Okay.

Good morning, everyone.

I'd like to call to order our meeting for today.

This is Tuesday, May 12th, regular board meeting of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

I'd like to ask folks to please call the roll.

Supervisor Marquez present.

Supervisor Tan.

Present.

Supervisor Miley excused.

Supervisor Fortnite.

Present.

President Howard.

Present.

We have a core.

Would you all please rise if you can and join me in the pledge of allegiance?

Pledge allegiance to the flag.

To the republic for which it stands one nation under the indivisible liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

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Please limit your remarks to the time allocated.

Public comment will generally alternate between in person and online speakers as determined by the president of the board and subject to overall time limits.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next item is a board remarks.

I'll ask Supervisor Marquez.

Any remarks?

Yes, thank you, Chair Halbert.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome.

Just wanted to share some good news.

Um, this past Friday, I participated in what was my first experience of a wall rising, not a ribbon cutting, not a groundbreaking, but a wall rising.

This was for Luzili Affordable Housing in Union City.

It's 81 affordable units, and we were able to utilize funding through Measure A1 housing bond, 13.2 million dollars because of that investment.

They were able to secure and leverage additional funding from the state of California at 142 million.

So just wanted to thank all the voters for passing Measure A1 housing bond.

Thank our housing team as well as congratulate the City of Union City, the mayor, council city manager, and all of their staff that work closely with mid-Penn Housing to make this a reality.

Hopefully, it will be open in about a year and we'll be able to welcome additional families, individuals, people that were formerly homeless, and there will also be dedicated units to support individuals that have developmental disabilities.

So really excited about this opportunity.

As you know, we have a housing affordability crisis in this county, and it's always great to know that we are doing our part to open more opportunities for others.

Also wanted to make a brief announcement consistent with um, I've been making announcements to keep the public informed on what is going on with the RFP for the ethical investment policy, the peer review.

I'm happy to report that RFP has finally published, and I believe the date for the proposals is they must be submitted by June 1st.

So for more information, please visit GSA's website.

But this was a policy decision we voted on back in October, and it went through the uh finance um uh the name's escaping me.

It's not an ad hoc, it's a working committee.

County administrators finance advisory committee.

Advisory committee.

So went through that process, and the RFP is now available for the public to see online.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have brief remarks as well.

As you know, I attended the NACO Western Interstate Region meeting.

Um we also had co-located a CSAC finance uh committee meeting that our administrator attended because our administrator is one of the most recognized and well respected administrators in the state of California.

Uh the Western Region meeting focused a lot on the management of public lands and natural resources.

We took a tour of the burned out town of Lahaina and how devastating the fire that started in the foothills and moved all the way to the ocean line.

People literally saved out of the waves of the ocean because they were burned out.

And to see how resilient the community there is and how the cleanup is going and how the rebuilding is going, still work in progress, was a highlight and an amazing, amazing accomplishment.

I also have some sad news to present, which is the passing of uh CSAC ICON, former executive director, CSAC ICOM, but also Alameda County icon.

Um our CAO, uh Susan, you can say a few words about Steve Zaley.

Uh, he passed away at the age of 81.

I'd like to take a moment to honor his life and legacy, a true giant in California County government.

He passed away at the age of 81.

Steve devoted more than four decades to public service, including his time here in Alameda County, where he served as assistant county administrator beginning in 1986 and later as county administrator from 1989 to 1995.

His leadership helped shape this county during a critical period, and his impact continues to be felt today.

He went on to serve as executive director of the California State Association of Counties, CSAC, where he transformed that agency into a powerful and respected voice in our state capitol.

He championed policies that strengthen counties and protected local control.

Most notably, he helped lead the successful passage of Prop 1A, which safeguarded vital local revenues for communities across California.

Steve had a rare ability to understand the balance, understand and balance the needs of all 58 counties, rural, suburban, and urban alike.

He once said he knew he was doing his job when all three caucuses were mad at him.

That was Steve.

He was fair, principled, and always working for the greater good.

Steve was not only a skilled administrator and strategist, but also a mentor, a teacher, and a steady presence for so many in public service.

Those who worked with Steve describe him as a thoughtful, humble, and deeply committed, a person deeply committed to making government work better for the people it serves.

Even in retirement, Steve continued to give back, serving in leadership roles, advising state agencies, and contributing to institutions like the California State Railroad Museum.

He approached every endeavor with the same dedication and passion and passion that defined his career.

Steve leaves behind a legacy of integrity, service, and leadership.

His contributions have made our counties and our state stronger.

Today we will adjourn in his memory and in the recognition of a life so well lived in service to others.

I'd like to invite county administrator Susan Marinici to say a few words.

Thank you, President Howard, members of the board.

Steve was indeed everything that you said, and also a mentor uh and friend to me.

He was uh appointed as the assistant uh county administrator when I was the budget principal analyst, and he later um promoted me to be his assistant when he became the county administrator.

He was deeply committed to local government and state government, and not only served uh here in Alameda County, but previously has served in both Tuolamy and Kings County and went on later in his retirement to actually serve as the interim CEO of Sacramento County.

In addition to leading um the California State Association of Counties, um, he also was a special advisor to the Department of Finance with the unwind of redevelopment and was very engaged in that process.

And as well, he was an advisor to the state uh parks department.

So he continued to be engaged in government, and I know had a deep passion for local government.

So he certainly left his mark on Alameda County.

He was a very instrumental in developing values-based budgeting along with former county supervisor Mary King.

And also one of his major tasks was creating that budget first budget work group and opening up our budget policy to all stakeholders.

So I will certainly miss him as a mentor and a friend and appreciate his lifelong commitment to local government.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

And indeed his legacy lives on through the practices that we still engage in.

Supervisor Fortana Bass, you would also like to adjourn today's meeting in honor of a community member.

Please say a few words.

Yes, so I would like to adjourn today's meeting in honor of Wilson Riles Jr., who was a former Oakland City Council member, just a really committed, gentle, and steadfast champion for our community.

I'd like to say my remarks towards the end of the meeting because perhaps Supervisor Miley would like to join me in and saying a few remarks in his memory so that we lift up his legacy.

Thank you.

Very good.

I have one other remark to make, but um rather than do it myself, I've invited the regional center to come do it for me.

We have a guest that will present a very brief presentation, which highlights a uh an activity that the regional center helped to promote using our measure w dollar.

So, Rebecca.

I'm sorry, I'm not good at your last name.

But please uh say a few words.

Yes, hi, good morning.

My name is Dr.

Rebecca Ninianjo, and I'm the executive director of the Regional Center of the East Bay.

Um, I'd like to thank you all, um, President Halbert, members of the board, County Administrative Officer, for having us here and giving us an opportunity to present on the successes of Measure W.

And I have just a brief um presentation as well.

And before getting started, I also would like to introduce my fellow colleague, uh Miss Vonkey Sodipo, who is our associate executive director for the regional center of the East Bay.

So without further delay, and we can play the video last, but this captures um the essence of what took place with Measure W.

As you all may or may not recall, you probably do last fall, um, Susan Houghton, who is founder of Sunflower Hill out in the Tri Valley areas, came and requested an allocation or still okay.

Um she requested allocations or funding from Measure W to be able to um to address food insecurities that were happening throughout the nation, but particularly impacted the individuals we serve who are individuals with intellectual and or developmental disabilities.

So, Rebecca, um, I'm reminded that um remarks are generally meant for us to make remarks about things that we've done in the community.

Okay, and so I would like to be very specifically and narrowly focused on the giving that we gave.

And I'm going to say we gave out gift cards that were extremely needed for food insecurity.

That's correct.

People with developmental disabilities.

If you could just expand upon that, that'd be great.

Um, so uh yes.

Um at that time we um Susan was able to secure $500,000, and we have the regional center partnered with her to identify who from the community of intellectual and developmental disabilities we can we could provide um 100 gift cards to.

And so we vetted the process as the organization and what what you have behind you by way of a presentation as a result of those efforts.

We were able to partner with five other organizations who are listed at the bottom, each representing um an organization that resides in each of the supervisorial districts.

Sunflower Hill took the lead as they made the request, and we served as the administrative and fiscal agents because of our role and tool works, Friends of children with Special needs, Deaf Plus Adult community out of Newark, Strides, Castro Valley Adult Career Education, La Familia, where we service a lot of our monolingual families.

And so based on that, instead of speaking more about it, and I've left all of you with a packet of information that you can refer to, we have a short video that shows the results of those efforts that were made.

And so this first picture represents oh well you already saw it.

Those were all the partners, and on the days that gift cards were distributed out to the community and the individuals that we serve, these were some of the comments that were made.

Um and this doesn't even reflect the totality of what people stated.

One um individual said, God bless the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for remembering us.

I can take my mom out to lunch, it's a very nice surprise.

Thank you very much.

There was such a shock and a genuine, I mean, we were in tears as people who are serving them because people said, can buy bananas, I can take my mom out to dinner.

Thank you so very much.

We've never had a gift card before.

Um these just basic necessities and these basic needs were really highlighted as not just being remembered, but typically this community that we serve is often forgotten.

So I'd really like to thank all of you at the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for really having the foresight and and the willingness to partner with us in making a significant difference in the community that often doesn't feel the that res it doesn't resonate to that level.

Um, so I um if we can go to the next one, please.

If it's okay, um, there is a short video that I'd like to share um at this time, and then this captures essentially what Measure W represented to all of us in partnership with you.

I want to say that I really appreciate being invited to participate in this.

It was an insightful and impactful to me to do that, and I don't get to do remarks like this very often.

So thank you.

And thank you to all who participated.

I hope that this is the beginning of much more um partnerships as we we even know center doesn't typically get along, but we are part of that safety net of services, and so I'm looking forward to more collaborative opportunities.

And for our district, I definitely want to thank Supervisor Lena Tam who came to our organization.

Probably a little overwhelming because we we were fangirling over her a little bit, but she took time, she actually provided some of the gift cards.

We were able to take pictures with her.

She was able to say a couple of words, and so um, even though we weren't in your districts, I heard the same from Susan.

And if it's okay for me to elevate Susan, this would not have been possible without her involvement, her foresight and her dedication to making sure that even in her personal life, um, her son who does have um disabilities, she's committed her life to doing this, and it's just been an awesome experience being able to do something in a different capacity than we've done before.

Thank you.

Is the video able to play?

Go.

Oh, there it is.

That's La Familia, that's Ed Roberts Campus, there's Supervisor Tam.

There is uh sound, but it's not playing now.

Those are our deaf partners, Sunflower Hill.

We can do that, absolutely.

Yeah, all of you were perfect.

And I think you've got to remarks and your partnership.

You're very welcome.

Thank you.

Okay, with that, we're going to um have public comment on closed session items.

Are there any members of the public either online or in person who would like to comment on just the closed session items?

We have one speaker.

Samuel Raimi.

So, you're a good reader.

Can you hear it?

Please.

This is official beach about the United States government.

Thank you.

So we should put this up here on the screen so we can see it.

I need you to read all this.

According to the government, we got to get right now.

According to the government, we're right here.

Could you read that as a public piece, sir?

According to the government.

Last paragraph.

I'm sorry, you want me to read?

Yes.

The last row according to government.

Can you read that down for you, sir?

The public comments are comments by the public.

So yeah.

We can read it for you, but you can read it yourself.

Okay.

Sure.

Thank you.

Y'all trust me.

Okay.

According to the government, regulations through a b.

Section 903 and 904.

A closed government facility is to be repaired.

And we have helped for the homeless and the people with low income wages.

And that time was out.

However, in one facility, the open open city opened tore down the facilities in Oakno and didn't build nothing back.

I thought they was going to do right with the money.

They took the money to something else.

So y'all want to develop.

Okay.

They killed the whole family.

Then they're killing themselves every day.

Cost of suppression, y'all want to free them.

Build the middle health system, get people off feet and take care of the people that exposed to.

I'm not going to sign off of nothing.

We do it right.

Really that.

They shouldn't be on the street.

All in base house, we can refer them and put them in.

National homeless union stimulus.

We are not in the paper y'all.

Chicago is national headquarters.

So home can we say, yeah, 58,000 people in Chicago running around homeless, many of us.

Thank you for your comments today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comments for public comment?

Okay.

There are no more comments.

No other comments.

Okay.

Before we adjourn into closed session, I would like to pull out from our mass motion item 33.

We have a presentation and a report that we have a time sensitivity due to a flight.

And this is item 33.

And Supervisor Miley will be joining us very briefly here.

This is a presentation from public works LLC.

That Supervisor Miley and I wrote a board letter on, which is attachment to item 33.

And I'd like to uh welcome and uh offer time for a presentation on this item by um Eric Schnurr from Public Works LLC.

So I'm from the article.

Um thank you very much for having me here today.

My name's Eric Schneer.

I'm the president of Public Works LLC, and uh I'm gonna run you through real quickly what we do in terms of looking at efficiencies in government and um in order to be more efficient.

This is a brief presentation that I'm gonna make briefer, and uh I'm just gonna try to run through the highlights.

Uh if you have any questions, obviously I'd be happy to answer them.

Um there we go.

Okay, so a couple main points I wanted to make.

Um this slide shows about half of the team that we would propose for working.

I'm sorry, Eric, you know.

I think it would be helpful if I read my board letter, Supervisor Miley and I wrote a board letter.

Okay.

Just to set the stage a little bit better, if that's okay.

Supervisor Miley, you can also say a couple of words.

Um, this is a presentation from Public Works LLC.

Possible direction to staff regarding efficiency initiatives and potential cost savings to Alameda County.

Why do we do this?

Well, and we will receive a presentation and provide direction.

Public works LLC will present its approach in conducting organizational efficiency reviews and identifying opportunities for cost savings across public sector entities.

That's their specialty, including health care systems.

The presentation will outline methodologies, prior experience, potential areas of opportunity within the Alameda County Health Systems.

As our county continues to navigate the challenging and uncertain fiscal environment, including potential reductions in federal funding, identifying efficiency initiatives and cost saving opportunities remains a priority.

This presentation is intended to inform the board's consideration for additional analyses of partnership opportunities.

Should the board determine that further exploration is appropriate, direction will be provided to staff.

And I say we have had a lot of discussion about federal funding, just how vulnerable.

All of that happens, but but this is completely different.

This is a shift, a C change in federal funding that again half our budget comes from state and federal funding.

This isn't a five percent or a 10% change.

This could be catastrophic to our budget and um unprecedented the changes that are happening at the federal government.

So we have to be um finding ways to be more efficient.

Supervisor Miley, um, if you would add to that, and then I think it's good if we go with the presentation.

Thank you, uh President Howard.

Yes, um, let me just add a few things.

First of all, when I met with uh public works, I thought it was the public works agency.

So I mentioned to them they should change that name.

But he can explain how he and his wife have come up with that name, but it is confusing that it's public works, and um, got some of their background on working with other governments and their success in helping other governments uh find efficiencies where these efficiencies come out to substantial dollars in order to uh help uh government entities uh have the resources uh to continue to provide you know services uh to the constituencies that they're uh trying to uh serve.

I know uh there's been meetings with the county administrator with Alameda Health Systems, um, and I know for a fact since we're looking at you know, we're you know, we have this um over six billion dollar budget, but uh we're looking at a number of challenges, and even though we have measure W, and that's helping us out.

Um, the board historically has taken actions uh over many, many years and decades to try to shore up the county's uh financial uh base so that we can weather storms.

And you know, I've been here for uh a good number of years, and I've seen a few of those storms, and then when I was on the city council, I saw some of the storms as well.

So I think uh these efficiencies that its companies able to come up with will you will be very uh beneficial, I think, to the county.

Um additionally, I think uh what they provide is unique service because I know in my time, being an elected official, both on the city council and here, I've had uh entities approach me about how they could help us with efficiencies, how if we took money and saved it here, it would um it would materialize over there.

I've never seen any of that really pan out.

I really think this organization, this company can really help us succeed in what we need to do.

Um these efficiencies uh wouldn't be achieved uh immediately, but uh the sooner we can hopefully do a sole source and move this along, the sooner we'll be able to see some results uh down the road.

So those are some of my some of my thoughts, and that's why I was comfortable uh with uh President Halbert in bringing this to the board and to the attention of the public.

Thank you.

Now that we've described what you do, you can tell us more about what you do and how you do it.

And uh Supervisor Miley, I think you've made it difficult for me to go home now because my wife has been arguing your point for years, uh, and for exactly the same reason that you were making.

But I'll I'll I'll tell you why we uh we have that name, and I like the name and I'm sticking with it.

Um it's two parts, the public and and the works.

Um on the public side of things, uh we're we're entirely a public sector consulting firm.

We don't do corporate business, and this is kind of a sideline.

All of our people come out of careers in government, in public service, and we believe in public service.

And um uh this slide here shows about half of the team that we would propose for working with you here in Alameda County.

And uh uh all of these folks come out of extensive government experience.

Just to highlight a couple of them.

Pat Ewing up at the top would be the project manager for this project.

She oversaw the national performance review for Vice President Al Gore a number of years ago.

Uh Mark Funkhauser is a former mayor and otter, city auditor of uh Kansas City, Missouri, is a nationally recognized municipal finance expert.

Uh Mike Nardone at the bottom there, oversaw health services for the city of Philadelphia, the welfare department for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and was a high-ranking official in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the um uh Obama administration.

Uh Chris Hand next to him was the um uh chief of staff to the uh chief executive of Duval County, Florida, which is the largest county in the country by um uh by area and uh probably about roughly the same size and demographics as Alameda County in terms of population.

Grace Landrew, next to Chris uh was the deputy director of economic policy and um uh domestic policy in the Biden White House.

Johnny Mack next to her ran the uh Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta.

So these are all both uh uh very accomplished people and um uh career public servants.

Uh so you know, uh two differences between how most firms approach this kind of work and what we do is uh we we don't use algorithms to do the work for us.

We have people who are doing the work.

We're not using low-level uh folks who just graduated from business school or getting trained on how to do corporate consulting by working in the private sector.

These are all high-level folks that come out of careers in uh public service.

The um other aspect of the name besides the public part is the works.

Um it comes from two things.

One of our main areas over the years has been focus on workforce investment and human capital investment, trying to make um uh the public sector work better for people in a way that it will help them work and achieve their own personal objectives.

But the other is making government itself work better.

Um skip to directly to the work that we do on efficiencies, uh, which is part of that.

Um we have done uh efficiency reviews like this of uh eight entire state governments, which we believe is more than any other firm in the country, and dozens and dozens and dozens of individual uh state and local government agencies, uh city governments, county governments, school districts, and um uh independent authorities.

Um let me uh move ahead here.

Um, I want to stop on this slide and pay a little bit of attention to this, uh, because you know, probably our most frequently asked questions are uh what are you gonna save us and how do we know you're really gonna do it?

Um we've consistently found savings of at least 5% off of um uh general operations in every government that we've worked in.

More recently in the last year or two, we've been hitting a seven to ten percent figure.

But um, I try to be conservative about this, and I think uh that you can say with some confidence that a properly done efficiency review will find 5% of your operations in savings, and these are annually recurring savings, it's not one-time gimmicks.

It's not like uh if you sell this building in order to close an annual budget gap.

Well, next year you still have the budget gap and you don't have the building.

These are operational improvements that the savings occur year after year after year and how you do things.

Um we try to be very conservative in our projections.

We don't overpromise and we don't uh wind up saying you're gonna save billions and billions of dollars when you're not.

There are two state governments, which this slide talks about.

There are the two state governments that went back after our reviews, one and two years after the fact to review the review and see how much did we really save from them.

In both cases, they found that they saved more money than what we said they were going to save, because we don't hype the financial projections.

Um Baltimore County uh is a um county fairly similar again in size and demographics to Alameda County.

Uh, the then chief executive Johnny Olshewski is now a member of Congress, and he's gone on Fox News repeatedly to talk about how uh this is uh this is how you do efficiency right.

Uh, as we all know, uh the uh federal government efficiency effort, so-called efficiency effort, uh that was called DOGE a year ago.

It was not an efficiency effort.

That's not how you find savings in government, that's not how you make lasting improvements.

Uh Olshewski is very proud of the work that we did for him in Baltimore and has used it as a counterexample to Doge, but how do you actually do government efficiency uh correctly?

Um, okay.

So this is uh something I wanted to talk about in a little bit of detail.

Um we think this is essential for understanding what is the difference between something like this and Doge, how do you do efficiency right?

What governments tend to do when they have a budget problem is to say, well, we have a budget problem.

That means we need to cut the budget.

Let's get the budget out, look through the budget line items, find things we want to eliminate.

Uh that's not how to achieve meaningful lasting uh cost savings in government.

The way that you find meaningful savings is to improve your operations.

When you start cutting programs and cutting staff, you wind up exacerbating the problems that the programs were originally designed to uh to address.

And in many cases, particularly in the health and human services areas, that just results in uh higher cost down the road.

The way that you can save money in a meaningful way is by doing things better, by serving your constituents better, by improving your operations.

And we believe that that much of that comes from what's a combination of the people that we bring in, who, as I noted, have extensive experience in doing this and in running government operations, but also by talking to the people in the entity itself, from the supervisors like you to every person throughout the organization down to the bottom of the org chart.

Because the people who work in government are the ones who know best how to make it work better and where you can save money.

So this um graphic there on the right of this slide is something that was put together by the Chicago Federation of Labor.

That's the um uh Central Labor Council for Chicago and one of the largest central labor councils in the country.

Uh, they actually hired us rather than the city government 15 years ago.

And as a result of the work that we did with the unions to improve efficiency in the city and to save money, the city government and the unions then jointly hired us.

And uh for 15 years since then, we've been brought back uh four or five times by the unions uh under each new administration there to help find additional ways to improve operations and save money.

The um in that right-hand graphic there, on the the upper left corner that talks about the cement pouring, this is an idea that came directly from the workforce.

Uh I I don't have experts on on my team who know anything about pouring concrete, but the workers in the city government knew all about it.

And they knew that if you shifted how the workday was organized, they could improve their efficiency and get more work done uh to the tune of 60% more work per week at the same cost.

This is an idea that came directly from the city employees, and that basically only the city employees know I don't know this and most of you probably don't know this but if you get out and you talk with the workforce and work with the workforce you can find lots of ways to save money and improve things the uh bottom quadrant on there about recycling um again this this was another um uh union led initiative and um what it says there is you're looking at um and actually we've we found similar things in each of the reviews we've come back subsequently over the years uh this particular one by bringing recycling in house it cut the cost of um uh the recycling operation of the city by almost half so the thing I get asked frequently is oh you know you come in and do efficiency doesn't that just mean you're outsourcing everything the answer is no uh plenty of times it's much much more efficient to have the city workforce itself do things than to have outsiders doing things so um yeah we don't come into this with with an ideological perspective on this we're not corporate raiders our idea here is to make the government work better for the taxpayers and often the best way to do that is working in conjunction with all of you as leaders but also with the workforce itself we're the ones who know day to day how to make the operations work better.

Let's see if there's anything else I wanted to uh these slides are all about you know the idea of improvement uh participation by stakeholders and um uh uh uh citizens as well as the workforce uh the one other slide there is just on time frame which we get asked about frequently uh this is a six to eight month process um but about two months or so into this we'll have what we call a toll game we'll do two toll gates at the roughly one third point and two third point where we'll sit down with the administrative leadership with the elected leadership to the extent that you want to participate and run through what we're finding initially in terms of operational recommendations for improvement and uh at that point you will have a good fix on knowing uh what are the kinds of things we're finding what are we recommending uh for a lot of them uh basic uh financial projection on what the dollar savings are so very quickly you will start being able to see and in many cases implement savings that you can start realizing uh almost immediately in order to achieve the 5% operational savings that we were talking about.

