Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Madam Chair, we're live when you're ready.

Good morning. Welcome, everyone, to the Napa County Board of Supervisors meeting. I am calling this meeting of June 23, 2026 to order. May I have roll call, please?

Vice Chair Lazio? Here. Supervisor Ramos? Here. Supervisor Gallagher? Here. Supervisor Chau? Here. Chair Manfrey?

Here.

and our next item is the pledge of allegiance would jr rogers please lead us in the pledge of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation

And item three is pet of the week, and I regret to inform all of you, I sincerely do, that there's a staffing shortage at the animal shelter, and there will be no pet of the week today. I know. So number four is approval of, but you can go down to the shelter and visit the pets there. And there's also Ella's Cat House in this town. So we do have options, okay? Item four is approval of proclamations and commendations. And we have one proclamation today, which it will be recognizing July 19th through 25th, 2026 as Probation Services Week in Napa County. And I would like to invite Supervisor Ramos to present this proclamation. And is there someone here to receive it? I imagine there is. Yeah, come on up. And then while you're getting ready, I'll just note that I want to say congratulations to our probation employees for two things. First, on our agenda this morning, the board will consider adopting a new three-year memorandum of understanding with the Probation Professionals Association and supervisory units. Thank you all for what you do. And also the probation department will be moving to a new home in July at 5, I guess on Monday, very soon, at 555 Gateway Drive. And I want to thank Chief Gibbs for her leadership in making this move happen. I'm very excited for all of you. It's a great building and I think a big improvement. So congratulations and looking forward to going forward.

Madam Chair, do we vote or public comment?

Oh, indeed. Is there any public comment on this item? Not seeing any in the room. Is there anyone on the phones?

No?

OK. May I please have a motion and a second? So moved. Thank you, Supervisor Ramos. Second by Supervisor Alessio. All those in favor? Aye. That passes unanimously. I've never voted from here.

First time for everything. Thank you so much, Chair. It is my pleasure to be able to read on behalf of the board a proclamation recognizing July 19 through 25 as Probation Services Week. Whereas probation plays a unique and essential role in California's criminal and juvenile justice systems by combining accountability and rehabilitation in a way no other part of the justice system does. Advancing public safety through evidence-based and court-ordered programs delivered by highly trained and dedicated probation professionals whose ranks reflect the diversity of the communities they serve and whose expertise help. Justice-involved individuals address complex challenges, access critical services and resources, reduce recidivism, and successfully transition to healthier, more productive lives. And whereas the Napa County Probation Department serves as a key partner within the justice system, collaborating with courts, law enforcement, schools, behavioral health providers, community organizations, and local agencies to strengthen outcomes for individuals, families, and the broader community. And, whereas, the Napa County Probation Department supports victims of crime through the collection of court-ordered restitution, collecting nearly $400,000 in fiscal year 24-25 and more than $620,000 thus far in fiscal year 25-26, helping restore financial losses and reinforce accountability. And whereas through innovative programs such as its mobile supervision van, the department expands access to supervision, services, and support throughout Napa County, reducing barriers and fostering positive outcomes for those under its supervision. And whereas the dedication, professionalism, and service of probation personnel contribute significantly to safer communities, stronger families, and a more effective justice system. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that this Board of Supervisors, County of Napa, State of California, on this 23rd day of June 2026, does hereby recognize July 19 through 25, 2026 as Probation Services Week in Napa County and encourages all residents to recognize and appreciate the important contributions of probation professionals to justice, rehabilitation, victim restoration, and community safety. The Board further extends its sincere gratitude to the dedicated professionals of the Napa County Probation Department, whose service, compassion, and commitment help uplift individuals, strengthen families, and make Napa County an even safer, stronger, and better place to live, work, and thrive. And it is my pleasure to present this to Chief Gibbs and with an extra special thanks to our probation staff as we were walking through your new facility yesterday. I think I counted in my head that your staff has endured five moves in 12 years. And through that, with no interruption of services, and they have continued to meet the moment at every turn. And we thank you for sticking through it. And we congratulate you on your new space. And what a great way to commemorate all these changes that are positive in probation. Thank you so much.

Good morning, Chair and members of the board. I'm Amanda Gibbs, Chief Probation Officer for Napa County. On behalf of the Napa County Probation Department, thank you for recognizing Probation Services Week. I am honored to accept this proclamation, but this truly belongs to our staff. Our mission at probation is to enforce court orders to inspire positive change, to transform the lives of offenders, victims, and families, and promote community safety. That mission captures the heart of probation. We enforce court orders and hold people accountable, but accountability must lead to change. Rehabilitation is key because public safety is not only about responding to crime, it's also about preventing the next crime and the next victim. Victims are central to our work. We listen to their voices, protect their rights, pursue restitution, and never lose sight of the human impact behind every case. When someone enters treatment, returns to school, finds employment, reconnects with family, or completes probation without causing further harm, our entire community benefits. Our work extends far beyond the courthouse and the probation office. Through our mobile supervision and community resources van, staff meet people where they are, providing supervision, support, resources, and direct connections to services. Our employees have even gone so far as to donate from their own homes, blankets, hygiene items, because they see the compassion for those that they're working with. And that is who our staff are. And it reflects our core values in our department of compassion, service, accountability, and collaboration. Our probation officers also lead cognitive behavioral groups that help people recognize harmful thinking patterns, make better decisions, and develop skills for lasting change. We link youth, adults, victims, and families with community providers because creating safer communities requires all of us working together. I am incredibly proud of our probation officers, our juvenile hall staff, our support professionals, program staff, supervisors, and managers. They meet people in crisis. They make difficult decisions. They enforce firm boundaries and yet still offer a path forward for opportunity and hope. Much of their greatest work happens quietly. It's the young person who returns to school. It's the parent who becomes sober. It's the victim who receives restitution, the family that begins to heal, and the crime that never happens. This work requires courage, judgment, compassion, and resilience. It is hard work, but more importantly, it's heart work. Above all else, we care deeply about every life we touch with our work. To every member of the Napa County Probation Department, I see your dedication, I value your service, and I am extraordinarily proud of the difference that they make every day. Thank you to the board for honoring our staff and recognizing this essential role that probation plays within our community. And we here are to provide a safe and thriving Napa County. Thank you so much.

