It was another brief meeting on March 4, 2014. In case you worry about the wisdom of convening a meeting at all, a review of the Consent Calendar is in order. The Consent Calendar was considered after acknowledgement of the March Employee of the Month (Al Cathey, Supervising Engineer, Department of Public Works) and adoption of a Proclamation designating March as Grand Jury Awareness Month. The Consent Calendar at each meeting includes items that are expected to be non-controversial. Any staff member or Supervisor can request that any item be removed and discussed. Any member of the public may also request an opportunity to comment on any item.
On this day, no items were pulled from Consent and no public comments were made. Members were reappointed to the In-Home Supportive Services Advisory Committee to the Health and Human Services Agency. The Board approved signing an agreement with the California Department of Public Health for $254,153 in grant funds to continue services designed to protect and improve the health of mothers, adolescents, children, and their families. After a needs assessment in 2009, these funds are used to address the problems of childhood exposure to substances, family violence, oral health, childhood obesity and low birth weight births. The Board received petitions to develop an Emergency Fire Escape Road in the Palo Cedro Area and to assess a parcel charge to assure permanent maintenance of the road. The Board set a public hearing on April 22 to consider the formation of the Road.
The County Executive Officer and each Board member also report on activities at each meeting, including sometimes asking to schedule future issues on the agenda. On this day, Larry Lees, Executive Officer, received approval to send a letter with concerns regarding SB 848, Senator Lois Wolk. This letter is a vehicle to approve provisions that would be included in a water bond that might be placed on the November 2014 ballot. The Shasta County Board asks that:
- funding for grants and loans for public water system infrastructure improvements give priority to small water systems serving disadvantaged communities;
- funding for projects to improve watersheds, wetlands, forests and floodplains be adjusted to increase allocations to areas that provide the water;
- funding for water storage projects should be inclusive of all projects.
Are you riveted by the water wars? You can review SB 848 at www.leginfo.ca.gov. In addition to the bill itself, the web site includes committee bill analyses that explain the provisions of the bill.
The workaday business of keeping the complicated county structure moving requires these types of formal action, together with the opportunity for the public to comment on each item. The agenda for Board meetings, including items on the Consent Calendar, are made available on the county’s web page Friday in advance of each Tuesday’s meeting: www.co.shasta.ca.us. Go to the Board of Supervisors’ Current Agenda.
Catherine Camp is currently retired. During her career, she worked as a policy and budget analyst for the California Assembly and California Senate, in health and human services fields. She worked as a policy analyst and advocate for California’s public mental health system. Early in her career, she worked in the Community Action and Head Start programs in Shasta County.
