The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors has overtime on the brain. Only this time, it’s not the Sheriff’s Office taking up space on the meeting agenda. It’s Environmental Health Services (EHS).
If you’re a public-facing business that could potentially be hazardous to public health, you know what this agency is all about. But the rest of you are clueless!
That little known department is getting a little extra focus these days, thanks to the two-year struggle over how to tackle unpermitted food vendors taking up space along the county’s highways and some sidewalks, too. Last year, EHS racked up more than 500 hours of overtime, conducting “inspection events”—where code enforcement officers go out and catch scofflaw food purveyors red-handed.
Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson was enthusiastic in his encouragement: “I hope that whatever comes out of what we do today is that we hit them hard, we hit them early, and we hit them often … with shock and awe if necessary.”
What kind of an operation is EHS conducting!?
The supervisor cautioned against relying on overtime for the afternoon and weekend hours when illegal food vendors operate. Why not schedule shifts, he asked.
But in the end, EHS received a little less than $50,000 to pay for needed overtime—shock and awe, included—a freezer to store confiscated food, and seatrain containers to store confiscated equipment. Has EHS done any equipment confiscating? Nope.
Ooh, is that where the shock comes in?
But code enforcement has confiscated a lot of food from these operators. Has anyone tried to petition to get that food back?
“We’ve had one vendor that has requested a hearing to reclaim their adulterated meats,” EHS Director Jason Johnston told supervisors.
Ew.
Adulterated means those meats are impure, unsafe, or lower in quality than they should be. And this is why said meats have no place on the streets, which is why supervisors are trying to do something about it. The vendors that are being targeted with shock and awe don’t store their food at correct temperatures, among other things—like not having permits and not having a hand-washing station and dumping grease on the side of the road.
I think the shock and awe of Guadalupe City Council’s march to bring the Royal Theater Project into something more transparent for the public has reached a disappointing finale for at least one elected official.
Councilmember Whitney Furness has been playing a tiny violin for a big Brown Act committee to oversee the project since last September. Her attempts to once again reinvigorate staff to pursue the item was met with silence as her colleagues on the council finally acquiesced to city staff.
No five-member Brown Act committee, just a miniature committee with two members who can check in with city staff about the project without official publicized agendas or public hearings. And the ad-hoc committee almost didn’t pass.
“I’m not in favor of either at this point,” Councilmember Amelia Villegas said.
No kidding. It’s taken up so much time on council agendas, I hope we’re done hearing about it.
The Canary is apathetic, sometimes. Send invigorating emails to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in March 5 – March 12, 2026.