October 17, 2019 — About two dozen community members came to Supervisor John Haschak’s Town Hall in Willits Wednesday night to talk about cannabis, forest health, and their frustration with two voter initiatives they’d like to see implemented faster.
Haschak opened the meeting, which was sponsored by the City of Willits and the Willits branch of the AAUW, with remarks about the county’s agreements with two major bargaining units to bring large numbers of county workers’ salaries closer to market value. He said he was pleased that Columbus Day had been replaced by Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and reported that the shaded fuel break on the Firco road was wide enough to let fire engines drive through, in the event of an emergency. He will be traveling to Washington next week, as part of a delegation of representatives from northern California counties that have been hard hit by fires, to try to get more money for rebuilding efforts.
The first question came from Willits City Council woman Madge Strong, about proposed cannabis enterprise zones, which would allow several ten-acre hubs of mixed cannabis business development in various parts of the county. The exact locations have not been determined yet, and neither has the cost of the environmental reviews that would need to happen if the zones were established.
Haschak said he does not support the zones, because part of the proposal is to have applicants pay for the environmental reviews. He believes this narrows the pool of applicants to people with a lot of money. But cannabis businesswoman Sarah Bodnar, who said she is working closely with county staff on the issue, defended the proposal, saying the idea is to let small businesses scale up in agriculturally appropriate areas.
Paul Trouette, CEO of the Mendocino County Blacktail Association, wants more data before more pot is allowed. In 2016, the association sued the county over its cannabis cultivation urgency ordinance, demanding more environmental reviews.
Environmental concerns came up again, with questions about Measure V, the 2016 voter approved initiative that declared trees that have been intentionally killed and left standing to be a nuisance. This would make it more difficult for Mendocino Redwood Company to use herbicides to kill tanoaks, which the company says is legal under the state’s right to farm act and a provision of the local code. County counsel sent the question to the attorney general’s office, where it languished until this summer, when AG Xavier Becerra declared that he would not render an opinion due to a conflict of interest. Long time activist Naomi Wagner was among the audience members calling for enforcement.
And no one appeared to be satisfied with Measure B, the mental health sales tax initiative that passed in 2017. Haschak tried to explain that the eleven-member committee is working to hire a project manager and that a feasibility study needs to be done before certain sites can be designated for specific mental health treatments, but one voter told him "No" when he asked if his explanation made sense. People on and off mic expressed frustration that the training facility in Redwood Valley was purchased before treatment centers have been established; asked about a business plan for the money that is coming in from the tax; and wondered why it is taking so long to get what they voted for.
For more information about Measure B, the league of women voters is sponsoring a behavioral healh forum about it at the Caspar COmmunity Center on October 29th at the 6pm, with several key people in the field.
Wednesday’s Town Hall was sponsored by the Willits branch of the AAUW and the City of Willits.