PREVIOUSLY: 

• Officer-Involved Shooting in the Arcata Bottoms: Sheriff’s Office, Other First Responders Investigating
• Victim and Officer Identified in Last Week’s Officer-Involved Shooting in Arcata Bottoms
  
• (VIDEO) Bodycam Footage of Last Month’s Fatal Arcata Officer-Involved Shooting Released
  

It escalated quickly.

A California Highway Patrol officer drove slowly behind a man walking on the road. An Arcata Police officer rode in the passenger seat, a second CHP officer sat in the back.

“Scoot up about 10 more feet,” the Arcata officer told the driver. “I’m just going to start firing.”

Charles Chivrell, 35, was disabled and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, court documents show. And on this September 2021 morning, he was in distress, walking along the rural two-lane road in Humboldt County with a briefcase and a holstered gun — making both rational and incoherent statements as police trailed him.

The CHP officer behind the wheel had tried to convince him to drop his briefcase, to stop walking, to talk to him.

Chivrell, his back to the officers, continued on.

Then, without warning, the Arcata officer opened the CHP vehicle door and fired non-lethal pepper balls in Chivrell’s direction, while the CHP officer in the back seat got out and aimed his weapon.

Chivrell’s body jerked, turned around. He ran as the pepper balls struck him.

“He drew!” an officer yelled. A burst of fire from Chivrell’s direction. Next, a loud bang — a rifle.

Chivrell fell to the asphalt. His cause of death: a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

Nearly a month later, Arcata Police released edited footage from officers on the scene, showing multiple angles from dashboard and body cameras. But the local department of 22 sworn officers couldn’t release what it didn’t have: body camera footage from the CHP officer whose shot killed Chivrell.

That officer is among thousands in the California Highway Patrol ranks who do not wear body cameras.

Body cameras a ‘no-brainer’

In California and across the nation, body-worn cameras have become a part of many officers’ standard uniforms. While body and dashboard cameras are not mandatory in the state, large and small agencies have begun seeing the cameras as tools of transparency — and a way to keep officers and the public safe.

The shooting in Humboldt County was recorded by at least three different Arcata cameras and one CHP dashboard camera, videos that recently were viewed by CalMatters.

The CHP, one of the state’s largest police forces with a $2.8 billion budget, only has body cameras for 3% of its budgeted 7,600 uniformed officers.

“At this point, body cameras are a no-brainer,” said Nicholas Camp, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan who uses body camera footage to study officers’ communication and their encounters. “It’s one of the few reforms that both the (American Civil Liberties Union) and police agencies have supported. So it is surprising that such a large agency hasn’t adopted them.”

California’s highway police make around two million stops a year, encounters that mostly happen within range of dashboard cameras. But, the agency’s tentacles extend beyond the state’s crowded highways.

Highway patrol officers bust thieves, enforce evictions, police drag races, manage Capitol protests, protect the governor and respond to deadly shootings.

“Due to the nature of the CHP’s enforcement contacts, in-car cameras provide the most benefit…”
— Fran Clader, CHP spokesperson

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s current budget proposal seeks to expand the CHP’s organized retail theft investigative unit, from $6 million in 2022-23 to $15 million by 2026. The unit targets the large smash-and-grab thefts, including a series that broke out in Northern and Southern California over the holidays.

CHP acknowledged it only has 237 body cameras agencywide, all in the Oakland and Stockton areas. A spokesperson said the department is focused on upgrading its dash cameras.

“Due to the nature of the CHP’s enforcement contacts, in-car cameras provide the most benefit…,” wrote spokesperson Fran Clader in an email to CalMatters.

She said the agency will continue evaluating whether to expand its body camera usage.

In the meantime, some local agencies say they’re happy to fill CHP’s technology gaps.

“We’re a small department, and for us to be able to help a statewide agency…we don’t do that very often,” Arcata police chief Brian Ahearn told CalMatters.

“(The local CHP office) could not have been more grateful for us to provide our video … to illustrate to the community the entirety of the event that led to the use of deadly force,” he said.

State ‘dropped the ball’ on body cams

In 2015, the California Highway Patrol was at the top of some legislators’ lists to receive funding for body cameras. As the nation grappled with protests against police brutality, Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer — then chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus — lobbied to “require all California Highway Patrol officers to wear video cameras,” he wrote in an editorial for the Sacramento Bee.

