I'd like to call to order this meeting of the first five Sacramento Commission for

Monday December 1st 2025 Madam Clerk will you please call the roll and establish a quorum.

Yes sir. Chair Serna? Here. Commissioner Wesley? Here. Commissioner Fernandez-y-Garcia? Here.

Commissioner Gordon? Here. Commissioner Casirier? Here. Commissioner Katari?

Not here. Commissioner Moke? Here.

Okay, Commissioner Kennedy.

Commissioner Hassett.

Here.

Commissioner Williams is out today.

Commissioner Evans, I'm sorry.

Here.

Commissioner Guerra.

Here.

Commissioner Boston.

Here.

And Commissioner Kravitz-Wurts.

Here.

Thank you.

We have quorum.

Very good.

If you could please read our statement.

This meeting of the First Five Sacramento Commission is live and recorded

with closed captioning. It is cablecast on Metro Cable Channel 14, the local government

affairs channel on the Comcast and direct TV Uverse cable systems. It is also live streamed

at Metro14live.satcounty.gov. Today's meeting replays Wednesday, December 3rd at 1pm on Metro

Cable Channel 14. Once posted, the recording of this meeting can be viewed on demand at

YouTube.com slash Metro Cable 14.

Great. Thank you. If you would please rise and join me in the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for

which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right.

I would again like to welcome everyone to this afternoon's first five commission meeting.

and as a friendly reminder

if you choose to address

the commission we certainly

welcome that. We ask that you please complete

a speaker slip and get it to our clerk

and your name will be called

in the order that I receive those slips

we ask that you please keep your comments

to two minutes that way everyone who wishes

to address the commission has that opportunity to do so

and with that

our first item

Item number one

is the approval of October 6, 2025

Draft action summary. All right, very good any member of the Commission wish to

Make any suggested changes if not entertain a motion move to approve been moved is there a second second

It's been moved in a second madam clerk. Do we have anyone sign up to speak on this matter? No, sir. We do not all right very good

We doing roll call vote. Yes, sir. Okay. Chair Serna. Aye.

Commissioner Wesley aye

Commissioner Fernandez-y Garcia aye

Commissioner Gordon. Aye. Commissioner Casirier. Aye.

And Commissioner Boston. Aye. And Commissioner Moke. Aye.

Thank you. Motion passes. Very good. Thank you very much. Next item on our agenda

is the public's opportunity to address any item that's not

on our posted agenda. We can

certainly take that testimony. We cannot have any

lengthy discussion about it per the Brown App, but this is your

I'm here to talk about and brag

about sac plti you know hey y'all.

We have been

speaking for the opportunity to

address items not on the agenda

Madam clerk do we have anyone

signed up to speak on this matter?

I believe I handed you a

speaker slip I think.

You are right. Crystal.

Good morning everyone

afternoon everyone I' m crystal

harding district 3 supervisor

Desmond is my supervisor and

I' m just here to talk about

We have been super active.

The team met before Halloween, Thanksgiving break to plan and prepare.

Our cohort begins January 10th, and our retreat is that day,

and we were getting all of our materials ready.

I want to encourage everyone to check us out on social media,

on Instagram and Facebook at SacramentoPLTI,

and apply if you know anyone, if you know a friend, neighbor,

anyone at all that's interested in being the parent leaders that they are

and serving in that capacity, please check out sacramentoplti.com.

We had our soul family ball on October 26th.

It was a great time.

We had families dressing up in all of their good clothes

and having a good time, food, drinks, and all that.

One minute, okay.

And I am excited about our social media this year.

I've been working actively to engage and connect and share

and amplify all of the things that we're doing.

So if you have seen our videos or our stories make sure you engage like follow and share and again

spread the word that PLTI is recruiting

English and Spanish language cohort parent leaders and

We are starting in January. So thank you for your support

And I look forward to sharing more information with you next time. Peace out. Thank you crystal good to see you

All right

Any other members of the public wish to address us on items not on the agenda? No, sir. Okay next time, please

Item number three is the executive director's report.

All right.

Great.

Nice to see you all this afternoon.

We started talking morning, and I have to move to afternoon as well.

I have a couple of highlights from the packet today.

First is our racial equity updates.

