Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

CEO, council, everybody in?

All right, great.

Welcome to this Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, Humboldt County, August 18th, 2026, just a few minutes after 9 a.m., and we will start with a roll call, please.

Thank you, Chair. Supervisor Bohn.

Hello.

Supervisor Arroyo. Here. Supervisor Bushnell. Good morning. Chair Wilson.

Here.

Supervisor Madrone absent.

All right. Next is the salute to the flag. Sheriff Hansel, will you lead us, please?

All right. I pledge allegiance to. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, here we are. Next is the virtual attendance instructions. Take it away.

Thank you, 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 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're joining by computer or 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 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. Comment should be directed to the board as a whole and limited to the time allowed. That is all, Chair.

Great, thank you. All right, so the first thing we're gonna work on right now is the consent calendar. We have a few proclamations that we're going to read off today. And then we're going to do the meat of the other things. So the first item on there is the proclamation for Constitution Week for Humboldt County, which is September 17th through the 23rd. And here we go. I'm going to read this proclamation. Chair Wilson. Yes. Oh, wait. Something wrong?

You skipped modifications to the agenda.

Are there modifications to the agenda?

Thank you, Kaylee, and thank you, Chair Wilson. There are no modifications this morning.

Okay, good thing. All right. Great. I will start with proclamation in honor of Constitution Week. Just I could feel it. All right. Whereas September 17th, 2026 marks 239th anniversary of the framing of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention. And whereas the United States Constitution signed in September 17th, 1787 stands as a foundation. Sorry. of our nation's government and the embodiment of principles of liberty, justice, and democracy, and whereas the Constitution of the United States of America was a turning point in world history, establishing a government of the people by the people for the people, and whereas the central promise of the Constitution of equal rights under the law was unfulfilled in its inception, And it's promised that all people created equal had to be made real through struggle, civil war, Seneca Falls, Stonewall, Wounded Knee, and through multiple constitutional amendments. And whereas through the process of amendments, beginning with the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, has been expanded and improved to better fulfill its promise of equality and freedom for all, including the abolition of slavery with the 13th Amendment, the granting of citizenship and equal protection under the law through the 14th Amendment, and extension of voting rights with the 15th and 19th Amendments. And whereas these amendments and others have been essential in addressing injustices and inequalities that persisted in the original Constitution, reflecting our nation's ongoing commitment to expanding freedoms and enhancing democracy. And whereas the unfinished work of creating a more perfect union requires each generation to continue to defend and amend the Constitution to ensure that rights and liberties of all people are protected and expanded. And whereas Humboldt County recognizes the importance of education about the Constitution, including its amendments and fostering greater understanding of the role in shaping and defending our democratic institutions. And whereas public law, 915, guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America designating September 17th, through 23rd as Constitution Week, and it is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to this important document. And whereas the Daughters of the American Revolution and other civic organizations have led efforts to promote the study and celebration of the Constitution, encouraging all Americans to reflect on the significance of this document and the ongoing work needed to realize its ideals. And whereas Humboldt County, with a strong tradition of civil engagement Social justice proudly joins the nation in honoring Constitution Week as a time to reflect on our shared history and to commit ourselves to the ongoing work of expanding and protecting the rights enshrined in the Constitution. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that County of Humboldt does hereby proclaim the week of September 17th to the 23rd, 2026 as Constitution Week and encourages all citizens to reaffirm the ideals inherent within the Constitution by celebrating its freedoms guaranteed to us through this guardian of our liberties, remembering those who struggled to ensure that principles of the Constitution can be enjoyed by all and recognizing that lost rights may never be regained. Let's honor the legacy of citizens and non-citizens who fought for the rights we now enjoy and recognize our responsibility to defend and expand those rights for future generations. And with that, I think maybe somebody, is someone here to receive this proclamation? Sure, we'll get a photo here in a minute, yeah.

Good morning, I'm Catherine Mace and I'm a member of Redwood Forest Chapter DAR and I very much appreciate that the county is supporting Constitution Week through its supervisors and joining with Redwood Forest Chapter DAR to Spread the word. We will have this proclamation along with other information at the county library on the second floor in the display case and other places around as we can. And we very much appreciate it because the Constitution has taken a few hits around the country this year. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that wants to speak to this? That's part of the group. Okay. I think this is our time. I'm going to give you this proclamation, hand it to you right now.

Okay.

Yes, Supervisor Rex. I think you guys gave us this years and years ago. I thought you brought them, but I kept it and read it all the time. I think your presence at the fair this year was great because I saw people around the booth and finding out what you stand for and the Constitution. Okay.

That was Eel River Valley chapter, which is another chapter.

It was still the DAR, which was, yeah.

It was indeed, yes.

Shorter commute for them.

Yes, it was.

And I will say that if you're ever in Washington, D.C., the DAR has a pretty amazing building there right on the plaza or whatever.

Yes, we do.

Yeah, it's pretty incredible. Something to check out. All right, let's take this photo of you receiving this, and we'll move on to the next item. Okay.

Thank you. Yeah.

All right, the next proclamation is brought to us by Supervisor Arroyo, and it is the recognition of August one through seven as breastfeeding awareness and promotion week. Take it away.

Great. Do we have someone here to receive this? Hello. I see some familiar faces. Wonderful. Come on up. Alright. In honor of Breastfeeding Awareness and Promotion Week, whereas August is recognized as National Breastfeeding Awareness Month, and August 1st through 7th is celebrated as World Breastfeeding Awareness Week, and whereas the residents of Humboldt County are deserving of good health and breastfeeding is the biological norm for infants and a proven primary prevention strategy that builds a foundation for lifelong health and wellness, and whereas the evidence of the value of breastfeeding to the health of the parent and the child is scientific and continually reaffirmed by new research, And whereas the American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization recommend exclusive breastfeeding for about the first six months of life with continued breastfeeding while introducing complementary foods for two years or as long as mutually desired by the parent and child. And whereas breastfeeding significantly improves the health, development, and survival of infants and children, contributing to improved health and well-being of parents, both in the short and long term. And whereas in the event of a disaster depriving people of food, shelter, and resources, breast milk is the first line of defense for safe infant feeding. And whereas breastfeed, Humboldt celebrates World Breastfeeding Week with the theme, Breastfeeding for a Sustainable Start in Life, Strengthen What Works. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors hereby proclaims August 1st through 7th, 2026, Breastfeeding Awareness and Promotion Week, and encourages all citizens to recognize and promote the efforts of breastfeeding families, health professionals, and the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services by providing support, encouragement, and help so parents can succeed with breastfeeding. And let's do a picture before you do some remarks. Thank you. Here you go. Are you going to take it? Okay, great. Feel free to make a few remarks.

so on behalf of breastfeed humble we would like to thank the board of supervisors for making this proclamation we're actually celebrating human milk feeding for the entire month of august so it is national breastfeeding month and i just wrote a few remarks so breastfeeding matters chest feeding matters body feeding matters and really support matters providing human milk to infants has a ripple effect for families, communities, and for generations. There's positive health, economic, and social benefits. I'm not gonna go into statistics because I feel like that was covered. In an effort to support this vision, Breastfeed Humboldt is, composed of community members, peer counselors, public health nurses, and lactation consultants. And I'm also here to say that Providence does also support this through providing holistic care of families by employing lactation consultants in our hospital. Any questions for us?

When you mentioned the participants, you forgot to mention the little one. I'm pretty sure that's 50% of the equation. And since I'm taking it for granted, that's a breastfed baby. Look how happy it is. That's the other thing. It brings joy and happiness both to the parent. And to the, look at that, that kid is cute as hell.

Thank you. So breastfeeding takes a lot of effort for families and communities. It is not always easy. And so events like today and having the support from the county and all of us, it just brings acknowledgement to the hard work that it does take to provide this to families.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks, you guys. And I will say it is important to normalize breastfeeding in all sectors of our society because it's important and people need to be able to do that where they need to do that. Okay, moving on. We have a retirement resolution for animal control officer Robert, Rob Patton. I think Supervisor Bone has the resolution.

