[0:01] >> Good morning. Thank you all
[0:02] for joining us. I would like
[0:03] to call this meeting
[0:04] to order this morning. Our
[0:05] pledge and invocation will be
[0:06] led by the 4th district
[0:07] Supervisor Hagman.
[0:09] >> Thank you, Madam Chair, and
[0:10] good morning everyone. I'd
[0:11] like to introduce Pastor
[0:13] Robert Rocha. He's been the
[0:15] lead pastor of Vaz Church in
[0:16] Ontario for eight years. Vaz
[0:18] Church is a non denominational
[0:20] church. Pastor Rocha and his
[0:22] wife Elizabeth and their family
[0:23] and a team
[0:24] of future members launched
[0:25] Vaz Church, which officially
[0:27] opened its doors on February
[0:28] 11, 2018 at the historic
[0:30] Granada Theater in Ontario.
[0:33] Under his leadership, Voss
[0:35] Church has become a thriving,
[0:36] multicultural, multi
[0:37] generational church that is
[0:39] active in the community.
[0:41] Pastor Rocha has a passion for
[0:43] developing next generation
[0:44] leaders as disciples of Jesus
[0:47] while also meeting the needs
[0:48] of the community. He is devoted
[0:50] husband to his wife Elizabeth
[0:51] Torres, who is also a pastor.
[0:52] They've been married for 19
[0:54] years. They have three
[0:55] children, Isabella, Eva and
[0:57] Mateo. In his spare time,
[0:59] Pastor Rocha enjoys spending
[1:00] the time with his family,
[1:02] watching sports events and
[1:03] golfing. And my wife and I had
[1:04] the opportunity to go visit him
[1:06] yesterday and he's had a great
[1:07] message and so much energy
[1:09] at your church. Thank you.
[1:10] What you do
[1:11] for the community. Pastor
[1:13] Rob.
[1:20] >> Good morning. And I would
[1:22] like to thank Supervisor Curt
[1:23] Hagman and the county of San
[1:25] Bernardino for the opportunity
[1:27] and the privilege to lead this
[1:28] invocation and the pledge once
[1:31] again for today's Board of
[1:34] Supervisor meeting. I am truly
[1:35] honored to be here. The word
[1:38] of God declares in Jeremiah
[1:40] 29:7, also seek the peace and
[1:42] prosperity of the city
[1:45] to which I have carried you.
[1:48] Pray to the Lord for it,
[1:50] because if it prospers,
[1:52] you too will prosper. I'm going
[1:54] to invite you
[1:55] to please bow your heads. Let
[1:56] us pray. Heavenly Father, we
[1:58] thank you for the gift
[2:00] of life and for the grace that
[2:01] you that brought us together
[2:03] safely on this day. As we enter
[2:06] into this meeting,
[2:07] we invite your presence
[2:08] into this room. Prepare every
[2:10] heart,
[2:11] align every mind and let your
[2:13] Holy Spirit guide us
[2:14] into truth,
[2:16] clarity and understanding.
[2:19] Lord, we lift up every leader
[2:21] in this place and we ask that
[2:22] you would empower them
[2:23] with wisdom
[2:25] beyond their own discernment.
[2:27] For every decision and
[2:28] integrity and
[2:29] in every action,
[2:31] let justice be the standard.
[2:33] Truth be their foundation and
[2:35] service be their motive. Your
[2:38] word calls us to seek the peace
[2:39] and the prosperity
[2:42] of our city. Today. We stand on
[2:44] that promise and we declare
[2:45] this over San Bernardino
[2:48] County. We ask that you would
[2:49] bring peace where there is
[2:51] tension, unity where there is
[2:52] division and vision,
[2:54] where there is uncertainty.
[2:56] Let this county flourish.
[2:58] Economically, socially and
[3:00] spiritually, so that every
[3:01] family, every business and
[3:03] every community may experience
[3:05] a well being and opportunity.
[3:07] May the decisions made here
[3:10] today lead to solutions that
[3:13] uplift the people,
[3:15] strengthen our communities,
[3:17] and reflect the greater good
[3:18] of all. We ask that your
[3:20] kingdom come,
[3:21] your will be done in San
[3:22] Bernardino county as it is
[3:24] in heaven. In Jesus name we
[3:25] pray. Amen. Now, if you would
[3:28] please face the flag and place
[3:30] your right hand over your heart
[3:32] and let us pledge allegiance
[3:34] together. Ready? Begin.
[3:39] >> I pledge allegiance
[3:40] to the flag of the United
[3:42] States of America and to the
[3:43] Republic for which it stands,
[3:45] one nation, under God,
[3:47] indivisible,
[3:48] with liberty and justice
[3:50] for all. Thank you.
[3:52] >> Thank you very much.
[3:54] >> Thank you, Pastor Rob.
[3:56] >> We will now move on
[3:58] to our memorial adjournments.
[3:59] Vice Chair Baca.
[4:00] >> Thank you, Madam Chair.
[4:01] Today gives me great honor
[4:03] to adjourn in memory of coach
[4:04] Ray C. Aldama of Colton. He was
[4:05] 55 years of age,
[4:07] a lifelong resident of
[4:08] Colton, and he was a former
[4:09] teammate of mine. We were
[4:11] actually rivals
[4:13] in high school. I was at
[4:14] Eisenhower, he was at Colton,
[4:16] and we ended up becoming
[4:18] teammates at Valley College
[4:20] in Cal State San Bernardino. I
[4:21] know that many
[4:23] of his friends, you know,
[4:24] are taking this loss tough. He
[4:26] was a well respected coach at
[4:28] San Gorgonio High School and
[4:29] teacher, physical education
[4:31] teacher, great athlete,
[4:32] a great human being, and, you
[4:34] know, just a good person.
[4:35] And, you know,
[4:36] it's very personal
[4:37] for me because, you know,
[4:38] my father grew up
[4:39] with his older brothers,
[4:41] his older brothers, Bieber,
[4:42] Sal Chito, longtime family
[4:44] friends. So this is a hard one.
[4:46] And I actually went
[4:48] to high school with his niece
[4:50] Angela. So, you know,
[4:51] a heart goes out to the Aldama
[4:52] family. Thank you, Madam
[4:54] Chair.
[4:55] >> Thank you very much,
[4:58] Supervisor Cook, Supervisor
[4:59] Armendarez, Supervisor
[5:01] Hagman.
[5:02] >> Yeah, thank you, Madam
[5:03] Chair. I'd like
[5:05] to also adjourn in memory of
[5:06] Freddie Contreras. Freddie
[5:08] Contreras was devoted husband,
[5:09] loving father,
[5:11] and proud grandfather Charis
[5:12] family. Above all,
[5:14] he enjoys spending time
[5:15] with his wife and children,
[5:16] especially treasured moment
[5:17] of his grandson. He's a
[5:19] dedicated, hardworking man.
[5:20] Freddie served over 20 years
[5:21] with the California Department
[5:23] of Corrections and
[5:24] Rehabilitation, beginning his
[5:25] career at the California
[5:26] Rehabilitation Center CRC in
[5:28] 2001. He was known
[5:30] for being kind,
[5:31] caring and deeply supportive.
[5:32] Husband and father, Freddie
[5:34] passed away suddenly on April
[5:36] 19. He survived
[5:37] by his beloved wife, two
[5:39] daughters, son and grandson.
[5:40] Our thoughts and prayers
[5:42] with the Contreras family
[5:43] during this difficult time.
[5:44] Thank you.
[5:45] >> Thank you very much. I would
[5:46] like to adjourn in memory of
[5:47] Marjorie Smith, who passed away
[5:49] on April 21. Marjorie was a
[5:50] driving force behind the
[5:51] Morongo Basin Volunteer
[5:53] Organizations Active in
[5:54] Disasters, also known as VOAD.
[5:56] She was a dedicated volunteer
[5:57] with the American Red Cross and
[5:59] she helped organize disaster
[6:00] preparedness expos in Yucca
[6:02] Valley, encouraging residents
[6:04] to stay alert and help each
[6:06] other during a time
[6:07] of crisis. I would also like
[6:09] to adjourn in memory of
[6:11] George Murillo, who was a
[6:13] resident of Highland and he
[6:14] passed away at the age of 94
[6:15] on May 1st. George is the
[6:17] father of Chairwoman Lynn
[6:19] Valbuena and Secretary Audrey
[6:20] Martinez, both of whom serve
[6:26] on the Tribal Council at
[6:28] Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel
[6:30] Nation. Our hearts go out
[6:31] to them both and their families
[6:34] during this difficult time.
[6:35] We. We have one special
[6:37] presentation this morning,
[6:38] so if my colleagues will join
[6:40] me in the well, please. And I
[6:41] would like to invite up the
[6:44] Auditor, Controller, Tax
[6:45] Collector and your entire team
[6:46] for today.
[7:22] Come on, everybody. We'll jump
[7:25] in here this morning. It is our
[7:26] honor
[7:28] to present three financial
[7:29] Reporting awards to the Office
[7:30] of the Auditor, Controller,
[7:31] Treasurer, Tax Collector
[7:32] for fiscal year ending June
[7:33] 30, 2024. The first two awards
[7:35] are from the Government
[7:37] Finance Officers Association.
[7:38] The Certificate of Achievement
[7:40] for Excellence in Financial
[7:41] Reporting is the premier
[7:43] indicator of excellence
[7:45] in governmental accounting
[7:46] for the preparation of the
[7:47] annual comprehensive financial
[7:50] report. The award
[7:51] for outstanding achievement
[7:53] in popular Annual financial
[7:54] Reporting recognizes the
[7:55] department's ability to distill
[7:57] complex financial information
[7:59] from a highly technical annual
[8:00] comprehensive financial and
[8:02] produce a clear and concise
[8:03] report for our constituents.
[8:05] The third award, presented
[8:09] on behalf of the California
[8:11] State Controller, recognizes
[8:12] the highest quality in
[8:14] governmental accounting and
[8:15] financial reporting in
[8:16] California. These awards
[8:17] reflect the professionalism and
[8:18] the dedication of the ATC
[8:20] Controller Division led by
[8:21] Chief Deputy Mima Ugbo,
[8:24] overseen by Assistant ATC
[8:26] Vanessa Doyle. On behalf
[8:28] of the board,
[8:29] it is my pleasure
[8:30] to present these
[8:31] to your entire department.
[8:32] Congratulations. We will now
[9:27] move on to our reports
[9:31] from our County Council. Laura
[9:32] thank you, Madam Chair. I have
[9:34] nothing to report. And reports
[9:35] from our CEO Luther.
[9:36] >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I
[9:37] wanted to take a moment and
[9:38] report that the county has
[9:40] received the Government
[9:42] Finance Officers Association
[9:43] Distinguished Budget
[9:46] Presentation Award. That is a
[9:48] mouthful.
[9:49] For fiscal year beginning July
[9:51] 1, 2025, this is the highest
[9:53] form of recognition
[9:54] in governmental budgeting.
[9:56] It's not uncommon that our
[9:58] finance office wins this award,
[10:00] but what is unique this year
[10:01] is, for the first time ever,
[10:03] the county also received a
[10:04] special recognition
[10:06] for our budget, specifically
[10:08] for strategic goals and
[10:09] strategies. So pretty cool.
[10:13] It's a meaningful
[10:14] accomplishment, a reflection
[10:15] of the strong partnership
[10:16] across the organization. So
[10:17] congrats to the board
[10:18] for their support
[10:19] in our budget. We'll be having
[10:21] actually a discussion item
[10:22] about that later today. And
[10:23] Matthew, our CFO. Thank you
[10:25] Matthew for his commitment
[10:27] to excellence. Our whole CAO
[10:29] finance team and frankly the
[10:31] entire county, all
[10:33] of our staff who work hard to
[10:34] put together an exceptional
[10:36] budget. This week is Public
[10:38] Service Week. This is a
[10:40] recognition that we received
[10:42] here. It's a strong reminder
[10:44] that all the work done behind
[10:46] the scenes has a direct and
[10:47] meaningful impact
[10:49] on the public that we serve.
[10:51] In just recognition to all our
[10:52] hard working staff this week
[10:54] especially, thank you
[10:55] for all you do. Thank you for
[10:56] the huge impact that you make
[10:58] every day and
[10:59] for pouring your heart and
[11:00] souls into this work. So thank
[11:01] you very much and
[11:03] congratulations
[11:04] to the team.
[11:06] >> Thank you very much. All
[11:12] right, that brings us to our
[11:14] individual board member
[11:15] comments, Vice Chair Baca.
[11:16] >> Thank you Madam Chair. I
[11:18] just want
[11:19] to echo the CEO's sentiments
[11:20] on public Service week. Want to
[11:22] thank all our county employees
[11:23] for the great work you do.
[11:24] Just incredible for the amount
[11:26] of individuals that you service
[11:27] in your community. So hats off
[11:28] to all our county employees.
[11:29] All the departments also want
[11:31] to announce that in Muscoy, as
[11:33] a result of our $2.1 million
[11:35] American Rescue Plan act,
[11:37] they were able to complete a
[11:38] 83,500 square foot outdoor
[11:42] learning center which includes
[11:43] a sensory garden, outdoor
[11:45] class, classrooms, basketball
[11:46] court, foots all court. This
[11:48] has been a great investment
[11:49] for the Muscoy community which
[11:50] is a clearly a highly
[11:52] underserved community. So
[11:53] congratulations to Muscoy
[11:55] Elementary School. Had the
[11:57] opportunity to attend
[11:58] with my colleague Chair Rowe
[12:00] and Supervisor Armendarez, the
[12:02] serviceman. Recognition for all
[12:03] the recognition many years, 25
[12:05] plus years for all employees.
[12:07] So congratulations to all those
[12:08] employees that continue
[12:10] to serve our county. I want to
[12:11] congratulate our county staff
[12:12] and all our departments
[12:13] for doing a tremendous job
[12:14] for your take your child
[12:15] to work day. And I think it's
[12:16] just a great experience
[12:18] for all
[12:19] of us board members and staff
[12:20] to really expose their kids
[12:21] to that, but really get
[12:22] to bond and for the families
[12:24] to get
[12:25] to see what their parents do at
[12:26] work and also even considering
[12:28] coming back at some point
[12:29] in time and working
[12:30] for the county of San
[12:31] Bernardino.
[12:32] But I think it continues
[12:33] to grow every year and
[12:34] continues to be more and more
[12:35] successful and fun for all the
[12:36] employees. I attended the
[12:38] Children's memorial flag
[12:39] raising event
[12:40] with my colleague Supervisor
[12:42] Armendarez, just so they could
[12:43] recognize those children that
[12:45] have lost their lives due to
[12:46] violence. I think it's an
[12:47] important, critical time to
[12:49] recognize and make sure we
[12:50] continue to support Our
[12:51] children throughout the
[12:53] community also went to the
[12:54] Arrowhead Grove Check awards
[12:57] ceremony which was here in
[12:59] San Bernardino on Baseline and
[13:00] Waterman. We accepted a check
[13:02] for $3 million from
[13:04] Congressman Aguilar to invest
[13:05] in 132 new affordable housing
[13:06] projects in the city of San
[13:08] Bernardino. Currently the
[13:11] county has given 5 million
[13:12] which will allow for 92
[13:14] additional units which is
[13:16] under construction now. But
[13:17] this will also add a phase five
[13:19] which is really great. I want
[13:20] to thank public works and
[13:22] county code
[13:23] for the great work they did
[13:25] during the Bloomington and
[13:26] Muscoy Earth Day cleanup. It
[13:28] was a great turnout. Want
[13:29] to thank all the volunteers.
[13:30] But one
[13:32] of the great things is our
[13:33] Sheriff's department arrested
[13:34] individual and also they
[13:35] removed an encampment which
[13:36] just an eyesore
[13:38] to the community. So hats off
[13:39] to our county code enforcement
[13:41] for removing that big
[13:42] encampment. Thank you
[13:43] for doing that. Also our office
[13:45] had a. We hosted a Fentanyl
[13:47] film contest screening contest
[13:49] here in San Bernardino where
[13:50] our students throughout our
[13:51] local high schools submitted
[13:53] videos and the winner was
[13:54] recognized
[13:55] with the scholarship. So we had
[13:56] four scholarships that were
[13:58] awarded for the amount
[13:59] of fifteen hundred dollars
[14:00] to those students in schools.
[14:01] Just a great event to bring
[14:02] Fentanyl awareness
[14:05] to our community. Also we
[14:06] attended the county Employee
[14:07] Excellence recognition along
[14:08] with my colleagues Supervisor
[14:10] Chair and Supervisor Hagman
[14:11] where 58 employees are
[14:12] recognized
[14:14] for the great work they
[14:15] continue to do in our county.
[14:16] Congratulations. Also
[14:18] participated in the Donate
[14:19] Live Month flag raising event
[14:21] at ARMC. Want to thank Andrew
[14:22] Goldfrack and the team for
[14:23] putting that together as they
[14:24] continue to get donors which is
[14:26] very very critical. And then
[14:27] this afternoon there is going
[14:29] to be a check presentation
[14:30] for $2 million as we look
[14:32] at potentially investing
[14:33] in phase three or phase two of
[14:35] our local animal shelter. I
[14:37] want to thank Congressman
[14:38] Aguilar
[14:39] for his continued investment
[14:41] in our county. Continues
[14:43] to deliver for our county. So
[14:44] thank you Congressman Aguilar
[14:45] and just want
[14:46] to highlight a few board items.
[14:48] Item 31, the HUD Action Plan
[14:50] which will be $1.27 million
[14:52] investment in the Colton
[14:53] Hunting Corporate Area
[14:55] for ADA ramps and sidewalks.
[14:56] And also there's a plan
[14:58] for affordable housing
[14:59] for fifth and Meridian which
[15:00] borders the city of San
[15:02] Bernardino and Rialto which
[15:03] will bring 106 affordable units
[15:05] which is great. 22 for units
[15:07] aging help foster youth. So
[15:08] this is a great investment.
[15:10] Also item 43 want to thank our
[15:12] preschool services department
[15:14] for making a $10 million
[15:15] investment for upgrading all
[15:17] our classrooms which will give
[15:18] our kids in our preschools the
[15:20] opportunity to compete
[15:21] with other schools
[15:22] in all kinds of Technological
[15:24] investments. And the last thing
[15:25] is, we continue to invest
[15:27] in our animal care group,
[15:28] item number 48, which is to
[15:30] make sure that we have housing
[15:31] and look
[15:32] at a more regional approach
[15:34] to our animal care. Thank you,
[15:35] Madam Chair.
[15:37] >> Thank you very much,
[15:38] Supervisor Cook.
[15:40] >> Yeah, I'm not sure that this
[15:42] is the proper time
[15:46] to say what I'm going to say,
[15:48] but anything you want. I have a
[15:50] knack for doing that. I think
[15:54] the subject of drones,
[15:58] it's one that very,
[16:00] very interested in because I
[16:04] represent an area that's, you
[16:06] know, mostly all desert, a lot
[16:09] of it,
[16:10] particularly the high desert.
[16:14] And I've lived here a long
[16:15] while, both
[16:17] in the military and as,
[16:20] as a civilian. And we have a
[16:23] history, quite frankly,
[16:25] at least in my district, the
[16:28] Mojave Desert, where somebody
[16:30] gets lost, they're out there
[16:32] hiking or what have you,
[16:34] and we never find them. And you
[16:38] say to yourself,
[16:40] how can we do this? The
[16:44] technology before we used
[16:47] to have, you know, airplanes
[16:48] and helicopters and everything
[16:50] else. And it always used
[16:53] to bother me when we. There was
[16:55] somebody lost out there
[16:58] in the Mojave Desert. It is
[16:59] absolutely huge,
[17:01] but it is very unforgiving. So
[17:06] the subject of drones is going
[17:08] to be something I'm going
[17:10] to be a pass on, on how we can
[17:13] use that technology. And
[17:17] obviously it comes down
[17:18] to money and everything
[17:20] like that, but it also comes
[17:24] down to perhaps saving one or I
[17:26] don't know how many lives. So I
[17:28] thought I'd mention that. I
[17:30] don't know if that's. This is
[17:34] the proper place for sure. But
[17:36] I would hope that we do this so
[17:38] that we don't have another
[17:40] accident where somebody is
[17:42] out there. They don't realize
[17:44] how unforgiving the desert can
[17:48] be even in cold weather because
[17:50] it's so vast. But, you know,
[17:54] I've kind of made a vow, not
[17:56] on my watch again. So that's
[17:58] the future that I'm going to
[18:00] try and advocate so maybe we
[18:05] can win a battle
[18:08] over the desert. Thank you.
[18:10] >> Thank you very much,
[18:11] Supervisor Armendarez.
[18:12] >> Yes, thank you, Chair. Lots
[18:13] of exciting things happened
[18:14] in the last couple weeks.
[18:16] In second district,
[18:18] we were able to tour a veterans
[18:20] retreat center that's being
[18:22] built currently in Mount
[18:23] Baldy. Excited
[18:25] to see what's going on
[18:27] with that. Hoping
[18:28] to build some sort
[18:29] of collaboration with them so
[18:31] we can help serve our vets a
[18:33] little bit better. The second
[18:34] district, we had our mobile pop
[18:35] up hours where we had over 11
[18:37] constituents come out and tell
[18:38] us issues that they had. And
[18:40] we're working on every one
[18:41] of those issues to see how we
[18:43] can help them and accommodate
[18:45] them with their needs. We did a
[18:46] check presentation
[18:47] for the arts for Palmetto
[18:48] Elementary School. We went to
[18:49] Fontana Unified School
[18:50] District, State
[18:51] of the district.
[18:55] >> I want to make sure thank
[18:56] everybody
[18:57] for the bring your child
[18:58] to work day. It was a great
[19:00] event. I had my kids here and
[19:01] for them
[19:02] to see all the interaction
[19:03] with people it was great
[19:04] for them to be here. So really
[19:06] enjoyed that event. I also
[19:07] attended the Empire Strikers
[19:08] Partnership Appreciation Night
[19:09] where they spoke about the
[19:11] partnerships that we've had
[19:12] through the years including
[19:14] San Bernardino counties. We
[19:15] spoke at the children's
[19:18] memorial flag raising ceremony
[19:21] with my colleague here, Mr.
[19:23] Baca and we went to a Earth day
[19:25] celebration luncheon
[19:28] at the former CSI. We went to
[19:30] Pinwell pledge campaign which
[19:32] is making awareness
[19:36] of child abuse. We were able
[19:38] to speak at that event for
[19:39] to a bunch of young kids
[19:41] from the Exchange club or they
[19:43] call it the Excel Club in
[19:45] Summit High School. We went
[19:46] to Fontana Unified School
[19:48] District's award ceremony
[19:50] for their students and staff.
[19:52] It was called meeting over and
[19:54] beyond the expectation. And
[19:56] honestly the only reason I came
[19:57] clear of it is my son actually
[19:58] received an award there
[20:00] for going over and
[20:01] beyond and that's how I heard
[20:03] about it. But it was exciting
[20:04] to see all the teachers and
[20:06] students that were acknowledged
[20:07] for going over and
[20:08] beyond what they are capable
[20:10] of doing. We also attended the
[20:13] Fontana Days parade. We had a
[20:15] community cleanup event in
[20:16] Fontana unincorporated area. I
[20:18] also spoke at the Asian
[20:20] Business Association's Inland
[20:21] Empire Health and Wellness. We
[20:23] talked about everything
[20:25] from warehouses to housing. We
[20:26] also were we supported the
[20:29] Sheriff's Department seat heat
[20:31] annual event and we also did a
[20:34] check presentation to
[20:36] Citadel. That concludes my
[20:38] comments.
[20:39] >> Thank you very much
[20:40] Supervisor Hagman.
[20:41] >> Thank you.
[20:43] >> Just want to kind
[20:45] of highlight item number 77
[20:46] which includes a 12.7 million
[20:48] investment for the Grow Basin
[20:49] outlet storm drain in the city
[20:51] of Ontario
[20:53] to include flooding issues. It
[20:54] was a busy month so I think
[20:56] we're all pretty busy.
[20:57] But some of the past events
[20:58] recently we attended the ribbon
[21:00] cutting for Prado Park's new
[21:02] entry Monument Gatehouse. The
[21:04] snack bar and boat dock really
[21:06] shouts out to Beata and the
[21:08] team that they've done the
[21:10] great job. These are part of
[21:11] the multimillion dollar
[21:12] investment in to Prado
[21:14] Regional Park. Thank you to
[21:15] Upland Women's Club who
[21:17] recently had me attend their
[21:18] 100th year anniversary. I also
[21:20] recently spoke at the Upland
[21:21] Foothill Quantum monthly
[21:23] meeting. And thank you to our
[21:24] service groups who do so much
[21:26] for the community. The city
[21:27] of Montclair also recently
[21:28] celebrated its 70th year's
[21:31] birthday or founding so
[21:34] congratulations
[21:35] to them. I was also honored
[21:37] to recently attend the
[21:38] Montclair's 38th annual
[21:40] Volunteer Awards and thank you
[21:41] all who serve our communities.
[21:43] Also recently attended Fire
[21:45] Ops one on one with the Chino
[21:46] Valley Fire District.
[21:49] Workforce Development recently
[21:50] held a job fair,
[21:51] an expungement event
[21:53] with the 4th district. It was
[21:54] at the Ontario Airport. They
[21:55] served four, they saw 466 job
[21:57] seekers and also 85 individuals
[22:01] started their record cleaning
[22:03] process. Family shelter also
[22:04] received 50,000
[22:06] from our office
[22:07] to serve families in need.
[22:09] Upcoming District events
[22:10] includes the SKAG General
[22:12] assembly starts tomorrow and
[22:14] all local governments around
[22:15] the region get together once a
[22:17] year. Our next shredding event
[22:19] is June 6th at the City of
[22:21] Chino and May 20th is our
[22:23] annual open house at the
[22:24] Chino's office between 5 and 7
[22:26] and I want to Also congrats
[22:30] to the San Bernardino County
[22:32] Library who recently honored us
[22:33] the Best of the Best Library
[22:35] in the region by Inland Empire
[22:37] readers. And finally,
[22:39] applications for the San
[22:40] Bernardino County Civil Grand
[22:42] Jury are currently being
[22:43] accepted through July 31st and
[22:44] visit our website
[22:46] to learn more.
