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Manners played a significant role in Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. While things have sometimes gotten testy between the board and Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez, most everyone seemed to be on their best behavior Tuesday as the board agreed to the structure of a county audit committee, which will serve an advisory role on financial matters.
Earlier in the meeting, an applicant for a controversial 10,000-square-foot cannabis grow just outside Blue Lake accused her neighbors of bad manners, saying their mean-spirited and dishonest testimony slandered her family and convinced the county Planning Commission to deny the project.
Let’s start there, shall we? Rocci and Laura Costa had applied for a zoning clearance certificate under the county’s Commercial Medical Marijuana Land Use Ordinance, (aka Ordinance 1.0). They planned an open-air cannabis farm on Warren Creek Road, outside Blue Lake city limits but within its Community Planning Area. However, because o
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The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday once again addressed financial reporting matters at the center of a conflict between the County Administrative Office and the office of Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez.
Today’s discussion was a sequel of sorts to a special board meeting back in November when supervisors Virginia Bass and Rex Bohn sounded the alarm over “operational gaps” in the county’s fiscal reporting. These gaps, according to staff, had placed the county at risk of losing more than $14 million in state and federal reimbursement.
A staff report from today’s meeting says there are still “outstanding financial transactions” that could wind up costing the county millions, and it asks the board to “authorize” Paz Dominguez to post the transactions in question.
Humboldt County Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez. | Screenshot.
Months after launching an investigation into delayed financial transactions, the county has abruptly called off the inquiry without a resolution, and without interviewing Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez, who has been at the center of public discussion on the matter.
“I wish I had more information myself,” Paz Dominguez told the
Outpost on Friday.
The investigation, which was prompted by complaints of delays in payments, transfers and reconciliations of accounts, according to the County Administrative Office, first came to the public’s attention in November during a long and contentious special meeting of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors.
State Suspends County’s Purchasing Account for Overdue Payment; Auditor-Controller Takes Responsibility
Humboldt County staff received notice Tuesday morning that the California Department of General Services had suspended its CAL-Card purchasing account because the bill was more than 90 days overdue.
In a prepared statement, Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez took responsibility for the delay, which she attributed to a “breakdown” in her department, and she said the matter has since been dealt with.
However, a county spokesperson said this incident is just the latest in a pattern of overdue payments that threaten to cost the county millions of dollars.
“We appreciate the Auditor taking responsibility for this late payment and fees,” Deputy County Administrative Officer Sean Quincey said in an email to the