We have been working with the Equity in Action Committee meeting quite frequently.

And as you know, we had our letters of interest went out.

We had over 400 letters responses come in for funding, and the committee reviewed every single one of those letters, scored them, and invited about, oh gosh, I want to say 70 or so to apply for actual funding.

We have three different categories. So one category is just the one-time funding and then two different tiers for larger dollars.

So of those $62 million requests, we have actually $4.2 million to distribute.

And the committee will be meeting December 13th to make their final decisions about which will come forward to you all in January for approval.

So it was a very exciting time.

We had 61.

There you go.

61 entities were invited to apply.

And again, those were things from individual family needs and concrete supports to group presentations and activities and community building, systems improvement, and Crystal will be happy to know parent leadership and parent engagement.

So those four things were the topics.

I wanted to just briefly touch on the CalFresh benefits disruption.

I know a lot of our families were impacted by this, even though it was a short period of time.

There was a lot of anxiety and community about this.

And everything is back up and running now.

And I thought, I didn't know if commissioners knew the extent of that.

It's 270,000 individuals here, 90,000 children impacted or served by CalFresh in Sacramento County.

And our Health and Human Services Agency, really our leadership, Shelby, Commissioner Boston, and Ethan Dye from DHA just really stepping in, as well as our partners on the ground.

I mean, it was incredible.

The Family Resource Centers, our Child Action, really jumping in to help connect families.

One of our advisory committee members, Darcy Varnadeau, is with Health Net.

And after our advisory committee meeting, he went to Health Net leadership and asked them to make a contribution.

They ended up donating $30,000 to our local food banks, six different food banks in Sacramento to make sure that, you know, families were going to be served.

So it's a really great effort.

And we are apparently safe until September 2026.

And then we'll see what happens then.

I know you guys know that he's a superstar, but we don't often get to talk too much about how amazing Commissioner Fernandez-E Garcia is.

So he's going to get a little bit of props twice in this ED report.

I just wanted you all to know that he was honored with the Council on Community Pediatrics Local Hero Award through the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is pretty big stuff, actually.

And he's the first UC Davis Health pediatrician to ever get this award, which is amazing.

and it recognizes pediatrician champions in very grassroots, community-oriented,

helping kids and families thrive in their local neighborhoods and communities.

So just a special props to Commissioner Fernandez-Garcias.

Thank you for all that work.

And I don't know if you got it for this in particular,

but there are so many things he's been working with us on,

And one of them is to change the system at the Sacramento County Health Center, where every family that comes through with a young child, now in their after-exam, after-visit form, they get a referral to the FRC in their neighborhood, which is so cool, and a connection to Sac Family Connect so that they can get additional resources.

So just taking that first five hat, he's like always wearing the first five hat and changing policies and practices at work to make it be better for families.

So thank you.

So Crystal talked a little bit about PLTI, but I wanted to add two things to what she brought up.

One is that our partners at Sac Children's Home have created a PLTI alumni chapter.

So as you may know, we have 75 parent leaders who have graduated over the last couple of years.

And all of those parent leaders have been invited to join the alumni where they can continue to work on their projects and get workforce development and just build themselves to do even more great work in community.

um and i guess she did mention that we are recruiting right now for the 2026 january

cohort so please send folks our way i'm going to skip a couple of things i would i did want to

mention that we will be bringing to you in the new year a request to go out to bid for a new

data management system. We've had Persimony now for about 15 years, and frankly, I feel like we've

outgrown it a little bit. It's not able to make the adjustments that we need right now, and lots

of stuff changes in 15 years, so I feel like we need possibly bigger and better. They've worked,

they've been great partners in the past, and it's just time to see what else is out there.

So we're doing a little work right now up on the front end to see what things might cost as far as initial setup and then ongoing, as well as sort of what the functionality is around security, because that is one of the things we're especially concerned about right now, and that we haven't been able to get the support we need from out of Persimony.

So I wanted to share that.

I'll jump to Potter the Otter exhibit at the Sacramento Children's Museum. We're down to our

last couple of months here. There's two additional free days. One of them is tomorrow and the other

is January 15th. We've already had a thousand children come through on the three free days

that we did so far this year. So it's been an amazing turnout, a wonderful partnership.

can't say enough good I wish it was there permanently but it really did establish a

partnership with the with the Sac Children's Museum that I hope we're able to continue as they

might focus on additional exhibits that we could get in on later

and then I'll just end it with a staffing update I was hoping that Sharon Watts could stand up so

You could all see our newest staff member.

