The regularly scheduled Tuesday morning meeting of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors began at 9 a.m. on March 12.
The complete video and agenda are available here. Time stamps are in parentheses.
CALL TO ORDER
The invocation was conducted by Pastor Jim Newton of His Grace Fellowship Shasta Lake. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Supervisor Kevin Crye.
REGULAR CALENDAR
Members of the public may comment on any item on the Regular Calendar before or during the Board’s consideration of the item. Members of the public may also address matters scheduled for public hearings at the time such public hearings are opened for comment. Each speaker is allocated three minutes to speak.
Board Matters
R1 Adopt a resolution which recognizes Amanda Ard Deputy Public Defender I of the Public Defender‘s Office as Shasta County’s Employee of the Month for March 2024.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
(7:32) Public Defender Bill Bateman made the presentation. “Immediately when she entered our office, Amanda had a positive impact and influence on our staff. She quickly ascended from legal secretary to legal secretary supervisor, where she trained all of the legal secretaries in our office. And while doing that she was very instrumental in creating the case management system that we received in our office.
“She earned her law degree, her doctorate in the law and passed the bar last year in 2023. She served her first job in public service with the Superior Court of California County of Shasta, the courthouse here where she rose to the position of courtroom clerk. In 2020 she came to work in the public defender’s office. She started as legal secretary and quickly became the legal secretary supervisor. She was a certified law student and now she’s a deputy public defender representing clients in misdemeanor cases. She has a strong work ethic. She knows what it takes to be persistent and to achieve long-term goals, which is demonstrated and evidenced by her graduation from law school and her passing the bar exam. She’s also very supportive of her colleagues, always offering assistance, always seeing what she can do to make the office run better and run smoother.”
Upon receieving the Employee of the Month award, Ard said, “Thank you to the members of the board and my coworkers who nominated me. Thank you to my family and coworkers who have supported me now and provided me support in the past. Unfortunately, my husband and two cChildren could not be here today, but they are my driving force. Lastly, I wanted to thank the Public Defender’s office for their flexibility in allowing me to finish law school while working full time and for hiring me on as a deputy public defender, which fulfilled my dreams and goals of becoming an attorney. Thank you.”
R2 Receive a legislative update and consider action on specific legislation related to Shasta County’s legislative platform and receive Supervisors’ reports on countywide issues.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
David Rickert
(19:08) CEO Dave Rickert: “I would like to lead off with some observations from the last county board meeting. One of the hallmarks of a vibrant democracy is the ability to for the public to interact with their government officials. This provides feedback and allows policy change considered of the will of the people. With this opportunity comes responsibility in consideration of this. I would like to encourage the public to be respectful of the privacy of the elected officials when commenting at the board. Also, please refrain from personal attacks and focus on policy and decision making. Finally, please be considerate to those at the podium addressing the board. Observing these suggestions will help facilitate a positive interaction with your elected officials. Thank you.
” I’d like to do a jail update. On Feb. 28 I participated in a tour of the old courthouse with supervisors Tim Garman and Mary Rickert.
And yesterday I had lunch with former Shasta County CEO Pat Minturn to discuss potential jail plans and options going forward with the board.
I’m also scheduled to meet with former CEO Matt Pontes on the same topic and look forward to that discussion, events that have occurred recently.
I did also on March 8 represent and attend the county board at the Legends of Leaders annual event to issue awards on behalf of the county.
“Now, for my legislative update, the item of focus currently is AB2200 which will be universal health care for the state of California. The approximate cost on prior attempts at a universal health care package amount to approximately $200 billion of additional payroll taxes that will have to be collected from every citizen that has payroll tax in the state of California. We are obviously closely watching this with concern. Some other issues that may be of concern related to universal health care would be less service and lower quality of care. So these are issues very important to the citizens and something I want the board to be aware of. ”
Shasta County District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert.
(21:47) Supervisor Mary Rickert, District 3: “I signed a declaration as the supervisor that represents that represents the constituents in district three and all of Shasta County. It was sent to the California Energy Commission asking that the Fountain Wind lawsuit be heard in Shasta County. They are trying to move this lawsuit to Sacramento or some other venue. We feel that it should be heard in Shasta County because we are the ones that are impacted by it. I will continue that fight to make sure that we’re being treated fairly.
