Veterans Affairs Commission - Regular Meeting

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Now you're ready.

I don't have the meeting minutes.

I call the May 26 meeting of the Veterans Affairs Commission now open at 12:08. Fourteenth. Fourteenth. Okay. Before we do anything, a little general housekeeping. Please turn your cell phones to, silent or to vibrate. And, again, airplane mode does not silence your phone. It just doesn't transmit. Okay. Direct to me with the pledge of allegiance.

You don't stand and face our flag. Remove your hats. Clerk, if you do the roll call, please.

District one, Commissioner Smith.

Here.

District one, Commissioner Fisher. Here. District two, Commissioner Reynolds.

Here.

District two, Commissioner Mullins Becker. Here. District three, Commissioner Culver.

Here.

District three, Commissioner Aguilar. Here. District four, Commissioner Welch. Present. District four, Commissioner Thompson. Here. District five, Commissioner Norton. Here. And district five, commissioner Milham. Present.

Everyone's here.

Thank you, ma'am. Alright. So welcome to the meeting. Sorry for the delay. We had a little TOT commuting ran over a little bit. Lot of confusion going on over there. First, I would like to, make an adoption of the agenda and approval of consent calendar. At this time, the commissioner will make any necessary additions, deletions, or corrections to the agenda, determine matters to be added or removed from the consent calendar, and with one motion, adopt the agenda and approve the consent chair calendar. Anybody have any changes to any of those items? What a surprise. Hello, Donna.

Recommend that we move your item five before item four.

Moving along. You would like to have the mini grant applications heard first, and then we would go to the one time funding grants. Anybody have any issues with that? Any problems? Is there any public comment, Clerk, on that?

We are now taking public comment on the adoption of the agenda and approval of the consent calendar. Individuals will have three minutes to address the commission. Public comment will be taken first from those participating in the commission room and then from those participating through Zoom. For those participating by Zoom, please make sure you unmute yourself when called upon and please raise the hand button. Please voluntarily state your name for the record. Is there any public comment in the room? No. Is there any public comment online?

There is no public comment.

I'd like to have a motion to adopt the agenda and approve the consent calendar.

Make a motion As amended.

As amended. Yes. Thank you.

I make a motion that we approve both the both as amended.

I'll second.

Roll call vote.

District one, how do you

vote? Aye.

District two, how do you vote? Aye. District 3, how do you vote?

Aye.

District 4, how do you vote?

Aye. And District 5, how do you vote?

Aye. Motion passes. Thank you.

Thank you. So moving on to the agenda items. First agenda item we have is 260847. The transportation committee to review obstacles or items they have found that have hindered their ability to provide transportation to the veterans in El Dorado County. We have Tim, you're come up? Or

I believe we are gonna postpone this one to the June meeting

just because we had so much to get through today.

Certainly.

Is that okay with you, Tim? Is it okay for us to postpone the transportation till next month?

Yeah. Okay. I said

if I leave you, and we agreed

on Yeah.

But we're just clarifying for the commission.

Alright. Thank you, Tim. Sure. Alright. So moving moving on.

So we're gonna do public comment and then we'll have you guys vote to move it to the June meeting.

Okay.

Okay. So we are now taking public comment on agenda item 260,847 for the Transportation Committee. Individuals will have three minutes to address the commission. Public comment will be taken first from those participating in the commission room and then from those participating through Zoom. For those participating by Zoom, please make sure you unmute yourself when called upon and please raise the hand button. Please voluntarily state your name for the record. Any public comment in the room? Nope.

This is red, so it's on?

It's on.

Alright. Tim Whalen, everything. I sent out a email recently regarding the VA VTS, veteran transportation, RTP service. Right? That's the first I heard of it was at a meeting that I did yesterday, so, more information to come from what I know.

There is it's all Northern California. It is rural areas. It is to and from, VA facility, VA hospital facility, medical appointments to include surgeries, pharmacy, x rays, the whole works. If if the vet needs a ride to and from, Mather, for example, It's gonna the hesitation is how how staff how well staffed is it. And so we'll find that out in the coming weeks or months, and I'll keep an eye on that and let you know. Alright. Thank you. Thanks, Dan.

Any additional public comment about transportation?

Hi. Caleb Armstrong, president and CEO of Nonprofit Construction Corporation. Regarding the transportation issues for veterans, we did include a $5,000 request in our TOT grant application to credit Reliable Med Transport, which is a local transportation company that's veteran owned. It's based in Cameron Park. They have wheelchair accessibility in different vans and allocations.

That is a licensed professional transportation company who's gonna be partnering with us to help transport veterans for different needs. All all any VSO officer or veteran organization representative or VA social worker has to do is call them one week in advance, get that veteran on schedule, 1DD214, and that'll be it. That veteran will be scheduled for any errands or medical transport pickups that they need. That's it.

Thank you. Thank you. I got a question.

Are these these little buses that's got automatic doors that you can put wheelchairs and brake pads

and lift

wheelchair ramps. My father lives at, Western Slope Care Facility, and he does transportation for the West Slope Care Facility as well. So he has all the equipment and vehicles needed for that type of transportation.

And you're locally? Yeah. Here locally.

Okay. Thank you. Any

additional public comment in the room? No additional public or any public comment online? No additional public comment.

We don't need to vote on moving an agenda item, do we? Post do we need to vote on postponing an agenda item?

Yeah. Yeah. Because it's just for yeah.

Okay. Well, we have to vote on it. Right. So we have a do we have a motion to move the transportation committee report to the June?

I make a motion that we postpone the, transportation or transportation committee report until, the June meeting.

K. Is there a second?

I have a second. K.

And then you want me to a real quick?

Yep. And then Okay. Please vote.

Yeah. District 1, how do

you vote?

Aye. District 2, how do you vote? Aye. District 3, how do you vote? Aye. District 4, how do you vote?

Aye. And District 5, how do you vote?

Aye.

Motion passes to move the transportation committee to the June agenda. Thank you.

