Good morning everybody. I'd like to call to order the February 27th, 2018 Board of Supervisors meeting if we could have a roll call, please Supervisor Leopold here Coonerty here Caput here McPherson Chairfriend here and feel please join us in a brief moment of silence in the Pledge of Allegiance Good morning, Mr. Plasio. So are there any wait additions or changes to the agenda? We do have a number of revisions on Consent agenda on number item number 18. There's a correction The item should read adopt resolution to create the new job classification of senior medical billing technician for the health services agency Revised the workforce Development board director salary range for the Human Service Department and take related actions as recommended by the interim director personnel There's additional materials with that item. There's a revised board memo and there's also revised attachment packet page 128 on Item number 38. There's an additional material. There's a replacement page attachment e pages 508 through 510 on the regular agenda Item number 50. There's a revised board membo packet pages 629 and 630 and then On there's an agenda. There's on the consent agenda agenda agenda item 43.1 Staff requests that this item be deleted. That's item 43 p. They're 43.1 That concludes the corrections. Thank you Now we'll move on to the consent items. Are there any board members that may be interested in pulling or commenting on it? I'm good morning supervisor cap it you bet Number 24, I'm not sure how to do this, but we could vote for approval, but I would like to have the mental health advisory board to be put on the agenda to Actually talk about all the accomplishments that they've done in the past few years and Give them an opportunity to come before the board. Okay, Supervisor cap I'll work with you for a future agenda to have that presentation done that work together on that Sure, are there any other comments on any other item? I think that'll be fine. Thank you Supervisor McPherson. Good morning Good morning on item 21. I want to appreciate Supervisor Coonerty bringing These issues gun related issues to the attention of the board and the action we're going to take I just wanted to think it'd be good for us to Make a comment about what our sheriff's office is doing in relation to Deputies and so forth that throughout and schools throughout Santa Cruz County The sheriff's office has an armed deputy at each of the high schools throughout during school hours in the county so kill Aptos and San Ones of Valley and he the deputies make a Continuous stop at schools throughout the county on their regular beat so we do have presence on campus with qualified personnel of On campus here in Santa Cruz County from the sheriff's office and they are making regular stops at schools throughout the county and that Number is probably into the 30 or 40. I'm not sure how many there are but I think the the general public of Santa Cruz County Would like to know that under the circumstances of what we've Experienced in this nation recently On a lighter note, I'd like to comment on item 37 regarding the coat Coat enforcement priorities and let the record show that none of the priorities are in the fifth district And the and on item 39 to the Continuous process improvement of its related to the review Process and customer service in the planning department. I think it's something that we've all heard about We've all been working on and to Kathy position the people in the planning department. I want to say thank you for your your efforts to improve Our customer service to the people of Santa Cruz County. Thank you supervisor McPherson. Good morning supervisor Coonerty Hi, good morning. Just a couple items to comment on the first is as supervisor Supervisor McPherson mentioned is item number 21 This is calling for the board to both support the remarkable students who are out there right now pushing for sensible gun policy in this country to support a series of measures which Would be a small step towards making our schools and our communities safer and then finally is asking To support John John Chung's efforts to have our investments actually match our values and to not have our pension funds invested in in gun companies and so I hope to have my colleague support and appreciate Supervisor McPherson support. I have number 28 28. I want to thank Jang win and the and HSA for pursuing a Grant for crisis services for the youth the youth population is underserved in this community And I really appreciate her and her department's efforts to to bring more resources To those folks on item number 37, which is the code enforcement abatement The third district is still has more work to do to catch up with the pristine district And so I appreciate the code enforcement actions that were taken In the third district and around our county to reduce Impacts to communities as well as fire dangers and other dangers Thank You Surveyser committee. Good morning Surveyser Leopold. Good morning chair There's just a couple items. I'd like to speak about one is on item 16 about the housing navigation policy I just want to just both commend our staff and but also the housing authority Who put together a very thoughtful Information that helped them better inform me about how the housing authority looks at this And I really appreciate that work and the ongoing work of our housing authority. Thank you for that On item number 19, I encourage the board support for assembly member mark stones bill banning cigarette butts on on on our cigarettes This is a huge contribution to trash on our beaches and all around they provide no real health benefit And they may contribute To deeper lung disease we really need to work to do this and I appreciate the assembly members continued Concentration on trying to find a way to build support for a bill like this on item number 21. I appreciate the efforts of my colleagues and I also want to take this opportunity To let people know that the sheriff's office along with all law enforcement agencies are conducting a gun buyback on March 24th from 10 to 2 at the sheriff's Office on 5200 Soquel as well at the Watsonville fire station number one, which is on 2nd Street in Watsonville There's a lot of work. We could do to keep it away from Guns away from schools, but getting guns off the street is really helpful And I really appreciate the leadership of our law enforcement agencies to help provide a venue for that to happen I Look forward to the presentation for the mental health advisory board here on item number 24 It was it was there was some interesting information about the 7th Avenue facility And it would be great opportunity to talk about that more when it comes before the board and on item number 28 the the critical need for mental health services for young people is is very clear We've heard it before this board. I'm really glad to see the leadership that our health services agency is taking to apply For these funds and hopefully will be successful and be able to expand Funding on item number 36 I'm glad that that we finally found a way to to honor the the board's Direction to be part of the Monterey Bay Housing Trust I think this is just one part of a regional strategy to address the housing crisis in our community And I'm glad to see us moving forward on that on item number 37 I am really glad that we are actually using a fund to Work on abatements as was pointed out the one on Heron Lane, which is going to eat up a lot of the money 40% is a real problem, and this is to have abatement funds is really critical when Properties are used for all sorts of activities But then there's no one around to to clean them up after their After they're despoiled and they cause problems with the environment and the neighborhoods So I'm glad to see that we finally have some Items on here that we're going to fund it and it's going to be a challenge for us all to make sure that there's continued funding for abatement procedures So we can deal with these problems out on the community and with that Turn it over to you. Thank you suffice. We have pulled all this comment on two quick things that my colleagues hadn't mentioned Just like to thank the parks department for their work on item 33 bringing forward the integrated recreation software system replacement I know that that's actually going to make a big difference both internally and externally And it's really a pretty minimal cost for what it'll really provide from a service standpoint And I'd like to thank public works for beginning the process on Cox Road with the independent contractor agreement I appreciate all the work that you've done expediting the repair projects from storm damage within our district and others a massive amount throughout the county But I've heard a lot of good things from people within the second district for the hard work The public works is down and I appreciate that you're continuing to prioritize that Is there anybody from the community that'd like to address us on items on consent now? It'd be your opportunity. Please feel free to step forward for the consent items Good morning. Welcome Marilyn Garrett I'd feel more welcome if this wasn't such a microwaved environment with all the Wi-Fi and antennas on the roof with this harmful radiation that makes my tremors even worse But you sound good when you say welcome. I just The environment isn't good here Number 17 County library funds excess of 4.5 million and I understand it must be used to improve The library my suggestion this is a serious suggestion to improve The library is to make it so it doesn't have Wi-Fi microwave radiation Harmy everyone like the National Library in Paris one of the largest collections in the world did They went to a wired system the sex has funds could be used to do a wired System for computers instead of wireless microwave System and I will leave you again with this for sure that says Wi-Fi and the library Convenience or health hazard with some excellent citations here and a picture of the brain the damage to the brain From exposure to microwave radiation exposed and unexposed rats number 19 eliminate toxic cigarette waste the buds some that That's a Drop in the bucket. I think what we need to do is eliminate cigarettes and the cigarette industry because it's all is there long to pollute the buds the Cigarette smoke it's gonna be everywhere. We're picking up as the corporations Privatize the profits and they socialize the cost we the public are to pay for the cleanup of their dangers That's not right 43.1 this that was added late 43.1 has been Deleted oh, it's been deleted. Okay That's I'm glad to hear that and the last one number 27 The air patrol Under homeland security when I see with homeland security is Militarization of the police when there's already excessive amounts of money Spent on police and surveillance and I really don't think think it benefits the public So those are my comments and recommendations. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else like to address us on Consent, please feel free to step forward Good morning. Good morning My name is Frenny Cooper. I work for Monterey Bay economic partnership We're a regional non-profit that works on economic quality of life in the Monterey Bay region We cover Santa Cruz Monterey and San Benito counties. I'm here regarding item 36 Just thanking you for your support for the Monterey Bay housing trust We've made huge strides in the last year partnered with housing trust Silicon Valley Who's matching our funds four-to-one on Affordable housing projects for low to very low income residents throughout the area and we've already funded Three different loans including the water street project. We have a number of others in the pipeline and Your approval of this funding last spring enables us to expand to unincorporate areas of Santa Cruz County and I just wanted to thank you for your support and you're in Providing affordable housing in our area. Thank you. Thank you for your work Gary Richard Arnold chairman supervisors on a number 21 with the Moves to penalize law abiding citizens and disarm people from protecting themselves. We see that sheriff Israel Stopped arresting teenagers early this year and he made it mandatory So that a crime appears that it has never happened some of those crimes included concealed weapons assault and battery and theft It was under a program called promise and they are not These violators and criminals are not Listed until their third violation and we see that there were 39 complaints to his office I think this attitude of Making these people Out of sight creates a danger to all the rest of the children and to the community I requested the county maintain records of the violator especially the violent ones in the sanctuary cities and As Bruce McPherson said it's probably a good idea to have a visual precedence presence but also when that visual presence isn't there it's a invitation as to Strike by these crazy people. I encourage that there be people with concealed carry permits that are well trained and Are not afraid are not hiding behind a car while children are being killed or assassinated Also on items number 26 and 29 and a couple of other ones you keep dividing our community into genders and race I get rid of these various Committees treat everybody as an individual equally and also on 37 With your customer service for the planning department. That's your way to cover your crime of abolishing the citizens appeals board That power grab remains in your hands and it's Unseemly that you think that nobody in your county Contractor a plumber a carpenter you can't find anybody to replace Yourselves that make the law enforce the law and then decide you make yourselves a judge That's outrageous and that's a tactic of the Communist and Nazis Good morning. Good morning. Thank you. My name is Becky Steinbruner I want to thank you for putting the binder of the documentation that is Adherent to today's agenda in the back of the room as has been asked for many times. Thank you It allows people to read here the documentation rather than having to go down the hall. Thank you I would like to comment briefly on item number 15 the tax penalty relief I was happy to see that I didn't know that citizens can request Waivers of penalties costs and other charges Resulting from property tax delinquency, and I'm glad that 203 people were able to get that relief that gives them four years of Relief for tax penalties I Would like to also state My can my thanks to Supervisor Leopold for item number 19 Banning the Plastic filters I've picked up many of them on the beach and have firsthand seen the effects on Wildlife when they ingest them. So thank you for doing that. I Would like to comment on item 26 and I will talk about this later during open comment The Historic Resources Commission report this commission has a lot of power they are continually told they have none and It is nearly abysmal what the level of Oversight is for historic preservation in this county Officials from the State Historic Preservation Office have told me anonymously their office considers Santa Cruz County a black hole of Historic preservation and I would really like to see that change as I'm sure you would do and I have some ideas for that that I will discuss later item number 39 Actually, let me go back to item number 28. Thank you for funding the peer the youth Mental health advisory having just attended a funeral service for a 15 year old suicide victim I really think that's money well spent and would like the health service agency to also consider increase in peer review My daughter has felt that that has been much more helpful than talking with an adult Item number 39 I would like to ask that in the planning department surveys of Efficient use that water agencies be attached to the route check-off list for plan Building