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At today’s Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting, several county employees spoke out against their recent reclassification, with one long-time staffer accusing the board of demoting a subset of staff “in secret” without public input.

During non-agenda public comment, several senior county employees spoke out against the board’s recent closed session decision to reclassify numerous management positions as lower-level staff.

Sharon Wolff, a 26-year county employee and current legislative analyst for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), said she received a letter — linked here — last week informing her that the duties and responsibilities of her position do not meet the county’s definition of a “management employee,” so her position was moved out of the county’s Management & Confidential Compensation Plan into the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) White Collar Unit, a labor union representing public employees nationwide. In simpler terms, Wolff asserts that she was demoted.

Wolff | Screenshot

“The letter calls it a ‘unit modification’, but when it takes away your pay and your benefits, it’s a demotion,” she said. “For many of us, this means a frozen salary, no step increases or cost-of-living adjustments until the new range catches up, the loss of administrative leave, vacation conversion and other benefits we’ve relied on for years. This comes in the middle of a long-term staffing crisis. … I understand the county deficit. But there is a better way.”

“This is going to be a very public discussion if we’re going to balance the budget on the backs of your staff,” Wolff warned.

Another county employee, who did not identify himself, read a letter from Donna Becker, a 20-year employee currently working in the Child Welfare Services (CWS) division of DHHS. Becker wrote that she was “devastated” when she received the letter via email. “Honestly, I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach.”

“I understand your decision is about the position, not the person, but I want to tell you that this position has a real person’s life attached to it,” Becker wrote. “The decision to reclassify so many staff that have the same feelings as I is abominable. … I fought to belong as a valued team member to the CWS MNC [management and confidential] admin team. If anything, I would like my position to be grandfathered into this unit modification as long as I am employed. If not, I will more than likely leave [my] position.”

Paula Lorenzo, an employee with the agriculture commission’s office, told the board that she could understand the importance of reclassifying staff to the appropriate position, but said she “strongly disagree[s] with placing the financial consequences of the county’s classification errors on the employees who had no part in creating them.”

“I never anticipated that after four years [with the ag department], I would also face what essentially amounts to a demotion, a freeze in my current pay and the loss of two weeks administrative leave,” Lorenzo said, her voice wavering with emotion. “I would not have left my previous county position or accepted my current position had I known it would be reclassified.”

The board did not address staff’s concerns at today’s meeting because the board does not typically engage with speakers during public comment. 

The Outpost emailed the County Administrative Office seeking more information about what prompted the issuance of the letter, but we did not receive a response before publication. We’ll update this post when we hear back.

Humboldt Supervisors to Reconsider RCRC Membership

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn will continue to serve as Humboldt County’s representative on the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) Board of Directors — for now. 

At today’s meeting, the board made its annual appointments to the RCRC Board of Directors, the Golden State Finance Authority (GSFA) and Golden State Connect Authority (GSCA), reappointing Bohn as the county’s delegate and Third District Supervisor and Board Chair Mike Wilson as alternate. But before the appointments were approved by the board, the discussion took an unexpected turn when Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone said he was “not prepared to support anybody as our delegate” and suggested that the county discontinue its membership with RCRC altogether. 

Madrone | Screenshot

“I do not feel that RCRC represents this county’s majority at all,” Madrone said, noting that he’s gone to three RCRC board meetings during his time as supervisor. “[I] have been treated very rudely by many of the members, and [it has] been made abundantly clear that they don’t really appreciate my type of involvement or my perspectives or my input, and I’ve never had that kind of feeling at any of the other groups or meetings I go to. … I, personally, would like us to save the $12,000 and discontinue our membership to RCRC, but that’s not what’s on the agenda today.”

Clerk of the Board Tracy D’Amico clarified a little later in the discussion that the county is reimbursed for most of the $12,000 annual membership fee. 

“For the entire county organization to be a member of RCRC and benefit from them is costing us roughly $1,800 [annually],” D’Amico said. “The CSAC invoice this year was $34,089, and again, that is for the entire organization. However, they do not reimburse [the county] for our representation to attend meetings. … There is a much larger expense to be a participant in CSAC than RCRC.”

Given that Wilson was absent, Madrone made a motion to continue the item to a future meeting when the full board was present to discuss the issue. Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo, who was sitting in as board chair, seconded the motion, noting that she was “not saying that I think we inherently should withdraw” from RCRC.

“I’m inclined to want to have the conversation about the pros and cons of membership with our full board,” Arroyo said.

Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell asked if Madrone would be willing to amend his motion to reappoint Bohn and Wilson for the time being and bring the item back for discussion next week. Madrone declined and his motion failed in a 2-2 vote, with Bohn and Bushnell dissenting. 

Bushnell reiterated her suggested motion, which was seconded by Bohn, and it passed 4-0. 

Bohn | Screenshot

At the beginning of the discussion, before Madrone suggested the county leave RCRC, Bohn recalled 12-plus years spent on the RCRC Board of Directors, which advocates for rural issues at the state and federal levels. “I think I’ve represented Humboldt County very, very well,” he said.

Bohn admitted that there were a “contentious couple years” at RCRC’s annual auction and basket drawing, possibly referring to the time in 2023 when he decided to include a handgun in Humboldt County’s auction basket. “We’ve had the No.1 basket, 12 out of 13 years,” he added. 

Bushnell said she would be “happy to support Rex” as the delegate for the coming year, and felt it would be a “disservice to the county” to leave RCRC. “I think it’s a great organization … and I think he does a good job,” she said.

The board will discuss next steps for its RCRC membership at next week’s meeting.