City Council - Regular Meeting

Call this meeting to order up here. Thank you all for joining us this morning. Our pledge and invocation will be led this morning by Fifth District.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have the pleasure of honor of introducing Pastor Eric Strutz. Pastor Eric Strutz and his wife Brenda have called Colton home since December 1985. For more than 40 years, Pastor Strutz has served the community through his leadership through the Door Christian Fellowship, growing the congregation from four families into a thriving multi-generational church. He has served as a chaplain for the Colton Police Department since 1992, where he has also supported local youth programs such as the Colton at-risk youth, the CART program. Pastor Struts is passionate about mentoring and encouraging young people and regularly speaks at schools and college career opportunities. Prior to becoming a full-time pastor, Pastor Struts worked 15 years as an engineer and five years as a teacher. He holds an undergraduate in the mechanical engineering and a graduate in business with an emphasis in risk management. He and Brenda continue to deeply be involved serving the Colton community and supporting families throughout the region. It's always great to see Pastor Struts throughout the Colton community. Please welcome Pastor Struts.

Thank you, I appreciate that. Yes, let's stand again. I would like to thank the Board of Supervisors for the invitation, the opportunity to pray. And we as a church oftentimes pray for our county, various cities. We have a burden for, we have members in our church where they live and the challenges that we face. And so as we agree together this morning, we ask your blessing upon our meeting and ask that you would work and move and minister in a gracious and a wonderful way. I'm reminded the scripture in Jeremiah 29, I know the thoughts that I think toward you And yes, that's you and I as individuals, but I think it is much more than that, including cities and counties and people. I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. And you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart. We do that this morning. We thank you for all that you're doing in our midst, all that you're doing in our county and the various cities and county areas. We ask your blessing upon our board of supervisors. their families, all that they would endeavor to do, all that they bring to the table, all that they provide for us in leadership, direction, wisdom, and understanding. We ask your blessing here upon our county employees. the various departments represented here, management, staff, employees, and their families. God's grace and blessing upon their lives. We commit this meeting into your hand. Ask your blessing as we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Join me in the pledge. 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, liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

We will now move on to our memorial adjournments. Vice Chair Baca.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do have two memorial adjournments. The first one is Trinidad Trini Gomez. She was born May 8, 1925 and passed on August 14, 2026. She was 101 years old and she was a longtime family friend, friend of my father and mother for many, many years. We acknowledge the passing of another community icon, Trini Gomez, who died at 101 in San Bernardino, where she lived most of her life. She had worked for the Santa Fe Railroad. She and her late husband, Graciano Gomez, worked to establish the Inland Empire Hispanic newspaper, which is very prominent in this community. They were both advocates for the underserved and true champions throughout the community. And her husband, Graciano Gomez, actually had a school named after him in the city of San Bernardino. It was actually the First Hispanic ever elected to the San Bernardino City Unified School District. She has survived by her three sisters, daughters, five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. And the second journey in memory is actually one of our county employees. Estelita Abby Haster of Colton was 56 years old. So today we honor and remember Estelita Abby Hassler and the lasting impact she made through her work with her children and family services employment. Abby was more than a dedicated county employee. She was a caring colleague, mentor, and a friend with whose kindness, faith, and beautiful spirit touched many, many lives throughout our county. We recognize the tremendous loss of the family of our CFS colleagues and experiencing in our hearts with them during the incredibly difficult time. On behalf of the entire County Board of Supervisors, San Bernardino County, we extend our deepest condolences. Abby made a lasting difference and will deeply be missed and lovingly remembered. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Supervisor Cook. Supervisor Armendariz. For adjourn in memory. I have two this morning. I would like to adjourn in memory of Justice Marcia Slough, a resident of Redlands who served on California's 4th District Court of Appeals, who was a two-decade veteran of the state judiciary. We thank her for her service to the region and our pleasure with her family during this difficult time. And also for Maria Ramirez-Schul, who is the mother of my team member, Christina Garcia. Maria passed away at the age of 80 and is survived by her children and grandchildren. And Christina, you're in our thoughts. Thank you. We have three special presentations this morning, so if my colleagues will join me in the well. Can we ask Keith Ricker to join us, please? Good morning. How are you? Are you excited? Yes, I am. This morning, we would like to present this special resolution in honor of Keith Ricker, who's retiring after 36 years with the county. Keith began his career with the county in 1990, supporting systems in the Human Resources Department. He later advanced to managing critical IT infrastructure and customer-facing systems within the Department of Public Works. He has played a vital role in modernizing operations and has had a lasting impact on technological advancement in the county. We thank you for your dedication and we wish you well in retirement.

