Kevin Crye Remains Board Chair as New Shasta County Supervisors Take Their Seats
Tensions rose in Shasta County’s chamber as new Board members jostled with old over who would lead in 2025. Crye won out, retaining his role as Board Chair for a second year.
1.9.25 3:42: We have updated the story to correct information about when a Board chair has held the seat two years in a row.
On Tuesday January 7, a majority of the Shasta County Board voted to keep Supervisor Kevin Crye as Board Chair. The vote was supported by new Supervisor Corkey Harmon and Supervisor Chris Kelstrom as well as Crye himself.
The last time a Board chair retained their seat at least two years in a row was seventy-five years ago, when Shasta County Supervisor Andrew Jessen held the position of Board Chair for twenty consecutive years, from 1938–1958.
While Harmon supported Crye’s leadership, the other two new members of the Board argued against the decision, with Supervisor Allen Long suggesting that rotating the role would be healthy and Supervisor Matt Plummer saying Crye’s actions in the leadership role have concerned him.
In a series of strong statements, Plummer said Crye has “stirred up and provoked comments” from the public, used a “really hostile” tone with former supervisor Mary Rickert and handled public press releases (specifically those related to media access and a recent visit from Governor Gavin Newsom) in a way that’s “gotten a bunch of people upset” and “made the County look a little bad.”
Plummer also expressed concern about Board agendas developed under Crye’s leadership not including sufficient information to inform the public about the people’s business, noting an agenda item about health care on that day’s agenda which included only a single sentence describing the important, and controversial, topic.
“If I was in the public,” Plummer told Crye, “I would have no idea what that’s about. And I believe the public deserves — and other board members — a chance to actually have a staff report on that, so that they know (enough), particularly when it’s controversial.”
The decision on who to choose as chair did not divide along ideological lines. Plummer, who beat out Crye-ally Patrick Jones for the District 4 seat, said he’d support a vote for Kelstrom as Chair and Crye as Vice Chair, but Kelstrom declined, saying while he felt ready to be chair, he didn’t want to take the position saying he feels Crye’s been doing a good job and indicating that the politics of the last year meant Crye deserved more time in the role.
“You know, Kevin got nine months of the Chairperson appointment,” Kelstrom stated, inaccurately. “I believe the board is going in the right direction. I think we’ve made some great strides. I think we’ve gotten a lot of good stuff done, resource management, county counsel. We’ve really gotten some major things accomplished. And again, the first three months, he was under recall by most of the people here that are absolutely against him being the chairman again.”
Kelstrom’s comments echoed those of several public speakers who similarly, and also inaccurately, misstated Crye’s time as Board chair as comprising a period of only nine months. In reality, Crye became Board Chair in January of 2024 and served for an entire year in the role. Their comments appeared to be a reference to the first three months of Crye’s time in the role, when he was fighting back against an almost-successful recall, which failed by only fifty votes.
After Kelstrom rejected the role as chair, Plummer and Long both advocated for Long to take it, saying his experiences on a school district board and his history as a career law enforcement officer, with training in deescalation, would be of use as chair.
Supervisor Harmon was slow to speak up. Late in the conversation he gave a brief speech saying he “resented” being considered the swing vote and emphasizing that he hadn’t made a decision about how to vote before coming into the room. He said he wasn’t opposed to either Crye or Kelstrom being the next chair.
“What I want is a board that’s very collaborative,” Harmon continued. “I’m not saying I’m always going to make the best decision, but please don’t think that I’m sitting here and have already made my mind up that I’m going to vote for Kevin for chair because I hadn’t. I kind of felt like it should be Kelstrom, just because the other three of us don’t have any experience . . . “
Harmon eventually made a motion for Kelstrom to become chair and Crye vice-chair with Crye seconding the motion. After more discussion, Plummer made an alternate motion for Long to become chair with Crye as vice chair.
