May 27, 2026 • 41 mins
The Sacramento County Disaster Council convened to establish a quorum and handle routine business, including adoption of bylaws with minor typographical corrections and the 2026 meeting calendar.
Presentations covered the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan update with public meetings planned in June, the Integrated Preparedness Plan (IPP) process and upcoming workshop to set multi-year training and exercise priorities, and the Fire Safe Council report on community wildfire prevention, grant efforts, and CWPP development.
Other actions included electing a city vice chair, approving the disaster service worker volunteer calendar, and emphasizing regional coordination and public engagement in emergency planning before adjournment.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
There we go. Good morning. I'd like to call the meeting to order of the Sacramento County
(00:07):
Disaster Council for Wednesday, May 20th. Will the clerk please call the roll and establish
a quorum? Yes. Directors Dickinson, Dutarme? Here. Solak? Here. Callahan? Here. Azevedo?
Here. Quiggle? Here. Brooks? Here. Burton? Here. McGinnis? Vega? Here. Bethke? Here.
(00:33):
And Chair Flynn? Here. And you have a quorum. Thank you. Will you please read the meeting
announcement? Yes. This meeting of the Sacramento County Disaster Council is live and recorded
with closed captioning. It is cable cast on Metro Cable Channel 14, the local government
affairs channel on the Comcast and DirecTV U-verse cable systems. It is also live streamed
(00:53):
at metro14live.saccounty.gov. Today's meeting replays Tuesday, May 26th at 9 a.m. on Metro
Cable Channel 14. Once posted, the recording of this meeting can be viewed on demand at
youtube.com slash Metro Cable 14. To make a comment in person, please fill out a speaker
request form and hand it to clerk staff. The chairperson will open public comments for
each agenda item. When your name is called, go to the podium and make your comment. You
(01:18):
may send written comments by email to boardclerk at saccounty.gov. Your comment will be routed
to the directors and filed in the record. Thank you in advance for your courtesy and
understanding of the meeting procedures. Thank you. If everyone could please rise and join
me in the pledge. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
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and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all. Thank you very much. Clerk, are there any public comments not posted
to the agenda? Yes, for item one, we have public comments related to matters not on
(02:07):
the posted agenda, and we do have one speaker, Kevin Hsu. Good morning. Thank you, council
members and Chair Flynn for the opportunity to speak. My name is Kevin Hsu. I'm with the
(02:30):
Sacramento County Department of Water Resources. I'd like to briefly share some information
on our local hazard mitigation plan update, as well as some details on our upcoming meetings.
First for a little background, what is an LHMP or local hazard mitigation plan? A local
hazard mitigation plan provides a framework for lessening disaster impacts by promoting
(02:51):
whole community involvement, assessing risks, and developing strategies to mitigate the
effects of natural hazards, thereby reducing risks to people, economies, and the natural
environment. This local hazard mitigation plan is multi-jurisdictional, as an area-wide
plan is more comprehensive and more encompassing in nature, and we have 31 included participating
(03:14):
jurisdictions, including all seven cities, numerous fire districts, reclamation districts,
and other special districts. Additionally, we have countless stakeholders from the area
participating as well. We kicked off this plan update last fall and have had numerous
committee meetings, and as well as public meetings, where we identified hazards as well
(03:37):
as risk assessments. For our next phase in this process, we'll be developing mitigation
strategies, and I'd like to share some that our next meeting in this process will be on
this topic on June 10th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the county's environmental management
department building at 11080 White Rock Road, and the next day we'll have another meeting
(04:03):
June 11th, 9 a.m. to noon, at the city of Elk Grove District 56 at 8230 Civic Center
Drive. This information can also be found at stormray.org and under the heading local
hazard mitigation plan. I've also left some flyers at the entrance of the board chambers
if you want to scan that QR code, you can get some information there as well. These meetings
(04:25):
are all open to the public as well as anyone that's interested. We strongly encourage everyone
to attend so they can provide their unique viewpoints. We anticipate having a draft ready
by September with a final plan ready for Cal OES by December. Again, please check stormray.org
for updates and more details, and I hope to see you in June. Thank you.
(04:46):
Thank you very much. Are there any additional public comments? We have no more public speakers.
Can you please read the next item? Yes, item two is discussion and adoption of the Sacramento
County Disaster Council bylaws.
Are there any member questions or comments?
(05:07):
Are there any public comments on this item?
This is not a public comment, but I observed a typo that I did not correct. Under article two
section three, it should be there are two section 3.2s instead of having a 3.2 and a 3.3. So I think
you can amend it on the record, but I just wanted to note that very slight change and apologize.
(05:33):
We will take note of that, and then I think there is also one other element, and it is the
the resolution number from 1950 that needs to be researched, and the clerk will add that at a later
time. Are there any public comments on this item? We have no public comments. Do we have a motion
(05:58):
on the bylaws? I had one question or item for consideration, and then I'd be willing to make
a motion. Dan Quiggle from the Cosumnes Fire Department. I'm here representing fire agencies
to the council. What I wanted to share was possible consideration within section one on membership
(06:25):
for other special districts. I happen to represent a community services district
and was chosen to represent the fire agencies, but if not chosen or if another fire department
was representing us, the community services district wouldn't necessarily be represented
on this body. So I just wanted to give some consideration under section one to item three,
(06:50):
the possibility of adding other special districts. I know that we have fire, water districts,
reclamation districts, and utility districts, but there are a variety of other special districts
throughout the county. So I was just wondering if the council would give that some consideration,
(07:11):
and if so, I'd be willing to make a motion that included that.
So unfortunately, this component of the bylaws is controlled by a Sacramento County code section
that establishes this body. That is something that could be amended, but it would have to be
amended via ordinance and go back through the board of supervisors for that process.
I think that you all could contemplate that at a future meeting if you want to make that
(07:35):
recommendation up to the board of supervisors or to the Sacramento County Office of Emergency
Services to take that, which would be the entity that would raise that. But because this is
functionally a copy and paste of an existing ordinance and county code section, I don't
think that this body could formally amend that at this time. Understood. Thank you.
(08:00):
Any other discussion?
Given that, I'll make a motion to adopt the Sacramento County Disaster Council bylaws
as written with the two typographical changes, 3.3, as well as the original resolution number
from the county. And then just also ask that staff get back to us on what it would take
(08:23):
to include other special districts on the council.
Okay. We have a motion. Is there a second? Second.
We have a second. Please vote.
Okay. And that motion passes with all members present or with those members present.
(08:56):
Thank you. Can you read the next item?
Yes. Item three is adoption of the 2026 Sacramento County Disaster Relief Council meeting dates.
And are there any member questions or comments?
And any public comments?
(09:17):
We have no public comments.
Okay. Do we have a motion for the dates?
Move for the dates.
We have a motion. Do we have a second?
I second.
Please vote.
I'm sorry. Who was the second?
Okay. Thank you.
(09:42):
Okay. Clerk, can you please read the next item?
That motion passes with those members present.
For item four, we have election of the vice chair.
Do we have any? So the vice chair, I believe, according to county code, must be a city member.
