June 12, 2024 • 19 mins
As the newest member of the Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Ken Carlson shares more about what’s going on in District 4, which includes the cities of Pleasant Hill, Concord, Walnut Creek, and Clayton, and what he’s prioritizing this year. Guests: Supervisor Ken Carlson, Kristi Jourdan
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to government speak.
This is where we'll cut through
the governmentspeak to get the information
you need about county programs,services and events.
Straight from the source.
four Supervisor Ken Carlson
with us todayjoining us in studio at ten.
Douglas. Supervisor, welcome.Good morning.
(00:22):
so let's get right into it.
Let's start off with yourbackground in public service.
So, walk us through,you know, your time at Pleasant
Hill City Council.
And when did you wake up
one day and say,I want to be on the board?
Oh, that was many years ago.
you know, I've beena Contra Costa in my whole life,
(00:43):
so it started at a young age,
and I'm sure we'll we'll talkabout kind of my family history.
But my grandfatherwas a supervisor,
so I've kindof been on the campaign trail from about being a two year old
to even today.
Right.So, I grew up in Concord and Pleasant Hill.
Matter of fact,I'm so old that back
(01:06):
40 barbecue openedwhen I was living in Pleasant
Hill over off Douglas Lane,right by the The rooted.
Yeah. Coffee shop.
you know,and then with, a long term
29 years in law enforcement,over in the city of Concord.
I just I've always beendedicated to public service.
It goes back to Boy Scout eventand just kind of led into
(01:30):
engaging my community
and being a partof the community
and providing servicein any way I can.
But you're you're 29 yearsin law enforcement.
It didn't it didn't start there.
You were actually in broadcastfirst, right?
How do you make that pivot forbroadcast to law enforcement?
Okay. So that's a it'skind of a fun story.
you know, I went off to collegeand it was finding
(01:51):
your way, right.So I'll take my generally I'd get that out of the way
so youcan focus in on the career.
and I did,just out of curiosity, I started with a law enforcement class,
but in the middle of college,I took off
and I went to Koreafor two years.
And when I came back, theydidn't have law enforcement,
which I'm grateful forin the long run.
(02:12):
But, it was why did you wantto be in law enforcement?
Why did you want to do thatkind of direction?
And it really wasI wanted to investigate.
I wanted to educate.
And so the next best thingwas to go into broadcasting
and look at beingan investigative reporter,
come full circle.
Came back hometo start my master's program at San Francisco State,
(02:35):
which was going to bein communications,
and I needed a part time job
in the ConcordPolice Department was hiring
for college students.
So I, I signed up
and it led me right backfull circle
to engaging in law enforcementcareer.
So I did I had 29 yearsat Concord Police Department,
and it's easierto say what assignments
I didn't do over there, becauseI really had the privilege
(02:58):
of doing all of it,except for juvenile.
And I never got to work,a police dog.
But traffic investigations,property crimes investigations,
patrol duties, neighborhoodpreservation duties.
So just really andand the interesting thing is,
is it carries over into the workI do now.
I mean,I've seen people at their best
(03:19):
and I've seen peopleat their worst
and the strugglesthey face, whether that's mental health or drug addiction,
all those things that we
aren't necessarily exposed
to on a dailylevel is just general solutions.
So it's really helped mekind of formulate those areas
I need to work on and howI can serve the community more.
So what what brings you, backto public service each time?
(03:43):
It's alwayslooked a little different,
I think in the differentchapters
of Ken Carlson,it seems. But yeah.
But what brings you back to it?
Yeah.you know, it was how can I further engage the community?
I was very active, in theConcord community and engaged
in, in the political world,even while working there.
And it was, well, howcan I get back to Pleasant Hill?
And there was an opportunityto run.
(04:05):
it was it was interestingbecause, you know, being a
public safety and lawenforcement, it's not a 40 hour,
an hour week job.
there's always the call outsor the overtime or other things
that are going on.
So I had to gotalk to the police
chief and say, hey,this is what I'm going to do.
Is that a conflict?
He was exceptionally,cooperative.