“In some ways, we dropped the ball. We’re not going to drop it anymore.”
— Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer of Los Angeles

Jones-Sayer’s $10 million pitch to give all CHP officers body cameras eventually was whittled down to a $1 million pilot program in the agency’s Oakland and Stockton areas. A year into the pilot, officers recorded nearly 93,000 videos, but the program was never expanded.

“Let’s be clear, they never wanted to do any of it,” said Jones-Sawyer, a Democrat from Los Angeles. “If it wasn’t for me pushing for the pilot program, they never would have had the 200 (body cameras).

“In some ways, we dropped the ball,” he said. “We’re not going to drop it anymore.”

While CHP experimented with its limited pilot program, many local law enforcement agencies in California have gone all-in on body cameras.

For example, the Los Angeles Police Department, which has a smaller budget, has given body cameras to more than 7,000 uniformed field officers, or about 73% of its force.

Carrie Lane, chief executive for the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, says its members support body cameras.

“They recognize body-worn cameras can be a benefit to the public by providing greater transparency that helps engender trust,” Lane said in an email response to CalMatters. “The challenge of body-worn cameras is, and always has been, cost.”

Other states lead California on body cams

The same year former Gov. Jerry Brown signed off on the pilot program, South Carolina passed a law requiring fully funded police agencies to give their officers body cameras. Since then, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, and New Mexico have all passed laws mandating body cameras for officers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Last year, New York introduced body cameras for all of its state troopers.

In California, it’s a different story.

CalMatters queried more than a dozen of California’s largest police and sheriff’s departments and found that nearly all had at least some body cameras. Among the varying policies:

• Police departments in Los Angeles, Arcata, Bakersfield, Fresno, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose and Stockton have given body cameras to all of their uniformed patrol officers. So have the Kern, Sacramento and San Diego county sheriffs’ departments. Some agencies have extended their body camera usage beyond just patrol officers.
• The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the state’s largest law enforcement agency, has outfitted 37% of all sworn personnel with body-worn cameras, according to the agency spokesperson.
• The Long Beach and San Francisco police departments and the Orange County and San Francisco county sheriff’s offices have given some of their officers body cameras.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department was the only agency among those contacted that said it had no body or dashboard cameras. In contrast, the Sacramento Police Department provides both body and dashboard cameras for all of its officers and marked vehicles.

Dashboard cameras also have been shown to be crucial when evaluating police encounters. A recent study shows when people view dashcam footage, they are more likely to assign blame to officers than when they watch body camera footage of the same incident.

“In some ways, you get more visual information about what’s going on from the dash camera,” said assistant professor Camp. “One thing that body cameras get us, which I think is important, but overlooked, is the audio. You can’t get that from a camera that’s mounted on an officer’s car quite a distance away.”

As for the highway patrol, it’s betting on improved dashboard cameras. The agency is nixing the grainy, DVD-based cameras it has used statewide since 2010.

The department’s new dashboard system will be wireless, capable of incorporating body cameras if the agency goes that route, and installed in every marked vehicle. The price tag: $52 million, which then-Gov. Jerry Brown approved in the state’s 2018 budget.

“Once that is completed, the new system will be capable of incorporating body-worn cameras in the future,” wrote Clader, the highway patrol spokesperson.

A family mourns

For now, families like Chivrell’s must rely on grainy CHP dash cam footage and body camera shots from other agencies when looking for answers.

In January, Charles Chivrell’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the U.S. Northern District Court of California. The federal suit targets the City of Arcata, the Arcata Police Department and the California Highway Patrol, along with some named officers, for the shooting.

The lawsuit calls Chivrell “a mentally-ill man who was stalked by law enforcement officers…as he walked along public roadways.”

The complaint alleges that “(the officers) failed to utilize appropriate procedures for communicating and confronting persons suffering from mental illness, such as de-escalation techniques.”

Attorneys for the CHP and Arcata have filed motions to dismiss, which will be heard June 2.

“The more evidence you have that establishes what really happened, the better off everybody is.”
— Mark Merin, Sacramento civil rights attorney

The family’s attorney, Mark Merin of Sacramento, told CalMatters that the shooting caused Chivrell’s family to move away from the area.

“It’s very disorienting for them, destructive,” he said. “It’s a very bad situation.”

