Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Madam chair, we're ready when you are.

Thank you. Welcome everyone to the Napa County Board of Supervisors meeting. I'm calling this meeting of 05/18/2026 to order. Roll call, please.

Vice chair Alasio? Present. Supervisor Ramos is excused today. Supervisor Gallagher. Here. Supervisor Schratt.

Here.

Super or Chair Manfrey.

Here. Alright. If you would like to join me in the pledge of allegiance, I welcome you to do that now. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Our first item is pet of the week. So we will now introduce our pet, Luis. You're welcome. Whenever you're ready. Have insider knowledge.

We have a rabbit today. Okay. Yeah. So come on down. What's her name, Lucy? Butterball. Butterball. Okay. Good morning. Luis, what can you tell us about this adorable rabbit?

Yeah. So I made a huge sacrifice for you guys today. Butterball, bunnies usually give me some allergic reactions. Typically, it gets my nose running a lot, but I couldn't resist. It's been a long time since I brought a small animal like this. Butterball has been at the shelter since November. He has been available since then. Since we have a new group of volunteers that have been really consistent with socializing them, you could kinda tell he's he's really, really big. I'm kinda covering a little bit of his weight, but he's a big bunny. He likes to eat.

He likes to run around. He's a pretty active little guy. We haven't socialized him with other bunnies, but typically when we have bunny adopters, they're pretty savvy. Most of the time, they know a lot more than me and they end up educating us on bunny socializing, play dates, and all of the above. One of the things I like to talk about bunnies is they're typically a very underrated pet.

Meaning that a lot of people think that they live in kennels. It could be anything that's like a two by four or something along those lines. But often, if you give them more room to run around, something let's say like the size of this table here, they show a lot more personality, they're very outgoing, they're very social, they're very interactive, and they're also very very nitpicky. They like their things the way they like them. Sometimes, if you change anything from like a food bowl to a different food bowl because you thought it was really cute, you'll may you may find yourself with a bunny that's throwing a tantrum. You might set it up and you're like, hey, butter bowl, I got you this new food bowl. They'll pick it up and they'll literally just throw it across the room. They're like, how dare you? Like, how could you get me a new food bowl? I really like my old food bowl.

This may happen with food bowls, any kind of boxes that you bring them. They really like things a specific way, but that'll be for you to figure out with your bunny.

Okay. And I understand Butterball's fees are waived for adoption this week?

That is correct. Yeah. And with the adoption fees at the shelter with bunnies, we typically do a microchip, we do a vaccine, and then we also spay and neuter them. So it's a huge, huge help for anybody that is interested in buying a bunny or adopting a bunny. Often the surgery for bunnies is really expensive. It can be really invasive and it takes a long time. When people find out that our bunny adoptions include spay and neuter, they often get really, really excited because of the amount of, help that they receive.

Okay. That's really interesting and helpful to know.

Look at this little kitty. Oh, he wants to snuggle.

Okay. Thank you, Luis. I hope Otterball finds a wonderful home this week. Yeah, thank you for being here. Okay.

We're moving on to item four, approval of proclamations and commendations. We have two proclamations today recognizing May 2026 as CalFresh Awareness Month and also Water Awareness Month in Napa County. And I would like to know if there's a correction memo on April for the proclamation for Water Awareness Month. Is there any public comment on our proclamations? Not seeing anyone in the room. Is there anyone on the phones? No. Okay. May I please have a motion to approve the proclamations?

So moved. Second.

Okay. I have a motion by Vice Chair Alessio, a second by Supervisor Cottrell. All those in favor? Aye. That passes unanimously. So I'd like to invite Supervisor Gallagher to read CalFresh Awareness Month proclamation. And I believe we have representatives here from HHS. If you want to come up and join her, I welcome you to do so.

Great color and spirit. Okay. All right. We are here to recognize CalFresh Awareness Month, May 2026. Each May, communities across California recognize CalFresh Awareness Month as an opportunity to highlight one of the state's most effective tools in the fight against hunger.

This year's theme, Still Reaching, Still Feeding, reflects Napa County's continued commitment to ensuring all residents have access to healthy, nutritious and culturally appropriate food, recognizing that food security is fundamental to the health, dignity and well-being of our community. And CalFresh, California's implementation of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is a vital resource that helps reduce food insecurity and supports individuals and families in leading healthy, active lives. And in Napa County, CalFresh helps more than 10,000 residents in over 6,000 households access fresh and nutritious food for themselves, their families, children and older adults. And Napa County's Health and Human Services Agency, through its self sufficiency services division and in partnership with community organizations, works tirelessly to connect residents with the benefits and services they deserve through compassionate, client centered outreach, eligibility support, and innovative programs such as HHSA's Be Well mobile services, helping ensure access to fresh, healthy, and culturally diverse nutrition throughout the community. And in 2025, more than $22,000,000 in CalFresh benefits were issued in Napa County, supporting local families and strengthening neighborhood retailers, farmers markets and the region's agricultural economy.

And Napa County continued to see strong use of EBT food benefits at local farmers markets in 2025, with approximately $170,000 spent on food assistance and more than $87,000 in matched funds, representing a 14% increase over the prior year. And CalFresh provides more than food assistance by also supporting employment and training opportunities and expanding benefits during disasters and emergencies when community members are most vulnerable. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that this Board of Supervisors, County of Napa, State Of California, does hereby recognize May 2026 as CalFresh Awareness Month in Napa County and encourages all residents to learn about CalFresh, support enrollment efforts, and help ensure no one in Napa County goes without access to food and nutrition benefits. Thank you, and congratulations. Would you like to speak?

Morning, Chair Manfrey, members of the Board. I'm Lynn Perez, Deputy Director at Health and Human Services, Self Sufficiency Services Division. I hope you see your little goodie bag that you have. It's a culmination of some of the outreach materials that we are providing at our outreach events as well as some of our information about CalFresh and the locations that we are being during the month of May. Spread the word.

I'd like to thank you for this honor to recognize the importance of providing CalFresh benefits to our community in reducing food insecurity. In Napa County, over 10,000 people receive these much needed benefits that provide supplemental food and nutrition. Every month, approximately $1,800,000 goes directly to households to help with nutritious foods for a better diet and supports the local economy. CalFresh Awareness Month focuses on expand equitable access to foods while countering program myths and preparing participants for updates to upcoming eligibility and work requirement rules. Significant work has been done for those few who are potentially required to meet work requirements, including community engagement with partners to provide volunteer and paid work opportunities.

This month, HHSA staff are conducting CalFresh outreach and awareness at numerous events throughout the county, including the Napa Senior Center, Napa Library, Calistoga Senior Center Fair, and HHSA's Be Well mobile outreach locations. So again, I want to thank you for this honor. And also, we do have our fruits here to share, and you may see them at one of our locations. Thank you.

Okay, that's super. I'd invite my colleagues and all of the recipients to join us in the well for a photo. All right. We have a second proclamation today, which is for Water Awareness Month. So I invite Planning Director Bordona, Deputy Director of Public Works, Rick Tomasser, and Flood Control oh, wait.

I'm reading out of order here. And Jamison Crosby to join me at the mic. We're on? Okay. Welcome all.

I would like to dedicate May as Water Awareness Month here in Napa County, with this proclamation. Whereas Water Awareness Month was established by the California Department of Water Resources during California's nineteen eighty seven to 1992 drought to promote efficient water use from source to tap because fresh water is a limited natural resource essential to life, health, agriculture, the economy, and the environment. The people of Napa County share a collective responsibility to conserve and protect water resources for current and future generations. County Of Napa voters have expressed sustained interest in water resource protection in parallel with supporting agriculture as reflected by the approval of Measure J, the Agricultural Lands Preservation Initiative, which prevents urban sprawl in 1990, and Measure P, extending Measure J provisions through 2058. In 2008, that is when that was passed.

And also Measure A, the Napa County Flood Protection Sales Tax Ordinance passed in 1998, which funded numerous watershed wide multi benefit projects, which we are now really reaping the benefits of. And in 1991, the Napa County Board of Supervisors adopted conservation regulations, which protect water quality, soils, and vegetation. And in 2019, further strengthened protections for natural resources with the water quality and tree protection ordinance. And in 2014, the California state legislature passed the sustainable groundwater management act. And in 2023, the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency adopted the Napa Valley Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan, providing a science based roadmap for sustainable groundwater management.

And Napa County wishes to promote water conservation and responsible stewardship throughout the county as an ongoing means of assuring that we can all enjoy the benefits of our limited water resources. In 2022, the board adopted resolution twenty twenty two dash one seven eight affirming the human right to water policy, which includes the protection of public health, the environment consistent with public trust principles and all beneficial uses to ensure prudent water resource management and efficient use for the benefit of present and future generations. The Napa County Flood Control And Water Conservation District oversees the county wide watershed management program, which supports the creation and maintenance of healthy waterways and protects homes and businesses from flooding and erosion, administers municipal water supplies for the state water project for the cities of Napa, American Canyon, and Calistoga, and ensures compliance through the municipal storm water permit program for Napa County and its cities and town. Now, therefore, let it be proclaimed that the Napa County Board of Supervisors, State of California hereby recognizes May 2026 as Water Awareness Month in Napa County and urges all residents, businesses, industries, institutions, and public agencies to conserve and protect water resources through responsible and efficient water use.

Okay. And if would anyone like to say a word? So

thank you for that, chair Manfrey. Brian Bordano with Planning, Building, Environmental Services. As you saw with the reading of that proclamation, water touches so many departments, entities, the community. PBS just has one small little piece in that. So I wanted to acknowledge that. With that, I'd like to have Rick Thomassar and Jamison Crosby say a few things representing some of the important work that they're doing within their offices.

Good morning. Jamison Crosby, Natural Resources Division of Planning, Building, Environmental Services. Thank you so much, Chair Manfrey and members of the Board for this proclamation. It's a privilege to work in a county that recognizes the importance of water resources,

and so we're pleased to be here every

day trying to make the county better for all its residents in respect to water resources. So, you.

Morning. Rick Thomassar, Deputy Director of Public Works and also the District Manager for the Flood Control District. And although we didn't bring goodie bags today, I do want to thank you on behalf of our wonderful staff at the district and our Water Resources Division of Public Works for the partnership, obviously, we have with the county on water related functions. And so, you for the proclamation today.

Great. I'd like to invite my colleagues to join me for a photo. Before we move on to regular business, I would like to note that we will be adjourning our meeting today in honor of Bill Dyer. I invite Supervisor Cottrell to acknowledge Mr. Dyer.

Thank you so much. A naturalist and adventurer, a lifelong student and storyteller, a community activist, friend and husband, Bill Dyer will be missed by all who knew him. Bill was born in Berkeley and grew up in the Oakland Hills in San Jose. His family spent summers camping and hiking all over Northern California, which sparked a lifelong love of the outdoors in Bill. Bill attended UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and during that time he met Donine, his future wife.

After graduating with a degree in philosophy, well actually during college and before that degree, he traveled to Europe where he developed a love for local wine, finding wild mushrooms, and growing fresh food. So I think he'd appreciate that we had an apple and a strawberry here today. Bill first began his career in Santa Cruz, and then he and Donine moved to Calistoga in 1974, and they both embarked on their winemaking careers here. Bill was first a cellar worker at Charles Krug and then a cellar foreman at Sterling. He went to UC Davis for a Master's in Enology and Viticulture and soon became Sterling's winemaker.

In the early 90s, Bill and Donine found 12 acres on Diamond Mountain and planted Dyer Vineyard. In 1996, Bill left Sterling and he and Donine started Dyer Straits Wine Company. Bill also had an extensive winery consulting career across Napa Valley, Russian River Valley, British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, and Vancouver Island. Bill believed firmly that farmers can be the best environmentalists, and he made a practice of sustainability and dry farming. Bill and Donine worked together with their Diamond Mountain terroir to bring the history and flavor of their Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc to life.

Bill served on several local boards, including the Wine Library Association, the Napa Valley Wine Technical Group, the Sierra Club, and importantly to him, the Napa Valley State Parks Association. It was with the State Parks Association that Bill really found his cause, and he threw himself into the work, fundraising and supporting upgrades for the bale mill and never missing a chance to help out with the pancake breakfast and harvest dinners, and all the while hiking the trails there. Bill leaves behind his wife, Dawnine, and many friends and families across the globe. Thanks Bill Dyer for all the ways that you gave back to the Napa Valley community.

Thank you. That was lovely. We're going to move on to item five, which is our consent calendar. We will be considering items A through AC. Do we have any board comments or items to pull off of the consent calendar today? Okay, I'm not seeing any. Is there anyone present in the room wishing to make public comment? Is there anyone on the phones? No? Okay. Then, may I have a motion and a second to approve consent calendar items A through AC?

I'll move that approval.

Okay. Have a motion by Supervisor Alessio and a second by Supervisor Gallagher. All those in favor? Aye. That passes unanimously. And we are now moving on to Public Comment Item six, Public Comment for Anything Not on the Agenda Today or on our Closed Session Item. Is there anyone in the room wishing to make welcome? Mister Tudor, whenever you're ready.

Thank you, chair Manfrey. John Tudor, registrar of voters. I just wanted to brief the board and the community on how we're doing with the June second primary election, is coming up in exactly fourteen days. We have 5,840 ballots back already, ready to count. We have, and everyone, by the way, should have received one of these in the mail along with their ballot in separate mailings and one of these, the state pamphlet and our local voter information guide.

If you have not received a ballot by now, you need now to come see us because after from today until election day, people in California can still register to vote, but they have to do it in person and they have to vote when they're there. So we have plenty of these materials. If you'll come to our office this week from eight to five every day, and then we're at 1125 3rd Street in the Hall Of Justice now. And then we open on Saturday, May 23, and we're open Saturday and Sunday and on Memorial Day at that office. Also on Saturday the twenty third, the Holiday Inn Express Vote Center opens in American Canyon, and it'll be open all through the weekend and all next week.

And then the rest of our seven vote centers open on Saturday, May 30 and remain Saturday, Sunday, Monday before election day, and election day. I do wanna alert people, please vote early, especially if you need to register and vote. It's amazing how many people wake up on June 2 and realize, oh, it's election day. So there are long lines. And if you wanna avoid the lines, that's why we're open weekends and Monday before election day.

So please come and see us if you need to register to vote. One other thing I want to mention, the post office has changed its postmarking habits. And if you want and there's no problem with using the post office. However, there are two tips. One, if you going to mail your ballot, don't do it any later than next Tuesday.

If you're just gonna give it to your carrier or put it in a blue box, the last day to do that and be sure it's gonna be postmarked by June 2, which is the key, you have to mail almost a week early. After next Tuesday, take your ballot envelope to the post office. There's no stamp required, but have them postmark it while you watch. They have those old red stamps. They still have them, and they will postmark it.

You cannot be assured after Tuesday the twenty sixth that your postmark is gonna be affixed before election day. And if it's not affixed before election day, your ballot won't count. So it is very important. Now our drop boxes have been open. Yeah. Our drop boxes have been open since May 4. They're all over the county. We have a new one at Lake Berryessa for both the supervisors who represent that area. And then finally, I've said all the things I have in terms of notes for you. I'd be happy to answer any questions from the board or anyone else.

Thank you. I see a question from supervisor Gallagher.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tudor. Can you tell me why the practices of the post office changed and was that a federal initiative? Why did this happen?

Alright. I don't wanna take too much of your time. It's a long, interesting story.

Maybe just the, you know,

I'll you

I'll give you

the precis. So, the post office used to postmark years ago at the local facility. That changed. All mail now goes to a central processing area. In our case, it's Oakland, and it gets postmarked there. However, there's no guarantee of how long it'll be at the local post office before it gets to Oakland and gets postmarked. And they have changed postmarking to own and they're doing it for automation reasons. That's why the hand red stamp is still there and why I'm urging people to use it. But mostly their machines do all the postmarking now. And those machines are located in certain areas.

We're more we're less than 50 miles from Oakland, so our service is pretty good. But more rural post offices, Calistoga, St. Helena, Pope Valley, it might take a while for it to get there. So if you try mailing your ballot on election day, there's no guarantee it'll be postmarked, and we'll be able to count it.

K. I understand that. I think it's highly inequitable and unfair to voters because I think it's very confusing for people, but isn't something you can do anything about.

No, I'm not running for president. You.

Thank you.

There were some glasses.

Oh, are mine.

Okay, I'll bring them.

Yeah. Thank you, Chuck. That's so thoughtful of you. Thank you for the excellent update, Mr. Tudor. Have a great day. Okay. If there's anyone else, go ahead and approach the podium. You'll have three minutes. Good morning.

Good morning. I'm Patricia Damery, and I'm speaking from the Sierra Club Redwood chapter of the forestry committee. One of the things that's happening, and I'm sure all of you have seen these beautiful valley oaks that are dying on '29. And this is really serious because they're infectious. And they're sending out the insect to infect others, and they get the iconic, the big ones.

They are infecting the smaller ones less. I have been dealing with this on our property and what we do is we cut out the part that is dying. We're hoping that this will slow it. I have treated them with mixed feelings about it, but we'll find out if that works. UC Davis Extension is doing research on this.

But the real issue is what do you do with the diseased wood? And unfortunately, people have transported it for firewood, and that spreads it. And we, as a county, need to ask people to make sure and not transport diseased wood. But also, what do you do with it? And there's two things: you can burn it or chip it into pieces that are less than three inches, and you can use it as mulch, but it is an expensive process.

And I would ask, I know you've got all kinds of challenges on the budget, but I think the county needs to budget for disposal of diseased wood of the valley oaks and the blue oaks. Because it seems to be limited to those two trees. We've already lost at least 98% of our valley oaks. And this could take a significant amount of the rest. So I know there's a lot of people who have them on their land and they're not going to be able to afford cutting the tree or the portion out of it or treating it, and that's where I hope the county will offer some assistance.

I understand that from Bill Promek's article that the county is able to do tub grinding. If you can get these five foot logs, trunks to the NAPA recycling, they can chip it. But it costs money to do that. So I ask that you consider that for the budget. And thank you.

Thank you, Ms. D'Amarete. Is there anyone else wishing to comment? Is there anyone on the phones? No? Oh, I see. Yeah. No. Okay. I think that concludes public comment. So now I will ask my colleagues if they have any reports or announcements today. I see Supervisor Gallagher first and then Vice Chair Alessio.

All right. Thank you. I'm going to be continuing to report on the work at BACMID regarding the Rule 9.6, which is the rule about no NOx appliances, specifically water heaters. And the reason we're discussing this a lot right now is because the implementation date is January 2027. So I'm receiving a lot of questions and emails, and so I want to continue to make reports.

Last week, we had a special board meeting on May 13. And we did not vote at that time, but we gave direction to staff. And the majority of our board, including myself, supported the flexibility amendments, and I'd like to explain what that means. Include meaningful exemptions and a delay of implementation until October 2027. So that's a nine month delay of the rule being implemented.