Hello.

Thank you, Sharon.

She is filling a position that we recently created called a human services program specialist position.

And she's going to assist all of the planners in the work that we do.

We've never sort of had like an in-between person.

We've had the opportunity to restructure the commission's program side when Latina Price retired.

And so this is part of our restructure.

She's been amazing in her two weeks on already.

And she previously served as a policy fellow with the Coro Northern California.

And she's also a certified doula.

So we love all of that.

She brings a lot of energy and passion for the work with her.

And that concludes my director's report.

Great. Thank you. Any questions for our executive director?

All right. Seeing none.

Madam Clerk, is there any member of the public that would like to address the commission on the executive director's report?

No, sir.

All right. Very good. Thank you again, Julie.

Next item, please.

Item number four is the advisory committee update from October 10th, 2025.

And we, it's a quick one.

We did not actually end up meeting in October.

And so we have our next scheduled meeting is February 13th.

Very good.

Thank you.

Next item.

Item number five, evaluation committee update, November 17th, 2025.

Yes, the evaluation committee met on November 17th.

Commission staff presented the report to First Five California,

which we provide every year, which will be presented shortly to the commission today.

The commission also engaged in a discussion regarding, as Julie mentioned, additional database needs raised by contractors.

Things have changed in 15 years.

Commission staff informed the committee that a letter of interest for a new data system will be issued in early 2026, followed by a request for qualifications in late winter.

And I think all of us felt that this was this is very wise to get after right now.

Committee will meet again on January 26th, 2026.

Very good. Thank you, Mr. Gordon.

All right, Madam Clerk, do we have anyone's time to speak either on the advisory non-report or the evaluation report?

No, sir, we do not.

All right, very good.

Next item, please.

Item number six, Financial Planning Committee update November 13th, 2025.

Thank you.

The Financial Planning Committee met on November 13th.

Staff provided an update on current staffing vacancies

and the previously vacant administrative service officer one and human services program specialist positions have been successfully filled.

Recruitment efforts are now underway to fill the remaining senior office assistant vacancy.

And with these updates, First Five Sacramento's current vacancy rate is 7.1%.

The fiscal year 2024-25 audit was issued on October 30th.

The committee reviewed the report and, as required each year, voted to approve the audit.

There were no findings.

Very nice.

And the audit is on today's agenda for public hearing and final commission approval.

Staff provided an overview of the additional oversight measures being implemented for the new equity and action contracts,

which carry a higher level of risk, given that many partners are new to both First Five and to county contracting.

To ensure strong fiscal accountability and set these emerging CBOs up for success, staff outlined several proactive safeguards, including flexible insurance pathways, dedicated contract funds for independent audits and financial administration needs, allowing an indirect rate of up to 15%, requiring detailed fiscal risk assessments, and exploring the use of a fiscal agent to provide additional financial oversight and support.

Staff also presented a request to increase the advance payment thresholds up to 25% for standard contracts and for up to 50% for equity and action contracts, and that's to help smaller organizations manage their cash flow as they launch services.

The committee reviewed and approved the revised advance payment policy, and it is item number 10 today on the commission's agenda.

up. Lastly, commission financial statements for the first quarter were reviewed and in line with

budget expectations. And this concludes my report. Very good. Thank you. Madam Clerk, anyone's time to

speak on the financial planning committee update? No, sir. Okay. Next item, please. Item number seven,

systems optimization and sustainability committee update, October 22nd, 2025.

