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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2023
Crescent City, CA
Rancor continues at board of supervisors
BY ROGER GITLIN The Triplicate
At the board of supervisors, Branden Bieber of Smith River continues his quest to speak his opinions during public comments and on the consent agenda. The appearance of contempt and frustration both from Bieber and Board Chairman Darrin Short is palpable. Bieber cites Brown Act permission to speak for up to three minutes for each agendized item. Short and the board limit public comments on the consent agenda for a total of three minutes for all consent items combined. On average there are between 18 to 30 items on consent. Bieber thinks this arbitrary decision is unfair. Bieber continues to reach the 180 second threshold all too quickly and at first is gently urged to finish his comments and within a few moments, and then, not so gently, reminded by the Chairman his time has expired. In two previous meetings, Short has utilized the sheriff to clear the chambers on one occasion and asked Sheriff Scott to remove Bieber from the meeting the following two weeks, respectively In his defense, Bieber says he’s not trying to disrupt the wheels of government. He’s attempting to
exercise his Constitutional rights. Bieber admits he’s frustrated by what he perceives as, in his words “an indifferent board.” Bieber continued, “Government should be working for the people, not just for separate political Sacramento interests which include indigent, poverty stricken folks, indigenous (Tribal interests) but also for people like me, the middle class.” Bieber sees his quest of peaceful civil disobedience as justification for violating an unfair time frame to express his grievances. Bieber emphatically states, “The board of supervisors is not listening to its constituents” The Smith River resident said he became very interested in how the county was spending its precious revenue when he learned Public Health Officer Aaron Stutz, MD, was drawing a .5 salary of $150,000 as the PHO for Siskiyou County, a $156,000 salary as the PHO for Del Norte and committing an every-other weekend work schedule as the emergency room physician at SOUND Medical, emergency room contractors for Sutter Coast Hospital. Bieber said, “Stutz’ hours do not add up. He resides in Siskiyou County, a ten-hour round-trip.
Photo by Roger Gitlin
Sheriff’s deputies escorts Branden Bieber from the Flynn Center after he refused to stop talking when his time limit expired. When does he sleep?” Bieber asked the board to investigate the inconsistencies in what Bieber claims as an unrealistic,
grueling work schedule. Bieber vows to continue in his words “civil disobedience” and hopes others in the community will
display courage and follow suit. The next Board meeting is Tuesday, February 28, at the Flynn Center. The meeting starts at 10 a.m.
Probation chief updates Board adopts the 2022-2030 status of Juvenile Hall Housing Element
Photo by Roger Gitlin
Del Norte County Chief Probation Officer Lonnie Reyman talks to the board of supervisors about the status of Juvenile Hall.
BY ROGER GITLIN The Triplicate
Del Norte Chief Probation Officer Lonnie Reyman gave an update to the Board of Supervisors about the status of the vacant Juvenile Hall, at the Board’s February 14 meeting. There are five juveniles currently in Del Norte custody who are being sent to other counties. This follows Humboldt and Shasta counties approved memoranda of understanding with Del Norte to take additional minors’ caseload, three minors were transferred to Eureka. Two minors were transferred to Redding. Reyman reported one non-sworn staff has resigned. Two sworn officers will be departing March 1; one from the
Hall, the other from Adult Probation. Reyman also said that net costs to the County budget continue to decline from $1.66 million in fiscal 20/21 to 1.28 million in for the current 22/23 budget. During his Power Point presentation to the Supervisors, Reyman made the following statements: The workload is uncertain. Uncertainty breeds low morale. Special Purpose scheduling breeds low morale. Filling vacancies remain challenging with low applicant turnout response and continuous challenge to fill those vacancies remains problematic. The current model is unsustainable. The Board took no action following Reyman’s presentation.
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The Board of Supervisors has adopted the 2022-30 Housing Element. The document provides goals, policies and implementation programs for the planning and development of housing throughout unincorporated Del Norte County for the period to 2030. The Element addresses housing needs for median family income, Very Low, Low. Moderate and Above Moderate incomes. The Element calls for 386 units planned to be built in the following categories: • Very Low income 102 units or 26.42 percent. • Low Income 75 units or 19.43 percent • Moderate Income 55 units or 14.25 percent • Above Moderate Income 154 units or 39.9 percent of the County’s total allocation. The adopted Housing Element includes seven goals. 29 policies and 35 implementation programs. The goals are:
• Provide Adequate sites to accommodate County Housing needs. • Assist in the development of Lower Income housing. • Address and Remove or mitigate (government) restraints. • Conserve and improve the existing housing stock. • Preserve units at-risk of conversion to market rate uses. • Affirmatively furthering Fair Housing. • Safe and healthy housing. The Public Hearing was opened at the January 24th BOS meeting and was to be formally adopted at the February 28 meeting. A last moment change by the State Dept of Housing Development compelled the Board to accelerate the vote to February 14 as an exigent matter under an emergency umbrella request. HCD Letter of Clearance impeded unrelated County grant applications pending this Letter of Clearance. The HCD requirement for filing the Housing
Element by month’s end has now been satisfied. Minor alterations to the proposed document include the following: EMERGENCY SHELTERS • The County has an 11.5 acre parcel avoiding rezoning to accommodate a shelter • The County commits to removing performance standards relating the maximum numbers of beds and length of stay. GEOGRAPHIC TARGET • The County has revised the Element to target high resource areas north of Crescent City. • The County has updated the Element to target BertschOceanview (Moderate) and Klamath ( Low ) • The County has revised the Element Smith River (Above Moderate). The County has also accelerated its identification of housing up one year from 2024 to current year.
BY ROGER GITLIN
economic development director. • The County seeks funding for sidewalks in Smith River. • The Elk Valley Rancheria hopes to staff a part-time grants writer. • The City of Crescent City and its Del Norte Thrives Entrepreneurial Center seeks to develop a One-Stop Shop, business learning programs, bookkeeping services and a forgivable micro loans program. The City hopes for funds to revitalize downtown business development, including a pop-up business program, a transit regional recovery center. • The Del Norte Food Council hopes to fund its Del Norte Sea to Market project. • The Redwood Parks Conser-
vancy seeks to develop its Youth Protecting the Redwoods Program • The Redwood Cost Healthcare District hopes to provide non-emergency medical transportation. • Additional grant applications come from the Northcoast Small Business Deployment and the Del Norte Tribal Lands Community Food Council. The Port to Port partnership between Del Norte, Humboldt and Mendocino ports is also included in the Grant application. The Governor’s office has allocated $50 million across the 13 geographical Districts. Gov. Newsom’s office select all projects individually and announce its award winning projects during the 2nd quarter of this year.
Summary of 17 projects from the ten partners CERF grant application
For The Triplicate
Ten partners of the California Community Economic Resiliency Fund (CERF) grant application submitted last Monday are seeking to share about $10 million spread over 17 different projects. The Crescent City Harbor District took the lead position in presenting the Grant to Governor Newsom’s office. • The Harbor seeks to create economic and community development staff posts for an Economic Development coordinator, a grants writer and an events coordinator. • The Tri-Agency Economic Authority hopes to create staff positions for a grant writer and
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