So the rule does not require people to replace their existing water heater, and it does not apply to gas stoves. It only affects newly sold and installed water heaters. And, as I said, in October 2027 at the earliest. And please remember, these amendments are still to be voted on. The amendments, if adopted, could allow continued sales of small 35 gallon or less gas water heaters for a limited time, provide exemptions for low income homeowners and some small business types, permit contractors to purchase and install temporary loaner water heaters for emergencies grant extra time or exemptions for homes needing major electrical upgrades, water heater relocation or hydronic systems and, as I said before, delay implementation until October 2027.

I do think that the amendments get to the heart of what people have been very, very concerned about, primarily low income households and especially households who have major electrical work that would have to be done or have space constraints. I want to explain why the rule exists. Gas water heaters and HVAC systems in the Bay Area collectively produce more air pollution than every passenger car in the region combined. And let that sink in. In Napa, our childhood asthma rate is twenty seven percent, which is well above the state average, and treating a child with asthma costs families a minimum of $3,000 a year.

And there are no rebates for those medical bills. So it's great to remember that not unlike what Californians faced when auto emissions were first regulated, people were also very upset with changes at that time, too. And the transition was hard, but the outcome is we have cleaner air and we have saved tens of thousands of lives. So we are going to bring BACMID staff to an upcoming Climate Action Committee meeting where we can continue to learn and to discuss and to receive comment. And so I will be letting people know when that is scheduled.

And I invite people to call and to continue to send emails, and I will get back to you and always give you the most updated information. Okay. I think that's it. And I did want to also say, you know, my heart goes out to Donnie Dyer. My husband and I vacationed with the Dyers last year, and yeah, he was a great storyteller. So I'm thinking about her a lot right now. All right, thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Gallagher. Vice Chair Alessia?

Supervisor Gallagher, can you remind everybody what VACMA stands for?

Sorry. It's the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. It now goes by the Bay Area Air District.

I

don't like to say BAD, I still say BACMed because we tend to use I the old

knew it was similar to that, but I want to make sure everybody else knew, too. And thank you for that report. And if you could forward your notes, your update, that would be great. I'd like to include that in my next newsletter. A couple of things. I'm going to try to keep these very high level. I want to thank the Napa Fire Wise, Napa County Fire, the members of the Mount Veeder Fire Council, and the neighbors around this area called the Hogback Ridge Fuel Break. This is on the West Side and above Mt. Veeder area. Growing up here, I've never been up there.

I actually had to access it through the Sonoma County side. And you can actually, depending on where you are on the ridge, you can see Sonoma County first and then if you walk towards West, of course, you see Napa County. This is a a field project, break project, that was approved and funded by the USDA Forest Services. It's a $1,500,000 investment grant by the U. S.

Forest Services Department. It includes 11.4 miles of this fuel break and it's been a three year project that will wrap up this year and includes two fifty three acres. A few of us were invited to come up, have a site visit, and see exactly the work being done. It's very impressive. It's a great investment and collaborative project that will help protect both Napa and Sonoma, and not just the lives and the homes here, but also the creatures and all the rich biodiversity up in the Mount Veeder area.

So I want to thank them for that, bringing everybody together, inviting me, and that work that's being done up there to protect those communities. And I just want to say also the West Side of the city of Napa. On last Sunday, I just want to say shout out to the firefighter graduation. Was wonderful. First time I've been at that graduation Chair Manfred did a great job speaking at that.

A quick update because we know childcare advocacy is something that's kind of one of those areas that I've been keeping up on. And right now there's another headwind. And it's one of these where all the best intentions in terms of the California Building Code Title 24, there's going to be an update on it. And this update is going to, once again it's already challenging for child care centers and providers to work around Title 24, but now there's going be more restrictions and less clarification, that could potentially close more centers and definitely add more cost. These areas of concern, that I'm hearing from the child care providers, and this comes from Community Resources from Children and First V, is that it needs to have clear classification language, flexibility for existing buildings, recognize existing safety practices and funding support for compliance.

Otherwise, the long term risk is reduced capacity, delayed growth and closures because child care providers will not be able to absorb the cost. So I'm going to be following up on this and seeing what we can do. Unfortunately, on their committee, they don't have anybody that's representing the child care sector. So again, all good intentions, but it needs to be included with how that's going to impact child care, which we know is a California issue, not just a Napa County issue. Want to let's see here.

What do I have? Oh, yesterday I covered for Supervisor Ramos at the Napa Valley Waste Management Authority and I just want to share real quick that Kevin Miller with the City of Napa provided an update. Because of the new waste and recycle management program that's aligned with SB24, there is a new pilot program that doesn't cost customers anything. It only extends up to 1,000 people. And what it is, is that there's going to be a new yellow container like those original blue handheld containers when recycled just started.

This will be a yellow container where you can put all soft plastics that are not recyclable. Can So, there'll be a note or a card about this in your next bill with Nepal Waste and Recycle, but you can also go online and apply for this. It's limited to 1,000 people. Again, it's no cost to you. They deliver a yellow tote and you can put your soft plastics in there because they're not recyclable.

So they're working on that. And again, that's in line with SB 54. On the Napa opioid safety coalition, you might have heard of this, but there is a synthetic well, it's actually a natural it's called kratom, and I'm just going to say that. Look up kratom, which is also known as the gas station heroin. There's a natural kratom leaf extract, but there are synthetics that pose heroin like dangers and addiction.

So I'm just going to put that out there. It's a great group that includes a wide broad of stakeholders that are working on this, including our public health officer, Doctor. Andrea Clark with Kaiser and many others. I want to share that the Dry Creek Bridge is open two ways and right now there's a happening up on Mt. Veeder and Dry Creek when it comes to fuel mitigation and also the continued undergrounding of the PG and E lines and road work.

So if you go up there, expect some stops and delays, but it's all worth it and it will get done. Last, again, next Monday is Memorial Day. The Yountville, just wanted to give a couple reminders or announcements that the Yountville Pioneer Cemetery, which my family is very tied to, has their Memorial Day service on the Sunday before Memorial Day, so it does not conflict with the Veterans Home. It's open to the public. It goes from one to two p. M. It's really meaningful. Anybody who's interested, please attend. Additionally, the Yountville Veterans Home will have their service on Monday, the twenty fifth at 10AM. I think it ends around eleven The City of Napa will have their service at the Veterans Park.

Operation With Love From Home that sends care package to the troops continues to do so. I think they've we met last night, and I think there's probably been 25 different deployed bases, if you will, that receive care packages. And we'll have a care package filling day on Sunday, June 30 at Crosswalk Church. All are welcome, starting doors open at 9AM, starting at 10AM. And then last I received a really nice email.

I don't know if the rest of the supervisors received this, But this is from Colonel James Sowell, who wants to send a letter of commendation for the outstanding service of our Napa County Veterans Service Officer, Del Pratt. So I just want to again think about all those who served our country. Thank Dell and this Memorial Day service. Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Supervisor Alessio. Supervisor Cottrell, do you have an update?

I do. Thank you, Chair. I first wanted to make two referrals this morning. It is wildfire preparedness month, and so I have two referrals I'd like to make. First, I'd like to ask staff to figure out how we could get a brief presentation on the joint strategy on wildfire resilience and outdoor recreation.

That is the product out of a subcommittee working group of the wildfire task force looking at how outdoor recreation and wildfire resilience can go together, things like hardened trails that can end up being, you know, mini fire breaks and things like that. So that document is out. Our open space district has already adopted it, and it's basically a guidance document and so I think it would be helpful for the board to understand about that. And second of all, we I received an email from Allison Blodorn at the Resource Conservation District, and she is working on forest health and wildfire resilience strategies. And there is an intercoast collaborative, a multi county group working together on a plan.

So I'd love for us to get a presentation on those two items. Thank you. And then second, thank you, Supervisor Alessio, for the report outs on the terrific volunteer firefighter graduation and the site visit to Hogback Ridge. I think both are examples of how we're strengthening the county in terms of wildfire response and prevention. And then report outs on my RCRC work.

I traveled as part of the RCRC leadership team to the Western Interstate Conference. I serve as chair of the Resilient Counties Innovation Council. And one takeaway I wanted to share is we did a screening. We hosted a screening of Lahaina Rising, which was a story of the devastating fire in Lahaina and how the community responded. And I think it's so important to remember every community has different challenges and strengths.

And so their situation is different than ours, and I think we can still learn from things. So I'm hoping we can bring that to the Valley. One other thing I wanted to report out on, Lake County recently hosted a tour of home hardening. That's where a home changes vents, removes wood from touching the structure, many things like that that make the home much more resilient to wildfire. And there were several insurers who participated in the tour, which I think is a really good sign.

When homes are hardened, insurers want to come back into the market. So I think it would be great if we could engage the team that has done that work there. Of course, the biggest piece of that is the dollars. Lake County is able to do it because they received a California wildfire mitigation program grant and that's really moving the needle for them. But it's really important when you have a denser neighborhood, even a suburban neighborhood, to have many homes in the neighborhood home hardened.

So happy to see that work happening. Congrats to Lake County. I would also point out we had not only Kyle OES on the tour, but also a FEMA staffer was there, which that's been so hard and rare to get those folks to engage. So thrilled to have that. And then finally, wanted to give a shout out to the Angouin Fire Safe Council.

They hosted one of their annual meetings on this past Sunday, and normally we have a great turnout. It happened to be the afternoon that we had a small fire in Angouin, two miles away, so our fire administrator, J. R. Rogers, I know was on the scene of the fire, but thank you to all the firefighters who were at the fire even though they couldn't be at the meeting. And then just my final update.

Thank you, Supervisor Alessio, for mentioning several of the Memorial Day events happening. There are also several others up valley in Calistoga and St. Helena, including one at Pioneer Cemetery. That's a historic cemetery on the West Side Of Calistoga, and that will be held at 09:30 on Monday. Thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Cottrell. I just have a couple quick things. Highway thirty seven committee met and received an update on the Fairgrounds Drive at Highway 37 interchange, which now is a diverging diamond interchange. You'll be able to pass through it just fine. It's very well designed under Highway 37 there near the Vallejo Fairgrounds.

But it has changed conditions regionally. And we also received an update on Tolley Bridge construction, which is moving forward, and the funding has been put in place to cover an cost overrun. It's passed through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and it also recently passed through the Conservation and Development the BCDC, Bay Conservation and Development Commission. So that project is moving. And with MTC, attended subcommittees, Bay Area Transportation Authority, where we received an update on vessel strikes of bridges.

That's the kind of thing you can see if you've joined those meetings is big infrastructure drama. So that's fun. And I also received a tour of the North Bay Aqueduct facilities with other members of the community, and that was absolutely fabulous. Thank you, Supervisor Gallagher, for joining It's really interesting to see where our water comes from. It comes a long way to get to us through those facilities.

And the Berryessa Highlands Fire Safe Council and Coombsville Wild Horse Fire Safe Council both met since our last meeting, and those were very helpful, informative community meetings. Thanks to everyone who made those happen. And lastly, I would just like to mention that we do support a chipping program through Firewise for free in this community, so the County is helping to make sure that those services are available. And there have recently been forest management grants available through USDA and administered in partnership with the Resource Conservation District. And if anyone has questions about those, please get in touch with me because there is support out there for forest management.

If you're having problems with trees dead and dying or just want to thin out your forest and do fuels reduction, there are options. Okay. I believe that concludes supervisor announcements and reports. We are moving on to Item nine. We have nothing on Item eight because nothing was pulled from the consent calendar. So Item nine, Administrative Items 9A. I welcome Wes Mafia to give us a presentation. Wes is the manager of the Napa County Mosquito Abatement District. Welcome.

At the table? Okay. Thank you, madam chair, members of the board. My name is Wes McFay. I'm the director of the Napa County Mosquito Abatement District, have been for almost the last twenty nine years.

And I'm here just to sort of remind folks a little bit about who we are, what we do and then get on to the issue that the county will be facing here very soon. So Napa County Mosquito Abatement District, this is the to do the slides? Okay. Napa County Mosquito Abatement District was formed in 1925. We cover the entire county.

We have a budget of about 3,000,000. We have nine staff, including myself. Most of us are in the field on a regular basis. And our focus is primarily mosquitoes. We did have a benefit assessment in 2003, which allowed us to add Yellowjacket services and also, provide information about ticks and rodents and other things that are of concern, especially organisms that, might transmit disease to the citizens of the county.

Their general biology of mosquito, because that's our primary focus, they are dependent on water. No water, no mosquitoes, very simple formula. That said, development can happen fairly quickly. It can be less than a week or it can take many months depending on the species. This particular county has 20 different species of mosquitoes.

We are a year round program, so there is no let up, there is no break. We just change mosquitoes at different times of the year. Of the 20 species, about eight or nine of them are regular pests of humans and livestock and pets. And only a small handful of them are capable of transmitting disease. Real quick, the ways to manage mosquitoes, physical control means elimination of water sources, dump to containers, drain particular sites that might hold water, and or if you've got really good movement of water, mosquitoes cannot lay their eggs in sites where there's a lot of activity or motion with the water.

Biological control, we use mosquito fish, we use bacteria that can affect the immature stages. With chemical control, this is sort of our last resort. That's where you may get into some adult deciding. We prefer not to do that because it does have impacts to other organisms, especially pollinators. The most effective method, of course, is public education. We have a pretty good outreach program. We come to local HOAs or to service clubs or service groups, speak before boards, etc, where we try to get the word out. Again, the key message is no mosquitoes, no water. I know folks like to have their containers. They like to keep water in and around the home.

I know there's water conservation. You even have some of the wastewater treatment facilities that will provide gray water to residents in barrels or containers or other ways that there might be water storage and all of these things have the potential to breed mosquitoes. Napa County control effort. Here in the county, just for last year to give folks an idea, we had a total of six thirty two service calls. That means folks call saying, hey, I've got bugs, I've got some kind of problem.

We come out to the house usually within twenty four hours, if not forty eight, And we'll do the inspection, we do the service, we try to find the problem, we try to figure out ways that we can eliminate or fix the problem without having to use chemicals. So that's our primary focus. Of those 632 calls, 248 of them were mosquitoes, three seventy one of these were yellow jackets. That means we come out, we put the moon suit on, we look for a ground nest, we will treat that particular ground nest with a pyrethrin dust. Yellow jackets are gone, we move on.

Sometimes we come back because there are multiple nests on properties. For example, Rancho Chamilles, we usually spend the entire day and they will take us around in their little quad and it'll be eighteen, twenty, 25 nests that we will treat in that particular vineyard. So there is a fair amount of work there. As a whole, this sort of is the average, typical year, year to year. There are some years where things will be extraordinary, especially if there are new mosquito borne diseases or new mosquitoes that show up on the picture.

We talk about what's in and around the home, and this is just sort of an example. There are many, many places that can hold water: a tarp, a container, a bottle, a bucket, even pet bowls, child's wading pools. There are different things and folks just need to be periodically reminded. This is really, really important, especially in the spring. And in this particular spring where we had a fairly wet April, it means there are all kinds of things holding water in and around the home. We don't have access to these yards. So unless somebody calls us and lets us in, we have no idea. A container in somebody's yard will affect an entire neighborhood. We're talking a flight range for what I call typical mosquitoes of one to two miles. So that is a fairly large area that can be impacted by just one yard.

But let's get to what the issue is here. About 2013, the yellow fever mosquito showed up in California. Now, I've been in mosquito control for thirty eight years. I remember when I started and I was told this particular insect will never become established in California because California is hot and dry. That has changed. Not because California is still not hot and dry, it is. This particular insect is adapted to breeding in small containers. Folks like to store everything under the sun. Uncle Bob's sink, dead cars, tarps, boats, I don't care what it is. This particular insect will breed in anything that holds fresh water, including a bottle cap.

So, takes very little. It's very cryptic. It's a very hard insect to control. It is resistant to most pesticides. The key is managing the water. So I'm trying to get the word out here and what I'm really asking is that folks spread the word. If you've got service clubs or HOAs, I will come talk to them. I don't care if it's Saturday or Sunday, whatever day it is. You've got a block party, I will be there. The key to managing this insect is not adulticiding, it is managing the water.

And it is a very hard insect to control. Talk about some of the types of places this insect can be found. You're talking about the little saucers under potted plants, and that little bit of water will produce all sorts of these insects. You can also have these insects breed in the water that collects in the leaf axles of bromeliads. Bromeliads are a popular plant. And this is just sort of a close-up showing the immature stages in one of these areas of a bromeliad. You also can find this insect in lucky bamboo. So, a lot of times folks buy that, they put the little pot in the house and they're like, holy blazes, the mosquitoes are just eating us alive. We come in and there it is, right on the counter. So, this is a really special bug.

Again, a little jars, cans, containers in backyard, so the refuse is really a big issue. And as I mentioned, the bottle caps, and I keep saying, you know, with this particular insect, it is a community effort. There is no other way to manage it. This insect has a tremendous history. The United States actually had yellow fever epidemics in its history, especially in the Southeast. We're talking Memphis, Nashville, 1905 was a big epidemic in New Orleans. The U. S. Mint used to shut down about two hundred years ago in Philadelphia and they would leave for the summer because of the yellow fever problems. So this particular mosquito is very, very problematic.

And community effort is the only way. We have no access to the yards. A lot of yards are locked. A lot of folks are very distrusting of government. They don't want to be told what to do.

We're not looking to come in with a heavy hand, but what I am asking is the coordination with, public works, with health and human services, environmental health, even your code enforcement folks as an additional set of eyes. We're not saying that we want to regulate people, but sometimes they see things they can let us know and or they can help get us access to the areas where we can do this work. We don't charge folks for this. We just want to get the job done. And so it's really, really important that we do this work. And with that, I'll open it up for questions.

Okay, thank you for that very informative report. I invite any questions from my colleagues. I see Supervisor Gallagher. Thank

you so much. This is really, really informative. I think we probably all would like to do what we can to get the word out and put something in our newsletters, etcetera. So please send us whatever you can. I know maybe the slides, but also if you have some kind of flyer or messaging that goes out to the public that we can reproduce or link to, that would be great. Thank you so much.

Okay. You. I have a question which is, is there anything besides yellow fever that people should be aware of? Mean

Well, okay. This particular mosquito, No. Short and sweet. This particular mosquito, also vectors Zika, chikungunya, the biggest issue is dengue. And dengue, up until three years ago, was not something that could be, what do you want to say, locally contracted.

It was only due to travel relation you know, folks would travel come back and have dengue. Of three years ago, California had dengue, two hundred and fifty cases travel related, two locally contracted. In 2024, seven hundred and twenty travel related, eighteen locally contracted. And then last year, six local and a hundred and ninety three travel. For Napa County, all of the cases we've had, very rare. One or two cases a year, all been travel related. That said, the what I'm trying to do is let folks know that this mosquito is on our back door. It was found in Mare Island last year. It's in Antioch. It's in Dixon.

It's in Winters and in a number of locations in Santa Clara County. Because the primary industry is tourism and wine, the likelihood of introduction is very, very high. And so, we just really want to get the word out. So, there are other diseases. Napa County has a history of malaria, but again, we haven't had a locally contracted malaria case since 1939. We do have the mosquito to carry it, so again, related. So these are all things that we watch for, Health and Human Services watches for, but it is something that we need to be aware of. West Nile virus is present. We've had very few human cases. I feel very blessed that that has happened. But again, it's something that we need to be aware of.