(10:13):
And if any of the city members are interested in being a vice chair
or participating in that capacity, I think self-nominations may be acceptable.
The vice chair responsibilities would be to fill in in the chair's absence
and probably participate in the agenda development.
(10:41):
Is anyone from any city willing to fill that role?
Yes. Okay.
Madam chair, I would be willing to adopt and accept that role.
Okay. Would anybody?
I'll nominate Chief Solak from the city of Folsom as vice chair.
Fantastic. So we have a nomination for Chief Solak.
(11:01):
Is there any other nominations or a second?
I'll second.
Okay. So we have a nomination and a second for Chief Solak. Please vote.
And that motion passes with those members present.
(11:24):
Thank you very much.
Can you please read the next item?
For item five, we have adoption of the disaster service worker volunteer program calendar.
Are there any member questions or comments?
Any public comments?
(11:45):
We have no public comments.
Do we have a motion to adopt the volunteer service worker program calendar?
I'll motion.
Motion. Do we have a second?
I'll second.
Do we have a second? Please vote.
(12:08):
And that motion passes with those members present.
Will you please read the next item?
Item six is presentation on the integrated preparedness plan.
Very good.
(12:32):
Good morning, council. There it goes.
I'm Matthew Hawkins with the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services.
I'm one of the emergency managers there.
And I'm going to speak to you briefly today about our integrated preparedness plan.
It's formally called the multi-year training and exercise plan.
And let me just slide right onto this one.
(12:54):
So it's a plan we develop annually.
We project it out two to three years as kind of our option.
And we have to submit it to state Cal OES by September 30th.
And you can see some of the earlier iterations of the IPP.
But it is a requirement.
It's an ongoing requirement.
It's mostly a living document.
(13:14):
And we're going to go through how we develop this, why it's important, some of the elements of it.
Basically, you can see right here, the integrated preparedness plan,
it's the roadmap to accomplish the organizational priorities,
including the development maintenance of the overall preparedness capabilities.
So this is designed to organize all of our priorities together, not just as OES,
(13:37):
but our partner agencies and stakeholders.
You can see the purpose there.
It contains the preparedness priorities as something we develop
as we're going through the plan development process.
This mostly relies on the city's, county fire, sheriff's office, our office to help develop those.
(13:58):
And it establishes, most importantly, priorities and goals as we approach
the next two years and how we're going to train, how we're going to equip, how we're going to plan.
So I'm not sure why that's cut off.
But basically, it's the integrated preparedness cycle.
And we're going to talk a little bit more about this as we move through.
But you can read the statement.
But mostly, it's continuing the cycle of planning, organizing, equipping, training, and exercising.
(14:24):
And then learning from that entire cycle and doing it again and doing it again.
And it's an iterative process that continues to build on itself.
The pinnacle element of the IPP's development is our workshop.
This is bottom line.
So prior to the workshop, we send out an invite.
(14:44):
We include a survey.
And we hope that folks fill it out.
And the survey talks about what you might have as your priorities as an individual organization
or department, what you might see as your hazards, your risks, your threats.
And we try to cull all of that back and put it together before we actually meet.
So it gives us an idea of where there's crossover, of where we have shared threats,
(15:07):
where we have shared priorities.
And it helps us really hone in when we get to the workshop to do the work.
The workshop is generally a day long, half a day long.
When we get good at it, it can be a little bit shorter.
But the idea is that we all come with our preparedness.
We come with our tasks, our training.
Most importantly, you'll see up there, the authority to commit.
(15:28):
So when you're coming to the workshop, you're speaking for your organization.
Because we are going to make commitments that day about how we're going to train.
What's going to be our priority plans as we develop them over the next year, two years,
three years.
That is the most important thing, that you come.
You can't just come and have, you know, I'll take it for action.
Certainly, there's those areas where you might.
(15:48):
But generally, you're coming to help make a plan.
You see a survey, just as an example.
We'll hand this out or we'll send it out via email with the invite before we actually
initiate the workshop.
What we're doing at the workshop, you see here, is identify, validate, update, and report.
These are the elements.
So we are going to go through this literal four-step process.
(16:10):
And it may be we do breakout sessions, depending on how many folks we have.
We may do it as an entire group, whatever the day calls for.
But this is the work we're going to do.
You can see as, you know, identify preparedness priorities.
Hopefully, we've done some of that in the survey.
So we're not spending a whole lot of time unless somebody didn't have the survey, didn't
participate in that.
We'll establish our preparedness priorities.
(16:31):
And with those, it allows us to develop a training and exercise schedule.
For example, preparedness priorities from last year's IPP.
And you can see it right here, operational coordination.
That seems to be generally our primary priority.
Community resilience.
Now, these can change.
We have mass care services.
(16:52):
So let's say we decide this year during our meeting that, hey, we have really built up
our mass care planning, our resourcing, our capability.
That might not be a priority anymore.
Something else may move in its place.
We may have had a threat or a risk or an incident over the last year that modifies the whole
thing because it just changes the priority of what we're dealing with.
(17:14):
So again, these could be fluid.
They generally hold pretty steady to these.
But what we'd like to see is some of these things move off because it means that we're
effectively addressing them.
Again, so these are just some examples of your threats, hazards, and risks.
You can look at those and kind of get an idea of the types of things we're talking about.
(17:36):
But most importantly is that if you've done after action reports, if you have improvement
plans, you're bringing that to the meeting with you.
If you have new statutes, for example, our office often has new state statutes that we're
dealing with.
That may become something that either informs or impedes what we had been doing before.
(17:58):
So you've got to bring your external resource requirements, grant requirements.
If you have certain requirements per your grants that have to be included in your training
or your planning cycles, we will look at that as a group.
So nobody gets, well, you have this requirement.
That's your problem.
No, we look at it as a group.
And we come together for the best of the group.
Some of the things we'll come up with is our training exercise.
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So it may be that, hey, this year we're going to focus on ICS basics.
And once we get those down across the organizations that we have, we may move to section specific.
We may design a tabletop for the entire operational area.
It's going to depend on what we need.
Critical to this is that we reduce the redundancies.
(18:41):
We reduce the excess costs.
So why have four different organizations providing the same training?
And each of those organizations' training only gets a 40% response.
Let's do one training if we all need it.
Let's try to get as many folks into that as possible, reduce the cost.
Take that extra money and invest it in a different training or in an exercise.
(19:05):
These are essentially what we come up with under our priorities.
You can see the POETI at the top.
So that's your plans, organize, equip, train, and exercise.
That was that cycle we talked about originally.
And what we do is we identify under the priorities where each of the elements of the plan fit in.
So for example, alert and warning training.
(19:26):
So priority three, public information and warning.
And it meets with training and exercising.
So we'll do those things.
This helps us organize how we're going to roll out our program.
We may come out with some priority plans.
We go, oh, we just did the Joint Information Center system plan this year.
That certainly came out of this, from prior iterations of this.
(19:51):
So you may come up with a flood annex because we realize that that's a high priority.
And then reporting at the very end.
So every year after we go through this process, we circle around, we look at what we've done,
what we've accomplished, and we report that out in a nutshell.
This is a very, very important thing that we do annually.