[22:47] >> Thank you, thank you. As our
[22:48] Vice Chair mentioned,
[22:49] we had the opportunity
[22:50] to recognize the Public
[22:52] Service Recognition Week which
[22:54] is the first week in May, and
[22:56] San Bernardino county proudly
[22:57] joins our federal,
[22:58] state and local governments
[23:00] in honoring the dedication
[23:01] of public servants on
[23:02] across the entire nation. But
[23:04] this week really provides a
[23:05] meaningful opportunity
[23:06] to acknowledge the commitment,
[23:07] the integrity and the
[23:09] professionalism demonstrated
[23:10] daily by those who have not
[23:11] just taken jobs
[23:13] but have taken an oath
[23:14] to serve our communities. On
[23:16] April 29, the county proudly
[23:18] recognized this year's Public
[23:19] Service Awards Recipients,
[23:21] celebrating staff from
[23:22] across all of our organizations
[23:24] who have demonstrated
[23:26] exceptional service
[23:27] to our communities.
[23:28] Congratulations to all
[23:29] of the recipients and thank you
[23:31] for your dedication to the
[23:32] county and the departments that
[23:34] you support. We have a free
[23:36] chipping program coming up. As
[23:37] wildfire season approaches,
[23:39] residents of the third
[23:40] District who have cleared
[23:41] vegetation around their homes
[23:43] can take advantage of free wood
[23:44] chipping programs provided
[23:46] by the local Fire Safe
[23:48] Councils. They include Yucaipa
[23:50] and Oak Glenn, the Rim
[23:51] communities in the Big Bear
[23:53] area. And you can register
[23:55] at firesafenow.org and I would
[23:58] like to mention as I wrap up my
[24:00] comments that we have a number
[24:01] of speakers signed up
[24:03] on items not on today's agenda
[24:06] for the Lone Pine Canyon
[24:09] Quarry Project. That project is
[24:11] still going
[24:12] through the planning stages.
[24:14] This board will not be hearing
[24:16] that item anytime soon,
[24:17] but it is in the planning
[24:19] stages and public comment is
[24:21] open to be received in the
[24:22] Land Use Services Department.
[24:24] And you are more than welcome
[24:26] to stay and give your comments
[24:27] here at the board. The
[24:29] appropriate time and place
[24:30] for it to be considered is
[24:32] within the Land Use Planning
[24:34] Department, and that department
[24:35] is right across the lobby.
[24:37] Miguel is here, our Director
[24:39] of Land Use Services,
[24:40] with his hand raised,
[24:43] and he can direct anybody
[24:44] over there
[24:46] to provide public comment
[24:47] to the planner of that project
[24:48] so it can be received as part
[24:50] of the CEQA documents and then
[24:51] be a part
[24:52] of the official record. And
[24:53] again,
[24:54] you're more than welcome
[24:55] to do both.
[24:56] But if you're here today
[24:57] to provide comment as a part
[24:58] of the official record,
[24:59] it would need to be done
[25:01] through the Land Use Services
[25:02] Planning Department. And
[25:03] with that, Danette, do we have
[25:04] any additions or revisions
[25:05] to today's agenda?
[25:06] >> We have no changes
[25:07] to the agenda. Thank you,
[25:08] Madam Chair.
[25:09] >> Do we have any board members
[25:10] wishing
[25:11] to disclose any conflicts
[25:13] of interest on any items? All
[25:15] right. Seeing none,
[25:16] we will move on
[25:17] to our consent calendar,
[25:18] which today consists
[25:19] of items number two through
[25:21] 81. And I have a number
[25:23] of requests to speak
[25:25] on consent. We will begin
[25:27] with Maria Gamboa, followed
[25:29] by Amethyst Yates. Yes.
[25:44] Podiums on either side. You
[25:45] have three minutes
[25:47] for public comment. When you're
[25:48] down to your last 30 seconds,
[25:49] it will turn orange,
[25:51] and then it will flash red
[25:52] at the end of the three minutes
[25:53] and begin whenever you're
[25:54] ready.
[25:55] >> Well, my name is Maria
[25:57] Luisa Gamboa, and I was here
[25:59] about. Well, I'm with Gamboa,
[26:01] Counseling, private practice.
[26:04] I'm a provider for CPS. Have
[26:08] been for almost 20 years. And I
[26:11] was here about a year ago,
[26:13] not quite a year,
[26:18] and you really helped me out.
[26:21] My issue was I hadn't been paid
[26:23] for about four months, and
[26:25] after speaking here,
[26:28] I got all my pay
[26:30] within two weeks. So that was a
[26:32] huge success. So I just want
[26:34] to thank you for that. While I
[26:36] was here, I got the impression
[26:38] that you were very interested
[26:39] in the functioning
[26:44] of that program. It's the CAPS
[26:45] program. And what happened
[26:49] after that opened up the
[26:51] conversation
[26:54] about my participation,
[26:58] my providing services
[26:59] in that program. And they asked
[27:01] me if I had any concerns. So I
[27:03] said, well, okay,
[27:06] they're willing to listen. So I
[27:07] shared
[27:10] with them. I think there was
[27:12] about three concerns that I had
[27:13] that I had been trying
[27:15] to resolve for about those 20
[27:17] years. Well, maybe 15 years,
[27:19] and I had not been listened to.
[27:23] After speaking here,
[27:27] they were willing to listen.
[27:32] That was maybe around June, and
[27:34] we had some discussions. And
[27:36] out of those discussions, they
[27:39] presented what they were
[27:42] willing to negotiate on. It was
[27:46] really good. I was very
[27:49] surprised. In September, out
[27:53] of those three issues, they
[27:56] immediately accepted the
[27:59] amendment on one of them. This
[28:01] was regarding insurance
[28:02] coverages that we have
[28:04] to maintain. They were
[28:06] exorbitant for a person just
[28:09] in private practice. So they
[28:11] accepted the change. There's a
[28:14] huge long story,
[28:15] but I don't have time
[28:17] for here. But the other two
[28:21] that they said they would amend
[28:24] never happened. And I would
[28:27] make phone calls, I'd leave
[28:29] messages. I'd constantly trying
[28:32] to speak to someone,
[28:33] what's the update
[28:35] on this agreement? And I would
[28:39] just get the run
[28:40] around and run around. The
[28:42] person that helped me the most
[28:43] was Ms. Adams. Cheryl Adams.
[28:47] So she was very helpful. So
[28:50] anyway, what
[28:53] to bring it closer
[28:54] to now.
[29:01] >> Thank you. Amethyst Yates,
[29:03] followed by Andrea Myers.
[29:13] Excuse me, ma'am,
[29:15] if you'll wait just one second
[29:16] before you walk out the door.
[29:18] Victor, you may have to run.
[29:22] Thank you. Amethyst Yates.
[29:28] We'll move on to Andrea
[29:31] Myers, followed by Carlo. Last
[29:40] chance for amethyst yates.
[29:43] Andrea myers. All right,
[29:50] and then we'll move on to
[29:53] Carlo. Good morning, sir.
[30:00] >> Good morning, Board. Good
[30:01] morning, everybody. It's a
[30:03] pleasure
[30:04] to see everyone here. So
[30:05] on the item that I want
[30:06] to speak
[30:07] about is the programs run
[30:08] by and contracts offered
[30:13] by cfs. This is a substantial
[30:15] amount of money,
[30:17] okay? A substantial amount
[30:18] of money that I cannot,
[30:20] nor can the director of cfs,
[30:22] when I spoke to her,
[30:23] guarantee that these services
[30:25] from removals were based
[30:27] on false allegations. It's
[30:30] pretty much a kidnapping
[30:31] industrial complex. There's a
[30:33] lot of money that the taxpayers
[30:36] are paying
[30:37] to support these programs,
[30:39] businesses, and we cannot
[30:40] guarantee that these kids were
[30:43] not removed
[30:44] from false allegations,
[30:45] but were spending all this
[30:47] money with no accountability.
[30:49] Do you know the heartbreak
[30:50] people feel these families feel
[30:53] they see as professionals
[30:54] in their suits, lawyers,
[30:56] judges, and then they have
[30:58] to go do these services. Once
[31:01] they complete the services,
[31:02] CFS still says, hey,
[31:04] guess what? We're still going
[31:05] to adopt your kids out.
[31:09] Where's the accountability
[31:13] for this? There is none. So if
[31:14] you're not going to go ahead
[31:16] and give the kids back after
[31:17] providing all these services,
[31:19] then why pay for them at all?
[31:23] We have kids
[31:24] in group homes getting beat up,
[31:28] raped, tortured, starving.
[31:31] Where's the accountability? I
[31:33] asked the director herself.
[31:38] When she was outside here,
[31:40] and I spoke to her. She said
[31:41] there's a difference when a
[31:43] woman grow ups a child and when
[31:45] a man does it. So if this is
[31:46] the kind
[31:47] of leadership we have,
[31:49] then I suggest we start over.
[31:51] As the grand jury stated,
[31:53] we start over checking
[31:55] out these contracts, checking
[31:57] out all the hundreds
[31:58] of millions
[32:00] of dollars the county is paying
[32:01] for these services, because we
[32:02] cannot trust these people
[32:05] to stand there in front
[32:06] of court, to stand in front
[32:08] of the parents and say, yes,
[32:09] you will get your kids back
[32:11] when you complete these
[32:12] services. That the taxpayers
[32:14] of San Bernardino, the
[32:15] taxpayers of the state of
[32:17] California, and the taxpayers
[32:19] through Title 4E funding from
[32:20] Social Security, that's I think
[32:23] this year is about $50 billion
[32:25] out of Social Security going
[32:27] to these programs
[32:28] across the country. It's
[32:33] satanic, it's demonic, the
[32:36] suffering these families go
[32:39] through. And at the end
[32:41] of it, false allegations.
[32:45] Now, child abuse is real,
[32:49] but if you can, as a director,
[32:50] guarantee that removals,
[32:52] adoptions, and every which way
[32:55] in between is based
[32:57] on false allegations,
[32:58] then you need a new job.
[33:01] >> Thank you. That is the last
[33:02] request to speak that I have.
[33:03] Do I have any board members
[33:04] wishing to pull an item
[33:06] for discussion?
[33:07] >> Second
[33:09] >> I have a motion by
[33:10] Supervisor Hagman, a second
[33:11] by Vice Chair Baca. All those
[33:12] in favor?
[33:13] >> Aye.
[33:14] >> Any opposed? Any
[33:15] abstentions?
[33:16] >> With that, the consent
[33:17] calendar passes unanimously.
[33:18] >> Thank you very much. We will
[33:20] now move on
[33:21] to our discussion calendar.
[33:24] And starting with item number
[33:27] 82 is a report regarding
[33:28] implementation
[33:29] of remote public participation
[33:30] for Board of Supervisors
[33:32] meeting and outreach plan being
[33:33] presented this morning by
[33:34] Stephanie Shea.
[33:53] >> Stephanie Shea, Deputy
[33:54] Executive Officer I'm here
[33:56] today to present information
[33:57] on Senate Bill 707 regarding
[33:59] the implementation of remote
[34:01] public participation and the
[34:03] associated outreach plan. This
[34:06] presentation is just
[34:07] about five slides,
[34:08] and there'll be an opportunity
[34:10] for questions afterwards. So a
[34:12] little bit history about
[34:14] Senate Bill 707. It was adopted
[34:16] in 2025. It applies
[34:18] to counties with populations
[34:20] of over 30,000, and it will
[34:22] require counties like ours
[34:23] to provide remote options
[34:25] for public participation,
[34:27] to engage those members of the
[34:29] public who wouldn't
[34:31] traditionally participate in
[34:32] board meetings and offer them
[34:34] the chance
[34:35] to participate remotely. This
[34:38] bill will be effective actually
[34:40] July 1st of 2026. And we
[34:43] prepared for this. The clerk
[34:45] of the board has taken a lead
[34:46] on this effort and has secured
[34:48] a platform to provide remote
[34:50] public participation via
[34:52] telephone. The Clerk of the
[34:54] board will also establish a
[34:55] website to provide information
[34:57] on this process to include how
[34:59] to register, how to submit
[35:00] for public comment. The website
[35:03] will also include information
[35:04] about board meeting calendar
[35:06] dates and the agenda. And then
[35:07] lastly,
[35:09] we developed a targeted
[35:10] outreach plan, again
[35:11] with the goal to engage the
[35:13] public who don't traditionally
[35:14] participate
[35:15] in public meetings or
[35:16] in board meetings
[35:18] to participate remotely. And
[35:20] in doing so,
[35:21] our outreach plan includes a
[35:22] few Elements, we intend to
[35:25] provide advertisements and
[35:27] newspapers and provide county
[35:30] updates in both English and
[35:31] Spanish. Other elements
[35:33] of this plan include sending
[35:34] out newsletters, social media,
[35:36] sending out emails,
[35:39] and providing information
[35:41] on county websites. Our county
[35:45] is so large geographically that
[35:47] our county departments do a
[35:49] great job of providing events
[35:50] and utilizing their mobile
[35:52] units
[35:54] to again provide services
[35:55] to county residents
[35:57] across the county. So what we
[35:58] intend to do is we intend
[36:00] to partner with our county
[36:01] departments and share
[36:03] information, outreach materials
[36:05] that include QR codes and other
[36:06] information about this process
[36:08] in English and Spanish, hoping
[36:10] to partner with the county
[36:11] department so they can share
[36:12] that information
[36:14] at their events. And we also
[36:15] intend to partner
[36:17] with community groups, all
[36:18] with a goal to reach those
[36:20] in underserved areas. That
[36:23] concludes my presentation and
[36:25] I'd like to ask the board if
[36:26] there are any questions.
[36:32] Comment, please.
[36:33] >> When you are working
[36:34] with all the other departments,
[36:36] could you work
[36:38] with the board, Board of
[36:40] Supervisors directly also,
[36:41] because it's something we have
[36:43] platforms we can get
[36:44] information out on also.
[36:46] >> Yes. Thank you. This feels
[36:48] like a receive and file. This
[36:50] is. There's also recommendation
[36:52] on the board item
[36:53] for the board to find. We've
[36:55] made reasonable efforts
[36:57] for this outreach plan
[36:59] to engage those members of the
[37:00] public who wouldn't
[37:02] traditionally participate
[37:03] in and to find
[37:04] out the outreach plan
[37:05] to approve it,
[37:06] to find it reasonable. Thank
[37:08] you.
[37:09] >> I would welcome that motion
[37:10] since I do not have any public
[37:11] comment that I believe I know
[37:12] of.
[37:13] >> No. Thank you. Vice Chair
[37:14] for the motion and Supervisor
[37:15] Hagman for the second. All
[37:16] those in favor?
[37:17] >> Aye.
[37:18] >> Any opposed? Any
[37:19] abstentions:
[37:20] >> With that, item 82 passes
[37:22] unanimously.
[37:24] >> Thank you, Stephanie. Item
[37:25] number 83 is law enforcement
[37:27] agency's annual military
[37:28] equipment reports for the 2025
[37:30] calendar year,
[37:32] which is associated with
[37:33] Assembly 481 being presented
[37:35] by Deputy Chief Crosby. Good
[37:37] morning. I will open the public
[37:39] hearing. Morning, Sergeant.
[37:43] >> Good morning, Madam Chair
[37:47] and Board of Supervisors. My
[37:49] presentation this morning is
[37:51] related to California
[37:53] Assembly Bill 481. And this
[37:54] presentation is on behalf
[37:56] of the Sheriff's Department,
[37:58] the Probation Department and
[37:59] the District Attorney's office.
[38:01] With me, I have Sergeant Ian
[38:02] Golditch from our
[38:03] Professional Standards Unit.
[38:07] On January 1, 2022, Assembly
[38:08] Bill 481 became effective. And
[38:10] it requires law enforcement
[38:13] agencies and their local
[38:14] governing bodies to follow
[38:16] certain procedures followed
[38:17] prior to the funding
[38:19] acquisition and the use
[38:21] of military equipment. AB 481
[38:24] defines certain law enforcement
[38:26] equipment as military
[38:28] equipment. And here I'd like
[38:29] to just clarify that
[38:31] for purposes
[38:32] of this presentation, military
[38:34] equipment does not necessarily
[38:35] mean equipment that is used
[38:36] by the military,
[38:38] but it is equipment that the
[38:40] California Legislature defined
[38:42] for law enforcement
[38:44] to track as military equipment.
[38:47] Example of what is defined as
[38:50] military equipment
[38:51] for our purposes is listed
[38:53] in the PowerPoint. A highlight
[38:54] of some
[38:56] of those includes drones. It
[38:57] includes armored personnel
[38:59] carriers, command and control
[39:00] vehicles, certain 50 caliber or
[39:02] greater firearms or munitions,
[39:04] certain specialized firearms
[39:07] ammunition, any firearm or
[39:10] firearm accessory that's
[39:12] designed to launch explosive
[39:13] projectiles any breaching
[39:15] apparatus that is explosive
[39:17] in nature flashbang grenades,
[39:19] explosive breaching tools, tear
[39:22] gas and projectile launch
[39:23] platforms and munitions which
[39:25] includes 40 millimeter
[39:27] projectile launchers, beanbags,
[39:29] rubber bullets and specialty
[39:31] impact munition weapons. In
[39:34] March of 2022, each San
[39:36] Bernardino county law
[39:38] enforcement agency created a
[39:40] military equipment use Policy
[39:42] and an annual military
[39:46] equipment Report. These
[39:47] documents were uploaded and are
[39:48] publicly available on each
[39:50] of our respective websites.
[39:52] Each agency's military
[39:54] equipment use policy and the
[39:55] annual military equipment
[39:56] Report describes the following
[39:58] military equipment the
[40:01] inventory,
[40:03] the purposes and authorized
[40:05] uses, the fiscal impact, the
[40:08] legal and procedural rules
[40:09] governing the authorized use,
[40:11] the training that's required
[40:12] prior to equipment use,
[40:14] the procedures to ensure
[40:16] military equipment use policy
[40:19] compliance and public input
[40:21] procedures to register any
[40:23] concerns or questions and how
[40:24] the law enforcement agency
[40:26] shall respond to those on
[40:28] April 26th of 2022, the law
[40:31] enforcement agencies held a
[40:32] community engagement meeting.
[40:34] On that same date,
[40:36] at a regular meeting, the
[40:37] Board of Supervisors considered
[40:39] an open session agenda item
[40:40] regarding the law enforcement
[40:42] agency's policies and reports
[40:43] that provided
[40:45] for public comment.
[40:46] At this meeting, the Board
[40:48] adopted three ordinances, one
[40:49] for each the district attorney,
[40:51] probation, and the Sheriff's
[40:53] Department approving each
[40:54] agency's policy and military
[40:56] equipment funding,
[40:57] acquisition and use. Those
[40:58] ordinances are subject
[41:00] to annual review.
[41:02] In adopting the ordinances,
[41:03] the Board found that the law
[41:05] enforcement agencies had
[41:06] complied
[41:07] with government code section
[41:09] 7071 and that the military
[41:11] equipment followed these
[41:13] guidelines. Number one, it was
[41:15] necessary because there was no
[41:16] reasonable alternative that
[41:18] could achieve the same
[41:19] objective
[41:21] of officer and civilian safety.
[41:22] Used policies would safeguard
[41:24] the public's welfare, safety,
[41:25] civil rights,
[41:27] and civil liberties. It was
[41:29] reasonably cost effective
[41:30] compared to available
[41:31] alternates that could achieve
[41:33] the same objective of officer
[41:34] and civilian safety and the
[41:36] Board also found that prior
[41:37] equipment use had complied with
[41:39] any military equipment use
[41:41] policy that was in effect
[41:43] at that time. Our law
[41:45] enforcement agencies must
[41:47] create and post our annual
[41:48] military equipment reports
[41:50] to our public websites. These
[41:51] reports discuss our military
[41:53] equipment use, the inventory,
[41:54] and the fiscal impact
[41:56] for the prior calendar year and
[41:58] within 30 days of publicly
[42:00] releasing the those reports,
[42:02] the agencies will hold a
[42:03] community engagement meeting
[42:05] where the public may discuss
[42:06] and ask questions about the
[42:08] annual reports and our funding,
[42:10] acquisition and use
[42:13] of that equipment. This year.
[42:14] Our agencies uploaded our
[42:16] annual military equipment
[42:17] reports on April 9 and April
[42:19] 10, and those reports were
[42:20] for the 2025 calendar year.
[42:22] And today we are holding a
[42:24] public meeting
[42:25] during the regular Board of
[42:27] Supervisor meeting. Pursuant
[42:29] to the government Code section,
[42:31] the board shall annually at a
[42:32] regular meeting and as an open
[42:34] session agenda item that
[42:35] provides for public comment,
[42:37] evaluate and vote on whether it
[42:39] should renew the previously
[42:41] adopted military equipment use
[42:42] ordinances and determine
[42:44] whether each type
[42:45] of military equipment
[42:47] identified
[42:48] in the annual reports complies
[42:50] with the government code
[42:51] section. At today's meeting,
[42:53] you if the board finds that any
[42:55] military equipment identified
[42:56] in our reports does not comply
[42:58] with the government Code
[43:00] section, then the board shall
[43:02] then determine whether it will
[43:04] either disapprove renewal
[43:05] of authorization
[43:07] for that particular type of
[43:08] military equipment or require
[43:10] modifications to our use policy
[43:12] that will resolve the lack
[43:14] of compliance. That concludes
[43:16] my presentation and I'll be
[43:18] happy
[43:19] to answer any questions.
[43:21] >> Thank you very much. Any
[43:23] questions? I don't believe I
[43:25] have any requests to speak
[43:26] from the public on this item.
[43:28] I'll close the public hearing
[43:29] and I have a motion from
[43:31] Supervisor Hagman a second
[43:32] from Vice Chair Baca. All those
[43:33] in favor?
[43:34] >> Aye.
[43:35] >> Any opposed? Any
[43:36] abstentions?
[43:39] >> With that, item 83 passes
[43:40] unanimously.
[43:42] >> Thank you very much for the
[43:43] presentation this morning.
[43:45] Thank you. All right,
[43:46] item number 84 is our 202627
[43:48] budget financial update being
[43:50] presented by Matthew Erickson.
[43:51] Good morning, Matthew.
[43:58] >> Good morning, Chair Rowe,
[43:59] members of the board,
[44:00] I believe Luther's going
[44:01] to kick us off today.
[44:03] >> I'll just say some brief
[44:04] comments really quickly and
[44:05] then let Matthew take it away
[44:07] and get to the core
[44:08] of the conversation.
[44:09] But just as a brief overview
[44:11] of what we're going
[44:12] to be talking about today.
[44:14] This is our 2026 budget,
[44:16] our financial update. Our
[44:17] budget update. Matthew will go
[44:19] over our timeline as far as
[44:21] what comes next, when the board
[44:23] offices will each receive the
[44:24] budget book and those things.
[44:25] I'll just briefly touch on our
[44:27] county's fiscal strategy, some
[44:29] of the high level headwinds
[44:30] that we're foreseeing. Matthew
[44:32] then will jump
[44:34] into the meat and potatoes,
[44:35] the five year forecast, as well
[44:37] as our funding priorities that
[44:38] we're going to be recommending
[44:39] to the board as part
[44:41] of that next slide, please. So
[44:42] this is just very,
[44:45] very high level. But when
[44:46] Matthew and I sit
[44:48] down and we look
[44:49] at how we approach budgeting
[44:52] for this county, we start
[44:53] from the standpoint of prudent
[44:54] budgeting and that becomes our
[44:56] foundation and we establish
[44:57] that in this environment where
[45:00] we sit today and I'll touch
[45:01] on some of the headways,
[45:03] headwinds in just a moment. We
[45:05] are positioning for a slower
[45:06] growth environment. You have
[45:08] heard that from Matthew and I
[45:09] now
[45:10] for the past couple years.
[45:12] That continues to play out. We
[45:13] are seeing property tax slow,
[45:15] we are seeing some of our,
[45:17] our sales tax numbers fall
[45:19] from where they had been
[45:20] before.
[45:22] But we are still growing. We
[45:23] are not seeing a pullback. We
[45:25] are not, there's no recession,
[45:26] there's nothing like that.
[45:28] But it is not growing at the
[45:30] same pace that it had before.
[45:32] And Matthew will touch
[45:34] on that. When we have prudent
[45:35] budgeting and when we're
[45:36] positioning ourselves
[45:37] appropriately
[45:39] for the environment,
[45:40] what we're able to do is
[45:41] provide stable community
[45:43] services. We stabilize our
[45:44] operations, we kind
[45:46] of cut the peaks and valleys
[45:48] off and we ensure that we
[45:50] operate within the range to
[45:52] provide consistent and stable
[45:56] services to our public. That is
[45:57] Matthew and my goal. When we
[45:59] sit and we approach the budget
[46:01] and what we intend
[46:02] to recommend to the board,
[46:04] that's how we approach it.
[46:05] Next slide please, please.
[46:07] We've touched on these before
[46:08] with the board. We just want
[46:09] to hit them again.
[46:10] Geopolitical risks, those are,
[46:12] that's more situational
[46:13] at the moment. We're looking
[46:15] at what those impacts will be
[46:16] to us if any long term assessed
[46:18] value is really where we're
[46:20] seeing some significant risk
[46:23] and impact. Matthew again will
[46:25] touch on that
[46:26] in just a moment. Our HR1 or
[46:28] the federal big Beautiful bill.
[46:29] There are still impacts that
[46:31] are significant that are
[46:32] playing out for us and we're
[46:34] monitoring those. There is some
[46:36] mitigation
[46:37] to that that we're going
[46:39] to be recommending
[46:40] in this year's budget. The
[46:41] state budget is something we're
[46:43] looking closely at. There's a
[46:44] pretty big gap right now
[46:45] in what the,
[46:47] what did they call it? The LAO
[46:48] is forecasting versus what the
[46:50] Governor's office is
[46:52] predicting. So we're trying
[46:54] to look at what that means and
[46:55] where the state budget actually
[46:59] shakes out this month. We
[47:00] should actually learn more so
[47:01] that we hopefully will have
[47:03] more clarity soon. And then
[47:04] litigation. The state of
[47:05] California is incredibly
[47:07] litigious. Matthew is going to
[47:08] work look specifically and
[47:10] actually talk about the
[47:12] decision that we're going
[47:13] to ask the board
[47:15] to make today versus waiting
[47:16] for the future because
[47:17] of impacts
[47:19] to the county as well as some
[47:20] of our number of our cities
[47:22] in the county. So with that,
[47:23] this is some of the challenges
[47:24] that we're looking at. I'll
[47:26] turn it over to Matthew and
[47:27] he's going to dive deeper into
[47:28] the actual five year forecast
[47:30] numbers as well as some
[47:31] of the priorities
[47:33] in this budget. So, Matthew,
[47:35] take it away.
