League of Women Voters Hosts Board of Supervisors District 1 Candidate Forum

Left to right: Heidi Hall, Sue McGuire, Michael Taylor (the three candidates running for the Nevada County Board of Supervisors, District 1)

NEVADA COUNTY—on January 23, 2024, Heidi Hall (incumbent), Sue McGuire, and Michael Taylor responded to questions for the public to assess the qualifications and suitability of the three candidates that are all seeking a four-year term on the next Board of Supervisors to represent the Nevada City and Chicago Park areas of Nevada County. The forum took place at the Rood Center, 950 Maidu Ave, Nevada City, from 6:00-7:30 p.m.

The event was held in the Board of Supervisors chambers, with around 70 people attending in person. The co-president of the League of Women Voters in Nevada County, Jan Bedayn, opened the evening and introduced co-president Lynn Forbes. “We did get a good set of questions in,” Jan remarked, saying that they expected to get more tonight from the live audience. “We do these forums because we would like to offer the community the opportunity to listen to these fantastic candidates who are willing to give their service to our community… to listen to their ideas and their thoughts.”

The forum was moderated by local defense attorney Steve Munkelt, who gave each candidate two minutes for his or her opening statement before launching into questions. After their statements, candidates were given one minute for their response to each question, with the opportunity to use two rebuttals whenever they wanted.

In introductory remarks, incumbent Supervisor Heidi Hall spoke to her beginnings as a daughter of two teachers from the Bay Area. She mentioned her involvement with InConcert Sierra and CivicWell, “a state-wide organization working to help local governments adapt to climate change.” Hall touted her “responsible and responsive leadership,” saying that she spends time working at regional, state, and national levels.

Challenger Michael Taylor introduced himself as a long-time resident with family ties dating back to the 1930s. Taylor began with his concerns over the county budget. “I’m concerned with the economic trajectory of the county. Its revenue is trending down. The cost of full-time staff is going up. Pensions coverage is trending down. What does this mean? This means our own county numbers are signaling financial hardship is coming.” He spoke to unsustainable county spending, saying “this is not stable, it’s not a trajectory that’s safe.”

Challenger Sue McGuire is a lifelong resident of Nevada County and a local attorney with past work experience in the District Attorney’s office. “I will work for transparency,” she said, adding that “citizen oversight of government is crucial” and “county employees have a duty to secure the public’s rights, which includes how taxpayer monies are spent.” 

The first question came from the press pool asking about County of Nevada’s handling of the application to reopen the Idaho-Maryland Mine. Taylor blamed staff failures in processing the application. McGuire spoke to the need to maintain private property rights and the need to protect residential zoning. Hall spoke to her quasi-judicial roll inhibiting her from speaking freely about the mine, but did express that the mine’s “vested rights” application was defective.

Other topics of the forum included:

County Staff Salaries

McGuire: Expressed that staff salaries were too high and cited data that salaries had doubled over ten years. She spoke to the income disparity between public and private sector salaries. “We cannot have salaries for our public servants that are huge in comparison to the private sector,” adding that median salaries of private sector salaries dwarf those of public sector salaries and expressed concern over the unsustainability of County budgets.

Hall: Addressed a community concern that she had held two government jobs simultaneously, saying she is “not in it for the money” without refuting the claim. Hall claimed that county salaries are justified, when compared with other counties. She added that county staff deserve their current salaries and “could make twice as much.”

Taylor: Disputed Hall’s market observations regarding staffing levels and says that salary levels are too high. “There is no justification for the high salaries that are being paid through the county.”

Land Development

Hall: Spoke to a housing shortage in the county and the state. Spoke to low-income housing and support for the business community, as well as welcoming new developers.”We want to increase our economic resilience, so we’re looking at where developments should happen and can happen.”

Taylor: Spoke to the Loma Rica Ranch development and praised the affordable housing component of the property for recreation and open space opportunities. Spoke to the need to meet the County’s housing development goals.

McGuire: Spoke to the need for housing and that recreational opportunities should be the responsibility of the private sector.

Attracting Industry to Nevada County

Taylor: Wants to enhance economic stability in both commercial and housing industries. Wants to waive Community Development Agency (CDA) fees and put into place an incentive program. States that lack of housing is causing economic instability.

McGuire: Seeks to attract small businesses by having Nevada County back off extracting fees and higher taxes from the businesses and residents of the County. Supports clean industry and does not want more business closures.

Hall: Explained that the County just hired an economic development advisor. Appreciates tourists, and is looking at attracting new businesses, but cites difficulty with regard to limited broadband and housing opportunities.

