Inaccuracies, Madam Supervisor?It was certainly very clear that our current Del Norte County Board of Supervisors (BOS) just doesn’t get it. In this country representatives are meant to faithfully represent their constituents’ best interests and submerge their personal agendas in favor of the welfare of those they serve: The safety and security of the citizens of Del Norte County. Total failure so far. Not surprised!#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');At the BOS last meeting, that sacred promise made by all elected to office was cast aside in overgenerous, preferential treatment of the County’s unelected. The BOS can’t seem to give Sheriff deputies a reasonable few dollars raise per hour which will allow the deputies to stay employed by the Sheriff Dept.yet the Board is perfectly comfortable giving the County’s highly paid unelected Department heads, confidential staff, Deputy Branch Directors, and assorted other elites a 5% raise which amounts to thousands of extra dollars in their pay checks. Still not surprised. This is what this BOS is all about. The BOS gave (4-0) the already well compensated county counsel a promotion and raise, committed thousands of dollars to create a new department of economic development, bought a new vehicle for the County’s IT department, spent nearly four hundred thousand dollars paving parking lots, hired a high dollar building inspector, a planner, and a grant writer, but can’t commit to paying the sheriff’s patrol deputies a wage that would allow them to work and live in Del Norte County past when they will be seeking a higher paying jurisdiction.Leading the government complaint section, Supervisor “Big Government spender” Valerie Starkey, “Inaccuracies” exclaimed the ramped-up supervisor. When pointedly asked to explain herself, the silence was deafening. We have given the sheriff’s deputies a 44% raise over the past few years snarked Supervisor “Traveling Man” Chris Howard. I suspect that mathematics is not Supervisor Howard’s strong suit. A 44% raise over the past few years barely keeps up with inflation. It would also mean deputies were being paid previously a couple of dollars more per hour than the local burger flipper at Burger King. Real Special!I can’t comment on the whining of Supervisor’s “inaccuracies” comment because her explanations, if she has any, are hidden behind Close Door Session where the public is denied access or comment for that matter. Perhaps she would like to take up her concerns with the State of California, the Sheriff’s association or the half dozen or more news reports and other watch dogs’ releases, where the information exposing the BOS’s failures can be found.Suffice it is to say, both Supervisor Howard, and Supervisor Starkey have a lot of explaining to do. The whole BOS, for that matter doesn’t appear to understand what its role is as the County’s representatives. The BOS is not meant to hold our hand all through life. The BOS is meant to provide only the most basic services beyond the supervisors primary duty for the safety and security of its citizens.We are constantly being referred to as a “poor County”, yet this Board spends money like there is no end to it. The Board and particularly Supervisor Starkey, appear clueless as to what is important and what is not. Supervisor Starkey seems unable to free herself from thirty years shackled to government in order to fully comprehend that her agenda is not rural Del Norte County’s agenda. Our needs have to be much more modest.Whatever Supervisor Starkey meant by “misinformation” or inaccuracies during the recent BOS meeting has not aged well. To cast aspersion on members of the Public without explaining herself is not a quality of leadership. I heard somewhere that to pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel is not the wisest thing to do. Perhaps the Supervisor should either learn that lesson or become a much better and quieter leader in this community. So far all we have seen is her agenda, and not that of a supervisor representing 5,000 of her District’s citizens in a poor rural County of 26,000. So, get a grip Supervisor Starkey or be better able to explain yourself, if you can. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });