Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Testing, testing, one, two, three, test, test.

Good morning, everyone. The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors meeting is called to order. The time is 9.02. Please join me for a moment of silence, silent reflection, or silent prayer. Thank you so much. Supervisor Gardea, would you lead the pledge, sir?

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.

Rochelle, would you call the roll?

Supervisor Gardea?

Present.

Supervisor Canepa? Here. Supervisor Dean?

Here.

Supervisor Rickman?

Here.

And Chair DeLauro?

Here. Board members, can you join me? We have two presentations.

The first recognition was requested by Supervisor Canepa of the Second Supervisorial District. And this is the recognition of St. Mary's 150th anniversary. And I would like to invite the representatives from St. Mary's to the podium as we read this recognition which states. in recognition of 150 years of excellence in Catholic education, faith formation, and service to the community. Since 1876, St. Mary's High School has inspired generations of students to pursue academic excellence, growth in faith, and develop leadership and character within a safe and supportive environment. Rooted in the Salesian tradition and guided by the principle, be who you are and be that well. St. Mary's has built a lasting legacy of educational excellence, compassionate leadership, and service. Through its commitment to Catholic values and inclusivity, the school has prepared students of all backgrounds to become thoughtful and principled members of society. Congratulations and best wishes, presented this 12th day of May, 2026. Chair Dhaliwal and Supervisor Kanhapa.

Thank you, Michelle. We were expecting some representatives from St. Mary's. I think they are late, but we have a plaque and a certificate for them. We'll get it to St. Mary's reps, Supervisor Canepa.

Yes, I just wanted to honor St. Mary's. 150 years in the city of Stockton, San Joaquin County, has been an absolutely amazing accomplishment. And so being an alumni there, and I'm going to be there on Sunday, they're having a dinner. And so I just wanted to recommend it and thank you for all the 150 years of serving San Joaquin County. So thank you to St. Mary's High School.

Do you want us to wait and see if they show up in a few minutes to present the plaque?

Let's go to the second one. If they show up, we can.

Thank you, Chair. The next recognition was requested by Supervisor Rickman of the 5th Supervisorial District. And this is the commendation of the Honorable Barbara A. Cronlin, Superior Court Judge for her retirement. And is the Honorable Cronlin in the audience this morning? Please step forward while I read this commendation, which states, whereas the Honorable Barbara A. Cronlin earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology Cum Laude at Pepperdine University, a Juris Doctorate and distinction from University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, and a Master of Laws in Dispute Resolution from the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, Status Institute, and whereas prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Cronlin served with distinction as a Deputy District Attorney in both San Joaquin County and Sacramento County, including as Superior of the Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Unit. And whereas Judge Cronlin served 30 years on the bench as a San Joaquin County Superior Court Commissioner and judge with integrity, fairness, compassion, and distinction. And whereas a California's first South Asian American female judge, Judge Cronlin helped pave the way for greater diversity and representation within the judiciary. And whereas throughout her judicial career, Judge Cronlin presided over more than 200 jury trials, conducted over 1,000 civil settlement conferences, supervised the civil department, served as district civil judge, and presided over juvenile court. And whereas Judge Cronlin demonstrated an unwavering commitment to improving access to justice through the creation and support of innovative programs, including San Joaquin County's Homeless Court, Homeless Veterans Stand Down, Veterans Treatment Court, and the Just for Kids Migrant Camp Mentoring Program. and the Judge Consuelo M. Calhoun, in of court. And whereas Judge Cronlin provided leadership beyond the courtroom through service on the California Judges Association Board, as chair of its Judicial Ethics Committee, and by teaching judicial ethics to new judges throughout California. And whereas Judge Cronlin's outstanding service and leadership earned numerous honors and awards, including the Judicial Council's CLEP Award, the Excellence in Civics Engagement Award, ABOTA's Judge of the Year, and Champion of Justice Awards, the McGeorge School of Law Alumni of Honor Award, and the San Joaquin County Law Day Award. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors recognizes the Honorable Barbara A. Cronlin with sincere congratulations and best wishes upon your retirement. Presented this 12th day of May, 2026. Chair Dhaliwal and Supervisor Rickman.

Thank you, Rochelle. Judge Cronlin, congratulations and happy retirement.

Thank you very much.

Supervisor Rickman.

Thank you, Chairman. Judge, thank you for being here. I'm going to turn it over to you and say a few words.

So thank you very much. I'm very honored for this recognition. Chairman Dolly Wall and Vice Chair Ding and all of the supervisors, and of course, Supervisor Rickman and Chief of Staff Scott Terrell, who orchestrated this particular one. I've been long friends with Supervisor Rickman and Chief of Staff Scott Terrell with supervisor we started when he was a highway patrol officer no stripes yet no sergeant yet and i was a court commissioner and the two of us were doing traffic court in tracy together so we have a lot of fun stories from that time because everybody turns temporarily insane when they get a traffic ticket We all know that. So we have some pretty interesting stories from way back, way back when, okay? And then when I first wanted to start Homeless Veteran Stand Down, so many people in the community wanted to do something for veterans, those of us that were not in the military. And the Board of Supervisors, at the time, it was Chairman Ornelas, Leroy Ornelas, and Scott Terrell was his aide, a former Marine. And He became, Scott Terrell became my collaborative partner and co-organizer of those homeless veteran stand downs for 10 years that we did them. And he also convinced the board to give us our $10,000 seed money back then so we could actually get it off the ground. Otherwise, I think it would have fallen flat because you have to have a little bit of money to start something. each year i'm scott was my right hand man after that for each of the stand downs and again that went ten years with every year the board of supervisors even if the make was a little different in the membership they supported our veterans and then fast forward to starting Veterans Treatment Court, where veterans are involved in the justice system. Many times they come back with PTSD from service, and that causes their lives to spiral out of control if they're self-medicating, they're not getting proper treatment, et cetera. And once again, my court said, you can start the court, but we don't have any money for you, and we don't have a case manager for you. So luckily Virginia Wimmer was Vet Service Officer at the time. She took the huge task of being our case manager. And then we found out we don't have money for drug and alcohol testing, for ankle monitor when we need to put these people on ankle monitors, for bus passes for them to get to and from court and their programs. So again, I turned to the Board of Supervisors, made my request, and this board gave every penny I asked for for our veterans. And repeatedly, even outside of my efforts, I have seen this board repeatedly support our veterans. And I am so happy and appreciative for that. And I also want to thank anyone who's ever been in our military at any time, any branch, any veteran, and our current service members, especially in the Mideast Theater right now. And honest to God, I have never been prouder to be an American. And I've always been a proud American, so it just went off the charts. But I want to thank you so much for this honor. I really, really appreciate it.

Well, thank you, Judge. Again, congratulations on your retirement. I hate to hate to see you go, but I know you have a wonderful family, your husband, Mike, your daughter, your daughter is going to law school, Pepperdine. Right. And, you know, we all have mentors in our life. And, you know, Judge Cronland, my mentor, as you mentioned from, you know, when I first started out with that. and law enforcement. So if you don't like the way I do things, blame her. She's right here. You can yell at her on the way. But thank you for all you've done for San Joaquin County. I mean, you worked, you know, the whole entire county from, you know, South County to ending your career here in Stockton to all the cases. And, you know, you've made a huge impact, not just for me, but for countless, like you mentioned, veterans and homeless individuals who have a better life because of, you know, what you started and what you pushed. And you were the driving force here in San Joaquin County with, you know, getting people back on their feet and, you know, back to their families. So thank you. God bless you and God bless your family. I'm going to turn it over to our chairman.

Judge Cronin, we have a certificate of appreciation for you. Please join us.

These three want to come up and speak together. I think this is about the proclamation that we did get on the agenda.

OK.

Now is the time for public comments on matters that are on the closed session agenda on the consent calendar or within the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors. Please turn in your card. You will have three minutes. Please direct your comments to the board. No personal attacks, please. Mary Nicholson.

Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here today. You know, I wanted to talk a little bit about beating the odds. This was one of the many articles that were written about me as a businesswoman on my journey. And when I came here and had a brain aneurysm, what I found out as a businessperson was that there were not... protocols for stroke care. There was no things put in place for the variety of things that could happen to somebody in a stroke. One hospital did this, some other hospital did that and there were no primary stroke centers and there were no designated stroke centers. There were no educational programs for people who have had stroke and I was very blessed to have the wherewithal, as I began to heal, to get engaged with the international stroke events, become involved with the international stroke organizations, the world stroke organizations, because it is so vital that we be engaged from a larger scale, right? And it gave me pleasure, it gives me pleasure every time I see you all going to Washington D.C. and looking at the whole picture, right? And we need to be at the tables. And so, we, as you probably know, for the last 19 years, usually May is stroke awareness month. But now, we'll be talking about stroke awareness months, right, May and June. We are doing, when I leave here, I go to do my radio interviews and we'll be doing a talk show. It's important to me that we not just center on a small scope, but on a universal stroke. Healings in Motion is involved from a world perspective. We interact with people in Africa, London, Ireland, so that we could feed off of the information that's being shared and the progress that's being made from a world perspective. And so as our country is facing odds, I really want you to know that we are not limited. And there's some new changes going on with stroke care from all around the world. And I look forward to talking to you in June to make sure that we as a county are engaged and informed about what's going on. and I really appreciate that. So I really, really want to acknowledge some of the stroke coordinators, and I'll leave it at that. They'll be coming up soon.

Thank you, Mary. Daniel came.

Good morning. Uh, Daniel Kim, uh, chair and the members of the board. I'm. I've been asking here to present, uh, speak briefly on the importance of stroke education in San Joaquin County in our region. Um, I've been a proud board member of feelings emotion for about 11 years now and my goal with this organization has always been. keeping stroke awareness and education the forefront of our efforts with the community. As you know, we promote the awareness of stroke symptoms with the phrase Be Fast, which each letter represents a key symptom and an action. B being sudden loss of balance or coordination. E for sudden vision changes in your eyes, trouble seeing. F for facial droop or uneven smile. A for arm weakness or numbness. S for speech is slurred or difficult to speak, and time is brain, so it's important to call 911 immediately. This is just a tiny step in a continuum of stroke systemic care that we have in our area. I've seen advances in access to treatment by establishing primary stroke center designations for all of our county hospitals, bringing medical technology and expertise that's needed to quickly diagnose and treat stroke. Our local responders know where to go to the nearest. Stroke center within the county, so that they don't have to go to the count out of the county for a basic treatment for our patients. We are increasing our local capacity for recovery and rehabilitation from a brain attack with newly established partners like the.

It sounds like maybe the mics are down.

I think it's working now.

OK. Thank you. while our rates in the county may be higher than the state average we are still seeing a decline in reductions in deaths and overall disability however it's far better of course to prevent stroke than to actually have one by preventing stroke not only starts with the individual decisions in making healthy choices but to be educated on what is actually It's also necessary for us to know what the risk factors are, such as blood pressure, having diabetes, and being exposed to harmful environmental factors. The need for increasing everyone's health literacy is also critical, especially when we're in a world where misinformation on health thrives unrestrained. So I hope everyone will take this time this month to learn more about stroke, your personal risk factors, how to prevent it, and know what to do when the stroke occurs, not only for yourself, but also for those around you. not only for our senior population, but for all ages as it's affecting younger people now. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Manny Alfonso.

A very, very good morning to all of you, our Board of Supervisors. My name is Manny Alfonso. I'm with St. Joseph's Medical Center. I'm the education manager. So from the standpoint of the subject of stroke, from the healthcare standpoint, we look at stroke as just a minute aspect of cardiovascular disease. So our role at St. Joe's Medical Center in the caring of stroke really is a lot broader. Simply put, All our major, major organs, the brain, the heart, the lungs, the liver, the kidneys, the guts, everything, all these major organs are connected by the same blood vessels, the artery, that allows the perfusion of oxygenated blood to make sure that these organs are functioning well. So if a fatty deposit, an excessive amount of cholesterol, will lodge in the coronary arteries of the heart, it will do the same thing with the brain. So our approach, therefore, in our association with Healings in Motion, CVRAPs, is to actually provide the education, one, in the prevention of returning or recurring cardiovascular disease, but more so is the prevention. It's not by design. Clinics, doctor clinics are very, very busy in maybe providing this ultimate simple education to our patients. Therefore, I would not mind maybe saying, in combination with all our community hospitals in our community, that we do reach out to prevent the many, many aspects of cardiovascular disease. So if we can prevent stroke, we can certainly prevent heart attack, we can prevent kidney disease, by the simple process of education linking them, that it's not something isolated, but it's something more broader. So it gives us really great pressure to be associated with healings in motion and CVRFs to continue, to continue in preventing cardiovascular disease, even though the focus in a stroke. And I thank you very much. Thank you, sir.

Chris Calderon.

Good morning, Board of Supervisors. My name's Chris Calderoni. I live in Lincoln Village West, and we need, our community needs a little bit of help today. With the San Joaquin Emergency Medical Services Division, Apparently, the ambulance companies have adopted the private lots across the street from our houses and have put in an informal depot without apparently any input from this board. And they're creating an intolerable nuisance to the community, particularly our neighborhoods. Most of us have been there 40 or 50 years. We were there before I-5 was completed. We were there before Many of the businesses were completed back there. And all of a sudden, a couple of months ago, we're like, where are all these sirens coming from? all hours of the day, multiple times an hour, and over a period of time, we found out that they've adopted some private lots, very quiet lots, not just at the Marina Marketplace, but also a small private lot behind the banks over there, apparently without any input from this board, any input from us, and it's really, impacting the quiet enjoyment of many of the retirees, the other people that live in the neighborhood. And I'm not getting anywhere with the ambulance companies. And so I'm hoping to get a little bit of help from you. I sent an email to Supervisor Dolly Wall That was just recently, so I don't expect you've had a chance to review it.

We did receive it. Thank you, sir.

Okay. And I'd like to resolve this. I'm a local attorney. I'd like to resolve this without litigation. But it's impacting our quality of life. It's impacting our property values. And I think you need... There are plenty of important things in our society, whether it's food or emergency services or whatnot, but that doesn't mean a hog farm should go in across the street. or a dairy or a concrete you know or a refinery or anything like that and so we need a little common sense from this board to to reel this in a bit before it has to go um hopefully it doesn't go uh any further uh than this but all i'm getting is that it's all they need to turn their sirens on and always and this is an important service and it is an important service but i assume for important nuisances like this that you guys would have some sort of input in it and i hope to get some input because i'm going downstairs start pulling property records of the private landowners that are allowing this and then i got to make trouble for them and i don't want to i didn't want to be here today but i am here as a representative of my neighborhood watch and my neighborhood thank you thank you sir

Bishop Dwight Williams.

Minor adjustment. Good morning, Chair Dhaliwal, Vice Chair Ding, members of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, County Administrator, County Council, Clerk of the Board, and to each and every one of you in the audience, Good day. I am Bishop Dwight Williams, and I stand before you this morning as the president and CEO of New Genesis Housing Development Corporation, a 501c3 nonprofit housing and community development organization to share with you about an upcoming community event that we are having here in Stockton on Saturday, May the 23rd, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., called Faith and Physical Health. As you heard here from previous speakers, the concerns about health of all shapes and types from physical and mental. Obviously, we're continuing that emphasis on the physical side, but blending in the important and powerful component of faith. Again, on this day, Saturday, May the 23rd, again, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Hilliard Chapel and the Zion Church, which is located at 209 South C Street in Stockton. We're putting on faith and physical health where we are connecting spiritual wellness and healthy living. We are grateful for our partners with community medical centers and others who are helping us out in this event. There will be health and wellness workshops, inspirational messages, and free health screening and fitness tips. So again, this is a public event. Again, this coming May the 23rd, just in a few days from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Again, at Hilliard Chapel AME Zion Church located at 209 South C Street in Stockton. And lunch is included also for free. I have included also a flyer. for each and every member that I will provide to the clerk of this upcoming event and would love for you to share and pass along. Enjoy, you may even see Bishop do a pushup at the event and y'all know that would be fun. Isn't that right, Supervisor D? Amen, thank you so much.

Thank you, sir.

Robin Bulls.

Good morning, sirs. I appreciate you this morning being here today, and I would like to once again lodge a complaint that I've been having for almost a whole year. I've addressed this with Mr. Gardena a few times about safety issues. It's on 12th and B Street. I've asked him about trying to resolve this a number of times, and unfortunately, I have not gotten any results. I could understand the cost and the problems of getting this done in a way of safety. It's a safety issue on the corner of 12th and B Street. I've been observing on Bianchi, they've been doing street improvements over there. Also, doing improvements on the corners where they don't have people parking on the corners, such as they put in a cement island where Going around the corner, it prevents them from parking in that one spot. I would like to get these type of things installed on the corner 12th and B. This will prevent vehicles parking these areas so when I could get off the street to make a left or right turn, I could do it safely. I live on a dead end street. There's only one way out. And having to stick the vehicle virtually in the middle of the road in order to be able to see is rather impossible to do, especially during the times when St. Lawrence Church is holding special events or church services. This is only during the times it's most difficult to get out of there, such as when they have funerals, services, weddings, whatever. They block off on the corners where it obviously states no parking. And they say, call the police. I've done that numerous times. And they will say they'll come out. I've sit there and myself at the corners. The police never shows up. And so I am left with just taking my life in my own hands each time I leave my street, especially on these days. I'm asking the Board of Supervisors to approve similar protections on the corner such as that I got here. A cement island will prevent the people from parking in these two spots. It's on the left and the right side of the corner. I really would appreciate if you guys can install this. You guys used to have, before they did all the improvements on Bianchi, rubber bumpers to prevent people from parking in those areas. Turned in to be a bit of a hazard. This is more Uh, it's not going to cause damage to a vehicle, but yes, we'll give a pause to stop or to not park in these areas. I would appreciate you guys address this. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir. Molly Watkins.

Good morning. So, I can't spend my whole day with you nice people. I'm gonna go do some work. But I'm requesting that you wait to approve the ROV increases. There were 1600 pages in your packet, and I'm not sure if you were able to read pages 1565 to 1577. And when you read that, those are all about the election mandatory services. In order to put on the election in our county, they have to create the rules. and various other things. So why are we charging big money for those documents that already exist and that are part of the reason we have an ROV's office? Those people work year round, this is their function, and now we're gonna pay extra services for what is mandatory. Providing the voter roll is just a few keystrokes. It's there, we have the voter's roll. Curing is the job of the office and so now we're supposed to pay an amount to get the list to go cure the ballots. Does that make any sense? You're asking the public to come and help the office cure the ballots and we have to pay more for the roll. What does that mean? Maps. In order to run the election, we have to have precincts. In order to have the precincts, we have to create maps. Okay? So they exist. So again, a keystroke and you print them out. You can charge me for the paper. You can charge me for the gentleman who has to push the button. But why am I paying an absorbent amount for the map that already exists that the only reason we have the map is to do the election? It's not like you coming to my house to inspect my sink or my garbage disposal. This is something that you have to create to do the election. On number 11, in those 1,500 pages that are there, it talks about per voter record. And it says $1.50 per voter record. What does that mean? Does that mean if I get a copy of the rolls, there's 404 or 408,000 people that I'm going to pay $1.50 a person? What does that mean? So, what I'm asking you is that we want transparent elections. We want to do this together. These are things that we, the public, look at to see if things are going in the right direction, and you want to charge two arms and a leg. I don't think that's fair. I'd appreciate if you'd pull it, if you'd spend five minutes and read it, and discuss it logically. Thank you.

Thanks, Molly. Melanie Knott?

