Town of Fort Jones Update—January 2024

This is my take on town news…the facts are there and so is the opinion and I trust the intelligence of the reader to figure out the difference.

Fort Jones City Council met in their regular session on January 8, 2024.

Not many citizens attended but the general mood of the council and those in attendance was upbeat. I attribute the lighter mood to our new Admin/Clerk, Josh Stanshaw who (A) shows up and (B) appears to know stuff.

Public Comments: Cookie Hunt offered to re-string the Christmas decorations for next year. Thank you Cookie!

Most of the department reports were written and submitted and the council seemed happy with the contents. 

Mr. Stanshaw reported on the CDGB mess, our new Accounting Clerk, Cherie Stephen is tasked with bringing that beast in line. Good luck Cherie!

The council voted to accept the consent calendar—always a relief. Some day I’ll actually understand what “consent calendar” means. No, don’t educate me. I’m sure it will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Discussion/report: The Fire Department requests new turnouts. Turnouts have an approx. 10 year shelf life and are due to be replaced this year. They cost about $1500 each. 

Discussion/review/act on Contribution to Spay/Neuter clinic which occurred last October. The volunteers who planned and administered the clinic did a great service to the community relying on donations to defray costs. The town under the stranglehold of administrator/carpetbagger Adam Cox, did not contribute to the clinic because the council had no idea if there was any money to do so. New town Administrator/Clerk Stanshaw assured the council that there was money to make a decent contribution.

Town Council–some more enthusiastic than others–voted to donate $1500 to the clinic to help retire the debt. 

There was a closed session..who knows what goes on in closed session but I did smell BBQ. Hmm…. Check with the minutes if you are interested…minutes should be posted on the town website. 

Special Council Meeting on Friday, Jan. 26 2024

No public comments.

 Closed Session: Public Employee Performance Evaluation for Fire Chief and Accounting Clerk; I have no idea what was done in closed session. 

Discussion/reports: Action Items: There was/is a review of the town’s Fee Schedule which community members should be aware of. For years the town has not uniformly enforced fees and fines, Fort Jones is currently reviewing fees/fines and evaluating how to implement them fairly. If your community group has been used to using a town facility for free, those days are over (and rightly so.) The hope is that the town can come up with a friendly fee schedule which will allow for nonprofit and community building groups to use town facilities for an affordable price.  If this is of concern to you, pay attention and get involved in the process. 

Also the town is reviewing the library use MOU with the county. This is a sticky process and rumors fly. Don’t just “I heard this and that” all over the place, go to the meetings and hear for yourself. It would be helpful if the library board could release an actual factual update of the process to quell the rumor mill. 

Next scheduled board meeting is Feb. 12 at 7pm. Check the town website frequently for those unscheduled meetings. A lot gets decided and done at those unscheduled meetings so watch for them. 
— 
Madeleine DeAndreis-Ayres

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