Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the Board of Supervisors, Humboldt County, meeting of Tuesday, June 9th, 2026. Can we have a roll call, please?

Yes, Chair. Supervisor Madrone? Present. Supervisor Bushnell? Good morning. Supervisor Bone? Here. Supervisor Arroyo? Here. Chair Wilson?

Here.

All are here.

Excellent. We'll do the salute to the flag now. And Supervisor Bowen, please lead us. All right. Kayleigh, can you read in the virtual attendance instructions, please?

Yes, Chair. This meeting is being conducted in accordance with the Brown Act and applicable state and local requirements. Members of the public may participate in person and or remotely as noticed on the agenda. For those participating remotely, public comment is welcomed and encouraged. To help ensure your voice is heard, it is recommended that you raise your hand at the start of the item you wish to comment on. If you are joining by computer, mobile device, please use the raise hand feature to indicate your desire to speak. When it is your turn, you will be unmuted by staff. If you are joining by telephone, please press star nine to raise your hand. When you are recognized, you may press star six to unmute yourself and begin speaking. Please state your name for the record before making your comment. The board asks that all participants conduct themselves with respect and courtesy. Comments should be directed to the board as a whole and limited to the time allowed. Thank you.

Thank you, Kaylie. Do we have any modifications to the agenda?

Good morning, Chair Wilson. There are no modifications today.

And there's no time sets either. Great. I'll just move straight on to the consent calendar then. Let's see, I just wanna let people know that if you wanna comment on anything on the consent calendar, please raise your hand now, just to make sure that you're there when we reach out for online comments. So, we have a host of proclamations and letters of appreciation, so I'll just start in the order that they're on my schedule here, so we'll start with the proclamation for Elder Abuse Awareness Month from Supervisor Bell.

Yeah, and if you guys, as I read this and listen to a few of the things, you'll realize how, I don't know, do we have somebody here from APS? Get up here, kids. Don't be standing back there like wallflowers.

You have the appropriate address on for Wallflower's House, so thank you.

Anyway, this is a proclamation for the Elder Abuse Awareness Month, whereas the recent U.S. Census Bureau's estimate that nearly 26% of the population of Humboldt County is 60 years old or older, and whereas throughout the U.S., Elder abuse is widespread and significantly unrecognized, unreported, and under-prosecuted, whereas Humboldt County Adult Protective Services receives an average of 118 reports of elder and vulnerable adult abuse and neglect monthly. Whereas elders deserve respect and gratitude for their lifelong contributions and the roles they play in their families and communities, including the preservation of customs, traditions, and the history of Humboldt County. Whereas elder abuse and neglect negatively impacts an elder's emotional, physical, and can result in isolation and the loss of independence, resources, and or life. Whereas APS staff, Adult Protective Services staff is committed to responding to and investigating allegations of elder and vulnerable adult abuse regardless of the elder's education, socioeconomic standing, ethnic background, gender identity, or sexual orientation, and providing time-limited case management, emergency shelter, and tangible resources, as well as participating in multidisciplinary personal teams as appropriate. Whereas APS works with the district attorney's office, law enforcement and other service providers by participating in a coordinated response and organizing local trainings to strengthen collective knowledge of abuse and neglect, improve communication and enhance elder abuse investigations and case review. Whereas Humboldt County is committed to working with community partners, local tribes on prevention and service coordination, including adapting emergency response procedures as needed, conducting additional outreach to ensure the safety and well-being of our elders and vulnerable adults. Now, therefore, it be resolved the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors proclaim June 2026 as Elder Abuse Awareness Month and recognize that elders are valuable members of society who have the right to live safely and securely in our community. Signed, Mike Wilson, Chair. Wait don't walk away yet, it's your turn.

a little later in this.

Okay, is it working? Okay, so I apologize for being tardy. So thank you so much for doing this proclamation. It really means a lot. I think what our staff does is so important and we do this work every single day. It's not just one month that we have elder abuse awareness on our minds. and the elder population is the fastest growing population. We serve people age 60 and above are considered elders and dependent adults are age 18 to 59 and so Every day we take in reports of abuse and neglect. One of the fastest growing categories of abuse that we see are scams. And so I just encourage everybody to be very aware of Anytime, I'm sure you've heard about it, you get these notices on your phones. Anybody that has an elder in their life, if you are an elder or a dependent adult, you have neighbors, the best thing that you can do is just check on people, whether you have a neighbor who you say hi to out in the garden and suddenly you notice that maybe they're they're not coming outside as much they look a little bit more disheveled just reach out to that person because social isolation is one of the biggest determinants for people being at risk of abuse and neglect our hotline number is seven oh seven four seven six two one zero zero So if you have any sort of suspicion or even if you see something that just seems a little bit off about somebody, you can give us a call. We can talk you through whether this is something that's reportable or not and also offer resources to people. Just thank you again so much for this proclamation and just hope everybody out there is really aware that this is, it's a big issue and it's definitely underreported. So we really want to encourage people to reach out to our staff and call. We have wonderful staff that do the investigations and offer services and we coordinate with all of our community partners and law enforcement and our other DHHS program partners. So thanks again.

Thank you so much, yay. Thanks for your work. All right, so next on this agenda is Supervisor Bone. If you want to speak, I thought you already spoke.

I just want to let you know, you and your staff, you've helped me out on a couple pretty major things that I thought, and they ended up being, and the way they were handled is good. And thank you for, you know, and I mean, for Supervisor Madrone and I, we're glad you're looking out for us elders. We blew by that 60 over 10 years ago. But the idea of what you do, and especially mentioning about with the new AI, IT, everything else, an older person with a phone, they buy into everything. helped a couple friends, they buy into the church, you know, the scam churches, not the real churches and stuff like that. And it's great to keep an eye on your elders' mail and things like that, gain their trust. I had three neighbors. My three direct neighbors were all in their 90s at one time, and they've sadly all passed, but they were great neighbors, but they had... Something shook. We kept a pretty close eye on it, but they had a good family bond. But what you guys do is not fun stuff, and it usually involves family ties, cross-section. So thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Supervisor Bushnell.

I also want to thank you and what you do for Humboldt. Oftentimes I have folks reach out to me and say you know I think there's a elder abuse situation going on and what do I do. And so being able to have them being able to refer them to someone and have someone listen and give them directions has been so important. And oftentimes I don't I don't know what to do. And so having that resource has been really great for me and for the community to really rely on someone and you know, talk about their fears, have that investigator looked at, or just have someone to be there for them. And it's been so important. So thank you for all your work you do.

Supervisor Madrone.

Yeah, also, thank you so much for all you do, such important work. And I'm lucky. I feel like I have all these guys and recs looking out for me up here. So if I nod off, it's not personal.

Supervisor Arroyo.

Thank you, I always appreciate the chance to shine a light on this issue and having seen, we've all seen our share of instances of this in the community and I know that sometimes also folks for whatever reason are hesitant to participate in the investigation pertaining to their own situation either because it involves their child or a family member or they're concerned they might not have a caregiver continue to support them. So it's complicated and hard work and I want to encourage the community to continue reaching out to your office even sometimes I think people think they'll and it'll get dealt with magically in a one-time situation and these don't seem like they're often that type of resolution. So folks need to continue engaging and working with your office and I appreciate all that you do. Thanks.

Thank you. I associate myself with all the comments and support from our board. Thanks again for all your hard work. All right. Next on the agenda is certificate of recognition and Supervisor Arroyo has brought this to our attention.

Yes, I'm excited to be able to acknowledge the work of Juliana Nelson. Please feel free to come on up. Juliana has been interning with me and working over the last quarter with me closely and with a lot of county staff as well and community members. and we have a certificate of recognition that will come and bring to you and then you can say a few words. But I just want to say, it was great to be connected to you by a fellow community member and Juliana is a UC Davis political science and policy student and is really interested in all things local government. and born and raised in Humboldt, so it's really cool to have both the perspective of someone who's learning in the UC system but also from here, and it's been great to have your help with outreach and community engagement and legislative analysis and going to events and meetings and just hearing what your perspective is on a lot of the things we're talking about. thank you for being my intern and i'm excited to hear what you have to say but let's take a quick photo first thank you

All right, Juliana's here. Your time to shine.

Testing. OK. As my internship comes to an end, I want to sincerely thank everyone at the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors office. The opportunity to learn, grow, and contribute, I am grateful for endlessly. Your guidance, your support, your kindness, everything that I have received throughout my time here, and not to mention all the fun that we've had. This internship has been an incredible experience and I will carry the lessons, connections, and connections I've made for the rest of my life. Thank you for making me feel so welcome and valued. This is definitely an experience I will always look back on with fondness and appreciation. Now I would like to especially thank the recently reelected and Vice Chair Arroyo for the opportunity to learn alongside her. Her leadership, dedication to the community, and commitment to public service has been inspiring to witness. Watching the way Supervisor Arroyo thinks firsthand has left me awestruck. From a simple fix like an impromptu makeshift affogato to deliberating policies and motions in real time, Supervisor Arroyo consistently demonstrates creativity, insight, and genuine care for the people she serves, all while being utterly charming and completely hilarious. I'm so very grateful for the trust, mentorship, and encouragement she's extended to me throughout my time and the opportunity to observe her work up close. Once again, thank you so much, everyone. It has truly been a privilege to be part of this office.

I think I'm going to cry. That was very sweet.

Let's see if I can draw.

So Juliana, thank you for all those kind words you mentioned for all of us, but particularly for Supervisor Arroyo. I would agree with everything you said about her. And I guess, I'm assuming maybe a future school board member, councilwoman, or board of supervisor yourself perhaps down the road. So you never know, but seeing the youth getting involved, I mean that's our future. So good on you and congratulations.

Anybody else? Supervisor Bushnell?

Yeah, sure. It was really nice to get to know you. And CSAC was fun. And I wish you all the best in your future. And we talked about what your future might look like and whether political something's in there, which sounds like. So I wish you all the world success. And you're, I think, on the right path.

All right. I think it was a positive experience for all around. So I appreciate you being here. here and in this space and then also in and around pretty much everywhere I was going that that's where Arroyo was at and it's good to see people be involved in not just the everyday, but also the details, and I was very appreciative of that. And we are gonna close with Supervisor Arroyo.

Thank you, that was extremely sweet, and it's been a pleasure, and I also wanna acknowledge that your mom and good friend are here to support you here today, and I know that you're just really deeply rooted in this community and connected, and we appreciate you very much. So, yeah, nice to see you all.

Off we go. Moving on to the next item. This is recognition of the 125th anniversary of the Eureka Elks Lodge, number 652, brought to us by Supervisor Bone.

And this was awarded on Saturday night at their 125th dinner, and when you think about it, I guess, I mean, some of us have been here a while, we remember it being above whenever the bank building is down here. That was with the original Elks building and then when they did their capital improvements out on Herrick and I've been a member for, 38 years now. I don't get by there as often as I should. I remember when my father passed away, my mom started bartending out there and probably spent 25 years out there bartending. They're all volunteers and stuff. But they are a very well-attended organization, one of the largest benevolent organizations in the world. And I'm glad to recognize them for their 125th anniversary. when you go there and you look at the wall of all the people that have been the presidents over the last, and you're going, wow, we have a lot of people with streets named after them and things like that. So it was good to recognize them for this, and I appreciate the vote on this.

Anybody else? I just, I do wanna say a little something. For one, I just wanna say that the Elks Lodge is a, It's a fun place, and they do a good job of trying to create community there, and I think it's been, every time I've ever been there, it's been very welcoming and comfortable, and a really great space. But I wanna also recognize 125 years of an organization, any organization like this, when you think about all the names of organizations you see on buildings that just don't exist anymore, and part of that is just, the continuity of the people that are in it and the continuity of the organizations. They sort of come and go. There used to be a lot more social clubs and those sorts of things. It used to be much more popular. I just want to congratulate the testament of 125 years of this particular organization and the people who've kept it running. So I just want to appreciate that.

