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Ross Mayfield Jr - 2nd District Candidate
Carre Brown - 1st District Candidate

For one night only, the number of Mendocino County supervisors was ceremonially increased by six while eliminating the votes of two of its five districts.

In what could be the only chance for some of those assembled in front of the Ukiah City Council chambers to be addressed as supervisors, the 11 candidates vying for the three positions in contention in the June primary participated in a mock board meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

The candidate forum was well attended and was co-sponsored by the Employers Council of Mendocino County, the Greater Ukiah Chamber of Commerce and the North Coast Builders Exchange.

As audience members entered the chambers they were issued a pair of cards identical to those given to each candidate.

Dolly Brown - 1st District Candidate
The cards were used by those gathered to express their feelings about a trio of issues including Measure B, land use and tax sharing.

After each motion was posed, the candidates had a chance to hold up either the "oppose" card with a red cartoon down-turned thumb pictured or the green "support" thumbs up card. The candidates then each had a chance to explain their views before audience members were allowed to display their opinions.

Kathy Lehner, moderator and Mendocino College president, said the event was unlike other candidate forums.

"I will be serving as board chair for this meeting, which will remind me why I'm the moderator and not a supervisor," she said before introducing the first item up for discussion, Measure B.

Carre

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Brown, 1st District candidate, said she believed in the healing qualities of cannabis, but that the voter approved initiative surrounding it had failed.

"I do have compassion for the use of medical marijuana, however I feel Measure G has not worked for this county," she said after holding up her "support" card. "It is a public health and safety issue."

Michael Delbar, current 1st District supervisor, said he voted for the measure because of his concern over the widespread commercial growing

Jimmy Rickel - 1st District Candidate
operations.

"It's a very difficult widespread issue," he said. "It's not a medical marijuana issue. That access is there, and this ordinance does nothing to prohibit that."

Dolly Brown, another 1st District candidate, said the number of nonviolent drug offenders crowding the county's jail was a drain on its resources.

"I don't smoke pot, but I'm a problem solver, and Measure B is not a solution," she said.

John McCowen, 2nd District candidate, said the original intent of the ballot initiative had been subverted.

"I think we're all aware of how Measure G has turned out," he said. "Measure G has turned out to be an invitation to the nation to grow here commercially. Measure B is a very reasonable response to that."

When asked,

Ukiah Sativa Morrison - 1st District Candidate
around 75 percent of the audience held up their green signs in support of the measure.

Lehner then moved the conversation to whether or not zoning changes should be made by the county as needed.

"I think that it is unnecessary at this time," said Ukiah Sativa Morrison, 1st District candidate, favoring a hemp recycling plant using the current industrial zoning at the former Masonite property. "Our land is sacred. We need to make the most of it. We don't have to bring in these jobs from somewhere else."

Ross Mayfield Jr., 2nd District candidate, said he wanted the option to change the zoning to suit the area's ever-altering demands.

"As needed," he said, emphasizing a phrase from the question posed by Lehner. "Change is required

mike delbar - 1st District Candidate
in zoning. Change is a part of life. We need jobs in our economy. We need to be able to make those changes."

Estelle Palley Clifton, another 2nd District candidate, said the need for rezoning was not apparent.

"That soil is gold," she said. "Currently we do not need to rezone our agriculture. The motion was phrased as needed and has been shown as not being needed. There is no need at this time."

At around this point, the meeting was temporarily halted when it was announced that a "red Firebird" was illegally parked and was about to be towed. Jimmy Rickel, 1st District candidate, then jumped from his seat and walked briskly toward the exit, keys in hand.

Before moving to the topic of sales tax sharing, audience members made it known they were more divided on the idea of zoning changes, with just over two-thirds of the crowd giving the prospect the red card.

"I support the conceptual idea of revenue sharing," said Rickel upon his return.

Audience members made the proceedings a sea of green as they held high their support of the idea of sales tax revenue sharing.

After retiring the cards, the candidates were asked to give their opinions on the current government budget crisis.

"We've got very few people trying to feed this big machine," said Jim Mulheren, 2nd District candidate, referring to the sparse population of the county. "The private businesses people are also suffering. Everything is going up. We're all sharing the pain."

Paula Deeter, 4th District candidate, said she would try to deal with the financial constraints by clearing up redundancies wherever possible.

"I think what we need to do is look at administration and management positions," she said. "We need to see if there are any jobs that could be combined."

Kendall Smith, 4th District supervisor, said she was proud of the progress the board had made during her tenure with concern to how the county spent its money.

"This is going to be an extremely challenging year," she said. "I think that we have made some excellent progress on the board in reference to budget transparency. In the past, supervisors were not aware of what the true debt is."

Rob Burgess can be reached at udjrb@pacific.net.