They weren't ok before the election, which should have opened a window onto the issues. The problems have not gone away, and all the protestations to the contrary by sitting Harbor Commissioners will not stand up to the test of time.
And it's not just Greg Dale's glaring conflict of interest.
More to come.
Showing posts with label Budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Budget. Show all posts
Thursday, January 07, 2016
Thursday, December 04, 2014
Watchdogs, representatives, oversight and videotape
Lots of questions posed - who's right and who's wrong? If anyone. Maybe Mark (Lovelace) is in the right here, Supervisors are elected to represent their Districts within the County, as well as to look out for the County as a whole....
◼ Public meeting enthusiast Kent Sawatzky asked 3rd District Supervisor Mark Lovelace to resign from the Oversight Board for stiffing the County and taxpayers and voting to benefit Arcata - John Chiv/Words Worth
◼ Here's a link to City Of Arcata's WATCH MEETINGS LIVE & ON DEMAND info page
(If I've clipped this right, Here's Kent Sawatzky addressing the Arcata City Council.
Mark's not gonna resign, so that's moot -
◼ Public meeting enthusiast Kent Sawatzky asked 3rd District Supervisor Mark Lovelace to resign from the Oversight Board for stiffing the County and taxpayers and voting to benefit Arcata - John Chiv/Words Worth
◼ Here's a link to City Of Arcata's WATCH MEETINGS LIVE & ON DEMAND info page
(If I've clipped this right, Here's Kent Sawatzky addressing the Arcata City Council.
Mark's not gonna resign, so that's moot -
Sunday, August 03, 2014
"After the barn door has been shut, he's complaining about the horses getting loose," Bohn said. "The best thing that comes out of this is, with a new DA coming in, maybe they will be more financially sophisticated to work with the monies that are provided as we work out of these tough times that we've had."
◼ District attorney, Humboldt County officials disagree on office staffing - Will Houston
First District Supervisor and board Chairman Rex Bohn said the district attorney's office's General Fund allocation has increased by 67 percent since the 2004-2005 budget year.
"He's got about 20 percent more funding in the last 10 years than the public defender's office," Bohn said. "When you're talking discretionary funding, Paul gets between 5 to 6 percent of our discretionary money that is available. To say we don't care about public safety, it's disingenuous at the best and pretty false in the long run."
The Board of Supervisors recently voted to place a sales tax measure on the November ballot that would primarily be used to fund public safety services, such as the sheriff's office and district attorney's office.
With the 2014-2015 county budget already set, Bohn said Gallegos claims come too late.
"After the barn door has been shut, he's complaining about the horses getting loose," Bohn said. "The best thing that comes out of this is, with a new DA coming in, maybe they will be more financially sophisticated to work with the monies that are provided as we work out of these tough times that we've had."
_____________________
NOTE - "humboldtturtle" commented on the Times-Standard's article, a typical knee-jerk-defend-Gallegos-at-all-cost approach: Do I get this right? Rex is saying his sophisticated answer to the county's financial problems is to raise taxes. Gallegos says allocate your funds more wisely instead, and is called a liar for it? I wish t'was bohn were gohn...
The response: Oh, c'mon, humboldtturtle, you know FULL WELL that Gallegos has mismanaged that office. A Grand Jury pointed out YEARS ago that ""Weak leadership and poor managerial practices" have undermined the office... Implicit in all evidence gathered by the Grand Jury - including interviews with the D.A. - is the unfortunate truth that the D.A. exhibits a limited understanding of how things are done in the department" Gallegos "lacks the global perspective needed to keep the department operating efficiently," and quotes an unnamed staff member as saying, "The D.A. does not fully understand the functionality of many of the things we do here" - Years later, in his own words: "I’m not an administrator, they didn’t elect me to be an administrator, they elected me to make sure this office runs..."
It wasn't even in dispute during the last election, EVERY SINGLE CANDIDATE POINTED TO THE UTTER DETERIORATION. Gallegos lost, fired, or drove away all of the County's top prosecutors and has been utterly unable to replace them.
Gallegos has lost the grants that are critical to funding the office. You know this, and so should the author of this article.
Yet now, Gallegos accuses everyone else of not having their priorities in order.
That's just sick.
_____________________
And, btw, Will Houston STILL, apparently, has not done his homework.
WHY did Gallegos not fill the positions as they became open, Will? The money did not evaporate.
First District Supervisor and board Chairman Rex Bohn said the district attorney's office's General Fund allocation has increased by 67 percent since the 2004-2005 budget year.