Sheriff, get back. Sheriff, this is Rob's time. Get back, would you please?

I have to encourage him. I have to encourage him.

You haven't helped chase a dog down in years. Rob, how are you doing?

Fine, thanks.

Are we going to get you back a little bit?

That remains to be seen.

Before I read it, I want to know the rules here.

That remains to be seen.

So come Humboldt County Board of Supervisors resolution in honor of Rob Patton. Whereas Rob Patton has began his law enforcement career with Eureka Police Department and then upgraded and was hired as an animal control and facilities manager for the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department on January 17, 2016 by Sheriff Mike Downey. Whereas on October 23, 2016, he resigned his position as animal control and facilities manager and accepted the position of animal control officer. Whereas Rob Patton has been commended for showing tremendous resolve, compassion, and professional demeanor during his time as an animal control officer. And whereas he has been praised for high regard for the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office mission statement by continually showing qualities such as excellence, unity, engagement, problem solving, and partnership. Whereas Rob Patton is known for his positivity, strong work ethic, ability to work well with both the community and the animals he served. Whereas Rob Patton has been the voice of the animal shelter, is a fixture of animal control services in the county, will be impossibly be replaced. You do have good people, though, with you. And will be truly missed as a coworker and friend. Now, therefore, it be resolved that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, staff of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, hereby commend and thank Animal Control Officer Rob Batten for his dedicated over 10 years of selfless services to the citizens, animals of Humboldt County and the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office. We wish him well in his retirement.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I want to thank the sheriff and the supervisors for the opportunity. Uh, I want to thank all the sworn and non sworn, uh, office staff, animal control, shelter staff for, uh, the great time I've had. I work in a department of heroes and I want to acknowledge my wife, my two younger children here. Nathan and Lydia, here to visit this. And so thank you so much and appreciate this. Oh, all right.

I want to see President Arroyo and then I'll bring you back. Go ahead.

I just so appreciate the work you've done at the shelter and for EPD. It's great to know that you've had a long and meaningful career in law enforcement and on the animal control side. And it's really, I imagine it's often a fairly thankless job and yet so essential. And we've seen more than ever how important it is. So thank you so much for all your service.

All right. Supervisor? Rob, thanks. I mean, and it's not always easy. I know you had to write me a letter one time and said, get your dog licensed, Rex, or I'm going to take him away. No. But I did get a letter. And... But he's done a good job. I think the staff, I'm so appreciative of the staff. I know I got a little goat catcher in the back of the room one day on Walnut Avenue. There were goats running down the street. So it's not just dogs, cats. It's a wide variety of animals below what the livestock people do. So we do a pretty good job with our animals. We've got great staff. when we make a commitment to actually working on that animal shelter up there, so it's actually a nicer place to work. And I know there are tough times. We're getting there. We're getting there. So I appreciate everything you've done, especially the time you basically ran it up there. And you can go hang around with Steve Knight now.

That's right. Thanks, Rex.

You bet.

Supervisor Bushnell.

I just want to thank you as well. The animal shelters, it can be a really heart-wrenching place to work, and it takes special people, and it's so important to the community. I've seen lots of dogs from the shelter up there get reunited, which is really important, and that they've been safe until their owners can be found, which is a key thing for folks too. So congratulations on your retirement, and I hope you get to enjoy your family a little bit more.

thank you so much i associate myself with all those comments and i'm going to let the sheriff close this out with the most

Absolutely, Chair Wilson and the board, thank you so much for this recognition. You know, this is a thankless job. And Rob doesn't necessarily like the fact of all this kudos and all these things said about him. He's a guy that likes to remain behind the scenes, do his job with not a lot of fanfare, but he goes above and beyond every single day. You know, there's often times where there's things that need to be done in the back, where kennels need to be cleaned, pests need to be adopted, there's things that need to be done within this animal shelter, and he's there doing them, above and beyond what his normal job duties are, and he's just making sure that he's there getting the job done. Sometimes spending a lot of time trying to reunite animals you know with their owners and we know how precious our livestock is to this community and our pets are to this community and to have an animal control officer with compassion and understanding and and not forget that human side of things is so appreciative And so we wish him well in retirement. We're gonna miss his bright, shiny humor and coming through the office and spreading joy and cheer all the time. But we know that this is what it's all about, spending time with your family and retiring one day is what we all hope for. So you have your health and now you have your wealth from all this retirement money coming, right? So now it's time to live the life, right? So anyway, thank you so much. We appreciate you, and congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, for sure.

There you go. One more time. Thank you. All right. Next on the proclathon. PROCLAMATION FOR SUPPORT FOR CHILD SUPPORT AWARENESS MONTH. AND THIS IS BROUGHT TO US BY SUPERVISOR ARROYO.

This is our interim director of child support services, Stacy Costa, who's been with the department for some time. So it's great to have you at the helm. Thank you. All right. This is a proclamation in honor of Child Support Awareness Month. Whereas August is Child Support Awareness Month, an annual time to raise awareness about a critical income support program that helps millions of children and families. And whereas many families rely on the support provided through child support services to meet basic needs and support pavements pave the way to stronger parent-child relationships, improved educational attainment for children, and reduced reliance on public assistance programs. Whereas in fiscal year 2025, child support programs nationwide collected $29.5 billion and served one in six children in the United States. Whereas child support is recognized nationwide as one of the most cost-effective government programs, collecting over $4 for every $1 spent. And whereas the Office of Child Support Services is rated as one of the most effective anti-poverty programs, reducing child poverty by 7% nationwide. And whereas our local Humboldt Trinity Child Support Agency is dedicated to promoting the well-being of children and families by ensuring that children receive the financial support they need from their parents. And whereas in fiscal year 2025, our local Humboldt Trinity Child Support Agency performed 77 genetic tests to help establish paternity free of charge to assist families. And whereas in fiscal year 2025, our local Humboldt Trinity Child Support Agency distributed over $10 million directly to families in Humboldt and Trinity counties. There is a more precise number. It's $10,238,121. I edited slightly. Now therefore be it proclaimed that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors proclaims August 2026 as Child Support Awareness Month and commends the team of Humboldt Trinity Child Support Agency for their commitment to serving the families in our community. And if you don't mind, let's get a photo together with the proclamation.

Good morning. As Supervisor Arroyo said, I am Stacy Costa, the Interim Director of Child Support, Humboldt Trinity Child Support Agency. And thank you to Supervisor Arroyo and the board for this recognition of our office. I work with an amazing team who put in a lot of hard work to serve the families of the community and they do it with a lot of heart. So I appreciate working with them every single day. I do want to take this opportunity to speak just for a moment about the extent of the services that we provide so that people are more aware of the services we do provide. The Humboldt Trinity Child Support Agency acts as a neutral third party to provide services to parents and guardians. There is no income eligibility requirement to utilize our services. We can help parents and guardians to get child support court orders for free, often without needing to go to court. We can modify an existing order, obtain a medical support order, perform DNA testing to establish parentage, provide locate services, facilitate court ordered support, and provide accurate and reliable payment records, and so much more. We are proud to serve the community, and we thank you again for this recognition. Thank you.

Okay, bringing it back to the board. Any questions? Supervisor Bushnell.

Sure, so I just want to say thank you to your department. I know several people that have, I don't think otherwise would have been able to get their child support, and it really can be a stressful thing for families, and I know that this department especially has really helped a lot with the process. So thank you.

Supervisor Arroyo.

It's been a common thread amongst people that I love in my life. I was fortunate to not need child support in my particular upbringing, but I've just known so many people who are dear to me who did not have that and really, really struggled to Recall going hungry and recall just not having shoes that fit, not having the basics because they had a single parent who was barely making ends meet. So it's such important work that you all do. I'm sure it is very challenging. at times as well. But thank you for helping. I love the point that the proclamation made about how it's one of the most effective nationwide anti-poverty programs, and I think that's really important. So thanks for the work you do. Thank you.

