Documented by Josef Sibala
Here’s what you need to know:
- The Kings County Board of Supervisors approved the notice of award for the construction contract to Agee Construction Corp. to begin the construction contract award process, with the bid of $1.7 million for additional maintenance of county bridges.
- The board approved the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program Plan and Budget, which will provide access to preventative health assessments for low-income children and youth, with the goal of early detection, diagnosis and treatment of disease and disability.
- During public comment, Danny Garcia, Kings County resident, stated his concerns about the low-income development being built near his home on Kings Road and the traffic increases due to the project.
Follow-up questions:
- How will the county mitigate traffic increases that will result from the low-income development being built near Kings Road?
- How will low-income children and youth benefit from the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program Plan and Budget?
The Scene
According to its website, Kings County is a “general law” county, meaning the state constitution and general law determine the county’s governmental structure.
The Board of Supervisors is the governing body for Kings County and many county special districts. Each of the board’s five members is elected in a nonpartisan manner to a four-year term. The board sets policies and depends on the county administrator, county officials and department heads to fulfill its wishes.
The Board of Supervisors has administrative, legislative and quasi-judicial duties and responsibilities prescribed by the state constitution and statutes.
The meeting was held at 9 a.m. in the board chambers at 1400 West Lacey Blvd. in Administration Building 1 in Hanford.
Kings County County Board of Supervisors members present:
- Joe Neves, District 1 (Lemoore and Stratford)
- Rusty Robinson, District 4 (Armona and Hanford)
- Richard Fagundes, District 5 (Hanford and Burris Park)
- Doug Verboon, District 3 (North Hanford, Island District and North Lemoore)
Kings County County Board of Supervisors members not present: Richard Valle, District 2 (Avenal, Corcoran, Home Garden, and Kettleman City)
Others Present:
- Danny Garcia
- Natalie Brinson
- Child Support Services Director Marie Waite
- Public Health Director Rose Mary Rahn
Discussions/Actions
Danny Garcia, a Kings County resident, stated his concerns about the low-income housing development being built near his home on Kings Road and the traffic increases expected to result from the project.
A. The board (4-0) approved the minutes from the meeting of Nov. 7.
Under the consent calendar, the board (5-0) unanimously approved items as follows:
A. County Counsel:
1. The board approved the conflict of interest code amendment for the South Fork Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency as submitted.
2. The board appointed Craig Andrew, Jim Wilson and Ajay Malik to four-year terms as trustees of the Tulare Lake Reclamation District No. 761 in lieu of election, to qualify, take office and serve exactly as if elected at a general district election.
B. Probation Department:
1. a. The board approved the purchase of 56 Endurance lockers and 56 Endurance nightstands for each youth to store personal belongings from CORTECH Company.
b. The board approved the purchase of 15 institutional chairs and three sofa seats from Moduform to create recreational, educational, treatment, visitation and family engagement space within the facility.
According to agenda packet materials, The cost of these items is $118,400, which will be funded by an allocation through Assembly Bill 178 for county-operated juvenile facilities.
In September of 2020, Senate Bill 823 was passed, and transferred the responsibility for treatment and supervision for all youth committed to the California Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to the local counties.
SB 823 also required the closure of DJJ by June 30, 2023. AB 178 was passed on June 30, 2022 (Juvenile Facilities Improvement Construction Funding), which allowed counties to use the allotted funds to assist in the development of appropriate rehabilitative environments for youth.
Funding must be used to modernize facilities to include creating treatment, vocational, educational, recreational, visitation and family engagement space.
With new construction of the BRANCH facility through the SB 81 Project, the Probation Department must purchase new home-like furnishings to allow the youth to experience the home-like environment with less of an institutional feeling.
C. Public Works Department:
1. The board approved the notice of award for the construction contract to Agee Construction Corp. to begin the construction contract award process.
According to the agenda packet, The low bid from Agee Construction Corp. is $1.7 million.
The project is federally funded through the Federal Highway Administration Highway Bridge Program with a reimbursement ratio of 88.53% equaling $1.5 million. The remaining 11.47%, equaling $189,950, will be provided by the county road fund, not impacting the general fund, as included in the adopted fiscal year 2023-24 budget.
The state developed the Bridge Preventive Maintenance Program (BPMP) with the purpose of extending the life of local agency bridges by performing certain qualifying items of work classified as preventive maintenance.
It is expected that these maintenance functions will reduce the life cycle cost and delay the need for full rehabilitation or replacement. The county has applied for and received funding to develop a BPMP for the 110 structures maintained by county forces.
D. Sheriff’s Office:
1. a. The board authorized the Sheriff’s Office to allow the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association to purchase a service handgun for Cmdr. Mark Bevens, who is retiring.
b. The board approved the purchase of a Glock handgun as replacement.
According to the agenda packet report, The Deputy Sheriffs’ Association will pay the replacement value of the handgun, estimated to be $430. The Kings County Sheriff’s Office will purchase a replacement weapon at a cost not to exceed $430.
Regular agenda items were as follows:
A. Child Support Services
1. The board voted 4-0 to approve the Plan of Cooperation with Hanford Community Hospital Adventist Health Hanford (AHH) to establish paternity retroactively effective from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025.
According to the agenda packet report, Kings County Child Support Services is 100% funded by the state (34%) and federal (66%) government. As a result, there will be no impact to the general fund with this action.
Child Support Services Director Marie Waite said that the costs for AHH services for fiscal year 2023-24 are included in the adopted budget.
The Local Child Support Agency (LCSA) has the responsibility to provide a financial payment on a monthly or quarterly basis of $10 for every voluntary declaration of parentage (VDOP) that is properly completed and signed, after receiving an approved invoice that provides itemization of the voluntary acknowledgment of parentage services.
The Plan of Cooperation with AHH is an outline of responsibilities and guidelines for securing parentage for minor children born to unmarried parents.
The hospital’s responsibility is to provide the unmarried parents a
VDOP and informational materials about the process.
B. District Attorney’s Office
1. The board (4-0) authorized the advanced step hire of Gabriela Rivera as a District Attorney Investigator II, retroactively effective from the Nov.13, 2023 pay period.
C. Public Health Department
1. a. The board voted 4-0 to approve the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program Plan and Budget retroactively effective from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.
According to the agenda packet, the action will increase federal aid revenue by $34,056 in the fiscal year 2023-24 adopted county budget.
Public Health Director Rose Mary Rahn said that the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program (CHDP) provides access to preventative health assessments for low-income children and youth, with the goal of early detection, diagnosis and treatment of disease and disability.
These health assessments are completed by providers who meet the guidelines and have been approved by the local CHDP program. There are currently 19 approved CHDP providers in Kings County.
The local CHDP program is tasked with provider recruitment, training and monitoring, to ensure preventative screenings are done according to CHDP standards.
Local program responsibilities also include informing and linking eligible populations and families to CHDP preventative services, providing medical case management of the pediatric fee-for-service Medi-Cal population, preventative dental education for the pediatric Medi-Cal population and dental case management follow-up, when needed.
The budget that was formulated for this program does not necessarily reflect the entire allocation, as the funding may be based on caseload, the breakdown of Medi-Cal vs. non-Medi-Cal clients, and other funding directives set by the state. The CHDP program is proposed to sunset at the end of this fiscal year
The next board meeting will be on Nov. 28 at 9 a.m.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at fresnodocs@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
