Febuary 5, 2008

County Report

Yeager looks back at first year as supervisor

By Supervisor Ken Yeager
Special to the Times

It seems hard to believe that one year has already passed since I took office as county supervisor. It is a great honor to serve on the Board of Supervisors and to represent the residents of the Fourth District. Together with residents and county staff, my office has achieved a great deal in this first year.

I am pleased to serve as the county’s representative on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the regional body that makes recommendations and prioritizes state and federal transportation funding for the nine Bay Area counties. In my role as an MTC commissioner, I have championed the transportation interests of Santa Clara County, including reconstruction plans for the 280/880/Stevens Creek Boulevard interchange and distribution of a fair share of funding for traffic congestion relief in the South Bay.

I continue to be a strong advocate for mass transit, including bringing BART to San Jose. I currently chair the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Corridor Policy Advisory Board, as well as representing our county’s interests on the BART Warm Springs Extension Policy Advisory Committee organized by Alameda County. As a member of the Caltrain Board for the past seven years, I’m proud of the continued growth in rider ship on the Caltrain system and the commitment we’ve made to future capital projects, including electrification. Starting this March, Caltrain will operate its busiest schedule ever, with 98 trains running every weekday.

When I joined the Board of Supervisors last year, the county was grappling with a $227 million budget deficit. Despite the county’s bleak fiscal outlook, I successfully fought to preserve funding for vital programs in the Departments of Mental Health, Public Health, and Alcohol and Drug Services.

In this era of rising health care costs and increasing obstacles to accessing quality care, I serve as one of two supervisors on the Financial Planning Task Force for Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (VMC). Our county hospital has for many years been wrestling with the challenge of trying to do more with less, while still maintaining its top-notch reputation. Our task force has overseen a process to move VMC toward achieving greater efficiencies within existing resources, in an effort to realize some budget savings. We have high hopes for the success of this long-term project.

I serve as chair of the Board’s Children, Seniors and Families Committee. I have worked hard to protect the interests of our children in the foster care system, our seniors who have no other family members to rely on to take care of their needs and those families who require some social and human services to weather difficult times. This past year, I closely monitored our Senior Nutrition Programs, which serve more than 1.1 million meals annually through the Meals on Wheels program and 35 on-site lunch programs throughout the valley.

I also serve as vice chair of the Board’s Public Safety and Justice Committee, which oversees our county’s adult and juvenile justice system, from our county jails to probation to juvenile hall. My primary goal has been to make sure that our juvenile offenders have access to quality rehabilitative programs, so that they can turn the corner and become productive adults before they re-offend and are lost to the system.

During my first year on the board, I have maintained my focus on ways to improve the health of residents. As a policy maker, it is my goal to create an environment that supports opportunities for physical activity and nutritious choices. I am most proud of my work with First 5 Santa Clara County and Healthy Silicon Valley to bring our county’s local government leaders to the table to begin to tackle the very real problem of early childhood obesity.

At that meeting, we discussed options to infuse healthy lifestyles into our cities, from updating our General Plans with healthy living policies to refining our permitting processes so the county considers a new development’s impact on residents’ health. I am confident that, together, we can and must take bold steps to ensure that we are doing everything we can to prevent obesity in our county.

I have also put the spotlight on the gaps in Santa Clara County’s wildfire and disaster preparedness efforts, taking the initial steps to bring reverse-911 to our county, which was so effective in protecting residents in the wake of last fall’s San Diego fires. Such a system will allow the county to notify residents in the event of a public health emergency or natural disaster, providing vital information in those critical first few hours.

Open space and trail development continues to be a major focus of mine. After years of work, it was a pleasure to be part of the Los Gatos Creek Reach 4 opening this past fall. We continue to work with the city of San Jose, the Santa Clara Valley Water District and other related agencies to plan and open new trails that will benefit all of our residents. I’ve also enjoyed the opportunity to visit every one of the county’s parks, and I encourage residents to enjoy their beauty. I’m looking forward to the Healthy Trails Challenge this year as a chance for all of our residents to get better acquainted with our county parks system.

A top priority of mine has always been constituent services. I’m pleased that we have helped so many residents with their problems over the past year. We have assisted residents with addressing criminal activity and code enforcement issues in the unincorporated areas, working with the county’s Planning Department, and coordinating environmental health inspections.

We have also worked with constituents to ensure that they have access to social services and receive the medical care they need from Valley Medical Center when they need it. My staff continues to be a resource for information related to public health, senior programs, and the justice system.

I could not have done all these actions alone. I am fortunate to have excellent staff that has worked with me for a number of years. I am also inspired by the dedication of the county’s professional staff.

I truly look forward to continuing to serve the residents of Santa Clara County in the coming years. As always, I encourage you to contact my office if you have any concerns or would like additional information. You can reach me at (408) 299-5040 or via e-mail at Ken.Yeager@bos.sccgov.org.