>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Good morning, everyone.
What a happy crowd we have here.
All right. I'd like to call to
order the Marin County Board of
Supervisors meeting of December
12, 2023. I will ask the clerk
to take the roll and tell us how
to participate remotely.
>>CLERK: Thank you. Supervisor
Rice.
>>KATIE RICE: Here.
>>CLERK: Supervisor Lucan.
>>ERIC LUCAN: Here.
>>CLERK: Supervisor Sackett.
>>MARY SACKETT: Here.
>>CLERK: Supervisor Rodoni.
>>DENNIS RODONI: Here.
>>CLERK: Supervisor
Moulton-Peters.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Here.
>>CLERK: If you are joining us
today on zoom or would like to
participate, please use the
raise hand icon located on your
screen. If you are
participating by land line,
please press* 9 to raise your
hand. When it's your turn to
speak, your name will be called
and you will be asked to unmute
your device. If you are
participating by land line, you
will hear that you are unmuted.
That concludes the instructions
and I will pass the meeting back
to President Moulton-Peters.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. We have the
pleasure of starting this
morning's meeting honoring a
very special person, Director
Benita McLarin, Health and Human
Services, who is retiring from
public service after 43 years of
exemplary public service.
We have a little resolution that
we'd like to start with. Then
we're going to hear from elected
officials in our different
offices. Then Benita will have
a chance to comment, followed by
her Health and Human Services
executive team. We'll have
public comment, and then the
Board of Supervisors will get
one more opportunity to thank
you.
So with that, I want to start
with the resolution, and we're
going to share it up on the dais
as we have come to do. So I
have the first paragraph and
some intervening paragraphs, and
here we go.
Whereas, the Board of
Supervisors wishes to recognize
and honor Dr. Benita McLarin,
PhD, SM, MHA, AB, FACHE who has
served as Marin County Director
of Health and Human Services
since 2019; and.
>>ERIC LUCAN: Whereas,
Dr. Benita McLarin began her
government career in 1980 as a
private in the United States
army reserve and completed over
25 years in her military medical
career, which included several
overseas assignments to Germany
and Korea, deployments to
Honduras, Bosnia and to Saudi
Arabia for the first Gulf War.
Dr. McLarin completed the army's
command and general staff
college and air war college.
Dr. McLarin is a combat veteran.
Her last role with the United
States army medical service
corps was as battalion commander
for the 168th medical battalion
area support in Daegu, Korea.
Dr. McLarin retired from active
duty as a Lieutenant-Colonel in
2006; and.
>>DENNIS RODONI: Whereas,
Dr. Benita McLarin was selected
director of Health and Human
Services for the county of Marin
in 2019, and immediately
responded to power shutoffs,
fire events, neighboring county
evacuations, and a historic
coronavirus disease pandemic.
Dr. McLarin successively led
department leaders and staff to
an overall successful response
of the pandemic, including
superb social services support,
exceptional Behavioral Health
and Recovery Services, expanded
homelessness services, and a
nationally recognized public
health response, including
equity-focused testing access
and vaccine distribution
resulting in the county having
the highest number of residents
vaccinated, the lowest number of
coronavirus disease cases in the
State of California.
Dr. McLarin led the
implementation of department's
first strategic plan to achieve
health and wellness equity
leading with race equity and.
>>MARY SACKETT: Whereas,
Dr. Benita McLarin has extensive
education and training -- we'll
define all those letters we
heard earlier -- receiving a
doctor of philosophy in health
services leadership from Walden
University, a masters of science
and health policy in management
from Harvard University school
of public health, a masters of
health administration from
Chapman University, and a
bachelor of arts with a major in
psychology and a minor in
women's studies from Washington
University.
>>KATIE RICE: And whereas
Dr. Benita McLarin has worked
tirelessly to ensure the health
and well-being of the safety net
population in Marin County and
throughout the Bay Area. She is
well known for being a positive
communicator, an excellent
collaborator, and a
compassionate and caring and
kind leader, and.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: And I'm going to add that
Dr. McLarin has served in so
many Northern California
counties, and I want to direct
everyone to read the full
resolution that you can find
also in the packet, but I am
going to add that Benita has
been a marvelous teacher and
mentor and primary instructor,
adjunct instructor, and guest
lecturer for over 20 years in
various educational
institutions. She's been a
mentor in the County of Marin
mentor program, college
executive health care and
iMentor Bay Area.
And so for her many, many
contributions, professionally
and in her off-work hours, the
Marin County Board of
Supervisors wishes to express
its sincere gratitude for the
many contributions she has made
to the Department of Health and
Human Services and to making
Marin a healthier and safer and
more equitable community.
So we will pass the resolution
at the end of our remarks, and
so I'm going to invite our
elected officials to come up
now, and we'll start with
Assemblymember Connolly. Sorry,
Damon. Well, it's part of the
hometown team. Come on.
>>DAMON CONNOLLY: I know. Maybe
this morning I can go back to
that role.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Honorary?
>>DAMON CONNOLLY: No, it's
really great to see the board
this morning. Good morning,
community. I'm Damon Connolly,
your state assemblymember. Just
really honored to be here this
morning to recognize an
extraordinary person and also
public servant. As we celebrate
the remarkable career of the
county's director of Health and
Human Services, Benita McLarin,
on her well-deserved retirement
after 43 years of dedicated
public service, including four
years of exemplary leadership in
the County of Marin, and I was
happy to actually participate in
hiring Benita and just can
attest how much she stood out
with her commitment and her
background, and it certainly
panned out where you were
literally the right person for
the job in what turned out to be
extraordinary times.
Benita's commitment to public
service has left an indelible
mark on our community, and her
impact over the years has been
nothing short of extraordinary.
It was mentioned in the
resolution that you wrote a
number of specific situations,
including fire evacuations,
public safety power shutoffs,
and what really struck me is the
level to which Benita was so
hands on at all times, and all
in. She didn't just oversee an
emergency operation center. She
pulled out the cot, slept down
there for, like, three or four
nights in a row. It's as if she
needed to kind of relive her
army days as she was doing this
job, and I think it really set
the tone for the approach that
all the rest of us approached it
with.
And of course that was a -- but
a warmup to the pandemic, and I
think that really tested all of
us. It tested the county. It
tested our community, and
Benita, it was really your
leadership and steadfastness
throughout that that I think
really allowed us to get through
that extraordinary time.
I also had the pleasure of
working closely with you on
homelessness, the mental health
crisis that our communities are
now facing, and as was
mentioned, your emphasis on
bringing an equity approach,
elevating all of us in what
we're doing here for county
residents will not be forgotten.
Her ability to make tough
decisions, coupled with her
compassionate approach, ensured
that the residents of Marin
County received the support and
care they needed during these
challenging times.
As we bid farewell to Benita
McLarin, I take a moment to
express our profound gratitude
for her four decades of service
to the public and her four years
to the County of Marin. Her
impact on the health and
well-being of our community is
immeasurable, and her legacy
will undoubtedly endure for
years to come.
Benita, your retirement is
richly deserved, and we wish you
all the joy, relaxation --
hopefully -- and fulfillment
that this new chapter in life
brings. May your future
endeavours be as rewarding and
inspiring as the incredible
career you have left behind.
Congratulations, Benita. Thank
you for 43 years of selfless
dedication to the betterment of
the North Bay and beyond.
And so it's my distinct honor,
with California State Senator
Mike McGuire, to present a
resolution -- and we always get
to make it really big, which is
cool. I like that part of this
gig. And Summer Cassel is here
for Senator McGuire, and again,
with sincere appreciation and
congratulations. Thank you.
All right.
[ Applause ]
Do we get a photo op later?
Let's go to that.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Very good, and I'm going
to go ahead and read the
certificate of special
congressional recognition from
our Congressman Jared Huffman.
Presented to Dr. Benita McLarin,
in recognition of outstanding
service to the residents of
Marin County as Marin County
Health and Human Services
Director. Dr. McLarin led the
county's largest department
through three challenging years
of the pandemic. Dr. McLarin
drew on her extensive education,
as well as her more than 20
years as a medical services
corps officer with the U.S. army
to benefit her staff and the
residents of Marin County.
Among her many contributions is
the implementation of the Health
and Human Services strategic
plan to achieve health and
wellness equity, recognizing the
severity of institutional racism
as a public health crisis,
Dr. McLarin prioritized
equity-driven initiatives,
including training staff on how
to lead an anti-racist
organization. As director, she
assisted in the establishment of
three new Homekey sites and
continued the implementation of
Marin's housing first policy.
I join with her colleagues in
extending deep appreciation to
Dr. McLarin for outstanding
public service to the Department
of Health and Human Services and
to the County of Marin. Jared
Huffman, our Congressman.
Congratulations, Benita.
[ Applause ]
Benita, we'll turn to you now
for some comments.
>>BENITA McLARIN: First of all,
I want to say thanks be to God
for the opportunities I've had
over the last 43 years to serve
the public of the United States
of America. I'm very thankful
for my family and the support
they have given me during this
time. I have a wonderful
mother, Ethelene McLarin who has
just been a tremendous support
for all these 43 years, and I
couldn't have done it without
her support.
I also want to thank my family,
brothers and sisters represented
by my sister Michelle Lafaleice
who is here today, and all my
other siblings, Benjamin,
Melinda, and Kimberly, who have
just been tremendous support
over this time.
I also want to thank the many
friends that I've had over the
years who have gotten me through
some tough times, and one of
them is represented today with
Julie Block who is here, and she
represents my many friends and
colleagues.
I also want to thank my pastor,
Bishop J.W. Macklin who has just
been an awesome leader in the
State of California and
throughout the world. He is the
First Presiding Bishop of the
Church of God and Christ
International, and a tremendous
leader, one that I have tried to
emulate in terms of caring,
compassion and dedication.
Thank you, Bishop Macklin.
I want to say thank you to the
Board of Supervisors for the
opportunity I've had over the
last four years to serve here in
Marin. It's truly been an
experience, and it's always an
honor to serve. I especially
want to thank Supervisor Rice
and Supervisor Moulton-Peters
for their support, and
Supervisor Rodoni, Supervisor
Sackett and Supervisor Lucan.
All of them for supporting the
best department in the county,
Health and Human Services.
[ Applause ]
I also want to thank Matthew
Hymel, county executive officer,
for his support during my tenure
as HHS Director. His support on
our equity agenda has been
nothing but stellar. Thank you,
Matthew.
I also want to thank my fellow
department heads. They have
just been great. The women
senior leaders in Marin and the
COMAEA affinity group for all
their support. Although it's
been a tumultuous and never dull
last four years, including the
COVID response, I can truly say
that I'm glad that this is how I
ended my career, fighting for
equity and change wherever
possible.
I'm proud of our work providing
benefits to those in need and
feeding the hungry, improving
the lives of foster children,
fighting for homeless, reducing
suicides and addiction, caring
for families and newborns,
reducing isolation for older
adults, improving our systems
with performance improvement
work, with new electronic health
systems and social services and
behavioral health, starting
veterans corps, and so much
more.
There are so many
accomplishments, and I'm
grateful for the work that I've
had the opportunity I've had to
work with such smart and
dedicated people in Health and
Human Services and throughout
the county.
It's hard to believe that a
young 17-year-old from Memphis,
Tennessee who joined the army
just to get a high school class
ring is now completing 43 years
of public service.
[ Applause ]
I am humbled by the thousands of
people that we've been able to
help and support, not just
clients and patients but also
great soldiers, employees,
community members, and partners.
I want to say a special
shout-out and thank you to my
military family represented by
Colonel Jim Myers who is here
today, and the great folks that
I have --
[ Applause ]
And the great folks that I've
had the great opportunity to
serve with in the last 43 years.
I've been in multiple countries
and states and five counties
that I've served within these 43
years, and it's been an honor in
every place.
To the employees of Marin Health
and Human Services, thank you
for your hard work and
dedication and commitment to the
people of Marin and to -- and
for your support during my
tenure. You have been an
awesome team, and I love you. I
want to especially thank my
executive team in HHS. They are
tremendous leaders, and you're
very fortunate to have them to
continue here doing great work
and leadership. I'm very proud
of them.
I want to say thank you all for
a job well done, for your
loyalty and your dedication and
your great leadership. Keep up
the good work. Keep moving
forward. And just remember, if
you remember who you are, listen
to your heart, always do the
right things, then you will
thrive and excel and so will the
community. Thank you for today.
[ Applause ]
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: I'd like to invite
members of the executive team in
HH & S to come up and give some
comments.
>>SPEAKER: At this time we would
like to ask all employees of the
Health and Human Services
department who are present here
today to please stand.
[ Applause ]
>>BENITA McLARIN: Oh, I love it!
>>SPEAKER: This is but a small
portion of our 800-plus-strong
staff. We are here to read the
letters of Dr. McLarin's name
that shows our creativity, and
creativity, and what each letter
means to us and how Dr. McLarin
has impacted each of us
individually. I get the
privilege to say dedicated for
Dr. McLarin. For more than 43
years, you have been
dedicated -- you have dedicated
your life to serving the public
with passion and integrity. You
embody dedication. You have
shown your commitment to our
mission, especially in times of
crisis. You showed up. I
admire and appreciate your
leadership. Thank you,
Dr. McLarin.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Hello, Kari Beuerman,
social services director, and I
have the honor to
read "responsive."
Dr. McLarin embodies
responsiveness as a leader. She
is not only in the office five
days a week but some weeks
seemingly 24/7. She can switch
effortlessly from macro to micro
and back again. Whether she is
responding to the community or
to your board regarding the
COVID pandemic or doing an
entrance or exit interview with
every single person who joins
our 800-person department,
responsiveness is a quality that
Benita successfully models for
all of us. Thank you so much.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Benita, I get to --
Benita stands for "B" is brave.
A few short months into your
role here we were hit with a
global pandemic, and soon after
that George Floyd was murdered.
Your four years have spanned one
of the most turbulent chapters
in recent history. In times of
uncertainty and fear, you led us
with courage and conviction.
Leading us towards equity,
social justice, anti-racism, and
anti-oppression is hard for
anyone. Carrying that work as a
Black woman in Marin County
takes super human courage.
[ Applause ]
Whether you know her or not, if
you're part of this community,
you've benefited from the fact
that Benita is one of the
bravest leaders I've known.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Good morning. Todd
Schirmer, director of Behavioral
Health and Recovery Services.
My letter is "E" for empowering.
Through her words and actions,
Dr. McLarin has taught me what
it means to be a leader. This
includes simple day-to-day
leadership, like setting an
agenda and running a meeting,
and complex tasks, like
articulating a long-term vision
for the department and the
county.
She has seen it all and always
knows what is going on behind
the scenes. She entrusts and
empowers others to make
difficult decisions and then
stands by them. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Good morning. Amit
Rajparia, medical director for
Behavioral Health and Recovery
Services, and I get to talk
about the letter "N," noble.
Dr. McLarin leads from a place
of moral principles, both in the
big moments and the little ones.
Even when these principles mean
doing the difficult thing, and
she's willing to put in the hard
work to back it up. Her style
of leadership naturally draws in
followers and engenders great
respect. She's a tremendous
role model for all of us.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Hi, Benita. Lisa
Santora, deputy health officer
in public health.
I have inclusiveness.
Benita has been a role model for
inclusive leadership. She has
ensured that every volunteer,
intern and employee is treated
fairly and respectfully and is
fully accepted for all they are
and all they bring to team HHS.
See, I care forever. Hua!
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Good morning. Gary
Naja-Riese, director for
homelessness, and my letter is
"T" for transformative.
Dr. McLarin, through your
unwavering focus on our HHS
mission, you've transformed our
approaches to behavioral health,
social services, homelessness,
aging, and public health,
literally saving -- excuse me --
hundreds of thousands of lives
and making things better for
every resident of this county.
In making our county a leader in
the Bay Area and across
California. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Good morning.
Niccore Tyler, chief strategy
officer for Health and Human
Services, and I have the
pleasure of presenting "A" for
advocate.
Actively supporting and
representing the interests of
others, Benita, you've always
prioritized the needs of others
and this community. I admire
your consistency and always
standing firm and doing the
right thing. Sometimes this may
not always be the popular thing,
but you always continued your
advocacy for the right thing.
So thank you for that.
[ Applause ]
Benita, we appreciate the legacy
you are leaving us with and will
continue as a department to do
the work that you have reminded
us is so important. I hope you
see just a fraction of the
people in this department who
admire you and love you dearly.
And as a token of our
appreciation, we want to present
you with the departmental award,
as well as this wonderful
bouquet of flowers.
[ Applause ]
Thank you, Dr. Benita, for being
such an inspirational leader,
and we wish you all the best in
your next phase. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: I'd like to invite
members of the public now to
come up, and I do want to
acknowledge team HH & S for your
blue suits that you all wore
today.
All right, if there's anyone who
hasn't spoken yet, would like to
make some remarks, now is the
time. We will take people in
the chamber first, starting with
the Bishop, and then we'll go
online. So please come on up
and give your name.
>>SPEAKER: Thank you very much
for allowing Alameda County to
be represented here at Marin
County. Thank you very much. I
am bishop Jerry Macklin at Glad
Tidings Church International
there in Hayward, California.
Ms. Benita has been a phenomenal
member of our church and a great
contributor to the better health
of not only our City of Hayward,
but throughout our county.
There are a few things that I
have said over the years that I
see her embody, and so from now
on I just need to point people
to her and I won't have to say
it. One has been anyone wrapped
up in themselves makes a small
package. You have not done
that. You have been larger than
life.
He that aims at nothing seldom
misses. Benita, you have
constantly kept the goal in
mind, and you have accomplished
so very much.
It begins with you, but it's not
about you. That has been your
lifestyle and your life mission.
And then finally, it makes no
difference who gets the credit
as long as God gets the glory,
and God has received much glory
as a result of your service.
Thank you not only on behalf of
Marin but on behalf of your
church and the kingdom of our
Lord. Thank you so very much.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Good morning, board,
Latoya Webb, HHS. COMAEA
president. I'm going to do my
best to keep it together.
Dr. Benita, you are a light. So
COMAEA is here today to present
you with these four dozen yellow
roses because you are a light.
As a reminder to you how much of
an impact that you've had here
and that you are leaving a
long-lasting legacy. I do have
a few words, so I'll make it
quick.
Dr. Benita McLarin, since you
stepped foot into the county,
you have been a light. Before
even getting the job, being
disregarded, disrespected and
counted out for a position that
you would have that would impact
many. The odds were stacked
against you. You've held your
head high and continue to be a
light, shining, pressing
forward. Publications
discrediting your ability to do
the job, yet being
overqualified, you pressed
forward. I think we have the
definition of light all wrong.
In my opinion, light is not the
absence of darkness. It is the
unstoppable force that exists
even when surrounded by
darkness. Thank you for being a
light and unknowingly planting
seeds, providing inspiration for
us to grow and become stronger
and rooted. Thank you for being
a light that always showed up
authentically. Thank you for
not allowing anyone or anything
to dim who you are or your
impact. We see you. We support
you and your next phase of your
journey. We also appreciate
you. So today we honor you,
reminding you that you have not
only impacted HHS but an entire
community. Thank you for being
a light. God bless.
[ Applause ]
And really quickly, sorry, got
emotional. Before Kianna Davis
speaks, on behalf -- this is
from the COMAEA board and
community, these roses, as well
as this spa gift certificate.
We want you to enjoy yourself
and kick this retirement off
right, so we love you.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: I'll try to hold it
together also. Good morning,
Board of Supervisors, my
co-workers, teammates and
partners in public service, and
to you, my queen. I am Kianna
Davis with Public Works and a
proud member of COMAEA's board.
Today we as COMAEA are feeling
bittersweet. As much as we are
excited about Dr. Benita's
retirement, it stings a little
because it feels like we are
losing such an exceptional
leader. I mean, we heard the
words today. Dr. Benita is one
that is consistent and one that
COMAEA could count on always.
Your encouraging words, your
absolutely beautiful smile, that
famous thumbs up as she walks
by, and your honesty. And to
get all of that, to get all of
that from a department head such
as Dr. McLarin set the tone for
greatness here in this county.
So we as COMAEA had a chance to
talk with Dr. Benita recently,
and none of those in the room
wanted to even leave your
presence. We soaked up every
second, every minute to do
nothing but glean from you. We
gathered your words, and we
stored them in our hearts.
Dr. McLarin, you are an example
of exemplary leadership, a
pillar in the community with the
ability to be honest. You are a
problem solver, focused on
solutions, a forward thinker and
a hard worker, a game changer
and an influencer. And yet, you
always still find a way to
provide words of strength, to
continue to help us to push
forward to our greatness. Today
we want you to know just how
amazing of a light that you are
to us and to this county. You
have the ability to shine no
matter where you are. You
showed up with intentions to
make it better and to make it
brighter than what you found it.
As we all wish you well and we
stand here to salute you, we are
grateful to be able to see you
take a position in this county
and to be successful at it
during the toughest of times.
And as we stand on your
shoulders, we want you to know
that you are the light that we
carry. Michelle Obama authored
a book titled "The Light We
Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain
Times." There's a part in the
book that says: I believe that
each of us carries a bit of
inner brightness, something
entirely unique and individual,
a flame that's worth protecting.
When we are able to recognize
our own light, we become
empowered to use it, and when we
learn to foster what is unique
in the people around us, we
become better able to build
compassionate communities and
make meaningful changes. Today
we stand here shining, and we
shine bright. As members of
COMAEA, we thank you,
Dr. McLarin, for believing in
us. We thank you for showing us
how to carry inner brightness
first within ourselves, even
when others try to dim out our
light or snuff it out. You have
showed us that. You have kept
our light brightly shining. As
a matter of fact, our light is
burning bright, and you have
modeled behavior that showed us
how to allow our light to touch
others, and to make a positive
impact. So you encouraged us by
standing as individuals. We
have something in us worth
protecting. That's what you
have taught us. That's what we
have watched. You have helped
us to recognize our own light.
We watched you empower others to
use their light more than
anything. We watched you take
your light to ignite others,
which led us all to build, to be
compassionate, and to never
forget the communities that we
serve. So Dr. Benita, we stand
here as your lights. Look
around the room. Take it in.
Look around. We proudly salute
you for making meaningful change
for COMAEA and for the overall
County of Marin. May your light
continue to burn bright and
ignite goodness and blessings in
your next chapter. We wish you
the absolute best.
Congratulations.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: That is one tough act
to follow. From everyone's
heart here, anyone with a dry
eye here, you know, check
yourself, because there's
something wrong.
