Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

All right, everybody. Good morning. I'll call to order the 05/12/2026 regular meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Excuse me. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Supervisor Lavinino?

I'm here.

Supervisor Lee? Here. Supervisor Capps? Here. Supervisor Hartman? Here. And chair Nelson?

Here. At this time, would you please stand and join us and pledge allegiance to our flag? Ready? Begin. All right. The next item of business is approval of the minutes from the 05/05/2026 meeting. Can I get a motion?

Moves approval.

And I second.

Okay. Any comment? All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Next item of business is the county executive officer report. Mr. Horton, is there anything to us get started with today? No report this morning, Well, you, Mr. Horton, for subbing in here for CEO Miyasado. And, Madam Clerk, are there any announcements or changes to our agenda today?

Chair Nelson and members of the board, I do have a couple quick announcements this morning. An addendum was posted on Friday, May 8, amending administrative item number 42. Administrative item number 42 is from the county executive office regarding a site hearing to consider recommendations regarding the fiscal year 2026 through 2027 recommended budget for the County Of Santa Barbara and recommended budget for the County Of Santa Barbara as the successor agency to the former county of Santa Barbara redevelopment agency. The recommended actions have been revised to reflect that budget hearings are scheduled for a single day on Tuesday, 06/16/2026. The addendum has been posted and made available both online to the board and the public.

And lastly, for information on the board of supervisors methods of public participation and instructions on how to provide public comment on items listed on today's agenda or during general public comment, please refer to page two of the agenda. Individuals who wish to provide verbal public comment may do so via Zoom by registering in advance using the link provided on page two. Please note that Zoom is available solely for the purpose of providing verbal public comment and is not intended for viewing the meeting. Alternative viewing options are listed on page two of the agenda. If you have any questions, please contact the clerk of the board's office at area code (805) 568-2240. Again, that number is (805) 568-2240. And that concludes my announcements for today.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. At this time, the next item of business is the administrative agenda. Right now I have a few items pulled by the Board and the public. Looks like, just to make sure I have it correctly here, for the Board we have point A2, A31, A40, and A46. Any other items that my colleagues want to have pulled? Okay. And then from the public, we have public point A1, A2, A4, and A18.

Chair Nelson and members of the Board, that is correct.

Okay. So at this time, I'd take a motion to approve the balance of the agenda. So those are all items except for A1, two, four, eighteen, thirty one, forty, and forty six.

So moved.

Second. Motion by Hartman and second by Lee. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. All right. At this time we'll go ahead and move to a couple of items that were pulled, well as our honorary resolutions that we'll be presenting here today. And we'll go ahead and do those in order, and we'll start off with item A1. You, Madam Clerk, read that into the record? And then I believe we have somebody from the public that's speaking on A1. So once you read it into the record, I'll have the and read the resolution, then I'll have the speaker speak. We'll take a vote on it and then we'll do the pomp and circumstance.

Chair Nelson and members of the Board, Administrative Item Number one is sponsored by supervisor Lee and supervisor Hartman. It is to adopt a resolution proclaiming the week of 05/03/2026 through 05/09/2026 as youth mental health awareness week in Santa Barbara County. And we have one request to speak from the public on this item. We're going to remain here in Santa Maria and go to Candace Menegan. Candace?

No, I'm on the next one.

Okay. All right.

All righty. We'll move Candace to A2.

Okay. Great. Thank you.

And we'll proceed with presenting administrative item number one. And joining us in person today, and if you can

please Actually, before we do that, I just need a motion to approve item A1.

I move that we approve A1.

I'll second. Okay. So we have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Sorry. Wow, tongue tied this morning, Sorry about this. Motion passes unanimously. So would you go ahead and read the resolution and do the presentation?

Chair Nelson and members of the board, again joining us for Administrative Item Number one in person today we have Ina Lu and Adriana DeFranco. And if you can please make your way to the podium. And I will go ahead and read the resolution into the record. Whereas the week of May 3 through 05/09/2026 is recognized nationally as Youth Mental Health Awareness Week, a time to increase public understanding of mental health, reduce stigma, and promote access to care for individuals and families. And whereas many mental health conditions emerge during childhood and adolescence, making early identification, intervention, and support essential to the healthy development and well-being of young people.

And whereas children and youth may face increased vulnerability to anxiety, depression, trauma, bullying, and social isolation. And timely access to culturally and linguistically responsive services can improve long term outcomes. And whereas barriers such as stigma, cost, and limited access to care continue to prevent many youth and families from seeking needed support, underscoring the importance of community awareness and accessible resources. And whereas the state of California has launched the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, CYBHI, a significant investment to expand access to care and strengthen early intervention for children and youth. And through the California Department of Health Care Services has made available free confidential behavioral health resources for youth and families regardless of income, insurance, or immigration status, including digital tools such as BrightLife Kids and saloon Soluna to help young people access support, build coping skills, and connect with resources.

Now therefore, be it hereby ordered and resolved that this board of supervisors of the county of Santa Barbara does hereby proclaim May 3 through 05/09/2026 as Youth Mental Health Awareness Week in Santa Barbara County passed and adopted today.

Welcome Ms. Liu. Please.

Thank you, chairman Nelson and members of the board for this resolution and for the care you've shown for young people here in Santa Barbara County. My name is Ina Lu. I'm here representing Saluna, and with me is Adrianne DeFranco from our sibling program, Bright Life Kids. Together, we represent the digital front door represented by the state of California's Behavioral Health Youth Youth Initiative. It's an honor to be here today to accept this on behalf of the many partners, educators, families, and community leaders who show up every day to support young people.

As we've grown this work, we focus on two key questions. Are we reaching young people and expanding access to care? And are we helping them feel better? We've we're seeing meaningful progress, and I wanna share a few highlights with you today. BrightLife Kids and Saluna have provided more than 500,000 children, youth, and families across California with free behavioral health support.

Young people aren't just signing up, they're coming back. Connected connecting with coaches, using tools, and finding community, with ninety eight percent of coaching participants saying they're satisfied with their experience. And now independent research from Northwestern University shows that within the first month, young people using Saluna are already feeling better with reductions in anxiety, depression, loneliness, and hopelessness, decreases in suicidal ideation, and overall improvement in quality of life. And that's what this work is all about, reaching young people, expanding access to care, and helping them feel better. And while May is a is a time to raise awareness, we know that this work doesn't begin or end here.

It's ongoing, and it's rooted in community, sustained by commitment, and made possible by leadership like yours. So thank you, vice chair Hartman and supervisor Lee, for carrying this resolution and to the entire and to the entire board for ensuring the youth of Santa Barbara County know that they are never alone.

Wonderful.

Don't go yet. Ms.

Lu, one second.

Don't go yet, please.

Ms. Hubert Hartman.

I just had a question for you. So if we know a young person, could you tell us the age range for which people are eligible and how they would access your services?

Absolutely. I can say a few words, and you're sharing Briblack Kids. So we cover the whole age span, zero to 25. Zero to 13 is covered by Briley Kids, and Adriana can share a few words about that. Saluna is for 13 25 year olds. Again, both services are absolutely free. Saluna is accessible for any Internet enabled device. It's a web, phone, tablet. Most engaged through the app. You can also engage through the web portal, saloonapp.com, or through the Android or Apple app download service.

And what kind of information do you give when you first Minimal.

We really just need three pieces of information. Your date of birth, just to confirm you are in the age group, an email, and your zip code to make sure you're within the state of California.

And then how long till the person hears back?

They are signed up right away. They can access any of the content, self help. We have coaching. There's a peer support community. There's coaching navigation. I'm very proud to say that our drop in coaching, the wait time is less than five minutes on average. So services immediately. But again, there's there's a broad array of services from self help and peer support community.

And then does it deal with things I mean, serious things like schizophrenia and serious depression, and then help guide people?

Yep. Yep. We content available for various needs and can connect back into the local community. Do want you to share a few words around accessing BrightLife? Thank you

for the opportunity. So BrightLife Kids, very similar to Soluna, but we're serving the parents with children with zero to 12. So parents are the ones signing up for our services, and parents are the one receiving the coaching sessions. Just reiterating, we're free. We don't ask for personal information. We don't ask the immigration status of the family. We don't need income verification. We don't need insurance verification. So it's really an open door to every family in California and very easy to sign up, very quick access, availability is very fast. So we're there to support the families really where they are. And the service is being virtual. The family doesn't have to go anywhere, right? The youth doesn't have to be anywhere, making it even simpler, easier for them to access the services. Yes.

Well, you. Those are extraordinary opportunities for people who really need it. Thank you.

We appreciate. Thank you. Alright.

Madam Clerk, will you please read administrative item number two into the record?

Chair Nelson and members of the board, administrative item two is sponsored by Supervisor Hartman and is to adopt a resolution recognizing the importance of biodiversity. And joining us in person today, we have Steve Wininger and Helene Schneider.

Before we get there, I do have yeah. So this one was pulled by the public as well as by myself. And I just wanted to ask a quick question of counsel just to kind of understand. I know it's a little odd on resolutions, but when I was reading over our agenda today, I saw this resolution and, you know, I I support it. I I everything in there, I I mostly agree with. And but it was a little bit different than most resolutions that we we get. You know, I've read probably over a thousand resolutions since I've met the board. This one looks more like a policy statement than a resolution. I know Supervisor Hartman, I've reached out to her and she explained to me that what this was for, but it just looks a little bit differently than other resolutions. And I just want to make sure, you know, it of reads like a policy statement more than a resolution.

Usually we do resolutions for organizations or to commemorate some special week. Madam Counsel, would you just tell me like what is the binding obligation of a Board when we adopt these honorary resolutions? Are they policy of the Board? Or is it is it more of a, you know, aspirational goal setting type of opportunity for us? I just want to kind of understand that a little bit better because I don't want to come back and hear this later on to say, hey, your board adopted this, so you need to do, you know, x, so you need to do y in the future, because I think that that's a really bad precedent for us because I think when we have policy discussions, we should, you know, roll up our sleeves and have policy discussions.

You know, I think resolutions are times to just celebrate organisations and what's great in our county. And this is something that we can all celebrate, but I just want to make sure it's in context so it doesn't get used later on in some way that wasn't initially intended by the Board. So would you mind just is it what is the binding obligation of a resolution like this to the Board?

Mr. Chair, members of the Board, so generally resolutions there's kind of two different kinds. Sometimes you do a resolution related to a grant, and that is binding on the Board, although it can be replaced by a future resolution. So it's not as if it's ongoing. Typically, these types of resolutions are more celebratory or in recognition of something. This one does appear to be a little bit different, but I think it's lawful for the board to adopt the resolution. But I it does not appear usually when the Board adopts a policy,

it says it's a policy.

A policy rate. So I just wanted to clarify that on behalf of Supervisor Hartman. I had asked Supervisor Hartman because I want a clarification, but I want to clarify for the public too. Yeah. Supervisor Hartman.

I just wanted to raise one other issue of the impact of resolutions. Sometimes for public works, when we pass the resolution, then that gives them an opportunity for allowing flags things on public spaces acknowledge what we're pinpointing as valuable.

Right. And so again, I'm not opposed to this resolution. Just wanted some clarification. I just read a little bit differently, and I didn't know if anybody in the public read it a little bit differently as well, so I just wanted to ask that question and get that clarification. So thank you for indulging me on that. And so I do believe we have a couple of public commenters on this item, so I want to give public comment on the item before we adopt the resolution. So Madam Clerk, can you please bring up the first public commenter? And I'm going to ask the public commenters to try to keep it to two minutes. We have a lot of public commenters here today and general public comment. So on the A items, if you try to keep the two minutes, some of you may prepare for three. Let's try to keep it down so that we can get to everybody today.

Chair Nelson, members of the board, we will begin here in Santa Maria with Candace Medigan, to be followed by Stephanie Diaz. Candace?

Welcome.

Hi there. Good morning, chair Nelson and supervisors. My name's Candace Menigan, and I'm the executive director of Coastal Ranches Conservancy. And Coastal Ranches Conservancy is a local nonprofit that has a mission to support nature conservation, restoration, education along the 76 miles of the Gaviota Coast. We've joined together with over 40 organizations from the region as part of the biodiversity working group to adopt the community vision and policy platform to support biodiversity along the Central Coast Of California.

As a member of this biodiversity group, we jointly understand that biodiversity must be woven into thinking and planning and a way of life for equitable communities that are dynamic and sustainable economies for for Santa Barbara County. Coastal Ranches Conservancy recently adopted a new strategic plan with a key focus on biodiversity conservation. Our programs, are focused on connecting lands, rivers, and communities to the landscape. And for the for that reason, we're very heartened that vice chair Hartman has brought this resolution before you today. The county of Santa Barbara, hereby, you know, is gonna recognize and celebrate our irreplaceable biodiversity, and that really brings alignment with all these over 40 organizations regionally with the county and the county, agencies.

And we just are are grateful for the recognition of of that biodiversity and are in support of the resolution, and I'm grateful for for that recognition today. Thank you.

Thank you, miss Minigan.

We will now go to Stephanie Diaz to be followed by Scott Cooper. Stephanie.

Good morning, chair Nelson and supervisors. I'm Stephanie Diaz representing the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County. And the Land Trust is very excited about the preparation of this resolution by the county. We understand the importance of protecting and enhancing biodiversity because it supports long term sustainability for the county. The land trust work also is very in what do I wanna say?

Support of biodiversity. We, over the past forty years, have conserved over 58,000 acres of land, including canyons, watersheds, coastal properties, ranches, agricultural land. And these different lands come together to present very strong biodiversity within the county. We're also a part of the biodiversity working group that Candice just mentioned. There's 40 nonprofits that work together in support of biodiversity.

As you may know, Santa Barbara County is in a really unique biological area where the biology of Northern California and Southern California come together and make a really diverse, strong, abundant, outstanding biologic area. And the I don't wanna run out of time here. The

You're you're you're fine.

Okay. What happens when you have these very strong and abundant diverse biodiversity areas? You get clean air and water, climate regulation, wildfire protection, and agricultural product productivity. These diverse ecosystems do face increasing pressure from climate change, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and development. So protecting these significant lands, it requires sustained local action, land stewardship, and thoughtful public policy.

This biodiversity is also reflected in the existing county policies through your comprehensive plan and its elements such as the conservation element and the open space element. And we urge the board of supervisors and thank you for supporting this biodiversity resolution that's going to be serving current and future residents and the growth within the county. Thank you.

Thank you, miss Diaz.

And we will now go to Scott Cooper, and we will go to Zoom with Bill Woodbridge. Scott?

And I'm going go ahead and close public comment on this item at this time. Scott?

I thank the chair and the board for this opportunity to talk to you. My name is Scott Cooper, and I am the chair of the county's, that is your, Fish and Wildlife Commission. The commission has discussed this resolution at its last two meetings, and we unanimously support it because we feel it's totally congruent with the commission's mandates and goals, which are to conserve and restore fish and wildlife populations in the county. The county's high biodiversity provides a lot of amenities for our communities. They provide clean air and water, but they also support numerous recreational, commercial, and educational endeavors.

