Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Being to order, the date is July 7th, the time is 9.02 a.m. If I could please ask everyone to stand and we'll do the Pledge of Allegiance and then remain standing for a moment of silence for former Stanislaus County employees Nancy Bronstein and Carla Zepeda, which will be followed by an invocation from Pastor Lonnie Scales from Big Valley Grace Community Church.

with a reading just as strong.

Psalm 33 says, Behold, the eyes of the Lord is on those who fear him and on those who hope for his love and kindness. Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in him because we trust in his holy name. Let your loving kindness, O Lord, be upon us according as we have hoped in you. Let's pray. Our gracious Father in heaven, the author of all things, the giver of all things, the one who always was and is and will be. I'm grateful for your faithfulness to your promises. Hallowed be your name. And Lord, may your kingdom come, your will be done in this place, in this community, as it's done in heaven. Lord, I thank you for Carla and Nancy, and I pray for their families who grieve today, and I thank you, Lord, for their faithful service to our community. I pray you'd bless their homes and their families. Thank you, Lord, for these men who represent us, who seek to serve us in critical matters. We pray, Lord, today. You said if any of us would lack wisdom, you would give it abundantly if we would just ask. So I pray you would give to these men careful wisdom, discernment on critical matters. Would you help them to represent us well and to serve us well? Lord, we ask that you would be exalted in every place. We're grateful that you never leave us. You never desert us. You're ever present. and we exalt your name, and we praise your name, and we thank you in Jesus' mighty name, amen. May the Lord bless you today. Thank you.

Thank you, Pastor Skiles. I'm going to move on to presentations, employee service awards. And we have one, two, three, four people receiving their 25-year and someone receiving their 30-year. Pretty exciting. First up is going to be Ruben Imperial. Maria.

Good morning. Ruben Imperial, the Director of Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, and it is my pleasure to be here recognizing Maria Solis in more than 25 years. of dedicated public service to the residents of Stanislaus County. Maria began her county career with the Health Services Agency over two decades. She's become a trusted and dependable member of several teams supporting programs that provided essential healthcare services to our community. Her last role at HSA was supporting the Paradise Medical Office, and throughout her career, she contributed to a variety of teams out at our Health Services Agency. Maria has earned a reputation both at HSA and BHRS for professionalism, reliability, and a genuine commitment to helping others. After many years with the Health Services Agency, Maria shared that her passion for serving the community continued to grow. She wanted to broaden her experience and contribute in new ways. Encouraged by a friend, she applied for a position with Behavioral Health and Recovery Services and joined BHRS in April 2024. And although Maria has only been with BHS a relatively short time, she has brought with her more than two decades of county experience and a deep understanding of what public service truly means. Today, she serves as an administrative clerk and has become an integral part of our behavioral health services teams. One of the things I appreciate about Maria in our conversations is that she understands the significance of her role within our treatment teams. And she knows that the behavioral health care doesn't begin when someone meets with their therapist or psychiatrist. It begins the moment they walk through our doors. The first smile they receive, the first conversations they have, the kindness they're shown, and the hospitality they experience all influences whether they feel safe, respected, and welcome in our treatment teams. Her colleagues describe Maria as dedicated and caring and genuinely invested in the success of her team and our members. They speak of her strong work ethic. And if you ask Marie, as I did, where she first learned to thrive in such a fast, busy environment, she might tell you that it all started at home as a proud mother of six children and jokingly told me she has a seventh, which is her husband right here. She jokes that raising such a large family was an excellent preparation for supporting behavioral health treatment programs for an office work. I suspect there's more truth than humor in that, so. So Maria, thank you for your more than 25 years of services at Stanislaus County. Your work reminds us that exceptional behavioral health care begins with human connection, and you help create that connection every day in our front offices. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, and thank you for everything you do.

Thank you.

Hi, Maria. Hi.

Okay. That's perfect. So I absolutely love that you have seven children because there's so much truth to that. But having such a large family, people would think that, you know, it's difficult to work. And you've spent 25 years in this, but it's a grounding force, isn't it? Family is a grounding force. And obviously you have a very supportive family and a loving husband. You wouldn't be able to do that. On behalf of the Board of Supervisors, congratulations on making 25 years in the same organization. Going from HSA to BHRS probably has some similarities, because it's just about every department. We always serve the public, but it kind of is in the same capacity. So I'm going to turn the mic over to you for a second, and you can introduce your family members who are here. I have a little . You can give as long a speech as you'd like.

Thank you. Okay. So my husband, Fred's here, my coworker since 2001, who became a very close friend and a family member to me, my grandchild, um, and my son only half of them are able to be here, but, um, we're there recording for them. So I feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have spent the last 25 years serving our Stanislaus County community. Knowing that my work has helped support the people in our community has made this career meaningful and truly very rewarding. I wouldn't change it for any other career or any other agency or any other private practice. Over the years, I've worked with some incredible people. We started out as coworkers, but somewhere between deadlines, coffee breaks, and surviving system changes together, they became friends and many became family. Those relationships are one of the greatest gifts my career has given to me. One of the best things to happen in my career came just two years ago when I joined behavioral health and recovery services, working with children services. It has been one of the most rewarding chapters of my 25 years. I felt, um, I truly feel appreciated as an administrative clerk. I am trusted to do my job in my own style, encouraged to use my strengths and given the freedom to show my full potential. It's amazing what people can accomplish when they feel valued, and I'm so thankful to my manager, Bob, and my chief, Kim, and this wonderful team for giving me that opportunity. Lastly, I want to thank my family, to my husband, and thank you for your endless love, encouragement, and for listening to stories about work, even the ones you probably didn't want to hear. To my seven children and all my grandchildren, really six children, And thank you for your patience, your understanding, and for always cheering me on. Your support has been my foundation through these 25 years, and I couldn't have done it without every one of you. Love you guys.

It is also my pleasure to recognize Rosa for 25 years of dedicated services to Stanislaus County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services as well. Rosa began her career with BHRS in 2001 as a behavioral health specialist trainee in our children's system of care. Throughout her career, Rosa has embraced opportunities to grow, learn, and serve wherever it is needed. She spent an incredible 17 years with one of our key programs in our children's system of care, which is called our juvenile justice treatment team. And there she was known to build trusting relationships with youth and families and making a lasting impact in the lives of young people that were involved in our justice system. After nearly two decades of service though, Rosa made a very, I think, courageous decision and returned to school and pursued the goal of becoming a mental health clinician. That decision reflected her commitment to lifelong learning and the desire to expand the ways in which she could improve the lives of those experiencing a mental illness. In 2018, she began her first mental health clinician position, which is now our Community Corrections Partnership Team. She provided services to justice-involved adults. She later returned to the Children's System of Care to complete her clinical hours before joining the department's crisis response team, where she spent approximately three years helping individuals during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. This year marks another exciting milestone for Rosa. She stepped into her first leadership position as a mental health coordinator for our Collaborative Courts program, a role that reflects the confidence her colleagues and leadership have in their abilities. One of the best descriptions I've heard of Rosa is that she's an incredibly kind person with the smarts to match. Those simple words say a great deal about her. She combines compassion with excellent clinical expertise, and professionalism. Rosa's career is a wonderful example of dedication and continuous growth, from community-based services to juvenile justice, community corrections, crisis response, and now in a leadership role, she has consistently answered the call to serve where she could make the greatest difference. Rosa, thank you for the years of service and compassion and your leadership now and your continued commitment to improving the lives of people here in Stanislaus County. Congratulations and thank you for everything you do.

You went back to school.

Yes, I did.

That is amazing. I want you to tell me, did you have to, did you do online or did you go back to?

I went in person to Stockton, gosh, a little over two and a half years, working full time and leaving work a little early and going out there four or five days a week.

That is amazing. And if you've ever looked on our, what's on constant recruitment mental health clinicians, always is one of the top of the list along with probation officers. Truly amazing what you've done. Obviously, we've had to support folks around you, but your driving commitment to the county to making it a better place doesn't go unseen. So congratulations on behalf of the Board of Supervisors on your 25 years, and I'm going to turn the mic over to you.

Well, yeah, I just want to remind everybody that's never too late to go and start maybe even a new career. I went back to school when I was about 40 years old, so definitely couldn't have done it with the support of my family, my kids. You know, they were teenagers, so a lot of sacrifice there, lots of life changes. I do have the support of my boyfriend now, who we met in our master's program. So again, hey, opportunities for life and love out there, you never know. So I encourage you to never stop. I want to thank our department for great opportunities and opportunity for growth. You know, I think it was a little hesitant at first. You know, we get comfortable in where we're at. But I really want to encourage everybody, if there's an opportunity to grow and change, take it. It's always there. So just kind of be a little brave and take that first step.

