The regularly scheduled Tuesday morning meeting of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors was called to order at 9:02 a.m. on June 4, 2024. The complete video and agenda are available here. Timestamps are in parentheses.
CALL TO ORDER
(.39) Supervisor Crye: Those wishing to participate in public comment open time to speak on items not listed on the agenda, but within the jurisdiction of this board, must submit a speaker request card to the clerk of the board. All speaker request cards submitted after the meeting begins, as well as any public comment not heard prior to 10:00 a.m. will continue once all agenda items have been considered.
Please note, budget hearings may continue to meet from day to day until concluded. I want to make sure everyone is aware of that and if not heard by 10:00 a.m. public comment open time will be continued after budget hearings have concluded and all other budget items on the agenda have been considered by the board. Those wishing to participate in public comment for items listed on the consent calendar will have a single opportunity to speak on one or more consent calendar items and must submit a speaker request card to the clerk of the board before public comment for the consent calendar begins. All speaker request cards submitted after public comment for consent will not be heard by the board. Again, please note that the consent calendar is agendized after budget hearings. So the board will not consider items on consent or take public comment on consent until after budget hearings have concluded.
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. All speaker request cards submitted after public comment for each regular calendar item begins will not be heard by the board and I’ll say this again, items not heard before budget hearings begin will not be heard until budget hearings have concluded. However, items R5 and R6 closed sessions concerning existing litigation will take place today during at noon. Public comment for those items will begin at 11:30 or 11:45, depending on the number of speaker request cards submitted. Item R7, a closed session concerning labor negotiations will be conducted tomorrow, June 5 at approximately noon. Public comment on that item will be taken tomorrow at 11:30 or 11:45, depending on the number of speaker request cards submitted. All speaker rules will have three minutes after your three minutes are up, your mic will be muted. Budget hearings will promptly begin. Well, I will say promptly or roughly around 10:00 a.m.
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.
Board Matters
(5:04) R1 Receive a legislative update and consider action on specific legislation related to Shasta County’s legislative platform and receive Supervisors’ reports on countywide issues.
Simple Majority Vote
CEO David Rickert
(5:04) CEO Dave Rickert: As we focus mainly over these next couple of days on the budget, I do have some brief comments on that. I would like to thank all the elected officials and department heads for their efforts and assistance in the budget preparation process and the number of forums that we participated in to help guide and work with departments in that process.
I would also like to thank Deputy CEO Erin Bertain for her long hours and diligent attention to detail in the 2024-25 budget and the budget preparation. And I would also like to add an additional comment related to the budget. We are still continuing to watch the activities of the budget process with the state of California and its impact on our budget. One thing we’re paying close attention to are potential cuts related to social services and we’ll be working with HHSA and Director Burch on what potential impact that may have on our budget. But right now, that seems to be the focus of the state is on social service programs and funding. So we’re very carefully monitoring that. We consider those programs vital to our citizens and want to make sure we make every effort to provide the necessary services that we are charged to provide. This concludes my report.
District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert
(6:45) Supervisor Mary Rickert, District 3: We met with a company from New Jersey that came out here about potential for locating a small manufacturing plant in the Redding area – always trying to promote economic development. I attended the Behavioral Health Services staff meeting. I appreciated the opportunity to be invited to speak to those that serve in that capacity. They play such an important role in all the services we provide to the residents of Shasta County. One of the speakers was a gentleman from the Bikers Against Child Abuse. I beat you to it, Tim. But anyway, it was a real heartwarming story about bikers that actually have formed a group and they work with kids that have been abused and to kind of give them a voice, strengthen their voice and empower them. So that was quite an interesting presentation.
Attended a special meeting of the Mental Health, Alcohol & Drug Advisory Board. I attended the buyer’s dinner at the fairgrounds at the Anderson District Fair for the Junior Livestock sale. You’ll be happy to know I won another raffle prize. So that was a great time. I always love being around 4-H and FFA kids, brings back a lot of really fond memories of my youth. I attended the dedication of the Patriots Walk in McArthur at the fairgrounds. I’ve been kind of helping them with that project. It was a very wonderful ceremony too. And for those of you that visit the Intermountain Fair every year on Labor Day weekend, I invite you to please be sure to go by and see that. It’s honoring the people that live there locally for their service in the military.
