Sheriff’s Officers Carry Woman from Shasta County Board Chambers Before Ticketing Her for Meeting Disruption

6.24.24 7:45 pm: We have updated the story to clarify the Board’s vote on whether to appoint Nowain to the Elections Commission.

The Shasta County’s Board of Supervisors meeting was delayed for almost two hours yesterday, July 23, after community member Jenny O’Connell Nowain refused to leave the Board chambers when asked. She said her civil disobedience was the best response to false statements made by Supervisor Patrick Jones during the meeting.

County staff and law enforcement appeared to struggle with how best to respond to O’Connell Nowain’s actions. She was eventually physically removed from the building by Shasta County Sheriff’s officers and ticketed outside under PC 403, disruption of a public meeting.

O’Connell Nowain’s decision not to leave the chambers was the beginning of a long delay in the meeting, during which County Counsel Joseph Larmour repeatedly contacted Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson by phone and multiple county officials and law enforcement officers tried to convince O’Connell Nowain to move voluntarily from where she sat on the floor of the chamber.

She repeatedly said her only request was that Jones apologize for his false statements to the public made just before the disruption. Shasta County Sheriff Lieutenant Bryan Sancibrian relayed her request for Jones to apologize to the supervisor before returning to say say he was unwilling to take that action.

Jones was chairing the meeting when the disruption occurred, during a Board discussion about whether O’Connell Nowain’s husband, Benjamin Nowain, should be appointed to the County’s controversial Elections Commission.

Both Board Chair Kevin Crye and Vice Chair Chris Kelstrom had recused themselves from the discussion, although neither gave any specific reason for their decision to do so.

Community members who supported the appointment of Nowain to the Elections Commission at first thought that the recusals of the two supervisors would mean a positive outcome for Nowain’s appointment. It wasn’t until after public comment that the county’s attorney, Larmour, clarified for the public that with only three supervisors voting, it would requires a unanimous decision by all three for Nowain to be appointed.

When Jones told the public that he was a “hard no” on appointing Nowain, saying Nowain doesn’t support the work of the Commission, the crowd’s anger boiled over.

Nowain was among multiple community members who called out from the floor in response to Jones’ statements. He asked to speak to the public a second time, saying he does support the work of the Commission. Multiple other community members joined Nowain’s voice, also yelling out from the floor.

The loudest voice from the chamber floor was that of Christian Gardinier, a retired social worker who has been vocal in criticizing the board majority over recent years. He repeatedly called out “Heil dictator”, a reference to Jones, while other community members shouted “tell the truth” and “liar.”

Jones issued a first warning to Gardinier by name, telling him not to quiet down but to leave the room, amidst loud complaints from various members of the audience.

“We’ve established a warning,” said County Counsel Joseph Larmour. California’s public transparency law, known as the Brown Act, requires public officials to issue multiple warnings to members of the public before telling them they must leave a public meeting. In this case the warning from Jones came not before, but after telling Gardinier to leave the room.

Jones continued talking, doubling down on his false statement that Nowain didn’t have an interest in making the Elections Commission better, despite Nowain’s ongoing rebuttal from the floor.

Jones was then shouted out again by multiple audience members including Nowain, O’Connell Nowain, Gardinier, Nathan Pinkney, Susan Weiss and others. Jones then singled out Gardinier again, issuing a second warning, as multiple community members continued to call out from the floor.

At that point Nowain got up to move to the dais to speak to the crowd out of turn while O’Connell Nowain took several steps forward. When Jones said “sit down,” O’Connell Nowain did, on the floor. Her husband continued to the dais as community members continued to shout from the floor.

County Counsel Joseph Larmour then told Jones on the microphone, “you may have to clear the room,” just before County CEO David Rickert asked Jones to clear the room.

Jones then called for the room to be cleared, saying the media would be allowed to stay. A moment later he issued a different statement saying, “we’re going to take a fifteen minute recess.”

According to David Loy, the Legal Director for the nonprofit First Amendment Coalition, clearing the room and calling a recess are two different types of allowable actions under California’s Brown Act, a state law intended to ensure the public’s access to the working of local government.

A recess may be called to pause the meeting for any number of reasons without asking members of the public to leave the room. In contrast, clearing the room, Loy said, is an action public officials can take if they’re unable to restore order to a public meeting. Once the room is cleared, members of the legislative body may continue to meet in chamber without the public, as long as the media are allowed to stay and observe. Public officials may also readmit members of the public to the meeting at any time.

In the event that any meeting is willfully interrupted by a group or groups of persons so as to render the orderly conduct of such meeting unfeasible and order cannot be restored by the removal of individuals who are willfully interrupting the meeting, the members of the legislative body conducting the meeting may order the meeting room cleared and continue in session. Only matters appearing on the agenda may be considered in such a session. Representatives of the press or other news media, except those participating in the disturbance, shall be allowed to attend any session held pursuant to this section. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the legislative body from establishing a procedure for readmitting an individual or individuals not responsible for willfully disturbing the orderly conduct of the meeting.

California GC 54957.9

While clearing the room is an allowable action under California law, it’s supposed to be utilized only when removing specific disruptive individuals is not enough to restore order.

California law describes meeting disruption as behavior that “actually disrupts, disturbs, impedes, or renders infeasible the orderly conduct of the meeting.” O’Connell Nowain says she wasn’t disrupting the meeting, she was just quietly refusing to leave the room after a disruption that involved multiple members of the public.

After O’Connell Nowain was forcibly removed from the chambers, the meeting continued without much comment from Jones, according to her husband, who reentered the room with others while his wife was ticketed in a parking garage behind the building.

Sheriff’s officer Sancibrian told O’Connell Nowain that she was not allowed to return to the meeting that day and could be arrested for trespassing if she did so. She may return to future meetings if she wishes, he told her.

Sancibrian did not respond directly to questions about the legality of forcibly removing a member of the public from a meeting space without arresting them. Sheriff’s Office spokeperson Tim Mapes has not yet responded to Shasta Scout’s request for comment.

Soon after the meeting resumed, the Board voted two to one, with supervisors Mary Rickert and Tim Garman supporting the appointment of Nowain to the Elections Commission and Jones opposing it.

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