Thank you.

Next up, Christine Huber. Nargis. Exciting.

Good morning.

I am here to celebrate 25 years with Nargis Zarari. She started at the county community service agency in May of 20... I have the wrong year. I had to do math real quick. Twenty-five years ago as an eligibility worker. In June of 2004, she promoted to a Family Service Specialist III in our Welfare to Work program and currently works in our Turlock Community Office. One of Nargis's notable achievements was completing the eligibility worker training in six months instead of usually it takes a year and added welfare to work in June of 2004. She meets her monthly report processing deadlines at 100% each month while smoothly handling report changes along with multiple customers' reported changes in her caseload. In 2002, Nargis was hand-selected by a supervisor to be assigned to the newly opening Turlock Community Office. She is certified a Syrian bilingual case manager and speaks three different languages. Her multi-language skills is valuable to the agency in all areas and continues to serve all of our customers. Nargis was also selected to be a refugee cash assistance eligibility case manager. She formed a strong partnership with the local international refugee committee office who provides employment services to the agents, to the customers of the refugee cash assistance and CalWORKs customers. During this time and up to the present, she is one of CSA's refugee cash assistance regulation and procedures expert and mentor to us all. Nargis is always professional and respectful with her customers, either when they visit the office or on the phone. She rarely assists other CSA staff with program and systems questions, explaining and willingly walking coworkers through our customer database steps as needed. She has brought forth pertinent program questions to the respective policy teams that have assisted staff in their processing of cases. She manages emergencies and new situations calmly, willingly accepting and carrying out changes efficiently and in a positive professional manner for her families or others that she works with. Nargis has been involved in community events. She's part of the CSA Stanworks Community Outreach Committee over the years. She volunteers annually to participate in the VITA tax events. She also participates in the annual World Refugee Day events. I will also say I've worked with her daughter. I think she has an amazing family. Her daughter continues to work in clinical social work, and I know that Nargis, I'm sure, had influence in serving others. Nargis, your exceptional analytical thinking, program and procedure expertise allows you to apply changes to your caseload accurately and timely. You're a valuable mentor for the unit and the agency. You readily share the knowledge with staff who are there able to assist our community effectively. Congratulations on 25 years.

Hello, Nargis.

Hello.

OK, so tell me the languages you speak.

I speak Farsi, Syrian, and I do Dari, too.

So three different languages. Pretty impressive. And I can speak barely English, for what it's worth. Again, what I heard is compassion in the job, right, for the folks that you're dealing with. They might be new to the United States. They're obviously refugees coming from a place where they might not have had it so well and trying to acclimate them. It's a very, very important job. And so we appreciate everything you do on behalf of the Board of Supervisors. Thank you so much for what you do and what you continue to do for the residents of Stanislaus County. I'm going to turn the mic over to you.

Well, I came as a refugee to the United States, too. So I love my job because I can help people that had the same situation I had before. So that's why I'm thankful for the job I have right now, because I can work for the most people that have been really, really needed to be helped coming from other countries and don't speak English. We used a lot of translation, Arabic speaking, all the other ones, but really I want to thank Stanislaus County for helping the refugee community and helping them to be able to have their families safe in this area. Thank you.

You see the best recruiters are family members to the county family. That's great. Next up will be Jody Hayes.

Good morning. A little different view from down here. All right. Good morning, Tara. How are we doing? I'm with someone that needs no introduction, Tara Chumley. So today we are very pleased to recognize Tara Chumley, our Director of Parks and Recreation, as she celebrates 25 years of dedicated public service with Stanislaus County. Tara began her county career in 2001 with the Chief Executive Office as an Assistant Management Consultant. And over the next two decades, through her dedication to personal and professional development, she advanced through several roles and ultimately to the position of Senior Management Consultant. Tara's career with the Chief Executive Office spanned over 21 years. During that time, she grew her knowledge of county operations and became a key resources in budget and human resources activities. She supported virtually every county department in one way or another through these two distinct disciplines. Her work touched many of the county's most significant initiatives. She contributed to the implementation of major technology projects including PeopleSoft and the county's HR internet and intranet platforms. She was part of the team that modernized our agenda process by transitioning to an electronic agenda management system that we still use today. and she contributed to a wide range of complex county initiatives, including the Crow's Landing Industrial Business Park, groundwater policy development, regional solid waste agreements, and our public facilities fees programs, and the list goes on and on. I think we should also acknowledge that for a few of those years, Tara had the unofficial title of Cannabis Queen, serving as our internal expert and leader on the development and implementation of a budding new industry here in Stanislaus County. See how I got that in there? It's pretty good, huh? It's pretty good. Behind the scenes, Tara also played an important role in budget development, labor negotiations, recruitment, staffing, and countless special projects that strengthened the county government. Now in our spare time, Tara advanced her education and obtained a master's degree in public administration from California State University Northridge through a program designed by the California State Association of Counties. So as you can see, Tara does not like to sit still, and in our world, that's a huge compliment. After more than two decades of growth in the chief executive office, Tara made a significant turn in her career when she accepted the opportunity to lead our parks department. It was a move that surprised some people, but it made perfect sense for those of us who knew her well. See, long before becoming parks director, Tara was already one of our county parks biggest supporters. She was a frequent visitor, spending time enjoying the very park she would eventually be responsible for leading. Her passion for these community assets wasn't something she developed after accepting the position. It was already there. She understood firsthand the importance of parks as places where friends and families gather, children play, and memories are made. That personal connection helped shape her commitment to preserving and improving these treasured public spaces for our future generations. So as parks director, Tara has a lot of responsibility, including five regional parks, reservoirs, off-highway vehicle parks, over 20 community and neighborhood parks, cemeteries, pedestrian bridges, historical areas, fishing access points along rivers and lakes, swimming pools, and extensive open space and river bottoms. I love that we have a huge showing here from our parks team and that we're celebrating parks with another item a little bit later today. These are the people that provide a space for all of us to enjoy throughout our community. Tara's been very busy in her new assignment. She has already improved services to the community with the implementation of an electronic customer survey through the county parks reservation system, which gathers valuable feedback on opportunities for us to better serve the community. She also led and supported key capital improvement projects that you can see out in the community. Those include Burbank Paradise Park, Bonita Pool, and Oregon Park improvements. And finally, Terra is always looking for ways to make our parks more engaging for the public through wonderful events like the annual Easter egg hunt, community fireworks on the 4th of July, and our newest addition, the Spartan races. Tara's journey is a great example of career opportunities in public service driven by a strong work ethic and desire for professional development. I worked side by side with Tara for many years. During our time together, I watched Tara lean into some of the most difficult work we do in the chief executive office. And I want to thank her for the many late nights she pitched in to finish the budget or a difficult labor negotiation. You never forget those people who have been with you through difficult challenges, and Tara is certainly one of those people during my time with the county. Tara, thank you for your 25 years of dedicated service to this organization and our community. Congratulations on this well-deserved milestone, and thank you for everything you have done and continue to do for Stanislaus County.

Congratulations. Okay, we're happy.

So Parks employees know you have a fierce advocate.

And what does that mean? That we hear from her all the time, every day, about needs. But you know that I have a soft spot. You don't ever want to say which departments are your favorite or not, but you know I have a soft spot for Parks. And I appreciate everything. So I just want to remind everyone, this is my 18th year on the board, and so when I first started, Jody had alluded to some of the work The people that were on budget row, what I consider the cubes on the west side of the building, there was Doris Foster, who's a department head now in workforce development, the late David Jones, who was with First Five, department head, Mandeep Dhillon, who's the auditor, and Monica Corrier, HR director, and you, who's the parks director. And so everyone that was in budget row when I got on has achieved department head status, essentially department head status, which says a lot about this organization. and the drive and commitment of the people who work there. Again, I spent my entire career here. One of the people who has trained me up, for lack of a better word, that really helped me understand the budget early on and now what the parks mean. to the people of Stanislaus County. We're so successful that we had to close both Modesto Reservoir and Woodward Reservoir due to too much attendance, which probably disappointed some folks. But again, it's the ability of the way the parks operates now under your leadership is truly amazing. So on behalf of the Board of Supervisors, congratulations on 25 years, and I'm so excited I know you said you're going to stick around just a little bit longer and just a little bit. So I'm going to turn this over to you.