(20:13):
We invite all of our partners, all of our stakeholders, all of you,
please send somebody from your organization.
We need them there to make this work the best that we can.
I'm happy to take any questions.
When is the next workshop taking place?
Yeah, we're about to kick off the cycle, just in time.
So an email with an invite should be going out no later than probably the end of May.
(20:38):
And then that should lay out in that email, the survey,
and then the following dates for the workshop.
We try to get the workshop done by late June, early July.
So it gives us time to develop the actual plan,
have reviewed by everybody, and then submit it on time.
Are there any other questions?
Yeah, I have a question.
(20:59):
Funding for, is this all grant-related funding, or is there allocated funds?
No, there's not necessarily funding for this.
Our office has a responsibility to pull the information together,
to create and do the plan, to do the writing of it.
This is a participation-based thing.
(21:22):
Come, join in.
There's no cost.
If you can spare somebody for half a day,
and then whatever time it takes to review the plan after it's been drafted,
prior to that, to do the survey, that's really what we're looking for.
So if there was an identified goal that required, say, the acquisition of equipment,
where would that funding come from?
(21:42):
That's going to be up to the individual agency.
So as a group, we may be able to sit down and go,
hey, our organization's going to buy a whole bunch of lights this year.
And we may be able to say, why?
We have a whole bunch.
And you save that cost on making that purchase.
And we can tell you, this is how you're going to get them from us.
If you have a large piece of equipment that you need to purchase specific for fire,
(22:03):
that's not necessarily something that we can engage in financially.
But we can certainly sit together and figure out who has what,
and where our individual monies can be spent best.
So our organization, or your organization,
is not going to take your chest of money
and invest it into another organization specifically by buying equipment.
(22:24):
It's not constructed like that.
This is about, hey, we all have this.
We lay it on the table.
We all need these things.
Where are the places, for example, in the training that we can come together?
And let's say our organization can provide the training,
because we were going to anyways.
And your organization doesn't have to.
Those are the real places.
And you guys say, hey, floods were real bad last year.
(22:46):
And we go, yeah, floods were bad.
And another one goes, floods were real bad.
What's the date of our annex, the last flood plan that we have?
We go, that's like four years, five years old.
The group goes, yeah, we need a flood plan.
And we do a lot of that planning, the annexing development,
because it's part of the emergency operations plan.
So that's something that the group can say, hey, we need that plan.
And we could put it on our schedule to develop that plan.
(23:10):
So if the group decides to move forward with an objective,
and there are municipalities or partners that aren't in a financial position
to be able to afford, are there grant opportunities
so that the collaboration is regional-wide and we don't have?
Not through this.
Not through this.
You know, you're going to find that with UASI
and other funds that are specifically addressed for that.
With this, it's more of a ground-level organizational opportunity
(23:35):
to low-hanging fruit and just to coordinate.
And maybe you come, and we're not spending money on your organization,
but your organization ends up saving some money
because somebody else is doing the same thing you were about to do.
Sure.
Okay.
Thank you.
Yeah, it's important.
And I encourage somebody to come to your organization
because they can report back their experience of it
and what the benefits were.
(23:56):
And I think if I can just add,
part of the opportunity for the integrated preparedness plan
is to develop those priorities.
So those federal grant opportunities that we have
that are regionally decided,
those are advised as priorities
because we have a document outlining that.
So that participation is hugely important to advise those groups
(24:18):
who are those decision-making bodies for those federal grants.
It gives you something to point to.
So when somebody says,
hey, why are you doing this training or this plan?
You can point to it.
You can say, because this is what we've discovered was necessary
amongst our operational area partners.
And besides, it's a fact for us, it's a requirement.
We've got to do it.
Are there any other questions?
(24:40):
No.
All right. Thank you, Matthew.
Thank you very much.
Are there any public comments on this item?
We have no public comments.
Can you please read the next item?
Yes. Item number seven is a fire safe council report.
(25:10):
Good morning, everybody.
I went backwards instead of forward.
I'm sorry.
My name is Brenna Howell,
and I am the fire safe council coordinator for Sacramento County.
I started in this program in 2021.
Sacramento County was one of the original recipients of this program
(25:32):
from the California State Fire Safe Council.
Today, there are now 49 counties out of 58 in the state of California
that all have individuals such or similar to myself
that are managing the fire safe council grant coordination program statewide
(25:53):
and in their individual counties.
I'm sorry.
But for the most part, our fire safe council role,
and these are really our overarching goals.
And I think we'll continue to keep these on
our goals and objectives for future grant programs.
But the main thing that we do is we educate,
encourage, develop countywide collaboration
(26:15):
amongst wildland fire coordination groups.
That's a lot to say, basically,
that there were a lot of great people in this county
doing a tremendous amount of wildland fire mitigation activities.
And a lot of everybody wasn't talking to each other.
And so really what we're doing is the clearinghouse for that
(26:39):
and how to move those goals and objectives forward
through this grant.
A little bit of background.
Like I said earlier, in 2021,
we were original members of the pilot program.
We continued that in the 2022 grant program.
(27:00):
And now we're currently working in the 2025.
And we've just been notified
and working with the California State Fire Safe Council
that the grant will be extended into October of 2027.
One thing to mention about that,
that the California State Fire Safe Council
has been working at the political levels
(27:23):
in the Senate and the Assembly.
And they're pushing SB 973,
which is a bill also known as the County Coordinator Bill,
which aims to permanently fund
these positions statewide in California.
It has made its way through the Senate currently
and is now in the Assembly.
(27:43):
And so we're really halfway there.
And we're hoping that we're gonna take this home
and permanently fund this program for the state.
The work that our county is doing
and other counties in the state of California
bringing together a whole host of different groups,
which I'll talk about in a second,
to mitigate wildfire has been tremendous.
(28:12):
So some of our other responsibilities that we do,
we have a set of tasks that we apply for every year
and outline our work plan essentially.
But I've listed above some of the main tasks
that we're working on currently.
We're developing and working with volunteer groups
here in Sacramento County, mostly in the South County
(28:35):
and along the American River Parkway
to develop a community wildland fire prevention plans.
You heard them talk earlier
about the local hazard mitigation plan.
These plans bring the fire element
to that overarching plan
and set goals and objectives for those local groups
(28:56):
on how to move forward with wildland fire mitigation,
outreach, education to community members,
fuels reduction projects and the like.
We also work with those groups to write grants
and support their efforts to bring those projects in.
They don't have any money
and so largely their funding is coming from grants.
(29:19):
We collect data and track the efforts that they're doing
so we can keep a record
of all of the different projects that are going on.
And then we support them by developing outreach tools
and educational materials.
And then we attend their meetings
and help them facilitate meetings
(29:41):
and sort of adopt the government process,
like not as formal as what we're doing here this morning,
but keeping minutes, setting agendas
and continuing to move forward.
Some of our key partners, and these are just a few,
but we have three main fire safe councils
(30:04):
in the County of Sacramento, American River,
which spans all the way from Folsom down to Discovery Park,
the community of Herald.
