Category Archives: Local Government

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Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Roundup, Feb. 11, 2024

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

Aegis Treatment Center: County supervisors backed efforts from a medicated-assisted addiction treatment provider to open a brick and mortar clinic in Del Norte County.

District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey, who is part of the Reaching Rural Initiative to open a mobile MAT program in Del Norte, asked her colleagues to approve a letter of support for Aegis Treatment Center. Currently, those receiving medicated-assisted addiction treatment have to travel back and forth from Humboldt County for that treatment, she said, noting that the round-trip takes about four hours.

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Articles, Community News, Local Government

Del Norte Supes OK Retirement Benefit Asset Transfer to PARS Trust, Call For Guidelines Governing Proposed Withdrawals

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Photo by Aisling Bludworth

Public Agencies Retirement Service representative Matt Spooner repeated a comment he made to county supervisors a month ago, that a Section 115 Trust with his firm was a “savings account on steroids.”

But contrary to a statement one supervisor made at the Jan. 14 meeting, Spooner, County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez and District 5 representative Dean Wilson said Tuesday that Del Norte couldn’t use dollars it places in that trust for anything other than meeting its pension and other post-employment benefit obligations.

Yet, supervisors Valery Starkey and Darrin Short still sought guidance on how the trust funds could be used. Starkey said that any proposal to access money in the Section 115 Trust should come before the Board of Supervisors and be approved with a 4/5ths vote. That way the public could weigh in, she said.

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Articles, Community News, Local Government

Del Norte BOS To Consider Transferring Retirement Benefit Assets To Private Trust; Firm’s Rep To Give Presentation

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Del Norte County Supervisors on Tuesday will discuss transferring assets from a California Public Employees Retirement System-managed trust to one managed by a private firm.

Public Agencies Retirement Service (PARS) Senior Consultant Matt Spooner is also expected to give a presentation to the Board about his firm’s 115 OPEB Prefunding Program and Pension Rate Stabilization Program.

The Board of Supervisors last month approved establishing the Section 115 Trust with PARS after Spooner said it would provide greater flexibility when it comes to the county paying its share of its employees pension and other retirement benefits.

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Articles, Community News, Curry, Economy, Environment, Local Government

Curry County Proposal to Take Over Management of Federal Lands Draws Overwhelming Opposition

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Pistol River in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. | Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service

A proposed resolution stating that Curry County aims to “invoke policing powers of the state” to “clear and thin undergrowth and to remove fire-damaged trees” on federal lands is not a takeover, according to its newest member.

Facing 17 north county residents who opposed the resolution on Wednesday, Patrick Hollinger said he and his colleagues hope to be stewards for lands currently managed by the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and other state and federal agencies. The proposed emergency declaration seeks to hold them accountable, though the Board of Commissioners said Wednesday they weren’t yet ready to approve it.

“We are the closest elected officials to the people with special authority under environmental and jurisdictional law to see these matters through to success,” Hollinger said. “We’re working right now on completely overhauling our land-use plan for the county, our comprehensive plan and our Wildland Urban Interface plans. The state and federal agencies, by law, are supposed to be consulting with the county on an annual basis in order for them to move forward with their plans. That’s not happening. That hasn’t happened in forever. We’re going to implement that going forward.”

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Local Government, Regional News

Crescent City Council Roundup, Feb. 3, 2024

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The previous City Council, plus new councilmember Candace Tinkler, cut the ribbon on a reconstructed Front Street in November. | Photo by Amanda Dockter

Crescent City Councilor Candace Tinkler was absent. Among the items discussed at Monday’s meeting:

Front Street Notice of Completion: Four members of the City Council marked the official end of the Front Street reconstruction project, authorizing the city manager to sign and file a notice of completion for the stretch between G and Play.

This action comes about three months after the former Council reopened the road to traffic on Nov. 6. The project was possible through a total of about $2.2 million from multiple funding sources including Measure S, the American Rescue Plan Act, Senate Bill 1 dollars as well as the Del Norte Local Transportation Commission and the city’s general fund.

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Local Government, Regional News

Pressed By Triplicate Editor Roger Gitlin, Crescent City Council Will Consider Public Prayer

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Del Norte Triplicate News Editor Roger Gitlin says his goal is to get all major government bodies in Del Norte County to open their meetings with an invocation. | Screenshot

Crescent City Councilors agreed to discuss a proposal to incorporate prayer into its meetings.