Merin said he believes that all officers should wear body cameras, and turn them on when they interact with the public.

“The more evidence you have that establishes what really happened, the better off everybody is,” said Merin. “There’s no justification for not wearing a body camera.”

###

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

An Arcata Bottom dairyman at heart, Johnnie A. Avila, aged 87 years, has gone to be with the Lord and beloved love of his life, his wife Mary.

Dad was born February 19, 1935 to parents Mary and John Avila Sr., originally from Terceira, Azores.

Dad went to school at Bay School in the Arcata Bottoms, Dows Prairie School, and also attended school in Ferndale at a Quonset hut where he graduated with only two other students from grammar school. Dad’s family then moved to the Arcata Bottoms, where his parents bought a dairy farm on the corner of Bay School Road and Moxon Lane.

Dad plowed the fields by himself at the age of 15. He also had the job of delivering the milk cans to Gil’s Creamline Dairy. One unfortunate trip by horse and wagon found him wrecked in a ditch. The horse team took off with him and the wagon before wrecking, and at that point he told his father that he would no longer deliver the milk unless he could trade the horse team for a John Deere LA tractor. His father had no choice but to oblige.

Dad attended and graduated from Arcata High school. His favorite hobbies included running track and taking animals to the local fairs all while helping his father on the dairy farm.

He also loved cars, hot rodding around in a fixed-up show car that he and a friend worked on.

After graduating high school he worked at Rhodes Texaco, Manifolds service station and Lorenzos garage.

Dad met and eventually married Mary Anttila in 1958.

He started working at Safeway in the meat department, but his father was ill and that brought him back to the family farm.

Dad worked for his father for five years but when grandpa took over running the dairy again, mom and dad decided to move to Metropolitan in 1964 and start dairying in the area.

1964 proved to be a tough year as the following December brought the “Christmas Flood.” Buzz Chapman, dad and his trusty cow dog Diablo braved flood waters to save dads dairy cows. The boat they chose had a hole in it, but they saved every cow and even the bull leading them to higher ground. Dad was proud that he did not loose any dairy animals that day.

We lost our home and everything we owned as the flood waters took it down river but our lives and cows were spared, thanks to the help of Buzz Chapman and family. We never forgot their moral support and help that day, and our family has been forever indebted to the family.

A farm in the Arcata Bottoms became available for lease and eventually purchase. Coincidentally it was across the fields from grandma and grandpa’s dairy.

The 14-room home became home to five Avila children and with help from the Red Cross was filled with everything needed after the loss of everything they owned in the flood. The farm is located on Foster Avenue across from what was called the Simpson Mill and was formerly owned by the Minor family, who were farm, property, and mill owners in the area, and who the Minor theater was named after. The home and dairy barn still stand and are owned by his son Lance.

Shawn Avila, the youngest son, was hired to build mom and dad a new house at the end of the property.

After dairying on and off retiring and getting back into the business for about 40 years, it was time for dad to start up new hobbies like golfing, bowling, senior softball and bicycling around Arcata Bottoms.

He played for the Humboldt Classics, The Moose Club in Eureka, and joined a bowling team which led dad and mom to lots of games and tournaments all over the county and beyond.

Another passion of dads was his sports teams — the San Francisco Giants and 49ers football team, which he watched in person, on TV or listening through his trusty headphones that he always had on so he would not miss a game or play!

Dad was proud of his Portuguese heritage. He loved attending and donating to the local celebrations and realized his dream of visiting his parents homeland with a trip to Terceira, Azores in 2019 with his three daughters and grandson Justin.

Being a dairyman, he was always up early to start the day with coffee and could start a conversation with anyone anywhere.

Dad was a very hard worker, something he instilled into each of his children and we were better for it.

Dad and mom traveled everywhere including a trip to Cambodia to visit lifelong friends. Other travels took them to Reno, Vegas, Hawaii and visits to friends, family, grandkids and great-grandchildren.

They never missed a birthday or celebration and spent many good times with family and grandkids always making them feel special and loved.

Dad took loving care of mom when she became ill, taking care of every need she had and doing all the household chores including cooking and cleaning for them both till her passing in 2018.

When mom passed, dad lost a part of himself with her as he loved her dearly and his heart was broken.

He spent time after mom died enjoying time with children and grandchildren, including great-grandchildren, but was always awaiting the time he could join his wife in heaven.

