Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the Board of Supervisors meeting for Tuesday, September 1st. Happy September. We will go ahead and begin with a roll call, please.

Supervisor Bushnell? Good morning. Supervisor Madrone?

Present.

Supervisor Bone? And Vice Chair Arroyo?

Present. Please arise and join me for the salute to the flag. Great, CAO Hayes, are there any modifications to the agenda?

Good morning, Chair for the day, Arroyo. There are no modifications today. And just wanted to know in the roll call that Supervisor Wilson is absent today.

Thank you. Yes, indeed. So I get to practice. All right. So on our consent calendar today, we have one proclamation. In addition to that proclamation, is there anything that a supervisor would like to comment on at this time? We'll go just down the line. Do you have anything?

Sure. I will comment on the... Bridge dedication that I'm bringing forward for Oman Creek Bridge in the southern Humboldt area. Tom, the gentleman that I referenced to, he was a union person and passed in an auto accident and helped build that bridge. And so this is just the first portion. It goes to Senator McGuire from here. So just really wanted to recognize that.

Wonderful. Thank you for that. Supervisor Madrone, do you have anything you'd like to comment on? Supervisor Bone, anything?

I want to thank BLM and everybody else that worked on the Elk River Preserve out there to spin off that 4.17 acres with the house on that since we're losing more land. to the government, which means more land off of taxes. But we were able to convince them that that could stay and be auctioned off because it can't be sold and moved. So BLM planning and building and everybody else kind of worked really, really hard to make this happen. And we'll have that 4.17 acre house still on the tax rolls, which is a good thing.

Great, thank you. All right, so we will move to the proclamation. I'll go ahead and read it and if you're here to receive the Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month Proclamation, please go ahead and come on up. And after I read it, we can take a photo and then you're welcome to make some remarks. Hi there, welcome. Good to see you all, hi. Great group. All right. All right, in honor of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Whereas in Humboldt County, we observed Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in September, a time where individuals, organizations, and communities join voices to amplify the message that suicide can be prevented. And whereas we also observe Community Safety Day on September 8th, an annual day of action dedicated to spreading awareness about available resources for mental health and emotional support, such as 988, the 24-7 suicide and crisis lifeline. And whereas Humboldt County's suicide rate is more than twice the state average, with veteran rates reaching six times the state average. And whereas this Humboldt County Suicide Prevention Network, SPN, And World Health Organization recognized that suicide can impact anyone, but disproportionately impacts black, indigenous, and people of color due to centuries of systemic racism and colonialism that has impacted mental, physical, economic, and social health. And whereas firearms are the most common method used in suicide deaths, and access to safe storage can be obtained through the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Keep It Safe Program. Whereas knowing the signs of suicide, finding the words to talk with someone who may be thinking of suicide and accessing local resources are actions everyone can take to care for themselves and their community. Whereas school staff play a vital role in promoting the health, safety, and well-being of children and youth, by fostering supportive environments where students feel connected, valued, and empowered to seek help. And whereas two-spirit LGBTQIA plus youth deserve to feel cared for and supported, and the Trevor Project is a 24-7 nationwide free confidential support line that can be called or texted. And whereas the SPN is a coalition of tribal partners, organizations, youth, school staff, and community members from throughout the county who are working to destigmatize suicide, uplift hope, and create tools to care for mental health in culturally responsible ways. remembering that suicide prevention is a labor of love. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors hereby recognizes September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in Humboldt County and September 8th, 2026 as Community Safety Day.

Where's she going? I'll stand right staggered between you two.

Three, two, one.

Okay, one more. Three, two, one. I don't know if you're supposed to smile really big for this one.

No, right? Tough subject. Great, thank you so much.

Nice to see you all.

Elizabeth Rosmarini, I work with the VA. I'm a member of the Suicide Prevention Network. Thank you so much for highlighting Suicide Prevention Awareness this month. Of course, it's important to us every month. Working with veterans, I appreciate you mentioning the statistics, and veterans are a big part of our community here in Humboldt. And I do appreciate Community Safety Day highlighting 988, a great resource for the community. And if you're a veteran, veteran family member, or someone calling about a veteran, it's 988-PRESS-1. So we do have resources out there. Another place to get things to secure firearms if you are a veteran family member would be at our VA clinic here in Eureka. So again, I just wanna say how much we appreciate the county drawing attention to the issue. We hope people participate in activities throughout this month to educate, to support, and to highlight the work that so many people do here in our community. We do have stand down for our veterans at the end of the month at the fairgrounds in Ferndale. That's the 23rd through the 25th. And there's a couple other folks I think that might want to have a word.

