WILDLIFE CONFLICT was discussed during the Sierra County Board of Supervisors’ meeting held April 15th in Loyalton. Sheriff Mike Fisher reported that California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) published a new 86-page black bear management program. He stated it was disheartening that Sierra County is being lumped into the Truckee-Tahoe region and will have to follow their management protocol even though the geographic makeup is vastly different. CDFW is using statistics from 2017-2023 and had 7,200 human-bear conflicts within that time. In 2024, the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office had well over 100-150 reports of human-bear conflicts. Depredation permits and hazing are still allowed in this new program but are heavily focusing on non-lethal deterrents which include fencing, noise, and bearproof containers. From 2017-2023 depredation permits dropped from 100 to 16 statewide. Sierra County had 14 bears euthanized just last year. Fisher noted the non-lethal option is heavily favored, adding hazing can deter a bear that has not been habituated. CDFW also recommends conflict management tools like taking care of your property. Fisher encouraged residents with bear issues to make the first call to the sheriff’s office for incident tracking purposes.
Fisher arranged a recent meeting with CDFW’s Chief of Law Enforcement Nate Arnold, Director Chuck Bonham and northern California sheriffs. He stated the one thing that resonated with him was talk on CDFW needing to partner with local agencies. He feels Sierra County needs its own game warden. Fisher stated he wasn’t interested in getting into wildlife management but CDFW does allow the Board of Supervisors to appoint a game warden to a two-year term. The game warden would work with CDFW for training and expertise but remain in Sierra County. The position would need to be funded outside the general budget. He sent an email to CDFW regarding this, and as of this meeting, had not received a response. Supervisor Sharon Dryden hoped it is paid attention to by the public because the sheriff’s department is understaffed and wildlife conflicts are taking up a huge percent of its time. She felt the position should be a CDFW responsibility. Fisher stated he envisioned this would be a cross position as a deputy sheriff and a game warden. Board Chair Lee Adams said he was concerned if they do this are they allowing CDFW to abdicate its responsibility and questioned whether there would be some liability. Fisher understood, adding he was trying to address a deficit they are already having to deal with. On Friday, April 18th both Fisher and Supervisor Paul Roen were featured on Fox40 Sacramento news network who did a story on Sierra Valley ranchers and wolf attacks which has prompted Sierra and Plumas County to issue a local state of emergency. DS Ranch in Vinton was interviewed as they have had six confirmed wolf attacks with two fatal since bringing in cattle the end of March. In the three hours they filmed, two wolves were spotted stalking calves and two were found attacked.
PLUMAS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT (PUSD) was given a presentation during its regular board meeting on April 9th by Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) regarding the District’s financial situation. FCMAT’s primary mission is to help California’s local TK-14 educational agencies identify, prevent, and resolve financial, operational and data management challenges by providing management assistance and professional learning opportunities. Mike Fine, CEO of FCMAT led the discussion. He is in his 10th year with the agency with prior work as a Chief Business Official and Superintendent. He warned the audience they were going to discuss difficult topics but added it’s the first step to getting what students need in this district. Fine said they are all in this together. He talked about fiduciary duty and went over the six components: Care, Loyalty, Disclosure, Good Faith, Prudence and Duty of Confidentiality. The tone is set at the top with ethical leadership and integrity and is the first and most important thing that establishes success. Competent leaders and effective communication are guiding principles for a school district. Fine said every dollar touched is the public’s tax dollar. When they assess risks, they have 20 indicators they look at. He stated it was unacceptable to have a late audit, but in PUSD’s case the alternative was to start all over. Problems stem from mismanaged collective bargaining agreements, inadequate cash management, negative fund balance, mismanaged general fund, and turnover in leadership. He said the greatest risk is turnover with superintendents, adding no one will make progress when the CEO turns over every two years. Multi-year projections were inadequate and mismanaged giving the message that things were better than they were. Staffing accounts for 85% or more of the budget. Fine stated you cannot balance the budget on the 15% non-people side.
Fine said they focused on the district but felt it impossible for the Plumas County Office of Education (PCOE) not to be dysfunctional too. He stated although the situation appears to be sudden, at the level of dysfunction they have witnessed so far, this didn’t happen overnight. He told the audience it was Important for them to understand that the CBO and others pushed back but the previous superintendent didn’t let them “raise a flag,” adding it was easy to point fingers but it takes years to get to this point and predates the CBO.
Unrestricted General Fund Ending Balance for the next three years shows 2024-2025 at -$8,727,426, 2025-2026 -$16,082,365, and 2026-2027 -$24,217,163.
Fine stated cash insolvency will start in August. Two places to turn to would be PCOE or Plumas County Treasurer to see if they can loan some money, but Fine stated the District doesn’t have the resources to pay it back.
He said cash is king and cash shows no mercy when you don’t have it. Fine told the audience things will get worse before they get better and felt they were not going to be able to do a whole lot until the third year. PUSD’s problem is significant, the timing is difficult and there aren’t a lot of choices. The district may enter into state receivership. The formal process of receivership begins when the district requests an emergency advance apportionment from the state. The statute provides two sets of conditions of acceptance or conditions on emergency apportionments. The distinguishing characteristic of the two is the amount of the emergency apportionment requested. Type 1 is equal to or less than 200% of the district’s required reserve for economic uncertainty. PUSD will require a Type 2 apportionment which is greater than 200% of the district’s required reserve for economic uncertainty. Fine said an administrator will be given to the district and will serve under the direction of the county superintendent. The board loses authority to govern and typically the district superintendent is terminated, but since they have an interim it is not a problem. Within 30 days of assuming authority, administrator shall discuss options for resolving the fiscal problems with a variety of partners. Additionally, the administrator may implement substantial changes in the fiscal policies and practices of the district, including filing for protection under federal bankruptcy law. The return of local control occurs when the administrator’s work is complete, and a transition is made to a trustee. The return of local control is conditioned on a series of determinations and approvals, but is no less than one year following acceptance of the loan. The district will be in receivership until they can pay the loan off.