Dads favorite word was “enjoy.”

He reminded us daily to enjoy life with family and friends wether it be camping, traveling, or a simple picnic in a park like we used to do as a family every week.

Johnnie is preceded in death by his parents John & Mary Avila Sr. and sister Lena.

He is survived by his children: Coleen (Avila) Wogoman , Renee (Avila) Ewing, Lance Avila, Jonene (Avila) Rocha and Shawn Avila. Grandchildren: Cody & Justin Ewing, Brandon & Collin Wogoman, Lexi, Sydni and Cooper Avila , and Cameron Avila . Great-grandchildren: Lane & Cole Ewing and Aria Wogoman .

The family would like to thank Bristol Hospice of Redding and the staff and caregivers at A Brand New Day facility in Redding for caring for and loving our father in the last months of his life.

He loved the staff, and they loved him just as much and was known by one of the gals there as “My handsome man.”

Services will be held beginning with a rosary on March 10, 7 p.m. at Paul’s Chapel in Arcata .

A mass and celebration of life will be held at St.Mary’s Church Arcata on March 11 starting with refreshments at 11 a.m. and services at 12 p.m. He will be interred at St. Mary’s Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Red Cross of Humboldt County, the Eureka Moose Lodge, Humboldt Classics Senior Softball Association, or make a donation in dads memory to the Ferndale lighted Tractor parade with a perpetual award going to a lighted John Deere tractor entry each year in his honor.

Janice Marie Cooper Tripp was a resident of Orleans. She was born in Eureka on January 11, 1941 and entered into the presence of the Lord on February 14, 2022 in Napa. She was a member of the Assembly of God Church in Orleans and a Yurok Tribal Member.

Her first marriage was to Richard Marshall, Sr. and produced her only child, Richard Marshall, Jr. She was widowed at a young age. In 1969, she married Burl J. Barnes. Throughout the 1970s they had a ministry amongst the Seminole people in Florida, eventually moving back to California to be close to family. They served the Lord together in Hoopa for many years until Burl’s passing in 1993.

Janice had a special place in her heart for children and loved teaching Sunday School. She learned American Sign Language (ASL) in order to minister to a young deaf boy in her class. This eventually led to a position as a Teacher’s Aid in the local elementary school as she attended classes with the child to translate his school lessons into sign language. She stayed by his side until he eventually transferred to a school for the deaf.

She was a wonderful vocalist and musician, and like every other gift, she used her talents to serve the Lord. Besides music, she enjoyed doing native crafts, needlework, gardening, canning and preserving many types of food. She was blessed by family and friends who generously provided her with fruits, vegetables, fish, deer meat, wild berries, mushrooms, etc. She loved gathering acorns and processing them for soup and in the summer, her smokehouse was usually full and the smell of smoldering alder permeated her yard. Nothing ever went to waste, and she was always happy to share the bounty with others, especially those in need.

On February 14, 2010, Janice married Merlin Tripp, Sr. They made their home in Orleans. They enjoyed 11 wonderful years together until his passing in August 2021. Janice passed away on Valentine’s Day, their 11th anniversary.

Janice is survived by siblings; Wayne (Ginny) Cooper of Willcox, Arizona; Patricia (Richard) Bonacci of Redding; Jean (Terry) Ramos of Brentwood; Stephanie (Jack) Whittington of O’Brien; John (Mary Lou) Marshall of Hoopa; and James (Julie) Marshall of Vancouver, Wash. She is survived by a stepson, “Chip,” and his siblings. There are also many surviving cousins, nieces and nephews. She was “Auntie” and “Grandma” to many, far too many to list by name, just know that you were all loved and appreciated. She was preceded in death by her parents, Amos Cooper and Winifred Cripe Marshall; her beloved son, Richard “Richie” Marshall, Jr. and brother Robert Marshall, Jr.

The family would like to express their gratitude to all those who helped Jan in numerous ways and were there for her when she needed you the most. Thank you.

A Celebration of Life Service followed by a pot luck meal/barbecue will be held at 11 a.m. on June 25, 2022 at Janice’s former homesite on Mill Creek Road in Hoopa. Feel free to bring your comfy folding chairs.

###

In loving memory of Dennis Tauscher. Born August 6, 1946, passed away on January 31 from complications of lung cancer at the age of 75.