[47:36] >> Great. Thanks so much,
[47:37] Luther. I did want to step back
[47:38] really quick and just
[47:39] highlight, you know,
[47:40] our strategy. Luther talked a
[47:42] little bit
[47:43] about it and stated, you know,
[47:44] that it's just a big high level
[47:46] overview,
[47:47] but it's really fundamental
[47:48] to what we do
[47:49] within this organization.
[47:51] Although we are not immune
[47:52] to headwinds
[47:53] within the county, we, because
[47:56] we have a situation where we
[47:57] are always prudent, you know,
[47:58] in good times,
[48:01] the county tries to have a
[48:02] prudent process whereby we
[48:04] don't grow too much that allows
[48:06] us, in times where there's
[48:07] headwinds that are coming our
[48:09] way, to really address those in
[48:10] a little bit different way than
[48:12] some other entities you might
[48:13] see within the state of
[48:14] California and even within the
[48:16] nation as a whole are. So
[48:18] with that, I did want to jump
[48:19] into the five year forecast.
[48:20] This is where we get
[48:21] into a little bit more
[48:23] of the nitty gritty
[48:24] about what our forecast looks
[48:25] like
[48:27] for the upcoming five years.
[48:28] We'll kind of dive in. And I
[48:29] kind of first wanted to start
[48:30] with a review of what we went
[48:31] over last time. We, if you
[48:33] recall, met at the end of
[48:34] March and we went over just big
[48:35] picture things that are going
[48:37] on with our general fund. And
[48:38] so I wanted to dive
[48:40] into that first. So this is a
[48:41] reminder slide we went
[48:43] over this last time. Luther
[48:44] mentioned how assessed
[48:46] valuation growth is slower than
[48:48] what it has been. And really
[48:49] what that particularly means is
[48:51] that you can see
[48:52] in this slide that
[48:54] over the last 10 years we've
[48:56] had roughly 6.8% average
[48:58] assessed valuation growth.
[48:59] That's property tax growth that
[49:01] we've seen within our county
[49:02] every single year. Just
[49:04] for reference,
[49:05] every 1% property tax growth is
[49:07] about $10 million of new
[49:08] general fund dollars that are
[49:10] coming in. So we've become not
[49:12] reliant on,
[49:13] because we don't become reliant
[49:15] on, but we've seen roughly $68
[49:18] million every year in today's
[49:19] dollars that have been growing
[49:21] over the last 10 years.
[49:23] For a comparison,
[49:25] what we're projecting going
[49:26] into next year is about 2.23%
[49:28] assessed valuation growth.
[49:30] What that is,
[49:31] is that is not known yet. We
[49:33] find that out in June or July
[49:35] time frame what that growth
[49:36] will be. But that's tied to an
[49:37] economist that we have that has
[49:39] historically been pretty
[49:40] accurate with regards
[49:42] to next future years. And so
[49:44] we're using that just
[49:46] for some comparison. That is
[49:48] the lowest AV growth we've seen
[49:49] since about 2012. So it's quite
[49:51] a bit lower. It is still
[49:53] growth, as Luther mentioned.
[49:54] And so we really feel
[49:55] like we're going to be able
[49:57] to mitigate these things,
[49:58] but it is a really big issue.
[50:00] In addition to that,
[50:01] last time we talked a little
[50:02] bit about HR1, how we are
[50:04] seeing immediate impacts
[50:05] in our five year forecast tied
[50:07] to CalFresh administration
[50:09] impacts. That's tied
[50:10] to the shift
[50:11] from the federal government to
[50:12] the state and local share
[50:14] increases on CalFresh funding.
[50:15] On the administrative side,
[50:17] we also talked
[50:18] about how there's a lot
[50:20] of uncertainties with regards
[50:21] to HR1 specifically as it
[50:22] relates to CalFresh going
[50:25] into the future with regards
[50:26] to error rates,
[50:28] if you recall. And so although
[50:29] we do not know the dollar
[50:31] impact, what we want to do
[50:32] in this forecast is set aside
[50:34] $10 million ongoing just as a
[50:35] sort of set aside just to face
[50:37] that if it's comes our way.
[50:38] In addition to that,
[50:40] on the good side, the good news
[50:43] is we are projecting in our
[50:45] five year forecast retirement
[50:48] savings. This is tied
[50:50] to long term payment
[50:51] of obligations tied to pension
[50:53] funds that are falling off.
[50:55] In other words, meaning pension
[50:57] funds basically treat losses
[50:59] in the market
[51:00] like debt that you pay off
[51:01] over a very long time. And so
[51:03] what we've been doing is since
[51:04] about 2008, the Great
[51:05] Recession, we've been paying
[51:07] off basically long term debt
[51:09] into our pension system for a
[51:10] very long time that we are
[51:12] going to be seeing savings in
[51:14] the next several years
[51:15] associated with that. I do
[51:17] like to highlight that there is
[51:18] not complete certainty when it
[51:20] comes to those savings because
[51:21] it is tied to the stock market
[51:24] effectively. Our pension system
[51:25] invests our pension funds in a
[51:27] way that helps ensure that we
[51:29] have pensions into the future.
[51:30] But it's required
[51:32] to hit 7.25% every single year
[51:34] in order
[51:35] to be properly funded. And
[51:37] years when it isn't, we have to
[51:38] pay that back as the employer.
[51:40] And so although I'm excited
[51:41] about the 36.1 million
[51:44] in savings, that is not
[51:46] necessarily a guarantee
[51:47] about what we will be seeing.
[51:49] And then lastly we talked
[51:50] about employee costs with
[51:52] Teamsters negotiations coming
[51:54] up. We have roughly, along
[51:55] with our attorneys unit,
[51:57] we have roughly 58%
[51:59] of our workforce that's up
[52:00] for negotiations
[52:01] in the upcoming year. And
[52:03] that's a very notable impact
[52:04] that I'm going to go
[52:05] into right now a little bit.
[52:07] All right, so just to dive
[52:08] in a little bit more
[52:10] on the numbers,
[52:11] a little bit more specific,
[52:12] you know, employees are always
[52:13] our priority when we look
[52:15] at our forecast. And I'll go
[52:17] over this in a second. What we
[52:18] tend to do is try
[52:19] to be very careful
[52:21] on our revenue Projections,
[52:22] but we also like
[52:24] to be aggressive
[52:25] on our cost projections,
[52:26] meaning we like to plan for
[52:28] every possible cost that we can
[52:29] think of
[52:30] within our five year forecast.
[52:32] And so what we have is a pretty
[52:34] big, you know, variability
[52:36] with regards
[52:37] to our employee costs going
[52:39] into our five year forecast.
[52:41] The way I've broken this
[52:44] out is what has been approved
[52:46] by the board so far. So, right.
[52:47] We have negotiated MOUs right
[52:49] now that are already gaveled.
[52:50] The board has approved
[52:52] in our five year forecast
[52:54] that's about $56 million in
[52:57] general fund dollars that have
[52:58] been set aside just
[53:00] for approved MOU use. But
[53:02] in addition to that,
[53:03] we have a lot
[53:04] of unapproved MOUs
[53:05] through our five year forecast.
[53:06] What we historically do is just
[53:07] we plan, or I say we plan.
[53:09] What we put
[53:10] in the forecast is tied to
[53:12] historic MOUs that have been
[53:14] given and we just project those
[53:15] out. So it's, it's similar to
[53:16] what we've historically given
[53:18] is what we put
[53:19] into our forecast. And if you
[53:20] were to throw all of it
[53:22] into our forecast, it would be
[53:23] $228 million ongoing
[53:26] through that, through the
[53:28] 2030, 31 timeframe.
[53:29] In addition to that,
[53:30] another really notable impact,
[53:32] especially as it relates
[53:33] to mandates. This does not
[53:35] include impacts of HR1 that is
[53:37] separate our human service
[53:38] programs. So as you know,
[53:40] we provide monthly payments
[53:43] for foster youth,
[53:45] for adoptions. Our in home
[53:46] supportive services program
[53:48] requires a lot of ongoing costs
[53:49] that are basically mandated
[53:51] for the county. And the way we
[53:53] pay for those services is a
[53:54] combination of federal,
[53:56] state and local funding.
[53:58] With local funding, the state
[54:00] of California has set aside
[54:01] what's called realignment funds
[54:03] to help pay for those. Those
[54:05] are sales tax derived. And when
[54:07] we do not have enough
[54:08] of those realignment funds
[54:10] to pay for service growth,
[54:11] cost growth in those areas,
[54:13] then it is a general fund
[54:15] impact to the county. And so
[54:16] what you're seeing is up to
[54:17] $52 million ongoing
[54:19] through the forecast. This is
[54:21] general fund dollars that we're
[54:22] seeing as a potential need for
[54:24] our human service programs. A
[54:26] large reason for that.
[54:27] Historically we've actually
[54:28] talked
[54:30] about caseload growing. We do
[54:31] not necessarily see caseload
[54:33] growing, but another aspect
[54:35] of cost growth is inflation.
[54:37] And so, you know, each year the
[54:39] state increases the cost
[54:41] for foster families,
[54:42] for adoption families,
[54:44] for IHSS at a certain rate. To
[54:46] the extent that goes up and our
[54:48] realignment funds don't
[54:49] proportionately go up the same
[54:51] rate, then it requires
[54:54] additional general fund
[54:55] dollars. And that's what we're
[54:57] seeing. Luther talked a little
[54:58] bit about sales tax. We've seen
[55:00] more tepid growth
[55:01] in sales tax. Well, that
[55:02] directly impacts realignment.
[55:04] And so when the realignment
[55:05] funds don't come in,
[55:06] it's a general fund impact.
[55:07] And then lastly, public safety
[55:09] has always been a priority
[55:10] of this county and of the
[55:12] Board of State Supervisors. We
[55:13] have
[55:15] for years had funding set aside
[55:17] for different jail needs. We
[55:19] currently in the forecast at
[55:22] $8.7 million ongoing set aside
[55:24] for potential detention needs
[55:25] going into the future. If you
[55:27] recall, in 2024, Prop 36 was
[55:28] passed
[55:30] by voters that did not overturn
[55:34] Prop 47. If you recall, Prop
[55:37] 47 was in 2014. It kind
[55:39] of reduced penalties on certain
[55:40] crimes that then reduced our
[55:43] jail population. Prop 36 didn't
[55:44] overturn, but made certain
[55:46] crimes more stringent
[55:48] from a penalty perspective,
[55:49] you know. And so what we're
[55:51] doing is setting aside this
[55:52] 8.7 million in the event we see
[55:54] different impacts to our jails
[55:55] into the future. I will stop
[55:57] because I'm going to get even
[55:58] more detailed and ask any
[56:00] questions
[56:01] on this segment.
[56:02] >> Perfect.
[56:05] >> All right. So this is when I
[56:06] get kind
[56:07] of wonky and too nitty gritty.
[56:09] So I like to explain this
[56:11] spreadsheet because I know it's
[56:12] just a lot of numbers
[56:14] on there. So what you're
[56:15] looking
[56:17] at is our five year forecast.
[56:19] Every dollar that you're
[56:20] looking at is in millions. So
[56:22] that's,
[56:23] that's what that represents.
[56:24] Every dollar that you're
[56:25] looking at is ongoing
[56:27] in nature. We're not talking
[56:28] about one time money right
[56:29] here. We're talking
[56:31] about ongoing money. I like
[56:32] to say that positive is good
[56:33] for the forecast. It would
[56:34] result
[56:36] in surpluses and negative is
[56:37] bad for at least the forecast
[56:39] purposes as it contributes
[56:40] to a deficit. So if you see a
[56:42] positive, that means on the
[56:43] revenue side that we are seeing
[56:45] revenue growth. If you see a
[56:48] positive on cost side,
[56:49] that actually means cost
[56:51] savings,
[56:52] which you will not see
[56:53] in that you will see on cost,
[56:56] it will be negative. Right,
[56:57] because costs generally are
[56:59] negative. We don't have a lot
[57:00] of ongoing cost savings besides
[57:01] the retirement side.
[57:03] In addition to that,
[57:04] what you're looking
[57:07] at is incremental. And so what
[57:08] that means is each year
[57:10] represents how much more money
[57:12] we're getting
[57:13] in those line items compared
[57:14] to the prior year. So
[57:16] for property tax,
[57:17] for example, you'll see, you
[57:19] know, in line three in 26,
[57:20] 27, $21 million. That means
[57:22] we're seeing 21 million more
[57:24] in property tax in 2627
[57:27] compared to 2526. You could add
[57:31] the same in 27, 28, $22.5
[57:33] million. That's in addition
[57:35] to the 21 million. So if you
[57:37] look all the way to the right
[57:39] through the total five year,
[57:40] that's where you can see the
[57:41] total growth in revenue,
[57:43] the total costs
[57:44] through the five years. And so
[57:45] that's what we're looking at.
[57:46] What I always like
[57:48] to highlight,
[57:49] which I always look
[57:50] at whenever I'm looking
[57:51] at this spreadsheet, is the
[57:53] bottom right column and corner
[57:54] that really represents what
[57:56] we're facing from either a
[57:57] surplus or a deficit. The
[57:59] little brackets means we're
[58:01] facing a deficit. And I kind
[58:02] of want to walk you through,
[58:03] you know, what we're looking
[58:04] at and why we're looking
[58:05] at that right now. So as you
[58:07] know, as a county,
[58:09] we are always very careful in
[58:12] our budgeting and what you can
[58:13] and you can see that
[58:14] by the line one,
[58:17] the ongoing carryover. What
[58:18] that means is that we have
[58:20] roughly $60 million
[58:22] in ongoing money carried over
[58:23] from the prior year that was
[58:25] not spent. That was effectively
[58:27] like an ongoing surplus that we
[58:28] had set aside. That goes
[58:31] into the first step
[58:33] of the revenue that we bring
[58:34] in to going into next year,
[58:36] along
[58:37] with our property taxes, Prop
[58:38] 172, which is a half cent sales
[58:40] tax for our public safety
[58:42] departments and then other
[58:44] revenue. Other revenue this
[58:46] year is quite a bit higher than
[58:47] those out years. If you're
[58:49] looking at it, we're looking
[58:50] at $29 million that is mostly
[58:51] tied to, you know,
[58:53] interest earnings. We've talked
[58:55] about this a little bit
[58:57] in the past, but we are seeing
[58:59] with historic highs in rates
[59:02] on the Federal Reserve side of
[59:03] things that our treasury pool,
[59:05] our county treasury pool is
[59:06] making roughly 4% right now
[59:08] in yield or in interest
[59:09] earnings every single year.
[59:11] That compares to some
[59:13] of the prior years back in
[59:14] 2122 where those,
[59:16] those yields were
[59:18] like 0.5% or even 1%. So
[59:20] fortunately, we are seeing
[59:21] interest earnings growth and
[59:23] I'm building, we're building
[59:24] in about 10 million more
[59:25] ongoing
[59:27] into the forecast just tied
[59:28] to that. And in addition
[59:29] to that,
[59:31] we're seeing administrative
[59:32] costs, people may say the term
[59:34] cow cap, countywide cost
[59:35] allocation plan. It's really
[59:36] representative administrative
[59:38] services that we provide
[59:39] countywide to residents,
[59:40] I mean to our departments,
[59:42] those have grown. And that
[59:44] means we're receiving revenue
[59:46] associated with that.
[59:48] On the cost side. I mentioned
[59:50] before that we have planned MOU
[59:51] increases. So you're seeing
[59:53] quite a bit of in that 75
[59:54] million. It's just simply tied
[59:56] to projected MOU increases or
[59:58] salary cost increases
[59:59] for the county going
[1:00:02] into next year. We're going
[1:00:03] to go into more detailed
[1:00:04] on line Item nine,
[1:00:07] the ongoing request. That's
[1:00:09] going to be a lot of our
[1:00:10] funding plan that I'm going
[1:00:12] to talk
[1:00:13] to you guys a little bit
[1:00:14] about and
[1:00:15] in the next few slides. And
[1:00:16] then what we also like
[1:00:17] to do is that line item 10, our
[1:00:19] future estimated costs. These
[1:00:20] are costs that are not
[1:00:21] like built in,
[1:00:22] necessarily approved
[1:00:24] by the board at this point.
[1:00:26] But a lot of those costs
[1:00:27] represent those MOU costs that
[1:00:28] we're, we're placing in up
[1:00:30] to that 200/million dollars.
[1:00:31] So what I want
[1:00:32] to highlight is that
[1:00:34] in any given year, so
[1:00:36] for fiscal year 2627, the
[1:00:37] budget that we are entering
[1:00:39] into, we are mandated
[1:00:40] to have, you know,
[1:00:42] to have a balanced budget.
[1:00:43] That just simply means that our
[1:00:44] revenues match our expenses
[1:00:46] for the year. That's what we're
[1:00:47] mandated
[1:00:48] to do as an organization. What
[1:00:50] we like to do is go a step
[1:00:51] further and see how we're doing
[1:00:53] on an operating side
[1:00:54] of things, you know,
[1:00:55] and when I say operating, make
[1:00:57] sure our ongoing revenues match
[1:00:58] our ongoing costs. So what you
[1:01:00] can see is in 2627, if you look
[1:01:01] at that line 13, we have a $32
[1:01:03] million surplus going
[1:01:05] into this year. That's great.
[1:01:07] But what we also see is that we
[1:01:08] have deficits that we're going
[1:01:10] to be having to take care of
[1:01:13] in future years. That really is
[1:01:16] primarily as a result of the
[1:01:18] property tax that is not
[1:01:20] growing quite as fast as what
[1:01:22] we have gotten used to
[1:01:23] over the last several years,
[1:01:26] along with some, you know,
[1:01:28] our costs that are built
[1:01:29] in as well. What I do want
[1:01:30] to highlight is that, you know,
[1:01:33] we definitely, although it's,
[1:01:34] you know, you know,
[1:01:35] it is a bit
[1:01:37] of an issue that we want
[1:01:38] to be focused on going
[1:01:39] into the future. It is not
[1:01:40] something we are overly alarmed
[1:01:41] at. It is something that
[1:01:43] Luther and I are paying
[1:01:44] obviously close attention to. I
[1:01:45] like to highlight that this is
[1:01:47] a forecast. It is not
[1:01:48] like I know
[1:01:49] for certain what is going
[1:01:50] to happen. Even beginning in
[1:01:51] 2728, you know,
[1:01:53] we are paying a lot
[1:01:54] of attention
[1:01:55] to the property tax side
[1:01:57] of things because that,
[1:01:58] that will tell us a lot going
[1:01:59] into July, what's going on. We
[1:02:00] do like to be careful,
[1:02:01] but obviously we try
[1:02:03] to project out so that we are
[1:02:04] not overestimating our
[1:02:06] revenues. And that's certain.
[1:02:07] Certainly my hope this year,
[1:02:08] my hope would be that some
[1:02:09] of those revenues would come
[1:02:11] in better. In addition
[1:02:12] to that, those future estimated
[1:02:13] costs also are not approved
[1:02:15] by the board at this point. So
[1:02:17] what that means is we do have
[1:02:19] over $180 million in costs that
[1:02:21] are projected that are not
[1:02:22] necessarily approved. Those are
[1:02:24] certainly costs that we would
[1:02:25] be looking at to help mitigate
[1:02:27] any deficit if we had to going
[1:02:29] into the future. So as
[1:02:31] mentioned, we like to take a
[1:02:33] measured approach so that we
[1:02:34] don't overcorrect for anything
[1:02:36] in any certain year. Any
[1:02:39] questions on that? Because
[1:02:41] that's the five year forecast
[1:02:42] for you.
[1:02:43] >> All right.
[1:02:46] >> Each year we do talk
[1:02:47] about new county priorities.
[1:02:49] And so this is where we do.
[1:02:50] Even though, you know, we're
[1:02:51] facing some challenges going up
[1:02:53] into the next several fiscal
[1:02:54] years, fortunately, you know,
[1:02:56] we as a county are always
[1:02:57] prudent. You know, I mentioned
[1:02:59] we had six. I'll go back real
[1:03:01] quick. We have that $60 million
[1:03:03] in ongoing carryover. What ends
[1:03:05] up happening to our budget is
[1:03:06] we have one time funds that are
[1:03:08] then available
[1:03:09] to then allocate for a lot
[1:03:11] of one time purposes. And so I
[1:03:12] want to jump in there we go
[1:03:15] to the next slide. So despite,
[1:03:17] you know, some challenges that
[1:03:19] are headed our way, we really
[1:03:20] have an extraordinary amount of
[1:03:22] targeted investors investments,
[1:03:25] excuse me, going on
[1:03:27] into next fiscal year.
[1:03:29] Of that 273.7 million, most
[1:03:32] of that is one time. So we're
[1:03:34] talking 258, almost 260 million
[1:03:35] of one time costs that we're
[1:03:37] wanting to build
[1:03:39] in our investments for next
[1:03:41] year that we're planning for,
[1:03:42] along with roughly $15 million
[1:03:45] in ongoing general fund
[1:03:47] allocations. And I should step
[1:03:49] back for a second. This is all
[1:03:51] as it relates to general fund
[1:03:53] that we're talking about going
[1:03:54] into next year. So, you know,
[1:03:57] pretty exciting. We've got
[1:03:59] several different things that
[1:04:01] we're looking
[1:04:02] to do. I'm just going
[1:04:03] to highlight a few of those.
[1:04:05] So on the supporting vulnerable
[1:04:06] populations, we've got $22.3
[1:04:07] million to really support our
[1:04:10] underserved individuals
[1:04:12] within the county. One that I
[1:04:13] wanted to highlight is we are
[1:04:15] recommending to set aside $5
[1:04:17] million to support our reentry
[1:04:19] population. And so one of the
[1:04:22] things that we're considering
[1:04:23] and looking
[1:04:25] at as a county is a New
[1:04:26] Beginnings campus in the Glen
[1:04:28] Helen jail area. And that's a
[1:04:30] program that the sheriff is
[1:04:31] working with Behavioral Health
[1:04:33] and several other departments,
[1:04:34] including Workforce
[1:04:36] Development, to look
[1:04:37] at many different potential
[1:04:39] ways by which we can reduce
[1:04:40] recidivism within the county,
[1:04:42] but more importantly, trying
[1:04:44] to reduce homelessness of our
[1:04:45] jail population as they're
[1:04:47] reentering, you know,
[1:04:48] the population. In addition
[1:04:51] to that, I wanted to highlight
[1:04:52] development assistance. So, you
[1:04:54] know, one of the things that we
[1:04:57] did a few years ago the board
[1:04:58] did was set aside funding
[1:05:00] in A reserve to help
[1:05:02] with permit backlog. So we are
[1:05:03] looking at using some
[1:05:05] of that reserve this year
[1:05:06] to continue
[1:05:08] to help land use services
[1:05:09] with different permit backlog.
[1:05:11] And I also wanted
[1:05:12] to highlight that, you know,
[1:05:13] a few weeks ago
[1:05:15] during the board meeting,
[1:05:16] we talked on fees, we talked
[1:05:17] about how land use,
[1:05:18] we didn't want
[1:05:20] to increase fees too high
[1:05:22] in relation to a lot of our
[1:05:23] development and developer
[1:05:24] community. And as a result
[1:05:26] of that, we talked
[1:05:27] about having needing to maybe
[1:05:29] subsidize land use services a
[1:05:30] little bit this year in order
[1:05:32] to ensure that their budget is
[1:05:34] balanced. We did that
[1:05:35] in this as well. It was about
[1:05:37] $0.4 million. Also exciting is
[1:05:39] on the community service side,
[1:05:42] we've got $2 million. We
[1:05:43] mentioned it a little bit
[1:05:45] earlier. I think it was
[1:05:46] mentioned
[1:05:47] about the animal shelter in
[1:05:48] Bloomin. And so we're
[1:05:50] recommending to set aside $2
[1:05:52] million ongoing to support that
[1:05:54] new animal shelter for the
[1:05:56] operation side that will be set
[1:05:58] aside in a reserve that we're
[1:05:59] recommending as we continue
[1:06:01] to work through and develop the
[1:06:02] staffing plan. But we did want
[1:06:03] to ask the board
[1:06:05] to set that aside
[1:06:06] on an ongoing basis.
[1:06:08] On the capital needs side,
[1:06:09] we are always doing a lot
[1:06:10] within the county.
[1:06:12] On the capital needs side,
[1:06:14] we have 77.2 million
[1:06:15] for a wide array of different
[1:06:17] projects. A couple notable is
[1:06:19] on the public safety side
[1:06:21] specifically. That's where a
[1:06:22] lot of the one time funding is
[1:06:24] going towards. There is a need
[1:06:26] in the high desert
[1:06:27] for the district attorney
[1:06:28] to have a new office. And so we
[1:06:30] are using 11, 11.5 million of a
[1:06:33] reserve that would be set aside
[1:06:36] to begin starting that project.
[1:06:38] And a little bit over $30
[1:06:39] million is being recommended
[1:06:40] to be allocated to the
[1:06:42] Sheriff's department for a lot
[1:06:44] of different capital projects.
[1:06:45] Their Scientific
[1:06:47] Investigations Division
[1:06:49] building is in need of a new
[1:06:51] building. I know their
[1:06:53] specialized enforcement
[1:06:54] division. They're looking at,
[1:06:56] you know, a new building need.
[1:06:58] In addition to that, Big Bear
[1:06:59] has a patrol station that they
[1:07:01] are looking to, I believe,
[1:07:03] refurbish or improve. And so
[1:07:05] there's a wide array
[1:07:09] of capital projects. But a lot
[1:07:11] of the focus is
[1:07:13] on the public safety side.
[1:07:14] In addition to that, I want
[1:07:15] to talk a little bit about
[1:07:17] innovation and technology. And
[1:07:18] so yes, we have 57.5 million.
[1:07:20] What I'm most excited about for
[1:07:21] me because every time I can set
[1:07:23] aside money in a reserve,
[1:07:24] I'm excited is roughly $25
[1:07:26] million we're recommending
[1:07:28] to set aside in an enterprise
[1:07:31] system replacement reserve you
[1:07:33] may have on the board today
[1:07:35] on consent,
[1:07:37] we allocated the board
[1:07:39] allocated $40 million
[1:07:41] from a reserve for our new
[1:07:43] human capital management
[1:07:44] system. That's a huge
[1:07:46] enterprise system that we are
[1:07:47] going to be looking
[1:07:48] to implement
[1:07:49] over the next several years.
