Attend Board Of Supervisors Meeting Tomorrow

July 13, 2009

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We would like as many community members to show up at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, July 14 at 1400hrs.

Below is some more information.

AGENDA
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
700 H STREET SUITE 1450
SACRAMENTO, CA 95814

Tuesday July 14, 2009 2:00 PM

Supervisors: Roger Dickinson, Roberta MacGlashan, Don Nottoli, Jimmie R. Yee, Susan Peters

ALTHOUGH THIS MEETING BEGINS AT 9:30 A.M., THE MEETING AGENDA HAS THE SHERIFF’S PRESENTATION TO BEGIN @ 2:45…CITIZENS WILL BE PERMITTED TO SPEAK AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE SHERIFF’S PRESENTATION

The Board of Supervisors welcomes community participation in the Board meetings and citizen involvement is encouraged.

You may address the Board on items on the agenda upon recognition by the Chairman. Comments should be limited to three minutes so everyone may be heard. Matters which are under jurisdiction of the Board, but not on the agenda, may be addressed by the general public following completion of the regular agenda and any off agenda matters before the Board for consideration. The Board limits such comment to five minutes per person and not more than fifteen minutes for a particular subject.

Tips on speaking to the Board

• Complete a form (available in Board Chambers) and give to the Clerk.
• Make your statement as brief and concise as possible, and be prepared to answer questions.
• A written statement is best for detailed or complicated information. One copy should be provided for each Board Member and the Clerk. Additional copies for the news media are helpful.

Visitor comments

"My prior letter to the board of supervisors had been emailed to them, and in theory they have read it. Below is the two part speech which I expect to give at today's meeting. I will need someone to read part II, since my time allotment will probably be exceeded. If you would like to read Part II, the budget suggestions, please contact me.

Part I:
Thank you to everyone who took time out of their day to express their concerns. Sacramento County is a battle ground. California has the 8th largest economy in the world, and Sacramento as its capital is by de facto one of the most important communities on the planet. I contend as Sacramento County goes, so goes the United States and therefore the rest of the world. How do we accept and manage that responsibility. Let us start by being fiscally responsible. Ask the former Soviet Union if they could do it over again, would they heed their economic warnings. Would they change their political views and become fiscally responsible to save their nation?

The budget process is a political one. Politicians choose when, where and how to spend the public’s money. You must choose priorities and fund those priorities. You must weigh the founding fathers’ expectations of government’s role. What services can only the government provide? Clearly that is: establishing law, enforcing law, and reviewing law; the three fundamental branches of government. They key word in each being: Law.

Let us learn a lesson from the past, from the FBI, SEC, and CIA, at least as far back as the time of Al Capone and organized crime, from Bernie Madoff, to the current state of terrorism around the world. Let us follow the money!

Yes your actions do speak louder than your empty words. If Public Safety is your #1 priority, prove it, because it is only 16% of the total budget, and obviously shrinking. The sheriff’s department is only 7-8% of the entire budget yet you have taken 32% of the entire county deficit from it; $57 Million forcing the layoff of over 200 full time deputies and over 400 part-time deputies. You cut the probation department forcing the closure of a detention facility, the release of 45 convicted burglars, robbers, and gangsters, and eliminating their ability to supervise 15,000 probationers. You force the DA’s office to have to choose which crimes to prosecute. You force the sheriff’s department to choose which crimes to investigate. Sacramento County cannot manage a 4% budget deficit without laying off 1000 county employees? Those are failures on your part.

You spent $900 Million on airports, only to lose major airline carriers. You spent $8.6 Million on Narcotic Replacement Therapy. You spent over $120 Million on Mental Health contracts. You make $385 Million in aid payments to welfare, and spend $270 Million to hand out that cash. So it costs $4 to give away $6, absurd. By contrast, the entire sheriff’s department budget last year was $364 Million.

You spent $2 Million on RT bus passes for Welfare recipients. They don’t have jobs, where are they going? And, where are we headed as a result? Meanwhile you cut all medical payments for retirees who worked their entire careers serving Sacramento County. The key word is WORKED.