The value of biodiversity can't be told short, and I think that this resolution, on behalf of the commission, allows the board to recognize the importance of biodiversity and its conservation to the county, but also can be integrated into the county's decision and policymaking. Also, the commission would like to support the suggestion that you ask county staff to develop a report on the steps in funding to support biodiversity initiatives. Toward this end, I might point out that you periodically consider proposals and applications to the county's Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund that support a variety of conservation projects, including educational research, and habitat enhancement, and wildlife rescue projects. I would like to thank Supervisor Hartman for introducing this resolution, and we request that the board approve it. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, Mr. Cooper.

We will now go to Zoom with Bill Woodbridge, who is our final speaker on this item. Bill?

Hi, chairman and supervisors. I'm in Goleta. My name is Bill Woodbridge. I really appreciate supervisor Hartman's initiative on getting this resolution to the to the board. Without biodiversity and wildlife, we're doomed.

There are so many places that are being biodiversity and wildlife are being suppressed. Endangered species are are being just really destroyed by the Trump administration. We really need to save everything we can in order for our survival and the Earth's survival. We need the biodiversity. We need the wildlife to to main everything in nature's natural order.

If we destroy those things, we're doomed. We're just gone. And we're in the process of doing it now. The drilling companies don't care what they do. Manufacturing companies don't care what they do. AI companies don't care what they do. So we really need to pass this resolution, and I fully support commissioner Hartman's efforts and the board's efforts. And I hope you will pass this resolution. We desperately need it. Thank you very much.

And that concludes public comment on this item.

Alright. So back back to the board on this. We need to adopt this. So I'll take a motion to adopt this resolution.

So moved.

Second. Okay.

So a motion from Supervisor Hartman and a second from Supervisor Lee. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes unanimously. All right. Now would you go ahead and read the resolution to the record.

Chair Nelson and members of the board, as noted previously, joining us in person today we have Steve Weinhanger and Helene Schneider. Now go ahead and read the resolution. Whereas the state of California has identified the protection and restoration of biodiversity as a critical priority, including a statewide goal of conserving at least 30% of lands and coastal waters by 2030, recognizing that healthy natural and working landscapes are essential to climate resilience, food security, and human well-being. And whereas protecting and enhancing biodiversity is vital to the long term sustainability of Santa Barbara County because diverse ecosystems and ecological connectivity help reduce wildfire risk, safeguard water quality, and provide natural carbon storage. And whereas Santa Barbara County is located along California Central Coast, a unique bio excuse me, biogeographic region where northern and southern ecosystems converge, creating exceptional biological richness across oak, woodlands, coastal sage shrub, chaparral agricultural lands, wetlands, and riparian corridors that support native rare threatened and endemic species.

And whereas the county's marine and coastal environments, including kelp forests, rocky intertidal zones, and offshore waters are among the most productive ecosystems in the world and support marine biodiversity and economic species such as whales, sea otters, and seabirds. And whereas these natural systems provide essential benefits to local communities, including clean air and water, climate regulation, wildfire and erosion protection, agricultural productivity, recreation, and cultural and educational opportunities, reflecting the county's long standing commitment to environmental stewardship through its plans, policies, and partnerships. Now, therefore, be it hereby ordered and resolved that this board of supervisors of the county of Santa Barbara does hereby recognize and celebrate the extraordinary biodiversity of the region and affirms the importance of continued stewardship of the county's natural and working lands and coastal waters for the benefit of current and future generations, passed and adopted today.

Thank you Chair Nelson, and thank you Supervisor Hartman for bringing this forward. My name is Helene Schneider. I serve as chair of the board of directors for the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. And with me is Steve Winhanger, our executive director. Also wanna thank you.

We were with you just a few weeks ago to acknowledge our one hundredth anniversary of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. I wanna thank Supervisor Lee for bringing that forward, and all of you for supporting that. I'll be really brief, because you heard a lot of the components here. But what I really want to emphasize with this resolution is, just as the Botanic Garden for one hundred years have been promoting native plants and biodiversity, You can't have the right plant and the right insect and the right bird interact with each other if they're not around, not just on Mission in Mission Canyon, but throughout the region. We need the partnerships of both nonprofits, our community, everyday people, and local governments, and state and federal governments to come together to promote biodiversity in a variety of ways.

And so I wanna get to, Chair Nelson, your point that, yes, this is a little different than maybe some other resolutions, but I think what it does is bring hope and ideas, and where people can come together on a regional basis to really make an impact beyond your own front or backyard, but into the grander region itself. So you're a very important part of that as the county. Cuyama is a great example of a remote area that we are restoring an area into to bring native plants back into an area that's been degraded, and we're already seeing some amazing results closer to home piece up in Eelings Park, or even the 1200 Block Of State Street. You can see that. And we want to expand in other areas throughout the county of where we can do those restoration pieces.

I want to acknowledge the 45 plus organizations throughout the region who have come together here, and you heard a bunch of them here today. And we really could not do it without those kind of partnerships, and we want to include the county and cities all across the county as part of that connection together. So thank you very much for passing this unanimously today. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Schneider.

Go ahead.

Supervisor Capstan and Supervisor Hartman. Well,

thank you. I really appreciate this resolution and biodiversity. It's, you know, so many issues that we deal with up here are kind of massive issues that kind of confront us in our face. And just to stop and think about biodiversity, to think about that seed bank at the at the garden, you know, these are I'm just grateful that there are scientists, that there are advocates, that there are people working in these 30 organizations that are frankly, thinking about things that I don't think about all the time, seeds and nature and the different types of insects that we really depend on as a as a society, as a as a planet. So I'm just grateful to stop and think, and I think that is a purpose of resolutions, is to acknowledge the work that goes on often unseen. So great. I'm grateful.

Thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Cap. Supervisor Hartman.

Thank you very much to all the organizations who brought this forward. I just wanted to emphasize that Santa Barbara County really is a hotspot for biodiversity, and we're in the midst right now of the sixth great extinction, and and it's being caused by human activities. And so we are in a really precious place, not only where north and south meet, but the transverse mountains and the extreme wet and dry means that the species here have adapted to live in very extreme and conditions. And they teach us a lot about how to survive, and there's lots of things we can learn. But we can talk about utilitarian, whether they benefit us, but I think ultimately our job is to care for creation.

Our job is to recognize that we wanna keep a healthy ecosystem. So I was intrigued when I heard that a report on biodiversity would be a good thing. I wonder if the biodiversity working group, if we could work what we're ultimately looking for, we're involved now in our open space element, which is to look at our county and public properties, but then we're leading up into our conservation element. And that's where we will embed principles into policies that are enforceable. So we need to prepare for that, and I think the report would be a good strategy.

I wrote my PhD dissertation on the Endangered Species Act. My interest in biodiversity goes back many decades. So I'm here to help, and I'm grateful for all the work that you're doing, because we live in a very precious place, and we're the trustees. Thank you.

Thank you. Chair Nelson, Supervisor Hartman, that's the whole point of the biodiversity group. Not, of course, to have celebratory items such as this, but to be partners with you when you have these issues come up and bring the expertise together so it would work with your staff and with you in creating policies that can work in a regional way. So thank you for bringing that up.

Thank you. And I would note that in all the advisory committees and things the county has, we don't really have one on biodiversity. So I would welcome whatever input we can get. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Madam Clerk, our third and final honorary resolution today, would you please go ahead and read that into record? And we've already adopted this one, so we can go ahead and read that fully.

Chair Nelson and members of the Board, administrative item number three is sponsored by supervisor Lavinino. It is to adopt a resolution celebrating the centennial anniversary of the Santa Maria Philharmonic Society. And joining us in person today, we have doctor Desiree Reedus, Fran Savariano, and Cliff Solomon. If you can please make your way to the podium. And I will go ahead and read the resolution.

Whereas the Santa Maria Philharmonic Society marks a momentous milestone in 2026, celebrating a hundred years of providing world class symphonic music to the residents of Santa Maria Valley. And whereas since its inception, the Philharmonic has served as the city's professional community orchestra, elevating the cultural landscape and fostering a deep appreciation for the performing arts through its dedication to musical excellence. And whereas the Santa Maria Philharmonic Society has remained steadfast in its mission to enrich the community not only through its majestic concert season, but also through vital educational outreach programs that inspire the next generational generation of local musicians and music lovers. And whereas for a century this vulnerable institution has acted as a cornerstone of our county's identity, bringing together diverse audiences to experience the transformative power of live orchestral performances. And whereas the success of the Philharmonic is a testament to the tireless dedication of its musicians, board of directors, staff, and the generous patrons who have ensured that the sound of Santa Maria continues to resonate.

Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this board of supervisors honors the Santa Maria Philharmonic Society's centennial anniversary celebrating one hundred years of artistic achievement and cultural enrichment, passed and adopted today.

My name is Desiree Kay Reedus. I am one of the Santa Maria Philharmonic Society Symphony board members. And behind me are the other distinguished members of the board. There's Phil, Christian, and Fran. And I'll have them say a few words afterwards.

On behalf of the Santa Maria Philharmonic Society Symphony, we graciously graciously thank you and feel honored for this acknowledgment. The Santa Maria Philharmonic Society has provided the gift of music through community engagement and outreach for the last a hundred years. It took the time, effort, and sacrifice of many, a village, to keep this organization going and relevant for the last a hundred years. We thank all those people who have helped the Philharmonic, including those that have passed on. We want to thank all of our donors, community advocates, board members, volunteers, staff, and supporters for their time and effort dedicated to the Santa Maria Philharmonic.

We thank our wonderful musicians for their great musical talents gift, as well as providing musical education and their expertise, further perpetuating the local legacy and history of great musical entertainment in this community. We want to thank all of our wonderful conductors, past and present, including our wonderful current maestro, Michael Nowick. Last but not least, we want to thank the Santa Barbara County of Supervisors for your leadership, your foresight, and vision for recognizing the importance of supporting the arts in this community. With your continued support and interest, we hope to go on for another hundred years. Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll just add to that that the power of music to unify our community and heal is irrefutable. And I thank you so much for supporting our mission. It nothing brings me greater joy than to make this music accessible to as many in our community as humanly possible. So thank you very much.

Thank you. I

would just like to invite everybody to come to our concerts. We have them throughout the year. We are at the library. We had a wonderful meeting last night talking about some of the future possibilities that we have. So, yeah, come join us. We have just a wonderful orchestra. Our conductor is incredible, and we have wonderful musicians. So, yeah, come join us.

Thank you, Mr. Salmon. Thank you.

Everything's been said, by the way. Kids come free to all our concerts. And thank you very much.

We really appreciate the recognition.

Thank you. All right. We're going to go to item A four. That was inadvertently pulled. So we just need to read that in record and adopt that.

Thank you, Chair Nelson and members of the board. Administrative item number four is an honorary resolution sponsored by supervisor Nelson. It is to adopt a resolution proclaiming the week of 05/17/2026 through 05/23/2026 as National Public Works Week in Santa Barbara County. And again, as chair Nelson indicated, this item was pulled inadvertently, so we just need a motion to adopt this resolution.

So since this is my motion, I'll make a motion that we approve this resolution. Second. Second by Supervisor Lavinino. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Okay. The next item of business that will go in order here will be item A18, and that's been pulled by the public. Madam Clerk, will you please read that into the record?

Yes. Thank you, Chair Nelson and members of the board. Administrative item number 18 is from the county health department. It is to consider recommendations regarding acceptance of donations to Santa Barbara County Animal Services, SB CAS, from the Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation, SBCACF, the in amount of 118,920. And there is a four fifth vote required on this item, and we do have one member from the public requesting to speak on this item. We are going to Zoom with Doctor. Lee Heller. Lee?

Good morning, chair Nelson and members of the board. Thank you for taking this item up. I wanted to thank doctor Hamami and the health department staff for their assistance last year when we put on Tales of Hope, which enabled us to raise the kind of money that is gonna really help animal services at this difficult budget moment. And I also wanna let you know that the Animal Care Foundation is stepping up, we're doing it again. So 09/20/2026 at Rancho La Patera Stowhouse.

We will again have John Corbett and Bo Derek, and this time we'll also have Shorty Rossi, who is an animal advocate who's been on Animal Planet. The goal is to help the animals and the people of Santa Barbara County, and there's information online that we're happy to share. So thank you for your support and for helping us to help you to close these budget gaps. Take care.

Thank you, doctor Hiller.

And that concludes public comment on this item.

Alright. I'll go ahead and get a motion on this item to approve

So moved.

Second. Okay. Motion by Hartman, second by Lee. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. All right. So the next item of business is actually going be A29. We actually already adopted A29, but we had a public speaker who wanted to speak on this item, and so we're going to go ahead and allow the public to comment on A29. And I believe we have one speaker, and I've allocated two minutes for them to speak on this.

Chair Nelson and members of the board, that is correct. 829 is from the Public Works Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding an ordinance amending speed limits specified in county code sections 23 dash fifteen four, 23 dash fifteen five, 23 dash 15.6, and 23 dash 15.9. And this is in the first and fourth districts. And we have one request to speak from the public on this item. We're going to Zoom with Phyllis Noble. Phyllis?

Good morning, Nielson.

Yes. Please proceed. We can hear you.

Okay. Thank you. Good morning, chair Nielson and members of the board. I'm the current president of the Summerlin Community Foundation and served as the president of the Summerlin Citizens Association from 2022 to '25. I would like to address item four on the departmental agenda and also item a 29 on the administrative agenda.

Regarding item four, I strongly urge the board to ensure that Summerlin is included in the proposed ministerial streamlining and reduced parking requirements. Our commercial district was initially formed on 25 by 50 foot tent lots. While some have merged, they remain small and are largely occupied by historic homes from the nineteen twenties and were converted into commercial retail. This unique architecture is a charm and draw of Summerland. However, when these small legacy lots are required to provide modern on-site parking for a change of use, it's both physically and financially prohibitive.

I have two clients right now who are facing the heart wrenching decision to demolish these nineteen twenties buildings because the cost of meeting parking requirements simply doesn't pencil out. If we wanna preserve the unique character of Summerlin, we need to downgrade the downshifted parking requirements and ministerial pathways. Secondly, regarding item a 29, while I support the speed amendments today, Summerlin must be prioritized for reduction. We've become a primary vehicular shortcut between the 101 Montecito and Santa Barbara. Public Works traffic engineer Gary Smart has acknowledged the excessive speeds through these three main roads surrounding our town.

During my time with the SCA, we held multiple public meetings with Public Works regarding this. I urge the board to direct staff to please include Summerlin in this phase of speed reductions to protect our residents and our pedestrians. I will volunteer any data or recommendations to support staff in any of these processes. Thank you, mister chair.

All right. Thank you, Ms. Noble. We've already adopted this item, although I know Supervisor Hartman had a question for Director Sneaden. Director Sneaden, would you please come on up?

Thank you. And as you're coming up, I just had a quick question. How maybe you could explain how state law has changed, and then how your review process of different roads throughout the county in light of that law is taking place?

Hartman the chair. Chris, if you could hold the light. There you go. Wrong way. Supervisor Hartman to the chair. Thank you for that question. Yes. As as you recall, as Gary Smart presented at the departmental item on this, the state laws have changed to allow some more flexibility for local agencies in implementing changes to speed limits, and we are programmatically going throughout the county and implementing the new changes on kind of a priority basis and working our way across the county.

