I know this is coming out a week late, but I still wanted to share a recap from last week’s meeting and introduce the Shasta County Changemakers Fellowship – a 5 hour/week, unpaid summer internship with me for local high school & college students (see more below).

Changes to Public Comment (Effective July)

Beginning in July, Shasta County will offer remote public comment by phone during Board meetings, as required by Senate Bill 707. On Tuesday, we approved new technology to make that possible.

While expanding access is great for those who would like to participate but can’t make it down to Board Chambers on a Tuesday, staff raised concerns that virtual participation could lead to an overwhelming number of callers — including people from outside our area — potentially disrupting meetings.

As a result, the Board approved new public comment limits:

• Two minutes per speaker (regardless of total speakers – today, you get 3 minutes unless there are at least 10 speakers)

• 20-minute total cap per item (which as far as I can tell includes non-speaking time)

• Each person may speak on no more than four agenda items

Today, speakers get three minutes if fewer than 10 people speak, two minutes if more than 10, and there is no overall time cap.

I proposed increasing the total cap from 20 minutes to 30 minutes. A 20-minute cap means, at most, 10 people can speak — and we often have more than that in person. My concern was that tight limits could unintentionally prevent local residents from being heard, especially if remote lines fill up.

The Board stayed with the 20-minute recommendation, though some members expressed openness to revisiting this after we see how implementation goes.

Registrar of Voters Inquiry

Several residents raised concerns about a recent visit by gubernatorial candidates to the Elections Office. During the event, the Registrar criticized past election officials (including one he is currently running against), which some interpreted as campaign-related.

Supervisor Long asked whether this violated state or county rules prohibiting campaigning using public resources.

County Counsel explained that both state law and county policy allow for incidental and minor comments when they don’t represent the purpose of the event. County Counsel believed what he described last Tuesday as a single comment would fall under the incidental and minor clause.

Supervisor Long and the Board were satisfied with that explanation, and no further action was taken.

However, recordings of the event made it clear that his comments were not isolated to a single response to a media question. I hadn’t watched the recording, so I went along with the statements made by County Counsel – my fault. I was disappointed to learn that the comments were actually quite extensive given the characterization during the Board meeting.

However, it’s still not clear to me that criticizing the actions of a past election official (who also happens to be his opponent) is by definition “campaigning.”

Public Health & Physician Recruitment

Dr. Mu, our Public Health Officer, provided an update on his 2025 work and 2026 priorities. A major focus continues to be addressing our physician shortage.

He shared encouraging retention data:

• Mercy and Shasta Community Health Center: 4 of 9 residents staying (a strong retention rate)

• Shasta Regional Medical Center: 0 of 2 in its first year, with hopes for improvement

Given Dr. Mu’s role as liaison to the medical community and his experience as an MD, I suggested he may be well-suited to represent the County in the Northern California Medical Education Consortium. Currently, that role is held by HHSA Director Christy Coleman. Another supervisor felt the current structure is sufficient, so no change was made.

Dr. Mu also addressed the measles situation. What began as a single reported case had grown to eight cases across six exposure sites, as of last Tuesday. Early symptoms can resemble the flu or RSV. Vaccination remains the best protection, and early treatment within the first few days of rash onset can help reduce severity.

 

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Make a Difference in Shasta County This Summer

If you’re a high school or college student in Shasta County who wants to make a real difference this summer… applications are now open.

The Shasta County Changemakers Fellowship is a hands-on opportunity to work on issues that matter in our community.

You won’t just observe.

You’ll:

• Identify a local problem

• Research solutions

• Develop a real plan

• Take action

• Present your results

We’re selecting 3 students for this inaugural class. Here are the details:

• June 1 – August 15

• ~5 hours per week (team meeting 1/week, 1-on-1 with me every other week, attend other County meetings with me, research/draft policy, complete a capstone project)

• Volunteer (unpaid)

• Apply by March 31

• Decisions by April 15

I’m super excited to spend time with some amazing young people this summer! Apply or share the application with someone who may be interested!