All right, supervisor. Thanks for stepping up, first and foremost, and I know you're very respected over there, so it's very well deserved and very well needed, so thanks. Thank you very much. Thanks for everything you do.

Thank you.

All right, rounding us out with a wholehearted thank you, I'm glad we have this aware. I'm not going to go into my personal story around this from my youth, but I want to say that I think the systems are much better now than they were 50 years ago. With that, I think we're good to go. We're going to go on to the next part of our agenda. which is, is there any questions or comments on anything else on the consent calendar from the board of supervisors? And then we'll get to public comment in a minute, so if you're online, get ready. Supervisor Bushnell.

Thank you. I just wanted to comment on item six in the consent calendar, the update on the sheriff's oversight committee and the ad hoc, which is supervisor Arroyo and myself. And we have met quite robustly in the last month and a half and met with Eureka PD and our sheriff Hansel and are making headway and good positive feedback with the sheriff as well. and we're continuing that work. We are asking for a little bit of, we're gonna extend it just a little bit because the work's so important, and we're having just really good feedback from the sheriff and from Eureka PD, and just want, we've gotten a lot of questions from folks. Is this progressing? Are we doing this? And just wanted to update a little bit, and maybe Supervisor Arroyo would like to add.

Supervisor Arroyo.

Our original mandate was to come back in September, and so the updated timeline is to come back in October. So we're pretty close to what we initially said, but recognize that we just needed a little bit more time to have a really good product to bring forward.

I just want to say I've received a few emails from the public about the status of this. So thank you for putting it on the agenda and giving us a report. And I think a little more time is better than having something like this rush. So I'm very happy about that. Is there anything else on the consent calendar that supervisors want to talk about? Seeing none, we're going to go to public comment. Well, okay, back to you, Supervisor Arroyo.

I just want to speak to item seven on the consent calendar and say it's an incredible opportunity to be able to invest in, the theme of today seems to be support for children and families. And we're able through some grant funds to make an investment in children and families through two separate projects. And I really just want to thank the partnering organizations and our staff for all the work in making that happen. It was a really big deal.

Great, bringing it back to public comment, is there anyone online that wants to speak to something that's on the consent calendar?

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

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

Yes.

So about a lot of the different proclamations, I'm just calling in support of those. A lot of good things for the community. I want to highlight the constitution one though. I'm a big supporter of the constitution, so thank you for bringing that back, especially property rights, all those types of things. Very, very important. So glad to see Humboldt County is in support of that. Also very in support of the freedom of speech. So when I feel constitutional rights might be infringed upon, it's frustrating. when we're not even a public comment on non-agenda item, or we have special meetings that are agendized for late in the afternoon and we are not granted the opportunity for public comment on non-agenda item. It makes the citizen of Humboldt County feel that their voice is not being heard or cared for. It makes the citizen of Humboldt County feel like their constitutional rights for the freedom of speech is being infringed upon as well as when time is limited. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

And thank you for speaking. Is there anyone in the room or is there any more online?

There's no more online.

Anyone in the room that wants to speak to items that are on the consent calendar, please line up.

You have, again, we have an update on the sheriff thing. I'm glad you're working with Eureka. I reached out to see what satisfaction was with the oversight there and the, um, Their law enforcement seemed to think it was working, have no problem pattering after theirs with maybe some slight tuning up. We have a tourism advisory board as far as D5 and our tourism suffers every time we have negativity coming out of Humboldt County, which we seem to have more and more lately here. we have item, we have a lot of many millions of dollars going through on consent item eight, 4.9 item. I think it's 19 over 2 million, uh, item 20 over 4 million. Um, there's some things going on in item D 20, which I don't quite understand, but, uh, some money's being moved around, that happens sometimes. So those are the main ones that I wish to comment on at this time. I did wish to say on our children thing, it's very distressing to me to hear from somebody whose children, spouse of someone whose children were given to a pedophile. The pedophile, when they try to get money to take care of the children, the pedophile says, well, if you're gonna go after this child support, the children will suffer. Um, there's a flaw when we have that kind of thing happening in a system. It's allowed. And, uh, I find that very distressing that someone can go ahead and be in that position and bully and threatened with further, further, uh, pedophilia on the children if they, if they go after child support. So they map to speak.

Good morning, my name's Joanne McGarry and I normally am not a huge fan of proclamations being read and all these, the time spent, but these four proclamations, I totally appreciate hearing them in person. in this room, and I just hope there's some way beyond the video of the meeting that a lot of these county proclamations, and even the city ones when they're made at the city level, maybe Access Humboldt could really focus on airing the section of the meetings that talk about these proclamations, because the information I think is really, really important, and maybe there's other ways that it's happening, but I totally appreciate today's proclamations and I do want to say that Rob Patton personally I was bitten by a pack of dogs a few years ago and although he wasn't the assigned animal control officer to the case I did have an opportunity to communicate with him my concerns about the situation and he was very reassuring of that a follow-up to the animals in in the situation that bit me. So I'm hopeful that he will continue to be active in his volunteer capacity in some way with his expertise to help our animals in our community in that regard. And then the tourist thing real quick. climate change, I think, is a real tourist attraction. And that ABC News show also was a wonderful way to demonstrate how incredibly unique our county is, especially with a lot of the land back to indigenous people. And of course, our wonderful Redwood Forest. But climate change could really be a selling point to get people up here to see how We do things to help the planet.

All right. Thank you.

Good morning Chair Wilson and supervisors. I'm Mary Ann Hansen executive director of First 5 Humboldt and I want to express this morning a little bit of appreciation. Every time I leave a board of supervisors meeting I leave with a little bit of gratitude. even when your decisions might not be something that I agree with. Because you can trust me when I say this is 0% pandering and 100% honesty that I'm really glad that it's you on the dais and not me. Because you deal with a depth of complexity and a breadth of issues that sort of boggles my mind sometimes. And my job's much more straightforward. I just get to focus on what's best for children and families in Humboldt. And that brings me to the second reason that I'm grateful this morning. And it's that I think that you use that same yardstick when you're making decisions. And that's not something that all legislative bodies are able to hold in mind when they're making decisions. But I think that your board over the years has demonstrated that you have a commitment, that you believe investment in our children and families actually will produce or reap benefits for Humboldt County for generations to come. And my third reason that I'm grateful is that when you are faced with a choice of sending tax dollars back to the federal government or finding a way to keep those dollars in Humboldt, and serve children and families and the agencies and support the agencies that support children in childcare. You got creative, you worked with staff, and you found a way to do that. And I think that the support for those two organizations in this item not only supports the organizations, but that whole network of agencies and people in our county that hold children and families at their center. So, I'm grateful and I appreciate you, so thank you.

It is highly unusual.

Can you tell us what is going to happen down there? What's going to be in the building that I'm so excited about at N Street?

And I want to be clear, this is not your comments. This is a question from a supervisor. It's on the agenda. Pausing the timer.

Yes. So I think Rodney can explain. Rodney's going to explain a little bit more about that.

Okay, then stop it. Rodney, I didn't ask the question. You just run on your own. You look like a genius, okay? He is. We'll keep it between us.

He is. Great. Thank you.

All right. Well, thanks for that introduction. I'm Rodney Oyen. I'm the Executive Director with North Coast Children's Services. And so, like Mary Ann, I'm super grateful here today, both personally for this project we've been working on for a number of years. you know, as a representative for North Coast Children's Services and the board. You know, this is gonna allow us to complete two classrooms across the street from the Eureka Library. They're on N Street that we've been working on I think we started in 2017. We were actually going to remodel the building that was there, and they ran into black mold issues and some other issues that required us to demolish the building and start from scratch. And so we thought we had all the federal funding in place to complete this building. And at the beginning of 2025, things kind of changed, and some of that funding got pulled back. We're working with the current office of Head Start to secure some additional funding, but this funding opportunity that you presented to us is gonna actually let us get the buildings to a place where we can open them and start to serve children. So there's two classrooms, one that will serve children three to five up to at least 16 children, and then another that'll serve children under three for a capacity of eight children. And so this adds not only to North Coast Children's Services capacity, but the community capacity to serve children and families. And as we learned in COVID, when people don't have access to childcare, they can't go to work, right? This brings money into our communities through our federal grants, through employees. And so it benefits beyond just us and the families we serve, it's a benefit to the entire community. You know, I'm so grateful, and I really want to thank the staff who helped work on this, too. There was a lot of time, back and forth, to kind of understand the need in the community, and yeah, so thank you.

