BOS Agenda Date :l'Jovernber 1, 2005

County of Santa Clara
Board of Supervisors

Supervisorial District Four
Supervisor James T. Beall, Jr.

CSFC.10.19.05
DATE:

November 1, 2005

TO:

Board of Supervisors

FROM:
Donald F. Gage
Supervisor, District 1

James T. Beall, Jr.
Supervisor, District 4
SUBJECT: Children, Seniors & Families Committee meeting of October 19, 2005

RECOMMENDED ACTION
Accept report back on Children's Health Initiative (CHI) Productivity Evaluation (Refen-al
from April 5, 2005 Board of Supervisors' meeting).
Committee Action: Accepted report.
Accept the Annual Report on the CalWORK.s Program from Department of Employment and
Benefits Services.
Committee Action: Accepted report and directed Administration to examine the feasibility of
emancipating or emancipated foster youth accessing Calworks Employment Connection.

Board of Supervisors Donald F. Gage, Blanca P,.lvarado, Pete McHugh, Jirn Beall, Liz Kniss
Count11 Executive: Peter Kutras ~Ir.

1

BOS Agenda Date :November 1. 2005

Accept update from FIRST 5 Santa Clara County on the Preschool for All Initiative.
Committee Action: Accepted status report from First 5 Santa Clara County on the Preschool
for All Initiative and directed Administration to agendize the report on the Board of
Supervisor's Agenda for further consideration. Additionally, Committee requested First 5
Santa Clara County staff to prepare a matrix that demonstrates the number of Preschool
spaces, enhanced and new, and the financial commitment by Supervisorial Districts as"'
proposed by the Preschool for All plan approved by the First 5 Santa Clara County
Commission on August 17, 2005.
Accept report from Santa Clara Family Health Plan on potential cost savings generated by
State or Federal reimbursements for individuals who utilize services while temporarily
disenrolled.
Committee Action: Accepted report.
Accept Santa Clara County Council on Aging (COA) Demographic and Service Report.
Committee Action: Deferred report to the November 9, 2005 Children, Seniors and Families
Committee.
Accept bi-monthly report from the Social Services Agency on discontinuances and
disenrollments from the Medi-Cal, Food Stamp, CalWO~s, and General Assistance
Programs administered by the Agency.

Committee Action: Accepted report.

Accept Out-of-Home Placement Report from pepartment of Family and Children's Services.
Committee Action: Accepted report.

ATTACHMENTS
• I 0/19/05 Agenda

Soard of Supervisors: Donald F. Gage, Blanca Alvarado. Pete McHugh. Jim Beall, Liz Kniss
County Executive: Peter Kutras Jr.

2

11115/05 BOS AM Minutes

23. CSFC Report

ij~an:-this is the CSFC meeting of October 19th, the most significant is~ue was the
staff report on the FIRST 5 Preschool for All Initiative, at the request of the
Committee, this will be agendized for the December 6, 2005 Board meeting, and the
Committee accepted the status report, and basically directed that the agenda include
discussion of the Preschool for All Initiative on December 6, 2005. There were too
many concen1s when we discussed this, one of the proposals was dealing with
services that are traditionally provided by county, city and state government, and
looking at the duplication of service, by doing that decreases the number of families
served. Secondly, there was a concen1 that as originally proposed, the spending of
the majority of the $42 million was in one geographic location, the six zip codes
identify, in what they call component C, and this is a significant portion of the total
revenue, and the Committee asked that the FIRST 5 staff prepare a matrix that
demonstrates the number of preschools sites, spaces, enhanced and new as
proposed by the plan, and that this be presented to the Board so we can discuss it at
the December 6th meeting, so we' re asking for that information. The FIRST 5 staff
indicated that they will try to provide this information, but if they can't I'd like to
have our staff do that. And, in terms of the recommendations of the Committee that
item will be agendized for December 6th and then we would like to have the County
Executive review the plan and work with the FIRST 5 to prepare the matrix so that
we can discuss it at that time. So, I move approval of that report.
BA: well, I'm a little confused about the directive, I understand from Mr. Beall that
he is directing the staff to provide a matrix to be agendized ... (JB: that is
correct) ... here at the Board on December 6th and that is an action that the Committee
took ... (JB: yes, that is correct) ... well, I have a lot to say on this subject and I'll begin
by reminding the Board that pursuant to the California Children and Families First
Act of 1998, the BOS established this County's Children and Families First
Commission composed of nine members including one member of the BOS which
was myself, the Executive Director of HHS, the Director of SSA, one member from
the local planning council and five members appointed by each one of us. Now, in
June of 2004 the BOS amended the ordinance and specifically established First Five
Santa Clara County as an entity entirely separate from Santa Oara County and that
Vi

