by friend All those in favor, please say aye I Oppose that passes unanimously and thank you rm and the staff for your work on this That brings us uh to our final item of this morning Which is a presentation of the state of the santa cruz metropolitan transit district as outlined uh in my memo Mr. Clifford, thank you for for your patience. Oh, thank you. I'm learning so much about santa cruz county this morning May need some bus service up there too Mr. Chair supervisors, thank you for the opportunity to present you The annual state of metro and I'll try to move this along. I know it's nearing the lunch hour Just always like to provide some quick stats on metro. We have about a 50 million dollar budget this year We employ 319 people We own 98 fixed route and commuter buses that run on 26 routes and we have 41 paratransit vehicles Our service area is the entire county about 264 000 We provide 5 million fixed route and commuter trips per year and about 72 000 paratransit trips under our Paracruz service per year always an interesting note A little over 50 of our ridership our ucse students and faculty and cabrillo college students So how do we fund all of that? Well, we fund it through a variety of sources passenger fairs That is a combination of what's paid at the fair box and other Revenues that come to us to offset fairs through the partnership We have with amtrak kaltrans vta on the highway 17 service cover about 20 percent of the overall cost of operating the business a little over 46 percent Of our of our revenues come from the 1978 half-cent sales tax Which is dedicated to metro and the additional Revenues we received from measure d as you may be aware. We receive about 16 percent of the total revenues for metro operations About a little over 13 percent is state operating funding sources including the new sp1 funding a little over 8 percent is federal operating And about 11 percent is what we call capital eligible state and federal funds State transportation assistance and a federal program called the small transit intensive cities And then the remainder just under 2 percent is revenues we we receive from Leases that we have and advertising on our vehicles So all of that allows our board to now For the second year in a row program Three million dollars annually towards the capital fund for the purchases of new buses and i'll talk about that in a brief second But what i really like celebrating is certainly in contrast to the last time i was here a couple of years ago We now have a good stable foundation. We have a five-year projection for a balanced budget We haven't been there in a long time and it's really a good place to be and i want to thank the good work of our board To the members that are here and and mr. Friend was here during part of this on our board too A lot of good work was done to get us to a stable place and i want to thank you for that As you talked about earlier and some of your presentations about local streets and roads and the condition of those roads and the The the need for money to continue to to go after those Much-needed repairs. We were all happy to see prop 6 fail This past november that that would have been devastating to us at metro Everything i just said about a great foundation and and Five-year balanced budget would have been out of balance and i know that prop 6 failing and SB 1 surviving is equally if not more important to you at the county I spoke about buses earlier About 50 of our bus fleet is is aged beyond its useful life We have great mechanics. They do a wonderful job But you can only keep an old vehicle on the road so long And it's just time to replace it and we have about 50 of our vehicles that are at that place Now if we want to take care of that problem, that's a 38 to 50 million dollar problem So if money just fell out of the sky today and we could go replace 50 of our fleet That's what we would need now y 38 to 50 million Well if we replace those vehicles with compressed natural gas, which are the clean fuel vehicles we've been using since about 2002 that's about a 38 million dollar proposition If we replace them with zero emission electric buses, it's a 50 plus million dollar proposition And as you may or may not be aware The california air resources board late last year adopted a regulation That will mandate that we be a hundred percent electric in all transit properties across the state of california by 2040 What that means to us at our particular agency is in 2026 Mandatorily, we must begin buying 25 percent of whatever we buy in the way of buses as zero emission Buses and starting in 2029 and thereafter every bus we procure must be zero emission buses Also helping us with our our backlog of equipment that we need to replace Santa Clara VTA our partners on highway 17 sold us 10 diesel electric hybrids For a 24 tings for a dollar apiece. So that was pretty exciting to get those for a dollar apiece And we're going to be running those on that partnership run on highway 17 They also sold us four articulated buses that we will use for ucsc service Also for a dollar apiece. So pretty good deal. We couldn't pass that up didn't have to finance it In in in electric buses and and santa cruz metro putting our toe in the water We've cobbled together a number of grants that will now fund for pro terra hundred percent zero emission buses We're just within days of Placing that order. We're just wrapping up the final specifications on that And those buses should be here sometime early next year So that'll be a real celebration for us here in santa cruz county To have those electric buses arrive and and we'll make sure that we uh We put on a big event when they do get here because they will be the start of our journey towards 100 santa electric Now one maybe two of those buses will run in watsonville on a circulator that we designed We have the first year of that paid for through some air quality funds. I think it's 27 66 dollars So that will be a new circulator for watsonville And then also exciting for us this year. We've talked about Automated vehicle location for a long time Well, we again because of sp1 the stip was well funded. We got some stip money from the state And that paid along with some local match for us to put avl on all of our buses What that means is that our customers will now have a smartphone application when they can look and see when their bus is coming And they can time their arrival at their bus stop rather than getting to that stop and finding out Um when the bus arrives late that the bus was running late now They'll be able to see it on the phone for us at a staff level We're excited about just pipelines of data that will flow to us that will help us run the system better So it's a really cool thing And then and then later this year we're going to we're going to the board authorized a pilot project on our highway 17 commuter service In which they will be the customers there will be Piloting a smartphone fare payment application. So that's going to be exciting for us on highway 17 And i'll be anxious to report on that to you next year Ridership is doing well. It's uh, well, well, okay well compared to the nation The nationwide trend is two percent down We're we're kind of flat here in santa cruz county in part because our ucsc Ridership has been very good as the college grows. So too does that ridership We've lost a little bit of ridership in the student population because for some reason they're using uber and lyft Here and there and that's caused us some losses Cabrillo college has steadily increased five percent and highway 17 is down just a little bit We have some work to do there once we get our new marketing person on board You've probably read about the eco pass. We're working with the city on that. It's it's a city sponsored program under their Transportation management program. They hope to give 4 000 free passes through that program to downtown employees And we're working with the city to launch that hopefully in the next few months We're just working through all the details. That's also a pilot program But we do have to work through a number of details And then at our last board meeting supervisor leopold Asked us to contact the county and look at whether we can explore a similar type of concept here with the county employees I've already directed my staff to follow through on that. So we will we will take a look at that in the air of disruption and alternative service models metros investigating Pilot projects that we might bring to the board sometime this year that could involve uber lyft taxi some combination of that But the the real thing there to keep in mind is it's an on-demand type of concept So in areas where we can't justify a fixed route or we've pulled back our service Low density areas Time of day issues like late night early morning We might be able to do some on-demand service And actually cover those those much needed trips those unmet needs unified quarter as you know We're participating with the rtc on that you've been very involved in that We will be heavily involved in the alternatives analysis that looks at the rail corridor Looks at whether bus rapid transit train or some other concept might be viable in that corridor And in a course the impact the potential impact of whatever is done to metro funding And then we're also working with the rtc on bus on shoulder We hope to have that Type of proposal for you that kind of integrates bus on shoulder concept into the auxiliary lanes Helping us move through that gridlock. I'm sure if we have a bus moving through that gridlock in the peak hours We'll attract new riders and then finally in the in the unified corridor. We're seeking operational improvements along the so-called freedom corridor Metro is also working on its very first 10-year strategic business plan We're focusing in seven key areas Safety first culture financial stability stewardship and accountability Service quality and delivery internal and external technology employee engagement state of good repair and strategic alliances are the seven key areas That our board is focusing on and then finally metro is conducting later this year a long overdue Onboard customer survey that'll give us good data on our riders who they are where their unmet needs are And we'll also try to do some investigation of non riders to find out why they're not writing the system Mr. Chair supervisors that concludes my presentation and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have Thank you. Are there any questions? Yeah, I just want to thank you for that There's a lot said there the metro and I've been a member of the board there. There's been a lot of changes and We As said everyone else in the recessionary period really took a hit. I think over six years or five years that we lost A projected 24 million dollars. And so we had to make some adjustments to our service. We have come back from that I'm really I think that we have a stable operation now as was stated I want to thank mr. Clifford for his leadership and getting us there Since he's been here. He he saw the picture that was pretty bleak when he came in And now we're I think we're on good stead and I I can't say enough about the vta And how we appreciate their cooperation and so on as those buses for one dollar each and We were headed in the right direction literally because with the electric buses and how we can Really make that a bigger part of our system And I think it's also interesting to know that our ridership I think it's usually estimated that about 75 percent don't have their own Um method of transportation individual transportation So the service that we provide is is critical to Thousands of residents of santa cruz county and I think we're we're on the right track and we've made a lot of improvements Environmentally sound and I think transportation wise very very vigilant and I thank you for your service and for your report And for waiting. Thank you Thank you Uh, thank you chair, uh, I appreciate this update to the board of supervisors. Uh, the supervisor McPherson and I Uh, sit on the metro transit board and