So we expect to be able to uh help you start addressing your budget problems and the the um the the challenges of President Hobart um uh uh cited uh promptly quickly efficiently and effectively and um with that I'll stop and answer any questions anybody's got thank you for the presentation um I'll ask Supervisor Miley any before I we do this I want to just say um I know that we need to do this we need to save funding money and be more efficient number one number two I know that we can't do this by ourselves it's not easy stuff to do and we need different perspectives and different viewpoints that a company like yours can bring and the the last thing is that the sooner we do it the sooner we can get the savings it's not something we just put off to later every day counts the sooner we do these the sooner we get the savings that your team is the team to do that for us.

I do have some questions over I'm gonna defer to my colleague Supervisor Miley and others.

Thank you.

Yeah I just want to kind of emphasize a couple things you know this is not meant to be anti-labor anti-union um because as Eric pointed out I know he's met with some of the unions in fact this is to work in collaboration with the unions to come up with efficiencies.

That's the first thing uh and as I said I know he's talking to the county administrator and uh James Jackson over at Alameda Health Systems um as well I mean for us to do this is going to cost us a few dollars but we're gonna end up uh saving a significant amount of dollars uh that can be uh put into uh uh safety unit services uh serving clients uh and um you know providing the necessary um support that are that our um county employees uh deserve and need.

The the other thing I just want to say is, you know, I've constantly harped on the fact that, you know, we often do financial audits, but we don't do management and performance audits.

To me, that's what this is, but it's not just on a single department or single agency.

This is more or less a comprehensive review of the entire county operational system to determine where we have efficiencies.

So I see this as, you know, and it's beyond, you know, the context of an audit, but that's kind of how I visualize it in my mind.

Um, it's a management and performance audit, uh, beyond that.

Um comprehensive with uh, you know, within the county uh to look at all levels of operation to determine where we can have dollars of efficiency.

Um so I think once again it's money we'll we'll spend.

And I do think once again I'll emphasize I think uh this is unique.

I don't think we have to go out for an RFP.

I think we can come up with a sole source waiver.

And uh with that being said, I'm done.

So um before I go to other questions from uh my colleagues, I'd like to see is there any public comment on this, either in person or online.

No speakers.

Okay.

So if anybody would like to speak and we'll go for deliberation and comments, if anybody would like to speak on this item, now would be the time to raise your hand online or fill out a speaker slip.

I'll go to Supervisor Fortunato Bass.

Thank you.

Um thank you to my colleagues for bringing this item forward.

Um I did have a chance to meet with public works and appreciated hearing the presentation.

Um, I do have a question about similar organizations that you have uh worked with.

I saw that the county of Los Angeles was listed here in the presentation.

Could you talk about any California counties in particular that you've worked with and what that work looked like?

Uh sure.

Um, as you noted, we've worked with the county of Los Angeles twice.

Um it was these were not countywide reviews, but reviews of specific functions.

One was the um uh welfare to work program, and the other was their um uh justice impacted uh advisory system there.

Um uh I think the the latter is a good example of the fact that's both are good examples of the fact that we try to reach out to get as many voices involved um both from within county government and uh the community as a whole.

The um the the GROW program, the welfare to work program there, uh the review of that occurred during the pandemic, which made it rather difficult to do a lot of outreach, but we um worked using technology to interview a lot of program participants.

Uh so it was not a matter of just talking to people within the government.

Um, we we had uh um uh you know stakeholder engagement sessions with the business community, but we also reached out to program participants, which uh in LA County included a large percentage of um uh unhoused individuals, and we were able to make a special effort to reach them even during the pandemic and get their voices involved.

And the um the other review, which involved the uh the programs for justice impacted individuals, uh again, we conducted um, I think this was immediately post-pandemic, but in any event, uh a lot of it had to be done virtually.

But we we had some um you know virtual town halls for for individuals who had been involved in the justice system in LA County to get their voices.

So that's an important part of what we do uh and um at all levels.

Um, I don't I think that's the only county government in California that we've worked with.

We we also did a review like this of the um uh city of Glendale, which is uh in LA County, and that was a number of years ago.

Uh we worked with the um city of Chula Vista on an economic development program.

Um we've done a lot of work in California in the past with the California state government with uh about a dozen different state agencies.

Um one of those involved uh an efficiency review like this.

We did a review of the um uh uh I'm trying to remember the name, the ed fund, uh, which is a uh for-profit subsidiary of the California Student Aid Commission.

And our work there led to the legislature doing a complete revision of ed fund to make it more efficient and spend public dollars better.

So that's the similar sort of work that we've done, like that in California.

As I mentioned, we've done eight entire state governments in other states, and uh 40 or 50 counties, cities, school districts, and so forth around the country.

Oh, I take that back.

We did we did do an efficiency review.

Uh another one in California.

We did the Oakland uh unified school district about two years ago.

Did you do Richmond to City of Richmond?

Yeah, that was not an efficiency review.

Uh about a year or two ago, we wrapped up that project.

It was uh putting together a strategic plan for the um uh Richmond Fund for Children and Youth, which you probably know is a voter-approved measure that set aside funding for uh children and youth programs.

Um, and uh uh in the slide presentation, which you probably have in your your board materials.

There's a quote there from the project manager from the city of Richmond about the extent to which we involved the community in that conversation, which again is important to all the work that we do.

Um, so that that was not a uh uh a search for savings or efficiencies per se, but it was putting together the plan to make sure that that funding was intelligently spent in the three years moving forward.

Supervisor Fortune, that's another question.

Um yeah, just lastly, I am I'm interested in um this potential engagement, and I want to make sure we do our due diligence.

So, in particular, I'm interested in any um jurisdictions that we could talk to to get a sense of what the approach and the results were.

So perhaps that would be Baltimore County or the city of Chicago.

Um, you know, I just I I really want to figure out how we can learn a little bit more from our peers about the work that has been done and in particular how they were able to realize the cost savings.

Of course.

And I think that the materials you have include a uh list of references and contact information, and if not, I'm perfectly happy to send that to you.

And that would be okay if we reached out to them.

Yes, of course.

That was what you were getting at, I think.

Okay.

Supervisor Marquez.

Um, thank you for the presentation.

I don't have any questions specifically to the presenter.

Appreciate you being here, but um just more general comments.

I definitely support us looking at how we can um improve efficiency, just uh want to make sure that we don't um compromise a process.

I heard the term sole source being used.

I want to make sure if we're gonna explore this that we do launch it through an RFP.

I think that's important just to remain competitive.

Um that's my feedback at this time.

Thank you.

Supervisor Tam.

Um Thank you, President Howard, and thank you for your presentation.

Uh I agree that uh efficiencies are important in any government operations.

I mean, we just recently learned about the audit that was performed in the city of Oakland, where they failed to collect nine to twelve million dollars in business taxes because of mismanagement of its tax compliance divisions, and then they came up with uh a set of recommendations, at least 10 recommendations to make sure it gets addressed.

So I I would like to do the due diligence, but mainly I'm hoping to do it through the county's elected auditor and controller office because a lot of the issues that arise from financial audits or other audits lead to these operational changes.

And because I serve in the Alameda Alliance for Health Board, which also includes um basically our Medi-Cal coverage for the Alameda Health Systems.

I know that uh in terms of their collections, they're higher performing than others.

And my concern at this point is um basically sort of how this evolved with HR one.

Um the president and the administration felt that there was fraud and abuse in the system.

So they wanted like a wholesale investigation and cuts into the programs, and that kind of uh effect is not something that I would like to see in Alameda County to penalize the masses for some issues that have happened with a small amount of um cases.

So uh I want to look more carefully at what was done at Oakland Unified School District because I don't know how long that was, but to this day, OUSD is still having issues, whether it's financial, whether it's management, whether it's a combination of both and threatens of being in receivership again.

So I I want to understand that aspect, and I'd like to see the due diligence done through our elected auditor and controller's office.

Do you work with auditors and controllers?

Uh I guess do we work with auditors and controllers?

Yeah.

Um yes, I mean we try to work with everybody.

Um if I could say one thing to address um uh Supervisor Marquez's concern.

Um uh we're on the uh CMAS list, which you may know is the California multiple award system, I think is what it stands for.

And that's a you know essentially a pre-competitively bid system of certifying vendors.

So um the uh the Alameda County can utilize that state list in order to obtain a vendor for the project, uh, which basically means you can move very swiftly.

You don't have to go through a full PD RFP process because that's essentially been accomplished by the state, and you can contract with uh any vendor on that list, which would include us.

Good.

Um Supervisor Fortunatabas, an additional.

Um yes, um I appreciate the comments from Supervisor Tam.

Um I actually called for that audit that you referenced when I was um on the Oakland City Council and called for other audits like an audit of uh the use of Oakland's homeless funds.

Um I am uh not sure if that type of audit is within the sort of scope and role of our city auditor or if that's been done before.

So I am interested in this idea of having our own capacity, and I don't know whether under our charter that's sort of the traditional role that our auditor plays, or if there may be um a future need, to be honest, for some kind of independent auditor or inspector general or someone who could do these type of uh performance and management audits.

So I don't know if that's a question for county council or anyone familiar with the charter can can answer.

Would a project like this typically could it include the participation of our auditor as the um Mr.

Schneer mentioned he works with everybody?

So I believe that depends upon the nature of the audit that you're requesting.

Either the auditor controller has an entire unit that does nothing but internal audits of various county programs and has a pool of outside auditors that also assist in that endeavor.

They're primarily tasked with doing financial audits, however, if you're looking at performance management or other types of evaluations, um, I do not think that that would be within her uh her venue.

Yeah.

So if there were a tax collection type thing or a financial need, we could work with them, but performance audits are and performance reviews may be different.

Yeah, I understand uh basically the roles, but in the situation with um the city of Oakland, it was the city auditor that identified uh and commissioned uh some independent review, but um that led to also looking at the performance of and the compliance of some of these operations, and so I think it makes the most sense to uh have that looked at more holistically because that is the impacts that we're seeing uh within AHS.

I think we can include them.

That's what I heard.

May I address that a bit?

Yeah.

Um I I appreciate your your question, Supervisor Tim.

Um, I think a couple things are important to note here.

Um we're we're not talking about an audit per se.

This is very different from an audit.

It's not a gotcha exercise, it's not a legal compliance exercise, it's not a financial compliance exercise.

It's a way of looking at operations to improve their performance.

And um, in particular, the way that we approach this is modeled off of the um the Texas performance review that was launched in 1991.

It was actually the state controller, which is uh more or less the auditor in Texas, who was given this function, but he was directed to do that by the governor and legislature who were looking at a budget deficit and wanting to figure out where to find all the money.

Um the Texas performance review methodology was then adopted by the national performance review that President Clinton launched that I mentioned earlier that vice president Gore oversaw.

We eventually absorbed some of the people off of the Texas Performance Review and the National Performance Review and have incorporated their methodology into what we do.

So, you know, two things.

One is this is this is different from an audit, it's not uh a matter of finding illegalities or financial improprieties, it's a matter of working with the county to uh improve operations.

Um, number two, in in our experience, it works best when it's coming from the top, which in the case of the the county would be the board of supervisors.

Um, most people I think once they get engaged in the process and get over the notion that this is like some some sort of a um uh uh vulture corporate exercise to find ways to make life bad for the employees, but in fact, is about improving the working operations the way the employees usually like, um, I think just about everybody gets on board with this, but uh there's usually one entity somewhere that doesn't like the idea of being reviewed and doesn't want to comply uh in order to achieve the kind of operational improvements you want, um, there you know needs to be a voice coming from the top that says, no, we're committed to this, this is something we want to do as a county, and everybody is going to participate.

Uh so um while I think it would be important to have the auditor's office and all offices involved in the process of identifying improvements, uh, it's not really an audit function, number one, and number two, it really needs to be something that's coming from the board of supervisors to ultimately be effective, not from any other one county office.

Is that helpful?

I appreciate that, but at the same time, I also have to respect that the current governance structure of AHS has a separate board of trustees that are appointed by the board of supervisors.

So there is a firewall.

So uh I'm not quite sure uh us asking for basic uh performance review, performance or management review of AHS at this point, uh given where we're at with the um the governance legislation, is something that we should do without a high level of due diligence and consultation with our auditor and controller office, which also reports to the people because it's an elected position.

Um if I can just make one comment in that regard, um, not to speak for a uh AHS, and you can obviously speak to them yourselves, but um they did ask to meet with me, and uh I believe that they are interested in having this sort of exercise carried out for them, uh, and you know, basically would like the board of supervisors to oversee and undertake that and needless to say fund it.

But I think that they're very interested in seeing something like this um uh undertaken and have a review done of their operations in the fashion that we're talking about.

That would be um a decision they would have to make in consultation with us, is what I'm hearing.

Uh I well, I think I can direct them to do that, I don't think, but we can.

No, but I guess my point would be uh I I don't know that you have to direct them because I think they are interested in seeing this done.

So Supervisor Fortunately Bass asked about um uh and I agree being able to speak to other agencies about the quality of the savings, but it also occurred to me we would like to speak to, and a lot of what you said talked to the workforce and making their lives better and more efficient.

I would like to speak to labor.

And if you could direct us to the best example or two or three, where not only the administrator will confirm we had savings but the workforce will confirm that they agreed those were the good and right and just ways to do the savings would be helpful sure and um in the the list of references that I think you have one of them is uh uh Bob Ryder who's the president of the Chicago Federation of Labor and was just reelected to that position last week um and there's a letter from um uh president writer in uh in the materials I believe but you can certainly contact him and um that was the one case where we were retained by the unions as opposed to the government itself but um I can put you in touch with other um uh other members of the workforce and other jurisdictions and one thing that I think is is beneficial about an exercise like this and particularly the way we do it which is very uh oriented towards involving the workforce is that uh in a lot of places there are people who are career civil servants uh who have been tile toiling in the bureaucracy for decades who um get very involved in this process who find it salutary and want to contribute and as a result have more or less been discovered by their higher ups in officialdom that uh these are people who have a lot to offer and um are our lights that have been uh hit under a bushel to uh uh some degree and as a result of these processes are brought forward and uh several of them have then wound up in in higher level positions uh in governors offices mayor's offices as a result of their involvement in this sort of process so I'm uh can identify some of those folks for you to talk with as well.

Very good um our uh our mission today is to provide direction supervisor miley please uh help provide that direction well questions yeah maybe um county administrator county council could offer up the next step but I truly think um this could qualify as sole source um the RFP could take us 18 months six to eighteen months and in the meantime the world's going you know we're dealing with HS we're dealing with Prop one with an HR one we're dealing with yada yada yada um and that's down the road I think this could qualify for sole source and the sooner we can get underway with it the better that's the first thing but I'll respect the wisdom of everyone up here on the IS but that's my feedback.

Secondly I have no issue with us saying HS they need to do that.

It's 2,000 employees over there their budget's about two billion dollars they run to us when they have issues and trouble supervisors bass night or meeting with them to come back to the board with the with a plan to try to support AHS ultimately we have the the responsibility for healthcare delivery health services in the county you know others might feel uncomfortable with it but I don't and then um I think the buck stops with us and we can direct the county administrator to do it needs to be done to get this underway but hey folks aren't comfortable with it I gotta respect that but I'm putting my cards on the table I have no problem I want to support that and if you're um I think what I'm hearing you say is that um AHS uh perpetually wants and needs our help the buck ultimately stops with us.

We provide a lot of money to Alameda Health Systems we've already been told that they're open to doing this let's just make it happen and I'm fine with that um and so I think we're in alignment with that providing direction is important to say it we need to provide direction and I would like to say to this be very specific that I would like to um and we should discuss sole source or not is that a requirement is a deal breaker do we have unanimity do we have um consensus do we have um uh let's just try to suss that out uh because I'm hearing that including people like the auditor controller is an option.

Absolutely, we talk with everybody, but it doesn't have to be controlled by them.

The buck uh I'm hearing, should start with us and stop with us, and I'm willing to support that.

Um, and if the direction then could be to direct, I mean, we don't have a contract to vote on, but we need to direct the development of a contract.

The a sole source contract would be something I could support to come back to us and to ultimately be uh uh another agendized item.

Would we have to continue this item and bring in a contract?

Would we um provide direction with this item and uh have another agendized item, which would be the actual approval of a contract, I'm guessing, if that's what we have uh direction to do.

Um those would be my that would be my preference to come back in a couple of weeks or very short period of time with a contract in hand that we can um vote up or down.

So I'm willing to support that.

Supervisor, uh, if you are pursuing a sole source uh non-competitive procurement, uh there are findings that have to be made to do that.

Um the GSA uh procurement division routinely evaluates sole source applications to determine if that's uh appropriate.

What I'm hearing from the speaker, however, is that they are on a CMAS list.

That is a competitive list that the state creates.

It typically means there's more than one vendor on that list because they're they don't certify a list of only one vendor, they have others, which means that they're probably not a sole source vendor, that there are others who are capable and available to do this type of work.

Um, we can, however, look at that list and do evaluations and determine whether or not you know who's the appropriate vendor, what is the pricing?

There's been no discussion about scope.

Is this a countywide process that you're evaluating?

Is it focused on a particular program or agency?

Um is it is it solely your direction to AHS that you encourage them to do this thing because they are an independent body and would have to contract and agree to participate on their own.

Um so there are a number of issues yet to be resolved before you know that we can just make this happen and come back with a contract.

So um I heard encourage AHS, but that would be a separate, they would have to be uh agree to to do it.

Is that what I'm hearing?

Well, I mean, you have to you have to understand they have to would cooperate with a process.

There if there is to be a contract, who is the party to the contract?

Who's paying for that contract?

And so just saying AHS do this, um, those are still items and issues that have to be resolved.

And I think then GSA would be the logical team to work most closely with to progress the discussion of bringing back a contract.

Would that be the direction we should be providing?

The general services agency procurement unit division handles procurements for the county uh typically, and so I mean, if you're looking for a sole source waiver, they handle those.

Um, if you're looking for evaluation of CMAS contractors, then they would initiate that solicitation process, that evaluation process normally, but that that is not the only method that we use for procurement in the county.

Supervisor My.

Oh, yeah, you know, I I don't um ever argue with county council.

Um so if we could just if we could just you know direct that uh GSA talk with um uh public works uh around uh whether or not a sole source would be um applicable, whether we need to order RFP, so we get some intelligence on that, and then and I was talking to Supervisor Bass, because once again, I know the board knows this.

We have that ad hoc committee uh that's looking at HS.

And you know, we just met last week, and one particular item that sticks in my mind, and Supervisor Bass could um second it is the work queues.

We were heard we we heard in the meeting how there's a lot of money at AHS that's being left in the work queues, and I'd never heard of that before.

That's not being processed.

But that's another example of efficiencies.

Um, so I would want anything we're gonna do to not just include Alameda County government, but also Alameda County government and AHS.

Because if you combine the HS with the county government, we're talking about 12,000 employees, uh, and you put their budget with our budget, you're talking about eight eight billion dollars or more.

So I think we've got to do both.

Um and so we might be able to direct it, but we can definitely uh encourage and persuade it.

And I just think that should be part of the analysis that um we asked GSA to do as well.

I completely agree.

And um it reminds me when we had the this the balance in hearing and we had labor come and talk to us about what they do, and a lot of what they do felt and as I heard is a lot of the same things that we are also doing in our social services department.

And I know at one point we actually had embedded social service people in our hospitals, but we we gotta be working together uh uh in these systems.

Yeah, and I don't want to belabor it.

Um but I mean, even on the board agenda today, we're talking about 800,000 according to HS uh to go and do um work in homeless encampments, yeah.

Yeah, good point.

Supervisor Fortunately Bass.

Thank you.

Um I would like the direction to include um discussions with, you know, references.

Uh so that could be the Chicago Labor Federation, someone from Baltimore.

I understand there is a list that you may already have.

Um I wanna make sure we do our due diligence, and then I think we also have to consider whether it's us or potentially a bundle with um AHS if their trustees decides to move forward with this.

Uh we will have to identify the costs of conducting this and the source of funds.

So, you know, that's a pretty significant um uh line item that we'll have to figure out when we are making very hard decisions about the budget.

So I don't know if there's creative ways to figure out um the costs as we think about future cost savings, uh, but as we're deliberating on the budget, we'll also have to figure out how to pay for this.

Yeah, I agree we have the budget uh lumen before us.

I view this less as a cost, although it there is a uh a dollar amount associated with I view this more as an investment in savings, as was mentioned annual savings that far exceed the cost that last ongoingly and are and are uh the much more um financially beneficial than the actual cost.

It is a cost, we do have to find the funds to pay for it, but it is to receive much more, much more um in return ongoingly.

Um Supervisor Marquez, you mentioned wanting a full RFP.

Would you be comfortable with GSA evaluating the possibilities of reviewing the CMass list and uh uh the capability of doing sole source if warranted?

Yeah, um also acknowledging the urgency, just wish you know um government could move faster, but it is what it is in terms of our bureaucracy and our systems.

So I want to make sure that we are in compliance, but I am open to if there's um an abbreviated quicker um approach, I'm definitely open to that um and knowing that the challenges that we face with our partners at Alameda Health System.

Definitely open to exploring, just want us to um do it in a way that is fair, balanced, and um gets to where we need to land in the most efficient way, but I know that's easier said than done.

GSA's list is long, and I announced earlier today we've been talking about uh RFP on another item that also took months, and that was relatively expedited.

So um it's unfortunate that we have these challenges, so I'm I'm open if there's a way to to expedite the process.

Well, I think um, may I address something on that?

Um I I know you've got other items to move on to, but since this has come up, I'm not gonna pretend obviously to um uh know your your county ordinances and state laws here better than um county council, but uh there are several other state contracts that we have for this kind of service that allow other jurisdictions in other states to piggyback off of them, that being the technical term.

Um and uh I've been shown a uh prior resolution of the board that actually uses the term piggyback in reference to um a similar sort of contract in another county in California.

So uh that is a possible uh route for uh quick contracting as well.

So they're um, you know, with with the advice and input, obviously, of your general services agency and your council, um, at least in my experience, there are various ways to do this uh that are uh expeditious and uh fair and balanced, as you were saying, very good.

So um just to summarize, and I I'd like Susan, you're grabbing the microphone.

More comments, you know.

I I think where we're at, what I'd like to advocate for is to direct our GSA team in consultation with county council as needed in consultation with our CAO's office as needed to do the due diligence required, as was mentioned, validating with other agencies the savings, validating with labor, the their um experience, uh uh achieving these savings, and negotiating a contract.

I would like to advocate um to explore a contract that goes across our entire organization, including AHS organization, in consultation with AHS with our strong recommendation that we the county would um seek to find the funding source because again the buck stops with us, the funding source for the entire program.

Even though AHS may receive savings, we may receive savings, we should pay for it because the buck stops with us, and just to make it more streamlined, um, if we save money at AHS, that's less of a burden that they have to come to us for uh to do that in consultation with Supervisor Miley and Fortinata Bass, the group that you're doing with AHS, I think should be informed um along the way, but to bring back an item that we can actually vote on in as quickly as feasible because the sooner we bring on board somebody that can help us find the savings, the sooner we can achieve savings.

In summary, is that something that we can support?

Or or amends I'd like to uh see if you can include the auditor controller.

Absolutely in that consultation.

Absolutely, absolutely, they know where all the funding buckets are.

Point point well taken, I think was a very good point.

I just don't think we can kick it to them to control it, but they need to be on the team.

Absolutely.

I totally agree with that.

Is there support for that?

I think okay.

Are you seconded?

Well, it's not a vote.

I don't think I don't is this a vote that we have to take or is this providing of direction?

We need action direction for action to staff that typically takes a vote of three members of your body in an affirmative manner in compliance with your operating procedures.

All right, I made the motion mildly second.

Take a vote.

Oh, again, any public comment?

No.

Thank you.

Roll call.

Abstain.

Supervisor Miley, aye.

Supervisor Fournot Abbas.

Aye, President Halbert.

I vote yes, thank you.

You have a lot of work to do.

No, Godspeed to you.

Good luck.

Thank you.

You have a lot of work to do.

Thank you.

Um with that said, thank you.

I know you have a plan to catch, I think.

That was the only item I anticipated pulling off the mask motion because again, the urgency of a flight.

Our meeting now is set to recess into close session.

Is there any other item that we have before us before we recess into closed session?