It's been an honor and a pleasure, a great opportunity to work for the county of San Bernardino as long as I have. A definite blessing to me. And I just want to say thank you to all my colleagues who helped get me through this. And it's a team effort, and I just appreciate all you guys.

So thank you very much. Would you like to bring up family or friends for a photo?

I'm bringing my wife up there, and bring up the whole crew. Reuben, Richard, Brad, come on up.

Come on up. Here, I'm going to trade you.

We have Yvonne Perez join us. Good morning. Welcome and congratulations. It is our honor to present Yvonne Perez this resolution for 26 years with the county. She began her career in 1999 as a fiscal clerk with the Department of Human Services, and later transferred to the Sheriff's Department where she served the rest of her career, retiring as a staff analyst. She's recognized by her professionalism, dependability, and exemplary work ethic. She was even named 2025 Employee of the Year by the Sheriff's Department Bureau of Administration. Congratulations, and we're excited for your retirement, but we're gonna miss you, so thank you.

Would you like to say a few words?

Do you have anybody you want to bring up for a photo? Yes.

All right. Come on up. Good morning. Come on up here. Have my hat on, Dad.

I would like to ask Brad Gates and the workforce development team to join us next. Good morning.

Hi, Janet. Hey, good to see you. Good morning. What's up? How are you?

The Board of Supervisors would like to recognize the month of September as National Workforce Development Month. Our local Workforce Development Board and the County Workforce Development Board play a critical role in connecting job seekers with career opportunities and creating innovative ways to help residents develop the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly changing labor market. We'd like to take this opportunity to recognize the work and thank you all for your economic advancement efforts.

Thank you very much.

Thank you all very much. Now we're going to ask Brad to give us a little presentation on workforce development. All right, Brad, you're up. You have to really lean into that one.

Now it's on, there we go. Good morning, thank you. Thank you, Chair Rao and members of the board. I'm Brad Gates, Director of the Workforce Development Department, and I'm pleased to briefly share a presentation about the programs and services that we provide to assist the job seekers and businesses of San Bernardino County. I would also like to thank you for the proclamation that you just gave us, recognizing the month of September officially as Workforce Development Month in San Bernardino County. This recognition helps to increase awareness of the programs that we provide and the impacts that we make in the community. Workforce development is really about bringing together federal, state, and local resources to connect residents with employment opportunities and to help ensure that businesses have access to the skilled and trained workforce that they need to succeed. Ultimately, this work is about creating opportunity, strengthening our businesses and our communities. A critical part of our mission is supporting the county's business community. Our business services team works directly with employers to help them recruit, train, and retain employees. This includes customized recruitments, job fairs, business consulting, training programs, rapid response services when businesses are laying off or closing. In fiscal year 25-26, more than 2,500 businesses were served through our programs, including 187 on the job training contracts, resulting in over $900,000 in wages reimbursed to employers. These programs allow us to simultaneously support the local business community while creating job opportunities for our residents. For our residents, we operate three America's Job Centers of California, or AJCCs, where customers can access career counseling, job referrals, employment preparation, training funding, apprenticeships, work experience, and supportive services. Our goal is simply not to help someone find a job. We want to help residents gain the skills that they need so that they can move into sustainable employment and career pathways. In fiscal year 25-26, over 1,800 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act customers received training services through our programs, and more than 2,800 individuals were employed, generating tens of millions of dollars in earned wages in San Bernardino County. These outcomes represent residents gaining real skills, finding opportunity, and taking important steps toward economic stability. Another focus is our opportunity youth, those young adults ages 16 to 24 that we serve. Through seven youth service providers, we help young adults overcome barriers to education and employment, with particular emphasis on our foster, homeless, and other youth with significant needs. Services include paid work experience, apprenticeships, education, occupational training, counseling, mentorship, and supportive services. In fiscal year 2526, we serve more than 2000 opportunity youth with over 70% achieving successful employment or placement in higher education outcomes. By investing in our youth, we are investing in the future workforce of San Bernardino County. And our Workforce Development Board is an essential partner in this work. I would like to take a moment to recognize several workforce board members who are present here with us today. You saw them just in the well a moment ago, but I want to introduce officially our board chair, Shannon Shannon. our immediate past chair, Will Sterling, and then we also have Alfonso Jimenez, Tanya Rhodes-Hensley, Lowell King, and Thomas Ruiz here with us today. I'd like to appreciate them for being here today for this special recognition, but really for the work that our entire board does each and every day to support our efforts and really move the needle on workforce development, innovation, and programs in San Bernardino County. Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, or WIOA, the Board of Supervisors appointed 19-member Workforce Development Board. Yes, you heard that right, 19 members. We have six here today, but I have 19 that sit on the board. And these individuals represent business, labor, industry, workforce partners that really collectively come together to bring a unique and interesting perspective into how we operate these programs. They provide oversight and policy direction of WIOA programs and bring together representatives of business industry and other partners that really expand the perspectives that we need. They help us understand the changing needs of employers, expand the reach of our programs, and better connect our residents to those opportunities. Together, the Workforce Development Department and our Workforce Development Board are committed to our shared vision of transforming lives and strengthening business. In closing, I would just like to say that workforce development is about connecting people with opportunity and connecting businesses with the talent that they need to succeed. The programs and results that I've shared today, which is just a fraction of what I'm able to share with you in just a few short minutes, are really the result of the dedication of our amazing Workforce Development Department team who bring their passion and their drive to work each and every day. And also to our Workforce Development Board for their commitment and the countless volunteer hours that they commit to this work. In addition to the many county departments, community partners, and resource partners that we really rely on to do the work that we do. And of course you, our Board of Supervisors, who we could not do this work without your support. We appreciate, again, this recognition that you've given us today, the opportunity to officially recognize September through 2031 as National Workforce Development Month in San Bernardino County. Thank you, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much for that. Any questions abroad? All right, great job. And thank you all for coming today. It was a long drive for some of you. Thank you. All right, we will move on to reports from County Council.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The board met in closed session. And considering item number five, the board voted 5-0 to provide authorization to file litigation. The defendants and the particulars of that litigation will be made available upon request after the action is filed. I have nothing further to report. Thank you very much.

