County Counsel Joe Larmour.
Those who thought our local election deniers would be satisfied with the selection of their guy, Florida fabulist Clint Curtis, as Shasta County Registrar of Voters two months ago were disabused of that notion at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting when they came hunting for the head of County Counsel Joe Larmour.
Larmour was up for a performance review in closed session. The election deniers are still smarting from Larmour’s attempt to legally quash their one-day hand-count voter ID ballot initiative in March. Not only did the attorney ask a judge to intervene, he had the audacity to request the initiative’s authors, Laura Hobbs, Deidre Holliday, Kari Chilson, Jim Burnett and Richard Gallardo, pay all the court costs, turning them into martyrs who now go by the moniker the Shasta Five.
To be certain, Judge Benjamin Hanna smacked Larmour down and instructed him to write the title and summary for the ballot initiative, which Larmour had refused to do. Larmour’s title and summary was received by the Shasta County Clerk on March 21. Reading it, you can gain some sense of why Larmour objected to writing it:
LOCAL ELECTION TRANSPARENCY AND SECURITY REFORM
“The measure would require that elections at the local level shall take place on a single day limited to in person voting with limited absentee balloting. Ballots shall be hand counted at the precinct level using citizen volunteers, counting in teams of 4 volunteers. Ballot tallies shall be visible to observers of the election. Counting shall continue until results are obtained on election night or thereafter and results shall be published at that time. Voter ID shall be required to vote; voter rolls shall be locally controlled without connection to the internet or State of California. Upon adoption of the measure a new voter roll shall be created and maintained locally. Paper poll books shall be used to check in voters at the precinct level.”
Advocates of charter cities and counties often overestimate how much control they have over state and federal laws, and that’s certainly the case with this ballot measure. Nevertheless, Hobbs, Gallardo and crew have been gathering signatures since late March and have until late September to gather at least 6852 signatures, 10 percent of the 68,520 Shasta County residents who voted in the last gubernatorial election.
Do Shasta County’s 110,000 or so registered voters all want to cram into polling places on the same day, where local right-wingers will be checking IDs and videotaping their every move? Looks like we might be about to find out.
Despite the victory, our election deniers are still sore at Larmour.
Dan Ladd.
“It’s because I’m pissed and it is personal,” said Dan Ladd shortly before the board adjourned to closed session. “It’s because you guys chose to sue those five friends of mine personally and hold them responsible for paying his fees if they want, because it was a slam dunk case.”
“He’s giving you bad advice and you keep listening to it and you’re paying him good money to give you bad advice,” Ladd concluded. “I hope you’ll man up, apologize to the Shasta Five.”
It should be noted that Ladd, along with Hobbs, has filed his own lawsuit against the county. While they’ve lost every hearing so far, they’re still waiting to see if former ROV Tom Toller violated the California Public Records Act.
Earlier in the meeting, during open comment, Ladd confronted District 5 Supervisor Chris Kelstrom, who supported Larmour’s legal action in March.
“Chris, your lack of eye contact, it’s either two things,” Ladd said. “You either have disdain for me or you’re ashamed. Are you ashamed that you did it wrong, or do you have disdain for me talking about election integrity?”
Kelstrom gave him nothing.
Kim Moore.
Kim Moore is also peeved at Larmour.
“Mr. Larmour asked you guys to approve the suing of five citizens because they wanted to put a measure on the ballot when we’re a charter county, which is something that some of you pushed and supported,” Moore said. “If you could understand the amount of faith that I don’t have in any of the decisions, I think you guys are corrupt as hell.”
Antonia feels the same way about county counsel.
“Joseph Larmour has misled the board on multiple occasions,” Antonio said. “We want you to listen to the citizens of this county. When it comes to election reform, Joseph Larmour personally sued Shasta County citizens who were expressing their rights as citizens to circulate a petition.”
Activist and Mountain Top Media correspondent Leslie Sawyer, generally sympatico with the election denier crowd, acknowledged Larmour made a mistake. Then she attempted to make peace.
“However, it does not mean that he is inherently evil and the outcome of that case was they got everything they wanted and you guys agreed to pay their cost in return,” Sawyer said. “I think that is an apology.”
Shasta County ROV Clint Curtis.
Meanwhile, ROV Curtis was recently spotted voting in New California State’s local election, strongly implying that Curtis has signed on with the organization that’s attempting to convince California’s inland counties to secede and form their own Christian Nationalist state. It’s no secret that Curtis and Shasta County New California State chair Patty Plumb are close.
With that in mind, Curtis’ recent press release calling for part time employees and volunteers who aren’t “camera shy”—because their every move will be filmed—to apply for the new regime, including individuals who’ve been turned down in the past, gives reason for pause.
