Trinity County Contracts with Joanna Francsecut

Inseparable Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm consisting only of the owner, Joanna Francescut, has been contracted by Trinity County to assist in the Trinity County Registrar of Voters (ROV) office from September 16, 2025, to July 31,2026. Inseparable Solutions was filed with the state on 7/30/2025.

Trinity County’s current Clerk/Recorder/Assessor/Registrar of Voters, Shanna White, is retiring at the end of this year, thereby not completing her term of office which ends at the end of 2026. This is an elected office so her term would not be filled until after the November 2026 election.

The county is in the process of running recruitment for that position for the final year of Ms. White’s term. The position in Trinity County is responsible for a broader range of duties than the Shasta County ROV position, encompassing Assessor, County Clerk and Recorder duties and requires a bachelor’s degree or equivalent.  Trinity County’s population of approximately 15,454 is much smaller than Shasta County’s which is approximately 179,224.

The contract with Ms. Francescut is separate from the search for the ROV’s replacement. Francescut would provide transitional planning and elections administration support for 10 months. For a list of services that may be included you can go to the Staff Report, page 58 in the Agenda Packet at https://trinitycoca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/731/files/agenda/2834  

The question of hiring Inseparable Solutions was put before the Board on September 16^th on the Consent Agenda whose items are supposed to be non-controversial. Three members of the community requested that the item be pulled from consent because they had questions regarding the firing of Joanna Francescut from Shasta County. Supervisor Julia Brownfield pulled the item from consent on behalf of those citizens and because she had concerns regarding the short length of time the LLC had been in existence—6 months—and wanted time to do more research as the $50,000 contract was a lot of money going out. In an interview she said, “Our vote is the most important thing we do and we must get it right."

County Counsel, Margaret Long, who is the wife of Shasta County District 2 Supervisor, Alan Long, explained that Joanna’s position as assistant ROV was an “at will” position and no reason was needed to fire her. A new ROV has the right to hire who they want for the position as their assistant.

Joanna signed a Standard Form Personal Services contract with Trinity County, apparently on September 16^th, the day the Board voted her in, since that is the day her contract began.

On October 10^th the Board met in a special meeting to interview five people they had chosen from a pool of applicants to be appointed to the ROV position commencing January 1, 2026. He/she will come before the board after references are verified, and the background check is clear.