All right. Everybody kept asking me, are you prepared? Did you prepare something? I'm all, no, I have a parks presentation to do. I haven't prepared anything. I just want to thank Jody so much. By the way, we have high school yearbooks of one another. So if we ever need to, like, just so you know. So when we get to our budget request, I want you to remember that, please. Board, Vito, all of you, you have been so amazing and supportive and have believed in me and trusted me. And I'm just so proud to be your parks director for Stanislaus County. The CEO's office. Oh my God, if you spend 21 years in the CEO's office, I think you need to spend some time in mental health. That's a long time, but wow, what amazing opportunities I have there. I started in HR. I now know enough to get myself in trouble with everybody else who's in HR today. I've had amazing mentors. Pat Sweeney, she taught me how to... Get to yes. She said, in HR, we don't say no. We say, how do we get to yes? And that just started off in my public service career of, how do we get to yes? I had Eileen Melson, who taught me how to write. getting back a document and it just have all that red writing like if you were in school. So she taught me how to write and Monica Nino taught me how to do agenda items. She take a calculator and math out the fiscal impact to make sure it matched the contract that was attached. Then Keith Boggs who had more confidence in me than I had in myself. Always said he would throw me in the deep end and I never had to worry that I was going to drown because he always had my back. and he had more confidence that I'd make it through no matter what. All of those mentors, I've been so fortunate. That's how I got here today to be Director of Parks and Recreation, not in my career plan. It's like my favorite job. I love the people and I love what I do, and I love having the opportunity to give back to a community that I grew up in. We've got more to do, Vito. We got Turlock Lake. We got more. So I learned how to water ski at Modesto Reservoir. And I spent many high school afternoons at Turlock Lake Ski Beach and camp at Woodward Reservoir. So it's truly a privilege to be the Parks and Rec director. And then I can't be remiss without recognizing all the fabulous relationships that I have built through the county that are family. And I look at Doris and she looks like she's going to cry, so that's going to make me cry. So, Doris and I started in the CEO's office. We were cubicle roommates, and she was at my wedding. She was with me through my divorce, and she's with me every day, and I love you. Oh, I'm going to stop there before I cry some more. Thank you, everybody.

Christine Huber. Magda Garibay.

Good morning.

We're celebrating Magda Garibay's 30th anniversary with the county. She began her career at Community Services Agency as an eligibility worker one in August of 1996 where she served as a Spanish bilingual case manager training CalWORKs, CalFresh and our Medi-Cal programs. In September of 2007, Magna was promoted to Family Service Specialist 3 in the Welfare to Work section and has continued to serve in that capacity to the present day. Magda helps adults who are receiving CalWORKs cash assistance prepare for work, find employment, and overcome barriers so they can achieve long-term self-sufficiency. Magda took advantage of the county's educational offerings by enrolling in Modesto Junior College classes and successfully obtained her certification as an employment services specialist. Magna managed the Behavioral Health Services specialized caseload for over five years and participated in the initiation of the Accelerated Careers in Technology program for two years. Since November 2007, Magna has been serving as the agency's Student Attendance Review Board liaison for Modesto City Schools, consistently attending collaboration meetings while maintaining her regular welfare-to-work caseload. In addition, Magna became and continues to serve as a backup worker for the home visiting program since its inception. Magna brings extensive knowledge and experience to the team and consistently demonstrates reliability and strong work ethic. Magna is always willing to assist others and provide valuable mentorship to newly hired family service specialist staff. Her professional welcoming demeanor contributes positively to the unit and makes her an exceptional colleague to work with. Magna has three kids and two grandchildren. She loves spending time with family and enjoys attending her grandchildren's school events, dance recitals, and takes great joy in watching them grow over the years. Magna also loves gardening and working on small craft projects like knitting and sewing. One of Magda's most meaningful experience working with the SAR program has been the opportunity to intervene early and support students in getting back on track to complete high school. Magda found great fulfillment in contributing to their successes, especially knowing that many went on to pursue higher education. Congratulations on 30 years.

All 30 years in the same department. I missed that point. I was just asking. So the reason I think it's amazing is you think about how many people the average or how many jobs the average person has over 30 years. For someone to stay in the same department, not even move amongst the county, means either you put up with some great bosses, right, and some great mentors to stay there and feel supported. And going back and getting education, you're the second one today, which is truly amazing. I just can't even imagine myself trying to do that and juggle. And you have children and other things. So I'm so proud of you. Thank you. And thank you for all you've done on behalf of the Board of Supervisors. Congratulations.

Thank you so much. I just want to say thank you to everybody who has been part of my life through this journey. 30 years seems like they went by very fast. I started when I was pregnant with my son. And then I had my other son there. So it's just the support that I've had through all these 30 years. It's been great. I was not only given the chance to further my education through the county service that they provided to us, but also to become a homeowner, which I'm very grateful for because that was one of my goals, to provide for my kids. So I just want to thank you, everybody. I love you all. Thank you for being here.

Thank you.

Before I move on, there was one person that was on the agenda. It was Karen Clark, who was going to receive her 30-year service award, and we're going to reschedule for the next meeting. She couldn't make it today. All right, we're going to move on to item number two, which is the recognition of the 2026 employee mentors. Tina Rocha.

CEO Hayes, County Council Bowes, Tina Rocha, Assistant Executive Officer, and with me today is Markel Rocha, an Executive Assistant in our office. It's our pleasure to be here today to recognize the 2025-2026 employee mentors. Quick history on this program, it was piloted back in 1998 by then Assistant Executive Officer Keith Boggs. In 1999 it became an official county program and then in the years 2010 through 2015 it had received some recognition both regionally and nationally. We did need to pause briefly during COVID. And when we relaunched the program, we were blessed to be able to partner with Sierra Vista Children and Family Center to expand our reach and support with this program. And we look forward to our continuing growing partnership with them in the years to come. So the employee mentor program aligns with the Stanislaus County values of both we believe each person matters and we are good partners. Through that partnership with Sierra Vista, our own employees and their additional mentors with Sierra Vista, we've been able to make a substantial impact on the community. So you can see some of the data on the slide from the 25-26 year. You can see 100% of the teachers recommended that this program continue. that 98% of the students are also encouraging the mentorship program to continue. We had 93% of the principals seeing that peer relations between students were improving, and that 92% of the students said that their mentors helped them reach their goals, and 89% received help with reading and writing, and 85% of those were encouraged to be attending school. So during this past year, there were over 200 students that were mentors, and as I mentioned earlier, the students were meeting goals. So of those 286 goals they met, 105 were academic, which ranged from being student of the month to increasing their reading fluency and completing their work. 181 were reaching their social and emotional goals which included getting along with classmates, learning respectful behaviors, and learning impulse control among several others. So the next few slides, last year we played a little video clip. This year we have some pictures of our very own employee mentors with their mentees and the comments that the mentees made about them. So in the upper left hand corner, the quote from the mentee was he always makes me smile and he makes me very happy. Lower left hand corner is she helps me with multiplication and division and she plays football with me. And then on the right-hand side says she helps me do my work and stay focused. Starting in the left-hand side and working clockwise, the mentee commented my favorite thing about her is she helps me a lot with my writing and reading. You're the best mentor in the world, and she's a good person. She helps me get through hard things in my life. reading left to right, he makes me feel happy because he doesn't give up on me. My favorite thing about her is she's nice because she helps me and stuff. And I want to thank her for being here with me. Left to right, thank you for spending time with me and playing with me. And finally, thank you for teaching me everything that you've taught me. I love you very much. So you can really see the impact that these mentors are having on the kids in our community. I'd like to read out the names of the 25, 26 mentors, and we will ask them to come up at the end of the presentation. So this year it was Kim Mello, Mitchell Medeiros, Curtis Lee, Devin Brown, Michelle Bertolero, Ren Rose, Ali Arshad, Ellen Grace Carrillo, Jennifer Hidalgo, Emily DeAnda, Cerise Scholes, and Jamie Smith. So with that, I'd like to thank the board for your continuing support of this program. I'd also like to thank Sierra Vista for its partnership. We do have Anne with Sierra Vista, who is the program coordinator, and some of her staff in the chambers today. I'd like to invite Anne up to say a few words. And then afterwards, I'd like to invite the chairman and the board to come down and take a photo with the mentors. Thank you.

