Category Archives: Local Government

Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

CCHD Board Looks To AI For Help With Meeting Minutes

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

A month after they approved minutes dating back to January, Crescent City Harbor commissioners decided artificial intelligence might make compiling those records easier on staff.

The discussion came after the Board of Commissioners on Wednesday approved minutes from a special meeting on Aug. 13. The minutes from Crescent City Harbor District’s most recent regular session, which was also held Aug. 13, were not included in Wednesday’s consent calendar, something Commissioner Annie Nehmer pointed out.

“We shrank it down to just the action minutes so it was more manageable and it still seems to not be manageable,” she said, adding that the Del Norte County Grand Jury had concerns about meeting minutes being unavailable to the public.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

CCHD Makes Formal Brown Act Commitment On Behalf of Their Finance Committee; Attorney States Board Wasn’t Admitting To Wrongdoing

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Thumbnail photo by Gavin Van Alstine

Though one member said that such a statement would imply wrongdoing, Crescent City Harbor commissioners last week agreed to issue a formal commitment that their finance committee would comply with the Ralph M. Brown Act.

This unconditional commitment is in response to a cease and desist letter Davis attorney Paul Boylan sent to the Crescent City Harbor District on behalf of his client, county resident Linda Sutter.

The July 14 letter alleges that the CCHD finance committee met without providing public notice and failed to conduct open meetings. It states that the district’s finance committee denied the public the opportunity to comment and record their meetings and failed to keep a record, according to an Aug. 27 report from the district’s attorney, Ryan Plotz of Mitchell Law Firm.

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Articles, Health, Infrastructure, Local Government

Ruth Compound Barriers Will Stay Put; Supervisors Call For Further Remedies To Illegal Dumping, Camping In The Area

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Thumbnail photo: Del Norte County Supervisors on Tuesday decided that K rail blocking vehicular access to an area commonly called the Ruth Compound should remain. | Photo by Heather Polen

(Updated at 7:51 p.m. to correct the spelling of Randy Pincombe’s name)

District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short argued that barriers are part of the solution to curtail illegal dumping and camping in the Ruth Compound, though he said Band-Aid is an apt term for them too.

“Band-Aid” was the phrase District 2 Supervisor Valery Starkey coined in February 2024 when Short initially proposed blocking the area. 

On Tuesday, though she ultimately voted with the rest of her colleagues for the barriers to continue, Starkey asked for statistics on the number of illegal dumpsites as well as the number of deputy patrols in the area. 

Continue reading Ruth Compound Barriers Will Stay Put; Supervisors Call For Further Remedies To Illegal Dumping, Camping In The Area →
Articles, Community News, Elections, Local Government

Del Norte Board of Supervisors Recap, Aug. 26, 2025

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Thumbnail photo: Members of the Del Norte Sheriff’s Posse raised $10,000 to bring Otis, a 1954 Ford police car, back to the community last month. | Photo courtesy of the Del Norte Sheriff’s Posse

Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

Supervisors accept “Otis”: Though the vehicle has already been purchased, Del Norte County supervisors officially accepted Otis on Tuesday.

The 1954 Ford police car has been in movies, including the 1996 crime flick “Mulholland Falls,” according to Sheriff Garrett Scott’s staff report. Over the summer, the Del Norte Sheriff’s Posse, the nonprofit organization supporting the sheriff’s office, raised $10,000 to buy the vehicle. 

Continue reading Del Norte Board of Supervisors Recap, Aug. 26, 2025 →
Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government, Transportation

Del Norte Supervisors Extend Line of Credit To Airport Authority Due To Cash Flow Emergency

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Thumbnail photo courtesy of Andrew Goff

With one of their colleagues conjuring up images of plane vs. elk collisions on the runway, Del Norte County supervisors authorized a line of credit that will allow the local airport authority to weather a cash flow emergency.

It’s an emergency tied to three grant-funded projects that are currently underway at the Del Norte County Airport. According to District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard, the emergency represents an oversight on the part of the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority and its former airport director Ryan Cooley.

Howard, however, pinned much of the blame on Cooley, who in 2023 had secured contributions from the joint powers authority’s member agencies to help to meet a 5% match tied to the $8 million Federal Aviation Administration grant-funded runway rehabilitation project.

