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Residents press county on lithium-ion BESS projects, behavioral health contracts and staffing concerns during public comment
Summary
Public comment at the April 14 Santa Cruz County Board meeting focused on parks and volunteer recognition but also included sustained concern about proposed lithium-ion battery energy storage (BESS) projects, a request to include more parenting programs in a behavioral health contracts packet, and labor worries about potential layoffs and backfilling senior positions.
A wide range of public commenters addressed the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors April 14, offering both praise for county programs and sharp concerns about proposed battery energy storage sites and county contracting choices.
Several speakers warned about planned BESS (battery energy storage system) projects near Watsonville and Aptos. Becky Steinbruner and Corralitos resident Corell Reader said NewLeaf had submitted a pre-application to the California Energy Commission and urged the county not to weaken local ordinance protections; Reader said he believed some battery modules originate from CATL in China and raised unverified national-security and safety concerns. Carol Bjorn, calling in, urged the board to slow the process and consider non-lithium options such as vanadium flow batteries. County staff did not make technical findings during public comment; the speakersraised matters for future ordinance and environmental review.
Public comment also pressed item 33 on the consent agenda, a set of behavioral-health contracts. Stephanie Brown Liu, Executive Director of Positive Discipline Community Resources, asked the board to pull item 33 because she said only one parenting program was contracted in the 211-page plan and urged more representation for diverse, culturally responsive programs (including Mixteco-language capacity). Health Services staff later told supervisors they had met with stakeholders, planned additional outreach, and would review public comments before implementing contracts.
Labor representatives and county staff raised workforce concerns. A SEIU 521 representative warned of rumors the county might declare a fiscal emergency and reopen memoranda of understanding that could affect COLAs and equity pay; union speakers urged the board not to backfill the recently vacated HSA assistant director position and questioned the timing of high-compensation hires during a potential staffing squeeze.
Speakers also thanked the board for recognizing National Public Health Week and volunteer contributions and urged continued investment in prevention and local services.
The board took no immediate policy action on BESS during the meeting; staff noted that ordinance work and any individual BESS project would be subject to required environmental review and permitting steps.