Dennis was born in Fort Bragg, where he and his grandparents lived between Fort Bragg and Willits. They then moved to Mad River in 1949. As a young boy Dennis and his grandfather drove cattle over mountain ranges to pastures. He swam in the rivers and hunted squirrels, rabbits and other small animals as young boys did. He also terrorized one pet ram sheep, trying to ride him while prodding and poking him. Dennis also worked at the Mad River store.

At the age of 16 he went to work at the old Cobbs saw mill pulling green chain. Later on an old friend (Buster) would teach him how to drive truck. Afterwards he went to work for Redwood Construction hauling logs. Eventually he moved to Eureka and bought his own truck, a truck with a pup trailer (one of the first for Eureka), becoming owner-operator and working in the sand and gravel/paving business. Later he would buy a transfer truck and trailer (joining the big boys).

After about 35 years of driving Dennis retired himself and that ol’ truck. He and his wife would buy a motor home and toy hauler. They spent many years traveling and spending each winter in Yuma, riding quads, trail riding and going to Mexico. (OH the fun he/we had there).

Dennis loved the outdoors — the Mad River hills and the sand dunes of Yuma were special places in his heart.

Dennis is survived by his wife of 37 years, Debbie Tauscher, and two children — Shawn Tauscher, daughter Stacim, as well as three grandchildren — Aaron Roberts (wife Angel), Brock Marshall, and Courtney.

A celebration of life will be held at the Eureka Elks lodge on August 7 at 12 p.m. Please mark your calendars and join us in the celebration. Please RSVP for food count. Call or text Debbie — 707-495-6839

REST IN PEACE AS
YOU WILL TRULY BE
MISSED!!

###

On February 27, 2022,  Betty Lee Hooper of Eureka passed away at the age of 92 years.

Betty was born on June 6, 1929 in Cullowhee, North Carolina to the parents of Hester and Lee Roy Adams.

She was married to Raymond Morris Hooper in North Carolina, and moved to Florida, Washington and then finally, to Eureka for 70 years.

Betty was the manager of the White House Fashions for many years. Then she opened The Three of Us ladies apparel shop with her partners. She added the Shoe Gallery. She then purchased two more ladies’ retail stores — Parker Woods and Excel shops in Medford and Grants Pass.

Betty was very proud of her sweater company “Connie A Lee.” She would go on many trips to Korea to design the sweaters.

She retired in her 80s from her career.

She loved her summer camp at Redwood Creek, which she had many treasured friends.

Betty enjoyed vegetable gardening with her mom, and her flowers on her patio.

She enjoyed traveling on cruises and family reunions in North Carolina. She loved her February vacations to Florida with her late husband. She and her husband attended Pine Hill Baptist Church and were one of the founding members. Also, she attended Calvary Baptist Church.

She was known for her love of “red” glass, decor and clothing.

Betty was a loving mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. She is survived by her son Guy (Linda) Hooper and her daughter Connie (Rick) Hooper-Leggett; her grandchildren Steve Hooper and Russ Hooper; great-granddaughter Avery Hooper; her sister Jane (Hanks) Swanson and her sister-in-law Bobbie (Jim) Adams, her brother in-laws Frank Hooper and Wayne Hooper. She had many beloved nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her son Ron Hooper and her brothers Jim Adams, Charles Adams, Mac Allen Adams, Bruce Adams and her sister Joe Hooper.

The family wishes to send a thank you to the staff at Especially You for their care and compassion . A private service will be held at the family’s request. Minster John Hanks will say final words for Betty.

###

###

Consider this Part 2 of our report on Tuesday’s prolonged meeting of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, a meeting that was occupied almost entirely with issues concerning Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez. (Read Part 1 here.)

The afternoon session was dominated by an often acrimonious hearing regarding payroll services, a county function that has been rife with problems and controversy.

The board was considering two main issues: First was whether or not to hire outside auditing firm CliftonLarsonAllen (at a cost of $259,000) to conduct an audit of payroll services in hopes of identifying deficiencies. Second was whether to keep payroll services located within the Auditor-Controller’s Office, where it was moved in September, or to move that task somewhere else — either returning it to the Human Resources Department, from which it was recently moved, transferring it (temporarily) to the County Administrative Office or developing a whole new, independent payroll department.

