On July 8, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1, with 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone dissenting, to extend an agreement with the Santa Maria Organization of Transportation Helpers (SMOOTH) to continue running the Agricultural Worker Transportation Project in the Santa Maria Valley area through June of 2010.
Based on the success of a similar farm worker transportation project in Kings County, the Agricultural Worker Transportation Project seeks to decrease the number of unlicensed drivers and vehicles on the county’s roads, thus increasing traffic safety and helping the environment.
According to project guidelines, local farm workers can volunteer to undergo background screening and training to drive the county-purchased vans. In exchange for driving, the worker’s transportation fees are waived. The drivers transport a handful of workers to and from the fields; those workers, in turn, pay a small fee.
The service is scheduled to run full force during peak agricultural seasons, and most likely to decrease in the fall.
In the progress report presented to the Board of Supervisors, county staffers said that the project continues to receive considerable community support from the California Highway Patrol and the State Employment Development Department.
According to the report, there are currently three drivers transporting an average of seven workers to the fields per day.
Another four drivers are currently undergoing background checks and training. In comparison, the report said, the Kings County project had one driver after the first six months of recruiting.
“We’re way ahead of schedule right now,” said Rosemary Luque, SMOOTH’s Van Pool project manager. “King’s County had their vans sitting for six months before they had a driver.
“Two or three drivers might not seem like a lot, but it’s great progress with a project of this kind,” she said.
Also, staffers reported that the delivery of nine new passenger vans, approved by the Board of Supervisors in March, has been delayed by an axle strike at a General Motors vehicle part facility.
Currently, the program is funded by a $3.1 million Caltrans grant the county received last year from the state Agriculture Worker Transportation Program.
According to the new contract, SMOOTH is slated to receive no more than $950,000 to pay for labor and material costs of the project over the next two years.
The remaining balance of the $3.1 million budget, said SMOOTH Executive Director Jim Talbott, will go toward buying 25 more vans, and paying for insurance premiums and other costs.
Along with the progress report, staffers presented the Board of Supervisors with three potential funding options for the program after the state grant expires.
If, at the end of the next two years, the program is deemed to not work, Caltrans suggested that the county use the vans for other purposes, such as transporting employees of Santa Maria medical facilities, county employees, or people commuting between the north and south parts of the county.
The other options include a projected farebox recovery ratio (a system in which worker fares and government funds each pay for 50 percent of the program’s funding) and applying for other state and federal grants through government programs.
This article appears in Jul 17-24, 2008.