TUESDAY’S SUPERVISORS AGENDA has what would normally be a routine placeholder item entitled: “Discussion and Possible Action Including Acceptance of Informational Report(s) from the Assessor/Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters, Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector, District Attorney, Sheriff and Various County Department Heads or Designee(s)”
Is it too early to expect both newly reinstated Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector, Chamise Cubbison and the District Attorney, David Eyster whose charges against her were so expensively dismissed to take this opportunity to report to the Board? At the same time? We expect that Ms. Cubbison would be happy to take the podium. Eyster? Probably not. Bad timing and all. It will also be interesting to see what role former Acting Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector Sara Pierce assumes now that Ms. Cubbison is back as Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector. Back to the CEO’s office, we assume. Maybe she’ll be in charge of that recently created “department” called “fiscal services.”
COINCIDENTALLY, CEO Darcie Antle will be making a “FY 25/26 Budget Workshop” Presentation for next year’s budget. This will be another opportunity for Ms. Cubbison to re-enter the financial discussion in some way.
CEO Antle’s presentation begins: “Salaries and Benefits (1000 Series) estimated to increase 7% over 24/25 based on current department submissions.”
Unfortunately, although we thought we thought we understood budget jargon and most of the basic concepts, the rest of CEO Antle’s relatively brief budget presentation makes very little sense. So we will have to wait until Tuesday to see if we get a better picture.
ACCORDING TO THE MINUTES of the closed session at their last meeting the Board discussed “existing
“Litigation: One Case - Cubbison V. County Of Mendocino, Et Al., Mendocino County Superior Court, Case No. 23CV01231,” but “no reportable action was taken.”
This typically uninformative item would usually be ignorable, except for the list of people present for the closed session: “Supervisor Madeline Cline, Supervisor Maureen Mulheren, Supervisor John Haschak, Supervisor Bernie Norvell, and Supervisor Ted Williams. Staff Present: Darcie Antle, Chief Executive Officer; Charlotte E. Scott, County Counsel; Lillian Bearden, Deputy Clerk of the Board; and Atlas M.A. Pearson, Senior Deputy Clerk of the Board.”
Notably NOT present was the County’s outside attorney for Cubbison’s civil suit, Ms. Morin Jacob of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. Hard to tell if there’s anything serious to read into this, but we’d like to think the Board is considering settlement offers. There’s no point in dragging Ms. Cubbison’s civil suit out any longer than necessary, not that such an obvious observation would occur to these people. Nevertheless, we hope that there’s no settlement until AFTER all the County officials, past and present, are deposed.
LOOKS LIKE SUPERVISOR JOHN HASCHAK intends to appoint Covelo attorney Kay Richards as his Third District Planning Commissioner replacing Alison Pernell on one of the County’s more or less functional boards. Ms. Richards apparently specializes in Family Law and Wills and also serves on the Round Valley Area Municipal Advisory Council. We don’t know why Willits Realtor Pernell is vacating her seat.
THE SOMEWHAT CONTROVERSIAL item in the CEO ordinance (aka job description) that was discussed at the last Board meeting but ultimately left unchanged still says: “The CEO shall report to the Board of Supervisors, not less than semiannually, the status of the budget expenditures and revenues, as available within the main enterprise system, and recommend adjustments as necessary.”
That’s right, despite looming budget problems, the Board is officially saying that they don’t need budget status reports any more than twice a year and then only “as available within the main enterprise system,” a ridiculous and irresponsible proviso that basically says the CEO isn’t responsible for any omissions that her own departments may make, intentionally or otherwise.
The BOS needs to get quarterly budget reports as a minimum, when the budget is off then rails, like it is today, even more often. What impacts will the Trump cuts have on Mendocino county?
I served on our local school board for a decade, and along with the various special districts in a community, these local volunteers are ultimately responsible for the policies and procedures as directors and officers of a public organization. The county supervisors have a similar role and responsibility, plus they get paid. I would never have been able to make intelligent observations and decisions without the financial information regularly provided in a coherent and consistent format by our district’s fiscal manager. The board was provided all the raw data, but also briefed on the details in a framework of attention to trends, projections, past experiences. I felt that we always knew what was going and what we needed to pay attention to. Sure, the county of Mendocino has more moving parts, but supposedly there are professional people who have the knowledge and skills to keep the decision makers informed. Am I not right about this?