FEATURED COLUMNIST
Broadband Grant, Public Works & Planning, and Lobbying By Zach Friend, Supervisor, Second District
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he Board of Supervisors recently approved numerous funding, policy and procedural actions to improve broadband access, the way the public interacts with the planning and public works process and even how County employees can engage in post-employment lobbying. Here are three recent actions. Broadband Expansion ast year, I brought an item to the Board of Supervisors to use $500,000 of our recovery funding toward broadband expansion. The pandemic highlighted the critical need for access to affordable, high-speed internet. For students participating in remote learning, seniors accessing tele-health programs and workers attempting to work remotely, high-speed internet is an essential resource. Yet, many households in our community, and throughout the state, either have limited bandwidth to meet their needs or are priced out of options. The unincorporated area of Santa Cruz County contains numerous small areas that have no internet or very slow internet service. The Board sought proposals from
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local and national providers with the intention of finding one of more partners to help provide broadband internet service in the unserved/underserved areas. Underserved areas are defined where at least 80 percent of the population has access to internet speeds under 100 Mbps download / 20 Mbps upload. Under the award guidelines, the County will provide matching grant funding to a total investment of $500,000. Submissions were evaluated under the criteria of network reliability, cost effectiveness, capability to meet project goals and schedule, service to the largest number of constituents, service speed, experience, funding capabilities and experience in partnering with local governments as well as ability to serve lower-income households. Cruzio Internet was awarded the grant for this first phase of broadband expansion. Implementation of the proposed design will take about 11 months to complete and will involve installing 10 “points of presence.” This project will serve 4,000 homes across all five supervisorial districts through the Equal Access Santa Cruz program, and provide needed internet resources to affordable housing projects and school neighborhoods. As part of the grant requirements, Cruzio will provide additional matching funds up to 150 percent of the $500,000 County grant. Selected sites should be announced soon. Additional funding for broadband expansion will be available through state and federal grants in the coming months. The County is developing a framework
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for the allocation of future broadband funding with a focus on expanding service to underserved and unserved areas across the County. Public Works & Planning n an effort to improve customer service and streamline project management, the Board of Supervisors directed that departments of Public Works and Planning integrate into a single department. A primary result will be the opening of a “unified permitting center,” focused on customer service and more efficient land use permitting. Gains are expected in both departments in long-range planning, environmental protection, infrastructure improvements, and collaboration with regional planning and transportation efforts. If you’ve ever needed a building permit, then you are aware that the process often requires review from multiple departments. Most planning documents consider transportation, sanitation, and other infrastructure provided by Public Works. Public Works projects rely on Planning sign-off for consistency with environmental and land use policies. By integrating the two departments, the community can expect a faster and more coordinated response to their permit and customer service needs. The overarching goal of the Unified Permit Center is to provide customercentered service to support applicants throughout the permitting With one location for applicants and their design teams to go to for local requirements, this ensures applicants have clear expectations for the review process. With cross-trained staff from various agencies and divisions co-located with building permit technicians, this integration will streamline the overall permit process. Ex-Employees Lobbying any federal, state, and local government agencies have adopted formal policies regulating lobbying by former officials, either elected or appointed, and former employees.
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Often referred to as “revolving door” policies, these ordinances recognize that recently departed officials and staff possess unique knowledge and relationships that are unavailable to the public, which can then be used to exert improper influence over decisions affecting the public’s interests. I brought forward an item (that was approved) that would restrict County employees, for one year, from being paid to communicate/lobby with their former employer in an attempt to influence certain actions or proceedings. The focus of this ordinance is simply to ensure that when public employees have a role in creating a regulatory structure, are privy to confidential information, relationships or any other access points the greater public doesn’t have, that the public be assured those access points aren’t being used for personal gain and the public’s interest is always paramount. The ordinance does not restrict the type of employment a County employee may secure after leaving County employment, nor does it restrict someone from working for a private company after doing business with -company as a County employee. Furthermore, this ordinance does not restrict former County officials or employees from lobbying the County if they are not being compensated to perform the lobbying activities or in an expert capacity requested by the County. It simply creates a one-year cooling-off period that prevents any revolving-door concerns and improves trust with the community. Adoption of the ordinance put Santa Cruz County in line with many other public agencies across the state and country with similar restrictions in place and increases transparency and trust with the community. n ••• As always, I appreciate any feedback you may have on this (or any other County issue). I’m maintaining regular updates on social media at www.facebook.com/supervisorfriend and you can always call me at 454-2200.
