The County's fiscal year ends on June 30th. As a result, the last meeting in June is always jam-packed with old business that needs to be closed out and new business for the upcoming fiscal year. This agenda is no exception - it has 97 agenda items and 1,328 pages of material. It contains things to be thankful for and a lot of reasons to be hopeful for the future. So let's dive in...
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Photo of outgoing County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel (left) and incoming Health Officer Dr. Lisa Hernandez (right) Dr. Gail Newel has been our Santa Cruz County Health Officer since 2019 and led the County through the challenging years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under her leadership our county achieved the highest vaccination rates in California at about 77% and one of the lowest death rates from the virus with about 101 deaths per 100,000 cases compared to about 252 deaths per 100,000 statewide. Santa Cruz County also ranks in the top 10 of California's 58 counties for health and well-being.
At her final State of Santa Cruz County Health report on June 15th, Dr. Newel cited housing conditions and opioid use as major health concerns going forward. She noted that high housing costs lead to more overcrowded and substandard living conditions (Santa Cruz was just named the least affordable place to live in the whole country by the National Low Income Housing Coalition's 2023 report). You can read more about her outgoing report here.
Dr. Lisa Hernandez has been selected to take over the County Health Officer role. The Board of Supervisors will vote on her appointment (Item 54.) Dr. Hernandez holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University, a Master of Public Health from UC Berkeley, and a Doctorate of Medicine from Georgetown University School of Medicine. She has completed two medical residencies, one in Obstetrics and Gynecology and another in Preventive Medicine. She is currently serving as the Public Health Officer for the City of Berkeley, where she leads a dedicated team focused on core public health functions such as communicable disease prevention and control, epidemiology, and vital statistics.
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Image: Key elements of the proposed crisis response model. Santa Cruz County is finally posed to implement a 24/7 mental health response team. This is something I've advocated for since Day 1 and has been among the top priorities of community members and professionals involved in our health care crisis system. While we currently have many of the elements needed for such a system there are significant gaps in response on nights and weekends and severe shortages of places for people experiencing a mental health crisis to go.
This program would allocate $5 million of state and federal dollars over a 3-year period to expand mobile crisis teams to 24/7/365. In addition, the current model leans heavily on the support of law enforcement. This proposed model provides for a mobile crisis team that pairs a licensed mental health clinician with a certified peer or an emergency medical technician (EMT) to develop a broad level of response that can respond anywhere in the County whenever they are needed. This model also allows strategies to be developed to dispatch the mobile crisis team directly under one phone number (988). Therefore, the community will have a dedicated number to call when there is a mental health crisis.
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Photo: architectural plans
Delays have continued to be an issue in our County Planning Division. This is at least partly due to ongoing staff shortages. That's why I'm bringing forward this proposal with Supervisor McPherson to allow permit applicants to hire their own plan checker and largely skip the backlog in the County's own review process. Because the majority of the work would be performed outside of the County with this option we're suggesting that permit fees should be reduced accordingly.
The program is based on one we identified in Marin County, which is now used by roughly 30% of all their permit applicants. Sonoma County has also implemented third-party plan check.
To review and comment on the full Board of Supervisors Agenda for Tuesday 6/27 click here.
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Photo: Manu and baby Charlotte in front of Floral Park play structure, which will be upgraded in 2024.
One of my favorite line items in the County's 2023-2024 Budget is funding for a new play structure at Floral County Park in Pleasure Point. The County's contribution of $100,000 and staff planning time rounds out a community driven fundraising effort.
County Park Friends raised $275,000 for the project, which includes a new play structure and play surfacing. Supporters of the project include big wave surfer Shawn Dollar, Rowland and Pat Rebele among many others.
The final $100,000 in public funds comes from Transient Occupancy Taxes(TOT) that were generated by vacation rentals. When the Board of Supervisors put a measure to increase TOT in front of voters last year, I stipulated that more money needed to be directly applied to the neighborhoods most impacted by vacation rentals. That's exactly what we're doing by directing funding to Floral Park.
“County Park Friends is proud that in addition to new equipment, this project funds accessibility improvements such as rubberized surfacing,” Friends Executive Director Mariah Roberts said. “Local input shaped the project and design and will delight young and old. We look forward to rededicating this wonderful park.”
“We're so excited to have a safe new play space for kids in the Pleasure Point neighborhood,” lead community volunteer Derek Draper said. “This outcome was the result of a great partnership between the County, County Park Friends, and the community and we're so appreciative of everyone's support in making this vision a reality. Our three boys will enjoy this new space for years to come.”
Planning for the park will get underway this fall and improvements are likely to be completed in 2024. Charlotte and I look forward to seeing you out there.
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Photo: Santa Cruz County Seal.
The County of Santa Cruz is hosting a hybrid community meeting to introduce the Office of Inspector General staff to the public and answer questions operations.
The meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 28, 10:30 a.m. at 701 Ocean St., 5th floor, Board Chambers and on Zoom.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) was approved by the Board of Supervisors on October 18, 2022. The purpose of the office is to improve public trust and confidence in law enforcement, promote the transparency and integrity of sheriff’s office operations, further policing standards rooted in equity and help ensure the professionalism of sheriff’s offices through objective reviews, independent investigations, and evidence-based policy recommendations.