Yeah. Thank you. And I think it's I just want to say it's remarkable, the work you do. We have taken advantage of the Yellow Jacket abatement at our place. They were terrible during the drought, and it made a big difference.

And so I think it's just helpful that everyone can be aware that those services are available, because get the sense not everyone knows. And then also, I just want to commend you for how remarkable it is that we managed to keep these diseases at bay. And I know that's through the efforts of your office. And to think California is a place where malaria was fairly common in the late 1800s to early 1900s, and we managed to eradicate it with the kind of work that you do, effectively eradicate it. But it really makes a difference, and it keeps us safer and healthier. So thank you.

Well, thank you. I would say it's a community effort. It really is the citizens as well as the department. And without that, it's just not going to work.

Yeah. Oh, Supervisor Alessio, go ahead.

Yeah. No, this has given me some ideas. Something you might or might not have thought about is introducing this to the youth. We have found, especially around public health or other areas in terms of creating that change and awareness, kids are great beacons of change in their homes and in their environment. So it might be I I don't know what level what grade you might want to present this to, but I think it would be really interesting to see have you present it to some local schools, let the kids scour the yards because they hate mosquitoes, too, and while the parents are busy working or whatever, and educate up. Kids are great for that.

We do participate in the STEM program, and also there are a number of youth organizations that we do presentations to. The schools have been somewhat limited, but when that opportunity presents itself, usually fourth, fifth, sixth grade is what we target. And we've had a fairly good response, but I think there could be more. You're correct.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you for your presentation. Okay. Moving on to item Here, meet me. Oh, Yes, public comment. I'm sorry. Is there anyone wishing to make public comment on this item? Welcome. Now if there's anyone, is there anyone on the phones? No. No? Okay. Then I think we have concluded this item. And we'll move on to item 9B, appoint one of either Charles l Caruso or Eva What are doing? Okay. Marie Maharaj to the Napa County Wildlife Conservation Commission to represent the youth member with terms seat with terms of office to commence immediately and expire 02/01/2028. And I welcome a staff report on this item.

You, Chair Manfrey. Today, you have before you have two youth representatives. The commission chose not to provide the board with the recommendations, so it's up to you today to choose one of these youth members. They're between the ages of 15 and 25 from the community.

Thank you. Is there any public comment on this item? Not seeing anyone. Is there anyone on the phone? No? Okay. Are there any board questions on this item? Vice Chair Alessio, go ahead.

No questions, just a recommendation. I looked at both the applications very quick, not a lot of information there. I felt like one application just spoke to me more. Both were good. I'm sure both youth, both students would be great. Both are from, it looks like, American Canyon. Shout out to American Canyon and District five for that. But I don't want to jump ahead. Does staff want to share anything?

I don't have anything particular. Just our current youth member, Allen Gee, who has served an amazing term, is moving on to higher education. So these are the two youth reps that we received applications for. We're excited to fill the position, and we look forward to your choice.

I don't know either one of these students. Of course, haven't talked to them. But just based on the application and what was spoken, I would like to nominate Ava Murray, but open to discussion or somebody else's different choice.

Okay. Thank you. I thought they were both pretty equivalent applications. It's of hard to know. But I think I would is that a motion?

It is if it's Okay with the rest of the board.

Okay. Is there anyone who wishes to second that?

No second.

Okay. A motion by Vice Chair Alessio, seconded by Supervisor Gallagher to appoint Eva Marie Maharaj to the Wildlife Conservation Commission. All those in favor?

We do that, can you just take a little discussion? Yes. I would just encourage I think they both look like terrific candidates. Maybe some feedback to the commission next time is to help us with some more information where possible. And I would really encourage Mr. Caruso to apply again for other opportunities because it's really great to see youth being engaged.

I know. I wish we could appoint them both. That's not how it works. Any other comments from the board? No? Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Okay. That passes unanimously.

And we are moving on to item nine c, adopt a resolution in support of house concurrent resolution 46 authored by congressman Mike Thompson. We have a staff report from Andrew Mize. Welcome, mister Mize.

Members of the board, good morning. Thank you for your time today. I'm here upon the referral of the chair at the board's 04/14/2026 regular meeting for a resolution in support of congressman Mike Thompson's house concurrent resolution 46. We'll call it HCON RES 46 to make it a little faster moving forward. HCON RES 46 does three things.

It calls on Congress to recognize climate restoration obligations. It calls upon Congress to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions, and it calls for the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations nationwide to pre industrial levels, a level at which humans have primarily lived. This resolution aligns with a number of your board's prior actions. It aligns with the 2019 establishment of the climate action committee by execution of a joint powers agreement with the other cities and town in our county. It aligns with the 2022 climate emergency declaration made by your board, and it aligns with the 2025 strategic initiatives prioritizing environmental sustainability and resilience in decision, in the decision making framework utilized by county employees day to day.

The proposed resolution before you today for approval was drafted collaboratively with members of the NAPA Student for Climate Action and NAPA Climate Now. That's all I have today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Meis. Is there any public comment on this item? If there is, I invite you to join us at the podium. And three minutes per commenter, please.

Welcome. Good morning.

Hi. My name is Aria Adai. I'm a senior at Vintage High School, and I serve as co vice president of Napa Schools for Climate Action, who we worked on the resolution with mister Mize. Our organization founded in 2018 and has members from all MVSD high schools and just in Siena. We advocated for the climate emergency resolutions that all Napa County jurisdictions adopted, each with the goal of achieving net zero climate pollutants by 2030.

The cities of Napa and American Canyon have new general plans that specify the 2030 net zero emissions goal, and we're extreme extremely grateful for that. Today, I urge you to pass a resolution in strong support of congressman Mike Thompson's house concurrent resolution 46, which was introduced into congress this past July. Emissions reductions and adaption, while essential, are no longer sufficient. The Congressional resolution declares that The United States has a moral obligation to our children and future generations to restore atmospheric CO2 levels to levels that humans have safely experienced long term below 300 p p m, by 2050 through rapid deep emissions cuts, as well as massive deployment of safe, scalable carbon dioxide removal. I'd like to also take a moment to recognize the Napa County Board of Education, which recently adopted a resolution with their alignment with the core principles of the Napa resolution.

And we we are expect especially grateful grateful for their embracing and modeling of their core values to the county, and they also wrote letters to the county and cities urging them all to endorse the resolution. We are also grateful for American Canyon who also passed a resolution to endorse our resolution. Thank you for taking our message seriously, and please let us know if we can help in any way.

Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Alexander Gallegos. I'm a junior at New Tech High School and a new member this school year with Napa Schools for Climate Action. I have a lot of other responsibilities outside of school, including track, work, and taking care of my family, and I'm trying to put as much as effort as I can into this. Our motto is that no school should be silent witness to injustice to climate injustice.

I'm grateful for being here today that you guys are considering the resolution that we requested during your meeting on April 14. It reads, quote, now therefore be it resolved that Napa County Board of Supervisors Supervisors support this passage of house concur house concurrent resolution 46 and calls on the speaker of the house of representatives to bring the measure into the household floor for a vote, end quote. This is huge. Your willingness to step up and pledge your support is extremely important as the next few years will present critical junctures in our climate system. Many of Earth's Earth's tipping points like the melting of the Arctic sea ice and collapsing of the Atlantic and Metadornio overturning circulation are being passed while here at home, we are dealing with record breaking heat waves and fires.

Not doing enough while we still have time will have huge cascading negative effects on the climate ecosystems, the economy, and the social and political systems your children will be inheriting from you. House concurrent resolution 46 addresses these issues head on. It reads in part, quote, whereas scientists and technologists have developed and demonstrated CO two secrecyclication methods that replicate and leverage natural processes in ways that significantly reduce atmospheric CO two concentrations, and whereas climate restorations and precondition for intergenerational climate injustice as young people will suffer the worst effects of climate breakdown, end quote. Supervisor supervisors, your leaderships will benefit us by educating our community and also by insisting on climate relevant resource results and inspiring others to do so. Thank you very much.

Thank you, mister Diego. Welcome. Good morning.

Good morning, chair Manfrey and the board of supervisors. I'm Helena, a junior at Napa High and a member of Napa Schools for Climate Action. Climate restoration or carbon drawdown is a critical factor in how we will end the climate catastrophe. If we just reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by the 2030 deadline or later as international community proposes to do, what we do with the heat trapping pollution that remains in the atmosphere, this is where climate restoration comes in. As it's scalable and durable, the sequestration can lock existing carbon dioxide pollution away from millennia.

Knowing that a safe and sustainable world is still within reach has been an incredible light of hope for me. Alleviating my climate anxiety and motivating me to work on such an incredible project as house resolution fifteen sixty three introduced by rep Mike Thompson is in congress in 2024 and now has concurrent resolution 46, which he introduced in the, a hundred and nineteenth congress last July. In November, at the invitational at NAB r RCD, my schools for climate action team and I led a one hour interactive workshop at the climb at the California Association of RCD's annual convention in Sacramento. RCD's resolution acknowledges climate modeling that indicates stabilizing global mean temperatures rising at or or below 1.5 degrees Celsius is not feasible through emission reduction alone and endorses the goals and means of congressional resolution to restore the climate. As congressman Thompson's twenty twenty four climate crisis champions, we understand the dedication it takes to make a difference.

Your resolution will help us realize our dreams of a safe and healthy world for many generations to come. Thank you, board.

Thank you for your comments. Welcome.

Hello. Good morning. My name is Gemma Roberts, and I'm a current senior at Napa High School, and I've been a proud member of Napa Schools for Climate Action for over two years now. I just wanted to thank you for, listening to us and caring and responding. In January, we commented on the county's new legislation platform as we have in previous years.

The platform lists the climate emergency as a guiding principle. We pointed out that continuous destructive impacts of wildfires on Napa's residents' lives and safety and the insurance crisis are results of the larger planetary crisis that we face. We ask that Napa County not only call for deep and persistent emission cuts, but tag team that with massive deployment of safe, scalable carbon dioxide removal consistent with IPCC's sixth assessment report, mitigation of climate change. Soon after, you approved an amended platform with language calling for investment in atmospheric carbon pollution drawdown. I also wanted to say how grateful and honored my team and I were to meet regarding a county resolution last month with supervisor Amber Manfrey and her aide, Abigail Flores.

Three of my fellow students and I met with Andrew Mies, legislative and policy analyst, when he was ready to get started. We went through the various clauses with him then again after he had a draft. In particular, I want to call out the extensive action you have pledged to take. Some examples. Quote, be it further resolved that the Board of Supervisors calls upon the California delegation to the US Senate to introduce a companion resolution, that the Board of Supervisors calls upon Napa County cities and towns that have not yet voiced support for the House Concurrent Resolution 46 to do so by formal resolution that the Board further calls upon the Boards of Supervisors in all counties in California to pass resolutions so supporting that the Board calls upon Statewide organizations of counties to take to positions of support.

Napa Schools for Climate Action and I really appreciate your effort and the difficulties that come with new ways of thinking and doing. There's so little time. Please continue the positive momentum and let us know how we can help. Thank you.

Thank you, miss Roberts. Is there anyone on the phones? Are anyone else in the room? Yeah. Welcome. Come on up.

Patricia Damry from NAPA. What I know about these students is absolutely amazing. And I don't know if you have seen the program they have put together to educate other students in other districts, other counties in the nation about how to include climate education in the curriculum. But they're amazing and I hope that as we go forward with the general plan update that you consider including a student or so on that committee because they have studied, they really understand probably the most important issue that we're going to be facing, which are the challenges of a changing climate. I am so appreciative to them and to Jim Wilson who has done so much to mentor these students.

Anyway, thank you.

Thank you, mister Amory. Mister Apollos, welcome.

Oh, thank you very much. You're Yossa Apollos, a resident, a long time resident of the Napa Valley. I wanted to tell you how proud I am of the presentation made by these students. I am the president of the Mabee Foundation and a proud sponsor of their efforts. And to see the product that has been produced by them and the dedication and incredible commitment to the environment which we all live in is very impressive to me. I will continue to support that effort until there's blood in my veins. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Apollos. Is there anyone on the phone? No. No? Okay. Then I will bring that back to the board for any questions or comments on this item. Supervisor Gallagher?

I just want to are you going make a presentation? Sorry. I just realized that Mr. Meis is sitting there. Oh, you did. You're done with yours. Okay, sorry. I thought maybe you had more. I just wanted to say that I'm also incredibly impressed by the students. And I think it's great that you're taking up advocacy of this bill.

It's great legislation I think or resolution and really supportive. And it's just really exciting to see how Schools for Climate Action is evolving within our schools and within our youth. And it's just very, very impressive to see you here at many meetings and having meetings with community leaders and electeds outside of coming to the board. So thank you for all of your efforts. We owe our kids a lot, and they're taking on a lot of the responsibility. So I appreciate it.

Vice Chair Alessia?

Yeah, very well said, Supervisor Gallagher. Thank you. I'll just echo what she said. And again, thank you for your dedication and commitment. It goes back to kind of what I was talking about before with the mosquito abatement. So much really can start and change when it starts with our youth, that rise up and teaching adults and pressing for what you want in your future. So I commend each of you for your dedication and your commitment. Thank you, Mr. Wilson, for your continued dedication on this and support and mentorship for the youth and for us. As you know, you and I have had a lot of conversations that have gone on for a few years now.

So I appreciate that. It's one of these things that this is once again a community effort. And we need the leadership at all levels. And I very much support this resolution and support of Congressman Mike Thompson's efforts on this. So thank you.

Go ahead, Supervisor Cottrell.

Thank you. You knew I was looking for that button. Yeah. I just want to echo my colleagues. Thanks to both of you for your comments.

And I really appreciate the students being here today and making the presentation, and we learn from you when we hear your ideas and the research that you're sharing. So thank you for that. And then I also want to reflect what I think we already heard from Supervisor Gallagher today in that this board is with you and looking for ways that we can advance the goals that are in our platform. And you mentioned the transition away from gas powered water heaters and things like that. And then I wanted to just share two Zooms I had this week because I thought you might be interested in learning about two organizations.

One is called California Forward that historically has had an economic development focus. It continues to have that focus, but in the context of the importance of climate response adaptation and energy transition. And then the other one is called Landcore, and it is looking at soil health and how better care of our soils increases climate resilience and and makes farmers be able to do more, in this in this moment. So thank you so much, and look forward to what you do next.

Yeah. Wonderful. Yeah. I just I'm thankful that this got brought forward by, the students at Schools for Climate Action and by their mentors. Mister Wilson, thank you. And also for staff for moving this forward really swiftly. I mean, it's pretty quick for me to have made a referral just about a month ago and already have this back. So thank you. I think that shows that we all think this is a priority. And I will just comment that I think one of the biggest challenges of our time is that our laws are not changing nearly as fast as our climate is changing. And this is one small step to try to address that. I know we need to do a lot more, but I'm very happy to be able to make this step today. So with that, is there a motion to

So moved.

And is there a second?

I second.

Okay. People are jumping at it. So moved by Supervisor Cottrell, second by Vice Chair Alessio. All those in favor? Aye. That passes unanimously. Congratulations. So that concludes item 9C. And we will move on, thank you, to item 9D, receive a presentation from the Emergency Medical Care Committee and Emergency Medical Services Agency. And on this item, I would like to note that the proclamation for EMS week was approved on our consent calendar today.

And I have it here for the people presenting on this item. And I also can see that it is 10:30. If anyone wishes to take a comfort break, I think you Okay, five minutes now, and we'll return to the presentation. I was Okay. Staff from HHS EMS, EMS administrator Sean Vincent and Providence Queen of the Valley Medical Center Paramedic Base Hospital and Emergency Management Coordinator Lois Huston.

Thank you. I welcome a presentation from the Emergency Medical Care CommitteeEmergency Medical Services Agency. Whenever you're ready.

Morning, Chairman Free, members of the Board of Supervisors. I'm Sean Vincent, your EMS administrator. Really happy to be here today, especially on National EMS Week presenting to the board today. So we have two presentations. One is our annual emergency medical care committee presentation, as well as the state of the local emergency medical services agency. So without further ado, I'll hand this over to the chair of the EMCC, Lois Houston.

Thank you, Supervisors. Thank you, Chair. Happy to be here and give our presentation. I always make him be my Vanna White. What I'm going go over is just the operations of EMS right now in Napa County, the functions of the EMCC, which I am the chairman of, and what we do. We review the ambulance operations in Napa County. We are an advisory committee to all of you people. And we also review the emergency medical care, including CPR, public access to defibrillation, and first aid practices. And the membership is quite large. As you can see, it's very diverse.

It covers pretty much of a lot of the agencies, training the hospitals. It's a very robust group and have a lot of good interaction from everybody with those meetings. And the system of EMS, you can see it's all the different components of it. It's recognition that there's an issue, reporting, the response, on scene care, care and transport, and transfer to definitive care. And these were the numbers for last year for ground ambulance.

No surprise with AMR. They do have the nine eleven contract, and they have the emergency calls. And then you can see the different agencies that we all work with for the BLS calls. Those are the totals for this past year. And here's EMS aircraft utilization.

We're happy to have both we have CHP and we have REACH that are based in the area. And we do utilize them quite a bit, and they would rather be called out and canceled than not thought of at all. And one of the big things, and I'm a big proponent of it, you've probably seen me out there chasing people down doing hands only CPR, we are really great, really great in this community about teaching this. The number of people that were taught in 2025, you can see it's over 6,000 at 82 different events. And then this a little bit it shows the bystander CPR that we have versus the national average.

We think this is just a little bit not correct. We did hand counts in doing it into the data to pull before, and now we have a new program. So we're looking into how we can capture that because we're actually seeing some of the students that we have taught hands only CPR in the schools are responding now. So our gut is that it's happening more often than it had before. And the survival rate, this is something we're always proud of.

If you're going to have a heart attack, NAPA is kind of a good place to have it. Our survival rate is much better than the national average, and we think a lot of it is because because of the bystander CPR, the AED use. And then current heart safe communities, American Canyon, Kalistoga, and Napa, and we're making progress on some of the other ones. But there's different criteria to be considered heart safe, and these three cities have all met the criteria. And then survivors reunion.

These are survivors from 2025. This is an event that is fully supported by donations from the agencies to hospitals. We don't charge anything for anybody to come. My standing joke is there's only two ways you can go, is you can be a survivor or rescuer, and it's much easier to be the rescuer than the survivor. And then obviously our sponsors, Black Stallion has been wonderful in supporting us every year and hosting it there.

We have our event this evening, and I've got to tell you that so many good things come out of this also. One of our survivors from last year has donated 15 AEDs to the community and is working getting them out in the neighborhoods. We're trying to partner up with the schools. So if you're at home or out and somebody goes down, you know there's always going to be an AED accessible at that place, and that's a huge, huge component of having the great survival rates we have. And then accomplishments the Public Information and Education Committee, or PIE and yes, occasionally we do have PIE at the meetings.

