Category Archives: Local Government

Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government

Del Norte BOS Recap: New Compensation Rate for County Supervisors; Team-Approach to Capital Improvements; New Truck

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

County Supervisors Compensation: Supervisors approved an ordinance that set their biweekly compensation rate at $2,277.67 regardless of how many terms they serve in office. The ordinance adds language to a provision in county code that justifies an extra $100 the Board chair receives, which is also paid biweekly. 

It also offers a cost of living adjustment for county supervisors that will be between 2.5% and 4% each year based on the Western Region Consumer Price Index.  According to the county’s staff report, the Board of Supervisors will be required to review this COLA every three years starting in 2029 and can, by a four-fifths vote, waive that adjustment.

Continue reading Del Norte BOS Recap: New Compensation Rate for County Supervisors; Team-Approach to Capital Improvements; New Truck →
Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government, Transportation

Crescent City Seeks Caltrans Grant To Tame U.S. 101 ‘Concrete Jungle’

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Thumbnail: Crescent City is pursuing a Caltrans grant that would make its highway corridor safer for all modes of transportation and tie its downtown area to the Crescent City Harbor. | Screenshot

As Crescent City focuses on revitalizing its downtown, City Manager Eric Wier asked councilors to give a thought to the highway corridor.

Describing M and L streets as a hardscape dominated by pavement, sidewalks and buildings, Wier urged councilors to pursue a Caltrans grant aimed at addressing all modes of transportation. He envisioned more greenery, possibly reducing the number of lanes on the northbound side and building wider sidewalks in order to reduce the amount of highway someone has to cross to get to Safeway.

“A big part of the experience when you come into Crescent City is that highway corridor,” Wier said. “It is the downtown, but it’s not really part of the downtown. You have Caltrans and highway facilities coming through there so it really does need its own plan.”

Continue reading Crescent City Seeks Caltrans Grant To Tame U.S. 101 ‘Concrete Jungle’ →
Articles, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

Crescent City Councilors Seek To Fill Vacancy, Approve Water Well Project, Sea Rise Grant Application

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Crescent City Councilor Jason Greenough was absent. Among the items discussed at Monday’s meeting:

Vacancy: Crescent City is accepting applications to fill the vacant seat left behind by Daran Dooley, who resigned in October. Applications will be accepted through 5 p.m. on Dec. 1. The City Council will then conduct interviews with a goal of swearing a candidate in at its regular meeting Dec. 15, City Manager Eric Wier said. Applications can be obtained by visiting www.crescentcity.org. 

Water redundancy: Councilors awarded a $272,900 contract to GHD to design and provide project management for a redundant water well that could be used if tapping into the Smith River isn’t an option.

Continue reading Crescent City Councilors Seek To Fill Vacancy, Approve Water Well Project, Sea Rise Grant Application →
Articles, Local Government

Here’s Your Sign? Crescent City Council Mulls Changes To Regulations

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Thumbnail photo: The Tsunami Lane Bowling Alley received a permit for its digital sign about a year ago, however the sign has characteristics that aren’t allowed in the Crescent City Municipal Code, City Attorney Martha Rice said. | Photo by Heather Polen

Candace Tinkler was at odds with her colleagues as well as the Planning Commission over a proposal regarding signs on Crescent City’s main drag

A Planning Commission proposal to allow digital signs that are up to 100-square-feet within city limits would lead to distracted motorists, light pollution and visual blight, the mayor pro tem said Monday. Furthermore, she warned, the City Council would be torpedoing its vision for Downtown Crescent City.

“We’re trying hard to move forward, to modernize and improve, not only the safety, but the looks of our community,” Tinkler said, listing the community’s expansion of Beachfront Park, its Front Street improvements and the downtown visioning plan Crescent City staff sought community input on last week. “One of the things that concerns me is that as a town whose economy depends a lot on tourism, these kinds of signs, when they accumulate, it’s a lot of commercialism and it detracts from the idea that we are a distinct community.”

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Articles, Crescent City, Local Government

Crescent City To Set Cap On Cannabis Retailers, Disallow Indoor Cultivation

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Thumbnail photo by Jennifer Martin via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License.

Crescent City councilors endorsed a Planning Commission request to modify the city’s commercial cannabis law to disallow indoor cultivation within city limits.

But, while planning commissioners also recommended limiting the number of retailers to eight, councilors opted for a stricter cap.

“As long as these business owners are obeying the rules and acting professionally, limiting it to five would be very reasonable,” Mayor Pro Tem Candace Tinkler told her colleagues Monday.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

Harbor Adopts Facilities Plan, USDA Negotiations Expected To Resume ‘Very Soon’

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Thumbnail photo by Amanda Dockter

(Updated at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday to clarify a statement from Harbormaster Mike Rademaker. The discussion over Measure C’s language and “priority order” occurred in 2019 between the harbor’s legal counsel at the time, Bob Black, and Del Norte County counsel Elizabeth Cable, Rademaker told Redwood Voice.)

