MIDWEEK EDITION
TUESDAY, February 4, 2020 S E R V I N G O U R C O M M U N I T Y S I N C E 1 8 7 9 • W W W. T R I P L I C A T E . C O M
District: Teacher’s union rejects latest offer T
By David Hayes Staff Writer
he Del Norte Unified School District and the Del Norte Teachers Association met Jan. 29 to continue contract negotiations. At the end of the session, no tentative agreement was reached. Coleen Parker, district Human Resources Director, said the district team presented a new proposal to the DNTA bargaining team,
which she said was in direct alignment with the fact-finding recommendations for the multi-year agreement. Neither DNTA President Marshal Jones nor DNTA lead negotiator Paige Thompson returned calls for comment before The Triplicate’s publication deadline. The offer guarantees three 2% salary increases, effective July 1, 2019, 2020 and 2021. An additional 0.5% salary increase if “local control funding formula” revenue
increases by 3.5% or more from the prior year, in 2020-21 and 2021-22. That increases to 1% if the revenue formula increases by 4% or more. For school districts and charter schools, the local control funding formula establishes uniform grade span grants, including revenue limits, general-purpose block grants and most state categorical programs. In addition to increasing salary, the district’s proposal would also increase flat-dol-
lar stipends by 2% each year of the contract and add a $500 increase to the annual district contribution to the union’s Health Insurance Premium costs. In a joint communique to all district certificated staff, district officials said the DNTA found the proposal unacceptable as it did not grant an adequate increase in salary
More District on Page A5
Primary: 3 Del Norte Supervisor seats open
Motorpool deepens
By Jessica Goddard Staff Writer
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The ‘new’ 2002 Pierce Pumper arrived at the Smith River Fire Protection District Jan. 21. Courtesy photo.
Pumper fire truck arrived at fire station on Jan. 21 By David Hayes Staff Writers
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ore than a century after Europeans settled on the West Coast, Del Norte County volunteers are still cleaning up after them. Specifically, the plants they brought with them. Those plants now are classified as invasive species, and they’re crowding out native varieties. According to Sandra Jerabeck, director of Tolowa Dunes Stewards, the orga-
nization’s volunteers are removing the species that the European settlers didn’t realize were invasive. “When European settlers came here, they brought what they were comfortable with, in terms of plants and animals. Those plants - English ivy, English holly - they brought because they liked it. “There was no understanding at that time what it could do to this environment. Where it doesn’t have any controls or predators, like those built into our environment, it just takes over and you have nothing but English ivy. “It will kill all the trees, the forest, it
will cover the ground so thickly you’ll have nothing else growing,” Jerabeck said. The volunteers with Tolowa Dunes Stewards have been focusing their efforts on removing the English beach grass. Over the decades, the grass grew unchecked, creating a sea of plants that were crowding out local varieties such as the rare Tolowa coast wallflower, which Jerabeck said probably doesn’t exist anyMore Fire Truck on Page A2
hances are Del Norte County residents have likely had a few door-todoor visits and invites to formal fundraisers in recent weeks as candidates delve into their campaign efforts. The California primary is March 3. Several candidates are pushing for one of the three open seats on the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors. The three seats open for election are District 1, 2 and 5. District 1 covers downtown Crescent City and a portion of U.S. Highway 101 from the harbor to Washington Boulevard. District 2 stretches along Pebble Beach Drive up to the airport and inland, and District 5 falls from the south part of Crescent City to Klamath. Supervisor positions for District 3, with Supervisor Chris Howard, and 4, with Supervisor and Board Chair Gerry Hemmingsen, will open in 2022. Candidates for the March election have filed their financial reports, solidifying the final running number. Current District 1 Supervisor Roger Gitlin is not running for re-election. After serving two full terms, he wants to pursue other things, he confided to Triplicate. Competing for his seat are Bi-Coastal Media’s John Pritchett and volunteer firefighter and former Mayor Pro Tempore Darrin Short. District 2 is a crowded field in this election with three people in the running. Former Sonoma County probation officer Valerie Starkey and Crescent City harbor commissioner James Ramsey are in the running, along with incumbent Lori Cowan. One of the candidates for District 2 must get 51% of the votes. If not, a runoff election will be held in November of 2020, according to Del Norte County Clerk-Recorder Alissia Northrup. Kevin Hendrick, former executive director of the Solid Waste Management, is running against incumbent Bob Berkowitz for the District 5 seat. Northrup advised that residents should have already received sample ballots in the mail. Vote-by-mail ballots will be sent out this week. The election winners will take office in January of 2021. For more information on the candidates, see the Triplicate’s feature articles on each candidate.
County Supervisors explore lack of parking ordinance Rise of ‘vehicle villages’ is a concern By David Hayes Staff Writers
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oticing a hole in the county’s traffic laws, District 1 Supervisor Roger Gitlin steered discussion at the Board of Supervisors meeting Jan. 28 toward creating a law to prevent the growth in “vehicle villages.” Gitlin pointed to paragraph K of the California Vehicle Code 22651 which gives officers the authority to remove vehicles that have been parked or left standing on a highway or street for 72 or more consecutive hours. Gitlin was concerned Del Norte County does not have a similar law within its ordinances. “I met with California
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Highway Patrol Cmdr. Larry Deepee who’s very much in support of the county adopting an ordinance that allows his agency to do its job and enforce state law. I was informed almost all 58 counties have such a local ordinance, while Del Norte County does not,” Gitlin said. “This important law gives law enforcement the tool to address the rapid growth of vehicles, especially trailers and RVs, to simply pull off to the side of the road, public highway, right-of-way or street, to create their new home. This wonton, unchecked growth of vehicles, which I will call ‘vehicle villages,’ has created a health and hygiene issue, is a public nuisance and poses traffic hazards.”
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Gitlin said the board of supervisors has received many complaints of vehicle villages, but was worried that until a local ordinance is passed in support of vehicle code 22561, law enforcement’s hands were tied and are powerless to act to remove the nuisance. CHP Sgt. John Crouch said the problem with 22561 is it addresses abandoned vehicles left on the side of the road and does not apply to occupied vehicles. “The spirit of the law is to take vehicles off the road that have been parked there with the intent of being left there,” Crouch told the supervisors. He said to remove these abandoned vehicles they must be missing major components, such as tires,
wheels or windshields. “A lot of times, those are cars that have been stolen and stripped, and dumped on the side of the road or something similar to that,” he said. Crouch added there needs to be an ordinance to address vehicles parked on residential streets or in front of family homes that are continuously moved. District 5 Supervisor Bob Berkowitz wanted to know from Crouch how severe he felt the problem was of illegally parked vehicles in Del Norte County. “Multiple times I’ve heard officers come in after their shift saying, ‘I wish the county had an ordinance for More Parking on Page A5
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