LAKEPORT — The candidates for the District 3 supervisor seat laid out their plans and thoughts Monday evening on a large scope of topics including the county budget, emergency ambulance services, what the No. 1 priority should be and marijuana.
The candidates — Mark Currier, John Brosnan, James Brown, Jim Steele, Marv Butler and Herb Gura — met in the Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) chambers at the Lake County Courthouse.
They were asked about their experience was with managing people and budgets.
Steele said he has been responsible for programs all over the state that managed millions of dollars. He said that at any one time he might have been responsible for roughly 140 employees.
“The bottom line is you have to understand how budgets are put together and how a government budget is different from a business budget,” he said.
He added that he has been a consultant in business and understands the difference between the two types of budgets.
Butler said he had a banking career of more than 30 years. At the time of his retirement, he said, he managed roughly 650 employees from two divisions. The budgets he handled were roughly of $10 million.
Gura responded with his experience at the Konocti Unified School District, where the budget was $26 million.
He helped prepare budgets every year for the last 20 years, he said.
“Even at times when school funds have been cut, which was a lot over the last five or so years, we managed to balance our budget — keep our core programs in place,” he said. “We”ve negotiated contracts with two different unions every year for the last 20 years.”
Currier said he was involved with starting budgeting processes involving different programs at Lower Lake Elementary School and Lower Lake High School.
Brosnan said he has very little experience managing “million-dollar governments or businesses.”
“I”m lucky if I can pay my PG&E bill every month, and my mortgage,” Brosnan said.
He said he would really depend on the organization and the body of government to make decisions and that the board would have to stay attentive of the county budget.
Brown said he had a lot of experience in supervision of employees. He co-funded the lake county travel health contortion and was directly responsible for 15 people.
In 1998 to 2000, he was a chairman of his tribe, and for those two years was part of a committee that managed as much as $700 million, he said.
Another contested topic was the possible introduction of private companies to provide ambulance and medical emergency transportation services. The service is currently provided by the different fire districts in the county.
“It”s not something I”ve thought about before, but the structure of our government allows for private business to come to an area and to compete,” Gura said.
He added he supports public services, but that ambulance services are “extraordinarily expensive.”
If a private company could provide those services at a better price, Gura doesn”t think the county can stop private companies from coming in if they can provide better services.
Currier, on the other hand, was opposed to the idea of private companies.
“I feel that taking anything away from our local firefighters is a problem. It loses control for the county,” he said.
Brosnan said he was not familiar with the issue.
“Well, first of all, I didn”t know that that was happening, so I really don”t have an experiential answer for that. But, as it was mentioned here earlier this is a free enterprise,” he said.
“I would think that if I had an ambulance business I would be allowed to come in here and do a comparative analysis and see whether or not one was actually needed and how the services are being provided currently.”
The free enterprise and the public will, in time, determine whether they are needed or not, he added.
Brown seemed to be divided by the issue.
The county ships enough business out, he said. He added that he doesn”t think there is any problem with the fire departments.
In contrast to that statement, however, he criticized the lack of reach the current system has.
“Most of the people don”t know that on Indian reservations the 9-1-1 ambulance service would not come into our reservation unless they are escorted by a sheriff”s officer.”
Recently, he said, a person in Upper Lake died because they were waiting for the sheriff”s deputies to arrive.
“We have a huge problem there that we need to address,” he said.
Steele also showed support for the fire districts keeping emergency transport responsibilities.
“This is really a different issue than just the dollars and cents,” Steele said. “This is an issue in regard with an isolated county like this.”
He said that emergency personnel here should be well trained and ready to go and put an emphasis on emergency responders knowing the area.
“It”s going to be a long time for people to get here, and in that standpoint we have to be self supporting.”
“I would be very uncomfortable with us shipping that over to private people we don”t have some control over in keeping that high state of readiness.”
Butler added himself to the group supporting in-county services.
“The reason the fire department has had that service for 10 years is because we were dumped by the private companies 10 years ago,” Butler said.
“The fire department had no choice but to take it over and train their people. And they did this and they continue doing this. They continue buying the equipment, upgrading the equipment, and I would have a real problem going back to private services that we don”t have any control over.”
Regarding the No. 1 priority the BOS should have, there seemed to be almost a unanimous consensus that the Lake and the natural beauty in the county should have the board”s attention.
Brosnan, who answered first, said he would like to see attention placed on homelessness and unemployment.
On the topic of marijuana and Measure N, Brown seemed to be sympathetic with legitimate growers, but like most of the candidates, he did not have a concrete answer to solving the issue.
“I think we need to understand the full spectrum,” Brown said.
“Two-fifteen is legal, and we need to make sure that we follow the rights of those people to grow,” he added.
He also said that the residents and the authorities need to have better communication.
Steele said he doesn”t have much experience with marijuana and that he is in agreement with medical marijuana.
“We need to break down the spirit of the law for medicinal use and separate out medicinal use from the grower and separate out the nuisance issues,” he said.
Butler showed full support for Measure N, but he said it was not a perfect ordinance.
“First of all let me state that I am for medical marijuana. However, we are way beyond that in what is happening now.”
One of the reasons he supports Measure N is because the existing ordinance will expire in July.
“Down the road we need to take another look at it,” he said.
“The supervisors have stated this is not a perfect ordinance and I agree. it”s not. But it”s the best we can do right now.”
Gura didn”t state what his stance was, but pointed out some of the issues the county currently faces.
“Many counties in California have resolved this issue,” Gura said. “(They) passed an ordinance that their people can live with. Some of them are very strict, some of them are very loose. Lake County hasn”t been able to do that yet.”
Currier insisted that the issue can be resolved with tighter restrictions and regulations within the communities around the county.
“The county is tired of it, the BOS is tired of bouncing from ordinance and proposition and what not for marijuana,” he said.
“Something has to be crafted, once and for all to never be changed again, for the possible legalization of marijuana.”
He added he doesn”t take stands on marijuana, but that he wants to effectively manage it.
Brosnan said he opposes Measure N, which would not give the desired results.
“If you”re looking at it from the perspective that can actually deal with a growing situation that has been going on here for 50 or 60 years, it”s really not a good ordinance in itself.”
There is an initiative being prepared for November that will give four plants to the inner growth community ordinance residents and an additional 12 to people who live in 1 to 5 acres and 48 plants to 5 acres and more, he said.
Isaac Brambila is an associate editor for Lake County Publishing. Reach him at 900-2020 or at ibrambila@record-bee.com.