I was listening to the board meeting, as you know I usually do.

And I just want to say, yeah, Steve Zaly uh was a great man, and I appreciated working with him and knowing him over the years.

I heard your comments and the county administrators' comments about Steve and uh I'm sorry to know that he's gone.

Uh as I am heartfelt, and we'll talk about Wilson uh at the end.

But um, we're you know a lot of good people are leaving us as we all have to at some point.

Thank you for that.

With that, we're recessed in the closed session.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I'd like to call our meeting back to order.

We're readjourning, re-um convening from our closed session discussion that we had earlier today.

Uh I'll ask the clerk to please call the role to establish our quorum.

Supervisor Marquez.

Supervisor Tan.

Present.

Supervisor Miley, excused.

Supervisor Fournette Abbas.

President Halbert.

Present.

We have a quorum.

Thank you very much.

Uh County Council.

Is there any reportable action from our closed session discussion?

President Halbert, we will have not concluded our closed session discussions, and we'll have to return after your open session business, and we'll likely have a report after that when we return from completion of closed session.

Thank you.

Nothing to report now, but we will be returning to closed session after we take care of some very important business, which we are all here for.

It's a wonderful day, a celebratory day, a happy day for many different groups within Alameda County.

We're going to take our time to recognize and celebrate a lot of people.

So it's going to be really fun.

We're going to do that, and we're also going to have public comment.

We're going to have photos where we give people a wonderful proclamation.

They all look the same, but they're all very special to the recipients.

And we're going to start with proclaiming May 2026 as CalFresh Awareness Month.

So I would like to say that we are proud to recognize May 2026 as CalFresh Awareness Month in Alameda County.

CalFresh is California's largest food assistance program, and it plays a critical role in helping individuals and families access healthy nutritious food.

Here in Alameda County, more than 171,000 residents rely on CalFresh support.

More than one in every 10 in our county.

We have about 1.7 million, 171,000.

You can do the math.

One in 10, 10%.

This year's theme, CalFresh Works, highlights two important realities.

First, the program works to reduce hunger and food insecurity.

And second, that many CalFresh recipients are hardworking individuals and families doing their best to make ends meet.

The Alameda County Social Services Agency, the Alameda County Community Food Bank, and many community-based organizations continue to work together year round to connect residents to these important benefits.

This work also helps address common myths and misinformation.

It is important for residents to know that CalFresh is an entitlement program.

It is not considered a public charge.

The eligible individuals should feel encouraged to seek the support they need.

This year, outreach efforts will also focus on helping residents understand upcoming work requirements, changes to ensuring impacted individuals to know about the available exemptions, employment supports, and training opportunities.

Programs like CalFresh, employment and training help to connect participants with job skills, workforce support, and pathways toward long-term stability.

Food security is essential to the health and well-being of our communities, and no family should have to choose between paying bills and putting food on the table.

Today we thank all of the agencies, advocates, and community partners who work every day to support Alameda County families and to ensure residents know that CalFresh works.

Here to receive this proclamation is Roland Shao, the program specialist for workforce and benefits administration.

Is rolling in the room.

Come on up, Roland.

Again, Roland is a program specialist in workforce and benefits administration.

How long have you been with the county, Roland?

12, 13 years, I believe.

12, 13, maybe long it feels like more, doesn't it?

Thank you for all you do.

You have a team with you.

You can introduce your team and say if you're we're going to come down and give you this proclamation and take a quick photo.

Certainly.

Thank you so much.

Um, again, my name is Roland Chao.

I am one of the CalFresh program specialists here with the Department of Workforce and Benefits Administration.

Introduce yourself.

Good afternoon.

My name is Jaime Endemiskel.

I am an associate program specialist.

How long will you do?

Just nine months.

Thank you.

Karen Hermillion, I'm a healthcare access manager.

Excuse me.

With Alameda Health Consortium, three years.

My name is Antoinette Barnes.

I'm the Division of Operations Services Manager with the Department of Workforce and Benefits Administration.

And I've been here for 27 years.

And I'll just add, I was the first Calfresh program specialist when we received our very first proclamation in 2013 or 2012.

Good afternoon.

My name is Arlan Murillo, Director of Client Services, Alameda County Community Food Bank.

Hi, my name is Jocelyn Baring.

I'm community organizer with ACCSB.

And behalf of our department, our leadership, and the many dedicated staff that work every day to support families across our county.

I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for proclaiming May as CalFresh Awareness Month.

This proclamation is more than just a symbolic gesture.

It brings attention to an essential program that helps over a hundred thousand households put food on the table every day.

By recognizing CalFresh Awareness Month, you help us reduce stigma, increase access, and send a clear message that in our community no one should have to go hungry.

Throughout the month of May and beyond, the Alameda County Social Services Agency will continue its outreach efforts, partnering with community-based organizations such as the Alameda County Community Food Bank, the Alameda County Health Consortium, and La Familia, among others, engaging with uh local stakeholders and also providing information to residents who may not realize that they qualify for benefits.

Your support strengthens this work and helps ensure that families, seniors, students, and individuals of all backgrounds know that help is available.

Thank you once again for your leadership and your unwavering dedication and serving the people of our county.

We are grateful for your continued support of CalFresh and for your commitment to reducing and eliminating poverty and hunger.

At this time, I would like to introduce Arlen Murillo to share a few words.

Thank you.

Yeah, my name is Arlene Murillo, want to acknowledge the collaboration and partnership we have with Alameda County Social Services Agency.

This solidarity work based on trust and mutual commitment to our community continues to be a very important support and vital part of our fight against food insecurity.

On behalf of the food bank, I want to express my appreciation to all of you.

Uh to all of you, our fight against hunger is a daily action and responsibility we take very seriously.

This work could not happen without your support and the commitment of every food banker and every agency across the county who works tirelessly to eradicate hunger.

Calfresh continues to be one of the most powerful tools to fight hunger.

On behalf of the community I am trusted to serve, thank you.

I'd like to introduce Sylvia Garcia, who will briefly share about CalFresh benefits and the support that it gives her and her family.

She will be joined by Jocelyn Vera, our community organizer from the food bank.

Definitivamente stressal contar con esta juda.

A few months ago I decided to apply to for call fresh benefits, given my current situation of not having my husband here with us, and not now being alone with my three children and having a single source of income, I was no longer able to cover all my family's basic needs, starting with food, which is my top priority.

With the help of Calfresh, I'm able to fully stock my paint the paintry and that feeds my my family.

And I also believe that more people could benefit from this program as there is a significant need in our communities.

Serving as a vital source of relief for our basic needs to take action to guarantee access food for everyone.

Making security making food secure is a constant struggle.

With the support of these programs, it becomes easier to overcome the hardships and maintain better physical and mental health.

Thank you.

We'll hear public comment first.

We have one speaker.

This is for item 99.

Mike Mitchell, please unmute.

Okay.

Um the people taking photographs were all our staff members.

It's okay, the press wasn't here.

But wouldn't it be great if the press covered things like this?

But they never do.

They don't.

Our next item is recognizing and proclaiming May 10th through the 16th as Agriculture Week.

So I'm going to introduce this item and bring up some guest speakers, and I note that each of us have something to speak about with regard to agriculture in their district.

The first part I'd like to do is to recognize that, and in the proclamation it's um elucidated that Alameda County produces fifty-four million dollars of gross receipts for agriculture products.

Two hundred and eight thousand acres of Alameda County is under cultivation of agricultural products, including wine grapes, cattle grazing, nursery products, and field crops.

She's uh there, and we have uh Ed Muerte, who your staff probably was talking to with regard to he's a key role, plays a key role in putting this all together.

So um uh I want to thank uh uh everyone who's attending and uh the logistics for our program.

We'll start with district one and uh sequentially go to district five and then return back to the President Hubbard for the proclamation.

Hopefully, we can have uh a quick uh photo opportunity.

Thanks.

And with that, I'll turn it over to you, President.

Thank you so much, Ms.

Rivera.

I would like to say, and I have um three.

Three recommend three um people to recognize.

Uh, the first is the Alameda County Farm Bureau.

This is a volunteer organization representing the farming and ranching community here in Alameda County.

It is decade dedicated to promoting the local and national well-being of all agriculture.

With us today is Dan Marcial, Farm Bureau Vice President.

Dan, come on out and say a few words.

Dan is here every year, and he always brings gifts.

Thank you for recognizing that.

I'm glad you're remembered.

Um good afternoon, Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

Thank you for having the Alameda County Farm Bureau attending your meeting today.

We are very excited for you to hear a little bit about agriculture in our county.

We have also brought you some gift baskets that are behind your chairs, featuring several items from around the county, showcasing some of the very best of Alameda County agricultural and local products.

The Alameda County Farm Bureau was established in 1914 to protect and advocate for farmers and ranchers of our county.

Today, Farm Bureau remains the largest grassroots based membership organization in the United States and serves as a strong voice helping protect our land, water, and agricultural heritage.

History and future.

We encourage all of you to become members of Alameda County Farm Bureau to help the sport sustain and strengthen agriculture in our county for generations to come.

Thank you again for your continued support of Alameda County Agriculture.

Dan, thank you for being here.

Thank you very much.

We'll come back for a photo in just a minute, but I'm gonna go on to say the future farmers of America FFA, a national national organization dedicated to making positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education.

With us today is Miss Janessa Hoffman, Livermore High School FFA parent and FFA students joining her.

Thank you for being here.

Good afternoon, Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

Thank you for having the Livermore Future Farmers of America here today.

I'm honored to be chaperoning these lovely ladies, Addy Hoffman and Mia Martin.

As their advisors had to remain back on campus with other students.

As a parent, I can personally speak to the importance of this program.

FRA provides vital opportunities and resources that help prepare the next generation of agriculture in our county.

These students are learning not only how to become future producers and advocates for their agriculture, but also strong leaders within their community.

Programs like FFA help build confidence, responsibility, leadership skills, and a deep appreciation for the agricultural industry that to get that continues to play an important role here in Alameda County.

At this time, I'll have Mia and Addy come say a few words.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Mia Martin.

I am a freshman at Livermore High School, and this is my first year in FFA.

I'm currently serving as the newly elected Livermore FFA chapter president for the 2026 to 2027 school year.

I also serve as a Livermore junior rodeo queen.

For my supervised agricultural experience, I have two steers of pig and turkeys.

Two steers and what?

A pig and turkeys.

Alright, pig and turkeys.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Adeline Hoffman.

I have a I am a sophomore at Livermore High School, and this is my second year in FFA.

I am currently the chapter reporter for Livermore FFA this year.

I will be I will be exhibiting market series in 4-H and Market Lambs through FFA as well as turkeys.

And I have been a part of the livestock judging team for two years.

Livermore FFA celebrated student accomplishments at our end-of-the-year FFA banquet last night with family and friends, and would like to thank President Halbert for attending.

The Livermore High School Agricultural Department is the only agricultural department in Alameda County.

We currently have more than 300 active members.

About 60 of those members will be exhibiting their animals at the Alameda County Fair this July.

Other students who do not exhibit livestock are involved in other agricultural projects, such as horses, small animals, and utilize our greenhouse for flowers.

We also are extremely fortunate to have a school farm.

This school farm provides FFA students the facilities so that they can still be involved and raise animals for the fair.

This year we have been recruiting at middle schools and promoting our ag department courses.

In April, we attended the FFA State Leadership Conference in Ontario.

Over 7,000 FFA members from the state attended the state leadership conference.

Students attended workshops that focused on leadership and career goals.

The Livestock Judging Floral BIG and welding team have traveled and competed at different field days that have been held at various universities and junior colleges, making their way to compete at the state finals.

In March, six of our students qualified to participate for the FFA Regional Speaking Contest in Santa Rosa.

They competed in FFA El Credo, FFA Creed, Impromptu, and Job Interview.

Livermore FFA had 18 students receive their FFA state degrees and five American degrees.

Livermore FFA has held community service activities to help our communities, such as a canned food drive and providing fresh vegetables from the school garden.

We had our annual drive-thru tri-tip dinner barbecue fundraiser on Wednesday, April 30th, and sold 400 meals.

The proceeds will go back into the chapter to assist with expenses for the FFA members.

Thank you, President Halbert, for your continued support.

We had our annual Ag Day adventure on April 21st.

The Livermore High School Agricultural Department hosted an AG Day for all their graders in Livermore School District.

Due to the storm today, we moved the event to the covered arena at the Livermore Rodeo grounds.

We appreciate all the help to accomplish the last minute move.

Over 1,000 third grade students were introduced to agriculture and the commodities the Livermore Valley produces.

Students had the opportunity to plant seeds, see a milking cow demonstration, wool spinning, and so much more.

We will be exhibiting our FFA and 4-H livestock at the Alameda County Fair July 5th to the through the 12th.

July 12th is auction day.

Hope to see you there and thank you.

Give these ladies around everyone.

And I won't comment that we have no young men here, but they do exist in FFA.

But I also want to just remind everyone.

These ladies handle 2,000 pound steers.

They know how to get stuff done.

And I just want to make a comment last night, indeed, the annual awards banquet and installation of new uh leadership for FFA.

These young adults really exhibit the uh maturity, the um wisdom uh that makes us proud as they are the future of our county.

Thank you, ladies, for being here.

Yes.

The Livermore Rodeo Foundation is a nonprofit 501c3 organization founded in 2008 in partnership with the Livermore Stockmen's Rodeo Association.

Their philosophy is keeping the heritage of the Livermore Rodeo alive for generations to come.

With the generous support they continue to receive, the Livermore Rodeo Foundation is able to offer don uh donations to those in need in our community.

With us today is Kathleen Mincer, president of the Livermore Rodeo Foundation.

Miss Mincer, welcome.

President Halbert and Alameda County Supervisor, thank you for having us here today.

Um I represent both organizations today, been with the rodeo for 30 years, been president of the foundation for 18 years now and I am it's a joy to be a part of a community event and have the support of folks like you.

We are tagged as the world's fastest rodeo have been for 108 years and so that's kind of a great tagline to have our philosophy is keeping the Western heritage alive and giving back to our community and to date we've given about 3000 back to our local Livermore community for the local BFW, a breast cancer awareness fund that's fund to need in the Tri-Valley and to agricultural scholarships.

And so I'm pretty proud that for the last 18 years I've been able to track every dollar where it comes in and where it goes back out into our community and it's all local.

So that's something I'm truly proud of the Livermore Rodeo Board is uh 15 members so is the foundation we have about 400 volunteers that go through the week of rodeo events.

So again thank you for having me here.

How many years is this rodeo is 108 108 short short time.

What are the dates?

Uh uh June uh 13th 14th June 13th 14th not to forget Raoul Ranch Rodeo coming up this weekend yeah I want to thank you for keeping um the culture alive and well um I also would like to say that um you guys cook the very best tri-tip in the world outstanding.

We're going to continue thank you again for being here we're gonna continue on with district two so after each district we'll talk about and brag about the ag in their district at the end we're gonna come up with a big photo for everyone to receive a photo.

Thank you.

Supervisor Marquez yeah round of applause uh thank you President Howard at this time I'd like to request Troy Horton with Dig Deep Farms to come up please so we could acknowledge your tremendous work.

Founded in 2010 Dig Deep Farms is a social enterprise program that grows and distributes healthy food in various Alameda County communities from Fremont to Sal Leandro Dig Deep Farms is currently operating approximately 100 acres of urban farms including the historic Ardenwood farm in the city of Fremont located in District 2 previously operated by JE Perry Organic Farms and also at various sites in Ashland Union City and Sal Leandro Dig Deep Farms goal is to improve health and well-being in Alameda County communities by creating jobs reducing recidivism through re-entry internships and making nutrient dense fresh locally grown food accessible to all joining us today is Troy Horton and I like to um welcome him and acknowledge him for his tremendous leadership and their resilience through um sustaining dig deep farms in our district and if you'd like to introduce your guests welcome and please feel free to say a few words thank you um for that um thank you for um we're appreciating Dig D farms appreciate being invited to the ag day again and all the support all of support past and present from um um present board members and past board members for for did be farms are brought with me uh fob edwards our farmer collective coordinator um he's going to speak more on our behalf welcome uh good afternoon my name is five um just real quick about us I've been with Dig Deep since 2018 um right now our main focus is on 53 acres at Ardenwood Historical Farm to increase our regenerative uh crop production so we can increase the yield of our harvest um in addition to that we do offer programs educational opportunities to the youth within youth internships, which is kind of like a hands-on uh training about regenerative agriculture, um, as well as a bunch of opportunities to volunteer with this to come out into the field and get your hands dirty with us.

Um, also, in addition, we reach out to community organizations like Eden um Eden uh ROP, and we set up workshops with them to try to integrate the community and get them uh educated about agriculture.

Um, and we also work with schools.

Um, we go there, we like to teach the students there about what we do and we also help them with their school gardens and things like that of that nature.

Um moving forward, hopefully this fall, we're looking to open our pharmacy spelled F ARM pharmacy.

Um, and that is where we'll have our farm stand, and the locals there will have access to purchase um locally grown produce.

Um, as well as we're looking to start our CSA subscription so that the community members in Alameda can have access to um hand picked fresh produce that's locally grown.

And um we're also preparing for our yearly pumpkin patch, which is another opportunity to come down and get your hands dirty with us at Ardenwood.

So thank you for having me, and thank you for your continuous support.

Thank you for what you do.

Um, we're proud to have the two of you in district two, and please uh continue to see our office as a resource and share any flyers so we could promote all the great work you're doing throughout the entire community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Without move to district three, Supervisor Tam.

Thank you, President Halbert.

I'd like to recognize uh Johnny Bootles from the Alameda Point Collaborative.

The Alameda Point Collaborative's mission is working to end homelessness by providing housing and services to create communities where formerly homeless families and individuals can flourish.

Alameda Point Collaborative or APC's Farm to Market is an urban community farm in the city of Alameda, which began in 2005 as growing youth project.

It's a program that was started by and for APC youth who joined together to learn about food access and growing healthy food for their community.

Over the years, the farm to market has grown into working farm that employs residents, provides job training, and offers educational volunteer experiences.

Johnny, please come up.

Thank you.

Thank you all for having us.

I'm here to represent uh Farm to Market, which is a program of Alameda Point Collaborative.

Um Alameda Point Collaborative is the largest supportive housing site in Alameda County, serving over 500 formerly homeless individuals and families with safe stable housing, sports services on the decommissioned naval base on Alameda Point.

We provide each resident with support specialists, workforce development opportunities, food security, and after-school programs for our youth.

Farm to Market is a social enterprise of APC and operates a two-acre urban farm where we grow organic fruits and vegetables using regenerative agricultural practices.

We have a seasonal share sales program available to the public and a free food distribution program for residents of APC and our partner agencies.

We receive donations from the Alameda County Community Food Bank and pair them with produce grown at the farm to distribute over 67,000 pounds of food a year to our residents through a free weekly grocery delivery program and on-site food pantry.

The farm is also a job site for our workforce development program where youth and young adults can secure employment and participate in classes on professional development, financial literacy and job pathways.

Employees work alongside us at the farm and just develop skills around farming and gardening, leadership and environmental science.

We run an after-school program with our children and youth services where youth can participate in educational programming, helping students develop creative and critical thinking around engagement with nature, connection to food and healthy eating, and environmental awareness.

Farm to Market also serves as a volunteer site for community engagement, and we have volunteer opportunities for individuals and groups year-round.

Through this work, we aim to create a stable and secure base for our residents to move towards self-sufficiency and break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.

Thanks so much for your time.

Thank you, Fari Doo.

Supervisor Miley, District 4.

Oh, yes, thank you.

Yeah, AgWICA recognition is one of my favorite ums to recognize.

And to tell you a little bit about the Royal Ranch, first hosted by Harry Roll, the Rodeo King of the West, more than 100 years ago.

The Royal Ranch Rodeo has provided the community with the opportunity to experience the historical sport of rodeo.

Today, the Royal Ranch Rodeo is operated by a local nonprofit organization continuing the traditional community of events.

The rodeo partners with many local nonprofit organizations to help raise funds for a wide range of local charitable causes.

Join us on the third weekend in May for the historic patriotic launch of the Roll Ranch Rodeo when a lone rider gallops from Harry's Hill into the arena ring carrying the American flag.

I also want to state that out at Roll Ranch, Hard Air W recreation department has hosted our AG Day, and we do have ag going on in District 4, Castro Valley Fairview and portions of East County.

And then also the Bill Pickett rodeo happens at the Royal Ranch.

That's the Black Cowboys rodeo that happens out there as well.

So we got a we got a bit of bit going on.

And just this past Saturday, we had the Roll Ranch Parade down the Cash Valley Boulevard with many entries and thousands and thousands and thousands of spectators.

So Janet, come on up.

Thank you, Supervisor Miley, for the kind words, and thank you to the Board of Supervisors for having and acknowledging this special culture that we have right here in Alameda County.

And it is because of this that our rodeo uh culture continues and because we owe a gratitude to the paniolas from Hawaii, the Charo Mexico, the Gaucho from Argentina, and the Black Cowboys Association from the Bill Pickett, that this culture has grown and become inclusive and growing to in uh would I want to say here to include everyone as a part of Alameda County.

We're proud to be a part.

We're proud of our ranches and our children that are growing up in this, the 4-H clubs that are within District 4 also that are raising livestock and contributing to all this.

Um again, thank you for having us.

Our rodeo is this weekend.

I am here today because my choice was being on the tractor and painting in the arena or coming to visit and share with all you.

My choice was to come share with all you and uh our host of volunteers, community volunteers that give back.

Um, we're so proud of them.

We're so proud to be a part of Alameda County.

104 years of the Rail Ranch Rodeo, Harry and Meg Rao, and in an expert of her will that she said that uh may we uh remember those who came before us and to pave a trail for those who come after us, and that we can always remember to um embrace everyone.

We're a community open to everyone and including all, and share all our knowledge with everyone that we um can be a better community for everything.

Uh, thank you all very much.

Thank you, Supervisor Miley, for your continued support and your expertise in keeping us on the right path.

Thank you again.

Um President Howard, I will get chastised if I don't announce also this week is the Cowgirls picnic at the Royal Ranch.

I think you've been to the Cowgirls picnic as I have, but it's a big event once again at the Royal Ranch this week.

I can't wait Supervisor Miley are they going to get you out on a horse?

Well unfortunately you know we've got a meeting this Thursday.

The board we have a planning meeting we're going to get planning done go to lunch and then we got lafco after that we'll figure it out we do work hard we got a lot of meetings to go to but supervisor Miley does ride a horse from now on again.

He also shoots guns too okay that's right.

Modern day cowboy supervisor Miley Budge Cassidy and the Sundance kid.

He made that up he made that up not me.

Finally District 5 Supervisor Fortunato Bass come brag about your ag business in Berkeley.

Yes in North County we also have uh agriculture so I am uh really honored to highlight Gill Track Farm Coalition the Gilltrack Farm Coalition stewards a three-acre urban farm and riperion corridor at the Gill track bringing nature-based learning into the heart of Albany through partnership between the University of California Berkeley and community members located on Aloney land held by UC Berkeley the farm sits within a residential neighborhood and borders a creek habitat of cultural and ecological significance included including for protected species such as the monarch butterfly and red-shouldered hawk.

Within these few acres of arable farmland in the heart of the East Bay Gilltrack Farm Coalition facilitates community centered agro ecological farming and environmental education into an urban setting where opportunities for outdoor environmental learning are often limited.

And with us today we have Aisha Gannon community farmer representative with Gilltrack Community Farm.

Thank you so much for joining us and please share a few words with us.

Good afternoon.

Thank you so much for inviting us today at Gilltrack farm our council as a board person said an urban farm um surrounded by um housing in Albany on UC land and we're grateful that they provide the water for our farm as well so um they contribute greatly to our success and we distribute up to 10,000 pounds of free organic nutritious produce to the community every year.

And we partner with the Cersei Society um to because we were the largest overwintering site in the East Bay for the Monarch butterflies and we're very excited that that was the case and so we continue to grow things on the farm that supports the different life cycles of the monarch butterflies.