Yes, let's do the photo.

Come with me, come with me.

Okay, we are moving on to consent calendar, item five. This is items A through N. Do we have any board member comments or items to pull from the consent calendar today?

Chair, I need to abstain from item S as I'm on the board for the Napa County Historical Society and their recipient of a grant award. Okay, thank you for noting that.

So we'll pull item S for a separate vote. And is there anyone here wishing to make public comment on any item on consent? Is there anyone on the phones?

No? Okay.

Then may I have a motion and a second to approve consent calendar items A through AN accepting item S? So moved.

Second?

Motion by Alessio and a second by Supervisor Cottrell. All those in favor? Aye. Thank you. And we'll be discussing item S during number seven on the agenda. So number six is public comment for any item not on today's agenda or on any closed session item that is on today's agenda. So I welcome anyone in the room to speak on any topic not on the agenda or on our closed session. Welcome. Come on up. Thank you.

I was ready. Good morning, Chair Manfrey, Board of Supervisors. Jerry Hanson, President and CEO of the Napa Chamber of Commerce, Napa, California. Just yesterday, the Napa Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors took action to support the Napa County Wildfire Preparedness, Watershed Protection, and Open Space Preservation Act, now known, thankfully, by the much shorter Measure B. Our economic development strategy for the Napa region includes climate resilience, and that includes wildfire prevention. You might wonder why wildfire is part of an economic development strategy. While it is certainly about public safety and health, property protection, and environmental stewardship, it is also tied directly to economic resilience. Our strategy specifically calls for promoting disaster resilient infrastructure and supporting the resources and policies needed to implement the community wildfire protection plan. Wildfire preparedness and resilience are essential to protecting lives, businesses, jobs, and our local economy. The Napa Chamber supports strategies that reduce wildfire risk through vegetation management, fuel reduction, and land stewardship, invests in infrastructure hardening, undergrounding, and microgrids to reduce power disruptions, improves emergency preparedness, evacuation planning, and communication systems, and supports property owners and businesses in mitigation, retrofitting, and resilience efforts. None of these strategies or investments are inexpensive. And I'll say when, not if, Measure B is successful, we hope it is viewed as an opportunity to build upon rather than replace the significant investments already being made by public agencies, private organizations, and community partners throughout the county. Maintaining strong local commitments will allow Measure B dollars to be leveraged, stretched further, and used to attract additional state, federal, and private funding. The challenges we face around wildfire are too large for any single funding source to address alone. The greatest impact will come from continued partnership and sustained investment across all sectors working together to strengthen Napa County's wildfire resilience. This is how our community has done it before, and I am confident that it will continue to do so. So thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Hanson. Is there anyone else in the room? Not seeing anyone. Is there anyone on the phones?

Yes, we have two callers. The first caller is John Anaya. John, are you there? John, are you there?

Yes, I am.

Okay, go ahead. You have three minutes.

Good morning. I implore the honorable Board of Supervisors to look into the and potentially investigate the coverage of the policy for Napa County It appears through our research that it provides protection for the county itself, but not necessarily for the residents for which the tax dollars are pulled from that pay for that insurance policy to include civil rights violations. And it has been our experience that safeguards and guardrails that are intended to protect people that may seek to prefer action or be made whole through redress are subjected to potential retaliation as affirmed by the grand jury investigation. But we have more concerns about safety. I brought my family back to Napa because I thought it was safe here. I left Napa to go discharge a duty on behalf of other people who were subjected to the worst forms of violence that people can fathom that was done by people who were recruited to perform tasks that most people in Napa couldn't understand. And I moved my family to safety. And my son has been taken into proximity, not only into the places where these people maintain and willpower, but to be in proximity with the people responsible for those very heinous acts for which I operated on behalf of our wonderful country for. I have Went to the board of supervisors. I've gone to people relative to this, to the sheriff's department. And I'm not, how are you saying? I'm very displeased and disappointed with what I've experienced throughout this subject or this circumstance. But today I'll be sending you guys more photographs so you can see the people responsible for taking my first wife's father from his home in San Carlos by force. and handing them over to the people who would dispatch them. And why is my son being taken out of Napa into San Diego to be placed in proximity with people responsible for kidnapping and murdering people from my previous marriage? I'm not just gonna go away. And this danger, this imminent harm that you guys ignored is, it's a disgrace to what I expected. I believed in you guys. I believed in the people who had a duty to protect. I'm a Napa kid. I'm one of the people that was harmed. And as a result, I became a peacekeeper. I deployed to protect human life. And when I came to you guys to protect my son, I was met with disgraceful conduct. So I hope at some point people who may be on the business end of this retaliatory conduct that we could bridge a gap and make sure this doesn't happen to other people.

Mr. Anaya, we're going to have to conclude your comments. Thank you for calling in today. That's the time allowed.

Thank you.

We have one more caller. Wendell Coleman. Wendell, are you there?

I'm here.

All right, go ahead. You have three minutes.

Thank you. So I'm listening to the words from Amanda Gibbs regarding the probation recognition week. I do want to thank the probation officers that are out there building the relationships with their clients and helping them carve a path to a better life and helping them cope with previous issues that they have had. I was on probation in Napa County in 2018, excuse me, 2019, and my probation was subsequently canceled because of an alleged violation. Maria Calderon was my probation officer, and I noticed that there was disparage in the way that I was treated compared to several other people. I believe that and I have demonstrated paperwork documentation through emails to the Board of Supervisors showcasing that Christina Pearson had participated in fraud by falsely alleging that she had provided certain information to me, which she clearly had not. This information was brought to Amanda Gibbs' attention. This information was brought to Julie Baptista's attention, and nothing was ever done about it. I ended up on probation in Sonoma County, and in Sonoma County, everything went well. I was discharged on probation early. Without any hiccups, I now serve the County of Sonoma on a couple of boards, volunteering my time and energy to improve the community. I was never given the opportunity in Napa to showcase who I am and what I'm capable of because of the discriminatory treatment. So while the probation department celebrates its accolades, I want to hold on to some of the quotes from the speech from earlier. Victims are essential to our work. I believe that victims are actually fabricated oftentimes by the probation department to maintain VAWA funding. So I asked the Board of Supervisors to investigate these VAWA fund violations and the fabrication and manufacturing of evidence that is a constant by the Napa Sheriff's Department and the Napa Police Department. I will be providing the Board of Supervisors with real-time information in the upcoming days of these violations that I have investigated and have evidence of. Mr. Coleman?

