Submitted: Friday, April 3, 2026 4:17pm
ATTN: Robin Altman, City Clerk
*Please officially enter the attached proposal into the permanent public record for the April 6, 2026 City Council Meeting. Furthermore, as a registered candidate for the Board of Supervisors and acting Civic Investigator, We formally request that this document be immediately forwarded and distributed to the Mayor, the City Manager, and all standing City Council Members so they are thoroughly briefed prior to the meeting.*
We are reaching out to you on behalf of a deeply concerned coalition of local citizens. We are politely, yet firmly, putting our foot down to ask for a profound course correction in the management of our home.
Over the last several years, our administration has developed a detrimental reliance on disjointed grant money, aggressively altering the face of our community while ignoring the baseline infrastructural and mental health of our citizens; as this is a collaboration of answers the from the many voices in our community. Many citizens have approached me privately to express their profound distress over the rapid and devastating changes altering our community's landscape. They are bringing these concerns to me because there is a palpable fear of retaliation or simply being ignored by the current political establishment and city officials if they speak out publicly.
Our community’s nervous system has taken a severe hit. We are officially labeled a disadvantaged Community (DAC), but labeling a people is dangerous—it triggers a downward spiral that becomes an excuse for continuous failure and dependency. We refuse to be the epitome of that label. We do not want to be stuck relying on a government that expects us to simply be "taken care of." We are Warriors, and we intend to rise above it with our shared Warrior pride.
Right now, our citizens are struggling to afford their own groceries as costs continue to skyrocket. We are being forced to rely on cheap, processed foods that leave a bad taste in our mouths and cost us our vitality, our health, and ultimately, our lives. Because we have a small local healthcare system, we must become our own medicine. We must return to the natural, sustainable homeostasis that this land was built upon.
Historically, the shared survival and sustainable stewardship of this land brought early peace between Native populations and settlers. We became sustainable together, eliminating the need for government reliance as we helped the military forts leave by joining together to produce peace and food.
Rising above our own destruction, we fought fires together to protect our homes, and rebuilt to protect our future sustainability.
—a legacy of stewardship my family understands deeply, just as my grandfather, Evert Ralph Sargent, donated the property to be owned by the community to build the Fort Dick fire department so we could be sovereign, and seperated from the local government influence. We must return to that natural nervous system of sustainability, regreening a community whose canopy should never have been removed to begin with.
To achieve this, it is my civic duty to present the following Full Circle Investment proposal.
FULL CIRCLE INVESTMENT THAT BRINGS A HOPEFUL FUTURE OF FINANCIAL SECURITY TO A DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITY:
1. The $50 Million Maintenance Trap on a Doomed Coastal Footprint City Manager Eric Wier is pushing an exorbitant $50 million band-aid to rehab our failing coastal Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). This is a perpetual debt machine. We must apply basic logic: if relocating this plant inland is an "inevitable" reality for the future, why are we forcing our community to suffer the financial headache of dumping $50 million into a doomed coastal footprint? True stewardship demands we make the transition inland *now*.
2. Hydrological Negligence & The Destruction of Our Natural Heritage Our natural beautification was removed to make way for manufactured arches and high-rise concrete buildings. Historically, the massive Heritage trees on Front Street acted as our city's free, natural groundwater pumps, absorbing the tributary runoff straight down J Street. By aggressively removing our canopy since 2022, the City stressed the natural filtration system, seemingly causing the groundwater to rise this significantly for the first time in this community's history. This warrants an Investigation into the costly installation of artificial stormwater filtration systems through Beachfront Park. We must actively regreen our community and preserve our canopy.
3. The Proposition 218 Trap & Unnatural Population Strain Proposition 218 is the California constitutional law specifically designed to protect citizens from being used as municipal ATMs. By hiking our water and sewer utility bills to unpayable levels to fund a doomed coastal sunk cost, as other communities, is engineering a financial trap that places the debt squarely on the shoulders of private property owners, pricing legacy families out of their homes.
Los Osos (San Luis Obispo County, CA): A quiet coastal town where state-mandated sewer upgrades caused utility bills to skyrocket. Legacy families were taxed out of their homes, forcing properties to be subdivided for multi-unit rentals.
Arcata / McKinleyville (Humboldt County, CA): Heavy sewer and water rate hikes forced rural property owners to dense-pack their land with secondary units just to afford the cost of living on their own property.
Sierra Foothills (Amador & Calaveras Counties, CA): Historic, rural Gold Rush towns were hit with massive plant upgrade costs. The city used the crushing utility bills as an excuse to allow outside developers to build high-density subdivisions.
Cave Junction (Josephine County, OR): Just across the border, the Oregon DEQ forced millions in sewer upgrades onto a tiny rural population of 2,000. To offset the massive water and sewer rate hikes, planners are actively pushing for high-density, urbanized housing to dilute the costs.
