Call to Order and Approval of Minutes of 10-13-21.
Present: Jini Reynolds, Christine Boyd, Dolly Riley, Marybeth, Patricia Ris-Yarbrough, Marybeth Kelly, Zoe Bigelow, Glenn McGourty, Gizmo Henderson, Bree Klotter, Shannon J, Granville Pool, Brentt Blaser, Jason Caudillo, Meredyth Reinhard, Sattie Clark, Katrina Fry, Martha Barra, Travis Killmer, Adam Gaska, Mary Anne Petrillo, Cathy Monroe, Tom Schoeneman. Dolly called the meeting to order at 5:00pm Emergency order to authorize the remote teleconference under the Brown Act. We must reconsider the circumstances of the state of emergency, to do that we must vote on the resolution. Chris moved to support the resolution. Dolly asked if there were any questions or discussion. None followed. Jini seconds the motion. Jini, Katrina, Chris, Sattie, Marybeth, Patricia/Pien, and Dolly voted yes to adopt the resolution with one member not present (Adam Gaska). This must be revisited every month. Next emergency agenda item; the continuation of the secretary contract for three more months. Pien moved to support the motion, Sattie seconded. Jini, Katrina, Chris, Sattie, Patricia, and Adam voted unanimously to continue the contract. Vote of minutes Katrina motioned in favor, Jini seconded. Again, unanimous votes with Adam abstaining from the vote due to absence.
Public Comments
Gizmo- Mendocino CHP has a new area commander, Captain Bruce Carpenter, who was invited to the meeting for introduction. Gizmo hopes to reach out again so that we can meet him ‘in person’. Patricia- Researched the Redwood Valley Community Action Plan, for specifics about a local noise ordinance and could not find the most recent version of the RV Cap. Sattie is aware of a number of noise complaints and wants to know the same. Patricia- The RV CAP going to be considered and reviewed by the board of supervisors in 2022 so it would be good to fine tune these details. Dolly- I can look it up and share it with you all. Sattie- We’ve brought this up several times before; the county doesn't have a noise ordinance but it does have a “keeping the peace” ordinance. This is something she planned to ask the Board of Supervisors about so that we may be able to enforce it. Glenn- You would need to start with the Ukiah noise ordinance (?) and/but it would be hard to enforce, although it's not a bad idea, and reasonable. Dolly- There is a regulation against disturbing of the peace. We might want to look at Ukiah for a blueprint of that ordinance. Marybeth- There are lots and lots of complaints about parties, she herself has dealt with it and was told that there is no ordinance. Chris- I think that would be a good tool to help them enforce this. Jason- One of the problems with this is that many of the complainants are hesitant, afraid to be listed as a victim and testify in court. We can add additional legislation or county codes but there is a lot more to the process. Gizmo spoke to Chris Floyd and there is something about the industrial buildup. Dolly- I reviewed the CAP and this could be a simple misdemeanor ticket/citation. Jini- On my road we have a haunted house that brings not only noise but also trash. It's pretty awful, and this has happened for the past five years. Patricia- I think it's important for us to have a framework and to write it down whether it gets enforced or not. Dolly agreed.
