To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Board of Supervisors
Staff Name and Phone Number: M. Christina Rivera 707-565-2341
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
2024 Significant Community Interest Board Actions Calendar
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Accept the Board’s July to December 2024 Revised Significant Items Calendar.
end
Executive Summary:
In order to confirm department and agency staffs’ workload priorities, at the beginning of the year the Board reviews and accepts a significant community interest board actions which produces in the form of a Calendar base workplan to organize the Board’s business meetings. In this report, the County Executive/Clerk of the Board recommends inclusion of new Board business items that are deemed to be of significant public interest and updates the Board action timing of already identified 20204 items.
Of the 62 items included in the originally approved 2024 Calendar for the 1st half of the year, 50 or about 80% have been completed. The remaining 12 are a combination of either work postponed and/or deleted mostly because the action was covered within another effort. See attachment 3.
For workload planning, it is important to remark that the 12 meetings scheduled from July to November, but before today’s update, have an average of 4 hours per meeting of presentations and discussions for items of significant community interest. The two meetings for the month of December still have some availability. This leaves limited capacity for unanticipated time sensitive items, which may require postponing certain work already programmed in this year to move into 2025.
Discussion:
Twice annually the Board reviews proposed items of significant public interest. Per the Board Rules of Procedures Rule 45 <https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/administrative-support-and-fiscal-services/board-of-supervisors/about-the-board/board-rules-of-procedures/x-other> (Attachment 1), this item is the mid-year review of the Calendar of Significant Interest. The 2024 Board Calendar was approved at the January 23, 2024, Board meeting.
The review provides an opportunity for the Board to revisit Board business workload priorities and confirms direction to the County Executive to facilitate department/agency staff’s workload for the remainder of the calendar year.
Any new items added by Board majority during today’s review and approval may require staff to reprioritize existing projects.
At this time, based on the remaining Board meetings and staff capacity the County Executive proposes the following Calendar changes for the Board’s considerations:
1. Removed from calendar:
a) 3/26/24 - Public Infrastructure, Rule 20A Update: Determined a Board item was not necessary.
b) 4/16/24 - County Administrator’s Office, Annual Strategic Plan Update. Please visit the online dashboard <https://socostrategicplan.org/> that illustrates the percentage of completion for each of the pillars.
c) 5/17/24 - Permit Sonoma, Local Coastal Plan: The County approved the Local Coastal Plan August 2023. The California Coastal Commission has provided iterations of feedback which has delayed the certification. Due to a high level of public interest staff recommended a memo and stakeholder outreach.
d) 7/9/24 County Administrator’s Office, South Santa Rosa Annexation Pre-Agreement: Requires waiting until the South Santa Rosa Area Specific Plan is completed. To return for consideration on the 2025 calendar.
e) 10/22/24 Sonoma Water, Cost Recovery Fee Schedule: Lack of staff resources to accomplish the work. Accounting/finance staff have been swamped for months with the budgeting and financial reporting processes and have been unable to advance the work necessary to provide the supporting information necessary to establish the basis for the new fees.
f) 10/22/24 Sonoma Water, Sanitation Code Update: Upon further review, it was brought to light that additional elements of the code to be considered, which includes incorporating the design and construction standards into the code, will require substantially more time and require a consultant contract.
g) 11/19/24 Economic Development Board, Business Diversity Program Evaluation & Recommendations: Item was added to request an additional position, which was requested and approved as part of budget hearings.
2. New Since Adoption:
a) 7/23/24 Health Services, Award of Homeless Housing Support Services.
b) 9/17/24 County Administrator’s Office Review state of the County’s Immigrant Community Workplan This project is in response to the Board of Supervisor’s interest to assess the state of immigrants of Sonoma County. County Administrator Office staff will present a report that looks internally at the County’s services and contracts currently available to immigrant communities.