(04:29):
He may actually,you know, put me in assignments that my schedule could flex.
And I ran for PleasantHill City Council
and got elected on my first go.
And it was justit was a great opportunity.
You know,I faced some challenges,
being openly gay, which,
you know, I struggled withfor many, many, many years.
in law enforcement, it wasn'tvery accepting in the 80s.
(04:52):
There were challenges to that.
I, I watched otherswho struggled with even
just being accused of being gayand kind of driven out. So,
when Igo on certain city council,
personnel,this was an opportunity
to kind of engagemy community even more.
(05:12):
I had the privilege of,initiating the pride celebration
and the raising of the prideflag in, Pleasant Hill.
And then we were facingsome issues,
immigration wise, and some ofour, immigrant population.
And they were getting justit was just hate.
And so to authorand to to move forward to
(05:32):
welcoming,the inclusive city's resolution
and setting a policy forthe Pleasant Hill, government
that we're going to bea welcoming community.
So it was just, you know,how can you keep giving back?
That's really what drives me.
And youyou kind of touched on it,
when you mentioned,
you know, being the first LGBTQ,board member as well.
(05:53):
So can you talk about that?
I've never done anythinghistoric.
What what's what's that like?
Because, I mean, it does itit doesn't define
your political career,but it certainly is something.
and when we talk aboutrepresentation and inclusivity
and in the board'sdirection for,
diversity, equity, inclusionand access, it's it's it's set.
It sets the tone.
(06:14):
Yeah, yeah.And it's, it's challenging because quite often it's
not fun being the firstsometimes
because it's like,that's not why I'm here. Right.
It's it's just a small pieceof the big picture.
But it is important.
and so yeah,
for a while there, being firstwas really kind of cool.
And then it's okay.
(06:34):
But it's really it's
it doesn't define, all the workthat needs to be done.
And I'm really grateful.
Chair Glover's themethis year of
diversity, equity, inclusionand access is really important,
because it covers such a broadrange of our population,
our community.
but it is also there'ssome really excitement to it.
But there's there'sa responsibility
(06:55):
and obligationthat comes with that.
And, you know,the LGBTQ community looks to me
as a leader to say,how can you, you know, support
us, how can you boost us?
How can we address the issueswe face
when it comes to discriminationand or hate?
And we and we still have it inbroad ranges of our communities.
So, what are we doing then
(07:18):
in, in June, you know, toto honor pride month.
What are do we have plans or.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, June 4th board meeting,
we'll be doing our pridecelebration.
you know, and I'mlooking for ways to recognize
others, that are doingso much out in the community.
There's so many people.
One I've met,
throughout my political career,but also just in general
(07:41):
from the communitiesthat have done
so muchto support the LGBTQ community,
whether that's holdingfundraisers,
supporting our nonprofitpartners
who are providing servicesto the community,
and or just thosewho have made inroads
when it comesto being an entrepreneur
or a business owner.
So I'm kind of looking for thatpath right now of.
(08:04):
And it's hardbecause people don't necessarily
like to be recognized.
They like to do their workin the background,
but the work they accomplish isso impressive and so important
that they doneed to be recognized.
So there's, you know, it's
it's kind of how I feelwhen it comes to being.
You're the first.
Yeah.Well, if you don't talk about it people don't know.
And that applies to countyservices and programs too.
(08:26):
If we're not out there
talking about the workthat we're doing,
how are we expected to getcommunity support and awareness
and understanding for that,especially if you have a call to action for folks? Exactly.
so, let's talk aboutwhat's near and dear to you.
What are you working onto serve?
You know, not only the county,but residents in district four.
(08:46):
Yeah.You know, the interesting thing, I don't
I don't want to minimize that.
I represent district four, butit really is the Pride County.
you know, so, yeah,
I have an obligationto be intimately involved with
and engaged with my communitiesand district four.
But I also got to think aboutthe broad reach of the work we do as a county and supporting
(09:07):
all of our residents.
So, you know,housing, is huge.
How we're going tohow we're going to meet our housing obligations.
But how are we going to gauge,the right people
to build the right typeof housing and the right places
to meet the needsof all of our community members?