Thank you. Thank you. That was three minutes. Anyone else? That's it? Okay. Great. Then we are moving on to item 8, which is discussion of items pulled from the consent calendar. And I understand Supervisor Alessio will be stepping away for this item. And is there any public comment on item S, which is grant awards for 22 agreements with 16 different organizations, as recommended by the Napa County Arts and Culture Advisory Committee? And effectively, this will implement the Napa County cultural plan for the next fiscal year. And I welcome any public comment. Is there anyone on the phones? No? Okay. Then is there any discussion from the board?

I'll make a motion to approve item S. Great.

Second.

Okay. We have a motion by Supervisor Ramos and a second by Supervisor Gallagher. All those in favor?

Aye.

That passes unanimously with all members present.

And Chair, you missed 7.

Oh, I'm sorry. Board of Supervisors reports and announcements. OK, well, Supervisor Alessio leaving. We need her back for this one. So I'm sorry to take things out of order, but we're now going to Board of Supervisors reports and announcements. Are there any announcements from my colleagues on the board? I see Supervisor Gallagher and then Cottrell.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to briefly go over some bills that were discussed at the Air District and just give some updates. I don't know. There may be more updates this week, but these are from last week. Bills that are not moving forward, these are bills concerning the Air District or concerning our mission that I think are of interest to Napa County, so it's not all of them. AB 2102, these are two bills that are not going to be moving forward. 2102 is wildfire vegetation management and fire breaks would have exempted fuel reduction work from CEQA and local review. That is not moving forward. And also AB 2057 would have barred bans on gas appliances. That's also not moving forward. Bills that are still alive are SB 299 Cabaldon. I'm sure we'll hear more about that from Supervisor Alessio and 1159 also from our Senator Chris Cabaldon. 299 fixing the CEQA daycare zoning exemption and 1159 clarifying AI systems aren't persons under open meeting and records law. SB 899 directs the state wildfire task force to formally assess health costs of wildfire smoke. AB 2349 statewide network of air quality incident response centers creates that entity for wildfires and industrial accidents. SB 222 Heat Pump Access Act, which will streamline the HVAC water heater permitting statewide. And one that is also something that is opposed unless amended by the Air District is AB 2635 would mandate a voucher program for zero emission small off-road engines. So that's all that I have to report today.

Okay, thank you, Supervisor Gallagher. Supervisor Cottrell?

Thank you, Chair. I wanted to touch on a couple of things. I'm going to start with a farm visit I had in District 3 this past week. A group of farmers and grazers met me out there on a parcel where vines had been removed. And they're talking about projects to repurpose that land formerly planted to grapes. This parcel already had rows of broccoli and other vegetables on it, and long-term goals include some offerings for local farmers markets as well as a grazing component. And they wanted to meet to talk about ways that the county could streamline some of its permitting procedures to help support these other kinds of crops. I reached out to planning staff and I know they're already looking at meeting with these folks and how to support this. So I just wanted to share this with the board and also encourage us to make sure that we're making it as easy as possible for growers to explore all their options to keep their land in active agricultural production. And then shifting to the carrier of last resort, that's the responsibility of telecommunications companies to provide access. Last week I mentioned that the FCC had taken action in this space, basically a preemption of California's framework, and AT&T has moved forward quickly In that space, and is part of a coalition that is challenging the action and also challenging subsequent action. We know that may already be sending out letters to residents, letting them know that their landline service is going away and shared position. is basically that AT&T is jumping the gun here. So we still need to get CPUC review and input at this point. So that will continue. And there are a few different actions at the CPUC as well. And then finally, I joined the Commission on Aging at their meeting in Calistoga yesterday. I appreciate the Commission holding a meeting up valley. There was a full house of residents in attendance. And I wanted to share with the board one interesting piece of feedback that we heard from local seniors in terms of what their concerns are as shared by up valley family centers. A top concern there is how people will evacuate if needed. And a couple of examples were multi-generational families where one adult is at work and an elderly family member is at home, not knowing exactly what their options are. So to me, it was, again, another example of how the county can offer more communication, education about that evacuation aspect. That's all I had. Thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Cottrell. Supervisor Alessio?

Thank you. I want to start with an MCE update, Marin Clean Energy. I've been on this board since taking the seat. Just overall, I want everybody to know that they serve 47,500 accounts here in Napa County. It's 89.2% of all accounts are signed up with Marin Clean Energy. I'm on the board of directors. I'm also chair of the finance committee, and I'm on a governance ad hoc committee. That governance ad hoc committee is myself, two other supervisors, and a council member. The update is that the Marin Grand Jury issued a report last week on the 16th. It's titled Marin Clean Energy, a series of missteps highlight need of governance changes. And Marin County and the cities within the county will need to respond within 90 days, so roughly September 16th. The other three counties that MCE represents or resents, including Napa County, it's optional in terms of we provide a formal response to the ground jury by that same date of September 16th. In addition, on this governance ad hoc committee, which was recommended by the board and has been meeting for shortly over four months, sent out an RFP for a proposal for some contractor or consultant to provide a governance assessment and then potentially an organizational assessment. The RFP went out. Sixteen folks presented a proposal. Our governance committee narrowed it down to four and then we interviewed those four and we came with a recommendation to the board last week for Leading Resource Center Inc. The board agreed and that was a unanimous vote that they will start in July. One of the reasons that we like them is not only because of their energy work but they were available to start right away and complete this first part in 18 weeks by September, which we wanted to move quickly. So that's all things MCE. On the Napa Valley Transportation Authority Board, I'm just going to, if you don't mind if I share the news, for our chair here, Chair Manfrey was elected to be vice chair the NVTA board. That's a two-year position. And then our current vice chair will be chair, and that's the mayor of St. Helena, Paul Doering. So we'll have great leadership there, and it'll be a great connection with your role on MTC. In addition, I'll let you share about the Rock the Ride. Are you going to share Rock the Ride proclamation? Okay. Well, last week, Supervisor Gallagher, Supervisor Manfrey and I were at Rock the Ride. This is regarding – we presented a proclamation declaring that June 2026 as Gun Violence Awareness Month. It was great. We were on stage. We were all together reading this, a shared reading of the proclamation. I thought it was very well received and very well written, so thank you for the staff who did that. One quick update on Mount Veeder PG&E undergrounding, they're just shy of two miles of undergrounding the main line. Similar to talking about 18T, the carry of last resort, Comcast is still waiting for the federal broadband funding that will also be deployed in the Mount Veeder Dry Creek area. California and Illinois are the only two states who have not received federal funding. So we continue to wait patiently. AT&T is a carrier of last resort in that area. Just want to share that update. And then last I'm going to share that yesterday I was invited to testify on behalf of, well, with Senator Christopher Cabaldon on a child care bill, SB 299. It was my honor and pleasure to do that. It was in front of the assembly natural resource committee. I was watching all the other agenda items prior to. There was a lot of talk and questions. This one had zero questions and it was unanimously voted for approval by that natural resource committee. So that's all I have to share.

