Documenter: Dani Huerta

Here’s what you need to know:

  • The board approved a Memorandum of Understanding for the Friant-Kern Canal Middle Reach Capacity Correction Project. This a large scale project with four phases that is anticipated to be completed in September 2024.

  • The Resource Management Agency will participate in a Management Zone to meet the requirements of salt and nitrate levels in the Central Valley.

  • The Sheriff’s Office is implementing a co-response team to respond to 911 calls of mental health crises by sending an officer and clinical social worker to properly assess the situation and reduce the hospitalization rate.

The Scene

The Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting was held simultaneously both in-person and streamed via YouTube at 9 a.m. on August 17, 2021.

The meeting began with the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence.

Board of Supervisors

  • Larry Micari, District One

  • Pete Vander Poel, District Two

  • Amy Shuklian – Chair, District Three

  • Eddie Valero – Vice Chair, District Four

  • Dennis Townsend, District Five

  • Jason T. Britt, County Administrative Officer

  • Jennifer M. Flores, County Council

  • Melinda Benton, Chief Clerk

Actions

  • Board of Supervisors Matters

    • Supervisor Vander Poel

      • Tomorrow he will be at the Tulare County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) meeting. Next Wednesday he will attend the Tulare County Employees Retirement Association and the Tulare County Employees Retirement Association Investment Committee. Next Friday he will be playing an Italian gangster in the I Love Lucy murder mystery spoof fundraiser show at the Encore Theater

      • The Central California Blood Bank will host a 9/11 memorial local blood drive at the Tulare Memorial Building. This event is their largest collection day of the year

      • There will be a Greater Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency meeting on September 13th at 1 PM.

    • Supervisor Valero

      • This week he went to the state capital to speak about SB-559. He is excited to see the approval of the Middle Reach Capacity Correction Project which will potentially help this effort.

      • Attended the State of the City Address for the city of Tulare

      • He will be working with staff to increase COVID testing and vaccine effort in North County. He will also attend Woodlake Castlerock Elementary’s library opening and participate in the Public Art Selection Committee meeting and Chancellor Search Meeting. He will be at the Casa Event, Tulare’s 9/11 ceremony, and the National Latino Peace Officer Association’s 9/11 ceremony.

      • He encourages everyone to get tested and or vaccinated

    • Supervisor Micari

      • He attended the State of the County with Supervisor Shuklian, the San Joaquin Interest Authority, Yosemite Resource Council, and GSA

      • He will attend the Tulare County 9/11 ceremony, the Sheriff’s barn burner, and the Sierra Nevada Conservancy meeting.

    • Supervisor Townsend

      • Last Thursday he attended the Porterville Chamber Governmental Affairs Committee meeting,  the Hot Springs Town Hall, and the Rotary Club which was visited by the district governor. On the 27th he attended the grand opening of the Nupchi housing in Porterville. On the 28th he was at the rawhide game. 

      • On Sept. 1 he will attend the LAFCO meeting, on the 2nd the Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Meeting and the leadership of Porterville class of ‘22 reception. On the 9th he will attend the Sustainable Corridors Joint Committee Meeting. He will be at the firefighter’s 9/11 ceremony and the Tulare County Republican Assemblies ceremony. On the 12th he will present a proclamation to honor the Bells Across America. On the 13th he will attend Valley Voice Day via Zoom and San Joaquin First Day.

    • Supervisor Shuklian

      • Last week she attended the Tulare County Development Corporation Meeting and filmed a commercial for Resiliency and Adaptation Outreach. Last Thursday she presented the State of the County and on Friday she attended the San Joaquin Valley Insurance Authority. On Saturday she attended the Tune-in & Tune-up event, sponsored by Valley Clean Air Now, which gave vouchers for repairs of up to $850 for vehicles that did not pass smog and vehicle replacement vouchers for cars 1999 or older. 

      • This Thursday she will attend the CSAC Board of Directors meeting and  on 9/11 she will be speaking at headquarters

  • Tulare County Board of Supervisors Pet of the Week

    • Mary Ann, a hound mix, is the Tulare County Animal Services pet of the week. (A219879)

    • Progress on the vet clinic is going well. They will begin providing services in October

    • They are very busy at the shelter and are hitting capacity frequently. Lots of purebred huskies and german shepherds available for adoption

  • PULLED ITEM 3, Presentation by the Fire Department to showcase new apparatus and Command Bus

    • The Fire Department was not available at this time because of the many fires. The new apparatus is currently being used. They are hoping to be back before December. The French fire is 40% contained.