So housingstays really high up on my list.
(09:29):
you know, we're facingsome tough economic times.
you know, inflation's up.
We're facing a budget deficitat the state level.
how are we goingto close those gaps?
How are we going to grow inan economic way?
I'm fortunate.I have the airport in my district, which I think
could be a very strong,economic driver.
(09:49):
So I focus a lot of
attention over at the airport
and what we're doingaround the airport.
and then again,the social safety net.
How are we supportingand working on homeless
issues, mental healthissues, substance abuse issues?
near and dearto my heart, animal services.
You know, I,
(10:09):
taken them under my wing.
I guess you might say.
they do such great workand they face such, you know,
I equate them in some respectsto children and family services.
They have tough, tough jobsand it takes a unique individual
to do that work.
And so I just want to
we want to besupportive of that,
make sure they havethe resources,
(10:30):
let alone the animals. I'mall about, you know, animals.
So I was proud to kind ofspearhead getting them
the extrathree quarters of $1 million.
How to measureex support the spay and neuter,
microchippingas well as more adoption events
so they can get outin the community more
because we're just facingthat challenge
and we're overburdenedat animal services
(10:52):
and our rescue groups who area big part of that process.
You know,we need to support them, too.
And they've they've beenstrong advocates for us and getting those animals out
as fast as we can andadopt it out to good families.
And they have new leadershipover there.
Board just appointed,director Ben Winkle Black.
Yes, a few weeks ago.
(11:12):
Yeah yeah yeah I haven't
I had the momentI it's on my calendar,
but I look forwardto, working with him.
And again,I'm just so proud of the work they do it with, you know.
And they probablycould beat us up in the sense of
we never have enough moneywhenever it all the resources.
We heard thatfrom everyone. Right.
but they dothey do such great work.
(11:34):
And again, they,it takes a unique person to
to do that job.
And so I'm just so grateful
for all the hard workthey do over there.
in transitioningfrom one vulnerable population
to another. behavioral healthis another area.
I knowyou have a lot of passion for.
Can you speak tosome of the work
that you're leadingon, in that arena?
(11:54):
Yeah, we're very fortunate.
you know, with A3, anytime,anywhere, anyone.
and having the resourcesand it's kind of amazing
what we've accomplished.And we're not done.
but just in a short period oftime of getting a call center,
getting the resources available,we're having, you know,
it just an opportunity 24 overseven to make a phone call.
(12:15):
a lot of those are reallyno response
neededother than answering that phone
and connecting peoplewith resources.
Such a volume of the callsdon't necessarily
need a mental healthteam responding,
but it's everythingfrom connection to services
to a mental health timeresponding
and supportedby our law enforcement partners.
(12:36):
And so I look forwardto fully staffing that up
and actuallygetting more teams available.
But it's already provento be a great success.
And that intersection
with your law enforcementcareer,
how wouldlife have been different had this resource been available
while you were,a police officer?
Yeah.You know, it's I think we do great work in law enforcement.
(12:58):
I don't want to take awayfrom that, but,
you know, with everything that'stasked on law enforcement.
and I thought about this evenas a city council member was,
you know, we need a no smokingban, you know, in the public.
Well, who'sgoing to enforce the police?
But, you know,you're facing the challenges
of crime issues, mental health
response issues,and then you want me to go
(13:20):
write a citation for somebodysmoking in the park?
Yeah. we got to prioritize.
So I'm.
I always really cautious about
if itif it has an enforcement piece.
Are we overburdeninglaw enforcement?
Because with all those tasks,how do you get the training to
be a really
professionallytrained individual?
(13:42):
I never feltI personally had enough training
in mental health responsebecause I was a significant part
of our daily taskas a patrol officer.
and we would,you know, there were clients
that we would put on a 72 hourpsychiatric hold,
150 to 170 times a year. Wow.
(14:03):
And so, yeah, there wassomething broken there.
And that the collectionof resources.
