To whom it may concern:

This letter is religious in nature. It concerns the City of Ten-Thousand Buddhas (CCTB) located in Talmage, California. Please forward this letter to the government in Talmage.

I have reason to believe that the religious institution, The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, does not provide protection to the surrounding community. Several years ago I attended a religious activity that lasted for a week. While I was there I was told by a female member of the Buddhist order, a Mrs. Chen, that one morning the community at CTTB awoke to find the grounds covered with snakes. Mrs. Chen attributed this invasion to a sinister, spiritual force at work. It is possible this evil force could invade the entire city of Talmage in an attack on CTTB.

My claim is startling but reasonable to a religiously minded person. I fear for the safety of the residents of Talmage.

Sincerely,

Walter Chang

This proposal begins with its executive summary: “The Hendy Woods Community Inc. proposes to create an alternative to park closure by providing volunteers, financial contributions and revenue enhancements sufficient to allow the Department of Parks and Recreation to run Hendy Woods at no net cost to the state general fund. The following paid seasonal positions at Hendy Woods will be replaced by volunteers: two park aides, two maintenance aides, one maintenance assistant. Hendy Woods Community will assist with fee collection, be responsible for trail maintenance, assist with maintenance of structures, provide docent/interpretive services, and will raise funds and provide revenue enhancements sufficient to meet all normal DPR expenses in excess of fees collected at Hendy Woods.”

The proposal goes on to point out that nearly 50,000 visitors annually visit Hendy Woods, contributing significantly to our “tourist dependent community” of 3200 people “If,” in the immortal words of the late Smokey Blattner, “you beat every body out of the bushes.” A number of those 3200 residents are part-time, occasional, hermitic, or on the run from the law. But when polled they unanimously support Hendy Woods being open.

The proposal to assume local responsibility for the park continues: “Within the last five years the very extensive water system has been rehabilitated to the point where it is currently functioning well. The septic leach lines have been recently cleared. A new wheelchair accessible bathroom and shower facilities have recently been completed. With the very minor exception of one outhouse roof in the Day Use area, the campsites, water access points, bathrooms, cabins, visitor center, park access kiosk and other facilities have been well maintained. Eliminating public use of these facilities and allowing these facilities to fall into disrepair would waste this recent investment of state funds.”

“The Anderson Valley Volunteer Fire Department’s principle firefighting water access point for the north end of Anderson Valley, the Valley’s largest population concentration outside of Boonville, is installed inside the park near the RV septic dump station, according to Anderson Valley Fire Captain Roy Laird. It offers a virtually limitless water supply and good pressure for firefighting.”

Among the negative economic impacts that would result from the closure of Hendy Woods are loss of affordable camping, reduced wine sales and loss of jobs at The Valley’s numerous tasting rooms, the end of handy public access to the Navarro River, reduced attendance at local summer events such as the world music festival and the County Fair. [Closure would] “imperil the Anderson Valley Brewing Company’s Beer Fest which is the single largest annual source of money for many nonprofits in the Valley.”

The proposal sums up, “Anderson Valley has demonstrated its commitment to working with the Department of Parks and Recreation to keep Hendy Woods open by sending numerous letters to decision makers, attending a wide variety of events and volunteering to work at the park and raise money. We understand the nature of the commitment we are making and have deliberately avoided plans that do not seem feasible, such as a complete takeover of the park. We are volunteering for duties that we can sustain for at least two years. Volunteers have already signed up to perform the functions we propose to perform. Fundraising is already underway. Anderson Valley is highly motivated to help keep Hendy Woods open.”

The rest of the proposal is formatted as a draft contract from Hendy Woods Community to the Parks Department.

Also included is a likely budget showing current costs and savings that would accrue from local monetary and volunteer contributions. It is not clear how much of the regional parks overhead cost is attributable to Hendy Woods, so those numbers, if they apply, are excluded. Effective fee collection, as Ms. Bailey said, by local volunteers, would produce additional revenues.

For the time being Hendy Woods Community does not expect to solicit cash donations, but to instead rely primarily on pledges from local people, businesses and organizations pending approval of application for nonprofit status.

The CSD’s Budget Committee voted unanimously to recommend to the Community Services District Board that the CSD act as sponsor for the organization until the nonprofit status is approved. If approved by the Board, the CSD would handle the small amounts of donated money associated with the nascent effort to somehow keep Hendy open. Ms. Bailey agreed to prepare basic paperwork for the district to ratify as soon as possible.

“We have ‘support legalization of marijuana’ on both the state and federal lists,” noted McCowen. “I think more appropriate wording might be, ‘support the repeal or modification of federal prohibition,’ which is really the solution. … I think one thing we’ve found out in struggling with this issue is we really need a federal solution…”

Pinches: “Under federal advocacy on page 11 I think it addresses that. It says, Mendocino County supports the regulation, legalization and taxation of marijuana.”

McCowen: “I’m not suggesting changing that last sentence.”

Pinches: “Don’t you think that addresses that?”

McCowen: “No.”

Hamburg: “I’m certainly not going to object to adding the sentence. The difference between having it in there that we support the legalization of marijuana and changing that to –”

McCowen: “Well, how about changing that sentence to ‘support the repeal or modification of federal prohibition’ and then leave the last sentence as it is?”

Hamburg: “And tell me what the difference is between repealing prohibition and legalization? I mean, we can get into the intricacies of how alcohol, the repeal of alcohol prohibition was done state-by-state as opposed to a blanket, but I just – it’s just too technical.”

McCowen: “I think it goes to decriminalization which is a lot more palatable to many more people and less threatening than legalization. I think it states it in a way that is more likely to gain acceptance.”

Hamburg: “I used to be for decriminalization of marijuana as opposed to legalization. But it was just too laborious and confusing to explain to people the difference. And I finally gave up. And I just became in favor of legalization. But I will defer to Supervisor Pinches who might have a comment on this.”

Pinches: “You can change it or leave it the same. The whole problem is here we have 435 people in Congress and not one of them will step forward with our position. We do have an opportunity, however. We are basically right now in a new Congressional district and there will be new people running for Congress here right now between the Golden Gate Bridge and the Oregon border. I think the counties to the north of us, especially, have similar goals. So I think if the counties would get together maybe we could at least have in place a local congressman who will support our position and get done with the nonsense of this whole marijuana industry. We have to get the conversation going back in Washington DC. We have never been able to do that. It’s just been: Oh, legalizing pot — that’s just kinda laughable. We need to have a serious conversation about this issue and I think we need to start out by putting a representative in place who supports the wishes of the North Coast counties.”

Smith, incoherent as always, declared, “I think this comes down to semantics or just personal preference. I think, again, all I’d like to reference is platforms, and the kind of document that I think we’re working with should be, is a general platform piece, so I am very open to whatever the language is, I think any of the suggestions are fine, I’m fine.”

The conversation burbled irrelevantly over and under the head of the pin until it was decided to change Mendocino County’s position to, “Like, whatever,” as everyone slowly realized it didn’t really matter what the wording was, much less what Mendo wants.

In living fact, Congressman Barney Frank has introduced HR 2306 — the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011. But so far it has only 20 cosponsors, not including Congressman Thompson. HR 1983 — the state’s option approach which a few more congresspeople have signed on to — represents a tiny step toward piecemeal decriminalization, but only for medical marijuana.

