Three years, nine months and two days after the Dixie Fire burned Greenville to the ground, the Plumas County Board of Supervisors adopted guidelines for spending insurance and fire settlement funds. The action May 6 followed 80 minutes of sometimes angry public comment — not all of it focused on the two-page resolution. The board discussion and vote took less than a minute.
At issue was establishing principles and priorities for allocating the $7.8 million Plumas County won in a settlement with Pacific Gas and Electric Company for damages caused by the Dixie Fire. PG&E has admitted responsibility for starting the fire, which burned nearly one million acres. The guidelines also apply to insurance funds paid to the county for fire damages to county-owned property.
Since announcing the settlement fund Jan. 17, 2023, the supervisors have spent just $450,000 of the $7.8 million: $10,000 to fund a feral cat spayathon and an estimated $440,919 to fund a Dixie Fire coordinator position for two years. The rest has been up for grabs, with many hands reaching out and no set priorities in place to guide the supervisors’ awards.
“There’s a big pot of money sitting out there and people would like to utilize it for lots of different purposes,” said Supervisor Mimi Hall. The goal of the resolution before the board was to provide a foundational framework to ensure how the available PG&E Dixie Fire Settlement funds are allocated, she said.
Anger and accusations
The generally staid boardroom was packed May 6 with citizens largely from Greenville and Indian Falls. Many lost their homes in the Dixie Fire. Some carried signs from a demonstration held before the board meeting in front of the Plumas County Courthouse. Most were protesting the proposed use of wildfire recovery funds on projects outside of the burn scar.
Despite the intent of approving the two-page resolution, public comments focused on issues that careened from workshops with post-it notes, to a swimming pool, to potential conflicts of interest for Supervisor Kevin Goss, who represents most of the communities destroyed in the Dixie Fire.
Lara Wheeler, who introduced herself as a community volunteer, raised a specific complaint about an ad hoc committee, formed April 15 when the supervisors held their first in-depth discussion of principles and priorities for expending the Dixie Fire funds. Wheeler referenced a previous ad hoc committee, also created by the board, which she said included more community members. “And then the meetings were disbanded, and now we have a new ad hoc committee,” said Wheeler. “How did that happen?”
The ad hoc committee created by a 5-0 vote April 15 is composed of the board chair (currently Goss), the vice-chair (currently Hall), county counsel (currently Josh Brechtel in an interim position) and unspecified county department heads. Wheeler criticized it for not including community members. “You’re seeing a lot of people that don’t have a voice,” she said.
Goss responded: “We have had so many public meetings <when> you were there… I can’t imagine you didn’t have the opportunity to do public input.”
Hall added that since April 15 she and Goss have met with numerous community groups, including Indian Valley Recreation and Park District, Dixie Fire Collaborative, Indian Valley Community Services District and Plumas Housing Council.
Karen Morcomb, who has rebuilt three houses in Greenville, mentioned failing infrastructure issues in Greenville – streets, sidewalks, water and standing dead trees – and the time it is taking the town to recover. “If you can’t do anything in four years, you probably can’t do anything. And I really want Greenville to come back.”
“I am tired of not being clear, not having the transparency.”
Rhonna Kramer
Rhonna Kramer, whose family has been in Indian Valley for 50 years, said her issue was feeling left out: “I am tired of not being clear, not having the transparency that should be out there for all to see… Nobody feels like they’ve been in the loop. And I know you guys are working hard. I do.”
Cindy Crimm spoke for many when she said, “Let’s keep that money, most of that money, in the burn scar area, for the people that are still suffering and will suffer for many, many years to come.”
Funds to stay in the burn scar area
The resolution before the supervisors May 6 was very clear on Crimm’s point. It prioritizes unobligated Dixie Fire funds for “the most impacted 2021 Dixie Fire affected communities of Greenville, Canyon Dam, Indian Falls, and Warner Valley — even where ownership resides with non-county public and nonprofit entities.” That’s a change from the draft resolution they considered April 15, said Hall.
“Instead of saying ‘Dixie fire impacted communities,’ we’ve named them.”
Mimi Hall, Plumas County supervisor
“Instead of saying ‘Dixie fire impacted communities,’ we’ve named them. So there’s no question as to what communities we’re talking about,” she said.
Each of the three priorities in the new resolution lists Greenville, Canyon Dam, Indian Falls, and Warner Valley. Only Greenville and Canyon Dam were mentioned in the April 15 draft principles and priorities, and only once.
Some of the public attending the May 6 meeting were there because of a section of the draft spending resolution that proposed investing in the county infrastructure “for ongoing economic return on investment.” It specifically cited the Plumas-Sierra County Fairgrounds as a possible object for a Dixie funds investment opportunity. During the April 15 discussion, Plumas County Planning Director Tracey Ferguson added airports as another county facility that could generate economic benefits with increased investment.
The public reaction to that discussion apparently spurred Goss and Hall to revisit the resolution. The new one makes no mention of using Dixie Fire funds for infrastructure investments. The Dixie Fire funds are “all going to go to the burn scar area and direct county losses,” Goss told The Plumas Sun in an April 21 telephone conversion he initiated after revising the resolution.
“Pass this resolution”
Many speakers at the May 6 meeting urged the supervisors to move forward with spending guidelines. “We’ve been busy for almost four years, and we’re just now looking at a plan to try and put things together. We would hate to see that get derailed by negative comments and misinformation and slander and outright lies,” said David Preston, a 50-year Greenville resident.
Plumas County Sheriff Todd Johns, who wore a suit and not a sheriff’s uniform to the meeting, also spoke as a citizen, addressing the negativity. “Everybody wants to attack everybody without trying to solve something that <the supervisors> have been trying to do for three years. Now they’re trying to get some direction… We’ve been talking about this craziness for over an hour and a half now, and I just hope that you pass this resolution,” Johns said to the supervisors.
“No white knight is going to come riding over the hill and save us. “
David Preston
Preston was one of several speakers who emphasized the importance of cooperation: “No white knight is going to come riding over the hill and save us. We have to work together, collaborate together.”
Hall said, “I feel like we’re all saying the same thing, even though it sounds like we’re not. I don’t think there’s anyone in this room that says, ‘Let’s not spend the money in the burn scar area.’”
The supervisors approved the resolution 5-0. Its overarching purpose is to restore the county’s long-term resilience and recovery “where it is most needed.” The resolution also directs county staff to plan a public workshop in Indian Valley to be held no later than June 6. It will convene as a special meeting of the board of supervisors, Hall said.
The approved resolution includes the following principles and priorities:
Text from the resolution
Principles
The Board of Supervisors will expend unobligated County of Plumas 2021 Dixie Fire Settlement funds while following these principles:
- Value readiness and ensure transparency and accountability.
- Leverage resources and avoid duplication, build community resilience, and sustain recovery efforts to maximize long-term impact.
- Restore the County’s stability and protect its future sustainability.
Priorities
The Board of Supervisors will prioritize the expenditure of the County of Plumas 2021 Dixie Fire Settlement funds while implementing these priorities:
- Support recovery and rebuilding projects and programs in the most impacted 2021 Dixie Fire affected communities of Greenville, Canyon Dam, Indian Falls, and Warner Valley.
- Rebuild non-County-owned public infrastructure in the most impacted 2021 Dixie Fire affected communities of Greenville, Canyon Dam, Indian Falls, and Warner Valley.
- Rebuild the Sheriff’s Substation, Greenville Library, and Greenville Town Hall County-owned public infrastructure and reimburse County organizational losses.
