Written With Permission By Roger Gitlin, The Triplicate – Country Media Inc. – October 27, 2024
At the most recent Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Meeting, Public speaker Samuel Strait addressed supervisors in the public comments section during the opaque Consent Agenda with some arguably disturbing information.
Strait disclosed the following:
In the 18 Regularly Scheduled meetings from January through October 7, 2024, 457 different agenda items were discussed.
• 282 Consent Agenda items were passed (all unanimously).
• 111 of those items were presented by the County’s largest department. Dept. of Health and Human Services.
• 61 of those Consent items were submitted by Administration.
• 14 originated from Community Development.
• 4 items were submitted by the Del Norte Sheriff.
Strait lamented his concern to the five member Board, almost 62 percent of Del Norte government is conducted by un-elected bureaucrats. He asked for more disclosure and transparency during these “rubber stamp” votes. Upon completion of his public comments, supervisors voted unanimously for another dozen items, with no discussion by any of the elected.
One of the core problems with our county government is far too many people living in our county are completely disinterested in involving themself in any form of the political process.
There are a few citizens (such as Mr. Strait) who take an active interest in our local government. Yet what impact do these people have?
For example, the Consent Agenda our Board of Supervisors loves to utilize so much. How many years have various citizens fought the Consent Agenda to no avail?
Could it be the Board of Supervisors jobs are made easier by allowing others to make decisions via the Consent Agenda?
Could it be the Board of Supervisors realize too many people are disinterested in involving themself in any form of the local political process?
What happened when three positions on the Board become open? This was the opportunity to change the Board in a meaningful way. Yet, all three Board members were returned to the Board for new terms.
How can we expect the Board to change when there are no repercussions regardless of its behavior?