I attended a budget meeting with Erin Bertain and Dave Rickert. I also went to a NAMI-sponsored event at City Hall and there was a panel about various people that work there. There was a member of the CRT team. There was someone from the fire warden’s office, somebody from the sheriff’s office. But anyway, one of the things that really was satisfying for me was the correctional officer that talked about the JBCT program. That was something that I really worked on several years ago to get into the jail. And that’s the jail based competency treatment program so that people who are deemed not competent to stand trial that they go through. Normally, they’d have to go to a state hospital and go into a treatment plan in order to stand trial. And we’ve kind of short-circuited that to save the county money and we actually have a program that we can treat them here on site. There’s about eight at a time that go through that program. He told us a great story about running into a young lady that had been through that program and he ran into her at Costco. She had gotten out of the system, was living a productive life as a citizen. So that’s really important to hear those positive stories that you know that the programs are working.
I attended a Shasta County Cattlemen’s meeting. I want to be sure to let people know for the Ag pass training. And we brought that, let’s see, 2, 3, maybe 3, 4 years ago, I brought that to the board and that is and then I would go to each ag pass training. And what that does is anybody who’s in agriculture, whether it’s a beekeeper, someone with cattle, livestock, you can receive a training. We work through the commissioner’s office and the farm advisor’s office and then you’ll get a card and you’re registered with the county that you’ll be able to show that card and be able to get, if you need to water your livestock or whatever that you’ll be able to, tend to your property and your livestock. And so we are questioning whether there’s a need for another ag pass training. I’ve been to every single one to welcome the group as the county supervisor. This is really important for those of us who have livestock. So please contact the AG commissioner’s office.
Then I attended the Burney Commons ribbon cutting. I got to cut the ribbon. That was really exciting. That’s a project that I was on at the very beginning. I got local citizens from the Burney area with Donnell Ewert. Lynn Dorroh attended, Northern Bobby Seitel from Northern Valley Catholic Social Services attended, and we sat down with the Burney public and members who attended and talked about affordable housing in Burney. So that project was completed by K2. It’s cost $14 million. There’s about 30 affordable units and there’s a community room and there’s a playground and it’s really a lovely facility. It’s located just north of the Caltrans Complex in Burney.
I was asked to write a letter of support for the River Partners Battle Creek Land Waters acquisition. They’re a conservation group. They’re working on that. Since I have a lot of background in that particular area, they reached out to me and asked for a letter of support. I was also asked to be a part of a film that is celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the film commission here in Shasta County. So that was fun to do and to talk about some of my experiences in Shasta County with films that have been made. I attended the Shasta Historical Society fundraiser. That was a great evening. They had a flood and some other issues in their facility. They’re next to From the Hearth. They’re trying to raise money to repair for the repairs. And that was extremely well attended and also won a raffle prize there too.
I signed a document for the Fall River Fire Safe Council, which completed their FPP plan. So that is really great news. And I’m pleased to report that the fire districts in the intermountain area, they’re really making progress. They’re getting close to getting their audits completed and they’re just making some huge strides forward. So I’m really pleased that the citizens have come together and are working to solve their problems.
One question I did have is this Thursday, we have a LAFCO meeting at 9:00 a.m. and I really wanted to attend, Chair, and I don’t know how we’re going to handle that because the Fall River Fire Protection District is going to give a presentation there and I don’t know how to be at two places at once. And I also have another meeting tomorrow that I’m going to have to miss because of budget hearings. So I don’t know how to work through those, but I do have a lot of responsibilities outside this board and we just need to be aware of that and I don’t know what’s the easiest way to handle that.