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Articles, Crime, Local Government

Judge Denies Motion To Reduce Del Norte ACAO’s Hit & Run, DUI Charges; Hooper Allegedly Had 0.198 BAC, CHP Officer Testifies

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Thumbnail photo by Heather Polen

Hooper | Courtesy LinkedIn

After viewing video footage from Elk Valley Casino and hearing from the alleged victim in the case, a Del Norte County Judge denied a motion to reduce hit and run and driving under the influence charges against County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper from felonies to misdemeanors.

During a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, Judge Karen Olson said it would be up to the people to decide whether the charges against Hooper should be reduced. 

“[It’s] not in the interest of justice,” Olson said. “Accountability and justice go hand-in-hand regardless of how many Board of Supervisor members or sheriffs you know. This is not a core issue of the case. Reducing charges may occur in the future, but that is on the people.”

Continue reading Judge Denies Motion To Reduce Del Norte ACAO’s Hit & Run, DUI Charges; Hooper Allegedly Had 0.198 BAC, CHP Officer Testifies →
Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Local Government

Blake Inscore To Be Guest Speaker At Sister Cities International Summit in Japan; Delegation Will Visit Iwate Prefecture

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Thumbnail photo: A delegation from Rikuzentakata celebrates the inaugural Kamome Festival in Crescent City in 2023. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

Blake Inscore called his guest speaker role at a Sister Cities International Summit in Japan his “last big push for tourism as well as for our community” before he moves onto the next chapter of his life.

Part of the World’s Expo 2025 in Osaka, Inscore said every U.S./Japan Sister City was invited to attend the summit, which will be held from Sept. 16-19. His opportunity to re-tell the story of Crescent City’s evolving friendship with Rikuzentakata not only puts it on as large a world stage as the Tokyo Olympics did back in 2021, it represents what many Sister Cities don’t have.

“Sister Cities International has been very intrigued and they want us to show how a Sister City can work together with government-to-government relationships,” Inscore told the Crescent City Council on Monday. “[Many Sister Cities] don’t have a city council or a mayor or anybody else that’s engaged with wanting to see this happen. And, frankly, this is a win for us.”

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Articles, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

Crescent City Council Recap, Aug. 18, 2025

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Thumbnail photo: Construction began on the Fred Endert Municipal Pool’s roof on Monday. | courtesy of Andrew Goff

Councilman Daran Dooley was absent. Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:

CDBG grant: City Councilors authorized staff to establish a new fund for the $1.8 million it received in 2024 Community Development Block Grant dollars.

According to City Manager Eric Wier, about $300,000 of that money will go toward the Family Resource Center of the Redwoods for its Pacific Pantry program while another $1.5 million will be used to establish a business loan program.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

‘I’m His Right Hand’; Sandy Moreno Stays On As CCHD’s Financial Advisor

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Sandy Moreno successfully convinced three harbor commissioners that she’s “imminently qualified” to stay on as financial advisor. 

But her justification last week for why she denied access to a U.S. Department of Agriculture document to a member of the public nearly resulted in the ejection of another member of the public from the Crescent City Harbor District’s Aug. 13 meeting when she protested.

“To have a person that you’re employing telling you they are the boss is heinous. It’s just heinous and it’s inappropriate,” Stephanie Abrams said when she was allowed to speak.

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Articles, Local Government

Departure of Pathologist May Mean Increased Costs for Autopsies in Del Norte, Sheriff Says

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Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Budget Workshop, Aug. 5

Though it wasn’t part of his original budget request, Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott told supervisors to be prepared for autopsy costs to increase. 

The pathologist the sheriff’s office had contracted with was forced to go on medical leave suddenly and will likely not be able to return to work, Scott said. As a result, the coroner’s budget will likely “double at least,” he said.

“My point to the Board was that that budget line we’ve had for a number of years — getting an autopsy done for $1,500 per — that ship has sailed,” Scott told Redwood Voice Community News. “That will not be an option any longer, and so I just wanted to make sure they were aware because I’ll have to ask for a bigger allocation to that budget line from the general fund. They weren’t aware of it before because we had no idea this was coming.”

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