HUMBOLDT TODAY: A community garden in Arcata is again the victim of vandalism; a company set to develop offshore wind in our region makes a sizable financial commitment to a local nonprofit; plus, what does John think about Croatia’s Eurovision entry this year? Find out in tonight’s online newscast. 

FURTHER READING:

• CONVERSATIONS: Civil Grand Jury Foreman John Heckel on the County’s Sorry State of Child Protective Services, Election Integrity, Becoming a Grand Juror and More
• RWE, the German Company Planning Offshore Wind Development Here, Announces $10K Annual Donation to Food for People

HUMBOLDT TODAY can be viewed on LoCO’s homepage each night starting at 6 p.m.

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After 11 months of allegedly being “hazed” by Public Works staff, former deputy county counsel Cathie Childs is preparing to sue the County of Humboldt and her former supervisors — County Counsel Scott Miles and Assistant County Counsel Natalie Duke — for wrongful termination. Childs is seeking $1.4 million in damages.

Cathie Childs

Childs, who is being represented by local attorney Cyndy Day-Wilson, claims her superiors and Public Works staff consistently undermined her legal authority and instructed her to go against her own legal judgment, putting the county at unnecessary risk. Childs pushed back against the county’s “continuing pattern of bad behavior” during her time as deputy county counsel but was ultimately fired for doing so, according to the Claim for Damages.

The County of Humboldt declined to comment on the allegations detailed in this story, citing pending litigation.

“This matter is important to the county; however, this is potentially a legal matter, and we want to preserve the integrity of that process,” county spokesperson Cati Gallardo wrote in an email to the Outpost. “As such, we will not be able to discuss this topic with the press further at this time.”

“Disrespectful and Inappropriate Criticisms”

After practicing law in Texas for the better part of 30 years, most recently representing local governments in the Austin area, Childs applied and interviewed for the deputy county counsel position with the County of Humboldt in September 2021. 

In a Sept. 9 email to the County Administrative Office (CAO), then County Counsel Jefferson Billingsley said Childs would be “an excellent fit for [the] office,” noting her “extensive experience and history with government law,” and requested permission to offer her the job “as soon as possible,” according to the claim. Childs accepted the job offer shortly thereafter and stepped into the position at the beginning of October.

Once she was on the job, Childs was assigned to serve as the primary legal advisor to a number of county departments, including Economic Development, Elections and Public Works.

On her second day with the county, Childs was contacted by Tom DeAge, a Real Property Agent in Public Works, who introduced himself and asked her to review, approve and return a pre-drafted lease for a property by the end of the workday, according to the claim. She reviewed the lease and noted that “the County agreed to indemnify the Lessor in [the] lease when the County should not,” adding that the county “had not provided the required written notice to exercise the option term therein.”

“The last minute notice that a rush assignment was be [sic] sent to Ms. Childs – usually with just an hour or two notice – was normal operating procedure for Public Works,” the claim states. “When Ms. Childs asked Mr. Billingsley the following week if everything from Public Works was a rush, Mr. Billingsley replied, ‘It will if you let it be.’ Ms. Childs was given no direction on how to deal with the last-minute requests.”

This began a pattern of Public Works staff “undermining” Childs, the claim continues, by sending her pre-drafted legal documents written by “non-lawyers” with “incredibly short timelines” for review and approval.

“It became apparent to me that there was a certain way that county staff did things when it came to legal agreements and they were not things that I was accustomed to,” Childs told the Outpost during a recent interview. 

Childs’ claim points to numerous situations in which DeAge “publicly dispargag[ed]” her legal opinion in front of non-attorney staff. She contacted DeAge directly and asked him to “clarify any questions or concerns he had about her work with her or her supervisors rather than on a multi-party Zoom conference.” 

“I was openly criticized on Zoom calls and conferences by men in Public Works,” Childs said. “I requested of staff that if there were a disagreement with my legal conclusions, to come to me or my supervisor, rather than make it a non-lawyer group consensus. That did not go over well with staff. As a governmental attorney, I’m technically not staff’s attorney. I’m the county”s attorney. I’m supposed to protect the county.”

When his “disrespectful and inappropriate criticisms” continued, Childs contacted one of DeAge’s supervisors and asked if he “equally and publicly criticized men’s work,” adding that his behavior “needed to stop.”