It was definitely stupid for me to mutter at the council meeting that the seven protest letters that we received were “not very compelling.” I absolutely own that. It was a comment that could only be correctly interpreted by someone who had seen the letters. So it is not surprising that I’m getting criticized. However, I wish SOMEONE would have wondered, and then asked, “Why would Mari, who we generally know to be a fair, kind, and sensitive person, say something so callus [sic] and dismissive?” If someone had, I would have told them that the seven letters were actually written by only two individuals. One person wrote six letters; one for each of the properties he owns. The second person was at the council meeting. She has never been interested in rational dialogue, no matter what the city council does. Therefore, her letter did not hold a lot of weight with me. There were no other letters from the public.

Mari Rodin

Ukiah City Councilmember

Under the new contract the charges go on forever, or at least for the term of the twenty year contract, which might as well be forever in the current economic climate. The company will also get automatic rate increases equal to 100% of the Consumer Price Index, and 100% of price increases in gas and for the cost of landfill disposal will also be passed through. The current contract only allows increases for 75% of the CPI. The contract also calls for a rate review every five years where the company can ask for additional increases. And if that is still not enough, the company can ask for ‘extraordinary’ increases any time it wants. This major gift to the distant owners of C&S was advertised to Ukiah’s duped public as “stabilizing the rates and protecting the ratepayer.”

Cold Creek Compost, which operates out of Potter Valley and is owned by local guy Martin Mileck, competes with the Ukiah hauler for green waste. Mileck put an offer on the table to accept all green waste, food waste, grease (Ukiah cuisine is heavy on grease), and other unpleasant substances for the bargain price of $16 per ton. The Ukiah hauler, C & S Waste Solutions, is currently obligated to take the Ukiah curbside greenwaste to Cold Creek (for reasons too involved to review here), but takes the rest of the Transfer Station’s green waste to Pacific Recycling Solutions, its wholly owned subsidiary. C & S pays $32 per ton at Mileck’s Cold Creek and $30.00 per ton at PRS. The City Council was clearly uncomfortable that Mileck was offering to accept all the green waste and food waste at a huge cost savings to the ratepayers, but the Council, Red Phil excepted, managed to brush Mileck’s offer aside without a direct response. So instead of slashing the cost to ratepayers and adding food waste to the diversion stream so it can be composted, the Ukiah food waste will be continued to be trucked outtahere and landfilled at the ratepayer’s expense.

Only councilman Phil Baldwin dared to question the wisdom of the contracts or the hurry-up need to move forward with the deal in the face of numerous unanswered questions. At one point Benj Thomas explained how much time he and Mary Anne Landis had spent reviewing the issue, as if their self-alleged effort was sufficient reason by itself for going forward with the new contract. They told Baldwin that he should simply accept their word that it was a good deal. Baldwin, unpersuaded, cast the lone dissenting vote.

The SEIU leadership has issued a call for “regime change,” the updated catchphrase for “throw the bums out.” Three Supes positions will be up for election next year. If SEIU can make a clean sweep, they can get rid of the incumbent supervisors and CEO Carmel Angelo who is being painted as a union busting privatizer from San Diego. Angelo was hired as Health and Human Services director four or five years ago. When the economic collapse kicked in, Angelo moved swiftly to lop HHSA jobs, and was so ruthlessly good at it she was moved into the CEO’s office to whack away at the entire County workforce. She then replaced her hapless boss, Tom “Silent Tom” Mitchell who resigned under pressure not quite two years ago. The County was faced with a chronic structural deficit at the time with expenses routinely outpacing revenues. Angelo immediately got out her combat hatches to attack the budget deficit via layoffs, program cuts and wage concessions, actions that have produced a balanced budget, but have not won Angelo any friends among rank and file workers.

The County and SEIU have charged each other with unfair labor practices, a drama that will play out before the Public Employees Relations Board (PERB). Resolution of the PERB charges promises to be an expensive and long drawn out affair, further bleeding the County, which recently hired Myers Nave, accurately pegged by SEIU as a union busting law firm. The County says it had no choice when SEIU filed an injunction to stop the 12.5% pay cut on a Friday and the County had to respond by the following Monday.

Meanwhile, the County’s economic outlook just got infinitely worse. A recent State Supreme Court case out of Orange County has held that health insurance benefits that were “clearly promised” to retirees, even if they were not part of a collective bargaining agreement, are a vested right that the County must honor. For several decades the County “promised” its employees, in the form of assurances in the employee’s handbook, that County retirees would have paid healthcare for life. Prior to the latest court ruling, the County decided that life ended about two years ago when they cut off the benefit before a crowd of angry white-haired retirees. The unfunded liability for retiree health insurance at the time was pegged at around $130 million and the County had no way to pay for it. If the latest ruling applies to us, and it looks like it does, it means there will likely be more pay cuts and layoffs.

“They tell me that the threat to close the parks is very real. This other issue about ‘we must raise taxes or else,’ could well be there. However, I know that the committee staffers feel that the threat to close these parks is very, very real and they say things like, ‘Well, the politics of this is, you’re cutting back funding for dying AIDS patients or home health care.’ So it’s really hard for them to say, ‘Well, let’s exempt the parks.’ Each of these issues has a fiscal analysis. There are many other things that they are talking about doing that have very bad ramifications in the long run, fiscally. People have told me that the Hendy Woods argument is very compelling however, but we better work hard on Plan B because no matter how compelling we find the argument, you may need to find some private operators or nonprofits who can in fact operate Hendy Woods. We are certainly doing everything we can to identify people like that. But the problem is that that comes with a cost for somebody also. We don’t have all these nonprofits sitting around in Anderson Valley that can just come forward. The question is, Can I identify a single nonprofit in Anderson Valley which has the wherewithal to actually use the new provisions which make it easier for nonprofits to take over state parks? I’m on the board of the Anderson Valley Land Trust. We have a 10-hour a week staffer and a volunteer board and — yikes! As a matter of fact, Anderson Valley had to fight just to keep a deputy sheriff. We had to raise a huge amount of money to rebuild our health center, and then within three months of our health center reopening the State pulled the money for that. We were eligible for stimulus money to rebuild in that building, but we were not eligible for stimulus money to help pay the mortgage with a third of the funding having been eliminated. It just keeps on going. The fairgrounds funding has been eliminated. We are really struggling in our community to keep our basic community resources intact. This Hendy Woods thing came around before we even realized that we had been granted — of 800 applicants nationwide, two were for health centers and one of them was ours in Anderson Valley. Two out of 800. Before we even realized that our Hail Mary pass for the Health Center had been successful this Hendy Woods park closure announcement came along. People in Anderson Valley are swimming as fast as they can. We will keep on going with what we can. But everything I hear is that closing Hendy Woods is a real threat and the last time I looked it was reported that the state was hundreds of millions of dollars behind on revenue projections.”

An indignant Hendy Woods maintenance man at Hendy Woods called last week: “You got some really bad information there about the water system at Hendy Woods State Park,” going on to say that they had recently invested some $40,000 to upgrade the water and the septic system both of which now require minimal maintenance. We informed the caller of what we had actually reported — “[Kathy] Bailey said that as far as she knows the water system at the Park is serviceable so long as it is regularly maintained, which is also the case with the park’s septic system.” But all the caller could reply was, “Well, that’s not what I heard.”

