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.
A moratorium on data center construction was passed unanimously by the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors. There were lots of comments in support of the moratorium with some confusion as to why the moratorium was set at only 45 days. This is the law. It will come back to the board on October 6 for a public hearing and can be extended up to either one or two years at that point. This will allow the county time to adopt an ordinance with due consideration of how we want to regulate or even allow this industry.
The annexation plan that the City of Ukiah proposed is off the table. Although the city had good reasons for proposing annexation, the process was flawed from the county’s point of view and there were many residents in the affected areas opposed to annexation. What is clear is that infrastructure in the Ukiah Valley needs to be modernized and sustainable economic development needs to happen.
The sheriff’s office received $4.5 million dollars in Prop. 64 monies to combat illegal cannabis grows. Sheriff Matt Kendall presented the plan to the board. People in the sheriff’s office and code enforcement division will be dedicated to going after illegal cannabis grows. There was discussion about the implementation of this program over the next five years. Of concern was a software program to expedite the ticketing and collection of fines. The sheriff committed to quarterly reports to the board so that any unintended consequences of this program and how it interfaces with existing county policy and software can be monitored.
Monday was Labor Day. We honor those who work for a living. I appreciate the people I have worked with in Mendocino County throughout the years. Many people work to make ends meet and provide for their families, teach and help others in need, keep our communities safe and healthy, provide food for our communities, leave the world a more beautiful, better place in a variety of ways. We are blessed to live and work in Mendocino County. I am grateful that I have had work as a teacher and supervisor that is fulfilling in many ways.
The county received funds thru the Secure Rural Schools program, a federal program for communities with U.S. forest lands. The county asked for proposals and received several options from the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District and Fire Safe Council. All the proposals would help the firefighting capabilities in the Covelo and Potter Valley areas. Since the RCD and FSC both do incredible work, the board directed them to work together to prioritize the options with the existing limited funding.
The next Talk with the Supervisor will be on Friday, September 11, from 10-11am at Brickhouse Coffee in Willits. You can always contact me at haschakj@mendocinocounty.gov or call 707-972-4214.
It would be nice if the board would explain the benefits of annexation to the affected audiences in the Ukiah Valley.
What are these “benefits”. Most of what has been explained are potential benefits, but what are the concrete ones.
-Street Index in Ukiah is (and has been) much better than the street index in the Unincorporated areas.
-The City can expand the grant funding access (I.e. water, power, streets, etc…) to the annexed areas like it has done so in the core part of the city.
-Streamlined utility services.
-Consistent building Codes through the Urban Ukiah valley.
-New annexed locals have access to voting measures (and elections) inside the city and the county. You have more representation and the city deals with concerns closer to your home.
-Ukiah is adding Parks to the peripheral areas along with walking trails.
-All your sale taxes could be going to the city you live in. (As of now the annexed areas don’t benefit from the sales tax by shopping in Ukiah since they reside in an unincorporated area.) You essentially are paying the city a small sliver out of each purchase yet you live just outside the city jurisdiction.
-Ukiah has better oversight on permits and construction than the county. (No more Class K permit nonsense)
-Ukiah PD is just around the corner unlike the Sheriff that has to spread its resources thinly across the entire county.
-The City of Ukiah also has much cheaper power rates compared to PG&E in the unincorporated areas.
Mendocino County is far more bureaucratic than the city given the many gov’ts that make up the unincorporated areas and they often have little to no transparency. The Amazon facility didn’t even go through a public review process, and this is because the county is understaffed and lack seasoned staff due to high turn over.
https://mendovoice.com/2026/07/a-field-guide-to-the-little-governments-that-run-rural-mendocino/
The City is one governing body running multiple functions. The police, water, power, civic offices, grant writing, etc) The city as a whole has more resources given it overseas a smaller regional area with many more businesses / residences within it. It also is more efficient than than the county ever could be by design. Cities are also better at economic development than the Counties, empirically speaking.
You really need to ask yourself why would you stay with the county in 2026? The services are not going to get better and your potential annexed area concerns are quickly over ridden by some culvert getting washed out near Laytonville due to lax county building standards, which in turn triggers expensive lawsuits for the county.
John Haschak: The Sheriff himself said there are Transnational Drug Cartels operating in your district! You do not mention it anywhere in this article! THIS SOUNDS LIKE A MASSIVE CRISIS!!! Declare an emergency! Call the DOJ, ICE, FBI, and the United States Marine Corp! What the hell are you doing not helping the Sheriff fight these cartels! Don’t you sit there and pretend they don’t exist!
Well, if the sheriff said it… ICE is more likely to abduct a gardener or home health worker than fight a cartel. The FBI is too busy wasting tax dollars on an alcoholic director and his lady friend to care. The Marines are engaged in an endless, useless war in Iran, not to mention domestic crime is not in its remit. So, Red Alert, maybe you can calm down and thank the supervisor for his informative letter.