Shortly thereafter, DeAge stopped contacting Childs directly and did not initiate communication with Childs during multi-member staff Zoom meetings, the claim states.

Ongoing Aviation Concerns

Childs was assigned to the Department of Aviation in January 2022 shortly after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against the county over past management practices of the county’s six-airport system. She was assigned to the department to investigate several action items outlined in the agreed upon stipulation issued by the court and to ensure the county’s compliance.

If you recall, that lawsuit originated from an anonymous whistleblower complaint, brought forth in 2018, that exposed a laundry list of regulatory compliance issues stemming from past management practices of the county’s six-airport system, which was previously under the purview of Public Works. These violations ranged from excessively cheap lease agreements with other county departments to the misuse and inappropriate diversion of airport revenue, among other issues.

“One of the things we had to consider moving forward were several action items that were identified by the court as needing the status on and how the County would comply in the future,” Childs told the Outpost. “Part of my job was assisting staff on informing the court about what those action items were and how the County would continue to address them in the future.”

Her chief concern was the county’s history of diverting airport revenue to Public Works. If the county slipped back into its old ways, the FAA could refile the lawsuit.

“After getting the County out of litigation with the FAA, I knew that documenting what was previously and could be perceived as continued noncompliance was not a good idea,” Childs said. “It doesn’t always have to be an intentional diversion of funds. Staff doesn’t necessarily have to intend or know they’re misusing airport revenue. There are very innocuous ways to misuse airport revenue.”

Childs and Billingsley worked closely with Aviation Director Cody Roggatz to address the concerns outlined in the court’s agreed upon stipulation. To address the misuse of airport revenue, the Aviation Department decided to “use its own contracts rather than submit its work requests to the Public Works,” which required a 15 percent commission fee for work performed by Public Works staff.

The claim also highlights the inappropriate use of specific documents, or templates, that are pre-approved by the Board of Supervisors and used by staff for various county transactions. 

“Different transactions have different elements and require different documents,” Childs explained. “If you have template ABC but transaction XYZ, your templates will not address the legal issues that need to be addressed in the transaction. … I am used to lawyers determining what legal document is appropriate and drafting or tailoring that document to the facts.”

The problem is, when staff selects a template that does not cover the necessary legal issues, one of the county’s attorneys has to fix it. Not only is that an inefficient use of time, Childs said, but it can be difficult for staff who have become “emotionally invested in their work.”

“In one instance, a staff member e-mailed me a document that they had reported working on for over two months, refused my legal advice saying the CAO was waiting for it and that it needed to go on the board’s next agenda,” she said. “I advised this person that it wasn’t the appropriate document, [explained] why and then sent it through anyway after noting in the agenda system I had advised staff this was not the appropriate legal document. That seemed to make everyone happy.”

Childs went to her superiors and two department heads “to express her concerns about non-lawyers negotiating and drafting legal agreements for complex transactions,” but there’s no indication in the claim that any action was taken. 

During her time working with the Aviation Department, Childs inevitably crossed paths with Public Works staff on various projects and the “hazing” continued.

“Beware Public Works”

In March 2022, Billingsley called a meeting to announce his resignation, effective April 15. Two days before his departure, Billingsley gave Childs her six-month performance review, “which was largely positive,” consisting of primarily fours and fives on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest. 

“One of the lower ratings was for ‘client relations,’” according to the claim. “When [Childs] inquired about the low score, [Billingsley] advised [her] as he was leaving her office [to] ‘Beware Public Works.’” 

On April 18, a few days after Scott Miles had stepped into the role of interim county counsel, Childs went to his office to express her concerns over the continued inappropriate use of airport revenue. She also asked Miles how she should address ongoing issues with Public Works staff.

“After a few discussions regarding the problems with Public Works department did not appear to be getting through to [Miles], [Childs] asked [him] for permission to speak plainly,” the claim states. “[Miles] said she could and [Childs] responded, ‘Scott, if I had a penis, I would not be treated this way,’ and [he] responded, ‘You’re right, you are being hazed.’ Stunned at [his] admission of inappropriate conduct and no offer to remedy it, [she] replied, ‘Hazing is not okay.’”

