Mendo's Drought Task Force Proposes New Drought Policy: ’Think Rain.’
That’s how Thursday afternoon’s Mendocino County Drought Task Force meeting ended. ’Think rain’ pretty nicely captures the level of (in)activity of Mendo’s Drought Task Force made up of the dynamic duo, Supervisors John Haschak and Glenn McGourty.
On the (teensy) plus side, the “task force’ has succeeded in getting some of the state’s “urban multi-benefit drought relief” grant money.
On the (much larger) minus side, they haven’t got a clue what to do with it besides maybe having some Ukiah water shipped to Fort Bragg again this year and some groundwater monitoring, maybe.
A caller asked if there were any water storage projects under consideration for the Mendocino Coast.
McGourty replied, “None that I know of.”
Another caller asked why so much water was being released from Lake Mendocino.
McGourty instantly replied that it was to maintain minimum flows for the fish, but failing to inform the caller what those minimum flows are, when they apply, or how much the current releases are — as if the fish are the only consideration and his grape growing friends aren’t pumping it into their grape ponds.
According to the latest State Water Board ruling in 2016 for the Russian River (Decision 1610, “Temporary Urgency Change Petition”) the minimum flow for fish in the Russian River during critical dry years during September to March is 25 cfs (cubic feet per second). Yet the upper Russian River flows have been running well over 100 cfs for the last few weeks.
As usual, grape grower McGourty reveals his inherent conflict of interest on the subject of Russian River water by pretending that he and his grape grower pals have nothing to do with cheap water flowing out of Lake Mendocino and all those vineyards — including McGourty’s — planted alongside the river channel.
Supervisor Haschak said that because of complaints about water hauling for illegal cannabis grows last summer, the County is planning to impose new restrictions on water haulers this year which would require them to have a business license, conduct a hydrological study for whatever wells they draw from, keep tracking logs, restrict late night hauling, plus some yet to be defined enforcement mechanism, and an escalating fine structure for violations. “We are not trying to restrict legitimate water hauling,” claimed Haschak, adding that he’d heard stories of 80 year old women running out of water because of illegal pot grows hauling water and wells then going dry.
Despite the steep drop off in illegal cannabis grows and the wholesale abandonment of grows and equipment and hoop houses, particularly in his Third district, Haschak said he planned to present his belated suggestions to the Board of Supervisors next month.
John Smith, Fort Bragg’s water guy, said the town’s main water source, the Noyo River, is already down 30% from last year’s low flow at this time. “We’re going to have major problems unless it rains every day for the rest of the winter,” Smith said.
A woman from the Redwood Valley water district said they are retaining their drought restrictions with no agriculture water allowed at all and only 55 gallons per day per person for residences.
Willits reportedly has found arsenic in two of their three main wells and is trying to figure out a way to remove it.
Nobody mentioned water storage or possible storage projects despite all the big talk last summer.
As if to drive home the point that this “task force” has absolutely no sense of urgency or understanding of how bad this summer’s drought is shaping up to be, after summing up the meeting with his simpleton's “Think rain” mantra, Haschak proceeded to schedule the next “task force” meeting for two months off on April 14.
Disappearing Audits
George Dorner: No wonder there has been so much opposition to my suggestion for an audit of county finances. Insider Ms. Cubbison has already tried much the same and been rejected. If the Board of Stupes can ignore an audit by a professional, they can sure blow off a mere citizen like me. However, their quashing of an internal audit only highlights the necessity for an external audit.
Norm Thurston: The County has annual financial audits performed by an independent auditor. Those audit reports can be found here: mendocinocounty.org/government/auditor-controller/financial-reports
Mark Scaramella: Thanks, Mr. Thurston. I just went to that webpage and the last “independent auditor’s report” is for 2017, after that it says to go to the “Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports” which are not “independent,” but authored by retired Mendo auditor Mr. Weer. Have they just quit the outside audits? Besides, the “independent” audit is just a review of the County’s financial “statements,” not the correctness of the expenditures themselves. I’m not necessarily complaining, but an accountant who is paid by the outfit being audited reviewing a financial statement from his customer is not an “audit” in the critical sense of the word, and for the last few years they haven’t even done that. Am I missing something?
Supervisor Glenn McGourty asked a good question at Tuesday morning's Supervisors discussion of the consent calendar:
McGourty: “On Item 3k, why is this retroactive? It seems like something that could have been planned ahead of time. And not in the contract proposed after the fact. I know that Jenine's [Dr. Jenine Miller, PhD, Director of Behavioral Health] office often has to transport patients themselves, so if we have a contract, why are there gaps?”