By pure conicidence we spoke with former Hendy Woods Park maintenance man Joe Falanga; it was his agitation (at the risk of his job) that got the water system at Hendy upgraded. Falanga confirmed that, yes indeed, the state had, since Falanga’s transfer to the Sierras, spent something like $40k to upgrade the water system. But now, having made the investment in the water and septic systems, the state plans to close down Hendy Woods and 69 other state parks. Falanga suggested that we check out a recent report circulating among State Parks employees that State Parks Deputy Director Manuel Lopez recently authorized large expenditures — around $600,000 — of accumulated vacation pay to retiring State Parks bigwigs.

Anyhoo, it’s direct-action time. Occupy Hendy Woods kicks off Friday the 11th of November and continues through that Sunday. The event kicks off Friday at 3:00 pm at the front entrance, followed by a potluck dinner at 5:30 and an “Occupy Hendy Camp Out.” Saturday begins with Yoga, followed by teach-ins, lunch, more teach-ins, and dinner at 5:30 followed by entertainment and storytelling. Sunday wraps up with a General Assembly from 10-12 and community clean-up from 12-2.

A request: Can we please keep the hippie rituals to a minimum on the off chance regular people would like to participate?

Any questions should be directed to my office at 501 Low Gap Road, Room 1020 or by calling (707) 463-4371 or (800) 992-5441, when prompted enter 4370, 4371, or 4372.

Susan M. Ranochak

Mendocino Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder

Ukiah

Oversight Committee Chairman Bill Sterling replied: “Dear Mark, Thanks for the article about the Willits experience. The article encourages me to encourage the Anderson Valley Oversight Committee members to attend and participate in our own school board meetings whenever possible. My own experience to date when prioritization of work financed by the bonds has been an agenda item has been that suggestions, questions, observations, and expressions of concern voiced by the likes of [committee member] Doug Elliott, Ric Bonner, George Lee and yours truly have been welcomed as useful and pertinent. I shall let Doug, Ric and George speak for themselves about their sense of what our contributions and impact have been. My own sense is that what the four of us have contributed has made a palpable impact. — Best regards, Bill.”

The Major replied: Dear Mr. Sterling, With all due respect, that’s not ‘my sense’ at all. I see nothing resembling ‘prioritization’ at the school board level or the committee level, other than the obvious ‘elementary school first’ semi-priority. But if there’s something I’m missing, perhaps in the minutes to the School Board meetings or whatever may be going on in the loosely organized ‘superintendent’s committee,’ I’d be happy to change ‘my sense.’ That’s not to say that some of the ongoing architectural work and costing won’t be useful in prioritizing. Prioritizing, however, involves a formal list of options and a numeric ranking while keeping a keen eye on the bottom line of the impact of the top ranked items to stay within available funds. If anything like that has happened, it certainly escaped my attention. My point in forwarding the Willits News piece was to point out that there’s no point spending money on planning for project elements that won’t end up being funded because they are low ranked. Willits Unified has made several errors like that and we should try to avoid them in AV. Thanks for the note. — Mark Scaramella, Committee member, Boonville.”

FR: MENDOCINO COUNTY EXECUTIVE OFFICE

Ukiah, California… October 6, 2011

ASSEMBLYMEMBER WESLEY CHESBRO TO ADDRESS THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors will receive a presentation by Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro, representing the 1st Assembly District, on October 25. Chesbro is slated to provide an “end of session” legislative wrap-up, share insight into happenings in the State Legislature, and highlight priorities for the 1st Assembly District when the legislature reconvenes in January 2012.

“Hearing from our State elected officials provides invaluable insight into the Sacramento legislative process, now, more important than ever,” stated Board Chair, Kendall Smith, 4th District Supervisor. “The Board is fortunate to have this opportunity to dialogue with Assemblymember Chesbro, to convey our greatest concerns and highest priorities for Mendocino County; he is acutely aware of the challenges faced by rural counties throughout the State, and we are lucky to have him in our corner.”

Chesbro (D-Arcata) has represented the 1st Assembly District since 2009, previously serving as our State Senator from 1998-2006. Chesbro has announced his intent to run for reelection in 2012 in the newly formed 2nd Assembly District, a result of recent legislative redistricting. The public is encouraged to attend all Board of Supervisors meetings. Assemblymember Chesbro is scheduled to speak at approximately 2pm. The Board of Supervisors Chambers is located at 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah, Ca. For additional information, please contact the Mendocino County Executive Office at 707.463.4441.

Carmel J. Angelo, Chief Executive Officer

The Fort Bragg Advocate-News published a lengthy compilation of accused double-murderer/fugitive Aaron Bassler’s criminal record last week. The clear primary features of Bassler’s criminal history over about 15 years since he graduated from high school involve booze and weapons (DUIs, drunk in public, stolen guns, illegal gun possession, etc.) Most of the charges were plead down to minimal jail sentences, unsupervised probation, or dismissed outright.

Conspicuously missing from the Advocate-News’s otherwise comprehensive criminal history of Mr. Bassler was the name of the judge who presided over these many cases where very little was done about Bassler’s increasingly obvious problems. Since most of the cases were in Ten Mile Court, we can safely assume that the Judge involved was now-retired (and very unlamented) Judge Jonathan Lehan. But nowhere in the Advocate-News review is there any mention of the judge in Bassler’s numerous court appearances, nor any mention of any judge expressing any interest in how previous orders were carried out, why the criminal conduct continued with minimal sanction, or what would be done to actually deal with the problem(s). Instead, we find people (primarily Bassler’s father, but others as well) blaming cops and mental health staff and understaffed programs for not doing their jobs or not taking the Bassler situation seriously. But if Judge Lehan — who may easily be the single largest part of the Bassler problem — had really wanted to address Bassler’s criminal behavior, he had lots of tools at his disposal — none of which are being mentioned by critics of the local criminal justice or mental health systems.

This letter is an informational notice of the US Postal Service’s intent to conduct an Area Mail Processing study of mail processing facilities to determine whether consolidation of some operations is appropriate.

The Postal Service is facing some of the most difficult challenges in its history. The current economic downturn and continued diversion of mail to the internet has led to a dramatic 20% decline in mail volume since 2007. The decline in mail volume has also meant a decline in postal revenue. As a result, today the Postal Service has not only more equipment, personnel and facilities than it needs to process a decreasing amount of mail, but also less revenue than it needs to cover the costs of that large processing and delivery network.

The economic reality demands that the Postal Service reduce its network. Aligning postal facilities and resources with the demand for postal services by consolidating postal operations and placing equipment and employees where needed makes sound business sense. To do otherwise would be fiscally irresponsible.

Information about the AMP study process and the facilities that will be studied is available on www.USPS.com. Public input is being solicited as part of the study process and will be considered in the decision-making process. In communities where the Postal Service’s initial review supports the business case for changing mail processing operations, public meetings will be held. Additional information will be shared by the Postal Service and members of the community will be invited to ask questions and provide feedback. Information about additional opportunities to comment on the AMP studies is available at our website.

