Sarah Reith

The Board of Supervisors this week heard arguments for raising some of the fees in the Environmental Health, County Counsel, and cannabis departments. While there were some new fees and one proposal for a 234% increase, other fees were significantly reduced, some to zero. Seven County Counsel fees went up by 2.1% each.Supervisors asked Environmental Health not to make any more requests for some fee increases that would hit small food producers hard. Some supervisors and members of the public also complained that the basis for the increased fees had not been fully clarified, saying that justifications were not consistent and asking for time studies...

County staff is estimating a budget deficit of $18 million for the next fiscal year, though not all the information was available at the second of three budget workshops before budget hearings in June.Social Services, which served about 40,000 county residents last year, had not submitted its request for funds. The CEO’s office expects it to be about $3 million, though salaries and benefits are down by about a million. Currently, the combined amount of money all the departments are asking for from the General Fund is $94 million.While the estimated $18 million deficit does include the expectation of the roughly $3 million from Social Services, it does not include the Capital Improvement Plan, and it assumes no additional General Fund appropriations.The CEO’s office has recommendations to offset between $2.5 and $4.1 million, including using some of the county retirement reserve and adjusting the CalFire dispatch budget.Supervisor Ted Williams asked if the board could see the actual amounts that departments have spent over the last year. CEO Darcie Antle told him she could provide that information at the budget workshop on May 7, but Izen Locatelli, the chief probation officer, warned of the pitfalls of building a budget based on actuals…

The Fort Bragg City Council agreed Monday night to accept some recommendations about parking that are supposed to make the city more friendly to walking and biking. And the council held off on approving a conceptual design for the renovation of Bainbridge Park until the public works committee approves a gazebo or a pavilion, where visitors can give performances or have events in the open air, but with a roof over their heads.Ben Weber of Walker Consultants, said that parking in downtown Fort Bragg is usually available, even during special events. He recommended ordinance changes that he said would support the city’s general plan by encouraging more walking and biking in the central business district, or downtown area. At the top of his list of recommendations was eliminating the parking requirements, or in-lieu fee for developers, who must create a certain number of parking spaces for every living unit they build. He argued that too much parking encourages people to choose driving over other means of transportation.

Saturday’s Earth Day celebration at Todd Grove Park in Ukiah was a smorgasbord of environmentally themed activities. Students from the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas shared music and a performances about compassion for the earth. Experts stood at booths engaging passers by on compost and electric cars. A dog waste removal service called the Poop airy competed with the Army Corps of Engineers for attention...

At a preliminary budget workshop last week, the Board of Supervisors heard that, at this point, there does not appear to be a way to balance the county budget. Revenue is stagnant, and expenses have gone up.

Advocates for a ceasefire in Gaza lined up last week to ask the Board of Supervisors for a ceasefire resolution. And Mendocino Railway spoke out against the Great Redwood Trail’s plans to railbank the northern portion of the track, writing in a letter to the board that the county is missing out on the opportunity to use federal infrastructure money to reconnect the local rail to the national system...

Tiny homes are getting some attention in Mendocino County, with the Board of Supervisors as well as the Fort Bragg city planning commission considering their regulations this week.

With pension obligation bonds almost paid off, the Board of Supervisors plans to redirect funds to repay the $7 million it borrowed from Measure B to build the new wing of the jail.

Amy Goodman, the host of Democracy Now! was in northern California over the weekend to speak about the bombing of Gaza and the role of the media in times of conflict. On Friday, she addressed a packed crowd at the SPACE theater in Ukiah, and the next day she was in Berkeley to celebrate the 75th birthday of KPFA.

The county Planning Commission approved a coastal development use permit for a controversial water project in the town of Mendocino at its regular meeting on April fourth. The project, a joint venture between the Mendocino Unified School District and the Mendocino City Community Services District, includes up to ten new wells and two large storage tanks that are supposed to meet the community’s needs in drought or fire emergencies. The new infrastructure will be located on school district property on Little Lake Road, just east of the intersection with Gurley Lane and a mile outside the center of town.