uh, uh Spend a lot of time thinking about the future of the transit operations here in santa cruz county Really appreciated the leadership that you have shown Since coming to the metro to not only lead us out of a financial crisis But to really start rebuilding metro so we can adapt for the future and adding technology like the avl Trying to think differently about how we use our services on the highway 17 Thinking creatively about how we provide services here in santa cruz county Is critical for us to ensure that we have good transit service throughout the county I I think we it's going to be it's we get that what we do is ever-evolving Because the the transportation habits of people here in santa cruz as well throughout the rest of the country are Consistently involving But I think that we have the right team in place to be able to meet those challenges And I appreciate the work that you do and the leadership that you've shown At the transit district appreciate that and and right back at you We have a great board and it's really wonderful to work with a board that has a vision That and we're just in sync. I like that Thank you. Now it's an opportunity for members of the public to speak to us about this item Thank you. Becky Steinbruner Thank you for that good report Very well delivered and very easy to understand. So thank you so much I was very excited too when I heard on the radio that metro got The buses 10 buses for a dollar each. I did not realize you also got four articulated buses for a dollar each And that's an amazing deal. So thank you for that information I do have questions About the student fairs. I'm happy that the students are using it. I know that it is a part of their tuition fees Being a parent of a cabrio student and she does use her her pass But i'm wondering what percent of the the metro budget comes from those Fees that are required all students at ucsc and cabrio college pay students adults and Younger people as well and what percent of those people who pay for that service use it How is this working out economically? To support metro and also help these students out with transportation I also would like some information about the reestablishment of some of the route cuts that happened during the recession And to speak specifically to one area in live oak is the The area where there is a planned kaiser medical facility and a 700 car parking garage There is no bus service along so kill avenue frontage road. I know this and so What is being done to evaluate first of all re-establishing some of the routes that were cut and second of all to expand routes to accommodate and encourage ridership from areas where there is changing land use I am very interested in watching the bus on shoulder Progress along with the unified corridor study I would also like to ask what is being done in terms of studying the need for additional stops I have met with various metro people and county department public works About adding a stop at aptos creek road and so cal drive to accommodate the Events that happen at aptos village park But also as the aptos village project comes online and that area becomes more congested than it already is Having a second bus stop at the aptos creek road so cal drive intersection I think would really ease that congestion and and Serve the public well and in closing supervisor leopold I would like to thank you for pursuing the idea of Bus passes for county employees following the footsteps of the city. I think it's a great move forward And I really want to thank you for pursuing that. Thank you Marilyn Garrett regular bus rider. I took the bus here today I want to compliment the bus drivers who are Amazingly helpful and skillful And I heard you say safety first You know getting exposed To microwaves from all this wireless technology Is not safe In fact International scientists. Here's just one small quote Um They have shown that uh publications have shown that electromagnetic field affects Living organisms at levels well below international and national guidelines Effects include increased cancer risk Cellular stress increase in harmful free radicals genetic damage Structure and functional changes of the reproductive system learning and memory deficits in Neurological diseases and negative impacts in general well-being in humans Damage goes well beyond the human race as there's growing evidence of harmful Effects to both plants and animals. This is an excerpt from this international appeal To stop 5g This is uh distressing to me to say safety first And you're promoting this is my bus schedule Looking at things on your smartphone doing this with this. You're promoting A toxic technology This is not a good use of funds at all The other thing as a regular bus driver in the last I'd say about a year Each bus now has surveillance cameras. I think about eight on each bus And I talked to someone in it and I think it was three quarters a million dollars might have been grants I I would refer someone was telling me about a book surveillance capitalism Everywhere we go. We're being tracked. We're being filmed Um, and I think it does not go with democracy and another thought I had Since there's a large Spanish-speaking population in Watsonville And there are a lot of round-ups of people who Made you know from Mexican heritage I was just wondering if it's very chilling or some people don't want to ride the bus Because they're being spied upon and removed. I don't know I find it inappropriate in a waste of money Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public comment Would the board will now recess until noon where we're where we will reconvene for a closed session Will there be any reportable action? Yes All right, thank you and uh Then we'll then we'll be back the County council to report out of closed session Thank you. So this is the report from executive session today's february 26th 2019 and the board unanimously voted to allow county council to initiate litigation Once that litigation is on file. I would be happy to answer any questions about it. Thank you We'll now move on to item number 10, which is to consider the General fund mid-year budget report with updated estimates for the fiscal year 18 19 preliminary requests for 2019 through 2021 and an updated five-year forecast as outlined in the memorandum of the ceo and uh, miss plasios Or sorry, mr. School There was determination that we're going to switch those two items. Okay, so my item will come next. Okay Uh, so um, so we're starting with 11. Okay We will first consider the major financial update for fiscal year 18 and 19 as outlined in the memorandum Of the auditor controller treasurer and task collector. It's just cool Good afternoon chair Coonerty and members of the board The county budgeting principles outline that the county should regularly monitor budget conformity The report on your agenda today and this presentation provides information on the status of the budget at the mid-year point of the fiscal year Combined with the next report by the ceo our two presentations provide a comprehensive mid-year fiscal updates On my agenda today are four areas. I will discuss general fund revenues general fund expenditures Fund balance reserve and offering uh insight to where you can locate our financial reports All right, this mid-year report focuses on the status of the general fund However, the complete 2018 19 county expenditure budget is provided here In addition to the general fund the county budget includes several other funds To re familiarize yourself with the various elements of the entire county budget. I'm highlighting them here for you First we have special revenue funds. Those are made primarily of housing park dedication funds fishing games And the road fund. We will not be discussing those funds in the rest of this report Next we have what's called less than county wide funds. Those include library and county fire expenditures We also designate board govern special districts and other agencies Funds included here include flood control mosquito abatement and the park csa 11 Oops Internal service funds internal service funds include fleet services centers information services department duplicating risk and the entire public works department We also designate separately enterprise funds which includes csa 7 Wayne avista post closure expenses as well as those with the davenport and freedom sanitation Switching focus to the county's general fund revenues I want to call your attention to the makeup of the general fund revenue sources As you can see in this pie chart the county's largest general fund revenue is intergovernmental aid This makes up 48 of the revenue followed by 25 percent of other revenue was made up by taxes Intergovernmental aid is funds received from federal and state agencies I will highlight many of these areas in my next few slides The county has received 39 percent of its budgeted revenue to date as you can see shared on this slide Although this may sound low seven months into the year We are ahead of where we were this time last year when we had received 36 percent of the budgeted revenue One reason for this seemingly low receipt level is that only 37 percent of intergovernmental aid has been received These revenues traditionally are received later in the fiscal year as they primarily are paid on a reimbursement basis from the federal and state government We need to spend the funds before we can be reimbursed However, as this is the largest revenue source for the general fund This is an area that we monitor closely both on the auto controller's office and in the cio's office Next on to general fund taxes Tax revenue is the second largest revenue source for the county's general fund This chart reflects that the county has seen an increase in each of the tax categories compared to this time last year Since taxes are a significant revenue source A review of the property tax delinquency rate is necessary Property taxes are classified as delinquent if they are not paid within one year Currently the county's tax delinquency rate is 2.1 percent. This is the lowest that it has been in the past 21 years This chart covers the past 12 years and highlights the spike the county saw in delinquencies during the 2008 recession Compared to where we are today Such a low rate of delinquencies reflects that the vast majority of county property owners Are able to pay their property taxes within the year that they are due This is very beneficial for the county's cash flow needs During years when delinquencies are higher the county did eventually receive the back taxes As well as collecting penalties and interest that was deposited into the general fund Santa Cruz county is on the teeter plan for apportioning property taxes This allows special districts and cities to receive their full apportionment Even if there are some delinquencies Giving them a steady cash flow in exchange the county absorbs the cash flow shortages But also retains the penalties and interest accrued One indicator of our local tourism economy is the county's treasury occupancy tax collections For this seven month reporting period the county's tot collections are significantly ahead of last year We have exceeded the prior year's collection to date by 654 thousand dollars Recently the odder controller's office has added additional resources to identify and collect tot taxes from short-term rentals The county entered into a contract with a website research vendor to identify unregistered short-term rental properties The vendor has been very effective and we are expanding their scope of work in the next year We also continue to maintain a contract with air b&b Air b&b collects and remits taxes on behalf of their host to the county monthly On to cannabis business tax Cannabis business tax activity for the last three and a half years is reflected here in this slide The revenues reflect the cbt program your board approved and has periodically modified The county dispensaries pay seven percent gross receipts tax on their dispensary sales The revenue from this activity has increased slowly each year A few