And I'd just like to add, you're very receptive to neighbours and people who ask you to review areas. Sometimes it's not possible, but I really appreciate your department and especially Mr. Smart being so open to people's ideas.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Supervisor Hartman. Thank you, Director Sneaden. Again, this item has already been adopted by the Board, so there's no additional action that needs to be done here. So we're going to credit and carry on to item A31, and I believe Supervisor Hart will you go ahead and read that record, and I think Supervisor Hartman needs to make an announcement before we vote on it.

Chair Nelson and members of the board, administrative item number 31 is from the Public Works department. It is to consider recommendations regarding final map of track number 14786, Zaca Preserve LLC, 12 TRM 1, and accept various dedication of easements for public utilities per said map, set monument deposit amount, and this is in the 3rd District.

All right. Supervisor Hartman?

And this property is directly adjacent to mine, so in abundance of caution I will recuse.

Excellent. All right. So we'll wait for a moment for Supervisor Hartman to exit the room. And then I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve item A31.

I'll second that.

Second by Supervisor Lees. Any further discussion on A31? Okay. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes with four affirmative votes with, of the balance of the Board and with Supervisor Hartman abstaining, no, accusing herself. So four zero one there. Okay. With that, we'll go ahead and ask Supervisor Hartman to come back in, And we will go ahead and move to item A40, which has been pulled by Supervisor Hartman and Supervisor Lee.

Chair Nelson and members of the board, administrative item number 40 is sponsored by supervisor Lee. It is to consider recommendations regarding an informational presentation from the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation.

All right. Supervisor Lee? Good. I would like to

invite the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation representatives to come up and give us a presentation about what they have been doing in our community.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Good morning Chair Nelson and members of the board. My name is Rick Bowler. I'm the CEO of the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation. I want to thank you all for giving us the opportunity to come and present today and share more about the Santa Barbara Bowl and our impact within the county of Santa Barbara. As you may know, the Santa Barbara Bowl is a 5,000 seat amphitheater, outdoor amphitheater located in Downtown Santa Barbara.

Excuse me. And we focus on presenting up to an average of 37 I'm sorry, an average of 35 performances up to 37 performances per year based on our lease with the county. We also have several priorities. The main priorities being renovation and restoration of the facility, sustainability, and then outreach, which is a support of youth performing arts through the county. Here with me today is our outreach program manager. Her name is Lindsey Cook, and she's going to share in greater detail some of the programs that we've been implementing in the last several months. Thank you.

Good morning. Thank you so much for your time today. I'm very excited and proud to share about our outreach work and introduce you to our newest initiative, the High School Band Fund. So the creation of the High School Band Fund was really born out of this idea that we weren't receiving enough applicants from North County, particularly the North County High School music programs. They lacked the capacity to apply, and we decided because of that, we were going to give them a very directed source of funding with hands on guidance and encouragement to apply.

So that way they could access the resources they needed. So I'd like to note that the theater programs were applying. So we were receiving applicants applications from these schools, but the music program specifically. Being a music venue, music education is really integral to our mission at the bowl. And I'm pleased to share that in our inaugural cycle, which was launched in February, a $150,000 was awarded to nine programs in four school in full four school districts reaching almost 900 students in the next school year.

Six of these nine recipients were North County schools. Lompoc High School, Orchid Academy, San Maria, Pioneer Valley, Cabrillo, and Ernest Rigetti, all applied and were funded. The grants range from 10 to $20,000, supporting competition, travel, instructors, uniforms, and necessary equipment. Next slide, please. Oh, thank you.

Got it. This map shows the geographic reach of the high school band fund, with the majority of funding concentrated in North County. Lompoc High School received the largest grant of $20,000, and together with the other five North County schools represented, it was a $102,000 being funneled into North County schools. Nearly all of these high school music programs with the exception of Cabrillo High School had never applied or been funded before, so brand new applicants. And the high school band fund was really meant to be this direct invitation and a clear pathway for these schools to apply and be funded.

We can we continue to remain invested in the three high schools in South County, Santa Barbara Unified, Dos Pueblos, San Marcos, and Santa Barbara High, where our long term partnership over several decades have had great impact. And then although Carpenteria and Saninas Union did not apply this year, it's definitely my goal moving into the future to encourage those schools to apply. And then this spring

missing.

We have one more slide, but it's not coming up.

Yeah.

That's okay. I'll keep going. This spring, in addition to the high school band fund, we've also completed our annual spring grant cycle, awarding $200,000 across 51 programs, anticipated to reach over 15,000 students. 70% of these funded programs are free to the participants, so our grant support is really making these programs accessible for students of all financial backgrounds. And then there was a map, but we I was showing the geographic impact of the two programs, the high school band fund and the twenty twenty six spring cycle combined, where North County has received $84,000 in the San Maria area and 53,500 in the Lompoc area.

It's our mission to serve the entire county of Santa Barbara, and the high school band fund has expanded not only who we serve, but has helped me to establish new relationships at those schools. What you see today is the result of a deliberate decision to expand our reach and really prioritize those North County schools. The high school band fund was our way to make that happen. Combined with our spring cycle just this year alone, so since January, we've now distributed $350,000 in grants reaching well over 16,000 students countywide. And this is just the beginning.

We'll have another grant cycle in the fall. We have instrument funding, flash grants that happen throughout the year, as well as event sponsorships, scholarships, and ticket subsidies. So our goal is to ensure that every student in Santa Barbara County has access to high quality performing arts education. And, thankfully, with the high school band fund, we're closer to that goal than ever before.

Thank you. You. Seriously, do you wanna

Yeah.

I just wanna say thank you. Thank you for what you have done for our music programs, which are so important to our whole accounting community. So it kind of leads up to the question, is there gonna be like a band contest eventually down the road where

Battle of the bands.

Yeah. Battle of the bands.

Nothing on the agenda right now, yeah.

Because that would be cool.

Idea for the future, for sure.

Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Thank you, Supervisor Supervisor Hartman and Supervisor Lavannina.

Well, thank you so much. It's very exciting to see your the bowl is really a jewel in our crown for the entire county, and this outreach is terrific. I did have one question. I think we forwarded to you a letter that we received from Alan Hancock president Kevin Walther about the box office advantage that you don't have to pay the ticket fees, add ons, if you can go to the box office in Santa Barbara. But for people in the Valley or Santa Maria, that's a 90 to a 150 mile round trip.

And so I I just wondered if there's some opportunity, not a box office up here, then phone or or something so that that's more widely distributed.

Thanks for the question. It's a good question. I did have the opportunity actually to schedule a tour and meet with the individual that wrote to the Board of Supervisors. And we spent a good few hours in Santa Barbara at the Bowl touring around, talking about our business model and how it all works. You know, we are always open to having discussions with the community and their ideas, and especially the feedback around something like that.

And we're constantly tailoring our box office sales to try to reach more people through local presales that provide a unique code for people that aren't in our area but are in our county to access a few days ahead of time when the shows go on sale and things like that. So, again, that discussion has not ended at this point. But I feel like we have an open relationship with that individual.

And you're, I mean it's not just the individual, but he raised the issue, but you're working on it.

Yeah. Well, and I think the good answer too is what we do as an organization is we prioritize having a box office. And that box office is open Monday through Friday. And we have a staff that most buildings, most venues don't have that any longer. The fees when you buy in person, keeping in mind, of course, is a and drive in people's valuable time is important to us too. But that that's the focus of why we have that box office open on-site for

sure. You. Supervisor Hartman. Supervisor Lavonino.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I just want to say thanks. I mean, it is a, what you said, deliberate decision. I don't know what the impetus for that was at this present time, but I appreciate it. We have seen, I'd say over the last seven to ten years, so many more South County based organizations that are really investing a lot more into the North County. It's not just the population, it's the need. It's looking at all of us as one county, one future. It's looking at a broad scope. And when that happens, it needs to be applauded.

Outstanding job. Really appreciate it. And now when I'm buying a ticket, I'll feel even better, right?

Exactly. No, that's perfect. Thank you for that.

Yeah, thank you, Supervisor Lavinino. I would just say that, you know, these assets are county wide assets. And I think it's, you know, some of these historic inequities that have taken place in our county, you know, it's great that we're starting to try to make up for that and that, you know, this is a good first step in those directions. So we appreciate that. I know, Surazza Kappa, I just saw your light there. Wanted to add just one other comment was don't forget the junior high bands. That's a big thing in the North County as well, and that's the feeder program to our high school program. So if we don't catch them in junior high, sometimes they won't participate in high school. So I don't know if there's a way for you guys to work them into that process, but I know that that's a very active program in the Northern Santa Barbara Counties, our junior high band programs. And so especially junior hires, they're always looking for a way to belong.

And, you know, I think that's one of those populations that's often underserved, is their junior hires. So just keep that in mind as you guys future development of the programs. Supervisor Caps?

No. Appreciate, Supervisor Lee, that you asked for this to be on here because the the bowl is really a magical place. And, also, music in our schools is, and it's not, you know, something we can't take we shouldn't take for granted because it's schools are so strapped. And as a mom of a a band kid, I mean, it's it's for them to even go to the bowl and see sort of the potential and what they potentially could experience even just as as patrons, it's it's such a wonderful connection. And the fact that you're really making an emphasis on North County is you're hearing from us is just a wonderful thing. So thank you.

Alright. Thank you, Supervisor Caps. Alright. I think we just want to

say thank you for the partnership with the county that allows us to continue these programs and exploring growth into North County,

too. Thank you. Supervisor Hartman.

And you being up here in person in Santa Maria says a lot.

Thank you again.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Waller. So we actually need to go ahead and get a motion to adopt this item. So it's item eight forty. Can I Mr? Resley, do want to make a motion here?

I do. I move staff eight forty.

Okay.

And I'll second.

Second by Mr. Resell Lavignino. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passed unanimously. Thank you.

You. All

right. We got one more. I know there's some of you guys public commenters that want to get to public comment, and we'll get there here in a moment. But Madam Clerk, we read the last administrative item that's been pulled, item 46, and it's been pulled by supervisor Capps.

Chair Nelson and members of the board, administrative item number 46 is from the sheriff coroner's office. It is a to set a hearing to consider recommendations regarding the annual transparent review of unjust transfers and holds truth act report and community forum. And this is a set hearing for 06/23/2026.

Supervisor Caps?

Yeah. Thank you. First of all, I just want to acknowledge that we're that you all are bringing this forward earlier than has happened in the past. Usually it's been towards the end of

the year, kind of, and

that was somewhat deemed a little late for the immigrant community and the advocates, so appreciate that it's coming in June. So that's a good thing. I just wanted to request, and it's just a request that we augment what's been required to be reported with some additional information. The Santa Barbara News Press had a report that in addition to the official transfers of between the jail and ICE, there are eight times more arrests that happen on jail premises. And so if possible, if you could speak to those when you do your report, that would be very much appreciated by myself.

Again, that's a request. Also too, we've gotten some questions about so I'm not asking for that now because we're just agendized for the SET hearing. Also, request I have is to speak to sort of some information that's been put forward by constituents about the SCRAM technology and what happens with inmates when they're released, and some potential protocol issues there. Third, a request has been made to the chair through me, I don't know if they requested it to you directly, to have a set time so that advocates who work can participate more easily. I think that's a reasonable request.

And also, two, when I was board chair, I officially invited ICE to participate or just be a part of, at some point, be present in our community, not the way they are in raids, absolutely, but actually speak as an official. That request was official, was completely ignored. And so I'm just, again, extending through the potential of the TRUTH Act if ICE representative could be a part, and so we could actually have more comprehensive information. Because, again, you all have what's required by California state law, but in my estimation, as was definitely highlighted by that report, we're only getting a very narrow slice of the information, and I believe the public deserves the full information of what actually is happening at the jail in terms of the arrests. So that's my my request when we do bring this back at the hearing.

Good morning, Supervisor Caps, Chair Nelson, members of the board. Thank you for having us. We do want to be clear that on the twenty third, the sheriff will be present.

Great.

And he is not only going to provide the board and the community what he's legally required to provide, but also is going to offer a little additional information on how us as an organization are working to conform to Senate Bill 54. So we will have that additional information for you, and we look forward to seeing this team on the twenty third. All right. Thank you, Under Sheriff. And as Chair, Survivor Cavs brought this up to me this morning.

I'm open to trying to find a way to accommodate as many people as possible in this public and transparent process that is both required by law, but also I think something we all want to do as part of our values on this Board. So I'll be amenable to finding an appropriate time to set a hearing for. Okay. All right. So let's go ahead and take a motion to set the hearing for the what's that date there? For June 23. Can I get that motion?

So moved. And I just wanted to clarify, not as part of the motion, but I'm going put those requests in writing so that my words are clear.

All right.

But I will move to set the hearing for June 23.

All right. We've a motion for Supervisor Caps.

Second.

A second by Supervisor Hartman. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. All right. So that's the conclusion of our administrative agenda. We're going to, at this time, move on to general public comment. General public comment is for items that are not on today's agenda. I know that we have many of our employees that are here today that want to speak to some of the issues that we're dealing with our budget, so we want to hear from you. And so Madam Clerk, how many general public commenters do we have at this time?

Chair Nelson and members of the Board, we currently have 24 requests to speak from the public on general public comment today.

All right. And I think we've been there was a request made that we try to keep it to two minutes if possible. But we will try to show some grace there too. I know many of you are passionate about this topic and want to make sure that we hear from you. And so I think we'll go ahead and start with public comment. Madam Clerk, I think we heard that we wanted to maybe start in Santa Barbara today? Okay. Go ahead We'll go ahead and close general public comment this time.

Chair Nelson and members of the Board, we will begin in Santa Barbara with Audrey Nguyen to be followed by Letitia Clay. Audrey? And we can't hear or see Santa Barbara. If we could have Santa Barbara up.

Here we go.

Alrighty. Now we can see you. Please proceed, Audrey. Thank you.

Good morning, chair and members of the board. My name is doctor Audrey Nguyen. I'm the pharmacist in charge at the County Pharmacy in Santa Barbara for twenty one years. Our pharmacy provide low cost and often free medication to qualified patients. That is more than dispensing pills.

We provide in-depth pharmaceutical cares, education and support to people who often have nowhere else to go. Many of our patients face language barriers, transportation challenges and severe financial limitation. We are their safety net. The proposed closure of the pharmacy would have a negative impact on these community members. Without our services, many patients will not take their medication correctly or regularly.

For someone with diabetes, hypertension, or other cardiovascular health conditions, missing medication is not an inconvenience. It can lead to hospitalizations, long term complications, or even life threatening outcomes. These are preventable consequences. I also want to share a personal impact and would like the board to understand why I chose this line of work. I was raised in Santa Barbara, attended local school, and my family once relied on Calvary Health Services outside.

I know firsthand the struggles our neighbors face. This work is not just a job for me. It is a commitment to the people who depend on us. This is why I return to the to give back to the community that shaped me. I ask you to consider the real human cause of this layoff on patients, on families and on the very fabric of our community. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. I just want to make an announcement to those that are here in the room or in the public. I know there's going be a lot of things that you guys agree with and maybe even things that the Board agree with. We prefer that you guys do the kind of the jazz hands for applause. That way we see what your that your affirmative affirmative approval, but at the same time, we kinda keep things in order and keep things moving along instead of having a a a period of time of clapping and also just helps balance out the public comments. So, Madam Clerk, can go to item number two.