For those that don't know me,
I'm Lori Frugoli. It's my honor
to serve as your District
Attorney, and I don't want to
repeat what everyone has said
here. I just want to say from
my heart as a newer department
head, I have seen your
brilliance, that you are truly a
servant. That's one common term
that we hear about you, and it's
from your heart and your soul.
And you are so humble. In our
department meeting heads you
have led with equity and your
heart and wisdom. You rarely
wag your own tail or talk about
your accomplishments, which is
such a rare quality in a leader.
And when I first learned that
you were a veteran, it was when
I came to a veterans ceremony,
and there you were in your
uniform. I'm like, what do I
not know about this woman? A
million things. You've done so
many things. You never talk
about your own accomplishments
and what you've done. You just
keep leading. You just keep
working, and for that we honor
you, and I just want to thank
you personally on behalf of our
gun safety collaborative where
you have stepped up and been a
leader. You have helped with
our veterans support and
supported our veterans, and I
want to tell one story that
really to me I exemplified -- I
shared this with you last night,
that we were at a meeting with a
lot of county leaders from
different county entities, and I
won't say how many people --
many -- were criticizing the
policies in place during COVID
and masking and shutdowns, and
just the meeting was getting
almost out of control, and
people were, when are we going
to open up, when are we going to
do this, and you handled it with
grace and wisdom and all you
said, which stopped everybody in
their tracks, was: We are saving
lives. And it shut everybody
up, for lack of a better term,
and it really brought everybody
back to the reality of what we
were facing at that moment in
time and our world and in our
county, and how you were
leading. I so honor you for
that moment. You didn't have to
say that, but you did, and I
just wish you well and also
honor you. I know you spend a
lot of time taking care of your
mother. You've made so many
sacrifices for our county. It's
time that you really take this
time for yourself, and we wish
you all the best and hope to see
you around the community.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Good morning. Ida
Times Green, and Dr. McLarin, I
am just so grateful and proud to
get to know you in the capacity
that I have over these years.
You deserve your flowers on
today, and in this chamber it's
so fitting that we are here to
wish you well and for your next
journey because it was here,
four years ago, that the board
introduced you as a new HHS
director, and the proud moment,
I have to say, because here
stood this beautiful Black woman
who was getting ready to lead
one of the largest departments
here in the county where we only
represent 2% of the county, and
you have forged on, and on that
day, when we met, I was here
with my mentor, Alberta
Erickson, God rest her soul, and
I took your business card. And
when I got home, I put it in my
Bible because I said: You must,
you must pray for her because
this county can be tough.
Believe me. My mother sat in a
director position in this
county, and so I appreciate the
county for its boldness, for
putting someone like yourself in
place, and believe that we
continue to edge a little
further in the equity part of
what's happening in the lives of
so many. You have made such a
difference. So yes, shed your
tears, smell your flowers, enjoy
your massage. You deserve it
all.
[ Applause ]
I am so proud to be able to
stand here as an employee in the
Department of Health and Human
Services and social services
because of your leadership. The
services have been expanded to
southern Marin. That is a part
of your legacy, something that
this county has been working
towards for years. You made
that happen, and so we must
continue the work.
We shall fight the good fight.
You have challenged us, and we
are going to do it. Thank you,
Dr. McLarin. Love you so much,
my God.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Good morning, board,
and good morning, Benita. This
is horrible following up on some
of these speeches. Mine is not
going to be so impressionable,
but Benita, I wanted to just
recall the time when you and I
first met. It was a phone call
on the weekend. I think it was
March whatever, when you said,
Liz Darby, report to duty at the
EOC at 9:00 in the morning, and
I'm like, what? And I learned
from that, that when Benita says
do something, I just needed to
show up.
While I was working with you in
COVID, I had the fortune and the
honor, of course, of working in
communities in our underserved
communities, and that's when I
got to know you as a person,
your leadership, your integrity,
your caring, your genuineness to
support our residents and our
communities, particularly those
in our underserved communities,
particularly those of color.
Yes, we knew the data about the
health outcomes. You expanded
that, and you made sure that
equity was first and center in
all of the work that we did
together. And you took my calls
in the morning, late at night,
when we were texting, when I was
having those challenges to
figure out how to do this, you
led and you taught me. And for
that I will always be grateful,
and our communities should
always be grateful, and I know
it's been a tough road, but I
hope today you have gotten a
chance to see just a glimmer of
how much we've respected and
cared for you and supported you
all the time, and we wish you
only the best. Thank you so
much, Benita.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Good morning,
supervisors. Good morning,
Benita. Jason Balderama, the
chief security information
officer in our security
Information Services Technology
department. Liza Massey,
unfortunately, could not make it
today. Thinking of what you
said earlier, she too would say
she has the best department in
the county.
I just want to say what a
pleasure it's been to work with
you and to help support your
department, particularly with
the COVID response. I think
that it showed that we really
did our best there, whether it
be supporting the various pop-up
sites or facilities needs,
getting new applications online,
putting up new websites, doing
public communications, and even
just getting on the front lines,
serving as DSWs, being able to
serve the community, and all
that was made possible by your
leadership and your department,
so just want to say on behalf of
IST, truly thank you. I wish I
had had more time to get to know
you better and work with you,
but I can see from all the
comments and everything that I
think the presence in this room
is just a testament to what
you're leaving behind. So
anyway, thank you so much.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Rollie Katz, Marin
Association of Public Employees.
All the departments are the best
departments because they all
have MAPE members working in
them.
People have been far more
eloquent than I will be, but I
just wanted to also add on
behalf of MAPE our appreciation
for your service to the county
and your time here, and public
service, as I often say, is an
honorable calling, and you've
had a very, very long history of
answering that call, and I do
want to add that I have to think
back about the worst time during
the COVID shutdown and all the
work the county did, but your
department in particular and
your leadership for that was
critical because lots of people
were getting lots of malarky
when we were just out trying to
make sure people were healthy.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: I want to say I thank
the board for having this
resolution. I want to thank
Damon Connolly for coming and
showing up, and Matthew Hymel,
and everyone for selecting
Benita for the position because
we know the systemic challenges
at the director position and
dealing with community-based
issues. It's challenging, and
because you didn't waver from it
and you were transformative,
because you inspired everybody,
and knowing that I'm an HHS guy,
and I always say that to you,
you give me the thumbs up, and
let's give a round of applause
for HHS and the departments for
selecting Benita.
[ Applause ]
And before I end, I just want to
say that, you know, when we talk
about transformative, it's about
not dividing but bringing
everybody together, and when you
look at Benita, her tenure for
the four years, she brought
people together, and when we saw
those informations being in the
IJ, we know when you're at the
apex of your career people are
going to try to tear you down
because they are afraid, because
they know what you bring and
influence you have, and
influence you brought to Marin
County is bringing people
together and not dividing
people, and everybody needs to
respect that and understand
that, you know, the challenges
that come with that, and because
we know it's optics, you're
dealing with public, you're
dealing with the board, you're
dealing with the administration.
You're dealing with a whole
breakdown of procedures and
protocols, and you overcame that
and brang everybody together
shows your perseverance and your
tenacity. So I appreciate you.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Hey, I'm the short
one here. Good morning,
everyone. I'm Jamie, Jamie
Enfaro. I'm a volunteer. I
like all of you have
[indiscernible] behind your
name, I don't. I'm just a
simple person, and I come before
you, Benita, you know, I came in
and I see you coming through the
door and together with everyone,
the totem pole watching the
leaders in the making and the
leaders in the shaping, so it
was a very humbling experience
to be able to see and watch
leadership taking shape, and in
the voice of equity I'm speaking
today because there's so much
need for us, the segregated
society and people who actually
are so far apart, but yet today
I'm very influenced because of
Health and Human Services. Just
FYI, I recently took some
courses in Health and Human
Services. I'm now pursuing a
degree in it, yeah. I just
finished my --
[ Applause ]
With Contra Costa college. I am
pursuing three more in the
spring. But it's all because of
the leaders in the Health and
Human Services, what we are
doing, and I want to say under
the extreme leadership of Benita
and my professor, but I'm not
going to digress on that.
I want to say, Benita, your
example, showing in what you do,
not just talk the talk but walk
the talk, to be able to show us
in leadership, in equity, with
Jamillah under her belt of
equity as well. Because we are
so marginalized in Marin.
Despite that, we have so many
colors and spectrum, there's no
one size that fits all, so I'm
humbly coming before you to
thank you from the bottom of my
little heart to say that there's
so much that we need to do
collaboratively, especially
Damon you -- to see how we can
build Marin. Because there's so
much of us that we need help, I
mean what you do with mental
health, together with Todd and
Matt, what you do with Health
and Human Services of COVID and
everyone, the leaders in the
room. You guys are the
expertise in the room.
Can we find a way to work
together, put our petty
differences aside, but let
Benita show as an example to us
where she has undertake so
many -- so much under her belt.
I'm not going to take up the
time of the board, but I'm just
wanting to say you all have so
many districts, but can we come
together with one common goal,
with compassion in our hearts,
especially in these times of
need, with kindness and an act
of spontaneity, can we do
something different this time,
instead of segregation, but link
with our hearts so that we can
have a little bit cheer, so that
we can give a little way of this
time to give, you know, Benita,
you have so big footprint that
you left behind. I don't know
how to refill in your roles, you
know. I hope we can, but it is
a tall order, and being a
volunteer, I learn so much
through your work. I have not
directly had a chance to work
with you, but I'm sure when we
meet each other in the world or
somewhere along the line I can
hear about your experiences and
how to set example in the Health
and Human Services, because in
the world I learn that's where
the heart is, right? So how do
you embody that, and you said to
serve our community better, to
be of servitude, to be better
representation of the community
and be a better person, I guess.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Assistant director of
Marin County free library, and I
just want to take this moment to
thank you, Benita, for your
leadership. As a Black woman in
executive leadership in Marin
County, it's not easy. Seeing
you in every meeting, the
management council, other
assistant department heads, has
really transformed my life and
influenced -- and influenced me
in such a way that I think I
can't even articulate the words
very well, but you've showed me
strength. You've helped me
through some of my hardest times
being a Black woman in executive
leadership at the county. You
really -- you listen to me. You
heard how difficult it can be at
the top, and you really have
just poured yourself into
demonstrating the type of
servant leadership that I think
we all aspire to in public
services, and I just want to
say, you know, the lies that
have been said about you are
very untrue, and I want to go on
the record with that, and I'm
sorry that, you know, it's not
my role to apologize, but I want
to say and acknowledge that I'm
sorry that you were treated in
such a way with all of the
leadership you've demonstrated
in this county over the past
four years through some of the
darkest and most difficult
times, you have been the light,
as COMAEA said, for us, and I
want you to know that we see
you. We support you, and we
love you. And thank you for
everything you've done for the
county, for the leaders, and for
all of the departments. You
have been nothing but a light,
as COMAEA said, and I want you
to remember that, so thank you.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Hi, my name is Robin
Berren, and I am a department
analyst with our HHS department
with our strategy team. I'm
equity branch of that strategy
team, and I just want to say,
Benita, you have never made my
job hard. You have made my job
easy. You have given me access
to people and positions of power
to make decisions about equity
and inclusion and belonging.
You have given me space to
challenge people, to really look
at how we are addressing equity,
and to know the difference
between equality versus equity,
and you have never been ashamed
of that.
And I also want to say that one
of the things that a lot of
folks have said here is that
it's really been meaningful for
you to be a Black woman in this
position, and what they are
saying is representation
matters, and to have a woman of
color here in this position has
been so meaningful because your
lived experience has been
meaningful, and regardless of
what people have said to you,
your position has been
meaningful to me and to everyone
at HHS, and I want you to know
that Barack Obama was criticized
for wearing a tan suit, so . . .
you know, like, I mean, I just
feel like a lot of Black folks
in positions of power get
criticized for every little
thing because of who they are,
and so I want you to know, and I
want you to know that God sees
you and that we all see you as a
beloved woman of God and as a
Black woman who has led our
department with power and grace
and has spoken truth to power,
and we bless you in your
retirement and thank you for
your leadership.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Thank you, Eva
Chrysanthe. I want to recognize
all the appreciation of Benita
McLarin and her hard work for
the county. I also think it's
important to recognize that
Benita was limited in what she
could do because of the
leadership in this county.
While representation matters, it
is also worth noting that this
Board of Supervisors is entirely
White, and their decisions -- I
note that Damon Connolly is
here, assemblyman Damon Connolly
is here. It was Damon Connolly
and Kate Colin and -- I'm sorry,
state senator Mike McGuire who
put together that internment
camp under the freeway. One
person who is not here even to
see this event is Jimmy Sanders,
a Black marine corps veteran who
died on the street last July.
He was remanded into that camp
because law enforcement in this
county decided to take his RV
improperly, and so he was made
homeless, and this is someone
who was already made sick by his
military service. He was
[indiscernible].
I just think it's important, we
have a lot of work to do, and I
understand the political purpose
of the county congratulating
itself, but it's also -- it's
not okay when the people who
need to be here, who need to be
heard, are not really made to
feel welcome in the room. Thank
you, Benita, for your service.
I think you did a good job by
the county. The issue is really
what are the county's goals.
Damon Connolly has provided no
explanation for his putting
together that camp. It was a
majority Black and Latino camp,
and they were treated horribly.
It was the worst-treated group
of unhoused people in the entire
county. There was no lawyer to
come to their aid. I asked for
a health inspection many times.
I contacted Damon Connolly's
office many times, Mary Sackett
remembers this. We must
remember the people we are here
to serve. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>>SPEAKER: Hi. My name's Amy
Dietz. I'm a senior program
coordinator for Health and Human
Services, and I just want to say
how impressed I was that you
just show up. I've had the
opportunity to volunteer at some
of our overnight shelters during
the storms, and you show up at
six in the morning with a hot
chocolate bar to serve the
homeless, right? Like, we're
not expecting you to be there.
You just show up. At the
softball games, you show up, and
you're distributing chips to
everyone, like Cracker Jacks to
the stands, and just how
impressed I've been that you
show up for your Health and
Human Services employees when
they're not expecting it.
You're just there in support,
and I think that's emblematic of
everything you are and how much
I've appreciated seeing that, so
thank you.
>>SPEAKER: Greetings to the
board and hopefully I guess
maybe I'll be the last one, and
maybe appropriate.
I am Michelle Lafalez. I am
Benita's oldest sister. I am
the first born, and I know her
very well. I could tell laugh
little secrets.
[ Laughter ]
But I just want to stand and
represent our family. Our
parents are very proud of you.
We come from a humble
background, as Benita has said.
There were times when as
children we had to heat up our
bath water on the stove to take
baths, so when you see Benita
and all her accomplishments, and
all her sacrifices, they are
real, and they are from the
heart. We are so proud of you,
Benita. We graduated from
Washington University, which is
the Harvard of the Mideast.
Then she went to Harvard and
graduated from there, so that
just -- you know, and it just
goes on and on, but just as you
see her at work, she is at home
too. Let me tell you, she's a
soldier over us, and she
commands us just as much as she
commands you all. But we love
her dearly, and she has set the
example, and I'm so proud to
hear all of your testimonies
about her. It really is
important, and it really is
valuable, what you all have done
and what you all have said, and
I'm going to take it back to my
family. We're very proud and we
love you.
[ Applause ]
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: We have I believe one
speaker online. We have two I
see. So this is for
Dr. McLarin's retirement.
>>MODERATOR: The first speaker
is Musa Tariq.
>>SPEAKER: I realize this is for
the commendation, so I'll raise
my hand for the next round of
public comments.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, thank you.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Ken Shapiro. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Hi, everybody. Can
you hear me? I don't see a
picture of myself, but that's
okay.
>>MODERATOR: We can hear you.
Go ahead.
>>SPEAKER: I was going to show
you all the gray hairs on my
beard, and it's my time with you
that I say are responsible for
them, but there are -- I
wouldn't trade it for a minute,
for anything. Every minute with
you was a joy. I miss you so
much. I think about you every
day. Every little lesson you
taught me I'm applying to my
life every single day. You're
an amazing leader. You're an
amazing mentor, and I miss your
laugh so much, especially at the
end of the day when we go
through all the stuff that was
so difficult and the problems we
didn't have a solution for. You
still find a way to make me
laugh every single evening, and
I'm so happy to dip my toe back
into Marin for a couple minutes
and see all these people
honoring you, and I'm just so
proud of you. Congratulations.
>>MODERATOR: President
Moulton-Peters, there are no
additional speakers in the
queue.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Yes, Matthew Hymel,
please.
>>MATTHEW H. HYMEL: Well, good
morning and I think everybody
has said it better than I can
say it, but I did want to add my
personal thanks to Benita. When
we first interviewed Benita, I
just couldn't think how
fortunate we were to have
someone with her character, her
intellect and her caring nature,
and we couldn't have seen what
we were going to be in store for
over the next four and a half
years, but all of those were
tested, and you, you know,
stepped up even more than we
could have imagined, so I want
to thank you for that.
And I know you're a religious
person. I'm not particularly a
religious person, but I think
there was a little divine
intervention here to bring you
to our community when we needed
you most, and so thank you for
that service. I can't imagine
anyone who deserves a more, you
know, wonderful retirement, and
so thank you so much, and we
wish you nothing but the best
from the county family, and I
hope to continue to learn from
you and work with you as I take
my transition as well. Thank
you. There we go. All right.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: I want to bring it back
to the board now for some
closing comments and then we'll
pass that resolution. Vice
President Rodoni?
>>DENNIS RODONI: Wow. What a
morning. Congratulations,
Benita. You know, I don't know
if you could have packed
anything more into four years.
I think we probably maxed you
out, but I'm sure if we had
something else, you would have
handled it really well.
You know, a couple people talked
about showing up, walking the
talk today, and I think that's
what I like the most about you.
As supervisors, we're out in the
community a lot, and almost
always Benita would be at those
events. I could remember
several times you coming to
Bolinas at night, knowing you've
had a long ride home, but
showing up there was so
important to that community, and
I have to confess to you that
recently, two or three months
ago we were there and a
gentleman came up to you and
told you how the social worker
had saved his life, basically,
by getting him a surgery he
needed, and I have to confess, I
sent him up to you that night,
but I'm glad I did now that
[indiscernible] retirement,
because I think that's a moment
you'll remember. Thank you so
much.
>>MARY SACKETT: Dr. McLarin,
we've heard so many wonderful
things about you today. One of
the numbers that just jumps out
to me is that under your
leadership 150 units of
permanent supportive housing
were created in Marin County.
That -- there's no small feat
there, and that was due to your
unabashed leadership of a great
team who then took that and ran
with it and knew that you
supported them through all that
work, so many generations to
come are grateful for those
units of housing.
I have really appreciated our
monthly discussions where your
frank honesty breaks through
from your always professional
decorum. You've pointed so many
things out to me that I don't
experience in this county, and I
really appreciate that. I know
one of your concerns when you
talked about retiring was will
your -- will all the work you've
done on equity be carried
forward, and I think this room
is a testament that you've
touched so many people deeply
and internally that there's a
lot of us to carry your work on,
so thank you so much. Enjoy
your retirement.
>>KATIE RICE: Benita, what a
wonderful morning, and I know
it's -- I know this is what the
Bishop said, things shouldn't be
about, but this is all about
you.
I am just really going to miss
you so much. Benita does show
up everywhere, unbelievably so,
and she was also at every single
Tuesday meeting, right? We have
spent a lot of time together in
different ways, and I'm going to
miss those monthly calls and the
frankness, but also all the
other interactions, like
everyone else in this room who
has stood up and spoken and
those who haven't and the many,
many folks on your HHS team and
beyond, you have inspired me.
You have bolstered me, and I
think you have made me a better
person and a better leader, and
hopefully -- and it doesn't
sound like that -- maybe I'll
move forward with more humility
and more conviction for having
worked with you during these
last four years.
It has been just something to
hear everybody, all your people
speak today, and I'm so glad
they have had the opportunity,
not only to share with you their
experience with you, but also so
that the entire county can hear
how much you have meant to us as
individuals and to the health of
this county and community and to
the betterment of this place
going forward, so thank you so,
so much for your service here
and for being such an incredibly
wonderful colleague. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>>ERIC LUCAN: Thank you very
much, Benita. First and
foremost, please don't teach
anybody else how to retire. You
even do this with such
excellence, you're making it
look so appealing. No, really
congratulate you and thank you
for everything. Just a couple
quick words at the end here.
Thank you for choosing Marin.
With all of your experience,
with everything that you've done
in your career, with all the
letters after your name, you
could have gone anywhere, and
you chose to spend these past
four years here in the County of
Marin. We can't thank you
enough, and boy did we need you
during that time. Thank you for
loving Marin, for living out
your faith each and every day in
serving those and putting others
above yourself.
And lastly, as you're leaving,
you're not just leaving the
county. You're leaving a
legacy, and thank you for
leaving something behind that we
can continue to build off of.
My only regret was that I only
got to spend one year of your
tenure here with you, but I
thank you for everything that
you've left here and wish you
the very best in your
retirement. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: You are leaving a legacy,
Benita. I hope you know that.
And I want to thank you for
prioritizing health and wellness
for all people, and also for
your work in elevating the needs
of Marin City and southern
Marin, and persevering with your
vision of the health and
wellness hub in southern Marin.
And for bringing in the mobile
services and Ida Green in the
meantime in helping out down
there and all of your staff
helping out. That has been so
meaningful for southern Marin.
I want to thank you for the
homeless and the encampments and
the anchor outs on Richardson
Bay. That was a tough
situation, and we were making it
up all the time, as Gary and Ken
have said, and it worked out
very well, and we have set
[indiscernible] that I'm very
proud of.
I want to thank you for your
personal warmth and compassion
and the way you build
relationships with all of us. I
think every one of us in this
room has been touched by you,
and you've made a difference in
our lives. So I just on behalf
of our community and all of us
here, thank you from the bottom
of our hearts for choosing Marin
and for everything you've done
for us. Have a great
retirement.
[ Applause ]
Okay, did you move the
resolution?
>>KATIE RICE: I'd like to move
the resolution commending
Dr. Benita McLarin for her four
years of service here at the
County of Marin and her 43 years
of exemplary service to the
people of the United States of
America.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: All right.
>>MARY SACKETT: Second.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay. A motion and a
second. All in favor?
Aye.
That motion carries. Thank you,
Benita.