We do the hands only CPR, Stop the Bleed, and we're working on the Narcan Administration. Again, the expanded CPR in the schools, it used to be the ninth grade and twelfth that we went down seventh grade. AEDs in Napa County Sheriffs and the American Canyon Police Department. And again, like I said, we're seeing some of these students now being part of the response for some of our survivors. And then our goals for next year, again, to identify all AED locations in NAPA.

We always find some hidden ones that people have purchased and we're not quite aware of. So we want to make sure that we know exactly where they are, expand the scope of practice with PIE, working on the Stop the Bleeds and the NARCAN, educator community on hands only CPR, and then collaborate with key partners to encourage St. Helena, Angouin, and Yountville to become heart safe communities. And with that, I will hand it over to Sean.

Thank you, Lois. I just want to comment real quickly because I think it was said a couple of times here by Supervisor Gallagher and Supervisor Alessio regarding getting the kids involved. And so as Lois mentioned that we have a couple of saves where we are teaching fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh grade students hands only CPR, the use of AED, and then they're going home and teaching their parents, and they're saving their parents' lives. So it's really cool to see that we're ingrained that into the culture of our youth right now. And as we're expanding that, we're hoping to get some more traction and and getting more AEDs out into the community.

So without further ado, I'll put my presentation up here. Again, I'm Sean Vincent. I'm your EMS administrator, and this is the current state of the Napa County EMS agency from calendar year 2025. So our systems of care, when we talk about systems of care, we, as an EMS agency, we measure lots of widgets and all of those things come together to create this whole system. When we talk about clinical systems of care, there are a couple that are really specific, trauma, STEMI, and stroke.

And STEMI is basically the heart attack and stroke. And so we are very fortunate here in Napa to have the Queen of the Valleys, our level three trauma center. We renewed that agreement with them in calendar year 2025. And the Queen of the Valley is up for their American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma this July. And they passed with flying colors the last time, and we have no reason to believe that they won't do it again this year. We also have two STEMI centers, or heart attack care centers. Both of our hospitals are considered STEMI receiving centers. We did renew the contract with Adventist Health this year. And then we also were very lucky to have two primary stroke centers. So it's more common to have a STEMI center.

It's less common to have a trauma center or a stroke center within your community. And so there are varying levels of stroke. And being a primary stroke center is kind of that middle of the ground. We're not a comprehensive. There are very few of those in the state of California, but we are lucky to have two primary stroke centers. Moving on to updates and some of the successes we've had in the last year. So, in Appa County Symposium, we just concluded fifth annual symposium. We've been doing this I think we wanted to do it in 2020, but there was that weird thing that you may have seen on the news that was going around. I think it was called COVID. And so we really shifted our approach to moving this to a a virtual.

And so this year was our fifth annual. Last year, we held it again the same week, roughly. We had three thirty three participants in our symposium this year. So we were able to provide continuing education, bringing in physician experts from around the country on varying things like blood administration or airway management or a whole variety of training. So we're really excited to continue that.

Some of you may have heard of last March, put on, we partnered with the Napa County Office of Emergency Services, our sheriff's office, varying partners, Napa County Fire, Napa City Fire, pretty much all of our public safety agencies participated. But we work closely with the Office of Emergency Services and put on one of the largest multi casualty incident trainings, that the state has seen. We received support and, participation from all over the country, practice our mutual aid system, we essentially tested an act of violence on a public area. And, you know, with events that happened in San Diego yesterday, we really want to make sure that our responders are prepared, and not just our responders, but the whole system is ready to absorb this and ready to move where necessary. So we're really excited about that particular exercise.

We're also planning for another one in the next year, so for 2027. We're hoping to get that off the ground. With that, we also are updating our multi casualty incident management plan. So we found some improvement items out of that. And so we have completed that and we'll be implementing here in July for that new plan.

In parallel to that, one of the roles that your AMS agency holds is we are the medical and health operational area coordinator. That is a mouthful to say, but we're in charge of all the medical stuff during a disaster. And over the last couple of years, my staff and myself have been working on developing a comprehensive medical health emergency operations plan. And so the county has a base plan. We fit as an annex to that base plan.

And so we have varying appendices to that. And so it's something like a 1,000 page document that we very fortunately turned into a much smaller, more digestible document. And it is ready to be utilized during disaster responses. So we're really happy that we were able to accomplish that. Another big event that we held in the last year is we partnered with the California Department of Public Health and our Environmental Health PBES on putting on the second ever, what's called ETRX, it's Environmental Health Emergency Response for Disasters Expeditionary.

There was a pilot that was developed in Southern California through CDPH. We were the second ever site. So we were able to bring in our environmental health emergency responders, simulate some disaster elements for earthquakes and whole variety of things that people don't necessarily see what's going on behind the scenes in terms of that emergency health response, but we're able to to partner and and accomplish that. A big thing that's happened also in the last year is your board approved a contract amendment and extension for our emergency ambulance contract. So that came with a couple of minor amendments, but most importantly, it extended that agreement through 2031 and it bought us some time to really take another look and redesign of the system.

And so not that there's any reason to redesign, but we always like to take a step back and take another look. And so that contract is stable through the end of two thousand and thirty one. And then a bit of a passion project for me is our behavioral health response. And so we are starting to see some trends around the state of California where some of our historical activities in terms of response have been constrained by case law and some legislative changes. And so we really partnered with a large group of Napa County public safety agencies, including the sheriff's office, including our dispatch centers, including our Napa PD, Calistoga PD, St.

Helena PD, us, our ambulance provider, all of our fire chiefs to come up with some solutions to help us overcome some of these response challenges that we face. We've actually taken that because another hat that I wear is I spent the last year as President of the EMS Administrators Association of California. We've taken that small group out of Napa and moved it to a statewide level. And so all of the relevant professional associations related to this work that we've been doing here in Napa has now turned into a statewide approach so we can develop a toolkit to help guide our responders through the various disciplines. A slide that I always put up is our ambulance patient offload times.

So it's not a problem here in Napa. This is an issue that's a statewide issue around ambulance patient offload. And so essentially, nine eleven patient is transported to the emergency department. And in some jurisdictions, that patient stays on the gurney for a considerable amount of time. We've had great partnerships with our hospitals.

And so we have seen around the state, not in Napa, hours. And as a responder years ago, I was seeing eight, nine hours. Where we, in Napa, our longest is eighteen thirty, eighteen and a half minutes, which is not even a Napa County hospital. Our two hospitals are well below fifteen minutes, which is well above the state standard. As I mentioned, the ambulance contract, which was approved by this board in September 2021, commenced operations 12/31/2021, that is working quite well and it guarantees reliable emergency ambulance services throughout the county.

That contract was renewed by your Board in December and is extended through 2031. Through that period, AMR met all of their compliance requirements. And their average response time for the 16,936 contracted calls in 2025 was 94.77%. I'll put it in a little more detail here with a breakdown month over month. But as you can see, they were well above, I think the lowest month was 93.72%, and so well above the standard that was established by the county 90%.

Here's their trend month over month. The blue line represents the urban and suburban zones. The green line represents the rural and wilderness zones. And the red line represents the contracted standard. You can see the rural area is well above 95%, and the majority of the urban and suburban areas are above 95%, just a few that would dip below, but all above the standard.

I think it was asked a couple of years ago, trends over time. So this is a representation year over year within those same zones, within those same requirements. And you can see our contractor has performed the last at least 10 well above the standard set by the county. Something else that we implemented through this contract, your Board will remember, is historically we've been able to measure response times. It's kind of the widgets that we had.

We knew what time someone called 911, we knew what time the ambulance arrived. But until the standardization of clinical data occurred, we did not have access to really measure performance that way. In this contract, we establish clinical compliance metrics. And you can see we have seven metrics that we measure our ambulance providers. So, one, HYPE one, three, stroke two, stroke three, and stroke four.

That red line represents the standard established by the contract and the white bar represents AMR's compliance under that. And you can see in every category they were well above ninety five percent and in some cases one hundred percent. So AMRs performed not only well from a response time perspective but also from a clinical perspective. With that, I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Vincent and Ms. Houston, for your presentation. Are there any questions from the Board? Supervisor Alessio, go ahead.

Thank you both for your continued work on this. How long have you both been at this? Decades, I know. But really, long do you know? Either one of you, Lois? In

emergency longer than a lot of people have been alive in this room. My whole career has been ER background, and I started in 1981.

Yeah. And doing the specific work too for Queen of Valley for a very, very long time. Twenty two years. Yeah. Yeah.

My paramedic license is old enough to buy a beer now, so it's been quite a few years.

That's good. I like that. Membership of the EMCC, I noticed that Kaiser's not on this. You gave us data from Kaiser Hospital, and I know that Queen of Valley and St. Helena are closer, but I also know that I think it's like 70% of residents have Kaiser insurance. Just curious why they're not part of this group.

The reason and again, historically, I don't know if there's anything prohibiting it. But the two hospitals that we do have are the two hospitals that we designate as EMS receiving centers. And so Solano County would have Kaiser on their EMCC, and I don't know enough about how the structure in Solano County exists. We send stroke patients and we send STEMI patients and we send some trauma patients to Solano County, but we utilize their designation of those hospitals. So we really, for our EMCC, we have our two general acute care hospitals, EMS receiving centers on that committee.

That's the only reason why Kaiser has not been represented

Okay. Then, Lois, if I can ask, have you started talking to North Bay since North Bay is going to be Quin Valley is going be transitioning to the North Bay Health System?

Not

yet. It just went to the attorney general. And so they'll do from what our comprehension is, there'll be some back and forth. But there are some, obviously, discussions on transition going on, and we look forward to that.

Okay, great. In terms of the AEDs, I received some information, a question and concern that the AEDs, especially at the schools, are not always public facing. They're hard to access. Is there anything we can do to support that? And are there concerns about the public breaking in and accessing those AEDs? Because my recollection, I used to help with this effort, is that they don't actually activate on a live person, right? So can you tell me a little bit about that and what we can do to help?

Yeah, I think Sean wants to also, but I'll just say that this is part of the new step with the survivor from last year wanting to donate the 15 AEDs and work it so they're outside of that lock gate so that anybody can access those. They do not shock somebody who does not need to be shocked. And you at Queen's Heart SAFE Committee, a person who's very involved in that, you'll with all this program is Pam Dotson. And we send each other pictures whenever we're traveling of AEDs just in all these public access areas where they can grab them. That is the big push right now.

That is the one with the 15 that have been donated. And I'll let Sean go ahead and elaborate on that.

Yeah. Thanks, Lois. So there are certain statutory requirements for placing AEDs in any kind of new construction for large buildings, any schools of intramural or high school or sports. But the requirement kind of stops there. What our benefactor that has been working with the Queen's HeartSafe program is really trying to get them public facing.

So if you have them inside of a high school gym, it's great during a basketball or a volleyball game. But when it's a Saturday or it's after 05:00 and the schools are closed, they're inaccessible to the public. What we are trying to do is work with the district to, place them outside of the building so they are publicly available outside of the locked fence so that after hours they are an accessible device. And there is there's funding too. And so we've really been working with the Queen's Heart Safe program and the Via Heart Project and our benefactor to really support this initiative and get this out.

Thank you for that. I think there's one more question and that is the different EMS system updates and the plans you're doing. I assume, since this is an update well, maybe I shouldn't assume. Does this also include when there's a wildfire evacuation plan, when the evacuation center opens up? Is that something that you oversee too, or is that a different group that oversee that?

So evacuation of large chunks of area are fall within the the responsibility of law enforcement.

You're talking about the center.

A health care so you're talking about the

Evacuation center.

The evacuation center. Specifically. Yeah. We do within this and and we've had this plan for a couple of years, but it was updated as a part of this is we have, clinical operations in a general population shelter. And so historically, there were general population shelters and there were medical need shelters.

We in Napa County, I think back in 2015 when we saw the Valley Fire come in, we said, why are we doing it this way? We reduced the impact of the emergency departments by sending people with their you know, people leave and flee their homes and they have shortness of breath because of the air quality or they have minor cuts and burns. They also leave without hearing aids and canes and glasses without this durable medical equipment. But the most important thing that we see is they leave without their medicine. They know that they take a green pill for their cholesterol and a white pill for their blood pressure, but they don't know the name of it.

So what we do is we have a clinical operations and a general population shelter. We bring in volunteers, medical reserve corps with pharmacists, physicians, nurses, EMTs, paramedics to be able to treat these individuals where they are so we don't have to impact them even more by having them go to the emergency department. But it also reduces the impact on those hospitals and so we can provide that health care on-site within those shelters. And that is us.

That is you. That's great. Great, Janelle. Thanks for the additional

information. And

thank you for your work. I hope tonight I know I'm sure it's a very heartfelt evening, but I'll be thinking of all of you this evening. Thank you. Thank you.

Supervisor Kuchrell?

Thank you. And yeah, just to start with that, I was able to visit the evening, the responders last year, and that was an incredible event to talk to some of the survivors and the people who had helped save them. So I think that's and and kudos to Black Style Inn for hosting year after year. So I'm the, supervisor representative on the EMCC, and and just what you're saying, Lois, to be able to, every meeting get the updates from all the different groups that participate, I think, is a wonderful roundtable. I'm not sure if supervisor Alessia was making this suggestion, but I would love to see how we can make sure that Kaiser is somehow involved just so that because a lot of information is shared there.

So I just wanna echo that point. I also wanted to support the again, hearing the stories of how kids are educated and then bring it home to educate their families is incredible. So being able to say, hey, actually, fifth graders can understand this. I think that's really important, and, thank you for doing that. And then, know, Sean, I appreciate you and, Brianna Jones meeting to talk about how could, you know, electeds like ourselves participate somehow.

We're not in the same places or have anything like the same roles, but we do want to know what we can do to help in emergencies. Thank you for that discussion and I look forward to what we could do there. Wanted to ask a little bit, you said when you were talking about the behavioral health piece that the response was constrained by case law. Just wondered if you could give us some more details about that.

Sure. I'll start with some statute changes in the penal code AB three ninety two, which limited law enforcement's ability to use force in certain cases. So background, a behavioral health call is there are a lot of variables that are involved in that. And so historically, enforcement, fire, and ambulance will respond out. We're very fortunate here that we have the mobile response team as well to integrate behavioral health into that.

But there are so many variables that occur on these responses. Weapons could be involved, unpredictable behavior. There's all kinds of things that could potentially harm our responders, but also there are areas where the the people we're responding to can be harmed. And so we are navigating this, the results of the changes of the penal code from AB three ninety two, but there was also some case law from the ninth appellate from called Scott v Smith regarding a use of force in Las Vegas for an individual who who passed away in custody. It was a behavioral health call, and the individual officers had their qualified immunity stripped to them, in in that event.

And so I don't I'm not an attorney or or a law enforcement expert, so I don't wanna, like, put any conjecture into this. But the reality is we rely on all of our partners to work together. So what we did here is establish a unified command or at least an approach to unified command to come up with a plan rather than one group responding and another group not responding. And it seems to be successful here locally, but we also know that there are law enforcement entities throughout the state of California. The Sacramento sheriff wrote a policy says we won't go on behavioral health calls anymore, which I understand.

And, it it makes it much more difficult for our fire and ambulance responders to and our behavioral health responders to engage those individuals. And so it's really about working together to find solutions. And we've had a great system here, and I'm trying to take our successes and move it to the state because my colleagues throughout the other 58 counties are experiencing similar challenges, in some cases even more historic challenges.

Great. So that's helpful to hear. So what you're saying is the innovation has been let's make sure everyone's working together and coordinating in a unified command model.

So,

great. Thank you for that. And then the final comment, just any time we can shrink documents from 1,100 pages down to something smaller is great. I mean, I think that makes them more readable and usable.

I never read the old one.

So thanks for all you do.

Yeah, thanks.

Okay, thank you. That's a really informative presentation. There was so much there and I really appreciate the helpful comments and questions from my colleagues. Yeah, so much good work. Thank you very much. And I guess I should take public comment. So is there anyone in the room wishing to speak on this item? I'm not seeing anyone. Is there anyone on the phones? No? Okay. Then I will move us along to presenting this proclamation, which we're just going to go ahead and take a quick photo

That's great.

And then move on to our next item. But let's all gather in the well for a photo. If you're here for this item, please join us. Okay. That brings us to Item 10A.

Public hearings Item 10A receive a presentation on the status of Napa County vacancies and recruitment and retention efforts for the 2025 calendar year. I will open this public hearing and invite Christine Breseno, our Chief Human Resources Officer, to give us a staff report. Welcome, Ms. Bresenio.

Thank you for your time this morning. Today we are bringing to you our annual presentation of AB2561 which is the status of vacancies and our recruitment and retention efforts. And with me today I have Kevin Lemieux who is our newest principal management analyst in our human resources department who's responsible for our training and organizational development, as well as our recruitment manager, to join me in this presentation. So today, on our agenda, we're going to talk about a little bit about what AB 2,561 is and our obligation under the law. We're going to present to you our vacancy data, which is kind of exciting year over year since this is our second annual report.

And then Kevin will talk to you about our current recruitment and retention efforts and some opportunities for some questions. So first, what is AB 2,561? In 2024, AB 2,561 was signed into law, which requires counties of our jurisdictions to present on our vacancies. In addition to what our current vacancy rates are, it also requires us to report out on our individual represented units and has additional requirements if any one of those represented units has a higher than 20% vacancy rate, which we're fortunate enough to not have here. But we are excited to present to you the data.

And it also requires collaboration with our union partners, who we did invite both last year and this year to participate, both to speak on this data but also to be here in person if they so choose. So who are our bargaining groups? We have our Deputy Sheriff's Association for both our supervisory and non supervisory units our Napa County Probation Professionals Association, both supervisory and non supervisory as well as the Napa Association of Public Employees, which is SEIU ten twenty one, both supervisory and non supervisory. Next, very exciting, we're going to talk about our vacancy data. In thinking about how to present this data, last year was our first year.

We decided to use calendar year 2024. So as we present year over year data today we're going to share with you calendar year 2025 ending in December and then we'll also share with you what as ending our very last pay period what our actual vacancy data is because it is a moving target. Just once we feel someone else might retire so it is moving. So we're going to share all three data points with you today. So first is 2024 if we focus a little bit on the right hand side.

In 2024 we were at 9.8% in December and December 2025 we actually climbed down that vacancy rate by 2.35%. So as of December 2025 our total vacancy across the organization is 7.45%. And then as of May 8 which is the last close of our last pay period we're at 8.59%. So again, it is a moving target and just for a point of reference, in public agencies anything below a double digit vacancy rate is considered sort of the gold standard between 59%. You're really having some both positive turnover.

We're having a steady retirements and steady influx of new talent. So we're very, very proud of these numbers. Next is actually the vacancy rate by our bargaining groups. So the law does require us to share with you the data by each bargaining group. And last year what we learned is there was some interest to understand sort of what a wind chill factor was.