And with that, we will move on to our individual board member comments. Vice Chair?

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to thank the Sheriff's Department for hosting a Sheriff's Blood Drive, which they do every quarter. I want to thank all the participants. I know many of our deputies and support staff had the opportunity to donate blood, so I just want to thank them and their partnership with Livestream. So thank you for the good work. I had the opportunity to participate with San Bernardino County Fire Department, a wildfire prevention and fuel management tour. So I want to thank the county fire for the great work they did. I had the opportunity to tour along the Foothill base in the city of San Bernardino and just so impressed with the amount of mitigation that the county fire department has done to prevent. Or, you know, mitigate fires, especially with a lot of the homes that are along the foothills of the city of San Bernardino. I know. They put in a lot of work what I think the hand crews for the great work they do and everything they do to protect our, our residents here in our county. Also had the opportunity to participate in a back-to-school visit with our preschool services department. Our county staff, along with myself, delivered backpacks and school supplies to all of our students in the 5th District. I want to thank PSD for the great work they're doing with our students as they begin their school year. And just want to thank our department of education. Land use for the Arrowhead Farms community cleanup. It was at the Our Lady of Assumption in the city of San Bernardino area, which is part of Arrowhead Farms. There was 12.51 tons of trash picked up, 2.4 tons of tires. I want to thank Code Enforcement and Our Lady of Assumption Church for their partnership and continuing to do this every year. It's just a great program. I just want to highlight agenda items on the agenda. Item number five, this is a $300,000 investment of discretionary money of the fifth district, which will help San Bernardino Valley College baseball program with improvements on the baseball field, which will in turn give a bigger investment by the community college in this ball field. And it's personal for me because I had the opportunity to play on this field in junior college, but it's great to give back to the community and see things be improved. The other is item 33, which is $250,000 in investment that the Board of Supervisors are making. I want to thank my colleagues for their investments in the San Bernardino International Airport to make some improvements at the airport, looking to try to grow the region and our San Bernardino International Airport business. which is just so critical for economic development in our community. Also, item 39, eight youth set-aside units at Echo Apartments in the city of San Bernardino. This is a big investment that will help housing for our youth that have challenges finding housing, so I just want to thank county staff for that great work. Also item 40, expanding dental care for preschool students. One of the things that we take for granted, because many of us do have dental care, but some of our students that are underserved need dental care. So I want to thank Head Start for providing these services for our kids. Item 53 is no truck parking in several areas throughout the Bloomington community. It's one of our community concerns. I want to thank staff for bringing it to our attention and addressing it in the Bloomington community. Item 55, which is a big project for us in the Muscogee community. It's the widening of State Street and adding sidewalks. So this is another step to try to complete that. And this is through Measure I funds. And the last one is the commitment to the Colton Joint Unified School District partnership with TAD and Colton Joint Unified to make sure they provide services for many of our students at the Colton Joint Unified to make sure they have free and reduced lunch and also CalFresh benefits. And that concludes my comments, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much. Supervisor Cook? Supervisor Armendariz?

