MENDOCINO CO., 9/1/2026 — Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall spent much of Tuesday morning’s regular Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting explaining what his new $4.5 million cannabis enforcement grant won’t be used for.
Not licensed growers, he said. Not federal immigration work, which he said he has no power to do. And not, Supervisor Ted Williams added before the vote, to go after seniors with code violations.
Supervisors approved taking the funds, awarded by the state from cannabis tax money set aside by voters in 2016 under Proposition 64 on a unanimous vote. The supes hung two conditions on it — quarterly reports from the sheriff and a plain-language explainer for the public about what the grant does. Sheriff Matt Kendall drew his line in the first minute that he spoke.
“The focus of the grant and this proposal was only for illicit marijuana,” he said. “It mentions absolutely nothing about our permitted growth sites.”
He said 75% of the county’s homicides last year and this year happened at illegal grows. “These grow sites are largely controlled by transnational drug trafficking organizations,” he said. “We know that for a fact.”
Lt. Aaron Clark, who runs the marijuana enforcement team, said deputies pulled 170,000 plants in July alone.
The budget filed with the agenda shows about 83% of the grant will pay for people — two detectives at $239,592 a year each, a half-time deputy, a half-time intelligence analyst and one code enforcement officer at $117,583 a year, or $587,915 for that position over the five-year grant. There’s $274,420 for trucks, night vision goggles, drones and radios. Another $100,000 goes to helicopter contracts and $75,000 to environmental cleanup.
Board supervisors kept coming back to one line on the budget: $150,000 for civil citation software run by an outside company.
District 3 Supervisor John Haschak asked whether that was the best use of the money. “Is that $150,000 best spent utilizing the software in the third party,” he said, “or is it better to hire another code enforcement person or staff to provide that support within the system we already have?”
Clark said the vendor takes a set fee for each citation, and the county keeps the rest. Haschak came back at it. “So there is kind of an incentive to fine as much as possible.”
Interim CEO Sara Pierce told them the money couldn’t be changed no matter what the supervisors decided at the meeting. The county can go back to the state later and shift the $150,000 to staff, she said, “but right now, our only option is to accept it the way it is.”
During public comments, Steve Amato, president of the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance, thanked the sheriff’s office for chasing the money and then asked for different language. “We represent the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance as licensed operators,” he said. “I would have preferred to have seen the grant say illicit unlicensed grows.” He asked that the money not lead to “mishaps of grows that are licensed and the helicopters come in and start doing some damage to the crops.” The grant budget funds $20,000 a year in helicopter time.
Attorney Hannah Nelson said her concern was “the remilitarization of cannabis enforcement.” The supply list includes tactical uniforms, headsets, gloves, respirators and four drones.
Corinne Powell asked the board to write a limit into the paperwork. “These tax-based funds cannot be used in conjunction with any enforcement imposed by the federal government,” she said, “and specifically, that none of these funds can be engaged with ICE activities, full stop.”
“I want to make it very clear to everyone that I am a state peace officer,” Kendall said, “and that the 10th Amendment clearly states that only a federal officer may enforce federal crimes. There’s something that’s going on across the news, across the nation, where people have this belief that I am a federal agent or something. And I am not.”
He said he can’t be compelled to enforce federal law as a state peace officer.
“It’s a tough moment in the United States,” he said. “Let’s put it that way.”
Haschak moved to approve accepting the grant a few minutes later and asked for the quarterly reports. District 2 Supervisor Mo Mulheren said she wanted something else in the motion first: an explainer doc for the public. County decisions get misread, she said, and the board needs something it can point to.
District 5 Supervisor Ted Williams said the misreading had already started.
“Before this meeting is over there will be fake news out there about what this board did,” he said. “I’m getting accused of kicking seniors out of their home for minor code violations, which I know we’re not doing. It’s escalating.”
If the board can explain what the grant is about and what it isn’t, Williams said, “I think the public will support it.”
The vote was 5-0.
You know it’s bad when they take that much money to turn against their own community. There isn’t that much weed anywhere.
