We will call to order the February 26, 2026 meeting of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Wing.

Selena, would you please call the role?

Uh Cherokino?

Here.

Director Desmond?

Here.

Director Dickinson.

Director Guetta.

Director Hume.

Director Kennedy.

Here.

Director Lopez Town here.

Director Maple?

Here?

Director Pratt?

Here.

Director Robles.

Director Rodriguez.

Director Sander.

Director Cerna.

Here.

Director Vang.

And Director Pluckybaum is here on behalf of someone from the city of Sacramento.

So we have a quorum, correct?

Okay.

All right.

If you'd all please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

To the class of the United States of America.

And to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God and the principle of liberty and justice for all.

Alright, if you please read the announcements.

Members of the public are encouraged to observe the meeting in real time at Metro14Live.gov.

Participate in person via Zoom video or teleconference line, and by submitting written comments to board clerk at airquality.org.

Comments will be delivered to the board of directors.

Public comments regarding matters under the jurisdiction of the board of directors will be acknowledged by the chairperson, distributed to the board of directors, and included in the record.

This meeting of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District is live and recorded with closed captioning.

It is cable cast on Metro Metro Cable Channel 14, the local government affairs channel on Comcast and Direct TV Uverse Cable Systems.

Today's meeting replays on Saturday, February 26, 2026 at 1:30 on Metro Cable Channel 14.

Thank you very much.

That takes us to our first item, which is our consent calendar.

Do any of my colleagues have a question or an item that they need to pull from the consent calendar?

Seeing and hearing none, do we have any public comment on this item?

Not at this time, Chair.

Alright, then I will entertain a motion.

So moved.

We have a motion to uh adopt the consent calendar.

Second, please call the rule.

Can we just vote since we don't have anybody?

That is correct.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

Abstain.

Okay.

Consent calendar is adopted.

Thank you.

That takes us to item 6.1 from our discussion calendar.

Community air protection, South Sacramento, Florin.

Community Emission Reduction Plan Development Update.

And we have Janice to present to us.

Good morning, members of uh Terra Aquino, members of the board.

My name is Janice Slam Snyder, and I'm the director of community air protection at the air district.

Um today I'm going to share a little bit about our community emission reduction plan and the work that we've done with our community.

Before I launch into the presentation, I'd like to introduce two really important community members who've been working with us.

One of them has been with us for seven years, and the other uh for three or so, and so um Tito Huang is from our is one of our co-leads of our steering committee, and he is from the Vietnamese American uh community of Sacramento, and then uh Roberto Rizzo will also help uh present some remarks before I launch in.

Thank you, Janice.

Good morning, everyone, Patrick.

Sure and um well I'm glad to be here.

Had a harder time fine parking, I gotta talk fast because I gotta unparking illegally.

You know we're from South Sac.

We don't come up here like this, but uh been involved in this great journey.

Thank you, Janice and the car board for allowing me.

Uh many of you know I've been in the Vietnamese community of Sacramento for for over 15 years.

We have a little new event just finished, and but this is an important part of our community is having an engagement with our community.

So being involved since day one with the whole uh planning, strategizing now, really trying to implement the whole carp strategies, a lot of headaches, seven years, a lot of meetings, a lot of events.

But what I feel empowered was to that the community got involved, got engaged, was able to incorporate some of the strategy with the insight in the input of the community, and obviously our community is quite diverse, so one void isn't reflect at all, but just to be able to be at the table is meaningful and and really inspiring for us today.

I just want to be able to say that hey, we're coming towards the fairness line.

We're gonna try to finish it and get it done.

Uh it doesn't behooves all of us to do so much strategizing and planning and without getting it done.

So my community is looking up and looking at me to make sure that we get this done correctly and and inclusively, and I'm just so proud to be a part of this group, and uh we're here to answer any questions you have.

We're here to invite you to our meetings, but it's one of those things that's coming along really well, and we're ready to finish it.

Thank you for allowing me to speak with you.

Well, thank you for being here this morning, and more importantly, for your work the past few years.

Thank you, man.

Appreciate it.

Good morning, Roberto.

Good morning.

Uh my name is Roberto Rizzo.

I'm one of the I'm a resident member of the South Sacramento Florida Navy Course 7 committee.

I'm a colleague also.

Uh, I've been there for two years actually.

Uh, have the time of in a uh co-lead.

Uh the reason I I joined this committee, and this is something that I wanted to mention is I've lived in Sacramento for 17 years.

Same SIP code from 17 years.

I've actually moved to the US 17 years ago.

So this has been my home, you know, and uh I was excited to be part of this group because I I want to make a difference, you know, use like the rest of the members here.

I want to share an anecdote.

When I moved here, I went to Luther Burbank High School for a year, and I used to walk uh Luther uh Florin Road every single uh day for about a year.

I arrived here over the summer, you know how hard it gets.

And I'm thinking to myself, where are the trees?

You know, like where are the trees on Florent Road?

You know, and I think uh this is gonna lead back to to the uh strategies that we have.

Now we have an opportunity to make that that change.

You know, we went out, we talked to community members, we really wanted to hear what they needed to say because a lot of times when we represent government, we think that we know what the constituents want, right?

Because we've been here for so long, and we think that we that thing ran on our in our head, but we actually went out to talk to people.

We allow them to tell us, we gave them some voting power to tell us where they wanted to spend the money, where they wanted us to focus on.

Trees is one of those areas that they wanted to focus on.

So we're presenting you here in this plan for focus areas that we have.

Uh they are urban, uh, they are commercial uh sources, they're residential sources, there's outreach.

So we're here to say that we put in thousands of hours uh in community, and we we talk to people, we bring people uh with us.

If you have questions, we would we're here to answer them.

And we're ready to finish the plan like uh my colleague said.

So thank you very much for allowing us to say your testimony, and uh happy to talk to you all.

Thank you for being here and for your work.

All right.

Well, thank you so much, Tito and Roberto for uh sharing kind of some of their experiences and um with our development of our AB 617 community emission reduction plan.

So just a brief update uh background, uh refresher, you know, what is AB 617?

Um, it is really a program that focuses on community level issues.

And the state was providing is providing funding to do local air monitoring and find ways and strategies to reduce community emission and exposure.

Um there's been 19 communities across the state that has been selected to be a part of this program, and South Sacramento Florin was selected to be one of the first communities to do community air monitoring, and just two years ago, or about two years ago, um we were selected to be a community emission reduction plan community, which requires us to submit a plan within two years of the designation date.

So, what is the plan?

Um the plan really is a microscope aligning all of these states' regional and local efforts.

Um it is we all all the work that's been done at the state level, at the regional level, and the local efforts uh all have strategies um that addresses and touches on some of the work that is in the SERP, but the SERP specifically is a microscope in addressing specific community issues that they have identified.

So, what is in the plan?

First, first there is a couple of chapters on describing what the community profile looks like and what the process that we took in developing this plan.

It also has technical information.

So what is the community emission inventory look like?

What is the air monitoring data say about this community?

And the crux of it that we have highlighted here in red is the strategies and actions that the community has developed with us to implement in the community that would reduce emissions and reduce exposure in the community.

There's also a couple of other technical chapters in there about what our enforcement history is and what the state and local enforcement efforts are.

In addition to that, the strategies and actions also have metrics and targets for each of the strategies.

