Screenshot of Tuesday’s Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting.
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Whelp, it looks like it’s going to be another few years at least before the City of McKinleyville is a thing.
During today’s regular meeting, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors reviewed the findings of a recent Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury Report – “Incorporating the City of McKinleyville: To Be, or Not to Be?” – and whether the county should commission a formal study to evaluate the pros and cons of incorporating. Despite unanimous support for the proposal, the board asked staff to hold off for the time being, citing budget constraints.
The request to incorporate comes up from time to time but “at no point has a comprehensive independent study been completed that evaluated the pros and cons of incorporating,” according to the report.
Last September, a group of McKinleyville residents asked the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee (MMAC or “McKMAC”), formed by the Board of Supervisors in 2012, about the possibility of incorporating. Shortly thereafter, the committee created the Incorporation Exploration Sub-Committee to look into the feasibility of McKinleyville becoming the county’s eighth city.
The Grand Jury’s report doesn’t advocate for or against incorporation but asks the County of Humboldt to commission a comprehensive, independent “Initial Feasibility Analysis” to assess the practicality of incorporating McKinleyville. The Grand Jury recommends the board direct staff to seek funding and complete the feasibility study by Nov. 1, 2024.
While staff largely agreed with the findings of the report, Catarina Gallardo, a public information specialist with the County Administrative Office (CAO), said the money just isn’t in the budget.
“Regarding the funding element of this recommendation, as you know, the county is facing a budget shortfall of more than $17 million in Fiscal Year 2023-24 and it is not necessarily a central position to allocate additional [funds from the] General Fund, and therefore staff time, for this purpose,” she said. “While the [CAO] does not recommend that an in-depth Initial Feasibility Analysis be funded by the county at this time, due to the county’s current budget constraints, it should be noted that any member of your board could bring a discussion item forward in the future.”
Gallardo asked the Board of Supervisors to approve the findings of the report but not the Grand Jury’s recommendations.
Following staff’s presentation, MMAC Chair Lisa Dugan acknowledged the county’s budgetary constraints, noting that the Grand Jury’s report “came well after the [annual] budget process began,” but urged the board to return to the item in the near future.
Lisa Dugan
“It seems that it is probably in the best interest of not just McKinleyville but of the county to understand the feasibility of incorporation and … whether it would help or hinder here,” Dugan said. The northern portion of the county is poised for significant growth in the coming years, with increased enrollment at Cal Poly Humboldt and several big projects slated for the Humboldt Bay region, she added. “It feels like the time is right for us all to be considering this matter.”
MMAC Vice-Chair Kevin Jenkins said he’s been involved in incorporation conversations since he moved to McKinleyville in the 1990s but time and time again the conversation “gets tabled.”
“One of the things that’s been clear to me as this question gets brought up in our community is that there’s a considerable amount of emotion but also a critical lack of information regarding whether or not incorporation is a viable option,” Jenkins said. “And while I have a keen understanding of the financial challenges that the county of Humboldt is currently facing, I do believe that the citizens of the McKinleyville community [are] not going to allow this question of incorporation to go unanswered for much longer.”
Jenkins urged the Board of Supervisors to “develop financial resources needed to provide the members of our community an answer to this important question” in the near future.
Speaking during the public comment portion of the meeting, Jesse Miles, executive director of the McKinleyville Chamber of Commerce, emphasized the importance of completing a comprehensive study to address housing concerns in the county’s “fastest growing population.”
“[McKinleyville is] really a community that is thriving in a lot of ways and businesses want to be an active part of their community,” she said. “I just want to express the importance of having this complete Initial Feasibility [Analysis] done and any way that funding can be made available in the future … .”
A McKinleyville resident, who chose not to identify himself, felt a feasibility study for incorporation “is long overdue.”
“I don’t know how much longer incorporation can be avoided,” he said. “I think finding the money is an important thing … but decades should not pass before this issue [is] addressed.”