So this is where, you know, the,the call
center is really importantbecause would it have taken
a law enforcement responseif that person had had access
to the phonecall to the immediate support
and or connectionthey needed in that moment,
as opposed to itreaching crisis?
(14:25):
Because not every call we getis crisis.
So really havingthe professionals
take on a big part of that jobtakes a burden off
of law enforcement to go outand actually do law enforcement.
So pivoting to the future.
Yeah, yeah.
(14:45):
you know, in your timeon the board,
what are whatare some aspirations you have?
What do you want to get done?What are things that you're trying to move forward?
because there's a lotthat the board is tackling.
And so how do youhow do you prioritize?
You know,
after the first year of finallysurfacing and getting my head
above water in many respects,you know, and I will share.
(15:09):
I've been around a long enough,in a sense, to
I had a pretty goodunderstanding of the work
that we were going to do as,as supervisors.
but again, we, we work on,
regional bodies and boards.
so there's environmentalissues.
I serve on the air district,
you know, so there's,there's issues when it comes
(15:31):
to the environment.
I sit on the Delta, CountiesCoalition.
What are we doing aboutconserving the adult?
protecting adult?
Governor Harris'sDelta conveyance project?
you know,what are those impacts?
If that were to move forward?
I mean, it's hard to say.
There's just one thingthat has to be done.
(15:52):
because, again,it goes everything from,
you know,protecting our communities from,
hazardous materials incidentsthat are from refineries
to protecting the animalsthat are in our animal services.
So, you have to tab me,put my finger on one big thing.
It's hard. Yeah,it's really hard.
(16:13):
But, you know,I'm proud of what we've done.
At least in the first 17 months.
you know,we balanced the budget
and we've gotten the budgetapproved twice.
We're being very thoughtful.
And, cautious in a sense,about measure spending.
what gaps we might need tofill based on, state cuts,
(16:37):
you know, and then creating
that social safety netto support our community members
all in a day's work.
Yeah.
I wouldn'tbe a good communicator
if I didn't ask you to plugall the ways
in which peoplecan get a hold of you.
You know, I know you'reactive on social media.
What are some ways peoplecan keep in touch with you?
(16:58):
You know, I can't rememberall my, specific
websites and those things.
But again, I'm on, Instagramand I'm on Facebook,
so Supervisor Ken Carlson
or eitherone of those social media sites,
if you go to the county'swebsite, click on the link
for the supervisors,you'll find me
and sign up for my email blast.
I have a great team thatsupport me in the work I do.
(17:21):
so we're getting blast outweekly if not biweekly,
just giving community updateswhere we're going,
what we're doing,how they can engage.
It's really important to engagethe community, you know, just,
you know, coming off of,Memorial Weekend, you know, it's
and recognizing our veterans,
(17:42):
one of the things thatcame out of that for me was, you know, in order for all those
that that paid that sacrificefor us to live the way we do,
the way you can give thatmeaning and value on a daily basis is engaging the community.
Because we have a processwe live by,
we have freedomswe enjoy because of them.
And the way you pay that backand give it works is to engage
(18:04):
and recognize,the ability to engage.
What does engagement meanto you?
Participate in your community,whether that's to vote,
volunteer for a committee,a community, a commission,
all those things.So there's there's opportunities to serve your community
within the county,within your individual cities.
Get engaged.
(18:25):
If there's one takeaway
from today, what would you wantpeople to remember the most?
Radio silence.
Sorry, you're going.
That's a tough one for me.
you know, that I'm hereis that I'm engaged,
and I look forward to working
with all my community membersin any way I can.
(18:46):
I know it's it's it's
sometimesslow, but, in the sense of.
Look,I reached out to the supervisor,
and I didn't hear backfor two days.
because there's a lot going on,and so I.
I never want to distract peopleor take that away
in the sense of reach out to usif there's ways, engagement
(19:07):
or ideas or need that you have.
definitely.I'm here to support.
Well, supervisor, thank youso much for your time today.
that's it for today's show.
I'm Christy Jordan,your host to Contra Costa
County'spublic information officer.
Thanks for joining us onthe Government
Speak podcast, brought to you
by the Office of Communicationsand Media.