After three-plus hours, including some emotional testimony and testy exchanges, the board hadn’t settled on an answer to either of those questions. Instead, they voted to continue the hearing to April 5, and they directed Paz Dominguez to meet with other department heads in the meantime to review previous payroll evaluation reports in hopes of smoothing out some of the ongoing problems.

County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes began the hearing by saying it’s hard to tell whether moving payroll back to the Auditor-Controller’s Office last fall has had a positive or negative impact. She did say that, since the transition, her office has received an increased number of reports from employees and departments about paycheck inaccuracies, late payments and difficulties reaching the Auditor-Controller’s staff to rectify errors. 

Paz Dominguez said that the payroll system was “damaged” when it came to her office.

“There were no instructions,” she said. “There was no contingency for what happens if something goes wrong in payroll.” 

Still, she said that her office was responsible for getting payroll issued in November following a system breakdown. She said her office has learned many things since taking over payroll in September, including how to navigate the numerous memorandums of understanding with various employee bargaining units and how to integrate workers’ compensation and disability.

Addressing the communication problems, Paz Dominguez said, “We understand that people are not getting responses as timely as they want or as often as they want — and we’re not here to dispute that. I think I’ve been very clear with your board since 2017 that we do not have enough staffing to accommodate all of the service needs of the county.”

Her office simply doesn’t have the capacity to answer the hundreds of emails that come in every day, she said. 

Zachary O’Hanen, the county’s acting director of human resources, offered his assessment. “How’s it going? I do think it’s still a little rocky,” he said. “I mean, let’s just be honest. The communication is definitely tough. We know that staffing levels in the Auditor-Controller’s Office is — they’re low, and they’re working very hard. … What I can say is [that] it’s getting better.”

Not everyone agreed. First District Supervisor Rex Bohn said he’s heard that employees in the Sheriff’s Office have been seeing lots of payroll errors. He said employees have emailed him and others seeking assistance after failed attempts to reach staff in the Auditor-Controller’s Office. 

Paz Dominguez encouraged the board to give her more time to resolve the ongoing issues, saying her office inherited a “broken system” at a particularly difficult time of the calendar year. 

Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell grilled her during the meeting. She said that there didn’t seem to be nearly as many problems before payroll was moved to Paz Dominguez’s office, and she stressed the importance of responding to emails about late or incorrect paychecks, saying many county employees live paycheck-to-paycheck.

“Karen, you have to recognize that people need their money,” she said. 

Paz Dominguez said she does understand that, and she suggested that errors are simply getting more attention lately because “it’s become more popular now, right?”

Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone noted that the majority of county employees still use paper timecards, and he encouraged those departments to transition to electronic systems. 

Things got a bit more emotional when Regina Fuller, the deputy director of sheriff’s administration, came to the lectern on behalf of Sheriff Billy Honsal to share the perspective from her office. 

She recounted a letter signed by 11 county employees and submitted to the board in September, urging them not to move payroll to the Auditor-Controller’s Office. Fuller was among the signatories, along with payroll specialists, business managers and administrators from other departments. They were concerned because the short-staffed Auditor-Controller’s Office was already months behind on essential financial tasks, and emails to that office often didn’t get any response beyond an auto-reply for months at a time.

On Tuesday, Fuller said their concerns have proved well-founded. Attempts to reach the Auditor-Controller’s Office to resolve payroll issues — including an employee who didn’t get paid and someone who didn’t get their worker’s compensation processed correctly — went unanswered.

“And it wasn’t just a lack of communication,” Fuller said. “It’s a flat-out wall.”

She said that when payroll staff were working in the Human Resources Office, they “weren’t allowed” to talk to Paz Dominguez. 

“And so my colleagues and I were brave, and we came forward [with the letter],” she said. “And we talked to you and we told you our concerns. And I can tell you that since [then], that wall has now happened to me. … She [Paz Dominguez] will not speak to me. I can’t get anything accomplished. And it makes me — I’m being brave right now, because I’m afraid [about] what this is going to mean to my department and my staff for speaking up right now. So it is not just a communication problem. It is an absolute wall. And it’s a refusal.”

You can see her testimony here:

Fuller was followed by Treasurer-Tax Collector John Bartholomew, who said that despite the problems, he believes payroll should stay with the Auditor-Controller’s Office, because that’s where the subject matter expertise lies, but he suggested employing a liaison to help with communication issues.

