(.3) The regularly scheduled weekly Tuesday morning meeting of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors was called to order at 9:01 a.m. on October 15, 2024. The start of the meeting was delayed due to audio-visual recording not working. The complete video and agenda are available here. Timestamps are in parentheses.
(1:53) Stefany Blankenship said that item C4 was pulled by Supervisor Rickert for discussion and R3 was pulled by HHSA staff and will come back on October 29.
CALL TO ORDER
(2:38) The Invocation was conducted by Pastor Robert Montoya, The Potter’s House Church. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Supervisor Rickert.
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
(3:28) R1 Adopt a proclamation which designates October 2024 as “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” in Shasta County (Sponsored by Supervisor Crye).
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Supervisor Crye read the proclamation.
(3:46) Supervisor Crye: Whereas breast cancer affects every community in California as the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women striking one in eight. And whereas patient awareness and early detection through breast cancer screening improves the chances for cure and survival by 98%. And whereas the statewide estimate for newly diagnosed breast cancer cases is 27,575 of which 167 will occur in Shasta County. And whereas three types of breast examinations are proven to be effective in early detection, routine mammography, mammography, the single most effective method, yearly clinical breast exams and monthly breast self examinations. And whereas 2024 marks the 27th anniversary of the NorCal Think Pink Project to raise awareness about breast cancer and observe breast cancer awareness month. And Think Pink Day, which provides an opportunity for women to become aware that they are at risk and to participate in breast cancer screening. And whereas since its inaugural year in 1996 the Think Pink campaign has significantly grown with 44 Northern California communities participating in the counties of Trinity, Siskiyou, Modoc, Tehama, Plumas and Shasta and 40,000 breast cancer information bags will be handed out in these communities. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Shasta County Board of Supervisors hereby proclaims October 2024 as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Shasta County and urges all Shasta County women over 40 or at risk to make a commitment to obtain screening for breast cancer. And I will make a motion that we accept this and we have a second
(5:36) Lori Meadows, Think Pink coordinator: We just want to thank you for doing this proclamation and just remind everybody of the activities that we’ve had this month so far and we had a very successful 5K race at the beginning of October and this last Sunday we had a car show at the Elks Lodge that had over 150 cars in attendance and lots of people came out for that. This Thursday is our annual bag handout where we’ll be handing out 25,000 bags to around the North state. It’ll be at TriCounties Bank on Thursday morning from 6 a.m. to 9. Thank you so much.
(6:25) Public comment on R1 began.
(6:47) Natalie Galashty : My name is Natalie and I am Deputy Public Defender in this county. I would like to thank the board for allowing me the great honor of recognizing my sisters in arms. The courageous women who had fought were still fighting cancer to everyone in this community whose loved one is affected, whose friends or even acquaintance is affected. Please know that your support, your love truly does perform miracles. Be generous with it to those women in our community who are facing the first steps of this very scary battle. Be strong and know that you are not alone. I promised I will not get emotional, but it is not easy. To this here, my beautiful county, the personnel of this county, every clerk of the courts, every deputy marshal, my dearest friends at the public defender’s office, my wonderful colleagues at the District Attorney’s office. They seem judges, every member of our badge and literally every person in this community. I have a good fortune and privilege of knowing every day. You’ve shown me so much kindness and not just me, but my friends and shown such beauty of human compassion and spirit that can never be measured and the gratitude for it can never be adequately expressed. Thank you.
(9:40) Jenny O’Connell: Thank you for starting us off in such a beautiful way. It is one of those things that everyone can agree on is important. My grandmother died at 54 of breast cancer and my mother was a part of the 1996 people who started think Pink and Shasta County for that reason because to this day, she still misses her mommy. You know, it’s one of those things that I said to Tim Garman on his second week here. I do believe I said, not all people grow old, but thanks to things like Think Pink and the activities that they do about early screenings and getting people to know stuff. I have friends who have survived. I have at least three friends who survived who are still going strong. And I just like to thank the county for their activities. Thank you.
The resolution passed on a 5-0 vote.
(12:07) R2 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
CEO David Rickert
(12:21) CEO Dave Rickert: I want to let you know on county business,. I participated in a blue ribbon cutting ceremony last Thursday at the Sheriff’s Emergency Operations Center which includes South County patrol and other emergency services. And for future note, the CEO’s office along with the sheriff and public works are looking into expanding the emergency operation center to include a storage facility for office of emergency services equipment as well as developing a large animal temporary evacuation center to be used during evacuations. The expansion would also allow the sheriff to move out of lease space saving the county $97,000 annually and would co-locate the sheriff’s tools and equipment at their new facility. We are in early stages of investigating the expansion and viability cost an item for the board’s consideration regarding this project is anticipated for the October 29 board meeting and on two other related parking matters. A special thanks to Supervisor Jones because he’s the impetus for these ideas. First, we will be relocating fleet vehicles from our parking deck to our secured parking located at the old courthouse. This will free up at least a minimum of 10 parking spots to be made available for the Public Defender’s office. Next I met with a representative of the Union Pacific Railroad to consider a lease/purchase option for land located near the Redding Memorial Veterans Hall to secure parking for at least 30 parking spots that will bring back for future board consideration. This concludes my report.
District 2 Supervisor Tim Garman.
(14:05) Supervisor Tim Garman, District 2: These are in no particular order you guys, but I have continued to meet with multiple community members and leaders as we discussed the opioid settlement, dollars that the county is going to receive and how we might best use those funds. It’s exciting as we start to gather this information. You’re starting to see some common threads coming out and looking forward to the day we get to discuss it as a board.
LAFCO meeting in Anderson with Supervisor Jones last week. I want to say congratulations again to the Shasta Fire District. Your fire district was officially certified on September 6. So congratulations again during that meeting, the City of Anderson gave a pretty good report and the happenings of the city. It was well done. Thank you, City of Anderson.
This one is a question, maybe not the proper place for it, but I’m going to bring it up because I don’t understand it. Doctor Mu, if you’re listening and this is kind of for you, we have a really good friend who’s in a hospital. He’s been in the hospital for about a week and a half and he needs, he’s at Shasta Regional and they’ve been trying to find him a bed to get him the proper care that he needs. He’s losing blood in internally and they don’t have quite the equipment or the knowledge that Shasta Regional. So they, they were trying to get him to Mercy. There’s no bed space at Mercy, no bed space in Chico, no bed space in Sacramento. Their last option was Sutter Hospital in San Francisco last night. They sent him down there, otherwise it was going to be an arena. So I’m not sure why there’s such a shortage of bed spaces. And then I found out yesterday we have a 98 year old lady in our church. She went into the hospital with water in her lungs and she’s hopefully she’s got to bed by now but she was in the ER all day. I was like, well, why, why is there such a problem with bed space in our hospitals? So I don’t know if it’s due to actual lack of beds or lack of staff, but if we can get an update, Doctor Mu, you can reach out to me directly. That would be great.
Along with Supervisor Kelstrom, we met with staff to go over the tourism situation that we’re working on.
One last thing I want to mention and this is hard for me to mention because I actually, it’s going to be hard but I’ve been going about many different department heads and different elected officials over the last few weeks as well. And some very troubling stuff has come up and I had to verify it before I brought it to the public’s attention. I was able to verify it through multiple sources but The other day on August 27, we voted to change up the funds for SCOE. The next day, Supervisor Crye, you had an appointment with Mike Freeman. I believe that was the first time you met Mike. And during my meeting with Mr. Freeman, he brought up the fact that you went over there and you were pitching your Ninja Gym Coalition services to the county and for further follow up conversations, with other people who aren’t at meetings. I wasn’t going to bring this forward so I actually understood it. It appears that you were saying, ok, we can get you this full money if I get my contract. [Supervisor Crye audibly scoffs] That’s the gist of what I was getting from those folks and I’ve got the email so it’s here. And then also there’s another department where you’ve been involved with and they feel harassed and threatened as well. And I just think we as a board cannot do that to our employees. We cannot take and abuse our position of power. It’s just not OK.
Last thing I want to say is hug your loved ones, we lost a family member, Tuesday. It was very hard. So hug your loved ones, cherish every second you have with that. That concludes my report.
District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones
(18:03) Supervisor Patrick Jones, District 4: Attended along with Supervisor Garman LAFCO meeting and there was a, we always have a variety of different things. We had 14 scheduled items on that. But one of the most important was, and Supervisor Garman briefly mentioned it, was the City of Anderson’s municipal service review. They did an excellent job. I’ve sat in on dozens of municipal service reviews and this is where every city in this county and fire district, water district, and whatnot must prepare a plan so that they can demonstrate that they have the ability to meet all their services and they have the funds ready to be able to provide those services. And Anderson, I must say probably did the best preview of a municipal service review that I’ve probably ever seen. So hats go off to their city manager, their police chief and their public works director. They did a great job and the municipal service reviews are also followed up by an SOI update which they did that as well. Along with Supervisor Rickert and Chair Crye, I got to see the ribbon cutting for the Redding Mission’s pallet shelter. I think they’re having, Chair Crye if I’m wrong is 17 pallet shelters, is that correct? So, that’s in addition, and that’s right behind their property where they’re located. And so that’s a good project and it’s in a very good location where their services are going to be available to them and they’re going to have very little pass through issues. Anytime you do something like that, if you put a shelter like that in the wrong location, it creates problems here. It’s in the right location. So hats go off to them.
Had a meeting with Joseph Larmour and our CEO on the CTCO, that’s the Centers for Tech and Civic Life. That’s going to be coming back. We have, we’re going to make that report made public and we’ll be discussing that at a meeting very soon.