Hi, everyone. Okay, we met on October 22nd. It was a very in-depth meeting. One of our agenda items was the policy and advocacy. There were a number of state bills that passed impacting the early care and education workforce, including some immigration bills. And so we talked about that in depth.

we also had our equity and action ready grant discussion which a lot of what you already heard

today was discussed and then i also want to note that we talked about the snap impacts that day

and i'm talking our hearts were heavy but we also were strategic and a lot of us were trying to

figure out what could we do that day how could we support from frcs to um where can we donate so

anyway a lot happened that day and you can see the impact of what happened so that was an amazing

day actually of just being a part of first five sacramento i was very proud um we also had two

representatives um from um scoey and and we had an in-depth conversation around help me grow

and around mental health supports um in schools and child care centers um and that concludes our

report other than we have a meeting on December 17th. Thank you. Very good. Thank you. Madam Clerk, do we have anyone sign up to speak on the SOS report? No, sir. All right. Very good. Next item, please. Item number eight is a public hearing review and adoption of the fiscal year 24-25 financial audit. Good afternoon, commissioners. The fiscal year 24-25 audit was issued on October 30th and it was submitted to

the state and First Five California on the same day. It was completed by the auditing firm

Macias, Jeannie, and O'Connell, LLP, better known as MGO. MGO tested 24 procedures for commission

compliance with state laws and regulations, and all were in compliance. Today we have Russell

Robertson, Assurance Director at MGO, who will provide a brief summary of the report.

Before I hand it over to Russ, I would like to thank and acknowledge Joe Fasula and Eli

MISCUR who are here today with us. They are our partners at the Sacramento County Department of

Finance who assist us with the audit and I'd like to thank them for their time commitment and

expertise. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hello thanks. My name is Russell Robertson. I want

to thank the board for allowing me to share a few items in the report that was mentioned.

actually I believe there are two reports that you received one is the

internal audit report itself and then a report to the board I will start with the

bigger one it's the one probably we're all here for and in there we have several

items we have our opinion coming from the auditor itself we have the financial

statements in the notes and in some supplementary information in the back

but I wanted to share that yes they're on top of not having any findings I

that was shared before, we were able to issue an unqualified opinion, which is the highest

level of assurance that we could provide, meaning that the financial statements are

fairly presented in all respects to our accounting standards. Overall, you know, there's not

much change. I do want to highlight a couple things that you may notice in the financial

statements themselves. But as I indicate, where I like to focus in is on the management

THE REGULARLY HIGH LEVEL

SUMMARY OF WHAT HAPPENED

DURING THE YEAR.

IT'S HIGHLIGHTED ON THE FIRST

BULLET ON ONE OF THE PAGES

THERE WAS A SLIGHT DECREASE IN

THE NET ASSETS AND SOME REVENUE

SLIGHT DOWNTICK FROM THE

PREVIOUS YEAR.

THAT'S BECAUSE THERE WAS SOME

CHANGE IN THE PROP 10 REVENUE

THAT CAME IN.

THAT WAS EXPECTED.

THE FIRST FIVE WAS STILL TRYING TO MAINTAIN THE LEVEL EXPENDITURES TO ADMINISTER THE PROGRAM

LEVEL WITH THE COMMITMENT ON THE STRATEGIC PLAN. THAT WAS EXPECTED THAT SOME OF THE CASH

WOULD ACTUALLY DECREASE DURING THE YEAR BECAUSE OF THAT. BUT OVERALL, PRETTY STRAIGHT FORWARD,

PRETTY MUCH THE SAME ACTIVITY AS IN THE PRIOR YEAR, NOTHING TOO CRAZY TO REPORT ON THERE,

all within budget expectations that we do review as well,

and no significant discrepancies in there.

Actually, no discrepancies.

Everything was at that level.

The second report is the report to the Board of Commissions.

Before I get into that one,

the one big significant change that is highlighted this year

is there was an adoption and accounting pronouncement, a GASB accounting process that they have to adopt this year was regarding compensated absences.

In the past, you did report on vacation balances and whatnot, but this year, because of the new GASB 101, you have to now incorporate sick leave balances, any payout of sick leave.

So we had to change, they had to change their accounting approach on that.

And for this year, there was a restatement, a minor restatement on material,

but $190,000 you'll see in the financial statements from the prior year,

just because there's not a material amount of the sick leave that's converted into a liability.

But because of that standard, it's just more transparency on what liabilities do actually exist in these governmental entity.

THE LAST BOARD REPORT TO THE BOARD, THERE'S SEVERAL ITEMS THAT AS AUDITORS WE REQUIRE TO

COMMUNICATE WITH THE BOARD. SOME OF THE BIG ONES ARE ANY DISAGREEMENTS WITH MANAGEMENT.