Miles advised Childs to file a claim against Public Works through the county’s Human Resources Department, but she felt such an approach “would not build good working relations,” according to the claim. Childs asked if she should undergo additional training to build a “shared understanding” of her role as deputy county counsel. Miles suggested he and Childs meet with the Human Resources attorney Anne Nguyen to discuss the next steps “so everyone could understand their various roles in the approval process and ‘stay in their own lanes.’”

The meeting didn’t amount to much. Nguyen, like Miles, advised Childs to file a claim against Public Works. The possibility of additional training never came up.

In a follow-up email, Nguyen acknowledged the difficult situation and was sympathetic to Childs’ strained relationship with Public Works staff. “I’m really sorry that you had to experience that,” Nguyen wrote. “I completely understand your desire to just move forward, but I would really appreciate the opportunity – whenever you are ready – to talk in more detail about what has occurred to date so that a thorough and complete assessment can be made of any possible violations of … county policy.”

Childs argued that bringing forth a claim would be pointless. She maintained that the root of the issue was “the county’s ‘Boyz club’ [and] ‘hazing’ culture,” according to the claim. 

The behavior persisted. About three months later in July 2022, after someone from the CAO’s office had misconstrued her legal advice regarding an agreement between Aviation and Public Works, Childs contacted Miles asking for guidance.

“The reassignment of the Public Works assignment was in response to your concerns and to protect you from potential issues that you raised,” Miles wrote in an emailed response to Childs, as stated in the claim. “Aviation and Public Works do frequently work closely and this will likely not be the last time that you would have to work on an item that spans between Aviation and Public Works. With that in mind, how would you feel about swapping the Aviation assignment to another attorney in this office?”

Miles added that his offer was an attempt “to be as supportive as I can to you and your success here at the County.”

Childs felt the action was a punishment.

“I thought it was punitive action for my continuing to challenge the hazing I was receiving from Public Works,” Childs told the Outpost. “Neither Aviation nor I had requested a reassignment and as far as I knew, the Director of Aviation and I were in agreement on legal issues. … Ultimately, rather than address improper conduct my supervisor had called ‘hazing,’ the answer from my supervisors was to remove work and entire departments from my caseload which I felt was punitive.”

At this point, Miles had acknowledged that their relationship was “strained” and set up a second meeting with Human Resources Director Zach O’Hanen. During that meeting, Miles allegedly called Childs “disrespectful and unprofessional” for continuing to challenge the hazing incidents. O’Hanen allegedly told Childs that she “did not understand government employment.”

“They acknowledged my concern but it became clear to me that they had no intention of changing the way that things had historically been done by Public Works,” Childs said. “I felt I was approaching a crossroads where I had to make a choice between my job and my license. So, I went outside the chain of command and that’s what got me fired.”

Around the end of September, Childs requested a meeting with Miles and the CAO to address the ongoing “issue of the unauthorized practice of law by non-lawyer County staff.” 

“At 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, [Sept. 22], despite repeated requests by [Childs] for an answer, [Miles] did not answer whether he would set up such a meeting,” the claim states. “[She] informed [Miles] that his lack of a response left her no choice but to file an ethics complaint against he and Duke with the California Bar for allowing non-lawyer County staff to practice law while [she] was not permitted to do so.” 

Just before noon the following day, Childs was fired via email for “alleged repeated instances of disrespect to her supervisor.”

Childs Prepares to Sue the County

Childs received a Notice to Cease and Desist one week after she was fired from outside counsel representing the county. The notice ordered her to stop “disclosing confidential and/or attorney-client privileged information” as well as complaints, “whether they be criminal, administrative or disciplinary.”

Because Childs had not requested anything in return regarding her complaint with the California Bar, there was no violation, according to Day-Wilson. In addition, Day-Wilson argued that the county has “misapplied the definition” of attorney-client privilege. 

“Attorney-client privilege protects only confidential communications made by a client seeking legal advice from their legal adviser,” the claim states. “County staff are NOT [Childs’] clients. The Board of Supervisors is the client.”

When asked if anything came of the ethics violation she filed with the California Bar, Childs said she had gone through with filing the complaint but months later in December it was closed. “I told [the Bar] that this was a culture in the county and the answer I eventually received was that it was closed due to a lack of specificity,” she said.

Childs filed the Claim for Damages against the county at the beginning of this year. The county responded with a Notice of Rejected Claim on Mar. 6, opening the six-month window for Childs to move forward with legal action.

