Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Welcome to September 8, 2026 regular meeting of the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors.

can we have you do what was it uh closed session please yes closed session for today uh september 8th item 1 pursuant to government code 54957.6 conference county designated labor negotiators theresa hitchcock judy hawkins and sherry johnson regarding the following employee organizations calaveras county public safety employees association deputy sheriff's association

service employees international union local 1021 sheriffs management unit thank you any public comment any online we have no online public comment we'll give them one second just for a delay we have no attendees okay we have no attendees very good we'll be uh going into closed session we'll be back promptly hopefully at 9 00 a.m all right thank you Good morning. Welcome to the September 8th, 2026 regular meeting of the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors. Ms. Follendorf, will you lead us in the pledge, please?

The flag of the United States of America.

Can we get a report out on flow session?

Closed session for today, item one, pursuant to government code 54957.6, Conference of County Designated Labor Negotiators, Teresa Hitchcock, Judy Hawkins, and Shea Johnson, regarding the following employee organizations, Calaveras Public, I'm sorry, Calaveras County Public Safety Employees Association, Deputy Sheriffs Association, Service Employees International Union Local 1021, Sheriffs Management Unit. Board action, no reportable action taken.

Thank you. We'll go on to staff announcements.

Lisa and all our esteemed animals and animal services.

Welcome back, Lisa.

And this is Rebecca and are one of nine puppies that we have currently at the shelter. And Rebecca, our animal service officer. So good morning, everybody. Lisa Medina, Environmental Management Agency. So the first dog is Bumper. We think he's pointer mix, maybe possibly Great Dane. He is neutered. He came to us with a fractured pelvis after being hit by a car. So we get quite a few of those animals. He also has spent the last couple of months on cage rest, receiving care and loving attention from staff and volunteers in his kennel as he recovered from his injury. But he's recovered really well, huh, ladies? Now that he is healed and strong enough, Bumper has been able to enjoy his first outings and meeting new friends. As you can see, he keeps trying to smell the new puppy. He's still getting used to other dogs, but is coming along nicely and does really well when greeting other animals. Bumper has the markings of an exceptionally lovely family dog. He is neutered and can go home with you right away. Does anyone want to take Bumper? Let's see though we can't make guarantees. He appears to be well house trained. And we don't have course enough information towards his attitude with cats. So, if you are interested in bumper and meet and greet is required if you have other dogs at home. And, of course, Chucky star of the show this morning. Chucky is 1 of 9 adorable 8 week old puppies who were sadly found dumped along 4th crossing road. Despite their rough start, Chucky and his siblings are incredibly sweet, friendly, and lovable, and they're ready to find their human family. We received quite a few puppies in our shelter, and the shelter is no place for puppies at all. It's stressful on them, but with our wonderful humans and our volunteers and our staff, they get along just fine. As you can see, he's a little chubby. As for Chucky's breed, we keep guessing, but based on Chucky's looks, we think that he might be part Australian cattle dog and German white haired pointer terrier. You can see where those little hairs stick out. All nine puppies have wonderful personalities and would make a fantastic addition to very loving human homes. to help each puppy develop confidence and independence and reduce the risk of behavioral challenges sometimes associated with litter mate syndrome all puppies will be adopted separately which means we will not be adopting two puppies out at the same time to avoid that syndrome chucky and his siblings have already been through enough together now is the time for each of them to start their own happily ever after thank you ladies our dog volunteers gave 506 hours of their time in the month of august Due to the gunfire with several of our own puppies going out to other shelters and thankfully El Dorado shelter took some, PCA Sacramento, they took a total of 15 dogs from our shelter, which helped us make room for our own community animals. To our incredible volunteers, we want to thank you for consistently showing up and pouring your heart into our CCS shelter. Whether you are walking and socializing pups, nurturing scared kittens, washing, bedding, and or helping out at events, your time and energy helps us keep our mission alive. We are endlessly grateful to you and our shelter cannot function without your helpless and selfless support. We have the next free rabies clinic that is being held by focus will be held on Saturday, September 12th from 9 to 1130 at the Spence Ranch Feed and Supply and Angels Camp. This is a rabies only vaccine, no DHPP vaccines will be given. Dr. Sasha Greenlee will be the attending veterinarian. We also want to thank FOCUS members, our volunteers, CCAS staff, and Dr. Greenlee for volunteering her precious time and their precious time to our animals in our community. The last clinic of the year will be held on October 17th here at the Government Center. More details to follow during staff announcements. Thank you. You have any questions?

Well, welcome back, Lisa.

Oh, I'm, yeah, like a new person.

I might come by and visit later. Oh, it's hard not to. Good morning. Sheriff Whiting.

Good morning. I just wanted to get upstaged by the dogs as per usual.

I just wanted to follow.

Yeah, it is. I just wanted to report out on the extended holiday Labor Day weekend. Even though we had cooler weather, our sheriff's marine safety division. Conducted an operational plan and had increased staffing around the waterways. So. Lake Tollick, we handled some 911 hangups that we looked on the water. We conducted 10 educational stops, issued 3 citations on Hogan, 6 educational stop, 1 boat citation, issued 10 citations on on the land around Hogan Lake. At Comanche, we conducted 20 educational stops, issued eight citations, and assisted the rangers with 12 evictions at the campsites. And on Maloney's, we did 20 boat inspections, one boat citation, and nine citations on the land. The good thing to record is there wasn't any major increase in criminal activity over the holiday weekend. There were several altercations resulting in assault and battery charge, some of our normal calls for service, vandalism. Unfortunately, looking at our end of watch reports, it seems like we've seen a domestic violence case, a shift at least, if not more. So I encourage anyone, if you're in a situation, if you need help, call us. If you have a fear of law enforcement, there's great resources through the District Attorney's Office Victim Witness Program, as well as the Resource Connection Calaveras Crisis Center. So please call us whether you're in a situation that you need help with. Otherwise, for increased activity with recreation and tourism over the holiday weekend, the visitors and residents of Calaveras County, seems like they had a pretty decent weekend with lawful activity. That's it. End of report.

Any further staff announcements? With that, Chief Hamry, can you please step up to the podium?

Yeah, Ryan, can you please come forward? This is, can you turn around basically? This is, this is, this is Ryan Hammering. He is the new fire chief, just appointed new fire chief of Calco Fire. I've known Ryan for a number of years, and I remind him every time I see him or get involved with him, I know your father. Welcome, and I just want to introduce you to all the board members, staff members, and I want to present you with a Calaveras pin that you can wear. And again, congratulations. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Steve.

I'll let it go to sleep, Stacey.

All right. With that, we'll move on to our proclamations. Let me get her. And we'll start out with behavioral health. Stacey?

Item 2, Proclamation Behavioral Health Services, a job day proclamation declaring September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in Calaveras County.

I'll go ahead and do this one. Whereas September is recognized nationally as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, a time to promote understanding, resources, and support for those affected by suicide. And whereas suicide impacts millions of individuals and families touching every community across the nation, including Calaveras County, parents, caregivers, health care providers, educators, law enforcement, and others are all affected by suicide in some way. And whereas increasing awareness and understanding of the factors related to suicide is essential to preventing it, supporting those in crisis, and reducing stigma through informed dialogue and compassionate engagement And whereas community involvement is vital to suicide prevention through connection, understanding and support, we can offer hope and help to those who may be struggling. And whereas the Calverse County Health and Human Services Agency, HHSA, through its Behavioral Health Services Division, is dedicated to raising awareness, offering education and training, and reducing stigma associated with suicide and suicide attempts. Wendy.

Good morning, Board. Wendy Alt, Behavioral Health Director. Thank you for recognizing Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Suicide is something that touches all of us in a small community like Calaveras County. And these aren't just statistics. They are our family members, our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers, and family members, neighbors. Sometimes we have no idea that they're struggling. We often talk about our young people. We absolutely should. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth, young adults from ages 10 to 24. But I also want us to remember our adults and especially our older adults in our rural community Isolation, loss, and health concerns are simply or simply not asking for help can be a tremendous impact. Prevention really does start with connection and noticing someone or just listening, asking a question, and leading them to help. Today, I'm going to ask Rob to come up and share a little bit about his family. He's our substance use supervisor, and he has offered to share a little bit about his connection to this month.

Good morning, Chair, members of the Board. My name is Rob Holjum. Like she said, I manage the Substance Use Services. In June 2003, I found a career here in Calaveras. What I didn't know was my only sibling, Kevin, was struggling with depression. I'm sure there were signs, but we weren't trained to notice them then. September 5th, 2003, he made the decision to take his own life. We will never be whole again. But through hard work and events like this, we no longer need to be broken. And I think this is just so important. We've had so much training since then to be able to notice the signs and partnership with Ken Baldwin. It's just been amazing. And thank you.

Thank you. Any further public comments? anything online yes if you would like to get up and comment you're more than welcome oh not not just for this item for this document just a reminder to our online participants if you would like to make a public comment please raise your hand

We have no online public comment.

Thank you, Stacy. Bringing this back, something I said is being aware. Loss and grief and depression are very strong things that are prevalent. As Wendy Alt said, especially in our youth and high schools, And these days with social media and everything else and everything, it's a whole step beyond anything we ever went through in high school. And so if you see someone that you're, you know, you feels having depression, please reach out, see if they need help and keep communicating to them. So, you know, so with that, I'll bring it back to the board. Any comments or emotions? I'll move. I'll second. A motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the Board of Supervisors, County of Calaveras, this eighth day of September 26th, does hereby proclaim September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in Calaveras County. Thank you.

Oh. Yeah. Thank you. About the freebie in this. There you go, sir.

Okay, ready? One, two, three, two, and one. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey. Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey. Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey.

Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman, Stacey Freedman

Item 3 Proclamation Behavioral Health Services adopt a proclamation declaring September as Recovery Happens Month in Calaveras County.

Whereas the State of California Department of Health Care Services and the California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals have established Recovery Happens as a statewide public awareness campaign celebrating the lives of individuals recovering from alcohol and or drug addiction and have invited local communities to join in proclaiming September as Recovery Happens Month. And whereas the 2026 statewide theme, Recovery is Real, Restoring Every Aspect of Life, recognizes that recovery is a process of restoring the whole person, including mind, body, relationships, purpose, and hope. And whereas substance use disorder is a treatable condition and recovery is achievable and sustainable, for individuals and families throughout Calabasas County and across California. And whereas Calabasas County Behavioral Health Services remains committed to supporting individuals and families affected by substance use disorders through prevention, treatment, and recovery support services, and to reducing the stigma that too often prevents individuals from seeking help. Whereas Caliverse Behavioral Health will host a community celebration event at Turner Park on September 22nd, 2026 from 10 o'clock a.m. to 2 o'clock p.m. to support and honor individuals and families in our community who are recovering one step at a time. And whereas public awareness, community engagement, and the visibility of individuals in recovery play a vital role in inspiring hope and encouraging others on their own path to recovery. Wendy?

Good morning again. My name is Rob Fulgham. Today we come together to celebrate a powerful message. Recovery happens. It happens every day through courage, connection, support, and the strength of our community. In Calaveras County, we know recovery is not just about overcoming challenges. It's about rebuilding hope, restoring relationships, creating opportunities for a healthier future. Recovery looks different for everyone. For some, it's a new beginning. For others, it's reaching out for help, supporting a neighbor, or taking one more step. Events like Recovery Happens reminds us that no one walks the path alone. Our community is strongest when we stand together, share our stories, reduce stigma, and recognize resilience in each person's journey. Today, we honor those who are working toward recovery, those who support them, and those who continue to believe that change is possible. For every story of recovery is a story of strength, perseverance, and hope. Thank you for being a part of a community where recovery happens in Calaveras County and beyond. We invite you and the community to join us celebrating on September 22nd at Turner Park from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the Recovery Happens events in Calaveras, many local partners and contracted providers will be there. We will also be doing suicide awareness and stuff like that at the event. And there'll be ice cream.

Good morning. I also wanted to share that one of the most exciting things with substance use and recovery is that we were awarded Behavioral Health Student Services Act, and that is for our youth. And so you are soon going to see a lot of campaign going around substance free, different things like that. One of the newest things are going to be banners around sporting events where the youth themselves are going to create something, whether it's I don't know, substance free at the plate or something like that. So you'll see that from the students there and that will be supported by behavioral health and the grant that the team here is putting into place. So that is excited and all the work behind the scenes that that takes. And also while Prop 1 was really hard for us to swallow, we are also excited that along with that came the opportunity for those that are in recovery um for us to be able to provide more support for individuals um that are suffering from substance use whether that's housing or just other supports that are needed to get through those steps so um we're excited for those steps and thank you for recognizing this thank you thank you is there any further public comment on this proclamation anything online stacy

yeah Marty go ahead.

Marty Crane I just like to remind everyone that no, I know a lot of people in the county and. Most of the time they don't open up to you about the challenges that they're facing. So just know that the wonderful people that you're looking at, they might be dealing with this very same issue. And so I applaud this work. Everybody should show up. What is it on the 22nd? Turner Park, what time?

What?

10 o'clock.

There'll be ice cream also.

I am coming from the ice cream. But just remember, you never know when you're talking to somebody. It could be you. It's not me today. But no, we're all on a spectrum. But anyway, take care.

Thank you, Marty.

Stacey, was there anybody online? We have no online public comment. Okay. Back to the board.

I'll make a motion for this one.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim September 2026 as Recovery Happens Month in Calaveras County, in recognition of the 2026 theme, Recovery is Real, Restoring Every Aspect of Life. and encourages all residents to recognize the strength and resilience of individuals in recovery, to support the Caliverse Behavioral Health Community event at Turner Park on September 22, 2026, and to join together in celebrating recovery one step at a time.

oh i stole that okay all right here we go ready one two three two and one perfect thank you thank you yeah. Okay. Stacey Freedman, Thank you Stacy.

This is a proclamation recognizing the American Red Cross and community volunteers for their service during the Gann Fire. Whereas the Gann Fire began August 3rd, 2026 near Hogan Dam Road and Gann Road in Valley Springs, California, rapidly spreading through Calaveras County and threatening homes, businesses, livestock and communities and Whereas the Gann Fire continued to impact the community from August 3rd through August 12th, 2026, when CAL FIRE announced the fire had reached 100% containment. And whereas during those nine days, residents and families were forced with evacuations, displacement, uncertainty, and the loss or threat of homes and property, creating an urgent need for assistance and support. And whereas volunteers with the American Red Cross responded to the needs of individuals and families affected by the Gann Fire, providing compassionate assistance, emergency support, resources, and care during the exceptionally difficult times. And whereas countless additional volunteers from throughout the Calaveras County and surrounding communities answered the call to serve, giving freely of their time, skills, equipment, resources, and personal efforts to help their neighbors. Whereas community volunteers assisted with evacuation center, food and supplies, transportation, animal and livestock evacuations, donations, shelter operations, communications, emotional support, cleanup and numerous other needs created by the fire and its aftermath. And whereas these volunteers demonstrated extraordinary compassion, generosity, courage and dedication embodying the spirit of neighbors, helping neighbors that is so deeply valued throughout Calaveras County. And whereas the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors recognizes that the strength and resilience of our community during emergencies depends not only upon professional responders and public agencies, but also upon the many volunteers who step forward when their neighbors need help most. And Whereas the contributions of the American Red Cross volunteers and all of the community volunteers who served during the Gann Fire made a profound and meaningful difference in the lives of residents and families throughout the affected community. Do we have anybody from the Red Cross here? Come on up. Would any of you like to say anything at all?

Yeah, hi. So my name is Martha Rubin, and I actually was going to come and say thank you so much. And we also wanted to extend our thanks to OES and the fire service and HHSA. So thank you so much.

I'm glad you were here. Thank you. I just wanted to point out, thank you for acknowledging that all of the agencies, when there's an emergency, our fire, our law enforcement, all our partners, Red Cross, nobody can do it alone. It's a team effort and they work seamlessly There may be issues that you hear about in the on the Oscars, but when it comes to emergency preparedness, they're all reading the same book. And we just need to stay in our lane and. And know that it's a team effort and so I applaud everybody. I know for me, there's a lot of volunteers who weren't called to work began fire, but. A lot of us were sitting out there, for me, I'm sitting out there with my, I got out my lawn chair and I'm sitting on the hill and I'm watching this, calling everyone I know saying, get your butt out of bed, pay attention. Is your go bag ready? So I want to remind everybody about your go bag. You know, I said this many times, but if I'm at a shelter and you show up, I'm not giving you my fresh under lovelies, so pack your own. Thank you for this.

Yeah, I'm going to bring it back to the board. Is any board member have anything they'd like to say. I haven't done a public comment yet. That was a threat. So, I would, I would just like to say that this isn't just limited. Although it says, again, fire, you guys are always out there. You guys are there whenever there's an emergency of any type. And I want to thank you so much for responding for all of the things over the years, at least that I've been involved as a supervisor. There's been so many times in emergencies that we have, and it go down to the Veterans Hall in Valley Springs. You guys are always there. You have the beds out, the cots out. You have people there. You're there. You're feeding them. You guys are fantastic. And you just step up to the plate every time. And I want to thank you profusely for that. I appreciate it. And so now I will open up the public comments.

So these are big emergencies and they call in lots of resources. But every single house fire is a disaster in its own to those people, those homeowners. And Red Cross shows up to those as well. And just remember that if your neighbor's there and says, oh, I got you. I got this taken care of. They can't replace your eyeglasses, your hearing aid, help you work through the processes of your kids in school and. everything that we all deal with. But Red Cross is there. And with the Gann Fire, like any other big emergency, they're not done. They're still working with the evacuees on one on one and emotional support and wherever. And until that is finished, they're still there. So I applaud Red Cross. I applaud all our services. So thank you all.

Any other public comments? SUNY online.

We have no online public comment.

