The regular Tuesday morning meeting of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors was called to order at 9:01 a.m. Mary Rickert was absent due to medical leave. The complete video and transcript are available here. Timestamps are in parentheses.
(1:53) Before the meeting began, Supervisor Kevin Crye acknowledged CalWorks employee Kevin McFarland, who on a walk last week during his break detected a small fire between the old courthouse and the administration building. He quickly called 911, and then entered the administrative building to get a fire extinguisher. The fire was put out by the time the fire department arrived due to McFarland’s quick actions.
(3:38) CALL TO ORDER
The Invocation was conducted by Pastor Perry Peterson, Crossroads Bible Fellowship. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Supervisor Tim Garman.
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. Those wishing to participate in public comment for Regular Calendar items must submit a speaker request card to the Clerk of the Board before public comment on the item begins. Each speaker is allocated three minutes to speak. All speaker request cards submitted after public comment for each Regular Calendar item begins will not be heard by the Board.
Supervisor Kelstrom read the resolution. Public Works Directed Troy Bartolomei made the presentation.
“The public works department staff and management team have come to depend on Laura for extensive knowledge, strong work ethic and capability of handling a large workload. Laura often meets her personal goal of responding to these emails within one working day. Public complaints are typically expressed via telephone and Laura is always there to help de-escalate the frustration and get the individual the assistance they need. Over time, Laura has done a wonderful job in organizing records for public works using the file bound system. She is constantly striving to improve how documents are sorted to aid the staff in finding them in a timely fashion. Laura follows the documents through a variety of review stages to the board of supervisors agenda and all the way to the final signatures. This includes coordinating with County Counsel, risk management and the county administrative office. Public works processes a significant volume of contracts within the county, all of which have been routed through Laura to ensure they maintain the high standards that the department sets for accuracy and technical competence within the department.”
There were no public commenters on R1. The resolution passed by unanimous vote.
(19:09) R2 Adopt a proclamation which designates May 12-18, 2024, as “Employee Appreciation Week” and May 18, 2024, as “Employee Appreciation Day” in Shasta County.
No Additional General Fund Impact
No Vote
Monica Fugitt, Director of Support Services, made the presentation. Supervisor Garman read the resolution.
There were two public commenters.
(24:56) Jenny O’Connell: I ask that if you wish to truly show appreciation for your county employees that this board would consider higher wages. Nothing says I appreciate you like being able to afford basic necessities.
(25:50) Kim Moore: I’d really like to see you guys bring in some sort of system that at least every time we recognize a county employee, we recognize one of these citizens who’s out there, boots on the ground, working for free and touching a lot of lives and making improvements for a lot of people.
The resolution passed by unanimous vote.
Presentations
(28:39) R3 Receive a presentation from the Health and Human Services Agency Director regarding the NorCal Continuum of Care (Sponsored by Supervisor Crye).
(30:12) Laura Burch: Last summer, Shasta County made the decision to depart from its role as the lead agency within the NorCal COC. This decision was made in the interest of aligning our county resources more effectively with the needs of our community and improving our ability to address homelessness and housing instability. We have stepped down from our role as the lead agency. While we have stepped down in our role as a lead agency, Shasta County continues to play an active role within the COC. We remain a vital partner in the collaborative efforts to address homelessness and housing issues in the region. Our involvement includes participation in planning, coordination and decision-making regarding costs associated with our departure from the NorCal COC as the lead agency… The Governance Charter for the NorCal COC can now be found on the City of Redding website and contains the guidelines for which the COC operates.
(1:09:04) There was a discussion and questions for Laura Burch about how much money is/was being spent on the programs covered by COC and other associated organizations.
Board Matters, Continued
(1:26:52) R4 Receive a legislative update and consider action on specific legislation related to Shasta County’s legislative platform and receive Supervisors’ reports on countywide issues.
