Timestamp: 04 November 2022 @ 0631 Pacific
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is set Tuesday to consider the public censure of Supervisor Michelle Bushnell after an investigation sustained an allegation that the Second District representative mistreated a Planning Department staff member during a December of 2021 meeting.
The staff report states the "board action is limited to public censure," which would require a two-thirds vote, in a situation when a violation of the board's code of conduct is sustained following an investigation, in this case by Watsonville-based attorney Richard E. Nosky, who is described as a neutral third party investigator.
The findings relate to a grievance filed by a county planner late last year, which alleged the supervisor interfered with the issuance of a cannabis permit on behalf of a constituent and then acted unprofessionally - berating staff - in a meeting with the applicant, the planner and Planning Director John Ford.
According to Nosky's summary, Bushnell violated two of the board's codes: the first being the requirement to practice civility and decorum in discussions and debates and the other a requirement that supervisors support a constructive and positive workplace for county employees.
The summary states the employee played "a large role in provoking Bushnell and created an awkward and hostile tone for the meeting" but "Bushnell's reaction to the employee was not representative of model conduct for an elected official."
Nosky also states that Bushnell acknowledged her behavior was inappropriate and took responsibility for her actions.
"Even though Bushnell was provoked, she was overly confrontational with the employee and questioned the employee's qualifications in front of a constituent. This did not show proper decorum and reflected poorly on her office," he wrote.
The process that led to the findings was set in motion at an April 4 meeting, when the supervisors unanimously approved revamping the board's code of conduct, which included having employee grievances reviewed by a three-person committee consisting of the county administrative officer, county counsel and the human resources director, who then decide whether a formal investigation should be launched.
If an investigation substantiates the underlying allegations, as is the case here, that's reported to the board in open session. Previously, such grievances were brought to the board of supervisors first in public session, which the board and staff said raised confidentiality concerns.
The grievance made against Bushnell was the first one to go through the new process.
According to the staff report, the three-member review committee received "additional complaints to be considered" after the April 4 and "determined that a formal investigation into whether violations of the Board of Supervisors' Code of Conduct occurred was appropriate."
The director of Human Resources then brought on Nosky to conduct the investigation, which he found sustained one allegation. The state report states that a "'sustained' finding indicates that the investigation established that, more likely than not, the allegation is true."
In other business, the supervisors will also hear an update on the Cannabis Excise Tax Reduction Program that the board approved in February, which reduced the county-levied tax by 85 percent for 2022, and consider how to move forward in 2023.
The board will also hear a 9:30 a.m. presentation on the PG&E power capacity issues in Fortuna, Garberville and Rio Dell that are putting Eel River Valley projects at risk. Presenters are scheduled to include Fortuna City Manager Merritt Perry, Rio Dell Planning Director Kevin Caldwell and a PG&E representative.
The board of supervisors meeting starts at 9 a.m. Find the agenda here.
Keywords: Fortuna Humboldt California marijuana cannabis housing homelessness real estate
Source: https://www.northcoastjournal.com/NewsBlog/archives/2022/10/31/supes-to-consider-bushnell-censure
See, also: https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2022/nov/1/supervisors-opt-not-censure-bushnell-though-there/
See, also: https://www.northcoastjournal.com/NewsBlog/archives/2022/11/01/supes-decide-not-to-censure-bushnell
Comment: We did a little research on Michelle Bushnell.
Michelle Bushnell claimed she owns a "few" rentals. By our count she and her husband, together and separately, own maybe 16 houses and as many timber properties.
It seems to us that every house that is taken off the market and turned into a rental property is one less family with roots in Humboldt County.
We examine the work and personal ethics of the people buying these houses and we find ourselves with questions, unanswered.
Many of the people buying these lands and houses seem to be involved in timber or land clearing or construction and so, we infer, they have an inside line on the local real estate marketplace and are well positioned to be first in line to buy the properties as they become available.
The lands denoted as timber-related are obviously prime candidates for illegal marijuana growing operations. That is a separate topic, but, when scrutinizing politicians, it is not unreasonable to also ask about their finances.
Even more interesting are the houses. As we stated above, it seems to us that every house that is taken off the market and turned into a rental property is one less family with roots in Humboldt County. If we infer that these people are all involved in the construction industry, the question arises: why aren't these people building new houses?
The fact is, buying a house that was built by a real craftsman - someone from your great-grandparents' generation - and fixing it up ... then, renting it out, at 21st century prices, as if it were something you had just built, yourself, is, we think, lazy, and greedy, too, seeing as the cost of the land and the house has been recouped about fifty times, over the past seventy-five years or so.
We were attending $100-a-ticket real estate seminars at swanky Union Square hotels back in the 1980s where all these get-rich-quick plans were being presented by all these salesmen and after a few hours we extracted two lessons. One, there's money to be made in fixer-uppers. Two, there's 'way more money to be made selling get-rich-quick plans to suckers.
But we are out in the country here and there is lots of room for more houses and there's lots of trees growing all over the place for lumber - all those "timber reserves", LOL. So what is the problem?
We look to the elected government and its employees to fix these problems, not to be the problems. We aren't paying you five- and six-figure incomes so that you can buy up all the housing and deprive us of the opportunity to have homes of our own. That's not cool.
We are talking basic economics here. Someone, somewhere, has to actually make something of value. Housing is not intrinsically valuable. Shelter only becomes expensive when it is withheld and concealed and its scarcity is used to drive the price up, artificially, so that predators can profit from the scarcity they create and maintain.
Our sense is that every supervisor, politician and government employee in Humboldt County who owns more than one or maybe two rental homes - and that, justified only by the presence of growing children - is probably part of the real problem.
Examining the local land ownership records is not sufficient - these records only show ownership of properties in the jurisdiction of Humboldt County and they do not identify the owners of corporations owning property. Lawyers and lregislators are particularly prone to concealing their ownership of assets behind corporations. Locating properties' true owners and identifying corporate ownership of assets are larger problems that should definitely be at least on the horizon of every single California voter if we expect to make any progress at levelling this playing field we call 'housing'.
As for that clusterfuck involving Pacific Gas & Electric's capacity for southern Humboldt - which, we point out, Michelle Bushnell represents - that is such a huge topic that it requires a separate article - coming soon. But we don't think PG&E is responsible for Humboldt County's infrastructural planning. That is the supervisors' job - to navigate and to steer the county. And they failed - at basic math.