permits number 42. I think this is a conflict of interest with mr. Kittleson's wife Working in environmental health overseeing wildlife and environmental habitat restoration and number 43 I do not understand why Bowman and Williams is being given a contract for $55,000 for Cox Road when the county has already contracted with five outside Engineering consulting firms for storm repair at a cost of 25 million dollars. Thank you. Thank you Is there anybody else like to address us during or during a consent For an item on the consent agenda. Good morning. I want to be able to say to the chair Chairman friend, thank you so much for bringing the light item package that has all the reports and also the addendums that we're able to Circumstant that it and peruse it. I want to be able to say that's great leadership that we do appreciate Thank you for making that concession Also, I want to just be able to comment on on on the on the consent calendar Line item number 13. I was able now that you guys the package right there I was able to peruse that and and the report I I was just concerned they have some Some issues that I was just concerned about And when it stands with the leadership there, I want to be able to share with members of the public that I did peruse that I'm a little dubious about the the language in there about the leadership, right? They want to put this commission together, but when it comes to Emily Timberlake, I had a meeting just the other day I brought my GoPro, which is right here, right? According to the Brown Act I want to be able to have this meeting because every time I'm there trying to keep these political agencies accountable They want to vulgarize my activism that I'm up to no good because I'm the usual suspect But I would say I would say this before we go. I just I do appreciate that. I know that I'm not dealing with the light item Itself, I'm just talking about the leadership that they need to be a little bit more sensitive Okay, the American that's an oral communications thing not a consent thing, but is there anybody else who'd like to address this and in consent, please Morning. Good morning Brenda Chadwick. Thank you for the opportunity to comment this morning I actually wasn't Planning on commenting on anything on the agenda, but I do want to thank Supervisor Coonerty for item number 21 That's something that I really support. I'm sure The vast majority of parents support. I can't imagine that Many in Santa Cruz County don't support it. I was a secretary for a high school principal for many years We had resource officers in our school the kids knew them they were a valuable asset to Help Recognize when there were problems in the school and I also like to thank the law enforcement in Santa Cruz County I know the sheriff's office participated in the 21st century policing Which I attended that session and was thrilled to hear about it I know the Santa Cruz Police Department is working very hard and we appreciate their efforts And we don't need to have more guns. We need less guns and especially assault guns. Thank you Thank you anybody else on consent Good morning supervisors. My name is Peter Patu and I'm involved with the Santa Cruz hostel project I'm addressing the item number 36 where you're earning $200,000 for the housing housing In the county it seems to me that one of the things that's missing is a youth hostel in this county and Another a second one. We have one hostel in Santa Cruz up on Main Street up on top beach here And it's very successful We the problem is it's too small So in the summertime we're inundated with a lot of travelers from all over the area from Central California for international travelers and they can't find any space The only limited options for people to stay not a lot end up going to the staying at the beaches or With other homeless people so it seems to me that the county should endeavor to have a second hostel somewhere in the county and maybe The $200,000 that's available that there seems to want to spend and we could be spent in that direction to find some place that's That's a viable as a hostel and it's self-supporting. Thank you much Thank you. Anybody else on consent? Real quickly if there's nobody else well, we do have one other person Is there anybody also like to address us on consent beyond this individual all right to be the last speaker on consent go ahead Hi, my name is Kalei Kim, and I just want to express my support and happiness of the board support for the never-again movement in March for our lives because There's no reason for us to have these type of weapons available that are modeled off the after the m6 and m16 These weapons have been used in numerous mass shootings recently. I'm also Want to voice my support for the funding and Resolution authorizing the health services agency and item 28 to submit an application for grant funding for the California mental health services Oversight, I think it takes a myriad of support For people in crisis or who have suffered trauma and abuse majority of mass shooters do not have mental illness But in some cases and they do but even for those who don't go on to take violent action We do want to support people in the hardships that they suffer and face I'm glad that this county is leading the way in numerous progressive Progressive actions and We can do more Thank you. Thank you for those comments. I'll bring it back to the board for action on consent real quick comment Then item 20. I neglected to mention. I'd like to welcome Lucy Bassler To the women's commission representing District 4. Thank you. Thank you. I move approval of the consent agenda We have a motion from Supervisor Leopold a second from McPherson all those in favor. I Opposed it passes unanimously when I move on to oral communications This is an opportunity for members of the community to address us on items that are not on today's agenda But within the purview of the board of supervisors here three minutes. Good morning. Good morning chair friend members of the board Staff and members of the public. My name is Alan Smith. I am the this year's chair of the Creole College governing board And I'm here in that capacity. I'm here to introduce dr. Matt wetstein Matt is a Been at work here at Cabrillo for since I think February 1st So he's brand new he comes to us from Stockton where he has been the vice president of Delta College for the last 20 years He grew up in Illinois He got his PhD or actually his undergraduate degrees in journalism I believe and his PhD has in political science from the universe from a northern Illinois University and I'm gonna let Matt come up and introduce himself from here on. Thank you. Thank you mr. Smith Good morning. Welcome. Good morning. Thank you chair friend and board supervisors. It's a great honor to be here The board selection of me Really was a thrill to join this community to join Cabrillo colleges It's just been exciting and everywhere I go in the county meeting folks. It's just been wonderful reception a Great community to join Cabrillo Obviously has some deep partnerships with county government and some deep partnerships with folks on the board themselves I know some of you have served on the board and or and or taking courses or are taking courses at the college or have Family members who've done so and I'm appreciative of that that service and in supporting our college I pledge to work as hard as I can with county agencies to help improve Any kind of workforce Improvement and development of our students to be great tax-paying citizens and people who can get into living wage jobs Appreciate the support that we get from the county and and county staff The sheriff's office which has a location on our campus as well We're very appreciative of that safety support that we get from the county a little bit of background on me before I end My speech of fine with you. I Served on the Stockton Civil Service Commission when I was working in Stockton as a kind of volunteer commitment and Have great appreciation for the work that planning officials do and civil service commissions and county staff city staff So I want to commend you and your agencies for all the great work you do for the county and its citizens and Make a pledge to you. I'm going to do everything I can to help Cabrillo College help you and improve our workforce and Get folks trained for a good career. So thank you for the welcome and I hope to see you around the community Thank you. Welcome. Welcome Good morning. Welcome back. Thank you The county and your board has done a good job of developing and passing an ordinance for local cannabis dispensaries to compete in the regulated market Thank you, but you are failing the small farm cultivators There is an emphasis in the proposed ordinance on larger cultivation sites and basically complete elimination of the smaller farmers In fact, the state's smaller specialty and cottage license types are not even included in the proposed ordinance I recently attended board meetings regarding hosted rentals in the county. Most commenters were seniors supplementing their incomes You voted for a two hundred and fifty dollar cap and grandfathering in everyone who registers even if That reached eight hundred as long as they were paying their TOT tax all for about a hundred and fifty dollar registration fee Good for five years. No license fee. No inspection. No inspection fees Hosted rental providers use their residents to carry on commercial activities just as many artists writers realtors attorneys Tech startups crafters beauticians child and senior care providers cottage food Businesses etc do under the county's home occupation ordinance The county says they are not treating cannabis any differently than any other business, but just think If there are 800 hosted rentals each being rented to a party of two for an average of just 100 days of year That's a hundred and sixty thousand cars driving To and from Santa Cruz and a hundred and sixty thousand strangers Coming into our neighborhoods. I'm a senior. I'm a woman I'm honest and ethical and I am Supplementing my income in order to stay in my home. I am one person living where I work with no employees It is safe and secure with no smells sounds or lights Perceivable from my home Electrical is up to code so Cal Creek water says I'm average and compared to my neighbors in water usage How is this more unsafe or environmentally perilous for a neighborhood than a hosted rental? I am advocating for sensible cannabis Ordinances that includes the small long-term heritage cannabis farmers in the county We paid our $500 registration fee and we are paying our taxes We live where we cultivate safely and responsibly using best practices and the knowledge and experience that produces safe High quality and friar mentally friendly cannabis We need to be in alignment with the state's license types and definitions with lower scalable fees for these smaller license types Dispensaries have recently reported that they are having difficulty sourcing local cannabis We support locally sourced organic food and locally owned businesses We should be striving to support locally at every opportunity. I say keep it small. Keep it local. Thank you Thank you Good morning. Good morning board members. I Am my name is Veronica Lopez Doran. I'm the community studies program manager at UCSC and I'm back today Because tomorrow is giving day. I left some postcards and sent you all an email Yesterday regarding this event in particular Giving day is we for us It's going to be an effort to honor officer Elizabeth Butler In seeking to endow a scholarship in her name to support community studies Students who are in the program that I work for who follow in her footsteps by pursuing fuel study in Santa Cruz County We also have a generous donor who has agreed to match donations up to $10,000 and so this will allow us to Or allow any of you and anybody in the community who contributes to be able to double their contribution The easiest way to find our campaign information would be to go to community studies dot UCSC dot edu So that's the best and quickest way to get to us although I've shared the links with all of you Also, you can share on your social media pages Last year alone community studies students contributed over 7,000 hours to local organizations in Santa Cruz County Our program is going to be going on its 50th year next year So I would like to think that we've been a good part of contributing to Organizations here in Santa Cruz that are trying to bring social justice issues to the forefront and to provide direct service to folks in our community so I invite you once again to please share our campaign and Any donation in the amount of five dollars and up is greatly appreciated because it is not just about the total amount of money That's brought in towards the endowment, but it's also about how many people contribute so if you can contribute five dollars, then you can be part of this campaign and There are challenge funds available to us based on the number of people that are contributing So five dollars alone can make a difference in our campaign once again folks should direct Themselves to the web page community studies dot UCSC dot edu and I thank you for the direct support Since that that is the best way to really get the word out there is to hear from people that you know Thank you. Thank you Gary Richard Arnold, I've brought up several times before that Encouraging the sheriff to investigate several supervisors that called and shut down a free speech meeting that was scheduled and there was violence and intimidation in those Those threats and It's interesting that the sheriff that would be pursuing this is a recipient of campaign donations from four of the people sitting at the board of supervisors and I believe they did the trick of having the previous sheriff Resigned so that the incumbent they could appoint this incumbent and Make sure that their backsides are covered through the political machine operations that you maintain Some of the truth I've been putting forth was called hate speech by a local member in the community and They said there's a big difference between Communists with a small C and a big C so let me get to the big C's here A big C communist is one like Hugh de Lacey whose plaque is outside the the Courthouse steps and according to the government it says he devoted virtually all of his time to the operation of communist front operations and spreading communist propaganda this communist That's associated with force by rings was Featured at the Loud Nelson Center the people that showed up and signed off as comrades themselves Was Patton Panetta Ratkin they expressed their love appreciation and solidarity To this communist also there was Dan Bessie whose father again according to the government says is among a very accurate list whose purpose is set up to is to set up espionage system helping the Soviet Union I know nationally everybody's looking for communist collusion. We have it here in spades Alva Bessie together with Hugh de Lacey We're wanting to keep America out of the Second World War because of the Hitler-Stalin pack this So be out there the you honor supported both Hitler and and Lenin and Stalin. I mean This is an insult to anybody that knows history and the history of this particular county The ACLU I've got 10 seconds left Roger Baldwin says When we achieve when we achieve power, I am for maintaining it by any means whatsoever Communism is the goal and that's why the ACLU has supported in the door. Thank you people By the way, Bruce McPherson received Richard dollars Please Good morning. Welcome Good morning. I'm Mel Grisgum. I'm the president of the Santa Cruz County chapter of the California Grand Jury's Association And I would like to thank the board for making February civil grand jury awareness month This is the time of year