[ Applause ]
Benita, if you and Matthew would
join us for a photo up front
here with the board, and Damon,
come join us.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: We are going to reconvene
now as the Board of Supervisors.
We're going to have public open
time, and I am going to read our
admonishment to the community
about open time.
The Marin County Board of
Supervisors encourages the
respectful dialogue that
supports freedom of speech and
values diversity of opinion.
The board, staff and members of
the public are expected to be
civil and courteous and to
refrain from questioning the
character or motives of others.
The county requests that
speakers not use threatening,
profane or abusive language
which disrupts, disturbs or
otherwise impedes the orderly
conduct of the board meeting.
Members of the public may
comment on any item on the
agenda during the board
consideration of the item, and I
will invite public comment
following the staff presentation
on each item, generally giving
two minutes, unless we have a
large crowd.
I also want to take a moment to
observe the expressions that we
just heard about Marin County
and what we value, which is
coming together rather than
divisiveness, and that is the
hallmark of Marin County, is to
come together to solve the
issues that are before us here
in the county. So with that,
I'm going to open now to public
open time, and I'm going to ask
people to line up in the
chambers, please, so I can see
how many are here that wish to
speak. If you wish to speak
online, please raise your hand
now. We will have 45 minutes
this morning for public comment,
and anyone who doesn't have the
opportunity to speak can speak
at the end of today's business
meeting.
I will do what I did last week,
which was to invite five
speakers in the chambers and
then we'll go five speakers
online, so -- and I'm going to
look at how many speakers we
have. I'm seeing . . .
Matthew, are you able to get a
count for how many we have in
the chambers, speakers?
Okay, yeah, okay, I'm going to
ask everyone, because if
we're -- I'd like to hear
everyone this morning, and so
I'm going to -- in order to do
that within 45 minutes, I'm
going to ask everyone to just
make your comments brief, one
minute, please. Please give
your name and make your comment,
and we'll, again, take five
speakers in the chamber, then
we'll go online, come back to
the chamber.
So please, if you'd like to
start.
>>SPEAKER: Hello. My name is
Ava. I grew up on a boat in
Richardson Bay and I'm a student
at College of Marin, and I'm
here to ask you to please put
forth a resolution for a
ceasefire and to please pass a
resolution and follow suit
Oakland and Richmond have
already passed ceasefire
resolutions, and I really
shouldn't have to say stop
bombing children, and that
shouldn't be a controversial
opinion. The government should
stop bombing children, and you
know, there are several
genocides going on in the world,
and I think we need to recognize
that we are the benefactors of
the systems that allow for us to
be so privileged at the expense
of millions of other people
around the world who literally
die so we can have strawberries
year round, even when they are
not in season.
We have surpassed the numbers of
the original 1948 nakba where
Palestinians were murdered and
displaced, and there has been an
ongoing genocide, much like the
genocide that happened here in
America at the Native
Americans --
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. Thank you so
much. Next speaker, please.
>>SPEAKER: Hi, my name is Tyler.
I go to Terra Linda. I'm urging
the Marin County Board of
Supervisors to propose and pass
a ceasefire resolution. How
many people is it gonna take to
come and demand a ceasefire
resolution for you to do it?
400 signatures on the petition
online. How many people, dozens
of people have come and made
public comment, and no action
has been taken. The Gaza health
system, all the hospitals are in
disrepair. It's -- the doctors
there said the medical system
has collapsed. There's a large
breakout of hepatitis A across
Gaza, and the UNRWA says that
this will only grow in number
and severity if there is not an
immediate permanent ceasefire
for the entirety of Gaza. Our
government funds this genocide
and killing and bombing of
civilians. Israel's bombed
schools, UN workers, children,
hospitals. They are shooting
people who tried to leave a
hospital to get dead people.
They are piling bodies in the
hospital --
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. We're at
time. Next speaker, please.
>>SPEAKER: When will you call
for a ceasefire?
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Next speaker, please.
>>SPEAKER: Hi. Roger Stohl, San
Rafael, speaking for a
unilateral permanent ceasefire
resolution. I'm going to talk
about a particular issue. Yom
Kippur happened to come before
Israel stepped up killing of
Palestinians, but when I was in
synagogue chanting and fasting
this year, a thought crossed my
mind, any synagogue's
congregation might be targeted
by someone who linked Jewish
identity to Israel and was
outraged by Israel's treatment
of Palestinians. They might
know of the British Israeli and
American project to rid historic
Palestine of its Indigenous
people in a protracted and now
rapid ethnic cleansing and
genocide. It's hard to blame
any gentile for this confusion.
Zionism has been a tenet of
every Jewish institution I've
grown up with, including
synagogues, religious schools
and summer camps, so there is
some logic in Israel's policies
conflating anti-Zionism with
anti-Semitism, but because of
their insistence on identifying
Judaism with Zionism, as do the
mainstream Jewish institutions,
they have amplified the risks
from anti-Semitism, and you
should not listen to them.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you, we're at time.
>>SPEAKER: You should not listen
to them.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you.
>>SPEAKER: Hello. My name is
Janine Herron. I'm 87 years
old, and I started my teaching
career in Ramallah at a Quaker
friends school in Ramallah.
We protested against the Vietnam
War because we felt America was
doing immoral and illegal things
against another nation. After
9/11, we rushed into action with
improper information, and we
should have learned a lesson
from that. Right now America is
supporting an incredibly
horrible war against the
Palestinians. We were not
anti-American when we protested
the Vietnam War. We loved
America, and we are not
anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic
now.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: We're at time, thank you.
>>SPEAKER: When we protest the
horrible and illegal and immoral
actions of Israel.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. We're at
time.
>>SPEAKER: Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, we're going to go
online.
>>MODERATOR: The first speaker
is Laurie Dubin. Please unmute.
Laurie, I think you lowered your
hand. The next speaker is
Rodrigo Izquierdo. Please
unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Hi. I'd like to talk
about the United Nations. The
United Nations, they have a
Human Rights Commission, and
it's pretty much ignored by
countries who have -- who
violate it. Okay, so that's
just what you expect from
countries like that that have no
democracy, so the question is:
Why is it that we have a Human
Rights Commission here in Marin
supposedly a very outstanding
county, but your commissioners,
they don't go by the Brown Act.
They don't go by their own
bylaws. They don't go by the
Robert's Rules of Order, and
they actually attack
journalists. They want to --
they don't want any kind of
participation, so in a way, why
don't you start doing something
about the Human Rights
Commission in your own backyard.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Lesley Savelli. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: I'm going to read
really quickly because I need
the whole minute.
As an Armenian Jew that is a
direct descendant of genocide on
both sides, the lack of a stance
is beyond offensive. The lack
of outcry is what has allowed
and contributed to every past
genocide in history. As I said
after the last board meeting to
Ms. Sackett, the woman who
attacked people for and said
their children should be raped
and murdered, that should have
been a hate crime, and if that
had been said to Jewish people,
that would have been a hate
crime. If this were happening
to the Jewish community, that
would -- there would be a
stance. Just as Huffman
immediately came out and on
Facebook spoke after 10/7. You
don't have the ability for a
ceasefire, but you do have the
ability to serve your public and
take a stance against a clear
genocide.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Musa Tariq. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Hi. Before I start
I'd like to commend Health and
Human Services director Benita
McLarin on her retirement and
service. My name is Musa. I'm
speaking on behalf of the
council on Islamic America
relations. We propose and pass
a ceasefire resolution and call
for a hostilities following suit
with Richmond and Oakland.
20,000 Palestinians have been
killed by Israel, nearly half of
them being children. The
average age of those killed is 5
years old and 99% of the
casualties have been innocent
civilians and Israel is using
dehumanizing language to justify
this genocide by using phrases
such as human animals and
children of the darkness, and
that language has repercussions
here at home. Many Muslims in
the Bay Area -- death threats
and more, and by now we have all
heard about the 6-year-old
Palestinian boy in Chicago who
was fatally stabbed 26 times,
and the language our electives
use matters. This is horrifying
and won't end there. We need to
consider Palestinian people as
human beings with hopes and
dreams, so we urge you to stay
on the right side of history and
support a ceasefire resolution
in the city of Marin. Thank you
so much.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Clayton Smith. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Notwithstanding the
cause and motivations, all
actions have consequences,
actions and reactions to events
are often judged on the basis of
their proportionality, being a
question of scale. They are
also judged on the basis of the
appropriateness of their focus.
Self-destruction is the means to
the downfall not just of
individuals but of nations as
well. That is why we have the
admonitions against vengeance
and vindictive hotheadedness.
In the Torah is the statement:
The sins of the father will be
visited on to the third
generation, so here we are.
It's time to remind ourselves
that we are not helpless in our
choices. Had the events of
October 7 been treated properly
as a crime scene, the
opportunity for a measured
response would have been
possible. This was not the
case.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Guila Rice. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Good morning and
thank you. Calls for a
ceasefire here in Marin, the Bay
Area, or across the country will
not end what is happening in the
Middle East. What it will do,
and does, is flame the fire of
anti-Semitism. Jew hatred here
in Marin, the Bay Area and
across the country. This is not
a fight against the people of
Gaza or the Palestinians but a
fight against Hamas, which is
not just -- which not just
Israel but Australia, Canada,
Japan, Paraguay, New Zealand,
the U.K., the United States and
the European Union have all
designated as a terrorist
organization. This conflict,
this war could and would end
today if Hamas only did one
thing, hand over all of the
kidnapped victims, men, women,
children, babies, and sadly hand
over any bodies of murdered
victims. The loss of life in
the region is tragic and
heartbreaking, but let us not
forget one basic thing, that the
death, the suffering and war is
the root of Hamas. They are
evil and they are the ones that
need to be end, and they must be
eliminated. Thank you to the
board for this time.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: We're going to go back
into the chambers now for the
next five speakers. Go ahead
and introduce yourself.
>>SPEAKER: Hi, my name is Arian
Schneider Stalking. I have been
horrified by what has been
happening in Gaza, in Ramallah,
in Palestine. We know that more
than 17,400 Gazans have been
killed, 1.8 million Gazans have
been displaced, tens of
thousands are at risk of
imminent death. Gutierrez
warned Gaza is becoming a
graveyard for children. Israel
pushed the population from
northern Gaza to the south, then
invaded the south. Israeli
authorities told Gazans to flee
for their lives to zones within
the south, and then bombed these
places to which the Gazans had
been directed. I am absolutely
opposed to these actions that
are supported by the United
States with our military aid
that we give every second to
Israel. I want my county and my
county representatives to
support an immediate permanent
ceasefire in Gaza now.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. We're at
time. Next speaker, please.
>>SPEAKER: Over 17,000 dead, a
Palestinian child is killed
every 10 minutes, a thousand
limbs lost on the children who
survive. Operations without
anaesthesia, no food, no water,
no sanitation. People who
survive the bombings are dying
disease and infection,
starvation, exposure to the
elements. White phosphorus. A
ceasefire is an immediate need
to save anybody that we can that
is left alive, as well as an
immediate stop to the millions
of dollars Marin County sends to
Israel. Palestinians-Americans
in Marin deserve to feel safe,
not know their neighbors chose
to fund the murder of their
relatives. Last few weeks of
watching a genocide in real time
has changed us. We will not
forget, we will not stop
demanding justice, and we will
remember everybody that led to
us as a county being complicit
in this genocide and all of
these deaths. It is entirely
preventable and we can be a part
of the change. We are giving
money to the bombing of these
children, these innocent
families. We would never
conflate terrorist groups with
civilians here if they bombed
the hospital with my families.
That would never be accepted.
Never.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. We're at
time. Next speaker, please.
>>SPEAKER: Good morning. My
name is Cecelia Avilar and I'm
speaking to you as an educator
here in Marin County. I also
want to commend the board for
recognizing Dr. Benita this
morning. I think we all
spoke -- or many people spoke
about how she led with heart and
equity, and I'm turning that now
on to you, Board of Supervisors,
to also lead with heart and with
equity. UNICEF recently called
Gaza the most dangerous place to
be a child, and our tax dollars
directly fund that danger for
children. So the global is
local, so I'm calling on you to
adopt a ceasefire resolution.
Those tax dollars could instead
fund the lives of children here,
the Health and Human Services
departments here in Marin
County, and instead that money
could be used to fund life and
not destruction halfway across
the world, so lead with equity,
lead with heart, and call for an
immediate and permanent
ceasefire resolution here in
Marin County. Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay. Thank you. Next
speaker, please.
>>SPEAKER: Hi, my name is Chin.
I was born and raised in China,
but I grew up in Marin, and I
urge the board to please adopt a
permanent ceasefire resolution.
I would like to bring specific
attention to the statistical
disproportion of deaths in
regards to the Palestinians.
70% are women, elderly and
children, 50% of which are
children. This is the most
documented crime against
humanity and yet we are failing
them by not doing enough. And
you cannot call this a war
because they don't have an army,
and they -- if you compare it to
Ukraine, Iraq and the Syrian
war, the casualties in children
do not compare. 500 children
have died in 21 months in
Ukraine, 3,000 died in 14 years
in Iraq, 7,000 children died in
seven weeks in Gaza.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. We're at
time. Thank you.
Okay, one more speaker here and
then we'll go online.
>>SPEAKER: Hi, Eric, Katie,
Stephanie, Dennis, hey, Mary.
My name's Miche. I'm a first
generation Jewish American. My
family came here from Ukraine
because of the rampant
anti-Semitism that exists in
Ukraine. I'm grieving with and
more Palestine. In just six
weeks Israel was able to drop
over 22,000 U.S.-provided bombs
on Gaza. That is the equivalent
of two nuclear bombs. And the
U.S. dollars we are funding
this. It is a genocide, an
ethnic cleansing, and collective
Jewish trauma is being used to
enable this. Biden has already
given Israel $14 billion, and
he's working with Congress to
give them another $106 billion,
but the U.S. has only given $100
million to the them in aid this
year. As of October 7, over
17,000 Gazans have been killed
by Israel, 25,000 are children.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. We're at
time. Thank you. We'll go
online now. Thanks.
>>MODERATOR: The first speaker
is Isa P. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: I'm just here to say
that it is urgent that the
council adopt an put forth a
resolution for ceasefire now.
Biden was quoted as saying if
Israel did not exist the U.S.
would have to invent one in
order to keep our interests in
the region current, and I think
that is the only statement we
need to listen to. Zionism is
fascism. Zionism is an
extension of the U.S.'s
interests in the region, and
what we need now is for the U.S.
to end its accomplice. It's
just support of what is just a
genocide. One child every ten
minutes, unimaginable suffering.
The only nation to vote against
ceasefire is the U.S., and this
is not a controversial opinion.
Polls are saying that the
majority of Americans support a
ceasefire in order to stop
anti-Arab hate at home, it's
important that our county stand
true to its values and support
ceasefire abroad. It's time for
you to take a stand, use your
power, don't let the Zionist
lobby buy your vote. This is
not controversy. This is
popular opinion. Vote for
ceasefire now.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Cev he/him. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Hi, I'm a lifelong
resident. I live and work in
Terra Linda. I am hear to speak
today to ask you to use the
platform that you have been
given to, as was said before,
lead with your heart and listen
to your constituents who are all
asking for you to use your
platform to call for a
ceasefire. Call for
non-military aid. Whatever is
in your power, which you do
have. This is relevant to our
county. Our tax dollars fund
this, and disproportionately
Marin is extremely wealthy, much
of our money, particularly from
this area, is going to fund
this. It's not a war. It is an
assault, a crime against
humanity. Please use your
platform to call for a ceasefire
now. Thank you.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Rebekah Collins. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: I want to say thank
you to the Board of Supervisors.
Children need clean water. They
need good food. They need the
warm arms of a mother and
father, a safe place to learn to
crawl, to talk, to walk, to run,
to hop, to skip, to climb a
tree, to follow a butterfly, to
listen to birds, to watch
clouds, to hold a sister's hand,
to eat ice cream, to make a
castle, to splash in waves.
This is not just a nice thing
for children to do. This is how
a child's brain properly
develops. Without these types
of activities, without feeling
safe, the frontal lobes of the
child's brain cannot develop
properly. They are left with
lifelong trauma. The children
of Gaza need all the adults who
are witnessing them to come
together and make a permanent
ceasefire happen. Thank you.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Elias. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Hi. I am a
Palestinian-Israeli citizen and
resident of Marin County for 30
years. I support a permanent
ceasefire resolution by the
Marin County Board of
Supervisors. I would like to
bring the Marin County
supervisors' attention to the
fact that Palestinians living in
Marin County live under a
climate of fear that is fueled
by the U.S.'s funding of Israeli
war crimes. We have hundreds,
maybe thousands, of Palestinians
here living in Marin County,
many of whom are afraid to be
here speaking right now. I
myself am risking my
citizenship, my ability to go to
my home country, by speaking
right now. People don't
understand this. Palestinians
living in Marin County have been
living in fear for decades, and
you need to make a ceasefire
resolution right now.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Christina Amoroso. Please
unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Hi, I'm a nurse at
UCSF medical center and I live
in Bolinas. I've grown up in
Marin, and I also strongly
support the Board of Supervisors
passing a resolution for
ceasefire. Anything that we can
do to stop the senseless killing
of people that cannot defend
themselves and did nothing,
nothing, and 60% of the
aggregate 18,000 people who have
been killed in Palestine are
women and children, children who
have died most likely painfully.
All of these people bombs
falling, shredding them apart,
are dying painfully, and we are
doing nothing but providing
Israel with the warheads and
funding them to do this. It is
shocking that I cannot believe
that the U.S. voted against that
and Marin County please pass a
measure, anything, any voices
that we can add for a ceasefire
is something that we can do. We
have a little bit of power.
Please, Board of Supervisors,
please do this.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: We're at time. We're at
time.
Okay, we're coming back into the
chambers now for the next five
speakers.
>>SPEAKER: Hello. I've lived in
San Rafael most of my life, and
I echo the sentiment of those in
front of me, in the line, and
behind me as well, that I would
ask the Board of Supervisors to
propose and pass an immediate
and permanent ceasefire
agreement. The atrocities there
cannot be overstated, and I
refuse to let my tax dollars and
my county to be a part of the
people that are helping to fund
it and are standing by the
wayside as it happens. I have
heard it said that how we are
acting now is how we would be
acting in the holocaust, and I
refuse to be a bystander. Thank
you so much.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Next speaker, please.
>>SPEAKER: Hi, my name is Presh.
I was born and raised in Marin
County. In fact, I went to high
school just down the street. I
would ask the board to pass a
permanent ceasefire resolution.
There are atrocities being
committed in Palestine that have
only been echoed by genocides in
the past. Many of the people
killed are civilians. In fact,
the majority are civilians.
Sorry, I'm bad at public
speaking.
In fact, in doctors, from
Doctors Without Borders have
been killed, many journalists
have been killed. Many, many,
many, many non-combatants have
been killed in this genocide,
and I think you should use your
power to pass a resolution to
put a stop to this. Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. Next speaker,
please.
>>SPEAKER: Thank you. I'm Eva
Chrysanthe, and I write a lot
about what local media doesn't
report in this county, and so I
recently have been writing a lot
about the Marin County response
to the crisis, the ongoing
crisis.
You can read more details about
that at
MarinCountyconfidential.substack
.com. It's a totally free
service. I do want to point out
that yesterday the "Washington
Post" reported that white
phosphorus, the white phosphorus
used on civilians by the Israeli
military was proved to have come
from the United States. As I
always do, I beg the Board of
Supervisors to consider and pass
a ceasefire resolution because
it protects us. We are at
serious risk of blowback, both
blowback in terms of physical
threat, but also economic
threat.
Economic retaliation, potential
boycotts that the U.S. could
withstand for its incredibly
bizarre ongoing funding of this
genocide. Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay.
>>SPEAKER: Hello. My name is
Laura and I'm a resident in
District 2. Today I'm here to
urge you to pass a ceasefire
resolution, and I hope that
you've heard all of the
statistics and things that
people have been bringing to you
today. Today I'd like to read
you some words from people in
Gaza.
I pray that they can look at us
as humans, not just political
situations and political
conflicts. We're humans. 2
million people trapped with
nowhere to go. We should be
more valuable to the world than
this. We have lives. We should
be able to live our lives. This
is a poem by someone who died
recently in Gaza. If I die, you
must live to tell my story, to
sell my things, to buy a piece
of cloth and some strings. Make
it white with a long tail. I
won't be able to finish the
poem, but I hope you look it up
because it's very powerful and
please pass a ceasefire
resolution.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. Okay, one
more speaker and then we'll go
online.
>>SPEAKER: Thank you. Good
morning, Board of Supervisors.
My name is Joe McGarry and I
live in Fairfax, and I'm an
organizer with Ceasefire Now
Marin. We will be re-submitting
the petition we sent you last
week later this week as there
are now close to 500 signatures
of people in Marin calling for
you to adopt a permanent
ceasefire resolution.
Today or yesterday there were
reports that came out that
25,000 children in Gaza have
been orphaned. 20,000
Palestinians have been
slaughtered, 10,000 will soon
hit -- about 10,000 of those
being children. Nine out of ten
people in Gaza don't eat every
day. How much more punishment
of civilians is enough? I ask
you to put Marin County on the
right side of history, and I
urge you to bring forward and
adopt a ceasefire resolution.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay. We're going to go
online now. We have four
speakers remaining.
>>MODERATOR: The first speaker
is Laurie Dubin. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Good morning. I'm
Laurie Dubin, and I've lived in
Larkspur for 25 years. We have
raised three children here and
our family is hoping that this
board will not consider a
resolution on the Middle East.
We have mourned too many deaths
since October 7. It's been a
devastating period for our
Jewish community, and we've also
been heartbroken over the
devastation of Gaza and the
deaths of Palestinians. But as
gold to my ear, Israel's former
Prime Minister said in 1969,
when peace comes, we will
perhaps in time be able to
forgive the Arabs for killing
our children, but it will be
harder for us to forgive them
for forcing us to kill theirs.
Over 50 years later, Israel is
again being forced to defend
itself against jihadist groups
who use their own people as
human shields and block their
citizens from leaving when
Israel gives them advance
warning.
Repeating falsehoods of
genocide, apartheid and ethnic
cleansing over and over again
does not make them true. Thank
you.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Maggie. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Good morning. I am
Maggie Daws. I am a former San
Rafael city schools public
teacher, and in the spirit of
coming together rather than
living in divisiveness, I want
to please, please, please, for
the children who are being
murdered and slaughtered and
disfigured, ask the Board of
Supervisors to pass -- well,
propose and pass a permanent
resolution. You know, an eye
for an eye makes us all blind.
