Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

For 175 years the people of San Joaquin County

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Board of Supervisors meeting, April 28th, time is 9.08. The meeting is called to order. Please join us for a moment of silent reflection or silent prayer. Thank you. Warrior League 209, can you please lead the pledge?

All right, I'll do it. Come on, ladies. One, two, three. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Madam Clerk, can you please do the roll call?

Supervisor Gardea present supervisor canapa here supervisor ding here supervisor Rickman Here and chair Dolly wall here Thank you so much.

I have an announcement about agenda modification discuss a discussion item 11 and two consent items will be addressed right after the Consent calendar is the board okay with that?

I'm sorry, Chair, what was that again?

The discussion item 11 and two consent items about cooperative agreement for the McCollumy River. So are you referring to items 3 and 6? No, no, item 11. Okay. And two consent items related to McCollumy River Integrated Conductives Use Program. Okay. We can discuss right after the consent calendar.

Okay.

For item three and six, I'm going to turn it over to County Council.

Yes, those two items we were intending to withdraw, and I don't have a date where they might be brought back to the board. I understand from speaking with Supervisor Rickman, he would like to make a more formal motion with respect to discussion items number three and six, and so I'll leave it for him to make a motion.

Thank you, County Council. Yeah, I'll make a motion to postpone items Discussion item three and six indefinitely. Second. And with that, Chair, I know it's subject to debate. So can we make a statement? Or does anybody else want to make a statement?

We have a motion and second. Any questions by the board?

Don't you have to do the debate first? Discussion? Yeah. We have a discussion first before you have a vote.

Yeah, anybody? Any...

Question I have a question so indefinitely means time sensitive to bring it back or you just means that it can come up later as new business. Okay, I didn't.

Anybody else know anybody from public. I don't think we have a motion I have a chair if you have a statement yeah, I would say you know before we vote on this on this item.

I mean, I want the record to be clear. I mean, I support postponing both discussion items three and item number six. Now, this is a procedural matter that goes to the heart of prior board action and proper parliamentary process. Specifically, discussion item, agenda item number three, authored and brought forward by Chairman Dollywall, was not a simple scheduling issue or a harmless duplicate. On October 7, 2025, the Board took formal action by a 4-1 vote and provided clear direction on how this matter should proceed. Negotiate, return with the results, and deliberate through the process we adopted in open session, specifically under item number six. Notably, Chairman Dollywood himself made that motion at that time. Now discussion item number three was a competing item that attempted to bypass the Board's prior action, which is item number six. It prejudged the outcome before the Board to review the information it has specifically requested. And it used agenda mechanics to accomplish indirectly what should have been done openly and transparency in public. Actions like this undermine the integrity of the board's process, erodes public trust, and damages confidence in our decision-making. County government cannot function if formal board votes are treated as optional or if members can sidestep or create a backdoor competing agenda ITEM DESIGNED TO BYPASS THE BOARD PRIOR ACTION WHENEVER THE OUTCOME BECOMES INCONVENIENT. THE ISSUE HERE IS NOT MERELY LEGALITY. IT IS ETHICS, TRANSPARENCY, AND RESPECT FOR THIS INSTITUTION. THE PUBLIC DESERVES BETTER THAN PROCEDURAL INRUNS AROUND DECISIONS MADE IN OPEN SESSION. I APPRECIATE THE ITEM BEING PULLED. but the precedent matters, and the message must be clear. Board direction is not a suggestion, and governance by workaround should never be accepted on this dais. With that, Chair, I'll yield my time. Thank you, sir. Anybody else?

Yes, Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair? I concur with Supervisor Rickman. We are elected to sit on this Board of Supervisors. It should be an honor to do so. And we're placed on this board by the voters to make those decisions. Passing, you already know how I feel about the item, but I've heard from a couple of groups this morning, had no idea this was even on the agenda because it's not with normal board practice. I've heard from more than a couple former supervisors that are very concerned about handing off powers of the board through a process like this and to other groups. With that, I don't think anything else needs to be said. I hope from this day forward, we understand that this board is better as a whole rather than one individual. And we need to respect that. Thank you, sir. Anybody else?

Anybody from public? Madam Clerk, can you please call for a vote? Yeah, please.

Good morning. My name is Ryan Haggerty, President of Haggerty Construction. Good morning, all the supervisors and Chair Dollywell. Thank you, Supervisor Rickman and Steve Ding, for pulling this item today. As San Joaquin County's largest non-union general contracting employer with over 100 employees that live, work, shop, and dine in this community, the CWTA or PLA is divisive and inequitable. in a time when you all say or we talk about equity and inclusion. I've met with each of you personally in your chambers. I've invited all of you to my office. I appreciate the four of you, Supervisor Gardea, Supervisor Canepa, Supervisor Ding, and Supervisor Rickman for coming to my office and meeting with my people, my team, who serve your county. Supervisor Delawal, I think it's a shame and a disgrace that you failed to come visit us and you and your staff hid from numerous requests to come attend our office. And in our meeting that I had with you in your office, I could tell you were sincerely disconnected and uninterested in our position and what we had to share, and I think that's a shame. I'm not here against my union trade partners. I don't see a lot of them today, as many as I expected. But I want to be clear that I am not here to drive divide between union and non-union relationships. In fact, you all sit at the highest level of leadership within the county, and we all look to you to unite and unify in times like this. And that's what I think real leadership is. True leadership seeks consensus, it seeks middle ground, and it seeks good for all. And what we have here is the potential for a debacle and an absolute failure, even an ever furthering, widening, and deepening the gap between union and non-union relations. This originally being put on the agenda and to only negotiate with one side, the union side, is unfair and inequitable and a poor example of leadership, Chair Dollywall. I hope this thing gets worked out and benefit of all. This county does not need a CWTA or a PLA, thank you.

Mr. Hegarty? Yes. We usually don't engage under public comments. But just for the record, when you came to the office, I don't think I was disengaged. I think we had a very good, sincere conversation for a long time. Just because I didn't get a chance to visit your office, that doesn't mean that I should be ashamed of anything. I have 23 years of public service record, and I'm proud of it. Thank you, sir.

Chair Dhaliwal, I'm the county's largest non-union general contracting employer. I believe I deserve an opportunity to meet with you at my office and for my team to see you, for you to walk the halls of my building and see the impact of your potential decision here. Thank you.

Thank you, sir, and we will arrange a visit.

That would be great.

Thank you, sir. Anybody else? Can you, Rochelle, can you call for the vote?

The vote's been called. We're just waiting for everybody to complete it. Supervisor Gardea to vote.

Motion passes 5-0.

And I just want to clarify for the record, I didn't hear, was this for both 3 and 6 to postpone? I'll record the vote for 6 for the same.

Board members, please join me for the presentation. Rochelle? Supervisor Rickman is requesting that we move item five up.

Thank you, Chair. Yes, our first recognition today will be, as requested from Supervisor Rickman, future leaders recognition by the 5th Supervisorial District of Mountain House High School students, founding of and activities with the Mission OncoLight Cancer Awareness Project. and I would like to invite LaVonna Hoa and Danica Hoa to the podium as we read this recognition which dates Your hard work and efforts to found and lead the Mission OncoLight Cancer Awareness Project, an initiative focused on increasing cancer education, supporting oncology patients, providing meaningful support to individuals and families affected by cancer, and spreading awareness and hope through multifaceted outreach. The campaign has raised funds for the American Cancer Society and cancer research, hosted student card-making workshops for cancer patients, donated to oncology, departments at Tracy, Modesto, and Stockton hospitals, presented and educated at farmers markets, community events, and elementary school STEM fairs, engaged local media, and built a social media presence garnering over 70,000 views. Further impacts on teachers and students have been realized through service projects providing motivational cards to students battling cancer, helping peers understand the realities of cancer through social media posts, and inspiring teachers to tutor and provide additional support to students affected by cancer. Through your efforts, you have empowered students, families, and community members with knowledge, inspired empathy, and provided practical guidance and encouragement, ensuring that no one faces cancer alone. Lastly, thank you for representing Mountain House School and the HOSA Future Health Professional State Competition, competing with student peers from all around California. Your hard work, dedication, and successful efforts reflected great credit upon yourself, the Mission Oncolite Initiative, and Mountain House High School. Congratulations, and on an honor well deserved, and keep up the good work, presented this 28th day of April, 2026. Chair Dollywall and Supervisor Rickman.

Thank you, Rochelle. Thank you so much for being here this morning, and thank you for everything you guys are doing. I'm going to turn it over to Supervisor Rickman.

Thank you, Chairman. Just looking at the certificate, the print is very small because you guys have done so much. We needed, like, bigger certificates. But I'm going to turn it over to you. First of all, thanks for coming, and... You know, we moved the agenda item up so you can go back to school, which I don't know what you guys are thinking. Come on, this is a time to, you know, relax. But, hey, you can say that. You want to say a few words? All right. So, good morning.

Thank you so much to the supervisor, and our staff, for this amazing opportunity. My name is Dana Quach, and I congratulate you. We're both high school juniors and high school. So that means we're twins. was seeing our grandparents fight through their cancer journey. And that really motivated us to start Mission Oncolite, which is our cancer initiative aimed to help and support patients in Mountain House and nearby cities and basically throughout California. And it was a really good way for us to turn our pain into passion.

When our grandparents passed, it was a really big impact on us because we were extremely close since we were born and they passed when we were a young age. This experience led us to support the rest of our community by creating this initiative to help support those maybe facing a similar journey and ensuring that no one faces it alone.

Well, thank you again for both for being here. Thank you for being leaders, you know, not just in Mountain House, but as you stated, throughout, you know, San Joaquin County as a whole. And I think everybody in this room and everybody's, you know, watching at least, you know, a high majority of folks have dealt with cancer in some way or another. If it's not a family member, it's friends or, you know, other loved ones. And I can tell you that this board, I mean, we take it, you know, I know myself, I'm very passionate about cancer awareness, cancer research and bringing awareness to the community because my loved ones have been affected by cancer. My grandmother passed away with breast cancer. My mom had breast cancer. So it's something that, you know, I'm very passionate about. But, you know, as I look at you and I think everybody who's watching here, on TV today and sees, you know, two outstanding high school students that, you know, care for their community. And one of the reasons San Joaquin County is such a great community or such a great place to live is because of what you just mentioned. You know, we take care of each other, you know, and strangers, loved ones, it doesn't matter. You know, we're all in this together. So thank you both very much. Thank you for what you do and God bless You know, both of you.

And with that, I'm going to turn it over to our chairman. Board of members, can you join us, please?

Let's give a round of applause.

We would like to thank our community, our city and the county for supporting us and all the leaders here and of course our family and everyone who supports us. Thank you.

Next, please.

Thank you, Chair. Next, we have the proclamation of May 8th, 2026 as Provider Appreciation Day in San Joaquin County. I would like to ask if we have Christina Gilbert or representatives from the Family Resource Center here today. I hadn't seen them in the office. Oh, thanks. Perfect. Great. The proclamation reads, whereas Family Resource Center, Child Care Aware, National Association for Family Child Care, and other organizations nationwide are recognizing child care providers on this day. And whereas over half of the children under the age of six nationwide are in some form of childcare setting which provides critical enrichment opportunities and nurtures development for children of all backgrounds and is a vital building block for our local and state economy. And whereas childcare is high quality early childhood education and a valuable investment in our children's future. And whereas childcare professionals play an important role in cultivating, supporting, and educating young children in a warm, loving, and culturally competent environment to meet the needs of families. And whereas San Joaquin County recognizes childcare providers as an essential workforce for our economy that allows families access to the care needed so they can work. And whereas San Joaquin County will join families and organizations nationwide in recognizing childcare providers and all early childhood educators for their efforts in caring for the children of working parents and providing them with quality early childhood experiences. And whereas San Joaquin County residents are encouraged to recognize child care providers throughout the state for their dedication to providing quality care and learning services and for the important role they play in our children's future. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim May 8th as Provider Appreciation Day in San Joaquin County, presented this 28th day of April, 2026. Chair Dhaliwal.

Thank you so much. And thank you so much for being here. Thank you for the support you provide to our youngsters. This board really appreciate that. Thank you, please.

Good morning, everyone. My name is Elva Lopez and I am the Director of Subsidized Child Care Program for Family Resource Center. And I'm honored to be here on behalf of Family Resource Center to accept this proclamation. And I'd like to begin by thanking the Board of Supervisors for this proclamation and for taking a moment to recognize the child care providers who show up every single solitary day for families in San Joaquin County. Family Resource Center has been working alongside childcare providers in this county since 1980, connecting families to care, supporting providers with resources, and advocating for a stronger childcare system. We work directly with 3,500 providers across San Joaquin County, and every one of them has a story of showing up for a child in a family who's needed them. Childcare providers are professionals. They're educators, they're nurturers, and they're small business owners, many of them operating out of their own homes. What they do makes everything else possible because when childcare works, we all work. When a parent can go to work knowing their child is safe and loved, that's because a provider made it happen. Research shows that every dollar invested in quality childcare returns seven to $13 in long-term economic benefit to families, employers, and communities. And yet the median wage for a childcare worker in California is around 17 to $19 an hour for work that requires real training, licensing, and an enormous amount of heart. When you account for their actual hours and business costs, many childcare providers are effectively earning below minimum wage. That gap between the value that they provide and what they are paid is something that we must continue to talk about. We also want to specifically thank this board for your investment of American Rescue Act funding through WorkNet to expand childcare here in San Joaquin County. That investment will create 80 new licensed childcare facilities by the end of this year, translating into approximately 500 children in this county who will have access to quality childcare. This proclamation matters because recognition matters. It says to every provider in this county, we see you, we value you, and this community is better because of you. On behalf of Family Resource Center and the families we serve, thank you. And to every childcare provider watching or hearing about this today, happy appreciation, happy Provider Appreciation Day, and thank you so much for the work that you do and the dedication that you put in caring for each one of these children. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. Supervisor Rickman?

Thank you, Chairman. Thank you for being here this morning. And strong families, strong children make a strong community, right? So thank you for what you do for our community and all the providers here in San Joaquin County. So God bless you guys.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, sir.

Supervisor Canepa. Thank you for coming. I mean, it's kind of sad news. We're losing Kate Rustaller this year, so y'all is going to have to step it up, right, to cover the void that she's going to leave. So, but thank you for the work that you do. And childhood development is important. Getting kids, you know what I mean, the basics when they need them and safety and food and, you know, somewhere safe where they can be taken care of is important. I think that's what we as a society should provide. So thank you so very much. Thank you, sir.

It all starts with our kids and, you know, a father of four and, you know, trying to provide for your family, you know, with yourself working, your wife working. You've got to rely on others. And I appreciate everything you guys do and the providers out there doing a great service for our community. Thank you, sir.

Vice Chair Dane, Commerce.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wouldn't do your job no matter how much they paid me. One of the benefits to being a grandpa is you get to hand them a piece of candy and play with them in 15 minutes and send them on their way. So you're doing the Lord's work, and thank you for everything you do.

Thank you, sir. Board members, please join.

Thank you, Chair. Next, we have a recognition requested by Supervisor Canepa of the 2nd District, and this is part of Chair Dolly Wall's theme for this year of recognizing patriotic service in San Joaquin County. And this is recognition of the Warriors League 209 for their patriotic service in San Joaquin County in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. And I would like to invite their founder, Saron Tieve, and their members of the Warriors League 209 to the podium as I read this recognition, which states, Your unwavering dedication to empowering women veterans, Warrior S League 209 is a women veteran empowerment organization rooted in the 209, creating a strong sisterhood and supportive space where women veterans can thrive beyond the uniform with confidence and pride in their service. Founded by Army veteran Saron Tief, whose 21 years of service included combat deployments and humanitarian missions, the organization reflects her continued commitment to serving others. Warrior S League 209 fosters deep connection, resilience, and empowerment by bringing women veterans together to support one another, share their experiences, and build a lasting community grounded in strength and understanding. Congratulations and best wishes presented this 28th day of April 2026. Chair Dhaliwal and Supervisor Kanapa.

Thank you, Rochelle. Thank you so much for helping our women veterans and to make sure that they are not left out of the conversation. Thank you for everything you guys do. I'm going to turn it over to my colleague, Supervisor Kanapa.

So, Supervisor Dhaliwal, we're celebrating Patriots this year, right? And the way that I found these lovely folks was I crashed their meeting, one of their monthly meetings, and they said, what are you doing here, right? There's no men here. And so I said, I'm crashing it. And so that moment, I saw it. And Sarom's been amazing. She's been in the community for two years. So I want to give a huge shout out to Sarom and the work that you've done. Thank you. And often, you know what I mean, we hear veterans. Well, I think we need veteranesses, and I think that's what Warrior S League does because a lot of times, you know, women in the military and the services are overlooked. And so it's things like this, and it's times like this. And they had a PowerPoint, and we'll have to bring it back to the PowerPoint, or we can come to a video and show the PowerPoint and put it on a couple of our websites. But thank you for what you do and what you do for giving people a voice, especially some of the folks that are the most unheard of. Everybody has a story. And when I was there that day, the stories just came out. And I think that's the most important part is that you all have a place to share and confide in one another. And the camaraderie that you share is amazing. So you have the floor. So thank you.

I have my ladies have the floor. We're here about empowering our community. That's what we're going to do. And so far, Audrey Magana, go ahead and take it.

Hi, good morning, everyone. To the board, thank you for having us. Chairman Dhaliwal, thank you for having us. Ladies and gentlemen of the public, thank you for having us. Real quick, I just wanted to read something. I think we don't always take the time to give people their flowers, so I wanted to give Sarom her flowers. It's surely an honor to introduce someone who embodies service, leadership, and purpose in every sense of the word. Quickly, about Sarome. Sarome Theo is a retired Army veteran with over 20 years of service, serving across the world, leading soldiers in combat zones, humanitarian missions, and complex logistics operations. Her career is marked by dedication, resilience, and excellence, earning her numerous awards, including a Bronze Star and multiple commendation medals. But what makes Sarome truly exceptional is what she chose to do after the uniform. Since returning to civilian life, she has been relentless in her mission to uplift others. And when I say relentless, I mean relentless, okay? She followed my wife and I to a meeting that had nothing to do with her at 0730 in the morning, and she stayed for the entire meeting just to catch us and speak to us afterwards and invite us as veterans to the organization.

But it took them a whole year to come back.

Relentless, relentless. especially, relentless, especially when it comes to women veterans who have often felt unseen or disconnected. In 2024, she founded the Warrior S League 209, creating a powerful and growing community right here in San Joaquin County. Through her leadership, what started as simple meet and greets has grown into a movement, bringing women veterans together to connect, share their stories, access resources, and reclaim their voice. Beyond that, Sarome has led hundreds of volunteers and community service projects, contributed thousands of hours back into the community, and continues to build bridges between veterans and local organizations. She is fearless in stepping up, passionate about empowering others, and committed to creating a lasting impact, which is exactly what the Warrior S League 209 is doing. Thank you.

My gosh, thank you.

That was Audrey. She's a Marine veteran. My name is Debbie Gifford, and I am an Army retired veteran, also 20 years in the school district as a teacher. But this movement that SAROM started is amazing. And when it first started, let me start with this morning. I carpooled with SAROM this morning. And we were talking about Oak Park in that area because of the Cambodian presence. And she was talking about how she drowned there when she was a child. And she goes, yeah, I just kind of looked in the water. It didn't look that deep. And I just kind of dove in. She still dives into every single thing she does today. And starting this organization is just an example of that. The three pillars of the organization, I remember when I first met her, I'm like, well, what's this organization about, Sarome? I was at meeting number two, and she just kind of looked at me big-eyed, and I think she went home and said, well, I guess I kind of need to tell people what this is. And she came up with three strong pillars that drive everything we do. One is connection, one is resilience, and one is empowerment. And we spend our meetings mostly building community among ourselves and building resilience and strength so that we will go out and be empowered. And unfortunately, you can't see the slideshow, but there are pictures of almost... most of these women in front of a mike in the last two years for something uh... and she should be very proud of that so that's what we have we have a summit coming up uh... first ever in san joaquin county women's veterans summit uh... military members also june twelfth for women's proclamation uh... the flyers are going out now please look at them uh... and Thank you. Thank you for recognizing us. Thank you for letting us be here. And we hope that we honor you as showing patriotism as you expect it to be shown on this special year of 250 anniversary. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Board members, your comments?

Thank you. You know, you get the warriors. So thank you for what you do here in the community. But thank you for what you did for our country. You know, we can never, you know, thank you enough. There's not enough gratitude that we can give you. But, you know, thank you and God bless you and God bless your family.

thank you for your service i want to know which one of you was the one at the veterans moving wall ceremony that stood up and said what about the women veterans thank you well anybody that knows sarong knows that she's a hard charger and there's no no such thing as no and i look in this group and i see you guys all the time and you guys are

Actually, Lynn, who lived in my neighborhood and walked all the time when we would talk and was really good friends with my neighbor. But I never even knew she was in the military until later. And so thank you for your service. And often, you know, I don't think it's, well, maybe it's sometimes purposely, but purposely, non-purposely, you're not mentioned. And I remember that day, and I was so proud of that moment when you stood up and said, what about the women veterans? And... That took some guts, and I really appreciate that. That was my favorite part of that breakfast. It really was. But thank you for what you guys do, and keep up the good work.

Please join us for the presentation. Next, please.

Thank you, Chair. Next, we have a proclamation brought forward by Chair Dhaliwal of the Third Supervisorial District. And this is the proclamation of May 3rd through May 9th, 2026 as Public Service Week in San Joaquin County. And I would like to invite our Assistant County Administrator, Brenda Kiley, to the podium as we read this recognition. Whereas the week of May 3rd through May 9th, 2026 has been designated as Public Service Recognition Week, a time to honor the employees of federal, state, and local government who provided essential services to the public. And whereas San Joaquin County is home to more than 816,000 residents who rely on a wide range of critical services delivered by approximately 8,000 dedicated county employees. and whereas these public servants work across departments and disciplines, including public safety, public and behavioral health care, and our county hospital, social services, infrastructure, roads, parks, and general government support, ensuring the effective and efficient operation of county government. And whereas San Joaquin County employees play a vital role in protecting public health and safety, promoting justice and accountability, maintaining and improving roadways, waterways, and infrastructure, supporting vulnerable populations, and promoting economic stability and opportunity through the region. And whereas public service is a noble calling that requires professionalism, integrity, accountability, and a strong commitment to serving the community, often under challenging and demanding circumstances. and whereas county employees contribute to the strength and resilience of San Joaquin County by responding to emergencies, delivering essential programs, and working every day to improve the quality of life for all residents. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim the month of May 3rd through the 9th, 2026, as Public Service Recognition Week in San Joaquin County. And we encourage all residents to recognize and appreciate the contributions of public servants and to observe Public Service Recognition Week with appropriate programs and activities presented this 28th day of April, 2026. Chair Dhaliwal.

Thank you so much. Brenda, you got the floor.

Can I, oh, is it on? The county administrator and I would like to thank all of the employees who tirelessly serve San Joaquin County. Your commitment to public service is essential to the success of our organization. You play a vital role in protecting public health and safety, maintaining our county infrastructure, roads and parks, providing health services and benefits to our most vulnerable residents, and ensuring the effective and efficient operation of county government. As a person who has dedicated her life to public service with over 29 years in county government, I will say that public service is a calling and a privilege. Thank you again for your passion and dedication to serving San Joaquin County. Greatness truly does grow here.

Thank you so much. Brenda, it's an honor for me, presiding as a chairperson during this public service week. I want to thank everybody for their service. This county will not function without the work that our employees are providing. Board members?

Question? I like you up there. That's good. I'll send pictures to Sandy and say, don't worry. You don't need to come back soon. I have managed employees in the public sector and the private sector, and there is no difference. If you give them a leash, if you give them direction, give them the opportunity to go break a few things and don't do the same things the way they've always been done, they're passionate, they're driven, and they work their tails off. We've got an excellent workforce here in San Joaquin County, and I'm very proud of all of them.