delivery services also pay cbt and are recorded in the same category Cultivators and manufacturers also pay a gross receipts tax Originally collected at the seven percent rate your board reduced the rate to five percent beginning january 1 2018 The revenue stated here includes a hundred and two thousand dollars from recent audit findings Interest and penalties an additional 42,000 was recently billed to a dispensary Related to an audit which we anticipate to be paid this fiscal year General fund revenues county interest rate the county's interest rate has continued to increase over the last year Last month we apportioned 2.145 interest earnings to both the county and the other pool participants In december the county's investment pool was made up of 39 county funds And the balance belonged to schools and special districts who are mandated by state code to keep their funds in the county's investment pool I'm pleased to be able to report on these increased earnings However to remind you my fiduciary responsibility as the county treasurer when investing pool funds is to look first at safety of the investment Then at liquidity of the investment and then third the yield on the investment Monitoring budget conformity at the mid-year point includes not only examining revenues, but also expenditures A high-level overview of the expenditures is provided here This time last year the county had expended 51.9 of its expenditure budget So at a high level we are at the same place we were last year Because of controls that are in place in the county's financial system Departments are not able to expend beyond their expenditure budgets without board approval The exception for that is salaries fund balance reserve Your board adopted a fund balance reserve policy of 10 percent to be reached by 2021 The 10% goal was achieved early and is budgeted to be maintained at the 10% level in the fiscal year 2018 19 Now for a discussion on the county's bond rating The county has received strong credit ratings from both moody's and standard imports Shown here is the statement moody's provided when it assigned a rating for the recent tran At that time moody's also reaffirmed the county's long-term rating of a a3 As you read this article moody stated the county's ratings are highlighted by the county's solid sized and growing economy Consistent financial operations Albeit with lower than typical cash and reserve balances And low total lease and retirement costs The county continues to focus on transparency and making financial information and reports available online More than 10 years worth of county annual financial reports and county budget documents are available on the county's main website to the public Specifically on the auditor controllers website We have a data tool to access current financial information And specifically we provide cannabis and transient occupancy tax queries that we update monthly in summary General fund revenues are at 39.33 of budget Which is slightly more than this time last year with 36 percent received General fund expenditures are at 51.45 of budget, which is similar to this time last year at 51.9 percent Property tax delinquencies are at the lowest in recent history Interest rate earnings are increasing Please accept and file this report. Thank you, and i'm available for any questions Or some years we hold our questions and combine them together after the ceo's report Why don't we do that? And i now have the ceo Do his report on the mid-year budget report Chair cunard and members of the board carlos palacios county administrative officer, and i'm here with christina maury The county's budget manager Today we are going to be giving our mid-year budget report. We started last december with the preliminary budget estimates and now we have more data and so we'll be even Able to provide you with more information as we go into the development of the 1920 and 2021 two-year budget Overall, I would say that the county is doing well As the auditor controller treasure tax collector just pointed out But we continue to have tight budgets. I will say What you will see in today's report is that in terms of this fiscal year We are a little bit challenged to meet the savings. We were anticipating earlier We were anticipating 3.6 million dollars of carryover fund balance Right now as you look at the results. We're a little short of that, but we will I'm confident that we will be able to achieve that by year end I'm we are working very hard with departments To make sure that All expenditures are reviewed Especially with regard to the Positions being filled And so there's I'm highly confident that we will make the 3.6 million dollars or more Budget carryover at the end of this fiscal year as you look into next fiscal year You'll see that there's a potential deficit if we were to fund all of the requests from departments So it's important in our report to note that this is not a status quo deficit In other words, if we were just to hold the county Operations in a status quo fashion not and add any new positions to what we have already Committed to in our budget and committed to in measure g We would have a balanced budget right now But I am reporting to you that as we have received departmental requests We are potentially could have a deficit if you if we tried to fill them all And that's due to a few reasons One is that our revenues are some of our revenues are slightly down as our budget manager will point out Some of our costs are slightly up And so it presents Somewhat challenging to add new programs or or positions so With that introduction, I wanted to tell you that we will deliver you a balanced budget. That's my job Is to present a balanced budget to you in may And so I am working with departments to make sure that we Are able jointly to present the board with a balanced budget It's these are tough decisions The the requests that departments have made to me are not superfluous. They are real needs in the community And they're also grants that are expiring for example Overtime costs that are being incurred due to workers comp and other issues So that's not that the needs are not real or or that they are superfluous They are they are real needs. The county is still Building back its general fund after the great recession We still have less than the number of positions that we had at the time of the great recession even though we've added a number of new positions in Especially in health services agency due to the affordable care act So you and you recently heard for example general services Employees talking to the board about the need for maintenance workers And we are way below the number of maintenance workers for example That we had before the great recession So we are trying to restore some of those positions in this next year's budget But it is tight and the reason is tight is Primarily due to some of our revenues being a little bit low But also doing our costs that we're trying to absorb Especially our retirement costs our retirement costs For the next five year will be five years will be increasing by double digits double digits increasing And so that's very significant And that's something that all public agencies who contract with purrs the public employees retirement system Are having to reckon with and so Anyway, it's a challenging environment as it always is Meeting department requests and their needs but I Will deliver a balanced budget come may even though I wanted to make sure you understand that the requests the departments are making Are very real and very important requests and we are taking them very seriously and working with departments closely One thing I will say is that the county works very well together Every one of our elected officials and our departments feels part of the team I don't feel like anybody is not cooperating or not helping They actually work very very well together and I really do appreciate all of the department heads Both elected and non-elected Because they really do work very closely with us and our staff In helping to deliver a balanced budget with that i'll pass it over to Ms. Mallory to give the mid-year budget update Thank you, carlos. Um, good afternoon chair coonerty and members of the board Um, so i'm gonna give you a brief overview Is that on on looks like it's on it's on okay Thank you There it goes, okay So, um, first we're going to take a quick look at the state budget A little bit about the economy. Uh, we'll focus in on the general fund budget As the auditor has also done Because that's where your board has the most discretion And then we'll look ahead and then we'll talk about how we can prepare for the future So the, um state budget Has a healthy surplus of 21 and a 0.5 billion dollars governor new simon Proposed budget includes considerable investments of one-time resources and recognition of the near historic economic expansion plan The plan is to reduce liabilities and payoff debts and invest funds for emergency preparedness fund social services programs And homeless services Among his proposals is to revise the in-home support of services or ihss maintenance of effort moe requirements to provide fiscal reliefs for counties And his proposal to spend an additional 600 million on homeless services Primarily to fund homeless navigation centers throughout california Though it was not yet known how these additional funds for homelessness will be apportioned If the state budget is approved santa cruz county will save approximately 1 million dollars in ihss costs in fiscal year 1920 So we're really pleased with the proposal and we'll save an additional half a million Based on what we originally projected for 2021 The potential for continued growth is narrowing for both the nation and california With both experiencing full employment and historic low unemployment rates By july 2019 the current economic expansion will be the longest in modern history The u.s. Employment rate dipped to 3.7 percent in november of 2018 the lowest since 1969 And inflation is rising santa cruz county's unemployment rate was 4.1 percent In november of 2018 still above the state and national average Total employment is expected to increase 1.1 percent in 2018 with an average growth rate of 0.6 percent through 2023 Average salaries are expected to rise by 1.9 percent The largest employment gains are expected in education health care leisure services government and professional services And the population is expected to rise by a half a percent per year After a strong 2018 fueled by federal tax cuts and increased federal spending The real gross domestic product is projected at 2.7 percent in 2019 Gradually slowing to one and a half percent by 2022 So we'll focus in a little bit on the general fund As uh, mr. Palacios mentioned Things aren't looking as good as we originally forecasted in december Our general revenues are down by about approximately 1.5 million dollars Primarily from reduced cannabis business tax from cultivators and manufacturers And reduced penalties on delinquencies as the auditor mentioned earlier People are paying their taxes, but we're also as a result of that. We're receiving less in interest in penalties Departments have updated their estimates for the current year and costs as mentioned are higher And revenues are lower than anticipated resulting in about a three million dollar impact To the general fund This results in a potential four and a half million dollar impact to the general fund compared to the 3.6 million dollar in savings Estimated leaving almost a million dollar shortfall which puts our contribution to reserves and jeopardy So here you can see a chart summarizing the general fund total financing available offset by the financing uses estimated The majority of the department increases in the current year are from reduced revenues From recording Permit and cannabis licensing fees in addition to increased overtime for public safety CO staff are working with departments to reduce costs and increase revenues wherever possible To increase the financing to carry forward to 2019-20 as planned Additional savings have