So in 2024, July of 2024, our community was selected to develop a community emission reduction program.

And this plan, this plan applies to the boundaries that you see on the slide today.

On the right is a timeline on how we got to developing this plan.

And I am proud to say that Roberto had worked with us very early on as a co-lead in developing how we were gonna get there.

So it started off with hey, let's do education with the community.

Let's you know make sure that they have the basic foundations of understanding what the air quality data says, what the emission inventory, and then they digg right into strategy development.

And that what that looks like is they were able to understand what some of the other 18 communities have developed already, and that has already been adopted in different plans, and use that as a foundation of the type of strategies that can apply here in Sacramento.

And then they came up with new strategies that they wanted here.

And then the next in quarter three, we looked at the feasibility, like how realistic are some of these strategies, do we have funding for them?

And then finally, we went out to finalization of the priorities with the steering committee that uh where we took it out for public comment.

And so now we are at a phase where we've completed the public comment period, which I'll talk about in a few slides later.

So a little bit about who is on our steering committee and who had advised us and developed all of these strategies with us.

They are individuals who live, who work, who own a business or represent an agency or community-based organizations within the community boundaries.

And I know that uh last month, uh director Jennings had mentioned, you know, do we do a lot of the work with community orcs?

And these are one of the ways that we're able to work with community orgs on the priorities that is important to them.

The steering committee consists of 14 residents and five community orgs that you see listed on the slide.

So, what was our timeline and how did it look like?

Um, you know, I mentioned that in 2018, we're selected to be a part of this program.

We implemented the monitoring.

Uh in June, or in May, sorry, uh, we are going to be bringing uh the plan to the board for recommendation for considering for adoption.

Um but leading up until that time, we're gonna be bringing strategies, ideas of strategies of what the steering committee had came up with.

And July is when our statutory deadline is required to submit the plan.

And then what I uh do want to emphasize on this slide is that once the plan is adopted, then we have five years to implement the plan.

And so some of the details that um may uh are still to be worked out with community members on specific projects that might come through.

So, what did the steering committee and the community identified as concerns?

They range from industrial sources, mobile sources, uh, commercial sources, residential, urban planning, land use, and also uh focusing on health and education.

They really wanted to uh ensure that the community is aware of how air pollution impacts their daily lives and like their health and their families.

So what did our process look like?

There's so many ways of approaching improving air quality in an area.

And so they knew with the timeline that they have, they were not all going to be able to sit all in a group to talk about all of these different things that they identified.

So what they did was they broke themselves up into four groups so that they can dig a little bit deeper into each category.

And they broke the categories into urban planning and mobile, commercial, residential, and outreach.

And over 28, they've developed 28 strategies over this past year in over 18 public meetings and additional office hours that we had with the steering committee.

So we know a lot of the work that we need to do requires a lot of partnership.

This is not something that we can, the district has authority all on its own to implement these strategies.

And so we have been working with your local local jurisdiction.

So City of Sacramento, City of El Grove, Sacramento County, have been a part of these discussions with our steering committee members.

So first we'd like to thank many of you and your staff for coming and being a part of this conversation and how we can make this program work for the community.

So Roberto and Tito had mentioned that we really had a robust community input process, and we received a lot of support for the strategies.

So once the committee developed and drafted all the 28 strategies, they're like, well, you know, we want to know whether or not the broader community supports what we're what we're what we came up with.

And so it was over a Wednesday night, I think, and over 85 community members attended.

We had live interpretation for four different languages, and the community members voted on the strategies.

So you could see actually one of our community members that's been joining us in the outreach is the one actually explaining the strategies to the community members.

And folks also had opportunities to provide any new ideas.

So they gave a lot of space for, hey, this is what we came up with, but what are some of the other ideas that you might have?

And so you can see a little board on there where they were taking notes for consideration.

The steering committee members then use this information to prioritize the 28 strategies that uh that was drafted.

So why do we need to prioritize?

The reason why we needed to prioritize the 28 strategies is because funding is limited and it's tied to the cap and trade investment auction proceeds.

So we know that there's all this work that we would like to do, but there's limited funding.

And so we asked the community, which ones do you want us to start with first?

And as we continue to get funding from the state, we'll continue to work down that list.

And so continuous appropriate um, yeah.

So then on the next bullet, um, want to also let you know that uh there is a continuous appropriation for 617 that has been adopted.

However, year by year appropriations are still not set yet for each of the air districts, and each year it's dependent on the state's regional priorities.

And so what you'll see in the plan is that it only commits to the strategies that can't be accomplished with the funding that we've received already.

You can see here just a picture of our resident member, Stephanie Williams, a resident, and also public members that again provided their votes on which strategies to implement first.

Then we took all of that information, we knew what strategies they wanted to do first.

And they the steering committee and the community did a participatory budget activity, which then helped us understand where their priorities are, how did they want to allocate the funding?

And so community members in a steering committee allocated the incentive funding.

The results that came out from the activity were discussed amongst the steering committee members and with and with members of the public.

And during that meeting, the steering committee unanimously passed the funding allocation targets.

And here is our CSC member, Barry Boyd, who is considering their vote for a funding allocations.

So the punch point, what were the top uh communities-supported strategies?

Um you can see, and you've heard uh from our steering committee members as well as the process that I just described.

The SERP really reflects a really robust public process that's taken over in the last year and a half.

Um, and all of those straight these different strategies, some will be from existing programs because we're doing them so well.

Um, and then some are gonna be new programs.

And so these are the top 10 with you know increasing tree canopy, promoting education in schools, and also safe and resilient streets, uh, as the third, that's the third one.

Uh what we're gonna be doing is that we're gonna be bringing these um, we'll be highlighting uh the 28 strategies over the next three months to the board.

And so today you're also the first uh category you're going to hear about in uh Ms.

Mr.

Philly's uh presentation is going to be about the urban planning and mobile strategies.

So here's our timeline of what we're gonna be hearing um today, and then in March we'll go through residential and commercial source strategies, and then April outreach strategies, and then in May is where uh the board uh there is a proposed action from the board in May.

And then if submitted, uh we would be submitting the final SERP to the state for approval.

Uh with that, I'm going, I think this is going to be my last slide.

Um we when we drafted up the entire plan, uh we did a lot of outreach to residences, businesses, and community organizations.

Um, we did our rounds over the uh over the couple of months, and we opened a public uh comment period that has already passed.

And next month, what I'm also going to do is bring to you what are some of the comments that we've received, and what are our thoughts in terms of how to address the public comments.

With that, I think that's the end of my presentation.

Okay, thank you, Janice.

So the urban planning and mobile sources strategies is technically the next agenda item, so I'm gonna pause here.

We do have some um folks who would like to speak, starting with Vice Chair Maple.

All right, thank you, Chair.

Um, and thank you so much for your presentation and for all your work on this.

Uh, it's been great to coordinate and collaborate with you, especially attending the luncheon, which I know many of my colleagues here did too, and hearing directly from the community.

So I just want to thank you for that.

Um, what I think this is one of one of the more important things that we can do is make we know that there are air quality issues and other issues, especially in South Sacramento, a lot of these communities which I represent, Councilmember Vang, Supervisor Kennedy and others.

Um, and so you know, we hear this from our constituents every day.