The County appointed OIR Group to serve as the OIG and help assure the Sheriff’s Office receives public input about its activities and is responsive to the community.
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Photo: AI graphic with keyboard and hand.
On June 13th, the Board of Supervisors directed staff to develop policies regarding artificial intelligence (AI) usage by staff, placing it at the vanguard of local governments beginning to contemplate the future uses of AI.
The County is establishing a working group to develop policies that include ethical considerations, risks, data privacy and opportunities associated with AI implementation, which will guide internal and external uses of AI.
AI is the fastest-growing technology launch of all time, and its rapid development and expansion hold both great promise and potential risk. AI could enhance efficiency while improving service delivery to residents, and the County will be encouraging staff to experiment appropriately with the use of AI.
In unanimously approving the development of an AI staff policy, the Board asked for a progress report within three months. The County intends to develop interim AI usage guidelines while more comprehensive policy development proceeds.
The Board directed staff to develop AI policies that address, at minimum: - Data privacy and security, including refraining from sharing confidential and sensitive data with AI interfaces until the systems are determined to be operating in compliance with HIPAA and other data privacy laws.
- Transparency, assuring that the use of AI is explainable to users.
- Accountability, including evaluations to ensure AI system are accurate and/or operating appropriately.
- Fairness and bias, assuring that AI does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, or other protected classes.
- Informed consent, assuring users are informed and can opt out of using AI.
- Responsible, including the development of ethical guideline for the use of AI technologies.
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Photo: The westside of the Hwy 17 Wildlife Undercrossing at Laurel Curve.
I visited the HWY 17 Wildlife Undercrossing a couple of weeks ago with Bryan Largay (Conservation Director) and Eric Lombardo (Public Policy and Grants Manager) of the Santa Cruz County Land Trust, along with Spotlight Stewardship.
The crossing was built at Laurel Curve, a natural low point in the mountains that connects the Soquel Creek and San Lorenzo River watersheds. The area became even more dangerous to wildlife after the center median was raised here about 10 years ago, making it harder for them to get across. During a three year period 50 deer, 3 mountain lions and 1 human driver were killed here.
The $12M project is basically a new highway bridge that required new piers. Previously the highway just rested on fill here. It was completed last December with the aid of local money from Measure D (2016), the half cent transportation funding measure passed by Santa Cruz County voters.
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Photo: The wildlife undercrossing looking east.
Standing in the undercrossing there is an interesting tension between the stream of highway noise and the cool forest breeze flowing from one watershed to the other. A sense of peace manages to prevail. Maybe it’s the sense of opportunity the animals feel, knowing water and new stomping grounds are close by. A bobcat was spotted crossing here within the first hour of the cameras being up.
MidPen Open Space District is working on a 2nd undercrossing just below the spillway at Lexington reservoir. This has been the other crossing hotspot, with 1 mountain lion per year dying here on average. (Los Gatos, “the cats” in Spanish, is aptly named). Together these two crossings will serve as gateways for wildlife to the San Francisco peninsula from the rest of the Central Coast.
With just 30-70 mountain lions in the total population for our region, the hope is that this increased range will improve their genetic diversity and ensure long term survival. Populations of mountain lions in Southern California are already starting to show kinked tails and other traits that are the result of too much inbreeding. Such traits haven’t shown up in the Santa Cruz Mountains yet, but our numbers are still too low for long term health.
After seeing this, I will plan for wildlife in all infrastructure projects I work on. I will also support the 30x30 vision to put 30 percent of U.S. land and ocean under conservation by 2030. A thriving humanity requires a thriving planet.
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Photo: Construction of the East Cliff Drive/Portola Drive sewer line.
The Santa Cruz County Sanitation District has announced that there will be traffic delays due to construction with potential lane closures between the hours of 8:30am and 4:30pm, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays at the following locations, weather permitting:
June 16, 2023 to June 30, 2023 - East Cliff Drive going west from 13th Avenue to 12th Avenue.
Currently ongoing to July 28, 2023 - Portola Drive going west from 20th Avenue to 17th Avenue.
May 31 to July 7, 2023 - Road Closure between 13th Avenue and Prospect Street closed to through traffic with detour during work hours.
July 5, 2023 to July 28, 2023 - Portola Drive and 18th Avenue westbound bus stops closed.
For the full details, go here.
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Photo: Aerial view of the 1st District.
Tuesday, June 27th - Board of Supervisors Meeting. Begins at 9 AM. The agenda is here. The meeting will be held via Zoom and in person at the Board Chambers at 701 Ocean Street, Rm 525.
Wednesday, June 28th - Inspector General Hybrid Community Meeting. Begins at 10:30 AM. 701 Ocean St., 5th floor, Board Chambers and on Zoom.
Wednesday, June 28th- Housing Element Community Public Meeting. From 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM. Watsonville Civic Plaza Community Room. 275 Main Street, Watsonville, CA.
Please note: The month of July is the Board of Supervisors' recess. There will be no office hours or town hall in July. Both will resume in August. |
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