March 10, 2021 — Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren reported to the Board of Supervisors yesterday that, if current covid case metrics hold for another week, the county can look forward to transitioning out of the purple tier and into the much less restrictive red tier next week.
The county received its first shipment of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine yesterday, and is considering using it for people who are transient and homebound. Vaccine coordinator Darcie Antle noted that the county is working with Redwood Community Services and other agencies to hold a Johnson & Johnson clinic for the transient population this week or early next week.
Following yesterday’s mid-year budget review, the Board made its first foray into talking about what to do with the one time monies from a PG&E settlement for the 2017 Redwood Complex fires, a little more than twenty two and a half million dollars.
None of the money was committed yesterday, and that was not the intent of the item.
But ripples of alarm spread on local social media sites, and about two dozen letters came into the board. One set of letter writers supported Sheriff Matt Kendall’s request to fund efficiencies like creating a courtroom next to the jail and using satellite imaging to enforce cannabis
ordinances. These, he and his supporters argued, would free up deputies’ time. Kendall pointed out that the Redwood Complex fire was originally discovered by a patrol sergeant in Potter Valley, who initiated the response.
Another set of letters expressed dismay at some of the suggestions for using the money, which were lifted directly out of the list of mid-year capital improvement project recommendations in the mid-year budget report. While both lists of options included microwave facilities improvements and hardening the building where 911 equipment is located, a couple of items drew particular ire.
Community members were aghast at the suggestion to use $55,000 to remove the amphitheater in Ukiah’s Low Gap Park, and to use over $200,000 to remove dead and dying trees and repair the spillway in Gualala’s Bower Park. Redwood Valley community members wrote that they believe some of the funds should be used to shore up the local fire department and water system. They also complained that the fire departments and the Municipal Advisory Council or MAC in the areas that were ravaged in 2017 had not been asked to weigh in on how they thought the money should be spent.
Supervisors Maureen Mulheren and Glenn McGourty expressed their willingness to hold town halls and attend MAC meetings to gather community input.
