Agenda Item
Effective March 20, 2020, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meetings will be conducted virtually and not available for in person public participation (pursuant to State Executive Order N-29-20). Meetings are live streamed and available for viewing online on the Mendocino County YouTube page, at https://www.youtube.com/MendocinoCountyVideo or by toll-free, telephonic live stream at 888-544-8306.
The public may participate digitally in meetings in lieu of personal attendance. Comment may be made in any of the following ways: via written comment to bos@mendocinocounty.org, through our online eComment platform at https://mendocino.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx, through voicemail messaging by calling 707-234-6333, or by telephone via telecomment. For details and a complete list of the latest available options by which to engage with agenda items, please visit:
https://www.mendocinocounty.org/government/board-of-supervisors/public-engagement
This comment also relates to Item 3b: Equitable & Inclusive input for spending ARPA (Mendocino County’s nearly $17 million). From 8/21 CEO Report we know only of categories and remaining funds.
These funds are a one time opportunity (in addition to upcoming Infrastructure funds) for prioritizing and responding to community needs. The process needs community input and transparency.
To start, a page on the county website (in English & Spanish) could include the following: strategic plan(s), categories for funding, remaining funds with a month to month accounting, RFPS/LOI with deadlines, decision makers’ contact info, proposals received and committed, description of community input process with dates, community feedback about process and decisions, and a recording of community feedback on impact on funded projects.
Although the page is a place for documentation, extensive outreach is essential to obtain input from community members, CBOs, and small businesses. Extensive means intentional engagement with harder to reach residents with advanced notifications, facilitation through community leaders, access in multiple mediums (no-,low-, and high tech options - not just social media or internet based), in culturally mediated and interpreted/translated language.
The diversity of community members reached can be a benchmark for the relevance of strategic direction and priorities of the county. This engagement should be considered a requirement according to the Treasury's urging of governments “to engage their constituents and communities in developing plans to use these payments, given the scale of funding and its potential to catalyze broader economic recovery and rebuilding”.
Will the County have transparent, inclusive, and diverse representative input and equitable allocation of this once in a generation opportunity to respond to community needs?