This week will mark my final week
as Chairperson of the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors. I am pleased with many of the
accomplishments on my watch. A new Chair will take the helm on January 9.
In 2006, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors and County Counsel
played a role in challenging electrical rate increases by PacifiCorp. As a result, Siskiyou
County residents will see a 45% reduction in the final electrical rate increases from
those originally proposed.
This year we met as a Board with each Department Head, reviewed their
plans, goals, accomplishments, performance and many of the individual issues they are
facing. (This had not been done for several years.) As we also had a brand new County Administrator,
Barry Shioshita, join the team early in the year, this was a great opportunity to assist
him in becoming familiar with our operations. In addition, we have in place a vibrant
Department Head Council that is tackling difficult issues like standardized contracting,
digitization of records and personnel recruitment. The Council helped to develop a system
where Board meetings are transmitted internally over a computer connection to allow
Department Heads to monitor agenda progress towards their items and minimize time waiting
in the Board room.
I have continued to attend most of the individual preliminary budget
development meetings with the CAO and County Auditor to learn more about the inner
workings and needs of each Department. Control of the public purse strings is one of the
primary duties of the Board of Supervisors and I take that responsibility very seriously.
Board approval has been given to create a new Community Development Center.
This will fold together development functions of the Planning Department, Building
Department and Environmental Health Department under the direction of Terry Barber. It is
envisioned that this will come together as a customer-friendly, expedient one-stop-shop
for folks looking for various permits.
I had hoped to update the County’s strategic plan, which hasn’t
been done for many years. Unfortunately, we were unable to complete that. Perhaps a future
Chairperson will pick up the torch
With the collaboration of Human Services and Child Protective
Services, the University of California – Davis has been providing supervisorial
training offered to all Departments. There have also been several professional development
seminars offered – such as Bruce Perry, M.D. on child brain development; John
Ruffcorn on Public Law 280 –law on Indian Reservations; U.C. – Davis on
Collaborations; and Steven Bavolek, Ph.D. on parenting education.
The Board held several special informational workshops this year: (1)
the impact of Methamphetamine on the County; (2) Forest and Economies Workshop; (3)
Emergency Planning for elected officials; and (4) Fire Services in Siskiyou County. Follow up has included meetings to better
collaborate and coordinate among the Family Drug Court, Human Services (Child Protective
Services,) Behavioral Health, Juvenile Hall and the Family Resource Centers in regard to
situations of child abuse and substance abusing families. A planned Request for Proposals
for a contractor to the County to assess National Forest conditions, federal relationships
with the County and economic and hazard reduction opportunities. The County is now moving
toward better inter-government and inter-agency functioning in emergencies, including
hiring a professional to compile a new integrated comprehensive countywide Emergency
Operations Plan.
Getting our minds around the problem of funding and staffing fire
service in Siskiyou County has been a daunting task, but was aided significantly by Chief
Coleman’s Comprehensive Municipal
Services Review. Leo Bergeron and the Grange are moving forward on proposed State
legislation to provide a $1000 tax incentive for volunteer firefighters. Several Districts
are looking into expanding, imposing developer fees for new infrastructure, or attempting
to get an increase in assessments to fund needed services. Some areas in the General
County Service area are looking into establishing Zones of Increased Benefit (ZIBs) to
fund their own local services or contract with adjacent existing fire districts.
Several exercises have been done for Avian Flu preparedness.
Introductory National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) training and orientation to the
responsibilities and expectations of emergency services workers has been given to all
County employees. Additional training in Incident Command Systems has been offered, as
well as some specialized training for Public Health employees, Shelter Operations and
Public Information Officers. Department Heads are working on basic “Continuity of
Government” Plans for emergencies. Citizens Emergency Response Training (CERT) has
begun.
I had hoped to complete an additional Board Workshop on Aging in Siskiyou
County and what we might do now to plan for changing future demographics. Human Services
and UC Davis have picked up the ball on that a conference is being planned in early May.
In addition, Leadership Siskiyou County is collaborating with the County to present a
State of the County event in early May. So far, the Bureau of Reclamation’s
Conservation Implementation Plan (CIP) meeting and the “Governor’s Summit”
have been delayed until early 2007.
All in all, seems like we have a running start on a brand new year! |
