Shasta Supervisor calls public comment “grandstanding,” adopts tighter rules, ignores IHSS wage pleas

The Shasta County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday, February 10, 2026, at the county administration building in Redding. What unfolded over the course of the morning was a meeting defined by the gulf between the people who showed up to speak and the board members who mostly declined to listen — culminating in new restrictions on public comment, an ongoing measles communication failure, and the continued silence on IHSS worker wages.

Public Comment Dominated by IHSS Workers Demanding a Fair Contract

The most powerful testimony of the day came from approximately eight In-Home Supportive Services workers and union representatives who used their two minutes each to lay bare the reality of caregiving in Shasta County.

IHSS workers are currently paid approximately $18.50 an hour with no benefits — no medical, no dental, no retirement. Their union bargaining team had been negotiating for a $2 raise over the course of a three-year contract. The county initially countered with zero. Then it offered $0.40 over three years — nothing the first year, $0.20 the second year, and $0.20 the third. The union dropped its ask in good faith, using the county's own $0.40 figure distributed across each year.

Then the county rescinded even that offer.

One IHSS worker described the timeline bluntly: "You finally offered a slap in the face with $0.40 raise to be distributed over a three-year contract... Then you rescinded your offer. Before we could even exhale on the shock, you voted a 4% raise, a cost-of-living raise for yourselves."

She continued: "You've all failed this community in the most egregious and self-serving manner. Not a single one of you can uphold your head with any level of integrity or dignity."

Another worker described her day: "By 8:30, I was cleaning human feces off of a bathroom floor, a hallway floor, and out of my client's bed. Then I had to bathe my client and then proceed to do the same thing with two other clients throughout the day, along with feeding them, doing their laundry, and giving them their medication, including shots. Take a walk in our shoes and tell me that we don't deserve livable wage."

Board member salaries sit at approximately $85,024 per year — roughly $44.28 an hour — compared to the roughly $35,000 a year an IHSS worker earns at full time. Speakers noted that the board accepted a 59% salary increase in 2024, followed by the 4% cost-of-living bump.

One speaker cited data showing that over $6 million in state and federal matching funds are available to support the wage increase, meaning the county's actual cost would be minimal. She also noted the county has a 19% vacancy rate in human services and that 4.4% of IHSS allotted hours went unused — meaning vulnerable clients went without showers, food, or rides to the doctor.

The workers briefly chanted "Fair contract now!" — prompting Chair Chris Kelstrom to threaten a recess and tell them: "You guys need to leave."

Not a single board member responded to any of the IHSS testimony.

Measles Outbreak: Eight Cases, Minimal Communication

Dr. James Mu, the county's Public Health Officer, gave his annual presentation on 2025 activities and 2026 priorities. The problem: the presentation was prepared before the current measles outbreak, and he had not updated it.

At the time of the meeting, Shasta County accounted for 8 of the state's 17 confirmed measles cases — nearly half the statewide total, despite representing a tiny fraction of California's population.

Multiple public speakers criticized the county's failure to communicate proactively. Several noted they learned the case count from the California Department of Public Health before hearing it from their own county. The county no longer sends regular press releases, instead expecting the public and media to seek out information independently.

Supervisor Alan Long prompted Dr. Mu to provide an update for the public, asking directly whether residents should be concerned. Dr. Mu said the eight confirmed cases were among close family members and neighbors and did not currently pose a broader public threat. Chair Kelstrom had to prompt him at the end of his presentation to offer any public health guidance at all, at which point Dr. Mu stated: "Vaccine does prevent measles. So it's not too late if you're not fully vaccinated for measles. So get vaccinated."

Several speakers raised pointed questions about Supervisor Kevin Crye's business, the Ninja Coalition — a children's gym — which was one of the measles exposure sites.

Speakers stated that the Ninja Coalition was not disclosed as an exposure location for days after other sites were publicly identified. Steve Kohn alleged a possible cover-up and asked directly: "Were you covering it up? Did you have Health and Human Services keep that information quiet?"

Amber Bush, whose daughter has special needs, testified that if she and her family had been exposed it would have been without any prior warning. "This is not okay that we were not told that this was going on," she said. "This is not okay that we walked in here."

Crye, for his part, framed the measles discussion in terms of personal choice. "I think it's really important people just make their own medical decisions," he said, referencing Robert Kennedy Jr.'s views on vaccines. He acknowledged his own children are vaccinated but positioned the issue as: "It's your choice." When someone in the audience laughed during his remarks about Kennedy, Crye snapped: "You can laugh all you want, but the reality is — hey, that's enough." Kelstrom followed up: "Don't yell out and interrupt the meeting. That's your warning."

The Board Restricts Public Comment Under the Guise of State Compliance

The most structurally significant item of the meeting was R6: the board's response to SB 707, a state law requiring two-way remote public participation in board meetings by July 1, 2026.

Staff presented a plan to implement a hybrid meeting platform called Public Input, estimated at $192,090 over five years. The software would allow online and phone-in speaker registration, with kiosks in the building lobby for those without devices.

But the platform came packaged with new public comment restrictions that go well beyond what SB 707 requires. The proposed rules: 20 minutes total per agenda item, 2 minutes per speaker (down from 3), a maximum of 4 agenda items per speaker per meeting, and registration opening at 8:00 AM the morning of the meeting.

The practical effect: roughly 10 speakers per item, hard-capped.

Chair Kelstrom framed SB 707 itself as an attack: "This county fought it all the way through. I mean, we fought it in committee. We fought it when it went to the governor's desk." He characterized remote access as a threat to in-person speakers: "Literally somebody phoning in from the Ukraine can bump you and be first in line before the people have come here. It's absolutely ridiculous."

