I have read the June 6, 2025 Mendocino County Civil Grand Jury’s report, “Planning and Building Department Structural Issues: Exposing the Cracks.” The report reveals significant issues with the Class K permit process, and county staff now agree the permit is being misused, leading to a host of problems.

The report highlights, but between the lines in our realities, that wealthy residents and business owners benefit from lax regulations also while the general public suffers.

This regulatory failure has far-reaching consequences. From a safety perspective, unregulated structures pose a significant risk, particularly with wildfire danger. The report notes that these structures can also serve as hidden locations for criminal activities, such as those connected to the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women.

The misuse of the Class K permit is also tied to broader socioeconomic issues. The popularity of Additional Dwelling Units (ADUs) for profit, such as Airbnbs, has exacerbated the affordable housing crisis, as exemplified in Sonoma County. The report suggests that the Class K permit, while intended to help rural homeowners, largely benefited the "boomer" generation and has not adapted to the transparency and needs of a more diverse population of taxpayers.

The influence of the cannabis industry and the “back-to-the-land” movement had a history of honorable protest and autonomy, but it must also acknowledge the displacement of Native peoples. The report's findings, while addressing many of these dangers, are limited in focus on financial burdens, and I recommend more income generation and fully addressing the underlying issues of greed and systemic inequality.

There is a culture of favoritism, nepotism, and double standards within the code enforcement department, where a "badge holder" culture protects certain individuals and businesses from scrutiny. Some code enforcement staffers are ex-law enforcement, and there is a perception that equitable treatment is not applied to those outside this network. This culture of not holding people in power accountable is linked to a mindset of “this is how we have always done it,” a practice that hinders progress and modernization. I argue this is a regressive mindset and practice that must be eliminated.

Looking forward, the report calls for changes, including holding violators accountable for code violations and a re-evaluation of how business is conducted in the county. I suggest that the BOS investigate and address why improved living spaces and cost of living or housing are so expensive for residents.

Additionally, the report recommends increased training for staff and more accountability at all levels of leadership to ensure that codes are applied consistently and fairly. I believe that if the “old guard” is unwilling to change, they must be replaced. It is "backasswards" to not modernize effective procedures, operations, ordinances and enforcement. This view of “this is how we've always done things” models the lifestyle of 1970, the community values of 1950, and the geographical wishes of 1850. The way forward is not the old, the past, or the unchanged.

It is very easy for people to not do their job, or do a disservice to others, if their jobs are masked in the obscuring of certain codes. Our country is suffering from those who entitle themselves to be above the law by leaning on their position nameplates.

The legacy of exploiting and commodifying natural resources and the original caretakers of them needs to end, and this report exposes those unintentionally and intentionally abusing a loophole in written code just as United States treaties were not honored. When the “exceptions become the norm” (p. 7), substandard living becomes normalized, as was connected to the residual colonization of displacement of Natives, all in the name of capitalizing on property, this also creates the perfect “economic moonshining” stations for more underdevelopment in the hills, mountains and terrain and roads where people can lay waste and live unsafely, and unsoundly, “off the grid” .

The original wording of our U.S. Constitution, was “life, liberty, and the pursuit of property” (not happiness), and it was changed by Thomas Jefferson, to expand the concept of rights beyond mere property to encompass a broader pursuit of personal fulfillment and well-being, and although this is existential, it is also very real in terms of how we apply Lockian theory for a more just society.

There is something to be said for this county that relies so heavily on private contracts, and profiteers who rely on privatized economies. And I will say, we need to reevaluate how we all do business, and how we build business. Agreed, In the current age of regulation of the cannabis industry, facilities and structures need to be fully coded and transparent to facilitate this industry becoming integrated into improving tax revenue and economic expenditures to develop this county.

I do appreciate the Civil Grand Jury’s County Committee report that provides examples of the different properties, because these are what we see everyday as citizens, and should serve as a reflective mirror to our realities. I have a neighbor who rents out his house to a so-called mechanic, who has taken years to eventually get the 12 or so vehicles from their front yard, so I worry about tires and chemical waste. They have an above ground pool that is cessing and building a haven for mosquitos, and I have had to report to my township of pistol shots coming from a quarreling couple a mere 25 feet from my kitchen while I was feeding my child of 2 years old. So, this “wild wild west” I know is connected to many issues of attainable wealth, mental health, and many other types of health.

Improving our transparency and support of more equitable living and business spaces, will improve our lives, and ideally, bring in money to improve our services and those buildings they require to improve our community. We need not become a county or city that continues to be tied up in litigation and controversy. The wilderness is not ours to tame, save for those who take it and balance its needs with our own.

This “wild west” mentality, with its lack of transparency and enforcement, has led to substandard living conditions, environmental degradation, and a decline in public trust. By prioritizing accountability, modernization, and equitable application of the law, the county can improve public safety, increase tax revenue, and build a more just and prosperous community for all residents. This requires a shift from a system that protects the interests of a few to one that serves the welfare of the many.

I am here to make sure the latest Grand Jury report, Planning and Building Services, Exposing the Cracks, is on everyone’s radar. What is exposed in this report is not surprising to anyone who has had to work with PBS lately. The extent of the report, and the obvious attention to detail, is evidence that this report needs to be taken seriously. We must all work together to make sure that not only the issues outlined in the report are addressed, but that the way PBS conducts business is fixed immediately.

There are several points that illicit the reaction “what is heck is going on?”, but the most fundamental issue is that this department is operating without Policies and Procedures in place. It is Supervision 101, basic fundamental leadership, that when you have multiple staff performing the same or related duties, especially when applying rules, regulations, and laws to customers, that comprehensive P&Ps are mandatory to ensure all staff are interpreting and applying the rules consistently to every customer. Without P&Ps you end up with the chaos as outlined in this report. It is the first and most important responsibility of any competent supervisor/manager to provide complete P&Ps for your staff. Anything less is gross incompetence.

I appreciate that the Grand Jury addressed their Recommendations to you directly. This acknowledges the chain of command and emphasizes that the responsibility ultimately rests with you, the Board of Supervisors, to not only do whatever is needed to fix PBS, but to set expectations of every department head and manager within the county. Everyone is watching to see if you have what it takes to make public safety the number one priority in how the county conducts business.

While these recommendations may feel huge and daunting, any competent manager can see what needs to be done. The immediate first step is quite simple. Public Resource Code 4290, Fire Safe Regulations, has been on the books for 35 years; the Rural Density Dwelling Ordinance has been on the books since 1981, with the current version since 2023. These laws aren’t new. Your first course of action needs to be a clear directive to PBS that they MUST adhere to the letter of these laws effective immediately. No waiver, no discretion, no forgiveness. And you must hold all staff accountable and level severe consequences if they don’t comply. Public safety depends on it.

PGE, under the premise of saving money, knowingly and willingly chose to operate outside the letter of the law when it came to power line maintenance. This decision was the cause of the 2017 Redwood Complex Wildfire. What is happening in PBS is no different than this decision. And the resulting threat to public safety is very real. As someone who barely escaped the terror of this event, losing everything I owned, I demand you, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, take immediate action and give clear direction to PBS to adhere to all state laws and county ordinances, effective immediately.