Good morning. Um, I really wasn't planning on doing this today, but, um, thank you. I just want to make a reference that, uh, as Ms Watkins just earlier stated that, uh, fees, um, coming from the office. Um, I want to make mention that we actually had, um. Citizens here in the county who. worked diligently to get those very same records, paying money out of their own pocket to find the fraud here in San Joaquin County. You're gonna charge people to come alongside the ROVs. The elections are the people's We're gonna charge people who can come alongside the ROV as well as the Secretary of State because there have been anomalies. There have been discrepancies in numbers in all the records. Not all the records, but in some of the records. It's almost as if we don't want to have people come alongside of us and help us. The elections are for the people. The people need to be able to see these things, they need to have access to these things without being charged exuberantly. Let's see if we can do, as Ms. Watkins said, and I mean, folks, inflation is real here in the nation. People are having a hard time doing a lot of things in our country. I don't do, I've not been to any of these other places to get records, but I figure that the people should be able to have access without being overcharged. Taxation without representation. I'm standing up here for the citizens of San Joaquin County, and maybe they don't even come to a meeting. but maybe they will need to go and get a record. And they should be able to do that without being charged an arm and a leg. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else from the audience who would like to address the board? Anyone else? THANK YOU. NEXT IS CONSENT CALENDAR. BOARD MEMBERS ITEM NUMBER 15 IS BEING PULLED PER GSD'S REQUEST. IS THERE ANY OTHER ITEM THAT NEEDS TO BE PULLED?

You said 15 already, 11 and 39. And I saw Olivia from the elections office here. What consent item are they?

Through the chair, I believe she was talking about the fee hearings. That'll be a public hearing later.

Oh, and they left too. I will handle it after work. Thank you.

Nothing. How about you, sir? Nothing. Nothing. Supervisor, let's start with 11, Vice Chair Deen.

I'll hit my little button there. This is National Salvation Army Week, and we do have Major Richard Peace, Major Sylvan Young, and Captain Juan Aragel from Stockton Corps here as well. I just wanted to mention something. I know the board's very well aware of the point in time counts that just came out on unhoused homeless, and it's it's fitting that we're doing this recognition this week our point in time count we're down 47 percent uh in the county of san joaquin county but most importantly um those that are being housed is up 16 and a lot of people might think of this as a step forward i think it's a step back into an era when we used to use a little common sense and groups like the salvation army gospel center rescue mission as a starting point, and then filtering individuals into ARC and what Genevieve Valentine from Behavioral Health be talking about a lot more over the months, gap housing. It's been successful. We as a board of supervisors adopted a policy here a couple of years ago that our mission was to take people off the street, not take care of them on the street. And I'm very proud of this board for doing that. But in doing so, other than a major piece, you being a Yankee fan, I wanna thank you for your service and I wanna thank everyone. And you're gonna be leaving us and I'm glad you had a chance to spend some time in our community and I thank you for your service.

Thank you, sir. Number 39, Vice Chair.

Is that me again? Yes. Yes, is the sheriff here? 39 was the authorize an extension of their equipment retention program for the Sheriff's Department, which has been a subject vast, and I thought I'd have you point that out.

Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Chairman of the Board and Vice Chair and the entire Board. Thank you for allowing us to come up. And I want to start off by thanking you for your and the CAO's and everyone's support over these years where we've been very shorthanded. We continue to work our best to do that. It's probably not a surprise to most people, even the people in the audience, that Going into law enforcement nowadays is not the most chosen profession and very difficult to get a lot of people who want to come that way and take on the challenges that we have, especially here in California. But the recruitment and retention program that we've been doing I think is working amazingly well. It's just a slippery slope that we're on. Some of the numbers for you that we've had, let's see for uh to date over the from 2020 and maybe joe do you have the numbers for 2020 on as how many we've we've uh got so far yes sir members of the board uh good morning through the chair my name is captain petrino oversee the professional standards division which is responsible for hiring and

Amongst many other things, the bonus program was implemented on May 4th, 2020, and what the sheriff's referring to is the total numbers, if it's useful, that we've hired in the three categories or classifications that fell under the bonus program, which were deputy sheriff, correctional officer, and communications dispatcher. Since that date, we have hired a total, to date, of 26 dispatchers, 113 deputy sheriffs, and 160 correctional officers.

so those numbers are impressive except for the fact that on average every year we through either retirement or termination or uh... they just leave to go work other places or do other jobs we leaves on average twenty two deputy sheriffs twenty two correctional officers and one dispatcher every year so We hire a ton of people in those years, so if you break those numbers down, you know, we're hiring a bunch each year, but we're also losing a bunch. And for the first time just recently, yesterday at my captain's meeting, we got briefed, and for the first time in a while, we have less vacancy on the correctional side than we do on the deputy sheriff side right now. Deputy sheriffs, we were down 40... 49 out of an allocation of 299. So we have an allocation of 299 deputy sheriffs, and we've got 49 open positions right now. The good news is we have eight in the academy right now, or 10? Eight, sir. Eight in the academy right now. Joe has 10 guys, or it's probably going to be 11 or 12 at least, that we're going to offer jobs to here in the next few weeks. And the recruitment and retention program is part of attracting them to us. And so we've got eight in there. These other 10 or 12, maybe even more by the time the academy starts, we're gonna offer them their jobs early so we don't lose them to somebody else while we're waiting for the Stanislaus County to start their academy again. So that's promising. Of course, not all of them will make it through. We'll lose a few along the way, but... So it's promising, and I think it's working, what we've been doing. And some people, not all, but many people take advantage of the bonuses that are offered. Every agency is offering those. And so I think it's working. It's just the nature of the beast right now that we have a lot of people retiring and going other places or getting out of the business completely because it's a tough business to be in, especially nowadays, as I said at the start. So I can address any other numbers that you might have.

Retention recruitment is an issue for a lot of different professional organizations. And honestly, coming from a a fire department in Stockton that has dealt with this for many, many years. But one thing I will say about your leadership is that you have the respect of your peers and officers that work under you. And that can be said in a lot of other places. And so I just want to say thank you for your leadership and setting a great example for the new employees. Basically, you're part of the family. And I don't think as a community we say thank you enough to you. You're doing a phenomenal job.

Well, thank you. I appreciate that. We don't use that term family lightly at our place. And that was one thing, as you guys know, you know me well, that we struggle and really work hard at is to make sure that it's a family atmosphere. We care about them and their families, that they get to go to their kids' functions and they get to do those things and do whatever we can. to help them with their stresses of this job and all those type of things and the work hours and all that. And so I truly believe with the help of all of our staff that we've created an environment that is a healthy place to come and work and a safe place to come and work. No thanks. to to you guys with the thanks of you guys and all your support and the equipment that we get and and uh and it's and it's i've mentioned this many times at this podium it's different here in san joaquin county the support we have from the public and from our board that makes it a place where people want to come and work and and they know that if they if they're not treating people right and they're doing the wrong thing we're gonna get rid of them. We don't want those type of people here, but they also know if they've done the right thing and there's outcry that they haven't, that they have an administration and a board that will stand behind them and say, no, our guys do the right thing and we make mistakes every now and then and we admit it when we make those mistakes, but we support those guys who are out there trying to do the right thing. So it's an environment that we all create, but thank you, I appreciate that.

Sheriff Withrow, this is Law Enforcement Appreciation Week, and we really appreciate all the work our men and women in uniform are doing. Every day and every week is Law Enforcement Appreciation Week, and your department is doing an amazing job for keeping our community safe.

Thank you so much. And, you know, I just want to make sure that, you know, we're doing this here in San Joaquin County. But, you know, we don't do this in a bubble. And we can't do it without our partners at the California Highway Patrol and Stockton Police Department, Tracy, Lodi, Manteca, Escalon, Ripon, everybody, our probation department. We all work so closely together. We saw that just Cinco de Mayo weekend, how we all, our task force went out and just made a huge difference. We didn't have, I don't think we had anything. fatalities or anything that weekend. It's because we were out and forced treating people properly, but enforcing it and make sure that everybody could be safe. And I think we're very blessed in San Joaquin County as a whole with law enforcement. But we really appreciate your respect and your support.

Thank you, sir. Supervisor Canepa.

I just want to say thank you. You know, giving you guys the tools, like we said back in the day with HR, and being able to get your health screenings better, faster, sooner. I also want to thank you, though, because the video the other day of holding people accountable and criminals in our community that are released early and released, I mean, I appreciate that. But I also appreciate that you're in it to protect your employees and that these criminals put everybody that's in law enforcement at risk. So when you do those, it warms my heart to hold people accountable and make sure that you guys make it home safe. So I just wanted to say thank you and a shout out.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Vice Chair Deane? Yes, thank you, Supervisor Canepa, for pointing out that video that probably nobody has seen except for half a million people by 9 a.m. this morning. You stepped up, you stepped out on behalf of your officers, on behalf of this community, and pointing out the insanity of this compassionate release program that's anything but compassionate. And I appreciate you taking on the governor because it needs to change.

Well thanks, I appreciate that. My point was just to... make sure that the citizens know that we're out there fighting for them no matter what. And this doesn't have anything to do with politics or anything like this. This is just about right and wrong and doing what we think is right for our citizens and for our staff. And so... I was a little fired up, so hopefully I came across okay. But when you start putting my people at risk, I get a little on edge. So thank you for that. And then before I walk away, I just wanted to publicly thank Captain Petrino and his division. and he'll be the first one to push it off on all his staff. But they do all our hiring and backgrounds, and not just for our department. They do other departments. We do backgrounds and stuff for two, and they work at it 24-7 and have done an amazing job trying to keep up with this and have turned this around from... You'll remember when I came to you about recruiting and retention, it was like a six-, nine-month period trying to get people hired, and he's cut that down to... 60 days? Four to six weeks. Four to six weeks. Four to six weeks. What a difference he's made. And that's because of the support of you guys and giving us the tools that we need and the CAO's office backing us on that. So that's a massive difference. He's been the captain the whole time over that department. So thank you all.

One second, sir. Supervisor Rickman. Thank you, Chairman. Chair Pia, thank you for being here. Thank you for what you've done as the piggyback of Supervisor Dean, you know, It's not political, but it doesn't matter what party. If something affects us here in San Joaquin County, it's nice to see somebody push back. So kudos to that. And we were in Washington, D.C. here last week and seeing your team and your deputies working with our allied agencies to keep our residents safe. Keep up the great work, man. You guys are doing a great job.

Thank you so much. It's such an honor for us to go to Washington and be there and celebrate those who have given the ultimate sacrifice and honor them, and we will continue to do so as often as we can. So thank you all so much.

Thank you, sir. And Chairman, if I may, can I pull 17 and 42 as just one item? Sure. Well, I'll discuss that one item.

Whenever you. 17 and 42? Okay. Supervisor Kanapath, number 23. Good morning.

Good morning. I appreciate all the work that you put into that. So one question I would like to ask is, how do you make sure that we hire local? Because I see that the numbers are increasing. So when we do the purchasing to make sure that hopefully local vendors get first priority. So if you could address that, that'd be appreciated.

Yeah, they do. So actually, some of the stats for this particular request, there was an increase in the number of vendors by 236, but then there was also, and there were no increase in local vendors. However, the ask for the local vendors, that amount was actually, it increased by 6.1 million. So no increase in the numbers, but an increase in the request. So that means that most of the departments are actually using local vendors out there. Oh, and before I get started, my name is Concepcion Gallatin, purchasing and director of purchasing and support services. Good morning, everyone.

Because I think we as a board obviously want people that are in our community to do it. So looking through the list, obviously there's some that weren't from the area. I mean certain ones that are local vendors and that we can hire them. So how do we put that information out there for people to bid it and get on the lists?

Yeah, so actually we have two locations that local vendors can register. One is at Public Purchase, which is our e-procurement portal for formal solicitations, where we have formal bids and formal solicitation that's over $200,000. We also have an UPCA registered contractors list where local vendors can register in terms of their trades, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, so that then most of the departments, when they need any services, they actually look to those lists first and then go ahead and get the codes and go through whatever processes we need purchasing-wise.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, sir. Supervisor Rickman, 17 and 42.

Thank you, Chairman. 17 is a request to proclaim May 13th this year at Rural Facility Management Day. Where's our folks from facilities? Raise your hand for me. And proclaim the week of May 17th, the 23rd National Public Works Week for our public works folks. Now you don't let them out of the office to come to the Board of Supervisors? No, hey, I pulled this item. I just want to say thank you all for the job that you do. Those of you who are in this room today, in this nice, cool room with air conditioning, thanks to our facilities. When you come to work and the workplace is safe, It's comfortable. You have good morale because you have a comfortable building. And, of course, the service to the public that comes here into our facilities. And it's not just here at the county building, but all the facilities. It could be, you know, offices, jails, hospitals, parks and zoos. So to all our employees, thank you for the work that you do. It does not go unnoticed. We see you out there. So thank you. Our public works folks. You know, Najee, you know, we see you guys out there and mostly, hey, it's going to start getting hot out there, making sure our infrastructure, our roadways are safe and in good repair. And I can tell everybody, you know, public work, Najee was with us, our director of public work was with us in Washington, D.C., last week, you know, fighting for funding to do exactly what you all want us to do, right? You know, fill those potholes, make our streets safer, make our roadways in better condition. And of course, with that, we need money. And that's why we travel to Washington, D.C. And I can tell you, Najee is a, I mean, that guy knows a lot. I know a lot about transportation because I worked in it for so long. But, you know, Najee knows more than I do. It's very awesome to see him out there talking to our Congressman and our senators and dot and our allied agencies and trying to get funding so for all our employees Thank you very much. You know we appreciate it and God bless you guys Thank you chairman.

Thank you, sir Supervisor Gardea I Just want to echo What supervisor Rickman said? You know, you guys are the boots on the ground, and you make us look professional, and I appreciate everything you do. Often, I believe that you don't get recognized enough, and I know that you guys work your butt off to keep our facilities in good shape and do a really positive thing for our community. I feel like our county buildings and our county infrastructure is in pretty good shape, and it's because of you, so thank you.

Thank you, sir. Supervisor Gardea, item 27 and 37.

Can I have the EMS director come up? Yeah, so the reason why I pulled this item is really not to ask, well, maybe ask a few questions, but really to talk about the hard work that our EMS division has done over the years. There was a time at Delta College, it's where I took my EMT course to become a stocking firefighter, and we used to have an EMT course and we used to have a paramedic course, and the sheriff just kind of spoke on recruitment and retention. And for decades, our local... soon to be firefighters or paramedics had to go out of this county to go get training. And so when it came to recruiting and retaining, because a lot of people don't want to leave their communities to come work here, they want to stay in their communities and work amongst the places that they grew up. We've come a long ways. Started with the EMT program, now starting a paramedic program. I just want to say thank you. It's much needed. I like the idea of growing our own. We're going to be a stronger community if we have people from within our own community protecting our citizens. So I just want to say thank you.

I appreciate that. Working with Delta has been a privilege. They've been very helpful. We're excited to partner and provide low-cost, high-level of paramedic training to the community. So it's been a pleasure. And my staff has worked very hard on this MOU, so I want to shout out to them as well.

Yeah, and I'll also say, too, is that paramedics save lives. And there was a time where... It was a challenge to get a paramedic program within our county, at least at some of the fire departments. Lodi Fire is now ALS, and Manteca Lake is now ALS. Manteca is actually looking at being ALS. So it's a great addition to saving lives in our community, and just want to say thank you again for being part of that.

I appreciate it. And part of this partnership is we will be able to host these trainings at the new EMS facility. So that will be very exciting. Thank you.

Thank you, sir, 37.

Good morning, Chair Dhaliwal, members of the board, CAO Regala, I'm Rick Castro, the CEO of San Joaquin General Hospital. And right by my side here is Sam Harlan, our CFO. So this is in regards, I think, to the earmark contract?

It is. And it's not specific to this contract. I like the idea that we're always trying to save money and be competitive. And I realize the costs of food have gone up. But for me, the reason why I pulled this item is that often I don't like just checking a box in the sense of RFPs. I'd like to see to make sure that we're having a competitive bid go out. And so I know this is an extension. Time is not allowing to put this out for RFP. But in the future, when we have these contracts, expiring, I'd like to see an RFP go out before we get to that point of extensions. And if the extension makes sense, then I think that's the right thing to do, but I just wanna make sure that we're being competitive and putting these contracts out so that we're getting our best bang for the buck.

Great 100% so we didn't extend it 2 years. We could have we extended at 1, the RFP process through through purchasing takes a little bit of time. So we're going to start that immediately. So we do that as well. And I agree with you. There's only a few. Companies out there that really specialize in in what airmark does for us that the dietary and the. But I think that it'd be very rare that there'd be a local vendor, but that'd be great if there was. So we certainly acknowledge that moving forward to make sure we get that RFP started as soon as we can. So we have enough time to look at it prior to the extension expiring.

Yeah, and it's not just for this one. It's any future. I don't know if you have a list of budgetary items that are coming up on, you know, contracts, end of contracts to look to the future, maybe establishing a list and a timeline that we put out in a timely manner RFPs for future contracts.

I agree with you 100%.

Thank you.

Thanks. That's it. Thanks, guys. Oh, by the way, National Hospital Week, so I want to acknowledge all of the people that we work with, 2,700 people at the hospital. They do an amazing job every day through some chaos, and I couldn't be prouder of the people that we work with. So please remember them this week. Thanks.

Thank you so much. Anyone from public want to speak? Thank you. Board members, do we have a motion? Consent items 1 through 14 and 16 through 48. So moved. Motion and a second. Roll call, please. Motion passes 5-0. Next, we have In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority. It's a consent item. We will recess as a Board of Supervisors meeting and we'll convene as in-home supportive services public authority meeting. We have a consent item. Adopt the in-home supportive services public authority 26-27 fiscal year budget. Set a public hearing date of June 2nd, 2026.

Any questions from the board?

Anybody from public? Do we have a motion?

Motion to approve June 2nd as the hearing date.

Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. Call for a vote. Waiting for the Vice Chair.

I'm going to have to go ahead and mark him absent for the vote.

Are you going to reset it?

Yeah, so it passes four to zero with supervisor being absent.

Thank you so much. Motion passes four zero one absent. We will reconvene as a board of supervisors meeting. The next item is public interview. I'm going to turn it over to County Administrator, Ms. Regalo.

Thank you, Chair. So this morning, I would ask, I believe we have eight applicants. So I will call your names, but I would ask that you come and sit. I know a couple of you I did meet, and you're sitting just fine. But the rest of you, if you can come down and sit in the first couple of rows, please. Steven Castellanos, Balwinder Singh, John Ando, who I believe is joining us via Teams, Heaven Armstrong, Donald Tafoya, Jesusius, Carl Knott, and Katrina Bambula-Santos. You could come right up front. So let's see if we have everyone first. So this is for the appointment of one position to the San Joaquin Regional Transit District Board. The Board of Supervisors appointee, position number 5701.2. Let's see. I have one, two, three, four, five, six. I believe Mr. Ando is on Teams. Okay, so that's six. If you could please tell me who you are. I know I met a couple of them. Ballender, Jesus, and Katrina. And your name, sir?

Carl.

Carl. I heard Carl not.

And your name?

Yes. Tafoya. Tafoya. Okay, so I'm looking, are there any others? I think I'm still looking for Steven or Stefan Castellanos and Heaven Armstrong. I don't know if the clerk has heard if they were.

These were everybody that had confirmed for interviews today. If they're not present, then they're not present for the interview.

Okay. So we will go ahead and continue. unless somebody else walks in, nope. Okay, so thank you for being here. I know, and we still have six, one, two, three, four, five, six of you, so that's still plenty, so I really appreciate for you coming in. We will have just two questions for you to answer this morning. I will call you up, and you will come up to the podium. You will have two minutes to answer each question, and then we will go from there. And then you could just have a seat right back down. I'll call someone else up and then we'll get through this. Thank you. Okay, first, I have Mr. Balwinder Singh, if you can come up. And then also, I forgot to mention, you'll see the questions up here on the screen. For your first question, it'll be the same question for everyone. Mr. Singh, can you please describe your interest in serving on the San Joaquin Regional Transit District Board, including your qualifications and understanding of the director role?

Can I start?

Yes.

Thank you. Good morning, Honorable Chairman, Board of Supervisors, and members of the public. Yeah, so my interest in serving the San Joaquin Regional Transit Board is not of today. It is since the day I came in to start living in Stockton. I've been a Stockton resident for last 23 years. I have been serving on the San Joaquin Regional Transit District Board for last two terms. I started in 2014. That gave me a lot of experience, a lot of insight into how the things work and how we could give back to the community. Community gave me a lot of things and I wanted to give back and I think this was, I could not think of any other better way than doing this. My qualifications, like I said, 12 years experience on the San Joaquin Regional Transit District Board until I was replaced in January of 2026, couple months ago. My understanding of a director's role is very, very important. I could describe it into four. First is the governance and policy, very, very important. Second is having fiscal oversight over the budget. Third, I would say, is the service and operation. because this directly relates to the 189 people who are employed, and these are good, high-paying jobs in the county. And lastly, I would say the relationship of internal and external partners, as well as the public. There, I would say, is the city, county interactions with them being more responsive to their needs. Thank you. I still have time?