(19:27):
Don't take our word for it.
Stay curious, stay connected,and stay informed.
Until next time. Keep your mindopen and your facts straight.
Welcome to government speak.
This is where we'll cut through
the governmentspeak to get the information
you need about county programs,services and events.
Straight from the source.
four Supervisor Ken Carlson
with us todayjoining us in studio at ten.
Douglas. Supervisor, welcome.Good morning.
(00:22):
so let's get right into it.
Let's start off with yourbackground in public service.
So, walk us through,you know, your time at Pleasant
Hill City Council.
And when did you wake up
one day and say,I want to be on the board?
Oh, that was many years ago.
you know, I've beena Contra Costa in my whole life,
(00:43):
so it started at a young age,
and I'm sure we'll we'll talkabout kind of my family history.
But my grandfatherwas a supervisor,
so I've kindof been on the campaign trail from about being a two year old
to even today.
Right.So, I grew up in Concord and Pleasant Hill.
Matter of fact,I'm so old that back
(01:06):
40 barbecue openedwhen I was living in Pleasant
Hill over off Douglas Lane,right by the The rooted.
Yeah. Coffee shop.
you know,and then with, a long term
29 years in law enforcement,over in the city of Concord.
I just I've always beendedicated to public service.
It goes back to Boy Scout eventand just kind of led into
(01:30):
engaging my community
and being a partof the community
and providing servicein any way I can.
But you're you're 29 yearsin law enforcement.
It didn't it didn't start there.
You were actually in broadcastfirst, right?
How do you make that pivot forbroadcast to law enforcement?
Okay. So that's a it'skind of a fun story.
you know, I went off to collegeand it was finding
(01:51):
your way, right.So I'll take my generally I'd get that out of the way
so youcan focus in on the career.
and I did,just out of curiosity, I started with a law enforcement class,
but in the middle of college,I took off
and I went to Koreafor two years.
And when I came back, theydidn't have law enforcement,
which I'm grateful forin the long run.
(02:12):
But, it was why did you wantto be in law enforcement?
Why did you want to do thatkind of direction?
And it really wasI wanted to investigate.
I wanted to educate.
And so the next best thingwas to go into broadcasting
and look at beingan investigative reporter,
come full circle.
Came back hometo start my master's program at San Francisco State,
(02:35):
which was going to bein communications,
and I needed a part time job
in the ConcordPolice Department was hiring
for college students.
So I, I signed up
and it led me right backfull circle
to engaging in law enforcementcareer.
So I did I had 29 yearsat Concord Police Department,
and it's easierto say what assignments
I didn't do over there, becauseI really had the privilege
(02:58):
of doing all of it,except for juvenile.
And I never got to work,a police dog.
But traffic investigations,property crimes investigations,
patrol duties, neighborhoodpreservation duties.
So just really andand the interesting thing is,
is it carries over into the workI do now.
I mean,I've seen people at their best
(03:19):
and I've seen peopleat their worst
and the strugglesthey face, whether that's mental health or drug addiction,
all those things that we
aren't necessarily exposed
to on a dailylevel is just general solutions.
So it's really helped mekind of formulate those areas
I need to work on and howI can serve the community more.
So what what brings you, backto public service each time?
(03:43):
It's alwayslooked a little different,
I think in the differentchapters
of Ken Carlson,it seems. But yeah.
But what brings you back to it?
Yeah.you know, it was how can I further engage the community?
I was very active, in theConcord community and engaged
in, in the political world,even while working there.
And it was, well, howcan I get back to Pleasant Hill?
And there was an opportunityto run.
(04:05):
it was it was interestingbecause, you know, being a
public safety and lawenforcement, it's not a 40 hour,
an hour week job.
there's always the call outsor the overtime or other things
that are going on.
So I had to gotalk to the police
chief and say, hey,this is what I'm going to do.
Is that a conflict?
He was exceptionally,cooperative.
(04:29):
He may actually,you know, put me in assignments that my schedule could flex.
And I ran for PleasantHill City Council
and got elected on my first go.
And it was justit was a great opportunity.