Thank you, Chair Rao. A lot of exciting things happening in the second district. We just had our fourth annual open house where we had over 400 people show up. I want to do a special thanks to our county departments who came out and shared what they do with our community. ROV, the OES, DPH, DBH, the sheriff, the county fire. As we do a lot of these open houses and these outreaches that we do, we've been doing through the second district. We try to remind people that the county is such a big machine and we have so many services out there that are available. So we wanna make sure that the public knows who we are and what we do. And thank you all who participate in my open houses, my family fun days, all these little things that we put together to show the community what we do in the county. I want to just say thank you for all of you participating. We also had our family fun day on last Saturday where we had over 600 people show up and I want to thank the firefighters, our Parks and Recreation for coming out and coordinating with us and making this a great day for our first annual Family Fun Day. We also had our mobile office hours in the Mount Baldy area where we talked to constituents, where they are, where they live. And we actually toured the courthouse in Rancho Cucamonga yesterday. I want to do a little quick shout out to the presiding judge, Cortez. and all of his team and the sheriff for showing us the courthouse and how they function and it was just a great event and I wanted to take a moment to say happy birthday to my beautiful wife. Also want to touch on a few other items. We have some items in the second district where we're continuing to move forward in helping our community. with over $75,000 in improvements and helping whether it's behavioral health, our youth and our seniors to make sure that they have their Meals on Wheels programs that continue so our seniors continue to get fed and helping our kids and our youth through their sports to get them out in the wide open and off their tablets, so to speak. And then I want to actually bring up one item that is item 27, our property tax rate. There's been some misinformation out there that I want to clarify to the public. You know, people will sit here and say we're raising taxes and they're making assumptions that this money is the county's money. And this tax that we have to do is something we do every single year and it's required by state law. this is not a tax that we as the county absorb all this money. And I feel like there's some misinformation on social media where they're trying to portray a story that is inaccurate. Less than a, 8% of it actually comes to county government, 1% goes to our libraries. We have over 38% goes to our schools. If we didn't do this, we would jeopardize everything from our public safety, our judicial systems, our public health, our human health, and essential county services. So when someone goes out there and makes misinformation, I wanna make sure we clear the air on that. So when people are paying their tax, they understand this isn't a new tax, this isn't a yearly basically resolution of the tax that we currently have. We will continue to deliver those services as we move forward. If we approve it today and if we ever got to a point where we didn't, we would jeopardize those services. I want to be clear to understand that this is not something that just comes to the county. This is how our cities and all the other entities around us, all municipalities in the county of San Bernardino are funded. So that concludes my comments.

Thank you very much. Supervisor Hagman. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple of updates. SCAG is seeking input for the community hubs for mega events needs assessment survey. A weird title. It's learning how local jurisdictions are planning fan sites and community hubs for the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games. um so passing off their cities in the county ihb is hosting this 2026 grand sam health jam on september 5th beginning at 4 30 at tower buzzard ontario field and speak about the ontario buzzard field we want to congratulate the tower buzzers for making the playoffs in the inaugural season the team recent night honoring jackie the eagle raised over 16 000 for friends of big bear valley And I encourage everyone that there's a storm coming up this weekend. It's a sign that times may or may not be our El Nino year, but please be aware that it's supposed to be one of the worst seasons in a long hundreds of years, I guess. So many cities have emergency preparedness training or CERT training. So contact your city to learn more about getting prepared for the rainy season coming up. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I'd like to highlight agenda item number 38 on today's consent calendar, which is the acceptance of a donation of 149 individual works of art from Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency, which is a nonprofit artist residency program out in the Morongo Basin area that invites artists from around the world to create works inspired by the beauty of the national park. The artwork will be used in the county museum exhibits and interpretive programming as the museum continues to expand its art collection. So thank you very much for that generous art donation. And with that, we'll move on to changes to today's agenda. Lena.

Good morning, Madam Chair. I do not have any changes today. Thank you.

Very good. If we have any board members wishing to disclose a conflict of interest, now would be the time to do so. All right, seeing none, our consent calendar today consists of the items number two through 68. Do we have any board members wishing to pull an item, discuss briefly an item?