Taylor used the opportunity for rebuttal at this point, saying, “Heidi took responsibility for creating another opportunity to do an economic study in the county,” adding, “at the end of the presentation it was crystal clear that the economic setback for the county is housing.” Taylor explained, “The reason we’re not economically stable or economically doing well, is that we don’t have any kind of housing.” Taylor asserted that “we need to focus our energy to creating housing that supports the economic future of Nevada County.” 

Wildfire Risk Mitigation

McGuire: Wanted to focus on the management of the forests rather than fire suppression. Spoke to abusive salary levels, drawing resources away from mitigation measures, including the executive director of the FireSafe Council, having “given herself a $50,000 raise every year,” resulting in a 2022 salary of $231,000. Spoke to the County’s inability to adequately provide proper ingress and egress.

Hall: States that the county is doing everything that it can and plans to invest more in efforts. ”Our program is really robust and continues to grow every year because that’s what you all want.” Had hoped that Measure V funds would have addressed these concerns, providing funding for secondary emergency access.

Taylor: Amazed at how well emergency responders are working together to be prepared for the next wildfire and stressed  the need for evacuation plans. Would like to see the Office of Emergency Services identify evacuation corridors in the event of an emergency. Emphasized the need for education efforts, including building on the notification system.

McGuire used the opportunity for rebuttal on this topic, disagreeing with the other two candidates who both claimed that wildfire risk mitigation was going as well as it could. McGuire said, “One of our local nonprofits was receiving 3 million dollars - the FireSafe Council - to help with this issue. Much of that money has gone to the salary of the Firesafe Council director. The prior director received about $50,000 salary and benefits a year, who left at the end of June 2019. The current one has given herself a fifty-thousand-dollar raise every year since. And all I hear from people when I’m out walking the district is that they’re in line for assistance and they’re not getting the assistance.” McGuire added, “The current FireSafe Council executive director is making $231,000 a year and with her husband, they make $394,000 dollars a year. With this amount of money coming in and not assisting the public, it’s inappropriate.”

Road System Management and Priorities

Hall: Noted that “the county has over 500 miles of roads to maintain.” Funds used in maintenance are drawn from the state Gas Tax, which is being reduced. Programs dependent on outside sources are a struggle. “We’ve been able to do as good a job as we can.”

Taylor: Grand Jury report suggests that the Department of Public Works is at fault, and explains that the County is ignoring the Grand Jury’s findings.

McGuire: Wants to focus on safety and maintenance and desires to find funding sources that are less reliant on Federal and State sources. Also observed that the County does not take the advice of the Grand Jury.

On this subject, Hall used her opportunity for rebuttal, explaining, “We take the Grand Jury reports very seriously, but we know what’s going on inside the county for the most part.” She also claimed that there’s not much to decide as “almost 90% of the work we do is state-mandated,” further explaining, “so this idea that we should not take state or federal funding, or reject it, or move it around, is not even really feasible.”

Nevada County General Plan

Taylor: Latitude that exists from the 1992 General Plan update is sufficient and shouldn’t be modified.

McGuire: Wants to put principles above party. Does not want to see modifications to the General Plan.

Hall: Wants to update elements of the General Plan, rather than a wholesale update.

Homeless Population and Interim Housing

McGuire: Said “The cost of living has an impact on creating homelessness, as well as mental issues and drug abuse,” noting the costs of current solutions, such as the Ranch House “$4.4 million dollars to house six people there that had some mental health issues, that could be used in such a more valuable way to help homeless people.” 

Hall: Tripled investment for the homeless population and wants to do more. Primary concern is health and safety and defended the development of the Ranch House despite the high costs of developing it. Notes that she works with “some of our really great local activists.”

Taylor: Criticized the ability of the County to count and assess the level of homelessness. States that upwards of one thousand people are experiencing homelessness. Cited failures of code compliance to respond to complaints from neighbors of squatters.Taylor asserted a solution to the housing shortage is to provide a pathway to recertify septic systems to allow for additional bedrooms, RV parking, or Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs): “immediately we can start putting people in housing legally by recertifying the septic system.”

McGuire used her second rebuttal here, saying the County is over-regulating and inhibiting the small home movement. Returning to her defense of the private sector, she stated, “We need to increase support for the private sector … they’re the backbone of our economy.” She described the situation of a few years ago, when they were selling park model homes in Nevada County. “It was the county’s policies that stopped that.”

Cannabis Industry

Hall: Proud to support a compliance program for the cannabis community. Has invested in regulating and enforcing illegal cannabis grows.

Taylor: County’s licensing program has a very low compliance rate (5%). Would like to see one dispensary located in each Supervisor District. He noted the need to dispense cannabis in a safe place, enabling taxes to be collected locally from cannabis sales.

McGuire: Cites the need to protect property owner rights. County complaints are not enforced to a great extent and the District Attorney and Sheriff should do more. Grows should be placed in nonresidential areas.