You know, I think you're always proud of what team you're on. And I worked for the city of Stockton for 22 years as a firefighter. You know, and I thought we had a well-oiled machine. Maybe as upper management at the time, I didn't think it was so oiled. But coming here to the county, you know, one thing you're going to hear from me a lot is I always talk about teams. And we have multiple teams throughout this county. And I really, really feel that you guys are doing a phenomenal job. Starts at the top and it works its way down to the employees. And there's a lot of pride in what they do. And I'm very proud to be sitting up here representing San Joaquin County and the city of Stockton.

Thank you, Supervisor, and thank you, Rinda. And those of you who don't know, our CAO, Sandy, she's in jury duty right now, so just down the street. But, yeah, thank you to our employees. You know, one thing we get to see as supervisors, you know, we do travel through the state and go to D.C., and so, you know, we talk to other supervisors and see what the other 58 counties have. doing and I can tell you San Joaquin County is a great position you know we're leaps and bounds above a lot of the different counties and the reason for that is we have awesome employees you know the boots on the ground what gets the job done boots on the ground the one that it makes us look good as not just as a board but as a county as a whole so to all our employees Thank you for the job that you do. We see you and we appreciate you. So God bless y'all.

Quick story, so I want to give a shout out to a sheriff with Rose, Patricia, because I was at Special Olympics at Chavez High School, and she says, hey, do you, and a friend says, do you know where we can get these cool glasses? They're black, and on the side it says sheriff, right? One of the people's special needs son, the dog ate the glasses, right? So this is at 11 o'clock in the morning, and I called Patricia at the sheriff's department, And she delivered the glasses to my friend Steve at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. And it's things like that. And then the mom sent me a picture of how happy. And not only did she bring one pair, but she brought two in case the dog ate another set of glasses. But it's those amazing stories that make my job as a county supervisor so worth it. And there's so many more like that. But it's just the little things of people going out of their way to connect the dots to give somebody a better quality of life in San Joaquin County. And that's what county employees do. Thank you.

Next excuse me Next we do have the proclamation requested by supervisor Steve being of the fourth district But the clerk of the board made her first mistake ever in her entire career and placed this on recognitions instead of consent So I'm just gonna read this proclamation into the record.

Thank you, and I'd like that in writing So I can put it on my wall

I put it on the record. The proclamation of May 2026 is ALS Awareness Month in San Joaquin County, and the proclamation reads, whereas ALS, also commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressively fatal neurodegenerative disease in which a person's brain loses connection with their muscles, slowly reducing a person's ability to walk, talk, eat, and eventually breathe. And whereas thousands of new ALS cases are reported every year and estimates show that every 90 minutes someone is both diagnosed with ALS and someone passes away from ALS. And whereas the exact cause of ALS are unknown and there's no known cure for ALS. On average, patients diagnosed with ALS survive only two to five years from the time of diagnosis. And whereas people who have served in the military are more likely to develop ALS and die from the disease than those with no history of military service. And whereas securing access to new therapies, durable medical equipment, and communication technologies is of vital importance to people living with ALS. And whereas the ALS Association is the largest philanthropic founder of ALS research globally, which has committed more than 154 million in support to more than 550 projects across the United States and 18 other countries, and is committed to make ALS livable and cure it for everyone everywhere. Now, therefore, be it resolved that this San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as ALS Awareness Month in San Joaquin County as an opportunity to increase public awareness of the dire circumstances of people living with ALS, acknowledge the terrible impact this disease has on those individuals and their families, and support research to eradicate this disease presented this 28th day of April 2026. Thank you, Chair and Supervisor Ding. And then we do have one presentation from the registered voters.

Thank you so much. Any comments on my left? Supervisor Rickman? Good. You good? On my right? Good. Supervisor Canepa? Thank you, sir. Next, we have a presentation on the Registrar of Voters Department functions, programs, and highlights. Olivia, you got the floor.

Good morning, Chair and members of the Board. We have our 175th video ready to go today.

For 175 years, the people of San Joaquin County have shaped their communities through the power of the vote. From handwritten ballots in a pioneer's hat to secure paper ballots and modern technology, the story of our elections For 175 years, the people of San Joaquin County have shaped their communities through the power of the vote. From handwritten ballots in a pioneer's hat to secure paper ballots and modern technology, the story of our elections reflects the growth of our county and our unwavering commitment to democracy. San Joaquin County was officially formed in 1850. Just one month later, on April 1st, the county held its first election. Local officers were chosen, including Judge Benjamin Williams and Clerk A.C. Bradford. It was the beginning of local democracy in the Central Valley. But those early elections, they were far from polished. There were no official poll books, no registration lists. In one precinct, a man named A.W. Brush used his own hat as a ballot box while serving as the election judge. In 1852, another precinct settled a disputed ballot count with a game of seven up. And in Stockton, pranksters once stuffed the ballot box, accidentally re-electing officials who had just resigned the entire election was voided and held again. These frontier stories, while humorous today, exposed a serious need, a need for structure, accountability, and reform. In 1867, California introduced the Great Register. For the first time, voters in San Joaquin County were recorded in official ledgers, listing names, ages, and even physical descriptions to prevent fraud. In 1891, the Australian ballot was adopted. Gone were the party-colored tickets. Now, government-issued ballots were marked in secret, protecting the voter privacy and stopping intimidation. By 1912, women appeared in the voter rolls for the first time in county history. Following California's passage of women's suffrage one year earlier, In the 1960s, San Joaquin County became a national leader in voting technology, becoming one of the first counties in the United States to use punch card voting systems. By 2002, we had fully transitioned to optical scan paper ballots, a move that improved speed, security, and reliability. And in 2020, as the world shut down during a global pandemic, San Joaquin County kept democracy going. We mailed ballots to every voter, added secure drop boxes, and implemented public health safeguards for in-person voting. Today, our office manages more than 400,000 registered voters. We process registrations, update addresses, and coordinate with the state's Vote Cow system to keep voter rolls accurate and secure. 16 and 17-year-olds can pre-register, and new citizens often register to vote on the spot at naturalization ceremonies, ready to participate in their first election as Americans. Every registered voter in San Joaquin County receives a vote-by-mail ballot. But we also maintain up to 200 polling locations, depending on the type and size of the election, as well as in-person early voting options for those who prefer to vote face-to-face. Ballots can be returned by mail at any of our 27 secure drop boxes or cast in person on Election Day. Each ballot is tracked, logged, and verified through California's Where's My Ballot system. Before every election, we conduct public logic and accuracy tests on all equipment. And after the election, a 1% manual tally audit confirms the integrity of the vote count. Behind every successful election is a community of dedicated people. Our office recruits and trains hundreds of poll workers, known as election officers. Through our Adopt-a-Poll program, schools and nonprofits can staff a polling location and raise funds for their organization. It's a win-win, combining civic service and community support. We also bring elections into the classroom. From student mock elections to school outreach events, we teach the next generation the value and the responsibility of voting. San Joaquin County is one of the most linguistically diverse counties in California. We provide translated election materials in two languages, English and Spanish. We also provide facsimile ballot translations for 12 other languages, including Chinese, Punjabi, Tagalog, Hmong and more. We also ensure every voter, regardless of physical ability, can vote privately and independently. Each polling location is equipped with necessary mitigation tools to ensure ADA accessibility to the polling location, such as ramps and parking spaces. Locations also have accessible ballot marking devices, audio ballots, and curbside voting options. Large print, tactile features, and language support are all part of our inclusive model. Trust in elections is built on transparency. We publish election result updates multiple times per week during the official canvas, invite the public to observe ballot processing, and partner with state and federal agencies to defend against cyber threats. All ballots are paper-based and securely stored. Our tabulation systems are never connected to the internet. Every vote is auditable and every outcome is verified. As we look ahead, we're investing in new technology like automated signature verification and ballot duplication systems to improve efficiency and ensure every valid vote is counted. But our values remain unchanged. Integrity. Transparency. Commitment. Teamwork. They've guided us for generations and will carry us into the future, from ballots cast in a cowboy hat to secure, multilingual, and fully auditable elections. Our journey has always been about you, the voter. For 175 years, San Joaquin County has made history at the ballot box. And together, we'll continue to protect the right to vote one election at a time. Your vote, your voice, your county.

Thank you so much for watching our video. I'm a bit sorry about the volume being a little low there, but I just wanted to share a message as well from our office. It has been an honor to reflect with you on the past, present, and future of the Registrar of Voters as we celebrated our county's 175th anniversary. For 175 years, this county has grown through the voices, values, and votes of its people. Generations before us built the foundation of civic participation that we uphold, that we continue to uphold today. Those who came before believe that democracy is strongest when every eligible voice has the opportunity to be heard. Today we carry that responsibility forward with integrity, transparency, and service. Our mission remains clear to protect the public's trust, ensure fair and accessible elections, and serve every voter with professionalism and respect. As we look to the future, we know our work continues. New technology, changing communities, and the next generation of voters will shape what comes next. But one thing will never change, the power of participation and the importance of every ballot cast. So as we close this milestone celebration, let us honor our history, not only by remembering it, but continuing to build upon it. Let us inspire future generations to engage, to serve, and to vote. On behalf of the Registrar of Voters Office, thank you for allowing us to be a part of this county's story and for helping write its next chapter. Happy 175th anniversary, San Joaquin County. Thank you.

Thank you, Olivia. Any comments? To my right, Silver Rose Gardea. Silver Rose Canepa.

I just want to thank you for the outreach. A lot of the events that I go to, you guys are out there registering people and getting the name out and the importance of voting, so I want to thank you and your staff for their professionalism and being in the community.

Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.

Well, you saved yourself a 25-minute lecture by bringing up the Australian ballot, so thank you.

It's part of the history.

Olivia, thank you and your team for the work that you do. I know you're very busy. You're going to get even busier. And then November is just around the corner, so it's busy season. And we appreciate what you all are doing.

Thank you. Thank you, Olivia. And best wishes for June election. It's going to be busy times.

Absolutely. I'll be back later this afternoon to give you an update on the election. Thank you. Thank you.

Now is the time for public comments on matters that are not On the closed session agenda, on the consent calendar, or within the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors, you have three minutes. Please direct your comments to the Board, not to the audience, and no personal attacks, please. David Gritton.

I want to thank you for admitting tonight that San Joaquin County Sheriff's deputies do fall under as employees of this board. There's a thing in this country called constitutionally protected rights. Those ladies back there and every one of you have sworn to protect those rights when you swear an oath to the Constitution of the United States when you took your office. We swore to die to protect it because I'm also a service member. Why is it I don't have rights in San Joaquin County according to the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office, District Attorney Office, and your clerk? I was physically assaulted and removed from this building under trespass. The only way under U.S. law I can be trespassed from public property during business hours is if I've committed some other crime. I've never been charged for another crime in this building. Why was I removed? And the arresting person was one of your employees doing a citizen's arrest according to Stockton Police Department. Five months ago, actually a little longer than that now, November 4th, I was attacked in the courthouse and removed by a sheriff deputy who said I was trespassing. Under federal law, that has to be open to the public. Under federal law, denying me access to those courtrooms is punishable by up to 30 years in prison. To kidnap me to stop me from going there makes it a life sentence, if not the death penalty. Why can't I press charges against the deputy sheriff that did it? The ones that transported me to the county's jail. The ones that sat there and told me I was going to learn to follow orders from deputies before they let me go after holding me for 13 hours in a solitary confinement cell with no water. Last time I came in here, she had me kicked out. She filed a trespass against me and refused to let me back in because I was complaining about having my genitals searched for no damn reason by these deputy sheriffs because they just don't want me somewhere. If San Joaquin County Sheriff's is the one that's in control of this building, why are you guys drawing a salary? If they control the courthouse, why are the judges drawing a salary? Or do we actually have laws that are going to be enforced equally? Apparently, according to... former Speaker of the House, Democrat from this state, the President's not above the law. According to former President of the United States, Barack Obama, the President is not above the law. Then why the hell is every one of that man's deputies above the law? When you make a criminal complaint, it needs to be followed. And by the way, since the county council decided to send an attorney over to try to get a restraining order, I mean, to keep me out of this building, his attorney was told by the judge at that time that in order to remove someone from public property, you have to have a court order. Why don't you pass that court over to the sheriff's department, to the district attorney's office, so they can still prosecute people who are exercising their rights? I wish I had more time to speak with you gentlemen. But I appreciate the fact that you did admit that the San Joaquin County sheriffs are your responsibility. And when people decide to finally say they've had enough, don't be looking for somebody else to point the finger at because you've already admitted they're your responsibility. Thank you, sir.

Dave Legoria. I think he left. Tammy Dunbar.

Good morning, Chairman Dhaliwal. Good morning, Vice Chairman Dhing, supervisors, and staff. Congressman Adam Gray has asked me to give an update on his work in Washington, D.C. Congressman Gray, who sits on both the House Agricultural Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee, got a commitment to secure $5 to $10 billion of economic assistance for specialty crops. and specialty crop growers through a future government funding bill. Valley specialty crops like walnuts, almonds, grapes have been hit particularly hard over the past year due to trade uncertainty and rising costs of input. Representative Gray also introduced a legislative package including three bills for water storage that provide funding and technical support to develop, maintain, and increase water infrastructure and water storage capacity. Representative Gray also introduced the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act to push back on Medicaid cuts and the expiration of the Affordable Care Act tax credits. If they are not reversed, cuts to Medicaid will result in $7.8 million more uninsured Americans and hundreds of rural hospitals being pushed toward closure. Lastly, I'd like to personally and heartfeltly thank San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas for hosting the fourth annual Survivors Luncheon last week. It was a moving and meaningful gathering. As always, if you or any constituent needs help with a federal issue, we are here to serve. Don't hesitate to contact our district office at 209-226-6880. Thank you so much, gentlemen and ladies.

Next is consent calendar. Any item needs to be pulled on my right? Number 20. Supervisor Canepa? Okay. Vice Chair Ding?

Item 4, Supervisor Gardea, did you pull 20? Yes. Okay.

Supervisor Rickman? No. No. Okay, Supervisor Ding, item four.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to point out For a lot of areas within San Joaquin County, you're represented by large city councils and multiple governmental areas. My district, which goes from 8 Mile Road to the Sacramento County line over to Calaveras, Amador County, the east side of 99 all the way down to Manteca, a lot of those residents, it's not the case. I actually have two schools in my district that are not part of a larger network organization, get very, very little support, and so I was talking to Debbie Choate about trying to put monitors, things that you see in almost every single school, and they're struggling to do that, so I wanted to thank Superintendent Boone for being here, Debbie, for being here on behalf of Oak View Elementary School, and it's a pleasure to be able to help.

Thank you, sir. Supervisor Gardner, item number 20.

Before I speak on this item, can I have County EMS and the team from SenCal come up, please? Can you educate or just give us some information what SenCal is, for those who might not know?

Sure.

SenCal is the ambulance provider that prevailed over the RFP over this last year to provide services over the next five years for the greater Lodi, Stockton, and Tracy areas to begin service May 1, this Friday. The purpose of the amendment, is that what you want me to discuss about? Sure. So the purpose of the amendment is part of the agreement or requirement was to establish a $2.25 million bond for the county. It's pretty common in these agreements to reduce risk for the very rare chance that a provider may go insolvent or not be able to provide service anymore, the county could access the monies to continue or bridge the services until another ambulance provider can be chosen. In this case, NCAL is a new JPA with no financial history. Getting a bond proved to be kind of impossible. So we discussed the risk with county departments came up with a risk assessment that showed that there really was very little risk, especially in the short term. The financial stability of the partners of the JPA is very sound. It consists of the City of Lodi, City of Stockton, and South County Fire Authority. The subcontractor is also very financially sound. So it was determined that we would create an installment program so the bond could be funded over the next 18 months. That's essentially the agreement amendment.

Speaking on behalf of SanCal, we just like to appreciate all of you for the support you've given us throughout these last six months. It's been an absolute pleasure working with the EMS agency in trying to find a simple solution to some of these complex problems. We're committed to solving the ambulance issues with you as a partner. Each of these three cities represent our populations that highly have skin in this game. that we want to make sure we have ambulance response times in a way that are appropriate to our communities and that we're meeting the needs, giving the highest advanced life support and basic life support as we can. So we appreciate you working with us as we move through this complex issue and to create some simple solutions to bring it to a resolution.

just echo some of the previous comments. To me, this is transformative. Having a partnership between the county and the fire agencies to manage the ambulance services and reinvest the additional funds that we'll receive from the federal government back into even increased service levels to a degree that we haven't seen before in this county. I think every time each of you see the CINCAL ambulance, even if it's 10 years down the road, you'll know that you made a huge difference in EMS in this county. Until now, there's been a division between the ambulance services and the county and our fire agencies. And this, because of your leadership, because of the leadership of the EMS agency, and the leadership of our elected officials at the city and local level, we're changing this dramatically. We're being recognized throughout the country on this new endeavor and the difference that it will make. So thank you for your support. We think it's huge. We look forward to it. We look forward to the new partnership. And again, thank you.

Well, thank you guys for coming up here and giving us a little information. You know, when you get elected or even before that, you know, you have these ideas and you work hard on things. And a lot of times, you know, you fumble the ball at the one yard line and you don't score a touchdown. You know, for some of you that may not know, I wore that had a fire helmet before I got elected. And, you know, that labor management meetings that we had three, four years ago. And I don't know, time flies. But, you know, when we first started having this conversation, the bottom line was we were trying to provide a better service to our community. And there was a need for it. The boots on the ground saw the needs for a better service. And that relationship between local fire departments and the county has not always been that good. And to the contest to Jared and his team, things have changed for the good. And it's not about the electeds or it's not about the fire departments, it's about the community and providing a better service and having a safer community. So Hats off to you guys, the hard work, because this has been a long road. And just to see this follow through and actually seeing the SenCal-stickered ambulances out in the community, I'm proud to see something get done, and it's going to provide a better service. So thank you.

Any comments? Yes, Mr. Chairman. Let's put a human face on this. Chief, you want to tell us what happened at Lodi High School the other day?

We had an unfortunate event take place at Lodi High School where one of our teachers went down with a medical emergency that could have cost them their life. And as a result of a partnership between our private ambulance provider and our newly formed advanced life support team with the Lodi Fire Department, we are able to provide definitive care right there at the school, in the classroom, and that person made a full recovery from their illness and injury and are home today as a result of advanced life support care. So just to, you know, I can't appreciate the support more from this board for bringing this level of service to our community. It will and it has already saved lives.

Thank you, sir. Thank you, Chairman. First of all, Jared, thank you for finding solutions, right? It's refreshing to have somebody in your position and that you have issues. You actually work with your allied agencies, your partners, and find solutions. So it's refreshing, and I think I can speak on behalf of the entire board for that. And we already talked about this when this came up on the agenda before, but Chief Bradley, I mean, this goes all the way back to 2017. And so, I mean, from that point to where we're at today, thank you. you've been instrumental, the leader in pushing this forward. So, you know, I appreciate it. I think not just my district, but all the districts and all the residents in San Joaquin County are better off for, you know, what is transpiring and what is taking place and where we're at today. So thank you all. God bless.

Thank you, sir. Supervisor Canepa.

I do want to shout the kudos because when I was at the city of Stockton, it was kind of a battle. You know, and it's like, wait a minute, we're looking for health outcomes here, folks, and working together to, you know, to make the changes that you've made and the money going back into our communities instead of going to AMR is a huge change. And the collaboration has been absolutely amazing. So I've been glad just to be a part of it and to see the outcomes like you're talking about, helping that, saving that person's life. And they might have been going to, unfortunately, our new morgue instead of home. So I think that's huge. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. Do we have a motion for the entirety of? So moved. Second. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and second. Call for a vote, please. Thank you. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you. Next, we have a discussion item number 11, Public Works. Approve a cooperative agreement for the McClemmy River Integrated Consultative Use Program and Water Rights Application for McClemmy River Water with the City of Stockton, North San Joaquin Water Conservation District, Stockton East Water District, and the McClemmy River Water and Power Authority. Staff report, please. Good morning.

Good morning chair, members of the board, Pope Nadia Zarif here, public works director here. Today's item is a request for the board's consideration to approve the cooperative agreement with our project partners for the Montgomery River Integrated Conjunctive Use Program. Deputy Director Alex Chetley is here, who will provide a brief presentation on the project and the proposed agreement. And at the end of that presentation, the two of us as well as Barbara Brenner with White Brenner LLP will be available for any questions that you may have. So with that, I'll turn it over to Alex.

Thank you, Najee. Good morning, Chair Dhaliwal, members of the Board of Supervisors, Alex Chetley, Deputy Director of Public Works. Today I'm here to present the MICUP Cooperative Agreement. To understand why the MICUP Cooperative Agreement is important and what it accomplishes, it's necessary to understand what has led us up to this point. There's four main components of today's presentation. The McCollumy River water right, the Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Sustainability Plan, MICUP, and the Cooperative Agreement. First, I'd like to define MICUP. MICUP is the McCollumy River Integrated Conjunctive Use Program, and it's defined as a coordinated effort to identify projects and put available McCollumy River water to beneficial use in the Eastern San Joaquin groundwater sub-basin through approval of a McCollumy River water rights application. So the first component to discuss today is the water right on the McCollamy River. The water right was filed under the McCollamy River Water and Power Authority, or MRWPA. The MRWPA is a JPA formed in 1990 by the Board of Supervisors consisting of the county and the San Joaquin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. The McCalmy River water right application, like I said, was filed in 1990. At that time, the county was looking like we're not going to receive any federal contract water. And filing this water right application, along with one on the American River, was considered a long-term planning tool to bring other surface water supplies to the county. So this water right has not been acted upon by the state water board. And it's still active, it's still alive. But we need to complete it, or there is a risk of losing it. So there's a lot to absorb in today's presentation. I'm gonna avoid going into a deeper history on what occurred between 1990 and today. I wanna keep the presentation moving and focused towards the agreement. Second component of today's presentation to understand is the Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Sustainability Plan, or GSP. In 2014, the state signed SGMA, or the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, into law. Three years later, the Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority, or GWA, was formed, and that consists of 16 groundwater sustainability agencies, or GSAs. The county is one of those 16 GSAs. And one of the GWA's goals was to develop a groundwater sustainability plan, it was required by the state, for the critically overdrafted eastern San Joaquin subbasin. So the GSP was prepared and it was approved by the state in 2023. The goal of the GSP is to bring the subbasin into balance by reducing groundwater pumping over the 20-year plan horizon. To achieve this goal, the plan includes near-term and long-term projects and management actions to reduce groundwater use. One of those projects is to develop the McCollamy River water right application. So moving right along, the next component of today's presentation is MICUP itself. IN 2022, THE COUNTY APPLIED FOR AND WAS AWARDED A SIGMA GRANT THAT INCLUDED $3.3 MILLION FOR MICUP. AND SUBSEQUENTLY, THE GEI RING CON TEAM WAS AWARDED THE PROJECT IN AUGUST OF 2023 TO ADVANCE MICUP EFFORTS. The grant that funded MICUP, elements of the grant that funded MICUP include developing partnerships with affected or interested parties, communication and engagement efforts, project formulation and screening, project feasibility studies, and developing an EIR. My cup goals include using and managing both surface water and groundwater together to respond to drought and climate change, improving groundwater levels in the sub-basin, we need to demonstrate that in order to be successful, achieving environmental benefits in the lower McCallumy watershed, completing an environmental impact report, and most notably, developing a supplemental water supply from the McCallumy River by getting an approval on the water right application with the State Water Board. The deficit or overdraft in the sub basin is included in the GSP and it's about 95,000 acre feet per year. My Cup is an included project in the approved GSP and would be of great benefit towards the goal set forth in the GSP. The water right application could potentially divert up to 110,000 acre feet through direct diversion that occurs from December through June, and potentially up to 48,000 acre feet through diverting from stored water from July through November. When completed, MICUP would support the water right permit petition with the Water Board. The next slide shows the project partners and how they might put available water to beneficial use. So in truth, the entire sub-basin benefits from available McCollumy River water. However, only a few of the 16 GSAs that comprise the GWA are positioned to do so with their current infrastructure. These partner agencies, North San Joaquin Water Conservation District, Stockton East Water District, and the City of Stockton, have stepped up to partner with the county to complete MICUP. There are a few remaining activities needed to get the grant-funded activities over the finish line. The grant proceeds are all used up. MICUP activities listed on this slide need to be completed, and we've collaborated with the project partners to develop a cooperative agreement to do just that. I'd like to point out or emphasize that the remaining work can be looked at in two parts. There's completing the EIR. We need to do that. AND WE NEED TO PUT THAT OUT FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION AND COMMENT AND REVIEW. AND THEN SECONDLY, THERE'S WORK ASSOCIATED WITH THE WATER BOARD ON THE WATER RIGHT, INCLUDING MANAGING THAT WATER RIGHT ONCE SECURED. SO THAT BRINGS US TO THE LAST ITEM ON THE AGENDA OR IN MY PRESENTATION TODAY AND THE FINAL COMPONENT, THE MICUP COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT ITSELF.