I attended the Shasta County Public Law Library and reviewed our annual report for submission to Judge Ryan. As CEO Rickert mentioned, toured the old jail facility, lots of asbestos and I do think we need an expert to really evaluate the condition of that building and do a cost benefit analysis whether or not it’s worth remodeling versus maybe looking at other options.
I attended the winter ag meeting in McArthur. And that’s a day long meeting and lots of new technology and agriculture which I’m following closely and familiar with.
I attended the Shasta Regional Transportation Agency board meeting as an alternate. I got a little late because there was snow, slowed me down coming down from McArthur after the AG meeting.
I went on the Carl Bott show on KCNR for an interview.
I went to Crysalis school and I got to read stories to kindergarten through third graders. That was a probably a highlight of my week.
I attended the Palo Cedro Park fundraiser.
Friday night I was in McArthur again at the Big Valley Fall River Cattlemen’s dinner and gave a report on county issues. They asked local supervisors to come every year. I gave a report as to what’s going on here at the county.
“A couple of things I wanted to mention is the Afterthought Mine. If you travel Highway 299 East, you could pass through an old dilapidated mine shaft. And it’s in Ingot and it was used for mining from 1862 to 1952 and it is qualified as a Super Fund national priority. I write a column every week in the Intermountain news and I included that. So if people want to make a comment about that they can go on to the Super Fund National website and make a comment of whether they think it’s a good idea. If you think about it, there was a lot of copper, zinc, I think gold, silver, mined out of there. And some of the very environmentally dangerous products are still flowing into Cow Creek and coming downstream. So that’s really important issue for at least District 3.
“I also wanted to talk about the the Fountain Wind update and I was pleased to see that the document title impacts of project related to wildfire firefighting and aerial firefighting capability. Basically, that document is in now on the docket for the CEC. If anybody wants to read it, it spells out the difficulties of fighting a wildfire in the vicinity of a proposed project if there were to be 600 foot high wind turbines. And it’s very interesting read and I encourage all of you that are interested in that project to go on to the docket where docket number 23 OPT01.”
District 5 Supervisor Chris Kelstrom.
(25:35) Supervisor Chris Kelstrom, District 5: “On Feb. 29 I attended the SRTA meeting that Mary had mentioned.
I had a fundraiser up in Siskiyou County on a second amendment lawsuit on Saturday the second and then I attended an ACWA spring regulatory meeting via Zoom on the sixth and on the seventh, I came here and did the agenda review with Chairman Crye, and thanks to Stephanie and CEO Rickert for educating me in all the ways I need to be educated there.
On the eighth, I attended the Northern California Water Association annual meeting in Chico at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.
And then Saturday, I had attended the Anderson VFW breakfast and was asked to come back to present a flag to Preston Sharp. Bob Shufelberger, the commander, asked me to come back. So I did that and that concludes my report.”
District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones
(26:27) Supervisor Patrick Jones, District 4: “Attended an election integrity meeting. These meetings are going on up and down the state of California. They’re here in Shasta County as well and they meet very regularly. So if anyone is interested in election integrity, there is local people meeting regularly.
Attended the Shasta County Election Commission meeting yesterday here in this boardroom. Fairly lively and had a meeting with our County Counsel and CEO. So thank you for being available.
Attended the Shasta Regional Transportation Agency meeting, lots of stuff going on there. We’re responsible for allocating considerable amount of funds for transportation needs in a regional manner.
Did take a tour of the new courthouse.
“And then lastly, I wanted to kind of give a discussion on SB2 and there’s been some discussion and some confusion around what SB2 says. So if we could back up to last year, in the years before on county property, if you were properly permitted as an elected official or a member of the public, you could be on county property if you were properly permitted. So, carrying firearms on county property all the way up to the beginning of this year was not an issue for people that were properly permitted and elected officials properly permitted on county property So anyone in the state of California that had a concealed weapon permit could go on our county property and pretty much any county property in any county. What changed on January 1 was the passage of SB2 and it listed a whole bunch of restrictions.Those restrictions, there was a stay put on, it was lifted and then a stay was put back on those conditions. And so we won’t know about that until the duration of that court case has ended.