Report from County and Agencies on Current Events Update on County Redistricting Advisory Commission. Sattie spoke with Glenn about this, maybe Glenn can speak more in depth. Glenn- We have a county map, and there will be some changes. The point is to get equal representation and for each district and to have the similar population numbers. You have to be under a 10% variation. For instance, Hopland will be joining our district. The town of Mendocino had been proposed to be moved into the fourth district. They essentially pulled the fourth district down to increase the population. There are slight changes in terms of Ukiah, south of Plant Road going through Hopland up to Burke Hill will be in the first district. You can go online to the Mendocino County redistricting website and find map 12 to see updates. This is effective January 12th and will change little on the population number within the district. Bree- I'm trying to identify the population of Redwood Valley and I'm wondering what you're using to determine the population. Glenn- I'm using the new census, we can draw up a map and get you a number. Jini- I look forward to having the Hopland MAC work with us Update on Grange events, Trunk or Treat 10-31 activity. Jini- We had quite a few people show up, North American Organics, Dolly Riley, the Redwood Valley store made generous donations, the Fire Department showed up and it was a wonderful community event. We did a food drive for the puzzle exchange and every single item was taken so people are definitely in need. We have a homeless person sleeping at the Grange so we are trying to deal with that in a humanitarian way. There is a craft fair coming up on November 20th. Patricia- Does this mean that every event is available for a food drive? Jini- Every event we have food and necessities drives for the homeless and others in need. Update on any action from BOS on PG&E's "enhanced vegetation program." (Letter sent 10-20-21) Glenn- There's a multi county update. PG&E doesn't need a harvest permit; they are able to bypass this. I've talked to the city council to see what we can do but we are very hopeful that we can stop PG&E from destroying our landscape. Between this and the Potter Valley Project my view of PG&E has gone downhill. Chris- I believe it was a law that gave PG&E exemptions. Brentt- PG&E is collecting feedback so if anyone wants to forward me information I could send it in. There is also a meeting on December 17th with PG&E and the sheriffs to help mitigate fires. Sattie asked for an email address. Brentt- OES@mendocinocounty.org. Marybeth- We have received an application from the PUC asking PG&E to provide information about your account and they will get back to us in a minimum of 45 days. Dolly offered to resend the letter to all members. Patricia/Pien wanted to reiterate that it's not only clear cutting but that it's also the dumping of cut wood and brush (also a fire hazard and not easily removed by landowners) and several other things that according to Dolly which were included in the letter. Update on Build Back Better funds for Economic Resiliency. Chris has sent two inquiries and is yet to hear anything back. She plans to look into it further. Mary Anne has been working on gathering all projects to put into the SMED report. It's a very long document but she encourages everyone to look at it. The priority projects and the list of projects are listed in Appendix A so if you see anything that is missing, she encourages everyone to let us know. This list of projects is going to be matched with a list of grants so it might not be the BBB project. You can't apply for a grant unless your project is in the SMED document. There are many different funds coming through for potential grants. Chris- I didn't realize that there was a subsequent process, I would appreciate it if there is anything that can be sent to me to help clarify. Was there a process that helped determine the high priority projects? Mary Anne- Yes it is listed in the document. Jinny- There is a business website and I'm so excited to see that we are adapting and getting our voices heard. Mary Anne- This is for any kind of online sales - we don't charge anything we just take a picture. UUSD sale/trade of Redwood Valley School property. Marybeth- I plan on contacting Gary Breen who is the developer interested in the property. I intend to invite him to a MAC meeting so we can hear his intentions. She received an anonymous tip that the tennis courts were built with funding requiring them to be maintained for perpetuity. Glenn recommended doing public expressions with the education board to discuss what's going on. Jini- I will contact someone on the school board. Glenn- She might not be able to say anything because of the Brown Act because she can certainly hear your concerns and pass them on. Redwood Valley water issue updates. Tom Shoeneman from the RV District Water Board- we’ve had rain but nowhere near enough to make up for the lack of water from Lake Pillsbury. We are short on water and we are short on money. We’ve had some people working on looking for grants. The broken pipe under the river has been fixed we just need to do some plantings. We have a zoom meeting a week from tomorrow. Katrina- I attended a meeting and heard you were trying to get in contact with the water rights attorney. Tom- The response we got from the attorney was pretty much “let's stay friends but we are unable to work for you at this time”. We have AG and Domestic water so we need to tread carefully because there have been past issues. Katrina- I wonder if we could do a poll to see the economic loss. Glenn- Yes absolutely, personally I harvested about 40% of my usual crop this year. I’m one of the few walnut growers and the industry has just been destroyed, so has the pear industry. This was a very tough year for agriculture. Bree- I also lost a lot of young vines I had planted because I simply didn't have enough water to keep them alive. Shannon J- is that water meeting in person and in zoom? Tom- That is correct. Shannon J- Last time I was here there were three businesses using drinking water. What happened to that? Tom- They were warned, and then they were shut off. Shannon J- So they don't get fined? Tom- No, but they did clean up their operation and reduce their usage. Legally we can't fine them with Governor Newsom’s new law. Because they can write the check, they get to use as much water as they want. Katrina- It's really shocking that they even have the option to do that. Adam- I assume they are using it to keep the grass green because they aren't growing cannabis, I saw what was back there with the Broiler Fire. Katrina- I think this is due to the winery, they can't make wine without domestic water. Martha Barra- Yes we do use domestic water to make wine, yes our crops are down 40-50%, if we can’t use domestic water then we won't survive. Shannon J- I was shocked when I learned that just three businesses used three hundred thousand gallons of water in one month. If you are using this to keep your business open, by all means, I was just shocked. Granville- Flo Kana also has a bunch of allocations as I recall. Chris- I think this is a good time to step back and realize that there are many users and not enough water, this is our future, maybe we need to start looking at other solutions. When I hear the people dealing with a 55-gallon limit. We are all coming at this issue with our needs and concerns and the first step is to share information. Bree- There are separate lines for AG and Municipal water, you can't just switch it up. We get monthly readings in terms of domestic usage and we are down 44%. Irrigation meters are at zero. Fire Preparedness updates. Member and Firefighter Adam Gaska was honored for his efforts to control 9-12-21 Hopkins Fire. Adam Gaska- We did our best to save as many houses as we could, but it did cost a couple tens of thousands ($) to fix our engine which was fully engulfed by flames for a minute or two.