I continue to meet with a variety of different people involved in housing the homeless and dealing with addictions. I met again with Christine Cage from No Boundaries. She has a very good program and as we discuss, as we move forward, discussing this opioid funds, I think she’s going to be an important player in that among many others. So I thank her for her time and then along with Supervisor Kelstrom, Chair Crye, myself and CEO we were able to take part in the South County Sheriff’s ribbon cutting. This is a $7 million project that’s now complete. It’s been almost, over four years in the making and it gives a quality new facility for the Sheriff’s Department. The aging facility that they’ve been using currently is on Breslauer and it is well beyond its time. And in fact most of the buildings on Breslauer at this point are going to have to be demolished or just simply past their time. And so there’s a new building, state of the art building for them, which will be great, especially in emergency services.
And then lastly Chair I attended as I always do the Redding Rancheria Powwow. And I ended up buying another poncho I just had, can’t stay away from the ponchos. I think I have four now. So if you ever need to borrow one, let me know. That ends my reports.
District 5 Supervisor Chris Kelstrom
(21:18) Supervisor Chris Kelstrom, District 5: All right, on the Thursday the third, I attended a push out ceremony for a new fire truck up in Shingletown. It’s a custom made fire truck, four wheel drive, made specifically for the Shingletown fire station. The push out ceremony is kind of interesting. So back in the 1800s when they had horse-drawn, you know, fire apparatus. they brought him back to the fire station, they’d have to unhook the horses and then all the firemen have to push the wagon back into the shed or the garage or wherever they had it. So now they have a ceremony when they get a new fire truck, they bring a bunch of people up there and we push it into the fire station. So that was on a Thursday. And later that day, I had an economic development luncheon at the Sheraton. And then on the fourth, Fred Loveland, a great patriot honor guard. He gave a shout out to everybody. I announced it at the last meeting that there was a Vietnam veteran being buried out in Igo, Dale Hackney. And he put the shout out, the guy had no family and, and very few friends. So it was very heartwarming to see. There must have been at least 300 people there. We had a flyover by Ron Lim. It was a great ceremony and it was very heartwarming that we were able to see this great veteran off.
So and then Saturday, I had the Manton Apple Festival where I was a guest judge in the pie eating contest. There was 35 pies this time. So I had parts of 35 pies. I attended with Mike Quinn who – crazy enough eats the whole slice on 35 of them. Well, 33 because there was two that had hot chili peppers in them. And I still don’t understand that. But anyhow, and then also Sheriff Dave Kane from Tehama County was also one of the guest judges.
Then Sunday, I had the Anderson Senior Center Breakfast. The eighth I attended the Market and Tourism meeting with Supervisor Garman and then I also attended the ribbon cutting on the October 10 at the Sheriff’s Department with pretty much this whole board, I think with the exception of Supervisor Garman. And then later that day, I had a planning commission meeting that I came down here in this chamber and they had my chicken ordinance written. So I went ahead and addressed them to explain the chicken ordinance. After 20 months, my chicken ordinance is finally done and we’ll be heading to the board here soon.
On October 11, I attended the West Valley Homecoming parade on Front street in Cottonwood. And then I went to the Anderson Fall Festival down in Anderson. And then we had a fundraiser that night where Kevin Crye and I, Supervisor Crye and I explained measures P and Q to the folks that were there. And then Saturday being the second Saturday of the month, as always I attended the VFW breakfast in Anderson and then drove up the hill and attended the Shingletown Fire Department breakfast. And then that night, I had a fundraiser for Life Net down at Tehama County.
And one last thing before I conclude my report. So talking with the fire chief at the ribbon cutting ceremony, it was very disheartening to hear that. That Shoe Fire burning up north is in the Federal US Department of Forestry jurisdiction and they did not want our help. Our help was offered, the county fire departments were offered, talked to another young lady whose boyfriend is a firefighter. She said he’s sitting at his station because they don’t want help. And it’s a little disheartening that that fire after almost a week is only 7% contained. It’s gone up to 3500 acres and from the outside looking in, it seems as if the Department of Forestry does not want help putting it out, which is extremely disheartening. I hope that’s not the case, but that’s kind of what it looks like from the outside looking in and that concludes my report.
District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert.
(24:52) Supervisor Mary Rickert, District 3: Yes, I had a busy couple of two weeks. I attended the Steve Garvey event when he came to town. I liked what he had to say. He really emphasized the fact that he wants to represent all voters, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, whatever. He was very personable and great personality. It was a really nice event. It was up at the Matson Winery place.
Attended the Burney Basin Fire Safe Council. I was so impressed there were, it was a good turnout. There’s probably about 15 of us and they had 2.5 pages of projects that they’re working on in the intermountain areas, fuel reduction projects, hiking trails, just all kinds of things. And there were representatives from the Pit River tribe there. So it’s a really community effort and I was just so pleased and happy with the progress that they’re making up there.
Attended the Shingletown event where we celebrated the new County/CalFire station. Really exciting to see that go in there. As we all know Shingletown is super high risk for potential fires.
I got a conversations with Caltrans and just for the people in Palo Cedro, just to let you know, they’re going to be setting up a meeting with the county over the Silver Bridge/44 connection. There’s an interchange there that’s had a high incidence of accidents. And so they’re going to monitor that, work together with Shasta County. So I’m pleased that we’re getting some action on that particular issue.
I attended the Good News Rescue Mission Harvest for Hope dinner. Huge turnout, great, you know, sold out as usual and there was so many positive – oh, first of all, Mike Mangas was the honoree. So let’s all give him a hand, couldn’t gone to a nicer guy. I knew there was something about that special night, but he was honored. And, Mike, congratulations. So, anyway, there are so many things that Jonathan Anderson talked about as far as a sobering center, a day center, all the kinds of facilities that this county desperately needs to help those that are unhoused and that need treatment services. So I’m really excited. And the other thing that Jonathan shared is that there’s a new law evidently coming through. I didn’t write down what bill it was, but that the government is now going to be able to partner with faith based charities. And that’s going to give us a lot more leverage in order to work with faith based churches, whatever, and to work collaboratively with them. So he was really excited about that because that’ll really step up the funding. So this is a really good thing for Shasta County. So keep an eye on Good News Rescue Mission and all the great work that they’re doing.
I also went to the ribbon cutting for the 17 micro shelters. That was also a really exciting day. I’ve had several meetings with doctors and I have one in the audience with some we talked about at the SHARC meeting about the opioid settlement fund dollars. I’ve had hours and hours of discussions with various people. So, well, more to be continued on that. I attended the Carl Bott show at KCNR. I attended the ribbon cutting for the new EOC and it’s replacing the facility out in Progress Avenue. For those of you that have been there, I’ve been there many, many times over the years. This is just worlds away from what they’re leaving on Progress Avenue. So it’s really exciting and I just want to extend my appreciation, though he’s not here to hear these words, to Matt Pontes for his work and getting this off the ground to getting this vision that he had and I remember we had many lengthy conversations about what this was going to look like and how it was going to be transformed into a really highly functional facility. What I love about it, it’s positioned close to CalFire and forest service, smoke jumpers are right across the street. So it’s a really good location. And Jen Rossi, she also from the CAOs office, worked on that quite a bit. So I just want to thank for all the people that put the time and the energy in and the thought in to get this to become a reality because they were the ones on the ground that initiated this.
I was asked to be a speaker at the Burney Rotary. I met with many constituents up there. We talked at length about the Fountain Wind, potential Fountain Wind project. And of course, there have deep concerns about that being approved. At the SHARC meeting, we had again a extensive discussion on the opioid dollars and so more to come from that.
My husband and I attended Kent Pfrimmer’s memorial service. There’s probably about 700, 800 people there at the fairgrounds. He owned Kent’s Market and Kent was just such an incredible gentleman, known him for many, many, many years and very, very generous to the community. It wasn’t hardly an an event in this county that he didn’t donate to. So he’s going to be missed terribly.
I did an interview on channel 7 with Mike Mangas. It was three minutes, got through it, Mike. Oh, and I want to thank the group of people we gathered on Sunday. I had a super group of people. We did a food drive and a lot of the pantries are, their shelves are empty right this time of year. And so we had a great turnout. We collected hundreds and hundreds of pounds of food that went to the Shasta County Office of Education for their food pantry, Shasta College food pantry, and the Salvation Army. So we had over two pickup loads, back of the pickups completely full of food. And I just want to thank everyone that participated in that. It was a great day and I have my husband bring down a whole pickup load of pumpkins. So if you showed up, you got a free pumpkin too. So just to add to the whole excitement of the day.
And then last night I attend the Shasta County Farm Bureau meeting in Palo Cedro and they’re working on their strategic plan. So that’s great.
And then last of all I’ve been checking in regularly with forest service and county fire chief about the Shoe Fire. I just talked to our county fire chief before I came into the board meeting and he says CalFire now has equipment on the ground on this fire and it’s on mostly on the west side, it’s in a nonpopulated area. And a lot of people, there’s anybody that’s close to the fire world knows that there’s very different approaches how forest service handles fires versus how CalFire handles them. And there’s not always the easiest working relationship, but CalFire is now on the ground. So I’m excited about that because their first priority of course is people’s lives and property and where the forest service just has a little different, if it’s on federal land, they kind of had a tendency to let it burn. And that particular area, my husband always tells the story in, I don’t know, forties or fifties when they would run cattle up there. And when his grandfather, they drive him out and they drive him out through Cottonwood, out to the Bald Hills and, I mean, drive them, not in a truck, but they would light off the the brush and the undergrowth and the trees, they would light fires as they left in the fall. And so this is kind of nature’s way in the old days. Nobody lived out there, but that’s the way they would do it. So, with that, that concludes my report.
District 1 Supervisor/Chair Kevin Crye
(32:29) Supervisor Kevin Crye, District 1: I attended a Steve Garvey event as well.
I’m going to move through these pretty quickly because as most, some of the supervisors have attended some of these with me as well. I attended a high school Government Day with ROV Tom Toller at Shasta High School, discussing just the voting process and about how young people can get involved in local government.
Met with multiple candidates for City of Redding, Littau, Dhanuka, and Mezzano who’s also a current City of Redding member as well as Josh Johnson about issues surrounding the airport and other ways to collaborate together.
