September 23, 2020 — The Board of Supervisors spent most of the morning on Tuesday discussing covid-19 and wildfires.
During his presentation, Public Health Officer Dr. Andrew Coren said the outbreak at Ken Fowler Auto Center is now known to involve 20 cases. And contact tracers are investigating the possibility of another outbreak.
During the update, Sheriff Matt Kendall told the board that suicides in the county are up to 25, more than all of last year. And deaths from drug overdose are significant, too. In all of 2019, he said there were 32 overdose deaths. To date, there are 21 confirmed and eight more suspected.
The latest public health order, which was issued Tuesday night, removes most of the restrictions specific to local tourism, except the requirement that every lodging or campground have someone available 24 hours a day to make sure covid guidelines are being adhered to.
Stable groups have been increased from six to twelve individuals, and wineries, restaurants, and tasting rooms are now allowed to serve alcohol after 8pm. And the county is following the state’s decision to allow nail salons to operate indoors, even in Tier one, or purple counties like Mendocino.
The covid update was followed by a presentation of a fire vulnerability assessment, a public outreach plan, and an evacuation plan that included how to get humans and animals out of fires, tsunamis, floods, and back again. But budgeting details were not included in the plan.
According to Nephele Barrett, with Mendocino Council of Governments, the planning effort was funded by a grant from CalTrans and matching funds from her organization.
Bob Newman, a project lead with Category Five professional Consultants, presented the results of a survey, which found that county residents are concerned about communities with only one way in and one way out, how they’ll evacuate, and how they’ll be notified if the power is out and their cell phone service is spotty. Absentee landlords and lack of proper road and address markers were a big concern, too.
Newman told the board the evacuation plan was broken into seven parts, from preparation to post-evacuation, with details about which agency is responsible for which aspect. Newman said a similar plan was used in Alpine, California, and is now being used in the August Complex.
Dev on Jones, the executive director of the Mendocino County Farm Bureau, called in to say that she wanted to make sure farmers had access to their plants and animals during an evacuation, provided it was safe to do so. Fire season has historically coincided with harvest season.
Supervisor Ted Williams asked Newman about how to budget for all the recommendations he laid out, and Newman told him the plan points out areas that could likely be grant-funded, but that he had laid out the steps so that he thought they would be approachable over the course of five years, through the normal budgeting process.
The board agreed unanimously to adopt the emergency evacuation plan and directed the Office of Emergency Services to come back with implementation timelines and association budget needs.