New Vendor Approved for Healthcare Services for Jail Inmates at BOS Meeting of March 10, 2026
- Elisa Ballard
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Shasta County Board of Supervisors' Meeting Recap
The Shasta County Board of Supervisors convened its regular meeting on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, at the County Administration Center in Redding, addressing a range of local issues from jail healthcare upgrades to community recognitions and ongoing county operations.
The session opened with an invocation by Arin D. Resnicke of the Public Safety Chaplaincy of Shasta County, followed by Supervisor Allen Long leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
The board kicked off with employee and service recognitions. Charlene Osborn, a Clerk/Elections Specialist III in the Registrar of Voters’ Office, was named Employee of the Month for her 14 years of dedicated service, deep institutional knowledge, verification of about 60,000 signatures in the recent election, and training of new staff members.
The Sheriff's Department joined in honoring K-9 Toni, a four-year veteran of the Major Crimes Unit specializing in detecting electronic storage devices and gunpowder. Handled by Detective Kilee Holroyd, the dog is retiring and will stay under Holroyd's care.
County CEO Dave Rickert reported that Shasta County maintained its strong performance in the federal Section 8 housing program, earning a 96% score from the U.S. Department of Housing—matching the prior year's result.
Supervisors provided district updates. Supervisor Matt Plummer (District 4) discussed exploring funding for body camera footage processing software with the District Attorney and Public Defender, including tools for key identification, translation, and storage. He also met with family physician Dr. Doug McMullin on opioid addiction treatment for hospitalized patients, noting a 67% success rate with medical intervention versus about 5% without. Plummer further consulted the Small Business Development Center on Placer.ai tools. (Placer.ai is a leading location intelligence and analytics platform that provides detailed insights into foot traffic, consumer behavior, and visitation patterns in physical locations - such as retail stores, shopping centers, restaurants, commercial properties, and public venues.) Plummer also proposed analyzing wastewater data to spot drug-use spikes and enable early intervention against emerging illicit substances.
Supervisor Kevin Crye (District 1) apologized for missing the previous meeting due to health issues, shared his own difficulties accessing a general practitioner and cardiologist, and announced an upcoming meeting with the State's Public Health Officer, Dr. Erica Pan. He invited public stories on healthcare access barriers and sought funding for the Medical Consortium, including travel to review medical schools nationwide.
Supervisor Corkey Harmon (District 3) warned residents of a wolf pack in the eastern foothills area. He recounted attending various events, including a Hat Creek Community Hall discussion on the Volunteer Fire Department, which now covers Old Station and Castella/Castle Crags amid volunteer shortages. Harmon advocated bringing training to remote locations to ease long drives for firefighters.
Supervisor Allen Long (District 2) updated on the Shasta County Fire Safe Council’s five-year plan progress, including a PG&E grant for fuels reduction. He attended the Redding Chamber of Commerce Gala to present the Citizen of the Year award to Mary Rickert, serves on the Ad Hoc Committee for the Strategic Plan on Fire Resilience and Code Enforcement, met with Cal Fire on prescribed burns, and—with a retired judge—retrieved historic plaques from the old courthouse.
Chair/Supervisor Chris Kelstrom (District 5) reported on attending a Shasta Regional Transportation Agency meeting, a GOP Central Committee event at the Gaia Hotel with state candidates, a Frontier Senior Center breakfast in Anderson, and a sparsely attended Fire Wise meeting in District 4.
The board pulled several items from the consent calendar for discussion. For Item C4, Supervisor Crye requested review of Assessment Appeals Board appointments to fill two vacancies on the three-member panel handling property tax disputes. The Clerk of the Board recommended Ken Murray and Josh Divine from four applicants. Public comments highlighted a downtown parking garage assessment controversy ($12.9 million vs. $2.4 million, with property taxes exceeding annual revenue by a factor of two) and opposition to Murray's reappointment over past statements. (Murray is a former Redding Mayor and City Council Member, who is now 84 years old.) Due to scheduling conflicts and the need for full candidate review, the board unanimously postponed the decision to the next meeting in two weeks.
The most significant action came on Item C7: a three-year contract with Mediko, Inc. (also referred to as MEDIKO Correctional Healthcare) to provide comprehensive medical, dental, and mental health services at the Shasta County Jail, starting July 1, 2026. Pulled by Supervisor Plummer, the agreement replaces Wellpath at a roughly $3 million annual increase, with first-year payments of $626,873 monthly for core services, up to $55,607 monthly for off-site medically assisted treatment, and cost-sharing provisions for up to 460 inmates. Sheriff Michael Johnson stressed the need for enhanced care amid recent in-custody deaths and incidents, noting a 2019 CGL study identified understaffing. The new deal doubles medical staff (from about 13 to 26 providers, including on-site physicians several days a week and 24/7 access) and aims to reduce litigation risk. Supervisor Crye remarked that incidents often lead to lawsuits, but Mediko has a 30-year record and has never lost a related suit. The contract passed unanimously.
Item R4 on the agenda was to approve a renewal agreement with the Shasta County Office of Education (SCOE) for the Community Connect Program. The Community Connect program in Shasta County began as a school-based referral initiative that connects families in need with coordinators who provide individualized guidance to help students and families access behavioral health services, addressing attendance barriers, trauma-informed care, and non-clinical needs (e.g., housing, food, utilities). This aligns closely with BHSA goals of early intervention, multisector collaboration (schools and health agencies), and supporting youth with behavioral/mental health challenges to prevent escalation.
Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Director Christie Coleman explained that Shasta County receives state funds through the BHSA (Behavioral Health Services Act) framework. These funds are passed through from HHSA, which oversees behavioral health, to the SCOE for the Community Connect program.
This program underwent an evaluation for about a year by HHSA Director Christie Coleman who decided to cut the requested funding in half to $385,000 and incorporated improved reporting, including zip-code metrics, satisfying some of Supervisor Crye's evaluation concerns.
Public input included criticism from Katie Gorman, Chapter Chair of Moms for Liberty on alleged data mining and intrusive child questions. Anderson City Council Member Darin Hall criticized the Community Schools program that provided funding for Community Connect, stating that the goal of Community Schools is to set up medical vans and medical clinics on campuses and to provide medical services without parental knowledge or consent. He stated that the Anderson Union High School District (AUHSD) exited from the Community Schools program due to these concerns, which left them without any access to the Community Connect program because SCOE chose not to fund the Community Connect program from their budget. SCOE had been recently funding the Community Connect program solely with Community Schools funding.
Upon questioning by Supervisors Crye, Long, and Kelstrom, SCOE Superintendent Mike Freeman acknowledged that SCOE has been retaining $2 million in excess revenue each year. Now that this Community Connect funding will be coming through HHSA, AUHSD will again have Community Connect on their campus. Freeman and SCOE Community Connect Program Director April Matthews highlighted a 78% success rate in referring families to services, and she affirmed parental involvement (though not all families know of referrals, with over 1,100 received). The renewal was approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors.
Other consent items passed without debate, including support for Assembly Bill 442 (Hadwick) on the Z’berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act; increased compensation for PACE Engineering's on-call water/wastewater support; a $504,812 contract with Bullert Industrial Electric for fiber optic cable reconfiguration at the old courthouse; higher maximums for psychological screenings of county job applicants; and 2% pay increases in two-year MOUs for Mid-Management, Trades and Crafts, Deputy Coroner Investigators, Supervisor Unit, and Sheriffs’ Administration Association (Teamsters Local #137).
The meeting reflected ongoing county priorities in public safety, health access, and community resilience amid fiscal and operational challenges.
