Local lobbying targets for
reps in Sacramento and
D.C. set
By Charles Douglas
HUMBOLDT SENTINEL
EUREKA - A raftload of requests from local non-profits
for Headwaters Fund grants totaling nearly $170,000 were unanimously
approved by Supervisors on Tuesday, despite ongoing citizen
concerns with the depletion of available monies for inappropriate
projects.
Consistent county government critics David and Penny Elsebusch
continued their unrelenting criticism of the Fund Board’s
handling of funds generated by the Headwaters Forest purchase
by the federal government, which subsequently reduced county
property tax revenues. David in particular said he wanted
it treated like the county General Fund, with more restrictions
on its private use, as he condemned the reservation of a significant
amount of this year’s cycle of grant funds to pay an
additional amount for a grant to the Open Door clinic last
year for a telemedicine center.
It started off as an inappropriate use of funds, because
it was to pay off a loan for modernizing,” he said.
“They came back and said they found out it would have
to involve a comparable wages situation, so they couldn’t
do that, so they came back with exactly the same amount to
pay for equipment and such. That’s a shell game…the
system has been corrupted by considering these things.”
Penny Elsebusch said the original intent of the fund, which
was to help replace the jobs lost by removing productive timber
land from private hands, had been lost in funding projects
that didn’t replace any jobs. Penny pointed to the Arcata
Economic Development Corporation-sponsored bid for $19,000
to hire consultants for the Humboldt-Del Norte Goat Milk Producers
Association as an example.
“Not every goat milk producer is a member of this so-called
association, this is benefiting five goat milk producers,”
she said. “Most of these [Headwaters Fund Board] people
call their pet projects in.”
One of those goat milk producers, Debra Jurow, characterized
the charges as inaccurate, citing officials at UC Davis who
called it one of the more difficult cost studies they had
put together.
“The dairy goat industry is a new fledgling industry,”
she said. “We do have a small number, five commercial
producers, but these are the people taking the risk.”
|  Headwaters
Fund Coordinator Tony Shen defended these bids, as well
as proposals filed by the Small Business Resource Center,
as vital in bringing public-private partnerships like
North Coast Open Studios into a sustainable level of
operation. Shen also pushed for more flexibility about
the timing of grants in next year’s funding cycle.
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Supervisor John Woolley agreed, with his only concern centered
on projects that didn’t make the cut, suggesting two
semi-finalist proposals be transferred to the Community Investment
Fund slate of considerations.
“We may want to consider, if not funding them, then
adopting them, recognizing that these are within the platform
of our community,” he said. “The problem I’m
seeing is the criterion-based approach you’re taking
on…you’re not really sure if you’re an eligible
activity.”
Supervisor Jill Geist attempted to designate an additional
$23,000 to the Mad River Fish Hatchery, but she was reminded
by Shen that the recommendations for Headwaters Fund use have
to come through the Fund Board they appoint. One seat remains
vacant on the Fund Board following the resignation of Joel
Rische.
Legislative platforms established for 2006
Assistant County Administrative Officer Stephanie Larson
summed up a cautious and defensive stance to be taken by county
lobbyists in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. over the coming
year.
“We’re trying to protect the dollars we have
before we go in search of new dollars, and its been a consistently
endangered species,” she said.
Larson warned of the loss of $210,000 for the Property Tax
Administration Program from the state next July, even though
the state keeps 65% of what they collect in property taxes
and state coffers gain on average $11 for every dollar they
spend on the program. The county would stand to lose $3 million
in revenues as a result of reduced collections.
“It’s penny wise and pound foolish,” she
said.
Also on the chopping block is Prop. 42 funding for road projects
which are worth $1.2 million annually to the county.
“Who says this government runs on logic?” Woolley
asked.
Supervisors suggested adding funding for the fish hatchery,
support for same-sex marriage and the use of increased funding
under a reauthorized Public Safety Act to be broadened to
help local fire districts. Geist in particular wanted more
funding found for rural schools and water quality, as well
as more involvement from Assemblymember Patty Berg and Senator
Wes Chesbro on the plight of fisheries and Native American
tribes on the Klamath River.
The outgoing Board Chair, Roger Rodoni said his efforts to
involve state representatives in the effort to modify timber
harvest plan rules for non-industrial owners had met with
some success, especially after a meeting hosted a month ago
by the Buckeye Conservancy.
“I was please to hear there was some consensus starting
to form about the extension of these timber harvest plans,”
he said.
The Board voted 4-0, with Bonnie Neely absent at the Coastal
Commission, on their expanded platform, which also urged the
continuation of $500,000 of funding for rural law enforcement.
County gives nod to plan for mental health money
Supervisors enthusiastically received the final implementation
plan for Prop. 63, the Mental Health Services Act, approved
by voters in November, 2004.
“We’re looking at these funds as a catalyst for
change, as a catalyst for transforming human services and
mental health in Humboldt County,” Director of Health
and Human Services Phil Crandall said. “What we’ve
learned is community input across many types of stakeholders
is critical in Humboldt County.”
Dozens of stakeholder forums with varying segments of the
community were held to assess just what should be done with
an estimated $1.3 million in Prop. 63 monies the county should
be receiving annually by the next fiscal year. Even this wasn’t
enough for Supervisor Jimmy Smith to deal with what he characterized
as an overwhelming problem, especially when dual diagnoses
complicate treatment options for homeless people with alcohol,
drug or mental issues in addition.
“If there have been some reductions and migrations
of folks from other states in that category, are we set up
to contact those other states and tell them to pick up their
own end?” Smith asked.
Smith was informed by Crandall that there was no bridge between
states to extradite homeless or mentally ill people.
“Policy issues don’t have consistency along county
lines, much less state [lines],” he said.
Lance Morton, who serves as Assistant Director for Programs
for the department, pointed to new programs which would be
funded with the increased tax on millionaires, including an
early responder, an expanded ability to provide services to
Native Americans, a mobile mental health unit, the addition
of a clinician to the homeless program and seed money to fund
youth and transition age advocacy, especially for foster children
coming of age.
“You have incredibly high rates of homelessness and
criminal behavior once outside of the foster care system,”
Morton said.
Geist emphasized early intervention, working with the business
and education communities to spot warning signs.
“The key to me seems to be stability, the emotional,
the housing as well as the medical component,” she said.
Rodoni admitted to being an early skeptic of the need for
public mental health services when he joined the Board, a
position which had evolved considerably.
“It is a difficult world to deal with and to live in
and to make it livable, a lot of times the whole concept of
something being traditional is really not, you can’t
rely on the way things used to be,” he said. “I
understand clearer what it is [mental health staff] do and
I have a profound respect for it.”
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