“One area or actually two areas that a stay was not put on SB2 was at state buildings and local government buildings. This is a local government building. So in the penal code section, 171 B subsection 4 says that the governing body that has the authority of security, of local governing body of buildings, county buildings has the power to allow with written permission, people to carry on county property. So we passed a resolution that allows the public if properly permitted and elected officials to once again resume to carry on county property. That’s what we did, no different than it was last year or the year before or the year after that. So today with our resolution, members of the public can carry in this building and all county buildings that are properly posted that you can and elected officials can as well. I have asked the City of Redding to pass a similar resolution. I will ask the City of Shasta Lake and the City of Anderson to do the same. And in fact, I believe if you don’t do something, you could be in jeopardy of being in violation of our constitutional rights to bear an arm right now at the City of Redding. I cannot go to the City of Redding with my concealed weapon permit as an elected official or a member of the public. And that means that I cannot bear an arm in any manner, I cannot bear an arm openly. I cannot bear an arm concealed that is in violation of our constitutional rights, the second amendment. And so they’re going to, I think every city in every county is going to need to act upon this and we’ll see what happens through the remainder of that.
“Another thing that we considered was allowing county proper, county employees to carry on county property. Now, our work place prevention policy already states already states today that if you seek permission, if you’re properly permitted and you get permission from the CEO, your department head and with Monica Fugitt, with support services, if you get permission, you can carry on county property. That is already our policy to date. So I’m encouraging all county employees. If you wish to carry on county property, you must seek and get permission and I would encourage those people to do that. And I hope we’ll do a press release to that effect. And so for county employees, they still cannot carry on county property until they seek permission, they still have to be properly permitted. So the irony in all this is that members of the public can carry on county property, but a county employee cannot, which makes no sense. Why are we restricting a group of people that otherwise should? And so our policy does allow it. I would expect to see over the next months to a year. The same percentage of the population coming forward and asking to be able to carry and protect themselves and their surroundings here at the county. And again, I would like to see the other cities do the same thing. So I hope that clears up a little bit about SB2 and some of the actions that we took.”
District 2 Supervisor Tim Garman.
(31:38) Supervisor Tim Garman, District 2: “February 28 I met with Adam Fiesler, Resource Management. We talked about squatter issues in the Keswick/ Old Shasta area. I’ve gotten some new complaints out that way. And one of the things we discussed about was the time it takes to get a property to abatement. We were lucky if we do one or two of those a year. We should be doing two or three or four of those a month. So one of the conversations we had is perhaps we need to come up with our own hearing board. Maybe we should create our local hearing board. I took that idea and I went over to talk with Alan Cox, our County Counsel, and this conversation has already kind of taken place. So today I’m gonna make a motion that we bring back at a future meeting to have a discussion about creating a local hearing board that can hear these cases on abatement. I think it would take a huge workload off this county, off of the staff and it would just be a great thing for the public to have this availability. So I’ll make a motion to bring that back.” (The motion was seconded and approved by unanimous vote.)
“Also on February 28 I took the old courthouse tour with CEO Rickert, Supervisor Rickert and Troy Bartolomei. I kind of give you guys a jail update. I don’t have anything new than what CEO Rickert said, other than we’re gonna have to wait until that we have full access to that building. We’re gonna have to get in there, assess that building to find out if it’s worth saving or not. Once we can get that part accomplished and we can actually start moving forward on what the jail project is going to look like.
“On Feb.29 I met with the district manager, Peter Bonkrude at the Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District. He is gonna be moving on out of the area to a different job. So I don’t know if we’re gonna get a mosquito vector update this year like we usually do. So I’ll give just a brief one. They do have a new diagnostics lab. They will be able to do their own testing on the site instead of shipping mosquitoes down to UC Davis. That’ll be a great thing that could start as early as this year, but for sure, by 2025 that will be in place. Just a public service announcement with that, it’s supposed to be in the seventies this weekend and even warmer next week. If you have any water laying around in bowls or things outside, please dump it out because if you don’t, the mosquitoes are going to be out and they’re going to be breeding this coming weekend. So please dump your extra water out.
“Also on Feb. 29, I talked with James Rickert with ACID just to kind of ask how the repairs are going and whatnot on the AC ID canal. They have definitely made some improvements and I’d like maybe to direct staff to see if we can contact somebody with ACID and have them come and give us a formal update on what the repairs are looking like this year because last year there was a lot of problems with the seepage into the neighborhoods as you all remember. So it would be nice to get an update for the community to let you guys know what to look out for this year.
