The upcoming off-year election is kicking up a bit of dust in McKinleyville, that unincorporated burg of 15,000 where horses, its motto proclaims, have the right of way. Four people are trying to squeeze into three seats on the McKinleyville Community Services District — three incumbents and one retired professor who hope to have a chair when the music stops on Nov. 5.
Candidates say the district is facing several issues: a lack of community interest, the board’s thorny attitude, marijuana growers and the long-debated direction of McKinleyville’s growth.
Up for re-election are Dennis Mayo, a rancher and the current board president; Bill Wennerholm, a chiropractor who has served on the board for 12 years; and David Couch, a wastewater operator elected in 2009. Running for the first time is George Wheeler, a retired Humboldt State computer information sciences professor.
Since McKinleyville has no city government, the services district offers some of the only local control. It delivers water and sewer services to McKinleyville homes and businesses, maintains parks and streetlights, and offers some library services. Other community services, like planning and law enforcement, are handled by the county. Whether the district should expand its powers (it could, with funding) or if the community should become a city have been talking points for years.
Put simply: More services require more money. And more money requires residents’ approval of a funding plan — increased property taxes, bond measures or sales taxes.
Candidates differ on whether the district’s services should expand — but they all believe that McKinleyville’s voters aren’t keen on raising the costs of living there, even if it meant additional services.
Wheeler, who’s running for public office for the first time, wants the services district to build a solar farm to cover the its energy costs and, in the long-term, sell electricity. “Then we’d be arguing over what to do with the money instead of whether to raise rates again,” he said.
Wennerholm, who’s been a services director longer than any other board member, said the district has already evaluated — and rejected — the idea of using solar power because the project didn’t make financial sense. “If you’re going to promise something, at least understand what the board has the ability to deal with,” he said.
Wheeler likes the idea of having sheriff’s deputies dedicated to patrolling McKinleyville — which he said could be done for $1.50 a month charged to each McKinleyville home. Give that money to the county, get a couple of cops in exchange. Wheeler hopes the idea will resonate with older voters.
But Dennis Mayo said that was a rosy figure. “That much money is only providing the deputies — not the cars or the training or the equipment or the dispatchers or the workman’s comp.”
Wennerholm said it would change the policing dynamic of the community as well, possibly leading to less law enforcement response when the dedicated deputies were off duty.
“People sit and they figure on their little pads,” he said. “The reality is, it’s 24 hours a day. It’s a lot of overhead and infrastructure which we’re not set up for.”
Meanwhile, eyes in McKinleyville are focusing on a new electricity-usage tax in neighboring Arcata, which targets indoor marijuana growers. People in McKinleyville — and other cities and suburbs around the county — fear that the higher costs of growing in Arcata will lead to an exodus, and growers will swarm in elsewhere.
So what can be done? Not much, agreed the candidates. It’s up to the county to implement a similar tax in hopes of discouraging growers, who are already a problem for the services district. “McKinleyville probably has more indoor growers than Arcata does,” Wennerholm said.
The district has the power to deal with industrial sites that can overburden wastewater treatment, but no similar recourse for household growers whose nutrients and chemicals can inundate McKinleyville’s wastewater plant.
Then there’s the future of McKinleyville’s development.
The relationship with county planners has been somewhat strained since the county earmarked some McKinleyville land for affordable housing. “That was really universally unpopular in McKinleyville,” Couch said, but he’s ambivalent about the services district spending the money to create its own planning department. Mayo said the district already plays a role in development. “We can be and are a major part of planning, in that we provide the essential services.”
Wheeler took no stand on the financial part of the planning issue, but added that “people in McKinleyville should have the final word on what’s built in McKinleyville.”
The services district has somewhat of a prickly reputation. During his 2009 campaign, Couch told the Journal that the board was “rude to people.”
That’s being brought up again this year by Wheeler, the non-incumbent. When he came to the board several years ago with concerns about herbicides being used on a nearby lot, Wheeler said, he was met with a difficult and “draconian” process to get his concerns taken up by the board.