Mike, you make a great point. Friday night, they have Cook Your Own Steak Friday. We've had our county party there a few times. And they took the place of places like the Eureka Inn and things like that to host public events, whether there be auctions, whether there be something like that. And they filled the void. But on Friday night, you go by there, you cannot get in their parking lot for cook your own steak. And it's given people a place to go and enjoy themselves. And you're right. There used to be dance clubs every weekend. Somebody sponsored a dance club. And there was all sorts of stuff going on. And now people sit home and look at their telephones and see what everybody else is doing. But anyway, yeah, that's a great point. Thank you for bringing that up.

Yep.

Okay, we're gonna move on unless there's anyone else that has anything to say until we get to the public comment. Moving on to honoring Shane Wilson and Supervisor Bushnell.

Okay, thank you. So Shane, you can come on up. Lisa, wanna come up? So this last Saturday on June 6th, Shane's birthday, he retired from the Riadale Fire District and it was the day he started 30 years prior and he was the fire chief for 21 years and so He had a very nice party that I attended. There was lots of waterworks, and we did a resolution for him, and so I'm gonna read that resolution today, and then there's some folks that, I think there's someone online that wants to talk, and some folks in the audience. Chair, if that's okay with you. I do want to say that when I was first elected, I have a lot of fire companies and districts in my district and that was something that I right away got affiliated with and associated with and wanted to know how can I help you guys because you help the community. And so Shane was one of the first people that I stopped by and said, hey, I'm your new supervisor. What can I do for you or how can I help? And then the earthquake of 23, 22 and 23, really solidified our friendship and our work that we do for the community and community. Shane and his volunteers and and guys and gals were just really instrumental in the area at a really really tough time. And so I want to read this resolution. I already gave it to Shane on Saturday and had some words so I'm going to read it and then we'll hear some public comment and I know that Supervisor Bone has something to say as well.

Okay.

And I got this information from Lisa, so thank you. Because I learned a lot with this resolution. Whereas Shane Wilson was born on June 6, 1972, attended Rio Del Elementary School and graduated from Fortuna High School in 1990. And whereas during his youth, Shane demonstrated a strong work ethic by working at his grandparents' business, E&J Liquors, in Rio Del throughout his high school years, while also beginning a lifetime commitment to community service by coaching Little League, little league baseball and whereas shane married lisa wilson in 1995 established his home in rio del together together lisa and shane built a family while they served their community including raising their daughter jaden jaden and grieving the unimaginable loss of their son brody And whereas on June 6, 1996, Shane joined the Rio Del Fire Department and quickly developed an extraordinary passion for the fire service, dedicating countless hours to learning, training, and serving the community with professionalism, courage, and commitment. And whereas Shane's dedication to public service earned him recognition as Firefighter of the Year in 2000, and in April 2005, he was elected Fire Chief of the Rio Del Fire Department. a position he faithfully held through his retirement in 2026. And whereas during his tenure as fire chief, Shane strengthened community partnerships, enhanced emergency response capabilities, and fostered greater cooperation and communication among local fire departments, leaving a lasting impact on public safety throughout the region. And whereas Shane's service has been marked by extraordinary acts of bravery, including the rescue of a trapped resident from a burning home during Wildwood Day's event, placing his own safety at risk to save the life of another. And whereas Shane has been instrumental in coordinating Wildwood Days with Lisa since 1998, helping transform the event into a successful community tradition and an important fundraiser supporting the Rio Del Fire Department. And whereas in recognition of his service and leadership, Shane received the Chamber of Commerce Individual of the Year Award in 2005, and the American Legion Firefighter Certificate of Accommodation on September 7th, 2017, for outstanding public service benefiting the community, state, and nation. And whereas beyond his fire service, Shane dedicated countless hours to mentoring local youth through baseball, coaching with the Scotia Riadel Babe Youth Association for 10 years. American Legion baseball and Fortuna high baseball programs. And whereas Shane's commitment to his community has earned him lasting recognition including placement on the Riedel school wall of fame. And whereas throughout a distinguished career that included employment with North Coast Fabricators, Pacific Lumber Company, Caltrans, and service as a state fire marshal with CAL FIRE, Shane remained steadfast in his devotion to the people of Riadel and the fire service profession. And whereas throughout his 30 years of service, Shane Wilson exemplified selflessness, courage, leadership, and an unwavering commitment to the Riadel Volunteer Fire Department. The men and women serving under his tenure and the community he proudly served leaving behind a legacy that will continue to inspire future generations of firefighters and community leaders. Now, therefore, let it be resolved Humboldt County Board of Supervisors honors Shane Wilson upon his retirement as Fire Chief of the Riadale Fortuna Fire Department and extends our deepest appreciation for 30 years of extraordinary service, leadership, sacrifice, and dedication. We acknowledge the countless hours spent away from family, the emergencies answered without hesitation, the lives protected, and the quiet acts of service preformed without recognition. Through his unwavering commitment, courage, and compassion, Shane has helped shape not only a strong fire department, but a stronger community. As he begins this well-earned next chapter, we offer our heartfelt congratulations and the best wishes to Shane, Lisa, and their family, and express our sincere gratitude for a lifetime of service that has left an enduring mark on Rio Del and Humboldt County that will continue to inspire generations to come. At his retire, we can clap. At his retirement party on Saturday, and he passed his bars and his badge to Ryan Huesler, who now is the new chief. lots of people spoke and every time it was about how his commitment to the community, sometimes so steadfast that it, you know, the community overrode his family. And that can be a hard thing for families, but that's what happens oftentimes with volunteers and fire folks when they get that bug and they really wanna serve and public service is really important to them. I commend Lisa as well and Jaden, who sometimes had to be on the back burner a lot, and that also happens. And know that Shane couldn't carry that load without his family. And we wish you so much happy retirement and traveling. I know you have another year with CAL FIRE, but it goes by quick. And I look forward to seeing you in a different role. So I know that there's, I won't allow you to talk, but then there are some folks that want to talk as well. You go ahead, Shane. Yeah.

Well, how do you follow that? I will keep it specific to my appreciation for my family and the community that Lisa and I are both lifelong residents of Rio Del. I'm trying not to cry. We were born in Fortuna, and we were immediately brought to Riedel, and we never left. So it was inevitable that in some way, shape, or form, we were going to have to give back to the town that raised us. And so it's been my life's honor, and specifically, I'm proud of the dedication and the support that I received from my family, from the fire department, from the town, from the county, from the other departments. This was a collaborative huge thank you to everybody, and I have so many to thank. You know, they say it takes a tragedy or a disaster to really find out how a community works and how your partnerships evolve. And it was never more evident than during the earthquakes a few years back. and seeing the support from, from you, the County of Humboldt and, and the other businesses and, and members of areas departments that were from all around, not only our area, but other counties as well. And just the amount of support was overwhelming. So my appreciation for that. Uh, another proud accomplishment I think that needs to be recognized is, um, your support for, uh, our district was the first, um, the fire department annexation of, smaller areas and to help those small departments become viable with your support for the property tax initiative that we kind of paved the way for. Um, and, and now that's being utilized for, for Southern Humboldt and for Northern Humboldt. And, um, and I think we were the first to do that. So, um, just, you know, with the planning commission, your planning department and building department working with us and, just from all aspects of the county support, including with the Fire Chiefs Association of Measure Z, which brought us light years ahead of time where we were before Measure Z started. I always like to say that the volunteer departments, when I first joined, we were 20 years on the coattails of paid departments. We were always trying to catch up. With that kind of support, now I believe we're five years behind the paid departments. And that's light years ahead of where most rural areas are. And so I'm just so grateful. And I thank my wife. And I thank you guys, the Board of Supervisors, for this incredible honor. It means a lot.

Supervisor Boehme?

I got, we go all the way back to Little League and stuff, and then getting to do the auctions for Wildwood Days starting years ago, and I know when Michelle came on, she jumped on it with steroids and helped immensely and did a lot, and the earthquake did bring a lot of stuff together. I mean, there was a lot of issues. I remember we were ordering water at six o'clock in the morning from Seth and having him bring it and Humboldt beer and everything else, because everybody was out of water. And Michelle was blowing up my phone, because she has it a lot farther to drive than I did. So what's it look like? It just doesn't look good. But I went to Readdale, then figured Ferndale was leveled, because I was there 20 years. And Ferndale had one broken window from a closed and open signs swinging and hitting. I mean, Ferndale got lucky, you guys got the epicenter of it, and the structures were getting there, pretty much, but Lisa, always made it fun, and I think that's why your department did so well, is because you made the work fun and you made it family oriented. I remember, I remember playing Santa Claus down there during the earthquake and how many, you know, really on how many presents the kids got. It was, it was amazing, but the community and everything else and you just did a great job doing what you do and um, as we always talked about the consolidation, we always talked about it, but it was hard to do with John over in Scotia and everything else, and then when John retired and everything else, it was the perfect time. You got stuck with Barsani, I understand that, but I mean, still overall, it's a, but he was out there barbecuing for the dinner on Saturday night, so, which had a great turnout even when I left before I got to see you, but it was, it's amazing what you've done, your community, and you've taken on your community under your wing, and like I said, you said one more year at CAL FIRE, but you ain't going anywhere. You're gonna be, I would have done this, no, you've trained Ryan well. And so I think you leave it in capable hands. So I'm proud to know he's a friend and I'm even more proud of what you've done for your community as a firefighter and a community member. And I want to thank you for carrying the whole load because I know you carry the whole load. Thanks, buddy.

Thank you, Rex. And I think it needs to be mentioned, I think we are the only district as well that is represented by multiple supervisors. We have Riadel and Redcrest that are in Michelle's district, and then Shively and Scotia that are in Rex's. So just really appreciative of the combination of supports that we receive from your entire staff, so thank you.

All right, do you want to go do your photo, or do you have something you want to say?

I think there's someone online, and then I know there's someone in the audience, and I want to talk for Lisa if she wanted to say anything.

If you're in the room specifically for this, this is your time.

Okay.

Thank you, Chair, and the rest of the board. I'm Russ Brown. I'm the current president of the Hummel County Fire Chiefs Association. Excuse me. I'm also the fire chief in Fortuna, which borders our neighboring district of Rio Del and Chief Wilson. I would like to thank Chief Wilson for his 30 years of service to Rio Del, 21 of that as chief. Shane came along at the right time. When we needed to make some changes, he was the right person with the right initiative. He gives a lot of credit to a lot of other people, which we need all that support, I agree, but he's not thanking himself enough for what he did to move that forward. That merger, that consolidation was not an easy thing. He paved the way for a lot of us moving forward in how we do things. I'm proud to serve alongside him. I'm more proud to be his friend. You would not have gotten what he accomplished with anybody else. It took the right person at the right time, and Shane was that person. And I just want to give him and his family, because I know what this means on your family, a great thank you for the dedication he has for his community. I married a Rio Del girl. My daughter lives in Rio Del. So I love the fact that I have that relationship with that department. And he did leave it in good hands. Ryan and Nate are going to do fine because of Shane. And I just want to say thank you from the Fire Chiefs Association and thank you from me.

All right. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the room? I think we have one person online. Bring that person in.

Good morning. My name is Starmer Workman. I'm actually Shane's boss here in Sacramento headquarters, Starmer Workman with the State Fire Marshal's Office. I also wanted to thank and congratulate not only Shane but his wife Lisa for the many years of service to their local communities. I hope they enjoy this well-deserved time with family. to not only make up, but just enjoy their time for all the time that they spent helping the communities and the state. I actually get this opportunity to make the same recognition again in the next year or so if I don't convince them to stay longer. for all the time that he spent serving Northern California in the state with our office. So again, Shane, congratulations, job well done, along with a retirement well deserved. Sounds like not only Rio Del, but the state fire marshal's office is gonna have some big shoes to fill. Again, congratulations.

All right. Thank you. Supervisor Boone.

I just one little fun fact. I think it's the same day you were born was a day if I would have graduated high school was the day I graduated from high school. So damn you're just a pup. All right.

We're going to grab a picture before you guys leave.

Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you.

Thank you. Thanks, Michelle.

Thanks again. All right, last on the list of congratulatory stuff and proclamations is a proclamation for Pride Month brought to us by Supervisor Arroyo.