Visited Redding Memorial Cemetery. They had an issue about water. That was really interesting. It actually goes back to like 1894. So we’re going to have something coming up about that here shortly. We had, I know I did an interview and I believe Supervisor Jones did as well, with, I believe it was KEIE out of San Francisco about just the voting process and what Shasta County has been up to the last year. So if you saw that, that was actually a very lengthy, but it was, it was very informative radio show, really covered measures P and Q. I will be on Carl Bott tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. There’s a lot of misinformation out there about what measures P and Q are. So I would really recommend people read your ballot guide, just read it. It’s really, really simple. Either you’re for private property rights that you’re not. And the other is do you want to return the voting, the ability to vote for your elected sooner than later? Because it’s, it’s absolutely crazy what people are saying what those are.
So we had a artist reception for a mural at the JRF a couple of weeks ago. So they launched that. That was a phenomenal job also done by individuals that reside there. We have the Rib Cage Brown Gate breaking downtown. That’s a new restaurant going in and it’s a and it’s also going to have some housing tied to it. What the reason I’m excited about that is, it’s all private funding. It’s not a public private partnership. So I like to see business growth in Shasta County, especially in district one that is not tied to government funding. So that was exciting.
I met with K2 quite a bit as well to understand some of the things that we could do as a county, even though most of the things that they do are in district one, which would fall under the City of Redding, but just more opportunities to get government out of private public partnerships. We had the grand opening of the Shasta County Sheriff’s Station. I attended the powwow. Had a great meeting with Lori Scott and about her ARPA funds and what she’s doing in terms of code enforcement. So we’re going to have something coming back by the end of the year from Ms. Scott to support her efforts.
Met with a representative from Senator Dahle’s office concerning senior housing and we’ll be also bringing something back with that by the end of the year. Met with a firm and CEO Rickert about energy efficiency and also some work on the old courthouse and some opportunities we have maybe to go after some grants as it relates to the opioid funding to try and do bigger projects, leveraging what we’re going to be doing with opioid funding, possibly, but also what are some other things that we could do at the same time and pull in more resources to make that go as far as possible.
I had a a brief call with Larry Olmstead from United Way about the event coming up, October 29 about healing the political divide in Shasta County. And it’s not, and they’re doing this all over the country. It’s not just exclusive to Shasta County, but we have a meeting coming up. So I will keep everybody posted about that. Like all the supervisors have had multiple meetings about the opioid settlement dollars. One of the things for me, I’m very, we, we are spending a ton of money already in some verticals. I think getting as much education to kids and stopping the problem before it starts is something I’m very passionate about. The CEO Rickert and I attended, or not attended, We did a walkthrough yesterday at the JRF, concerning the individuals that escaped and working closely and Chief Neil and Sheriff Johnson have spoken to both of them a few times about the efforts that they’re doing, which I appreciate. Had a, an event that I attended. It was absolutely packed. It was hard to even find a parking spot. And I did that with Supervisor Kelstrom and we had a booth set up just educating people on measures P and Q. I’m not sure how far you had to walk. I had to walk. It felt like two miles.
Supervisor Kelstrom: I got there early.
(37:18) Supervisor Crye: And then the the last thing too that I want to touch on and they’ll be brief. I have, I just was looking up the emails and Supervisor Garman, I’ll respond to this just really quickly. I just feel bad how embarrassed you’re going to be when I release my email. So, with that, oh, Supervisor Garman’s in queue.
(37:36) Supervisor Garman: Yes, thank you. I want to clarify one of my statements along those lines that I made. I know people will be confused. The emails I have are from department heads talking about how you were pitching your program and the abuse that they feel like they’re threatened with. It did not mention the fact that they feel like they’re held hostage like you want to, that you would give them their full money. That was said verbally.
(37:58) Supervisor Crye: So, so yeah, so I can already tell we’re backtracking. So here’s what I’ll tell you is I offered to give about $200,000 to Shasta County SCOE because I can’t benefit in Shasta County from the programs we do. But what’s tough for me is I am in some of the largest districts in the state and across the country, they’re reaching out about Dr. Kons program that we wrote a white paper on he’s presenting in Spain. And I told supervisor or Superintendent Freeman that I could care less about making money. I want people in Shasta County to benefit from this so I will release those. You’ll see. And really, it’s about accountability. People. We spend a lot of money on kids in Shasta County and I want metrics of what we’re getting for our dollar. That’s it. Simple. And I don’t, and I think we should all want that. So I’m going to move on.
Presentations
R3 Receive a financial presentation from the Health and Human Services Agency.
No Additional General Fund Impact
No Vote
This was pulled from the calendar.
(38:50) R4 Receive a presentation from Deborah Hiner, Chief Executive Officer of Guardians for Freedom, regarding the organization and the upcoming Second Annual Redding Walk for Freedom to end human trafficking (Sponsored by Supervisor Crye).
No Additional General Fund Impact
No Vote
(39:36) Deborah Hiner: Thank you so much for inviting me to speak about Guardians for Freedom and the Walk for Freedom. So the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. And that’s a quote by John Stuart Mill. Guardians for Freedom is a 501 C three faith based organization. And one crucial aspect of our mission is combating the insidious crimes of grooming and human trafficking. Through comprehensive education and proactive measures, we aim to empower individuals starting with our youth to identify and thwart exploitation. By forging partnerships with schools, law enforcement and other stakeholders, we will disseminate vital information and provide training and foster a culture of vigilance and action. Additionally, we pledge our support to organizations actively engaged in combating human trafficking and contributing to their fundraising efforts as well as aiding in the rescue and rehabilitation of victims. Together, we will raise awareness through community outreach, erecting billboards and signs and encouraging and reporting to create a united front against this abhorrent crime.
So this coming Saturday is the second annual Walk for Freedom, Saturday, October 19. Just come at 8:30. It’s at Lake Redding Park. Please dress in black. The Walk for Freedom Redding is our global awareness event and we will be rallying with tens of thousands of people and taking millions of steps in hundreds of cities worldwide. We walk to disrupt the existence of modern day slavery, shaking it to its very foundation within our cities, communities and our world. We will have the park until about four and the walk will last about two hours. So we’ll be done around 11:30 but we will have food trucks at the park and you’re welcome to stay.
Human trafficking. So what is, what good does this walk for freedom do? Human trafficking is a $250 billion industry. A staggering figure that reflects the exploitation and suffering of millions. Today there are more than 41 million people enslaved and more than in any other point in our history, and even more heartbreaking, one in four of these victims is a child. This year marks the 10 year anniversary of the walk, a decade of passionate abolitionists coming together since its inception, and there are tens of thousands that have shown up through the power of social media. A21 has reached an astounding 800 million people. Each step matters and each step makes a difference. Together with A21, in 2023 they have reached billions through awareness, prevention and education. They’ve trained and equipped more than 35,000 front line professionals. They have identified and assisted thousands of victims, rescuing them from exploitation, helped to prosecute 229 traffickers resulting in 3867 years in prison sentences and over 3.6 million in fines. They provided holistic aftercare to nearly 2000 survivors of human trafficking. They launched four human trafficking hotlines which have received more than 65,000 calls from those seeking help. These milestones are possible because of you. Your presence, your commitment and your steps will all bring us closer to our shared goal. a world free from slavery. A21 means to abolish slavery in the 21st century.
Can you see me campaign – the purpose of the Can You See Me campaign is to equip the general public to recognize the indicators of human trafficking and to report suspected scenarios, an increase in reports will lead in an to an increase in victim identification. Can You See Me exists to bring awareness of the millions of men, women and children who are currently trapped in slavery across the world. By partnering with law enforcement, governments, businesses and NGOs, our goal is to turn awareness into action. By listening to these videos and understanding what to look for and how to report suspected trafficking, when you see something, you can say something.
A21 has great resources and curriculum for K through 12 that I’d like to make sure this information does get into our schools. Local statistics – we’re looking to understand our current situation regarding trafficking in our area. Specifically, we want to gather local statistics and assess our existing prevention measures. It’s crucial to explore what additional actions we can take to safeguard our vulnerable populations, especially our school age children. To evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts, we need a clear picture of the current landscape. I’d like to identify resources for obtaining this information.
Is there a local task force focused on this issue? I have reached out to the local law enforcement trafficking unit and I hope to schedule a meeting with them soon. This is a battle. The problem is only getting worse with the increasing number of undocumented children who are now missing. Our government has lost track of 325,000 undocumented and unaccompanied minors, many of whom are being trafficked. “What is Treason” is a documentary? And if you’d like me to send you this link, just ask me after the meeting. That explains what’s going on at the border.
On 10-23, the Wednesday after the Walk for Freedom, Guardians for Freedom along with Mom Army will be hosting a candlelight vigil and that’s going to be at Turtle Bay and what we’ll be doing is lighting candles, will have little tea lights. I have about 100 available, to pray to ask questions. And we hope to have speaker, perhaps Sheriff Johnson will be coming to speak, perhaps Kevin to talk about what’s going on at the border. And we just, they should never be forgotten and we really want to push for answers. So I ask that everyone would join with us. Not only for this Saturday, the Walk for Freedom, come see us at 8:30 in the morning walk with us. And then also on Wednesday, the candlelight vigil at 7:30 to 8:30. We must stop human trafficking. Thank you for listening.
Board Matters, Continued
(46:13) R5 Adopt a proclamation which designates October 23-31, 2024, as “Red Ribbon Week” in Shasta County (Sponsored by Supervisor Rickert).