Thank you. Moving on to agenda item two six zero eight one eight. I received recommendations from the TOT committee for the funding of the annual mini grant applications and vote to approve funding for the amounts of each applicant. Prior to this, members should avoid the appearance of conflict of interest even when the committee or commission's decisions are advisory. Members should not re members should recuse themselves from the decisions if they have a financial interest that would have be affected by the decision or the recommendations. Any questions about that? Anybody have any on the board? No? Okay. Moving on. Donna, you're up.

To we a total of $254,000. That was the grant request. We do not have that much money. So we've gone through, and we've, read all of the grant requests. We've gone through all of the is it on? Because I don't see any little okay. Okay. Is that better? Yes. Okay.

So we're going to start at the top, and we're going to go through each one of them fairly quickly so that you have an understanding of what each grant request was, how much it was, how much some details about it as to how many veterans they felt they could support, etcetera. And then what the recommendation is by the TOT to be put to the commission for approval. So on the top of the list is the Eldorado Post one hundred nineteen American Legion. This request was for $20,000 This is an ongoing request for the Legion here in the Placerville area that gives direct services to veterans through the VSO and there. We have continually supported this, and we recommend that that 20,000 be approved this year.

Second one is the Elders Community Fund. They have a new program that they're starting called Honor at Home Veterans Support Initiative. They requested $20,000 They indicated that they would provide 25 veterans with two visits of one to two hours plus 500 transportation. We felt that wasn't enough time for each veteran to receive only one or two hours of help and assistance. So we're recommending that that not be funded.

Growlersburg, VFW Post 9002 And 41. VFW Canteen Modernization Project Building for Veteran Community Spaces, they requested 20,000. This particular request was and for those of you who don't know, this is the Georgetown area in the VFW up there. They requested the money in the support of a safety and repair of their building, plus the additional replacement of tables and chairs, cabinets, and some worn flooring. They felt that this was a safety issue, and they felt that if they had new tables and chairs and new cabinetry, that might be an incentive for more of their members to participate in any of the events there in Growlarsburg.

They felt that through these types of improvements, they would increase their participation by 20%. And they would measure that through attendance logs. We have determined that we felt that, yes, there is a safety issue if they do have flooring that needs definite repair. So therefore, we're recommending $10,000 to do that, to make that replacement and those repairs. The additional port, as far as new chairs, new tables, and any cabinetry that they may want to replace, we felt that they could do that through fundraising.

And they're very good at fundraising. So that was our consensus on that one. The next one was Guns Up. And I'm sure many of you have heard from this organization. They presented here at the commission in regards to providing opportunities to taking veterans out to duck blinds for shooting experiences and for hunting and that sort of thing.

What they were requesting was $20,000 to purchase a new ATV that would be outfitted to help with those disabled veterans that weren't able to make it into the blinds just because of the uneven terrain. And a lot of times it's very muddy and that sort of thing. The committee gave some real consideration to this and felt that there were some real strong needs in other areas. And so we are recommending that this not be approved. We feel there's other veteran services that would and they're also indicating that it would only be two veterans.

So there's a larger group of veterans that are in need within our county. Second is Harts Landing Ranch. I'm sure you're all familiar with them as well. They provide veteran equine psychotherapy. We do know that they do have a good record. We have funded them in the past. We didn't last year. They're identifying that they could support 10 Eldorado veterans. And we have authorized, or we're recommending that we give them $10,000 of the $19,200 that they've requested. Okay.

The next is Housing El Dorado. Is a new

Excuse me, Donna. I thought that $15,000 was going to go to

Oh, did we change it to 15,000 My apologies. You're right. I'm looking at the wrong column. Sorry. Thank you. Dollars 15,000. Yes, we did do 15,000 Housing El Dorado, this is a homeless prevention for local veterans on the Western Slope. They're requesting 20,000. They're indicating that they will provide services for 10 veterans within our area. And we are recommending that the commission approve that $20,000 request.

Jake's Journey Home, I'm sure you're all familiar with them as well. They requested $20,000 This is a mobile integrated support service. In other words, they're boots on the ground, and they reach out to the homeless environment trying to provide services for veterans. One of the things that we felt about them was that they have a very large contribution network. And they do a lot of fundraising. So they have a lot of outlets for providing for money in that. So in that, they asked for $20,000 We're hoping that they'll use the $5,000 that we're recommending to purchase maybe backpacks or something like that that would help some of the homeless out there.

That's for Jake's Journey? Yes.

The next one is the Military Family Support Group. This was a request of $10,000 specifically for the stand down that they will be doing in September. We wholeheartedly agree. And we recommend that the commission supply that and support that as well. The next is of a nonprofit construction corporation. They requested $20,000 $5,000 of that was for the transportation, as Caleb indicated prior. And my understanding, when reading the grant request, that there was an in kind of $5,000 as well. So that would be a $10,000

No public comment until

we do public comment. Sorry. Anyway, the rev the 15,000 over and above that is to fund a zero interest rate loan program for veterans. And unfortunately, the government cannot provide that for that type of use. So we only recommend that the commission not support this request of $20,000 Next is Rough Healing Heroes.

This is a service dog training for Eldorado County veterans. They're requesting $15,600 And that would supply a service dog to two Eldorado County veterans. And the way they came up with that number is it costs $20,000 to train

a dog

for PTSD or anything like that. They have coverage for up to $7,800 of that $20,000 If a veteran wanted a service dog, they would have to come up with that $7,800 So they're saying that they would supply for two veterans at $7,800 each. That'd be $19,600 We understand that there is, as is with the equine, there are some very good benefits to having a service dog for PTSD related veterans. So we are requesting that and recommending that the commission support that and approve the 15600. Sierra Nevada post number 2680, Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Again, this is supporting local veterans and their families in times of need, much as the same as the American Legion. So their request was $15,000 And we recommend that you support the $15,000 Stars and Stripes Dog Rescue. This was a no cost companion in PTS support dogs for veterans in Eldorado County. They requested 5,000. What this request was for, they would be taking rescue they would rescue dogs and train them and place them.