Hey, I'll bring it back to the board. I'll make a motion, sir. Motion. And a second all in favor. Opposed passes five, zero. All right. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Calaveras hereby recognizes and extends its sincere appreciation to the American Red Cross and all volunteers who served the residents of Calaveras County during the Gann Fire, August 3rd through 12th, 2026. be it further proclaimed that the calaveras county extends its heartfelt gratitude to every individual organization and community partner who answered the call to serve and demonstrate the resilience unity and compassion that defines spirit of our county adopted this eighth day september 2026 by calaveras county board of supervisors Thank you.

Thank you. One, two, three, four. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Or.

general public comment any item of interest to the public that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board and is not posted on the consent or regular agendas may be addressed during the public comment period california law prohibits the board from taking action on any matter which is not posted on the agenda unless it is determined to be in an emergency by the board of supervisors if public comment is completed before the 30 minute lot of time period the board may immediately move to the next order of business if public comment is not completed during the allotted time period it will be continued as the last item of business in order to provide an opportunity for the remainder of comments to be heard I just um we do have budget on today and a few other items so um I look forward to hearing your public comments just keep that in mind

good morning my name is christopher butner publisher of calaveraswatchdog.com my comments this morning are historical and explicitly avoid item 18 on today's agenda speaking at the last two board meetings i requested an independent review to be conducted of the calaveras visitors bureau's financial management economic value to calaveras county in recent years reserve accumulation and its historically misrepresented legal type as a non-profit public benefit corporation My valid requests for transparency, accountability, and fiscal integrity have all been met with official silence, as have all other requests I have made during the past three-plus years. My requests were based on publicly available records, including the CBB's California Secretary of State and California Department of Justice filings, the IRS Form 990 filings through June 30, 2025, the 2023 Agreement for the Promotion of Tourism, calaveras county the cvb's board of supervisors presentations and mr representations and with the cvb's board of directors meeting minutes the cvb's irs form 990 filings during the four fiscal years ending june 30th 2025 indicate the CVB reported year-end net assets or fund balances ranging from approximately $518,000 to nearly $638,000 while departments and county government have been deprived of operating funds. The public must know why the Calaveras County government has given away scarce transient occupancy tax dollars to the underperforming CVB, while the CVB repeatedly stockpiled the public's money at the expense of the county being able to adequately fund fire protection districts. I publicly requested CEO Hitchcock obtain the CVB's net assets and fund balances for fiscal year 2526 ending June 30th, 2026. That request has been met with silence. I have requested county staff independently evaluate whether the CVB's unrestricted reserves are appropriate whether TOT allocations exceeded demonstrated annual operational need, whether CVB year-end reserve limits should be mandated, and whether the 2023 Tourism Promotion Agreement fraudulently misrepresented the CVB's legal status. The CVB's accumulated reserves answer the question, of whether annual allocations exceeded the CBB's demonstrated spending while tourism spending remained flat or declined when adjusted for inflation. Public funds must be managed with transparency, accountability, and measurable public benefit. That has not happened. Since 2021, the CVB systematically accumulated and stockpiled TOT funding instead of fully deploying it for its intended purpose, the promotion of tourism while overseeing years of flat tourism spending growth, economic stagnation, and hundreds of tourism jobs lost. My name is Christopher Budner, publisher of CalaverasWatchdog.com.

Good morning, board. I will scratch through what I can with my voice. I've been working very hard on this event coming up September 20th. For anybody who doesn't know, please email. We'll give you a flyer. I came home after being evacuated to a room. A lot of our neighbors have not. They are in evacuation mode. Now they are in survivor mode. They don't have a home to come home to. So I want to make sure that everybody in the world that I can touch knows about this. It's September 20th, Copper Town Square from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. It's after church and before you got to get your littles to bed. I perfectly planned it. There's three bands. Penetrators Groove Band is a rock band. Easy to listen in. Hired Gun's kind of a heavy metal. And we have the Rusty Rockers from up the hill. They are playing for us for free. Not a dime is going to be given to them. In fact, they donated back to us. I have donations from jewelry stores. I have donations from Orr's Rafting Company. I have donations from the golf courses. So we're going to have a raffle. We will also have, which I'm very proud I designed it, a shirt that's black. It's a T-shirt. And on the top, it says Calaveras Strong. We're also having banners put up above the stage to say Calaveras Strong with a gold fist because we will win this fight. We will. And with your guys' support and my big mouth in this county, we will get this done. We will get the money raised to help them get through this point of their life. It's not a forever thing. And I just want to thank you for letting me have the time to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez.

Good morning, and thank you for allowing this public comment. My name is Louise Christie. I live in Angels Camp, and I'm here representing the Michael Masuda Campaign for Congress. I'm a volunteer, and Michael Masuda is running for Congress in the 5th District of California. The fifth district covers all or part of 12 counties, including Calaveras County, and spans over 24,000 square miles, which is the size of West Virginia. That's our congressional district. Across this district, we are dealing with many issues ranging from wildfires and fire insurance, healthcare costs and access, struggling small businesses and Main Street economies, a demand for good paying local jobs, and households that are struggling to make it in the face of rising costs. Meanwhile, in Washington, things are more divided than ever. As they continue to bicker, these issues aren't being addressed, and it shows up here in our communities. Many people, especially the younger generations, are losing faith in our democracy and our ability to address these issues. Michael is an engineer, not a politician. He's a problem solver focused on bringing people together in this very divided time so we can tackle the challenges that we have in common. Michael grew up on the northern end of this district in Amador City, which isn't really a city, it's a really teeny tiny town. He spent nearly a decade as an electrical engineer, with most of that time working in defense research, developing new technologies to keep our troops safe from drones and missiles. He then became a foreign affairs officer at the State Department, where he used his engineering background to inform our leaders on science, technology, and foreign policy issues. He is running for Congress because he has two small children, a four-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter, and he wants to pass on a country that respects their rights, treats them fairly and creates opportunities for them to work hard and build lives of their own. He believes that local problems require local solutions and should be led by local leaders and that we need a partner in Congress to bring our voices to DC and bring our taxpayer dollars back home to help address our local challenges. Our voices are important, which is why the Masuda for Congress campaign would like to invite you all to join in some upcoming, any upcoming town hall meetings. There are three coming up. in Calaveras, one on September 22nd in the evening after the other event from 6 to 8 p.m. That one is in Angels Camp. There is another town hall meeting on September 29th, also from 6 to 8 p.m. in Valley Springs. And there is one on Thursday, September 17th in West Point, also at 6 to 8 p.m. These events are open to the public. We welcome everyone to join the conversation.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate your time.

Morning. To be rather than to seem is what Eric Marsh from the Granite Mountain Hotshot said. If you don't know about him, look him up.

my name is nate attaway i'm not only a resident of calaveras county but the president of ebbets pass professional firefighters local 3581 i'm here today to talk about proposed tot cuts do we um that's that's on our agenda correct on our agenda so um you know preferably if you have public comment something that's not on our agenda would be uh would be something to comment on on during this time if you would like to comment on the tot And the firefighters, then that would be later on when we pull up when we have it actually open. To public comment. Okay. I apologize.

I misunderstood what this was about.

Oh, no, no, it's okay. I'm just, I'm just giving you our proper process. So there's, there's, there's a time. There's a time today where we can, you can discuss the matter directly. And when we're going to actually be working on the very money that you're talking about.

Perfect. Well, I'll sit down.

No problem. Thank you. I appreciate you.

ladies and gentlemen my name is glenn burford i'm a resident of district three lived in this county for 40 years today i arise because of the attack that was perpetrated against the fire districts i'm not interested in discussing the tot that's your guys's job but i am here specifically to defend the honor of the fire districts that you impugned by saying that we have extra money that is complete and utter I won't use the word I want to use, but I will. I think you know what word I'm thinking of, trying to keep my comments clean and precise. These fire districts, I have spent almost my entire life working with most of these firefighters, most of these districts, and they are just now getting their heads above water, and you're pushing them down, and you are driving them under by taking any money away from them at all. I challenge you to find anybody in this government that has worked as hard or as long as these fire districts to raise and fight for that money. I don't care whether it's TOT. I don't care whether it's Measure A. We have been fighting since the 90s for this money. We are barely getting our heads above the water. You want to single out Ebbets Pass, you better learn how hard Ebbets Pass has worked for that money. You better find that out before you attack us and say, why do you guys have so much money? We have money because we work our butts off. We campaign. 84% is not a small number. 84% of the district residents of Ebbets Pass are in support of the fire department. Do you want 84% of those residents against you? Because that's what you're going to get. I am not opposed to doing a none of the above this fall. I will do everything within my power and influence to see that nobody gets reelected. I don't care if you're all on the ballot. I will start a none of the above campaign. It is absurd that the board would take this action when you laud us. The fire department is great. We love the fire department. And then you stab them in the back. So to attack us in open forum deserves a reply, and that's why I am here, and that's why I am angry. I am doing my best to filter my language, because if you know me, I don't have a filter. Sorry, chiefs. But this is absurd. I hope whatever you guys decide on the TOT reflects the duty and the honor and the loyalty that the fire department is founded upon. I hesitate to speak those words here because I don't know if you guys know the definitions of those words. And I don't want to disgrace those words by using them to people who don't have a clue what they mean. I'm sorry if my tone is offensive. I hope my words were as clean as they could be. And I thank you for your time. And I pray that you make good decisions with your responsibility to our citizens. Thank you.

Hello again, Martha Rubin. So I just wanted to say I definitely agree with everything that you said, and I do hope that you support the firefighters and think about any cuts that you might decide to make. on that note i wanted to again remind you that the calaveras county firewise group is going to be having a firewise event on october 17th and everybody's going to come out and vendors firefighters cal fire all the county agencies because it is such an important thing and everybody needs to be prepared and we definitely need our fire service so thank you so much

Would there be any public comment online?

Yes. We had a crystal Baldwin crystal. Go ahead. Hi, good morning. Can you hear me? Yes. 1. 2nd.

Okay.

Go ahead. OK, good morning. My name is Crystal Baldwin. I grew up in Angels Camp and recently returned after 26 years to open San Francisco Vintage on historic Main Street. Coming home is reminding me how much Angels Camp has to offer and also how many economic opportunities we are missing. Tourism supports far more than just hotels and attractions. And when visitors stop downtown, they shop in our stores, eat in our restaurants, buy gas, attend events, and discover reasons to return. That spending circulates throughout our local economy and helps small businesses create jobs, pay rent, and help historic buildings be occupied. But visitors cannot support businesses they cannot find. Since the Highway 4 bypass changed traffic patterns, travelers pass directly by Angels Camp without realizing that historic Main Street is just beyond the highway. Better directional signage along Highway 4 and 49 is one of the simplest places to start with this. Once visitors arrive, they face another obstacle, which is cellular service downtown is unreliable and dependable Wi-Fi is not available. There are signs and banners that say Wi-Fi is here, but actually it doesn't connect to anything, which makes it an unreliable resource. That means that visitors may be unable to access maps, search for businesses, check store hours, view menus, digital payments, or share their experience online. Each of those moments is a missed opportunity for our local economy. So today, I am asking the board for help to bring together Calaveras County, the City of Angels Camp, Caltrans, Calaveras Visitors Bureau, and downtown businesses to create a practical visitor... redirection and connectivity plan. We need to identify what signage is permitted, especially locating funding for historic downtown wayfinding and ensure that downtown Angels Camp is included in future broadband and public Wi-Fi planning. Local businesses are investing their own money, their own time and energy into Main Street, and we cannot solve regional signage and connectivity problems alone. angels camp already has a history with character and businesses that are worth visiting so my ask is that we make it easier for people to find us to connect with us to stay longer and to spend locally thank you thank you is there further online we do not have any further online public comment at this time

Okay.

Consent agenda items are expected to be routine and non controversial. They'll be acted upon by the board at 1 time without discussion. Any board member staff member or interested party may request removal of an item from the consent agenda for later discussion.

Is there any board members that would like to pull in your items? Any staff members? Any members of the public?

I'd like to ask that number six be pulled. Number six? I'd like to ask if you could stay to another meeting.

I'm sorry, can you please come up to the podium? Sure. Thank you.

Sorry, summer Tridam project. I'd like to ask that if you stayed to another meeting, Tridam just found out about this item. We haven't had an opportunity.

This is for a moment.

We'll just go ahead and pull it and then we'll pull it and then we'll discuss between the board if we'll.

Perfect.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Number six. All right. Any further items pulled by public? With that, we'll come back and I'll entertain a motion for the remainder. I'll move. A motion by Supervisor Hubbardy.

Second.

A second by Supervisor Handel. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Passes on five of the board. And we'll go on to item number six.

Item 6 ordinance and administration 1, adopt an ordinance for sending chapter 20.10 of the county code to authorize summary publication and 3, find exempt from.

Thank you and go ahead and state your. Request again.

that the staff would be able to meet with Tridam before this is taken before the board. Tridam just found out about this item last week. We were not a part of the discussion.

All right. Thank you. Would that be a problem for any timelines or anything, Ms. Hitchcock or Ms.?

I mean, this is an ordinance that was already noticed a couple of times. It would have to be, the board could vote to continue it to a future meeting. We would have to re-notice it or the board can act on it today.

I would prefer not. We've had multiple town hall meetings. Triton has been invited to those town hall meetings, and this has been openly discussed with the public.

All right. Any other comments by supervisors? Okay. So I'll entertain a motion for whatever action moving forward. Oh, wait. Public comment. Public comment. I apologize.

All right.

Good morning, members of the board. Summer Nicotero, general manager at the Tridem project. I'm asking you to take a closer look at one of the central assertions in today's staff report that the regulations contained in Chapter 2010 are entirely duplicative of Tridem's shoreline management plan. The statement is not supported by a comparison of the two documents. The simplest way to test that claim is to look at what Chapter 2010 actually regulates and then compare those provisions with the shoreline management plan. Chapter 2010 is not limited to shoreline construction or Triton permit enforcement. It establishes rules governing boating, swimming, fishing, speed limits, boat launching, houseboats, boat trailers, personal flotation devices, passenger capacity, special events, the transportation of noxious plants and wildlife, and maybe most importantly, environmental concerns related to sanitation. Those are substantively public safety, recreational resource and environmental protection regulations. This leads to another important issue with the staff report. The report characterizes chapter 2010 as having been adopted primarily as a means of assisting the Tridham hydroelectric project with its enforcement of rules and regulations. That description reduces the role of the county to that. of an enforcement arm for TRIDAM, but that's not the only way to understand the county's role at Tollick. Tollick is a shared public resource. There are overlapping public interests involving public safety, recreation, boating, environmental protection, property owners, emergency response, and land use. The county and TRIDAM have different governmental responsibilities, but those responsibilities can and should work together. Coordination between public agencies does not require one agency to surrender its independent regulatory authority to another. In fact, the shoreline management plan itself recognizes the principle. The SMP contemplates coordination between Tridamp and the counties. It calls for integrating the requirements of Calaveras, Tuolumne County, and Tridamp. It's coordination, not duplication, and the distinction matters. Tridamp's authority comes from its FERC license and its responsibility to manage the FERC project boundary. The county's authority comes from state and local law and its responsibility to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its residents and the public. Those authorities can overlap geographically without being legally or functionally identical. The staff report indicates one basis for revoking Chapter 2010 is a county ordinance that can be interpreted as conflicting with federally mandated requirements of a FERC licensed project may be deemed lawful under federal law. That's not what's happening here. Both the shoreline management plan and county ordinance work together and cross-reference each other. They don't conflict. In fact, over the past 18 years, the federal court has looked at both on multiple occasions, then interpreted them as working together, not against each other. The county ordinance works in conjunction with the shoreline management plan. In this way, it actually provides the utmost protection of Tulloch Reservoir as a resource to the county. I'm running out of time. At the end of the day, it looks like this is a coordinated effort to threaten the license for TULIC. Please remember the loss of our TULIC license would return the reservoir to a river, affecting TULIC property values, tax revenues, recreation, and commercial opportunities.

Morning my name is Matthew Weber. I have represented Tridam on enforcement actions around Tollick and other issues around Tollick for the past over 10 years. I have a substantial knowledge of Chapter 2010 and its inner workings with the FERC plan and Tridam shoreline management plan. And I want to address some of the proposed findings that the board had that was supporting the rescission. So finding L, the rescission of Chapter 2010 will have no bearing on Tridam's authority to regulate Lake Tollock within its project area as a fund. Sorry, this is defined in its first license and associated documents. That's not entirely accurate. Chapter 2010 sets for the protections for the total reservoir. Those protections are outlined as Miss Nicotero listed those protections not only allow try to enforce those not only allow the county to enforce them, but also the public. and it's a pretty extensive list of protections with when you would take that away you're risking tolic reservoir because um when tridem has had to take enforcement actions at times it uses the shoreline management plan and it can use chapter 2010 and so when you take that away it makes it more difficult for everybody to protect tolic reservoir um Finding M, a county ordinance, and I think this Nicotero touched on this. That can be interpreted as conflicting with federally mandated requirements of a FERC license project may be deemed unlawful. In fact, the federal district court has looked at this issue. I would say at least 3 times the 9th circuit has ruled on this exact issue and found that they do not conflict. In fact, they work together. To support protection of total reservoir, we have a case from the 9th circuit where this issue was raised. And the 9th circuit found that with the shoreline management plan and chapter 2010, they work in conjunction and there's no confliction. There's no nothing that would preempt the county code and in fact. It supports each other, which again provides substantial protection for total reservoir, which is a great asset for this county. Finally, finding N talks about there's confusion with county residents about who does what. And on Tulloch Reservoir, I think if you remove 2010, you're actually gonna create more confusion. 2010 does outline, that you need to talk to tridam and the county if you're going to do certain things within the reservoir once that's removed staff or county residents may think that you don't have to talk to tridam or they may have no where to go to find out what the delineation is and so i think that if the concern really is that these are overlapping or that you have issues where you think that the county and tridam are James Meeker & conflicting that I think the reality is, you should have staff meet with try them and work through those issues and come up with a plan, I know. James Meeker & Mr peter indicated try them and happy to work with county I know I worked with the county in the past and i'd be happy to be participating in that. James Meeker & I think that would be better than throwing the whole code out and losing protections that you have on total reservoir and potentially risking that asset, thank you.