[1:07:51] What we thought is it would be
[1:07:52] great. We have a lot
[1:07:53] of reserves set aside
[1:07:54] for asset replacement. We have
[1:07:56] reserves set aside
[1:07:57] for building replacement. The
[1:07:58] next step is enterprise
[1:07:59] systems. We have a lot
[1:08:01] of enterprise systems that cost
[1:08:02] in the 10 to 20 to 30 million
[1:08:04] dollar range every time we need
[1:08:06] to replace these. And so
[1:08:07] setting aside a reserve that's
[1:08:08] designated just
[1:08:09] for that will. Will really set
[1:08:11] us up for the future. And we're
[1:08:12] excited about that
[1:08:16] on the financial security side.
[1:08:18] And this is where I wanted
[1:08:19] to talk a little bit more.
[1:08:20] Every year we do set aside and
[1:08:22] recommend to set aside money
[1:08:23] that just meets our 20% general
[1:08:25] purpose reserve that we have,
[1:08:26] our 5% ongoing contingency
[1:08:28] reserve that we have
[1:08:31] for uncertainties. But this
[1:08:32] year we have some issues with
[1:08:34] law enforcement liability. I'm
[1:08:36] going to stop right there on
[1:08:37] the priorities because I was
[1:08:38] going to jump right into law
[1:08:39] enforcement liability because
[1:08:40] it's a bit of an issue. Are
[1:08:41] there any questions
[1:08:43] on our priorities? All right.
[1:08:46] Okay. So Luther alluded
[1:08:48] to a little bit
[1:08:50] within the state of California
[1:08:52] as,
[1:08:53] as we've talked a little bit
[1:08:55] about, it is quite litigious.
[1:08:56] What we find is that on
[1:08:58] specifically law enforcement,
[1:08:59] although it's a lot of areas
[1:09:01] within government there with
[1:09:02] the increasing litigiousness
[1:09:04] of not just the state of
[1:09:07] California, but what we see
[1:09:08] in the nation,
[1:09:10] we see claims getting higher,
[1:09:11] we see judgments at time
[1:09:13] getting higher and it's really
[1:09:16] impacting our insurance. And
[1:09:19] so, you know, we as a county
[1:09:21] are basically partially
[1:09:22] like a hybrid model of self
[1:09:24] funded and we have excess
[1:09:25] insurance. And so as part
[1:09:27] of being self funded, we have a
[1:09:29] policy that the board has
[1:09:30] approved that we basically want
[1:09:32] to maintain our balances
[1:09:34] in any of our insurance funds
[1:09:36] at what's called an 80%
[1:09:39] confidence level. What that 80%
[1:09:40] confidence level means is that
[1:09:42] we roughly have 80% certainty
[1:09:43] that we'll be able to pay
[1:09:45] out claims in any given year.
[1:09:48] So that we are roughly 80%
[1:09:49] of the time we can pay
[1:09:51] out our claims, which is tied
[1:09:52] to our historical data
[1:09:53] on what claims has been. And so
[1:09:55] what this green bar is showing
[1:09:57] you is our projections,
[1:09:58] well first off our 25, 26
[1:10:00] number. But then going
[1:10:02] into that, our projections
[1:10:03] into the future
[1:10:04] of what we would need
[1:10:05] from a balance perspective,
[1:10:06] how many millions
[1:10:08] of dollars that we would need
[1:10:09] to have set aside to maintain
[1:10:11] that 80% confidence level.
[1:10:13] That's those green bars. What I
[1:10:14] wanted to highlight is that the
[1:10:16] blue bar, especially in 25, 26
[1:10:19] and then going into 26, 27, was
[1:10:22] what our current projection was
[1:10:24] of the balances that we had
[1:10:26] within that fund at this point
[1:10:28] in time and how short it is.
[1:10:29] So roughly what you're looking
[1:10:30] at for 2526 is $40 million
[1:10:34] of a balance. But we really, to
[1:10:36] have that 80% confidence level
[1:10:37] in accordance with policy,
[1:10:38] we'd have to have over 80
[1:10:40] million. So we are definitely
[1:10:41] short,
[1:10:42] which has gotten me concerned.
[1:10:43] And that's one
[1:10:44] of those areas where going into
[1:10:46] the future even we were looking
[1:10:47] at ongoing shortfalls. And
[1:10:48] really our policy calls
[1:10:49] for when we are short
[1:10:51] in that that we are
[1:10:52] to build up our reserves
[1:10:53] over a five year period to hit
[1:10:55] that 80% confidence level. So
[1:10:57] what we're recommending today
[1:10:59] for you and you know, going
[1:11:02] into our premiums into next
[1:11:04] year is a line that looks a
[1:11:05] little bit more like this. And
[1:11:07] the way
[1:11:08] by which we are really looking
[1:11:09] to Increase specifically the
[1:11:11] 26, 27 number is
[1:11:12] through a contribution or
[1:11:14] from one of our reserves, one
[1:11:16] of our general fund reserves.
[1:11:17] As you know,
[1:11:19] we set aside a lot of reserves
[1:11:20] for a lot of good reasons. And
[1:11:21] so we have a liability Reserve
[1:11:23] that's at $25 million right
[1:11:25] now. We're effectively looking
[1:11:26] to release that reserve. It's a
[1:11:28] general fund reserve,
[1:11:29] release it into this fund
[1:11:31] to help us begin to move
[1:11:33] towards that 80% confidence
[1:11:34] level. But we're not just
[1:11:37] recommending that. We have,
[1:11:39] you know, that $25 million
[1:11:40] liability reserve that we
[1:11:42] release. We are seeing premium
[1:11:43] growth within the county. And
[1:11:45] what that means is we are
[1:11:47] looking
[1:11:48] to increase our premiums.
[1:11:49] Currently in 25, 26, they're
[1:11:51] at 45 million going
[1:11:54] into next year. We are
[1:11:55] recommending that our premiums
[1:11:57] going into next year will be
[1:11:58] $69 million total. And what
[1:12:00] that means is our departments
[1:12:01] that pay into that, they will
[1:12:03] have a large increase going
[1:12:05] into next year. In addition
[1:12:08] to that, going into 20, 30,
[1:12:10] 31, it would be up to $80
[1:12:12] million. It's quite a large
[1:12:14] increase. Importantly, and I
[1:12:16] have a note down
[1:12:17] at the bottom,
[1:12:18] our biggest payer of law
[1:12:19] enforcement liability besides
[1:12:21] the county is our contract
[1:12:22] cities. The sheriff provides
[1:12:24] law enforcement services to 14
[1:12:26] different of our 14
[1:12:28] of our cities right now. And so
[1:12:29] any sort of cost we have
[1:12:30] on that side, we do pass on
[1:12:31] to our contract cities.
[1:12:33] Historically, notably for 26,
[1:12:34] 27 of that $24 million increase
[1:12:36] that I was talking about
[1:12:38] in premiums, $10.1 million is
[1:12:40] going to our contract cities.
[1:12:42] And that's what I wanted
[1:12:43] to talk a little bit about
[1:12:45] with you guys today. One
[1:12:46] of our recommendations is, you
[1:12:49] know, of that $25 million of
[1:12:51] the liability reserve that we'd
[1:12:52] like to set aside, we would
[1:12:53] like to support our contract
[1:12:55] cities by. By basically cutting
[1:12:57] that premium growth in half
[1:12:58] for the next year. So rather
[1:13:00] than $10.1 million increase, we
[1:13:02] would recommend a pure subsidy
[1:13:03] from the board of supervisors
[1:13:05] of $5 million that would go
[1:13:06] towards helping them pay. You
[1:13:08] know, a lot
[1:13:10] of our contract cities from a
[1:13:12] budgetary perspective have
[1:13:13] faced a lot of challenges, you
[1:13:15] know, similar
[1:13:16] to the counties,
[1:13:17] but sometimes it's even worse.
[1:13:18] And so we wanted to be in good
[1:13:20] partners recommend that we
[1:13:21] would roughly, you know,
[1:13:22] on a one time basis,
[1:13:24] cover their costs for one year
[1:13:25] at half their premium increase.
[1:13:27] And so that is a specific
[1:13:28] recommendation that we have
[1:13:30] for you today. So normally this
[1:13:31] is just a receive,
[1:13:33] but we did want
[1:13:34] to give our contract cities,
[1:13:36] who are, I'm guessing,
[1:13:38] probably paying attention
[1:13:39] to this meeting,
[1:13:40] some knowledge going
[1:13:41] into the future
[1:13:42] of their budgets,
[1:13:43] as they're planning their
[1:13:45] budgets, whether or not they
[1:13:46] can, you know,
[1:13:47] potentially see that and rely
[1:13:48] on that $5 million. So we are
[1:13:49] today asking you that
[1:13:50] to give us direction
[1:13:52] to include that
[1:13:53] into our budget going into
[1:13:54] June. So that is a
[1:13:56] recommendation in front
[1:13:57] of you guys today, I assume.
[1:13:59] We'll take that after we go
[1:14:00] through questions. Any
[1:14:02] questions
[1:14:03] on that?
[1:14:04] >> I'll tell you, our contract
[1:14:05] cities appreciate the support.
[1:14:06] I've been reached out to
[1:14:07] by several of them and they
[1:14:08] appreciate it.
[1:14:10] >> Excellent. Very good. All
[1:14:11] right. With that,
[1:14:13] that is what we have for you.
[1:14:15] Our next steps is that my
[1:14:16] staff,
[1:14:18] who I should have thanked right
[1:14:20] off the start, as Luther
[1:14:21] mentioned, they are working
[1:14:23] really, really hard right now
[1:14:24] to get a budget book that will
[1:14:25] be delivered
[1:14:27] to you and the public on May
[1:14:28] 19. That budget book will have.
[1:14:29] This has been a general fund
[1:14:31] focus in this meeting. The
[1:14:33] budget book will have every
[1:14:34] revenue source that we're
[1:14:35] talking about. It will have
[1:14:37] detailed pages by department
[1:14:38] about what's going on
[1:14:41] within each budget. And then
[1:14:42] on June 9, which is three weeks
[1:14:43] later, is when we would like
[1:14:45] to bring to the board the
[1:14:46] actual budget recommended
[1:14:47] budget for adoption. So
[1:14:49] with that, I will entertain any
[1:14:52] questions.
[1:14:54] >> I don't believe I have any
[1:14:55] requests to speak. Is that
[1:14:56] correct?
[1:14:57] >> That's correct.
[1:14:59] >> Okay, any questions? Come
[1:15:02] on, you gotta congratulate.
[1:15:04] Thank you so much. I know the
[1:15:05] five year forecast freaks me
[1:15:07] out always.
[1:15:09] >> It is. But I also been here
[1:15:11] long enough to know that you
[1:15:12] guys do a wonderful job
[1:15:13] of managing, you know,
[1:15:15] preparing for the worst,
[1:15:16] but hoping
[1:15:17] for the best as we go forward.
[1:15:18] Your team does a fantastic job
[1:15:20] preparing. Love the fact that
[1:15:21] we could take some long term
[1:15:22] vision,
[1:15:23] strategic investments not only
[1:15:25] for our residents,
[1:15:26] but our departments. That is
[1:15:27] also part of everything we do
[1:15:29] all the time. And that very
[1:15:30] thoughtful approach that you
[1:15:32] do. Even though we prepare
[1:15:34] for that worst, we hope those
[1:15:35] numbers change and that we have
[1:15:37] good outcomes going forward.
[1:15:39] But excellent work as always
[1:15:40] and we'll keep pressing on.
[1:15:43] I'll move it when you entertain
[1:15:45] that Supervisor Cook.
[1:15:49] >> Yeah. 100 years ago, used
[1:15:53] to send people to Washington
[1:15:58] D.C. to talk
[1:16:04] to people that could help you
[1:16:05] out with, you know,
[1:16:08] you needed money for a specific
[1:16:09] project or what have you and
[1:16:10] usually you'd bump in,
[1:16:18] you'd have to go through the,
[1:16:21] the most difficult person
[1:16:23] to deal with. And I'm trying
[1:16:25] to remember her name, dawn
[1:16:26] something or other that I don't
[1:16:31] want to say. She always said
[1:16:33] no,
[1:16:35] but she was the gatekeeper. Do
[1:16:36] you remember those days?
[1:16:38] >> I do, yeah.
[1:16:39] >> She never got a Christmas
[1:16:40] card for 10 years or something.
[1:16:41] But that's another story. And
[1:16:43] I'm just wondering because
[1:16:47] believe it or not, when you
[1:16:49] went back there and you talked
[1:16:50] to, particularly if you had a
[1:16:52] large project or what have you,
[1:16:54] you had something that you
[1:16:56] could talk to your elected
[1:16:57] representatives about, said,
[1:16:59] you know, we're desperate in
[1:17:01] San Bernardino county for this
[1:17:02] for the following reasons and
[1:17:04] unless they're stupid,
[1:17:07] they're going to meet
[1:17:08] with you and they're going
[1:17:10] to talk to you. And this is
[1:17:12] where they can always say no,
[1:17:14] but at least you get your day
[1:17:17] in court or day in Congress.
[1:17:20] And I used to look forward
[1:17:23] to that because, you know,
[1:17:27] a lot of things were going
[1:17:28] on and everything. You still do
[1:17:30] that where you have an agenda.
[1:17:32] It's almost like a game plan
[1:17:36] on how you, you pick
[1:17:41] out certain officeholders,
[1:17:45] particularly the stupid ones
[1:17:46] like Cook back there. You know,
[1:17:48] you figure, well, he's dumb,
[1:17:49] he's a dumb Marine. We can get
[1:17:51] over on him and get another
[1:17:53] $100 million. Now you never got
[1:17:55] that much money. I don't care.
[1:17:57] JC himself was back here.
[1:17:58] But if, if the source
[1:18:02] of the money is back there,
[1:18:07] I'm obviously advocating
[1:18:10] for a game plan on how you go
[1:18:11] back there and you can be real
[1:18:13] nice, smooth and everything
[1:18:14] like that, but that's
[1:18:17] oftentimes depending upon the
[1:18:19] situation in Washington and
[1:18:22] what have you. But I want some
[1:18:24] of my colleagues there,
[1:18:27] there now to go
[1:18:30] through the pain of meeting
[1:18:31] certain disgruntled people
[1:18:32] from your,
[1:18:34] your home communities. Because
[1:18:36] it works.
[1:18:37] >> Yeah, absolutely. I'm
[1:18:38] fortunate to have work
[1:18:40] for me, Leah Fletez, who is our
[1:18:42] legislative affairs and
[1:18:44] government relations sort
[1:18:46] of deputy executive officer.
[1:18:47] And they focus a lot with, you
[1:18:49] know, the federal stakeholders,
[1:18:51] state stakeholders and really
[1:18:52] looking for the county
[1:18:54] to ensure that we are
[1:18:55] advocating for all
[1:18:56] of our needs. But in addition
[1:18:57] to that, we do have a process
[1:18:59] by which we look
[1:19:00] for federal earmarks, you know,
[1:19:01] working with our,
[1:19:03] our local delegation. And it's
[1:19:04] something that they do a great
[1:19:06] job of really pursuing
[1:19:07] for the county.
[1:19:08] >> Yes.
[1:19:10] >> What was budget request.
[1:19:13] >> Very, very dangerous. Where
[1:19:16] I don't like it. People in
[1:19:24] Washington don't like it and
[1:19:25] it's used interchangeably.
[1:19:27] But I (inaudible) her head
[1:19:28] off as soon as they say that.
[1:19:30] Thank you for keeping it
[1:19:32] at a higher level. Don't get
[1:19:33] down
[1:19:34] to the level that these people
[1:19:35] in Washington are at. You're
[1:19:36] above them, you're no more.
[1:19:38] And you're more passionate
[1:19:39] because you're closer
[1:19:40] to the people.
[1:19:41] >> Thank you, sir.
[1:19:43] >> Yeah, thank you, Madam
[1:19:44] Chair. I want to thank Matt,
[1:19:45] finance team,
[1:19:46] department heads and Luther
[1:19:47] for really doing a great job
[1:19:48] with the budget. I know this is
[1:19:50] just the first bite
[1:19:51] at the apple. I know we're
[1:19:52] going to come back
[1:19:54] to formally adopt, but I think
[1:19:55] it's impressive the fact that,
[1:19:56] you know,
[1:19:57] our county staff has been able
[1:19:58] to make a lot of significant
[1:20:00] one time investments
[1:20:01] in the county to address a lot
[1:20:02] of the needs that we have. And
[1:20:04] you know, one
[1:20:05] of the ones I just want
[1:20:06] to highlight,
[1:20:07] I know you mentioned it
[1:20:08] earlier, was the $5 million
[1:20:09] investment for the Glen Helen
[1:20:10] Rehabilitation Center. One
[1:20:12] of the things we found out
[1:20:13] in the last point in time count
[1:20:15] is that our numbers did
[1:20:16] decrease in our county, but
[1:20:18] overall the formerly
[1:20:19] incarcerated numbers has
[1:20:20] increased. That's up
[1:20:22] to 28.6% now. So that's very,
[1:20:24] very significant. I know that's
[1:20:26] important for our sheriff
[1:20:27] Shannon Dykus and Behavioral
[1:20:29] Health to try to address and
[1:20:30] transition folks as they,
[1:20:31] they go
[1:20:32] from being incarcerated out
[1:20:33] to civilian life. And that is
[1:20:35] just a big number
[1:20:36] with our homeless population.
[1:20:37] But I just think it's a great
[1:20:38] job that you did
[1:20:39] in forecasting and sharing
[1:20:41] with the entire board. You know
[1:20:42] what the outlook is.
[1:20:43] But also one
[1:20:45] of the things we have
[1:20:46] to consider in mind. We've been
[1:20:47] very blessed
[1:20:49] with revenues being high
[1:20:50] American Rescue Plan act money
[1:20:51] that we're able to make
[1:20:53] significant investments. We
[1:20:54] received a lot of money from
[1:20:55] the state a couple years ago.
[1:20:57] >> You know, as we begin
[1:20:58] to look forward, you know,
[1:20:59] how can we leverage our dollars
[1:21:00] with state and federal matching
[1:21:01] dollars? It's something we have
[1:21:02] to consider. But Great job,
[1:21:03] Matt, with the budget and
[1:21:04] appreciate the good work
[1:21:05] to you and Luther.
[1:21:08] >> Thank you, sir.
[1:21:09] >> Any concerns
[1:21:10] about the liability reserves
[1:21:12] for law enforcement? No. All
[1:21:14] right. Would you like
[1:21:15] to make a motion?
[1:21:16] >> So move.
[1:21:17] >> Thank you. Thank you very
[1:21:19] much for the motion. And
[1:21:20] second, all those
[1:21:21] in favor?
[1:21:22] >> Aye.
[1:21:23] >> Any opposed? Any
[1:21:24] abstentions?
[1:21:25] >> With that, item 84 passes
[1:21:26] unanimously. Thank you very
[1:21:28] much. Thank you, Matthew.
[1:21:29] Thanks to your entire team.
[1:21:31] Number 85 is the countywide
[1:21:32] Unmanned Aerial Support
[1:21:33] Workshop being presented this
[1:21:35] morning by Luther Snoke.
[1:21:38] >> I'll let Trevor take a seat,
[1:21:39] but
[1:21:41] in the opening comments made
[1:21:43] by Supervisor Cook, he talked
[1:21:44] about drones. And it's very
[1:21:46] timely because that is the
[1:21:47] conversation that Trevor, as
[1:21:49] well as representatives
[1:21:51] from fire and sheriff will,
[1:21:53] will lead the discussion
[1:21:54] over the next 15 to 20 minutes
[1:21:56] or so to touch on. So I'll turn
[1:21:58] it over to Trevor, but I think
[1:21:59] he has a video that he's going
[1:22:01] to start with. Yeah, that we.
[1:22:03] We recorded this just
[1:22:04] to be safe. I wanted to do this
[1:22:06] as a live demonstration, but we
[1:22:07] thought this was a little
[1:22:09] smarter.
[1:22:10] >> Go ahead, Trevor.
[1:22:12] >> Thank you, Luther. And good
[1:22:13] morning, chair members
[1:22:14] of the board. I am Trevor
[1:22:16] Lijia, assistant executive
[1:22:17] officer with the county's
[1:22:18] public safety and
[1:22:19] communications portfolio. So,
[1:22:20] yeah, let's watch that video.
[1:22:21] [ VIDEO PLAYING ]
[1:22:39] So that video we just watched,
[1:22:41] it was. That was shot
[1:22:42] with an unmanned aerial system,
[1:22:44] AKA UAS, AKA drone. And I think
[1:22:47] that's the type
[1:22:48] of use that a lot of us think
[1:22:51] about when we think about this
[1:22:53] technology and the capabilities
[1:22:55] of these things. We think
[1:22:56] about, we go to a wedding,
[1:22:58] they fly
[1:22:59] over the wedding party,
[1:23:01] everybody waves. Right.
[1:23:02] But really with the technology
[1:23:04] capability growth that we're
[1:23:05] seeing,
[1:23:06] there's so much more than that,
[1:23:07] and that is why we are here
[1:23:09] today. And so
[1:23:12] at a high level, we're going
[1:23:14] to keep this, as Luther
[1:23:16] mentioned, to about 20 minutes.
[1:23:17] We're going to focus
[1:23:18] on four things. We're going
[1:23:20] to provide a quick overview of
[1:23:21] where we are today as a county
[1:23:22] related to UAS. We're going
[1:23:24] to hear
[1:23:25] from the sheriff's department
[1:23:27] in the fire district as they
[1:23:29] walk through their programs,
[1:23:31] since they're really leading
[1:23:33] in this space. And then we're
[1:23:35] going to close with a few
[1:23:37] recommendations and open it up
[1:23:38] for your questions and
[1:23:39] feedback. So in 2023, the
[1:23:40] county adopted its first formal
[1:23:41] UAS policy framework,
[1:23:42] and that was aligned
[1:23:44] with FAA regulations, and that
[1:23:46] gave us a solid foundation for
[1:23:47] safe and compliant operations
[1:23:49] today. And as the technology
[1:23:50] evolves with, especially
[1:23:52] with things like Beyond
[1:23:53] Visual Line of Sight, which
[1:23:54] we'll talk about more later,
[1:23:55] this is an area that we do want
[1:23:57] to keep current. We also
[1:23:59] established a multi
[1:24:00] departmental steering committee
[1:24:02] and that committee serves as a
[1:24:03] centralized forum
[1:24:05] to support coordination
[1:24:07] across departments, things
[1:24:09] like reviewing purchases,
[1:24:10] sharing information,
[1:24:12] promoting consistency and
[1:24:13] training,
[1:24:14] safety and operations. And the
[1:24:15] committee itself doesn't
[1:24:17] approve departmental programs
[1:24:18] or direct the operations and it
[1:24:20] continues to operate based
[1:24:21] on their specific needs
[1:24:23] within the framework
[1:24:25] of county policy and standards.
[1:24:27] And so as these programs
[1:24:30] continue to grow
[1:24:31] in scale and complexity,
[1:24:33] ensuring a strong county wide
[1:24:34] alignment will become
[1:24:35] increasingly important. So what
[1:24:40] this slide shows is that UAS
[1:24:41] use is expansive
[1:24:43] across multiple departments.
[1:24:46] As you can see,
[1:24:49] the county as a whole flew
[1:24:50] over 420flight hours last year.
[1:24:51] So not including sheriff and
[1:24:53] fire,
[1:24:54] which I'll let them speak
[1:24:56] to when they come up. But those
[1:24:57] flights supported a range
[1:25:00] of mission specific tasks.
[1:25:01] Everything
[1:25:02] from infrastructure inspections
[1:25:05] after a flood, aerial mapping,
[1:25:06] supporting fraud investigation,
[1:25:08] assisting
[1:25:09] with homeless encampments,
[1:25:10] as well as video production.
[1:25:15] And so with that quick overview
[1:25:16] I will turn it over
[1:25:18] to our subject matter experts
[1:25:19] in our public safety partners
[1:25:21] to share a bit about their
[1:25:22] programs. I'll invite them
[1:25:23] down now.
[1:25:25] >> So as they're coming down,
[1:25:26] both Sheriff Dikus and Chief
[1:25:27] Muncie, they're really
[1:25:28] at the forefront
[1:25:30] of applying this technology in
[1:25:31] ways that enhance first
[1:25:32] responder safety and improve
[1:25:33] situational awareness
[1:25:36] in the field. So we have Lt.
[1:25:38] Bashir and Battalion Chief
[1:25:40] Chris Bowden here, but I'll let
[1:25:41] them introduce themselves as
[1:25:42] they get started.
[1:25:45] >> Hi, I'm Lieutenant Jared
[1:25:46] Beshear. I oversee our
[1:25:48] Operational Technologies unit.
[1:25:49] One of the items that we cover
[1:25:52] is UAS within the county. Our
[1:25:56] current UAS program consists of
[1:25:58] our specialized enforcement
[1:26:00] division or our SWAT team. We
[1:26:02] have a limited deployment of
[1:26:04] drone as first responder or DFR
[1:26:06] in Victorville City and we have
[1:26:08] certified part 107 pilots
[1:26:09] running out of our real time
[1:26:11] information center. As we
[1:26:13] expand
[1:26:17] into this area cautiously,
[1:26:20] we have looked
[1:26:21] at multiple options in order
[1:26:23] to provide service
[1:26:24] for the county, not only
[1:26:25] at the city level, but also as
[1:26:26] a county wide and other
[1:26:28] departments within the
[1:26:29] Sheriff's department. One of
[1:26:31] these items is a mobile
[1:26:32] response. So as spoken
[1:26:34] about earlier,
[1:26:35] search and rescue issues
[1:26:36] in the county,
[1:26:37] we have a vast county. We would
[1:26:38] be able
[1:26:40] to deploy UAS technology out to
[1:26:41] these search areas or critical
[1:26:43] incidents that are located
[1:26:44] in these remote areas.
[1:26:46] For that, along with also
[1:26:49] having different options
[1:26:50] available to us including
[1:26:52] tethered and long endurance UAS
[1:26:53] systems for extended search
[1:26:55] operations or critical
[1:26:56] incidents. In addition
[1:26:58] to mobile response,
[1:26:59] we're looking
[1:27:00] at drone as a first responder.