AND YOU KNOW, ACROSS THE BOARD ON ALL OF THESE I'M GOING TO MENTION WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY.

SO AGAIN, IT WAS A PLEASURE TO WORK WITH MANAGEMENT AND THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE ON

this but no disagreements the commission didn't use any outside consultants you know we were the

main consultant the main auditor and no other discrep no no adjustments material adjustments

that were required we list in that report any significant estimates that are used in this

report so you'll see a myriad of things in there that you know we communicate directly with you

but overall very successful audit again as usual nothing that came up to be

concerned with and nothing really to report as far as any kind of adjustments

major adjustments or any kind of findings of course so but with that I'll

open it up with any questions regarding that. Any questions? No I think it's

always a case no news is good news so appreciate it. Yes indeed. Thank you. Thank you.

Does that conclude then the staff report? Okay. Madam Clerk do we have anyone sign up to address

the board on this? No sir we do not. I will as a formality open the public hearing close the public

hearing. The record will note we don't have any members of the public sign up to address this

matter and therefore we will go on to the next item. Okay item number nine

another public hearing review and adoption of the first I'm sorry of the

fiscal year 2425 annual report. Chair Cerner we do usually do a vote to

adopt it even we can't make any changes to it but we typically do vote to adopt

it. That's right okay move adoption okay been moved is your second second it's

Move and second roll call vote, please

And again, this is for the record. This is on item

Eight the adoption of the fiscal year 2425 financial audit. Okay, perfect chair Serna. All right

Commissioner Wesley. Aye commissioner Fernandez-y Garcia. Aye. Commissioner Gordon. Aye commissioner Casirier. Aye

Commissioner Boston. Aye commissioner Moak. Aye. Thank you all motion passes. Very good. Thank you. Now we'll go on to next item

Okay, next item, number nine, public hearing review and adoption of the fiscal year 2425 audit.

I'm sorry, annual report.

For this one, we are joined by Carmen Garcia Gomez, who is our evaluation manager.

Good afternoon, commissioners.

Today, I'm going to present to you the First Five Sacramento annual report that was submitted to First Five California in November.

Every year, the Children and Families Act requires that the California's 58 county commission submit a report by November 1st.

We actually submitted our report just that first week of November.

We had a delay because of the audit.

The audit and the annual report are one unit, and they need to go together, be reported together to First 5 California.

The reporting forms, there are three reporting forms for First 5 California.

The AR1, AR2, and AR3.

The AR1 is the fiscal part of it.

The AR2 is the demographic portion of it,

which ties the numbers served with the programs and the expenditures.

And AR3 are the evaluation findings and any other county highlights

that we want to provide to First 5 California.

This is a collaborative effort of commission staff,

applied survey research which are our evaluation consultants and persimony international inc which

is the data system that we use to collect and store data you have the attachment um in your

packet ar1 is section one which identifies the revenue details expenditures and our fund balance

Our expenditures for fiscal year 24-25 totaled $19.2 million, which was a reduction of about 10%.

The result of that reduction is that this fiscal year we did not launch the equity and action contracts,

which will be funded this year.

So next fiscal year you will see that applied in the annual report.

The fiscal year ended with a fund balance of $17.1 million.

Section 2 is the county demographic worksheet.

In fiscal year 24-25, our contractors provided services to 14,171 parents, children, and providers.

That was also a reduction of 34%.

Again, the same reason because some of our contracts were not launched during 24-25, the first year of the implementation plan and strategic plan.

But we will be implementing those programs this year.

So next year you will see some increases in those numbers.

The commission is also pivoting to systems improvement strategies.

so we won't see the numbers that were served previously

because we are doing more systems improvement work.

You'll see there in the two tables provided

the percentages of ethnicity of parents and children

and the primary languages spoken.

AR3, which is the county evaluation summary,

we highlighted the findings of the previous year, 23-24,

And we also highlighted the profile of the launch of the Equity in Action Initiative,

which is included in First 5 California's actual report that goes to the 58 commissions,

and other commissions will get an opportunity to see what we did with Equity in Action during 24-25.

And that concludes my report.

Great. Thank you. Any questions for staff?