They're only asking for $5,000 and they say they'll support five veterans. But if you think about the cost of what the other agency was saying that it costs to train a dog, it makes no sense. Dollars 5,000 wouldn't do it. So we are recommending that we not fund that. Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless is a veteran outreach and support program.

We know they're invaluable as that for supporting veterans. And so they've requested 20,000. They're saying that they can support 12 veterans or will serve them. And we're agreeing that recommending 20,000 would be appropriate. The final one is Victory Village, which we've all heard David talk about, the support from Victory Village.

That's a mental health component for our veterans. They're requesting $20,000 and we're recommending that the commission support that $20,000 So it gives us a total for the mini grants of $160,600 To move forward on this, we're going to do this in four different motions once we have public comment and once you guys discuss. One will be for a total of a 115,600. The second one will be for 20,000, which is the American Legion. But the next will be for 15,000, which is the VFW.

And the final will be for 10,000 for Rallersburg. And the only reason why we're doing these separately is because each of these commissioners up here that have a direct fiscal impact on those particular grants need to recuse themselves. So that's why there will be four separate motions and votes. So having said that, I'll turn it back to the commission, and I can answer any questions you'd like.

Question real quick, Donna. What did you say I thought I left a a total of $125.06.

No. I missed An additional 1 to 10,000. Oh. Oh, that's right. No. Wait a minute. No. No.

So the one the $1.15

600 will be total for everything with the exception of the VFW, the American Legion, and the Growlersburg. Totals up to a 160,600.

You're correct.

Okay. Okay.

I stand corrected.

Okay. Donna, what did you say

about the SkyMo mini ramp?

Oh, let's see. Where are we at? 10. 10. 10. Yeah. Mhmm.

Hey, you skipped over that.

Oh, I did. Oh, am so,

so sorry. Did I really? Okay. I'm sorry. Yes. The Marine Corps League, yes, SkyMoat, that was thousand, and we're recommending 10,000. My apologies. I did skip over that.

So that's a 115. Okay. I was right. Any questions? Nope. No. I have no questions from me. Any questions from any anyone in the

I have a question, Tom. Mhmm. So on on the applications that were granted zero Mhmm. Is there a way for those entities to reapply and provide additional beneficiary data for future grant cycles? Or once they're Yes. Denied, is it a

No. No. Okay. No. So for our next cycle, they could, refine what they're asking for, or, you know, make whatever adjustments they might feel. And, yes, they would be welcome to join in the whole new cycle.

And it show more of a direct cause and effect type benefit.

Okay. Correct.

And nexus.

And it and one of the things I noticed too is that a lot of them when they put their expenditures in there, when they did the budget portion of it, they didn't put anything in there. So we don't know how much they were spending for each different category that's outlined within the application.

Okay. Does that seem to be a status of what's

I'd say 50%, 50%. Okay.

Thank you.

Any further comment from the board? If you would open it to public comment.

We are now taking public comment on agenda item 260,818, which is for the mini grants. Individuals will have three minutes to address the commission. Public comment will be taken first from those participating in the commission room and then from those participating through Zoom. For those participating by Zoom, please make sure you unmute yourself when called upon, and please raise the hand button. Please voluntarily state your name for the record. And then, also, there seems to be a lot of questions and answers. So pretty much they have three minutes. No talking. Okay? K. Thank you.

So noted.

Any public comment in the room?

Hi. David Zelensky. On, Caleb's, nonprofit construction, would you folks be open to still considering the transportation portion of that grant? In other words, he the 5,000 plus 1,500 donated by the vendor. That's just one thought. And the other thing is, did Housing Eldorado explain what they're gonna do with the 20,000? How they're gonna do that? Because I've I've not worked with them in this context before.

Thank you. Would they do

do you I want didn't hear the first one, David. I'm sorry.

If we would be willing to consider the transportation portion.

Oh, okay.

I do have all the applications up front if you want any of them. Please feel free to take as many as you want.

Right down there, David, in front of the podium are all the applications.

Can I answer those questions? Okay. In regards to the request for the $5,000 we did consider that. And we read it in your grant that you had in kind of that same amount, but that's the way the grant's written. So we thought, okay. Well, if it is 5,000, then you have in kind of 5,000 coming from them because that's what in kind is about. So that would give you $10,000 in transportation. But that's not what's happening.

So if we specify the map, we can't Yeah, you can't

We can't do a backdoor. I'm just

explaining why we did what we did. So yes, we did look at that little bit of component there, but felt like there were a lot of options for transportation already out there through military family support group and your agencies to get that done. But that's up to the commission if they want to make that adjustment as far as that's concerned. As far as the housing coalition, this is a new program. And what they're basically doing is they are trying to fill the position of only kindness.

And they're looking to provide services for 10 veterans at a cost of approximately $1,500 per household. And I think what the committee felt was that anything we can do to provide housing for our veterans, we to research that. And we have to figure out if we can't do that, and if we have the opportunity and the means in which to provide them with money to do so. The proof is going be in the pudding when they have to report out at the end of the year. If they're not able to do what they say they're going to do, then obviously they're going to have to refund the money or whatever the case may be.

Any additional public comment?

They're all over. They're They're all over. On the other side over there. Yeah.

On the right in front of the podium as well.

Yeah. You can get one more done.

I I don't need to look at it. Okay. So Caleb Armstrong, nonprofit construction corporation. In our grant application, it shows that we requested a $5,000 allocation of the 20,000 for transportation services, and it does specify a 30% in kind match if awarded that amount. It didn't specify it's in kind and already existing.

It's if we're awarded that amount, they'll contribute $1,500 of in kind transportation services. From our research is that there is not enough transportation and accessibility of transportation for veterans in our community, and that's the only reason why we allocated that. There's no no one gets paid at nonprofit construction corporation at all. We're all volunteers. So that only goes towards that veteran service and that veteran see receiving transportation.