A quick survey of Google Maps shows a massive amount of weed still being grown in the hills. Sounds like you’re worried, why would that be?
In the movie Idiocracy dumb stuff was done as well, I know there wasn’t any marijuana in the movie but The new sheriff would fit right in as mayor of Idiocracy. Incompetence is raging with Mendocino county.
This is how fat old officers pad their career before retirement. A lot of stupid headlines, alot of food eaten. Nothing is actually done, besides fat boy gets a good retirement and who knows what crooked shit he does.
Can’t post a comment unless you agree with this evil plan
You just posted a comment. I swear, you conspiracy-minded types have brain damage.
Hip-hip hooray! It’s about time. The $75,000 is a good start towards cleaning up of all the toxic waste and environmental destruction. I assume the perpetrators will be heavily fined. This has been a long time coming. Finally maybe the licensed, conscientious growers won’t have to compete with the criminal plantations. Thank you Mendocino Board of Supes and State of California!
With the prices of cookies, cannavine, heritage, Kure. There will be no legal marijuana to buy soon. One ounce of marijuana is 80 dollars at best. Pot smokers living on minimum wage can’t afford that, people with better jobs don’t smoke do to job restrictions. This will not help legal growers as they will be out of business whether we have legal growers or not.
$239,542 is the salary of a detective? Maybe get one then!
Mendocino county is loser ville when it comes to police, it’s all crooked and they have become NPC.
So if a Deputy arrests a couple illegal immigrants involved in transnational drug trafficking at an illegal grow site he is not permitted to notify US Government officials because the politics might look bad for our local liberal audience?
Then what? A slap on the wrist at the country courthouse and back on their way?
However, perhaps a US Government investigation might lead to some of the higher ups being apprehended for a change. Especially if they are outside of the county.
Good English Dave
Thank you. I really try.
It would be nice if the board of supervisors and sheriff Kendall would actually read the California value act SB54 .ICE is allowed to be used. With our local law enforcement, if it is a joint law enforcement task Force, that’s main goal is not immigration being the main goal of these raids is to stop the cartel.\n Human trafficking. Environmentally damage?\nThen ICE could come in and help you never solve this problem.Unless you scoop up everyone at the illegal grows and deport the non citizens , illegal aliens , workers and higher ups I have lived with cartel, grows surrounding my property for years. They kill all the deer and all the wildlife they c*** on the road and throw garbage everywhere. They threaten their neighbors. They’re rude to their neighbors. Luckily in my area, they’ve been cleaned up 90%. They now travel at night. They don’t like me and I don’t like them, but I’m American and I’m not afraid of them our board of supervisors is made up of some of the most wimpy people our board is made up of some of the most naive and woke lib. Tards out there., sheriff Kendall. , grow a pair of balls use the loopholes in SB 54 work with ICE Work with BIA in covello, work with federal game wardens.\nUnder the clean water act and endangered species act it’s time to run the cartel out of Mendocino County, we need ice.
Sheriff needs the public to be able to trust his office enough to call them when they need help. ICE has proven themselves to be untrustworthy and dangerous. If Matt works with untrustworthy dangerous yahoos that make up the bulk of ICE now he will make his office untrustworthy in the eyes of the larger public. Matt can’t be associated with people who wear masks and blast innocent people in the streets. That’s a bad look- even if MAGA likes it. MAGA is failing. ICE is helping MAGA fail. Plus, ICE wants nothing to do with big raids on pot grows because they want to blast innocent people in the streets not hike in the hills of Mendocino. ICE is chock full of 4F types now and can’t be trusted by the local sheriff. He knows better.
Classic case of a MAGA man who can’t even write coherently acting like he somehow has the answers. You said yourself 90% of the the illegal grows in your area have been cleaned up *without* ICE and then start whining about how the Sheriff’s office isn’t using “loopholes”. It sounds like they’re doing their job just fine as it is, so why the tempertantrum?