The cooperative agreement accomplishes three main goals.

One, it adds the partner agencies as co-applicants on the water right petition. Two, it establishes and assigns shared costs to each applicant. And three, the agreement allocates water that correlates to each partner's funding contribution. The funding is intended to complete MICUP and address or respond to anticipated challenges when the petition is amended with the Water Board. best guess that effort may take three to five years. And the agreement also contains a budget page that outlines anticipated costs. One thing you might notice on the slide at the bottom is the county itself is not included under the allocated water. That's not an oversight, that's deliberate. And it's due to the fact that the county areas, RGSA, we lack the infrastructure to actually take the water off the river in the eastern San Joaquin sub basin. SOME OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT INCLUDE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP TO MANAGE THE TECHNICAL WORK ASSOCIATED WITH THE WATER RIGHT. THERE'S ALSO LANGUAGE IN THE AGREEMENT THAT ESTABLISHES A WATER MASTER WHICH IS NECESSARY TO COORDINATE WITH THE WATER BOARD ON POTENTIAL DIVERSIONS OFF THE RIVER. IN SUMMARY, THE MICUP COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT IS A MECHANISM TO SHARE IN THE COST TO FUND THE REMAINING PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND FUTURE COSTS associated with defending and managing the water right in future years members of the board that completes all four components and hopefully explains how they're all interrelated my cup cooperative agreement like i mentioned is among the following partners uh... the city of stockton or selling water conservation district stockton east water district Now, due to the fact that the Water Right petition is held in the name of the MRWPA, in order to approve the agreement, the Board actually has to act in three different roles today. One, as the governing board of the San Joaquin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, two, as the county itself, and then three, as the MRWPA. So the agreement appears three times on your agenda today. Lastly, the cooperative agreement was presented and discussed at the April 15th San Joaquin County Advisory Water Commission, and the commission voted to recommend approval to your board. Those are the three entities. Chair Dhaliwal and members of the Board of Supervisors This completes my presentation, and staff and I, along with Barbara Brenner, are available to answer questions. And some of the other project partners are also present, I think they all are, and may wish to speak about the agreement.

Thank you, sir. Supervisor Canepa?

Yes, I received a call from Jeff Sanguinetti, a family friend, and he was kind of saying why Woodbridge Irrigation Wasn't included in this obviously they get water off of the McCollum II Part of the recharge where the Delta water project is that we are doing in North Stockton Theoretically we could get some water from them to do some groundwater recharge So just a question on I guess they they did a what do you call it where you challenge it? So if we could speak to that I would appreciate it

I can try to answer that.

We were in discussions with WID, Woodbridge Irrigation District, at times to be a part of this. They opted not to ultimately be a part of this, which includes funding the remaining activities. What's interesting about this is The entire sub-basin benefits from available water. So all 16 GSAs theoretically are beneficiaries of this effort, including WID. They're one of the GSAs in the GWA for eastern San Joaquin. And then, you know, another aspect is that the project partners, the three other agencies, are really best positioned to take and put that water to use. They have projects that are either underway or in their capital improvement programs to take this water and put it to beneficial use.

Does that answer your question?

Why did they challenge it?

The reason why NWID is here, and they can certainly speak for themselves, is that to protect their pre-existing water rights, which we respect and intend to protect as well. So that is the main reason for their protest on the water right application originally and continues to today. We do hope to resolve that protest amicably and do believe that we are respecting their water rights to the full extent.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Supervisor Knapp, I just want to thank you for looking out for my district. I appreciate it very much. I want to engage in a little bit of a colloquy with Alex for the record here. And that is that the Woodbridge Irrigation District, which isn't really mentioned much in the presentation, has come to the table. They don't want to obviously get in the way of a $3 million grant. They have the water right, but that their water rights on the county, for the record, are going to be protected.

That's correct. Like Barbara mentioned, we believe that we've acknowledged and assured them that their water rights are protected. are acknowledged within the MICUP effort. And today really is about the agreement for MICUP to make progress and get that completed. And that's why I didn't mention them and that's why they were omitted from the presentation is I wanted to focus on making sure that you understood this is about the agreement and not go down a rabbit hole on water rights.

I understand your concerns of a rabbit hole. It's first and foremost, it's their water rights. So I just want to make sure the county was on record in understanding, supporting

their water right and they are protected so that's correct thank you yes they have senior water rights they were pre-1940 14 water right on the columbia river and like i mentioned um through the presentation you know we have this water right application that we made many years ago invested a lot of money to keep it significant investments to keep it active or alive and not lose it so we want to see that through to completion as well

Thank you, sir. So where are the Rickman?

Thank you, Chair. Thank you both for being here. Thank you for your presentation. I want to give a shout out to the East San Joaquin Grand Water Authority used to sit on that board. And so good to see you guys. Miss you guys. But what we're in is good as Supervisor Dean mentioned, you know, we're we're protecting pre-existing water rights. But, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, so we're using flood water, excess water to recharge the east groundwater sub-basin, correct? Which is having some difficult times, you could say. So this is just our chance, being good stewards of the environment, being good stewards of, you know, agriculture and so on, to replenish the groundwater. And this is one of the ways that we can accomplish that task.

That is accurate. Yeah, that's correct.

Why do you sound surprised?

I am not surprised. What I would like to add to that is the GSP has a number of projects in it. They've got over 20 or 30 projects in it, each identifying some level of benefit to the sub-basin. My cup is a project that has potentially one of the biggest benefits. It's one of the best projects, if you will, if you measure by the potential to recharge the sub-basin. So it's in the GSP. It's one of many projects listed in there, and it's one that has the potential to make the biggest impact in our sub-basin.

That's great. And I think, you know, I wanted the public to hear that. I wanted, you know, the public to know, you know, our groundwater authority, the Eastern San Joaquin groundwater authority, this county, you guys, and all our different partners are, you know, take this seriously. We're being good stewards of the environment. We're doing, you know, hey, we use the water. We're trying to put it back in. So with that, Chair, I'll use my time. Thank you.

Supervisor Canepa?

No, the reason why I brought it up is Stockton obviously has an agreement and we get their water from Woodbridge at the water treatment facility. So anybody north of the Calaveras gets water treated out of the Delta. And so the water rejuvenation project, which I think is huge because you can only do that in certain sandy loam areas. And so when the water goes in and filtrates, it helps all of the recharge in the area. And I think that's the most important part. is how we're looking out for that. I just started on the groundwater board and it's very interesting and very intricate and I appreciate the folks that are here that represent those districts. So it's a matter of, you know what I mean, we don't want overdrafting and all the things. So I do support this project, I just want to make sure that all of our local partners have a voice and have some skin in the game. And I get it, and I'm not marginalizing what the program is. You've been working on it since 1990. Obviously, 35 years on a project is pretty diligent and $3.3 million. So I totally encourage it. I just want to make sure that everyone who does have skin in the game is appreciated and understood. So thank you.

Anybody from public?

I'll have Dan O'Hanlon go first.

Thank you, sir. Chair Dhaliwal, my name is Dan O'Hanlon. I'm councilor for the Woodbridge Irrigation District. And I appreciate the sentiments expressed by the county that they have a strong interest in making sure that Woodbridge's senior water rights are protected. And I wanted to talk a little bit about the application process, kind of Woodbridge's water rights very briefly. And then Keith Bussman, who's the manager of the Woodbridge Irrigation District, will have also asked for the board. Under the water code to issue a new permit, the State Water Board must find that there'll be no interference with senior water rights. And what the county has today is an application, not a water right. There's a long way to go from an application to issuance of a water right in California, especially under current conditions when a lot of the water is already spoken for. Woodbridge is in the position of having very senior water rights, which are terrifically valuable, very important. Concern with the application is absent conditions on when the water would be diverted and so forth that could interfere with Woodbridge's rights because, as you saw in the description of the application, some water would be taken out of the McKellamy River upstream of Woodbridge's diversion, so it would never reach Woodbridge's aversion to be able to be diverted. So there's definitely the potential for interference. That's why in 1996, Woodbridge filed a protest, which is part of what the State Water Boards process provides for. That protest is still pending. And what we need is conditions on the application to avoid the potential for injury to exercise of Woodbridge's water rights. And the water board won't issue a permit absent of finding that there won't be interference. It's not in the county's interest whatsoever to interfere with Woodbridge's water rights. All the water that Woodbridge diverts is used in San Joaquin County. It goes to farmland northwest and south of Lodi. It goes to the city of Lodi. It goes to the city of Stockton. All of the county benefits, and it's frankly in the county's interest to maximize use of Woodbridge's senior water rights because the rule under water rights priority is in their times of shortage, the more junior rights are cut back first. In times of drought, Woodbridge has very senior water rights. So again, this is a very important critical asset for this county and it's in the county's interest to make sure it allows for the maximization of use of those water rights. And that's all I have for the board today. And with that, I'll defer to Mr. Bussman, who hasn't asked for the board.

Chair Dollywall, members of the board, my name is Keith Bussman. I'm the general manager of Woodbridge Irrigation District, and I've got a lot of notes here, but staff at the county, we've been working with them, and I think that the point I'd like to make is that Woodbridge currently has a water right. It's 140 years old, and we've been putting water into the ground for 140 years and all of that water that we have put into the ground has made the eastern San Joaquin sub basin better than what it could have been today. And so what I'm asking the board is to, Steve, you said it really good, I'd like it in writing. I want assurances from San Joaquin County that will preserve and protect all of Woodbridge Water, Woodbridge Irrigation District's water rights and all of the districts in this county. uh you know one of the things that the state of california is doing is there's i call it an attack on our water and they want more water for the bay delta plant and so there might be less water in the county and today you guys have water available through woodbridge irrigation district and we have sold water to other districts in the county And so what I would like to do in this cooperative agreement, which isn't, you know, we don't get very good cooperation with the county and the other districts, but to put a line in there that preserves and protects WID's senior water rights and will not injure WID. I mean, that's a simple one sentence paragraph that you could put right into this cooperative agreement and make it work. I think that You know, when you look at the application, it's been 29 years, six months, and a couple weeks that we've had this protest, and I think it's time to lift that protest and move forward. I think putting flood control water, flood flows that are gonna be released, I hear that Comanche's gonna release some water in mid-May, that water could go to the San Joaquin County GSA. And I've heard that the county wasn't going to take any of this my cup water. To me, it makes no sense because the county is a GSA. You guys are a groundwater sustainability agency. And I think that utilizing buying water from Woodbridge, you could put it to beneficial use. I think that this agreement doesn't pertain to water rights, but it does, because it's slowly kind of eaten away. And so what I'm asking for the county to do, again, is to preserve, protect with your full strength to preserve that water, because we may not have it in the future. And also you look at the seal back there. Agriculture is the number one industry in this county, and it takes water to drive that industry. So thank you for your time. I don't know if you guys have any questions. Any questions for Mr. Bussman?

A little colloquy. Is there any objection, Mr. Chetley, to put that line in there?

I'm gonna ask, so the question really is about, has the county acknowledged WID's water rights? And I'm gonna ask our outside counsel, Barbara, to sort of comment on what the proper forum is in place to sort out the water rights of WID and what we're trying to accomplish with our water right on the Macaulay River.

I would say that we did attempt to resolve the protests, WID protests, through this cooperative agreement. We weren't able to do that and needed to move forward with our environmental assessment and project and look forward to working with WID as we go along that process. This agreement doesn't address things like the management of the application into the future and protest dismissal terms. It's more intended to show the way forward for funding and the use of the water by percentages of those who are paying for the process. WOD has indicated, as you've heard, that there's no need for them to to uh... engage in the process and pay for the process which the other agencies are doing with the county's uh... uh... as well as to the county's contribution so that's the purpose of this agreement and and what we're here for today uh... we will be continuing to deal with protection of w i d is water rights in their protest dismissal as we move forward with the water board process

know it's like your wife she knows you you love her but she still wants flowers on valentine's day alls are asking you you've already said it out loud that their their water rights are protected they have senior senior water rights you know i know you got to show a little extra love what's the damage in just putting that sentence right in the agreement if it doesn't really matter just do it make everybody happy That we know, you know, we've already talked about it. We all agree on it. What's the damage in doing it?

Yeah, I would take a look at the agreement. I don't recall this agreement went through several iterations, and at some point there was language to that extent. If there is still some language in there that can be pointed to, we'd be happy to show it to you. Honestly, I haven't looked at this agreement in a bit, but I can talk to the agencies, the other folks that are signatories to the agreement, and see where we can go.

Mr. Bussman please.

Section 3.7.3 states working to resolve protests to the application and you could add that sentence right into there to preserve and protect WID senior water rights. I mean, it's that simple. And I've heard from all of the other districts that yes, we don't want to hurt your water rights in any way. But again, we don't see it in writing. Maybe a board resolution from San Joaquin County that states that you will preserve and protect Woodbridge water rights. Woodbridge is part of San Joaquin County. The county is benefiting from Woodbridge's pre-14 water right, and it's been benefiting for 140 years. and we'd like to do it for another 140 years. You guys won't be here, I won't be here, but certainly keeping this water in the county and getting it into the ground to make the sub basin sustainable by 2040, which is about 13 and a half years away, so we gotta get to work and we gotta get this resolved.

I just have one question.

What was the dollar amount? Was that the crux of the matter, that they didn't participate in the dollar amount early? Or what was the dollar? What was the skin in the game amount?

There'll be quite a bit of money in this game moving forward. There was no dollar amount that Woodbridge was willing to participate in.

I mean, that goes back to you, then. Are you willing to put up some dough to help?

Well, the thing is, we already have a water right. We don't need to pay for water that we already have, and that's the whole point we've made about MICUP. The other thing is that we have water today. I mean, MICUP water right is a wet-year water right. You're only going to get water one in every 10 years, maybe one in every five years if it keeps raining. But today, you guys and the other districts could utilize the water under the... Woodbridge pre-14 water right you know we sell water to the city of Stockton we sell water to the city of Lodi and we don't want to diminish or or curtail that water right in any way you know if anything we need everybody in this room to help protect that water right could I just address that real quickly what we're trying to do is add to that water right not take away from it so as indicated the deficit is 95,000 acre feet a year

We need not only Woodbridge's water, but we need the water that will come from this application. As it's indicated, it's once in a few years, once in every ten years, once in every five years. Yet, that... once in every three years small amount may also occur every drop is what this county needs we don't want to diminish woodbridge water right in fact we want to use it to the full extent we also want to use this water right obtain this water right and use it to the full extent when you have wet water years you can pull a lot of water off that mccormie river and you're not impacting woodbridge's water right whatsoever and those are the years when this application is most valuable

Thank you. Anybody else? Yeah, I'm not quite done. Mr. Bussman, hold on. I'm hearing us all say the same thing, and so I'm having a hard time understanding. It is in the county's best interest, as you've said. Nobody's trying to take their water rights, as you've said. It behooves us all that they're healthy and this gets done. I guess I just don't have a understanding what's the harm in just putting that sentence in there?

I think the county would be happy to put that sentence in there. Would it lead to a protest dismissal agreement? That one sentence?

protect our water rights, but then obviously we would have to sort out what those conditions would be.

Which we tried to do, correct, Mr. O'Hanlon?

Well, we made, and I don't want to get into the confidential discussions that we had, but we made very reasonable proposals to protect our senior water rights, and we were not able to reach agreement.

uh... and we're happy to engage in that dialogue again but it's those conditions are sticking points

But if I can add one point, the one sentence about the willingness to protect our water rights, as you've pointed out, that shouldn't be a cost of a protest dismissal agreement, a dismissal of our protest, right? That's something they've already said that they agree to, so I don't see the harm in including that in their agreement. And then we can work on what the terms of a protest dismissal agreement would be, which we would like to do.

30 years of paying for a lawyer, you could've divvied up the dough and been part of the process.

You know, $3.3 million in grant funding could've bought a lot of water too.

though there's other partners that are part of this agreement. I think it would be in the Board's interest to hear from them about adding clauses and potential changes to the agreement.

And I'd also like to point out a couple of things.

The process with the Board takes into consideration everyone's rights on the river, WID's water rights. It would be inaccurate to say that moving forward with this cooperative agreement somehow ignores their water right the process takes into consideration at the water board their water rights and then lastly i want to put i want to put some numbers in play because i'm an engineer and that's what how we think so like i mentioned and barbara reiterated the deficit in the sub basin is on average 95 000 acre feet per year the gsp that was approved by the gwa identifies projects There's Category A projects, Category B projects. Category A projects are projects that existing agencies and districts may have already completed, are in the process of completing, or is in their capital improvement program. Those are sort of like projects that are going to get done. That makes up about 33,000 acre feet of that deficit, which means that there's another 66,000-odd acre feet that we need to make up. On average, MICUP, now we know it's not gonna happen every year, it's only in wet years, right? And how often that happens, maybe three out of 10 years, who knows? But on average, if MICUP is successful, we could put potentially up to 50,000 acre feet per year on average towards that goal. When you add that to the 33 in the category A projects, that gets us nearly there in addressing the critical overdraft in the sub-basin.

As we go around and around about this, and there's a reason why water attorneys will never be out of work. I guess my problem is when you say the word we, my hair kind of stands up because we means theirs. And it's ours when... We want it, and there's when there's a problem. Mr. Bussman, you've told me repeatedly, you don't want to stand in the way. We don't. Of this agreement. It is good for the entire county. We need to move forward with that, and we do need to find a, you know, and I think verbally on the record, you have the assurances you need, and then you can spend, your attorney can spend the next 30 years working out the rest of it. So, thank you. Thank you.

Supervisor Gaudia?

I feel like we're in negotiations, and I don't think we're going to get a lot done. So the ask is to move forward with the application. I make a motion to move forward with the application. Oh, sorry.

Anybody else from public?

outside water council for North San Joaquin. I also happen to have the privilege of having worked on this matter since I was a summer clerk at New Miller and Beardsley in 1997. So I'm coming up on my 29th year of working on this project. I believe I attended some of the very first meetings of the McColumby River Water and Power Authority and my job was to take notes. So it's been a long haul and frankly, a really exciting one now that we're at the stage of actually moving this project forward and if i can approach i have just a handout for you that i think will be helpful in giving you an idea of why this project is something that we really want to move forward with. And I also want to put this in context. My husband and I farm wine grapes and walnuts in San Joaquin County. Our land is in the Woodbridge Irrigation District. Our land is in the North San Joaquin Water Conservation District. And our land is along the McCollamy River where we also have water rights. So when we're talking about getting a new water right in California, it will be a junior water right. And so while Woodbridge's senior water rights need to be protected in that process, so do all of the other senior water rights on the river, which includes North San Joaquin's existing rights, East Bay Mudd's existing rights, and all of the landowners in San Joaquin County who have riparian and pre-1914 rights on the river. So it's very simple. I agree with everything that Mr. O'Hanlon, Woodbridge's attorney said. This MICUP water right application will not be processed unless it includes a standard term and condition that says that water will not be diverted under the MICUP water right if it injures a senior user of water. That is a standard permit condition. It will be included in any water right application that the State Board issues on this MICUP application. So frankly, you don't need to put it in this cooperative agreement because it's already the law. And we absolutely intend to respect that law. As Supervisor Ding clued into, defining exactly what is the scope of the water right you're protecting in very narrow conditions can sometimes be a matter of dispute. And so that's where the State Water Resources Control Board with its expertise can help us define exactly what that looks like. And that's why that's the best place to have that discussion if we don't work it out amongst ourselves in advance, which I fully expect that we will. But what I wanted to show you with this chart is this is this year. This is what happened on the McClemmy River this year. We are going to end this year below normal with total rainfall on the McClemmy River watershed. However, in the month of January, actually beginning the last week in February, there was a large set of storms that came through and Comanche and Pardee could not hold that water. And East Bay mud had to release almost 2,000 cubic feet per second for a full month. During that time period, Woodbridge's water right exercised at its full capacity, which frankly has never been done in the month of January at 414 cubic feet per second, would have only captured a very small fraction of this water. The My Cup application would have allowed us to capture an additional 30,000 acre feet of water during the month of January of a below normal water year. That amount of water is the difference between being in balance and being out of balance in the eastern San Joaquin sub basin. It is the sole reason why we are moving forward with my cup and why the county has invested 30 years and millions and millions of dollars. So I urge you to take the action of moving this forward. You have project partners who have stepped up and said we're willing to foot the bill, we're willing to build the projects, and we're willing to get this extra water, not Woodbridge's water, because frankly they need every bit of it. We don't want to take anything from them. But we do want to get the extra water here and move forward. I'm happy to answer any questions that you have.

Thank you so much. Anybody else from public? Oh, gee.

Good morning, Chair and Supervisors. My name is Steve Schwabauer. I am the General Manager of North San Joaquin Water Conservation District. I have with me two of our Board of Directors, Jason Colombini, who is a grape, I mean a grape, nobody does grapes anymore. He's an olive and a walnut grower in San Joaquin County. And Joe Valenti, who is the Farm Manager for Kautz Farms in San Joaquin County. and i just wanted to take a moment to reiterate what's at stake financially your staff commissioned a report that'll be out an economics report on what's at stake and it's uh it's about uh 65 000 acre feet that this would supply on average 14,000, almost 15,000 acres that would have to be followed in San Joaquin County and about $130 million in economic activity in San Joaquin County that will be followed in direct and indirect benefits to this county. I used to be in the line of work that you're all in, municipal management. One of the lessons that we learned is the most important economic development dollar that you can spend is the economic development dollar that retains existing economic activity. You can go chase new dollars all you want, but there are dollars in the form of water running down the McCollumy River right now that you can retain and it's cheap and it's easy. Going and getting the new ones is much harder than keeping that $130 million. So I'd encourage you to continue the fight. Yes, there is a day to have a discussion about exactly what those water rights are and what they mean. But as Jennifer pointed out, the majority of the water that we're talking about isn't even contested. Everything over that 414 CFS that ran down the river this year is not in contest. So I'd encourage you to move forward with the application. If you have any questions, be glad to address them.

Thank you. Anybody else? Yes, sir.

I was just going to make a motion to approve the cooperative agreement.

Let me complete the...

Thank you Mr. Chairman. Good morning. Good morning board and staff. My name is Justin Hopkins. I'm the general manager at Stockton East Water District. We were formed in 1948. Our mission was to sustain the groundwater by developing supplemental surface water supplies. And this MICUP project is a component of our charter. We have, in addition to SGMA, there's a lot of other water-related challenges in the region. And our modeling, partner modeling through SGMA, through California Department of Water Resources, we're facing a potential water deficit of 75,000 acre-feet by 2075, and that's just Stockton East. And that's why we're investing so heavily in the 112,000-acre-foot Farmington Reservoir project. We're pushing our own Calaveras River water right application and this MICUP program. So this is going to be an important supply within our future portfolio. And so on behalf of Stockton East Water District, I do request that the Board consider approving this agreement. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Anybody else? Board members, do we? Motion to approve. We have a motion. Do we have a second?