But I just wanted to bring one other thing in. I ran into the head of the Hill Country and had a conversation with her. She shared with me that there was a rash of fentanyl overdoses in Shasta County and I was hoping that we could have Dr. Mu come and talk to us and inform us of what’s going on and what kinds of steps he needs to take to alert the community when there are problems like this. This is something I think that truly is a serious issue in Shasta County and we need to focus on that. So I don’t know, CEO Rickert, if that’s a possibility or how would I go about asking to get him on for a presentation on that particular topic?
(14:39) CEO Rickert: Supervisors, I will contact Laura Burch and arrange for Dr. Mu to come and do a presentation on that if that is the direction of the board.
(14:44) Supervisor Rickert: Yes, that, that is my wish. I don’t know how the rest of the board feels about it. If anybody wants to weigh in, go ahead.
Supervisor Crye: Supervisor Garman, do you have a response?
Supervisor Garman: Yeah, I’ll weigh in real quick. I would like that presentation as well and I know I asked earlier to have Dr. Mu come and present where his status is with the county and full time and all that, maybe we could tie all that into one, one presentation from Dr. Mu.
CEO Rickert: I will move forward with that request then that’s what the board would like.
Supervisor Rickert: So with that, that concludes my report.
District 5 Supervisor Chris Kelstrom
(15:12) Supervisor Chris Kelstrom, District 5: Monday I was at the Igo Veterans Cemetery for the Memorial Day event. And then Tuesday, I was asked to do a story by at KRCR for the ACID Canal Grand Jury report. And then I went and met at resource management for a project that’s going on in Anderson. Wednesday, I was back out at Igo again. This time we were taking down the flags and flowers that Preston Sharp’s group put up so we took all those down on Wednesday. And then Thursday, I was at the Redding Civic Auditorium memorial event with Supervisor Crye and Supervisor Jones and CEO Rickert and Erin Bertain. And then that night, I had a fundraiser for the Mountain Gate Fire Department which I auctioneered. The next night I also had a fundraiser for the Cottonwood Neighborhood Watch and I didn’t win any raffle prizes. Mary should have been there. And that Friday before the fundraiser I attended Igo Cemetery again for Pete Peters had his memorial service out there. So we laid to rest a great patriot and he’ll be missed sorely.
Saturday I went to the Shasta Mud Run out at Hawes. And I gave KRCR producer a heads up on it and she came out and did a story on it. So that was kind of cool. And then Sunday morning, I had a breakfast at the Anderson Senior Center and then I attended Dill’s Deli 20th anniversary and the canine dog presentation by our Sheriff’s Department. So that concludes my report.
District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones
(16:46) Supervisor Patrick Jones, District 4: First start off, I did go to the Igo Veterans Cemetery and we had a great support from the Shasta County Board of Supervisors with Supervisor Kelstrom, Chair Crye, and myself. I’ve tried to go to that almost every year since it began and last week was a great reminder of why we are free from the people that have lost their lives serving in this great nation. So great support from Shasta County at the Northern California Veterans Cemetery in Igo.
Aattended the SRTA meeting along with Supervisor Kelstrom and Chair Crye. We had fairly short agenda on that. And then also on May 30 at the Civic Auditorium, the Veterans Grove. Once again, was the 31 annual memorial service. And again, Supervisor Crye, or Chair Crye, Supervisor Kelstrom, CEO Rickert and Erin Bertain were all there. So we had great support. And we laid a wreath for all those Shasta County members that have lost their lives.
In addition, I was also present at the Mountain Gate Firefighters Association fundraiser. We raised over $30,000. This is a fire department that’s in my district. It’s a very busy fire station right on I-5. Supervisor Kelstrom was the auctioneer. Tons of people helped, my wife, of course, Trish and Bobby and all the Mountain Gate firefighters pitched in to raise some money for a very good fire department.
Met with Erin Bertain and CEO for the budget which we’re going to be doing here over the next couple of days and then back out again to the Igo Veterans Cemetery for a celebration of life for a two time Shasta County Board of Supervisor, Pete Peters. And again, we had good support. Supervisor Kelstrom was there as well and Pete’s been, you know, very active in the community with not only with the Rodeo Association but as a pilot. He’s at a radio station for 14 years. He will be missed, but he will not be forgotten.