So it's essentially the footprint
of the Herald Fire Protection District
and then the Rancho Murrieta Regional Fire Safe Council,
which expands outside of the gates
(30:25):
of the Rancho Murrieta HOA
and encompasses the community around Rancho Murrieta.
There are homeowners associations
that are trying to work on developing firewise communities
and we work with a myriad of Sacramento County partners
and agencies, fire agencies,
(30:46):
resource conservation districts,
nonprofits, Cal Fire, Amador Eldorado Unit
is one of our main partners.
And then I can't forget
about the California State Fire Safe Council,
who is here in the room.
We have a couple of individuals that are here in the room
and the support from that body
(31:07):
and their team has been tremendous
for county coordinators like me
to help further those goals and objectives in the program.
We're looking to add more cities and partners
and other HOAs and resource conservation districts,
community services districts
like you were talking about earlier.
(31:29):
And so we'd love to hear from all of you
if you have any wildland fire or fire,
you know, mitigation projects
or community members
that are talking to your jurisdictions
about what can we do to make our neighborhood safer?
What can we do to help educate people
on home hardening or reduction,
(31:52):
limbing projects, ladder fuels reduction,
things like that.
Please give us a call.
We're happy to come and talk to you about those programs.
And that's really one of my main roles
is to help support you
so that we continue to educate our public.
(32:13):
These are this grant period's work plan tasks.
I'm not going to go through them all,
but as I said earlier,
each grant cycle we have new tasks
and benchmarks for measurement
and measures our success.
Key this period,
I talked earlier about our CWPP.
(32:33):
That's monumental to bring a group of volunteers
to get their goals and objectives on paper
and get them officially formed as a 501c3 non-profit
so that they can actually apply
for grant funding opportunities on their own
and be a standalone body without our support.
Well, we'll still support them,
(32:54):
but we want them to function on their own
so that they can bring these opportunities
into their community.
And then just continuing that public education piece.
I can't stress it enough.
Even from my career as an emergency manager,
the public preparedness element
is really one of the most important things
(33:15):
that we should be doing to support our community.
This is really the long-term goals
from the California State Fire Safe Council.
And what I think SB 973 is intended to do
is to help us be able to carry out those goals
(33:37):
locally.
What are our next steps?
So we're supposed to find out mid-June
if we're getting the 26-27 grant allocation.
And we're going to continue to do outreach,
recruit, help people and communities
(33:59):
develop Firewise communities.
We're going to continue with our CWPP development.
We're going to apply for more grants
to do fuels reduction projects.
One that comes to mind
is the Rancho Marietta Fire Safe Council
applied for a Cal Fire grant
and was awarded $4.5 million
(34:20):
to do ladder fuels reduction projects
around the perimeter of the community.
It backs up to a quite large open space.
And so by limbing up those trees
to 12 feet off of the ground
and chipping and taking care of some of that debris
that was on the ground,
they've increased their resiliency tremendously.
(34:40):
So that's an example of some of the things
that we're working with them on.
Harold, the community of Harold
is working with the California Conservation Corps
to come in and do some fuels mitigation work
in the eucalyptus groves that are out there.
You know, eucalyptus trees are like candles
(35:00):
and they can just explode.
And there is a lot of eucalyptus groves
in the community of Harold.
So those are some of the next steps
that we're going to be working on.
We'll continue our coordination,
communication and education.
We actually have on the docket
to do an actual live evacuation exercise
(35:21):
in the community of Harold.
It's going to be small,
but we'd like to evacuate a neighborhood or two
and communicate them
through our alert and warning system
and then open up an evacuation center
at the fire department property.
And so our initial planning has started in that area
and we hope to carry that out.
(35:42):
The goal is to do it this fall,
but I'm thinking we're probably looking more
like the winter time.
And then chipper days in the communities.
And we've been working with our county partners
at the Department of Transportation
to utilize some of their chipper machines
and messaging signs.
(36:02):
And so you'll see some of those projects
getting implemented later on this year.
And with that, I can take questions.
Thank you, Brenda.
Does anyone have any questions?
Are there any public comments?
Oh, question.
(36:22):
I do have one question.
Thank you for the comment
on sort of expanding the fire safe councils.
Would you recommend increasing the size
of some of the existing councils?
Are we talking about adding more councils?
Are they more successful
when they share sort of a jurisdictional boundary
or is it a multi-agency component
or what would your thoughts be?
(36:44):
Yeah, I think they're more successful
when they're smaller groups
focused on their community area.
So we would like to see more of that being done,
especially in the South County.
In the South County,
Wilton, the fringes of Elk Grove,
even Citrus Heist,
(37:04):
there has been a few HOAs
with a tremendous amount of oak trees
and some drainage creeks,
some of our county creeks and things like that.
So it's more focused community driven,
not a larger group.
But I know there is some thought
about having a county-wide fire safe council.
Maybe it reports to this body in the future,
(37:27):
but we're still studying
and looking at what would work best for the county.
And so we'll bring that back to you
and talk to you guys about that in the future.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Okay, thank you.
Thank you, Brenna.
Any public comment?
We have no public comments
(37:48):
and for the record, Director Azevedo is now present.
Thank you.
Can you please read the next item?
Yes, item eight is Director Comments,
Reports and Announcements.
Can I ask a question?
Do I start with others and I finish
or do I start?
(38:08):
Up to me.
We'll start with anyone.
Does anyone have any comments to close the meeting?
Okay, with that,
I would just like to say thank you
to all of you for being here.
I know this is a new experience
and you're kind of,
some people may be wondering
what is this body about?
The Disaster Council has been on the books,
(38:30):
as you saw in the bylaws,
since 1946
and there is a resolution since 1950.
It is part of state law
to identify a group or a body
of representatives from around the county
because under state law,
the county is also the operational area
(38:52):
and is the liaison between cities,
special districts,
and those organizations
that need to get access to
or report up to the state.
So during an emergency,
the county is that liaison,
that body that represents.
The Disaster Council's purpose
is to advise the Office of Emergency Services
(39:13):
and to advise the Board of Directors,
the Board of Supervisors, sorry,
on important things
that we should take into consideration
regarding emergency management.
As you can see,
this is a diverse representative body
for the Disaster Council
and that's intentional
(39:33):
because a lot of people think
emergencies are FEMA.
FEMA is a federal element
that is a support element
to local disasters.
Everything starts locally
and it requires cooperation
and coordination from each one of us
and our representative jurisdictions
(39:54):
of responsibility.
It requires involvement
of the business community,
special utilities,
special districts,
fire, law,
elected officials.
All of these come to play
during a disaster
and it's really important
that we establish that communication
and coordination
and that's my hope for this body
(40:16):
as it is starting today and grows
and I hope that you are able
to come back to this body
with maybe presentations
or information on things
your jurisdiction is involved in,
things that are representative
of who you are representing
on the council
and interests, concerns,
(40:36):
questions you have
for the overarching emergency planning
that takes place in this county.
So this is the forum for that.
It is also a public forum
so we want to encourage the public
to be involved and participate
in their own response to disasters.
It's not just these groups
of individuals
who take care of you
(40:57):
during a disaster.