So I just love to see a really actionable approach to connecting with people and making sure that we're actually addressing their concerns, putting a plan in place, a plan that's driven by them and for them.

So I think that's really a great thing because oftentimes we make plans and sometimes people feel like they're not part of it.

Um so this is the complete different approach, but I think the right approach.

So I really want to appreciate that.

The main thing I wanted to bring up is I did um our city staff did uh again want to thank you for all your work.

Uh, they did send in a letter with um some not concerns but some comments about some changes that they wanted to see in the language, and I just wanted to confirm that you've received that and that that's something that we're pursuing doing additions on or changes.

Yes, uh we have received um the city's comments as well as other uh local jurisdictions as well, and we're actively working on addressing those comments in the plan.

Okay, great.

And I just want to, you know, align just for the public and anyone who may not have read the what the letter um the city of Sacramento does a lot of planning work on this front on multiple fronts including in our general plan we have our climate action and adaptation plan we have our transportation priorities plan and our urban forest plan all of those that we've worked on and talk about frequently and so I just want to make sure that the work that we do uh in this group and the plans that go into place are aligning with that work um and it sounds like the what we're trying to accomplish is very similar if not the same uh just making sure that those those are aligned so that we're not um you know duplicating efforts or uh or perhaps uh you know crossing those boundaries so thank you so much I really want to appreciate you for for your work on this thank you director Kennedy Dr.

ALUF yeah thank you I just wanted to add um for all of you and specifically to the question on comments uh what we're planning to do is um we are going to take every comment that came in and provide a response we will not put that in a formal document that we can then release publicly so not only city staff but everybody else knows what comments came in and what the response from the agency is so that is going to be coming uh at the next floor meeting thank you director Kennedy thank you I wasn't looking that way sorry about that director Kennedy.

So I just I'm gonna state the obvious and that you know this is one of the model uh community driven processes I've ever seen I mean when I when I went and spoke before CARB you've heard of that um and uh you know to encourage them to to name us as a CERP um it could have ended up just like every other state program uh you know you're sitting there you got the whole air resources board up there an intimidating group of people by the way and and I um but but it didn't happen like that and and I give first you know I do give our staff a huge amount of credit for making sure that this is community driven and it's authentic community input that I've seen um you know the different meetings I've been to this is not window dressing and check off the box and really one of the best examples I've ever seen of that in the 30 years I've been doing this.

But I also want to thank our members of the public because you know community input's nothing it's just input without community and you know what you guys have done the hours that you put in uh over so many years is much appreciated and and I'm you know I I'm very excited I think that you know five years from now we're gonna see real real change and difference in an area that's been neglected in this area for too long.

So thank you very much to both staff and the community.

Thank you very much.

Director Vang.

Thank you.

I just wanted to comment both of my colleagues Janice just thank you so much for your heart work.

I know three years ago we were fighting to ensure that we can actually transition from a camp to a SERP and so great to see the work that um got us to this moment.

And it's also really great to see how active our steering committee members are in the space actually leading the various strategies.

And I just want to name that because it's probably our steering committee members that have been our most vocal critics of of the air quality board and our members right and so to see them actually leading the conversation and voting on the budget allocations and how we're gonna move forward is uh it's great right because it's it's like we're co-governing with the community and so uh I just want to uplift what Supervisor Kennedy said that it is a model uh for the state of California if you want to have authentic community participation and it's budgetary participation as well.

Just one question that I had in particular I know you mentioned that uh in May we're gonna bring the plan back for adoption and then July is when we submit it and then we're gonna have five years to implement the SERP plan.

And um just wanted to um just ask about the funding I know you mentioned that funding is kind of based on state priorities but have we seen other SERP plan throughout the uh throughout this um the state uh ways in which they actually fund their implementation plan and um have just staff thought about that.

I know hopefully we'll get it passed and then we have five years to implement.

But what does that look like?

Yeah, that's a really good question.

Um the budget or the allocations that we usually get from the state is what funds the implementation in both the incentive and some of the other projects that you see.

And um historically in the past seven or eight years that we've been running the program, other uh districts have used this part this type of funding to fund this work.

Yeah, okay.

Thank you so much.

Um, really looking forward to the the final plan, and I think a big part of it is that we can have a plan, but uh a good plan goes to die during implementation, right?

So making sure that we um have a plan to how to finance and resources with our partnership is gonna be critical.

So um again, thank you so much, and I'm just um really proud of all the work that you and community have done to get to this moment.

Thank you.

Dr.

Alley, you had something you want to add.

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to rain on this rate, it's it's all good.

But I mean, just in full disclosure, you asked the question about funding.

I mean, clearly uh raising fees is is an area where the state, I mean, you guys have been in front of the ARB, they they go directly, right?

The polluters should pay.

Um, we do have some air districts that actually raise fees to implement.

Uh that's not in the cars for us.

Again, we benefit from being last because we have 18 other examples how we can do this.

And again, the critical aspect for us, and we need your help is to get in front to continue to get in front of the state so that we can continue to compete and get our share of uh the cap and trade funding.

The good news is the program was extended, so it is going to be around until 2045.

Uh, but it's gonna be a yearly fight.

Um, so again, we're as Jenna said, we're going to be mostly relying on the allocation from the state, uh, but some districts have have taken the the route of raising fees.

Thank you, Director Geta.

Uh thank you very much, Chair.

Uh you one, thank you, Chair also for your work in this.

One of the exciting things that we saw in this last year is that we for the first time ever, what many critics would say was not possible is that we meet met federal air quality attainment.

Uh and uh and that's a that's huge because it affects all of us.

That we know that the the emissions that are produced in Sacramento move throughout the entire county and vice versa.

Um so uh you know every it goes to everyone who's been on this board and the others uh to make that change.

And I was very pleased to go with the community.

Uh Tito, you know, we've worked together a lot on on Stockton Boulevard, the old highway 99 for many now a couple decades now.

And um uh and to see the community being part of this aggressively is important, and I think that that can't be um understated.

Um, one of the important things I want to highlight uh in uh in this report, if um if you dive into it, um, was the information that came out with the monitoring on Fern Bacon and in North Paso uh uh the North Sack Del Paso area.

You know, and uh it's no surprise because what the report still outlines is that while we've made amazing uh impacts, it's still the heavy duty vehicles in the heavy duty sector that is impacting um our communities.

And uh this week it was it was even more highlighted to me after my son had his first you know asthma response uh and uh had to go and you know leave the council meeting early to go go get him medication.

And so to me, it just it reminds us that we're making tremendous strides, but um the the to not uh forget that um it's still the challenge of addressing the heavy duty vehicle sector.

It's pri primarily the uh petroleum diesel sector that's creating a lot of these uh these emissions.

So the those communities, and you see just from the data that are adjacent to the 80 and the 99 are the ones that are seeing those numbers as well.

So um I think this was great to look at how we how we move and transition all that.

Um the it was not lost on the community when we went through and looked at some of the the locations, the industrial areas, power and areas.

There also were community works, so we need to make sure that we're balancing, you know, our um our the the uh the success of uh of our economic development with the transition to uh a cleaner uh economy as well.

Um I think that was the the uh the the eye-opener that we have to work collectively together.

And to Dr.

Ayala's point, we've brought in for a vote before the past the ability for us to uh raise local revenues here.