That's what Gandhi said, and I
hear that many of our Jewish
friends are very, very afraid
right now, but I think they need
to examine their faith. Thank
you very much.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Susan Hopp. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Yes, good morning,
supervisors. Yes, these
statistics are just so shocking.
Over 20,000 civilians
slaughtered, 87 journalists
killed, records set for the
number of hospitals bombed and
destroyed, the number of aid
workers killed, and then the
disease that is rampant.
This is not the time to be
timid, nor to allow or tolerate
what Hannah Errant termed the
banality of evil. We in Marin
County can at the very least not
look away from this evil, insane
slaughter perpetrated and
enabled by our country. We can
state our horror through calling
for a ceasefire now. Thank you.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Nathan Durwood. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Hello, my name is
Nathan Durwood, long-time
resident of Marin. Marin's long
taught its children in schools,
particularly its large -- given
its large Jewish population, the
horrors of the holocaust, and
right now in Gaza,
indiscriminate and deliberate
slaughter of Gaza children --
>>MODERATOR: Mr. Durwood, we
lost your audio.
>>SPEAKER: Can you hear me?
>>MODERATOR: We can hear you
now.
>>SPEAKER: Okay. I'm saying
that the -- yeah, we have long
professed the horrors of the
holocaust and have taught our
children to find it horrifying
and to act against it, and I
think in order to prove whether
or not those statements were
hollow, were true, we have to
consistently apply those values
to now where genocide is
occurring on the largest open
air prison on the planet, and if
we wish to walk the walk, the
bare minimum we can do, being
the country that's supplying
almost all of Israel's weapons,
is to pass a ceasefire
resolution. Thank you.
>>MODERATOR: President
Moulton-Peters, there are no
additional speakers in the
queue.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, we're going to can
come back to the chambers for
the last two speakers. Three.
>>SPEAKER: Hello, my name is Pat
Murphy from Terra Linda. Thanks
for having me today. I'm here
today, supervisors, to plead to
you to pass a permanent
ceasefire resolution. Over
15,000 Palestinians have died
since October 7, many are women
or children, and as Joe said,
25,000 Palestinian children are
orphans now as a result of the
mass indiscriminate bombing
campaign by Israel.
The Palestinian people not only
have Israel's constant bombing
threatening their lives each and
every day, but now starvation,
dehydration, lack of shelter,
lack of proper sanitation, and
dead bodies rotting in the
rubble all leading to disease
and death. With the bombing of
so many hospitals and the lack
of medical aid and basic
necessities being allowed in
Gaza, so many more Palestinian
lives will die.
There are no easy solutions to
this long-standing conflict
between Palestine and Israel,
and that's not for us to figure
out.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. We're at
time.
>>SPEAKER: Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Mm-hm. Next speaker,
please.
>>SPEAKER: Hi. My name is
Nicole, and I'm a
Palestinian-American living in
Novato. And when I saw the
photos yesterday of men being
kidnapped, stripped of their
clothes, blindfolded and bound
and paraded around, it reminded
me of when they did this to my
own great-grandfather in a town
called Ramallah, which is now
part of Tel Aviv, but to be more
recent, there's a short story I
want to share of something that
happened only yesterday.
The IDF committed a military
raid of a UN school where
thousands were displaced. A
child was shot by the IDF,
filmed briefly as getting help,
and then when the cameras were
turned off, forced to bleed out
as people watched. They then
kidnapped dozens of Palestinian
civilians for use as human
shields, something the U.S.A.
and Israel falsely accuses
Palestinians of doing. There
was a story of a child as young
as 15 being forced to wear an
explosive vest and enter tunnels
before the IDF. That all
happened yesterday. Each day
things like this happen, and we
need to call for a ceasefire
today, showing we don't support
that.
>>SPEAKER: Hello, my name's ace
Dillon. I live in forest
knolls. I spoke here about the
colonial roots of Israel as a
state, creating a majority
Jewish democratic state in a
major Arab country has always
been the fundamental
contradiction to Zionism. So in
1948, the UN, which is what
Israel claims its legitimacy
from, partitioned historic
Palestine. The partition never
went into effect. The Israel
took 78% of the land, killed
15,000 Palestinians, and
displaced half the population,
750,000 Palestinians. That
historic crime has never been
addressed, so it's continued for
75 years, and Israel is an
apartheid state. We need a
one-state solution in Palestine,
and to start that we need an
immediate ceasefire. Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, with that I'm going
to close public open time.
Thanks, everyone, for remaining
civil. We're going to take a
two-minute break to let people
leave the chambers before we
finish -- continue on with our
business. Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, everyone, I'm going
to call our meeting back to
order now, and we are on agenda
Item No. 3. This is Board of
Supervisors matters and
informational updates, as well
as the county administrator's
report. So Supervisor Rodoni,
would you like to start?
>>DENNIS RODONI: Yeah, thank
you. Good morning, everyone.
Just a couple small
announcements. I've been to a
couple toy giveaway events, and
I just wanted to mention them,
and one is coming up Saturday.
The Center for Independent
Living in matrix, their company
in Sonoma County had a nice
event on Saturday, December 2,
and I was able to attend that
with my grandson, including
Santa and the horse-drawn
carriage, so it was kind of a
fun event.
And then parent voices last
Saturday had a Christmas present
giveaway for 35 families at the
parking lot of the center for
domestic peace, and Santa was
there with the San Rafael fire
department, and the event was
supported by San Rafael Santa
cops. I want to thank hem.
Next Saturday the voices of the
Canal will have an annual
present giveaway in the Canal.
They are still looking for
donations if anyone is thinking
of someone to donate to. They
would welcome those.
And then I want to adjourn in
memory of Jane Garfield
Livingston who passed away at
her home in Corte Madera at the
age of 93. She was active in
the prison educating inmates.
She left a message on the fridge
for her family, and it said: Who
will take care of the world when
I'm gone? So quite a question
she left us all, so thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Supervisor Sackett?
>>MARY SACKETT: Yeah, just
quickly I want to second
Supervisor Rodoni's plug for the
Canal event. It's always a
really neat event and
opportunity to engage with the
community with gifts. I had the
opportunity to spend Saturday
with Homeward Bound unpackaging
and matching up clothes for
folks in all of our shelters,
and it was really nice
opportunity with seven or eight
of us to just share our
gratitude and be thankful and
share a little joy. Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Supervisor Rice?
>>KATIE RICE: Nothing.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, Supervisor Lucan?
>>ERIC LUCAN: Just real quick,
last Wednesday along with
Supervisor Sackett, we got to
celebrate with the Marin Foster
Care Association on the ribbon
cutting of their new ten-unit
building in Novato that they are
going to be making available for
aging out foster youth. It was
a project supported through our
housing trust fund here at the
county, community foundation,
the city of Novato. It was a
wonderful ribbon cutting. We
got to tour one of the units
that has recently been furnished
by make it home, another great
local non-profit, an great to
see these units coming online to
support the aging out foster
youth.
Secondly I would like to request
that we adjourn in memory of
Nick Zoli. Nick unexpectedly
passed away after recently
retiring from the Novato police
department as a police corporal.
He spent 16 years as an officer,
a corporal, a field training
officer, a peer support team
member and a mental health
liaison. In 2019 he received
the medal of merit award after
talking to suicidal individual
off an overpass in Novato, and
our hearts go out to the family
and those around Nick on his
unexpected passing.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay. Nothing from me
today. We'll go to our county
administrator.
>>MATTHEW H. HYMEL: Good
morning, supervisors. Just
briefly I wanted to point a few
amendments to our agenda. Three
items are going to be removed in
the housing authority. It's the
closed session item 13a, as well
as 13g, and then on your Consent
Calendar A, the sheriff has
requested we remove item CA-12.
I also wanted to point out that
we have updated three items on
our agenda, and they include
item 12e, consent item CA-7e,
and item 10d. And that's my
report.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay. Matthew, would you
remind, going over those changes
to the agenda again?
>>MATTHEW H. HYMEL: Sure. We're
removing two items from the
afternoon session of the housing
authority. The first one is
13a, and then the second one is
13g.
And then on Consent Calendar A
we're removing item CA-12. So
those are the complete removals
from the agenda.
And then I was just pointing out
that we have updated some
existing items, which include
12e, CA-7e and 10d, and those
are all posted online and
updated online. I just wanted
to point it out for folks.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, very good. Thank
you. We'll open to public
comment now.
>>SPEAKER: That you received an
email from me last week
regarding Curtis Aiken's role
within the county as an
appointee both on the sheriff
civilian's oversight working
group. He's also been serving
on the HRC. I want to correct
some of the information.
Curtis Aikens did not disclose
that his son is a law
enforcement officer. He did not
disclose that until June of this
year. He had been appointed to
multiple boards and commissions
in that capacity. He defended
law enforcement. He defended it
against questions about what was
happening, especially in the
county with regard to the county
jail. I do want to correct
something I wrote. I said that
Curtis Aikens' son, I correctly
called, had been an officer with
the San Francisco police
department. I was incorrect in
saying that he had moved on to
San Francisco sheriff rather
than Sonoma County sheriff, and
that is a very important
distinction, because it turns
out that Curtis Aikens' son,
while in the employ of Sonoma
County sheriff, was involved in
a very serious use of force
incident, and that was not
disclosed to anyone. What's
unbelievable to me is that no
one on sheriff civilian
oversight, that incredibly
secretive and conflict of
interest laden group, knew about
that, because you also had Heidi
Merchant on that group, and
Heidi was not only a sheriff
deputy, undisclosed to the
public, by the way, not only a
sheriff deputy here in Marin
County and in Sonoma County, but
she is married to the assistant
sheriff of Sonoma County. I
mean, it's . . . you know, that
whole sheriff's civilian
oversight working group was a
disaster. It did nothing but
provide cover for the additional
$3 million to the sheriff, so I
really ask that you review the
entire package and start over.
Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, seeing no more
speakers in the chambers, we'll
go online. I see one hand.
>>MODERATOR: The first speaker
is Rodrigo Izquierdo. Please
unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Hi. I want to add to
everything that Ms. Chrysanthe
said, and that is the lack of
transparency with the Human
Rights Commission. You have
commissioners who basically
don't participate in any
community events. You have a
nun who doesn't go to any place.
You have a resident from Marin
City who doesn't want to be
chair of the commission because
there's so many absences. You
have a chair of -- the present
chair who is up for -- well,
they are going to elect a new
chair, but right now the last
two months they have not had a
meeting, so in other words,
their performance is horrible.
They hardly have any meetings.
They don't follow their own
bylaws. They don't have their
annual report. They do zero, so
in a way they are not vetted.
You don't vet them. You just
get them in there and they just
stay there forever. And the
less that they do is the better
they are. They don't go to the
Dolores event. They don't pass
a Palestine resolution. You
just don't see them. In other
words, you know, the less you
see of them the better, but you
use them. You use them to
actually rubber stamp any kind
of some kind of program, like
especially with the police
action, like 1187, you have
Heidi Merchant who doesn't do
anything in her own county. She
has a county job in Napa, and
she doesn't do anything. She
doesn't -- they don't have a
Human Rights Commission. They
don't -- she doesn't do anything
in Sonoma where her husband
works, but she's very available
for Marin to tell us what to do.
>>MODERATOR: President
Moulton-Peters, there are no
additional speakers in the
queue.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, thank you. We'll
bring it back and close --
>>DENNIS RODONI: I move Consent
Calendar A less CA-12.
>>ERIC LUCAN: Second.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, very good. Before
we vote on that, I'd like to
pull CA-8, and this is from
human resources. It's a
resolution to recognize the 2023
Marin County employee of the
year class, and so I can go
ahead and read the names on
that? Great. All right, so I
want to acknowledge all the
employees who have received
awards this year for the 2023
employee of the year, and they
include: Dann Walters,
Agricultural Weights and
Measures, Martha Martinez, UC
Cooperative Extension Marin,
Emilee Bozzard, Assessor,
Recorder, County Clerk,
Stephanie Reed, Child Support
Services, Genevieve Hahn Kerr,
Community Development Agency,
Josh Swedberg, County
Administrator's Office, Rachel
Porter, County Counsel, Marleny
Heitz, Cultural Services, Tony
Aquilino, Elections, Bevin
Gardner of finance, Marshall
Briggs, Public Works, Rob
Carson, Public Works, Rosemary
Slote, District Attorney's
office, Pat Terstegge, fire
department, Sarah Githens,
Health and Human Services,
Krista Hopper-Pasillas, Health
and Human Services, Juan
Jiminez, Health and Human
Services, Vicki Nightingale,
Health and Human Services, Tara
Clark, Human Resources, Delvon
Mitchell, Information Services
and Technology, Ann Bertucci,
library, Craig Richardson,
Parks, Karen Brard, Public
Defender and Michael Thompson,
Sheriff's Office.
Congratulations to everyone.
[ Applause ]
And with that, we'll take public
comment on Consent A if there is
any.
Okay, I'm not seeing anybody in
the chambers and I'm not seeing
anybody online. We'll bring it
back. We've had a motion and a
second. All in favor?
Aye.
Okay. Consent B, would somebody
move B if there's no changes?
>>KATIE RICE: I'll move Consent
B.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Is there a second?
>>ERIC LUCAN: Second.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. Is there any
public comment on this item?
>>SPEAKER: I just want to
recognize how little discussion
there was on amongst the
supervisors on this consent CB-4
and CB-12. And I don't know if
those are items that Matthew
pulled, but those are pretty
serious issues. The first was
with a sheriff justice benefits
for funding for housing
incarcerated undocumented
criminal aliens. And then the
other issue is probation, to
increase baseline appropriations
by $1.730 million, and I just --
I think unfortunately we're not
really looking at how much law
enforcement is actually growing.
It's alarming when you see the
breadlines, the lines to get
into the food banks in this
county, that you guys are giving
ever more money to law
enforcement and then you see how
booked up -- I was really
surprised when you did the
probation presentation to see
how probation is actually
addressed. Like you know, a lot
of heavy armor and stuff, it
just seemed odd, so I think, you
know, maybe what needs to go on
the agenda for next year is a
serious discussion about the
proportion of money that is
going into additional law
enforcement services over time,
benefits, yadda yadda, versus
actually getting food on the
tables of the poor in this
county, because those lines are
severe, and I know Katie was
concerned in that private
meeting about people not getting
benefits, and that's got to be a
priority as winter's coming.
Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, we'll close public
comment in the chambers. I'm
not seeing anyone online, so
we'll bring it back now for a
vote. Did we do a motion and
second? Sorry, folks.
>>KATIE RICE: I moved it and
Eric seconded it.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, all in favor?
Aye.
Thank you. That passes and
we'll go on to our next agenda
item. Okay, Binford Road.
>>DAN EILERMAN: Good morning,
board members, Dan Eilerman,
assistant county executive, and
while some colleagues are
joining me here, I wanted to
note for Al that we have a
presentation, if he could load
that. Sitting to my left we
have Gary Naja-Riese, director
of whole person care and
homelessness with Health and
Human Services, and to my right
is deputy Michael Thompson with
the Marin County's sheriff's
office, and behind him is Greg
Pirie who is the deputy EHS
director in community
development.
And so, Al, if you're able,
thank you, for bringing up the
PowerPoint. I'm going to start
off and we'll have some
opportunity for questions at the
end. But next slide, please,
Al.
You'll recall that we provided
an initial update to your board
on August 22. It's about 101
days, actually, from today.
Actually from December 1 when
our metrics really stopped.
We promised at that time to
provide an update to your board
every three to six months with
an initial goal to facilitate
and to accelerate intermediate
term options while making
visible short-term progress.
This is largely funded with a
$1.6 million state Encampment
Resolution Fund grant that the
county received, which requires
us to resolve the camp within a
period of three years, but we
are accelerating that effort as
best as we can.
What you see there are some
general guidelines that we have
been operating with for these
past 100 or so days. What we
want to do is to identify safe
permanent housing destinations
for all individuals, no
relocation of occupants in need
to other jurisdictions, we want
to protect the sensitive habitat
of the Rush Creek reserve and
slough, and we also want to
continue with enforcement
compliant with all legal and
regulatory requirements. Next
slide, please.
And our goals, as we outlined in
August, were to achieve a 50%
reduction in the population via
housing or through incentives by
August 2025, and 100% by August
of 2026, which represents that
three-year period. And we had
organized our strategies into
three broad and comparing
strategies. One is supportive
services. That's led by Health
and Human Services, enforcement
and regulation, which is a team
effort, probably led most by the
Marin County sheriff's office,
and then environmental
protection, another team effort,
but led principally by the
Community Development Agency,
and particularly environmental
health services staff.
Next slide, please.
This briefly outlines the at
least six departments that have
been coordinating for the past
100 days on this project, of
course Health and Human
Services, the sheriff's office,
Public Works, community
development, the County
Administrator's Office, and
county counsel, of course, and I
think last week we actually had
Marin County fire pitch in for
some additional work, so the
effort is growing. Next slide,
please.
So approximately 100 days later
we do have some achievements to
articulate. There is work to
do, but in those first 100 days,
Health and Human Services
identified all individuals at
the encampment, 69% of them have
been assessed for coordinated
entry. We have launched the ERF
grant that I mentioned. This
supplies additional staffing,
client supports and cleanup. We
have hired a new dedicated
senior social services worker
with a focus on Binford. She
actually just started yesterday.
And then the sheriff's office is
inventoried all vehicles, not
just RVs, and we have
implemented biweekly
recreational pumpouts, as well
as installing additional
portable washrooms or hand
washing stations roughly every
ten RVs.
Again, continuing with some more
accomplishments or progress, we
have established a new 35 miles
an hour speed limit effective
December 28, so Public Works
will be working on installing
the signs. I think the
sheriff's office will probably
start with more of an
educational campaign, but the
effort is to lower the speed for
what is right now a 55 miles per
hour road. We will continue
enforcement to remove
non-occupied vehicles in the
right-of-way considered
abandoned, excess or
non-compliant. Enforcement will
continue to ensure no new
arrivals not in accord with
regulations. That includes new
restrictions such as fencing of
vacated spaces. Either through
incentives for folks who -- or
placing people in safe housing.
And we'll also be talking today
about a couple of new
authorities that we've asked
your board to adopt. One is a
new pilot vehicle buy back
incentives program, and Gary
will walk through that in a
couple of minutes, and by virtue
of adoption of your consent
calendar today, your board
approved a no overnight parking
resolution. We will initially
enforce that on the business
side or the west side of Binford
Road, and we will come back to
your board in coming weeks and
move that on to the west side
or -- yeah, the east side of the
road as well, once we vacate
some more spaces. Next slide,
please.
The population of individuals at
December 1, that's our
point-in-time where we marked
our metrics was 101 individuals.
Some have simply been harder to
reach, and HHS has put in a lot
of effort the last couple of
months to do extended outreach,
on evenings, on weekends. A
number of people work, and so if
you're there at, say, 2 p.m.,
the population is lighter, but
if you're there at 5:30 or 6,
people are coming back from work
and there's more people there,
but we've identified those
people, some of whom were
doubled up or just hard to find
for various reasons, and that's
been reconciled after that
extended outreach.
85% qualify for permanent
supportive housing through
coordinated entry. That's more
than we initially expected, so
that's a larger subset of that
population than we initially
expected. But the good news is
ten have been housed, ten
individuals have been housed
since August. Three through
permanent supportive housing,
five through the CalWORKs rapid
rehousing program, and two
additional via other means.
And we have 19 more folks on a
pathway to housing. That's some
pretty visible progress in just
this first 100 days. Next
slide, please.
Before I turn it over to Gary,
in terms of vehicles, we have
132 vehicles there as of
December 1. That includes
57RVs, but also other types of
vehicles. This includes
everything from RVs to cars,
trucks, vans, motorcycles, even
utility trailers for example.
The sheriff has a good inventory
on what vehicles are there and
have been there, and the
sheriff's office has been able
to remove 18 vehicles,
unoccupied vehicles, including
five RVs, nine vehicles, three
trailers and one sailboat, and
their expectation is they will
be able to remove one additional
unoccupied RV per week until all
that are abandoned or considered
excess are removed. With that
it's a brief introduction. I
want to turn it over to Gary
Naja-Riese, our director of
homelessness and whole person
care at HHS, and he will talk
about the first of the three
strategies I outlined earlier,
which includes now supportive
services. So next slide,
please.
>>SPEAKER: Thank you, so we can
move to the next slide. And
first I just want to start by
saying thank you to the Board of
Supervisors for their leadership
in helping address Binford,
especially Supervisor Lucan, and
thank you to all the other
departments who have come
together. We at Health and
Human Services greatly
appreciate the collaboration and
coordination with our fellow
departments, and it truly has
made a difference at Binford.
Finally I want to thank our team
in the division of homelessness
and whole person care, a number
who are here today, and their
work in financing and grants to
programs and other supports
ensuring that everything that we
can possibly do through our
division is being done, and I
especially want to point out
Barber from our team who has
been serving as our lead point
person at Binford and doing an
incredible job to get everything
from the ERF stood up to all of
these initial successes and the
development and expansion of our
Binford service fair. Enormous
appreciation.
Also to as you see on the slide
our community partners,
specifically through Downtown
Streets who have hired two new
outreach workers and a case
manager under the ERF project
and our continued partnership
with Community Action Marin and
their efforts up there as well,
and welcoming to our division
Andrea O'Malley who is with us
also this morning as our new
Binford point person and staff
member joining to be the
coordination for everything
happening up there at Binford.
As well, through our partners we
have expanded hours of outreach
through there being there
evenings and weekends, and also
finally appreciation to all of
our HHS divisions who stood up
in rapid response effort during
October and November to assure
that we reached 100% of all
residents who live at Binford,
and again, the incredible work
of so many county and community
partners at the weekly -- or
monthly, sorry, Binford service
support fair which provides
essential medical, harm
reduction services, Clean Slate,
food, water, and all of our
social services, and even things
through the Humane Society. So
caring for our residents up
there with their day-to-day
needs. Next slide.
I wanted to especially point out
and thank Department of Public
Works, Community Development
Agency, our community agencies
and division staff who helped
organize cleanup efforts at
Binford. You can see with the
slides some of the distinct
differences that have been made
in how the road looks currently.
Next slide.
And referring back to the
numbers that Dan was talking
about earlier, so the number of
clients who have been assessed
for our coordinated entry
system, we gave you a midpoint
here as well as the current
since the last August update, so
in October we were at about 64
folks assessed, and now we are
up to that 69 number, and
continue to make progress with
that through our community
partners. Next slide.