What exactly Curtis is planning remains, for the moment, vague. Some of it sounds similar to the Shasta 5’s ballot initiative. All of this has some Shasta County residents concerned about future elections.
“The other thing I wanted to bring up was Clint Curtis,” Steve Kohn said during public comment. “He stated that in 30 days he was going to come up with a plan and how much that plan was going to cost to move forward. “You know, we’ve got a special election coming up and so we just haven’t heard anything.”
Indeed, it’s been more than 60 days since we’ve heard any specifics from Curtis, and the June 2026 primary is less than one year away. With President Trump’s executive order requiring voter ID mucking up the works, things are about to get interesting fast.
Spoiler alert: No action was reported on Larmour’s performance evaluation coming out of closed session.
Plummer Wins Battle of the Board Reports Again
District 4 Supervisor Matt Plummer
Even when he loses, District 4 Supervisor Matt Plummer wins. Recall last March when Plummer’s $150,000 proposal to hire a consultant to develop a new county strategic plan, which hasn’t been revamped for 40 years, was nearly thwarted by District 1 Supervisor and Board Chair Kevin Crye, who hoped Plummer, a consultant by trade, would take on the project himself.
Crye attempted to cancel Plummer’s effort, but only succeeded in limiting its funding and scope to increasing public engagement in the strategic planning process. At Tuesday’s meeting, Shasta County CEO David Rickert announced that local consultant Hope Seth has been chosen out of four applicants to develop the plan.
Plummer rarely comes empty-handed to board reports. During the preceding week, he worked with Dist. 8 State Sen. Angelique Ashby on decreasing placement times for foster children.
He met with community service agency representatives in Lakehead, Sugarloaf and Castella, warning them that federal subsidies may soon be going away, potentially leading to water rate increases, which are in the process of being negotiated.
Finally, Plummer announced that last month Shasta County succeeded in permanently housing 7 veterans who had been previously homeless. Only 82 homeless veterans to go.
District 3 Supervisor Corkey Harmon.
Plummer’s a tough act to follow, especially if you’re taciturn District 3 Supervisor Corkey Harmon. Harmon apparently doesn’t travel much in his home district between meetings and rarely has anything substantial to report. His one go-to topic is the gray wolf controversy and Tuesday was no different, with Harmon recounting his attendance at the Shasta County Cattlemen’s Association’s monthly dinner.
“I’m pretty frustrated with Fish and Game and the idea that they’re gonna haze wolves and try to take care of the problem that’s not gonna take care of the problem,” Harmon complained. “All they’re doing is pushing them from one ranch to the next ranch, and they’re spending an enormous amount of money running around.”
“It’s just not gonna work, and I’ve said it, I’m gonna say it again, just to kind of keep it in the forefront of the county,” he concluded. “So, anyway, we’re gonna keep that on the, on the front of our, on the front of our mind. Went to several other things all week, but I’ll take a pass and call that good.”
Kelstrom, who recently learned he’ll be running against former District 2 Supervisor Tim Garman for the District 5 seat in next June’s primary, continued to hammer on Lake McCumber and the Battle Creek Reservoir, manmade lakes in his district that are being abandoned by PG&E. He emceed a fundraiser for the Shingletown Volunteer Fire Department.
If he’s concerned about Garman, Kelstrom didn’t show it.
District 2 Supervisor Allen Long.
District 2 Supervisor Allen Long joined Kelstrom and Rickert in supporting SB 694, a proposed state law that will protect veterans from predatory sales practices.
“I met with Veterans Service Officer Troy Payne and had a great discussion with him,” Long said. “CEO Rickert just talked about it, Senate Bill 694, and we talked about the unfair practices and kind of predatory practices toward our veterans, so it’s a good bill, and I agreed to co-sponsor that.”
The board will vote on sending a letter supporting the bill at the Aug. 12 meeting.
Since assuming his seat in January, Long has focused on wildfire issues. He’s been working with the Centerville Community Services District on their shortage of volunteer fire fighters and the future of their fire station, problems plaguing other districts in Shasta County as well. He also met with the Shasta County Fire Safe Council last week.
Crye, who recently went to LA with Sheriff Michael Johnson and Plummer to consult with the Amity Foundation on Shasta County’s proposed alternative custody facility, announced that Amity would be making a presentation at the Aug. 11 meeting.
Also coming soon: Consultant Chriss Street’s $40,000 study on the proposed medical school—although Crye was careful not to use the actual phrase “medical school.”
