Questions for candidates update
Five days have passed since I asked for a survey questions from the voters of Mendocino County for the 11 supervisor candidates in the running this election cycle and all I can say is that I’m stoked about the reaction.
After sifting through the over two dozen responses, most including multiple queries, I found six common themes which I combined into questions: marijuana, planning, water, county concerns vs. those of particular districts, county administration and the supervisor’s self-approved raise.
I’m sending these forms out to the candidates Wednesday with a May 5 return deadline. The idea is to sort their answers by the district they’re running for and print three separate stories with their responses in a super-sized edition a few days later.
But then I thought, why let them have all the fun? Why not let the public have a go and answering some of the burning questions facing the area? After all, you basically came up with them anyway. So, send your answers to the following questions to me at udjrb@pacific.net by May 5 and I’ll include as many of them as I can in a fourth story the same day as the candidates.
And as one community member who sent me a list of questions put it, “be brave and answer”:
Marijuana
1) Third District supervisor John Pinches has said marijuana in Mendocino County constitutes two-thirds of its economy. The board has taken up the issue of medical marijuana several times over the course of the last few months, at last count limiting the number of plants per parcel to 25 regardless of the number of approved patients living there. If your name is on the ballot for supervisor come June 3, you’re going to have it printed on the same sheet of paper as Measure B.
The question is:
What is your opinion of Measure B and what should be done about the cultivation marijuana, medical or otherwise, in the county?
Planning
2) By far the most talked-about issue of those who responded with questions for the candidates was issues of planning and the future of the valley. Everything from improvement of county roads to the idea of a meat process plant/slaughter house to development of living wage jobs to, of course, the development of the former Masonite site was brought up.
The question is:
What is your overall planning philosophy for the county and what specific changes would you make to further that philosophy?
Water
3) Speaking of planning, the availability of water was another hot issue with those who responded with questions. Two of the area’s most profitable agricultural industries, marijuana and wine, require high amounts of water, yet several parts of the county, including Redwood Valley, have struggled to find it.
The question is:
How would you use your vote and position on the board to alleviate the county’s current and future water concerns?
County vs. District
4) Citizens who responded with questions were also concerned about favoritism of supervisors to their own districts and not the county in general. Topics such as candidate’s positions on property rights such as the Coastal Commission overturning local decisions, supervisors voting their beliefs over those of their constituents and special interests influencing voting were all brought up.
The question is:
How will you balance concerns of your own district and concerns of the whole county?
County administration
5) Several county residents who submitted questions raised concerns with the current configuration of county government. Issues such as the balance of power between the CEO and the board; staff overtime; the consolidation of mental health, social services and public health; clarity of the county budget and the fair campaign ordinance were all raised.
The question is:
What changes, if any, would you make as supervisor to the way the Mendocino County government conducts business?
Supervisors’ raise
6) In August, the board repealed the previous 43 percent pay raise, which was directly tied to the Superior Court judges' salary. Immediately following the repeal, the board approved a new compensation ordinance with the same pay raise in it.
The question is:
Do you support the board’s self-imposed pay raise and would you serve at the previous salary if elected?