Former supervisor and Del Norte Triplicate news editor Roger Gitlin made the request. In a public comment that went longer than the three minutes normally allotted to speakers, Gitlin said several times that his ask wasn’t “a religious thing.” He pointed out that the Crescent City Harbor District Board three weeks ago voted to hold an invocation prior to its meetings. Gitlin said he’s also encouraging the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors to do the same.

“This was substantiated and supported in April 2014 in a Supreme Court case, the City of Greece, New York vs. another party [that] allowed for denominational and non-denominational prayer,” he said. “I want to make it very clear that our Assembly, State Senate, House of Representatives and the United States Senate also invoke an invocation and it’s a very simple one: It’s a matter of a few lines and it invokes the name of God. [It states] ‘give us the courage, the experience and the wisdom to make decisions which benefit our citizenry.’ That’s about all of it.”

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Local Government

Crescent City Pursues Grant To Get ‘Redwood Discovery Center’ Shovel Ready

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Concept art of the Redwood Discovery Center’s interior. | Screenshot

Crescent City is pursuing grant dollars that would ultimately lead to putting the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce, Redwood National and State Parks and Redwood Parks Conservancy’s visitor centers under one roof.

The city is seeking $985,000 in California Jobs First “catalyst” dollars that will pay for the environmental documents, plans, specifications and estimates needed to get the endeavor ready for construction. Its aim is to turn the Cultural Center into a regional landmark, City Manager Eric Wier told councilors on Monday.

But Crescent City is competing against about 50 other applicants from Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Lake counties, and only nine will receive grant funding, Wier said.

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Activism, Alerts, Humboldt, In Media Res, Law, Local Government

Automated License-Plate Reading Cameras Are Back on the Table

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Thumbnail photo courtesy of AS Photography, which has been edited.

The Eureka City Council will be voting today at 6pm on whether or not to install 21 automated license-plate reading (ALPR) cameras throughout the city. There are also considerations to introduce these cameras into Arcata, Fortuna, and on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus, according to an article from the Lost Coast Outpost’s Isabella Vanderheiden.

These ALPR cameras are provided by Flock Technology, a private company specializing in AI-based visual surveillance systems. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending civil liberties in the digital world, ALPR cameras can capture license plate numbers as well as identifying details of any passing vehicle, such as make, model, color, physical damage, bumper stickers, and more—so-called “vehicle fingerprints” that enable easier tracking. It does this, Flock claims, in order to compare license plate numbers against stolen vehicles or individuals wanted on criminal charges.

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Articles, Community News, Economy, Education, Health, Infrastructure, Local Government, Transportation, Youth

Trump’s Attack On Federal Funding Could Impact Del Norters’ Access To Health Care, Senior Services, Education, Local Nonprofits Say

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Open Door Clinic operates a clinic at the Del Norte Community Wellness Center. At a discussion with Congressman Jared Huffman on Monday, the organization’s CEO Tory Starr said he was worried about being unable to serve patients should their federal funding be frozen. | Photo by Persephone Rose

Nearly a week after a judge temporarily blocked a Trump Administration directive to freeze federal funding, Open Door Clinic CEO Tory Starr said his organization is still bracing for the worst.

Open Door operates more than 14 clinics across Humboldt and Del Norte counties, providing behavioral health, medical, dental and obstetrics care to 60,000-plus patients and employing nearly 800 people.

During a virtual roundtable discussion hosted by Congressman Jared Huffman on Monday, Starr said that while a judge hit pause on the directive Jan. 28, guidance he’s received from the Health Resources and Services Administration suggests that federal dollars could still be at risk.

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Articles, Community News, Local Government, Youth

Del Norte Joins Public Nuisance Lawsuit Against Social Media Giants

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Photo by Ibrahim.ID via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License

Del Norte County is joining Sacramento and San Diego counties in a public nuisance lawsuit against tech giants Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap, alleging that those companies have “knowingly targeted and profited from minors’ excessive and compulsive uses.”

County Counsel Jacqueline Roberts and several private law firms filed the suit in Del Norte County Superior Court on Monday.

In its complaint for damages and demand for a jury trial, Del Norte County is seeking an order deeming the defendants’ alleged conduct a public nuisance under California law and enjoining them from engaging in action that further contributes to the alleged public nuisance.

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