“On March 8 I rode through Shasta/ Keswick with Johnny from Code Enforcement. Again, we’re just keeping the presence in the area. And the one thing I did notice when I was out there there, they’ve started some of the tree clearing of all the debris from the Carr Fire. So it’s starting to look a little better out there.
March 8 I also had the Sierra Sacramento EMS meeting and I just want to give a shout out to Mayers Memorial Hospital up in rural Shasta County. Rural communities are struggling for ambulance care. The ambulance times in some of these places, it’s really hard to keep a viable ambulances in these areas. Mayes Memorial has actually grown, they’ve expanded their territory to help cover some of these other areas where there’s no coverage. So thank you to you guys for caring about your community and taking care of that.
Lastly, on March 9 I attended the Nor-Cal Children’s Diabetes Club support group meeting. I wanna give a shout out to Doctor Mu. He attended that meeting and he got to sit and talk firsthand with parents of type 1 diabetic kids and he got to understand some of the struggles that the families faced and the children faced and he stayed for that entire meeting. So thank you, Doctor Mu for taking an interest in our type 1 diabetic kids.”
District 1 Supervisor/Chair Kevin Crye
(36:11) Supervisor Kevin Crye, District 1: “I attended the SRTA meeting as well. If you’re ever interested in just how where the state really wants to go in terms of green energy, I think looking to rural counties is a great indication of how the state by and large isn’t really thinking about communities like ours when it comes to how they want to spend money. And I will say at this last meeting, we’ve actually started to as a group almost unanimously, started to move in a direction to say, you know what? Just because we’re given $3 million it doesn’t mean it has to be spent. And at some point, we just have to stop the insanity of saying that electric buses to Burney, it’s just not gonna work. So why spend the money walking down that path. So, SRTA meeting, I think was one of the best ones we’ve had because,we’re moving in a direction that is complete common sense. So I’m excited about that.
I attended a meeting with drug and alcohol, advisors who are putting together camps for kids and seeing what types of programs, HHSA could possiblybe involved in, in terms of opioid settlements and other dollars funneling to that. And staying on that same topic of kids, I attended an event for children with special needs and again, seeing, getting a chance to listen to parents of individuals that they know are going to need help, far past their own lives. And oftentimes as many of you know, people that have special needs, they tend to oftentimes be those caretakers, well as those parents get into their sixties and seventies and their children are in their thirties, forties and fifties. The concern is what happens to my kids who I’ve had my entire life and so working with HHSA and some other individuals just trying to help individuals navigate that.
We had Shasta Youth Options, which has the mud run coming up.
I’d encourage you to look in getting involved in that charity if you’re looking to get involved at a charity that does some great things. Peer Court is one of the things that come through that I had agenda review with supervisor Kellstrom. And the staff does an amazing job. We all get this agenda at the back and it’s two or three pages, but it represents you know, hundreds of hours of people’s work putting that together. So thank you to the staff for doing all that. The CSAC had the first meeting since we are now caucusing rural. So that was great. Shasta is listed as rural, not suburban at this point.
And then I had my radio show and of course coffee this past Friday, Chris is here first time. He’s been to a meeting. So I think every time elected officials can get out and meet people and encourage them to come out to meetings and get involved, I think that’s really what our true job is, is to listen to individuals of the public and get people paying attention.
I also voted. So that’s absolutely just a privilege and an honor and it’s a right that I hope many take very seriously and that increases as time.
“The last thing I’m going to close on is and I don’t know how this would be a motion CEO Rickert but I want to be able to agenda and this might be a question for County Counsel Cox as well. I want to be able to put on the agenda this next time I want to bring to light some items from closed session that we’ve discussed and I don’t know the motion that would need to be made how to put that on an agenda. So I don’t know if there is a list of closed session items that I would like to open up to the public, make them aware of what’s been discussed in, in closed session or what’s the, what’s the process for that? Sorry to put you on the spot. But I think this was the best way to probably do that from a transparency standpoint. “
Alan Cox: “No, I think that’s fine. Any one of the supervisors that, you know, using the question you’re asking me now could present a list to County Counsel. We could review that. I might consider if I thought that it was problematic in some way. Many things that we do are privileged and that’s what closed session is all about. So it might be something that would need to go back into closed session to discuss whether or not, you know, it should be released.”