HAB-Terry Palmos- Before I begin that and Clark, I have a letter to enter into the record and for distribution to the board.

HAB-Terry Palmos- Very well.

My name is Joshua Bailey, I'm with Donnie Brand, and we represent Tri-Dam in regards to the county's CEQA compliance related to this repeal. Tri-Dam operates Toluca Reservoir, as you know, and we submit this comment in opposition to the county's proposed repeal. The repeal could have significant impacts, not only on reservoir operations, as was discussed, but on water quality, and it will inexorably result in litigation, both between Tri-Dam and the county, and between Tri-Dam and individual landowners around the reservoir. The repeal is a project under the California Environmental Quality Act and at the very least is subject to an initial study. The county's attempt to rush the appeal through or the repeal through under a broad exemption is improper and unsupported. Now, as was discussed, generally Tridem's regulation of the FERC project is governed by its shoreline management plan. And according to the county, the repeal is okay because the code largely duplicates Tridem's regulatory authority, but that's just not the case. The code does much more than just, than does the plan. The code governs boating, including the direction of travel, aircraft landings, parasailing, dumping waste, boats for hire permitting, houseboats, watercraft proximity to the dam facilities, life jacket requirements, boat passenger capacity. It also prohibits dumping human or animal waste, garbage, oil, et cetera, from the boat or the shore. All of these things are in addition to the regulations contained in the shoreline management plan. They are not duplicative. And repealing these provisions obviously has the potential to cause environmental impacts. And because of that potential, the repeal is subject to CEQA. Now, the county relies exclusively on Code of Regulations 1415061 , commonly known as the Common Sense Exemption, for finding that the repeal is exempt from CEQA review. But the Common Sense Exemption only applies where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the repeal may have a significant effect on the environment. And where legitimate questions exist, that there's a possibility of environmental impacts, the county cannot simply declare the project exempt. And just last month, the First District Court of Appeal in Russian Riverkeeper v. County of Sonoma found that the common-sense exemption was inappropriate when levied against a government action that relaxes an existing regulatory scheme, and that's exactly what this action is doing. The repeal will also almost certainly foment an environment of outward defiance. Although county claims that it will continue to enforce above the 515 foot elevation, we believe that the, We believe that the repeal will embolden landowners to challenge Tridam's authority to regulate the reservoir and will likely require additional legal action. Tridam will pursue all available legal remedies to ensure that the county fully analyzes the potential direct and indirect impacts of the repeal under CEQA, and it will not allow landowner conduct around the reservoir to violate the standards of the plan. We ask the county to reconsider this appeal and work with Tridam to

Justin Fields , City of Boulder, For the comment.

Justin Fields , City of Boulder, Online. Karen Grove , City of Boulder, We have no online public comment.

Justin Fields , City of Boulder, On. Justin Fields , City of Boulder, Julie Julie oh yeah no, but I was gonna say no, no, I have some more questions on.

Julie Moss Lewis, Assistant County Council. I am open to answer any questions you have. I would recommend that legal questions not be asked in the public forum.

We just had a whole bunch of legal stuff thrown at us, Julie. Hopefully not asked legal questions. So, I mean, I think the board, I think within the lines of what's been posted.

I think the board, if it has concerns, can choose to continue the item to receive attorney-client privilege communication. And if there are concerns, that would be probably your best option.

I'm happy to state that I obviously do not believe that my office would concur with the legal analysis that was just provided to you. That said, I absolutely agree with Ms. Moss-Lewis that to the extent the board wishes to discuss further with my office that we continue the item for today and so that we can do that in a privileged setting. That's up to you.

All right. Ms. Full, I would like to hear what you have to say about it.

If the rest of the board has concerns, I respect the board's wishes. However, I think it's good to remind that there were multiple town halls where over the last couple years, each time an invite was sent to Triton Am to participate. were multiple but i believe one of your staff members no longer works for you and i think you also had a communication internally that was an issue um i also think it's a two-way street We have not been included in the SMP, and if we had been early on with the SMP, yeah, and we publicly sent a letter before the public comment period saying exactly what our concerns were and that there weren't any public town halls, and then you finally had one. I... I feel that the county has done what they could with the staff members that were available over the last year, at least with my communication to that staff member. And it's a two way street. I don't see, this isn't a surprise. It's been talked about for a while. um and the concerns and what also concerns me is what was just said like how is this if you're worried about this in court then that must mean that your own smp can't hold up county shouldn't be responsible for whatever you're insinuating with the court with the ruling from the court system. I'm concerned about that comment, but if the board's worried about this, it's fine, but I would like to proceed. I think too much work has been done internally. I spent nearly two years on this. And it's gotten to this and tried and been nowhere, but all again, you don't have that staff are there anymore. So I'm wondering if the communication even went up the train.

Um, is there one? Well, I don't, I don't want to interrupt you again. Cause I have a couple of questions and, uh, I don't really think they're too deep on the loss. So I'm going to, I'm willing to take the risk. Um, You know, something came up on relaxing existing regulatory scheme, but more so a lot of things were brought up like waste. And I mean, there are so many Regulations in California that are already existing that like I mean just just what my question. Let me refine it make it simple. us relaxing this. This one thing and going the direction we're going with it. There are still regulatory ordinances, state environmental ordinances that address the issues and that those protections are still in place in those certain instances. Is that correct? Miss Lewis?

yes and the reason for that is looking at the nature of a FERC license and a shoreline management plan in particular what was included in Tridam's licensure materials both the license and the shoreline management plan it is abundantly clear to me that they have total jurisdiction at or below the 515 elevation line, including everything that happens on the water. The shoreline management plan was aspirational in hoping the county would choose to assist it in some of the enforcement issues. There was a contemplation of an agreement through which the counties Role in that would be articulated and there was hints at payment and incentivization of the county for helping TRIDEM do that. Everything the county does at or below the 515 line under federal law is with the consent of TRIDAM. We act there at their pleasure. If they said, we are now taking over boating regulation, there is enough authority in their TRIDAM documents for them to do that. The fact that they may have depended on us for regulatory assistance and leaned on a county ordinance, which without their pleasure has no effect in a federal licensed FERC area is something that's just happened over time. They can indeed engage in all sorts of regulation to do with boating and to do with building docks. They can take their, specific language in the license, allowing them to take things down to issue fines and certainly to the extent that they're willing to suffer the sheriff to continue with the voting. The sheriff is willing to do that to the willing to the extent they're willing to suffer the building official to work in collaboration with them on Structures that are both partially above and partially below the 515 line. The chief building official is willing to continue that as well. And so the county staff recommends that the county be open to the possibility of an MOU for more coordinated development. But we're not taking away any actual rule or regulation that Tri-Dam doesn't have in its authority to post and enforce by itself.

I just want to piggyback briefly. I agree with everything Ms. Mosulish just said. You know, it is state voting law still exists. All these things do still exist. And as she indicated that the current SMP does contemplate, you know, sort of a partnership. We do that, you know, you heard the sheriff speak earlier about enforcement on other lakes over Labor Day weekend. You know, we typically have MOUs with those agencies and actually the sheriff's office is usually compensated for it. In some circumstances, we are, I think, very open to an MOU with Tridam. There are other means of effectuating perhaps some of what they're looking for here. We don't believe this ordinance is only means or that it's even a necessary means.

Yeah, and I would add to that, I mean, we can't by ordinance say what happens at or below the 515 line without Tridem allowing us to do that. We don't have that authority. And if you read the ordinance that we're preparing to, we're recommending rescission of, there's all sorts of capture language to make sure everybody understands that TRIDEM is the jurisdictional authority. And so I don't think an ordinance is necessarily the best vehicle to sort out whose role is what. The very first implementation measure in the Shoreline Management Plan contemplated an MOU or similar contractual arrangement. We've looked for that arrangement and can't find it. It looks like an ordinance was put on the books without the first step ever having been taken, which was that

that mou so i think you more than answer my question revolving you thank you very much um barring any other supervisor questions or anything i'm willing to take the recommendation of uh uh vice chair in a in a motion if she's so willing

Move to continue this item. You're going to that. Yeah. No, continue with the staff recommendation at this time.

Okay.

So, yes, I could see how that was.

Do we have a, do we have a 2nd to that? I'll support the vice chair.

I'll 2nd.

There is a motion in a 2nd, all those in favor. Hi, those opposed. Passes on 5 over the board. Yes. Let's say then, right? Stop and set out.

Stacey Freedman, REL Appalachia, ready chair.

Stacey Freedman, REL Appalachia, Okay, now we're back on to our regular agenda. Stacey Freedman, REL Appalachia, Stacey, and you please read out our first regular item.

Okay, regular agenda. Yes, item 17. sorry, James, Denise agreement administration authorized support chair to execute amendment 3 to professional services agreement with 19, 6 architects for. for architectural and engineering services for the new behavioral health building, increasing the not to exceed amount by $29,750 from $1,404,680 to $1,434,438 for additional services not anticipated or included within the original scope of the work. um I think I'm confused no it's okay um is it just it was on my only my printed one is that what happened I think so okay yes a little bit off here I apologize no it's okay so I think this item was on the consent agenda correct and was already approved okay yes it just got printed out and I apologize to the item 18 regular agenda Correct.

Administration.

Yes. Item 18, action item administration. One, receive a presentation and conduct a public hearing on the fiscal year 2026-27 recommended county budget. And two, direct staff to return on September 22nd, 2026 with the county budget resolutions for adoption.

Good morning, Board. Denise Huebner, Assistant CEO. Today, I'll be walking through several key areas. I'll begin with an overview presentation.

Stacey, do I need to share it? Yes. Oh, okay. I thought it was shared before starting.

Let's try this again.

This is a moment for me to use some filler words that don't mean anything.

Okay.

I wrote the definitions of the words that can't be said.

Is that a good enough joke?

Sure. When does a joke become a bad joke? We're going to stop the line there as an answer to the minute. Appreciate the good. We're filling mine. sorry hey don't ever be sorry denise you have a lot better so you know if the computer can't keep up with your work then it's computer's problems

I do have a little screen pull up. Sorry. I don't know. It's sharing.

Let's just do a couple minutes right now. I'm going to just grab some water.

I don't know.

No. Actually, we'll wait for you here. Oh, here we go.

We got him. I don't want to.

Thank you. I knew as soon as I would have thought not about it. It's a way to purge, you know?

I accepted sharing the background is the problem Stacey.

Okay, let's start over. There we go.

That's good. Okay, today I'll be walking through several key areas. I'll begin with an overview of where we currently stand in the budget process. From there, I'll provide a look at the overall budget followed by a general fund overview to give you a sense of our fiscal position. Next, I'll move into our revenue outlook, which will help frame the financial landscape we're operating in for the upcoming year. Then I'll share an overview of the notable budget adjustments and department requests that we're proposing including major changes and resource needs that have been identified across our organization. Finally, I'll close with a few other items for discussion, staff recommendations, and a few acknowledgements. With that overview in mind, let's go ahead and get started. As we move through this year's budget changes, it's important to recognize that many factors influenced our financial planning. We're navigating an economic downturn that's affecting both local activity and broader fiscal conditions. At the same time, federal and state funding remains uncertain, which makes long term planning significantly more challenging. We're also contending with rising inflation, along with increasing costs in key areas such as technology, utilities, and insurance. These pressures continue to shape how we manage ongoing operational needs. Another major consideration is CalPERS unfunded liability, which continues to place substantial burden on the general fund. And of course we know that additional unknown factors often emerge throughout the year, each of which can have an impact and require us to adjust accordingly. All of these elements play a critical role in shaping how we build a responsible and sustainable budget. Calaveras County follows the two-step process as allowed under the County Budget Act, which requires the board to approve the recommended budget by June 30th of each year, and then hold public hearings and formally adopt the budget by October 2nd. This year, the recommended budget was presented to the board on June 9th and 10th and approved on June 23rd. As in prior years, it was built using a conservative approach, meaning revenues were estimated on the low side and expenditures on the high side to ensure fiscal stability. The recommended budget is scheduled for adoption on September 22nd. Once adopted, it will become the fiscal year 26-27 adopted budget, which is the official budget of record for the county. The revised budget reflects several important updates, including adjustments to dedicated funding sources and related expenditures, True-up and rebudgeting of grant revenues, capital project costs, and contractual obligations that did not materialize in fiscal year 25-26, updated general fund contingencies and reserve levels based on the close of the prior fiscal year, adjustments for actual ending fund balances in every account, and any additional factors that were unknown at the time recommended budget was prepared back in April. Because the purpose of the revised budget is to incorporate updated information and reflect final year end adjustments, my focus today will be on the changes included in the revisions. The fiscal year 26 revised recommended budget reflects a significant increase in total projected revenues compared to the fiscal year 26 recommended budget approved as the county's working budget. Total revenues increased by approximately 44.7 million, rising from 281.2 million to 325.9 million, representing overall growth of 15.91%. A major driver of this increase is the substantial change in operating transfers in which grew by nearly 39.9 million. This increase is primarily the result of realignment of funding across county departments and the movement of reserve funds to support planned expenditures in fiscal year 26, including our large capital projects. Other financing sources also increased sharply by approximately 9.8 million, reflecting additional funds for financing the animal shelter construction. Taxes, fines, penalties, along with permits and franchise revenues experienced slight growth. Tax revenues increased by 627,000, demonstrating a slight increase in stability in the county's tax base. Fines, forfeitures, and penalties increased by 180,000. Licenses, permits, and franchise revenue grew by roughly 112,000. Due to changes recently adopted in fee structures for environmental health and onsite wastewater, And additionally, charges for services also rose by 279,000, reflecting that additional revenue from those service fees. Revenue from the use of money and property increased by $100,000, showing a modest but positive return. Two categories declined during the revision process. State intergovernmental revenue decreased by 5.9 million, reflecting adjustments in state funding allocations. This change is largely due to an anticipated delay in grant reimbursements related to the behavioral health building being constructed under that grant. Miscellaneous revenue declined by approximately 1.6 million due to the removal of one-time use of funds out of the PARS investment account. which was previously included to offset the general fund deficit. Although the revised budget reflects what appears a substantial increase in revenues, much of this change is attributed to the realignment of existing funds rather than new or expanded revenue sources. The movement of reserve funds and reliance on one time financing resources were used to augment ongoing costs and support planned expenditures. This approach strengthens the county's financial position for fiscal year 2526, but highlights the importance of continued monitoring to ensure long term sustainability as one time funds are exhausted. Although the county is projected to receive approximately $326 million in total revenue, only roughly $45 million of that is truly discretionary. The remaining revenue is restricted or tied to specific departments and purposes, such as grants, reimbursements, or program-specific funding, which means it cannot be redirected to broader county needs. This distinction is extremely important because it shows how limited our flexible funding really is when we're trying to address countywide priorities and budget pressures. The fiscal year 26 revised recommended budget reflects a total expenditure increase of approximately $67.3 million. A significant portion of this increase is attributed to changes in operating transfers out, which rose by the same $39.9 million that the transfers in rose by. This increase is driven by the realignment of funds across county departments and planned expansion of our capital projects. Capital assets also increased by roughly 9 million, largely due to that increase in the capital expenditure for the animal shelter financing, further highlighting the county's planned investment in long-term infrastructure. appropriation for contingencies increased by approximately 17.6 million this change reflects the annual adjustment of every county fund due to the close of the prior fiscal year and includes updates to fund balances that arise from various other revisions incorporated throughout the budget changes. Growth in salaries and employee benefits increased about $837,000, which is mostly attributed to costs tied to responding to the Gann Fire, as well as the correction of an error previously identified in the probation department's salary savings. Services and supplies increased by $278,000, driven primarily by expenditures related to the Gann Fire. Debt service experienced a smaller increase of roughly 172,000 due to the animal shelter financing debt payment. Other charges decreased by 487, mostly due to a correction in the project deposit account necessitated by the correction in non-spendable fund balance. Interfund transfers saw minimal adjustment related to staff reimbursements. Overall, while the revised expenditure plan reflects a sizable increase, it's important to note that much of this growth is linked to structural adjustments, including fund realignments, corrections to prior budgeting, planned capital investments, contingency adjustments based on the prior year close, and one-time emergency response costs, rather than broad expansion of ongoing operational spending. These adjustments ensure the county can meet its planned obligations in fiscal year 26 while also responding to emerging needs. The counting spending is distributed across major functional areas, and the pattern is clearly weighted towards a large few categories. Special revenue and health and human safety dominate the budget, together representing more of half than all expenditures. This suggests that a substantial portion of funding is either restricted for specific uses or directed towards essential community services such as public health, social services, and related programs. County admin and finance accounts for just over 8% of total expenditures. This level of investment reflects the ongoing need to support core administrative functions such as board governance, fiscal management, human resources, technology systems, compliance, and overall organizational leadership. Although not as sizable as public facing service areas, spending in this category is essential for maintaining operational stability, ensuring regulatory adherence, and enabling the efficient delivery of services across all departments. So now we're gonna jump into the general fund of the revised budget. Overall revenue has decreased by about $270,000 or just under a half a percent. I'd like to walk through the major changes so you can clearly see what's driving the movement across categories. Charges for services increased by $279,000 and licenses and permits by $112,000. That's due to the environmental health and onsite wastewater fee structures. These updates bring our service fees in line with program costs and are expected to improve the long-term sustainability of those programs. Fines, forfeitures, and penalties increased by $180,000. These shifts are modest but consistent with anticipated activity levels based on prior year actuals. Intergovernmental revenue shows targeted increases, particularly in state funding, which rises by $306,000. This change is driven by grant activity and disaster preparedness, elections, and veteran services. Federal revenue also increases tied to updated projection in taxes. For PILT dollars, other revenues such as miscellaneous revenue see minimal changes. The largest decline appears in operating transfers in, which decreases by $1.9 million. This reduction is primarily due to the removal of one time $1.6 million in PARS fund from the investment account that was previously recommended to bring in to cover a portion of the general fund deficit. That portion of the general fund deficit is now budgeted to be covered with other one-time rollover fund balance. Revenue from the use of money and property increases by $100,000, reflecting updated interest projections based on current performance. Finally, tax revenue increases by approximately $534,000. This is driven by updated property tax and excise tax projections. Overall, these shifts reflect changes in one-time funding sources The impact of updated fee schedules and the influence of grant supported programs, providing us with a clearer picture of revenue for the upcoming year. Looking at the revised 26-27 general fund expenditure summary our total budget increases by about $5.2 million or 6.5% or 4% overall. I'd like to walk you through the key drivers behind these changes, so you have a clear sense of what's contributing to this year's adjustments. The largest change is in operating transfers out, which increases by $4.2 million. This increase reflects prior year rollover fund balance being transferred into the county capital account. These rollover dollars largely come from savings generated during the hiring freeze, as well as unexpected prior disaster reimbursements. Capital asset increased by $336,000. This change is driven by the use of one-time rollover funds to cover the cost of a vehicle for the sergeant in the coroner's office and the first year implementation costs of a new permitting system. On the salaries and employee benefits line, we see an increase of $588,000. Again, this is the correction of an error in the probation department budget and unfreezing of some environmental health positions that are now tied to the new adopted fee schedule. In addition, there were other salary adjustments in veteran services, marine safety and elections, but all of those adjustments were directly tied to grant revenue supporting those changes. Overall, these adjustments reflect technical corrections, grant supported staffing changes, and the strategic use of one time resources rather than a major program expansion. These actions allow us to maintain an accurate and responsible budget as we move through the year. This slide breaks down general fund expenditures by functional area and shows the list of departments within each area. General fund spending is heavily concentrated into two functional areas, public safety protection and county admin and finance. Public safety accounts for just over half of all expenditures reflecting the general fund's role in supporting core law enforcement, emergency response and related protective services. County admin and finance represents another substantial portion of the budget at nearly 37%, demonstrating the significant cost of running countywide governance, administrative, fiscal, and operational support systems. Land use is the largest of the smaller categories and accounts for about 6% of spending in the general fund. The remaining areas, ed, rec, and community, and health and human safety, make up a relatively small share of the general fund accounting for a combined 8%. This distribution suggests that many services in these areas are supported through under other funding sources outside the general fund leaving the general fund primarily responsible for administration and public safety. Overall, the pattern highlights a general fund budget focused on foundational government operations and essential protective services with limited discretionary or program specific spending. The fiscal year 26-27 general fund deficit is sitting at $3.78 million. In addition to this amount, the county is relying on over just $1 million in one-time funds to support the budget. When these one-time resources are taken into account, the ongoing structural deficit totals approximately $4.86 million. The $4.86 million represents our starting point for next fiscal year before accounting for any cost escalation or other effort upward pressures on expenditures that do not have other funding sources. Well, one time funds help close the gap in short term, they are only a temporary solution relying on them to address an ongoing deficits, not a sustainable long term. fiscal practice, underscoring the need to bring reoccurring revenues and expenditures back into balance. In addition, reducing to this deficit level required significant reductions and the continuation of staffing freezes already in place. These actions underscore the seriousness of the structural imbalance and the need for long-term strategies to restore fiscal stability. Here you'll see a breakdown of the major sources contributing to our general fund equity this year. Overall, the equity reflects the combination of stable revenue performance and one-time savings accumulated across the organization. We start with just over 2.8 million in unanticipated general revenues contributing to fund equity. Some adjustments were made to property and excise tax projections for the upcoming year based on prior year collection activity. In addition to that, we have roughly $1.7 million in remaining contingencies that were not needed during the fiscal year. Contingencies get rebudgeted out of available fund balance every single year. Another significant component is unanticipated disaster revenue and grant reimbursements totaling just under $1 million. These reimbursements played an important role in strengthening our year-end position, which is a direct reflection of the coordinated efforts of the Sheriff OES team, Public Works, the Auditor's Office, and administration to recoup prior year disaster funds. One of the largest contributors to the general fund ending fund equity is the hiring freeze and additional salary savings, which totaled about $2.75 million above what was backed out in the proposed budget. This reflects not only year-end savings, but also the intentional action the board took to reduce ongoing costs and bring the general fund closer to structural balance. These actions played a critical role in stabilizing the fund moving into next fiscal year. Finally, miscellaneous departmental savings and additional revenue contributed to another $1.4 million. These are smaller amounts throughout all individual departments that taken together meaningfully support our overall fiscal stability. In total, these categories highlight how a combination of prudent management, one-time reimbursements and department level efficiencies help strengthen the general fund equity to start the current year. The $9.6 million in general fund one-time rollover fund equity is allocated across several key areas. $1.8 million is rebudgeted in general fund contingencies, which is the board policy level. $3.78 million in one-time fund equity balance is being used to cover the general fund deficit. This helps balance the budget for the current year. 4 million is being deposited into the county capital account for one-time needs. The budget as presented includes funds from that one-time rollover balance.