Yes, you do, you have 30 seconds.

Okay, sorry, my mistake. Having divided into those four areas, now I will try to delve a little bit deeper. A director is not into day-to-day operations. A director generally sets the policy. then he makes sure that the ceo who is hired he performs to get that vision which is set and the policy so that way the team that is there which he is leading uh can deliver the public um

You can finish your sentence.

I can finish? Okay.

Well, just your sentence.

Yes. So the role for which we hire the CEO, it's our responsibility to have a good oversight on that CEO so that he can deliver and make sure that team of 189 operators, executive staff are able to deliver on the public service promise, which is made by 189 employees and the buses which roll for the most vulnerable people of our community. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, and you can have a seat.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, the next one I will ask is Donald Tafoya. If you could come up.

And I should have mentioned. I apologize. We have Mr. Ando is available via Teams to respond.

Sorry, you will be after the next. And I apologize, I forgot. Mr. John Ando, who is here via Teams, you will be the next one to answer questions. The question, so if you could please unmute and please describe your interest in serving on the San Joaquin Regional Transit District Board, including your qualifications and understanding of the director role. You will have two minutes. You will hear a beep, and that means you'll have 30 seconds left.

Yes, good morning. Does everyone hear me okay? Yes. Yes. I'm John Ando, and I'm interested in serving on the San Joaquin Regional Transit District Board for the mere interest of wanting to facilitate coordination between transit operators throughout the county, helping set policy for the district and being responsive to the riders and the community that utilizes the district services and representing the city of Stockton and the county of San Joaquin's interest as it relates to public transit. Policy my qualifications, I've been the transit manager for the city of for 26 years. I've also worked for many of the other transit operators throughout the county. Very familiar with the services that are provided by the San Joaquin regional transit district. Instrumental and assisting in the development of a short range transit plan for them back in 2017. I'VE ALSO BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN DEVELOPING NEW TRANSIT SERVICES FOR VARIOUS CITIES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY. VERY PASSIONATE ON PUBLIC TRANSIT. I'VE BEEN USING PUBLIC TRANSIT GOING BACK TO THE AGE OF 10, AND IT'S BEEN MY ASPIRATIONAL CAREER GOALS IN MANAGING PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEMS, WHICH I'VE BEEN DOING ACROSS THE COUNTRY OVER THE COURSE OF MY 26-YEAR CAREER IN ADDITION TO WORKING FOR THE CITY OF ESCALON. MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE DIRECTOR'S ROLE IS TO ENFORCE PUC Section 5000, which governs the district, set policy for the district, along with the other four fellow board members, select the CEO and legal counsel, establish governance, represent the city of Stockton and the county's interests related to public transit, and most importantly, form partnerships with the Council of Governments, the rail, and other transit providers so we have a seamless regional transit system that represents the interests of San Joaquin County. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, next we will have Mr. Donald Tafoya. With the same question.

Yes. Okay. Oh, my God.

You're okay. Would you like me to repeat the question? No, no, no.

I had my paper notes, but I have to work off my other notes. Okay. I am a lifelong resident of Stockton for over 70 years in this community. I witnessed firsthand... the transportation needs for our residents, especially seniors. I am committed to addressing gaps and transit services for all age groups, especially seniors, with a particular focus in ensuring that senior citizens are not overlooked. I... As a senior, we have a one car household and I use the bus lines quite a bit, 40, 43 and 520 and they run very smooth and efficient. I'm very impressed with it. What I don't see is more seniors using them and I'm just not wondering if we can set up something where senior communities could be communicated and made available make sure that they know that the uh... services available to use the transportation system but overall i see great improvements, not improvements, but functions of the bus line, and I would like to see better. One thing I've always wondered about is why they have every 15 minutes for bus 40, why not every 20 minutes, because 15 minutes is a very short gap. Instead of four trips an hour, you could do three, but I have a great interest in transportation primarily because as our city grows, so does the traffic, and our five o'clock traffic starts at 2 p.m. It ends at six. Thank you.

Thank you. And next we'll have Jesus Sias.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and community members. My name is my interest with transportation is as a young child. I heavily relied on public transportation. I traveled about an hour. Every 1, 1 way and 1 way back going to and from school. Uh, so that's my interest, uh, as far as my qualifications, I have 7 years of experience in transportation that I acquired in the military. I serve in the Marine Corps and in the army national guard as transportation. I. Drove trucks majority of my time, but I was also a chief dispatcher and I oversaw different missions and routes. Uh. We have various different routes throughout the day. Some of my other qualifications, I have 2 bachelors 1 in criminal justice 1 in business management. I recently got my business management bachelors, because I. Has some medical issues, so I had to pivot and look towards doing something differently with my life. So now I try to. make a difference in the community, help out as much as I'm able to. I'm a little slower than I used to be, but I try to always learn new things and help out the community as much as I can. In regards to the role of being a director, I think being in board of directors, you're tasked with one of the most difficult choices, making sure that you hire the right people, ensuring that you're making the right choices for the community, ensuring that there's public transparency, and you're tasked with making some of the most difficult, but you wanna make sure you make educated decisions, whether we're gonna cut some routes, or increase fares, or study different routes, seeing what can be changed, what can be improved, and ensuring that we're staying within budget.

Thank you. Next, we will have Carl Knott to answer the same question.

Thank you for your opportunity to come and speak to this matter today. I've spent my entire life as an advocate and a user of public transportation going back to my days of riding the Muni and AC Transit in the Bay Area and RT in Sacramento. I've ridden, used, and worked for RTD going back to 1986. I'm familiar with the entire route structure that existed the last 40 years. I spent 17 years with RTD in the planning department and a dozen years as director of planning. I understand the cost of operating buses. I understand the demographics of the riders. My staff and I had to present the reports that were sent to Caltrans, SJCOG, and Federal Transportation Administration describing the levels of ridership, the cost of the ridership, the demographics of the ridership. And we also I've worked there during the transitional period to hybrid electric buses, quick charge, electric buses, depot, charging buses and the building of the downtown transit center and the union transit center and the hammer transfer center. So I have a very good working knowledge of. It's very important that we have RTD in a position in which it has great public credibility, it's respected for its operations, and we need to do a great job of getting public education out about how transit can be best utilized in a community. Transit should be thought of as a value-added service to a community, not as something to be tolerated. And these kind of issues come up when you're trying to put in public bus stops and shelters, and when you're trying to compete for funding and grants and things like that. So basically, I'm a public advocate, I'm a real life user, I'm riding the buses today, I rode the buses when I was here on April 28th for your meeting, and I thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you today.

Thank you. And last but not least, Katrina Bambula-Santos. If you could answer the same question, please.

I'm short. Good morning, everybody. My interest in RTDs, I've been in, I've worked in public transportation for over a decade from all aspects of route planning to ridership as well as FMCSA transportation. audits, sorry, and DOT, CHP, workers' comp. I know about safety. That is my fresh eyes, and safety are my two things that make me want to beyond this board, being somebody who's been in this community for a long time and seeing firsthand what's happened on some of our buses, our bus stops, it's something that is a soft spot for me. As far as understanding the director role, fiscally being responsible, safety, hiring those that are going to meet the needs of our community is our main task. As far as my background goes, again, I was a safety training operator for a transportation company that worked predominantly with the handicapped, so we are about ridership and safety and making sure that everyone is treated equally and is inclusive and knowing that the public transportation is there for them in areas that are usually not. Thank you.

Thank you. So that, I will just call out the two that were absent, Stephan or Steven Castellanos, or Heaven Armstrong. I don't believe I saw anyone come in, but okay. We will move on to number two, and I should have said, so these are just computer generated, we throw the names in and then they pick them out one at a time, so it won't go in the same order. So I will ask Mr. Carl Knott to come up to the podium, please. to answer question number two. What do you believe are the regional transit district's most important priorities and challenges, both now and in the future?

The number one priority for RTD is to build up the ridership to not only get back to where it was pre-COVID, but get beyond it. RTD actually carried as many as 5 million passengers in the calendar year 2009. At that particular time, a new plan had been administered where we became the primary transportation for Stockton Unified students. through a rather complicated procedure of buying and transferring passes to students. Now they have more blanket program. But at that time when it initiated, there was 3,600 students a day, every weekday, writing RTD. And ridership at one time hit 20,000 per day on the system. COVID wiped a lot of that out, and currently, RTD is carrying about 11,000 per day. That's a reasonably good number. Contrary to what most people think, RTD has recovered more of its ridership from pre-COVID than BART, Muni, AC Transit, or SACRT. It actually has a pretty high percentage of over 80% of recovered ridership, but it needs to get better. There needs to be a really good study of the cost of the ridership per passenger versus the type of service. I once stringently talked to you folks about big buses versus small buses. That is a conversation that needs to happen. There's a need for RTD to build up the passenger revenue ratio of the revenues paying for the cost of operation. There needs to be a better partnership of RTD with the government agencies such as city council, county supervisors, San Joaquin Council of Governments. And there needs to be a stronger, better relationship and partnership between RTD operations and those of Tracy Tracer, Lodi Grapeline, Manteca Transit, Rip and Blossom Express. And most importantly, we need to reconnect with the public. There needs to be a public education campaign where RTD goes out into the community and discusses what public transit is and how it can be used so you can best utilize those services. And we have to make it give the best bang for its buck. Transit's a bottom line business. Even though it's a subsidized business, you have to account for a bottom line of funding and operations. Thank you.

Thank you. And next, we will have Jesus Sias. Same question. What do you believe are the regional transit districts most important priorities and challenges both now and in the future?

Some of the most important priorities is ensuring safety, ensuring that it's doing a good job right now, but I think it can get better. I did see that they have on their website, they have a things to look out for when you're riding the bus. And that's great. Also, I want to ensure that people are being safe getting to those bus stops because as me, when I was a young boy, I got mugged going to the bus stop and ensuring that That their safety around the bus stops and being vigilant in the area. I think that's a good priority to set some of the challenges that I see are. That the board is actually dipping into their reserves due to some money that was allocated before and it's not being allocated now. I think there needs to be some sort of restructure or figuring out what can be managed a little bit better. Did see there's a. significant decrease in the budget. Still do some COVID funds that were moved around a little bit. I do believe that maybe you can find things that, you can study some routes that can be joined together or if we have to, I know people don't like it, we're gonna either have to raise fares or put some routes together and figure out how we can save some money and improve the budget We're a growing city, but we have to ensure that we're not being in a budget deficit, and we want to ensure that we're doing the best for the community and making sure we're not going below the budget. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Next, we have Donald Chapoya.

Yes, now in the future, the primary objective would be to meet the transportation needs of the public in the most efficient and safe cost effective manner. Achieving these objectives require cooperation among board members to foster a productive and positive working environment with the focus of safety, particularly in the physical responsibility. The biggest challenge facing public transit are securing substantial funding and ensuring passenger safety both are critical in maintaining an effective and reliable transit system. My perspective of the future of public transit centers on adaptability and innovation, the transit system must evolve to meet emerging needs, levering technology and data-driven solutions to deliver efficient, responsive and accessible services for the community. It's That's about it that I have to offer.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And next I will invite up Katrina Bambula-Santos to answer the same question.

Again, the priorities would be safety as well as being fiscally responsible for, yes, we have growing communities and making sure that we're reaching those communities and getting them to where they need to go, whether it be commuter or new services in new neighborhoods. However, having the need has to be fiscally responsible you know providing a bus route has to make sense having fresh eyes and ideas is going to be important to be heard not so we're staying stagnant for the future i would like to see rtd Be utilized as much as bigger cities are yes, our Pre cobit ridership was immense. It was relied on then safety kind of to the turn and it has a very negative connotation to writing public transportation. We try to utilize it within our public resources, making sure that that's a resource that we give out to those who need it. And I feel that if we can use public education and get that word out as well, that's a great idea. But changing the overall look and feel will help us immensely. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we will go back on Teams with Mr. John Ando. If you could please answer the question, what do you believe are the regional transit districts' most important priorities and challenges, both now and in the future?

Yes, I believe the most important challenges and priorities for the district include ensuring proper service delivery, optimizing and right-sizing the transit system, within the city of Stockton, the unincorporated areas and connecting the communities so that people can seamlessly get around the county with the right size buses, the right level of services and making sure that we're meeting the needs of the community and simplifying the transit system to make it easy to ride. As a user of RTD, it's fairly complex and I believe simplifying the system will make it easier for people to ride. FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY IS CRITICAL, ENSURING THAT RTD IS ABLE TO GET THE APPROPRIATE FUNDING TO MEET ITS CURRENT AND FUTURE NEEDS. FORMING RELATIONSHIPS WITH SAN JOAQUIN COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS, RAIL, AND OTHER TRANSIT OPERATORS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY IS VERY IMPORTANT SINCE RTD IS SUPPOSED TO BE CONNECTING ALL OF THOSE PIECES TOGETHER. ENSURING THE TRANSITION TO ZERO EMISSION TECHNOLOGY IS BEING DONE METHODICALLY AND WITHIN BUDGET since there are legal requirements in the state to have zero emission vehicles. Ensuring that there's appropriate workforce development and training so that we can make working in transit attractive and continue to build upon the successes that the district has on that. Ensuring that the transportation needs for the community is being met so that all of the services that are being offered are easy and able for people to utilize. Safety and security is also important, ensuring that the system is safe and making it attractive for those to continue to use the transit system. And most importantly, building community partnerships.

Thank you. And again, last but not least, we have Mr. Balwinder Singh to please answer the same question.

Thank you, Sandy. So this is my personal opinion on the most important priority. As I pointed out in my first question that I was replaced in January 2025, then followed by a change in the board, which is not wrong. We need to have change. But continuously for the last four months now, we have been having a vacuum there. So my immediate priority, which I would say number one would be is to bring in some stability in form of Permanent CEO, immediate priority, chief operating officer, financial folks, there's not a CFO there, everything is in train. As we alluded to the first question that we, our responsibility is not to get into the weeds, our responsibility to set the policy. Clearly the mandate here is to have a change. We all respect that, but to have a vacuum for the next four months, that may not be the right thing to do. So in my first priority, which I would list as hiring a permanent CEO, a chief operating officer, a chief financial officer, and beneath that, there are some managers which are missing, which will then help us to set a motion, the budget, which is due on 1st of July. That budget decides how the transit operates. So immediate priorities will be those. Getting back to those challenges, I would say is, Immediate challenges would be is we have got a new board. We have to work together with them. There's a lot of trust issues. We need to build on those. We need to have trust with SJCOG. A lot of work needs to be done on that. We need to be responsive to our city, county liaison committee. We have never had a meeting in that. I tried a lot of times, but I could not be successful yet because we're all so busy. But those are the challenges that we immediately need to address so that way we can rebuild that trust because current status quo is not going to happen. We'll just have the same thing. We'll have interim people coming. Things will not change. Having said that, I'll stop there. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you So that concludes our interview questions chair and I will turn that back to you in the bank Thank You Sandy board members any questions comments.

I'll start from my left Thank you Thank You chairman, thank you all for being here and being on online also and you know, thank you for bringing your taking the time of your day and wanting to get involved in the community. As a transparency note, I did speak to Mr. Singh, I believe it was over the weekend, and returned his phone call. And, you know, he did discuss why he wanted the position. I told him I couldn't discuss, you know, discuss it any further because I haven't spoken to anybody else. So on the transparency side, I wanted to put that out there. And I don't have any questions for anybody. I did go over everybody's application, listening to folks here today. And I can just tell you who I'm impressed with. And I don't know the individual, John Ando, the gentleman who's online. One thing, I was looking at his application and listening to him on the phone today. I mean, it... My first thought is, you know, why are you applying for this position when it sounds like he's qualified to be the CEO or the director of the organization? If you look at his experience, you know, one thing that I was looking for here today was, you know, folks who mentioned, you know, services not just to the city of Stockton, but to the unincorporated areas here in San Joaquin County, which I think has been overlooked for some time. The north and south side, unincorporated side. And of course, the relationship with our cities and our allied agencies like COG. And I'll mention, I'm not going to go too much into it, but If you look at Mr. Ando, one of his statements, he says in his application, 23 years of deep experience in transit planning and management within, again, large urban, small urban, and rural communities, establishing the policies and process to facilitate smooth daily operations, and so on. And again, I'm not going to go over his application. You can look at it for yourself. I mean, my guy, he's In magazines, he has just a plethora of experience. So if you're looking for who I would be advocating for or voting for, it would be Mr. John Endo. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, sir.

Vice Chair Deane.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is, it is incredibly important. It's a lot of money. We've gained a reputation, not such a good one from the feds. They see the turmoil. We might think that nobody notices outside of San Joaquin County, but they do. And it does hurt us when we're trying to align federal dollars. Ms. Santos, you said something, you don't have to get up, that kind of crystallized, you said we need fresh eyes. And normally I'd agree with you. But I think part of the problem with RTD, that new board, is it is a lot of fresh eyes and a lot of new. And I worry that one of the things you're doing in management, before you make a change, you're trying to figure out why did the previous board do what they did? You know, explain to me this. And that has absolutely evaporated. from this board, and we do have individuals here that do have experience. Singh was on the board. Rick knows it all inside and out. I agree with you about Paul. I just real quickly tell you a little story. My daughter, Madeline, who never had a driver's license, by the way, 30 years old, she can't figure out why would I do that when you have Uber and buses. Of course, she lives in Eugene. But she comes to Lockford to visit her in-laws, and she doesn't want me to come pick her up. She says, let's just take the bus. So there's not a bus out there, but they do have the dial, a ride, or what have you. So she calls them, and the directions are she has a little kit. And of course, there's no instructions for strollers, and they can't put them on the transportation. And it's only from 9 to 5. So if you want to go to the mall and get a pair of sneakers, I guess you could use the service. But she wanted to take it so she could work at the restaurant, and there is no service. And so the outlying area who pays taxes like everybody else and have asked much, it's not really thought of. And my constituents in the 4th District, we don't have service here. And I think that's important, that We pay attention to that. So my two are access to the outlying parts of the county. And I think we need some stability at RTD, too, with some experience.

Thank you, sir. Supervisor Canepa.

I just want to commend everybody for putting your names in the hat. I serve on boards and our paths cross frequently. So this is a tough, tough one. I know everybody's got a little different aspect of it. and how we do it, and there's been quite a bit of drama with RTD and COG, so calming the waters is something that I think is important, and I don't know how we get there. There's just been a lot of problems, and trust and accountability And I think that's the thing that needs to be fixed the most is how do we get in? How do we calm people down? How do you get ridership up? Um, and we may just hit on that, you know, the, the roads and Stockton and big buses versus small buses. And how do you get that ridership up is questions that we all have. And so for me, who's the most qualified, I did see the, the, um, Mr. Ando online. My question is would he be able to come or I don't know if RTD meetings are online because he's not from around the area. That would be my concern is his ability to be in person. So I don't know if he could answer that for me. And then I think it's important that everyone brings a little bit of aspect. So how we get there and who we pick I think is important to the future of RTD.

Thank you, sir. Supervisor Gardea? Sandy?

I believe Mr. Ando.

It does appear that he attempted to respond if we want to give him an opportunity. Applicants do need to live in the district that RTD covers.

So I just don't know if they do virtual meetings or if they have to be in person, and his ability, if he's not in the area, to make those meetings would be my question.

I'M PREPARED TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION IF YOU'D LIKE.

THAT WOULD BE GREAT.

YES, I DO RESIDE IN THE DISTRICT, AND, YES, I WILL BE ABLE TO ATTEND THE MEETINGS. WHILE I DO WORK REMOTELY, IT IS MY COMMITMENT TO BE IN PERSON AT RTD'S MEETINGS, WHICH I UNDERSTAND ARE GENERALLY THE THIRD FRIDAYS OF EVERY MONTH AT 10 A.M. SO I'M DEFINITELY COMMITTED.

PERFECT. THANK YOU.