“That would allow us to have the rotation (of leadership),” Plummer explained, “but (also for) Supervisor Crye continue to provide support as someone who has experience here, if we as a Board, which it sounds like we do, feel that that’s helpful.”
Long supported the motion, saying he felt the top need for the role of chair moving forward is someone who has experience not in Board leadership but in taking the lead of setting a tone of stability and respect.
“I think what we’re facing here going forward,” Long said, “(calls for) a skill set that can help restore stability within our community, help us restore respect and access, and those are skill sets that you have developed over a lifetime, and you have them or you don’t . . . and those skill sets aren’t being referenced, here in particular.”
Crye pushed back, saying the tensions he’s navigated as Board chair over the last year were the result of the active opposition of two former Board members, Rickert and Tim Garman, who he said, made leadership extremely difficult.
“When you come into a situation where you have two supervisors giving money and working towards getting rid of you and then try and lead them,” Crye said. “ . . . I just want to make sure that you understand, like, the gravity of that situation last year, and how much that impedes getting the actual work done.”
As debate on the issue wore on, tensions in the room rose, with multiple members of the public calling out from the floor at various points. Shortly before the vote, a senior member of the public, Dawn Ashmun, rose to her feet walking slowly to the front of the room where she quietly confronted the Board, asking them to “please just stop” before sitting down in the front middle of the chamber floor.
Crye asked County Counsel Joseph Larmour if he should pause the meeting for the disruption and Larmour said no, explaining that Ashrum’s action was not impeding the public’s business. Ashrum sat quietly for another hour until she was asked to get up for a picture to be taken, at which time she voluntarily complied.
During a public comment to the Board later during the meeting, Ashrum said her protest was a spontaneous response to what seemed to her to be an obviously pre-decided vote on who would become Board chair.
“I knew you would put the agenda out and there would be a change in chair and whatnot,” Ashrum said. “What I didn’t know was that it was a pre-ordained outcome.”
She referred to the discussion on how the decision to choose a chair was reached as “like a bunch of cats on an ice pond trying to cover up their scat.”
“I was protesting the fact that you weren’t listening,” Ashrum said, “You weren’t paying attention.”
The response to Ashrum’s protest provided a stark contrast to Jenny O’Connell Nowain’s experience when she sat down in the same place during the November 8, 2024 Board meeting. During that incident the meeting was first paused, then the room cleared. O’Connell Nowain was arrested about an hour later for public meeting disruption, despite sitting quietly the whole time.
The Board’s eventual vote to re-approve Crye as Chair and Kelstrom as Vice Chair came only after many members of the public had spoken. Crye gave the public only one minute each to speak on the topic and some on both sides of Shasta County’s ideological divide, including election activist Laura Hobbs, called him out both for that decision and other aspects of what they see as unfair leadership. Among their complaints was Crye’s decision to allow County Counsel to silence speaker’s microphones when Larmour deems them to be off topic.
“I think we need new leadership,” Hobbs said. “I don’t like the time limits. I think they’re restrictive. I don’t like the mic being silenced by county counsel. I don’t like the pace where you have to submit (speaker) cards before (the meeting).
Here’s what else happened during Tuesday’s meeting
Developing a County-wide Strategic Plan
Supervisors voted unanimously to approve Plummer and Long as members of an ad hoc committee to consider how best to approach developing a strategic plan for the County. They’ll report back to the Board before making any decisions, including whether to outsource the process to a consultant.
Hiring a Consultant to Address Solutions to Shasta County’s Health Care Needs
All five supervisors also supported a decision to direct CEO David Rickert to explore hiring a consultant to explore solutions for Shasta County’s lack of access to healthcare. CEO Rickert said as part of his exploration of the issue so far, he had reviewed two locally-developed healthcare proposals and plans and attended a meeting of the Shasta Health Assessment and Redesign Collaborative (SHARC). He said his early research indicates that more has been done to identify problems than solutions.
