Humboldt City Council hears updates on various projects
Humboldt resident Dan Burley found last Friday’s 71-degree temperatures much to his liking as he raked the leaves in his yard in south Humboldt. Independent photo.
By PHIL MONSON
The Humboldt City Council heard updates on various projects at their regular meeting on Monday night, Nov. 17.
Humboldt City Administrator Cole Bockelmann reported on the start of budgeting for the 2026 fiscal year. He noted the city won’t learn of the updated assessed tax valuations until January.
“We can’t make any hard decisions until we get to that point, but we’ll start plugging away on the budget process in the next couple of weeks,” Bockelmann said.
He said Anderson Drainage Company is planning to complete the trail and shoulder edging for the Eagle Ridge Nature Trail as soon as soil conditions allow. He said a significant number of working days remain on the project, which limits the city’s ability to expedite construction. He said wet weather has also hampered the project.
“We have Anderson in town working on the ravine stabilization project behind Elmhurst Avenue. Their plan is to get those done in the next four weeks,” Bockelmann said.
“Blacktop Service finished patching Valley Drive on Nov. 14. We will work with Reding Gravel and Excavation and Strand Associates to close out the project within the next few weeks,” Bockelmann said.
In action items, the council approved the hiring of Sarah Gambill as the Police Department Administrative Assistant. She began work on Nov. 10 and will be paid a rate of $22.50 per hour.
Humboldt Police Chief Jacob Miller introduced Gambill at the meeting and said her presence has already made a big impact as he works to train and hire staff to make it full-time.
The council approved a service order with ClearGov for setup and implementation of its budgeting and digital budgeting. Book at a cost of $10,203.13. Bockelmann and city clerk Amy Zeman said the program, touted by other communities across the United States, will help catch errors and will pay for itself over time as multiple city departments input information on expenses.
Alissa O’Connor, who serves as director for the Partnership For Economic Growth of Humboldt County, met with the council to request funding for the new year and reported on past activities.
“This past year we have spent a lot of time restructuring and re-aligning. The start of 2025 was the beginning of our strategic planning period,” O’Connor said.
“The core focus for us is economic development, which hasn’t changed. But we have added Humboldt County Housing, the Humboldt Community Foundation and the Humboldt County Food Pantry. Those organizations are now under our umbrella,” O’Connor said. “We manage those entities with our board still in place.”
“The part-time staff member we have is retiring and we will be replacing that person with a full-time staff person because the needs have expanded with the addition of the other entities,” O’Connor said.
“We had a very successful year. The cumulative economic impact was a $3.8 million capital investment in the community and an additional 85 jobs retained, 30 new jobs and seven partnerships,” O’Connor said.
“We did make a $65,000 loan this year and we had a $14.5 million taxable valuation,” O’Connor said.
“When it comes to funding, request just what we need. This year we are requesting $75,000,” O’Connor said.
Humboldt County pays $75,000 and the additional entities contribute to the development organization funding.
O’Connor hopes to have someone hired in December with them coming on board in January.
Read the full story in this week's issue of the Humboldt Independent!