Supervisor Crye: “Now, would that be something that supervisors would just vote on from the dais up here in public view? “
Cox: “I think we would have to.”
Crye: “And again, I’m, I’m sorry to do this.”
Cox: “I mean, it would probably be a multi step process which would start with closed session and if it came out of there, I don’t, I think it might have to be agendized.”
Crye: “Ok. And just to reiterate just to make sure to clarify for the public what you said. So you’re talking about because you as the county counsel, any county counsel, your sole job is the protection of the county. And if you are a trial attorney in a murder case and your client has committed murder, your job for the client that has hired you is to get them off a murder charge. Is that correct?”
Cox: “My job is to zealously represent my, my client. My client is ultimately the board of supervisors and then all the county department. So, yeah, that’s what I would do. “
Crye: “And you, and you’ve done a phenomenal job. I mean, our HHSA contracts are, I think just about caught up at this point. So you have crushed a backlog of nearly eight months and weeks. So, congratulations. So, with that, because one thing for me is there is, I don’t want to say collateral damage, but there’s stuff that, there’s a difference between right and wrong and sometimes when you do something, you just have to pay your penance or you have to own up to that. .. So, with that, I’m going to make a motion that, I just want to correct. I want to do this correctly. So would it be that I would bring a list? I’d submit that list to you and then that would come before this board on March 19 of what is released out of closed session.”
Cox: “No, I don’t think you need to make a motion. You could just present me with a list and you know, from there, it could be determined whether it’s something that could go onto agenda, the regular agenda or it should need to be discussed by the board in closed session. “
Jones: “Mr. Cox, thank you for that. But it is the board. If the majority of the board wishes to waive the privilege, we may do so. So would it, would it not be wise to take a look at the list in closed session and then if the majority of the board so wishes to, to relieve our, our privilege, then it can come out and we can report on that. Would that, would that not be a possible scenario?”
Cox: “That is definitely a possible scenario. I think under the Brown Act, in order to go in under closed session, it would have to fit into a category of pending litigation. And so I guess if the list presented something that wasn’t problematic, wouldn’t draw a pending litigation or create some kind of a legal issue like that. Then, perhaps we could disseminate it to the other board members or you could just agendize it to discuss.”
Crye: “All right, thank you. Perfect. And so with that, that concludes my supervisor report.”
(43:44) R3 Adopt a proclamation which designates March 2024 as “Grand Jury Awareness Month” in Shasta County.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Presentations
Supervisor Kelstrom read the proclamation which was adopted unanimously. There was one public commenter who spoke favorably of the importance of the grand jury.
(52:53) R4 Receive a presentation from the California Department of Insurance regarding homeowners’ insurance coverage for consumers in California (Sponsored by Supervisor Garman).
No Additional General Fund Impact
No Vote
Presentation via Zoom by Julia Juarez, Deputy Commissioner for Community Relations and Outreach for the Department of Insurance. She shared information on why home insurance rates have skyrocketed in California and what is being done to address costs and coverage for consumers. The Department of Insurance’s website is insurance.ca.gov; Juarez urged consumers to reach out for assistance.
(1:29) There were three public commenters.
(1:36) R5 Receive a presentation from the Health and Human Services Agency regarding Shasta Triumph and Recovery (STAR) Services (Sponsored by Supervisor Rickert).
No General Fund Impact
No Vote
Miguel Rodriguez, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Director of Mental Health Services through the Behavioral Health and Social Services branch, instroduced Mei Chow Lee and Jenelle Restivo, who oversee the STAR program. They described the wide array of services provided to in-need patients.
I
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD – OPEN TIME
During the Public Comment Open Time period, the public may address the Board on any matter not listed on the agenda that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors. Each speaker is allocated three minutes to speak.
(1:53) Chair Crye announced that items R6 and R7 had been pulled from the agenda.
(1:54) There were seven public commenters, all of whom spoke about the election/voting.
(2:18) Public comment on closed session items commenced. There was one public commenter.
(2:22) Board went into closed session which was estimated to last one hour, 30 minutes.
(2:28) Board returned from closed session. There was no reportable action.