Crye agreed, saying he believes there’s been “a lot of talk and there’s very little action.”
“So, you know,” Crye continued, “I want to put a quarter in the slot, and want to hear the music, and I want to see some outcomes being driven.”
CEO Rickert said he is looking at a six-month timeline for the consultation process and a budget of up to $40,000. The Board’s vote directed the CEO to choose a consultant based on a scope of work that includes answering two questions suggested by Plummer, “First, how will the County ensure sufficient medical providers to serve the County for the foreseeable future? Second, what would be the most cost-effective ways to reduce premature death in Shasta County?” If both questions can’t be answered within the six-month time frame, the Board said, the first is the most important to address. Plummer did not mention how he chose those questions but Shasta Scout has reached out for comment.
East-Bound Flight Support out of Redding
The Board also unanimously approved a decision to provide another $100,000 to support a revenue guarantee for a United Airlines flight roundtrip from Redding to Denver, that’s scheduled to begin in a few months. Per Crye’s suggestion, the vote to provide this additional $100,000 to the $100,000 previously promised by the County is contingent on Redding city leadership agreeing to a meeting to discuss the possible establishment of a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) for airport management sometime in 2025.
Moving Funds to Cover Settlement Costs
After some intense discussion, particularly from Supervisor Long, the Board unanimously agreed to move money to cover the cost of a $2.65 million payment to settle a lawsuit by a former staff member of the Sheriff’s Office. John Patrick Kropholler’s lawsuit alleged that he experienced harm as a result of actions by his former supervisor, past Sheriff and Assistant County CEO Eric Magrini.
Vogt Passed Over for First Five Commission Appointment
During a discussion of what was expected to be a routine set of appointments, Supervisor Crye said he wouldn’t support former Shasta County Office of Education Board member Cindy Vogt for reappointment to her role on the nine-member First Five Shasta Commission. In explanation, Crye said Vogt’s vote to uphold current SCOE practice and state law regarding provision of menstrual products made it impossible for him to support her in the First Five role. The Board’s eventual vote placed two of the three potential candidates on the Commission, but did not reappoint Vogt.
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PS Perfect photo of Ms. Ashmun, it’s almost like she’s an emissary of the Dalai Lama. OOOOm !
Prediction: Harmon won’t last long, he just does not have the ability to speak on his own. After all, and remember, it was his wife who sent him a text when he was trying to formulate a closing statement at the candidate night at Shasta Lake. Send him emails so he knows he’s being paid attention to.
My thoughts exactly. I give him until October. Since Crye’s charter amendment didn’t pass, they won’t be able to appoint another crony easily, right?
Jenny O’Connell Nowain was arrested on November 7, not 8th. She did not “sit quietly the whole time” but instead stood at the front of the room for about a minute before walking up to Supervisor Jones and getting into a verbal confrontation for ~20 seconds (during which time you can hear her say “I’m not going to listen to this anymore!”). She then sat while holding a sign up in front of Jones.
-55:05 She stands for the first time
-53:50 She sits back in her seat
-53:25 She walks up to Jones as he is speaking from the Dais and shouts that she isn’t going to listen to anymore
-53:06 She sits with her sign up in front of Jones
-52:30 board goes into recess
https://media.avcaptureall.cloud/meeting/7c1890df-2641-4ca1-affa-23e9185ce65e
Mahmoud: the standard for disruption is that the person makes it impossible to conduct the people’s business. When O’Connell Nowain was told to sit down, she did.
Impossibility isn’t the standard, substantially is.
Acosta v City of Costa Mesa held as constitutional rules forbidding speech or conduct that “substantially interrupts, delays, or disturbs the peace and good order of the proceedings of the council.”
Holding up a sign directly in front of a supervisor conducting a meeting disturbs good order by blocking the view of other members of the public.
Furthermore, board rule 7G(4) prohibits sitting anywhere other than seats or standing anywhere other than the back wall. This rule is legal as it ensures staff & the public can make an orderly evacuation in the event of an emergency. By not enforcing it against Dawn Ashmun, the board opens themselves up to criticisms of selective enforcement.