Thank you, and I'd like to warmly welcome Ariel to come and receive this. Great to see you. All right. Whereas the month of June is annually celebrated as Pride Month throughout the country to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, which is acknowledged as a tipping point for the two-spirit lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual plus rights movement, And whereas the first Pride March was held on June 28th, 1970 in New York City on the one year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and continues across the US and in Humboldt County. And whereas the rainbow flag is widely recognized as a symbol of pride, inclusion, and support for social movements that advocate for LGBTQIA plus people in society, and she'll be raised annually throughout the month of June at County of Humboldt facilities. And whereas Two Spirit LGBTQIA plus people are residents, colleagues, leaders, neighbors, and loved ones who continue to have influential and lasting contributions that make the county a vibrant community in which to live, work, and visit. And whereas the County of Humboldt is committed to advocating for equity, visibility, dignity, and safety for 2SLGBTQIA plus people, as well as our most vulnerable trans and BIPOC community members in this diverse community. Whereas in 2023, the County of Humboldt's first Queer Affinity Group was established as a space for 2SLGBTQIA plus employees and their allies within the organization to convene for the purpose of policy suggestion, networking, and professional development. Whereas while society at large increasingly supports 2SLGBTQIA plus equality, it is essential to acknowledge that education and advocacy remain vital to end discrimination and prejudice within Humboldt County and across the nation. and whereas since 2020, over 100 state laws attacking transgender people and their rights have passed, but also as of 2024, 23 states have passed laws explicitly protecting to us LGBTQIA plus people from discrimination at work, in school, and in public spaces. Whereas the County of Humboldt calls upon the people of this county to embrace the principles that all people have the right to experience equality and freedom from discrimination, and to work to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists. Whereas celebrating Pride Month promotes awareness, provides support and advocacy for Humboldt County's 2SLGBTQAIS plus community, and it is an opportunity to take action and engage in dialogue to strengthen alliances, build acceptance, advance equal rights, and to honor the humanity of all people. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors hereby proclaims June 2026 and annually thereafter as Pride Month in celebration and support of the two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual plus community.

All right. I just want to say right now in the United States, it is essential more than ever to proclaim where we stand. And I am grateful and thankful year after year that the county makes it known that they stand on the side of equality, equity, and our community members. And I look forward to help write the proclamation and update it and add things every year. And it is my honor to be the chair of the Queer Affinity Group or the Workplace Connection Group in the county. And if anyone wants to join, please shoot me a Teams message or an email. because we can use the support and acknowledgement. So thank you very much.

Supervisor Bushnell.

Thank you for being here this morning. I know in general it's kind of unnerving at times to get up in front of the board and I hear it in people's voice. I think that helping write that proclamation and updating it is something that's so important for you and for our county and I thank you for doing that and just being here.

All right, Supervisor Arroyo.

Thank you. It's always an honor to participate in this and to participate in all the Pride Month events that happen in our community. There's a lot going on and there's a lot of celebration and opportunity to connect. I just encourage folks to check out everything that's happening. There's a number of different organizations that really support communities here and having special recognitions throughout the month. So we're already a little ways through the month and some of those have already happened. But the first Pride was a protest and there continues to be a modicum of protest throughout all of it and celebration and support for community members and just learning from one another and learning how we're all people with the same basic needs. We just start supporting love in the month of pride. I'm grateful that you are here and continue to be part of the workplace connections group. I'm grateful for all the community organizations. And I also don't want to under, like downplay the fact that this is a scary time for folks. And so alleys are much needed and need to be overt about support. So thank you.

All right. I just want to conclude. I'll say... This is an important time to recognize that 2SLGBTQIA plus rights are human rights. They're human rights. And that this is a celebration of joy, but it's a recognition of struggle, too. And it's just important that we understand all our roles in this. and when we're standing for one another, we're moving forward together and I just wanna appreciate everyone's efforts through many decades and many years and the recognition of the work that remains. So thank you so much and happy Pride Month. All right, with that, I think we're gonna move to public comment and we're gonna move to public comment online. So if you're online, please raise your hand.

There is no online public comment.

And in the room and I also want to recognize and thank Kent for quieting some folks down outside when they were a bit noisy. So thank you so much for doing that. That was very helpful.

Sometimes I have to be Walmart Greeter or whatever that is. Councillor Watzke, I did wish to talk on elder abuse a little bit. I'm gonna give you an example of how this frequently works. There was an older couple, I think in their 80s, and the neighbor had been mowing the lawn, helping them with a whole bunch of things, and when the people came up to that person and said, well, we gotta sell our house now, and but we'll give you a really good deal on it because of all of the relationship we had that person i think was irate and didn't accept close to a gift because they thought they were going to get it for free and that's how elder abuse works so uh shannon miranda wasn't happy when his neighbor house next to him was sold to jennifer sometimes it's better off to go ahead and do the right thing and give the people a little bit of money and receive a gift I have a big problem with, I call it, vulturing. So now I wanted to talk about item number 19. It's regarding assistance, rural law enforcement violent crime reduction initiative. And rural crime fighting happens with a partnership between the sheriff's office, usually, and individuals who have to take care of their own, because there really isn't that much, you know, to help sometimes out there. So I want to give an example. The other day I was called by Erin, and I add Beth McClure, and a neighbor called her and said someone was trespassing on her property and they were worried for her safety. So she called me, we went up there, and indeed someone was on her property camping on her property there in a car. And so we called the sheriff, and very quickly, I left this card somewhere. I think his name was Jonathan or John Waxler. And this young deputy came out, and the people gave him a bunch of pushback. So he went ahead and called backup, and the people were asked to leave. And the young sheriff's deputy responded quite quickly, had great skills, greatly appreciated what we got as far as service from the sheriff's department under these circumstances. The other thing, the partnership on that is actually the individual. And we had backup on this thing when we went out there, a very smart alpha dog by the name of Zip. He goes by Rip when he's on law enforcement. He lost his favorite dog, Jane, which stayed in the house with him. Unfortunately, he was poisoned. City Blue Lake kind of lit some things up and the dog was killed. But anyway, there's a dog by the name of Beth there. And if you're out on some rural place and all of a sudden you have five or six herding dogs coming around you, circling around you, I highly recommend you stand still and when the owner comes, head toward the gate very slowly. These dogs are trained to protect. This is not a vicious pit dog. It's a dog you'd like to reach out and pet. I didn't pet the dog. He was in my truck and everybody said, how can't do with the dog? Because I knew the nature of the dog, very protective of their owner and that's a lot of dogs are. So thank you for my opportunity to speak today and I think I'll be a little while heading off to the hospital.

All right, is there anyone else in the room that wants to speak to the consent items? Again, is on. Is on consent. Yeah. Items on consent. Is there anyone else. Seeing none is there a motion to move consent or pass consent.

I'll make a motion to approve consent calendar. Second.

Is there any objection to unanimous consent. Seeing none it passes 5 0. All right. Now we're going to move on to items not on consent. And we're going to start online. Anyone online.

Yes.

All right. And again, raise your hand right now if you want to speak on things not on consent. Bring in the first speaker please.

Caller 2611, I will unmute you and you'll have three minutes.

Are we getting signal?

Sorry, you guys. Tackling the call-in option is a nightmare as usual. I'm going to request again, especially when I'm participating in planning commission for the county, and I can use Zoom in your chambers. Your staff has been more than capable of... facilitating Zoom. So every time I make this request and then I don't see it's an option for us at the next meeting, it's pretty obvious that you don't want it to be an option. And I'm not saying all you guys, because you're not all in control of this. But our chair and our clerk need to facilitate Zoom, please. We can't see anything. Every time I try and log on, it's an absolute nightmare. It's kicking me off. I do the wrong number once. So please, get caught up with the 21st century and let's get some Zoom. Thank you.

Thank you. Caller 3053, I will unmute you and you'll have three minutes.

Hello, Thomas Mulder here. I just want to confirm you can hear me there in the chamber?

Yes.

All right, so a couple of things. One, I've requested multiple times. It would be great to see the board bring a resolution or some sort of letter they would send to Cal Cannabis or whatever their acronym is now. Support batch tagging, as the previous director said, promised, shook my hand, promising it was going to happen over two years ago. and also you know very very important a lot of people are hanging on by thread you know they get up early in the morning work then go to another job then come back late at night and work on the farm they no notice inspections are just something that cannot be acceptable it'd be great if the state treated like the county does a letter goes out email goes out we'll be there in a week or something like that just be respectful of us you know we're business owners we aren't criminals it'd be really nice to see our board have a letter of support like that strong-handed letter of support maybe even squeeze the hand a little tight when you shake it i don't know just food for thought and another thing is uh our youth community uh it's really unfortunate that we continue to have policies um and rules put in place that are driving our youth out of our community they can't stay here and work here There's just over-regulation and it's really sad. And speaking as a grandfather, I pray that my grandchildren can stay in this community. I pray my children can stay in this community, but the policies that continue to come down, the rules that continue to come down, the over-regulation, it's very unfortunate. So thank you for the opportunity to speak.

That is all on Zoom.

All right, bringing it back to the room.

Ken Sawatsky, I was supposed to have 1158 check in at the hospital for a knee replacement and I got a phone call, they want me over there right away, so I'll make this relatively quick, take my three minutes and I'm off. I did wish to make mention there's, and I don't know who regulates this, I think it's the state, but there's a billboard partway and it's way out in the view scape out there between Arcata and Eureka in the safety corridor out in the middle of the bay and it has a, a weed advertisement, cannabis advertisement, and I thought those were illegal. So anyway, I don't know who would be regulating that or register a complaint, if that is true. One of the last two billboards down at Viewscape. I have a, I dealt with somebody years ago and I supported this person and made donations to this person and this person has their own kind of blog thing or whatever it is out there and other people experience the same thing. As soon as I quit donating that person I no longer was acceptable, the person was after me and it's unfortunate to have somebody in that position and so has made negative comments and things of that nature. When you try and help somebody and can't help or don't continue to help them and then they go ahead and do that to you. So I think this person is basically an honest journalist in that an honest journalist, there's a saying, an honest politician stays bot, same with a journalist, has three people who advertise total on his, not my word, it's anyway, John Shiv's thing that he has out there. And when you see the content in these kind of things, very heavy toward whoever advertises. So I guess if you advertise, you have front page and you get your bully pulpit. So I do find a problem, especially derogatory comments regarding other people who are in journalism. I do have a great amount of respect for a lot of them. I've always had relationships with some of them in the past here and currently. So that's a little bit distressing when I see that kind of thing happen. And hopefully the sheriff, you'll notice there are not a lot of people in here this time speaking on this. They're taking a week off, giving the sheriff some time to hopefully come out just like they do on most investigations. Every couple weeks give a report out like we're doing a good investigation with the DA and the state attorney general and the FBI, and that's what the public would like to know, and that's not at all uncommon during an investigation. It doesn't tip any hands or anything like that. That's my request for Sheriff Billy, that we get weekly or every two weeks an update on how the Miranda situation is. We need to get those dogs out of there. You've heard all kinds of comments, and I don't know why not. Sometimes there's other problems and extenuating circumstances, but my heart's with the dogs and it will be, so I'm off to surgery, goodbye.

All right, next.