You spend $1.4 Billion, per year, on transportation yet the number one complaint of citizens, and the number one reason new cities have formed in this county is the lack of traffic enforcement and law enforcement services. We are headed the way of the Soviet Union. Heed your warnings!

Trust me, I’ll sacrifice with a few potholes in the road. I’m ok with someone being required to work for a living. I’m ok with tent city jails, giving inmates bologna sandwiches, pink underwear, and making them pay for their healthcare. I’m ok with a 6-month limit on welfare and any aid program. Your lack of funding for Law and Justice is reflective of your loss of the public trust granted to you by your elected office. Every bit of the budget process is a political choice. What choice will you make?

Part II:
Here are some observations and suggestions, in general, where Law and Justice has a profound impact on each area of Sacramento County’s Strategic Plan, and where to find funding for Law & Justice, which is currently only 16% of the budget. Make Law & Justice your true priority, BOOST their funding to 20% ($195 Million additional) and our SAFE communities will thrive:

Economic Growth ($55 Million; 1%): Mission: “Achieve continual business growth in the Unincorporated Area”. - Provide a high quality of Law and Justice services or businesses will find alternate communities such as Roseville and Placer County to serve. There are plenty of reasons why the Galleria Mall was not built on McClellan and why Town & Country Plaza has diminished, why cities have incorporated and taken the tax base with them. Again, their number one complaint was the lack of availability of law enforcement services. Fund POP teams & community prosecutors from “Economic Growth” ($3 Million; 5% trimmed).

Transportation ($1.4 Billion, yes Billion; 27.1%): Mission: “Bolster safe and efficient movement of people and goods”. - Do not rely solely on CHP to provide traffic enforcement in Sacramento County. Fund some sheriff’s patrols, POP teams, towing, jail inmate transportation, all traffic court & prosecution costs, work project, and probation with Transportation funds. Promote more traffic enforcement, and fund it. As patrol staffing increases (not decreases like it is now) they will have the time to conduct traffic enforcement along with general criminal response. This will have a compounding effect on economic growth as businesses feel confident in their local law enforcement, and their ability to coordinate the smooth flow of transportation, as a supplement to CHP ($47 Million 3% trimmed).

Public Health & Safety ($606 Million; 11.5%): Mission: “Minimize injury & property loss caused by emergencies and natural disasters”. - Law Enforcement & Fire are the first responders in any public safety crisis, natural disaster, flood, environmental hazmat, or terrorist incident, and assist in the coordination of county safety services. They prevent and/or control looting and riots. Without Law & Justice to keep order, hospitals and public health clinics would be overrun in a major crisis, disaster, or terrorism incident. Fund a portion of Law & Justice including correctional health from Public Health & Safety ($30 Million 5% trimmed).

Strong & Healthy Families ($1.3 Billion, yes again Billion; 25.2%): Mission: Minimize the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on families, protect families from violence, and achieve a high degree of public satisfaction with the quality and response of county services. - Law Enforcement officers accompany, assist and often have dual roles with CPS, as counselors, mental health evaluators, crisis intervention, provide protection of life from those in crisis, provide protection for and from those under the influence of drugs, provide protection for those in domestic violence, investigate and arrest offenders. A majority of criminals arrested are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Prosecute Offenders. Fund Law & Justice largely from this area, including Narcotics teams, patrol officers and detectives to respond to Domestic Violence crimes, Canine (often needed to deal with those on drugs and/or mental conditions in crisis), POP teams, and Civil officers (R/O violations), probation officers, and prosecutors ($105 Million; 8% trimmed).

Sustainable and Livable Communities ($238 Million; 4.5%): Mission: Sustain livable neighborhoods, minimize the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on communities (again), promote civic involvement and community identity; achieve high degree of public satisfaction with quality and response of county services to neighborhoods. Fund programs like, patrol and probation from Livable Communities; without them no community would be livable ($10 Million; 4% trimmed)."

->By Andrew Croley on July 14, 2009 - 09:07

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