We will remain in Santa Barbara with Leticia Clay to be followed by Rachel Trujillo. Leticia?

Good morning chair and members of the board. My name is Leticia Clay. I'm a pharmacy technician at the Santa Barbara Public Health Pharmacy. I have proudly served this community for twenty two years. I'm here today because the proposal of layoffs will have a devastating consequence, not just for employees but for patients who rely on us.

Our pharmacy is often the last resort for uninsured low income residents who cannot afford life saving medications anywhere else. If we close or reduce services, these patients will suffer first and suffer most. On a personal level, I currently commute from Ventura. If our pharmacy closed and I am forced to relocate to another site, my commute time will increase to four hours a day. Adding significant fuel costs, taking precious time away from my family, I am helping my daughter, support my daughter and my grandchild while she attends college full time.

These changes would place an enormous strain on us. The truth is simple. Patients, employees, and our families will suffer tremendously if these layoffs move forward. I urge you to consider the real human impact behind these decisions and protect essential services our community depends on. Thank you for your time.

And we will remain in Santa Barbara with Rachel Trujillo, to be followed by Andrew Hawkins. Rachel?

Chair and members of the board, my name is Rachel Trujillo, and I have proudly served the County of Santa Barbara Pharmacy for twenty four years. In this time, I have seen firsthand how essential our public health pharmacies are to the people in our community. Our work is simple to describe, but profound impact. We save lives. Because we are at 340B pharmacies, our patients can afford to buy their medications.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to go to outside retail pharmacies to buy them. Sorry. I'm going to stop reading. I became a pharmacy technician because I wanted to serve the people. Help people that needed help.

Sorry. I'm just gonna stop your time. Would you mind looking into the microphone? We just you we you went out just a little bit. Thank you. I'm

so sorry.

All good. You're doing fine.

You are. You're doing great. Please proceed. You

know, when you see a patient come to the pharmacy and they say, I can't afford this medicine. I went to somewhere else. And you tell them, you know what? I can give it to you for free. The look on their face is just beautiful. You know you've done something. You've helped someone, and that's what we're here to do. We're here to do that. We are just I'm passionate. I'm I forgive me.

I am. I know I have twenty nine seconds, but closing the pharmacies will be devastating, not just to the people that work there, but the community the community you serve, the ones that voted for you. Our mission statement we are not following our mission statement whatsoever. If we close the pharmacy, we're not promoting wellness and care. We're making it worse because these people will not take their medications.

They will end up in the hospital. Wait times will be days to get into the emergency room because patients will go there. They're not going to take their medications. Please consider keeping the pharmacies open for these people. Yes. It will be devastating for me personally also, but I'm in a better situation than these people are. Thank you.

Thank you.

We will now go to Andrew Hawkins. Then we will return to Santa Maria with Leo DeCassis. Andrew.

Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. My name is Andrew Hawkins. I am an administrative office professional for the behavioural wellness department working in outpatient services. I'm here today because the cuts being proposed for county health and social services are the start of a death spiral for public services in this county.

As I stated the last time I was standing here, behavioral wellness clients heavily rely on county health for primary care and social services for benefits. And any disruption to those departments is going to adversely affect them. This will lead to more crisis calls, more hospitalizations, and more strain on direct services staff who are already shorthanded and lacking in resources. And it will all lead to a further miseration of the county's most vulnerable residents. I implore you to use the county's strategic reserves to avoid any layoffs at county health or social services, and to pursue any possible funding to maintain ample public services no matter how politically unpalatable.

Be those parcel taxes, user fees, sales taxes, going to the state or federal governments, whatever. We cannot cut our way to prosperity, and county employees and residents are alike are depending on you to make the right decisions with the next fiscal year's budget. Thank you.

Thank you.

We will now return to Santa Maria with Leo DeCassas to be followed by Iola Monino. Leo?

Good morning. Good morning, chair Nelson and members of the board of supervisors. My name is Leo DeCasaus, and I'm here today representing SEIU Local six twenty and our rank and file membership here at the county of Santa Barbara. Over the course of this year's budget workshops, the county has made meaningful progress in limiting the reductions in force and reducing service cuts within the departments of social services and the department of, public health. The county has also made significant general fund investments in the past.

And for these efforts, we're genuinely grateful. However, we view these actions as an important first step, not a final outcome. Today, we are here to publicly reject the budget proposal that still allows for dozens of layoffs across multiple departments and eliminates a wide range of classifications and roles. Beginning tomorrow, county employees will start receiving layoff notices. A notice telling them that they will no longer be able to come back to work after June 30.

A notice that represents a service no longer provided to this community, a service loss that will be felt directly by your constituents. Our members are here today to speak for themselves, to they bring firsthand experience, professional expertise, and deep knowledge of the work that they do day in and day out. They are here to explain what these layoffs truly mean and why additional general fund investment is necessary to protect these critical public services. We respectfully ask the board to listen closely to the employees and to the community that depends on their work. We urge the board to direct staff to amend the current proposed budget to reflect zero layoffs.

Thank you.

Thank you, Leo.

We will now go to Paola Monino to be followed by Kelly Beacham. Paola?

Good morning, chairman and members of the board. My name is Paola Moreno. I have served the Santa Barbara County for seventeen years as a primary pharmacy technician in Lompoc. Every day, my coworkers and I help someone with the most vulnerable people in our community. We have provided these kind of medications, and we guide our patients through assistance programs that often allow them to receive their prescriptions completely for free.

Many of our patients rely on us because they simply cannot afford their medications anywhere else, especially like life saving medications, including insulin, which can cost hundreds of dollars at retail pharmacies. If our pharmacy is closed, these patients will not have nowhere else to churn, no other pharmacy will offer the support that we offer them, the pricing or advocacy that we provide. For many of our self pay patients, we are their last resort. Without us, they will delay care, skip medications, and end up in hospital, costing the county far more money than saved through layoffs. This decision doesn't affect just our patients.

It affects families like mine. I help support my husband, including with our mortgage and basic life expenses. If I lose my job, my husband will cannot carry those costs alone. Financial impact on us and many of our other long time employees would be devastating. I'm here today because the impact of our patients is even greater. We know their stories. We know their struggles. We know how hard they fight to stay healthy, and we know that without our pharmacies, many of them simply won't get medications they need to survive. I urge you to consider the real human cost in these closures. We're not just numbers on a budget line. We are a lifeline for our people, for this county. Thank you.

Thank you, miss Moreno.

We will now go to Kelly Beacham to be followed by Sebastian Arredondo. Kelly?

Good morning. My name is Kelly Beacham, and I'm a lab assistant at the Lumpur Health Care Center. I have served Santa Barbara County for twenty four years. I'm here today because my position is being eliminated. And with it, easily accessible phlebotomy services we provide to our patients. These are not optional services. Lab testing is how providers diagnose illness, monitor treatment and make timely medical decisions. Without easy access, care doesn't stop. It becomes harder to reach. There is an assumption that patients can just go across the street to access services.

I work with these patients. I look them in the eye. That assumption does not reflect their reality. It reflects a decision made far removed from what our patients face every day. I see firsthand patients who struggle to make it to a single appointment. Many don't have reliable transportation. Eliminating lab draws at the clinics means forcing them to travel farther to get basic testing. For some, that's the difference between getting care and going without. Eliminating my position doesn't eliminate the need. It shifts the burden onto the patients.

It will delay care in ways that will have real consequences. When patients can't get what they need at the county health clinics, they don't just struggle. They leave. They will find a new provider somewhere else. You won't just be cutting a service. You'll be cutting your patient base. I respectfully ask the board of supervisors to vote no on eliminating the lab assistant positions. Preserve these services for people who depend on them. Thank you.

Thank you.

We will now go to Sebastian Ardando to be followed by Francisco Hernandez. Sebastian.

Good morning, mister chair and the board. You may have heard these numbers before, but I'll tell you them again in case you haven't. 16 administration administrative office professionals, one epidemiologist, two financial office professionals, one health care program coordinator, three health education assistants, one health service aide, four laboratory assistants, two medical assistants, two pharmacists in charge, five pharmacy technicians, nine staff nurses, and one supervising staff nurse. These are not just numbers. They're not just positions.

They're people that have served this county just like my own mother. She's been with the county for twelve years. For nine of those years, she's left here in Santa Maria to travel to Santa Barbara. She hasn't gotten home till six, even seven in the afternoon. I spent a lot of that time missing her, wondering why she didn't why she wasn't here.

And it's because that she believed that her hard work would pay off, and she's not the only one. Every single employee here has had their dedication tested time and time again. And after all of that determination, their means of support could potentially be revoked. While on the other hand, none of the executive team has had any cuts. No pay cuts. No position cuts. Only the lower level employees. People are going to struggle. There's going to be sleepless nights. There's going to be anxiety about how food is gonna be put on the table.

There's going to be fear within our community. This impact is gonna be felt by the patients too. Administrative office professionals are the largest group facing cuts, but they are also the first point of contact with the patient and are responsible for not only supporting medical providers, but also with connecting patients with whatever program they may need, whether it's HIV, family planning, STI treatment assistance, TB treatments, and covered California enrollment. The strain that this will put on the remaining employees will not go unnoticed. Furthermore, removing the on-site lab and pharmacy is going to be devastating as you've heard by the previous speakers.

Francisco, that that is your time. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you. All of our eyes are gonna be on all of you no matter what decision you make. All of our eyes. We're all watching.

Doctor. Thank you.

We will now go to Francisco Hernandez to be followed by Lourdes Navarro. Francisco?

Doctor. Sebastian. Thank you, Sebastian. Sorry about that.

Francisco Good morning, Chair and Board of Supervisors. I'm sure you remember me from last week. But I'm Francisco Hernandez. I work at IT at the Department of Social Services. I want to speak not only about the immediate impact of these proposed cuts, but about the long term consequences that they have on the county.

I've been thinking a lot about after last week what the term long term when the term long term was brought up. The people being affected are not temporary workers, just passing through. Many of us relocated here, bought homes, started families here, and committed ourselves to public service because we believe that the county valued stability, experience, and investment in its own workforce. When skilled employees leave, the damage does not end in one budget cycle. Years of institutional knowledge disappear.

Critical systems become harder to maintain. Projects that improve efficiency and reduce costs slow down and stop entirely. The county then spends even more time and money trying to rebuild what was lost. I do not know what the solution is to this deficit. That's not my job. But I'm sure there is a solution that would result in us keeping our jobs and the county coming out of this successfully. I ask that you consider not only the short term numbers, but the long term cost of losing dedicated public servants who have built their lives around serving this community and county. Thank you. MR.

Thank you, Mr. Hernandez. MS.

We will now go to Lourdes Navarro, followed by Jonathan Castillo. Lourdes?

Good morning, members of the board. My name is Lourdes Navarro. I'm an administrative office professional with the Department of Social Services at the WRC campus and a local six twenty member for the past twenty seven years. I'm here to talk about the budget proposal that doesn't just trim our services, it effectively dismantles them. Before we even discuss these new layoffs, we need to address the reality on the ground.

We're already at a breaking point. For months, we've been doing the work of two, three, and three people just to keep our heads above water. We're already running on fumes. To suggest laying off, just in the Department of Social Services alone, 11 administrative office professionals, 12 case aids, and five other various positions on top of existing vacancies isn't just a budget cut. It's a recipe for systemic collapse.

These 28 positions are the backbone of our mandated services. Case aids ensure that we meet state required timelines for vulnerable families. Administrative office professionals ensure that the public can actually access the help that they pay for with their tax dollars. When you leave vacancies open, you create a backlog. When you add layoffs to those vacancies, you create a failure to provide services.

You're opening the county up for massive liability, and more importantly, you're failing the residents who have nowhere else to turn. You can't carve out a department that's already starved for staff. If these cuts go through, the board must be prepared to tell the public which mandated services will no longer be provided and which residents will no longer be served. We urge you to reject these layoffs and instead focus on filling the vacancies we already have. Protect the front line so we can protect the community. Thank you for your time.

We will now go to Jonathan Castillo to be followed by Leticia Salas. Jonathan?

Can you hear me?

Good morning, Chair

and members of the board. My name is Jonathan Castillo and I proudly work for Santa Barbara County now for the past three years as an administrative office professional. Many people do not see the work happening behind the scenes, but AOPs, clinical staff, nurses, lab techs, medical assistants, and countless other county health employees help keep the system operating every single day. We help patients access care, coordinate communication between departments and providers. We respond to the urgent patient needs, and we help ensure patients can successfully navigate a health care system that is already stretched thin.

We are often the bridge between patients, providers, and services. Our work directly impacts whether people receive timely care and support. My wife also works for Santa Barbara County in social services alongside employees who help families access critical support, stability, and resources during difficult times. Together, we are part of the workforce serving this community every day, and this is where we call home. Last year, when thousands of patients were potentially going to lose access to county health services due to changes affecting medical eligibility, the county discussed building systems and support structures to make sure that patients would not be abandoned.

There was planning, there was communication, and there was a clear understanding that these people mattered. And that's why this process feels so difficult right now for many of us. For months, employees heard rumors about layoffs without clear communication, and our workers are being told that they may receive notices as little as tomorrow with very little time to prepare. This is very well a driving, fear and anxiety to the employees and families. And the impact will not just stop there with just the employees.

The layoffs are gonna continue with the with an exorbitant amount of delaying care, increase burnout, overwhelm the remaining staff, and negatively affect the very people that county health and social services are supposed to support. I understand the county faces difficult financial decisions, but I respectfully ask this board that you would exhaust every possible alternative before moving forward with layoffs. Please invest in the people who continue investing in your community every day. Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll now go to Leticia Salas to be followed by Linda Ellman. Leticia?

Good morning. My name is Leticia Alvarez Salas, and I'm here representing the many dedicated social services employees who have served the community for more than fifteen years. We are the social workers on the front lines helping families in crisis every single day. Right now, we're already struggling with unfilled positions. We are short staffed, stretched thin, and doing everything we can help we can do everything we can help with families that need to be fed, housed, and safe.

If more layoffs happen, we simply will not have the manpower to process the benefits on time. That means real people in our community, children, seniors, working parents will go without food, without shelter, without the support that they need to they need to survive. The workload the workload we carry is already overwhelming. When when we're there's not enough of us, stress rises, sick days increase, and the burden falls in fewer and fewer employees. And we cannot ignore the more staff applying to retire this year, meaning there's gonna be more unfilled positions.

We are the essential ones. We are the ones who showed up with families in need, yet we're always the first one to get hit. I'm asking you to understand the real impact this late loss will have in both workers and communities we serve. Please protect the people to protect the community. Thank you.

Thank you.

We will now go to Linda Allman to be followed by Meg Baird. Linda?

Good morning, chairman and board of supervisors. My name is Linda. I work for the public health lab as a lab assistant for over five years and over thirteen years overall in the county. My work is essential in the lab to help and assist the microbiologist to speed up their jobs and protect the well-being of our community. Public health lab has been working with the skeleton crew for the past years.

