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“I apologize if I acted like an A-hole,” Rex Bohn said into his microphone late this morning.

This mea culpa came among a variety of remorseful statements (some more qualified than others) offered up by the First District supervisor at today’s meeting of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors. “I’m ready to take my lumps,” he said at another point.

Bohn was addressing the results of a third-party investigation into allegations that he’d been abusive and hostile toward staff during a meeting last June. The allegations were sustained after witnesses agreed that Bohn “acted in a disrespectful and aggressive manner toward County employees, which included the use of profanity.”

At the end of an occasionally tense 30-minute discussion on the matter, the board opted not to censure Bohn (a formal expression of disapproval), though a majority of supervisors criticized his behavior, and Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson took particular issue with Bohn for quibbling about the results of the investigation after refusing to participate in it.

Bohn began his remarks by noting that seven months have passed since the incident in question, and while he doesn’t necessarily remember all of the details, he disputes the conclusion that he scheduled the meeting in order to pressure staff into doing a favor for a friend of his.

The ad hoc meeting, which included Bohn, Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone and staff from the county’s Environmental Health division, was scheduled by staff, Bohn said, and this so-called “friend” was more of an acquaintance who he hadn’t spoken with for more than 20 years, until shortly before the meeting. 

The June 24 gathering concerned the county’s draft Tobacco Retailer Licensing (TRL) ordinance, and the complaint alleged that Bohn’s friend/acquaintance was in the process of selling 30 or more Chevron gas stations in Northern California. This person was convinced that the new ordinance would “cost him to lose his tobacco sale license for 3 stations in Humboldt County,” the complaint said.

Bohn said this morning that he wasn’t just lobbying on this one person’s behalf. 

“My intention was to represent the perspectives I was hearing from members of the community,” he said. “Having lived in this area for 71 years, I have many longstanding relationships, and I take seriously my responsibility to listen when people reach out with concerns.”

He said he feels strongly about this particular topic since he was raised in a corner grocery store.

Reading from prepared remarks, Bohn added, “However, I sincerely regret if my tone [or] delivery caused anyone to feel uncomfortable or disrespected. I do apologize for that. …I apologize if anything I said or how I said it caused concern or hurt feelings.”

After a beat, he continued off-script. 

“So I can’t deny [that] I did it. This is my second complaint in 14 years. The other one, [I] was fully exonerated. This one, I didn’t participate in [the investigation] because … I just didn’t,” he said. “Again, I apologize to staff.”

Madrone thanked his colleague for “the heartfelt apology.”

Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo said this incident may be part of a larger issue. She relayed comments from an unidentified consultant who once told her that some county department heads were scared of the supervisors, with particular concerns about how employees might be treated in small group meetings.

“I don’t want to have that kind of culture within the county,” Arroyo said. She called Bohn’s apology “a step in the right direction” and urged her fellow supervisors to be conscious of the power imbalance between them and county employees.

During a public comment period, former Humboldt County planning commissioner Thomas Mulder suggested that the county needs a better process for handling such complaints, given that this investigation cost more than $15,000.

Another commenter questioned why this complaint took so long to be addressed publicly. Human Resources Director Zach O’Hanen explained that the delay was caused in part by the board’s November request to have its Code of Conduct and Ethics reviewed by the Civil Grand Jury. (Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell pushed for that referral late last year after disagreeing with the results of an investigation into her own alleged misconduct.)

“We considered that [referral] to sort of be putting a halt on the process,” O’Hanen said, “and so that’s why this one didn’t move forward as quickly as it [otherwise] would have.”

Wilson, who is serving as board chair this year, said Bohn should have participated in the investigation rather than complaining of inaccuracies after the fact, and he suggested apologize for hurting people’s feelings is insufficient when the underlying issue is the more serious matter of employee intimidation.

Bohn defended and reiterated his apology. “I knew that whatever apology I did was going to get picked apart, and I appreciate that,” he said, adding, “I am very sorry.”

To censure or not to censure?

The board’s decision on whether or not to publicly censure Bohn had a couple of interesting dynamics at play. Misconduct complaints involving county employees are generally handled by the Human Resources Director, who can assign disciplinary measures or corrective action. County supervisors, however, have no superiors in the organizational chart. As such, they’re responsible for policing their own behavior. 

The existing Code of Conduct and Ethics says that when an investigation sustains finding of supervisor misconduct, “Board action is limited to public censure, and such action shall require the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the Board members present and voting.”

But who gets to vote? Does the subject of an investigation have to recuse themself? Bohn certainly didn’t do so today. In fact, after Bushnell made a motion to receive and file the report, rather than to censure Bohn, Bohn himself seconded the motion. [The Outpost emailed county staff to ask whether Bohn should have recused himself, as Bushnell did in November. We have yet to hear back.]

