Board of Supervisors Meeting | 10.1.2024

by | Oct 13, 2024 | Economic Development, Get Involved, Stay Informed, Trinity Resources, Your Opinion Matters

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Today’s board meeting included two Presentations – an Update from the U.S. Forest Service and a presentation regarding the launch of the county’s official social media platform. The agenda also included a handful of Consent Calendar items that were approved as presented. The only County Matters item was approval of the 2024/2025 Budget. Finally, there was one item on the agenda for the Closed Session.

A. PRESENTATIONS

A.1. Clerk of the Board – Receive an update from U.S. Forest Service representatives regarding matters of interest in Trinity County. No fiscal impact.

  • Budget Constraints – the fiscal year 2025 budget does not look good. Hiring will slow down, seasonal staff will not be rehired during the off-season. The focus is on finding ways to fund the current permanent workforce.
  • Bowerman Project – planning/administration almost complete.
  • Big Ranch – project kickoff in late October, or early November
  • Northern Trinity Count Risk Reduction – going out to scope soon.
  • Haywood Timber Sale – awarded in September. Work will soon get underway
  • Recreation – 73 miles of trail work completed.
  • Cameras – permits at the regional office for final review.
  • Prescribed Fire – 590 acres of broad, 700+ acres of pile burning… see notes!
  • Law Enforcement – new officer now in place
  • Leadership – a new line officer has been selected and will be in place soon.

A.2. County Administrative Office – Receive an update from Public Information Officer Justin Caporusso regarding the launch of our social media platforms. No fiscal impact.

  • Social Media – announced the official launch of our Trinity County social media platform. This will serve as a supplementary means of communicating with constituents and visitors. Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter).
    • New social media policy coming soon.
    • Invited the board and the public to follow our accounts, like posts, and share information.
B. PUBLIC COMMENT
  • Shared information
C. REPORTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
C.1. Report from Department Heads – None

C.2. Report from County Administrative Officer – Nothing to report

C.3. Reports from Members of the Board of Supervisors

  • District 1 | Ric Leutwyler
    • CSAC Insurance Working Group – participated in this session, hearing from leaders at the State and Federal level regarding efforts underway.
    • CSAC New Supervisor Onboarding Template – COO | Paul Danczyk reached out to let us know that CSAC will be sharing a best practices template for the onboarding of newly elected Supervisors. Our Trinity County template served as the starting point for this effort.
    • Economic Development Summit – will be facilitating a panel on workforce development later this month.

 

  • District 2 | Jill Cox
    • RCRC Annual Meeting – shared highlights from the conference. Shared that our Trinity County Basket was the first (and one of only four) that broke the $3,000 bid level.

 

  • District 3 | Liam Gogan
    • TMC Meeting – Trinity County’s proposal for Winter Variable Flows was put forward and approved by the organization.
    • Dental Care Bus – Kindergarten through 4th grade. Coming to Weaverville soon.
    • Community Plan Meeting – encouraging residents to show up and engage.
    • Town Hall Meeting – held in Hayfork. Planning to do this monthly.

 

  • District 4 | Heidi Carpenter-Harris
    • CGT Community Action Plan Meeting – attended her first meeting.
    • North Coast Resource Partnership – ad hoc committee meeting (focused on illegal cannabis site clean up)
    • Tax Discussions – encouraged the board to set aside time for public engagement and board discussion regarding the options presented by the Funding Sources Ad Hoc Committee.
      • The board supported this and will work to schedule time
    • Outreach – shared concerns for those suffering on the East coast and encouraged us to consider donating to support relief and recovery… as people from all over the country have done for Trinity County in the past.

 

  • District 5 | Dan Frasier
    • CGT CAP – final meeting of the year. Next year will be quarterly vs six meetings per year.

 

C.4. Reports from Ad Hocs

  • Tribal Relations – Tribal representatives requested to be on the board agenda on December 17th
  • Tourism Partner Funding – The approach will be to consider projects rather than groups when it comes to the allocation of available funds. The following panelists will consider applications on October 21st – Michelle Nystrom, Liam Gogan, and Todd Jones. A rubric is in place to evaluate applications. All presentations will be conducted via Zoom. Supervisor Cox will not be on the panel as there may be an application for something she has been involved in.

 

D. CONSENT CALENDAR
  • The board approved all items on the consent calendar as presented.

 

E. COUNTY MATTERS

E.1. County Administrative Office – Adopt a resolution that adopts the final budget for FY 24/25 – $144,790,291

  • CAO | Trent Tuthill
    • Budget Hearing completed on 9.24.2024
    • Nonprofit Proposals – met with both TASA and Friends of the Library since receiving their proposals. Anticipates approximately 30 days to complete MOUs to support these proposals.
    • Reminder – the proposals mentioned above do not represent long term solutions to our financial challenges.
    • Veterans Hall Renovation – noted that funding related to this initiative are now included in the budget before the board today for approval.
    • Appreciation – offered appreciation for the strong support of staff, the board, the nonprofits who stepped forward, and the public as a whole.
  • Public Comment
    • Offered appreciation for all the budget work done. Acknowledged concerns regarding the long-term challenges we continue to face. Mentioned concerns about funding for our local volunteer fire departments.
  • Board Discussion
    • Encouragement is offered to staff in the face of carrying their workload in the face of budget shortfalls.
    • Appreciation offered for TASA’s proposal
    • County Counsel – an emergency can be declared to put forward a tax measure on a special ballot – otherwise this would have to wait for the next general election. Also, the public can bring forward a tax measure for a special election.
    • If put forward by the public, the vote would only require 50% + 1. https://bbklaw.com/resources/special-taxes-by-voter-initiative-only-require-majority-voter-approval
    • Board limits – before the item being placed on the ballot, supervisors can promote/oppose, etc.  Afterward, only factual information can be shared.
    • A document regarding these matters will be shared with supervisors.
    • Emphasis is placed on the need for a long-term solution to our financial challenges.
  • The board approved the budget as presented.

 

F. CLOSED SESSION

F.1. Government Code Section 54954.5(c) – Conference with Legal Counsel – Anticipated Litigation No. of Cases: One

G. ADJOURN

 

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