Um it wasn't in the cards for this this board, but I do think that in the future this board should look at you know how we look at uh what we can raise to be able to address our local challenges here.

So thank you again.

I think it's uh a lot of success here uh in this last year for that.

And Chair, thank you again for your leadership in this.

Thank you all very much.

Any others?

Otherwise, I think we'll go to the next item.

Thank you, Janice.

And this one's gonna be Paul, who's gonna dive into the urban planning and mobile sources strategies for our South Sacramento floor and SERP.

Thank you, Chair Aquino, members of the board.

I'm Paul Philly, I'm a program manager here at the uh air district for the transportation and climate change division.

And as was told earlier, there are four different strategy sections.

Uh we actually started with, I believe it was nine or ten, and the community had to keep focusing down uh just because of resources and other pieces.

But the ones that we landed on are very reflective of the the needs of the community and also the needs of uh reducing emissions within our air district.

So, as Janice pointed out, we are going to be looking at establishing new programs, and we're also going to be looking to tweaking or enhancing existing programs so that we can continue the work of cleaning up air within the South Sacramento area.

We do have five years to implement the SERP strategies and looking to other communities.

Some communities have finished, uh, but it still continues to be a guiding reference document as to what are programs that are working, how can we do that?

And once you have an established SHERP, you can continue to work with the air resources board to find funding for those types of projects.

Now, this plan is a little general, and that's somewhat intentional in that we want to make sure that as conditions change, as we get our feet wet with implementation, um, there are guiding decisions and then there are implementation decisions.

And so we really want to make sure that our plan is robust and flexible enough so that we can continue to work with the steering committee and the board to implement these programs in an effective way that benefits everybody within the area.

And then finally, we do have a year of funding that is being recommended recommended for the first year of appropriation.

Now, looking back from when we started doing incentive programs within this community to now, we've invested a little more than 47 40 million dollars uh in the community.

And to give you a sense as to how much the community air protection funding has been a bit of a game changer.

Uh we're in year eight of this program being funded.

Uh so for incentive dollars, about a quarter of the money invested in this community, uh, and remember we've been starting since around the 90s, uh, has been from this program.

So it is absolutely moving the needle.

When we look at the types of programs that we've historically funded, uh, most of them are on road, which is your refuse trucks, your school buses, uh your class eight vehicles.

Uh the next largest tranche is the blue one, which is infrastructure, which could be chargers, uh, and fueling stations like CNG or hydrogen.

Uh we also have the Clean Cars for All program, which is our scrap and replace program where you can scrap a polluting vehicle and get a clean one, provided you're qualified for that.

Uh off-road in this community is mostly things like forklifts and other types of equipment, but it can also be construction.

And then finally, lawn and garden.

Uh, that program is starting to take off using CAP funding and was identified as a an area that the community was interested in.

And as you can see, we've gotten tons and tons of air quality benefits, not just for this community but for the region.

So urban and mobile represents 11 of our 28 strategies.

And the neat thing about urban and mobile is that we don't really have any control over it as an air district.

Um land use authority lies with local jurisdictions.

Uh whether or not we can plant trees lies with the landowners, uh, fleet owners decide whether or not they swap out their vehicles.

Um, and then Air Resources Board has uh enforcement control over lots of mobile sources.

So this is a lot of outreach and bridge building and working with our partners to make sure that we can do this.

And I want to assure Director Maple that we've had very productive conversations with Tom Pace and Matt Irman and the city, and we are going to align our plans so that we can implement in a way that works for not just the city but for the county, but also for El Grove.

Because we, as I've said before, we really want this plan implemented.

And if it doesn't work with alignments and other things, it's not going to be.

Exposure reduction.

We're not actually reducing the emissions, but we do get sequestration benefits as well.

Um the other thing is we have a lot of partners in this area, and this is um what I really want to highlight.

You see that we've already distributed 300 trees.

That wasn't SAC Metro Air District, that was color of the block.

There are partners and community-based organizations working in this area, and they have come forward and said, you know, we want to contribute to the SERP.

We're gonna make this commitment and we're gonna carry out these commitments.

So making sure that the community organizations and jurisdictions are able to put in what they want and have it in the plan, uh keeps us accountable, helps us track it and make sure that there isn't a duplication of efforts.

So we can really make sure that we're moving forward urban tree canopy and vegetative barriers in this community with all of the resources that we can bring to bear on it.

Another one that was really important was quick builds and safe and resilient streets.

There was a lot of interest in making sure that people feel safe using transit, people feel safe biking, people feel safe walking, and people feel comfortable doing those things.

Uh so we have a partnership with SACRT where we're looking at uh transit shelters and making sure that they're they are cool and people can wait in the summer without being overheated, and we've had conversations with local jurisdictions about ways where we can improve uh challenging intersections so that people can feel more safe very quickly and getting these projects delivered uh in a way to help facilitate sustainable modes.

Uh the last one is with our partners at the Air Resources Board.

They have a program called Peaks, where they go out and check vehicles to make sure that the emissions coming off of those vehicles are within the allowed parameters.

And so they've already gone out into the community, they've screened many vehicles, they've inspected many vehicles, some citations have been issued, and so that's to make sure that the vehicles that are within our community are being consistent with regulations and not having excess pollution.

And the Air Resources Board has committed to doing this at least twice a year uh for the duration of the SERP, so that we can continue to have these uh inspections here.

So those are the highlighted ones, and if there's questions on this or others, I'm ready to entertain them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I just wanted to make a suggestion.

I know Dr.

Ayala um staff is planning a celebration, I think, for September to celebrate 30 years of the Air District, and we had talked about planting 30 trees.

I think it'd be especially meaningful if we could do it in this community.

We can do whatever you want, but yes, I mean since you said it, um, save the date.

So we're gonna bring back to you an opportunity September 9th.

We're gonna uh partner with Valley Vision.

They're holding their prosperity summit, and they invited us to piggyback.

Makes a lot of sense because we're targeting the same the same audience.

Uh this agency in its current incarnation is going to uh celebrate 30 years, as I mentioned in the past.

And uh it was actually Cheracino's idea.

Why don't we do 30 trees?

So we have 12 of you guys, so we need to find uh a few more people, but uh yes, we will definitely do that, and we can do it in South Sacramento.

Happy to second that selfishly, as it's in my district.

Thank you.

Director Gata.

I was just gonna say the super super uh uh council member.

That works.

Yeah, council member, board member Dickinson, yeah.

We did uh 22 trees with some group of students in one morning, so you know I think this this board can do 30 trees, but uh, yeah, exactly.

I just wanted to highlight how important uh the partnership is with uh multiple agencies and and particularly with uh carb at the state level here.

Um the mobile screening on heavy-duty vehicles is a great partnership with the CHP as well.

And what we have done, uh, and I've been out with them in um certain areas um uh in in my council district, uh, and we have uh witnessed uh many uh many sometimes from uh Reno and from Nevada who come over here, and you could tell that they have not passed any kind of smog check rule, but the interesting thing about that is that the folks who are also avoiding the air quality standards usually have all kinds of other vehicle violations.

There sometimes their registration isn't permitted, and they're probably overweight.

There's like all of these other violations that are scoff laws, they don't care about anyone's uh safety and public health, and uh in the past have been probably violated.