Thank you, Supervisor Alessio. Supervisor Ramos.

Thank you so much. I'm impressed in that we've only had a few days off since budget and everyone's managed to fit a lot in. First, I wanted to say I did attend the CSAC groundbreaking for the home of California's 58 counties on Wednesday and it was a really outstanding commitment of making sure that CSAC is firmly rooted in Sacramento with a view of the capital, which is great. Also, on Wednesday, we did authorize to join as an intervener in the carry of last resort action with RCRC, so I just want to thank RCRC for bringing that up. really to stress the importance of it. It does not affect more suburban and urbanized counties as much, but I will note that Supervisor Kathryn Barger from LA County said, I have some carry of last resort areas in her district, right? And we know that especially after the 2017 fires, the impacts were felt incredibly in these collar areas. I really want to thank RCRC for that leadership. On Thursday, I served as president of my last General Assembly of ABAC, and it's a great moment of adjustment after six and a half years in leadership at ABAC to be handing over the torch. The new president will be Run Apart Councilmember Susan Adams. And the Vice President will be Solano County Supervisor Wanda Williams. It has been an absolute pleasure and honor to serve in this capacity and to really be able to change the way that MTC and ABAC integrate with each other. And during that time, making sure that we combined our planning and administration committees. We have a joint legislation committee. We have a joint housing and housing finance authority committee and being able to do that certainly has been a great joy and I think that we're better off as a region for it. We did approve, we ratified the leadership and we approved the budget and work plan and that does include a 3% adjustment for our Our fees, what I will say is some not so great news coming down the pipeline is the state of California has not reauthorized its REAP funding. That's its regional early action planning dollars. And that's what we use for technical assistance and our housing elements. We did receive an update on RHNA. and the determination as it's coming down from HCD. And we are bracing ourselves for another big cycle coming up. And so we will have more info in about six months. And ABAC is working to actually give jurisdictions an additional year to be able to figure out if we're going to go through a sub arena process. Or in our case, we do more transfers than sub arenas. And then to be able to get our housing element approved and then there is on Relevant to MBTA. There's a community workshop on June 29th regarding SR 29 and 12 at Airport and also SR 12 at Kelly and that is from 530 to 730 at the Hampton Inn on Hartle Court over by the the movie theater and that's available on MBT's website and The next Meet Me in the Street is on July 8th, so I invite you all to come over and check out. We have outstanding county participation at this event, and it's incredibly well attended by thousands of people, so I definitely encourage you, 5 to 8 on July 8th. And then I just wanted to... No. Today is J.R. Rogers' last meeting with us, who has served as our fire administrator here at the county for a number of years. And I just want to thank you for your contributions, and you really did come in at a point of transition to help to... reestablish relationships that have certainly been tested over time and to help us in making sure that Napa County Fire is a more seamless department that does not have the barriers of having a contract provider of fire services and volunteers and the county function as well. And so I just wish you best luck in your next chapter and just want to say thank you. Thank you for all you've done.

Thank you, Supervisor Ramos, and yes, thank you, Chair Rogers. So I have been checking things off of my list because a lot of them have already been covered, so a little shorter here. But I will note, yes, I attended Napa Valley Transportation Authority on June 17th, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission as an alternate on June 18th, and Upper Valley Waste Management Agency yesterday, June 22nd. If anybody has any questions about those meetings, just reach out. And tomorrow, there's an MTC meeting in San Francisco that Supervisor Ramos and I will both be attending on behalf of Napa County. I will add one note about meetings, which is that there's a Climate Action Committee meeting Friday, June 26th at 9.30 a.m., and there will be an informational item on Rule 9.6 from the California Air Resources Board, and we've had a lot of interest in this from rural residents lately. It's about the transition to electric water heaters, and I fully understand that it's challenging for for some residents, particularly in rural locations. And so CARB is definitely looking at ways to make this a more reasonable transition, and there will be an update at that meeting. So anyone concerned about that, I recommend you follow along there. There will be a groundwater fee virtual meeting on Wednesday, July 1st at 5.30 p.m. And the last one was on the 17th of June and it was well attended. There were some great questions and staff were very helpful in providing clear answers to specific questions and guiding people to relevant resources. And so I expect the next meeting will be just like that. So if you have any questions about groundwater fees, please attend. um and there will also be a temporary event ordinance workshop held by the planning department on wednesday july 1st from 2 to 4 p.m so look for that on the web and i would like to wish everybody a happy early 4th of july because we will not have another meeting for quite some time So happy 4th. And I believe that concludes announcements and reports from supervisors. And we will now move to item 9, public hearings. Item 9A is to consider a resolution adopting the recommended budget for Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency for fiscal year 26-27 with total financing uses of $3,121,117. This item has been continued from June 16th, 2026. I welcome a staff report from our auditor controllers, Tracy Schulze and Brian Bordona, if you would like to join us.