Um, first of all, thank you so much, Tina and Markel. They helped bring us back in and get this program going with the county. And we're very grateful. So I'm Ann Aylson. I'm the coordinator of this program with Sierra Vista. And I just, I'll give a few words cause there's way too much I could share. I am truly grateful to the support of our county and, um, Just several of you have been such advocates for us, looking at two of you right now, that have really supported us. And I'm just truly grateful that we have a county who sees the need and the benefits of preventative services and emotional equity for our youth. We have seen children's lives change for the better, and I could go on and on about countless stories of children coming out of violent homes, coming out of very, very hard situations and circumstances, and just having someone there that supports them, a mentor, a volunteer mentor, or my team, It makes all the difference for their mental health, for their academic well-being. And it's just been wonderful to witness. And again, we couldn't do this without our amazing volunteers. Several of them are here. We have a lot more. And of course, my team. They are fantastic. And so I just want to thank all of you, the county, for supporting our youth. It's a very big deal. And it's an honor and privilege to do this work alongside you in a county that's so supportive. So thank you guys so much.

So if the employee mentors could, if you're in the chambers, if you could come forward.

Thank you. We're going to put our faces right in between you guys. Keep coming.

Keep coming. Come on.

He's got to get in closer. Come on up. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you all. Appreciate that.

All right. Now we're going to move on to Item 3, which is July, declaring July 2026 as Parks and Recreation Month in Stanislaus County.

All right. Good morning, Chairman Chiesa, Supervisors C.O.

Hayes and Council Bowes. I'm Tara Chumley, Director of Parks and Recreation. And with me at the staff table this morning is Haley Klevemeyer, Communications and Event Manager. And also joining us today are several members of our dedicated Parks and Recreation professionals. Today we're here to recognize July as Parks and Rec Month in Stanislaus County and to celebrate our staff and their accomplishments over the last year. California Parks and Recreation Society celebrates Parks Make Life Better, recognizing the importance of local parks, recreation, open spaces, and facilities for the positive development of all Californians and their community. Annually, the Board of Supervisors recognizes July as Parks and Recreation Month, bringing awareness to local community, neighborhood, and regional parks and recognizing the dedicated park professionals who make that happen. Our parks are spread across Stanislaus County with over 17,000 acres of park spaces and 9,200 acres of waterways. Our staff travel several miles to each park location daily and maintain a diverse network of park facilities. The map on the screen shows our five regional parks, Modesto and Woodward Reservoirs, LaGrange and Frank Rains Off-Highway Vehicle Parks, and Laird Park. And today on the map, we're very excited to add Turlock Lake State Recreation Area, which will reopen next summer. Over the past year, our team has worked to revitalize community parks. Major park improvement projects included Bonita Pool, Leroy Fitzsimmons Memorial Park, and Salida Park. Staff continued to add picnic packages, solar lighting, and shade throughout our county park system. In the upcoming year, our department will be moving forward with a series of exciting and necessary improvements to many park facilities. These projects listed on the screen include maintenance and upgrades to existing park facilities, installation of new equipment, and safety and accessibility enhancements.

Each year, the Modesto Bee conducts a reader's choice contest, allowing the public to vote for their favorites in a wide variety of categories. Last year, both our reservoirs were listed under the category of Things to Do, Best RV and Campground. We're happy to share that we won gold for Modesto Reservoir and silver for Woodward. 2026 voting will open on July 20th. Please be sure to vote for your favorites. In partnership with the Police Activities League, we continue Parks and Recreation Month community activities and offer fun additions with our Rec Van program. The Rec Van visits five different county parks Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Please visit us throughout the month of July to help us celebrate as we offer enhanced activities featuring a week with PAL surprise activities, drum circle, art in the park, and finishing out the month with our library STEAM story and fun. It takes a village. We are grateful for the many strong partnerships that help support our work every day. From our fellow county departments to our local agencies and community collaborators, each play a vital role in helping us provide services to the community. This year, we have the pleasure of recognizing staff who have reached milestones in their career with the county. Laura Delgadillo, project technician, celebrated 10 years. Vinal Chand, our administrative manager four, celebrates 15 years this month. Our fearless leader and director, Tara, was recognized today for her 25 years with the county. and John Lamella, Park Maintenance Worker 3 at Modesto Reservoir, celebrated 30 years in February. What an accomplishment. Together, their combined total represents 80 years of county service.

So our Parks and Recreation team is made up of dedicated and skilled professionals serving in a wide range of roles. From those who maintain and enhance our parks to those who support operations behind the scenes, every employee plays an essential role in ensuring our parks remain safe, welcoming, and vibrant spaces where the community can connect, recreate, and enjoy the outdoors. Pictured on the screen is a photo recently taken at Modesto Reservoir by one of our own Judith. Thank you for your time today in recognizing July as Parks and Recreation Month.

Okay, so how many of you have been out to one of the five regional parks? Raise your hand for me. Let's say the majority of the people. That is great. So our other partners, South San Joaquin Irrigation District, Turlock Irrigation District, Modesto Irrigation District, the state of California, I saw them up there. These don't happen by accident. I tell these folks that the county subsidizes the park system. It's for the betterment of the community. And as much as we want to believe that it's money making, I can prove otherwise, paid through the general fund, but It's a good thing, and when you talk about how many things we can do to provide enjoyment for people, there's not a ton of things the county, we provide services, but this is one of the areas, the library is another one where we can actually move people, move the needle. Families can get together, they can recreate, obviously that's why it's called the recreation department, but we're very proud of what we've done, very proud of what All of you workers, I mean, the fact that everything looks so great when I, because I drive out to Modesto Reservoir once in a while, and just drive in and go take a look, and it's really, compared to when I got on the board today, it's much different. So exciting times ahead for fishing. I hear they keep stocking Turlock Lake, even though no one's fishing there. We're not allowing any fishing, so I can't wait to get on the lake. But On behalf of the board, we're proclaiming July 2026 as Parks and Recreation Month. I brought my glasses, I'm sorry. Whereas the parks and recreation are an integral part of the communities throughout the county, including Stanislaus County, whereas parks and recreation programs are essential to community health and well-being and help cultivate lifelong friendships, memories, family bonds that people hold near and dear for decades. Whereas parks and recreation activities serve to bring communities closer and provide opportunities to achieve healthier lifestyles, and whereas parks and recreations promote physical, emotional, and mental health and wellness through organized and self-directed fitness, play, and activities, whereas parks and recreation support safe, vibrant, attractive, Progressive communities that make life better through positive alternatives offered in their recreational opportunities That's where I'm going to stop right now And because it goes on and on therefore be it resolved the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim that and recognize the month of July as Parks and Recreation Month in Stanislaus County again, thank you to Powell and all the partnerships we have in our park system that that make it so great and

Coming up, staff.

It's hard. It's like carting.

These are the clouds.

Okay, so now we're gonna move on to the public comment period, and things are changing today.

And we have the ability, or the public has the ability now to call in during public comment, so I'm going to go ahead and read something just to get us started. SB 707, before we begin today's meeting, I'd like to highlight several new ways we are making it easier for the public to participate in county government. Today marks the return of remote public participation by telephone for board of supervisor meetings. The first time this option has been available since the pandemic. This week, the board has also expanded access by publishing agendas in both English and Spanish and introducing electronic public comment registration through the QR code displayed in chambers or at the join.stancounty.com. Residents now have multiple ways to participate by submitting written comments before the meeting attending in person or speaking by phone. These improvements are designed to reduce barriers and make it easier for everyone to stay informed and engaged. We appreciate your patience as we continue refining these new tools in the months ahead. The county will continue expanding public awareness through the multilingual outreach, digital communications, community organizations and other local partners to ensure more residents know how to participate in board meetings. We look forward to continuing to improve public access and hearing from more members of our community. We will now get started with public comment. Speakers have up to five minutes to offer comments unless circumstances warrant a change. The clerk of the board is going to call speakers who are in person or on the phone. Before we get started, I know it's written in small print In the future, if we have a five minute limit at the discretion of the board chair, if we end up with lots of people in the future, we might adjust that down to four or three minutes just based on how much participation there's going to be. We've kept it at five minutes for now because that's been the way we've done business, but it doesn't mean it can't or won't change. Okay, I'm gonna turn it over to Madam Clerk.

Comment is a time for those in attendance to speak on items not on today's agenda. So we'll begin by calling the cards. And the first speaker today is Ron McMurtry.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the board.