Turning to comment from the board, Fifth District Supervisor and Board Chair Steve Madrone put out a “shameless pitch” for benefactors interested in funding the feasibility study.
“I’ll just say, you know, if you got a quarter million dollars sitting around and you’d like to do something really great, this would be that thing to do,” he said. “[We’re looking] at 60 grand or up to 100 grand for the feasibility analysis, and possibly a couple hundred grand for the [Environmental Impact Report].”
Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson expressed support for moving forward with a feasibility study “in whatever way we can.”
“I do know that there have been discussions … [regarding] impacts to counties from a financial perspective but that, for me, that’s just not the highest priority,” he said. “Honestly, if it can be better it will probably be an economic benefit to the entire county. I would put it under a ‘floats all boats’ situation.”
First District Supervisor Rex Bohn noted that there is “no reason we don’t do what the people want” but said there will “[have] to be a hell of a lot more information” on the feasibility of incorporation.
“We don’t just flip a switch,” he said. “Humboldt has a lot of, I guess you could say, assets. It says in [the study] that we could contract with the Sheriff’s [Office] but we’re having problems with that with Trinidad and Blue Lake and, actually, with some of our tribes. … It’s a big hill, but I think it’s a hill worth climbing.”
Bohn also suggested that, if McKinleyville were to incorporate, its residents would rename the community. “I can just imagine what you guys are going to name the town ‘cause it’ll obviously have to — I mean, you had the chance to get a statue a while ago and you passed on it,” he said, referring to the statue of President McKinley which once stood at the center of the Arcata Plaza.
Second District Michelle Bushnell asked whether the MMAC and county staff had been in contact with other municipalities, like the City of Rio Dell, to ask about some of the struggles of incorporating. She also asked if staff had considered the formation of a Business Improvement District, or other cheaper alternatives to incorporation.
“[A Business Improvement District] is not incorporating, so you wouldn’t need like a Sheriff’s Department, a town hall or those types of things,” she said. “Sometimes it can be a little bit cheaper than incorporating but still can lead to a base of money, which is what you would probably be looking for. … I’m just thinking kind of outside the box of incorporation that doesn’t require so much government oversight and [will] still get you some financial base to help run your town.”
Before closing out the discussion, Madrone made a point of thanking former Fifth District Supervisor Ryan Sundberg for his “strong efforts” to create the MMAC and for contributing a “vision to help this community move forward.”
Bushnell made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation, which was seconded by Wilson. The motion passed in a unanimous 4-0 vote, with Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo absent.
The grandstands at the racetrack at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds in Ferndale | Photos: Stephanie McGeary
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The Humboldt County Fair is right around the corner and fairgoers will be happy to know that you can now safely sit in the grandstands along the racetrack without fear of the structure crumbling down on top of you.
Members of the Humboldt County Fair Association, county supervisors and staff and project engineers gathered outside of the grandstands at the fairgrounds on Monday afternoon to officially announce that the emergency construction to make the structure earthquake-safe is complete and that the fair will be fully operational on opening day later this week.
“We didn’t have any idea what it was going to look like; we just knew it had to be done,” First District Supervisor Rex Bohn said during the event on Monday. “[We’re] pretty happy with the way it worked out. The work is pretty magnificent.”
Michelle Bushnell, second district supervisor, also spoke during the event, saying that she had heard a lot of community concern over the board’s decision to approve the $1 million funding when the county’s budget is not in a great place. But, Bushnell said, she felt that this was an important enough project that the board needed to find a way to make it work.
The steel bracing can be seen here, behind Rex Bohn and others
“I think it’s really important that we start addressing things and not kicking that can down the road, because in the end it ends up costing a lot of more money,” Bushnell said. “Deferred maintenance is not something that we should do. We should address it as it happens and that’s what we did. I’m proud of our board for authorizing this, even though our budget is in trouble.”
