Dryden Says No to Funding for State Mandated Program

DOWNIEVILLE — The principal issue discussed at Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Supervisors was an agreement between an organization representing the state of California and Sierra County Behavioral Health. The agreement would distribute $631,580 to the department over four years for the setup costs of a newly mandated Mobile Crisis Unit. This dedicated vehicle would respond to mental health crises in the county. The Mobile Crisis Services program also requires a licensed clinician to manage the unit at all times and would certainly involve an increase in Behavioral Health staff and budget.

Despite Behavioral Health Director Sheryll Prinz-McMillan’s efforts to use the funding on vehicles and administration costs that could be multi-purposed across other departments and fields, the supervisors struggled with the program in general, which they view to be entirely unrealistic to implement in Sierra County. 24/7 coverage would need to be financially supported for a service that would be very lightly taken advantage of, and the program has almost no mechanism to reimburse Behavioral Health for operating expenses.

Prinz-McMillan described language in the mandate guaranteeing reimbursement for Mobile Crisis Unit calls only through Medi-Cal insurance, while no mechanism currently exists for reimbursement by private insurance companies. According to Prinz-McMillan, the state is negotiating with companies to provide a reimbursement mechanism. Still, even if successful, insurance reimbursements alone rarely cover a significant percentage of operating costs for any medical service in Sierra County (an issue made evident in recent discussions on the funding of EMS in Downieville and Sierra City with Measures A & B).

The recent passage of Proposition 1 in California will also redistribute a large percentage of Behavioral Health’s budget to “housing,” which will have unclear effects in Sierra County but will undoubtedly decrease the funding pool for mobile crisis services. Supervisor Adams expressed his opinion that the state is making “way too many changes too fast,” citing Oregon’s recent re-criminalization of some drug laws as an example of a state not knowing the impact of a mandate before prescribing it.

Supervisor Dryden was the most vocal critic of the mandate and proposed agreement, having significant issues with the Medi-Cal reimbursement structure and the increase in the county budget for a service that would be used with great infrequency. Dryden also expressed the belief that taking this money would form a commitment by the county to follow through on implementing the program, which she fervently opposes.

Despite agreeing, for the most part, with Dryden, the rest of the board viewed the setup funding as a hill not worthy of dying on by refusing. Supervisor Roen sees the actual implementation of the program as a separate battle that may need to be fought in the near future, and Supervisor Adams worries that rejecting the money would jeopardize state money used by other departments and programs.

Ultimately, the board voted in favor of accepting the agreement, with the sole exception of Supervisor Dryden. The discussion made clear, however, that further pushback may be in the board’s future once the mobile crisis services are required to be implemented in June. The money will be used to purchase, among other things, one SUV ($60,000), one emergency radio system ($5,000), four uplift desks ($2,700 each), four filing cabinets ($1,200 each), five Starlink packages ($2,500 each), and many maintenance, subscription, and training items. Prinz-McMillan presented the vehicle and Starlink packages as items that could be shared between departments.

Short-Term Rental Ordinance to be Revised

Sierra County’s short-term rental ordinance (#1117) has dramatically impacted rentals in the county and continues to be supported by board and planning department members. Since its introduction in 2022, however, issues with the requirements and application process have been discovered. Planning Director Brandon Pangman and Department Specialist Monica Beachell gave a presentation covering the progress of implementing the ordinance and what areas in the process might be improved.

The first area of concern was the cost of processing applications, which far exceeds the fee for submitting one. The planning department estimates the cost in man-hours of application processing to be $748.09 in an ideal case, with an application fee of $345.50. The cost is exacerbated by confusing ordinance rules, which the planning department often has to walk applicants through.

One confusing rule mentioned required two separate hose bibs on the exterior of the house and a single 100-foot hose. Unclear language led applicants to wonder if a simple Y-splitter would satisfy the requirement, considering most homes in the region aren’t designed with separately plumbed bibs for anti-freezing purposes. The planning department has approved applications with one hose bib and a hose long enough to cover the house’s entire exterior, meeting the ordinance’s “intent.”

The ordinance also required a 20-lb fire extinguisher in the home along with two 5-lb extinguishers, which board members suggested might be challenging for a person to use in the event of an emergency and might be reasonably replaced with a requirement for more extinguishers of the lighter weight.

The board directed the Planning Department to make the revisions it believes are reasonable and return to the board with an updated ordinance. Before a revision goes into effect, multiple public comment periods must be held, so more detailed information is expected shortly. The revision is likely to include increases in application fees and fines for non-compliant rentals, as well as a general cleaning up of regulations to make the application process more straightforward.

Hiccup in Community Hall Remodel

Last week, the Downieville Community Hall project had a slight hiccup when someone cleaning the interior pulled out an important box containing fiber-optic internet connections. The box was linked with the auditor’s office across the street, so that office’s internet connection went down for nearly a week, forcing a relocation into the courthouse. A temporary repair has been made, and the auditor’s office has returned to its original location on Main Street.

According to Director of Transportation Bryan Davey, the remodel project is still on schedule to be completed in July, to hopefully be open before the busy event season.

County Seeks Congressional Funding for Sierraville School

Bids for the renovation of the Sierraville School were rejected at the last board meeting due to bids being more than double the county’s budget. However, after it became clear in the following weeks that an application made to Congressman Kevin Kiley’s office seeking funding for the Gold Lake Highway Rehabilitation Project would not be accepted due to that project not meeting certain criteria, the planning department decided to modify that application to reference the Sierraville School instead. If the application goes through, the county will attempt to accept the previously rejected lowest bid of $1,010,000 to complete the project in its entirety.

Calpine Community Hall Floor Leveling Project

A contract has been approved for Bruce E. Boyd Architects & Planners to develop plans to address lingering settling, cracking, and floor issues in the Calpine Community Hall. The plans may also include a second ADA-compliant bathroom. Drafting these plans will cost the county up to $35,000.