On behalf of the Postal Service thank you for the trust you have placed in us over the years to deliver your mail. We appreciate your business and are working harder than ever to position the Postal Service so that we can continue to serve you for many years to come.

Sincerely,

Susan LaChance, Vice President

Consumer and Industry Affairs

Washington DC

To: Mr. Marc [sic] Scaramella

Re: Citizens Advisory Committee on Redistricting

Dear Mr. Scaramella:

On behalf of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, please accept our sincere appreciation for your efforts serving on the Mendocino County Citizens Advisory Committee on redistricting. You traveled hundreds of miles and served countless hours in order to fully review redistricting concepts and potential maps consistent with the 2010 census data. You gave generously of your time with great attention to detail.

Again, we sincerely thank you for your dedication and service to Mendocino County.

Regards,

Kendall Smith, Chair,

Mendocino County Board of Supervisors

Ukiah

Funding for libraries has been drying up. It will get worse when state funding goes away entirely next year. Libraries have already had their hours drastically cut to less than three days a week) and there is only one staff member for every 18 volunteers —it’s the volunteers who do much of the heavy lifting for the libraries anymore.

Elliott said that circulation of books in the county is up 18% and there are about 48,000 cardholders and that the library system is vital to the county’s cultural and economic development. She suggested that individual board members and members of the public come forward and endorse the measure, particularly at Fair time next month where the Library’s defenders will maintain a booth. Elliott also pointed out that the new bookmobile is being funded by USDA grant money not library fund money, so don’t be fooled into thinking that they have a lot of money because they’re driving a new bookmobile around. As things stand now if the library measure does not pass, they will have a new bookmobile but no one to drive it.

If passed, Measure A would bring in about $1.3 million a year for libraries only.

The library measure requires a two-thirds yes vote. If approved, the funds would be restricted to maintaining local libraries, restoring open hours at existing locations to 2006/07 levels, expanding library programs for children and adults, expanding outreach to people who cannot come to library branches, and acquiring and replacing library equipment and materials.

* * *

The most discussed agenda item was introduced by the current and former pastors of the Valley Bible Fellowship next door to the old ambulance barn in downtown Boonville where Laura Hamburg and a couple of her friends want to open a medical marijuana dispensary. Pastors Earl Peterman and Dave Kooyers presented the Board with a letter asking the Board to take some kind of action to prevent the dispensary from opening next door to their church.

After summarizing the history of the Church and the services they provide to their parishioners, the pastors, while admitting that the marijuana dispensary partnership has been  polite and sincere in their quest for local acceptance, concluded that they simply oppose the opening of a “dispensary/co-op” in that location or any other location “in the vicinity of a church, library, park, fairgrounds, school or any other place where children or vulnerable adults gather.”

Pastor Kooyers’ letter points out several times that marijuana is a Schedule I federally illegal drug and that it is a federal felony to engage in the distribution of such a controlled substance — “whether from a nicely appointed storefront business or from the trunk of your car, California law notwithstanding.”

Kooyers also says that it is a federal felony to engage in or knowingly rent a facility for such drug distribution.

“Such felonious activity has no business being anywhere near such a sensitive area of a town, the voting/polling place, the Post Office, the neighboring restaurant, and especially immediately next to our facility,” said Kooyers. “It places our children, those we minister to, and our pastors and teachers in a terrible position and damages our ability to be effective.”

Kooyers insisted that as a church with an educational component they have a legal and moral duty to protect their children from harm from various sources. “It is legally and morally incumbent on us that they not be exposed to felonious activities or to the threat of physical harm or to the impression that felonious activities are acceptable behavior.”

Kooyers also noted that current Mendocino County rules require that permitted medical marijuana grows cannot be within 1000 feet of a church, school or youth-oriented facility or residential treatment facility. “If there are such restrictions on growing a green plant,” asked Kooyers, “how much more restrictive should the law be on a place where the finished product is available in condensed quantity?”

Kooyers was also concerned about the potential for crime. “We are unwilling and unable to place either children or any of our congregation or visitors in any kind of jeopardy from anyone who might choose to ‘hit’ the co-op for its perceived cash or pot value. [Kooyers’ emphasis.] A promise that a ‘sophisticated security system’ will be in place or that there will be a ‘small amount of medicine or cash’ on premises provides no comfort. In fact, the necessity for such a security system and safety measures is what troubles us in the first place. Such a business has no basis being located next to a church or fairgrounds. All it takes is one desperate person or group — and we’ve had them in Anderson Valley — to do a stupid thing and bullets could fly right into our facility or a nearby building. People have died in robberies involving a lot less value than will be inside the co-op.”

The pastors continued at considerable length about the dangers to the public and children, and the potential for crime in the area. “This is utterly irresponsible, dangerous and incompatible with the kind of downtown spirit and sense of safety we have historically enjoyed.”

The pastors also said that parents would be uncomfortable bringing their children to church functions if they perceive that there is an increased risk to them stemming from the marijuana dispensary next door.

Nor do they like the message that the dispensaries send. “We are working with former and present substance abusers, including pot smokers,” said Kooyers, “trying to get them to stay away from substances. It is unwise, a tempting reminder, and will be deeply offensive to them to have a ‘cooperative’ selling marijuana right next door. This would harm them and harm our ability to reach, help and support these people in maintaining their recovery.”

The pastors also object to the dispensary being across the street from the Boonville Fairgrounds where community events such as the county fair, funeral services, wedding receptions, Mexican quinceanera parties, could not help but see a pot dispensary right next to a church. “We think a dispensary anywhere near this location sends the wrong signal to thousands and thousands of Fairground visitors and potentially places many of them in danger of various kinds as well as being a potential turnoff to the Fairgrounds.”

The pastors summarized California law prohibiting dispensaries and marijuana co-ops near places where children gather for school or other similar functions. The existence of a dispensary next door, in the opinion of the pastors, might also make it difficult for other businesses to operate in the area because of the proximity to a marijuana co-op or dispensary.

The pastors concluded that the existence of a marijuana dispensary next-door would threaten their very existence, noting that the dispensary is “superfluous — there is no shortage of accessibility to high-grade pot in the area. No patients will be deprived if the co-op is not in that location. They will not increase the legal availability of marijuana to anyone. Its proposed function is easily replaced and easily moved and it simply has not earned the right in our community to encroach upon, displace, nor brunt the effectiveness of the Valley Bible Fellowship which is what its immediate proximity would clearly and harmfully do.”

The pastors’ letter concludes, “The proposed pot selling cooperative is utterly incompatible with our mission and facility use. We think there are very good reasons for substantial distance between a dispensary/co-op and not only us but all similar facilities in Boonville and all of Mendocino County.”

CSD Director Kirk Wilder supported the pastors’ opposition, and was adamantly opposed to the dispensary idea, forthrightly describing medical marijuana as “a bunch of crap” — meaning that he thinks most “medical” marijuana smokers have no real medical condition that pot will help.

During the ensuing discussion, Pastor Kooyers added that the dispensary proposal was “un-neighborly, a poor location, an attractive nuisance to crime, and a serious parking problem.”

Kooyers also told the Board that he believed the County should deny Ms. Hamburg and her partners a business license and that they had appealed to several County officials to do just that. Kooyers also said two years ago he had heard that County staffers advised would-be dispensary applicants that they should not deploy the word “marijuana” on the business license application which, if true, amounts to tax funded deception and subterfuge.