[1:27:02] Our partners up in
[1:27:03] Victorville City have launched
[1:27:05] their DFR program
[1:27:06] with success early on
[1:27:08] for finding missing persons,
[1:27:11] identifying suspects
[1:27:13] of crimes and officer safety
[1:27:15] for our search and rescue
[1:27:16] personnel. We want to be able
[1:27:18] to leverage this technology
[1:27:19] in order to make it safer
[1:27:21] for them when they go out and
[1:27:22] do their searches and more
[1:27:24] efficient and more effective. A
[1:27:26] lot of the times when we go
[1:27:27] out and send our volunteers
[1:27:28] from the sheriff's department
[1:27:29] to do these rescues, they get
[1:27:30] into terrain that's very
[1:27:32] dangerous. And by being able
[1:27:33] to deploy a DFR to a location
[1:27:34] to confirm or deny the location
[1:27:35] of anybody actually being
[1:27:36] there, it increases their
[1:27:38] safety and makes it less likely
[1:27:39] that they'll be injured
[1:27:40] out there. We are continuing
[1:27:42] our specialized enforcement
[1:27:43] program with SWAT and how we
[1:27:47] handle critical incidents with
[1:27:49] their UAS technology and also
[1:27:51] looking to add to our
[1:27:52] specialized investigations
[1:27:53] division,
[1:27:55] specifically our homicide team
[1:27:56] for outdoor scenery
[1:27:58] construction. It's much more
[1:28:00] cost effective and efficient
[1:28:02] to be able to build out and map
[1:28:04] a crime scene versus the older
[1:28:05] technologies.
[1:28:07] To the left is just some of the
[1:28:08] areas that we've been looking
[1:28:10] at as a county to deploy drone
[1:28:11] as first responder and just
[1:28:12] seeing the legitimacy
[1:28:14] of those areas based on calls
[1:28:15] for service data and terrain.
[1:28:17] This is a early
[1:28:19] on map or an overview
[1:28:21] of the county. It just includes
[1:28:22] some
[1:28:23] of the sites that we're looking
[1:28:24] at as how we would implement
[1:28:26] Dronis first respond responder.
[1:28:27] This doesn't include any
[1:28:28] of the city stations. There's
[1:28:29] also outlying stations that we
[1:28:31] have an idea for, including
[1:28:33] Needles, Baker, Trona. Also the
[1:28:35] mountain areas are on here.
[1:28:36] You don't see them, but they
[1:28:37] would require a little bit
[1:28:39] different approach.
[1:28:40] But we are looking
[1:28:41] into the areas of Crestline,
[1:28:42] Lake, Arrowhead, Big Bear,
[1:28:44] Running Springs and Wrightwood
[1:28:45] area. The other ones,
[1:28:47] the far left is Mount Baldy.
[1:28:48] We have a lot
[1:28:49] of search missions that occur
[1:28:50] out there and it would just
[1:28:51] help in faster identification
[1:28:53] or location of victims.
[1:28:56] Everything will run
[1:28:58] through our Real Time
[1:28:59] Information center as a
[1:29:01] centralized location.
[1:29:02] But every piece of technology
[1:29:03] that we're implementing
[1:29:05] through our unit is to
[1:29:06] decentralize the technology so
[1:29:07] it is available to everybody,
[1:29:08] including the officer
[1:29:09] on the street. The goal
[1:29:11] from the start was to make sure
[1:29:12] that all this information was
[1:29:13] available to everyone. We
[1:29:14] believe by being able
[1:29:15] to get this technology along
[1:29:16] with our existing technology
[1:29:18] out to the deputies, we'll have
[1:29:19] better outcomes and more
[1:29:21] situational awareness.
[1:29:23] On this screen,
[1:29:24] the middle screen for the
[1:29:25] Real Time Information center,
[1:29:27] you'll see a drone feed that
[1:29:28] was coming in
[1:29:29] during an incident. On the
[1:29:30] right hand side you'll see
[1:29:31] deputy locations along
[1:29:32] with live stream from the
[1:29:34] armored rescue vehicles. This
[1:29:36] is just A very short clip
[1:29:39] for a matter of brevity
[1:29:49] for this situation. And these
[1:29:50] are all the feeds that come
[1:29:51] into our real time information
[1:29:52] center that's currently
[1:29:54] operating. So this would just
[1:29:55] be an added technology
[1:29:56] to give better information
[1:29:57] to the deputies
[1:29:58] in the field.
[1:30:04] >> Good morning. My name is
[1:30:06] Chris Bowden, a battalion chief
[1:30:07] with the fire district assigned
[1:30:09] out in the south desert. I'm
[1:30:11] also our program administrator
[1:30:13] for our robotics division. Our
[1:30:14] robotics division covers ground
[1:30:16] based, subterranean or indoor,
[1:30:18] underwater,
[1:30:19] and our UAS program. And with
[1:30:21] our innovative forward thinking
[1:30:23] courage
[1:30:25] of our administration, we are
[1:30:26] among the leaders
[1:30:27] in the fire service
[1:30:28] in this field right now. Some
[1:30:32] of our core capabilities that
[1:30:33] we lean on in our UAS program
[1:30:34] include thermal imaging and
[1:30:36] video imaging that we can take
[1:30:38] of incidents. We're currently
[1:30:40] able to get UAS
[1:30:42] over incidents pretty rapidly
[1:30:44] with one person in the field.
[1:30:45] And I'll go over where we're
[1:30:47] leaning towards developing
[1:30:49] that, making it even better.
[1:30:50] But those videos and the
[1:30:51] thermal imaging provide real
[1:30:52] time situational awareness that
[1:30:54] has not been available
[1:30:56] in the past
[1:30:57] to the first responders on
[1:30:58] scene and even still en route
[1:30:59] where they have a view
[1:31:01] of their incident from
[1:31:03] above that gives them, you
[1:31:04] know, a really good picture
[1:31:05] of what it is they're dealing
[1:31:06] with and allows them to
[1:31:08] appropriately allocate their
[1:31:09] resources to control the
[1:31:10] situation and keep it
[1:31:11] from expanding. We've been able
[1:31:13] to provide a scene, scene
[1:31:15] illumination, one incident
[1:31:16] in particular out
[1:31:17] in the south desert region up
[1:31:19] in the rim rock area. We had a
[1:31:20] hiker stuck
[1:31:22] in some rocks that we had
[1:31:23] to send rescuers in,
[1:31:25] and this was at nighttime. We
[1:31:27] were able to put the UAS up
[1:31:28] above the incident with a
[1:31:29] fairly bright floodlight that
[1:31:31] allowed the first responders
[1:31:33] to get in there and safely
[1:31:34] extricate that victim
[1:31:35] from the rocks and get him off
[1:31:37] to get some help. We provide
[1:31:39] advanced mapping with our
[1:31:40] drones both pre incident and
[1:31:42] post incident. We have a goal
[1:31:44] of 100% mapping of all
[1:31:46] of the fires that occur within
[1:31:48] the fire district's area. And
[1:31:49] so far we are able
[1:31:51] to meet that. And we can
[1:31:52] provide exact acreage and fire
[1:31:54] perimeters of all the fires
[1:31:55] that we have as we move
[1:31:56] forward. All
[1:31:58] of our drones are all weather.
[1:32:00] They can last
[1:32:01] in the higher winds. They can
[1:32:03] work
[1:32:04] in rain and low visibility. We
[1:32:06] have waivers from the FAA
[1:32:09] to carry more weight in on our
[1:32:11] drones than is primarily
[1:32:13] allowed by the faa. They've
[1:32:15] provided us waivers
[1:32:16] for heavy lifting,
[1:32:17] which will allow us
[1:32:19] to also progress
[1:32:21] into water delivery to fires
[1:32:23] from UAS so that we can get
[1:32:24] water in some of those areas,
[1:32:26] try and keep fires
[1:32:28] at smaller footprints until we
[1:32:30] can get ground resources
[1:32:32] in there and harder
[1:32:33] to reach areas. Our current
[1:32:35] fleet consists of 13, I'm
[1:32:37] sorry, 15 UAs. 13
[1:32:38] of them are rotor,
[1:32:40] wing or multi rotorcopters.
[1:32:41] And then we have two vertical
[1:32:43] takeoff and landing fixed wing
[1:32:45] units that can last a longer
[1:32:46] duration over an incident,
[1:32:48] providing us
[1:32:49] with a longer period
[1:32:51] of situational awareness.
[1:32:52] Within the fire district,
[1:32:54] we have 12 current park 107
[1:32:55] pilots that are operating our
[1:32:57] drones. Those are pretty much
[1:32:58] at this point on scene. That's
[1:33:00] between our suppression and
[1:33:02] fire marshal's office. We do
[1:33:04] have waivers that also allow us
[1:33:05] to fly what's called
[1:33:07] beyond visual line of sight,
[1:33:08] which allows our operators
[1:33:10] to utilize the cameras on the
[1:33:12] UAS as well as other
[1:33:13] intelligence that we have
[1:33:15] to see other aircraft
[1:33:16] in the area, make sure we
[1:33:18] deconflict and stay away from
[1:33:20] manned aviation and that we
[1:33:21] don't cause problems there.
[1:33:23] But we are waivered by the FAA
[1:33:24] to fly beyond visual line
[1:33:26] of sight,
[1:33:28] which really is a key
[1:33:29] for us as we move into what our
[1:33:31] program goals are and where
[1:33:32] we're headed. We're
[1:33:34] in the process of starting up
[1:33:36] our early aerial situational
[1:33:37] awareness program, or eisa,
[1:33:39] very similar
[1:33:40] to law enforcement's dfr, but
[1:33:43] for us it truly does provide
[1:33:45] situational awareness. Our
[1:33:47] personnel,
[1:33:51] this will be what people refer
[1:33:53] to sometimes as drone
[1:33:55] in the box. We'll have five
[1:33:56] docks located
[1:33:59] in two different cities
[1:34:01] in the county. Initially we're
[1:34:02] going to be placing two in
[1:34:04] Hesperia and three down here
[1:34:05] in San Bernardino City where
[1:34:06] some of our higher fire call
[1:34:08] volume is. Those aircraft will
[1:34:09] launch on the report
[1:34:11] of a fire. They'll be operated
[1:34:13] from our central fusion center
[1:34:14] which will be located
[1:34:16] in the basement
[1:34:18] of the fire headquarters
[1:34:19] by remote operators. They'll be
[1:34:21] able to get these UAs
[1:34:22] over scene of an incident long
[1:34:24] before fire apparatus and
[1:34:26] personnel ever get there,
[1:34:27] Providing them again that early
[1:34:29] situational awareness so that
[1:34:30] they can see what they're
[1:34:32] coming into. We also will have
[1:34:33] radar here
[1:34:35] in the valley which allow us
[1:34:36] to deconflict with. Because
[1:34:38] this is a heavily manned
[1:34:39] aviation area. So it allows us
[1:34:41] to deconflict with the manned
[1:34:43] aviation and make sure we're
[1:34:44] staying way out of the way
[1:34:46] of any manned aircraft. As we
[1:34:49] continue to move forward,
[1:34:50] we are working
[1:34:52] on establishing another program
[1:34:53] with pivotal which is a little
[1:34:55] bit larger UAS that will be
[1:34:57] deploying originally as
[1:34:59] unmanned. What we're looking
[1:35:01] at with that is heavier payload
[1:35:03] delivery. And we're working
[1:35:04] with the company
[1:35:05] to also use that to be able
[1:35:06] to deliver water to fires,
[1:35:08] which again will allow us to
[1:35:09] keep those fire footprints
[1:35:11] smaller. In addition,
[1:35:14] with our,
[1:35:17] with our innovation, we have
[1:35:18] two companies we're working
[1:35:20] with directly. One is
[1:35:21] developing a water dropping uas
[1:35:24] that's Ponderosa AI. They'll
[1:35:26] have hotspot detection
[1:35:27] capabilities through infrared
[1:35:31] sensing and it'll allow us
[1:35:33] again to help keep these fires
[1:35:34] mopped up and cleaned. Where
[1:35:35] Seneca is a different program.
[1:35:37] Seneca is an autonomous system
[1:35:39] that we'll be monitoring and
[1:35:41] we'll have control over.
[1:35:42] But these will launch the
[1:35:44] report of a fire in a
[1:35:45] particular area and they have
[1:35:46] the ability to deliver water
[1:35:48] to that fire in what's
[1:35:50] considered a swarmed
[1:35:52] capability. So there's multiple
[1:35:53] of these drones that will
[1:35:54] respond and start
[1:35:57] to put suppression efforts
[1:35:58] on these fires again in hard
[1:36:00] to reach areas until ground
[1:36:01] personnel can get there and get
[1:36:02] it under control and get it
[1:36:04] taken care of. And again, all
[1:36:05] of this is coordinated
[1:36:07] with manned aerial resources
[1:36:10] for deconfliction. As we
[1:36:13] continue forward,
[1:36:15] we're looking
[1:36:16] to add more EISA docks
[1:36:17] in the future years. We want to
[1:36:19] get better coverage throughout
[1:36:20] the county. Looking
[1:36:21] into covering some
[1:36:22] of the further out regions
[1:36:23] in the north desert, the south
[1:36:24] desert and even our mountains
[1:36:26] area eventually with the
[1:36:28] pivotal aircraft that has the
[1:36:29] ability to be crewed
[1:36:31] by a person. That will take a
[1:36:33] fair amount of training and
[1:36:34] policy that we'll need
[1:36:36] to develop,
[1:36:37] but that is one goal
[1:36:38] to eventually get
[1:36:40] to which would allow us
[1:36:41] to get rapid EMS care in hard
[1:36:43] to reach areas.
[1:36:45] In particular,
[1:36:46] what we're looking
[1:36:47] at is whole blood delivery
[1:36:48] for trauma victims, because
[1:36:49] whole blood saves lives. And
[1:36:51] with that we will be working
[1:36:52] with the FAA and private
[1:36:54] business partners in the
[1:36:55] Unmanned Air Traffic
[1:36:57] Management System or utmost.
[1:36:59] As you know, Amazon's getting
[1:37:01] ready
[1:37:02] to start launching drones for
[1:37:04] package delivery and there's a
[1:37:05] number of other private
[1:37:07] enterprises that are looking
[1:37:08] at using drones or UASs
[1:37:10] for their businesses. And so
[1:37:11] in order to de conflict all of
[1:37:13] these resources and not have
[1:37:14] them running into each other
[1:37:16] in the sky, the FAA is working
[1:37:17] on UTM integrations so that
[1:37:19] we're all staying away
[1:37:21] from each other. And this is
[1:37:23] just a quick overview
[1:37:24] of what we're looking at
[1:37:26] in the long distance. Some more
[1:37:27] sustained longer term
[1:37:29] situational awareness over the
[1:37:30] county where we can have
[1:37:32] something overhead, whether
[1:37:33] it's a fixed wing type aircraft
[1:37:35] at higher altitude or
[1:37:36] at the rate some of the
[1:37:38] technology is progressing.
[1:37:39] This could even be low earth
[1:37:41] orbit satellites that will
[1:37:42] provide us with real time
[1:37:43] information as far as going
[1:37:45] what's going on
[1:37:46] in the county. And that's all I
[1:37:48] have to speak to.
[1:37:50] >> Thank you both
[1:37:54] for coming up
[1:38:07] >> So what we just heard is
[1:38:08] these programs, they're already
[1:38:09] having a real impact and
[1:38:11] especially
[1:38:12] in the first responder safety.
[1:38:14] But at the same time,
[1:38:15] this technology
[1:38:17] within the systems, it's,
[1:38:18] it's evolving so quickly,
[1:38:20] really just
[1:38:21] in the last few years. I mean,
[1:38:23] this picture
[1:38:24] on the right here,
[1:38:25] I took that back in 2016 over
[1:38:26] 10 years ago on the top of
[1:38:27] San Timoteo landfill. And so
[1:38:29] while these platforms, like
[1:38:30] fixed wing quadcopters that we
[1:38:32] hear about,
[1:38:34] they look very similar today,
[1:38:36] but the technology that's
[1:38:37] available inside of them, it's,
[1:38:40] it's growing so quickly when we
[1:38:42] talk
[1:38:44] about autonomous flight dfr,
[1:38:47] beyond visual line of sight.
[1:38:48] So we're also seeing emerging
[1:38:51] use cases like evtol, that's
[1:38:53] electric vertical takeoff and
[1:38:54] land aircraft,
[1:38:56] particularly as we look towards
[1:38:59] 2028, like the Olympics and the
[1:39:00] future airspace demands in our
[1:39:02] county and our particular
[1:39:03] airports. So this evolution,
[1:39:05] it's a strength. But that also
[1:39:07] makes it more important that we
[1:39:08] maintain a common operating
[1:39:09] picture as these programs
[1:39:11] continue to grow. And so the
[1:39:15] question becomes,
[1:39:16] how are we headed
[1:39:18] in the right direction? And I'm
[1:39:19] sure you've heard this corny
[1:39:21] analogy, but like, it's
[1:39:22] like a flight path, right? You
[1:39:24] take off from Ontario to New
[1:39:25] York, you're generally,
[1:39:27] you're pointed
[1:39:28] in the right direction,
[1:39:29] but once you're airborne, you
[1:39:31] can start making small
[1:39:32] adjustments to make sure that
[1:39:33] you land exactly where you want
[1:39:34] to go. And I feel like that's
[1:39:36] where we are here today. These
[1:39:37] programs, they're taking off
[1:39:39] across the county. And we have
[1:39:40] an opportunity now
[1:39:41] to make those adjustments,
[1:39:42] whether it's around
[1:39:44] coordination or infrastructure
[1:39:45] or even policy,
[1:39:46] so that when we look back
[1:39:47] in five years,
[1:39:48] we're where we wanted to be.
[1:39:50] And so based
[1:39:51] on what we're seeing, we've
[1:39:52] identified a few initial areas
[1:39:54] for consideration. And the
[1:39:55] first three aren't necessarily
[1:39:57] decisions today. These are
[1:39:58] areas that we would value the
[1:40:00] board's input and come back on
[1:40:01] with more detailed
[1:40:03] recommendations. And the first
[1:40:05] is updating our policy
[1:40:06] framework to keep pace with
[1:40:08] evolving technology and
[1:40:09] regulations,
[1:40:10] and specifically that
[1:40:12] beyond visual line of sight.
[1:40:13] The second is strengthening
[1:40:14] information sharing and
[1:40:15] situational awareness
[1:40:16] across departments. There are
[1:40:18] programs out there like
[1:40:20] DroneSense and Fusis, which are
[1:40:22] software platforms that are
[1:40:23] used to coordinate drones drone
[1:40:25] operations in real time. And
[1:40:27] then third is establishing a
[1:40:29] working group to evaluate drone
[1:40:31] detection and mitigation. And
[1:40:32] so where we'd really value your
[1:40:34] input today is on the broader
[1:40:36] direction moving forward and
[1:40:37] looking ahead. The key question
[1:40:39] is how do we best support these
[1:40:41] programs as they continue
[1:40:43] to grow across the county. And
[1:40:45] so one area
[1:40:46] for discussion is what level of
[1:40:47] countywide coordination or
[1:40:49] support makes the most sense
[1:40:51] moving forward. And that focus
[1:40:52] isn't necessarily on
[1:40:53] centralization versus
[1:40:55] decentralization, but it's how
[1:40:56] do we ensure a common operating
[1:40:58] picture while continuing to
[1:41:00] support these departments and
[1:41:02] their individual missions. And
[1:41:05] then the second area is around
[1:41:06] real time information centers.
[1:41:08] Specifically, how can we
[1:41:10] enhance information sharing and
[1:41:11] situational awareness across
[1:41:14] the existing capabilities,
[1:41:15] as you heard with Fire and
[1:41:17] Sheriff and Office of
[1:41:19] Emergency Services. And the
[1:41:20] intent is not
[1:41:21] to replace what exists today,
[1:41:23] but to better connect those
[1:41:24] systems where it adds value,
[1:41:26] particularly as these programs
[1:41:27] like early Aerial Situational
[1:41:29] Awareness and DFR start
[1:41:31] to come into play. And so
[1:41:33] with that, I will turn it back
[1:41:34] over to Luther for any
[1:41:36] additional comments.
[1:41:38] >> Thank you, Trevor. I gotta
[1:41:40] make a comment
[1:41:41] on the corny analogy. That's
[1:41:43] one of my favorite analogies.
[1:41:44] So good job on the little dig.
[1:41:46] I guess the point here today is
[1:41:48] we have, we have, as Trevor has
[1:41:50] brought out, really started
[1:41:53] to advance
[1:41:56] in this space as a county. And
[1:41:57] we are doing exceptional. As
[1:41:59] you heard from Fire, we're
[1:42:02] leading the way. I think that's
[1:42:04] incredible.
[1:42:05] But as was mentioned, even
[1:42:07] like this, beyond visual line
[1:42:08] of sight, it's a limiting
[1:42:10] factor that we've placed
[1:42:11] on ourselves currently under
[1:42:13] our own policy that we don't
[1:42:15] allow that. So there's some
[1:42:16] modernization of our own
[1:42:18] policies and practices
[1:42:19] internally that need
[1:42:21] to happen, as well as some
[1:42:22] coming together and creating.
[1:42:24] We have the UAS committee which
[1:42:26] has been very effective. We
[1:42:29] need to take that to the next
[1:42:31] level and really put a group
[1:42:32] together to look
[1:42:33] at how do we do this in a
[1:42:36] collaborative way where we can
[1:42:38] either share resources or share
[1:42:40] information or both and be able
[1:42:43] to maximize our impact using
[1:42:46] these tools. And then, you
[1:42:48] know, the question here that
[1:42:51] really I welcome the board's
[1:42:53] input on is a discussion. Is
[1:42:55] Trevor mentioned. This isn't
[1:42:56] necessarily about
[1:42:57] centralization versus
[1:43:00] decentralization,
[1:43:01] but there is a question
[1:43:02] about do we want to look
[1:43:03] at minimum some sort
[1:43:04] of co location. We saw that
[1:43:05] there are real time crime, real
[1:43:07] time information centers that
[1:43:08] both sheriff and fire have.
[1:43:11] Does the board want us to bring
[1:43:14] that group together and really
[1:43:15] look closely
[1:43:16] at potentially coming back
[1:43:17] with a request
[1:43:19] for an investigation to create
[1:43:20] a single center that would
[1:43:22] make, that would make sense for
[1:43:24] all parties where we could have
[1:43:26] those synergies, where we could
[1:43:27] bring together investment and
[1:43:29] put it in one place. And then
[1:43:30] when we have events and
[1:43:32] emergencies, we could
[1:43:33] potentially have one co located
[1:43:35] area. But at the same time,
[1:43:38] during normal practice and
[1:43:39] normal routine,
[1:43:41] any security or privacy
[1:43:42] Requirements that were required
[1:43:44] by sheriff or fire could be
[1:43:46] maintained or others. So that's
[1:43:48] something that I think we
[1:43:50] should look at and I'd look
[1:43:51] to the board though to see if
[1:43:52] that's something you would
[1:43:53] support.
[1:43:55] But then also going forward,
[1:43:56] you know, based
[1:43:57] on what you're seeing
[1:43:58] out there, what you're
[1:44:00] experiencing,
[1:44:01] what you're seeing
[1:44:02] with the cities,
[1:44:04] what you're seeing in your own
[1:44:05] research and things that you've
[1:44:08] found,
[1:44:10] are there things that you would
[1:44:11] like us to be focused
[1:44:13] on as we continue to engage
[1:44:14] in this space?
[1:44:16] >> Supervisor Hagman, thank
[1:44:18] you.
[1:44:19] >> Many knows this has been
[1:44:21] some of my passion even back
[1:44:22] since Paul and I were
[1:44:24] in the assembly days. We
[1:44:26] actually wrote the first
[1:44:27] legislation on this in
[1:44:29] California. Yeah, way back
[1:44:32] when. It's a fantastic tool.
[1:44:33] But if you look at how fast it
[1:44:35] is moving right now, it makes
[1:44:36] sense the way things are set
[1:44:38] up. These are usually drones
[1:44:41] used by first responders that
[1:44:44] are brought to a scene,
[1:44:46] launched, monitored close
[1:44:47] by and stuff. But the future,
[1:44:48] next three or four years,
[1:44:50] just think we were 20 years
[1:44:51] ago, we didn't have cell phones
[1:44:52] and how far things are going.
[1:44:53] And I have a passion
[1:44:54] for the smart city,
[1:44:56] smart county applications to
[1:44:58] this going forward that there's
[1:44:59] a lot to do and I did some just
[1:45:01] looking. This started my
[1:45:04] passion a long time ago
[1:45:05] by visiting I think one
[1:45:07] of our international partners
[1:45:09] in South Korea where they had a
[1:45:11] smart city and the technology
[1:45:13] there even 12, 15 years ago was
[1:45:14] amazing of how they're able
[1:45:16] to work on this. Then recently
[1:45:19] I visited one of my cities in
[1:45:20] Ontario that has their real
[1:45:22] time fusion center. They cut
[1:45:24] out 40% of the calls just on
[1:45:25] alarm calls because they were
[1:45:27] able to set a drone
[1:45:28] out there first to see that
[1:45:30] there was not an incident going
[1:45:31] on is a malfunction. So it's
[1:45:33] also a resource saver when it
[1:45:35] comes to these things.
[1:45:36] But where do we go forward?
[1:45:37] The tech
[1:45:40] in five years are going
[1:45:41] to be changing completely. If
[1:45:42] anybody's watching
[1:45:44] international news right now,
[1:45:45] drones are everywhere and the
[1:45:46] warfighter mission. But this is
[1:45:47] something that could be a life
[1:45:48] saving mission for us. And it's
[1:45:50] not just the ones, it's going
[1:45:51] to be the ones out of line
[1:45:53] of sight. And they could be
[1:45:54] multiple departments with
[1:45:55] multiple different missions.
[1:45:57] Land use can use it
[1:45:58] for fire abatement surveys,
[1:46:00] permit checks, public works
[1:46:02] have their flood control to see
[1:46:03] if our sensors coming in. And
[1:46:06] how do we look, how do we plan
[1:46:09] for 10 years from now versus
[1:46:12] what was realistic? Today a lot
[1:46:13] of these things exist all
[1:46:15] over the world already.
[1:46:17] They're traffic like
[1:46:18] Synchronization, autonomous
[1:46:19] vehicle watching, smart
[1:46:21] utilities, just a number of
[1:46:22] smart devices that we can bring
[1:46:24] into a fusion session,
[1:46:26] fusion center of some sort.
[1:46:28] And just like with oes,
[1:46:30] when you come together to
[1:46:32] handle a crisis and the
[1:46:34] military has their central
[1:46:35] command,
[1:46:37] I definitely enforce some kind
[1:46:38] of center that we can
[1:46:40] cohabitate together versus
[1:46:41] building individual centers.