Then we have sort of seed to harvest to um programs we start plants from seed we grow them and maintain them through the efforts of all our very um diverse and dedicated volunteers we provide education about how to grow food to all ages so parents can bring their children to the farm as long as they stay with them and can learn how to grow food and we have um field trips from the local schools that come through kindergarten through high school and the high school students from the area also come to do their community service at the farm and learn in a very hands-on way.

From making compost to uh mulching to all the different aspects of growing food.

And we're um, some of them get very excited even after they've done their community service hours.

They keep coming back to get hooked.

So we're very excited to be that kind of educational center for an urban area.

And um, you can always use support for supplies to continue to um offer this um educational opportunity and expand our great offerings.

So maybe you want to add a few things.

Hello, supervisors.

My name is Asri.

I'm a fellow farmer with Ike Side Gil Track Farm.

Uh, I want to share a little bit about the history of the farm.

Fourteen years ago, the farm, our farm, Gil Truck Farm, started as a community effort to protect their access to agroecological farming, to um nature space in the heart of the urban East Bay.

And now over a decade later, the community is still strong coming together and harvesting, planting, and feeding the community tens and tens of thousands of pounds of produce annually, and that wouldn't have been possible without the joint collaborative effort of the thousands of volunteer farmers that come to the Gilchark farm, um, putting in countless hours and support from um leaders like yourself.

So thank you so much for your support.

We believe that anybody could be a farmer, and um thank you for having us today.

Thank you.

Any public comment on this item?

There are no speakers.

I'm gonna finish by saying um, I think that we had some wonderful presentations.

I think that we can tell not every farmer looks like another.

We have a very diverse group of farming and agriculture.

It is our history, it is our heritage.

And remember, food does not come from Safeway or McDonald's.

It starts in a farm, and it had to be worked by somebody that planted it, that cultivated it, depicted, and it is a part of our culture.

In fact, California, I think the number one egg in the country.

Um, with that said, we do have a proclamation to give.

I think it's Dan Marcel is receiving it, and I guess the Farm Bureau, and but I'd like to invite everybody to come.

We're gonna come down and take a photo, come receive this proclamation, thank you all for indulging us as we continue on with our proclamations.

Supervisor, this is item 101 101 at uh Supervisor Fortune Alabas proclaiming May 2026 as affordable housing month.

Thank you, President Halbert.

So it is my honor to celebrate affordable housing month and present a proclamation to East Bay Housing Organizations on behalf of the Board of Supervisors.

As we all know, there is a real need for affordable housing in the Bay Area.

We need over 180,000 low-income and extremely low income units.

And in our county alone, we need over 37,000 units for low-income and extremely low-income families.

Here in Alameda County, we are committed to creating more affordable housing.

Measure A1 dedicated $580 million to create and preserve 4,117 affordable housing units and 262 home ownership opportunities.

The Measure W Home Together Fund recently awarded 53 million to create nearly 950 affordable housing units, including 310 permanently supportive housing units for people exiting homelessness.

And we know that Alameda County cannot do this work alone.

We need long-term regional solutions and cooperation between local jurisdictions.

And for the board members, including myself and Supervisor Miley, who serve on ABAG and MTC.

We are focused on Bafa, which is the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, so that we can create those longer-term solutions.

We also need the state support.

And so we are also focused on the proposed $10 million statewide bond for construction of these affordable homes.

In the audience with us, we have today Deputy Director Jennifer Pierce and Deputy Housing Director John Lowe.

So thank you both for your work and the work of your department.

And as we honor Affordable Housing Month, we want to commit to the coordinated regional work that is necessary to ensure that everyone has an affordable and safe home.

So thank you very much to EBHO and each of your member organizations for this important work.

For 42 years, EBHO has been championing affordable housing, raising awareness about the need, and uplifting community-driven solutions.

EBHO is the Bay Area's leader in affordable housing, a great advocacy coalition serving Alameda in Contra Costa County.

And with us here today to accept our proclamation is Joey Fliegel Mishlov, who is the policy director at EBHO.

Thank you for joining us, and please feel free to share a few words.

Well, thank you so much, board, and thank you, Supervisor Fortunato Bass.

And as a as a uh young advocate and district five resident and uh fellow two last name habper, just thank you for being an example uh to the to the hyphenated community.

Uh no, but uh thank you very much uh board.

Uh as the supervisor said, my name is Joey Flagel Mishlove.

I'm the policy manager at East Bay Housing Organizations.

EBHO is a member-driven organization.

We convene a diverse coalition that advocates to produce, preserve, and protect affordable housing in the East Bay.

And I want to say that again because it's very important that we all understand there's no one solution to our housing affordability crisis.

It's not about just production, which is badly needed.

It is not just about preserving existing affordable housing, it's not just about protections to keep people in their homes, it's about all three of those combined.

And we know that this board has taken all three aspects of affordable housing very seriously, uh, with measure A1 and Measure W, which have been mentioned.

And I also want to name the Alameda County Secure Program, which helps keep people in their homes.

And so we really appreciate the board's leadership across all the areas of uh of addressing affordable housing.

Uh as we celebrate Affordable Housing Month in Alameda County, we're joined by EBHO members uh and staff who are organizing over 25 public events this month across the East Bay.

These include educational events, celebrations of new affordable housing developments and programs, workshops and trainings and more.

So I really want to invite everybody in the room to check out our calendar of events.

If I can make that plug to go to EBHO for East Bayhousing Organizations.org and check out our uh our Affordable Housing Month events.

The goal of Affordable Housing Month is to lift up and censor those most affected by the housing crisis.

This month we call attention to the housing affordability crisis, we lift up solutions, celebrate our achievements, and invite all community members to join us in our movement.

At the state level, we're inspired by the roadmap home policy platform and hope to pass a 10 billion dollar state bond during the November 2026 election.

But in this moment of unprecedented instability, we can't look only to the state and federal government.

We have to uh emphasize the role that local governments like Alameda County play and in keeping each other safe and stably housed.

So, on behalf of uh East Bay Housing Organizations, I want to thank you very much for this honor and hope to see everybody at some of our Affordable Housing Month events.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Stay there for a photo.

We'll be right down.

Any public comment on this item?

There are no speakers.

Thank you.

So this is Older America's month.

And nobody better to present this than our elder.

Our elder statesman.

I did not say older.

I said our elder.

It's the same thing, I guess.

Supervisor Miley.

Yes, if you're an older American, raise your hand.

All righty.

Yeah, and if you want to be an older American, raise your hand.

Because hopefully you're all aspiring to become an older American.

All righty.

This has been a lifelong uh journey for you, Supervisor Miley.

It's been a lifelong.

It started when he was younger and now keeps going.

Yeah, I always like presenting older Americans month.

So in May is older Americans Month, it's an opportunity to recognize and honor older adults here in our county for their immense influence on every facet of American society.

The federal administration for community living has established issues theme is Champion Your Health, which focuses on prevention and wellness as a cornerstone of healthy aging.

We recognize the efforts of Champion Your Health are more effective when they are not taken alone and commit to providing service in partnership with health providers and dismantling the systemic inequities that affect health outcomes within our county.

In 2026, the county population of individuals age 60 and older is approximately 390,000 people.

Alameda County Social Services Agency, adult and aging service department, and the Area Agency on Aging and the community partners are committed to inclusivity, connectedness, and the principles of the National Older Americans Act and Older California Act.

As a nationally recognized age-friendly community of which Alameda County is that has also been cited for model programs by the state's master plan on aging.

Alameda County leads with innovative, community-driven approaches to engaging older residents.

Older Alameda County residents strengthen our community through intergenerational relationships, community service, civic engagement, and many other contributions, with 27% of adults age 65 to 74, and 7% of uh adults age 75 years and older remaining active in the workforce and older adults guiding our younger generation, some of you younger, and preserving valuable cultural historical knowledge.

So it's a pleasure to present older Americans month in May.

You know, may we celebrate a lot in May.

Yes.

And so I think it's Stephanie.

Is it Stephanie or Steven?

Who's gonna take this, Andrea?

I thought we oh there we go.

All right, come on down.

Welcome.

Hey, good afternoon.

So my name is Sonia Frost.

I'm a division director with the Department of Adult and Aging Services, and I accept this proclamation on behalf of Alameda County Area Agency on Aging.

It is a privilege to receive this proclamation honoring Alameda County's older adult residents and recognizing our older Americans month.

The theme, as you stated, for 2026 is Champion Your Health, which focuses on prevention, wellness as cornerstones for healthy aging.

It encourages taking an active role in managing your own health, advocating for yourself, and assessing preventative care and making informed decisions that support one's independence.

This past year, more than 100 older adults participated in our nutrition education program and the blood pressure screening event.

Triple A, which we call Area Agency on Aging, held this in partnership with the Health Department.

Forget the stereotype that older adults are set in their ways.

They learned that healthy eating is not as complicated or expensive as one may think, and they are fighting back against high blood pressure and diabetes.

Even one gentleman who started off by saying uh this was the first time he ever turned on his stove in his apartment.

Since our last proclamation, we have also had good news for the health champions of tomorrow.

Thanks to the advocacy from the board, our commissions, county departments, and community partners, there's a pending state legislation that would expand the health care career pathway program through the state.

This is a program that earned our county a national award from the organization and from U.S.

aging last summer, and it also cited as a model program in the state's master plan for aging.

Health care pathways is strengthening the caregiving infrastructure and helping to address critical shortages in direct care workforce by enabling disadvantaged students to become certified nursing assistants.

And I would add, I think we've graduated probably our sixth cohort since we started the program.

Older American Month is always exciting here.

Social service agency staff at CBOs, contracted through Triple A, deliver services to seniors throughout Alameda County.

We also contribute to an employee fundraising for deserving organization.

We were delighted to welcome many of you in person and online to our public hearing for our second annual area plan update, where we receive valuable insight about this halfway point in our four-year plan.

And we want to remind everyone watching and listening to visit our outreach tables this summer and community events.

We will give you plenty of information to use and spread around so no one misses out on the array of services we provide for our older adults.

And finally, thank you again to our board of Supervisors, our agency Director, Andrea Ford, our assistant agency director, Faith Battles, for your incredible support of the programs that help our amazing older adults thrive and stay connected to the communities.

Alameda County's older adults are fortunate to have you as health advocates.

Thank you so much.

Is there any public comment?

I just want to say that we owe it to our community to age gracefully with dignity, and you help everyone to do that.

Thank you.

Okay.

Our next item 103, Supervisor Miley proclaiming May 17th through 23rd as emergency medical services week.

So once again, May's a very important month, and we're going to recognize EMS Week.

Emergency Medical Services.

So EMS is a life-saving system that provides pre-hospital and hospital emergency medical care to the residents and visitors in this county.

The professionals who provide emergency medical services at the medical, at the emergency medical dispatchers, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, private ambulance providers, fire departments, emergency departments, and trauma, stroke, heart attack, and cardiac arrest, specialty receiving centers, and the professionals who are dedicated who are integral to the chain of survival serving on health care's front line, working long hours under difficult situations, frequently risking their own safety to care for those with real and potentially life threatening illnesses and injuries.

Alameda County, emergency medical services agency continues to ensure the provision of quality pre-hospital medical care to residents and visitors in this county.

The professionals who provide this emergency medical services deserves, they all deserve to be recognized and honored for their work.

So the board once again proclaims May 17th through the 23rd, 2026 as emergency as emergency medical services week in Alameda County.

And we have Nayla Francis and Caroline receiving the proclamation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, supervisors and members of the public.

I'm Nyla Francis.

I'm the interim deputy director for the Alameda County EMS Agency, and this is EMS Coordinator Carolina Snipes.

We appreciate the Board of Supervisors for recognizing the thousands of EMS clinicians inside of this county, EMS Week, and for the proclamation.

So EMS Week provides an opportunity to honor and thank the EMS professionals who serve Alameda County every day.

The EMS system involves many pre-hospital providers, emergency dispatchers, EMTs, paramedics, and EMS clinicians deliver life-saving care during some of the community's most critical and vulnerable moments.

Alameda County's EMS system depends on strong collaboration with our hospitals, public health, and other community partners.

We recognize the dedication, resilience, professionalism, and compassion EMS personnel demonstrate every single day while serving our community.

So we thank all EMS professionals for their continued commitment to the health, safety, and well-being of Alameda County residents.

Thank you.

Any public comment?

Seeing none, well, let's come take a photo.

Item one hundred and four is Supervisor Tam proclaiming May twenty twenty-six as Mental Health Awareness Month.

Supervisor TAM.

Thank you, President Halbert.

So mental health awareness month was established in 1949 by the Mental Health America dedicated to raising awareness of mental health, reducing stigma, and promoting support and recovery from those affected by mental illness.

And according to the California Health Care Foundation, as of April 2025, there are approximately one in seven adults in California that live with a mental illness, while one in 26 struggle with mental illness that remarkedly affect their daily lives.

Our community recognizes the dedication of mental health professionals, advocates, caregivers, and peer supporters who work tirelessly to provide care, education, hope, and acknowledges the importance of early intervention, prevention, and equitable access to culturally competent services.

Our cause, the organization that's being recognized, serves Asian Indians, one of the fastest growing communities in Alameda County.

The county is now home to one of the largest Asian Indian communities in the state with 156,000 residents, which is about 9.4% of the county's population.

And the county has multiple agencies providing mental health services to other AAPI communities.

As we proclaim May as Mental Health Awareness Month, we call upon county residents to increase awareness, reduce stigma, and support those affected by mental health challenges.

And I understand that Supervisor Marques also has an honoree, and we will ask both of you to come up at that time.

Today with us, we have Rapali Rajvanchi, founder and Sruti Ramnath, Executive Director.

Our cause's mission is to raise awareness and build acceptance of mental health issues among South Asians through lived experience stories and community dialogues with experts.

So people seek help before it's too late.

The urgent challenge, the South Asian community is facing a crisis of silence.

Cultural stigma and a lack of vocabulary often prevent residents from seeking help until a tragedy occurs.

A reality painful, painfully felt with the recent loss of a South Asian youth here in Alameda County.

To date, our cause has hosted over 70 awareness programs and shared more than a hundred and thirty lived experience stories, providing the cultural nuance and language needed to bridge the gap between struggle and support.

In the past year alone, the organization has empowered over 250 South Asian youth creating a space to navigate cultural pressures, identity, and suicide prevention.

Across its programs, seventy-five percent of participants reported that they are more likely to seek help before reaching a point of crisis.

So we'd like to publicly acknowledge our cause for the tremendous work they're doing in our county.

Um I don't know if the founders would like to come up and say a few words, but you're welcome to do so, and thank you for your work.

Did you have any guests that would speak?

Both, okay, everybody.

All right, come on up.

Welcome and thank you all for your patience.

I know this has been much awaited, but we really appreciate everyone's interest and engagement.

Thank you so much.

It means a lot.

And thank you for wearing green because green is the color of mental health awareness.

Um, I just want to just thank the community and the supervisors for making this acknowledgement for uh because May is really special for us, Mental Health Awareness Month, and it's really important that we're getting the proclamation today.

Thank you so much for all your support.

It is a big need, and you know, this ethnic communities, because we are in Alameda County, and it's really important that you're supporting and hope to get continued support from you all.

Shrithi, would you like to say something?

Nothing.

I'm just gonna second what Rapali just said.

Thank you so much.

It means a lot to be having you all support us doing what we do.

It's very meaningful.

It's wonderful, it's incredibly impactful when we are out there and working with Daisy's on the ground, being able to speak with them in our language and explain to them how important it is.

It's been really bad in the last six months.

I know there's only one reported suicide, but it's actually worse because we're working with teachers and parents, and we hear the truth of what is really going on there and how it's not reported in our community.

So it's really really important that we talk about this and normalize the conversation.

Thank you so much again to all of you and the county.

If uh all the members could come up and receive the proclamation and take a photo.

Any public comment?

Thank you.

And now we have item 105, Supervisor Tam and Supervisor Fortunato Bass proclaiming May 2026 as Asian American Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian Heritage Month.

Thank you, President Halbert.

During this month, we honor the hard work of, as you mentioned, Asian American, Native, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which we call AANHPI leaders to build a foundation for future generations to thrive and adapt to change and adversity.

Alameda County is rich in culture and diversity with 71% of the Asian adults in Alameda County that are born in another country.

Over 27,000 county residents are of Pacific Islander Heritage, with 70% living in Hayward, Oakland, and the unincorporated areas, including Native Hawaiians, Samoans, Fijians, Chamorro, and Tongan.

In addition, over 13,000 Afghan immigrants live in the Bay Area, mainly concentrated in Hayward, Union City, and Fremont.

And Asian Americans represent the significant leadership in the county, including the county administrator, the county assessor, the county health care director, the community development agency director, the interim chief information officer, and two members of the Board of Supervisors, and the mayors of Berkeley, Dublin, Emoryville, Union City, and Fremont.

And today I have the pleasure and honor to recognize seven community-based organizations who are all part of the broader Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community ecosystem in our Bay Area.

Specifically organizations and cultural leaders that have recognized, highlighted or involved in community-centered celebrations and advocacy connected to AA and NHBI Heritage Month.

These individuals represent the fabric of our community and are all tied to advocacy, youth empowerment, arts, public health, immigrant rights, Pacific Islander Community, organizing in Oakland and the East Bay, with the Asian Immigrant Women's Advocate, the API Legal Outreach or APIO, Bentessare, East Bay Asian Youth Center, the Community Health for Asian Americans, the Regional Pacific Islander Task Force, and Lan Shaw, who's president of the board of directors for the Oakland Ballet.

We celebrate these leaders and the organizations because they embody the diversity, the activism, the cultural preservation, the public service, and artistic contributions of the AA and HPI communities in Alameda County.

We honor and thank you for the care, the courage, and the vision you bring to our communities.

Your work creates opportunities, preserve culture, and inspire future generations.

Thank you so much.

I think each of the board members also have an honoree.

Thank you, Supervisor Tam.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you again for your patience.

So it is my honor to recognize on behalf of District 5 and our board, Sakon Lasa Fong Thong.

And I know that there were a lot of community members who came to support SACOM because many of us are familiar with his spirit.

To me, Sacone exemplifies the spirit of this year's theme, power and unity, through his lifelong commitment to healing communities, building bridges across cultures and systems, and uplifting low-income immigrant refugee, justice impacted and unhoused residents throughout Oakland and Alameda County.

I had the honor of working closely with Sicone over the last seven years as he has served Oakland and our county.

Firstly, as Housing and Community Services Director at Family Bridges, SACON was instrumental in establishing and expanding the Chinatown community Ambassador program through the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council, helping to clean, beautify Chinatown, build trust with unhoused residents, and strengthen relationships among small businesses, community organizers, and local government.

And this is incredibly meaningful because this particular ambassador program was the first of its kind funded by the city of Oakland with a budget initiative I led following the impacts of COVID and the rise in API hate.

In addition, SACON has played a critical leadership role in Oakland's homeless response efforts by supporting the Oak Street Community Cabins program and providing enhanced case management and housing navigation services for Medi-Cal recipients experiencing homelessness mental health challenges and substance use disorders.

And one of the best indications of the success of this work is that a couple years following the initiation of this program and Socone's work in the community in 2019, where he really worked to build trust with the in-house community and get them into interim housing at an Earth Day cleanup.

I met a gentleman who we had convinced to enter this program.

And when I met him, he wore a key around his neck, and that was the key to his permanent home.

And he was so thankful to Socone about just sticking with him and supporting him along the way so that he could get that permanent housing.

Socone has also contributed to the City of Oakland in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the Mayor's Office to Prevent Disenfranchisement and Recidivism through restorative and community-based approaches to public safety.

He supported the implementation of the Stop the Hate Grant program.

He also was active in supporting justice involved leaders in mentoring young people, de-escalating violence, and building solidarity and healing between Asian American and African American communities.

Sacone's life reflects the transformative power of rehabilitation, redemption, and restorative justice.

Having arrived in the U.S.

as a child refugee from Laos, surviving poverty and criminalization, serving 20 years in prison, and committing himself to education, healing, and service to others.

While incarcerated, Sacone earned three college degrees and dramatically expanded participation in prison college programming from four participants to nearly 300, inspiring others to pursue education and transformation.

And the reason that this recognition is very important to so many of us is that despite these extraordinary achievements, public service and rehabilitation to this day, Socone continues to face the threat of deportation, which would separate him from his family, who is here with us today and his community and undermine the principles of restorative justice and second chances.

There are many other members of our Southeast Asian refugee community across the U.S.

who face similar threats of deportation.

And both a threat as well as the actual deportation of rehabilitated refugees and community leaders like SACON harms families, destabilizes our communities, and contradicts our shared values of compassion, accountability, and redemption.

So it's with great honor that we recognize and honor SACON and we refer reaffirm our support through the theme of this year's month in supporting restorative justice, rehabilitation, family unity and second chances while celebrating the courageous spirit of Socone, thanking him for his immeasurable contributions to public safety, healing, unity, and community well-being.

Thank you so much.

Supervisor Chairman, do you want the honorees to speak now or later?

So uh let's go with the um the other supervisors, honoree as well, with district one and then district two, and then afterwards I'll ask um the Asian immigrant women's advocate to come up, appeallo, Bonte Sarrey, East Bay Asian Youth Center, Community Health for Asian Americans, the Regional Pacific Task Force, Long Shaw, and Shacone, and the honorees from D1 and D2.

Okay, with that said, uh District 1 next, um proud to recognize in uh district one the kids against hunger of Fremont for their incredible work to address food and security as we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

We also recognize the importance of AAPI leadership in our community this year's theme.

They have selected power in unity, strengthening communities together.

This reflects their values of collaboration, service, resilience, community building that organizations like Kids Against Hunger Fremont demonstrate every day.

They've been doing this since 2019.

This is an entirely volunteer run organization bringing together students, families, and community members to pack and distribute meals for people in need, both locally and globally, is executive director Alice Liu with us today.

Alice, in a minute, we'll have you come on up.

Thank you.

And I have a proclamation for you.

Round of applause for Fremont D2.

Thank you, Supervisor Tem and Supervisor Fortano Bass.

Um, as we celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian Heritage Month, it gives me great pleasure to honor Pastor Timani, Barry Timani.

Um, he will be accepting the commendation on behalf of District 2.

We honor Pastor Barry Timani, who is the founder and president of Molino Foundation, which provides mills, essential supplies, and direct support to unhoused individuals with dignity and compassion.

Pastor Barry's work has strengthened collaboration between community organizations and the city of Newark to increase awareness of housing insecurity and encourage broader community involvement.

Pastor Berry was instrumental in taking the lead during the Alameda County recent point in time count this past January.

His relationship and dedication to the unhoused community has deeply impacted the community as well as many lies out there struggling to survive.

I've had the honor to uh see Pastor Barry in action.

I've sat on panels with him.

His dedication and his heart and his commitment to believing in people, believing in second chances is really incredible.

I also had the honor of witnessing him receive a volunteer recognition award.

Don't quote me on the hours, but it was hundreds of hours that he's dedicated to the community of Newark.

So just thank you, Pastor Barry, for being an example and a role model to many of our young people in the community.

We celebrate you and your family.

We're so honored to have you here with us.

And as soon as we get through all the other acknowledgements, we'd love to hear from you.

Thank you and congratulations.

Will the honorees please come up?

Uh in the order I started with the Asian immigrant women's advocate, then Apilo, Bonte Sarre, East Bay Asian Youth Center, Community Health for Asian Americans, Regional Pacific Islander Task Force, Lan Shaw, then uh Shacone, then Supervisor Umbert's honoree, and also Supervisor Martez's honoree.

Thank you so much.

And if I might, I'm supervisor Miley.

I'd like to honor all members of the API community for your service, your time, your dedication.

But in particular, I'd like to honor my colleagues on the board of supervisors, supervisor, and Nikki Fortnato Bass.

Oh, come on.

Hello.

Okay.

Hi, back out.

Go ahead.