According to the business license application for the Boonville dispensary, the title of Ms. Hamburg’s business would be “Mendocino Generations,” and in the block labeled “Type of merchandise to be sold” the applicant says: “Alternative healing products, jewelry, t-shirts, clothing, stickers, books, periodicals.”

Type of service to be rendered: “Alternative health services, i.e., massage, health consultations, et cetera.”

Description of proposed business: “Consumer cooperative for alternative health services.”

Estimated value of equipment: “$30,000.”

Starting date of business: “August 1, 2011.”

Items to be used in the business: “Computers, point-of-sale system.”

Storage location of supplies equipment and vehicles: “on-site, small storage closet.”

The County’s Planning Department has already signed off on the license, noting that the property is zoned C2-commercial for retail sales and health services. Nowhere on the application does the word “marijuana” appear.

Director Andrea LaCampagne said she admitted to being a NIMBY on the subject. She did not like the idea of a marijuana dispensary near a church or a school.

Director Wilder suggested that letters in opposition to be sent to Ms. Hamburg and to the County officials, including the County Treasurer who has the authority to issue business licenses.

The Board unanimously agreed.

In answer to a question from Director Valerie Hanelt, Pastor Kooyers said they were considering a signature drive in opposition to the dispensary proposal, but that they did not believe it could be done soon enough given the simplicity of obtaining a business license, the only approval necessary at this time because the County has not enacted any pot dispensary rules.

At times the discussion drifted into generic pros and cons of marijuana as opposed to alcohol, but soon returned to the subject at hand which is whether or not the proposed pot dispensary is a good idea at the current location.

In the letter they intend to send to Ms. Hamburg, the Board will offer her an opportunity to speak to them about their opposition to the dispensary plans as currently understood at their next board meeting.

If the prevailing attitude at last Wednesday’s CSD Board meeting was any indication, Good luck with that, Laura.

Last week our Supervisors report was pretty long so we didn’t publish the full dialogue surrounding the motion at the end of the Board of Supervisors meeting to get the Final Environmental Impact Report for the Ukiah Valley Area Plan approved. (And in case any readers didn’t get the reference to “uncooked sausage” — i.e., Otto von Bismark’s quip that “laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.”

But some of us like sausage and some of us even like to see laws being made.

So here’s the full exchange, for those who do.

* * *

Supervisor John McCowen: “I move that rezonings other than areas 25, 29, 32, 37 necessary to meet the housing settlement agreements and the rezonings for the Calpella sewage treatment plant and Grace Hudson school go through the normal process at the landowner’s expense.”

Chair Kendall Smith asked the Clerk to read the motion back.

Clerk: “Motion to rezonings other than 25, 29, 32 and 37 necessary to meet housing agreements and Calpella sewage plant and Grace Hudson school the landowners will be financially responsible.”

Smith: “Sounds a little…”

Supervisor John Pinches: “We’ll need to take out the…”

McCowen: “Will be… I think I said will go through the normal process at the landowner’s expense.”

Pinches: “Will need to pay the applicable fees.”

McCowen: “Right.”

Smith: “And I think UVAP ought to be mentioned there. It ought to say UVAP map areas. So that it stands alone and it’s… it’s… intelligent or it’s clear. As a stand alone item. As an action.”

McCowen: “Why get into that now?”

Supervisor Carre Brown: (Laughs.)

Smith: “Cause it’s going to be a separate little document somewhere. Does the clerk have the language?”

Clerk: “Could you repeat the UVAP portion of the discussion?”

Smith: “Just put UVAP as a preface to the map change areas. 25, 29… and just call it the UVAP areas.”

McCowen: “And then it will be necessary to meet the housing settlement agreement?”

Clerk: “Yes, I have that.”

Brown: “I thought that was in a separate motion.”

McCowen: “Well, I’m saying, except for these, and then I’m identifying the six that were in the separate motion.”

Brown: “I see.”

Smith: “So do we want to begin relative to rezoning for map change areas?”

McCowen: “No.”

Smith: “No?”

Brown: “No.”

Smith: “Ok. So I’d like the clerk to read it then.”

The beleaguered Clerk tried again: “Motion to rezonings other than 25, 29, 32 and 37 necessary to meet the housing settlement agreement which includes the sewage plant, Grace Hudson landowner [sic] school will be, will go through the normal process at the landowner’s expense.”

Smith: “It didn’t say Calpella. It should say Calpella.”

Clerk: “Calpella.”

Brown: “Yes.”

Clerk: “Sewage treatment plant.”

Hamburg: “I think instead of which includes, it should be…”

McCowen: “Should we take a two minute recess?”

Smith: “It’s not, it’s not kinda really being clear. Verbage. It’s not clear.”

Pinches: “Well, we already voted on our previous motion.”

McCowen: “No we haven’t voted yet.”

Smith: “We have.”

McCowen: “And it’s the UVAP map change areas. Numbers.”

Smith: “That’s correct. It is. So let’s take a two-minute break and we can have [County Planning Director] Mr. Gonzalez confer with the clerk…”

Supervisor Dan Hamburg: “And get it written correctly.”

McCowen: “At least get it sequential…”

(Break)

Smith: “We’re going to go to the clerk to read the final motion.”

Clerk: “Motion to direct that the rezonings other than the UVAP map changes 25, 29, 32 and 37 are necessary to meet the housing settlement agreement which includes the Calpella sewage treatment plant site and Grace Hudson school site will go through the normal process at the landowner’s expense.”

Smith: “I believe that’s correct, except the word before necessary should be that. That are, I… You said…”

Clerk: “…the map changes 25, 29, 32 and 37 necessary to meet the housing settlement agreement which includes the Calpella…”

Hamburg: “Are you OK with that, maker of the motion?”

McCowen: “Mm-hmm.”

Hamburg: “Ok?”

McCowen: “Ok.”

Hamburg: “Then I’m ok.”

Smith: “Alright.… Yeah. We had a motion by Supervisor …”

Brown: “McCowen.”

Smith: “by McCowen and seconded by Supervisor Hamburg. So please vote by the button.”

Clerk: “Motion passes with Supervisors Brown and Pinches dissenting.”

Smith: “Ok! That concludes the UVAP discussion.”

]]> http://theava.com/archives/11801/feed 0 http://theava.com/archives/11688 http://theava.com/archives/11688#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:57:59 +0000 Mark Scaramella http://theava.com/?p=11688 As last week’s meeting wound down, the Supervisors delivered their typically terse, minimally-informative “supervisors reports.”

Pinches sits on the Mendocino Transit Authority Board, but he’s on record that he thinks the MTA is wasting millions of dollars on a completely unnecessary new bus barn with fancy offices for their staff.

“The MTA is going out this month to bid for a $6.25 million bus shed and partial solar panels,” grumbled a clearly frustrated Pinches. “That’s moving forward. That’s all I’m going to say on that at this time.”

McCowen joked, “You got them to scale it back from $22 million.”

Pinches decided he did have more to say: “It’s really ironic, because here we are cutting routes and whatnot because we can’t afford to hire bus drivers or pay for gas or diesel, but yet we’re building an over-$6-million building — actually it will be more when it’s completed — to park the buses under. That’s not the direction I want to see MTA go, but that’s what the majority of the Board does. I think I’m bringing some checks and balances to the situation.”