And then I also attended the Dill’s Deli fundraiser. This is their 20th year and this was a fundraiser for the canines for Shasta County Sheriff’s Department. So most of the proceeds are going to go to help out Shasta County. So you know, very happy to be there and help out a little bit. Mike and, Jessica Dill do a great job there.
And then lastly, Chair, I wanted to briefly discuss the Grand Jury’s report on outside counsel. They did an investigation. There was a member of this board that had quoted some prices about outside counsel and the grand jury found that they were pleased to report that the amount of spending from outside counsel over a four year period by the county was less than reported. They have listed the different totals. And my request would be that we bring this back at the time when we address the findings. And I would like to go over and I think this would benefit the public as well as board members. I would like to go over our spending habits with outside counsel and maybe take a look at maybe five other counties of similar size to see if the amount that we’re spending is similar to other counties. And I think we’ll probably see some similarities there, but it would be good for the public to do that. And so I’m hoping we can incorporate that into our response to the grand jury. And with that, Chair, that ends my report.
(20:31) Supervisor Crye: Are you going to put that into a motion?
Supervisor Jones: I’d like to put that into a motion. Sure.
Supervisor Crye: And I’ll, and I’ll second it for. Do we need any discussion just to bring it back? All right. All those in favor. [Unanimous vote.] All right. So, thank you.
District 2 Supervisor Tim Garman
(20:44) Supervisor Tim Garman, District 2: I hope you all had a great memorial weekend and just had a good time. I also hope you didn’t forget what Memorial Weekend is about. It is about the fallen veterans who lost their lives for all of us. So anyway, moving on, I met with numerous constituents this week and we talked about numerous topics from budgeting all the way to squatting issues. I had a mental health advisory board meeting. I met with Nigel Skeet and Jim Wadleigh and Jim Wadleigh is the former manager of the airport, which is talking about airline travel and hopefully in the future, the county can have a bigger role at the airport, which is much needed. I met with CEO Rickert and Erin Bertain. We talked about the budget. Thank you guys for the time to meet with that. I know you had to reschedule because I was sick last week. But I do appreciate you guys giving me the time to still get in there and meet.
I also attended – Supervisor Rickert mentioned it earlier – but the mental health staff meeting. I caught the second meeting of the two. Miguel, great job putting that together. And the Bikers Against Child Abuse. That presentation was very, very powerful. Numerous other conversations with different department heads from all types of different topics.
I do want to address one thing. I’ve gotten quite a few people ask me about Prop 1 funding and just so you guys know, I’ve been asking CEO Rickert and Erin Bertain what that looks like and we just don’t quite know what that looks like yet. We’re waiting for the state to give us some direction on that. And I believe that we have one of our CEO staff that is going to be attending a webinar on that coming up, I think – is that next week’s, CEO?
CEO Rickert: I believe so.
Supervisor Garman: Yeah. So hopefully we’ll have more information on what Prop 1 funding will look like for the county.
And lastly, I will address the grand jury report as well, on the cost of the outside counsel. First thing I want to say is well done by the grand jury doing that report. And I was the one who obviously made that statement in this building. I’m not afraid to admit that I should have double checked some of those numbers. Some of those numbers were, I guess apparently they were added in two different locations. So the initial numbers that came out weren’t quite right. I’m not blaming it on staff. I blame it on myself for not digging a little bit deeper. And I do agree with the grand jury’s findings that we need to have training up here for better communication and better transparency because there’s nothing at all that we should be hiding. And I just want to say thank you again to the grand jury for digging into that and I do welcome looking into it further to see where those dollars were spent. So with that, Chair, that concludes my report.
(23:21) Supervisor Rickert: Yes, I forgot something. Memorial Day, I went to two events in Fall River Valley. And while I was there, I saw Megan and Brian Dahle and I just want to share with the rest of you that we had a conversation about the Fountain Wind Project. They are obviously up in support of fighting this project. And so I just wanted to let you guys know that I’m still in conversations with them and they’re very much supporting us in fighting this on the state level. So I just wanted to share that.
