The highlight of Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting was Vietnam Veteran Don Shanley’s statement to the Board dressing them down over their ill-considered and abrupt eviction of the Veterans Service Office from their nice little house on Observatory Avenue last month to a glorified closet in the rear of the old Ukiah hospital which has been converted to a Public/Mental admin office space. Shanley and his wife Laura Quatrochi both made statements critical of the move, as did several other veterans including First District Supervisor candidate (and former Marine) Jacob Brown. Shanley’s remarks were specific to the Veterans Office, but with a little imagination, one could apply it to a host of the Board’s decisions in recent years. For the last month Shanley and his wife have been actively attempting to work with the Board and staff to find a suitable alternative to the present “unacceptable” situation, only to be frustrated at every turn.
Shanley: “I am a 50 year resident of Mendocino County and an infantry veteran of the Vietnam war. It has been 28 days since January 29, 2024, when I along with many veterans and County citizens addressed this board requesting that the VSO eviction be placed as a future agenda item for a full discussion with both the veteran constituents as well as the general public.
During the past 28 days I have witnessed` and documented this board and county staff evade, dodge, weave and parry simple direct questions regarding a county cost analysis presented to the board to approve this relocation without an agenda item for public discussion. I have read a notice from two board members addressing this egregious decision with a public letter to all newspapers agreeing that they made a poor decision but now let's just all get behind them.
The Board suggested that the County would put up posters, install a couch, provided a receptionist, put in a third large office for the VSO rep. Oh yes, a courtyard! And of course we will change the signage and install Purple Heart parking spaces.
These tone deaf, after the fact mitigations are absurd. Today they have not even been initiated. 28 days and counting. Moving the VSO back to 405 Observatory is the only solution for the numerous, obvious, and previously documented facts.
One does not need a Harvard MBA in intergovernmental network analysis to locate lines on a spreadsheet. This process is as simple as Accounting 101. Twenty-eight days and not a single supervisor can provide any numbers, new or old. What did the board review? Veteran constituents and the public have a legal right to review the analysis provided to the board and the county CEO prior to the relocation approval, not possibly fabricated numbers slipped in the back door, cooked numbers that tell whatever story this board, under orders, agrees to spin.
The respect, welfare and dignity for Mendocino County veterans remains the fundamental issue. The Dora Street location is 100% unacceptable. It is at best a rude, unsafe and thoughtless alternative. Were veterans given the opportunity to purchase the Observatory location? Why wasn't Air Quality moved to the cubicles at the Dora Street location? 90% of Air Quality work is completed online with no public face-to-face interaction. The lame, inaccurate public apology and warm fuzzy Let's all get behind this move and make the best of it approach addresses neither this decision's detailed origins nor the consequences and the public's right to know. ‘The people in delegating their authority do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.’ That's a quote from the Brown Act.”
Supervisor/Board Chair Maureen Mulheren said she was putting a Veterans Service Office item on the February 27 Board agenda, but added, “I don’t think the agenda item will be ready by February 27, but I will be working on it.” Whatever the hell that means. (Probably another attempt to stall and delay, but we shall see.)
Later in the meeting, while discussing some voluntary permit “guidelines” proposed by the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council, Supervisor Dan Gjerde was told that it would take months and months before Planning Staff could get around to reviewing the voluntary guidelines for CEQA compliance and go through the many processing steps and so forth, much less publish them, even though they are “voluntary.” Gjerde then suggested that in the interim the County simply post the guidelines on the County’s website “almost immediately.” Gjerde then explained that by “almost immediately” he meant in the next month or two. So, “almost immediately” — a variation on the famous oxymoron “almost exactly” — is just a little bit before “later” but not quite “never” in Boardspeak. Which gives the public a good idea of this Board’s sense of timing. “Almost immediately” is also about the same timing as Mulheren’s claim to put the Veterans Office issue on the February 27 agenda while noting at the same time that it “probably” won’t be ready then either.
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‘Complaints Against A County Official’? Lawsuits Threatened? Liability?