My only comment is I appreciate you guys coming out for this public interview. It's just the idea that you're willing to participate in this and try to make our system a little better. Obviously, as some of the other supervisors said, there has been some turmoil. There needs to be some stability. But I just want to say thank you and a great interview by all of you.

Thank you, sir. Anybody from public want to speak about this item, this issue? Anybody? Board members, any final comments, questions? Do we have a motion? Chairman, I'll make a motion.

I'll make a motion to appoint John Nando to this position. Do we have a second?

I'll second. Call for a vote, please. Motion passes 5-0.

Thank you all for coming and participating.

County Council? County Council? Do we need to recess at 11?

It would be preferable. You have outside council who will be coming in to speak and we'd rather not pay them to wait around.

Sandy, what do you recommend?

I'm sorry, was that, are they coming at 11 or 11.30? 11. Oh, they're coming at 11?

Correct, yes.

We could, what's the next one? Let me look to my staff. Sarah, how long do you think for the fee? So we could probably get through the fee hearing if you'd like.

Sure. Okay. Schedule item number two, Sarah Sickler. Is it Cycler or Cickler?

Cickler.

Cickler. Thank you.

Good morning, Chair, Dr. Mindaliwal, and members of the board. Sarah Cickler, Senior Deputy County Administrator. Today's public hearing is for consideration of the county's proposed fee revisions for fiscal year 2026-2027. The purpose of today's hearing is to review proposed changes to the county fees and charges for services provided by the county departments under the authority of the Board of Supervisors. The hearing will begin with a brief overview of the county's fee setting requirements and process. I will then summarize the department's proposed changes and recommended fee revisions. Following the presentation, the chair will open the public hearing to receive testimony or comments from the public on any proposed fee changes. After public comment closes, the board may discuss the proposed proposals and take action to approve the fee revisions, including any modifications the board desires. Department heads and staff representatives are present today and available to answer any questions the board may have regarding their proposed fee revisions. At this time, staff request the chair open the public hearing.

I'll open the public hearing. Board members, any questions for staff? Starting from my right? No? Any questions for staff?

No.

CONTINUE, PLEASE. ANYBODY FROM PUBLIC? SUPERVISOR RICKMAN, ANY QUESTIONS FOR STAFF?

I STEP OUT ONE SECOND, THE WHOLE RULE CHANGES. THAT WAS, YOU KNOW, THE ONLY CONCERNS I HAVE, OH, NEVER MIND. then hey, cycler, go ahead.

County fees are established to recover the cost of providing specific services that primarily benefit individuals, benefits, or other entities, rather than the public as a whole. Under state law and county policies, fees cannot exceed the actual cost of providing the services. Departments periodically review their fee schedules to ensure revenue remains aligned with operating costs, including staffing, benefits, supplies, contracted service, and other program expenses. Recommended adjustments are intended to maintain service level by minimizing the reliance on general tax revenues to subsidize specialized services. The state has distinguished between general public services and special public services. Examples of general public services would be jail, welfare, and certain health programs. General public services are funded from general revenues, such as property and sales taxes, and are distinguished from special public services by those who benefit, either the general public or parties such as private individuals, businesses, or other government entities. Examples of special or user-beneficial public services would be those related to property development, conducting a business, animal ownership, or individual health care costs, such as those provided by public health or behavioral health. Special public services are funded by special revenues such as user fees, license fees, and penalty assessments. These fees are designed to cover the costs associated with providing user-initiated activities. The amount of the fee is intended to maintain service levels expected by the service recipient without shifting the cost to the general taxpayers. If fees are not adequate to recover the cost of providing the service, then the service is subsidized by the general fund. The following departments are proposing fee revisions for fiscal year 26-27. Environmental Health Department, Health Care Service Agency, Public Works, Registrar of Voters, San Joaquin General Hospital, the Sheriff's Office, Stockton Metropolitan Airport, and the Treasure Tax Collector. Each department proposed revisions are summarized on the following slide. Public notices for today's hearing were published on April 28th and May 5th of 2026 in accordance with the applicable notice requirements. The notices identified the department's proposing fee revisions and announced the hearing date of today, May 12th, 2026. The Environmental Health Department is proposing updates to program fees to reflect increased cost for inspection, investigation, evaluation, and related services. The department is also proposing to increase the hourly rate from $179 to $192 per hour and update fees within the community development department fee schedule that are tied to the environmental health hourly rate. The estimated additional annual revenue for this fee is $413,000. Healthcare Service Agency proposal includes update within several divisions. Behavioral Health Services is requesting authorization for the director to adjust rates through June 30th, 2027 to reflect fluctuation in service cost and reimbursement levels under Medi-Cal and Medicare guidelines, as well as establishing previously unlisted fees as needed. Emergency Medical Services is proposing a 3% increase to select monitoring and oversight.

Thank you.

to address rising service delivery costs and projected payroll adjustments. Public Guardian conservator is requesting authorization to adjust representative payee fees if the Social Security Administration changes the allowable maximum fee during the fiscal year. Public Health Services are proposing laboratory fee adjustments based on the changes in testing procedures, testing volumes, salaries, benefits, and supply costs. Combined estimates, additional annual reimbursement total approximately $54,000, excluding behavioral health services adjustments, which are not expected to result in a net reimbursement increase. Public Works is proposing a comprehensive update to its fee schedule.

Okay.

Including elimination of 52 obsolete fees, the adjustment of 26 existing fees, and the establishment of four new fees aligned with the revised community development department fee category structure. The department is also proposing new disposal rates for alternative daily cover and mixed recyclable materials at county solid waste facilities. The estimated additional annual reimbursement is approximately $500,000. The registrar of voters is proposing adjustments to nine existing fees and the addition of one new fee based on a fee study performed by the auditor controller's office. These revisions are not anticipated to result in a net change in reimbursement. San Joaquin General Hospital is proposing increases to room rates and other hospital clinic service charges. The hospital is also requesting authorization for the chief executive officer to adjust rates during the fiscal year to reflect fluctuation in cost and reimbursement levels associated with Medi-Cal and Medicare programs, as well as established fees for previously unlisted services pending the next annual fee hearing. Estimated additional annual reimbursement is approximately $4.9 million. The Sheriff's Office is proposing a decrease to the jail access fee from $510.65 to $491.70 and an increase to the booking fee charge to arresting agencies from $149 to $156. These changes are not anticipated to result in a net change in reimbursement. The Stockton Metropolitan Airport is proposing updates to parking fees for large aircraft and the creation of a new common use terminal building fee for scheduled and non-scheduled airlines. Estimated additional annual reimbursement is approximately $22,000. The Treasure Tax Collector is proposing an increase to business license fees from $100 to $150. The estimated additional annual reimbursement is approximately $90,000. If approved, the proposed fee revisions are estimated to generate approximately $5.98 million in additional annual reimbursement countywide. The largest increase is associated with the San Joaquin General Hospital fee adjustment, followed by public works, solid waste operations, and environmental health fee updates. Departments will update and implement revised fee schedules following board approval. This concludes my staff presentation. Staff request the chair receive any public testimony regarding the proposed fee revisions.

Thank you. Anybody from public want to speak on this item? Anybody from public? No.

If there are no public comments, you can close the fee hearing now.

I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. Supervisor Rickman?

Thank you chairman. First of all, what is the new body our facility plan check that. What is that body art and talk about tattoos. What department are you just a safe body our program safe body our program. I guess environmental health department she's got I'm just in that tattoo parlors.

Good morning, Supervisor, through the chair. Yes, it is what you said.

All right, yeah, I was just wondering, it went up, you know.

It's a little fancy word for a body art.

Okay, that's what I assumed, but, you know. It went up $524. Not that I'm a big, you know, I have a bunch of tattoos. I'm not Supervisor Gurdia, you know, but. Those of you that don't know, he has a, like on his back, a big old picture of a police officer. Just giving them a bad time. No, I was just wondering that. But my issue is this, is I know we have to, you know, we can't subsidize things, however, I mean, you look at the cost of living the way it is here today. I mean, everybody looks at gas prices. All our families, everybody just keeps paying more and more and more and everything. You hear about water rates going up in cities and, you know, throughout the county. There's a point where there has to be a limit. I mean, people are struggling to buy groceries and put gas in their car And then you look at all these increases, and you're not talking about $2, $3, $5. Some of these places, you're getting like $500 here, $400, $300 in some of these different programs. How are people supposed to afford this stuff? I guess it's not a question to you, but I guess it's just a statement. I just think it's a horrible time right now to start raising fees. I can see it like the Sheriff's Department, for example. There is different because, I mean, you're talking about jail facility fees and so on, and that's coming from the city. The city is our facilities, and correct me if I'm wrong, you know, and they pay us a fee to use our facilities like the jail. So that's a little bit different. And that's just what I'm concerned about is the cost of living, making people pay even more, and then if people can't afford it, then they're not going to come in and do what we request them to do legally. So then you have folks that would be out of compliance or they're going to be delaying what they need to be done because they can't afford it. And it doesn't sound like much, but I mean, my God, you just keep nickel and diming everybody to death. And I'm not just talking, you know, the county side. The county, our fees are usually substantially lower than city and state fees. But, you know, you stack it with the state of California, who just loves to get in your wallet, and, you know, city fees, and then you put county fees on it. I just think, for me, it's a bad time to do it. And my last question is... you know, for example, all these different plan checks, I mean, I'm just looking at environmental health here right now, but why are plan, I mean, we have employees already that are paid by tax dollars, and some of these fees are going up, the plan check fees are going up, why? I mean, why are they going up so much?

So, Roy, I recommend it's, so when we do our analysis, So our salaries, benefits, and everything goes up. So we try to be more conservative so how we can recover our fee, our time spent on the project. All right. Sorry.

No, that's fine. I mean, hey, I'm not putting any blame on you. It's, again, it's just an environment that we live in, I guess, here today, not in California. It's... I mean, hey, we all didn't hit a gas pump to me, but it just seems like every time you turn around, somebody is putting another fee or another tax on you. And our families and our individuals here are just struggling to make a living and support their families. And every time you turn around, there's somebody who's trying to grab more of your money. So that's just a statement. So with that being said, thank you, Chair, for your patience. I'm gonna yield my time. Thank you, sir. Supervisor Gardea.

Oh, okay, thank you.

Oh yeah, I will talk about my tattoos. I'm actually thinking about getting a donkey with a big R on it on my back instead, but. Wow, I know, man, I'm over the top. I know you were so sensitive. But no, the only thing I'm asking is maybe in the future separate general funds from non-general fund increases. So if these are money that we're getting reimbursed through the state or the feds, then if there's a way to separate that, because that'll kind of, does that make sense?

Through the chair, yes, I understand. I believe I understand what you're saying, but I would say that for most of these. It is just the cost of doing business and I appreciate the director explaining that as salaries go up, it is just the cost of doing business and that because we're not allowed to collect any more than what it does cost and it would just be more, if it didn't, it would be a hit to the general fund.

But some of them are like, An example is like the Medicare reimbursement, I believe, fee that we get reimbursed through Medi-Cal?

Maybe I read it wrong. Through the chair, you're referring to health care services and the hospital that they can increase their rates for the Medicare reimbursement rate?

Correct. So that's not something that's coming out of the general fund. That's through like a reimbursement.

No, essentially the board just gives the healthcare services director and the director of the hospital authority to raise those fees so they can receive maximum reimbursement. Okay.

But if you'd like, I would ask if either one of the directors are here, because I understand what you're saying is separating it from the general fund departments versus the non-general fund. Correct.

Okay.

Thank you, Faye. And Rick, you can also come down. Thank you.

Is this working? Okay, through the chair, county administrator, county council, supervisors, yes, it is fully reimbursed. It just gives us permission to raise to get the maximum reimbursement. But when we bill Medicare and Medi-Cal, we do get fully reimbursed and it does not touch the general fund.

And that's why I'm asking if we had the ability to separate that because ultimately we're not asking our citizens, you know, obviously the taxpayers are paying it ultimately, but we're not asking for the increases. And also if it would be possible to add like percentage increases and going back to many meetings ago, we discussed an increase to, I think our dump fees or, or to, to something that had to do with our dumps. But, I LIKE TO SEE PERSONALLY SMALL INCREASES SO BUSINESS AND HOMEOWNERS COULD PLAN ACCORDANTLY THEIR BUDGETS BASED ON INFLATION VERSUS A BIG INCREASE AT ONCE. EXAMPLE IS THE TATTOOING FEE OR WHATEVER THAT I GOT THROWN ON THE BUS FOR. BUT THAT'S A LARGE INCREASE. BUT IF WE PLAN AHEAD WHERE THERE'S SMALL INCREASES SO WE CAN GET UP TO BE WITHIN A COMPETITIVE fee, then that's, does that make sense?

Yeah, incrementally, you would like to see them kind of step, so.

Correct, so there's not a big hit to a business, they can plan accordingly, so that, you know, if I'm a tattoo artist, and I know I have this fee that I'm going to have to pay, and it's, you know, it's gone up 500 bucks, if I plan accordingly over the next five years, I'm able to increase my cost of doing, you know, tattoos, I can separate it in five-year increments versus all at one time.

Go ahead.

Through the Chair, in the past we have done the incremental increases. So if the fee study has come back and it's been a long increase, sometimes there's been a two or three or five year plan to bring us up to where the fee study has suggested.

But that would be depending on how large, like Public Works we have, I remember like the underground stuff that we've had and they were in the thousands. And so depending on how large they are, we have done that. you know, if we do, say right now, I believe it was a $500 increase, and so if we did stagger that over three or four years, in four years, we're going to be super far behind again. So I think that, you know, but we can take a look at that. Correct, Director? Yes. Okay, I was speaking to...

Yeah, and I agree with you 100% on that. I know in the past that there was a span of 10 years that we didn't do any increases, and then at that 10-year mark, we've increased it. My thought is we should have increased it 10 years ago in small increments so that we didn't get to this large number.

So year over year in a smaller amount.

Through the Chair, if I can answer that question for Supervisor Gardner. You know, if you look at the whole package, most of our fee increase like $13 or $26 or $39 because it's an increment of hourly rate of $13 only. In the past, we have been very conservative as far as I think last two years, we increment was only 4%. So this year is a 7%. I think, I know the tattoos, the party art was a new program, so it seemed like one item is a lot of money, $500. But if you look at a lot of restaurants, like Supervisor Rickman mentioned, and the plan check for food, our food plan check is just gone only $39. And as you mentioned that we have one program where we put it on a five year plan, incrementally increase our small state water program.

Yeah, I'm not speaking to like anything specific right now. I'm just saying more of the looking into the future that, you know, obviously that we want to help out our business and our community with trying to save some money. And it allows, you know, allows us to plan for, you know, moving forward versus such a large, you know, large hit to the bottom line.

And also, Supervisor Garnier, we also send our, when we set up our free workshop, so we send letter to all our businesses, so if they can have any concerns, so we can address. So we had our free workshop, so we didn't have any opposition, so nobody even showed up.

Oh yeah, you're not getting any opposition if nobody shows up. It makes it tough.

We're trying to be like as transparent and letting them know this is going to be the thing.

And I'm, we could talk about this forever, but Like I said, I'm not talking about specific, I'm saying into the future. I'm going back to many meetings ago when we had a 10-year gap without any increases, and then we asked to make up the difference for the 10 years that we didn't do. And I'm asking for the future is not to do that, not to try to repeat that same.

I agree.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Sandy, would you like to add anything you've done?

No, I don't believe so.

Thank you.

So my question, one of them is, so what budget year are we using to figure this out? Are we using current or next year's projected, or how are we getting these numbers?

So we would look at, I think I understand what you're asking through the chair. I believe you're asking how did we come up with these numbers? So they will use actuals, and then this goes into the 26-27 budget.

Okay, so they're using the time, the current.

Well, and the study from the auditor controller.

Typically it would have been from, some of them are older, but some are from 24, 25, because that's the year that we have completed actuals for and others. But it varies throughout the fee schedules on how they base them. Some do a percentage per year. So it varies for every department on how they calculate their fees.

Oh, so there's a program, I mean a calculation that they figure out each one. Because, I mean, like one of the environmental health is $2,000 for under the pipe. I mean, that's a chunk. You know what I mean? So how do you justify that? I mean, is that person going out more at $179 an hour? I mean, it's two grand for the pipe for environmental health. I just go by and look at the big ones. And I mean, maybe that, with their going up that big, that we need to do better outreach than once a year before it and saying, hey, these are the problems that are, existing, and why do they go up so much? I mean, it would be my only concern. I mean, if we're just covering costs, it's hard not to agree with that, because we can't have it impact the general fund, so that's the only reason I agree with it, but when some of them go up that much, it's kind of alarming, and how do we address that, and how do we do better outreach so that the people do actually come to a meeting or care, Most folks don't have any control over the fees that they are charged, so they probably think that it's not good to go because you're going to raise them anyway. I mean, that's my concern.

Not all, through the chair, Supervisor Canepa, not all departments do public outreach, but Public Works and Environmental Health do have public meetings for their fees.

Okay, perfect. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Vice Chair Dean.

I'm going to try to do this as calmly as I possibly can. You don't have to get up. Because I don't want to offend you because you might be coming to inspect my restaurant soon. You said it's because we have to keep, you know, we have salary increases and benefits going up and You know, it's the cost of doing business. Well, you know where we're not having that conversation? The businesses in our community. Nobody's out there talking about, well, you know, the increase in our profit margins and the new benefits. What we're doing is going, you know, we're going to sell this much product, so this is what we're going to have to cut. And I'm not hearing any of that. You know, I was always taught you, you tax what you don't like, you incentivize what you like. We're increasing business license fees by 50% when people are fleeing the community and the businesses are leaving. We should be incentivizing people to go into business. You know, where this fee is only going up $39. Yeah, but my liquor license from 10 years ago went from $100 to $850. Every time I get inspected, it's, well, it was 400. It's probably, what is it now? My PG&E bill is $3,500 to $7,500 a month. People can't afford this, and it's only in government that you hear, well, we have to because of, you know, it's the cost of doing business. You know, salary and benefit increases, and that's our bottom line. It's not our money. None of it is our money. We are there to support the public, and we have to start talking like this, or you're going to have so many empty businesses, you're not going to even know what to do. I have heard no discussion at all of what we can do to streamline our agencies so that we can live within our means about today. And we need to have that. We really do. You guys, you're on a train that is going over a cliff. You're going to have energy rates that affects everything. Everybody talks about the price of not eggs. Eggs are down, by the way. Don't buy a tomato. Right now, they're like three bucks. With the energy prices, it affects everything. Everything is going to go up. And so I think we need to take some discipline here. We can't just say, well, you know, it's the cost of doing business. We've got salaries going up. We've got benefits. Every employee group Absolutely wants a raise. I'd love to give it to him. But, you know, we can't just automatically say, yes, they get this and the people they're going to pay for it are the residents, the businesses in San Joaquin County. I think we really need to reanalyze where we're going here. Thank you, sir.

Anybody else? Chairman, if you could. I mean, I know there's, and I don't have it in front of me, but I remember in reading some study or literature that, you know, they would say that the negative effects of higher taxes on long-term growth, and I think, you know, that's something that we need to look at. And, you know, you can't tax your way into prosperity. It doesn't work. And, again, I'm not saying some of these fees... aren't needed, but I am saying this is just a horrible time right now to put more burden on businesses and folks that are just trying to make a living. So thank you, Chairman.

Thank you, sir. Sarah, if these fees are not revised, then what happens?

In some instances, they will have to back out the revenue from next year's budget. and they don't update their fee schedules.

Thank you.

And if I could add, then that would be, depending on what their budget is, they would have a supplemental request to the board. It's probably too late because we're wrapping up budget, so we wouldn't change the numbers, but they would have to come to the board.

General Farn?

Yes.

Thank you. Anybody else? Do we have a motion? Motion to deny. Aye. Is there a second? I'll second that. We have a motion and second. Call for a vote, please. Can I ask a question? One second. Yeah, go ahead. Rochelle, we have a question before we cast the votes. Yes, sir.

If we make a motion to deny, what is the plan to discuss this moving forward?

Through the chair, can I make it?

I'm back.

