Rental Housing Roundtable   Save the Rental Housing Mediation Task Force (RHMTF)! Voice your support for RHMTF to City Council on Wednesday, May 16 at 2pm   HOW YOU CAN HELP: Tell the Santa Barbara City Council to fund this vital program! Last year the City Council considered cutting the RHMTF funding to a point that would eliminate mediation services, dismantle the 15 member volunteer Task Force and restricts services to telephone only; thereby limiting access to people with disabilities. Thanks to the relentless efforts of Rental Housing Roundtable and community to hold legislative visits with councilmembers, provide testimonies at council hearings and highlighting the benefits of this vital program the Council agreed to provide temporary funding for the RHMTF. We must put pressure on the City Council to prioritize this important service and continue funding the RHMTF!   1) WRITE A LETTER/EMAIL OF SUPPORT! First and foremost, consider writing a letter or email to the Santa Barbara City Council by Monday May 14 expressing your support for continued funding for the RHMTF program.  If appropriate, you can share that you have used the RHMTF or have made referrals, and know the benefit of the program’s mediation services.   ------------------------ Dear City Councilmember ________________,   The Recommended Operating and Capital Budget for Fiscal Year 2013 reflects elimination of mediation services, the 15 member volunteer Task Force and restricts services to telephone only; thereby limiting access to people with disabilities.   The Rental Housing Mediation Task Force (RHMTF) provides an essential service to residents of Santa Barbara through the provision of information and mediation services for landlords and tenants. In Santa Barbara, 60% of the residents are tenants. The RHMTF has provided mediation through an all-volunteer board since 1976. This Santa Barbara City program makes a huge impact on residents at risk for homelessness and saves community resources and money both for the disputants and the city.   Please join me in supporting this vital Santa Barbara City service for the residents of Santa Barbara and ensuring continued City funding for the RHMTF.   Thank you for your support,   Name,   Organization/Individual Name  -----------   Emails can be sent to Council members at:   HSchneider@SantaBarbaraCA.gov, GHouse@SantaBarbaraCA.gov, DFrancisco@SantaBarbaraCA.gov, FHotchkiss@SantaBarbaraCA.gov, HWhite@SantaBarbaraCA.gov, CMurillo@SantaBarbaraCA.gov, RRowse@SantaBarbaraCA.gov   (Please be sure to cc Justin Dullum, RHMTF Chair justindullum@gmail.com  to ensure that your letter can be included in the presentation to City Council)   Letters can be faxed to: (805) 564-5475    2) ATTEND A CITY COUNCIL MEETING DURING THE MONTH OF MAY! The City Council will be addressing the Community Development Department budget, including the RHMTF on Wednesday, May 16 at 2 pm at City Hall, 735 Anacapa St.

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Budget Open Forum - Santa Barbara Edhat
Source: edhat.com

This budget open forum is for sharing your thoughts on Governor Brown's proposed state budget. There will be a local forum on the subject on Friday.

 
As Martin Luther King Jr. observed forty years ago, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." While the insurance and pharmaceutical industries post huge profits, the U.S. health care crisis grows steadily worse.

Today, nearly one in six Americans has no health insurance. Tens of millions of others are woefully under-insured. Meanwhile the war in Iraq drains our resources and overburdens our budget. Our government's duty is to protect us--security begins with our health and well-being at home. In 2009, we have an historic opportunity to turn from warfare to health care for all.

We call on the Democratic Party at all levels--in party platforms and resolutions--to commit to redirecting wasteful and unnecessary military spending to meet human needs. This commitment must start with comprehensive, guaranteed health care--driven by the needs of patients and the judgment of doctors. We call on Democrats to support a plan that eliminates any financial barriers between the patient and healthcare providers, resulting in a patient not receiving medically necessary care.

We call on members of Congress to bring the troops home from Iraq and to pass H.R. 676, Rep. John Conyers' bill which guarantees comprehensive publicly-funded, privately-delivered health care for everyone in the U.S.
 