Items 3a and 3b on a special unscheduled closed session agenda for Thursday, February 15 have local supes watchers abuzz with speculation about either two public officials or one public official with two separate “significant” legal complaints:
3a: “Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(2) - Conference with Legal Counsel - Anticipated Litigation: Significant Exposure to Litigation Arising from Complaints Against a County Official: One Case.”
3b: “Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(2) - Conference with Legal Counsel - Anticipated Litigation: Significant Exposure to Litigation Arising from Complaints Against a County Official: One Case.”
Then there’s this intriguing item:
3e: “Pursuant to Government Code Section 54957.6 - Conference with Labor Negotiator - Agency Negotiators: Jon Holtzman; Unrepresented Position: County Executive Officer.”
According to their website, Jonathan Holtzman is a managing partner at the Renne Public Law Group in San Francisco, the same pricy legal outfit that Mendo is paying well over $200k to James Ross as Interim County Counsel for six months. “Jonathan (Jon) Holtzman is a founding partner of Renne Public Law Group, and was previously a founding partner of Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai LLP. Since 2005, and every year since, Mr. Holtzman has been named a ‘Northern California Super Lawyer’.”
We can’t tell what Item 3e might really means. Has Mendo hired a “super lawyer” at hundreds of dollars an hour to negotiate a new contract with CEO Darcie Antle? Is newly employed County Counsel Mr. Ross involved with determining who in his own law firm is hired as the Board’s negotiator with their own CEO and at what pay rate? Is this an abuse of closed session? Aren’t there several conflicts of interest here? (Oh, never mind, we’re sure all the super lawyers involved are doing everything on the up and up and all the money will be very well spent.)
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Madeline Cline Stands Up
If bland and vague political slogans written by out-of-county consultants with no substance or backup are your thing, you’ll love First District Supervisor Candidate Madeline Cline’s latest campaign flyer.
In her latest flyer to voters in the First District Cline says, “We need someone who will go to bat for our families, farmers, and small businesses.”
Yet, we have heard nothing from Ms. Cline about what “going to bat” will involve.
Cline says that she has “worked on issues related to natural resources, public safety, and housing in the State Assembly,” but oddly fails to name even one of those “issues” or describe what the result of that “work” was.
Cline claims to be an “advocate for farmers and small businesses in the local policy making process,” but she declines to say what she advocates. The only thing she’s on record as “advocating” is for the Regional Water Quality Control Board to go easy on the wine industry’s sediment dumping. Also, Mendo politicians always say “farmer” when they mean wine grape grower. They never mean real farmers. So, again, what has she farmer issues has she “advocated for” besides those proposed sediment regs?
Cline brags about being a “member of Soroptimist International of Ukiah.” Their slogan is “Helping women and girls live their dreams.” What can a Mendo Supervisor do along those lines? Why even mention it besides sloganeering.
Ms. Cline notes that she is on the Mendocino County Fish and Game Commission (appointed by Supervisor Glenn McGourty). But McGourty not only endorsed Cline’s opponent Trevor Mockel, but donated $500 to Mockel’s campaign.
Cline then goes deep and heavy by claiming that she is “bringing local farmers, businesses, and community members together to STOP PG&E from stripping Mendocino County of our water resources.”
Ms. Cline has not held any meetings on that subject. Although she has attended some of the Potter Valley Project meetings, she hasn’t said much, nor has she authored any position papers on the subject.
Ms. Cline concludes, “As our Supervisor, Madeline Cline will stand up to PG&E and make sure our community has access to long-term, sustainable water sources that allows our local families, farmers and fish to thrive.”
Which sounds nice. But since much more experienced Mendolanders both in and out of the wine industry have been aggressively dealing with the PG&E diversion problem for years with very little to show for it, we doubt the 26-year old Cline’s attempts at “standing up” to PG&E will change anything. PS. She doesn’t mention the other 800-pound gorilla in the Potter Valley Project Picture: the Sonoma County Water Agency. What Mendo needs more than someone to “stand up” to PG&E, is someone who will stand up to the Sonoma County Water Agency, like John Pinches tried to do a few years ago, but couldn’t get even one of his colleagues to agree with him.
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