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Santa Cruz County approves amended contract for consultant amid community calls for transparency
Summary
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved an amended professional services contract with Stephanie Smith Consulting LLC to support a community protection and benefit agreement and NEPA-related work for the Hermosa/Hormusah project despite repeated public requests to delay the contract and disclose deliverables and billing.
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 4 approved an amended professional services contract with Stephanie Smith Consulting LLC to assist on a community protection and benefit agreement and related NEPA FAST-41 work for the Hermosa/Hormusah mining project.
The vote came after more than an hour of public comment from residents and community groups who said the proposed contract increases Smith’s compensation by roughly 20–25% without clear status reports or deliverables from her existing agreement. “We are asking the Board of Supervisors to take no action on Ms. Smith’s request for a 25% increase in compensation for the next 3 years,” said Robin Lucky, president of the Calabasas Alliance. Lucky added the increase would amount to “a third of a million dollars in 3 years.”
The contract before the board would convert…
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