already been identified in fiscal year 18 19 From remaining unused contingencies Increased general purpose revenues Primarily from the increased interest earnings you heard about earlier And some unanticipated department revenues In addition the general fund contribution for capital improvements could also be reduced by a million five By redirecting savings on completed certs funded projects from 2014 and 2015 bond proceeds To other capital improvements currently in process It is anticipated that enough financing will be available to carry forward to fiscal year 1920 To help fund the status quo increases identified in december On a positive note, we have major g Which is included in our 2018-19 estimates Funding began for those initiatives in january and it's utilizing the first quarter of major g funding set to begin april first These initiatives include Approximately 1.6 million dollars in the current year park capital improvements of about a million dollars Mid-year funding for three park staff And mid-year funding for the focused intervention team staff which includes positions for the sheriff and health services These programs are also included in the 2019-21 Budget with the addition of the augmentation of funding of almost 600 thousand dollars for county homeless navigation center So here you can see the preliminary forecast for 1920 anticipated increases Of financing of 13.7 million to offset the status quo increases. That's what we reported in december Um however at this time based on the estimates um that we're currently receiving The general purpose revenue growth and savings is less than anticipated by about a little over a half a million dollars And department requests are more than status quo at a net cost increase of 26.6 million or 13.7 million higher than anticipated If we reduce the increase to reserves to a minimum Saving almost 300 000 it leaves us a 14 million dollar budget shortfall to reconcile between now and may Let's take a closer look at our revenue growth Here you can see a breakdown of the primary revenue growth from taxes which represent about 90 percent of the county's general purpose revenues Revenue growth estimated for 1920 of 9.2 million Primarily from the recently passed major g transaction tax and increased property taxes of three percent Which includes also um an increasing transient occupancy tax of eight percent Which projects growth of about five percent over the current year And this is all offset by the reduced cannabis business tax of almost 900 000 Total tax revenues are projected to grow over budget by approximately seven percent Based on the current year growth economic indicators and a full year of major g transaction tax Overall revenue growth is still average even though estimates have decreased by about a million dollars from the preliminary forecast Provided in december due to the reduced penalties on delinquencies and the reduced cannabis business tax from cultivators and manufacturers It is anticipated that growth and interest earnings will help offset some of these reductions Here's a summary of the mid-year estimates which show total financing available of 161.2 million and requested financing uses of 175.2 million Which results in net costs higher than financing by approximately 14 million We just want to reassure you the county administrative office is working with departments to modify the requests in order to present a balanced budget to the board in may We're working with departments on targets We're hoping to have a good draft plan within the next few weeks and then we'll look forward to presenting that to you Staff anticipate that additional financing will be available from prior year department budget savings And increased general purpose revenues leaving the remaining reductions needed from the department requests Until the budget is balanced the co has implemented a budget hiring review with departments That have not achieved an acceptable status quo budget given our financial constraints Here's the chart showing the initial projection for fiscal year 2021 Comparing the preliminary estimates provided in december compared to the estimates received from the department's initial requests Net costs are primarily increasing by 6.4 million based on department initial projections Which are impacted as mentioned earlier by reduced revenues from grants Recording and permit fees and other increased costs and new requests Leaving a potential budget shortfall of 7.9 million rather than the million we projected These initial requests are under review and it is anticipated that the budget shortfall will be less than 7.9 million When it is presented to your board in may However, due to the declining revenues in some departments It is possible that the shortfall might may not be as manageable as originally thought with increased revenue options So looking ahead the general fund is expected to meet its obligations for fiscal year 1920 through serious belt tightening and further reductions to the department requests However, due to some declining revenues in the current year and continuing through 2122 the general fund is unlikely to meet its obligations without new or increased general purpose revenues And or cost reductions that could potentially impact programs and services Based on initial projections the annual budget shortfall is increased from 1 to 3 million to 8 to 10 million But it could be as high as 13 to 15 million If prior your savings are not achieved or general revenues are stagnant or declined further Since the retirement rates may level out to a more modest average increase of 3 percent by fiscal year 2324 revenue growth could potentially cover the expenditure growth based on current operations The five-year forecast will be updated once we have finalized the proposed budget 19 2019 to 2021 So the primary cost driver as mentioned earlier in the next five years is the increased cost of retirement Due to the rising rates, which is faced Facing all agencies invested in CalPERS Retirement rates are anticipated to nearly double by 24 25 since 17 18 Rates have primarily been impacted by the loss of investment earnings during the great recession Decreases and projected future investment earnings from 7.75 percent to 7 percent and changing demographics The county's retirement cost is estimated to grow from 49 million in 17 18 to 86 million in 24 25 The general fund cost shown here is expected to grow from 42 million to 74 million Which is a cost increase of 32 million? Assuming that approximately 40 of this cost increase is recovered through intergovernmental revenues and fees The cumulative unbudgeted ongoing net cost increase over the next six years is approximately 19 million Which represents about 50 of the total salary and benefit increases anticipated Costs are expected to level out by 23 24 to be more modest and manageable So preparing for the future We do have an approved strategic plan And we'll have an operational plan that will help guide priorities We have our continuous process improvement that's going to help us create efficiencies Performance measures will help assess effectiveness And reserves will provide support during a recession Revenue options will help preserve core programs and services So one of the primary revenue options that we've discussed before is to increase the transient occupancy tax or the hotel tax The county currently charges an 11 percent transient occupancy tax Rate which is similar to the nearby cities except recently capitol and watsonville are now charging 12 percent Other jurisdictions charge up to 14 percent such as the county marine city of marina and city of los altos To t increases usually generate wild wide public support In the recent election san carlos and daily city both increased their to t from 10 percent to 12 percent Followed by an annual increase of a half a percent until reaching a cap of 14 percent It is likely a to t increase could be very successful in santa cruz and provide additional funding Each 1 percent increase in the rate generates about a million dollars So in summary Even though a recession is not yet upon us the county is beginning to see some revenues decline Limiting the overall financing available for the general fund supported programs and services Requests are currently higher than anticipated and will be reduced to status quo operations in order to balance the budget and live within our financial constraints General fund reserves will be available as needed in order to provide a softer landing during the next recession In order to preserve essential services Due to the board's careful planning for the future The county is better poised to weather the next recession with the reserve fund at nearly 10 percent Or 52.5 million at the end of 18 19 And i'm happy to answer any questions Sorry about that one of the areas where it looks like our revenues are down as in the cannabis business tax As far as i understand we haven't given out any licenses for cultivation yet Do you have any report that you could give to us about What might be the expectation there because that seems to have A direct effect on on revenue? Yes, it's been Challenging Going through the licensing process due to land use regulations some of them having to do with fire agencies That's one big issue that we've had Um others have been just due to the difficult nature of planning in uh outdoor grows in a Complex environment like sangra cruise county Uh, I will say that there's a couple of uh sites Where we are getting close to being able to issue licenses and each of them have multiple license holders As many as 20 for example to one site so we think that um When we're they those sites are through the the land use process that they will actually issue Quite a it'll go from zero to 20 overnight and then from 20 to 40 and so we are Cognizant of the fact that that is an issue That's important both to the industry And us of terms of getting these licenses processed I'm working closely with cannabis staff and planning staff To make sure that we're doing everything we can to expedite the process Yeah, I mean I can't tell whether that site with 20 People on it is going to bring in new tax revenue, whether those people are currently paying CBT Or not, uh, it just seems to me that uh, we approved regulations in may of last year And here it is almost march And uh, we need to be doing a better job if we're counting that on it's one of the legs of our Of our stool for revenue You know, I think I think that that's a why that would be a wise chance and we should look at our Regulations to see whether we haven't just created too many hurdles And either make the the assessment where we're going to get less taxes And we're going to tax somebody else or we can make it Work with the people here who are interested in paying the taxes I guess the other question I have is You've been clear to point out that the requests That we've received would yield a $14 million deficit, but you do not intend to bring us a budget that would have a $14 million deficit But uh, there there is concern about the structural deficit And I couldn't tell from the the slides whether Is that are you assuming that that it's going to go back up to eight million dollars is a structural problem Or is it going to be less than that? Well, what um, we have talked about the structural deficit being what we also consider our fund balance carryover Because that is typically in the budget world considered one-time revenues that you shouldn't count on as being ongoing revenues so It is three point six million dollars this year it would go up higher next year Um, but I don't um, I think the way to look at it Is not as a Is a structural deficit in the sense of some counties are actually spending more than they take in Uh in terms of ongoing revenues ongoing expenditures. I think our fund balance has been fairly consistent over the last decade We've typically brought forward Um in the five million are under range And so I think there's a good argument you could make that that's actually an ongoing You know, uh, it can be expected a revenue source And so I think it's something we need to be careful of And we but I I wouldn't say it's an on I wouldn't define it as a structural deficit in the typical sense The other thing is that uh, the reason people are worried about using, uh, fund balance as part of your budget solutions is because during a recession Those, uh, fund balances tend to dry up So for example, the fund balance carryover is typically made up of two things one is salary savings And two is revenues, uh exceeding our projections In a recession, um, salary savings disappear because people stop leaving because there's jobs that aren't available in other places So suddenly your salary savings go down and then revenues typically underperform rather than overperform in a recession So that's why you want to carry uh, keep that fund balance carryover your reliance on that number to a Very conservative amount and I think we've done that I think in a budget our size to have a five million dollar carryover that we're relying is very conservative Um, this is a question from is driscoll on the question of uh, toot receipts Do you have a sense of how much of that comes from vacation rentals? A Significant portion comes from vacation rentals. I mean would you be willing to to guesstimate a percentage?  