Title
Consider recommendations regarding a Request to Ratify Execution of Emergency Occupancy Agreement with Best Western Plus Encina Inn and Suites, as follows:
a) Approve and ratify an Emergency Occupancy Agreement between the County of Santa Barbara and the Best Western Plus Encina Inn and Suites located in Southern Santa Barbara County for use on a month-to-month bases as non-congregate sheltering to COVID-19;
b) Authorize the Public Health Director, or designee, until otherwise ordered by the Board, to continue utilizing the Emergency Occupancy Agreement to provide non-congregate sheltering in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for payments due under Section 4, in an amount not to exceed $500,000.00; and
c) Determine that the recommended actions are not the acceptance and approval of a project that is subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(4), finding that the project is a creation of government funding mechanisms or other government fiscal activities, which do not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment; and that the actions are exempt from CEQA pursuant to Guidelines Section 15269(c) as they consist of specific actions necessary to prevent or mitigate an emergency.