Some of the departments actually are decreasing their fees, and for the non-general fund departments or health care services where it affects their Medi-Cal reimbursement, I just want to make sure that we want to deny the package as whole or possibly consider any increase to deny or not approve. I'm asking that we accept the ones for the Medi-Cal reimbursements that would be non-general for health care services and for the hospitals so that they can adjust their Medi-Cal rates without coming back to the board.

That's reimbursable though, right? Those ones? Those are reimbursable. Those are reimbursable, yeah.

Only amendment though.

Testing. Yeah, it's on now. You know, the one thing, you know, the thing that I would like to see instead of when you bring these forward and, you know, you have these set fees, explain why. I mean, I want to know exactly why these fees are coming. I mean, if you're asking the public to pay for it, give me a breakdown of, you know, what it was before, what is taking place now, and, you know, the cost of doing business, whatever, and why these increases are there. And I'm okay with the reimbursements. And like I said, if it's, for example, with the Sheriff's Department, that cities are using our facilities, they're paying us, I'm fine with that.

If I may, through the Chair, just to respond, we used to have a very long fee hearing, and we could still make that to explain why. We had every department up here explaining why. We could go back to that if that is the board's desire to at least have the public, you know, know why they're asking for these fee increases because that is what we have done in the past.

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't mind that. Well, I mean, you can give...

Explain how they're going to save money.

Yeah, and that's another thing, too, that Supervisor Ding is, you know, how are we, you know, saving money, too, in our being more efficient in our department. And at the end of the day, I mean, it's just a bad time, you know, for folks. I mean, we have to take that into account, too. You know, again, I mean, people are struggling. I mean, you hear it everywhere. And, you know, we just can't just keep piling things on. There's different factors that we should be, at least in my opinion, we should be looking into. Thank you, sir.

Supervisor Garcia? I'd like to make a friendly amendment to approve the fee for the non-general fund portions of this motion.

Which would be the medical hospital correct? He's correct?

I Would I would defer to It sounded like that's what you had you had in mind and the medic medical Reimbursement portion of it that you wanted to exempt from the motion is that correct I?

Or any decreases?

The registrar voters specifically, the majority of their fees are decreases. And I believe the sheriff has one decrease as well. The sheriff also has a decrease.

So your proposal with respect to exempting from the denial would be reimbursable costs and then decreases would go into effect?

Yes, please. Yes. So non-general fund as the supervisor stated non-general fund, or decreases of any.

So friendly amendment accepted. Is that your motion still? Yes. That's your second?

And I'll accept that.

So was Rickman? Yes. Still the second?

Yes.

Okay, thank you, sir. We have a motion and second with amendment. Call for a vote, please. Motion passes 4 to 1, 1-0. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you. Thank you. The board will recess to closed session now. County Council, can you please announce the items on the closed session agenda? We have a special meeting then.

CLOSED SESSION WILL DEAL WITH THE EXISTING LAWSUIT OF DEL RIO VERSUS SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY. IT WILL ALSO ADDRESS AN ANTICIPATED LITIGATION MATTER HAVING TO DO WITH A WRITTEN THREAT OF LITIGATION WHICH IS ATTACHED IN THE BOARD PACKET. SIMILARLY, WE WILL DEAL WITH LABOR NEGOTIATIONS. THEN WE WILL DEAL WITH AN EMPLOYMENT EVALUATION OF THE DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH. And then finally, the board will address real property negotiations in connection with a public works project.

Thank you, sir. We will recess to close session.

Through the chair, I apologize. We need to be back.

Test one, two. Test one, two. Sounds good. Mic check. Mic check one. Mic check.

Thank you

His family is.

The board will reconvene after the closed session. County Council, is there anything to report?

There is no reportable action for closed session.

Thank you, sir. Now we will welcome our veterans. Is Captain Chuck Roots for the invocation?

It's my privilege to provide the invocation on this auspicious day when we recognize our veterans. Lord, we come to you with thanksgiving because we are blessed enough to have been born or to have become citizens of this great nation. The United States of America has been through much. But through all of that, we have continued to raise the flag and recognize that we are a free people. We cherish liberty and freedom. Those who are behind me have stepped forward at some point in their lives. willingly putting themselves in harm's way as the nation needed it to defend these freedoms and liberties that we have. We can't thank you enough for that. Lord, we've been a fighting nation since the inception. And Lord, I want to just share this with everybody else, what Patrick Henry said in 1775. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now not too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery. Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston. The war is inevitable. And let it come, I repeat, sir, let it come. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace, but there is no peace. The war has actually begun. The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death. Lord, those words still resound in our hearts as Americans. And your word tells us that war will not end until you return and establish your reign in your kingdom on earth. We long for that day when we don't have to prepare for war, when swords are hammered into plowshares, when the lion lies down with the lamb. But Lord, until then, continue to raise up men and women who love this nation more than themselves, who will defend it to the very end. And as we recognize them here today, we do so with grateful hearts, and we simply pray your blessing upon them and all who follow us. May there be peace in our land because of those who are willing to fight for it. This we pray. In your most holy name, amen.

Amen.

Thank you, sir. Supervisor Canepa, would you lead the pledge?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, sir. For the National Anthem, we have Dallas Pollard.

We have today Lada Monk and is going to sing the national anthem and Dallas Pollard is going to be signing the national anthem this afternoon.

Oh say can you see By the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed At the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars Through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. And the rocket's red glare and the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still still there oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave

Moving wall presentation, Linda Vasquez.

Good afternoon. Today we're here to talk about the moving wall, what it is, why it matters, and why bringing it to Stockton is so important. I grew up with supply helicopters flying over my house on their way to Vietnam while we were out playing and watching the Vietnam War play out on the news. I proudly wore a POW MIA bracelet with US Navy Lieutenant William L. Shankle's name. He was held captive for eight years. I remember staying up late with my friends the night that they were released and watched them walk off the plane. When the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. was unveiled, it went to the top of my bucket list. I was fortunate to visit it in 2013 with my daughter. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, located in Washington, D.C., was dedicated on November 13th, 1982. It was designed by a 21-year-old college student, Maya Lin, whose vision stood apart from traditional war memorials. Instead of statues of heroic figures, she proposed a simple, reflective black granite wall, one that would allow visitors to see themselves in it. The memorial is made of highly polished black granite from India, especially chosen for its reflective quality. It is intentionally set into the earth, symbolizing a wound that is gradually healing. Visitors often leave personal items, letters, medals, boots, photos, and occasionally a can of beer. The National Park Service has collected over 400,000 items that are now preserved as part of history. The memorial bears the names of more than 58,000 service members who lost their lives or who remain missing from Vietnam. Each name represents a person, a family, and a story that did not end when the war did. For many of our veterans, families, and visitors, seeing those names up close is deeply personal. It's not just history or a piece of granite, it is memory. So why do we say more than instead of an actual number? At the dedication, there were 57,939 names engraved on the panels. Over the years, the geographical criteria was expanded as well as those who had died of a direct result of their Vietnam service or have had their remains recovered. As of May 2025, there are 58,281 names. Vietnam veteran John DeVitt attended the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and made a vow to bring this incredible experience to those who may never have the opportunity to travel to D.C. and so that communities across the country could experience the power and meaning of the original memorial. He and a group of other Vietnam veterans collaborated with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation to create the only half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the oldest of the traveling memorials. It carries the same names in the same order, allowing communities across the country to experience its impact. It stands about seven feet tall at its highest point and stretches nearly 300 feet. It's transported by truck and assembled by visitors, by volunteers at their host community. As you walk along the wall, It gradually rises and then descends, symbolizing both loss and healing. Even at the half scale, it is powerful. The east wing dates ranges from 1959 to mid-1968, and the west wing begins mid-68 to 1975, with a total of 74 panels. They're listed in chronological order by date of casualty, not alphabetically. This shows how the war unfolded over time and allows visitors to understand the scope of loss. Visitors are encouraged to touch the wall and make name rubbings. This creates a deeply personal connection and is often a meaningful keepsake for families and loved ones. Volunteers, many of whom are veterans themselves, are trained to assist visitors to locate names and provide support to those who may be emotionally affected. The moving wall not only moves around the country, but it truly moves your soul. It is free and open to the public and is meant to be accessible to everyone. The moving wall not only honors those who died, but those who are still missing in action, reminding us that for some families, the war has never ended. Included on the walls are the names of 1,566 servicemen who remain missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. Continued efforts are being made to achieve the fullest possible accounting for unreturned veterans. Of those still missing, 160 are from California, with 79 from Northern California. There are several important details about the wall that make it especially meaningful. It begins in 1959 at the center apex with Army Major Dale Buse and ends in 1975 with Air Force Second Lieutenant Richard Van de Geer. The youngest person on the wall is Dan Bullock, who joined the US Marine Corps at 14 years old. He was sent to Vietnam at 15. and died in a firefight one month later after arriving in country. The oldest was U.S. Petty Officer First Class Kenna Taylor who died of a heart attack at the age of 62. There are eight women listed on the wall and 43 sets of brothers with the average age 23 years and one month. One of the most sobering facts is on panel 1E, it's five years of casualties are listed on that one panel. Panel 2E, there are five months. And on panel 3E, five weeks of casualties are listed. Since its first beginning touring in 1984, the moving wall has visited hundreds of cities and has been seen by millions of people. Many veterans who never visited the original memorial find closure when the moving wall comes to their hometown. So why bring it to Stockton? Stockton has a long and proud history of military service. Veterans and their families are a vital part of our community, and many Vietnam veterans live right here in our county. For some, traveling to Washington DC is not possible due to cost, health, or age. Bringing the wall here ensures that every veteran and family member has the opportunity to experience it close to home. There are approximately 150 names from San Joaquin County engraved on the memorial and 70 from the City of Stockton. The City of Stockton has had the honor of hosting the Moving Wall multiple times, each visit leaving a lasting impact on the community. 1994 was the earliest visit brought together by veterans and families during a time when public recognition for Vietnam veterans was beginning to grow. For many, this was their very first opportunity for public healing and acknowledgement. It was located on the University of the Pacific campus on Knowles Field. In 2008, the Wall returned to Weber Point Event Center with expanded community involvement, including schools, civic organizations, and veteran groups. This visit emphasized education and ensured younger generations understood the sacrifices made. The application to have it returned was submitted immediately and we waited and waited and waited. Nine years later, in 2017, the moving wall returned. This visit saw strong regional participation with thousands attending. Ceremonies included honor guards, guest speakers, and tributes that reflected a renewed commitment to remembering those who served and were lost. The following year, we were contacted by the Moving Wall organization. They were so impressed with their experience with us and asked if we wanted to book a date in 2019. It was hard to say no. So once again, this visit continued the tradition of reflection and unity. Community members, veterans, and family gathered once again to honor the fallen, share stories, and support one another. We honestly believe 2019 would be the last time we would bring the wall to Stockton. Many of our Vietnam veterans have passed away or have disabilities that prevent them from carrying out the duties required. But as American Legion Carl Ross Post 16 Commander Marvin Hernandez-Garcia and I attended the unveiling of the beautiful California Gold Star Memorial Monument at the Richard A. Pittman VA Clinic, we knew we had to bring the moving wall back one more time. The wall creates a powerful opportunity for education and reflection. Younger generations can learn about the Vietnam War not from a textbook, but from a place that encourages quiet thought, conversation, and respect. The wall becomes a shared space for remembrance, healing, and understanding. So these are what will be happening on the moving wall. arrives on Wednesday, tomorrow. We set up the foundation. And when the first panel, on Thursday morning at 8 a.m., we start installing the panels. When the first panel goes up, we begin reading the names. We read all 58,281 names over the course of the five days. At two o'clock, we have a ribbon cutting and a welcoming. On Saturday is our fallen hero ceremony. And Monday, May 18th, at 2 o'clock, will be our closing ceremony. And the public is welcome to join us for all of this. When the ribbon cutting takes place at 2 o'clock, the wall will be open for visits 24 hours, from 2 o'clock on May 14th through 2.30, 3 o'clock on Monday, May 18th. I'd like to share the following video that was created by Cindy Green and narrated by Vietnam veteran David Aviles from the 2019. Are you gonna do that? There's a video if you click that link. Where it says the moving wall. Just before that. Oh, sorry. Yes. That one, yeah, that should be a link.

Five dollars. That's how much I'm hoping you'll contribute to our campaign to take back Texas. Five dollars to defeat the billionaire. We are suing the government. Again, this time to prevent Trump from destroying the national security documents. We are not suing the government. And to make sure that he follows the Presidential Records Act. Geez, can a lawyer get a break? And huge news, we already got an incredible victory that's going to reverberate across the entire country. Yes, on April 1st, Trump's Office of Legal Counsel served up a memo so laughably bad that the internet assumed it was an April Fool's prank. Trump's concierge... You can hit skip.

It should only be three minutes. Well, so the video was just an overview of the impact that the wall has for those coming to visit. So you will just have to come out and visit it on your own and experience it. So sorry for that. So I want to thank you for your time, for your tremendous support of us and the wall, and we look forward to having you join us to volunteering, to visit, and to share the information with your family, friends, and network. because it truly may be the very last time that the moving wall comes to our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Board members, please join me for proclamation of Women's Veterans Day, June 12, 2026.

And I'd like to invite Saron Tief, retired United States Army, chair of the San Joaquin County Veterans Advisory Commission, member of the American Legion Carl Ross Post, member 16, and founder of Warrior S League 209. I'm not sure if I got all of her titles in there as I read this proclamation of state. Whereas women have courageously served in America's armed forces since the Revolutionary War, contributing as soldiers, nurses, pilots, intelligence officers, codebreakers, and leaders in every major conflict throughout our nation's history. And whereas on June 12, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act into law, granting women the right to serve as permanent members of the United States Armed Forces. And whereas this landmark legislation expanded opportunities for women in military service while laying the foundation for future generations of women to serve with honor, distinction, and dedication. And whereas women veterans have overcome significant barriers and inequities, throughout history, including restrictions on rank, assignment, benefits, and recognition for their service and sacrifice. And whereas women from California have proudly answered the call to serve in every branch of the United States military, defending our nation and strengthening communities across the Golden State through their leadership, resilience, and commitment to public service. And whereas California is home to one of the largest populations of women veterans in the nation, whose contributions continue to shape our military, workforce, and civic life. And whereas Women's Veterans Day serves as an opportunity to educate the public, honor the sacrifices and achievements of women veterans, and ensure their stories and services are recognized and remembered. And whereas recognizing Women Veterans Day affirms San Joaquin County's commitment to supporting all veterans and acknowledging the essential role that women have played and continue to play in protecting the freedoms and values of the United States. Now, therefore, be it resolved that San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim June 12th, 2026 as Women's Veterans Day in San Joaquin County and encourages all residents to honor and celebrate the service, sacrifice, and enduring legacy of women veterans throughout our state and nation. Presented this 12th day of May, 2026. Chair Dhaliwal.

Thank you, Chair. Sarong.

Oh, yes. Chair, members of the board, staff, and community of San Joaquin County, thank you. And on behalf of Warriors League and women veterans of San Joaquin County, I want to sincerely thank the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors for this recognition. On behalf, I wrote something to make sure I don't forget. So, 1948 was the pivotal point where women were allowed to be permanent members of the Armed Forces of the United States. June 12th, June 12th, June 12th is the 70th anniversary of Women's Integration Acts of Armed Forces that Congress passed in 1948, right? And today we stand on their shoulders but the past and present, right? I'm just gonna read this, because I'm forgetting. Who served with strength, resilience, and dedication, often without recognition that they deserved. Women veterans are one of the most fast-growing populations, yet many face barriers and access to belonging. This proclamation means more than recognition. It is a reminder that women veterans are here. We continue to serve and our contributions matter. Through Warriors League 209, we are committed to creating space where women are seen, feel connected, and empowered to thrive beyond the uniform. On June 12th, We are hosting an inaugural Women Veterans and Military Service Members Summit at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds. I invite you to stand with us, whether by attending, supporting, or passing the word as we commit to this mission together. Please visit our website, warriorsleague209, and find out how to support us and our cause. Thank you for honoring not just our service, but our continued impact in the community. When women veterans are seen, supported and connected, we don't just survive, we thrive and continue our service in our community and leadership within our county. Supervisors, this is truly an honor to receive this proclamation today. Thank you. Oh my gosh. This really means a lot to our community.

Thank you so much and thank you for your service. Please join us.

Thanks.

Thank you, women veterans. At this time, I would like to request if there's a Gold Star family member in the audience, please rise and be recognized. Mr. Anderson, thank you so much, sir. Anyone from the Blue Star families? Blue Star families represent families who have a son or daughter who is currently serving or has been honorably discharged from the military. Thank you so much. We now honor all who have served in the United States Armed Forces, including veterans from each military branch, leaders of veteran service organizations and posts, and county employees. Post commanders, please stand. San Joaquin County employees, veterans, please stand. Veterans of the United States Army, please stand. Veterans of the United States Navy, Veterans of the United States Marines Veterans of the United States Coast Guard Veterans of the United States Air Force Are there any members present with the United States Space Force? Thank you so much. Now I'm going to request District 1 Supervisor Mario Gardea to introduce the veterans from District 1.

Thank you, Chair. I'd like to invite Supervisor Gardea and the family of James Edward Wheeler III to the podium. And I do apologize for moving you to the back. I thought he would be here today to take up the seat. So if you guys don't mind coming to the podium. And I'd like to read his bio on behalf of Supervisor Gardea. So coming from a proud military family dedicated to serving this nation, Mr. Wheeler carried those values of duty, honor, and commitment throughout his life. Following his military career, he transformed his experiences into a lifelong mission of service, mentorship, and community healing. In his pursuit of economic development and creating opportunities for others, he founded Ace Wheeler Maintenance, where he opened doors for young people by providing hands-on learning experiences, workforce development, and pathways toward meaningful careers and brighter futures. James Edward Wheeler III's life reflects a continuous arc of service from military duty to community leadership and veteran advocacy. In 2018, following tragic losses within his family, he transformed grief into purpose by co-founding MOCA Healing alongside his granddaughter. Through this organization, he has championed mental health awareness, community healing, and outreach for all members of the community. including veterans affected by post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma. His legacy stands as a powerful testament that service does not end when the uniform comes off. It evolves into lifting others, healing communities, and ensuring that no one walks their journey alone. Supervisor Gardea.

Hello, my name is Imani Lewis and my grandfather is and has always been my hero. Growing up, he used to take me outside actually as a kid and show me the Big Dipper and the North Star every single night to make sure I could recognize it. And he spent countless hours tutoring me in algebra and science because he wanted to make sure I was always ahead of the class. as much as I would complain. So I do those same things with my daughter, Leilani, and I'm super grateful for this beautiful honor today. Thank you so much for taking the time to recognize his service and who he is. Thank you.

You know, first of all, I want to thank all the veterans, everybody that's here. You know, when our office found out about this recognition, we reached out to Tino. And Tino is the guy who, if you get the recommendation from Tino, it means something special. And so there's so many of you here, and some of you live in my district, and it's a tough decision. But Tino really sets the mark and gives a good reason why. So after reading the bio, what I get from the bio is he was a strong family man. you know, Purple Heart recipient, very proud of his family. And his ability to, after serving his time in the Vietnam War, that he came back and had a purpose. And his purpose was to do good in his community, to involve his family and help others through not only, you know, through work training and just being a mentor there, but just being a part and trying to make our world a better place. So the Vietnam era, I have family members who have struggled in the past. And to have a person like that to look up to is a positive. And so get emotional. But PTSD is something that we don't talk about. And that is something that affects our military, our first responders. And it's kind of one of those things that you don't really like to talk about. But it's evident until the day that you have to talk about it. So after reading the bio, he was always there. From what I read, he was always there for you guys. So I want to say thank you. I'm sad that he's not here. I hope he's watching on TV if our technical stuff's working. But I just want to say thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Supervisor Canepa.