[1:46:44] That doesn't mean the mission
[1:46:45] changed for each one
[1:46:46] of our departments,
[1:46:48] but I think they try
[1:46:49] to coordinate as much
[1:46:50] of that information. And as we
[1:46:51] advance and bring
[1:46:52] on technologies going
[1:46:53] into the future,
[1:46:55] how we integrate that
[1:46:56] seamlessly
[1:46:57] into the software that we have
[1:46:58] for monitor stuff is very
[1:46:59] important. I also noticed that
[1:47:01] with like the Ontario fusion
[1:47:03] center, even the wealthiest
[1:47:05] city,
[1:47:07] we have had a difficult time
[1:47:09] to staff it 247 because it is
[1:47:11] costly for the staffing. The
[1:47:13] one time money
[1:47:14] to set up is one thing,
[1:47:16] but the staff. So can we do
[1:47:18] cross disciplines? Can we share
[1:47:20] the costs in some of these
[1:47:22] future drones that will stay up
[1:47:24] there for 24 hours a day and
[1:47:26] have wide verses? Can we share
[1:47:27] that upon the departments with
[1:47:29] their different mission sets? A
[1:47:30] lot of questions going,
[1:47:32] but I think it's definitely
[1:47:33] time to address our policy and
[1:47:35] where we're going
[1:47:36] to start planting this stuff
[1:47:37] in the future.
[1:47:42] >> Thank you, Chair. I
[1:47:43] appreciate Supervisor Hagman's
[1:47:45] comments. You know,
[1:47:46] I think we could look at a
[1:47:47] centralized location and I
[1:47:49] think the technology has come a
[1:47:51] long ways and will continue
[1:47:52] to change. You know,
[1:47:53] I believe we have to defer
[1:47:54] to our experts, you know,
[1:47:56] our sheriff and fire
[1:47:57] department,
[1:47:59] and get input probably
[1:48:00] from our cities too, and get
[1:48:02] their thoughts if they would
[1:48:03] like
[1:48:04] to also supplement or be part
[1:48:06] of this. I mean, the other
[1:48:07] thing just I don't know because
[1:48:08] I'm not in that world.
[1:48:09] But you know, looking
[1:48:10] at unmanned, you know,
[1:48:11] for water,
[1:48:13] for water droppings, I don't
[1:48:15] know if those make sense
[1:48:16] strategically to be in areas
[1:48:17] that are hot spots. I can't
[1:48:19] speak
[1:48:20] to that. I'm not a fire expert,
[1:48:21] but I know that that's a very,
[1:48:22] very critical thing.
[1:48:24] Especially when we look at,
[1:48:25] you know, hard to reach places
[1:48:27] where many engines can't get
[1:48:28] to sometimes, you know, there's
[1:48:30] narrow roads or other things.
[1:48:32] So I don't know if these should
[1:48:34] be placed strategically or we
[1:48:35] should look at one center. But
[1:48:36] I think it's something that we
[1:48:38] should have that discussion and
[1:48:39] allow our experts with the
[1:48:40] sheriffs and fire department
[1:48:41] to give recommendations
[1:48:43] to this board. But I think
[1:48:44] there's a good opportunity here
[1:48:46] as we continue to look at, you
[1:48:47] know,
[1:48:48] upgrading our technology.
[1:48:50] >> So good work, Supervisor
[1:48:52] Cook.
[1:48:55] >> Yeah, I Think this is
[1:48:57] extremely important
[1:49:00] for our area,
[1:49:03] for we're spread all
[1:49:05] over creation. You know,
[1:49:06] I don't want to go on about how
[1:49:09] large it is and everything
[1:49:10] else, but I think we have an
[1:49:12] opportunity to join forces,
[1:49:14] if you will,
[1:49:16] with the civilian side, if you
[1:49:19] will, with the military side.
[1:49:23] And because oftentimes, you
[1:49:27] know, we used to work together
[1:49:29] when somebody was missing
[1:49:31] in the desert
[1:49:34] for some reason, Lance
[1:49:36] Corporal rather, which I think
[1:49:37] we, I don't know,
[1:49:39] he's still wandering
[1:49:40] out there,
[1:49:42] and I just fear the worst.
[1:49:43] But we're certain individuals.
[1:49:45] The point I'm saying is I think
[1:49:47] both the county, the military
[1:49:51] and everything else have
[1:49:53] certain reform resources and
[1:49:55] certain, let's just say,
[1:49:59] opportunities
[1:50:01] to influence people in
[1:50:05] Washington. So that if we had
[1:50:07] one unified plan that we came
[1:50:11] together that would benefit
[1:50:12] both the civilian side and the
[1:50:14] military side, I'm sure we'd
[1:50:16] get special attention in
[1:50:18] Congress and the Senate.
[1:50:21] Geography is, you know,
[1:50:23] the people in the desert, you
[1:50:26] love it. I've mentioned it
[1:50:27] several times,
[1:50:29] but it's very unforgiving. And
[1:50:30] if bad things happen
[1:50:33] in the desert, you have to
[1:50:34] react quickly or the
[1:50:36] consequences will come
[1:50:38] into effect. So I think having
[1:50:40] this dialogue
[1:50:45] on how we could work together,
[1:50:48] I'll be honest with you, I
[1:50:49] don't think we work together
[1:50:51] enough joining, joining forces
[1:50:54] because, you know, let's face
[1:50:56] it, I'm on a different side
[1:50:58] of the fence now. But, you
[1:51:00] know, the military is
[1:51:02] over there. And I don't want
[1:51:04] to say there's trust issues
[1:51:05] on how we do things,
[1:51:07] but if we have the same goal,
[1:51:11] I think,
[1:51:13] and I'm speaking primarily of
[1:51:16] the desert regions and
[1:51:19] everything else, that if we had
[1:51:21] both the county and we do work
[1:51:24] together, but I want to
[1:51:26] maximize that because when
[1:51:29] something happens, whether it's
[1:51:31] training accident or you got
[1:51:33] to get to a hospital down in
[1:51:35] San Diego, time is very,
[1:51:37] very important. You can't argue
[1:51:38] about whose turf it is. You
[1:51:40] have to have, I think, a
[1:51:43] command post exercise where you
[1:51:45] actually go through this drill
[1:51:49] and you find out, okay,
[1:51:50] who's going to be responsible
[1:51:52] for this, this, this and this,
[1:51:55] and you practice it. So God
[1:51:56] forgive, forgive me, but, you
[1:51:58] know, I've seen it happen. And
[1:52:01] time is of the essence,
[1:52:03] so that something bad happened,
[1:52:05] you got to react quickly,
[1:52:08] whether it's a hospital or what
[1:52:10] have you. So just having this
[1:52:12] discussion and how we can do
[1:52:15] it, but it's human nature. We
[1:52:18] as on this, but we kind
[1:52:20] of operate on our own area and
[1:52:23] everything else. But when
[1:52:25] you're together and each
[1:52:27] provides certain assets that
[1:52:30] could expedite an emergency,
[1:52:33] and I won't even describe what
[1:52:35] kind could happen, that I think
[1:52:37] we might end up doing something
[1:52:40] which we all want to do,
[1:52:42] and that is save a life or two
[1:52:45] in an emergency situation. So I
[1:52:49] want to continue this dialogue.
[1:52:51] I'm glad that we're talking
[1:52:55] about it and anything we can do
[1:52:57] to have joint cooperation
[1:52:59] on this and actually go
[1:53:01] through it step by step. God
[1:53:04] forbid we have a tragedy,
[1:53:06] but it's something
[1:53:11] out there is lurking,
[1:53:12] it's going to happen. So that's
[1:53:15] my two cents.
[1:53:18] >> Supervisor Armendarez?
[1:53:20] >> I think I want to start
[1:53:22] with. I do not know the answers
[1:53:24] to this. I think this is a
[1:53:25] great opportunity for us to.
[1:53:27] To find out those answers,
[1:53:28] though. I think we should have
[1:53:29] some sort
[1:53:31] of group come together. Those
[1:53:32] who are at the table should be
[1:53:33] the ones who are educated
[1:53:35] in this. Whether, you know,
[1:53:37] with our police, our fire, our
[1:53:39] cities, everyone who's
[1:53:41] utilizing this technology. We
[1:53:43] should probably get
[1:53:44] in a room and figure
[1:53:45] out how we can create some sort
[1:53:47] of MOUs to work together. I
[1:53:48] think working together
[1:53:49] collaboratively is not just
[1:53:52] good government, but it's also
[1:53:54] creates an affordability factor
[1:53:56] where we can accomplish more
[1:53:57] with less. I think a command
[1:53:59] center could be a great idea.
[1:54:00] You know,
[1:54:03] regional. I don't know if it's
[1:54:04] under Office of Emergency
[1:54:06] Services where we have people
[1:54:07] there. I do understand the
[1:54:08] sensitivity depending
[1:54:10] on if you're working
[1:54:11] with fire or you're working
[1:54:12] with sheriff.
[1:54:13] But I also know we also have,
[1:54:15] you know, some of our SWAT
[1:54:16] people who are cross trained
[1:54:18] also who are medics and sworn.
[1:54:20] You know, maybe we can figure
[1:54:21] out how to get that done where
[1:54:22] we have people who are cross
[1:54:23] trained who can be there to be
[1:54:25] those eyes. I also don't know
[1:54:27] what the sensitivity
[1:54:29] of the footage is. You know,
[1:54:30] are they required
[1:54:32] like our body cams
[1:54:33] to be released, you know,
[1:54:35] those type of things. I think
[1:54:36] someone smarter than me has to
[1:54:38] vet all those issues and know
[1:54:39] what opportunities are there
[1:54:41] and also what hurdles we're
[1:54:42] going to deal with or what
[1:54:43] liabilities we're going
[1:54:45] to encumber by moving forward.
[1:54:46] I do believe that we have
[1:54:48] to fix the policy regarding
[1:54:49] line of sight, but also think
[1:54:51] there's a huge opportunity
[1:54:54] for us to work with our cities
[1:54:55] also if we can collaborate
[1:54:58] internally. I think it opens
[1:54:59] the floodgates for what we can
[1:55:01] do as the whole county
[1:55:04] with municipalities involved,
[1:55:06] so that we can all work
[1:55:07] together and utilize all our
[1:55:09] resources
[1:55:10] to be not just collaborative,
[1:55:11] but very strategic
[1:55:13] in how we plant the future of
[1:55:14] what this technology looks
[1:55:16] like. That's all my Comments?
[1:55:22] >> This is not my area
[1:55:25] of expertise. Same thing. I
[1:55:27] would just say that the only
[1:55:28] thing that I would want
[1:55:29] to keep in mind is some
[1:55:30] of the missions are different.
[1:55:31] So when I saw probation up
[1:55:32] there, I'm still curious, like,
[1:55:34] what does probation do with the
[1:55:35] drone? I don't know. I'm
[1:55:36] excited to learn. I wondered
[1:55:37] Health and Human Services. And
[1:55:38] then it was mentioned.
[1:55:39] Mentioned homelessness. So I
[1:55:41] can see that. I think that
[1:55:43] missions will vary depending
[1:55:44] upon the department. So I think
[1:55:46] it's. I like the idea of having
[1:55:48] a central working group, but we
[1:55:50] also have a special district
[1:55:51] involved, and I think we need
[1:55:53] to be careful
[1:55:54] in how we approach it.
[1:55:56] With a special district, I know
[1:55:57] we have different fleet
[1:55:59] services and things
[1:56:00] like that. That's an area when
[1:56:01] you talk about fire and fire as
[1:56:02] a special district. Just
[1:56:03] to keep that in mind,
[1:56:05] I don't know the answer,
[1:56:07] but I'm looking forward
[1:56:08] to the dialogue.
[1:56:11] >> If I would, I think,
[1:56:12] appreciate all the feedback. I
[1:56:14] think bringing a working group
[1:56:15] together is important and
[1:56:17] talking about these issues. If
[1:56:18] we all bring our heads
[1:56:20] together, bring experts
[1:56:21] into the room and talk
[1:56:23] about what we can do, how we do
[1:56:25] it responsibly and how we do it
[1:56:26] in a way that works
[1:56:28] with everyone, but figure
[1:56:31] out our way to do it, we can.
[1:56:33] We can make that happen. So
[1:56:35] Trevor and I will get together.
[1:56:37] >> We'll take the lead. I'll
[1:56:38] have Trevor be the lead for the
[1:56:40] county administrative office
[1:56:41] and start to work to outreach
[1:56:43] to the various departments
[1:56:45] around the county who are
[1:56:46] already involved
[1:56:47] in this or would like
[1:56:49] to be involved in this. And
[1:56:50] we'll start that dialogue
[1:56:51] about this specifically. So
[1:56:52] thank you all
[1:56:54] for your feedback.
[1:56:55] >> Very good. Thank you very
[1:56:56] much, Trevor. This is a receive
[1:56:57] and file. So with that,
[1:56:58] we will move on
[1:56:59] to our general public comments.
[1:57:01] We have a lot
[1:57:02] of speakers signed up
[1:57:04] to speak today. We look forward
[1:57:05] to hearing your comments. Due
[1:57:07] to the volume of speakers,
[1:57:08] we are going
[1:57:09] to limit today's public comment
[1:57:10] to two minutes per speaker.
[1:57:12] And again, when you get to the
[1:57:15] threshold where you have your
[1:57:16] last 30 seconds left, it will
[1:57:19] flash orange and then green or
[1:57:21] I'm sorry, then red. Our first
[1:57:23] request to speak is from
[1:57:25] Russell Drew, followed by
[1:57:27] Carol Pettigue. Good morning or
[1:57:34] good afternoon. Feel free
[1:57:36] to start anytime.
[1:57:38] >> Okay. I want to thank you
[1:57:39] for your discussion with Land
[1:57:41] Use services this morning. And
[1:57:44] we did have a meeting
[1:57:46] with them. So a lot
[1:57:47] of what we were going
[1:57:48] to say we've kind of talked
[1:57:50] about and we've kind
[1:57:51] of made an action plan. So
[1:57:52] thank you for that. So I won't
[1:57:54] go into my long speech. You've
[1:57:55] got the paper there in front
[1:57:56] of you. I would like
[1:57:57] to take this time though
[1:57:59] to thank our Supervisor Paul
[1:58:00] Cook and his office staff,
[1:58:02] especially Christopher
[1:58:04] Porter, for their great work
[1:58:05] in getting Lone Pine Canyon,
[1:58:07] which is the subject
[1:58:08] of what we came originally for,
[1:58:09] to get our road opened
[1:58:10] after the flooding. It was a
[1:58:12] mess and it's open again and we
[1:58:13] really enjoyed that. So again,
[1:58:15] thank you, Supervisor Cook,
[1:58:17] for all your efforts
[1:58:19] on our behalf have. And also
[1:58:20] the veterans group said
[1:58:21] to say hi and they want
[1:58:23] to see you in town. And that's
[1:58:25] all I'm going to say.
[1:58:26] >> Thank you, Carol. Carol
[1:58:29] Pettigue, followed by Linda
[1:58:30] Drew. Ms. Pettigrew Standell.
[1:58:35] >> I just think that the people
[1:58:37] here need to know what
[1:58:38] everybody that's not speaking
[1:58:40] now because we spoke what we
[1:58:41] were talking about
[1:58:43] in that meeting. Basically I'm
[1:58:46] here to voice concern
[1:58:48] about the proposed quarry
[1:58:50] in the Lone Pine Canyon area.
[1:58:52] I'm concerned that the quality
[1:58:54] of life in Phelan, Pinyon
[1:58:55] Hills, Lytle Creek, Hesperia,
[1:58:59] Devore and Wrightwood will be
[1:59:00] greatly affected. The effect
[1:59:03] on traffic, especially on the
[1:59:06] 15. The air, water and noise
[1:59:08] pollution, the ecology of the
[1:59:11] area and any other hazards it
[1:59:13] will create will be
[1:59:14] devastating. I believe the
[1:59:16] decision by the planning
[1:59:17] commission was possibly done.
[1:59:19] I'm not going
[1:59:21] to say illegally, but not
[1:59:22] correctly. I know the decision
[1:59:25] was made
[1:59:27] against the recommendations
[1:59:28] of their staff. The board needs
[1:59:30] to be. This is you guys. You
[1:59:32] need to be very concerned
[1:59:33] about this project. It needs to
[1:59:35] be considered very carefully
[1:59:36] and your situations need
[1:59:38] to be heard. Your constituents.
[1:59:40] Sorry. Need
[1:59:41] to be heard and served. Thank
[1:59:42] you.
[1:59:45] >> Thank you very much. Linda
[1:59:46] Drew, followed by Melissa.
[1:59:51] >> Good afternoon, board and
[1:59:53] audience. I'm representing the
[1:59:55] Lone Pine Canyon Protective
[1:59:57] alliance whose purpose is
[1:59:59] to stop development of the
[2:00:00] quarry which will devastate our
[2:00:01] communities. I'm a 45 year
[2:00:04] resident of Wrightwood, a small
[2:00:07] village high in the San
[2:00:08] Gabriel Mountains. And not only
[2:00:12] will this quarry project affect
[2:00:14] Wrightwood, it will reflect all
[2:00:17] the surrounding communities.
[2:00:18] Though this project needs
[2:00:20] to be stopped, reasons to stop
[2:00:22] it are numerous. I will focus
[2:00:23] on health issues today due
[2:00:25] to a finding called Vested
[2:00:27] Rights. Established
[2:00:28] in the 1920s, the Quarry
[2:00:29] Project would be allowed
[2:00:31] to move forward. Forward
[2:00:32] with no oversight,
[2:00:33] no environmental impact study,
[2:00:34] no conditional use,
[2:00:35] no adherence
[2:00:36] to modern day mining rules.
[2:00:38] The mining company can do
[2:00:39] whatever it wants
[2:00:40] with no regard
[2:00:41] to how illegal it would be
[2:00:42] in today's world for the next
[2:00:44] 147 years. Product being mined
[2:00:46] is calcium carbonate. The
[2:00:48] National Institute of Health
[2:00:49] notes that Blasting, drilling,
[2:00:50] crushing, sifting creates
[2:00:52] particles that can be blown
[2:00:53] by the wind up to 60 miles
[2:00:55] away. Further and greater winds
[2:00:56] which we do have on the top of
[2:00:58] our mountain that covers the
[2:00:59] entire tri community where we
[2:01:01] are. And down here, calcium
[2:01:02] carbonate poses risks when
[2:01:04] mining crushes the rocks
[2:01:07] into dust,
[2:01:08] which we then breathe.
[2:01:10] Inhaling such dust can cause
[2:01:11] respiratory, eye,
[2:01:12] skin irritation. Continued
[2:01:14] ingestion can lead to more
[2:01:15] serious conditions such as
[2:01:16] kidney,
[2:01:18] gastro and metabolic issues.
[2:01:19] At this point,
[2:01:20] we also know that Lone Pine
[2:01:21] Canyon contains a rock called
[2:01:23] actinolite which when blasted,
[2:01:24] drilled, crushed,
[2:01:26] produces asbestos fibers.
[2:01:27] These fibers are tiny enough
[2:01:29] to remain suspended in the air
[2:01:30] and are easily inhaled and they
[2:01:31] cause all kinds
[2:01:33] of disease. I see, I'm about
[2:01:35] down there. All kinds
[2:01:36] of things like methythelioma,
[2:01:38] cancer,
[2:01:41] asbestos and other cancers.
[2:01:45] And it's cumulative and you
[2:01:46] might not know for 10 to 40
[2:01:49] years that you might have. And
[2:01:51] it also is going to hurt the
[2:01:52] animals because the particles
[2:01:53] of the dust go
[2:01:54] on the plants.
[2:01:56] >> Melissa followed by Cheryl
[2:01:57] Derrick.
[2:02:01] >> Hi, my name is Melissa
[2:02:02] Manning. I also have handouts
[2:02:03] if somebody's able to pass
[2:02:05] those out. I have copies,
[2:02:07] eight copies for everyone. Do I
[2:02:08] take them
[2:02:10] down there when you're done?
[2:02:12] You can hand them to the clerk
[2:02:14] of the board over here,
[2:02:15] please. All right, thank you.
[2:02:16] Good morning again. My name is
[2:02:18] Melissa Manning. I'm a resident
[2:02:19] of Wrightwood and a member
[2:02:20] of the Lone Pine Canyon
[2:02:21] Protection Alliance. I want to
[2:02:23] share that vested rights were
[2:02:24] found,
[2:02:26] but the county really needs
[2:02:27] to evaluate the impacts. Fire
[2:02:28] risk, evacuation safety,
[2:02:29] groundwater, earthquake
[2:02:30] activity, radon, asbestos, air
[2:02:32] quality, even the PCT views
[2:02:34] that the SB county posted
[2:02:36] about on Facebook this last
[2:02:38] week are all parts of this.
[2:02:39] Lone Pine Canyon has a posted
[2:02:42] 5 ton weight limit and it
[2:02:43] literally just reopened. Thank
[2:02:45] you Paul Cook
[2:02:49] for fast tracking that. It
[2:02:51] reopened on April 16th. This
[2:02:55] project requires 80,000 pound
[2:02:57] Class 8 trucks opening or
[2:02:59] operating at 8 times the legal
[2:03:02] limit. It's not a minor
[2:03:06] adjustment. Approving this
[2:03:07] project without fully
[2:03:08] redesigning and rebuilding that
[2:03:09] road would result
[2:03:11] in structural failure. We are
[2:03:12] talking about
[2:03:14] like pavement degradation,
[2:03:15] sub base collapse. It happened
[2:03:17] so easy. It was
[2:03:18] like less than a foot of rain
[2:03:19] made the entire road collapse.
[2:03:21] Also there's what engineers
[2:03:24] called alligator cracking that
[2:03:26] we're concerned about and that
[2:03:27] is basically the road breaking
[2:03:29] apart under stress. It's also a
[2:03:30] public safety issue. The Lone
[2:03:33] Pine Canyon road is narrow,
[2:03:35] it's an evacuation route with
[2:03:37] limited shoulders and a single
[2:03:41] stalled or slow truck can
[2:03:44] create complete blockage which
[2:03:45] we've seen
[2:03:47] in the past when people
[2:03:50] like even today leaving, I had
[2:03:51] to go onto the other side
[2:03:53] of the road in order
[2:03:54] to pass a very slow truck. We
[2:03:55] have a problem
[2:03:57] in our community,
[2:03:59] our whole county being one
[2:04:00] of the top places.
[2:04:06] >> Cheryl Derrick, followed
[2:04:08] by Robert Kaggle.
[2:04:11] >> Thank you
[2:04:13] for having us. I'm a resident
[2:04:16] of Wrightwood and I also feel
[2:04:18] that this huge, huge endeavor
[2:04:21] will have catastrophic effects
[2:04:24] on our communities. We did have
[2:04:25] a nice meeting before,
[2:04:28] so I think we got some
[2:04:29] of this stuff straightened out.
[2:04:30] But I just wanted
[2:04:31] to voice my opinion.
[2:04:33] >> Thank you very much.
[2:04:34] Robert Kegle, followed by
[2:04:36] Andrew Firm.
[2:04:39] >> My name is Robert Kegle.
[2:04:40] Thank you
[2:04:41] for having us here and
[2:04:43] listening
[2:04:44] to us. I'm a resident at
[2:04:45] Indian Springs Ranch of Lone
[2:04:46] Pine Canyon Road. My family and
[2:04:47] I have been caretakers there
[2:04:48] for 35 years. Indian Springs
[2:04:50] Ranch is a Native American
[2:04:51] ranch where we used
[2:04:53] to host powwows and Native
[2:04:54] American ceremonies. Besides
[2:04:56] that, on the ranch, there's an
[2:04:57] archaeological site dating back
[2:04:59] to 1700s to 1800s. Now that I'm
[2:05:02] informing you that there's an
[2:05:03] archaeological site,
[2:05:05] it will be against the law
[2:05:06] for you guys
[2:05:07] to approve any plans
[2:05:08] to do any mining in the area
[2:05:09] until federal agents are there
[2:05:11] for federal review to determine
[2:05:12] that no cause will be harm
[2:05:14] to our site. So if you guys
[2:05:15] violate section 106 of the
[2:05:16] Historical Preservation act
[2:05:18] by approving these plans, there
[2:05:20] will be legal consequences.
[2:05:22] Thank you.
[2:05:23] >> Andrew Firm, followed by
[2:05:24] Jamie Carper.
[2:05:29] >> Give me a moment
[2:05:31] to raise this. Thank you. Good
[2:05:34] morning, supervisors,
[2:05:36] or afternoon. On behalf
[2:05:38] of the Lone Pine Canyon
[2:05:39] Protection Alliance, I'm here
[2:05:40] to address gross procedural
[2:05:41] defects regarding the proposed
[2:05:43] open pit quarry. Land use
[2:05:45] services failed to provide the
[2:05:46] community or immediate neighbor
[2:05:47] to the site Indian Springs
[2:05:49] Ranch with official notice
[2:05:50] for MRP 2020 500002. No notice
[2:05:54] was published via established
[2:05:55] media and this is a gross
[2:05:57] procedural defect
[2:05:58] under CEQA section 15072. The
[2:06:01] current mitigated negative
[2:06:02] declaration also improperly
[2:06:03] segments this project
[2:06:05] by masking a 148 year mining
[2:06:06] operation as a mere reclamation
[2:06:09] plan. This is another direct
[2:06:10] violation of ceqa.
[2:06:11] Furthermore, we have uncovered
[2:06:12] significant defects
[2:06:14] with an associated pattern of
[2:06:15] documented impropriety
[2:06:16] surrounding the torture. 2019
[2:06:20] vested rights determination.
[2:06:21] The site sits on the San
[2:06:23] Andreas Fault containing
[2:06:24] federally protected species and
[2:06:25] adjacent
[2:06:26] to culturally significant
[2:06:27] Native American sites. A
[2:06:29] mitigated negative declaration
[2:06:30] is legally indefensible here.
[2:06:31] We've already established a
[2:06:32] fair argument that significant
[2:06:33] impacts exist regarding
[2:06:34] groundwater in the Sheep
[2:06:36] Creek Wash. Seismic
[2:06:37] interference and federal
[2:06:38] species. Under California law.
[2:06:40] This fair argument mandates a
[2:06:41] full environmental impact
[2:06:42] report. We held an
[2:06:44] informational town hall on
[2:06:45] April 30th with over 170 in
[2:06:47] attendance who signed our
[2:06:48] physical petition and our
[2:06:50] online petition has now secured
[2:06:51] nearly 3,000 and growing
[2:06:53] additional signatories.
[2:06:55] Because
[2:06:56] of these missteps and the delay
[2:06:58] in fulfilling our Public
[2:06:59] Records act requests, the
[2:07:01] current timeline is
[2:07:02] insufficient. We respectfully
[2:07:04] request that the Board
[2:07:05] intervene and direct Land Use
[2:07:06] Services to extend the public
[2:07:07] comment period
[2:07:08] to no fewer than six 60 days
[2:07:10] from when the county provides
[2:07:11] results for our CPRA request.