I don't like dealing with these grim subjects, but I want this to stay a family show, so I won't go into grim detail. But I wanted to follow up on something that during the illegal food, whatever, pop-ups, Supervisor Withrow commented about you know, how it's terrible that this seems to intersect with human trafficking and that these people have to pay off their indentured servitude. I think the general public is aware of coyotes. That's pretty well known. I think that's what he was probably alluding to. And if people might know about the snakeheads in China, these are some of the names that have names. people in all these different countries, but I do want to know, this is maybe less known, that there is outright chattel slavery, and a lot of it does take place in the United States. These folks do not have a way to get out of that, so this is serious. There's no rhyme or reason of where the traffic is taking place, jurisdiction-wise. It's crazy. As you guys know, I listen to a lot of podcasts, so I get little bits of things. There are people researching this, and I'm also dismayed that, yes, why do these people, these authorities who are supposed to help take care of these things, why do they turn away? And there's multiple reasons, and I can't go into them, but just know there is a lot of money involved in human trafficking. So you can buy politicians. You can buy police. This is what's going on, but there's no rhyme and reason to what jurisdictions. I'll maybe follow up later someday if I get something that might be helpful for this county or if I find out something occurring in this county. Thank you.

Thanks, Ron.

Next up, Brian Evatt.

Good morning, Supervisors. Brian Evatt. Parks and recreation. That's pretty cool. It's kind of entertainment. Entertainment, we should have entertainment. Entertainment brings in revenue. We need revenue because, shoot, $1.4 billion of it all is just health, welfare, safety, homeless. If we brought in some entertainment like we should have years ago when the mall was built, convention centers that have been across the street, stadiums, then our parks would have more people working for them. And we could combine that and bring in more revenue. But we haven't done that because of zoning. And you guys have the right to zoning. You guys can make those changes because of zoning. Stop looking for the grant money and start looking at the people that have been here. I mean, I've watched people in my neighborhood waited and waited and waited. for this to happen, that we could have a convention center. We could have a community. We could tie Salida together. We've waited. But all we seem to get is a little triangle bit tore off. We don't get the entertainment. We don't get to build our parks and recreation, which is entertainment, which is your convention centers, which is your stadiums. That is all part of recreation. And we just look at our lakes. So we have people traveling outside. And we should just put it right here in the middle, just like Han wanted to do. But we're blind. I don't understand why we're so blind to it. I mean, I live over here on Dakota and Beckwith, I have a place. And I've waited for years. I've watched my teachers die. They bought that area up so they could develop it, that they could grow the community. And the people in the neighborhood that had businesses could grow. But we keep catering to these corporations, KB Homes. We'll get that. We'll make the lot smaller. We'll generate more money by making it a lot smaller. And now we've got a $200,000 lot that's 60 by 60. But then we go and jack up the old homes to $400,000. So we tax our people right out of our community. And then we don't even build our entertainment, which that's part of health and safety and welfare. Because that mental ability to turn around and have enjoyment and entertainment. I mean, you should see that entertainment is a revenue draw. Why didn't we build this? Why didn't we zone this area to do this? Zoning. That's the one thing that you guys have a voice on in this community. That's the one thing you can share with your community and the people that live here is by putting them in situations where they can grow. Otherwise, you just push them out. This isn't right. Stop pushing them out that way to the farmland. You hear it in Flatland. We got a corridor right here, 99 corridor, the gateway to Modesto. But we can't even get sewer and water on the other side of the freeway. That's pretty lame. as far as I'm concerned. But you guys have that control. You have the zoning control. Your miles might be shut because you're controlled by the state, but you're not controlled to zone these areas. You're not controlled. These people can profit. They can flourish. But if you don't give them the right and you don't unlock that side of the corridor, you're just tying it up, looking for that grant money. Let's get that grant money twice. Let's build a highway all out to Tuolumne. We're already behind. You go to Tuolumne border and Stanislaus, look, you've got a four-lane road over there, and then we drop down to two. The traffic backs up, stops. Why should it be stopping there? That's how far behind you guys are. But now that you're getting the grant money again, this is the second time for that highway to go through. Are we ever going to finish? We have to buy the land back again. so we can build the roads. This is how lame we wind up being because everybody wants to just get the grant money. Start focusing on your own community and the people that have grown up here and built this community. Focus on their needs and not the corporate needs. Get these zoning changes. Get the corridor in. It should be coming from Brinks all the way into Salida. Stop jerking around with Salida and give them a chance to grow. This is what we need. And we need that corridor opened up on the other side of the freeway. It's just lame that we haven't done it. And Patterson and that area, Jim Thayer came out there and started that area, which got it growing. But yet look at... We don't work with our local builders anymore. We work with corporations because we can get grant money and we can get the divisions made. That's not right. That's just kicking everybody else to the side just to give them money and just to do their dirty deeds. And Terry, you really need to work on this side. That corridor needs to be opened up. It's the easiest way to our sewage process plant. It's a straight line down Brinks, and you can't beat that. And we're going to spend $128 million on that overpass, and that should be put in the ground before that thing even starts. Thank you. That's all I've got to say. It's part of the community's goodness.

Next speaker is David Hicks.

Welcome, David. Thank you. Okay. Good morning, chairman and members of the board. My name is David Hicks, which you already know that, and I live in Da Nair. I'm here today not to complain about my neighbors or to ask you to punish anyone. I'm here because I want to share something I never truly understood until I became my daughter's caregiver. My daughter has Down syndrome, autism, and is legally blind. She has low muscle tone. She uses her wheelchair when we go for walks in our neighborhood, and I push her. Most of us experience our neighborhoods from our own perspective. I know I did. It wasn't until I began pushing my daughter in a wheelchair that I realized how many obstacles exist on what should be a simple walk. Many times our sidewalks are blocked by vehicles parked across them, garbage cans left in the way, basketball hoops extending into the sidewalk and other obstacles. When that happens, I have to push my daughter into the street to get around them. It's not just inconvenient, it's a safety issue. I've already damaged two wheelchair wheels. Actually I broke about three or four wheelchair wheels. I had to leave the sidewalk to get around obstructions. I eventually bought a more expensive wheelchair, which you'll have a picture of, because I couldn't keep replacing damaged wheels. I'm not here asking the county to find my neighbors or sue anyone. I honestly don't believe most people intend to make life difficult for families like mine. I think many simply don't realize what it's like to push a wheelchair through a neighborhood. For someone walking alone, a garbage can, a basketball hoop, or another object on the sidewalk may seem like a small inconvenience. For someone pushing a wheelchair, it can mean leaving the safety of the sidewalk and entering the roadway. I understand the county can't prevent every obstruction. My request is simply that the county help educate residents about keeping sidewalks clear. Whether that's through the county website, social media, newsletters, or another form of public outreach, a simple reminder that sidewalks are intended to remain accessible could make a meaningful difference. Keeping sidewalks clear doesn't just help people who use wheelchairs. It helps parents pushing strollers, children riding bicycles, seniors using walkers, people with visual impairments, delivery workers, and anyone who depends on a safe pedestrian path. One thing this experience has taught me is that accessibility isn't about special treatment. It's about making sure everyone can safely use the public sidewalks that belong to all of us. I'm simply asking the board to direct staff to explore ways to educate residents about keeping sidewalks clear so that families like mine can safely use sidewalks that are already there. Thank you for your time and for your service to our community. Okay, and I'd like one. The pictures I gave you from yesterday, those are yesterday's walk. And that by no means was exhaustive. That's the few that I've taken pictures of. And some of my friends think I kind of seem like a Karen on this. I don't want to seem like a Karen. But the thing is, I realize that not everybody can see the value of my daughter that I do. It's been, it's been my privilege to be her father. And I know it might be difficult for some of you to see her the way I see her, but I had a conversation with God many years ago. And she holds just as much value in his eyes that everybody else does. Anyway, I'll try to not be so emotional about this, but on a footnote, Mr. Chiesa, I was the first person to point out that you were at the Leonid and Friends concert and you still owe me a beer.

Okay, thank you so much for your time. Lane Abel is going to walk around. He's going to talk to you back over here by your kit. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. David.

Thank you. The last card that I have for this portion of our agenda is for Deanna Washington.

Well, he has me getting emotional.

I have an autistic son.

He's high functioning, but he still needs help, even at 22.