Wow. Brings great honor to bring up one of our own San Joaquin County Deputy Sheriff Detective Luis Ramos. And I wanted to read this because this is really good. So it shows you that greatness does grow here. And when I read this, you'll see this. Luis Ramos was born in Sacramento, the son of Mexican immigrant parents who sacrificed heavy workloads in the fields of San Joaquin Valley to provide for his siblings. Luis Ramos attended and graduated from Galt High in 2003, joined the United States Marine Corps immediately after. After attending basic infantry schools, Luis Ramos was selected to serve with the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion in 29 Palms, California. There he was assigned to provide security for his executive officer as an infantryman during a deployment to Al Anbar Province, Iraq in 2004-2005. Upon his return from deployment, Luis Ramos was selected for the Marine Corps' Tactical Training Exercise Control Group as an evaluator coyote, where he evaluated and trained over 10,000 Marines in pre-deployment combined arms exercises. Luis Ramos completed his eight-year contract in the Marines as a sergeant, then continued his service for another six years in the California National Guard as an infantryman with the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 184th Infantry Regiment, and the 2632nd Transportation Company. While multitasking National Guard duty, Luis Ramos was hired by the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office in 2014 as a correctional officer. He then attended the San Joaquin Delta Police Academy and graduated as the honor graduate. He was assigned to the patrol division and selected to serve in various teams, including custody transportation, lay through police services, the sheriff's honor guard, and recruiting. In 2022, Luis Ramos was selected for the investigation division as a property detective. Shortly after, Luis Ramos was assigned to the child abuse sexual assault team as a detective. Luis Ramos is a longtime member of the Knights of Columbus at his parish, holding security and faith based classes, working on fundraisers, helping veterans and performing many volunteer tasks. Luis Ramos has been married to his wife, Susie, for 22 years and has three amazing daughters, Mirale, Mirale? Chumps. Chumps, Vivi, and Vida. So it is my great honor, and thanks, Pat and Patricia, for honoring this great human being and great county employee and great human being in our services, Luis.

Well, first thing I want to thank God for giving me this opportunity to stand here and breathe and to the board supervisors and the people of San Joaquin County for letting me serve them and that I'm very appreciative of all the veterans here and just learning from the different experiences and lessons learned from what you've paved But I can bring that to my office or bring it in my life with my family. So there's a lot more I have to learn and continue forward. And that's what I'll do. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Vice Chair Ding.

Next, we have the recognition of Marvin Hernandez-Garcia, Gunnery Sergeant retired with the U.S. Marine Corps. and I would like to read this bio on behalf of Supervisor Ding. Gunnery Sergeant retired Marvin Hernandez-Garcia proudly served 20 years in the United States Marine Corps after immigrating from Guatemala to the United States in 1989 under political asylum. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1995 out of Fairfield, California, and became a United States citizen in 2001. Throughout his distinguished military career, Gunnery Sergeant Hernandez Garcia served in numerous leadership and logistics roles at duty stations across the United States and Okinawa, Japan, including assignments with Marine Attack Squadrons, the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Expedientary Force, and aboard USS San Diego, LPD-22, where he earned the distinction of plank owner during the ship's commissioning. He supported and deployed in multiple major operations, including Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, humanitarian relief efforts following the Southeast Asia tsunami and Philippine mudslides, and other missions supporting the global war on terrorism. His military honors include the Meritorious Service Medal, four Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, and numerous campaign and unit awards recognizing his exceptional service and leadership. Since retiring from active duty, Gunnery Sergeant Hernandez-Garcia has remained a dedicated advocate for veterans throughout San Joaquin County. He currently serves as Commander of the Stockton Marine Corps Club, Commander of the American Legion Carl Ross Post 16, and Chairman of the San Joaquin County United Veterans Council. He has helped lead and organize countless community events honoring veterans and military families, including Veterans Day ceremonies, Patriot Day observances, veterans town halls, and the return of the moving wall to Stockton. Gunnery Sergeant Hernandez-Garcia continues to serve his community as a safety professional, business owner, husband, father, and grandfather. On behalf of Supervisor Ding and this board, we proudly recognize and thank him for his extraordinary service to his nation and continued dedication to veterans and the San Joaquin County community. Supervisor Ding.

Thank you. You did your service as everybody did. And Marvin, every time we turn around, am I supposed to use that microphone? Can you hear me now?

I hate technology.

There we go. you're in service to those that have been in service. It doesn't, every time I turn around, whether it's with Frank Wright, whether it's with the Moving Wall, whether it's Veterans Day, you're there, and it's noticed. It's appreciated. I want to say thank you.

Chairman Dhaliwal, Supervisors, Supervisor Ding, thank you for this honor. I'm usually the one pushing names to the supervisors and their chiefs of staff. I really appreciate it, but I gotta be honest, everything that I do, I always have great people helping me. Linda is always the number one person that I go to, and this is for you, Linda. For all the veterans, I'm Frank's sidekick. I've gone literally all the way to the other side of the world with him. Tino, he couldn't make it today. And you were right, Supervisor Gardea, without Tino, I don't know what we would do. And it's thanks to him that we're bringing the wall, too. And then you have everybody else, all of the other veterans. I know that if we don't keep honoring veterans, we somehow lose that touch. I know that when those Korean War veterans, Vietnam veterans came back, They were not recognized as they were supposed to, and now it's an honor for most of us here that are here, that literally all of the women veterans that you have here, all of the other veterans that support that. And I want to give a shout-out to Sal Garcia and Paul. They couldn't make it today because they had some VA appointments today. Two Marines that are always there. And everybody else, thank you so much, and thank God for giving me this opportunity. Thank you.

Supervisor Ackman?

Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, Rochelle. It is an honor to be in this position. you know, we can honor our veterans and that's the first thing. Thank you all for being here and thank you to all our veterans that are watching here in San Joaquin County. You know, God bless you and, of course, God bless your families. You know, we are veterans, a debt of gratitude that, you know, we can never repay, but we can always say thank you. And, you know, being an elected official to make sure our veterans are taken care of from now and all the way into the future. Now today I have the privilege to honor Sergeant Bruce Cleaver, which is also a good friend of mine. He lives in Tracy, the 5th District, and was in the Air Force. Bruce was born on March 15th, 1949, in San Diego, California. He graduated from Point Loma High School in 67. With the military draft going on, by January of 68, he decided to take the Air Force exam. Growing up in San Diego near Marine and Navy bases, you know, he didn't want to be a Marine or Sailor. He was three years of the Army ROTC in high school, and he chose the United States Air Force. Bruce entered Air Force Basic training in May 16, 1968, and was sent to Lackland Air Force Base in the great state of Texas. After graduating from Basic, he was assigned to technical school at Shepherd Air Force Base in Texas as a corrosion control specialist. Upon completing his training and graduating, he was assigned to Castle Air Force Base in Outwater, California. After 18 months at Castle Air Force Base, Bruce was assigned to Ramey Air Force Base in Puerto Rico, known as a vital Cold War strategic air command base for B-52 bombers and surveillance. When the base closed, he was reassigned to the Concholo?

Concholo. Concholo? Concholo.

Close enough, right? Air Force Base in Michigan, another Cold War strategic air command installation and key B-52 bomber base. On May 15th, 72, at the rank of sergeant, Bruce was honorably discharged from active duty and returned to his home in San Diego. Upon returning to civilian life, unsure what he wanted to do, Bruce applied to airlines in San Diego, but learned that he would need more training to be hired. So Bruce's friend, who was a friend of his brother, had just gotten a truck driver's license, which sounded good to you. Yep. He used the GI Bill benefits and went to truck driving school and earned his license. Bruce drove commercial vehicle for 46 years. Several years over the road, driver moved to Sacramento for 29 years and five years in the Bay Area. During these years, Bruce received recognition and monetary awards for safe driving from several of the trucking companies that he worked for. In 2009, he and his wife moved to Tracy to go to work for the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System until he retired in December of 2018. In retirement, Bruce had been involved with the American Legion in Tracy, currently serving as post first vice commander He also served with the Legion District as adjutant and is a member of the American Legion VFW Honor Guard Color Guard team. Several years ago, Bruce was elected by the Board of Directors of the Tracy War Memorial Association to serve as its president. As president, he worked with the City of Tracy, the City Council, and the Park and Rec Department to upgrade the War Memorial site. And if you haven't had a chance to go see it, please do. It's beautiful. Bruce is also a restoration volunteer at Castle Air Museum in Atwater, California, restoring military aircraft for display. Bruce and his wife, Deborah, have been married for 20 years. Between them, they have four children, six grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter. Bruce is proud to have served our nation as a veteran, continue to serve as assisting fellow veterans, and staying involved in the community. It's my honor to recognize Sergeant Bruce Cleaver and thank him for his service to our nation and his continued service to his community. So thank you, Bruce. I appreciate it. And before I hand it over to Bruce to say a few words, I can tell you, you know, before I became the Board of Supervisors, I was Mayor of Tracy and Council, and he is everywhere. I mean, every parade, he's in the Honor Guard, you know, marching down the street. I've been at many funerals of our veterans who have passed away, and you have always been there honoring not just the veteran, but the veterans' families. And for the countless veterans that you have helped, in the fifth district so thank you very much it it's it's an honor um not just to honor you here today but to be your friend so with that being said would you like to say a few words sure i want to thank supervisor rickman for this honor i'd like to thank the board of supervisors for their support within this county for our veterans

and hopefully we can continue to support from our county supervisors for our veteran issues that we're having, be it ceremonial stuff, buildings, stuff like that. Again, I want to thank the Board of Supervisors for this honor, thank you.

Last one.

On behalf of Chair Dhaliwal, we have the recognition of Regina Lackey, Staff Sergeant with the United States Air Force. Lackey proudly served in the United States Air Force from 1998 to 2006, including both active duty and Air National Guard service, concluding her military career as a staff sergeant. Her first assignment was in Korea with Air Command and Control, where she monitored radar operations across the Korean peninsula. She later transferred to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where she worked alongside Lockheed Martin to help develop a new flight scheduling program. In that role, she authored the initial standard operating procedures and trained enlisted personnel, officers, and contractors on the system's implementation and use. Following the events of September 11th attacks, Regina deployed to Al Udeid Air Base in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, where her unit was responsible for scheduling search and rescue operations into Iraq. Her military service reflects a strong commitment to leadership, operational excellence, and service to country. Chair Dhaliwal.

Thank you, Rochelle. Thank you, Regina. Thank you for your services to our great nation. Please.

So I actually wrote something down so I wouldn't forget. I'm truly honored and humbled to be recognized here today at this Veterans Appreciation Ceremony. Serving in the United States Air Force was one of the greatest privileges of my life, and to stand among so many courageous veterans is something that I deeply cherish. I want to express my sincere gratitude to all those who have served our nation, those who wore the uniform in times of peace and in times of war, and those who have served at home and abroad, the families who stood beside them through sacrifice, uncertainty, and long separations. Military service is never just an individual commitment. It's a family commitment as well. When I was serving active duty, my husband and I were just dating. We dated long distance for a number of years, and we just recently celebrated 22 years married. Thank you. He was a rock through the majority of my active duty time, even though we were apart, and he has been my moral compass and my rock ever since. As we approach Memorial Day weekend, I especially want to recognize and honor the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Everyone that signs on that dotted line knows what we're signing for, and some of us were fortunate to come home to our families, but many were not. We enjoy freedoms today because of their courage, selflessness, and devotion to something much greater than themselves. May we never forget their sacrifice and we continue to honor the memory, not only for Memorial Weekend, but every day that we live, serve, and support one another. As an Air Force veteran, the service and commitment to service that I learned being active duty service above self, it speaks volumes when we can continue to serve our communities well beyond our service to our country. I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Supervisor Dhaliwal and to the Board of Supervisors for this recognition and for taking the time to honor the veterans in such a meaningful way. Your support and appreciation for those who have served means more than words can express. To my friends and family, thank you for your encouragement, your love, and your unwavering support. throughout my journey. Your belief in me has carried me through challenges and celebrated successes alongside me. I would not be here today without you. Finally, to my fellow veterans, first of all, I'm very proud to stand beside you and to call you brothers and sisters and to be part of this elite group of people that put their country and their countrymen above themselves. Thank you for your service, your sacrifice, and your continued dedication to our communities and our country. It is truly an honor to stand beside you. Thank you so much, Supervisor Dhaliwal, for this.

Thank you, Regina. And ladies and gentlemen, Regina is not done serving yet. She's proudly serving city of Manteca as the vice mayor. Thank you, Gina. Please join us. Thank you.

Come on you guys.

Supervisor Gardea, any final thoughts before we conclude?

You know, it was brought up, Memorial Day is coming up. You know, it's not all about barbecues and, you know, spend time with your families. It's time to reflect and remember who are veterans who have fallen. And so I just want to say thank you for everybody, the family, everybody here today honoring our veterans. And thank you for your service.

Thank you, sir. So what was it, Panipa?

I want to tell everyone to go see the moving wall. It's open, what, 24 hours a day? So there's no time to say that you couldn't have time if it's open 24 hours a day, right? So that's on you. So go there and help, you know, bring the memory of those people that weren't welcomed home well and teach the stories of why we were in countries that we probably shouldn't have been in. But it's not the people who serves choice to do that. It's our government's choice. So they're not the ones responsible. So thank you for what you do and how you do it. And it's great to have you all here and celebrate why our country is so amazing. So God bless. Thank you for your service. God bless.

Supervisor Ackerman.

Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, everybody, for being here. And you guys are warriors, so thank you to all the warriors. You mentioned Memorial Day. You know, please, you know, every city. I know Manteca has something. Tracy has something. Ripon has gone. We're out there. Remember, pay respect, take your kids, and let them know what the, you know, our sacrifice, freedom isn't free. So, again, thank you, everybody. God bless you, and God bless your families.

Thank you all the veterans. Thank you so much for your service to our country. It means a lot to us. Thank you. It's the freedom that we enjoy. It's all because of you. It's an honor to be here in this room with so many brave men and women. It's such an honor. God bless you. Board members, please join me. And the five veterans who were introduced, please join us.

Thank you. Thank you.

Let's take a five-minute break we will reconvene at 2 47 Recess. Next, we have a public hearing for the San Joaquin County 2627 Annual Action Plan consisting of the Community Development Block Grant.

No, sir, I promise. They have one, though, but be nice, it's very short. So my team does, not me. I know. Good afternoon, Chair Dhaliwal, members of the board. Good afternoon, sir. Is this on? Okay, good, perfect.

It's been on and off all day. Same, me too.

I'm Chris Woods, your Human Services Agency Director. The purpose of today's public hearing is to present the 2026-2027 Annual Action Plan, which outlines how the county intends to utilize federal housing and community development funding to address local priorities, including homelessness, affordable housing, public services, and community infrastructure projects. This plan reflects community input, aligns with HUD requirements, and serves as a roadmap for investing resources to support vulnerable residents in strengthened neighborhoods throughout San Joaquin County. And at this time, I will turn it over to Deputy Director Don McLeish and Management Analyst 3, Jeanette Palomares.

So good afternoon, Chair Dhaliwal and members of the board. Donna McLeish, and with me here is Jeanette Palomares, and we have a very quick presentation for you. Preparation and adoption of the 2026-27 annual action plan is a prerequisite for receiving the county's entitlement funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The annual action plan provides a one-year strategy to accomplish the goals and objectives identified in the county's 2025 through 2029 consolidated plan document. The annual action plan specifically describes how entitlement funds are to be spent during the fiscal year. The three grant funding applications are Community Block Development Grant, Home Investment Partnership Act, and Emergency Solutions Grant, otherwise known as CDBG, HOME, and ESG. This is a breakdown of funding by each jurisdiction for the 2026-27 entitlement program for CDBG and home programs. The ESG program funds are awarded directly to the county. Each city allocation is determined by a formula using the 2020-10 census data. It includes a mix of population, poverty, overcrowded units, and pre-1940 units. These are the county CDBG activities that are being recommended for approval, which total $1,740,858. Program income projects are also included, which total $500,000, making the total CDBG request $2,240,858. Program income is derived from client loan payments and loan payoffs of rehabilitation and first-time home buyer loans. The next few slides will provide a breakdown of CDBG projects by activities and the recommended entitlement plus program income. The recommended county public facilities improvements project activity requests includes Gospel Center and the City of Escalon projects in the amount of $692,833. The recommended housing project is for neighborhood preservations home rehabilitation program in the amount of $749. These are the recommended county public service projects requests, which include a variety of services such as meal programs, outreach services, and after school programs. Public services is limited to 15% of our total allocation. This is the activity that receives the largest request for funds. This year the county team determined to only fund the top seven scored projects. This will enable funds to provide more support to the programs funded. This change was announced during the workshop held on December 17th for all interested parties. The public services activity total is $234,596. The county administration portion of CDBG funding is $489,680. Program income funds were added for county's rehabilitation housing program and administration, which total $500,000. The total recommended CDBG funding request is $2,240,858.

This slide contains the recommended county home activities. Stantonians taking actions to neutralize drugs and DCDC, Delta Community Developers Corporation, will be receiving $420,305 for the solar project and the senior housing at Salas Park. Next lines are HUD's mandated set aside We allocate 15% of our grant funds to a community housing development organization, or CHODO, which has been awarded to STAND. The funds will be used for acquisition, rehab, and gap loans, and 10% of our total grant funds for program administration. The county home allocation value is $663,627. Program income funds will also be added for DCDC's Salas Park project, and this makes the total home recommendation $1,163,627. And these are the ESG activities that are being recommended, which total $258,552. These items are the recommended ESG emergency shelter project request, which total $135,740. In the following, a rapid rehousing homeless prevention project in the amount of $103,421 and administration in the amount of $19,391. This makes the total ESG recommendation $258,552. Your approval today will allow staff to submit the annual plan to HUD

by the May 15th deadline to assure funding availability. It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors receive public comments on the 2026-27 Annual Action Plan and approve these plans and then direct the Director of Human Services to submit the Annual Action Plan to HUD for final approval. Thank you, this concludes staff presentation.

Thank you so much. Board members, any questions for staff? Sir?

I'm not gonna, Yes, I do have one. Got a very soft spot in my heart for Stockton Children's Home lately with the IMD cap, and as we're trying to work through that, so I'm always watching this. I'm trying to figure why an intersection, an Escalon gets 500,000. We don't know what that is. It just says Escalon intersection. We're not really talking about an intersection, are we? Is that a program or? where people sleep or?

It's a public facility, like a public improvement project, and that's an allowable expenditure. So Escalon hasn't received any funding from this for a number of years, and it was, we didn't have a lot of requests for that section. So unfortunately, it's that public services piece is just 15% of the total.

So it has to be used for a

public shovel ready project it can't be used rather okay yeah thank you so what was the guardian I just got a quick question how do how does these numbers stack up to last year's budgeted numbers are they down or up it's it's about the same yeah they're using that 2010 census data still the HUD

Department is and I had asked about it also because I'm like why are we still in 2010 so hopefully next year? We'll be able to move to the 2020 census data And that should enable us to receive more money because our population has grown Thank you anybody else I'm going to open the public hearing anybody from public want to speak on this item Yes, sir

Chairman Daliwa, Supervisor Gardea, Supervisor Canepa, Supervisor Ding, Supervisor Rickman, I want to come to you with some great news. Great news that from the time I've been here at the mission as the Chief Encouraging Officer, I have had the opportunity to be able to share the love of Christ to so many people. But I want to tell you, I couldn't do what I've been able to do without you guys. And I want you guys to hear what your money has done. It's always nice to know you get a report of anybody who does investments. You want to know what your money is doing. I want to tell you something. We had the pick count that just came out yesterday. It was 3,306 was what the pick count was. That's 1,000 less than last year. That's huge. Uh, that's a, that's a big thing. I want you to know that we now have 500 beds on site. That's 15% of the homeless in San Joaquin County that we're able to help all because of you guys has help. I also want to let you know that. We've had 256 graduates from the time I've been here. It costs $69,100. I think that's a low number, but it was a number from UOP. I don't think it really gets into all the numbers of what it costs for the hospital stays and everything like that, but we'll use that number, 69,100. Well, 69,100 times 256 graduates is a saving to the county of $17,689,600. I want to tell you, it's making a difference. But let's take those graduates and we're going to just put them at a low number. I know a lot of them make a lot more money than this, but we're going to put them at $20. So you've got 256 making $20 a year. That's an approximate income coming back into the county of $1,945,000. That's including taxes for local and federal coming back into the system. And I've got to tell you, it's making a difference, and we're seeing the effects. And I want to tell you, couldn't do it without you. Thank you guys for your time, your investment. And come and check it out anytime you want. I always love to let people talk to the students because the proof is in the pudding. Thank you, Chairman.

