Health and Human Services, Parks, Libraries

By Bruce Gibson

We must be sure that the services provided by the County meet the needs of our residents.

Outside of land use planning, dealing with health and human service issues takes up most of a county supervisor's time and energy + physically and emotionally + both at the board level and in pure staff work.

As in all aspects of local government, the state budget crisis has cast a long shadow on our county's efforts to deal with the ever-increasing demands on our medical and mental health care systems.

My job is to make the best of a situation that begs for improvement in just about every area. Specifically:

• We need to be sure the county public clinic system works. I believe that the best health care services are delivered as close to the patient as possible. We need to assure that our clinic system, now operated by a private non-profit, continues to provide the best medical services at the most reasonable cost to as many people as we can.

• Sadly, necessary mental health services aren't available to all who need them in San Luis Obispo County. Our county Mental Health Services department is stretched thin dealing with a wide variety of difficult issues + from drug and alcohol abuse to juvenile offenders to homelessness. We have seen some recent progress, as some law enforcement officers are now being specially trained to deal with the mentally ill, and we need that trend to continue.

As a start, I pledge that one of my first projects as an elected official will be to convene all the experts who work with and for the county to map out a short- and long-term vision for mental health services. We won't let the lack of resources be an excuse to not try.

I'll push to have a Mental Health Care Vision document complete in time for the budget process to begin in the spring of 2007, so that, at a minimum, we can have a frank and open discussion about the issues. After that, we'll sit down with state and federal government agencies to find ways to make that vision happen.

PARKS AND LIBRARIES

Quality parks and libraries are more than just public amenities. They are a measure of our sense of community. Beyond their entertainment value, they have real importance to our physical and civic health.

In San Luis Obispo County, we have some lovely parks and many well-used libraries. Their operation today owes much to the efforts of volunteers and employees who make due with very few resources. For many years these important community assets have suffered in the budget squeeze. We can and should do better. Here's what I recommend:

• County government needs to be a parks champion + a booster + in addition to serving the role of parks keeper. The county needs to work with communities to serve their needs and develop real public-private partnerships (such as a County Parks Foundation) to advance the quality of our parks. We may not have the money, but we've got the brains to make the best with what we've got. I'll try to find more money. I'll also try to find the people who, together, can come up with clever ways to make our parks better.

• We need to do the same for our library system. Votes have rejected increasing the sales tax to benefit our libraries. County government needs to get that message and use its collective brain power to develop innovative ways to keep our libraries current, relevant, attractive, and open. We deserve great libraries, and, together, we can make it happen.

• These are important goals that define not just the quality of our communities, but the character as well. We are up to the challenge.