Shasta County CEO David Rickert
(1:27:11) CEO Dave Rickert: My update on county issues includes two issues. First, I’ll start with a jail update. The CEO’s office is a financial presentation on financial options for funding the jail expansion. This is scheduled for May 21 and on another county-related matter. On April 26 I was notified by ROV Cathy Darling Allen that she would be retiring effective May 4. R5 is on the agenda. Today, we outline options for the board of Supervisors for filling this vacancy. I would also like to take an opportunity to thank Cathy for her years of dedicated service to the county and wish her well in her retirement. This concludes my report.
(1:28:09) Supervisor Tim Garman, District 2: First of all, I wanted to let you know I attended a junior high school band performance at Pacheco School last week. It was really cool to see the difference from the fifth graders to the eighth graders. Anybody who had a kid that played an instrument knows what I’m talking about. My son attempted to play trumpet for a couple of years and boy howdy, it was interesting. So anyway, I wish there were more music and art programs in our schools. So many of our schools are lacking in that and, and it’s really, really bad, that’s an important part of as we grow. So I just hope and pray that somehow we can get more music and arts programs back into our children’s schools.
The First Five planning day was yesterday. The big theme there was declining revenue with declining tobacco tax. We’ve known this has been happening for a few years, been very proactive in that. So the organization is in a good spot financially, but it’s still challenging as you put it all together with declining revenues. I also attended a jump rope performance at Prairie School and some of those kids can really jump rope. If you’re not seeing the child’s jump roping competition, go see one. And the reason I bring that up is it’s important that our kids get out and get active in the community. So much of the time it’s all on a computer screen or a TV. And it’s important that our kids get out and exercise in whatever way that happens. Lastly, I’ll close with this. Stay safe, everyone and have a great week.
Patrick Jones
(1:30:10) Supervisor Patrick Jones, District 4: Met with a few members from the grand jury. They look into things every year and so I was very happy to meet with them. Their report will be out later in the year and I look forward to that. Did partake in the airport land use commission with Supervisor Garman. We usually only have one meeting a year this year. It looks like we’re probably going to have three meetings. This is our second meeting. One of the main issues is long-term plans and compatibility plans. We haven’t really had that discussion in a long time and by only having one meeting a year, we’re not really Shasta County. So we’re gonna probably have just continued more meetings until we start moving in a direction that I think would benefit everyone.
Did yesterday attend the COC meeting. They had a special meeting and so we along with Supervisor Chair Crye and obviously there is some concerns and it’s very important group that with the transition from the county being the lead agency, we wanted to start partaking in the COC meetings. A little bit more collaboration is always working well, just like at the At Home, the more elected officials come together and understand the problems, then we can move forward with some solutions. So I was happy to take part in that yesterday with Chair Crye, had a very good meeting with Chair Crye and Health and Human Services director Laura Burch and Christy Coleman yesterday. So I appreciate that.
(1:33:20) Supervisor Chris Kelstrom, District 5: On Wednesday, the first I attended a movie screen that was put on by the Moms for Liberty at the Red Lion, the guest speakers, Chloe Cole and Aaron Fisher. [Interruptions from the floor.]
(1:33:29) Supervisor Crye: Hey, stop from the floor, please. It’s completely rude.
(1:33:36) Supervisor Kelstrom: And then on Friday, I don’t know, maybe they’ll boo a World War II veteran. But on Friday, I attended a summit or a ceremony of life for Stanley Douglas. He spent 30 years in the Navy. He was in World War II, the Korean conflict as well as Vietnam. And then after he retired after 30 years in the Navy, he spent 30 years in a steel mill. He was a resident up in Shingletown and he went to Higher Ground Coffee every morning for coffee. He sounds like he was quite the character and he spent quite the life. They had a reception for him at the Anderson VFW Hall after the ceremony out at Igo and there at the Anderson VFW, I had learned of their car Show and Shine the next day. So I did attend that in the morning, although it was canceled because if you remember Saturday morning, it was storming pretty bad. So I visited with the guys there but basically, I didn’t get to see the cars. I had a cup of coffee and a donut. I was also planning on attending the Boomtown parade but I couldn’t get word if it was going to be canceled either.