So for example, in our deputy sheriff's association, right now, we have 12 vacancies for we have a total of a 118 full time equivalent positions which makes around a 10.17% vacancy. However, we do have 11 employees who are on some sort of leave of absence. So truly what it feels like is about a 19% vacancy rate. But we have Kevin's going to go into some more detail about some really exciting things we're doing to improve or to continuously recruit and attract some top talent and just just point in time our vacancy rate in 2024 was about 9.48%. So we're really holding steady as far as influx of employees and bringing in new talent.

For our professional probation association, we have seven vacancies in a total of 94 full time equivalents for 7.45%. We have two who are on a long term leave, so it sort of feels more like a 9.5% vacancy rate, but we're holding steady at 7.45. We've talked quite a bit since we're at the negotiation table with this group to share that our juvenile hall counselors are actually at 0% vacancy rate. So most of these vacancies are sitting on the probation side or in administration. For our public service employees, this is our largest group.

We have over 1,100 employees full time equivalents. We have 87 vacancies for around a 7.39% vacancy rate, which is phenomenal in public sector, so really proud of that number. And then, of course, we have our unrepresented group, which are managers and our confidential employees, which we have 17 vacancies, a total of 261 and a half full time equivalents for about a six and a half percent vacancy rate for unrepresented group. So at the bottom of this chart you'll see that we have org wide a 7.45 vacancy rate as of December 2025 which again is a phenomenal vacancy rate. When we met with all of you after our first presentation there was a desire to see what the top sort of five areas within the organization where we have higher vacancy rates because as you climb down you get into the smaller groups a percentage of vacancy kind of goes up once you have a smaller group.

Of course corrections has been our number one vacancy area because we did expand into the new facility. We haven't quite caught up as far as staffing up for that new facility. However, we're really excited to share that instead of 27, we actually have five that are either in background or in training that are gonna come out soon. And so we're really truly at a 22 vacant FTEs there. So we're we're closer to a 16% vacancy rate and again Kevin's going to talk more about our recruitment efforts there.

And then of course Health and Human Services is our largest department which has many divisions within And then when you start to really talk about finite smaller groups of employees, even a small vacancy turnover can actually really impact the numbers. Our behavioral health across the state and all jurisdictions were struggling in that area. And so that was not surprising that that's our number two. Our administration for HHSA, that's a really small group. So having eight vacancies really sort of climbs that number.

And then, of course, in our child welfare services, they're again a small group. They have seven vacancies, but they just recently lost two of their administrators. So it went from, one of the smallest to really large just by two vacancies just because of the nature of their size. And then in our probation department, I just spoke about that, most of those vacancies or all of those vacancies are on the probation side and in their legal clerk administrative side. So still, even though it looks large because the overall FTE is small, there's really not any red flags that we'd like to share with you today. There really aren't any obstacles. We actually have a really great and robust recruitment and process that Kevin's gonna go into detail. Next.

Thank you, Christine. Good morning, chair. Good morning, board members. I'm appreciative for the opportunity today to brag a little bit about my team who's sitting behind me here. There's a team of six of us working on recruitment and retention efforts.

I think that's a big reason that these numbers are so impressive and low compared to other agencies. Some of the things we're doing to improve our recruitment efforts, kind of taking the lead from CEO Alsop on some continuous improvement projects, looking to refill reduce time to fill on our vacancies. And what that looks like for us is combining steps in the recruitment process. If instead of having people come out two separate days for an information session and a written exam, we combine that into one day and have less folks that decide not to show up that second time around. Through that continuous improvement process, we've also digitized some of our selection process.

That means less paper when you're reviewing candidates, sending that directly to hiring managers, allowing them to evaluate candidates on electronic subject matter expert reviews. And we're looking to expand that further into even our interview processes where there aren't physical binders and things like that, a tighter process with fillable PDF something like that we're working with ITS as well. We actually met with department heads about opportunities for improvement from their perspective about the recruitment process which I believe is going to shorten that time to fill and bring the vacancy rates down even further. So another thing we've done is seek or ask department heads to fill out surveys, hiring managers fill out surveys anytime we complete a recruitment. Everything from the quality of the candidate to how what kind of service HR provided to them during the process.

So I'm proud to say that in 2025, we had 28 responses on those surveys and all were highly satisfied or satisfied with what we like to call our white glove service as a recruitment team. Job fairs were a big emphasis for us in 2025. We attended, over 10 job fairs, at Travis Air Force Base, Napa Valley College, American Canyon High School, Career Point. We attended the sheriff's car show and national night out. We made special trips to Sac State, UC Davis, and actually went to GIS Day.

Just really trying to get our presence out there, like saying, hey. There are jobs related to these fields at Napa County. Even the high school job fairs are interesting because we're planting the seed in their brain like, hey, this is what the county does versus maybe a city or the state, and this is what opportunities are gonna come available to you. So we're planning ahead for getting that vacancy rate down as well. One of the big developments in the last year is the new relationship that the sheriff's office has in collaboration with HR with All Star Talent.

All Star Talent is a third party service that really drives candidates to our application tracking software. They do a little bit of the prep work and making sure that when we have trainees come our way that they are qualified to move through sort of our selection process. There's a bunch of branding out there regarding this is a picture from their website advertising about our signing bonuses, how much we pay, and it's really increased the candidate volume. And also another ongoing project with the sheriff's office since we're talking about the wind chill there is a cadet program. We're in the process of meeting and conferring with the unions regarding what that job is gonna look like, but we hope that once we have the cadet program finalized, that'll be kind of like a pipeline to our trainee positions and reduce the wind chill factor that we're hearing about.

Talking about recruitment again, some targeted outreach. There's some pictures up here of me and my team at a couple different events. We have good relationships with universities, especially if that university has majors that are tied to our vacancies like law enforcement. We talk about criminal we're we're talking here with criminal justice majors at Sac State. We sent a couple recruiters and members from our agricultural department to UC Davis, and we've seen success from that.

And applications come in directly as a result of getting out there and shaking those hands. We've tried different strategies with the Department of Consumer Affairs. If we need a an engineer with a PE, for instance, we can go through and buy, from the state lists of current certifications and send out mailers to folks, that might be interested, we can sort by county and, you know, get the five nearest counties and see if those people might wanna come work for Napa County. You may have seen an increased social media presence, from Napa County and the regarding the jobs we have available. I kinda mentioned the collaboration with the department.

Do you see the sheriffs there us at one of the job fairs. We've had probation, ag, and other departments join us as well. And last week, actually, we had our first coffee and careers at Napa Valley Roasters Company. We weren't sure what that was gonna look like, but we advertised it on LinkedIn and on social media and we had a couple of people show up with resumes and ask you know what's it what is it like working at Napa County. We're just out there for a couple hours and it was really casual But it was a good opportunity to kinda demystify the selection process in the public sector.

So this is where you how you applied. This is what might happen next. And we thought that was really valuable, and we might hit some other local spots this summer just again getting out there. Retention, obviously a huge part of keeping vacancy rates low. Some other things that we've worked on are staff development.

In 2025, we kicked off a new regional professional development approach, with our surrounding agencies, City Of Napa, American Canyon, Yountville, St. Helena, Calistoga. That has allowed us to offer additional coursework and academies to county employees by filling classes with their counterparts from other agencies which has had really good results in the first year. We're also developing a curriculum for a new training mandatory training for Napa County supervisors and managers to talk to them about what it's like to manage in a unionized environment what they should be looking for as supervisors and managers. Really nuts and bolts stuff as opposed to maybe theoretical leadership type things that they'll get from other academies.

We're hoping to launch that early next fiscal year. And we also focus on wellness. From HR's perspective, work life balance is important. Our benefits team has led the way on some wellness campaigns in 2025, kind of over into 2026. You may have seen Nourish.

That is a program where we help county employees eat well and give them information and do little drawings for their participation in the program. We've also sponsored financial wellness programs for employees. Right on the money just concluded. You may have seen that one come through where we advertise in the HR spotlight. And coming this October, we're gonna allow, folks to get into teams on their breaks or after hours and participate in Walktober, track, their physical wellness through their steps. So with that, we're happy to take your questions and appreciate you taking the time to hear this presentation.

If I may, first I would like to just go back one and just really give some kudos to Kevin and his team. Kevin has been really instrumental with working with the five cities who don't necessarily have the same resources that a large county has. And so he has been very instrumental working with our Center for Organizational excellence as well as the city managers in order to have this collaboration so that we all take turns hosting. We hope we try to fill the majority of the seats, but then they are able to fill the seats that they are able to afford. And then that gives our employees, especially our supervisors and managers, an opportunity to network and get to know one another so that they can have mentors and sort of and other partners outside of the county, but still close by within our cities in order to work through and share and problem solve together.

That's been an incredible partnership. And then as well as our benefits team who is responsible for these wellness programs, they actually partner with Kaiser who provides us Chatskis and different prizes and gives us all of these ideas and helps us work with our IT department to develop the apps on our phone that we can all sort of refocus on our own personal health and wellness. And so there's just a lot going on behind the scenes. We're really excited for the opportunity to share just a glimpse under the guise of sharing with you our vacancy data. And so with that, we're glad to answer any questions.

Before

we go to questions from the board, I'd like to go to public comment. Is there anyone in the room wishing to speak on this topic today? I'm not seeing anyone. Is there anyone on the phones? No? Okay. Then I would like to close the public hearing and bring it back to the board for questions or comments. And I see Vice Chair oh, I'm sorry, Supervisor Gallagher first, and then Supervisor Cottrell. Wow. And then I see Cheryl Bratton. Do you have something you want to tell us first? Oh, it's OTO? Okay. Do you want to

You have to be our CEO.

Yeah. Why don't you go ahead with whatever it is and carry on.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you for the opportunity. I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to the staff, the HR, the leadership. Really proud of the direction that you're going in. Kevin, great job. Do you want to take a quick minute and just introduce your team here?

I would love

by name for

the I'd love to. If they would stand up, we'll go, left to right. We have Leah Matias. She's a recruiter. She has several departments. And then we've got Martha Solorio. She is an HR assistant who supports me on much of the training outreach. And then we have Grace Kastor, another recruiter. At

the end of

the line there, we have Inder Kaur, who is an HR assistant that supports the recruitment process, bilingual testing, and other things. And in the back of the room hiding, we have Joy Cadiz, who's also on my team and helped develop a ton of the data behind this report.

Yeah, thank you for that. I will say that really proud of the work. Thank you. I always say that one of the most important things that we do here, aside from serving the public, is our hiring decisions. It's recruitment and then ultimately who we hire.

That's everything. And so the quality of that process is super important. Really proud of the investments we're making, your board providing leadership. These efforts are reflected in your recently adopted strategic plan. The budget that you will be considering in the next several weeks invests in recruitment and retention, particularly with the sheriff's department.

Really proud of the efforts we're doing there. And your board has supported that with top of the market, an MOU agreement with the Sheriff Deputies Association, making sure that they're very well compensated to make sure that we can get the top talent here in Napa County. So I just wanted to point some of those things out and thank your board for your leadership.

Okay, perfect. Great. Great additional comments. Thank you, CEO Alsop. So I have Supervisor Gallagher, then Cottrell, then Alessio on this. So Gallagher, go ahead.

Thank you. Thank you both so much for the report, and congratulations on those low vacancy numbers. That's something to be really proud of. I wanted to ask a question about goals versus actual around timing from a vacancy occurring to the recruitment process beginning to the interviews to the hiring. Just good for our understanding to know where do you want to be and where are you.

Sure, sure. I'll let Kevin speak to where we are. But as far as goals go, it really depends. So we have some really hard to fill positions that we do continuous hires for. So it sort of skews our numbers in that we keep those positions open.

We gather the applications and send them over to the departments sort of on a flow basis because different timings of the year, people graduate, we do see some movement. So those sort tend to skew our numbers, but ideally, especially when we have an active list, meaning that we we've already conducted sort of that exam and people have gotten on a list and we know who sort of the top candidates are from from the approval in our CEO's office of the requisition in order to prove the backfill of position to hire. Ideal is about forty five days to then another sort of two to three weeks depending on the next new hire, process is coming along. And then there are certain things that we cannot control. So for example, in a background check process for a correctional officer, it could take five to sometimes ten weeks depending on how responsive the candidate is in getting us all their background materials.

So so we we in HR, for our next fiscal year, have decided that what we wanna do is really focus on the things that we can control. So we are able to bring you some future data that really shows from recruitment to us opening the position, it took us less than two business days. From opening the position to closing the position, that's out of our control. But once it was closed to recruit to the referral of the applications, we got that done in two weeks. So right now, as part of the continuous improvement project working with the departments, we've sort of asked those questions.

Sometimes what we find from a department heads is that, oh my gosh, they tell us HR takes forever. Then we unpack a recruitment and we actually referred the applications forty five days ago. But by the time it took them to read it all, then score them because we're not the subject matter experts, some of those processes take much longer because of processes that HR doesn't necessarily control. So in this continuous improvement project, what we've done is we've talked about what are those important aspects. We've sort of fleshed out, okay, do we create dashboards so that our management and our department heads can really see where some of the bottlenecks might be?

And then we always have the continuous improvement door open so we can see where we can try to pull the levers on some things that we can consolidate so we can improve the time frames. So I hope no, that was incredibly vague because it just depends on what we're talking about. But I'll let Kevin talk a little bit more that as well.

Yeah. I think Christine covered it. The answer is mostly it depends. It depends on the type of position. It depends on the market for that position at the current time that we're going out.

But one of the improvements that we've really kind of focused on since I mean, always, but especially since going through, continuous improvement is setting the expectations with the hiring managers and having agreed upon turnaround times. So, you know, when a requisition to fill the position is completed, we will get in contact with you within five days. We agree what day we'll open the recruitment, what day we'll close the recruitment, who your reviewers are gonna be, and we set out a work plan that based on the position that has an estimated all the way down to the NEO date, the new employee orientation, first day that they're in the office. And we post that to our exam plans, we try to stick to that. And if something changes due to, you know, we need to leave it open for an extra week to get additional candidates or we need to change any part of the process.

We evaluate ourselves based on how we're meeting their needs for that particular position.

Thank you.

Thank you for that. Supervisor Cottrell.

Thank you. Thanks for the presentation. And I really appreciate that we got the AB2561 info and we got a little report on recruitment. So and thanks for having the team here today. A couple things I wanted to flag. I appreciate supervisor Gallagher's question, and I hear what you guys are saying. It does depend. And, we all know having goals is important, so thank you for walking through that. And I would love to see the dashboards as they get developed for next year because I think that would be helpful for us as well. And then I wanted to compliment you guys on the regional development approach regional professional development approach with, you know, the Up Valley cities in my district.

I know they suffer with just very small departments. And so how they network, how they can do their own development is really limited. And so just to your point about being able to have, our teams and their teams together for networking, but also seeing what opportunities are out there. And and it also sets some standards across the community, which I think are helpful. One question I had, the hearing about the surveys, I think that's very positive.

I know, miss Bratton, that's something that you do with your department too. I'm interested in are there surveys for people who have gone through some of the staff development trainings to see what I'm I'm also wanna make sure that we're being responsive to what staff thinks they need, as well as you guys know a lot about what their next steps are. But if you could tell a little bit about the surveys you're doing of those participants.

Yeah. So for the Academy participants in the regional approach, we have surveys that go out to each of them. We review the results at the conclusion of each offering. We meet pretty regularly as a group from each jurisdiction, and we review the comments, what worked, what didn't worked, and we use those comments to kind of shape upcoming curriculum. If we find that there's a particular topic that wasn't helpful or a guest speaker that maybe didn't connect with the group as well as we had hoped, we might look somewhere else for that section of that day.

If it's, you know, you know, teaching some political acumen or public speaking or something like that, we might look for somebody different. Mhmm. So, yeah, we do have that flexibility, which is great about the group because everybody we've got the same needs, but we've got different needs. Right? We're all different size and everything, but everybody is heard at that table, which has been great. Thank

you. Okay. Thank you for that. And next, supervisor Alessio.

Thank you. Great job on this presentation. Thank you, staff, for being here and all your work that you do. This is not easy work. And coming from City Council, I can, again, contest that your numbers are really excellent. So bravo to you and bravo to all the department heads. A couple questions. One is, I appreciate you giving us the data on wind chill. I think this came up before. There's numbers, and then there's the true impact it has on departments and the staff there.

So thank you for bringing that forward. A little bit along the lines of what my colleagues have asked here. During the exit interviews, do we keep feedback or trends on exit interviews in terms of how we can keep staff longer and bring that feedback back to department heads or overall the overall organization, entire organization, how we can improve culture and improve our processes?

Absolutely. We do an exit interview with every employee who leaves who's willing. We do both in person and we send them a survey and then part of Kevin's role is looking at those surveys and escalating those things that are you know are sort of red flags And then we meet at least quarterly, if not more often, with each department head. We share those results with them. We talk a little bit about what we're seeing, what we're hearing.

Usually, we already know because we're already working with that department on some cultural issues. And so it just sort of supports what we're already working on. But other times, our department heads have no idea. And so they are absolutely open and willing to listen and really able to receive that and sort of unpack it a little bit more with us, as well as with our union partners. They work with, HR, and we get them individualized leadership coaching sometimes.

Sometimes we'll bring in team building work groups whenever we see that that that there's a little bit of churn going on, especially if there's a high turnover when they start to fill that team then we we do give them a little bit more extra care and feeding to say okay now that you have new leadership and you have new staff why don't we go ahead and start from a place of team building and some cultural building and it's been really successful I also say that focusing on the wind chill we meet at least once a month with the sheriff's department to talk about that wind chill it includes our leaves coordinator includes our workers compensation analyst We talk about how do we get how do we support the workers to get back to work sooner. I work very closely with the sheriff to talk about how do we sort of white glove our especially our law enforcement officers and get them access to treatment sooner rather than later, and so we we try to remove the obstacles in our workers' comp process as quickly as possible to get them back to work because data does show the longer stay out, the less likely they are to come back.

So we work really hard to do return to work. We do accommodations. And when we keep our workers' comp analysts, our leaves coordinator, and our department heads connected so we can monitor the progress on those leaves to try to get them back sooner.

That's great. And then do we also track and forecast potential retirements? Like what percentage of retirements we're anticipating that could happen this next fiscal year. And then outside of that, taking away the potential retirements, what is overall our retention outside of retirements of staff staying here?

So we don't have a retention problem. And we've talked a lot about that recently, both because we just recently renegotiated our Deputy Sheriff's Association contract, as well as unpacking the numbers related to our probation association we're currently at the table and then of course next year we're already forecasting and building some data sets for our largest table which starts in the spring and so we're constantly monitoring that you know we've had a lot of conversations lately about longevity and what that looks like but for Napa County we have a very we have a very high average state sorry A high average local service. It's in it's in the teens where which means that our we're sort of middle ground when it comes to the age of of our employees. But there is a wave coming just as every other jurisdiction has. But we are mitigating that because we know who they are but we've dwindled as far as our classic tier retirement so most people are having to wait a little bit longer so that wave sort of evens out a little bit but we do we have monitored the numbers we're usually between twenty five and thirty ish retirements a year which is average for our size so we haven't seen a big spike but if we did we definitely would come together we talk more about our strategies and start you know projecting and then this board actually I believe it was two years ago delegated some authority to HR so that when we do have high long term employees who are anticipated to retire we can bring in a limited term position so that we can have some overlap so that we can download that institutional knowledge and make it a smooth transition.