Secondly, it sounds like the committee was reached out to organizations and or and or recommended other specifications be funded, such as the previous example of only funding the $5,000 amount. That's understandable. I believe that would be good. And then my only question regarding why the 15,000 wasn't eligible for a revolving loan fund if the government doesn't do that or what specific statutory code and law regulation says that that's not allowed because they do exist, and we could fashion that in many other aspects. But finally, there's there's a huge gap in veteran needs in a in construction services for any veteran.

We're oversubscribed already in what we do and provide to vets here locally. Many of our veterans are aging in place. They do receive substantial payments towards what they are able to pay, but we wanna help them manage those costs when they get hit with a water heater or heater replacement or the steps are broken or they need just even a wheelchair ramp or anything. There's so many various needs throughout home rehabilitation services in our community, and we can't do it alone. And so that is why we requested a $15,000 allocation towards revolving loans so that loan actually funds and develops over time and gets much larger.

Thirty seconds remaining.

Okay. And between different funding mechanisms, contractors, home improvement organization provide, those are all varying interests. Even the VA home rehabilitation loans have specific interest amounts that a veteran has to refinance. So having a zero interest revolving loan fund that can grow over time as well as having a $6,000 set aside contribution from NPC Homes to help grow that fund, it's a prudent thing to help start growing and developing in El Dorado County.

Thank you.

Diane, you're ahead. And I just wanted to clarify for you at Stars and Stripes Dog Rescue. The reason it's so inexpensive is because she has a program with the Folsom prison system where her dogs are being trained for four months by prisoners, and it doesn't cost her anything. And then she does they will come out with all their obedience training as well as two of the six things that are taught for PTSD, and then the other four will be trained with the veteran. She will personally train them, and she doesn't charge anything. So just FYI, if that's something you can reconsider, I know it would make a huge difference for her. They are at all the stand down. She brings a veterinarian. She does all kinds of stuff. So if you can rethink that, that would be appreciated.

Three minutes? Okay. Thank you very much for all the work. I know this is not an easy task to accomplish, and everybody wants a piece of the action. I just wanna support, Caleb's nonprofit construction, comments in that, transportation isn't solved, and sometimes that would be the answer to the transportation issue, in many cases because our volunteer pool sometimes isn't adequate.

They're not available. They're not willing, whatever the case is. And then as far as the construction goes, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, they do have a home improvement structural alterations program, but that doesn't always answer the the, call to, safety rails, ramps, you know, simple things that maybe the veteran or family member didn't don't doesn't have eligibility or access to. Maybe they've been with Kaiser and have never been eligible for VA health care, so that would be a a really big help. We do, speaking for military family support group, we with the limited funding that we've used over the years, we put a limit on the, amount of a project that that we can use.

And sometimes, like you said, you know, with a water heater or something kind of more major than what we could do, either we try and pass it, share the burden with all the service organizations, or we have to pass it up. And sometimes it's that, you know, the generator or the water heater or whatever it is that that that would solve the problem. So, appreciate the efforts, respect your decisions, and thanks for the great work.

Any additional public comment in the room? Any public comment online? No additional public comment.

I'd like to make a comment in regards to Caleb's, loan thing. I believe that we would have to go through county council before we could approve giving government money towards a loan project. So therefore, I think there's a legal issue to it because it could be viewed as a gift of public funds in a manner of through a loan process that and I understand what you're saying. And yes, it does make sense. But I think it would have to be something we would actually take to county counsel to get their approval or get their read on that approach.

So that would be the only thing. And I do understand that a lot of federal programs out there that do have loans and stuff like that, and it comes out of a government budget. But that's not something that we, the county here, has done. So it would have to be something we'd have to research. That doesn't mean that in the next mini grant thing, if we have the opportunity to do some research on it that you don't reapply. Does that help?

And I think also on that same note, you're right, there are government agencies, but that is government money managed by a government company, not by a private entity.

Exactly.

So yeah, you're asking for a principal of a private loan for you to manage, and I think that's where the county council would probably raise a flag.

Again. I can't?

No. Said.

Yeah. We're already done with public comment.

Sorry. Supplement to the supplement.

You can always bring it back up during open forum.

Yes. And, yes, you could do that during your open forum. Sure.

Well, don't let me forget to ask.

Okay. Okay. I know it. Got it. So does that help, Caleb?

How well, can you just

be changed to the committee that make the recommendation?

We'll I'm gonna turn it back to the commission, and they can review everything that we've done. And if you wanna make some adjustments

Yeah.

We can certainly do that at that time.

So any additional questions, let's leave them to after the meeting.

Alright.

So it's back to the commission

to discuss the commission. Back to us. So it sounds like before us is the, 5,000 for the nonprofit transportation is the biggest issue we have. And then the Stars and Striped Dog?

Okay. Yes. Those are the two. Now if you concern if if you do that, then you're adjusting all the different totals we have. So that means you have to revisit something else to because we don't have the money.

Don't have the money for it.

We don't have the money.

I might add, there were I think your grant applications totaled $480,000 Yes.

Good job, everybody.

No, it was. No.

It was brought down to this number, correct?

Yes. Yes.

Down to this.

You don't have 400.

No. Right. You don't no. We don't. So if you feel that you would rather take that money that you identified for rough healing heroes and place 5,000 into transportation for Caleb's project, and then $5,000 pardon me? Oh, sorry. You didn't find Yes.

That was a different one.

Yeah. You could take that money, that's $15,600 and you could distribute it to Caleb and then to the Stars and Stripes based on what was brought forward and a little bit more of a further explanation as to how those services are brought forward and that sort of thing. So, I mean, that's some really good intel right there, which we didn't get in

the grant.

You received recommendations of the

TOT right now, and so any changes of their recommendations, you can make a motion.

Right. So you can make a motion to change what's here.

Okay. That's clear. Everybody understand?

Mhmm. Mhmm.

So have a discussion amongst you whether you want to do that or not.

So we would we would need to reallocate some funding that has gone to, like, rough healing heroes?

Yes. There that maybe you only maybe you don't fund them at all.