Good morning. I come to you with a heavy heart. I know five minutes is not long I had three agendas, which means I'm going to need to come back to you The first one that I'm going to skip over but mention is illegal fireworks in our unincorporated areas I want to know if we have some kind of division that comes out and deals with illegal fireworks we're having a problem in our areas with that. And I'm going to come back to that another day. The other thing that I'm going to come back to is burning in our unincorporated county areas. The fire department says one thing. before they said, well, you had to have a burn permit. And we know most people can't get a burn permit. And then now it was said to me because the guy in back of me wanted to have burning, especially when it's windy and he can't keep control of those embers. I've already had a neighbor on the corner of Spencer, start a huge, humongous fire, and it cost me many thousands of dollars. And the fire department missed putting something in that report that kept us from justice. And I'm footing the bill. Now, I bet you don't want somebody else's pocket in your pocket, and I don't appreciate paying lots of money for insurance, and it doesn't work for me while that guy gets away with what he's doing. But we'll come back to that. But now the fire department says it's OK. They burn all over here. Wait a minute. When did that happen? When did that rule change? Be honest. Stop playing with us here, because you're costing me money. The same as when the county allowed someone to steal an alley. Part of that alley was put in by my grandfather. My grandfather bought land when you couldn't even, as a black person, afford that land. You couldn't even buy that land. Second Baptist Church has their property. They own their church because of my grandfather. That alley was put in by him. And the garbage company used to use that alley to pick up the garbage. Now you want to tell me something different? Hey, listen, we'll get back to that another day, too. But what I really want to talk to you about today is our district attorney's office. Two years ago, August of 2024, I had a man come on my property at 4 o'clock in the morning. And he has done over $1,200 worth of damage. That man had to be taken down by seven sheriffs. And then from August to December, the district attorney's office was supposed to subpoena me. I didn't get subpoenaed. By December 30th, I'm getting a letter from the victim's program saying that I hadn't shown up. Are you kidding me? If I'm bold enough to sign that paper and I say I'm not scared, You better take him to jail and figure out what's wrong here. I don't know who that guy is, but I know that he was going to blow up my brand new car. He was building a fire on top of my car. That could have been catastrophic. But as a woman of God, God woke me up on time. Now, hey, I'm not trying to hurt anybody. But seems to me that they plea bargained him. Without me present, they're going to plea bargain him and put him in some drug and alcohol program. And they didn't even test him to know what he was on. My goodness. Stanislaus Multicultural. See, I do my research when I need to. They already had a restraining order on him. He has mental health issues. If you don't help him with the mental health issues, it's not going to make a hill of beans about the drug and alcohol. And guess what? He's getting his drugs right across the street. That's why he keeps coming on Marshall. Now, I have been forced to come out of pocket since that day. to have attorney to go back into court because the district attorney's office violated my constitutional rights under Marcy's law. Yes, they did. And had an attitude. Are you kidding me? Now listen, if the district attorney's office is going to send their minions to talk to me, have enough manners. Manners. They forgot that they serve community. I've been told recently that the district attorney's office does not answer to anyone. Yes, you do, sir. Yes, you do. You answer to this community. But more than that, I know that you don't handle prosecution and all that, but I do know you handle purse string. And I do know you handle resources. And I think Mr. Legreiro, sorry if I mispronounce your name, but if you're gonna send me your minions, you better not send anybody to talk to me dismissively. and make it seem like I'm making up something. No, they have put me in danger. Mr. Elanes has come back within this two years several times. I've had to have him violated through the probation department. Then I've had to just recently go back into court for the judge to give me a five-year restraining order. What does a restraining order do for you? when that man is going to keep violating it. And now the district attorney's office, they called me back when I pitched a fit.

Deanna, I need you to wrap it up.

Okay. Here's my ending.

Okay.

The district attorney that was sent to me, Mr. Elgin, he says to me that he's not going to speak to me about this because it would make him a witness. A witness of what? Here's my point to you. If I'm a citizen and he acts like he doesn't have a boss to oversee to, yes, he does. So I'm appealing to you to handle this situation because my rights are being violated and my safety. And it's going to get to be a big deal in this county, sir. I don't back down.

I sent a text to Jeff Leggero and he's going to look into it. Thank you very much. Fires, there should not be any fires, any backyard fires. If you just listen for a second, I'm answering some of your questions ma'am. Fires, nobody should have a fire burning in a backyard. The only fires that are allowed are through permit through the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control. You can call their number and report any fires. If it's an ag burn, the fire department will know right away and will respond to you. Fireworks are a problem. If you just listen for a second, ma'am, I'm trying to answer your questions. And fireworks are a problem everywhere, not only inside the city but out in the unincorporated area. I'm going to ask about those questions and we'll have an answer for you if you leave your number right over here with the clerk's office, the alleyway. If you leave the address where you're talking about, I will have Public Works look into it. I know they've had many of these issues in the past. So those are the answers to your questions. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Next up. And there's none online?

None online.

Okay. All right. Thank you very much. We're going to move on to the consent calendar. I have B7, B8, B9, C2, and C4 pulled for comment. Any board member like to pull any besides those? Looking left, looking right. Any member of the public wish to pull any other ones besides B7, 8, 9, C2, C4? Seeing none, I'll take a motion excluding those five. Move to approve. We have a motion to approve. We have a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries 5-0. Thank you. First I'm going to go B7, Ron McMurtry. Approval to amend the agreement with Oracle of America for public safety related systems.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah. I just have concerns about Oracle, the kind of company it is. Again, I listen to a lot of podcasts. And one of the patterns we're seeing now with information management, the reason it is said that when something is free, you're the product, our data. So since the sheriff is paying $1 for all these Oracle services, and it's already been well known that Oracle is a data gathering. They want to know everything about everybody. And so I just want to kind of put a warning there. We're the product. That's really my only concern. I just want people to be aware of that. Oh, I'm sorry. No, actually, there's this tiny other thing. There is a, people may have heard of, what do they call that? when they steal information, then they hold it. Ransomware. There is an organization called Shiny Hunters out there that have been around, and there's this interesting pattern that's starting to uncover. I don't have all the details, but they are not only breaking in. I think they're getting invited in. These companies collect our data, and then they let Shiny Hunters or whoever come in and steal, so they don't look like they're culpable for releasing private information. So I just want the public to know This is a pattern we're seeing nowadays. Yeah.

Stay right there. I'm going to have you comment. You also have B9, which is approval to retroactively increase a blanket purchase order with Staples.

Yes, of course, I've come up here and commented before about retroactive this and that, and I know it can't be helped for this, you know, for multiple reasons, some of which is inflation, of course. This one I just, this one drove me nuts. $199,999. If it's $200,000, they have to bring it to the board for approval, and I just thought, Did the department do that so they wouldn't have to put this in a consent item? Or was this a put-up job by Staples? Did Staples say, hey, yeah, you should do that? So I want to ask Director Imperial, who instigated that? I think that's strange to do that. That's like those people who make those deposits. you know, in the bank, so that just under the amount to make, have to make a report to the feds. So, I don't know, it just bugs me. I just don't know who's behind that.

You also asked for C4 approval.

Yeah, C4 is the 7th Street Bridge, the service the Stan RTA is offering. It, one of these things, I don't know if, Director Lehman can answer all of these It mentioned fair recovery. So I'll ask I'll ask all these we'll see which ones you can answer It says up for a hundred and four weeks. So is this item to cover? That's that's two years So is this budget item for two years or is this one year's worth of the budget? this other thing it says for fair recovery and for agencies, well you guys have your own agencies so you know this. You know there's all these rules about what you're qualified for when you ask for grants. One of them is the revenue being brought in. So I wanted to know if this fair recovery is gonna make it easier or harder for Stan RTA with regard to LCTOP and different grants where you have to have a certain revenue ratio. And I just surveyed the area personally this morning, and there is no signage either end of the bridge that would let pedestrians or bicyclists know that there is some kind of service to get around. And I would like to recommend, Director Lehman, please get some kind of signage out there. Thank you.

Bus bridge. There is no fare box recovery ratio. Currently it's been suspended. And this is a bus bridge. You can just answer the one question, is this two years or one year of funding? Two years. Okay, thank you. It's two years of funding. Ron, appreciate it. And the other question, what's the $300,000? Or the $199,000? give you a little bit of time someone needs to look that up and you can explain that is it yeah okay all right you do that for the end all right i'm going to go back because i'm taking these we're going to take them all together i'm going to go back to b8 approval to accept the county clerk recorder registered voter certified uh statement of the vote steve morrow

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, Mr. Hayes and Mr. Bose. I'm just here to speak for the clerk's office because conducting the election is a big undertaking. 103,000 people turned in ballots this year. And my ballot had 12 propositions on it in total, so that's like a one and a quarter million individual votes that have to be tabulated. So it's a tremendous job. And it's hard to do that job when there are groups out there denigrating everything that you're saying in your attempt to conduct a fair election. So Donna and her staff deserve a lot of credit for producing the election results that we can trust. They're verified. and we can all have absolute faith in the final count. And so we need to stand behind her because there are a lot of people not just here but around the country who are coming after their local registrars of voters and trying to pitch fraudulent voting that is just not occurring. So again, we stand behind Donna and her group. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Okay. Now I'm going to go to item C2, Supervisor Chant's content.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just had a couple questions regarding this. I don't know if Mr. Lehman wants to come up and answer. Good morning, Mr. Lehman. How are you doing today?