  • Consent Calendar

    • Item 28 was pulled, the remainder of the consent calendar was approved

  • Authorize and approve the submittal of an application in an amount not to exceed $5,000,000 in grant funding from the State Department of Housing and Community Development Permanent Local Housing Allocation program to fund the Neighborhood Village, a 52-unit affordable housing complex in Goshen. Adopt the Resolution for the Permanent Local Housing Allocation Program. 

    • This grant for a 52 unit homelessnenss neighborhood village partnership with Salt & Light and Self Help Enterprises. All units are reserved for homelessness and will provide rental assistance vouchers

    • A speaker form Salt & light gave an update, 

      • Site plans are nearly complete. Redman homes with Lindsay will be the primary source for the mobile units

      • Salt & Light will be giving $1.3 million

      • This is a long term project and will be prefunding 20 years of operations

    • Supervisor Valero says he gets calls from constituents in Goshen and this presentation answered lots of questions. He thanked them for doing a good job of answering questions which will lead to more support. Supervisor Vander Poel, Supervisor Micari, and Supervisor Townsend thanked Salt & Light for this long term commitment and expressed their excitement for the project.

    • Approved 

  • Request from the Resource Management Agency to approve the Memorandum of Understanding with Friant Water Authority and the Bureau of Reclamation for the Friant-Kern Canal Middle Reach Capacity Correction Project

    • Presentation was given by Red Schenke, RMA Director

    • Summary

      • Estimated 60% reduction in Friant-Kern Canal water delivery capacity

      • The project is separated into 4 segments

        • Segment 1: 7.4 miles of canal enlargement

        • Segments 2 & 3: 17 miles of new parallel canal

        • Segment 4: 2 miles of mew parallel canal & 5.3 miles of canal enlargement 

      • Extends from 5th Avenue Check past the southern county line to Lake Woollomes Check in northern Kern County

      • Impacts to roadway crossings

        • Leave existing bridges in place or construction of new concrete box siphons

        • Intends to relinquish maintenance responsibility of Avene 120 crossing

      • Starts at Ave 208 and ends 2 miles  north of the county line. There will be two facilities running parallel to each other

    • Memorandum of understanding objectives

      • This will be a big project comparable to the construction of highway 99

      • Requires county approval for future project phases via RMA director

      • Serves as an encroachment permit for phase 1

    • Construction update

      • 8 miles of parallel canal construction

      • Estimated phase 1 cost total $250 million (total project sot $500 mil)

      • Construction starts November 2021, anticipated completion September 2024

    • Supervisor Townsend asked how does money flow into this MOU. Reed says have separate agreement to cover the cost

      • Doug DeFlitch, Chief Operating Officer of Friant Water, spoke

      • They will use federal, state, local GSA, and Friant division contractor for funding

      • 50% must be local, 50% from federal. Federal money is ready and they have begun billing contractors for funding. Money is also coming from a settlement with Eastern Tule GSA. Senator Hurtado is helping with state funding

    • Supervisor Micari voiced his concerns about farmers’ use of roads that will be abandoned. He suggested putting up a sign at roads that will be abandoned in the future to help farmers plan how they will get around.

      • DeFlitvh responded that they have already been speaking with nearby farmers and have been doing land acquisition. He agrees that a sign is a good idea

    • Approved

  • Public hearing agenda Item 5, Request from the Resource Management Agency to approve the vacation of Avenue 32 between Road 184 and Road 192

    • Reed Schenke gave presentation with County Surveyor Rob Abrahamian

    • Vacation will exclude 0.99 miles from Tulare county maintained mileage system, traffic circulation will be minimally impacted with at most a 2 mile detour

    • Supervisor Valero asks Reed if the vacated miles are put back into the system and how the system works.

      • Annual minatined miles is roughly 3000, this affects funding from gas tax but is incremental.

      • Valero says because nearby landowners have provided letters of support he is in support

      • Approved 

  • Item 30 Approve the rate of taxation of the State and County for fiscal year 2021/22 at the rate of $1 per $100 of assessed valuation, Approve the tax rates on Schedule A-B and Special District Tax Rates shown on Schedule C, Approve and accept the Statement of the Valuation of the Property in Tulare County

    • Presentation by Paul Sampietro

    • All bonds have been approved  with a new bond for Sunnyside Union Elementary

    • Current tax roll $525 million 2021, this year’s total assessed evaluation is $42.4 billion

    • Supervisor Shuklian wanted to make sure they are not raising property tax. Paul replied they are not. 

    • Approved

  • Request from the Resource Management Agency to select the pathway to be used to meet the requirements stated in the Nitrate Control Program adopted by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board

    • Presentation by Ross Miller, RMA Chief Engineer

    • New requirement that control salt and nitrate levels in the Central Valley

    • Option 1: Meet the requirements through an individual permitting action

      • Much more expensive

      • Update water treatment plant

      • $750,000 each, solely responsible for meeting this

    • Option 2: : Meet the requirements through the participation of a Management Zone. Staff recommends this option. 