Bushnell, meanwhile, announced at last week’s meeting that she will never censure one of her colleagues. Her own public reprimand in November proved to be a difficult and emotional ordeal, and despite the fact that county policy explicitly gives supervisors the authority to censure one of their own, Bushnell said last week, “It’s not my place. … I am not your judge and jury. Your constituents are.”

With all five supervisors participating, it would have taken a four-fifths vote to censure Bohn. That clearly wasn’t going to happen, so the board opted to simply receive and file the report without objection.

Tobacco Retailer Licensing Ordinance approved

At last week’s meeting, the board split 3-2, with Bohn and Bushnell dissenting, on a final draft of the county’s new Tobacco Retail Licensing Ordinance. Bohn’s objection, as mentioned above, centered largely around a provision prohibiting license transfers to new owners under certain conditions.

The vote for final approval of the ordinance broke down along the same lines today. The ordinance, which you can download by clicking here, applies only to retailers in the county’s unincorporated areas. It prohibits the sale of flavored vapes and tobacco products and formalizes an administrative review process for proposed license denials, suspensions or revocations.

Airport business takes off

Early in today’s meeting, the board received a very sunny report about the growing economic impacts of the California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport, otherwise known as ACV or “The Arcata-Eureka Airport.”

Jack Penning, a managing partner with the consulting firm Volaire Aviation Inc., began by saying, “This is very, very positive,” and indeed it was.

The number of seats available on flights into and out of ACV has grown by 38% over the past year and will soon grow even more thanks to the addition of daily flights to Seattle from Alaska Airlines (starting April 8) and flights to both Las Vegas and Provo, Utah (starting tomorrow).

“The significant increase in seats is a little scary, because we’ve got to fill them,” Penning said. “But our demand in this market is strong enough that these airlines believed, when we delivered the business case, with the help of the county with the community, that they could support the service that we’re going to see.”

He showed a map indicating that local residents will soon be able to fly to 239 different cities across the globe with only one layover. 

“This is the best connectivity our community has ever had by very, very wide margin,” Penning said.

Currently, an average of nearly 400 people get on planes at ACV each day and that number is projected to jump to nearly 600 with the addition of new routes. 

“That’s incredible,” Penning said. “With an airport of our size, we’re up 80% from 2019, the baseline before the pandemic — 80% growth. That’s huge. That does not happen. We’re one of the fastest-growing small community airports in the country.”

There is still a fairly high number of local residents who will drive to San Francisco or Santa Rosa rather than leaving out of ACV, but Penning described that as a growth opportunity. He also noted than roughly 135,000 people arrive at ACV as tourists each year, spending a collective $51 million. 

Penning also said that the airport generates almost $12 million in federal tax revenue every single year and $5.6 million in state taxes while employing 121 people (soon to be 150). 

Hanging over this discussion was the fact that the county’s latest aviation director, Justin Hopman, just resigned after less that two months on the job. But Hopman indicated that he made the decision for family reasons, and Penning said there’s every reason for optimism.

You can download the full economic impact study by clicking here.

Audit findings

Mychal Evenson, the county’s interim auditor-controller, presented the audit reports and financial statements for Fiscal Year 2023-24. He explained that the financial statements audit, which his office performs, looks at the county’s internal fiscal controls, including documentation of financial transactions. The single audit, meanwhile, concerns program-level compliance with federal laws, rules and regulations. It’s performed by the outside firm CliftonLarsonAllen. 

These two audits had five “findings” for this fiscal year, which is bad news. A “finding,” in this context, means either a weaknesses in internal controls or an instance of noncompliance with rules and regulations.

However, CliftonLarsonAllen partner Brianne Weiss, who called in to the meeting via Zoom, said the financial statements were unmodified, which is a “clean opinion” or passing grade. And while findings are never good, Weiss said the “scope and scale” of the ones in Humboldt County’s audits have decreased over time, and she expects that trend to continue.

A finding in the county’s financial statement audit arose due to delayed reporting from the Fortuna Fire Protection District, which contracts with the county for such services, Evenson explained. One of the findings in the single audit likely stemmed from staff turnover in the county’s Airport Improvement Program, Weiss said.

The supervisors weren’t too concerned about these results. Bushnell told Evenson, “I hear continuously [about] how efficient the Auditor-Controller’s Office is becoming, so I just appreciate that.”

Bohn noted how far behind the county had gotten on its fiscal reporting five or six years ago and said that both Evenson and his predecessor, Cheryl Dillingham, “have the respect of … all the people we do business with, especially vendors, especially our government partners.”

The board unanimously agreed to receive and file the report on these audits.

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CORRECTION: This post initially misspelled Jack Penning’s last name. The Outpost regrets the error.