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PREVIOUSLY: Honsal Pleads for Hiring Freeze Exception; Board Punts Decision on Short-Term Rental Ordinance to March

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Despite ongoing budgetary concerns, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday granted an exception to the countywide hiring freeze and approved Sheriff William Honsal’s request to hire three full-time administrative employees to alleviate staffing woes within the department.

The three positions – one Administrative Analyst and two Community Service Officers (CSOs)– are already funded under the current budget for Fiscal Year 2023-24. The department’s previous Administrative Analyst left the position after being promoted to Administrative Services Officer (ASO). Similarly, one of the CSOs recently took over the department’s Public Information Specialist position, leaving behind five CSO vacancies in total. 

The item had been placed under the consent portion of the board’s agenda, meaning it would have been approved along with various other matters without deliberation, but it was pulled for further discussion by Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone.

“I recognize that these are actually funded positions in our existing budget, but that budget is $17 million in the hole,” Madrone said. “I am concerned that if we keep doing these exceptions, we’re hiring people that within a year or two we’re going to [have] to let go because we know the budget is still very dire for the next several years. Sales taxes are not going up, and I assume that’s [due to] increased costs of PG&E bills, food, gas and everything else. People simply aren’t buying things, and that doesn’t look any prettier for the next couple of years.”

Honsal noted that the newly created ASO position is going to focus on grant opportunities that would provide additional funding for much-needed county positions and projects that are currently supported by the General Fund. The Administrative Analyst position is needed to adequately staff the office and support the ASO, he said.

Honsal | Screenshot

“At this point in time, the Sheriff’s Office has millions of dollars’ worth of grants,” he said. “There’s money left on the table because we don’t have the bandwidth to go after more grants because of all of the time it takes to manage these grants. As you know, Supervisor Madrone, you’ve applied for and supervised grants in the past, [and] they are very, very time-intensive.”

The CSO positions provide “vital” support to sheriff’s deputies, Honsal continued, by responding to and investigating lower-priority calls for service where there is not a suspect on-scene, including thefts, vandalisms and burglaries. 

“They also are there to provide Neighborhood Watch-type information [on] how to better secure your home and crime prevention techniques,” he said. “Again, they take the place of a deputy sheriff because our [deputies] are running from one part of the county to the other, and oftentimes we don’t have time to give to some of these vital cases.”

Madrone said he could recognize that the three positions are important to the department but said, “We’re in a tough position and it’s not going to end anytime soon.”

Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo said she appreciated the focus on grant funding and the need to reduce sworn officers’ workload but, like Madrone, expressed concern for the county budget.

“We’re also having conversations about reorganization and efficiency,” she said. “We’re going to dramatically change the way we do work, particularly in the General Fund-funded departments, and that is no reflection [of] the value of the work that those departments do or the importance of it. … It is a painful process and it’s gonna get a little worse before it gets better.”

Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson echoed Arroyo’s comments, adding that he would like to see all county departments apply for more grant funding opportunities. However, Wilson questioned the “performance value” of having positions that are focused on grant writing.

“I just want to be careful about that … and how this impacts our PERS in the future,” he said, referring to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. “Every time we hire someone – even for a little while – we have a long-term financial impact that we need to consider.”

First District Supervisor and Board Chair Rex Bohn noted that the upcoming budget discussion will force the board to determine “what is nice and what is needed.”

“We have a lot of programs that feel really good and do good work, but do they continue what the county is going to need during these tough times?” he asked. “We need public safety, health, things like that. … That’s going to be the tough call that we’re all going to have to make.”

Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell also acknowledged the difficult situation at hand, noting that the Sheriff’s Office “is looking at the biggest budget cuts” in the county. 

Bushnell made a motion to approve the item, which was seconded by Arroyo. The motion passed 4-1, with Madrone dissenting.

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Emergency Proclamation for Centerville Landslide

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a Local Emergency Proclamation in response to ongoing slide activity at Centerville Beach, located just west of Ferndale. The proclamation, issued by Sheriff Honsal at the end of last week, opens up the opportunity for the county to apply for state and federal funding to assist in recovery efforts.

Ryan Derby, Emergency Services Manager for the local Office of Emergency Services, said the landslide has “expanded pretty rapidly” since it initially occurred in the early morning hours of Feb. 24.

“If – or I should say when – Centerville Road becomes impacted by this slide, it’s going to dramatically increase the response times for local fire and local law enforcement,” he said. “This is becoming a public safety threat.”

The landslide took out the Fleener Creek Trailhead, which overlooked the beach and creek below. Public Works Director Tom Mattson said the cliff’s edge has moved about 30 feet closer to the county road – from 62 to 32 feet – since the slide initially occurred. “This is not acting like a regular landslide,” he said. “It acts kind of like a glacier where it just flakes off in chunks. So we are very concerned that the road will flake off.”

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While it may be tempting to drive over and check out the jaw-dropping destruction, Mattson asked residents to curb their curiosity and avoid the area if possible.

“We do not want people to go there,” he emphasized. “This is undercut – it’s not straight off the edge, it’s actually concaved in.”

Derby said county staff is meeting regularly with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to figure out short- and long-term solutions. They’ve also consulted with a local engineering geologist who recommended that the road be moved as far inland as possible.

“This has been active at least since 1992, and with the seismic activity that we have in our region it is going to continue falling off the side of the cliff,” Derby continued. With the short-term actions, we need to have some long-term goals in mind.”

After a bit of discussion among board members, Arroyo made a motion to approve the item, which was seconded by Wilson. The motion was unanimously approved.

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Other notable bits:

• The board approved an $800,000 purchase agreement for a 13,200-square-foot property on the corner of Fourth and H Streets, across from the Humboldt County Courthouse. The site is currently occupied by Courthouse Union auto repair. Sean Meehan, deputy director of facilities management at the Department of Public Works, said the county doesn’t have any specific plans for the property, but said the existing structures will be demolished to accommodate four- to five-story office facilities. During public comment, one woman reminded the board of its budgetary woes and asked if buying the property was something the county would “like to have” or “need[s] to have.” The purchase agreement was unanimously approved.
• The board granted a request from Planning and Building Director John Ford to continue the scheduled public hearing for the revocation of a cannabis cultivation permit for Hwy 36 Farms, LLC, which has been out of compliance with county regulations since 2023. Ford said he was concerned that the applicant wasn’t properly noticed of the public hearing, and asked the board to continue the discussion to Tuesday, April 23. The request was unanimously approved.
• Reporting out from closed session, County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes announced that the county had reached a “global settlement” with former Deputy County Counsel Cathie Childs, who sued the county last year for wrongful termination, among other claims. “The terms of the settlement are that the county agrees to waive all sanctions awarded against Ms. Childs in the superior court case and to dismiss that case,” Hayes stated. “In exchange, Ms. Childs agrees to dismiss the District Court case. The county will not pay any money to Ms. Childs for the settlement agreement.”
• The board also received an update on “Workplace 2030!” formerly known as the Great Culture Change program.