The number of clients engaged,
this means, you know, do we know
everyone who's up there. Have
we met everyone? So as you can
see, at that midpoint, as of
October 1 there were still about
35 clients for us to meet, and
through that coordinated effort
that happened across HHS
divisions and our community
partners, we're able to reach
all 101 by today. And next
slide.
And then finally, diving in a
little bit to our exits from
Binford and housing successes,
so five individuals have been
housed through a partnership
with our social services
division under a program called
CalWORKs, which focuses on
families. Three through our
permanent supportive housing
system through coordinated
entry. Three individuals have
left Binford on their own which
sometimes happens with
encampments, and two have been
housed in other ways or have
found connections themselves
through family or friends for a
permanent housing destination.
Next slide.
So what we're proposing to your
board today is a new incentive
to continue to help accelerate
transition similar to a model
that was used with the
Richardson Bay regional
authority is a pilot buyback
program. So for eligibility for
that program, individuals will
have to be present on Binford as
of or before October 1 this
year. The highest priority will
be unoccupied vehicles, whether
that be RVs or some other type
of occupied vehicle that a
person is living in at $175 per
linear foot, and part of that
eligibility will be the
individual documenting that they
are exiting to a permanent
housing destination.
This can apply to additional
vehicles that a person owns as
well, but priorities will be on
the vehicle that they are living
in. And again, you know, as we
talked about back in August,
sometimes, you know, when folks
become unhoused and we told a
few of those stories and
circumstances back in August,
sometimes the RV and their
vehicles are the final things,
besides personal possessions,
that they possess. And as they
go back into a permanent housing
destination, being able to
convert some of those
possessions that may not be
needed anymore into supports to
assist them with their housing
and securing that housing
destination can be of great
value.
Second priority, at $50 per
linear foot will be some of
those other vehicles that Dan
talked about, things like maybe
trailers or boats that folks may
have up there as well. Next
slide.
And the second part of our
incentives program, which we
believe we have the eligibility
and authority to already do but
we're going to be using the same
fund for are some temporary
supports really to assist,
again, individuals with anything
they might need in that
transition to a permanent
housing destination.
So again, the eligibility is
that they are present on Binford
as of or before October 1.
Again, you need to have a
permanent housing destination
identified, an exit day, and
this is limited-term assistance.
It can include, you know, for
example vehicle and repair
maintenance, transportation,
et cetera, any small expenses
that might be standing in the
way of a person successfully
transitioning. And that there's
abidance by all the county
vehicle codes and regulations
for all the eligibility program.
And finally, on the next slide,
we propose that this can
administered through a
third-party fiscal agent,
similar to how these programs
have run before to facilitate
the speed of doing this and
really not hold folks up in
this. This really simplifies
the process and expedites the
administration of it. It allows
our department to respond
quickly. There's really a
nominal administrative fee, and
there is a precedent that this
has worked well before in other
circumstances. So back to Dan.
>>DAN EILERMAN: Thank you. Next
slide, please.
So I will move into enforcement
and regulation. First I want to
thank Gary and his team for all
the effort, the stepped up
outreach.
It's really made a difference,
and I also want to thank the
sheriff's office. Deputy Mike
Thompson has just been a hero,
working full-time on that for
the past year, developing a lot
of relationships, and being part
of us making connections with
those folks. So enforcement and
regulation is really a
combination of several
departments. It's the sheriff,
CEA, DPW, county counsel, HHS
and the administrator's office
all working together. As I
mentioned, deputy Thompson is
out there every day full-time,
conducting daily patrols, taking
a weekly census, tagging of
non-operable vehicles and
removing previously tagged
vehicles and other debris. Next
slide, please.
This is a quick chart that
illustrates the 18 vehicles that
were removed that I mentioned
earlier. You can see that nine
of them were cars or trucks,
five were RVs, three were
trailers and there's one
additional vehicle, and the
sheriff anticipates to continue
removing at least one vehicle
per week as we go forward that
is unoccupied and otherwise not
compliant with California
vehicle code or county
regulations. Next slide,
please.
This is a quick chart that shows
some of the trending on
vehicles. So we go back to
about 160 vehicles. Think back
on October 1 when our
enforcement program really
kicked into high gear, and
that's after we did an extensive
amount of work developing
possessions, storage, protocols,
noticing protocols, and came up
with a program that we felt was
sustainable. And so those
vehicles have been reduced to
about 132, and it's been a mix
of, you know, lived-in vehicles
through success or folks
leaving, vehicles that are
considered daily drivers, and
kind of other types of vehicles.
Next slide, please.
To illustrate some of the
success we're talking about,
it's really important one of the
lessons learned from the
Richardson Bay Regional Agency
was ensuring that we don't have
backfill when we do have
success, whether it's through
removing unoccupied vehicles or
finding safe housing for
individuals, but what you see on
the left there is an example of
some of the fencing that is put
up in vacated areas. In behind
that, that concrete bar is
called K rail, and so a
combination of K rail, concrete
bars, in some cases berms. You
can see that a little bit in the
photo to the right. So you see
a couple of vacated spaces there
with fencing that inhibits
anybody from coming to reoccupy
that space, and kind of to the
right of that small truck you
see an example of a berm. So we
are transitioning from kind of
those earthen berms to more the
sustainable fencing given the
coming winter season, but that's
one example of some of our
progress. Next slide, please.
And that's another example of,
you know, more of the fencing in
a different area, so as we
achieve success, that is our
primary goal, to coordinate as a
team and ensure once a vehicle
is removed the fencing is put in
right afterward. Next slide,
please.
So in terms of next steps, your
board today on the consent
calendar, again, under Public
Works, you adopted a new
overnight parking regulation, so
from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. this will
be initially on the business
side of Binford Road, that's to
achieve more turnover and to
ensure parking for the business
employees, and staff plans to
return in coming weeks,
potentially a couple of months,
with some additional measures to
address other community business
environmental concerns as more
spaces are vacated, and those
will probably be focused on the
east side, on the water side.
We want to achieve some more
success, some more vacated
spaces along that east side of
the corridor before we start
putting up the no overnight
parking signs, and again, as we
vacate spaces, putting up more
fencing.
So our principal goal is to
ensure no new arrivals to the
corridor that are not in accord
with county ordinances or state
vehicle code regulations, and we
will continue removing
unoccupied vehicles in the
right-of-way that are considered
abandoned, excess or
non-compliant. So next slide.
So I'm going to transition here
to cover environmental
protection, the third of our
three strategies. Sarah Jones
wanted to be here today. She is
in our department head interview
panel, and so Greg Pirie from
environmental services is with
us here today, but I also want
to commend CDA for really
stepping up, so they are not
only involved with the
environmental preservation
aspect, but they have been
heavily involved in helping us
to set up the protocols around
noticing, personal possessions
storage and protocols,
identifying personal possessions
and methods of retrieving them
when necessary.
So to the left you'll see an
example. That's Gnoss Field
Airport in the back, but an
example of the environment that
we want to make sure we protect.
To the bottom right is a
picture. I believe that's from
May of 2023, an example of what
we're trying to mitigate with a
lot of these efforts that we've
been talked about. So next
slide, please.
We have established pumpout
services for 19 of the 57
recreational vehicles so far.
We want to see that increase.
CDA, environmental health
services, has assessed the RVs
out there. Some RVs are simply
not suitable for the service.
It would be dangerous or create
more damage to do pumpout
services for those RVs. Some
are vacant and others have been
non-responsive to surveys. For
those we are exploring other
enforcement options with
community development and with
county counsel, which could
include, for example,
decommissioning some of those
toilet facilities that are not
working in those RVs. That is a
continuing effort.
We have also installed
additional sanitary stations,
total of 12, one restroom, one
handwashing station roughly
every ten RVs, and as I
mentioned we've been installing
fencing. So next slide, please.
So again, 19 out of 57 RVs being
pumped out thus far. This is a
picture of a contractor doing a
pumpout service for an RV. Next
slide, please.
This is a picture of new
sanitary stations being dropped
in, and you can see kind of in
the middle to the right there,
the handwashing station, so
again roughly one of these every
ten RVs. Next slide, please.
This will be an example -- yeah,
next slide, please. Thank you.
An example of the fencing that
you see along the water. It's
one of the big areas and we're
doing more of this, and one of
the goals is as wind blows
things around trying to inhibit
it from blowing into the water,
and also just otherwise trying
to mitigate any environmental
damage, and so then next steps,
and we're coming up to the end
here.
So environmental protection, we
want to increase pumpout
services wherever feasible. We
are exploring enforcement to
decommission some of those
toilets that are not suitable
for pumpout services. We want
to consider potentially some
supports for basic sanitary
repairs to make some of those
RVs suitable for pumpout
services. We want to enhance
and continue to maintain the
sanitary stations and explore
new restrictions, such as
fencing where spaces are
vacated, either due to
enforcement or placement of
folks into safe housing.
So final slide, please, we do
know there's a lot of work to
do. There has been some visible
progress, and particularly the
last 100 days. Staff are really
coming together. I really want
to thank all the departments who
have been a big part of this
effort. It really has been a
big lift. Everybody's really
committed, though, and there are
additional ideas that we are
thinking of as we go forward,
but at this time we're open to
any questions your board might
have.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you, everyone, for
the report. Are there any
questions?
>>MARY SACKETT: Yeah, I have two
quick questions. Thank you. So
it shows the -- or this report
gives us the vehicle buyback
program, how the owner of the
vehicle is compensated. How are
we funding the actual disposal?
Is that on us or is there
another funding source to -- I
notice that it was like we don't
want to keep these in
circulation, so I'm just
wondering how that is being
funded.
>>DAN EILERMAN: Right, that's a
good point, supervisor. One of
our efforts to ensure just like
with our BRA, the buyback a
vessel it doesn't end up back in
the same place, so anybody who
participates has to sign a legal
binding agreement that they will
otherwise abide by all
California vehicle code and
county ordinances.
And yes, that's probably going
to be the case in most of these
cases where we will pursue
destruction of the vehicle.
That would be an additive cost
to the actual incentive. We
have $100,000 available for the
incentive program, but at the
end of the day it's probably
going to be more cost effective
to have people voluntarily turn
in a vehicle and then, you know,
we will decommission it to
ensure it doesn't return to the
site, or another site.
>>MARY SACKETT: Okay, and then
the Marin link piece I think
makes sense. Do we -- does
county staff retain the
discretion of who gets that
funding? Or is that decision
making, does that also go with
the funds with Marin link?
>>DAN EILERMAN: I'll let Gary
chime in if he wants to add, but
the director of Health and Human
Services has discretion. The
way the policy is written, we
have a preference for
recreational vehicles and for
lived-in vehicles for folks who
have an identified housing
destination, but then the second
priority is a registered
vehicle, that could be a second
or third vehicle, for example,
but the Director of HHS or
designee will have the ability
to evaluate those options. I
think from what we've heard
there is interest in the
program, and so if it's
effective immediately tomorrow
we anticipate getting some
interest relatively early, but
the director will have the
ability to make those
prioritizations and I think will
probably work with a team and
county counsel regarding
individual buyback agreements as
some situations may be different
than others.
>>MARY SACKETT: Thank you.
>>DAN EILERMAN: Mm-hm.
>>DENNIS RODONI: Yeah, thank you
for the update. Really exciting
to see what's happening up there
and improvements. I'm wondering
about the pilot buyback program.
It seemed like such an important
tool. I know this is focused on
Binford, but I'm sure Mike might
like to have this tool in his
tool chest for other places too,
so I hope you take a look at
that or see if there's
opportunity to have that in our
tool box for other uses.
And then on slide 15, the
October 1 date, I know that's
probably something you've
already established, but with
the new information, number one
information, is there any reason
to change [indiscernible].
>>GARY NAJA-RIESE: That is a
great question and I believe
that we have full knowledge of
all 101 individuals who are
there as of October 1, so that
date makes the most sense.
>>DENNIS RODONI: Okay, thank
you.
>>DAN EILERMAN: Yeah, and
supervisor, I think I would add
to that, yeah, the December 1
count we're confident in, the
October 1 count we're confident
in, but I think the reason we
have chosen October 1 is so that
we can ensure that we are
dealing with vehicles that were
there and not in any way
incentivizing any new vehicles
to arrive. The sheriff will
have a solid inventory on those
vehicles to ensure they are
applicable.
>>ERIC LUCAN: I just want to
quickly commend the team and all
the work you're doing at Binford
across all different
departments. This is really
exciting progress that we made
to date. Housing ten
individuals in just the past
month or so, which is I think
what our team normally houses
countywide sort of to do in
addition to that ten from
Binford is really remarkable,
and just the tenor and the
relationship we've had with the
individuals that we're serving
out there is so key to this
work. The individuals we are
serving might not love
everything we're doing out
there, but they don't hate it.
They are not pushing back.
There's a really good
relationship that have been
built, and that's really a
credit to the whole team here on
this.
Just one question with regards
to the pumpout services. It's
great to see 19 of 57 that we've
gotten to. Granted we're never
going to get to 57 of 57 because
of the points that you mentioned
there. What would be some
realistic goals over the next
few months in terms of either
decommissioning additional ones
or getting the ones that are
eligible to pump out to pump
out? Is it going to be slow
moving from here? Maybe just a
goal we can put out for
ourselves.
>>DAN EILERMAN: Sure. I will
see if Greg has anything to add,
but definitely we want to
increase that number of vehicles
being pumped out. In some cases
we expect some of them may move
away via successes and other
ways, but I would like to see us
in the next three months having
a solid plan for if vehicles are
not being cooperative with
attempts to assess the RVs and
capacity for services, I
mentioned some have just been
non-respondent, we need to
figure out how we're going to
deal with those.
One of the efforts to follow up
on going forward is to ensure
the appropriate authority to
actually decommission those
toilets, to make sure that they
are not polluting the
environment, but yeah, Greg may
have some more to add.
>>GREG PIRIE: Yeah, one thing to
add, Supervisor Lucan. One
thing to consider is that we
have different types of RVs out
there. Some have started
pumpout service. Some don't
have water now so you're not
going to have a lot of pumpouts
if they don't have water in the
RVs, and some are going
out-of-county for their
services. We can continue to
identify what RVs are possible
and can use it, and also Dan
mentioned also the RVs that can
be repaired. We can also look
at that too.
Even though we have 57, there
may be only a certain amount
that could actually handle the
service. We're going to be
reviewing that as we go.
>>ERIC LUCAN: Sounds good. I
think that's great. There's the
ones that can't handle the
service. Let's do what we can
to get them to handle the
service, and then I think
individuals just flat out refuse
the service, there are some
approaches that we can take that
might be a little more on the
enforcement side, especially
since we're providing the
service at no cost. I think
that's one where we might maybe
shouldn't be afraid of stepping
up the enforcement to get some
compliance and protect the
natural resources and the
environment in that area. Thank
you.
>>DAN EILERMAN: Mm-hm.
>>KATIE RICE: Yeah, thank you.
Appreciate the report and all
the progress that is being made,
and the creativity also and
these items that you're bringing
today to us to approve.
I just have a question slash
concern around just given the
high number of folks who have
been sort of -- have been
assessed as eligible for
permanent supportive --
qualifying for permanent
supportive housing through our
coordinated entry process, and
as you all well know, that is a
big list including those folks
as well, and so I'm just
thinking about the timeline to
getting these folks on the path
to housing and into housing,
given that they may require --
likely require permanent
supportive housing which is
supplied through the county.
I guess my question is have
there been targets sort of
established for actually
improving the health and
economic status, frankly, in
terms of having folks getting
signed up for whatever support
they may be qualified for,
CalFresh, SDI, what have you,
that they might not be now. I'm
thinking of this coordinated
entry population, because it is
going to be -- it is going to
take some time as this plan maps
out to really move everyone in
to housing or into the situation
that they need, and I'm thinking
that there's an opportunity to
actually really improve the
overall financial and medical
and physical and mental health
of some of the individuals that
are there.
So I'm just curious as to sort
of targets towards improving
people's status as things go
along over time and, frankly, is
there even an opportunity to --
for some folks conditions
economically and otherwise to
improve enough so that maybe
they won't need full-on
permanent supportive housing
over time. Long-winded
question, but I think you . . .
get where I'm getting at.
>>GARY NAJA-RIESE: Thank you,
supervisor, for the question,
and you know, although we use
what folks are familiar with,
the housing first model in our
county, I think the caveat we
give to that all the time is
that does not mean housing only.
All that model means is that
there are just no conditions on
someone before they are able to
get successfully connected to
housing. But I think what we
often leave out of that equation
and conversation is the
tremendous amount of work that
outreach workers and case
managers do on a daily basis
with folks across our county and
specifically the ones that are
dedicated to Binford.
So those outreach workers, those
case managers are working daily
with folks on their medical and
behavioral health needs, on
ensuring they get transportation
to critical appointments,
helping them locate
documentation that they may have
lost that they need in the
paperwork process for things
like section 8, helping them to
get ready for those
applications, connecting them
with CalFresh and Medi-Cal and
other temporary financial
supports and services.
Assisting them with their
banking and their shopping and
their spending and locating food
and water and everything that it
takes for day-to-day. So really
those outreach workers and case
managers carry a tremendous
amount of activity with the
clients that are engaged with,
and although ten may have been
housed although 19 are on an
identified housing pathway,
these outreach workers and case
managers are engaged with 101
individuals at Binford and their
needs, and that's also the
benefit of this service fair
that is up there monthly, and I
think the beauty of what's
happened through that service is
seeing folks connect directly
with medical appointments
through the street medicine van,
get signed up for Medi-Cal and
CalFresh right on the spot, be
able to tell us that their cards
have been misplaced and they
need replacement ones so that we
can get that out to them, but
whatever it might take in their
day-to-day lives to help with
any immediate needs, and so know
that all of those things are
happening every single day, not
only with residents at Binford
but through everyone else that
our many outreach workers and
case managers have contact with
across our county.
>>KATIE RICE: And so I'm
assuming that given what is
happening there in Binford,
especially, that -- I mean, my
question is: Can I assume, can
we assume that actually folks
will over time be in a much
better state financially,
health-wise, what have you, than
they would have been without all
this and, therefore, maybe a
need of less support in
permanent supportive housing or
in a different state as we move
along over the next couple of
years? I think it's really
important, because you know we
depend on vouchers and other
funding in order to establish
permanent supportive housing and
make it real for the long term,
and those vouchers, that flow of
vouchers is not this big wide
thick stream ongoing. We don't
have a local source of vouchers.
It's something we need to be
talking about, but it is a
challenge. Permanent supportive
housing and how much we're able
to create is dependent on how
much vouchers are available
here, and in the meantime we
need to be helping people as
much as we can in the interim
before housing becomes available
and, frankly, I just would like
to know that maybe we're using
this time and these situations
in order to potentially create
situations in which some folks
may not need, ultimately,
permanent supportive housing.
>>GARY NAJA-RIESE: Absolutely,
yes.
>>KATIE RICE: Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Great. I want to add my
support for the vehicle buyback
program. I certainly saw how
this worked at Richardson Bay,
largely with the sailboats we
had there, but it was -- motor
boats. It was the same
situation.
I want to appreciate and
acknowledge the comprehensive
approach you've taken here again
at Binford. I was able to tour
with Supervisor Lucan and my
observation a few weeks ago is
that things were organized and
there was increasing safety out
there. I'm glad that the speed
reduction has occurred.
The sanitation services and
pumpout and everything you're
working on I think are really
key, and I want to appreciate
the sheriff's office for his
work out there.
My experience in Richardson Bay,
as we made slow and steady
progress in moving people off
the water into housing, and that
also you start to get to a point
where you've got critical mass
where enough people are moving
on with their lives it
encourages more people to do the
same, so I think we'll see
things pick up, notwithstanding
the need for housing, but people
start to sort it out and figure
it out, so anyway, thank you,
and I'd be prepared to take a
motion to approve the buyback
program, and then we'll go to
public comment.
>>ERIC LUCAN: I'll move such
action.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, very good.
>>MARY SACKETT: Second.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. We have a
motion and second. Is there any
public comment in the chambers
on this?
>>SPEAKER: Thank you. You guys
mentioned environmental health
and you've mentioned safe
sanitary housing. I remind you
the community should be made
aware that in 2011 or '12,
environmental health made a
decision to stop taking
complaints from Golden Gate
Village in Marin City. 296
units all of a sudden, suddenly,
were denied the availability to
call the department in the
county to work with them
regarding unsanitary living
conditions. Everywhere else in
the county, you can call them.
Golden Gate Village residents in
Marin City, they can't.
In the IJ you all went to -- and
yourself, Greg and Sarah, went
to the IJ just in July and said,
and we're going to work with
them. It's in the IJ. We're
going to do better. In August
the IJ editorial said it's a
great thing they are working
together. Yes, they are all
working together, getting
together to serve a population
that's underserved. In the
meeting a month ago Greg was
present, face-to-face with me
and many others, Sarah was on
Zoom, they said, no, that's not
true. We're not there yet.
That's not true. You all did a
PR stunt to make it seem like
you're working with the
residents of -- so you're going
to turn the tide. That was a
lie, a stunt. You lied to the
community. Racism. Why did you
lie? Stephanie, this is your
district. Greg, you quoted in
the IJ of saying we're going to
do better, and then months
later, face-to-face, you say
it's not true. I remind you,
this population in Marin City,
Golden Gate Village, it used to
be a higher number of
African-American people,
families, but -- I'll finish in
a second. But because Marin
Housing has hidden Black
applicants, it's on the record,
Black applicants at Golden Gate
Village thrown in the garbage.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you for your
comments, Damien. We're at
time.
>>SPEAKER: Less African-American
families in Golden Gate Village
now. You need to answer to the
people why you put a false
article in the IJ.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Damien, we're at time.
I'm going online according to
him, it's not true. Racism.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thanks for your comments
on Binford Road. Next to
online, please.
>>MODERATOR: The first speaker
is Johnson Reynolds. Please
unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Yeah, Johnson
Reynolds. I'm currently in Maui
with my sister who has
short-term memory loss, but I am
resident of Marin County and the
Canal. I'm part of Marin
organizing Committee. I'm
concerned the Marin
environmental housing committee
notified me it was on the agenda
today. I appreciate that you're
doing work to deal with people
that are in Binford in vehicles
and RVs and that kind of thing.
