Four for 2025: Here are key actions taken by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors reached it 175th anniversary of serving the region this year and it accomplished more than longevity — its biggest decisions focused on homelessness, public safety and the environment.
It added a fresh face on the board, approved a $9.2 billion budget and tackled familiar (military equipment) and new (solar energy) issues. Its final meeting was Dec. 16.
Rosario Rodriguez, former mayor of Folsom, was elected to represent District 4 and replaced Sue Frost. The sole woman of the supervisors, Rodriguez will serve as chair in 2026.
The year also saw the largest county worker strike since 2006, according to the United Public Employees. On July 8, more than 3,000 county workers went on strike for a day, including the Department of Child, Family and Adult Services, for a day. The strike was an effort to urge the board to raise employee wages by 4% to 5%.
The Board also passed new regulations for massage businesses and stricter regulations for street vendors.
Here are four other key moments from 2025:
Joint homeless meeting
Borne from a letter between City Council member Eric Guerra and Supervisor Phil Serna, the county hosted its first joint meeting on homeless on Oct. 28 at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria. The all-day meeting included the entire Board of Supervisors, Sacramento City Council members and representatives from the Sacramento region. It was the first time Sacramento’s biggest political bodies publicly met to discuss homelessness.
Sacramento County and the city of Sacramento paid Mosaic Solutions and Advocacy, a consulting firm, to help brainstorm solutions to reducing homelessness. The cost nearly $75,000.
Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes, was the sole vote who said the meeting’s vision session wasn’t productive. In an interview with The Sacramento Bee, she urged the county’s leaders to move faster.
“We need to treat it as an emergency, which homelessness is,” Talamantes said in October. “It’s a humanitarian crisis. And I just want us to move quicker.”
As a result of the meeting, Sacramento County has begun to integrate Sacramento elected officials with the Continuum of Care board, which is in charge of prevention funding and programming. Supervisors Patrick Kennedy and Rich Desmond were appointed to the board on Dec. 9.
Main Jail annex
An outside agency reviewed Sacramento County’s plans for a nearly $1 billion mental health and intake annex for the Sacramento County Main Jail, finding it be “insufficient.” Currently, the Main Jail does not align with the Mays Consent Decree, which resulted from a 2019 lawsuit from formerly incarcerated residents who alleged inhumane treatment within the facility.
CGL Companies found that the county’s original plan to expand the facility did not take into account population growth. These plans also did not accommodate space for treatment programming and medical/mental health staff, according to CGL’s report.
The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to pause the project and review its plans. The single opposing vote was from Serna, who strongly opposed costs of the facility. Kennedy called the current conditions of the jail “medieval,” insisting the facility must be updated.
Residents urged supervisors to shut down the project altogether, rather than reexamining it. Flojaune Cofer, who ran for Sacramento mayor, said the investment of billions of dollars was unnecessary for the facility.
“As we’ve heard earlier today from the presentation, it’s out of step with countywide sentiment, and it’s an irresponsible use of our taxpayer funds,” Cofer said during February’s meeting. “Please, let’s stop wasting all of our collective time on this proposal.”
Military equipment for Sacramento Sheriff
The Board of Supervisors approved the authorization to purchase military equipment for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, including a Lenco Bearcat, an $300,000-armed vehicle, and 27 drones on Sept. 23.
The Sheriff’s Office stated the requested equipment would go to prevent trafficking and organized retail theft.
James Petrinovich, a tactical commander for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, said its current equipment is “running on fumes at this point” and its other drones have been “swatted down or destroyed.” The money was approved.
The request was specifically for a $449,000 Boston Dynamics SPOT robot and drones that cost from $5,000 to $9,000, according the office’s military equipment use report.
The Board authorized the Sheriff’s Office to purchase the equipment quickly, according to the county’s report. Community activists, said the Sheriff’s Office does need the equipment.
In June, the supervisors also approved the use of drones to locate homeless encampments. Julie Wherry, the interim chief probation officer for Sacramento County Probation Department, said the drones will be used to access areas workers can’t reach.
Coyote Creek
The Board of Supervisors approved a SMUD solar panel project that would span across 1,357 acres known as the Coyote Creek Agrivolatic Ranch Project. The Coyote Creek project is in southeast Sacramento County.
The project passed unanimously 5-0 by the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 19. The project has been widely criticized by community activists, environmental groups and one of the region’s tribes. Shingle Springs vice chairwoman Malissa Tayaba, said construction of the project would harm Indigenous cultural resources, burial grounds, village sites and the land’s oak trees.
County staff said approving the project was aligned with its Climate Action Plan and that it would bring in $365 million for Sacramento’s economy, provide construction jobs and more than $67 million from tax revenue.
In response to the project’s approval, several environmental groups have sued.
Expectations for 2026
Serna, a longtime public official in Sacramento County, and chair of the board, will not run for re-election. As a result, an election will be held in June 2026 to replace his seat in District 1. Serna’s last day will be the first Monday in January 2027, according to Kimberly Nava, a spokesperson for the county.
Guerra has said he will run to replace Serna, while Talamantes and Cofer have expressed interest. Jeff Harris, a former Sacramento councilmember, has filed paperwork to fundraise for a political run for District 1.
The first Board of Supervisors meeting of 2026 will be held on Jan. 13.
This story was originally published December 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