A special board meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 28th at 5:30 p.m. at Quincy High to vote on whether or not to pursue state-assisted loan funding.
Fisher arranged a recent meeting with CDFW’s Chief of Law Enforcement Nate Arnold, Director Chuck Bonham and northern California sheriffs. He stated the one thing that resonated with him was talk on CDFW needing to partner with local agencies. He feels Sierra County needs its own game warden. Fisher stated he wasn’t interested in getting into wildlife management but CDFW does allow the Board of Supervisors to appoint a game warden to a two-year term. The game warden would work with CDFW for training and expertise but remain in Sierra County. The position would need to be funded outside the general budget. He sent an email to CDFW regarding this, and as of this meeting, had not received a response. Supervisor Sharon Dryden hoped it is paid attention to by the public because the sheriff’s department is understaffed and wildlife conflicts are taking up a huge percent of its time. She felt the position should be a CDFW responsibility. Fisher stated he envisioned this would be a cross position as a deputy sheriff and a game warden. Board Chair Lee Adams said he was concerned if they do this are they allowing CDFW to abdicate its responsibility and questioned whether there would be some liability. Fisher understood, adding he was trying to address a deficit they are already having to deal with. On Friday, April 18th both Fisher and Supervisor Paul Roen were featured on Fox40 Sacramento news network who did a story on Sierra Valley ranchers and wolf attacks which has prompted Sierra and Plumas County to issue a local state of emergency. DS Ranch in Vinton was interviewed as they have had six confirmed wolf attacks with two fatal since bringing in cattle the end of March. In the three hours they filmed, two wolves were spotted stalking calves and two were found attacked.
PLUMAS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT (PUSD) was given a presentation during its regular board meeting on April 9th by Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) regarding the District’s financial situation. FCMAT’s primary mission is to help California’s local TK-14 educational agencies identify, prevent, and resolve financial, operational and data management challenges by providing management assistance and professional learning opportunities. Mike Fine, CEO of FCMAT led the discussion. He is in his 10th year with the agency with prior work as a Chief Business Official and Superintendent. He warned the audience they were going to discuss difficult topics but added it’s the first step to getting what students need in this district. Fine said they are all in this together. He talked about fiduciary duty and went over the six components: Care, Loyalty, Disclosure, Good Faith, Prudence and Duty of Confidentiality. The tone is set at the top with ethical leadership and integrity and is the first and most important thing that establishes success. Competent leaders and effective communication are guiding principles for a school district. Fine said every dollar touched is the public’s tax dollar. When they assess risks, they have 20 indicators they look at. He stated it was unacceptable to have a late audit, but in PUSD’s case the alternative was to start all over. Problems stem from mismanaged collective bargaining agreements, inadequate cash management, negative fund balance, mismanaged general fund, and turnover in leadership. He said the greatest risk is turnover with superintendents, adding no one will make progress when the CEO turns over every two years. Multi-year projections were inadequate and mismanaged giving the message that things were better than they were. Staffing accounts for 85% or more of the budget. Fine stated you cannot balance the budget on the 15% non-people side.
Fine said they focused on the district but felt it impossible for the Plumas County Office of Education (PCOE) not to be dysfunctional too. He stated although the situation appears to be sudden, at the level of dysfunction they have witnessed so far, this didn’t happen overnight. He told the audience it was Important for them to understand that the CBO and others pushed back but the previous superintendent didn’t let them “raise a flag,” adding it was easy to point fingers but it takes years to get to this point and predates the CBO.
Unrestricted General Fund Ending Balance for the next three years shows 2024-2025 at -$8,727,426, 2025-2026 -$16,082,365, and 2026-2027 -$24,217,163.
Fine stated cash insolvency will start in August. Two places to turn to would be PCOE or Plumas County Treasurer to see if they can loan some money, but Fine stated the District doesn’t have the resources to pay it back.
He said cash is king and cash shows no mercy when you don’t have it. Fine told the audience things will get worse before they get better and felt they were not going to be able to do a whole lot until the third year. PUSD’s problem is significant, the timing is difficult and there aren’t a lot of choices. The district may enter into state receivership. The formal process of receivership begins when the district requests an emergency advance apportionment from the state. The statute provides two sets of conditions of acceptance or conditions on emergency apportionments. The distinguishing characteristic of the two is the amount of the emergency apportionment requested. Type 1 is equal to or less than 200% of the district’s required reserve for economic uncertainty. PUSD will require a Type 2 apportionment which is greater than 200% of the district’s required reserve for economic uncertainty. Fine said an administrator will be given to the district and will serve under the direction of the county superintendent. The board loses authority to govern and typically the district superintendent is terminated, but since they have an interim it is not a problem. Within 30 days of assuming authority, administrator shall discuss options for resolving the fiscal problems with a variety of partners. Additionally, the administrator may implement substantial changes in the fiscal policies and practices of the district, including filing for protection under federal bankruptcy law. The return of local control occurs when the administrator’s work is complete, and a transition is made to a trustee. The return of local control is conditioned on a series of determinations and approvals, but is no less than one year following acceptance of the loan. The district will be in receivership until they can pay the loan off.
A special board meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 28th at 5:30 p.m. at Quincy High to vote on whether or not to pursue state-assisted loan funding.