11/15/05 BOS AM Minutes

the obligations of First Five are the obligations solely of First Five Santa Clara
County and shall not directly or indirectly be obligations of the County, that's the
first part, but as a background, we must be reminded as well that the work of the
First Five is directed by the nine member Commission, a totally independent
nonprofit organization, and the recently adopted preschool for all master plan is the
culmination of many years of focus effort by dozens of community partners and
stakeholders, it can be said as well that the process began in December 2001 that
went on to the comprehensive app~oaches to raising educational standards
initiative, that created the E-3 institute and has led to the award of the preschool for
all demonstration project grant by the State of California, it is also important to
remember that between the launch of the care' s initiative and the most recent
demonstration grant from the State, First Five started the early learning initiative for
school readiness, the quality early learning opporhmities initiative, the differential
response analysis with social services and the high risk research and design
initiative, with research analysis and design data gathered from mental health,
family court and social services, all of this latter work was done over a period of 18
months and became the foundation upon which the five-year comm.unity
investment plan was developed, it was in large part because of extensive research
. and analysis, the First Five has concluded that poverty alone is not the sole criterion
determining negative life outcomes for children in high risk environments and that
other factors need to be taken into account, such as domestic violence, substance
abuse in caretakers, child abuse, learning disabilities, inadequate prenatal care and
many other considerations. As a result of that work, demonstration zip codes that
part of a high risk design contain multiple risk conditions are the largest number of
children, zero to five. Now, with regard to Mr. Beall's request, I believe that to
approve his directive is to undermine the exhaustive work of the Commission at a
time when our County is truly on the cutting edge with an essential strategy that
will allow us creditability to access other funds to expand the positive impact of
these demonstrations sites to other parts of the county, it's really important to
understand that while it may appear that a significant amount of the funds will be
directed into these demonstrations sites, there are also components A and B that
take into account the needs of other parts of the County, what is most important is
that we believe that these demonstrations projects are going to really demonstrate
16

l 1/ 15/05 BOS AM Minutes

how this type of analysis and research and application of funds will contribute to
better outcomes so that we can go out and seek funding from other foundations and
other sources in order to be able to expand the program to other parts of the County,
and equally important there is high expectation that if the preschool for all initiative
is approved by the voters next June, we're going to have the information and the
data to be able to apply this investment strategy in other parts of the County. I guess
my question after everything is said, is would we tell the United Way how to run
their nonprofit organization, I understand your interest Mr. Beall, and everybody's
interest in getting as many resources as possible to as many children in the County
as possible, but the work of the First Five Commission is not only independent but it
has been exhaustive and very thorough .. .it's up to the Board, if you want to
intervene at this stage in the process, that is certainly your prerogative, by the same
token, it needs to be also understood that each one of us has a com.missioner at the
First Five and that each one of your appointees has been a part of this process over
an extensive period of time and if there were any concerns or objections or new
ideas about how the five-year investment strategy should have been implemented,
that it is through your appointees, is the most legitimate and the most fair of
pursuing any interest by the BOS' s. I will not be able to support JB' s motion, in
particular, because he is saying that the Committee, and I would ask DG for his
understanding of what the Committee decided to do at the last minute, which now
in JB' s words is a directive to the Administration to do a matrix and then bring it
back to us for what purpose on December 6th •

JB: the committee requested that be put on the agenda, so the full Board could
discuss, have the information, that's what we're attempting to do on December 6th•
DG: my concern was that this come back to the full Board for full discussion because
I was uncomfortable with the direction it was going and that's why it's here today
for a decision.
BA: so what are we deciding on? (DG: whatever the Board would like, at the
pleasure of the Board)

17

11115/05 BOS AM Minutes

JB: the Committee report was to just accept the report then ask that the item be
placed on the agenda, so we can have a full discussion, that is what we
requested ... which is different than what you're saying now, Don.
DG: right, I want the discussion here, I want this flushed out and then decide what
we want to do ...