Thank you, sir. Anybody else?

Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. My name is Macy Chow, and I'm here with Jean Hardin. We're both representing Children's Home of Stockton, and we're being recommended for both CDBG and ESG funding for our catalyst program, which is our housing and homeless prevention for transition age youth. ages 18 to 24. I know many of you have already been to Children's Home to have a tour and you're all welcome if you haven't already been to a tour. But since opening in 2021, Catalyst has had tremendous success and I just wanted to share some numbers with you. So in last fiscal year, we served 33 unduplicated transition age youth and provided 5,959 shelter nights for youth in our community. And of these youth, for the success rate, 55% enrolled in school while in the program and 64% obtained employment so that they could have income and get stabilized. And at the end of the program, 67% graduated and transitioned to permanent housing. These numbers really illustrate the success that we're having, and this is all possible due to our incredible community support and support from our county, our city, and our donors. And so I just wanted to take this time to thank you all and thank the County Board of Supervisors for your support. We've received past funding before, and we really hope that you consider approving funding this year again. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm just moral support. Thank you, sir. Thanks, gentlemen. Anybody else? Close the public hearing, bring it back to the board. Supervisor Canepa.

So of the seven, how many people didn't get the funding? And so you told them that up front, and so there wasn't a bunch of people there. How many people didn't get it out of that?

So three applications weren't moved forward and recommended for funding.

Okay. And then the way that you guys did this, because a couple of them were, you know, so you guys have a panel of how many people, and then they look through and they grade it that way?

Yeah. There were four county employees that reviewed the application and rated and ranked them.

Okay. I appreciate you, because this is hard always for us. Yeah.

Sometimes when you have to choose who gets what it makes it very complicated So I appreciate you guys doing the due diligence and splitting it too many ways You know last year we ended up with a whole lot of applications and nobody got more than you know six thousand dollars So that is challenging.

Yeah Thanks, sir Anybody else any question comments? Do we have a motion? So moved we have a motion and second call for what please I Motion passes 5-0. Thank you so much.

Great job.

Thank you. Next is also public hearing regarding the status of vacancies and recruitment and retention efforts in San Joaquin County in accordance with Government Code Section 3502.3.

Good afternoon, excuse me, good afternoon, Chair Dollywall, members of the Board, County Administrator Regalo, and Council Kiernan. I am Jennifer Goodman, your Director of Human Resources, and with me today I have Nicole DiVincenzi, who's our Interim Assistant Director, who will be providing the required presentation on behalf of the Human Resources team.

Good afternoon, Chair Dollywall, Vice Chair Deing, members of the board, County Administrator Regalo, and County Council. As Jennifer mentioned, Nicole DeVincenzi, Interim Assistant Director of HR. And today I'll be presenting information related to the county's vacancy rates and recruitment and retention efforts during the period of March 1st, 2025 through February 28th, 2026, as required by Government Code Section 3502.3. This section of the government code requires public agencies to hold a public hearing and report on the status of vacancies and recruitment and retention efforts once per fiscal year prior to the budget adoption. Additionally, if a represented unit has a total vacancy rate above 20%, the employee organization can request additional information be presented by the county. Employee organizations are also entitled to make a presentation. San Joaquin County has 16 employee bargaining unit groups represented by 11 recognized organizations, as well as three unrepresented groups and one unrepresented elected officials group. As of February 28th, 2026, the countywide vacancy rate was 11.22%. This represents 7,685 total allocations and 862 total vacancies. In reviewing the vacancy rates of the represented units, there is only one which exceeds 20%. That is the physicians unit represented by the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, which is 21.65%. Despite remaining above the 20% mark, the current vacancy rate represents a 16.2% improvement over the vacancy rate reported during last year's hearing. The other two units, which were over 20% last year, safety investigative and custodial represented by SEIU and the district attorney investigators association have seen a 9.17% improvement and 23.33% improvement respectively. Additionally, as promised by the chief of the DA's Bureau of investigations, all vacancies in the DAIA unit are expected to be filled at the start of the new fiscal year. During the 12-month period from March 1st, 2025 through February 28th, 2026, Human Resources conducted 469 civil service recruitments, which included 126 that were open for continuous application filing periods. For these 469 recruitments, 25,018 applications were processed and 67 paid outreach campaigns were conducted across 21 unique platforms. The Employment Services Unit participated in 10 community career events throughout the county, and a total of 969 civil service hires were made, and an additional 252 formal status changes from part-time into full-time civil service employment occurred during the 12 month review period. 1,315 employees in hard to recruit designated classifications received an incentive payment, and 1,143 of those employees remain employed in full-time positions with the county today. As part of an ongoing evaluation of this program, staff does anticipate a related item will be agendized at a future board meeting. The attrition rate has improved by 3.8% and is down to 7%. 15 represented groups received cost of living salary increases, and the board adopted three successor MOUs with the Probation Officers Association, California Nurses Association, and San Joaquin County Attorneys Association. As of February 28th, there were 21 vacancies in the UAPD unit. This represents 15 physician vacancies at San Joaquin General Hospital and San Joaquin Health Centers, and six psychiatrist vacancies at Behavioral Health and Correctional Health. UAPD represents physicians and psychiatrists which are non-civil service classifications. Departments engage in recruitment efforts for these positions through a combination of specialty search firms and human resources-based outreach efforts. This slide represents the result of these recruitment efforts during the 12-month review period. And just outside of this review period, a new full-time psychiatrist started at BHS earlier this month. In addition to full-time physicians and psychiatrists, departments supplement with part-time, contract, and locum staffing. Currently, the part-time psychiatrist workforce represents 2.25 full-time equivalents, and the part-time physician workforce represents 8.2 full-time equivalents. Human Resources remains focused on growing our partnerships with county departments to advance creative and effective recruitment strategies. By working collaboratively, we aim to better position the county as a competitive employer while meeting the evolving needs of our workforce. A key priority moving forward is strengthening understanding of civil service processes across departments while also making those processes more accessible to candidates. Through enhanced education, clear guidance, and the development of user-friendly resources, we aim to promote consistency and improve efficiency by empowering hiring managers, employees, and applicants alike to navigate recruitment and career pathways with greater confidence and clarity. We are also leveraging technology to streamline our work. Tools like TDX are helping us modernize workflows and create more efficient and responsive processes. Community engagement continues to be an important part of our strategy. Human resources will support departments by maintaining a presence at community career events, helping to build awareness of public service careers and connect with a broader, more diverse talent pool. We are also committed to expanding the county's internship program to provide more local students with exposure to careers in local government. This program not only builds early interest in public service, but also helps support long-term workforce development efforts. And finally, we are exploring new opportunities to grow our incumbent apprenticeship program by investing in the development of our current workforce. We can create meaningful career pathways and build the specialized skills needed to serve our community effectively. This concludes HR's presentation. HR did reach out to all labor groups to provide notice of the public hearing and invite them to make a presentation. There are two employee organizations who have requested to make presentations in accordance with the provisions of the government code. The Correctional Officers Association will be the first to present, followed by the District Attorney Investigators Association. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Board members, any questions for staff?

Yes, sir. Who's the contact person for the internship program?

Our internship program is run through our Engage program, our staff development program. So we do have an email that's engage at sjgov.org or also Patrick Wallach is our staff development coordinator.

Which department is that?

That's in Human Resources.

Okay, thank you.

Anybody else? The public hearing is open. Anybody from public?

Chair, I believe that there are two presentations. Do you guys want to introduce who's presenting first or second?

So first, we have the Correctional Officers Association who has provided a PowerPoint presentation.

Good afternoon. My name is Ruben Rodriguez. I'm the correctional sergeant and president of the Correctional Officers Association, and I have with me my vice president, Steve Williams, also one of the most brilliant minds in San Joaquin County, that's my opinion. He's gonna go ahead and take over for the presentation.

Yeah, that ended it before it started.

Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Appreciate that.

I'll just get into it and one of the things that I think that we would want you to know about the vacancies as they relate to job specifics. Obviously, vacancy rates are difficult for any classification. With correctional officers in particular, we would want you guys to know that being a 24 hour, seven day a week operation with minimum staffing involved in that as well, is something that makes it where staff is there long hours, they're there multiple days, they lose a lot of the work-life balance. I think that's what we're seeing with fatigue and we're seeing it with retention and recruitment issues with trying to retain staff and make it a viable workplace long term. The workloads can't be postponed. These are not something that we can actually defer. It's not like the paperwork that sits till tomorrow. We have to be there to provide those services to the inmates and make sure that they're safe and to maintain those safe levels of staffing to make sure staff is safe as well in those environments. So currently our authorized positions are at 247, checking our mandatory list, which is kind of our Bible for what we actually have currently available to us. That does not include anyone who is currently in the academy, but these are technically working bodies, so that puts us at 51 down. And understand too that compared to the county's numbers, the difference here is I'm focusing on correction officers and not the supervisors that are also in the bargaining unit. And that's just an important distinction because typically we try to keep the supervisor class full, which is an important thing to do. There's fewer of us, and if you lose one, it kind of upsets the balance. So we calculate that at 19.1% vacancy rate. The new facility, there's a staffing increase over the change from the honor farm to the new detention and programs facility, which would actually, in our minds, caused the 51 officers to move to 71 officers because there's a larger need for staff at that facility. We went from having staffing of six at the Honor Farm times four shift to a staffing of 10 at the new facility. That hasn't happened in full yet because there's been a slow rollout of the changeover because we knew staffing was going to be a problem. So we haven't opened all the units currently in the new facility. So we've been managing it through that. But at any point that it moves forward and we staff those other units and fill them with the inmates, then we're going to be at 26.59%. And there has been talk about actually retaining some of the housing at the Honor Farm, which has now been closed, and if we were to open up that 124 unit, is what we call it, has 124 beds in it, we would be more like at 31.71%. That is currently not where we're at, but that's a possibility in the future, and my understanding of that is a projected intention to open that up at some point. Routine leaves are also an issue. Obviously, in safety work, you have people that get injured. We have the FMLA. We have other things that cause those numbers to fluctuate, and that's where that 196 officers really become something different, but we still have to maintain those 24-hour staffing levels. Our female staffing in particular, we have gender specific needs to make sure that the regulations with the state are upheld and we have a minimum of 32 and that kind of suggests best case scenario, our current count is 29. It's been difficult and the less that we have in terms of the female officers, the more it seems to be a reason for them to look for other employment because it becomes very difficult for them being assigned to the same assignment day after day for the long hours without any kind of diversity of their job duties. All right, so going back to 2010, our overtime at that time being fully staffed was at 7%. And when I say 7%, I'm saying as a relationship to the whole. So a ratio of all the time that's spent in actually doing minimum staffing work within the jail, it's a 93 to 7% ratio of regular hours worked to overtime. Fast forward to 2025, that number was more like 35%. to 65% and with the projections that we just talked about in relation to the new facility, we'd be looking at potentially over 40% when we open those new wings within the new facility. So that's just the real world translation to what a 19 or 20% vacancy rate can mean when it comes to the overtime rate and the overtime rate is the real human toll when people actually have to fill those positions. So here's a couple of pie charts that illustrate what I just talked about. 2010, we were just over 7% overtime to regular time. That was to run the actual jail facilities, minimum staffing. 2025, that went to 35.6 in overtime to 64.4 in overtime. So this is just another illustration of similar things, but this has all the data points in between. So this is drawn from Telestaff. Telestaff is a scheduling program we use in custody. And so we can go year by year and see, 2010 we were fully staffed, we were at 7.39% overtime rate, and projected this year if we opened fully at the new facility, it would be almost 41% overtime rate. And it has just increased over the years. There has really been no real decline in overtime. You want to talk about this stuff? Relates to the human aspect?

So as Steve was mentioning with the effect and toll on the overtime, the way that corrections works in general is you have to have that time for that R&R. And that's really, really been reduced over the years. And so then we start seeing the effects of that. And so there's obviously, there's many reports and studies on the health effects of increased overtime and the burden on staff. And It just, as that chart showed, the gradual increase over time with officers having to do more with less and more often. There's definitely been those struggles, the burnout, the fatigue that also increase resignations, injuries, sick leave usage, which then just exacerbates the problems. You know, the impact of the chronic, the impacts of the chronic understaffing officers are facing, you know, increasing. Violence assaults contraband, mental health crisis due to also the ever evolving changes in custody. We tried to mitigate that as much as possible with different programs and tools and resources. But. The main key factor that's missing is more staff. It really doesn't matter how many tools we have in the tool chest. If we don't have those physical bodies there that are highly trained, highly capable to implement them, we are at a disadvantage every shift.

Want to talk about anyone? Yeah. So kind of referring back to the chart as well, we went down in staffing, so back to 2010, let me just start over. There was layoffs and we lost 33 bodies and we kind of never recovered from that, but it was also at a time when AB 109 was just about to take hold. And so we got an increased population of serious offenders, violent offenders, and things that changed the job dynamic. At a time, we really didn't need to lose staff, but it was the budgets of the time. And so that happened. And I think that's been a difficulty in moving forward because I don't know if we fully addressed at the county level, the dangers of the prison inmate, the prison politics. Things that didn't happen before, like prior to AB 109, it was rare that you found drugs on a person, in a person, in jail, and now it's commonplace. The violence is commonplace. There was something to lose when you were here for a misdemeanor or you were pretrial, and now we have felons that are doing serious time, and because of the connection now it has to prison, I think the prison mentality has... Drifted down into the jails and they are directing them from those facilities. So the violence has certainly increased as a result of this and overall the the staffing level For sure has not sort of kept up with that But I think that's a key factor in why people aren't seeking these jobs at this point is it's dangerous. It's violence. There's increased risk and Work-life balance, Ruben touched on it, it was touched on earlier, but it's difficult. We have had times here in recent times because of that increasing overtime where we would typically have an 84-hour schedule, but people are working 120 hours or 132 hours. That wasn't atypical at all. Um, and that's difficult for people, and especially when they don't know what their schedule is going to look like. How do they plan? How do they decide when to take their car in for service? Um, they don't know, because we're going to wait till the day before we go on days off to say, okay, we still have these vacancies and now we're going to have to have you work. Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday and you didn't expect that and it wasn't a typical at all either at our current staffing level to ask people to work three additional twelve hour shifts and then we have another two day off sequence during that same paper where you might have to work one of those so you might be adding forty eight hours to your actual schedule for that pay period And again, that's not atypical. I'm not going to say that some of our staff doesn't like the overtime. It helps out in some ways. But other ones certainly, I think, are finding that fatigue is overwhelming and it's making it difficult to recruit and certainly retain for us in some cases. Recruitment and retention challenges, again, it's kind of a repeat of some of the same things, but it just kind of hasn't kept pace for us. We've kind of been stagnated. I did some of those numbers back last year, and they look exactly the same. There hasn't been a whole lot of movement in the last year or so on those numbers. We've kind of stagnated there for a long time, and if we look at that chart, we can see there's been no dips in it. It just continues to move forward. Where the problem started, we absorbed a 2% wage decrease in 2013 again, part of those budget times at that time. We also added a 4.5 Cola cost share to our expenses and we added a 1.5% public retirement act increase to our. Our obligation to pay for part of the retirement cost and those things, I think all kind of stagnated the correction officers wages along the way back then. And again, since returning to sort of normal business, we've been at best. Subject to sort of the normal increases, and we haven't recovered from some of those things overall and getting the wages to what we would consider to be market. So operation and financial consequences, understaffing increases workers' compensation, sick leave use, staffing cost turnovers, loss of experienced staff that weakens training, the culture, and institutional knowledge. Excessive overtime creates long-term health and morale consequences, and staffing instability threatens operational safety and regulatory compliance. Why competitive pay matters, compensation directly impacts recruitment and retention. Improved staffing reduces overtime fatigue and burnout. Stable staffing improves safety, performance, morale, and institutional culture. Pay stabilization is critical in long-term operational sustainability. Bottom line correctional officers, or I'm sorry, San Joaquin County faces severe and escalating correctional staffing crisis. Vacancies, overtime, fatigue, attrition are reinforcing one another. New facility operations will intensify staffing shortages without intervention and competitive compensation and staffing relief are essential to safety and retention. And we thank you for your time today. That was all that we had. Ruben, do you have anything closing?

And just and just in closing, you know, I will say that, you know, over the last six years, especially, I think the county team has been very creative and and helpful in trying to solve a lot of these problems and these issues within our unit. But they can only do so much. You know, it's the board that sets the parameters of what they can do. And as creative as we can be and as much as we can work on trying to fit these pieces within the box that's set for all of us, it really takes the board to look at things with that perspective. And if you have to lengthen, widen, or bring that box a little higher so that we can do more to fit into that box, That's what's gonna ultimately solve these problems and these issues. And we provided the formula and we can prove that that formula brings those results, but it's up to you. You guys are the ones that set that, you set the priorities, you set what the county team's able to do to maintain public safety in San Joaquin County. And so that's really the point that we wanna make today. So thank you.

Jennifer, who has the second presentation?

Next, we have the District Attorney Investigators Association, which will be presented by Misty and Ross.

Good afternoon, Chairman Dollywall and Supervisors. This is the second year I've come before you at this time, and I seem to always follow the veterans' recognitions, and I always feel like an old pair of beat-up shoes at a white-black tie affair. So it's humbling when you see those kind of recognitions and really put your place in this world. But thank you for having us. So I'm a board member on the San Joaquin County District Attorney Investigators Association. This is my president, Misty Springmeier. We're gonna share in this presentation for you. Last time I was here, we had a lot of strides that we needed, a lot of ground we needed to cover, a lot of strides to make, and I'm happy to report some huge gains. Through the goals that this body set up, Mrs. Regalo's office and our district attorney, Ron Freitas, we've made some huge accomplishments. So we want to talk about those today and maybe touch on a bit about where we see some need to be filled. Before I jump into it, I just kind of, like I did last year, want to reiterate what we do at the district attorney's office, who we are. You always see us in plain clothes. You never see us driving a marked police car. Everything we do is kind of beneath the surface. We drive unmarked cars. They are emergency vehicles. But as DA investigators, we are no different than a police officer at Stockton PD or a sheriff's deputy at San Joaquin SO. We have the same police authorities under the 830.1 of the penal code, and we are issued the same equipment as a sheriff's deputy or a patrol officer, whether it be a badge, a gun, a taser, a impact weapon, rifles, you name it, we have the same equipment. In order to get a job at our department with the district attorney's office as an investigator, it's a bar above. It's not just someone straight out of the academy, it's gonna be an individual that has at least five years of police experience. And the next slide or two I'm gonna show you, it's gonna be shocking the amount of experience that we bring to the table in our office. We have investigators that come to us with backgrounds doing the full gamut of crime investigation, whether it's sexual assault, murder, violent crime, gang crime. We have investigators that come to us from a lot of different areas that have that skill set. We also put our candidates through a background process no different than any other police officer, where they are given a full-on psychological, they have to pass a personal history background, where family is contacted, prior agencies are contacted, and they must meet muster in order to come work for us. Currently we have 54. DA Investigators. When I met with you last year, we had 35. So we've made a huge stride in that front. The current experience of our investigators is 27.5 years. So that tells you what you're dealing with when it comes to our body of individuals investigating crimes at the DA's office. 27.5 years, that's unheard of. I've worked a number of places in this state and it was never that high a number of experience that was brought to the table, brought to bear. These are a list of all the different agencies that our candidates and our employees come from. It's pretty much the entire North State. whether it's the California Department of Justice, to a small police department, to a large municipal police department, that's where our candidates are coming from. They bring a lot of good knowledge, outside perspective that we can use here in our county, but also we have Stockton police officers, San Joaquin Sheriff's deputies, you name it, the full gamut. I wanted to briefly touch on the duties that we perform day in and day out at the district attorney's office as investigators. You'll see the items highlighted in red are things that are kind of more new to the jobs that we're doing because of all the hiring, but I'll touch on them briefly. When it says witness transportation, that doesn't just mean go to somebody's house, pick them up, and bring them to court. That also includes victims. family members of victims, family members of witnesses, getting them to and from court and making them feel safe. It's not going to their house, sitting out front and honking the horn and saying, come out and I'm taking you to court. We're making sure they're safe. There's programs available to families and victims to help them feel safe and keep them safe from the perpetrators. So it's a lot more involved than just a ride. Extraditions, that's grabbing people that have active arrest warrants that have fled to parts of the United States and beyond. We've had extraditions all the way into Europe, down in New Mexico, and inroads to pick those people up and bring them back here for justice. When it says security and protection, that's just not making sure our building is safe. That means escorting prosecutors to and from court, sitting with them in court, and making sure that they're not the next victim of attack by the suspect that's under trial. It also includes citizens that work in our office, making sure they make it to their car safely, and just keeping our building safe from people that want to cause harm. We're also very involved in high-tech investigations at our office. Some of the people we've recruited have skill sets that are unheard of in patrol and some detective bureaus in smaller and local agencies. For a complete list, we do things like identity theft, child abduction. welfare fraud, insurance fraud, public integrity, and white collar crime. I've had many of your staff call me about public integrity cases that they want investigated. We field those calls, we investigate those issues that come to us from your offices about concerns from constituents when it comes to funding that is publicly funded and or individuals that are in public office. A huge component of what we do, and all of us in our office are trained on this, is officer-involved critical incident. It's basically if a local police officer is involved in a shooting, we come in as an independent body and check to see if there's any criminal conduct by that police officer. We're there for transparency, we're there for objectivity, and we're there to make sure that the police officer's conduct is equally above board to that of the suspect that was engaged in whatever crime. All of us are trained in how to do this, and any given time, all of us are responding to investigate these incidents. We have a major crimes unit in our office. The major crimes unit has ramped up considerably, and we've also been involved in a lot of training of local law enforcement as of late on how to do large gang investigations, how we do what we do when it comes to officer involved critical incident shootings, and that's not just patrol officers and deputies, that's command staff that we're training on how it is we do what we do, what we're gonna do when we arrive on scene, and what we expect to complete the investigation. Collectively, the guys and the gals in the Major Crimes Unit have 172 years of experience. And what they do in that unit is incredible. Whether bringing special skills and technology to help with investigations, this team was very much involved in the mass shooting that happened months ago and are working to bring suspects to bear. The six DA investigators assigned to this, several of them come from Stockton Police and San Joaquin SO with decades of experience and knowledge that they bring to us to bring back to those departments to help them solve crimes that are occurring. I'm gonna let Misty delve into the task forces that were created from your guys' guidance and goals and talk specifically about what it is they do day in and day out to accomplish those goals.