Good morning. Thank you. Bob Daugherty, Veteran Peer Support Specialist, Nation's Finest. Veteran, I work with the vets and got finger on the pulse every day is Suicide Prevention Day for me. And what suicide prevention is in addition to everything that has been mentioned here before, you know, the crisis lines and these good people who are at will call to answer phones. Um, suicide prevention is, is reliable community. It's a food, it's housing, it's community supports. It's, Hey, can you, uh, do you want to go have a cup of coffee? It's a, you know, it's being blunt and direct. You know, I have, This is not work for the squeamish. It's a direct, are you thinking about killing yourself? It's getting real blunt and direct so that you can get down to what it is. And I have those conversations and have made a difference here and there, now and then. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to do that. It's also, it's a double dipper in that when I do have a loved one, a community member, a brother or sister that makes that decision, that it also deeply affects me on a personal level. And so I've had to learn how to wrangle with that. It's always a tragedy. It's always a loss. but I can be there for the family members, and I can be there for the community people to be in the air or to give some advice. Give thanks for all the training that's provided and the people who do this. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. None of you want to say anything else?

Sure, I'll say something. Okay. I could tell you're thinking about it. Just wanted to give everyone else time. Hi, I'm Allie Noll. I work at Public Health Suicide and Family Violence Prevention Program as a health education specialist, and I'm also a member of the Suicide Prevention Network with these fine people. And I wanted to thank the board for recognizing this month as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and for honoring the people that we've lost and the people that continue to need our support in this community. As you said, our county does see some of the highest rates of suicide in the entire state of California, and while I think proclamations are a really great step in raising awareness, we do need to take action to create the more caring, accepting, and empathetic worlds. And my hope is that this proclamation will be a reminder that suicide prevention is a community-wide effort, and we all have a role that we can play. And whether that be supporting policies that reduce stigma and increase access to mental health services, or checking in with a friend, learning warning signs of a crisis, or just encouraging someone to reach out for support, it all makes a difference and it all can save a life. I just wanted to reiterate that if you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, there is 24-7 support available through the 988 Crisis Line or the Humboldt County Behavioral Health Crisis Line at 707-445-7715. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Really appreciate you all being here. We'll open it up to the board for any comments on this proclamation. Yes.

I really appreciate what you said about the proclamation doesn't mean anything unless we follow up on the proclamation. It's just a piece of paper, and it's great to recognize you people. But unless we do the follow up, and I think one of the strongest follow ups, I mean, outside the box where everybody just is, stand down. I don't know if I've missed a stand down in the last 15, 20, you know, since, but they just had their first one over in Glynn County, and it was very successful, and it's a great way, and the office, DHHS shows great support. We've got, you know, besides the open door, besides all the medical facilities, the 189 haircuts last year. 180, who doesn't feel good after a haircut? So, you know, with, and that's from the beauty college, but I do appreciate that it's what we do, it's our actions, not what we write on a piece of paper that mean anything, and we're really good about writing things on paper, and then we write it on paper a year later, but doing follow-up, I think, is really important, and you guys do the follow-up 365, especially, so, and you do make a difference, so thank you very much.

Any other supervisors want to comment on this one.

I just want to say thank you for the work. It's a very hard thing to to have to promote and deal with and just all of it and just really want to thank for the work.

I'll echo that. And we're going to move on from here, just in the interest of time. But I will echo that and say I really appreciate the work you all do in your spheres that all complement each other. And also just a reminder to anyone listening that suicide prevention can really look like checking in with a friend. It can be simple peer-to-peer, loved one-to-loved one support. There's no wrong way to start the conversation. It's potentially awkward for some people, but it is a sign of care. And you cannot make someone go through with suicide by asking them if they're considering it. So that's not how that works. So by asking folks... And asking them bluntly, as you mentioned, Bob, thank you for mentioning that. Really important to ask people directly. And if they're not, then you both go, oh, gosh, I'm so glad it was a misunderstanding, and you move on. But if they are... It opens the door to a meaningful conversation and to escorting them to someone who can help and staying with them. And that has really been shown to help when not every resource is always available to everyone all the time or they don't feel comfortable accessing it. So check in with your people. Thank you for being here today, and if anyone from the public has comments on this, you can make them as part of our public comment on the consent calendar that's coming right up now. All right, thanks. All right, so with that, we'll move to public comment on the consent calendar. I did not hear that anyone wished to pull an item from the consent calendar. So at this point, we will go ahead and move to public comment on the consent calendar. We'll start with those in the room. So if you're online and you wish to comment on the consent calendar, please go ahead and raise your hand. And those in the room, I see you are ready. Please come on up.

