Board approves committee assignments; residents urge new supervisor’s inclusion on industrial safety and warning panels

The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors approved 2025 committee and board assignments after a brief discussion and public comment, and the board agreed to return the community warning system to the full board for a subsequent, more detailed discussion.

Chair Candice Anderson introduced the slate of committee assignments and noted two technical changes: an alternate for the North Richmond mitigation-fee committee should be Supervisor John Gioia’s staff member Tanya Pulido, and the Contra Costa Law Library appointee should be corrected to Joshua Klein. Monica, a county staff member, also requested revised language for C33 to ensure candidates for the auditor-controller recruitment meet qualification criteria before the recruitment starts; the county noted the auditor-controller has announced plans to retire in March.

During public comment, several community members urged that newly sworn Supervisor Chanel Scales Preston be placed on the Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO) and Community Warning System (CWS) committee because her District 5 includes multiple refineries and “fence-line” communities. Gigi Crowder, CEO of NAMI Contra Costa, asked the board to reconsider assignments so District 5 would have direct representation on the ISO committee. Heidi Taylor, a founding member of Healthy Martinez who said she lives on the fence line with Martinez Refining Company, told the board: “It is imperative that Chanel Scales Preston be on the ISO CWS committee.”

Supervisor John Gioia suggested a compromise: keep CWS work visible to all parts of the county by making a joint referral so both public-protection and ISO committees could work on elements of the community warning system. Gioia noted that, historically, most CWS notifications have affected communities near refineries and that including supervisors from those districts helps policy-making.

Chair Anderson said she did not want to delay appointments but agreed to bring a fuller discussion of the community warning system back to the board so the committee assignment could be revisited. “I will go ahead with the appointments, but let’s have a more robust discussion about the community warning system and potentially shifting a committee assignment,” she said.

Board members then approved the appointments as presented with the noted corrections. The board’s clerk recorded the motion and a second and the votes were recorded as unanimous in favor. The board directed staff to prepare a future agenda item to review the community warning system’s status and whether its oversight should move to a different committee or remain jointly referred.

Public comment at the meeting also covered other county concerns, including requests for automated payment processing for nonprofit grantees, updates on animal-shelter properties, and continued development of the planned African American Holistic Wellness Hub; those items were not acted on at this meeting but were noted by board members.