Thursday night, the Humboldt County Association of Governments again considered a request from the Hoopa Valley Tribe for a representational voice on the regional transportation planning board — and again failed, by a tie vote, to pull up another seat to the table.

In December, an earlier push for Hoopa’s representation also deadlocked in a tie vote, constituting a de facto failure.

The board did agree to open spots on the Technical Advisory Committee for Hoopa, the Yurok Tribe and the Trinidad Rancheria, and on Thursday, they approved another for the Blue Lake Rancheria. The TAC makes recommendations to the HCAOG joint powers agency.

Following December’s denial, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors in January sent a letter to HCAOG Executive Director Spencer Clifton expressing its support for Hoopa’s application. The Arcata City Council approved a letter with similar sentiments in mid-February, and HCAOG Chair and Eureka Mayor Peter La Vallee requested that the board make another foray into the subject.

“This is really just about having representation to talk about regional issues,” Arcata City Councilman Dave Meserve said Friday. “It makes sense for Hoopa to be seated, because they have a large population and a large infrastructure.”
For Ferndale City Councilman Carlos Benemann, the matter is procedurally limited.

“There are some issues regulating our ability to seek new members under the rules by which we were formed,” he said. “To go and consider adding new members, we would have to rewrite the rules.”

Despite the new element of official support, Thursday’s conversation quickly fell along familiar lines, centering in part on existing members’ responsibilities as representatives of their respective entities.

Blue Lake City Councilwoman Adelene Jones, who seconded Meserve’s motion to seat Hoopa on HCAOG, noted that her city council had specifically authorized her to vote in favor, as reflective of the city’s views.

Supervisor Roger Rodoni took exception to the implications of her comments, pointing out that although the Board of Supervisors had written a letter of support, he was allowed to vote independently on the HCAOG board — and would do so.

No resolution was forthcoming, and board members’ philosophies held steady when the question was called, with Meserve, Jones, Trinidad Mayor Chi-Wei Lin and Arcata City Councilman Paul Pitino voting yes and Rodoni, Benemann, Fortuna Mayor Odell Shelton and Rio Dell Mayor Bud Leonard voting no.

After the meeting, Hoopa Valley Tribal Council Chairman Lyle Marshall said grimly, “We’ve crossed the Rubicon and the die is cast.”

He refrained from making any specific observations about the tribe’s next move, but promised, “This is certainly not the last step.”

State legislation passed in the 1980s granted the Hoopa Valley Business Council status as a public agency.

Marshall believes that this is a mandate for the tribe’s HCAOG membership. The legislation is not ambiguous, he said: “It says the Hoopa Valley tribe may participate in HCAOG.”

Clifton disagreed with that interpretation.

“Just because one becomes a public agency and is authorized to execute a JPA (joint powers authority), that doesn’t automatically create a seat for them at that JPA,” he said. “The JPA has to approve that.”

Besides, he added, “If we had to add everybody who had a public agency designation, we’d have hundreds.”

“They’re taking an action to deny a qualified entity without reason,” Marshall charged. “That’s the discrimination of it.”

Benemann and Rodoni both rejected the notion that racism or bigotry motivated their decisions in any part.

“For some people to claim that this is discriminatory or racial — that is an outrage,” Benemann said.

“I find it disgusting that this has gotten into this otherwise fairly workable system,” Rodoni said. “There’s no mechanism to sit anybody else at this table. We have no process, we have no provision, we have no procedure, there’s no rule — there’s no mechanism.”

On that note, the board did find unanimity Thursday in forming a subcommittee to consider the process for seating new members.

“We are breaking some new ground here and it would be nice to get some direction,” Jones said. “It’s only going to get harder as the population increases.”

Benemann suggested that the subcommittee be composed of members representing both sides of the two tie votes. Rodoni, Leonard, Meserve and La Vallee agreed to fill those roles.

“I’m heartened to see that it’s made it this far,” La Vallee said. “We’re obviously at a stalemate on this issue.”

Meserve called the formation of the subcommittee a small step in the right direction.

“At least we’ve got a subcommittee to discuss how to seat them,” he said.

He said he hoped to see meetings start in the next few weeks.