when the grand jury takes applications from the public to be on next year's grand jury and for those who don't know the civil grand jury in Santa Cruz County is an independent body that Investigates the government within Santa Cruz County For those who are interested applications can be found and information on both the county and the court websites The proclamation by the board will help us increase the visibility of the grand jury and the application process And I hope will increase both the size of the applicant pool and the diversity of the applicant pool I know that Supervisor Leopold has put information about the application process on his Website and in his newsletter and I would encourage the other board members to do so as well Publicize it as much as possible especially the fourth district In hopes that we Can get a more diverse group and a better population from which to choose the grand jury. Thank you again to the board Thank you for your work Good morning. Welcome. Good morning My name is Miley Arnest. I'm the 180 2020 initiative director And I just wanted to come before you because I haven't been up here in a while and give you a brief update Since our of my last update we are close to housing 700 homeless families and individuals through our collaborative efforts where We've just placed the 685th person or family last week Among other things 180 2020 has been working closely with smart path coordinated entry to ensure that We are helping those who are the most vulnerable in our community community and they're being prioritized I'm also part of the all-in landlord executive committee And if you may you may have heard we've Been trying to increase access to housing across to the board in our community Among our efforts. We have created the landlord incentive program with the housing authority and have formed the newly minted housing navigation Collaborative so I wanted to thank you for your continuous support in our goal of ending homelessness in our community So thank you. Thank you Good morning. Good morning again Becky Steinbruner. I would just like to follow up on the previous speaker's comment the 10 affordable measure J units in the Aptos village project are coming up for a sale And I want to make sure that people know there is a workshop tomorrow February 28th at the Rio Sands Motel in Aptos 6 to 7 for English speakers PM 6 to 7 PM and 7 to 8 PM for Spanish speakers and that will be repeated again on March 24th from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 again for English and Spanish speakers So that's for some affordable housing coming up. That's a good thing for measure J I'd also like to comment a bit about the speaker from the civil grand jury I did apply as did a number of people I know who are very interested in trying to make a positive difference in our county and Went to the orientation the process is a rather a false one I'm sorry to say Because people who apply are not given any priority at all in terms of being on the grand jury selection process It's a completely random Selection and we were told that it was purely a cost-saving measure for the county that this is being offered for Application because there has to be a certain number of people that Apply before they can close the application process So it was a it was a cost-saving measure I think it's a good idea to let people apply But I think that those people should be given priority not just a random selection process as a cost-saving measure I would like to now talk with you about what I really wanted to talk with you about is the I went to the I had the honor of going to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors meeting Recently when they issued the formal apology to the Japanese American citizens in that county for what happened in 1943 Letter of protest was sent out by the board at that time opposing release of Japanese American citizens back into society and It was quite an honor to be there to see that rectified I want to let you and the public know that there was quite a different story in the Pajaro Valley What happened is that? Japanese American citizens lost their homes and farms because their assets their bank accounts were seized within hours after the Pearl Harbor bombing And they had no money to pay taxes in Pajaro Valley The people joined together and paid the Hirahara family's taxes and allowed them to keep their farm This place is now on the historic registry the barn in which the Hirahara family allowed Families who were not as fortunate as them to come back and get their feet under them is in disrepair and needs to be rebuilt To keep this story alive I'm asking you to request the Historic Resources Commission not to take this off the National Historic Registry Thank you. Thank you. Thank and thank you for promoting the Atlas Village affordable units. Those are good Good morning welcome Good morning. My name is Jenny Gomez from Felton. You might remember me from the no-shoot zone Thank you very much again for that. It's made a difference in our community I'm here today again to talk about the guns in our community and the no-shoot Ordinance by the county in a more programmatic way. I want to play this recording for you This was recorded a little over a week ago in a residential area in Boulder Creek You can hear it's it's semi-automatic It could be an AR-15 It was taken between and there's more it went on for a while. It was taken between 1030 at night and 11 p.m Nobody can see a target at these areas at this, you know time of day You know in our no-shoot ordinance doesn't include any restrictions for daytime or nighttime It doesn't include any restrictions for a type of, you know guns that can be fired And I think there's a lot more areas in the county that are like Lompeco That are really fairly densely populated residential areas Where this kind of thing just doesn't belong and I think for somebody to be out In the middle of the night doing this type of thing it shows You know Some lack of good judgment You know is this the next school shooter My daughter goes to San Lorenzo elementary and she's been on two actual lockdowns These are not drills She's in second grade So I would just like to urge the county, you know You have all the resources and everything available to look at where people are shooting their guns and just You know establish a minimum Size of parcel Residential density. I mean you could look at this in a better way and I'm at bare minimum, you know look at Maybe people shouldn't be doing this at night Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you for coming forward. Good morning. Welcome. Good morning. My name is Tim Tonsing I live in Lompeco. I live in Bruce McPherson's district. I want to speak in opposition to Industrial cultivation of marijuana, especially in the mountains I think it belongs only in the Paro Valley for so many reasons from rodent side to Illegal water diversions which will make fish go extinct to the secondary kills of rodent sides The other course is fire when I walked in here the picture that you see there is the Loma fire That was started from a greenhouse that had shoddy Electrical service that burned several structures and a couple houses My experience with it as I've been shot out by hiking out in the mountains twice I've seen a gun on a tripwire It took me a year and a half to get this individual out of my neighborhood that was growing illegally in a place called happyland I really suggest that the supervisors here read a silent poison it was a study done by Calaveras Supervisor Dennis Miller of Calaveras County and after his study and they had legalized Industrial cultivation in their county last year and after just one year with all the negative situations arise from poisoning of surface water to rodent sides to increased crime to the Change of the makeup of their demographics of their county. They banned it after just one year Other supervisors and other adjoining counties in the foothills after they read the report They have also banned it in their counties too. There are only 11 counties in California that allow Industrial cultivation. I don't think it Belongs in the Santa Cruz Mountains due to the fire potential if there's a fire by God there's going to be a lot of houses hopefully nobody gets hurt or killed but Anyone knows that if there is an emergency in a wooden driven fire in the San Lorenzo Valley Highway 9 is not going to be able to handle the traffic. There's no evacuation plan for the San Lorenzo Valley at this time Also, the fact of the matter is they the planning department with the dope growers is planning on decreasing the size of What's allowed in our a residential agriculture from five acres to one acre? I live in residential Agriculture one acre sites that would allow a greenhouse up to 2400 square feet, which is three times the size of my house. I Really am against it due to if the fire starts in a greenhouse There's a lot of places in the mountains where the fire department can't make it like of the Bear Creek fire If it happens in Watsonville in a greenhouse The fire department will be there in a couple minutes and the worst thing that happened is a couple greenhouses on each side Will burn down not the forest people's houses their livelihoods their safety The poisoning of the animals and the illegal water diversions. Thank you. Thank you Good morning Good morning Was here I don't know how many years ago. I'm happy to be here some of you know me. I'm Richard Lewis I operate as a grouple I'm a stud vision Try to get all of you this letter from Susan Appreciate what Carlos is doing with vision Santa Cruz County. I'm gonna quote what she said. This is back in 1985 I am a great panther if you know some of you you're passing on your wisdom to the next generation I didn't plan to get up here, but I know most of you Ryan knows that he's a teacher activism one-on-one John has the potential to do something as all of you So I want to just share what Susan said and then I'll get that letter Copies to each of you and I'm a historical note. It may interest you to know that a youth commission was formed in 1975 by the Board of Supervisors Unfortunately due to the lack of membership and interest of both adults and youth the commission was abolished In 1982 I can't transfer to you, but we have the sheriff over here Just do a search on fight crime invest in kids check out data Cabrillo being part of a hundred and fourteen institutions go to student Senate CCC and know that I'm counting on your own vision of what's going to be in the process I only came here because I was told that on the agenda today as a report Envision Santa Cruz, but what I do want to share is that with possibilities We never have had a youth city council under the umbrella of the process only a non-profit Foundation created now not in Watsonville, Greg not in Santa Cruz So if you'll invest just your own research I believe that listen to the future can create jobs both County and City and if I do right We'll have his quarterback Ted Burke a little different than Richard Lewis who I shared Zach as you remember What is the county doing on co-ops if we can find people who will invest in the idea of a youth? Co-op you're all there to make it come to be so I'm going to sit back With the possibility that this letter back in 85 will trigger you And your asset as leaders to take a look at what could be not only a county-wide structure whether it's a youth commission Like back in those days and make sure it has the power of process So I hope in the next steps if indeed there'll be a presentation of today Vision Santa Cruz that you as leaders will look at how we can empower the next generation Thank you very much. I don't understand all of this but I do what I can at 81 years young to invest what great panthers were thank you Is there anybody else like to address us in oral communications is for Items that are not on today's agenda. Okay I thought I was the oldest one in the room. He's got a few years on me Anyway, I really want to encourage other people to come and speak to the board In person because it has a great deal of impact and Very educational for members of the public as well As you and just hearing the woman play the sound of the gunshots Was very chilling that she recorded in boulder creek This is another type of getting shot up. This is my acoustic com meter A electro small detector from microwave radiation This is the sound Of the frequencies were being shot up with basically Causing cellular stress and damage DNA strand breaks Blood cell Abnormalities and the list goes on in the world health organization Has categorized this type of radiation. It's a possible carcinogen However, there's a new report that says cell phone and cordless form use Causes brain cancer and it's definitely carcinogenic I'm going to leave you with a copy of this and that the 5g technology that is being Imposed on us across the country Is going to increase that radial frequency microwave radiation and damage Considerably more and just to read you a little bit from a conference on from a 5g International conference on wireless radiation And human health it was held at hebro university medical school in 2017 5g and the internet of things will cause even greater biological harm Some of the plans for a new network of extremely high millimeter wave 5g small cell antennas as smart meters on steroids There is no doubt that the telecom industry's plans for 5g deployment On top of the existing 4g towers and smart meter Microwave radiation represent the single biggest threat to our society health Privacy and cyber security since smart read deployment began Millimeter waves are utilized by the u.s. Army In crowd dispersal guns weapons called the active denial systems I gave you One of your earlier meetings recently the 5g appeal of scientists Thank you that I would hope people in this county sign on too. Thank you. Thank you. Is anybody else for oral communications? Good morning Sorry about that. Good morning, uh, senate chris county residents I want to be able to remind members of the public what it is to be a good flag Flag waving americans because we are good people I believe that I know that we're good people And this is a great political system. I want to be able to share with members of the public real quick my latest books that I'm reading These are really good books have a plethora of wonderful information that would just illuminate members of the public It's democracies and chains the deep history Of I would say ruling class ideology stealth plan for america. So it's a really great book And also I'm reading on tyranny 20 lessons from the 21st century really great book. It just kind of goes with the signs of the time You know as as I come as I come in here trying to stand up for community justice Because I noticed that when I'm exercising my first amendment rights Whether it's at scott's valley library right Utilizing the services there or whether it's at the g office keeping these political agencies accountable to the social debasement policies that they're imposing on the american public You know i'm going through these Through this malicious prosecution with the da's office And I want to be able to share with members of public because there's a popular apprehension among the quotidian masses Among people that just don't come up from a family wild power and influence that the legal community Is corrupting our common life They're using this institution for nefarious means and they're not coming out of right We got a da office that just had a touch with the reality And they want to consolidate two Two first amendment rights, which now they criminalize as As disturbing the peace and resistant arrest when law enforcement show their cognitive incompetency by Not knowing how to come at situations, right? So they consolidated two uh legal matters