Category Archives: Local Government

Articles, CC Harbor, Elections, Local Government

Gitlin Unveils Recall Petitions Against Harbor Commissioners Schmidt, Nehmer; Special Recall Election Could Cost CCHD Up To $130,000, Del Norte Clerk-Recorder Says

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Thumbnail photo: Roger Gitlin, former Del Norte Triplicate editor, speaks at a Crescent City Council meeting in June. | Screenshot

Former Del Norte Triplicate editor Roger Gitlin announced that he has begun the process to recall Crescent City Harbor commissioners Dan Schmidt and Annie Nehmer, though he’s not sure if the recall election will take place next June or November.

Gitlin announced his intentions before Nehmer and her colleagues Rick Shepherd and Gerhard Weber on Wednesday. He accused Nehmer of costing the Harbor District about $55,000 in legal fees and Schmidt of trying to persuade the Board of Commissioners to give his brother an executive role at the port.

“These breaches undermine the district’s ability to protect taxpayer funds in litigation and have collectively eroded public trust in (Schmidt’s) capacity to fulfill his duty,” Gitlin said. “Collectively they warrant recall. I have begun the process and will be seeking the intention to recall both of these commissioners in the foreseeable future.”

Continue reading Gitlin Unveils Recall Petitions Against Harbor Commissioners Schmidt, Nehmer; Special Recall Election Could Cost CCHD Up To $130,000, Del Norte Clerk-Recorder Says →
Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government

Del Norte County Finalizes Line of Credit to Airport Authority; Elk Valley Rancheria Chairman Defends Joint Powers Authority Model

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Thumbnail image courtesy of flycrescentcity.com

Del Norte County supervisors approved an agreement that extends a line of credit to the local airport authority, enabling it to weather a cash flow emergency as it completes three grant-funded projects.

The Board of Supervisors’ decision comes after they authorized staff to draft an agreement with the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority in August. 

The agreement also comes after BCRAA members at a meeting earlier this month were dismayed to hear District 4 Supervisor Joey Borges question the effectiveness of the joint powers authority model to operate the Del Norte County Airport, his District 3 colleague Chris Howard told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday.

Continue reading Del Norte County Finalizes Line of Credit to Airport Authority; Elk Valley Rancheria Chairman Defends Joint Powers Authority Model →
Articles, Local Government

Del Norte Supervisors Discuss Budget, Challenges of Providing State-Mandated Services, Charlie Kirk

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short was absent. Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

Board Approves 2025-26 Final Budget: Four county supervisors approved Del Norte County’s 2025-26 final recommended budget about two weeks after they learned that 25% of its positions are vacant and overall base salaries are 10% under market median.

The final step in a process that included a 14-day public hearing window and two budget workshops, the total 2025-26 recommended budget is $249,475,247 with a general fund budget of $45,460,804, according to a staff report from County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez and Auditor-Controller Clinton Schaad.

Continue reading Del Norte Supervisors Discuss Budget, Challenges of Providing State-Mandated Services, Charlie Kirk →
Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

With Triplicate’s Sale, Nehmer Parts Ways With Attorney; Paul Boylan Says He’s Done ‘Everything I Could For Her’

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Nehmer | Courtesy of ccharbor.com

Now that the Del Norte Triplicate is under new ownership, any concerns that Crescent City Harbor Commissioner Annie Nehmer had regarding potential defamation on the part of its previous editor have been resolved.

Speaking to Redwood Voice Community News on Monday, Paul Boylan, Nehmer’s Davis-based attorney, said that his relationship with her has come to an amicable end.

The big danger, he said, had been the Triplicate’s previous editor, Roger Gitlin, potentially damaging Nehmer’s reputation. But with the newspaper’s sale to Nehmer’s colleague on the Harbor District Board, former editor Dan Schmidt, Boylan said he’s “done everything I could for her.”

“It doesn’t surprise me that they would close the Triplicate and sell it to someone else,” he said of Country Media Inc., the newspaper’s previous owners.

Continue reading With Triplicate’s Sale, Nehmer Parts Ways With Attorney; Paul Boylan Says He’s Done ‘Everything I Could For Her’ →
Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government, Transportation

Crescent City Council Discusses Transit Center, Stipends, CCPD’s Alcohol Beverage Control Grant Application

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Thumbnail image courtesy of Crescent City

Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:

RCTA’s new transit center: City councilors entered into an agreement with the Redwood Coast Transit Authority as it moves forward with plans to build a transit center at Front and K streets.

The agreement comes more than two years after councilors decided that the parking lot near the Del Norte County Library was a suitable home for a transit center. RCTA is building the facility using $2.85 million in grant dollars from the California State Transportation Agency’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program. The transit authority’s total grant award was $7.6 million.

“The key reason we have this agreement now is because RCTA needs [it] to move forward with their design and their project steps,” City Attorney Martha Rice told councilors. “We want something in writing that says this is going to be the site, however prior to completing the required environmental analyses they can’t enter into a binding lease agreement. We’re coming to terms on what the basics of the lease agreement will be.”