Eggman moves two through 68.

I have a motion and a second. And for clarification, we do not have any speakers on today's consent calendar. Is that correct? Okay, thank you. And just a comment. Supervisor Hagman on item number seven, I believe I had a little sticky note that I've lost. It is the air quality report out. Could we do a report either from your office or through the CAO on anything air quality that that item is bringing forward that might be of interest to the county?

It's a staff?

Yeah, the letter brand knows when you're on AQMD, you get a staff allowance for all the boards and committees that you're on. I'm on probably every committee on there, so my staff has to go through all those different things. Instead of getting paid directly from AQMD, they reimburse the county. The county pays my team for that. That's what item seven is.

In years past, sometimes it's been a CAO analyst. Right now, it's a board staff analyst for your team. Just if they could act in the function of a CAO analyst and provide a report out to the full board through Peter's office.

That would be great.

Thank you. All right. So I have a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Any abstentions? Any opposition?

Thank you, Madam Chair. With that, the consent calendar passes unanimously. Thank you very much.

And with that, we will move on to our discussion calendar, beginning with item number 69. And this is an item that recommends approval of an employment contract with Cindy Faulkner, the Executive Director of Children and Family Services Commission for San Bernardino County, pursuant to government code section 54953D3. I will read the terms of the contract into the record. The new contract is effective September 5th, 2026. The hourly pay rate is initially set at $81.68 with an estimated annual salary of $169,894, which is step eight of range 81B in the exempt group working conditions ordinance. The annual cost for benefits is $57,764. The benefits are noted in the contract and pursuant to exempt group B terms of the county ordinance. And I will now turn it over to Gilbert Ramos for presentation.

Good morning, Chair Rao, members of the board. My name is Gilbert Ramos, Human Services Assistant Executive Officer. Recommendation before you today is to approve an employment contract with Cindy Faulkner to serve as the Executive Director for the Children and Families Commission for San Bernardino County, also known as First Five San Bernardino, with the salary and benefits as reported by the Chair. The proposed contract is for the period of September 5th, 2026 through August 31st, 2029, with the option to extend for a maximum of three successive one-year periods. On July 8th, 2026, the Children and Families Commission appointed Cindy Faulkner as its Executive Director as subject to a future employment contract being reached regarding the terms and condition of employment. Cindy Faulkner brings more than 20 years of experience with First 5 San Bernardino, having joined the organization in 2004. During her tenure, she served as Assistant Director for 11 years, and most recently as the Interim Executive Director for Children and Families Commission, pursuant to an employment contract. The recommended employment contract will supersede her existing employment contract. Throughout her time with First Five, Cindy has gained extensive experience in strategic planning, fiscal oversight, contracts and grants, personnel, program operations, and community partnership. Her experience and longstanding knowledge of the organization will provide continuity and strong leadership as First 5 continues this work on behalf of young children and children throughout San Bernardino County. With that, I respectfully recommend approval of the employment contract with Cindy Faulkner as the Executive Director of First 5 San Bernardino. Thank you.

Thank you very much for the presentation. Any public comment? I don't see any on my side. No. None? I have a motion from Supervisor Hagman and a second from...

I'll second it. If I can make a comment.

Vice Chair Baca, thank you.

Yeah, you know, I serve on the first five commission, had the opportunity to serve with Cindy for the last six years as the underling, so I just want to thank her for the great work. Looking forward to her vision and continued great work to serve our county of San Bernardino, so congratulations.

Thank you very much. Any other comments, questions? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Item number 69 passes unanimously.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Gilbert. Welcome aboard. Congratulations. Good morning, gentlemen. Item number 70 is a public hearing to consider project number 2022-00200 consisting of a zoning amendment for five acre parcel and a conditional use permit for a 10 acre site for the Lonely Dove Motel being presented this morning by Paul Gonzalez. I will open the public hearing.

