District 1: Supervisor Larry Micari

As I work to make a difference for SGU Fighters, my advocacy is getting noticed. I have now been appointed to the National Association of Counties (NACO) Veterans and Military Services Advisory Council.

County elected, appointed, and staff members are eligible for NACO committees and help to inform national policymaking. I will be part of a monthly conference call and will attend the meeting at the national conference. My one-year term started in July and I’m excited to be part of the group.

As a member of the Veterans and Military Services Advisory Council, I’ll be working with county Supervisors and staff from across the country to develop and highlight county best practices and policies to make sure our nation’s military, veterans, and their families have access to services and benefits. This lines up with my effort to recognize SGU fighters as veterans and continues the work I’m doing as a member of the Tulare County Veterans Advisory Committee.

I’ll share updates on our work, and if you have questions or suggestions, please let me know!

District 2: Supervisor Pete Vander Poel

There are students throughout our county who need help with supplies when it’s time to go back to school. For the third consecutive year, the Tulare County Department of Child Support Services (TCDCSS) has stepped up to fill the gap.

In 2024, TCDCSS held their first Back-to-School Drive to benefit Jefferson Elementary in Dinuba. The next year, the program expanded to two schools. This year, the drive will provide supplies to students at Snowden Elementary in Farmersville, Maple Elementary in Tulare, Houston Elementary in Visalia, Wilson Elementary in Dinuba, and Olive Street Elementary in Porterville.

TCDCSS asked the public to donate school supplies to the effort. The Tulare County community came through with 648 backpacks, 2,640 pencils, 778 crayon packs, 1,265 erasers, 622 composition notebooks, 513 rulers, 940 pencil boxes, and 481 scissors.

Thank you to everyone who has helped Tulare County students be prepared for a successful school year!

District 3: Supervisor Amy Shuklian

While the Board of Supervisors streams audio of our weekly meetings, I have always been a strong advocate for video streaming. Especially since we already have the technology to do so.

I believe providing a video stream of our Board of Supervisors meetings is an important part of open and accessible government.

Not everyone has the ability to come to this chamber in person. People work. They have families to care for. They may have transportation or mobility challenges. Or they may simply live a significant distance from where we meet.

But they still deserve the opportunity to see their county government at work.

Streaming our meetings isn’t just about technology. It’s about transparency, accessibility, and public trust.

Our residents should be able to hear the discussion, understand why decisions are being made, and see how their elected representatives are representing them. And having those meetings available afterward gives the public a permanent and accessible record of our discussions.

We often talk about wanting people to be more engaged with local government. If that’s what we want, then we should make it as easy as possible for them to participate and stay informed.

People shouldn’t have to come into this building to see their government at work.

Their government should be able to come to them.

That’s why I believe we should be providing reliable video streaming of our Board meetings, an important service to the people we represent.

District 4: Supervisor Eddie Valero

Over the past several weeks, data center development has quickly emerged as an important regional conversation throughout our County and in Kings County also.

Here in Tulare County, the Board of Supervisors recently approved a temporary 45-day moratorium on new data center development in our unincorporated communities, allowing us time to better understand the potential impacts. At the same time, the Visalia City Council has begun moving toward its own moratorium and possible prohibition, while the City of Hanford has expressed concerns about data center facilities moving forward within or adjacent to its community without meaningful local review and public participation.

Adding to this regional discussion is a proposal from Global Stack involving the Tulare County fairgrounds. The company has proposed using approximately two to five acres that could include an edge-computing/data center component requiring up to approximately 10 megawatts of electricity, along with parking and emergency-response infrastructure. The proposal at the Tulare County Fairgrounds has been tabled while additional information is considered.



While these proposals may offer potential investment and revenue, I believe they also raise serious questions that deserve careful consideration. Water and electricity are certainly part of that discussion, but so are grid capacity, noise, air quality, public safety, agricultural land, infrastructure demands, transparency, long-term leases of public property, and perhaps most importantly: what does Tulare County gain, and what does Tulare County potentially give up?

Technology is advancing rapidly, but land-use decisions can last generations. As this conversation continues, we must ensure that Tulare County does not move faster than our ability to understand the consequences.

We should welcome innovation, but we should never be afraid to ask difficult questions about what we gain, what we give up, and who ultimately bears the cost.

District 5: Supervisor Dennis Townsend

I just attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Terra Bella for Varcomm’s $10 million Rural Broadband infrastructure project. Varcomm, located in Ducor, CA, is owned by CEO Eric Votaw and CFO Jenifer Vellucci. The project supplied Terra Bella, which has about 3,000 residents, with over 1,350 connections including around 158 businesses, hundreds of homes, several schools, two rural healthcare clinics, and the Tulare County Fire and Sheriff’s Stations. The focus of the Last Mile Federal Funding Account is to help foster access in communities like Terra Bella which historically lacked any broadband access.

With this project completion, they now have access to gigabit speeds. That is a monumental achievement in a relatively short period of time. Votaw noted at the ceremony that the project came in ahead of schedule and partially attributed that to the Tulare County Resource Management’s Encroachment Division. He also thanked Tulare County’s Grants and Resource Manager, Denise England, for her exemplary efforts. Michael Washam, Associate Director of Tulare County Resource Management Agency commented about this and similar projects: “When we talk to businesses about opportunities in Tulare County, we need to be able to point to communities with the infrastructure to support them. Investments like this give residents better connectivity while adding another asset we can put on the table in our business attraction efforts.” Varcomm plans to extend rural broadband into Ducor, Hot Springs and even the most remote community in southeastern Tulare County, Kennedy Meadows.