Opinion and Commentary By Linda Sutter – August 10, 2024
At an emergency meeting held for Board Members of the Crescent City-Del Norte County Taxpayers Association, was held when retired LA Firefighter/EMS Mario Westphal asked to speak to the issue of repealing the Fire Tax set to go on the ballot in November 2024.
Jaime Yarbrough who was the proponent of the fire tax repeal AND a taxpayer’s association board member informed the group that he could no longer be a proponent of the fire tax repeal. Yarbrough stated it was because he had placed an application in with the Del Norte Search and Rescue (SAR) and did not want his credibility questioned thinking it would put him in a conflict of interest.
During the meeting Yarbrough went on to state he would vote to repeal the tax, but needed someone else to be the proponent. It was determined by the County Clerk, Alissia Northrup, only the proponent could write a letter to pull the repeal fire tax measure. It is worthy to note Chief Carey generated the letter for Yarbrough to submit and have the measure pulled, ACCORDING to Yarbrough. The deadline to repeal the proposed measure was Friday, August 9th. Yarbrough was in the County Clerk’s office that morning.
This may certainly get Yarbrough approved for SAR. The question to ask is this. Is he the type of person that should be on SAR when lives may be at stake?
Jaime Yarbrough may have caused several thousands of dollar loss along with two plus years of time to the Taxpayer Association only to demonstrate how far he will go to renege on a project.
A vote of the people would have more than likely secured the fire tax, because the fire tax was obtained through fraud when the Harbor District was not allowed to vote on the original measure, which ended up in Del Norte Superior Court ending with a handshake. However, since there is no vote by the people, the tax was passed unlawfully, without a sunset clause but with a cost of living rider.
The proponent, Jaime Yarbrough who volunteered to be the proponent has no credibility, violated trust, and was no longer a team member in order to be accepted by SAR.
Thanks for the update Linda. This story really rubs me the wrong way as this was one tax that should have been repealed. It was approved in a shyster type manner and apparently now used to give big pay raises. Jaimie should be removed from any and all further input with the CC times and removed from the Taxpayer Association.