I apologize. That's okay.

You need me to do it?

Yeah, let's try to help them. They're showing them.

I don't think anybody in this room would like that.

There we go. Okay.

Let me get back to my thing. $4 million is being deposited into the county capital account for one-time needs. The budget as presented includes funds from that one-time rollover balance for a series of capital needs, including facility improvements, equipment purchases, and project support across multiple departments. Each line represents a targeted use of one-time dollars to advance specific priorities without creating new ongoing commitments. These adjustments ensure that rollover funds are directed towards one-time infrastructure and capital investments rather than ongoing operational spending. I want to take a moment to highlight where we've set our general fund contingencies and our general fund reserve for the upcoming year. General fund contingencies is set at $1.8 million. This level is slightly above the board's policy target, which is 2% of the average general fund expenditures over the prior three years. Maintaining contingencies at this level gives an appropriate buffer for unforeseen needs, which may arise through the fiscal year, while still staying closely aligned with policy expectations. The general fund reserve is set just over $6 million. This amount aligns directly with the board's reserve policy, which calls for 8%. of the average general fund revenue over the same three-year period. Keeping reserves at this level ensures we maintain a strong fiscal foundation, which is especially important given the shifting nature of state and federal funding. The county's total general fund revenue expected for the fiscal year is $77 million. Restricted or department-specific revenues account for 41% of that, totaling $32 million. These funds are tied to specific programs or legal requirements and must be used for those designated purposes, limiting flexibility in how they can support broader organizational needs. Discretionary revenues make up 59% or $45 million. These funds can be allocated by the Board of Supervisors to support countywide priorities, core services, and operational needs. This funding is still highly limited when viewed against the broad range of county services, mandates, and operational needs it must support. These funds serve as the primary flexible resource for essential governing functions, policy priorities and areas without dedicated funding streams. And I've listed all the departments that are covered by those discretionary funds. The next two slides are a summary of the general fund discretionary revenue. The first slide lists the major sources of revenue. Property tax related revenues are the dominant source, consistently generating the highest totals each year and showing steady slight growth over the five year period. Excise tax, sales and use tax, Prop 172 and TOT remain flat at a much lower level with minor annual fluctuations. Additionally, VLF remains flat when taking into consideration that a portion of collections in fiscal year 24 were actually for fiscal year 23. This one shows all other categories of discretionary revenue. The other tax category holds many other property tax related revenues such as unsecured taxes and supplemental taxes and shows consistent growth. As you can see, most of the other revenue sources have that slight year to year fluctuation or remain flat, but do not show large swings. There is a common misconception that the county's general fund is the recipient of all or the majority of property taxes, when in reality only approximately 18 cents of every dollar gets deposited into the county's coffers, 17% of which goes into the county's general fund. I'd also like to walk through the breakdown of the 8.25% Calaveras County sales tax and highlight how those dollars are distributed across state and local agencies. The single biggest share of sales tax collected in Calaveras County, 48%, goes to the state general fund. The county general fund and the incorporated city receive 12% altogether. This is the portion that directly supports our local services and operations, the sheriffs and district attorney offices are budgeted to receive the 6% related to prop 172 and that funding supports specifically public safety operation and related activities. Fire districts received 12% of total collections, this comes from measure eight collections and is in addition to the property taxes shown on the last slide. This represents total discretionary revenue figures increasing over the, their increases over the five-year period. Each bar rises from the first to the fourth year with slight leveling off in the current budget year due to the practice of fiscally conservative budgeting. The line graph overlaid on the bar shows year-over-year growth rates. Discretionary revenues continue to rise modestly, but the growth rate is declining indicating slower year-over-year expansion. This pattern suggests that while revenue levels remain steady, the county should anticipate more modest natural revenue growth moving forward. I'd like to point out that fiscal year 25-26 only had a 0.64% growth in discretionary revenue, a level that's not even adequate to keep up with annual inflation, increase your insurance and UAL costs, healthcare increases, much less the natural progression of salaries and benefits. So now we're gonna jump into department requests. First, starting with personnel changes that are incorporated into the budget package. Calaveras County Media, the manager title is being updated to align the department's rebranding, ensuring consistency between the role and the department's new identity. Building Division is asking for one building inspector position to support operational needs and the reclassification of an account tech to an administrative assistant to better reflect the duties that are currently being performed. Environmental health positions previously frozen are being unfrozen, supported by the new approved fee structure. Unfreeze the library transportation officer, which acts as the courier between all branches to maintain operational capacity. And then public works, delete one public works analyst position, reclassify the business administrator to department analyst. To align with responsibilities, reclassify the Director of Integrated Ways to the Deputy Director of Public Works overseeing administration and operations as part of a department restructuring. And increase the pay scale for the Director of Public Works to reflect expanded responsibilities and organizational changes. As noted on the previous slide, Public Works is experiencing several position changes. This is driven by a coordinated effort between admin and Public Works to restructure how integrated waste management and the airport are organized within the county. Under this proposal, both integrated waste management and the airport will formally report to Public Works. The director of Public Works is already serving as the interim integrated waste director and is currently overseeing an organizational and fee study to strengthen that program's long-term stability. Additionally, the airport's operational needs and current projects align more closely with public works expertise and funding structure, making this shift in oversight practical and beneficial. This change aligns the airport oversight with current county code, ensuring the organizational structure matches existing legal and administrative requirements. Overall, these changes position Public Works to manage related infrastructure operations and regulatory functions more cohesively and efficiently and improve coordination across related county functions. There was one position that was not recommended from the building department to reclass an account tech to a department analyst. It's not recommended at this time, but we did recommend reclassing that position to an admin assistant that was shown on the prior slide to align with the job functions currently being performed. The county has multiple CIP accounts. The county's main CIP account, the airport CIPs that incur in that enterprise fund and the road CIP account. The projects that have had changes since board approval in June are in bold. The funding for each project is also specified in the tables. I'd like to note that many projects that the county complete are done using restricted funds such as grants that are required to be used for that specific purpose and cannot be used for other purposes. A perfect example of that is the construction currently in progress for the behavioral health CIP. The projects that are labeled as using the county capital fund are funded with prior years general fund rollover fund balance that was transferred to the county capital fund. Thus, those funds are discretionary. The projects that were adjusted based on actual expenditures from the prior fiscal year are the DAA building, the behavioral health building, The animal shelter was adjusted to account for the project costs related to the financing agreement, the Red Hill slide projects were combined into one project. The new countywide projects that are being requested are the sheriff office switches had a prior year invoice that still needs to be paid and the sheriff office boiler room replacement projects. The airport and road CIPs that were adjusted are also listed in bold. The airport AWAS project is expected to receive additional federal grant funds and which is adjusted for that factor. And there were a handful of road CIP projects that were adjusted based on prior year expenditures and remaining costs. The changes to capital assets are also outlined in bold on the next two slides. IT, we included the first year implementation costs of a new permitting software system that will benefit multiple county departments. Sheriff admin patrol, we adjusted the rollover vehicle amounts for prior expenses that were paid already. And we included two new vehicles one primarily paid with a prior year insurance payout and the other, which is grant funded over a five year period. We also included a vehicle for the sergeant aside to the corner division paid for with general fund rollover dollars that was an asset that was previously not recommended in the prior version of the budget. Sheriff also has to cal aim transport vehicles that are fully path grant funded and behavioral health has a replacement copier paid for with behavioral health dollars. Across many budget units, the county made a series of targeted financial and budget adjustments to align revenues, fund balances, project activity, reimbursement timing, and many other new factors that have surfaced since budget development in April to be in line with current operational realities. A summary of the most notable changes are outlined on the next five slides. Adjustments here include increased FAA reimbursements and related project costs, Contingency adjustments throughout the whole county necessitated by the prior year close and incorporation of both revenue and scheduled payments for the animal services debt. service pursuant to the Board-approved payment plan. Capital project budgets were trued up to actual activity and newly identified needs, and additional updates include corrected tax projections, inclusion of the Lilly Gap grant project for disaster preparedness, and modified behavioral health transfers to support cash flow while accounting for delayed state reimbursements. Here you'll see the establishment of dedicated SRS for both the Animal Services Facility and the District Attorney Building, consolidating board authorized construction funding into single accounts since those projects are now in process. For Animal Services, this includes $3.37 million in transfers for building costs, a $1.5 million held in contingencies per our financing agreement, and recognition of $9.9 million related to iBank financing. The county capital fund incorporates a $4 million general fund rollover transfer to support capital assets, capital projects, and one-time maintenance needs. General revenues were updated based on prior year actuals and revised projections, resulting in an increase of $253,000 and the removal of the county capital transfer used to previously balance the general fund. Transient occupancy tax revenue is estimated to increase by $50,000 with minor changes on the expenditure slides. This will be discussed in detail on a future slide. The assessor budget includes a one-time 150,000 consulting contract funded by general fund rollover. Behavioral health consolidated fund balances by transferring 15.9 million into a new combined operating unit and added funding for minor operational needs. An additional support for cash flow is included for the behavioral health building. They included $2.5 million transfer of BHA funds, along with an additional $1.3 million from opioid settlement funds. The building division incorporated costs for a new inspector. Elections received additional $50,000 in state support, and AG reflected reduced state aid. Animal Services needs an additional 50,000 for extra hire staffing to match actual historical needs. Human Resources reduced insurance premiums by over a half a million dollars to reflect their actual billing versus estimated billing. Planning has a one-time consulting contract funded by general fund rollover and reduced grant related revenues and transfers. Public health reduce transfers to environmental health and onsite wastewater in relation to updated fee structures in those departments. The sheriff's office has several significant updates which we've touched a little bit already, including prior year capital cost true ups adding to replacement vehicles funded through insurance. proceeds grant reimbursements and county capital and removing one time parse transfers in favor of using general fund rollover balance. Other operational updates include reduced reimbursements and utilities to match actuals and additional state grant revenue for veteran services. The adjustments outlined on the prior five slides, refined capital planning, aligned funding sources with current revenue conditions, corrected for prior year actuals, updated figures with new facts or assumptions, and incorporated new grant funds across multiple departments. The other items for discussion prop 172 allocation displayed here is the prop 172 public safety allocation is approved by the board in June. Currently, the sheriff admin patrol units budgeted to receive 90% and the district attorney is budgeted to receive 10% of the anticipated revenue. Moving on to transient occupancy taxes. The two sources of TOT funds are rollover TOT fund equity and projected current year tax revenue. The total available funds are $2.83 million. The budget as presented allocates the following, 25% each to the Sheriff Patrol Unit and the Roads Department, $350,000 to CVB, $50,000 to the Chamber of Commerce, $500,000 towards fire protection, $367,435 of which is for the CDF Dispatch Contract, and $132,565 to the Independent Fire Districts, $51,000 for the Decker Tech Contract that is used solely for TOT host compliance, $417,797 to the General Fund to reduce the deficit, and $114,601 is budgeted into contingencies for the current year. So today staff has two recommendations. First, that the board provide direction on any modifications that need to be incorporated into the budget. And second, that the board directs staff to return on September 22nd with the county budget resolutions for adoption. This will keep us in full compliance with the County Budget Act and allow us to finalize the fiscal year 26-27 adopted budget of record. In closing, I want to extend a sincere thank you to the board, our department heads, fiscal staff, human resources, the auditor's office and information technology. Admin truly appreciates the coordination that's gone into this year's budget development. I also want to acknowledge that this has been a year marked of significant sacrifice. Your willingness to work together to address the deficit and take necessary steps now will help us avoid much larger impacts in the future. We appreciate everyone's commitment and collaboration. That concludes my budget presentation and I'm available to answer any questions.

Sorry, with the board, we go directly to public comment and then we bring it back to the board and work through their questions from there. Right. Public comment.

