Highlighting important milestones and future opportunities
As Chair of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors this past year, I’ve had the honor of spearheading efforts to continue San Joaquin’s leadership as we confront some of the state and region’s most complex issues. I want to highlight some important milestones and future opportunities.
As a member of this board, I made a commitment to work with my colleagues to advance the board’s strategic priorities. I strongly believe that by maximizing the county’s fiscal responsibilities, increasing our organizational capability, promoting good governance, improving public safety and criminal justice system, facilitating economic development, and being proactive in dealing with water, land, transportation, and technological issues, we are making great strides to improve the lives of our residents.
The approved 2017-18 budget includes a $123 million increase from the previous year. The budget maintains a prudent contingency reserve fund, paying down our pension liability and fiscal integrity. It fulfills our main priority of fiscal responsibility, while at the same time, investing in vital services and capital projects that support our residents.
When it comes to San Joaquin’s economic outlook, there’s good news to share. Our efforts to become a regional hub for economic development and job creation are truly paying off. Businesses are expanding, companies are relocating here, our workforce is growing, and San Joaquin is one of the nation’s fastest growing housing markets driven by buyers seeking traditional close-knit communities and a better quality of life.
In 2017, we completed several major infrastructure improvements to make passenger travel and moving goods easier. We completed a freeway extension in Stockton that improves the connection between Interstate 5 and the Port of Stockton. We widened a stretch of Highway 99 to six lanes to decrease travel times. Air travel was expanded at the Stockton Metropolitan Airport with the addition of passenger flights and expanded air cargo service. All around, we’re investing in projects that build our capacity, employment, productivity and attractiveness.
Agriculture and water continues to be our economic engine in San Joaquin County and the heart and soul of our region. The county has devoted considerable time and resources to ensure we have sufficient water to protect the Delta and our world-class agricultural region.
The Twin Tunnels continues to be the most outrageously flawed $60plus billions project in the history of California. The county works with numerous regional partners to advocate for more cost-effective, water producing alternatives to the tunnels including storage, levee improvements and better use of bond money to more swiftly build essential statewide water projects. These efforts are gaining momentum as more individuals and agencies understand the harmful impacts of the tunnels and are now looking for better ways to invest in projects that truly benefit their communities with more water, jobs and local control.
One of my priorities as board chair was to showcase the great work being done by county staff. The board held a series of informational briefings where 22 presentations by county departments provided the board and residents with more information about the essential services and programs the county provides.
In addition, we made tremendous strides in addressing the growing homeless problem in our county. Over the past 21⁄2 years, we joined public agencies and service providers to mutually address the issue. As a result, we will have a program administrator for homeless initiatives to carry on the work started by the Homeless Task Force which will transition to a long-term Continuum of Care program to tackle the homeless issue.
The county will be dealing with a multitude of opportunities and challenges in the coming year including the creation of an Innovation and Technology Committee to examine the benefits of becoming a “Smart County.” This will maximize our resources and generate more interest by businesses to relocate to the county.
The board also implemented a Commission on Veterans Affairs to better serve our veterans. We also established committees for board members to meet with city council members, law enforcement agencies, fire departments and academic community to discuss issues of mutual concern.
It’s been an honor serving as board chair this past year. San Joaquin’s spirit of resourcefulness, unity and collaboration makes us a truly unique, multi-faceted, and well-respected county.
We strive to provide residents the best possible services and financial stability by setting priorities and working toward achieving them with every decision we make. As we move forward into 2018, we will continue to measure our success by the prosperity and growth of the communities and residents we serve.