But Dr. Jenine Miller’s answer was as usual kinda muddy. Notice the frequent invocation of Official Mendo’s Universal Excuse for whatever they want to do, especially if it involves Redwood Community Services.
Miller: “This was part of the covid surge. We were already sort of [sic] doing these services to help the hospitals. so that was part of the thing [sic]. Also, we were working with the contractor to determine what the services were going to cost to do the transport.”
Probably due to covid they couldn’t get competitive bids, so they asked the go-to sole-source, non-competitive Schraders to simply max out the cost.
Miller: “We didn't know at the moment because we kind of [sic] enacted this quickly, we were just doing it to get through the covid surge. Once we were able to get it they were able to figure it out.”
The “it” apparently being whatever the Schraeders wanted to charge.
Miller: “We had to wait and see what their costs were so we could adequately propose a contract amount.”
Again, whatever they wanted to charge for a glorified taxi service.
Miller: “It took some time going back and forth to make sure we covered everything that we needed to cover in the contract.”
Ah yes, “everything” they could get in there as part of their cost. “Yes, in the future we would love [sic] to do them earlier and of course we were already doing the service before we actually came to the board and asked for approval for the funds.”
Of course! They’d love, love, love to do it correctly with advance notice and competitive bids and all that troublesome stuff. But when it comes to what we were already doing with oh-so accommodating Schraeders “we were already doing the service.”
Miller: “We didn't know we needed a contract.”
We doubt that.
Miller: “And then we had the covid pandemic surge, and this was something we don't normally do, and we did it to assist the hospitals with the covid surge so they could get clients from the emergency room to a psychiatric facility.”
Oh yes, we had to help the hospitals during the covid surge.
McGourty: “I know that you have some of your staff doing some of the work too. Was this just a fill-in, or do you routinely transport psychiatric patients?”
Miller: “We don't routinely transport. Usually transports are done by the ambulance. Insurance companies won't reimburse the county or a contractor if we do the transport, but they will reimburse the ambulance company if they do the transport. We can't bill for the service, but the ambulance can.”
With Dr. Miller, it’s always, always, always about the reimbursements.
Miller: “Historically the ambulance companies have been doing the transports for the patients and other individuals who need to be transferred to an inpatient facility, they are usually transported by the hospital from the ambulance to the psychiatric hospital depending on whether it’s [illegible]. So at the moment this is the way the psych hospitals are accepted. During the covid surge we were asked to step up because it was causing a huge delay and impacting their ability to treat all clients because sometimes they needed to do a quick transport.”
This may have been true, but it’s no excuse for not getting competitive bids or “now knowing” they needed a contract.
Miller: “It's not something they can always turn around and do and they had to stay longer in the emergency room and it was impacting their emergency room. So we agreed to activate this quickly and we started doing it and we agreed to do it through December 31.”
December 31? A whole year? Why so long? Why not a shorter period so they could solicit other bids? Oh, that’s right, it’s the Schraders.
Miller: “We do pick up from the hospital, so when a client is ready to discharge, we do go and pick the client up and drive them back to the county. Once again, it's not really a reimbursable service but we do that. This is not something we normally do, it's done by ambulance.”
Wait a minute. Who’s the “we” here? The County or MedStar Ambulance? Probably won’t be long before the Schraeders are doing this too.
McGourty: “Do you plan on continuing this arrangement? Or is it just to deal with the covid surge?”
Miller: “This was to deal with the covid surge. I think there have been some locations for the long term where there are options as we wait to build the psychiatric health facility in Mendocino County as we always hear concerns [sic] when we take an ambulance out of county and the drives are not close so they do require longer drives. There were conversations with the ambulance company when we first started talking about having the county do all of them with some contractor support. It does impact the finances of the ambulance company because the inter-facility service is part of their income for the ambulance company. If they brought on another ambulance to support these mental health drives it would impact them and possibly lead them to reduce their ambulance if we took these services away completely.”
Whatever that last blast means… And that was the end of the “explanation.”
Coast Winter Shelter
SUPERVISOR TED WILLIAMS sponsored an informational update on the coast winter shelter at Tuesday’s Board meeting. The presentation was made by Captain Thomas O’Neal of the Fort Bragg Police Department. Captain O’Neal recounted that Supervisor Williams met with Fort Bragg Mayor Bernie Norvell and other City officials when it became clear that no one was taking responsibility for a Coast winter shelter. The police department agreed to take on the program and the County funded it.