With that issue resolved, he wants to attract people to meetings by making them more fun — or at least more accommodating. Even the physical layout of the meetings — the staff with its back to the public, a podium blocking view of the directors — excludes the public, Wheeler said.
“It’s not laid at the feet of any specific board member,” he said, it’s just an attitude of the board he’d like to see change. “Open up this circle-the-wagons thing that’s going on.”
But Wennerholm said community members aren’t attending board meetings because they’re happy with the way things are going. “When there’s not a squeaky wheel nobody’s looking at it.”
Several recent issues — water fluoridation and a community skate park — have brought the public to district meetings in decent numbers, but attendance typically hovers around two people.
With more projects on the horizon, including a $10 million wastewater treatment plant and creation of a riverside park off North Bank Road, Couch and Wheeler said they’d like to see more participation. •
This article appears in Ruins.
Wheeler was behind a petition to stop the farmer who leases the Fischer Ranch land from spraying one of the most common herbicides used: 2,4-D. It was all based on some irrational fear of it being like Agent Orange.
The last thing we need is more anti-science, alarmist activists turned politicians. McKinleyville doesn’t want alarmism. McKinleyville is a fluoridating our water and vaccinating our children for whooping cough town; it is not an Arcata clone.
24D is an herbicide legal to purchase in California if one has a ‘restricted use’ license. This particular applicator did not have one and bought it in Oregon. It was not applied according to label instructions/cautions. Too close to residences (who breathed it in their living rooms), and too close to river (with listed fish). Was the Board or the public noticed? No. Was there anything regarding the use of herbicides in the lease? No. Is it fair to say that there should be some public notice, some process to make sure the applicator is in compliance with laws and regulations? Yes. Is 24D half of the ingredients that comprised Agent Orange? Yes.
The Fischer Ranch is a reclamation site. A place that receives treated, nitrogen rich waste water before it drains into the river. Does applying an herbicide to a reclamation site make sense? The lessee has a modest lease fee, coupled with nitrogen rich irrigation and resulting high productivity. There’s a market advantage.
All Mr. Wheeler was looking for was an acknowledgement that there should be a process of MCSD staff review and public notice before something like that happens again. I think that’s sensible. Do you personally want to breathe in some 24D, awww common, it’s so commonly used…must be safe… right?
We could simply go to http://the-folks-in-the-folding-chairs.org/wordpress1/why-the-mcsd-board/ and read for ourselves what is being asked of the District by many of our local citizens, including me.
Keep development to single story houses. No more quadroplex double-ups looming over the horizon and destroying the privacy of existing households. Better yet, turn vacant lots into something better. Plant trees and open dog parks? The less new infrastructure to save as much open space, the better. It keep the population stable, etc. The police seem to be doing a great job crime wise, but as the population has been increasing, the garbage is getting pretty bad, especially the larger dumps. A comment above is inaccurate, just about everybody I’ve spoken with regarding water fluoridation is against it. Fluoride is poison. Do not force poison onto us. If dental care is the concern, use a fraction of the money that would be spent on fluoride to give everybody free toothbrushes and toothpaste. Educate, don’t mandate.
In our home, we have filters to take out almost anything we might find in our water supply. As for open space and growth … they can co exist if we allow higher population densities in some areas … other areas can remain for parks. For example, in my neighborhood, if every home sat on a 1/2 acre … Hiller Park would not exist; it would be a sea of single family dwellings. Some people like living in town, they like knowing the folks in their building, like walking to services, like not needing a car to go to the pharmacy or the grocery store. Tree lined streets are nice too. Not mowing a lawn appeals to many of us, especially when we get into our 70’s and 80’s. Personally, having been ranch raised and living for many years in a variety of environments, I am happy pretty much anywhere I find myself. No such thing as one size fits all.
It’s not about “one size fits all” that’s the developer’s canard that we hear over and over parroted by the Eureka city council and the supervisors.
It’s about developer’s perceived “right” to harvest the public’s infrastructure beyond capacity for the most profitable (big) homes, while affordable infill housing languishes. Their “rights” to the public’s infrastructure should have ended long ago where others rights to affordable housing began.
