Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 5:30 pm by Chair Dolly Riley.
1. Roll Call - NOTICE We regret No Zoom this meeting.
  
  Present: Dolly Riley, Chris Boyd, Marybeth Kelly, Pien Ris-Yarbrough, Kahli Johnson, Deb Hughes
  Absent: Jini Reynolds
Consent Calendar. Approval of Minutes of 8-14-24
Minutes of 8-14-24. Chris motioned, Pien seconded. Unanimously adopted.
Public Comments
Monica Huettl announced there is construction at N State St and West Rd on what is reported to her as a new bus stop. Her concern is that parking at that corner would be eliminated with a narrower roadway. Gizmo Henderson stated that he attends the Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG) meetings the first Monday of each month, 1:30 pm, in the Supes’ Chambers, and they have discussed CalTrans and a public transit mall. He noted that today is the anniversary of 9/11. Chair Dolly Riley said the bus stop can be discussed later in the Agenda. Gabriel Baca Meza announced that he is running for Mendocino Community College Trustee in Area 3, and wants to improved student housing, life skills, bus routes, and more. Email: gabriel4trustee3@gmail.com Pien Ris-Yarbrough stated that our past tech support person, Laura Henebury, has been accepted to Santa Ana University in Occupational Therapy studies. Erin Moynahan expressed concern about school traffic from Fwy 101 to West Rd. She has seen 4 accidents, has noticed CHP officer, and encourages other to do so. CHP Adam Garcia’s phone is (707) 467-4420. Bill Self said he enjoyed the video of the Ukiah Unified meeting discussing the Redwood Valley Rec Center. Deb Hughes stated that in her travels all over California she has seen the sign “Dragging chains causes fires.” All applauded Gizmo for his efforts to make that happen.
Brief Report from County and Agencies
Guest Speaker Angela Godwin, County Ag Commissioner, stated she wants to support farmers and growers. Her focus is on education and compliance and is reaching out to the community. Her goal is to promote and protect agriculture, citizens, and the environment by monitoring pesticide use which is highly regulated in California. She helps certify Farmer’s Markets. Her office traps exotic fruit flies and checks incoming FedEx and UPS shipments for pests in fruit. Med flies came to CA from Hawaii in a gift and have cost many millions in So Cal to eradicate. Her office checks weights of cattle trucks and wine grape gondolas, and is responsible for providing a seal on gas pumps to indicate correct octane and price. Also present was Ag office co-worker Amanda Stoner. A discussion was then held about water issues, gas station annual inspection records, diesel purity, lobbying, and the State Ag Association. Amanda pointed out the “Ag Pass,” which allows landowners to access their property within fire evacuated areas, to water crops including cannabis or to care for livestock. It must be obtained ahead of time, is on County Ag website, and not guaranteed.

Supervisor Glenn McGourty and Sheriff Matt Kendall messaged they could not be present.

Fire updates. Chris Boyd, Chair of the Redwood Valley/Calpella Fire District Board, stated their next meeting is 9-12-24 at 6pm at the firehouse and every 2^nd Thursday. The Board needs new members. She noted the children’s movie night went well. She added that the PG&E fire cameras have been helpful to the District, and asked all to use the Watch Duty app for active fire updates. Gizmo stated the OES is still waiting for PG&E permission to use their poles for 4 more sirens, and Kahli Johnson added that PG&E shares poles with AT&T, the latter using the first 23 feet.

Grange update. Grange Secretary Marybeth Kelly stated that the lights are here but electricity and flooring for the kitchen is next. Future Grange activities include: Flea Market on 9-14, Adopt-a-Road 9-21, and Dance 11-16-24. Trunk-or-Treat will likely not happen as they have too few volunteers, and it was popular during Covid, with now most folks allowing children to go door to door. John King announced the Kritter Karnaval on 9-22-24, noon to 4pm, which the Grange supports. It is a family activity that benefits the Inland Humane Society and will feature animals, provide food, and have celebrity dunking.

Water update. Dolly stated that PG&E is allowing the minimum legal release of 5 cubic feet per second from the Eel River through the Potter Valley Project into the Russian River. There are lawsuits to increase this.
Redwood Valley Rec Center: Marybeth, Dolly
The Redwood Valley Rec Center (RVRC) steering committee is working to transition the old Redwood Valley School into a recreation and community center. The 8-8-24 Ukiah Unified School District (UUSD) meeting was a packed house of locals wanting to lease the old school site for the community. At that meeting, Marybeth Kelly had asked if the soccer fields could be used by the public and recently Superintendent Deb Kubin stated “no” because insurance would not cover the usage. The RVRC will be present at the 9-12-24 UUSD meeting at 6:30pm to ask if UUSD can turn on the water for the fields, as we will provide seeding preparation and insurance. The public is invited to this meeting. We await the UUSD’s request for a November waiver to allow them to lease or sell the property. People are encouraged to email the State Dept of Education to make our intentions known.
Cannabis Policy Standing Subcommittee: Pien, Community Members
The increased size of licensed cannabis farm grows was on the BOS agenda for 9-10-24. Pien Ris-Yarbrough announced that the Supes voted unanimously to keep grow size to 10,000 square feet, and to allow an additional 12,000 sq ft for a canabis nursery in special situations. The BOS are sending the policy back for a re-write.
Development Review Standing Subcommittee: Marybeth, Jini, Pien
Faizon Gas Station permit: No date has been set by the BOS for a permit decision. The proposed megalith gas station project for Redwood Valley is highly opposed, and CalTrans requires a $2 million center divider on the 101 Fwy as a condition of the permit, for the purpose of preventing left turns across the freeway to get to the proposed gas station. So Faizon submitted a new traffic study purporting there is ¼ of the traffic now, compared to the original study (indicating they’d like to forgo the center median). However, on 8-20-24 Chair Dolly Riley spoke with County Planner Liam Crowley who stated “Informally, CalTrans has told me they don’t agree with Faizon’s newest traffic study.”

New proposed development includes the bus stop construction mentioned earlier on N State St and West Rd near 101. Monica Huettl spoke with Lucy Kostrzewa of Ghirardelli Construction on 9-10-24 and she said any park-and-ride usage of the intersection (a long tradition we want preserved) should be made with CalTrans. After discussion, MAC members and the public decided we want the spot to retain public parking, food trucks, and a bus stop. Chris Boyd will work with community member Monica to compose a letter to CalTrans to request they include space for this usage. Pien motioned and Deb seconded a motion to allow Chris to prepare and send a letter from the MAC to CalTrans to retain public usage of the bus stop project pullout area. Members voted yes unanimously.
Community Action Plan ad hoc Subcommittee: Dolly, Chris, Jini and community members Sheilah Rogers and Alex DeGrassi
No news. Planner Russell Ford outlined a plan to go forward on 8-14-24.
Prohibit New Gas Stations in Mendocino County: Chris
Members discussed next steps in this long term project. Gizmo joined the committee. Deb stated she would do some research. Chris noted that even though the BOS one year ago had rejected the idea of a County-wide prohibition of new gas stations, there are new supervisors coming in that may be more open to the idea.
Officers and Members Reports and Announcements
Dolly announced that Erin Moynahan will be our new member, and we still have an opening for an alternate. We decided to invite a CalTrans representative that can answer questions about the bus stop. Deb stated she will contact them and arrange for a CalTrans guest speaker for our October meeting.
Adjournment.
Meeting adjourned at 7:20 pm. Next meeting 10-9-24.