Good morning, Chair Manfrey, members of the board, Tracy Schulze, audit controller. At your last, did we have to reopen it or you already reopened it? At the last meeting, we did the recommended budget and at that point in time, the staff was directed to go back and make some changes. And so you will see in your staff report there's a supplemental number one. There's two changes that were made. We decreased the state grants revenue. It appeared at the time after review we saw that there was really qualified expenditures of about $250,000, and it's a reimbursement grant. So instead of overstating the revenues coming in for the total amount of the grant, we wanted to match the revenues to the expenditures. That does two things. It matches the revenues to expenditures, but it also does not inflate the fund balance at the end of the year, showing that we had more revenue than expenses. The second and probably more beneficial change is decreasing the charges for services from $2,168,000 down to $931,000. And that is direct effect of the user fees or the fees that are going to be assessed. And that is due to the analysis of the fund balance and looking at instead of adding to the fund balance next year, we would like to decrease the fund balance. So we decreased the fund balance about $750,000 to make this change. Happy to answer any questions. And Brian is also here to answer questions. There was no change in the expenditures, just so you know, the budget appropriations.

Very clear. Thank you. Do I have any questions or comments? I see Supervisor Ramos. Or is that from before?

Okay, go ahead. Thank you. Thank you so much for taking a second look at this. I had an opportunity to also meet with staff and to go over this yesterday, but to really just kind of set some expectations of what is going forward. As I mentioned to my colleagues, I had the opportunity to see what happens to a region that does not manage its groundwater well. And well, well. And that was absolutely frightening. So I want to say first, it's incredibly important that we do in fact make sure that we are having measured progress towards our groundwater management. At the same time, I definitely understand the shock that some people received in receiving our postcards. The postcards being if you were, I believe it was, if you were an ag user, $98.16 per planted acre was the amount. And then going there from a down to public water system and also for a self-supplied user, which is you're domestic and you have your own well. I do believe that we are making the right move here and making sure that we are utilizing some of our fund balance. I think what would be great direction for us to discuss and to provide to staff is what is the recommended fund balance going forward? I mean, if we're using a GFOA standard at 16%, given that the GSA doesn't have the ability to declare an emergency, So I think that would be great information to have is what is the recommended fund balance. At the same time, knowing that we're utilizing the fund balance this time because of savings realized, and as we apply the fee and we balance that against our expenditures, I would hope that we also realize some savings in what we are doing as we find out from growers who are dry farming, from growers who have pulled out grapes, that's gonna provide adjustments overall. And I believe we have a 10% allocation in there for those types of reductions in the budget. So if more than 10% have taken out their vines, and or our dry farming then this budget is not going to be um it's it's not going to pencil out as is and so they'll need to be an adjustment into the fund balance i'd like to know what that recommendation is going forward and i know this is hard to ensure that With the fluctuations that happen, and we are expecting right now, as Supervisor Cottrell said, visiting farms that have pulled out grapes, what is that fund balance that we are going to need to be able to level out these fees? Because what I don't want to happen is that, say this year it's $98 per planted acre, and we have a lot of savings the following year, and so then we're at $50 a planted acre, and then we go back up to $74 per planted acre. I'd really like us to get to a place where we can at least utilize a three-year average so we can have predictability in the fee structure. And I'd love some thoughts about that because right now, as it seems, it's a pay-as-you-go, which I understand, but that's because it's a new program.

Right. I'll let Brian speak, but I will give my thoughts as far as the review. This is the first year. It's always kind of a guesstimate of the first year of what we're going to be doing. So we are dedicated to really look at the fund balance each year and going through this exercise a little bit more diligently. knowing that there's going to be fluctuations and changes in the programming. When you talk about the 16%, that's really for more enterprise funds. It's really for cash flow. It's not for disasters or anything like that. It's really for what is going to keep you sustainable. I would imagine that as this progresses with ideas and different program areas, we would really look at what do we need, as you said, going out and figuring out how many years it's going to take and what programs, what initiatives, what progress we're going to make and seeing where those come in. And it's going to be an ongoing analysis and exercise. It's not going to be a one-time, this is the guideline and we're done.

Yeah, and I would agree with that. What we're going to be doing is working very closely with Tracy's office to help see if we can level things out so they do become more predictable. But at this point in time, it's somewhat precarious. But we're going to do everything we can to help ensure some form of consistency. One of the things we're going to be doing over the next several months is more or less performing an autopsy, if you will, on the overall work plan, identifying areas that have been successful, Efforts have been successful and there's been a return on the investment. For example, we've been spending a considerable amount of time meeting with folks, trying to come up with ideas and programs on a voluntary basis. And that's been in the arena of around $300,000 to $400,000. And we're not seeing much of a return on that. So we're reconsidering that aspect of the program. And so we're going to be taking a very close look at all aspects of it. The goal is to reduce expenditures as much as possible by also maintaining the current level of effort that's going into the overall program. And I think as things improve, that's the hope, obviously, and the goal, we'll be able to back out of the program is what I anticipate, barring any additional unfunded mandates. But I think there's a lot that's unknown, but we're going to be looking at very closely and sharpening our pencils to make sure we're making the best use of of the user's funds.

Okay, great. Thank you for questions and clarification. I will note that we haven't done public comment yet, so if we could focus on questions first. Do I have any questions for staff? Okay, not seeing any. Then we'll go to public comment now and come back for discussion.

Just a couple things to add. What Tracy went over, and thank you for setting that up, based on an estimate Represents a 50 to 60 percent decrease and what folks should expect to see with their fees For fiscal year 26 27 after we get the feedback from the users With the deadline of July 10th. We'll have a better understanding of who's dry farming who pulled out Hughes who's using surface or recycled water and whose well happens to be outside of the GSA. And then ultimately we'll be able to recalculate that aspect as well as the additional contribution. And then on July 28th we'll be bringing a resolution to the board which will have a very clear identification of the fees that will be charged for fiscal year 26-27. And then as it relates to public comment, aware that the board has received comments regarding metering and I just want to make the board aware that we are in the process of updating the water availability analysis guidelines. Those are going to be coming before the board in late July early August and I think a discussion of that nature while somewhat linked to fees is more policy related and therefore probably best for the discussion to occur there. So those that may have submitted comments that are listening today wanted to kind of put that out there.

Okay. Thank you. And thanks to staff for being so responsive about this. You've only had about a week or week and a half or so to pull a whole, you know, different plan together, which I think is very responsive and goes a long way to meet the feedback we were getting. So is there any public comment on this item? Yeah. Well, okay. Great. Three minutes each, and please give us your name when you start. Thank you.

