Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz
Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:
Juvenile Offender Placement: Del Norte County supervisors approved adding Sonoma County Juvenile Hall to the list of potential detention facilities it can use to house youthful offenders in Del Norte’s care.
Del Norte County Probation Chief Lonnie Reyman’s request comes about three years after the Board of Supervisors officially eliminated his department’s juvenile hall division in 2023.
The probation department continues to use the Humboldt County Juvenile Hall as its primary detention facility for youth with Mendocino, Shasta and El Dorado counties acting as a backup. According to Reyman’s staff report, contracting with the Sonoma County Probation Department also enables Del Norte youth to access its sexual offender treatment program and secure track treatment program.
Stepping Along the Salary Schedule: Though she approved the sheriff’s request, District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey said a structural analysis should have broken the county’s habit of hiring staff at a more advanced step in the salary schedule.
Starkey and her colleagues approved the sheriff’s request to re-hire a Dispatcher II at Step 3 on the salary schedule rather than a Step 2. The individual has previous experience as a dispatcher and had been promoted to dispatch supervisor, according to a staff report from Human Resources Director Kerri Vue.
According to Vue’s report, the request is in line with an MOU between the Sheriff’s Employee Association and the county. That MOU states that the appointing authority can ask the Board’s approval to hire at up to a Step C in the salary schedule when it is difficult to find a qualified person or if that individual has “unusually high qualifications.” That provision in the MOU refers to the salary schedule that was in place prior to the county’s reorganization of its employee organization structure in December.
Starkey noted that the new-hire’s experience was cited as the reason why they should be hired at a more advanced salary, but she said she wanted more specifics.
Deputy DA and DA Investigator: Supervisors unanimously approved contracts with Keith Morris and A.C. Field to work in the Del Norte County District Attorney’s office.
Morris, a local attorney, will provide prosecution services from July 1, 2026 through July 1, 2027 for an amount not to exceed $210,000, according to Del Norte County District Attorney Katherine Micks.
Field will offer investigation services between June 1, 2026 through June 1, 2027 for an amount not to exceed $100,000. According to Micks, Field was the chief investigator in her office until he retired in 2024. Micks’ office re-hired Field as a retired annuitant before he became an independent contractor.
Starkey noted that she and her colleagues had entered into similar contracts with Morris and Field about a year ago. She said she thought that would be enough time for District Attorney Katherine Micks to fill the vacancies in her office.
Micks said before the county approved those contracts, her staff had dwindled to three deputy district attorneys in her office. The deputy district attorney positions are currently open and she brought on a candidate, but the position is still open.
“For the deputy DA position, that’s been continually flown,” MIcks told supervisors. “My expectation is eventually we’ll get another qualified candidate and one of those contracts will no longer be needed. Since we’ve hired the most recent deputy, one of those contractors no longer needs to be used.”
The investigator position had also been open. Micks said her office had requested an interview with a potential candidate, but that person didn’t show up. The position is currently not being advertised. Micks said she plans on tweaking the job description.
