Supes talk vaccine distribution, mental health funding

UKIAH » The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors resumed their usual task of monitoring the county’s COVID-19 updates and vaccine distribution, as well as the use of Measure B mental health funds at its meeting Tuesday.

Prior to opening the meeting up to public expression, Board Chair Dan Gjerde commented on recent national events surrounding the presidential election.

“I think we all treasure our democracy and our ability to speak out and are really grateful that what we see in Mendocino County is nothing like what we saw in in D.C. a few weeks ago, and I hope that as a country we can come together in a way that we haven’t in recent years,” Gjerde said.

Following public comment, the board moved on to adopt the entirety of the consent calendar before moving on to a COVID-19 update from Public Health Officer Dr. Andrew Coren.

Mendocino County has an average of daily new cases of 23.57 percent as of Tuesday, according to Coren. The county’s total cases are now at 3277, 1669 of which are members of the Latinx community.

“It gives us a sense that there is a decrease, and that’s confirmed from statewide data, that the huge peak we had after Christmas and New Years seems to be turning a corner,” he said.

Coren also reiterated that the governor has lifted the statewide Regional Stay Home Order as of Monday, allowing nearly all counties to return to the previous tiered system.

Emerging variants of the virus

have health officials monitoring contact tracing and transmission closely, according to Coren.

“So far seem to be susceptible to current vaccines, but again, until we have some time with them, we don’t know that that’s going to be a fact,” he said.

Coren also said that about 14 percent of Mendocino County’s population over 18 years old has been vaccinated, including almost 70 percent of school staff. Despite this, Coren said that vaccination supply poses the largest challenge for the county, as well as for the state.

“That’s the main obstacle at this point, I think we have our partners aligned and ready to roll out their own clinics, we can do it at the fairgrounds, and we can expand the access to people, we just don’t simply have the numbers of vaccines to give,” he said.

Adrienne Thompson, manager for the Mendocino County vaccine program, said that the county is holding three vaccine clinics at the fairgrounds in Ukiah this week, and is working to update the county’s vaccine webpage.

Supervisor Maureen Mulheren asked when the COVID-19 website, as well as the vaccine flyers, would be translated into Spanish, to which Thompson said the county’s public information officers are working to make sure all information provided is bilingual by Wednesday, before the vaccination clinics.

After quickly approving the treasurer’s authority to invest or reinvest county funds, the board then moved on to discuss a proposed ordinance which creates a Public Safety Advisory Board, tasked with “making reports and recommendations to the Mendocino County Sheriff and the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors on matters related to public safety,” according to the ordinance’s language.

County Council Christian Curtis clarified that that ordinance was not written by staff and the ad hoc with Assembly Bill 1185 in mind. Passed in September, AB 1185 authorizes counties to form a sheriff oversight board, as well as establish an office of the inspector general in order to assist the county’s board of supervisors and the county sheriff.

Members of the board, as well as public comments, asked for clarification on whether the ordinance should align with the guidelines of AB 1185 and strictly work with the sheriff, or if it would instead focus on other areas of public safety, including fire and wildlife management.

“If it truly is only for public safety, then I think we should list out those departments and be very clear about what their role is,” Mulheren said.

Supervisor Ted Williams said he would rather the ordinance align with the State’s bill, or “have a good reason not to” for the sake of clarity.

“If we start broadening this to roads and all the other potential public safety-related departments, I don’t think it will be a cohesive board and I don’t think it will be productive,” Williams said.

Supervisor John Haschak moved to approve the ordinance, with the clarification that members of the board must be residents of Mendocino County, and without direction for the goals of the Public Safety Board to align with AB 1185, but instead leave it up to future board members to create bylaws in accordance with it.

The motion passed with supervisors Williams and Mulheren dissenting.

Next, the board received an update from the Measure B Oversight Committee looking at the project’s updates since December and the general cost and remaining funds for its projects.

Haschak said he was confused about the accuracy of the numbers provided, pointing out that the report was also several months old at this point. He said that the strategic plan that the board had requested several times previously was still not provided in the report.

Haschak also requested to receive a report on what Nacht & Lewis Design has completed so far since the establishment of their $3.357 million dollar contract to design crisis residential treatment facilities, since the board has yet to receive any update, according to Haschak.

Measure B Administrative Project Manager Alyson Bailey said that the report was not current because she only receives the information herself once a month, and because the Brown Act requires documents to be submitted to the board at least two weeks prior to the meeting. She said a current report would be provided at the next Mental Health Treatment Act Citizen’s Oversight Committee meeting.

In regards to the accuracy of the numbers, she said it is simply the information they received from their auditor, Lloyd Weer, and she couldn’t explain them further than that.

Supervisor Glenn McGourty said he agreed with Haschak that the report was confusing and the board needed more context.

“This is pretty inadequate as a report, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know what we’re looking at here,” McGourty said.

The board moved to have the Measure B committee return at the next meeting with an update on Nacht & Lewis Design’s progress, business plans for the Crisis Residential Treatment Center and the Behavioral Health Regional Training Center, as well as require the project’s architects to provide monthly progress reports to the board.

The board passed the motion unanimously.

The meeting turned to examine an amendment that would increase an agreement with Redwood Quality Management Company, Inc., to “arrange and pay for medically necessary specialty mental health services and mental health services act programs to all ages of MediCal beneficiaries.”

The board voted to approve the item unanimously.

In their final items, the board discussed an item which reduces the Mendocino County Planning Commission to one seat per supervisorial district, for a total of five, and an item which allocated $50,000 to the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission for the potential cost and licensing of the Potter Valley Project.

The board approved the first item, with McGourty dissenting, and the second item unanimously.

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors will meet again virtually on Feb. 9 at 9 a.m.