It's amazing. I was going to ask you about that building, so thank you very much for that. You're welcome. Just sitting there has been driving me absolutely nuts knowing what it's going to serve, so I'm glad the staff and everybody was able to help you out on that. Yeah, thank you so much.

Okay, we're gonna try and pull this back on track. Public comment. I just wanna emphasize that the comments that were made were around item seven, so that if anyone wants to look that up online, they can do that.

And this will be very brief. I just wanted, I'm Susan Seaman from North Edge. We've been administering the funds for this ARPA money, and I just wanted to thank you guys for letting us be a partner with you in getting money to children and families. Every step of the way, we've made a difference getting money into the hands of families, into the hands of childcare providers. BUT I THINK SUPERVISOR WILSON, ESPECIALLY IN OUR CONVERSATIONS, RECOGNIZES THAT INVESTING IN FACILITIES IS GOING TO BE YOUR LONGEST LASTING IMPACT FOR THESE FUNDS. SO SUCH A WELL-ROUNDED PROGRAM. WE'VE JUST BEEN DOING THE ADMINISTRATIVE WORK ON YOUR BEHALF. IT'S YOUR VISION. AND THANK YOU SO MUCH. WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO WRAPPING IT UP AND HAVING A LASTING LEGACY.

GLAD WE COULD HELP. Is there any other public comment on, excuse me, on consent items? Seeing none, I'm asking for a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar, please.

So moved. Second.

There is a motion and a second. Is there any objection to unanimous consent? Seeing none, do we, you want us to do roll call even though there's an absentee? Do roll call. You ready? Roll call, please.

Thank you chair. Supervisor Bohn.

Yep.

Supervisor Royal. Yes. Supervisor Bushnell. Yes. Chair Wilson. Yep. Motion carries 4 0.

Great. All right. Next on the agenda is public comment for items not on the agenda. And let's go to online. Is there anyone online that wants to speak to public comment items not on the agenda. Anyone there?

Yes, Chair. All right. Caller 3053, I will unmute you, and you will have three minutes.

Good morning. Thomas Mulder again. Just want to confirm you can hear me there in the chamber?

Yes.

So just heads up, Chair, usually when someone puts up their hand in the column of attendees on the right hand side of that monitor in front of you, there's a hand up with the numbers there. So my number was there with the hand up before you got to the agenda item, just saying. You guys say you like email confirmation or email communication. I've spoke numerous times about a letter of support for the cannabis industry. I've emailed you. Thank you, Supervisor Bushnell, for responding to my email I sent last week. Anybody who wants to get a hold of that public information request, go ahead. It'd be great. You guys talk about carbon footprint and all that stuff. We're sitting there forced to put tags on plants that have lead, arsenic, other banned things, flown, carbon footprint, flown from Florida to California as plastic waste. Plus unannounced inspections, people driving all over the place, unused travel. So it'd be great for you guys to do something. I don't know if we need to get 100 people there, two meetings in a row. to talk about like you guys, people did about the trees. And then eventually you spend probably 10 to $30,000 on looking at ordinances and stuff like that, taxpayer dollars and changing the way things go. So I don't know what needs to be done. I don't know if we need to come up in there, pace around the back of that room. but a little bit of respect, professional courtesy goes a long way. So please keep that in mind. It'd be great to see public comment on non-agenda items, always on special meetings, especially we can call those late afternoon. Do not impede our rights to speak and please stop over-regulating us. I feel like in Humboldt County, eventually if you need a part or think you're gonna need a part, you might gotta get a permit first. You guys are overstepping with the trees. Maybe I'm misreading it, but as someone that manages and sustains the forest, builds all my buildings, including my house out of milled lumber from my own property, my carbon footprint is low, but I have to sign a deed restriction because I milled my own lumber and it's not stamped by someone I have to pay money to. So please think about that. I hope I can follow the rest of the meeting, but I don't think I can. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Buzz all online chair.

All right, bringing it back to the room. This is comments for things that are not on the agenda.

Good morning. I'm Daniel Pierce. I wrote this. What's the difference between a smart man and a dumb person? In the old days, we only had nails. Today we have screws. A smart woman taught the smart man how and when to change their mind. It is easy to hammer a screw into a nail, but it takes education to make a screw. Are you a screw or a nail? So I bring that to you because The one thing that you need to know is more weed is better. Humboldt County is in my movie. It's all about weed. And the number for Alcohol Anonymous is 1-844-442-0711. When you have to have a drink, when you can only think about drinking, when you don't care about anything, when you have lost your love for God and life and have sold out Humboldt County, you need to call Alcohol Anonymous. Now, I found this Geometrics Consulate report, final report. It was made in 1984, which is critical because in 1982, we all suffered three big earthquakes. Those big earthquakes resulted in this finding in this study of the Bartlett Springs Shear Zone and the Scotts Dam. This is a report that PG&E made. I gave it to you. You have it. It tells about how it's a matter of time. until the Scotch Dam fails. And when it fails, like I said last week, it's going to take out every redwood that you know on the Eel River. Now, do you think the governor of California would like to hear that? I'm going to Arcata tonight. We'll see if they want to hear that. Now, PG&E is a horrible company. Ask about Paradise. Paradise is a great place to talk about. But the movies you want to watch is called The Electric Viking. on YouTube. Another one is how Australia used ants to destroy millions of cane toads. They opened up cans of cat food and the ants were out the ponds and they killed the toads. before they got big, all right? But the electric Viking will tell you how the future of electricity, it's really good. You can rent a battery now that in the middle of the night will find cheap power. $15,000 and you can have a whole electric setup with a stand to put your solar panels out and this thing. When you build a power plant out there, the minute you build it, you got to have a boat. My solar panel sits outside in the sun every day for free. No maintenance. It's dead. The power plant is dead. Dream on.

Okay, is there anyone else that wants to speak? Come on up.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen of the board. My name is Vernon Price. I had the necessity to seek same day services from mental health a few days ago and I want to report to you today that as short staffed as they are and underpaid, that meeting went very well. There was help given. I WAS LISTENED TO AND I WAS HEARD. AND I JUST WANT TO THANK THE COUNTY FOR THAT. I HAVE SPOKEN WITH EMMY ROGERS, OUR DIRECTOR OF MENTAL HEALTH, AND PAUL MCNACHIE, WHICH IS AT HIS DEPARTMENT, THANKING THEM FOR THEIR LEADERSHIP IN THAT DEPARTMENT BECAUSE IT'S IN THAT DARK HOUR THAT THAT SERVICE IS SALT. And there's a light that was given in that dark moment, some hope to hold on to, other than falling back into one's narcotics or falling out of recovery of mental health. And that is something said. Now, I'm going to address the reason why I sought services for mental health. I moved from Eureka to Murray Apartments on March 10th of 2026 in McKinleyville on Fraser Road. If I would have investigated or inquired about the apartment complex, I would have never moved there. I won't go into the details of why that is. I will be filing a written report with this board in the future days to come. It is definitely non conducive to a person's mental health recovery and or definitely drug recovery. I inquired with the sheriff's office it doesn't have a good reputation. I've tried to contact the sheriff's department on numerous occasions on traffic and drug traffic and stuff of that nature at four o'clock in the morning to no avail. It still happens. I am now seeking services through home team to be relocated. Um, Just keep me in your thoughts in the days to come, in the months to come, and that my strength will remain. Thank you so much.

All right. Next. Don't be afraid to stand up and get close.