JB: okay, I as a Board member would like to place this on the December 6th
agenda ... (DG: for discussion or ... )... yeah ... (DG: that's fine) ...
LK: so your request Jim, is to put this on for the full Board on December 6th and it
crone from your Committee, and Mr. Gage you're supporting that?
DG: I supported bringing it here today ... (LK: and are you supporting it returning it
on December 6th, that's my question) ... well, I would like' to have a little discussion
on what we would discuss on December 6th, what would be the decision factors,
because I was uncomfortable, I have to agree with Blanca on many respects, First
Five is a stand alone committee, they spent a lot of resources and went out and did a
lot of calculations, I have a representative on there that reports back to me regularly
and felt that they were going in the right direction, so, if we want to change that, I
think that this is where we do it, right here.
LK: I don't think we can change it, I would definitely agree with Blanca, this is a
stand alone Commission and there's no question, the question is do we want more
information on where their funding is going because it so involves us as a County,
that's the piece that I would be concerned about and I support what Jim has
suggested, the concern is not whether or not they have autonomy, the concern is
whether or not just as they spend taxpayer dollars we spend taxpayer dollars and I
think we' re all concerned that in our own districts we have a sufficient amount of
funding particularly for those who are in poverty areas and each one of us has a
pocket of some kind or another that is in our area, First Five is actually coming
tomorrow night to Mountain View at our request, so it will be the first time that we
really have had the opportunity in the areas of Mtn. View and Sunnyvale to talk to
18

11/15/05 BOS AM Minutes

them about First Five, what First Five proposes, and although all of the decisions
have been made and I would not disagree that their five-year plan is in place, I think
it's really important for us to have sufficient information, simply as we go forward
and make our own decisions, so that's been my concerned about it, we've found out
a whole lot more about First Five in the last year which I appreciate finding out,
Blanca's office has been very forthcoming with that, but none of the ~est of us has
served on that Commission, I do have a commissioner, she does report back to us,
but mine is not to change where they are headed, mine is to have more information
about the process and how the decisions were made, so that is why I am suppo~ng
what Jim has suggested.
McHugh: can you give me an idea what sort of action we might take if we were to
hear this item on December 6th, because it is independently funded agency that we
do have our representatives on.
LK: I doubt that you would make any different kind of decisions because as we have
said this is independently funded, it might make a difference as you go to make
decisions for next year on your own budget as to where you need to have funding
go, I think without sufficient information it's very difficult to make decisions about
where other funding sources can be directed, this is a very, it's a large amount of
money, and how it will be spent has been worked out as Blanca said very
articulately by an independent group she mentioned in June of '04, as she said they
became independent and they are directed by that and I am only going to guess that
what would influence this would be influenced because we don't have any power,
however each of us does have directly selected a commissioner of that nine member
commission, so mine is for information, I've been trying to find out more about
what sources are where children in our County who do live in poverty, particularly
those that do not speak English, I have a very large contingent in Mtn. View which
lives to the east side of Central Avenue and I am absolutely delighted that First Five
is going to come tomorrow night and we' re going to spend an extensive amount of
time with them ... so mine is an information item and is not to meddle with the long
term decisions that have been made.

19

11/15/05 BOS AM Minutes

BA: I just want to make one final comment and that is to say that in the last,
probably four to six months your appointee as well as First Five staff and I have as
well, given you quite a considerable briefing on what is happening in North County
and South County and in other parts of the county, so I respect your interest in
having additional information, but I do have to insist that a lot of time has been
spent by First Five staff and Children and Families Committee and through your
appointees to apprise each of the Supervisors the status of the work, again I believe
that the effort today while well intention may also have the effect of a chilling effect
on a committee that is very dedicated on a commission that is very dedicated and
very hard working and is now for the first time beginning to feel political pressures
where none were there in the past.
Beall: well, I think in order to have a logical discussion, would be my intention to do
that, by putting an item.on the agenda, so we can have a full understanding
discussion of the issue, and let the chips fall where they may out of that discussion, I
think that's all I'm asking, and that is what I thought the Committee wanted to do,
Supervisor Gage said let's bring it to the full board and so that's what I as Chair of
the Committee am reporting to you, that's what we've said at the meeting, so, my
idea would be to put them on the agenda and just discuss the substantive issue of
what's going on, so, that's what I'm asking to do, and I'd like to put it on the agenda
for December 6th •
Alvarado: would you clarify one more ti.me, Supervisor Beall, what is the directive
to the Administration, then, because ...
Beall: the directive was to prepare a matrix of, to summarize the proposals, so we
can have a discussion at the Board meeting showing the allocation that they
proposed by supervisorial district ...
Kniss: let's move on from this, the motion is to return on the 6th and to have the staff
do a district report, let's just vote this up or down.
McHugh: but was there a speaker?
20

...