Continue reading Crescent City Council Discusses Transit Center, Stipends, CCPD’s Alcohol Beverage Control Grant Application →
Articles, Community News, Infrastructure, Local Government

Greenough Says Beachfront Park Interpretive Kiosks Should Tell ‘All Of Our History, Not Just One Side’ As Tolowa Cultural Trail Takes Shape

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Thumbnail photo: The canoe node will be one of the first interpretive elements to be constructed as part of the Tolowa Cultural Trail feature at Beachfront Park. | Image courtesy of Crescent City

As construction begins on the Tolowa Cultural Trail, Jason Greenough invoked the three industries that “basically made Crescent City” and insisted that “all of our history is important, not just one side.”

The city councilor said he loved the redwood, burden basket and canoe replicas that will be included in the Tolowa Cultural Trail feature. But he pressed his colleagues for consensus on expanding the historical collection of kiosks that will dot Beachfront Park’s perimeter to include information about the lumber, fishing and mining industries.

Crescent City could highlight its historical buildings, bring back the hollow redwood log kids played in before it decomposed and caved in on itself and highlight the importance of the Hmong community in the area, he said.

“If you’re going to walk the entire Tolowa trail and then walk all the way around and look at all the kiosks, that can provide quite a bit of time for people to be outside, to get exercise, to be healthy, to be out there with their families and encourage people to promote a better family life, and education,” Greenough said. “It feels like this checks all those different boxes.”

Continue reading Greenough Says Beachfront Park Interpretive Kiosks Should Tell ‘All Of Our History, Not Just One Side’ As Tolowa Cultural Trail Takes Shape →
Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

CCHD Board Censures Nehmer, Ousts Her As Vice Chair; Nehmer Says Reprimand Is ‘A Smear Campaign’ To Get Her To Resign

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Tuesday’s Crescent City Harbor District meeting

Crescent City Harbor Commissioner Annie Nehmer called an effort to censure her and remove her from the vice chair position a smear campaign that wastes more time and taxpayer money.

Before her colleagues voted to officially reprimand her, Nehmer outlined a series of grievances aimed primarily at Chair Gerhard Weber, who she accused of looking the other way as the agency neared insolvency. 

“This really has no ramifications other than trying to make me look bad in public,” she said Tuesday. “It’s a giant smear campaign against me to attempt to get me to step down and resign. It’s not going to happen.”

Continue reading CCHD Board Censures Nehmer, Ousts Her As Vice Chair; Nehmer Says Reprimand Is ‘A Smear Campaign’ To Get Her To Resign →
Articles, Community News, Local Government

At Greenough’s Request, Crescent City Council Observes Moment Of Silence For Charlie Kirk

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Kirk | Author: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License

Thumbnail photo: Screenshot

(Updated at 2:56 p.m. to clarify that Greenough served as Crescent City Mayor in 2021 and 2022.)

Before asking his colleagues to observe a moment of silence for his death, Crescent City Councilor Jason Greenough said he modeled his leadership style on fallen right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk.

“I have struggled with this all week, that in a country where we value our freedoms so much, that someone would be willing to kill another human being for their opinion,” Greenough said Monday. “And I know when I was mayor I pushed that every single person that stepped up to that microphone would have their time to bring their mind and their thoughts and their beliefs to us.”

Stumbling a bit over his words, Greenough, who was Crescent City mayor in 2021 and 2022, recapped the events that led to Kirk’s killing at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. The city councilor also praised Kirk for his practice of going onto college campuses and engaging youth in “civilized debate” and said his killing was despicable.

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Articles, Economy, Local Government

A Quarter of Del Norte County’s Positions Are Vacant, HR Director Says

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Updated at 4:37 p.m. to correct the spelling of Samantha Reagen’s name.

After weighing in on a compensation analysis they said fell short of expectations, county supervisors learned that Del Norte’s overall vacancy rate is 25%.

Out of a total of 482 positions countywide, 121 are empty, Human Resources Director Kerri Vue said last week. This represents a significant staffing shortage that is more pronounced in the Social Services and Behavioral Health branches of the Department of Health and Human Services as well as the District Attorney, Probation and Sheriff’s Offices, she said.

“We also see several smaller, yet important, single vacancies across various departments such as the administrative office, animal control, the assessor and the auditor-controller,” she said. “All these numbers are smaller, [but] each vacancy represents a critical gap in a specific function, potentially impacting efficacy and the ability to meet department objectives.”

Continue reading A Quarter of Del Norte County’s Positions Are Vacant, HR Director Says →
Articles, Local Government

Comp Study Shows Del Norte County’s Overall Base Salaries 10% Below Market Rate; Supervisors Say Analysis Fell Short Of Expectations

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Norma Williams summed up SEIU 1021’s assessment of the Gallagher report in four words: We told you so.

The president of the Del Norte County Employees Association told supervisors Tuesday that the results of Gallagher’s compensation analysis — which showed that the county’s base salary is 10% below the market median though its overall compensation package is 2.1% above the market median — is nothing new.

Following a subsequent presentation from Human Resources Director Kerri Vue, who stated that there were 121 staff vacancies out of a total of 482 positions, Williams called for an across-the-board cost of living adjustment. She also urged them to address substandard salaries by ensuring the positions’ pay is in line with the market rate.

Continue reading Comp Study Shows Del Norte County’s Overall Base Salaries 10% Below Market Rate; Supervisors Say Analysis Fell Short Of Expectations →