Every police officer in Mendocino is working on creating their own scandal so it can be in the ukiah daily journel
Kendell is a fat hamburger eating idiot, what’s that fat slop gonna do besides collect his paycheck. He isn’t doing any work, he is padding his job with nonsense so he can retire doing nothing. Make headline news but so nothin
Theres just an irony here that the Sheriff needs Prop 64 grant money to continue a war on “illegal” cannabis. First, this prop 64 money is coming from the all the other counties that have maintained or built successful programs (successful programs do indeed exist, just not in Mendo!) – so now Mendo is a welfare county, leeching off of the successful programs to drive what’s left of the “illegal” market into the ground. Second, didnt Prop 64 legalize the weed? The money would be more effectively spent using the civil code enforcement process and fining property owners, liening their properties, and over time making it uneconomical to grow illegally. Returning to using law enforcement will just change the incentive to hiding your grows better. We’ve done this before. Finally, I’m tired of hearing about these “Transnational Cartels” that Allman talked about but never found. If Kendall doesn’t enforce federal law and cant, why is the focus on Forest Service lands and these transnational cartels, that if they do exist, would most likely be composed of illegal aliens? Spend the damn money on civil code enforcement. Over time it will be way more effective if your true objective is to get rid of “illegal” grows. I don’t think that’s the actual objective though.
You must not live in this county.The cartel is all over this county , especially covello and Laytonville, you are extremely naive. If you were to see the damage they do to the land to the wildlife to the fisheries to the water, I guess you don’t care about our environment, I do.
So, lets assume that’s all true. Sounds like an issue way over the head of the local Sheriff, or even the State law enforcement. Sounds like a national security issue and the “bad hombre’s” the President used to talk about. But nothing has changed over the past 20+ years we’ve heard various Sheriff’s sound the alarm on transnational cartels. Maybe its even worse now according to you. Is the Sheriff not referring the evidence of these cartels to federal law enforcement? So a $4.5 million grant over 5 years is going to stop these transnational cartels? If I were the Sheriff and these transnational cartels were real, I would be on the phone daily with the congressman, traveling to DC to meet with the DEA, ICE whomever could help. Such a problem is a federal responsibility. Instead it sounds to me like the typical boogeyman dog whistling when the Sheriff is making a political presentation thats about securing money for a war that was lost a long time ago. Again, truly make it uneconomical to grow illegally through code enforcement, not continuing price support for smarter illegal growers. Sue the Forest Service for allowing transnational cartels on federal land. Raise all hell about these transnational cartels! Why does it only periodically come up when the Sheriff talks about money? Think!
Keeping it real, The reason the cartel hasn’t come back in my neighborhood is the white dopers who were renting them? Their land got busted and the white dopers. The ap owners got huge fines . As far as ice not being professional, they’re doing a great job. Having you deal with leftist commies like yourself who interfere with lawful law enforcement ice just got done doing operation rotten apple in New York, a sanctuary state. They remove 2100 plus rapists, child molesters, gang members, murderers and other miscellaneous criminals. And yes, all illegal aliens are criminals. God bless ice The only reason you’re upset about ice is they’re removing future democratic voters.
Also the motorist ot Mendocino county are tired of the uninsured Mexicans that keep T boning our cars in the road. This no license and insurance thing is some bullshit, then they want to flee the scene. Well I’m gonna shoot me cartel dead in the back, all of them and flee the scene myself
We should be demanding that fully illegal states grow their own or import it legally from California. The demand for black market weed is comming from those states. They all demonize California without realizing their own people are demanding it.
Why are you not fighting Dog Poisoning? Why are you not stopping the dangerous drugs ? 4th amendment Violaters.
Why is no one addressing the FLOCK cameras in the trees (and that is, sarcasm) – or the “civil citation software”? Based on the local fear of 5G, I can only imagine the terror satellites induce.
Where the heck could you find enough educated people IN and FROM Mendocino County to staff these positions? Or is this just another opportunity for “consulting” and “contract” workers? Who gets the kickback on those?
Just askin’
Just answerin’
You be on the wrong page fer all dat.