Connie Beck, director of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), said she and her staff have been meeting regularly with staff from the CAO’s office and the Human Resources office. 

“One of the problems that we see is the Auditor-Controller refuses to come to those meetings, to be collaborative and communicate with us,” Beck said. “… What I see recently is … our staff in departments are getting less and less access to the system, so we can’t check for errors. So we’re not going to see less errors, we’re going to see more.”

Chief Probation Officer Shaun Brenneman said his staff have seen “a marked increase in errors” since payroll was moved to the Auditor-Controller’s Office. He noted that there was an existing payroll process, adding, “It seems like we should be really thoughtful about what we’re changing and how we’re changing it so we don’t disrupt the system.”

Paz Dominguez said communication issues often go both directions. “The reality is that we are actively always working on providing those responses,” she said regarding emails about payroll issues. And when she doesn’t respond quickly, she said, “It’s usually because I’m working on payroll.”

Following public comment, Bohn said he would vote the same way he did six months ago — to have payroll handled by someone other than the Auditor-Controller’s Office. 

“This isn’t working,” he said. “We just heard it. We just heard it again from department heads — our two biggest department heads. It’s not working.”

A number of ideas were tossed around, including the prospect of hiring the outside firm to conduct an audit, or moving payroll over to the CAO’s office. 

Bushnell challenged Paz Dominguez on a number of matters. She asked whether, in the Auditor-Controller’s own audits of the payroll functions, she would find discrepancies or paycheck errors, even if they weren’t brought to her attention by the affected employee. 

When Paz Dominguez answered yes, Bushnell said, “So, my paycheck was wrong for a year, and you didn’t find that.”

Paz Dominguez said the error — which concerned Bushnell’s benefits — could have happened for a number of different reasons, and the payroll audit under consideration wouldn’t catch such things. 

Again and again, people brought up the communications problems. Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson said he has been sent email chains from employees who haven’t gotten responses to their inquiries for long stretches of time. Such matters shouldn’t reach that point, he said. They should be dealt with by the customer service folks in the Auditor-Controller’s Office.

“We’re talking about this right now because we’re having communication breakdowns,” Wilson said. “We should not be in this room talking about this.” He said he’d much rather spend time talking about housing and climate change, but payroll and communication problems are consuming “so much oxygen.” 

The board keeps hearing about communication issues, especially between the CAO’s Office and the Auditor-Controller’s Office, Wilson said. 

“This is a breakdown. We need to have the A-C’s Office be able to show up and be present when the CAO and other departments are having these issues. It’s really, really important.”

Paz Dominguez said she has made a suggestion for a “payroll think tank” involving payroll staff from across departments, and she’d be happy to commit to that. And, again, she said it would be best to leave payroll in her office. A new employee is starting on Monday, and staff recently consolidated a payroll inbox, which should streamline communication. 

“It feels like intensive care right now,” Board Chair Virginia Bass said at one point. She went on to recount her own communication problems with Paz Dominguez, saying the Auditor-Controller got angry when Bass personally responded to an employee who’d missed their paycheck.

“So I’ll tell you, that kind of rubbed me the wrong way,” Bass said. “I understand you were stressed, probably, and busy. But I’m only doing my job as a supervisor, not so much [because] they’re an employee but because they’re a constituent, because they live in the county.”

Paz Dominguez said she believes she has improved her office’s communication, even retaining coaching services to better understand communication styles and behavior patterns.

By now the meeting had stretched past 5 p.m. Wilson said he didn’t feel like he could make a decision on the expensive contract that day, and Madrone made a motion to continue the item to a future meeting. His motion also called for Paz Dominguez to meet with the CAO and acting human resources director to review findings from previous reports on this payroll issue.

There was one more tense exchange between Bushnell and Paz Dominguez. After Hayes reiterated that communication with Paz Dominguez is challenging, Bushnell turned to the Auditor-Controller.

“Karen,” she said, “how come you don’t meet with our CAO?”

Paz Dominguez said they’ve sometimes just “missed each other,” and other times meetings just didn’t line up. 

Madrone said everyone needs to set aside the past and move forward working together. 

“I want to hear Karen say that she’s gonna sit down with [the CAO],” Bushnell said. She turned again to Paz Dominguez and asked, “Are you willing?”