Supervisor Crye: Have they taken really public stances on that?
Supervisor Rickert: Yes, they’ve written letters. Have, how many of you have written your letters?[Silence.] Just asking a question.
District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye
(25: 00) Supervisor Kevin Crye, District 1: So I attended, well, not attended a Youth Options meeting, but I met with the director Jennifer Coulter of Youth Options. Again, I’ve mentioned this, they had the mud run this weekend. I actually wasn’t able to attend that. I had the three on three at the civic with a bunch of kids. But again, if that’s an organization that does quite a bit with very, very little. So I’m very supportive of Jennifer and the team at Youth Options to do the peer court. Had the SRTA meeting as well as Councilman Mezzano who was on that board with us to sit in the back. So that was a good meeting.
I met with a group of individuals from the Lorenz Hotel. Again, many things that come up in District 1 tend to be a City of Redding jurisdictional item. So I really want to thank Troy Bartolomei and Paul Hellman because very often constituents reach out to me as, as a perfect example of like the Lorenz Hotel, some issues they have and then ultimately, it has to be over to the city. So our county staff does a great job of working with the City of Redding and making sure people’s needs are met, especially in District 1.
I attended the Max Burch Redding area wrestling club fundraiser. That was the first one over fifty years dedicated to this community with kids in wrestling. So Max’s legacy will live on. That was a special fundraiser special fundraiser I attended like it’s been set up here, the Memorial Day service at the cemetery as well as the Memorial Grove one with county staff as well as Supervisors Jones and Kelstrom.
I’ve been meeting pretty much the last three weeks with as many department heads in preparation for the budget hearing. So I won’t go into all those different conversations and some of the stuff that’s been coming out. I’ve had coffee a couple of times, again, that’s every Friday at Athens on or at Kaleidoscope on Athens at 8:00 a.m. I will say that there’s a possibility that won’t happen this week if budget hearings go into Friday. So people if you’re watching this just make sure the budget hearings still aren’t going because we will be here up to 14 days if that’s what it takes because that’s what it’s required us to finish it by. And it is a $711 million budget so there is a lot to go through.
Lastly, I’ve been meeting with some of the elected at the City of Redding about the rodeo grounds. Obviously, they’re doing their workshops about the Riverfront Plan and that is not under the jurisdiction of the board. But what this board does have is a voice and strong opinions about what makes Shasta County, Shasta County. We are a rural county. The rodeo is the second, I believe the second largest revenue generator outside of Kool April Nights. I will be bringing back a letter of support for the rodeo getting what I’m now told they can have a 50-year lease without that going to an opportunity where someone else can come in and purchase that in a surplus land kind of a deal. So I will be bringing that back for the county to prepare a letter. And if there are the votes we will send a letter to the City of Redding, encouraging them to give the rodeo a 50 year lease. So that concludes my report.
(28:28) Public Comment on R1 began. There was one commenter, Delores Lucero, who was critical of the board’s spending on outside counsel.
4/5 Vote
(32:01) Counsel Larmour: Mr. Chairman, The board voted at the last meeting to bring this item back. There’s a resolution attached which if approved by the board, we’ve identified an outside firm that can handle this investigation in what we hope will be a timely manner. I have a proposed contract that I’m working through with them. And so if that’s still the wish of the board, the resolution is here and can be adopted.
There was a brief discussion between Supervisor Crye, Counsel Larmour, and Clerk of the Board Stefany Blankenship about how long public comment would take and if the vote could or should be delayed until Thuesday, June 6. Blankenship stated they had about 11 commenters and 30 minutes for public comment.
(33:44) Supervisor Rickert: I just want to make a brief statement that I think that transparency is something that we need to adhere to on this board. We held a special meeting to discuss this whole issue. You brought it forward forward, Chair Crye, about the DA and how she handled the Zogg Fire settlement. And so I’m bringing it here to the board level. The original document has never surfaced. I don’t think it’s ever been found. And I think that given that issue, I think that we need to have and we have conflicting statements from Supervisor Crye and Supervisor Jones as to who knew what, who got what, and so I think we need to clear the air and the public needs to be able to feel comfortable with the outcome of this.