You know,I faced some challenges,
being openly gay, which,
you know, I struggled withfor many, many, many years.
in law enforcement, it wasn'tvery accepting in the 80s.
(04:52):
There were challenges to that.
I, I watched otherswho struggled with even
just being accused of being gayand kind of driven out. So,
when Igo on certain city council,
personnel,this was an opportunity
to kind of engagemy community even more.
(05:12):
I had the privilege of,initiating the pride celebration
and the raising of the prideflag in, Pleasant Hill.
And then we were facingsome issues,
immigration wise, and some ofour, immigrant population.
And they were getting justit was just hate.
And so to authorand to to move forward to
(05:32):
welcoming,the inclusive city's resolution
and setting a policy forthe Pleasant Hill, government
that we're going to bea welcoming community.
So it was just, you know,how can you keep giving back?
That's really what drives me.
And youyou kind of touched on it,
when you mentioned,
you know, being the first LGBTQ,board member as well.
(05:53):
So can you talk about that?
I've never done anythinghistoric.
What what's what's that like?
Because, I mean, it does itit doesn't define
your political career,but it certainly is something.
and when we talk aboutrepresentation and inclusivity
and in the board'sdirection for,
diversity, equity, inclusionand access, it's it's it's set.
It sets the tone.
(06:14):
Yeah, yeah.And it's, it's challenging because quite often it's
not fun being the firstsometimes
because it's like,that's not why I'm here. Right.
It's it's just a small pieceof the big picture.
But it is important.
and so yeah,
for a while there, being firstwas really kind of cool.
And then it's okay.
(06:34):
But it's really it's
it doesn't define, all the workthat needs to be done.
And I'm really grateful.
Chair Glover's themethis year of
diversity, equity, inclusionand access is really important,
because it covers such a broadrange of our population,
our community.
but it is also there'ssome really excitement to it.
But there's there'sa responsibility
(06:55):
and obligationthat comes with that.
And, you know,the LGBTQ community looks to me
as a leader to say,how can you, you know, support
us, how can you boost us?
How can we address the issueswe face
when it comes to discriminationand or hate?
And we and we still have it inbroad ranges of our communities.
So, what are we doing then
(07:18):
in, in June, you know, toto honor pride month.
What are do we have plans or.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, June 4th board meeting,
we'll be doing our pridecelebration.
you know, and I'mlooking for ways to recognize
others, that are doingso much out in the community.
There's so many people.
One I've met,
throughout my political career,but also just in general
(07:41):
from the communitiesthat have done
so muchto support the LGBTQ community,
whether that's holdingfundraisers,
supporting our nonprofitpartners
who are providing servicesto the community,
and or just thosewho have made inroads
when it comesto being an entrepreneur
or a business owner.
So I'm kind of looking for thatpath right now of.
(08:04):
And it's hardbecause people don't necessarily
like to be recognized.
They like to do their workin the background,
but the work they accomplish isso impressive and so important
that they doneed to be recognized.
So there's, you know, it's
it's kind of how I feelwhen it comes to being.
You're the first.
Yeah.Well, if you don't talk about it people don't know.
And that applies to countyservices and programs too.
(08:26):
If we're not out there
talking about the workthat we're doing,
how are we expected to getcommunity support and awareness
and understanding for that,especially if you have a call to action for folks? Exactly.
so, let's talk aboutwhat's near and dear to you.
What are you working onto serve?
You know, not only the county,but residents in district four.
(08:46):
Yeah.You know, the interesting thing, I don't
I don't want to minimize that.
I represent district four, butit really is the Pride County.
you know, so, yeah,
I have an obligationto be intimately involved with
and engaged with my communitiesand district four.
But I also got to think aboutthe broad reach of the work we do as a county and supporting
(09:07):
all of our residents.
So, you know,housing, is huge.
How we're going tohow we're going to meet our housing obligations.
But how are we going to gauge,the right people
to build the right typeof housing and the right places
to meet the needsof all of our community members?
So housingstays really high up on my list.
(09:29):
you know, we're facingsome tough economic times.
you know, inflation's up.
