Today, I spoke on behalf of MoreQuality, to talk about the difficulty of participating at 9am on Tuesday mornings, and suggested they consider asynchronous communication methods to allow ongoing dialogue for those who cannot make it to the meeting. For example, to allow a 1-week window for comments that can be addressed at the meeting. It´d also be helpful to record the meetings for the Bagley Keene Act. (It be interesting to get a county position to records ALL public meetings, the position could be part of IT or Communications).

Of note is the cost of paper at the meeting. I´m not sure how many packets were provided, but at 129 pages each, it is an expense to be considered.

Of note is also that I could not connect my Ubuntu laptop to the Avahi wireless connection because Ubuntu runs a .local domain be default. I´m still looking for a solution to this.

Challenges

Solano County is currently facing a structural deficit of more than $16 million dollars.

SB90 is a California law that mandates reimbursements for services that the are pushed to the county level. SB90 programs change from year to year and often the county will mandate a program, provide support for 1 year then remove the mandate, leaving the county responsible for removing the added service - which is difficult politically to remove such services from citizens. This situation appears antithetical to sustainable public services.

The county is due nearly $10 million from prior SB90 claims. SB90 claims must be submitted to the state, and Solano County is currently awaiting funds from as far back as 1999. SB90 claims must be filed annually by January 15 of each year, and there is a 10% fee for late filings - or more cleary, a 10% reduction of reimbursement. It would be interesting to know what services the County is currently providing initially based on SB90 mandates that have since been removed.

ERAF - Education Revenue Augmentation Fund. ERAF is a complex funding program that governs the funding of a local school.

Fouts Springs - Fouts Springs is a detention facility run by Solano County but located outside Solano County.

The Agenda for the Aug 31 Budget Workshop meeting was 129 pages detailing legislation, budgets, and mandatory vs. discretionary programs.

Also noted were several options on the table to reduce salaries, such as furlough days, reduced contributions, 37.5 hour work weeks. But I did not see an option for a decrease in Management pay. It would be interesting to see managerial salaries graphed against employee salaries, and even see employee salaries reprsented like a candlestick (conveying Steps 1-5).

Carole Paterson reviewed teh UC Co-Op program, containing the Master's Gardener's program, 4-H, and Administrative Support. (It seems like the admin could be performed by General Services). A helpful analysis would be to quantify the level of service that the UC Co-Op is providing on an annual basis. How many gardeners are trained because of the extension? What (if any) are the alternatives to our funding? The Master´s Gardener program is essentially 1 position (at $83,411 ($78,226 of General Fund revenues)).

Mike Reagan keeps referring to GDP (Gross Domestic Product). I´m not sure what exactly it has to do with this conversation. It seems to vague.

Ag/Weights & Measures - how do you regulate pesticide use within the County? How is it measured and tracked (Operation Identification Number?) How does the department inspect and regulate devices used in commerical transactions? Measured & tracked? Where is the Crop Statistics Report? Pest/Insect detection and exclusion? Glassy winged sharpshooter ... effect? Nursery inspections? MT´d? They apply (Strick9?) to kill gophers. Is there an effect to that? An assertion that the value of muskrat prevention for water regulation is of more value than the cost of the program - based on what?

Overall, there are 400,000 citizens in Solano County, 80 public chairs in the room.

What is the cost of attendees at the Meeting? Chris Rodgers, Dennis Bunting, ? Board Clerk?, John Vasquez, Simona Padilla-Scholtens, Elizabeth Voit, Bonnie Katz, Donald Turko, Michael Johnson, Birgitta Corsello, Mike Reagan, Chuck Lomeli, Gary Stanton, Jim Spering, ?, ?, Ira Rosenthal, Bill Reardon, Ag Measure guy, ? woman, ? woman, Barbara Kondylis, ? woman, ? woman, Paulson (DA), Patrick Duterte (HSS), Carole Paterson.

Also in attendance: Bob Lawson, Susan Zialcita, Dianne Koutz (General Services), J Alexander (Resource Management), + 12 other county workers.

How are the effectiveness of County outreach programs determined? Solano Grown funded by government money, then becoming a nonprofit? Interesting...

Veterans Treasurer/Tax Collector/County Clerk Auditor-Controller´s Office County Administrator´ Office Health & Social Services Human Resources Board of Supervisors Agriculture/Weights & Measures Separate Mosquito Abatement (regulated by health moreso than Ag)