because they really have no case So the now we go from a criminal court to harassment court where they want to use the the public law to control And modified the behavior of the character rather than promote community justice. I would say that the da listen You know We have to understand what justice is man if we're going to make this work Because the american public listen we can disengage from the healing illusions of the community because this is all it is You know, we want community justice where they're going to come out of right, man They know cases here and I shouldn't have to be going through this making mouths counting go around BS Listen, if I did something wrong, let's let's come out of right I want to let members of the public know that my public defender was not even defending my rights He was acting as a surrogate prosecutor now i'm going pro per Because the legal community has failed the american public And are we going to continue with this malicious prosecution? Are we going to have political bosses are going to say hey For that guy, you better really scrutinize it because he's coming in here He's pushing up on us and we don't want to be shaming people out of a job. Thank you Is there anybody else that'd like to address this neural communications? Mr. Embrenner, you've already addressed this neural communications. Yes, I realize that Then I wonder mr. McPherson, would you please announce the lesson learned from the barricade fire that happens time brender, please Thank you. It's it's time brender Thank you very much. Yes, but if you continue it'll be a disturbing at the meeting So please do stop Is there anybody else I'd like to address us during oral communications I've seen then we'll close oral communications and go on to our regularly scheduled agenda The first item we have on a regular schedule agenda is item 45 Which is a public hearing to consider the creation of a new zone of benefit Blue mountain ridge within county service area 23 old ranch road and upon conclusion consider adoption of a resolution Establishing the new zone is recommended by the director of public works. We have the resolution for blue mountain ridge and The map and I believe we have a staff report. Good morning. Welcome Good morning chair members of the board This is a simple matter in that we have an existing county service area number 23 Labeled all ranch road and four properties within that county service area would like to form a sub zone Called blue mountain ridge and as you will see in the next item They choose to assess themselves an additional amount in order to improve their road, which is being Funded partially by FEMA, but they will have to fund some portions of the repairs themselves Three of the four property owners are here today If you have any questions they're in support of the creation of the zone and of the assessment, which is the next item So I would ask you to please open the public hearing see if there's any testimony objections or protests For the creation of the new zone at this point We're not addressing the assessment and then close the public hearing and if appropriate Adopt a resolution. Thank you. Thank you for that presentation. Are there any questions from board members before we open the public hearing See none will now open the public hearing This is an opportunity for members of the community to address us specifically on this item 45 during the public hearing Is there any members of members of the community that like to address us? On the creation of the new zone of benefit blue mountain ridge See none. We'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the board for consideration. I'll move to approve We have a motion from supervisor calf had a second from supervisor McPherson all those in favor I Opposed it passes unanimously now move on to item 46 Which is a public hearing to consider the new or increase rate assessment for zone The blue mountain ridge with counties within county service area 23 old ranch road for road maintenance and operations and consider related Actions as outlined in the memo of the director of public works. We have the resolution for csa 23 and a proposed rate For zone blue mountain ridge presentation on this. Good morning Please if you would open the public hearing and hear objections or protests regarding a special assessment that these four properties wish to impose upon themselves In order to fund the maintenance and ongoing Payments that they will need to make on their road to complete the repairs We You would need to during this public hearing request that's the middle of all ballots. Um, if any are outstanding Um, at which time we will then temporarily We will close the the public testimony part of the public hearing go off to count the ballots and come back later today With the ballot count considering that there's four ballots I would request that we come back after the next item with the results as the property owners wish to stay here until the results are announced um, again This is a self assessment that the properties wish to impose upon themselves. There's four properties They're not weighted by a property size because they all utilize the road in the same way So, um, again, three of the four property owners are here And they would like to stay for the announcement of the results if you would open the public hearing and request ballots I would appreciate Are there any questions from Supervisors on this item seen and will now open the public hearing specifically on the rate assessment Is there anybody in the community like to address this during this public hearing? I seen and will close the public hearing is the motion then to just continue this public hearing until after the following item Is that an action item that we'll have to take to just continue this item until further in the meeting? Yes, please. So is there a motion to continue this? All right, we have a motion from supervisor leopold and a second from supervisor Person wielders continue this item until after item 47, which is our immediate item By the way, after we take that item after 47 and this continued public hearing the board will take about a 15 minute break Just the community is aware of that all those in favor for the continued public hearing I opposed it passes unanimously. Thank you for your patience this morning Now we'll move on to an idea how that election is going to go We'll move on to item 47 This is to consider a report on a tiered fee structure for the alcohol nuisance abatement ordinance to schedule public hearing for march 13th 2018 at 9 a.m. Or thereafter to consider changes of the 17 18 unified fee schedule And direct them clerk of the board to take related actions as outlined in the memo the sharp cornering and county administrative officer We have a notice of public hearing a unified fee schedule alcohol Fees is there a presentation. Please feel free step forward Chief, do you want to be up here? Is that acceptable location? Oh, this is fine. Thank you supervisors. Good morning supervisors when we mass last appeared on this matter in December of last year of the board directed the county administrative officer and sheriff's office to work together to come up with a multi-tiered structure to fund the alcohol nuisance abatement ordinance and to use as little general funds as possible to To perform that so we did meet with the county administrative office and staff as well as sheriff's office staff and we came up with a A tier structure that essentially is very similar to the city of santa cruises In the sense that it has three areas that contribute to the fee structure One being the risk associated with the outlet the hours of the outlet and the gross volume sales of the outlet The fourth and final factor in to turn the fee structures of 15 percent administrative fee to assist in running the program which has many features to it So we're pleased to come up with a fee structure that met the board's concerns and suggestions and I'd like to recommend that we that you consider it For adoption today. Thank you chief for their questions from board members on this item I just had a supervisor leopold. Please. Thank you chair I don't necessarily have Questions. I appreciate the work that our Sheriff's office our ceo's office did in trying to Replicate the similar structure as proposed by the board members and Why why keeping the bulk of this program? It's incredibly important As we look to address the problems that are created by alcohol in our community And using a model that has been used in other places And proven to be successful I'm glad that we might be moving forward with this. So I thank you for your work. Thank you, right? Thank you Yeah, I just want to repeat that this is indeed. I appreciate the efforts that are made by the ceo's office and the sheriff and This is uh, it's a public safety issue. There's no question about it. I'm glad that we came to a conclusion that's A reable to all and I appreciate and like to make the motion that we Well, I guess you want to go to a public hearing first Thank you So we're going to open it up to the community now to comment on this item. This is not a public hearing And we're not actually setting the fees. This is just considering the report providing direction and then setting a hearing date of march 13th Specifically for the cheese. Is there anybody from the community that would like to address us? on this item Seeing none. We'll bring it back to the board for any additional direction or emotion like to move the recommended action second We have a motion from supervisor mcpherson a second from supervisor Leopold all those in favor, please say aye. Aye opposed. It passes unanimously Were you able to count to four? What I meant to say is we're now going to reopen go back to item 46, which is the continued public hearing Of the newer increased rate assessment for zone blue mountain ridge within csa 23 old ranch ranch road We had a ballot count and the results are It passed So because we only received three votes and all three votes were a yes It passed by 100 rather than 75. So it's 100 approval by the residents And we need to now take an action to accept those ballots, correct and adopt a resolution Uh, do we need to go back to the community for additional comment on this? No, okay Is there a motion then to uh, accept the ballots results move we accept the ballots second We have a motion from supervisor mcpherson a second from supervisor leopold all those in favor I opposed it passes unanimously the board will take about a 15 minute break and then come back for item 48 regarding the peg fees Thank you Good morning everybody would like to reconvene the board of supervisors and hear item 48 which is to consider proposed ordinance adding section 5.2 6040 to the santa cruz county code To reauthorize and preserve the county's right to continue to collect peg fees under state law As outlined in the memo of the director of information Services, we have the ordinance amending chapter 5.26 of the county code and we have a presentation from our director Mr. Bowling. Good morning. Mr. Bowling and welcome. Good morning um As you all know 2014 we did the div co ordinance as we lost our um cable franchises um There was the we were contacted by charter a couple of weeks ago because they were going to threaten to stop paying peg fees Due to the fact that they said their franchise was up for renewal And it was required by us to reauthorize our ordinance to continue paying peg fees It's kind of controversial the language and the laws kind of unclear most municipalities Are just reauthorizing them just so that they don't you know have an issue with the cable companies So that's what we're here to do today, which is to just reauthorize the peg Ordinance there's no change in it charter and comcast will continue to pay Peg fees for the next 10 years What they've done is they've timed The they have a 10 year franchise and what they're saying is they need to Reauthorize based on the new franchise starting So we've worked with county council and we have the new authorization Well, thank you for bringing this forward. Is there are there any supervisors or questions on this item? I would just say i'm glad that we're Keeping this fee and um, it's unfortunate that our cable partners uh are trying to figure out a way to not pay the fee Right not a surprise though in many respects Is there anybody from the community that like to address us on this proposed ordinance? Please feel free to step forward Welcome Hello again, um When I read the agenda Um, I haven't since I don't do computers so if I I don't know the details of this But it would be very helpful for one thing when you have an acronym here like peg fees To put in parenthesis after what the heck that stands for And I would appreciate if you could elaborate a little bit more from the public. What is this? Charter agreement and um I mean, is there a way you could make a succinct for the listening public to know about this who have not looked at the whole Binder for item 48 I'm curious Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else who'd like to address us on item 48? Seeing none, we'll bring it back To the board just on that question. What these fees Are and a brief explanation would be great. Sure. Um The or the the law that first off the divca law was the digital infrastructure video So Something act I think communications act right communications act which was when the state essentially took away Local franchises from counties and cities And all of the cable franchises are now um being managed by the state To continue our public educational and government Services or essentially funding for community television Those are the peg fees that we get which are 1 percent a little bit 1.2 percent of cable fees Video fees of the cable franchises that we collect is used to fund community television um And when we went to the state franchise We were required to create an ordinance to can you to continue collecting peg fees from the cable companies And it's used to fund community television Thank you. Are there any other questions or a motion from the board? Well, the uh, c by the way is competition Communication Uh, but I move approval of the recommended actions second. Thank you for the clarification We have a motion from supervisor leopold a second from supervisor coonerty all those in favor I opposed it passes unanimously. Thank you. Mr. Bowling for taking your time Moving on to 49 is to consider a mid-year financial update for fiscal year 2017 2018 is outlined in the memo the auditor controller treasurer tax collector And we have attachment a from the mid-year finance reporter. We're going to combine items 49 and 50. Is that the intention? Okay, an item 50 just so the community is aware is to consider the general fund mid-year budget report is outlined in the memo The ceo will begin on item 49 with the auditor controller treasurer tax collector. Good morning. Welcome Good morning chair and members of the board. I got my green button pressed Good morning chair. You might want to get closer to the microphone Members of the board eat at driscoll auditor controller treasurer tax collector 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 This report provides an analysis of revenue and expenditure trends Since adoption of the 2017 18 budget Also on your agenda is a mid-year report by the ceo that presentation will provide a broader look at the budget Together our two presentations will provide a comprehensive mid-year fiscal update The four areas I will cover today general fund revenues general fund expenditures fund balance reserve financial reports I'm going to focus my presentation this morning on the general fund portion of the county's adopted budget The county budget includes various elements besides the general fund To re familiarize yourself