Good morning. Peggy Flynn, Railroad Flat. I understand this year's final budget may contain commitments that cannot be rewritten at the last meeting of the cycle, but the public should not accept a structural deficit as inevitable when the county has not presented a complete public analysis of its largest spending category, total employee compensation. The county has identified 645 full-time equivalent positions. We have been told personnel costs represent 57% of the county budget, yet the public budget discussion has focused on vacancies and service reductions without a clear presentation of salary, employee pension contributions, unfunded pension liability payments, health and welfare contributions, retiree health obligations, overtime, leave liabilities, and other compensation costs. County employees provide important public services and deserve fair compensation, but the families paying for county government deserve a voice. Many residents have no defined benefit pension, no employer-paid retiree health coverage, and no ability to pass the rising costs on to taxpayers. Before the next recommended budget, directing the county executive officer to publish a 5-, 10-, and 15-year total compensation and structural balance report would go a long way in reestablishing budget transparency with the community. It should show how the county's actual pension and health costs, the employee versus taxpayer share, the projected liability path and saving scenarios from lawful employee cost sharing, health and welfare contribution changes, vacancy attrition, and future higher benefit design. Do not ask the public to accept service reductions, new taxes, or use of one-time money until the county has shown that every major expenditure category including compensation has been transparently analyzed. The public is not asking for rhetoric, We are asking for the numbers and a plan. The county's budget process currently gives the residents three minutes at a board meeting after the administration has already developed its budget recommendations. That has kept public comment but not meaningful public participation. I am asking the board to establish a two-year fiscal sustainability and budget advisory committee made up of residents from all five districts with financial, business, service, and workforce perspectives. Its role would be advisory, transparent, and nonpartisan, It would review reoccurring revenue, structural deficits, reserves, staffing, pension and unfunded liability costs, health and welfare obligations, retiree health and service priorities before the recommended budget is finalized. The committee would not negotiate contracts, replace the board, Or engage in collective bargaining, but it would ensure that the public has access to the numbers early enough to make recommendations that matter. And it would require a public board response to those recommendations. If the county wants public trust, it must create a process where residents can miss 1.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning. Just wanted to bring up 3 things that I felt weren't necessarily fully. Blushed out within that nice presentation and thank you for that very much. There's a couple of things as we're considering the. The fire department that seem to not have been given enough due 1st 1 will be. Again, it has been touched on, but EMS is the safety net for all of us in this community. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It's 24-7. It's year-round. So it's not wildfire season. It's floods. It's rains. It's everything. It's a critical thing to keep in mind when you're looking at budgeting. um the second would be insurance i'm not sure it has been brought up but i'd like to find more information on it budgetary cuts to fire departments are picked up by all insurance companies it's like they just see that immediately what happens is 50% weighted average is on staffing. 40% is on water. 10% is on dispatch. So changes in fire department funding trigger an already difficult situation for homeowners. It has the same effect when it happens with auto insurance. I'd ask the board, have you done any study to look at the impact that has taken place or would take place on the citizens in Calaveras if there's any budget cuts. Presumably, perhaps not. But I would ask that that could be looked at. The last thing I'd like to talk about is that we've talked about EMS, we talked about insurance. The one thing I haven't seen a line item on or a pie chart about is community. And at the end of the day, we have to be stewards for the people that live here. That's the responsibility of government. The things that are all outlined here are basically to serve this community. And the community has been showing up for months now to let you know how important fire is to them, that it's the one thing that protects everything else. It protects the infrastructure, the roadways, all the other things that the county has to invest in, has to pay for. There's really only one entity that protects all of it and touches all the members of the community. And that's the fire department. So I just really would ask that you consider that. I know that there's a lot of great information in there and data. I know that it's difficult in managing budgets, but sometimes it's finding a way to maybe invest that pays off that really makes a difference. So thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

TAB, Mark McIntyre:" hey. TAB, Mark McIntyre:" But laughing until the end when we we are moving forward it's actually the board rules Marty you got it.

Hi, my name is Pat Gutman from McCollum E. Hill. I'm going to read an article from the Valley Springs News, and it's called Calco Fire Board Responds to County's Financial Report. We are writing you not only as a district board members, but as members of our community. It is safe to say that we were disappointed and dismayed by the report in the newspaper that fire districts in the county have a $9 million surplus. This is far from the truth. Moreover, 42% of the reserve funds in the county's budget presentation come from one district. It paints a rosy picture that does not exist. Measure A funds approved by voters in 2024 have allowed the district to stabilize its operation. A minimum of 70% of the funds are restructured for staffing. As a district does not meet current National Fire Protection Association guidelines, the district has used these funds to provide a basic pension plan, a slight increase in wages, and an increase in staffing to meet the guidelines. Secondly, reserves are necessary to run a department effectively. We cannot leave the public vulnerable because of equipment failures or obsolescence. As stated by Chief Johnson, a new fire engine has landed a cost of $1.2 million, and they take as much as two years for delivery. The Gann Fire recently exposed another serious problem. While Cal Fire and mutual agreements certainly were instrumental in the battle to quell this massive fire, we had crews on site for days protecting structures and private property. This depletes the available resources to staff our stations and can drive overtime expenses significantly. We have been conservative in our approach to the budget and careful to use Measure A funds for specific targeted staffing requirements as set forth in the initiative. The loss of the TOT funds directly compromises our ability to staff the battalion chief position, a position that our insurance carrier is required that we staff. Our ability to maintain our coverage without a significant increase in insurance premiums is imperative. Losing $92,000 in TOT funds is not a trivial amount, and it isn't about shared sacrifice. Fire districts in this county sacrifice every day. And my comment, I won't read the rest. Almost everyone I've spoken to in the last months have told me that they have a child, a grandchild, a relative, a husband, friend who's working for the fire department. Please don't betray Calavera's finest young people who are risking their lives every day for you. Finally.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Hi, everyone. I'm Kyle Salyer, Vice President of the Local 3581 Firefighters Union. I want to first thank all our cooperators, sheriffs, dispatch, our Red Cross, Animal Services, Behavioral Health. We work a lot with them. We're very grateful for all that they do in this county. I want to highlight that, unfortunately, the fire departments do it all. We deal with people who have the behavioral and mental health problems. We're the first ones to show up at their houses. We're the first one to handle the emergencies. We're the first ones to deal with the hangings, the shootings, the stabbings, the self-inflicted, the maiming of people. We deal with that. We mobilize behavioral health. We bring them to the hospitals. We get that ball rolling. We oftentimes respond with the sheriff's office for vehicle accidents, their DUIs, their shootings, their stabbings, their violent crimes. We assist those people in their needs and assist the sheriffs in doing their job. If you had a dog that bit you or a rattlesnake that showed up in your house, you're not calling animal services. They're calling the fire department. And every time we respond. In addition to doing our primary role, which is suppress fire to protect the life of our residents and their properties. Ebbets Pass has done a great job at being a gold standard in this county for pulling themselves up out of the weeds and getting to a position of fiscal responsibility. We hope that all agencies across the board can make that happen. Unfortunately, for a lot of our coordinators in other fire agencies, they do not have what we have. They do not have unions. They do not have benefits. They do not have fair or equal pay. They struggle to staff their units. They do, and they do well with what they have. And they just got above water. I'd ask that you kindly do not strip them of all that they just learned. Thank you for my time.

Hey, good morning. Everybody sure. I'm at this point, you know who I am, but Mike Johnson has passed fire district. And today I get the privilege. I think it's a privilege to represent. The local fire districts and be the spokesperson for that. And so today it should go really quickly for me is. Looking at the presentation and looking at the numbers. Just to reiterate what we put forward before we do support. The shifting of the 10% of the proposition 172 to the district attorney's office. We know that's your prerogative to begin with not to miss. Construe that that is the case, but previously we received that 300,000 and we do support the shifting of that in the final budget. Our ask today is to is on the is to. Bring us back to the full 25% of the to be dispersed to the local fire districts. And to, of course, the dispatch fee that was coming out of the be brought back under to the general fund to come from there. So. That is it for me. Is there any questions before I step down?

We'll wait to the end of a couple of comments. If there's anything else you would like to say to us, please do.

Well, just thank you for your time and thanks for carrying us. And for those that I know, thanks, Supervisor, for always picking up my phone call when I call and discussing things and everybody else in the accounting team. Thank you.

Morning again, I'm back. Glad to have you back. Thank you. To be rather than to see is what Eric Marsh from Granite Mountain Hotshot Group used to say. If you don't know much about him, look him up. My name is Nate Attaway. I'm not only a resident of Calaveras County, but the president of a local 3581. I started working in this county as an engineer for Calaveras Consolidated Fire. I took a $22 an hour pay cut, sacrificed my benefits to take the job, but it was nice to be where I belonged, serving my own community. My wife became pregnant with our daughter. I knew at that time I needed to find something more sustainable to support my family since I had no medical benefits or retirement through CALCO. The writing was on the wall. I had to choose between my family and serving my own community. About a year later, I was offered a job with Abbott's Pass as a firefighter paramedic, which I accepted. Life was good. I was making a fair wage and I had a retirement to go with. I was not at home, but being in Calaveras County was a start. 2022, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. I'll spare you the details, but needless to say, it was some of the most uncertain and darkest moments in my family's life, not part of our plan, but she made it through. I drive by five fire stations on my way to work when I go to Abbots Pass, when I have one less than a mile away from my own home. I'm thankful every day for the choices that I have made and to be in the position that I am currently today. I got one of the proposed cuts after many phone calls with my brothers and sisters in the county. And how it affected them, especially with the major a funds and current, so we're still struggling to pay minimum wage and the majority of your firefighters in this county have no retirement or benefits package whatsoever. So, then I asked myself. Where would they be if they were dealt the hand? My family was. And the answer is with no minimum wage, no benefits. They already struggle to put food on the table. So fill in the blanks probably lose their home. The majority of the fire districts. And this county don't have whatever its past does. Measure a was a desperate attempt to fund service that quite honestly, the other fire districts were paying for. Stipends for firefighters instead of an hourly wage, no medical or retirement retirement is hardly a living. For the people that you would depend on the most, the emergencies don't care what you make. Most often times that happens to folks that can't afford them and in 20 years, I've been doing this. It's always the case. It's the folks that can't afford. I showed the rest. I appreciate the presentation that you put up the last board meeting of how solvent of its past was. It was a fantastic presentation again to build on what my brother Kyle said. It's really what the gold standard should be for all 9 districts in the council. So the TOT was sold to the fire districts in 2018 for the increase. I struggle with this because the flyer that I saw had a picture of one of the county's firefighters. All right. Well, think about it. We got to go to both. Appreciate it.

Well said, sir.

Good morning. My name is Ben Lapland. I'm here to represent the Firefighters Calvary's Consolidated as a union president of Local 5149. There's been many discussions lately on the matter of this board taking the TOT funds that were originally designated to go to the fire districts in the county. And I am here to urge you to reconsider. Just last month, on August 3rd, the Gann Fire started at my fire district's response area. My brothers and sisters from all over the state responded to our community to give their all to protect life and property. The high tail is carrying upwards of 100 pounds of gear and 100 plus degree weather to protect and serve people that they more than likely have never met. And I will tell you the support from our community was beautiful and amazing. Not only for our firefighters, but for those affected by the fire. But where were you guys? Where was our Board of Supervisors? None of you showed up for a briefing. I know for a fact Director Stopper and Director Toffanelli never stopped into our fire district to offer support or encouragement to our firefighters. Yeah, I still recall Director Stopper when you stopped in and asked for our support and our endorsement when you first decided to run.

Funny how it seems you can only remember where our stations are when it benefits you.

Director Fallendorf, you recently asked Chief Johnson what we can do to help you. My question is, what don't we do to help you? When someone is having a bad day, they don't know what to do, they call 911 and they send a fire engine. We have a county animal service, when someone calls 911 for assistance removing a rattlesnake from the property, they send a fire engine. When the coroner needs help moving a dead body, who do they call? They call the fire department. Our brothers and sisters in law enforcement need a safe opened or help drive through traffic, they call for the fire engine. We all take an oath to protect and serve our communities and we'll give it our all, up to and including our lives if need be. Every time a politician runs for office or wants a bill to pass, they ask for the support of firefighters. Why is that? Because the fire service has spent generations building respect and trust within our communities. The very TOT bill you're discussing taken away from us had a picture of my fire engine on the press release. So in conclusion, all that we're asking for from this board is to show us the support that we so often give to the communities that we're all supposed to be serving.

morning my name is cole seeley i work for calvary's consolidated fire as a volunteer fireman uh start things off i make a hundred dollars a day on a stipend uh driving the water tender with that being said i was the third ground resource on the gann fire and i went 30 plus hours on that incident without relief Moving on to the Turkey fire we had earlier this summer, I was unfortunately not at work. After talking to my fellow crew members, they were able to relay that they were making good progress, but had they had another water center there, they would have been able to make even better progress because they were out of water for more than 40 minutes. Let me break this down for you on a logistical standpoint. I know from my experience, I can put out about two acres of fire with about 500 gallons of water, which is standard on a standard type three fire engine. Water tender carries anywhere from two to 3,000 gallons of water. You guys can do the math on that. Another thing I'd like to bring up is the lack of fire hydrants in our district. That being said, that's why we staff water tenders. When there's a structure fire in our district, we send two, maybe four water tenders to that. With that being said, there's only so much that a single engine can do with 500 gallons of water on structure fire or vegetation fire. Obviously, we can start pulling engines from other districts, San Andreas, McClemmy, Cal Fire, but when we start doing that, just for the water resource on the engine, you're leaving those districts unstaffed. By having a water tender staffed, that is one, maybe two people on a water tender, bringing significantly more water to a fire. With that, I would like your reconsideration on the TOT funds to keep my position as a water tender in the budget. Thank you.

Please good morning.

My name is Jessica Fox. I am the association president for our fire association West Point West Point. We'll people fire association. I want to speak about the proposed funding reduction and what it looks like from our perspective as firefighters. I'm myself a firefighter. For us, this isn't simply a number on a budget. Losing this funding would require us to eliminate additional positions. That means fewer people beside us when we respond to structure fires, vehicle accidents, medical emergencies, or wildland fires. Fire protection requires full staffing 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We don't reduce staffing at night or during a slower season. We regularly work three to six consecutive 24 hour shifts together, particularly when staffing is strained by medical leave or other circumstances. We are not starting from a place of excess. Our current hourly wages are 19 for a firefighter, $21 for an engineer, and $22 for a captain. We also don't have individual dorm rooms or even separate living and sleeping quarters. We eat, train, work, interact with the public, and sleep in essentially the same shared spaces. We are a co-ed department and currently And having everyone living and sleeping in one open area creates real privacy challenges. As a female firefighter, I experienced that personally, but privacy is important to all of us. There is no separation between our public workspace and where we sleep, change clothes, keep our belongings, and live for days at a time. Public intrusion into our space is a real concern. These aren't luxuries. They are basic working and living conditions we hope to improve. Until earlier this year, we didn't even have employer-sponsored medical benefits. That improvement has affected all of us. But for me, it became very personal when I needed several emergency medical treatments myself. We spend our careers responding when other people need help and medical care. Having medical coverage for ourselves and our own families should not be considered extravagant. For me, that coverage provided security at a time when I really needed it. And we still don't have a retirement plan. We have made tremendous progress, but we still have a long way to go. We have spent years making do because we care deeply about the communities we serve. But dedication cannot replace adequate staffing, basic facilities, reliable equipment, and reasonable benefits. Please do not dismantle the progress we have just begun to make. Thank you.

Hello, my name is I spoke before I'm going to start off as a member of the community just looking at the numbers in the presentation, which a lot of those numbers are really hard to read. I must be getting old. My question was. It looked like there were 25% of the was 675. And 25% went to the sheriff and 25% went to the roads, and then you took all of the rest to distribute from the fire department. My question would be. Instead of taking 153,543,000 dollars from the fire department. Why not just take 181,000 dollars from each and divide that cost equally out of the. That's my question as a citizen. Now, hat off from the citizen. I've been a firefighter since 2000. I actually started in 1999. I was 14 years old with the Evans Pass Fire District. I've seen the old Gulch Fire. I've seen the Leonard Fire. I spent time on the Leonard Fire, the Gap Fire, and the Darby Fire when we lost all of our aircraft because of those events, which are coming up, which is probably why I'm a little bit more emotional today than I have been in the past. I want you guys to think clearly about what's going on in this world, what's coming up. And I think that the fire service deserves more than to take the entire brunt of the budgetary crisis. I'm not saying that there doesn't need to be done. I understand. i'm not here saying there's we don't want to take part in it i just want to i'm curious why we're taking the majority of it and nobody else is taking a hit that's my question as a public it's my question to you as a public servant thank you for your time and uh i hope that there's a good resolution hello again martha rubin i just want to ask you to kind of look around the room

And notice who's here and the passion that we come with for our fire service and ask that you think about all of the people that have come before you once we heard about the budget cuts. and try to think and put it in your hearts to give back the cuts to the fire service, because not only do they help us if there's a fire, but if there's a medical emergency, they're the first ones there. This winter was an especially hard winter up in Arnold, and our fire department of Adepts Pass was they are helping people that were stuck. Of course, you, Martin, thank you so much. If you look around the passion of the people we feel it's so important, just like you've heard that you restore the funding for new equipment and everything else that's necessary that the fire service needs, so thank you so much.

on speaking today, but I just wanted to comment on a few things that were said. First, I would like to say thank you so much for the amount of funds that are going to help replace our 16-year-old computers that are public-facing computers and to help repair the children's nonfiction, which is about 30 years out of date. I would like to point out that, yes, the library staffing is 70% of its budget, and that is for eight people running seven branches. They're open three to six days a week. And the staffing is so tight that tomorrow I'm trying to figure out which branch to shut down because it doesn't look like we have enough people to keep them all open tomorrow. And that is not because a bunch of people called out sick or anything. It had to do with one person having a meeting, one person having a vacation, I don't let my staff or I ask them not to take vacation during summer because of summer reading and other things and we don't have enough coverage to cover vacations and keep all of the branches open. I've heard a lot, a couple of comments over the past couple of months during the budgets about staff salary. I don't talk about my salary very much because I was pleased with the offer the county gave me. But to be very clear, to get to my position, I had to have six years of education. I have my master's degree. I worked two years as a paraprofessional before landing my first part-time librarian job. And then I worked for two years as a part-time librarian before getting a full-time librarian job. After 10 years in this career, I got this job with over $100,000 in student loans. For comparison salary-wise, I started at $112,000. Again, that's all public record. I'm not complaining about my salary. Amador County started at $125,000. I was hired with less experience than the average library director, partially because that was who came to interview. because it takes a lot of education and a lot of experience to get to this level. Most of my staff don't have health benefits. They're mostly part-time. There's not the budget for the library to increase services. And when people say, before you look at decreasing services, you should look at how much you're paying your staff, I'm sitting there going, We're not paying them very much. They're getting paid less than any of the surrounding libraries. We're operating our libraries on less staff than any of the surrounding systems. We are operating, and we'll say the numbers one more time, 72% more open hours than the per capita average on 58% less funding. so i think when these budget conversations come up and people are talking about taking some from other departments so that other places don't get cut and stuff like that every all services require money and you know asking my staff to take a pay cut um or asking other departments to take you know salary cuts positions cuts or whatever it is going to affect the services for those departments thank you

Good morning again. I really need 10 minutes, but I'll try. With regard to the libraries, I wasn't going to address this, but kudos. We need to educate our population. You're required to support the libraries. and public safety. So I heard that the West Point Library had to close and volunteers came back to save the day. I just want to say briefly that Marty Crane, director of the Volunteer Center for 25 years, I know that if every volunteer decided today i quit life as we know it would cease to exist and you could not afford to hire us because obviously you've got deficits and to that i want to say that um our dear friend bruce judacy running and still running for district 5 supervisor he wanted to set us on a on a path towards Deep thinking with regard to our budgets. He had a skill set where he could massage every aspect of the budget. To come out with the least amount of pain, and that is something that we need on our board. I'm just. Terribly disappointed that he won't be here, but. His mission continues, I wanted to say, though, with regard to all this funding that. we seem to be on the path of losing, I hope not, that has allowed them to hire people with real skill sets, real experience. And I'll take us to our new fire chief, Calco. Our new chief, Henry, he's been with Calco for nearly 15 years. Primarily the fire Marshall, thank you for coming to the volunteer center and giving me a list that I still haven't finished. And also, he's been a resident district for 24 years. His responsibilities included fire investigations, plan checks, business and school safety inspections, and he'll continue to do those duties. He's dedicated years of service leadership and commitment. And he served with the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District. I'm reading this because I don't know if you saw this in the Valley Springs news, or if you have a chance to read it. So, on the record. He served with the Amateur Fire Protection District, a graduate of U.S. Marine Corps Firefighter Training and Aircraft Crash Rescue. We have an airport. I don't want to Jameson.