Childs claims she has “suffered damages in excess of $25,000,” as well as loss of reputation, humiliation and an impaired ability to seek employment in her field. “Given the facts, her inability to obtain employment, and the County’s continuing pattern of bad behavior in the County Counsel’s office … she is demanding the sum of $1.4 million to fully resolve this matter,” the claim states.

“This has affected me personally,” Childs told the Outpost. “I moved here for this job [and] tried to do my job, but the only advice I got from my supervisors was to file a formal complaint. When I informed them I was filing a complaint, I was fired. … This whole situation just makes me feel sad. I had hoped this would be my last big move, that this would be the place I would spend the rest of my career and retirement. That”s not how it worked out.”

Childs plans to sue the county for wrongful termination. Day-Wilson added that they would also allege the violation of Childs’ federal civil rights and free speech. 

“The lawsuit will be filed in federal court shortly,” Day-Wilson said.

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Documents:

• Claim for Damages
• Notice of Rejected Claim

UPDATE, THURSDAY MORNING:

The Sheriff’s Office says Ms. Robinson has been found, and is fine.

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Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office needs the public’s help to locate missing person Marian Sunshine Robinson, age 23, of Loleta. Robinson is believed to be missing under unknown circumstances and may be experiencing a mental health crisis.

Robinson was last seen leaving a residence on Bowie Road in Loleta at approximately 1:30 a.m. on May 10, 2023 and was reported missing by a family member at 2:11 a.m. after she failed to check into a hotel room in Loleta.

Robinson is described as a Native American adult female, 5 feet tall, 85 pounds, with brown hair down to her ribs, brown eyes, and a tattoo of a machine gun on her left arm. Robinson was last seen wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt with white stripes on the elbows, black leggings, and black slide shoes.

Anyone with information for the Sheriff’s Office regarding Robinson’s possible whereabouts should call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251.

Last week, the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury released a second report from its work during the 2022-2023 year. In its first report, the jury found the county’s elections integrity to be sound. The second report was not so glowing. 

In the latest HUMBOLDT CONVERSATIONS, grand jury foreperson John Heckel speaks with the Outpost’s John Kennedy O’Connor about the state of child welfare services locally — a system much-scrutinized for its perceived dysfunction in recent years.

Tune in above and/or peruse the transcript below.

O’CONNOR:

Well, welcome to another Humboldt Conversation. I’m really pleased to say today we’re joined by John Heckel, who is the jury foreperson for the 2022-2023 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury. John, thank you for joining us for a Humboldt Conversation. It’s very nice to meet you.

Now, you just issued actually two reports for this particular season. The first one was not particularly contentious. It was about voter fraud, or potential voter fraud. And basically the jury’s decision was that we should have a vote on the election.

HECKEL:

Well, not exactly voter fraud. What we did was we took the temperature of the national climate and the national climate stories kept popping up about election difficulties, illegal elections, all of that stuff. So we decided what we wanted to do was take a look at Humboldt County’s elections and we were pretty sure that the volunteers that came from the community and served us did a great job. We investigated, we watched the whole process and then we issued a report in an attempt to assure the voters of Humboldt County that they can trust their local elections regardless of what it says on a national level.

O’CONNOR:

But the second report was much more contentious.

HECKEL:

Contentious is an interesting way of saying it.

O’CONNOR:

Well, it was regarding a complaint that actually you received about the child welfare services and how I think the word we used was dysfunctional and how their dysfunctionality was creating problems for child care services in the court system particularly. So what are the conclusions?

HECKEL:

Part of the complaint was also about the allegation that there was a toxic environment in child welfare services and then the complaint was specific about a number of issues within the department. So the grand jury which is charged by the penal code to look at all complaints that come in. Citizens of Humboldt County can send a fill out a complaint form and file the complaint with the grand jury and then we take all of those complaints seriously and we look at what’s what’s happening.

And we began that investigation and then discovered that in fact child welfare services within the county is dysfunctional, is running at maybe 50 to 60 percent filled position. There are a number of positions that are vacant that have been allocated. The sums for the positions have been allocated. So you’ve got literally let’s say you’ve got five people trying to do the work of ten people right. So the allocations for the majority of those other five people that are not filled, the sums of money has been allocated. So what happens is those five people are asked to work overtime. They create an incredibly difficult situation, stress, burnout and then what happens is those people quit.

