Uproar erupts over Shasta’s failure to file charter status with the state

More than a year after local voters chose to designate Shasta as a charter county in March 2024, California’s Secretary of State (SoS) has confirmed that they completed their process. In an email to Shasta Scout this week, SoS staff noted that the charter paper work was submitted by the county on August 29, and was officially filed on Sept. 8. The last legislative step is for county staff to “chapter the provision,” before the charter is officially in effect.

The news of the missed filing caused an uproar in Shasta where everyone assumed the charter had gone into effect in January 2025, as was slated to happen when voters approved it 18 months ago. In California, counties that vote to become charter counties can impose some of their own rules that vary from rules utilized by general law charter counties. That appealed to Shasta County voters who approved the ballot measure to become a charter county by a 55.7% majority. 

The wording of that ballot initiative indicated that an affirmative vote by the people would make the county a charter county on January 1, 2025. But the months immediately following the March 2024 election, when the charter ballot initiative was approved by voters, included a period of high turnover in some related county departments. 

County Counsel Joseph Larmour stepped into his role on April 8, just a week after the March vote was certified. And Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen, who had been on medical leave since the fall before, retired in May 2024. In her unexpected absence, former Assistant Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut was filling the role during Darling Allen’s medical leave during an approximately six-month period that began in November 2023. Darling Allen’s replacement, Tom Toller, was appointed by the board in June, about three months after the charter was passed by voters. 

The news that the charter county status had not yet been made official came to the public’s attention this week when County Board Chair Kevin Crye shared the information for the first time on his bimonthly radio show. Since then, multiple county officials have engaged in a public blame game about who’s at fault for the delay in the charter status.  

Blame shifting started with Crye during comments he made shortly after announcing on air Sept. 7 the news of the missed paperwork. 

“Who do we blame here? Is this the ROV or the ROV office? Is it the County Counsel’s Office? You know, just Joanna Francescut or [former County Counsel] Alan Cox, like, who dropped the ball?” Supervisor Crye asked.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, Crye addressed the issue again during a related agenda item, passing the buck broadly to county staff while claiming that the administrative process is no longer in board members’ hands once the board has adopted an ordinance. 

“Those responsibilities rest with the county staff and designated departments, electeds, etcetera, who ensure that ordinances are properly filed, codified and carried out in accordance with applicable law,” Crye said. 

County CEO David Rickert also spoke to the issue during Tuesday’s meeting but didn’t cast blame, instead noting that current County Counsel Joseph Larmour had discovered the problem and that action had already been taken to amend it. 

The issue might have been settled until current Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis, who is running against Francescut for the registrar of voters position next summer, published a press release on the topic Tuesday indicating that the “past administration,” overseen by Francescut and then Toller in the months following the March election, did not properly complete the process. He said the issue is “under investigation.” 

The County Board of Supervisors made no mention of such an investigation during their meeting, and Curtis did not respond to two requests for comment on why he believed such an investigation was occurring. 

Meanwhile Francescut released her own statement on Facebook. “Let’s set the record straight,” Francescut wrote. “State law outlines the process of filing a County Charter, and it begins with the office of the Board of Supervisors submitting a recorded copy. This was not completed until after I was no longer working in the Elections Department,” she wrote. 

Notably, Francescut was the only person among those pointing fingers to make a reference to the law, which clearly spells out the process.

Government Code 23713 indicates that once voters have affirmed a charter, two copies of the charter proposal “shall be certified and authenticated by the chairperson and clerk of the governing body and attested by the county elections official, setting forth the submission of the charter to the electors of the county, and its ratification by them.” 

The “chairperson” in this case would have been Crye himself and the clerk of the board, CEO Rickert. One copy of the charter is to be filed with the county recorder and elections office, the law indicates, while the second copy is filed by the county election official with the Secretary of State.

Francescut confirmed with Shasta Scout that at no point while she worked in the elections office did she ever receive a charter proposal to file with the Secretary of State. 

Crye, who has held the position of Board Chair since January 2024, or Rickert were the only ones who were designated to submit a certified and authenticated copy of the charter for Francescut to take the next steps to file the paperwork.

In response to a request comment asking Crye to confirm if he agrees that the governing body of the county was responsible for initial filing steps under the law, Crye sent a video clip of his statements to the board Tuesday emphasizing that board members have no responsibility for such administrative items.

Amid the pandemonium surrounding Shasta’s charter status, the board voted unanimously Tuesday to release a survey soliciting feedback from the public on possible changes to the county’s finally-official charter. The results of that survey could inform new ballot initiatives to amend the charter, which would then be drawn up and publicly approved by the board of supervisors before being brought to local voters for possible approval no earlier than 2026.

9.10.25 6:33 pm: In response to communication from Shasta County we have updated the story to correct the identity of the person who holds the title of clerk of the board for Shasta County.

9.11.25 11:00 am: We’ve updated this story to clarify the details about the charter’s legislative process.

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