"He's got about 20 percent more funding in the last 10 years than the public defender's office," Bohn said. "When you're talking discretionary funding, Paul gets between 5 to 6 percent of our discretionary money that is available. To say we don't care about public safety, it's disingenuous at the best and pretty false in the long run."
The Board of Supervisors recently voted to place a sales tax measure on the November ballot that would primarily be used to fund public safety services, such as the sheriff's office and district attorney's office.
With the 2014-2015 county budget already set, Bohn said Gallegos claims come too late.
"After the barn door has been shut, he's complaining about the horses getting loose," Bohn said. "The best thing that comes out of this is, with a new DA coming in, maybe they will be more financially sophisticated to work with the monies that are provided as we work out of these tough times that we've had."
NOTE - "humboldtturtle" commented on the Times-Standard's article, a typical knee-jerk-defend-Gallegos-at-all-cost approach: Do I get this right? Rex is saying his sophisticated answer to the county's financial problems is to raise taxes. Gallegos says allocate your funds more wisely instead, and is called a liar for it? I wish t'was bohn were gohn...
The response: Oh, c'mon, humboldtturtle, you know FULL WELL that Gallegos has mismanaged that office. A Grand Jury pointed out YEARS ago that ""Weak leadership and poor managerial practices" have undermined the office... Implicit in all evidence gathered by the Grand Jury - including interviews with the D.A. - is the unfortunate truth that the D.A. exhibits a limited understanding of how things are done in the department" Gallegos "lacks the global perspective needed to keep the department operating efficiently," and quotes an unnamed staff member as saying, "The D.A. does not fully understand the functionality of many of the things we do here" - Years later, in his own words: "I’m not an administrator, they didn’t elect me to be an administrator, they elected me to make sure this office runs..."
It wasn't even in dispute during the last election, EVERY SINGLE CANDIDATE POINTED TO THE UTTER DETERIORATION. Gallegos lost, fired, or drove away all of the County's top prosecutors and has been utterly unable to replace them.
Gallegos has lost the grants that are critical to funding the office. You know this, and so should the author of this article.
Yet now, Gallegos accuses everyone else of not having their priorities in order.
That's just sick.
And, btw, Will Houston STILL, apparently, has not done his homework.
WHY did Gallegos not fill the positions as they became open, Will? The money did not evaporate.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
You're gonna spend EIGHTY GRAND. Carpet? Or Prosecutor?
The first debate aired on Access Humboldt a few hours ago. Arnie Klein pointed out that Gallegos was getting ready to spend eighty grand on re-carpeting his severely under-staffed office.
Arnie says if you're gonna buy the carpet, you might as well get a few vacuum cleaners while you're at it.
What would you spend it on?
Arnie says if you're gonna buy the carpet, you might as well get a few vacuum cleaners while you're at it.
What would you spend it on?
Thursday, May 31, 2012
"We've been understaffed for a long time..."
◼ Misdemeanor prosecutions may fall prey to budget ax; DA warns law enforcement funding may prevent filing of most non-felony cases - Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
”We want to prosecute everything, but what I've let the chiefs know is that if we are not staffed adequately, we may have to reduce our cases,” Gallegos said. “We've been understaffed for a long time, and we've worked 100 ways to make it happen, but what's progressively happened is we've just gotten to the point where there is no more to cut.”
While Gallegos' proposal to drastically cut down on misdemeanor prosecutions if his budget isn't increased has been met with concern in law enforcement circles, he said he simply doesn't see any way around it, explaining that his office's expenses have been growing -- through personnel and supplies costs -- while its funding has shrunk.
The proposed 2012-2013 county budget holds the line of funding for the DA's Office from last year, but Gallegos said his office has seen some of its grants reduced, adding that grant money accounts for 62 percent of his budget.
If things don't change, Gallegos said, his office will be left with 11 attorneys -- including himself and Assistant District Attorney Kelly Neel, who handles charging of all the office's cases and, consequently, rarely sees a courtroom.
Gallegos said he has three attorneys that are tied to grants or funding sources -- one for environmental and consumer protection, one for worker's compensation and auto insurance fraud, and another to handle drug task force cases -- and the remaining six deputy district attorneys man the county's six courtrooms, which must be staffed with a prosecutor five days a week. And, Gallegos said, with attorneys spending hours in preparation for every hour in court, his staff is wearing thin.
”I'm breaking people,” Gallegos said. “We are at a critical staffing level, and we've gotten there not just in one year, but over years and years. A little reduction is now a big reduction because you get to that tipping point, that threshold.”