I was going to have gentlemen first, but my name's Joanne McGarry, and three things. Bicycles. I don't know if the county's involved at all in the Earth Center, if it's just a City of Eureka thing, but I've come to find out that bicycles parking will not be... necessarily accommodated like I was hoping inside the building and they're looking at outside different size lockers, bike lockers at that site and I'm sort of disappointed that bicycles once again don't get easy access parking like cars do in our community and so I'm concerned about that. What I'm even more concerned about though is animal welfare issues. By the way, I never made it to the fair because a person offered a ride and then something came up and I couldn't get a ride. And as you know, there was no other alternative. So I missed the fair, but fortunately I missed the rodeo. and it brings me to my concern about animal control and welfare and a commission to oversee all animals in our county and their welfare and their well-being and the need for some advisory group to be formed hopefully through the county recognizing the importance that people have with the animal care and welfare in our community. So I do want to encourage you again to look at the formation of an Animal Control and Welfare Commission or an Animal Advisory Board. Again, San Francisco is a model to look at. Finally, I want to talk about Big Brother, I read 1984 a long time ago and I'm reading so much now in the news about Big Brother always watching and flock cameras nationwide are being talked about and dealt with in guerrilla manners sometimes but uh those and drones are becoming more and more prevalent oh and then of course the electronic shock gloves that ice is using but we really really need to speak up and take action against a surveillance state in our Humboldt County again if we can demonstrate how we as a community can do things differently and better for ourselves and for our place I really highly recommend that we take strong action against flock cameras and drones and all that kind of surveillance equipment all right next

Ken Swatsky, also known as Red. I was burdened with somebody left all the recycling at my house. There was like these tiny little milk bottles, and so there were like over 200 or so, and they cleaned them on the inside. So anyway, I ran them through the dishwasher, took them down to find out what redemption is. Maybe 10 cents might pay for the power to wash them, $3 a piece. So these little tiny bottles do have a great redemption thing. I appreciate the little extra money. I did wish to talk about what happened at the fair there regarding the rodeo. It was a very sad thing, very hard on rodeo itself. I don't think that the rodeo itself or the action of rodeo should be blamed. I'm not a big participant or fan. So I wanted to find out what happened down there. So I got a hold of somebody who was there, witnessed the whole situation. And I consider an expert, has a professional rodeo card, which qualifies them as being in rodeo since 1983. And this person observed the stock that was going to be in the bronco buck riding thing there said she didn't even think they were for that purpose these animals were not of an age and not of a size and their genetics was not proper for this so we've been totally thrown under the bus and the person's name is Julio Marino flying you highly recommend that the fair board and the county engage in litigation against this person get the seventy thousand dollars back this was a travesty my understanding is three three animals were injured two had to be put down um for people i didn't understand what had happened this person said it's quite obvious that these horses had never been brought up to be that purpose They never have what's called a flank cinch on them and it's also known as a bucking strap. And this is what causes the animals to do this, to buck and do what they do. So this is the first time most likely for them and this is totally improper. They weren't trained right. This person basically might as well put a gun to the heads of these poor animals and i hope that some kind of prosecution people say well maybe the ground is wet this person kind of an expert in rodeos the ground was that was not a problem uh the other other barrel racing and all the other functions there seem to go well and it's so sad to see a new program with cr going out there and all our local people so i hope hope that people don't blame rodeo itself for that uh those deaths and the travesty here but blame blame uh Julio Marino and the Flying U setup. And I'd be happy to participate in finding a good lawyer to do some litigation, get our $70,000 back. We're going to lose a lot of tourist money on these kind of things. We've got to look. It's not $70,000. It could be millions because these things do draw people. And when you have somebody who's supposed to know what they're doing and engage in a terrible thing, this person I spoke with had never seen anything close to this in all their years of rodeo, even close at all. Thank you for my opportunity to speak today.

All right, do we have anyone else? Okay, come on up.

My name is Phyllis Coy and I'm gonna be speaking on a much lighter subject. On August 18th, 1951, an important event occurred in Eureka and Humboldt County history, in my opinion. A baby camel was born. She was named Eureka, but later she became Miss Eureka. She was purchased by the local Shriner Club and the Shrine Circus, then donated to the city of Eureka. Miss Eureka was to remain with her mother, Sydney, for approximately six weeks, then be picked up in Klamath Falls, Oregon. On September 23rd, 1951, Pierce Flying Service A Pierce Flying Service plane piloted by Les Pierce, accompanied by Earl T. Johnson, local shrine president, and local veterinarian W.J. Sherwood, picked up Ms. Eureka and returned her home. There has been an extensive search for a picture of Miss Eureka on the plane, which has been unsuccessful as yet. Please search old family photos albums for this picture. If found, please forward to zoo director Jim Campbell Spickler at zooinfo at Eureka.com. All in lowercase letters. Thank you for your efforts to locate this photo. Respectfully, Phyllis Coy. There's a lot more to the story. There was a story in the Sunday Times Standard, and hopefully it's going to bring a lot more coverage to this historical event. She would have been 75 today had she lived, and I don't know what the lifespan is on camels. But thank you very much, and it is a very interesting story. Bye-bye.

That is an interesting story. All right, so we have made it through all of the items to get us to really the main item of discussion for today, which is the review and adoption of revisions to the Board of Supervisors Code of Conduct and Ethics and Rules of the Board of Supervisors. And I'll bring it back to CAO, please.

Thank you, Chair Wilson. Back in March of this year, your board appointed an ad hoc of Supervisor Madrone and Supervisor Bushnell to evaluate the policy and return with recommendations. So they have done that work, concluding it just last Tuesday, and primarily this provides clarification on the refusal during the code of conduct proceedings clarification of the code of conduct complaint process revised procedures following sustained finding and adding in the addition of voluntary mediation should that be requested following a complaint um And it takes the decision-making process, which used to be a committee of myself, the Human Resources Director, and County Council out of that, and instead makes it a referral process to the outside council. With that, I will say Supervisor Madrona is sick today, but he did share with me yesterday that Upon further consideration, he is withdrawing his support for the policy in the current form as a member of the ad hoc who helped to develop this. But he did still feel it was appropriate for the item to move forward and for your board to provide feedback on the content as is presented today. So with that, I hand it over to your board for your feedback.

OK, first thing I'm going to do is I'll hand it over to the one half of the committee that's present. And that is Supervisor Bushnell. So let's hear from you first, and we'll go from there.

Thank you. So I would like some feedback from the board. Supervisor Madrone and myself along with outside counsel and CAO worked really hard and diligent on this item and we concluded last Tuesday after our board meeting and Supervisor Madrone was very satisfied according to his own statement so this statement that he has made today is a bit of a shock to me and i'm looking for guidance from the board whether you would like to go through this item and see if we can get it adopted or if you would like to continue this item and perhaps we can try to reconvene the ad hoc and see what's going on. And I haven't been able to speak with Supervisor Madrone, so I'm not sure what the issue might be at this time. So I'm looking for direction from the board.

Okay, Supervisor Bone.

Now it's got me worried what kind of nuggets hidden in here that is, my time. But I'm just saying, I'm not so sure we should move forward. I sometimes think this is used as a weapon rather than a learning tool, and I kind of would like to see that. I'd like to see some other things in there. I don't think I was asked about any of it, so I guess this is time we all of a sudden, during this robust conversation and meetings and everything. I'm a big fan, just like the oversight committee and everything else. There's 58 counties in the state, and do other counties have these, and can we follow those guidelines rather than invent new guidelines and new outside council and new outside, all these things cost money, but... If we think we can move forward with it without half the committee here and finding why he decided to jump off the horse in the middle of the stream, I'd love to know it. It doesn't seem like anybody does know it, so.