Marty. No, but one thing I would like to say, thank you, bringing up Bruce and our hearts go out to him. Can we all give a moment of silence together?

I'd rather we take that moment to vote. But yes. I'll be quiet. Please read this article. Thank you. Read it again.

Yes, ma'am. Mr. Oliver, you're bringing it past one

I represent the balance today. So, and before anybody says, what the hell are you doing up there? You just got something out of the budget. I just want to point out that the items that I was allowed to. Add to the budget were stripped out last time because my fees were insufficient to cover the needs of the county. So, after completing a fee study, increasing the fees, I was then allowed to add that building inspector. So that is what a department head does when they're faced with a reduction. Or a challenge in the budget. And I know that there are many synergies between the fire districts and your local agencies. We behave the same way and we support each other. You've seen a lot of people come up and say that. They're always here, they drop everything and they always help and they all have their challenges and this is all true. And it is well respected and well loved. We'll say that there are direct synergies. We are always there to assist them with what they need. They're here to save people. They're here to help the injured. They're here to stave off fires. We are here to support everything they do. So they continue to do that. So, whenever a fire department says there's a dangerous guy in there, and I need to help someone, there's a sheriff to help them. There's a dangerous building. Those people should not be in there. Of course, it's there to help them. We have legal matters. We have to sort out the council is there to help them. Our county is absolutely entangled with everything the fire districts do. And we respond to each other, we drop everything to help each other. And that's as it should be. Our county departments have taken cuts for multiple years. And what we're only asking to do now is to just, we're just asking them to share the pain a little bit. And that means that their fire chiefs will have to make tough decisions over. That loss of 92,000 dollars each. They will have to recommend to their boards changes. Those are going to be hard decisions that their fire districts have to make. Understandably, so, but not that we haven't already done for 34. well, I mean, I've been here 7 years. I had 6 code enforcement officers. I have 2 now, but they will drop everything to help them. And that's fair. That's correct. That is how we are supposed to operate. And we will always do that for them as well. So as I said last time, I was just hoping we could just let this go. Let's all suffer together. It is a little bit that everyone has to suck up, but I mean, I'm kind of used to it and hopefully it'll be over soon. We can give them that money back in another year or two. Just a little patience I would ask at this point. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Oliver.

Ms. Craddock.

Kim Craddock, Calaveras County Probation. So I'm a lifelong resident of the county. We're up in Road Flat. Totally understand the importance of the fire department. Seeing so many fires that I cannot count since the 70s, so I will date myself there, that I can remember offhand. I understand the public's visceral reaction to the fire department and what they do. Um, but I'm here representing probation, which I can say. Probably even the board and nobody here really understands what I do. The state has realigned many. Activities from the state back to the probation departments, which includes supervising most a lot of the most violent felons in the state. the most at risk and highest risk juveniles in the state, and lately, free trial services, which means that the county and the sheriff has no say, the DA has no say, basically on what felony people charged with felonies or misdemeanors are going to be released from the jail, and it is my job to supervise them now as well. This is the first time I have ever asked the county, and I've been a chief now for three years for the probation department, for funding. I don't get this funding, I lose the pre-trial position, and those people will still be released, but they will not be supervised or monitored because I will not be able to do that. I get that probation stays in the background and we're very quiet, but you also have to understand that we are, when OES is activated, we are called out before any mutual aid else outside the county. The sheriff's department calls us immediately. We respond with behavioral health to many emergencies. Behavioral health responds to us with many of our clients. It's not just simply that we need the fire department. We need all of the services and we need to figure out how to make them all work together. Like I said, if I get cut, this will be the third deputy probation officer I will have lost. And I will also lose a probation tax. and i will be cutting drastically back on services that i provide the kid that probation provides the county that people do not see because it is our job to do that quietly and to protect the public quietly by providing services to felons to people with drug addiction issues to people coming out of jail coming out of state prison to the juveniles and their families so just keep that into consideration that this is the first time like i said we've asked for many in years and even with the money i've asked for it does not replace the amount of financial loss i've had it just holds on to one position sheriff whiting

I must be having a hard time controlling my face back there because I've received about five text messages about it. This I'm not really this, this is a really hard year. And if this isn't a surprise, this has been coming. Sir, the sheriff's office has taken significant cuts for multiple years, including this year, the cut star department. I'm sure some of the highest but we are also a big chunk of the public. So I refuse to allow misinformation, whether from our office or members of the public. We try and be transparent and clarify when things are out there. I refuse to pit essential services against each other. This is hard. We shouldn't be having a discussion about cops versus firefighters versus building inspectors versus district attorneys assessors office. There are so the librarian God bless her. She's so passionate. Uh. i hadn't planned on talking because i am confident in this county administration and this board that we have been working together and we have been reducing our budgets over these years and i know that a lot of what we're having to do we've frozen positions this year i know i'm not going to get those positions back next year is going to be worse over the last couple years we've had to reduce multiple deputy positions correctional officers correctional technicians we had to freeze a dispatch position this year like this is a long time coming um but it's here and it's the reality that we face um i know this board is up for a hard decision um so i i appreciate the fact that you're all willing to stand up and and listen to everyone and i'm i'm glad everyone came and advocated for what they're passionate about uh This isn't the end of it. Whether we come up with a one-time solution, hopefully you guys have some ideas if you are still evaluating it as far as the TOT allocation. Next year is going to be worse if we kick the can, so we have to come up with something. Since there was an increase to the TOT between preliminary and final, give the extra back to the fire department. We already have established our budget. So I know it's a drop in the bucket, the 12,500, just give it to the fires allocation. And anything else we're willing here, if the board does choose that you want to discuss it. But I just recognize that it's hard and I would hope that our community understands all of the essential services, including our deputies, because it's really hard for them sitting here listening to it and pitting against and being negative towards the deputies and ours. So we will continue to answer the call regardless and let you know what resources we need.

Thanks. Online?

Yes. Gina Doris, you have been very patient. Please go ahead.

gina there you go can you hear me yes hi everybody it's good to see you i'm uh my heart is breaking hearing some of these stories um literally i kind of was cut off which i understand last time telling my story about how the firemen and first responders literally saved my life last year october 17th i was seven minutes away from dying that's a fact they not only saved my life They've also saved my house not once but twice. See, the fire that came down and closed off Copperopolis, that was my property. It destroyed everything except for my house, my two horses, my dogs, and my cats, in which I ran around struggling to make sure they were okay. I couldn't find my cats and I didn't want to leave, so I understand the poor lady who lost her life. I get it. You want to stay there and you want to find your animals because they're part of your lives. But the firemen were so wonderful and patient and said, Gina, you have to leave. We're evacuating this whole town. I said, what do you mean? I can't leave my animals. It would be like asking me to leave my kids. Well, that's pretty close. so anyway they were kind and i did leave i didn't know my horses god bless them they ran back to me and i put them back in my house but i couldn't get them in the corral so for four or five days i was down in the bay area san mateo where i lived part-time i didn't know if my horses were alive or my cats i had my dogs because they don't leave my side but i'm just here to tell you from the bottom of my heart and every single person who talked today and the people that put their lives on the line every day, they deserve the world. And I hope that you guys can come to the right decision tonight. And as my dad used to say, let's bring common sense back into the picture. I think that's all I have to say. Do the right thing. Thank you. Thank you, Gina.

We have no further online public comment.

Thank you. I'm going to bring it back to the board, but I have a few things to say to start out. I want to thank the department heads that spoke at the end because these people have been going through this for five years plus, consistently taking cuts, reducing. And during that entire time, this is the first time the fire departments are even seeing it. So the fire departments by no means are bearing the brunt of this. That means by no means is that saying that fire departments are not only valued, they're needed. the firefighters are not only valued, they're needed, and they should be compensated properly for the jobs that they have and be able to provide for their families. I, as one, came back to Calaveras many, many, many years ago to work again and take a pay cut back in 2010. so I can be with my family in the place that I love to live. So I understand that fully. And it took years to work up to be to have what I have only to lose it all. But it's the misnomers and misinformation I have a hard time with. And it's not that It's the intent of the people that are saying it. I think it's more so that your hearts are in the right place and you just haven't been around to see all the facts as you move forward and you're speaking towards what your heart and you're passionate about. Just fight with. So. But when I repeat for the last 5 years, every department in this county, with the exception of the fire departments on to this day has have been taking cuts. Those departments are our responsibility. The welfare of the people in this county are our responsibility. But by state law, the fire departments are not our responsibility. They aren't a department of Calamaris County. But we have proceeded because the people are our responsibility and they're safe. The Sheriff's Department has taken millions of dollars in cuts over the years. And I haven't seen all the people in here beating the drum. And they are our responsibility as one of our departments. The fire departments, I stood by them and I gave them not just what they deserved but what they earn every day every day with their hearts their passion their love for their community all the way through last year and the fire chiefs that were here last year when we did budget i said the same thing how long is it fair that we take from everyone else and then we don't look at you It's not fair because there are other services that do work with you that are just as important as you that have been taking those cuts and we've been losing from them consistently. I hope we can find a way as a board together to give you more back today. But this isn't fire departments bearing the brunt and it being a big surprise. We've been talking about it for years. It's been written down. It's been in the budgets. It's been long time coming. And no matter what decision we make today, pretty sure everyone's going to walk out a little bit pissed off at me. Because I can't give everybody what they want. This, I mean, it's the hard truth, but I just want you all to know that you are valued. This isn't personal. It's more personal to me that, you know, the pain that I have to go through because I wish I had that money tree or that rock that I can produce water out of right now to help you with that water tender. Okay. With that, I'll let the rest of the board work together with evidence.

we got some hard work to do right now oh no i'll go up i have a bunch of questions for the chief i don't know which one yeah i know which one wanted to want to answer i don't know what they are so okay okay When Missouri went before the voters, the ballot language said that new 1% sales tax was expected to generate approximately $5 million annually for fire protection, correct?

That's what they were estimating, yes.

The actual amount ended up being close to about $9 million. That's a 110% increase than what was sold to the voters. I know I'm not a mathematician, so someone probably is going to correct me and fact check me, but let's just rough it up. That's approximately over $1.7 million than what was originally projected. I mean, originally, sorry, that's about 1.76 million more than what had been budgeted for that period.

No, I see.

which then goes into that about the same amount, maybe 1.5, has been carried forward into the following fiscal year, according to Measure A rules, which means there's a $1.5 million rollover. Okay.

Okay.

Have the fire chief discussed that 1.5 million to go and support, say, West Point?

They are. I think the young lady that spoke earlier And the chief from West Point is here, so he can come here and beat me up if he wants to. But I believe that, Chief, you explored providing health care benefits when there is a discovery that there's going to be some revenue that could apply that way.

Maybe your adjustment was given to it. yeah yeah please thank you yeah please come on up keith says we've mentioned you have this discussion we'll just have you heard on kent on absolutely mr sessions was the one that allowed us to do a mid-year adjustment on measuring which not was not allowed to hear before which freed up the money to give health insurance for jessica for her for health stuff that money would not have been available to us with that new discovery of the funds

Because it came in higher chief here, he decided. And with the board, of course, that they were going to do something not possible before, which was still apply it to the same personnel that measure a had had had hired. We went volunteer department full time where healthcare was not on the table with the working with Greg session and saying, hey, yeah, we can move that to it. He went ahead and did health care. Is that absolutely okay? So that was for West Flint.

So that money had gone to other fire districts to support them internally within the...

I guess maybe we're maybe saying two different things. I think now that I'm taking it in. So the additional funds that came from Measure A, of course, just to clear the air in our interpretation, I understand. In previous open board meetings here that the interpretation is different, but that's that's okay. The position is from the local districts that measure a, the funds that are generated. Are to be used for augmentation of staffing, like, adding staffing at that point. Right? So. the staffing that didn't exist or essentially transitioning some previously stipend or volunteer staff, essentially there was an actual paid staff position for that person after that at a minimum percentage of 70% up to 100%. And then the 30% of the funds could be used to outfit equipment apparatus for those people, right? When the estimates, when we were pleasantly surprised when we were seeing the numbers come in greater. And we were thinking about now the possibilities of expanding staffing even more or possibly even providing things like health care to people who never had it. After that point, working closely with the county, and I can't tell you, I'm going to take a moment just to say how. And I'll say the words from me absolutely blessed. We are to have the relationships with all the. The sheriff to county council can't tell you how many things I've pestered Sarah with over the years to. Doug Oliver, which he and I are still knocking 1 out of the park. Thanks for the support from last week. To the director of public works and, you know, Greg session, the list goes on. So. Thank you for all that and in no way, shape or form would want any of those 8 areas to be. defunded just so we could be increased funding we want the win for everybody but back to the original question when we when we increased the or when the money came in um and we were saying hey how are we going to be able to number one meet the the voters the citizens initiative language in our interpretation and not violate that by using those funds for things that ever came before measure a everybody had an opportunity to look at it. Me for one at Ebbets Pass, we began to leverage some of the things that we weren't able to do. So the new CalPERS UAL, I know you guys struggle with the same thing as we do. We were able to leverage that for the three employees that were coming out of Measure A, which we weren't able to do before. So we're like, oh, the funding's there, if we can start doing that, that applies to that measure. So I think, I might have answered the question.

What I'm getting at is the rollover. Had that been discussed within the JPA to support some of the other fire districts, and I'm just saying West Point, I know there's other ones, but Moquil that have come up, had the rollover because my understanding, what was presented to us in Measure A was that that money could be redirected to another fire district to support them.

not given to any one specific district but anything that was rolled over would be split evenly amongst the districts the language the language yes that what says if i got done had that been done we're not even to that point yet in in the cycle i believe we're all all the agencies i believe for the most part you want to come on up right and i'm the last person to probably explain it you're probably the best person i got i i just curious but just yeah it

Yeah, if I could just answer a couple of those real quick. So the original estimate that was given for the measure was based on the 1% that the county receives. That calculation is quite a bit lower because we're part of the Bradley Burns Tax Act. The 1% that they get is quite a bit higher due to deliveries from out of state. They get quite a bit more than the county does in that same 1%. Well, the not same. The 1.5 was something where the way the measure read at receiving 100 of the budget amount the districts would not get any further allocations for the rest of the year so they went without half of their may and none of their june apportionment in that first year yes so that 1.5 was basically we did that as early as we could in the next fiscal year To answer your 2nd question, if any district didn't take theirs, or they wanted to give it to another district, it couldn't be a 1 for 1 transfer the measures written where they would give it back to the JPA. That would then be split to the other 9. In the same allocation that's been approved for the year.

It just goes back in the pot and gets read us 1st in the same language as. It's already written for the citizens initiative.

Okay.

That's it. I mean. That's my understanding.