So it's it.

I ass you go and go to Gulo and Ga.

You know, you're going to hold your walk up to your folk late.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Thank you.

Thank you, Supervised Pen.

We are I S I H S home care workers.

Caring for the air person in the uh their home.

Night other community, uh county workers.

We could lie to the receiver retirement benefit.

Please support IHS workers and uh our time benefit.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

We have good afternoon, supervisors.

I'm Victoria Hartato, managing attorney at API Legal Outreach.

I'd like to introduce briefly my colleagues, senior staff attorney Nancy Wong.

Okay, hi everyone.

And he Jang Maths, DOJ accredited representative.

We're just um extremely honored and grateful uh that a Pillow's work is being uh recognized by the county.

We've been doing this work in the Bay Area for the last 50 years, um serving the API immigrant community as well as all immigrants.

Um, you know, we we try to serve some of the most vulnerable members of our community, including survivors of domestic violence, um survivors of human trafficking, and refugees and asylum seekers.

So just thank you so much for this honor today.

Hi good afternoon, and thank you so much for this commendation during Asian American and Pacific Islander History Month.

My name is Hamida Yusufai, and I direct Banti Sre.

We are deeply grateful for this recognition of our long-term commitment to supporting victims and survivors of sex trafficking here in Oakland.

This work is sacred to us, and it is rooted in love, in trust, cultural understanding, and the belief that our young people deserve safety, dignity, healing, and joy.

While we are a team of two full-time staff, we stand here representing something much bigger, an intergenerational community of volunteers, advocates, artists, allies, survivors, and supporters who continue to show up with courage and care.

This recognition belongs to all of them too.

Thank you for seeing our work, for valuing the community and for standing with low-income young women of color.

We are truly honored.

We are 29 years of dedicated services across California um Alumida and Contra Costa County.

We have 34 staff members working schools, clinical side, and community side.

I'm proud to honor I'm refugee from Burma.

My colleague who is working for refugees across the Alumina County, her name is Nadia Jihadi.

Hello everyone.

My name is Nadia Hojizada, and I'm working with the community health for Asian Americans since 2021.

And especially we are working with the newcomers, Afghan newcomers who suddenly evacuated from Afghanistan.

And I would like to sincerely thanks from all Alameda County Board of Supervisor and all people for supporting these vulnerable people too because they're struggling to survive for and fighting for their right and for their uh because uh recently they lose their uh benefits and uh they asked me to please um uh this uh um tell them all the authorities that we are struggling to survive in this community because uh they lose their food stam or medical because of some uh new rules.

So I need I hope uh you can do something for them.

Thank you so much for continued support.

Good afternoon, supervisors.

Wanna thank uh all of you and and in particular Supervisor Tam for this uh recognition of the East Bay Asian Youth Center.

This year is our 50th year uh in operation uh and we are um it was just uh running out of somebody's living room uh 50 years ago.

And uh we're we're one of the largest youth development organizations, not just only working with uh Asian and Pacific Islanders, but a multiracial, multi-ethnic, multilingual uh kind of uh membership of young people and their families.

Uh I I want to take this time to actually appreciate the Board of Supervisors historically.

Uh it was uh Supervisor John George and Don Perata back in 1987, 1988, uh, that responded to I was only 27 years old, 28 years old, and had a bunch of teenagers that were acting crazy that were uh with us, but we kind of called attention to the dramatic rise of Southeast Asian youth, Southeast Asian uh refugees coming into the juvenile and criminal justice system with no language capacity, no culture, and back there, no language about trauma informed care.

And uh both of those supervisors work together uh to uh uh to advocate to the probation department uh to invest in multilingual uh capacity for intensive case management and life coaching services.

Also want to recognize, you know, Supervisor Wilmot Sand, uh, who played that same advocacy role uh for school-based health centers uh and in particular advocating for a school-based health center to be explored at Oakland High School, uh, which at that time was one of the large or the largest high school uh in the city of Oakland.

Uh and uh with her uh advocacy uh and through the kind of the grassroots work uh we were able to make that happen.

Oakland High School is now called SHOP 55, and it's uh it's either the most utilized or in the top three most utilized school-based health centers in Alameda County.

Uh, and so I it's something that I think as supervisors it's important to uh recognize that history of uh leadership and standing with uh with community.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, all the board of supervisors for honoring me.

Um this is really, I'm so humbled, this is just not about me.

It's about the Oakland Ballet.

I've been on the board for the last six years, and I'm the only um Asian American on the board, and I'm the first Asian American as a board president in its 60 years um history.

So I'm very, very honored.

So I want to thank all of you for your steadfast support.

We all recognize how important art is.

However, giving the status of the budget, Oakland, City of Oakland has cut the art funding down to zero for three years.

So your support has been and will be the time, the lifeline for this company's survival and for its next six years to come.

So I know I stall you, that's probably how you know me.

I stall you every straight corner, everywhere I see you, and I ask for money.

So this is another chance for me to plead to you to support us.

Um that's just talk about the Oakland Ballet.

It's not so because I ask your money, it's because what we do for the community.

For the 60 years that the company was founded inside in Oakland.

However, the community impact is way beyond Oakland.

We just finished our um eight, six, eight, uh, six performances in San Francisco.

And this season, we have delivered eight performances in Oakland.

And you are here representing the entire Alameda County, and as rich of a history and of this organization and its artistic mastery, I would ask that we all collaborate.

We can bring Oakland Ballet to Livermore, to Fremont, to all the corners, all over in Alameda.

Then we serve the people.

Right now, we serve the Oakland schools, and every year we bring 8,000 students come to Paramount Theater and see the dress rehearsal of the um Nutcracker.

It really changed their life.

We bring our program to schools to the assembly.

We bring the coloring book and so they can and interact with our dancers, and we teach them dance, we called um learn to dance.

So really tell them how important their creativity is and honor themselves, honor their own body and their honor the self-love.

And also, Oakland Ballet is very unique.

During COVID in 2021, in the rise of Asian hate, Oakland Ballet's artistic director, Gram Lastic has championed the Dancing Moons Festival, which is dedicated 90 minutes program to Asian American creatives, artists, composers, custom designers.

So this is the first and only program in the entire country as a dance company to serve this community and give them a place to tell their own story and to share their unique experience.

So we just celebrate the fifth year.

And uniquely, we um delivered an outstanding program, and it's very impactful, is the Angel Island Project.

We collaborated with the um Asian American composer Huang Ru.

We all know he just achieved a great success with San Francisco Opera for the Monkey King.

So he is the same composer for Angel Island, and based on the real story of the immigration experience in Angel Island in the um Immigration Station during the first ever race-based um the Chinese, the um the exclusion net of 1884.

So with that, we use art to share our history.

We take that to schools.

It's very, very happy topic.

However, it is very important and it still will have its relevancy in today's environment.

So I ask you to support, and I ask that we all stand together.

Use this art form.

It's not a dying art, the art form.

Is use that to tell our stories, all of our stories, because we are the one who represent this community.

Thank you.

Hello for I am Natalie Tolemo So Assoon.

And I am the interim director of the Regional Pacific Islander Task Force, and that's the work of the heart.

My nine to five that pays me, it's something else.

But I am here on behalf of the regional Pacific Islander Task Force and the Pacific Islander community here in Alameda County to accept this wonderful recognition and commendation.

Thank you so much, Supervisor Lena Tam for honoring the work of the Regional Pacific Islander Task Force.

I am here with my uh my team, Lena Malia Tulua, and also Tuna Amelia Vahi.

Um the task force was born from a simple but urgent need, and that is the communities, the Pacific Islander community in the region of the San Francisco Bay Area deserves to be uh visible.

The invisibility of the community um has been such a big injustice to all of us.

Um, I want to make this very short, you know, and also a call to action to all of us.

The Pacific Island, the regional Pacific Islander Task Force has an office in Hayward.

Uh we moved in in October of last year, and so far we have held 80 different community events, reaching over nearly a thousand people.

Um, but we're also at the mercy of might be losing our space.

So I've reached out to a couple of supervisors asking um also to save that space for the community together.

But we are honored to uh be recognized for the work that we do along with all the other AAPI serving organizations, advocates and and providers.

The work we we do is from the heart and because we care, um, and we just want to make sure that our communities are seen, heard, and um, and cared for.

Um, and thank you so much.

Uh my name is Barry Daimani, and um I'm the founder of Milino Foundation.

I want to thank Lisa Marquez for your kind words and thanks to the rest of the board of supervisors for this recognition and this honorable proclamation.

Um, I'm here with my kids.

If I can have my kids, please stand.

Um there's a there's a there's a verse that says uh a good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children.

Um, my father uh passed away this year, January 4th, and uh since I was a young boy, he taught me this lesson to love God and love people, and that's something I've tried to instill in my kids, and I would ask them this question, which I'm gonna put them on the spot.

What are you?

What do leaders do?

Listen, learn, love, and lead.

Now that started with a thought.

It started with the thought.

You sow a thought, you reap an action.

You sow an action, you reap a habit.

You sow a habit, you reap a character, you sow a character, you reap your destiny.

And all we've done through our efforts with Melino Foundation, which means Melino means peace in Tonga.

And our uh mission statement is Melino exists to provide Christ-centered peace to those facing trauma through recovery and supportive communities.

So we took this idea and we acted on it, and then we acted on it and we built consistency, and through that consistency, we raised up leaders.

So now we have three locations that two in Fremont and then one in Newark.

David Howard leads our Art and Wood location.

Josh Petipe leads our Food maps location.

Nico Tungan Mala has launched a new location at Fremont Navigation Center.

And what we've learned is that leadership development through acts of surface through acts of service happens on purpose, not by accident, but by raising up leaders.

So I stand on the shoulders of my board of directors and my volunteers.

We got about 20 of them that will be watching this later.

I appreciate every single one of you that go out every Saturday to cook meals, to serve these meals, to sit down and have real conversations, meet people where they're right where they're at, love on them, pray for them, share the gospel with them, and their eyes will be open.

And so I just want to thank you guys again for this amazing opportunity.

And as my father would always tell me, never give an offer, give up an opportunity to share Christ with someone.

And that's all we're doing.

I just want to thank you guys and God bless.

Hi, my name is Alice.

I am the executive director of Kids Against Hunger Fremont.

With me is Alice Wu and Pritika Gupta.

They're my amazing partners in crimes.

We started in 2019 with this crazy idea.

How cool it be if we go into every single school in Fremont to teach children about the importance of serving the needs of others and to be compassionate towards those in need.

We thought it's a scary idea, and we said, how cool it be will it be if we can actually help empower students to pack a million meals.

To date, I'm so honored and to to share that we've actually empowered over 20,000 students in Fremont to pack 1.4 million meals.

Our organization is run entirely by unpaid volunteers.

It's not just the three of us, it's countless volunteers.

It would not happen without all of our support, especially me.

I'm a very weak person with a back back.

These are the Ansang heroes, and those are not here, but they're the ones carrying thousands and thousands of pounds of meal supplies to empower the students to give back to the community.

I mean, we're so grateful, President Halber and Supervisor Marquez.

They were at the California School for the Blind, helping the kids, guiding the students to pack the meals.

So this is actually an effort by entire village of volunteers.

This Thursday, we will be packing meals at Laila Bringhurst Elementary School.

There's going to be over 1,200 students drawing care cards and jointly packing over 35,000 meals to support families in need in our community and also overseas.

So we really, really appreciate the recommendation and the recognition.

But this recognition belongs to all of our tireless volunteers at Kids Against Hunger Fremont.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, esteemed members of the Alameda Board of Supervisors, family friends, and community members.

It's a true privilege to stand before you today as we come together to celebrate the ANHPI Heritage Month.

I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bass for nominating me for this recognition.

Your support and belief in my contributions to our community fills me with profound appreciation.

And I'm truly humbled by this honor.

This year's theme, Power and Unity, Strengthening Communities Together, resonates deeply with me.

It reminds us that our strength lies not just in our individual accomplishments, but in our ability to come together, support one another, and uplift our entire community.

I'm truly thankful for this recognition, which reflects not only my efforts, but also the hard work of countless individuals who have dedicated themselves to the betterment of our community.

It is a reminder of the collective spirit that drive us forward.

Because when we fight, when we fight, we win!

When we fight, we win.

As I reflect on my journey for much of my life, I was lost.

I acted out of selfishness, made reckless choices and decisions that hurt not only myself, but the people I cared about.

Those decisions led me down a dark road, one that took me far from the values of community, respect, and care that are so central to our culture.

Being given a second chance after serving 20 years in prison has changed everything.

Through the Asian Health Services and Family Bridge Ambassador Program, and with the support of the community, I've found a way to make amends and reconnect with those values.

As an ambassador, I've had the honor of giving back, helping clean and care for the community, supporting our unhoused neighbors with compassion, and working to restore a sense of safety and dignity in the community.

I'm reminded of the challenges we have faced and are facing as a community, particularly those that affect the ANHPI community.

Yet, through it all, I have witnessed the incredible resilience and strength that emerges when we unite in purpose and action.

I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to thank my wife, Hong, my daughters Joycey and Joanne, my family, friends, community, and organizations that have stood by me.

Your encouragement and belief in me have been invaluable.

A special thanks to you, organization whose wisdom and guidance have shaped my path.

Interfaith movement for human human integrity.

I don't know if she's here, but I love you, Reverend Deborah.

You are an amazing human being.

To Siri, the Center for Impowered Refugees and Immigrants, Asian Health Services, and so many awesome organization.

I am grateful for all of you.

Moving forward, I'm committed to fostering unity and collaboration within our community.

We must continue to lift each other up, recognize our shared experiences, and work together to address the challenges we face, ensuring that every voice is heard.

And whenever we encounter an opportunity to help uplift our community, we must act on it to ensure that we lead by example and create a better place for everyone to enjoy.

I envision a vibrant community where everyone feels valued and safe, where our youth have opportunities to thrive, where diversity is celebrated, and where we all work together toward a better and brighter future.

In closing, I want to express my deepest gratitude for this honor.

I'm excited about what we can achieve together as a united community.

Let's continue to harness the power of unity and making a lasting impact for all.

I want to leave you this quote by Kamala Harris.

The American dream belongs to all of us.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Joycey Doe, a grant freshman at San Leandro High School and Siccone's daughter.

I'd want to take a moment to thank Supervisor Fortunata and Nikki Bass and the Board of Alameda Supervisors for giving my dad this opportunity.

Before my dad came into my life, I used to think helping your community was just something people talked about.

Something that sounded nice in speeches or looked good on flyers.

And that's because I've never seen anyone actually do the work they say they would.

But then I watched him.

I watched him help his community with not just the big things, but the small things too.

The way he treats people with my respect, no matter who they are, the way he notices when someone needs help before they even ask.

The way he gives his time so naturally, like kindness is just a part of who he is.

He taught me the difference between sympathy and empathy.

Sympathy is feeling bad for someone.

Empathy is being able to understand them, to sit with them and what they're going through.

And I think that's why so many people trust him.

Because when he helps people, it never feels fake or forced, it feels real.

In Oakland, Chinatown, he worked as a community ambassador and helping elders, supporting local businesses, checking on unhoused people, cleaning streets early in the morning, and helping neighborhoods feel safe and stronger.

And as you can see, the proof is in the posters.

But what impacted me most wasn't just what he did, it was why he did it.

He helped people because he put himself in their shoes.

Because he wasn't as privileged as I was and had to fight to live for himself.

Watching that changed me.

He encouraged me to become more involved in my own community too.

Whether it was helping with food distributions, community cleanups, or volunteering my time, he made me realize that community isn't somebody else's responsibility.

It belongs to all of us.

But it's your choice on if you want to help others or sit aside.

And somehow he made helping people feel less like an obligation and more like a privilege.

That's something I'll carry with me forever.

My dad didn't just teach me how to care about my community.

He taught me that I'm a part of it.

That even small acts of kindness matter.

That one person taking the time to care can make someone feel seen, safe, or valued.

And honestly, I think a lot of the person I've become is because of the example he set for me.

Also, I think it says a lot about him.

That even after I drink all of his root beer floats, he still believes in me.

And right in there, and that right there is true compassion.

Thank you so much.

Uh hello.

My name is Tommy Brown.

I am from West Oakland.

And when I say West Oakland, I mean lower bottoms, acorn, ghost town, boys right.

Or from these places.

As you can see, I work for a company, a San Francisco-based company, nonprofit called Urban Alchemy.

I run a facility here in Oakland in partnership with Oakland.

My title is Project Director, Interim Housing.

So we and my team, we're pretty pretty good at getting folks housed.

I wanted to speak in support of Mr.

Siccone because if you knew my history, you'd know well that the juvenile system knows me pretty well.

The courthouse across the street, I know the address better than my own address.

And yet, look at me today.

So I figured at least I can come here today and speak on behalf of Mr.

Scone.

Thank you.

I first met Sakone over 10 years ago while we were incarcerated, going through a program that trained us to become certified substance use counselors.

And when I paroled in November of 2020, Sakone had already been out for almost two years.

He came and picked me up from Volunteers of America over by City Hall where I was living.

And I'm not from California.

I had no family out here, no friends, no support, other than the people I had met while incarcerated.

He came and picked me up and took me shopping and bought me my entire everything that I had to wear.

All of a sudden, I wasn't wearing secondhand clothes from the thrift store out of his own pocket.

He gave me a brand new cell phone.

And iPhone Pro Max, actually, went and bought me a MacBook so I could go to work or in the counseling.

Where I had a job, but I needed the technology to do it, and I just couldn't afford it.

I wouldn't have been able to get on my feet and go and be successful without his help and support.

And then I've seen him on the streets of Oakland when people talk about community outreach.

It's anyone that needs it out of their need and oftentimes out of his own pocket without complaint, without expectations of being paid back.

He's truly a generous and kind human being.

Thank you all for supporting them and acknowledging them.

Hi, my name is Oli Ta Seh.

I was sentenced as a youth offender to life without uh the possibility of parole at the age of 20.

After serving nearly 30 years incarcerated, I was granted parole in 2024.

I am here today to support my friend, mentor, and inspiration, Shakone Alphabet.

And the reason why I say Alphabet because his last name was so long in prison that the guards cannot uh pronounce it.

I first met Shakone in 2002 while we were both uh incarcerated at High Desert State Prison.

Back then, we were young men trying to survive prison life, often making choices based on survival, reputation, gangs and the environment around us.

Years later, we reunited at Salano State Prison around 2013 to 2014.

What stood out to me most was the transformation I saw in Shacon.

His growth, leadership, and commitment to change, gave me hope during a difficult time in my own life.

Through my own transformation and rehabilitation, I came to realize that God and family are everything.

I also learned that the gang lifestyle and criminal thinking caused me to lose sight of who I truly was.

During my journey and of change, I found my identity again and reconnected with the culture and values I was raised in.

That change gave me purpose, accountability, and hope for a better future.

In 2018, Shacon was granted parole at his first board hearing.

Even after gaining his freedom, he never forgot about those still inside.

He continued to support and encourage me through my own journey towards rehabilitation and redemption.

In 2024, I was granted parole at my first initial board hearing and released from prison on September 10, 2024.

He helped guide me with obtaining my California ID, Social Security, Medicaid, transportation, and financial assistance.

Most importantly, helped remind me that I still have a purpose.

Today, because of the encouragement and inspiration Shacon gave me, I now work uh helping homeless youth in San Francisco.

I truly believe Shacone's life experience, dedication, and leadership can make a powerful impact on the youth and communities throughout Alameda County and beyond.

I truly support Shacone and his vision to create a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping youth, guiding individuals through entry and creating opportunity for positive change.

Thank you, why don't we have recipients come down and we'll take a photo with them?

You have a proclamation, I think.

We have another rest of our meeting to resume.

So if um all of our wonderful celebrants.

Could make their way out to the lobby, that would be appreciated.

Thank you all for attending.

Okay.

Um, I note that item 106 is a public service recognition week of May 3 through 9.

I note that um our two o'clock set matter is well behind.

And that is an annual recognition of our employees with 30 years of county service as of December 31, 2025.

I'm going to very briefly say that public service recognition week recognizes all public servants.

This week gives us an opportunity to acknowledge the essential work of public servants at the federal, state, and local levels.

These people deliver services that our communities rely on every day here in Alameda County.

Our employees take an oath to serve with integrity to uphold the Constitution and to faithfully carry out their duties, a responsibility they demonstrate daily.

For maintaining infrastructure and public safety to advancing health, environmental protection, and community services.

Public service is truly a noble calling requiring dedication, skill, and a deep commitment to the public good.

This proclamation is our way of saying thank you to all public servants, not just this week, but throughout the year, and for their hard work and unwavering commitment to our communities.

It's my honor to present this proclamation to all Alameda County employees, and I'll just say, here it is, but now on for the rest of our show today, 30 years of public service here in Alameda County.

And item 107.

Public comment?

Public comment on item 106.

Seeing none, we'll move on to item 107.

Thank you.

So CAO Muranishi, would you like to say a few words before we then proceed with the reading of the names?

Thank you, President Halbert members of the board.

Today, your board will be honoring uh 46 county employees from 14 departments who have each invested 30 years of their career in serving the diverse communities of Alameda County, and 17 of them are present with us today.

Each May, Alameda County joins other local, state, and federal public entities in honoring public service employees across the country who connect government to the people we serve.

That appreciation is further extended each year when your board has the distinguished honor of recognizing Alameda County employees who have dedicated 30 years of service to this county and its residents.

A huge milestone that signifies an extraordinary commitment to our communities.

To put this in perspective, in 1994, 30 years ago, gasoline was a dollar twenty a gallon, a gallon of milk was two dollars and fifty cents, and a dozen eggs was ninety-two cents.

While much has changed since that time, what remains the same is the commitment and dedication of our employees, especially the 46 employees who are being honored today, to each of today's honorees on behalf of your colleagues, managers, directors, the board of supervisors, county administrator, and our department heads.

We thank you for your service and commitment to Alameda County.

And I'm now going to turn it over to President Howbert and Vice President Tam to share a few words and recognize each of the honorees.

Indeed, um thank you for being here.

The 17 that are here.

We have 46 total, 17 are here.

Each of you will be presented with a special commendation.

Just a token of our appreciation.

Is that all they get for 30 years?

It is important that we take time to publicly convey our appreciation to each of you for having the dedication to be with us for three decades of service.

I'd like to take a few minutes to read what the commendation says, but that means I have to have a copy of the commendation.

Is there a copy of the comment?

Shall I just grab one off the table up there?

Let me go grab a copy of the commentation.

After which each of you 17 will come up for a five-minute speech.

And whereas the importance of public services rendered by public service employees and the exemplary manner of their performance are too often unacknowledged.

And whereas the County of Alameda recognizes the dedication, talents, and contributions made by public employees at all levels of government.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Supervisors of Alameda County does hereby commend and express its appreciation to you for your contributions and service to the people of Alameda County and extends its sincere appreciation to you for your commitment and dedication.

Presented this 12th day of May 2026, signed by myself and all of our board.

With that, I'm going to turn um the reading of the names over to Vice President Supervisor Lena Tam.

Good afternoon and thank you for your patience.

Very special welcome, and it's truly a privilege for all of us to celebrate your 30-year commitment to public service here in Alameda County.

So much of life has happened based on what our county minister talked about in 30 years, gas is now seven dollars, I think, a gallon.

And so we're very honored to have you here and your choice to choose Alameda County as your employer for the last three decades.

We express our heartfelt appreciation to all of you, and we really appreciate your help in shaping our county in what it is today.

So as President Halbert mentioned, I'll be reading your department's name, and Supervisor Halbert will present your commendation.

We will start with Alameda County Health, Yon Park.

Can we take a photo over here?

That'd be okay.

And everybody can be in it.

What do you think?

Oh, but you want to send the photo.

So you could be in the past.

This is a 30-year posture.

I think all of us are in the podium.

Also from Alameda County Health, Ruben Robles.

From the Alameda County Assessor's Office, Joanne Chow.

Also from the Alameda Counters Office, Kathy Bacular.

