Mendo Local Weekly Roundup — October 3, 2026

🗳️ 2026 Elections

Fort Bragg City Council Candidates Split on Flock Cameras
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · October 2
At a League of Women Voters forum, Fort Bragg City Council candidates split sharply over Flock license-plate-reader cameras, with former police chief Scott Mayberry the lone supporter of the cameras, citing a kidnapping case.
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Upcoming Forum to Feature McGuire, Gallagher and Local Candidates
By Carole Brodsky, Ukiah Daily Journal · September 30
A 2026 Candidates Forum featuring congressional contenders Mike McGuire and James Gallagher, plus Ukiah City Council, school board and county Board of Education candidates, is set for Oct. 6 at the Ukiah Civic Center, 5:30 to 9 p.m.
Read more (Ukiah Daily Journal subscription required)

🏛️ Mendocino County

Lake Mendocino in 2026: 10 Inches Less Rain
By Justine Frederiksen, Ukiah Daily Journal · October 2
Lake Mendocino closed Water Year 2026 with 10 inches less rainfall than the year before and is sitting five feet lower than it did a year ago, water officials reported. Sonoma Water's Donald Seymour credited Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations with carrying supplies through the dry stretch and said a strong El Niño should bring a normal-to-very-wet year ahead.
Read more (Ukiah Daily Journal subscription required)

Mendocino County Orders Unvaccinated Health Workers to Mask Starting Nov. 1
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · October 1
County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Charles Evans has ordered unvaccinated health care workers to mask in patient-care areas from Nov. 1, 2026, through April 30, 2027.
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Sea Level Rise Community Workshops Run Through Oct. 5
By Mendocino County Department of Planning and Building
The Mendocino County Department of Planning and Building is holding a series of public workshops on its Sea Level Rise Resiliency Strategy. In-person sessions run Sept. 29–Oct. 2 in Gualala, Point Arena, Fort Bragg, Westport and at Mendocino High School, followed by an online workshop Oct. 5 at 5 p.m
.Read more

🌊 Fort Bragg

State Toxics Regulators Send Railway's Mill Site Cleanup Plan Back for Revisions
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · October 3
California's Department of Toxic Substances Control has sent Mendocino Railway's plan for cleaning up the contaminated ponds at the former Georgia-Pacific mill site back for a rewrite, and said it will follow up separately to make sure the railway fixes the fence around Pond 8, which the agency found "primitive, and frequently breached."
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Fort Bragg's Newest Solar Array Is Billed as Finished. It Has Yet to Make a Watt.
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · October 1
A carpark solar array at Fort Bragg's C.V. Starr Community Center, completed in June, has yet to generate a single watt despite being billed as finished. The system can't switch on until PG&E grants written "permission to operate."
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Second Setback on Fort Bragg's Temporary Water Line Passes Without a Service Cut
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · October 1
Fort Bragg's temporary water line suffered a coupling failure just two hours after activation on Sept. 26, but crews restored it by Sept. 29 without cutting drinking-water service. The stopgap 6-inch pipe — smaller than the 10-inch line the city needs and floating in the Noyo River — raises concern as winter storms approach.
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Highway 1 Fence Gets a Haircut
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · September 29
A workman began trimming the height of a Highway 1 fence in Fort Bragg that was built taller than planned and had blocked ocean views.
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What Fort Bragg Asked Chris Rogers
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · September 29
At a Fort Bragg town hall, Assemblymember Chris Rogers fielded questions on housing, health care and economic development while sharing updates on legislation and ideas, like a public bank, to address the high cost of using bonds for municipal financing.
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📫 Gualala

Huffman Town Hall in Gualala on Oct. 8
By Congressman Jared Huffman
Rep. Jared Huffman will hold a public town hall Thursday, Oct. 8, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the Gualala Arts Center, giving an update from Washington and taking questions. Attendees must RSVP through Eventbrite by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7.
RSVP

Gualala Post Office Feels Impact of Staff Departures
By Chelsea Randall, Independent Coast Observer · October 1
The Gualala Post Office is hiring following the near-complete exodus of permanent staff over the last several months, and customer dissatisfaction is mounting. Complaints range from misdelivered and missing packages to patrons being locked out of their P.O. boxes.
Read more (Subscription to the Independent Coast Observer required)

🍇 Hopland

Hopland Donkey Rescue Opens a Texas Hospital Near Auction Site
By Roger Coryell, The Mendocino Voice · September 27
Oscar's Place, a Hopland donkey rescue, has opened a hospital in Collinsville, Texas, to treat sick donkeys before transporting them to Hopland.
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💡 Point Arena

Mountain Zebra Born September 1
By Chelsea Randall, Independent Coast Observer · October 1
B. Bryan Preserve welcomed the arrival of Dolly, a Hartmann's mountain zebra, named after Dolly Parton.
Read more (Subscription to the Independent Coast Observer required)

🍂 Redwood Valley

A Taste of Autumn to Benefit Haitian Orphanage
By Carole Brodsky, Ukiah Daily Journal · October 1
Hearthstone Village, a Mendocino County nonprofit supporting a girls' orphanage near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, holds its annual Taste of Autumn fundraiser Oct. 11 at Frey Vineyards in Redwood Valley.
Read more (Ukiah Daily Journal subscription required)

🏙️ Ukiah

Ukiah Plans to Turn School Tennis Courts Into Tree Nursery
By Justine Frederiksen, Ukiah Daily Journal · October 1
The Ukiah City Council has approved pursuing a plan to convert underused tennis courts at Pomolita Middle School into a community tree nursery. Backed by $1.39 million in federal grant funding through March 2028, the nursery would grow young trees while the city negotiates a lease with the Ukiah Unified School District.
Read more (Ukiah Daily Journal subscription required)

Free Flu Shot Clinic in Ukiah
By Mendocino County Public Health
Mendocino County Public Health will offer a free drive-through flu vaccination clinic for people nine and older on Saturday, Oct. 10. The clinic runs 9 a.m. to noon at 1120 S. Dora St. in Ukiah; the vaccine is free and no insurance is required.
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🚂 Willits

Willits Raises Water and Sewer Rates; Vice Mayor Calls for Review of City Attorney
By Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News · September 29
The Willits City Council voted 4-1 to impose full water and sewer rate increases of 6.5% and 6%, restoring a schedule adopted in 2023 after halving last year's hikes; the vice mayor also called for a review of the city attorney.
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🐻 CalMatters (Statewide)

Fact Check: Prop. 40's Billionaire Tax
By Kristen Hwang, CalMatters · October 2
Proposition 40's "billionaire tax" contains language letting lawmakers amend it with a two-thirds vote, fueling opponents' fears it could later be expanded to tax non-billionaires.
(Join CalMatters and Mendo Local Public Media for a Proposition Workshop on Oct. 12 at Fort Bragg’s Town Hall, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.)Read more

California's Fiduciary Watchdog Is Failing Seniors
By Byrhonda Lyons, CalMatters · April 9
California's Professional Fiduciaries Bureau, created two decades ago to protect seniors from financial abuse, has largely failed to do so, a CalMatters investigation found. In 2025 the agency took more than two years on average to suspend, revoke or surrender a license after a complaint — in one case only after a fiduciary had stolen $2.5 million from clients.
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