Bushnell reaches out to the Friendly City
Describing her first nearly three months in office as “an uphill climb for me,” Humboldt County 2nd District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell told the Fortuna Chamber of Commerce last week that she is committed to learning all about her new responsibilities.
“I am making myself available, I want to stress that,” Bushnell said. At this time, she described Fortuna and Rio Dell as her “weakest link” in terms of community contacts and interaction.
“I’m just learning the Fortuna area as far as business goes,” Bushnell said.
She does have office hours at the Fortuna Veteran’s building every Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“I try to spend all day Thursday in Fortuna,” Bushnell said. “When I am done with my office hours I try to go around to (Fortuna) businesses and say hi.”
Bushnell has also set aside Wednesdays for the specific purpose of getting more familiar with the 2nd District.
“If people call and they want to see me or they want me to see a project in the 2nd District, I’ve committed Wednesday to doing that,” she said.
Regarding the proposal to close the Birth Center at Redwood Memorial Hospital, Bushnell said, “While I understand from a business standpoint, I know it’s going to be a hard adjustment and the community is rallying around this to figure out a good solution and I am very supportive of that.”
She also noted that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors has written a letter of support to the State Attorney General’s office for keeping the Birth Center open.
Fortuna City Councilman Mike Losey said he was pleased to see Bushnell’s efforts to learn more about Fortuna.
“To her credit, she’s joining in on every city council meeting and I don’t remember a chamber meeting that she has missed. She’s really trying to learn the community, which is to her benefit,” he said.
Fortuna City Manager Merritt Perry and Bushnell communicate on a regular basis and Perry said he would facilitate sharing information with her about the projects which are underway in Fortuna.
“I do communicate regularly with Merritt,” Bushnell said, “and if I have a question, he’s been really great about responding to me and filling me in.”
Perry also asked for Bushnell’s help for opening a dialogue between the county and the city regarding plans to hold at least two annual events in Fortuna, which were canceled last year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“I know the rodeo is working on a plan and it’s our hope that we can get back going, as well as AutoXpo, this year,” Perry said.
Noting that the county maintains some approval over community events, Perry said he had been trying to open a discussion with county staff to move forward with the draft plans for the Fortuna Rodeo and Fortuna Redwood AutoXpo.
“One thing we could use some help with is getting some of the feedback on these draft plans for our special events and having a good point of contact,” Perry said. “We have been asking (the county) for some other draft plans from other events, like the Arcata Farmers Market, that have been approved so we can see that the County is approving and adapt some of these practices to some of our bigger events.”
Perry added there has been some difficulty in getting a response.
Bushnell said she would do whatever she could to address this issue and that it was especially helpful for her to know exactly what was needed.
Bushnell was sworn in as Humboldt County 2nd District Supervisor on Jan. 4, 2021.