Though their colleague Annie Nehmer said it read more like a wishlist, Crescent City Harbor commissioners approved a facilities plan they’ll take to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors.

The Harbor Facilities Plan is a requirement of Measure C, the transiency occupancy tax measure voters approved in 2018 to allow the Crescent City Harbor District to pay its loan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and make much-needed capital improvements.

On Wednesday, Harbormaster Mike Rademaker said if the USDA is agreeable to reducing the district’s annual loan payment, it could tap into its Measure C revenue to do those capital improvements.

Continue reading Harbor Adopts Facilities Plan, USDA Negotiations Expected To Resume ‘Very Soon’ →
Articles, Crime, Local Government

Del Norte Judge Rejects Recommendation To Let Hooper’s Felony DUI Causing Injury Charge Stand; Victim Says She Felt ‘Pushed Aside’ During Legal Process

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Thumbnail photo: Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper struck Grants Pass resident Megan Postma at Sand Mine Road and U.S. 101 near Crescent City on April 19 and continued driving. | Photo by Heather Polen

Hooper |Courtesy LinkedIn

A Del Norte County judge on Thursday rejected a probation officer’s recommendation to let Randy Hooper’s felony DUI causing injury charge stand, deciding to follow a plea agreement offered to the defendant by the state Attorney General’s Office.

If Hooper lives up to the terms of the plea deal, his charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor, said attorney Keith Morris, who was designated as deputy attorney general for the case. But the judge told Hooper to expect to do some jail time — up to 90 days — when his sentence is reviewed in March, Morris told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday.

“He will serve some time in jail,” Morris said. “The judge followed the plea bargain we extended.”

Continue reading Del Norte Judge Rejects Recommendation To Let Hooper’s Felony DUI Causing Injury Charge Stand; Victim Says She Felt ‘Pushed Aside’ During Legal Process →
Articles, Health, Local Government

Del Norte Supervisors Support City Grants, Discuss DHHS Contracts, Retirement Benefit Policy

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short and his District 3 colleague Chris Howard were absent. Among the items discussed at Wednesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

Grant confusion: Three supervisors endorsed two Crescent City grant proposals, though it took a last-minute visit from City Manager Eric Wier for them to arrive at that conclusion.

Supervisors agreed to sign a letter of support for Crescent City’s efforts to obtain a Sustainable Planning Grant through Caltrans for its Redwood Highway Multi-Modal Transportation & Land Use Plan. They also approved a support letter for the city’s pursuit of California Ocean Protection Council grant dollars for its Coastal Resiliency Plan.

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Articles, Curry, Local Government

Judge Sides With Curry County BOC Against Sheriff Over Access To Some Documents, But Says Commissioners’ Order Was Overbroad

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Ward

Thumbnail photo: Screenshot

The day after an Oregon circuit court judge issued a final ruling that vindicated the Curry County Board of Commissioners, Jay Trost pushed back against accusations that he and his colleagues aren’t transparent.

Speaking from the dais at a meeting Wednesday, Trost noted that it was those accusations that led to a now-abandoned recall campaign against him and his colleague Commissioner Patrick Hollinger. Trost argued that they were the ones being transparent while Sheriff John Ward hasn’t provided a public safety update to the Board in more than a year.

“I’m grateful for the recent ruling and we will now have court-ordered access to the information that we have been requesting for over a year,” Trost said.

Continue reading Judge Sides With Curry County BOC Against Sheriff Over Access To Some Documents, But Says Commissioners’ Order Was Overbroad →
Articles, Environment, Local Government, Science

Restoring Elk Creek Would Enhance Crescent City’s Ability to Withstand Flood, Tsunami, Smith River Alliance’s Grant Werschkull Says

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Thumbnail: Aerial shot of the Elk Creek watershed looking west toward the Pacific Ocean. | Photo courtesy of Smith River Alliance and Stillwater Sciences

Smith River Alliance Co-Director Grant Werschkull acknowledged that breathing new life into Elk Creek’s wetlands could be an economic boon for Crescent City.

But to illustrate his point that restoring the tidal channels and swales would make a difference during a tsunami or a flood, he pointed councilors to a 2015 New Yorker article about the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the massive earthquakes it is capable of generating and its threat to coastal communities like Crescent City.

“The title is the ‘Really Big One’,” Werschkull said, referring to the article. “Seismologists, the experts that we have, participated in that (article) and it talks about how we are right now at a date when it is timely that it could happen.”

Continue reading Restoring Elk Creek Would Enhance Crescent City’s Ability to Withstand Flood, Tsunami, Smith River Alliance’s Grant Werschkull Says →