© 2024 KZYX
redwood forest background
Mendocino County Public Broadcasting
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Local News

BoS Hears Public Comment on V and B

December 11, 2019 — Advocates continued to demand the enforcement of Measure V at the December 10 Board of Supervisors meeting. Voters approved Measure V, which declared dead standing trees a nuisance, two years ago. Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) claimed at the time that its practice of frilling, or using herbicide to kill tanoak trees, was exempt from the ordinance, and the county sent the matter to the Attorney General’s office for an opinion.

After two years of waiting for the Attorney General to decide not to issue an opinion on the matter, county counsel sent a letter to MRC disagreeing with the company’s findings. Naomi Wagner and Ellen Faulker of SEIJ (Social Environmental Indigenous Justice) think it’s about time to enforce the findings of the voters, saying that not doing so is an affront to the public will.

The public also heard about another voter-approved initiative. Isabel Gonzalez introduced herself as the new project manager for Measure B, the half-cent sales tax dedicated to in-county mental health facilities and treatment. Last month, the Board of Supervisors reviewed a $3.3 million dollar contract from architect Nacht and Lewis for early-stage planning on three types of mental health facilities, for critical residential treatment (CRT), crisis stabilization units (CSU), and psychiatric health units (Puff). Some members of the Measure B committee were involved with drawing up the agreement, but the board decided not to approve it until the full eleven-member committee had a chance to recommend the action. One issue of concern was a half-million dollar state grant, which was contingent on the county coming up with a plan for a critical residential treatment facility or CRT, by early December. Jan McGourty, a Measure B committee member who was involved in talks with the architect, described a nail-biting meeting last week with the California health facilities financing authority or CHAFFA board about getting an extension on that grant, which was originally awarded in 2015. 

The architect’s proposal included remodeling three houses in various parts of the county for the CRT, and to use either the county-owned Orchard Avenue site in Ukiah or the Old Howard Hospital in Willits for critical stabilization units and the psychiatric health facility.

Behavioral health director Dr. Jenine Miller, who also sits on the Measure B Committee, attended the same meeting McGourty spoke about, but said Mendocino County is no more dilatory than many others.

 

Local News