with the various elements of the entire county budget The summary is presented here. This same summary is provided at the beginning of the adopted budget document Besides the general fund the budget includes special revenue funds and less than countywide funds Special revenue funds are made up primarily of housing Park dedication funds fish and game and the road funds Less than countywide funds are made up of library and county fire funds and expenditures Board governed board governed special districts and other agencies include flood control mosquito abatement and park csa 11 expenses You'll see listed here is internal service funds Internal service funds are expenses of the fleet service center ISD duplicating risk related and public works department Finally enterprise funds are listed here and they include the Buena Vista post closure and the Davenport and freedom sanitation funds Now we can look at the status of the general fund revenues As of january 31st 2018 the budgeted general fund amount has been updated To 496 695 768 million due to additional revenues approved by your board throughout the year Looking at the data presented you can see that the total general fund revenues received during and through january 2018 Is 35.99 of the adjusted budget? That's how much we've received to date This is less than how much we had received at this time last year last year. We had received 42.28 of our revenues to date Looking at the individual data lines presented here total intergovernmental aid Received through january of 2018 is 26 percent of the adjusted budget This is less than this time last year where we were at 36 percent of the adjusted budget These revenues traditionally lag as they are paid by on a reimbursement basis from the federal and state government As you can see intergovernmental aid is the largest revenue source in the general fund So if that revenue source is lagging then our total general fund revenue is lagging You can see tax revenues is the second largest revenue source and i'll be focusing on that next Tax revenues received through january 2018 are at 48.72 percent Compared to 52 percent this time last year This reduction is due in part to the completion of the sales tax and lube program And the receipt of a one-time final payment that the county received last year Also affecting tax revenues in a positive way was the rush The county experienced of taxpayers paying their second annual tax payment Just before december 31st 2017 As you have heard the new tax law changes the threshold of deductibility A property taxes on personal income tax returns The county did receive an increase in property tax receipts For the last three months of this year compared to the last three months of last year For many days my office had a steady line of citizens waiting to beat that december 31st payment deadline My office had just opened a self-service kiosk prior to the rush Which um provided additional service to them Shall I delay No continue All right This next slide Uh shows the property tax delinquency rate Remaining essentially the same It's a little difficult to see the exact number So i'll let you know that it's 2.279 percent this this last year and 2.274 percent this year So essentially the same between last year and this year Higher delinquency rates create a cash flow issue for the county However, the county eventually receives the taxes penalties and interest when the property is sold or brought current Santa Cruz is on the teeter plant for apportionment of property taxes What that means is cities and schools are they determine how much they're going to receive and whether we receive all the taxes or not We give them those funds and then when property is eventually brought current the county receives the penalties and interest to cover that difference The chart here reflects the county's rates since fiscal year 2005 and six To provide an overview of the tax Of the rates prior to and after the great recession. You can see there was certainly a significant difference during those years I will use this opportunity to mention that once parcels are in the tax defaulted status for five years Meaning they haven't paid their taxes for five years The county goes through a process to auction the properties off to recoup taxes penalties interest and costs Our next auction is scheduled for this friday march 2nd 2018 We currently have 11 properties remaining to be auctioned from what we had started with 100 properties at the beginning of this year That means 100 properties have brought their taxes current bringing in all that property tax Penalties and interest which is always a boost to our county general fund The next slide provides you with information on the county's interest rate earnings My fiduciary responsibility as the county treasurer when investing funds for the treasury pool is to look first at safety Then liquidity and then yield With that said the county's interest rate that the pool earns has been increasing over the last six quarters At the end of the first quarter of 16 17 our interest apportionment rate was 0.77 And the rate at the end of the second quarter of 2017 18 was up to 1.018 percent And most recently at the end of january our apportionment rate was 1.25 percent This provides for higher interest earnings for all pool members including the general fund The pool is made up of various entities who are required to keep funds in the county treasury The pool reached a billion dollars in 2017 However, less than 50 of that balance are funds that our county funds other funds might be from fire districts or school districts Looking at the general fund revenues for transient occupancy tax An indicator of our local economy is the treasure transit occupancy tax collections For this seven month period the county collections are ahead slightly over this time last year We have collected 84 000 more this year than compared to last year This information is available on the treasurer tax collector's website in an easy to read chart that staff updates every quarter Now switching to our other interesting tax cannabis business tax. This is the only business tax the county has 3.75 million dollars in cannabis related tax is anticipated to be collected by my treasury staff in 2017 18 The county tracks this revenue via two different categories The budget for the first revenue county Excuse me revenue category was increased slightly over the prior year And 51 of that revenue has already been received This amount collected which reflects sales through december 31st 2017 Is due to the county at the end of the following month. So it's always a month behind The second cannabis revenue type that's tracked is for the newer type with cultivators and manufacturers The revenue budget is a million 186 as of january 31 2018 the revenue received was 63 percent of that money This information is also available on the county treasurer tax collector's website in an easy to read quarterly updated chart Now leaving revenues and reporting our expenditures The table you see reflects the expenditures for the first seven months of the year compared to budget salaries and benefits is the largest budgeted expense category the county has And we have reached 56.8 of salaries and benefits expenses through the end of january This is a reasonable point to be at at this point in the fiscal year general fund excuse me fund balance reserves Leaving revenues and expenditures the next area to review is fund balance reserves Your board revised the fund balance policy in november 2014 to increase the minimum fund balance of the general fund from seven To 10 percent over the next seven years The county is doing well in reaching and maintaining that goal The committed and assigned fund balance designations of the county's general fund As of june 30th 2017 were at 10.33 percent And they are budgeted this year at 9.97 percent for the fiscal year 1718 It is essential that governments maintain adequate levels of fund balance to mitigate current and future risks such as revenue shortfalls and unanticipated expenditures Fund balance levels are also critical considerations in long-term financial planning I traditionally provide additional information on the long-term information In june at budget hearings Now giving you an opportunity to look at the specifics of our fund balance reserves The specific breakdown of the general fund reserve is presented here The first two columns on the left provide the final numbers after all year in CAF adjustments are made The third column is the budgeted column for 1718 on the right hand column right hand side A 10% reserve budgeted for this current fiscal year Appears to be reasonable to be able to be reached The otter controller's office continues to focus on transparency and has made easy gov a software available for the public use To review financial information You've heard me point out various elements of that information as i've presented this information today Easy gov is an online financial search tool located on my website This tool allows for easy access to information on santa cruz county funds and how they are budgeted and spent The current financial data is updated at the close of each fiscal quarter for easy comparison to previous years In addition the county's annual financial reports and the CAO's budget documents are available online on both of our websites in summary General fund revenues are at 35.99% of budget and expenditures are at 51.9% of budget Current year expenditures are as expected at this point in the fiscal year although revenues traditionally lag behind Both revenues and expenditures are similar to last year at this seven month point Property tax delinquencies remain stable and interest rate earnings are on the rise The county is on target to meet its 10% fund balance reserve goal this year This ends my presentation. I'm available for questions. If not, I request that you accept this report Are there questions from board members on this supervisor cap it? Okay Yeah, I want to Show a little bit of a human aspect to collecting on property taxes and your help with your office one of One property was in delinquency of four and over four and a half years And the father died and then the children inherited the property, but they didn't know about the the four to five years of tax owed And it was very difficult contacting the family But when they were contacted they Came up with the past taxes of 30,000. I believe yes, and that included penalties and all that So That's only one, but it was That that happened that family is Is happy right now that they didn't lose the properties. So and the other one I would have would be How are we doing? I know we're we're balancing everything right now But with future obligations for pensions What is it going to look like do we know Uh, you know like five ten years from now. I'll delay that question. It's going to be covered in the next presentation in just a moment Okay See if I see McPherson. I just want to Thank and congratulate Everybody involved in our financial Issues that we have here in the county throughout Especially about the reserve account and I can't tell you how important that is that we We reached that 10 threshold We we saw that when the storm season These unexpected expenditures that have to be made And some other issues that are unforeseen at this point. So I just want to say thank you to each and every one of you that has been Participating in this effort to get us up to 10 percent. I think it's It's going to really pay dividends literally for us when we meet our next downturn or our next Natural disaster that's kind of becoming probably sometime in the future So thank you again for that. I do. I'm concerned about the pension issue that I'll talk about and but one issue on Cal fire county fire that I'm really concerned about is that Especially in light of the disastrous fires that we've had throughout the state. I'm I'm really Wanted to see I think we're just about running on fumes in that For that agency and I'm really concerned about it The position that we're in should that be come a little later too, or maybe I should ask that and uh, I'll let that be covered in the next presentation. That's a big concern of I think all of ours Especially in light of the cal fire that we had here this last year. Thank you Thank you. I'll ask just two brief questions that the two and a half percent or so delinquency rate that we're currently at I was trying to kind of normalize that across time Is that an average rate would you say to between two and a half and three percent on a property tax? Delinquency rate well the chart speaks for itself. You can see historically it has certainly been at many different levels All I can say is in these last two years That's where we have floated around But if you look at the chart back on The property tax delinquency rate I can go back to that chart if you'd like Well, I saw I mean obviously during the height of the great recession was an outlier That's why I was asking kind of from a historic norm Can we expect in general that the county would have say a three ish percent property tax delinquency rate? That would be desirable. This actually is 11. You know when you look at it This is actually a 10 11 year chart So we can provide more information, but I was trying to just give a realistic, you know in recent history Reflection of where we are you'll notice in five six. We were Floating about Below two percent. So that's even more desirable. So Between two to three percent is okay is the goal. How about that would be a target? Okay. Yeah And then a follow-up question is you mentioned that that obviously the higher interest rates lead to greater returns But actually leads to increased borrowing costs for the county moving forward. Would it not? Yes, yeah, not obviously not with the interest earned in the pool that are those are But yes, that's the balance. We'll earn more but when we look at going out for the tran in april That is something we have to be aware of is how much our tran for example, that will be our next item will be Thank and thank you for the presentation. By the way, we're going to combine these two items together So we'll vote to accept them both at once supervisor leopold and supervisor kundry. Thank you chair. I think Why we will have increased cost because of the work That we've all done about increasing reserves and our greater credit rating hopefully that Might ameliorate some of the additional costs of for at least for this year. I would like to say we might have additional costs Yeah The other question just following up on the chair's Comments is as we look at in california. What would the be delinquency rate of other counties? I don't know. I can certainly find out and maybe include that when I speak to you again in june for the budget presentation Thank you supervisor kundry Yeah, I think that's that actually that was my question Which is I'd be interested in how we look compared to comparable counties. So, you know, whether it's san mateo moran Santa Barbara Monterey So that because I think there probably is a pretty big variance across the state But at least for comparable counties for some of these metrics that you think That we that we sort of used to steer our financial ship understanding how we look versus other counties would be helpful certainly Thank you Mr. Palacios for doing presentation then we'll open it up for the community to comment on both the items Chair friend and members of the board of supervisors carlos palacios county administrative officer I would also like to say I've brought with me christina malry who's our deputy county administrative officer and who's in charge of the development of our budget And she's been very very hard at work in these last few months And does a great job in really helping the county to To balance its budget every