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Chair Vito Chiesa lays out Stanislaus County's progress and priorities in State of the County address
Summary
Chair Vito Chiesa used the State of the County speech to highlight ARPA-funded long-term investments, transportation and infrastructure wins, behavioral-health system changes, and an effort to grow the local bioeconomy while emphasizing bipartisanship and community partnerships.
Vito Chiesa, chair of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, delivered the county's State of the County address, praising recent investments and urging continued partnership to tackle long-term challenges.
Chiesa said the county treated its $107,000,000 American Rescue Plan Act allocation as "seed money" to finance projects designed to produce lasting benefits rather than temporary fixes. He framed the county's strategy around Stanislaus 2030, a public–private economic development partnership intended to expand access to middle-class jobs and support small-business growth.
The chair highlighted several concrete outcomes he attributed to that approach: a new model for expanding licensed home-based childcare that created 105 businesses and 840 licensed spaces, a $10 million county pledge and additional private and public investment to seed a new bioeconomy innovation campus with Beam Circular, and substantial transportation projects enabled by voter-approved Measure L.
Chiesa also described a shift in the county's behavioral-health approach, including the Hope Forward Children's Behavioral Health Campus, a regional project with San Joaquin and Merced counties, and a new single-entry program for substance-use treatment. He said the county is making its largest investment to date in housing for people living with serious mental illness and substance use disorder.
On fiscal policy, Chiesa recounted how a long-running state funding issue called "negative bailout" diverted property tax dollars away from Stanislaus County for decades and said a recent legislative fix returned roughly $8 million in the first corrected year, producing an estimated $70 million in restored revenue for the county over time.
Chiesa closed by recognizing county employees, volunteers and specific individuals for public service, and by urging leaders to put community and practical solutions ahead of partisan politics.
The address included a series of announcements and progress summaries; Chiesa invited the public to forthcoming community events and noted the Modesto library renovation and a Kenwood Star neighborhood-groundbreaking among upcoming milestones.
