By Branden Bieber – April 27, 2022 You can only begin to illustrate the mismanagement of Del Norte County in the allotted three minutes given by the Board of Supervisors for public comments. This Boards proven history of expanding Government and Economizing a “Welfare County” is illustrated in their continual rubberstamping of Consent Agenda Items. Pay raises, multi-million dollar contracts, health ordinances, drug deals, new positions, proclamations, and agreements are approved without discussion. Who lives in a reality where 99.9% of recommendations are approved? I tried to illustrate the irresponsibility of such actions during the April 26th BOS meeting (sorry to my family, for probably making a fool of myself.) During my comments, board members continually interrupted me. And, when I presented facts to their mismanagement they turned off my mic. They didn’t want to hear that DHHS has three times as many employees as any other department. Or, that in the last ten years DHHS has expanded 33%, while all other departments have seen less than a one percent increase. Wanting the board to consider the impact of approving line item #7; (“Approve and authorize the Chair to sign the Agreement with Advocates for Human Potential, Inc.”) I talked to a couple Supervisors after the meeting and they appeared not to have read the agreement they just approved They hadn’t read the scope of work that allocates $180,000 to an outside contractor, so I read it for them. They thought is was comical the agreement only specified providing an assessment for a plan. After reading the Scope of Work to the Supervisors, they left with the comment of “That’s Government.” The approved agreement contracts with “Human Potential Inc.” for Intellectual Properties for treating Mental Wellness. At the time of approval, the contract was already 42% completed, and two months deficient in work performed. View the agreement here, especially the scope of work (Attachment D, pg 61.) AgreementwithAdvocatesforHumanPotentialInc.DHHS495760.pdf (dnco.org) Only a mismanaged Government would continue to create new DHHS positions on top of hiring an outside contractor for a “plan.” While I still have a backbone, I will subject myself into the foolishness of our local government.