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Supervisor Rickert read the proclamation:
(46:34) Supervisor Rickert: Red Ribbon week, October 23 to 31, 2024. Whereas alcohol, tobacco and other drug use and abuse has reached pandemic stages in California and throughout the United States. Whereas recent reports indicate that drug use abuse and abuse begin at an earlier age. The challenge to give our youth the chance to be free of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs has never been greater. And whereas Shasta County chemical people partners for a drug free community coordinates with the Shasta County red ribbon celebration to offer our citizens the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to healthy drug lifestyles. And whereas it is imperative that community members launch un unified and visible for tobacco, alcohol and other drug prevention education programs and activities to eliminate the demand for these substances. And whereas the red ribbon celebration will be observed across America during Red Ribbon Week, October 23 through 31, 2024. And whereas it is important that the entire community home schools, churches, businesses and governmental agencies unite to organize support and promote community awareness of tobacco, alcohol and other drug problems and encourage drug free choices. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Shasta County Board of Supervisors hereby proclaims October 23 through 31 2024 is Red Ribbon Week in Shasta County and encourages citizens to participate in drug prevention education activities. Making a visible statement that we are firmly committed to a drug free and alcohol abuse free community.
There were two public commenters on R5.
(48:23) Jenny O’Connell: . Thank you again for, for putting something up once again that everyone can agree is important. Red Ribbon week is a really important part of Shasta County as we have an extremely high drug population in this area. And many of the people I know of got addicted when they were young, way too young, like 10, 11, 12, 13 year olds I know of in Burney. They were already addicted by that age too. Not like just weed and drinking, but like methamphetamine and especially with the increase of fentanyl and extremely dangerous products out there. It’s really important to reach people as soon as possible. If I remember correctly, Chair Crye, I do believe that’s why you said you wish to reach the youth because that’s prevention is like the best measure and it’s just one of many arms to make things better in this county. And so I just, thank you guys for bringing this forward.
(49:34) Delores Lucero: Kevin Crye, you never want to make things better. Unfortunately, it’s all about kids you’re talking about, you know, you want to, it’s actually as long as they’re, you see dollar signs in their forehead. [Supervisor Crye: R5.] Yeah, that’s R5. So, you know, it’s pretty pathetic. Thank you, Mary for you doing your job and you continue to put items that it is important to the county. I think it’s, you actually would be a better person to be re-elected. And, what’s his name? Corky Harmon. [Supervisor Crye: R5] It is. Don’t tell me, what did you say? Ok, pay attention, you thief. making real deals regarding Mike Freeman, taking money for your business. You want to start this, huh? You want to continue? I would love to get a copy of that because I would take it. I want to walk it into the FBI. That’s a freaking blackmail. So yeah. Oh no, that was, thank you, Tim. Thank you, Tim for bringing that up. But thank you, Mary cause you continue to do your job more than anybody here that continues to badmouth you and bring signs. I think you do a wonderful job. You balance the board. I don’t care what people think that Mary, you know, how they treat you. I think it’s pathetic because you keep on doing your job and I think it’s wonderful and I think that’s what we need to do, no matter what anybody says around us because that’s what they do do to me regardless what people say. I continue to move forward because they’re not going to stop me. So I think you’re doing a great job by moving forward no matter what anybody says, what they think and just don’t let anyone to discourage you, you know, to, to try to stop you from doing your job or doing, representing the people who actually is in your district or anybody who needs help because that’s what we supposed to do and you’re doing that. You’re not in it to make money off the county. The other person who’s actually running, Corky Harming is actually making money. [Supervisor Crye: Red ribbon] off the county [Supervisor Crye: red ribbon week.] So I just want to say thank you. Yeah, use that ribbon around your neck. You know, it it is, but just, just want to thank you because this, this these three here are constantly abusing you behind closed doors. I know that. So thank you very much for doing everything you can.
R5 passed on a 5-0 vote.
Support Services
(55:14) R6 Adopt a resolution which appoints Sean Ewing as Director of Resource Management effective October 21, 2024, continues the appointment of Jim Whittle as Director of Environmental Health, and establishes Mr. Ewing’s compensation at the A-step salary range ($76.329 per hour/$13,230 per month).
General Fund Savings
Simple Majority Vote
Monica Fugitt made the presentation.
(55:34) Monica Fugitt: Welcome. Thank you morning chair cry Members of the board, Monica Fugitt, Director of Support Services. This item before you have approved would adopt a resolution appointing Sean Ewing as director of resource management again, effective October 21 at the a step of the salary range which is $76.32 hourly. As you’re aware, former director of resource management, Paul Hellman resigned, September 3, 2024 and as a result, a recruitment process began to select a new director in the interim. The board took steps to appoint Wyatt Paxton as interim director pending the outcome and selection of a new director. Shasta County code section 8.02 0.040. And chapter six of the Shasta County personnel rules established at the position is appointed by the board upon recommendation of the CEO upon completion of the recruitment process, it was recommended that the board appoint Sean Ewing to the position. Shasta County Code further provides the resource management director serve as the county building official and the director of environmental health, if they meet the qualifications, otherwise, those responsibilities would be delegated to another management employee in the department. Mr. Ewing meets the qualifications to serve as the county building official and will serve in that role, holding a international code council certification as building official. However, does not posses as the qualifications to serve as Director of Environmental Health. Therefore, the appointment will need to continue for Jim Whittle to serve in that capacity. Mr. Whittle has been serving in that capacity continuously since July 21st of 2021. Mr. Ewing is qualified to serve as the director of resource management. Has been employed with Shasta County as a building division manager since 2022 is a licensed civil engineer and IC C certified building official and has spent over 15 years in private industry working in various facets of civil engineering and project management. He’s also here today. If you have any questions for either me or Mr. Ewing or would like to address him. Thank you.
(57:47) Public comment began on R6.
(57:47) Benjamin Nowain: Good morning. My name is Benjamin Nowain and I am here as a concerned citizen. So I stand here today to express my deep concerns about the appointment of Sean Ewing as resource manager manager. So I’m just going to be blunt. This decision raises serious red flags. We’ve had far more qualified candidate in Adam Fieseler, someone with years of experience and invaluable institutional knowledge. Yet, we bypassed him in favor of someone with a questionable track record and lack of experience. So Sean Ewing actually did make a social media post in 2020 that showed a clear disregard for public health measures and safety measures during the height of COVID-19. So in light of these antigovernment, anti public health sentiments, that falls in line with what this current board majority is all about. So I I’m not going to pretend like this appointment is about merit. It seems like a move to install someone who aligns with the political agenda of a select few like Corky Harmon and Patrick Jones. We’ve seen the cronyism before Patrick uses power to push through his personal projects like the gun range bending rules to serve his own interests. And now it appears as we’re headed down the same path with Ewing as the next puppet. The county deserves leadership that is transparent and acts in the best interests of everyone, not just a small self-serving group. I’m just not convinced that Sean is going to provide that we need real accountability. Not another political appointment wrapped in self-interest.
(59:24) Jillian McCullough: Hi, thank you. Good morning board members. My name is Julian McCullough. My family and I live in Millville. I’ve actually known Sean Ewing for many, many years, back to elementary school. I’m here today to express my full support for his appointment as Director of Resource management. I know he’s a person of high integrity, intelligence, steadfast demeanor. Even as a young man, he was a high performer, a real critical thinker and someone that you can count on. It’s been my experience that leopards don’t change their spots. Definitely, that’s my experience with Sean. He was raised here in NorCal. I believe that gives him a unique perspective on our history and our way of life. This position has a high impact on the county and especially as we continue to build the future and how we want our communities. I’d like to thank Sean for the work he’s been doing at the county thus far. We’re lucky to get such an individual of his caliber in a role as important as this one. I’d like to leave Sean with the quote from someone very smart. I wish you the best of luck. I know you will be very successful. And actually that quote was from him. He wrote it in my yearbook very, very many, many years ago now. And I wish him the the same on his new endeavor board. I’m very pleased with the suggestion of this appointment. I know that Sean will be an asset to the county. I look forward to hearing about all the improvements that the team will make under his leadership. Thank you very much.
(1:01:21) CEO Rickert: I do want the audience to know and the board to know that Mister Ewing was the unanimous selection by the review committee and is highly qualified for the position.
Supervisor Crye: Who was on that, who was on that committee?
CEO Rickert: That would have been Monica Fugitt, me, and supervisor Kelstrom.
(1:01:41) Supervisor Kelstrom: Yeah. And I was just going to just those exact sentiments. It was unanimous all three of us. And I fully support Sean, I think he’s the right man for the job. And just so the record, I also fully support Wyatt Paxton. I brought him in, I interviewed him on the tailgate of my truck in Cottonwood and I think he was the right man for the job for the time being. And I think Sean is the right man for the job moving forward.
(1:02:04) Supervisor Jones: Yeah, Sean. Just appreciate you coming on board. You know, this was always for me, one of the most important positions, the director of resource management and now that we needed one, we needed the right person at the right time. Every once in a while we get lucky that happens. I think that’s the case here. So welcome, the board and I hope you stay for 20 years.
(1:02:31) Supervisor Garman: Sean, just straight up, I won’t be supporting this. It’s not personal. I just feel like, well, maybe it kind of is because obviously I’m not supporting it, but don’t take it the wrong way. Paul Hellman, when he left recommended Adam Fieseler. Adam has done a wonderful job in his role and hopefully he will stay, continue to do so, but that’s the only reason I’m not supporting you. Ok? Just, so you understand, it’s not from what you’ve done on the job. Everything I’ve seen you do has been spot on. So I can’t argue that side of it. What I want to say is over Paul Hellman’s career here. He has turned the tide and changed the the tone of that office with his leadership and Adam’s and trickling on down to you and the rest of the department, we’ve seen a massive shift in how the public views resource management. And I just urge you to continue that success that they’ve, they’ve started and you could take it, take it forward and I hope you’re here for the next 20 years as well. Thank you.
