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Just over a month into her first term as Humboldt County’s Second District Supervisor, Michelle Bushnell has selected her appointee to the county’s planning commission: cannabis farmer and SoHum native Thomas Mulder. 

“I’m thrilled that Thomas considered it when I asked him,” Bushnell told the Outpost on Monday. “He took a long time to decide. I know he really weighed it and is up for the position … .”

Bushnell also expressed gratitude to Ronnie Pellegrini, who was appointed to the Planning Commission by former Supervisor Estelle Fennell last May. “Community service like that is a big challenge, and I really appreciate her,” Bushnell said.

But the county’s newest supervisor also wants to make her own decisions and thus chose not to reappoint Pellegrini. “I just want to forge my own path for the next four years and have some individualism,” she said.

While Bushnell and Mulder don’t have a personal relationship, they served together on the board of the Southern Humboldt Unified School District.

“I find him to be very fair and open-minded,” Bushnell said. “He researches [issues] and is very procedural, very involved.”

Mulder, a licensed contractor and CEO of cannabis cultivation company Humboldt Redwood Healing, frequently comments at meetings of both the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission. (Since the pandemic he’s been showing up via Zoom and the phone.) He regularly expressed opinions on cannabis regulations during the drafting of the county’s Commercial Medical Marijuana Land Use Ordinance (CMMLUO).

The bio on his business’s website notes that as a teenager, Mulder spent a summer foraging native soils and hauling supplies miles into the hills to plant an illicit cannabis garden only to see the crop eradicated, “days before harvest,” by officers from CAMP (the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting), back when the multi-agency task force was at its most aggressive.

Mulder is also an advocate for “rural living,” saying he supports the county’s policy of allowing both a primary residence and an accessory dwelling unit on certain parcels zoned for timber production and agriculture. In recent months he’s been critical of some public health orders while arguing that schools should reopen for in-person instruction. His bio also boasts that he “openly pushes back on the government over rules and regulations … .”

Reached by phone on Monday, Mulder said he took “quite some time” to consider whether or not to accept the appointment. He wanted to make sure that his role in the cannabis industry wouldn’t disqualify him from considering other cannabis projects. (It doesn’t.) He also wanted to make sure he had the support of his friends and family, and he reached out to a couple sitting planning commissioners — Noah Levy and Alan Bongio — to see how much of a time commitment the volunteer position requires.

“If I’m gonna do something, I want to make sure I’m not — for lack of a better term — half-assing it,” Mulder said. Having recently resigned from the school board, Mulder believes he can now spare the 15-20 hours per week month that he expects the position will require. (Planning Commissioners do receive a stipend of $140 per meeting.)

Mulder said he doesn’t have an agenda, and he believes his experience in the weed industry will help him judge the merits of project proposals.

“I’m in the industry, so I understand what it takes for projects to operate,” he said. He’s seen others question certain aspects of proposed projects — the scale of water usage, size of the workforce or number of projected vehicle trips on county roads — and he’s been able to say from his own experience, “‘No, those numbers are pretty accurate,’” he said. “I think I can bring some insight.”

Levy, who has served on the Planning Commission since 2014, told the Outpost, “I’m seriously stoked that Thomas is joining the commission.”

Asked about his position on rural development, Mulder said he loves rural living and hopes that his kids and (eventual) grandkids will be able to have the same experience. But he also acknowledged that there are concerns about development in areas with high fire risk and difficult access. “I have yet to do the research to fully understand that side of the discussion,” he said.

But he’s excited to start doing that kind of research. 

“I told Michelle, ‘I guess I’m a glutton for public volunteering,’” Mulder said. It wasn’t until about a year ago that he found out county planning commissioners aren’t paid for their work, which increased his respect for those who’ve stepped up. That’s his approach, too.

“I’ve always been someone who says if you complain about a problem you’d better be prepared to jump in the ditch and start shoveling shit … ,” he said. “Let’s work together as a community to solve those problems.”

Mulder is set to be appointed at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.