All right. Very good.

This is a public hearing item so I'll open the public hearing. Madam Clerk do we have anyone sign to speak on this matter?

No sir we do not.

We'll close the public hearing and entertain a motion.

Move the item.

Okay it's been moved. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Okay it's been moved and seconded. Roll call vote please.

Chair Serna.

Aye.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner Fernandez-Garcia.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon.

Aye.

Commissioner Casirier.

Aye.

Commissioner Boston.

Aye. Commissioner Moke. Aye. Thank you all. Motion passes. Very good. Thank you. Next time.

Next item. Approval of revised advanced payment policy to contractors.

Good afternoon again, commissioners. Today's staff are requesting approval of a revised policy

on advanced payments to contractors. The commission first established an advanced

payment policy back in 2001 to help contractors manage cash flow during program startup and

implementation. And since that time, it has been revised and updated several times.

Under the current policy, the executive director may authorize an advance payment of up to 20%

of a contractor's annual allocation. The revised policy before you today

updates that limit to reflect changes recently made at the county level

To stay consistent with those county standards and to continue supporting our contractors, staff are recommending that First Five Sacramento's advanced threshold be increased from 20% to 25% of their contract's annual allocation.

In addition, the revised policy includes a special provision for our new equity in action contracts.

As you know, the EIA initiative is focused on building the capacity of smaller community-based organizations that may not have prior experience contracting with the county.

To help set them up for success, the revised policy allows the executive director to authorize advance payments of up to 50% of their annual allocation.

This small but important change provides greater...

Oops, sorry.

Wrong page of notes.

This additional flexibility of up to 50% ensures that these organizations have the resources they need to launch activities on time, cover early program expenses, and to build internal systems that support long-term sustainability.

Of course, higher advance payments will come with enhanced monitoring and support to safeguard First Five's financial integrity while still meeting the needs and intent of the equity in action initiative.

While this policy provides important flexibility and support, staff recognize that advanced payments do carry some financial risk for the commission and will continue to carefully review each request, assess fiscal capacity, and closely monitor repayment schedules to ensure accountability and timely recovery of funds.

This concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Great. Thank you very much. Commissioner Hassett.

I just wanted to mention that we talked at length about this and were very clear that people have to make a case for why they need the funds in advance.

And recognizing that with reimbursement type grants, it can be a huge burden, especially on a smaller organization.

Even though I was impressed with how fast our reimbursement process is compared to, like, the state.

I won't say the county.

AND WE FELT LIKE IT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT FOR SOME OF THESE

SMALLER GROUPS TO HAVE THAT OPPORTUNITY.

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OF STAFF?

I HAVE A QUESTION. YES. PLEASE.

SO WHEN THE GRANTS COME IN OR WHEN THE APPLICATION IS

PUT IN, ARE THEY APPLYING AT THAT TIME PLANNING FOR AN

an advance when they're planning the way that they're going to approach the service that they're

applying for? I don't even think that they know that they would get a 50% advance, that they could

request that even, since those applications are already being submitted now. So I think that we

would do that during the contract negotiation phase with them and find out, like, what are their needs?

what specific is it they need to hire staff and get them trained and onboarded, and so this would

help offset some of those costs coming in. So no, I don't think they're operating under the

assumption that that's going to happen yet, but during contract negotiations. Thank you.

And I did want to also point out, Kristen did a great job revamping the policy, which is in your

packet, and it has, it really does describe how the payments would be repaid, how the advance would

be repaid on a monthly basis as part of their invoicing for the next month's payment. Part of

that invoice then withholds funding to help reimburse the advancement that they received. So

by the time they get to the end of that first year, they should be even, Stephen. There shouldn't be

any outlying dollars. And if they still felt that they needed an advance for year two, then they

could put in a request for an advance for up to 50% and we would assess that at that time too.

Yes. All right. Very good. Any other questions for staff? All right. Madam Clerk, do we have anyone

sign up to speak on this matter? No, sir, we do not. All right. Very good. Then in that case,

I will entertain a motion. So moved. Moved. Chair will second.

I'll call a vote, please.

Chair Serna. Aye.

Commissioner Wesley. Aye.

Commissioner Fernandez-E Garcia. Aye.