(1:03:26) Supervisor Rickert: Yes. I just want to say it and it’s again, nothing personal with Sean, I am going to vote no. Also, I’m concerned that politics are playing a big part of this. It’s obvious that Reverge Anselmo is a piece of this as was the case with the appointment of Wyatt Paxton. I was on the panel when we hired Paul Hellman and I have the utmost regard and respect his opinion and he was unequivocally in support of Adam Fieseler. And Adam had 16 years, I’ve worked with him for eight years. I’ve had nothing but good results with Adam and I’m very concerned about the morale in the department. I’m also concerned that my constituents because I’m voting no, my constituents are not going to be served adequately. And so I would like that promise from you that when I contact you because I contact resource management 2-3 times a week. And I would like to have that assurance, go on the record that you will respond to me. Just like I have the same kind of response that Adam and Paul gave me. So, that’s all I can ask for it. I hope that this is going to work out, but I am concerned because politics do seem to be a big part of this. All right. So do I have your promise that you will respond?
(1:04:46) Sean Ewing: The position of director of resource management is non-political and I’ve never made it political in my time here as a building division manager. So I respond to all constituents, all customers, all supervisors equally. And I assure you that I will continue to do that.
(1:05:00) Supervisor Rickert: Thank you. That’s all I wanted to hear. I just want the constituents in district three to understand that I’m looking out for their best interests. Thank you.
(1:05:10) Supervisor Crye: First time I’ve spoken to you. thank you. I mean, well, you, you just heard two supervisors say like none of this is based on merit. It’s based on relationship and cronyism. So you got the job because you earned it. You deserved it. I have full confidence in the panel. I, I just want to apologize to director Fugitt and CEO Rickert that, I mean, we all sign up, we all sign up to have our integrity and character slammed, but staff just getting railroaded more and more and thrown into it and I’m sorry that your moment is taken by this. So we’re going to go ahead and take that vote.
(1:05:46) Supervisor Rickert: I pushed my button. No, I’m sure I’d like to make a comment. You know, I have worked for eight years in this county and I have a huge district. There’s a lot of problems that are dealt with resource management. So I’ve had eight years of experience in dealing with this and I have had in other departments because I’m not as politically aligned to some of your appointments that I don’t get quite the treatment that you get. And that’s what I’m saying. I have personal experience with this and I just wanted to make sure that the constituents in district three are going to be represented equally and fairly. And I do contact resource management regularly. I mean, 2, 3, 4 times a month because you have never, which I find shocking, in two years, you’ve never had a problem, I guess. But I do regularly. And so I just want, I just want to be sure that everyone is going to be treated equally and fairly in Shasta County. That’s all I want.
(1:06:44) Supervisor Kelstrom: Yeah. I’m just going to go ahead and point out that the first six of those years, Mary, that department was going the wrong way. Supervisor Garman pointed out that Paul Hellman turned, the ship was trying to turn the ship. That ship started being turned when I was making my campaign commercials saying that we need to get the department of resource management to start treating people as customers and helping them rather than hindering them. So, it’s been the last two years that that ship has started to turn and I, well, where was it going? The first six years of your tenure?
Supervisor Rickert: You weren’t here.
Supervisor Kelstrom: I know, I know I wasn’t here and two years ago I made it a campaign promise that, that we are going to turn this thing around and it’s been turning around now and this is the next step in turning that thing around.
(1:07:28) Supervisor Garman: Wow, everybody wants to take credit for everything, I guess, but Paul Hillman and Adam Fieseler deserve the credit over here and, and, and you as well, Sean and the rest of the staff and it’s been going on from the day I got elected. It was started before I was elected. It started with the hiring of Paul Hellman. Let’s just make sure we’re straight on that. Supervisor Rickert, I want to show you my relations with Sean and working with him is he will treat you in your constituents equally and fairly. Sean is a good person and he will do in my opinion, a good job. So I don’t think you need to have that fear.
Supervisor Rickert: I have had and I appreciate that. I have, I have had bad experiences in other situations and, and yes, Paul Hellman, I was on the panel. It was during the Carr Fire. I remember it clearly and Les Baugh and I were the two supervisors on that panel. And I remember when Mr. Hellman first got in, [Supervisor Crye talks over Rickert] I am talking, there were piles of paper the previous resource management director hadn’t even touched for years and Mr. Hellman started going through that. He had to play catch up for years. It started the minute he started as the resource management I was here. I witnessed it. I experienced it. You were not.
(1:08:48) Sean Ewing: I appreciate the opportunity to take on this role within resource management for the county. I, as Monica mentioned, a civil engineer, I went to school for civil engineering license. Expect to spend my entire career doing that. It was a few years back that I realized that I felt like I had more to offer to the community and found the building division manager, building official position by accident. It wasn’t something I was looking for and I, I took a chance and it’s been a very challenging endeavor, but I’ve enjoyed every moment of it and I felt like I’ve brought a lot of stability to not just the department but the relationship with the community. And you know, we’ve had a lot of momentum and I look to continue that momentum on the building side, but also expand my role into the other divisions as well. And just try to make a difference in the community and catch up with a lot of things that have been long overdue. And that, that’s what I’m, I’m here for. That’s what my drive is, is not a position but, but for change improvement. So as far as my responsiveness to anyone in the community, this is non-political. Any, any supervisor, you know, it’s all the same. My goal is to do our job and do it well and do it accurately and fairly. And I just appreciate your trust and me to, to fulfill this role.
R6 passed on a 3-2 vote with Supervisors Garman and Rickert voting no.
(1:11:12) 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 or on any agenda item listed on the Consent Calendar. 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, and any public comment not heard by the 12:00 p.m. recess, will be heard once all Regular Calendar items on the agenda have been considered by the Board, and before the Board’s consideration of the Consent Calendar.
The first eleven speakers, seven of them identifying themselves as Citizens 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, talked about their distrust in the elections.
(1:38:42) Nigel Skeet: Compared to all the other stuff you have going on. This seems pretty trivial, but I want to clarify some things about the Shasta County Chamber. I don’t make any money off of the Shasta County Chamber. Neither does anyone else. We all volunteer our time and money. Even though I started it, I do not have any ownership in the organization. James Mazzotta is the owner and there is no personal gain. Supervisor Rickert. You have openly criticized the Shasta County Chamber in public forums and on the radio, labeling us as unnecessary and suggesting that certain important matters such as tourism and TOT should remain under the city of Redding’s control. This is odd because prior to establishing the Shasta County Chamber, I took the initiative to present the Countywide concept and vision to each of you, supervisors and other community members seeking your feedback before moving forward. Maybe I did have some blind spots. Everyone I spoke with supported a Shasta County Chamber and many expressed surprise that it hadn’t been done sooner, including you Supervisor Rickert. We met on October 26, 2022 and after the meeting in which you voiced your support for Shasta County Chamber, I texted you, thanking you for your input. You replied, good luck, proud of people like you who are giving it their best to make this a better place to live. However, a few individuals in Redding City Hall expressed to me directly that they believe the only place that matters in Shasta County is Redding. There’s no need for the county to have a chamber. This implies that the other half of the population and the vast majority of the area are insignificant and do not require representation, support or investment. Interestingly, among all the places we have now visited over the last year in Shasta County on several occasions. It is your district three. That seems that seems to be the most overlooked. We have visited Burney, Fall River and McArthur multiple times to network cover events. Each time different people express their feelings of feeling excluded or undervalued by the county. We now have approximately 125 individuals, small and big business members from all over Shasta County and between the sponsorships, roundups and shoutouts. We have contributed approximately $15,000 to our small business community. If an individual wants to criticize the Shasta County Chamber, that’s fine. But when a city county supervisor throws us under the bus, you’re throwing our team and over 100 Shasta County small businesses under the bus. Also along with the very constituents you serve. I don’t know what happened. You didn’t reach out to me, but I invite you to please reconsider.
(1:41:40) Supervisor Rickert: I want to make a clarification. This was prior to the hiring of Mr. Rickert as the CEO, I was given some information from a person that was at a meeting and she told me that Chriss Street said he was going to be the new CEO and that he, the first, one of the first things he was going to do was to get money for Nigel Skeet for his Shasta County. And so I’ve had, I’ve been very wary of what exactly is going on with that. And I can’t support something that I feel is potentially not on the up and up. And I have had several conversations. I’ve had a 30 year relationship with the president of the Burney Chamber. There’s concern there. I’ve talked to some people in Fall River Valley and I’ve also had a person who had been approached by the chamber and they were, they told me there, I won’t say who they are or where they’re from to protect them, but they said that they were told that if they joined the chamber, all they had to do is let them know and in two weeks Kevin Crye would be, make sure to take care of them. That’s not exactly the way I think that county government should be run and I will not support that kind of activity. That money needs to be spent someplace, not just being taken care of certain people. And I will not do that I, we represent, I represent, the fiduciary responsibility is mine of this county and I don’t think we should be supporting something that’s giving money for certain people. That’s already been ear tagged for certain people.
(1:43:32) Laurie Bridgeford: Good morning chair and board. Laurie Bridgeford District four and volunteer with Shasta County citizen journalist. Today I’d like to remind people that back in 2014, the largest attendance ever at this board and this is pre COVID was with Dane Wigginton’s presentation on geoengineering. This morning, 7:45 I saw the largest curve going on. We’re having a free screening of the dimming this Saturday, October 19, public’s welcome, free information materials. Dane will be available after the screening on Skype to take your questions. Obviously with hurricane Helene and Milton and, and all the rest we can see that there’s extremes and I like the other people have concerns if the grid goes down, we had Spectrum go down off and on off and on. These, it’s not an accident once and then maybe a coincidence twice and then a third time. I mean, there’s people that I’m conversing with that, they think this is either beta testing to see how, how much they can get away with the discomfort or the business loss of not having your internet or phone or devices and what whatnot. So the flyers are out there on the steps and the reason I, I bring this up is for the board to kind of look at our emergency services. what proper roles. FEMA, there’s people suggesting that the back east people claiming to be FEMA were taking supplies, blocking people from helping because it was taking so long with either the faith based or other recognizable services. So I have concerns too. We went through the Carr Fire as best we could. Firenado. That’s never been around before. It’s completely manipulated, controlled, there’s ground base frequency. All the rest they can steer, they can make things stronger. How does a hurricane go 140 miles inland? They’re supposed to fizzle out and calm down once it hits land. So we’re seeing obvious problems, issues and concerns. So, yes, Election Day is coming up. Anything could happen to stall it, ruin it, delay it, what, whatever you want to call it. S, I, I’m with you all. You’re bringing up the CalFire versus the Federal Mary. Ok. Yep. Yep. Yep. And so land grabs, you have already brought up eminent domain issues. The Shoe Fire. We still have a mystery of that. I, I live up there in Shasta Lake. I just kind of wondering, we’re always supposed to guess, is it arson? Is it coming from the jets or the drones or other land-based ways of making it very difficult for, for us to function, let alone have an election. So that’s pretty much what I want to say is by the way that those FEMA people back east were taking supplies and threatening arrest, they were threatening arrests of the citizen journalists that were capturing the FEMA people, threatening the helpers. So citizen journalists are pretty important. Doni just saying.