Through the chair. Um, thank you. So you weren't asked about this because there was an ad hoc and we couldn't, we couldn't ask you and that's why you weren't asked about it. Um, I don't think there's any nuggets in here and, uh, it's a very straightforward policy with some, uh, improvements and some, um, some guidelines that were talked about during a couple of hearings that happened, um, at this board. And I think that Supervisor, I know that Supervisor Madrone and I did a lot of work around this and we're very thoughtful and not to have this item weaponized, which was what one of the issues was prior to with the old one. But I am happy to make a motion to continue this item, see if Supervisor Madrone will come back to the ad hoc. I've been advised that another thing that can happen if he's not willing is that we could bring this policy forward with another agenda item coincidingly to do another ad hoc and review this policy with one of you three and then see if there's any additions or takeaways and then bring it back with support from a new ad hoc, so there are some, or we could go forward and adopt this one, or we can discard it altogether. That's an option as well. And I'm sorry for the confusion. I didn't know, I was told this morning. I have no idea why he's not supporting now.

All right, if I may, I'm just gonna process this a little bit, Supervisor Bone. We have currently a policy, it exists, To me in here we have the red line and then and so there that's the suggested changes that came from the committee So and you're right a couple of options for us are to not make those changes. Just keep it as it is Make those changes as they are presented to us Amend the changes as they are presented to us today. We could do that or Reject the whole thing I suppose and or Have it come back I, just for whatever it's worth, I've read through this. I think the changes, I look at this as a living document. I don't look at it as like, you know, it's just, it's an amendable thing. And I think that the changes that are made are improvements to the old one. And I don't see anything substantive that I think I would want changed from what's here. I think there's clarity. The only one I have is on the... if there's a two-two vote one, I kind of want to dig into that a little bit just so we can process that out and make sure that there's a way forward through that. And just sort of play that out a little bit. But besides that, for me, I want to appreciate the work that's been done by the committee on this, and it's two folks that generally have some very different opinions about stuff, and so I appreciate that you came to some conclusion on that. So that's where I sit currently. I mean, we're gonna have some more discussion, hear from the public and those sorts of things, but I just wanted to frame it out we do we we can make a decision one way or another about what that trajectory is today and i'm happy to do that and i'm going to go to supervisor arroyo and then back to supervisor bone

Thank you. I think the bulk of what's in here is really good. I think it's always been interesting to me that our code of conduct has a lot of just process reminders, but also codifies how we do things, how we do or don't direct staff, and how we handle outside commitments, and a number of other things that I think are very helpful in here. So I think the bulk of this is really good and I think it's fairly obvious that what we're seeking to modify is how our complaints handled and how our Obviously members of the public can contact the supervisor that has done something that they wish to complain about, but if there are extenuating circumstances and there's all manner of different reasons why this might be the case, how would people go through the process of making a complaint? I don't know, I also have not had an opportunity to talk with Supervisor Medrano about why he withdrew his support or concerns about this, because again, this has been an ad hoc, so our options are really limited. My only concern about this was the potential cost of additional outside counsel. should this become very frequent. But it's fairly infrequent, I think. So I guess I'm still a little unclear from this recommendation whether they're, because it sounds like the complaint goes to Human Resources or the county administrative officer, and then they immediately contact outside counsel. I don't know if there would be a trigger where they don't contact outside counsel, like if something doesn't seem Within the realm of reason, and that is, um, that's a very difficult, like, if someone was like, I was, you know. Abducted in a UFO by supervisor Wilson, and I would like to make a complaint about that. That's the type of thing that I would like them to have the discretion to say. Um, we're not going to be paying outside counsel to investigate that, but. That's an obviously extreme example, but what if it's more nuanced than that? And so that's the part where I am sort of looking at the CAO because she's in the hot seat on this. Oh, you have thoughts around this? OK. Great. Well, it's not clear to me in the document.

OK, great. Supervisor Bushnell.

The two things that both of you asked, the 2-2, if there is a 2-2 vote, then the supervisor, a supervisor, has an opportunity then to bring a separate item that would be guided by the Board of Supervisors majority vote, which could be three, and that was to be able to get away from that to two or not have any action. So that safeguard was put in there for that reason. And around, it kind of goes around a statement that I said that I don't feel like you're judge and juries and that, with you would need a super majority for a vote of censure, so this gets away from that, but you could bring another item and then it would just be a basic majority. Around what Natalie asked, everything, one of the things that happened with this document was it put, because this is only a Board of Supervisors Code of Conduct, and all three of the advisory, the CAO, human resources and council work for the Board of Supervisors directly and it puts them in an awkward position. And so every complaint would be sent to outside counsel. Obviously, we spoke with outside counsel a lot and was very involved with this process through this ad hoc. And I do want to say that I found out this morning and Supervisor Madron withdrew his support last night. So just to know that when we left the room last Tuesday, he was full support. So we talked around what if it's a ridiculous complaint like what you just talked about. Obviously they would just say this is nothing and we're not gonna investigate. So it doesn't automatically go to investigation. They also have guidelines through this CODE OF CONDUCT THAT THEY CAN TALK WITH CAO OR ZACK FROM HUMAN RESOURCES TO GET A LITTLE BACKGROUND OR THAT KIND OF INFORMATION TO HELP THEM SAY, THIS IS RIDICULOUS. WE'RE NOT GOING TO SPEND A TON OF MONEY ON AN INVESTIGATION ON THIS. SO WE PUT THOSE GUIDELINES IN THERE AS WELL. AND I DO, CAN I ASK, DOES THE CAO WANT TO ADD? OR DID I COVER THAT OKAY?

I THINK YOU COVERED IT GREAT. THANK YOU.

SUPERVISOR BONE, AND THEN I HAVE A QUESTION.

I look at this and think there should be more in it, but again, the point I was going to make is just what Supervisor Bushnell said. You put three people on an advisory committee that our employment depends on the three people that are here, and I don't care what you say, no matter how unbiased they try to be, EVERYBODY WONDERS WHERE THE NEXT PAYCHECK IS COMING AND THEY DON'T WANT THE MAJORITY OF ANYBODY BEING MAD AT THEM. WITH THAT, I DO FEEL THAT SOMETIMES, NOT ALL THE TIME, I'M GOING TO SAY THIS, BUT SOMETIMES IT'S USED AS A WEAPON AND PEOPLE GO OUT THERE AND SAY YOU SHOULD FILE A COMPLAINT, YOU SHOULD FILE A COMPLAINT. We have very intelligent staff. If they want to file a complaint, they'll file a complaint. They don't need you to help them, but sometimes the need, the thinking you need to help them is there. So I don't know. I mean, I get nervous. It's always the last two years of my election because usually I do something that's got to be magnified during, hopefully it'll affect my next election, I guess. So I think it is used more as a weapon than as a tool, and I would like to see this be used as a tool rather than a weapon. Do I say inappropriate things? Hell yes. Do I say things that shouldn't be said? But I've been saying them for 65 years since I was seven years old, so I apologize for that. I didn't change who I was. Am I offensive? Am I vile towards people? I don't believe so. And I think that that's been proven over and over again, but that doesn't stop anybody from trying to create a situation. I don't think we should be targets up here because we're servants of the community. This is the only job I have, and I can tell you it gets a lot of time. This weekend was overwhelming and things like that. But I don't mind it. I like it. I like the people and stuff. If we can get a code of conduct that actually, that's why I'd like to see where some of these other codes of conducts in other counties. We don't have to reinvent the wheel every time we do something. Find something that's working. I mean, I can run it through RCRC, I can run it through, we have CSAC, we have everything else. but to invent it that fits our modem when there's 58 counties that are probably already have codes of conduct i think we should use all and and try to do this as feasibly economically as possible when we have buildings that can't get finished for kids we're up here talking about our behavior and i and i'm one of those reasons we have these i'm sure but um i'm willing to accept that

Thank you. So the option is to keep the one we have, which there are some issues with it, or to adopt a new one. We did look at other counties and use some reference. We also used legal counsel and brought this new version forward that is takes care of some of the holes that you just talked about, Supervisor Bone, which is including having three department heads and a CAO that work for this board directly and taking that item away from them that yes, everybody is human and it is a sticky situation for them and uncomfortable. They've done it with great integrity and have really followed the previous code of conduct, but admitted that it can be, it's hard for them. And so this takes that away from that committee and puts it in a complete outside hands, which is what you just referenced too. I think that I would like to ask our chair, do we feel like we're going to do something with this today, or are we going to continue this item? Because if we're going to do something with it, or if we're going to continue it, then we need to make that this.

