To: Board of Supervisors
From: County Administrative Office
Agenda Section: Time Certain Matter
SUBJECT:
title
9:05 a.m. - Challenge Award Presentation
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Recognize the following departments for their innovative programs that were recently given Challenge Awards by the California State Association of Counties (CSAC); UC Cooperative Extension and Planning & Building.
Body
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Various Funds
DISCUSSION:
This year two Humboldt County programs were recognized by CSAC as being among the most innovative, efficient and cost-effective in the state. Every year CSAC holds a competition called the Challenge Awards with all of California’s 58 counties wherein each jurisdiction is invited to submit their best new programs for consideration. This year the competition received 284 entries, the second-most it has ever received, with 16 being given Challenge Awards and 33 given Merit Awards.
Staff from CSAC will be on-hand to present the awards to Humboldt County. Below is information about each program being recognized:
Using Prescribed Fire to Build Resiliency
Prescribed fire - the use of fire to meet specific management objectives - has been elevated as one of the best ways to restore fire-adapted ecosystems and protect communities and natural resources, but landowners and community members have largely lacked access to prescribed fire information and training - until now. Since 2016, Lenya Quinn-Davidson and Jeffery Stackhouse, University of Cooperative Extension Advisors, have been developing a program to build capacity for prescribed fire on private lands in Humboldt County. They’ve also been able to highlight Humboldt County as a model for other counties throughout California.
Using Satellites to Reduce Cannabis Impacts
Most local jurisdictions have Code Enforcement, and many also permit cannabis cultivation, but it appears that Humboldt County is the first in the country to purchase satellite time to collect data for the specific purpose of identifying and monitoring cannabis cultivation operations on a trans seasonal cadence to determine compliance with existing ordinances. Additionally, using the sensor data and imagery, drastically reduced the time investigators would have spent driving from site to site, while concurrently increasing tenfold the volume of cases that could be processed in the same amount of time and staff. This technology and digital overlay processes from our multiple data sources are also used to monitor the permitted cannabis cultivation operations to facilitate compliance within the parameters of their permit.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact to recognizing these departments. The programs are being recognized for their cost-effectiveness and efficiency in delivering county services.
STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK:
This action supports your Board’s Strategic Framework by managing our resources to ensure sustainability of services .
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
California State Association of Counties
ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
Board discretion.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Prescribed Fire Challenge Award Entry
2. Satellite Challenge Award Entry
PREVIOUS ACTION/REFERRAL:
Board Order No.: N/A
Meeting of: N/A
File No.: N/A