March 11, 2021 A property on Whitmore Lane, just outside Ukiah city limits, is out of commission even as its potential uses multiply.
Last March, CEO Carmel Angelo commandeered a former skilled nursing facility to use as an alternate care site for people who did not have another safe place to isolate or quarantine during the pandemic. According to a CEO report from April of last year, “the monthly lease rate of $31,550 is approximately $415 per bed, per month.” That comes out to 76 beds, but no one has been in the building since February 11. The county bought the building in August with $2.2 million of CARES Act funding.
Mach 8, 2021 About half the Caucasian population in Mendocino County has been vaccinated, compared to 16% of the Hispanic population. Still, with case rates dropping, Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren says the county could enter the red tier by the middle of this month.
The county Planning Commission unanimously approved a subdivision of parcels on Feliz Creek in Hopland for more winemaking, with the possibility of publicly available walking trails on a 40-acre parcel in the floodplain.
And the county has likely missed its opportunity to purchase Old Howard Hospital, with another potential buyer taking steps to secure the property.
The topic of possibly using Measure B money to buy Old Howard Hospital for a psychiatric health facility surfaced at the January meeting of the Measure B citizens oversight commission, which decided to leave the matter to ad hoc committees of the Board of Supervisors and the Willits City Council. In 2018, when the site was first being considered
February 24, 2021 The Board of Supervisors approved a $200,000 increase to a contract with an armed guard service to monitor people in quarantine at hotels or Whitmore Lane, the county-owned quarantine facility just outside Ukiah city limits.
The outbreak at Mountain View, a long-term care home in Ukiah, is up to 23 cases, with two people now deceased. Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren said the outbreak grew rapidly during the full week it took for a positive staff member’s test result to get back from a lab in Texas.
The eligible age for people to get the vaccine in the county has been lowered to 65, and starting in mid-March, people 16 and older with certain health conditions or disabilities will also be eligible.
Jan 29, 2021 A renewed interest in using the old Howard Hospital in Willits as a psychiatric health facility revived community outcry and intimations of NIMBYism.
The half-cent mental health sales tax enacted by Measure B has been in effect for about three of its five years. So far, a little over twenty one and a half million dollars have been collected. Some of the money has been used to purchase a training center in Redwood Valley and hire a contractor to remodel it. The architect Nacht and Lewis, which is also designing a new jail for the county, is almost finished with architectural plans for a Crisis Residential Treatment facility in Ukiah.