Mahmoud: An actual First Amendment attorney reviewed the video of O’Connell Nowain’s protest and said it wasn’t clear that she disrupted the meeting.But whether she did or not is a matter for the courts to decide of course, if the DA chooses to pick up the case. That office has not yet responded to me. I will note that the sign wasn’t held up more than briefly and the protester responded to a command from the chair by sitting down. As to what makes a Board rule “legal” I’ll leave that to attorneys. I’m not trying to defend O’Connell Nowain’s actions. Both protesters, I believe, have similar political interests. I’m interested in the difference in how the Board maintained order this time in contrast to last time and what ramifications that has since the Brown Act is all about equal enforcement. Thanks for your comments.
Annelise,
Way to defend Jenny Nowain’s bad behavior. Are you a reporter or a web blogger pushing an agenda? Best of luck dealing with your recent weight gain. You know that is one sign of declining mental health. Please get the help you need.
Mindy: Not defending anyone’s behavior. Just watching for consistency in policies and practices.
Mindy Mox… your Body Shaming mouth trash is just that, trash. Shame on you for being so infantile !
I think this new board will do just fine now that we are rid of the “Toxic Two.”
I’m so thankful for my supervisor’s common sense not support putting feminine products in male bathrooms. Common sense works.
Elizabeth, if you listened carefully to the actual discussion at the Board of Supervisors Meeting, you surely must have heard Cindy Vogt clarify for Chairman Crye that the feminine products were to be placed in a GENDER-NEUTRAL BATHROOM… and further, that these products were being provided to the appropriate age group. Feel free to watch the replay of the meeting.
Praying for Crye, my district supervisor. He is unorthodox and not political. He’s a businessman. Reminds me of Trump. So we need a shake-up and reset in local government. A jerk to reality and truth. It takes time and practice to learn.
You know, I agree with you. I’m beginning to see there are two types of people in the world; those who won’t be governed, and those who don’t need to be governed. Really, what’s the point of government at all if it struggles to maintain order? Politicians (on both sides), billionaire shysters, and religious organizations are just ticks bleeding the ol’ mare dry. None of this matters in the grand scheme if Mother Earth decides to wipe us out. I say burn it all down and let them fight over the scraps. Government, religions, and Starlink can’t save us and that is the new truth and reality. Let’s quit holding ourselves back by squabbling over nonsense and focus our energy elsewhere.
Yes! I, too, see the similarities between Crye and Trump!
Crye is a corrupt businessman, like the criminal Trump, accepting government subsidies while pointing fingers at others, to misdirect the focus.
By unorthodox, you must mean abnormal…
By not political, you must mean he did not seek a second term as Chairperson…
We loved his reference to inserting a coin to hear the music…
It must be what he does in his office with his Pac-Man machine because it takes time and practice…
And, it is not a jerk to reality when you always use alternative facts and lies to lead you…
Congratulations to the newly appointed Board of Supervisors.
Congratulations to Kevin Crye maintaining his chair status.
After the failed recall of Crye and the November 5th election, the people of Shasta County have spoken.
Regardless of the failed voting machines spitting out ink over spray on our precious water marked ballots, the people have spoken. And I love this new board.
The first meeting of the new supervisors went well. How ever the board, CEO, and county attorney has to come up with rules for proper decorum and behavior of citizens attending the meetings. Citations may be needed.
No shouting, No cussing, No harassing, No threatening of lawsuits, and defiantly No protesting sitting on the floor in front of the chambers well during the meetings.
Appears people are constantly wanting their 15 minutes of fame and shame to obstruct the meetings. We have to have peace from our village idiots.
Like I love my solo cup, I love this new board. 😜😊🤣😍
Happy Citizen: The solo cup really put it all in perspective for me.
