Tuesday’s Board Meeting was particularly sad and disappointing on many fronts. I was stripped of 3 committee assignments that I had invested deeply in the past year. There was a recess for a disturbance and an arrest. An elected official asked the Board to grant him permission to not comply with county policy while using the staff report to blast his candidate in the upcoming election.
Let’s unpack what happened:
Board Majority Strips Me of Key Committee Assignments: Each year, the Chair appoints all the Board members to a wide variety of committees and boards. The Board then votes to confirm those appointments, requiring a simple majority vote to pass. In 2025, I was very happy with my assignments, which included several I am very passionate about and several that I was happy to do as service to the County but am not particularly interested in.
The Chair – with support from 2 other supervisors – decided to remove me from 3 that I had invested deeply in this past year:
- Mental Health Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board (MHADAB)
- Health & Human Services County Functional Area (also typically the Shasta Health Assessment and Redesign Collaborative (SHARC) representative)
- California State Association of Counties (CSAC) Alternate
During my time on MHADAB, we revamped the Mental Health Director’s report to include vastly more data and information to help us understand how many people we serve, for what conditions, and in which ways. We began conversations about what clinical success outcomes should be and how we measure them. We formed an Ad Hoc to overhaul the annual report. We wrote letters of recommendation for 2 Prop 1 proposals (including the True North Behavioral Health Campus).
We saw dramatic increases in public engagement and applications to join the Board. In our last meeting, the MHADAB unanimously voted to appoint me to be Vice Chair for the upcoming year.
During my time on SHARC, I served as a bridge between the community’s health care leadership and the Board on key initiatives, including the medical school and the True North project – helping move both parties forward together despite differences of opinion. I also connected our health care leaders to organizations preparing students to enter medical professions and First 5 Shasta to get books in the hands of new moms after delivery.
During my time as a CSAC alternate, I met Amity Foundation CEO Doug Bond and Governor Schwarzenegger’s Secretary of Corrections, leading to the idea of and connections for putting a Male Community Reentry Program in the Sheriff’s new Corrections & Rehabilitation Campus. This also led to a connection with the current California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), which just might lead to a first-of-its-kind county/state partnership around reentry. Through connections formed at CSAC, I was able to visit – in some cases with the Sheriff and other supervisors – 4 different correctional/rehabilitation facilities that will inform our new campus.
I also built relationships with leadership of the CA Department of Health Care Services, which was critical when we were navigating the application and letter of support process for the True North Behavioral Health Campus project.
In the last few weeks, I was appointed as Vice Chair of the CSAC Health and Human Services Policy Committee, where I’ll have the opportunity to advocate for Shasta’s needs and concerns before all counties and influence the policy priorities of CSAC as it advocates for us before the State.
Given these contributions, you might wonder – why was I removed? I was told I was using MHADAB and SHARC to “micromanage staff.” No examples were given. Bear in mind that I was not even a voting member of SHARC. MHADAB is an Advisory Board – all I could do on that Board was give advice.
With regards to CSAC, I was told I was spending too much money on travel – specifically that I cost the County $5,000 to attend a conference on AI (a figure I’m still trying to confirm) for “personal benefit” that wouldn’t benefit the County.
What personal benefit? No idea.
No benefit to the County? AI has the power to dramatically increase the effectiveness of the services we provide to residents while dramatically reducing our costs – something that is essential if we don’t want to find ourselves in serious financial trouble. For example, our Resource Management Director and I spoke with planning staff from LA County and LA City who are saving 50-75% of the time typically spent on plan check using an AI solution.
I’ve already set up conversations with a vendor I met at the Conference and 3 county departments. In December, I tried to get the Board to direct our Health and Human Services Agency to pursue AI solutions so they can pay back the $7.5M loan from the General Fund – but the Board didn’t support it.
Let’s add one extra twist of irony to the explanation I was offered. In the same meeting I was removed from committee assignments for spending to travel to seek out solutions that could save the County millions of dollars, the Board voted to approve 4% raises for themselves – something I opposed and tried last meeting to make impossible for the Board to do and that I’ll be donating back to the County.
This was a sad moment for me as I really valued the opportunities to serve the County on these boards – but don’t worry. I’ll continue to push for great progress on these issues. I’ll just have to find other ways of doing it.
Local “Activist” Gets Arrested for Disrupting the Meeting: Here was the context. I had asked that we change County policy to allow any supervisor to put an action item on the agenda. Today, we must either get the Chair’s approval or make a motion during our supervisor reports at the beginning of the meeting and get 2 other votes. I mentioned this in my last recap email and someone accused me of being divisive and asked me for examples of when my requests for action items were blocked by last year’s chair. I sent this person examples.
During Tuesday’s meeting, this person was criticizing me for my email, suggesting I hadn’t been truthful and didn’t provide enough documentation when a “local activist” yelled out, defending me. The Chair gave the activist a quick warning, but the activist continued to yell out. The Chair then asked for the activist to be removed. The activist refused, so we recessed and a Deputy removed him.
I share all this to make this point – While I appreciate what the activist said his intent was – defending me – I don’t support the approach.
I’ll say this to everyone – Don’t shout over someone speaking in public comment or another supervisor if they are attacking me. Don’t disrupt a meeting to defend me. Don’t verbally attack others in an effort to humiliate and embarrass them to defend me.
If you do, you are not defending me. You are undermining me. Because I am trying to be part of building a Shasta County where respect, collaboration, integrity, and character define our culture.
How we labor matters as much as what we labor for.
I will criticize others’ actions, words, and ideas – because we must debate ideas and actions – but I try not to make it about them. You’ll notice that I didn’t share anyone’s name above. I almost never do when I’m being critical.
I won’t be perfect. None of us will. I’ve apologized this year for poor behavior. But we must prioritize a culture of character.