I wish to make a comment on item number 11, Department of Health and Human Services, Behavior Health. It has a contract in the amount not to exceed 140,600 for the period of October 1, 2020 through September, 30, 20, 26. Is this after the fact or something? I always find those interesting that something many years later is being put on the agenda in that kind of manner as far as being OK then, last minute. Also, there was another one in here. Let's see. We have the grand jury response in there. We have one in here which was like a million. Oh, we had two. And I always question how decisions are made. In item number eight and nine, and I do support what it was, an appointment of Stephanie Creech as director of child support services, appointment of Jeff Scott as director of library services approval of the advanced salary step relocation assistance. This was in closed session last time, and either the decision was made to make these things and now we're announcing it, but I always assumed if you guys actually decided in closed session to do those appointments, that should be reported out. Maybe it was, maybe I missed it. Sometimes I miss those in the recording, there's always a question and I do have a problem with a lot of stuff that is not correctly reported out of closed session and the manner in which that's dodged in other municipalities such as Blue Lake, we continually have something coming in, well, this was not the final action. An action was taken and if an action's taken, maybe I misunderstand the necessity to let the public know exactly what's been done in closed session and report out instantly No problem with the action being taken, but that's always a curious thing for me. Thank you for my opportunity to speak.

Thank you. Feel free to contact the CAO or myself if you have clarifying questions about that matter. You can make it simple. Anyone else wish to comment on the consent calendar here in the room? All right. Seeing none in the room, we'll go to online. Is there anyone online with their hand up? There's not. All right. With that, we're looking for a motion for the consent calendar.

Motion to approve consent calendar.

Second, and I do want to say congratulations and welcome aboard to our two new department heads.

Yes, and I'd like to add a thank you to Wendy Starr for serving on the Human Rights Commission. I meant to say that earlier and I forgot, so welcome aboard all of those folks. All right, so please let's go and do a roll call vote and start now.

Thank you. Supervisor Bone.

Yep.

Supervisor Bushnell? Yes. Supervisor Madrone?

Yes.

Chair Arroyo? Yes. Motion carries 4-0.

All right. We're moving right along to public comment on non-agenda items. Again, we'll start with those in the room. So if you're here to speak on non-agenda items, please come forward and you'll have three minutes. Hi, Vernon.

Good morning, Madam Chair, distinguished board members, ladies and gentlemen of Humboldt County, county staff. My name is Vernon Price, and I'm here to address a situation, a real-life scenario. I received a phone call Friday morning at 5 a.m. from a county employee that was in distress. I remained on the phone with this individual, speaking with this individual, advising this individual the best I could until 8.30 AM when I gave a warm handoff to the person's immediate supervisor. At that time, I informed the administrator over that program just to be notified yesterday morning by the employee that he was afraid. that the administrator was upset is that he contacted a consumer of services. Now, ladies and gentlemen in this board, I want to assure you I am a consumer of services, but I am not just reduced to being a consumer. I'm not reduced to my mental illnesses. I'm not reduced to my medications. The administrator that I will remain nameless at this point in hopes that this conversation will bring forth change. We cannot have a vibrant peer movement, ladies and gentlemen, until we quit reducing people to their past, to their medications, and to their mental illnesses. We are community members, and we are providers of hope in hopeless situations, those of us with lived experience. I sent out an email with some of my credentials, just some things that have been achieved since I've overcome addiction, homelessness, and still dealing with managing mental illnesses instead of no longer controlling my life. And I choose to pay it forward to a community that I live in, in hopes that we can improve the quality of life, build a stronger community, and a more vibrant county that we all live in. that we can reach outside of the silos of us versus them and move forward together. With this said, I still thank this county for everything that it is continually to do for me in this time of need, because I could not do it without you. That's an impossibility. And I stand before you today with thanks, humbleness, and honor that I am a part of a system that cares for one another. Thank you so much for your time, your concern, and your consideration on this matter. And please have the best day possible.

Thank you. Good morning.