Good morning, Chair Rowell and County Supervisors. I'm Paul Gonzalez, Planning Chief, and I'm accompanied today by Paul Toomey, Planning Manager, who will be assisting as well. The following project is an application for a zoning amendment and a conditional use permit for the use and expansion of the Lonely Dove Motel in the Landers community. The application was submitted in 2022, and the applicant is Rod Riegel, who is also in attendance today. The applicant has requested the phase expansion of the eight-unit Lonely Dove Motel with 33 additional units plus a caretaker's residence for a total of 42 units. The expansion features a one Futuro home as well as a pool, spa facilities, miniature golf, and two full-service restaurants. On June 4, 2026, the Planning Commission held a public hearing For the proposed project, a notice of hearing was published in the newspaper and mailed to the surrounding 14 property owners within a 300 foot radius. An additional 23 recipients from the planning notification list were also requested to be notified and they were as well. No comments were received prior to the planning commission hearing. The project site is located on Wamego Trail, east of Highway 247, and comprised of two parcels. One is the existing structure where the existing motel is on the west parcel, and the east parcel is the one where it's requested for the expansion. To the west, across from the existing motel, is a truck and adjacent vacant parcel, RV storage facility, and decorative landscape business. To the north and south are existing single-family dwellings, and to the east is a vacant parcel. The project site is currently zone rural living, land use category, and Homestead Valley Special Development Commercial and Homestead Valley Rural Living Zoning Districts. A land use district map shows the project site encompassing both zones creating a situation where you have two different types of zoning. With the zoning amendment, the project site will continue to be within the rural living land use category within the Homestead Valley special development commercial use. The first phase of the motel expansion would encompass 12 new guest buildings shown in the middle of the site plan with four buildings constructed in the second phase with each building consisting of two units. The first phase includes restoration of the existing motel and the caretakers in it shown as buildings one and two on the bottom left. Both accessed from Wamego Trail along with the west boundary. The restaurants are located in the upper middle of the site as shown and the Futuro home is number 10 on the upper right as shown as a circle. Also next to the Futuro home, to the right, labeled as number 13, is a proposed golf, miniature golf center. Before you use the front elevation of the existing and refurbished eight unit motel at the top, In the middle is the typical two-unit motel building design with a Quonset hut style and the caretaker's unit. On the bottom is the proposed future home, that would also be rented as a motel use as well. The following elevations depict the motel amenities with restaurant design as a warehouse hanger at the top. To the right, you can see the three silos, which would be the spa, And on the bottom is a restaurant warehouse type building for the restaurant number two. The project is consistent with the countywide policy plan relating to compatibility with existing uses and the land use map consistency. The site design and development features for the motel expansion comply with the standards of the development code. The zoning amendment allows the extension of the special development commercial zone designation on the expansion site to the east, which allow for the proposed use and be consistent with the zoning map. The project also supports the countywide business and employment group policies by adding 40 new additional jobs for local residents and promoting the tourist industry with accommodations for visitors to the various desert communities. With the zone amendment, the proposed project would be consistent with all the county's development code standards for the Homestead Valley Special Development Commercial Zoning District within the desert region meeting all or exceeding all development requirements. Initial study was prepared and mitigation measures to reduce impacts to make this a less than significant impact for projects. The circulation period ended on March 6th, 2026. Comments were received from California Highway Patrol regarding construction safety and from the California Water Board regarding potential for contamination of groundwater and were addressed in the response to comments in the CEQA document. On August 7th, 37 notices were mailed to property owners within a 300-foot radius. Interested parties request notification and applicable entities of the county's referral list. To date, no responses have been received. That concludes the presentation. Staff and the applicant are available to answer any questions.

Thank you very much. I do not have any requests to speak. Is that correct? Okay. I just had one comment. Thank you very much for all this. As we look to technology and how we implement it in the future. We have a lot of desert residents that are interested in future development and the problems that rural living, as we've discussed in previous projects, has created with sort of that catch-all. And so we do zone change and they They'd like the notification. As we look at our ArcGIS capabilities and things like that, it'd be great to see if we could micro-target some of the areas. So we have Landers, we have Joshua Tree, we have Wonder Valley, we have the North Desert, the South Desert, depending upon if you're the fire district and the nomenclature there, it's a little bit different than in land use. Our residents sign up in the Morongo Basin, but they're getting needles, they're getting Newberry Springs. It'd be great to see if we could implement some technology moving forward for desert notifications for projects like this. And then I just had a question for you on the initial, and initially it was noticed that it was a commercial designation, the zone change, and then that was changed.

That's correct. So earlier on in the process when they were going through it and the initial study was being processed, that was mistakenly put as a commercial, excuse me, as a residential instead of commercial. We caught it and over time when we noticed the project, so the last notice for Planning Commission and for the board today were both noticed correctly with the correct information.

So everything is done. I see Paul waving a finger just a second. I want to make sure we're not coming back again with changes that need to be made. Have we done everything correctly for today's hearing?

We have. In addition to what Paul described, and that was the initial study project description, I think what you're referring to is the initial project notice.