So I think the partnership that we've had on uh this mobile monitoring on uh uh with these heavy-duty vehicles with the CHP has been fantastic, and it's with license plate readers and it and it's amazing the technology now.

As soon as they swing by the detector, it catches the license plate, also the amount of particulates and knocks that are coming out and other uh emissions uh all at once, being video camera, so you can actually um see the vehicle who's driving and whatnot at the same time.

Um, and most of them are going through these uh truck corridors, which are in our neighborhood.

So um I I just wanted to just highlight how I know we've briefly talked talked about it, but that partnership is is critical.

So uh thank you with that, and I I hope we get to do more of those as well.

Thank you very much.

Any other requests to speak?

I don't see any.

Okay, well, thank you, Paul.

Cherokino, we do have um one number from the public in chambers to give up a comment, and then we have two people on per zoom.

Thank you for reminding me.

Go ahead and call them.

Jessica Sanders with the Sacramento uh Tree Foundation.

I was I was riveted by the conversation.

I didn't realize it was my turn.

Sorry.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you so much for allowing me to speak today.

Um, on behalf of the Sacramento Tree Foundation.

Um, thank you to the board for advancing our region to a cleaner air and sustainable future.

Thank you to staff for implementing all the work, and really thank you for the community for setting a vision that works for them.

Um I'm Jessica Sanders, I'm the CEO of the Sacramento Tree Foundation.

Um I have a PhD in urban and community forestry.

I love trees, I love trees.

I also live in Oak Park, and I will tell you that I bike and walk as my main form of commuting every day.

And there is no other greater impact for me than to be able to be on a tree line street.

It makes me more comfortable.

The cars move slower, it makes a real difference in daily life.

So thank you for thinking about this.

So I don't have to think about my daily commute and zigzag around different neighborhoods to be comfortable.

Thank you.

Um, the Sacramento Tree Foundation is a nonprofit that is invested in creating livable and lovable communities.

We are creating livable communities through planting and caring for trees, which are necessary public infrastructure and investments are in our communities.

Trees help establish lovable communities by creating a sense of place and providing a grounding connection with our surrounding environment that public infrastructure improvements such as sewer pipes or pothole replacement do not endear.

Well, we care deeply about trees, we care even more about how trees can benefit our communities.

We recognize that our communities hold all the power.

So rather than working to empower communities, we work with the community to implement a better future for tomorrow.

I'd like to talk about this um South Sacramento Florence Steering Committee prioritizations, which include tree canopies and communities as a number one strategy.

It's wonderful that you're working with the community to elevate and prioritize these priorities.

In other communities, trees can be seen as a trigger of gentrification, displacing residents of areas before they can actually benefit from the greening that trees that are planted have provided.

By working with and for the community, the air district is ensuring that trees and the plan are meant for the current community to enjoy, not just the future.

The community air protection incentive funds are both supplemental to other funds and necessary to increase the tree canopy in the South Sacramento area.

Well, there are other funding sources.

Many of these sources cover traditional costs of tree planting and are short or limited in their investment.

In areas where there is limited tree planting opportunities due to historical disinvestment, redlining policies, higher renter occupancy, and dense industrial adjacent development, we create less planting spaces.

Correcting injustice of the past requires investment at a higher level than areas that have never experienced those injustices.

A tree planted in an undercanopied community is routinely three to five times the cost of a tree in a well-canopied community.

Trees require not only available soil and care, but in our region, they require water and a consistent water source to be able to establish that tree.

In order to get real results, we need to ensure that the trees are set up for success.

Layering different groups, the community funding opportunities help to create lasting partnerships leading to long-term care, not only for our trees, but for our community.

We are proud to partner with communities and acting as a conduit to prioritize their needs.

And the air district has a pivotal role to ensure that while tree planting isn't a panacea, it will not solve all of the problems.

It is instrumental to communities to create those livable and lovable neighborhoods.

We all play a part in creating successful sustainable future.

Trees, much like air, do not recognize any jurisdictional boundaries.

I applaud the air district for not only recognizing this, but working with the community to ensure that the direct and indirect benefits of improved tree canopy are experienced by all.

Under canopied communities often carry the burden of climate change.

Trees lessen the burden and help residents breathe easier.

They reduce urban heat island effect, ensuring that our streets are more comfortable to walk, bike, play, and wait for transit.

Improving our air quality to ensure that no matter what zip code you are living in or working in, we all have healthy lungs with a reduction in respiratory illnesses for generations to come.

Trees increase our community cohesion, enhancing mental health outcomes and creating safer, more vibrant communities.

Trees planted on one side of the street, see allow for drastic reductions in cortisol on those who walk under them.

Just think about that.

If you remember nothing else, there is scientific research that on the same street, busy, if you walk on one side of the street, you can see drastic levels of your stress decrease.

It's immense.

Trees are not the only solution by far.

There are many other things that need to happen to get us where we want to be.

And we cannot solve all the problems just with trees.

But investing in trees is an investment in a better future.

Thank you for your time today.

Thank you for your continued work, both on this and your board and your daily work.

Our continued partnership both with the Air District and the community, and thank you for really prioritizing the community's needs.

Well, thank you for being here and for your partnership, and we do have requests to speak.

So, Director Kennedy, I don't.

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks, Jessica, for being here, and for the partnership that we've had for the years in South Sacramento.

You've been fantastic.

The one area that is so hard, particularly in this area, is you said it uh the high rental.

And getting particularly multifamily rentals.

Um, you know, I remember we I worked with the tree foundation before you came to Sacramento to get their check every month.

They don't want to worry about trees, you know, around the firm bacon area.

What's the strategy to tackle that?

Because I've tried for 10 years and not been successful.

Yeah, so there's multiple strategies, right?

There's no one fits all solution for anything.

What we are seeing success in is working a lot of times it's figuring out what the barriers are to planting the tree.

The absentee landlord is a big one that I don't know how we can call right show up carrier pigeon to solve that.

But what we have seen is that people who rent actually do want trees.

They want trees, they want to feel that.

And a lot of times when you talk with the landlord, the big issue is they don't want the maintenance.

The trees potentially provide.

So what we have done, and we've started to implement it in South Sacramento is creating big planter boxes.

So four foot by four foot by four foot, so bigger than this podium.

And planting trees above ground because the number one concerns is cracks and foundations caused by roots, cracks and pipes caused by roots.

So that's creating it above, you know, graded soil.

So that allows, is that the best solution?

No.

Is that a better solution than no solution?

Absolutely.

And it still acts as a temporary solution so that the landlord can start to warm up to the idea.

These are long-term problems, and that's really what we're seeing.

We also just go out everywhere and knock on doors and continue those conversations.

It's not usually the person that's the loudest is the one we want.

It's the person that's not coming to anything.

So it's going to conversations.

A lot of that time, it's, you know, if you work a regular day job, you're not at home.

It's also providing services.

You know, for a long time in urban forestry, the thought of sweat equity was the thing that, you know, everyone said, let's get if you work a manual labor job, the last thing you want to do on a Saturday is plant more trees.

Like it's just not there.

So we try to think about how do we elevate communities to think about them as a celebration.

Maybe we have a golden shovel and a ceremonial tree planting with the communities, but then we have staff or other volunteers do all the work.

So really lowering that barrier just to make sure that we can reach those communities.

Thank you.

Yeah, of course.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, thank you.

