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Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Trinity County’s newspaper since 1856
Weaverville, Calif. | 93 cents plus tax ($1)
Headed to dead pool?
Prorating of cannabis licenses debated BY JOSH COZINE
THE TRINITY JOURNAL
Holders of now useless, county-issued, provisional, commercial cannabis licenses may soon see some of their licensing costs recovered. That is, in the form of a prorate on their annual license, when, and if, that happens. After a court ruling in October 2021 spelled out that provisional CCLs issued by the county were both illegal and invalid, the county deemed the licenses expired and they became effectively worthless despite licensees having paid up to thousands of dollars to the county to obtain them. Depending on when the oneyear provisional licenses were issued, any licenses that would have extended past Oct. 31, 2021, can be considered to have paid for a longer period of being licensed than actually happened. The prorate would be calculated and then applied toward a new, annual, commercial cannabis license should the provisional license holder continue to seek licensing after completing all necessary CEQA compliances and other paperwork. The idea was introduced Tuesday, Feb. 1, at the county Board of Supervisors meeting where it was brought forward as a discussion item and subsequently motioned to come back with more information for the March 1 board meeting after issues and questions were raised by the board and public alike. The main issues raised centered on the wording presented. With no other documents attached to the discussion item, those in attendance had only the summary as information, which reads: “As per a court order, all issued ‘provisional’ commercial cannabis licenses were deemed expired on October 31, 2021. These licenses are set to cover a 12-month period, starting when issued. Because of this, licenses that were issued to extend past October 31 were overpaid for. To rectify this situation, the county will calculate a prorated amount used, and allow the remainder to be credited to a new commercial cannabis license fee.”
Paying a fee or buying a product? The first question raised was by Sup. Jill Cox who wanted clarification on the difference between paying fees for something and paying a cost to receive something. “The question that I would have is whether this (money) is considered a fee for a service, or is it considered the price of a product?” Cox asked. In a later interview with The Journal, Cox clarified her question further, “The county does not sell products, and cannot make a profit.” County Administrative Officer Richard Kuhns responded to Cox’s question during the meeting. “That’s a great question,” Kuhns responded, “because In the ordinance, it’s See CANNABIS, page 12
TONY REED | THE TRINITY JOURNAL
A makeshift road had to be constructed to get down to the lowering water level at the Trinity Alps Marina on Trinity Lake.
After a wet start to winter, a dry start to the new year has many worried BY TONY REED
THE TRINITY JOURNAL
While one will likely find thousands of search results using the term Deadpool, the vast majority will have little to do with Trinity County, the Trinity River or Trinity Lake. The one that will matter is this definition commonly used in water management; Deadpool: the point at which a dam no longer has enough water to generate hydroelectricity. Some water experts are predicting that unless the county receives significant rain and/or snow soon, that could happen in Trinity Lake this year. Tom Stokely, water policy director with the California Water Impact JOSH SMITH | SPECIAL TO THE TRINITY JOURNAL Network, says there is a possibility Michael Novak measures snow pack in the Trinity Alps last month. that Trinity and Shasta lakes may be drained to the point of Deadpool this seven times the supply, and that no matter how much it rains, summer and the reason would be overallocation. He cited a those claims can never be met. study in 2014 by the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences Stokely said that while those contracts are based on water that determined the state has allocated more water than it availability, the contracted beneficiaries tend to act as if the has to give. water allocation amounts were guaranteed regardless. “This assessment indicates that water allocated through Referring to contract allocations as “paper water,” Stokely the state appropriate water rights system exceeds overall said the release of such allocations will keep Trinity Lake mean water supplies by approximately five times,” the 2014 from ever filling completely. study reads. “Our findings also highlight river basins where He added that deals were signed before the dam was built, significant over-allocation of surface water supplies is likely and that water was already being diverted from the river to lead to conflicts among water users, particularly during before the Bureau of Reclamation was formed. periods of water scarcity when insufficient water is available “When the Bureau of Reclamation applied for permits, they to satisfy all face-value water right demands.” Stokely said additional contracts bump the allocations up to See WATER, page 8
Ongoing Solid Waste Department problems raise a stink
New hours of operation, dumpster repairs and recycling challenges discussed BY JOSH COZINE
THE TRINITY JOURNAL
The Weaverville Solid Waste Transfer Station may soon have new signs posted saying the station might close up to a half hour early — if your garbage load is too much. The Board of Supervisors dumped a heap of questions directed at the Solid Waste Department during the county Board of Supervisors meeting Feb. 1. Questions were asked about hours of operation, intermittently closed transfer sites, the status of recycling operations in the county, dumpster bin shortages and more.
Obituaries David K. Williams, 69 Steven "Reno" Patton, 51 Laurie L. Hamilton, 65 — Page 5
Diane Rader, deputy director for the department, first gave her report out before the board. She said there had been questions about the hours of operations because some people had been turned away when they arrived before closing with too much trash for Solid Waste attendants to process in time before closing operations. Rader explained that large loads showing up 15 to 30 minutes before closing causes staff to have to dip into overtime hours in order to finish transferring the load and still complete other closing processes that must be done. “Even after the public time during the day the sites have other activities that they have to do to finish up their day, and they don’t want to get into too much overtime occurring — which is a cost control factor we have — and there are just things that have to be done before we can finish up our day,” Rader said.
Rader also mentioned challenges with getting rid of e-waste and tires at the different county transfer sites before questions from the board. The transfer sites are full on both, with strict limits on tires and a day-long process involving multiple inventory counts and committing Solid Waste personnel to hours of driving to get e-waste to the nearest site which accepts it in Orland (roughly 2 hours away). Once Rader finished her report out, it was time for questions and comments from the board; and questions and comments they had aplenty.
New hours possible Sup. Liam Gogan spoke first on the reports of turning people away at transfer station gates, starting a short
Weather
Index
Sunny and clear into next week; highs in the 70s. — Page 2
Classifieds............... 16-20 Club Calendar............... 14 Columnists.............. 16-17 Events | Arts................. 15
More sunshine
See TRASH, page 12
Life.................................. 13 Obituaries.........................5 Opinion.............................4 Outdoors........................ 11
Real Estate................... 20 Sheriff’s Report...............2 Sports...................... 10-11 Weather............................2