I have assisted not only as a lab assistant, but also as a receptionist, you know, department business associate, and I've learned microbiology skills. I have never questioned why, why we were understaffed. I have always supported, and I had never complained. My devotion for serving the vulnerable community has been a way for me to give back to the community. Your decisions as board of supervisors make a great impact on those who you have the obligation to serve.

That is your mission. It has been our mission. If you decide to eliminate services in our community, it will suffer. Our community members have already many barriers, such as transportation, mobility barriers, financial hardship, mental disabilities. They're limited on money, etcetera.

You will also be making their lives more difficult to achieve a better quality of health care life. You will also take away our salaries that we use to support our families. Please find ways to minimize the negative impact on our community and preserve our jobs. Together, we can make we can keep making a difference. Thank you.

Thank you.

We will now go to Meg Baird to be followed by Pierre Calvo. Meg?

Good morning, chair Nelson and members of the board. My name is Meg Beard. I'm a dietitian, a lactation consultant. I work for WIC. I'm the breastfeeding coordinator. I'm a supervisor and a union steward. I listened to almost all three days of your budget hearing. I saw each department try to do their part and the board of serve supervisors working together. Thank you for keeping us funded. I appreciate county health administration. I see how difficult their decisions have been. I understand the board of supervisor will have supervisors will have to bail out the sheriffs again to the tune of 10 to 13,000,000 for overtime cost. There goes your set asides for next year. If county health director did this, he would be fired. Vital money is needed for social services and county health, and it's gonna go to sheriff's department again.

When will this stop? I know the sheriff's department is is important, so is county health. We are the safety net department. Right? I understand it's a legal requirement to have a balanced budget. We must live within our means. I guess that does not apply to every department. Is the sheriff's department exempt? We are mandated by law to be the safety net for the uninsured. It's part of being the county. So show county health the money. The most vulnerable should be the most protected as Steve Lavinino said in March. Can we look at the classifications of AOPs regarding bumping? Why are they in the health education series? Should not be in there.

I have a breastfeeding WIC paracounselor that may be bumped. State requires this position to be someone that is successfully breastfed, So if a guy is bumped into that position, that's not following our state rules or someone that didn't breastfeed. Civil service rules, page 60. This position should be listed for specific skills to be exempt from layoffs. County Health is the best patient pace best, excuse me, place for our patients to receive health care. A few years ago, I was told we do not wanna see your people. They speak Spanish and don't show up for appointments. In regards to County Health OB, cutting Doctor. Bynes was a mistake. Last year, we gave away all our OB patients in Santa Maria, and I feel they're not getting the same care.

One agency up here does not have a dietitian. County Health could be a moneymaker. In 2007, we started billing for lactation services for anybody with Medi Cal. It's a program of pride in the public health department. In July, we we understand that our emergency medical UIS will continue to get the high FQHC rate. Besides the doctor in CPSP and OB, other groups receive this high rate. That's the dietitian, the lactation consultant, the health educator, the be well specialist, the ultrasound tech that provides education, and some medical assistant work. We all get that high rate. We speak Spanish and have Mesteko staff. During the last bargaining session, we got trilingual start pay started.

In Wickham County Health, we have patients that sign their name with an x. They cannot read or write. Imagine how difficult and creative we have to be to educate. Lastly, please don't cut one single one of our county health care centers. We are here for a reason. We provide critical services. I thought we were the safety net. Please increase funding for county health, the safety net department. County health needs safety net dollars. Thank you.

Thanks, Meg.

We will now go to Pierre Calvo to be followed by Laura Robinson. Pierre?

Good morning, supervisors. My name is Pierre Calvo. I am the DSS IT supervisor. I was here last October to speak on behalf of some of my colleagues and I and all my colleagues. I'm here again to speak on their behalf.

I know we are considering layoffs, but I've been thinking long and hard about how to avoid this. And I have two proposals. One is furloughs, to seriously consider furloughs. And I know that may not be enough, but the second one is to consider temporary reassignment. Back in the February, a lot of counties did use temporary work assignments, basically assigning employees from one department to another department to to address shortcomings.

Right now, we are looking at lots of administrative staff in county and social services department. We're talking fiscal, HR, and IT that can be utilized in other departments such as ITD, HR, the CEO's office, and possibly the sheriff's. And we do know that they're based on previous budget workshops from the from April, that other departments do have their challenges, that they have their department their their staffing shortages, and they do need help if we go by what they were saying on their budget workshops. I know that the ERP project is behind schedule, has been behind schedule, yet we've got staff waiting that are going be laid off that can definitely help with this, that have the expertise. ITD is expanding its AI and GIS initiatives, and also does over time to do updates.

I'm sure that they could use some of our technical staff to help with those efforts. There are other departments in need of people. And instead of laying peep people off, let's do what other counties bet did back in two thousand nine, reassign these employees temporarily, bill the other departments because they don't want to just give up their money from the general fund for nothing. Maybe we can offer them services. So with that, let's keep this and show that we are one county. Instead of silos in different departments, we are one county with one future together. You.

Thank you, Pierre.

We will now go to Laura Robinson, followed by Ginny Sparks. Laura?

Good morning, chair Nelson, members of the board. My name is Laura Robinson, executive director of SEIU Local six twenty, and I'm here today with the workers who deliver the services this county depends on. The budget decisions you have to make next month are not abstract. They are not numbers on a spreadsheet. They are choices that will determine whether families get help, whether seniors are protected, whether people in crisis get care, and whether this community has a functioning safety net at all.

When you cut positions in social services, you're cutting the person who helps a mother keep food on the table. When you cut when you cut positions at public health, you are cutting the nurses who keep outbreaks from spreading. When you cut the jail support, you are cutting the staff who keep both inmates and public and the public safe. And when you lay workers who provide these services, you are not just eliminating a job, you are eliminating the services itself. The people standing behind me today are facing the possibility of losing their livelihoods.

They are wondering how they will pay rent, how will they support their family, how they will explain to the children to their children that they dedicated their lives the work they dedicated their lives to was suddenly deemed expendable. These are workers who showed up through fires, floods, pandemics, and every crisis this county has faced. They have earned stability. They have earned respect, and they have earned better than this. Service reductions do not fall evenly.

They fall hardest on the most vulnerable, the elderly, the poor, the disabled, the sick, the isolated, And they fall on the workers who are already stretched to their limits trying to hold the safety net together. These layoffs are not inevitable inevitable. They are a choice. And choosing layoffs means choosing to reduce services at the exact moment the community needs them the most. You have options. You can protect these workers. You can protect these services, and you can choose stability and continuity of care. And to my members, you are not alone, and you are not powerless. Your work matters, your voice matters, and your solidarity matters. We stand here together because we believe in each other and the community we serve. Supervisors, we urge you to choose to protect the people and protect this county. Thank you.

Thank you, miss Robinson.

We will now go to Jeannie Sparks to be followed by Ken Westall. Jeannie?

Good morning, supervisors. I'm Jeannie Sparks, co executive director of Santa Barbara County Action Network. The county delivers the county of Santa Barbara, as it states on your board right behind you, delivers exceptional services so all can enjoy a safe, healthy, and prosperous life. You recently approved millions of dollars to expand the jail, part of which wouldn't be needed if health and human services were adequately funded so county employees could support families and help them from being so stressed. If you can find the money to expand the jail, you can find it to provide the services that will reduce the need for jail beds in the future and fulfill the mission of providing a safe, healthy, and prosperous life.

Don't lay off essential workers who provide a safety net in our county to the most vulnerable. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Parks.

We will now go to Ken Westall to be followed by Eric Ramirez Zabata. Ken?

Very quickly, I won't take much time. The people that come into public health have nowhere else to go. So please fund public health for their sake. The Salcedo family used to always tell me, they said this is the most important department in the county for that reason. Because in Guadalupe, those people just they just have nowhere else to go.

I don't know how you do this, but the state of California really needs to help you guys out on this one. They have wasted a lot of money on a lot of projects and a letter needs to go to Sacramento. As I sit here today and see this, it's just it's terrible. And it's not your fault, but it's the state of California's fault. They need to step up to the plate. And all I'm going to say is please help the people out who can't speak for themselves. Thanks.

Thank you, Kim.

We will now go to Eric Ramirez Zabata to be followed by Erica Diaz Cervantes. Eric?

Hello, everyone. My name is Eric Ramirez Sepela. I'm a policy advocate here with CAWS and Arriza Campesina, where I work directly with our immigrant farmworker community. I stand here today standing in solidarity with our partners, allies, and workers in Santa Barbara County at large, and more specifically as well with our immigrant communities and our farmworker communities, and above all your constituents are in front of you right now. Farmworkers and immigrant people are valued members of our communities and fundamental to the stability and prosperity of Santa Barbara County.

Farm workers perform the arduous labor while decision makers love to boast about their mere contributions, the words of value are not reflected in the limited policies implemented so that families can truly live dignified lives in the very places that they work in. If anything, they are the ones who have been constantly targeted to on every scale. From federal and local levels, all the way to housing and health care, our most vulnerable communities community members are constantly treated as expendable. The county has opportunity today to not exacerbate the already existing conditions our immigrant farm working families face. Farm workers already struggle to access health care and life saving services, and by slashing staff and facilities, making Lompoc the only public pharmaceutical provider would only worsen the situation and contribute to the increasing negative health outcomes for our communities.

According to the most recent statewide report on farm worker health by Health and Beyond the Cycle of Survival, in the Central Coast, forty percent of farm workers report their health as not good compared to just seventeen percent of the entire population in Santa Barbara County, your constituents. In the Central Coast, thirty four percent of farm workers report visiting a doctor in the last year compared to seventy one percent of the rest of Santa Barbara County, your constituents. Slashing health care personnel, facilities, divesting from county funds divesting county funds from life saving care will only worsen the existing conditions farm workers endure when access accessing care in their communities. I urge I urge you all to vote with the lives of your most vulnerable constituents in mind, and remember that your duty is to serve the people and not bureaucracy. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

We will now go to Erica Diaz Cervantes to be followed by Lindsey Rodriguez. Erica?

Hi. Good morning, County Board of Supervisors. My name is Erica Diaz Cervantes. I am the associate policy director at CAWS, a member of Alenza Campesina, a farmworker coalition of Santa Barbara County farmworkers, and I'm also a member and community member of Lompoc. I'm here today in solidarity of all workers in the county and of all immigrant families and people.

We have all witnessed harmful policies that have been inflicted on our communities impacting immigrant families and workers with low wages. We need local representatives to protect and uplift the most vulnerable people at this time, not exacerbate the conditions imposed. I'd like to touch on the topic of public health and lack of accessibility in our county for many families, especially farm worker families. Lompoc is a small community with a significant population of immigrant families and farmworker families. I've seen long lines at pharmacies and referrals to laboratories.

It will be extremely difficult for Lompoc to uphold an entire region of folks seeking care for their health, especially when there are so many people in need of care. In addition to that, immigrant families already struggle to access the most basic health care. In the most recent statewide report on farm worker health beyond the cycle of survival, the report discloses farm workers are disproportionately impacted in Santa Barbara County with forty percent of farm workers having reported poor health compared to the seventeen percent of the county's entire population. I hope the board considers initiatives to improve our community's well-being, not take action that worsen it. Thank you.

Thank you.

We will now go to Lindsay Rodriguez, then we will go to Zoom with Trang Wong. Lindsay?

Good morning, chair and supervisors. My name is Lindsay Rodriguez, and I'm the health policy advocate with MICOP. I live in Lompoc, and I work in here in Santa Maria. I'm speaking to today on behalf of our policy director. We are here in solidarity with SAIU local s 20 to respectfully oppose the remaining proposed cuts to county staff and the associated service reductions that would directly impact our community, particularly our most vulnerable immigrant residents.

Last fall, we learned through the Santa Barbara Independent that the county was considering compliance with federal directives from the Trump administration that have transitioned individuals with unsatisfactory immigration status out of county clinics. In response, our organization joined community partners and legal advocates, including National Health Law Program and the California Immigrant Policy Center to provide information and analysis demonstrating the significant harm and actions that could cause that could be caused to residents and families. We urge you to continue on a path that prioritizes health equity and justice by avoiding additional decisions that could further burden patients and families. Specifically, we are concerned about the proposal to eliminate the pharmacies and laboratories in Santa Barbara and San Maria, leaving only Lompoc to serve the entire region. According to the 2020 census, our county is home to 41,787 uninsured residents.

That number represents tens of thousands of individuals and families who already face significant barriers in access in accessing care. At the same time, changes to Medi Cal eligibility verification under HR one will substantially increase the workload for county agencies and community based organizations like ours that assist residents with enrollment and retention. As these changes take effect, maintaining accessible local services will be more important than ever to ensure that no one loses health care coverage. We respectfully ask the board to prevent layoffs, avoid service reductions, and prioritize investments that address immediate community needs. We also urge you to continue investing in housing and health care, rather than expanding incarceration infrastructure. Thank you.

Thank you.

We will now go to Zoom with Trano to be followed by Connie Alexander. Tran?

Hello?

Okay.

Hello. We can hear you. Okay.

Good

morning, chair Nelson and supervisors. My name is doctor Chang Ngo. I am the pharmacy director for our county pharmacies. I'm here to speak for our seven staff and two pharmacies, Santa Maria and Santa Barbara pharmacy that are are proposed to use on April 13 meeting. And I wanted to raise three critical concerns regarding the proposed closure.

First, I am concerned about the accuracy of the business planning behind this proposal. We are talking about cutting a program that is actively generating revenue. Beyond that, the reduction process does not appear to be applied fairly or consistently across departments. So our department is getting cut two third of us. We only have three pharmacy totals and two of our pharmacy is proposed to close.

When a program is performing well, eliminating it eliminating it without a balanced review raises serious question about the planning assumptions being used. Second, the stated $8,500,000 saving from closing two pharmacies are not true savings. The only actual reduction is staff, which is nine position. We have two unfilled that we're not planning to fill, and we have seven staff that fill Santa Maria and Santa Barbara pharmacy. So the seventh staff cut will save about $1,400,000.

Meanwhile, the pharmacy alone, revenue alone exceeds $8,500,000 annually. So the money with the pharmacy, we have to spend money to generate revenues. That's why our expenditure is high, but we also build the insurance and get the money revenues back. So the money the pharmacy does generate revenues for the county. In other words, the proposal removes more revenue than it saves.

That is not a sustainable or fiscally responsible approach. And my third point is I'm asking for a full review of the $24,300,000 proposal cut. When we conduct our own analysis of the pharmacy department, we found multiple inaccuracy of the data and had to make correction ourselves. If the foundation of the proposal contain errors, then the conclusion and the decision based on them cannot be relied upon. And I also agree with the previous speaker where he was talking about how we are one county.

So all of our department should work together. So we have county pharmacy that we are shutting down, but yet we're contracting out the jail medicine to a private company to provide medication for the jail while we have county pharmacy that can provide that service. And then also in closing, these issues are not small details. We directly affect the accuracy, fairness, and the financial integrity of the proposal. I respectfully request that these concerns be addressed before any final decisions are made. And that's all I have. Thank you for your time.