Commissioner Gordon. Aye.

Commissioner Cousirier. Aye.

Commissioner Boston. Aye.

Commissioner Moak. Aye.

Thank you all. Motion passes.

All right. Next item, please.

Item number 11.

Nominate and appoint 2026 Vice Chair.

Great.

So this is something we do every year at our last meeting of the year

to fill this vacancy for the next calendar year.

So we have had Commissioner Hassett as our vice chair since I started for at least a decade.

But I did hear this year that we also had interest from Commissioner Guerra.

So we have at least two folks who are interested potentially in this.

And then, of course, the floor is open for anybody who would like to nominate themselves or someone else to the position.

Very good. Thank you. Commissioner Hassett.

I'll nominate Commissioner Guerra.

I'll second that in a second.

All right. There's a nomination and a second.

Can we make comment?

Please. Please.

Is that okay?

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, I would, I mean, it joys me to no end that Eric Guerra has joined this dais up here

and is part of what we've been doing with First Five since the late 90s,

when he was in third grade, I think.

But, so that's, depending on how this goes, that's super exciting.

However, I would want to thank Beth for being the consummate professional, I mean, involved in so many parts of First Five, sitting second chair to you.

She's not going anywhere.

No, I know, I know.

But I do want to honor and celebrate what she has meant and the fact that she has been so consistent with her leadership and secondary leadership to you.

So I just don't want that to go unnoticed.

and having Beth part of this group also has legitimized,

I feel like, first five in the community,

especially in the realm that she works in,

which is obviously critically important to our families and kids in this region.

So I just would want to say thanks to Beth for sure.

Very good words.

I couldn't have said them better myself,

although I will add that as chair,

and I think a handful of times over the last 15 years,

there have been times where I needed to make sure that in my absence things are going to run probably even smoother than if I were here.

And Beth has been very capable and engaging and inviting to our public who wishes to join us on occasion and provide critical testimony.

so I do want to add to Commissioner Moke's thanks

and acknowledgement of a job very well done

and we appreciate your presence

and your leadership on this commission very much.

Thanks.

Okay.

We don't have anyone signed to speak on this, right?

No, we do not.

Okay, so we have a nomination and a second.

Roll call vote, please.

Chair Tarna.

Aye.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner Fernandez-Y Garcia.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon aye

Commissioner Casiria aye

Commissioner Boston aye

And Commissioner Moke aye

Thank you motion passes

Very good Commissioner Garrett

Well thank you I also wanted to thank Beth

And I've had an opportunity to work with her

In so many other capacities

And just her consistent commitment

To the

Well being of our county

And also our young people

And excited about

Trying to fill those big shoes as well

and I didn't want to say this earlier

but I'm excited about more of this work

my kid got a chance

to go see Potter the Otter

and was my little one

and he was super excited

so if that's the part of the work here

you know then this is going to be a great

experience as well

thank you very much

alright our last

item of the afternoon

is commission

member comments

any

comments from my colleagues.

Yes, Commissioner Gordon.

Yeah, I just had a couple

of quick comments.

First

of all, I just wanted to

let the commission

know that the

federal government actions

in terms of immigrants

are landing

on our agency

as well.

I've made it

a mission of sorts to make this public wherever I go,

just so that people know that this is hitting us everywhere,

obviously with families and individuals.

Last Friday, the 28th of November,

one of our staff members was picked up in the morning

as she left home by ICE,

and she was fortunately able to make a phone call,

and she called her supervisor at SCOE to let her know that she'd been picked up.

I sent my chief counsel immediately down to the ICE office on Capitol Mall,

and she arrived a little before noon,

trying to find out the whereabouts of our employee,

to which she was told it was lunchtime.

and come back at 1.30, please, which she did.

And she was carrying all of the papers that certified to our agency

that this person was legally able to work in California.

Made no difference.

She had been taken away to wherever they housed people

for the time being in Sacramento.

She has an immigration lawyer.

who has filed a writ to release her.

But none of us has heard in all the time since Friday, the 28th of November,

even where she is.

She's an immigrant from Russia, has been in this country over 20 years,

has worked for us very successfully for over eight years.

And this goes on.

And I check every day.

My chief counsel checks every day.