Good morning. Daniel Pierce. We've all seen what happened in Nepal. Have you heard what happened in the Grand Canyon? We had a town of Klamath, but there was an earthquake in Alaska in the wintertime. The river was full of flood, and the tsunami went up the river and destroyed the town of Klamath. That was, I'm thinking, 64. I want you all to know I work for God. I'm just the messenger in all this. I have two movies. The first movie starts in 1979 when I was homeless. I had no money. Fourth of July arrived. The fifth of July, I went to a house in the middle of Humboldt Woods. You couldn't see another house from it. It had a flushing white toilet in it. Nobody in India would believe that story. In my second movie, there's another toilet. It also has a flushing white toilet in Goa. When I flushed the toilet, I heard pigs on the other side eating it. They were also serving pork at dinner for the tourists in India. Now, when you eat a hamburger, no Hindu would eat that hamburger. When you put cheese on that hamburger, no Jewish person would eat that hamburger. When you put bacon on that hamburger, no Islam person would eat that hamburger. So I ask you, what god are you eating? I mean, this is what it's about. In India, I built a brick wall. It was a push all that out. I spent over $50,000 in India. When I was 21, I wished to meet the keeper of the pipe, the keeper of the ,, the keeper of the gatekeeper, and give him my money. I did it. And I have two movies to show you. But you're wrong what you're doing about marijuana. In India and Kashmir with all the sadhus, they don't sell the weed. It brings bad karma. It brings bad karma to your family. You will not make money growing weed, selling weed, touching weed. It's against God's Shiva's laws. Now, when you want to sell weed and be, what, a care shopper for this weed, you are all touching that weed. The water supervisor is. Not me. You become the loan shark. You are charging people to grow weed. You destroyed all the mom and pops. But if you look at it the other way around, people would come all across the country to see the redwoods, to buy a pound of weed, because every bag of weed is different, to smoke that weed in the redwoods, to enjoy the beaches, to enjoy the trails we have. But you guys do nothing. All you want to do is grow big, big, big farms of weed and have no mom and pop, have no local sales, have no sun-grown weed in any stores. It's all organic, pharmaceutical, chemical weed. And you guys should be discussing with it, and the karma is yours.

Okay, thank you. Welcome.

Good morning. My name's Joanne McGarry. I took the bus today, and for the first time in three months, I had to pull out a card to pay for the bus, so the senior and youth discount is over. But the trials and tribulations of our public transit are continuing, so I'm hoping that you will hear the needs of the people and try and accommodate them as best as possible so that we can get out of cars that keep having accidents on our roads and get people to do the better thing and collectively travel places on the bus. And I invite any of you to join me on a bus trip if you would like. I'm working with CRTP to help elected officials learn about those of us who do the bus all the time. So that's the first thing. I also want to thank Supervisor Arroyo for her opinion piece about communications and community needs and reaching out to supervisors who maybe are not the primary person to go to. But I do want to say that I come here and speak out loud so it's captured because an email sometimes I think gets not even read, and if it is, doesn't get answered, and if it does, it doesn't get spread out to those who may be interested in the same things I'm interested in. So in the last minute and a half, I want to talk about the concern I have about what's been going on in our world and climate change and what we as community can do. and i was going to read from my phone but instead i'm going to read a poem by wendell berry who died yesterday a famous poet essayist and farmer in kentucky he and dolly parton represent an area of our country that really needs to be listened to in a lot of their earthy wisdom it's called the peace of wild things when despair for the world grows I wrote it down and now I can't read my writing, grows in me. I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's life may be. I go to lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come to the presence of still waters And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time, I rest in the grace of the world, and I am free. So rest in peace, Wendell Berry.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My mistake.

Yeah, thanks. Wendell Berry, really important person in America.

Thank you, yes, glad to acknowledge that poet. All right.

No gun jumping on the timer, Natalie.

I'm just getting my sea legs, thank you, everybody.