“On the medical issues, I know our consultant will be wrapping up his contract here soon, so I am working closely with County Counsel as well as our CEO to begin to establish next steps with what we could do to improve the health care situations in our community.”
Whatever the heck those are.
Frances Beard saw her $30,000 nuisance fine reduced to $3000.
The Persistent Problem of Squatting
The only voting matter on the regular agenda Tuesday was R2, which concerned Frances Beard’s property at 15287 Walker Terrace in Shasta. It was one of a dozen backlogged nuisance properties presented by the Department of Resource Management at last week’s meeting, Beard was invited back this week to make her case.
Last week, Peter Cottrell had the $90,000 nuisance fine on his Keswick property reduced to $1000 because squatters had done much of the damage. It was only after Cottrell removed the squatters himself—local law enforcement are not legally permitted to remove squatters—that the mess was finally cleaned up.
Turns out Beard had the same issues with a squatter. Recognizing this the board voted 5-0 to reduce Beard’s $30,000 fine to $3000. She now owes a total of $6,583.
Not everyone was happy with the vote.
“Pump the brakes on the bad decisions,” said Kim Moore during public comment. Moore said she knows Beard’s neighbors, who allegedly are not happy about living next door. “I’m going to put it on the record.” Moore said one of the neighbors was a former City of Redding employee who retired after breaking his back.
“He wore down his entire body and he gets to live next door to tweaker hell!” Moore said. “Please go over there and talk to the people before you make any final decision.”
Beard said the problems went away once the squatter was evicted.
“There’s nobody there,” she said. “I mean, there’s three of us living in the home now and this person that has been removed from the property, they did that to my property. So it’s like I appreciate you not putting a lien against my property because that’s all we have left.”
“I walked away from a good career as a nurse to come home and take care of my parents, and then I ended up taking care of my son now,” Beard continued. “So it’s like I appreciate you not slamming me with a lien and taking my property. That’s what I came to say is we cleaned that property. We did it ourselves, and the county didn’t have to come in and do anything but to show that we did it. And that we did it on time.”
Before casting the vote, Chair Crye ensured that public notice of last week’s nuisance hearing had been sent to all neighbors. Confirming that public notice had been sent out, the vote proceeded, proving once again if you don’t suit up and show up, you’re not in the game.
Western Shasta RCD project manager Sarah Seiler and project coordinator Kalyn Nash.
Community Wildfire Protection Plan Gets Much Needed Update
The mission of the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District is “to collaborate with willing landowners, government agencies and other organizations to facilitate the conservation or restoration of western Shasta County’s natural resources.”
In reality their work spans the county and mostly goes on behind the scenes. At Tuesday’s meeting, Western Shasta RCD Project manager Sarah Seiler and project coordinator Kalyn Nash delivered a presentation on planned updates to Shasta County’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan, which are several years overdue.
“This is also known as a CWPP,” Seiler explained. “We are working on this with Deer Creek Resources. They are doing the bulk of the heavy lifting while we are doing outreach with Shasta County Fire Safe Council.”
Simply put, the CWPP is a plan to reduce wildfire risk. It identifies threats and areas where projects need to happen, examining factors like wildfire history, current vegetation conditions, infrastructure, escape routes, and available resources.
“I find that when you mention risk a lot of people think of just the hazards,” Seiler said. “So what Deer Creek did is they identified high value assets in Shasta County. This could include hospitals, schools, infrastructure, population centers, the list goes on. And they’re evaluating the potential impact of a wildfire on these assets. So once these assets are identified, Deer Creek was able to focus their data collection around those specific assets.”
Seiler said the updated CWPP is nearing the finalization and approval stage. Once that occurs, detailed maps with general and community recommendations will be developed, ranging from fuel treatments based on fuel types, to code and policy enforcement dealing with absentee landowners, to home hardening, evacuation safety areas and defensible space.
Never forget: It’s always fire season in Shasta County.
SCOREBOARD
Board Matters
R1 Receive an update from the County Executive Officer on County issues and consider action on specific legislation related to Shasta County’s legislative platform and receive Supervisors’ reports on countywide issues.
No Additional General Fund Impact
No Vote
Resource Management
R2 Regarding the scheduled hearing conducted by the Board of Supervisors on July 21, 2025, either: (1) Adopt resolutions which designate authority to recover a special assessment and lien to be levied against the property (Assessor Parcel Number: 011-530-002) in which the Administrative Hearing Officer issued Findings and Orders, finding that nuisance conditions existed on the premises and ordering them to be abated pursuant to Government Code §25845 and Shasta County Codes §8.28.060 and §1.12.050(B)(6); (2) amend the proposed resolutions and adopt the amended resolutions; or (3) provide alternate direction to staff.