Hi, my name is Tamara Knight, and I plan on being here until I see some real action from this board regarding Shannon Miranda's rescue. I'm here today to bring attention to several misgivings many following this case may have. I would like to start with the simple fact that what Shannon Miranda did by shooting those dogs is not humane. When a private citizen has a dog accused of aggression, there is a process to labeling that animal as unfit. A hearing is held and evidence is heard. The dogs in Shannon's case never received that process or any for that matter. Reputable rescues utilize veterinarians to humanely put those animals down. Zora was vetted, so was Charmaine. These dogs were not aggressive. The many volunteers and shelter workers will attest to that. This was not an emergency or a sick animal that required immediate action. This was a way to make room for the incoming shipment. This was a money-making scheme. The numbers don't lie. Shannon took in too many dogs, and he did it for one reason and one reason only, profit. In 1998, the Hayden Law was enacted to hold shelters and animal control agencies accountable and to change the way we euthanized our animals. Organizations like Shannon's specifically used language claiming they are a no-kill rescue. Allowing nonprofits to transfer animals to the care of rescues seemed like a plan that would save animals. Unfortunately, rescues lack the oversight that shelters have. This is news to me and something that needs to change. I am calling on the board to agendize Miranda's rescue permit and to start the revocation process. This is within your power, not the planning commission's. It's the board of supervisors. Allowing another backdoor deal to occur regarding Mr. Miranda is unfair to the community who has followed the law and paid their share. He is operating out of compliance with the original terms stated in his application, and both the board and the planning commission claim this was an oversight. This was not an oversight. This was blatant favoritism and shows our community that money and privilege talk and that these animals' lives don't matter. Many members of this community have been vocal in their support of Shannon and claim what we are doing is a witch hunt. i call on those women to look at the evidence to think back on the dogs they knew at the rescue did the adoption rates match the number of dogs he was taking the boards in action is also telling the fact that you are allowing this to continue and not even agendizing it is more than frustrating the backdoor deal with shannon to allow him to stay in operation is sickening and this board should be ashamed He violates all three grounds of his permit to allow for revocation. Do it. Show this community that members are valued and that our voices matter. These animals deserve justice, and it's in your hands.

All right, thank you. Next.

Good morning, supervisors. I'm Latasha. First, I just wanted to congratulate everybody that was honored earlier this morning. And I also wanted to thank the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office for the investigation that's happening. And I wanted to thank you all for the good work that you do. I am also here because the Shannon Miranda rescue issue is not going to go away. and we are also not gonna go away. You already know about the 23-year-old conditional use permit. You already know about the conditions that were never met. You know about the failures in oversight and enforcement and the equal application of the rules. The community has spent years documenting concerns, attending meetings, filing complaints, and asking questions. At this point, the problem is not a lack of information. The problem is a lack of action. Most Humboldt County residents would never be allowed to operate for decades under an expired or noncompliant permit without consequences. That's why so many people have lost faith in the process. The appearance is that there is one set of rules for some people and a different set for everyone else. But beyond the permits, beyond the reports, beyond the regulations, there are still animals on that property. Every day that passes is another day the animals who cannot speak for themselves remain in a situation that continues to concern the community. And every time another dog leaves that property in poor condition, the question remains, how much longer will this continue? Sorry. We want the board to understand that the community is still here. We're still watching, and we're still outraged. We will not be quiet. We will not go away. We will continue to show up at board meetings, the public forums, and every place where our voices will be heard. Our animals cannot speak for themselves, so we will. Thank you.

All right, thank you, next.

Good morning, my name's Joanne McGarry, and I've been looking back at some of the things I've brought to the board in the past, on non-agenda items and hopefully I'll be speaking on an agenda item today but hopefully you're listening to what some of the people are saying about your responsibility to do something in regards to the state of animal control and welfare in Humboldt County and I suggested some things to you at the last meeting Again, I think the focus needs to be broader than what a lot of people are directing their focus on right now because I've had experiences beyond rescue groups with animal control and welfare in this county and it really needs to be looked at seriously and I think one of the things that people need to recognize is that A lot of things that happen in our community, we don't take into consideration the welfare of the animals, and I'm going back to my favorite, one of my favorite topics of fireworks. I know there's probably little that can be done right now to stop fireworks from happening this year, but I really, really do think it is a dangerous activity that Humboldt County should be in the vanguard of prohibiting. for the future. Not only animals, but so many people are greatly harmed by that form of entertainment. And finally, I just want to talk about the Regional Climate Action Plan and see a little bit more leadership and movement on what exactly is happening. We're getting dire reports about the temperature of our oceans, and again, Humboldt County with all the environmental awareness that we have really needs to speak out more and do more things to get that regional climate action plan off and running. So I just wanted to say that. And then, of course, we also need to be aware of what's happening around the world that's harming us and using our tax dollars. So thank you.

Thank you, next.

Good morning, my name is Phyllis Coy, and I hope this is on a lighter side than what we've had. I would like to encourage everyone to go see the documentary Lou's Team. Conan Fitzgerald did a wonderful job of putting pictures and sports clips together. for the documentary brought back some wonderful memories, and I encourage everyone to go see it and support him. I understand now it's gonna be by private viewing, but maybe somehow they can convince him to take it back to the minor theater so people can go and see it. It's a wonderful documentary. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, is there anyone else to comment before I bring it back to the board? Supervisor Bushnell?

Thank you. I just want to clarify for the record, last week we had a discussion on flock cameras. And I stated that CHP had flock cameras down the 101. This was a miscommunication with the CHP officer or commander that I was speaking with. They utilize the sheriff's flock cameras. And so I just, for the record, want to update that. They do not have their own.

Okay, seeing no other public comment, we're gonna move on to, yeah, we sure can. Let's do a, we're gonna take a 10 minute break and we'll be back at 10.20. Kayleigh, are you ready?

I am.

All right, we're gonna move into our first item. And that is Public Works, it's a public hearing for the purchase of real property located at 4325 Broadway Street in Eureka, California.

Good morning, Chair Wilson, members of the board, Tom Mattson, Director.

Oh wait, I have to open the public hearing. Oh. That was me opening the public hearing. There you go.

Thank you. We have a brief staff report and then any public testimony, and we are recommending moving forward with the purchase of the property, basically known as the Kmart property. Kayleigh, do you have the, there we go. You've seen this presentation before, but we're back again just as a reminder of what we are recommending we do here. We're looking at a property overview, the development, property options, compliance with our facilities master plan, what the process is for the remaining steps, and public input on moving forward with the purchase. As you can see from the property overview, it's an existing commercial building, 4325 Broadway at the south end of Eureka. Assessor's parcel number 302171039. The lot size is almost eight acres with the structure being almost 55,000 square feet with 237 parking spaces. WE ARE RECOMMENDING AGAIN TO PURCHASE THIS PROPERTY FOR THE ONE STOP PERMITTING AND OTHER USES. MAINLY IT WILL BE THE ONE STOP PERMITTING CENTER THAT WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR A SITE FOR YEARS. PLANNING DEPARTMENT, BUILDING DEPARTMENT, PUBLIC WORKS AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES. SO OUR CUSTOMERS CAN COME INTO ONE PLACE AND GET ALL THE PERMITS THEY NEED TO MOVE A PROJECT FORWARD. There are options to extend more programs into the space including our motor pearl operation building maintenance Public Works materials lab and possibly AG department weights and measures building if we do that we would free up space in downtown on the waterfront in Eureka and This is a conceptual site and program view. Note that planning has shrunk greatly since we put this together, so there's actually a bit more room that we would be proposing to use for swing space for when we start moving other county buildings and redoing other county structures. The 2020 facilities master plan was adopted by your board in October 2020. This property is strategically valuable to the county and supporting of co-locating services for enhanced efficiency and access by the public and acquisition and development of the property reduces the long-term need to lease space for county programs. So the remaining steps are to hear public input today, execute the purchase agreement, finalize CEQA determination, and return to the board for the adoption of the CEQA determination and finalize the resolution to purchase. After that would be the close of escrow, final payments, and transfer of ownership subject to terms of purchase agreement. And that is our short presentation. We are available for any questions that you might have.

Great, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna start with public comment and then we'll bring it back to the board. Is there public comment online?

There is.

All right, and remember, please put up your hand immediately if you are interested in commenting on this item.

Caller 3450, I will unmute you and you will have three minutes.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes.

Thank you. Chair Wilson, members of the board, good morning. My name is Steven. I live in Eureka, and I am a county employee providing public comment on my own personal time. Though I will be retired by the time the proposed Kmart site could be occupied, I feel obligated to voice the opinion that this is a bad idea for the following reasons. and is in the map tsunami hazard area according to the county GIS. While other jurisdictions like the city of Eureka and the highway patrol are taking steps to move facilities out of the tsunami hazard area, it doesn't make sense for the county to put new facilities in harm's way. Whenever tsunami alerts go out, the facility would need to be evacuated and God forbid if there was a tsunami inundation, A core set of employees responsible for responding post disaster like inspectors and GIS mapping would not have access to a facility or vehicles. The other issue I'd like to mention is transportation. Access will rely exclusively on cars. Access is unsafe for bicycles, too remote for walking, and there are no bus stops anywhere close. Please also consider the local economic benefits of employees being able to access nearby services on breaks and lunch. This is not possible from this site. Additionally, a windowless retail warehouse is not an office building and not easily converted to one. Work environment is a factor in employee retention and recruitment. There are plans to move Sempervirens downtown. Once that is complete, the county would have the opportunities This seems like a much better alternative. There is a reason the former Kmart site has struggled to sell in its private marketplace. It is because it is a bad location. Please don't spend $5.7 million of scarce funds on this property. Thank you for considering my comments.

Thank you. That's all on Zoom, Chair.

All right. Is there anyone else in the room that has comments on this particular item? Please. Comfort. Comfort.

Hello again, Joanne McGarry. I did reach out to a couple of the supervisors last night in a quick email, different emails to two different supervisors. But I had the opportunity to fantasize about what that Kmart property could potentially be. for our community, for our county. And while I do appreciate and wish that we could have more of these types of properties that could be hubs for efficiency in combining different department uses in one stop, my thought was considering how that location might be a really good one for a new animal control center, and possibly combining it with homeless services, including things like safe parking and legal campgrounds and such. And I do recognize now that I hear the previous commenter that sea level rise might be an issue in tsunamis. But I do think we need to find ways better locations and better facilities for both our homeless animals and our homeless people. And so it was a thought that that place might be, even in a temporary short term, used for such purposes while the old animal control is being rehabilitated or in the future, other places are found for homeless people. So I just think, thinking broadly about what we need in our community and where we can have it, I just wanted to put that out there.

All right, thank you, next.

JB Mathers, and full disclosure, agent representing these sellers on this property, McNellis. I just wanted to say as far as interest goes, there's definitely plenty of interest in this property. The McNellis group, the reason they shifted the first time was kind of a larger portfolio option with Walmart. And when it did come back on the market, there's been a fair amount of interest in the property from other tenants. But Mr. McNellis definitely felt in good faith getting back to the county and an opportunity for the county to have a location on Highway 101 that can serve the entire county being the first stoplight. I believe north of the Golden Gate Bridge on Highway 101. And for the taxpayers of the community, you know, a chance to free up a lot of space that is being leased by the county and an opportunity to own a property that was appraised by Matt Nielsen, who in my opinion is the top appraiser in the county. And so the value definitely there, and I think a great opportunity to move forward for the community. Thank you.

All right, anybody else? Seeing none, I'm gonna bring it back to staff to, if they have any response or anything they wanna say about what was said, and then we'll bring it to the board.

I would defer to Jake on, because we've covered the tsunami issue in the run-up zone there, so if you could discuss what we're looking at there.

Sure, yes, the building does sit within the tsunami zone. It's right at the border, at the edge of it. We are looking into ways to strengthen the building, provide safe tsunami evacuation for occupants of the building. However, it is true, it is in the tsunami zone.

And I will note that when Kmart was active, HTA did have a bus stop there. There is not a bus stop there currently because there is no demand for it at that location.

All right, bringing it back to the board. Anybody? Supervisor Bone.

