Commentary and Opinion by Samuel Strait – August 27, 2023 And, oh, by the way our illustrious 5-0 Club got together for another forgettable head scratchier, August 25, 2023. While there was some slight attention paid to the recent wild fires events that have engaged the community recently, our illustrious Board of Supervisors were more concerned about the power being on at the County's offices and giving "high fives" to the abysmal job provided by County Office of Emergency Services and its head, Bill Steven. His performance and that of the Office he heads was less that stellar in providing timely and useful information in order for community members to make decisions as to how to cope during the recent "emergency." Heaven forbid should we ever have to operate on what little Mr. Steven had to offer should the situation become much more dire, but leave it to our Board to become a public cheering session for the circus most of us endured for nearly a week. The regular session opened with Chair Short studiously looking down while mumbling through the opening ceremonies, then quickly on to the Board reports. Supervisors Starkey and Wilson were their usual loquacious souls, still convinced that if government could possibly afford all the "bells and whistles" why so ever not. Of course paying for it and whether it is even somewhat useful is a question that seems to escape all of the Board most of the time. Most certainly all the Measure "R" money invested in the Office of Emergency Services has not survived the test as "new and improved". Something not entirely unexpected, at least given all the other short comings displayed by other local government departments. Anyway on to the Consent agenda, where entertainment was provided by a proclamation making September 2023 "Suicide Prevention Month". Was wondering what happens during the rest of the year when talking about, certainly a very serious topic. An Agenda littered with appointments and contracts for services which sailed through without so much as a single word of discussion. Not that anyone could have discussed much with the power outage making access to Board material reduced to a trip to the Board Clerk's office, which by the way had electricity while the rest of us did not. One thing of note, is the fact that in nearly every Board meeting, contracts for services, mostly from Health and Human Services, six on this particular eighteen item agenda, where no one asks if anyone is utilizing any of the two hundred plus service contracts that DHHS currently has active? Interested people would like to know, Director Brown. Scheduled Items consisted of the Public's time to shine while Chair Short studiously was examining his watch. I am not quite sure whether he had that grooming appointment for twelve O'clock, or he wanted to make sure no one violated the three minute cut off zone, unless you happened to be an "expert" on some topic where you may talk for hours. Of course there is the possibility of that grooming appointment. The topic of the failure of OES and the possibility of redundant services through Coos Curry was offered, where Supervisor Howard suggested the Tri Agency as a mechanism for that going forward. Nothing like self interest. Unfortunately, Chair Short, with his "deer in the head lights demeanor" failed as usual to begin the process or recognize the opportunity to be an actual leader. Not sure what he would do in a situation where a sensible solution to a serious problem being offered needed a decision, and he was anything but "missing in action". The other item scheduled was a very informative presentation on Green Diamond's activities in the community. Certainly a refreshing change from the bumbling, stumbling efforts by the County in being beneficial to the local citizenry, also known as those the County's government is meant to benefit. It appeared, at least, they had a much better handle on what was going on with the wild fires, than the County's OES. Makes one think that when a private company has to accomplish a task, they have to be somewhat effective rather that what is typically seen from government offerings. Pacific Power should also be given some credit for assessing the power situation and acting accordingly, rather than waiting for a week to declare a local "state of emergency." Regular items of government business consisted of the burning issue of the County's Drought Resilience Plan and the formation of a Public Defender's Office. Juvenile Hall's closure will have to wait because the County's Union doesn't have the necessary "time" to make the County "dance". Maybe next meeting. The final item was wording a letter to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's abrupt closure of the near shore ground fish area. While there appeared to be some concern about whether or not the letter "might be too late", the BOS ultimately decided to forge ahead with a letter opposing the closure. Budget transfers money to purchase tax defaulted properties and unexpected costs by Probation for mental health services was notable only to the extent that it kept to under fifty thousand rather than millions. Legislative and Budget issues were a "no show". While that ordinarily would bring the adjournment gavel down at just a shade under two hours, plenty of time for Chair Short's hair appointment, the BOS decided that the week old wild fire situation merited a resolution declaring a local emergency. While this all sounds ever so serious, maybe like a week ago, it gives the County the opportunity to beg for money from State and Federal sources to pay for on going issues related to the current fires. Possibly even squeeze a bit more out for "other unrelated items". While the Board is at the squeezing state, perhaps money for a lengthened runway at the local airport so that the air assets fighting the fires would be able to operate that much closer to the event. Not much good did that $55 million dollar airport terminal for us except add yet another edifice that will shortly be requiring growing maintenance costs going forward with very little ability for the current commercial air service to grow as well. Till next time unless the BOS dissolves as an unnecessary encumbrance on the local tax base and the "real" unelected government in the County stands up to be recognized