And I also want to remind people that according to the 2023 California code, government code, Title one, general division 7, miscellaneous chapter 3, crimes related to public records, documents and certificates, section 6200:. Every officer having the custody of any record, map, or book or any paper or proceeding of any court filed or deposited in any public office or placed in his or her hands for any purpose is punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision H of section 1170 of the penal code for 2, 3 or 4 years. If as to the whole or any part of the record map, book, paper, proceeding, the officer willfully does or permits any other person to do any of the following: one, steal, remove or secrete; two, to destroy, mutilate or deface, or three, alter or falsify. So it looks to me like it could be some potential crime here. And so I really do think that we need to delve into this and we need to get a straight answer and a consistent answer from all the parties that were involved.
There were 12 public commenters. Eight were in favor of hiring outside counsel and generally blamed Supervisor Jones for the missing letter. Three were opposed. It was unclear what the twelfth speaker was talking about.
(36:04) Laura Hobbs: I’m disappointed to see this item on the agenda. It appears that Mary Rickert would rather play politics than attend to the real needs of the community. Instead of looking at the gross inequity that occurred when $50 million was distributed to everyone except the community that was most affected, Igo-Ono. Mary Rickert wants to investigate the individuals on this board that carried out that basically called out this inequity, sorry, that called out this inequity. Instead of spending $30,000 on a political witch hunt, let’s spend that money on the people in Igo-Ono, let’s put in a new fire hydrant, give them a new tanker truck. Let’s give them something for god’s sakes.
(43:44) Larry Sargeant: Tthis letter that you got on January 29, Mr. Jones, I suspect at the bottom where usually in a business letter CC appears, you saw that there were no copies of correspondence sent to anybody else. This prompted you to take the opportunity to pocket that letter and not share it with anyone. But then in the spirit of transparency, when you were asked, who did you share it with? You said, your feeble response was, well, I did share it with Mr. Crye. So that brings the two of you into collusion. Really? I think my suspicion is that you knew that because that letter could have a detrimental impact on Mr. Crye’s recall that you decided to pocket it. Both of you did because you were the only two who knew about it. So the short and sweet of it is is that I hope this investigation, if you adopt this resolution, would point out the fact that probably amounts to election interference at least on the part of you two because there might have been 50 people out there in the district who might have changed their vote had they known that our district attorney was exonerated in the way she handled the Zogg Fire distribution and the agreement that she came to with PG&E. So election interference needs to be investigated and I hope that’s what happens.
(1:01:16) The BOS went to discussion about the AG letter. Mary Rickert reiterated her position about a need for transparency. Supervisor Jones asked Counsel Larmour about the Shasta County policy regarding retention of records. Counsel Larmour said he was working with the Clerk’s office to determine that but had not assessed it yet. Supervisor Jones then talked about the two leaning pine trees that fell and starting the Zogg Fire. He also talked about Attorney Ben Hanna, and his personal feeling that the response from the Attorney General was what he thought it would be.
(1:06:55) Supervisor Jones: So I would like to get into the detail of this very much so. [Numerous voices from the crowd.] And so I was not surprised by the letter at all. I expected as much and the letter did not exonerate the DA. It simply said based on the information that was reported, there was no wrongdoing. They did not do a full and thorough investigation which I also expect that they did not. [Numerous voices from the crowd.] So, so, yeah. Well, that’s, yeah, you’re going to get my opinion because that’s what I’m going to do.
So anyways, the letter was not a surprise. I did receive it, but I was not Chair, I did alert Chair to the letter. I assumed everybody got it. I didn’t expect anything different with it. And that’s the fact of the matter is I would like to get into the, to the case itself and I can tell you that there are attorneys out there. This isn’t going away, this isn’t going away. This isn’t going away. The memory of the four people that died is not going to go away. [More noises from the crowd.]
Supervisor Crye: I, you know, hey, listen from the floor, please. Like we have department heads here. We’d like to start our budget hearings. I’d like to get through this item. I don’t want to table it.
