Off Beat: Anything goes in Colusa

There usually isn't much interest in Yuba-Sutter when it comes to elections in Colusa County.

There may not be much interest in Colusa County in Colusa County elections.

But at a candidate forum last month, a county supervisor uttered something that reminds you there really are two Californias.

The big issue out in Colusa, according to the Sun-Herald newspaper, is the morale of county employees.

It appears some social service department employees are on long-term leaves of absence. Some folks are concerned about this. Personnel rules make it difficult to find out what prompted these situations and prolongs them.

Supervisor Mark Marshall, who is seeking his fourth term on the board, was asked about the situation during the forum hosted by the Soroptimist International of Colusa County.

Marshall opined, "We would all like to be able to take them out to the woodshed and say, 'Pull your big-girl panties up and get on with it.'"

Er, what?

These are county employees Marshall is presumably talking about.

Taking to the woodshed? Big-girl panties? It's not the kind of verbiage you'd expect to hear from an elected official when speaking about county employees. They might think it, but they wouldn't verbalize, at least in the more urban part of California.

Colusa County? Anything goes, apparently.

It is a different world out there, where the unemployment rate is among the state's highest — usually higher than Sutter and Yuba counties.

You'd think job creation would be the top priority for the elected officials to talk about day and night, but, in reality, not much will change out there in low-tech Colusa County.

As for county employees, they must wonder who these folks are who actually managed to get elected to the Board of Supervisors.

Marshall has been on the board a long time — maybe too long.

Back in the courts

That litigation between Western Water Co. and the Yuba County Water Agency is still going on in Sacramento County Superior Court, but Western Aggregates is out of it and more than $300,000 richer.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Raymond Cadei awarded Western Aggregates $333,784 in attorney's fees and costs after it managed to be dropped from the case just before the court trial started in January.

Western Water and the Water Agency, are awaiting the judge's decision on the issue of whether the Water Agency owes Western Water any money from water sales from the Yuba Goldfields.

This litigation has been ongoing since 2009.