County Notes: Delay, Confusion, Avoidance & Distraction

If you want to understand the turmoil in the County’s Public Health and Behavioral Health departments, you won’t get far listening to comments at Supervisors meetings.

On the one hand you have the line employees Union president demanding an investigation into a culture of fear, retaliation and intimidation in Public Health involving whoever may have pressured some employees to sign a hurry-up letter in support of the appointment of Dr. Jenine Miller as Health Director two weeks ago which would have made official an arrangement that has been informally in place since late last year.

On the other hand a number of current public health staffers, most of them saying they worked in finance and administration, came to the podium on Tuesday in support of the consolidation of the two departments headed by Dr. Miller. One of them, a youngish woman who spoke so quickly that it was hard to understand what she was saying as she nervously sped through a letter she had written, said that somebody had been “falsely accused” of something and perhaps been a victim of “gender discrimination.” She demanded to know which supervisor “leaked” the letter in support of Dr. Miller signed by over 40 of Dr. Miller’s staffers to “Julie Beardsley and the AVA,” concluding, “Who do we turn to when our leaders are constantly attacked?”

At the Board meeting on May 7 the Board voted to postpone a decision formalizing the Behavioral Health/Public Health consolidation until a presentation with more information and analysis of the consolidation was provided. No such presentation was provided on Tuesday and none of the supervisors responded to the somewhat heated comments about Dr. Miller’s appointment.

At the end of the discussion, Supervisor Gjerde proposed that the question of consolidation and the appointment of Dr. Miller be put over to the next Board meeting agenda for June 4 for “reconsideration.” That was approved 5-0.

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MEANWHILE, the long-delayed Psychiatric Health Facility (PHF-‘Puff’) is moving along well below the radar without getting the attention such a substantial project deserves. There must be some pressure to get the Measure B-funded Psychiatric Health Facility — an overlarge 16-bed facility currently estimated to cost over $20 million — built in a hurry (by Mendo standards anyway) because Item 3p on Tuesday’s consent calendar was approved without discussion: “Approval of Finding that the New Measure B Psychiatric Health Facility (PHF) Project is Categorically Exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act Pursuant to Section 15302 of the CEQA Guidelines…”

Section 15302 of the CEQA environmental review guidelines involves “Replacement and Reconstruction” of an existing structure. Since the “existing structure” (an old nursing home with a collapsed roof) was demolished last year, this could be legitimate. But the proposed new usage — a 16-bed secure mental health facility — is significantly different.

As the attached Planning memo says, “The project will be a one-story 12,884 square foot facility that will provide 24-hour inpatient care for individuals needing intensive therapeutic psychiatric services.” They are not replacing a nursing home with a nursing home; they are replacing a nursing home with a PHF which seems significant enough to require consideration of at least some of the environmental review criteria such as traffic/parking and security. But since they don’t want to do that, the implication is that the project is already starting to run further behind schedule and, by further implication, over its already extremely high estimated cost.

Item 3p further calls for “Approval of Plans and Specifications for the PHF Project and Direct the Chief Executive Officer or Designee to Advertise for Bids and Authorize Opening of Bids on or After June 27, 2024.”

Nobody asked about this major project or its schedule which is probably exactly what the staff wanted since they buried the “approval of the plans and specifications” deep in an innocuous item on the consent calendar.

The last time the PHF schedule was discussed back in January of 2022 the schedule was given in months, not in calendar dates. But according to that schedule, bidding and construction of the new facility was estimated to take around 30 months, or two and a half years. Which would translate to a projected completion date of late 2026. Whether this timing would allow the County to qualify for the $9-million-plus grant they previously expected to get is unclear, but end-of-2026 would probably be beyond the qualification date. If the County doesn’t get that $9 million-plus grant, the likelihood of repayment of the Measure B fund loan to the Jail Expansion overrun will be very low. PS. The current plans for the PHF include 28 parking slots for staff (plus about ten more for the public and miscellaneous others). Assuming that some staffing will be 24/7 positions, that indicates that there will probably be over 40 paid staff. Where they will get that many professional staffers, much less the money to pay them has never come up.

All these moving pieces and a major commitment of approving plans and specs for a long-delayed multi-million dollar project finally going out for bid should be worthy of at least a project status update. But no, nothing but a consent calendar item about waiving the environmental review.

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As the County approaches an unprecedented general fund budget deficit and potentially significant staff cuts to deal with next month when the Board is supposed to approve the 2024-2025 fiscal year budget, there was again nothing on Tuesday’s agenda about the budget’s still large level of red ink. (By comparison, most local school and special districts have already prepared their budgets for their board approvals. The County is at least two months behind, waiting until the last minute to even propose a budget for board and public discussion when there will be little opportunity for discussion of alternatives or public input.

In other County budget/attorney news, the Board approved a comparatively generous 4% salary increase for all of the County’s lawyers effective in July, raising the cost of the County attorneys from about $2.74 million per year to an estimated $2.85 million per year. (Line workers got a minimal 1% raise.) And, in closed session, the Board was expected to consider the appointment a new County Counsel. No names or salaries were mentioned.