So I ended up – did barbecue with Supervisor Jones at Grace Presbyterian Church. And then on May 5, Sunday, I went to the Anderson Senior Center breakfast and then yesterday I met with a constituent in Anderson who’s having some problems. I won’t get into details and then I want to remind everybody that Cottonwood Rodeo is coming up this week. It kicks off tomorrow with ladies night out. Usually men don’t get to attend, but I’m the auctioneer. So I get to attend that. And then Friday, we have the kiddie parade followed by live music and dance, which they brought back to Cottonwood Rodeo after several years. And then on Saturday May 11 we have the regular parade followed by the rodeo both Saturday and Sunday on Mother’s Day. That concludes my report.
(1:35:24) Supervisor Kevin Crye, District 1: I received a letter this week. Dr. Lisa Michaud is resigning from the election commission. I want to thank her for her time. I appreciate the work she did and moving forward at the appropriate time. I will have a replacement but there’s not a timeline for that. I attended the Pathways to Hope, PAL Open House. PAL is Police Athletic League. It’s not really easy for an organization to get that distinction to be a a PAL partner. I’ll tell you, Supervisor Kellstrom and I went to that Center on Eureka Way right next to the Dollar Tree when we were first elected in 2023 and I hadn’t been back. It has a new director. It has a new vision and I would tell you and I’ve been a pretty staunch supporter and advocate and I still will be for the youth options nonprofit, but I’ll tell you Pathways to Hope right now could really use people, leaning in and sowing into these kids. A lot of these kids are from Rother Parsons and the boxing program, Coach Daniel, he’s volunteering his time. He is with Shasta Boxing Club. That open house last night was phenomenal because these are a lot of kids that are not going to be able to afford a membership to a boxing gym or a gymnastics center or a ninja gym or other places like that. So these are kids that are getting an amazing opportunity by some of the best coaches our county has to offer. And I won’t even say county, I’ll say region. So I would encourage you to go check that out. That’s Pathways to Hope. They are looking at changing their name, just to kind of get away from the past and look towards the future.
I’m going back here the airport land meeting. I wanna articulate that really quick too and thank you Supervisor Garman for filling in. I was unable to attend that. And I think our airport and again, that has no jurisdiction with us other than the airport land commission that we sit on, but I think that is still a very underutilized resource we have and we talk about building a jail. One of the things that, I fully believe is we’ve got to drive tourism and get those sales tax dollars because when people come and spend money here, we don’t have to educate their kids. We don’t have to provide those public services year-round. So I want to drive sales tax as much as we can. And I think the airport is going to be a huge component in that.
I’m looking into quite a bit what are called A-87 charges and that is how departments here at the county, what they’re charged by the third floor to administer their departments. So I’m looking at a timeline going back to roughly 2017, 2018, 2019 and looking at just the cost of doing business for the county and what those outcomes are. So there’ll be more to follow on that. I attended the advisory meeting of the COC yesterday. I think that was a very positive meeting again. And you heard me mention in my when we were talking about it in R3 about the word collaborative, oftentimes people use the word collaborative, but they don’t always mean it. I really do truly hope that the advisory committee and the executive board for the COC do mean be collaborative. And I think there’s nothing more collaborative than all stakeholders having a seat at that table. I think that’s very important and through that process as well I’ve started to look a lot more about why housing was brought under HHSA and I think at this time, I’m almost convinced that was a mistake and I will be following up with that over time. Looking at the cost, looking at the infrastructure, looking at how that was done, why that was done. It was done. A lot of times people will say, well, this person can handle it. So they say let’s do it because Ms. Burch was the housing director at one time. So they said, well, let’s just give it to her. But you just heard Troy Bartolomei say in public works that when Laura leaves, as amazing as she is, it’s going to take two new employees and to build things to scale and to be effective. You can’t always just hire the person, you have to hire to the positions as well. And in county government, there is going to be, it’s not like the private industry where, you know, if you’re an owner, you’re probably gonna be there or your CFO or those people that are closest to you at the higher levels. You have a little bit more say in where they’re gonna be in county government. I don’t see that. I see people jumping for more money, which I don’t blame them and a variety of other reasons. So when we look at the housing decision, I think that was a mistake. So we’re gonna be looking into that and breaking that possibly back out. There’s a lot of costs that have been incurred that are just, I think the public will be very frustrated to learn some of the cost of that decision.