And I want to thank JB, especially, because he's been my go-to all along in the Sears building and everything else. When we heard that things weren't available, he made things available. So I appreciate that. This is a great idea. This is a superb idea. I think it's the idea of not renting for environmental health. And it has been mentioned, but to bring some of our locations up, Public Works, Planning and Building, up to full ADA, are gonna be so astronomical, it almost doesn't break even quite, but the relocation, the expenses why they do this, we are in a hospital that was built in the 40s, or previous, I guess previous, because 55 years ago I was having something done there. So this is something we've talked about, I was on the message, we've talked about this for I know all the years I've been here. So this is a great idea. Unfortunately, I'm having a real hard time voting for this, because we're not taking care of the buildings we have. I mean, I got waist-high grass at the Planning and Building Department not being attended to. I have to beg to get the front of the courthouse mowed. We let a veterans hall in Garberville melt around us, and so we took a minor problem and made it into a major problem until we had to tear it down and build something new. unless I get a commitment that we're gonna take care of the buildings we have, and I know we don't have staff, we don't have money, we don't have anything, but we can buy a new building and remodel that we're gonna have to make it right. And you have to understand, we'll be able to build a mezzanine in there, we'll be able to do it. There's a lot of room. There is a lot of room. And the tsunami part, I lived above that building for 25 years, literally up on the hill. I looked at it. I remember when they opened Kmart, the blue light special. We watched the traffic because they had to direct the traffic in there. And Kmart didn't move out because it was a bad location. I mean, if that was the case, why did they close McKinleyville? I just have a problem with the maintenance issue, and until I can get a guarantee, I can't even get responses on a lot of my stuff I want to ask about.

And I do believe that we can work quicker.

We have buildings that we can't build, maybe if we build them ourselves, but we've got buildings we've been working on for seven years. We've got a pink house over here that's a liability, because when it catches on fire, it's gonna burn down the... our building next door to it, I've asked and asked, just tear that liability down. Take one day, one day, maybe two, to take it down. There are people going in and out of there through the broken fences, and we knew that was gonna happen. But I need some reassurances now. I just can't say, yeah, let's do this, and then suffer the recourses of we don't have enough people, we don't have this, we don't have that. And I'm sorry to be so blunt and everything else, but I'm tired of the same old reasons, but we're willing to keep adding to the reasons. If you can't change the oil in the cars you have now, why are you buying new cars? So, sorry, but I probably won't be voting for this for that reason unless I can get a commitment that this thing will be maintained. It's gonna be new, but take a look at some of the newer stuff we've built and around it and how it's being maintained.

Supervisor Arroyo and then Supervisor Bushnell.

Well, thank you. I want to just comment that on the facilities ad hoc, we discussed some of the infrastructure and community assets in that part of town. Caltrans has been... Working on improvements to the South Broadway section and a lot of those were done this year. HTA currently has a stop that's about a five to seven minute walk. Excuse me, about a 10 to 12 minute walk and There's three food establishments available within about a five to seven minute walk. So we were being conscious of that in addition to there being a tsunami evacuation site immediately adjacent to and partially on the property. So certainly things we considered. I don't want there to be the perception that we did not think about that. Additionally, there's the waterfront trail opportunity for connectivity with lights just north of the site. So do you think that those elements of circulation and amenities were considered? Now, down the line, I anticipate if we have a campus with many, many employees there, there also might be interest in uh more development of additional amenities at that not part of town but as it stands right now there's there's a fair amount um we've really we've struggled for years to find a site that can accommodate our needs and i i uh I frequently talk with folks who have the perception that there's just so many buildings that could work for any occasion, and being part of several different organizations that were looking for large buildings in the last few years, it is a slog. It is very hard to find a site that can be repurposed for some of these uses that has the capacity, which is why we really pay out the nose for rental properties and while we're appreciative that there are rental property owners willing to rent to us, I really assure folks that long-term this has the potential to save us money, but we will have to make some investments. So I wondered if you could potentially bring up the rendering that you had up and if it's possible to zoom in. I don't know if that's feasible, but it was one of the slides. I know that's just a conceptual level rendering, but it would be great to be able to show that again. I think it was like the third or fourth slide. And then is it possible to zoom in on that so we can see the, I know it might not be the easiest. Yeah. Oh, thank you. All right. So I'm seeing a public meeting space, public works, land use, other public workspaces, planning and building, weights and measures, which is in desperate need of additional space, environmental health, and potentially some other things. So you mentioned that you thought that even... You might have even more room to work with there. Was there another department or team that you were thinking could be a good fit as well?

One of the exciting things about this property is that we can create a swing space so we can actually move people in and out of there as we need to to be able to work on other buildings where they might be in now. So one of the issues that we have to be able to maintain buildings is it's really hard to shut a program down to be able to go in and do a renovation in a timely and cost-effective way. So to be able to make that work, It would be great to be able to set up part of this building as that swing space so that we can get people in and get them out so we can do that work effectively.

Okay. And then with respect to some of the weights and measures and other needs, is the truck access to the back of the building, like the loading bay, is that a factor that helps us? Could you speak to that a little bit?

It does help us. There's a fenced yard at the rear of the building, which we could put to great use. We will need to make some modifications to the building, be able to have better vehicle access at the rear into the building should we need it. We are considering putting some covered storage space back there as well for trucks and other equipment that might need to stay out of the rain.

Okay, great.

Just thinking about the buildings that some of those folks are currently in, I know we have environmental health in the least building. We have several folks in buildings that we own but that desperately need to be remodeled and we cannot do that while folks are working inside the building. And some of those properties may have more value if we were to sell them or they might not be zoned in a great way for the current land use and zoning needs of the city of Eureka, for example. So this does seem like I just want to say for the benefit of the public, this has certainly been something we've had extensive conversation about. The conversation you're seeing here today is the ending point of a long journey. It would open up the opportunity to either sell or remodel existing properties to make those available for even more departments who are currently renting to move into them. So there's a little bit of moving pieces around or setting off one domino and then the rest can go, those concepts here at play. I'm supportive. I really appreciate all your work on this. I appreciate the property owner being willing to work with us. And really, there's no perfect property for us, but this is about as close as we can get. So I appreciate that we're here today. Thank you.

Okay, and Supervisor Bushnell.

Thank you. I wanted to ask, you know, in the interim, if we purchase the property and move forward, is there something that that building will be used for right away? Is it going to sit vacant for a long time? What does that look like? What does the process look like going forward?

So it is a big empty space currently. And ideally, we will be able to begin work on it very soon. We do need to do additional planning, programming, and work through the engineering for the changes that we do want to make. could be used for storage currently. It would be hard to move people in there immediately without doing the work that we need to do, but there are some uses that we potentially could use in there. We do need to maintain the building while we're doing that, and that's going to take some staff time. We are going to analyze that and see if it makes more sense to have some outside service maintain the building in the interim time.

And where does that money come from? Because all of that, I know the finance is going to be instrumental in the purchase and probably the construction, correct? But in the interim, I don't think that that finance can be used for maintaining or?

That's correct.

So where does that, what does that look like for budget?

So we're gonna have to stretch our own maintenance folks until such time as we can make the funding work to have outside help if we do need it.

Okay, well I think that you heard Supervisor Bone's concerns and stretching our maintenance guys. When I talk with our maintenance guys, they're stretched pretty thin already. Is there an alternative that we can I think you just said maybe finding an outside something. Property management. Property management, which then would you be coming back with a supplemental to figure that out?

Yes.

Okay. And then with construction starting on that, and I know that's going to go through the finance, what are we anticipating from if we purchase until we finish, like years-wise? Yes.

Complete and total build out five to seven years. It's possible that we get in there earlier depending on how we phase the project. So we may phase the project to focus on certain areas first and then leave the other areas to work on later once we are moved into those first areas. It does have to do, you know, funding is a big part of that. We're gonna have to have those discussions with the board, with the CAO's office to make sure that we're okay to make that work.

I always want to just say if there's a way we could speed that up. I think if we're going to purchase that facility, and I am supportive of the idea, too. I think the community, Humble in general, would love to have a one-stop shop there. And it's very easy on and off and all the things. And I know it's going to take a year to do the design and all the things. government tends to move really slow it's one of the biggest complaints I hear with constituent base and if there's any way we can move that up if this passes I would encourage that thanks for the work on this thank you chair

jake thank you i mean uh one person team for the last couple years uh your efforts tom you know and your staff i just really want to let you know how much i appreciate the efforts to try and figure out some moves for us where we can consolidate services nothing's ideal nothing's perfect like we said it's hard to find that perfect situation it's always going to be pros and cons but Continuing to lease properties as a solution is part of what's driving our budget into the negative from my perspective and I think many others. That's absolutely one area where I think we, and through this process, can start taking control of that. It's not gonna change our budget tomorrow, but in 10 years it's gonna make a huge difference. The more that we do this kind of stuff, where we buy our own properties, we consolidate services. And the win-win here is that suddenly there's all these really high-value properties in Old Town that are being used for not such a high-value purpose, like the materials lab sitting right up there on the ocean, you know, the Bayview, let alone Public Works. property right there also by the Adorni Center and the waterfront I mean clearly those have a much higher value than those purposes that we're putting them to so there's a lot of bright spots to this and I just really want to say how much I appreciate the hard work your dedication to both you and staying with it Jake thank you so much for your hard work appreciate it all right any more comments from the board

Supervisor bone how many acres are up at Spruce Point?

Five I think it's three or four Have we we looked at that site extensively? When we were looking at our last go-around with that site we looked at what we could do out there and it's very minimal compared to what we could do at the Kmart site and

And rightfully so, I agree with that, but we own that site. And then we're talking about moving the AG building, but aren't we getting ready to spend quite a bit of money on the AG building now, and there's rooms available now that the...

I think what we're talking about moving is actually the weights and measures function out of the building in the back.

Which is the 10 building.

Yes. Yes.

Now, and I'm just always wondering why we didn't build the 10 building up on the Spruce Point site. If it's good for anything else, wouldn't it be right there with their main office? I mean, we do have that old building there that should be, before it burns everything down. But it's a four acre parcel, let's say. And then if you take the ag part, the whole parcel itself is, but the ag building sits kind of in the, you know, the, I guess it'd be the southeast corner, but I'm just wondering if we fully utilized everything we can do on property we own. And I share Supervisor Madrone's feelings about the properties we have are someday gonna be worth something, but there's also a lot of acreage starting at the old fuel dumps and all the way around the bay that are empty right now that some are for sale and aren't selling. So I think eventually, and I do think it's a waste of dust to have motor pool and things like that down there. But with that being said, If we've utilized, because Spruce Point's out of the tsunami zone because of its little hump right there. We will get stuck there if there is a tsunami, quote unquote, but we're gonna get, if we have a tsunami of that size where it takes out the Kmart building, the worst, the least of our problems is gonna be the Kmart building being gone. I think it's gonna be everything downtown, including this courthouse, as we go by elevations, so. I'm just wondering if we've utilized, I know we've said we've looked at Spruce Point, but I want to see if we've fully, you know. And again, I support this. I was one of the guys that chased it. Chased it right after Walmart said they were going to move there, but that was a manipulative move rather than a constructive move on their part. I feel run by others, but I'm just saying I wanted it back. I'm just having a heck of a time. It's a great idea. It's a great super and consolidation and everything else. But are we going to be able to maintain it? Are we going to be able to maintain it?

Supervisor Arroyo.

Thank you. I just want to note on that question about Spruce Point and what we've considered there. We did have some initial evaluation of the opportunity just to replace the weights and measures building and a little bit of extra space for other uses, but that alone with new construction was similar and price tag to this purchase that we're considering here today. even for a very simple structure. So while those are assets that we have and we'll hold on to and we'll continue to be able to look at developing, the cost of new construction ground up is significant enough to make me think this is a good move. So are you ready for a motion?

I'm ready for a motion. Okay.

I'll go ahead and move. that we approve and authorize the Humboldt County Public Works Director to execute the attached real property purchase agreement regarding the real property located at 4325 Broadway in Eureka.

Is there a second?

Second the motion.

Thank you. Just a couple comments. I shared and somewhat share some of the concerns and maybe even criticisms of this location that were mentioned. But I want to say there was a lot of work being done to find, there's just a lot of inputs into why we end up at this place and with this plan. it's a practical solution for what we're trying to get done. It's kind of where I'm at at this time. I know we're building a swing space, but in my mind, kind of the longer term markets, the whole arc is the whole thing is kind of a longterm swing space. Um, and I, and I don't think it's, I don't think it's the forever home of any of these departments necessarily. Uh, because there may be better places where we can move on from those. But in this time and in this moment, this is, I think, the path that gets us to starting that process to leverage our other facilities and other properties and really get us moving. We've been kind of stuck for a long time. I think this is really, And in my mind this sticks us in that in that trajectory. So that's why I'm supportive of this. Do I think there are some challenges around how we interface our employees in that space to you know find good places to eat and stuff like that. Sure. But I think those can be improved upon as well over time. And so with that I support us moving forward with this and I and I look forward actually to the opportunities that it creates beyond what we're doing here. So with that we'll take a roll call vote please.