Your water filter will not remove Fluoride unless it is “reverse osmosis” that few in McK can afford. You’ll have to go to Arcata to buy one.
Reclamation sites appropriately use 2,4-D and other herbicides frequently; it is part of the process. I am not reading any better idea for controlling weeds, just alarm bells about herbicides.
If this is merely a licensing issue, why all the fuss?
Ian, the ‘fuss’ began over a non-compliant application that occurred without any oversight. The product used (Weedar64 broadleaf herbicide) is a restricted use, regulated herbicide in the state of California. There are regulatory processes in place to make sure these poisons are handled responsibly…this involves licensing for use with the state, notice and review of the proposed application to the County, and there SHOULD be something in regards to use and approval by MCSD since it is on MCSD lands…there currently isn’t. The subject application drifted into homes, which is how it was ‘publicly noticed’. Pets, and sometimes people, frequently wander into this area. There is a 48 hour restricted re-entry period for applied areas because it is dangerous with toxic side effects to humans…would a cat or dog know this? Or the children that pet them when they return home? If it weren’t publicly posted or otherwise noticed? The locals were offended. Mr. Wheeler stood up for them as he shared their view. MCSD manages places that are well visited by pets and children, the most vulnerable to toxic exposures. Again, having a District-wide process to address pest management is the only responsible approach for the benefit and liability protection of everyone. There are often many tools in the tool box to address any given ‘pest’, an integrated management approach includes all of them. The District needs an IPM policy so that the public has something to refer to, and knows that their concerns will be addressed.
It is true that the concentration of packaged 2,4-D in question would require a QAL in California. This one-page document states the concentration restrictions:
http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/enforce/pr-enf-013a.pdf
I would agree that the law should be followed, but not that herbicide use needs to be curtailed on properties where the MCSD has oversight or that the MCSD should be responsible for IPM considerations of people leasing publicly-owned land.
Regarding the side issues are brought into this, I wouldn’t think the MCSD should be responsible for any of that. If people are letting their dogs loose in fenced fields, that is more of a dog owner problem than a forage production on reclaimed land problem.
I still feel there is no need to raise the spectre of toxicity with a relatively safe product like 2,4-D. I would oppose the MCSD drawing their own conclusions about product safety as this is not their function. If all we are talking about is ensuring that people take a test and pay $50 before spraying, that is fine and all, but that doesn’t seem to be the driving force behind the discussion.
While we are not hay farmers, we do understand maximizing profit. Those who might wish to treat the Fischer Ranch with herbicides do not assume the risks associated with maximizing profit; they do not live here. We do.
There is no such thing as a safe poison. When using poisons, risks are weighed against benefits. In this case, the benefits accrue to the farmers, while the risks are assumed by the community. Thus, we have conflict.
If the Fischer Ranch were East of Nowhere, few would know or care what happened to the weeds, but this property is in the middle of a residential neighborhood, bordered by bike paths on two sides, a hiking trail on the other, day care, store, an anadromous fish bearing river, and more than one Agent Orange Vet. Perhaps not the best place to be applying weed killers on a large scale?
If the request to spray were couched in terms of “making a competitive product”, our Fischer Ranch offers several advantages: The lease for the land is minimal. Irrigation and fertilizer is provided for free. Plenty of acreage, free water, and free fertilizer would seem to be a major advantage in the market place.
Many farmers believe they MUST till, but there is another way. The search term we used: “Seed Drills.” These can be rented or purchased. Seed drills have been used for centuries. They boast precise application depth and the ability to uniquely feed the seed, thus tremendously increasing yields. Plus, the huge advantage of not tilling and bringing weed seeds to the surface.
We live here. There must be a better way to farm the Ranch than to expose all of us to the risks associated with commercial, large scale applications of poison. We have asked for all alternatives to be investigated before putting ourselves, the environment, and our children… across the fence. Herbicides do not respect fence lines.
There are safe levels of poisons.