Wonderful. Thank you. Michelle Novy, Napa Valley Vintners. Thank you, board. Thank you, staff, for taking a closer look at this particular budget and identifying the fund balance and proposing a revised fund. fee structure moving forward and hopefully a multi-year rate reduction plan. This is, if passed, will definitely help mitigate some of the financial shock for this year that our members are expressing and will also be incredibly useful for planning and budget predictability moving forward. It's our hope, and I think this is definitely a shared hope, that the cost of implementing the GSP and administering the GSA is kept as low as possible. And also, too, that a comprehensive framework for recognizing, incentivizing, and rewarding water conservation from all users can be implemented here in the county. I think lastly, I just want to say thank you to my fellow industry partners, the Napa Valley Grape Growers, Napa County Farm Bureau, and Wine Growers of Napa County for their collaboration. This is one of the items that was included in our joint policy recommendations was to look at this fee and how to structure it in a way to kind of minimize that shock to our ag community. So thank you to you for looking at that, hopefully acting on it, and thank you to our partners for collaborating. Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome. Patricia Damery from Dry Creek Road. I am one of those users who has our well in the sub basin and most of our land not. I don't know how that's going to work. But I am happy to hear that there is going to be a discussion on metering. Because I think the only solution to using less water is for all of us to meter what we're using and pay for it. And that is the most fair way. I think that when I look at... my own well being drained after more people are pumping water around me and then feel like okay my tax dollars are going to fund the vineyards that are using the water that is draining my well Yeah, I feel resentment about that. And I don't think it's fair. I also don't think it's productive. I think if we really want to lower our groundwater usage, it's looking at it and understanding how much. And I think we have wonderful growers. The other thing I'm saying, I think very few growers are I think there's a lot of growers using very sophisticated equipment, and I appreciate that a lot. But it's not enough. The other thing I wonder, that as we're trying to lower our groundwater usage, I look at how many vineyards are on the docket to increase more acreage, more wineries. What are we going to do about that? That's more people planting. It doesn't make sense in this time where the wine industry is having so much trouble to expand, give more people, cut more trees and plant more vineyards. and have more wineries. There's a craziness to that. So anyway, thank you. Thank you. Good morning.

Good morning. Peter Rumble from Napa County Farm Bureau. Just wanted to extend my thanks and echo the words from Michelle Novy from Vintners. I really, really appreciate your giving a look at this budget and the subsequent impact to the fees. Everybody is in agreement. We need our groundwater basin healthy. Everybody is, farmers and residents alike. We're looking forward to working with staff to make sure that that happens. And in the meantime, again, really appreciate your ability to work with us on this one. Thank you.

Thank you. Welcome.

Good morning. Michelle Benvenuto, Wine Growers of Napa County. Just want to say the same thing. Thank you guys for looking at this and exploring it. And obviously, groundwater and the sustainability of our subbasin is incredibly important to all of us here, the community, the ag community, everybody here. And then I just wanted to make one note. The general plan projected up to 12,000 new vineyard acres and only 5400 of acres have been approved so I just wanted to correct our previous speaker like vineyards aren't out of control thank you okay thank you for your comments uh I don't see anyone else in the room is there anyone on the phones okay and I will bring it back to the board for discussion I see Supervisor Alessio and then Supervisor Cottrell

Thank you. I think this is a perfect example of this public process, right? We have folks in the community that express their concerns, both from the wine industry, both from in terms of their access to water through their wells, both to the longevity of water conservation and the accountability in how we do that, while also recognizing this historical moment first time I've seen this in my lifetime and I'm not young, of a serious contraction in the industry that is also, that's gonna have a ripple effect on our communities. So it's striking that balance and going through this process. And so going back to the process is that we heard from our wine industry, we heard from our residents in public comment. We responded acknowledging that we heard them. Our staff responded. expeditiously I don't think I've ever seen staff respond this quickly on anything and I'm not just talking about this stuff I'm talking about just my general experience past experience and I just want to compliment everybody on on the process and and seeing how it can really really work and I want to thank our CEO, I want to thank our director of building planning environmental services and all the staff too and Tracy Schultze our auditor controller for looking at this with clear eyes and mind and saying how can we rethink this? How can we address this moment, both in the accountability and the groundwater conservation and also what's happening in this industry in terms of this economic shock as it was made? So I don't have any questions because the questions were already answered in terms of the fee reduction. And I do believe that's going to be probably a scaled version. But, you know, and actually I need to thank my colleagues up here because it was actually Supervisor Cottrell said, oh, look at this fund balance. And then Supervisor Ramos said, yeah, we do have a lot of fund balance there. Why is there so much fund balance? And then for staff to say, you know what, there might be an opportunity here. So compliments to everybody. This is a really positive conclusion for this step. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair Losio. Supervisor Cottrell?

Thank you, and thank you, Supervisor Alessio. I think you covered a lot. I really appreciate staff's willingness to look at this and be responsive to the board's request to look for creative options to reduce the initial groundwater users fee. This adjustment shows the county and the board, we understand the challenges facing our grape growing industry, and we're looking for ways to be supportive. And also, looking forward, we need our industry partners to continue to work with us to find ways to meet our groundwater goals. And I appreciate Mr. Bordona's point that we want to reduce expenditures in this program. But really, the eyes on the prize is we need to reduce our groundwater use. And so I just want to reiterate that. We need to reduce that water use to be sustainable in the face of drought and increased heat events. And we need accurate information about our groundwater uptake. And we know the most direct and equitable way to fund our groundwater program is a use-based fee structure. And as we heard from a grower and vintner at this podium a few weeks ago, she said, why don't you just charge me for what I use? That's pretty easy to do if we can get to metering and monitoring. I'm very happy to approve this action today, which will offer relief on groundwater rates, and to Ms. Novy's point, it helps growers and vintners plan out over the next three years. And I just want us to keep our eyes on the prize and ask the industry to work with us to find ways to get to a fee framework based directly on use, which is the most direct way to get to a sustainable level of annual groundwater use. Thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Gallagher. I'm sorry, backwards. Thank you, Supervisor Cottrell.