[2:07:13] This will allow us
[2:07:14] to get the information needed
[2:07:16] to present our case and ensure
[2:07:18] it is
[2:07:19] in the technical record. And
[2:07:20] I'll finish
[2:07:21] with saying thank you
[2:07:22] for directing us to the Land
[2:07:23] Use meeting and having them
[2:07:25] have that initial conversation
[2:07:27] with us. We appreciate it.
[2:07:28] >> Jamie Carper followed by
[2:07:29] Lindsay Falb.
[2:07:35] >> Thank you and good afternoon
[2:07:37] Supervisors. I want
[2:07:38] to address a basic problem
[2:07:40] with the County's reliance
[2:07:42] on the vested rights finding
[2:07:43] of 2019. Even if some of the
[2:07:45] historical mining activity
[2:07:46] occurred somewhere
[2:07:47] on this property, that does not
[2:07:48] create an undefined open ended
[2:07:49] right for a much larger modern
[2:07:51] mining operation. The first
[2:07:53] issue is scope. A vested right,
[2:07:56] if it exists at all, has
[2:07:57] to be defined by what was
[2:07:59] historically lawful, actually
[2:08:01] conducted and continuously
[2:08:03] maintained. It cannot be
[2:08:04] treated as a blank check.
[2:08:06] But here the county is relying
[2:08:07] on a finding
[2:08:08] of vested mining rights without
[2:08:10] clearly defining the location
[2:08:12] boundaries, intensity methods,
[2:08:13] volume,
[2:08:14] duration and operational limits
[2:08:15] of such right.
[2:08:17] Without those limits, a narrow
[2:08:18] historic use is being turned
[2:08:19] into a broad modern
[2:08:21] entitlement. The second issue
[2:08:23] is expansion. The project now
[2:08:24] being advanced is far larger
[2:08:26] than anything shown in the
[2:08:28] site's historical mining
[2:08:30] record. The current provisional
[2:08:31] proposal involves resumed
[2:08:34] surface mining
[2:08:35] over a large area
[2:08:37] with drilling, blasting,
[2:08:38] crushing, screening, hauling,
[2:08:40] stockpiling and processing
[2:08:41] on an industrial scale. Even if
[2:08:43] mining occurred historically,
[2:08:44] that does not mean the county
[2:08:46] can assume the right extends to
[2:08:47] a much larger and more
[2:08:49] intensive modern quarry.
[2:08:51] Third, the parcel history
[2:08:53] matters APN 0356241 02, which
[2:08:55] is only about 12.8 acres,
[2:08:59] is a historic location of the
[2:09:01] historic old mine that was the
[2:09:03] former El Cajon property where
[2:09:05] limestone and dolomite mining
[2:09:07] began in 1924 and where 125 ton
[2:09:09] per day lime process processing
[2:09:11] facility was built. The other
[2:09:13] parcels have no history
[2:09:14] of mining or mining rights.
[2:09:16] Just being able to tuck them
[2:09:18] in with this other parcel and
[2:09:19] say they have grandfathered
[2:09:21] vested rights is just unlawful.
[2:09:23] So I'd like you
[2:09:26] to consider that
[2:09:27] in your decision
[2:09:29] with this proposal. Thank you.
[2:09:32] >> Lindsay Falb followed by
[2:09:33] Debbie Lopez hi, my name is
[2:09:36] Lindsay Falb and I'm a resident
[2:09:37] of Wrightwood I've been there
[2:09:39] for 32 years and my family has
[2:09:40] lived there for over 50. I'm
[2:09:42] asking the county
[2:09:44] to require a full EIR, ensure
[2:09:46] proper comprehensive and
[2:09:48] environmental review and not
[2:09:49] move forward
[2:09:50] without a transparent without
[2:09:52] full transparency and
[2:09:53] accountability. The lack
[2:09:56] of I want to focus on one
[2:09:58] critical issue is the lack of
[2:10:00] complete environmental
[2:10:02] oversight
[2:10:03] in the current CEQA review.
[2:10:05] This project is 285 acres
[2:10:06] of mining, decades
[2:10:08] of operation, blasting, truck
[2:10:10] traffic and permanent landscape
[2:10:11] alteration. It's being
[2:10:13] reviewed,
[2:10:15] it's been being reviewed under
[2:10:16] a mitigated necklace negative
[2:10:18] declaration that does not align
[2:10:21] with CEQA under CEQA's fair
[2:10:23] argument standards. If there is
[2:10:25] substantial evidence that a
[2:10:26] project may have significant
[2:10:28] environmental impact, a full
[2:10:29] environmental impact report is
[2:10:31] required that has not been met.
[2:10:34] Biological Resources this
[2:10:36] canyon supports wildlife
[2:10:38] including federally protective
[2:10:40] species such as golden eagles
[2:10:41] as well as other sensitive
[2:10:43] species
[2:10:44] like the coastal horned lizard,
[2:10:46] bighorn sheep and kangaroo
[2:10:47] rats. Blasting habitat
[2:10:49] destruction and long term
[2:10:50] industrial activities pose
[2:10:52] clear risk to these species.
[2:10:54] The current review does not
[2:10:56] demonstrate the adequate
[2:10:58] protocol level multi seasonal
[2:10:59] survey that should be
[2:11:02] conducted. Not only that, but
[2:11:04] this project will generate
[2:11:05] significant dust and
[2:11:06] particulate matter
[2:11:08] from blasting, crushing and
[2:11:09] constant track truck traffic.
[2:11:11] That means long term exposure
[2:11:12] to airborne pollutants
[2:11:15] for residents, especially
[2:11:16] children, families and
[2:11:18] vulnerable populations. Fine
[2:11:19] particulate matters is directly
[2:11:21] linked to respiratory issues,
[2:11:22] asthma and long term health
[2:11:24] impacts
[2:11:26] in a small mountain community
[2:11:28] like ours in Wrightwood where
[2:11:29] clean air is part
[2:11:31] of our quality of life. This is
[2:11:33] not a minor issue to us. It is
[2:11:34] a significant and lasting
[2:11:36] impact that has not been
[2:11:41] >> Debbie Lopez followed by
[2:11:43] Robin Crouch.
[2:11:47] >> Hi, my name is Debbie
[2:11:48] Lopez. I'm commenting on the
[2:11:50] Lone Pine Quarry. Thank you
[2:11:51] supervisors for listening today
[2:11:54] and I appreciate all my
[2:11:55] neighbors professional
[2:11:57] comments. Mine are more
[2:12:01] emotional and most important,
[2:12:03] the utmost important is the
[2:12:05] impact to the indigenous
[2:12:06] archaeological sites as well as
[2:12:08] these significant historical
[2:12:10] sites. That's my number one
[2:12:11] comment. Also I'm really
[2:12:13] concerned
[2:12:14] about the evacuation route. We
[2:12:15] only have three different
[2:12:17] routes we can use to evacuate
[2:12:18] in Wrightwood and we are
[2:12:20] evacuated quite a bit. When you
[2:12:22] evacuate you're saying goodbye
[2:12:24] to all your things in your home
[2:12:25] and it's a very stressful
[2:12:27] situation
[2:12:28] in particular because of the
[2:12:32] wildfire. I'm also worried
[2:12:33] about the flash point of the
[2:12:35] airborne particulates that the
[2:12:37] mine could release
[2:12:39] into the air. We are really
[2:12:41] coordinated when we do have
[2:12:44] to evacuate. But if there's one
[2:12:46] disabled mining truck on the
[2:12:53] road it would just spell
[2:12:56] disaster for the whole trying
[2:13:02] everybody trying to evacuate.
[2:13:07] Basically it's just Once again
[2:13:08] the indigenous sites is the
[2:13:10] most Important and the
[2:13:12] evacuation of Wrightwood is
[2:13:13] critical.
[2:13:18] >> Thank you. Robin Crouch,
[2:13:20] followed by Daniel Crowley.
[2:13:35] >> Hi, my name is Dan
[2:13:37] Crowley. Thanks to everyone
[2:13:38] in this room for listening and
[2:13:40] for giving me a few minutes
[2:13:41] to speak about a concern I
[2:13:42] have. I'm a lifetime San
[2:13:44] Bernardino county resident. I
[2:13:45] love this county. I grew up
[2:13:47] in Colton. I graduated from
[2:13:48] Aquinas High School. I
[2:13:49] currently live in Wrightwood
[2:13:51] and I've lived in Wrightwood
[2:13:52] for the last 33 years. I
[2:13:54] recently retired from a 38 year
[2:13:56] career with NASA. At the
[2:13:58] Armstrong Flight Research
[2:13:59] center on Edwards Air Force
[2:14:01] Base. I was the facility
[2:14:02] engineer. I supervised a team
[2:14:03] of engineers and architects
[2:14:05] managing facility operations
[2:14:06] and managing design and
[2:14:08] construction projects. I am
[2:14:09] sensitive to and very much
[2:14:11] appreciate the communication
[2:14:12] challenges associated
[2:14:14] with bringing change to the
[2:14:15] community. U5 own the county
[2:14:17] processes that deliver that
[2:14:19] change in this county. My
[2:14:21] concern. Seventeen days ago,
[2:14:23] I was surprised. My neighbors
[2:14:25] shared with me that a
[2:14:27] significant change to our
[2:14:29] community was announced. A
[2:14:30] mining operation may begin soon
[2:14:32] near our homes along the Lone
[2:14:33] Pine Canyon Road. And that
[2:14:37] operation would include
[2:14:40] blasting throughout the day and
[2:14:41] until 10pm so much
[2:14:43] for your quiet retirement,
[2:14:46] Dan. Again, I was surprised.
[2:14:47] My request to the board is
[2:14:49] to pause the approval process
[2:14:50] until the communities of
[2:14:51] Lytle Creek, West Cajon
[2:14:53] Valley, Phelan, Pinyon Hills,
[2:14:55] Oak Hills, Hesperia, Devore and
[2:14:57] Wrightwood can review and
[2:14:58] comment
[2:15:00] on this mining project.
[2:15:03] Again, please stop the project
[2:15:05] so that we can all understand
[2:15:06] the impact this mining
[2:15:07] operation will have
[2:15:09] on air quality, water quality,
[2:15:11] the wildlife in the canyon,
[2:15:12] our wildfire egress situation,
[2:15:15] potential increased traffic
[2:15:16] at the Highway 138 and
[2:15:18] Interstate 15 intersection, and
[2:15:20] particularly the associated
[2:15:21] increased commute times
[2:15:23] for commuters. Please know
[2:15:25] those
[2:15:26] of us who drive daily up the
[2:15:28] Cajon Pass Freeway already
[2:15:30] spend too much time
[2:15:31] in traffic, adding hundreds
[2:15:34] of hauling trucks
[2:15:35] to the traffic jam.
[2:15:39] >> Thank you very much. Chad
[2:15:44] Keel. Chad Keel, followed by
[2:15:45] Jill Carlton Payne.
[2:15:57] >> Hello, my name is Chad
[2:15:59] Keel. Like many
[2:16:00] of my neighbors,
[2:16:02] I'm deeply concerned
[2:16:03] about the quarry being proposed
[2:16:04] to start in Lone Pine Canyon.
[2:16:05] However, I thought I really
[2:16:07] shouldn't be worried because we
[2:16:08] have a supervisor who takes
[2:16:10] oaths very seriously.
[2:16:14] Supervisor Cook, I liked your
[2:16:15] individual board comment about
[2:16:16] drones and the people being
[2:16:18] lost. Because you made an oath
[2:16:20] before everyone here. You said
[2:16:21] no more missing people
[2:16:23] in the desert. You said, not
[2:16:25] on my watch. You took another
[2:16:29] oath when you joined the
[2:16:30] military and when you were
[2:16:31] sworn in to serve the
[2:16:33] constituents here today that
[2:16:35] you would defend this country
[2:16:37] Versus what? All threats,
[2:16:38] foreign and domestic. Paul
[2:16:40] Cook, you are a man
[2:16:42] of integrity and honor. You
[2:16:44] took these oaths. So as a
[2:16:45] constituent and someone who
[2:16:47] wants to hold you accountable
[2:16:48] to those oaths, you know,
[2:16:50] not just before me, but
[2:16:52] before God, will you stand up
[2:16:53] against foreign entities mining
[2:16:54] and extracting our minerals,
[2:16:56] ravaging our precious
[2:16:58] wilderness and destroying our
[2:17:00] Americana history? I would
[2:17:04] like to take the remaining
[2:17:06] of my time just to pray for
[2:17:07] Paul Cook. I pray you stand up
[2:17:09] for what is right and you
[2:17:10] uphold your oath you made
[2:17:12] before God and the American
[2:17:13] people you serve
[2:17:14] within your district
[2:17:16] of the county of San
[2:17:18] Bernardino. God give him the
[2:17:20] strength and the courage to
[2:17:21] uphold his oath and defend our
[2:17:22] precious American soil
[2:17:24] from foreign exploitation.
[2:17:26] Okay, thank you, Paul Cook.
[2:17:31] >> Jill Carlton Payne, followed
[2:17:33] by Kathleen Mitchell.
[2:17:37] >> Hi. Jill Carlton Payne,
[2:17:39] President, Timberline Lions
[2:17:40] Club. One of our eight pillars
[2:17:43] for Timberline Lions Club and
[2:17:44] the Lions Club International is
[2:17:46] the environment. I'm here
[2:17:48] to speak on that behalf. Thank
[2:17:49] you very much, supervisors, for
[2:17:50] allowing us the time today and
[2:17:52] directing us over to Land Use
[2:17:53] Services department. As you can
[2:17:55] see, there's been many things
[2:17:57] that haven't happened
[2:17:58] correctly. The importance of
[2:17:59] your intervention cannot be
[2:18:02] understated. This project will
[2:18:04] affect not only residents of
[2:18:06] Wrightwood, Pinion Hills
[2:18:07] feeling surrounding
[2:18:14] communities. The water after
[2:18:16] the drilling will be horrific.
[2:18:19] We've already just had Lone
[2:18:20] Pine Canyon redone just
[2:18:22] with the flood that we had in
[2:18:24] 2025. Can you imagine these
[2:18:25] trucks, what that'll cost the
[2:18:27] county going up there? That
[2:18:28] includes the State Road,
[2:18:30] Highway 138 with the trucks
[2:18:32] going there as well. The most
[2:18:33] important thing though is the
[2:18:36] vested rights was not done
[2:18:37] correctly and that has been
[2:18:39] proven. And documents will be
[2:18:40] shared with the Land Use
[2:18:42] Planning Commission and all
[2:18:44] of that that needs
[2:18:45] to be looked at because it'll
[2:18:47] impact as far as earthquakes,
[2:18:48] water quality, all
[2:18:51] of the surrounding communities,
[2:18:52] including Fontana, Devore, all
[2:18:55] the way down to Los Angeles if
[2:18:56] there's an earthquake
[2:18:58] with that drilling that goes
[2:18:59] on there. What's been done
[2:19:01] with the Rosemary Mine
[2:19:04] with the same applicant down
[2:19:06] in Fallbrook is horrific. And
[2:19:08] so we would ask that your board
[2:19:10] step
[2:19:12] in and do do the right thing.
[2:19:14] Make those contacts with your
[2:19:15] state representatives. We know
[2:19:16] you have those partnerships.
[2:19:18] Make those contacts
[2:19:19] with the planning commission.
[2:19:20] We know you have those
[2:19:22] partnerships. We know that
[2:19:23] people are coming up
[2:19:24] for election. We may be 3,000
[2:19:26] people, possibly five.
[2:19:28] But we will be reaching out
[2:19:29] to everyone from here to Los
[2:19:31] Angeles. You can bet on it. So
[2:19:33] we'd like to partnership
[2:19:34] with you to help stop this
[2:19:36] before it goes to litigation.
[2:19:38] We want to Prove.
[2:19:40] >> Thank you very much,
[2:19:41] Kathleen Mitchell, followed
[2:19:43] by Carlos.
[2:19:45] >> Well, hi,
[2:19:46] everybody. I gave you a packet
[2:19:48] of stuff about earthquakes in
[2:19:49] Wrightwood and the history
[2:19:50] of them. But I wanted to let
[2:19:51] you know I actually love the
[2:19:53] San Andreas Fault. San
[2:19:54] Gabriel's used to be down By
[2:19:56] Mexico Just 5 million years
[2:19:57] ago, and they've traveled up
[2:19:58] to their position in
[2:20:00] Wrightwood. In the meantime,
[2:20:02] they've grown. They're one of
[2:20:03] the fastest growing mountain
[2:20:04] ranges in the world. The San
[2:20:05] Gabriels are active and the
[2:20:07] San Andreas Fault is the reason
[2:20:08] because of that. So when I
[2:20:10] heard that there was going to
[2:20:11] be a mine that's actually
[2:20:12] drilling into the San Andreas
[2:20:14] Fault, releasing a lot
[2:20:15] of weight from the San
[2:20:17] Andreas Fault and shaking it,
[2:20:18] I thought
[2:20:20] of the grizzly bears that used
[2:20:21] to live in Lone Pine Canyon
[2:20:22] back in the day. And if you
[2:20:24] came
[2:20:26] across a grizzly bear sleeping
[2:20:27] in Lone Pine Canyon, would you
[2:20:29] poke it? Would you try
[2:20:31] to wake it up? Maybe not the
[2:20:33] best idea. We do expect an
[2:20:36] earthquake, a big one,
[2:20:37] and very likely originating
[2:20:39] in Wrightwood because that's
[2:20:41] the point of a huge amount
[2:20:42] of fault stress. That
[2:20:44] earthquake could start there
[2:20:45] today, any day. I know San
[2:20:47] Andreas runs right
[2:20:48] by you here. So the San
[2:20:50] Andreas is not just for
[2:20:52] Wrightwood, it's for all of
[2:20:53] Southern California. So if
[2:20:55] there's a mining approved pit
[2:20:56] mine approved for the Lone
[2:20:58] Pine Canyon, have you notified
[2:21:01] all the other counties
[2:21:03] of your intention to mess
[2:21:05] around with the San Andreas
[2:21:06] fault? So I think that's only
[2:21:08] fair that Los Angeles county
[2:21:09] and all surrounding counties
[2:21:10] should also know that you're
[2:21:12] going to do a deep mine
[2:21:14] along the San Andreas where
[2:21:16] it's very, very likely
[2:21:18] to be a point of epicenter.
[2:21:20] Thank you.
[2:21:22] >> Thank you very much.
[2:21:24] Carlo, followed by Leticia.
[2:21:36] >> Hello. And it's a little
[2:21:37] difficult to walk
[2:21:38] with one shoe and a sandal. So
[2:21:40] it's kind of cool having
[2:21:44] everybody stand up and speak
[2:21:46] on factors in the community,
[2:21:48] traffic, roads. But they get
[2:21:51] to go home to their families.
[2:21:55] They get
[2:21:57] to go and see their kids. They
[2:21:59] get to go home, put their kids
[2:22:02] in bed
[2:22:05] after having family dinner. No
[2:22:07] one trying to catch up
[2:22:11] to a parent meeting. Right. Or
[2:22:14] class that CFS made them do.
[2:22:18] They get to go home
[2:22:19] to their grandkids without the
[2:22:22] court or a social worker
[2:22:25] telling them that they're a
[2:22:26] detriment all of a sudden
[2:22:28] to meeting with their
[2:22:30] grandchildren that they've had,
[2:22:32] had access with for the last
[2:22:34] five years when the kids were
[2:22:35] taken for a false positive
[2:22:40] from Benadryl. Yeah, Benadryl
[2:22:48] can create a false positive
[2:22:54] test but I also have to talk
[2:22:56] about the issue
[2:22:58] with what does that look like
[2:23:00] for the taxpayer when that's
[2:23:05] proven in court? The CFS
[2:23:07] disregarded that did not care
[2:23:10] and continued
[2:23:12] to remove this child, these
[2:23:14] children, on that false test
[2:23:18] for the last five years,
[2:23:21] dragging this family. What kind
[2:23:27] of business is this? This is
[2:23:30] kidnapping by the state.
[2:23:33] Kidnapping by people. Who are
[2:23:35] these suits? We got
[2:23:36] to stop it.
[2:23:39] >> Letitia Howard, followed
[2:23:40] by Jane Hunt Ruble.
[2:23:55] >> I am here today as a parent
[2:23:57] and as the founder of Safe
[2:23:59] Haven Resource Foundation. I'm
[2:24:00] speaking
[2:24:02] about what's happening within
[2:24:03] San Bernardino County Children
[2:24:04] and Family Services and what is
[2:24:06] happening to families
[2:24:07] like mine. My children were
[2:24:08] removed based
[2:24:09] on a false allegation of a head
[2:24:11] injury that never existed.
[2:24:13] Medical records confirmed there
[2:24:14] was no injury. Despite that,
[2:24:15] my children remain in state
[2:24:17] custody where they have
[2:24:18] suffered many injuries. I
[2:24:20] completed every service that
[2:24:22] was required of me and still my
[2:24:23] children have not been
[2:24:25] returned. This Thursday there's
[2:24:27] a hearing to terminate my
[2:24:28] parental rights. That is not
[2:24:31] about safety, that is not
[2:24:33] about best interest
[2:24:34] of the child. That is a system
[2:24:35] refusing
[2:24:36] to correct its wrongdoing. Two
[2:24:37] weeks ago,
[2:24:39] I provided this board
[2:24:40] with a stack of evidence
[2:24:41] documenting proving the
[2:24:43] unlawful removal
[2:24:44] of my children.
[2:24:45] Since then I've heard nothing.
[2:24:47] No response, no accountability,
[2:24:49] no actions. That silence speaks
[2:24:51] value. For a long time I
[2:24:53] trusted the system. I believed
[2:24:55] that if I did everything right,
[2:24:56] my children would come home.
[2:24:57] But what I learned is that
[2:24:59] compliance does not guarantee
[2:25:00] justice and silence only
[2:25:02] protects the misconduct. So I
[2:25:04] stopped being silent and I
[2:25:06] created Safe Haven Resource
[2:25:07] Foundation. Safe Haven exists
[2:25:09] to make sure that no parent
[2:25:10] goes through this alone. We
[2:25:11] provide families
[2:25:13] with tools they were not given,
[2:25:14] how to document their cases,
[2:25:17] how to build affidavits, how to
[2:25:18] challenge false reports and how
[2:25:20] to protect the parents rights.
[2:25:22] We are also launching workshops
[2:25:24] focused on real action,
[2:25:27] helping parents prepare
[2:25:28] for prepare and file lawsuits
[2:25:31] against the county
[2:25:32] for unlawful separation
[2:25:33] of their families. Because
[2:25:35] families should not have
[2:25:36] to fight this hard
[2:25:38] to be heard. We came
[2:25:39] to this board, we asked
[2:25:40] for oversight, we asked
[2:25:42] for intervention and we. What
[2:25:43] we received was inaction. So
[2:25:45] since this board refuses
[2:25:47] to provide an oversight system,
[2:25:48] we are building our own. We are
[2:25:49] creating a community based on
[2:25:51] supports that actually serve
[2:25:52] parents time.
[2:25:57] >> Jane Hunt Ruble followed
[2:25:59] by Certainly Rice.
[2:26:08] >> Good afternoon. I'm here
[2:26:12] to speak about. I wanted
[2:26:13] to speak out about the item
[2:26:17] 84, but I got out there too
[2:26:19] late because my speech today is
[2:26:22] as usual, about community
[2:26:25] safety and public safety. And
[2:26:28] when I was listening to that,
[2:26:31] I really thank the police, the
[2:26:33] sheriff department and the
[2:26:34] county Fire department because
[2:26:37] over all these years they've
[2:26:39] all worked together,
[2:26:41] unlike some other counties.
[2:26:43] And I remember when Josie was
[2:26:45] in office, we had. Well, we
[2:26:48] have a big problem
[2:26:50] with fireworks still,
[2:26:52] and it's getting worse. And
[2:26:55] that was my. When Josie was
[2:26:57] in office, it used
[2:26:59] to be handled. The actual code
[2:27:00] enforcement law
[2:27:02] about fireworks, it used
[2:27:03] to be handled. We had to phone
[2:27:06] the county fire department
[2:27:09] reported. But then I learned
[2:27:11] they were not responsible. I
[2:27:12] mean, you'd phone it in. But
[2:27:14] of course, the people
[2:27:16] out there now, they. The new
[2:27:17] people that think it's okay
[2:27:18] to set off bombs,
[2:27:19] actually they've been going
[2:27:21] out about it and there's no and
[2:27:22] then it was handed over
[2:27:24] to the sheriff department.
[2:27:26] Took phone in
[2:27:29] on if you hear or see
[2:27:32] fireworks. But that's been. I
[2:27:33] still do it even though I know
[2:27:35] it doesn't work. So I got real
[2:27:36] excited. I think it was last
[2:27:38] year when I heard. I kept
[2:27:39] on asking him, why can't. This
[2:27:41] is totally futile. When I phone
[2:27:43] in, by the time you get
[2:27:45] out there, you don't see them
[2:27:47] doing it and they clean up
[2:27:49] afterwards too. So I'd like to
[2:27:52] see the county fire and county
[2:27:56] sheriff department coordinate
[2:27:58] and actually use drones because
[2:28:00] that's the only damn way we're
[2:28:02] going to stop this. Because I'm
[2:28:03] dreading this year because it
[2:28:05] was really bad last year.
[2:28:09] >> Rice, followed by Amethyst
[2:28:10] Yates.
[2:28:19] >> Hello. Thank you for having
[2:28:22] me today. I did not grow my
[2:28:24] children. I did not spray them
[2:28:25] in the face with oven cleaner.
[2:28:27] I did not beat them than
[2:28:29] for having a Bible. My name is
[2:28:30] Courtney. My children were
[2:28:32] removed because
[2:28:33] of someone else's violence,
[2:28:35] not mine. There was a person
[2:28:36] in their lives who hurt them,
[2:28:37] who beat them,
[2:28:39] who created the danger of them
[2:28:41] that they were living in. I
[2:28:44] stepped in. I tried
[2:28:45] to protect my children
[2:28:47] from the harm. I refused
[2:28:49] to ignore it. I refused
[2:28:51] to stay silent. I refused
[2:28:53] to let them be hurt. And for
[2:28:55] that protecting my own
[2:28:57] children, they were taken
[2:28:59] from me. Even your own findings
[2:29:03] shown that there was no abuse
[2:29:05] by me. You acknowledged that.
[2:29:07] You said I should have full
[2:29:09] custody. Yet instead
[2:29:10] of correcting the situation,
[2:29:12] my children were placed in a
[2:29:13] system that has its own long
[2:29:15] history of harm.