It is each one of us
in the community
who take care of each other
in a disaster
and so I just want to emphasize that
that that's a huge component of this
from getting the public involved
and informed in emergencies
in Sacramento County.
So with that I'm closing my comments
(41:19):
and again just want to express my thanks
to all of you for being here.
If there is no further business
for this board we stand adjourned.
Oh do I actually need to do the gavel?
There we go. Good morning. I'd like to call the meeting to order of the Sacramento County
(00:07):
Disaster Council for Wednesday, May 20th. Will the clerk please call the roll and establish
a quorum? Yes. Directors Dickinson, Dutarme? Here. Solak? Here. Callahan? Here. Azevedo?
Here. Quiggle? Here. Brooks? Here. Burton? Here. McGinnis? Vega? Here. Bethke? Here.
(00:33):
And Chair Flynn? Here. And you have a quorum. Thank you. Will you please read the meeting
announcement? Yes. This meeting of the Sacramento County Disaster Council is live and recorded
with closed captioning. It is cable cast on Metro Cable Channel 14, the local government
affairs channel on the Comcast and DirecTV U-verse cable systems. It is also live streamed
(00:53):
at metro14live.saccounty.gov. Today's meeting replays Tuesday, May 26th at 9 a.m. on Metro
Cable Channel 14. Once posted, the recording of this meeting can be viewed on demand at
youtube.com slash Metro Cable 14. To make a comment in person, please fill out a speaker
request form and hand it to clerk staff. The chairperson will open public comments for
each agenda item. When your name is called, go to the podium and make your comment. You
(01:18):
may send written comments by email to boardclerk at saccounty.gov. Your comment will be routed
to the directors and filed in the record. Thank you in advance for your courtesy and
understanding of the meeting procedures. Thank you. If everyone could please rise and join
me in the pledge. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
(01:44):
and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all. Thank you very much. Clerk, are there any public comments not posted
to the agenda? Yes, for item one, we have public comments related to matters not on
(02:07):
the posted agenda, and we do have one speaker, Kevin Hsu. Good morning. Thank you, council
members and Chair Flynn for the opportunity to speak. My name is Kevin Hsu. I'm with the
(02:30):
Sacramento County Department of Water Resources. I'd like to briefly share some information
on our local hazard mitigation plan update, as well as some details on our upcoming meetings.
First for a little background, what is an LHMP or local hazard mitigation plan? A local
hazard mitigation plan provides a framework for lessening disaster impacts by promoting
(02:51):
whole community involvement, assessing risks, and developing strategies to mitigate the
effects of natural hazards, thereby reducing risks to people, economies, and the natural
environment. This local hazard mitigation plan is multi-jurisdictional, as an area-wide
plan is more comprehensive and more encompassing in nature, and we have 31 included participating
(03:14):
jurisdictions, including all seven cities, numerous fire districts, reclamation districts,
and other special districts. Additionally, we have countless stakeholders from the area
participating as well. We kicked off this plan update last fall and have had numerous
committee meetings, and as well as public meetings, where we identified hazards as well
(03:37):
as risk assessments. For our next phase in this process, we'll be developing mitigation
strategies, and I'd like to share some that our next meeting in this process will be on
this topic on June 10th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the county's environmental management
department building at 11080 White Rock Road, and the next day we'll have another meeting
(04:03):
June 11th, 9 a.m. to noon, at the city of Elk Grove District 56 at 8230 Civic Center
Drive. This information can also be found at stormray.org and under the heading local
hazard mitigation plan. I've also left some flyers at the entrance of the board chambers
if you want to scan that QR code, you can get some information there as well. These meetings
(04:25):
are all open to the public as well as anyone that's interested. We strongly encourage everyone
to attend so they can provide their unique viewpoints. We anticipate having a draft ready
by September with a final plan ready for Cal OES by December. Again, please check stormray.org
for updates and more details, and I hope to see you in June. Thank you.
(04:46):
Thank you very much. Are there any additional public comments? We have no more public speakers.
Can you please read the next item? Yes, item two is discussion and adoption of the Sacramento
County Disaster Council bylaws.
Are there any member questions or comments?
(05:07):
Are there any public comments on this item?
This is not a public comment, but I observed a typo that I did not correct. Under article two
section three, it should be there are two section 3.2s instead of having a 3.2 and a 3.3. So I think
you can amend it on the record, but I just wanted to note that very slight change and apologize.
(05:33):
We will take note of that, and then I think there is also one other element, and it is the
the resolution number from 1950 that needs to be researched, and the clerk will add that at a later
time. Are there any public comments on this item? We have no public comments. Do we have a motion
(05:58):
on the bylaws? I had one question or item for consideration, and then I'd be willing to make
a motion. Dan Quiggle from the Cosumnes Fire Department. I'm here representing fire agencies
to the council. What I wanted to share was possible consideration within section one on membership
(06:25):
for other special districts. I happen to represent a community services district
and was chosen to represent the fire agencies, but if not chosen or if another fire department
was representing us, the community services district wouldn't necessarily be represented
on this body. So I just wanted to give some consideration under section one to item three,
(06:50):
the possibility of adding other special districts. I know that we have fire, water districts,
reclamation districts, and utility districts, but there are a variety of other special districts
throughout the county. So I was just wondering if the council would give that some consideration,
(07:11):
and if so, I'd be willing to make a motion that included that.
So unfortunately, this component of the bylaws is controlled by a Sacramento County code section
that establishes this body. That is something that could be amended, but it would have to be
amended via ordinance and go back through the board of supervisors for that process.
I think that you all could contemplate that at a future meeting if you want to make that
(07:35):
recommendation up to the board of supervisors or to the Sacramento County Office of Emergency
Services to take that, which would be the entity that would raise that. But because this is
functionally a copy and paste of an existing ordinance and county code section, I don't
think that this body could formally amend that at this time. Understood. Thank you.
(08:00):
Any other discussion?
Given that, I'll make a motion to adopt the Sacramento County Disaster Council bylaws
as written with the two typographical changes, 3.3, as well as the original resolution number
from the county. And then just also ask that staff get back to us on what it would take
(08:23):
to include other special districts on the council.
Okay. We have a motion. Is there a second? Second.
We have a second. Please vote.
Okay. And that motion passes with all members present or with those members present.
(08:56):
Thank you. Can you read the next item?
Yes. Item three is adoption of the 2026 Sacramento County Disaster Relief Council meeting dates.
And are there any member questions or comments?
And any public comments?
(09:17):
We have no public comments.
Okay. Do we have a motion for the dates?
Move for the dates.
We have a motion. Do we have a second?
I second.
Please vote.
I'm sorry. Who was the second?
Okay. Thank you.
(09:42):
Okay. Clerk, can you please read the next item?
That motion passes with those members present.
For item four, we have election of the vice chair.
Do we have any? So the vice chair, I believe, according to county code, must be a city member.
(10:13):
And if any of the city members are interested in being a vice chair
or participating in that capacity, I think self-nominations may be acceptable.
The vice chair responsibilities would be to fill in in the chair's absence
and probably participate in the agenda development.
(10:41):
Is anyone from any city willing to fill that role?
Yes. Okay.
Madam chair, I would be willing to adopt and accept that role.