It sounds like you're really
moving forward on that. I
really appreciate that there are
case workers and counselors that
are working with all the 101
people there to move them
forward towards the possibility
of permanent supportive housing.
If that's possible. There's
still lack of housing even that
there's the Homekey options, but
other options where they have to
have vouchers to get into those
housing and doing what we can do
to do that is what we need to
do, but there are still going to
be a lot of people that continue
to live in their vehicles or RVs
and decide to do that, and
providing sanitation services is
really important for them as
they still live there, so we
need to accommodate if you have
a buyback for the RVs, that's
fine, but they need to have
other places they can go if they
are going to be reimbursed for
the buyback, we need places for
them to go immediately, and then
the people that are still in
their vehicles need to have the
sanitation services to sustain
that as they live there. That's
an option for people. Let's
consider these people, really
supporting the people who are
homeless to live productively
and quality lives wherever they
are, whether they are in
permanent supportive housing
and/or their vehicles, so thank
you.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Rodrigo Izquierdo. Please
unmute.
>>SPEAKER: I would like to know
after listening to your great
presentation on the situation at
Binford and all the efforts that
all the county is spending on
them to take care of them, why
is it that the Marin Human
Rights Commission is not
involved? Of all people they
have a former homeless person
who ran for supervisor, Jason
Serres. What more of an expert
can you possibly need to talk
about the situation? I mean,
the last meeting that they had
for the Human Rights Commission,
which was in September since
they canceled October and
November, and plus others, was
talking about maybe putting up a
porta-potty in Fairfax. That
was pretty much it, and they
were spinning their wheels
talking about how much it was
going to cost, $700 for one
porta-potty, can we get more
from the county. In other
words, that's pretty much it.
And then again, then you have an
absence of two months, two
months, and just like, you know,
the homeless people, they have
got nothing better to do, so
they will just wait around for
them to reconvene and see what
they're going to do about it,
whether they're going to take it
up again and see if they're
going to get a porta-potty,
which is -- I mean, how minimal
can you possibly get? And then
even let's say in the previous
month they talked about putting
up three refrigerators and they
allocated $1500 for that without
asking the public to participate
and the legality of who is going
to provide the PG&E, who is
going to provide the food, what
locations. So in other words,
they just spin their wheels and
talk about it and then do
nothing, and you don't want to
count on them because you know
they are not dependable.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay, we're going to
close public comment now and
bring it back to the board.
Eva, you didn't get to the
podium. You were way over
there. No, I'm sorry. I'm
closing public comment. We had
a motion by Rice, a second by
Lucan. All in favor?
[Indiscernible].
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you. This matter
has passed.
>>SPEAKER: It is not appropriate
for you to do that.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: It is appropriate for me
to do it.
>>SPEAKER: No, it is not
appropriate.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: We're going to move on
now to Item No. 8. We have to
take this up because our speaker
cannot be with us noon hour, and
then we'll take a break.
No, we're going to go out of
order. We've got to get this
done, and we've got to get to
lunch and then we've got to come
back and we'll take 7 and 9 as
soon as I can figure that out.
Hi, Jillian.
>>JILLIAN ZEIGER: Good morning,
board members. We're here today
to receive a presentation from
Scott Johnson. He's the
executive director of the Napa
Sonoma ADU Center, and staff
recommend that the Napa Sonoma
ADU Center merge with Marin
County and its participating
cities and towns.
The contract for the merger
would initiate a three-year
pilot program to support the
development of accessory
dwelling units, also known as
ADUs, and implement Housing
Element programs for Marin
County and the participating
cities and towns.
We have a program in our Housing
Element to foster the
development of ADUs.
And I am going to pass it off to
Scott to give a presentation
about the services that would be
provided for the merger and the
successes of the Napa Sonoma ADU
Center.
>>SCOTT JOHNSON: Good morning.
Thank you for having me. As she
said, I'm the director of the
Napa Sonoma ADU Center, and
we're very excited to be able to
present here today. I want to
give a quick background of who
we are and the services that we
are providing to homeowners and
jurisdictions across Napa and
Sonoma, and what we can offer
for Marin.
The history of our organization
started when the -- well,
frankly, with the Tubbs Fires in
Sonoma County where we lost
almost 6,000 homes, and the
community foundations of Napa
and Sonoma County looked for new
ways to rebuild and encourage
affordable housing across the
two counties. After about two
years' worth of work, they came
up with the idea for the ADU
center. Because what we heard
from a lot of homeowners and
planners and architects was that
building ADUs, while it was
viable, it was very, very hard
to get started. That was
sometimes the hardest part of
the whole project.
Next slide, please. Next slide
after that, thank you.
And so with all those
investigations and with our
three years of experience now
working at Napa Sonoma, we have
keyed in on to three primary
pillars of our work. We provide
free technical assistance to
homeowners. We provide
technical assistance to
jurisdictions on the subject of
ADUs, and we provide what we
call our standard plans program,
which is similar to a
pre-approved plans program as
tried in other parts of the
state with some key differences
that we think makes it more
attractive and viable for both
homeowners and jurisdictions
alike. Next slide.
Our primary tools for
homeowners, there's -- this is
just a subset of the tools that
we offer. We have a number of
online tools, calculators based
on location, based on
jurisdiction, type of ADU to
help give people a sense of what
their project is likely to cost.
We have address lookup tools so
they can learn what they can
build and what's appropriate for
their neighborhood and their
jurisdiction. We have stories
of successes and floor plans of
ADUs that have been built across
Napa and Sonoma. We have 29
different webinars on all kinds
of subjects about getting
started with your ADU program
from financing to individual
webinars with jurisdictions,
with their planning and building
staff, to help sort of humanize
the process and give homeowners
the confidence to move forward.
And we have a vendor registry of
folks that we know are licensed
and ensured and working in the
ADU space across Napa and
Sonoma, and that's one tool that
we're hoping to grow. We get a
lot of feedback from homeowners
that they would like to see more
contractors, architects and
engineers on that list.
The last two are ones I want to
dive into a little bit more in
depth. They are kind of the
crown jewels of our program. We
have the feasibility
consultations. Next slide,
please -- actually, next two
slides.
These are one-on-one
conversations and reports with
homeowners who want to build an
ADU. They sign up via our
website. We do some
pre-research. They give us
information about the project
they want to build, the budget
they are looking at, the reason
they are doing it, the concerns
they have, and then we research
their property to make sure we
understand the zoning and the
ADU rules and, you know, if it's
sloped or any of the other
details of their actual site,
and then we have a one-on-one
conversation where we can answer
their questions in real time.
We can talk them through kind of
the very early stages of the ADU
process to give them a framework
so that they can make an
informed, intelligent decision
about their project. Sometimes
that means the project is not a
good fit for them. Sometimes it
needs to be downsized or they
are looking at issues that they
hadn't considered, like septic
or slope or, you know, things
like that, fire -- potential for
fire.
So we talk them through all
those pieces, and then we give
them a written report that
typically runs about 25 to 30
pages that details their
property, the rules in their
jurisdiction, as well as next
steps, potential budget, things
to consider, best practices so
that when they are ready to move
on a project they have a solid
set of information that they can
talk to their jurisdiction about
the particular issues of their
site, they can find their
architect or their contractor or
their builder and move forward
quickly with building an ADU. I
can't tell you how many times
I've had a conversation with a
homeowner where they said we've
wanted to do if for five years,
or forever, and now we want to
move forward but don't know
where to begin. The consults
are designed to help them get
moving on their project. Next
slide.
And then the next spotlight is
our standard plans which I
mentioned briefly earlier. We
looked at jurisdiction-approved,
jurisdiction-paid-for ADU plans
that were in use around the
state, San Jose, Los Angeles,
Mendocino County, as well as
other locations, where
jurisdictions had paid often
tens of thousands of dollars to
commission an architect to draw
up ADU plans, two or three ADU
plans for use of homeowners in
that jurisdiction. Which is a
great idea. It lowers the
barrier to entry at the
beginning of a project where
that's most important. The
challenges, the failures that we
saw in those kinds of programs
was that they were not often
used. They were not often --
they did not turn into ADUs
built on the ground. A number
of reasons for this. Some of
them being that, you know, two
or three designs is not a very
diverse set. It doesn't work in
all locations. Size and need is
different. And so that limited
for tens of thousands of
dollars, that limited spend to
have two or three ADU designs
does not turn into ADUs on the
ground, so we took a hybrid
approach where we asked
architects to create designs for
us. We have 50-plus designs on
our current website, and then
the jurisdictions can sign on
and say we want to pick those
five or six or eight or ten, and
we will review those plans for
code compliance, and then when
they come through our permanent
process, we're going to expedite
them. We're going to reduce
fees.
So jurisdictions get what they
want, ADUs built on the ground.
Architects get the ability to
design once and sell multiple
times across multiple
jurisdiction, and homeowners,
the best benefit is for them,
they get a well-designed ADU.
We have sizes that range from
750 square feet to 1200 square
feet in many different sizes and
many different styles.
Actually, next slide you can see
the web page that we have that
shows our 50-plus plans, but
they get to choose these -- the
right ADU for them, and they pay
a fraction of the cost that they
would pay for a new clean sheet
design with an architect.
It is up to the homeowner and
the architect to design the
plans to coordinate and put
together the localization
documents, the site plan, the
foundation plan, the things like
that that would need to be for a
full submittal, but even with
that work to work for a
particular property, the
homeowner is going to pay about
a third to less than half the
cost of starting from scratch.
So we see it as sort of a
three-way win for the
jurisdictions, for the
homeowners and for the
architects. It's been a
successful program that we have
used across the 16 jurisdictions
in Napa and Sonoma, and we are
looking forward to bringing to
Marin.
Two slides, please. That's the
gallery plan there. There's six
of 50 plus, and we've got more
coming in, and then next slide,
please.
And I've been focusing on the
homeowner benefits of our
programs, but that is only part
of what we do. The other part
is that we work with
jurisdictions. We look to be a
partner for jurisdictions to
help them be effective and look
for opportunities where ADUs can
be built. I assume folks out
there are aware of most of the
benefits of ADUs, but it can be
hard to get them to actually be
implemented. There are still a
number of roadblocks and
friction points along the way to
get ADUs from idea to actually
built environment, and we work
with the jurisdictions providing
updates on ADU rules, both as
the law changes but as HCD
provides guidance, we maintain a
database of all the HCD's
published guidance on ADU
implementation. We are an
on-call domain expert on ADUs
and ADU resources, as well as
feedback from homeowners in the
jurisdictions. If we take the
issue of a septic policy or
planning policy that is causing
a lot of grief with homeowners
to get their projects done, we
can sit down with the
jurisdictions and say if you do
this it will open the flood
gates on these projects.
Homeowners are not developers,
and we are asking them to be so
when they go with an ADU. They
can be kind of a high-touch
requirement for planners and
staff at the jurisdictions to
answer a lot of questions for
someone who doesn't know
anything about the planning
process or the permitting
process. We have taken all of
that off of the jurisdictions in
which we work, and we are the
first line.
So if the homeowner comes to a
jurisdiction, they can -- the
jurisdiction says talk to the
ADU center, and we provide them
the frameworks, the education,
answer the questions in real
time for the homeowner so when
they go back to the jurisdiction
they are ready to have a serious
discussion about their project.
And then I guess the next slide
I think is the last slide, by
the numbers, this is what we've
done over the past three years.
We've done over 500
consultations across two
counties. We've had 700
inquiries, phone calls, emails
we've answered directly. We've
done 29 webinars. We've got 50
plans in our standard plans
program and more coming online
in 2024, and of the homeowners
who have gone through our
consultation process, we keep in
touch with them to hear how it's
going, and of the 500 that we
have completed, 73% are moving
forward with their projects.
And the flip side of that number
is also important to me. 27%,
once they got the information
they needed realized it wasn't a
good fit for them, without
spending tens of thousands of
dollars on architects and
permits and everything else.
So both sides of that number are
important to us, that people are
making the right choices for
their individual needs. Thank
you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Thank you, Scott, for the
information. Questions?
Supervisor Rodoni?
>>DENNIS RODONI: Thank you,
Scott, for the presentation.
It's really exciting to see this
come before us. My question is
really back to staff. I know
we've been really busy with the
Housing Element and doing all
the other work, but we've had
several starts and stops of ADU
programs and proposals, and I'm
just wondering what sort of
performance goals you might want
to attach to this, both to make
sure it is successful for us, or
a report back period, or
something. By my calculation,
we should be being 2.5 to 3 ADUs
a month to meet our Housing
Element goals. I think while
this is a great program and I'm
willing to spend the money, I
think there should be some
expectations coming out of this.
So maybe you could just talk
about that.
>>JILLIAN ZEIGER: Yeah, so we
have goals in our Housing
Element for ADU production, and
I would hope that we would stick
to those goals, and as part of
our annual progress report
updates, we are happy to
highlight the ADUs that are
being developed, and I can work
with Scott on some goals for
unincorporated Marin County for
the three-year pilot program,
but I think that we can come
back to the board after two
years just to do a brief
check-in, and then we'll come
back after the three-year pilot
program is over because we might
tweak our contract just in terms
of scope of services. Maybe we
need more. Maybe there were
specific things that we would
like from the ADU center.
>>DENNIS RODONI: And I would
like to have it sooner. Maybe
once a year report to see how
progress is going.
>>JILLIAN ZEIGER: Sure, yeah,
that works.
>>DENNIS RODONI: Thank you.
>>KATIE RICE: Thank you. I
appreciate this and appreciate
the program and think it's a
good investment and also
appreciate the partnership of
MCF and the funds that are
coming to help get it going.
I have a -- I do think I want to
have these report backs. I also
notice in the staff report, and
you may have mentioned it but I
was reading and listening at the
same time, the forgivable loan
program that Napa is doing with
the five-year deed restriction,
as it were. I have different
feelings about that, but it
sounds like it may be something
we'll be considering, but what
I'm concerned about in these
report backs is the degree to
which we have programs either
that we're funding or partners
are funding that are assisting
folks in developing ADUs, which
is great for checking off the
Housing Element numbers box, but
if it's not being leased out and
if they are not being rented and
used for housing and
specifically if they aren't
actually coming in as deed
restricted or naturally more
affordable housing, I feel like
it's almost a gift of public
funds at some level. I don't
want to be that harsh, but I've
seen -- I'm seeing work
happening out in the county, and
I'm not necessarily seeing ADUs
being rented out or used for
residential purposes, and I'm
concerned about folks taking
advantage of that.
So I want to see a report back,
and I want us to see if there
aren't some elements we can
build into our own programs that
further incentivize and/or
provide some accountability to
folks who are taking advantage
of our programs in a positive
sense. Thanks.
>>JILLIAN ZEIGER: Thanks,
Supervisor Rice, yeah. I do
want to mention that all of the
jurisdictions and staff here are
really interested in the loan
program. We'll have to try to
figure out source, et cetera,
but our goal, and I think all of
the cities and towns as well
because some of them are more
reliant on ADUs as part of their
affordable housing that we --
you know, we want affordable
housing to be built as part of
it.
I don't know, Scott, if you want
to speak to just what you've
seen in Napa Sonoma in terms of
affordability, because he and I
have had this conversation too.
>>KATIE RICE: Built and used as
residential housing stock.
>>SCOTT JOHNSON: I think this is
where Napa's loan program really
comes into play, because they
have a lease-up requirement. If
these funds are used to build
ADUs, in order for it to be a
loan, it has to be leased at the
affordable rates, and what we
see in other areas and studies
aye done around the state for
ADUs that have been in -- been
developed for some time, several
years, that they tend to be -- I
say tend to be. 93% of them are
rented at generally low and very
low rates compared to the
surrounding jurisdiction, and so
as ADUs are built and become
part of the built environment,
the longer that they are in
service, the trend is that they
tend to be more affordable over
time as well, so there is a
challenge of getting them built
because it is a high cost with
construction and everything
else, but once they are there
they are sort of affordable by
design based on their size,
based on the amenities they
typically have. We generally
see very good outcomes with
affordability over time.
>>KATIE RICE: That's exactly the
data I'd like to hear. How is
it being used. Is it being
used, and if it's 93% is getting
rented out, that would be
wonderful. Thanks.
>>ERIC LUCAN: Thank you. Real
quick, I think this is really
exciting. Thank you for the
openness here, the renaming, the
re-branding, just the ADU center
to incorporate Marin. I really
wish some -- I have been through
the process of an ADU. I wish
something like this had been
around when I went through mine.
It probably would have saved me
some money and probably a lot of
headaches, but I'm glad that
we're here at this point.
With regards to working with
local jurisdictions and helping
them ease some of their things,
I think our cities and towns in
Marin are in pretty good shape.
What successes have you had with
special districts in Napa and
Sonoma? Because I think there
are still some friction here
locally with regards to that.
>>SCOTT JOHNSON: Yeah,
unincorporated areas are
particularly tricky, and mainly
because you have a well and
septic issue in most areas.
Working with those departments
and working with planning and
building in those areas to come
up with sort of an ADU game plan
where you have ADU projects come
across their desks, because
there are -- ADU development is
different in that homeowners are
not developers. They don't
understand the process
generally, and it's easier for
them to not build than move
forward. There isn't often a
financial motivation for people
to build an ADU.
So by working with jurisdictions
that we have in Napa and Sonoma,
particularly in the
unincorporated areas, and
finding pathways to reduce
resistance, to getting permits
or even just the uncertainty of,
you know, is a septic thing
going to be an issue on this
property, we found that that has
played out well for seeing ADUs
actually be put on the ground.
>>ERIC LUCAN: Yeah, I appreciate
it. Some of this is with
regards to connection fees for
Water Districts, sanitary
districts. I'll follow up with
you separately, but I'm glad
that we're going to be moving
forward with this. Thank you.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Great, and I just have
one question. This seems like a
great thing to do and take
advantage of what the other
counties have done.
Jillian, on the other side of
the house, do we expect this
will take some workload off of
our current planners?
>>JILLIAN ZEIGER: Yes. And
myself. So even though I'm not
in current planning, I receive
ADU questions at least once a
week asking things like setback
and septic requirement,
et cetera. So yeah, I mean,
it's going to be a huge burden I
think lifted for our current
planning department, but also
it's great for the cities and
towns because they have less
staff and they are also
receiving a similar volume of
ADU questions, but yes, we'll be
linking the ADU center and also
once we launch our merger we're
going to have webinars that, you
know, advertise the services of
the ADU center, so we're hoping
that homeowners will go to the
ADU center directly, but if they
don't, then our current planning
division will tell them to start
with the ADU center.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Super. Have a link on
our new web page and all that
kind of thing.
>>JILLIAN ZEIGER: Yeah.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Great, sounds good. With
that, I am going to open for
public comment in the chambers.
It looks like there is no one
left in the chambers to do
comment. Is there anyone
online?
>>MODERATOR: Yes, Johnson
Reynolds, please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Yes, thank you. This
is going to be very helpful.
Not only to the county but to
the jurisdictions within the
county, and take the work off of
the local staff. I assume this
includes JADUs as well as ADUs.
I make an assumption to that.
And Kate mentioned that they
make sure that these are
actually given out to people
that need low and very low money
to live in these ADUs and JADUs.
I appreciate that. Sounds like
it's a good relationship for
both the jurisdictions and the
county itself to proceed and
move forward to produce the
JADUs and ADUs. Thank you.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Rodrigo Izquierdo. Please
unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Hi. I would like to
know why Napa Sonoma was picked
to guide Marin into the use of
ADUs. Why wasn't San Francisco
used? Because they kind of seem
like they have the same -- more
of the similar problem in that
it's parking where they might
have to relax the parking, one
space per unit. So on a general
terms, is the County of Marin
relaxing the parking for an
additional unit? In which case
it might be two cars. So it
seemed like on a general
statement you should say this
you are going to relax quite a
few of the rules for Marin base
Sonoma, Napa and Sonoma, they
might simply have more space to
accommodate a whole bunch of
cars, trailers, you know, RVs.
It's not the same thing for
Marin that has winding roads,
like you know for Mill Valley.
It's impossible to have other
cars. They can hardly manage
right now with the cars that
they have when one of them has
to back up to clear the way, or
fire engines, and all of a
sudden you're going to have ADUs
with an additional car or an
additional two cars possibly
straddling the road. Seems like
you should make a general
statement on the parking use of
that aspect. Thank you.
>>MODERATOR: President
Moulton-Peters, there are no
additional speakers in the
queue.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: All right, we'll bring it
back to the board now. We have
three recommended actions. I
would entertain a motion for
those three, and with a request
that we return in one year for
an update on the program.
>>KATIE RICE: I will move the
three actions associated with
item 8.
>>ERIC LUCAN: Second.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: Okay. Motion by Rice,
second by Lucan. All in favor?
Aye.
All righty. Thank you very
much. Let's get started.
County administrator, what's
your suggestion?
>>MATTHEW H. HYMEL: I'm going to
suggest, as you know, we're
behind schedule, so I was going
to suggest that we break for 45
minutes, so come back at 1:15,
where we'll take the remainder
of the morning agenda, which is
items 7, 9 and 10, and then roll
into our afternoon session.
And then I did want to remind
folks that the housing authority
does not start at 2:00 because
we removed that item from the
agenda, so it starts at 2:30.
>>STEPHANIE MOULTON-PETERS,
PRES.: All right. Thank you.
We are adjourned for lunch.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Okay.
Welcome back, everyone. We're
going to reconvene as the Marin
County Board of Supervisors.
We're going to pick up from this
morning's agenda with agenda
item number 7. All right.
Jillian, you're back.
>>SPEAKER: Good afternoon. So
today we are here to recommend
new housing trust fund
guidelines for adoption. The
guidelines we currently have
were originally drafted in 2009,
and amended in 2012, and since
then, we've seen changes in the
needs and requirements of the
unincorporated county as it
relates to housing production
and housing policies of the
local and state level. And
staff reviewed the updated
guidelines with our board
subcommittee. Next slide.
First, about the housing trust.
Some members of the public may
not know the Marin County
housing trust was created in
1980. There's a typo. The
presentation says 1988. It was
created at the same time as our
Inclusionary Housing program.
And the funding is to be used
for land and property
acquisition, development,
construction, or preservation of
affordable units. The housing
trust fund has historically been
funded through residential in
lieu fees, commercial linkage
fees, and since 2009 the
affordable housing impact fee.
These are within our building
and planning department. During
the budget cycle, your board
committed $5 million annually
for the next five years to the
housing trust fund. Next slide.
