UKIAH — The agenda for the Board of Supervisors meeting on October 4 is lighter than it has been in the past few months, though the alphabet ran out of letters to designate the items on the consent calendar. Consent calendar items are generally issues deemed non-controversial, ranging from proclamations and approval of the minutes of prior meetings to the approval of contracts between the county and other parties. They are usually approved in a block, to save time, though any Supervisor can pull an item for discussion or ask to have it removed. Members of the public may comment on the consent calendar during the public expression portion of the meeting.
There will be two action items, aside from discussion of the legislative platform. The Board will hear a presentation from Mendocino County Health and Human Services (HHSA), about the options for an emergency winter shelter, and provide direction for its support, which may include funding. HHSA is asking the Board for $60,000 of county money for shelters in Mendocino County, divided between $50,000 for an inland solution and $10,000 for one on the coast. Options for solutions include hotel vouchers, a temporary shelter, a tent city, or a nomadic shelter. HHSA has committed $10,000 for a coastal solution, and Ukiah Valley Medical Center has committed the same to an inland solution.
The Board will also hear an update from Planning and Building Services on the Mendocino Town Local Coastal Plan Amendment (LCPA), and possibly offer direction regarding the Coastal Commission’s comments on the LCPA.
Highlights from the consent calendar include the likely approval of HHSA Director Tammy Moss Chandler as the county representative to First 5 Mendocino, a non-profit organization dedicated to the health and wellbeing of children under five years of age.
As per Board request at an earlier meeting, Agriculture Commissioner Chuck Morse submitted a memo clarifying a few points on the cannabis cultivation ordinance. These include an additional requirement for nursery cultivators, and provisions regarding the use of generators. Generators will be allowed under a wider variety of circumstances, but an accredited acoustical engineer must perform an analysis of the noise they make at full operational speed, if they are to be used as the primary source of power.
The Board will likely approve $115,275 to contract with the Ford Street Project in Ukiah to operate the Food Bank and provide drug and alcohol treatment, counseling, case management, and emergency shelter to General Assistance recipients.
The Board is also likely to approve a $62,489 contract with Redwood Community Crisis Center to provide 24/7 crisis response and outreach services to young people for the upcoming fiscal year.
Another item likely to receive approval is an HHSA grant proposal for $225,000 to run a three-year pilot program focused on preventive health care, particularly to those suffering from poor mental health, the effects of abuse and trauma, poverty, and housing insecurity, areas identified in a recent community health needs assessment. HHSA, the applicant for this grant, will provide matching funds of $238,081.72. The County match will be $16,630.30.
HHSA has also requested Board approval to apply for a $15,000 grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
And if the consent calendar passes, registered veterinary technicians working full-time for the County will see a raise in their bi-weekly salaries, from a minimum of $1,341.60 to a maximum of $1,726.40.
LACO Associates will also get a raise, from $198,975 to $574,801, for fiscal years 2016-2019, to help develop the Coastal Mendocino County Stormwater Plan. LACO is a private engineering firm that has contracted with the county to create a project description for the cannabis Cultivation ordinances and bring it into compliance with the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act.
One Assistant Agricultural Commissioner and Sealer of Weights and Measures will be added to the budget, and one Public Health Analyst will be deleted.
It is also highly likely that the Board will adopt a proclamation recognizing October 16-22 as Freedom from Workplace Bullies Week in Mendocino County.
Meetings are open to the public and take place at the Board Chambers, Room 1070, County Administration Center, 501 Low Gap Road in Ukiah and begin at 9 a.m. You can watch the livestream of the meeting on the County’s Yutube channel, along with archived video of past meetings.
Sarah Reith, 03 October 2016