Okay. Would anybody?
I'll nominate Chief Solak from the city of Folsom as vice chair.
Fantastic. So we have a nomination for Chief Solak.
(11:01):
Is there any other nominations or a second?
I'll second.
Okay. So we have a nomination and a second for Chief Solak. Please vote.
And that motion passes with those members present.
(11:24):
Thank you very much.
Can you please read the next item?
For item five, we have adoption of the disaster service worker volunteer program calendar.
Are there any member questions or comments?
Any public comments?
(11:45):
We have no public comments.
Do we have a motion to adopt the volunteer service worker program calendar?
I'll motion.
Motion. Do we have a second?
I'll second.
Do we have a second? Please vote.
(12:08):
And that motion passes with those members present.
Will you please read the next item?
Item six is presentation on the integrated preparedness plan.
Very good.
(12:32):
Good morning, council. There it goes.
I'm Matthew Hawkins with the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services.
I'm one of the emergency managers there.
And I'm going to speak to you briefly today about our integrated preparedness plan.
It's formally called the multi-year training and exercise plan.
And let me just slide right onto this one.
(12:54):
So it's a plan we develop annually.
We project it out two to three years as kind of our option.
And we have to submit it to state Cal OES by September 30th.
And you can see some of the earlier iterations of the IPP.
But it is a requirement.
It's an ongoing requirement.
It's mostly a living document.
(13:14):
And we're going to go through how we develop this, why it's important, some of the elements of it.
Basically, you can see right here, the integrated preparedness plan,
it's the roadmap to accomplish the organizational priorities,
including the development maintenance of the overall preparedness capabilities.
So this is designed to organize all of our priorities together, not just as OES,
(13:37):
but our partner agencies and stakeholders.
You can see the purpose there.
It contains the preparedness priorities as something we develop
as we're going through the plan development process.
This mostly relies on the city's, county fire, sheriff's office, our office to help develop those.
(13:58):
And it establishes, most importantly, priorities and goals as we approach
the next two years and how we're going to train, how we're going to equip, how we're going to plan.
So I'm not sure why that's cut off.
But basically, it's the integrated preparedness cycle.
And we're going to talk a little bit more about this as we move through.
But you can read the statement.
But mostly, it's continuing the cycle of planning, organizing, equipping, training, and exercising.
(14:24):
And then learning from that entire cycle and doing it again and doing it again.
And it's an iterative process that continues to build on itself.
The pinnacle element of the IPP's development is our workshop.
This is bottom line.
So prior to the workshop, we send out an invite.
(14:44):
We include a survey.
And we hope that folks fill it out.
And the survey talks about what you might have as your priorities as an individual organization
or department, what you might see as your hazards, your risks, your threats.
And we try to cull all of that back and put it together before we actually meet.
So it gives us an idea of where there's crossover, of where we have shared threats,
(15:07):
where we have shared priorities.
And it helps us really hone in when we get to the workshop to do the work.
The workshop is generally a day long, half a day long.
When we get good at it, it can be a little bit shorter.
But the idea is that we all come with our preparedness.
We come with our tasks, our training.
Most importantly, you'll see up there, the authority to commit.
(15:28):
So when you're coming to the workshop, you're speaking for your organization.
Because we are going to make commitments that day about how we're going to train.
What's going to be our priority plans as we develop them over the next year, two years,
three years.
That is the most important thing, that you come.
You can't just come and have, you know, I'll take it for action.
Certainly, there's those areas where you might.
(15:48):
But generally, you're coming to help make a plan.
You see a survey, just as an example.
We'll hand this out or we'll send it out via email with the invite before we actually
initiate the workshop.
What we're doing at the workshop, you see here, is identify, validate, update, and report.
These are the elements.
So we are going to go through this literal four-step process.
(16:10):
And it may be we do breakout sessions, depending on how many folks we have.
We may do it as an entire group, whatever the day calls for.
But this is the work we're going to do.
You can see as, you know, identify preparedness priorities.
Hopefully, we've done some of that in the survey.
So we're not spending a whole lot of time unless somebody didn't have the survey, didn't
participate in that.
We'll establish our preparedness priorities.
(16:31):
And with those, it allows us to develop a training and exercise schedule.
For example, preparedness priorities from last year's IPP.
And you can see it right here, operational coordination.
That seems to be generally our primary priority.
Community resilience.
Now, these can change.
We have mass care services.
(16:52):
So let's say we decide this year during our meeting that, hey, we have really built up
our mass care planning, our resourcing, our capability.
That might not be a priority anymore.
Something else may move in its place.
We may have had a threat or a risk or an incident over the last year that modifies the whole
thing because it just changes the priority of what we're dealing with.
(17:14):
So again, these could be fluid.
They generally hold pretty steady to these.
But what we'd like to see is some of these things move off because it means that we're
effectively addressing them.
Again, so these are just some examples of your threats, hazards, and risks.
You can look at those and kind of get an idea of the types of things we're talking about.
(17:36):
But most importantly is that if you've done after action reports, if you have improvement
plans, you're bringing that to the meeting with you.
If you have new statutes, for example, our office often has new state statutes that we're
dealing with.
That may become something that either informs or impedes what we had been doing before.
(17:58):
So you've got to bring your external resource requirements, grant requirements.
If you have certain requirements per your grants that have to be included in your training
or your planning cycles, we will look at that as a group.
So nobody gets, well, you have this requirement.
That's your problem.
No, we look at it as a group.
And we come together for the best of the group.
Some of the things we'll come up with is our training exercise.
(18:20):
So it may be that, hey, this year we're going to focus on ICS basics.
And once we get those down across the organizations that we have, we may move to section specific.
We may design a tabletop for the entire operational area.
It's going to depend on what we need.
Critical to this is that we reduce the redundancies.
(18:41):
We reduce the excess costs.
So why have four different organizations providing the same training?
And each of those organizations' training only gets a 40% response.
Let's do one training if we all need it.
Let's try to get as many folks into that as possible, reduce the cost.
Take that extra money and invest it in a different training or in an exercise.
(19:05):
These are essentially what we come up with under our priorities.
You can see the POETI at the top.
So that's your plans, organize, equip, train, and exercise.
That was that cycle we talked about originally.
And what we do is we identify under the priorities where each of the elements of the plan fit in.
So for example, alert and warning training.
(19:26):
So priority three, public information and warning.
And it meets with training and exercising.
So we'll do those things.
This helps us organize how we're going to roll out our program.
We may come out with some priority plans.
We go, oh, we just did the Joint Information Center system plan this year.
That certainly came out of this, from prior iterations of this.
(19:51):
So you may come up with a flood annex because we realize that that's a high priority.
And then reporting at the very end.
So every year after we go through this process, we circle around, we look at what we've done,
what we've accomplished, and we report that out in a nutshell.
This is a very, very important thing that we do annually.
(20:13):
We invite all of our partners, all of our stakeholders, all of you,
please send somebody from your organization.
We need them there to make this work the best that we can.
I'm happy to take any questions.
When is the next workshop taking place?
Yeah, we're about to kick off the cycle, just in time.
So an email with an invite should be going out no later than probably the end of May.