So we do monitor that. We have tools in place, to your board and anticipation of our recruitment team. And so we feel really good about even our retirement transitions.

I think those are numbers that we could tout in the future and future reports in terms of the number of retirements. Because when we show a high number of retirements here, it just shows how strong our agency is, our organization is. And then also just the average length of staff. And I wouldn't do it by department. I wouldn't want to be specific, but maybe overall. Because again, that just shows the health and the strength of our organization. I do have a couple questions for our sheriff, and then I'll be done, if I can. Call Sheriff Ortiz.

Morning.

Have, like, eleven minutes from that morning. Thank you for coming up. I've just two questions really quick. One, the 12 vacant FTEs. Do we have are those does that include any cadets that are in the academy right now or is that outside of anybody that you've sent to the police academy?

Both.

Okay.

And the the what I'll is, we in starting in fiscal year twenty two twenty three, the board of supervisors approved an overhire position for for three. So just some kind of audible dashboard if you will and that was mentioned earlier. Historically, prior to prior to that fiscal year, you know, we'd open up a recruitment, we'd work with HR and we were processing between two fifty to 300 applications a year. But then come, know, with this problem of wind chill because wind chill is not just people out on an injury or workers' comp. Wind chill is somebody in the police academy because they don't fill a shift yet or somebody in the training program.

And so starting in fiscal 2223, the board through the budget process approved the overhire for three academy positions. So we could continue and then we shifted our position working with HR to continuous recruitment. And we've been in continuous recruitment starting in that fiscal year. So we went from and then other aggressive work with HR, some recruitment efforts, job fairs and the things Kevin mentioned. We went from two fifty to 300 applications processed a year to just over 700 a year.

So you know practically a little more than doubled And then we kind of hit a plateau at that number. And so with the website that that Kevin referred to and it's .gov, by the way, I think your slidesays.com. Join napasheriff.gov. We just launched it at the beginning of this year. But if we processed, I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 770 applications last calendar year, so 2025, we we are seeing numbers now what we anticipate will be somewhere between 1,500 to 2,000 applications by December of this year which is an incredible, you know, truck backing up with applications for Kevin's team.

So thank you for sticking with it. I know it's it's really flooding your workload. But the idea is we can kind of get out in front of this instead of being plateaued. And we can actually make a dent into the vacancy rate because the vacancy rate has also kind of plateaued both because retirements and we've grown with the four positions for the jails and growth at American Canyon. So between retirements and growth that's happened in the organization, we've been kind of just plateau and haven't really put it been able to put a significant dent in our vacancy rate.

So that's where we entered into this relationship with All Star and we hope to kind of put a healthy dent and we're seeing that and I think we're going to be able to fill all our academy positions at reserve this year. And you know I apologize ahead of time Grace but we're going to we're going to keep throwing applications your way. The history with that all star by the way is it's kind of an interesting story as we plateaued and went to many job fairs and we found that we weren't able to make a dent on that number. I was actually Christmas shopping at the '23 and the gentleman that helped me at the store for my wife's gift said, oh, I'm really excited. He noted that I was wearing my lapel pin and he said, oh, I'm gonna get in law enforcement, I'm going to the academy in a month.

And I asked him what agency, it was an East Bay agency but he came from The Peninsula and I said, why'd you apply there? He's like, oh, I was on YouTube and I saw their commercial or I was on Facebook and we weren't doing that.

Yeah.

And other agencies, some of my colleagues have seen a lot of success where you meet them where they are which is their cell phone, right? Exactly. Their social media And so that's when I said, okay, well let's entertain this and bring it to our budget which we did and this board approved it for fiscal year twenty five-twenty six. And again, we didn't get it launched until January because we had to do video footage content but we're really excited we're seeing a lot of applications. Thank you for that and we anticipate coming to the board again to continue that relationship with that company.

Thank you and then the last question really and it sounds like this new approach is really going to make an impact. Of course, lot more reading. But the deputy sheriff trainee, the slide that shows almost $51 per hour for somebody who's in the academy with a $15,000 signing bonus, Is that competitive? Are we being competitive in the marketplace for law enforcement statewide or at least Bay Area?

Very much so. It's very competitive and it's a the model we have is it's more than competitive but a lot of agencies pay much less but then they put them up in a hotel. We don't have a NAPA Academy anymore so we're having to use academies out of the area and so our cadets are able to take the earnings they're getting, which are above market, and then get a six month lease at an apartment or something if they don't want to drive those distances. It gets us out of the travel agent business. The state reimbursement process is sufficiently low.

Mean if we were in the travel agent business before and we were seeing pennies on a dollar what we were spending. So this model just seems to kind of let them come up with a solution. Excellent. And then it's temporary until they get promoted to trainee and then they get another raise.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

If I may, I'd just like to also thank the Shari First partnership. Also, $15,000 can climb up to $30,000 for transfers from other agencies that are more plug and play. We've seen quite a few coming through in this last six months to a year since we've increased it. So all of those things together, think we're really on And a good I'm excited to see what we do the rest the year.

Yeah, that saves a lot of time. It gets people really

We recently hired three experienced officers, and we have two more in background that are looking the background's going well.

That's great.

That'll get us to five. So thank you, Christine, and thank you for the signing bonus.

Perfect. Thank you so much.

Okay. So that's a lot and really informative. Thank you for bringing this today for us. I really appreciate the multi agency coordination and staff being present. It's really great to see you all and making the effort to be here. Hi. And I guess I just want to reflect, like, it's a relief to hear that things are kind of coalescing for the sheriff's department because I know that's one of the more challenging components of a place where we need to do more hiring. So I'm really happy to hear that. Thank you. And thanks for the questions.

And I know that you're doing a lot to make Napa County a great place to work because as I move through the community, that's what I hear from people is that it's a coveted and it's a well regarded employer, the county is. And so thank you for keeping it that way with all your hard work.

Okay.

So that will conclude this item. Thank you so much for your presentation today. We're moving on to Item 10B, which is considering the adoption of a resolution to accept the Engineers Report and imposing the availability or standby charges for fiscal year six-twenty seven of $10 per parcel per month for water service and $10 per parcel per month for sewer service for the Napa Barrias Resort Improvement District. And I will open the public hearing and welcome a staff report from Sarah Geis.

Hi. Sarah Geiss, analyst for the districts. I'm here in replace of Chris Silk. He is out of the office today, so bear with me. I have a little script.

Today's action is to consider any objections or protests with respect to the water and sewer availability charge for the Napa Barriessa Resort Improvement District. District staff recommends the current availability charges for water and sewer service for the next fiscal year, fiscal year twenty six-twenty seven. The district was established by the Resort Improvement Act in the 1960s. Due to various parcel mergers over the years, the district currently contains approximately five fifty two parcels. The availability charge is collected by the county treasurer along with the normal property tax on each parcel.

Revenues are generated by the charges and appropriated to the district's annual budget and fund annual maintenance and upgrade to the facilities. The water and sewer availability charge was established in 1996 at $240 per parcel per year, which is $10 for water and $10 for sewer per month. The amount of this charge and the parcels to which it's assessed must be established annually by a report by the district engineer, which is attached to the item. The engineer's report includes a listing of parcels by assessor's parcel number and corresponding amount of the charge for fiscal year twenty six-twenty seven. These proposed availability charges have remained unchanged since before 01/01/1997, and therefore do not need voter approval under Proposition two eighteen.

And if you have any questions, I'm here to answer them.

Okay. Thank you. Are there any let's see. Wait. Where are we here? Is there any public comment today on this item? I'm not seeing anyone in the room. Is there anyone on the phone? No? Okay. Then I will close the public hearing and bring it back to the board for any comments or questions related to this item. Is there anyone wishing to speak? No? Okay. Well, I will say that my understanding is this is an ongoing program.

It's just a continuation. And we are required to reauthorize it. So thank you for bringing it to us. And I know this is an area where there's been the Napa Varius Resort Improvement District has had recently voted in to add a fee so that their water system can become updated and more functional. And I appreciate the voters there doing that and continuing to fund the repairs needed in their own system. So let's see. May I have a motion to adopt the resolution? So moved. A second? Who?

Okay. We have a motion by Supervisor Cottrell and a second by Supervisor Gallagher. All those in favor? Aye. That passes unanimously. Thank you, Ms. Geiss. Have a great day. And that brings us to closed session, item 11 on today's agenda. And we will now recess to closed session, and we will return at 01:30 p. M. For our last administrative item, item 12A on the groundwater sustainability plan at 01:30. Thank you.

Yeah.

Welcome back from the break. I would like to invite the county counsel to report out from closed session.

Thank you, Chair. The Board met in closed session today under item 11A, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation. Name of the case, Dreyer v. County of Napa. No reportable action. That's the end of my report. Thank you.

Thank you, counsel. And that brings us to administrative item 12, item 12A, which is a presentation on the implementation of the groundwater sustainability plan, including the annual water report for year 2025 increased monitoring and outreach activities. So I welcome Jamison Crosby for our natural resources conservation manager with planning to provide a staff report. Welcome, Anne. I see.

Trying to remember.

I got it right now. Vicki Kretzinger, Graber.

Thank you. Thank

you. You just did our introduction for us. Thank you so much. Good afternoon, Chair Manfrey and members of the Board. I'm really pleased to be here. Chair has already kindly introduced us, so I will just jump in and say

that we're here to

present the annual report for Water Year twenty twenty five. Gathering and analyzing the data that goes into that report is one of the most important and central functions of the GSA. It's a rather heavy lift for which I have my staff and technical team to thank. It's also a rather long document. So we, in addition to that, we always produce an executive summary. I put a couple of printed copies in the wooden slot outside the door for anybody who wants to grab a copy. Of course, they're on our website. It's really chock full of interesting graphics and figures, so I hope people will take a look. Ms. Kretziger will start out the afternoon with all the facts and figures related to our Water Year twenty five, and then bounce it back to me.

I'll talk about something we refer to as our menu of incentives that we're developing. And then we'll finish up with a request for input and direction from the board. So with that, Ms. Kretzinger.

Thank you, Jameson. And thank you, board members. I'm here to present the front end of the presentation, as Jameson mentioned. And there are a lot of similarities to what we reported on last year, so I'm going to be referring back to that now and then and then get to some highlights. So one of the things that we're going to start out with is the sub basin water budget, followed by information on the sustainability indicators and the sustainable management criteria, projects and management actions, and then I'll turn it to Jamison for next steps and the request for direction.

So on the sub basin water budget, a couple of things just to note before I go to the next slide is we had a below normal water year, and we have a lot of information in the annual report about that. It's similar in terms of the total quantity of precipitation to last year, but notably there is a very uneven distribution of that precipitation across the county and across the sub basin. We use the Napa Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model in order to develop the components for the sub basin water budget, and that takes into account the entire watershed and also the distribution of that precipitation across the entire watershed. So in this slide, we're showing the water budget breakdown for the past three years, including the water year 2025. And we had total water use in water year 2025 that was very similar to 2024 and a total use of 41,493 acre feet.

The biggest differences occurred in the local surface water use, which had nine ninety four hundred acre feet for reservoirs and diversions in 2025 and only 6,000 in 2024. And then the state water project water use was also quite different where there was 8,800 acre feet in 2024 compared to 5,400 acre feet in 2025. Groundwater pumping was very similar, and we also had the native vegetation direct use and also recycled water use. Those were fairly similar to last year. One of the things that is helpful to look at year to year is the groundwater pumping and the use by sectors, but also the estimated amount of pumping across the sub basin.

So the chart shows the distribution of the pumping. It's very similar to what it has been in the past. Only about 12,000 acre feet for agricultural uses. This is about 74% of the total groundwater pumping. There's municipal use that was a little less this past year compared to the prior year at two eighty acre feet.

Self supplied users was up to about 2,940 acre feet, but around 18% of the use, second to agricultural uses, and then also small public water systems of about ten seventy acre feet and 6% of the total use, and a total of 16,580 acre feet. So on the right hand side of the slide, there's color coding that shows in miles, squares, colors ranging from the greens and the cooler colors to the warmer colors. Pumping really ranges from about only 0.3 acre feet per acre to about 0.8 acre feet per acre. The 0.8 is actually on the lesser side. Those are the warmer colors, the oranges.

Most of the time, it's 0.5 acre feet per acre or less. One of the things that's pretty important to consider now as we look at how this year related to last year, even though they were both below average in their total amount of precipitation, there was far less precipitation in March 2026 compared to March 2025. And we have the different color bars shown in the chart on the right, where the green color is the 2026 numbers and the 2025 is in the blue. And particularly notable is what is a very, very low amount of precipitation in March. And that was accompanied by unusually warm temperatures that occurred also in March 2026.

All but two of the days in March had highs that were above the daily average high. So that was a warmer, drier, hotter period than had been experienced by long shot compared to March 2025. One of the other things that we're seeing as we look ahead is spring groundwater levels in 2026 were somewhat lower than in 2025. Not a lot. The average groundwater elevation change across the sub basin from the measurements that we took this spring comparing those to 2025 was minus 1.7 feet.

So not very much change. As we look ahead at what we're one of the things that is required by the Department of Water Resources for the annual reports is reporting on the change in groundwater storage, both for the year and cumulatively. This change in groundwater storage can be affected by a number of factors, including the type of water year, the distribution, the precipitation, pumping, and recharge. And one of the things that we do for this particular computation is it's based on physical measurements of groundwater levels within the principal aquifer system, the alluvial sediments within the groundwater subbasin. So as we look at this graph, we're looking at two things.

So from spring twenty twenty four to 2025, we saw a slight increase in storage in water year 2025, about 580 acre feet. And this followed a period of time where the cumulative storage was, going along steadily. You can see the last few years they stayed at a steady level upwards of the zero mark and towards the 5,000 mark. But as we look at a preview for water year 2026, we saw a dip. We see a change in the annual change in groundwater storage.

There was a decrease of 4,807 acre feet for the average annual groundwater storage. And this also resulted in the cumulative storage changing showing a decrease compared to the past three years. So the main takeaway here is that sub basin is quite sensitive to climate related changes and what happens when there is not that recharge occurring during those early spring periods. The next thing I'm going to turn to is sustainability indicators and metrics associated with those indicators the sustainable management criteria. So this is a slide that we showed last year.

And just briefly to emphasize a couple of points, this summarizes the six sustainability indicators in the far left column. And then the main thing that I want to highlight here is those the sustainable management criteria are based on different kinds of data sets, and four of the sustainability indicators rely on physical observations to assess the response of the basin to the sustainable management criteria and whether or not we are achieving a measurable objective, the desired level, or if things are going in the direction of a minimum threshold, the not desired direction. So those four sustainability indicators include the chronic groundwater level lowering, the groundwater quality degradation, land subsidence, and seawater intrusion. Another sustainability indicator that relies both on physical observations and also simulated observations with the Napa Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model is the depletion of interconnected surface water. And then the one that relies only on the modeled observations or estimates, actually is the reduction of groundwater storage.

So one of the things that we're looking to do each year and looking at lowering of groundwater levels and whether or not they're tending towards measurable objectives or if they're going in the direction of the minimum threshold. And these are measurements taken in the fall. So in fall twenty twenty five, we saw many of the representative monitoring site wells that had levels between the measurable objective and the minimum threshold. And those were the symbolized dots on the map that are in the yellow to green colors, mostly in the central to southerly part of the sub basin, excepting for an area that I'll touch on in a second. But many of the wells showed progress towards achieving the measurable objectives.

So that's a very positive thing about what's occurring in the groundwater system in water year 2025. So that does not yet look ahead into where we are now with the water levels that we are seeing in March 2026. And we still have many months to go in this water year. So that's a story to be continued. The thing here that we want to call attention to, in particular, are a couple of wells that are in the Northeast Napa management Area.

Those are circled in red. And they also had the red symbols that highlight that they had minimum threshold exceedances in the Northeast Napa management area. So we've described previously, and I'll mention here, that the Northeast Napa Management Area is a specially designated area of the sub basin. It's located on the Eastern side of the sub basin, north and east of the city of Napa, and adjacent to the Millikan Sarco Toluque area that is outside of the sub basin. There are some key geologic features that are important to the designation of the Northeast Napa Management Area as a special area.

And these include the very thin veneer of alluvium that occurs overlying more consolidated deposits of the Sonoma volcanics and older formations. That thin alluvium is highlighted on the cross section on the left side of the slide, and it shows that thin amount of yellow shading. That's the alluvium overlying the orange more consolidated materials. And it's within the more consolidated materials that wells are constructed and produce water from. There are also two key fault structures in this area.

There is the Soda Creek Fault on the easterly side of the sub basin at the boundary of the Northeast Napa Management Area and the MST. And there's also the East Napa River Fault paralleling the Napa River. And both of these fault structures can constrain subsurface flow into this area. So as we look at groundwater levels, where I mentioned on the prior slide about the minimum thresholds that were exceeded, These are now zoomed in to look at this area and two hydrographs for these two specific wells in this area. There's Napa County Well 229 and Napa County Well 122.

And we see water levels as we look at the hydrographs on the right. Each of them show fluctuations from spring to fall. During the spring, we tend to have some amount of recovery. But in the fall, we see the levels dipping below, in both cases, the orange line that represents the minimum threshold for each of these well locations. And what we see is a persistent occurrence of an exceedance of minimum thresholds at these two wells.

So what this means is that there are constraining kinds of deposits in this area. They're more consolidated. That means the amount of water pumped in this area, it takes longer to replenish the water that's pumped from it. And so we see these declining levels. And this basically highlights the need for management actions to improve groundwater conditions in this specific area and ensure long term sustainability.

It's also important to note that this was established as a management area formally back in 2018 by the county and then reaffirmed in the Groundwater Sustainability Plan approved by DWR Department of Water Resources in 2023. And the change in water levels in this area, they are not representative of what's going on in the rest of the sub basin. On this slide, we're moving to the sustainability indicator to look at the depletion of interconnected surface water. This is essentially the most important sustainability indicator for the sub basin out of the six indicators. It uses two different kinds of sustainable management criteria to assess conditions related to this indicator.

One is based on physical observations of groundwater levels. And there are now eight shallow representative monitoring wells that are used for this purpose, and fall static water levels are measured. An undesirable result can occur when fall water levels at 20% of these wells are below the minimum threshold, the minimum threshold being the minimum static water level that occurred between a base period that was identified in the Groundwater Sustainability Plan from 2005 to 2014. In water year 2025, none of the eight wells exceeded their minimum threshold. The other indicator that we look at is the simulation of depletion of streamflow.