Correct. In 2023.

When we start the project, we send everybody out a notice, say here's what's happening. In this case, at the time, it was decided that a commercial designation was the appropriate way to change the general plan. We discovered later it wasn't necessary to do that. The SD designation is implementing zone in any general plan designation, and so this is a more efficient way to

I'm all for that. That's great. I just want to make sure that we're not having to come back and redo. Right. Okay. Very well. Thank you very much. I will close the public hearing if we have no other comments or questions. Thank you, Vice Chair, for the motion and Supervisor Hagman for the second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions?

Item number 70 passes unanimously.

Thank you very much. I will now move on to our reports. Oh, wait. We're going to do Luther's CEO reports after public comment.

Supervisor Armendariz, do you want to step away?

Supervisor Armendariz is going to leave the meeting for a previous engagement. Thank you very much, Supervisor. And we will now move on to our public comments of items not on today's agenda. We're going to start remote with Letitia Howard, followed by Delina Murillo, and then we'll come back here with Carolina, and then Jane Hunt-Rubel. So Leticia Howard.

Madam Chair, I don't believe that Leticia Howard is connected on the call. All right. Delina Morello from Morello.

Good morning. I'm here today because we need to stop treating these problems as isolated family disputes and start looking at the larger system responsible for protecting children and families in San Bernardino County. I have stood before this board and watched families come to this microphone time and time again. Can you hear me?

Yes.

OK. Sorry. OK. I sit before this board and watch families come to this microphone time and time again. We tell you what is happening. We tell you about services, visitation, communication, accountability, and decisions affecting our children. And then we leave. But how can board members sit here, hear these stories repeatedly, and continue acting as though they do not know what is happening? The people connected to these systems are not operating on separate islands. They meet, they communicate, they participate in councils and committees discussing children's services, county policies, agencies, and systematic problems. So families should not have to become investigators just to discover who is connected to whom and who is responsible. Oversight means more than sitting here and listening. It means asking what is being done with what you are hearing. It means following the problem upstream, identifying responsibility, and demanding accountability. I'm not asking you to discuss anyone's confidential case. I'm asking to adjust the system. Look at the policies. Look at the relationships. Look at the safeguards. Look at why families continue reporting the same failures while nothing changes. We are documenting what is happening. We are informing other families. And we are paying attention. So please do not just hear us. Act on what you hear. Look at the system. Follow the connections. Demand accountability. Because if these systems are working, transparency should not be a threat. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Carolina, followed by Jane Hunt-Rubel. And our speaking podiums and chambers are up at the top on either side, right or left, thank you. Right up there to the right. That's fine. When the light flashes yellow, you'll have 30 seconds left.

Where's the light up?

It'll come on in front of you to your left, right at the top of the podium.

Okay, how long did you say?

You'll have three minutes, and when it flashes orange, you'll have 30 seconds.

All right, I'll try to focus on that. Okay, so I can just start?

Anytime.

Okay, great. So good morning to everybody. I'm here representing the DeVore Networkers. Okay. It's a vital system your shelter relies on daily to manage overcrowding. Sorry. I am here to expose the systematic violation of California law, state law, at DeVore Animal Shelter. Management has implemented an arbitrary 6.30 p.m. cutoff per rescue post The Hayden Act specifically states that a dog must be allowed to be adopted, fostered, or rescued up until the moment the animal is set to be killed. Yet DeVore rejects legally binding rescue requests submitted at 7 PM, 10 PM, or midnight, even though the dog is still alive all night. This is truly a direct violation of California's Hayden Act Food and Agriculture Code, sections 311.08 and 32001. The law explicitly mandates that a public shelter must release an adoptable and treatable animal scheduled for euthanasia if a qualified rescue group requests it. An internal office schedule or clerical workflow cannot legally override a California state statute. On August 27, 2026, at 1.15 PM, I personally asked Assistant Director Jennifer Osorio I had a phone call with her. Whether this board was aware of this new policy. Her exact words were, it's in the process. I am behind on emails. That means that you were never notified. Someone inside this shelter system bypassed your authority, skipped mandatory oversight, and executed a deadly policy without approval. A policy that has already taken over 69 lives within one week. In the shelter, in DeVore Animal Shelter.

30 seconds.

Animals who had rescue commitments, 69 animals who could have walked out alive. Many of these dogs were healthy, adoptable, and had no life-threatening conditions. The only lawful justification for euthanasia is that. And I need to ask this board, how does killing two dogs in one kennel and leaving one behind make space? when you're killing for space. For example, 8849604, Lieutenant Dan.