Okay. Okay. Now that we've got that, doing more questions this time than my normal speech okay okay so um with that moving on to my next question so with what the voters were expected to get versus what was actually seen would you agree that the financial circumstances of the fire district today are materially different than what was anticipated when measure a was proposed i would say we're

We are breaking new ground to do things we wanted to do for employees for. Since the beginning of the fire district's existence, meaning. You've already heard from the chief from West point, they introduced something called the health care benefit. Which everybody in my mind, I believe they should have if they're working over. 40 hours or a 52 hour week. So my hat's off to them. And I believe what you're gonna see if the board approves or we just see an improvement in financial positioning across all of the county for the local fire districts, regardless of where it comes from, not today, 10 years from now, you're gonna see incrementally all your agencies slowly get up to healthcare, hopefully a retirement system, hopefully wages will be we're never going to be able to compete we all know in rural areas of California we can't compete with the big cities but hopefully people of quality will come want to come here number one you know work here and maybe those wages and health cares and things like that like uh Captain Attaway mentioned will allow people to stay in in Calaveras County and work for the fire agencies I mean That would be the grand hope, right? We're a long way from there. And these are all steps we're taking to eventually get there. We want to be on par with every other government worker, including Ebbets Pass, in every fire district. We're not there yet, but we're getting there, folks. And I know working together, and that's what this collaboration is all about, is we'll get there eventually one day, somehow. Maybe not in my tenure, right? But we'll get there.

have two more questions i promise okay the next one is okay so you guys are all responsible for advocating for your fire district we all get that the board is responsible for balancing the needs of the entire county correct you're right so if maintaining the historic tot allocation to fire requires reducing funding somewhere else which county service does fire recommend we cut from none and i and i think that you know which has been twisted in social media when i asked you that a couple meetings ago where do we cut if we have to make a cut where else are we going to cut if we've got to give you money today yeah well with all due because public works need the snow plows you guys need the roads plowed sure So that's where that 25% out of public safety came from to help support that because we've heard from constituents time and time again. So if we gave back your 25% allocation, then that means Public Works isn't going to get this. no plows or removals so where do we where then do where do then i make a decision because if i make that decision then now next thing the public is going to yell at me for not providing a snow plow for you to get down to emergency services where's the balance i don't want that either I know, but I'm just sure how do you what is then your recommendation? Because the recommendation.

Well, no, and and honestly, no, and I don't mind. Right. And I think Denise knows, like, hey, I don't these are the types of things that I really enjoy doing in my work at Ebbets Pass. And there's no doubt about it. I want financial health. Across the board for everyone, and I want nobody to deal with less. Not just fire districts, but every single 1 of you in this room, everything that you do in the county. And I honestly tell you that with. So much truth, because I just want that. I don't want anything to be less. I would rather, I'd love to find ways that we can work within the finances of the county. I've definitely mentioned, you know, talking about the CalPERS UAL debt and that money that's going up. It's one of the, it's not on the top of the presentation, but it was on the first page, I believe. And that's huge. I see capital outlay. I see a 4M dollar capital outlay. I've suggested go into a lease option and get in a lower interest rate on that. Denise and I have had emails about that. I mean, there are opportunities and for the type of money that we're talking about overall for the, for the districts, the 800 and something thousand dollars overall. I do believe that their savings out there that that don't require anybody to take less with any of the of the departments. But please know that I've specifically avoided telling you guys how. To find the money and my, my. You know, whether it's believe believe you me. It has not been. My goal to volunteer to stand up and represent all nine fire districts. It's a privilege to be asked by these gentlemen, but I've done my best to articulate the need and desire for us to maintain the funding, but not to take away from something else. And I know that's a hard thing without me standing here and telling you how you should manage the finances. I would be happy to be part of the solution. You guys know that if I have any value and if I don't, you can tell me to hit the road enough meetings, that's fine. There could be opportunities out there. I'd be happy to be part of it.

But you agree. It's a tough decision that we're at, and there should not be an easy road.

I do not envy your position or any. I really don't.

No, I just want to make it clear to the public, this has been as transparent as we have been able to be transparent, and this isn't an easy decision. And I believe the chairman said earlier, you know, something, hopefully we were able to have solutions. I know Torfinelli has, but this hasn't been an easy road for any board member. So thank you for entertaining me with answering these questions.

I did my best. I don't know if I did a good job or not.

Any other questions there? They're very well, maybe Mr. Johnson. I'm not going anywhere.

I just didn't know.

You don't have to go or you can stay there, but it would succeed to Mr. and I would say to miss Paul. Okay.

You wish Rich wouldn't have retired and he'd been up there and not used to it.

I just met with Rich the other day. He's so passionate. I spoke to him the other day also.

I spoke to him all the time.

You can just come up and hang out with us.

you know you want me to come over yeah i'll come to it next time i've been waiting for this moment for so long to sit actually you guys have no idea stacy now he's on our side now he's on our side and we we need a picture of

All right, Mr. Tom. Okay. Thank you. Mr. chair and Mr. chair has said a lot of what I was going to say. He is absolutely correct that over the course of the last 4 or 5 years, every department has been hit that. And not only just in their funding, but in their staff. I don't know if everybody realizes when we keep saying that we have personnel freezes. That means that because by law, If we have an open position that we're trying to recruit for, and when it comes to budget time, we have to put all the money for the whole year in that budget. Whether we fill that position or not, it's taken up. We can't use it because it's in that position. So what we do is do hiring freezes, and then that opens up that money, but that's only one-time money. It's not an ongoing thing. So that's how we've been feeding the gap between our budget and what they call structural deficits. And it's been going on to the point now Where we're at the bare minimum at the departments, and they come up only some of them came up and said, but you talk about the sheriff's department, they've taken a huge hit. So, how would you like it? You guys are talking about you're on call and you go there. What if you call 911 to the sheriff's department and say, somebody's breaking in my house. I got to have somebody here. Oh, my God, they've got a gun and the sheriff's department says, okay, we'll have somebody there in a couple of hours.

They have to call for the corner.

Um, they don't have, you're right chief. And that's going to be the call to the corner. But my point is that every department is taking a big hit and you guys, the fire departments haven't over the course of that time. We did not touch your funding. And it goes on, the probation spoke. They're right. What do you do? These departments, the sheriff, the probation, the DA were mandated by the state to have those departments. That's all functioning of keeping everybody safe when criminals are out there. um and they're down to the bare minimum and here's another issue i would love to give you guys all of that tot money that we took away plus some but i don't know if everybody's aware that um the sheriff's department um you go in the courts and they have bailiffs well those bailiffs were mandated to pay for not the state you're in a state court but the counties pay for those bailiffs in there. And right now, we're at one point in this budget, $1.14 million, just the bailiffs, the minimum bailiffs in the courts. If something big happens in a big court, we're gonna be on the hook for more, because they're gonna want more bailiffs in there. We're on that hook for it. So there's a lot of places I'd like to take the money from, really would, but we are pretty much at bare minimum Um, that were mandated to do, um, you talk about Jesse and the libraries, you know, how many emails and correspondence we got because of just closing some of the hours on the library, closing a certain library. um it was it was it was a tremendous amount as a matter of fact this coming saturday i am part of a fundraiser for the valley springs library um in valley springs um i'll be providing the music which i always do for their bingo thing just because i'm part of it and i understand the need and i understand the need here and what you guys are saying and i have been involved in in calco fire i've known wrench for years i know Ryan and during the Gann fire, um i was on the phone to rich i was on the phone to the sheriff i was on the phone i may not showed up at the station but i was involved in everything that was going on and and that's because i've been involved in my community for years um it's not something that i just tried to avoid because i got that's not fact i was trying to provide much information and that i possibly could um but that's i'm going on i i do have um a proposal that I would ask the board, because I did say a couple of meetings ago that I would try and find some funding to replace what we've taken from you guys, because I understand. It was, it was a big hit some departments, a lot of districts. You guys, it's a big issue to some of those departments just looking at the information on your budgets that at that time we did what we did. We didn't have. And so there are some fire departments that seem to be well off and it may not be as big a hit as to like 3 or 4 of them, which is a be a big hit. And that could mean providing services to keep people alive and in their districts and in Calaveras County, and we may have the separate districts. But we're. all of calaveras county and i know you guys are different districts but i hope you guys realize you're all of calaveras county um so um what i would propose to the board is um if you notice in the budget that um we had about 135 thousand dollars taking in more of TOT than what we projected on our budget last year. So that got into contingencies. What I would propose to the board is we have like 1.8Million dollars in contingencies that we. Put back into the to the fire departments. The 367,435 dollars that we took out to pay for the dispatch contract. Um, the county has always paid for that dispatch contract since we separated from the fire department years ago. Um, I, I would propose that we take from contingencies. The 365, 367, 435 and put that back into the fire department and add that to the 132 that we left in there. it wasn't zero we left money in there and that would bring it up to about five well a little over five hundred thousand dollars if you cut that by eight divide that by eight because altaville is being absorbed by the city um yeah yeah um that's not true Well, that's the understanding that I had, so it's still 9. You divide that by 9, you're going to come up with about 57,000 dollars each versus just divided 132.

I'm you're on a great path and I'm right in your mic.

Is your mic on?

It's on.

It's on.

Yes. Okay.

Oh, I can't see the red light. Sorry, I'm brand new. Brand new over here. But yeah, just to make sure, you know, for the record, so something gets put in the in the minutes. uh my understanding is altaville fire district remains a fire district that are contracting services to the city beyond that i'm not the expert um we may have an expert in the room if they want to talk about it but as far as that goes i think it still remains what it has been with okay so they're okay they're contracting high city it was my understanding the city was but maybe sometime but not right now yeah okay all right so there's still nine

Thank you for clarifying that is what I saw and read that they were they were going to but so now that that's what I would propose at least giving back that amount of money and paying for the contract for the dispatch if the board was entertained more that's the conversation we could have but I think what we need to do is at least My opinion is I'm in favor of doing that with one little catch to it. Um, there are some districts that are more well off than the others. Um, and there are some in district 2 that are just, this is a huge hit their budget and they don't have the reserves to to cover a huge hit. And there's even and. 1 of them is here in San Andreas that they don't have. They cover a wide area, so I would, I would hope that the fire chiefs. Have another meeting. I know you had 1 yesterday. You guys all talk about it. If we give this money back to you, how you can just. Tribute it amongst all of you. Hold on cheap 1 minute that would help all of us to cover Calaveras County. Because there are some, like I say, I don't want to get into some of the reasons why, but being being, it may not be a huge hit to some. But it is a huge hit. There's several of them. Yes, Chief, you want to say something?

I appreciate what you're offering. We came here as a unit. We are a collective, the Chief's side, and have been for a number of years now, which is something years ago did not exist, as you're well aware of. I can appreciate what you're saying, because my district could do it and use that, but I would rather see every district receive a portion so that it helps us all. And that's, I don't know if that's the opinion of my brothers out here, but we're

Pretty tight knit little family. I know you aren't cheap and maybe you misunderstood or I didn't wasn't clear. I said, you guys get together and decide. I wouldn't say some didn't get some. Some didn't get provide another. I'm just asking because I can see that this is going to be a huge several of them and maybe you guys as a whole, like you're saying. can have that discussion um um that's that's what i'm saying i'm not saying you guys have to i'm not saying that somebody gets some and somebody doesn't that that's not my intent that's why i said you guys can have another cheese meeting i know you had one yesterday yeah and maybe have that discussion to help each other out so we cover all of calaveras county but again we have to have the board passage first right um thank you very much you're welcome And I don't know if they want to add to that, but I think we didn't have this and what was thought about at the time, it was a big hit to you guys knowing afterwards that we made that decision and realizing. So I propose that to the board and it's up to them on the discussion.

Just for clarification purposes, so you're proposing withdrawing $367,435 from general fund contingencies?

Yes.

Okay, that will put our general fund contingencies under the board policy level?

I'm aware of that.

Okay.

I know.

we're above right now by a little bit but it would put us below yeah um can i i don't know unless you can come up with can i suggest a proposal sure uh the contingencies in the tot account are 114 601 and i think if we used those and then the difference of the 240 whatever it is um 250 just over 250 that i think we'd still meet the contingency level of the board policy I would have to do the calculation in my office. I didn't follow you on that. Sorry. There's 114,000 currently sitting in contingencies in the TOT account from collections. So if we took that $114,000 to go towards the CDF dispatch contract and then did the difference of the $367,000 and the $114,000 from general fund contingencies, I think we would be just at the policy level.

That's what I was trying to say when I said we had $135,000 because we and I thought the $135,000 is $114,000. And take from the contingencies to replace that to 367, 435. Two different contingencies. You and I talked about it, and you know where I was coming from. So if I could just bring it up so the board knows. I do have something to add.

Just to clarify on what I'm trying to follow and make the numbers work properly, because we've definitely said two very different things now with what you said, Denise.

Okay, one-

Tom Finnelli, you know, thank you for making the suggestion. Originally said the $367,435 that we usually did for dispatch. Right. Then he also added what he thought the 114 was, was 135, to a total of $502,000 of change. 132 is the fire's current allocation as allocated. It's already in the budget. What's that? He's switching the case. He said he's want to switch the TOT for it. That's what he said. I wrote it down.

You just misunderstood. That's what I said. I just wanted a parody then. We left $132,000 in the TOT for the fire departments to dispatch from there out there south. Right. Okay. We collected $135,000 with our conversation. Maybe it's a little bit less now, but the last time we had a conversation with Denise, Um, 135,000 extra out of T. O. T. Right. Then we budgeted last year. Okay. I wanted to take that. And add it to pulling money from the contingencies to make it 367 for 35 to pay for the contract. She's saying there was only 114. So we take the 114 and then take the rest out of our contingencies.

So 132 plus 114. Correct. Subtracted from the 367, 435. No. And then at that time, we fill in the rest. It would be two...

Can I just clarify? It would be 252.834 out of general fund contingencies, which is 10.10.0700, that account. Then it would be 114.601 out of 553.1000 account, which is transient occupancy taxes. In addition to the already appropriated in the budget, the 132.

now i get it so what does that pose that i just want to follow where all the money was coming from and that makes it and contingencies is not uh that's that's basically what we have for contingencies right now that's not new money coming out of anywhere other than what you stated as the 114 531 that

What?

Okay. And earlier today, the sheriff said she's willing to donate $12,500 for this effort. Is Micah in here? I pledge him to do the same.

Yeah, absolutely. Give it to him.

So Denise, if you can add real quick on 132, we had in there 367.45.

It's 500 then plus the 12.5, 12.5 if that's the direction.

Well, I didn't hear Micah yet. Micah needs it.

I just do want to clarify though, any adjustment to the sheriff's unit will just increase the general fund deficit by the corresponding amount.

I have another question and I don't know how to ask. And earlier this morning, we were in closed session. Depending on those outcomes of closed session, how will that impact this decision?

My suggestion for anything for your closed session item would to pull it out of our one time fund to use anything being proposed at a county capital and it's a set, it would be separate than our ongoing.

How would that impact the general fund deficit then?

It would not if we paid it out of county capital, it would be one time, it would be, it would be drawing down one time funds for one time use as long as you're not including anything that's an ongoing cost.

I just want to make sure we don't then have to dip into contingencies because we just... Because we just did.

Yeah, correct. No, it's a good question.

I know, but I want to make sure that, you know, the public is asking for contingency. Everything is running in the back of our mind.

That's actually why I'm standing up here. If I may, I wanted to ask a clarifying question as well. 1. All of our unions are in contract negotiations, and we know that's coming up and that's going to be a significant issue going into next year's budget. But the policy level contingency that's set. Will that have an effect then if we have to come back at mid year for adjustments and the ability of the board to be able to. reallocate or will we still be allowed to come back at mid-year?

Normally at mid-year, a couple of things happen. One, departments do draw from those contingencies, but often we do have enough, as you know, your units often.

Well, that's why I'm up here.

Yeah. We often do have some salary savings from recruitment time for the first half of the year that we can then use towards covering costs that were unknown at the beginning of the year. So we usually see very little draw from those contingencies with those factors taken into account true up of contracts, all of that.

I do agree. I mean, we had a probationary release this week. And while I was sitting here, we have a resignation of a correctional officer, you know, so we are going to have salary savings that were projected, you know, hopefully we can hire and it works out. But that is my only worry. I support the plan, Gary, by the way. It is a 1 time fix my worry with starting to dip a lot more into contingencies and not that the board needs a reminder of the significant reductions that we took this year. But. That was the tactic, and that was the plan of what we had discussed with county administration. And what I warn this board about is, if you reduced our overtime budget so much this year, we were gonna be forced to come back at mid year and request contingencies and it's gonna pull on it. As a reminder in the 32 budget alone, our major patrol budget, we had anticipated salary savings of 421, 84 dollars. Plus a reduction of 200,000 dollars in overtime that we had to reduce this fiscal year. The TOT reallocation, of course, got us back the SST position, and it reestablished the 134, but we still took a $66,000 cut in our overtime budget. Dispatch, we had to reduce it by $70,000 in overtime. We were able to restore it, but we had to freeze the one position and anticipated lowering the revenue. same with marine safety the tot reallocation restored some of the overtime and then the jail overtime budget took a hundred thousand dollar cut this year um and again we were able to restore eighty thousand um but like i said we just lost two staff in the jail this week alone last week and this week um only tuesday So, I just caution the board with using the contingencies if you need the 1 year gap for better Pre planning because this hit the fire departments unexpectedly after they created their budgets. I get it if we need the gap, but this doesn't fix us next year. It's, it's going to be worse.

And I'm going to say it's only going to take one incident for your overtime budget to blow out.

Yeah. Yeah, we've definitely seen that.

And we come across those consistently.

We have. And thankfully, this county, the county administration, this board has planned with the disaster fund locally for the reimbursements that are coming in. They've already came up with a plan to reimburse us for the GAN fire costs because the fiscal management multi-agency crew that we've put together, like Denise said, that has worked really hard recouping any and all costs with the FMAG, with anything that we can get to replenish the disaster fund. We don't always get that. The multiple SWAT calls, the Ross fire, the Loma fire, there's no reimbursement costs for those. We may automatically bolster up our staffing, had to hold a couple scenes for long periods of time. don't get reimbursed for those so um large-scale incidents require us to come back at mid-year unfortunately with budget reductions in the overtime so that's why i just want to caution the board like you're going to see me in december or whatever and we see you over here hopefully we won't have to ask for more and we won't ask for more resources than we need to carry out the mission thank you i have a quick question are we going to take in the same consideration for the libraries

I mean gay made i'm just saying like gay made a good point like we're getting indicated by that so we're going to take the consideration about the library so we're going to wait till the lines out the door for that one too. And that's not sexy I know not everybody liked it but.