So if you started with the five and you create that kind of toxic environment in child welfare services then you got more people that resign and so there’s a cycle that’s currently going on in relationship to that. And then the other thing we’ve discovered is that that also causes a problem in terms of any child that is in the system or any number of different reports that the social workers have to file in relationship to that child for the court system. And we found there’s a humongous delay in filing of those reports. And we discovered that there is statistical evidence that the longer a child is in the system the more traumatic it is for the child. And the sooner that we can make a decision regarding a child, whether to take that child put her in permanent foster care or return it to the home, the better for the child.

And Humboldt County Child Welfare Services is not doing a very good job in all of those regards.

O’CONNOR:

You’re obviously charged with looking into this and reporting findings, but are you also charged with coming up with the help?

HECKEL:

Yes, the penal code is really interesting about this in terms of the civil grand jury system in California. We can’t just criticize, we can’t just find failings within county government or city government or special districts or whatever. We have to come up with recommendations on how to solve the problem. So in this particular report, and I encourage people to read the whole report, then people can read what the Board of Supervisors are reading. Hopefully at this minute they’re taking a look at the report, looking at the recommendations. There’s some very specific recommendations in relationship to hiring practices, what the county can do to hire and to attract more social workers within the system. There are specific recommendations of what it can do in the training of those social workers that come in and how to create an environment so that the social workers that do come in and work within the system work within a more productive and enjoyable environment.

O’CONNOR:

To the board of supervisors to implement that, or do you have your budget to put on in terms of time constraints that this has to happen?

HECKEL:

Yes, the recommendations, typically, civil grand juries make recommendations addressed to specific people, in this case, Board of Supervisors, what they want the Board of Supervisors to do and by when they want the Board of Supervisors to do it. So this report starts a dialogue. The whole idea is that the civil grand jury starts a dialogue, and it starts a dialogue between the civil grand jury, what they discovered, the press, you, you get engaged in the dialogue, and the Board of Supervisors are required by the penal code to respond to all the findings and recommendations.

And because the Board of Supervisors is a board, and so their responses are put on the agenda and the public has a chance to comment on their responses, they have 90 days to respond. So the clock started ticking last week when that report came out or at the beginning of this week, so by 90 days from whenever the date of the release of the report is, Board of Supervisors has to respond. And they have to agree or disagree, and if they disagree with a recommendation or a finding, they have to state why. So now you have a dialogue, and the goal is to make that dialogue public so that people know about that dialogue and they can get engaged with that process.

O’CONNOR:

We, the Outpost, did actually publish your report on our website, so you can go look there. It did actually already spark a very healthy…

HECKEL:

I’ve read that. I’ve read the debate. I’ve read the debate.

O’CONNOR:

I know you can’t tell us exactly what you’re working but there are more reports coming in this season.

HECKEL:

Well, I can’t even tell you that because if I were to tell you that, that would be a violation of confidentiality. And if you if you if you read what’s going on nationally, the issue of confidentiality and grand juries is a constant topic for the press. And if we violated confidentiality, people wouldn’t talk to us. That makes sense, right? The only way that people talk to us is they know that we will never reveal who we talk to, what they said, all of that stuff. And all the members of the grand jury are sworn to confidentiality for life. It’s not even a matter of like our term is over in a month and a half from now. And even for the rest of our lives, we can’t talk about what went on in that room.

O’CONNOR:

That’s actually very, very reassuring and very good to know. But you are actually of course looking for jurors.

HECKEL:

Next year, right. Right now, there are applications for next year’s grand jury available on the county website and also at the grand jury office in the courthouse. They can drop by, physically take one from the door, fill it out, or they can go to the county website. And we’re really, really, as someone who’s lived in Humboldt County for almost 50 years, I’m really grateful to the other 19 grand jury people who have volunteered and who have served this whole year. And hopefully we can find another group to take over and do next year. Absolutely, it’s very, very important.

O’CONNOR:

John, thank you so much indeed for joining us today for a Humboldt Conversation.

