The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors heard presentations Tuesday morning on its Wildfire County Grant Coordinator Program and Behavioral Health Services Act Integrated Plan and Budget for the next three years.
4th District Supervisor and vice-chair Natalie Arroyo led the meeting, as 3rd District Supervisor and chair Mike Wilson was absent. Supervisor Michelle Bushnell was also not in attendance Tuesday morning, and the meeting’s light agenda reflected the composition of the board.
The board passed a consent calendar that included $142,980 in additional expenses accrued by the county’s Aviation Department for facilitating travel for interim Aviation Director Justin Hopman, who resigned from the full-time position earlier this year and now serves in a one-week-in-person-each-month capacity, and to contract with consulting firm Ricondo and Associates. Those expenses are expected to be offset by approximately $2.78 million in annual Passenger Facility Charges, collected in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, to be generated through the consultant’s work.
From left, Humboldt County Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) Coordinator Oliver Gonzalez and Mental Health Director Emi Botzler-Rodgers presented a “Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) Integrated Plan and Budget for Fiscal Years 2026-2029” to county supervisors Tuesday. (Screenshot)
Wildfire coordination
Humboldt County Public Works Environmental Program Manager Cybelle Immitt and Humboldt County Resource Conservation District Executive Director Jill Demers gave a brief presentation on the Wildfire County Grant Coordinator Program.
According to a staff report, the program aspires “to educate, encourage and develop county-wide community collaboration and coordination among wildfire mitigation groups operating within counties containing State Responsibility Area lands.”
“This program is funded by the state of California by Cal Fire, and it’s administered by the California Fire Safe Council,” Immitt said. “… And we’re very excited that the state has decided to fund this program with a $9.5 million allocation … to Cal Fire and to the California Fire State Council and the participating counties are then sub-grantees of the California Fire Safe Council.”
According to Immitt’s presentation, Humboldt County is one of 24 counties that started with the Wildfire County Grant Coordinator Program in 2021; the program has since expanded to include more than 50 counties. The program works to support Humboldt County’s board-appointed Humboldt County Fire Safe Council and partner agencies throughout the county. It’s also working to establish and maintain local community organizations such as Firewise Communities and Fire Safe Councils throughout the area, and support collaboration on the Humboldt County Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
Changes to behavioral health
The board also heard a presentation from county Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) Coordinator Oliver Gonzalez. Gonzalez outlined reforms to what had previously been known as the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) created by 2024’s SB 326 and Proposition 1, which create more flexibility for the treatment of substance use disorder and also necessitate budgetary allocations for permanent housing.
A slide presented by Humboldt County DHHS Behavioral Health’s BHSA Coordinator Oliver Gonzalez outlines challenges presented by the Behavioral Health Services Act, or Proposition 1, passed in 2024. (Screenshot)
“One emphasis I really wanted to call out here is the BHSA, Prop. 1, is not an expansion of dollars. If anything, it’s a reduction of 5%, so to speak,” Gonzalez said.
Whereas its predecessor law, 2004’s Prop. 63 necessitated that 95% of tax dollars collected by the state for its Mental Health Services Fund, Prop. 1 returns 90% of tax dollars collected to the county, with 10% dedicated to state agencies.
Behavioral health funds account for $11,273,841 of the county’s 2026-27 spending. Those funds include supportive services for behavioral health, housing intervention funding and funding for “full-service partnership services,” which include comprehensive and intensive care for those experiencing the most serious behavioral health needs.
Gonzalez also noted some changes and challenges posed by the new framework, which he described as a “major system redesign.”
Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone thanked Gonzalez for his presentation, lamenting that “every three to four years the state decides ‘let’s get rid of what we’ve been doing and do something new’ … and then you have to kind of reinvent yourself and come back again.”
Arroyo and Madrone expressed concern about changes to BHSA funding requirements, too, which wouldn’t allow behavioral health funds at the county level to be applied toward programs that emphasize “universal prevention.” That could mean defunding programs pertaining to issues like suicide prevention, and staff clarified that those funds were now intended to come from the state’s allotment of BHSA funding.
The county’s current three-year MHSA plan expires this year and will be replaced by a 2026-29 plan.
The board had been slated to host a special meeting to approve the county’s 2026-27 fiscal year budget last Thursday, but that meeting was canceled due to unforeseen circumstances and has been rescheduled to July 7. Vice chair Arroyo told the Times-Standard that the meeting had been rescheduled due to an emergency situation and the board wasn’t prepared to comment further than the cancellation notice, which cited unforeseen circumstances.
Robert Schaulis can be reached at 707-441-0585.