Fischer Ranch is irrigated with ammonia-rich effluent. Ammonia is a poison. Is this a safe level of poison?
It was pointed out to me that Arcata fluoridates drinking water. I apologize to Arcatans for maligning their city by stating otherwise.
what a roll we are on… Well, some say you can’t have ‘safe’ and ‘poison’ juxtaposed next to each other as it’s an oxymoron. Anything can be a poison, as the dose makes the poison. Salt, water, alcohol, caffeine, can all cause disturbances and chemical reactions in living organisms. Wikipedia defines poison as such “In the context of biology, poisons are substances that cause disturbances to organisms,[1] usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism.”…”Poisons are most often applied in industry, agriculture and other uses for other reasons than their toxicity. Pesticides are one application where they are indeed used for their toxicity.” So, technically, by this definition, yeah, nitrogen rich water – ammonia rich, is indeed a poison. That’s why there are no trespassing signs along the fence line. ‘Twer it in a water supply, it could cause issues with oxygen absorption in infants under 6 months of age (no worries of that here) – and of course, plants love it and it boosts growth, yahoo. Although nitrogen rich runoff in aquatic systems can lead to algae blooms and low oxygen, not so great. Anyway, back to the original offense…if so many requirements were not met during the application, there is little confidence that dosing calculations were accurate either. Often less product is more effective with herbicides…it depends of the mode of action and product. The valuable lesson that came out of it all is that there is a ‘right to know’ what and why something is proposed to be applied; and there should be a process, in writing, so the integrity of that process will not be lost as leadership changes. Thanks Ian, I think I’m wrapping up my comments on this one. Stay involved and thanks for the discussion.
As I understand it, improper mixing and handling is the reason for requiring a applicator license to use higher concentration 2,4-D. I’m not surprised people from out of state are ignorant of California’s specific concentration regulations. That doesn’t make 2,4-D more dangerous in California, it just means there is some paperwork involved.
People only feel like they have a right to know how weeds are managed on the Fischer Ranch property because it is controlled publicly. Otherwise, it would basically none of their business. Incidental DCP smell would be part of living in a rural area and that would be that on private property. Personally, I would rather have someone doing something with the field than have it become a yellow starthistle and lupine breeding ground (maybe that is my own paranoia).
The wastewater upgrade should fix the algal blooms. Last year, when the rains came and the irrigation changed to irrigating the river, there was a sickly amount of algae. I am hoping upgrading Hiller Park fixes that. That said, considering how stretched the MCSD is with the whole Hiller Park wastewater upgrade, I don’t really feel like the MCSD should be making time to hear some chemo-suspicious neighbors trying to tell a farmer what a seed drill is and how dangerous they think 2,4-D is. How to farm is really not a public issue and it reeks of naïve people thinking they know more than the folks who do what they do professionally. I would actually applaud the current board members for making it seem like such a hassle to be heard on an issue like this. They have my vote for keeping the process focused on things the MCSD has the ability and authority to effectively manage.
Well, I guess Ian, I am glad your are not representing me. I manage public lands for invasive weeds and am a certified pesticide use applicator – it’s not a matter of subjective opinion – the public has a right to know what is done on public land. Period. There is no yellow star thistle or lupine issue out there. I’ve done a botanical inventory of the piece and am still in a quandary as to the exact species that they are treating for. Perhaps a till would flush a bunch of bull thistle seed up? That can be handled in other ways. I personally would not stand for living in an agricultural area where incidental breathing of 24d off-vapors is a norm. If 160 residents are upset about it; it’s MCSD’s job to listen. They work for the rate payers. Who works for who? I love that the field is farmed. That’s not the point. MCSD shined on public comment, not until after a year of meeting attendance and petition of 160 people who disagree with you, did they listen and put it on their agenda. It’s rude to exclude the dialogue from something the public is concerned about. A big part of being a representative is ‘being a representative’. Objectively.
I can’t speak to what the till was about. It looked like gypsum was being applied. This wouldn’t surprise me as Tim Gomes had cows on the land for years before the Water Board and by extension EPA ran him off the property, so the sodium levels could have been higher than ideal from previous use.
