MENDOCINO Co., 10/21/19 — The following is a letter-to-the-editor submitted by Mendocino County District 3 Supervisor John Haschak, published here as a column, in which he updates his constituents on the past month of activity. We encourage the other supervisors to submit letters — we will happily publish them. You can see Haschak’s previous letters to his constituents here.
Career and technical education for our County is so important for a healthy economy. I have recently toured several successful machine shops that have apprentice positions open but are having a hard time finding qualified applicants. Coming from the education world, I appreciate what is going on in the public schools, yet when it comes to technical education, they have limited resources.
To address this issue, I recently met with State Senator Mike McGuire and Mendocino County Office of Education Superintendent Michelle Hutchins to discuss what technical education is currently being offered in our County, areas where we are lacking, and how we can work together to improve our training programs.
Senator McGuire, who was very successful at expanding technical training in Sonoma County when he was a Supervisor there, County Superintendent Hutchins, and I are planning to hold a roundtable discussion with a variety of stakeholders at the table early next year to set an agenda for expanding technical education in Mendocino County.
I have talked to people who have successful businesses (machine shops, construction, etc.) and are looking for apprentices. If you know anyone who might be interested in such an opportunity, please contact me.
Board Chair Carre Brown and County CEO Carmel Angelo asked me to go to Washington D.C. in late October as part of a team called Rebuild Northbay, to lobby Congress and federal agencies (FEMA and HUD) for funds to rebuild our communities after the devastating fires last year and to prepare ourselves for the next emergencies. Our team consists of Board Chairs from Napa, Sonoma, and Lake Counties as well as representatives from private industry. Representation is important and showing up can make all the difference; other counties have been much more successful than us at securing disaster relief funds simply by showing up with hat in hand.
The Mendocino County Public Defender’s Office provides services to adults who have certain misdemeanor and felony convictions, or juvenile adjudications. These services include reducing criminal records, sealing juvenile records, and expunging convictions for those eligible persons living in Mendocino County. A Public Defender’s Office representative will meet with interested persons in the 3rd District to determine their eligibility and explain what court costs may be involved. If you or someone you know could possibly qualify for these services, please call 707-234-6950.
On October 14th, 2019, Mendocino County celebrated its first Indigenous Peoples Day, a recognition long overdue.
I look forward to hearing from you. Please contact me if you have any concerns at [email protected] or 707-972-4214.
Greetings! I would like to become a member, but I cannot get past your insistence on autopay. It is entirely counter to my sense of financial security to allow businesses to dip into my accounts. Everyone wants to do it, which if allowed would make keeping my accounts in order a nightmare – and I am constantly NOT doing what I would like to do because of it. Donating once won’t work because that does not make me a member. If you allowed annual subscriptions without autopay we could work something out – but as far as I can tell, you don’t. Every time I read an article and encounter your call for me to join I go through the same angst: I can’t join because I dislike your billing methods – and, in talking to friends I can assure you, I am not alone in this. You are missing out on revenue from folks who would like to be members, but will not due to your insistence on autopay.
Hi Dennis – Thanks for your support and for getting in touch. We are happy to receive financial donations in many ways,and we consider everyone who has donated a member. You should be able to donate electronically with a one-time contribution at this link:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/mendovoice
Otherwise we can also receive checks made out to The Mendocino Voice at PO Box 37, Ukiah, 95482. If that doesn’t work for you, we have other options available, please get in touch directly at [email protected] or call 706-506-NEWS and I’m happy to help.