff recommendation. Second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously.

Sorry, I missed that. Who was the motion maker? OK, thank you. We now move to item number 12 under Board of Supervisors Committee Reports and Comments.

Any committee reports or comments? Yes.

Do you want to go first? No, you go first. If you don't want to go, I'll go. You ready?

Yeah. Fresno County Fruit Trail, the 23rd anniversary is May the 8th, and it's at Grace Barn at 4219 South Highland Avenue. Anyway, that's when it starts, and that's the opening day. Many of you guys can come. It's a county event.

Okay.

As our task force is leaving, I wanted to mention I received a couple phone calls yesterday afternoon. Apparently, copper wire theft is on the rise once again, and now instead of our pumps, they're coming after our solar facilities. because there's long panels rows of panels and you nip the wire and you could pull 150 feet at one instead of 10 or 12. the issue is is not here in fresno but apparently they're taking the wire to our surrounding counties because they don't have the strict requirements of their recyclers that we do here so i would like maybe for our cao to reach out to our counties and see who has or has not the ordinances that are like ours and maybe through our CSAC things that maybe we can get our surrounding counties to adopt ordinances like ours so they don't take our wire to their counties.

Thank you.

That's it, Mr. Chairman.

You know, it's still an issue because I've lost a few on short deals on filter stations where they take the really thin wire, which I think they're going to spend more time taking $1 or $2 worth of wire, you know, copper that they can get from that because these are really small wires because all the heavy wires are protected.

So the question, so you're saying, and I saw Isaac leave, I wish he was still here. You're seeing in Fresno County, more copper wire theft from the solar farm.

In the last two weeks, rampant in the rural west side. And while our ordinance prevents it here, it's the understanding of the Farming community, I believe from the deputies, is the one that gave the farmers the information. From here, they're going to the surrounding counties to get their money.

So the question I have, what about our prosecution of copper wire theft? I know that was still kind of an issue. Do you know where that's at? I don't know if the sheriff has any information on that. But are we prosecuting these cases?

We're using them for human compost.

Yeah.

The issue is they're not getting caught here because our rules are so strict is they're taking it to the other counties. So we don't obviously prosecute any other counties. And so while we have the nice rules here, they're simply taking our wire to the other counties. So we need our other counties to adopt rules similar to ours so they have to travel even a farther distance to take our money.

But are we prosecuting cases now where people are caught? Sheriff, do you have any information on that?

Good morning.

Two minutes.

Two minutes to this morning, I mean, until it's this afternoon. As far as that, there have been some cases that have been filed I know the DA's office was waiting for a rendering of the law from the California Attorney General's office. And I know that that was in process. I was looking through my emails to see the last email that I had to make sure it was approved and good to go with our Attorney General. But as far as the cases, I'd have to call somebody from our Ag Task Force to get you those specific numbers. But I know... A few cases were filed within the city of Fresno that went over to the city attorney's office because we caught people within the city of Fresno that were trying to recycle wire that was stolen.

Do you know, since we enacted our ordinance, has the number of copper wire theft until the last two weeks, have they still continued?

I thought it had been on a downward swing of the people that I talked to, but Brian would know best, you know, boots on the ground out there, especially the west side of our farmers and what they're dealing with. But Anytime that you enact an ordinance and you make a law stricter, you can bet that people aren't going to try to cash that stolen stuff in here within Fresno County because there's a fear they're going to get caught. They're going to go where there's less of a law, less of a punishment, and try to get their money. Just like we had seen when we had all the catalytic converters. They're taking truckloads up in L.A., truckloads them up north, but not here. But they're stealing them here.

Excellent. Okay. Thank you.

Yes. A quick comment echoing what the sheriff just said is the DA did send an email to both of us recently where the Attorney General's office responded. The DA had followed up with them. They had said that their review should be complete by late spring, early summer. So that was from the Attorney General.

He said his review would be completed by then?

Yeah, they are optimistic that their opinion will be done by late spring, early summer. So that's the communication from them.

We only were enacting this ordinance 14, 15 months ago. I'm not sure why it takes so long to determine whether they... I mean, it's just absurd, absurd. Supervisor Magic? I'm good. Okay. Anyone else? No other comments? Okay.

We will now move to item number 13, board appointments.

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. I'd like to thank Steve White, Chris Burnell, and the Parks Division for removing a stretch of overgrown brush along Marks Avenue between Shaw and Barstow. Our constituents contacted us to share their appreciation for getting this cleaned up. I forgot to mention that. Thank you.

Item 13, board appointments.

Yes. Are there any appointments?

We have one.

One.

I got one. John Markle to the Emergency Medical Care Committee.

Okay. And Supervisor Bendis. Can you turn your mic on?

For the Housing Authority, Valerie Gallagher. She's to a new term that goes to 2030.

OK. No. No. OK. I have one. Appoint Ms. Krista Sharp to the Foster Care Standards and Oversight Committee, previously held by Tracy Cashin. That's all I have.

Go move.

those in favor say oh i'm sorry gotta go out to the public anybody uh from the public wish to speak on uh these appointments seeing none motion is by magazine okay all those in favor job is the second thank you all those in favor say aye any opposed passes unanimously

We now move to item number 14, public presentations. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons as I address the board on any matter not on this agenda, as well as public comment for closed session items 16 through 20.2.

OK. And this is for any comments from the public on any matter not on the agenda or on closed session items 16 through 20.2. Anybody wish to go ahead?

OK. I wanted to say that I was kind of disappointed that I missed the special meeting you guys had like a couple weeks ago, a week and a half ago. And I went back and I looked at the videos on who when they got voted in City Council who actually you you were the only one that Didn't vote with it or for it And how they had a special meeting with the City Council first before they had it you guys had it here but I went back and I looked at the videos and it's like I Kind of read about it. I looked at the videos and seeing how the City Council members um didn't listen to the public when they spoke and didn't want to change any ways up so um when they found out or the whole changing about king's canyon um because what they discovered or whatever they're more concerned about being like i don't know what is it politically correct correct or just seeming like they're doing the right thing when they weren't doing the right thing in the first place not listening to the public when they spoke and said they didn't want to change what reasons and the cost of this So, yeah, that was kind of like overlooked when they had their special meeting. So, yeah, let me see. I have another minute and a half.

Okay.

I also wanted to say that kind of when I heard the last item and you're asking about the Cadillac converter and when they said they were going to get back to you and they said maybe later on or why things take so long, I'd just like to say that this administration has made it clear that they're looking for fraud, waste, and abuse. And so people not being efficient or working effectively, people who we don't need, I think that they need to be rid of. And so you can throw money at problems because that doesn't help. That only perpetuates waste and stuff like that. So I think people need to pay attention and just stop throwing money at problems. And maybe there's need to look at how it's being worked on or taken care of.

Okay, thank you. Okay, next item, County Clerk.

Item 15, County Council. County Council reports from previous closed sessions.

No reports from previous closed sessions, and I would not expect any report outs after today, so you may vote to adjourn following closed session.

Okay, is there a motion and a second to adjourn following closed session? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Passes unanimously.

We are adjourned.