Category Archives: Local Government

Articles, Community News, Economy, Environment, Local Government

Del Norte Supervisors Weigh In On Updated Plan For Managing Forest Service Lands

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Thumbnail: A rain-swollen Smith River in the Smith River National Recreation Area, which is one of the U.S. Forest Service units addressed in its Northwest Forest Plan. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard used an example from the 1960s to highlight the importance of local input into an amended Northwest Forest Plan.

Del Norte County housed 52 manufacturing mills six decades ago, he said, now there are none. Howard blamed their collapse on the Northwest Forest Plan, which was created in 1994. Now, with a public comment deadline approaching on an amended plan, Howard urged his colleagues to weigh in on a letter to the U.S. Forest Service, the agency spearheading the process.

Tacked onto Tuesday’s agenda at the last minute due to the Monday public comment deadline, the county’s letter was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors.

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Articles, Community News, Education, Infrastructure, Local Government

DNUSD Tables SitelogIQ Proposal, Cites Budget Concerns, Need For More Info

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Thumbnail: SitelogIQ representatives presented a microgrid project proposal to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors in January. On Tuesday SitelogIQ representatives spoke with the Del Norte County Unified School District Board of Trustees.

After voting to issue pink slips to library technicians, paraprofessionals and teachers, trustees were reluctant to endorse a SitelogIQ proposal its representatives say will make Del Norte Unified School District facilities more energy resilient.

Though their counterparts with Del Norte County signed a letter of agreement with SitelogIQ in January, DNUSD trustees tabled the issue until they could consult with Superintendent Jeff Harris, who was absent from Tuesday’s special meeting.

They also weren’t thrilled at the idea of being charged a $65,000 fee should they decide against installing a solar electricity generation system or energy efficiency improvements to school campuses.

“My concern is that $65,000 will put a librarian in a library,” Trustee Area 5 representative Michael Greer said. “Right now we’re trying to cut our budget instead of adding to it and you can’t guarantee how much that [energy] savings will be.”

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Articles, Community News, Infrastructure, Local Government

Defect In C900 Pipe May Have Caused Last Wednesday’s Water Main Break, Crescent City Manager Says

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Crescent City Public Works and Tidewater Contracting crews responded to a water main break on Elk Valley Road at about 6 a.m. last Wednesday and had drinking water restored to about 3,000 customers in the Bertsch-Oceanview area by approximately 5 p.m. the next day. | Photo by Amanda Dockter

A defect in a 20-year-old C900 PVC pipe may have caused the water main break that left taps dry for about 3,000 customers in the Bertsch-Oceanview area last week.

City Manager Eric Wier was notified of the big leak on Elk Valley Road at about 6 a.m. last Wednesday. He thought it was going to be a run-of-the-mill leak, but found that the break lifted the pavement and destroyed the sidewalk.

The water main was about 8 feet underground, below the city’s storm drain system, Wier told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. Crews with Crescent City Public Works and Tidewater Contracting had to replace 20-feet of pipe, he said.

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

Pool Reopening Set, Though Crescent City Now Has To Replace The Roof; Staff Blame Seagulls

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Thumbnail photo courtesy of Andrew Goff

“Cannonball Chaos” will reign supreme when the Fred Endert Municipal Pool reopens on March 22.

There will be contests, games and giveaways, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the facility’s new flooring and heating systems. But the pool’s three-month closure this winter revealed a problem — actual rain was getting inside the building. Crescent City Public Works Director David Yeager blamed it on seagulls.

“We’ve had the roofer up there a couple times and the thought is what’s going on is we’ve got about 150 holes in the roof and they’re very small and so the water only comes through after long periods of rain,” he told councilors on Monday. “It rains a little bit, sheds off and gets trapped between the membrane, but it basically has become completely saturated under the shingles and the plastic there. If you get enough water it will actually create a little bit of pressure and come through the membrane.”

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Articles, Community News, Curry, Local Government

Curry County Finance Director Resigns; Commissioners Appoint Treasurer To Role On Interim Basis

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Thumbnail: Former Curry County Finance Director Keina Wolf (far left) tendered her resignation effective Monday |Screenshot

Curry County commissioners appointed Treasurer Nick Vicino to provide financial oversight on an interim basis following the resignation of Keina Wolf effective Monday.

Vicino will receive a 25 percent salary increase for taking on extra duties, including the supervision of finance staff, said Commissioner Jay Trost who read out the order at an emergency meeting Friday.

Vicino’s other duties will include ensuring accounts payable and accounts receivable are entered into the county’s Casselle government software system and to ensure that the use of county accounts are in compliance with policies and government accounting standards. Vicino will also be required to prepare financial statements and documents for the county budget and authorize claims for payment.

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Articles, Community News, Emergencies, Environment, Local Government

Federal Funding Freeze Puts Del Norte Fire Safe Council Fuels Reduction Projects In Limbo

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Thumbnail: Del Norte Office of Emergency Services Public Information Officer Bill Steven snapped this photo of the Smith River Complex wildfires burning above Patrick Creek Lodge and U.S. 199 on Aug. 16, 2023.

(Updated at 12:03 p.m. Friday with a correction: The California Climate Investments grant is a state program and Cal Fire is a state department. There is a $70 million federal grant available, though Del Norte Fire Safe Council County Coordinator Aaron Babcock said he’s not sure how it will be distributed.)

Flames from the Smith River Complex crept within 600 feet of Aaron Babcock’s Gasquet home in August, 2023.

A former firefighter, Babcock is the county coordinator for the Del Norte Fire Safe Council. He said he and his wife chose not to evacuate from the smattering of wildfires burning around the Gasquet area. Instead, he and two of his Fire Safe Council colleagues helped clean out gutters and create extra defensible space for about 50 homes threatened by the fire.

“The houses we had worked on definitely got skipped over,” Babcock told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. “Because they had firefighters preemptively clearing around people’s homes in case the fire came through, those homes didn’t have to have anything done [to prevent them from burning], which was great because it lowers the amount of firefighting resources that were needed and helped protect other homes.”

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Articles, Community News, Economy, Infrastructure, Local Government

Staff Vacancies Among Top Concern In Strategic Plan Update; County Supervisor Suggests AI To Increase Productivity

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Norma Williams rejected a suggestion from District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson that artificial intelligence might allow Del Norte County departments to increase productivity despite struggling to hire and keep staff.

Williams, Del Norte County Employees Association SEIU 1021 president, provided public comment following an update of the county’s 2024-29 strategic plan on Tuesday. She reminded Wilson that many county services are state- and federally-mandated. The technology staff use to provide those services was created by the state or federal government and, therefore, the responsibility to update those systems rests with the state or federal government.

Del Norte’s vacancy rate is still high and AI can’t replace everyone, Williams said.

“I doubt very seriously that the community at large is going to want to talk to an AI,” she told supervisors. “When they walk through the door they want to see a live human being. Someone who can understand them, who can speak with them and who can serve them.”

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Articles, Health, Local Government

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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