Also, and finally I want to make sure is, yeah, and, and I wasn’t, I just want to say like this is the letters I’ve received in the last week, a federal one about a men’s health initiative, California Massage Therapy Council. So that’s state. We have the attorney general letter that was sent to me, January 23 of 2024. And that was about resolution 22 024-007. And then we have one here from the Sheriff. We have one from the Shasta Board of Equalization or the State Board of Equalization. Finally, we have one from the Redding Rodeo we get, or I’ll just say as the chair, we get a ton of letters and if anybody ever wants to FOIA into this stuff, open book, you can always, any of that stuff because it doesn’t, it’s really one thing also I’ve learned is, in government and in state or federal, you know, masks slow the spread. If you get a vaccine, you can’t get the virus. So there are, sometimes I’ll tell you when I get a Redding Rodeo or a Shasta County Sheriff letter, I listen to that a lot more carefully because these are people vested in our community that we can look. But so much stuff comes from the state and federal that is so rubber stamp that I just shake my head and the final thing I’ll end on is this weekend is a big day. It’s Mother’s Day. I will tell you if you can’t get your mother anything, make her a handwritten card because I think that tends to go far with my mom and I hope it does with yours as well if she’s still around.
(1:42:17) There were two public commenters on R4.
(1:42:17) Dawn Duckett: Supervisor Jones and Crye, you both ran on transparency. You both use rhetoric in your campaigns, you to fight off your recall and you to get re-elected on your crusade against the DA, the corrupt DA. Kevin, you were going to ride in on your white horse and save this county from evil PG&E and a corrupt or inept DA. You had a duty to release that letter to the public. You’re derelict in that duty. Let’s not forget, Mr Crye, this was your brainchild. You started this, you asked the county for $10,000 to craft that letter to the attorney general complaining about the district attorney, the county didn’t spend any money. Thank goodness the county had the wisdom not to spend any money on this witch hunt. You’re both derelict in your duties and dishonest and corrupt the public demands answers and an apology.
(01:43:57) Kim Moore: What a bunch of BS that was so, no, we live in California just because we’re a red county doesn’t mean that or the reddest county in the State of California doesn’t mean we’re gonna get representation. The bottom line. People who don’t understand, need to go and look at this. I believe it was $50 million. And if I’m not mistaken, I think the community of Igo-Ono that the settlement was about and for got $250,000, I think, I believe, where it went was the Children’s Legacy for those of you who don’t comprehend this. And when we look at who sits on the board for Children’s Legacy, we have Stephanie Bridgett, Leonard Moty, Erin Resner. But people can’t figure out what the hell is going on. And if anybody watching doesn’t know what’s going on, I encourage you to dig deep, go down the rabbit hole and look at it. And so just because the State’s Attorney General didn’t side with us in a letter, it doesn’t mean that wrongdoing didn’t occur.
Support Services
(1:46:09) R5 Consider options related to the vacancy of the County Clerk / Registrar of Voters position and consider providing direction to staff.
Monica Fugitt made the presentation which included qualifications and a history of occasions when the BOS has made appointments to fill vacancies in elected offices.There were 20 public commenters on R5. Eight favored someone other than current acting ROV Joanna Francescut. Twelve supported Francescut.
(2:07:54) Bruce Russell: You should ask candidates for the ROV whether they believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen. If they say no, absolutely not. I believe they are not well-informed and are not a good fit for the position. The candidate chosen should also agree the ultimate goal of fair elections will require hand-counted paper ballots, no mail-in voting, voter ID and one day of voting.
(2:31:18) Benjamin Nowain: We need someone who follows the law. Let’s remember that Cathy Darling won her election with over 60% of the vote. So honestly, I’d challenge Kellstrom. Why take two weeks for a recruitment? Why not do it in an afternoon on the street, interviewing random people do it like Jay Leno. This seems to be the level of experience you’re looking for.
