Shasta County board deadlocks on county counsel contract as residents press election records and mobile-home rents

Redding, CA— The Shasta County Board of Supervisors split 2-2 on Tuesday over a proposed new four-year contract for County Counsel Joseph F. Larmour, leaving the agreement short of a majority. The written item in the agenda packet would have started a fresh four-year term on Sept. 30, 2026. On the dais, supervisors repeatedly described the same item as a one-year extension.

Separately, residents used open comment — which Chair Chris Kelstrom extended so remaining speakers could finish — to urge the county not to destroy 2024 election materials and to cap lot rents at mobile-home parks. Neither issue was on the agenda for a vote.

Also present were Supervisors Kevin W. Crye, Allen Long, Corkey Harmon and Matt Plummer, CEO David J. Rickert, Larmour, and Chief Deputy Clerk of the Board Stefany Blankenship.

Contract on paper vs. contract in debate

Long and Plummer pulled C-10, a proposed new four-year contract for Larmour starting Sept. 30, 2026. The packet said pay would stay at $20,840 a month, about $250,080 a year, with a $5,000 auto allowance. Severance was capped at 18 months of base pay — about $375,000 — except in a for-cause removal under Government Code section 27641.

On paper, that deal would have run to Sept. 30, 2030, resetting the clock from his April 2024 appointment. On the dais, supervisors called it a one-year extension.

Long wanted an independent legal review and said the January board should pick its own counsel. Plummer said Larmour has done a good job but opposed another reset and called 18 months of severance too long. After waiving closed-session confidentiality 5-0, Crye said the review was 5-0 “exceeds expectations.” Several supervisors said Larmour did not ask for the extra year. Crye defended Larmour as having reduced litigation costs. Kelstrom called him the best county counsel the county has ever had and ever will have.

Crye recused himself because he will not be on the next board. Kelstrom and Harmon supported the contract. The vote was 2-2 (Kelstrom and Harmon yes; Plummer and Long no). The motion failed.

Many public speakers opposed the item and said a contested contract should not have been on the consent calendar. They accused Larmour of fighting Measure B and other election-transparency efforts, giving one-sided advice, and locking in a large payout before a new board takes office. Speakers also cited a lawsuit by former senior deputy counsel Alan Cox accusing Larmour of misconduct, and the county’s Measure B case, which began after Larmour refused a ministerial duty to prepare a title and summary for a citizen initiative. Leslie said $250,000 a year is ordinary lawyer pay when it is not framed as $1 million over four years.

Elections: many public comments

No agenda item asked the board to keep or shred 2024 ballots. The only elections-related consent item was C-3, an amendment increasing compensation and extending the term of Humboldt Moving & Storage Co., doing business as Don Hemsted’s Van and Storage, for election delivery services. That item was not pulled.

Open public comment was dominated by election-integrity concerns. Speakers asked the board to preserve 2024 ballots and related material past the 22-month destruction date. They asserted more ballots counted than voters, leftover blank stock from 2018 through 2024 found under a desk, access to secure rooms with credit cards instead of key codes, “ink overspray” and heading-color differences, dead voters on the rolls, and breaks in chain of custody. Larry Farrell said a 12-person FBI team had been in the county for two or three days to examine ballots. The board took no vote on them and announced no investigation results.

Several speakers from the public said Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis should be allowed to review security video without the redactions used for public-records releases. Crye and Larmour said any department head may view unredacted footage in-house, with someone present; public release is still redacted.

Other public speakers asked the county to pursue SAVE citizenship-verification access after a recent U.S. Supreme Court stay. David H. alleged Levine Act problems involving a Redding Rancheria donation and a Media Plus advertising contract with Kelstrom. Another speaker alleged county-related contracting conflicts involving Harmon. Those claims were not on the agenda and were not ruled on Tuesday.

Mobile-home park rents

Lot-rent increases were also off the agenda. Residents from Riverland and other parks described large hikes and asked for a 180-day freeze or a county cap covering parks where residents own the homes but not the land.

Kelly, a Riverland resident, said the park was purchased in October 2025 with her rent at $575 a month. The rent rose to $625 in December 2025. It is slated to go to $985 on Dec. 1 — $410 more per month, which she called a 71.3 percent increase from the rent at acquisition. She said trash costs rose from $24 to $62 per month.

Joyce said her rent rose from $495 to $625 and is now moving toward $1,000. Another said rents in his park rose 43.5 percent from April last year to September this year. Several residents named Harmony as the corporate owner buying parks in Shasta County. Nicole asked for a freeze before the Dec. 1 deadline.

Kelstrom said mobile-home inspections are a state function, not a county one, and that he was willing to put legal jurisdiction on a future agenda.

Other actions

The board approved Opportunity Zone 2.0 nomination work 5-0 after Shasta EDC President Rebecca Baer presented on Burney census tract and an off-list South County / I-5 industrial tract. She described opportunity zones as a "federal economic development tool designed to encourage long-term private investment."

A letter opposing already-vetoed AB 1383 passed 3-2 on a substitute motion after Long moved to delay (Plummer, Crye and Harmon yes; Kelstrom and Long no).

A proclamation naming Oct. 7, 2026, Global War on Terrorism and Desert Storm Veterans Appreciation Day passed 5-0.

Long and Crye recorded no votes on C-2, a Planning Commission appointment, without pulling it.

C-4, a retroactive $800,000 increase to the Care Horizons II adult residential-care contract, bringing the maximum to $2,304,000, passed 5-0 after staff said annual spending was already about $716,000 to $747,000 on fee-for-service elderly placements and that rates had not changed.

An opioid-settlement request-for-proposals item of up to $1.5 million was continued to the first meeting in November, 4-1, so staff could finish year-end figures.

Closed session on a Public Works director appointment, labor negotiations, and existing litigation produced no reportable action.

The meeting adjourned after closed session.

To watch the meeting online: https://shastacountyca.new.swagit.com/videos/402568

Find the BOS agenda packet at: https://www.shastacounty.gov/board-supervisors/page/board-agendas-minutes-videos