So we wanted to go through some
of the accomplishments of the
housing trust fund. And in the
last 20 years, the housing trust
fund has been a major funder of
affordable housing developments
in unincorporated Marin as well
as the cities and towns. We
have some examples on the slide.
They range from smaller
developments to land purchases
to rehabilitation to preserving
naturally-occurring affordable
housing. And the developments
in bold are located in
unincorporated county, but you
can see it's a wide range of
development sizes and locations
in the county. Next slide. So
staff reviewed an updated the
priorities with the help of the
affordable housing board
subcommittee, and based on
direction provided in the
housing element in state law.
The trust fund will keep the
priorities to fund projects
located in unincorporated areas
of the county, will keep the
preservation and
anti-displacement priority, and
leveraging other funds through
or competitive funds. New
priorities include funding in
high resource areas, promoting
furthering our housing, as well
as home ownership. And the new
priorities were based on
analysis we found in the needs
assessment in the housing
element, and one of the main
goals of the policies and
programs in our housing element,
which is to affirmatively
further fair housing, that
essentially creates housing in
our high resource areas, our
high opportunity areas, which is
a score from the state, and high
resource areas typically have
high performing schools, access
to transit, and amenities. Next
slide. We also are going to
continue our local match with
the cities and towns. So the
county is contributed housing
trust dollars to the cities and
towns for a number of years, and
will continue to do so. Given
that several jurisdictions have
recently adopted or updated
their inclusionary policies to
include fees, the county's open
to different form of match, that
could include fee waivers from
the planning and building
department, it could include
contribution from the
inclusionary fee, contributing
other funds, and potentially
exploring shared credit which
we've seen in jurisdictions, I
believe in Napa has shared
credit. Next slide. We also
amended our funding threshold.
So currently -- or previously
the housing trust guidelines are
up to $50,000 per unit, that
hasn't been updated since 2012.
We've seen a huge increase in
the cost of development, and the
proposed changes to the
guidelines are going to -- were
provided to us by our housing
element, by developers, so where
appropriate, your board could
make alternative funding choices
to reflect high priority
projects or unusual
circumstances, but we also think
that higher funding per unit
might be necessary in certain
areas of unincorporated county
that might have higher land
value, and also just to promote
lower levels of affordability,
more family housing, and new
construction. If the Bay
Area -- staff will return to
your board to consider
amendments to the guidelines to
align and leverage those
dollars. So I think that's the
end of our presentation. And we
are open to questions.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Thank
you, Jillian. Any questions?
>>DENNIS RODONI: Thank you,
Jillian. Thank you for the
update and the committee. We
have trust priorities being
preservation and
anti-displacement. I would
love -- the funding thresholds.
I don't see preservation as one
of the options for increased
funding. Give that we're
looking at $1.7 million average
are real estate price in Marin,
I think the preservation
opportunity for higher funding
should be in there in that
category, also. It may be
possible, but it's not this.
I'm worried about that. And
because something that we
preserve could ever get sold in
a real estate market, it'll
never ever again be affordable.
And so I think that preservation
is so important. We might want
to consider injecting that into
the funding threshold, from my
perspective. Than wasn't a
question.
>>KATIE RICE: Can I add on to
that? I pause on this, as well.
And I just understand it makes
sense to have -- I feel this is
unique depending on, you know,
the community and opportunities
for development and so I would
hate to be -- I would just -- I
can see having creating some
thresholds that are set in
stone. I think it's going to be
important to preserve some
discretion and latitude to take
into account. I agree with
Dennis that every unit we lose,
we're barely going to offset
what we're going to lose anyway.
We can't afford to lose
anything.
>>SPEAKER: Yeah. Thank you for
that comment and yours,
Supervisor Rice. I would say
what we're -- what is in front
of you today is guidelines, as
Jillian said, are recommended by
the subcommittee, and if there
is other circumstances, and we
can always present something to
your board. I mean, the
reality is, we fund everything
that comes across our table that
is any way we can make viable.
Right. That's our goal. To get
housing preserve out of, you
know, that is existing naturally
occurring affordable housing and
move it into the affordable
column. It is helpful to have a
dollar guideline, and one of the
things I'm thinking about is
these big preservation projects
that we had, you know, the $152
units we did with the 80 unit in
San Rafael -- they were able to
make them work at $50,000. I
think that, you know, -- if they
weren't, we would have worked on
that and come up with a
different recommendation to you.
>>KATIE RICE: And I agree with
that. I also I don't know to
what degree the landscape might
change going forward. But we
have been in recent years, it
feels like in a position --
oftentimes being reactive when
the properties come on the
market and not planning ahead
and strategizing. I think it
puts us in a difficult position.
Easier to see what is coming in
years ahead as things go through
an application process. I don't
know if there's a way for us to
be able to predict which
something is going to come on
the market. I'm with you in
terms of the guidelines. And
signaling a lower threshold when
there's multiple units but
maintaining discretion, as well.
>>ERIC LUCAN: I had a follow up.
I think the slide here maybe is
a little bit different than the
guidelines. And I want to make
sure -- it says higher funding
per unit, if new construction
only. I don't know if it means
if and only if. I'm looking at
page 5 of the guidelines, it
says under circumstances, our
contribution may increase up to
$100,000 per unit depending on
funds available, number of
bedrooms, level of
affordability, and term of
affordability restrictions. I
think we have the flexibility,
but I want to clarify.
>>SPEAKER: Yes. We have the
flexibility. It was worded a
little bit differently in the
slide. Our guidelines do
provide that flexibility.
Another reason why we want to
the have that flexibility is
because we don't see a lot of
state and federal dollars for
preservation. It's something we
have to use our county funds
for.
>>ERIC LUCAN: Yeah. I think
Supervisor Rodoni, based on what
is written on page 5, should a
preservation project come
through. Maybe there are three
bedroom units and it's a higher
cost than that opportunity is
available.
>>SPEAKER: Yes. Thank you for
the clarification. You're
correct.
>>KATIE RICE: On the terms
portion, it says the trust funds
can be alone or a grant. It
sounds like generally a load. I
know it's not the ultimate goal.
Amount of rent they collect,
whether they'll be able to repay
it. That's kind of how we
decide whether it's going to be
a grant or a loan. And that we
look at the amount of funds that
were investing in a project. If
it's a smaller project with a
fewer units, those usually don't
create enough revenue that we
can get it back. There are some
different circumstances. It's
really we evaluate the specific
project. Payments back that
come into the trust fund and are
available for other funds. And,
you know, and we generally do a
loan, which is called a residual
receipts loan. So they look at
first they pay off their primary
mortgage, they set aside funds
for maintenance and the
property, and we're down
farther, you know, in the water
fall being repaid. So we want
to, you know, our goal,
obviously, is the project remain
affordable. Over time then it
is serving the population that
hasn't been identified, that
it's how the project is healthy
and well maintained. But then
if there's funds coming back, we
think we should be repaid so we
can use those for another
project.
>>KATIE RICE: If we could get a
sense what anticipate is coming
in. How much is left is a
question in evaluating them.
Kind of the bigger picture. We
can always say what is
available. It's a little hard
to say because of the way our
loans are structured as residual
receipts. So it's not just
we're going to get X amount of
dollars every year because of
the project needs, you know,
some they hadn't planned for and
maybe some other -- there's some
variation. And with interest
rates varying for their primary.
Sometimes it's not very
predictable. We could let you
know kind of what we received in
the past year, just as a report
out. It might be a way of
indicating kind of what we might
anticipate for the coming year.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Okay.
Public comment on this item.
I'm not seeing anyone in the
chambers. Is there anyone
online?
>>MODERATOR: President
additional speakers in the
Moulton-Peters, there are no
queue.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Okay.
We'll bring it back then for a
vote to adopt the revise
guidelines.
>>DENNIS RODONI: I move we adopt
the guidelines.
>>KATIE RICE: Second.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Okay. A
motion by Rodoni and seconded by
Rice. All in favor? Aye.
Thank you very much.
>>SPEAKER: Thank you.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Okay.
Lynda, you have been waiting.
>>LYNDA ROBERTS: Good afternoon,
Supervisors. Today I'm asking
the board to consider adopting
an ordinance -- not today, this
is the introduction -- which
would add a new chapter to the
Marin County code. The new
chapter would require electronic
filing of campaign finance
documents by candidates and
campaign committees. Today's
action is the introduction of
the ordinance, and adoption
would be scheduled for next
week. The political reformat of
1974 requires candidates and
campaign committees to regularly
file numerous financial
statements. Sensitive
information such as addresses
and bank account numbers must be
redacted before forms are posted
online. When the documents are
filed electronically, using the
department's existing filing
system, the sensitive
information is automatically
redacted, required information
cannot be left blank, and
documents are immediately
available to the public, which
enhances transparency.
Documents submitted on paper
require significant staff time
to manually redact the sensitive
information. Follow up with
candidates or committees that
have incomplete forms, and
organize, scan, and uploaded
documents to the electronic
system within 72 hours, as
required. The elections
department is the filing office
for county, school, and special
district candidates and
measures, and workload can
become significant when manually
processing paper forms. In some
instances, we've received up to
50 pages in one filing for one
candidate. Electronic systems
streamlines the process for the
filing officer, and makes the
basic review of documents more
efficient. To become more
efficient, we need all
candidates and campaign
committees to file their
statements electronically. Let
me be clear, a lot do already.
So we just want to make this
requirement for everybody. So
adopting the proposed ordinance
will support a business process
improvement by standardizing
procedures and aligning with the
county's overall continuous
improvement goals. Will improve
the process for candidates,
since electronic filings are
maintained for easy updates in
the next filing cycle. Will
support better use of staff
time, and will support greater
transparency by making
information immediately
available to the public. Our
designated filing officer is
always available to help
candidates and campaigns with
his electronic process. So that
is my overview. So do you have
some questions?
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Are
there questions?
>>DENNIS RODONI: Just quickly,
Lynda. I know there's an
exception in policy. Maybe you
can talk about that.
>>LYNDA ROBERTS: Oh, yes. For
candidates or campaigns that
only raise $2,000, spend $2,000
or less, they wouldn't be
required to do this. It's a lot
less work when we're talking
small dollar amounts.
>>DENNIS RODONI: Thank you.
>>KATIE RICE: Lynda, thank you.
I'm in support of this moving
forward, but I just want to ask,
have you provided information
about this to municipalities,
other special districts that
have elected bodies so they can
share it with those officers,
and adjust make it publicly
known -- more broadly known.
>>LYNDA ROBERTS: Actually for
the municipalities, their clerk
is their filing officer. So
their candidates have to file
with the city or town clerk.
>>KATIE RICE: It's only for --
>>LYNDA ROBERTS: It would be for
the county officers, school
districts, and special districts
where the filing officer for
those.
>>KATIE RICE: For special
districts and school districts,
have you reached out to let them
know this ordinance is coming
forward?
>>LYNDA ROBERTS: I did not.
>>KATIE RICE: Could you please
do that?
>>LYNDA ROBERTS: Absolutely.
>>KATIE RICE: Thank you.
>>ERIC LUCAN: I think this is
great. I'm curious as we take
this move and require Net File
for everyone, what sort of input
or feedback to we have to Net
File to making their system a
little more user friendly -- and
users are not just professional
compliance firms that do
campaign stuff.
>>LYNDA ROBERTS: Well, I know
our filing officer, who I'm sure
you know Dan, Miller has a good
relationship with Net File. I
would imagine if we got feedback
from people requesting something
needs to be more user friendly.
We can pass the feedback on to
them.
>>ERIC LUCAN: That would be
great! The two ones -- I'll
send more details on it. But
being able to upload
information. I know the
professional compliance firms
have an upload feature, but
individuals doing their own
reports have to key it in
one-by-one, which is a little
cumbersome. And then secondly,
because there's some changes in
state laws, you have to close
and reopen a campaign committee
every four years, and all of
your donors don't transfer when
you create a new one. So you
have to re -- since you can't
upload them, you have to rekey
them in all over again the next
time around. I'll share details
in an e-mail you know, if we can
get in front of the right people
at Net File, I think it would be
beneficial for everybody across
the state that uses the system.
>>LYNDA ROBERTS: That would be
great i appreciate that
information.
>>ERIC LUCAN: Thank you.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: I don't
have any questions. We'll open
for public comment. I'm not
seeing anybody in the chambers
who looks they want to comment
on this. We'll go online to see
if there's comment there.
>>MODERATOR: The first speaker
is Rodrigo, please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: I wonder why you
can't expand it to include
Commissioners for committees.
Especially when it comes to
something where they might be
governing or giving input to
entities that might be a
conflict, you know, you heard a
lot from -- talking about, say,
a Human Rights Commission and
Curtis akin and maybe, you know,
whatever, they they really --
they had a Conflict of Interest,
and they had an obligation to
tell the public that they're
going to be on committees and
organizations that, in a way,
influence -- and they are
proponents for police
organizations. So either way,
you should know as to who is
actually comprised. Who has an
interest -- so why -- even
though they're not running for
office, even though they
don't -- they're not meeting the
$2,000 requirement, why you
don't have them for committees.
I think that, you know, Napa has
form 700, whatever that is,
financial interest but we're
talking about, again, their
ability to be impartial. And
the County of Marin, you know,
for these especially the Human
Rights Commission, that is
critical. Especially right now.
And if they're going to be
biased, that's the worst thing
you can possibly do. Have
someone who is biased or simply
not going to do anything. So,
again, you should expand it to
include Commissioners and also
to make sure that they abide by
state laws, like the -- Act.
Thank you.
>>MODERATOR: President
Moulton-Peters, there are no
queue.
additional speakers in the
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Thank
you. I want to follow up with
Lynda. This is a campaign
finance filing, right?
>>LYNDA ROBERTS: Right. Yeah.
This is for campaign finance
filing. For elected officials.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Okay.
Very good. All right. With
that, I entertain a motion to
approve the introduction of an
ordinance. Direct the clerk of
the board to place it on the
December 2023 Consent Calendar
for adoption.
>>ERIC LUCAN: So moved.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: I have a
motion by Lucan and seconded by
Rodoni. All in favor. We'll
move on to appointments now.
Supervisor Rodoni reminded me,
we have four appointments now.
They're listed on our agenda. I
want to invite public comment on
all four -- or any of the
appointments. This would be
through the lagoon advisory
council, the integrated pest
management commission, and
measure W west Marin oversight
committee. So if there's anyone
now who would like to give
public comment on any of those
appointments, now is the time.
I'm not seeing anyone in the
chambers. Is there anyone
online.
>>MODERATOR: President
additional speakers in the
Moulton-Peters, there are no
queue.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: All
right. We'll close public
comment and move forward with
the Bolinas lagoon advisory
council.
>>MARY SACKETT: Second.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: I have a
motion by Rodoni and second by
Sackett. Okay. B is a disaster
and citizens council.
>>DENNIS RODONI: I would like to
nominate Daniel Mahoney.
>>ERIC LUCAN: Second.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Okay. A
motion by Rodoni and seconded by
Lucan. All in favor? Aye.
Good. C integrated pest
management commission.
>>MARY SACKETT: I would like to
move the appointment of Alice to
the district vacancy.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: We have
a motion by Sackett. A second
by Rice. All in favor? Aye.
And, finally, the west measure W
west Marin TOT over sight
committee.
>>DENNIS RODONI: I would like to
reappoint Michelle Kline and
appoint Mike -- to fill the role
of the oversight committee.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Okay.
We have a motion by Rodoni and
second by Rice. All in favor?
Aye. Very good. We have made
those appointments.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Time now
for agenda item number 11.
Hello, Josh. This is our county
budget development update.
>>JOSH SWEDBERG: Good afternoon,
Board of Supervisors. My name
is Josh Swedberg. Today we're
going to talk about and provide
an update on our budget
development process, as we gear
up for the proposed Fy2024-26
budget. Next slide. In terms
of the goals of this process, we
want to provide an update where
we're at as we start the budget
cycle. In terms of high-level
updates, really, we want
departments to -- and the entire
process to be about reviewing
our mission. Each department
mission, departmental work
plans, and our baseline budget
appropriations through an equity
lens. And Jamillah will talk
about the county wide rollout to
help facilitate and fulfill that
within the organization. We
want to make sure that we're
advancing our continuous
improvement efforts and
highlight our next steps in
terms of what we've provided.
If you recall from last year,
each department provided a
high-level continuous
improvement focus area. It was
a race equity improvement in
terms of services, a business
process improvement, external
enhancement, in terms of service
delivery, or cross departmental
collaboration. We'll be
returning to your board and
providing updates or new
improvement focus areas. We
want to effectively implement
our previously approved one-time
funding sources, and we want to
update our fees to key these
costs of providing services
where applicable. Next slide,
please. I guess I would add a
goal throughout the process is
to establish a collaborative and
transparent budget development
process that ensures that we are
bringing forth to your board
recommendations that aligns with
the top community priorities.
What you see before you, these
are your board-approved
priorities. They include
increasing affordable housing,
addressing homelessness,
advancing race equity efforts,
addressing climate change and
sea level rise, preparing for
disasters, enhancing our county
infrastructure, and addressing
the maintenance, and addressing
recruitment and retention. Next
slide, please. With that, I'll
pass it over to my colleague.
Thank you.
>>JAMILLAH JORDAN: Thank you so
much, Josh. Good afternoon to
the board. It's wonderful to be
here. Good afternoon to
everyone in the chambers and
folks joining us online. I'm
the county's equity director,
and as Josh pointed out, race
equity is one of your board's
top priorities. So we in the
office of equity have been
working hard behind the scenes
and within the community to
advance our racial equity
strategies. I want to talk
about one in particular today.
Before we start, I want to
provide a couple of contextual
slides for everyone. One thing
we know to be true is race
matters. And when we look
across almost every indicater,
whether it be maternal child
health, whether it be, you know,
incarceration rates, income,
graduation rates. We see these
troubling disparities along
racial and equity lines. It's
important that we center race
and our strategies of how we
address these inequities. In
addition to that, we also know
these racialized disparities and
social inequities are not
natural, they're not inevitable,
they're not random, either.
They've been embedded into our
system over years and years. We
have to be intentional about our
approaches to addressing them
using a race equity lens. Let's
go to the next slide, please.
What we also know, disparities
are often created and maintained
through policies and practices
that contain barriers to
opportunity. It's possible and
only possible to close the
equity gaps by using strategies
that are specifically
intentional around a racial
equity focus. And so one of the
things that we've been doing
here in the county is shifting
our approach to the way we do
business. And that really means
for us applying resources where
the needs are the greatest.
What we found in our research
and analysis and what the data
is telling us anecdotally and
statistically, is that we find
our communities of color and
lower end communities of color
are faring worse than others in
the county. We're taking a
race-focused approach, but
certainly not race exclusive.
We find we bring an
intersectionality to the work.
By focusing on racial equity,
it's an opportunity to bring
frameworks, tools, and resources
that can be applied to other
areas of marginalization. Talk
about ableism, talk about, you
know, sexism, a number of --
isms can be applied using this
particular intersectional
framework. Next slide. So one
of the things that I wanted to
be sure to cover here today is,
you know, as you all mentioned,
race equity is one of your
priorities, and so we've been
thinking how do we
operationalized the thing called
race equity. In part, we do it
through developing tools that
can drive antiracist outcomes.
One tools I want to talk about
today is the race equity budget
tool. Next slide. Before we
got started in -- I want to say,
it's the first time we've done
something like this in the
County of Marin. I appreciate
everyone's willingness to be
creative, to be innovative, and
to push. That's what we strive
to do in the Office of Equity.
We wanted to learn from other
communities, learn from other
jurisdictions. What worked when
they developed their race equity
budget tool, what didn't work,
what are some of the glaring
omissions that took place. We
did a bunch of research. We
talked to over 30 jurisdictions,
and we focused in on about seven
of them we felt were closest to
the Marin county context. From
there it lead us to the
development of our own racial
equity budget tool. Next slide.
So what is it you might be
wondering? And essentially,
everyone, it's a decision making
model. We encourage our
departments, as well as our
elected officials, and our
community members to think
critically about their role in
advancing equity, how can they
integrate decisions into the
design of their budgets,
policies, and practices. And
ultimately what we hope it will
do is spark questions on behalf
of our staff to encourage them
to think deeper in terms of what
is their role. Wherever they
sit in the organization, how can
they advance Racial Equity.
Next slide. So it's two parts.
The first part is equity lens,
which is basically a set of
questions, a set of six
questions we put to our staff
and our community members. The
first is "what is the proposal?"
What is the project or
initiative that you're seeking
to start? What do you hope to
accomplish? From there, it's
community. We want this to be a
tool that is rooted in
community. And so we ask "how
does the proposal serve or
impact?" Who is benefiting our
burdened by this particular
proposal or initiative? And
data is so important. We make
data driven and informed
decisions. So what information
do you need? Where are the gaps
in your analysis? How can we
support you in unearthing some
of their information.
Implementation, "how are you
going to do this?" What is your
approach? What is your
strategy. Analysis? What was
the result of the good work and
thinking? What came of it. And
lastly, accountability, which is
perhaps the most important one
to a lot of our constituents.
It's how did we share the
information? How did things
change as a result? How are
People of Color in this county
better off as a result of this
particular initiative. Those
are questions we put to staff,
community, et. cetera. The
second part of the tool is an
equity data matrix. And
essentially, you know, this is
an opportunity for us to support
the use of the racial equity
lens, so we provided a set of
curated data sources for staff,
as a starting point. And we
also know that a lot of our
departments have a wealth of
information and data sets
already. So we encourage them
to tap into that, to better
understand some of the service
gaps. But ultimately what is
important is that these sources
are disaggregated by race.
That'll help us prioritize which
programs and investments we want
to make in order to reduce the
disparities. And, you know, my
hope, and the hope of our team,
some of the data can spark
critical awareness on behalf of
our staff. What are the
racialized outcomes? What are
the patterns that exist? They
are patterns. Right. And how
do we encourage our staff to
reflect on some of these
assumptions that we take for
granted? And rather root it in
the data rather than the
antidotal stories we tell one
another. That's essentially the
tool. It's six sets of
questions, and then a set of
data resources. Let's go to the
next slide. So we started off,
everyone, with a pilot. And
that was one of the things that
our colleagues taught us when we
interviewed and did a bunch of
research. They said, why don't
you start with a pilot. Roll it
out slower. It's a huge change.
It's a transformational shift in
the way the county does
business. We took it to heart.