THE SHELTER, i.e., Motel 6 in Fort Bragg, and another if additional rooms are necessary, operates when temperatures are expected to dip below 40 or rain is forecast. Mayor Norvell was instrumental in bringing the program together and in finding a motel willing to participate. In 21 nights of operation, 106 bed nights were provided at a cost of $14,544 as of Feb. 7. The cost compared favorably with the previous model of churches hosting the shelter.
O’NEAL SAID THE POLICE DEPARTMENT issued a temporary ban on one person for behavior and the motel banned six people. The police department was prepared to offer alternate lodging as a back up but no one took them up on it. The police were called out 12 times for such things as failure to leave the premises or loitering.
THE CAPTAIN explained that the police department was willing to take on the shelter management as a community service but would prefer if the churches or another entity would take it on. The captain again thanked Mayor Norvell and Supervisor Williams for their role in getting the program in place.
MAYOR NORVELL thanked the Supervisors and the County, especially Supervisor Williams who in turn thanked everyone involved. Supervisor Gjerde (in whose district all this was taking place) sat tight lipped and grim faced throughout the presentation. It’s no secret that Mayor Norvell is interested in running for Supervisor. The puff piece presentation shows Norvell as someone who rolls up his sleeves and gets things done. And Williams (who all but openly supported Lindy Peters the last time Gjerde was up for election) is clearly signaling a preference for Norvell.
Supes Approve Unnecessary Long Term Debt
BEFORE THE LAST RECESSION in 2008-2009 exposed the economic weaknesses of the County, previous Supes binged on long term debt, issuing Pension Obligation Bonds (POBS) and Certificates of Participation (COPS). The former were supposed to save money on the County’s unfunded pension obligation and the latter (a real estate financing scheme) were used to acquire and renovate the County Admin Center among others.
AS A RESULT, the County was awash in interest-loaded debt, including the infamous Teeter Plan. Inadequate reserves were soon exhausted. The predicament was compounded by employee salaries that were inflated to unsustainable levels as a result of the Slavin Study. Former Third District Supervisor John Pinches, who was not on the Board at the time, famously said of the Slavin Study, “There’s an acorn for every pig.” But by 2007 Pinches was back on the Board and helped put in place fiscally prudent policies, including paying off long term debt, not adding to it.
THE TEETER PLAN DEBT — a complicated program that secures predictable allocations to special districts when property taxes are not paid but lets the County keep the penalty and interest imposed, much later, —was paid off years ago. And the POBS are set to pay off in 2026 followed by the COPS in 2030. For the first time in decades the County would be free of long term debt. (Except for the unfunded pension obligation, which magically is not considered County long term debt, although the County’s on the hook for it.)
BUT ON TUESDAY the Supes started the process to acquire new long term debt. Interest rates are low, and refinancing the COPS at current low interest rates might seem justified. But instead of refinancing the existing debt at lower interest, the Supes were asked to approve borrowing $6 million of “new” money. The guesstimated interest savings on the COPS will evaporate (and go negative) when debt service on the new money is factored in.
REMARKABLY, the decision to reverse the long standing policy of not taking on debt was done in barely two and a half minutes from start to finish. Assistant CEO Darcie Antle, reading from a prepared script probably written by the paid financial consultant, briefly introduced the item, deferring any questions to the consultant. There were none. Board discussion lasted 20 seconds, the time it took Supervisor Gjerde to say it would save money and was a smart move. As usual, there was no Public Comment.
THE ITEM was accompanied by 47 pages of Mendocino County Public Finance Training Materials, provided by the consultants (who will walk away with several hundred thousand dollars for their services in extending the County’s debt). The Supes must have closely studied the training materials since no one had any questions. (Not.) More likely no one bothered to read the material and wouldn’t have understood it if they had.
THE SUPES (or their handlers) were unclear on the purpose and need for the new money. The “training materials” said it was for capital projects, including the jail roof, (except the jail roof was replaced a few years ago), and that the County “may need to identify an additional leased asset for the new money portion.” Antle said $3 million was for the new jail building/expansion and a few other unspecified items of deferred maintenance. No one questioned the apparent discrepancy.
ANTLE said $3 million was needed in April for the jail expansion and would be withdrawn from General Reserves. (Isn’t that what reserves are for? After all CEO Angelo said last month that the County had accumulated over $20 million in reserves.) The money taken from reserves would be paid back after the refinancing in June. Both Antle and the authorizing Resolution said the uses of the new money would not exceed $4 million. So why is the County borrowing $6 million if the identified need is only $4 million?