Main Concerns

McGuire: Fiscal concerns. County continues to go $10-20 million over budget year after year and the poor management of the budget is the responsibility of the Board of Supervisors.

Hall: Refuted statements that budget is not being managed, claiming the County is “frugal” and has “won awards”. Seeks to address areas such as homeless housing and climate change.

Taylor: Fiscal responsibilities. The salaries for Nevada County employees amount to $134M, and after that there is nothing left. Also discussed the need for fire preparedness and housing.

Home Hardening

Hall: Home hardening is a risk mitigation activity that can be undertaken. Wants the community to invest more and do more, emphasizing the importance of Firewise Communities.

Taylor: We are having a national problem with fire insurance, and it is delusional to believe that house hardening is going to result in reduced insurance costs.

McGuire: Insurance costs are unsustainable, and proposes working with the Insurance Commissioner to develop guidelines and solutions more specific to Nevada County.

Waste Management

Taylor: Satisfied with the performance of Waste Management. Has not heard complaints from constituents, but opposes “filming your garbage.”

McGuire: Sees no problems with Waste Management.

Hall: There are no choices when it comes to disposing of waste; Waste Management is the only company willing to do it. Foresees that our county will recycle organic waste and that it is going to be very expensive.

County Staff Levels

McGuire: Staffing level is adequate, but pay levels are unsustainable. The Board of Supervisors needs to “get real” and get salary levels in line with the private sector. “It really is unsustainable and we can’t run our county into the ground.”

Hall: Pointed out that there are 850 staff, down from highs of over 1,050 employees in 2003. Seeks to contract out more services to nonprofits and outside contractors. Asserted that counties compete for talent and are subject to market forces, with the State and Federal government contributing two-thirds of all funding.

Taylor: Argued that contracted labor is not being accounted for. When factoring in contracted employment, County government is at unsustainable levels.

Affordable Housing for Low Income and Senior Residents

Hall: Wants low-income tax credits to build more housing for Nevada County. Noted that government provides assistance for renters and first-time homebuyers.

Taylor: Proposed recertifying septic systems to allow garage and office conversions into new bedrooms and increase the number of ADUs. Would like to waive permitting and CDA fees for housing less than 1,200 square feet.

McGuire: Would like to see private sector support, reduce the difficulties with the permitting process, and reduce fees related to building housing.

Hall Discusses Election Transparency Lawsuit

Paul Emery from KVMR asked for the candidates to provide their opinions on the proposal to re-open the Idaho-Maryland Mine. Since the question had been asked in a similar way already, all three candidates merely reiterated that they couldn’t answer the question. 

In response, Hall proceeded to use her time to attack another candidate, bringing up a recent court case (Young v. Nevada County) in which McGuire was the attorney representing a Nevada County citizen who had requested public records that the County illegally denied to provide (after being denied public records, McGuire’s client sued Nevada County and won). “While I support government transparency, this lawsuit had no legitimate reason to begin with and achieved nothing in the end.” 

Closing Remarks

Candidates were given two minutes each for closing remarks.

McGuire: Addressed Hall’s claims by asserting, “We have a member of the public asking for public records,” and explained that San Francisco County provides online the same records for its residents that her client was seeking from Nevada County. “If the Secretary of State had a problem with that, they would have shut down San Francisco County.” She added “it was a valid case; it set some precedent.” McGuire said that the public under the Public Records Act “has a fundamental right to see what their government officers are doing.” She related this to one reason she is running for supervisor: “I am seeking transparency, as I indicated before, in government, and I think that’s crucial. … It’s a constitutional right as well as a statutory right that our legislature has recognized.” 

Hall: Reiterated areas that County work covers, such as housing, homelessness, etc. “to make this a better place to live.” Concerned that her opponents had criticisms and created problems “that simply don’t exist” and are a “distraction from the real issues.” She mentioned her 35 years in public service being parts of large agencies. Described her work as creating policies and “allowing staff to develop the programs that follow the policies,” as well as “taking in your information and your complaints, that is the work that we have to do here.” 

Taylor: “I will be fiscally responsible. I will create housing. I will keep fire preparedness a priority.” He then brought up a specific issue - that the Board of Supervisors appointed both the auditor-controller and the tax collector for a full term despite the fact that these are elected positions. Taylor showed disappointment that the public is not being given a chance to elect these representatives in a special election. He reiterated that the Board of Supervisors also has not taken the Grand Jury seriously. 

Attend Future Candidate Forums

Upcoming forums (to be held at the Rood Center): 

Board of Supervisors District 2, Wednesday, January 24th, 6-7:30 p.m.

California State Assembly District 1, Tuesday, January 30th, 6-7:30 p.m.