(1:46:39) Larry S: Good Morning Board. I like that stunt you pulled last week, Kevin. It was cute and a little bit pathetic. That’s all I have to say about that. After the board meeting that you canceled. Over the last 20 years, several nonpartisan watchdog organizations have examined and audited more than 45 million votes in America from president on down the ballot. They have found 0.0006% that might be fraudulent votes. So go ahead and spend your pathetic little wheels chasing that amount of fraud. We know that a man named Curtis Garvin converted Peter Thiel, who in turn converted JD Vance to believe that American democracy worked well. Only as long as white elite, Christian men were in control. Now, we know that Russell Vote of the Project to Renew America and Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation have Project 2025 meant to dismantle the institutions of our democracy and work towards an executive with almost unlimited power. A monarchy of sorts headed by a white Christian nationalist government they have a dossier of over 350 executive orders that are secret meant to be handed over to the next Republican president to begin this process. And JD Vance has even said that if some of those executive orders are found to be unconstitutional, it’s time to thumb your nose at the Supreme Court and remind them that they have no enforcement power anyway. So we know that you and your constituents and I suspect all on this board are going to vote for a madman Republican nominee. Correct me if I’m wrong and I hope I would be wrong, but not in most cases, it really, it’s sick is what it is. So, go ahead and vote for a stupid, mentally ill, racist, fascist. And in the words of General Mark Milley, fascist to the core monster who actually is a type of the anti-Christ. Do me a favor though. Leave your Christianity at the door, leave your faith at the door.
(1:49:53) Benjamin Nowain: I’m taking my wife’s spot today. Yes. Wait here. Go ahead. Our county is at a crossroads and we have a real chance to correct the course by voting for leadership that stands for the people, not just personal gain. The appointment of Sean Ewing is a perfect example holding up the fact that Monica Fugitt and David Rickert were part of the commission to choose him doesn’t automatically make it an unbiased decision. Something the public needs to understand – [voices in background]
(1:50:29) Supervisor Crye: Pause his time. Can you, can we please please refrain? I’m not, I’m just, can we just stop? Let’s let him continue. We got three more public comments we got. Thank you. Go ahead, go ahead.
[angry voice] Just make me leave.
Supervisor Crye: Just let, let, let him, let him, let him finish please.
(1:50:47) Benjamin Nowain: Something the public needs to understand is that both Fugitt and CEO Rickert are both in an at will position. That means they can be fired for anything the board majority doesn’t like. And I’ve seen it happen in the county before. Transparency isn’t acceptable to this administration. If you are at odds with the powers that be. Now, I’d like to address the Shasta County Chamber. Nigel Skeet is literally here to get help from his friend and business associate, Kevin Crye, likely by his request. Nigel, Kevin, the Shasta County Chamber is a good idea, but without ethical people at the helm, it is a bad idea. So let’s also talk about Patrick Jones and how he spent years promoting false narratives, labeling longtime residents as not conservative enough because they don’t align with his agenda. On a foreign media outlet who interviewed him recently, Jones even insinuated that there may be consequences if elections don’t go the way he and his supporters expect. This reckless rhetoric is dangerous and divisive and a thinly veiled threat against the community. Thank goodness you were voted out. Then there’s Corky Harmon whose conflicts of interest are just as concerning.
Supervisor Crye: Your wife just fell down out there, Ben, you might want to go out there.
Benjamin Nowain: No, she’s just laying down… Then there’s quirky Harmon whose conflicts of interest are just as concerning his company bids on county contracts while he promises to recuse himself. We all know that the lines of ethics are already blurred. We cannot allow cronyism in the backdoor deals to continue. And the truth is our community is being lied to and misled. We’re told that the corruption and favoritism we see are somehow good for us, but it is not, it’s stealing from us and it’s holding us back. If we vote for Mary Rickert, we have a chance to fix this to restore integrity and to make a real difference. District three voters, there’s only one choice if we want to move forward. Let’s stand up for what is right and put an end to the corruption that is tarnishing our county. Thank you, Nathan followed by Dolores
(1:53:25) Nathan Pinkney: So it is nice to have a real meeting. I, you know, I’m not sure why the last meeting was canceled. I was told that you were telling people that it was because I was going to bring violence. I, I mean, I don’t have a history of that. I was planning on coming and disrupting, you know, because it was a fake meeting and I’m allowed to do that, but I’ve never been a violent person and despite what people like to say, I don’t have a history of violence or a criminal record. So I wanted to clarify that. So the elephant in the room that nobody seems to want to talk about Tina Peters sentenced to prison for nine years for election interference, crimes. The Mesa pattern of fraud, Patrick, how many times did you use the Mesa pattern of fraud as the basis for getting rid of our election systems? How many times did all these people quote the Mesa pattern of fraud, Mesa pattern of fraud. How many text messages do you have between you and Tina Peters? How many does Laura Hobbs or Patty Plumb have between Tina Peters? Because I know you guys are all connected. It’s all the same information. Douglas Frank, the dude you brought, spoke at her hearing. You know, there’s just so many connections here. So what I hope happened to Tina Peters trickles down here too to these public officials, including Patty Plumb who are using their political power to undermine our elections. And you know what happened to Tina Peters by a jury of her peers and you guys did all that same stuff, same behavior. So I really am kind of getting annoyed by the fact that they’re all trying to pretend that didn’t exist because our county was thrown into turmoil because of all this Mesa pattern of fraud, garbage. And then look what happened to the person who basically started it nine years in prison. A local level politician. Yeah. So you guys should probably think about that because you’re not safe, you’re not safe. So, yeah, Patrick, I watched the interview you did where you spoke to some Dutch publication and you, and you’re surrounded by all your little guns saying that if they cheat Trump out of the election, something bad is going to happen. You’re obviously threatening people, you’re obviously laying the groundwork to, to say there was fraud because you know Trump’s going to lose. Trump knows he’s going to lose. You all know he’s going to lose. That’s why you’re so adamant about trying to say there’s going to be fraud because no matter what you’re going to say, there’s fraud, see right through it. So I just want to let you know that if he does lose and you do try to bring violence to the streets or you know, do anything violent to anybody that you will be met with a very strong resistance, you’re not just going to run roughshod over people because you lost again. Ok? Speaking of losing. Lastly, I want to congratulate Laura Hobbs on her fourth loss over the election. She lost the election, then she lost her lawsuit, then she lost her appeal. Then she lost her motion to vacate the dismissal of the appeal. So four time loser.
(1:56:47) Delores Lucero: Rights are important when Laura speaks up and when Nathan’s talking, she should shut up and stop interfering and you don’t do anything that’s treating people unequal and you’re basically discriminating the other people when you don’t do your job, Chris, I am so sick of you all the things that you have not done and then now you’re starting to attack Mary. Before you attack Mary, you better watch what you say because I will show the picture that you send me, you in a bathtub asking, asking me to be in there with you. That is actually something that your CEO actually supposed to investigate. He’s supposed to contact the witnesses or the victims. You did, you, did you seen that right? You guys have a copy. I, actually somebody file a complaint against you as a whistleblower because you know what you men are actually are disgusting. We know about Christy Cole too, Kevin Crye, the rumor about you and her. This is bullshit. This has been going on every time you guys get in here. You guys, it’s all about what you can get. You think you, you’re sick. I am so sick of you. I, I can’t stand you guys. It’s unbelievable for these people think that they’re right and they’re wrong. There’s no such thing because these people are committing crimes and you freaking know it and you both all, all three of you know it, but yet you won’t do a damn thing because you know why? Because you freaking break the law yourself, you break it, Laura Hobbs broke the law. Did you know that? Actually we going to pick up the documents today. She hacked somebody’s computer to get their account. I will get the documents today. So I’m going to provide those to you guys. What crime she committed? And I understand it’s in the de there’s a criminal investigation against Laura Hobbs. So sooner or later she’s going to end up somewhere behind bars because she continues to do things that nobody knows, thinking she’s so freaking innocent thinks she’s smart but she’s not, she’s stupid for doing that. There she is calling an election fraud and yes, she’s breaking the fucking law. People who say you’re not breaking the law. You also gotta make sure you don’t break the law because she’s accusing people. Think that I don’t know about that? There’s things that you guys think, I don’t know. Like you here, you told you actually some veteran came up to you and told you that, what’s her name? Preston? The kid who puts American flags in the, in the cemetery. They confided in you to look into it. That kid is actually taking money and his mother. Conflict of interest in committing fraud. A veteran came to you. You didn’t do a damn thing or report it yet. The reason why is because you’re interested in his mother. You told me that. But do you say, what do you say? Oh, she plays hard to get basically. Oh, no, I got texts about that too. There’s things about you. I would go after you personally what you’ve done to these women. But you and also the teacher in Gateway. Think I don’t know?
