Commentary by Samuel Strait – January 12, 2023 It is becoming a regular feature of the Board Of Supervisor meetings to degenerate at some point from being a rudderless circus to a complete clown show and the initial meeting of the Board for 2023 did not disappoint. Suffice it to say it had only a slight resemblance to anything that remotely imitates "good governance" and that was only in the form of the opening ceremonies. Thankfully, imminently to be elected Chairman of the Board, Darrin Short, managed to led those in the Supervisor's chamber through the Pledge of Allegiance without even so much as a glance at the County's Teleprompter. The meeting was all down hill from there. Supervisor 1st District, and Chair of BOS 2023 – Darrin Short The next action of the Board set the tone for not only the meeting, but the entirety of 2023, by electing 5-0, naturally, Darrin Short Chair of the Board Of Stupervisors. It will be no doubt a trying year for the Board to be led by someone clearly incapable of rising to the task of being the County's leader. While it was never considered that anyone could follow Gerry Hemmingsen's incompetency as the previous Chair, it wasn't long before Supervisor Short made that calculation a faint hope. Ten new employees was the report, seven to Health and Human Services. It continued. While watching the top of Chair Short's head while he mumbled at the desk in front of him through the opening admonishments, it became a noticeable relief to move on to the important remarks given by other supervisors and their efforts to be relevant in the community since the December 29th Special Meeting. As per usual, Supervisor Starkey's meddling did not disappoint. The real "fireworks" manifested itself almost immediately, and exposed Chair Short as deficit in any measurable way as a leader. In the course of mangling the Board's ineptitude even further while handling the Consent Agenda, Chair Short "cleared the chamber for safety reason" over a relatively meaningless dispute regarding the three minute rule for public comment. Sheriff's deputies, no doubt pre positioned for what quickly degenerated into a clown show over a member of the public's ongoing dispute with the three minute rule being applied for an agenda that contained eighteen items, fully three quarters of the County's business over the previous dozen or so days. Not only is the rule regarding the public's participation on the Consent Agenda tantamount to censorship, but it allows items offered for Board consent initiated by the County's bureaucracy to be RUBBER STAMPED by the Board with little oversight by the PUBLIC and no meaningful PUBLIC discussion on a bulk of the County's business. A policy that could easily be corrected had the members of the Board had any notion of integrity or thought to being said representatives of said PUBLIC if the will existed for these representatives to DO THEIR JOB and actually benefit the PUBLIC and not those that WORK FOR THE PUBLIC. This Country's government was founded on the principal that governments had done NOTHING for thousands of years to entitle them to the "Trust" ordinary citizens reserve for most people that are intimately known to them and have proven their trust worthiness, something governments historically have almost never managed to accomplish. Give what is now our local sample of governance, a dysfunctional sheriff's department, a dysfunctional emergency services department, a dysfunctional Health and Human Services, a dysfunctional Animal Control, a dysfunctional probation department, District Attorney, Judicial System and who knows what else all revealed over the course of just the last year of troubling revelation with in the chambers of the BOS. A couple of timed items entered into the Circus Arena following Chair Short's mishandling of the Consent Agenda. The first was an effort by the Del Norte Unified School District to ramp up local appreciation and participation in the out doors activities available but not utilized by the local public. Apparently, both the local park service representatives and the local school district are unaware that accessing public areas in the County have become much more difficult in the intervening years through increased regulation and closure of access to many parts of the County's wilderness areas. Staging organized activities in relatively easily accessible areas of the County will do little to improve that anticipated outcome. The other timed item was the report by the County's Treasurer, Barbara Lopez, who indicated as the Auditor in an earlier report of the rather robust financial condition of the County. This report as well as that of the Auditor puts the claims by the County of extreme poverty squarely in the misinformation column and places the burden of bad decision on the backs of the fourteen percent of the County's citizens that failed to repeal the one percent increase in the County's sales tax when the opportunity was afforded them in November. It is not surprising that no one attends the meetings of the governing body in the County or the City when such obvious disdain and contempt for which the County Supervisors and the associated members of the County's Bureaucracy have for the PUBLIC. Fabricating a message of the inability to provide "essential services" no longer passes the smell test. Continued obstruction by the County's leadership and Bureaucracy of the County government of the failures at many levels is no longer acceptable. The simple matter of Board policy of three minutes for public comment on the Consent Agenda consisting of dozens of individual items, many of which should be questioned not only by the Board but members of the public of which they seem to have forgotten, and that they are sworn to serve. What compounds the problem the Board has with the three minute limit and double dipping violations, is that they are constantly ignoring the limit when the message they receive is found to be "acceptable". Something that happens with regularity in most Board meeting without any notice by the Chair. The Board is quite comfortable with public commenters allowed to drone on past the three minute limit if they meet the approval of the Board. It is small wonder that many in the community have given up on having a government that has any respect for their needs in lieu of those of the local bureaucracy. Enough. On to General Business, where things didn't get any better for the Board. After nine years in the position of Chief Probation Officer, Mr. Reyman is suddenly found to be improperly supervised by our County's Judges, and after being thrown under the bus by a multitude of unsubstantiated complaints and anecdotal events, has had his supervision by ordinance, no less, moved to the County's fumbling preview. Bet that is going to work. Being sarcastic here, just for the Board's benefit. This clown show was immediately followed by certain members of the Board being unable to face the reality that Juvenile Hall needs to be CLOSED, as it no longer serves a USEFUL PURPOSE when Juvenile Justice has turned the page on mass incarceration for juvenile offenders and adults as well. Time will tell whether or not that was such a smart move by the geniuses in Sacramento. In the mean time, led by "the government has all the answers", Valerie Starkey, Juvenile Hall closure continues to be batted back forth to the detriment of its staff and the on going dysfunction at probation. Supervisor 2nd District, Valerie Starkey Supervisor Starkey seems frozen in her own biases and dismisses reality as a result. For this issue and many others, her political thought processes represent a true problem for any successes in the County's future. She can not seem to grasp the concept that he who exercises the lightest touch on the wheel of government is often the most successful leader. The clown show did not end there. The remaining item on the General Business side of things was to decide the fate of Del Norte County's only ambulance service, and a clown show it was. Suddenly anecdotal evaluation, true or invented is an acceptable metric to be used by those with obvious bias or vested interests. In no way did Del Norte Ambulance receive the level playing field necessary for proper governance. There were two members of the board, both with known biases and vested interests that should have recused themselves from the decision made in this process. While one member deserve no respect, the other while new to the Board should have been better prepared to undertake the duties where an option to hear BOTH sides of the dispute was a major failing on his part and participating in a decision without mentioning a vested interest which established a clear bias was yet another failing. This is the kind of leadership that we do not need in this County. While the vote was not 5-0, the norm for most Board votes, this was a decision that surely needs revisiting. Thus far the only glimmer of hope rested on the shoulders of the fifth district and newly elected Supervisor, Dean Wilson. One can only hope that his wisdom and experience in government will transfer itself to two other of the Board's members. The 5-0 Club lives on. Supervisor Dean Wilson, 5th District $42,000 and change to accomplish a generator purchase and the replacement of a water heater at the jail. Must be some kind of generator and water heater to warrant that kind of expense. Who said governance can't be as costly as possible. No legislative or budget issues to report, then on to adjournment. Whew, while the entertainment factor ranked up there with a late night comedy show, the government trust factor took a serious hit. One had hopes for a better dynamic with two new members on the Board. That dynamic almost immediately took on water in a clear display of small town politics. Sigh, maybe next election will provide better results.