The Sheriff Marijuana Eradication Team funding has gotten a $350,000 increase from the Shasta County Board of Supervisors. The boost comes a month after the board established a task committee to address the issue.
At the start of the meeting, Assistant County Executive Officer Eric Magrini presented a presentation about what his team has been up to in the 21 days since it was formed. He stated that they began working with other departments right away to figure out the best solutions to the situation.
“So as soon as I left that special board meeting on [August 22], we got our team together,” said Magrini. “We started putting together our county administrative office with our Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney, county council recourse management.”
He stated that the team is following a three-step plan. The first phase is a review of the warrants. The second phase involves continuing the warrant and ordinance reviews, as well as looking at overtime-related procedures. The third phase involves hiring more full-time employees, which the budget increase will help fund. The team is now on Phase Two of the project.
“That’s what we’ve done in Phase One,” said Magrini. “Is we started collaborating, getting the right partners together, and start putting words into action and hitting these hard-hit locations.”
The board also approved $34,817 in overtime pay for illegal marijuana grow demolition efforts.
The meeting was attended by Annette Erickson of Bella Vista, who said she has dealt with illicit growers near her home. She stated that as a parent, all she wants is for the Sheriff’s Office to take action.
“My concern is, ‘do they have enough officers that are actually able to go out and do this?” Erickson asked. “Are they able to recruit people and keep them on staff?’ I’d like to see more action and less talk.”
Original article: https://krcrtv.com/news/local/shasta-supervisors-approve-budget-increase-to-fight-illegal-cannabis-cultivation