From the County Auditor's Office, Torito Morales.

Stacey Angelo.

So from the human resources department, we have Stacy Angelo.

From also from the Human Resources Department, Benita Cox.

From the probation department, we have Ibrahim Sophia.

One three, one, two, three.

From the sheriff's office, Jason Hall.

From the Social Service Agency, we have Marianne Faroe.

Also from the Social Service Agency, Patricia Hadley.

Also from the Social Service Agency, George Legachman Deshun.

Also from the Social Agency, Hilton Algood.

Come on in.

Anyway, I'm not sure if you're going to be able to do that.

Sal, come on in.

Is there any public comment on that item?

Any public comment on that item?

Any public comment on any of the set matter items?

We have one person who's raised their hand.

Check and see if that's the right one.

Brenda Clark, go ahead.

Brenda.

Please unmute.

Brenda Clark.

Okay.

Tuan.

If it's on the comment on item number 78.

Oh, we add 78.

Okay.

We're not on it 78 yet.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Is there any other public comment?

There are no speakers.

No public comment on any of the set matter items.

One o'clock or two o'clock set matters.

I'm just making sure.

Okay.

With that, we're going to take a five-minute reset.

To establish our quorum.

Supervisor Marquez.

Present.

Supervisor Tan present.

Supervisor Miley.

Supervisor Fortnite.

Present.

Present helpers.

Present.

We have a quorum.

Thank you very much.

We're now at the point where we will ask for approved.

Well, let's see.

Let's have public comment on all items that are on the agenda, except for those items listed as set matters.

Public comment on all items except set matters and closed sessions, we also did earlier.

This would be a time to raise your hand if you are in the room to fill out a speaker slip.

If you're online, raise your hand.

Public comment on all items except set matters.

Let's see how many speaker slips we have in person first and then online.

And I'll ask for a count.

You can adjust the microphone.

There we go.

If it's green, it's on.

Okay.

So I'm here to speak on item 78.

I have been in Oakland residence for 10 years for 10 of those years.

I've worked as a technical recruiter.

I have staffed AI technologists, data engineers, cybersecurity engineers for consulting firms that implement and integrate AI and software systems for Fortune 500 companies.

I've learned from those very people that are architecting and building these data management platforms just how difficult and costly it is to keep data secure.

With that understanding, I urge the board of supervisors to say no to the peregrine contract renewal and expansion totaling an exorbitant one point four million dollars.

Furthering the community's concern, um that these tech companies are going to continue to find ways to expand and drain more and more funds from the county's already strained budget.

It is very concerning that there are no amendments.

I believe there are no amendments being considered or submitted today.

Let's dive into just a few of the details of the contract, which contains significant gaps in privacy, civil liberties, cybersecurity, and data governance protections.

While the agreement permits county approval of subcontractors, it does not require disclosure of subprocessors, geographic limitations on data handling, downstream privacy obligations, equivalent security standards, CGIS slowdown requirements, or county approval of cloud infrastructure.

The contract also lacks any prohibition on the use of third-party analytic providers or external machine learning partners.

As a result, Alameda County will have little to no visibility into which entities ultimately process or access the county's operational data.

Please, the minimum you could do today is hold off on the renewal to learn and identify the amendments that are needed to put the card.

I may be the oldest one up in here.

So I figured I better share some shit with you.

First of all, after we was made illegal and the West was whitened, I was illegal in Oregon for a period of time.

Between those that spoke Spanish, those that spoke English, those that spoke American, and those that spoke me.

The rodeos was a breakdance, so we didn't have to fight to know who could ride best, who could road best, carrying on like that.

That's your point of information.

Uh I wanted to talk about six and twelve.

Six A, I'm in favor of uh noting that Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown clunked the mental health money pretty bad during their tenures, which just goes to show corruption is the equal opportunity employer.

Uh on 12 part of the program that I brought come here to get, but I keep getting distracted is community preparations for disaster relief.

Cause SEMA and Red Cross, we're the ones had the jack up Red Cross.

I don't know if you remember, they collected 50 million.

We had to slap them across all four cheeks, because they'd give up 12 million, and all the visiting the Red Cross has got the hotels while the suffering people got the gyms.

Oh, agriculture.

Along with some graduates of the 4-H and the FFA in the tail end of the 80s after getting listened to careful by the uh California certified organic farmers.

We come up with a phrase.

Let the record reflect.

If you ever see the phrase organized, it came from us.

And if they ain't doing right, you tell us, because we will take their stuff in court.

Organicize, organized organically, and a whole bunch of 4-H and FFA people from Central America, California to Switzerland.

We still about it, even if we ain't got a domain name or government to uh grant riders to uh suck off the picture.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you for your comments.

Yeah.

Last thing is, I hope you can get the ground, bro.

But some housing and open no.

Thank you.

Uh uh, for your comments.

What you would do, it disappeared.

So you got either find that or allocate tomorrow.

Thank you for your comment.

Next speaker.

Um I'm here for two different occasions.

Um, aiding and betting.

Um, I'm here to have some categorical calls of action.

Uh, in view of Johnson Pharmaceutical and Purdue uh against the US, the under the Department of War help.

Ina Cook Goldman continues to understand torture, and that as Gensner, uh she begins to procedures, Nuremberg as well as um that of the um uh of active application.

I believe it to be understood as a civil conspiracy, color of foreign law.

Uh second action and a SOSA under ATS.

I define poverty as killing, uh a killing of color by foreign law, torture, cause of extrajudicial.

I would like to ask that John Roberts in view of aiding and abetting, be um received a second time for a white horn by Donald John Trump.

Uh primary issue is welfare to work.

I'm gonna ask that that be seen as blatant gross and negligent by this of the city, state, and county of California, city of Alameda, County of Alameda.

Um against myself.

I am asking that under the Department of War help that the procedures known as the 918 construction continue to happen, and that we get more explicit uh under the use of force and the application of danger against the state of America for the uses of the Nuremberg and the Ekman trials.

I'm also indicating a request that Essex property go bankrupt in view of Gerber under the Pack and Williams Act, and that so will be identified as a question today based on blatant growth and malice negligence in view of that of complex integration and that of integrative applications tied to village market and the luck use.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Mike Mitchell.

Hey, supervisors, it's uh Mike Mitchell.

I'm the vice president of the Castlewood property uh owners association.

Uh, and thanks for your time today.

Um, back uh a few weeks ago on the April 28th Board of Supervisors.

Mike, this item's not on the agenda.

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought it was just public comment.

No, this is a public comment on items that are on the agenda, just not just one items on set.

I apologize.

So apologies.

There will be time at the end of the meeting.

So hang on, thank you.

That would be later.

Uh Eduardo.

Yes.

Uh, this is uh myth versus fact peregrine, palantir, and flock safety.

Myth one, peregrine is owned by Palantir.

The fact is Peregrine is an independent company.

The only connection is that several founders previously worked at Palantir.

There is no shared data, no shared systems, and no corporate relationship.

Myth two, Peregrine gives Palantir access to local police data.

Fact.

Peregrine does not send data to Palantir.

Agencies control their own data, and Peregrine operates as a standalone platform with its own contracts and security requirements.

Myth three flock safety and peregrine are the same company.

Fact.

Flock safety makes license plate reader cameras.

Peregrine is a data integration platform, they are completely separate companies.

Myth four: if a city uses Peregrine, Flock automatically gets access to everything.

Fact.

Flock does not receive any data data from Peregrine.

The flow is one-directional.

Agencies can choose to import Flock ALPR hits into Peregrine just like any other data source.

Myth five, Peregrine is a surveillance company.

Fact, Peregrine does not collect data on its own.

It simply helps agencies organize the information they already have so investigators can work faster and more accurately.

Myth six, this is a secret partnership.

Fact is there is no partnership between Palantir Flock and Peregrine.

The only link is interoperability, the same way that email works across different providers.

So let's get the facts straight and stop with the ideology.

When it was at the Oakland City Council, and Alyssa Marquez, you need to think on your own and do your own homework.

Thank you.

Can you hear me now?

Yes, go ahead.

Okay.

Um I support the use of peregrine system as a modern investigative tool to help sheriff's office solve crime, improve coordination, and better protect the public.

Today law enforcement agencies deal with massive amounts of information coming from reports, call service, warrants, stolen vehicles, camera systems, and other data sources.

Systems like Peregrine is absolutely crucial to help investigators connect all this information quickly that uh and efficiently so that we can uh urgently uh solve crime and uh look at cases involving organized retail theft, shootings, robberies, missing persons, and re and and uh put away repeat offenders, time matters during investigations, delays in finding connections between cases can mean suspects remain on the streets longer.

So uh it's important that we have uh strong oversight, but it's also important that we have a balanced approach and protect the public.

So I urge the county and the boards of supervisors to have responsible use of technology and help protect uh our businesses or families or seniors uh so that we could feel safe and that businesses can thrive and uh and that we have uh uh sound public safety strategy.

Thank you very much.

So I's Ching.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes, go ahead.

Great.

Um hi, I'm a resident of uh Oakland, District One.

Um, and yeah, I'm just calling to say that I don't think that we should support um item 78, um, peregrine technologies.

Frankly, like I I've been here, you know, hanging out while you all were celebrating the long history of work in in the county, right?

Um, you saw the ballet from Oakland's ask for money because the arts are getting defunded.

You saw um, you know, Pacific Islander uh community centers being defunded as well.

There's so much money that's flowing uh out of our county that um is is in really critical places, but yet we want to try and spend 723,000 on a technology that frankly is not useful for us, right?

Like the it's not true that technology makes us more safe.

It's just not true.

The predictive policing model that these AI algorithms are trying to sell to law enforcement agencies is the same kind of bias built in from all of their creators.

Uh predictive technologies will never stop crime.

They'll probably kill innocent people, if anything, um, much like how many predictive technologies have done so in the past.

This is the basis of racial profiling.

Um, and it's just putting it into a tech lens and being like, well, you know, if a computer says it's fine, then that's all fine and good.

Um I urge you all to just uh reject the implementation of peregrine technologies, um, and make it so that way we can, you know, like actually have the money go to things that are actually useful to us.

Mass surveillance does not keep us safe, um, but it rather like endangers us and violates uh the constitutional rights for every resident and every visitor in Alameda County.

So um yeah, urge you all to reject the implementation of it.

Thank you.

Next three in person are Tuan, Madeline, Stacy, Manny.

Madeline Stacy, item 78.

This is information directly from the AC Alameda County Sheriff's Office, agenda attachment 78.

The Peregrine platform consists of advanced data analytics software, which interprets and manages the constant flow of critical data that originates from various databases.

The platform increases efficiencies by turning large amounts of raw data from various databases into actionable information.

That is predictive policing, full stop.

It continues.

Examples of data that are analyzed include case records, calls for service, custody records, digital evidence from bodyborne cameras and other third-party databases.

So with just a name, a license plate, a vehicle, an address, law enforcement can quickly assemble detailed profile on an individual's movements and personal history, a dossier, if you will, often without a warrant.

We do not want that.

And speaking of databases, on February 10th and April 21st, the Sheriff's Office presented here about the real-time information center, touting the substantial investment, investment in technology, software, and hardware, specifically naming Flux integrated cloud hardware and software platform.

So the Sheriff's Office stated an intention for Peer Green is duplicative of the real-time information.

Excuse me, information center, which already took three years, a lot of personnel hours, and a lot of money to build.

And speaking of money, this extension would increase the contract to a total amount of over 1.4 million dollars.

That's big money to yet another big tech company.

Money that could be spent in ways that actually help our county and actually prevent crime.

This is a redundant database we do not need, with technology we cannot trust, and one we cannot afford in more ways than one.

Vote Gnome extension.

Hello.

Palantir alumni make up a quarter of the Peregrine team.

Millions of data points aggregated into a platform which prides itself for being a leader in predictive policing.

If Flock is the Netflix for stalkers and law enforcement, then Peregrine is the superpowered Google for police.

When asked whether Flock was integrated into the Peregrine system, the sheriff said not yet.

But during the Arctic presentation, Flock was included on the list of integrated systems.

Predictive policing is simply a method of automating the already existing disparities faced by the cons by constantly over police communities.

The only way to lower crime is to fund community programs that treat the root causes of crime, not by continuing to increase an already inflated police budget.

At the expense of organizations like the ones you guys just honored earlier today.

In 2020, after the death of George Floyd, Santa Cruz banned predictive policing and companies that provide predictive policing because they, along with other jurisdictions, saw the danger that it would have on communities of color who are already victims of over policing, especially black and brown communities.

Peregrine is currently working with the National Fusion Center Association in an attempt to be integrated nationwide in fusion centers.

Peregrine is a prominent data integration partner for the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center.

Through these DHS-funded fusion centers, federal immigration enforcement agencies would have access to our local data in violation of state and local law.

Around the country, Peregrine is being used by other counties such as Lee County to modernize its uh immigration enforcement.

According to a Homeland Security MOU, which I became privy to, your East Bay Priority Target Task Force is currently part of a Homeland Security Task Force on Region 2 alongside ICE.

Peregrine CEO is a former Palantir executive under whom they got contracts with Federal Immigration Enforcement.

Flock can be migrated into it.

So we're here today to discuss mass surveillance.

Oakland and Alameda County as a whole has a really rich and deep history of civil rights activism.

And see, here today that you want to extend a contract with a company that has a contract with ICE and DHS is profoundly upsetting.

I do not understand why you would ever consider having some sort of a contract with a company that allies itself with the enemy of your population.

This needs to be shot down.

This needs to be thrown out the window and never looked at again.

This is a stain on your reputations.

And I hope you recognize that this is not just a simple policing tool.

This will give ICE and DHS a backdoor into all data regarding your citizens.

It will give them access to their addresses, to their place of work, to the license plate cameras that follow them in between destinations.

This is effectively a breadcrumb trail so that ICE can hunt your people down.

Take this out of your agenda.

Take this off the table and go shove it somewhere that it deserves to be.

Thank you.

Rodhika, go ahead.

Hi, my name is Robbie.

Hi, my name is Rodica.

I live in Albany.

I was at the city council hearing in El Cerido, where we succeeded in canceling the contract with Flock.

I was also at the city council hearing at Berkeley, where we stopped them for further investing in additional flock services.

And I'm here today to urge you to stop your investments and contracts with Peregrine.

Peregrine is effectively a Palantir spin-off that brings military grade surveillance and software into local communities driven by an inner circle of billionaire investors and former Palantir executives.

Any of information ingested into this system can be searched, and we know exactly who the information goes to and what happens to the vulnerable people in our communities.

Crime and public safety is being weaponized by our community leaders to spend money on technology that is only doubling down on mass surveillance, which is accessed by the feds.

If you could if you care about public safety and what what and the reason crime rates go up, then let's think about the job opportunities that are gone right now that are leading people to desperate situations.

As we heard earlier, people are losing homes, jobs, access to health care, and you represent everyone and need to make a decision that benefits and protects your whole community by investing in this common community, this company, sorry, you're funding and feeding the system that is currently preying on the vulnerable.

This investment, Miss Peregrine, is a sellout of our people instead of investing in what they really need.

There are many different creative ways of bringing the community together, building out solutions that serve us and protect us all.

There are ideas of having scope-sons where people take part of the problem and brainstorm solutions.

There's number and hundreds of people that are volunteering to speak up about this problem, and I bet you they will brainstorm solutions.

This is where a Fed government has failed us.

I refuse to believe that we cannot find a solution, a better solution among all of us.

Stop finding AI surveillance.

Sassy, please unmute.

Hear me?

Yes, go ahead.

It infringes on people's rights as Americans.

Most people don't want this.

Serious problems with the contract were already mentioned.

Just with those questions alone, I would expect you to pause to evaluate it and fix the problems, and that already should compel a no vote.

It's hard to see why when other uses of funds are better for your constituents, the people in these areas, and can power resources local and help local people and don't endanger people's privacy or people.

It's hard to see why you would decide to put 1.4 million dollars into this unpopular, scary technology that as far as we know isn't needed.

Crime is down.

Thank you.

Andrew.

Hello.

Hi there.

I'm Andrew.

I'm a um Alamana County voter.

And I just wanted to call in to voice my strong opposition to any peregrine AI software.

Uh one of the great things I love about this uh beautiful state of California is our privacy laws are the best of the nation.

It's really just like a golden state beautiful thing I love about living here.

Um and this caregivering software clearly violates these laws as well as basic human decency.

I think most of the population is opposed to being entered into a creepy AI surveillance system, and I really want you to uphold the golden state values, really just reject this and take it off the table.

Uh finally, as a proud silent friend of many veterans, I have to ask you a candid question that I want you to consider.

And uh I hope you vote no, but the question is do you serve a king or do you serve the American people?

Thank you for your time.

Next three in person, Ollie Esse, Jason Aquina, uh Mio Saleo.

Okay.

Um Badgett, Joyce Doe, Tommy Brown.

Uh Naya.

Hi, my name is Anaya.

I've lived in Oakland and Alamina County for over 40 years.

I don't want to live in a surveillance society, so I'm asking you to reject both the extension and the addition.

I can't believe everyone, I can't believe the cities that are expecting that that think it's a good idea to be extending these contracts now that it's become clear how permeable the information is to ice and uh DHS.

There's a lack of accountability.

There's a lack of transparency, there's a lack of control over our own data, and there is a lack of proof that the use of these sorts of technologies lower crime.

In fact, I remember somebody was talking talking about myths.

That's clearly a myth.

Yes, crime is lower in our country, all over our country now, but there's no evidence to show that it's from AI or license plate readers that are surveilling us.

Even in my neighborhood, there's so there must be in all your neighborhoods too.

These cameras are everywhere.

It's really concerning.

Uh, so um I'm not so this system would consolidate information.

Y'all know this around license plate readers, sheriff's body cams, other cameras, drones, mapping, and other data, and create a weaponized and harmful database.

Mass surveillance does not keep us safe.

It endangers the safety of our communities and violates our constitutional rights.

This is particularly an issue for our black and brown siblings whose neighborhoods are bound to be targeted as they have been for decades.

And what about immigrants?

Aren't we a sanctuary city?

I do not want this data collected, and particularly I do not want this military grade system pushed by billionaires who have really different values than I do.

Please vote now.

Derek Barnes.

President Howard, I mean, need about 20 seconds more for programming updates if that's okay.

I may need about 20 seconds more for programming updates if that's okay.

I can't give anybody more time to just talk about it.

Talk fast, okay.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, supervisors and uh it's county staff Derek Barnes with the Bay Rental Housing Association and the lead administrator of the Alameda County Housing Provider Resource Center.

I'm here to support the contract amendments item 42 on today's agenda, including the amendments to fund and extend the contract with Ebra.

Uh the resource center, uh, the first in the Bay Area is a pilot program for the unincorporated uh Alameda County area, and it was greenlit by this board in mid-2024 to primarily address owners' needs after uh COVID moratoriums, uh, mostly to centered around uh program best practices, property management best practices, compliance education and navigation services.

Uh we worked very closely with HCD and CDA staff to develop and launch and track uh the performance of this program.

And since it's since it's launch in December 2024 through September 2025, the county program has received almost 500 outline calls and emails, gets over 80 unique site visitors monthly, and made nearly 5,000 outbound contacts.

Um we also have a presence at the Hall of Justice every single week.

I am also thrilled to report that the evolution of this program has led to a few things.

One, the launch of a website learning uh academy, two, a central contract and educational hub for renters and owners that's missing in the county today.

Three, stakeholder discussions convened by county court justices who want to see a new pilot program around eviction diversion uh to address problems that they're witnessing in the courts, and four, um activating a small owner uh rapid repair pilot that we're calling the RISE program to get unsafe vacant units back into the market, and that's a future proposal coming to you.

Um, I just want to say with all the shifting investment and funding priorities that I know that are that you're up against.

Uh run out.

However, um I can't give you more time, but I I can ask you a question, because this item's on the agenda.

Why is this working well?

And how could it be even better?

Yeah.

Uh it's a wonderful question.

I think what we've learned and we've become, I think a good partner to the county in terms of outreach, and we're just going where the people are, the people who are impacted most, and that is down in the courts.

I think I've also often said that the county doesn't do a great job at promoting its own programs.

Um, and I think we've really kind of done a great job at cracking the code of going where the people are that need these services, but also recognizing too that there's overlap too.

So we're seeing that a lot of renters need help and assistance as well.

Um so I think continuing to kind of be there in the community, showing up where folks are.

I think that's really quite critical in making this program continuing to have it be successful and lead to other programs.

I think that's the one thing, too, that that's happened as a result of the center is that it's leading to other opportunities, talking with the sheriff's department, talking to the judges, so that we're getting we're centering around problems that exist in the county that if we put our minds and resources and investments together and partner in the right way.

I think we can do some, we can continue to do some great work in terms of eliminating some of our um issues around displacement, which is what we really want to be involved in, going more upstream with an investment, but making sure that we have the results that lead to less displacement of residents and more education of our owners.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Next speaker, Dale Silva.

Hi, my name's Dale Silva.

I'm speaking as a resident of Fairview in support of the proposed ordinances before you today, item 76, which would outlaw fireworks in the unincorporated area.

It was drafted by our sheriff's department, which which may yet be making the presentation to you today at some point.

I don't know.

Sheriff's Department of Shepherd through the long process to get it before you today.

This ordinance will, among other things, it would assign responsibility to property owners for the discharge of illegal fireworks on their property by the tenants.

It's called a social host provision, and it's huge.

It's a law adopted in many communities in the Bay Area, including Hayward Livermore.

Now Dublin, it's very effective in dealing with uh with uh illegal fireworks.

The principle of sound, this particular social host uh principle is sound.

It's easier to identify an offending property than it is to identify an offending individual regarding assigning property, regarding assigning responsibility to a property owner for the actions or non-actions of his tenant doing so is well established in our current Alameda code enforcement.

For example, if a tenant has three cars on blocks in the front yard, it's the property owner that's contacted by code enforcement, not the tenant.

If a tenant lets weeds grow tall so tall or a code violation is the property owner that's contacted.

If a tenant imports unhealthy soil, it's the property owner who's contacted.

There are many good things in this proposed ordinance to prohibit the use of fireworks in the unincorporate in unincorporated Alameda County, and I encourage you to uh adopt the ordinance today.

It's first reading is item 76.

Thank you.

Please unmute.

Paragreen is currently contracted with DHS and the platform's ALRP integration capabilities would make Alameda County in violation of stink sanctuary laws, specifically California Values Act SB 54, as systems which can be integrated into Peregreen like Flock have been proven to share data with ICE indirectly or directly.

And through these fusion centers, they can weaponize our data to deport our neighbors.

Pear Green is working with other jurisdictions to quote modernize their approach to immigration enforcement.

And um the integration would also be an unnecessary over extension, violating our personal privacy, um, combining license plate readers, drones, situational awareness cameras, and police body cams.

AI weapons have been proven to make mistakes disproportionately harming black and brown communities, and have been used to target vulnerable people by our federal government.

Peregreen also reported uh routinely supports multiple of the 81 local DHS uh recognized fusion centers.

Um one example of our data being exposed uh occurred at El Cajone, and just it's kind of ridiculous that we're having to go through this conversation again and again.

Um, this is dangerous.

This is putting our community in danger.

Alameda County is filled with people that are here as immigrants, and it's just kind of silly that we pretend to be so liberal and caring about community and blah blah blah, and then continue to contract.

How much money is this?

This is an increase of 72300,000 being given to an AI technology company that has again and again proven it does not care about our safety and is willing to betray our privacy.

Jesse Rosemore.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes, go ahead.

Okay, thank you so much.

Uh, no one item 78, no on peregreen.

Uh, please don't do this.

Uh, this is basically Palantir, but uh for local communities.

So, you know, while so many of the people on this board say that they uh are against our current federal government and what they're doing, uh, this contract like would bring that sort of terror that we're seeing on a federal level home to our communities and uh have it weaponized by uh our local law enforcement agencies against us.