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SUPERVISOR MULHEREN’S ‘BACK-TO-THE-LANDER’ PROBLEM

Supervisor Maureen Mulheren told the ‘Like It Or Not’ Ukiah Podcast dudes last week that there was a “really challenging dynamic” in the Board Chambers these days that “might be improved by two new members.” The two old members who are not running for re-election she’s referring to as “challenging” would be outgoing Supervisors Glenn McGourty and Dan Gjerde.

Asked to explain what she meant by “challenging,” Mulheren replied: “Differences in how we speak and get feedback and do the work.”

“How we speak and get feedback” are “challenging”?

Mulheren added, “Our staff doesn’t deserve to be caught in the crossfire. Everybody should be treated with respect.”

The “crossfire” is probably another of the classic sideways references common to the Supervisor regarding Supervisor Gjerde’s suggestion that a redundant position in Planning and Building should be deleted and Mulheren’s disagreement that it should even be discussed in open session. We doubt Gjerde’s suggestion is “disrespectful,” and we doubt that discussing it creates some kind of terrible “crossfire.” We can’t guess what Supervisor McGourty may have done to “challenge” Supervisor Mulheren, although lately he has tended to agree with Supervisor Ted Williams now and then when he disagrees with Mulheren.

Asked to name the top five issues facing the Board at the moment, Mulheren cited the budget, saying that the County is “$17 million under budget.”

Last we heard the County has a general fund deficit of around $4 or $5 million. We don’t know what “under budget” means. It would help if Supervisor could be more specific.

Mulheren went on to say that some “tough decisions” will have to be made involving “cutting programs.”

Asked which programs, Mulheren mentioned the Economic Development and Finance Corporation (EDFC) and West Company and the Resource Conservation District, none of which amount to anywhere near the multi-million dollar deficit even if they were completely eliminated. They would make even less difference if they were partially cut. We have seen nothing on any recent agenda about cutting the budgets for those non-profits. Nevertheless, Mulheren insisted that “Programs will have to be cut.”

Mulheren did not mention any staff cuts however, even though most of the County’s general fund goes for salaries, not “programs.”

The podcast dudes asked, somewhat awkwardly, “Why can’t you make more money?”

Instead of addressing the rather obvious tax collection deficit, Mulheren said the problem in Mendocino County is that there are “lots of back-to-the-landers” who put up buildings with “no permits, no anything!”

There are probably some pot growers who put up some unpermitted buildings many of which are now abandoned, but those growers are not of the back-to-the-land generation. Most “back-to-the-landers” are in their 60s or older now and very few of them are building buildings with “no permits, no anything.” (They may have done so in the past however, perhaps that’s what Mulheren is talking about.)

To solve this supposed back-to-the-lander problem Mulheren thinks the County might have to hire an outside firm to get those back-to-the-lander buildings on the tax rolls.

Trouble is, even if some perhaps mythical unpermitted back-to-the-lander buildings were added to the tax rolls it wouldn’t help the deficit much, especially not in the short-term.

Mulheren would do better to question staff about what they’re doing to collect unpaid taxes due. But Mulheren probably thinks that such direct questions would be “disrespectful” to staff, which might be interpreted as criticism or crossfire and therefore must be avoided at all costs.

Neither Mulheren nor the podcast dudes ever got around to asking about Mulheren’s other four top five issues they inquired about earlier.

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ANOTHER AG COMMISSIONER

Item 4b on next Tuesday’s Supervisors Agenda:

“Discussion and Possible Action Including Appointment of and Approval of Employment Agreement Between the County of Mendocino and Angela Godwin to Serve as Mendocino County Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights and Measures for the Term of June 23, 2024, through June 22, 2028, with Compensation for the Period Commencing June 23, 2024, with Annual Total Compensation of $258,516.96”

Ms. Godwin was the Assistant Ag Commissioner in Ventura County.

Angela Godwin on the road to Santa Barbara, Calif. for a weekend with the ladies at Babes Ride Out.

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THE TWICE WITHDRAWN proposed appointment of CEO Darcie Antle’s boyfriend Dr. Theron Chan as County Health Officer is back on Tuesday’s agenda. Just last week Supervisor Mulheren highlighted this opening as a wonderful job opportunity that was accepting applications for the vacancy. Now here’s Dr. Chan on the agenda again. Perhaps Dr. Chan is being considered for only four months as Interim Health Officer pending a longer-term appointment.

Item 4d) “Discussion and Possible Action Including Approval of Agreement with Theron Chan, M.D. in the Amount of $45,000, to Provide Medical Oversight, Direction, and Guidance for the Public Health Department as the Interim County Health Officer, Effective Upon Signature through July 31, 2024”

According to the attached contract Dr, Chan would be paid $107.17 per hour for up to 20 hours per week which translates to a little over $2100 per week, which translates to $45,000 / $2100 or around 21 weeks of service, or around four months. That’s an annual rate of around $135k/year.

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SURPRISINGLY (or is it?) there’s nothing about the County budget on next Tuesday’s agenda despite the deadline for finishing and approving the budget being due next month.