The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has created a new ad-hoc committee to review the 2017 grand jury reports, including the speed of election results; the county’s restriction on formula, or chain, businesses and problems with its Code Enforcement and Family and Children Services divisions.
Supervisors John McCowen and Georgeanne Croskey will serve on the committee.
McCowen had a few points in mind on Tuesday, starting with formula businesses. He said the grand jury seemed to contradict itself when it declared the county’s current restriction discourages businesses from developing here and adds time and money to the process, but at the same time recommended that every building permit be subject to design review.
This “would seem to add time and money to the process for every permit,” McCowen pointed out. He added it is the “historic responsibility” of the board to make certain distinctions about who can build in Mendocino County, and that there is “nothing unusual” about exercising its authority in those areas.
The grand jury recommended in June the restriction be eliminated altogether, citing the recent introductions of Chipotle and In-N-Out Burger to Ukiah as success stories.
On the county’s election process, McCowen said the committee will be interested to look into how the grand jury report relates to the California Voter’s Choice Act (approved by the governor in September as Senate Bill 450), which goes into effect on Jan. 1.
The act authorizes specified counties – with a population of fewer than 100,000 people, school districts and special districts – to conduct any election as an all-mailed ballot election.
McCowen said the Board of Supervisors’ position is to expedite election results, asserting that in past years, many residents have mailed their ballots in on Election Day or walked them to the polls, resulting in a slow count.
“We favor and have committed to additional resources, if that will help get speedier results,” he said.
The report stated 21,700 mail-in ballots were sent in before the 2016 Election Day in Mendocino County, which the registrar had 10 days to count beforehand, while only about 6,000 were counted by election night.
The grand jury, however, did praise the Mendocino County Registrar of Voters for its accuracy in voting results.
The committee will also be looking into the Mendocino Coast Recreation and Parks District, which the grand jury deemed “financially irresponsible” in June.
August 19, 2017
Ukiah Daily Journal
By Ashley Tressel
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