4. Sovereign Funding & Institutional Accountability
We look to the northern communities of Fort Dick and Smith River as living proof that true infrastructural sustainability and independence are possible. If Crescent City must raise localized funds to properly relocate the coastal plant, the financial burden cannot fall solely on residents in special taxes, or other means of supporting the wastewater treatment plant move and/or expansion; for maintenance that has been effectivley ignored since prop. 68 has been available in 2018-19.
* The Casino Match:
We demand that the major corporate and casino entities who heavily utilize our municipal grid step up to match any localized tax or funding efforts. While sovereign entities like the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation (Lucky 7 Casino) successfully built and manage their own independent wastewater infrastructure, the massive new Elk Valley Casino expansion tied directly into Crescent City’s failing municipal sewer grid. Legacy residents will not serve as municipal ATMs to fund a $50 million coastal sunk-cost for commercial casino flushes. * CDCR Joint Powers Integration:
While Pelican Bay State Prison manages its own on-site wastewater treatment, the State facility still places a massive strain on our local municipal grid by drawing millions of gallons of clean drinking water from Crescent City. To offset this massive resource extraction, we propose forming a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) between Del Norte County, Crescent City, and the CDCR. By expanding Pelican Bay's existing wastewater infrastructure, the State can directly assist in shouldering the waste management needs of our adjacent rural communities during this critical transition.
5. Full Circle Investment; The Crescent City Landfill Solution:
To secure our community's long-term economic stability, We propose the relocation of the wastewater management facility inland to the old Crescent City Landfill. My grandfather, Evert Ralph Sargent, and father, Billy Sargent, originally invested in the sand dunes that became the foundation for Del Norte Disposal. Today, that landfill sits closed. We request to bring advanced Ecological Engineering to the table, utilizing *Mycoremediation* ("mushroom therapy") to safely cap the toxic soil without costly excavation, and building an engineered *Constructed Wetland System (CWS)* over the site to naturally filter municipal wastewater.
6. Coastal Reclamation: The Discovery Learning & Cultural Center Where once there was waste, now could be knowledge. Once the wastewater facility is relocated inland, We propose transforming the old WWTP coastal footprint into a Cultural Discovery Learning Center—an extension to our library focused on sustainability, heritage, and resources.
This facility’s name will be chosen by a vote of the people. It will serve as a community hub for potlucks, barbecues, cooking classes, and horticulture development. We will promote Victory Gardens to stabilize our citizens' health and food supply. Supplementing the lack of Healthcare in this area; using local talents and knowledge, we will learn to clothe and feed each other again.
Furthermore, we propose tying this into the new Cultural Center and bringing Front Street to life, naturally funneling focus into our downtown businesses bringing our cultural center full circle into our natural environment we are promoting, rather than manufactured arches. By establishing a weekly community-wide "Free-For-All Day." From 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., it will operate as a massive indoor extension to the farmer's market and a mini job-fair, also promoting our unique culture to our visitors.
It will be dedicated time for residents to barter, trade, sell agricultural goods, share natural medicines, and teach their talents—from basket weaving to quilt making. By encouraging hands-on skills and learning to live and produce together again, we will rebuild the homeostasis we have lost. We want to be sure that there's affordable and free options to our community events access to the Cultural Center for our local events.
7. The Warrior Pride Greening Initiative: Replacing Concrete with Edible Sustainability We are officially labeled a Disadvantaged Community, but labeling a people is dangerous. It becomes an excuse for continuous reliance and misplaced priorities. Recently, our local administration secured a nearly $3 million grant for manufactured steel and concrete Gateway Archways on Front Street. These million-dollar decorative archways are an insulting expense to a community where citizens are struggling with skyrocketing food costs and facing impending, unforeseen special taxes to bail out a failing wastewater plant. Furthermore, it is deeply concerning that local officials can entertain stipends and pay raises for themselves while our families are going bankrupt just to afford basic nutrition. We cannot afford to subsidize this disparity.
We have Warrior pride, and we must return to an equilibrium of true self-reliance. When our natural shade canopy was ripped apart, it left our community feeling exposed. We demand a functional regreening that repairs this damage—not with expensive concrete archways that serve no sustainable purpose, but with a massive, community-wide investment in edible landscaping.
* The Edible Canopy:
We propose redirecting municipal focus toward planting urban food forests filled with fruit trees, nut trees, and native medicinals like the Yaupon bush (North America's only native caffeinated tea plant). These deep-rooting, edible options will provide a free, sustainable harvest for our citizens.
* Supporting Local Agriculture:
This initiative will directly assist local Community Food Distributors and farmers who are actively producing food for the public, starting within the city limits and expanding outward to fortify our regional supply chain.
* The 3-Year Mental Health Turnaround:
We are not claiming an overnight miracle, but let us give this initiative three years to see the change blossom. By implementing these edible green spaces, we should see a profound impact on our community’s mental health and safety. This is backed by peer-reviewed data: major studies from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan have proven that transforming neglected areas into community-maintained green spaces reduces neighborhood violent crime by up to 40% and significantly lowers rates of depression and anxiety. This should help balance the significant spike of our community's nervous system in 2022-23 seen in our schools and our DV dispatch reports.