Supervisor Bushnell. Yes. Supervisor Arroyo? Yes. Supervisor Madrone?

Yes.

Supervisor Bone?

I asked a simple question and couldn't get an answer, so I'm gonna vote no. How are we gonna maintain even something as simple as we're gonna put low maintenance landscaping, but nothing was answered, so no.

Chair Wilson?

Yes.

Motion carries 4-1.

I'm closing the public hearing. All right, so moving on to departmental reports. We'll try and get through what we can before noon, if that's possible.

um we're going to start with uh clerk of the board and i'm not sure she's in jury duty is that she is and so i have been fallen told to take this item for her all right all right you can do it all right uh before your board today is a request to appoint hillary schwartz to the audit committee, we've had a long standing vacancy for an at large position and so Hillary's service in this role would be greatly appreciated and I do believe if she's still hanging out with us, she is, she is online and would like to say hi and introduce herself to you.

Okay, before that, I just wanna make sure the board's good with that. Then let's bring Hilary on and have her introduce herself to us and the public.

Good morning, thank you, Chair. My name is Hilary Schwartz, and I appreciate the opportunity to be considered for this vacancy. It would be my honor to serve.

I love it, great speech. So. Apropos OK anybody Supervisor Arroyo and then I'll go to public you know is there public comment online.

There's not.

Is there public comment in the room. Seeing no stampede. Supervisor Arroyo.

Well, thank you, Hillary, and I'm excited that you applied. I am one of the members of the Audit Committee. Supervisor Wilson and I sit on that committee, and it'll be great to have your experience and expertise. I enjoyed reading your responses to the questionnaire and your letter, and so look forward to having you. Thank you for participating in this.

All right, anybody else have comments? Supervisor Madrone.

Yes, I also want to say thank you, Hillary. It's been a pleasure working with you at the Humboldt Waste Management Authority Board, and your expertise in fiscal matters has been very obvious to me there. And thank you for stepping up. You've applied for a couple of different of our committees recently, and this looks like a great fit, and I just want to thank you for your efforts to step up and help us out. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Anybody else? Supervisor Bell?

Yep. I think you'll be great. This is probably one of the most exciting committees and fun committees to be on that we have. And there's never a dull moment. So put your seat belt on and enjoy the ride. Thanks, Hilary. Supervisor Bushnell.

Hi there. I just echo my colleagues. And we always, you know, we're looking for people on committees all the time and very appreciative of the willingness. And yeah, we'll see what your thoughts are.

All right, and to the general public, please apply for anything you see that you want to do and spend time helping us out with. Even if the committees are full today, we keep your application on file. And I'm looking for a motion.

So moved, I would move that we appoint Hilary Schwartz to the Audit Committee, and I will say it's more exciting than it might seem. I'm sure you think it's exciting because you're a finance person, but also there's lots to do with Measure O, so also very cool.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Is there any objection to unanimous consent? Seeing none, you have been appointed. Yay. All right, now we're gonna move into proposed fiscal year budget discussion.

All right, thank you, Chair Wilson. Before you today is Jessica Maciel, Assistant County Administrative Officer and Chief Finance Officer here to present to your board the fiscal year 26-27 proposed county budget.

Thank you so much, CAO Hayes. Kaylie, can you bring up my presentation?

All right. Proceed.

Thank you, Chair Wilson and members of the board. As CAO Hayes said, I am Jessica Maciel, Assistant County Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer, here to present your board with the fiscal year 26-27 proposed budget. Before we get started, I just want to thank our management and budget team for all the hard work that went into compiling this for your board today. That includes Vanessa Erickson, Kelsey Yonker, Shannon Falk Carlson, Sean Quincy, Karen Clower, Kati Gallardo, and Stephanie Bowers. We have worked many late nights and weekends to compile this budget to present to your board. All right, we'll get started with just running through the budget process, very similar as it is every year. We began early in the calendar year with the mid-year presentation to your board on February 10th. The budget is guided by Government Code 29009, the County Budget Act. Through that report, your board establishes the parameters to guide budget development. For fiscal year 26-27, this report included direction to set departmental general fund allocations to increase by 5% based on 25-26 allocations and to adjust allocations further for departments that were impacted by the negotiated salary and benefit increases specifically for the attorney classifications. In addition, your board directed staff to, again, deallocate 26, 27 unbudgeted positions, accept additional requests for general fund allocations for one-time expenditures up to $250,000 per request, and set departmental contributions to the Public Agency Retirement Services, or PARs, at 2% of annual salaries and included annual contribution to the deferred maintenance trust at policy level and a contribution of $3 million to the general reserve. With those parameters in place, budget preparation kicked off on February 19th with budgets due to the CAO's office on April 6th. The county administrative office management and budget team utilized the months of April and May to review and compile the county budget. And on May 11th, departments that chose to presented their budget presentations to your board. And today, before your board, is the presentation of the proposed budget. Budget hearings will take place next Monday, June 15th, and final adoption is anticipated to take place on June 18th. Quickly to go through the personnel allocations in the proposed budget, there are 2,207.53 full-time equivalents. This is a decrease of 33.6 positions or 1.5 percent over the fiscal year 25-26 adopted positions. Due to negative fund balances and restructuring, this reduction is fully the result of Department of Health and Human Services reductions, offset by a number of increases in governance as some of the restructuring involved centralization of human resources and IT security functions. DHHS deallocated 54 positions, or 4.3% over the department's fiscal year 25-26 adopted positions. And in addition, there were a handful of other funding source associated increases in other functions, primarily in law and justice with the addition of an alternate counsel in the public defender. In the current year, Department of Health and Human Services makes up just under 57% of the county's positions, and 22% in law and justice departments, with the remainder split amongst the rest of the departments. In this coming year, DHE Justice reductions will have their positions at just over 55%, with 23% in law and justice, and the remaining split amongst other departments. Today, the total proposed budget or spending plan before your board for fiscal year 26-27 is $657.8 million. The total proposed budget represents an increase of $28 million in expenditures or 4.4%, more than the budget your board adopted for fiscal year 25-26. This number is higher primarily due to the recommended additional request for general fund appropriation, a number of CAO operational funding recommendations, and a large increase in behavioral health due to the additional grant funds secured for the new Sempervirens building and for some additional programs in behavioral health, as well as a number of additional capital projects and facilities and roads divisions. For the general fund, the 26-27 proposed budget proposes that your board allocate $165.47 million in general fund expenditures. This is an increase of $7.6 million or 4.8% over the prior year. And as I mentioned on the total budget, this increase is primarily attributed to the additional request for general fund appropriation, or as we call them, ARGFAs, of $3.2 million and CAO Countywide operational funding recommendations of $5.4 million. I will go through what each of those are on a future slide. Of the total $8.6 million between those recommendations, 5.4 million is one-time expenditures and 1.9 million is for the establishment of an alternate council, which is anticipated to reduce Indigent Defense budget unit costs in the future and provide stabilization to ongoing costs for this mandated function. And I just wanted to point out that your board approved the 5% increases in general fund allocations, which has allowed departments to manage inflation and the negotiated salary and benefit increases after several years of holding status quo. And with that increase, revenue increases and departmental budget management allowed these increases to be fully absorbed. Additionally, your board has continued to provide long-term fiscal sustainability or to prioritize long-term fiscal sustainability by maintaining contributions to the general reserve. In the coming year, we're anticipated to bring that balance to $19.6 million, which is an increase of over $14 million since fiscal year 21-22. In the general fund, the projected revenues for fiscal year 26-27 are $139.9 million, which is an increase of 2.8 million or 2% from the prior year. This is entirely in discretionary general fund revenue, which is expected to increase $3 million, so it's slightly offset by some decreases in non-discretionary revenue. finally the use of general fund fund balance is proposed at 25.5 million dollars the fund balance of which 11.6 million is due to the previously mentioned one-time expenditures and additionally as mentioned um Sorry, I got a little off there on my notes. So the fiscal year 26-27 recommended use of fund balance, which is less those one-time expenditures and our one-time contributions to contingencies, is just under $12 million, which is a nominal reduction of just over $11,000 in the structural deficit from the prior year. which is a pretty great position to be in given that we did give the 5% increases in general fund allocations. I hope that one got cut off a little bit. The additional request for general fund appropriation. The entire list is attached to your packet with the staff report, and your board will provide direction on the additional request for general fund appropriation at budget hearings. Department submitted 17 ARGFAs for a total of just over $3.2 million in one-time requests. Since your board limited requests to one-time expenditures of up to $250,000 per request, all department requests before your board today meet those requirements. And all of the submitted requests have merit and there are sufficient one-time resources in the general fund to support the submitted requests. Therefore, the CAO is recommending all 17 requests in the 26-27 budget. In addition to the ARCFAs, the 26-27 proposed budget includes the following adjustments to general fund allocations as recommended by the CAO. These recommendations are operational and structural recommendations, which is why they're not included in the ARCFAs. These are recommended by the CAO to implement your board's policies, strategic plan, and to prepare for future economic and fiscal impacts. The total adjustments to the general fund allocations totals $5.4 million of which 2.2 million are one-time adjustments, 1.3 are ongoing adjustments, and 1.9 million is for the establishment of alternate council as previously discussed. As with the ARGFAs, your board will be able to provide direction on these recommendations at the budget hearings. And as we've been touching on at every budget report I provide, we still have a number of negative fund balances and other funds that are a threat to the general fund and negatively impact the interest earned by the general fund. It is important that the entire agency implement prudent fiscal practices to correct and prevent funds from having negative fund balances. These are the same funds that we reviewed in the prior year. One that I do want to point out of note is the Aviation Enterprise Fund. It is anticipated to return to the positive in fiscal year 25-26 and remain as such, and so it will likely be removed going forward. We are still managing the negative amounts in the Aviation Capital Projects Fund. Of primary concern is the continued deterioration of the social services fund. Staff are working closely with DHHS to bring back a more thorough review of fund 1160 and including your board directed evaluation of mandated services and program prioritizations. For Measure Z, on April 21st, 2026, your board reviewed the fiscal year 26-27 list of Measure Z applications as prioritized by the Measure Z Citizens Advisory Committee. This year, the committee had 1.65 million available to allocate, and the committee's recommendations funded the first five ranked projects with just over $1,000 remaining. Your board accepted the committee's recommendations and additional direction was given to staff to include the Boys and Girls Club of the Redwoods Teen Court Project, allocating the additional one just over $1,000 plus $18,666 from reserves with direction to replenish the reserves prior to next year's application process. Any estimated expenditure savings or additional revenues represented in fiscal year 25-26 will be available for the fiscal year 27-28 application process. And this is the last year of the current three-year spending plan. Staff will be coming back to your board in July to present the committee's recommendations for a new three-year spending plan. And measure O for 26-27. In April 2025, your board approved that based on $24 million in revenue each year, revenue will be allocated 85% to Humboldt County Public Works for roads and 15% to Humboldt Transit Authority for transit services on an annual basis. Further, if there are any revenues above that $24 million, half of the excess revenue will go towards the negative fund balance in the road fund until is brought to a positive position and half will go towards a contingencies account until it reaches 16 percent of annual projected revenue or 3.8 million dollars after those benchmarks are hit the revenue will be split as is the original allocation Based on the fiscal year 24-25 revenue overage of $81,560, $40,780 was allocated to each contingencies and the Rhodes Negative Fund balance. Any anticipated revenue overages for fiscal year 25-26 will be allocated to the Rhodes Negative Fund balance and contingencies in fiscal year 27-28. In addition to the Public Works Road's regular allocation above, a carry forward from fiscal year 25-26 was requested with the spending plan that came to your board, just under $4 million, resulting in a total expenditure budget in the coming year of $28.1 million for Measure O. A couple other funding sources. The American Rescue Plan Act is coming to its end. All ARPA funds were required to be obligated by December 31st, 2024, and are required to be spent by December 31st, 2026. To date, $24.5 million in ARPA funds have been expended, and it is estimated that just over 11,000 additional dollars will be expended prior to the end of this fiscal year. resulting in 24.5 million expended of the original 26.3 million. The remaining 1.8 million are obligated to three remaining projects and are budgeted to be expended in fiscal year 26-27. And then the CAO has recommended holding on to the local and tribal consistency funds, or LATCF, for future needs pending, stabilizing the general fund. Currently, this is what is included in the proposed budget again. However, your board may provide staff direction on a different alternative at budget hearings. Currently, $500,000 has been expended for the earthquake response and $118,103 has been expended, which was pending 100% reimbursement from the state for sheltering. However, it does not seem likely that this is going to be reimbursed at this point. So that leaves 2.58 million remaining unexpended of the original 3.2 million received and 250,000 still remains obligated by contract. 2.2 million is unobligated and $131,897 is available to be reobligated from the earthquake response. And again, you may provide direction to staff on those funds through the budget hearings. The opioid settlement funds spending plan for the coming year, staff have continued to work with the opioid work group, including the sheriff's office, probation, public defender, and DHHS, to consider how to allocate these funds. The CAO and county council facilitate and advise the work group. For fiscal year 26-27, the work group received only one one-time proposal from the district attorney, which the group voted to bring forward in the proposed budget. Based on this group's recommendations and in accordance with the requirements set forth by the Department of Health Care Services, the fiscal year 26-27 proposed budget reflects utilizing $4 million, just over $4 million in opioid settlement funds.