Second.

We have a motion and second. Call for our vote, please. Motion passes 5-0. At this time, we will recess as Board of Supervisors meeting. The Board will be acting as the governing body of the San Joaquin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. We will reconvene that meeting. Same item on consent, do we have a motion? No.

Motion.

Second. Call for a vote, please. Motion passes 5-0. At this time, the Board will be acting as the governing board of the McClemmy River Water and Power Authority. We will convene that meeting. Do we have a motion? Same item on consent. Motion to approve. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call for vote, please. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you so much, everyone. We will reconvene as Board of Supervisors meeting. Scheduled morning item. conduct a public interview for the appointment of two positions to the Housing Authority Board. I'm gonna turn it over to Assistant County Administrator, Brenda Kiley.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chair. Today we have two applicants for two positions for Housing Authority Commissioner who are the current incumbents. Ryan Gresham, incumbent for position 3601, and Jonathan Mendelson, incumbent for position 3603. Their names have been entered into a randomizer to decide the initial order. They will rotate for each question on the slides. Okay, so I think we're ready to start with the questions. we will start with question number one, and the first person to answer the question will be Jonathan Mendelson. Mr. Mendelson, please provide an opening statement for the Board.

So, hi, first of all, it's a pleasure to be here and speak about affordable housing in our community with all of you. I think that my goal and vision for the Housing Authority and housing in general in our county is one where everybody has access to safe housing. I think that everybody is a condition of being a person should have a safe and stable place to live. That's the foundation of a community where people can be successful and achieve. And so I believe that should be the mission of our Housing Authority, which is to support affordable housing throughout the community, offer opportunity for people, and to be a stabilizing factor for individuals and families who need a little bit of help in finding that secure place to live. I've been on the Board for, I believe, 10 years at this point, on the Board of Commissioners, and I'm exceptionally proud of the work that the Housing Authority staff and leadership has done over that time, and I'm looking forward to hopefully continuing in a sort of supervisory role, not sure if that's a word, but helping to provide some general guardrails for this valuable community asset.

Thank you. Next, I will ask Ryan Gresham to answer the same question and provide an opening statement, please.

Hi, good morning. I appreciate having the opportunity to come and interview to hopefully get reappointed to the Housing Authority Board. The kind of the goal and the mission in my view as just one of the commissioners on the board is to promote the development of new affordable housing in our county, leveraging the limited amount of money that we have locally and Leveraging that with state and federal programs to bring as much money as we can into our county to provide as much new housing that we desperately need here to help as many people as possible. And that's been the number one priority that I have always had, which is just to build as many new units as we can to try and help as many people as possible. And that's been the focus that the board has had for a number of years, and I think we have a track record. The Housing Authority's done a great job, I think, of bringing those dollars here into our community, because they were going to get spent anyways. So it's important that we bring them locally here. And I'm proud of the work that the Housing Authority's done. And yeah, just glad to be here.

Thank you, Mr. Gresham. You'll be the first to answer the next question. What is your vision for a housing authority in the community? What are your ideas related to affordable housing?

Yeah, so, you know, the vision that the housing authorities had is trying to, you know, redevelop projects. We've done some, you know, Sierra Vista 1 and 2, and then trying to find other opportunities. You know, through COVID, there was a number of programs for rehabbing buildings. We've done a number of those now, and we're doing, you know, more through the Home Key program. So, you know, That's been the vision is trying to provide affordable housing to the most number of people. And it's an incredible challenge because it's expensive and all of the different rules and regulations and constraints that make it that way. But that's, you know, the vision is trying to provide opportunities. And, you know, we're trying just about anything. Anything and everything, the Housing Authority is trying to do it. You know, we've done modular, we've done the adaptive rehabs, we've done new construction. All the different programs, we're always applying for it. We're always trying it. And that's, you know, in my view, that's the... the vision is just trying to produce more. And some of the ideas around affordable housing, I think that looking at potentially down the road a housing trust fund locally or trying to identify other opportunities to leverage local dollars to get more affordable housing here locally is important. And there's, you know, different ideas and different ways that we can try and do that. But, you know, right now we're, you know, the housing authority is open to doing just about anything to try and produce more units here. And, you know, that's kind of the vision is trying to maintain what we have and produce more so that, you know, we can help as many people as possible.

Thank you. Mr. Mendelson, same question. What is your vision for a housing authority in the community and what are your ideas related to affordable housing?

Thank you. I guess I jumped the gun a little bit with my opening statement since I saw that flash up there. So not to repeat too much, but I truly believe that everybody in this community deserves the opportunity for safe, stable housing. And that's my overall vision for the housing authority. I think that over the course of my next term if i'm appointed which i hope i am uh... advocacy priorities would be to keep encouraging the federal government fully fund housing choice voucher program which a lot of folks referred to the section eight if the federal government only adequately fund that program to fully fund the vouchers that it says we have. We could house hundreds and hundreds of more people in this community. Public housing has been continually disinvested in over the course of the past several decades. So that would also be a priority is to see what we can do with our aging public housing stock, which has already been addressed to some extent through projects like Sierra Vista one and two, I know number three's on the docket, and to expand opportunity throughout the county, not just in areas that have traditionally been cited for affordable housing developments. And in that, to embrace opportunity for a lot of different populations. The Housing Authority has done a lot of good work so far in regards to moving the needle on housing for homeless households. It's been an incredible partner with county behavioral health in providing a lot more housing opportunities for people with serious mental illness and substance use disorder. I'd want that to continue. Senior housing should be a priority for aging members in our community, workforce housing, and home ownership components, so we can really help households build generational wealth that really pulls people out of poverty. I'd say that would be my personal priorities and ideas related to affordable housing. And I think that those ideas share a lot of consensus among the current board and among the other leadership at the Housing Authority.

Thank you. Mr. Mendelson, you'll be the first to answer the next question. As affordable housing and homelessness are in crisis in California, what are your thoughts on producing more affordable housing? Do you have insights as to the type of housing needed and populations to be served?

Well, as Ryan said, an all of the above approach is really one that the Housing Authority has embraced and will continue to embrace. I think a lot of the focus on producing affordable units is really focused on leveraging those state and federal resources that we can pull into our community rather than letting them go to some other community, whether that's tax credit funding, whether it's home key funding, which the Housing Authority has been successful in securing, whether it's No Place Like Home, whether it's ongoing grants like HHAP through the county or Continuum of Care, All of those sources of funding should be leveraged to produce more units and to do it in a way that fits with the character of the community, but also that maximizes existing land, existing buildings. I'd say that I do have a little bit of insight in regards to the type of housing needed and populations to be served, specifically mentioning homelessness. I'm an active participant in the continuum of care, which helps sort of direct ideas related to how we serve homeless households in the community. I've worked on homeless issues in this community for more than a decade, and so I know that Chronic homelessness remains an issue. People who are suffering long-term homelessness and who have disabling conditions. I know families with children who are homeless remain especially vulnerable. And I believe that our community should employ this all of the above approach to developing units that suit the populations that we've identified in our local data and homeless management information system. and replicate the programs that show the best outcomes for those populations. And what shows the best outcome is permanent housing. Permanent housing that gives people a real place to live and encourages them to have skin in the game in that housing. The data bear it out that that's what helps and that aligns very closely with the Housing Authority's mission.

Thank you. Mr. Gresham, can you answer the same question?

Yeah. So as I mentioned, it's trying everything. And I think that trying to combat homelessness, providing more permanent supportive housing helps to take people both off the street and keep them housed and stable. We're also doing the motel conversion that we did and finding local partners that can help provide services and identify people that we could then put into that motel. I think it's leveraging those partnerships to make sure that we're providing as much housing as we can, but using it, that limited finance resource that we have, we're using it appropriately. And we're making sure that we're moving people through the pipeline. Because you have people that are on the street that you then try and get them into a shelter. And from there, after you get them kind of stabilized, you want to put them into a permanent housing solution. And it's very limited, and that's a constraint in that whole pipeline. But the number that we have is making sure that we're getting those people not just straight off the street into the house, but that already have been stabilized, and then they are ready. Because they need to be ready to be put in a permanent home. And so that's you know trying to address the homelessness crisis. That's you know building more supply any way we can which we've been doing that with you know the home key and you know the tax credit properties and just you know anything and everything and You know the type of housing that we need is and we kind of need everything we need some senior housing we need uh... prince for housing done some we need more uh... and you we have some some veteran housing done you know this it's it's like an endless sea of people that you have to try and serve in its it's very challenging to try to overcome that uh... but you know we're just chipping away at it little by little and trying to do that the best we can kiss you know obviously we're all limited on how much and trying to maximize, like I said, maximize the local money that we have and leverage it with state and federal dollars to get the most bang for the buck, basically.

Thank you. Mr. Gresham, you'll be the first to answer the next question. As the Housing Authority has transitioned to an active affordable developer, what additional roles do you feel are relevant for the Housing Authority in San Joaquin County? Are there other roles that you think the Housing Authority is well positioned to perform? For instance, self-sufficiency, resident economic development, etc. ?

Yeah, so the Housing Authority, obviously it's transitioned to become a very active developer. I think that since 2019, I think there's been one new project completed just about every year. Some are smaller, but some are a lot bigger. So it has a track record of enriching our community, bringing value to the community, and revitalizing some of our older properties, and also acquiring new land and building more units. The Housing Authority already does some self-sufficiency with the FSS program, trying to encourage people that are already within the Housing Authority's a purview to go and get jobs and increase their income. We've gotten a number of Jobs Plus grants to try and also encourage that as well to help provide some training. And we've partnered with other nonprofits to try and do some training for folks in the EVs and batteries type stuff. And that's great opportunities where we can find partners that can do that. Because the Housing Authority, it can't do everything, it can't be everything. But it's about finding the right people that have that skill set and bringing them in and matching them with our residents to try and help them, just uplift them. And hopefully, the end goal is helping to get them of public housing or off of the voucher and into the private market that's really challenging but you know doing whatever we can in that regard I think is important I think another thing that the Housing Authority is starting to do and and look at is homeownership we've done we got three lots that were I think they were Habitat for Humanity lots that they ended up, you know, kind of closing here in Stockton. So we took those lots, we put a home on it, and we've identified three people that, three families that, you know, were going to they're gonna own a home. We build the home at cost, and even when you're building it at cost, the land is free, because we got it for free. It's still, I think, $320,000. That just shows that there's an affordability problem in general, just in general. So that's one of the things that the Housing Authority is trying to start to do, which is figure out ways where we can try and help people become a homeowner, and help bring down the cost of housing. And I think that's an exciting opportunity that the Housing Authority has that I'm most excited about in the future as something new that we're trying and doing.

Thank you. Mr. Mendelson, same question.

So in addition to its role in administering housing choice vouchers in public housing, I really do believe that Housing Authority in San Joaquin County and DCDC, its development arm, is really best positioned as an affordable housing developer. I think over the past 10 years or so, the Housing Authority and DCDC have shown that they are the premier affordable housing developer in San Joaquin County that actually produces units. I mean, over that time span, 554 new units, total of $227 million worth of value or so, with an additional 164 units currently under development and another 600 or so in the pipeline that the Housing Authority's envisioning. I mean, I really see that as its best role. But when opportunity presents, the Housing Authority has already been active in pursuing self-sufficiency resident economic development opportunities and community development opportunities. I mean, in addition to, you know, my colleague mentioned some of the Jobs Plus grants. I think one of them was down at Conway Homes, and that helps people develop the skills and get into the workforce, and again, increase their income, increase the chance that they could move off of a voucher or subsidized unit, opening up that resource for somebody else. You know, the Housing Authority is also supporting the location and siting of charter schools to enhance economic opportunities for the people who live in public housing in the neighborhoods surrounding those public housing locations. And further partnering with groups and resources that exist in the community rather than trying to be everything to all people. The Housing Authority does a lot of things exceptionally well and it has also been good at identifying partners who have roles that they fulfill exceptionally well. And I think the Housing Authority and DCDC continue to be pretty well positioned to fulfill those core responsibilities.

Thank you. We have one more question and then an opportunity for a closing statement. So Mr. Mendelson, you'll be first on this question. Please share a little about your background that you believe is an asset in the position of a housing authority commissioner.

absolutely i'd be happy to so i think one of the biggest responsibilities as a commissioner on the board of a housing authority or any elected board or appointed board for that matter is um to act as a sort of watchdog set of guard rails you don't want to get into the day-to-day management and the housing authority has exceptionally competent executive management and staff so i just want to say that but the board is there to act as a public watchdog and a guide and to make sure the community priorities are represented background in relationship to that i've been a member and resident of this community basically my whole life with the exception of going to la for school i came back um I have a background in watching government boards conduct business. I spent several years as a journalist in doing news reporting on public bodies, and so I have an idea of, you know, the value of transparency, the value of making sure that our entities that deal with taxpayer money are acting in efficient and ethical ways. In addition to that, specifically related to housing, I've worked with Central Valley Low Income Housing Corporation for a short time ready to work, which are both non-profits that have missions of supporting homeless households. Specifically, my current experience with Central Valley Housing is in also relation to housing homeless households. And so I think that personally, professionally, I've got a fairly broad and deep understanding of housing related issues in the community. And personally, I strongly believe in the Housing Authority's mission in providing as much affordable housing for everyone in the community as possible because everybody in the community benefits from having neighbors who have a safe, stable place to live.

Thank you. Mr. Gresham, same question.

Yes, so obviously being on the commission, that I think provides value because there's some continuity and some understanding of more of the technical details of the housing authority that I think has value. But for me personally, I'm a real estate broker, so... I do residential real estate, so that provides kind of my nexus of why I was initially interested in the Housing Authority and its mission of providing a safe, stable place for people to live. I've also... I served a couple years on the Sillagrand jury, which is how I became aware of the Housing Authority originally. And then after that, I joined the Housing Authority Commission. I currently am involved in my local community on the Murata Municipal Advisory Council and local Murata Area Association. the Waterloo-Murata Fire District, the fire department. So I'm deeply involved in my local community, and I'm passionate about trying to make the community we live in a better place. And that's my focus. As a commissioner, it's to watch in the money, you know, be the eyes on the money and to provide some guidance to the exceptional leadership team that we have at the Housing Authority, the executive director and everybody else in this team in saying we want to do as much development as possible, to bring as much money as we can that's being spent in the federal and state dollars and bring that to our county to help our residents as much as we can because that's been, you know, my focus and why I'm so involved in my community is Instead of sitting back and complaining about why things are broken or horrible or not working, it's what can I do? I can't do a whole lot, but what little bit can I do to try and make that little bit of difference and say, hey, I'm doing my part. I'm doing whatever I can to try and make our community better. And so I think that's... That's about my background and why I think that I'm an asset to the Housing Authority being on the commission. I think I've been there for, I don't know, since 2019 or 2018, something like that. And I've served... Number of years is that you know the other commissioners have voted me for the chair of the commission so I've been doing that for a number of years now and You know I'm just passionate about trying to You know make make where we live a little bit better every day and doing what we can to make that happen and so I'm hopeful that I will continue to be able to Serve as a commissioner on the Housing Authority board Thank you so much Okay, mr. Gresham.

This is your opportunity to provide the board with a closing statement and

I think that that was kind of a segue into that. I knew that was coming up, so I was kind of hitting some of those points as well. I think that it's a privilege to be able to be on the commission and to be able to see firsthand some of the impacts that it's having. the ground breakings and the grand openings that we've been having and recently being able to have residents come and kind of share their story. It helps you to reflect on just how fortunate you are that you're not in that position where you need that help. you know, you kind of take for granted that, you know, you have a stable house, you have a stable roof over your head, you don't worry about, you know, what are you gonna eat. You don't think about these things and you see the impact that, you know, some of these decisions, you know, it's a once a month meeting and some of these decisions you've made over the years, you see, you know, it takes a while but eventually you break ground and you see this new building and you see people moving into it and you see you know, firsthand that person is off the street or that person has a stable, safe place to live and you just, you know, the impact it's having. You know, some people that have children and now those children have a safe place to live where they can then go to school and, you know, bringing the charter schools so that people have an opportunity to choose which school to go to to hopefully, you know, have an avenue to get out of getting out of poverty. And then the gateway to that is education and having a safe roof over your head so you can focus on school and trying to do better. So those are the things that I'm excited about the Housing Authority doing and that we'll hopefully continue to do. And I appreciate everyone's time and the opportunity to come here and share a little bit about myself. And I just want to say thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Gresham. Mr. Mendelson, please provide a closing statement for the board.

Thank you. So again, I'm really hopeful that I can serve on the board in a continued capacity. I'm really thankful for the time that I've already been able to spend as a commissioner of the Housing Authority of the County of San Joaquin because it is a big responsibility, and I take that seriously. especially because you know housing has a real impact um it makes a huge difference not just in the numbers and and i think that we're working through some preliminary data right now regarding uh homelessness in the community but you are going to see when we release these final reports you are going to see how housing makes a real positive impact in the community in terms of numbers, but also in terms of individuals and an individual's life and experience in a family that's able to experience stability and safety for maybe the first time in a long time. And I'm incredibly proud of this particular housing authority. I think it's one of the most active and exceptional in the state. Part of that's because of the leadership of Executive Director Peter Ragsdale, but also all of the other Managers administrators and frontline staff and I wish I could sit up here and list them all out, but that would take too long and I'm afraid I'd leave somebody out. Um, and I'm also proud to have had a small role in that, uh, entity success and I'm. Really really. passionate and excited to see that success continue and that's why I want to remain on the board. I think that our community and this agency in particular really have some good traction in terms of turning the tide regarding affordable housing and I want to see it continue. I want to continue to help create opportunity for as many people in this community as possible. It's what I do for my day job, and again, I'm proud to have a little bit of a role in the Housing Authority, and so I'm hoping to serve again. Thank you.

Thank you. It was a pleasure meeting you both. Thank you for your service. Thank you. Chair, that concludes my questions, and I'll turn it back over to you.

Thank you very much. Is there any questions for both applicants? Am I right?

Just a statement, please. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I got to tell you, I was elected to this distinguished board of supervisors a few years ago. This is one of the agencies I really wanted to be critical of. You have got one of the. most professional ability to answer my questions thoroughly. You're innovative. The partnerships you've created with behavioral health and other departments is outstanding, and you have a lot to be proud of. And I absolutely love the fact that we have people that have experienced knowledge and are willing to reapply, and I want to thank you both for doing that.

Thank you, sir. Supervisor Gaudia.

I want to echo the same response of thank you for stepping up and trying to make our community better. And great interview. You know, you guys competing against yourselves. And you guys took the time to answer the questions very thoroughly. And thank you on a very good interview.

Anybody from public? Do we have a motion? So moved.

Second.

We have a motion and second. Call for a vote, please. Motion passes 5-0. Congratulations. Board members, you want to take a recess to close session, or you want to continue with the discussion items? We have 10 of them. Continue.

I do have a request, though, because I thought it was going to be later on if we happen to get to item four. Before too, I'd like that to get moved back if we have to, because we've got a lot of people showing up.

And through the chair, just a reminder, we don't have outside counsel today, so that's not an issue.

So what I recommend, continue or recess?

I say we just move on, push on. Okay. And the people are waiting.

On my right, continue. All right, let's go. Discussion item number one, oral presentation from Mr. David Razkovich, president of the Stockton Maritime Museum on the USS Lucid. Supervisor Gaddias, you put it on. You got the floor, sir.

I brought this forward. Had the pleasure to be on the ship probably, what, a couple weeks ago. And honestly... I've seen renderings. I haven't been on the boat or the ship. It's a ship. And I was honored to be there and see the veterans just unwinding, barbecuing, having a beer, and seeing your vision of what you're trying to bring, what you've brought to Stockton. And I'm looking forward to your presentation. Thank you.

introductory to the Stockton Maritime Museum.

So have you submitted presentation slides to us? So I know what my staff received was a copy of the board letter, but are there slides associated with that?

If they can't find it right away, you want to skip to two, and then come back to us after? Yes. Just for fun purposes.

Chair, I apologize. He's gonna resend the presentation to Mary and I, and we'll get those up shortly.

You want me to go to item two, then come back to one? While we are waiting.

I apologize, sir. Yeah, we are ready for number two.

Item number two, discussion and consideration of local emergency proclamation related to the invasive golden mussel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Supervisor Canepa, you go.

Thank you. Supervisor Gardea and I have been doing the Golden Muscle ad hoc committee. So we brought, Ms. Hillary is going to bring up a presentation first, and then we'll bring it back for a discussion item. Thank you.

Good morning, Chair, Council Kiernan, Madam Clerk, Assistant CAO, Kylie, My name's Hillary Crowley, and I'm the legislative officer for San Joaquin County. At the request of Supervisor Canepa, I am here to provide a status update from the board's Golden Muscle Ad Hoc Committee. And I didn't grab the clicker. Golden mussel were first discovered in the port of Stockton in October 2024. This was the first known occurrence in North America. They are native to Asia and China, and the simplest explanation for their discoveries to date is that a cargo ship ballast water containing golden mussel larvae was discharged at the port of Stockton. Unlike the invasive quagga and zebra mussel, golden can tolerate brackish water and low calcium levels, which means we have more vulnerable water in our delta and the state than we do with quagga and zebra. This matters because adult golden mussel attach to surfaces and their larva is suspended in the water column, enabling them to be transported through flow or conveyance systems. A single female mussel can produce up to one million offspring a year. They reproduce quickly and in high numbers. All right. They are present throughout the Delta. To date, they have not been detected outside of any California water body that does not receive water from the Delta. They threaten reliability of the state's water supply and the environment. They reduce the food supply for the endangered Delta smelt and other plankton feeding fish. Infrastructure and infested water requires costly retrofitting and or ongoing removal of the organisms to maintain gates, screens, hydroelectric facilities, and flood control structures. This image shows golden mussel detection and is updated as new sightings are confirmed. This graphic is on the State of California's Department of Fish and Wildlife website. I think I covered that. Sorry about that. Pregnant pause. OK. I'm not able to advance.

OK.

Do you want to advance for me or just sit here and look pretty if I can?

We have a technology disruption policy on the agenda later.

