QUINCY — All members of the Plumas County Board of Supervisors were present and ready for business at the group’s first meeting of the month this past Tuesday, April 2, and the Chair, Greg Hagwood, helped by no public comments and no shows from the Disaster Recovery team, the Dixie Fire Collaborative, and the USFS, moved the Board quickly through the agenda.

The economic development report given to the Board by Clint Coble of Hamilton Branch had bad news and good news. On the negative side: Coble noted the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) recently announced the rural counties of northern California are currently recording the lowest job growth rate in the nation; State Farm recently canceled 72,000 insurance policies and the state’s back-up system, FAIR, is being pushed towards insolvency while rates for existing policies continue to soar; and the new state-mandated, minimum wage of $20 per hour for restaurant workers will put great stress upon many employers.

On the positive side: there are several new homes in Greenville, including one with free wi-fi the builder has made available for community gatherings and meetings; during the first quarter of 2024 there have been 43 new businesses starting up in Plumas County; the Economic Committee for the Long-Term Recovery Program will be delivering $547,000 in Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs) to local businesses this year; a new bookmobile service has been implemented to serve throughout the county while a new library is being constructed; and, discussions with the USDA are now underway to determine effective housing assistance options for county residents.

After unanimously approving a series of noncontroversial budget items, a rather lengthy discussion ensued over a question raised by the Chair, Greg Hagwood of whether or not prudence meant a letter should be sent to the State Controller concerning the County’s four-year-long problem with auditing itself. His goal for such an effort would be to avoid the way Humboldt County, faced with a similar situation, ended up with the State’s auditor being called in and the County finding themselves in an $18 million hole due to fines and assessments.

In response, Martee Niemann, County Auditor/Controller, noted, “We are not broken, we are behind” due to the loss of resources needed to perform the required work due to the Dixie Fire and she didn’t want to “add fuel to the fire” by writing a letter. According to Debra Lucero, Chief Administrative Officer for Plumas County, the county’s Auditor, Treasurer, IT Department, and the Board of Supervisors are now a “team working together” to resolve the issue. Julie White, County Treasurer, concurred, saying she felt “great strides have been made by the team.”

Will Supervisor Hagwood “agendize” the subject in a subsequent meeting, perhaps after the Auditor presents the currently overdue audit at the Board’s next meeting on April 15.