* The 5-Year Homeostasis Plan:
If we shift our funding away from superficial beautification, greening and arches, and back into the hands—and stomachs—of our citizens, We foresee that within five years Crescent City can establish the foundation of a fully sustainable, food-secure community.
The original settlers of this land appreciated the culture of the Natives, backing them up by working alongside them, creating peace by fighting fires together, and rebuilding together. That is the way of pride that built this community. We do not need superficial concrete arches; we need an edible, living canopy that brings true value, promotes safety, feeds our people, and restores our peace.
8. Ecological Restoration: The Elk Creek Riparian Park & Food Forest Historically, the area behind Safeway was a place where local children and families connected with the water. Today, it sits overgrown and underutilized. We propose the restoration and beautification of the Elk Creek corridor to create a tangible greening project that honors our Native and settler heritage.
* Revitalization of the Park Footprint:
We request the immediate cleanup and restoration of the existing concrete and gravel footprints next to Elk Creek. By restoring this park area for locals and tourists, we utilize natural surveillance and community activity to deter the ongoing issues of encampments and wood-line hazards.
* The Elk Creek Food Forest:
As an extension of our community garden initiatives, we propose transforming this riparian corridor into a Food Forest. By planting native, edible landscapes and medicinal perennials, we enhance the natural beauty of the marsh while providing a free, sustainable resource for our citizens.
* A Natural Attraction for Tourism:
Tourists come to Del Norte County to see the rugged coast and natural beauty, not to see superficial concrete archways. Investing in a walking park and nature preserve at Elk Creek provides a high-value, sustainable attraction that celebrates our unique environment.
9. Formal Request for Community Representation & Advisory Role:
I, Margaret Ann Sargent, am stepping forward on behalf of numerous residents who are heartbroken by the rapid, devastating changes in our town but feel completely silenced by the current political establishment. They have confided their concerns to me privately—often withholding their names—because they share a genuine fear of retaliation from city officials if they dare to publicly question the direction our community is taking. When citizens are too intimidated by their own local government to speak openly about the home they love, it is a clear sign that true transparency has been lost.
As a Civic Investigator and Stewardship Exchange Liaison, We formally request a non-voting advisory role at the decision-making table for this project. Furthermore, We request that chosen community members be included in this process to ensure the public has a direct voice in all infrastructure decisions, not just financial obligations. My focus is to ensure that all funding mechanisms are strictly non-recourse to residential property titles, protecting the community’s best interest with sustainable fiscal integrity.
We request to be placed on the next meeting agenda to formally present this Full Circle Investment proposal.
Sincerely, the community who supports-
-Margaret Ann Sargent & Vincent Quattlebaum
Founders & Visionary Architects, LIVINUS Framework
Civic Investigation & Agricultural Stewardship Exchange 707-460-7419
707-457-0488
[email protected]
[email protected]
Submitted Friday, April 3, 2026 4:42pm
Please send this out to all responsable parties.To put this on the agenda for April 6th Donna had sent the below text to mayor Wrght by email to place on the agenda for April 6th.
She says she doesn't see it on the agenda?
Any times Eric Wier has submitted things on Friday for a Monday , so ... it's fair that anyone who submits things on Friday at least should be able to get it on the agenda for Monday. Otherwise this is quite biased. But Donna had submitted it on 26th to mayer Wright.
I have been hearing into the public. So many people are in fear of retaliation, or to just simply be ignored. As many people have complained to me, this is the fact... and now I have seen proof with my own eyes that donna sent me this email as well.B c c.
I would appreciate it to see our officials take our patrons seriously when they want anigena.Item being spoke about. I would also appreciate if you give her the answers within the legal 10 days.
That is allowed for her to receive something in writing for her answers to her questions that she wants on the agenda.Thank you very much.
Please put this on the agenda for Monday the 6th thank you.
Margaret Ann Sargent
Mayor Wright;
Please place an agenda item about the following:
Create a joint Ad Hoc Citizens Oversight Committee with the County to investigate the issues connected to the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) $50 million requested by City Manager Eric Wier, the proposed water/sewer rate increases and past possible fraud and corruption concerning the WWTP during the years of 2007 - 2011 and possibly longer.
Thank you
Donna Westfall
On Thu, Mar 26, 2026, 7:35 PM Donna Westfall <[email protected]> wrote:
Mayor Wright;
Please place an agenda item about the following:
Create a joint Ad Hoc Citizens Oversight Committee with the County to investigate the issues connected to the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) $50 million requested by City Manager Eric Wier, the proposed water/sewer rate increases and past possible fraud and corruption concerning the WWTP during the years of 2007 - 2011 and possibly longer.
Thank you
Donna Westfall