Previously:

• Despite Protest From Two Supervisors, Public Workshops Will Be Part of Del Norte County's Annual Budget Process

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Del Norte County supervisors on Tuesday approved language that establishes public workshops as an official part of the county’s budget process.

Their unanimous decision lacked the adversarial debate from previous meetings, but District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard said he was still skeptical that workshops were necessary.

“I’m willing to sit through them and see how it goes,” he told his colleagues. “But I really hope the intent of these workshops as explained by supporting supervisors fulfills what they hope the public’s going to gain from them, and we’ll see how it works out.”

Workshops focusing on the county’s 2024-25 budget will be held at 1 p.m. next Monday and Tuesday and on Aug. 28, according to the county’s website.

On July 23, the Board voted 3-2 to add public workshops to the county’s annual budget process. County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez said the budget team had planned on doing as many four-hour special workshops as necessary to get through the general fund departments.

The workshops will be held as special Board meetings, which would allow all five supervisors to participate in compliance with California’s Ralph M. Brown Act.

Previously, the budget process included a public hearing component of up to 14 days that allowed members of the public to submit questions and suggestions to the clerk of the Board. Now, the public will be able to interact with county staff and elected officials, Lopez told supervisors on July 23.

He mentioned budget workshops that had been held in 2022 at the insistence of then-supervisor Susan Masten and District 2 representative Valerie Starkey.

“What happened previously was there was a table set up here in front. Supervisor Starkey and Supervisor Masten sat up [on the dais]. The department head came forward with their budget and Supervisor Masten and Supervisor Starkey highlighted certain line items, asked certain questions — [it was] just more of an open conversation,” Lopez told supervisors. “How detailed you want to get is up to you guys.”

Despite Starkey and District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short arguing that the workshops allows for greater transparency, Howard said the previous 14-day public hearing process had served the county well. He said he didn’t feel workshops were an efficient use of staff time.

Board Chairman Dean Wilson shared Howard’s skepticism, but said July 23 that he would be willing to hold a budget workshop in August. He didn’t want to make it a permanent practice yet, however.

The few members of the public that attended the July 23 meeting advocated for the budget workshops. Heather Polen, who challenged Wilson for his District 5 seat in March, presented supervisors with a petition that had 38 signatures on it.

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