Arnold, CA…For the past few weeks Calaveras County has felt like a slow moving train wreck. There is a tremendous amount of noise in any train wreck, but in this case no one is listening. And no one seems to notice that the train wreck is actually the future of Calaveras County. The train left the station in May of 2016 when the Calaveras Board of Supervisors passed an “Urgency Ordinance” with a vote of 4 to 1. The ordinance prescribed rules and regulations for the legal cultivation of cannabis in Calaveras County.
By November, the four County Supervisors who voted ‘yes’ were out of a job. Two lost in recall elections and the other two declined to seek reelection.
The result is a Board of Supervisors with no institutional memory, and except for one member, zero practical experience as elected officials. They are driving blind. They think the red handle in the engine cab is the brake, but it’s actually the accelerator.
To add to the confusion, Jack Garamendi, the only moderate member of the board, was served with a recall petition last week for his support of tightly regulated cannabis cultivation.
The opinions of Calaveras residents are no less head spinning than the 180-degree turn made by the Board of Supervisors.
Measure C, which would have taxed the cannabis industry in Calaveras County, passed easily in November, 2016 with a 68% margin. On the same ballot, voters defeated Measure D, which would have set permanent regulations for the cannabis industry.
It’s only fair to admit that I also worked though my own change of heart. Although I strongly believe that simple possession of marijuana should be decriminalized, I voted against Proposition 64 which legalized recreational use of marijuana in California.
However, on the same ballot I voted for Measure D. My thinking was that if Prop 64 failed, the Calaveras cannabis management plan would be unnecessary. But if it passed, the cultivation plan would be an intelligent and orderly mechanism with which to manage its growth, provide for strict environmental protections, and run the illegal growers out of town.
Central to any discussion regarding regulated cannabis cultivation in Calaveras are the economic impacts for a county that is among the poorest in the state. A recent study by the University of the Pacific (UOP) looked at the question.
Their analysis focused only on commercial growers who registered under the Urgency Ordinance and measured the financial impact of a single year; 2016.
Their conclusions are jaw dropping:
Sales value (gross): $251 million
Direct employment (jobs): 2,605
Direct labor income (wages): $148 million
When you add the potential sales figures from local stores and services provided by local contractors the total financial impact for one year of cannabis cultivation rises to $339 million!
If a complete ban on the cultivation of cannabis is approved by the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors – and right now it looks like it will pass 3-2 or even 4-1 – here’s what’s likely to happen:
• The $339 million impact on the local economy, along with the tax revenues, and the 2,605 jobs forecast by UOP, will leave Calaveras County and likely, never return.
• Calaveras will be forced to refund the $7 million dollars that has been collected from growers. The County has already spent $3.7 million dollars on permit processing, inspections, and regulations. They borrowed additional funds from the General Fund for law enforcement to eradicate illegal grows and promised to to pay it back from future taxes on growers.
• Currently, the County has no surplus funds, so in order to refund the $3.7 million dollars in fees they already spent, more money will have to come from the General Fund.
• According to the County Administrative Officer, Tim Lutz, the General Fund is looking at a $5.1 million structural deficit for the current fiscal year. The General Fund can only be balanced by eliminating programs and cutting staff – friends and neighbors who work on our roads, provide public safety, and keep local government functioning.
• Those growers who made their applications, paid their fees, and invested millions of dollars for infrastructure will not be happy with the ban. It’s fairly certain that many growers will sue Calaveras County to recoup their losses. And given the contradictory actions of the Board of Supervisors, they will present a very strong case. The payout for litigation and settlements could easily run to tens of millions of dollars. These payouts could exceed the County’s liability insurance and the insurers could cite the flip-flop decisions by the Board as grounds for refusing to pay the claims.
• Either the County will float a bond to pay the claims, forcing property owners to pay interest and principle for decades, or in the worst case, file for bankruptcy.
• Should bankruptcy occur, every property owner will see the value of their real estate decline, every business will watch their bottom line shrink, and every economically challenged person will find little or no help at the county level.
That’s the train wreck no one is hearing, and that’s the sound it’s already making.
If you care about the future of Calaveras County, if you don’t want to see your taxes wasted on cleaning up a train wreck that can be prevented, and if you don’t want to watch the value of your home or earnings from your business plummet, you only have one choice.