Supervisor Jones: Counsel Lamour. You have an investigator. What, what is, do we have a name of this investigator? Is he an actual investigator? Is he an attorney? What do we have on this currently?
County Counsel Joe Larmour
Counsel Larmour: The firm that has availability to do this is the Ellis law firm.
Supervisor Jones: Ok. Well, that doesn’t thrill me.
Supervisor Garman: On this item here, I would just make a motion to approve this. It sounds like we all want this. Let’s just go forward.
Supervisor Rickert: Ok, I just want to make sure we are not retrying the case today. What I’m bringing forward is an investigation as to what happened to the letter so that we can reinstill trust in this board by the public because at this point in time, you know, you can try and divert and distract all you want. We need an answer as to what happened. There’s conflicting statements by the supervisors Crye and Jones. We need to get to the bottom of this so we can move forward and get real business done like dealing with issues like fentanyl overdoses in this county.
Supervisor Kelstrom: Yeah, I’ll just weigh in real quick since an accusation was made earlier today. So the fact of the matter is I didn’t know anything about the letter and the fact that if Jones talked to Chairman Crye, then I would be excluded from that because of the Brown Act violation. So the accusation was made, I just want to address that.
(1:10:25) Supervisor Jones: Yeah. And so, I mean, if you’re just wanting to know what happened to the letter, I received the letter, I destroyed the letter or threw it away. So there’s your answer. All right. So I don’t, I don’t keep the letters. There is no retention policy with – [Considerable crowd noise.]
Contentious board discussion followed about retention of records, Dr. Fauci, stacks of letters, and Supervisor Crye welcoming an investigation because he said he will be exonerated.
The motion for R2 passed 4-1 with Supervisor Jones voting no.
(1:16:26) Supervisor Crye: And what’s sad is we’re hearing applause for wasting taxpayers’ money.
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. Those wishing to participate in Public Comment – Open Time must submit a speaker request card to the Clerk of the Board before the meeting begins. All speaker request cards submitted after the meeting begins will be heard by the Board once all items on the agenda have been considered. Any public comment not heard prior to the 12:00 p.m. recess will be heard after the Board reconvenes from Closed Session and all agenda items have been considered.
SCHEDULED HEARINGS
A court challenge to action taken by the Board of Supervisors on any project or decision may be limited to only those issues raised during the public hearing or in written correspondence delivered to the Board of Supervisors during, or prior to, the scheduled public hearing.
County Administrative Office
(1:16:42) R3 This public hearing will commence at 10:00 a.m.
FISCAL YEAR (FY) 24-25 BUDGET HEARINGS
COMMENCE THE FY 2024-25 BUDGET HEARINGS
1. Receive the FY 2024-25 Recommended Budget and the County Executive Officer’s Overview of the FY 2024-25 Recommended Budget.
Simple Majority Vote
Erin Bertain and Nolda Short made the initial presentations for the 2024-2025-recommended-budget.
FY 2024-25 Budget Presentation – Day 1 A.M
FY 2024-25 Budget Presentation – Day 1 P.M
(2:23:52) Public comment on R5, R6, and R7 commenced. There were three public commenters. Delores Lucero commented on why Laura Hobbs continues to use taxpayer dollars and time at the BOS meetings. Jim Burnett said the ROV office didn’t follow state law when they listed candidates for District 2 and that gave Allen Long an unfair advantage. Margaret (last name unclear) echoed Jim Burnett.
(2:34:09) CLOSED SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT
The Board of Supervisors will recess to a Closed Session to discuss the following item (Items R5 and R6 will commence on June 04, 2024, at 12:00 p.m. (est. 1 hour 30 minutes), Item R7 will commence on June 05, 2024, at 12:00 p.m. (est. 20 minutes):
R5 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – EXISTING LITIGATION
(Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1)):
R6 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – EXISTING LITIGATION
Hobbs v. County of Shasta (24CV-0204675)
R7 CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS
(2:34:19) REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS
There was no reportable action.
(5:38:29) ADJOURN