Selena, you want to call the two folks on Zoom, please?

Yes, I have Mr.

Ryan Mutascemi on Zoom.

You can go ahead and unmute the shelf.

Good morning, board members.

My name is Ryan Motoshemi on behalf of uh uh slowdown Sacramento, a board member writing uh speaking and in support of this item.

Appreciate um the board's focus on the mobile sources as it relates to the community reduction.

So, I appreciate the other speaker uh discussing how it feels safer with these types of improvements, biking and we know that active transportation improvements and traffic safety improvements help get people out of congestion, and that can help with reducing emissions.

So just want to thank you all for your work and the community-driven process um on this plan and appreciate your consideration of our.

Thank you, Ryan.

Um, next speaker is Mr.

Garrett Jensen.

Hi, good morning.

Uh Garrett Jensen, the vice president of uh the slowdown Sacramento Board.

Uh yes, also want to echo the comments, commend the board, the steering committee, and staff for elevating quick builds specifically and safe street design as a means of improving air quality.

Um, Slowdown Sacramento was formed because really principally we want to slow drivers down and increase safety for all road users, including drivers, uh, which also increases air quality.

So our mission is uh connected to all these aims: livability, walkability, safety, um, and of course, air quality.

Uh, also want to commend you know the city for looking at quick build programming as well as um uh other jurisdictions exploring this as well.

And I also call out that tree canopy can, as mentioned, be quick build solution.

Um, so again, Slowdown Sacramento stands ready to support the work and support the leaders in the room, and we're looking forward to seeing where Sacramento can go.

So thank you.

Thank you, Garrett.

Any other requests this week, Selena?

Okay, then thank you all.

Um that takes us to item 6.3 district investment in efficiency technology and collaboration.

Good morning, Chair Aquino and members of the board.

My name is Angela Thompson, and I'm a program manager in the engineering and compliance division, and I'm here today to talk to you about the district investments in efficiency, technology, and collaboration.

It's not.

Oh, sorry, never used this before.

Um I'm happy to be here today to follow up on some questions that um Director Dickinson and other members of the board raised in last October's board meeting.

And I really appreciated these questions because this touches on a lot of work that we do that often happens behind the scenes.

So, to recap, the board asked us to explore opportunities to increase efficiency, use of technology, remote inspections, emerging tools, and collaboration.

This presentation is intended to directly respond to those questions, and I'll walk through and highlight efficiency measures in place, how we use technology, early findings on collaborations, and some next steps.

Yeah, um, before I go get into it, I wanted to speak briefly about what we did to um evaluate these topics and respond to you.

So we started with technology and kind of stepped back and asked ourselves what our processes were and how we were using technology, and then we evaluated emerging tools and identified gaps.

Turning to collaboration, we met with our partners, starting first with BERC, the Business Environmental Resource Center, and they helped us identify agencies that we had programmatic overlap with.

We then reached out to these partners and had discussions, discussing practical and legal limits, our different responsibilities, and identified a few potential new opportunities.

Before going further, I wanted to briefly describe some of the types of inspections we conduct to help lay the foundation for the rest of the presentation.

The type of inspection matters because they can vary significantly in their purpose, their complexity, and the tools that we can use.

We have permitting inspections, and this is where we inspect what we issue the initial permit for, and we're verifying that they're installing the correct equipment and controls are in place.

Then we have our ongoing compliance inspections.

These are very important to make sure that our sources are operating in compliance with their permit every year, they're every year or every other year, and we um these provide us assurance that uh emissions are in compliance.

We have public complaints, which can be variable and unpredictable, uh, but are primarily residential in nature.

And finally, we have a number of specialized inspections around programs like Check Before You Burn or our asbestos program.

Understanding the different types of inspections and how they relate to our program helps us consider how we use technology and collaboration.

To speak to inspections, one of the comments that we heard last October that I wanted to address was whether we had evaluated the usefulness of remote or virtual inspections.

And we have given this very careful consideration, and I wanted to highlight why field inspections remain central to our work.

Field inspections allow us to directly see equipment and more importantly, the entire operation.

It gives us an opportunity to interact face-to-face with our regulated sources and provide them with assistance or compliance assistance as we call it.

And during these inspections, we often identify issues that wouldn't be identifiable if we were doing a remote inspection or reviewing records.

We use this time to quickly resolve other issues and educate our sources.

We did, like so many other agencies, get a chance to do remote inspections during during the pandemic, and at one point that was exclusively what we were doing.

We found they were really effective for very simple inspections where we're just verifying one thing, such as a breakdown or a simple initial inspection, but they were not effective for complex facilities, and we had a lot of reduced visibility.

To wrap this up, I'll share some feedback from that time.

We heard from our regulated sources that the burden of the inspection was shifted on them and it increased their work.

They had to gather records, they had to provide photos, they had to carry around a phone showing us things.

And the fallout from that was that as we returned to field-based inspections, we found a lot of violations of those sites that we had inspected remotely.

And this led to a lot of frustration from our sources.

And so these are the lessons that we've used to kind of clarify where a remote inspection makes sense to us and will continue to maintain that flexibility where it makes sense.

So now I wanted to briefly highlight how we've already built efficiency into our programs.

Some of these are recent measures, and some of these have been developed over decades of experience.

So we our inspectors are assigned zones, so they either have a specific geographical area or they have a specialty type of equipment that they inspect.

This allows us to utilize their expertise and also helps them do things like route planning so they're more efficient.

We, as I mentioned, we do inspections every year or every other year, and we use the data to help us prioritize our inspections.

Finally, we have invested in a new data system.

It's called area, and I we've mentioned this at times, but this new system has been a huge improvement for our staff and for our customers.

We've gone cloud-based and paperless.

What's really great is customers can log in and interact with our system.

They can apply for permits, they can pay their bills, and this results for us on the user side on workflows and automations.

Finally, all of this gives us analytics and data on our performance that we never had access to before.

So now I want to pivot to other types of technology we use specific to the engineering and compliance division.

Here you can see many of the tools we use for detecting pollutants or leaks.

For using technology, our approach has been to find the right tool for the right situation.

You can see there's quite the variety of tools.

I wanted to highlight a few of our newer tools, and that would be satellite data, like CARBS Carbon Mapper and other federally supported satellites.

These help us identify methane emissions and also illegal burning activities.

So, while all of these tools enhance our compliance program, we do still continue to investigate new tools.

Next slide, please.

I am switching the slides.

Sorry.

Another technology that is often mentioned and that was brought up in October is the use of drones.

We initially evaluated the use of drones for residential use and many years ago, and we found that it wasn't feasible due to the privacy and legal considerations, and also from an operational standpoint, the time it takes to launch a drone is more time-intensive than the time it takes for our traditional methods.

But we are aware of other agencies using drones in other capacities, such as very large facilities, or we know our sister agency SACRT is using drones to support route efficiency.

So we are evaluating a couple new potential future use cases of using drones equipped with methane detectors at sites like oil and gas facilities or landfills.

So we'll continue to evaluate that, and if it makes sense, we will add them to our toolbox.

So now I wanted to turn to where we see the greatest opportunities, and that's with AI.

We've been tracking AI for several years.

We were one of the first districts to adopt an AI policy that put guardrails on our staff using it, but also allowed us to explore using AI.

