Struggling with Reputation at the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department: A Grand Jury Report

Press release from the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury Report:

The Humboldt County Planning and Building Department serves all landowners who seek to improve their properties outside of city limits and within the County.

The experiences customers have when they interact with a governmental agency collectively become its reputation in the community.  Even if an agency believes it is performing well, if it has a less-than-positive reputation, something is likely amiss.

With the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department, it appeared something was amiss. In response to public concerns, the 2025-2026 Civil Grand Jury conducted a targeted investigation into the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department.

The Civil Grand Jury Report Friend or Foe?  Struggling with Reputation at the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department was published 6/23/2026 on the Humboldt County website Civil Grand Jury | Humboldt County, CA – Official Website, and addresses these concerns.

Among the Grand Jury’s Findings

Budgetary constraints on the County of Humboldt impact the ability for the County Planning and Building Department to successfully recruit and retain qualified staff.

Records of complaints are not being retained as prescribed by the County Planning and Building Department’s Customer Feedback System.

The County Planning and Building Department’s homepage does not prominently and clearly display its hours of operation or state that appointment times are available during non-public hours.

Among the Grand Jury’s Recommendations

The Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury recommends that the Planning and Building Department Director should

• evaluate whether positions could be consolidated or currently vacant positions could be eliminated, allowing the resulting budget savings to be used to increase compensation for positions that are difficult to recruit for and retain.
• reinstitute, maintain, and publicize the Department’s Customer Feedback System.
• update the Department’s homepage to prominently display public hours and prominently inform the public it can schedule appointments to occur during non-public hours.

  Full report here:

  Friend or Foe - Struggling with Reputation at the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department