Go to www.pdamerica.org to sign the Healthcare NOT Warfare Petition!

Dear Friends:

The County has an opportunity to change its governance structure, and you can help to make it happen.

The article below explains the matter, as does the cover story of this week's Independent.  But in brief:  the County's chief administrator, Mike Brown, has been running the place like his own personal fiefdom for 4 years, due to a change in county law in 2005 that gave him power over all department heads, to the exclusion of the Supervisors whom we elected, and who are accountable to us in ways that Brown is not.  Now, Supervisors Wolf and Farr have started the process to change the law back to what it was and should be -- where five Supervisors, not one all-powerful unelected autocrat, have supervisory authority over department heads.

If you think this doesn't matter, talk to a county employee sometime.  They live in fear of Brown, and it's affecting their work in meaningful ways.

Here's what you can do to help:

1)  Email your County Supervisor, Salud Carbajal, at scarbajal@sbcbos1.org, and tell him you want him to support Supervisor Wolf and Farr's move to revise the County code to restore control of County operations to the Supervisors.  Add anything you want from the article below or the Independent piece, but let Salud know that you want elected officials, not an unelected bureaucrat with delusions of authoritarian power, running your county.  Salud is the crucial vote, so he needs to hear from you !

2) If you have time, send a similar email to Supervisors Joni Gray (jgray@co.santa-barbara.ca.us) and Joe Centeno (jcenteno@co.santa-barbara.ca.us).  They are very unlikely to vote with us, but it's good for them to hear that people want the change.

3) If you have a bit more time, send a brief "thank you" email to Supervisors Janet Wolf (jwolf@sbcbos2.org) and Doreen Farr (dfarr@countyofsb.org) thanking them for this brave and important effort.

Thanks for acting on this.  The vote is on Feb 17th; your email can influence the outcome.

Lee Heller

From www.BlogaBarbara.com:

Smack Down at the County? From the BOS Agenda...

From the County Agenda for February 17, 2009 -- is County Executive Officer Mike Brown being taken down a notch? Read on....

On March 1, 2005 the Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance amending Chapter 2, Article X of the County Code which established the duties, responsibilities and authorities of the County Executive Officer. The Board letter premised the recommended action upon the goal to strengthen organizational effectiveness and to establish an organizational culture that would improve operations.

The ordinance that was adopted on March 1, 2005 transferred direct oversight and control of most County Department heads from the Board of Supervisors to the County Executive Officer. Specifically and most pertinent to the current recommendation, Section 2-71 (f) provided the CEO with "full authority of the Board to select, appoint, evaluate, suspend, terminate and retain those department directors except the directors whose appointment or removal is otherwise expressly provided for in statute."

The language adopted by the BOS did not require the CEO to inform, brief or seek the input of the Board of Supervisors regarding such actions. Section 2-71 (f) provides only that "the County Executive Officer may, from time to time, consult with the Board of Supervisors regarding the execution of these responsibilities."

Concerns have been raised regarding the organizational effectiveness of this structure including the absence of required direct consultation with the elected Board of Supervisors on the appointment of department heads. Further, several contradictions seem inherent in Chapter 2, Article X. For example, Section 2-69 contains the statement that "As the legislative

body of the County, the board of supervisors is responsible for its efficient and effective managementŠ.and the Board has ultimate authority and control over County policy, budgetary matters and strategic direction."

Because of these concerns, and a concern that the Board meet its legislative responsibilities, we believe that now is the appropriate time to reevaluate this aspect of the County organizational structure and to consider amending section 2-71 (f) to return the authority to the Board of Supervisors to "select, appoint, evaluate, suspend, terminate and retain" department directors who are not elected or appointed by the courts.

We hope through objective review of the ordinance including a comparison to similar aspects of duties and powers of the CEO/CAO position in other Counties, this Board will have the opportunity to establish and define its responsibilities as well as the overall county structure.

Labels: Board of Supervisors, Santa Barbara County

posted by Sara De la Guerra | 1/30/2009 

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