On this slide, I'm gonna talk about a couple of ways we are tracking or using AI.

One that's very interesting is EPA using AI to target and prioritize inspections based on their compliance history.

So we'll see if this has future use for us as they get through that trial run.

We've successfully used AI in data review and analysis, and recently this year it was very helpful with us finding errors in some of our emission information that we need to report.

And finally, in the engineering and compliance division, we've used AI successfully in improving some of our outreach and communication material, like our complaint letters to make it easier to read and standardizing them.

So we're now at a reflection point where we're working closely with our IT department on where to go and identifying some short and medium and long term goals so that we can integrate AI into our programs to improve how we work, but also maintain security.

Specifically, we're looking at launching a project and are considering some of these programs.

We're looking at AI for agricultural burn program to help with our automation of our daily procedures, drafting and controlling templates and reviewing permits and inspection reports, and then we wanted to build off the success we had of using AI with our large emission data and see if it can be used to review our complex reports and help us find errors in those and reduce our staff review time.

Now I want to transition to multi-agency coordination, which is a very important topic that was raised in the October board meeting.

First, I wanted to emphasize that collaboration is already embedded in how we operate.

This slide shows in the center some of our existing programs that we already have built in collaboration with on the agency with the agencies surrounding them.

So in the October board meeting, multi-agency collaboration, especially related to our inspection work, was discussed, and this is a really relevant and important topic to raise, and it provided us with an opportunity to review our current practices.

So, as I mentioned, we met with our partners like EMD and Ag Commissioner, and we reviewed whether our programs intersect and if there were any new potential opportunities for coordination.

These conversations were really productive to help us affirm our existing coordination and identify some opportunities.

And we did hear that there was interest in a way to facilitate information sharing with our staff on a more regular basis, such as the symposium.

So we'll continue exploring these identified opportunities and where they make sense.

We'll put them into our regular coordination efforts.

Another concept that was brought up at the meeting that I wanted to address was the idea of conducting inspections at the same time as other agencies.

And we do understand the desire to reduce disruption to businesses.

It's a very reasonable goal, and something we're always mindful of.

We did discuss this with the agencies I mentioned, and I wanted to share our collective viewpoint.

All these different agencies, we have different requirements and authorities, timelines that we conduct inspections, and things we're looking at on those inspections and objectives we're trying to achieve.

Our staff needs to have different training and certification to conduct these inspections.

When we look at it from the business's point of view, we think inspections at the same time would increase the length of time of the inspection dramatically, be very confusing and overwhelming, and probably disrupt the business.

The benefits we see that I've mentioned earlier from in-person inspections, like education and compliance assistance would suffer.

So given all these downsides, we don't see coordinated inspections as beneficial to the businesses we regulate.

We are and will remain committed to minimizing disruption and conducting efficient inspections and always providing proactive assistance.

And we will continue to coordinate with our partner agencies when there's a clear reason to do so.

And situations where we do typically typically do coordinated instruct inspections are things like high-risk situations or times where there's significant compliance concerns.

So to wrap up, let me just briefly summarize the key findings and opportunities.

First, we have invested heavily in technology, and we will continue to do so, particularly through AI and through our new data system area to support our ongoing modernization.

Second, collaboration is already strong, but we'll continue to reaffirm and strengthen those partnerships and pursue opportunities.

Third, efficiency, particularly for inspection work, is reviewed and optimized annually, and we'll continue exploring practical tools, and we have integrated approaches such as remote inspection where they add value.

And overall, all of this reflects our continued commitment to investing thoughtfully in technology, strengthening collaboration and improving our efficiency to support our mission.

With that, I can turn it over if there's any questions.

Thank you, Angela.

Director Dickinson.

Well, first of all, thank you for this follow-up and this and this report back.

I uh I am one, I hope uh all on the board are very appreciative of you doing this this work of a couple um questions and and comments.

Um starting with inspections and and uh I let me divide that into two parts.

Um use of technology or or devices to do inspections.

Um you talk about that being uh essentially um uh not very useful in your experience from the uh time during the height of the pandemic.

Um but uh uh I wonder if uh that's um not uh something that can be can be improved by uh working with uh with those who are subject to to inspection uh such as such as larger facilities larger uh stationary sources so that you can you can optimize the time uh of the staff uh and and the those who are being in inspected.

So so can you can you talk a little bit more about um why that why that doesn't make sense, why that can't be used uh especially for the larger facilities where a person has to go out and walk through the entire facility, spend all the that time that could be done potentially remotely.

Sure, I can do that.

Um I think just kind of building off of what you said, part of the inspection has to be walking through the entire facility and seeing all the operation.

It isn't limited to a specific thing, it's there a lot of um larger facilities have a lot of different pieces of equipment that we're regulating at different locations, so we need to do that walk through to see everything, and then we need to go outside and see emissions, and then those larger facilities especially are subject to extensive record keeping requirements, and we need to review all those.

So if we're in person, we can look at them as we're walking around.

We don't need them gathered and scanned and sent to them, sent to us.

So the time and the burden when we do these um virtually get shifted.

But more importantly, it's it it they it's a lot to see, right?

And nothing can really replace being out there and seeing it.

And we can't, if we haven't seen that site, we don't know where to ask to look, right?

So you really need that experience, most importantly, where you can do remote fairly effectively is something like a breakdown where we've been there, they're under permit, and one very specific thing broke, and we want them to tell us verify that, and they can show us that because we know exactly what we're looking for.

But when we're doing a broad facility inspection, there's just such a variety of pieces of equipment, emission points, and records that we need to walk that um that site to be effective.

Does that help?

Well, uh uh thank yes, it does, but it it still uh leaves me uh wondering, because I mean we increasingly, for example, we're we're seeing in the in the building uh sector uh inspections done remotely and uh building inspections where the building inspector, you know, is on the phone with a camera with uh usually with the contractor who can walk to the spot that needs to be uh inspected, can sh can display that for the inspector on the uh on uh a smartphone or tablet, whatever whatever's being used, and uh there's the ability to to see that effectively and sufficiently to make a judgment about it, and you can walk around an entire house, for example, or an entire building and and do that.

Um the record keeping side uh I assume folks uh now all keep their records electronically, and so you're shaking your head, people are handwriting records.

Well, like looking at something where we're looking at codings, a lot of those are paper-based um data material, you know, SDS's data sheets, and they get those electronically.

So there's all variety of ways that records are kept, and some have to be kept paper at the site of that particular piece of equipment.

So it's um it's just not it's not necessarily standardized and uh nor are the facilities.

Um so each facility is uniquely permitted, and the permit can have specific conditions for that.

So there's just a difference, uh, there's just such a variety.

That the other thing I just want to add is I understand what you're saying with building departments and looking at a specifically new thing, um, but we're looking we're looking at a really large facility, and we don't know what we're looking for a lot of times.

So you could have something outside in the by the dumpster where there's a bunch of debris and maybe their control device is broken.

We don't know that's there, and we wouldn't necessarily know to direct them there unless we do that facility walk through.

Um the other aspect of of uh inspections is coordination with other agencies and and uh what your presentation essentially said is you don't think it's a good idea because it it it would overwhelm businesses and this army of inspectors of from different agencies.

I uh I don't know uh who the army is uh exactly.