Good morning.

If you could just please give an overview of these County service areas the landscape assessment districts and landscape and lighting districts What what services are being provided and what exactly will be discussed at the hearing that's being proposed on August 4th?

Yeah, of course these districts all provide special benefits as an example in in Keys there's 590 horsepower pumps that pump keys. I remember I was a kid, 88, I had a rack run for the Modesto B. I remember about a foot of water on 7th Street and keys driving my van through it to fill up a rack. No longer does that. We've got big pumps. You know, we fix the storm drainage in the entire town and storm drainage in this county is a special benefit. say service road floods. It floods almost every year. It's pinched up against the canal and we put out road flooded signs. That's the general benefit for storm drainage in the county. You can get sandbags or we put up road flooded signs. So if you have pumps, You need to maintain them. And like I've said, on cost, when I started the county in 07, we could do a mile's worth of overlay for $100,000. It's now $400,000 to $450,000 a mile for that same treatment. It's gone up four times in 19 years. Things cost more. And so they're, yeah. So the general benefit is sandbags and road flooded signs.

But those aren't the only benefits.

There's the lighting districts, there's the landscapes, sweepers, and Keys isn't the only area. Right, right. Just that was one example that has a lot of pumps.

Okay, well, in preparation for August 4th, if a breakdown can be provided of exactly what services are being provided to these specific areas, and also how much of those services have been used throughout the last fiscal year.

Right. Those are all in the engineer's reports. We'll bring a stack of them. And we do plan on doing briefings in the next month or so, discuss this, because some of the increases are larger than we would have liked. But, you know, the costs have gone up.

Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you again. I appreciate it. Perfect. We look forward to that information being available heading into August 4th.

Awesome. Just real quick, bonus thought. I talk about bridges. We've got another critical finding on a bridge. It's a cul-de-sac bridge. It's west down this road bridge west of Hamilton. The bridge is in D3. The cul-de-sac is in D5. And it's now we've got a weight-restricted bridge on a cul-de-sac. So it's 10% less. So that means... set of five trucks, you're going to have to carry six to move almonds out of there. So, um, and we already have 20 plus bridge projects. Don't need any more bridge projects. I'd rather pave some roads for a little bit. So, um, just it's, there's not enough money to go around for public works for sure. Thank you very much.

Some signage on the bus bridge. Perfect. Thank you very much. So we're going to go ahead and take, if there's no other comments, be seven, eight, nine, C two and C four together on consent.

Move to approve.

Motion.

Second.

And a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right. Motion carries 5-0. We have no public hearings. On to item 8, discussion item approval to execute agreements with Merced County and San Joaquin County totaling $678,000 for the retroactive term. July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028.

Good morning, Chairman Chiesa, Board of Supervisors, CEO Hayes, and County Council Bowes. I am Ruben Imperial. I am the Director for the Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. Before you today is the request to approve the agreements with Merced County, San Joaquin County, totaling approximately $678,000. to support the planning and implementation of the California Department's Social Services Children's Crisis Continuum Pilot Program. As the Board may recall, in October 2024, the Board of Supervisors decided to accept or approve the acceptance of a state's $8.5 million crisis continuum pilot program grant and designate Stanislaus County as the lead grantee agency for a regional partnership with our neighboring counties in the Spearnet. Today's actions is the next step in the implementation of this regional initiative. These agreements today provide funding for our regional partners to dedicate staff and resources to planning, care coordination, grant administration, data reporting, and implementation activities as we prepare for the opening of the Hope Forward Children's Campus. More broadly, they represent our continued commitment to building a coordinated, a regional system of care that improves access to specialized children's behavioral health services. I am here today with Care and Service, our fund development manager. I am also here with Jeannie Emilio. She is the CEO of Asperinet. And Kim Sang, our chief of our children's system of care. And we are here to answer any questions that may arise. So this is a state-funded pilot program designed to improve behavioral health services for foster youth experiencing behavioral health crises. Stanislaus serves as the grantee lead agency for the three-county regional partnership. The state-funded regional partnership is designed to improve care for foster youth with complex behavioral health needs. The goal is to reduce fragmentation by creating a single coordinated regional system rather than three separate county systems. Youth receive the appropriate level of care while remaining in the least restrictive setting whenever possible. For children and youth in the child welfare, juvenile justice, and behavioral health systems, services and placements have long been regional in nature. Unlike the adult systems of care where we usually have the capacity within our county to serve the specialized needs of these children or the population, for children, we are often relying and coordinating care with our neighboring counties and even beyond. These youth often move across county lines to access specialized treatment, residential programs, and crisis services, requiring close coordination among county behavioral health, child welfare, and probation departments. Over the last several years, our counties have done a lot of work to improve care and coordination amongst our populations in the three county region. And this pilot is just an additional project that we feel that will strengthen our regional efforts. Included in this continuum of care that is focused on connecting youth with the right level of care at the right time is crisis assessment services, crisis stabilization for kids that need a place, a safe spot to regroup and to move through their crisis and get those very necessary intervention services, crisis residential treatment services, psychiatric health facilities, family supports, and then coordinated regional placement. This is all part of our children's crisis continuum plan, and these are the essential services to make sure that we do have this regional crisis continuum. At the center of our plan is what is called the Hope Forward Campus. And on the Hope Forward Campus, this centralizes several critical services, of which three are going to be pretty much a really game changer for us in our region. The first is a crisis stabilization unit, And this is a place where kids can temporarily be for up to 24 hours and get the necessary crisis intervention services that they need. There will also be a children's crisis residential program, a little bit longer stays. And then we also have a psychiatric health facility that will be at the site. These three programs represent a really important critical infrastructure we need for residential treatment programs in our community. Right now, when children are in a crisis and they are held on a psychiatric hold, They often are confined to our local emergency departments, emergency rooms. And those stays there can be up to several days while we're trying to find placement. We do not have these types of programs in our county currently. Merced does not have these types of services as well. And San Joaquin County has limited, they have some of them but not all of them. And what this is going to allow, this is going to allow for our three counties and it will support our county as well to place these children in a residential treatment program within our county. Right now, children are placed hour, hour and a half away, even further at times. And that is not an ideal opportunity. So this is like I said, this is a game changer for us. This is going to be a project that we feel that will dramatically improve outcomes and also you know, serve our families better within our community. At this Hope Forward campus, there was also a wellness center and then a family visitation unit for families of children in one of these residential programs. the option to also visit while their loved one is receiving care at the site. This is the facility, a rendering of the facility. I've been out there recently and it is looking more and more like that every day. This was also part of upwards of a $30 million state grant that we received to build these facilities. And Asparanet has been the lead partner here. They've been a staunch advocate for children up and down the state of California in several different ways. And this is just a really great partner with Asparanet who has really, really taken hold of this project and has helped us realize this for our community. Currently, the construction will be completed in December 2026 with program implementation in the spring of 2027. Today's actions do not create new services or facilities, rather it authorizes agreements with our regional partners that allow them to dedicate personnel and resources to implement the state-funded crisis pilot program. The funding will allow for staff to coordinate referrals, participate in regional governance, support data reporting and grant compliance that we need to ramp up. anticipation of the program opening and work with the SPARENET to ensure that youth from each of the counties have timely access to new regional continuum of care at the Hope Forward Children's Campus. So there's a lot of pre-work that is needed as well as when the program is open there's going to be a lot of work to coordinate care. Opening up a psychiatric health facility within our community is one of those major events within a behavioral health department. We're going to open up one for children, actually two other equivalent residential programs. So there is quite a bit of administrative work that needs to happen and these pilot grant funds are going to help fund the staffing and the resources to do that. Concurrently, the three counties will work collaboratively to develop long-term funding agreements. that will support the ongoing operations of the Hope Forward programs and services once the campus becomes operational. There is no general fund impact associated with today's activities or actions. So this pilot program represents a significant opportunity on how we transform our services for children and youth experiencing a behavioral health crisis in our region. Our region's counties do not have the resources to independently develop and sustain these types of services on their own. So by partnering regionally, the counties are able to leverage our collective investments, expertise, and infrastructure to create a stronger behavioral health system for our children and youth that any county could build alone. So overall though, our goal is to intervene early, to reduce unnecessary hospitalizations, to keep youth connected with families and communities whenever clinically appropriate, and then receive the right care at the right time. So our staff recommendations today are to approve the agreement with Merced County in the amount of $398,812. for the retroactive term of July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028. Authorize the behavioral health director, community services agency director, chief probation officer, or their designees to sign and execute the agreement with Merced County in the amount of $398,812 for the retroactive agreement of July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028 for the implementation of the Children's Crisis Continuum pilot program. Approve an agreement with San Joaquin County in the amount of $280,115 for the retroactive term of July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2028. Authorize the behavioral health director, community services agency director, chief probation officer, or their designees to sign and execute the agreement with San Joaquin County in the amount of $280,115 for the re-attractive term of July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028 for the implementation of the Children's Crisis Continuum Pilot Program. And lastly, authorize the behavioral health director, community services agency director, chief probation officer, or their designees to sign amendments for additional services and payments, budget permitting, and consistent with county purchasing policy throughout the term of the agreements. And with that, we are here for any questions. All right. Any questions of staff?