CONSENT CALENDAR
The following Consent Calendar items are expected to be routine and non-controversial. They may be acted upon by the Board at one time without discussion. Any Board member or staff member may request that an item be removed from the Consent Calendar for discussion and consideration. Members of the public may comment on any item on the Consent Calendar before the Board’s consideration of the Consent Calendar. Each speaker is allocated three minutes to speak.
(2:29) There were seven public commenters, six of whom spoke about various aspects of the election/voting and one who spoke about Item C3 and issues she had with the Woodlands as well as with several other agencies and people.
Clerk of the Board
(2:44) Items C5 and C17 were pulled. Item C3 was voted down unanimously. C14 was pulled but reinstated because Troy Bartolomei was available to discuss it.
(2:47) Troy Bartolomei, Director of Public Works, stepped forward to discuss item C14. The Board voted to approve C14 unanimously.
(2:54) Moved to public comment.
C1 Approve the minutes of the meetings held on February 6, and 27, 2024, as submitted.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C2 Approve and adopt the Shasta County Elections Comission By-Laws.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Health and Human Services Agency-Behavioral Health and Social Services
C3 Appoint Samantha Breton to the In-Home Supportive Services Advisory Committee to serve the remainder of a three-year term to March 31, 2026.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C4 Approve an amendment to the agreement with Casa Serenity, Inc., for an augmentation program for residential care home services, which increases maximum compensation.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C5 Approve an agreement with the Regents of the University of California dba University of California, Davis for psychological evaluations, adoption psychological evaluations, psychotherapy, parent/child bonding assessments and sibling assessments.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C6 Approve a retroactive renewal agreement with Victor Community Support Services, Inc., for youth mental health services in an amount not to exceed $6,000,000.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C7 Approve a retroactive renewal agreement with Redwood Community Services, Inc., for youth mental health services.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Health and Human Services Agency-Economic Mobility
C8 Adopt a resolution which repeals Resolution No. 2023-129 and designates authority for the Health and Human Services Agency to apply for a CalRecycle Grant (Grant) and execute agreements, amendments, and documents, including
retroactive, related to the Grant for the purpose of implementing Senate Bill 1383.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C9 Designate authority to execute a user agreement and future amendments to the agreement with United Way Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) for access to HMIS and to ensure County compliance with the Homeless
Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Health and Human Services Agency-Public Health
C10 Appoint the following Public Health Advisory Board general members: (1) Richard Yoder for the remainder of a three-year term that runs April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2025, and (2) Wendy Dickens for the remainder of a three-year term that runs April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2026.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C11 Accept a retroactive funding allocation from the California Department of Health Care Services for the California Children’s Services Program and designate authority to execute amendments and documents necessary to accept the
funding.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Information Technology
C12 Waive formal competitive procurement requirements, approve an agreement with Imprivata, Inc., for installation and subscription licensing of a Vendor Access Management solution system, and designate authority to sign amendments and other related documents to purchase additional licenses and subscription renewals.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Public Works
C13 Approve a retroactive amendment to the agreement with Elevator Technology, Inc., for elevator-related testing, maintenance, repair, and emergency phone monitoring services for County-owned buildings which modifies the terms.
Future General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C14 Approve a Letter of Commitment with the State of California Department of General Services for administrative, environmental, and appraisal review costs.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C15 Approve a retroactive agreement with Multiple Pump Services, Inc., for water and wastewater pumping and fluid handling services.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C16 Find the “Fall River Mills Corporation Yard Roofing Project,” Contract No. 610944, categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Section 15301, Class 1 – Existing Facilities, approve plans and specifications and direct the Public Works Director to advertise for bids, and authorize opening of bids on or after April 18, 2024, 11:00 a.m.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C17 Approve plans and specifications for the “Cove Road Storm Damage Slide Repair Project,” Contract No 706765, direct the Public Works Director to advertise for bids, and authorize the opening of bids on or after April 11, 2024, at 11:00 a.m.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
REGULAR CALENDAR, CONTINUED
(2:52) R6 and R7 were pulled from the agenda. Stephanie Blankenship. chief clerk of the board, had an announcement re: R8. “Today, before you for consideration are two recommendations brought to you from the Shasta County Elections Commission. With that, I would like to make one correction regarding the attachment related to item number two, vote by mail ballot drop boxes. The document attached was the original version considered by the election commission with was amended to replace recommendation number five with the following language drop boxes should be checked and emptied at least once a day throughout the entire 29 days of the election cycle. Copies of the amended version have been provided to members of the public and the cubbies in the back of this board chambers. And we have ad hoc committee members, Ronnean Lund and Bev Gray here from the Elections Commission to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.”