,

11/15/05 BOS AM Minutes

Kniss: not that I know of .. .is there someone to speak on this, not that I recall Mr.
McHugh, but thank you.
Gage: is the proposal that we' re going to get be coming from our staff or from FIRST

5?
Kniss: it's from our st~ff, it's not from FIRST 5, ':Ve cannot request that they do a
report.
Gage: well, we certainly can request that they come and provide us information.
Kniss: oh, absolutely.
Gage: I don't want our staff going out and do(ng a lot of work when FIRST 5 can
come here and present what they've done.
Kniss: well, let me again clarify with Mr. Beall, who Chair's that Committee, which
were you asking for, their staff to come and talk to us or our staff?
Beall: well, if they'd like to comment, that's fine, I think they can do a pretty good
job in making their proposal, presentation, which is what I thought Supervisor Gage
wanted to have the Board ...
Kniss: perhaps, I misunderstood then,yo=t:fwantedtnci/itaffto cciine and,do a

r~p.ofttcfus~ correct?
Beall: make a,pres~nt~q911~
an?. .p.av.e:thei;;n.aJrix
prepared
so. we can_ unciei;stapd--the
.
...
:.;...
';issue, so we can+~ave ~f-substantiv'e'disctission.'

.--,-.

'

'.

.

'•.,, __

.,

'

_,'·'.

,

.

.

Gage: so FIRST 5 is going to come and do the presentation.

21

Board of Supervisors, County of Santa Clara
r\J overnber 15, 2005

1. (Item 4) Directed staff to notify the cable operators that cable franchise
ordinance will be on the FGOC November 10 meeting agenda and report
back at that meeting on the following issues: a) legal determination of
whether the current operators meet the requirements for renewal or initial
applications; b) service gaps in the unincorporated pockets; c) comparison
of County ordinance to model ordinance from National Association of
Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) and ordinances of
cities in County; d) impact of new applications or renewals on County's
ability to set customer service standards; e) legal issues between
COMCAST and the City of San Jose; and f) County ordinance's ability to
anticipate new technology( e.g. broadband over power lines.
2. (Item 9) Directed County C~unsel to provide an off-agenda report on
potential litigation to restore the housing element as a reimbursable
Senate Bill (SB) 90 mandate.
3. (Item 9) Referred to the Administration consideration of including in the
County's legislative priorities the development of an appeals system for
local governments when the State denies an SB90 reimbursement.

4. (Item 10) Directed the Administration to validate the revenue assumptions
associated with Valley Medical Center positions added to the trauma and
emergency rooms due to the closure of San Jose Medical Center and
include subject in planned report to the Board on November l.

21. Held to December 6, 2005: Consideration of revisions to the Vehicle Code and Streets
and Highways Code language inserted by Senate Bill 1233 with intent of including in
2006 Legislative Policies and Priorities.

2i There is no report from Supervisor Beall, Chairperson, Legislative Committee.
@.ccepted report from Children, Seniors and Families Committee (CSFC) relating to
meeting of October 19, 2005.

8

Summa~ of:ro~e_edi~gs

.

(n

Board of Supervisors~nfy of Santa Clara

{ ~ 1)

ovember15;~005 /

(btlSMC'y

Accepted items 3 through 13 as Board information only, as listed on the
Children, Seniors and Families Committee agenda.

Directed Administration to coordinate with FIRST 5 Santa Clara County for
report on December 6, 2005 relating to the Preschool for All Initiative,
including the preparation of a matrix as noted in the Committee report.
(Supervisor Alvarado voted no.) J'; lJ /l

24. Accepted verbal report from Supervisor Gage, Board Delegate to the Santa Clara
Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), relating to the meeting of November 3, 2005.
25. There is no report from Gage, Board Delegate to Local Agency Formation
Commission (LAFCo).
26. Accepted verbal report from Chair Kniss, Board Delegate to the Bay Area Afr Quality
·
Management District (BAAQMD).
Announced next meeting scheduled for November 16, 2005.

* 27. There were no long-term planning and budget strategies to consider.
28. There is no report from Chair Kniss.

29. There is no report from County Executive.
30. Considered recommendations relating to Fiscal Year (FY) 2006-2007 budget process,
and took the following actions:
a. Approved, in concept, the County Executive's proposed solution package
addressing a projected $111.4 million General Fund deficit for FY 2006-2007.
9