McCowen: What’s going on with MTA is what’s going on with a lot of other things, and when we’ve lost control over how funding is allocated that’s the result — you wind up with operations being starved and yet there’s a big chunk of money for capital. And the argument is, well, we have to take it because otherwise someone else will, so [throws up his hands]… A return to local control would be welcome where we could make these decisions based on priorities locally.”

Earlier in the meeting Supervisor Pinches had grumbled several times that it seemed to him that the government is spending more money on fish habitat restoration than on children and seniors. (It didn’t help any when, toward the end of the meeting, Supervisor Hamburg described a large, expensive habitat restoration project in the Hopland area.)

Then Supervisor Carre Brown really rubbed it in: “Supervisor Pinches, will you please show everybody what I got you?”

Hamburg: “Oh yeah! What’s that, Johnny?”

Pinches reached for a paper bag near his Supervisor’s podium and reached in, saying, “She got me this cup and she said she’d provide me with the quart of vodka later.” Then Pinches pulled out a hand-made cup from a pottery shop in Ukiah that had some kind of design painted on it.

Smith: “Nice!”

Hamburg: “It’s a Hoyman-Browe!”

Brown: “Show ‘em what’s on it, John.”

Pinches tried unsuccessfully to laugh: “It’s a fish.”

Everybody but Pinches laughed.

Brown: “It’s very timely!”

Pinches quickly figured out a way to appreciate his gift: “You know what? It’s a good fish — it’s dead.”

Brown laughed.

Pinches, seemingly unamused, set the cup at arm’s length away from the rest of his papers.

The input from Mailliard, Bradford and Edmundson was the first mention of political considerations that the Committee has heard in more than two months of deliberations. One of the options under consideration would move Mendocino into the Fourth District (with Fort Bragg) which, according to its proponents makes some sense because Fort Bragg is no longer the fishing/logging/mill town that it was 20 years ago when the current district boundaries were established. Tourist-dependent Mendocino now has more in common with tourist-dependent Fort Bragg than it did twenty years ago. But moving Mendocino’s purple pwogs out of the Fifth District and into the now purplish 4th would require that comparable numbers be roped into the Fifth from other districts to restore the required population balance, a difficult process given that the Fifth District is already under the minimum population within its existing boundaries. (We assume a radical population undercount in the Fifth. We know that large numbers of legal Mexican immigrants went uncounted and, for instance, our address, home to three full-time citizens, was left out of the half-arsed Census process altogether.)

However, none of these considerations kept Hamburg from rushing out to the “liberal” listserves with this message: “As of today, the redistricting committee is considering two active alternatives, with presentation to the Board of Supervisors scheduled for July 26. One of those proposals removes Mendocino from the 5th. This proposal (Option E2) is not acceptable to me. It will dilute the progressive vote on the Mendocino coast (and thus in the county) without creating ‘communities of interest’ as required by law. Please attend the last meeting on July 20, 3pm, at 501 Low Gap in Ukiah, or write to the Redistricting Committee (c/o CEO; 501 Low Gap; Ukiah, CA 95482). — Hamburg continued: “What Messrs. Bradford and Mailliard want is a different supervisor. Perhaps they should move into a different district instead of attacking the mixed character of the 5th. Both the 1st and the 3rd are strong agricultural districts with Carre Brown, longtime exec. director of the Farm Bureau representing the 1st and cattle rancher John Pinches representing the 3rd. And don’t forget that timber and ag have their own ‘special seats’ on the county Planning Commission. I hardly think that ag is underrepresented on the Board of Supervisors and the Commission.”

Hamburg is certainly welcome to his opinion about how the districts are laid out. And he’ll get his chance to weigh in when the Committee makes its recommendations to the Supervisors in a couple of weeks. But why would he rush to the shut-ins of the listserves to denounce only one of the options when 1. He hasn’t heard the Committee’s reasons for considering them, and 2. the Committee hasn’t decided what they’re going to recommend to the Board? Further, whether the Fifth District is “progressive” or not should have nothing to do with the redistricting process. Nor are “communties of interest” (whatever that may mean) a legal requirement — only population balance is required. Everything is else optional. Hamburg is wayyyyyyy outta line in attempting to make the redistricting process a political one. Would Hamburg mind if, say, Supervisor Carre Brown tried to insure that her district remained relatively “conservative”? The fact is lots of people — from various political perspectives — don’t like FruFruTown deciding who gets to be Fifth District Supervisor, and by “communities of interest” Hamburg obviously means the people who voted for him, and only those people.

“Complicating the budget picture is a change in accounting methodology related to the Teeter Program for the FY 2009-10 Audit,” began Ms. Angelo. (The Teeter Plan allows California counties to borrow against anticipated tax delinquency penalties and interest. For years Mendo over anticipated the income from this nebulous fiscal mechanism, thus necessitating another cooking of the books.)

“This change significantly raises the County’s General Fund negative balance — despite no recent borrowing from Teeter funds — and this balance is a key indicator for financial institutions.” (Translation — Thanks to generations of profligate spending banks, themselves wobbling from their own profligacy and massive swindling, are unlikely to lend us any more money.)

“While it is feasible,” Angelo continued, “that this may have minimal impact upon the County’s short-term TRANS [cash-flow credit] rating, it has become clear that this situation poses significant risk to the County’s long-term rating. Teeter debt is on an amortized payment schedule, and is set to be fully repaid in 2028. (!) Between the County’s Teeter debt, and non-Teeter debt within the General Fund, it is possible that the County’s long-term credit rating could dip below investment grade and remain there until the County eliminates the negative General Fund balance. (Which would occur precisely on the 12th of Never given all the givens of the shrinking American economy.) This would likely make the refinancing of the County’s COP [Certificates of Participation, aka borrowing for specific projects or programs] debt cost-prohibitive. It also could mean that the County’s ability to finance capital projects, such as a new Jail, would be extremely limited until the negative General Fund balance is eliminated.”

* * *

One other interesting, if minor and completely wacky issue arose during the consolidation discussion: Since the Public Defender’s and Alternate Public Defender’s offices are being moved into the “Courthouse Annex” closer to the Courthouse, will the more estranged defendants “damage” the Judges’ cars in the adjacent parking lot? Gasp! Do you mean their majesties’ Land Rovers might get keyed? Their tires slashed? Clearly, that parking lot merits 24-hour security.

If clinical paranoia is defined as the inability to distinguish between possiblities and probabilities, someone is crazy here.

The perceived problem of what could happen to judges’ vehicles took up quite a bit of time, albeit mostly with irrelevant detail about file storage randomly interspersed in remarks by Public Defender Linda Thompson.

Thompson: “With the Alternate Defender’s office entering in through that back parking lot, and I understand the judges are grown ups and the judges can probably accept that our clients aren’t going to do anything to their cars, however, I am concerned about all of the judges who park their vehicles there. We already presently have difficulties in parking for staff, people park in that parking lot from the brewery [another class of judicial malcontents, apparently]; I’ve had some difficulties with other offices having people stop there and even in just a few minutes that can be a concern.” Thompson then rattled on at length about files and storage, conceding, with an unctuous smile, that she was sure it could all be worked out and in some major ways it’ll be a big improvement.

