Dist. 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones chats with Richard Gallardo before the meeting. Photo by Doni Chamberlain.
The regularly scheduled Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting for January 30 took place at 5:30 p.m. for the benefit of citizens who work during the day and cannot attend daytime meetings.
Streaming video and agenda for the January 30 meeting are available here. Video timestamps are provided in parentheses.
CALL TO ORDER (3:51)
Chair Kevin Crye announced the Board would recess at 8:00 p.m. to discuss agenda items R4, R5, and R6. Stephanie Blankenship reviewed “the boardroom rules of order as outlined in Administrative policy 1-101.”
Invocation was led by Rick Caldwell from Little Country Church, and Supervisor Mary Rickert led the Pledge of Allegiance.
REGULAR CALENDAR
The Board addressed agenda item R1.
R1 Take the following actions: (1) Receive an update from the County Executive Officer on County issues and consider action on specific legislation related to Shasta County’s legislative platform; and (2) receive Supervisors’ reports on countywide issues.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
CEO Dave Rickert spoke about Senate Bill 961 sponsored by Senator Scott Weiner, which proposes installing regulators on all cars sold in California beginning in 2027, which would limit the ability to exceed the speed limit by more than 10 mph. The Board voted to bring this item back for consideration of writing a letter of opposition. (8:26)
CEO Rickert toured the old courthouse with Supervisors Jones and Crye, Public Works Director Troy Bartolomei, and HHSA Director Laura Burch to assess its feasibility for use with other programs as well as an environmental safety study. He has met with CEO staff and Deputy County Executive Officer Erin Bertain to discuss funding for jail expansion. Supervisor Rickert recommended that he contact former Shasta County CEO Matt Pontes about the jail expansion as he looked into that building in great depth. (9:34)
Supervisor Reports:
District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert: Attended a meeting of the Shasta County Law Library and noted that Public Information Officer David Muang would probably be happy to help them get the word out about what they offer. She attended the juvenile detention facility open house and noted that juvenile crime seemed to be rising in the county. She attended a meeting of the Shasta County Consolidated Oversight Board Committee meeting. She attended the Mayers Memorial Hospital fundraiser. Rickert reiterated that the board needs to support the Pit River tribe and the residents of Round Mountain and Montgomery Creek in opposition to the Fountain Wind project. (11:43)
District 5 Supervisor Chris Kelstrom: He attended the juvenile detention facility open house, He attended a meeting on Waste Management concerning SB 1383 concerning the composting of all food waste in California. He attended the bull & gelding sale. He attended the Cottonwood Community Center crab feed (14:19)
District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones: Went to a RABA meeting where they went over their short-range transit plan. That budget is around $12 million a year. Along with Supervisor Crye, visited the juvenile detention facility. He met with water district CSA3 in Castella and CSA2 in Lakehead. There is a $3 million project to repair a water leak Lakehead/Sugarloaf had for seven years and will be completely rebuilt with a new tank by June 2024. Jones then addressed Crye about some emails he had received from constituents about Register of Voters Cathy Darling Allen and that he had not seen Allen lately. (15:28)
District 2 Supervisor Tim Garman: Spoke about the old courthouse and that when it is vacated an environmental study will be done. He said he is not holding out a lot of hope for a new jail to be built. He toured the juvenile detention facility and was very complimentary to the staff on their work, noting that the recidivism rate is 13.2%. Garman thanked Sheriff Johnson for his work in keeping the community of Keswick clean. He spoke with Graham Knaus at CSAC. He talked with Jake Mangas about the Regional Cancer Center. He asked CEO Rickert to arrange a tour of the old courthouse, which Mary Rickert asked to join, and CEO Rickert said he would be happy to do that. CEO Rickert said that if Kelstrom would like a tour also he would arrange a separate one so as not to violate the Brown Act. Garman thanked Troy Bartolomei for working on a grant for a fire hydrant for Igo-Ono. Garman concluded by addressing disrespect toward speakers in the BOS meetings, to not intimidate or harass other speakers or audience members, and to allow people to speak no matter what side they’re on. (17:29)
District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye: Attended juvenile detention facility open house. Attended Youth Options board meeting. Attended the county clerk’s intro to new equipment and said there were still a few days where it’s set up for observation, where the public could learn about the new equipment. He thanked Miguel Rodriguez for helping a family find housing and get their kids enrolled in school. He attended a candidate’s forum. He attended the Shasta Library Gala. Crye does coffee with constituents every Friday and invited the public to attend Kalideoscope at 8 AM. He said there is a CTCL grant for elections which the county has not yet received because the contract has not been signed. Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) Grant Program has 1.3 million for the Shasta county portion and then 1.4 million for the Continum of Care. He noted that Shasta County does not have anyone on that board and he believes Shasta should. He wanted to ask Laura Burch or Christy Coleman (HHSA Assistant Agency Director) some questions about it. Garman asked if this should be an agenda item and not an impromptu Q&A. County Counsel said this should be an agenda item. Crye said the PIO would have a statement out about this position. (22:50)
Crye said he had a request for public comment from Christian Gardinier. Gardiner said that Cathy Darling Allen is not in Jones’ jurisdiction. He spoke about the disruptions at the last meeting, that his use of signs would be at the restricted level, and that he would continue to exercise his First Amendment rights. (30:49)
R2 Receive a presentation regarding California County Caucus membership affiliation, as defined by the California State Association of Counties, and consider providing direction to staff for a written notice requesting caucus change (Sponsored by Supervisor Crye). (33:35)
Jared Biddle from the CEO’s office made the presentation.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
The caucus change would move Shasta County from a suburban county caucus to a rural county caucus.
