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Please click here to watch a brief video about the program.

We all know about California’s Adopt A Highway program that’s been in existence for more than 25 years. But few people know about a similar program in Orange County that’s keeping flood-control  channels free of litter and graffiti. It’s called the Adopt A Channel program and it’s making a positive environmental, scenic and fiscal impact on the County.

Please click here to watch a brief video about this program.

Libraries are designed to be calm, inviting places. So it wasn’t really a surprise when the Butte County library staff noticed that some of their “regulars” were using library branches for respite centers, safe places where they could escape the heat of summer or the cold of winter. And for some of them, suffering with mental illness, the Butte County libraries became places to try to escape their internal struggles for a little while.

Please click here to watch a brief video about this program.

Meyli was tired, thirsty and hungry for most of her trek on foot through Central America and Mexico. But it is the fear she remembers more than anything else. She was afraid of getting lost, afraid of being caught by the authorities, afraid of being robbed, or worse, by bandits. When she finally crossed into the United States she was still afraid that she’d be sent home and the arduous trip would have been for nothing.

California counties already do so much for the people we serve. Counties provide for public safety and public health; we make sure buildings and restaurants are safe. Counties maintain roads and bridges, although we could use a little more help from the state in that regard. The point is, counties and county employees already do a great deal for those they serve, but I am greatly inspired by Sacramento County employees who have stepped up to contribute some of their own personal money to help people and organizations in need.

(CSAC is hosting a panel discussion this Wednesday, January 25, on potential effects to counties if the ACA is repealed. Register for the online discussion here.)

The past several weeks have been an emotional roller coaster on so many levels because of the presidential election, especially when I think about health care for the residents in our communities. I am filled with anxiety, but also resolve to do everything I can to make sure that the great strides in health care we’ve made over the last decade are not lost.

Please click here to watch a video about this program

The best county programs address an intractable problem with an innovative, sustainable, and collaborative solution that gets to the heart of the matter—or in the case of Amador County—to the “root” of the matter.  They take oral health care seriously in Amador County because the water isn’t fluoridated. Now, maybe that doesn’t sound like a huge problem, but tooth decay and cavities are nothing to smile about, and fluoride protects teeth—especially children’s teeth—from those preventable problems.

As 2016 comes to a close, I am grateful for the opportunity to engage in meaningful, important work with the CSAC staff and the County Supervisors, Administrators and other leaders at the state and federal level. I count myself very lucky to consider you a group of friends as well as colleagues. That’s especially important because, often, our work involves complex issues. So while I pause to enjoy the traditions of this season with friends and loved ones, I do so knowing that we accomplished a lot in 2016.

One of an elected official’s most important responsibilities is oversight of agency finances. In an effort to assist local officials with this important duty, The Institute for Local Government (ILG) recently updated the resource “Understanding the Basics of County and City Revenues.” CSAC is one of ILG’s parent organizations.

The State gas tax has been a declining source of revenue to maintain roads and bridges in California since it was last increased in 1994. We have lost approximately 50 percent of the buying power of the fuel tax due to the fact that it has not kept up with inflation and advancements in fuel efficiency. Even more drastic is the actual reduction of revenues in the past two years, amounting to an annual loss of more than 30 percent of the funds used to maintain roads and bridges in California. We are seeing this loss in dramatic fashion here in Stanislaus County.