year So thank you christina for your leadership and your hard work She's here weekends and late nights during this time of year. So she's pulling the all-nighters so to speak And I'd also like to thank our analysts ceo analysts who are also working very hard and our County department heads and county fiscal staff. They've all been working very hard on the budget This year and and overall I will say that we have Pretty good news for the both this fiscal year and next fiscal year in the in the sense that we are Pretty close to having a balanced budget And without having to make too many sacrifices. So I think that's really good news This presentation today is the mid-year budget report and it's one we have traditionally done in years past It's a follow-up to the report. We did on december 5th and december 5th We did a preliminary budget projection and at that point we had good closing data From the prior fiscal year so that and some very preliminary data on on the 1718 And so we gave you that information at this point today We have also good information on the current year's budget 1718 The departments have estimated Their end of year balances So we have all the department estimates in for six months and they've provided very good estimates for the year end And we also have six months of data in on our sales tax property tax and other important revenue sources So that's why we wanted to give you this today The other thing is I will tell you that our report Focuses in on the general fund The entire budget is you saw from the prior slides is over is almost three quarters of a billion dollars now If you look at everything that the county spends, that's a very big budget The the general fund budget is about half a million dollars of that So we tend to focus in on that And then when we really want to focus in we focus in on what we call a net county cost Which is the amount of money that's not supported by Subventions or grants or intergovernmental revenues that's really Supported by our general purpose taxes and that's about a hundred and thirty million dollars approximately This is the agenda today We're going to look at the state budget The general economic outlook and then the general fund As I mentioned and then we would be focusing on what's ahead for us Looking at the state budget. It's pretty much good news The state is doing actually very well is running Surpluses right now Which you know, we haven't heard from We've had a number of years of surpluses in the state budget The governor's managing the budget very conservatively. He has focused on The rainy day fund. He's also focused on funding schools. He did some initiatives in infrastructure But all in all it's a fairly conservative budget and he is leaving his term With having funded the rainy day budget which he had set out as a goal many years ago And and that's good news from the state's perspective. I think and from our perspective it also For the most part is good news in terms of the state's impact on our budget If you look at the economic outlook Again, pretty much good news Slow but steady growth. I think has been characterized The the recovery from the great recession and it's the same We are seeing unemployment really at what we call full employment basically about five percent in the state That's about as good as it gets for the state of california And we've traditionally been somewhat higher than the rest of the country And most people would say this is full employment and Santa Cruz county is also at Lows that we haven't seen since before the great recession in terms of our unemployment rates as well So all in all and in one sense we're doing very well in terms of employment growth We had also point out that the inflation rate this year They just saw some data that shows inflation is now running at about two percent Which is the highest it's been since before the great recession as well. We've had very almost No inflation or very low inflation for the last five six years First time we're up out about two percent, which is also mirrored by the salary increases What we're seeing in the state as well about two percent So we're again seen very good steady growth, but with the worrisome is the growing Inflation rate which could be post problems and the other issue of course that are facing the state is the growing inequality issues and the growing affordable housing issues as well If you look at our general fund for the current fiscal year the one we're in now, so that's 2017 2018 Our revenues are doing slightly better about two and a half million dollars above projections That's actually right on the button right if you look at a percentage It's it's basically as good as you can get for projections Our expenditures however are slightly higher also by almost the same amount The expenditures are growing as we'll see a little bit later in the projection in the presentation Due to some loss of some state grant funding and also to some state funding not keeping pace with our local increases and expenditures so most of our our expenditure growth again is due to Our interaction with the state some grants ending and some expenditures that we're experiencing That are growing but the state reimbursements are not keeping pace with that growth primarily in public safety We are expecting a fund balance of about five and five point four million dollars in this fiscal year To carry forward. That's about average for us. That's about Both salary savings expenditure reversions And it's a healthy amount. It's not a lot. It's not too little. It's about what we consider average So if you look at the whole general fund budget In 2017 18 again What it shows is that Our total financing Is growing up again by about two and a half million expenditures a little bit above Projections primarily in public safety Primarily loss of state grants One of the areas that we're not keeping pace is in the courts The reimbursements we receive for security at courts have basically been stagnant And we are seeing increase in costs just to desalery and benefit growth And so that's one of the issues that we're seeing is and some grants have just timed out as well In public safety in particular So what it shows is that uh overall, uh, we're pretty much balanced in this fiscal year and we're Estimating a fund balance of about five point four million to carry over into the next fiscal year Now going into the the next fiscal year Um, we're seeing again steady, but slow growth primarily in Taxes the tow taxes that are Producing most of our growth is property tax which continues to grow at a pretty healthy amount and t.o.t Our hotel tax the transient occupancy tax also is showing very healthy growth Um expenditures are slightly higher again. Um, as I mentioned due to some issues in public safety primarily Um The contingency reduction is really not something to be too concerned about We carried some amounts in contingency in the 17 18 budget which we're building into the base in 18 19 So some of the salary benefit increases because we were in the middle of negotiations We carried them in contingencies and then in 18 19 we built them into the base. So some of that increase that you see That 11.4 million Has to do with money moving from contingencies to the base budgets Reserves are going to continue. We think we can fund reserves to continue to 10 percent And our preliminary right now. Um, we're showing a very modest budget shortfall At the present time of two point three million dollars We intend to close that by the time we come to you With our preliminary budget in may we will have closed that small deficit This is the preliminary 2018 19 budget for revenues This is our preliminary tax revenue budget And you can see this is what funds our net county costs. So to speak It's about 130 million dollars You can see that we're seeing growth of almost six million dollars. That's what we're projecting Most of it in property tax again property tax still cruising along Between three and four percent of increases how long that can continue We all know that it's can't continue forever, but it is still continuing sales tax Seen some modest growth, but our sales tax per capita Is relatively low just to give you an example That sales tax is about is similar to the city of santa cruises sales tax And they have about half of our population their population is about 60 000 people We're providing services for 135 000 people They pretty much get about the same sales tax as we do. So On a per capita basis, we're about half in sales tax On our t o t We're seeing a healthy growth 16 growth again the economy is just doing well in terms of the tourism industry The other thing I'd point out is that in the cannabis business tax We not only project that we're going to meet our budget in the current fiscal year, but we are seeing projecting a slight increase In next year's budget of about six percent Almost a quarter of a million dollars of increase up to almost four million dollars In cannabis business tax. Remember when we first started this we were about a million and a half dollars And now we're up to about four million dollars. It's becoming an important Part of our general purpose revenues This is the actual preliminary budget for 18 19 And you can see that there's some slight Revenue growth the revenues growing by about 5.8 million dollars The net expenditures if you go down to where it says 6.8 million dollars That's really the net increase of our budget when you take out the contingency amount So we're seeing a slight increase in our expenditures above what our growth and revenues are by about a million dollars But it's very close. I mean, you know, we're talking about a 140 million dollar, you know, so we're less than a couple percent, you know, less than a percent really differences so in general our Expenditures in the budget year are matching our revenue growth, which is really good news That's what you want, right our ongoing expenditures meeting our ongoing revenues We have a very short Small shortfall of about 2.3 million dollars. We're going to be working with departments in this Next few months to bridge that gap And we will be presenting a balanced budget to the board when we come to you in may So looking forward Our budget shortfalls When you go out and do a five-year projection, that's where we start getting a little bit more concerned And it has to do mainly with Our cost of benefits Outpacing our revenue growth And what we will show in the next slide is that we are projecting Under the best case scenario of somewhere around seven to ten ten million dollar budget gap that we would have to To fill In the future And if we hit a recession That graph could go to 10 to 15 million dollars The best case scenario assumes that revenues continue to grow at about four percent a year So we're continuing to add to our revenue. That's what we're assuming We're also assuming that we continue having a fund balance and fund balance is primarily driven again by salary Savings and budget reversions And during recession what the first thing you see is that but fund balance Goes to zero because people start stop leaving their job. So you don't have salary savings And you don't have the reversions that you normally would expect so There is some concern as we look forward This would be a projection of budgets. The the yellow line is sort of the the best case scenario. That's assuming no recession Assuming that we don't That we have our traditional Five to six million dollar fund balance assuming revenues continue to grow at approximately four percent Assuming all of our other benefit costs grow at What we would consider traditional rates the one Outlier here is the purse costs, which are just increasing very significantly And so what it shows is that 2018-19 we have this two million dollar deficit, which we will we will close that gap But it shows in 2019 is when it starts to hit these these major purse increases And potentially you could have a deficit Approaching nine to ten million dollars under the best case scenario in the 1920 budget year And then over time that budget deficit decreases And you can see that over time it goes down to about two million dollars So the first few years 1920 and 2021 are the first years in which the purse Rate increases hit us the most severely and again, it's not just us. This is statewide. This is the state government This is every school district every County every city who's a member of purse And so that's the concern as we go forward is just how we're going to bridge that gap This is the purse general fund retirement costs Um, you can see that it's increasing from approximately 30 million dollars Almost doubling to over 60 million dollars That's the the total general fund costs increase if you were to take the The net county cost portion of that So the increase is about 28 million dollars over that time period the total the general fund cost If you were to take then the net county cost portion of that it's about half of that So it'd be about 14 million dollars Of just the general fund So you can see that that is what's driving the cost increases. So even though our deficit Is showing about 10 9 to 10 million dollars our purse increases are increasing by 14 million dollars We're closing that gap partly through revenue growth, right and we're projecting continued revenue growth But even with revenue growth, you still have this gap of approximately 14 million dollars of purse increased costs that we will have to To gap and to close the gap and you can see that The causes for purse increasing. There's a number of causes One of them has to do with the the purse investment rate They were a few years ago at 7.75. Is there Purse investment rate that they were earning and the money we give them they invested And they now are down to 7 percent And they there's some people that think they ought to be really at 6 percent But even with the reduction from 7.75 to 7 percent that increases our costs, right? So that's one issue second issue is changing demographics. We're just living longer So they've added another year of longevity to our purse retiree projection. They're about to add another year The projection is that over time Right now there's about six current employees per one retiree There's they projected within 30 years somewhere around 30 years from now that it'll be a one-to-one match one retiree per one Active member so demographics is another issue driving it And then a third issue has to do with the amortization of the great Recession the losses during the great recession purse lost about a hundred billion dollars during the great recession And if they had tried to pass that on to us all at once, of course, we wouldn't have been able to sustain it So they Funded that over a 30-year period and then now they've decided to reduce that Amortization of that loss to a 20-year period. So it's like you refinanced your mortgage from 30 years to 20 years It goes up So that's another one of the major causes of problems for the purse purse increases So in terms of you know, how we are dealing with these cost increases and the challenges that are ahead of us Is the good thing is that we have time. We have another fiscal year to start getting ready for what we know are going to be Major cost increases We are in the middle of doing a strategic plan. You're about to hear a presentation on that. That'll help guide our priorities Part of the strategic planning process is that next year we will be embarking on an on operations plan an operations plan is More specific actual projects that link the strategic plan goals to the budget So it's sort of that link is called the operations plan. We will be doing that next fiscal year And then we will be next year also embarking on a two-year budget So next year we're anticipating starting our first two-year budget So we'll have multi-year