PREVIOUSLY:

• ‘IT’S OK TO VOTE’: Grand Jury Issues Its First Report of This Cycle, Focused on Humboldt County Election Integrity
• In its Second Report of the Year, the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury Tackles the ‘Dysfunctional’ State of Child Welfare Services in the County and the ‘Toxic’ Work Atmosphere Within the Department

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PREVIOUSLY: SOLD! BOEM Names California North Floating and RWE Offshore Wind Holdings as Provisional Winners of Two Offshore Wind Leases Off the Humboldt Coast

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Press release from RWE:

RWE has partnered with Humboldt County’s designated food bank, Food for People, to deliver more than 5,200 meals to local residents through an annual donation of $10,000. Food for People has been supporting communities in Humboldt for nearly 45 years, working to eliminate hunger and improve the health and well-being of the community through access to healthy and nutritious foods, community education, and advocacy. Food for People supports more than 16,000 individuals across Humboldt County every month.

“Partnerships with organizations like Food for People empower communities to access the resources they need most,” said Sam Eaton, CEO RWE Offshore Wind Holdings. “This is an early step RWE can take to support decades of good work already underway and champion this cause for years to come.”

Food for People operates a total of 18 programs, each of which is designed to address the needs of those who are experiencing hunger and food insecurity. Their onsite Eureka Choice  Pantry, one of 18 in Food for People’s network, provides income-eligible community members access to healthy and nutritious foods. This system emphasizes choices, allowing people to shop through their selection process, rather than receiving pre-packaged bags. The choice system helps families go home with the foods that they need and like while leaving behind items that they will not use, so none goes to waste.

“So many are suffering in our community due to the rising costs of food and other necessities and we have seen the need for our service increase dramatically as pandemic era food assistance programs come to an end,” said Carly Robbins, Development Director of the Food for People Food Bank in Humboldt County. “We understand the long-term consequences of hunger and poor nutrition and thanks to the generous support from RWE we can continue our commitment to creating a stronger and healthier Humboldt County.”

“RWE is demonstrating a strong commitment to our community through its ongoing support of Food for People, an organization that reaches and supports a large number of Humboldt County residents,” said Nancy Olsen, President and CEO, Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce. “This early action shows the kind of community partner RWE strives to be as they begin to develop their offshore wind project in Humboldt County.”

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RWE has a history of supporting communities across the entire lifecycle of its clean energy projects, from development to construction and operations, closely tied to its mission: our energy for a sustainable life. In 2020, the company donated $250,000 to more than 45 organizations across 11 states to support host communities during COVID-19. Through its joint venture with National Grid Ventures in the New York Bight, Community Offshore Wind, RWE also donated over 30,000 meals of fresh, local seafood during the 2022 holiday season.

In December of 2022, RWE was successful in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) offshore wind lease auction in California. The company acquired the rights to develop about 1.6 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity 25 miles off the coast of Humboldt County. The project will be among the first commercial scale floating wind projects in the world and has the potential to provide clean electricity for nearly 600,000 homes. This builds on RWE’s 3.2 GW Community Offshore Wind project off the coasts of New York and New Jersey. RWE is one of the world’s leading offshore wind developers globally and a top-five renewables company in the United States.

Humboldt County’s proposed offshore wind project would significantly reduce carbon emissions throughout California by providing upwards of 1.6 gigawatts of clean, renewable-sourced energy. But to ensure the success of offshore wind and to meet the promise of climate action, decision-makers must commit to a green port facility capable of building and servicing the turbines while not further contributing to greenhouse gas emissions or polluting Humboldt Bay.

A key component of a thriving offshore wind industry is a port capable of constructing, assembling, and maintaining wind turbines. The Humboldt Bay Harbor District has partnered with Crowley Wind Services, a multinational port development company, to build this heavy lift terminal on the Samoa Peninsula. There are various potential benefits: port development could create many family-wage jobs and substantially contribute to a growing local economy—all while making important strides towards a clean-energy future to address the climate crisis.

Unfortunately, these types of heavy-lift terminals have a mixed track record for communities. On land, port equipment such as terminal tractors, forklifts, yard trucks, cranes, and handlers commonly run on diesel. In the water, most heavy-duty cargo ships and tugboats also run on diesel or heavy fuel oil, polluting the air. Ships and tugs even burn fuel while docked at the terminal to maintain a base load of electricity. As a result, communities surrounding these ports often suffer from the effects of air pollution. In Los Angeles, for example, air quality studies revealed that these diesel fumes significantly raised cancer risk for people within fifteen miles of the terminals.