(2:34:15) Judy Salter: I’m just weary of all this. I’m just weary of all this chaos and you know, we’re all citizens here. We all care deeply about what’s happening. And I look at how many county employees have left because they didn’t want to work here anymore. And I can just try to imagine what will happen at the Registrar of Voters office. If someone who is underqualified is appointed, how, and what impact will it have on that staff who have such a deep respect and trust in Joanna. Supervisor Crye, I’ve heard you on Mountaintop Media, talking about the good job that Joanna had done and I know Supervisor Garman, you’ve supported her and Supervisor Kelstrom, I haven’t really heard your opinion but you all certified the election.It just baffles me that we would go through a really long process and leave us three months before a major election to bring somebody new in. That just boggles my mind. We have a woman who has worked here, has a huge amount of respect for the staff has gone through all the pressure that was put on her for this past election and, and it was certified, you all certified and accepted it. She has the credentials. I mean, the divisions that have been caused by this election commission which people are piling off of like hopefully understanding how pointless it has been. And we have a good woman here who can do this job, who can bring this county back together, who will work with both sides, who will look at every objection and try to make the office function in a way we can all support. So I ask you to really dig deep on this one. The woman is right here and I’m really up here just because I can’t believe that you all would thrust us into another situation to create more chaos in this county. Please don’t.
(2:46:07) Laura Hobbs: What the state is doing is doing is writing laws to codify the fraud or to codify the fraud. We need an ROV who is aware of the dangers of state overreach in our elections and we need somebody who understands the law and will use their discretionary authority within the law to provide fair and accurate elections. The way it’s currently run, the ROV uses their discretionary authority to act against the transparency accuracy, fairness and against the will of the citizens of Shasta County. We need an ROV who is courageous and willing to go against the grain of state overreach as the state continues to write laws specifically retaliating against Shasta County.
(2:47:20) Supervisor Crye: All right with that we’re going to pause R5, we will come back and we will pick that up immediately after lunch or after the break.
Public comment on Closed Session items began. There were four commenters on R14 and R16.
(2:51:51) Supervisor Jones: I do recuse myself and I do step out of the room. I always have as there is no conflict of interest.
(3:02:40) BOS adjourned for lunch and Closed Session.
At the conclusion of the Closed Session, reportable action, if any, will be reported in Open Session.
REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS
(3:02:52) Supervisor Crye: Counsel Larmour, do you have any reportable actions for items R12 through R17?
(3:02:57) County Counsel Larmour: Yes, Mr Chairman, R17, reportable action is the board voted 3 to 1, Supervisor Garman voting no, to release the report related to the district attorney’s office and the attorney-client privilege. Nothing further.(3:03:21) BOS returned to public comment on R5. There were six commenters, three of whom supported Joanna Francescut, two of whom did not, and one supported someone named Mary Paul. Another commenter approached the podium but Chair Crye did not have a request card from him, and the two engaged in a heated discussion about why he wasn’t being allowed to speak.
(3:21:21) Supervisor Crye: Here’s the deal. When you run for supervisor and get elected chair, you can call the shots.
(3:22:52) Supervisor Jones: So I will shortly make a motion that we do not do a direct appointment, that we do a recruitment. The time for recruiting, Supervisor Kelstrom has mentioned two weeks, staff recommends at least three, preferably four. I would split that difference and go with three weeks for recruitment process. And then I would also not advocate for an ad hoc committee. But I would rather see a group pulled from a large group down to a small group and then do public interviews and then pick the new ROV in that manner. And that would try to speed up time a little bit. I know it might conflict with the budget hearings. And so I’m a little concerned at the timing, but that’s kind of the way I’m thinking about things.(3:23:52) Supervisor Crye: Is that a formal motion, Supervisor Jones?
(3:23:55) Supervisor Jones: And I will put all that into a motion.