[2:29:17] For seven years,
[2:29:19] my sons have been
[2:29:20] in a group home. My oldest son,
[2:29:22] my child was beaten
[2:29:25] by a staff member
[2:29:26] in a small room,
[2:29:29] a place that was supposed
[2:29:31] to be safe, a place you trusted
[2:29:33] more than his own parents. So I
[2:29:34] asked you,
[2:29:37] how can you say that my son is
[2:29:39] in danger with me, but not in
[2:29:42] danger while being physically
[2:29:43] harmed
[2:29:45] under your supervision? You
[2:29:47] remove them
[2:29:48] from a parent who was trying
[2:29:50] to protect them and place them
[2:29:52] into an environment where they
[2:29:53] were hurt again and ignore the
[2:29:55] history, the patterns,
[2:29:57] the repeated failures
[2:29:58] of these group homes. You
[2:30:00] ignore the warning signs and my
[2:30:03] sons pay the price. This is not
[2:30:05] just about my family. This is
[2:30:08] about civil rights. It's
[2:30:10] about accountability. This is
[2:30:12] about a system that's punishing
[2:30:14] parents who trying to protect
[2:30:15] their children while failing to
[2:30:17] protect the children
[2:30:19] themselves. My sons deserve
[2:30:20] better.
[2:30:22] >> Amethyst Yates followed by
[2:30:25] Andrea.
[2:30:30] >> Good afternoon,
[2:30:32] chair members
[2:30:33] of the board. I found something
[2:30:36] out again about San Bernardino
[2:30:38] county and DCFS and the fact
[2:30:41] that they're not participating
[2:30:43] in some of these attempts
[2:30:45] to better the situation
[2:30:47] for parents and for children.
[2:30:49] One of those things I found out
[2:30:51] was that they are not
[2:30:53] participating in Disrupting
[2:30:55] Disparities group that's going
[2:30:59] clear across California. This
[2:31:02] group comes together to try
[2:31:04] to find solutions to the family
[2:31:05] separation and it's compiled of
[2:31:08] social workers and other
[2:31:10] professionals. However, San
[2:31:12] Bernardino is not a part
[2:31:14] of that. Why is that? Can they
[2:31:18] join in? Can they participate?
[2:31:23] I also want
[2:31:25] to share an opportunity with
[2:31:27] any board member here or any
[2:31:29] social worker or professional.
[2:31:31] There's an event coming up on
[2:31:33] June 5th and it's walking
[2:31:38] in their shoes. It's
[2:31:42] through one of our partners
[2:31:44] at Starting Over Inc. And the
[2:31:46] partner is Families Inspiring
[2:31:47] Reentry and Reunification for
[2:31:49] Everyone. My contact
[2:31:52] information can be provided
[2:31:54] after this. If not,
[2:31:55] I put my email address
[2:31:57] under the comment. So thank
[2:31:59] you.
[2:32:02] >> That's all I got.
[2:32:04] >> Thank you very much,
[2:32:05] Andrea. Followed by Delina
[2:32:06] Murillo.
[2:32:14] >> Good afternoon. You guys
[2:32:17] talked
[2:32:19] about the general fund today.
[2:32:20] That's in going to be
[2:32:22] in a deficit. And the general
[2:32:24] fund is funded by property
[2:32:28] taxes which you guys can't
[2:32:31] really increase. You have an
[2:32:32] uproar by the citizens. It's
[2:32:36] funded by realignment funds
[2:32:38] which include sales tax,
[2:32:42] vehicle licensing fees,
[2:32:45] can't make people buy new cars.
[2:32:47] Also funded by Title 4e funds
[2:32:49] which is for foster care,
[2:32:56] maintenance payments, training
[2:32:58] costs, basically all the costs
[2:33:00] that it costs
[2:33:02] to keep our children from us
[2:33:03] through cps. That's what's
[2:33:05] funding it. So would it be too
[2:33:10] provocative to suggest that the
[2:33:12] general fund deficit is going
[2:33:15] to be funded off the backs
[2:33:17] of our children being removed
[2:33:20] from us. You're right. It's a
[2:33:25] quick, easy way
[2:33:27] to make money. These officers
[2:33:28] and these CPS workers, social
[2:33:30] workers,
[2:33:32] are extremely aggressive. They
[2:33:35] are falsifying documents. They
[2:33:37] are running up
[2:33:38] into people's homes,
[2:33:40] taking their children
[2:33:41] off nothing. They create a
[2:33:45] problem, they create the trauma
[2:33:48] and then they create the
[2:33:50] program that treats the trauma
[2:33:52] to justify their own existence.
[2:33:56] And it keeps the program funded
[2:33:57] and the county funded
[2:33:59] for you guys to be able
[2:34:00] to spend the money. She's not
[2:34:05] lying. I'm embarrassed
[2:34:06] to live here.
[2:34:08] >> Delina Murillo, followed
[2:34:09] by Johnny Murillo.
[2:34:16] >> Good afternoon. My name is
[2:34:17] Delina Murillo, a certified
[2:34:19] human civil rights consultant
[2:34:21] and a mother to Genevieve and
[2:34:23] Jaylene. I am here today
[2:34:25] because I have raised serious
[2:34:27] concerns multiple times and no
[2:34:28] one will give me answers. I
[2:34:30] have contacted Jeannie
[2:34:32] Glasgow, Mia Moore, Lisa
[2:34:35] Smith, Kristin Hines, Kristin
[2:34:37] Brown. Every time I am told,
[2:34:39] we will look into it,
[2:34:41] we will get back to you. And
[2:34:42] then nothing. No follow up, no
[2:34:45] accountability, no answers.
[2:34:48] Instead I am told to go
[2:34:50] through my attorney. But when
[2:34:52] the system itself is failing,
[2:34:55] redirecting a parent is not a
[2:34:56] solution. It's avoidance. Here
[2:34:59] are the issues that remain
[2:35:01] unaddressed. Social worker
[2:35:02] Samaria Roman has shown bias
[2:35:04] and and lack of neutrality.
[2:35:07] Reports contain omissions,
[2:35:08] misrepresentations and hearsay.
[2:35:10] Not clear and convincing
[2:35:11] evidence. Social workers are
[2:35:13] signing reports about
[2:35:15] visitation they have never
[2:35:16] personally observed Supervisor
[2:35:18] signing reports appear to have
[2:35:19] inactive or invalid license
[2:35:21] based on public records. And
[2:35:24] still these reports are being
[2:35:26] used in court. There are
[2:35:28] serious due process violations.
[2:35:29] Evidence is being ignored.
[2:35:31] Reports are being withheld
[2:35:33] from the Grand Prix even
[2:35:34] after they filed
[2:35:36] for visitation. Grandparents
[2:35:37] are placed
[2:35:39] on supervised visits based
[2:35:40] on a hearsay from guardians who
[2:35:41] are the neutral but active
[2:35:43] parties seeking adoption.
[2:35:44] These grandparents were never
[2:35:46] properly considered
[2:35:47] for placement
[2:35:48] from the beginning. And most
[2:35:50] importantly, the guardians were
[2:35:51] never properly licensed
[2:35:53] during fostering,
[2:35:55] guardianship or until February
[2:35:57] 25 of 26. Over multiple years
[2:36:00] they have had my children been
[2:36:01] not compliance
[2:36:03] under the state. So who isn't
[2:36:05] there? Who's verifying all
[2:36:07] these compliances? Because
[2:36:10] right now it appears not none
[2:36:11] of one of you guys. No one in
[2:36:13] position is how does a home
[2:36:15] remain unlicensed for years?
[2:36:16] Johnny Murillo followed by
[2:36:21] Chena Hampton. Good afternoon
[2:36:36] everyone. I did not grope my
[2:36:39] child. I did not spray my child
[2:36:41] in the face with oven cleaner.
[2:36:43] I did not beat my child or the
[2:36:44] Bible. My name is Shay. Yet
[2:36:48] despite all
[2:36:49] of you that you guys have heard
[2:36:51] about me, I have been treated
[2:36:52] as if I have been judged
[2:36:54] already misrepresented and
[2:36:56] pushed through the system that
[2:36:57] I did not get the time to get
[2:36:59] the truth out. A social worker
[2:37:02] Foster 5 and Foster
[2:37:04] by information allegations
[2:37:07] about me for my son. My son was
[2:37:09] taken out
[2:37:12] of my custody and placed
[2:37:15] with someone else due
[2:37:18] to the fact my son was placed
[2:37:20] in foster care.
[2:37:23] But my son end up living out
[2:37:24] of state with his girlfriend.
[2:37:26] So as I found out that the
[2:37:28] county is paying this foster
[2:37:30] parent for my son a place
[2:37:33] to stay, I also was paying her
[2:37:35] too, out of my own pocket.
[2:37:38] This foster parent was getting
[2:37:40] $1275
[2:37:44] from the state and was getting
[2:37:45] $500 from. For me. Now when I
[2:37:47] talk to different social
[2:37:48] workers and everybody danced me
[2:37:50] around, talk to this person,
[2:37:52] call this person. Oh, we're
[2:37:53] going to look into it.
[2:37:55] Nothing's been done. So I'm
[2:37:57] here today to speak. This is
[2:37:59] more than just raising concerns
[2:38:00] for my son. It's so many other
[2:38:02] kids that are going
[2:38:03] through this for people
[2:38:05] to talk
[2:38:06] about getting foster care money
[2:38:08] through the system while
[2:38:11] they're bragging about buying
[2:38:12] $3,000 purses. I have a sworn
[2:38:14] affidavit of my son coming
[2:38:16] to get money for me cleaning
[2:38:18] supplies and me still
[2:38:22] furnishing paying where he was
[2:38:26] not living at. And no social
[2:38:28] worker, no one talked
[2:38:31] to him. I don't understand,
[2:38:32] like,
[2:38:33] how did this even get by?
[2:39:02] >> Good morning, Board of
[2:39:06] Supervisors. I had a speech cut
[2:39:08] out already, but I decided
[2:39:10] to not bring it up. I decided
[2:39:11] to just do it on the fly.
[2:39:19] Paul. Ms. Rowe, Jesse, the one
[2:39:22] that's running, which is a
[2:39:24] joke, and I'm going
[2:39:26] to be very frank. I'm upset
[2:39:27] at the fact that I have reached
[2:39:28] out multiple times as a
[2:39:30] consultant,
[2:39:31] as a project manager to try
[2:39:32] to see how we can build a gap,
[2:39:34] bridge the gap, you know,
[2:39:36] and the gap
[2:39:37] between the constituents of
[2:39:39] San Bernardino that are very
[2:39:40] upset. All these families that
[2:39:41] have been affected so
[2:39:43] drastically. And I keep coming
[2:39:44] to you guys time after time.
[2:39:47] Jesse, you're. I mean, I don't
[2:39:49] even know why you're running.
[2:39:51] I'm a little embarrassed
[2:39:53] for your, the rest
[2:39:54] of your team that's in front of
[2:39:56] you. I've con. I've asked you,
[2:39:57] what are you doing
[2:39:59] to help CFS families? How are
[2:40:01] you helping this issue? And you
[2:40:02] haven't done anything. Why
[2:40:04] haven't you reached out
[2:40:06] to me, Jesse? I'm curious. You
[2:40:08] hear multiple families coming
[2:40:09] month after month
[2:40:11] after month,
[2:40:13] and not a single one
[2:40:14] of you guys has done anything
[2:40:16] to try to resolve this. You
[2:40:17] guys created a consulting gig
[2:40:18] for it,
[2:40:20] and then you guys handed it
[2:40:21] off
[2:40:22] to somebody that was internal
[2:40:23] within you guys. What's up
[2:40:25] with that? Come on, Ms. Rowe.
[2:40:27] I'm talking to you directly. Why
[2:40:28] haven't you reached out? Why
[2:40:29] haven't you done anything
[2:40:30] on your end to try
[2:40:32] to see how we can codify this,
[2:40:34] how that we can come up
[2:40:35] with a solution together. Or is
[2:40:37] it that you just plainly and
[2:40:38] blatantly do not give a flying
[2:40:40] fuck? Because I think that's
[2:40:43] what's happening here at this
[2:40:45] point. I'm seeing that not a
[2:40:46] single one
[2:40:48] of you guys have taken the time
[2:40:51] to address these families. You
[2:40:53] guys have CFS representatives
[2:40:56] come and talk with.
[2:41:00] >> Roxanne Lewis followed by
[2:41:03] Nicole Norris. Actually, you
[2:41:05] cut my mic off. I was at
[2:41:07] under two minutes. Roxanne
[2:42:19] Lewis. Do we have Roxanne
[2:42:23] Lewis in chambers? Going once.
[2:42:25] Moving on to Nicole Norris.
[2:42:30] And after Nicole Norris will be
[2:42:31] Terry Lewis.
[2:42:34] >> My name is Nicole Norris. I
[2:42:36] grew up in the foster system. I
[2:42:38] was taken from my grandmother
[2:42:39] because my mother was abusing
[2:42:41] me and my sisters and brothers.
[2:42:43] And they gave me to my
[2:42:44] grandmother where I was very
[2:42:46] happy. Late at night they came
[2:42:47] and they took us back from her
[2:42:48] because they said she was too
[2:42:49] old
[2:42:50] to raise two little girls.
[2:42:52] They put us
[2:42:53] in another foster home with a
[2:42:54] lady who was even older than my
[2:42:55] grandmother,
[2:42:56] who never showed me any love,
[2:42:57] who never said, I love you,
[2:42:59] never came to none of my
[2:43:00] anything and never helped me
[2:43:01] with anything. It was
[2:43:02] like being on my own
[2:43:03] without the physical abuse, but
[2:43:05] mental abuse and now counseling
[2:43:06] and riddling to make me just
[2:43:08] sit there because they didn't
[2:43:11] care. And I just don't feel
[2:43:13] like it's fair that these
[2:43:15] families are being. Some
[2:43:16] of us were okay
[2:43:17] with our other family members,
[2:43:18] but we were still taken
[2:43:19] from them and put into the
[2:43:21] system that didn't treat us
[2:43:23] well at all. I just think that
[2:43:25] you guys have the power
[2:43:29] to change all that. I mean,
[2:43:31] you guys have that. You guys
[2:43:33] are smart. You guys went
[2:43:35] to school for this. And I know
[2:43:40] you guys can make a change
[2:43:41] for us. Just help us. Please
[2:43:42] help the other children. Thank
[2:43:43] you.
[2:43:45] >> Thank you. Terry Lewis,
[2:43:46] followed by Karen Reich. It
[2:43:47] was.
[2:43:52] >> My name is Terry Lewis. It
[2:43:54] was almost two years ago when
[2:43:55] my sister and I first started
[2:43:57] coming here about my niece and
[2:43:58] nephew being put into foster
[2:44:00] care. I'm the one who was the
[2:44:01] reporting party. And I called
[2:44:03] not based on any allegations of
[2:44:04] abuse or neglect or anything. I
[2:44:07] was looking for help for my
[2:44:08] niece because she has issues.
[2:44:10] I'll just say that issues. I
[2:44:12] called the sheriffs and talked
[2:44:14] to them, asked
[2:44:16] to get her evaluated. Nobody
[2:44:17] can do anything. And she had
[2:44:19] had a previous case
[2:44:21] at the hospital with cps. A
[2:44:23] social worker called CPS and
[2:44:27] they. Anyway, she completed a
[2:44:28] successful. Yeah, our whole
[2:44:32] family Participated
[2:44:34] in this case and we can. What
[2:44:37] was it called? Successfully?
[2:44:39] Yeah, it was closed
[2:44:40] successfully. Anyhow, I had
[2:44:42] called, they told me from
[2:44:43] Fontana, if I called,
[2:44:45] if I noticed any other
[2:44:46] problems,
[2:44:47] to please let them know. And
[2:44:48] they seemed
[2:44:49] to genuinely care. And I was
[2:44:51] at my wits end. And so I did,
[2:44:52] I called. But my mistake was I
[2:44:53] didn't call Fontana, where the
[2:44:55] people that they seemed
[2:44:57] to care, they were happy we
[2:44:59] successfully finished our case.
[2:45:03] Anyhow, I called the 800 number
[2:45:05] because I had lost the lady's
[2:45:06] number. And they came out
[2:45:09] like gangbusters, predators.
[2:45:10] Anyway, this is unacceptable. I
[2:45:13] don't know how you guys can sit
[2:45:14] there and listen
[2:45:16] to these people. I'm
[2:45:17] in tears listening
[2:45:18] to these people's stories. And
[2:45:20] you guys sit there week after,
[2:45:21] you don't even care. You
[2:45:22] haven't done anything. You
[2:45:24] provide funding
[2:45:25] to defend this shit. You
[2:45:27] instead
[2:45:29] of reform it and reunify. What
[2:45:30] happened to reunification? My
[2:45:32] niece and nephew have been
[2:45:33] in there almost two years
[2:45:35] for no reason. Our family, why
[2:45:39] aren't they following their own
[2:45:40] wit codes? And we're supposed
[2:45:42] to trust you people to be
[2:45:44] in charge? Oh, they might get
[2:45:45] adopted out.
[2:45:47] On what allegations? And you're
[2:45:49] supposed to go to family
[2:45:50] members who want them. The
[2:45:51] great grandmother wants them.
[2:45:53] The grandmother wants them,
[2:45:54] the aunt wants them.
[2:45:58] >> Karen Reich, followed by
[2:45:59] Steven Rogers.
[2:46:04] >> Hi, my name is Karen
[2:46:06] Reich. These were my two
[2:46:07] grandkids, Jovi, Milo and
[2:46:09] Chase. Well, three that were
[2:46:11] removed almost two years ago
[2:46:13] for no reason. They came
[2:46:15] on the first day of the
[2:46:17] investigation and they removed
[2:46:20] them. This is unacceptable.
[2:46:22] Two years for nothing. They
[2:46:24] weren't abused,
[2:46:26] they weren't neglected. They
[2:46:28] were in my care. What have we
[2:46:29] done so bad that we don't
[2:46:31] deserve to raise our own
[2:46:34] children? I want to know what
[2:46:36] I've done so bad that I don't
[2:46:38] deserve
[2:46:39] to have my own grandchildren
[2:46:40] in my career. I want
[2:46:41] to adopt them. I want them
[2:46:43] with me. But
[2:46:44] for some reason this,
[2:46:46] this guy ruled me out. Why?
[2:46:48] Why? Why did was I ruled out?
[2:46:52] Because CPS tricked us and got
[2:46:56] the kids from us. Now they're
[2:46:57] saying we failed
[2:46:59] to protect them from them. We
[2:47:01] failed to protect them
[2:47:03] from them. CPS themselves,
[2:47:04] have you ever heard
[2:47:06] of such a thing? It's
[2:47:09] unacceptable. Jeanne Glasgow,
[2:47:12] Betty Thompson Larkin, Dana
[2:47:14] Faulkner. They all need held
[2:47:16] accountable. All this is
[2:47:17] happening under Jeannie
[2:47:19] Glasgow's watch. She needs
[2:47:20] removed. That's all I have. I
[2:47:22] want my grandchildren home now.
[2:47:27] >> Steven Rogers, followed by
[2:47:28] Dennis Delamar.
[2:47:43] >> Honorable Chair Rowe.
[2:47:44] Steve Rogers, Redlands. I was
[2:47:47] here two meetings ago and
[2:47:52] after the meeting. I tried
[2:47:54] to make a request to meet
[2:47:57] with the CEO
[2:47:59] about what I was talking
[2:48:01] about and actually put
[2:48:03] in a request
[2:48:05] with the information folks.
[2:48:07] But I never received any other,
[2:48:10] any other communication
[2:48:15] from the county on my request
[2:48:17] to set up a meeting. I mean,
[2:48:19] in the old days I used
[2:48:20] to be able to go up to the
[2:48:22] fifth or sixth floor and,
[2:48:24] and set up these kinds
[2:48:26] of appointments. Now, I guess
[2:48:27] for security purposes. All I'm
[2:48:31] trying to say,
[2:48:32] it's very difficult
[2:48:33] to set something up. And this
[2:48:35] is the reason I come
[2:48:36] to the meeting today.
[2:48:40] Basically. I just recently came
[2:48:42] to understand that complaints
[2:48:43] that I made to the fraud,
[2:48:46] Waste and Abuse Unit have been
[2:48:48] referred
[2:48:52] to the district attorney.
[2:48:53] >> But the district attorney
[2:48:56] isn't doing anything. And this
[2:48:57] is what I want to meet
[2:48:58] with the CEO about is why there
[2:49:00] are certain factions here that
[2:49:03] apparently don't respond
[2:49:08] to the citizens. And I'm very,
[2:49:12] you know,
[2:49:13] my problems are nothing
[2:49:14] compared to these people that
[2:49:16] bare coming up here. Every time
[2:49:17] I come to the meeting I hear
[2:49:19] this and I agree with them.
[2:49:21] Something needs to be done.
[2:49:22] And really, it's a shame. It is
[2:49:26] really shameful
[2:49:29] to be a resident
[2:49:30] of this county. And our leaders
[2:49:34] apparently don't care
[2:49:36] about us and don't care
[2:49:38] about our problems.
[2:49:44] >> Dennis Delamater Delamar
[2:49:49] followed by Krisha Seal
[2:49:53] >> So Psalms 127:3 says,
[2:49:55] Children are an inheritance
[2:49:57] from Yahuwah. The fruit
[2:49:58] of the womb is reward. So what
[2:50:00] that means is that the Creator
[2:50:01] gives us parents rights,
[2:50:03] right? My children were taken
[2:50:04] away
[2:50:05] for four and two days based
[2:50:06] off the allegations,
[2:50:08] false allegations
[2:50:09] of a social worker. This system
[2:50:10] is reminiscent
[2:50:12] of slavery. I'll tell you why.
[2:50:13] Because there was a doctrine
[2:50:14] that they used called parents
[2:50:16] patriae, right? And that meant
[2:50:17] that the county or the state
[2:50:19] was the parent, right, that we
[2:50:20] don't have rights. I saw them
[2:50:22] lie and be able to like in
[2:50:24] slavery days. I'm a descendant
[2:50:27] of slave of a slave, right?
[2:50:29] Slaves saw them just take it.
[2:50:31] So I couldn't do nothing. I was
[2:50:33] powerless. So the issue is also
[2:50:35] In California there's 400,000
[2:50:38] allegations a year. No
[2:50:40] oversight,
[2:50:43] there's no family review board.
[2:50:45] Where's the family review board
[2:50:47] to track the numbers, right?
[2:50:50] It can't be about money.
[2:50:52] Because the things say in
[2:50:54] Malachi 4. 6 that the
[2:50:59] Creator, he will turn the
[2:51:02] hearts of the fathers
[2:51:03] to thechildren and children
[2:51:04] of the fathers. And if it don't
[2:51:10] happen, guess what he say? He
[2:51:12] said he will come and smite the
[2:51:14] earth with a curse. So this is
[2:51:16] what we're talking about.
[2:51:17] We're talking about Malachi
[2:51:19] 4. 6, that y' all got
[2:51:20] to figure it out. Because San
[2:51:22] Bernardino going to be
[2:51:23] in a world of trouble. Not
[2:51:24] from us, but from Yahuwah.
[2:51:25] Because y' all are separating
[2:51:27] rights of parents. And you can
[2:51:29] turn the blind eye,
[2:51:30] but your life is at stake.
[2:51:32] Your life is at stake. Your
[2:51:34] eternal life. That's it.
[2:51:48] >> My name is Krisha Kale. I've
[2:51:49] been up here a few times and
[2:51:51] I'm just gonna wing it this
[2:51:53] time because it's not like we
[2:51:55] expect a reaction because
[2:51:56] that's what we've been getting.
[2:51:58] Some of us been coming up here
[2:51:59] for years and. And years
[2:52:01] with no reaction,
[2:52:02] not even blink of your eye.
[2:52:03] Some of you guys sit up here,
[2:52:04] can make choices,
[2:52:05] but you stare
[2:52:06] at your phone instead
[2:52:07] of paying attention
[2:52:08] to what's going on. How many
[2:52:09] people got to come in here
[2:52:10] before you say, it's not an
[2:52:12] isolated incident no more? If
[2:52:13] you talk
[2:52:14] to anybody who's been up here,
[2:52:15] 90% of them is going
[2:52:16] to tell you perjury, Perjury,
[2:52:17] which is a crime,
[2:52:18] played a role
[2:52:20] in their kids not coming home.
[2:52:21] Perjury that your department
[2:52:22] probably teaches the social
[2:52:24] workers how to do. It's a big
[2:52:25] RICO act. All you guys are
[2:52:26] working together,
[2:52:27] whether you know it or not.
[2:52:28] When you remove a domestic
[2:52:30] violence person
[2:52:31] from the home, you go back and
[2:52:33] you make a report to cfs and
[2:52:34] the CFS comes and take that
[2:52:35] person's children because she
[2:52:37] failed to protect herself
[2:52:38] from an abuser and failed
[2:52:40] to protect her kids. Do you
[2:52:42] guys know that? Do you know
[2:52:44] that you play a role
[2:52:47] in these kids being removed
[2:52:49] from homes? So that person
[2:52:51] becomes a victim two times.
[2:52:52] And let's talk about last
[2:52:54] May, a year to the date. Six
[2:52:55] kids found starving in a home
[2:52:57] under CFS care in
[2:52:59] Victorville, California, ages
[2:53:01] 5 to 16. Have you made any
[2:53:04] changes to your organization
[2:53:05] since that happened? No, you
[2:53:08] haven't. Glasgow still
[2:53:11] in charge. Miya Moore still
[2:53:13] under her
[2:53:15] in every department. Not one
[2:53:16] person have you replaced since
[2:53:18] those six kids were found
[2:53:20] starving. How you starve a kid
[2:53:23] starving in their home under
[2:53:25] CFF care? CFS placed them
[2:53:28] there. Could those kids have
[2:53:30] one home? Could they have went
[2:53:33] home? Did they have parents who
[2:53:35] wanted them home. I'm sure they
[2:53:38] did. You guys celebrate
[2:53:40] adoption, but you don't mention
[2:53:42] the crying parents. It's like,
[2:53:43] wait a minute. I completed
[2:53:45] every course, I went
[2:53:46] to every class, but I don't
[2:53:48] give my kid back because how
[2:53:49] some social worker feels?
[2:53:52] >> Thank you very much. That is
[2:53:53] the last request
[2:53:54] to speak that I have. Our
[2:53:55] meeting stands adjourned. Our
[2:53:57] next regularly scheduled board
[2:53:58] of supervisors meeting will be
[2:54:00] held here in chambers, May 19th