THE SUPES, who always say there’s no money (unless they or the CEO want something) previously pledged $2 million for unspecified “climate change” projects. Will the extra $2 million in long term debt function as a climate change slush fund for the Board’s pet projects? Or just put back in reserves after paying maybe double the cost in interest payments?
INSTEAD OF SAVING MONEY, the Supes plan to incur $6 million in new debt, when at most, only $4 million is needed. And instead of paying off County long term debt in 2030, the Supes are extending the payoff date to 2042. The $4 million (or $6 million) could be withdrawn from the General Reserve and paid back out of current fiscal year salary savings since the County is running about a 25% vacancy rate — for funded positions — across all positions.
Navarro Point Appeal Continued
RIXANNE WEHREN and the Sierra Club appealed the approval of a two-story 25-foot tall house on the east side of Highway One, across from the Navarro Point Preserve. The problem, as laid out in a letter from the Coastal Commission, is that the site was limited to a single story no more than eighteen feet in height, based on a condition of the subdivision that created the lot back in 1987. The Coastal Commission letter said the condition was needed to meet the scenic impact requirements of the Coastal Act and for the same reason attempting to change the condition would be futile.
THE ADVICE FROM COUNTY COUNSEL completely contradicted the advice from the Coastal Commission. County Counsel said the Board could deny the appeal and the applicant could apply to the Coastal Commission after the fact to change the conditions. Except the Coastal Commission letter said an application to change the conditions would probably not be accepted for processing.
COUNTY COUNSEL may not have read the Coastal Commission letter, but the applicant did. In place of the original project the applicant submitted a new set of plans that called for a single story of no more than eighteen feet in height as required by the 1987 condition. But the new plans were submitted at the last minute, raising questions about the appropriate process to follow and giving staff no opportunity for review.
Supes Stifle Public Expression
AT THE START of Tuesday’s meeting Chair Williams announced without explanation that Public Expression (usually the first item after roll call in the morning) would be heard at the end of the meeting. Two years after CEO Angelo locked the Supervisors and the public out of the Board Chambers only a few diehard cannabis advocates and a single anti-vaxxer make the convoluted effort to offer public comment. But these few are apparently too many for Williams.
WILLIAMS COMPLAINS at almost every meeting that cannabis is taking up too much time during Public Expression. But Williams has also consistently opposed having an Ad Hoc or Standing Committee to deal with cannabis. The few people still struggling to get permits through have lots of issues and insist there must be a public forum where they can be heard. By default, Public Expression has become that forum.
AT EVERY MEETING Michael Katz of the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance and cannabis advocate Ron Edwards zoom in for Public Expression. And Public Comment. On anything remotely having to do with cannabis. If cannabis is on the CEO report they are on-hand to comment. And if it’s not, they comment about its absence.
CARRE SHATTUCK, the anti-vaxxer rightly and forcefully chastises the Supervisors for “hiding behind your screens” and locking the public out of the meetings. At a recent meeting Williams tried to strike a deal asking Shattuck if she’d follow covid protocols and be civil if the Board returned to open meetings.
AT THE END of Tuesday’s meeting Williams announced the last item on the agenda was Supervisors Reports. The Clerk of the Board quickly reminded Williams they still had Public Expression. Williams wearily intoned “Oh, Yeah” in a voice that telegraphed indifference.
RON EDWARDS complained (as he often has) that the format for Public Comment is not user friendly. Unlike many zoom meetings, where the public can follow the meeting and opt in for public comment when the meeting is opened to the public, in Mendo you can only comment if you sign up before the meeting begins. As a result, Edwards said he signed up for some items not knowing if he would have comment or not. And again urged the Supes to allow the public to speak without making an appointment in advance.
CARRE SHATTUCK was also on the line to speak but was unable to, either as a result of technical glitches, or poor communication or coordination with the Clerk of the Board. When Ms. Shattuck was first called on their was silence. So the Clerk moved to Mr. Edwards. Then tried coming back to Shattuck. Between muting and unmuting, Ms. Shattuck could be heard saying “I’m not even fucking on there!” Williams issued a warning for language. The Clerk said he muted the speaker because of the language. Then the Clerk announced she was unmuted. Then announced she was not on the line. And with that, Williams announced the meeting was adjourned.
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