Sharing Information | Encouraging Engagement
It’s hard to believe there is only one year left in my four-year term as District 1 Supervisor. The last year (2025) was, by far, the busiest year for me in this role. Much of the “extra” workload came via the many board and committee appointments that are part of the County Supervisor role. While these appointments are less visible to county residents, they are essential roles in which we can influence and support key decisions affecting Trinity County. Depending on your appointments, these roles can be very demanding of your time, and often immensely rewarding.
Through my role on the board of supervisors and the related board appointments, I’ve seen a lot happen in 2025 that is important to Trinity County. This “year in review” update is framed by the focus areas I emphasized during my campaign, encapsulated in the acronym – R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
Residential Property Rights | Economic Development | Services | Planning | Engagement | Communication | Transparency
Residential Property Rights
Last year, I used the phrase “slow and steady wins the race,” and I think it still applies well to this subject. We are making progress… it just never feels like it’s happening quickly enough.
We are in the final stages of work on our new General Plan, eight Community Plans, Housing Element, and Zoning Ordinance. After dozens of public workshops to gather input regarding what residents envisioned and prioritized for their communities, eight Community Plans have now been published for final public input. Our Housing Element is complete and has been approved by the state. We will soon begin work on the Environmental Impact Report, a key component of our General Plan efforts. Our timeline calls for all aspects of the General Plan to be complete by this time next year.
There will be more opportunities for residents and business owners to provide input in 2026. It is exciting to see all the progress made regarding our new General Plan, Community Plans, Housing Element, and Zoning Ordinance – all essential for defining expectations and safeguarding residential property rights in Trinity County’s future. You can keep up with progress via this link to the site dedicated to this initiative.
Economic Development
We continue to see ebbs and flows in the journey to build a stronger economy in Trinity County. It’s exicting to see new businesses open, and heartbreaking to see others close their doors. While progress always seems to take longer than we would like, I do feel good about efforts I see underway.
Drew Plebani, our new Community Development Director, is leading efforts to establish an Economic Development Element as part of our General Plan update. He is also working with staff and consultants on an application for Trinity County to receive the Pro Housing Designation and for the county to receive Pro Housing Incentive Program funding. This funding can be used in several ways to support housing initiatives in Trinity County. A broader selection of housing that is affordable for our residents (and those we hope to attract for employment) is key to our economic future.
At our January 6, 2025, board meeting, the board will consider recommendations from our Tourism Funding Ad Hoc Committee. These recommendations reflect a commitment to maximize the impact of these funds and to leverage a recently developed digital marketing plan for Trinity County Tourism. The committee hopes that the new approach reflected in these recommendations will lead to greater collaboration among tourism-related entities in Trinity County and a positive impact on our economy.
Our licensed cannabis program now has more than 300 active participants. We have received over $850,000 in cannabis tax revenues to date, and the 2025/2026 budget reflects over $300,000. All costs of operating the program are covered by the fees paid by program applicants and participants. Local industry leaders are working to set the stage for premium pricing of Trinity County-grown cannabis products. This is important, as both the wholesale and retail prices for cannabis products remain down substantially from peak years.
This work includes efforts to establish “appellation of origin” status for cannabis grown here in Trinity County. If you’re not familiar with this status, a reasonable frame of reference is Champagne. While vineyards across the globe can produce and sell sparkling wines, only vineyards located in the Champagne region of France can sell their product as Champagne. If successful, Trinity County cultivators would eventually be the only ones allowed to package and sell their cannabis products with branding indicating they were grown in this region. This could lead to higher prices for Trinity-grown products, more income for our 300+ licensees, and more money being invested back into other county businesses. There are also efforts underway to help Trinity County benefit from the cannabis tourism industry.
The California Jobs First program funded a number of initiatives that can benefit Trinity County. One key area of interest is recreational tourism. We are working with Alec Dompka of the UC Cooperative Extension to better understand the past and potential economic impacts of our excellent trail system. The results will help us understand how best to invest, and what we can expect in response to these investments.