After the R2 presentation concluded, Crye asked Stephanie if the other presenter was here and she said yes. This presentation was not on the published agenda. (41:33)
Nigel Skeet, founder of the Shasta Chamber of Commerce, began to speak about Shasta County marketing options along with a slide show.
At 51:47 there was a disruption from audience member Nathan Pinkney that caused Chair/Supervisor Crye to clear the room for a 10-minute recess.
At 53:22 the video stopped while the room was cleared. The video resumed at 54:31.
A private security officer and CEO Dave Rickert walk through empty board chambers to unlock the doors and allow the public to re-enter following a disruption and subsequent recess for approximately 10 minutes. Photo by Doni Chamberlain.
The meeting went to Public Comment on R2. (54:36)
There were 17 public commenters about R2, most of whom had to be directed to stay on the topic of R2. Three liked the presentation. One was disappointed with Kevin Crye. Three were confused. One complained about other people in the room. Two asked about Crye’s business relationship with Nigel Skeet. Three said the BOS was wasting time. One was pro-recall and one was anti-recall. One said this was a Chriss Street issue and one complained about the toxic environment.
Speaker Laura Hobbs comments as audience member Christian Gardinier holds signs notifying the board when speakers have strayed from topics under board jurisdiction, or comments not on the agenda, or were potential Brown Act violations. Photo by Doni Chamberlain.
The Board went to discussion about R2. (1:30:30)
Kelstrom said when he was at the waste management meeting he spoke with the outreach director who told him Glenn County is a rural county and they have three more years before they have to comply with SB 1383. Kelstom felt that being designated a rural county could delay the implementation of things like an electric bus from Burney.
Rickert said she thinks Shasta needs to caucus with a group that matches the Shasta County population, noting that half the population lives within the Redding City limits. She said that she really did not understand the point of whether Shasta was designated a rural or suburban county. “If we stay in suburban [designation with CSAC] that gives us more power, more ability to lobby for issues that we need to have taken care of, that will take care of our people in Shasta County… The other point that Graham made is once we make a decision, we’re stuck for 10 years. And if we decide, we’re not getting our voices heard as much being in a rural caucus, then we’re stuck.”
Crye said, “I’m not going to look to Santa Barbara or Santa Cruz or Monterey or Napa to lead this county as it relates to how we can band together with more like counties and um celebrate who we are instead of asking other people for permission of what they think we should do. “
Garman said, “I don’t know why we’re spending so much time on something that doesn’t make a difference in the lives of our citizens. The average person out there did not know last week if we are a rural or suburban caucus, the average person is not gonna know six months after we change … again, why are we, why are we spending so much time on this? I’d rather spend it on homeless, mental health, on the jail.”
Shasta County board majority members Patrick Jones, Kevin Crye and Chris Kelstrom overruled objections from supervisors Mary Rickert and Tim Garman regarding changing Shasta County’s designation from suburban to rural. Photo by Doni Chamberlain.
Crye made a motion that Shasta move from suburban to rural caucus in California County Caucus.
Supervisor Rickert countered with a substitute motion that a presentation from CSAC be arranged so the board would be fully informed. Rickert’s motion was voted down 3-2, with Rickert and Garman casting the minority yes votes.
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- Dist. 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert.
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- District 2 Supervisor Tim Garman.
The BOS moved to vote on changing from current suburban designation to rural in the California County Caucus. It passed 3-2 with Rickert and Garman voting no.
Presentations
R3 Receive a presentation from the Health and Human Services Agency and County Counsel regarding the Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) Process (Sponsored by Supervisor Crye). (1:53:56)
No General Fund Impact
No Vote
There were four public commenters on R3. (2:02:48).
The board went to public comment at 7:45 p.m. (2:09:42) During the second commenter’s time there was disruption from the audience and the clock was started over. The fourth speaker, Mark Kent, was allowed to go over his allotted time, pushing other speakers to have to wait until after the BOS got out of closed session.
There were protests from the audience and speakers in the queue that they were dismissed.
BOS went into closed session. (2:27:06) Items to be discussed in closed session:
R4 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – EXISTING LITIGATION
(Government Code section 54956.9, subdivision (d), paragraph (1)): Case Name:Everett Jewett, et al., v. California Forensic Medical Group, Inc., et al.
R5 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – ANTICIPATED LITIGATION
(Government Code section 54956.9, subdivision (d), paragraph (2)): Significant Exposure to Litigation: one potential case.
R6 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – EXISTING LITIGATION
(Government Code section 54956.9, subdivision (d), paragraph (1)): Case Name(s): Anderson/Millville Residents v. County of Shasta, et al., Patrick Jones, Real Parties in Interest
At the conclusion of the Closed Session, reportable action, if any, will be reported in Open
Session.
Video audio resumed at 2:28:30.
County Counsel said there was no reportable action.
Public comment resumed. There were 11 public commenters.
Meeting adjourned at 2:58:03.
Editor’s note: we attributed the wrong work affiliation to Nigel Skeet, and we have corrected the information.