Our total toot year to date is five million four almost five million five right now all of our Tivity in our audit division right now is being focused on short term rentals We still certainly pay attention to all the rentals in the unincorporated area, but it is where most of our activity comes I honestly would need to get back to you. I I could provide with additional information But I I couldn't even off top my head begin to tell you anymore. Yeah, well, I I appreciate the information you could Tell me offline, but I think it would also I appreciate that we provided staffing to look at the auditing of of these hundreds of vacation rentals that we have In Santa Cruz and I appreciate the work that's being done to try to find those people who are trying to operate Outside the system. We recently were contacted by a new Interface which is camp sites sort of like air bnb, but camp sites and Constituents of mine from the happy valley told me about it. I went online and there are a number of them here in Santa Cruz That I I think we should probably I don't think would qualify as vacation rentals because I I don't think they qualify as structures Um, but they're operating. It depends. I'm aware that even within the air bnb universe. There have been some situations where people are renting State park sites that are highly desirable and then turning around and re-renting them through air bnb Not necessarily in our neighborhood, but I certainly have read about those situations The vendor that we work with goes out and looks at any rental listings Initially our first contract with the vendor was just focused on our limited zones that we have in Santa Cruz county And then I wanted to make sure that we could get enough activity out of this vendor before we then made it countywide And we certainly received a lot of uh bank for our buck. And so we are now expanding it to the entire county If there are any rentals being posted And they are platform tent sites they potentially could count. I don't know Okay, I mean, I don't think our regulations cover uh, uh tent cabins. We do have tree houses and boats. So You never know I'll leave it to the lawyers to decide whether that qualifies But I'm glad to hear that we're using our auditing power to make sure that everybody it's a level playing field for everybody in that industry I just had a couple quick questions. The first was um, the purse costs, which are Significant, but we've also we implemented Uh reforms here at the local level and there are state ride reforms. So what do those costs do after 2024? um Are we sort of getting through the worst part? Uh, and then Uh, does it stabilize? What's what's the the long-term trip window all those? Uh reforms sort of kick in So we're in we're in the hardest part with this next budget year The next three years will be the hardest steepest part of the curve And so that's why it's going to be such it's going to be a challenging time to add new services After seven years, so five more years by the year 24 fiscal year 24 It actually levels out and you have modest increases of two to three percent per year And it'll stay like that for a number The recent projections I've seen it'll stay stable for five to ten years and then actually after That period which would be 15 years from now. There's actually steep declines Projected and whoever's on the board and in this chair will have big budget surpluses in theory Because all of the reforms will have taken place by then Sometimes look we'll take credit for them They'll get to enjoy it The second question was so we implemented a two-year budget with the idea of providing An opportunity for people to think more long-term and And strategically about their budgets based on what we saw in other counties How is this How is this working so far these early stages as you're having these conversations? Not just about this fiscal year, but but two years down the road I think it's helpful. I I know for the departments. It's a bit more work Because they've got to look out But I think it's helpful to manage the general fund and the budget as a whole because we can see what's coming And we're having those conversations earlier with the departments about You know what they're planning to do and so I think in that case, it's helpful It's also when you're in limited financial constraints. It's helpful to see what those increases are What's coming so you can make better decisions today Okay, great Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the best thing you can say about this. It isn't as bad as the road budget We've got just this morning, but I I really think it is good that we are able to review this at this time and I I'm glad to see that we're really sensitive to the reserves. I think it's Literally paid dividends or it's helped us at this point and it will in the future if we hold on to that 10% To the best possible way we can um the The retirement costs have been just explained And I think everybody throughout the state had projections of higher revenue from the cannabis industry and I Was just asked as a a member of the california state association of counties or CSAC uh, we had some high interest or Um percentages that we we put on our tax rates And I'm trying to find from them or maybe you could we'll help them out They're they're going to hear from us if those who had lower rates actually got Uh more revenue or the projected revenue that they thought they were going to get It's all it was uh made very difficult because the state took 15 percent right off the top And so that really hurt our ability to work that game But in essence uh is a higher tax rate is that Is it um, I said bring in less revenue because people are just saying I'm not going to do it and I'll get caught If that's the way it goes but try and The personnel from CSAC did say this is going to be a difficult thing to try to judge or or get a Figure on but I'm trying to see if there is anything like that with the state I in statewide also the in-home support services Thank heavens the governor put that in because I know that was a big hit Another thing that CSAC and the counties throughout the state of california were Very very much concerned about uh, this means a lot of money to this this county And just I know that there's really a concern about The number of new employees that could be added, but I know that you're aware of it. You mentioned it, but We don't want to let our our capital facilities Uh go to the way of our roads so to speak and I don't mean to go back there again, but We We don't want to pay more A lot more later if we don't take care of it now and that's one area where I think we we Legitimately need some more people to help us out and maintaining our physical plant That's just my personal view of it at this point, but uh, I appreciate that you're there the message We we have time to uh to correct this as you had stated and I appreciate your presentation Who has your cabinet? Yeah, thanks. Thank you very much With the pension obligations I you see different projections even though we're We're a little bit better off than we were it shows that what it will actually go up about 40 percent Uh over the next 20 years Is that assuming we're doing the same today as we're doing a year from now five years from now 10 years from now The pension rates that we we've talked about They are increasing significantly over a seven-year period We're in we've already passed two of those years and we're going to have five more years of increase During that time the rates will have doubled in effect Which are significant and that's due to a number of different factors demographics as we mentioned Earnings in the stock market that's purses is making and some of the benefit formulas that have changed over time But we have made reforms and that's important to note that there's been significant reforms both made by this board At the local level and by the state And those reforms will pay off because after we get through this difficult period over the next five years Costs will level out and then they will eventually start decreasing over time So we just have you know, we have some stormy weather ahead of us and we're prepared and we're doing actually I think we're doing very well if you think of it Despite the fact that we're weathering the very difficult financial time in terms of Increasing costs. We're still adding services. We've added, uh, you know new park New libraries We're doing more with roads The governor's actually been very generous To local government. This is probably the most generous budget From a governor that we've ever seen in my career And so there's lots of good news Actually, even though I know it's a bit of a Sober memo we sent you there's as you will see as we get into the budget There's actually lots of good news as well in terms of services to the public Okay, and then uh, when when we're putting money aside for pension Obligations retirement costs projected in the future The money it's coming from different sources Out of the general fund And then who are we actually paying it to work? We're putting it into CalPERS Yes, we we pay a fee to CalPERS. They invest those those funds Um, and then they pay out the retirement costs So we actually turn over the money to PERS and they invest it and that's part of the problem has been that their Investment earnings have decreased from 7.75 percent to 7 percent Which is a significant number that in effect we're having to make up for Right and then but we're kind of when we put it into CalPERS. We're putting it all in there That is correct. Okay, and but we're tied in with You know, thank you for giving me a financial class here, but What if Los Angeles Hypothetically went belly up or something that would affect the whole CalPERS, right? I mean we're we're a part of it But we can do our share, but if everybody else doesn't do their share We're in trouble I guess it would depend on how big the agency were if it was if it was a big Agency like county of los angeles that that would be definitely affect the system But if it's one of the smaller agencies, it wouldn't be have to be as significant If it's a smaller agency, it wouldn't be as significant So it depends on the size of the agency if they were to have trouble and and actually there's There actually are no agencies right now that I know of in the state that are Having that kind of trouble people are struggling, but there's no one that I've heard of is Even right now thinking of bankruptcy or anything like that Right like like Stockton is doing better now than it was Well, yeah Stockton Vallejo Vallejo was you know the first city to declare bankruptcy number years ago Stockton Riverside there was about three will bell that was for different reasons though But yeah those there's no one like that and they're actually doing