Thank goodness it's not me, okay. Okay, well this is my next slide, thanks everybody. All right, the image on the left were provided by Sajafka and were taken by divers who were servicing the $100 million Smith Canal Gate Project, a flood control structure designed to isolate the Smith Canal from the San Joaquin River during high water and tide events to prevent flooding. It provides 100-year flood protection to upwards of 8,500 properties and was used for the first time in a flood scenario this January during heavy storms and rising king tides. It was completed in 2024, just two years ago, and Golden Mussel are caking the gate. Clearing the gates of Mussels are now part of its maintenance schedule. To the right are pictures provided by Mr. Tony Faso of the Delta Marine Yacht Center of mussels plugging a boat ballast. Here you can see the boat and an upclose of an infested ballast hole. And here are some more images that illustrate the impact the mussels are and can have on infrastructure. They're small, but their colonies aren't. Government responses include Representative Josh Harder's introduction of HR 3717 last June, the Golden Muscle Eradication and Control Act of 2025, the State of California's formation of the Golden Muscle Task Force a year ago this month, And there are also three Golden Muscle specific bills moving through the legislature. And six months ago, on October 21st last year, Supervisor Paul Canepa brought this issue before your board for approval to form the San Joaquin County Golden Muscle Ad Hoc Committee, which it did. While two thirds of the delta are in San Joaquin County, it is a state managed resource that's outside of county jurisdiction. While expert biologists learn how to mitigate the impact of golden mussel and state agencies align around program logistics, our county ad hoc committee was formed to convene, organize, and align around local stakeholders so the county is ready to implement mitigation strategies from the state while exploring solutions locally. The committee was also formed to help keep the Delta front of mind with lawmakers. Key objectives of the ad hoc committee are to coordinate with state and local agencies, adjust impacts the San Joaquin Delta waterways, protect agricultural irrigation efficiencies and water conveyance and reclamation district infrastructure, hydropower and pumping facilities, and the Delta's fragile ecosystem, vital to fisheries and recreation. Committee composition includes Supervisors Canepa and Supervisor Gardea, members of our state delegation, private sector marine operators, the City of Stockton, engineers from KSN, which represents more than 50 flood control districts in the state, the Port of Stockton, environmental advocacy organizations, the San Joaquin Farm Bureau, and County Public Works. Administrative support is provided by the County Administrator's Office. Our state delegation, Is that the wrong one? Yeah. The committee has met three times since November 2025 and has made great headway in elevating the issue at the state level. Supervisor Canepa was invited to join the state task force, which meets monthly, with Supervisor Gardea and staff attending earlier this month. Staff have joined and actively report out at the state Golden Muscle Task Force, excuse me, the state Golden Muscle Task Force Outreach and Education Subcommittee, which meets monthly. The ad hoc committee was invited to brief Assemblymember Papin on delta-specific impacts to her Assembly Bill 1772, which I just got amendments to today, as noted on an earlier slide. Staff of the Assembly Committee on Parks, Water, and Wildlife that's actually Water, Parks, and Wildlife, pardon me, asked for a briefing by the ad hoc committee on delta-specific impacts, which was provided, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife approached the county about potentially hosting a decontamination pilot site for a product called CleanWake. Supervisor Gardea went on a site visit to see the demonstration product. Those interested in receiving updates from the state can subscribe to this, I do. But we don't wait for them to move forward, we keep looking for solutions. Our state delegation has been very active in keeping the delta from being overlooked. The ad hoc committee has proven to be a coordinated resource that is visibly and audibly at statewide tables. While the state is focused on learning the golden muscle biology, state agencies are understandably focused on what they could potentially control, which is the overland spread to uninfested water bodies. In the meantime, The ad hoc committee has been vocal to ensure attention also goes to addressing the delta, which is ground zero. There are members of the ad hoc committee in the audience in case the board has particular questions. This concludes my presentation on behalf of the ad hoc committee.

Thank you for that presentation. So what we found out is that literally after doing a deep dive, no pun intended, This is out of control on our Delta, being ground zero and where we're at. First, we thought it was just a boating issue, but it became way more than a boating issue. So we're hoping to do a local emergency proclamation through the board, and that's why we brought it back. There's a couple local folks, and we've been working with Assemblymember Ransom and our local advocates, and Mario has been on treks and It's not only just in the Delta, but anywhere that this water from the Delta goes, holding ponds. And so what it does is it just coats the pipes. And so our $100 million floodgate took 10 hours to clean and $10,000. And so if we're having a flood issue and need to clean the gate before we can close it to save the communities, it's kind of getting out of control. And so we're hoping that the board can do a local emergency and proclaim that. Supervisor Gurdia, would you like to kind of speak to what we've been doing and how we've been doing it and the partnerships?

Well, thank you. I've got to honestly really talk about how we got here. You know, this is not the first invasive species that we dealt with in the Delta, and, you know, something that I've been educated on by San Joaquin Delta neighborhood watch is that, you know, what's next? You know, we have to make sure and sound the alarm from a county level that, you know, there's a reason why Stockton's ground zero is because we have an inland port that receives shipping from all over the different countries. And, you know, making sure that this doesn't happen again because my belief is You know I come from a recreational background of boating and you know I've dealt with this for many years with the zebra mussels and different mussels and the golden mussels, pretty much in the last couple years. I really thought it was more of a recreational issue until I got an invitation to go out to McDonald Island and saw it firsthand where it's just not one or two mussels. The mussels are coating the intake pipes, the The pipes that exhaust the water from keeping the island from flooding and you know we rely our municipalities rely on the delta for water and to release our for flood mitigation so what happens if our pipes are clogged up and we're unable to move the water from our streets, so this is. You know, I've sat in a lot of meetings. I sometimes believe that we have meetings to have meetings. And, you know, I listened to the water rights issue earlier. You know, this is something that they thought about many, many years ago. This is something that when we're long gone, that our cities and counties are going to be dealing with this for a long time. Eradication, in my belief, is impossible. It's about mitigation. We're not going to be able to eradicate these muscles out of our system. It's a matter of making sure that we capture the funding and do our research on how we're going to mitigate and protect our community and our farmers. from future future costs and the ability to use our water to irrigate our farms. So this is why, you know, I'm not proud of being on this ad hoc committee. I'm proud of the work that we've done in the group of people that are really, really dedicated to really looking out for the well-beings of our communities. And I'm glad we brought this forward because I really feel that we need to sound the alarm because we are ground zero. And there's a lot of studies that are looking at the delivery of water down south. I don't really care about the delivery down south. I really care about what we're doing here to protect our communities and making sure that we're sounding the alarm as San Joaquin County that we are ground zero. And we need to get ahead of this and not wait till this is, you know, not wait till the last hour to try to figure this out. We need to figure it out now.

Perfect. Committee members, Mr. Newdick or Ms. Glaive, do you have any comments or Farm Bureau or just real quick, just to say what you think and.

Good afternoon. Thank you, Supervisor Canepa and Chair Olliwal. My name is Chris Newdack. I'm with Kelson Seneca Newdack. We're civil engineers and surveyors here in the Delta. We're in our 70th year representing the Delta. And this issue goes right to the ground zero element. How are we going to handle it? It came from China, landed here in California, particularly in the Stockton Inland Delta, and it's also down in Brazil. So it's in the Pacific quadrant. It's not in the Atlantic quadrant yet. But no one's handling it. And I was talking with Tracy Glaves sitting next to me, and she said in China, they're actually harvesting them. They're actually putting plates in the water to harvest these crustaceans, these mussels, out of the water, trying to limit them out. But given that every little small muscles putting out a million larvae, that's quite a few babies. And they are all the way down in Southern California. They are in the conveyance systems down there. My brother works with Metropolitan Water Districts and responsible for Delta conveyance elements. And they're bringing up scientists up here to try and figure out a way. One way we did figure out, and this is with Delta Marine Services, is this ultrasonic device. It's a puck. You put it on boats. They're not cheap. I just had my houseboat, fairly large houseboat. Just to give you a perspective of what it cost, it's a 75-foot houseboat, $15,000 to mitigate this muscle. i brought it in we had to scrape the bottom off re-sand it re-coat it and put these pucks on they're about six to eight hundred dollars i put six of them on so fifteen thousand dollars later and i've got my fingers crossed we've also done it to a couple other boats but this is a significant issue and it's one that we have yet to address in the delta they'd like to attach to steel pipes the pipes that are in the delta. Most of the pipes that are in the water in the delta are not touched because it's a fish and game issue. So if we were to go down there and blast on those, we're probably gonna blow those pipes apart. So probably gonna have to replace those pipes because once they attach, the only way to get them off is either scrape them or high pressure wash that you'd see like in a typical vac truck that you see in the storm water systems here in the city and the county. and we just can't do that. So we're probably looking at replacing the pipes. And that's what the farmers are doing now. When they start to get clogged, they just cut them off and replace them. I did some just quick numbers. To take care of a clean pipe, you're probably talking about maybe, you know, just in the county itself, 25 reclamation districts, about 500 diversions. You're talking maybe two or $3 million. Those are all farmer diversions. Those are not reclamation districts, public diversions. Then you're looking at maybe twice again as much for the pumps. But the problem is, if you're having to put new pipes in, now you're in the tens of millions, 10, $12 million, because you have to start with a clean pipe. These ultrasonic waves do not rid them. They just prevent them. And they're really made for ocean-going craft, like a crabber boat that sits in an embayment or in a marina until the crab season. It keeps the crustaceans off of those. But it's a pandemic. You can see the pictures on the screen. It's something that we have to get our arms around. We are testing the ultrasonic puck. Delta Marine Services has some blank pipes in the water with these probes on them. I've done two boats in my ownership and we're testing them. It's not easy though. You don't take a houseboat out of the water for free. I know Tony Faso, that's been mentioned in these presentations, looking at taking boats out for a dollar versus the $1,000, the typical charges, trying to assist in this. Because every boat that's metal in the Delta is going to have these. And they've gone as far out as Discovery Bay so far, and they're infecting there, but it's predominantly in the San Joaquin area is really where this is at. taking account. So I support this declaration and look forward to working on it. And I think I think we're going to find a solution, but it's not going to be cheap. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Anybody else? Yes, sir. Okay.

Thank you, Chair Dahua, and hello, Board of Supervisors. My name is Carlos here on behalf of Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom. We want to start off by thanking Supervisor Canepa and Supervisor Gardea for bringing this proclamation forward. The Assemblymember is in support and appreciates your leadership in responding to this growing crisis. At the state level, Assemblymember Ransom is continuing to push for state action. She is currently advocating for a state budget allocation to place decontamination centers here on the Delta. She's also carrying Assembly Bill 2032, as we heard earlier, and it's a bipartisan measure with urgency to cut through red tape and give our local water agencies the tools that they need to respond quickly and effectively to this issue. Just this morning, members of the Assembly Delta Caucus voted to make Assembly Ransom's budget allocation and this piece of legislation as a priority for the caucus, which means we're going to have additional partners and additional supporters to lobby and make sure that this gets through the finish line. So thank you for your partnership, and as AB 2032 moves forward, we respectfully ask for the Board of Supervisors to support this measure. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Andrew?

Thank you, Supervisors. Andrew Genesee, San Joaquin Farm Bureau. Just up here, we highly support this motion. This issue is something being seen across the state, and I appreciate you guys taking leadership in this. I know a lot of areas, it's tens of thousands of dollars to individuals in the potential costs, millions of dollars for irrigation districts and water reclamation districts and water storage districts down south that have already been allocated. This is a problem that's growing exponentially here. As I said, you know, a million villagers coming from one muscle. Taking a leadership role here is imperative, and I appreciate you guys taking the time to do this, and thank you.

Thank you, sir. Anybody else?

Tracy Glaive, San Joaquin Delta Neighborhood Watch. mario's correct uh... this we just found another uh... unknown species that i've sent off to texas personally sent it off to texas to a biologist to do some testing and it's a sponge and at first i was extremely excited about it because the sponge had totally encapsulated a muscle so the muscle dies because it can't open we've got too many mussels and not enough sponges. So now we've gotta figure out if that's native or invasive. Right now it's looking like it's another invasive species. And when this first started, it was projected as though it was a boating problem. And it's so much more than that. are just that when we start talking about even in the boating industry and our Delta businesses, the loss of revenue, the cost to our farmers, their siphon pipes, they can't hold a prime. So that's additional costs. You've got people, because of the mussels. Because of the mussels, and now our water is cleaner than ever. It is as clean as it was when I was five, which was 70, almost 70 years ago. But now the Gary Densa is getting the light. The Gary Densa is a weed that grows from the bottom and it's taken over the Delta, which now is restricting boat access to businesses, to restaurants, Windmill Cove, Now they're looking at, they're gonna have to dredge, which is additional cost, so it's full circle. And it's just, I appreciate you guys stepping up and moving forward on this. Again, it's a maintenance issue, the cost of the maintenance issue for everyone involved. And I'm hoping that we can get some help with that. Thank you.

Anybody else? Do we have a motion?

Go ahead, sir. I just wanna add a few more things. It's not just pipes. When I was on McDonald Island, we really went out there not really knowing what we're gonna see, and we walked into the drainage ditch, and they're attached to the rocks. So it's not just pipes. So there's a lot of unknowns, and I think that's the biggest thing. And then my second thing is that I did have the opportunity, I want to thank the county and the team that put together that trip to Utah. You want to see a group of people that are doing it right, go to Utah. They actually have a decontamination process where it's a swimming pool that has a launch ramp in it, and it's 120-degree water where you actually launch the boat, drop the boat trailer into this tank, and your boat sits there for about three minutes, and it's no cost to the public. It's part of their ticket process, and Utah has no mussels. But a lot of the recreational boaters go to Arizona. And Arizona has a lot of mussels. And so what they're doing is they're protecting their watershed in Utah. And my conversations with DWR and Fish and Game is that you want to look at a model of somebody doing it right, go to Utah. That clean lake process, it's expensive, but it's going to save money in the long run. So I just wanted to add that on there. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. I just wanted to thank our partners and put it up to vote. I don't know if the chair can do it or if we need to vote on it, obviously doing a local emergency proclamation. I want to thank the board members for allowing us to do the task force. I think it's been very, very fruitful. So thank you.

Anybody else? Do we have a motion?

Make a motion to adopt the resolution to declare a local emergency for gold mussels.

Second. We have a motion and second. Call for a vote, please. Motion passes 5-0. Are we ready for item number one, discussion item?

Yes, Chair, we are ready for discussion item number one. Thank you.

Let's go back to discussion number one. One, the presentation.

Thank you, Chairman, Supervisors, and again, Supervisor Gaudia for inviting me out to make this presentation. This is an introductory presentation about the Stockton Maritime Museum. And I want to start with the two earliest known photographs that were taken in San Joaquin County and Stockton. And of course, they're of the downtown waterfront. The one on the left there is looking westbound on the channel, and the one on the right is looking southbound. That's El Dorado going north and south, and that's Levee Street, which is now Weber, which is going left to right. This points out that maritime history is history of Stockton and San Joaquin County. I mean, it's the reason that Stockton was founded here was because of the water, obviously. And 20 years ago, I attended the dedication of the Joan Darrah Promenades when the county and the state built those here downtown. And I accidentally said out loud, too bad no one knew anything about our maritime history. And that's what led us to eventually start the Stockton Maritime Museum. The museum was founded in 2011. when we acquired a ship. And I'm gonna get into that here in a minute. But this is, that photo that I just showed you, this was taken in 1850. And here's another one. You could see the buildings are clippered and canvas. Here's another site in that same area, taken around 1900. You can see the difference in 50 years. And keep in mind, this picture was taken from the top of the Sperry Flower Mill looking east. That piece of property right down at the bottom of the picture there is a piece of property that we acquired. That's gonna be the site of our museum downtown. That's 321 West Weber, just a few blocks from here. You could see the activity there in the Delta, the paddle boats and the commerce, the lumber being offloaded. This is what we call the historic downtown waterfront that was the port in those days. Interestingly enough, of all the ships built here in Stockton over the 150 years that this port has been active, the two most famous ones, by some quirk, both still exist. That's the Delta King and the Delta Queen that were built here in the 1920s. Obviously, the King is in Sacramento and the Queen is back east, and it is for sale if anybody's interested. It sailed until a few years ago, but they're both still in existence. and because i'm a simple guy i'd love before and after pictures and this picture at the top is the city dump taken in the nineteen thirties and if you look at the upper right hand corner that picture you could see the new civic auditorium in the very up right hand picture now you look at the lower picture again you see the city civic auditorium never right hand corner well that's hickenbothams That was established there in 1940s during the peak of World War II. It was one of our largest active shipyards here. So it just shows you how things changed down there in that waterfront. We went from a city dump to an active shipbuilding industry there. At the peak of World War II, there was nine shipyards here in Stockton. Interestingly enough, the population during World War II here was around 30,000 people. There was 10,000 people working on our downtown waterfront. This shows the importance of this area to the city. The largest one was Pollock Stockton. That was a company that established here during the war to fill contracts. Then after the war, they closed up shop and went back to Sacramento. Some of these, such as Stevens and Kohlberg, they've been here since 1890s. Obviously, they were here until the 1980s, so a big part of our maritime history. And another part of our maritime history was rough and ready naval supply depot, which was built in 1940 in anticipation of World War Two. And here you could see this picture taken in the 1950s when it was an active part of the West Coast mothball fleet. You could see there the destroyers that are tied up to abreast and up above in that picture, there's cruisers that are tied up there to abreast. So it was a very active part of the Navy's organization here for 50 years. Some of the ships that were built here during these particular taken during World War II in that upper left hand photo, that's a Hickam Botham ship being built. from that site I just showed you earlier. And they're lowering the engine into it, but if you look below that engine, that low building down there, that's the waterfront warehouse building now where Nena's Restaurant and all the other establishments are located. And the tall building on the left, that's the Sperry flour mill that fed that warehouse. um that picture on the right that's a that's a wooden tug built by the coleberg family here in town kyle and company built numerous vessels here at the banner island location this is where the ballpark is now kyle and company came into town to fulfill navy contracts they built actually more vessels for the army than they did for the navy and these are ocean going small freighters and oilers The largest vessels ever built here were built at Pollock Stockton. This is a floating dry dock. They built numerous of these, the largest. It was a new innovation at the time, these floating dry docks. They were individual hulls. You see those hulls going from left to right. Those are individual hulls with standing walls on them. They would take these out, tow them across the South Pacific, sink the thing so those walls would stand up, bolt them in position, then pump the water out of those holes to raise them up. And this was capable of floating a battleship, that's a battleship in that thing, that was floated somewhere in the South Pacific during World War II. Prior to this, damaged ships had to come all the way back to the West Coast for repairs. So this was a real innovation that was built right here in Stockton. The most numerous types of ships built here for the Navy were minesweepers, and that's what led us to founding this museum. This is a minesweeper that was built here at Kohlberg after the war in the early 1950s in an emergency shipbuilding program when we lost a number of ships to high-tech Soviet mines during the Korean War. so some poor sailor had to go down and capture some of these live mines and they reverse engineered them and this class of ship this is an aggressive class minesweeper non-magnetic ship built entirely out of wood and non-magnetic metals 101 of them were built in an emergency program in 1953 and 54 around the country in numerous shipyards three of them built right here in stockton and we discovered the last existent one of these in the United States on a backwater over at Bradford Island. It's been sitting there since the 80s and 90s. Some drug dealers and scrappers had it. Those two businesses, I guess, are commonly, you know, operated by the same individuals. And you could see in the lower left-hand corner, the thing was full of garbage. And what these guys were doing, they were stripping all the valuable metals off this ship. I said earlier they were non-magnetic. If you look at the upper left-hand photo, you can see the entire bow of that ship is bronze. All the metal, like I said, on this thing was non-magnetic, up to and including a material called Manel. The anchors and anchor chains were made out of nickel and bronze. That's an alloy that's called Manel. So very, very expensive to operate. Our Navy operated them for 40 years, up until 1995. This particular one, the Lucid, was one of the early ones that was sold. A couple families lived on it in San Francisco Bay during the 70s and 80s. And then it was chased out of there by the Coast Guard because it was in danger of sinking. And that's when the scrappers got it. And that's when we heard about it. And sometimes your first thought is to run, and I thought maybe this could make something here of our downtown waterfront. So we acquired it, and we have a collaboration agreement with the San Joaquin County Office of Education. They operate a vocational school that used to be the Naval Reserve Center in Monte Diablo. It had a dock behind it there. and they were very willing to work with us we brought the ship there and this high school is a second chance high school school for at-risk youth and the youth can return up to age 24 to earn their high school diploma and they're learning carpentry electrical plumbing all sorts of things and An instructor brings a half a dozen amount at a time right to the back of the campus to the dock, and they've been helping us restore this ship. It's been a very worthwhile endeavor collaboration agreement between our museum and them. And here's another before and after picture. There's a student sending some beams there on that left in that photo on the left in a in a raw. and there it is on the right after complete restoration. We're taking it back to what it looked like when it was in Navy service. Here's another student installing a fire sprinkler system. We had a fire sprinkler, that's the only thing that's not original on the ship, is we had Western States Fire design a system for us. Our students, under supervision from a retired sprinkler fitter, the high school students installed the system completely. And the city fire department has been very agreeable to work with us to allow our students to do this type of work. Here's a picture of a site. The picture on the top is a large berthing compartment up forward of the ship where the deck had leaked and the floor had rotted. And after a number, what is that, three, four years of work, there's a completed compartment on the bottom. Back to what it looked like again when the Navy operated it. You could see all the all the gear was removed because, like I said, all this gear was aluminum or even more valuable metals. So it was all scrapped. So we're putting it back together by searching the world for these parts or a lot of them we make right there on site. We're able to do this because we are able to find original blueprints. We wrote to the Navy and the National Archives and we couldn't find blueprints for the ship. But interestingly enough, we found it right here in Stockton at the old Colbert Boat Works. We met Henry Kohlberg and asked him if we could look in his buildings and he said he didn't see why not, but he didn't think they had any plans up there. And interestingly enough, we found 550 pages of an original 600 page set of these plans that were used to build these ships back in the 1950s. And this is what our ship looks like today. It's about 85% complete. We just recently started to open it to the public because it was a work site. Until then, it hadn't been safe. And two or three weeks ago, we held a spring open house. We had 450 people show up for this open house. It was the largest we've ever held. We had people come from nine different states to see this ship. We were tickled pink. We're such big shots now, we even had a headquarters hotel. We had all these people stay at the Waterfront Warehouse Hotel the night before we had a nice reception. And we're thanking these folks who have been supporting us. These are donors, men who have served on these. Like I said, 65 of these who served in our Navy. This is the last one left. There's only one other one left in the country. The Royal Dutch Navy turned it into a museum in the Netherlands. So all these men that served on these 65 other vessels, or this one, For a matter of fact, they bring their family members out to show them what it looked like when they served on this little wooden ship. So we had a tremendous attendance. We had men that served on this ship as far back as the 1950s that came from Wisconsin and Minnesota. We had people from Florida all over. It was a tremendous event. So we're kind of anticipating what we're going to do with this when we get it downtown. And this is a view of what we anticipate. We acquired that piece of property at 321 West Weber. It's an acre and a half. It's just to the east of the waterfront warehouse building. Obviously to the left of the waterfront warehouse building is going to be the new city hall. This is just a couple blocks from here. And this is... This is Photoshop or AI, of course, but look at all those people attending our vessel there. It's nice to see. We have these beautiful promenades down there. We have this beautiful waterfront, but unless you own a boat and you have it in the marina down there, there's no reason for you to be down there on that waterfront. It's kind of desolate, and we hope now with City Hall and us going down there and other traction, we can make that the focal point of of this county and city a place a destination where people that are driving you know 110 000 cars a day go over that i-5 bridge they're heading from la to portland or seattle to los angeles and not many of them get off in stockton uh we and we're applying right now for national historic designation for this vessel which when we get it downtown will give us the right to put freeway signs up the brown freeway signs stating you know historic site next exit uss lucid um So we're gonna turn this into a permanently moored historic ship on the downtown waterfront. We want it to be an icon on that downtown waterfront. We were in talks, this is the building we got those plans out of, those windows up there on the second deck, that's called a mold loft, where they'd have a big open floor, that was a 5,000 square foot room up there, a wooden floor, like a basketball floor, a very smooth floor. And men would take blueprints and make full-size plans or patterns rather, of these complicated pieces they had to cut out of wood to make these vessels. This building stood here for about a hundred years until unfortunately just a few years ago the homeless moved in and they were cooking something and it got out of hand. So we were in talks with the Kohlberg family to actually move this building. We wanna save this building and move it across the water. It's on the North Shore. We wanted to move it to the South Shore and make it our museum focal point. Unfortunately, we lost it before we got that chance. But because we were gonna move it, we took architectural drawings and photographs of it. So what we plan to do now with those drawings is build a recreation of this. I've built buildings before in the past out of used materials, and that's what we're anticipating to do here. We wanna build a reproduction of that building, and this is gonna be headquarters of our museums. That second story, that mold loft I told you about, that 5,000 square foot room, we wanna turn that into a community gathering spot for functions, fundraisers, wedding receptions, county parties, memorials. My wife even told me she's gonna hold my memorial in there, which I thought was cute until she asked me how soon until it's done. So that's gonna be the focal, that's gonna be our headquarters building, and there's a view of that ship on that Joan Darrah Promenade. We're gonna actually access that ship over the top of that promenade. We've been in talks with the city. We're gonna put a gangway over the top of that gangway. We're gonna enter it from, there's a brown building on the left there called an access building. You just see the roof of it. Because we're making the ship ADA accessible, you're gonna go up an elevator or a flight of stairs if you can and then cross onto the main deck of the ship. And here's an overview of that site that we are now in the planning process to build. We acquired a large grant from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy. They really liked this idea and they told us that Stockton could use a little bit of their love, which we love to hear. So we acquired... a planning grant from them that gives us until late next year to get to the building permit process for this we've since hired architects engineers and um and we are proceeding with the city and so i've made this presentation to them i wanted to make it to you as well because you're going to be hearing more and more about us we haven't used any public funds to date this that was the first uh state money we received once we get it permitted they're going to ask us to come back and apply for a for an implementation grant in order to build it out we may build it in phases because this is a rather large project to date this project has all been funded by individuals we have a rather small budget very small sixty to eighty thousand dollars a year whatever we could raise and all the work all the work has been done by individuals All the money has been donated by individuals. We just attracted a couple corporate sponsors, the Port of Stockton being one of them. We have other local long established businesses that are gonna be joining us shortly. So we're excited to make this public splash out there and really establish something that when you're traveling up by five and you go on your phone and what is there to see in Stockton, boom, we want this to be the first thing that comes up on their screen. If I went through this quickly, because I wanted to leave time for questions, and then I'd like to ask the preeminent historian here in San Joaquin County, Philip Merlot, to add a few words, if he wouldn't mind. So would there be any questions from, I know that was pretty quick, but if not, oh, yes.