(20:38):
And then that should lay out in that email, the survey,
and then the following dates for the workshop.
We try to get the workshop done by late June, early July.
So it gives us time to develop the actual plan,
have reviewed by everybody, and then submit it on time.
Are there any other questions?
Yeah, I have a question.
(20:59):
Funding for, is this all grant-related funding, or is there allocated funds?
No, there's not necessarily funding for this.
Our office has a responsibility to pull the information together,
to create and do the plan, to do the writing of it.
This is a participation-based thing.
(21:22):
Come, join in.
There's no cost.
If you can spare somebody for half a day,
and then whatever time it takes to review the plan after it's been drafted,
prior to that, to do the survey, that's really what we're looking for.
So if there was an identified goal that required, say, the acquisition of equipment,
where would that funding come from?
(21:42):
That's going to be up to the individual agency.
So as a group, we may be able to sit down and go,
hey, our organization's going to buy a whole bunch of lights this year.
And we may be able to say, why?
We have a whole bunch.
And you save that cost on making that purchase.
And we can tell you, this is how you're going to get them from us.
If you have a large piece of equipment that you need to purchase specific for fire,
(22:03):
that's not necessarily something that we can engage in financially.
But we can certainly sit together and figure out who has what,
and where our individual monies can be spent best.
So our organization, or your organization,
is not going to take your chest of money
and invest it into another organization specifically by buying equipment.
(22:24):
It's not constructed like that.
This is about, hey, we all have this.
We lay it on the table.
We all need these things.
Where are the places, for example, in the training that we can come together?
And let's say our organization can provide the training,
because we were going to anyways.
And your organization doesn't have to.
Those are the real places.
And you guys say, hey, floods were real bad last year.
(22:46):
And we go, yeah, floods were bad.
And another one goes, floods were real bad.
What's the date of our annex, the last flood plan that we have?
We go, that's like four years, five years old.
The group goes, yeah, we need a flood plan.
And we do a lot of that planning, the annexing development,
because it's part of the emergency operations plan.
So that's something that the group can say, hey, we need that plan.
And we could put it on our schedule to develop that plan.
(23:10):
So if the group decides to move forward with an objective,
and there are municipalities or partners that aren't in a financial position
to be able to afford, are there grant opportunities
so that the collaboration is regional-wide and we don't have?
Not through this.
Not through this.
You know, you're going to find that with UASI
and other funds that are specifically addressed for that.
With this, it's more of a ground-level organizational opportunity
(23:35):
to low-hanging fruit and just to coordinate.
And maybe you come, and we're not spending money on your organization,
but your organization ends up saving some money
because somebody else is doing the same thing you were about to do.
Sure.
Okay.
Thank you.
Yeah, it's important.
And I encourage somebody to come to your organization
because they can report back their experience of it
and what the benefits were.
(23:56):
And I think if I can just add,
part of the opportunity for the integrated preparedness plan
is to develop those priorities.
So those federal grant opportunities that we have
that are regionally decided,
those are advised as priorities
because we have a document outlining that.
So that participation is hugely important to advise those groups
(24:18):
who are those decision-making bodies for those federal grants.
It gives you something to point to.
So when somebody says,
hey, why are you doing this training or this plan?
You can point to it.
You can say, because this is what we've discovered was necessary
amongst our operational area partners.
And besides, it's a fact for us, it's a requirement.
We've got to do it.
Are there any other questions?
(24:40):
No.
All right. Thank you, Matthew.
Thank you very much.
Are there any public comments on this item?
We have no public comments.
Can you please read the next item?
Yes. Item number seven is a fire safe council report.
(25:10):
Good morning, everybody.
I went backwards instead of forward.
I'm sorry.
My name is Brenna Howell,
and I am the fire safe council coordinator for Sacramento County.
I started in this program in 2021.
Sacramento County was one of the original recipients of this program
(25:32):
from the California State Fire Safe Council.
Today, there are now 49 counties out of 58 in the state of California
that all have individuals such or similar to myself
that are managing the fire safe council grant coordination program statewide
(25:53):
and in their individual counties.
I'm sorry.
But for the most part, our fire safe council role,
and these are really our overarching goals.
And I think we'll continue to keep these on
our goals and objectives for future grant programs.
But the main thing that we do is we educate,
encourage, develop countywide collaboration
(26:15):
amongst wildland fire coordination groups.
That's a lot to say, basically,
that there were a lot of great people in this county
doing a tremendous amount of wildland fire mitigation activities.
And a lot of everybody wasn't talking to each other.
And so really what we're doing is the clearinghouse for that
(26:39):
and how to move those goals and objectives forward
through this grant.
A little bit of background.
Like I said earlier, in 2021,
we were original members of the pilot program.
We continued that in the 2022 grant program.
(27:00):
And now we're currently working in the 2025.
And we've just been notified
and working with the California State Fire Safe Council
that the grant will be extended into October of 2027.
One thing to mention about that,
that the California State Fire Safe Council
has been working at the political levels
(27:23):
in the Senate and the Assembly.
And they're pushing SB 973,
which is a bill also known as the County Coordinator Bill,
which aims to permanently fund
these positions statewide in California.
It has made its way through the Senate currently
and is now in the Assembly.
(27:43):
And so we're really halfway there.
And we're hoping that we're gonna take this home
and permanently fund this program for the state.
The work that our county is doing
and other counties in the state of California
bringing together a whole host of different groups,
which I'll talk about in a second,
to mitigate wildfire has been tremendous.
(28:12):
So some of our other responsibilities that we do,
we have a set of tasks that we apply for every year
and outline our work plan essentially.
But I've listed above some of the main tasks
that we're working on currently.
We're developing and working with volunteer groups
here in Sacramento County, mostly in the South County
(28:35):
and along the American River Parkway
to develop a community wildland fire prevention plans.
You heard them talk earlier
about the local hazard mitigation plan.
These plans bring the fire element
to that overarching plan
and set goals and objectives for those local groups
(28:56):
on how to move forward with wildland fire mitigation,
outreach, education to community members,
fuels reduction projects and the like.
We also work with those groups to write grants
and support their efforts to bring those projects in.
They don't have any money
and so largely their funding is coming from grants.
(29:19):
We collect data and track the efforts that they're doing
so we can keep a record
of all of the different projects that are going on.
And then we support them by developing outreach tools
and educational materials.
And then we attend their meetings
and help them facilitate meetings
(29:41):
and sort of adopt the government process,
like not as formal as what we're doing here this morning,
but keeping minutes, setting agendas
and continuing to move forward.
Some of our key partners, and these are just a few,
but we have three main fire safe councils
(30:04):
in the County of Sacramento, American River,
which spans all the way from Folsom down to Discovery Park,
the community of Herald.
So it's essentially the footprint
of the Herald Fire Protection District
and then the Rancho Murrieta Regional Fire Safe Council,
which expands outside of the gates
(30:25):
of the Rancho Murrieta HOA
and encompasses the community around Rancho Murrieta.
There are homeowners associations
that are trying to work on developing firewise communities
and we work with a myriad of Sacramento County partners
and agencies, fire agencies,
(30:46):
resource conservation districts,
nonprofits, Cal Fire, Amador Eldorado Unit
is one of our main partners.