Tourism continues to play a significant role in the economy of Trinity County. In addition to my work on the tourism funding ad hoc committee, I am leading a standing committee that is supporting efforts to establish a Tourism Business Investment District in Trinity County. If successful, this could generate over $200,000 each year in funds to support tourism. If approved as proposed, the funds would come from a 3% assessment on invoices for visitors using short-term lodging here in Trinity County.
Services
We are in much better shape in this area than we were at this time last year. As you likely recall, our funding challenges for the prior fiscal year led to some very tough decisions – including significant reductions in funding for both the Library System and some services provided by the Animal Shelter. Thankfully, two organizations stepped up to fill the voids created by these decisions. The Trinity Animal Shelter Auxiliary and the Friends of the Library deserve our thanks and our support for stepping up in such a big, big way. This fiscal year, we were able to reinstate some of that funding, easing the pressure on these great organizations.
The recent decision by Congress to fund the Secure Rural Schools Act means we will receive millions of dollars for our schools and roads. Our Department of Transportation is updating plans to reflect the priorities they can address with this influx of funding. 
Our roads continue to be an area of concern. The funding mentioned above is key to our ability to provide basic road maintenance. Unfortunately, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of funding required to address significant and impactful damage to our roads caused by storms. We continue to work with our department of transportation regarding funding opportunities and road repair priorities.
Collaboration between our Health and Human Services Agency and the Sheriff’s Department has resulted in an influx of state funding to cover some healthcare costs associated with our Jail. This means that General Funds income can be reallocated to provide other essential services throughout the county. I applaud the strong teamwork and leadership that made this all possible. This was a great example of our team living out our stated value of being solution-oriented.
“SOLUTION ORIENTED – We respect the need to work within rules, regulations, policies, and laws while always taking a solution-oriented approach.”
Planning
We have made great progress in planning. Over the past four years, Trinity County developed and adopted new plans that will guide our efforts for many years to come. Included in this list are our new Placemaking Action Plan, Regional Transportation Plan, Strategic Plan, Housing Element, Circulation Element, Land Use Element, Noise Element, Open Space & Conservation Element, and Safety Element. We also published final drafts of eight Community Plans.
Community input and engagement were key components of our work to complete each of these plans, and they will continue to be so for completion of the final steps of our broad General Plan update in 2026. While I wish more people would choose to participate in the community workshops, I greatly appreciate those residents who do. I applaud the staff and consultants’ work in facilitating these critical meetings.
One highlight from our planning efforts is that we are now in a position to apply for the Pro Housing Designation. Once approved, we will be in a stronger position when competing for funds to support housing initiatives. County staff is currently working on an application for the Pro Housing Incentive Plan (PIP) funding, which could bring $500,000 to $750,000 to support various housing initiatives. You can learn more about this program via this link – https://www.hcd.ca.gov/funding/pip.
“HCD is determined to alleviate California’s housing crisis by making additional community development resources available to local governments with the Prohousing Designation. PIP is designed to reward local governments with Prohousing Designation with additional funding to accelerate affordable housing production and preservation.”
Engagement
I continue to believe that strong engagement is crucial to our success. That is why I invest so much time and energy into sharing information and encouraging engagement. 
Opportunities for engagement come in many forms, including community events, community workshops, town hall meetings, public comment during meetings of the board and planning commission, online comments provided through official channels, reports of code enforcement concerns, support of local nonprofits, and more.
Tapping into the potential of the people I work with has always been one of my top priorities, and building engagement has always been at the center of my efforts when it comes to achieving this goal. In my role as County Supervisor, my hope is that we can tap into the potential of our residents, businesses, communities, staff, nonprofits, and more. Sometimes, people don’t engage because they don’t believe it will make a difference. When that happens, we lose an important opportunity to collaborate on solutions and opportunities.
I welcome the opportunity to meet with community members. Please reach out to me at rleutwyler@trinitycounty.org if you would like to schedule time for a small (or large) group meeting in your community. I look forward to joining District 1’s Planning Commissioner, Carol Fall, in Trinity Center on January 8th.
We recently added the value of “Engagement” to our strategic plan. I hope that by living out this value, we will demonstrate that together, we can make a difference.
“ENGAGEMENT – We understand the importance of communicating in a clear and timely manner that builds trust and engagement within the county.”