General Fund Savings
Simple Majority Vote
SCORE: 5-0.
PRESENTATIONS
R3 Receive a presentation from Western Shasta Resource Conservation District regarding the Shasta County Community Wildfire Prevention Plan (Sponsored by Supervisor Plummer).
No Additional General Fund Impact
No Vote
Patrick Jones pays up.
CLOSED SESSION
The only reportable action coming out of closed session concerned the Anderson/Millville Residents v. Shasta County/Patrick Jones case, regarding Jones’ proposed gun range on the Millville Plains. Jones, who appeared in closed session, has been ordered to conduct a full EIR for the project. The board voted 4-1, with Long dissenting, to waive attorney client privilege and release the bills paid by Jones to the county for his original mitigated negative declaration.
Meanwhile, according to Ed Wilkes, one of the plaintiffs in the case, Jones has paid Don Mooney, their attorney, $142,000. More than one-third of that amount, $43,754, will be returned to the plaintiffs.
R4 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – EXISTING LITIGATION
(Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(1)):
Name of Case: County of Shasta et al. v. California Energy Commission et al. (Shasta County Superior Court, Case No. 23CV-203737)
Anderson/Millville Residents v. County of Shasta, et al., Patrick Jones, Real Parties in Interest (Shasta County Superior Court, Case No. 23CV- 0203713)
R5 PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT
(Government Code Section 54957)
Title: Health and Human Services Agency Director
R6 PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
(Government Code Section 54957(b)(1)):
Title: County Counsel
R7 CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS
(Government Code Section 54957.6):
Agency Negotiators:
County Executive Officer David Rickert
Personnel Director Monica Fugitt
Chief Labor Negotiator Gage Dungy, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
Employee Organizations:
United Public Employees of California, Local 792 – Professional Unit
CONSENT CALENDAR
Item C2 was pulled by Kelstrom. Once he was assured that the affordable housing would only serve seniors, the measure passed 5-0. The rest of the consent calendar passed unanimously.
County Administrative Office
C1 Approve a lease agreement with The Ryan Family Trust, dated November 24, 2003, for office space at 1647 Court Street, Redding.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Health and Human Services Agency-Economic Mobility
C2 Adopt a resolution which: (1) Repeals Resolution No. 2021-022; and (2) authorizes the Health and Human Agency Director, or their designee, to: (a) sign the Master Standard Agreement (Agreement) to receive additional grant funding in an amount not to exceed $15,861,140 for the development of a 45-unit affordable housing project in the City of Anderson; and (b) execute amendments, project applications, or any related documentation, including retroactive, as needed for the purpose of effectuating the terms related to the Agreement.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Information Technology
C3 Approve an Ethernet Local Area Network (E-LAN) Schedule with Frontier Communications of America, Inc., for E-LAN circuits to feed Burney locations and designate authority to the Chief Information Officer to sign service orders to purchase additional circuits and approve future schedules.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Probation
C4 Take the following actions: (1) Waive competitive procurement requirements in Administrative Policy 6-101, Shasta County Contracts Manual, and Shasta County Code Section 3.04.020; and (2) designate authority to the Chief Probation Officer to purchase an Intercept Whole Body Security Scanning System from Tek84, including advance payment for an extended warranty.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Public Works
C5 Award the contract for the “County Service Area (CSA) No. 3-Castella Intake Replacement Project,” Contract No. 610471, to Shasta Services, Inc., (Timberworks) and approve and authorize the Public Works Director, or their designee, to sign a Notice of Completion and record it within 15 days of actual completion of the work.
General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C6 Approve agreements for consulting and testing services for the West Central Landfill Gas Collection and Control System with: (1) Tetra Tech BAS, Inc.; and (2) David A. Lawrence, Inc., dba Lawrence & Associates.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C7 Approve a right-of-way contract and temporary construction easement with Fall River Springs, LLC, and accept an Easement Deed conveying the right-of-way parcels for the “Spring Creek Road at Fall River Bridge Replacement Project,” Contract No. 705920.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Sheriff
C8 Approve a retroactive amendment to the agreement with Janus Advisor, dba, Allen & Dahl Funeral Chapel, for cremation and interment services which increases compensation.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Support Services
C9 Approve an agreement with Caliber Office Furniture, LLC, for moving services and assembly and disassembly of office systems and furniture.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C10 Approve an agreement with BMI Imaging Systems, Inc., for media conversion and Trusted System services.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C11 Approve a retroactive renewal agreement with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore for training and consulting services.
No Additional General Fund Impact
4/5 Vote
C12 Approve the disposal of County owned surplus vehicles through online auctions.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
###
