Commentary and Opinion by Samuel Strait – February 1, 2024 Another delightful meeting of the local County Board of Supervisors without the presence of "the government can solve all your problems, no matter how small or insignificant they are", Supervisor Valerie Starkey. This time around there was the additional presence of many of the local virtue signalers, no doubt to grace us with their intimate lack of knowledge about the subject with which they wish to indoctrinate us. I could hardly wait. Not that they regularly attend such meetings, in fact for the most part it has been my experience that they only appear to voice the talking points of the Left, often about such topics that have generated a litany of failure, often propelled by generous amounts of taxpayer funding with little or no benefit to those that bear the burden. This is compounded by the fact that few in power on our BOS comprehend the utter insanity of spending one thin dime on anything this crowd proposes. One would think that the recent and impending train wreck of spending millions of dollars on the County's homeless population would penetrate our leadership's vacancy above their respective shoulders and force them to be more circumspect when the virtue signalers appear in numbers of more than two. Such was the case when the Board chambers were occupied on the January 23rd meeting of the Board with more than the usual handful of members of the public. I could hardly suppress my excitement over the complete drivel I could sense was forthcoming. Chair Wilson got this version of the Board's desperate attempt to remain relevant and succeeded in wending his way through the opening ceremonies without much difficulty. Nothing from "closed session", what a surprise, no change to the agenda, no new employees for once, and the reports of the Board member's activities for the preceding two weeks. The only surprise from the reports that generally include vain attempts to convince those in attendance of their value to the community was a report from District Four's Supervisor Borges. On to the Consent Agenda where a 22 item list provided by the County's bureaucracy was quickly dispatched by a 4-0 vote with little to no discussion. I continue to be mystified as to how the public can possibly comment on more than a few items in the time frame allotted when the Consent Agenda far outstrips anything else considered government business in nearly every meeting of the Board. Lets just say that this is hardly the view that a completely transparent governing board would wish to display. It completely negates the ability of the public to be involved with a bulk of the biweekly business of their government and should be addressed as soon as possible. Many of the items on the consent agenda need a much greater discussion to allow the public to understand the need for many of the actions buried in the agenda which are rarely obvious or not in need of some very pointed questioning. Since this is rarely the case, many items get swept along with very little understanding of their respective merits to the County's residents. Certainly not a good look by the Board's members and it should be no wonder why there is very little attendance at Board meeting or participation. The Board is operating in a vacuum which is also not a good look. The scheduled items consisted of the public comments, a report on older adults, a missing in action report by the Smith River Alliance/Forest Service likely trying scare everyone over legacy mining and contaminated water, again, and the County's Treasurer's report. While the public comments were entertaining, I very much doubt it had any impact on the County's Supervisors. The report on Older Adults may have been interesting to Supervisor Starkey. It failed to hold the attention of the Board for the most part, but the question that should have been asked was how much did this cost the Taxpayer? And finally the Treasurers report, which painted a rather flush financial picture in spite of the fact that the County's government could blow through such a healthy portfolio in a heartbeat. A Board of Equalization item and the virtue signaling began. The Tri- Agency which for all practical purposes is a waste of public money was before the Board to approve their amended Joint Powers Agreement which is unlikely to allow for any value to the County's economic development, but will likely consume a fair amount of taxpayer funding. Already off to a rocky start with the way they handle their public meetings and a pending lawsuit to contend with, the JPA is excluding a foray into "Off Shore Wind Power" in their bylaws, much to the horror of the virtue signaling crowd in attendance. Not that very many of the public comments on the subject of "Off Shore Wind Power" had any real merit, we were assured that "it was coming" and we shouldn't exclude it from the ability of the JPA to "get us a seat at the table". In spite of a nearly half billion dollars of taxpayer money being injected into the Humboldt effort it will be very unlikely that anything will come to fruition in the Humboldt off shore wind project. Similar efforts on the East Coat of the United States have been entirely unsuccessful. The Pacific Coast effort which would need a far greater injection of capital than the current half billion dollars of public money is far less likely to attract the money necessary to complete the project resulting in millions of dollars of local expense, "just to have a seat at the table". Hopefully, our JPA who is tasked with "economic development" will not be lured into the disaster that will become Humboldt's when the "great off shore wind project" disappears out from under them. And, No, "Climate Change" as a result of human activities is a fable and wind power will not change that. With that the Board passed the JPA's agreement without "Wind Power" and the virtue signalers departed. So much for public participation. The remaining portions of General Government consisted of reducing the speed limit on Boulder Avenue by five miles an hour, establishing a policy for selecting and repairing non County roads, and a change in policy for grading the County's roads. All real important things to consider, I guess. Then on to Budget Transfers of a little over $200,000, a bulk of it to fund a "Pandemic Preparedness Plan". Apparently the Office of Emergency Services needs something to occupy their inability to explain why they even exist. But hey, we are still spending money on COVID-19 as if it was still 2020. And to wrap this meeting up are a couple of legislative items. One, a letter to our Federal Government's representative regarding the Northwest Forest Plan, another of Supervisor Howard's hot button issues. The remaining item, another wish list to State and Federal advocates that hopefully may even be read by some staffer before being filed away. And that is way of the County's continuing decline into obscurity. Of course if we had somebody other than Supervisor Short as our RCRC representative maybe a revolt from rural County's could be fomented, and Sacramento may wake up to the fact that they are our biggest liability. Till next time….