Cannabis Policy Ad Hoc Subcommittee: Patricia, Sattie Sattie- The portal that phase-1 cannabis users could use to pursue their permits just closed. There was a lot of fear that this wasn't a fair process and we are expecting something like 800 applications. Glenn- Anyone who is able to receive a permit will have it by the middle of March. Pien- Is it public information to know which of those 800 cannabis farms will be getting their permit? Can I find that information on the county website, how will this information be published? Glenn- I may be able to help you find out. Glenn- We got an attorney to talk about water rights for private wells and we pretty much came to the conclusion that it is illegal to dig a large well or haul water if it deters from the quality of life of others. Glenn- Not a lot of us are comfortable to have a standing committee. We want to see as many of these people make it through the process as we can. Martha Barra- The biggest problem is the lack of enforcement from the legal approach. Glenn- We have very little enforcement, the problem here is that the industry was already here. Pien- What does a state of emergency entail? Why are we not in a state of emergency with this problem? Glenn- If we hit the panic button everyone gets nervous. Pien- The public is already panicked. Glenn- But so will the higher ups. Pien- How will this affect us? What about the ordinances? There's a missing link here. Martha Barra- I think the only option here is to opt out through the zoning.
Development Review Ad Hoc Subcommittee: Marybeth, Jini, Patricia Marybeth- No new permits but we did get an email from Alex Degrassi offering his old files. Jini picked up the paperwork and has found that he had access to all kinds of paperwork that she has been unable to find.
CAP: Interim Community Action Plan and Design Review: Chris, Sattie
Follow-up letter from MAC sent 10-20-21. CAP review in 2022. Dolly- We sent the recent letter, but I'm thinking in December or early January that we want a noise ordinance. We don't want this CAP to die. We need to push this forward. Glenn- Make a public comment at the beginning of the meeting it will help you move things forward. Gizmo- If the county doesn't take our plan seriously in a comparable amount of time is there another step or do we just force this into their lap? Glenn- They are currently rebuilding their department but they will get it done. Public comments help, and I will help, and it will get done.
Officers and Members Reports and Announcements Treasurer's Report. One thing I learned in Brown Act Training. RVMAC bylaws. Announcement- Marybeth is going to resign in order to allow more people to experience and participate. When she is ready, she will send the letter in writing to her supervisor and a courtesy copy to Dolly. Brown Act Training. Chris- We are obligated to have ethics training every two years, Christian Curtis is going to offer it again in January. Dolly will be taking it herself. Gizmo- Are we going to consider meeting in person in the future? Treasurer's Report. Katrina- the money we get from the county in July with a current balance of $1838, and we have enough money to pay for Minutes but we have another fund from PG&E for community planning with a balance of $5871 that will be taxed at 10% at the end of the year. It seems like a waste to have so much money be taxed when it could be spent on RV community planning. Jini- It might be a good idea to have an open house to have different booths to allow community members to gather. Dolly encouraged Jini to continue with this idea. Sattie- There has been some interest among the MACs to keep the umbrella Big MAC but preferable by and for the MACs. There will be more to talk about next month.
InterMAC Engagement Ad Hoc Subcommittee: Sattie, Adam, Jini
Moved to next meeting. PLEASE NOTE: By agreement, next MAC meeting is January 12, 2022.
Adjournment. Next meeting 12-8-21.