Lol. Agreed, Annelise…
Kevin Crye, YOU have done more to divide this county than anybody else, you’ve looked after your own pocket, and now you try to blame Mary Rickert and Tim Garman for saying NO, we’re not gonna do this! You declined to appoint the most qualified merited person Cindy Vogt to the First 5 Shasta Board, not because she followed the law on tampons which you don’t like and you have no authority to block and is a good state law, tell them the real reason, because Superintendent Mike Freeman wouldn’t play good old boy games with you and give your Ninja Gym a contract that you’d illegally inflate like you did all that school American Rescue Plan Covid-19 stimulus money, because Vogt wouldn’t object to the SCOE budget that there was nothing wrong with, so you took her off First 5, you refused to fund Community Connect that helps autistic special needs kids like ME learn and socialize and grow, because you didn’t get your money the kids must SUFFER, you’re a sick man Kevin, and BTW, maybe if we weren’t spending millions defending a Nazi ex-deputee, maybe if we had our wealthiest developers pay impact fees, maybe if we weren’t subsidizing a Bethel airport, and maybe if the extreme right-wing hadn’t created a culture of instability by firing Karen Ramstrom, we could afford ($40,000 with your puppet David Rickert) and have better health-care. In my lone agreement with the utterly crazy lady Laura Hobbs, you have shut down debate, you should not be chair again, and I demand an actual apology from you Kevin for calling me a puppet not gaslighting, and Chris Kelstrom, you are nothing but an extension of Patrick and you need to speak up against disrespect, Corkey Harmon I have absolutely no belief that you’re telling the truth whatsoever about how you decided to vote on Crye for Chair or anything else, plus I guess Jenny O’Connell-Nowain gets arrested for being on your enemies list while this other lady does not?
Perfect answer, I came to say the same. I could not have done it justice, as you have. Thank you!
Just laughing and enjoying the ride!
Joshua, perfectly stated, we need you on a Commission.
Thank you! You are spot on! Kevin is a disgrace to this county.
BRAVO, JOSHUA BROWN!!!
You summed it up very well. Crye’s vindictive display against Cindy Vogt was shameful and embarrassing to our County.
KUDOS to Supervisor Plummer for giving Cindy Vogt the opportunity to present herself as one with considerable experience in her field as well as having a record of years of unselfish service to our community.
Crye’s arrogant actions have resulted in yet another loss of one willing and qualified to serve our County.
Nice work, Joshua! Thank you.
And a moron will lead us…
Gee, what’s the issue, Crye? Are you afraid you will find a Tampon in a bathroom and might try to use it? No judgment if you feel the need. Please, by all means, do so!
Like the political avatar all MAGA, Crye, too often wears conflict, belligerence, and power games as badges of honor. And, as Crye articulated during the 10-07-25 SCBOS meeting, Crye believes the recent national election of MAGA extremism gives him the permission structure to politicize Shasta County government in the MAGA vision and strip any community board member and employee who is not in alignment with his vision, based on the vision of Trump (a convicted and now sentenced 34 count felon, and convicted sexual abuser) to use Shasta County and his power of the chair as retribution and retaliation against anyone not in Trump’s social or political alignment.
Crye’s rejection of Cindy Vogt’s reappointment to the nine-member First Five Shasta Commission is a perfect example of his MAGA retaliation against the law!
No, Mr. Crye, Kelstorm, Corky, and Cartel, you can snivel and retaliate and maybe end up in a court, but try as you might, Shasta County isn’t a white nationalist – Christo-fascist – militia compound in the Greater State of Idaho, and will never be the State of Jefferson or New California. We live in California and, yes, will have to follow the laws of the state.
Christian: I have edited your comment. Please don’t use your comments on our platforms to suggest people should leave the county due to their political views. That’s a hard line for me.
Understood. Thank you
This guy is just filled with intolerance and hate. I feel sorry for him.
Yes, A real shame about Gavin Newsome.