And

then fund the $5,000 for transportation for the nonprofit construction corporation and $5,000 for the Stars and Stripes Dog Rescue, I which is

just have a quick question. Okay. So Stars and Stripes, have they applied for a grant before? No, they have not. Okay. Has the r and r f healing for heroes?

No. They have not. K.

And, Caleb, is this the first time you applied, sir? No.

No. Second

time. Last year. Okay. That's all I had. No. Go ahead, sir.

No. Last year's request from cable, it was specific. It was specific to a construction project out in

Regarding

South South County. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And

one other thing I'd like to bring up, when they complete some of these questionnaires, they have to be, to me, they have to be a little more specific in what they're breaking it down to. I mean, they're here now explaining to us what they're breaking down. Well, to me, that should have been explained a little more in their application, and that's across the board. I mean, that that's my opinion.

So so real quick on the Stars and Stripes Dog Rescue, they are based in Placer County, weren't they?

No. No. They're here. They are in Placer County?

She's in

Orangevale, but she works

up here. Yeah. She's in Orangevale.

She works with Jake's journey's home

up here for the vets. Is her business license in Noroto County? Yes. I don't believe so either. Neither. But she does her training in the dogs?

Some of it. She she gets a veteran, and they match dogs. And then if that she's picking veterans in the road of county in Plaster. Can't do that. Yeah.

I'm I'm sorry. We're not we're not allowed actually to debate. Yeah.

With the Hart's Landing Ranch is also in

Plaster County.

Yeah. Hart's Landing Ranch is out there as well.

So So I think I think that if the applicants can show a direct nexus that shows some type of benefit for veterans in the county, whether they're not business licensed in the El Dorado County, but there's a direct deposit effect of services, I support that. So we can talk about that more. That's my opinion. And the in years past, we also asked for a report for fall after the money is granted.

Yes. At the end of each year, have to complete a full report identifying how they've spent the money and if they have spent it all. If they haven't, they have to return whatever the balance is. So there is an accountability To

the foundation, correct?

To the foundation, This is all revolving around the foundation. Yeah. These are not our Eldorado contracts.

So now remember if we change one of these, then we'll are we

We'll be okay.

It depends how much we change it. Right.

Ken, anything else?

No. Garrett?

I think you can move forward the motion to start there.

Yeah. Okay. So well, the issue is, do you want to make changes to the amount that we have the first motion that you're going to make is for $115,600 just as I identified. That excludes the American Legion, the VFW, and Growlersburg. That excludes. We're going to do those as each single So that's $115,600 Now if you want to make any adjustments to how we've identified that 115.6, you you have to decide now, and that'll adjust that figure.

Just redistribution will

be It's redistribute but there's gonna be a little change in money. Okay.

But if we do it So we should we do

we also, have to, specify the use of the funds?

No. No. Okay. So you could you could reduce you could reduce the grant funding for Rough Healing Heroes down to $7,800 So that's one veteran. Taking the balance then and applying it to the transportation for non profit construction company for transportation, and $5,000 for the Stars and Stripes Dog Rescue.

Yes, there's a little difference there, and we'll adjust it. We still have we have enough money to to make that adjustment if you want to do that.

Well, if if we reduce the rough healing heroes to $7,800 that's gonna leave roughly a balance of about $7,500? 78. 7,800.

78

is double. And then if we distribute 5,000 to the nonprofit, then it leaves 2,800 for Stars and Stripes dog.

Correct.

What I'm getting at is that you still have a little bit of a balance out there that we were gonna leave at the foundation.

Yes. Yes.

So we would take from that. So instead

of leaving from the balance

So instead of leaving the 12 thou I think it was 11,012.

Right? Right.

Wasn't it, Lynette? Right. So that would be reduced by about $2,500. So you're gonna be at just a little under

$11,780.12.

At 12¢.

We

Get rid of that 12¢.

So you're just we would just be lowering.

So we would just make it a smooth okay. We keep Gotcha.

Todd to pay the expenses.

No. I get it. Yeah. Okay.

It's the administrative fees that

we have. In theory in theory, could we take let's see. Hypothetically, could we take if we took 5,000 from our rough healing, that would put them down to $10.06. Correct? Yeah. 10,006? Yes.

Mhmm. But that's the rough healing, though. Rough healing is 7,800 for

two vets. That's where it came up to $15.06. Yeah.

So we would

I got you.

So that's one guy. Yeah. So what what you're talking about is we're gonna take 7,800 from rough healing, add 2,200 from the balance we have

Of 11,000.

Of 11,000 for 10,000, and then split the 10 between nonprofit and Stars and Stripes?

Yes.

Oh, shoot.

I'm waiting for the head nod.

So what that works out to be is our total grant funding would be 162

I'm thousand 8 sorry. I'm sorry. How much?

And we have yeah. We it would it would drop at just under 10,000. Right, Lynette? Left in the in the foundation.

11,000 less the 2,200. Yeah.

The balance of the in the foundation. Yep.

About 8,800.

Yeah. And I think that'd be appropriate. I think we that should more than cover our administrative fees. Yep.

And then so the the total grant funding is gonna be?

$162,801.62 800.

That's what we said.

Got it.

Got it. So that's going to change. So that'll change the first grant motion to $1.17 $800,117,800 dollars.

Let's see here.

Well, I think first one, we need to make a motion to make that change, and then we

would vote

on the total.

Make it all as one. Okay.

Yeah. We're we're just gonna Yeah. Try to get it so

it's You can make a motion that will

So it's easier on you. So the third part of the first motion will be the fourth, second, or the third.

So, basically, the motion would be that we're going to adjust and and redistribute shift funds

to Yes. Two

different groups. Yep. Okay.

Right. So we're gonna see if

he Yeah. Got it.

So as soon as I get him

I know what you're saying. So the Okay. So we have 162 let me let me dial this

We have 162800.

Sorry. I'm making changes here. 800. They are funding for one service dog, 7,800 under rough, adding $5,000 to nonprofit construction for transportation, and $5,000 for Stars and Stripes Dog Rescue.

That's a foundation?

That would be fine. Okay.

But wait a minute. We're changing which ones?

