SUPERVISORS MULL 'DISPUTE RESOLUTION,' RESOLVE TO WASTE MORE CASH!

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, in their infinite wisdom, is set to approve a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Superior Court, dropping a cool $110,000 on 'Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)' services. Because nothing says efficient governance like spending taxpayer money to officially mediate disagreements that ordinary folks usually handle over coffee, or, you know, just by not being so litigious to begin with. It's truly inspiring to see our county leaders prioritize bureaucratic niceties over, say, fixing potholes or cutting burdensome regulations that actually stifle local business.

This latest expenditure, effective from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2029, ensures that for the next four years, the county will have a tidy sum dedicated to making people play nice. One might argue that the courts already exist for, well, resolving disputes, but clearly, the current system isn't generating enough billable hours for *someone*. It makes you wonder if every minor squabble between county departments will now require a formally sanctioned, taxpayer-funded 'resolution specialist' to hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya.'

And in a move that only our local government could pull off, they've determined this financial boondoggle isn't subject to CEQA. Naturally, because spending $110,000 on hand-holding services has absolutely no 'physical changes in the environment,' unless you count the collective groan of taxpayers. The actual story here, which the Board of Supervisors would rather you ignore, is how easily public funds are siphoned off for programs that do little more than expand the ever-growing administrative state, rather than delivering concrete value. Perhaps if they resolved to actually cut wasteful spending, there'd be fewer 'disputes' to 'resolve' about the county's bloated budget in the first place. Another dollar, another layer of bureaucracy, courtesy of your Santa Barbara Supervisors.