Commentary and Opinion by Samuel Strait – May 11, 2023 Another meeting, the May 9th version of the 5-0 Club and growing local government on display with some rather unique observations about how our Board of Supervisors manage to increase spending without the obligatory four fifths requirement. Nothing like true shiftiness in local government spending practices, but we will leave that for later in this grand scheme of spending Del Norte County into oblivion. The opening ceremonies are finally going without a hitch as the stumbles often displayed by our Board's Chair, Darren Short, for the first four months of his occupation of the throne have finally penetrated that thing that rests on his shoulders. Now the damage he does to the County's citizens rests largely in his appetite for spending large amounts of taxpayer funding for things that generally do not serve his constituents nor the rest of the County's population. It is my hope the County will remain more or less solvent until the current free spending members of the Board are retired in 2024. Are you listening Ms. Starkey and Mr. Short? No new hires that were reported, one now only wonders how many hires go unreported. Board reports while necessary to see what our esteemed leadership is up to was largely unremarkable. Wilson, Howard, and Starkey got right to it. Short and Borges held their peace. Ms. Starkey and Mr. Howard gave their usual troll for "brownie points" and Former Sheriff Wilson seems to have dropped right back into his previous role as a member of the County's government, somewhat disappointing. On to the Consent Agenda which has at least proved more interesting with some discussion of random parts of a majority of the County's business. Wouldn't wish to overload the collective brain power of the Board members when an easy 5-0 vote takes care of the notion that work should be done. Hold up, county resident Branden Bieber politely asked the Board for some clarification on three of the Consent Agenda's dozen items and as per usual was ignored. Wouldn't want to aspire to actual transparency would we, after all there is nothing to see here. On to scheduled items of government business, public comments all for the convenience of the public, err, rather for the County's employees as public comments by the public are conveniently ignored. Financial malfeasance by the Harbor staff, followed by the trifecta of indifference by the County's law enforcement, the County's auditor, and the District Attorney. Wouldn't want to pursue a case that couldn't be won after all. More about the benefits of vacation rentals at least during the "season" which quite likely put a smile on Supervisor Howard's face, he has after all a vested interest. Culture in Del Norte County, while very necessary for those that can afford it and a small leg up for those that can not, was contained in a presentation by the Del Norte Association for Cultural Awareness (DNACA) as well as a plea for more money.. Much of that had to do with the expense of an office space and its increasing cost to DNACA. Supervisor Howard, always free with taxpayer funding, was quick to suggest an $8,000 increase in funding for the beleaguered from the County, with absolutely no thought to any other alternative. Must be nice to freely spent other people's money. The County, according to Chair Short, has no available space to house DNACA freeing it from its current housing costs. In fact, to all you landlords out there with available space, the County is looking for additional space to house its exploding bureaucracy. The meal ticket of the day when it was announced by our esteemed director of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) presentation was too big to be contained in one presentation, four would be required. The meeting's audience was graced with the appearance of the Assistance/Employment and Training branch. The presentation while lauded by the Board was a classic encounter with the blindness of the Board to understand that as local government costs to fix problems grow, doubled in this case, the numbers of dependencies grow in proportion. The sad facts revealed by this presentation is that the burden on the taxpayer is not declining and more money to DHHS is in fact acerbating the issues of homelessness, poverty, and welfare dependence. Nothing like government "Help" making things worse, not only for the dependent, but by those that are paying for that failure. We now will have the rudiments of yet another expansion of government in the form of a cool $1,000,000 expense for a public defenders office, after all Sonoma County, population of nearing 500,000 has one, at least according to Supervisor Valerie Starkey. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the 27,600 citizens of Del Norte County to have one as well. Just not sure that this free spending Board can come up with the additional cash,but likely no problem, there is always Measure "R" money floating around. Maybe even a Measure "V" to fund Fire, Police, and Emergency Services for another 1% is in our future? Sound familiar? A quick dip into Planning Board representations, such a useful department for all of our citizens. Likely they are feeling their oats with a "New" planner funded by Measure "R" clearly a vital new crisis resolved by our BOS to alleviate the stress on law enforcement, fire and emergency services. Maybe Admin can get a piece of that action, or it can be labeled an "infrastructure" need. Rounding out the Board's weighty business was what is laughably called "Budget Transfers" which is a mechanism by which the Board can authorize expenditures without a four fifths vote required by law. Money from one source is transferred into into another budget unit to cover future expenditures not yet made. At times the expenditure would not be made as in the case of the recent funding of a bit over $35,000 for data to make it "easier" for the lobbyist we already pay a substantial amount for and receive very little in return. Once the funding is transferred into the other unit it becomes part of the over all budget request for the year and is, as a package voted on when the entire budget is approved which will be the necessary 5-0 vote in June. Pretty slick, for Supervisors Short, and Howard to get money expenditures approved that ordinarily on their own merit would fail to pass muster. Other budget transfers consisted of more money to planning, and DHHS, plus a tidy sum to Probation. And then we have another crisis to be addressed by our local Measure "R" Oversight Committee's recommendation, that of repairing the netting that surrounds Pyke's Field. A "TRUE" crisis in the making. But this is but the ongoing frivolous nature of how Measure "R" money is being used, which in turn allows County Government to be even more wasteful with funds from the COUNTY'S GENERAL FUND. Such is the life in Del Norte County as we continue to get fleeced by local governments when we can ill afford it. One legislative item and the elephant in the room of allowing County government to contribute $70,00 in a pool of $110,000 to resurrect the clown show that is the Tri-Agency. Supported by Supervisors Short, Howard, and Wilson, no real surprise there. Short and Howard are current members of the Board of the Tri-Agency. Another opportunity to waste public money on wind power. For the life of me, I do not understand Supervisor Wilson's "yes" to approve vote and thinking that off shore wind power was a "sure" thing. Once Climate Change continues to fail to emerge, wind and solar are simply not ready to produce sufficient electricity to fuel the grid reliably and never are likely to fulfill more than an expensive and secondary role in electrical production. California, its leading proponent, barely produces 15% of California's needs for that kind of electricity. The Tri-Agency is not a proper vehicle for economic development if this is their priority and should not be allowed to proceed with this "fairy tale". Board Adjourned before too much more damage could occur.