(2:00:00) Jenny O’Connell: Thank you, beautiful board for taking the time out of your busy schedule to hear your constituents today. I’m pleased to hear that United Way is coming to pull our community together out of what I’ve been hearing today. It’s definitely necessary. Despite the constant personality conflicts and political arguments. I know that there is a way to find common ground somewhere. We all can agree on what we want our children. We want our children to grow up safe. We want them to be happy, we want them to be drug free. We want a safe alternative for the homeless population. We wish to enjoy our own lives in safety and peace. We can disagree on how those things are accomplished. I’m sure even in disagreement we can find places we agree. We only lose when we dehumanize the other side. We only lose when we hold selfish tantrums that it’s my way and nothing else. We only lose when we close our ears and open our mouths without hearing the other side. When we close our thoughts, our hearts and our arms, we will never be happy ourselves. I ask that everyone attend the United Way thing, not only attend, absorb, reflect and become. To me, there is nothing worse than lose my county to selfish ambition, to close mindedness and to bitterness. Jesus said a house divided cannot stand and right now this house is crumbling. Find love, find compassion. I ask that all five of you bring your best selves to this Dais. We were all made with goodness in mind from God. So I just ask that you be what you were made to be. Thank you.
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 will be provided with a single opportunity to comment on one or more items on the Consent Calendar, during Public Comment – Open Time, before the Board’s consideration of the Consent Calendar.
(2:02:16) Supervisor Crye made a motion that the board approve C1 through C3 and then C5 through C10.
(2:02:29) Supervisor Jones: I just wanted to thank public works. This is a notice. Of completion for CSA2 in the Sugarloaf Water System. This was a project probably four years in the making. A $3 million grant was secured and that water system went from a 90% loss now to something very low. So I just wanted to recognize public works for getting that taken care of in my district. Thank you.
The Board voted unanimously to approve C1 through C3 and C5 through C10.
There was one public commenter on Consent Calendar.
(2:03:31) Benjamin Nowain: I want to thank Tim Garman for his courage in bringing to light what is going on with Kevin and his attempting to strong arm SCOE. The revelations about Crye’s actions in the Shasta County Office of Education are alarming to say the least. Crye’s attempts to impose budgetary control over SCOE under the guise of oversight is not only hypocritical but dangerously manipulative. He demands transparency and accountability from others while refusing to subject his own business, the Ninja Coalition, to the same scrutiny despite also receiving government funds. It’s a blatant double standard. But what’s more troubling is the clear pattern of coercion that’s emerged. This is not government governance. This is blackmail. If SCOE doesn’t fall in line, they risk losing resources they desperately need. This kind of quid pro quo where public services are held hostage to political demands is not just immoral, it’s illegal. We should be fostering collaboration and not using power as a weapon. Programs like Community Connect need the flexibility to serve our people without being strong armed into following political agendas. And thank goodness to Tim Garman that he had the courage to bring this to light. We cannot and must not allow this abuse of power to continue. It’s time for accountability, transparency and protecting the institutions from those who would corrupt them. [Supervisor Crye laughs]
(2:05:01) Supervisor Rickert: So I would like to know and I don’t know if Bailey’s here. Yes, Bailey, what is the reason behind changing this from giving the authority to the county Executive Officer and moving that authority over to the Board of Supervisors for budget amendments? Can I hear a reason as to why that’s being done?
Bailey Cogger: I, that was not our, like that was based on the last meeting that we brought this to the board of Supervisors. It was determined at that point.
Supervisor Rickert: Ok. But so this is another one of those agreements that falls under what we voted on, but I’m still trying to find out what the reason is.
Supervisor Crye: You want to ask me?
Supervisor Rickert: Sure I’d like to hear.
Supervisor Crye: Oh, yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s really simple. On C1, who did we without looking, who did we just appoint to the cemetery board?
Supervisor Rickert: A couple of guys.
Supervisor Crye: A couple of guys. Who are they? Did you talk to them?
Supervisor Rickert: What has this got to do with-
Supervisor Crye: Has to do with everything.
Supervisor Rickert: No, what has this got to do with –
Supervisor Crye: Supervisor Rickert, please don’t be combative. I’m talking about it. What this is about is I’ve had and I again, and I will, I will provide these but I have had extensive conversation with SCOE over the last 20 something years. And when you look at Cares Act funding, you look at ESSER funds, you look at ELOP funds and you look at all the money we’re pumping into schools. My conversation with assistant superintendent Austin Preller, as well as newly appointed superintendent Mike Freeman. This is about and also this is way predating the opioid conversation. I wanted to see what we were doing really, really well as a county and get more money to programs that have data that supports phenomenal outcomes. So in this process, and I could go into extreme detail. But the reason why I wanted to do it this way is I wanted anything regarding C4 to come before the board, so the board could be educated about what is going on opposed to having signing authority with HHSA or the CEO because as you just obviously stated, and I would be the first to agree that there is so much sometimes on consent. And if we had a consent calendar item in, let’s say December, where a lot of stuff gets pushed, we could have thirtysomething consent items. And I didn’t want to miss anything that had to do with SCOE, that had to do with kids, that had to do with moving the ball forward and helping young people’s lives. So I wanted this board to be apprised of anything as it relates to community, connect and any other program. But hopefully, that was thorough enough for you.
(2:07:39) Supervisor Rickert: No, no, quite honestly. I think it’s, I think there’s a nexus here and Mister Garman just brought forward evidence of that, of giving this board –
Supervisor Crye: Supervisor Garman just made a statement.
Supervisor Rickert: – giving this, give this board too much power over SCOE and that’s what I’m concerned about. I feel very, you know, I was on the ground floor with Mental Health Services Act. I went out and gathered signatures in 2004. We helped to get that passed –
Supervisor Crye: And you were on the ground floor of the Opportunity Center.
Supervisor Rickert: What’s that got to do with what we’re talking about today?
Supervisor Crye: Everything.
Supervisor Rickert: Anyway, so I was on the ground floor and I feel comfortable, I feel knowledgeable enough and I feel confident enough that Health and Human Services and those in charge of Mental Health Services Act know what they’re doing and I don’t feel that that you do and a classic example is eminent domain. You did not do your homework.
Supervisor Crye: Is this about eminent domain?
Supervisor Rickert: No, but I’m saying that’s an example.
Supervisor Crye: So you can bring stuff up into C4, but I can’t.
(2:08:47) Supervisor Garman: I’ll jump in here real quick. You, you were bringing up, see you going on with Mary but I’m not reaching out to those people. Yeah, you mentioned earlier you never met Sean Ewing.
Supervisor Crye: Oh Yeah.
Supervisor Garman: I just thought that it was kind of an odd statement to make to her if you hadn’t met and talked with him before you appointed him. But anyway, back to the actual item because that’s not 37,000 kids in this county. That is that a correct number?
Bailey Cogger: Roughly right around that.
Supervisor Crye: TK 12, 37,000 kids in this county, TK through 12.
Supervisor Garman: OK. Community Connect team. I don’t know if you guys know this in public. They have been honored and will be honored and they will receive a Golden Bell Award for their work in the community. So, congratulations to SCOE and the Connect team. What you have done for our kids is amazing work and I just thank you so much and I’m proud, I’m proud to say I’m part of that. Oh, I’m not part of it, but you know what I’m saying? That I’m part of this county that receives such a high award. That’s an amazing feat that should be shared. And this is what we needed to be talking about not taking money away. We need to be talking about helping our kids. So thank you.
Supervisor Crye: Who said anything about taking money away? If you listen to my statement, I said I wanted to know what programs were working with Data supported it to get more money into areas that are moving the needle. Nobody said anything about taking money away, Supervisor Garman. I get it. You want to burn it down on the way out. But this is nothing what we’re talking about. Bailey, again. We’ve had conversations. I mean, I appreciate you. Is there anything that you would like to add? I would like to know. I mean, ok, so we have a, I’ll make,
(2:10:31) Supervisor Rickert: Yes, I just feel that this gives again the board of supervisors more power than they need to have. I think it’s fine that the county executive officer, the people in HHS, they know what they’re doing. SCOE knows what they’re doing. I feel very confident, you know, I know a lot about education myself too. I have a family legacy of education and I know a whole lot about education. I come from a long line of teachers, college administrators. And this is important, this, this ACES work is really important and you’ve spoken in the past criticizing ACES and I’m very concerned about that and that’s why I am trying to bring this out and put, put some sunlight on it. And I don’t think one person, your opinion will dictate, should dictate what happens in the entire Shasta County Office of Education. And that’s all I have to say.
(2:11:30) Supervisor Crye: So I’m going to respond to that. You want to bring sunlight on it at the same time. You want to bury it and not bring it up.
Supervisor Rickert: No, I don’t want to.
Supervisor Crye: No, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on. We’re going to use your exact words. The reason I pulled or the reason I’ve modified C4 is because I wanted to bring it out to the public. So the public is engaged with data driven results that move the needle in kids lives. You just said that you want to bring sunlight on it. So thank you for supporting C4 Supervisor Rickert, cause that’s what that is. CEO Rickert, correct me if I’m wrong. But when this comes back, even if you had signing authority, it would still come to this board.
Supervisor Rickert: That’s right.
Supervisor Crye: Correct. Correct. So what I was doing was looping in all five of us. So you guys could be on the journey as well of understanding, understanding what’s going on and look at it deeper because we’re talking about opioid funding and I don’t want another opportunity center type of a thing to happen where there’s mismanagement and not understanding of what’s happened. And something crumbles, Supervisor Rickert. With that will take the vote. All right. All those in favor. Oh, I’m sorry.
Supervisor Rickert: I’m not finished. I still think that this is what you’re doing is another classic example of stepping in using your authority as a supervisor to have more control over these kinds of contracts. And I don’t think that that is necessarily a good decision. I’ve watched it over and over again, especially the last two years. And I do think that we need to rely on the expertise and the professionalism of SCOE, our Health and Human, Bailey, people like Bailey.
Supervisor Crye: Bailey’s phenomenal.
Supervisor Rickert: Yes, I know she is. She helped me, was that Sunday morning, you were helping me with a person that had a problem with her son. Yes. And she responded to me and I appreciate it. So, but the point is I do not feel comfortable giving the board of supervisors – why just these, why is just the Shasta County of office education? Why don’t we do every single, that’s why I don’t understand why is this? [Supervisor Crye talks over her] why is, but I’m not finished. Why is this? And again, it shows a pattern of the supervisors using their position to interject themselves into these kinds of these kinds of decisions. And I do think it’s government overreach.
(2:13:46) Supervisor Crye: So I have a, I have a response to that. So I was in a meeting asking for data. They were very excited about it. As I started to ask for more data, it became that obviously they needed more time to be able to figure out what the metrics were. And then it got to a point in a meeting and I won’t say this specific person’s name, but they are at SCOE. And they would completely admit to saying it. They said the state gives the county money, the, the county’s got to pass it through to somebody. We’re the only vendor that provides it. So, what’s the big deal, pass it along? And I closed my binder and I just said that we just said the quiet part out loud. I said that is the point.
Supervisor Jones: So I’m just going to remind Supervisor Rickert that this board operates under the majority. And, and you’ve seen this board change and this is what if this is what the majority of the board wants. It’s not one single person, it’s up to the majority. I’ve had things that went my way and I’ve had things that didn’t go my way. I accept the will of the board and that’s what we’re doing today.
Supervisor Crye: Yeah, I mean, and, and I’d be, I’d be hard pressed to find next year supervisors that would be apprehensive about understanding where money is going as it relates to me, metrics and data driven decisions about kids. But that’s what you-
Supervisor Rickert: No, that’s not, that’s not what I’m saying. There is no need for the supervisors to have to have the control of the vote over this. There’s nothing to stop you, to educate yourself, to ask questions and to find out what it’s all about. But it doesn’t mean that the board, the board majority and Mister Jones just said it. So these three people will be continually deciding on anything to do with SCOE. And that concerns me. That concerns me.
Supervisor Crye: I never, I always, yeah. Again, you twisted this politically into something. It’s not because all this was, was looking for programs that are doing a great job and to get them more money.
Supervisor Rickert: And those are programs that I have been intimately involved with since 2004. I’ve been involved with Terry Fields Holer when she brought forward ACES. She was a champion for those of us that were around. Then she championed ACES. There’s so many ACES, a trainer, the people that have been trained out there to go into the schools.
Supervisor Crye: And ACES is now becoming a very proven faulty model because what you’re doing is you’re doubling, you’re doubling down and telling kids that you’re a problem.
Supervisor Rickert: No, it’s not.
Supervisor Crye: I mean, Supervisor Garman said it in the last meeting said the kids with all these major issues, however you put it and the whole thing is when it comes to kids, the more you tell them that you’re a victim, you’re a victim, you’re a victim. They live in, they live in that place instead of just empowering them and saying you can overcome it. I want to,
Supervisor Rickert: I’m not done. [Supervisor Crye audibly sighs] And that has proven to me that you do not have the basic understanding of what ACES is all about to make this decision.
(02:6:53) Supervisor Garman: I don’t think you understand as, I don’t think he understands at all. I made a comment, I said our kids were messed up. That was probably the wrong term to use. Some of our kids have the deck stacked against them. It’s probably a better term I could use. And I made that a couple of statement a couple of weeks ago, their parents are drug users, they’re alcoholics, they’re abusers, they’re divorced. There’s, they’re physically abusive to their kids, sexually abusive to their kids. Our kids, a lot of our kids and the population in California is, it’s bad and it’s bad to Shasta County. And if we don’t have ACES to help these kids identify what their problems are so they can get the correct help they need. They’re never going to overcome these. And why should that child be left behind? Why shouldn’t that child deserve a chance to survive and make something out of their life and change that pattern of ACES. It can happen, it does happen, it will happen, but it takes funding and it takes people to understand the issue. I would urge all three of you guys to dig into ACES understand it a little more fully, what it, what it is just do your due diligence. You owe it to the kids.
Supervisor Crye: I’m going to make one more comment. Supervisor Rickert, do you have any last comment before I vote? I’m going to make one last comment.
(02:18:06) Supervisor Rickert: I do. I agree with, with Mister Garman because this ACES is something that you have to get to the basic core of who a child is and what their trauma they’ve experienced over their lifetime in order to work with them so that they can become stabilized and healthy and find that one adult in their life that they can trust so they can be successful. And I’ve seen it over and over and over again. I have a brother that was head of a large school system as a psychologist and I’ve spent hours talking to him about this subject and that’s what needs to happen. You need to understand when you criticize ACES, it tells me you don’t understand it. And that’s why I am adamantly opposed to have this majority of this board make decisions that’s going to impact all these kids in Shasta County. I care about these kids. I have a track record of working with kids my entire life and volunteer work and I am adamantly opposed to having the Board of Supervisors at this point in this Shasta County’s history to make this decision.
Supervisor Crye: All right, I’m going to, I’m going to close with this because this is again just been so politically hijacked. But I want to make sure I make the point. So people do go back and watch this. The thing about Supervisor Garman, your comments is you’re right that they are poor comments and you apologize for them, but it’s, it’s the mindset mindset shift because how you spoke is how you feel these kids are messed up. And what I’m saying is until society understands that how we prepare these kids to fight forward and not understand that they’ve got all this baggage because the system is built to pump money in to the kids that have trauma and that’s how the flywheel keeps going with that.
C4 was passed on a 3-2 vote with Supervisors Crye, Jones, and Kelstrom voting yes while Supervisors Rickert and Garman voted no.
Clerk of the Board
C1 Take the following actions regarding the Halcumb Public Cemetery District Board of Trustees: (1) Appoint Darren Butterfield to serve the remainder of a four-year term to January 3, 2028; and (2) reappoint Rick Danielson to serve a four-year term to January 1, 2029.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C2 Approve the minutes of the meetings held on September 24, and October 1, 2024, as submitted.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
County Clerk-Elections
C3 Adopt a resolution which approves the appointments in-lieu of election for 32 board of director candidates in 15 special districts as listed on the Certified List of Qualified Candidates to be Appointed in-Lieu of Election for Special District Candidates.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Health and Human Services Agency-Behavioral Health and Social Services
C4 Approve an amendment to the agreement with Shasta County Office of Education for the Community Connect Program which modifies the delegation of authority for budgetary amendments.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C4 was pulled from the agenda.
Health and Human Services Agency-Economic Mobility
C5 Adopt a resolution which approves a 55-year permanent loan in the amount of $1,000,000 to Center of Hope Apartments II, LP, for the development of Center of Hope Apartments II (Project) and designates authority to the County Executive Officer, or their designee, to sign any documents related to the Project.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
Public Works
C6 For the “Shasta County Coroner’s Building Expansion,” Contract No. 610978, approve plans and specifications and direct the Public Works Director to advertise for bids, and authorize the opening of bids on or after November 21, 2024, at 11:00 a.m.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C7 Find the “Shasta County Roof & HVAC Replacement Project at 1880 Shasta Street,” Contract No. 610601, to be categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15301, Class 1 – Existing Facilities and Section 15302, Class 2 – Replacement or Reconstruction, approve plans and specifications and direct the Public Works Director to advertise for bids, and authorize the opening of bids on or after November 21, 2024, at 11:00 a.m.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C8 Award Request for Quote (RFQ) 24-24 to, and approve an agreement with, Bullert Enterprises, Inc., dba Big Time Pest Control, for pest control services.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C9 Award Request for Quote (RFQ) 24-27 for environmental laboratory services to, and approve an agreement with, 49er Water Services.
No General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
C10 Authorize the Public Works Director to sign a Notice of Completion for the “CSA No. 2-Sugarloaf Water System Improvement Project,” Contract No. 610895, and record it within 15 days of actual completion.
No Additional General Fund Impact
Simple Majority Vote
REGULAR CALENDAR, CONTINUED
CLOSED SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT
(2:22:54) CEO Rickert announced item R9 was removed from the calendar.
There was one public commenter on Closed Session.
(2:21:11) Delores Lucero: I do believe that you Kevin Crye need to just recuse yourself because of the rumor of you and Christy Cole, you need to recuse yourself because this is actually , she’s on here and you’re going to be talking about her and I do believe you need to recuse yourself. So, and I guess we’ll know if you did or not, but we know that you never follow any laws, you break them all. And so I just look forward to hearing that you broke the law so I could file something against you just like everything you do is so pathetic that you think you’re smarter than everybody. Yeah. You think you’re smarter? You’re not smart. All you do is hang yourself and you’ve got two of these call men beside you. They follow you like a little puppy like a puppy. You don’t even have your own mind. You just do what he says, knowing he’s wrong and yet you do it. That’s how stupid you are.
(2:22:45) The Board of Supervisors will recess to a Closed Session to discuss the following item (estimated 2 hours 15 minutes):
R7 PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
(Government Code section 54957):
Title: Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Director or Acting HHSA
Director
R8 PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT
(Government Code section 54957(b)(1)):
Title: Public Defender
R9 CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS
(Government Code section 54957.6):
Agency Negotiators:
County Executive Officer David J. Rickert
Personnel Director Monica Fugitt
Chief Labor Negotiator Gage Dungy, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
Employee Organizations:
United Public Employees of California, Local 792-General Unit
R10 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – EXISTING LITIGATION
(Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1)):
Case Name:
John Patrick Kropholler v. County of Shasta, et al. (Case No. 22CV-
0199716)
At the conclusion of the Closed Session, reportable action, if any, will be reported in Open Session.
REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS
(2:23:00) Counsel Larmour: Items R7, R8 and R10 as described were heard in close session with no reportable action. R9 was continued to another later date.
(2:23:18) ADJOURN
