Residents challenge $30,000 warrant entry as supervisors approve warrant register

Tehama County residents objected during public comment Feb. 3 to a $30,000 payment listed on the warrant register and asked the board to pull that item from the consent calendar for fuller explanation. The board approved the warrant register after public comment; Supervisor Burrows cast the lone 'No' vote.

A member of the public asked for the warrant register to be moved from consent and placed as the first regular agenda item so residents could question specific entries. The speaker asked what a $30,000 payment on page one was for; county staff said the amount related to a settlement and that the information is public.

"I don't appreciate my name being dragged through the mud on something that I would never do," one commenter said when addressing allegations related to the settlement. Patty Nolan, who said she was the person accused in the prior reporting, said the incident "never happened" and called the payment and surrounding reporting fraudulent.

County counsel and the chair advised that the matter was already public; speakers asked for the settlement agreement to be made available for public review. After discussion and public comment the board voted to approve the warrant register. The roll call showed supervisors Hansen, Zane, Jones and Chairman Walker voting 'Yes' and Supervisor Burrows voting 'No.'

No new formal investigatory actions or evidentiary findings were announced at the meeting; speakers requested additional transparency about the source and description of warrant-register entries. County staff committed to follow-up and to provide clarifying fund/account information when entries list 'department/unit unavailable.' The board moved on to subsequent agenda items.