Thank you. As Ross said, I'm going to talk a bit about task forces. Ross and I can talk all day bragging about our investigators, but we're going to try to barely scratch the surface and give you just a quick synopsis of some of the things that we're doing. District Attorney Ron Freitas, one of his goals was to get our office back in the local task forces, and with the help of the board and the allocation of those 10 positions, we are making great strides in that area. Up here, we have the task forces that we currently have at least one investigator assigned to. And again, the ones in red, they're either new and a direct result from those 10 positions, or we have bolstered our involvement because of those 10 positions. We currently have an officer, or I'm sorry, an investigator assigned to Delta RAT, the Auto Theft Task Force. AB 109, Human Trafficking, Cold Case, Agnet, Metro Narcotics, ATF, FBI, Marshals, and Fentanyl. And actually the Marshals and the Fentanyl Task Forces, they're slotted, just waiting for the final appointment of those officers. The investigators assigned to these task forces, not only are they working together with other agencies on their specific task force, but the forces actually work together. One example, recently, several of these task forces joined together and they had a case where they recovered 25 kilos of cocaine, 1.5 million methamphetamine pills, 10,000 illegal Xanax pills, 100,000 ecstasy pills, and almost a million dollars in cryptocurrency. So those are some of the things that we're able to help accomplish because of these 10 positions. So thank you again. Delta RAT, that is the Auto Theft Task Force. Investigator Jose Nuno from our office is assigned to that task force, and he is this year's Don Asher Officer of the Year recipient. And it is directly because of his tenacious, hard work, and creativity in this unit. Just a few quick numbers, January to April of 2026, this unit recovered 118 stolen vehicles, which is a $2.3 million value, and made 81 arrests. Not only are they working auto theft cases, they're also making arrests for identity theft, organized retail theft, fentanyl, firearms, illegal sideshows, and freeway shootings. So again, all of these task forces are literally making our community safer. AB 109, they are responsible for ensuring community supervision compliance. But more than that, I would describe this task force as kind of the jack of all trades. This is the task force that gets called when agencies need help with complex investigations. They go out, they make arrests, they execute search warrants, they conduct surveillance, and they were extensively involved in the Stockton mass shooting investigation. Last year alone, they had 93 felony arrests. ATF, we have an investigator assigned to that task force, brings over 30 years of experience, 23 of which as a gang and firearms expert. That task force is going to have a direct impact on our community. Next, we have the countywide cold case task force. I am one of the two investigators assigned to this task force. So it's very exciting. I can tell you firsthand how exciting this is. And we know that that is a direct result from the board's efforts. So thank you for that. In 2025, this task force was created and our office co-chairs it with the San Joaquin Sheriff's Department. We are on track to close 10 cases this year using genetic genealogy, which is exciting. It is on the forefront of all technology and investigations. And we have other cases that I think will be closed using other resources as well. I'm sure we are all, well, hopefully we're all aware of the two recent cases that have been in the headlines. April of 2026, Donald B. Clark was arrested for the 1994 double homicide of Lawrence Lohr and Eugene Cates. And then March of 2026, District Attorney Ron Freitas announced the indictment of Joshua Martinez for the murder of Victoria Marquina. Again, I think we could give a full 10-minute presentation on this, but I'll keep it brief. It's very exciting.

Yes. Supervisor Gordillo, I don't know if you remember, but we were on the courthouse steps together a few weeks ago, and you asked who did the heavy lifting in the Donald Clark case. Well, you're looking at her, and her cohorts, Ed Rodriguez and Wayne Miller, were huge and instrumental in getting that guy indicted. Thank you.

So the reason we're here addressing the vacancy rate, just a quick note in 2024, the San Joaquin County Administrator's Office authorized the creation of 10 additional DA investigator positions, specifically directed at putting DA investigators in task forces and bolstering some of our other units. As you can see, we have direct results from that. As May of 2025, we had a vacancy rate of 38.33%. through the hard work of the county, our administrators in our office, we are no longer hiring. That is in part to the federal funding cut, but as you can see, we have clearly bolstered our workforce and are really looking forward to continuing that momentum and working with the county to keep it going. We're excited for the things that we're able to accomplish And we're excited to share that with the county. So in closing, we want to thank you for this time to come in front of you and speak. We thank you for all the work. It's not lost on us, the tough decisions and the work that the board puts in and the support that you have given us. And again, we look forward to continuing that relationship and working towards the retention of all these positions that we filled. Thank you for supporting us by funding those 10 positions. Thank you for supporting us in all of these task forces, whether it's just your support or if it's the financial support. All of it we fill, and it really does help us move forward. Okay, thank you guys so much Anybody else from public want to speak Yes, sir share

Thank you, Chairman and Vice Chair and the Board. Wasn't expecting to speak, but I wanted to come down and maybe on both of these, actually. I know if DA Freitas was here, we partner in many of these task forces, they said, and the DA investigators are pivotal in in not only the task force but our everyday investigations when we're working on all these extensive cases they are very much involved his d his deputy da's and the da investigators so we really appreciate working alongside by them and and and i neglected earlier and i often do this just because they're always so behind the scenes and you never really see them but they are an intricate part of all law enforcement agencies here in the county helping to either investigate during or, like they said, an officer involved critical incidents or any of those things. And I'm sure if DA Freitas did not ask me to come here and do this, I hope I won't be in trouble. But I know he's taking care of some family matters and would be here if he could. And just wanted you to know from one department head that their work is amazing and it really helps alongside with all the law enforcement agencies in here. And secondly, I wanted to talk, you know, my correctional officers just spoke, and I was really kind of upbeat after my yesterday's staff meeting about our COs and the positions that we were in, and that was pretty depressing to listen to. But we've got a couple good things going on. You know, earlier I spoke about our retention and hiring programs that you guys have supported, and they've made a big difference in our numbers so far. And I was brief yesterday morning that we were down just 38 positions in our CO side, and that's pretty good. It hasn't been that low, I don't think, since I've been sheriff. And I was excited about that. And we have 10 in the academy right now. We had 12, two already quit. But we're hopeful for these 10, which would kick it down to 28 if we could keep them around. And they're absolutely right. You guys were, it wasn't this board, but a previous board was kind of snowed on the new Dorothy facility, as I call it. where they were going to say the staffing was going to be the same, but it ended up it was actually going to be we're going to need probably, I think it's 16 more bodies to do that. And I don't know if we've budgeted for those yet or not. I don't know if those positions are taken into account here. So that does kind of impact us, but we're slow rolling that over there as much as we can. And another exciting thing we had is that the president of the Correctional Officers Association and his team came up with a thing called the 96-hour plan that we've got our correctional officers on now. It doesn't really cut down on any overtime, but what it does is it pre-schedules the mandatory overtime for officers. So the feedback we're getting, we had a little three-month trial period here, and we're very excited about the results we were getting on that because now our mandatory overtime has almost been cut in half. Once again, that day they worked is mandatory, and it is an overtime day. So it's kind of a... a different way of looking at it, but in this three-month period from March to where we are now, last year, there was 4,500 hours of overtime for correctional officers, and now it's down to 2,197 hours. So it kind of cut it in half, and those who now... are also some of the officers are able to not even have to work that one because the mandatory one that they're scheduled because other officers who want the overtime are asking to do that. And so I'm hearing that most if not all the CEOs are getting their weekends off that their pre scheduled weekends off and things like that to spend more time with their family and some more of the days because the overtime is becoming less and less. And I think if we keep moving forward as we're doing, And I know there's negotiations going on right now that I really can't talk about, I guess. But I'll say it anyways, even if I get in trouble. I think there's a good offer on the table, to be honest with you. And these guys may disagree with me. I think they do. But I think if we have a prolonged conversation, fight about this. That does nothing but hurt our ability to attract other candidates. And I think if we can get that going and then know that better times are to come in the future and that they'll be taken care of at a later time, maybe a few years down the road when we start to go back in negotiations again. But I think there's a decent offer on the table, to be honest with you. And I just wish they'd take it and start getting that money in the pocket of their employees But that's none of my business, and I don't know if I'm supposed to say that or not. But anyways, once again, we appreciate everything that you guys have done to try and help this. They are right. These are difficult times. A lot of these times are because of people. We may have these bodies, but that doesn't mean they're necessarily working. They brought that up. They could be off sick. They can be off injured. All kinds of things. Long-term disability. And another thing we need to do in this county, and I've talked about it before, is do a better job at getting people off our books that have been offered months and months and years that are taking up positions that we could fill and hire if we could get them off our books and keep this process moving. So I think what we're doing is on the right track. We appreciate all your support over this time and hopefully next year or the year after that, they can come back and say, hey, we've turned this thing around and it's a lot better. So any questions?

Yes, sir.

Can you explain that, what you mean by getting them off the books?

Well, the problem we have is that, you know, somebody can have an injury and it turns into a long-term disability and then as that one heals, all of a sudden, oh, I've got another injury and that happened when I was in my rehab or it happened in whatever. And We have to do a better job of working with our doctors, maybe doing some investigations to make sure that people aren't scanning the system. And I'm not just talking CEOs. I'm talking across the board of employees. All our employees in the county and and. because they can just stay off and stay off and burn their sick time or workman's comp time for their full year or whatever it is. And we can't fill those positions. You're gonna see in the next budget coming up that I've got three captains position. One we're already double filling. That means we're paying for a captain that's been off for a year or two and on an injury. And I've asked to double fill that position. So I'm paying for two captains, one comes to work, one doesn't. And I've got two more like that. One's an injury that occurred on duty is a very serious injury and probably won't come back, but they're burning their sick time right now. And they've got good employees who over the years don't call in sick, no longer get the benefit of it if they're a tier whatever, their sick time's worth nothing. So somebody's got 2,500 hours of sick time on the book right now and they want to retire, they lose all that. It's not worth anything or almost nothing. Is that correct? Jump in on me here. It's okay.

Through the chair. So I will, to respond to the sheriff, the human resources currently working with the sheriff's team on some of these long-term disabilities. In California, we know that employees have a lot of protections, and we see that even more so for our law enforcement. And they're also in roles where they tend to get – there's more injuries. They experience more injuries. So we are working with our third-party administrator for our workers' comp and engaging with the sheriff's team to try to manage those cases so that people are returned to work sooner when they're able to return to work. or are able to be kind of moved through the system and it's clear the term is permanent and stationary so that if they're not returning to work then we can move them maybe to a disability retirement and clear up those vacancies so that the sheriff can fill. So we are actively working with the sheriff's team on those types of situations. And then the issue on sick leave, employees who were hired before 2001 had the ability to utilize sick leave banks unused upon their retirement to convert it to a bank of money to be used to either pay for some service credit or health benefits. And over the time, at that point in time, I think there was a fiscal crisis in the county ended that benefit. And I think as years have gone forward, we've seen that the culture of the county has been for county employees to use sick leave. And so we are also working with some law enforcement groups as well as the county administrator team, the labor committee, to talk about some future initiatives which may kind of help to change the culture of our county employees. when it comes to that using of the sick leave. In the case of the law enforcement officers, the sheriff's right. For most of our deputies, our correctional officers, they may not use when they're earlier in their career, they're not using their sick leave. They build up large banks. Then as they get older, they may get injured and they have those banks available. We can try to manage those leaves, but as I said, there are a lot of protections and there is a lot of intense management that has to go into these case by case to determine how we can either get people back to work as soon as possible or also move them out of county employment so we can fill with an active employee.

So the things that we have suggested, and that's all perfectly accurate, except that we've got guys with thousands of hours of sick time on the books, and it's worth nothing to them. And I know that it's very expensive to pay that out, 2,000 hours worth of sick time is a big chunk of money. But if you look at a captain's position and if I'm double filling a captain's position, let's say with benefits and everything, a captain makes $350,000 with all his benefits and everything like that. Now I've got two of them, there's $700,000 right there that we're paying and who know how long that drags out If I've got three of them, you can imagine how much that is. And we don't necessarily, we've got to find a solution. I know they're saying that turns around in like 2033. Well, by then we're going to be in real trouble with staffing. So if they can make that worse, something like, For every so many hours, you get another year of service credit towards your retirement or whatever it is. There's like three suggestions on the table, I think, from the DSA. Anything like that that we can do. Or for the older guys, you know, it counts towards your medical or something. And I don't know what the other one was. But we got to do something before 2033. We should probably do something before 2027. Because I can't keep filling double filling positions. And... It's really hampering us, and it's hampering the CEOs when they have people off, and we may only have 38 vacancies, but if there's, you know, 20 or 30 people off sick, injured, or whatever, and that's the nature of this beast. She's right. It's the job. You go hands-on. You're on your feet all day. You're working 12 hours, whatever it is, and suddenly you get in a fight. You can pull and twist and break things, and... but we gotta do something to either say, okay, you can't do this job anymore and you're retired, or get them fixed quicker, or whatever it is, but we've gotta do something because those are the ones that are really impacting us now, I think. Does that answer it, sir?

Absolutely, thank you. Supervisor Gardena? So I got a couple questions and then I got a couple comments. So SJC Air doesn't allow to buy one hour's worth of air time. Like CalPERS?

Currently, that benefit, I believe it is legally available. It is not something that we've negotiated. That was part of what was suspended in the early 2000s when the county, I think at that time, was looking at some financial crisis and determined it was no longer something that they felt was financially viable.

Yeah, and I will say culture, but when you work for an organization for a long time, and you put a part of your lifetime into it, and I think people forget that sick leave is actually an earned benefit. And when you get in a position that there's no value to it, and we've talked, something we don't talk about is gap insurance. From the time you retire, you're able to qualify at 65 for Medicare. You know, we've talked about a trust or something, you know, in the future, which would benefit retirees. In my opinion, it's a good tool for recruitment because now you're offering your new employees the opportunity to have a retired health care trust, which is not taxed before, not taxed after. So there's the tax parts of it. You know, mandatory policies are band-aids. You know, you put these mandatory policies or guidelines in place to kind of fix what's happening now, but it's a band-aid for the future, and bottom line is you need bodies in those positions to fix the mandatories. Overtime will always be part of public safety, but it's finding that happy medium where it's safe for our employees and safe for our community members. I do want to make a comment for the DA. I was really interested in with Eugene Case. He was a kid that I went to high school with, and I'm not going to say I forgot about him, but to see his picture, and I remember the day that he got killed, and I was shocked what happened, and to come find out years later that we actually find the person guilty of doing that. I don't know if he's found guilty yet, but he's at least going to be held to his wrongdoings, but hats off to that team and the hard work that you guys do, but I just wanna add to this too is, I sat on the other side of the negotiation table. It's a tough position, especially in the position I'm in now, is that we all know that we got tough times coming, and money's gonna get tighter and tighter, and the last thing that I would wanna see anybody go through is a bankruptcy, and there's a no-win for anybody, and so that us, and I'll speak for myself, but in this position, We gotta find a happy balance, and regardless of, you know, of going into negotiations, you're not gonna make everybody happy, but we gotta find compromise, and that's the key, is compromise is the key for the future, so that's all I got.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Supervisor Canepa.

I just have one question. The minimum for women, how many in the Academy do we have that are women? The 29 number, I just learned that today, and we need 32?

I think they said we were down one female. Are they here, are they gone? Probably putting something on my car. But I think they just said we were down one female at this time. I know we're down one correctional sergeant at this time. Do you remember what their number was? I would think it was one female that we were down. But it is difficult. We have mandatory laws that females have to be in certain areas. So that impacts them, we don't have More than enough females that we can move around and give them a chance at all the special assignments and all these type of things when we're short females. So they get stuck doing these same jobs all the time when their men counterparts don't. They get to work over here and over here and over. No, no, we need a female there. You're there again. And again, and again, that's the problem. So we need to do, and are working. As you know, my PIOs are mostly female, so we're doing everything we can to attract females and let them know what a great career this is. Okay, thank you.

Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.

Thank you all. Appreciate it.

Anybody else? Anybody else from public? I'm going to close the public hearing, bring it back. Supervisor Dink, Vice Chair Dink.

Yeah, just a real short 30,000 feet comment. And Supervisor Gardia, I really appreciate your comments because we are heading to tough times and we have to watch everything. To me, it's just a matter of what your priorities for the county are. And we've said over and over, public safety is our top priority. I don't understand your job. I don't understand, well, a little bit of Sandy's job. But we do this department by department negotiations on employee packages and so forth. And pretty soon, to me, it just almost feels like who's ever at the end of the line in negotiations? That's kind of what's left. We took a pretty firm stance today on recognizing we can't shove all these burdens over to the private sector and to our taxpayers. We've got to tighten the belt there, too. I also think with the rest of the departments, we're going to have to look. If you're fully staffed and we're negotiating pay increases, Should we be paying more attention to those departments that are having gaps that are higher? Anyway, a balance. It's not necessarily department by department. What's our priority? And maybe we need to shift funding. Just a thought.

Thank you, sir. Anybody else? Do we have a motion?

I don't believe a motion is required. As long as the public hearing has been conducted, we've met our requirement.

It's 4 o'clock, so. Yes. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Board members, any comments?

I just wanted to say one thing. We went to one voice in Washington, D.C., so usually when we go out of the state, it's a requirement, so. I just want to thank for the county staff that went and the productive meetings that we had and trying to bring home money for infrastructure jobs and keep the relationships with our electives there and the people that run the country healthy. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Anybody else? Any comments?

Yes, sir. Also be short. Yeah, I just want to talk about one voice real quick. One of the things that I really enjoyed about one voice was, you know, we're obviously going there to advocate for money. But one of the messages I got out of one of our meetings was, I feel like the administration wants to build things again. And they recognize our local San Joaquin and the value that we bring to maritime and the possibilities of future endeavors. And it's not just the access to our port, but also that they're much aware of the skilled workers that are going, the 100,000 workers that are going over the hill to work in the Bay Area, and that how we could keep them in our valley and give them jobs here. So that was one of the positive things that came out of One Voice for me. Thank you, sir.

Anybody on my left? No? Thank you so much. The meeting is adjourned to June 2nd at 9 a.m.