Another Arrest Mars the Shasta County Board of Supervisors’ Meeting 1-6-26(Detailed Report)
- Elisa Ballard
- 1 day ago
- 11 min read
This was the first meeting of the year and the first one with Chris Kelstrom as Board Chair and unfortunately, it was not without drama. All five Supervisors were in attendance: Kevin Crye, Allen Long, Corkey Harmon, Matt Plummer, and Chair Chris Kelstrom. The meeting was called to order at 9 a.m. and started out on a somber note with a moment of silence in honor of U.S. Congressional Representative Doug LaMalfa, who passed away unexpectedly due to a medical emergency, on January 5th at the age of 65. LaMalfa served for the last 13 years representing District 1 in Northern California, which included Shasta County.
The Employee of the Year Award was given to Brook Lowther, County Executive Officer Assistant – Confidential who was recognized for her outstanding work with the County since July of 2022, meeting the demands of her position, dealing with internal and external communications with County employees and the public, boosting moral, and fostering teamwork in the County Administrative Office.
CEO Dave Rickert gave his update on County issues which included giving congratulations to Director of Support Services, Monica Fugitt, for Shasta County Risk Management (which handles workers' compensation claims as a self-insured entity) received a #2 (second place) ranking in the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) Audit.
Rickert also congratulated Supervisor Kevin Crye and presented him with a plaque for his leadership as Chair for the last 46 Board meetings and for increasing transparency, reducing public fees, and identifying cost savings for the County, leading to increasing reserves by $950,000 to a total in reserves of $31.7 million.
Each Board Supervisor gave their updates on their activities. Notable items were as follows:
Allen Long – Attended County Strategic Planning meetings for setting goals for the County, attended Shasta County Fire Safe Council Board meeting, gave a shout out to Sean Ewing, Director of Resource Management for the work he and his team are doing on code enforcement.
Corkey Harmon – Went to the California Energy Commission meeting in Sacramento on December 19th on the Fountain Windmill Project. Has been working on the issue of wolves in the rural areas of the County attacking livestock. He stated that the wolf population is exploding. Met with Sheriff Johnson about this as well as Siskiyou County officials. He will be bringing a proposal that is in line with what is working in Siskiyou County.
Kevin Crye – Attended Shasta Regional Transportation Agency meeting but had to leave early. His trip planned with the Sheriff to meet with the Amity Foundation was rescheduled. He wants to put an item on the agenda for the next meeting to have a presentation from Dr. Norm Hall, Dr. Paul Dhanuka, and/or Dr. Irene Salter to give an update from the committee working on bringing a medical school to our area.
Matt Plummer – Attended Strategic Planning Ad Hoc Committee and will bring back five goals for the County so that the BOS can discuss them and put them into the County Strategic Plan. Met with Economic Development Corporation of Shasta County President and CEO, Rebecca Baer, on how to attract businesses to our area. He's working on identifying State of California grant money that might be available for the correctional re-entry program for the Alternative Custody and Rehabilitation Campus to be built. Attended the annual meeting of California Association of Counties, Committee on Health and Human Services Policy Committee. He was voted in as Vice Chair. Attended the Mental Health and Drug Advisory Committee meeting and was appointed Vice Chair.
Chris Kelstrom – Met with Fire Chief Sean O’Hara, Shingletown Volunteer Fire Department, and received an honorary membership award. Attended the meeting in Sacramento on the 19th regarding the Fountain Windmill project and gave a thank you to the Pit River Tribe who had 30-40 speakers at the meeting voicing their opposition to the project. Attended beloved Anderson High School teacher and coach Bob Reid’s memorial service in Anderson.
20 speakers gave their views (2 minutes each) during the public comment period. Many speakers were concerned about the Board of Supervisors’ stance on contract negotiations with the Teamsters Local (#137) Union. The County’s road maintenance, equipment operators, and mechanics indicate that the cuts to their medical benefits plan are not fair or affordable for them, while other County employees’ medical benefits are not being cut. One speaker noted that the cost to train new employees is around $15,000 so the County could incur these costs if they lose these experienced workers due to not providing them with adequate salaries or benefits.
One speaker, Jenny O’Connell-Nowain, who was recently convicted of disturbing a public meeting and is awaiting sentencing, defiantly stated “Don’t think that my conviction changes anything for how I will behave in this board room…” Later in the meeting, this speaker’s husband, Benjamin Nowain, was arrested for refusing to stop shouting during another speakers’ time at the podium after he was given a warning by Chair Kelstrom and after he was asked to leave voluntarily but refused to do so. This husband and wife team seem to relish the spotlight and are not concerned with the rules of public meeting decorum. Later that same afternoon, the arrested individual returned to the meeting (after posting bail).