We're facing a budget deficitat the state level.
how are we goingto close those gaps?
How are we going to grow inan economic way?
I'm fortunate.I have the airport in my district, which I think
could be a very strong,economic driver.
(09:49):
So I focus a lot of
attention over at the airport
and what we're doingaround the airport.
and then again,the social safety net.
How are we supportingand working on homeless
issues, mental healthissues, substance abuse issues?
near and dearto my heart, animal services.
You know, I,
(10:09):
taken them under my wing.
I guess you might say.
they do such great workand they face such, you know,
I equate them in some respectsto children and family services.
They have tough, tough jobsand it takes a unique individual
to do that work.
And so I just want to
we want to besupportive of that,
make sure they havethe resources,
(10:30):
let alone the animals. I'mall about, you know, animals.
So I was proud to kind ofspearhead getting them
the extrathree quarters of $1 million.
How to measureex support the spay and neuter,
microchippingas well as more adoption events
so they can get outin the community more
because we're just facingthat challenge
and we're overburdenedat animal services
(10:52):
and our rescue groups who area big part of that process.
You know,we need to support them, too.
And they've they've beenstrong advocates for us and getting those animals out
as fast as we can andadopt it out to good families.
And they have new leadershipover there.
Board just appointed,director Ben Winkle Black.
Yes, a few weeks ago.
(11:12):
Yeah yeah yeah I haven't
I had the momentI it's on my calendar,
but I look forwardto, working with him.
And again,I'm just so proud of the work they do it with, you know.
And they probablycould beat us up in the sense of
we never have enough moneywhenever it all the resources.
We heard thatfrom everyone. Right.
but they dothey do such great work.
(11:34):
And again, they,it takes a unique person to
to do that job.
And so I'm just so grateful
for all the hard workthey do over there.
in transitioningfrom one vulnerable population
to another. behavioral healthis another area.
I knowyou have a lot of passion for.
Can you speak tosome of the work
that you're leadingon, in that arena?
(11:54):
Yeah, we're very fortunate.
you know, with A3, anytime,anywhere, anyone.
and having the resourcesand it's kind of amazing
what we've accomplished.And we're not done.
but just in a short period oftime of getting a call center,
getting the resources available,we're having, you know,
it just an opportunity 24 overseven to make a phone call.
(12:15):
a lot of those are reallyno response
neededother than answering that phone
and connecting peoplewith resources.
Such a volume of the callsdon't necessarily
need a mental healthteam responding,
but it's everythingfrom connection to services
to a mental health timeresponding
and supportedby our law enforcement partners.
(12:36):
And so I look forwardto fully staffing that up
and actuallygetting more teams available.
But it's already provento be a great success.
And that intersection
with your law enforcementcareer,
how wouldlife have been different had this resource been available
while you were,a police officer?
Yeah.You know, it's I think we do great work in law enforcement.
(12:58):
I don't want to take awayfrom that, but,
you know, with everything that'stasked on law enforcement.
and I thought about this evenas a city council member was,
you know, we need a no smokingban, you know, in the public.
Well, who'sgoing to enforce the police?
But, you know,you're facing the challenges
of crime issues, mental health
response issues,and then you want me to go
(13:20):
write a citation for somebodysmoking in the park?
Yeah. we got to prioritize.
So I'm.
I always really cautious about
if itif it has an enforcement piece.
Are we overburdeninglaw enforcement?
Because with all those tasks,how do you get the training to
be a really
professionallytrained individual?
(13:42):
I never feltI personally had enough training
in mental health responsebecause I was a significant part
of our daily taskas a patrol officer.
and we would,you know, there were clients
that we would put on a 72 hourpsychiatric hold,
150 to 170 times a year. Wow.
(14:03):
And so, yeah, there wassomething broken there.
And that the collectionof resources.
So this is where, you know, the,the call
center is really importantbecause would it have taken
a law enforcement responseif that person had had access
to the phonecall to the immediate support
and or connectionthey needed in that moment,
as opposed to itreaching crisis?
(14:25):
Because not every call we getis crisis.