Um just like the last speaker said uh this massive AI database will take all of these uh things that you're collecting through other AI databases like Flock and uh use facial recognition to target people in ways that are you know just plainly illegal and plainly against state law, and furthermore, having been to the flock item uh last month.

I really don't trust the sheriff's department with this technology.

Uh we saw them give a very talkish pro-flock presentation last month and uh those of those of us who are able to give public comment at that meeting who are allowed to give public comment through the clerk after so many pro-surveillance activists uh were like all of them were allowed to speak.

Um, you know, we heard our community members who went to the sheriff's office outreach events about flock, um, say that their concerns were not met after our sheriff's department said that all concerns were met and were were like, you know, spoken to and that the community didn't have real concerns about this.

What outreach have you done about bringing Palantir here to our community with Paragreen?

Um, I'd like to I'd like to see what this outreach looks like and what the community really says about this.

Um, you know, please don't do this.

Um, I know we're gonna see another disasters three to two vote, but please actually stand up for us and do the right thing when it comes to that to this item.

Thank you.

Bobby, go ahead.

Yes, thank you.

I'd like to speak uh in support of the sheriff's uh fireworks ordinance for the unincorporated Alameda County.

Um Sheriff's Department has crafted a very a very good strong ordinance to help them with the tools they need to uh help our community and uh just uh if you hear the presentation, which I hope we get to it.

Um, last year during the 30 days before for July 4th, they had 640 plus calls regarding uh fireworks.

17 of those calls resulted in fires directly uh attributed to illegal fireworks.

Um the ordinance was crafted uh based on all the surrounding jurisdictions for unincorporated Almade County, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, City of Fremont, City of Haymort, City of Livermore, City of Oakland.

They all have strong, strict enforcement policies, including a social host ordinance built into it.

Uh even the cities, the three cities that have charitable licensed uh companies out there that sell safe and sane, those three communities have a very strict enforcement of when those can be sold, when they can be ignited, uh specific dates and times, and they also have a very strong social host liability policy built into their fireworks ordinance.

Unincorporated Alamade County is the only jurisdiction that does not have an ordinance, and I urge you to approve it and help support safety in our community.

Thank you.

There are no more speakers.

With that, we've had public comment on the regular scheduled items.

We're gonna close public comment and take up approval of minutes from the meetings of February 25th, April 1st, 21st, 28th.

And the special meeting on the 28th, is there a motion to approve the minutes?

Mr.

President, I will move approval of the minutes from February 25th, 2025.

April 1st, 2025, April 21st, 2026, April 28, 2026, and April 28th, 2026, special meeting.

Second.

Motion's been made and seconded.

Approve the minutes.

Roll call vote, please.

Supervisor Marquez, aye.

Supervisor 10.

Aye.

Supervisor Miley.

Supervisor Fortnite?

Aye.

President Halbert.

I vote yes.

Our next item is the consent calendar items 108 through 115.

Is there a motion to approve?

Uh move the consent calendar.

Uh second.

Motion's been made by Supervisor Tam, second by Supervisor Miley.

Prove the consent calendar.

Roll call vote, please.

I want to comment on items 108, 107, excuse, 108, 109, and 11.

I'm not opposed to any of that, but I would just like to see at some point if we can give an update on tax defaulted properties.

What's being done to see if we can use any of those tax defaulted properties for um housing?

I assume our team is listening to that, and we'll have a report when they're ready.

Okay to vote.

Roll call vote, please.

Yes.

Ready for the mass motion.

County administrator, did you have some comments about some of the items on the mass motion?

Okay.

So I understand that uh supervisor Miley is recusing himself from item 34, 36, and 42.

So did you want to?

Yeah, Vice President Tam, my apologies.

Items 46 and 47 are being withdrawn.

Okay.

Um let me um move.

The items, uh item number two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven.

I have a question on twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two.

Question on thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four.

Question on was considered this morning, correct?

Yes.

I have to recuse myself on 34.

Keep it out of the mass motion.

Okay, I'm sorry.

Uh 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, and 47 have been pulled, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 79, 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 78 78 is not part of the mass motion.

Very good.

A motion's been made.

Is there a second?

Motion's been made and seconded.

Let's have uh deliberation.

First item that I have noted is item 27 question by Supervisor Tam.

Um, thank you, President Howard.

I wanted to uh ask a question of the probation department.

Uh this is a great example of collaboration between our county health department, our district attorney, the probation department, uh, which uh gets funding from the California violence intervention and prevention program um to the tune of five million dollars, and it's distributed among um uh some major departments at the county to help with violence prevention.

So my question is uh does the county historically get this grant on a regular basis?

We apply and we get informed.

Yes, this was the first time that we applied collectively of three organizations on this particular grant.

Our department has applied for this uh individually in the past, and we've been awarded.

This is the first time we've done it together.

Awesome.

Congratulations from that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's it.

Thank you.

I have comments on item 32.

Um, I have comments the same on 34 and 36, but Supervisor Miley won't be in the room with us at that time.

The comments are kind of similar.

These are discretionary funding items, and I'm pulling out and highlighting funding that we're providing that my office is providing to specifically a couple of examples.

Hers, breast cancer, which treats post-surgical products and supplies to people that are affected by breast cancer.

Calico Center, supporting child advocacy and support service programs, the construction trades workforce initiative, including apprentices, apprenticeship training, Tri-Vally Haven, we all know does great work supporting women fleeing domestic violence, these are discretionary funding items, and I note that it's currently under attack by a Senate Bill 1193.

I note that this requires a four-fifths vote to approve.

That's even more strict than the supposed transparency of Senate Bill 1193.

I also note that all of these discretionary items are on our agenda with detailed explanations for everyone to see that we discuss.

And I appreciate the others of us that are supporting similar wonderful organizations in our community.

So I beg your support and appreciate it.

And with that said, Supervisor Miley.

Yes, I'm glad you pulled this particular item to speak to.

And not only is it the senator characterizing it as a slash fund, she's actually accusing us of pay to play.

I've been on the board for quite a number of years.

Not just this board, prior boards and prior boards, and prior boards have provided resources and reforms have been made based on the grand jury's um recommendations and other actions the board's taken.

So, you know, quite frankly, and I can only speak for myself, I'm offended, highly offended that a state senator would accuse me of pay to play.

Highly offended.

And if that is the case, then I I would suggest to say Senator Goliath FBI and have the authorities look into these matters.

I know the press is looking into them, and I will vouch that there's no pay to play.

So I just wanted to state that since you pulled this item to speak to it, because yeah, it really upsets me.

Thank you, Supervisor Miley.

Appreciate that.

No other comments for me on that item.

Did we have other items of question or comments?

I don't believe so.

I was taking notes.

I believe we're ready to vote on the mass motion.

Um is that supervisor Tam, you do you have any other items that we note questions on?

With that said, a motion's been made and seconded.

It's been deliberated and discussed.

We'll now be ready for roll call vote.

Supervisor Marquis.

Aye.

Supervisor Tan.

Aye.

Supervisor Miley.

Aye.

Supervisor Fortnite Bass.

Aye.

President Halbert.

I vote yes.

We pulled an item, I think that is 78.

Do you want to take the three items where there were recusals first?

Okay, let's um, sure.

So those are Miley.

34, 36, and 42.

All right.

So yes, I need to recuse myself on these three items.

Um has been my practice and as required uh by the Levine Act.

Um, but particularly as it relates to items 34 and 36, um, there is no Levine Act um issue.

The issue is the fact that once again, uh, because the contributions being made to the United Seniors, um, 34 Roman numeral five, A5, and 36 Roman numeral, excuse me, uh, Roma numeral three, uh, two contributions to United Seniors, because I'm the president of the United Seniors.

I receive no compensation, repeat that no compensation for the United Seniors.

Um, I am the president.

Um, but I do need to uh disclose that my daughter does work for the United Seniors.

Um started working there last year in September, and uh once again I recuse myself on items 34 and 36 because of that reason.

Then when it gets to item 42, I'm recruiting recusing myself because my good friend Derek Barnes has made two contributions to me, and I need to disclose the amounts and the date.

Let me pull that up.

Um both amounts were five five hundred dollars, and the dates were let me see here.

Let me just look for that real fast.

Oh, here we go.

The dates, and that's another lean act that I have to um state this recusal.

Um December 10th, 2025, and March 7th, 2026, all within the last 12 months.

Okay.

Is there a motion to approve those items?

President Halbert, I will move to approve items 34, 36, and 42.

I'll second.

Motion's been made by Supervisor Fortunato Bass, seconded by Supervisor Marquez.

Roll call vote, please.

Supervisor Marquez.

Aye.

Supervisor Tam, aye.

Supervisor Miley recuse himself and left the room before voting.

Supervisor Fortunatabath, aye.

And President Halbert.

I vote yes.

That motion passes.

We will welcome back Supervisor Miley and proceed with our ordinances.

Your first ordinance is uh item 60, which is a recommendation that you approve salary ordinance amendments as well as a side letter of agreement and updating designations for your representatives for labor relations.

The title of the ordinance, the first ordinance is an ordinance amending the June 25, 2025 through July 3rd, 2027 memorandum of understanding between the Alameda County Management Employees Association, General Government Unit, and the County of Alameda.

The title of the second ordinance is an ordinance amending certain provisions of the 2025-2026 County of Alameda salary ordinance.

Mr.

President, I will move to adopt the side letter agreement between the County of Alameda and the Building Trades Council to amend the respective sections.

I will move to wave the full first reading and introduce the ordinance amending uh the MOU as listed in item 60B.

I will move to waive the full first reading and introduce the salary ordinance amendments as described in items 60 C, Roman 1 and 2.

And then I will also move to update the designations for the county's representatives and the negotiations with labor.

Second.

Motion's been made by Supervisor Tam, second by Supervisor Miley.

Roll call vote, please.

Supervisor Marquez, aye.

Supervisor Tam.

Aye.

Supervisor Miley.

Supervisor Fortunato Bass.

President Halbert.

I vote yes.

Your next ordinance is item 76.

It's a recommendation from the sheriff that you approve an ordinance adopting chapter 9.46 to the Alameda County Ordinance Code to prohibit the use of fireworks in unincorporated Alameda County.

The title of the ordinance is an ordinance adopting chapter 9.46 of the Alameda County Ordinance Code to prohibit the use of fireworks in unincorporated Alameda County.

I'll second.

Motion's been made and seconded.

We'll have deliberation, Supervisor Miley.

Yes.

I want to thank uh the sheriff's office for working on this ordinance.

This has been a long time in coming.

We've been wanting an ordinance like this for I don't know, at least a decade.

Uh so I'm glad we were finally able to bring this to fruition.

It's come to the unincorporated services committee, both Supervisor Tam and I have heard this.

Uh I my rec recollections correct.

It might even have been circulated at the various max as well in the unincorporated area.

And you know, the whole thing is uh fireworks can cause property damage, they can cause uh bodily uh damage and injury as well.

And we in the unincorporated area really feel that we want to get a better handle on people uh using fireworks and using them without uh permission uh that's causing uh concerns and we can't control maybe what happens in other jurisdictions, but in the unincorporated area, you know.

You know, I'm proud of our sheriff's department.

I'm proud to have once again the CHP helping with law enforcement in the corporate area because we take public safety seriously in the corporate area.

So thank you, Sheriff.

Mr.

President, I also want to comment and uh thank our county council department, especially um given some adjustments that had to be made in the ordinance that went through the unincorporated services committee.

So I'm also very supportive.

We're trying to get this before July 4th, obviously.

Well, I'm supportive of the item, but I will just remind everyone affected by it.

They're all welcome to Dublin or Union City, which has safe and sane fireworks, not to purchase fireworks to take back home, but to have them enjoyed in our parking lots.

Motion's been made in second.

Roll call vote, please.

Supervisor Marquez.

Aye.

Supervisor Tim.

Aye.

Supervisor Miley.

Hi.

Supervisor Fortnite Vice.

President Howard.

Yes.

Item 87 is your last ordinance.

It's adoption of an ordinance related to traffic regulations in the unincorporated area.

An ordinance amending chapter one relating to traffic regulations, county highways of Title VI relating to vehicles and traffic of the Alameda County Public Works, ACPW traffic code.

Mr.

President, I will move to wait the full first reading and introduce the ordinance amending chapter one relating to traffic regulations ascribed in item 87.

Second.

Motion's been made by Supervisor Tim, second by Supervisor Miley.

Roll call vote, please.

Supervisor Marquez.

Supervisor Tim.

Aye.

Supervisor Miley.

Hi.

Supervisor for another best.

President However.

Yes.

So your last item is item 78 from the Sheriff's Office.

It's a recommendation that your board approve the second contract amendment with Peregrine increasing the contract amount from 686,500 to 1.4 million and 723,000 increase and extending the current contract term by two years to a term ending March 14th, 2028.

Very good.

I'll ask the sheriff to give a brief um discussion or presentation just to sort of move this along.

But I also note that Supervisor Fortunato Bass continued the item from a previous meeting.

I'll let her also say a few words.

I know she has a couple of questions.

Alright, we're ready to go.

All right.

So briefly, it's important that it is clearly distinguished as far as what this technology is and what it is not.

Peregrine is a data analysis platform that allows the sheriff's office personnel to more effectively analyze and organize large volumes of information in support of public safety operations, information that we already have.

In many respect, it is no different than any other enterprise technology that is utilized across county government, such as Microsoft or Salesforce.

The ability of my staff to perform their work efficiently, solve crimes, support victims, and partner with county departments and this board.

Uh aim towards the initiatives and improving and reimagining criminal justice.

Depends on the responsibility of how we use our modern technology.

So when it comes to criminal justice information systems, just as CGIS, um it's been mentioned a couple times by some of our uh community members.

I'm I'm responsible for that information.

I operate under strict federal and state legal requirements governing the access, use protection, and sharing of that information.

There are already statutory requirements that I am obligated to.

So, misuse of this system does have some account.

There is accountability via discipline and also potential criminal prosecution, it if it is misused.

The law is explicit in the fact that I, as sheriff, am solely responsible for policy and directives as they relate to how the sheriff's office enforces the law and investigates crimes.

The agreements brought before your board are intended to support critical law enforcement and public safety functions.

While there may be opportunities to strengthen and modernize the county's standard services agreement, as mentioned, it's likely going to require a significant amount of time.

In the interim, these operational needs cannot be delayed in a manner that jeopardizes public safety services for our unincorporated communities.

And in partnership with our county's information technology department and general services agency, the Sheriff's Office maintains policies, procedures, and security measures designed to ensure the proper protection of data in both virtual and physical environments.

And I'm gonna make a funny, I just ask.

Well, number one, I was disappointed that there was no voice to follow up with the costume, but I urge you to listen to me and not Batman.

I urge the board.

So that's my brief statement.

We have representatives from Peregrine here to answer any specific questions related to data sharing, who they partner with, because I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised on who they do and do not partner with.

So if I can have our peregrine folks step up for a little bit and kind of give an overview of what the company represents as well as what they do for the sheriff's office.

Sheriff, thank you so much.

President, members of the board, uh, Madam County Administrator, uh, thank you for allowing us a few minutes to speak to you today.

We are very excited and um want to really share with you that uh Peregrine is a locally based born and bred company.

We have a founder who actually had uh been within federal and military technology.

We have another founder.

Uh, they were both uh Stanford graduates together who had been doing refugee work around the world.

And when they came back to the country, they realized that our state, local, and law enforcement uh communities required the type of locally based and bred technology that aligned with local values, local governance, and state guidelines.

As the sheriff intimated to you earlier, California and the Bay Area are rife and rich with the types of guardrails around privacy and around state rules and regulations that we really developed.

Um, Peregrine was founded actually almost like in the garage with Apple in San Pablo PD.

The founders embedded with San Pablo PD for two years and slowly started building out what it is that local communities need for harm reduction and crime reduction within their communities.

And so they grew from there.

So we're really Bay Area strong within your county of Alameda.

We have about six or seven agencies as well as Alameda County who are our partner agencies as well as Oakland, who just passed last uh week.

We have San Francisco, San Jose, and more importantly, right here in our county, we have Alameda, the City of Alameda, East Bay Regional Parks, Fremont, Hayward, Richmond, and Newark.

And let me be very clear that while we Peregrine provide software as a service, we are not hardware, we are not surveillance, we are not tracking technology.

We really take an agency's data and help them make organize and make sense of it and put it in a type of report back to them that they direct and determine.

And so we do not own any of the agencies's data, nor do we in any way share that other than through their direct guidance and their direct provenance.

And those are very, very complex data sharing agreements.

And so I just wanted to say that our state and local growth here embedded within the Bay Area is our core determined uh clientele, and our basis is our customers in our community.

So we're not affiliated with any other national companies we're not affiliated with the federal government and we are here based locally with you and we're very excited and I have our deployment strategist Devin Duplessir here with with me.

He works with your local agency and has for quite a while now in fact has developed some really helpful and useful things in terms of consent decree metrics that we're pretty proud in taking to other agencies as well to help them with their corrections data but bottom line is that their data is their data it is directed and determined by the sheriff in compliance with all rules and regulations and not uh affiliated with any federal government or other agencies along those lines and Devin um maybe we'll speak to the issues that have come up around predictive policing because that's not a business we're in.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Good evening my name's Devin DupleSir I'm an employee of Peregrine as Susan mentioned I'm a deployment strategist and uh help integrate uh Peregrine uh with uh the the sheriff's office systems um couple things I want to talk about um that that were mentioned in uh public comment first of all um I want to make it abundantly clear uh there are no predictive policing capabilities in peregrine um it's not something we advertise it's not something you're capable of doing in peregrine um everything uh every capability in peregrine anchors on uh the agency's uh data uh that they own um so um you know for example we we there there are no capabilities where we can tell uh an officer hey there's gonna be um X number of robberies next week in this area that just simply doesn't exist um it's it's all based in their data that exists in those source systems um one other uh specific point I want to mention Susan was referencing data sharing with uh with agencies um the the specific process to initiate uh data sharing within peregrine requires a data sharing agreement um where an agency uh has to sign a standard agreement uh with specific terms that says that they will abide by all the laws within the jurisdiction which they reside um you know here that being uh the state of California they have to abide by specifically Senate Bill 54 um where they're not allowed to uh share with federal agencies um for immigration purposes so um the the 32 agencies that alameda county sheriff's office is currently sharing with are all um uh local uh uh agencies uh within the state of California um they're not sharing with any federal agencies and uh also on top of that there is a specific uh data sharing framework uh effectively guidelines uh that they've uh required uh where they outline the type of data that they will share with other agencies um so we we are governed by those requirements we do not uh go outside of those bounds to share uh beyond what what the sheriff has has um you know decided um everything is is uh respecting the the sheriff's ownership of their own data thank you for that um explanation supervisor for anything else sheriff before we go to questions and comments supervisor fortunate ask questions comments thank you for sharing that information so um you know i i do want to start by saying that public safety is a goal of our county it's something that i firmly prioritize uh in the work that I do as an elected official and I do believe in a holistic approach that includes law enforcement uh having the ability to be effective and accountable it includes us as the safety net being able to provide for people's basic needs and a lot of what we approved in our board agenda today, from, you know, housing people to doing violence intervention um et cetera.

So all of those things have to work together for a safe community.

And I do definitely appreciate the intent behind this item um I know that, you know, for any of our county employees uh we have to be as efficient as possible because there's so much work to do in front of us um at the same time uh given the scope and sensitivity of the data, given the federal administration that we are operating under and how quickly technology is moving, I do want to make sure that I understand fully what is in this contract and what the safeguards, oversight, and accountability measures are.

I want to make sure that the values align with our values around transparency as well as equitable contracting.

So I did send a number of questions to uh the office of the sheriff uh late last week.

I don't have a response to all of those yet, and I don't know if it's possible to hear responses to those questions.

Uh, but you know, when I went to the agenda item, it had some very basic information.

So I didn't have a chance to see the original contract, the First Amendment, or see what three additional data types were going to be added or data sources were going to be added and integrated into this platform.

So I necessarily I don't feel like I have all the information.

So uh the questions I asked were regarding privacy and the use policy for this, uh, this platform, also questions about civil rights and bias, questions about data sharing, as well as questions about accountability and transparency.

So as far as um the like the CGIS information that I'm responsible for already statutorily, um well, just starting with privacy.

Um is there a use policy just for Peregrine and this data platform, or do we have a single use policy for everything?

So we have a data sharing um, we have information that's captured in the contract as far as data sharing and that agreement and who is the owner of the data, which is us, um, and the fact that I have control over who I share that information with.

Um the the ALPR uh integration is not happening.

Uh that was something that was involved in the first initial board letter and it's been removed.

Um, we are not integrating any type of ALPR data into Peregrine.

Peregrine, the way that we're using it right now is really, I mean, we know we use it in a number of ways, but what has been new to us and what we've been working with Peregrine with, just as mentioned uh by Susan, is how we can get better in our jail as far as making sure that we are coming, you know, to our obligations for the consent decree, and that's staffing and finding ways or finding hours where there's more activity and shifting staff staffing resources to those times and days.

Um, we also use it for a real-time information center, but it is all information that we have already, and it's really just pulling to pulling together that information into a dashboard that our staff can easily see and be able to interpret.

Okay, thank you.

And then in terms of civil rights and bias, um I do want to understand this better.

Um, does the platform use algorithm algorithmic or predictive analysis?

And if so, what testing has been done for racial bias or disparate impact?

I'm gonna have Captain Brody answer some of these questions that he's been working with Peregrine, but I can say for the predictive policing, I think that was answered already by Peregrine.

Um, and the algorithm issue is also has been addressed by Peregrine as well.

But go on.

Yeah, as such, there's no there's no predictive policing, there's no algorithmic uh prediction by the software.

It is all just responding to the queries made by our staff.

So that's not something we've done with that.

Um, but to the concept of a use policy, all of our C systems and all of our our software with personally personally identifiable information and CIS software as a sheriff said she's responsible for all of our staff are governed by a policy on that as well with need to know right to know.

So you can't access it unless you need to know what is in there and have a right to do so.

And that applies to all of our systems.

Thank you.

And so that if you could just clarify the use policy, is an Alameda County policy, or is it the uh the data sharing framework that's I believe Susan spoke to?

Yeah, so there's no no strict use policy for Peregrine.

There's not a strict use policy for every technology item we have.

Some will have one carved out, like the ALPR system.

So we have a general policy for all personally identifiable or CGIS information, but then there's the data sharing agreement, which does govern the as data governance, uh ownership of the data, sharing of the data, things like that, and use of the data.

Okay, thank you.

And then in terms of the question for accountability and transparency, um, you know, is there is there public reporting on use, outcomes, any potential misuse?

Um, are there potential consequences if for some reason the system is misused or causes harm?

So we don't have any public reporting on Peregrine yet, uh, but as we build out our public information portal, which we've done under Sheriff Sanchez, we could uh look at adding peregrine bless you as well.

Uh, but also we just want to note that we would actually be able to use Peregrine and its analytic ability to start building dashboards for public transparency into things not just with Peregrine, but other things that Peregrine can ingest.

And I'm I apologize, I missed the other part of your question.

So let me add to that too.

So DAJ DOJ actually audits us, um, what is that an annual basis?

It's a definitely a regular basis for sure.

And we get reports on any questions as far as justifying who had access to sieges information, why it was accessed.

So they do random audits and then they give us the results of those audits, and we can probably make those public.

Um, we have to scrub some information as far as because it identifies specific individuals.

We could scrub that information, but at least we can share, you know, how many people were audited, um, what those audits really look like, but also what's important is that Peregrine already does uh auditing.

They give us auditing capabilities, and um, although the report that we can that we get has information that is personal identifying information, we have to look to see if there's any way that we could scrub that report, that audit report to share it through a public portal, but the way that it's provided to us, it has too much information for us to be able to share that publicly.

Okay, and then um is there a sunset clause or mandatory review before renewal?

So, you know, what type of anyway, what what is the process before renewal in terms of review?

What's the process for renewal?

And is it possible to sunset it?

Um so we've had peregrine for a number of years.