...Gallegos said he's not asking police not to arrest offenders -- he's just saying he won't prosecute them, meaning law enforcement can still pick people up and book them into the jail, but they'll be released by law after 48 hours without charges being filed against them. That's just what the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office will do if misdemeanor prosecutions do see a large drop off, said Lt. Steve Knight.
”We will still continue to do our job and will continue to submit cases and, obviously, the district attorney has to make his own charging decision,” Knight said. “We would still respond to calls and treat everything the same as we do now.”
***
MAYBE - MAYBE, Paul, "losing', firing, and driving off our county's top, seasoned prosecutors WASN'T SUCH A GOOD IDEA AFTER ALL. Only 11 DDAs left? Wow. You should be swimming in unallocated personnel dollars. Why have those vacant positions not been filled?
Funding is an excuse. Get real. Ask Law Enforcement. This has been going on already, for a long time. Now the budget provides cover.
”We want to prosecute everything, but what I've let the chiefs know is that if we are not staffed adequately, we may have to reduce our cases,” Gallegos said. “We've been understaffed for a long time, and we've worked 100 ways to make it happen, but what's progressively happened is we've just gotten to the point where there is no more to cut.”
While Gallegos' proposal to drastically cut down on misdemeanor prosecutions if his budget isn't increased has been met with concern in law enforcement circles, he said he simply doesn't see any way around it, explaining that his office's expenses have been growing -- through personnel and supplies costs -- while its funding has shrunk.
The proposed 2012-2013 county budget holds the line of funding for the DA's Office from last year, but Gallegos said his office has seen some of its grants reduced, adding that grant money accounts for 62 percent of his budget.
If things don't change, Gallegos said, his office will be left with 11 attorneys -- including himself and Assistant District Attorney Kelly Neel, who handles charging of all the office's cases and, consequently, rarely sees a courtroom.
Gallegos said he has three attorneys that are tied to grants or funding sources -- one for environmental and consumer protection, one for worker's compensation and auto insurance fraud, and another to handle drug task force cases -- and the remaining six deputy district attorneys man the county's six courtrooms, which must be staffed with a prosecutor five days a week. And, Gallegos said, with attorneys spending hours in preparation for every hour in court, his staff is wearing thin.
”I'm breaking people,” Gallegos said. “We are at a critical staffing level, and we've gotten there not just in one year, but over years and years. A little reduction is now a big reduction because you get to that tipping point, that threshold.”
...Gallegos said he's not asking police not to arrest offenders -- he's just saying he won't prosecute them, meaning law enforcement can still pick people up and book them into the jail, but they'll be released by law after 48 hours without charges being filed against them. That's just what the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office will do if misdemeanor prosecutions do see a large drop off, said Lt. Steve Knight.
”We will still continue to do our job and will continue to submit cases and, obviously, the district attorney has to make his own charging decision,” Knight said. “We would still respond to calls and treat everything the same as we do now.”
***
MAYBE - MAYBE, Paul, "losing', firing, and driving off our county's top, seasoned prosecutors WASN'T SUCH A GOOD IDEA AFTER ALL. Only 11 DDAs left? Wow. You should be swimming in unallocated personnel dollars. Why have those vacant positions not been filled?
Funding is an excuse. Get real. Ask Law Enforcement. This has been going on already, for a long time. Now the budget provides cover.
Monday, May 23, 2011
The end of CAST
◼ Proposed Humboldt County cuts squeeze departments: DA, DHHS, public defender all warn cuts will carry consequences
The Humboldt County District Attorney's Office is contemplating a drastic scale-back of its Child Abuse Services Team, or CAST. The 8 percent across-the-board cut will mean the Department of Health and Human Services will be unable to leverage millions of dollars in matching state and federal programs and will have to scale back its focus to mandated programs.
The proposed cuts would also force the Public Defender's Office to lay off two senior attorneys, which would likely lead to the court appointing private attorneys to pick up some of the office's case load. That could result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in added expenses for the county.
”We're looking at some major, major impacts,” said Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos. “I'm not trying to sound bleak but, candidly, I don't see a silver lining....”
Gallegos said his department is potentially looking at taking hits from all sides.
In addition to the proposed county cuts, he said his office will also potentially lose some $160,000 in state funding if a portion of the Vehicle Licensing Fee is not extended. Cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services will also impact the DA's CAST program, Gallegos said.
For some 15 years, DHHS has contributed about $280,000 to the ongoing operation of CAST, which comprises specially trained individuals from Child Welfare Services, the DA's Office, the DA's Victim Witness Assistance Program, local law enforcement agencies, Probation and other agencies. The idea is that the team is better able to investigate and prosecute child abuse allegations.
