Good afternoon Supervisor Norvell,

I was out of town for most of June and so wasn't able to attend both regular meetings of the Board and the June 25 General Government Committee in person. I was able to listen in via Zoom, but have been re-listening to those meetings just to reinforce the information shared. A couple of things caught my attention....

At the General Government Committee Meeting, during the PBS/MCD presentation, you asked Director Krog about enforcement of the limitation of only 10 customers per day [time stamp 36:12]. Director Krog's response was that she was unaware of any complaints received of any microbusiness/cottage industry, but if one was received they would definitely investigate and address it.

This appeared to be an adequate and appropriate response, until you listen to the Code Enforcement Manager Gretchen McLaughlin's presentation given the previous day during item 4a of the regular Board Meeting. In this presentation, in her explanation of how they handle complaints, she reminds the Board of the five priorities that were set for Code Enforcement by the Board of Supervisors [time stamp 55:15]. She states that all other complaints fall under "Category 6", which they handle as time and resources allow. Further in her presentation she states that they are actually still operating under direction given to them in a memo from 2020 by then Director Brent Schultz, to apply only the first three of these priorities (Life Safety, Environmental Degradation, Non-Permitted Construction) to all complaints. [Time stamp 1:00.10]

Taking Gretchen's explanation of process to the Board on June 24 and applying it to your question posed on June 25, no complaint regarding more than 10 customers, or any other nuisance violation for that matter, of a microbusiness/cottage industry, would ever be investigated.

Just another example of the smoke and mirrors PBS is so good at. Director Krog has shown that she knows the rules and knows how they should be applied, but the reality of how PBS and it's divisions are actually operating under her direction is indicative of the chaos created when there is a clear lack of leadership..

One other thing that came to mind when I was listening to all of this... Gretchen states in her presentation that the directive from the Board to Code Enforcement regarding the five priorities was given on 12/19/2023, yet, per Gretchen, they are still operating under direction given by a previous director in 2020. The perception is they are ignoring your directive for a memo issued by a director who hasn't been in position for several years. Wouldn't a competent director have issued an updated memo in December 2023 to reflect the direction of the Board? Wouldn't a competent manager have asked for this update?

As a cultivator, I support the move to align the microbusiness cannabis facilities with State regulations. The State's Microbusiness structure is what would allow small farmers to continue to be able to survive in the struggling marketplace, a structure that is currently limited by the County's restrictions. Please make a recommendation to staff to draft potential ordinance amendments related to aligning the county's Microbusiness Cannabis Facilities with State Regulations. Thank you.