Newscast: County Employees Offered Buyout; Willits Mayor Resigns; and Willits Library Roof Oked

Host:
In local news today, Mendocino County has wasted no time in offering employees a buyout. Willits Mayor Larry Stransky has stepped down, and the Board of Supervisors offers direction on the future of the county's library system.

All county employees have received notice of the new Voluntary Separation Incentive Program. According to a memo sent by Cherie Johnson, the Director of Human Resources, eligible employees who voluntarily resign will be offered lump sum payments. Employees who want to participate must submit a statement of interest no later than April 30, 2025.

Here’s Deputy CEO Tony Rakes explaining the program to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday:

Tony Rakes:
"So this is a shift in the approach to the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program which we have had this fiscal year and the prior. And this shift is to move to offering that — the VSIP, as we refer to it — to all employees and include that incentive payment amount based on years of service. Now this would be subject to the CEO department review and Board of Supervisors approval for the positions.

So in the prior, Voluntary Separation Incentive Program, department heads would identify a position and then would submit that. In this case, it's offered to all employees instead of the department head identifying the position. Of course, HR can speak more clearly to that.

The position will still be frozen if it's accepted for two years, and the employee that takes advantage of that voluntary separation program cannot be rehired for those two years as well."

The Willits City Council meeting on Wednesday got off to a surprising start with an unexpected announcement from Mayor Larry Stransky:

Larry Stransky:
"I would like to make an announcement at this particular time. I'm going to step down as mayor. I'm gonna stay on the council, but my heart doctor told me that I've got to get my blood pressure under control and I cannot do it, with this position. And so consequently, I'm gonna turn the meeting over to my Vice Mayor and he will run the meeting, and we're gonna appoint a new one. Thank you."

Vice Mayor Matthew Alaniz called a vote to amend the agenda, and then nominated Council Member Tom Allman for mayor. The nomination was seconded by Stransky. The vote proceeded without any public comment, and Allman was elected unanimously by his fellow council members.

Allman took Stransky's seat in a passing of the gavel:

Tom Allman:
"Good evening. Thank you for your trust. This isn't certainly part of my plans, but, the city right now is very important to me and, and I'm honored by the unanimous support of this.

Larry, we're very appreciative of you and concerned about your medical. And you're my neighbor, so we want you to live a long, long and longer happy life. Thank you.

So thank you for what you've done, your family's done. So for those of you who don't know, Larry's been on the city council, his wife's been on the city council, and his son's been on the city council. So the Stranskys have made their mark on the City of Willits."

In other Willits news, the library is finally going to get a new roof — but it will not get solar panels any time soon.

Acting Assistant CEO Sarah Pierce told the council that the previous project, which combined a new metal roof with solar panels and a $300,000 battery, could not be justified under the state government code, which requires the energy savings produced by a project to outweigh the project costs.

Sarah Pierce:
"The main driver of this is the fact that there are two components — two of the three components in the project, the metal roof and the battery — are large portions of the cost but do not provide much in the way of energy savings.

And some additional factors ... that the board needs to be aware of is that the cash flow only included very minimal estimates for tariffs, and there's still uncertainty around the incentive program administered under the current federal administration.

So for these reasons, we're asking the board to provide direction to complete this project in phases."

The board agreed with the proposal, a move that disappointed climate advocates like Peter McNamee:

Peter McNamee:
"I have to say, uh, from the public standpoint, this is an extremely frustrating process and it's still unclear to me.

The direction in 2021 was very simple: — to specifically to replace the roof and to add solar and batteries, something that private sector businesses and residents in the county have been doing for decades in order to lower their energy costs and their carbon footprint.

And yet, four years later, there still hasn't been any actual accomplishment of that task."

A tour of electric homes in Ukiah on April 26th, underscored McNamee's comment about the availability of local, affordable options.

Separately, the board discussed a feasibility study for expanding or renovating the Ukiah Library, a project that could cost $38 million. Ultimately, the board decided not to move forward with the feasibility study at this time and directed the library to work with the County CEO to determine what is possible from a financial perspective.