Tuesday, March 4, 2014 column by Jim Chapman • The tale of two rooms

Publisher’s note: This column by Lassen County District 2 Supervisor Jim Chapman originally appeared in the Tuesday, March 4, 2014 edition of the Lassen County Times.

Crowded seats and crowded hallways are commonplace now days at the board of supervisors’ meetings when controversial issues are on the agenda. Local government is the closest to the people and the level of government that realizes the greatest citizen participation.

In 1987 the board of supervisors vacated its boardroom in the courthouse annex when it moved to its present quarters. This accommodated the court system and allowed the Justice Court to move out of the basement of the historic courthouse into more suitable quarters. Twenty-seven years ago the road department had purchased the former forest supervisor’s office building at 707 Nevada St. and, with their move, the Planning Department and the board joined them.

From 1917 until 1960 the board met on the second floor of the historic courthouse in an 800 square foot room. When the annex was built in 1960, the board relocated to a room that was 900 square feet and remained there until the move in 1987. The boardroom, which is used today, is only 640 square feet and has 30 to 40 seats for the general public, 20 less than the old boardroom in the annex.

When the annex boardroom was developed, new chairs were purchased for the public and board members. When the board moved to its current location in 1987, these chairs moved too. About 40 of the audience chairs are still in use today in the boardroom, and are at least 50 years old and have become quite uncomfortable.

The board chairs did not hold up as well. When I first sat in my seat in the boardroom as a new member in 1977, those chairs were already 15 years old. Sometime around 1992, while then First District Supervisor Hughes deMartimprey was sitting next to me, his chair collapsed and he tumbled out the door to the room behind us. After 40 years of use, those four-wheeled chairs could no longer be fixed and were retired for the current five-wheeled chairs used by the board the past 20 years.

The point of this little tale of two rooms is the critics from the chattering class have decided to make an issue of the board decision to return to Courthouse Square and reoccupy the space the board gave up 27 years ago, since the courts have moved to their new courthouse. The proposed boardroom in the annex is 1,400 square feet and will double public seating to about 85 people. More importantly, maybe we can retire those 50-year-old chairs and get more comfortable seating for those who stick out the daylong meetings we’ve been having. They mock the move to the new digs when it’s the public being accommodated the most by this move. The working space for the board will remain basically the same. The staff will have better accommodations and there are more than 10 departments located at Historic Courthouse Square, instead of three at the present location.

This decision has been part of the long-range planning and capital improvement program that is an inherent part of the county budgetary process. The board, employees, and county administration and departments have been frugal in managing the $100-million dollar county budget. We are debt free and have our liabilities funded. We have about $5 million in capital improvements to be made during the coming years with county facilities. Developing a new board meeting room is long overdue and is designed to enhance the public participation in the governance process.

The chattering class and critics live in a world of chaos and conflict. The rest of us work to just get the job done. It is hoped the new boardroom will be ready to use by June 10, the 150th anniversary of the first board meeting of the county in 1864.