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Laytonville County Finance and Grocery Store – Fort Bragg Advocate-News
Just a few quick updates on the reopening of the Laytonville Long Valley Market, which is expected to happen in the next few weeks.
• The store is a 17,000 square foot building built entirely new in 2005 by former owner Michael Brought. The store is conveniently located on Highway 101 and serves a nearby population of approximately 3,500, along with approximately 300 to 500 other daily commuters. It has always been operated as a grocery store, hardware store, meat market and deli with a kitchen and liquor license.
• New owner Haji Alam attended our City Advisory Board meeting on June 26, giving a presentation and answering questions from the public. He also appeared on my radio show explaining his reopening plans and other related topics.
He is very friendly, open and frank in his conversations, as well as quite engaging.
I realize that people, at least some of them, in Redwood Valley have a different perspective on Alam, given his plans to open a gas station near their community. The Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Board has taken an official position opposing the permitting and construction of Alam’s gas station. The RV MAC president and vice president attended our May Laytonville MAC meeting to share and explain their concerns about the proposed gas station project.
In any case, at the Laytonville MAC meeting, Alam explained in detail his plans for reopening the supermarket.
• He plans to work with local farmers to stock a selection of organic vegetables and has asked them to contact him so they can develop a production plan.
• He said the Market will no longer carry hardware and tool items like the old Geiger’s Market did. Instead, the new Market will offer camping, picnicking, hunting and fishing items. He explained that it didn’t make sense for him to compete with the existing Building Supply and Nursery, operated by Lurane Dalton, which sells hardware and tool items.
• I have been able to verify that most, if not all, of the former Market employees have been contacted about job offers, and many employees are currently busy preparing the store to reopen its doors.
• Alam also said he plans to apply for a county permit to open and operate a six-pump gas station on the Market property. He already owns the old Strider Real Estate building, located adjacent to (immediately south of) the Market. He plans to demolish the old building and expand the Market parking lot to make up for the space needed for the gas station. The fuel operation will be located in the northwest corner of the parking lot. Of course, this proposed project will have to go through the county’s Planning and Building process for final approvals. At the meeting, Alam and some of the attendees discussed plans to reroute gas station vehicles in the parking lot that exits onto Highway 101.
I believe most people in the Laytonville area would support and welcome a second gas station, as there is definitely an established need for one.
I will keep you posted on any further developments.
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As always, another very informative report from Mike Geniella on the “comprehensive state audit of Mendocino County practices, including finance, contracts and procurement, and elections, to be conducted over the next 18 months following legislative approval of a bill that now only needs the Governor’s signature.”
The state action follows ongoing but not yet completed external and independent federal audits of the past two fiscal years, as well as a state Comptroller’s audit of the county’s internal controls.
So now there will be a state audit in the works soon. Great, the more audits the better, since the public was officially informed at BOS meetings by two Supervisors (Ted Williams and Glenn McGourty) that the county keeps three sets of books and no one knows how much money is in the bank.
But we also need another process to occur, which should have happened before the consolidation of the Treasurer-Tax Collector and Auditor-Controller offices in December 2021. It’s something that I and two Supervisors (John Haschak and Dan Gjerde) have been recommending happen for some time. Here’s the request found in a response I made to Superintendent Ted Williams about the county’s financial mess:
“Ted,
As I have suggested, as has Supe Haschak and I believe Supe Gjerde, the Board should call in former fiscal officers (Treasurer-Tax Collector, Auditor-Controller, Advisor, CEO) and interview/question and hopefully learn from them how they did their jobs. This is critical information that the BOS admits is missing. This process would include, but not be limited to, such things as assessments of their responsibilities and how they performed their duties, how they exercised fiscal oversight and identification of internal financial controls, systems that were used (manual vs. electronic/software, etc.), staffing levels (job classifications and descriptions), narrative descriptions of interdepartmental and third-party (e.g., external, independent audit) working relationships detailing the scope of work and information disclosed and received. Since no one has any explanations or answers for what caused the ongoing and unsustainable fiscal mess the County finds itself in, you need to conduct an investigation and start finding answers to all the current unknowns before you launch a substantial and major change to your organizational structure with this idea of a Department of Finance. By the way, if the Board decides to conduct an investigation, there will be no need for former employees to appear in person. That’s the beauty of Zoom meetings.”
Here is a short list of former county finance officials who should be called to a public hearing to share their information and insights into how they did their jobs over the years:
Shari Schapmire, Treasurer-Tax Collector
Lloyd Weer, Auditor-Controller
Meredith Ford, Auditor-Controller
Dennis Huey, Auditor-Controller
Tim Knudson, Treasurer-Tax Collector
Carmel Angelo, CEO
Jim Anderson, Chief Executive Officer
It is worth noting that Supe Mo Mulheren vehemently opposed this reasonable suggestion to talk to people who had many years of experience dealing with local government finances.
How did Mulheren see this?
Angered, she lectured her colleagues: “We shouldn’t be taking elected officials to task. That’s a job for the Grand Jury.”
If that is the case, how does Mulheren explain “bringing to justice” a certain Auditor who was summarily suspended without due process?
Jim Shields is the editor and publisher of the Mendocino County Observer, observer@pacific.net, the former district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio show “This and That” every Saturday at noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also broadcast live: http://www.kpfn.org
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