The only real way to look at depletion on a sub basin wide basis, not on a PRSAL specific basis, but on a sub basin basis, is through the use of some kind of modeling tool. So we use the Napa Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model to assess the amount of streamflow depletion occurring during a sensitive period that's defined in the GSP as the June October period. And we look at the total volume of depletion over that period. So it's a rate of depletion defined by that volume and that time frame. We also look at this as an interim minimum threshold that's based on total annual simulated depletion, and that can occur at either of the gauges.

An undesirable result occurs if it occurs at either of the gauges over a three consecutive year period. So this is an example of what's occurring. And we chose the Oak Knoll gauge for this slide because at the Oak Knoll site, we had three minimum threshold exceedances. This, in this case, does translate to an undesirable result. What's showing on the graph is what we look at over the entire time period from 1988 through water year 2025, And the blue line through that entire period is showing what stream flow is simulated to be when there is pumping.

And then we also look at what is occurring when we remove the pumping from that simulation as a scenario. And what we've bracketed on the far right is the amount of streamflow depletion so that difference between streamflow with and without the pumping. So that bottom chart on that one simplified chart at the bottom is showing the minimum threshold for the oak knoll gauge, which is 3,220 acre feet during that June to October period. And then adjacent to that are the three periods, twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four, and 2025, for that same sensitive period, June to October. And all of those are exceeding that minimum threshold.

So we have a depletion amount three years in a row that, according to this definition, is translating to an undesirable result. So it's important to note here that this is more depletion than had occurred in water year 2024. We went through kind of a similar explanation of what happened in the water year. And we had more stream flow, but we also had more depletion with more stream flow. This doesn't mean that there's more stream flow to the extent that it's beneficial yet, but it is an important point to note that I'm going to come back to.

At the Pope Street gauging location, there were two minimum threshold exceedances in 2024 and 'twenty five. This does not yet define an undesirable result. We're going to turn now to the reduction of groundwater storage. This, we've talked about the definition previously. For the minimum threshold, this is the net groundwater extraction by punt ing that exceeds the sustainable yield for the sub basin, where the net groundwater extraction is the volume extracted less any volume of augmented recharge achieved by implemented projects.

That augmented recharge does not mean what happens naturally during a wetter year compared to a drier year. It means intentional recharge that can be relied upon through implemented projects. Undesirable results for the definition here is that the seven year average annual net groundwater extraction in the sub basin exceeds the sustainable yield. And we're looking at the sustainable yield on average. It's a range defined in the groundwater sustainability plan from 13,000 to 17,000.

And that middle of that range is the 15,000 acre feet per year. And what we see is the seven year average is the 17,700 acre feet per year sorry, acre feet on average. So what we see that is very positive is that in the last several years, we've decreased groundwater pumping in 2023, 'twenty four, and 'twenty five. And these are all within that larger range that we looked at for the sustainable yield from 13,000 to 17,000. It's important that we look over the entire period of time.

We don't look at how this changes from year to year to year. It's important to look at this on a longer period of time. So we see that we've had six out of the seven years that have exceeded this middle of the range sustainable yield. We are moving in a positive direction. And there is a model update that is underway, and we will be looking at what that range is and also some of the uncertainty encompassed by that range from 13,000 to 17,000, and whether or not that range tightens up as we refine the model.

The key thing here is that there is management occurring on a number of different things. And I'm going to touch on it briefly, and then Jameson's going to expand upon some of the projects management actions underway. There are three more indicators just to hit on very briefly. And these include water quality, seawater intrusion, and subsidence. For water quality, we had one representative mooring site well that exceeded minimum threshold for arsenic.

And this is in an area where arsenic has been historically detected and is typical. So this exceedance was not attributable to any groundwater conditions that were affected by groundwater management. Sort of similarly, another representative marring site well exceeded the minimum threshold for TDS. And again, this was not attributed to any groundwater conditions that were affected by groundwater management. For seawater intrusion sustainability indicator, we have high TDS in the tidally influenced area of the Napa Valley sub basin.

This is typical and has been very well documented in the GSP. There was no minimum threshold exceeded. For subsidence, there's no notable subsidence that occurred and no minimum threshold exceedances. And this is of little concern for potential for subsidence, largely because the sustainable indicator for interconnected surface water is so sensitive, and that is such an important indicator that it's difficult to pump too much in the sub basin and get to the point of being concerned about subsidence. So in summary, on the sustainability indicators, there were two undesirable results one for the average groundwater pumping over the seven year period exceeding the sustainable yield, the other being the seasonal streamflow depletion volume that exceeded the minimum threshold three times at the Oknoll gauge and that met the criteria for the undesirable result.

One of the things that we want to highlight here is that there are a number of response actions to consider because these undesirable results have occurred. And just to note before the next slide, this is the first year where we've seen conditions that have met the definition of an undesirable result at the Oak Knoll location. And just to highlight that the Department of Water Resources GSP regulations focus on the depletion rate or volume and how that relates to a potentially adverse effect on beneficial uses or users. And what we are trying to do and what was recognized in the Groundwater Sustainability Plan specifically for this indicator was the importance of the actual flows in the stream system that are important to environmental users at specific points in time. So the CEF the California Environmental Flows Framework process was described in the Groundwater Sustainability Plan.

And as we've reported on previously, this has been described in the work plan for interconnected surface water and groundwater dependent ecosystems and is also included in last year's water year report for 2024 and this year's water year report for 2025, a large appendix by Stillwater Sciences especially, but contributed to by the Resources Conservation District and county staff on the measurements that are going on in the field for aquatic and terrestrial groundwater dependent ecosystems to evaluate and characterize the relationship between the flow and the system and the need for the flow by the environmental users. So this integration with the California Environmental Flows Framework is important, and it will be further discussed within the periodic evaluation that we're working on this year, and which is due to the Department of Water Resources in January year. So on the interconnected surface water and the undesirable result that we saw there, Some of the response actions that are underway, some of which are completed, some of which are in progress, include the monitoring that I just mentioned. These are at six sites along the Napa River since 2024. We've expanded the monitoring network to 28 of the interconnected surface water monitoring well sites.

We've expanded wetdry reach mapping with the Napa County RCD, and we included expanded monitoring for dissolved oxygen and temperature monitoring. We're in the process of reactivating five historical US Geological Survey stream gauges to improve stream flow monitoring. This is with the support of the Department of Water Resources' CalSIP grant. And then we're implementing the California Environmental Flows Framework to help refine the sustainable management criteria. And we're going to turn now to projects and management actions in just one slide before I turn it to Jameson.

Annually and beginning this year, the Department of Water Resources now requires all the GSAs for the Grower Sustainability Plan and the annual reports that are due to the Department April 1. The GSAs need to provide an uploaded template that describes the progress on all of their projects and management actions and what that means towards GSP implementation. And the Department has, in its court, to review the status of all of these projects and management actions to determine whether or not GSP implementation will achieve the sustainability goal. And that's particularly important because of the focus that DWR had in the approval letter for the Groundwater Sustainability Plan in January 2023, where it emphasized the importance of the projects and management actions in working to achieve the sustainability goal. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Jamison.

Great. Thank you, Vicki. So one of the most significant initiatives coming out of the planning department of late is the 2026 update to the water availability analysis, which is, as Vicki mentioned, also one of our key projects and management actions. It has a rather unassuming cover, it's a very, very important document, which I'm sure you all recognize. Our Assistant Director, Patrick Ryan and Ms.

Kretzinger, presented the WAI update to our technical advisory group for groundwater in April and also the Planning Commission earlier this month. And for anybody interested, we're continuing to take comments through May 26. And of course, we look forward to presenting it to the full Board of Supervisors later this summer. But in particular, the WA includes some really significant updates that protect those interconnected surface water and groundwater resources that, as Ms. Krutzinger mentioned, is the most important of the six sustainability indicators for us.

And it also the FAA would require applicants to incorporate water conservation best management practices for any projects linked to tier three, the so called tier three analysis, which are any projects located within 1,500 feet of significant streams. So what are those water conservation measures? They're listed here in the table. The origin of all these measures, they come out of our water conservation work plan from a couple years ago and they're organized into rows based on whether conservation practice is more appropriate for, say, all water users, for vineyard specific practices, winery specific practices, or things specific to municipal, industrial, or residential uses. And then for any projects for any WA applicants whose projects trigger Tier three analysis, the columns show which practices would be required to be considered to incorporate into the project.

So the first column there relates to domestic. Any domestic project within 1,500 feet of a significant stream would have to consider the water conservation practices marked with an X. In the middle column, have the practices for everyone has an X for commercial, industrial, and ag. And on the far right column for public water systems, those are the practices that would have to be considered for those type projects. But again, this is not saying that these projects would have to incorporate every single practice that has a mark beside it, but just they must consider it.

And applicants have to complete a water declaration form describing exactly what measures they're doing now versus the additional or new measures that they plan to include in the future. So now I'll turn to what we're calling the menu of incentives. We call it that because I want it to be pretty simple and straightforward and like an item and a price tag or an item and an incentive amount. And as important as those updates to the WAR, they mostly apply to discretionary projects where groundwater is involved through new or improved water systems or any projects that would increase the intensity of groundwater extraction. But it doesn't really help us get a handle on existing water uses.

And to do that, we're developing this menu of incentives to give groundwater uses a reason to conserve on a voluntary basis. Because as a reminder, I know we've said this many times before, we're in that phase of GSP implementation where we're stressing voluntary participation. We're asking for collective action, not on a parcel specific basis, but on a collective basis, a 10% reduction in groundwater pumping. So again, it's a list of incentives offered to groundwater users that are attached to dollar values of how much the GSA would offer a groundwater user to incorporate that practice. They are mostly targeted to growers, but we do intend to expand this to self supplied users.

And I welcome all of your ideas and also those of the public in how to do that. The first one I want to talk about actually is the second on the list, is the distribution uniformity testing. And I want to talk about it first because this is not an idea. This is something that's in practice now that's happening and it's ongoing and operating. And it involves it's basically testing an irrigation system to determine if the amount of water that it's applying is the same as what it was designed to apply.

You know, the little emitters that are sized at maybe a half a gallon per hour or one gallon per hour, are they really delivering that much water? Are they delivering more water? Usually more water, but sometimes less water. The testing is performed by Doctor. Miguel Garcia of the Resource Conservation District with the cost of that work being paid for by the GSA through our contract with the RCD.

And this is so they can be offered to growers for free at zero cost to them. For the current fiscal year, I just spoke to Doctor. Garcia and he and his colleagues are on target to perform about 50 of these DU evals in the current fiscal year at a cost of only about $27,000 and that's total for all of them. And again, that's a price that the GSA is paying. Is not the growers don't pay anything for that service.

Apparently, scores in the systems are about 80%, which means that the irrigation system is at least 20% over irrigating or perhaps under watering. But he reports it's usually over watering. From the grower's perspective and I'm really happy to see quite a number of the grower representatives here in the room. From a grower's perspective, over or underwatering can harm grape quality. So it's really a win win when we can do something that helps them protect the quality of their product, at the same time they reduce water use.

So right now, any growers in the room, friends of growers, people who might be listening, we can say this service is available. All anybody would need to do is to contact Doctor. Miguel Garcia at the Resource Conservation District, he will do his best to get you on his schedule to do that DU eval this spring. And this is a place where I would love to hear that the demand for this free service outstrips our funding for it. We have a new pot of funding that we can pull from next fiscal year to continue this work and we will continue to fund that as long as it is of interest to the growers.

And last point about this, DU test is only as good as the commitment on the growers part to actually make the improvements to the irrigation system recommended. And often those things are not cheap. Sometimes they are cheap, apparently. Miguel says that frequently the modifications are just behavioral changes, which are free or they might you know, fairly inexpensive. But there are instances where replacing an entire irrigation system is extremely expensive.

So in addition to performing the tests, we're also investigating ideas for cost sharing, those irrigation improvements, and or providing matching grants for any monies that are received through the sweep grant program. RCD has already applied for that sweep funding. So it seems to me if they're successful, a way that we could kind of boost that would be to provide some sort of matching funds to the program with the RCD being the entity to disseminate that funding. The second thing I wanted to talk about of these is the certification pilot program. We've talked about this before and since we last spoke to you.

We released a request for qualifications in late autumn of last year. We received statements of qualification from two existing certification programs. And we're coordinating with them to kind of come to a mutual and clear understanding of what the GSA's expectations are of the CERT programs and, in turn, what are the CERT programs' expectations of the GSA. These conversations are ongoing and could give us two things that we really need. One is more data on water extraction, and two is confirmation that participants are applying those water conservation practices and is actually making a difference to their water use bottom line, so to speak.

And I'll note that the CERT program concept is also carried over into the WAA and our Regional Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. Thirdly and I won't go through every one of these, but I just wanted to highlight a couple the extended vineyard replant is a concept think we're all aware that growers have removed a significant amount of vines in the last year or two. For some, that removal might be permanent. For others, I think probably in more cases, intend to replant. It's just a matter of when and is there an economic incentive that we can develop and provide to extend the time for them to replant by maybe one or more years.

This would involve analyzing the value to the GSA of extending that replant and offering that value as an incentive to growers to delay that replant to reduce groundwater demand and allow for opportunities for increased recharge while that land is fallow. I don't actually know how much more time we have, so I don't want if somebody needs to give me the signal to wrap it up, I will. But on the topic of recharge, another concept work it's going to be more than a concept very soon. We're going to be applying to the State Water Board for a five year this summer for a five year permit to hopefully allow us to divert high flows from the river in the winter months when they're having those really, really big storms. And don't know what it would be, but developing incentives for landowners who might be willing to let us use their conveyance infrastructure to pump that water and apply it to land to accomplish more recharge.

We have other ideas that I don't list here, one of which is, for example, paying for the cost of technologies, particularly those that are involved with real time water management in exchange for the data that are generated by it. This could be technologies like automated stem water potential measurements or evapotranspiration sensors, other things just as an example. So again, to recap, the idea is to develop this menu of incentives, determine which are desirable and at what price point. But of course, to do this, we very much need and welcome the input and collaboration of the growers to determine what works and once that menu is arrived at, to help us promote that among all users. We already coordinate with them frequently, but I'll definitely be reaching out to them soon on this point.

Next

steps, of course, we're doing ongoing GSP implementation. Just presented our annual report for some months now, already in the process of updating that Napa Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model, refining water use data. We'll be presenting that to our TAG in June. And then as Ms. Kressinger mentioned, the periodic evaluation of the GSP is the next big step.

The periodic eval is not an update of the GSP. The purpose of it is to evaluate if and how we are on track to achieve sustainability based on our GSP. Basically, is our GSP expected to carry us through longer in directing our activities to achieve sustainability? And it's not finished yet, but the cliff notes tell me that we're on track. So as Vicki mentioned, DWR, in their approval of our GSP, they already they only had three corrective actions noted.

And two of those we've already fixed, and one of which we can't until they release their own manual. So we're in good stead there. The periodic eval may involve refining some of our sustainable management criteria. It will definitely involve modeling updates, applying new crop coefficients to land uses, and an analysis of all the actions that we're taking and to demonstrate if our GSP is still adequate to reach our goal. So next steps, we will take that periodic evaluation to the TAG on September 10.

That will start a four to six weeks public comment period. We'll take those comments and refine as necessary and present back to the TAG on November 12, finalize the document, and bring it to this body on December 8, and hopefully submit it to DWR by the deadline of January 31 year. I think we've shared this before. I think it's a really great graphic that kind of encapsulates everything with a catchy little phrase, Mind the Drip. Talks about, you know, the three different categories of water users, domestic, public water system, and then ag, commercial, and industrial kind of grouped together, just reinforcing that it's going to take every user classification to really conserve water and make our resources sustainable for the future.

And then here is, at last, the part where I would like to enlist the input of the GSA members and get your direction on this particular question. Should additional measures be initiated to increase water conservation? So an example initiative might be we would initiate outreach to all groundwater users in the sub basin. And we talk about outreach a lot, but in this instance we're actually talking about direct outreach, like literal, it could be letters, it could be postcards to different user class, but directly to them. And we envision an idea might be to request that they complete that water conservation declaration form.

If you recall, that was the form I mentioned that users have to fill out as part of the WAA process, but in this instance it would be to all users. We've heard on a number of occasions from the growers that, well, A, we know for a fact that they've already done a lot to employ water conservation. They've already displayed a lot of stewardship, and we'd like to recognize them for that. And this could be a means to do it. And it would also provide something tangible to DWR that all these voluntary actions we talk about are actually really happening.

But we welcome other suggestions from all of you, and that concludes my presentation, but I'll leave this slide up if it spurs any ideas. Thank you very much.

Okay, great. Thank you for that very informative presentation. Before we go to the board, I'd like to ask if there's any public comment on this issue. If there's anyone here wishing to speak, please come up now. Welcome.

Hello. My name is Chris Chris Malin. Yes. I've been involved, since 2014 in groundwater sustainability for Napa and all the way up the North Coast. Today, I have a couple of comments, Questions, I know you can't answer me, but I'm gonna pose them.

What is the in the model, is there a metric that speaks to climate change? Because I know the GS, the Groundwater Sustainable Plan, must address climate change. It must be part of the modeling. And I'm just wondering if you could ask about that metric, because it's obviously playing a part in the data that we got on the annual report that we're, you know, rainfall is a big problem in trying to reach our sustainability goals. All things considered, depletion is trending down.

So trending down meaning depleting. And we have, you know, some years better, but the trend, the long term trend is it's still going down. And, at what point I know we've got incentives and we're asking people to conserve and all a good program, but at one point, where do we need to require groundwater reduction and require groundwater reporting of metering the groundwater pumping. At what point do we do that? How far down the road do we go?

We have deadlines for sustainability in the groundwater sustainable plan coming from DWR. Also, we're in one of the worst snow packs in history, and we had the warmest March. This is going to affect the amount of water that we get from the state water project. They're already telling us that they're reducing our allotment. And what does that do for groundwater?

I mean, I think we need to look at the big picture of all of our water and where it's coming from and the pressure that can come down on groundwater. As a backup, people are gonna start putting in more wells because they you know, the city's not getting the water. Maybe the city's gonna put in wells. Who knows? We need to look at it. Let's see. Also, I was wondering what happened to the Saint Helena, stream gauge because that's one of the historic spots where it goes dry. The river goes dry for miles. So I was hoping to see something on that. I know you have it.

I can look it up, but I just thought maybe that would be part of the presentation today. And also, I'm asking if you can open up incentives to public hearing. I don't know if you're planning to do that, but that would be great.

Chris, if you could conclude, please.

Thank you.

Thank you. Welcome.

Hello. My name is Adam Pina. I'm with the Mississauga Wapo tribe. And we just was just wondering if you guys are consulting with any tribes on this at all. And if not, we would like to be consulted if possible. We use that river for many different things for gathering different plants and different things that we use for basket weaving and we also would like to swim and like to go into the water, but at this time it's not feasible. So thank you.

Okay. Thank you for your comments. Welcome.

Good afternoon. Michelle Benvenuto, wine growers of Napa County. So, in review of this report, we want to make sure the findings are understood completely and not selectively. So what does the report actually observe? That groundwater storage increased by five eighty acre feet this year, that the cumulative change in storage since 1988 remains positive, and that only two well sites exceeded groundwater level thresholds both in the Northeast Napa management area, a geologically distinct area.

