SusanvilleStuff Local and Regional News
by Melissa Blosser, Assistant Editor
Water was the main topic of dispute at the Board of Supervisor’s Meeting on Tuesday November 20th. The chamber was filled with various members of the community waiting for their chance to speak about the Board’s previous appointment of two seats on the Honey Lake Valley Resource Conservation District (RCD.)
Following the appointment of the new members another board member Jeff Pudlicki also resigned, resulting in yet another open seat on the board.
Jack Hanson opened the podium first to hear from applicants who had applied for the previous seats and did not have a chance to speak before the board during the previous meeting.
Several of the applicants stepped up to speak, David Brazil, Larry Cabodi, John Richards, and Barbra White, speaking to why they had applied for a seat on the RCD board.
Larry Cabodi spoke about his current involvement with the RCD the current direction of the organization.
“We have been trying to do right in the intermediary to bring in grants and money for the good of the agricultural community as a whole. A lot of controversy seems to be centered around the Watermaster and the WAC (water advisory committee) ,” said Cabodi. “We do need to get ourselves organized so we are a full functioning board and carrying out our mission. We do have a manager and our own secretary, an accountant, and we have a watermaster, and the biggest issue to me is getting the watermaster and the WAC committee working together.”
Supervisor Chapman spoke about the history of how the Board of Supervisors came into the role of appointing board members to the RCD board.
“We came into the role of appointing back when the RCD was really small and they didn’t have an operating budget, and they couldn’t afford to spend $50,000 to $60,000 to host an election, but if the board is now functioning with more funds, then maybe this shifts back to relying on the people involved to make this decision and this becomes an election process,” said Chapman.
John Bentley, current Treasurer of the RCD, also spoke to the board about his disagreement with the process of how the seats were chosen by the board of supervisors.
“I would like to ask who was contacted to make your decisions?” said Bentley. “If anyone would have asked me or Bob Anton, it would have been Larry Cabodi he is hard working and doesn’t have his own agenda, or Jessee Claypool or Less Evans, they don’t have a hidden agenda. I know the RCD board is on the verge of many great things and we have overcome a lot of obstacles, but you can throw water on the fire by who you appoint,” he said.
Following all of the applicants speaking, several members of the community also stepped up to speak about their concerns on the future direction of the RCD and questioned the process of how the new appointees would be appointed.
Bob Anton, current chairperson of the board spoke about the need for an administrator, and the need for the RCD do have leadership ability.
I hope you will realize we need an administrator, study all the people and see what their administrative capabilities are,” said Anton. “You have some really great people out there and the RCD does have money, so there is a good opportunity for someone out there.”
Willis Dow, Farm Bureau president spoke on behalf of the Honey Lake Valley Grange and the Farm Bureau. He spoke about concern to how the position was flown and questioned the term length of the board suggesting a longer or revolving term to maintain continuity.
Supervisor Chapman and Supervisor Hanson discussed the technicalities of how the position was flown in the Lassen County Times, the Public Record Code and the Mattie Act.
Dow spoke about the importance of water to agriculture in the Lassen County area.
“Water is the most valuable product we have in agriculture, and if we don’t have it we can’t grow anything, I would hate to see the RCD board become completely one-sided and a few water users control the entire water system in the Baxter Creek and Susan River Areas,” said Dow.
Dow brought forth the RCD guidebook and spoke to how the document outlines the process of posting vacant seats and also discusses many of the issues currently being argued about and he suggested the Board of Supervisors using it as a reference.
Supervisor Jack Hanson turned to County Counsel for direction on which set of guidelines should be followed for appointing the new seat on the board.
“We have so many competing authorities, and if we are going to set this straight going forward, lets research this thoroughly, and make an informed decision,” said Rhetta Vander Ploeg, of Lassen County Council.
Jack Hanson also questioned county council on the ability to retract the current appointees.
The Supervisors Meeting continued into the afternoon as many members of the public stepped up to speak.
The Board of Supervisors then voted to retract their vote for the two appointees Jesse Calypool and David Schroeder, going back to the original board. The RCD board with Jeff Pudlicki’s resignation will now have 4 open seats.
County Counsel will still be reviewing the hierarchy of the documents such as the Public Record Code and the RCD Handbook to see what document will serve to the Board of Supervisors as guidelines for future appointments.
The board again being flying the open seats for the RCD Board and will vote on the applicants on January 15th, at the Board of Supervisors Regular meeting. If you are interested in applying please contact the County Clerks office at (530) 251-8427.