Supervisor McCowen said the parking probably wouldn’t be a problem. “I don’t think the parking is an issue because there is allegedly or ostensibly no public parking in the Annex lot now, so all of your clients are currently competing on the street for parking spaces and they would presumably be in the same position, or perhaps there could even be a few short-term parking spaces reserved for your office.”

Supervisor Carre Brown said she was concerned about the parking too. “Is there any parking available across the street at Child Support Services?”

Ms. McMenomey replied that the CSS lot was already quite full, what with all the deadbeat dads and their exes besieging that sad office for their respective pounds of flesh. “The public defender already has designated parking in that particular spot and five more spaces will become available for the public defender or alternate public defender,” added McMenomey.

In the end of this unseemly back and forth — parking safety and convenience for highly paid public bureaucrats isn’t high on the public’s list of concerns (and as if staff couldn’t handle such routine matters — Ms. McMenomey pointed out that security cameras would be installed on the parking lot.

And that, my fellow Americans, is your local leadership in action, in these, the last days.

Blankfort: I happen to be on the mailing list for President Barack Obama! I got an email from him the other day! He wrote… What did he write? Here it is. “Friend!” “Friend!” This is from the president! From his e-mail! “I have set aside time for core supporters like you to join me for dinner. My predecessor’s former dinner guest list was with lobbyists and special interests. We didn’t get here doing that and we are not going to start now. We are running a different kind of campaign. We don’t take money from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. We never have and we never will. We rely on everyday Americans giving whatever they can afford. And we want to spend time with a few of you. So you if you make a donation today you will be automatically entered for a chance to be one of the core supporters who sit down with me for dinner. Please donate $5 or more today.” And there’s a website. “We will pay for your flight and the dinner. All you need to bring is your store of new ideas about how we can continue to make this a better country for all Americans. This won’t be a formal affair. It will be a casual meal among friends — the kind I don’t get to have as often as I’d like anymore. I hope you’ll consider joining me.” Then, a little later, I got this email: “Friend, I’ve worked for President Obama for almost five years now and I’ve never actually sat down for dinner with him. That’s why I’m excited about — and maybe a little jealous of — the opportunity you have to join the President for dinner! He’s going to sit down and swap stories over a meal with four core supporters and you could be one of them. You should really give this a shot. Donate $5 or more today to be automatically entered for a chance to have dinner with the president!” And then there’s the big donate box on the website. “This is not going to be a formal affair or banquet with hundreds of guests. It’s just you and three other supporters of President Obama! Sitting down together with an evening among friends! It’s not often you get to talk to the President one-on-one about your hopes for the country and your ideas for this campaign. So I hope you’ll put your name in the running. Donate $5 or more today and you’ll be automatically entered for your chance at getting a seat at the table.” And then there’s the website barackobama.com “Good luck! Signed Juliana — Juliana Smoot.” Then just the other day I got an email from Joe Biden! He said, “Friend!” Gee, a friend of Joe Biden! “The President and I have a routine. We get together for lunch almost every Friday. But all I get is lunch! You could be one of the four supporters who have dinner with him soon! Donate $5 or more today to have your name automatically put in the hat here.” And they have the website, barackobama.com. “I am reminded every week that sitting down for a meal with the President of the United States without TV cameras or big crowds is something only a few people will ever get to do. You’re not going to want to miss this chance. I wish you luck. Signed, Joe.” Wow! I saw a story just the other day about how President Barack Obama has rewarded his 200 largest donors from his last campaign. And that every time he has an event these days it costs $25,000 to have dinner with him. So here for only $5 I can have a chance to have dinner with him. But how big a fool does the President of the United States and those running his campaign — how big a fool do they think the people are? I mean, they obviously figure if they run Michele Bachmann or somebody like that, Jim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, and so forth, folks will vote for Obama. But what an insult it is to send this kind of email out. With all the huge amounts of money this administration has been spending on Wall Street — the bailing out of Wall Street, the forgetting about people who’ve lost their homes. The foreclosures going on every day, and this state being among the leaders around the country in foreclosures. And him charging $25,000 per couple for dinners with the president. And then pretending that we’re just plain folks and he wants to just sit down and talk with us and Joe Biden, who probably never saw this email of course, who thinks we’re just plain folks who are going to send in our $5 so we can have a chance to sit down with the president. Oh — we have a call. Maybe that’s the President!

Caller: “Yeah, hello. It’s Memo [Parker]. I’m not the President but we’re the same color.”

One of them was the Promotional Alliance budget, an annual $300k gift to the wine and tourism “industry” that mostly pays for obscure advertising in a few Bay Area publications, salaries for the flagrantly unessential project’s staffers and free booze for so-called wine writers.

Guess what the Board of Supervisors elected to do?

Give the wine and scented soap people their $300,000 gift of scarce public money — again — no questions asked.

And then we have the Board of Supervisors own “budget unit.”

“This budget unit was unable to comply with the directed 15% reductions in Net County Cost. Reductions were made to Office Expenses and Out of County Travel based upon current year use and an expected decline in both areas for FY 2011-2012. It should be noted that one FTE [full time equivalent position] within this budget unit has declined certain benefit compensations. Without this reduction in compensation, this budget unit would have required an increase in Net County Cost.”

Translation: Oop boppa loop moppa toppa.

One other “budget unit” was unable to take a 15% budget cut this year: “Miscellaneous” at $1.674 million.

Why not?

“Budget Unit is unable to take a 15% reduction.”

Why?

We don’t know what goes into the $1.674 million miscellaneous budget because the budget book ($10k or more just to print it) is unreadable by design. And even if we could read it, it wouldn’t matter because nobody at the County asked about it or proposed cutting it.

So, to paraphrase George Orwell, everybody’s got to take an equal budget cut — but some budget units are more equal than other budget units.

We also noted that the Board of Supervisors Budget Unit does not mention that four of the Board members have taken a 10% voluntary pay cut (perhaps because that was taken last year and it wouldn’t look even dumber if they tried to claim it again to get the 15% additional savings). Supervisor Kendall Smith refuses to reduce her lush annual compensation by so much as a penny.

NOTICE OF LAYOFF — Due to continued funding problems, on May 24, 2011, the Board of Supervisors authorized the elimination of six deputy sheriffs positions in the sheriff’s office. I regret to inform you that, as the employee in your department with the least seniority in your classification, you are subject to layoff from your employment as a Deputy Sheriff/Coroner II. This layoff will become effective on June 30, 2011. If this is a regularly scheduled workday for you, your layoff will become effective at the end of your shift on June 30, 2011.

If you participate in the health insurance plan, these benefits will end at 12:01 AM on July 10, 2011.

The county appreciates your hard work and dedication and regrets these measures are necessary. We will assist you in finding other County employment as much as possible. If you wish to explore possible job opportunities contact Human Resources at 463-4261 or visit our website at www.co.mendocino.ca.us/hr. If you have questions or need additional information you may contact Human Resources, Captain Smallcomb, or your DSA representative. The county will be working with Mendocino Works Employment Resource Centers to explore opportunities and information about available programs for displaced workers. In addition you may wish to contact Mendocino Works at www.mendocinoworks.com or 800/616-5901 for more information on your possible eligibility for Mendocino Works programs such as job placement assistance, resume writing, job interviewing skills, career exploration, training, etc.