Communication
Just as engagement is key to tapping into our potential, communication is key to engagement. I continue to share information and encourage engagement by posting articles and board meeting notes on my website, sending regular emails, attending community meetings, gathering and sharing survey results, hosting town hall meetings, and more. Over 280 people have signed up to receive my email updates, and many more see them via posts to community-based groups on social media.
I do this because stronger communication can lead to greater understanding, trust, and engagement throughout our communities.
I’m pleased that the county has taken several steps to enhance communications. Our new website makes it easier to find important information, and the site will continue to evolve. Our Public Communications Officer (PIO) continues to improve the quantity, quality, and timeliness of communications regarding county matters. This, too, will only continue to improve. I hope you are signed up for the monthly county newsletters provided by our PIO.
Our new website offers many more options to customize the types of information you receive. One item that might be of interest to you is that written updates are published regularly by our department heads. These provide great insight into all the (often behind-the-scenes) work being done on our behalf. I encourage you to sign up for these updates. Look for the “Notify Me” icon on the home page, then choose from six different calendar notifications and seven “news flash” categories. You can also follow Trinity County on Facebook with this link – https://www.facebook.com/TrinityCountyCalifornia?
Trinity County launched “Ready Trinity” in 2025 to enhance communications related to emergencies here in Trinity County. This system replaced “Code Red.”If you haven’t already, I strongly recommend accessing this site and registering for updates. Here is the link – https://www.readytrinity.org/alerts
Transparency
Transparency is key to earning and building trust. I hope that by being transparent about my/our discussions, decisions, and actions… we can build trust in county-related business.
The Brown Act is something that attempts to ensure transparency by, in part, limiting discussion of county matters by more than two supervisors to public meetings. This way, the public doesn’t have to worry about things like “deals” being worked out behind the scenes – without public awareness and engagement. The Brown Act does provide for certain matters to be discussed in “closed session.” In layman’s terms, the closed session is for things like sensitive personnel matters, litigation, and negotiations. It’s important to note that the board cannot formally take action during these meetings – they can only provide direction on matters that will eventually become public knowledge.
For example, the board may be asked to provide direction to staff regarding a pending lawsuit. This allows County Counsel and Staff to strategize with the board in private – yet the resolution of the litigation does eventually become public knowledge. Discussing legal strategies in public would give the opposing party an unfair advantage in negotiations and court proceedings. We provide a brief summary of closed-session outcomes during each board meeting.
Our agendas, meeting minutes, and recordings of meetings are all published online. I hope that our transparency, including my sharing of meeting notes, meeting notices, and key agenda items, is helping to foster a sense of greater transparency.
Looking Forward
Serving as your Trinity County Supervisor is an honor, a privilege, and a significant time commitment to this place we call home. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this journey with you over the last three years. As I enter my last year in this role, I am optimistic about what we can accomplish together in 2026 and what lies ahead for Trinity County.
A change in county leadership is inevitable in 2026. Our current CAO, Trent Tuthill, announced that he will not seek to renew his contract in April. As a result, we are actively recruiting for his replacement and hope to interview candidates during a special meeting of the board toward the end of January. Like me, Supervisor Carpenter-Harris (District 4) announced that she will not be seeking reelection in 2026. That means we will have two new supervisors on the board come January 2027. I look forward to seeing who steps up to campaign for these roles and strongly encourage you to engage with them when they do.
Remaining optimistic in uncertain and challenging times can be difficult. As a “realistic optimist,” I consider our challenges in a way that helps me focus on solutions rather than losing hope about our future. Being realistic about the difficulties we face helps us understand the true scope of the investment in time, energy, and money required to overcome them. Being optimistic helps us see through difficulties, channel energy toward finding and implementing solutions, and believe in our ability to overcome any challenge. Being optimistic also helps us see (and support) the momentum building around us… rather than being bogged down by the (often) slow pace of change.
I definitely feel the momentum building around us. And I look forward to building upon that momentum in this coming year.
Here’s to a great new year for Trinity County!
Sharing Information | Encouraging Engagement
Please use this form to let me know if you would like to be added to the distribution list for updates. Check the box next to the type of updates you would like to receive.
Recent Comments