Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Primary & Alternate Members Only Meeting- in-Person & Zoom
Minutes
Present: Deborah Barmack, Carole Beswick, Bill Blankenship, Rebecca Boydston, Mike Burrows, Rachelle Bussell, Mark Cloud, Ken Coate, Josh Cox, Kevin Dyerly, Dr. Sam Gibbs, Rebeccah Goldware, Louis Goodwin, Fran Inman, Mark Kaenel, Steve Lambert, Michael Lewin, Darcy McNaboe, Miguel Mendoza, Dan Murphy, Brian Nestande, Vikki Ostermann, Bansree Parikh, Catherine Pritchett, Michael Rivera, Dan Roberts, Dan Schenkel, Kristine Scott, Patty Senecal, Eric Ustation, Pete Van Helden, and Michael Wells.
Guests: Josh Candelaria and Nathan Cooke.
Kevin Dyerly, Chair presiding
Announcements: 1) Gratitude was expressed to the Inland Action staff for the overall coordination, scheduling, and planning of the Sacramento advocacy trip. Participants of the trip were also thanked as well as Pete Van Helden for his suggestion of using the CA Grocers Assoc. as the venue for the legislative reception. Special thanks to Eric Ustation for facilitating a meeting with Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez.
Motion by D. Roberts/Second/Passed: Minutes from April 4, 2023.
Josh Candelaria, Viewpoint Advocacy LLC, introduced Nathan Cooke, Interim Director, CONFIRE (Regional Emergency Communications). CONFIRE is a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) located in San Bernardino County established to provide communications, dispatch, computer information systems support (IS), and geographic information systems (GIS) to CONFIRE members and contract agencies. The CONFIRE Communications Center’s (Comm Center) primary function is to provide 24-hour/365-day direct fire, EMS, and rescue dispatch services to CONFIRE’s member and contract agencies.
Increased communication and coordination is needed to better and more efficiently serve 911 calls. Currently 911 calls are handled by CONFIRE who coordinates EMS and fire but not ambulance service which is run by the County. To provide better service they should all be connected. Most 911 calls are for medical emergencies. CONFIRE’s new system, called tiered response, will allow CONFIRE to dispatch the appropriate response for each situation. For example, CONFIRE would send an ambulance rather than a fire truck to be used as first responders for a possible heart attack victim, saving deployment of unneeded equipment and personnel. This goal can be achieved with a public/private partnership contracting an ambulance service. Through their open bidding system Priority Ambulance (the third largest ambulance company in the U.S.) responded and are experienced in other similar public/private partnerships.
The County Board of Supervisors will hear their full proposal on Thursday, April 21, 2023.
Kevin Dyerly, Chair asked Sacramento participants for comments, feedback, and key take aways from the state advocacy trip.
- Trip timing was discussed. Suggestions included advocacy in early May prior to the Governor’s budget revise and avoiding competing events such as the League of Cities trip which impacts meetings and hotel availability.
- Meetings were very difficult to obtain compared to prior years. For example, one of the most productive meetings was with Assemblymember Ramos. Although being a part of his district and early requests, we did not get scheduled till the day we were there.
- Our accommodations at the Residence Inn at Capitol Park were nice since their remodel however, numerous rooms did not have hot water or the bathroom amenities. The hotel has apologized and hopes to recover from the inconvenience we experienced. Staff will ask them to honor the same rate next year to compensate.
A lively discussion was held by trip participants regarding AB 1748 (Ramos) while in Sacramento. Dan Schenkel shared the highlights of the bill to those not in attendance. AB 1748 highlights include:
- A balanced and reasonable approach to logistics facility development while supporting the discretionary land use authority of local elected officials in San Bernardino and Riverside counties by allowing local jurisdictions to develop policies for their communities.
- The bill addresses the need to mitigate vital health concerns important to the region, while protecting critical product supply chains in the State.
- The bill requires local agencies in the Inland Empire to comply with certain limitations when approving the development or expansion of qualifying logistics projects near sensitive receptors such as homes, schools, or parks. A local agency may not approve these projects unless there is 1) a minimum 300-feet setback or 2) the agency follows an industrial guideline framework, good neighbor policy, or a sustainability ordinance which adequately balances siting qualifying logistics uses near sensitive receptors.
- It enacts a reasonable policy framework to address concerns about development near sensitive receptors while allowing new projects to still move forward with sensible mitigation measures.
- It preserves the land use authority of city and county governments, allowing local elected officials to decide what developments are appropriate for their communities.
Discussion ensued.
Motion by F. Inman/Second/Passed: Inland Action will support AB 1748 (Ramos) and a letter of support will be sent.
Bill Blankenship gave an update on AB 1000 (Reyes) the Good Neighbor Policy which has passed through the Committee on Natural Resources with an 8-3 vote. The bill will now move to the Committee on Local Government on April 26. Business and labor are not supporting the bill.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 a.m.