So you're changing we're gonna change

This rough to 7,800. Right.

And we're gonna take 2,200 from the balance we have for administration costs, add that to the 7,800 to make 10,000, split 5,000 with the nonprofit transportation and 5,000 to the Stars and Stripes dog rough.

And

12¢. Don't forget that 12¢. That's word.

So 5,000 goes to

nonprofit, And then 5,000 is dark.

Thoroughly confused now.

No. No. No. We got it. Back the

whole time.

Okay. Good. Okay.

So I'm just a beat.

What Are you ready ready for the motion?

The motion should be for a $117,800, which includes decreasing 7,800 from

The RUF.

From RUF, adding 5,000 for transportation for nonprofit construction company and 5,000 for Stars and Striped Dog Rescue. That's the motion you need to make.

You just made it.

No. I can't. Okay.

Here we go.

I'm just the alternate here.

Alright. And away we go. So is there any further discussion on this? Beat this dead horse?

You're not gonna make everybody happy.

No. We're not tacos. So with that in mind

make everybody happy. Someone's gonna have to accept life the way it is. Fine.

We'll be fine. Guys We will be fine. Let's go. Moving on. Let's go. Someone has a vacation.

We got

So the first motion we're gonna make is we are going to fund the twenty six twenty seven fiscal year mini grant cycle for $117,800 with a modification to rough healing, reducing their funding to 7,800, adding $2,200 from administrative costs and savings, providing $5,000 to nonprofit construction corporation for transportation and $5,000 to Stars and Stripes Dog Rescue. Correct. Do I have a second?

I have a second.

Yes. Okay.

You want me to take a roll call vote?

Oh, please.

Okay. District one, how do you vote? Aye. District two, how do you vote? Aye. District three, how do you vote? Aye. District 4, how do you vote?

Aye. And District 5, how do you vote?

Aye.

Perfect. So motion passes for the amended changes for the $117,800.

Moving on.

Thank you, Donna.

Moving on.

Yes. Thank you, Donna.

Well, we're not we're not done yet, people. Yeah. I know. Alright. First off, can I have a motion for $20,000 funding on a mini grant application for the Eldorado American Legion Post one nineteen?

Correct.

And Can I have a second?

I'll second. I

I made the motion. I'll just make the motions first except the last one.

Okay. And ready for the roll call?

Ready for roll call vote.

Okay. District 1, how do

you vote?

District 2, how do you vote? Recluse. Thank you. District 3, how do you vote? Aye. District 4, how do you vote?

Aye.

And District 5, how do you vote?

Aye.

Okay. Motion passes to approve the 20,000 for the Eldorado Post 119.

Moving on to the second one. I make a motion that we fund the Growlersburg VFW Post 9241 for the total of $10,000 for the 26 mini grap mini grant application cycle. Please take a vote. Oh, I'm sorry.

Hold on a second.

Wasn't that for the Sierra Post 2680, the 15,000?

That's gonna be the 15,001, and I can't make that motion because

We're doing that on the 10,000.

I'm doing Growlersburg. Yeah.

Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. So, Seth.

And do I have a second? Second. Okay.

I got Roger. Okay. District 1, how do you vote? Aye. District 2, how do you vote? Aye. District 3, how do you vote? Aye. District 4, how do you vote?

Recused.

And District 5, how do you vote?

Aye.

Perfect. Motion passes the fund, the 10,000 for the Growlers post.

For 10,000.

Mhmm. Perfect.

Can we get a motion for the Sierra Nevada post, $26.80 for 15,000?

Which one? I can't make the motion.

People have my own. No.

Where is $26.80? I make a motion that we support twenty six eighty for what's the point?

15,000.

15,000.

Can I get a second?

I can't second. I'll second.

Thank you, Ken. Okay.

I'm gonna take a roll call. District 1, how do you vote?

Aye. District 2, how do you vote? Aye. District 3, how do you vote? Recuse. District 4, how do you vote? 5.

And District 5, how do you vote?

Okay. Perfect. So the motion passes for funding the Sierra Nevada Post 2680 for 15,000. Thank you.

That's two.

That's two.

Two more.

One down, four to go.

Four to go. Back from that.

Okay. Just gonna be here at five, just for those of you. So moving on to there, I received recommendations from the TOT committee for funding of a onetime funding grant applications for the twenty sixth cycle. Donna, if you could provide a

brief Okay. So we had an overwhelming response to this as well.

I'm sorry. Excuse me.

We actually had eight requests. Unfortunately, we don't have enough money. So therefore, there are some that are not going to get funded, or that's our recommendation.

Like, ones that applied on top? Yes.

And we'll start at the top, Health and Human Services. They requested $80,000 to support their senior nutrition program for our veterans for in home services for food delivery. We went through the numbers, and Lynette was very gracious in helping us through that whole process and that. Unfortunately, we don't have $80,000 to give to them. So we are recommending $20,000 which will provide some adequate support for our veterans in need and home delivery of meals.

The second was Eldorado Post one hundred nineteen American Legion. Again, we know they were running out of money this year because there was just a need. And 20,000 just didn't go quite far enough. They requested 20. We are recommending 10.

The Marine Corps League. There was a request for a housing assistant for summer repairs and a tree removal of the veteran, 15,000. We are recommending $5,000 for the tree removal. Nonprofit Construction Corporation, extensive home repairs for a veteran in Pollock Pines. That request was $20,000 We are recommending 10,000 Then the American Legion Post seven ninety five South Lake Tahoe.

Repairs and expenses I'll give you a little background history. This is the American Legion in South Lake Tahoe. They are in dire need of being able to make some repairs to their building. But mostly it's about paying unpaid bills and getting caught up with some of the issues that they have through small attendance and not being able to rent their building on a consistent basis. This is all pretty typical of the South Lake Tahoe area.

And I'll be honest with you, normally we don't do this sort of thing. But this is an American Legion post, and their ultimate goal is to serve our veterans. So therefore we feel that they should be given the money to bring it up. Now we did ask a lot of questions as to the sustainability going forward. If we give you this money, how are you going to make it next year, etcetera, etcetera?