Our port doesn’t have to be this way. Recent technological developments have made major progress towards enabling the possibility of a ‘green port.’ Green ports seek to make all aspects of operation sustainable, from the heavy machinery on land to the ships docked at the harbor. This work requires moving away from fossil fuels and shifting towards electrification and other zero-carbon energy sources, such as green hydrogen.

Other ports are already demonstrating that these zero-emission targets are attainable with the electrification of terminal equipment, resulting in cleaner day-to-day operations. Additionally, installing shore power stations can reduce pollution from idling ships by up to 95 percent when tapped into the electricity grid while at berth. Another clean-air possibility was revealed at a recent public engagement meeting when Crowley representatives touted the planned creation of an all-electric tugboat to service the Bay of San Diego. When the wind turbines are constructed and start generating electricity, the green port could become doubly effective by storing energy during peak production. By relying heavily on these evolving technologies, Humboldt Bay could be uniquely positioned to become a trailblazer and a worldwide leader in green port development.

Financial barriers to this type of infrastructure are also disappearing. Not only is the technology becoming more affordable, but a flurry of state, federal, and philanthropic funding could make a sustainable buildout financially lucrative. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 set aside three billion dollars for green port infrastructure. In a recent public board meeting, the Executive Director of the Harbor District commented on the difficulties of securing grant funding for terminal development, stating that Port Development Infrastructure Program grants are “highly competitive.” Humboldt County will be a far stronger candidate for such funding if decision-makers formally commit to an ambitious zero-emissions approach that builds strong support within the community while telling a unique and compelling story.

Finally, it’s also important to note that this approach is not just vital to the community, the environment, and the public image of the project—it’s also likely to benefit the Harbor District, Crowley, and the other developers in the long term. Zero-emissions targets are already in place on various levels. Port green-ification will likely become the subject of future stringent state and federal law. The port can save time and money by building a modernized, green port today rather than having to retrofit one tomorrow.

We are not arguing against offshore wind. We are arguing for responsible development — starting with the design of a fossil fuel-free port. That is why any lease agreement between the Harbor District and port developers should be ambitious in its goals to reach zero-emission by 2035. Incorporating these requirements into the lease agreement would be a testament to genuine commitment towards good port practice and the general public. Relationships aren’t just built under good faith. They are built by concrete actions that help establish trust. And that trust can go a long way in establishing a reciprocal relationship that benefits both the community and the developers through what looks to be a long, complicated, and arduous process.

Luis Neuner
Decarbonize the North Coast Advocate
Environmental Protection Information Center

Jennifer Kalt
Executive Director
Humboldt Baykeeper

Caroline Griffith
Executive Director
Northcoast Environmental Center

Colin Fiske
Executive Director
Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities

The Ram Pantry serves more than 900 students a day, Monday through Thursday, with free food on the Fresno City College campus.

The college also offers subsidized housing for students facing homelessness, serving as many as 300 students a year.

Community colleges across the state have different programs aimed at combating problems students face such as homelessness, food insecurity, transportation and even healthcare in some cases. To help and make the system less fragmented for students, lawmakers included $100 million in one-time funding, plus $30 million in annual funding, in the 2021-22 state budget for community colleges to establish a “basic needs center” on each campus by July 1, 2022.

Roughly a third of the state’s 115 community colleges missed the deadline to establish a brick-and-mortar basic needs center, Rebecca Ruan-O’Shaugnessy, a vice chancellor at the community college chancellor’s office, told a state Senate subcommittee last week.

The portion of the 2021-22 budget that set the deadline doesn’t specify any kind of penalty for missing it.

The Community College Chancellor’s Office can withhold money from colleges that fall behind, however. But Paul Feist, a vice chancellor with the office, said its “goal is to limit harm on the very students we are trying to help.”

Just because a college has missed the deadline for establishing a physical, centralized basic needs center doesn’t mean it isn’t providing those services.

All of California’s community colleges are now providing students with some kind of support for basic needs, according to a draft report from the chancellor’s office.

Different timelines

In the case of Fresno City College and its Ram Pantry, for instance, the basic needs center required by the state won’t be finished until 2024, said Lataria Hall, vice president of student services. But the college still finds ways to help its students.