I wasn't suggesting. I'm still where I said where I was personally. So I think these changes are reasonable. I think they're an improvement in moving towards an unattainable perfection. And so I'm good with that. I just have some questions around the tie vote stuff. And if I can, I'll just jump into it. Because the language in here is just tie vote around the... Sorry, I'm going to find it in my...

I have it handy.

Yeah, it's here, but it's connected to, only specifically connected to the procedure for conduct of a public hearing. So when we're, well, just last couple weeks ago or a couple of meetings ago, we had a tie vote and it was a little bit awkward and I was trying to figure out how to get through that. And so I just, it didn't have anything to do, it wasn't necessarily a public hearing or do we count that as a public hearing? You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Um, so like in, in terms of like they could happen in an appeal, it could happen under a budget item, which is I think what this was. And so I would like to have personally, I'd like to have a, you know, pretty, the construct of a type of process here works, but it's only in the, it's only in their subtitle of a certain type of,

yeah and that and that word public hearing can be construed at times we have a very formal process planning and building uses it a lot um but also i think that you know you could describe what's occurring right now as a public hearing okay so we could tighten that language up that that just sort of takes out that ambiguity there um and makes it clear that it's Any vote of the board where it's a 2-2 that establishes process.

You've said it in front of four of us here. I'm sure that we can pass that information on. So I don't need to change necessarily if we're all cognizant of It's in the record of our discussion. I'm okay with that. Hold on one second. So going back to that, I just wanna go through that. So if the vote on a motion is tied, the chair calls for any further motions, any member on the subject, if none or further motions, if none or further motions also result in a tie vote, the chair will call for a motion to declare the board deadlocked. And if someone, so someone would probably do that. And if the declaration is passed, so that you would still need a, I guess what I'm confused is like there's a declaration of deadlock, does that mean it requires a second to pass deadlock? Like what if you're deadlocked on the idea of proclaiming a deadlock? Where are we then?

My understanding is that if there is a deadlock, like let's say on this, we get a 2-2 vote, then the motions, the staff recommendations die on the floor, and so you remain with the current construct that you have in place.

So it's the same as just denying the thing. Thank you so much. We were unclear about that some time before, and now that clears up for me. Great. That answers my only real fundamental question I had of this document. And I'm happy to take it to public comment if it's OK with the board members. Supervisor Arroyo first.

Sorry, I do want to go back to my question around and just get a little bit more thought on that before we get a public comment. Just around the, so this is specific to how to trigger the external legal counsel review. And it's on page five of the non-redlined copy. Just under C, code of ethics violations. It isn't clear to me. It says that the external legal counsel will have sole discretion to determine whether an investigation is warranted I understand that in most instances, but what I'm hoping that we are contemplating, we know that we have folks who weaponize processes in place like this who are either bad actors or unwell or whatever the case may be, I don't want to have this result in, you know, spurious or absurd or excessive complaints that we are then required to have outside counsel evaluate, even if it's only a half hour of their time, you know, whatever, a few hundred dollars an hour, that adds up. And I guess I'm just concerned about whether there is some trigger internally, because it's not specified here. It just says everything, like you'll take the complaint, you'll serve as a resource. And when I say you, I mean the CAO and Director of Human Resources to assist the external legal expert in their review. And then it goes through what that review will be. And there's not a... reality checkpoint and I realized there might be complaints that seem absurd that could actually have merit. So I don't want to get too far down the road of saying this is in, this is out, but do you have any thoughts on how to protect the county from just excessive abuse of this? I don't know how else to put that.

Yeah, I mean, I think that's kind of the crux of a bit of the problem that we're at here. And we did the ad hoc did waiver a little of, you know, do we want external counsel to be that sole decision maker and really leaning into the desires that, uh, started this process in removing the committee from that decision-making process. Giving the outside counsel has been the sole discretion remedied that. I did have a conversation with outside counsel. They were obviously similar to you saying, what are the boundaries here? And so for the more minor things where it's obviously not blatant violation of harassment policies or ethic policies or other policies that the county has in place, they'll develop some safety walls and criteria around their evaluation process with that. And I also feel confident that, you know, if to the spaceship example. All right. I think if we sent that over to them, it would be about two and a half minutes for them to say, you know, I don't I don't think this has merits. Let's kick this back. The attorneys that we have are they're also very reasonable in their rates. They set a cap at $400 an hour, which, you know, seems like a lot. But many of our attorneys are upwards of six, 650. So I think that they understand and equally will be encouraged to expedite the more basic complaints that might be received to limit the cost for the county and to move the process along.

Okay, that's helpful. I mean, I think, you know, we all experience a lot of, it sounds funny, but I think we experience a lot of hyperbole. Like right now, there's someone saying I'm actively killing kids. I'm obviously not actively killing children. This kind of thing happens all the time. And I'm just, I want to limit the avenue that people have to to really realistic things, so I appreciate that, and I suppose if it is a process that's abused, we can modify this, but yeah, thank you.

Supervisor Boehme.

I think to cover all the bases, and I think everything that happens I mean, we're behind the red curtain, yada, yada, yada. We do things different. We're different. We've got to be different than everybody else. I think a screening committee, and I mean something as simple as the three that are reviewing it now, and maybe three more, and you draw them out of a hat, they review it. So if somebody says this is black and it's actually white, we have a review committee. Or something before we send it to... We always say that someone's gonna be very reasonable and not bill us, but they're gonna think cha-ching and bill us. So I mean, I'm just saying for me to be comfortable, I think it should be dealt on a local basis that knows the situation and not a decision maker, just to move it on or not. Very simple, very quick saying, well this has merit, this feels like this has merit and everything else. Because once you take it out of local control completely, it's out of our control. and there's going to be situations well that's you know i think you can make anything look bad good whatever the case be and i'm not saying your your decision-making body no whatsoever but there should be a process does this go forward or not on a local basis that that's all i'm saying and i and if you want get three electeds so they're not related to the board to look at it and see if it's going. And I know, I see you, but I just, that's my feeling. And I know you don't like it or anything else, and I'm not jumping on this. I'm gonna vote for this either way. If you don't want to add anything, I'm just saying to make me feel, and it's not even to make me, to make it, I don't like to lose local control on anything. We tend to send things off and say, And thank you for clarifying, it's only $400, because it'll be two hours of having to look at it, or eight hours and an investigator and everything else. It's not going to be cheap. When we can head it off going, you know, this really doesn't warrant sending this off for a complaint. And maybe we do the electeds and let them look at it. They've got a pretty good overview. And in all honesty, that's who we answer to, is the people that we work for. And that comes up, and I know, every four years is not a reason to say that because I mean sometimes it's, you got to get that bad person off the board right away or center them or make a point, you know, before a certain timing. But I think the idea of having somebody to review it before it leaves the county's hands or else we just ship it off and let somebody else decide it.

Okay. I'm going to bring it back to supervisor Bushnell and then we're going to go to public comment.

Thank you. Currently, the advisory committee that we have of three, one is recusing because of conflict issues that were brought up, the reason why we're doing this. And I think involving, we all have different relationships with our electeds, equal electeds, and it also would be a personnel issue. And so I don't know how you get around that complaint issue. and not have personnel involved. And that's why we talked about when you get a complaint, it's a personnel issue. It's not something that the whole world gets to know right away because if it's not factual. So last Tuesday, this is why we had our final ad hoc meeting was to discuss this certain part of it. And with council that we have retained, I think that I felt really good with the conversation that we had with council that they you know it's pretty obvious if somebody says Natalie is killing babies that that's not happening. And if there was a complaint filed to that I think they would spend one second on it and say no. But I do want you Supervisor Bone to feel good about the policy. I think if we compared it which you can to the current policy which we either adopt this one or we just stay with the current policy. There are many many upgrades that make it more equitable than it was previously. Just my thoughts.