I know, it's one of those days. Well, we have Labor Day coming up, and that'll be a neat thing. We don't have a meeting between now and then. I always enjoy going to the Labor Day picnic out there at Sequoia out there and seeing a lot of people that I don't see. That's once a year kind of thing. It's an important thing to celebrate working. I'm 72 years old and enjoy working still. I was up on scaffolding even though I have a replacement knee and 24 feet in the air helping my son roof two days ago. So for those of us who do enjoy working and have worked our whole lives, it's kind of a celebration to still be here and be able to work. I did wish to, there was a memo that Rex Bowen asked for regarding a certain topic, why we didn't take the highest bid, and I forgot, but I need to request that memo. I want to see what the reason was for that particular thing. That would be an interesting one. I wish to track that, so I guess that's an official PRA request. So as we go forward out here, and we're getting a few rain days coming up, I guess. We're gonna, early rain days. Those will be interesting for anybody who's growing things. I like growing vegetables, and my green beans are just starting to come on that I planted late up here. Get outside and enjoy the Labor Day thing and enjoy the weather we have. I don't know if this is a precursor for a lot of rain this time. I guess we're in a whole new thing with the El Nino. is what we have, or El Nino, it's one of those two things. And the weather patterns are supposed to be quite a bit significantly different, so part of getting ready and used to, put everything away that needs to be not outside and get rained on, and make sure your son or anybody else finishes a roof before it starts raining. Thanks for my opportunity to speak.

Thank you. All right, and do we have any hands up online for non-agenda public comment?

We do. All right. Caller 3053, I will unmute you and you will have three minutes.

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

Yes.

A couple of things. I guess, you know, I'm going to continue talking about how it's unfortunate the Board of Supervisors has yet to put forward something on their agenda to make a formal letter to the DCC in the state of California about cannabis and cannabis licensing, especially during the rule change, especially being as farmers such as myself were not granted the opportunity to speak at their last public hearing due to technical difficulties. Being as cannabis is also a contributor to the economic drivers in Humboldt County, you can see since it was over-regulated and then over-acreage given by the state of California, there's been a drastic decline in the economy here in Humboldt County. So it'd be, you know, a little bit of public respect. It would be nice to see that letter there and, you know, some sort of real heavy hand back towards the state. it'd be great to see that as someone that spent a fortune coming into compliance, following the county rules and, you know, given the due diligence and time to help make ordinances, you know, that really aren't fitting out the way they should be. It's also unfortunate when you guys talk about carbon footprint and all that kind of stuff, that if someone were to build a home, they need to have someone, they can't mill trees and for grown from their own property. without paying for some person to come out and stamp the wood or having a deed restriction, which is unfortunate. So please don't come after our right to continue to live and prosper and survive on rural lands. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you. Do we have other callers? That is all on Zoom.

Okay.

All right, so we'll go ahead and close public comment on non-agenda items. And now we'll move to our public hearing. And I'll go ahead and open the public hearing and then turn it over to county council before I hand it off to our planning and building department.

Thank you. Vice chair Arroyo currently before the board is an ordinance amending section three one one dash seven of the Humboldt county code by rezoning property in the Ferndale area. PLN dash two zero two five dash one nine four two one Dennis Grandy price Creek ranch.

All right, thank you.

Morning, Vice Chair, members of the board, John Ford and Cliff Johnson, to present this request to rezone 750 acres to TPZ. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Johnson to give a short presentation.

Thank you, good morning members of the board. Gonna just wait for the screen share to pop up. We'll get into the presentation, there it is. So this is, as Director Ford said, a rezone application to put approximately 750 acres into TPZ. The property's in the Rio Del and Ferndale area. As you can see here, the project location is roughly equally distant between Rio Del and Ferndale, which is why we're referring to it as kind of both those areas. So the land is part of a single ownership of approximately 1,500 acres that involves seven assessor parcel numbers. Three of those assessor parcels are already currently 100% zoned TPZ. This next slide is going to show you the four assessor parcel numbers that are the subject of this rezone application and what this would do is rezone approximately 750 acres of those those lands are currently zoned a combination of tpz unclassified and agricultural exclusive This slide here is just showing a close-up of the property. The green opaque area is currently zoned TPZ, so the remainder of everything within the red outline would be rezoned to TPZ if this is approved. What this would do would result in a reduction in approximately 3,200. Oh, we went too far. Doesn't want to. Approximately $3200 in annual property tax reduction per year. I do want to note on the first page of the staff report there is a typo. So the actual amount of property tax reduction that would be lost per year roughly $3200 over that 750 acres per year. The rezoning, some of that would be recouped by timber yield tax. The rezoning is consistent with the county's general plan and specifically the forest resource goals which direct the county to actively protect and conserve timberlands for the long-term economic utilization and to increase the county's timber production capabilities. The TPZ zone would restrict the use of the property to growing and harvesting timber. and only those uses that are deemed to be compatible with that primary use. This application is consistent with the California government code requirements for TPZ, which is that the land has to be able to be shown to support at least 15 cubic feet of growth per acre per year. The Forestry Review Committee and the Planning Commission have both recommended approval. and this action is exempt under the california government code rezoning the tpz is exempt from environmental review so with that our recommendation is to make all the required findings for approval adopt the ordinance to reclassify these acres to tpz and direct the clerk of the board to execute the notice of timberland production zone status and that concludes my presentation be happy to answer any questions

Thank you, Supervisor Bohn.