And they do have plans. And they outlined that to us. So at this point, we're recommending that the commission give them the $30,000 to keep them afloat. Dollars 30,000. Military Family Support Group, they requested 20,000.

And at this particular point in time, we don't have any money left to give out. So we are hoping that when we do the contractual yearly that we will bump up the 15 to higher. So that'll help you with that. VFW10165. Okay. This was a controversial one simply because we know that they're being integrated into 2680. So they're requesting $20,000. But as of June 30, effective July 1, they're part of that. So where would that money go in the short period of time that we're talking about? So we are recommending that no money be funded there.

And the Tahoe Coalition for Homeless, they asked for $25,000 We just approved $20,000 for them, so we're not recommending any additional. Gives us a total of $75,000 that we are approving in one time funding, that brings us down to a balance of 9,800 some dollars at the foundation. And as And

$0.12

And $0.12 And as you know that we have been talking about this over several months now that county is looking at that amount of money that they give us each year. Mhmm. And they have it's been recommended that whatever that balance is, they reduce that amount for our next funding. So that's why we're trying to get it down as far as we can and still cover our administrative costs to the foundation. So now we're under 10,000, so I think we're going to be good.

And that's where it's going to fall on each of our commissioners to have a conversation with their supervisors to tell them and demonstrate to them that we have spent our money, and we're not just sitting on it and waiting for something to come along. So that's pretty much it. Questions, gentlemen?

I have no questions. Nope. Thank

you, Donna.

Thank you, Donna. The

the only only comment that I think I would like to make is that we talked about this where we we are losing money. We are competing for fewer and fewer dollars here within the county. And I think it behooves everybody out here to be very, I don't know, frugal or discretion would be for the money that we spend on people. We we can't be financing, you know, one or two veterans over and over and over again. It's the infamous thing about give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach him how to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

One of the things I would kinda like to see is that some of the organizations start to maybe work with a budget with somebody. If we have a veteran who is constantly coming back and he doesn't have any money, we need to figure out where he's going. If he's got a Red Hawk players card, I don't think he needs to be coming to us for money. That's just my personal opinion. Anyway, so it's what one of the things I'd like to see is that, yeah, that we we'd be very frugal with the money that we have. We have to make this last the whole fiscal year. I seriously doubt we are going to have another one time funding grant opportunity like we had for this one.

And, Tony, just for the record, to your point when you stated that what the board was desires were, I spoke to Greg Friver, who's my supervisor, and he was very direct as to what the board wanted and that we had to accomplish this because that was really only one option. So I think considering the dynamics of everything and everybody, the presentations and what we have to work with, I think at this point in time, I think we've accomplished the mission that we needed to do right now.

Right.

We whatever happens after that, we can address that then.

Yeah. It will. And it may turn out that we don't get that much money, and we can only do our con our our yearly contractual, and there be might be a small amount left over for mini grants. But this is the last time we're going to have this kind of money out there to spend on our veterans. So again, it doesn't hurt for you to go back to your supervisor and say, we did this. Here's what we spent. We spent it down. Please support us going forward.

And just to add to that and what Todd said, I did the presentation as chairman last year, and they made it perfectly clear during that presentation. As Todd said, they are serious. They are definitely looking at taking the funds away if we don't spend it down. We're reducing it.

In for zero balance.

That doesn't mean and I'll just make this last comment that all of the grant applications that we receive and all the one time funding requests that we received, that they don't each and every one of them have merit. They truly do. It was a matter of how do we divide this up and support as many veterans as we can in the best way we can. And hopefully we've accomplished that. And we spent a lot of time going through all these, yeah, very hard decisions. So I think next is public comment.

Alright. Please open to public comment.

We are now taking public comment on agenda item 260,817. Individuals will have three minutes to address the commission. Public comment will be taken first from those participating in the commission room and then from those participating through Zoom. For those participating by Zoom, please make sure you unmute yourself when called upon, and please raise the hand button. Please voluntarily state your name for the record.

I thought there'd be five people behind me. Thank you for receiving my message. Tim Whalen with all the groups. I just wanna kinda comment on, something that you had said about trying to be frugal and make sure that the veterans aren't overreaching and taking too much, and that happens. And as a decision committee member, with Military Family Support Group, thanks to Stacy and Diane for being my co decision making people.

We have started and opened up, with the house council, sort of a what do we call it? A clearing house? Meaning, we invite all of the service organizations to report to us. We're not gonna manage the money that you spend, but kind of keep an eye on who's gone to each respective service organization and how much and why, and then we will record that on our, database. And then we kinda have a history of who's using it and why and all that stuff.

One of the counterpoints is there's no way I wish we could get deep into their personal life and say, well, why are you going to Starbucks five times a day and, you know, and you have to pay for your puppy's haircut or something like that. So it's difficult. It's almost imp I think it's impossible to know their their life story, but we do sort of keep that, ear open for suspicion. And, you know, we kinda reign it in, when it rings a bell. So thanks for your attention.

Thanks, Tim.

Thanks.

Thank you, Tim.

Caleb Armstrong, nonprofit construction corporation. I wanna thank everyone here for their diligence and efforts in considering all the different budgets and organizations that are involved in our community and veteran services. Just thank you so very much. We're very appreciative of, your decision to pass the $5,000 and, it'll be a great thing moving forward with, looking at different ways we can help build that capacity for a larger transportation project here in our community.

Thanks Caleb. Thank you. Thanks.

David Zelensky, I want to thank you all for your support. Honestly, I'd if I can make a $10,000 trade for military family support group, which is served at the nerve center of everything we do and housing Eldorado, which has helped me in the civilian side, but I've not been part of the veteran thing. If I could make a trade there, that would be great. You know, Housing Eldorado, they would be beginners, and there's things I could do to work with them to bring them along. But, you know so anyway, I'd rather some more money was at military family support group to be blunt about it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Have two it.

I wish I'd had that outfit last week. I was in Maui. That would have been great.

