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b"December 7, 2022, Sarah Reith \\u2014 Supervisor Ted Williams asked County Counsel for advice on limiting public comment related to agendized cannabis issues, leading to a swift warning from a leading cannabis attorney. The query follows close on the heels of the Board approving a controversial ordinance approving a fee schedule for public records requests.\\n\\nIn health-related topics that arose at the regular December 6 Board of Supervisors meeting:\\n\\nRepresentatives from SEIU 2015, the caregivers union, advocated for higher pay, claiming that fast-food workers make more than those who take care of disabled, poverty-stricken people. Caregiver Priscilla Tarver was among the speakers arguing that low pay makes it difficult to hire enough caregivers. \\u201cWe just want to be recognized as a serious profession,\\u201d she told the Board. \\u201cThat\\u2019s what it is. You know that we came in in diapers, we\\u2019re going out in diapers. Somebody\\u2019s going to be taking care of you at some point. You\\u2019re going to want that person to like to do their job. And if they get paid well enough, they're going to like to come to work, and take care of you.\\u201d\\n\\nPublic Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren urged people to get up to date on their flu and covid vaccines, and to take other precautions against infection. \\u201cSince our community risk level worsened last week, I strongly recommend masking now in all indoor public spaces,\\u201d he said. \\u201cYes, they are uncomfortable, but not nearly as uncomfortable as a hospital bed or a ventilator, or even caring for yourself for weeks at home.\\u201d\\n\\nCoren said the local medical system is so strained by the spate of respiratory illnesses that recently a sick child had to be transported out of state. Children are hit especially hard by the flu and RSV. This week, Adventist Health Ukiah Valley announced that it is offering an after-hours pediatric clinic on Mondays and Thursdays from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., primarily for established pediatric patients exhibiting respiratory symptoms. Same-day appointments for sick children can be made by calling the Pediatric clinic at 707-463-7459.\\n\\nMuch of yesterday\\u2019s morning discussion revolved around cannabis items that were on the consent calendar. One was a retroactive contract for $185,000 with Elevate Impact, the contractor administering the cannabis equity grant program. Department Director Kristin Nevedal said that was due to a missing invoice.\\n\\nBut the item that got the most attention was a recommendation to approve the manual for the Local Jurisdiction Assistance Grant Program. The county received an $18 million allotment from the state to help cultivators satisfy environmental requirements as they struggle to comply with state regulations. That item came before Supervisors Maureen Mulheren and Dan Gjerde at the General Government Committee meeting in October. The Mendocino Cannabis Alliance urged the Board not to approve the manual, arguing that too much money will be used for administration and that they believe the guidelines are more restrictive than those allowed by the state.\\n\\nWilliams asked County Counsel Christian Curtis if the Board is obliged to hear the public. \\u201cI think it was our understanding that public comment would be heard at the General Government Committee, not there and then again at a Board of Supervisors session,\\u201d he said. \\u201cWhat is proper?\\u201d\\n\\nCurtis told him that, \\u201cThe Brown Act doesn\\u2019t require public comment at the full Board meeting if the item was previously heard at a standing committee. That\\u2019s specifically a committee exclusively of members of this Board, meeting in a Brown Act-compliant manner. So as long as there\\u2019s opportunity for the public to comment there, you don\\u2019t essentially have to repeat the public comment at the Board level itself, unless the legislative body, which would be the Board, determines there\\u2019s been a substantial change in the item between when it was at the committee and when it came to the full Board.\\u201d\\n\\nLong-time cannabis attorney Hannah Nelson called in with a rebuttal, saying, \\u201cJust because the Brown Act potentially allows for that process to be utilized, to restrict public comment on agenda items heard specifically in standing committees in the past, doesn\\u2019t mean that it\\u2019s necessarily a good or responsible thing to do.\\u201d \\n\\nNelson argued that the full Board could benefit from public comment on items that are agendized just 72 hours before public meetings, and that often more nuance is available when people have more time to absorb the material. And cannabis is not the only topic that is subject to multiple rounds of discussion. Nelson added that she believes, \\u201cIt\\u2019s going to be very important to apply any rule of this sort across every single standing committee. And I\\u2019m sure that the citizens and press will be interested to see if the Board would be applying any such rule equally across all issues and all committees. I hope this Board considers the limited time spent on public expression is valuable, from their constituents, and will not suppress the voice of the people.\\u201d\\n\\nPrivate environmental consultant Chantal Simonpietri said she was \\u201cconcerned about the conversation that\\u2019s happened today, where it\\u2019s as if the cannabis community is being silenced again\\u2026what I see happening is this impatience, or boredom, with cannabis being advocated for, and an assumption that it\\u2019s being heard and addressed in other departments or in other meetings. That simply is not happening in a robust way.\\u201d\\n\\nSimonpietri also delivered a stinging critique of the manual under discussion, saying it\\u2019s not ready to be implemented without clearly established procedures and protocols. \\u201cIt goes into archaeological and cultural surveys, traffic studies, air quality and greenhouse gas emissions studies, and Appendix G preparation,\\u201d she said, brandishing a printout. \\u201cPhase one cultivators don\\u2019t need the top three of these. They don\\u2019t need to do arch(aeological) and cultural, traffic studies, and they don\\u2019t need to do air quality and greenhouse gas emissions studies. The only thing they need to have developed, one of the things that everybody needs, is a biological study. And that\\u2019s one thing that is explicitly not included in this manual\\u2026this manual and this program are not ready to go out and to be launched. The sensitive species impact portion of the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) document relies on the biological study. And that is one that is explicitly not included here\\u2026there are other gaps in the thinking that created this manual to demonstrate that it\\u2019s not ready for release.\\u201d She requested that the manual go back to the General Government Committee for further consideration.\\n\\nBut Nevedal told the Board that writing out a document specifying how the department will review each grant application would be \\u201ca pretty hard piece to put into writing, as we will be analyzing each application on a project specific basis, because this is a grant related to CEQA.\\u201d She added that bringing more materials before the General Government Committee and then the full Board could have serious consequences for applicants, who are on a tight timeline. \\u201cBringing an item to GGC (General Government Committee) in January means that the earliest it could come forward to the Board, if that is the will of the Board, is going to be February,\\u201d she explained. \\u201cWhich means we would not then be able to put a grant application out, if everything went well, until March. So we would miss a full grant cycle. The goal, again, is to try to get two grant award cycles in, so that folks can take advantage of this work season, which is going to be critically important for folks who are needing to conduct their projects to complete their lake and streambed alteration agreements.\\u201d\\n\\nThe Board agreed to approve the manual without a separate document establishing procedures and protocols, but to continue fine-tuning it."