I mean, if you take a gas station, there's someone who goes out and checks that they're accurate on their weights and measures for their dispensers and and checks their tanks and things like that from time to time.

I mean uh what it what what army of inspectors that would uh overwhelm uh a business uh were you were you thinking about when uh when you made that conclusion?

Well, I guess I let me try to clarify how I looked at it to make sure I'm addressing you correctly.

But I looked at two, took it as two different topics with collaboration.

There's this idea of we can maybe share or give some of our work to an agency, and we've done that in the past.

We used to do that with our ag burning, which you know, they actually gave that back because it wasn't efficient for them.

So we have done that in the past, and so I'm not speaking to that.

I'm speaking to okay, four organizations, four government agencies are going out to one site, we will all go at the same time.

Because there's not overlap in what we're doing, what we would be doing is multiplying that length of a time for that inspection by four.

And we do do that when there's really serious compliance issues, but it's very disruptive because you're you're going through four different sets of laws, four different requirements, and and so that's a lot for the sources to take in and speaking to our part some of these partner agencies, they felt the same way that that would be the response.

There wouldn't be time savings.

It would be making something that is disruptive and challenging, you know, multiply it by two, multiply it by three, multiply however many agencies.

It just depends on the type of facility as to how who's out there.

So a gas station could have EMD it could have weights and measures and it could have us.

So now we're going to turn it into three times as long.

Well I does it I I don't know that it does that.

I mean because it's on its different different inspectors going on different days.

I don't know that that's any l disrupt any less disruptive than three uh two inspectors showing up on one day but but I mean it makes you wonder about the the number of inspections that are being done on some of these businesses across agencies and and that really raises the question of whether there's any opportunities for cross training actually that that would would be a fact now you mentioned the ag I assume it was the ag commissioner you were referring to when you were talking about ag burning regulation and uh and they gave it back after they said that yes we can incorporate what you want from the air quality side and then they gave it back.

Can you say a little bit more about that?

Well I don't want to over speak for them but that but it wasn't efficient for them to do it.

They were going to places that they didn't need to go to as much they also couldn't keep their staff fully abreast of all of our regulations to where they felt like they could effectively do it.

And when it came back to us they've shared with us multiple times that that the customers we have that overlap appreciate us doing it because we've been able to improve it because we have a better working knowledge of the regulations.

And we also actually used to do the same with weights and measures years ago where they would uh do some of our inspections but they returned to us because I think ultimately a lot of this just stems from the variation and complexity of all the different federal regulations from the Clean Air Act to the Clean Water Act and all of that just results in the local agencies implementing those regulations.

Well that that raises a whole set of other questions I'd say but um I just with your indulgence chair I I wanted to uh ask um you in your slide you talked about uh you showed and talked about the um the uh the inap applicability of using drones for in some inspections because of privacy and legal constraints now if somebody needs to be inspected they agree to that uh by definition uh by law the the that they'll be inspected so I I was unclear what that what the what the privacy and legal constraints are that would prevent the use of drones oh I I'm apologize if that was unclear that was directed specifically to using drones for residents for like fireplaces or backyard burning because they haven't agreed to being inspected and they have you know a right to privacy in their homes so that's uh initially where we evaluated using drones this was very useful for us to revisit drones so we appre again we really appreciated some of these questions and that would be one of those sort of gaps I identified where we looked into it and we realized there is some up and coming use for drones at the landfills and um oil and gas and we were we have uh some work in progress where we'll be hearing from some other agencies that do that and see if it makes sense to adopt those.

Okay I I I understand that that better um uh and I do understand the right to privacy uh as well um uh and finally I just I just wanted to uh ask about the the use of AI which I think has to be approached with some caution, but but uh you know we've got um police departments, for example, now that uh that are using AI to write first drafts of of police reports were then reviewed by the officer, but saving time uh because they don't have to sit there and write the whole report initially.

Like the AI can can generate a draft.

Are you are you using that same kind of approach of uh with your inspection reports?

Yes, I I I I agree, and I'm excited to look into that more, and that's what we're we're actively doing.

That right now is how can we use AI for writing our permits, like a first draft, how can we use it for inspections to cut down on the time the time that our staff has to do, and and increase accuracy.

And we're doing that closely with our IT department because of all the security issues, and making sure we I adopt the right technology, um, so we're actively planning all of this as we speak.

Okay.

Well, thank you.

And I uh uh again I appreciate the the report back uh uh uh and the work you've done on this.

I um I I it still is uh a concern, the extent to which not just for the air district, but across across our governmental agencies, we silo the work we do, and uh that uh to me increases uh expense, but it also I think in the uh ultimate sense increases burden on those who are licensees or subject to to inspection.

Um I would hope that that uh at least for the at least for you, you would you'd continue to look for those uh opportunities for uh coordination, collaboration, joint uh uh efforts, um uh training that that uh can reduce the number of people who go out and and visit businesses for inspection purposes or permitting purposes.

Um I think that's uh that's something we all need to be conscious of.

Um we have obligations imposed by law, imposed by really the necessity to have the quality of life that that we all want to see, but uh at the same time uh we need to be looking to ways to be as efficient and effective as possible uh in doing that.

And I think one of the areas that uh that we could do, not so much directed solely at the air district, but across local government is is cross-training of of people.

Um that's that's something that I think we could should should always look to see if if it's available and effective.

So thank you.

Thank you.

No, you're good.

Okay, all right.

Thank you very much, Angela.

Doesn't look like I have any other questions, so thank you very much.

Um that takes us to the APCO report.

Thank you.

And uh real quick, we have one item for you, and I'm gonna yield the floor to Ms.

Schemper, the head of our administrative services.

Thank you so much, Dr.

Ayala.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair Maple, and members of the board.

Like Dr.

Ayala said, I'm Megan Shepard, director of administrative services, and I'm happy to share some good news about our fiscal year 2425 audit.

Not something you expect to hear great news on every day, but it's great news.

Uh our annual comprehensive financial report has been successfully completed, and both our financial and single audits were finalized for our new external auditors, Richardson and company.

We received a clean opinion, no new no findings, no adjustments to our financial statement, which is the best uh results we could receive.

This means our financial reporting was accurate going into the audit, and our internal controls are strong.

For a specialized local agency like ours, this level of uh performance is especially meaningful.

We operate with a lean but mighty team, and these results reinforce that we're managing the district resources responsibly and meeting our grant and regulatory requirements.

This also reflects the work of our finance team.

A lot of what they do isn't visible.

When everything is running smoothly, you don't see it, but it's absolutely critical to maintaining public trust and keeping the district running smoothly.

This effort is led by our controller, Patty Kepner, and supported by Agnes, Veronica, Ahmed, Sandy, May, and Bianca.

We're really fortunate to have them on the team, and I hope you'll join me in thanking them.

They're joining us online today and via Zoom as they continue to work on many of the district's priorities, including the fiscal year 26-27 budget that we'll be bringing to you in the coming months.

So I thank you for your time this morning.

Thank you.

Thank you, Megan.

On behalf of the board, please send our congratulations and thanks to your finance team.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anything else, Dr.

Ayala?

Okay.

That takes us to Board Ideas, Comments, and AB 1234 reports.

Seeing nothing.

Selena, do we have anybody uh here for public comment for item not on the agenda?

Okay, thank you.

Then we will adjourn at 10 27.

Thank you all very much.