I could

have been. Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, I got all the hat. Yes. I could have done that. Next

time you go.

I'll let you know ahead

of time. I only need the swimming trunks.

Okay. I'm good.

Well, I guess my reputation precedes me. And what the chief was trying to say is and I had made the proposal that we have a clearing house and military family support, and I think I let the cat out of the bag before we voted, and then now we voted. And so all requests will go I guess, John will get the d d two fourteen because we already got folks right there during the week, and now they've expanded their time to five days a week, four hours per day. And so when a veteran has a need or if one of the organizations has an individual, then we send them there. They need to be qualified, and then they put out the to all of us so that we can close the loop.

And so we we take that out of the equation. You know, we don't wanna but just keeping the honest honest. Okay? So, yeah, I'm trying to streamline the situation. That's why we're doing one VFW, you know, and then but it's important that we really do support our veterans. And so that is the main concern of all of this. And so not funding 01/01/1965 is fine by me because it didn't matter. We were gonna be one VFW. You know? And we need to we need to start to look at ourselves as that.

Just because you got a different set of orders than I did, that took me to some crappy country on on with how to do duty pay, we're just veterans. Okay? We gotta let we gotta stop letting them separate us out by, oh, you got different order. Are you in this organization because you we we we are veterans.

Mhmm. Mhmm.

We're only 250 years old. Okay? We took a solemn oath and it did not expire. There was no expiration date on that. You said you'd lay down your life Mhmm. For this country. So it's important that we still stand by our oath. Thank you for your time. Thank you for the hard work that you do, you know, and it's all in the right vein. I appreciate you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mike. Thanks, Mike.

Any additional public comment in the room? No? Any public comment online? No additional public comment?

Do I need to remind members about the conflict of interest? Should I read that again? For the one time mini grant application? Alright.

I think the only one that has to recuse himself in this well, there's two of you. That would be Gary and Roger. So you'll have to do three. So do you need those totals?

No. We're going to do no. Just on the onetime grant funding, only American Legion one nineteen's in there.

No. One well, no.

Oh, and 795.

795

That's right.

And 10165.

No one's no one's on 10165. Oh, that's right.

Just the two of us. Just two

of them.

Just the two of you. Alright. So we're gonna need let me have them let's do the first one without 119.

Hold on. I'll give you a total here in

a minute. In the meantime, members should avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest five. Even when the committees or commission decisions are advisories. Members should recluse themselves from decisions if they have a financial interest that would be affected by the decision or the recommendation.

It's 65, Donna.

So it looks like ten and thirty.

75 minus 10 is 65.

So so your your first motion will be for 35,000.

Sorry. 35?

35,000. Dollars That will be for everything except for the American Legion 119 of $10,000 and for the American Legion seven ninety five of South Lake Tahoe for 30 Pardon? Yes.

For the first one.

So that's your first motion is 35,000.

And then the 45,000 will be for the two American Legion posts.

Right. And you could actually put those two together and you'd still have a quorum voting.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Alright.

Yeah.

Okay. I make a are you ready? Ready, Courtney? I make a motion that we fund the amount of $35,000 through the TOT one time funding application. Okay. Do I need to say excluding?

Yes. Yeah.

Okay. 35,000, and this excludes American Legion Post one nineteen and American Legion Post seven ninety five at this time. Do I have a second? I'll second it.

Okay. You ready?

Roll call vote.

District 1, how do you vote? Aye. District 2, how do you vote? Aye. District 3, how do

you vote?

Aye. District 4, how do you vote?

Aye. And District 5, how do you vote?

Aye.

Thank you. Motion passes for the 35,000.

I make a second motion that we fund $45,000 to be distributed to American Legion Post one nineteen and American Legion Post seven ninety five for the twenty twenty six one time funding applications.

Make a motion.

Second. Second.

You can't second. No. I can't.

I second.

Okay. District 1, how do you vote? Aye. District 2, how do you vote?

Recluse.

District 3, how do you vote? Aye. District 4, how do you vote?

Aye. And District 5, how do you vote?

I can't vote. Yeah.

It's recuse. Recuse. Recuse.

Recuse. Recuse.

Recuse you live in a hole. I do. You do.

And I just wanna make sure This is for 45,000. Right?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. Perfect. So for motion passes

to approve 40,000. 40? Okay.

40,000. I'm sorry. 40.

Weakness.

Weakness. Okay.

So this is for

the additional remaining 40,000 for the American Legion Post one nineteen and American Legion Post, seven ninety five.

That's correct.

K. Thank you.

Moving

on. Exofficial report.

Alright. Make it short.

Make it short. Yeah.

On the first three Tuesdays in June, my office will be will not be assisting clients. All VSR staff, will be attending the summer California associate of of county veteran service officers training conference. This conference will strengthen the VSR's knowledge and allow them to continue to grow their network, County VSRs, that they can tap in for for further assistance through our veterans. So please let everybody know that you know that we won't be assisting clients in on those days. I have seven applications for brick and stone placements.

Some of the applications are not complete. I have attempted to contact those that submit the incomplete applications together, the additional information. As of today, I've not received a response. However, I have been able to approve five of the request, and I will be making notifications by close of business tomorrow. Monthly contact report, we had 250 phone calls, 94 scheduled appointments, 89 walk in visits, and we approved 11 Calvert College fee waivers.

South Lake Tahoe, I last reported that the month of April, we would be restarting in the month of April in in person appointments. That didn't happen due to the weather, so we return to in person appointments next Tuesday. And that concludes my report.

Weather in South Lake Tahoe?

I know. Right? Yeah. How does that happen?

Who who would have thought that? Thank you. Moving on to committee reports. TOT committee, I think we have

Beat that.

Crushed that.

That one. Thank you,

Thank you, Donna. Rules?

No, sir.

Housing? Nope. Legislative? No report.

Got it.

Transportation, we are going to come back to you in next month. Outstanding. Budget, I think we've also covered that one as well. Education and employment. No report.

I'm sorry. What? Education and employment.

I I have I have

I know. Yeah. I was I was looking