We will now go to Connie Alexander to be followed by Larry Barrett, who is our final speaker in general public comment today. Connie?

Good morning. At this time, when black voting rights and economic opportunities and disparities on the federal level impact our communities in such a way and social programs, As the president of the Santa Barbara NAACP, I've come to say that we strongly support the the unions. We we support local six twenty who is sitting there in your face today fighting for their jobs. The blatant disproportionality in these cuts is disturbing. Your even your own economic dashboard shows who these workers are and that they have now become the working poor, not unemployed, but the working poor.

The NAACP is concerned that anticipated job cuts will also disproportionately affect non safety union workers. As a result, these deep impacts will again cut communities of color and particularly black workers. The NAACP is concerned with your recent votes that clearly do not align with supporting communities of color. Instead, you are on a treacherous path that has enabled mass incarceration and the destabilizing of programs that provide essential support. That $127,000,000 you spent on a jail could have been spent to save these jobs.

That $15,000,000 in sheriff's overtime could have been spent to save these jobs. These are working people who have devoted their time, energy, and lives to this county. Hearing this level of cuts, especially to public health, knowing how much communities of color, how many black community members depend on public health, depend on that public health clinics, depend on the pharmacies, and the real real impact that this is going to have. Finally, I'll say that everyday working communities of color need your real support. Thank you.

And we will now go to our final speaker and general public comment, Larry Barrett. Larry?

Can you hear me?

Yes. We can. Please proceed.

Okay. Chair Nelson, members of the board, I'm Larry Behrendt representing Indivisible Santa Barbara. We stand in solidarity with our friends at SEIU six twenty and with those who depend on essential county services. We are one county, one future, one diverse and interconnected community. We are horrified by the layoffs and budget cuts proposed for the upcoming fiscal year.

These cuts will not only affect county workers and the safety net programs on which so many depend, these cuts will shake our entire region to its foundations, making it more difficult for us to raise families, run businesses, age with dignity, and maintain a quality of life. These impacts will be long remembered, long lasting, in many cases irreversible unless you change course now. The cuts you're considering are not solely the result of decisions made in Washington DC and Sacramento. These are your decisions too and they're not inevitable. Earlier this year you rejected proposals to raise additional revenue.

Just weeks ago, you turned down reasonable proposals to save money by scaling down county jail expansion. It's not too late to delay this expansion, to slow it down, to balance the need for a new jail with a larger need to keep essential services in place. Perhaps the pain of our budget shortfall is inevitable, but it should not fall disproportionately on the backs of county workers and our most vulnerable. Thank you.

And that concludes public general public comment for today.

Alright. Thank you, madam clerk. And I just wanna thank our county employees and advocates. Please know that we hear you and that we are taking these issues very seriously as we move forward over the next weeks and months. Thank you.

All right. We'll go ahead and take a short break, and then we'll be coming back from Department Item Number one. All right. Welcome back, everybody, to the 05/12/2026 meeting of Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in Santa Maria. We have completed our general public comment as well as our administrative items, and we'll start off with Department Item Number one.

Madam Clerk, will you please read that into the record?

Chair Nelson and members of the Board, departmental item number one is from the information technology department. It is a hearing to consider recommendations regarding extra help services and retirement waiver for the information technology department.

All right. Take it away. Ms. Miller?

Good morning, chair Nelson and the board. I am Amy Miller. I'm the enterprise applications manager in the information technology department. And we request the board's consideration and approval of hiring retired EDP systems and programming analyst senior Chris Rosino as an extra help employee. Mister Rosino retired on March 28 after thirty five years of service with the county.

Mr. Rizino developed several systems that are integral to multiple critical internal billing processes. During this work, Mr. Rizino gained an immense amount of institutional knowledge, not only on the systems he developed, but also the business processes supported by these systems. We have been actively searching for a backfill for Mr. Rizino since he announced his retirement in March. We are planning on having that backfill in place just as soon as possible. So bringing Mr. Rizzino back will allow him to transfer his vast knowledge to this person as soon as possible.

All right. Thank you, Ms. Miller. Madam Clerk, are there any public comment on this item?

Chair Nelson and members of the Board, we have no requests to speak from the public on this item.

All right. And I don't see any lights from my colleagues. Is for my part. I appreciate the minimal length of this that says in board letter that says to be completed by December, and I think this is the purpose of these extra help assignments is to really bring somebody back to make that transfer. And so I appreciate your department's efforts towards this, and so I will be supporting it this one. So thank you guys for including most of the information that I need in your Board letter. And again, I'll be willing to support this. So if I can get a motion from one of my colleagues, Supervisor Lee.

I move staff recommendations A, B, and C. Second.

Okay. So we have a motion by Supervisor Lee and a second by Supervisor Hartman. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favour signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? The motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Ms. Miller.

Thank you.

Quickly through item number one, and we're going to go to item number two. And depending on how long item number two goes, we may or may not hit item number three before we take break for closed session. So we'll kind of play that by year. So we'll go ahead start with item number two.

Chair Nelson and members of the board, departmental item number two is from the Behavioural Wellness Department. It is a hearing to consider recommendations regarding a Santa Barbara County Psychiatric Health Facility PUF report for fiscal year twenty twenty four through 2025 and fiscal year twenty twenty five through 2026. And this is the first and second quarter.

All right. Director Navarro, please.

Hello. Chair Nelson, supervisors, county staff. Tony Navarro, director of behavioral wellness joined on the phone today by my chief financial administrative officer, Chris Ribeiro, and assistant director, Laura Zeitz. So for any questions later on they are here to help with the presentation.

All right.

Okay. So

I'm here to present to you today on the required annual report of our psychiatric health facility. Santa Barbara County has its own operated acute care hospital, also known as the PUF here in Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara has operated this facility for decades. And under the welfare and institution code, which establishes and maintains community behavioral health, county behavioral health plans are required to provide for the provision of acute care psychiatric services for folks who are in acute crisis and inpatient setting. It is not required that we have a hospital.

We are fortunate to have one. Actually less than half of the counties in California, just about 25, have their own psychiatric health facility located within their county. We actually have the unique title of what is called a super puff in California. There are two, Santa Barbara County and Humboldt. And what that requires is not only the Department of Health Care Services licensure as a psychiatric health facility, but more importantly, the federal licensure by the Center for Medicaid Services.

That requires us to have more robust staffing and and more enriched programming, and that allows us to bill both Medi Cal and Medicare. Again, our PUF, it's a 16 bed facility, and this is where we place persons who are put on seventy two hour holds or what is known as the Lanterman Petrus short fifty one fifty hold. So again, as a super PUF, we have a robust higher staff to client ratio as well as more robust programming for the persons who are in our 20 fourseven facility. So this slide just provides you an overview of what a day at the PUF looks like with the many types of activities and interventions that happen, not only for staff, but with the clients themselves. In our designation as a Super PUF, B.

Wells PUF maintains a very diverse range of staff providing these services, and that includes psychiatrists, medical doctor internists, a pharmacist, nurses, both registered nurses and psychiatric, licensed psychiatric technicians. We also have a clinical director, and she's a licensed clinical social worker, as well as two supervising nurses. There's a director of social services to oversee all the programming and client care. There's also a certified recreational therapist, as well as non licensed, what we call recovery assistants, who provide that peer support and care to clients daily. We have a pharmacist, as well as licensed marriage family therapists on the unit.

Here in per regulation is the PUF governing board structure. And as you can see, again, why we bring this to you on an annual basis, the board of supervisors is the main governing board body of the psychiatric health facility. That authority is then designated to what is the psychiatric health facility governing board, in which I'll show a slide that outlines those members in just a second. There's also a psychiatric health facility, the medical practice committee, that is overseen by Wells medical director Doctor. Ollie Berenson.

And the quality assessment improvements and performance plan, what we lovingly call the QAPI. The QAPI really provides for patient care safety, quality care programming, quality assurance, and establishes improvement projects as required each year to make sure that we're constantly thinking about best practice and effective care for our clients. And here's a list of our PUF governing board members. ACO Tonya Heitman has been the governing board chair for the last few years. Recently Doctor.

Hamami from County Health has become our vice chair. Supervisors Kaps and Lee, Supervisor Kaps is actually our appointed, board representative, with Supervisor Lee as our alternate. We have the sheriff's department represented by Chief Sullivan. Tracy McCuga, the public defender's office is there. Of course, Public Services, Office of the public guardian.

And we have the chief medical officer from county health also rounding out our board. So you can see that our board consists of members whose departments are intimately involved with the work that we do, and often have their own clients or persons that they serve in their county services within our system. So the PUF governing board, which is a Brown Act meeting, it meets the fourth Wednesday of every month at 3PM. We meet, in person at the, San Antonio site, formerly the child and family services unit at the top Of San Antonio Road. But you can also find our agenda and link to the meeting on the Be Well website.

At the PUF governing board, we spend a couple of hours once a month meeting and discussing generally the agenda items here. We report on a number of quality indicators and get feedback from our board. We talk about policies and procedures and update those regularly. There's also medical staff bylaws that need to be reviewed annually, and we're looking at those. Medical staff and credentialing happens as needed.

And we go over a lot of survey results with the board. The QAPI committee is probably the most robust part of the meeting, and it really is about what establishes us not only in preparation for audits and making sure that we can maintain our licensure by both the Center for Medicaid Services and DHCS. But more importantly, it's about quality improvement. And it really does give the governing board as well as the public a view into the practice of the psych hospital. As we know that historically psych hospitals have been one of those places that often in the media, when it's in the media, it's usually when things are going wrong.

And so I think it's really great every month that we, have the performance review, and we can see where we're doing well and better, and our commitment to improvement for the clients that we serve. So I think some of the key highlights that are important to understand is that as the inpatient hospital, there, you know, we hear a lot, of course, as a county our size, that 16 beds of an acute care hospital involuntarily for involuntary holds seems like not enough for our county. And certainly we do have a number of admissions every year. Over the past couple of years, as you've heard in our budget hearings earlier this year, the behavioral wellness department has really focused on looking at more efficient staff utilization and programmatic operations, as well as effective leveraging of the resources within our county and at the federal level. In regards to the PUF, what that really is about is translating into more efficiency within the inpatient hospitalizations, making sure that we can serve the maximum number possible in an effective way.

In twenty four-twenty five, in twenty three-twenty four and twenty four-twenty five we served just, again, we saw about a 10% increase from twenty three-twenty four to twenty four-twenty five. But as you can see this year already we are on track to have about a thirty percent increase in the number of hospitalizations this year in folks who have been able to utilize this very acute specialty care with the county. What we ascribe that to is, again, in the past year the staff has really looked at and has developed their capacity to partner with outside partners in terms of discharge and step down. And more importantly, we've seen some capacity added in the local county to programs such as skilled nursing facilities, and of course increased efficiency and utilization of our crisis residential units. We really look forward to the crisis residential units that will also be coming online in the next two years, as it will really help with the flow and the step down from our PUF.

All right. The average length of stay is also a key indicator and something that needs to be managed when you're looking at a hospital. Again, folks on a 5,150 are on a three day hold. If somebody needs to be on an acute care status and their danger to self or others or grave disability remains past three days, there are our patients' rights teams from Be Well are there, and there are hearings that are provided to the clients there to ensure that their safety is met. And sometimes those things can extend past the three days.

But overall, folks, many folks resolve within that first three days. And the length of stay is really related to that discharge and that step down, making sure that we're discharging people to the right level of care at the right time and not just creating a scenario where it'll be a revolving door. So from '24, '25, again, we saw a slight reduction from '23 to '25. But, again, on track this year at about a what is that? Almost a 28% reduction, I think, in the number of clients' length of stay days.

So again, creates flow and ensures that we have more people able to access this acute level of care when needed at the right time. Here's an overview of the utilization by region of clients in our PUF. And, again, just about half are residents of South County, accessing the South County unit. We do have about 9% out of county, and those are folks who may be visiting or passing through, that end up in crisis and need a place to go get care. So, one of the key indicators that we've been tracking a lot for the last, couple of years, of course, in the psychiatric health facility is the acute versus administrative days.

The acute versus administrative days, and you'll see a slide in just a minute, is not only related to flow at the hospital and making sure that this level of care is always available as much as possible for people who need it at the right time, but it's also about funding and Medi Cal reimbursement to maximize the utilization of this service. So as you can see, again, we've been working really hard on it. And starting in the spring of last year, we really started to look at and put in place some key changes in regard to how our psychiatrists are looking at admin versus acute days. So an acute day is a day in which a person is meeting the criteria of a fifty one fifty. An admin day is a day in where that crisis has resolved and the person is no longer a danger to themself or others or gravely disabled, but we don't yet have the right level of care step down, and we don't want to put them into another crisis by disrupting and dismissing them too soon.

So really actively focusing on that. The things that we put in place included our medical director, Doctor. Olley, working directly with the psychiatry staff and actually codifying and operationalizing what it means to make sure that we are assessing people accurately if they need acute versus admin. And then also our discharge teams and all manner of disciplines that we talked about really effectively stepping down people and making sure that we have relationships with other facilities for people to go to post hospitalization. So we're just at about fiftyfifty right now for acute admin, and that has been a significant boon to our revenue, this year in 2526, and we'll talk more about that.

But, again, the most important part of that is that you're getting people out, as that translate to the lower length of stay and the more people seen in the puff. And those are all connected. The next slide here is our revenue and funding for the last full year of, fiscal year of 2425. So you can see again we had the billed services breakdown. And currently we bill 98% of our services are Medi Cal, with about 2% Medicare.

Of course, the growing aging population of the behavioral wellness population in our county, we do anticipate that Medicare number to grow over the years. So we're fortunate to have that super puff status. These next two slides, the budget funding stream and then the breakdown of what it costs for a bed day, they they kinda go hand in hand. I wish I had a split screen I could show you here. But what this slide shows here is that about 75% of our billing in the Medi Cal patient revenue, just about $12,000,000.

That's our at acute days, and that's Medi Cal reimbursement revenue. So, the overmatch, that is talked about in realignment, general fund, and Medicare coverage. You know, on any given day, you're gonna have some people in the psychiatric health facility that don't have insurance or that don't have Medi Cal. They may have private insurance, and they end up in our so we can't bill Medi Cal for that. You're gonna have persons that are, you know, as folks in our county are on conservatorship, if there is a challenge that someone is having and they're really decompensating in their setting, the PUF is where they come to get stabilized even if they're not on an acute level of care.

And it's our charge to help stabilize them and make sure that we step them down to the right in conjunction with our, public guardian partners to step them down. So these are also conserved folks. And then, of course, the admin days, which you'll see on the next slide, are billed out at a much lower rate. And when you step someone down, for instance, to home or to a family setting versus another licensed treatment setting, you don't always get credit for your admin days, even though sending someone home to a loving, supportive family we think is a win and a great discharge. It doesn't mean that in the revenue world.

Alright. So the PUF revenue acute versus admin days. I just think this is a good qualifier for the previous slide. So as you can see here under acute days, a bed day rate that and the the Department of Health Care Services rate is means how much the county is paid for that day. And then the physician average services rate, which is billed separately.