Pick up the phone, call your County Supervisor and tell them to stop the runaway train and stop the ban. Make sure that they clearly understand that you will not sit still while they destroy Calaveras County.
And be sure to tell them that come next election, you will never forget who was driving the train.
Supervisor District One – Gary Tofanelli – San Andreas, Valley Springs – (209) 286-9002
Supervisor District Two – Jack Garamendi – Mokelumne Hill, Mountain Ranch – (209) 286-9003
Supervisor District Three – Michael Oliveira – Arnold, Murphys – (209) 286-9007
Supervisor District Four – Dennis Mills – Angels Camp, Copperopolis – (209) 286-9050
Supervisor District Five – Clyde Clapp – Rancho Calaveras – (209) 286-9059
David Vassar is a Writer and Resident of Calaveras County
TRAIN WRECK, A Calaveras County Resident Warns of the Coming Disaster by David Vassar added by admin on
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what is your trip David? BAN!
Thanks for clearly describing the situation and potential consequences. Scary. NO BAN!
As we know most people use their emotions and not their intellect to make decisions as seen in our recent national election. Here in Calaveras County the majority operate this way, Yes we need to call our sups and pass the word. The grows will continue anyway and the damage to the environment will continue so why are people against it?
As we know most people use their emotions and not their intellect to make decisions as seen in our recent national election. Here in Calaveras County the majority operate this way, Yes we need to call our sups and pass the word. The grows will continue anyway and the damage to the environment will continue so why are people against it?
You did a good job but forgot to mention
1. Grow will continue as it has for generations here
2. Unenforceable because money for law enforcement disappears
3. Cartel returns with all the dangers they bring
4. Upkeep of roads and other county works gets worse
5. Welfare increases with job loss
6. Taxes increase again
The ban is shortsighted and irresponsible
Allow me to quote an old Sage, Lao Tzu, 500 yrs before Christ…As we pride ourselves in dissecting and articulating the problems before us, these problems still exist through generations…Lao says “LAW AFTER LAW BREEDS A MULTITUDE OF THIEVES…”
There will be no change. If you like it the way it is now it will stay that way. If you want it to be different you run the risk of not liking the change. The pot industry will be taken over by the tobacco industry with factory farms and processing regardless of how you proceed. If you are lucky you will benefit. If you are not lucky you will not.
“But if it passed, the cultivation plan would be an intelligent and orderly mechanism with which to manage its growth, provide for strict environmental protections, and run the illegal growers out of town”.
Not too many things coming out of any political office is intelligent & orderly. My questions would be:
1. How would growth be managed. Will they limit how many “legal” growers can obtain a permit? Or maybe limit it by acreage? If it’s such a huge business, if not careful Calaveras County will chase out homeowners, some of whom have lived here for generations to be overtaken by marijuana farms.
2. Strict environmental protections? What does that entail? Forcing the growers/plants inside? Making them recirculate or clean the water that will run off. Because I’m sorry, have you ever stood next to a marijuana plant? They reek & I can’t imaging living next to a marijuana farm & having to smell that all the time & the runoff from the water/soils will get into the rivers/lakes, etc…
3. How would you run the “illegal” growers out of town? Because it hasn’t happened yet that I can see so why would this cultivation plan be any different?
I understand the need for tax revenue, but at what cost to the people of Calaveras County both financially & physically? At this point, it looks like we’re “damned if we do & damned if we don’t”.
It is to bad the spent board doesn’t get it. I am not interested in recreational pot. I would rather have a nice glass of wine. I do support medical Marijuana however. If people think that pot growing will go away if banned, they are crazy. It will comtinue illegally and unregulated and our county will go broke. The board is listening to people who do not have their facts straight and don’t care about our county. Very sad!!!
The choice here seems simple to me. There is going to be cultivation in this county. They’re not just going away. I want to know who they are and want to know they are going to be held to high standards. It’s hard to ignore the positive monetary aspects to the citizens of this county as well as the devastating consequences economically should we bury our heads in the sand and allow the hair on fire supervisors to lead us down the path. It doesn’t make you pro drug to see things clearly. I’m not politically active but you can bet your bottom dollar that I will get involved to oust the people who would deny us the protection of a well thought out plan to regulate cultivation.