Brett Witchurch, senior engineer and Whitchurch Engineering, the company that led the maintenance project, told the Outpost that work began on the grandstands at the beginning of July and just finished up this past week. The work includes the addition of a steel base frame to the exterior of the sides of the building, which are attached to grandstands. Aside from the visible frame, most of the work will not be noticeable to the public and includes the addition of wood bracing inside of the building.
Whitchurch added that this stabilization project only addresses the immediate safety concern of the structure being able to withstand another earthquake and that there is still a “pretty big task list” of repairs to complete on the structure.
Tom Mattson, Humboldt County’s director of public works, said that there was a lot of damage from the earthquake and that the county still doesn’t have the final report outlining the extent of the damage. But there were a fair amount of visible issues, Mattson said, with parts of the building being cracked and pulled apart and bolts sticking out. It will be a while before all of the damage is repaired, but that, at least for the time being, the grandstands are safe for the public to use.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Mattson said. “But it won’t fall down on people.”
And the news of the grandstands being safe comes not a moment too soon, with the Humboldt County Fair opening to the public on Thursday, Aug. 17. And although the fairgrounds include many other attractions and entertainment, the horse races are the fair’s main source of revenue. Plus, Supervisor Bohn pointed out, the racetrack and grandstands are also used for many other community events.
“We spent a lot of money to get this fixed, but there are a lot of events that happen here and it isn’t just for horse racing,” Bohn said. “I’m glad our board recognized that and realized how important it was to the community.”
Press release from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force:
On August 14th, 2023, Humboldt County Drug Task Force Agents with assistance from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant on Stephen Wayne Owens (44 years old from Eureka). HCDTF Agents observed Owens travel from Humboldt County to Modesto, California.
Upon Owens’ return to Humboldt County, Agents conducted a traffic stop on his vehicle. HCSO Deputy Mckenzie and his K9 partner Rex conducted an “open air sniff” on the vehicle. K9 Rex alerted to the vehicle indicating drugs were present.
Inside the vehicle, Agents located Owens and his significant other, Cassandra Graham. Agents also located two pounds of methamphetamine in the backseat of the vehicle.
Stephen Wayne Owens was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where correctional staff discovered he had 3.5 grams of methamphetamine concealed on his person. OWENS was booked on the following charges:
HS11378- Possession of a Controlled Substance
HS11379(A)- Transportation of a Controlled Substance
HS11379(B)- Transportation of a controlled substance through noncontiguous counties
PC4573.6- Possession of drugs where prisoners are held
Cassandra Graham was released on scene but will be charged with PC182- conspiracy to commit a crime.
Anyone with information related to this investigation or other narcotics related crimes is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Drug Task Force at 707-267-9976.
Please accept your official invite from a handful of Eureka High students in the clip above and/or read the Eureka City Schools release below:
Construction of Eureka High School’s highly anticipated 40,000
sq. ft. new gymnasium is now complete, and the gym will be available for use starting the
2023-2024 school year.
To unveil the new Jay Willard Gymnasium and celebrate this monumental endeavor that’s been
in the works for more than two decades, Eureka High School (EHS) will host an official Ribbon
Cutting Ceremony and Grand Opening Event on Thursday, August 17, 2023, from 5:00 pm to
7:30 pm. The new gym is located on the EHS campus at 1915 J Street, across from the ECS
District Office.
Eureka City Schools (ECS) encourages the community to attend the event and tour the beautiful
facility, bring family and friends, and spread the word!
The new gym will benefit students, citizens of the greater Eureka area, and future generations.
It serves as a testament to our community’s commitment to wanting the best for our youth,
including but not limited to input and direction for the gym’s design and the passing of Measure
S, the $49.75 million bond that paved the way to make this project possible.
The gym has a regulation basketball and volleyball competition court with retractable seating
for more than 1,200 spectators, a multi-purpose auxiliary gym that will serve as the wrestling
room, a dedicated weight room, student locker rooms with showers and restrooms, coaches’
offices, a training room, storage for athletic equipment, and a large foyer complete with a
concession stand that can accommodate up to 240 people.