Good question, Miss boulder. Can I speak? Yes, thank you. When I got into government, into this position, I realized, oh, now I understand why nothing ever happens. And then as you go along, you realize actually how much does happen that we all take for granted. And I first of all wanted to say that I really celebrate this budget process because ultimately you realize why things are set up the way they are. And this is a result of that thinking and getting to understand everybody and what have you. I do totally support Supervisor Toffanelli is juggling what we have left but I do want to bring up the libraries and I know that I talked to administration about libraries and you had some thoughts Denise on that and how we can help the library I thought I'd just love to throw that into the mix now

I do and we do have about it's just over $59,000 in the county fire fund fund balance that is a general fund account as well that we could use instead of the full funds towards the CDF dispatch that we could use that contribution from the county fire account that 1130 account to offset that 367 and free up $59,000. the plan was to use that fire fund balance. We've been using it for about three years. So we were going to use it for another year. That would just essentially draw that fund balance out this year.

So yeah, so we're freeing up money that's not obligated to fire. by using that money in the fire fund. And then that money can be offset for the library at $59,000? Yeah.

Just to differentiate, just for public and people who are just, we have a lot of funds. So the county fire fund I'm referring to, it is a fund that collects certain tax base and stuff. That's where we actually historically have paid the CDF dispatch contract from. And it gets a contribution via a transfer in from a general fund. um into the county fire account so when i'm saying county fire it's a a county account it's not one of the fire accounts yeah well it's the same account but it's still gets taxed the central cal gets an apportionment out of it um so because of sheep ranch yeah and out of milton as well I just wanted to provide clarification for the public that it wouldn't be reducing anything from actual fire. It's just a balance in that account.

But I also asked right back, Jesse. With those funds, will you be able to reinstate some of the days that are being cut right now?

So currently the position that's frozen, I'm trying to think of exactly what that's costed at. you talking the courier position no no it's not the courier position you're talking about arnold and murphy's yeah that would cover that position we would still be as tight as we currently are because that would just there is no wiggle room on the days but yeah if you're talking how much money are you talking exactly 59 59 000. that would normally it's about 30 000 for one of your extra years because they're 18 hour unbenefited positions and so this was a one 18 hour unbenefited position that worked um arnold and we split the loss between arnold and murphy's we had a murphy's person go up to arnold one day a week so that we could split that loss between the two branches thing is also as administrations pointed out we're running almost double the amount of libraries that we are for a county of our size yes so i came i came um just before this from shasta county they are physically larger than us i believe and 200 000 people and they have three branches my job between before that was butte county just 190 000 people they're about 30 percent larger than us physically and they have six branches several of which were only open two days a week Our branches are open three at a minimum, three to six days. The largest branch in Butte County, which is 90,000 people in Chico, was open five days a week. Until recently, they recently got their sixth day. And to be clear, San Andreas is open six days a week and it serves about 3,000 people. So how Chico got their sixth day a week was A class comp right before I got hired affected the library budget so strongly, they lost a million dollars out of their three million dollar budget. They were running six branches on three million dollars, not eight on one million. And their branch hours got cut in half. So Chico was reduced to three days a week, other branches were reduced to one, and police, fire, and library campaigned together and got a tax increase that helped fund the library and chico recently just hired 16 new people and they're open six days a week so that was how but yes in general the largest system i've ever worked at was alameda that's 10 branches that serves several million people and niles canyon which serves 30 000 people is still only open one day a week so we do have yeah we're trying to operate a lot on very

And the last thing I wanted to say also was, I wanted to remind the public when we did make that decision in June. That the, the did go for deputy. And deputy is fire, they were the ones knocking on the doors in the campfire. To this point about probation, it was probation deputy that was out there as well. And our unmanned are mandated. State mandated things that the district attorney has to do. You know, that was the 3rd. Pogging that wheel, and ultimately they're the ones that prosecute people to start these fires. So, again, it's just greasing all the wheels to make sure that the whole engine runs. And, um, yeah, thank you. Thank you. Supervisor.

Thank you, Chair. To speak to libraries first, West Point doesn't currently have a library. We're working tirelessly to reinstate it to hopefully back to two days a week. Yes. So, you know, it's the cuts are far and wide.

West Point was open four days a week, but only two hours at a time. And that was partially because when you're hiring somebody for only 12 hours, that's not their only job. So the former staff member worked five hours at the school in the morning and then three hours at the library in the afternoon. And she did that four days a week. It would be very hard to hire somebody else for those hours. Sure.

And, you know, the community is happy to have it there. They are grateful to have a library in some capacity. So, you know, they're working really hard on that and will continue to. Thank you, Jesse. About fire. You know, I support Supervisor Topinelli's recommendation. I do. You know, Chief Young, I understand your comment that you guys are a brotherhood and it's, you know, all or nothing. I want to throw an analogy at you that a community member put towards me in reference of county staff and county departments, which was, you know, if each county department, some of them have pizza and some don't and they share with each other. County departments don't have pizza right now. They're eating ramen noodle. So I just want the public and not just the public in this room, the public listening, the public that are calling us that are emailing us. County departments are hot deeply. They have been for many, many years, and I know others have said it. I don't need to drown on reiterating that, but I just want that messaging to be clear. And I also want it to be clear that, you know, Amy Nunez, we're available for these discussions, I know that a lot feel they were caught off guard and that this happened out of the blue. Amy Nunez, nothing's out of the blue, you know early in the year, we had multiple days of strategic planning work county departments came. Amy Nunez, talk to us told us, you know what their outlooks war give us options, those are open to the public that always happen, they always will be their public noticed anybody can come, you know in June two days. of budget hearings also fully open to the public. You know, we're available, county staff is available. Our Greg Sessions has made himself available talking to districts. Every single district fire chief, community member, association member who has contacted me, I have met with. And it has been, you know, enlightening hearing from them and seeing the intricacies of their budgets. I think that that is super beneficial. I've committed to the district two chiefs to overly communicate moving forward. I am an over communicator and I will definitely do that. And I just highly encourage the public, again, not all of you in this room, but anybody watching and contacting us, do your own research. Denise's presentations are on the website. Line by line, there were some questions earlier about the intricacies of it. It's all there. It's not fun to review, but it's there. It's available to everybody. And if they need help understanding it, reach out. You know, nothing is happening behind closed doors. We are available to have the discussions. And I hope that by, you know, helping get through this year and the position that many have found themselves in, we can look forward and get creative and, you know, do better for next year because it's not sustainable. You know, we don't want to continue putting 1 time funds out. We don't want to continue digging into our deficit. That's what we should be doing overall is getting us out of a deficit and getting us financially sound. So, you know, I support it for this year and I hope we can do better in the years to come.

Sure. Yeah.

I was going to say, generally, we get that about what? We do get it earlier than we used to, because it used to be it got put out with the agenda the week before. But we worked with administration and wonderful Denise to the point where sometimes those lucky board members get it a couple of weeks earlier to read that much.

And it's online, too. You just have to have a normal schedule.

Can I just mention, yeah, it's also posted online usually about 2 weeks prior to whatever board meeting we do. And while my presentation today only added in what has changed since June, if anybody wants to go back and see the full data, because it's really just the changes from board approved in June till now. It's all there and I'm always available to answer any questions. I mean, I don't think anybody in this room wants misinformation or. you know if anybody wants facts i same place every day and admin and i'm more than willing to have a meeting or answer a phone call or emails related to anything we want it to be as transparent as possible for everybody and um are you done i'm done sorry um just to make it clear you go on the county website you go to administration

And then you click on, you know, how the budget up top across the top and that's where you can find it. Is you have to go through administration because they're the ones doing the budget and send their website. So, and I want to thank Denise for everything over this course of this budget year. You've done a fantastic job. And I thank you for some of the conversations we had on what my proposal was going to be. And I'm going to thank Teresa also. Had a conversation with her about it. There's 1 other thing I want to bring up because it's still out there. I went to a board meeting of a fire district board meeting on Friday, and it was still being brought up that. They think what happened in June with this budget. Was Teresa it had. That's not correct. I want to make that perfectly clear. Teresa presented to the board in that budget and Denise in that budget, everything that the fire chiefs met with her before she said she would do that was there go back and look at that budget. It was the board's decision that that meeting. That our conversations led to what happened. None of us knew that was going to happen. We couldn't call the fire chiefs and tell them that was going to happen. Because it was a brown act violation. If we talk to each other on anything, we may have some things in our mind or whatever, but we, until that day in open public, that's when the conversation took place. And that's when it happened. What happened on that day on June 23rd. And so again. I want to thank Teresa for hanging in there. There's a lot of things that was said. There's a lot of stuff that was posted on social media, but all of it was incorrect. She presented exactly what in the budget, her and Denise, that you guys met with her and said. The other thing is, I think this is a learning experience for you guys and a learning experience for us. When we go into budget, we have budget meetings. Um, you need to at least have your guy from your districts. Representative here, so he can talk or she can talk like most department heads. If they have an issue with what's going on with the budget, they come up and speak. Some of them came up today and spoke. That's part of the learning process that we're all going through. And so just so. We can go forward. I don't know what's going to happen next year. I don't, I didn't hear the board say this was taking the from you was going to be an ongoing. It's permanent thing. It could be a 1 time thing. I don't know where we're going to be next year. And what's going to happen, but I, again. I tried to find as much money as I could to come back to you and present to the board to give back to you guys and your budgets. So that's what I have. Thank you.

Mr. Oh, you all have done a majority of the work. on some very good suggestions here. I'm going to have a few things to say for my district and myself right here right now. I was brought up that during the debriefings that the supervisors weren't seen anywhere. The debriefings were done by OES, the sheriff's office. Ms. Fullendorf and I were part of those debriefings regularly. It is not our place to stay. It is our place to stay in our lane. We have experience from the Butte fire when supervisors possessed power beyond their own means. And we're still dealing with some of the repercussions to this day of that. I respect the process. I respect the people that are in control. I support the people on with firefighters 100%. When they're doing their jobs. And the sheriff made sure she kept the thumb on me because I have a big mouth. And I stayed in my lane because I respect the sheriff. And I respect how fire and I respect all the departments here. To do their job, because you know what you all know it better than me. So I'm not going to be out there micromanaging, telling you what to do. I'm going to be there to support you when you need it. And if you didn't see me out at the fire station, it was because I was going through the proper channels through OES. Now, libraries. I don't know when I've seen the bookmobile recently, and this is nothing to blame. I don't have a library in my district. your support because we don't have the position i know okay i know that i didn't see the 59,000 so i mean i know absolutely and the bookmobile is meant to pick up the disparity of district five not really having a place to put a library to tell you the truth um so i do appreciate that i just need to say that out loud because i say it every year during budget And I do support that. And if you can find that within the $59,000 to be able to roll that bookmobile down at any time, more so for the younger generations for their education, those moments, especially during the summer when they're off, there's priority times. And I appreciate that because those kids really do love it. And I appreciate that.

I thought you would appreciate a small update on that, if that's appropriate. The Calaveras County Friends of the Library, when the position was rejected by the budget, we had asked for a bookmobile position. It had been filled by ExtraHire up until this point. It did not fit in this budget because, as everybody knows, it's a tight year. The County Friends are fully funding that position for one year. So we have a one-year contract position that we posted. I now have enough people to start scheduling interviews. and my goal with the bookmobile is in the past it has largely served communities that already have branches and while i think it's still important for them to be shown in those communities i do want more of the bookmobile's time spent in communities that do not have a branch such as jenny land railroad flats etc thank you i appreciate you micah i need you i need to give you kudos

You haven't asked for more and you've taken hits in so many different ways just trying to pull everything together and get the jobs done when it comes to paving roads. Thank you for getting those three courts in my district paved and making it work for for my district. It's appreciated. So thank you. Glad to help. That's it. Keep up the great job. Thank you. You've got a lot of work to do. Thank you. I'm not going to ask you for that $12,500. Thank you. I appreciate the board's support in our efforts. I've played my case before, and the story stays the same. I appreciate the perspective being maintained on that. Thank you. All right. Thank you. So, Denise, do you already have all that typed up what the suggestions are by the board or can we take a 10 minute break and come back and have you flip that board?

I have a lot of it done. There are a couple of things I need to check. It may like the general fund contingency calculation and other technical adjustments that it may take a little bit longer than 10 minutes.

Okay. Yeah. No, let's do a 15 minute break.

Can I summarize what I think we're doing before we break?

Okay. Yeah. So should we just take a half an hour lunch or something? Hello.

Can I summarize it prior to taking the break just so I make sure that I'm on the right page?

Well, I don't want to take an hour either. I don't know, but she'll see.

So the only reason why is because to close the public hearing all adjustments and I have to be presented to the public and to the board and I would not want to miss an adjustment. One of the technical transfers or contentious adjustments.

So let's summarize it right now.

Okay. um so we're taking the um transfer the contingencies out of the tot account right we're funding fire and well the full cdf dispatch out of um between uh general fund contingencies the remaining in county fire and to the contingencies into the TOT account. We're decreasing the sheriffs and I didn't know whether or not public works. I heard both of those and then only one.

I only heard the sheriffs are doing the 12.5.

Okay, 12.5, not public works.

I didn't hear that. So unless it's the board's decision. We're good.

We're adding staffing hours, 59,000 to the library. Did I get everything? Okay. And then truing up the fire allocation with the balance of the other ones.

That's what I understood. Is there any board members that are understanding differently so far?

Just to make clear, the TOT contingency account was 114. We're leaving 132 and that's already left in there. And taking the remaining out of contingencies to make the 367, 435. And then the 12, 5.

of the sheriff and then the 59 to the library okay so how long do you want um it will probably take me 10 to 15. um if you want to break for lunch for 30 that would probably be what they're saying i'm looking at the rest of the board members they want to get her done okay

yeah i think i think we go for lunch we'll be coming back and i think a lot of these people will want to go home okay so about do it for 15 and 15. how about we set for 15 and for some reason if i have anything i need additional time for i'll let you know thank you all right

4 members.

We're back open the meeting. You ready? Give us a full summary on what we have to say, and then we'll have a little bit of board discussion, and then I'll close the public hearing after we have any board discussion related to it. Yeah.

Okay. Here you'll see it split into 3 sections sections just for and transparency. The first is the general fund. We're decreasing. contingencies to cover a portion of the dispatch contract that will put our new general fund contingency amount you see i have it off to the side of 1.5 million i did double check that is right at what our board policy level is county contributions we're now transferring funds from there instead of tot to cover the dispatch contract we're reducing the tot to sheriff reducing general fund contingencies a little bit further than that 1.5 to for that Reduction to sheriff now, it needs to be covered with general fund dollars. We're adding staffing hours for the library. We are transferring the contingencies that are sitting in into the general fund that then will end up going to that county fire account to cover the dispatch contract. In the TOT account, you'll see we're reducing the contingencies line. We're doing the new allocation to FHIR, which is the total of 379,935. That's in addition to the already budgeted 132,565 for a total of 512,500. We're reducing the transfer out of TOT to Sheriff by 12-5, and then we're removing the transfer of that 252 to County Fire Dispatch. And then there's a couple of other technical adjustments down below. I do ask for board approval in case any corresponding transfer or reduction to contingencies is missing in here, so long that it's not any substantive change to the budget that we have approval because we're required as part of the County Budget Act to adopt a balanced budget.

understood um now real quick i just want to say ask each board member is this what you understood we just worked through is there any changes to that that you would have that you would say

This is what I imagine. Yes.

Okay. Yes. Yes. I'm going to say before I close the hearing and I'll give you each opportunity to say anything towards this is I appreciate the work my colleagues have done to get us to this point. I appreciate the work the staff's done. This is something that I can say with my heart that I can support. But with that, I'm going to have to say the facts as I see them. Is partially we're. Kicking the ball down the can down the road a little bit when it comes to our. Structural deficit. And it's going to make the job of the city board next year. possibly harder and harder decisions maybe have to be made so i just want to say that clearly it's not a bad thing we're doing here it's a good thing if that's so if it ends up so being the vote of the board but it is kicking the can And we're going to have to deal with some repercussions because of this next year. Is there anything else any of the board members would like to say about this before I close the public hearing? With that, I'm going to close the public hearing and I'll entertain a motion. I'll move the items that we just discussed. I'll 2nd, we have a motion in a 2nd, as presented. All those in favor. Aye. Those opposed passes on 5 vote of the board. Good work today. Thank you. With we'll get give it a 2nd, Stacy when we're ready for supervisors announcements. You go ahead.

Right? I'm ready. You're ready.

Okay. Supervisors announcements. Mr. Tom Miller.

I have nothing to report.

Nothing to report. On August 26th, I attended the Parks and Recreation meeting. On August 28th, I did an interview with Rural Flat News. On August 29th, I attended the Calabasas County Farm Bureau dinner. On September 4th was the first Calabasas High School football game. It's fun to be back under the lights. I would like to invite everybody to mountain ranch day in the park on September 19th. Lots of fun car show, multiple events, barbecues, um, come on up to my French.

That's it on the. Uh, 1st, I attended the behavioral health, uh, board meeting on the 2nd and 3rd. I was on the East side of the Sarah's, uh, for this year about a Conservancy board meeting. Um, we did approve the blue mountain. Uh, water tank, which is a 55,000 gallon tank. Uh, in will see bill, um, we did shift that money from the, um. from buying the wood chipper and the bin, but hopefully that will come later with the grant. And on the 5th, Lumberjack Jamboree was amazing. Sierra Nevada Logging, Chief Johnson out there in force. And Meet Me at Murphy's was an amazing event. A lot of people from the Bay Area. And then we had the first Friday as well. The Blowbacks played and they had a wonderful picture of Bruce Giudice, who was one of their band members on the gazebo, which was great. That's it. Thank you, Martin.

I just want to report that it's not quite over yet. Very short time, but it's a pleasure to serve this community. I appreciate you all. With that, we'll call it a day.