In a very kind gesture, Pastor David Stark of Grace Presbyterian Church presented a gift of six “facsimile” copies of the Geneva Bible to the Board of Supervisors, with one extra Bible for the public, and thanked the Board for doing a great job.
Next on the agenda for the meeting were the 21 items on the Consent Calendar. Item No. C3 was pulled from the Consent Calendar for discussion by Matt Plummer. This item was approving the Chair’s 2026 appointments to committees and liaison assignments. Plummer explained that he would like to stay on the Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board (MHADAB) and stated that if he can remain on the Board, he will be the Vice Chair. Kelstrom stated that he gave Plummer 15 out of the 17 committee assignments he requested but decided not to continue Plummer’s appointment because of comments he received from staff that indicated that Plummer was directing County staff because of his prior MHADAB attendance. Kelstrom explained that only CEO Rickert can direct staff, not the Board or Committee members. Another issue that was raised was that Kelstrom wanted to be the County representative for the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) and wanted to move Supervisor Crye to be the alternate. Plummer also stated he wants to be the alternate representative for CSAC (California State Association of Counties). Crye is the primary representative for Shasta County. Kelstrom was not in favor of Plummer being the alternate because he said that Plummer would likely travel to the meetings and cost the County travel expenses. Kelstrom said he was not supportive of extra travel expenses such as those Plummer incurred going to Utah to attend a conference on AI (Artificial Intelligence). Plummer countered that learning how to use AI in the County departments can save thousands of dollars. Kelstrom said he has a constituent in Shingletown who has offered to help the County with AI solutions for free. Crye stated we have one of the best CTOs (Chief Technology Officers) in the State and we should be supportive of the Directors to use AI but not micromanage them. Long commented that RCRC is important to him, that he will continue to be involved with it, even if not given the appointment. He also stated that “Plummer is such a value on mental health issues.” However, he wants to respect the Chair’s decisions on the appointments. After public comments, a vote was taken and the C3 appointments were approved 4 – 1, with 4 Supervisors voting “yes” and Plummer voting “no”.
The next item up for discussion was Item C7, which was pulled from the consent calendar by Chair Kelstrom and involved the appointment and reappointment of people to the Shasta County Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board (MHADAB). CEO Rickert stated he recommended removing Ronald Henninger from the list of reappointments but did not explain why. Plummer and Long voiced their opinions that they would support Henninger’s reappointment. Public comments were taken next and Leslie Sawyer spoke about someone else, whom she did not name, that she felt should not be on the MHADAB due to having a DUI. After public comment, Plummer made a motion that would have kept Henninger on the reappointment list, it was seconded by Long, but the motion failed with Kelstrom, Crye, and Harmon voting against it. The Consent Calendar was approved in its entirety with the exception of Mr. Henniger’s reappointment, by a vote of 3-2 with Plummer and Long voting no.
Something worth noting was Item C21 on the Consent Calendar which was approving the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United Public Employees of California, Local 792, General Unit (UPEC-General) and the County of Shasta covering the period of January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2026, which was a 2% retroactive wage increase for last year when they were out of contract, and then 2% for this year starting in January. (UPEC-General is the primary bargaining unit for non-professional, non-supervisory county employees) and represents approximately 1,000 employees in Shasta County.)
Item R3 - Approval of 2026 Calendar of Board of Supervisors’ Meetings was discussed briefly, with Kelstrom commenting that he wanted to have a couple of night meetings, however, the Clerk of the Board, Stephany Blankenship, spoke of a draft calendar with the two night meetings having been removed. Kelstrom and Crye spoke about the night meetings and how they put a strain on staff, going late into the night, sometimes to midnight. Kelstrom kept the option open of adding one or two night meetings to the calendar at a later date. The new calendar was approved unanimously. The meeting calendar can be found at this link:
Item R4 – Plummer proposed an amendment to Administrative Policy 1-101 that would allow an individual Supervisor to put an item on the BOS agenda without needing to request approval of the Chair. Plummer stated the reason for requesting this is that he believes that there might be an unreasonable delay of several weeks in putting items onto the agenda because of the way the current policy is written. Crye mentioned that in the past, when the Chair was not the ultimate authority for putting the agenda items onto the agenda, this was abused by one person, creating an undue burden on staff. Public Comment followed with seven speakers, one of whom made a remark that the meetings should be streamlined and not include matters that are not in the jurisdiction of the BOS such as the presentation that took place about chemtrails because it wastes staff time. (This particular member of the public and others like him, however, does (do) not recognize his own contribution to wasting staff time in that he makes it a point to comment on almost all matters that come for a vote in the meetings and usually takes the full allotted time (2 or 3 minutes) to do so, which has a cumulative effect.) Leslie Sawyer commented that she sent Plummer a message after he sent what she considered to be a divisive statement out to the public that indicated he couldn’t get items he wanted onto the agenda. She asked Plummer for a list of the items he could not get onto the agenda but she said she did not receive a valid response from Plummer.