The overall Jay Willard Gymnasium project will be constructed in four phases, and the
completion of the new gym is just phase one. The following phases will be the abatement of
hazardous materials from the current facility, demolition of the existing gymnasium, and
construction of a new parking lot.
A story published Monday in Politico offers the latest look from a national publication at the nascent efforts to develop floating wind energy off the coast of Humboldt County — dramatic pause — “at a depth and scale never before attempted in the world.”
The piece notes that this $100 billion initiative (give or take some billions) could transform the peninsula and supercharge the region’s economy, creating hundreds of good-paying jobs while advancing state and federal goals to boost renewable energy production, though the story also outlines some of the major challenges and potential pitfalls of those efforts.
Noting Humboldt County’s low per-capita income and our history of economic boom-and-bust cycles, reporter Wes Venteicher says “a gust of optimism has arrived” on our shores. He quotes Rep. Jared Huffman, who says, “It’s a lot of good-paying jobs if we do it right. This can be part of lifting up the regional economy in a way that is better than anything to come along in decades.”
As previously reported here and elsewhere, Humboldt Bay hosts the only developed port for hundreds of miles in either direction that possesses both the channel depth and vertical clearance necessary to assemble and transport the massive turbines, which means we could eventually supply wind energy infrastructure up and down the West Coast.
Politico also runs through a list of challenges, including bureaucratic, economic, logistical and social, from impacts to tribal resources and fisheries to permitting amid “a widespread distrust of outsiders in a region where indiscriminate logging engendered deep resentment and where an illegal marijuana industry created a counterculture haven in the fog-shrouded mountains.”
As for our humble shores:
The land — which now hosts two seaweed farms, an oyster hatchery and temporary storage for freshly caught hagfish — would be transformed into an industrial terminal with up to 650,000 square feet of building space, lights mounted 150 feet in the air and giant cranes that crawl through the water on tank treads.
Venteicher rightly pinpoints the related challenge of sufficiently increasing electricity transmission capacity, noting that projects of this scale — sending up to 25 gigawatts of wind energy 270 miles south to the San Francisco Bay area — “have in the past taken more than a decade, and an overland line would need to run through environmentally sensitive areas as well as populated communities that may not welcome them.”
He adds, “An undersea cable is being considered, but deep underwater canyons and other features make that option logistically daunting.”
ABOVE: Imagery taken just before noon of a fire burning east of Fortuna; BELOW: The purple line illustrates the direction the camera is pointed and its location | ALERTCalifornia
Six Rivers National Forest release:
The Six Rivers National Forest received significant lightning activity across the forest last night, August 14, 2023. Currently, there are 13 reported fires located throughout the forest.
Firefighters are working to assess current fires and patrolling the area to identify other potential starts. All incidents are under a full suppression strategy with rapid and aggressive initial attack operations. Air attack is being used to perform reconnaissance on the forest and additional resources have been ordered to support these incidents.
At this time there are no closures or evacuations in place. For evacuation information please contact your county sheriff’s office.
The McLean Foundation Board of Directors has approved a grant of $500,000 to the Fortuna Senior Center, (FSC) for their new building construction project on Rohnerville Rd. in Fortuna.
The poor stock market performance in 2022 negatively impacted the McLean Foundation’s ability to financially assist any projects outside of its normal giving. The markets strongly rebounded in June and July of 2023. The foundation is now able to allocate some funds that were not budgeted in order to take a fresh look at a special grant for FSC and their building project. It is anticipated that this funding will allow them to occupy their new facility by the end of this year.
The McLean Foundation has been a longtime supporter of the FSC over the years and is very enthusiastic to see the new FSC facility continue as a long-standing adult and senior program opportunity for the Eel River Valley Community for many years to come.
The FSC is currently a tenant of the Gene Lucas Community Center located on the McLean Campus off Newburg Road in Fortuna and has been there since the campus opened in 2020.
Financially helping the FSC with this special grant award not only meets the mission of the Foundation but augments the ability of FSC to see their dreams come true.
