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Our 166th Year
Fire communications facility OK’d County moves ahead with regional center despite sheriff’s concerns
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Fire chiefs and personnel from around Santa Barbara County attend the Board of Supervisors meeting in support of the proposed Regional Fire Communications Facility.
By FORREST MCFARLAND Recommendations concerning the Regional Fire Communications Facility ignited debate Tuesday between Sheriff Bill Brown and the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. But despite the sheriff’s objections, the board unanimously approved the facility, which was supported by fire chiefs attending the meeting at the County Administration Building in Santa Barbara. The meeting also featured the Commission for Women Annual Report and the 2021-2022 First Quarter Budget Update. The Regional Fire Communication facility is an expansion upon the existing Emergency Operations Center, which will redirect emergency calls in order to optimize which first responders to dispatch. The cost of the facility is $11 million with estimated annual operating costs of $4.9 million. “Cooperation and regionalism is really significant,” Supervisor Joan Hartmann said about the facility. “It’s the most important part of the project.” While the county’s fire chiefs suggest this will have a positive effect on response times, Sheriff Brown objected to the project for financial and interpersonal reasons. “All calls would have to be transferred to fire and EMS,” Sheriff Brown told the board, speaking remotely. “Having a consolidated dispatch center was a key ingredient to the exemplary handling of these collaborative events.”
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The City of Santa Barbara will join a countywide effort to draft a broadband strategic plan and contribute just over $60,000 for the plan’s creation. Santa Barbara City Council heard from Santa Barbara County Association of Governments executive director Marjie Kirn and Dr. Bill Simmons, collaborative developer for Broadband Consortium of the Pacific Coast, prior to reaching a decision during its meeting Tuesday. In July, SBCAG formed an ad hoc committee to look at the future of high speed internet in the county. And last month, the committee voted to create a strategic plan with the help of BCPC and sign memorandums of understanding with each municipality. Dr. Simmons has seen BCPC, which was established in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties in 2014, change because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “What we found through COVID was just having a home with two working folks, teleworking with kids going to school, was a problem,” he said. “We didn’t have that capacity. “Within the last 18-24 months, we’ve got new mandates that have been thrust upon us and projects, tranches of funding, waves of funding. And the mandate is: broadband for all.” The bipartisan infrastructure
News-Press correspondent
Speaking remotely to the Board of Supervisors, Sheriff Bill Brown objected to the Regional Fire Communications Facility for financial and interpersonal reasons.
Sheriff Brown also disagreed with the significant costs of the project. But the board responded positively to the Communications Facility during the following discussion. “This is much bigger than a turf battle,” said Supervisor Das Williams. “This is about how we can get there with the closest available resource as rapidly as possible.”
“There have been opportunities to do things differently and collaborate, and those opportunities weren’t taken by the Sheriff’s Department,” Supervisor Gregg Hart told the board. “They were taken by the Fire Department, and that’s why every single fire chief is here today in solidarity with this plan.” The board followed the County Fire Department’s recommendation and approved
bill signed by President Joe Biden on Monday allots $65 billion to provide broadband access. Ms. Kirn anticipates an additional $6 billion from the State. Dr. Simmons presented the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians as an example. The band received $50,000 from the Department of the Interior a year ago to create a strategy to connect networks. Their plan resulted in $6.6 million in funding. The City of Cuyama learned last Friday that it was awarded $12.5 million to complete a fiber optic connection from Santa Maria to Cuyama. “What we’re wanting to do is regionalize this conversation, get this kind of conversation going in each city, each municipality to identify those neighborhoods in position to get those kinds of funds for those needs,” Dr. Simmons said. He estimates the planning process to take six or seven months. Ms. Kirn projects it will take until the end of 2022. Santa Barbara County contributed $200,000 to the estimated $400,000 in planning costs. Each municipality is requested to provide a portion based on population. The City Council also heard an update from the newlyformed State Street Advisory Committee, which has had four monthly meetings. State Street Master Planner Tess Harris told the council Please see COUNCIL on A2
the facility unanimously. County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig told the board that construction would take place under a tentative 30-month timeline. The board additionally moved forward with Proposed Certificates of Participation Financing and the Adoption of a Reimbursement Resolution for several capital projects. Please see BOARD on A2
During the Nov. 16 board meeting, the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education was presented Covid19 Report #31 which contains the latest data on the county’s positive covid cases within the school district. Data includes new positive covid cases, vaccinated vs. unvaccinated percentages for both staff and employees, vaccination rates broken down by ages, as well as state and national headlines for Covid-19. Public commenters were almost entirely in opposition to the vaccination mandate, with some voicing concerns about what they called “experimenting on children.” The Santa Barbara Unified School District has mandated that all their employees be vaccinated or face being placed on unpaid leave by Dec. 17. There is no testing option available to those who choose not to be vaccinated and the only exception is for those who are approved for either a medical or religious exemption. As of Nov. 9, the case rate was at 9.8 per 100,000. The goal is for the case rate to reach less than 6 per 100,000. Once the numbers drop below 6 per 100,000 the indoor mask mandate can be lifted. However, the mask
mandate for schools has been ordered by the state of California and not by County Public Health. In the 50 and over age group, in excess of 80-85 percent have been vaccinated. In the 12-15 age group more than 40% have been fully vaccinated and more than 60% have been partially vaccinated. Out of more than 7,700 students tested, the positivity rate is at .9%. The vaccination rates for employees are high, with 96% of employees vaccinated. Only 4 percent, or 69 individuals, remain unvaccinated. Those 69 individuals have either received approved exemptions or are under review for exemptions. Random testing of unvaccinated students began on Nov. 8 and almost 65 percent of secondary students have consented to testing. While vaccination cards are being turned in daily, more than 50 percent of students have not yet turned in a vaccination card. To read News-Press Annelise Hashaw’s prior reporting on the district’s vaccination mandate, go to: https://newspress.com/ unvaccinated-sb-unified-staffoffered-accommodations/. To read her coverage of the protest against the mandate, go to: https://newspress.com/ teachers-join-protest/. email: kzehnder@newspress.com
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