Public comment began on R8, with 22 commenters. Speakers had differing opinions on whether the Shasta County Election Commission was doing a good job or not. Nathan Blaze commented that yesterday Kim Moore referred to him as the spawn of Satan. When Kim Moore spoke, she clarified that she said Susanne Baremore was the spawn of Satan, not Nathan Blaze.
(3:52) a roll call vote was taken on Garman’s proposal to disband the election commission. Rickert and Garman voted yes; Jones, Crye, and Kelstrom voted no. It failed on a 3-2 vote.
(3:53) After 22 speakers, Miguel Rodriguez was available to speak on C5. There was a discussion about the amount specified in the contract and what would happen if that was not approved and if the county could be fined for not approving money for necessary services. The Board voted unanimously to approve the contract.
Support Services
R6 Adopt a resolution to add Chapter 40, Code of Conduct and Commitment to Public Service, to the Shasta County Personnel Rules.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Board of Supervisors
R7 Adopt a Policy Resolution which adds Administrative Policy 1-104, Board of Supervisors Code of Conduct as proposed by either: (1) Supervisor Crye; or (2) Supervisors Garman and Rickert.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
(4:05) R8 Receive reports from the Shasta County Elections Commission on recommendations regarding: (1) A local ordinance mandating hand counted ballots at precincts using paper pollbooks; and (2) vote by mail ballot drop boxes.
No General Fund Impact
No Vote
Ronnean Lund from the Elections Commission said she wasn’t told she needed to do a report so didn’t have one ready but that she was there to answer questions. She said twice that the Commission does not have an adversarial relationship with the ROV and three times that they do not recommend breaking any laws.
Supervisor Rickert: “I’m troubled by the comment and, and it does refer to the recommendations, which this document says it’s a recommendation, have not been reviewed by County Counsel. And I feel like we’re wasting the time of the board if it hasn’t been reviewed by County Counsel because I don’t want to look at something that potentially is illegal and, and it hasn’t passed through County Counsel’s office. We’re getting sued because of those kinds of activities… And then lastly, I’d just like to mention hand counting is going on right now in the ROVs office and I would heartily recommend if anybody wants to go watch it, observe it. It’s going on right now live.”
Lund: “I have met personally with Joanna Francescut at least three times that I can think of. And I’m meeting with her again on Monday. We’re discussing, you know, issues and things that need to be done and followed… as far as the ballot dropbox, I did speak with Joanna about that and she’s supportive of some of the recommendations and as far as the hand counting their office just falls back on, “We’re just following state law.”
Rickert: “And that’s what they’re going to follow, the state law, and that’s just what they have to do.”
Resource Management
(4:25) R9 Adopt a resolution of intention to consider amendments to the Shasta County Zoning Plan to limit retail hours of operation and limit floor area and/or height of retail buildings for parcels zoned Community Commercial (C-2) in Palo Cedro.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Adam Fiesler, Director of Resource Management, made the presentation.
There was one public speaker, Heather Jensen, who questioned the boundaries for the amendments. The presenters agreed to look at creating an overlay district to address potential zoning issues. The resolution passed unanimously.
(4:36) R10 Adopt a resolution which establishes the Palo Cedro Planning Steering Committee concerning planning efforts for the Palo Cedro area and finds that this action is not a project as defined by the State California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 and is, therefore, not subject to CEQA.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Adam Fiesler made the presentation.
There was one public speaker who commented on the specific wording being divisive. Fiesler agreed that while he strove for less divisive terminology, he wanted the resolution to be in keeping with historical precedent. in the end, the wording stayed the same. There were three more speakers. Fiesler came back to suggest new wording for the resolution. The resolution was approved unanaimously.
(4:58) The Board returned to public comments. There were 13 public commenters who spoke on a variety of subjects ranging from the election/voting to basketball hoops at an apartment complex to eliminating licensing for attorneys.
(5:29) At the end of public comment time, the meeting adjourned.
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