County talks virus, tobacco, fires and more at meeting
UKIAH » The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors spent more than three hours last Tuesday virtually discussing COVID-19 and fire disaster updates. Following the lengthy discussion, the board also addressed the increased crime activity within the county, tobacco retail license changes, as well as adding industrial hemp cultivation to the county code.
Within the first few minutes of the meeting though, the Albion Bridge Stewards brought forward an organized presentation, each through three-minute public comments, against a Cal Trans project on Salmon Creek Bridge. Despite technical difficulties that prohibited some of their comments, Mendocino county members argued that the project violated its permit conditions, among other complaints.
Planning and Building Services Director Brent Schultz assured that the project is operating under valid permits and that they are looking into the complaints.
Moving to the consent calendar, Supervisor Dan Gjerde pulled an item which would appoint Norman de Vall to theMendocino Coast Healthcare District. Gjerde specified that there were two applicants for the positions and requested that the board interview both applicants.
Despite this request, the board voted to approve the item, with Gjerde and Supervisor Carre Brown dissenting.
Supervisor John McCowen also pulled seven additional items
from the consent calendar, all past board meeting minutes. Later in the meeting, the board adopted the items, aside from two items to return with clarification. The board also adopted the remaining items on the consent calendar.
Coronavirus response and other local emergencies
Department Operations Center Manager Bekkie Emery reported 1,010 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the county, up 135 cases in the last two weeks. The county is currently monitoring 107 people, with six hospitalized, according to Emery. A total of 20 people within the county have died from the virus.
MendocinoHealth Office Dr. Andy Coren noted the last two people to die from the virus were younger, 51 and 39 years old.
“This is not to be taken as a disease that is fatal just for elderly people, but it is striking the people from the middle ages in our community, from 19 to 49,” Coren said. “It has definitely caused the demise of some number of younger people.”
Of the 1010 cases, 629 are members of the Latinx community, according to Coren, so much of the county’s outreach and education efforts are focusing on those communities.
Whi le Mendoc i no County remains in the most restrictive “purple” tier, Coren reported that the state had recognized the disparity between small and large counties when it comes to case rates, and is working on additional criteria which will help smaller counties move to lower levels.
Fires, crimes and cannabis updates
The board moved on to discuss county staffing reports and directed Human Resources to add fire response to a side letter already in place, which allows COVID-19 essential county staff to claim an additional 100 compensation hours.
“I believe that the employees should be compensated,” Chief Executive Office Carmel Angelo said. “This is nowhere near the compensation that our employees deserve regarding the response to COVID that is ongoing, and this response to fire.”
According to Lee Dory, with the Office Of Emergency Services, the county has been working to assess the Oak and August Fire damages and collaborate with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Following a lengthy COVID-19 and fire update, the board moved on to address the need for additional law enforcement support regarding increased crime activity in the county.
Supervisor Ted Williams, Board Chair John Haschak and Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall brought the item to the board with urgency, and were prepared to declare a local emergency in order to secure funding if necessary.
According to Williams, a lot of the crime involves armed robbers coming from out of the county and targeting illegal cannabis farms.
“We are seeing a lot more violence and homicides, armed robberies, kidnappings and a much better armed criminal than what we’ve seen in the past” Kendall said, recalling past cartel activity. “And almost all of these criminals are coming from out of the area.”
Illegal farms have had a detrimental environmental impact, Kendall said, but because of issues with the county licensing system and a backlog of applicants, cannabis growers wouldn’t currently be able to obtain an annual license if they wanted to.
Mendocino county police force is well under the average officer-to-resident ratio, with one officer to every 2,500 residents. According to Kendall, the Sheriff’s Office is asking for around 10 additional officers, a cost of about $2.2 million dollars.
Kendall suggested collaborating with CalCannabis to secure additional funding for increased security, as well as working towards resolving the licensing issue with the state.
The board adopted the motion unanimously, and will discuss cannabis licensing issues at a special meeting on Oct. 13.
The board then approved an item that adopted an urgency ordinance to temporarily suspend timelines and modifying procedures related to administrative hearings due to the pandemic, as well as received a Measure B update. The board resolved that the Measure B Oversight Committee continue to form a business plan.
Census plans and tobacco guidelines
Moving on, the board received an update from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County on the county’s 2020 Census participation. Mendocino county exceeded the 2010 self- response rate, from 53.6% to 55.6%, and the Census Bureau will continue to allow people to self-respond through the month of October.
The board then moved to draft an ordinance which would require tobacco retail licenses to align with the state definitions for tobacco products, banning flavored tobacco products and including vapes in the definition of tobacco.
According to Haschak, the City of Fort Bragg has already adopted these guidelines and he encouraged other cities in Mendocino County to follow suit. Many community members commented in support of redefining the tobacco retail licenses to align with the state, some pointing out that smoking and vaping puts people at higher coronavirus risk.
The board unanimously adopted the motion to draft the ordinance.
Moving on to the regulation of hemp cultivation, which is currently under a memorandum until February 2021, an item proposed to the board would adopt industrial hemp cultivation into Mendocino County code.
Local cannabis community members expressed concerns around cross pollination and pesticide pollution between hemp and cannabis cultivation, as well as other issues around zoning, acreage and THC level regulations. They encouraged the board to extend the memorandum until clearer systems and regulations are in place.
Despite this, the board adopted the item, with Williams and Haschak dissenting.
The Mendocino Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting next Tuesday at 9 a.m., and will return for regular meetings on Oct. 20 at 9 a.m.