The following is a column submitted by Mendocino County 3rd District Supervisor John Haschak. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the Mendocino Voice.
With 100-degree weather in October and no forecast of rain, the D word is on my mind. As Chair of the General Government Committee, we worked on the Mendocino County Drought Resilience Plan. The GGC is the Drought Task Force and we have to comply with SB 552. This requires a risk assessment and proposed approaches for developing short-term and long-term mitigation strategies. Whether it rains or not in the near future, we have to look at our infrastructure capabilities such as storage, interties between different water systems, and conservation.
The county was awarded the first phase of the FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant for fuel reduction, vegetation management, and home-hardening in Brooktrails. County staff has been diligent in submitting a successful application. This will provide $3.5 million in initial planning for community safety. We are hopeful that subsequent phases will provide additional funding to complete the project.
We live in a rural county hoping to hear birds singing in the mornings and crickets at night as well as enjoying social events. We try to be good neighbors and respect the rights of others. Yet sometimes instead of a peaceful evening eating dinner on the back porch or falling to sleep to the sounds of nature, blasting music, squealing tires, or loud machinery is heard. Supervisor McGourty brought a proposal to create a noise ordinance for the County. When a raucous party is disturbing a neighborhood or community, people will call the Sheriff’s Office, a deputy will come out with few options besides appealing to a sense of propriety. The goal is to have more tools available so that our communities remain livable, enjoyable environments.
I proposed a limit on campaign contributions to candidates. This is to make for good government by preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption. Currently, the county defaults to the California state limit of $5,500 per individual. Many counties have adopted limits of between $500 and $1,500 per individual and double that amount for committees. The Board approved moving forward with this item. I will be working with Supervisor McGourty and County Counsel to bring back limits and ordinance language.
There will be a Talk with the Supervisor Thursday, Oct. 10 at 10:00 at Brickhouse Coffee in Willits. I am available by email haschakj@mendocinocounty.gov or 707-972-4214.
Time to vote! Voting is your superpower!
If you have a problem with “Taxation without Represention” you should just move somewhere else. That’s what a “real American” would do. I think that the county supervisors should get payed more! I mean I am a roofing contractor who works in 100+ degree weather for a fraction of what are supervisors get paid. The thought of getting paid 3x the wage I bring home now just for going to a sit down meetings a couple times a month just doesn’t seem worth it. Talking is hard work! Everything I’ve written here is sarcasm due to frustration and anger. This last sentence is NOT sarcasm. I have a campaign contribution that I would like to give: ONE PUNCH IN THE FACE for each POS so called supervisors…I bet nobody would suggest a limit on that.
Hi John, thanks for your article, with regard to noise ordinance, would this apply to agriculture? I know some years back people in Anderson Valley found the anti frost machines to be horrible
; I don’t remember the entire history or its final resolution but /I know Mark Scaramella of the AVA worked hard with AV people, whose lives were seriously Impacted by the practice
Perhaps Mr. Anderson should have a good look at our Supervisor’s Agenda, available on the web or attend our public meetings. The number and complexities of the issues that our Supervisors have to deal with is large and rather daunting. This requires an equally large set of skills and experience to be able to manage effectively. Given this, I am glad that our Supervisors are well paid. We cannot attract competent managers if we offer only a low wage. Punching someone does not help solve our problems which are many. Helpful advice and constructive criticism would be more to the point.
Strongly in favor of a noise ordinance. Of course it’s a large & complex topic as the sources of “noise” come from a wide variety of circumstances — legitimate industry, agriculture, infrastructure (pumps / windmills etc,) short-term scheduled gatherings, chronic barking dogs, and rude people who habitually play loud music.
One major new source of noise to the Mendocino county area, especially Willits, is low-level helicopter overflights. At least 5 nights out of 7, after 9PM, at least 2 or three choppers pass low over Willits. Most-frequently LifeFlight medical copters, but also PG&E, CalFIRE, etc.
It’d be nice to require helicopters to adopt a noise-reducing flight profile — yes, even if it costs the operators more in time and fuel – between the hours of 9PM and 7AM daily.