At this point in the meeting, Benjamin Nowain, husband of Jenny O’Connell-Nowain, started shouting from his seat in the audience. Chair Kelstrom gave him a warning to stop. Nowain continued to shout and then Kelstrom asked law enforcement to remove him from the meeting and a recess was called. It appeared that Nowain was arrested and then later released, because he rejoined the meeting in the afternoon.
After the recess, Supervisor Long stated that the BOS follows the Rosenberg’s Rules of Order and under those rules, the Chair, or CEO, or a Board Majority Vote can put an item onto the agenda; therefore, he does not support Plummer’s proposed rule change.
No one seconded Plummer’s motion to change the rules, therefore, no vote needed to be taken.
The Board then discussed Item R5 which was requested to be put on the agenda by Supervisor Plummer on the topic of cost of living increases for the Board of Supervisors and elected Department Heads. There were three public comments and then Nolda Short, Auditor-Controller, spoke briefly about the differences between elected Department Heads with Appointed Department Heads and did not make any recommendation on how the BOS should be approving their own raises. Kelstrom indicated that two years ago, this issue was discussed and voted on by the prior board. It gave a substantial salary increase, tying future increases for the Board of Supervisors to the contracted amounts with UPEC.
The Shasta County Board of Supervisors last changed (increased) their salary in 2024, with the raise approved by a 3-1 vote on May 7, 2024 (preliminary approval, with final action following shortly after in May 2024 per meeting records and news coverage). The increase went into effect around July 14, 2024 (or mid-2024 in some reports), raising annual base pay from approximately $53,508 (or ~$4,459/month) to $85,024 (about a 59% increase), plus additions like a $5,000 annual vehicle allowance and an automatic annual cost-of-living adjustment tied to UPEC MOU raises. This was described as a "course correction" after a study comparing Shasta to similar-sized counties showed the pay lagging significantly. The salary had not been adjusted for 22 years prior to this change.
Long voiced his opinion that there is a conflict of interest when the Board votes on their own raises or ties them to a contract with an employees’ union in which the Board has negotiated and approved. He would like to find a cost of living index to tie the increases to so that the Board pay does not fall behind. Plummer’s original thoughts were to put a charter amendment on the ballot to let the people decide on any increases and to put a 1% annual increase built into the measure. Long believed that the 1% increase would be an arbitrary number that would cause disparity later.
The BOS voted 3-1 to approve the cost of living increase for the BOS. Plummer voted no and Crye abstained.
Item R7 was a presentation by the Registrar of Voters, Clint Curtis, centering on reducing the fees to the public for a copy of the voter files/electronic election reports from $68.00 to $5.00; and for approval for participation in community events and for the purchase of small flags to hand out to the public. A discussion was held about the cost to produce the electronic reports, using a thumb drive that costs $1.09 to hand to the public requesting the report, with Curtis suggesting it only takes 6 seconds to do so. Curtis wants to produce these reports in batches and have the thumb drives ready to provide to the public on request. His goal is to have more people participating in the election process and not make it cost prohibitive. Kelstrom, Long, and Crye did not believe $5 would be appropriate because it doesn’t include overhead.
Regarding participation in community outreach events, Curtis was complaining that he was not given approval to have a float in the Christmas Parade. County Counsel Joseph Larmour indicated that an elected official can attend whatever event he wants but that the float in the parade was a liability issue. The event that any elected official attends with County reimbursement needs to have a public purpose that would be in alignment with the department’s mission, such as educating the public about voting and elections, reaching out to high schools, otherwise it could be construed as being “electioneering” with County resources and would be prohibited.
Nolda Short indicated that the fee for the electronic report has not been audited and could be recalculated to take into account the efficiencies that Curtis has implemented to produce the report. 10 speakers gave public comments on this issue. Four were in favor of reducing the fees and appreciated Curtis’ efforts to provide more transparency in the election process. The Supervisors unanimously approved a motion to take no action at this time.
The meeting was recessed to a closed session with no re-portable actions in closed session.