(3:24:08) Supervisor Kelstrom: This reminds me a lot of when Rubin Cruse retired and it went to the board and it was basically just a given. Hey, James Ross has been in the office. He has the most experience. Let’s just appoint James Ross. And I was absolutely against that. I was adamantly against that for the simple reason that this county has done those things for so long, it kind of ends up being the good old boys club and whoever’s next in line. Let’s just make him without, you know, interviews or getting on anybody else. So, Jeff, I’m glad you pointed out because when we went ahead and opened up Rubin Cruse’s spot to get some potential candidates. That’s how we got Counsel Stuhr. She came to work for us from Plumas County. She’s still working for us today. So we ended up garnering out that and as it, as we went through the interviews, you know, on the cream rose to the top, the guy with the most experience that most knowledge of the local thing was James or us. And we ended up appointing him as county counsel. So Joanna there is, you know, nothing personal. I would prefer to open this up to everybody. You have the most experience you’ve been here the longest, much like James Ross, you know, you’ll probably, but II I hate to just appoint without opening up and seeing what else is out there, who else is out there and who knows? We might get somebody else to come to work at our county clerk’s office that comes from another county that will be an asset to us just like Counsel Stuhr is. So that’s where I stand.
(3:25:32) Supervisor Garman: I’d like to make a substitute motion that we do a direct appointment and we bring it back to staff to hire Joanna Francescut in this role. And those of you who don’t know, I’ve known Joanna for probably close to 15 years. She’s a woman of faith. She’s a woman of God. She’s not gonna lie to anyone. So somebody in here says she’s lied to you. I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. She is one of the most integrity, positive, integrity person I’ve ever known in my life. She is not gonna cheat. She’s not gonna allow cheating. I just don’t understand why the hate is there. We had over, well, I’ll say a week, I don’t know what you guys had, but I probably had 100-plus emails come through. I believe I responded to every one of them up to of the meeting started this morning. This is coming from last week when the agenda came out, there was one person who I responded to that was not in favor of Joanna. All the rest of them, 100 plus probably were in favor of Joanna.
(3:27:38) Garman’s substitute motion died for lack of a second.
(3:32:26) Supervisor Crye: One thing I do wish is I do wish that when our former ROV, and I do thank her for her service, knew she wasn’t coming back, if that retirement date would have been back in February or March when it was first said that the retirement was coming, it would have given this board that much more time. So it’s not, it’s not, it’s not this board’s fault that we’re in this situation now. It’s when the officeholder left office, that’s why we’re in this situation of a time crunch.
A long discussion followed about whether an ad hoc committee should be formed, whether the interviews should or could be public or private, specific qualifications, the amount of time the recruitment would take and the date of interviews.
(3:57:29) CONSENT CALENDAR
Simple Majority Vote
REGULAR CALENDAR, CONTINUED
Board of Supervisors
(4:03:17) R7 Introduce and waive the reading of “An Ordinance of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Shasta Establishing Compensation for Members of the Board of Supervisors” (Sponsored by Supervisor Jones).
Simple Majority Vote
R7 passed 3-1 with Supervisor Crye voting no.
(4:53:41) R8 Adopt resolutions which: (1) Gives notice of intent to amend the Retirement Contract between the Board of Supervisors of the County of Shasta and the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) to implement Government Code 20516 (Employees Sharing Additional Cost) cost sharing of one percent (1%) of the employer’s contribution to retirement costs for Elected Department Heads and members of the Board of Supervisors; and (2) amends Chapter 39 of the Shasta County Personnel Rules to include cost sharing for Elected Department Heads and members of the Board of Supervisors.
Monica Fugitt made the presentation. There was one public commenter who was opposed. R8 passed unanimously.
Clerk of the Board
Simple Majority Vote
Chief Deputy Clerk of the Board Stefany Blankenship made the presentation. Bryan Rheem was not present. Amy Morin was selected and R9 passed by unanimous vote.
(5:06:56) R10 Appoint Patty Plumb to the Shasta County Elections Commission to serve the remainder of a term to January 6, 2025.
Simple Majority Vote
Public Works
Simple Majority Vote
Troy Bartolomei made the presentation. There were no public commenters. R11 passed by unanimous vote.
(5:57:38) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD – OPEN TIME
There were eight public commenters.