No question, just comment. Ruben, this is great that we're getting this going. You said hour, hour and a half. I was thinking Bakersfield is where we were going before.

Yeah. Three blocks, anywhere, wherever there is opening.

You want to come up to the dial? Ask your question again.

Good morning. My name is Kim Singh. I'm the Chief of Children's Assistive Care and Transitional Aid Youth at BHRS. As we were just talking about, sometimes our family have to travel wherever there is availability of beds in terms of psych facility. So family often are not able to you know, have transportation all the way to like Berkeley area, Bakersfield. We're just giving some examples. But it could be in Sacramento area, very far. And as you know, we do have the telehealth services that we can connect the youth and the treatment team and the facility in terms of developing treatment plans. But as you know, it's not always the same when it's not in person. So that's the reason why we really are looking forward to see our partner, SphereNet, be able to have a facility close by for our family to be able to go to this facility that is close by and being able to have a treatment team within all of the providers and be able to work on the youth returning home. So just wanted to clarify that that's where they travel.

Perfect. Thanks, Kim. And it is so important, as you state there, just to have the family there. Just what a difference that can make in helping somebody recover and help the family deal with this as they're going through this. I've seen family members have to deal with this and and have to leave the area and can't be there constantly with them as they're trying to deal with this and recover. So this is a great thing. I'm very proud of you guys putting this together and look forward to great results. Thank you, guys.

Yeah, this is a great program, Ruben. Very excited about it. Glad to be partnering with our neighboring counties as well, and I think it's going to make a difference in quite a bit of lives. So thank you again for all your hard work on this. Thank you.

uh we do not have any written comments i'm going to go ahead and open the public comment period does anyone want to speak on this item come on up

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ron McMurtry here. Thank you for your presentation. I didn't need to take Supervisor C. Condit's thunder, but, of course, I'm wondering, employment, you know, people will be working at these facilities. So I have two questions. One is, does the department have, this may be an answer no, but does the department have some approximate figures of percentage usage by county? since this is a shared thing. I'm kind of curious about it. And I know we'll be taking children from other counties too, presumably. So do you have that? And then I have a question as far as what policies does your organization have regarding employing, attempting to employ people by region to support the local area? Thank you.

Yeah, I don't believe at this point we have the percentages of what would be the populations by county. That's part of what is our ongoing program development in terms of those percentages and the rates and how that would be divided. And as far as the questions regarding the percentage or the, was it the percentage of staff that would be in the county versus the other counties? Yeah, you know, the CEO of AspireNet, Jeannie Amelio, is here, and maybe she can answer that question in terms of the organization's hiring practices, whether it's within the county or the region.

Good morning, my name is Jeannie Emilio. I'm the interim CEO for Aspironet. I've been there for 37 years and I'm a lifelong resident of Stanislaus County. And I have witnessed the need for this service over the years in my work. Aspironet has considerable programming in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Merced County currently. We have almost the same continuums in all three counties. Our employment practices will be to open those requisitions and recruit from those same geographic areas. While I do anticipate the majority of the staff will live in Stanislaus County, We already do in our residential program, which is in the outskirts of Turlock, have a number of employees from Merced County. It's just so close to our border there. So I anticipate having employees from all three counties, but the majority being from Stanislaus County.

And I think it's... Good to acknowledge how big a spare net is and what your footprint is. It's not just the three counties. It's much larger than that. So recruiting talent, people may want to move. I mean, may want to work here, but live outside of that area.

It is going to be a state-of-the-art program. It is going to receive attention for the opportunities that we're bringing forward for our children and families and also for career development for individuals that are returning for their master's degrees, those that are working towards licensure. We see it as a hub of what is going to be the future of the work that we can do.

Thank you very much. Anyone else for public comment? So I'll just say this was a missing piece, right? And I'll use Alamo as my example, but people not having to go to the Bay Area or some other area, having family support, easier for the county to support them locally than somewhere far away, and this for children. You would think it would be easy to have created this a long time ago and get government agencies to work together. But when it's multi-county, it becomes that much more difficult because everyone has a best practice or a best idea. And they probably all are successful. But bringing the $30 million grant and having a partnership with the Spirinet has really opened this up. This is going to be fantastic, trying to keep people close, especially because they're juveniles. And if you look at this building, the expectation is from the top of the screen is the... um higher acuity and then they'll just kind of move through the system currently being utilized the houses are being utilized so a great great thing i look forward to the grand opening so with that i'm going to bring it back to the board for a motion i'll make a motion to approve all staff recommendations i have a motion we have a second all those in favor say aye aye opposed motion carries five to zero thank you thank you all Okay, correspondence. I actually have a card, Ron, on the correspondence. Did you want to speak on 9-2? The board has received a letter from the Riverdale Tract Community Services District regarding chemicals in their water system.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Visiting the website, this item turned out blank. It doesn't appear correctly. So I just have a couple of questions I hope Supervisor Withrow can answer, because I know Ms. Lopez talked about this subject before, and it's in his district. So one thing is I know there were plans for Modesto Water to get service over there, but I don't know what the timeline is. So could you remind me of that? And oh, darn it, what was the other thing? I guess that's it. Where are we on the timeline? Is that coming or is that come? Have we failed even with Modesto? I guess that's my question. Thank you.

over there, and we actually had a ribbon cutting as we started the work over there. The pipe is there from Modesto, and it's just a matter of getting the rest of the infrastructure in place to turn it on. So we have started, and I can't give you an exact date of when it's going to happen, but I can find that out for you. When we anticipate it, it will all be happening.

You have to do the infrastructure throughout the community? Right.

That's what we're going to do. We're going to hook everybody up in that community. All the houses there will have Modesto water, and they'll be off of this well.

And that's a part of the ARPA infrastructure? Yeah. Very good. All right. So I'm going to acknowledge the receipt of correspondence and refer as recommended on the agenda. Any Board of Supervisor reports starting left to right? Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. That's really good. I want to talk about the parades really quick. Turlock Parade on what was it, Friday and then Saturday in the Modesto Parade, we had this awesome vehicle that Jeff Reed had allowed us to utilize. And it is a, came out of the national parks, a bus, a tour bus with the top missing on it. It was a lot of fun, great turnout, weather cooperated really well. That was nice. I just wanted to thank Jeff Reed and his family. All right, Legislative Fiscal Management Report, CEO,

Okay, nothing to report today, but I would like to just do the announcement that's next on the agenda. And that announcement is that next week at our board meeting here at 9 a.m., we are pleased to host our chairman, Vito Chiesa, for the annual State of the County Address. So we'll be here in the basement chambers again, 9 a.m. next week, and hope you all can make it.

Hey, I said come early. It'll be like standing room only, I'm sure.

It's kind of like the reservoir.

Very good. All right. We do have a closed session.

Yes, we have a closed session this morning. Conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, presumed here for Code Section 54956.9, Subdivision D1. We have two cases to consider in Ray Diablo Grande Community Facilities Districts. Number one, bankruptcy case number 2526635. That's in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of California. The second case is the estate of Jeremiah Wright et al. v. County of Stanislaus et al. That's in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District. And the case number is 224CV02505. Appropriate for public comment.

Is there anyone for public comment in closed session? Seeing none, we're going to adjourn to closed session.