They only will talk to either her husband or her attorney.

But so far, none of us has any idea where she is or what her status is.

So I only raise this to make sure that people know that this is going on all over the country.

And they came for her.

but I come from a large Jewish family,

many of whom were impacted by the Holocaust,

and it's been burned into me that they can come for you.

So I just want to keep this out there, so I don't mean to.

Secondly, though, on a much higher note,

I did want to, especially in the holiday time, give a huge shout out to Sacramento County from the leadership of our supervisors on down.

The things that we have been able to do at SCOE and in the education system because of the partnership that we have are extraordinary.

We now have 60 mental health clinicians posted in our schools.

We have an amazing relationship with child services when we're working on foster youth and homeless youth.

Dr. K, sitting right here, has been extraordinary in helping guide our work.

And I don't know of another county where the relationship is as strong and enables us to do as much.

So a big thank you from every single one of us at SCOE

and, of course, the wonderful First Five work that's also done.

So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Superintendent.

I appreciate you taking the opportunity at the conclusion of today's commission meeting

to draw attention to the real life consequences of the disposition of this administration

relative to our immigrant population.

And both Council Member Guerra and myself have both visited the very intake space

at the Moss Federal Building, just a few blocks away for ourselves,

with our Congresswoman, Doris Matsui.

And even with the presence of a city member of Congress,

we were not given any direct visual confirmation of the conditions

or even the place within the building where folks are being detained.

And so I think it's incumbent upon all of us, quite frankly, to take every opportunity we can, assuming we feel and empathize the way I think we do with what has just been explained to us, to use those opportunities to just underscore for everyone in whatever public venue, whether it's on television or in a public meeting or at the dinner table,

just what it means to have this happen in our country.

And I think for many of us, we never thought it would ever get near this state that we find ourselves in.

But nonetheless, we are grappling with some very trying times as it relates to making sure that our immigrant population is protected

and has due process available to them just like any other person in this country.

So I appreciate you bringing that to light, Dave.

It means a lot.

Council Member Guerra.

Yeah, thank you very much, Chair.

And one, I wanted to thank Board Member Gordon and also yourself for highlighting this.

Also to thank you specifically for the effort of recruiting and enlisting funds for legal services.

And at the moment, you know, we do have the SAC Fuel Network.

So if any of our clients, any of our families that are from First Five are looking for assistance, they can go to SACFuelNetwork.org for that resource.

But I do want to thank Chair Cerna again for helping establish the Joe Cerna Jr. Immigration Defense Fund to be able to fund the legal aid and legal services because some families aren't even aware that they can access any legal support.

And so if any of our first five families find themselves in that situation, again, go to sacfuelnetwork.org.

And this is something we hope that we can continue to support and guide people through this very terrible time.

Great.

Good words.

Thank you.

Commissioner Wesley.

Yeah, I wanted to share along those same lines.

And thank you for sharing, Commissioner Gordon.

There is first five.

California did just launch the Children First campaign.

And there's $10 million available around immigration.

And I believe they're setting aside 30% just to focus on local efforts that already exist.

So there may be some additional funds that we might want to consider here for First Vice Sacramento.

I was able to go to the state capitol and part of their launch about a week ago.

So maybe it's being launched December any day now.

So we can look for that possibly to blend with whatever we already have.

So again, it's called Children First, and it's through First 5 California.

And it's a pot of money.

It's $10 million.

It's not a lot, but they are looking at local efforts that already exist.

So we can apply for that potentially.

Great.

Thank you.

Okay.

Any other comments from commissioners?

I WANT TO THANK THE STAFF FOR

ALL YOUR CONTRIBUTION AND

PREPARATION FOR TODAY.

THANK THE CLERK.

THANK OUR COUNCIL WHO IS WITH

US.

I WANT TO THANK MY COLLEAGUES.

THIS IS OUR FINAL MEETING FOR

2025.

IT'S BEEN ANOTHER YEAR OF GREAT

WORK.

WE'RE ALL VERY FORTUNATE TO

HAVE ESPECIALLY THE PROFESSIONAL

STAFF THAT WE HAVE AT FIRST

5 sacramenta doing what they do. We'll end on that positive note. There's no further

business before this commission we stand adjourned.

Thank you.