So really havingthe professionals
take on a big part of that jobtakes a burden off
of law enforcement to go outand actually do law enforcement.
So pivoting to the future.
Yeah, yeah.
(14:45):
you know, in your timeon the board,
what are whatare some aspirations you have?
What do you want to get done?What are things that you're trying to move forward?
because there's a lotthat the board is tackling.
And so how do youhow do you prioritize?
You know,
after the first year of finallysurfacing and getting my head
above water in many respects,you know, and I will share.
(15:09):
I've been around a long enough,in a sense, to
I had a pretty goodunderstanding of the work
that we were going to do as,as supervisors.
but again, we, we work on,
regional bodies and boards.
so there's environmentalissues.
I serve on the air district,
you know, so there's,there's issues when it comes
(15:31):
to the environment.
I sit on the Delta, CountiesCoalition.
What are we doing aboutconserving the adult?
protecting adult?
Governor Harris'sDelta conveyance project?
you know,what are those impacts?
If that were to move forward?
I mean, it's hard to say.
There's just one thingthat has to be done.
(15:52):
because, again,it goes everything from,
you know,protecting our communities from,
hazardous materials incidentsthat are from refineries
to protecting the animalsthat are in our animal services.
So, you have to tab me,put my finger on one big thing.
It's hard. Yeah,it's really hard.
(16:13):
But, you know,I'm proud of what we've done.
At least in the first 17 months.
you know,we balanced the budget
and we've gotten the budgetapproved twice.
We're being very thoughtful.
And, cautious in a sense,about measure spending.
what gaps we might need tofill based on, state cuts,
(16:37):
you know, and then creating
that social safety netto support our community members
all in a day's work.
Yeah.
I wouldn'tbe a good communicator
if I didn't ask you to plugall the ways
in which peoplecan get a hold of you.
You know, I know you'reactive on social media.
What are some ways peoplecan keep in touch with you?
(16:58):
You know, I can't rememberall my, specific
websites and those things.
But again, I'm on, Instagramand I'm on Facebook,
so Supervisor Ken Carlson
or eitherone of those social media sites,
if you go to the county'swebsite, click on the link
for the supervisors,you'll find me
and sign up for my email blast.
I have a great team thatsupport me in the work I do.
(17:21):
so we're getting blast outweekly if not biweekly,
just giving community updateswhere we're going,
what we're doing,how they can engage.
It's really important to engagethe community, you know, just,
you know, coming off of,Memorial Weekend, you know, it's
and recognizing our veterans,
(17:42):
one of the things thatcame out of that for me was, you know, in order for all those
that that paid that sacrificefor us to live the way we do,
the way you can give thatmeaning and value on a daily basis is engaging the community.
Because we have a processwe live by,
we have freedomswe enjoy because of them.
And the way you pay that backand give it works is to engage
(18:04):
and recognize,the ability to engage.
What does engagement meanto you?
Participate in your community,whether that's to vote,
volunteer for a committee,a community, a commission,
all those things.So there's there's opportunities to serve your community
within the county,within your individual cities.
Get engaged.
(18:25):
If there's one takeaway
from today, what would you wantpeople to remember the most?
Radio silence.
Sorry, you're going.
That's a tough one for me.
you know, that I'm hereis that I'm engaged,
and I look forward to working
with all my community membersin any way I can.
(18:46):
I know it's it's it's
sometimesslow, but, in the sense of.
Look,I reached out to the supervisor,
and I didn't hear backfor two days.
because there's a lot going on,and so I.
I never want to distract peopleor take that away
in the sense of reach out to usif there's ways, engagement
(19:07):
or ideas or need that you have.
definitely.I'm here to support.
Well, supervisor, thank youso much for your time today.
that's it for today's show.
I'm Christy Jordan,your host to Contra Costa
County'spublic information officer.
Thanks for joining us onthe Government
Speak podcast, brought to you
by the Office of Communicationsand Media.
(19:27):
Don't take our word for it.
Stay curious, stay connected,and stay informed.
Until next time. Keep your mindopen and your facts straight.
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