Sincerely,

Human Resources

(Mendocino County Human Resources Department

Carmel J. Angelo — Interim Director

579 Low Gap Road, Ukiah, CA 95482

* * *

BOS Recommendation to lay off MCSO employees

From: Thomas Allman

To: MCSO — all

Date: Friday, May 27, 2011. 7:18 PM

As you are aware, on May 24, 2011, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors voted in a 3-2 action to lay off several members of our agency. Supervisor McCowen and Supervisor Brown supported my request to delay this action until the county learns more about state budget. Supervisors Smith, Hamburg and Pinches felt that it was necessary to follow the recommendation of CEO Angelo who recommended the layoffs.

I have hired a legal team which will vigorously fight the action of the Board of Supervisors. While we believe we will prevail, we all must remember that this case will be resolved in a court of law and not the Board chambers.

Please don’t forget that the citizens of Mendocino County are very supportive of you and what you do. I am very proud to be your Sheriff and I assure you that I will fight very hard to prevent any additional layoffs. Your professionalism and dedication is noticed by Captain Smallcomb, Captain Pearce and myself. I am also very proud of the DSA for being one of the first bargaining units to give concessions to help Mendocino County during our tough financial times. Other elected leaders may not remember the leadership that DSA shown, but I will never forget it.

Thank you for continuing to do your job so well. Once again, I am extremely proud to be your Sheriff and I will continue to fight for you.

Tough times don’t last, but tough people do. We will make it through this rocky period together as a family.

Sheriff Allman

Ukiah

Topics of concern at a round table would include the future of the Valley’s resident deputies, suggestions for budget cuts that don’t hamstring the Sheriff (like cutting travel and outside consultants), and how to slow the proliferation of wineries with their reservoir sized ponds and drunk driver-inducing tasting rooms. County Counsel, apparently terrified that the Supervisors might engage in an unscripted discussion with the citizens they purport to serve, nixed informality. But then at the upper levels of local government, bureaucrats always feel more comfortable with a tightly scripted format that leads inexorably to a pre-determined, minimally productive outcome.

The Agenda, such as it was, “featured” a General Plan update and a report on the Boonville Fairgrounds from the Fair’s capable manager, Jim Brown. The General Plan update consisted of staff saying what a wonderful job they are doing under very difficult circumstances. Public comment focused on the need to actually adopt the General Plan in the faint hope that the wine juggernaut is slowed before every hill and dale is converted to vineyards and The Valley’s aquifer is sucked dry. No comment from the Board. Boonville Fair manager Jim Brown confirmed that the State was cutting off any further financial support and the Fair would have to go it alone. Brown estimated the Boonville County fair can maintain current levels of operations for three years without new revenue, basing his projection on current reserves. A maintenance position to be vacated by retirement will not be filled in what may be only the first of several cost cutting measures. Brown and the Fair Board have done an excellent job in keeping the Fairgrounds busy with paying customers. Big time music events plus a variety of other attractions drawing thousands from the Great Outside have put the Fair operation in the fiscal black. Can Brown and Co. keep it there without state subsidies?

Public Safety, the hot button issue of greatest concern to most locals, was conspicuously absent from the agenda. Supervisors Smith and Hamburg have been the most insistent that the Sheriff needs to cut his budget “like everyone else” while Smith continues to try to grab as much public money for herself as she can. Instead of setting priorities and funding them in the order of importance, each year at budget time the Board goes through the motions of assigning a flat 10% or 15% cut to all departments. Each department is expected to submit a budget to the CEO showing the mandated level of cuts. Then the CEO makes a recommendation to the Board. In theory, the Board can overrule the CEO, but that almost never happens, the tail wagging the dog as is customary in Mendocino County for all its public agencies from school boards to the County’s Planning and Building Department. Based on the last couple of years, it appears that only Supervisors Pinches and McCowen can be relied upon to read the budget in any detail, much less understand it.

Kendall Smith, who previously worked in Mendo’s Public Health Department where palsy-walsy-ism reigns, often complains that the Sheriff’s budget is not being cut enough, repeatedly and falsely claims that every other budget unit is being held to the same standard, a charge that is easily disproved by a quick glance at the Board of Supervisors own budget. Supervisor Pinches made clear a couple of weeks ago, while opposing Smith’s request for $1,500 for a travel junket to Portland, that far from 15%, the Board does not cut its own budget by 5% or even 2%. Smith, a reflexive, but unskilled prevaricator, claimed the Board did cut its budget as the numbers proved otherwise. Most of the other general government departments, the ones that work with the CEO on a regular basis, like Treasurer, Auditor-Controller, and County Counsel, have also been spared the budget ax. They routinely submit a budget showing the proposed cuts, but then add notes explaining that for a variety of reasons making the listed cuts will either lower revenue or raise expenses. The CEO then adds a note explaining that the favored department will be spared any cuts because otherwise they won’t be able to do their jobs. That seems to work for everyone but the Sheriff.

If the CEO and Smith want to cut the Sheriff, they should come right out and say so, not hide behind the falsehood that his budget is treated the same as everyone else’s when clearly it is not. The Sheriff’s budget is running a deficit, but that is only because he was not given the same consideration as other departments during the budget hearings. The Supes lack the cajones to lay off field deputies, so they assign a totally unrealistic budget number and then whine when the Sheriff, as expected, goes over budget. The Sheriff is mandated to operate a County Jail and must comply with a host of state and federal requirements, including providing medical care and meeting minimum staffing levels for the jail. It is impossible for him to cut 15% from the jail budget without setting himself up for a federal lawsuit. What that means is that a 15% cut for the Sheriff’s Office really means a 30% cut for patrol. A cut of that magnitude will wipe out the resident deputy program plus a lot more. If, as Smith claims, the Sheriff’s budget was really treated like every other department, at least the jail budget would be exempt from any further cuts.

During public expression a dozen or so Valley residents took the time to comment on the importance of our resident deputies in protecting us from mopes and lurks of every description, including drunk drivers, tweakers, and drug dealers. Deputies Squires and Walker were repeatedly cited for their ability to detect and apprehend the bad guys and their ability to prevent random criminal activity just because local perps know the odds are high that they will be caught and packed over the hill to the Low Gap Hilton. Supervisor Smith affected an air of studied indifference as the speakers made their points, while Supervisor Hamburg seemed pained to have to listen to the sometimes emotional pleas for maintaining public safety.

Valley residents were left wondering why public safety, an update on the resident deputy program, for example, couldn’t be on the agenda. Does anyone doubt that if Chair Smith, who controls the agenda, or 5th District Supervisor Hamburg, to whom Chair Smith is joined at the hippie, er hip, *wanted public safety on the agenda, that it would have been done? By keeping public safety off the agenda, Smith still had to suffer through public expression, but at least she avoided being subjected to an organized presentation by the Sheriff. Supervisor Hamburg, perhaps sensing that the refusal to include public safety on the agenda did not play well with the locals, extended what sounded like a sincere invitation for anyone concerned about the issue to give him a call, pointing out that he is listed in the phone book (467-0329).