Sorry, is that in our binder?

through the chair yes the budget unit for opioid settlement funds is in health and human services if you're looking in there and behavioral health they manage they fiscally manage the funds um and it is budget unit 1600 600. And then lastly, transient occupancy tax. On April 28th, 2026, your board received a marketing asset inventory analysis and countywide travel and tourism marketing strategy and approved staff recommendations for the fiscal year 26-27 TOT allocations. Staff recommended to maintain the existing funding allocations for one additional year while the tourism advisory board is formed and the destination strategy organization is secured through the request for proposal process. The economic development division in coordination with the CAO management and budget team have been maintaining the existing marketing assets in the interim period. And your board approved the proposed allocation that reflects additional costs associated with those assets, replacing the prior year's allocation for Project Trellis administration. The total TOT expenditures are budgeted at $1.32 million. Supervisor Madrona.

Yep.

Turn your mic on.

Yes, on that slide, there seems to be something missing there in the left column for the 71,000. Is that Southern Humboldt Visitors Bureau?

It is. It seems to have erased from my picture. No worries. That is correct. That's the Southern Humboldt Visitors Bureau. Okay, thank you. Yeah. And with that, I'm available for any questions.

Okay. Let's start with public comment, if we can. If there's anyone on Zoom, please bring them in. And again, if you have public comment on this, raise your hand now, because we're not gonna come back.

There's not.

All right, anyone in the room, public, before we bring it to the board? All right, then bringing it back to the board, I'm gonna look around. No, no, Supervisor Arroyo.

I don't think I made the distinction that each budget unit could submit an ARGFA, but I realize, or was it each sort of sub-department? How did that, how does that get decided?

Yeah, we did not limit a number of ARGFAs for any department and or budget unit, and so the departments could submit them for their budget units as they saw they needed them.

Okay, so it was a, we had put a limit of 250K per request, so it looks like several departments had more than one. Correct. Great, thanks.

All right, looking on this side, Supervisor Bone or Supervisor Drum?

Well, unless you guys can find about $8 or $10 million for us, I've sat through 14 of these. And I think my original budget was $278 million. And I ran on a platform of holding our costs in check and lowering them. So I've almost tripled it. So how am I doing so far? But I cannot say over the last few years how much I appreciate staff, all of you people for bringing this forward in such a concise manner. I don't have to like it all, but you bring it in such a concise manner and you put so much effort and I know how much effort you put into it because I see you here on Saturdays and I see you here late. And I don't think it's like the unsung heroes. Everybody will jump on the bandwagon like they did it, but you guys pulled it off and you guys have done it. You haven't been able to until you get a printing press. I don't think we'll ever be able to balance this completely. But we're in the same boat as almost every other county in the state. I just... You guys just came back from CSAC. I just came back from our County of the Chair and everybody is screaming the blues. And I said, at least one thing about it is our budget team brings it in with a concise effort. And what we need to do and how we need to spend and how we need to plan forward. And I can't say thanks enough, because you guys have really kicked butt on this. And for a simple guy like me, I understand what you put forward. I think our public likes that. I hate to say it. We can baffle them up here with fancy words and everything else, but direct to the point is so much more efficient. And I thank you. And hopefully, just because I appreciate the budget, everybody doesn't vote against it.

Secretary Bushnell.

Thank you to the CAO staff, but I also want to thank the departments. I know that there was a lot of things and directions that had to be followed with the budget in creating this year's budget. It looks a little better than it did last year, thank goodness. I also recognize the stress that happens during budget times because I get that often. don't talk to me it's budget times and so I appreciate that and you have and and departments have you know us also talking to them when they're trying to figure out this very stressful time before we adopt the budget at the end of this month and I I do agree with supervisor phone I probably don't like everything about it and there are things that I would like to make may be different, but overall for the organization, the departments working with the CAO department is super important. And I hear that message continually that that's happening. I do want to say to Connie, Your budget year has been very difficult and I recognize all the hard work that's gone in with your very large department to try to work within the parameters that you have. And that's a ditto to every department, but right now your department's kinda highlighted because you have some issues going on, so thank you.

Supervisor Arroyo.

I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO OUR AUDITOR CONTROLLER AND OUR WHOLE BUDGET TEAM AND ALL OF THE BUDGET TEAMS WITHIN EVERY DEPARTMENT BECAUSE I THINK WHEN I FIRST GOT ON THIS BOARD, IT WAS A SCARY PICTURE THAT WE DIDN'T FULLY have a grasp on uh we did everyone was doing the best they could um but now i think we have a lot more certainty about what we need to change and there are still a lot of uncertain elements uh specifically around some of the federal funding and how that's going to impact us so we're doing the very best we can i really appreciate the clarity of this document and the breakdown that it includes and you know i want to say for the benefit of the I mean, listening public, our discretionary funding is about 25% of our overall budget, almost exactly 25%, just a hair more. So the rest is, I know people see that amount and they think it's, um large and it is and it represents an important investment in our community and the people that we serve every day um and a lot of that comes from from other sources that we really rely on so um thank you for just being the team that really has taken the reins and worked on making this as sustainable as we possibly can. I really, really see it, and I know it's quite, it's been a hard couple of years, and we're weathering an ongoing storm, but as Supervisor Bowen said, all of our colleagues are also in the same boat. So we really, truly are in it together. And with that, I'll... May I do the thing?

But then I have Supervisor Madrone for his comments.

Oh, I'll wait.

All right, Supervisor Madrone.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Jessica, incredible work. I mean, and all the department heads. This is never easy, cutting costs for services. It's a horrible place to be in for all of us. I know as a board, we really struggle with that as well. And I guess we keep, you know, every year we project that we're gonna run out of our reserves. I think now we're projecting only two million left for next year, but then we don't spend all the money in the budget, and that adds five or 10 million back, and we're kind of back at the same place. So we're considering passing a budget that spends money we don't have, which I have a serious problem with, frankly, just from a philosophical and an economic perspective. I realize that it ultimately ends up somewhat balanced because of the fact that we don't spend all the money. You know, just to put it real simply, I think that's kind of what we're doing. But even with that, I would vote to approve this budget. I don't think we're voting on that today. It'll be on the 18th for our final approvals. Today's informational, I believe. But I am not going to be supporting this budget with the money for the flock cameras continuing to be in the budget. And I wish that the sheriff would recognize the public opinion on that. because it is some legal counsel's perspectives that we don't really have the authority necessarily to take that budget away because the sheriff would argue that we're taking tools away from him to be able to do his job. I mean, when we reduce budgets in all these departments, we're taking tools away from all those people to do their jobs. And I just wish that we could all be on the same page on that and listen to the public sentiment and see what's going on all over the state of California with other cities and counties. Because even if we don't have that authority, I wish that the sheriff would hear that and go ahead and take down these flock cameras. But that didn't occur. I don't see it occurring anytime soon other than an ordinance to prevent private entities from putting flock cameras on county property. That is something we did direct to come back. Director Madsen is working on that, which is great. But I am not going to – I said this last week. I'm not going to vote for this budget with that money remaining in it. I feel so strongly about that issue. So I just want to be clear about that. But now that we've moved it to June 18th, probably have all five of us here. And so they'll probably get four votes. So that's fine. I'm not gonna fall on my sword on that, but I'm not gonna vote for the budget. And it's nothing personal because you have worked yourself really hard to get this all done while taking on other duties for other districts at the same time. Thank you for all your work there, Jessica. So it's not personal to anybody, not to any of the departments or anybody. It's just that one issue, frankly. So I wish it wasn't that way, but it is.

Yes, CAO.

If I could just provide one point of clarification to Supervisor Madrone's comments. The budget is in fact balanced. You're essentially using your savings account to fill that gap. So I just want to be clear that it is a balanced budget and you are spending at this point within your means. But as we whittle that savings account down, times will certainly get tougher.

Yeah, that's the point. I recognize it's our reserves or our savings account, but when you get down to only two million, if we spent our entire budget, that's scary to see that trend over the last, ever since I've been in this position, It's gone down and gone down and gone down and gone down, and it only can go so far. And I don't feel good about leaving my successor with that kind of a budget situation to make decisions about, let alone all of you that are gonna be here next year and ongoing. So I recognize that, appreciate that point of clarification, but I'm aware of that, thank you.

Okay, just a quick question for Sarah. Does this not require any action from this board?

Just to accept staff recommendations.

Okay, so there is and I just as a reminder to the public This document is a proposed budget So by all means take a look at it review it comment send us emails phone calls all the things if you have questions and Yes

I just want to point out, in the recommendations, there are a number of actions that your board is taking, and so I'm happy to go through those if that would be helpful.

By all means, if you could frame the motion, that would be awesome.

Okay, so your board, in addition to accepting the staff report today and approving the appropriations and the proposed budget subject to modifications and staff direction for the adoption of the final budget on June 18th, you are also adopting a resolution to authorize an inter-fund loan to Fund 1710, which is for the McKay. We do that on an annual basis until such time that they are able to produce revenues and repay that loan. And that is from the general fund. Additionally, there is to approve a transfer of $2 million from the tax loss reserve fund. This is also annual and it is subject to required balances in the tax loss reserve fund and so we're doing two million dollars additionally there is to continue the hiring freeze and fund 1160 and continue the authority for the cao to approve exceptions and approving the prepayment of our calpers pension liability contribution in the email of just over 35 million dollars This is also annual, we do a prepayment because it provides savings and that analysis is available in the staff report. And additionally, authorizing department heads to continue to approve voluntary furloughs for employees under their appointment authority. And then just directing us to return to your board on June 18th to consider the adoption of the final budget.

All right, thank you for going through the list of eight recommendations. Do I have a motion and a second to proceed?

I'll move approval of all those eight recommendations. I'll second.

We have a motion and a second.

Comment.

And we have one more comment from Supervisor Madrone.

Yeah, I will say that I've had a lot of constituents over the last several years say, what happened to the Budget Roadshow, which was award-winning, if I remember correctly, along with What is done here in this binder has also been award winning, just want to point that out, the great work by staff and departments on all that. But I say to them, well, there's no money to really talk about your opinions about where we might spend that money, because we're just cut cutting, right? I mean, it's the short version of an answer to them, but they do miss it. But if you don't have extra money in the budget that's discretionary to really consider input on where it should be spent, what we're doing is spending it where we have to spend it, basically. So does that seem like a reasonable response to the public? Do you have anything to say?