Doing much better all of those jurisdictions Okay, thank you Okay Thank you very much now it's an opportunity for the members of the public to comment on these items Thank you. Thank you for those reports It's kind of shocking as a member of the public to hear And and please clarify did I hear that there's a four possible 14 million dollar shortfall? Did I hear that right? Okay, I'm just I'm still kind of reeling from hearing that because I remembered this conversation Last year and it seemed like it was going to be a lot better condition. So Um, I I would like some clarification. I think I heard that Anticipated growth will help augment Income so does that mean that? The county's land use policy will be seen as a way to Get us out of this deficit That has me a bit concerned and Regarding the cow purse I understood that At one point the ratio of retired Government worker to actively working Government worker will be In the near future one to one If if I could have some clarification on that and what that ratio is now I would appreciate that And finally in in just thinking about the redevelopment agency funds and that's Assemblyman stone is working to get some of that money back to the city of Santa Cruz Is there any chance that some of Similar money could come For a capital improvement projects for the county Thank you very much Thank you That concludes public comment. I think the short answer to your question Supervisor leopold question Brought this up a moment ago, which was no, there's not a 14 million dollar deficit That that was the If all the asks were Filled But as carlos palacios made clear We will have a balanced budget Coming into this year He was informing us that there are many more asked and then we have money, but he is not going to let us Bring a deficit in fact are we will probably have about five million dollars worth of carryover in this year's budget, so we're it's Uh He's just pointing out that we have a lot of need out there. Well, we can't we can't meet at all Yeah, maybe a better way to word it is a department request succeed Available resources by 14 million dollars, but obviously are under Our fiduciary responsibility We must produce a balanced budget and we will and we actually are going to be able to do it while adding services Which is a great thing for the community and So even though it's it is a difficult time. We're actually doing very well I would also add that There the county of santa cruz made a decision during the closure of redevelopment to place all of our Resources under third-party contracts. That's what built the center for public safety the boys and girls club parks The east cliff parkway a whole bunch of other things and all of our housing resources Were either put into project like st. Stephen's or The chapiro knolls project Or with the housing authority so we don't have any money in a bank account for Assemblymember stone to to help us use in some other ways the other jurisdictions Kept money in a bank account with the assumption that they'd be able to use it But so far they've been paying their bonds Without being able to use it Thank you back So that concludes items 10 and 11 We'll now move on to item number 12, which is to consider and Consider an update and study session on the calisanne cruz county operational planning initiative And direct the ceo office to return in may 2019 with a proposed operational plan for fiscal year 2019 through 2021 as outlined in the memorandum by the ceo Only have miss coburn here to present Good afternoon chair coonerty and members of the board. I'm gonna wait just a moment As i'm joined by a few others So i'm nicole coburn assistant county administrative officer And i'm here to present on our operational plan and provide an update to you So this is our agenda for this session I'm joined at the tables by three members of our operational plan steering committee I have me me hall to the left director of health services Matt machado deputy ceo and director of public works and one hill doggo our agricultural commissioner And they're going to be helping me with presenting on our strategy development and just a little bit But before we get there, I'd like to start and just provide a brief overview of our strategic plan And then I will go into our operational plan both the process and the elements that we're developing This is the first time we've presented on our countywide strategies and we'll be discussing Some of what went into drafting those draft statements And then at the end I would like to cover some of our next steps So as you know in this past june the board approved a six-year strategic plan The plan was the result of a year-long effort during which we engaged with thousands of county residents and staff To develop the vision mission and values shown here as well as six focus areas and related goals These are the six focus areas. They each have four goals for a total of 24 These focus areas and the goals will also be shown within the operational plan document and they will With those we're going to be adding Strategies department objectives and key steps. All of the elements from our strategic plan are also online at www.sccvision.us Our operational planning Structure is overseen by the county administrative office The operational plan steering committee which includes representatives from around the county government And then six subcommittees which are tied to the six focus areas The subcommittees um contain over 60 subject matter experts Representing every county government department So just to remind you um, this slide shows our plan hierarchy At the top we have our strategic plan and it really provides our north star For what we're trying to achieve as a county What we're working on right now is to develop an operational plan and to eventually Fully integrate it with our two-year budget So the operational plan will contain countywide strategies which represent our approach And as well as department objectives and key steps I want to note that this is the first of three operational plans in the current strategic plan cycle So and it's an important step in changing county culture and collaborating with departments throughout the county to achieve the vision Over time the operational plan will fully integrate with other initiatives including continuous process improvement Performance measurement and the new to your budget But this is really the first step and it's a start in doing that In december we were here providing an update and we showed this timeline At that time we had just completed a training with departments on objectives and key steps And we had just begun the process of starting to think about our countywide strategies and draft those At the steering committee and subcommittee levels Today we're here to provide an update on the operational planning process and primarily strategy development We provided a handout which includes all of the 54 strategies that have been drafted and and as well as a sample of some of our major projects and initiatives This spring, um, we plan to conduct some additional engagement with the community as well And we'll talk about that a little bit later And then in may we want to bring to the board the proposed operational plan and then the final plan in june for adoption So our operational plan elements as I mentioned, um, we'll be adding three elements to tie to the strategic plan One is our countywide strategies, which are the approaches as I mentioned The second are our department objectives, which are smart actions that are working towards our strategic plan goals in countywide strategies And i'll note that objectives may appear under multiple strategies often times they can tie into different ones And then the key steps, which are the critical activities or steps taken to achieve achieve those objectives These inputs, um, have been taken into consideration as we draft the countywide strategies They include the community voices from the strategic planning process last year existing department and partner goals county staff input from the strategic planning process and the department objectives of which we currently have 180 in some sort of draft format Uh, the point is to really take these into consideration and not develop the operational plan in the vacuum, but to to use existing work and keep that in mind This graphic shows how, um, departments are collaborating and for us collaboration is a priority Um, this this we took the draft objectives and tried to tie together How departments which ones relate to which departments so this graphically shows the connections between the departments And we expect to deepen this collaboration as we proceed through the planning effort We are also working on embedding our county values in our strategies As we develop the operational plan the guiding principle of the steering committee Has been to take into consideration the principle of equity And we are working on linking our strategies to the county values as well as reflecting this guiding principle So just to briefly go over our strategy framework We wanted to come up with a consistent way of representing our strategies So we are using a statement that starts with we will and incorporates our actions and our impacts So here you will see an example We will advance prevention and intervention services that promote community wellness These are all of these strategies that you see on the handout That was included with the board item and passed out today Follow this same this same format and we hope it will help with comprehension So with that I would like to turn it over to Mimi hall director of health services who's going to Review the first area our first focus area of comprehensive health and safety and the strategy development there Thank you, Nicole. I'm pleased to be here today chair Coonerty and honorable board of supervisors And I'm also pleased to Say that I'm a member of the subcommittee over comprehensive health and safety This subcommittee is composed of representatives from the health services agency Human services the sheriff Probation and the district attorney and it's chaired by our probation chief Fernando Gerardo The strategy we're highlighting today within this goal area of health equity is within that goal area of health equity Just as reminder for members of the public The definition of health equity Is that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be healthier This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty Discrimination and their consequences Including powerlessness and a lack of access to good jobs quality education and housing safe environments and health care The themes that emerged in our discussions about health equity were access to care creating safe communities and prevention and intervention The strategy highlighted today here speaks to prevention and intervention Which we know can help us achieve better individual and community outcomes as well as reduce the need for greater and more expensive interventions down the road Some of the projects and initiatives that have been identified already to support this strategy are reducing clinic wait times Bolstering our thrive by three services and core's development of a library of evidence-based practices Next I wanted to review the focus area of attainable housing The attainable housing subcommittee is composed of representatives from the assessor recorder's office the planning department CAO's office human services health services Economic development and homeless services coordination And this subcommittee is chaired by our planning director Kathy Malloy So the strategy that we're highlighting today is within the goal area of local inventory Which includes increasing and diversifying our housing options Some of the themes that emerged in our discussions of local inventory were access to housing Having a variety of housing by different income levels and then also focusing on urban centers This strategy here speaks to access and variety of housing Of which single family residential alone cannot hope to address And we know that this strategy will