I would beg to differ on DCP smell as a result of living near agricultural land. Everywhere I have lived near production land has had some incidental odor. At the very least, DCP is obvious. Fumigants aren’t so obvious. When cows were on the land, it sometimes smelled like hydrogen sulfide like Windy Acres in Arcata does (although Windy Acres is far stinkier).
If you are going to pull the appeal to authority card, what in your professional opinion makes 2,4-D something to worry about other than odor or licensing? That is, does your view contrast to what the EPA says about 2,4-D?
http://www.kernred.com/kern-agcomm/products/WEEDAR-64%20BROADLEAF%20HERBICIDE.pdf
and
http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld08K012.pdf
Attached are the MSDS and product label. We seem to agree that legal requirements should be met. Label instructions and cautions should be followed. There are risks associated with this product; feel free to read, and feel free to disagree – anyone reading this blog can decide for themselves. This is not an effort to sabotage farming/commerical production. The public has a right to be informed, in advance. Sound integrated management is the right way to go.
Finally, since you referred to EPA, here’s the scoop from the EPA.
http://www.epa.gov/teach/chem_summ/24D_summary.pdf
The MSDS for Weedar 64 you linked to lists respiratory protection as “not normally required.” I assume this is because it has low volatility (Weedar is marketed as a non-volatile preparation). If respiratory protection is not required for the person spraying it, why would it cause problems for people outside of the application area?
If all that is being asked for are notification signs and the law to be followed, I would absolutely agree with that. What seems to be asked is the MCSD be made responsible for regulating pest management. I hardly see how the MCSD should be or could be responsible for pest management; this point should be clarified.
The people I have talked to seemed to think Agent Orange was being sprayed. I would still consider this drumming up irrational fears for what was really a government paperwork issue. The original call to arms for fear of poisons is why I would consider this issue to be a result of activism.
“Do not apply this product in a way that will contact workers or other
persons, either directly or through drift. Only protected handlers may be in the area during application.” Label. Again, the vapors were in their homes, maybe not your home, but people we know. It’s hard to imagine you wouldn’t want to err on the side of caution. Mr. Wheeler is an Agent Orange vet. He is forever changed by his exposure to it. Thus, his passionate involvement in the matter. He never meant to imply that it WAS Agent Orange being applied. Geesh. The district having an integrated management plan would be a useful tool that would serve to notice the public, protect MCSD, and its lessees. It’s a smart move. The school districts have them, and share them in their annual public notice to families. MCSD needs to get up to speed with all the other publicly run land management organizations. I’m proud of George. He’s see something that can be improved, and he’s putting in his personal time and energy to benefit our community’s health and safety, and energy efficiency. I hope you reconsider your earlier position, and come aboard.
I support appropriate licensing and I strongly support McKinleyville’s journey toward having a decent wastewater system. I am told there was more than ag odors in this town before it had a reasonable wastewater system.
I don’t support spending time and money on integrated pest management plans to placate a few worried people. I would understand full disclosure for a turf at a school. I don’t think the same level of oversight applies to a fenced pasture irrigated with wastewater.
It is unfortunate that the person who sprayed 2,4-D didn’t know California has additional restrictions. I don’t think they were negligent beyond the state licensing issue. There is no evidence of any drift occurring aside from the subjective odor testimony. It would seem to me the herbicide was sprayed appropriately, so no harm, no foul. To assume the worst and call for unnecessary red tape is not caution from my perspective.
I’m sticking to my first impression: this kind of stuff belongs in Arcata. It was nice to read more of the story, thank you.
http://deltafarmpress.com/24-d-herbicide-d…
Herbicide drift destoys neighbors cotton crop.
Granted no one is growing cotton in Mckinleyville,
but we can do better than 2,4-D.
“One of the disturbing things is my crop isn’t growing out of (the damage). It still looks awful. And we’re more than two weeks out from when we found it right after July 4. We were told the spraying was done over 25 days ago — probably closer to 30 days. Thinking about it turns your stomach.”