Okay we're gonna take the public comment and we'll bring it back to the board. So do we have any public comment online?

We do not.

All right seeing none online please bring into the room.

Question, hopefully you can answer. Who is the outside council we're working with here, just so we know? I strongly support going to outside, not having anything to do with Humboldt County politics. The more we can get away from that in every way, shape, or form. Strongly support relieving our staff members here and wouldn't want to substitute them for electeds or anybody else in here. to be put in a position where you'd be working with them. I think that was one of the biggest flaws I realized in the whole process. I'm not worried about anybody reporting on Natalie killing babies, and my understanding is that Supervisor Wilson's UFO has been permanently grounded and lost its certification, so we're okay on that one. But seriously, this is a very important topic. I feel moving forward today is 100% appropriate. No reason to table this. Unfortunately, Supervisor Madron probably could have attended this meeting, sick or not, and he could have sent an email or something like that, a last minute thing of this is a little bit disturbing. I don't think it's ground for an investigation. But on the other hand, I do support the logic that's been portrayed here. And again, if you want to start the process over next Tuesday, it's a living document. Please move forward in a timely manner as soon as you can. The public would like to see the changes and the work, the process that's been gone through with staff outside council come to fruition today. So thank you for my opportunity to speak.

Is there anyone else?

Hi, my name's Joanne McGarry and I agree with the previous speaker. It's good that this is being talked about now and acted upon now. Again, locally, a code of conduct and ethics for our region when nationwide that is being ignored so much. Again, we can set an example and thank you for being very thoughtful about this.

Okay, I'm gonna bring it back to the board. Supervisor.

Thank you. I just, around what Supervisor Bone said, I would just like to ask the CAO what her thoughts are around that topic, because we talked about it in our ad hoc a lot.

Yeah, I think that the current construct is a good path forward. And I similarly feel that the outside counsel is going to be very reasonable, I think, in making their assertions of whether or not something should move forward or not move forward and whether it should be formal or informal. I can say in my experience, while I feel comfortable making some judgment calls there, I feel that I and the human resources director are very fair in our evaluation process. That said, I can also say nine times out of 10, you all don't necessarily like the process as it's unfolded. And so it does put us in a sticky situation in there. You know, I think we all know there's been times where it's one board member complaining against another, which in the old words of Phil Smith Haynes, never put yourself between two elected officials. So that can get particularly sticky for us as well.

Supervisor Baum. That is exactly why I prefaced I'm going to vote for it. I don't care what we do. I just thought looking at it, putting a local avenue, whether than sending out our business outside, could easily, for as many times as this come forward, as little as this come forward, I could see a little local preference. But if we want to send it outside, I'm good with that because I don't think it's going to change I don't know, we'll see what happens. I'm gonna vote for it just so we can move on.

I'm gonna make a motion to accept staff recommendations around the code of conduct.

I will second that.

All right, I just, we'll close, I just, if we, the best way for us to limit our exposure to these expenses is to try and conduct ourselves in a way that is in accordance with the code of conduct. And with that, can we have a roll call, please?

Yes, Chair. Supervisor Bone?

I'll try my best, yes.

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

Yes.

Motion carries 4-0.

Okay. I think that is it for all of the things that we're going to do in this chamber today. We're going to go into closed session. And with that, we'll have our council read us into that, please.

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 the public employee performance evaluation for the position of the Director of Health and Human Services. It is also the intention of the board to meet in closed session pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.8 to grant authority to its negotiators regarding the price and terms of payment for the purchase of real property located at 4325 Broadway, Eureka, California 95501, assessor parcel number 302-171-039. The county's negotiators are identified as Tom Mattson, Humboldt County Public Works Director, and any duly authorized designees thereof. The parties with whom the county may negotiate are identified as John McNellis and any duly authorized designees thereof. It is also the intention of the board to meet in closed session pursuant to California government code section 5, 4, 9, 5, 6.9 D one in order to discuss existing litigation in the cases of all points outdoor Inc versus County of Humboldt at all Humboldt County superior court case number CV 2 6 0 1 0 2 2 and Joseph W Doty versus Gabriel for Sean at all. Humboldt County Superior Court Case Number CV2601748. Finally, it is the intention of the board to meet in closed session pursuant to California Government Code Section 54956.9 in order to discuss the initiation of litigation in two potential cases.

Great. I'm going to open this up to public comment. Any online public comment?

There is not.

There is not. Is there any in the room?

I've already made my comments on the first one regarding a position of Director of Health and Human Services. I will not repeat them. I'll stand on what I've said before. Unfortunately, I don't think we're really looking realistically at what the future's gonna be regarding your acquisition of these properties. I think it's a money pit you're going into. I think if you really look at the future, with what's going to happen. AI is going to take over a lot of things. You're not going to probably need physical places anymore for these kinds of trance things like I think it was planning and building and these things. People most likely will be working at home. So the physical going to these situations I think is going to be diminishing rather rapidly and maybe you should have done this 20 years ago, but I think you're late on this. It's a government brick and mortar project. Brick and mortar is a thing of the past and they'll probably make, maybe they'll convert the site into some one of these things you guys don't want to have regarding the high power usage and whatnot. Initiating litigation, I strongly stay away from that generally, but I would like to make an exception. Probably isn't on this docket, but if you ever have a chance to initiate in parallel like I mentioned with the people there against Flying U and Julio Marino and anybody who's associated with that, I think that's a winner, otherwise I wouldn't be offering to invest in something of that nature. I think it needs to be fixed. I think they owe us the money, 70,000 back and probably quite a bit more. If they were smart, they'd get out of it instantly by giving back the money because they did us a great disservice there. I think that's the main one here. The other ones have been on the point. You got all points on there still. Not gonna make a comment on that particular one. Not familiar with the other one, so approximately how long do you feel you will be in closed session? And I did, on these legal things, forgot to mention before that I don't think we ever got a report back from the grand jury, which was going to be going on the prior topic, so that prophecy came true. I don't think they played, so thank you for my opportunity to speak, and again, a time frame as far as return.

Thank you for that. Is there any more, I'm gonna get through public comment and then I'll have council speak to the timing of these things.

Yeah, hi, my name's Joanne McGarry and just property acquisition and discussion on the Broadway property at all, I'm imagining that's the Kmart site. And again, how we design and acquire property for specific uses and stuff and I just, you know things come up and i've long thought that that property could really be looked at for brick and mortar use for animals and people our homeless animals and our homeless people and i know that the planning and public works or whatever had their eyes on it as well, but just being more open to acquiring things, not necessarily narrowing down for its specific use, but being more thoughtful about a broader use. And I know discussions have been made with smaller committees to look into that acquisition of the property, but things have come up and I just really think we could benefit by considering other uses for the property that we're thinking of acquiring and it would be money well spent.

Okay, I'm gonna bring it back to council per our usual request of your estimate which is always spot on the time of how long we're gonna be in.

Not always. I would say approximately two to two and a half hours.

Two to two and a half hours. So let's see. Two hours would be one, more or less. And so 1.30, somewhere between 1 and 1.30, we'll say. All right. That's our estimate. If we come back sooner, that happens. And I'm not going to, we're not, this is not a promise. This is just a guess. Or later. Supervisor Bushnell.

I asked him to build in 15 minutes so we could have a little break before we go in, if that's okay with the chair.

I did that one. I did my estimate. So, yep, 15-minute break before we head into closed session. I'll see you all in there. All right. Can you report us out, please?

Thank you, Chair Wilson. There is no reportable action taken with regard to items J1 through J4. With regard to item J5, the board voted 4-0, with Supervisor Madrone absent, to authorize the Humboldt County Council's Office to defend the County of Humboldt in the case of Joseph W. Doty versus Gabriel Frachon et al., Humboldt County Superior Court Case Number CV2601748.

All right. With that, we are adjourned. Thank you.