Crossing the six-month mark

By Supervisor Dave Roberts

Earlier this month, I completed my first six months in office and during that half-year, I have made strong progress in advancing reforms for mental health services, adoptions of foster children and renewable energy.

I also voted in June to adopt a balanced budget which maintains strong reserves. My colleagues and I were frugal as ever with public money, but we still managed to expand service levels and create jobs.

Also in June — to add transparency and additional scrutiny to Community Enhancement Grant applications — I created a board of community volunteers to review the voluminous submissions and make recommendations to me.

Earlier, in April, Vice Chairwoman Dianne Jacob and I brought forward legislation calling for an audit of the county’s mental health system. We expect to see the findings of the audit at our July 30 meeting.

We want to help mentally ill people who are unable to help themselves. We want to protect them, their families and the public.

Accordingly, we have called for a thorough examination of Laura’s Law, which allows for the involuntary treatment of any person with a mental disorder who, as a result of that condition, presents a danger to others or to himself or herself, or is gravely disabled. Laura’s Law requires that judge to certify the need for involuntary treatment.

Another program I am determined to improve is adoptions for foster children. For that initiative, I have found a strong partner in Chairman Greg Cox.

We launched our Exceptional Families initiative in May, and in June, we received a unanimous vote to streamline adoption programs. We also requested that the county’s staff prepare a report that recommends legislative reforms to improve the adoption process.

In another collaboration, Vice Chairwoman Jacob and I have called for updates to the county’s strategic energy plan.

One of our goals is to promote guaranteed financing for property owners who wish to install solar panels or make other energy improvements to their property.

Known commonly as PACE, Property Assessed Clean Energy allows property owners to pay for energy-efficiency investments over time on their property tax bills. PACE programs are available to commercial property owners in the unincorporated area. Our goal is to make PACE accessible to residential property owners.

Looking ahead, community outreach and accessibility will remain as top priorities for me.

My electronic newsletter – From Dave’s Desk – summarizes my activities for the week. We have published more than two-dozen of the reports to date.

Constituents can follow my Facebook and Twitter posts to stay current with the meetings and events I attend. My Web address is www.supervisordaveroberts.com.

For the convenience of our constituents, we have opened a full-time office in Escondido. We also keep monthly office hours in Rancho Bernardo and Del Mar. Contact us to schedule a meeting at one of those locations.

Supervisor Dave Roberts represents the Third District and can be reached at (619) 531-5533.