And then I can't forget
about the California State Fire Safe Council,
who is here in the room.
We have a couple of individuals that are here in the room
and the support from that body
(31:07):
and their team has been tremendous
for county coordinators like me
to help further those goals and objectives in the program.
We're looking to add more cities and partners
and other HOAs and resource conservation districts,
community services districts
like you were talking about earlier.
(31:29):
And so we'd love to hear from all of you
if you have any wildland fire or fire,
you know, mitigation projects
or community members
that are talking to your jurisdictions
about what can we do to make our neighborhood safer?
What can we do to help educate people
on home hardening or reduction,
(31:52):
limbing projects, ladder fuels reduction,
things like that.
Please give us a call.
We're happy to come and talk to you about those programs.
And that's really one of my main roles
is to help support you
so that we continue to educate our public.
(32:13):
These are this grant period's work plan tasks.
I'm not going to go through them all,
but as I said earlier,
each grant cycle we have new tasks
and benchmarks for measurement
and measures our success.
Key this period,
I talked earlier about our CWPP.
(32:33):
That's monumental to bring a group of volunteers
to get their goals and objectives on paper
and get them officially formed as a 501c3 non-profit
so that they can actually apply
for grant funding opportunities on their own
and be a standalone body without our support.
Well, we'll still support them,
(32:54):
but we want them to function on their own
so that they can bring these opportunities
into their community.
And then just continuing that public education piece.
I can't stress it enough.
Even from my career as an emergency manager,
the public preparedness element
is really one of the most important things
(33:15):
that we should be doing to support our community.
This is really the long-term goals
from the California State Fire Safe Council.
And what I think SB 973 is intended to do
is to help us be able to carry out those goals
(33:37):
locally.
What are our next steps?
So we're supposed to find out mid-June
if we're getting the 26-27 grant allocation.
And we're going to continue to do outreach,
recruit, help people and communities
(33:59):
develop Firewise communities.
We're going to continue with our CWPP development.
We're going to apply for more grants
to do fuels reduction projects.
One that comes to mind
is the Rancho Marietta Fire Safe Council
applied for a Cal Fire grant
and was awarded $4.5 million
(34:20):
to do ladder fuels reduction projects
around the perimeter of the community.
It backs up to a quite large open space.
And so by limbing up those trees
to 12 feet off of the ground
and chipping and taking care of some of that debris
that was on the ground,
they've increased their resiliency tremendously.
(34:40):
So that's an example of some of the things
that we're working with them on.
Harold, the community of Harold
is working with the California Conservation Corps
to come in and do some fuels mitigation work
in the eucalyptus groves that are out there.
You know, eucalyptus trees are like candles
(35:00):
and they can just explode.
And there is a lot of eucalyptus groves
in the community of Harold.
So those are some of the next steps
that we're going to be working on.
We'll continue our coordination,
communication and education.
We actually have on the docket
to do an actual live evacuation exercise
(35:21):
in the community of Harold.
It's going to be small,
but we'd like to evacuate a neighborhood or two
and communicate them
through our alert and warning system
and then open up an evacuation center
at the fire department property.
And so our initial planning has started in that area
and we hope to carry that out.
(35:42):
The goal is to do it this fall,
but I'm thinking we're probably looking more
like the winter time.
And then chipper days in the communities.
And we've been working with our county partners
at the Department of Transportation
to utilize some of their chipper machines
and messaging signs.
(36:02):
And so you'll see some of those projects
getting implemented later on this year.
And with that, I can take questions.
Thank you, Brenda.
Does anyone have any questions?
Are there any public comments?
Oh, question.
(36:22):
I do have one question.
Thank you for the comment
on sort of expanding the fire safe councils.
Would you recommend increasing the size
of some of the existing councils?
Are we talking about adding more councils?
Are they more successful
when they share sort of a jurisdictional boundary
or is it a multi-agency component
or what would your thoughts be?
(36:44):
Yeah, I think they're more successful
when they're smaller groups
focused on their community area.
So we would like to see more of that being done,
especially in the South County.
In the South County,
Wilton, the fringes of Elk Grove,
even Citrus Heist,
(37:04):
there has been a few HOAs
with a tremendous amount of oak trees
and some drainage creeks,
some of our county creeks and things like that.
So it's more focused community driven,
not a larger group.
But I know there is some thought
about having a county-wide fire safe council.
Maybe it reports to this body in the future,
(37:27):
but we're still studying
and looking at what would work best for the county.
And so we'll bring that back to you
and talk to you guys about that in the future.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Okay, thank you.
Thank you, Brenna.
Any public comment?
We have no public comments
(37:48):
and for the record, Director Azevedo is now present.
Thank you.
Can you please read the next item?
Yes, item eight is Director Comments,
Reports and Announcements.
Can I ask a question?
Do I start with others and I finish
or do I start?
(38:08):
Up to me.
We'll start with anyone.
Does anyone have any comments to close the meeting?
Okay, with that,
I would just like to say thank you
to all of you for being here.
I know this is a new experience
and you're kind of,
some people may be wondering
what is this body about?
The Disaster Council has been on the books,
(38:30):
as you saw in the bylaws,
since 1946
and there is a resolution since 1950.
It is part of state law
to identify a group or a body
of representatives from around the county
because under state law,
the county is also the operational area
(38:52):
and is the liaison between cities,
special districts,
and those organizations
that need to get access to
or report up to the state.
So during an emergency,
the county is that liaison,
that body that represents.
The Disaster Council's purpose
is to advise the Office of Emergency Services
(39:13):
and to advise the Board of Directors,
the Board of Supervisors, sorry,
on important things
that we should take into consideration
regarding emergency management.
As you can see,
this is a diverse representative body
for the Disaster Council
and that's intentional
(39:33):
because a lot of people think
emergencies are FEMA.
FEMA is a federal element
that is a support element
to local disasters.
Everything starts locally
and it requires cooperation
and coordination from each one of us
and our representative jurisdictions
(39:54):
of responsibility.
It requires involvement
of the business community,
special utilities,
special districts,
fire, law,
elected officials.
All of these come to play
during a disaster
and it's really important
that we establish that communication
and coordination
and that's my hope for this body
(40:16):
as it is starting today and grows
and I hope that you are able
to come back to this body
with maybe presentations
or information on things
your jurisdiction is involved in,
things that are representative
of who you are representing
on the council
and interests, concerns,
(40:36):
questions you have
for the overarching emergency planning
that takes place in this county.
So this is the forum for that.
It is also a public forum
so we want to encourage the public
to be involved and participate
in their own response to disasters.
It's not just these groups
of individuals
who take care of you
(40:57):
during a disaster.
It is each one of us
in the community
who take care of each other
in a disaster
and so I just want to emphasize that
that that's a huge component of this
from getting the public involved
and informed in emergencies
in Sacramento County.
So with that I'm closing my comments
(41:19):
and again just want to express my thanks
to all of you for being here.
If there is no further business
for this board we stand adjourned.
Oh do I actually need to do the gavel?
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