Yeah, we have discussed internally about resuming the roadshows. They really went sort of underground in COVID and it's a pretty significant undertaking for us in the middle of the budget to do that. However, we do certainly see the value in it. And even in discussing where the community might be willing to cut services, I think that that's valuable insight. That aside, there are many opportunities for the public to participate in the processes. The public hearings on the 15th are probably the most substantial opportunity they have. This is when your board will really deliberate on any and all modifications to be made to the budget. And then we will, of course, bring it back on the 18th. It will be on consent unless a board member pulls it, but that is further an opportunity for the public to provide feedback on that, as well as throughout the year as we present to your board quarterly reports on the budget status as we move through the fiscal year.

great well that's sort of a flip-flop instead of the public saying here's where we'd like to have the money spent here's where we'd like to see the money cut sort of a flip-flop on the reality of a very tight budget not for ourselves only but for all 58 counties so thank you for that explanation i hope people take advantage of the opportunity to give us input thank you

Yes, Supervisor Bone. And I agree with Supervisor Madrone, but I think with the day and age of what we're able to do electronically, Zoom and everything else, as we cut funds, the expense of putting the roadshow and taking a staff of 18, putting them up, setting it up, and doing everything else in Garberville, even Trinidad, because there's compensation time in there. We don't have them during the middle of, well, we have them during the middle of the day, but we have to compensate for that travel time and everything else. So what we've done, and I think maybe what we can do before the 15th meeting is make, an effort to get out the Zoom, how easy it is to Zoom and everything else because the last thing, why we do this Zoom and everything else is because we do want everybody to be heard. If you have the opportunity to come here, please come here and be heard. but we do give you a platform to do it online so you don't have to drive here, you don't have to take the time, you don't have that. So I think maybe if we push that a little harder so people are aware they can do that and then our staff can be spent rather than traveling and late evenings and things like that addressing i.e. the budget problems. So I think that was the big part of it. I see both sides of it because I was involved, but as we get better with Zoom, I mean earlier today it was the worst thing ever, and I said no, five years ago Zoom was the worst thing ever, but it's getting better every time we turn around, and I thank our IT folks for that.

Supervisor Arroyo.

Thank you. I really appreciate this topic coming up about how to get input on the budget and thinking about how this is the last seemingly, unless things magically change quite substantially, this is the last year where we're working with this amount of reserve that we can apply to the budget. We'll have some in subsequent years, but not much. I THINK IT WOULD BE REALLY INTERESTING TO HAVE FOLKS BRING BACK SOME IDEAS ON HOW WE COULD GET SOME ADDITIONAL METHODS OF INPUT, WHETHER THAT'S LIKE STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT POLLING OR SOMETHING AROUND SOME OF THESE DISCRETIONARY COSTS TO SEE WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT TO OUR COMMUNITY. I THINK THE BUDGET ROADSHOW WOULD BE A GOOD MECHANISM FOR THAT, BUT I AGREE THAT IT IS quite a big lift financially and I don't think there's anything that wouldn't have a cost to it, but I'd be really interested to have that conversation again about how we'd like to get that type of input because we know that not everyone can come here in the middle of the day on a Tuesday or even a Monday or a Thursday to participate in our public hearings. So I don't know if other board members would be interested in having an item brought back around how we can get additional community input, but I'd love, I think that would be really valuable and would help avoid sort of the echo chamber and only amplifying the handful of voices that might be able to make it to our chambers.

Okay. Is there any more discussion on the budget, and do you want to respond to that suggestion or question?

Yeah, I think that we could probably through the mid-year report or sometime. We've got a Bambino on the way over here, and so that's why I'm looking at her. I see the look of fear in her face because she will be going out on maternity leave here pretty soon. But yes, when when Jessica returns from her maternity leave and will be presenting to your board in the in the next calendar year, an update on the budget, then we can certainly throw out some suggestions on what might be effective and some cost estimates to how that would look. And we definitely would appreciate your board's thoughts on how to engage the community more because there's, you know, That's an unending mark that we can always do better at.

Thank you, and that's why I was as vague as I was in my comments around it, was like wanting to sort of allow you all the freedom to figure out what might make sense and what recommendations and timeframe might work, but recognizing that as we're preparing for our next fiscal year, I think we'll need to have that input to be able to make decisions that folks can get behind, and recognizing that they're gonna all be difficult trade-offs so having that input would really help um help us to make good decisions obviously we all reach out to our constituents too but sometimes you get a different response when it's a county-wide approach versus individual districts or individual supervisors so thanks all right i see us coming to a conclusion here i think we'll take a roll call vote please

Thank you, Chair. Supervisor Madrone?

No. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm going to vote yes on this. It's not the final budget. I like what we've done here today. Thank you.

Supervisor Bushnell? Yes. Supervisor Arroyo? Yes. Chair Wilson?

Yes.

Supervisor Bone? Sure. Motion carries 5-0.

Great. We are now moving on to, unless people need to take a break, We can do this, all right?

We can probably do these pretty quick.

I think we can get through them. The next one is consider creating an ad hoc committee for the negotiations regarding real property located at 1250 Fifth Street in Ferndale, California.

Well, that'd update the chambers.

Good morning, Chair Wilson, members of the board, Tom Matson, Director of Public Works. This request comes from the Humboldt County Fair Board. Their contract is expiring. They, as you are well aware, have run into financial difficulties with changes in the horse racing and other things, and they would respectfully request an ad hoc committee to negotiate with them over the next six months on the future of the fair. That would include two board members from our side, a representative from our county administrative office and a representative from Public Works. They are willing to sign a six month agreement contingent upon us developing the ad hoc committee and committing to negotiate with them over the next six months about the future. So that is what is in front of your board today.

Okay, before I bring it to the board, I'm gonna open it up to the public. Is there any comment from online folks? There is. Okay.

Caller 2611, I will unmute you and you will have three minutes.

Hello supervisors again. I just wanna clarify real quick, I was not saying Zoom is, Excuse me, are you calling in about the item we're talking about? I need to clarify my statement earlier. It was misunderstood. I would like to advise for the ad hoc. I'd like Michelle and Rex on the ad hoc. They're the only supervisors I've ever seen at our county fair. And I think their representation on the ad hoc is crucial. And also within your public works department, there is an employee named Matthew Al. He also is a very... All right, thank you.

Is there any comments or any more comments online?

There's not.

Okay. Anyone else in the room that wants to speak to this item? Seeing none, we're bringing it back to the board and Supervisor Arroyo.

Thank you, I will make a motion that the ad hoc consist of Supervisors Bone and Bushnell, and I'll also note that I go to the fair every year, and I think we all really love to support the fair.

All right, any more comments, Supervisor Bushnell?

I'll second the motion. And the comment, because I've seen others there.

I have been at the fair most years. So when I'm out of town. But I do wanna ask a question, because this is in relation to, we have an ad hoc committee that is for the sort of our real estate, sort of property upgrade planning process. And so I just wanna make sure that we are, if this is how we move forward, that we have sort of some, make sure we're having some, that these conversations are separate. And so, to staff. What I'm saying is we already have a, a facilities committee, and this is one of our facilities. And so we're having two folks who are separate from that committee in what's being proposed now do these negotiations in isolation from the sort of broader perspective that is from the facilities committee. So I just wanna make sure that staff is vigilant in making sure that these conversations are separate. And I just wanna make, that clear. I'm talking staff. Okay, okay, so. Yeah, I'm talking.

It's pretty clear we're bifurcated between the fairgrounds and the rest of the county facilities that we own and maintain ourselves.

Okay, I appreciate that very much. Out of respect to the facilities master plan and then Ms. Fisley, have you guys had a lot of discussions with the fair about their lease?

No, because it's a fairly new subject and I want to emphasize that we're doing a six month process for this and so that, I mean, because this is a six month agreement and because we're having this negotiation, I think it should be clear that the broad scope of what sort of decision making process could result from this because we're having, there's stress in the current situation that's happening now. And so, while we may be in lease negotiations, we're gonna have to, it is part of our portfolio of facilities and we have to be responsible to that, to that broader perspective. So I appreciate that and I think we have a good team that's being proposed right now to do this. The facilities are important. The activities that occur there are important and valuable to our community and I think that everyone involved is gonna do their best to see what we can do to make that work. Is there any other comment?

No, I'm still confused because it's not a six-month agreement. They're proposing a six-month agreement, but that's why we have the ad hoc to talk about their six-month agreement.

Can I?

Sure.

I'll ask Director Matson. So they're expiring on the 31st, and so I think that we are going to be approving the six-month extension so that we can negotiate with them. Am I correct?

That is correct. Yeah. We're extending their current contract by six months to negotiate possible changes in terms for the future.

Because they're going to be out of contract at the end of this month.

No, trust me, I understand that part.

So with respect to the ad hoc, I mean, we've briefly and in the most cursory way talked about the fairgrounds as one of our many properties that we own. And within the context of sort of our master, our capital improvement plan, excuse me, and our sort of overall assets and liabilities, we haven't gotten into the details of how the lease will be negotiated with the fair board and so I think it's a subject matter wise it's different enough to not be you know my perception is that it's not a Brown Act issue but we do just have to kind of create this process where then all the conversations that are decision making conversations will have to come back at a future meeting so I appreciate you bringing that up supervisor Wilson and Bo do we have a we have a motion and it's

Oh, Supervisor Bone, did you have something else to add to that? Yep, all right. Is there any objection to unanimous consent to the motion? Seeing none, we have a new committee. Thank you. All right. Now, let's see. We're going into Supervisor Madrone. We have a letter of support for the Middle Mad River Forest Enhancement Project.

Yeah, so I'll just introduce it real quickly. It's pretty straightforward. This project is a landscape-scale forest restoration and wildfire resilience effort spanning approximately 2,700 acres of private forest land in eastern Humboldt County. It's basically up the Mad River south of Maple Creek down to Bear Creek and from the Mad River up to South Fork Mountain. AND IT HAS A BUNCH OF PRIVATE RANCHES AS WELL AS GREEN DIAMOND RESOURCE COMPANY INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT. THEY'RE SEEKING FUNDING FROM CAL FIRE TO REDUCE FIRE RISK, IMPROVE FOREST HEALTH, RESTORE NATIVE OAK WOODLANDS, PROTECT DRINKING WATER RESOURCES, AND ENHANCE WILDLIFE HABITAT THROUGH FUELS REDUCTION, FOREST STAND IMPROVEMENT, REFORESTATION, AND PRESCRIBED FIRE. KEY FOCUS IS IMPROVING COMMUNITY SAFETY ALONG MAPLE CREEK, MCINTOSH ROAD CORRIDOR BY CREATING SHADED FIELD BREAKS. And it's addressing historic forest management and fire exclusion impacts. It's a great project, a lot of cooperation, and so I brought it forward. They're seeking a letter of support for part of the proposal effort they're doing to seek funding to do this project.

Thank you for that introduction. Do we have any comment online?

We do not.

Anyone in the room? Is there a motion to support this letter of support motion to support the letter? Well second great. Is there any comment from the board? Seeing none. Is there any objection to unanimous consent? Seeing none the motion passes 5-0 Hurrah, okay. I think we're gonna move into closed session now Thank You chair Wilson

It is the intention of the board to meet in closed session pursuant to California government code sections 54954.5 and 54957 in order to consider public employee appointment for the position of the aviation director It is also the intention of the board to meet in closed session pursuant to California Government Code section 54956.9 in order to discuss existing litigation in the case of Delman Smith et al. versus City of Eureka et al., Humboldt County Superior Court case number CV2502760.

All right, is there any comment? Did I do comment on closed session? Any comment on closed session?

There's none.

There's none. There's none in the room. And with that, we're going to go into close. How long do you think this is going to take? It is now noon-ish.

I would say 20 to 30 minutes.

20 to 30 minutes. We'll take a five-minute break so that people can, on the way, do their thing. And we should be back by, I'm just going to say we'll be back by 1230 at the latest.

Okay?

Hopefully.

Hopefully. Hopefully.

Let's see what we can do. Thanks, everybody. Okay, bringing it back to council.

Thank you, Chair Wilson. There was no reportable action taken with regards to items J1 and J2.

This meeting is adjourned.