Uh I'm we're asking for two-year extension.

I'm not really sure adding a sunset.

I mean, besides what's already captured in a contract, as far as the ability to extend the term that ends.

It's already captured in a contract.

Okay.

Um, let me just ask one more question before I turn it back to the president.

Um, so sheriff, I understand you've said that you own this data, so that means that any sharing outside of the agency would be under your supervision, correct?

Under my authorization, yes.

Okay.

So there's no ability for peregrine, for example, to share information without your knowledge.

That is correct.

Okay, I'll turn it back to you, President.

If can I get that mic?

Okay, thank you.

If Peregrine can clarify too, you don't have any contracts with any federal entities, correct?

Yeah, today we don't have any uh federal contracts.

Um, and then yeah, state planning.

Uh, we're uh not working with any federal agencies um today.

I was gonna add one item, and just one item to speak, supervisor to your concern.

Um, you know, Peregrine, and this was mentioned in the Oakland City Council.

We have audit trails and auditability, and uh we are governed by not only the sharing and the data provisions that the sheriff directs, but there are alerts and audit trails should there be and traceability, should there be anything that uh someone tries to access, we will be guarded against it, but it also does alert and provide that kind of auditability, and that was very important, both I know to Oakland and to other agencies, particularly around the very strict policies we have around data governance.

Does that answer your questions, Supervisor Fortnite?

Yeah.

Okay.

Supervisor Marquez, thank you for the answers.

Supervisor Marquez.

Uh thank you, President Howard.

Thank you to sheriff team and representatives from Peregrine for being here today.

Um, sheriff, can you just kind of briefly share with us um that uh background as to how we got here?

My understanding that this was a piggyback contract.

Yes.

So we piggybacked off of Fremont, yeah.

Fremont PD's uh contract for same same services.

Okay, and then can you speak to are you currently working on many piggyback contracts, a handful?

Do you have a sense of what the current status is?

For specifically, any C contracts?

Um, any services related to technology under your department?

Oh gosh.

Um I'm unaware of anything coming up right now, anything current.

Okay, and then can you share with us the rationale?

I know the first draft of the board letters since this item was continued, um, did mention ALPR readers.

So can you just give us the rationale as to why the decision was made to remove that and just give us a little bit more context?

It was added to the board letter uh because there is potential for that integration.

Um, but I can say that um with any particular vendor, sometimes that sharing interface doesn't uh work well, or I guess partners don't work well in that respect.

And so that's not something that we would look into or pursue um with our current vendor for ALPR.

Okay.

And then um, are you aware of any data breaches, any sharing of information with federal agencies by Pentagon within the last, I don't know how long the company's been in existence, but are we aware of it of any known or documented violations or sharing of information?

None at all.

Okay.

And what happens if someone on the staff uh misuses this technology?

What type of provisions are in place?

Well, depends on what that type of violation is, um, whether it could potentially be criminal depending on what they're using the information for.

If there is a violation of you utilizing CGIS information, uh it could be a misdemeanor if they're sharing that out with no authorization.

Um, there's also, you know, administrative violations too, whether they're violating our our sheriff's office policy, and that would be handled through administrative uh investigation.

Okay.

And I know there was discussion about um launching a dashboard just to kind of share with the public the analysis that's being done, the type of reports and the audits realistically, how soon could that be launched?

As far as the public portal, um so we already have a public portal portal available.

It's just what does it look like in discussions with Peregrine as far as having a report and auditing report that could be shared out?

Because right now the auditing report has a lot of sieges information that we can only see.

So how does how does that look and what what does that entail as far as being able to scrub that information to be publicly, you know, accessible?

Okay.

Um and then you mentioned the consent decree.

I think I heard your response that this helps with staffing.

Can you point to any other uh specific concrete benefits that have been beneficial with having this software?

Do you want to talk to some of those applications?

Yeah, we use it in the real-time information center to track information on different um records management systems throughout our own data as well as the data of the agencies we share.

But I do want to highlight that while things that in Peregrine that are stereotypically thought of in the law enforcement, we do the consent decree.

We track out of sell time for our uh incarcerated population.

We also use Peregrine to track missing reports in our records management system.

There might be a report that's missed or a supplemental report by a deputy that's missed that our staff weren't our supervisors weren't able to keep track of because of the number of staff that we have.

Peregrine has been vital to that and is used daily by our supervisors now to track those missing items so that we have accurate information in our system.

So Peregrine is a lot more uh than just what we use on the the crime side of the house.

We use it in the real-time information center, we use it in the jails and we use it across the agency.

Um just gonna ask, is there can you point to one or two things specifically that we can do to strengthen this contract in this agreement?

Um, any type of changes or what specific reassurance can you give us that they will not violate sharing information to federal agencies?

I'm sorry.

The data sharing uh, yeah.

So the data sharing agreement actually already captures it as part of the contract as far as us being the owners of the data and um are you talking about penalties?

Because I know that came up before.

So right now there's no penalties captured in any of our agreements with any technological platform.

And I think this is something, you know, like I mentioned before, it's got to be a countywide effort because we have technology within every county agency that potentially could be at risk.

It is not just law enforcement information and information that the that the sheriff's office captures.

It is across the board.

And so any type of amendment to our standard services agreement should be a countywide effort.

Um, and that is something that needs to be discussed with ITD as well as GSA and County Council.

Thank you.

Supervisor Tam, any questions for this item?

Um I don't have any questions, but I have some comments.

I think my questions have been answered with respect to data sharing, whether there's been contacts with ICE or DHS, whether or not uh we have enough safeguards with respect to the existing law, and whether there's been uh any predictive policing, which uh were some of the comments from the community, and uh the answer was no.

The last question I have is, and it might be for Peregrine.

What other agencies in Alameda County do you already work with?

What other counties in the state of California do you already work with?

If any.

Yes, sir.

We we work with quite a few.

I'm gonna try to pull a list up now.

Currently it's 32 agencies uh within Alameda County, or sorry, 32 agencies across the state of California that Alameda County Sheriff's Office is currently sharing with.

Um I know.

Sorry, give me one second here.

I've got it.

Do you have the list as well?

Sorry about that.

So here's the list that we've been provided by Peregrine, Alameda PD, Antioch PD, Arcadia PD, Bakersfield, Brentwood, Burbank, Citrus Heights, Concord, East Bay Regional Parks, Elk Grove, Fremont PD, Galt, Gardena, Glendale, Hayward, Hillsburg, Lathrop, Livermore, Newark, Petaluma, Placer County, SO, Sheriff's Office, Pleasant Hill, PD, Redondo Beach, Richmond, Sacramento PD, San Pablo PD, Santa Rosa, Stockton, Tracy, Backville, and Walnut Creek PD.

Nationally?

Just qualitatively.

Where are you?

Nationally.

So we do have eight uh agencies uh that we support nationally.

Um currently the sheriff's office is not uh data sharing with those agencies outside the state of California, but um we we support over 400 agencies um across the country.

Um yeah, we're we're, you know, deployed widely um across the country in support of agencies and and uh use cases uh similar to to what the sheriff has mentioned today.

Do you receive similar questions and concerns from other agencies?

Yeah, I I think um, you know, over time um we we uh hear uh certain concerns uh like these, and and uh you know, for us as at Peregrine want to be good partners and making sure we we uh we support uh agencies and also uh answer to these concerns that uh you as the board as well as uh the public um uh bring up in these forums.

So uh we're certainly here to uh dispel uh any concerns that are unfounded.

Um we want to make sure that folks feel confident in uh this the software and and how it's used.

Uh forgive me, I'm not sure if I heard it right.

This Oakland City of Oakland contract with you.

I see the headline, yes.

Yes, because we were just at that meeting last week, and Oakland has uh just approved it seven to one by their council.

We have San Jose and uh San Francisco.

I don't know if those were current on your list as well.

Um throughout the country, we have a great diversity of large and small agencies.

Our sweet spot is really those mid-size agencies, and we're um also in emergency management and have done some really good work with uh countywide deployments.

We are in all of San Mateo County agencies right now, and in fact, we do some best practices sharing, not really around our data, but what the agencies have found to be helpful amongst our network partners.

We do have a really cool new video that our founders just put out because they're aware that there's all this sort of spin and idea that they're associated with other companies nationally or federally.

And so I just encourage you.

Uh, we have the link for that.

They're very, very passionate and dedicated to constitutional policing, 21st century policing principles.

That's part of why they started locally.

I have no other questions, but I see my colleague, Supervisor Miley.

Yeah, I just wanted to thank Supervisor Bass for pulling the item so we could get all this on the record.

Transparency, because it once again, like Supervisor uh Ham said, um, based on all responses, yeah.

Um I just appreciate that we have this level of transparency on this item.

I would have wished we could have gotten to this earlier in the day, but it is what it is.

But thank you, um, Supervisor Bass for pulling in and raising the questions and getting all this on the record.

Supervisor Fortunately have asked more questions or comments.

Thank you.

Just a couple more.

Um, just for clarity, what are the current data sources that are part of the platform and what are the two or three being added?

So uh we current currently use them to extract, well, not extract, but pull together information from our CAD RMS system as well as our JMS, which is our jail management system and our CAD uh records management management system, which is where our reports are held.

So we have a number of entries that go into certain reports.

If there is a report that includes a use of force, well, there's a separate report that's written on that use of force that we have to mold into our original incident reports.

What that's what's been helpful because there's two different platforms that we write these reports in that brings those together to see one's missing the other, right?

So that's uh what we utilize for what um what other our body warm cameras so acts on as well?

Body war cameras and uh our guardian system for tracking the movement of the incarcerated population for things like out of cell time, uh grievance tracking as well, I believe, the working on.

So there's a number of data sources that go into it.

Okay, so um, you know, in terms of transparency, I am frustrated that the information when you click on the hyperlink doesn't have the actual agreement, the original agreement, the first amendment, or this level of information.

And I'm also quite frustrated to be honest, that my staff sent questions uh to your office and we got no response.

So, you know, I just don't know what I'm supposed to do in terms of doing my due diligence if I'm following and my staff is following the agreed upon process around sending questions in advance and uh not getting answers.

So I just want to state that for the record because, you know, perhaps it wouldn't have taken all this time if the agreement had been there and it was clear what the yeast would be and uh the questions that we sent uh were answered so that I would know coming into this meeting what those answers were.

Um I mean, I will say that there are a number of technology platforms that um are being contemplated or that we're working with.

Um, you know, peregrine aside, the flock contract is expiring in June.

And I do think that given that uh some of these technologies, I understand this one is different.

Some of these technologies are surveillance.

Um there's also the AI and data integration and a lot moving very quickly.

I do think it would be really important, especially before the flock contract comes back to us, that we have a clear framework that addresses the questions that have surfaced around privacy, cybersecurity, civil liberties, surveillance.

Um I believe that there's, you know, many experts, including in our IT department, as well as others who could make sure that as we look at these policies, that there's a very strong framework for an agreement, not only for the sheriff's office, as you said, but any Alameda County department that might be using technologies that include some level of surveillance or uh information integration.

So I would like to see the CAO work with the county council and the IT department, and I did raise this while looking at this item, because I think before other items come back to us, we should at the very least have some type of service agreement that has built-in standards to ensure that we are protecting our data, um, our constituents' privacy and and we're mindful of cybersecurity as well as surveillance.

So, you know, maybe now it's not the uh this is not the item to raise um an action on that, but I do think it would be a incumbent upon us before we see other items come to this board that were very, very clear, including on what use policies and other policies we have, in addition to the ones that were named on this item that uh was in the form that I saw.

So I do want us to take very seriously the concerns we're hearing from the community around potential surveillance, especially under this administration.

Thank you.

So I just want to respond as far as the questions that were received by your office.

We did send a response uh back to say that we were working with peregrine to make sure that we were capturing the right information to address those questions.

I think it's important for us to share out those questions and responses in the public forum.

Um, you know, I think we got the questions on Friday.

So, you know, trying to turn around 12 questions and answers to make sure that they're appropriate and accurate is important for me.

So if they're not ready to go by the time we hit this meeting, I'm not comfortable sharing those those with your office, okay.

Um number two, I I we've we've addressed a number of things, and I just not really and I'll continue to answer questions uh for what is needed and to clarify.

But I I find that sometimes the information that I share is not received or accepted, and I understand the community has their concerns, and I've been accessible and I have had my staff work with our privacy groups and those who are really interested and focused on making sure that we are being transparent and accountable, and we are so we'll continue to receive those questions.

We'll I'll continue to answer them, but I think that, you know, also I'm hopeful that everyone can see that there's efforts that are being made by my office to make sure that we are being accountable to our community.

Um there's a lot of work to do for sure.

That will be continued work.

Uh number one, I think the hyperlink that you speak to, I'm not sure if that's the sheriff's office providing that or if that's GSA that puts that um somewhere where it's accessible.

So there's very likely work to do to make sure that everything that's captured in a contract is there.

So I just want to point those things out.

I want to make sure that you and the rest of the board understand that when there are requests to my office, we've been pretty pretty responsive and open about the work that we're doing in the sheriff's office.

Can we get better?

Absolutely.

But we've been here as a good partner.

I also want to say thank you to Peregrine for being proactive in their outreach as well.

They reached out to me to see if there was any concerns they could address.

And I also want to apologize to Devin for missing his flight back to SoCal.

So I appreciate your your patience here today.

I think we'll bring it back for deliberation.

Well, I'll tell you what.

Comments by Supervisor Marquez.

Thank you.

I do appreciate this discussion.

And I was the one that continued the flock item from February, I believe, to April 21st, requesting that it be a set matter with the presentation.

For me, it's really important that the public have information, that we have an opportunity to educate the community.

So this is now the second item, which has raised a lot of concern.

So looking forward, I know the sheriff and I have discussed in terms of having kind of a informal protocol in terms of what items should go to public protection just to give an additional opportunity for the public to weigh in for us to educate everyone on what the item is.

And that can always be the case.

It can't always go to public protection, but I do think I'm going to point to the CAO's office and their analysts.

We need to have a system.

If it's not going to go to public protection, then it needs to be a set matter with the presentation.

The staff report was extremely light.

Unfortunately, many of our items are light.

We're missing pertinent information.

And so I think collectively we all need to do a better job.

And I also appreciate flagging the issues with the standard service agreements across the entire county.

I think that's a bigger discussion and one that I'd like to see the chair of contract and procurement.

If maybe we could start that discussion there, but I definitely think it's something that's long overdue.

And similar to my comments a couple weeks ago, you know, I am conflicted because for me it is a priority that we protect our immigrant and refugee committee members.

Want to make sure that no information is shared with Border Patrol, with ICE agents, basically any authority outside of the state of California because of the unprecedented times we're currently in.

On the other hand, I'm also very proud of the work the sheriff and her team has done.

We had a presentation at public protection back in November, and I heard some of the most outstanding statistics data points in terms of what's being done to improve outcomes, not just for the men in our care, but the women in our care.

And I see what you're doing.

I know you're working hard, and we can't get to everything at once.

So this is a very difficult vote.

Um I am gonna lean in support of it with the commitment to follow through on addressing the standard service agreements and also requesting that the dashboard be expanded to include the information from Peregrine so we could be as public and transparent with the community as possible and um accountability.

If there are any violations, we all need to be informed of that, and we need to know what's going to take place in order to address that.

Um it's a very long-winded, I'd like to put that in a motion.

I don't know if someone else is ready to make a motion.

Supervisor Miley.

Yes, I just want to uh respond to Supervisor Marquez's comment.

Um, because I respect everyone on the board.

The um sometimes we have to make sure uh because I know everything in the sheriff's department doesn't always relate to the uncorporate area, but a lot of it relates to that in corporate area.

Um, and most of the unincorporate areas represented by Supervisor Dam and I through the unincorporated services committee.

So Halbert has some of it uh out in East County.

Um, so we have to really be kind of cognizant of that because a lot of times there's speakers that are speaking to these matters on issues that all affect them it, but it affects the unincorporated area specifically, and um that's why I said we take law enforcement and I'm sure you do too, safety um uh very importantly uh and in some and I think the sheriff's done everything she can at this point to ensure safeguards, and we have to weigh and balance the situation and determine does perfect outweigh the good.

And in this case, based on everything I'm hearing around this particular matter in Flock a few weeks ago, perfect doesn't outweigh the good.

And I just think, and I'm not trying to try to say how you or anyone else should perceive these matters, but in my mind, that's kind of how I approach it.

So I just want to state that for the record.

I hear you, but I think we also need to keep in mind that the sheriff's department is responsible for the jail, and that is everyone's responsibility to make sure that people are being treated fairly there and enough services.

So I hear you on the unincorporated, but it goes beyond um policing.

So um I also would like to thank um the company Peregrine, Peregrine, and our and our sheriff and staff of the sheriff's department for um indeed long day um for being thoughtful in using technology for being thoughtful in um trying to find the best technology that's out there.

I'd like to also recognize and thank the speakers who shared concern.

I think we should all share that concern.

We don't want to turn into a surveilled, um, society, where dossiers are created on individuals where their movements are tracked from location to location, and people become surveilled deeply, we don't want that, nobody wants that, but I'm convinced that what we have is not that I respect the concern that's been raised.

I think it comes from um, uh I'll take it at face value that it comes from a place of legitimate concern that I think we all share.

But I hope that the answers given and the questions asked alleviate, I'm not concerned.

The questions have been asked and answered, and I appreciate them and to supervisor Milo.

Because I align with his point, perfect is should not be the enemy of good.

I believe that we're getting good um data that it's being used in a good way, and it's not being abused with regard to so I'm willing to support the item as presented.

I also am concerned about comments made by my colleagues around these technologies should have when they come to us in the future, um, these sort of safeguard languages in place that maybe can be discussed at a committee meeting of some kind, or maybe can be discussed with IT, or certainly heads up should be discussed before contracts come before us again, because we'll continue to have concerns.

Um, I don't know that it needs to be incorporated into this motion today.

As I said, I'm willing to support it as is, but I would caution that we not bring additional contracts without those concerns being addressed.

I know we will see concern now to the extent they can be addressed, um, reasonably acceptable commercial terms, should be achievable.

I wouldn't want to put anything in a contract that makes it unworkable.

Um for us or our vendors, but let's address those for the next contract that comes our way.

So with that, I think um, like to just offer one comment.

Um okay.

So uh in terms of um the communications with the sheriff, I did my due diligence.

The sheriff actually reached out and asked if I have any other um questions and issues, and uh what I told her, which I want to make sure is transparent is this is about accountability that works both ways, particularly with this technological platform.

This is different than flock.

What I see here is the ability to be interoperable with other jurisdictions so that when law enforcement gets to an event, they have as much information, whether it's from the body worn camera, whether it's from case records, whether it's from the CAT system, that they have that information to keep themselves safe and people in those situations safe.

So that's where I was thinking that the potential threats and the risk with this technological platform is what allows um all law enforcement to have that accessibility and it also keeps us accountable as well.

So I didn't have the same level of concern uh with this given all the guardrails that have been put in place that I did with Flock.

Thank you for thank you for explaining your experience with that in that regard.

Um with that, I'll move the item.

Item 78's been moved and seconded.

Roll call vote, please.

Supervisor Marquis.

I and I know it's not part of the motion, but the comments I made just reiterating that I will work with um our uh chair of the contract and procurement committee to look at this for future discussion on our standard service agreements.

Supervisor Tan.

Aye, supervisor Miley.

Supervisor for another pass.

Um I do support having a standard services agreement for future technologies.

Um, on this item, I'm abstaining.

Prison however.

I vote yes.

With that, the item passes, correct?

Okay.

With that said, we have public comment on items not on the agenda.

Samuel Raimi, Jane Kramer, Brenda Gonzalez, and Derek Barnes.

Jane, you're up.

Go ahead.

Go ahead, move the microphone down.

Sorry.

Okay, uh topic is the budget, human enhancement.

That's the issue.

And the how of it rests on the fact that there are two basic modes of health intervention.

The uh the conventional western one and the alternative ecological one, each has its own strong points.

The conventional uses linear methodology, the alternative aids the body to readapt to its environment.

My interest here is on the alternative ecological intervention.

So one in a matter of weeks or months, individuals are unable to re-enter, or for the first time, enter society as caring, creative, and productive persons who take on ongoing responsibility for their own health.

Two, the cost of public um agencies becomes minimal.

No budget overruns.

For example, you may find you have an overstock of clean housing.

Three, social disturbances are reduced.

For instance, the crime rate falls, the need for mental health intervention falls, uh cases of mental rehabilitation falls.

It's a matter of appropriate um diagnosis.

Four such productive people now make a comfortable legal wage.

They pay taxes.

That's further increasing public funding for um needs that uh previously attended were not attended to, such as climate change, five, some etc.

A few such persons.

Jane, that's your time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Welcome.

Hi.

Hello, my name is Brenda Gonzalez.

I'm the interim assistant director of community outreach for the local nonprofit La Familia with the With Us Initiative.

The With Us Initiative is a youth-led mental health campaign in Alameda County funded through the children and youth behavioral health initiative.

Our campaign works to destigmatize mental health, increase mental health literacy, and encourage help-seeking behaviors among youth.

I'm here today representing our youth ambassadors who could not attend in person, and I'm sharing recommendations created directly by our youth based on what they have observed in their communities.

Our youth recommend sustaining youth-led mental health initiatives such as with us, expanding youth created mental health awareness campaigns, establishing a countywide youth advisory council focused on mental health with youth representation from districts across Alameda County, improving access to youth mental health and well-being data so communities can better understand prevention needs and crisis trends.

Through this campaign, many youth have found a strong sense of belonging and support.

Unfortunately, our program will be ending in June when funding ends, but our youth want spaces like this to continue and be replicated throughout Alameda County.

Over the past month, our youth and staff have met with Alameda County Office of Education and Behavioral Health Department to better understand current youth mental health efforts.

While progress is being made, our youth will still see gaps in support representation and access to information.

Our youth believe a larger scale youth mental health advisory council would allow young people to directly advise county mental health efforts and ensure youth voices remain centered in decision making.

One major concern is the lack of accessible data about youth mental health needs in Alameda County, including barriers to care and types of services to the receiving.

Our youth believe this information should be easier for communities to access and understand.

We ask Alameda County to continue centering youth voices and support these recommendations through long-term investment and collaboration.

And they um gathered 400 signatures from all over Alameda County.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

And programs like that, I do not consider slush funds.

So just for the record.

You guys do great work.

Thank you.

Good afternoon again, supervisors.

Derek Bonds with Ebrah and a member of serving the home home bridge and home rise board of directors.

This is just a follow-up to yesterday's health committee meeting with when Dr.

Treble um reported out on the uh health report and the BHSA three-year plan.

Um, I thought about this, and I thought the solutions that boss must require are pretty clear.

Resolve the funding gap, uh, establish an off-ramp of standards and options with real consequences, and launch a formal property owner engagement strategy for July 1st.

There are also some questions that I had too, which were these.

Um, which specific programs or contracts are at risk from unresolved from the unresolved gap.

What is the procurement pathway for property owner outreach in the mitigation fund?

What compliance assistance will the county provide to housing adjacent contractors facing um you know this impending sort of situation, and certainly around the individual service level data deadline that I heard yesterday, too.

It struck me that one size, of course, does not fit all.

Um, and these are hard decisions that everyone's gonna have to make.

But I think the the plan has real strength.

Um, but our financial headwinds are real too.

Uh bridge that leads to another cliff is very concerning to me and others in the community as I've uh as I've indicated to Supervisor Um Tam.

Boss has the authority to do several things.

Demand more details in this transition need, uh develop working data sharing infrastructure, uh, and launch guidance to support resources for our CBOs and providers to engage greater collaboration, including MA opportunities or plans to wind down where that is necessary.

These are very hard decisions that require resources and strategic investment.

Um, we have to stop operating in silos, and I think that's my final comment.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Anthony Iskander.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, go ahead.

Hi, I'm speaking on item number two.

Uh the I believe we're being we're past that item.

We're passing that item.

We're on items that are not on the uh agenda.