Like roughly one in five community college students in California, Mateo Vargas was homeless last year. He had been staying with relatives during his first semester at Fresno City College until one day in December 2021, they told him they needed the room back. He tried sleeping on other people’s couches, only to be pushed out again.

In a last resort, he pulled up a months-old email from Fresno City College that mentioned a survey students could fill out if they were at risk of losing their housing. He filled it out on a Friday, doubtful that anyone would really respond. On a Monday, he got a call.

In a matter of hours, the college found him a heavily-subsidized apartment a few blocks away from campus, allowing him to pay $301 a month for a year while he gathered the savings and credit history to afford his own place.

When Fresno City College learned about the state dollars regarding basic needs centers, administrators decided to combine the money, roughly $1 million this year, with a federal grant. The plan is to renovate the existing food pantry to go “above and beyond,” offering additional services on-site such as mental health counseling and financial aid.

Hall said such a renovation wasn’t possible on the state’s initial timeline. Fresno City College received guidance from the chancellor’s office right before winter break in November 2021, leaving the school with a little more than 6 months for building construction.

“We were in a panic,” said Hall. “There was a lot of conversation within the state, like, ‘Where’s the guidelines? Where’s the criteria? Can we get more information?’ And we were in ongoing conversations with our state chancellor’s office, and they kept saying it’s coming but these are soft deadlines.”

The chancellor’s office denies ever saying the deadlines were “soft.” “We do not take liberties with creating deadlines that are different from those established in legislation,” Feist said.

Hiring impact

Other colleges that embarked on infrastructure projects faced similar challenges: Diablo Valley College in Contra Costa County will open its basic needs center “toward the end of 2023” because of delays regarding the construction of gender-inclusive bathrooms, said Brandy Howard, the college’s director of marketing. Cuesta College delayed the opening of its center to spring 2023 in part because of issues with paint, carpeting, and furniture.

Many community colleges across the state also missed the deadline to hire a full-time staff member in charge of basic needs. They cited procedural and administrative issues with human resources, or to avoid hiring hiccups, they repurposed existing staff roles, adding more responsibilities to already overtaxed employees.

Los Medanos College in Pittsburg hired its full-time position in October 2022, five months after the state deadline, though there was no gap in services to students because basic needs programs already existed.

Student Sofia Lopez picks out grocery items at the Basic Needs Program site at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg on May 4, 2023. Photo by Loren Elliott for CalMatters

In 2017, Los Medanos students partnered with private philanthropists to start a food pantry and clothing donation site, co-opting larger spaces over the years as the needs and supplies grew. Students continued to manage these services up until the advent of state funding allowed a full-time hire.

Now, the college’s basic needs center occupies a nondescript brown trailer at the corner of campus, but inside, it’s a buzz of activity.

On a spring day in April, students brought their friends to peruse through aisles filled with food, toiletries, and toiletries, and they lingered at the intake table to catch up with the staff, some of the same students who preceded the center’s full-time hire. On average, the center has served approximately 238 people a month since opening last August, according to the center’s staff.

In the Senate subcommittee hearing, Ruan-O’Shaugnessy said all of the remaining campuses will have their basic needs centers in place by next month, a year after the state’s deadline and a year before Fresno City College plans to complete its center.

“The report and timelines for completion are based on what colleges communicated to us previously,” Feist said about the discrepancy.

The discrepancy also depends on the definition of a basic needs center.

Associated Student Government President, Mateo Vargas stands on campus of Fresno City College on May 5, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

At the Ram Pantry, students at Fresno City College access an array of basic needs services, even though the official basic needs center opens next year.

The chancellor’s office report says the data collected so far only provides a glimpse at the outcomes because the basic needs centers are so new.

Its report only includes data from 60 colleges, which have collectively served more than 47,000 students. More than half of those students received assistance with food, the report says. Assistance with transportation and technology were the next most common services delivered.

About 4,000 students in the colleges surveyed for the report — less than 1% of total community college students — received help with housing, including eviction assistance, emergency funds for rent payments, or referrals to the housing authority.

Vargas was one of those students. He said his experience finding housing assistance was seamless, but added that other services, like mental health counseling, located on another end of campus, remain siloed for students like him. The new basic needs center in Fresno will have the counselors’ offices next to the food pantry when the building opens next year.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.