I just want to commend Dave Rakovich for when I saw that thing float in at the beginning and it's like, oh my God, what are you going to do with that? And then not only that, you beat up the people. You tell them how you got the property. You beat them up so bad. He just gave it to you. Right. I mean, so and the work that you do for Wounded Warriors is absolutely amazing. And you're you've been all over the world. Where do you guys just go for the last pillage of Taiwan?

We just came back from Taiwan.

I mean, your passion, and I don't know why your wife hasn't divorced you yet. Maybe because it keeps you away.

Well, she's planning my memorial.

But I want to just commend you, not only as a friend, but as what you're doing for this community is absolutely amazing.

Thank you. And I need to add, you've seen it over the years, and you've been pretty passionate about what we do with both veterans and with students, and I appreciate that because you get it. A lot of people didn't get it. When we started this project, a lot of people thought I was smoking dope. They said, this guy's lost it. but now they, because they didn't have the vision, now they could see it, and I'd like to invite all of you, if you haven't seen it, I'd like to invite all of you out to come and see the quality of the work our donors and our volunteers made possible. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Excellent presentation and amazing work. Thank you. Thank you. Philip?

Well, I'm just happy to stand with Dave Rakovich on this. I think a year ago when I was talking to the Board of Supervisors about the museum's projects, one thing I had said is that our history is an economic asset and our cultural narratives are economic assets. And I think that there's probably no better example of that than the Maritime History Museum project, where because there's this nationally significant history of shipbuilding in Stockton and on the waterfront in the Delta, there is a community of people all around the United States that are really passionate about this project because they served on the types of ships that were built in Stockton. And so I think that you're gonna see, and Dave says, yeah, we're gonna be the first thing people see, but you're gonna start to see tens of thousands of people a year, five years from now when everything's built that are visiting Stockton to see this. And it's going to be veterans, it's going to be veterans' families, it's going to be veterans' grandchildren. And that's going to be a huge economic benefit to San Joaquin County. And I know that one of the themes that this Board of Supervisors has had is that we want things for people to do. We want to build our experience economy here in San Joaquin County so that the families have opportunities to learn and thrive and be in community. The San Joaquin County Historical Museum firmly believes that the Maritime History Project, Maritime History Museum should be front and center in all of this. So we endorse what Dave is doing. We endorse what Dave's volunteer group is doing. And we will continue to be supportive as an ally and also pushing for this project to be known publicly.

I just want to say thank you for that presentation and in all honesty, a lot of people talk about these ideas and it's all talk. You've proven that you've gotten your hands dirty and you put in the time and your passion for bringing this this awesome ship to our community. And I do remember seeing that boat out on the, that ship out on the water and wondering what's going on with that thing many, many years ago. And to see where it was and now where it is, it's remarkable. So thank you.

Well, thank you for that. I'm awfully hard-headed. When somebody says they can't do something, then I kind of go overboard. Thank you. Well, thank you. If there's no other comments, again, I'd like to invite any of you that would like to come and see it. I'd love to give you a personal tour and walk you through our plans, what we have planned for the next few years. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

No action is required on this item, so next go to discussion number four. It's from District 4. Discussion implementing mandatory spade neuter and pet licensing ordinance for yeah, that's the item I asked We're gonna move that to the end of the agenda.

Okay, because they're they assumed we were gonna have a How about special counsel and everything else? How about number five? Are we going to be taking a break at all? Or are we just going to go all straight through? Or what's the plan here?

Board wants to go through all of these discussion items. Then we can recess to go home because we'll be done. We still have a closed session. We do have a closed session. Yes. Okay. You want to discuss item five? That's also yours. Yes. Let's do it. Okay, let's do item number four, discuss implementing an ordinance to regulate the possession of catalytic converters. Vice Chair Dane?

Is Terrell here yet? Ah, there he is. So I could, if you could come forward, please. I mean, I could sit here and try to act like I've read your notes yesterday rather than last month or two months ago. I've talked to the sheriff. We'll have some sheriff make some comments, too. But I thought from your perspective, he brought this before. He's got his personal experience as well, but really started the ball moving and changing the law, you know, down in L.A. County and moving up north. Yeah. Take it away.

Yeah, well, my name is Daryl Terrell. I'm from the city of Reno Valley and Riverside County. I've been at this since May 17th, 2022, when I went to my board of supervisors. And originally, the reason I went there, it was because my friend, because I work at Lowe's. I work two jobs. I work at Lowe's, and my friend got his catalytic converter stolen. So I was looking to... Because there was nothing on the books except what they were doing with the recyclers and things, but nothing with someone possessing a catalytic converter. So it took three attempts, and I got the ordinance passed. I went to the board of supervisors, and my chair said, hey, you have an ordinance. And I'm like, well, I didn't think of anybody except for San Bernardino County that was the only county in the state that had one. So what I did is I took that and I brought it back to him and he passed it. So then I say, you know what, I'm going to go further because I didn't know there's only in the incorporated area. So I went on a mission in my county. We have 28 counties. There were three that already have done it. And so 6 was inspired by this ordinance. I went to 19 of my cities and got them all. On the same page, it's called the 1 and done basically. A, B, 641, as you guys know, is the state law that says. A person could steal up to 8 calories and nothing can happen to him. No joke. And it's because. I'm going to read you something from one of the conference reports, and it says, rather than making a possessing a catalytic converters a new crime, and this bill takes the approach of expanding the definition of automobile dismantler so that if someone has stolen multiple converters and is discovered with them, they could be charged with operating a dismantler without a license. So does that seem like, so if someone steals your catalytic converter, they're not a thief. They already said that they stole it, so they're a dismantler. So then it goes further to say, which is, I mean, this is really what really drove me because my assemblyman wasn't gonna do nothing about it. So I said I was going to do something about it. So it says, it makes it a misdemeanor for a person to act as an automobile dismantler without first having established a place of business without having procured a license. Come on, I mean, somebody stole, this is what Supervisor Deans talk about, common sense. I mean, They stole your catalytic converter and they considered, no, you're not a thief, but you're a business. Now, in LA County, 1,800 catalytic converters were found. They were found in Norwalk. So think about, you remember I was talking about the one and done in our city, in our county, if a person steal one Cadillac convert, they had to have proof of ownership. So think about if an officer had came in contact with somebody that had multiple. That could have stopped a heartache from a lot of people because a lot of the folks are impacted by this stuff. And so I went on a mission after I got all the cities and Riverside County on the same page. I said, what's this? One of my undersheriffs said, what are you going to do next? I didn't think about it until when Johnny Wagner was killed, the actor in Los Angeles. So I went on another mission. I started in Southern California. I traveled to Ventura, Orange County. I went to Central. I went up to Kern and Tulare, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo. I went to Clovis, Fresno. So of all what I have done, Riverside, Fresno, Ventura, Kings, Orange County, Kern, all have this ordinance. Sacramento's not going to do it.

I don't want to interrupt you, but I've got the sheriff back here, too. I'm going to bring the sheriff. So I brought this up to the sheriff this weekend, and I'll let you. Back at the sheriff's, he goes, they were just talking about this with all the other sheriffs. So you have made an impact, but I'd like to get the sheriff's comments on it and introduce you to Sheriff Pat Withrow.

Hey, good morning. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Yeah, this has been this has been in my craw for a long time. I don't know if you guys remember, but back in February of 2022, I went to the state of California and I testified in front of the public safety committee. And the chair at that time was a Reggie Jones Sawyer and. They basically said that we would do more harm than good by trying to pass a law that just being simply in possession of a cut off, detached catalytic converter should be a crime. And we were trying to make it a felony. And apparently it's a felony in Sacramento to hold people accountable for victimizing our citizens. So we fought real hard at it, but it didn't even make it out of committee. They voted no. They came up with some silly excuses for not doing it, as if a private citizen would be victimized for driving around with a catalytic converter. And they wouldn't even let our bill that was carried, by the way, by our own Carlos Villalpudua. It was AB 2398, and he was the only one who had the courage to carry it for us. and uh... uh... he knew it probably had a good shot again shot down up in sacramento and it did but he carried it anyway for so we really appreciate that but he's right that this is a horrendous crime on on families and these the families that the people in sacramento and and and us all of us are trying to help and and protect and these are people who can least afford to lose their vehicles because when your catalytic converter gets cut off, you can't drive that car. And it costs thousands and thousands of dollars to have this replaced. And most people, I know when I was young, you know, I couldn't afford to have full coverage on my car. I had liability, all I could get, you know? And so when this happens to their cars, they don't have insurance to cover the cost of getting these things fixed. And we would catch here in San Joaquin County, I've got some numbers for you, To date, as of 2026, in the past five years, there's been about 3,500 catalytic converters that we have recovered or caught a few of the guys in the act, but not many. And those are the ones that were cases that we have taken, us and the other law enforcement agencies, and that's only us. Lodi PD and Stockton were the only numbers I could get. Tracy and Manteca and Lathrop and Escalon, I don't have their numbers yet. So that just includes about three of our departments here that have dealt with this. And it's a horrendous crime. And when a family gets affected by this, they can't get to work. They can't. A lot of people, if they don't have that transportation, they're done or if they miss work because of it. And it severely impacts our citizens and the most vulnerable. If it happens to me now, I'm blessed. I could afford probably to get my car fixed, but most people can't. And for Sacramento not to care enough to pass a law because if we catch somebody, which we have, we've caught guys with 15 of these in their cars. And the problem is, is that once it's cut off a vehicle, I don't have enough to give the DA to charge the guy for being in possession of a stolen piece of property because there's no numbers on it. There's no way to prove what car it came off of. So there's no victim. We can go back through neighborhoods and find them, but we can't say that catalytic converter came from that car. So the normal laws of being in possession of a stolen property is nothing. If we catch him in the act, then we can do it. We can catch him for, I forget what it is, $10,852 or something like that of stealing pieces off a car. And then we can do conspiracy on the person who drive him there because it just takes a matter of seconds. They pull up in a vehicle next to a car. They open the passenger door. They literally roll underneath the car. They have a sawzall. They cut it off. it drops they grab it they get back in the car and they're gone and nobody knows it's happened until the next morning so um it's it's it's a horrendous crime um i'm so proud of you guys to to be talking about this and bringing it up and all the work that that he has done up and down the valley i was just down at state sheriff's association as the supervisor was saying and the other sheriffs were talking about him saying hey somebody's going to come up and talk to you about this and i thought and then it then it made me mad because i should have thought of this back in 22. i should have said at least we could do an ordinance at least when we stop somebody they've got it in the car and yes it'll only be a misdemeanor and yes we can only do six months and in custody if we can get a judge to do that but we can also find them we can do a thousand dollar fine And our DA is on board with this. He's excited about it. He'll do the prosecution for us on this so that county council, as in a lot of county ordinance, has to, I think, be involved in that. The DA will jump all over this. And at least it gives us something to hold them accountable. And I'd like to be able to do a charge for each one that's in their possession. And however you guys can write it to get the most impact for our citizens who are being victimized by this, we'd love to have it because it's happening, you know, today, tomorrow, the next day. It's going to continue to happen through our county. So anything you guys can do on this would be fantastic.

Thank you, Sheriff. Anybody, any questions?

No, I happily support this. My daughter's catalytic converter got stolen in Sacramento. I got to drive the car back with earplugs. And then they said, oh, watch out. You could have caught the firewall on fire by driving it that way. So, I mean, and the problem is, is a lot of times even the factory, the OEM ones are even more, probably worth more than the car is worth. And then so then you have to get it and then you have to go to a referee. to get them to approve an off-market. I mean, it's amazing. So I support this wholeheartedly because what it does to people, and like you said, the cost is a lot of people, it ruins the car and then they don't use the car anymore.

One thing I would love to be able to do, if there are fines attached to this, that as we collect those fines, maybe they can go into a fund to help people who don't have insurance, who can't afford to repair their own cars. And it'll take a while to build up money on that, I understand it, because A lot of people we catch don't pay their fines, but anything we can do to assist our citizens who cannot afford to do that. And I talked to the D. A about it. If we are able to create a fund like that, maybe it could run through victim witness and they deal with the victims of these crimes and they could dole it out as much as as much as we can afford to at least try and help them help repair their cars.

So, questions so we don't sit around and talk about this and actually take action. Darrell, you've got the language from, does it match from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the language that?

Yes, sir. Basically, all the same from various from administrative citation to just straight I confess or has minute has a choice in my community. It's all the same. The language is the same. It doesn't depending. You're going to have code enforcement involvement or administrative versus, but they all the same question.

So county council, I guess my question. Are you with us? There you are. Okay. I guess the correct way to do this would be send this to the Sheriff's Department with, you know, the, what did you call it? The one and done? The Daryl one and done law. Yeah, let's put his name on it. Nah. And then bring it back for action? Is that what we need to do?

Yeah, if I could get the contact information from this gentleman. And my office or the DA, I don't know who wants to take the lead on it, can work to look at the language. And one of the departments, like I said, it could be me, it could be the DA's office, it could be the sheriff's office, can bring back the ordinance. And the board can pass it at that point in time. And just thinking out loud, I mean, I'm hearing sometimes it's done as administrative matter. Sometimes it can be done as a crime. Normally, you might be hesitant to do it as a crime because the DA won't. Well, we're going to do what they want us to do.

So we don't have to overthink it.

Sheriff, do you already have language? I actually made a copy of, I believe it's Fresno's that I have. I have it in the back of the room. And so I can get that and we can work on it. Of course, we'll go through county council for their review and everybody who needs to touch it. But yeah, the DA has already said he's full on board on it if we go the criminal route on it. So that's very helpful.

Do we need a motion then to direct?

this one one other thing i'd like to mention is that i did reach out to uh rich sordello from uh county council's office to check if we pass this ordinance can a police officer in stockton or in tracy or in lodi site under our ordinance and they said if the da is willing to file on it they can use our ordinance to go ahead and move forward and then and the cities could pass their own if they want but we allow their cities to be in our county so they can go ahead and use our ordinance if they'd like

I'd like to make a motion to direct staff to implement. One second. Let me get the public comment. Oh, yeah. Anybody else? Any questions? Board members? Nope. Anybody from public want to speak on this item? Okay, sir. Are we ready for our motion?

Make motion to direct staff to bring back language within two weeks, not two years. On the... Daryl, one and done law.

I'll second that. I would ask for a little more than two weeks because we're supposed to have already submitted the material for the next board meeting.

Two weeks and two days? You understand my question.

I get it, yeah. We'll bring it back as quickly as possible.

Thank you. Yes.

That's my second call for work. Motion passes 5-0. Item number seven, receive and discuss options for amending the Board of Supervisors guidelines for requesting proclamations, commendations, and certificates of recognition, and provide direction to the clerk of the Board. Michelle?

Thank you, Chair. Members of the Board, at the request of Supervisors Rickman and Ding, I'm bringing forward this discussion item regarding proclamations, accommodations, and certificates of recognition. So my goal today is not to spend a significant time reviewing each policy option outlined in the board letter. Those are provided for you. Instead, I would like to briefly provide historical context, review the trend data, and help facilitate your discussion regarding how you would like these items managed moving forward. So as the office responsible for administering the agenda process and coordinating these requests, I will also provide my professional administrative perspective throughout your discussion. We're helpful. My intent in doing so is to assist the board in understanding the practical impacts of various approaches on meeting efficiency, fairness, staff workload, consistency, and agenda. so that any direction provided is informed and sustainable. Before reviewing the data, though, I would like to briefly clarify one point in the board letter for the record. As stated on February 1st, 2022, the board considered proposed guideline changes that included decentralizing the administration of the request. However, at that meeting, the board voted to retain the chair's authority over the process. The following month, on March 1, 2022, the matter returned for reconsideration by another board office. And the board then voted unanimously to decentralize the request and establish the guidelines that we've been using till this day. At this time, I'd like to ask Deputy Clerk Southmaye to please display the chart that I've prepared. If that's ready. That's OK. Just put it up. It's fine.

Just display it.

So this chart that will be up here shortly was provided to the board last night. And what it reflects is the annual proclamations and recognitions over the past 10 years. It does not include additional recognitions prepared by the clerk's office on a daily basis for each individual board office. that goes out into the community and presents those. So from 2016 through 2021, the process was relatively stable. Most requests were managed through one centralized board process, generally averaging in the mid to high 20s annually, with some higher years largely associated with chair-led recognitions. Beginning in 2022, after the policy changes expanded access and allowed multiple request opportunities, total volume increased significantly and requests became more distributed across departments, individual board offices, and other resources. In the years that followed, overall activity remained notably higher than the prior historical average. Recognitions and proclamations are, of course, positive, ceremonial, and generally harmless items. They celebrate community contributions, important causes, and individuals deserving acknowledgement. There's no doubt that these have value for the community. The issue for the board is how they are managed within the regular board meeting agenda, what level of presentation time the board wishes to devote to these, how requests are prioritized, and what level of administrative coordination is required to support them. This item is ultimately the board's preference. From an administrative standpoint, the most sustainable model is one that preserves meaningful recognition opportunities while establishing clear expectations and manageable limits. Ultimately, the decision belongs again with the board and my office will implement whatever direction is provided. My purpose again today is simply to present these trends clearly, answer any procedural or operational questions, and assist the board in reaching a direction that reflects your priorities while remaining workable and consistent to administer moving forward. Thank you, Chair, and I'll turn it back over to this board for discussion and direction.

Thank you so much. Any questions? Chairman? Yes, sir.

So this is a motion that was made on August 12th, and I'm going to... This is from... As much as I could get verbatim, but it's not verbatim. So this is our county council. Each supervisor is limited to presenting one proclamation, which will go on at the beginning, whereas any additional proclamations that the supervisor wishes to submit would go on consent. Department proclamations go on consent automatically, although it has been pointed out that a supervisor can pull it and recognize them individually, but it'll be agendized as going on consent. Presenters are limited to five minutes, and then proclamations are to come out to be sponsored, so to speak, by a supervisor. They are not to be put on by the community group. It has to go through a supervisor in order to get onto the agenda. One thing I did not hear, I don't know if it's intentional, I didn't hear, in the motions, a limit on the number of speakers that can support a proclamation, so I don't. Then Dean, Supervisor Dean, They have five minutes. So 10 of them want to take 30 seconds, but for their presentation, they have five minutes. Our County Council got it. I think I'm summarizing what I think or heard the motion was proposing. Myself, Chairman, if I could add one thing for clarity, one item per Board of Supervisors, per our County Council, per meeting, yes, and I chime in. Yeah, so per meeting, so Kenry and Ed, MENTIONED, YEAH, SO YOU HAVE MORE THAN THAT YOU HAVE TO DECIDE WHICH ONE YOU WANT AT THE BEGINNING, AND THE REST ARE GOING TO GO ON CONSENT. ONE THING I LEARNED IS THAT OUR COUNTY COUNCIL INTERRUPT ME A LOT. BUT I'M JUST JOKING WITH YOU. I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY. THEN MYSELF, ALL RIGHT, PER MEETING, ALL RIGHT, COOL, SO SUPERVISOR DEAN MADE THE MOTION, I SECONDED IT, AND IT WAS A UNANIMOUS DECISION. SO I KNOW ONE THING THAT, YOU KNOW, WATCHING THE MEETINGS AND SO ON, YOU KNOW, ONE THING THAT WE DID MENTION IS THAT FIVE PER, A MAXIMUM OF FIVE PROCLAMATIONS PER, YOU KNOW, WHATEVER THAT WOULD BE. AND, YOU KNOW, LOOKING AT THE BORDERED ITEM, I mean, I think, you know, whatever that may be. I mean, one proclamation per board member. And as we discussed last time, I don't think we've ever had each one of us bring something to the board at the same time. So I don't think that's an issue. But I think this board, board members here should be a priority of bringing proclamations. and regardless if they're here annually or not. Because as you've seen today, we are the ones that are out in the public. We are the ones who are seeing great things in different districts and who should be recognized. So I don't think that should be diminished at all. But one thing I think we need to do is have a maximum of five proclamations, presentations per board meeting. So I'll leave it at that.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, I think, what time is it here?

12.58.

1258 and look look at our audience, you know I mean we're we're here to conduct the business of the county and and that is our number one job and while it might feel good. To recognize all these groups, you know I've I've kind of taken by myself I I go out to their events. and talk to them and congratulate them there. I'll never forget the meeting last year with Behavioral Health, trying to make a presentation, and it's 2.30, three o'clock, and we weren't paying attention the way we should have. I think our job is more than rubber chicken dinners and cutting ribbons and proclamations. It's getting the business of the people done, and sometimes I think that kind of gets in the way. I've got Spade Nooter coming up, We had to push that back because the two had to leave around 11 o'clock because we're spending a lot of time on ceremonial stuff and not getting to the business. I think this kind of balances it out so that we can do both, but we have to pay attention to business, so I would support that motion.

Anybody from public?

All five of you.

I just have one.

I just have one question, Chair. Yeah, please. So what's the average? I mean, is there, I mean, is that so? Because I mean, like you said, a lot of those were the ones that were annual.

I will say there's about eight to 10 annual proclamations that the clerk has done every year. Those are in the blue graph. All the other ones are board-directed recognition. So to your point, Supervisor Rickman, actually over the last three to four years, supervisors have increased the number of their own recognitions and proclamations.

That's the orange chart, the orange one?

So the orange were the department requests. Mary, are you able to pull that back up? That one looked like it jumped.

That one jumped.

But the board did take out and put department proclamations back onto consent after last year. It was in 2022 that the board asked that departments bring them for presentation at the meeting. and then last year it was put back to consent calendar items. So that was the orange. And then each other one is each district recognitions. It's just black. So those have increased since 2022. If the goal is that each board member is going to bring proclamations forward, these annual proclamations then would have to go to each one of you and you would have to give us direction on how we prioritize if two board members request the same proclamation, who gets to present it, who puts their name on it, and then what happens if no board member presents it and we have no proclamations and then these annual proclamations don't get presented. So a little clarity on that would be helpful.

So does that fix it? Because, I mean, obviously there's no orange this year. So, I mean, doing what we've done, or you have 11, 16, and 17 on the graph, right?

Correct, so the orange, the 11, 16, 17. Those were department that were presented at the meetings. And 2016 was chair-led recognitions to just about everybody in the community. And same with 2021. And then 2022 was an anomaly for supervisor requests that weren't tracked by supervisor district.

56, okay.

So under the previous guidelines, when board members did not bring their own proclamations, generally speaking, we averaged about 20 to 30 a year. And so those included proclamations and then recognitions that board members felt were important to bring to the board. And you can see that has increased now. If we took out the annual proclamations, I mean, there will still be this total, but you will have to decide as individual board members which proclamations and which recognitions, including the annual county-wide proclamations.

So then my question to Supervisor Rickman, so then who decides the over five or five? You know what I mean? Is it the chair, or how do we do that?