So the time that someone meets with a psychiatrist is billed separately from the bed day. And that total estimated gross patient revenue is approximately $29.53. But of course we have to provide a local match, which is just over 30% that we provide as the local match to leverage and draw down the federal dollars, which means that we get a net Medi Cal patient revenue and with the the state general fund of just about $1,900. An estimated net Medi Cal patient revenue from an acute bed day, though, overall with all the different formulas, and, again, Chris Rubero is on the line if there's more questions. I'm not fluent in fiscal.

Apologies. Is about $11.98 a day. As you can see, the admin days are significantly lower. So as we have, and as, the good news is that I'd like to say is that as you saw that our revenue is about fiftyfifty acute admin versus admin days. We are on track this year in fiscal year twenty five-twenty six to have the highest producing Medi Cal revenue that the PUF has seen in at least the twenty years that Christopher Barrow has been with the department.

So every year, we get a we get an audit. We get a nice surprise visit from the state. They'll call. Every few years, the the Center for Medicaid Services also comes out. But these are the Department of Health Care Services on-site reviews, and they'll call. And sometimes it's a few hours ahead of time, and they'll say, hi. We're in town, and we'll see you in a few hours, and we collectively come together. In 2425 was the first year that we, heard from the department. I think was it 2425? Yes.

Okay. It was. That we had what the two auditors collectively who had over twenty five years of experience at the state doing audits of psychiatric health facilities were astonished and pleased to say that this was the first time in both of their careers they had audited a PUF that had no clinical findings, that demonstrated expert team collaboration and coordination of care of patients, and there were no concerns within the clinical chart review. We did have a couple of deficiencies related to a thermometer in the refrigerator that wasn't quite registering correctly, and a couple of different things here and there in terms of logins regarding medication and dietitian things, I think it was. But overall it was the first time either of them had ever seen a clear, clean clinical audit for a puff, and proud to say we had that two years in a row.

So it's really exciting.

Congratulations. Puff does

Thank you. Thank you. It's very, very exciting. And what the audits also do is there's always room for improvement in everything. So even if you don't have deficiencies or if they're minor, we're always looking at quality care improvement and what's coming down the line. And so, each year we do have, quality improvement plans. So the point of the outlined interventions at the bottom were for the deficiencies that were noted in the two audits. All right. One of our favorite parts, of course, of the QAPI meeting every month is to cheer out the patient results. So patient survey results.

Every patient is offered a survey result during their time at the PUF so that we can see how folks are doing and what they like. And and while they are a captured audience and they are involuntarily there, and so, you know, it's you can look at the at the through whatever lens you'd like. But we think it's pretty good that people are being held against their will and have taken have their rights kinda taken away for three days, and that 83% of them are saying that they like the services that they receive there. And that over two third over three quarters of folks are saying that their symptoms are not bothering me as much as what they came

in when they came in.

And the one that gets, like, the highest ratings is always the food. Just want to say. It's like, I don't have a slide for that, but I've tell you, it's always in the nineties. People really like the food at the puff. So thanks to our contractors Valverde for the food, the nutritious food they provide.

And we have a dietitian who makes sure that monitors and everybody's food is well balanced. So finally here I just want to share with you some of the new initiatives that we're focused on this year in the PUF. We are hiring an additional psychiatric nurse supervisor position to really help us with the documentation review, the staffing and compliance. As you're aware, of course, under Senate Bill 43, which has expanded the definition of gravely disabled to include severe and substance use only disorders, we have some extra training that we're doing, and there will be some extra programming that begins specifically related to substance use disorder groups and treatment. We have an on-site infection prevention assessment and accreditation readiness assessment that is being conducted by our outside consultant, Chartists.

So we learned some new things. And so that's been really good. Yeah. So if you were at our puff meeting, we learned about, like, what happens when you take tape off something, and, like, you don't take all the sticky off the wall. Like, that is a place where infection can grow. So, yeah, who knew that? Something that we hadn't thought about before, and making sure that we're paying attention to all those little details. So that's just an indication of the level of detail that the audits go into and that our consultants help us be prepared for. And then, of course, we are working on implementation of an electronic patient transfer health record transfer. We initiated that this year.

We have our partners in Marion are fully on board, as well as Longboat Valley Medical. And what this does, Cottage is reviewing, and and working through some things so that they too can jump on board. But what this does is it puts all the packets for people to be placed in on a fifty one fifty through an electronic system and in real time very quickly. We get the packet within thirty minutes. We're responding to an average of thirty minutes responding to the hospital to let them know if we have a bed and what the ETA will be opening for that.

So that really helps us to manage more beds in county. Unfortunately, what we saw over the previous fiscal year was an increase in out of county bed placements for Medi Cal patients. And there were some glitches in our communication and those packets getting seen timely. And we've really, really made some progress on that this year. So we really thank our partners for joining us in that.

And we got some new furniture. We had a staff safety survey that went out, and we actually were able to put in some new furniture this year. It looks very very kind of like space age and modern, but what it allows for is making sure that people can't pick up chairs and desks and throw them and use them as weapons. So that's it, for my annual PUF report. Open to questions if there are any. And at this time, we request that the board receive and file this, report and determine, CEQA regulations.

All right. Thank you, Director DeBro. And just before I go to Supervisor Caps, there's no public comment on this item, is there?

Doctor. Nelson and members of the Board, we have no requests to speak from the public on this item.

All right. Then I'll kick it off to supervisor Capps, who's our board's representative to the PUF.

Yeah. Thank you so much, Chair Nelson. And thank you, director Navarro. I've enjoyed being representative on on the PUF board. It's, I mean, it's such a challenging place to be. It's a challenging work. But the results are stunning. Just looking through the survey, I don't know what other entity gets 86% or whatever it is. Hotels don't get that. It's it's pretty remarkable.

So kudos to the staff and and just to acknowledge the kind of commitment that it takes for a a professional to work in such a challenging environment. I've heard Supervisor Lavinino say that before in his time on this board. So I just had one question about the length of stay, because there has been a drop, as you noted, and I just was hoping you can elaborate as to why, what the reasons would be in terms of time of stay. I think the first two quarters of the year there's been a drop since then. So if you could elaborate as to some reasons as perhaps why.

I think there's a number of factors, including the fact that this past year we actually expanded our beds at the Champion Center by eight in our regular contract in addition to the four that we also have. So we went from 36 beds to oh, we add six. We now have 44 beds total at the PUF. So we added eight new beds in our contract there. That helps with the flow, because a lot of these folks are needing that still higher level of care once they've once they've the acute crisis has resolved.

We've also had some increase in skilled nursing facility beds in some local agencies here in the county, both in the North and in the South. So that's been really helpful. And I think those those types of increases to capacity are what helps us keep the length of stay down.

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's really it's really about a flow and capacity, more than anything. It's also just really great diligent work on behalf of on behalf of our workers, our social workers, our discharge planners that are at the and therapists at the PUF who create relationships. So I mean, I think that it's important to know that there's lots of psych hospitals and there's lots of people looking to step down their patients. And it's really about who has the relationship, who really sends over a complete packet and is able to maintain those good professional relationships to put our folks at the top of the list.

Yeah, and again, you know, we don't often hear directly from those who receive these types of services. So just reading through the survey and seeing the comments that people wrote was just so satisfying as a board member to see folks writing like, the staff gave me the kind of care I needed, and this was the exact place I needed to be. I'm I'm not quoting verbatim, but it's just very heartfelt reactions. A few complained about the food, the breakfast, but the coffee. But, you know, just really acknowledging that this is the type of care that these individuals needed in a locked facility.

And, again, I'm new to this board, and I learned a lot from this survey. So it was very enlightening. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

And I

think for anybody who's visited the PUF, even in light of the fact it's not the newest and the shiniest and the brightest, that people feel cared for and comfortable in that setting is really important and is really a testament to the staff and the work and

the care

they Yes.

So congratulations to the staff.

Thank you, Supervisor Kapps. Supervisor Hartman?

Yes. I had four questions, but first with a preface. The audit twice in a row wasn't just a one off, an anomaly. That's extraordinary. And I do hear that people want to work at the PUF, that there's a camaraderie there, and I think that that's extraordinary. My first question has to do with what is it that makes for a super PUF? I mean, you can build Medi Cal, but what is it in the structure of the services? Okay.

So I Laura Zeitz is should be on the call, and she's gonna give you exactly the checklist right off the top of her head.

Okay. Just just in general, what

Supervisor Hartman through the chair. It's the ability to bill Medicare is one of the biggest things so and that we but we have to abide by those CMS regulations. So it impacts the kind of staffing that we do. It does impact the kind of program we provide. Our program at our PUF is significantly more robust as far as daily treatment programming than what they call a regular PUF. So fundamentally, it's the ability to bill Medicare the robustness of the treatment program that we have.

Because we have a lot more services there that we offer. Okay, thank you, that helps. My second question, at one point we were looking for a waiver to try to expand the number of beds from the federal government. I think that came with lots of additional requirements. And we now have more flow, as you say, more options. But I just what is do we do we have enough beds at the PUF? Where are we in terms of that waiver discussion?

Yeah. As we presented to your board earlier this year under the Behavioral Health Connect presentation, that is something that we'll continue to evaluate as we move through this fiscal year. I think, again, we have been really working hard on the length of stay and the flow within the PUF. But, again, it does come with extra considerations. There will be more staffing, and those cost staffing to reimbursement ratios will be key in determining.

The BH Connect Puffin expansion, it's only two beds that we can expand in that limited space. But we have up until mid twenty twenty seven to pull the lever on adding two more beds in order to maximize the funding available. It would also require us to add a new staffing designation within our system that we haven't yet gotten around to community health workers. So, we we are continuing to evaluate that, and we'll look at it more fully at the end of this fiscal year when you have a full picture of, the performance of this full fiscal year.

So at the June, you'll start?

Yeah. So we by the fall, when everything's, been reconciled, we'll be able to really look at it more, clearly regarding this is how much it will cost to add the staffing that's needed to add the two beds. These will be the extra costs, this would be the potential revenue.

Okay. And you mentioned the CSUs. I mean, are one strategy to keep people out of the POF if we can meet their needs there. How well are they working?

I I I think it's it's it's having some impact. It's having some impact. We definitely are focused this next year on continuing to promote the crisis stabilization services unit that Crestwood runs for us and make sure that we're maximizing, that folks are going there first as needed versus coming into the PUF if need not be. Our hospital partners continue to use that in an effective way, and we have commitment from our law enforcement partners to continue to revisit that with us. If I may also just want to step back on the BH Connect and the addition of beds, one huge consideration, of course, that we will have to look at is the impact of HR one.

Because the more that folks maybe do not have Medi Cal and end up in crisis, that will affect our bottom line.

Yeah. Thank you for that. Final question. How many repeat people do we have? Do you track that as a success measure? I mean, it a revolving door? Or are we really able to help people stabilize and stay stable over the long run?

You for that question. I do not think that I have that data point at my fingerprints, but we do track unique individuals served over the years. So I can get back to you on that answer.

Thank you, Supervisor Hartman. Any other comments or questions from the Board? Not seeing any. You know, I've got a chance to serve on the PUP Governing Board previously, and I learned a lot and know that. So a lot of hard work and a lot of history to get to where we are today. But I think it's really important that we continue to keep that level of attention on this really important asset that we have in San Barbara County. So thank you for your work.

Yeah. So thanks to Laura Zeit's leadership, along with Jen Hidrobo and Ozzy, who's a nursing supervisor, they really have some good morale there and a lot of good things going on. So thank you.

For Thank the you, Director Navarro. If I can get a motion to approve staff recommendations A and B.

So moved. I'll second.

Okay. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed? The motion passes unanimously. Thank very much. We're getting close to lunch hour, but I think we want to try to squeeze in the next item. So if we have all the staff here, don't want to waste their time. I'm going let them get back to work here. So we'll go ahead and read Department Item Number three into the record.

Chair Nelson and members of the Board, Department Item Number three is from the Probation Department. It is a hearing to consider recommendations regarding fiscal year 2026 through 2028 Public Safety Realignment Plan.

All right. Chief Benton, take it away.

Still good morning, chair Nelson and supervisors. I'm Holly Benton, the chief probation officer and the chair of the county's Community Corrections Partnership, which is also known as the CCP, as well as its executive committee. With me today are deputy chief Spencer Cross and chief financial and administrative Damon Fletcher, who will be presenting the fiscal year 2026 through 2028 public safety realignment plan and the realignment spending plan. The CCP is an independent partnership created by statute with the passage of SB six seventy eight in 2009, and it's chaired in each county by the chief probation officer. Its role is to serve as a local community corrections advisory body.

And in 2011, AB one zero nine created an executive committee of the CCP for the purpose of developing and approving the county's realignment spending plan and presenting it to your board. Statutory members of that committee are the chief probation officer, the district attorney, the sheriff, the public defender, the director of behavioral wellness, a local chief of police, and our superior court executive officer. And representatives from our county departments are here with us today as well as county health. The funded programs and services the CCP is presenting to your board today represent a pal a balanced approach to public safety, which includes evidence based treatment and case management for justice involved individuals. Realignment funding supports programs and staffing within multiple county organizations, services through community based organizations, and evaluation of our local practices, which is a hallmark of what we do.

In addition, each year, the CCP seeks innovations to move the local justice system forward, and these responses are designed to provide a continuum of services and supports for a population with very complex needs and challenges in order to reduce recidivism. As always, the plan reinforces the strong collaborations between our county agencies and the partnerships that we continue to build across our justice system. Last year, the CCP and its work group began the process of deeper scrutiny of budgeted programs and has continued that approach this year. We emphasize the production of data and the need for positive outcomes so that we can avoid overuse of one time funds and expansions and concentrate our funding on those programs which best serve the county's strategic goals. As with last year's plans, many of the county's criminal justice initiatives continue to converge in the pretrial diversion and reentry spaces.

So on behalf of the CCP and its executive committee, I would like to thank your board and CEO Miyazato for the commitment to the collaborative efforts of this group and thank and recognize supervisor Katz who currently represents your board on that group. With that, I'll turn it over to Spencer and to Damon for their presentation.

Thank you, chief Benton. Chair Nelson, supervisors, I'm Spencer Cross, and I'm a deputy chief for the probation department's adult division. I'm currently the Community Corrections Partnership work group chair. On behalf of the CCP, I will be presenting the fiscal year twenty twenty six twenty twenty eight public safety realignment plan. Before I move on to the first slide, I do wanna take a moment to reflect on the cover art of our plan.

We chose a sunrise photo this year, for the theme. This is symbolic of new beginnings, which represent hope, second chances, and transformation. These are common goals when working with the justice involved population, and they're woven into the fabric of this very plan. The public safety realignment plan, act celebrates its fifteenth year of collaboration through the CCP. Since October 2011, we've been bringing this before your board for approval and adoption.

This plan represents more than just statistics, colorful graphs, charts, figures. This plan represents a commitment from all of our local partners to provide effective data informed services to meet the needs of those who enter the criminal justice system. The components included in this realignment plan have been reviewed and approved, as the chief said, by the CCP and the executive committee. In 2011, realignment transferred responsibility of specific inmates from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to our local county. With this change, two additional populations were added to the responsibility of local county jurisdictions.