“Can we be clear,” Paz Dominguez replied. “It’s not just me who has to be willing. When I reach out to the CAO and ask for her time, I would like her time. I would not like to be sent to a deputy or be told that a deputy will reach out to me.”

Bohn could be heard muttering in the background, and finally his frustration boiled over. 

“You know, we’ve spent 15 minutes discussing [whether] you two can meet,” he said. “Your offices are 40 yards apart. I think you use the same bathroom. … Are you telling me that between the two of you, you guys can’t come up with a time to meet for an hour every week?”

He suggested they just walk 15 yards apiece and meet in the conference room “so neither of you have to put a lot of miles in to do it.”

“But I can’t believe we’re sitting here talking about — ‘You have to promise to meet with her; you have to promise to meet with her — and we’re grownups. This is what needs to be done for this county and the people of this county. And I am just tired of this bullshit.”

Here’s that moment in the meeting video:

As Bass attempted to reprimand Bohn, Paz Dominguez could be heard replying, “Supervisor Bohn, it only continues because you continue it.”

The hearing wrapped up shortly thereafter — to be continued next month. The vote was 4-1 with Bohn voted “no.” 

###

ADDENDUM: The Outpost has asked Paz Dominguez three times over the past week or so whether she plans to run for re-election. The first two times she did not respond. The third time, earlier today, she said via text that the decision is one she takes very seriously so she can’t rush into it.

“For me, it’s not about politics for the sake of politics but rather a thoughtful and careful consideration about my capacity and commitment to serve the public in this role,” she wrote. “It is also a deeply personal decision as it impacts my family.”

A new text: “I have never felt entitled to this position as it is not my right to have it. It is my privilege.”

We texted back, at 11:03 a.m., to ask if that means she hasn’t yet decided. We have yet to get a response.

###

Dr. Ian Hoffman will mark his last day as Humboldt County Public Health Officer this Friday after spending 15 months with the county.

Hoffman stepped into the position in December 2020 following the departure of Dr. Teresa Frankovich, who had taken on what was then a part-time job just a month and a half before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. He announced his resignation to the Board of Supervisors at the beginning of this year.

During a press briefing this afternoon, Public Health Director Sofia Pereira told Hoffman, “We really could not have done this without you.” 

Public Health Director Sofia Pereira | Screenshot

“He has been incredible at capturing all of the changing guidance that has been happening throughout this incident, translating it for our community, working closely with our community partners to make sure they have information that they need to make informed decisions as things were rapidly changing,” she said. “…I just want to again express our gratitude for Dr. Hoffman and wish you all the best on your next chapter.”

Pereira noted that two part-time deputy health officers, Dr. Katherine Estlin and Dr. Donald Baird, have and will continue to help public health through the transition.

Hoffman thanked his colleagues and the Humboldt County community “for all that we’ve achieved” since the onset of the pandemic.

“More than anything, I just want to thank everyone in this community for all that we’ve achieved,” he said. “It has certainly been a community-wide effort that has allowed us to maintain and achieve a low death rate here in Humboldt County due to low hospitalizations and a high vaccination rate. …I think it’s been quite successful.”

As COVID cases trend downward and the virus becomes endemic, Hoffman said the county and the state will continue to phase out pandemic-related requirements and shift toward recommendations.

“We will continue to move those recommendations along, depending on the threat of COVID-19 to our community,” he said. “…We will also update the community as the threat level decreases and move towards other recommendations or potentially remove it as a recommendation entirely when there’s less of a threat to the community.”

When asked whether he would change anything about the county’s pandemic response or if he had advice for his colleagues, Hoffman acknowledged that “we’re never going to get it perfect, but I think we got it really right.”

“[There] were tough decisions the CDC [had] to make about masking in the early days of March 2020,” he said. “Personally, I didn’t agree with them at first, but I [didn’t] know all the details of why they made those decisions … It’s all Monday morning quarterbacking and in the end, I think the response has been going really well. Especially in our county and in our state, we’ve really led the nation in the pandemic response.”

What’s next for Hoffman? He said he will return to clinical practice part-time which will enable him to spend more time with his family.

“This is the greatest job that I’ve ever had and I’m not leaving it lightly, but I really do need to return to my family duties,” he said. “I hope that someday I can return to this kind of work again when it permits in my life. Thank you all for everything, it’s been a wonderful time.”