Supervisor Gallagher, go ahead. Thank you. I definitely want to second what Supervisor Cottrell just mentioned about the metering and monitoring. And I know I've said it in several meetings, you know, you can't manage what you don't. measure. So we definitely need to move in that direction. I understand, you know, we've talked about the fact that we can't do it until we figure it out. So let's get it figured out because I think that it is the fairest way to set the fee is pay for what you use. But we need to move toward that and I think again reiterating that we're going to be reporting an undesirable result to DWR is that you know I think is a wake-up call and we don't want to be going down that path and be doing that Too often or ever really so we need to find a way to get to a the best way to charge the fees. I did want to ask Ms. Schulze, I guess, to explain a little bit more about, you know, I think everybody hopes that everything balances, right? The expenses go down, et cetera. Everything kind of ends up balancing out. But at this point, you know, we're using X amount of fund balance. We're not going to have that fund balance next year. So I think it's fair to say, like, there are no guarantees around the fee. It's not guaranteed it's going to stay the same. you know, that we're going to, we don't know when we're going to get to that point because if we're relying on fund balance, which is fine, we have a healthy fund balance and we can pull from it, but we won't be able to pull from it forever. So, you know, if expenses don't go down for some reason, fees are going to change or they're going to, you know, they could go up and down. I guess I just want to make sure people understand like, The fee they pay the first time may not be the fee they pay in future years. And if we are able to get to a user-based fee, that's great. Then we don't have to worry about this kind of wonky way, frankly, I think, of doing it.

Yes, I agree, and I think just to reiterate, the reason we have a fund balance is because of general fund contributions. Yes, thank you for that, too. It's all county general fund money in there that we're using, and so that is not sustainable, of course. And I think that is the goal, even listening to Director Berdona, that the goal is to smooth out the rates and actually come up with a real solution so hopefully we won't have to charge the rates as it is.

Great. Thank you. I think just wanted to make sure everybody understood and there was clarification for that. Thanks.

Okay. Thank you, Supervisor Gallagher. I will also echo Supervisor Cottrell's comments and just frame this by saying California water is generally terrifically over allocated and very poorly monitored even in relation to other western states and that passing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was really a bold move for the state legislature in response to a really concerning disaster, which was our last drought. And so kind of a wake-up call. And I especially want to underscore that in addition to reducing use, the other way to balance your water budget is to increase storage. And that's also an option in this space. And it's something that I can't stress enough that we really need to be focusing on because I think we have a lot of great opportunities for it, especially by reconnecting floodplains and and possibly looking at infiltration. opportunities on permeable portions of our valley floor in the basin. And also I just want to keep in the forefront that the goal is achieving sustainability, which will get us away from the need to be doing all of this work. And so the best way to bring the cost down is to get to sustainability. And the more partnership we can get, the more collaboration we can get on both reducing use and increasing storage, the sooner we're going to have success and be able to bring the cost of this program way down. So there's really a big carrot there for all of us to work together, and I'm working forward to that. Um, and I also wanted to circle back to that question about when your well is in the basin and your land is out of the basin and invite staff to respond. I know that was a question at the last. Uh, public meeting about this, and it's a pretty common question. So, um, I don't know if, uh, this Crosby or Mr. if someone would like to just say what happens when your well is inside the basin and you are using it to.

uh to irrigate or you know source water for other for for land outside the basin the controlling factor is where your well is located so if your well is inside the sub basin then the fee pertains to you but we also have a number of folks whose well whose majority of their land is inside the sub basin and their well is not so they would not pay um it is a little bit of a paradox but that's the controlling factor okay thank you for that uh quick explanation okay

So I will now close the public hearing. And may I have a motion to adopt the resolution for the recommended budget for our groundwater sustainability agency?

So moved by Alessio.

Seconded by Cottrell. Okay. I have a motion by Supervisor Alessio and a second by Cottrell. All those in favor? Aye. That passes unanimously. Okay, our next item is 9B, a resolution adopting the recommended budget for Napa County fiscal year 26-27 and also a resolution amending the table and index of classes. This is continued from June 16th, 2026. So I'm reopening or continuing this public hearing. And I welcome a staff report from Michael Kleinman, our Chief Budget Officer.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Micah, before she goes. I just wanted to say a few things. We're here, obviously, to have your board adopt a budget for next fiscal year. Appreciate all of the discussion that has led to this moment. I will say that Generally, budget adoption time once a year, it's a milestone every year, but the county's financial decision making is happening all the time throughout the year at each board meeting, on each agenda, and the book, 600 plus pages or whatever it is, is really a, tells that story throughout the year. not taking away from the budget time, but a budget that developed on strategic initiatives that were adopted, that the public had a chance to feed into. So that's really the story of this budget, reflective of the board's fiscal responsibility, long-term planning, and protecting essential public services. It's just under a billion. 996 million to be exact. It's about a 3% increase from the previous year, supporting 1,654 county employees. We are a people-centric business, and we thank all of our employees for the work that they do. Despite a lot of the challenges and headwinds we have, including inflation, economic uncertainty, concerns about state and federal funding, and underperforming or not performing as usual revenue sources, the county continues to take a disciplined and forward-looking financial approach. There's $37 million in this budget for road operations and maintenance and infrastructure improvements all across Napa County. There's $34 million in this budget for fire services, frontline firefighters, and emergency responders training and recruitment, modern equipment, and emergency response capabilities. It also invests in wildfire prevention, fuels reduction, defensible space, maintenance of dozer lines, partnerships with our fire safe councils and other regional agencies. $66 million investment in 24-7 patrol and emergency response, our sheriff's department, helping with recruitment and retention of deputies, being competitive in compensation and training, modern technology, communication systems, drone capabilities. $24 million in affordable housing, homeless response, and housing stability programs. It advances construction of a new state of the art, I'll argue best in the state, behavioral health treatment campus, a sobering center, residential substance use treatment, mental health rehabilitation services. These are valuable commodities, things, assets that are going to serve our community well. And it's exciting. Workforce continues investing in a strong, high-performing workforce that delivers critical public services. It was mentioned earlier that on this agenda today was approved a new three-year MOU with our hardworking probation employees. It's very exciting. And lastly, $77.6 million in reserves, almost no debt, little debt. It's protecting essential services during emergencies, these reserves, preserving flexibility, long-term financial stability, preparing us for future challenges. So fundamentally, very proud of this document. Very thankful for the leadership of this board, the guidance. The discussions that we had last week, very helpful. I want to thank all of our department heads, many of whom are in the room, some who are not. But thank you to you and your staff. I want to thank MICO, our chief budget officer. I want to thank Tracy Schulze, our auditor controller. Their partnership this year was exceptional. I want to carry that forward. And just thank you all around for all the effort, all the effort of staff in our office with that. Mike.