The sub basin recovered significantly in 2023 and has held relatively steady since a very different scenario from when the conditions of 2020 through 2022 were when this was developed. So, why does this report show an undesirable result? Because sustainable yield was reduced 25% from 20000 to 15,000 acre feet based on modeling refinements, not observed aquifer decline. Had the prior estimate held, the seven year pumping average would not constitute an undesirable result. The report's own authors and it's kind of surprising that this hasn't been more on one of the slides you've seen today.

This is a direct quote from the executive summary: The computed groundwater pumping average, which is defined as an undesirable result, does not represent a concern, but it does indicate the importance of groundwater management approaches, which we can all agree on. So, when the report's own authors actually say that we shouldn't be looking this out of concern. We cannot look at this as a crisis. We understand that the 15,000 acre feet is a DWR approved figure, but approved means best available science at the time, not permanently correct. And we appreciate Vicki mentioning that there is an update underway, and we look forward to that.

Finally, it's worth mentioning that there is a pattern regarding modeling. The undesirable result for groundwater storage is based entirely on modeled extraction compared to modeled sustainable yield. The interconnected surface water indicator relies on modeled results to translate pumping into streamflow depletion, and the two wells observed exceedances sit in one management area where model was most heavily revised. The areas where modeling assumptions changed the most are the areas that showed the most concerning results. Meanwhile, the broader sub basin, where the data is actually reported and observed, is trending toward recovery.

So, I think Ms. Mailland and I are looking at different reports. Winegrowers has been engaged in this issue since the GRAC days, and we remain committed to sustainable groundwater management and to working collaboratively. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else in the room? I think everyone else here is staff probably. Oh, almost. Is there anyone on the phones? No? Okay. Then I will bring it back to the board for discussion. Thank you for bringing that slide back up, or discussion points. Don't everybody all rush in at once. Okay. Thank you. Vice Chair Alessio, go ahead.

Thank you. I was kind hoping to get some other questions out for my questions, but that's all good. I do have a couple of questions. And first, is there a response to some of the public comment that we just received? I'd like to hear what you think about from Ms. Malin to Ms. Benavuto. What are your thoughts in the executive summary of the statement and yet the other concerns and how we look at modeling and where the modeling is being extracted from?

I'll let Ms. Kratzinger speak to the modeling specifically. But we would agree, we're not in a crisis. But we do have concerns. I wish it was just one thing that we could hang all of it on to know whether, you know, yes or no, good or bad, up or down. It's not. It's it's a number of things. So it's just it's never simple and easy to character. It's hard to make a headline. But I would agree with the headline that it is not a crisis, but it is a serious concern that we can't wait ten years into the period our twenty years to get to sustainability before doing anything. But I'll let Vicki address some of the questions about the modeling.

So on the question that Chris Malin had posed about the modeling and climate change, so that was a requirement for the Groundwork Sustainability Plan to look fifty years into the future, and that was using DWR provided, climate information. Even DWR recognized, you know, after the fact that things were moving very quickly, that they had global climate models that were already out of date because of what was experienced in 2021, '22, and and it so everything was quickly moving. So there are updates on global climate models, and then periodic evaluation will include another climate assessment looking fifty years into the future. So what we see now more immediately is also the importance year to year of how that precipitation is occurring. Even though there might be atmospheric river events and there may be, you know, a lot of water received at one time, it doesn't necessarily mean that there's going to be an a linear effect on the benefit to the basin.

So it all of it means that everything needs to be carefully managed in an integrated fashion and looked at very much real time. So we also appreciate, Michelle Benvenuto's comments on a number of fronts. So on the modeling for the sustainable yield, that does include looking at sustainability indicators for the groundwater sustainability plan. That is integrated in the analysis of what constitutes a sustainable yield. So that was never done in previous analyses of safe yield or sustainable yield or whatever it was called historically.

So the first and only sustainable yield meeting that specific definition is the one that is currently in the ground sustainability plan approved by Department of Water Resources in 2023. That was based on the best available data at that time. It was also based on what was able to be done with the modeling at that time. So we've been working on a number of refinements, and those will be folded into the periodic evaluation for a number of the analyses. So, Jameson mentioned some of the modeling improvements.

So one of them is about soil moisture, trying to get a better representation of how that occurs you know, within the response of the basin and also how that is utilized by growers, you know, as part of their management practices. There's the geomorphology, the changes in the stream channel. There's the evapotranspiration, and looking at an abundance of different kinds of remote sensing data and looking at refining the parameters that were in the groundwater sustainability plan that were based on metric data at the time, but it was only a snapshot of remote sensing metric data then. Now we're trying to look at much more variability with reference ET. There are a number of other things also occurring, including the refinement of the well locations, screen intervals, geologic information.

We've been doing a lot of coordinating with the state water board. The state water board has done quite a lot with the development of a Napa River watershed model. And that initially only included a surface water hydraulics portion of a model and then later incorporated information from the Napa Valley Integrated Hydrologic Modeling. There are some things that we're still wrestling with because there are not metered data. So the state water board thinks that there's more pumping going on than what we're modeling.

The state board is trying to use the groundwater pumping coming from the Napa Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model. That data is also informed by what we have learned from the growers over the years to try to incorporate their institutional practices, their attention to conservation and stewardship, and intentions towards deficit irrigation. So the pumping values that the state board is trying to use are lower, but they're struggling with that because they're looking at book values and they're thinking the pumping should be higher. So we'll still see how that story plays out. In the meantime, we're trying to refine the data we have at hand to move the model forward, advance it, make it based on the best available information.

And I think I'll stop there.

So just for clarification, again, I'm just a little confused. I'm not doubting you at all. But I'm hearing that this statement in the report said does not represent a concern. But I hear from you, Jameson, it represents a serious concern. So I'm trying to determine, do we have a serious concern, a concern, or not a concern at this point based on the report?

I'd say we have a concern.

A concern.

Between the middle, in the middle between

Okay, the so maybe the reports need to be updated?

I think it was referring to one specific metric.

Okay, that was one specific metric. Not the second set.

That's what was saying. It's a number of six sustainable management criteria that we're

looking Okay. It's on one of the six. Yeah. Okay, great. Thank you. And then the baseline, does the baseline go back to 1988, such as what the graph shows? Where are we starting in terms of the baseline and the progress that has already been made prior to really this more focused effort?

For the Groundwater Sustainability Plan and the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act regulations, the implementation of that act began on 01/01/2015. Our modeling period looks back historically to look at how conditions have existed in the sub basin over time and how, weather patterns, water years have shifted over time, how the water budget has shifted, you know, over time depending upon the kind of water you're experienced. And what we're seeing are very much related to comments that have been made today and previously that climate change has a lot to do with it. Things are getting hotter and drier. Temperature is also a very important factor.

And the uncertain precipitation patterns, things that used to be considered normal, there doesn't seem to be anything that could be called normal any longer. It's very uncertain. So the attention really is on, I think, on how dynamic the sub basin is. It is very responsive to conditions that are experienced both naturally and by this land use that's occurring locally. So we recognized not a not a big concern because of the numbers under the reduction in groundwater storage, partly because we were moving towards lower pumping amounts, and it's within that range of the sustainable yield.

However, we also provided a cautionary note about what we're already seeing in the spring twenty twenty five to twenty twenty six change in groundwater storage that was a minus 4,800 acre feet. That is based on physical groundwater level measurements, a reduction. It's only minus 1.7 feet on average, but that's how much water is no longer in storage in the basin. So that only means that it's really important to manage the resources very carefully.

And looking at the map, and you showed the different colors in terms of more extraction, less extraction, if you will, Are we able to kind of strategically approach those areas with education awareness, maybe some tools in terms of how to be more mindful of ground, you know, well water use or extraction being used in those areas. Some of them are just naturally occurring as in the Northeast area that you kind of mentioned, it sounds like. But is there a way that we can approach it that way? Or is that already happening?

Think it's really already happening. We're treating the sub basin as a whole. So is not

So it's not being able to approach certain areas that are showing

specifically Not at this point. We're trying to look at whether there are areas meaning regions. We're not talking about parcel specific information. We're looking at regions. But when we look at that kind of map, we're seeing pretty low water use on the whole. So it just matters that there are these spots where there's some more water use than elsewhere, and all of that affects what goes on with the river system.

That's why I ask. Depends on what you're saying right there.

There's the interconnectivity between surface water, groundwater. It is a very tight tolerance. To shift by a couple feet means a lot to the connectivity to the river system.

Great. And then just two quick more questions. One, how do we compare to other ag counties that are working on the same effort of groundwater subbasins? How do we compare statewide in terms of ag areas? I mean, I know it's different. I mean, Central Valley is going be very different than us. But can we fall in terms of a ranking where we rank or how we're doing comparison? Or is it just too unique?

I think that there are so many things happening in this county, this sub basin, that are ahead of the curve. So we have a lot of dedicated monitoring occurring to look at interconnected surface water and groundwater. There is a lot occurring with other facilities with the stream gauging. We had a conversation with a staff member at the Regional Water Board a week or so ago, and we assembled all the temperature monitoring going on. It is impressive.

What this count is doing. Congratulations.

I can't imagine that there's any other location that has that density of that type of monitoring going on related to interconnected surface water and assembling the data to be able to track what's occurring with physical observations, and trying to get to the point of the characterization of the flow relationship to the importance to the environmental users, and what those environmental the grower dependent ecosystems, aquatic and terrestrial what they need to support their health. Excellent.

Well, congratulations to our staff. And then last question oh, Jamison, do you want to say something on that?

I was just going to say that I think we are in a better position comparing ourselves to other Ag regions. I think we are in a better position. And not to diminish any of the things that Vicki said about our monitoring system, which probably is more robust. Some of that is luck, I will say. Some of it is luck of the product that we happen to that others grow here. Wine grapes, apparently, I've learned, thrive in deficit irrigation. Not a lot of crops. You could say the same thing about a lot of other crops. So we're fortunate in that regard. So we're not doing as bad as others, but I don't want to pat ourselves on the back too much.

Yeah, we're not almond orchards that use a lot of water or whatnot. And then last question is the El Nino winter that I guess can be a serious El Nino winter, 2627. You kind of touched on that, Vicki, a little bit, that flashes of heavy rain or I don't know, dry season. I guess it may not have an overall impact. Is that correct? So even though we're expecting a lighter rain or they they're expecting a serious El Nino this year, you don't see that as being a long term bonus for us?

It matters if it occurs, if there are ways to try and capture that surplus water and retain it and get it in the ground. I was just referring to that sometimes those storm events are so intense and they may happen more and more sporadically. And if you're not able to capture that rainfall when it's occurring, then you don't necessarily have the same benefit if that rainfall had occurred over a longer period of time. And it seems like we're in sort of this white spot, like we're not noticed on the maps as the hotter or the wetter, and it's a total unknown as to what's going to happen in this particular area.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, everybody.

Okay, and Supervisor Cottrell, I see you next up, and I do want to acknowledge that I know that you two both Supervisor Gallagher and Cottrell have someplace else to get to, so we'll try to wrap it up here, but go ahead when you're ready. And we can't lose one of you and keep going, but that's all.

Thank you. Well, this is such this is important stuff, so thank you. And we all want to hear your questions, too. Thank you for the presentation and it's great to have this year over year data. And just the point about Supervisor Alessio's great question about where are we in reference to other counties across the state, getting to know some of the folks working on this in other counties.

We have a lot going for us than we have an approved GSP. We're in the process of implementing it. Like you're saying, we're able to share data and monitoring. So I do feel we're on the road and as we're learning in everything you've shared that we need to continue moving forward. So my questions are, first of all, on streamflow depletion.

This that is the delta between streamflow with no pumping and streamflow with pumping. And in your graph, it indicates both are modeled. And I'm just curious about why that is because I would imagine that the existing condition is with pumping. So why can't we just use those numbers? Or is it just that we don't have enough locations?

That's part of it. It's also trying to collect the information over a period of time and relate that to what happens with and without the pumping. So that's more of the modeling tool necessity in order to do that.

Okay. Okay. That makes sense. Thank you. And then just an observation on the updated water availability analysis. I think that update will be very helpful for new projects and modifications. But that doesn't that's not a tool that we can use for existing projects users. Correct? Okay. So when we think about what the universe is of, projects that will be impacted by the new update, I'm glad we're doing it, but that's probably a smaller subset of the entire, user population.

And then on the the issue of reduction of groundwater storage, so we're six we're exceeding the sustainable yield in six out of seven years. And when we look that our timeline for submitting our report to DWR, that will be in January '27, which means we already have a lot of the data that we will be submitting. So that will be what we're showing is we're exceeding that that minimum threshold or we're outside of it. So help us understand how DWR is going to respond to that. I mean, because that that should inform how we make some decisions about our next steps too.

So the Department of Water Resources is very clear in that if there are minimum threshold exceedances or undesirable results that have occurred, they very much want clear narrative to explain what is occurring to address those things. So they want to know, are there data gaps that are being filled? I think there are a number of things that we've tried to touch on today that relate to that. One is the improvement of the model. Another is trying to obtain information on groundwater pumping.

We have very little information that is metered. It is from the city of Saint Helena, and that is it. So we we really need to have some ground truthing. Right now, we have information that's estimated with the model, as I explained, based on what we understand growers are doing to manage their pumping. We have a much lower pumping amount than what the state board is thinking is occurring.

So it would be very helpful to have even anonymized information on the amount pumped to meet the demand of vines over certain acreages. We don't need to know who or other specifics, but it would be very helpful to have some additional information. So Department of Water Resources needs to know what's happening. How you responding to this? What actions are you taking? How do you ensure that you are on the path to reach a sustainability goal in 2042?

Got it. So that's helpful. They're going to be looking for information, explanation,

and kind

of a road map of how we expect to solve it. And then I just wanted to flag something that I think was in the slide, and you said to achieve our sustainability goal, we need to augment our recharge and reduce pumping. And it's sort of two pronged. And so I'm really encouraged to hear about the possibility of the county pulling a permit to be able to divert, flows, excess flows. And so I to me, that's that's really getting at where we need to go. Right? That's bringing more volumes potentially into our groundwater system. So can you give us a little indication of the time frame of that permit process?

It's a little bit uncertain. We're trying to look at something later this summer. It would be for a Groundwater Sustainability Agency five year temporary permit. We had initial conversations with the State Water Board staff about that. One of the things that's occurred since, however, is that when we had that conversation, the state board staff were encouraged and very positive about the timeline because at that point in time, Napa and other counties were still claimed to be drought status.

However, since that time, all the counties have that drought status has been removed. And so that may change, you know, how other agencies are able to act on things that they were able to facilitate without drought status. That aside, we're trying to look at an application that could be provided that would first go to the Department of Fish and Wildlife and then back to the state water board. And they are encouraging do that before they get to the fall and then it gets too compressed for the timeline.

Thank you. That's really helpful. And just on the point of depending on a county's status is whether it gets a quick pass to that permit process or not. To me, that's also a legislative issue to flag because if it's really based on a label versus what's really going on, I think that's a place where we should advocate for, you know, flexibility in in moving excess flows around because we know that, you know, you're taking care of environmental concerns when the water when those flows are high. So and then my final comment is I appreciate the list of initiatives, and I I mean, they all sound good.

To me, I think we need more information from you all about what we think you know, what's been effective, how do these work with the grower industry. So rather than make any recommendations here, I'm interested in asking for some more indicators from you all about and also we want to know kind of bang for buck with each of those initiatives. And then I will just end with the observation that when we had a recent public hearing about the fees associated with groundwater, we heard from one grower who said, you know, very rationally, Why don't you just charge us based on how much water we're using? So let's remember that the simple things might be the straightforward way. So I'll end my comments there.

Thanks.

Thank you, Supervisor Cottrell. Supervisor Gallagher?

Great. Thank you so much. Thank you for the presentation. I'm just going to respond to the things that I think you may want comments on. I do agree those are all great ideas for the watershed conservation incentives, and I agree with Supervisor Cottrell that we need information from the industry as to, you know, which incentives or do all of them make sense?

Do you want to see these? What do you gravitate to? What will make the difference to you and what won't? So I think we do need to hear from the industry on that. Also, Jamison, you said you wanted feedback on other methods such as doing direct outreach, having people fill out the water conservation declaration form.

I think that all sounds great. I think you're right. We've heard from a lot of people we're doing so many things. So if we can have people if they'd like to take the opportunity to fill that out and send it in, then we have lots of we get data, we get stories, and we can celebrate the things that have been done and also, of course, have information to give to DWR about our voluntary actions, which hopefully will put us in better stead or good stead or fair stead, whatever, with DWR. Actually, there's one more thing before I wanted to finish.

This is just a request for everyone that listens to these reports or reads these reports. Terms like minimum threshold exceedance are really confusing. And that's just one of the confusing terms, right? So it would be great if we could come up with sort of a simpler, clearer way of stating those things that we can use in summaries and in presentations so that everyone can understand what we're talking about. And I bet Supervisor Manfrey has some ideas around that.

But there are technical terms we have to use in the reports for the state, but it's really, really hard for people to get their head around what do those things even mean, let alone now you're going tell us all about the data surrounding those terms and we don't, you know, like, what the heck is that term? So I think that's important. I think, for me, what the upshot has really been is that we are going to be reporting an undesirable result to DWR. And it's kind of like rubber meets the road, and we have been talking about the fact that we need real data, we need real pumping data to be able to show what's actually happening here. And I think we're at that point where we need to have those conversations.

You suggested anonymizing the data fine. I mean, just finding ways that we actually get that data so we can respond to DWR and really have an answer for what we're doing because we're getting up against it. And it's been kind of like this, well, we need to keep talking about it, but we need to do it. We need to find a way to really do it and assure people this isn't about you reporting something. We know who you are.

We're going come after you, or something like that. I mean, it's not what it is. It's the only way that we can really have the information we need to respond to the state such that the state does not just come down on us and decide on its own what the rules are going to be, right? And then tell everybody, well, you're going to meet her and this is what whatever. But, you know, also agreeing with Supervisor Cottrell that, you know, we did have a comment at one of the last meetings about charges for what we use.

So, you know, I think there is some movement in terms of the industry understanding, yeah, we all need to know what we use, right? Collectively, if nothing else. So, yeah, that's kind of what I'm taking away from it. You know, thank you for all the great work, and I think you have some really great ideas, and I'm happy to see it moving. Thanks.

Okay, thank you, Supervisor Gallagher. Okay, great comments and questions from my colleagues. Thank you all. And thanks for being here for the presentation today. So I think it's really good that we're doing more monitoring and reporting on our groundwater than we were.

I definitely see that change. We still have a little ways to go, obviously, but there's more solid information there than there was. And I do remember that when the Groundwater Sustainability Agency was first convened, some people said that the only reason we had to comply with SGMA at the time was because we didn't have a long enough term data set. Like the data did not go far enough back into the past. I don't know if anyone else remembers hearing those comments, but I remember them quite clearly from the time when this was initiated.