Who is the applicant?

Yes, the applicant is the Grandy family.

Okay, it's a misspelling on the front, it has Grady on there. Oh, okay. Just FYI. No, I mean, we have Forestry Review Committee and a Planning Commission to oversee this and everything else, and I think the Forestry Review Committee was unanimous also, right?

That's correct. Both the Planning Commission and the Forestry Review Committee voted unanimously to recommend approval.

I'll make a motion as soon as everybody else gets their two cents worth.

Supervisor Bishno?

Thank you. I like to see these things. It's working lands, and it definitely is a benefit for the landowner to be able to retain generational amounts of lands. And TPZ is a good exemption for folks that commercially harvest their timber. So I'm glad to see this property come forward.

Supervisor Madron, anything? OK. And the applicant is not planning to speak, is my understanding.

I don't see them in the audience.

OK. All right. And we don't think they're online. OK. All right. We'll go ahead and open it for public comment. Is there any public comment in the room on this item? Seeing none, is there any public comment online on this item?

There is. Caller 3053, I will unmute you, and you will have three minutes.

I just want to, Thomas Mulder again, I just want to be thankful that we aren't listening to 30 minutes of supervisors talk about the lost tax dollars. So I just got to say that's great to have this meeting, move forward, let a family keep property and their family. Thanks for the opportunity to speak.

That is all in line. All right. Well, we're looking for emotion or make a motion to accept staff's recommendation. Second. All right. It's been moved and seconded. Can we please get a roll call vote? Supervisor Madrone.

Yes.

Supervisor bone.

Yep.

Supervisor Bushnell. Yes. Chair Arroyo. Yes. Motion carries four zero.

All right. And with that, we will move to County Council to read us into closed session. And then if you would also provide an estimate of when we think we will be back. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair Arroyo. It is 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 Melissa Sterling versus County of Humboldt et al., Humboldt County Superior Court case number It is also the intention of the board to meet in closed session pursuant to California Government Code section 54956.9 and in order to discuss exposure to litigation in one potential case.

All right. And any public comment in the room on our closed session?

don't know anything about number one's case, number two case, what could it be? Well, one thing that comes to mind is you have a person who works for the county named Douglas Caber. He has an obligation to turn over files to his client as soon as he's no longer representing them. It's been an extremely long time and he's been blocking that client from having their access to the court process. And things of that nature are very concerning. It's set up quite specifically if Mr. Caber thinks he's going to get away with continuing to ignore his obligations as far as, in my opinion, having totally misrepresented that client to the detriment of that person, having lost their children for a significant amount of time. because of the gross negligence of Mr. Doug Caber. Possibly the county or Mr. Caber will be sued on that thing, but we don't know, do we? So that's just a conjecture there. I highly recommend that Mr. Caber do his obligated duty, turn the files over to the person that he knows I'm referring to, and otherwise I could see litigation on that. And I've heard this seems to be an ongoing technique to block people from having their legal rights by not following the law. in how the county handled some of this business. Thank you for opportunity to speak.

Okay, seeing none else in the room, is there anyone online with their hand up for this?

There's not.

Okay. With that, we will adjourn and come back. I'm sorry, what was the time?

I would estimate 30 to 60 minutes.

Okay, between 30 and 60 minutes from now. We'll take a five-minute break and then reconvene in the room. All right let's go. All right we are returned from our closed session and County Council did we have a report out from closed session?

Yes Vice Chair Arroyo. With regard to item J1 the board voted 4-0 with Supervisor Wilson absent to authorize the Humboldt County Council's office to defend the County of Humboldt in the case of Melissa Sterling versus County of Humboldt at all. Humboldt County Superior Court case number CV2601800. And there was no reportable action taken with regard to item J2.

Great, thank you. With that, we will not be meeting next week, and we'll meet in two weeks, and we are adjourned.