also require a lot of creativity community and innovation to address Some of the projects that emerged And identified a need to support this strategy are completing development permits for projects such as 17th and Capitola Using our county owned property for its greatest community benefit And also updating the housing element of the general plan as required by state law And with that i'm going to turn it over to matt machado who is going to talk about strategy development around reliable transportation Thank you. Mimi. Good afternoon chairman supervisors Under reliable transportation our subcommittee was composed of representatives from public works planning economic development human services health services in the CAO office The strategy we are highlighting today is within the goal of local roads Additionally other goals were covered. They included regional mobility community mobility and public transit Themes that emerged in our discussions of local roads were safety and improved maintenance The strategy here focuses maintenance prioritization based upon usage and safety Some of the projects Or initiatives identified to support this strategy are being developed by public works In partnership with other county departments As well as regional and local governments As chair of this subcommittee, I will be presenting reliable transportation to the rtc on march 7th And to the mtc on march 22nd Next i'd like to introduce uh, Juan Hidalgo to discuss sustainable environment Thank you matt. Good afternoon chair members of the board I have the honor to serve as the chair of the sustainable environments of committee The subcommittee is composed of representatives from the agricultural commissioner agricultural extension general services planning parks public works and cannabis licensing The strategy we are highlighting today is within the goal of outdoor experience Themes that emerge in our discussion of outdoor experience were access to parks diverse recreation needs connection with our natural environment and facility facility improvements The strategy here speaks to access and facility improvements by making sure That we're considering location ability Along with myriad other factors when making capital improvements Some of the projects or initiatives identified to support this strategy are completing the first phase of lios haven A new preteen teen recreation camp And renovation of the simkins swimming pool The dynamic economy subcommittee is chaired by andy constable economic development manager The subcommittee is composed of representatives from economic development Human services ceo's office sheriff child protective services Planning agricultural commissioner and parks The strategy we are highlighting today is within the goal of community vitality Themes that emerge in our discussion of community vitality were unbalanced geographic distribution of economic resources In the correlated high cost of housing The strategy here speaks to identifying policy and investments The county can make to support individual individuals creating inclusive communities and economies Some of the projects or initiatives identified to support this strategy are economic developments downtown revitalization projects And the collaboration among planning public works and environmental health to create a one-stop shop for development services Now I will turn it over to matt so he can tell us about operational excellence Thank you on Under operational excellence our subcommittee was composed of representatives from personnel information services public works human services The ceo office county clerk and elections county council auditor and general services The strategy we are highlighting today is within the goal of county infrastructure Other goals that we developed include customer experience county workforce and continuous improvement Themes that emerged in our discussion of county infrastructure were equitable access safe facilities And using our resources to effectively address urgent community needs The strategy here speaks to all of these themes Especially putting county owned land to work towards achieving the goals Mission and vision for the county adopted By the board and the strategic plan Some of the projects or initiatives identified to support this strategy Our development of the county's long-range facilities plan And the current construction of six library projects funded by measure s Next up. Nicole will cover next steps Thank you matt So I will briefly go over our next steps in the operational planning process Currently departments are in the process of resubmitting their smart objectives and key steps And once reviewed each smart objective will be aligned with one or more of the county's strategies and goals We also have plans to proceed with some additional engagement with three key audiences this spring The first is key informants and we plan to hold Some focus groups one in each of the focus areas These sessions will be facilitated by angela and tenori who continues to support plan development We also plan to present this presentation to a number of county commissions as matt mentioned the rtc being one of them Um, we will be agendizing these presentations for meetings in march and april And then lastly we plan to conduct three open houses one in north mid and south county To provide a forum for for the public to come and learn more about the strategies And speak with some of our subject matter experts within the subcommittees Lastly in may we will be bringing to the board the proposed operational plan And then based on your feedback and any additional input we receive we would come return in june with the final plan So in summary, um our county strategic plan includes our vision mission and values It contains six focus areas and 24 goals And our county operational plan may include up to 54 strategies which are approaches to achieve our goals And 180 objectives from departments, which are the smart actions for achieving those goals The emphasis in the operational plan will be on department collaboration and achieving our county values So with that we're happy to answer any questions that you have Sure So are there any questions I can I just am really pleased to see this moving along. Um, it's very encouraging. I mean it really gives us A target and I'm glad that we brought this CAO said let's get this together and and work it together and it was Evident by there's some comments that were made by some departments already that there's a really a sense of cooperative effort Throughout the county that I don't think we've witnessed certainly in my six years as a county supervisor So I'm encouraged by this because I think it really gives us a focus and shows us where we want to go And I'm glad to have to see that we're going to Have these three open houses in the north middle and south part of the counties I really encourage the public to attend those And I just have one suggestion On that collaboration chart. I think that you should enter that in a modern art contest. It's a winner Thank you for that suggestion So uh, so thank you and I'll just jump in here, which is um And I echo all the comments and I it's great to see different department heads up here All working collaboratively across their different areas because that's that's fundamentally what this is about In terms of the the strategies in front of us I think the overall they're really good and they're very clear that the only couple areas I would add is On the climate change we talk about resiliency, but we also need to be reducing our carbon footprints or to help Not make the problem worse or to do our part There's not there's not a mention of arts or culture in this And I think we should we play a role In that in part probably in our economic vitality part piece And then um, finally on the both the health and the safety piece There's excellent language about providing services, but it's also it's not only about providing better services But it's also about reducing community impacts. So there's there's two elements to those goals for those programs and then Finally, I just say The objectives are where the rubberers really going to meet the road And making sure that those are clear and for the average they'll be meaningful to the average citizen Who who may not be? You know reporting back to the state or federal government about different grant money and or whatever but wants You know better services or quality of life in their communities and making sure that those objectives reflect Their customer driven essentially And also the other pieces They should be ambitious and encourage risk I I would be disappointed if during budget time we've met all of our objectives and we've checked every box That probably means we didn't set our objectives high enough. So we should we should be we should be pushing and understanding That that we aren't expecting everyone to be perfect and to fill all those every objective perfectly but but uh, so where it works We and we want you to try risk take risks some of which may not work out but that's um, but it's our job to encourage that and Um, and then it's also hopefully from the line level staff all the way through department heads In eagerness to try different things that that hopefully will work But some may not and um, that should be encouraged in the objectives All right now's the time for members of the public to come Speak Thank you for the report becky steinbrunner resident of rural aptos um As a member of the public I find myself wondering what is this really going to mean Like he said where the rubber meets the road boots on the ground projects What if when you have these community meetings, how will you take it to? um A way of interpreting it so that people understand how house is going to change will this change anything That we as public members see In operation in our county um, I didn't I didn't hear anything about fire safety and partnering with California department of fire protection. They're updating their vegetation treatment plan Things like that. I mean those are real concerns that many rural residents have And and it isn't confined fire safety is not confined to the rural areas anymore We've seen the fires blow into the the the wildland urban interfaces, so Santa Cruz city could be affected too live oak could be affected too So I guess I want to thank you for this good presentation and I too. I'm really happy to see departments talking That's a great improvement and and really good to see but in public meetings Um, I would hope that it's it's this good work Collaborative work is put forth in a way that is meaningful And real and tangible to the public so we understand the results of your good work here um And I would also like to see some energy put toward historic preservation efforts in the county That's a big piece of our History that will need to be preserved going forward with an emphasis on infill and density. Thank you Thank you. It'll be a Quick one, uh, the south county satellite office, uh, study What would that uh I Where would that be and It was in the report That's an example of one of the asking you then Yeah, that's an example of one of the potential sample projects that would become an objective and be tied to The strategy within the area of operational excellence So there's an idea to study whether it would be feasible to have a satellite office in south county For certain general government functions Right, which would be fine and uh, and then uh, I guess quick, uh I don't know any update on the Behavioral health mental health office and Watsonville opening up That would be you right Oh, yeah, there you are I'm sorry. I keep looking at the wrong. Yeah, the holdup has been An issue with pj and he actually cooperating with us to do what they need to do And so we've been in touch with their government relations Person and we've been making progress So we're we're moving forward That's good. I'm sorry to put you on the spot right here, but Thank you All right I'll just I'll just say I appreciate the work putting into this, you know, obviously we're Everybody gets to watch as this gets built and so we have this foundation of some basic values and Key strategies and now we have to build the rest of the infrastructure with all the objectives So it is hard when you're when you're just Driving by this This process to sort of see what it's going to look like You have to believe that that we're going to have objectives that that we can be measured by that we will That will set what we want to do I believe we'll have that and I think we're this is the right foundation to build for this So I appreciate that work Great Do we need to accept the report or Is the chair community we actually a technicality if we could vote on the last three presentations So you can do it in one vote that would be I would I would move to accept All the last three I'll second. All right. We got a motion by leopold and a second by cap it All those in favor, please say aye. Aye All those opposed those pass unanimously. Thank you very much That now concludes our meeting today. We'll adjourn until our march 12th Regularly scheduled meeting at 9 a.m Thank you