We started with five
departments. HHS, DPW, CDA,
public defender, as well as our
friends in Parks. And they were
willing to try on the tool. So
they took a particular project
or initiative, and they went
through the exercise. Going
through the equity lens
questions of using those data
sources, and what they found is
that there are often shifts they
can make in their approach to
better serve our most impacted
community members, mainly
communities of Color. So we
took the learnings -- next
slide -- we took the learnings.
That lead us to where we are
today. I want to shed light on
a couple of things that came
from the pilot. One of the
things we learned is that our
departments are at different
places in their journey of
understanding this concept of
equity. Some of them have
strong equity muscles. Some of
them are just gifting started.
And so we in the Office of
Equity make it a priority to
meet them wherever they are.
And so, in part, that relies on
training and capacity building,
communication loops, and other
ways we can support the
departments in their journey.
Another thing that we learned is
the process versus the product.
And I think it's so important
for us to think about equity as
both an outcome and a process.
And ultimately we hope it
results in the fair and just
access to opportunity. So we
wanted to make sure that staff
understood that, yes, the
product is important but it's
also the journey of how we got
there. I think the last thing
to highlight is the importance
of this consultation and
support. We want to be a
friendly coach for our staff and
our departments. So they can
come along in this journey with
us. And what we found is that
there is a need for that
consultation, that strategic
guidance, and advice. We're
bolstering our resources to best
support our departments, as
well. Here we are. I'm excited
to share we're ready to launch
this county wide! And our goal
is to weave this race equity
analysis into our fiscal year
2024-26 budget cycle. We've
been working closely with Josh
and his team to make sure it's a
seamless transition for a lot of
our staff. Some of us have
been, you know, coming to me and
saying "how do we use this tool?
We love the idea. We love the
concept. How do I use it in the
day-to-day practice?" We've come
up with a few ideas. We're open
to staff being creative. One
around service enhancements,
funding requests, budget change
proposals, implementing
departmental budgets, and equity
impact statements. Those are
some of the ways we recommend
and are asking for our
departments to use the tool, in
order to get this additional
funding they're seeking in terms
ecps. I've mentioned this, but
I think it bears repeating, the
importance of providing training
and capacity-building supports
as they go along on the journey
with us and implementing the
tool. I want to share a couple
more slides and will pass it
back to Josh. But what are the
things your board asked of me
is, you know, to make sure that
our departments are being
thoughtful in the way the design
and develop equity impact
statements. And so we believe
that the tool can be a template
for the design of some of those
statements. And how they go
through the analysis of thinking
through who is benefiting and
who is burdened. How are we
impacting community members?
Ultimately, what came of it?
How are better people better
off? We hope it's a way for
them to develop thoughtful and
intentional equity impact
statements. Next slide. As I
wrap it up, everybody, I wanted
to share a few take aways. Some
reflections from not only the
pilot but our process so far.
The first I want to start with
is the excellent public service
means that we are addressing
these racialized disparities.
We're addressing the social
disparities. And that we're
asking our departments to review
their missions with that race
equity lens in mind. Right.
It's not something additional to
their work plan. It's embedded.
It's a part of what we do as
county service workers. Another
important part to highlight here
is that we remain flexible. I
mentioned it's the first time
we're doing something like this
in the county. So we want to be
sure to be flexible and iterate
as we go. It's important that
we recognize we're building
something new. So we will need
to adapt and improve the process
in real time. So we're very
much looking forward to that
challenge, and that opportunity.
Another one to call out to you
is creating spaces that are
intentional. To
institutionalize our approach.
So whether Matthew is here,
whether Josh is here, whether
you all are here. That we bake
this into the DNA of how we do
business in the county. And so
that's something that we're
seeking to do in this initial go
around. And, last but not
least, I would close by saying
that we want to highlight and
share the message that equity is
everyone's job, and that we have
a part to play in making sure
this is a county where everyone
can thrive. So with that, I'll
pass it over to my colleague
Josh.
>>JOSH SWEDBERG: Thank you very
much. All right. For the next
few slides, I'm going to talk
about our economic forecast and
our budget assumptions that we
currently have. I would like to
say we're not providing any
recommendations today. We're
just providing an update on the
current trends. We will return
back to your board with revised
projections in 2024. So in
terms of the economic forecast,
our economy continues to show
resilience, how to concerns
remain. In a moment, I'll talk
about kind of one of our biggest
concerns is the state budget
deficit. But in terms of the
national economy, it is
continuing its recent trend of
growth. Fierce of recession are
reducing, though are not
eliminated. We are seeing,
though, that the national and
Bay Area level inflation is
reducing. There has been stock
market growth over the past six
months. Then as we've seen in
the next slide, I'll highlight
the GDP is growing at
proximately 5.3%. Actually, can
you go back one more slide.
Apologies. Thank you. Where
one of our concerns is the state
budget. Just recently the LAO's
office released the report that
the state budget is facing
likely a $68 billion budget
deficit next year. That's a
significant amount. That report
does not indicate, you know, --
we don't know how the governor
is planning on addressing those
deficits. We'll receive the
update as part of the January
budget update. We'll have more
information on what impacts to
the county, what they will be at
that time. We are also seeing
the impacts of increased
interest rates at our local
economy. We don't yet know
exactly when those will end and
what the end result are, but we
have been seeing a reduction in
sales that are impacting the
projections, as well. Next
slide, please. So, again, just
briefly through the charts here.
As you see here, this is the
gross domestic product over the
past few years. Just recently,
as of Q3, 2023, it grew at
proximately 5.3%. It's capping
off five consecutive quarters of
growth. That's one of the good
signs we're seeing. Next slide.
One of the challenges, though,
is the interest rates, the
federal interest rates on our
local housing market, and
basically we are seeing a
slowdown in sales. You know,
part of that, we're revising our
three-year projected tax growth
rates from essentially 6% of the
prior year to 5% for fiscal
year' 24-' 25. The red line
indicates our 20-year average.
It's 5%. So we would currently
project that to -- we would
project to go below that 20-year
average in the second and third
years. Next slide. So, again,
in terms of our budget
projections. We're assuming
moderate economic growth. Our
current budget projections --
I'll say this a few times.
Apologies for the redundancies.
Our projections did not assume
significant state budget cuts.
If it were to occur, we would
need to come back and revise our
projections. We'll be looking
closely to the state budget
update in January. Our property
tax projections, as I mentioned
earlier, projecting 5%, 4.5%,
and 4%. We'll be working with
the assess or so's office and
department of finance to refine
those moving forward. Where
applicable, we're seeing growth
in departmental fees. We're
projecting a slight slowdown in
sales tax. One of the key
changes that we're considering,
is revising our assumptions in
terms of year-end roll over.
Currently roll over $20 million
to support the ongoing
operational budget. We have
seen over the past few years,
really, that year-end savings
tick up. We would consider
revising that roll over from $20
million to $25 million. Next
slide, please. In terms of
expenditures, we would maintain
current service levels and
previously improved
enhancements. At this time, we
see the potential for ongoing
service enhancements, depending
on the state budget. Previously
approved COLAs will be retained.
And we expect to see flat
pension costs. And where
applicable, if there are
savings, we would devote those
to our retiree health trust, per
your board's adopted fiscal
policies. Next slide. What you
see here is our three-year
general fund projection. I've
highlighted in two shades of
blue what we're currently
seeing. So the light shade of
blue is our change in
assumption. That's that
increase from $20 million to $25
million. And then the dark blue
is where we see our current, you
know, beyond that assessment.
Beyond that assumption. The
challenge with this is, again,
we assume we're not -- this
projection assumes no state
budget cuts. If it were to
occur, we would have to revise
this. One of the interesting
challenges, and I'll talk about
it in a second. Next year's
budget, in terms of the state
might be okay. There might be
cuts coming in the years. We
wouldn't necessarily want to
enhance our budget, if we would,
you know, expect cuts down the
line. Next slide, please. All
right. So, again, as I
mentioned earlier, the LAO last
week, on Thursday, released
their fiscal projections from
the state budget. They
identified a $68 billion
deficit. It's coming from three
sources, for the most part. One
is just reduced income tax
collections. The other, and
this is the more unique aspect
of this situation the state
finds itself is the federal
postponement of certain income
tax have reduced prior-year
revenues. When the state
adopted the current budget, they
didn't have a great sense of
where the revenues were. We're
seeing a significant reduction
of prior-year revenues which is
exacerbating that state budget
deficit. It assumed a certain
amount of deficit was baked in.
It's the combination of those
three adds up to the $68 billion
deficit. The state does have
options, as indicated in the LAO
report, to address the budget
concern for next year. The LAO
does anticipate proximately $30
billion in annual deficits, if
the state does not require the
expenditures. All right. So,
again, as I mentioned earlier,
it's one of the concerns that we
face is that even e if the state
is able to address the budget
deficit next year, we might not
want to be enhancing our budget,
if a cut is coming in, say,
2025-2026. The state budget
will be released in January. It
will highlight the mechanisms to
address the -- the variety of
mechanisms. One of the funding
to special revenues. Increasing
revenues or expenditure
reductions. Your board has been
prudent in establishing a $7
million state and federal budget
reserve that we can use in case
revenues are significantly
impacted, and would have to, you
know, we would use this reserve
to mitigate any cuts to our
service delivery while we revise
our budget. Okay. That's kind
of our goal. Making sure we
don't have to make snap
decisions and revise our
services to our residents.
We're in an interesting
situation. I want to provide
the slide to talk about why we
have a state shortfall when we
see the local situation
relatively strong. So one of
the reasons that the county does
not rely on income tax, the
state is much more susceptible
to the volatility of the market
than we are. Particularly for
high-income earners and certain
sectors of the economy. So you
look at technology, the
technology sector, in
particular. To the extent we
are exposed to market losses, we
have developed mitigation
strategies. You see it with
MCERA and gains and losses in
the market are amortized over
five years. Then you have
adopted fiscal policies ensuring
that savings and pensions are
dedicated towards unfunded
retiree health care liabilities.
And another factor is that
property tax is much more stable
in terms of revenue growth. So,
again, we are seeing a decline
in that growth. But as a much
more stable revenue source all
together. Where we are is the
Health and Human Services. In
particular our public safety net
programming. So that's where we
need to plan for uncertainty.
Next slide, please. So, again,
if we find ourselves in a
position in 2024 to enhance our
budget, we would bring to your
board recommendations with the
following categories:we would
look to provide some type of
enhancements to enhance
protection of the county work
force, we would look to the
departments and see where we can
make service enhancements that
provide the most benefit to our
residents. We would be
reviewing the proposals as part
of that process, as part of the
budget. Then we would look to
address your county board and
community priorities, as well.
Next slide, please. Later this
week, we'll be having the budget
kickoff with departments. Some
of the highlights I've talked
about. I won't spend too much
time on this. Again, it's the
rollout of the race equity
budget tool. How we would be
using that in the tools and
resources for them, so we can
review our missions, with
budgets, and baseline budget as
well as funding enhancements
request. We want to continue
our continuous improvement
efforts. If the state budget
allows, we would like to have
some level of ongoing BCP
process to provide general fund
enhancements, if the state
budget doesn't involve
significant cuts to the
services. Next slide. We want
to em ployment and use our
previously-approved funding
sources, and update our fees.
In terms of next steps, so today
we're providing an update.
We'll be hosting the -- we'll be
meeting with our departments to
get an update on budget
concerns, emerging priorities,
and needs. As I mentioned
earlier, in January, we expect
to receive the state budget
update, which will provide more
input into the projections. In
March we'll return to the board
with an informational workshop.
To provide an update on budget
work plans and emerging
priorities. In April we'll
revise our projections for our
next three-year projections and
the year-end projection. Those
will instruct the proposed
budget. Then, finally, in June,
we'll have our three-day public
workshop on the proposed budget.
And with that, I'll close for
any questions. Thank you.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Thank
you, Josh. And to Jamillah,
good report, both of you.
Questions?
>>DENNIS RODONI: Thank you,
Josh, for the report update.
Just thinking out loud, and
we're not making any decisions
today, have we thought about
increasing the year-end balance
rollover by $5 million, that was
before we knew what was going on
in the State, and, you know, it
looks like the State is going to
be in a bit of trouble for a
couple of years, and may spend
out their rainy day fund, even.
So I would hope we would take
another look at that and see if
maybe shifting that to this the
state preserve or part might
make sense in the future. Just
your comment on that.
>>JOSH SWEDBERG: Thank you.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Any
other comments?
>>KATIE RICE: I was going to go
to exactly the same place.
Thinking about the $7 million in
the state reserve right now,
which sounds like a lot, but
what we know doesn't go that
far, and so, also, yeah,
thinking about is there a source
to beef that up, even, you know,
just be thinking about beefing
that up. And we've talked about
it in the past as mainly reserve
that allows us to smooth cuts
over time. So we don't see
programs fall off cliffs. On
the other hand, this is my
question to you, I think if you
go back historically, we'll see
over the last 10 to 20 years, I
guess going back to the Great
Recession, when big cuts happen
in the federal/state level in
two or three years, often they
came back. And so I would just
throw out the question or --
yeah. As to should we be
thinking about that state
reserve in terms of doing more
of creating glide paths but
bolstering enough to whether two
or three years of cuts in lieu
of the funding coming back. I'm
talking about safety net
programs. Not general fund
discretionary programs. What do
you think about that?
>>MATTHEW HYMEL: I think the
idea bolstering the -- is a good
one. I think the idea of
whether you take it ongoing
basis or whether you reduce it
over time, really, depends on
the specifics of the state
budget cuts. It gives us time
to work with your board and come
back with recommendations.
That's the way we will proceed.
I think we'll try to look at
opportunities to increase that
reserve in next year's budget,
as well. To give your board
that ability to flex in that
way.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: I
thought your comment of so you
or Josh had said -- I don't know
that you used the words, but
"back to basics budget" to look
closely at the fundamentals we
do and look closely at the BCP.
I would add the board of
Supervisorrings initiative, too.
I looked through the budget. I
think you have to look at it
all.
>>MATTHEW HYMEL: We pride
ourselves. We don't take on a
new service we can't sustain.
That will be our filter as we
make recommendations coming
here.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Yeah.
Great. Okay. We'll open to
public comment now in the
chambers.
>>SPEAKER: In the budget
projection, there's no
consideration about the current
funding for the conflict in
Israel/Palestine may impact
revenues. I want to note we're
losing tech workers to Canada.
A lot of wealth of the Bay Area
relies on H1B visa workers.
Those have become very
imperilled here. When you see
three Palestinian college
students shot simply for being
Palestinian, a lot of south
Asians a lot of people can be
mistaken for looking the wrong
way. Are going to reconsider to
try to get a visa. It's not
just going to impact the
technology sector. We rely on
the visas to staff our
hospitals, including UCSF. So
that should be considered.
There could be boycotts of U.S.
products and U.S. goods, that
would impact us. It's a
short-sighted view, not to
consider these potential
impacts. As for Jordan's
presentation the race equity
aspect of this. I want to point
out, for those who don't already
know it, that Jordan and Matt's
sheriff -- I find disturbing
conflicts of interest. Most
recently the Conflict of
Interest involving Curtis Akins,
who was the chair of your HRC,
and the vice chair, and then was
on the sheriff civilian working
oversight group. He did not
disclose that his son was in law
enforcement, and was involved in
serious use of force incident.
So you can do better. Please
do.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: If
there's no other comments --
okay. Folks in the chambers,
please line up, if there's
anyone else who wants to --
please don't sit in the back and
wait until the end.
>>SPEAKER: Your telling me I
can't sit down? So that report
is null and void. It has no
teeth. The reason? Downstairs.
The department called
Environmental Health. 12 years
ago, proximately, Environmental
Health suddenly stopped taking
phone calls or e-mails,
complaints from Golden Gate
Village. It houses 700
residents in Marin City. How
can you report race matters
equity in all of those things if
you've yet to figure this out.
Stefanie, it's your district.
Your leadership. You're
refusing to change that. Office
of Equity, paid by the county.
You're refusing to look into
this matter regarding Golden
Gate Village residents, 700
people who cannot call for help.
Everywhere else, especially
White people, can call for help
if they're living in squalor.
If there's issues. You recall
in the Marin IJ there was two
articles that came out. One in
July and one in August. They
said things are working. We're
fixing this. We're moving
forward. In a meeting last
month, in Marin City, Sarah
Jones said "that's not true."
They both told us in the meeting
in our faces those articles are
not true. That was a political
stunt. You lied to the
community of Marin City. You
lied to Golden Gate Village
residents. You purposefully
went to the IJ and put that
article out as a political stunt
to make the people believe you
were working with the residents
to improve what was happening
down there. Thank you.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: All
right. We'll go online. I see
four hands.
>>MODERATOR: The first speaker
is Roland Katz. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Good afternoon. I'm
dumbfounded and taken aback by
the suggestion you would
increase your $20 million a year
rollover, which is a paper
transaction to $25 million. I
tend not to be conspiracy
theorist, but I have to wonder
if the fact that a few weeks
back, I pointed out that based
on your own data you have at
least every year in the last
decade $5 million above the $20
million, which you call one-time
money, which clearly isn't
one-time money. Labor costs --
and $20 million paper
transaction up to $25 or maybe
it's a convenient way to say
"let's not do that. Let's put
it in State reserves." Remember
the $20 million primarily comes,
as I understand it, from the
discussions with your budget
people over the last decade, you
built in your budget a couple of
assumptions, which are never
accurate. One is 100% staffing.
Two is everybody in the top
step. Nobody ever has 100%
stashing. If you budget for
100%, of course you have money.
And the roll over is not new
money. It's a paper
transaction. You would hope you
would not increase that paper
transaction from $20 to $25
million and instead look at that
money for years you called as
one-time -- excuse me -- have
better sense than it is. If you
want to address retention and
recruitment, don't spend a lot
of time on so-called strategies
like retention or hiring bonuses
but pay more for people's health
care, do something about
retirement for people. Thank
you very much.
>>MODERATOR: Next speaker is
Rodrigo.
>>SPEAKER: I'm offended by Miss
Jordan's way of doing surveys.
I don't know -- that took the
survey. So she's very selective
about who she picks. And they
might be quite jaded people she
picks for the survey. Let's
talk about affirmative action,
and racial equity. You know,
just the Human Rights
Commission. You have three
whites, one Latino, and three
Blacks. And you're saying that
is racial equity and you're
going to be using them to
support any of your viewpoints?
I mean, how dare you say that
when you don't even have it on
the basic people who are
supposed to represent people.
So you're doing your own
mysterious surveys on where you
get your support. So you have
the same people -- who Conflict
of Interest, and you're going to
be using that for other purposes
to represent the county as to
how to divide up the money. The
population of Marin for Latinos
is 20 to 22%, and you only have
one Latina in the Human Rights
Commission, and you're okay with
that. You haven't even gone
over that to present your
viewpoint to them. And guess
what. They are, you know,
Curtis and Jeremy -- they are so
supportive of you. And all the
other ones are just simply
quiet. Sitting on their hands.
Listening to Curtis and Jeremy,
you know, tell you what a great
job you're doing. What a bunch
of Baloney.
>>MODERATOR: Next speaker is
Johnson Reynolds. Please
unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Yes. Here I am
again. Sorry. I know -- the
issue about the boards and
conditions on the meetings, and
my perspective on that was to
reach out and put on these
boards and commissions, People
of Color, immigrants, and other
less-privileged persons. This
same statement that I made at
that time could affect a racial
equitable budget. Simply having
People of Color, immigrants, and
less privileged persons part of
the training on racial equity.
It should be part of what you do
for a racial equitable budget.
The other thing is, a reminder,
and you've said it before, you
would consider public authority
and the union represents --
service workers to consider
moving the living wage or, you
know, services or care gives
beyond the $18 an hour. That's
a process, I think, as you meet
with the union for the
supportive services workers and
the public authority. That
matters. So just point that
out, too, as a reminder. Thank
you.
>>MODERATOR: The next speaker is
Beverly. Please unmute.
>>SPEAKER: Hi. I just -- I'm
coming on -- good afternoon,
everyone. I'm coming on because
I -- I'm attempting to invite us
all to just show the residents
of Golden Gate Village a little
bit more regard. I just found
out that a deal was made so
people can use the tennis court
for pickle ball for three years,
but the resident council, the
resident council can't -- had to
almost force to sign one-year.
So the pickle ball people who
don't live here can use that
facility. Our facility for
three years, but we can't use --
yes --
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Beverly,
would you like to bring it up
when we do the Marin Housing
Authority meeting?
>>SPEAKER: Oh. This wasn't the
time to talk about that?
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: We
haven't gotten there quite yet.
>>SPEAKER: Oh. I apologize.
Okay. So you want to do it in
this meeting?
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Just
come back and join us again in a
few minutes.
>>SPEAKER: Oh. In a few
minutes. I apologize. I don't
have an agenda. Please forgive
me. I excuse myself.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Not a
problem.
>>SPEAKER: Peace.
>>MODERATOR: President
Moulton-Peters, there are no
additional speakers in the
queue.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: Okay.
Great. So I just want to
comment, you know, the budget,
this presentation was
preliminary budget presentation.
Miss Jordan's presentation, the
race equity budget, she
acknowledges it's a work in
progress. We're making this up
as we go, and we're going to
change and refine it over time.
And, so I think it's important
that we all hold it that way.
We are creating this and we need
to work together to create this
tool that I think will be really
helpful. It will be very
helpful over time. But it's
going to happen with everybody
working together on it. So,
please.
>>KATIE RICE: And I just --
thank you for the work. But
specifically to the race equity
budget tool, and, actually,
really weaving race equity into
how we do business here in the
county, budget and otherwise.
Just to plug-in to both of your
staff heads and department
heads, if we're going into a
scenario where the budget is
tightening, that it's not that
we're actually applying that
race equity lens and that budget
tool to developing the budget in
ongoing programs. Not just for
those PCPs or sort of special
projects or new programs, but
thinking about it in the
day-to-day as we do our best for
our most vulnerable in the
community, and making sure we're
understanding how our services
are benefiting and/or burdening
populations, and if we need to
make adjustments along the way.
I wanted to get that thinking to
be comprehensive in how the
county does budget. -- does
its work. Thank you.
>>PRES. MOULTON-PETERS: And
we'll be starting Marin Housing
in just a moment. , you know
I'm going to ask you hold it.
We've had public comment on the
item now. We'll have public
comment on Housing Authority.
We'll all be here. You can hear
it then. So with that, I
believe there is a
recommendation to accept the
county executive report.
>>KATIE RICE: I'll move
acceptance of the county