Thank you. I mean, if we have an annual one, and what we can do is still put it on consent. I mean, we're not saying, hey, get rid of them completely, they just go off of consent, and we take them off of presentations. If, and like I said before, I mean, when's the last time each one of us put a proclamation in? I don't remember a time doing it. But this also comes, you know, as a chair, the chair's duty is that, you know, if we have all the different, say, I don't know, each one of us, for some miraculous reason, we all brought one in, and we have an annual one that we always done every year. I mean, the chair can go talk to a supervisor and, hey, can you move it? We have two meetings a month. Move that back. Instead of the first month, push it back to the third of them or, you know, the next meeting. But to answer your question is put it on consent. You know, and we can always pull off a consent. But, you know, and if you have the five in the beginning, I mean, you're looking at if it's five times five, meaning the minutes, that's 25 minutes. So we should be able to start a proclamation at nine, nine thirty. and get county business.

And I do support that goal. I just want to caution that if there's a process in which a proclamation first has to find out if a board member is going to sponsor it, and if no board member sponsors it, then the clerk's office, I presume, would be the one putting it on consent. I'm in any time to put it on consent. Right now, the board rules give your offices until Tuesday, one week before the board meeting, to put items on the agenda, and we do frequently get requests for proclamations that late in the game from board members, not from the community. Usually the community does reach out about a month or two in advance to request these, so I would ask, there would need to be some time limits or some process built in to allow the clerk's office time to submit those items to consent.

And through the chair, and we keep discussing how are things going on the agenda, the timeframe, We have, I mean, that would, consent item versus agendized item, they all, they're the same thing, aren't they? I mean, you still, an office has to put that through the process. So I don't know how much more clear we can be with that.

Right, but what I'm saying is that your process right now allows you to put something through one week. So I would have to wait until Tuesday, a week before the board meeting, to find out if a board member's sponsoring an item because they could potentially, come as late as that Tuesday.

Oh, okay, I see what you're saying.

For departments, we need two weeks to establish the draft. Additionally, with recognitions, if they're not on the draft agenda during agenda review, the chair's not going to know how many proclamations are on there. We've had that frequently where we do agenda review and then six or seven requests come in for...

If there's, for some reason, we're maxed out at five because each one of us has put in... A REQUEST FOR APPROXIMATION, WHICH, AGAIN, I DON'T THINK, AT LEAST I DON'T RECALL IT HAPPENING. AND WE HAVE ANNUAL PRESENTATIONS. I MEAN, WHY DON'T WE JUST E-MAIL? I MEAN, HEY, THIS IS ANNUAL PRESENTATION COMING UP, YOU KNOW.

WE DO. LIKE I SAID, THE COMMUNITY REQUESTED ONES DO COME IN AT LEAST A MONTH IN ADVANCE.

WELL, YOU KNOW, AND THAT'S A THING HERE. YOU KNOW, IF WE HAVE THAT TIME FRAME THAT, YOU KNOW, IF WE'RE CHANGING THIS POLICY OR tighten this policy, and we need it in by a certain time, then so be it. Then it's up to us here at this board to respect that timeline and put it in at that time. I know you have, like, I know, but, you know, you guys always put it in late. But it is what it is. If you have a time frame so the chair can, you know, push things around, then so be it. You know, if you can't get it in on time, push it back to the next meeting.

I 100% agree with you on that statement. Thank you.

But, hey, all I'm trying to, like, I know Supervisor Dean brought this policy in the beginning, so in August, so I didn't mean to step on your toes. But, you know, hey, I think we all, I mean, we all love doing approximation presentations, and I think it's a good idea. I mean, you look at today, and this is why I think it should be kept. AS THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS PRIORITY BECAUSE, I MEAN, YOU LOOK, WE HAD TWO GREAT OUTSTANDING STUDENTS FROM MOUNTAIN HOUSE TODAY. WE HAD, YOU KNOW, THE WARS LEAGUE 209. WE HAD, YOU KNOW, ALS, IT WAS MOVED. BUT, YOU KNOW, IT'S GREAT TO SEE PEOPLE TO SEE WHEN THEY'RE WATCHING THIS WHAT'S GOING ON IN DIFFERENT DISTRICTS AND THE PEOPLE THAT ARE AFFECTING CHANGE AND, YOU KNOW, LEADERSHIP. AND THESE PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THESE INDIVIDUALS HAVE NEVER GOT RECOGNITION BEFORE. AND, YOU KNOW, I LIKE, YOU KNOW, RECOGNIZING OUR YOUTH LIKE WHAT WE DID TODAY. SO I THINK THAT'S A PRIORITY FOR THIS BOARD. AT LEAST THAT'S MY OPINION. BUT, YOU KNOW, IT'S NOT A COMPLICATED IDEA. I MEAN, WE'RE LIMITED TO FIVE. If we have too many, it goes on consent. If for some reason, which we have done in the past, we pull it off consent and we can discuss it there. It's pretty basic. And, you know, you look at what other cities or even that I've talked to other supervisors, by far, we do more presentations and proclamations than anyone I know of. So, you know, any city or county that, you know, that I've talked to. So we are very deep into our communities and our different districts. So, and I think it's a good thing, but I think it just needs to be, you know, we just got to control it a little better. Thank you, Chairman.

Thank you, sir.

Through the chair.

Yes, sir.

So, Supervisor Rickman, I want to make sure we're capturing what you're suggesting. It sounds like you're suggesting that there should be a limit of five proclamations presented and everything else should go on consent and priority ought to be given to board proclamations over those which are reoccurring. And that sounds like option B of the various ones that were listed. Is that an accurate description of what you're advocating for?

Let me read it. And plus, I mean, since we made this motion in August, that policy or... you know, direction from the Board is still controlling, because we have not rescinded it or amended that, so that's still controlling. And so on B...

I will say that doing five proclamations, one from each supervisor, requests that come in from the community get distributed to the Board, first come, first serve to request who wants to sponsor it, anything else goes on consent, but I need the board to submit their request for proclamations or recognitions two weeks in advance of the meeting. And that was in the previous guidelines as well, and that has not been happening. And to your point that you've never seen every board member bring a proclamation, this agenda cycle, there are over 21 items submitted by just this board for one agenda. And I have never seen that before. So, you know, new things happen. We're breaking records. But I like the idea of just five proclamations.

You just made up for your mistake this morning.

I like it. Five proclamations keeps it simple. Five minutes each. We'll start the timer. We'll get it going. And then that way people have a better understanding, too, of what's going on later in the day. Everything else, presentations or discussions, will be scheduled at a different time. So I think that's easy to do administratively. But I really need to ask that you guys adhere to those deadlines.

So one week? Two weeks. Oh, two weeks. As Supervisor Dean mentioned, it's still five minutes per. And again, the August 12 meeting motion is still in effect because it has not been rescinded. So this would be additional two. So it's pretty much a clarified cleanup of the policy.

You're over your five minutes.

I know. All right, I'm good, so I don't know if anybody else has anything. If not, I'll make a motion.

Supervisor Ding, then Supervisor Gardea, then Supervisor Campbell. You good? Okay, he's good.

No, and I mean, Rochelle did today say the Warrior S is because they wanted to do a PowerPoint, so we told them the five minutes wouldn't allow that, so she has been... mindful of those things and how it affects us. So I want to say thank you for that. So we had them, we'll just do it later, bring it back or whatever, you know, to allow them or go out and just like Supervisor Ding said, go out and find them and do the presentation and do a video or something, so. Thank you.

Supervisor Gaudia? Just through the Chair, we have clear, do we have clear direction? Because I feel like we've beaded this matter up to death. And, you know, looking at that chart, I know District 5 is proud of being number one. He was number one in proclamations of anybody else of the list. But is there ability to shorten up maybe, you know, when we do the whereas this and whereas that, is there a way to abbreviate that a little bit so that for time?

And we do, and I did actually on a couple of these this time as I was reviewing them. We do state in there that the clerk's office can amend the language that's provided, and we try to cut it down, keep it to one page, keep it short, and try to take out the repetitiveness that tends to happen. Sometimes we miss some of their whereases, but we do absolutely want to keep those down short, because I lose my voice. I can't be up here reading all day.

Yeah, no, and I appreciate that, you know, and we're also taking pictures. You know, one thing that I noticed today is we have seven different people taking pictures, and I know they're doing their jobs. You guys are doing a phenomenal job. Can we just share maybe our pictures so that... We could just speed up the process because, you know, my thing is, too, is we have department heads who spend a lot of time and commit a lot of work in doing their jobs. And I feel like as we get later, later in the day, we start to lose focus and the work that we're actually trying to get done. And so I agree with my colleagues that. that this is definitely something that we need to get ahead of, but let's make sure this is the last time we're talking about this, because this is a dead horse. I agree.

I appreciate that, agree, and also with the photography, I've noticed that. I would say that the Board should prioritize its PIO to be the one that takes the pictures and can share it with the Chiefs of Staff and Board members, if that would be acceptable, because I have noticed that sometimes the person taking the official picture gets kind of pushed to the side.

With your permission, Chair.

Yes, sir. May I make a motion? Let me ask the public if there's any comments. Any comments from the public? Questions? Okay, sir. All set? Ready to go?

I'll make a motion to approve option B.

We have a motion. Do we have a second?

Second.

Call for a vote, please. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, sir. Next, we have Receiver Report on Senate Bill 707, Adopt a Technology Disruption Policy, and direct staff to implement applicable requirements of SB 707. Rochelle?

Thank you, Chair. I just have a quick 50-slide presentation for the Board this afternoon. Just kidding, I have nothing. I'm just going to make this brief. This item is before you to receive a report on Senate Bill 707, adopt a required technology disruption policy, and provide direction to implement applicable changes for Board meetings. SB 707 is a recent update to the Brown Act that modernizes public meeting requirements through January 1, 2030. Its overall purpose is to improve public access, expand participation, and provide clear statewide standards for conducting meetings. And yes, Supervisor Rickman, these are unfunded mandates. There are three key areas for the board's consideration today. First, remote public participation. So beginning July 1st, 2026, the Board of Supervisors must offer real-time remote access for public participation. Staff proposes a practical approach using a two-way telephonic option for public comment combined with the county's existing live video stream. And this is to avoid what's been commonly referred to as Zoom bombing, people on video. I don't think that they need to be in board chambers, but they can call in and provide their public comments that way. So with that, SB 707 requires the adoption of a policy addressing interruptions to remote participation. If access is disrupted, the Board must recess open session, make a good faith effort for at least one hour to restore service, and then determine whether to proceed under the findings required by law. The proposed policy before you establishes that process. Third on the agenda is agenda translation. We just recently learned that based on the current consensus data, San Joaquin County does meet the statutory threshold requiring board agendas to be translated into Spanish. The law applies to agendas, not the full agenda packet, and staff will implement a process to ensure that the translated agendas are posted at the same time and in the same manner as the English agenda. I also want to note that while advisory commissions remain subject to the Brown Act, These new enhanced requirements apply specifically to eligible legislative bodies, which is just the Board of Supervisors and other city councils and special districts that meet a certain population threshold, but these are not required by advisory commissions. There's no immediate direct fiscal impact with adopting this policy today. Some implementation costs related to technology, staffing, or public-facing resources may arise later, and staff would return to the Board as needed. Today's recommended action is pretty straightforward. Receive the report, adopt the technology disruption policy, be prepared for one-hour recesses when technology goes down, and direct the clerk's office to proceed with implementation. Through the chair, I'm available for any questions.

Thank you, chair. If we could keep track of how much this is going to cost us, you know, again, unfunded mandates, I think this whole board agrees, you know, the state of California is out of control. And, you know, the interesting thing is, I mean, hey, first of all, more public participation. Yeah, I think we're all for that. I mean, I think, you know, people have a right to talk to their representatives. But what I find is funny is this applies to local government, but it doesn't apply to our legislators in the state. You know, just another thing that, you know, the state of California and, you know, what they do over there in Sacramento, how out of touch they are, you know, with their constituents in the counties is that they want to they want to apply it to local government, but they won't apply it to themselves. It's just to me, it's just absolutely amazing. It's just another statue that the legislature puts up, makes them feel good. But, you know, laws for what's that saying? Laws for thee, but not for me. Just another example of our glorious representatives. So that's all I have, Chair. Thank you, sir. Supervisor Canepa.

One question. So the Hispanic version. So how is that accessible?

So we will post the Spanish version in the same manner that we post the English version. To Supervisor Rickman's point, two contentions with this policy. Number one, the law says that we do not have to be accurate in the translation of the agenda. So to think that it actually furthers participation, in my opinion, it really doesn't. Now as the clerk's office, we're gonna make every attempt to ensure that that translated agenda is as accurate as the English version. And second, for public participation, I agree. However, with telephonic participation, that opens it up to the entire world. And in my opinion, I fear that you lose the local voice and you could have state or national or worldwide influence on matters that are nobody else's business but the county's. While I support public participation during COVID, and I appreciated the Board at the time, we did not allow public participation via call-in. I didn't see the true benefit of it. I do hope that some Members of the public will be able to participate. They weren't able to in the past. But, you know, this law was kind of pushed through. The Clerks Association worked really hard and long to make this a two-year bill so that we could make additional amendments to it. But they signed it, and now it's law. Okay.

And then, like, on YouTube, is there a language preference on there that they could choose or no?

That's entirely up to them. We're not required to translate the video in Spanish. We also, as we've always done and what this law requires, is we do allow additional time for Spanish translators if they bring a translator to the meeting, and we've always done that. There's space for them in the board chambers. That's also required. So little things like that we've always done, and that's nothing new. These are the main changes that this board's going to see.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, sir. Vice Chair Ding?

I'm good.

You're good. Anybody from?

I would like to know what numbskull introduced the bill.

Anybody from public? Nope. Hearing none, I'll bring it back to the board. Any more questions? Do we have a motion? So moved. Second. Call for a vote, please. Motion passes 5-0. Discussion item number 9. Presentation on the current state of the Cal Fire County Coordinator Grant and proposed future actions. Tiffany? I'll be right back, sir.

I'm Chair Dollywall, Vice Chair Ding, Supervisors, Assistant County Administrator Kiley, and County Council. I'm Tiffany Caccio, your Director of Emergency Operations. Today I'm here with Lowell Allen, Senior Emergency Planner, and Shad Canastrino, Emergency Planner. We're here today to present a brief update on the California Fire Safe Council County Coordinator Grant. I'd like to thank our fire department partners, including Chief Bradley and the South San Joaquin County Fire Authority, and Jasmine Gonzalez with the California Fire Safe Council. With that, I'll turn it over to Lola Chad.

Thank you and good afternoon. The Wildfire County Coordinator Program objectives are that the Wildfire County Coordinator Program seeks to educate, encourage, and develop countywide community collaboration, coordination among wildfire mitigation groups. The program aids to build local capacity for wildfire resilience, specifically focusing on home hardening, defensible space, and community education. The county coordinator roles and responsibilities basically act as liaisons between state agencies, local fire safe councils, fire districts, and community groups to foster collaboration. They use a whole community approach that takes into consideration the unique needs of their county. The goal is to coordinate, collaborate, and educate. And some of the things that we will do in that role is to develop new groups, including fire safe councils and firewise communities, host mitigation group meetings and forums, support local outreach events, meetings, and workshops, assist with development of the community wildfire protection plans, write grants to support countywide mitigation efforts, develop networks and resource sharing modules for local groups, collect data and support mapping efforts, and develop outreach tools for local groups. This is kind of the main six core tasks of our current grant, and as you can see, many of them are completed. And even though they're more completed, they're also in progress, so basically we've met the minimum requirements for the current grant, even though we're continuing to add to those requirements as well. And those core tasks are to one, develop a plan in concert with CAL FIRE unit or contracted entity to integrate the county coordinators with their local CAL FIRE units and develop shared locally appropriate resources. Continue to contribute to the California Fire Safe Council GIS networking portal, number three, to attend at least one qualified entity defensible space assessor training hosted by CAL FIRE. Host one, county level training on the CWPP toolkit. Number five is develop a preliminary plan evaluating steps, actions needed to initiate a county level CWPP using best practices as outlined in the CWPP toolkit. And then submit a report to CFSC based on those findings. Number six present project scope of work deliverables and impact of the county's Board of Supervisors As you can see that one's in progress as we speak the wool market completed by the end of today's meeting We have one other seventh core task that's part of our grant locally, and that is to provide outreach material to our partners. And so these branded materials should facilitate interest, discussions, and actions related to the goals of the community wildfire protection plan, which, as I mentioned, include preparedness, resilience, community action, and recovery. For the next slide, we're going to talk about where we're at on those kind of those six core tasks, those seven core tasks, or what we've done specifically locally. So we've met with the South San Joaquin County Fire Protection District. We've also met with the three CAL FIRE units, SCU, AEU, and TCU, that border our county to discuss mitigation efforts, preparedness, safety corridors, and capabilities and needs for the Corral Hollow area specifically. We've met with the county fire warden to discuss countywide capabilities and needs. We've met with members of Corral Hollow's firewise community to discuss outreach and education opportunities, as well as their local needs. We've met with the county coordinator from Alameda County, and we currently are scheduled to meet with the county coordinator from Santa Clara County to discuss plan coordination and options We've contributed to the GIS portal with CAL FIRE to obtain historical data regarding fires in the county, and we've established the process for sharing our data with them. We've had two of our planners, myself and Lowell Allen, have attended the Defensible Space Qualified Entity Training We have hosted two public outreach events, one in Tracy and one in Mountain House, and we have another one in Tracy scheduled for a few weeks from now. We've met with the previously mentioned groups and stakeholders to identify risks, needs, and capabilities in the county, We plan to continue this process of meeting on a regular basis with Cal Fire representatives and other counties and our local fire agencies and stakeholders to identify project areas in the county. And then the sixth one, like I mentioned, we're doing that today. And then branded materials, we've already started the process of distributing those branded materials to our fire districts and our community to continue the work on the CWPP. And with that, I'll turn it over to Lowell Allen.

Thank you very much. With the support of the governor's office along with state legislature, the 25-26 state budget provided us with a total of $9.5 million for this county coordinator program. The Fire Safe Council's strategic goals, as is stated, were to serve as facilitator to translate state-level priorities into tangible community-led and locally-driven actions. and to ensure that every county has the structure and resources in place to make meaningful progress and wildfire resilience. So we're continuing forward with that goal and making sure that we can bring those strategic goals to fruition, especially improving that public safety, community insurability, and wildfire preparedness goals measurably. We're also looking forward to our next steps with SB 973. This was introduced in February of 26. This provides in code for the Wildfire Coordinator Program and is something that we brought before our Fire Chiefs Association to support county level coordination and capacity for wildfire mitigation, prevention, preparedness, and recovery activities. It also requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to enter into an agreement with California Fire Safe Council to administer and deliver that program. It establishes the capacity in participating counties and plan to plan and execute specific activities in support of the Wildfire and Forest Resilient Action Plan. Finally, from the county, our next steps. At this point, we are applying for and to secure grant funding for the 26-27 fiscal year from California Fire Safe Council in hopes of continuing this county coordinator program. We are writing the county's first community wildfire protection plan, otherwise known as CWPP, and we are seeking to have that approved. We will continue to meet with our fire response agencies, both state and local, to identify any needs and capabilities. And we will also continue to meet with the community groups, including the aforementioned Firewise community there in Tracy Hills, to identify by CAL FIRE those areas identified by CAL FIRE as high and moderate risk. We will continue to work on and further those seven core tasks in the existing plan, as well as identify areas in the county most suitable for fuel reduction, as well as defensible space projects. We will also work to determine where in the county This coordinator position should live in perpetuity. At this point, it resides within our office. However, we are looking for any other avenues that may better suit this program in a longer term. With that, thank you for your time. We thank you for your attention. We hope this was as brief as promised, and we open this up for questions.

Thank you, sir. Any questions? Yes, sir.

Thank you, Chairman. Thank you both for the great information. But for the, you know, we're awarded the $151,000 to fund a county coordinator. And this is an ongoing position, or is this just a position until we get these tasks completed?

The position was actually being filled by myself. We did not have a dedicated position. We were taking this on as additional duties. The want at the onset of this grant was to really get a foothold within the fire community itself to be able to assess needs and be able to push information into there.

Okay, so what I was getting at, this is not going to be an ongoing cost that's going to impact our general fund budget or anything like that. Did you want to handle that?

At this time, it's not an ongoing cost. It's just for the life of the grant. So through this fiscal year, if we get awarded the 2627 grant, then it would be through that with the one assembly bill or the one Senate bill that's still in legislation that would hopefully continue to fund this in perpetuity. So that way it wouldn't be an unfunded mandate. It would be something that would continue to be funded by the state for counties.

All right, and I guess for in the future, I mean, as you heard from the last previous item, unfunded mandates, if there is something that this board needs to know so we can, you know, take account, you know, what's going on with this, that kind of stuff, I appreciate it. So thank you, guys.

Anybody else? Thank you so much.

Thank you, Tiffany. Anybody from public? Thank you, sir. No action is required. So item number 10, accept a presentation by the registrar of voter providing a pre-election update on the June 2nd, 2026, gubernatorial primary election in San Joaquin County.

Good afternoon Chair and members of the Board. I will try to be brief myself this afternoon and hopefully get us through this presentation with an update on our June primary election that's upcoming. I will explain what's being handed to you in one of the slides. I wanted to give you an opportunity to look at some new materials. So today I will be providing a pre-election update for the June 2nd, 2026 direct primary election. This presentation covers voter roll maintenance, drop box and polling operations, election officer training, updated materials, and key upcoming election dates. Just to give an overview of some of the updates on our voter roll maintenance, as of this week, San Joaquin County has 409,304 registered active voters. We have 43,000 inactive voters. We've also completed regular list maintenance with over 26,000 voter cancellations for reasons such as moves, deceased voters, duplicate records, court orders, or voter requests. In addition, there are over 6,000 pending registrations that would usually need additional information before they can actually become active voters on the roll. But I'd like to add that there's almost 3,000 youth, so 16 and 17 year olds that are pre-registered to vote that will become eligible in the upcoming elections. They do not receive a ballot or any information. As soon as their 18th birthday hits, we are able to activate them on the roll. That's important to note because we only had about 500 students sitting in that category in past years, so we've done some great outreach with our students. This reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining accurate and secure voter rolls. Briefly on dropbox locations. For this election, we will provide secure ballot dropboxes throughout the county, including city-based and rural community locations. Stockton has nine locations, and other cities such as Tracy, Manteca, Lodi, and Lathrop will also have multiple sites. New locations include Delta College and French Camp, along with a relocated Tracy site at the large Clover Community Center. As an added transparency measure, all drop boxes will still have the 24-7 live stream available on the county website. All new boxes are installed and all cameras are up and we will go live at the end of this week right before we open drop boxes on Monday. Polling location operations. We have 130 polling locations for this election with an additional 130 mail ballot precincts. Voters assigned to mail ballot precincts may still vote in person at their nearest polling location. We are also now able to process in-county address updates and political party changes directly at polling places on the poll pad, allowing for more flexibility and convenience for our voters. Voters can return vote-by-mail ballots at polling places, surrender them for an in-person ballot, or even use the mailed ballot to vote on-site through our sign, scan, and go process. Provisional ballots and conditional voter registration can now be processed through our poll pads, reducing delays and simplifying service, ensuring each voter gets the correct ballot style. We will also continue our no wrong location model so voters can receive assistance anywhere in the county. Our operations will be supported by our election officer help desk, our voter phone bank, rover teams and supply hubs, allowing for seamless service on election day. Election officer training. We have enhanced election officer training by reviewing feedback from recent elections and incorporating improvements. New in-depth training videos are already available and in-person sessions are taking place. They started this Saturday and will continue through May 23rd at the Ag Center in South Stockton. These trainings emphasize hands-on learning in real-world scenarios so officers are prepared for Election Day. I will share that we had over 500 of our election officers provide feedback in the 2025 special election. We've provided incentive items to get them to participate so that we can get feedback from what their experience was like on Election Day, so we're getting real-world information. Almost impossible to make it to every location on election day, but we do have some of our administrative staff making efforts to visit polling places on election day so we can continue to improve the program. All right, envelope redesign. I'm really excited about this one, as each of you have been handed some of the envelopes that we have redesigned. We are also redesigning the envelopes to align with the county brand standards and best practices from the Center for Civic Design. The goal is to improve clarity, usability, and voter confidence when interacting with election materials. We have the CVR provisional envelope, which is the manila-bigger one I've given you. On the left and our new vote by mail envelopes on the right. The dark blue is outgoing. The lighter blue is the return for the majority of our voters and the brown is the return for military and overseas voters. I absolutely love that we've incorporated the iconic photo of a whole tractor plowing a field to represent San Joaquin County and you can notice that in the coloring on your envelope. So we've definitely made them our own. And then I'll go ahead and go over some key election dates. Several important election dates are approaching. Military and overseas ballots began mailing on April 8th. Voter information guides were mailed on April 23rd. Vote-by-mail ballots will begin mailing today. Early voting will begin on Monday, May 4th at the Registrar of Voters Office. The last day to register to vote is May 18th. After that day, eligible residents may still register through conditional voter registration and be processed accordingly. Election day is June 2nd, and the canvas is expected to conclude by June 25th, with the authority to extend to July 2nd if necessary. Our team is working diligently to complete the process accurately and as early as state law will allow. With that, I am available for any questions about the upcoming election.