Welcome to ITU Telecom World 2019 here in Budapest. I'm very pleased to be joined in the studio by Tim Unwin, who is co-founder of Tech Together, amongst lots of other things too. Thanks. It's great to be back here again. Cheers. So, Tim, I wanted to start off by... There's been a lot of talk here about digital skills, innovation, innovation connectivity that matters. But I wanted to start off by asking you about digital exclusion. What are the major factors in digital exclusion, specifically in the digital gender gap, do you think? I think we have to begin by realising that technology, digital technologies, ICTs are an accelerator. So they will accelerate whatever is happening already in society. And so where you have exclusion, particularly around gender issues, particularly in patriarchal societies, tech, unless you do something about it, is always going to accelerate that. And I think we're now beginning to understand that exclusion or inequality is not just on one kind of variable. It's where they all intersect. I don't particularly like the word intersectionality, but that's what this refers to. So where you say have refugees who have disabilities who are women, they're going to be the most excluded of all. And I think I've been working for the last 20 years in trying to change that. And I think we need to begin by focusing on the most marginalised, women in patriarchal societies and understanding how they are marginalised, particularly by technology. And what's tech together doing for this? Well, tech together, there have been so many initiatives about reducing gender digital inequality, nearly all of them by women, for women. And because so many other people have been working in the field, although it's something I've been caring about ever since the work we did 20 years ago with women in Ethiopia, it was based on our saying, if we don't change men's attitudes and behaviors, we're not going to make a difference. So tech together is all about changing men's attitudes and behaviors. So that isn't actually the same as allies for women.   What about AI? How does gender bias manifest itself in AI systems and how do you think it can be mitigated? The mitigating is probably the easier one to answer in some ways because it's about understanding how AI is leading to greater differentiation, exclusion, but it's worse than that. It's how AI can be used to harass and abuse women as well. And so the answer is understanding or sharing understandings, getting people actually to do things differently. There are lots of ways in which it is impacting the Equals Initiative, which the ITU plays a really major role in, has recently launched a wonderful report on AI and gender. So there are all sorts of things, the use of female voices for things like Siri to name one. But why is it women? And how are those programmed? And how do they respond to different questions? And you then go back and say, well, why were they designed like that in the first place? To me, that's the interesting question. Probably like a bad man driver. I need a woman's voice to calm me down. But more seriously, AI is only as good as the data that is put in. And so I'm fascinated by the way that if you think of China, which has whatever it is, 16% of the world's population, that is a huge amount of data. But again, that's only Chinese data. If you take US corporations, US is only 4% of the world's population, but has kind of a bigger reach. But still the data that is accumulated has biases within it. And if those biases reflect, the structural biases in society that I was talking about earlier, male, female, disability, they will then be replicated and exaggerated through the use of AI. So how are you working in your various roles to increase inclusivity? Particularly around gender. Well, tech together is one of the main ways we're doing that. We're also very involved and equals more generally about supporting the highest possible quality of research, getting gender disaggregated data. We're doing exciting things for the moment around migration and the inequalities associated with migration. And how can we use AI to reduce inequalities in the migration process, particularly in countries, I don't like the word south, but in countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. So that's much more migration than from those countries, those continents to the north. So actually how can we use digital technologies to do that? And I think we're also particularly working around understanding just the scale and the extent of the ways in which these technologies are actually used to do harm, abuse and sexual harassment. And the numbers of people who commit suicide, particularly women, particularly in strongly patriarchal societies, because of what happens to them digitally. Working on that. Now, you're no stranger to ITU, no stranger to ITU events with many times and talked in many studios in many different countries. I just wanted to ask you, what's the value for you of attending events such as this at ITU Telecom World? I think it has to be meeting some brilliant people. It's a great opportunity for ministers, for CEOs, for thought leaders to come together to thrash out some of the real challenging issues. I have to say, perhaps I've been around too long, but one of the challenges is every new generation makes the same mistakes that we did. So we're hearing the same things over and over again about a new technology. So what's said now about AI, actually we were talking about getting computers into schools and big computer labs and things. I'm trying to find ways that we can short-circuit the mistakes that people are making because you just see it over and over again. And I hope that'll change. We're trying to create new next year, for example, a non-conference where you don't have any panels, you don't have any keynotes, but you actually have a range of different activities. So wouldn't it be amazing to get a group of... Well, we're here in Budapest, a group of senior people in the sector actually talking about the problems while walking up the hill to the castle or when they're going around an art gallery. So we're going to be trying to mix it up and you can talk about cybersecurity or gender inequality while painting pottery or something like that. Well, that's correct. But there is a place, obviously also, for events like this and it's always good to come back. And actually, and reflecting it, it's good to see the way, since Penny Pot, that the ITU is moving forward, doing things differently and beginning to talk about things like meaningful connectivity. Great. Well, thank you for taking the time to sit still for a little while and move forward too quickly for us. But that's wonderful and very much wish you the very best with all of your initiatives and look forward to catching up with you again soon. Thank you. And it's always a real pleasure to chat with you on occasions like this. Thanks to the ITU for inviting me to be here. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.


All right, one consequence of affirmative action going away is the universities now have to figure out how to admit students. They can't use race as a qualifier. They can't use it to keep out Asians, which is the primary thing they used it for. And they now have to find an alternative. Now, you could assume that the alternative would be something like, I don't know, merit, Tescos, quality of essay. But there is now a push to use a new tool, a powerful new tool to take in new students and to guarantee that there is, I guess, some form of diversity among those students coming in into our universities. This is a new guidelines that has been pioneered by the medical school at University of California, Davis. Shocking that this is in California. And the new tool is just in case you weren't sure on how the significance and power and influence of altruism in our culture, the new tool is called the adversity score. So students will be scored based on how much adversity they faced. And head of admissions, he says, look, mostly rich kids get to go to medical school. I want kids to face adversity. I wonder if rich kids can face adversity.  So they say that this advantage scale has helped turn UC Davis, this is from a New York Times article, into one of the most diverse medical schools in the country. And this is a consequence of the fact that in 1996, California banned affirmative action. So they used diversity adversity scores to replace affirmative action. So now, the more you suffer, the more you can show that you're poor or you struggle or whatever, the more likely you are to get into med school. If I ever go to a doctor's office and I say diploma on the wall that says you got a degree at UC Davis, I am leaving, I am walking out. I do not want a surgeon to cut me open or a doctor to advise me who got into medical school because of adversity. And who knows, maybe the grades they get are based on their adversity. I don't know, there's no guarantee of that. So this is really spooky, really spooky. And it truly is scary, right? Darren says, why are you in favor of the rainbow cult? I'm not, I just think the right is nuts about it. That's all. I'm not in favor of the subjectivism. I'm not in favor of the nuttiness. I'm not in favor of the nihilism expressed by many in the LGBTQ community and by some of the kind of behavior in pride events. But I also think the right is gone crazy over this. And I'm just pointing that out. You can be against some of the nuttiness of the LGBTQ community without endorsing the bigotry of under Santas, call it what you want to call it to compete insanity and panic, real panic, moral panic of Matt Walsh and what's the other guy, the 1220 guy and Ron DeSantis, you could hold two things at the same time, these guys are bad and these guys are crazy for freaking out. Anyway, 20 schools have recently requested more information about the adversity score and about to implement it. So you are now gonna have people graduating from college, admitting into college at least and maybe graded in college, I don't know. Now based on their ability, and the scariest one is medical school, right? The scariest one is medical school. We now have to research who goes to medical school and how they're graded so that we know, right? And all based on how much you suffered. Now, adversity could be a factor, overcoming adversity is certainly a strong manifestation of a certain character and it's not bad to be somebody who overcomes adversity and that could be a plus and certainly should be and can be a factor in making a decision. I mean, but hopefully test scores, ability, commitment, grades, you know, some other measures are first intelligence and second, just commitment to the field, you know, an ability to communicate. There are lots of things that you need in order to be a good doctor and those are super, super important. Add to that some factor for adversity, fine. I don't have a problem with that if it's focused on the character building, the individual.