But this year, DHHS is taking a 17.4 percent reduction in state funding in addition to the proposed county cuts, which is strongly impacting its ability to leverage matching state and federal funds. Consequently, Director Phillip Crandall said, it has had to pull its funding of CAST, though it has pledged to keep allocating staff positions to the team.
”While we have historically provided that support for CAST because it's a valuable service and good for our children, we don't have sufficient funds to carry that,” Crandall said.
Gallegos said he's currently looking to supplant the money that traditionally came from DHHS. As things stand, Gallegos said, he will be able to keep CAST going, but he worries further cuts could put it in jeopardy.
As an example, Gallegos said that senior Deputy District Attorney Max Cardoza and Assistant Deputy District Attorney Wes Keat are planning on retiring this year. He said their salaries are in his proposed budget -- which comes in with an 8 percent cut -- but the county has a hiring freeze in place, and he's concerned the county may not approve refilling the positions.
If those positions were to wind up frozen, Gallegos said it would severely impact his office.
Both Crandall and Gallegos said CAST is a priority, but both stated it is not a state-mandated program, meaning at some point, it could be dropped due to cuts.
”We're going to look at every feasible option to keep CAST functioning,” Gallegos said.
Gallegos said he thinks it's important to remember that public safety is a joint effort that cuts across multiple departments. He said there's no question deputies are needed to enforce laws, but said prosecutors are also needed to bring offenders to justice, probation officers are needed to help ensure ex-convicts don't re-offend and DHHS officials are necessary to provide mental health services, investigate health code violations and protect children and vulnerable adults.
”It's a system that requires balance,” Gallegos said.
The Humboldt County District Attorney's Office is contemplating a drastic scale-back of its Child Abuse Services Team, or CAST. The 8 percent across-the-board cut will mean the Department of Health and Human Services will be unable to leverage millions of dollars in matching state and federal programs and will have to scale back its focus to mandated programs.
The proposed cuts would also force the Public Defender's Office to lay off two senior attorneys, which would likely lead to the court appointing private attorneys to pick up some of the office's case load. That could result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in added expenses for the county.
”We're looking at some major, major impacts,” said Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos. “I'm not trying to sound bleak but, candidly, I don't see a silver lining....”
Gallegos said his department is potentially looking at taking hits from all sides.
In addition to the proposed county cuts, he said his office will also potentially lose some $160,000 in state funding if a portion of the Vehicle Licensing Fee is not extended. Cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services will also impact the DA's CAST program, Gallegos said.
For some 15 years, DHHS has contributed about $280,000 to the ongoing operation of CAST, which comprises specially trained individuals from Child Welfare Services, the DA's Office, the DA's Victim Witness Assistance Program, local law enforcement agencies, Probation and other agencies. The idea is that the team is better able to investigate and prosecute child abuse allegations.
But this year, DHHS is taking a 17.4 percent reduction in state funding in addition to the proposed county cuts, which is strongly impacting its ability to leverage matching state and federal funds. Consequently, Director Phillip Crandall said, it has had to pull its funding of CAST, though it has pledged to keep allocating staff positions to the team.
”While we have historically provided that support for CAST because it's a valuable service and good for our children, we don't have sufficient funds to carry that,” Crandall said.
Gallegos said he's currently looking to supplant the money that traditionally came from DHHS. As things stand, Gallegos said, he will be able to keep CAST going, but he worries further cuts could put it in jeopardy.
As an example, Gallegos said that senior Deputy District Attorney Max Cardoza and Assistant Deputy District Attorney Wes Keat are planning on retiring this year. He said their salaries are in his proposed budget -- which comes in with an 8 percent cut -- but the county has a hiring freeze in place, and he's concerned the county may not approve refilling the positions.
If those positions were to wind up frozen, Gallegos said it would severely impact his office.
Both Crandall and Gallegos said CAST is a priority, but both stated it is not a state-mandated program, meaning at some point, it could be dropped due to cuts.
”We're going to look at every feasible option to keep CAST functioning,” Gallegos said.
Gallegos said he thinks it's important to remember that public safety is a joint effort that cuts across multiple departments. He said there's no question deputies are needed to enforce laws, but said prosecutors are also needed to bring offenders to justice, probation officers are needed to help ensure ex-convicts don't re-offend and DHHS officials are necessary to provide mental health services, investigate health code violations and protect children and vulnerable adults.
”It's a system that requires balance,” Gallegos said.
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