strategic plan two-year operations plan Which will be linked to a two-year budget and that will give us the ability to Hopefully do a little bit more long-term planning about our goals But you can see it's going to be a very difficult two-year budget, right? Because those are the two biggest years of cost increases for PERS We are embarking on a continuous process improvement effort to improve our efficiencies in Government. We already have some departments that are doing this right now. We saw a presentation today on the planning department Human services department has been a leader in this our probation department is taking on an initiative in this area as well So we're going to be making it more systematic more countywide Alisa Benson our new Assistant county administrative officer is overseeing that effort and she will be doing some pilot projects in this next fiscal year performance measures Will flow from our strategic planning process We're anticipating doing some trial projects on this over the next two years In terms of how we measure the performance of our various initiatives Nicole Colburn, who's the other assistant county administrative officer is overseeing both the strategic plan and our performance measures initiatives We are determined to maintain our reserves and we thank you for your support in doing that And you've shown a great deal of leadership in establishing that 10 percent reserve And now that we've achieved that goal. We want to make sure and maintain it We also want to look at revenue options in the next coming year To try and preserve our our most important core core services as we enter into What are some potentially difficult financial times? One option would be a sales tax. This is an option that's relatively new for counties Counties didn't used to be able to do this until a few years ago in our one of our legislators. I think Mark stone mark stone was one of the was the main person who pushed this Alternative for counties and so thank you To our local legislators for supporting this measure. We're currently at eight and a half percent of our At our sales tax rate. We're actually the lowest in the county The other cities as you can see Santa Cruz capitol on scott's valley are all at nine percent right now City of Watsonville is actually at nine and a quarter So if we were to consider at some point raising our sales tax by half a cent that could potentially raise Somewhere between five point five to six million dollars Which again, we're Looking at just different options and that certainly would be one option. We'd want to think about Other possibilities the transient occupancy tax. This is the hotel tax Right now it's at 11 percent if we were raised it by 1 percent to 12 that would bring in eight hundred thousand dollars We have a fee that's a legacy fee of that we charge to on phones That generates Funds that help to cover our 9-1-1 costs if we were to increase that to cover the actual costs Of our 9-1-1 costs. We could raise potentially eight hundred thousand dollars there Um csa 11 which funds part of our parks and recreation costs If we were to increase it in order to cover Half of the the net county costs for parks and recreation that could potentially raise about two million dollars Um, those are all options that we want to explore in the next year as we do our planning for the future And that concludes my presentation Are there questions of the cao before we open it up to the community? Supervisor Leopold. Thank you chair. Thank you for both presentations I think it provides a good picture where we are and Both the the strategies that we've employed to have us be in a good financial situation now and It prepares us for having to make important decisions to think about how we Deal with additional needs in the future I had a question about a couple different things in Mr. Palacios in the Presentation you made where you talked about tot going up We haven't really built a lot of new hotels And so i'm wondering do we know sort of what Whether that increase is related to the vacation rental Work that that we've done to try to get that into the system Maybe that's uh miss driscoll Yeah, I can answer that I would say yes significantly The county has used different methods to Locate those units what I would call an illegal unit. They're not Certified they're not paying a tot tax this past year I think it's on today's agenda actually the county is entering into a contract with host compliance a company that will use web resources to Search the web and look for additional rentals. We've been doing Various modes throughout this past year with our audit staff to Continually locate and reach out with those people and help them realize that they owe back taxes as well as current taxes And now that we're going to be having a permit for the hosted rentals Do we expect that we will see a bump there as well? I mean, I have no idea what the whether those are currently contributing towards it or not I don't anticipate much of a bump. Okay, but I don't I don't anticipate a large population in that area, but I don't have the the data that ceo's office may have It's not where your biggest dollar amount is your biggest dollar amount is in larger vacation rentals. Yeah the homes The other question I had just for clarification was When you describe the increased retirement costs You talked about the general fund portion of the retirement costs I wonder just for clarification sense whether you could talk a little bit more about that because at least as I would understand is that Some of that cost is picked up by grants and other pieces So although it's a 28 million dollar increase that is projected. It would only be 14 million dollars of actual cost But but I just thought a clarity there would be helpful Yes, the the total general fund cost increase that we're projecting is about 28 million dollars as you mentioned some of that costs are Picked up through grants and other subventions from other state and federal funds And so approximately half of the general fund So if you look at the total general fund about 500 million Dollars about half of that is subvented in some way so That 28 million dollars then becomes about the net county cost portion about 14 million dollars, which would be the amount we would have to fund ourselves And and also just one other point. I just want to make about retirement costs that the county actually took action several years back about Chain making changes to our our pension system two-tier system And also our retiree Health plan policy that was saved us a lot of money And so these these changes that are happening these increased costs are not through actions of ours. It's not through Generous decisions that we've made This is through the purrs the state agency and the way in which they've managed their investments And that was years in which they didn't actually take money from from public agencies at the big, you know in the early 2000s Um, and then when the great recession hit they took that huge loss that we'll all be paying for for a long time I think it's important to note because you know, I think it's a great accomplishment of this board to have built up our reserves Basically tripled the reserves and we set a seven-year schedule and because of the work that With the the ceo's office and the auditor controller treasure tax collector We did it in in four which I think is is a is the sign of the commitment. We have to securing a good financial base So I think we have the they have the commitment from the board to tackle these new issues and I appreciate looking at At what might be possible sources in the future and I do think our strategic plan not only helps us set the guide But it also builds the The buy-in from the community that we're working on the things that are most important to the community. So thanks for the work Supervisor Caput You answered quite a few of the questions. I actually was going to ask so that'll be fine, but When we're talking about inflation and when we're talking about also taxes and everything inflation If the cost of goods stayed about the same That that would be very good, but in the santa cruz county. We're talking about rising costs of buying a house rising rents and That is really affecting, you know, basically the middle class and the lower middle class a lot, of course Low-income families are also being pushed to the limit So we could have low inflation as far as goods and services But what about the cost of actually having a roof over your head? So what what what can we do about that as far as Making sure that we don't have An upper class and lower wage class living in the county I know that the the loss of Affordable housing and Single residents occupancy housing has been one of the stories that has driven costs across the bay area If you look at watsonville, you're very familiar. You have the wall street in and the resitar in and the stag hotel all that are SROs That you could it used to be able to rent a room for $350 a month And now you can still live there and still be on social security Sdi basically and still be able to live there that kind of kind of housing has been lost across the bay area And so that vulnerable populations are are suffering and I think um, I know that the board is um, going to be talking about the Strategic plan and the next item. I know that affordable housing is one of those big issues That has set as a goal for the future I know there's talking sacramento about re-establishing Affordable housing read of development in some some manner and there's various initiatives going now in sacramento about affordable housing So I think that is the key you're right inflation In general is about 2% But if you looked at housing inflation it'd be you know off the charts you're right And so I think in sacramento that's certainly One of the big topics of discussion right now about new opportunities for affordable housing Right and then sales tax. I guess, uh, who does that affect the most? I mean if somebody has a big wage and they they make a lot of money They don't care too much about a half a cent tax In the sales tax going up or three quarters of a percent when you add them together or 1% If you add everything together That does affect the lower Income families a lot because they buy they have to buy clothes. They have to buy diapers. They have to buy Laundry soap they have to buy All the goods that everybody has to and so that that adds up too And then of course that affects the senior citizens A lot of them on fixed income or maybe only social security So When we're talking about tax state money coming in and and everything We're talking about taxpayer money taxpayer money is paying all of this So, um, I didn't I might have missed it. I did see state You know in pretty good shape. What about federal tax money coming into the county? Well, there's a lot of uncertainty there and that's Um, we have some New funding coming in that you're aware of through for example drug Medi-Cal is a new program that ultimately comes from the state I mean from the feds through the state But there's a lot of uncertainty about the federal budget and the impact it could have on us And that's going to be part of the thing I think we're going to have to live with for the next few years is a lot of uncertainty in regard to the the federal budget the President's federal budget that he proposed contained major major cuts to the safety net programs, which we administer and So who knows what's going to happen with that? That's true. And lastly When we're talking about future pensions and retirement for all county workers We all see social security statements that come maybe once a year or whatever and It says that if the current way that things are going Social security is going to only be able to pay so much I'm thinking are we only going to be able to pay so much on our obligations in the future on pensions Is there going to be something that we're going to be sending out every year? I know you answered part of that But are we doing enough to make sure that Maybe we'll be okay, but the people that are hired after us or elected after us Will not actually only beginning 75 percent of what they were promised instead of 100 percent I think purrs is actually Doing much needed reforms right now that they probably should have been doing years ago So they're actually stabilizing their system. They should have probably done some of these things years ago So I think ultimately purrs will be more stable But it's going to be very difficult for in the next seven years for local agencies to To have to increase our funding In the end, I think it'll be a much more stable system I don't think anybody's arguing that these reforms that purrs is doing That they don't make sense at some level. The question is the timing of them the amount of them and should they have been doing them earlier Um, for example the discount rate, you know, that's they've had issues for that for many many years And they're finally taking action It's probably the right thing to do To probably make the system better in the end So I think in the end the system is going to be better But it's going to be difficult in the next Five to seven years to for local agencies to absorb those cost increases I I hope you're right. I you know, I think the same way on that But uh, they did lower what's what's the effect of 7.1 or they went down to seven percent Yeah, their investment rate went from seven point seven five and then it went to seven five and now it's at seven percent So that that's not good, right? Well, it's more realistic It's more realistic to what they're actually earning. And so in that sense, it's good, you know, because it's more realistic It's not good in the sense that it raises our cost at the local level to contribute to make up for that amount of money Okay, thank you Do you serve as a McPherson before we open it up? Yeah This looks like a good year a good news for a couple years and then very questionable for three years and out I just want to again commend everyone involved for allowing us to Build up a reserve to 10% and with the warning that In the years coming there's going to be a lot of pressure to dip into that For all kinds of purposes and we have to be really be careful of how we manage that because We have to be ready for those uncertain times We I really appreciate your your for seeing the forecast and um, I just Would like to mount, you know to make announcement the purge to get real and If they could just get real and say their investment portfolio was probably in the five or six percent level That'd be realistic maybe I I don't know. It's these things are out of our control really, but I hope that this county and all local governments can put a lot of pressure on Purs to to get real with their Anticipated income structure. Shall we say? That's something that we don't we don't control and it has a tremendous impact on what we do or what we can do I I think and I I've read Um The forecast of many cities in the next year or two going bankrupt and counties probably too and we're not in that position, but uh I think that is a starting point if we could get them to to get real and get a statewide effort to have them address that In a forthright manner. It would be very valuable to all of us um you when you're the um The fund balance you see a carryover of 5.4 million and then in the preliminary budget for a 2.3 Million dollar shortfall and I guess that's anticipation of having all those positions filled and so forth and if they are and Expenses are going up a little faster than revenues That's the reason for that we could if those positions in the next fiscal year were not filled We'd we'd also have some opportunity for carryover as well. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay, and we will close that gap before we will bring you a balanced budget. Yeah, okay, then that's To your credit. I really appreciate that very much And I um Well, I'll get in maybe some specifics a little later. Thank you Thank you, sir visor my personal and I'll open up to the community of members Opportunity for members of the community to address us on these on this combined budget item This is not an action item other than just to accept and file the report. We welcome the input Good morning. Welcome back Thank you. Thank you for that Detailed report. It doesn't look good to me um You say there's a lot of uncertainty about the federal budget And cuts to the safety and and that was reflected just recently when this uh tax change was voted upon That will make the upper class and the corporations even wealthier and the poor people Worse loss than ever when they changed the tax for the corporations From 35 percent to 20 percent This only benefits the the rich and I can't help but thinking Of that bumper sticker. I had in my car for years as a teacher It will be a great day When the schools have all the money they need and the air force has to have a bake sale to buy a bomber They've just sent the military budget was jays gargantuan and of course that siphoning out money From what could be used in Counties and cities Mr. McPherson you say we have to be careful How we manage money? This is true And you hope local counties can put pressure on purrs And it looks like bankrupt disease in the forecast what I'd like to see is local counties and cities Demanding that this topsy-turvy System where most the money goes to the military and the wealthy Is turned the other way around And that the people of the community and the well-being of the community and the environment are top priority And there should be a way That cities and towns can get together to insist That this money Remain in the cities and counties to benefit people here instead of going to Dangerous wars abroad and and the wealthy So that that's part of the context and it says We're living in an inequitable capitalist system. That's the foundation And how much money can we imagine when we're fighting over the small crumbs left? When most of the financial pie is going to the wrong places Mainly the military and corporate and wealthy interests. Thank you Yeah, I want to be able to say I do appreciate that report County council and then also the lady over here. It was really nice I want to be able to talk about you know the you guys the county board of supervisors as I Kind of hear what you guys have to say you guys are constantly hinting that the trying times are here Right the leaning up or the thinning out of the herd And like I said, there's only two classes the privilege versus the persecuted the well off versus the worst off those that enjoy the prestigious economy and those that follow on a subsistence economy But one thing that we want to we want to guarantee it's community justice And when we look at the the budget the general budget fund and the cost and we can impose cost measuring cost measuring Savings regarding the public injustice safety is consolidating Just like they want to consolidate my my cases at the at the harassment court Right, we can consolidate these three private law firms that are not accountable to the american public Right and consolidate and make a one county civil rights office Where they're going to defend the rights of the people the increase if from 2017 to 2018 is 75.2 million dollars If you look at the projections for 2018 to 2019 it's 83.2 Right, that's that's eight million dollar increase And the equitable trade-off is hey, it's just political shenanigans At the at the at the harassment court if we provide people with with aggressive illegal Counseling defense it's going to save because people are not going to be caught up in the loop people are not going to be going to court They're going to have inadequate defense to defend their rights from the punishing state Because hey our humanity matters just because we don't come from our family wild power and influence We want community justice out of the 58 counties as we go into this political apocalypse We want one county that's going to shine And I would want it to be santa cruz county. Thank you Thank you Good morning. I'm going to speak on economic development as part of What I believe I want to say thank you as a senior being here for And getting this report. I'm sure we can find more online Uh, I would ask each of you including our Community to research The idea of co-ops and certainly what could be done regionally Over in santa clara. It's a policy which I believe at least uh in the past. I was told Is in our own county People don't have to work for some outside county They could own their own business and work in it So I just ask you to In saying thank you But I've also been a salesman most of my life And in my background I won't say I was selling baloney, but I put ads together at the grocery store for 29 and 39 cents So as a senior living on less than a What it costs for three kids to live in a room This is serious And I just would hope that in the future we find more young people filling these empty seats But thank you for the report I'm going to go home and try to learn more about it. Thank you for your own Inside greg. It's not just housing and rent. It's go to a grocery store But thank you also for your support of the gray bears And our veterans where people like me can You know at least not be hungry So I'm honored to be here and spending the time look forward for the next agenda item. Thank you Thank you Hi, Becky Steinbruner from Aptos I just want to point out by combining public comment for two items You have reduced effectively public comment to a minute and a half So I just want to make that public I have uh, I noticed that the county fire Issue budgeting was not discussed and thank you, mr. Mr. Supervisor McPherson for bringing that up. I would like discussion on that that didn't happen um, I would like to Thank supervisor cappett for bringing out a discussion on the true economic Disparity that is going on in the county and how issues may exacerbate that I want to thank, um, mr. School for the excellent report and for the Information about the easy gov and all of that information that you presented being available on the website I know there is a significant portion of the population that is does not get on the internet And I'm wondering how we can also make that excellent information that presented available to them if it could house somehow be available in libraries and Information be put about that in availability on property tax bills I have a question about the tax penalty relief program It was interesting to hear about the teeter plan and how that affects the budget and how the any disparity in paying The schools and fires for money they need when maybe the county hasn't been paid Would come through penalties and and fees charged to delinquent taxes so that that goes in in hand in hand with Code four nine eight five point two that states that you can request tax relief Penalty relief from that. I wonder how available that information is to the public If that could be included on people's property tax bills That that option is available to people I want to also thank cao palacio's Excellent report that was good information. Is it available online where I could find that I also really want to point out something in when I was reviewing this information Earlier that I see zero in the column for capital improvements and major infrastructure repairs And that alarmed me and I didn't see it really discussed in your graph here Can you please discuss that too Thank you very much Is there anybody else from the community that'd like to address us on this item? Seeing none, we'll close it and bring it back to the board Were there any additional questions from board members or some of the questions that are presented? From the member of the community. Do you want to just briefly address the infrastructure question? Yes, the CIP capital improvements program most of the funding in fact almost all the funding is in non general fund Funds so we do have a significant amount of infrastructure funding But the great majority of it is in enterprise funds and other special funds And this was focused mainly on the general fund It would be good for us in the future to have general fund money going to the cip And that's one of our goals. I think in the strategic planning process in the future But for unfortunately, we don't have very much funds at all going in the general fund to capital improvements Thank you. This is an acceptance file. Yeah, I just wanted to add a comment to that you know with a county engage in a very Proactive and interesting way to fund solar improvements, which we're seeing right now outside as part of our capital infrastructure And also to help reduce some of our cost and because of measure d and sp1 We're going to be having a lot more money to put into our road infrastructure Then we've had in the past as well as some of even our Our transit infrastructure. So There there are There are new monies that are coming into that that aren't reflected in the general fund I would move to accept and file both these reports and express my appreciation to the staff who work to put them together Motion from leopold a second from coonerty all those in favor I oppose it passes unanimously. Thanks for your work on putting this together very informative Move on to the last item of the regular agenda Which is to consider item 51 to consider report on the draft vision mission values and focus areas for the santa cruz county strategic plan And direct staff to return with an update on the strategic planning process on or before april 10th 2018 as outlined in the memo of the cao We have the strategic plan methodology the strategic plan Draft elements and I believe we have a presentation From the assistant county administrative officer miss coburn. Is that correct? That is correct. Good morning. Welcome. Thank you Thank you for waiting today. Good morning Good morning chair friend and members of the board of supervisors. I'm nicole coburn assistant county administrative officer And i'm here to present on the vision santa cruz county strategic planning process Um, i'm going to be touching on the results from our outreach with the community and employees as well as presenting The draft vision mission values and focus areas that the steering committee has been working on So just to remind you, um, these are the strategic plan elements that we're working towards In order to create the strategic plan document There are five elements shown here The purpose of our strategic planning process is to establish a long-term vision for the county and set of course of action through overarching focus areas and Subsequently through specific goals and objectives that will take up as part of our operational plan I'm going to be touching on the first four elements the vision mission values and focus areas today So this slide shows our strategic planning methodology As you can see our office has been involved in overseeing a steering committee convening their meetings Um, the steering committee created the framework for the strategic planning process in the fall The process has really been driven by community and employee outreach We started off by holding employee mixers In late october and early in november we had four of those and we engaged Over 200 employees We then moved into the community forums in november and we held five events one in each district and over 200 participated in those as well Lastly we developed a community survey which we released in november and held open through the end of december We had 2,200 responses or more than 2,200 people respond over that period The the input that we received touched on county vision mission values strengths and weaknesses and Opportunities and barriers So this is some of the results from our strategic planning outreach This map shows the top vision word by zip code And as you can see it highlights that affordable Was really one of the key words that rose to the top and and in the south county and also north county I want to note that although different regions prioritize Different words the same themes rose to the top There were there were differing and rankings between neighborhood to neighborhood But we we saw affordability in the housing rising to the top Over and over again Our mapping we did some several of these kind of maps were just to see where the different words Were higher and south county envisioned a more inclusive diverse and affordable community While north county residents envisioned a safer healthy and more sustainable community This chart since survey responses Totaled approximately 200 they outnumbered some of our other engagement efforts So we created a simple model to compare the results This in this chart all of the words shown here are important The chart simply shows the magnitude of the responses by weight So you can see where people weighted particular words higher than others What does a negative number mean? It just it's the difference to the mean so the negative number doesn't mean there were negative votes It just means the magnitude of those votes was less compared to the average So for this community survey the survey results demonstrated that a vision for santa cruz county is for a safe healthy and affordable community And then you can see with the employees through the mixers Employees envisioned a collaborative compassionate and equitable community We think that employees may have thought of this as a vision for their workplace while the community was viewing The community at large in terms of where they live Moving on to this slide. So uh because We compared the we had survey their survey translated in both in spanish and released it in both english and spanish This is a similar chart that compares the results from the english and spanish language surveys The english responses There were far more of them than the spanish language responses. We had 32 responses in spanish We did do quite a bit of outreach Including a facebook ad targeted at spanish speaking areas of the county and many of those that responded to our english language survey were from spanish speaking areas Responses to the spanish language survey and covered a need to address concepts of justice within the community The vision of a healthy and educated community was also a major driver for Respondents to the spanish language survey This is a word cloud that shows the top trends that emerged from the survey as you can see Housing was the cited as the top issue facing santa cruz county Transportation also rose to the top as well as issues of health and safety The economy and the environment To identify focus areas the steering committee broke down data Around community trends strengths and weaknesses We wanted to point out a couple things in addition to this Employees through their engagement also noted issues related to county operations Even though they might not be cited here in this word cloud In addition Based on the survey women valued housing and health more than male respondents and men value transportation and economic factors more than the women This shows three of our strategic plan draft elements the vision mission and values This steering committee took all of the data that was generated over the past six months and distilled it into these these three draft elements They are tended to reflect all of the global input received and the goal really is to establish a long-term vision that reflects the entire community In the vision the draft vision statement shown you'll see that it reflects major themes of health safety and affordability in our community It also incorporates economic and environmental vibrancy which touches on the themes