That's time.

Continue for 30 more seconds. It just changed yellow up there.

OK. There was a dog named Lieutenant Dan. Friendly, adoptable, great with other dogs. It's still sitting alone in his kennel today. But his kennel mate was killed. I'm going to just go towards the end. Many of these dogs were healthy and adoptable. This is financially reckless to all the taxpayers of San Bernardino County. I don't understand how this can actually... Jennifer Osorio had actually told me that you guys had never approved this policy, of euthanizing animals after... Animals don't get a rescue tag, aren't allowed a rescue tag after 6.30. That needs to be fixed. That needs to be rectified. That needs to come to a complete halt.

Thank you very much for your comments. We appreciate that. The next request to speak that I have is Jane Hunt Rubel. And Jane, you might have to ignore the lights. I don't think they're working today.

I believe we've resolved it. Thank you. I can't see them anyway. Good morning. Boy, this is going to be a short meeting. Yeah, I'm here today to talk about... Well, a week ago, some friends of mine that live on First Avenue that aren't slated for sidewalks, they live between June Street and Duffy. And they asked me what's going on on the corner of Duffy and First Avenue. And I said, well, I don't know. Because I drive that way, and I was questioning it. Instead of going down 2nd Avenue now, I usually go out to Gahone on 1st Avenue, because it's gotten ridiculous, reckless driving on 2nd Avenue. And so I went by there, and I noticed they have marked off on each corner of Duffy and 1st Avenue for ADAs, but I was going, so I went directly to Public Works Department and I showed them this map and I said, well, that's not part of the current, well, as we speak, they're doing it in front of my house now, putting in the sidewalk. But I said, that was never on this map. I don't know where they came up with this. And I asked the lady at Public Works. I said, this was not supposed to be included. Because Duffy Street is not slated for sidewalks. and she couldn't give me a real answer. So I was going, well, the 2023-24 budget for the county and infrastructure, under infrastructure, making our unincorporated areas safe and livable and investing in infrastructure just for economic growth and improve the delivery of county services is a high priority. So anyway, it states in that, safer neighborhoods as well as road improvement enhancement, the key county-owned assets, additional conversion from septic to sewer service, a necessity for businesses seeking to locate their services where there are unincorporated areas. And I asked the lady, I said, well, I know about some of my neighbors are getting concerned that it might happen out here. Is our community ready for like warehouses that's what it appears to be and so i was just stunned that they 30 seconds thank you very much bye thank you very much that is the last request to speak that i have we will now move on to our reports from our ceo

Thank you, Madam Chair. Two quick things. One is just I wanted to thank our Workforce Development Board for being here. Lowell, thanks for hanging out. Brad, you and your team do amazing work. I really appreciate the board giving Brad an opportunity to highlight Workforce Development Month. As we have three years in this role now, and as I've looked at ways to try to improve this county, one of the best ways to do it is to employ people with livable wage jobs. That is a key. If someone is able to take care of themselves financially, they're able to take care of themselves and their families physically. So much of that work that they do helps people do it. So if you're a business out there and you are not working with workforce development, please reach out to them and work for them. If you are a job seeker out there and you are looking for help and resources, please reach out to our workforce development department. They can help. They're looking forward to helping. And this aligns in 2027. I'm really focused on making 2027 the year of the job where we as a county will focus, will collaborate, will convene, will bring together stakeholders working with our Workforce Development Department and Workforce Development Board to really convene job seekers, employers, stakeholders, educators, across the region to get their input, to look at how we can continue to move the needle like we never have before, really bringing together the best minds, all sorts of different perspectives to really focus on that. Our Workforce Development Department is ready for it. They're up for the task. In fact, we have two different tracks we're working on, jobs and people. Brad wants to be part of both of them. He's like diving in with both feet. So appreciate Brad, his team, our Workforce Development Board. Great things have been done and great things to come. So thank you. One other thing was mentioned. This winter we stand to face some pretty tough weather, potentially with a super El Nino on its way. Our Office of Emergency Services, as well as the County Administrative Office, in partnership with Public Works, Sheriff, Fire, we're going to have Office of Emergency Services come and present to our board at a future board meeting ahead of the time to talk about what we're doing to prepare and to remind the public of what they can be doing to prepare. So this will be an important discussion that will be done in the next two months. So that concludes my report. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And with that, we are adjourned. Our next meeting will be here in chambers at 10 a.m. on September 22nd. Thank you.