CSAC President’s Tour: Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura Counties

CSAC President and Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg and CSAC Chief Operating Officer Chastity Benson visited Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties as part of Ellenberg’s statewide county tour. 

The tour began last Wednesday in Orange County, where Board of Supervisors Chair Doug Chaffee, Interim County Executive Officer K.C. Roestenberg and county leaders welcomed the CSAC team. 

At the Orange County Sanitation District, they toured the Fountain Valley plant and learned how the county is turning wastewater into a reliable local water supply. Through its partnership with the Orange County Water District, OC San recycles all of its reclaimable flows and helps produce 130 million gallons of high-quality water each day — enough to serve one million people. 

County leaders then shared an inside look at OC CARES, a countywide initiative that coordinates behavioral health, health care, housing, benefits and community corrections services for justice-involved residents and their families. The group also learned about how the county worked to launch a Fullerton Police Department program that pairs behavioral health clinicians with officers responding to mental health crises and other calls requiring specialized support. 

On Thursday in Los Angeles County, the CSAC team joined Supervisors Kathryn Barger, Holly Mitchell and Lindsey Horvath at the La Brea Tar Pits, for the groundbreaking for the first major transformation of its museum and campus in nearly 50 years. The project will add new research and exhibition spaces, including the Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research, and bring visitors closer to the scientific work taking place at the world-famous fossil site. 

After lunch, Supervisor Barger brought President Ellenberg to the Amity Foundation’s La Entrada campus, a 60-bed residential reentry community for women. The program provides treatment, education, employment and housing support while helping participants rebuild family connections and prepare to return home. 

On Friday, Supervisor Kelly Long and County Executive Officer Dr. Sevet Johnson hosted the CSAC team in Ventura County, beginning at the Freeman Diversion. The United Water Conservation District facility captures water from the Santa Clara River to replenish local aquifers that support residents, businesses and agriculture across the Oxnard Plain. 

The group then toured Mission Produce’s Oxnard packing and distribution center, where Supervisors Vianey Lopez and Matt LaVere joined the visit. The facility can pack up to 1.2 million pounds of avocados a day and offered an inside look at the infrastructure that connects Ventura County’s agricultural economy to markets around the world. 

The tour concluded at The HIVE Autonomous Innovation Center at Camarillo Airport. The county-led partnership brings government, education, industry and defense partners together to help companies develop and test autonomous technology while building new workforce and economic opportunities in Ventura County. 

From water recycling and coordinated justice services to women’s reentry, agriculture and autonomous technology, California counties are putting local partnerships to work on the challenges facing their communities.