Good morning. Sorry, I'm losing my voice from last week. Chair Manfrey and members of the board, the Board of Supervisors opened a public hearing of Napa County fiscal year 2026-27 budget on June 15, 2026. This item before you today has been prepared by the auditor controller's office based on the board actions taken during the public hearing in accordance with the state of California accounting budget act. There are no changes made to the recommended budget. There are two resolutions before you today for consideration. The first resolution is to adopt the recommended fiscal year 26-27 budget, and the second resolution makes certain changes to the table and index of positions that are necessary to implement the recommended fiscal year 26-27 budget.

Thank you. All right. Thank you for that helpful context and overview. I welcome public comment at this time. Is there anyone in the room wishing to comment on this item? I'm not seeing anyone. Is there anyone on the phones? No? Okay. Then I'll bring this back to the board for discussion. Do I have any comments or questions for my colleagues? Nope, we have talked about this thoroughly over the past two weeks. What's that? Oh, go ahead, Supervisor Gallagher.

No, I was just going to say thank you to the staff. I know it was a lot of preparation, but also during the hearings you got a lot of questions and there was a lot of discussion. So just thank you to everybody for, you know, your immediate responses and your ability to just kind of roll with the process. with the hearing. And so thanks for all the work and please extend our thanks to your staff also. Thanks.

Yeah, absolutely. And also it was great to see the collaboration among the department heads and CEO's office and auditor controller's office. It just seemed like a very effective and thorough budget process this year. So good job, everyone. Okay. So I will close the public hearing on this item and may I have a motion to adopt the resolution for the recommended budget for fiscal year 26-27 and adopt the resolution amending the table and index of classes.

Second. Cottrell?

Okay. I have a motion by Supervisor Ramos, a second by Supervisor Cottrell. All those in favor? Aye. That passes unanimously. And that is Item 9B. Thank you very much, all. We're now moving to Item 9C. This is a resolution to adjust the fire capital facilities fee to align with the consumer price index for properties located within the unincorporated area of Napa County that are also within the American Canyon Fire Protection District. And I am opening the public hearing on this item. I welcome a staff report from J.R. Rogers, our fire administrator.

Good morning. J.R. Rogers, county fire administrator. And before I begin, first of all, thank you for the comments, Supervisor Ramos, and thank you all for your support. Thank you to the CEO for seeing a lot in me. I appreciate that. Thank you to the staff that I got to work with. And a big thank you, of course, to all the fire department, our career, volunteer, and specifically the chiefs and the fire marshals. Without that synergy with that team, We've done a lot in the last few years and we wouldn't could have done it without them. So thank you all. You gave me a mic. So, I mean, you know, here we go. Um, so, uh, as mentioned, uh, for the public hearing, uh, this is our annual public hearing to, um, review and to approve, uh, increase in capital fire facilities fees. This is for fees, uh, on new construction, uh, the unincorporated Napa County specifically served by the American Kenyan fire protection district. This morning I have Acting Chief Cliff Campbell with me from the Fire Protection District for any questions. This is a resolution that was approved in 2023. This year, based on CPI, it's a 3.8% increase, which brings us up an additional $0.03 per square foot for a total of $1.07 per square foot. And so staff recommends the approval of that fee increase. I'm happy to take any questions.

Thank you. Do we have any questions on this from the board? Not seeing any. I'm going to go to public comment. Is there anyone here today wishing to speak on this item? Not seeing anyone. Is there anyone on the phones?

No.

Okay. Then I will bring this back to the board for discussion related to this item. I am seeing none. I will close the public hearing and may I have a motion to adopt the resolution to adjust the fire capital fees?

So moved. Promise.

Second. Cottrell. Okay. I have a motion by Supervisor Ramos and a second by Supervisor Cottrell. All those in favor? Aye. That passes unanimously. Thank you for bringing this to us today.

Thank you. Shortest hearing ever.

welcome jr once in a once in a while we get it okay um and we are moving on to item 10 administrative items item 10a is the adoption of a resolution updating the napa county left turn lane warrant screening update and uh we uh we have a report from steve letter our director of public works

Yes, this will be a shorter hearing than that. So the standard for when a left turn lane is required has been in place with the county since 1989, and this is an attempt to update that standard to current standards, if you will. Ultimately, what we found is that the current standard is still actually pretty consistent with what we're adopting here, but this will have Like I said, more current stuff. That being said, we reached out to a combination of planners, lawyers, and engineers, all of whom think they are traffic engineers, I might add, and got a lot of input on this. But we did receive a request for a continuance for one group to look at a little more. That's fine. The current standard has been in place for 47 years. It will keep for another couple of meetings. So the request is for the board to take any public comment if anyone wishes to speak and then continue the item to August 25th.

Okay. I will follow that lead. So thank you, Mr. Lutterer, for that update. Is there anyone in the room wishing to comment on this item? I am not seeing anyone. Is there anyone on the phones? Okay. Then I will ask I guess we're not going to do all the questions and there's really nothing. We're continuing.

So I I'll make a motion to continue this item to August 25th.

And I'll second. Okay. We have a motion and a second to continue. Thank you. All those in favor? Aye. Okay. That puts us to item 11, which is closed session. We'll be taking up items 11a and 11b in closed session, and we will recess to closed session at this time. Thank you. Before we adjourn, I would like to ask County Council to report out of closed session.

Thank you, Chair Manfrey. On agenda item 11A, this was under the Silverado Community Services District, and in the matter of Wilkoski v. Silverado Community Services District, the board of directors of the district met in closed session on May 5, 2026, and authorized the district's engineer to settle the lawsuit The lawsuit was just recently finalized and therefore is being reported out at this time. The settlement includes a payment by the district of $87,500 to plaintiff in exchange for a final dismissal of the lawsuit. The vote was unanimous by the district directors present on May 5th. Director Cottrell was absent that day. In the matter of 11b, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, two cases, Napa County versus Hoops Family Winery and Hoops Vineyard LLC et al. versus County of Napa, there is no reportable action taken. And that concludes my report.

Thank you, Ms. Sprout. And we will now adjourn to the next Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, July 28th, 2026 at 9 a.m.