Supervisor Crye went further, dismissing the value of public comment altogether: "Really this has just become grandstanding. That's all this is. Most of the people even that are in here today, it's just about like getting their three minutes because there's no other place for them to be." He called public comment "superfluous" and "a waste of county time," then made the motion to approve the restrictive staff proposal as-is.

Supervisor Harmon seconded the motion, calling the situation a "nice, organized train wreck."

Supervisor Plummer was the sole voice pushing for something less restrictive. He made a substitute motion to extend total comment time to 30 minutes per item and limit speakers to 3 agenda items, pointing out the obvious risk: "What if we do this and the first 10 people who sign up are non-local callers? Nobody here in the room will actually get to comment on it because we've tightened it so much that we're only allowing 10 speakers."

His substitute motion died for lack of a second. No other board member would support it.

CEO David Rickert offered his own justification: "We're trying to get county business done here, and that's gonna be a significant challenge for us. And please remember, we did not come up with this." He estimated even the tight restrictions would allow for two hours and 20 minutes of comment on a typical meeting — then argued that loosening the rules even slightly would result in "three to four hours of public comment for every meeting."

Dawn Duckett appealed to the board during public comment: "Public testimony shouldn't be treated as a nuisance or an inconvenience, but it's really the foundation of a representative government."

When the item came back for a final vote with one public speaker remaining, that speaker was Benjamin Nowain, who addressed the board directly: "Congratulations. You figured out how to blame California State Government for your own actions to reduce public participation."

Nowain also put the board's opposition to SB 707 in personal terms. In 2024, he filed an ADA request so his wife could safely sit in the boardroom without seizure risk from flash photography. The request was denied. They were told about SB 707 as a future alternative. "So to hear now that they fought it after telling us that — how are citizens supposed to feel?" he said. "For a while now, I've been watching ongoing attempts to reduce public comment, move it around, shorten it, and remove people who speak out... You can keep treating participation like a problem to manage instead of the whole point of these meetings. But every time you do that, more people feel pushed out of their own government."

The restrictive proposal passed 5-0.

Plummer asks for public input after meeting

After the meeting concluded on social media Matt Plummer posted a video asking the community for feedback about the new restrictive rules set to be put in place on July 1st 2026.

Crye Calls Public Speaker "A Loser"

After Chair Kelstrom denied public comment on R4 — someone in the audience yelled out. Chair Kelstrom told them to stop. Supervisor Crye's response: "He's a loser."

It was one of several moments in the meeting where board members were dismissive or hostile toward the public. Kelstrom also ejected a constituent during the SB 707 presentation after an earlier warning, and cut another constituent's microphone when she deviated from the agenda during R3, saying: "If you're not going to stick to R3, we will cut her mic."

Clerk/Registrar Electioneering Allegation Fizzles

Supervisor Long brought R4 to the agenda based on constituent concerns about whether County Clerk/Registrar Clint Curtis used public resources for electioneering. The allegation stemmed from a comment Curtis made to the press during a tour with dignitaries at the elections facility.

County Counsel Joseph Larmour determined the incident was incidental use under both California Government Code 8314 and county policy — not a violation. Long accepted the conclusion. No vote was required, and no further action was taken.

Kelstrom moved on without allowing any public comment, stating: "There's no vote. It's not a votable item."

Other Agenda Items

Employee of the Month (R1): Jessica Stork, a social worker with the Adult Protective Services unit, was recognized as Shasta County Employee of the Month for February 2026. Approved 5-0.

CEO Report (R2): CEO David Rickert reported on a sex offender compliance operation with the Sheriff's Office and announced that Miranda Angel has been selected as the county's new Public Information Officer, Legislative Advocate, and Community Engagement Officer. Individual supervisors gave updates on a range of topics including county finances, homelessness data, wolf depredation, the Corrections and Rehabilitation Campus, community service area water rate studies, and civic engagement efforts.

Public Health Officer Report (R3): Dr. Mu reported on physician recruitment data for the first time — 49 medical providers recruited to the Mercy Medical Center region in 2025, with roughly 50% of graduating residents staying in the area. He proposed launching a public health officer newsletter targeting the medical community. Board discussion touched on the potential medical school, exit interview data, and the measles outbreak discussed above.

Strategic Plan Extension (R5): The ad hoc committee requested an extension from April 7 to May 19, citing staff workload during budget season. Approved 5-0.

Aloha Psychiatry Contract (C5, pulled from consent): Supervisor Plummer pulled this item for discussion due to the contract increasing from $2 million to $4.3 million. Staff explained the jump was driven by losing an internal nurse practitioner, difficulty recruiting a chief of psychiatry, and an overly conservative initial estimate. If the county fills positions internally, the contract costs would decrease. Approved 5-0.

Consent Calendar: Approved 5-0 with C5 pulled separately.

Closed Session (R7, R8): Two items were heard in closed session involving litigation and a personnel matter related to the Public Works Director's departure. No reportable action.

What Went Unaddressed

Several significant issues raised during public comment received no response from the board:

• The IHSS wage dispute — the dominant theme of the meeting — was met with total silence. No board member acknowledged the testimony, offered a timeline for resolving the impasse, or addressed the juxtaposition of rescinding the workers' offer while voting themselves a raise.

  
  

• A community member presented a detailed statistical counter-argument to the board's and Sheriff's characterization of the state reentry program, citing page-specific data from the Stanford study they reference. No board member engaged with the substance of his critique.

  
  

• The measles communication failure was discussed extensively during R3 and public comment, but the board did not direct staff to take any specific action on improving communication or disclosing exposure sites more promptly.

  
  

• And the question of why Supervisor Crye's gym was not disclosed as an exposure site in the same timeframe as other locations went entirely unaddressed by the board.

  
  

And that's the meeting review.