When the Blue Lake City Council voted in a May 13 closed session to ratify a severance agreement with its longtime City Manager Amanda “Mandy” Mager, it violated California government transparency laws for the second time in a week. The council met that day with two items on the closed session agenda — the possible […]
Brown Act
Posted inNews
Blue Lake Council Appears to Have Violated State Open Meeting Laws When Parting with City Manager
After some 42 hours of rampant speculation spread through Blue Lake that long-time City Manager Amanda “Mandy” Mager had been fired by the city council during a closed session performance review May 6, Finance Manager Dani Burkhart sent an official, 72-word statement from the city at 12:15 p.m. on May 8. “City Manager Amanda ‘Mandy’ […]
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Fair Board Violates Brown Act in Deciding Fair Dates
The Humboldt County Fair Association violated California’s open meeting laws when deciding to advance a seven-day fair calendar during closed session Feb. 18. The amended fair dates — which will see the fair start Aug. 16 and close Aug. 24 — were formally approved by the board at its regularly scheduled Feb. 24 meeting after […]
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Public Meetings When the COVID State of Emergency Ends
California’s Brown Act requires that when decisions are being made, public agencies’ meetings must be open to the public. The traditional method of meeting this requirement was to have boards or councils meet in one physical location, which was posted in advance on agendas made available to the public. Members of the public had to […]
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State, Fair Association, County in Standoff Over Sunshine Laws
Some nine months after the Humboldt County Fair Association and the county of Humboldt entered into an eight-year lease agreement for the association to operate the county-owned Humboldt County Fairgrounds in Ferndale, the lease still hasn’t been ratified by the state, the last step toward making it official. The county, HCFA and California Department of […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
County of Humboldt, Please End the Madness in Ferndale
In a few weeks, the fairgrounds in Ferndale will be awash with the smell of fry oil and children’s gleeful screams as the 122nd annual Humboldt County Fair gets underway. Meanwhile, the Humboldt County Fair Association — the nonprofit that runs the fair — and the county of Humboldt have been meeting behind closed doors […]
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‘Long Overdue’
In late 2013, Eureka City Councilmember Lance Madsen was dying, in the last stages of his battle with lung disease. But the former police detective was also pressing to close one last case — to get his fellow councilmembers the information he believed they needed to fire City Attorney Cyndy Day-Wilson. In an investigative report […]
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Board of Supervisors Prepares for Auditor Controller Do-Over, Public Defender Appointment
UPDATE: On April 24 the board voted unanimously to appoint Dillingham to the postion. Previously: The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will consider Tuesday appointing Cheryl Dillingham as interim auditor-controller. Again. The board voted unanimously at its April 3 meeting to appoint Dillingham to the post. But the item on the board’s agenda that day […]
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Power Struggles, Security Breaches, a Sexual Harassment Complaint and a Brown Act Violation Rock the Auditor-Controller's Office
Although it’s elected, the position of county auditor-controller is rarely the stuff of headlines. But the county’s top fiscal job, which involves financial oversight of county agencies, budgeting and disbursement of county funds, has recently garnered some controversy, thanks in part to Assistant Auditor Karen Paz Dominguez, who first stepped into the spotlight at a […]
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After Bitter Debate, Eureka Declares Shelter Crisis
Public comment was brief, compared to previous meetings on the subject of homelessness. Only around 30 citizens came up to the podium to address the city council about the proposed declaration of a citywide shelter crisis. The declaration, originally proposed by Councilmember Linda Atkins, was reworked by city staff before being put before the council […]
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From the Publisher: Poking a Hornet’s Nest
Editor’s Note: The following is a column by Journal Publisher Judy Hodgson that will appear in this week’s print edition, which hits streets tomorrow. Don’t miss Marcy Burstiner’s “Media Maven” column in this week’s print edition. Real and potential Brown Act violations are popping up with such frequency now, it’s like a game of Whack-A-Mole. Did […]