The post release community supervision clients, or as we refer to as PRCS clients, are individuals who are released from prison after serving a commitment for a nonviolent, non serious felony, and those who are deemed not to be high risk sex offenders. Those meeting this criteria are supervised by the Department of Parole. The second population is known locally as the post sentence supervision or PSS. These clients are nonviolent, nonserious, nonsex offenders who serve their prison sentences locally in the county jail and are subject to a mandatory period of supervision as ordered by the Superior Court. The number of PRCS and PSS clients has seen an increase over the past two years, as seen on the table you're looking at at the slideshow.

The blue bars and red line represent snapshots taken from each year on June 30. You can see there are over 100 more individuals under supervision this year as compared to 2023, and there is a slight bump from 2024. On average, four twenty nine realigned individuals are supervised monthly by the probation department. The realigned population makes up 16% of the overall supervised population in the county. This remains a relatively small portion in comparison to the numbers of clients on standard supervision, which is closer to 2,000.

A total of five twenty four unique individuals were supervised during the last fiscal year. As demonstrated on this slide, the majority of those supervised are Hispanic males between the ages of 25 and 44. The CCP has set five overarching goals to govern our work with the criminal justice population: reduce recidivism enhance the use of alternatives to detention ensure successful reentry into the community coordinate efforts across systems and reduce systemic disparities. Each year, the CCP funds programs and activities that are aligned with these goals. We set new objectives to move our goals forward, and I'd like to highlight a few of these for your board.

Under Goal one, the CCP focuses efforts to reduce recidivism. The CCP continues to fund promising programs which assist behavior change, and one such program in the jail is called Freedom to Choose. Because this program has been funded with one time funds for several years, the Sheriff's Office has committed to measurable metrics to monitor improvements in prosocial behavior and decision making. If this program is successful, the results could lead to measurable reduction into rebookings in the jail and may act as a lever to reduce the overall jail population. Under Goal two, the CCP is committed to the use of alternatives to detention, both pre- and post sentence, where individuals can be safely released back into the community.

The objectives under this goal are designed to maximize jail capacity for highest risk clients, identify those who can be released safely, and also to expand diversion efforts. One of the new objectives in this area involves the Sheriff's Office reporting out to the CCP on their jail reduction measures. This will allow the CCP to continue to refine and coordinate our collaborative work on diversion efforts. Another outcome I'd like to highlight is the expansion of the Ready Program to the south part of the county. Providing representation for clients at the earliest stage possible for an arrest after an arrest has proven to be a successful strategy to avoid extended jail stays.

And lastly, goal five supports a systemic approach to studying and addressing racial and ethnic disparities. For this goal, the CCP will be exploring partnerships with local indigenous serving organizations to educate stakeholders and define effective management strategies for our Mesteco population. This community is often underserved due to language and cultural barriers. Every year, the CCP requires departments to submit documentation that supports any request for funding through the realignment programmatic restricted fund balance. This year, the CCP approves six requests.

I will briefly highlight these for your board. You see four on the slide, but I will add the other two. The public defender's office was approved for $1,600,000 over a three year period to continue the REDI program in the northern part of the county. The district attorney's office was approved for one full time victim witness program assistant for three years. The probation department received funding for two probation officers to monitor clients who are able to benefit from the new legislation under proposition 36.

Lastly, two smaller amounts were approved. One was for media costs related to the Neighborhood Restorative Justice Panel recruitment and a consultant related to the ongoing work of the main name index used to support the county data sharing committee. One requested program was not moved forward. This was the Grid Solar Program within the North Branch jail. While supported in concept, this initiative did not result in post release employment for its graduates, and therefore the CCP funding will sunset at the end of this fiscal year.

The CCP approved several expansions to the ongoing budget for fiscal year twenty six-twenty seven, all of which were previously funded as one time allocations. Specifically, the public defender's office was approved for funding for two mental health diversion paralegals and one holistic defense program manager. The CCP also approved continued funding for four reserved treatment beds at the Champion Center in Lompoc, which director Navarro spoke about a few minutes before us. These beds are for justice involved behavioral health clients who are conserved under the Lantern Petra Short Act or qualify for temporary conservatorship. These beds were part of a program, that was approved for a two and a half year pilot, and these beds are being monitored by Behavioral Wellness.

Due to competing resources and lack of substantial growth in the annual allocation, the CCP encourages departments to look within their previously allocated budgets. To look to repurpose or propose reductions to prior funding before they ask for funding expansions. The sheriff's department led by example this year and reallocated funding within the STP program to add reentry care managers within the Department of Social Services. This action is in alignment with the push for more integrated release planning led by county health. During budget review this year, the CCP focused special attention on the CCP funded co response team.

While there's no debate that these teams do work, outstanding work in the field, the data submitted to the CCP did not establish overwhelming evidence that this particular team was productive during the days and times they were scheduled. After further discussion, the team was funded, but the CCP requested the sheriff's office and BWELL work together to come up with additional responsibilities to increase the team's productivity between calls and during downtime. An initial presentation on additional duties was received in March, and we requested additional information that will be reported on this month on May 22. This item will be taken to the CCP in June. In addition, the Sheriff's Office has submitted a request seeking CCP funding for a fourth co response deputy that, as you heard during the co response board presentation, has not been funded yet for the next fiscal year.

At this time, I'll pass the presentation to Damon Fletcher to present the summary of our spending plan for the twenty six-twenty seven realignment plan.

Spencer, before you go further, can you restate that about the co response piece?

Chair Nelson, for the co response, the team has funded through this plan for the next fiscal year 'twenty six-'twenty seven. However, CCP has asked them to come up with additional responsibilities, and so they've come up with five additional responsibilities that our behavioral wellness partner can speak about. It includes going to the jail, doing proactive release transportations, going there if there's a crisis upon booking to try and help make sure that the client either gets within the jail or taken to another facility. They have a five pronged plan that has not yet gone to the CCP. That presentation will go in June, on June 4.

The co response the additional piece of that is the sheriff's office has indicated they will be doing a presentation next Wednesday or, yeah, next Wednesday, May 20 to ask for funding for the fourth deputy for the for our team that we haven't yet reached to receive the presentation on where that person will be assigned, what duties they'll have, or what the statistics will come, but we're gonna get more information on May 20.

Okay. Thank you, mister Cross. The

CCP approved budget totals $21,800,000 This budget reflects a $1,300,000 increase over the current year, primarily related to the three expansion requests that Spencer just addressed. The plan continues the county's commitment to a broad spectrum of treatment, supervision and jail population management programs to ensure supervised clients receive necessary support while ensuring accountability. The financing includes $19,800,000 in anticipated realignment allocation and $2,000,000 in restricted fund balance consisting of $129,000 in growth funds and 1,900,000 of unspent prior year's funds necessary to balance this year's program. And back to Spencer to wrap us up.

In closing, the CCP, alongside our collaborative partners, county departments, and the community remain engaged and committed to improvements and expansions aimed at addressing the needs of clients across the county. The plan represents a balanced approach to allocate state funding, which includes jail management, community supervision, diversion efforts, treatment programs, victim services, restorative justice, and innovations. I'd like to end our presentation by sharing a success story of a client who was engaged by our system of care. This client, at the age of 16, was awarded the court and remained in and out of the justice system into adulthood. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression, the individual lived a transient lifestyle beginning at 18 years old.

While unhoused, methamphetamine became a coping mechanism. All of their personal belongings fit into a small backpack. Posture was that of defeat, slumped over, always walking with their head down. Everyday life was a struggle, facing barriers every step of the way. The question we often ask is why with all these resources I just talked about does one remain in this situation?

Fear, resentment, previous failures, distrust. The answer is often d, all of the above. Enter the familiar faces team. Probation, the public defender's office, and department of b behavioral wellness working together create what we think is a secret sauce. They start with the simple things, breaking down distrust. Their engagement with this client started at the age of 29. They offered support, starting with the basic necessities of life. They got things such as a cell phone. They reinstated the client's Medi Cal benefits. They obtained the person eyeglasses.

The person began therapy, and they secured housing at La Posada. This stability and connection led to completion of a program at sanctuary centers. Ultimately, being stable cleared a path for the client to enroll and attend classes at the Santa Barbara City College through the rising scholars program. This client gained sobriety and now wishes to pursue a career as a drug and alcohol alcohol counselor while continuing to work on their long term housing goals. While this is just one example of hundreds and perhaps even thousands of individuals that the CCP funding programs and services have assisted on a path to a better future, We know that progress is not always a straight line, but sometimes we're rewarded with small victories.

And over time, these small victories can make lasting change. I do wanna thank the work group members, our partner agencies, probation staff, and our community partners who contributed to the development of this plan over the last several months. I would also like to acknowledge our talented and hardworking research and special projects and fiscal teams who prepared the final realignment plan that we have presented to your board today. Lastly, we have our recommended actions for day, for today as you see a through d. And we do are we happy to take questions from you? And I did, bring all of the representatives from all the departments to answer all the difficult questions that I may not have the answers to. Thank you. Alright.

Questions from the board. Let's kick it off with supervisor Kapsch, and she's Well, a member I'm just I'm

very proud of all of the work, and it's been a real learning experience for me to be part of the CCP and and just to see all that's in motion. It's really in motion. That's how I feel about it all. And it's a challenge just to track all of the different moving parts, and I know that's really the challenge for you all because everybody is rowing in the right direction, but trying to just keep that is a daily challenge. And so the fact that there's now better data is promising, and I know that's a recent development.

And I know that, you know, we're about to get the diversion strategic plan, and that's also an accomplishment to to cheer on. So I guess my only question is what's the next step, or how do you even know what to bring forward to track and to present data, to present progress? Because, again, there's so many different moving parts. I think we're gonna get into the co response a little bit later, but what's the next step in terms of presenting public data?

Thank you for the question, supervisor Capsule, the chair. One of the things that we do have going is called the valuing voices project.

Mhmm.

And so one of the things that we wanted to look for is what the clients actually need versus what we think they need. Yep. And so that project, did some focus groups within the community. They sent out surveys. And so one of the things that came up just preliminarily, we haven't got the final report that's going to go to the CCP in June, is transportation. Transportation seems to be a major barrier. And so that's one thing that the CCP, has not focused on particularly on transportation. We do offer bus tokens. We offer transportation, obviously, by the familiar faces team, probation officers. We do transportation.

But one of the things that we often see as barriers, one of the reasons during COVID, warrants, which we we have people here to talk about the warrants, when you're able to not have to go to court and they could be online, you know, warrants may go down. So transportation is something that we haven't really looked at, but that value in our voices report is really going to kinda steer us towards what the what the people want that we're serving. And so that's one of the areas that we'll be focusing on for next direction.

Great. Thank you. And thanks for that powerful ending, that that real life example. The undersheriff just attended a meeting with me and my staff yesterday about some neighborhood concerns about La Posada. And so it just hit home for me to just think about all of the success and life changing work that's happening there, and so to hear that story was particularly powerful. Thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Caps. Supervisor Lee and Supervisor Hartman.

Got it. Thank you, chair Nelson. So how does the CCP interact with the JJCC? A lot of acronyms in that.

Yeah. Supervisor Thiebucher. The short answer is it really doesn't. They really serve two completely different functions in our system. The JJCC, 100% works with juveniles and is about the continuum of youth services all the way from, doing prevention and intervention at the elementary school level in our schools, all the way through reentry for some of our young adults who are coming out of our juvenile justice center. So that system has very little overlap with what the CCP is doing. We do have some young adults who may avail themselves at times of services that are funded through the CCP, which is permissible under the law, but it's a very small portion of that population.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Supervisor Lee. Supervisor Hartman.

I just have two points. The first is could you expand about the freedom to choose? This is the first time I'm learning about it. I, of course, know about Ready and other programs, but this one catches my imagination.

Supervisor Hartman through the chair, chief deputy Ryan Sullivan on behalf of the sheriff's office. The Freedom to Choose project initially started as a correspondence course that was offered to individuals in the jail through, you know, doing assigned paperwork and coursework that they would mail back to Freedom to Choose volunteers that would be able to correspond with them and provide them input on changing their lives, know, getting on the right path as they get out of custody. But now they're doing in person cohorts within the jail in which they'll come in. Many of them have lived experience. They've been incarcerated in the past, Or they've been involved in the justice system.

And they're able to connect with the clients in jail and provide them with their perspective and guidance on, you know, reforming their lives and getting out of jail.

So about how many people are involved? How long has it been going? How will you evaluate its success?

I don't actually have the data on how many people are involved, how long it's been going at the tip of my fingers. But we are evaluating the success through surveys, both pre and post surveys of the clients that are participating in that program.

But in a sense, then, it's people with lived experience who've been in that position, and now they're coming back to counsel people and say you really can make a change. Is that a correct understanding?

That's a correct kind of assumption on what the program operates off of. But are you referring more to the success metrics of that?

No. Just to understand who the people are who are working with the jail residents, and what their motivation is, and why the jail residents might be responsive to them.

Yeah. Some of the individuals have lived experience. Some of them are just volunteers, people that are very passionate about this, that want to help their fellow man and woman, and they're willing to donate their time and come in and provide these instructional courses and collaborate with these individuals.

And so the courses are a whole range of things?

Yeah. I don't know the exact curriculum, but I know that they visit with the clients for a period of time. They discuss certain things with the individuals, and they try to encourage them to move forward in their lives.

So is it more GED kinds of things, or is it more life skill?

It's more life skills. It's not curriculum based like an educational system.

Okay. Thank you. So my next is it's really just a comment. The CCP, I've I've never served on it. I've only attended one meeting.

But it really is structurally able to bring together our criminal justice partners, put money on the table, and and and and then evaluate the programs in a way that we really rely on. And what what you did with jail study was really appreciated. What what you're determining about co response and how to be more productive. We're we're getting information from you that is extremely valuable to us. And it's not easy for departments with different missions to really come together and find what's common and even to be responsive to the direction that the board and the county wants to go.

So I just think well done and thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Supervisor Hartman. I just had a couple of questions just

kind of

on the funding and what our purview is on this. You know, understand it's group. Supervisor Cap sits on there. You know, what this Board didn't agree with the funding priorities. What are our what's our recourse? I mean, does it need approval from the Board to move forward on your budget? I know, you know, it's obviously a working group, proposed budget, you guys kind of do this in a collaborative manner, but there's also Board priorities, too. And I know you guys are kind of looking up at what we care about and trying to figure out how to fund these things and keep us happy, and then also work the working group happy. Can you speak to that? I'm just trying to I want to make sure I understand it a little bit better.

Absolutely, Chair Nelson. The oversight of the CCP funding and how the plan and the budget are adopted are all laid out in the code sections that enabled the CCP and and public safety realignment. The process by which this goes through is that the full CCP has to make a recommendation on the expenditures, which are then approved by the executive committee of the CCP. This is where for your board, this is where your board comes in. Once they have done that, the plan is considered adopted or the budget is considered adopted unless four fifths of your board says no to send it back to

us. Okay.

And so, for anyone that was around in 2012 when we brought our first plan to the board, that was a particular sticking point for then supervisor Carbahall because it took four fifth vote to approve the budget revision we brought at the time, but it took four fifth vote of the board to say no to the plan. And so, on that first plan, it was we spent far more time discussing that than we actually did the plan.

Mhmm.