3. Proposed for consideration:
a) 7/16/24 - Permit Sonoma, Add the Vacation Rental Exclusion and Cap Combining Zones to certain parcels in the 1st and 4th Supervisorial Districts.
b) 7/23/24 - Permit Sonoma, Public Safety & Environmental Justice General Plan Elements Workshop to allow Board and public input prior to adoption of the Housing Element Round 2 in December.
c) 8/13/24 - County Administrator’s Office, County Contribution to Santa Rosa Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD): Consultant unavailable in July.
d) 9/17/24 - Health Service, Measure O Update: Provide an update of planned 2024-2025 Measure O expenditures and use of fund balance including consideration to increase staffing support for the Behavioral Health School Partnership, adding funding to the jurisdictions providing Mobile Crisis response, and recommending awards derived from the Measure O Notice of Funding Award (NOFA).
e) 10/8/24 - Health Services, Status update on County-supported shelter sites. New item generated during budget hearings as part of the Sam Jones Hall annual contribution program change request. The board asked department staff to develop a “Report Card” for all the shelters the County runs and/or supports.
f) 10/15/24 - Sonoma County Public Infrastructure, Airport Operations & Funding Update: Requested for consideration by Supervisors Gore and Hopkins during budget hearings.
g) 10/22/24 - Public Infrastructure & Sheriff Office, Behavioral Health Housing Unit: Project update on construction and operational estimated costs and funding plan presentation for the Board to consider.
4. Adjusted Timeline:
a) To 7/16/24 from 6/4/24- Permit Sonoma, On-site Wastewater Treatment System (OWTS) Manual Update.
b) To 7/23/24 from 3/15/24 - Sonoma County Public Infrastructure, Present options for the New County Government Center Project and Financial Plan: Additional time needed to develop content.
c) To 8/20/24 from 2/6/24 - Health Services, Opioid Settlement Funds Programming: Moved to allow time for content additions and change to a workshop-style item.
d) To 8/20/24 from 3/15/24 - Health Services, Cannabis Health Ordinance Amendment: Moved to allow time to outreach with city partners and complete Racial Equity Analysis.
e) To 8/20/24 from 5/21/24 - Health Services, CARE Court Implementation Plan: Additional time needed to conduct stakeholder meetings.
f) To 9/17/24 from 6/10/24 - Permit Sonoma, Habitat Conservation Plan Development Discussion. County Executive adjusted the timeline to engage CAO and Permit Sonoma teams in preliminary discussions for updated understanding of the intended outcomes and expected community benefits.
g) To 9/24/24 from 7/9/24 - Economic Development Board, Broadband Update: The CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) has not announced most of their Federal Funding Account (FFA) awards for last mile infrastructure and will be doing so over the course of the summer. Additionally, uncertainly surrounding which segments of the State Middle Mile will be prioritized given the recent budget cuts, delays EDB’s ability to identify priority areas for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding applications (which will be due at the end of 2024). Finally, EDB is developing a pilot program in partnership with local ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) using ARPA (American Rescue Plan) funding that will require a formal procurement process.
h) To 11/12/24 from 7/23/24 - County Administrator’s Office, Legislative Platform Adoption: Adjusted project timeline to allow capacity to present the policy proposals to state Legislators before the session begins in January.
i) Moved to 2025 from 6/4/24 - Economic Development Board, Advisory Board Review & Recommendations: Moved to allow additional time to develop content.
j) Moved to 2025 from 7/23/24 - Permit Sonoma, Springs Specific Plan.
Finally, during budget hearings direction was issued to present a plan to establish a Sheriff’s Office pilot Narcotics Unit. Sheriff Engram and his staff estimate a proposal will come forward in late 2024 or the first part of 2025.
In addition to the above changes, the November 19, 2024 regular meeting was changed to November 12, 2024 as the 19th conflicts with the CSAC (California State Association of Counties) annual conference.
Prior Board Actions:
January 9, 2024 - Calendar Walk to Review Significant Items worked for 2024.
January 23, 2024 - Approval of the 2023 Significant Items Calendar with identifying revisions.
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
None
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None
Attachments:
Attachment 1: Board Rules of Procedures - Rule 45 Referrals to Staff
Attachment 2: Initial adopted 2024 Board Calendar of Items of Significant Interest
Attachment 3: 2024 Items of Significant Interest | First Half of the Year Completion Comparison
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None