      • Pool resources and more options. 

      • Annual cost under $4,000. 

      • Major con is the cost is variable and outside of their control

    • Approved option 2

  • Receive a presentation from the Health & Human Services Agency on the Drought Response in Tulare County.

    • Graph of dry well failure from 2014-2017. Current dry well failure rates are similar to where it was in 2014. There will be new dry well activity if there is no rainfall this winter

    • Prior responses

      • Household tank program, bottles & halued water, non-potable fill stations, well drilling financing, drought housing relocation assistance

    • Current partnership approach

      • County bottled water program is more restrictive

      • Self Help Enterprises helped with household tank program, donated bottled water for redistribution, hauled water for systems

    • 2021 concerns

      • Teviston and Toolevile’s water systems threatened

      • As of August 4th, 65 dry well reports, 57 active household tanks

      • There are delays in well services and deeper wells are required at increasing costs

      • No California Disaster Assistance Act, state budget

      • State issued $3 billion. 

        • $10 million in emergency drought funding. The state’s response is much slower and not very responsive to what is happening on the ground 

        • DWR would run the contract, takes pressure off the county

        • Woodville will receive $2.2 million, Teviston will receive $4 million, Tulare will receive $6 million. A $3 million request was submitted for Ducor. Currently working with Self Help for a proposal with Ponderosa

        • Another $200 million this fall

      • State water board put funding into existing programs but this does not help much with emergency response

      • $800,000 left in tulare bottled water

    • American Rescue Plan Act was approved last week

    • Supervisor Micari asked to highlight efforts to help with Tolleville. They have begun meeting water quality standards. The state board has issued a voluntary consolidation order and the county has been advocating for funding. 

    • Supervisor Valero asked if a community has to be specified on a list to receive bottled water. The Office of Emergency Services (OES) has proposed keeping some bottled water at fire stations for people who need it. There is an application available for individual households to fill out based on income and location. This time there are more requirements. The Water Board must approve a community to be on the bottle water list, but they are looking for more flexibility in this.

    • Question from County Administrative Officer Britt. What resources are available for individual dry wells? The OES representative responded that there are  bottled water and tanks based on location.

  • Presentation by the Health & Human Services Agency, Mental Health Branch and Sheriff’s Office on the Co-Response Team

    • Sheriff Mike Boudreaux

      • Heart team focused on services for homeless people. In 2020 the Sheriff’s Office responded to over 500 calls related to mental health.

      • Tulare County is one of the first in the state to have a mental health professional in a police car with an officer. The Police Department partners with the mental health branch.

      • The Sheriff’s Office has dedicated 4 officers to be assigned with health & human services 

    • Tim Lutz, health & human services

      • Working on jails to have more local control of inmate population and local services for crisis response

    • Natalie Bolin, Deputy Director Tulare Mental Health

      • Co-response, deputy and clinical social worker to de-escalate situations

      • 30% of children placed on a hold had no mental services prior

      • The process of this program is the sheriff screens calls, deputy responds, assessment from social worker, clinician will offer referrals or other assistance. This is modeled after Psychiatric Emergency Team (PERT) in San Diego County

      • 45% of calls that PERT goes out to they stop that hospitalization

      • Supervisor Townsend asked how they determine if a 911 call is worthy of this program. Bolin responds that dispatch screens these calls and determines this.

      • Supervisor Vander Poel asked if this program will expand into the cites and if these officers have received training on this. Bolin responds that they continue to offer CIT and de-escalation training. Thye would like ot expand but they would need additional funding through grants. Sheriff Boudreaux notes that all officers are required to have CIT training and they have been providing de-escalation for about 5 years already. Dispatch will be trained to identify when this service is needed. The program will respond to Porteville if they can

      • Supervisor Shuklian asks how this program is different from the Hope Team. Bolin responds that the Hope Team is more proactive than a response. This program is for 911 calls

      • Supervisor Valero asked if they have been helping more younger or older people through this program. Bolin responds that they have seen 8 – 89 year olds and typically more adults, however the number of children that respond to has been increasing, with some months as much as 30%. Valero also asks if this program includes other agencies such as the Tulare County Office of Education or school sites. Bolin says Tulare County responds to different school sites and they meet monthly to discuss this.

      • Supervisor Shuklian asked if there are people already picked for this team. Bolin responds that they are working on it

  • No board matter requests

The meeting adjourned to a closed session. There will be no meeting next Tuesday September 7th due to Labor Day.

Public Comment

There was no public comment.

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at Documenters-admin@thefresnoland.comwith “Correction Request” in the subject line.

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