Olivia, in the prior elections, the return ballot was kind of yellowish and people were used to it. Why was there a need to change the color?

That's a great question, Chairman. We actually learned that that bright green and yellow... The bright green and yellow, we did get quite a few concerns. We would get phone calls about that. And then we learned that it's not in alignment with county brand standards. And so we wanted to make it, we wanted to bring it in alignment with the county brand standards that were adopted by the county. And so the coloring is matching that. It's also... The yellow that was before was also a hard color. Sometimes people with vision issues can't see all the colors, and that's why we worked with the Center for Civic Design. So in combination, we were trying to make it more in alignment and accessible for all voters, so that's why we made the change.

Supervisor Ting, then Supervisor Gardea, then Supervisor Canepa.

I just want to clarify a couple things. You can go to any polling place, no matter where you're registered to vote, but if you don't have a ballot, let's say you show up, I'm out scouting Rickman's district to see if he's doing his job, and I'm running late, so I decide to go vote in Tracy. Only those races that are countywide, I can vote. They can't print a local ballot in Lodi in Tracy.

They can.

They can now?

Yes.

So we are doing, what was it?

The no wrong location.

Well, you're rewording it, but it was something we had talked about a couple of years ago.

It's the same process that we've been doing for all of 24 and 25. So the no wrong location and the ability to print the ballot, we've been doing that since the 24 primary.

Okay. I'm good for right now. Thank you, sir.

Supervisor Gardea?

Just a quick question. So the hole punch, you're unable to see any type of information or how you voted this time?

That was Sacramento County in 2025. So unfortunately, that wasn't our issue. But yes, we do check for that. And I actually have a sample here of a preview ballot. And if you put it in the envelope, no matter which side or which way you flip it, it will not show any of the markings that a voter has marked on their ballot. So we made sure of that to ensure we didn't have that issue or that perceived issue.

I just had one. Well, two, actually, how many drive-through spots do we have?

So drive-up democracy, the drive-through is just here in front of the county building, but there are the 27 drop boxes where people can drive up and drop their ballot if they need to.

Okay, and then those 3,000 kids, how do they vote if they become of age?

So the system tracks them. So what happens is in the state of California, you're allowed to pre-register 16- and 17-year-olds. So once they've been pre-registered, they're basically queued up on the voter roll, and once their birthday comes and they turn 18, we call it the wizard every week, and so it updates registrations based on if that birthday is now their 18, it'll update it automatically in the system. After they turn 18, that's when they would be eligible to receive voting materials.

Okay, but I'm just saying, so then where would they, they would just go if they did turn 18 and it wasn't in time to get sent stuff, then they would just go to their polling place?

They would just contact us, or they would reach out to a polling place, or they would reach out to our office.

Okay, thank you, thank you, Chair.

So I just want to make sure we're in alignment with county direction that this board set two years ago, what you just described is a VCA process, which this board voted against becoming a voting center county. Correct? Remember this conversation like, I mean, we are now at, what you're describing here makes us a VCA county.

So VC to A would require multiple days. The No Wrong Location was introduced a few years ago and we've implemented that to provide basically the ability to serve voters with the technology but not advancing to VCA. So using the, basically using the technology but still staying traditional and having one day polling places available.

But how do you, one of the main concerns back then was having voting machines hooked up to the internet because they were worried about manipulation, that if when you went in to vote, there was no way anybody could access it. So all of our voting machines are now hooked up to the internet. It's the only way you can print up, how do you, are they still isolated is what I'm asking, or are you going to the cloud for a Lodi ballot when I'm out campaigning in Rickman's district?

So that's a great question. So to clarify, there are two separate systems. You have the election management system, which is what our poll pad is reading from, and then you have the voting system. So what happens is at the poll pad, the voter signs in, and when they sign in, it prints a little cue card with a QR code on it, and that QR code contains the precinct number and the ballot style. Then that QR code and that little receipt is taken over to the Verity print It is scanned and then it's able to print the ballot or the poll worker can manually enter the precinct to print it for the voters. So it's still air-gapped. The voting system is not connected. The election management system is.

Okay, thank you.

And it is in alignment with what we've done for the last few years.

No, no, no, I just want to make sure. Absolutely. And then the other question I have, who came up, I'm a little, this kind of takes me by surprise, military ballots being marked in a different color because there tends to be a tendency of voting patterns. Why are they getting a different color envelope than a normal vote? Is there a purpose for that?

It's an operational thing, and so our past envelopes, the green envelope is what most voters received. It was red prior, so they've always been a different color as long as I've been here. Yeah, the overseas have always been a different color? Yes, they've always been a different color. We just wanted to get it in alignment with our county colors, and that's why you see the palette in front of you.

Okay. Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Chairman. Just a quick question. How can I get more drop boxes in Lodi and rural communities in District 4? You have to approve funding for that.

I'm just joking.

That's it. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Good info. Through the Chair, if I may, one last thing. So I just wanted to share, because sometimes we get feedback. The conditional voter registration and the provisional voter, we can now also give them the correct ballot style. So that was one of the concerns that our constituents have brought forward. So that is in place now, we are able to get those. So if you walk in as a brand new voter, we're not gonna just add you to the voter roll, you'll still do the conditional process, but we're able to look up your address to ensure we're giving you the correct ballot style that you're entitled to. And so that was some of the feedback that we got back, and so that's something we've been able to implement as well. And that's it. Thank you.

Are you ready for? Item number four, discuss implementing a mandatory spay, neuter, and pet licensing ordinance for San Joaquin County.

And I just saw her walk in, and then I saw her walk back out again. Where'd she go? Okay, so... There they are. It's okay, don't rush for us. It's not like we haven't had lunch or anything yet today, Jill. So the animal control problem is absolutely out of control, and everybody recognizes it. The new numbers I got from the sheriff, where did it go? How much money we've spent? $2.5 million? $2.2 million. More. Okay, how about I just have the Honorable Sheriff Withrow go over this?

To be fair, I did send you that number originally, and then I was corrected by Nassim, so... So we're on track right now this year to go for about $985,700 we're gonna have to spend on impounding strays and cats and dogs and things like that. This does not include the money that we've been spending on the big case that had to do with the horse and animal abuse up in North County. So just so you know, some averages. Per animal, back in 23-24, we were spending $493.05 to take an animal to the shelter. That is now up to $599.59, so $600 a cat or a dog that we take to the shelter. Now, we try and do as much as we can to rehouse them or find something else to do or reunite them with their owner, but that's very tough in the middle of the night sometimes. So our impound numbers have gone up from 940 back in 23, 24 to so far this year, we're at 1230. So we're on track. That's for let's see. for nine months, so we're on track to be up or still under what was last year's, but around 16, 1700. And the total cost of this has gone from in 24, 4, uh four hundred and sixty three thousand um up to as i said year to date right now we're at seven hundred and forty thousand but we're on track for almost a million dollars then pounding animals now to be fair that's a lot cheaper than owning our own animal control shelter and paying for a building and all the employees and everything with that but it's it's clearly out of control as far as how many animals we have on the street and uh you know spade neuter is really um The only answer to this, as far as getting this under control, it takes several years, obviously, to catch up and get it under control with all the feral cats and everything else that's out there. This ordinance, though, is also a challenge because, you know, how do we go to private citizens and say, your dog has to be spayed or neutered or your cat, whatever it is, and how do we enforce that policy? So there are a lot of challenges in enforcing something like this. And I'm sure there's some answers to these questions. But we got to do something, because this is a tremendous amount of taxpayer dollars that we're spending. And the more stray dogs and animals that we can get spayed and neutered and keep them from compounding this problem is the answer. Whether including privately owned animals and things into this where they have to get permits to be able to have puppies and things like that, that's on your guys' plate if you want to go down that path. Right now it's out of control and we've got to do something. Yep.

I do agree and I've got no clear direction as far as passing anything today. We know we have to do it. It's how we get there, whether it's enforceable. I probably have more questions than not. And Jill or Jaylene, maybe you have an answer for me. I guess there's a study going on at one of the universities right now over what cities have done it, what's effective, what's not, if you could address that.

Good afternoon, Chairman Dhaliwal and Board of Supervisors. And Steve, in answer to your question, UC Davis has begun a study. I believe they estimate to take about a year to come up with their findings, but we're hoping for some kind of stages of solutions before then. I wrote a speech because I did not think we were going to make it here in time, so I'm just going to read this, and if we have any questions, we're happy to answer. Today I want to speak to you about the urgent issue that affects animals, families, shelters, and our entire community, the need for a mandatory spay and neuter law. Every year countless dogs and cats are born with nowhere to go. Shelters are overcrowded, rescues are overwhelmed, and there simply is not enough space for the number of unwanted animals being produced. When people are unable or unwilling to keep these animals, they are abandoned. They are dumped on the streets, in orchards, in rural areas, near homeless camps, and left to fend for themselves. These animals endure unimaginable suffering. They face starvation, extreme weather, untreated injuries, being hit by cars, violent fights, and even exploitation and dog fighting. Many suffer quietly until someone reports them, often after they are badly injured or near death. The suffering is not accidental. It is the predictable result of uncontrolled breeding. Because shelters are already full, they are often unable to accept animals when owners decide they can no longer keep their pets. Later, when these same animals are found injured as strays, shelters are forced to step in unexpectedly. Treating these injuries requires time, medical care, staff, and money, resources shelters simply do not have enough of. In heartbreaking situations, healthy animals who have just arrived at the shelter may be euthanized to create the kennel space needed for the injured stray. This is a devastating but real consequence of animal overpopulation. Mandatory spay and neuter laws address this problem at its source, prevention. By reducing the number of animals born without homes, shelters can focus on caring for the animals already in need instead of constantly operating in crisis mode. Fewer stray animals mean fewer injuries, fewer public safety concerns, and lower costs for taxpayers and animal services. There are clear benefits for the animals themselves. Spayed and neutered animals tend to live longer, healthier lives. They are less likely to roam, fight, or display aggressive behavior, which reduces the risk of injury, abandonment, and accidental litters. Some argue that spaying and neutering should be a personal choice. But when personal decisions lead to widespread suffering, overwhelmed shelters, forced euthanasia, and increased public expense, it becomes a shared responsibility. We recognize that implementing and enforcing a mandatory spay and neuter law will take effort, cooperation, and time. But meaningful change has to start somewhere. and it needs to start now. Every day we delay, more animals are born into suffering, more shelters are pushed beyond capacity, and more families are forced to give up beloved pets due to circumstances they could have been prevented. By supporting mandatory spay and neuter laws, we choose prevention over tragedy, responsibility over neglect, and compassion over complacency. We cannot rely on shelters alone to fix a problem they did not create. The solutions begin before another unwanted litter is born. We suggest that we could start this process with mandatory spay and neuter on all animals brought into the shelter that are impounded.

So just to, for clarification purpose, only for animals brought to the shelter?

I'm sorry, say that again?

Mandatory spay and neuter for animals brought to the shelter.

As a very simple first phase that we could start immediately. All animals brought in that have been impounded, before their owners come back and retrieve them, they could be spayed and neutered. That would be a really simple, quick fix, if you will.

Can they be done without the owner's consent?

If it was passed into law, then it would just be something that they, you know, their animal was loose running the streets. Unless they have like a breeder's permit for some reason, some necessary reason that that dog cannot be fixed. There's absolutely no reason why an animal cannot be neutered or spayed.

Got it. Thank you. So what are the things? Yeah, I mean, the biggest complaints, Mike,

complaints concerns passion anger have a lot to do with you know the feral cats that don't belong to anyone dogs running around out in the country and that's a i mean a longer term discussion we're going to have need to have but as far as taking action and taking a first step i mean to me that seems pretty common sense is do it at the shelters uh mandatory and and Let's start there, I'd kind of like your input on that, fellow supervisors.

I agree, I think that's a, A good start. I think one of the things that, you know, as a dog owner that, you know, I don't plan on breeding my dog, but if I was, I could have a chip in my dog that would protect and have instructions of how to get the dog back to the owner and then also that notification could be made that the shelter has that dog and you have a certain amount of time before we spay or neuter the dog. So there would be some safeguards in place for people who may may want to do that in the future. But I think that's a start. Looking at a county-wide ordinance, that opens up another can of worms because who's gonna pay for it? It's expensive and it takes time to get your dog to get neutered and spayed. But I think it's a good start, definitely with the shelters. And then my other question is, what other counties or cities are doing this currently?

Stockton on the second impound. For being fixed on the impound? Well, the city of Stockton actually has that process in place already. If the dog has been brought in twice, it is mandatory spay or neuter on its second impound. There's nothing for the county. And the shelter completes the surgery. So it's just county animals that are released back to the owners without any spay or neuter.

Thank you. It is a huge issue, a problem. No matter which shelter you call, they are all full. And there are some, they are not taking any animals.

No. No, people are advised to just bring the dog back to where they found it and let it go back on the street.

That's what's happening.

Mm-hmm.

So what was the recommendation?

Thank you, Chairman, and thank you both for being here. Good to see you again. Yes, you too. And I agree with Supervisor Ding at the shelter, but having a countywide ordinance, I mean, why are responsible owners, they're the ones that are going to get penalized. They're the ones that are going to enforce the rules, right? And then you look at other issues, the cost of living. My God, look how much a gallon of gas is. Look how much a grocery is. You know, this is just another thing on folks who can't afford just their basic needs. Now, you know, I was looking at some different stats and stuff and what are some of the, you know, implications, what, you know, say if I'm a dog owner and I don't want my dog spayed or neutered or my cat spayed or neutered, you know, and I'm, you know, fear I'm going to get caught and, you know, the authorities are going to tell me to go do something I don't want to do. Wouldn't you... be more reluctant to take your animal to the vet or to the different programs because you're afraid of getting caught, right? So wouldn't that have the effect of, you know, possibly spread of disease or animal health? Something that you're trying to prevent would be more prevalent because, hey, people don't want to get caught. I just have an issue with the government coming in and, you know, dictating what you can do I think in pets I think we all love our pets and I you know and they hate you have to Get your dog, you know spayed or neutered or whatever, even though I'm not the problem now I think it resolves that it like what supervisor ding now if your dog is escaping or your cats escaping it gets picked up then you know spay or neuter it and you know bill that's your responsibility keep that your your pet is within your house or your yard or whatever. But having a law to penalize somebody for, you know, something that, you know, I think is what's one of the problems that we have in this country is just government overreach. And I think this is just a primary example of that. But, you know, I hear where you're coming from. I know you're very, very passionate. But lawful animal owners are the problem, I don't think. So with that, Gerald, thank you.

You know, so that's that's my question, because we were just at the where they're doing the vaccinations for the San Francisco SBCA, and it was. It was weird because one of the people, a lot of people don't even want their animals chipped, so they kind of went to an alternative of actually having the old school tags. So is that, I mean, because the thing that we've had in Supervisor Ding, and we did that, where we actually help people pay for the spay and neuters, And the people didn't go to the appointments. So that's kind of the problem is that it's not affordable outside of somebody doing it. So what was to be the charge? You charge the person who owns the animal or split the cost? Because that's the most, I think, what's the average spay and neuter now if you take it to a vet? Seven, six to 800 to 1,000? Yeah. So that's the affordability thing. And I mean, we've tried it and everyone's kind of saying, hey, you guys are somebody just said that a dog attack you know what i mean that's that was our fault well i mean during i've been on the city council and we've tried and tried and tried and tried to get this under control and then covid made it even worse so those are the things and that a lot of times we talked about it one of my old employees took somebody a animal that they found at the saint mary's um interfaith down there and they took it down there he got a ticket for abandoning the pets that weren't even his. So those are the things is how do we do it and how do we mindfully do it reasonably so that it doesn't break the bank like Supervisor Rickman was talking about.

Well, we absolutely recognize that this is not just an easy task. I mean, there's government overreach. There is people that can't afford it. We recognize that. We're trying to bring forward a solution. And what we're doing now does not work. I think we all see that with the hundreds of stray animals being run over and on our streets and being left in an orchard. and left to starve or be eaten by coyotes. I mean, there's a thousand ways we can look at this, but instead of just trying to recognize this could be too hard for everyone, can we just do it by stages? Can we find a solution step by step by step to get these animals fixed? Animal Protection League is just one of the low-cost bay and neuter options here in San Joaquin County, and the shelter is now doing it, I believe, twice a month. They're having free spay and neuter days. I mean there are opportunities out there for people to take advantage. We still offer no fees for people that are very low income or it's a financial burden on them. And we have vouchers still. I mean there are opportunities for people to get their animals fixed for low cost or no cost. And it's just a matter of getting them there and having them recognize that by not getting their animals fixed, they're creating more puppies or kittens out there that don't have a home. And again, it goes back to is it our city and our county's financial responsibility because someone doesn't want to get their animals fixed when there are free and low cost opportunities out there. to make that happen. We have to start somewhere and I believe asking for spay and neuter for impounded animals is a really solid start. The dog was picked up as a stray unless it is a licensed breeder dog. There's no reason that that dog who can't be spayed or neutered and that's just a very simple beginning.

Other data, Lodi and Tracy, obviously they do different. So then how would that work? We would just mandate it countywide and then second pick up.

Well, why second?

Oh, that's what the City of Stockton does and that's what we're working with.

The City of Stockton is exactly our goal.

Yeah, agreed.

And number-wise, how many animals are we talking?

Well, I believe that the city and county shelter just Stockton alone impounds 8,000 to 10,000 animals a year.

Yeah, because at this county, over 3,000, it goes up to 650. So the first 3,000 is $599.

So if you've got a repeat offender, it's costing the county hundreds, thousands of dollars just to be picked up when if it was fixed. I mean, it could reproduce while it's on the run. You know, it could get into a dog fight. It could injure someone. I mean, there's no reason that these animals, once they're impounded, cannot have a mandatory spay or neuter to be released.

Yeah, I know I have some junior little cats in my yard now that they're ready to reproduce too. So how many, you know, litters can they possibly have? So that's the problem.

About two a year. Each cat.

Yeah.

I can turn my microphone on. One of the things I've been discussing, what would happen if the county brought on their own veterinarian? Would that cost-wise, I mean, how does that work? Right now you're paying veterinarians, private veterinarians. Do you have any idea what you're spending on veterinarians in the course of a year?

We pay them per day, and Jolene could answer to this on a much clearer basis.

So right now, currently, the veterinarians are between $1,200 and $1,300 a day, and that's for a six- to seven-hour shift.

Okay.

Which we are able to spay or neuter about 25 to 30 animals a day. Okay.

But that doesn't include, having a veterinarian doesn't include support staff. So for a surgery team, you're looking at a couple RVTs, registered veterinary technicians, a couple vet assistants, ranging between $25 and $35 an hour. So in addition to your veterinarian.

So what about the guardian? So in Stockton, Who covers the cost for the spay and neuter?

I'm sorry, what?

Who covers the cost for the City of Stockton for the spay and neuters?

The City of Stockton? At the shelter?

No, actually when your dog gets impounded on the second impound, either or, it's a very reduced fee of like a hundred and something dollars or if the shelter chooses, they sponsor it. They don't charge them at all.

If it's a financial hardship, they'll sponsor it.

Yeah, they just go ahead and sponsor it.

I hate to ask this question. Nobody in here anymore anyway, so I think you're right.

The only animals that are spayed at the shelter are the ones that are being adopted.

Okay, so before the adoption, then that's part of the process.

Right, before they're released into their new owner's home.

Okay, yeah, actually, I think the idea is good in the shelters. The part of just generally asking the public, I don't think we're financially in a position

No, you're not just spaying a dog so it's gonna be euthanized three days later. No, absolutely not.

But I would agree with the shelters and looking into adopting something similar to Stockton. But yeah, I'm definitely open for some adjustments. Supervisor Ackman.

Thank you, Chairman.

REIMBURSEMENT, COUNTY COUNCIL, CAN WE MAKE AN ORDINANCE OR CAN WE HAVE AN ORDINANCE IF, YOU KNOW, OUR FOLKS, OUR COUNTY, IN THIS INSTANCE, OUR COUNTY EMPLOYEES GO OUT AND PICK UP A STRAY OR WHATEVER AND, YOU KNOW, WE GET REIMBURSED FOR THAT TIME. KIND OF LIKE, YOU KNOW, DUI REIMBURSEMENT, RIGHT? YOU PAY FOR THE OFFICER'S TIME, THEIR INVESTIGATION AND SO ON. I KNOW THAT'S BY STATUE, STATE STATUE, BUT something ordinance, if our animal shelter folks have to go out there and pick up an animal, your dog or cat, then we should be reimbursed from the property owner or the animal owner. Is that something?

I would have to look into it, but my guess is we could do so, yes.

I'll just throw it out there, and then, hey, maybe something like that, we can push those funds into helping with spay and neuter or something like that, so kind of a... a win-win kind of thing. But that's it. You're throwing it out there.

Now, just through the chair, it occurs to me, I suspect a lot of the people who have their animals picked up probably are judgment-proof, so to speak. You probably have a tough time getting the money out of them, but I think you probably could legally do that.

Yeah. I mean, I think it's something we should look into. I'm not saying to do it now, but it's just an idea that if the board wants to run with it, by all means, run with it.

Anybody else? Anybody from public? Board members, what's the pleasure? Do we have a motion?

My intention here is to direct staff. Or do I even have to do that? Can I just say we would can we institute a mandatory spade neuter at the clinic or right here right now?

Through the chair, I would say if that was your intent, you would direct staff to come back with something concrete.

Two weeks and four days since they already come back with the catalytics in two weeks and three days?

No, that's very generous of you for probably more than enough time.

That sound right? I'd like to make a motion that we direct staff to come back with a mandatory spade and neuter.

For clarification, for those dogs that are picked up and impounded, is that correct?

I was hoping you didn't catch that, but thank you.

We have a motion and a second. All the discussion items are done. Are we coming back, County Council?

I'm not anticipating a need to come back. Okay.

One second, please. One second. Stephanie Cruz? Stephanie? Can you step up to the lectern, please? Oh, there she is. Congratulations and welcome aboard. Thank you.

I'm excited. Thank you so much.

I think you're starting Monday? Yes. Awesome. Yes, sir. Board members, any comments? Congratulations.

I look forward to working with you.

Thank you. I am as well.

Anybody else? I just want to congratulate you and look forward to working with you and helping us out.

Same. I'm excited about it.

So, Prosecutor Canepa?

Yeah, no, I'm looking forward to you making us look better. So thank you for joining us and mediating, right? And mediating, right? Good luck. Thank you. It's a pleasure having you aboard.

Thank you.

We will recess to the closed session.