In the second session of the Legislative Council's "Lunch with an Elected" program, District 3 Supervisor Hill discussed the budding economic development strategy currently being formulated, the proposed one-stop homeless shelter in the city of San Luis Obispo, and the county's growing pension liabilities. 

The Board of Supervisors has been pursuing a "fairly ambitious agenda" to create an economic development strategy for the county. Hill and fellow Supervisor Frank Mecham have made this one of their top priorities.  
 
"We really want to work toward a long-term vision - this is not any kind of response to the current recession," Hill said. "We need to create more jobs, better paying jobs and more competition between companies."

The Economic Vitality Corporation of San Luis Obispo (EVC) hired a Mountain View consulting firm to analyze the local economy and to help gauge where things are headed. The county provided $50,000 of the $122,000 raised by the EVC for the project.

The next phase, Hill said, will be to review a report of the firm's findings, then move forward with a set of economic strategies and actions. In addition, the Legislative Council members about the proposed one-stop homeless services center.

"The homeless population has grown exponentially in the last five years, and we don't really have the resources to take care of them," Hill explained. "We're trying to make the most of what we have."

Several Legislative Council members asked questions about the county's salaries and pensions. Hill told them that the county has hired an outside labor firm to help renegotiate union contracts, and that the county will eventually move to a two-tiered system. But, he added, it will take some time to get there.

"We're really committed to a long-term solution to get things back on track, and there's nothing that can convince us that we shouldn't do this," Hill said. "It's our responsibility to do this."

"Our goal is to be fair, and to create a rational, defensible solution," he added.

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