Articles, Local Government

Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Recap, Aug. 11, 2026

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District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey was absent. Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

MediCal Contribution County supervisors approved a local contribution of roughly $472,451 toward the drawdown of federal dollars used to provide care to roughly 13,000 recipients of the Partnership Health Plan.

According to Del Norte Health and Human Services Director Ranell Brown, the California Department of Healthcare Services asks local governments to provide the state contribution to draw down the funds to support the local Medi-Cal program. 

“Those funds can be used for any type of MediCal recipient services,” Brown told Redwood Voice Community News. “We’ve used it for outreach, we’ve used it for infrastructure for items that support that population such as the (ERF) shelter or the Legacy, and it’s based on a per-member per-month rate.”

According to the county’s contract, the per-member per-month rate is 1.72%. Del Norte County has received about $1 million to $1.2 million per year in federal funding for Medi-Cal, Brown said.

Treasurer-Tax Collector Hours Reduced: County supervisors allowed Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Lopez to reduce her office hours. According to Lopez’s staff report, her office is operating with only two employees — herself and her assistant department head — while “continuing to administer three General Fund departments.”

Instead of being open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, the Treasurer-Tax Collector will be open from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday. Lopez’s office will be closed from 1 p.m.-2 p.m. for lunch and on Friday afternoons until her staffing is restored.

On property tax deadlines, however, the office will remain open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Early Start for Sept. 22 Meeting: The Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting on Sept. 22 will begin at 9 a.m. instead of the normal 10 a.m. start. Closed session will be held at 8 a.m. instead of 8:30 a.m. According to the Board’s agenda, the earlier start will accommodate supervisors who are traveling to the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) annual meeting.