NEVADA CITY, Calif. July 8, 2020 – During the reorganization of the city council, outgoing mayor Reinette Senum stunned her colleagues by declining to serve the 2020-2024 term. She had been reelected in March.
According to city staff and counsel, no resignation letter has been submitted at this time. The City Council will meet in an emergency meeting on Friday morning to consider next steps. This could include adding a special election to the November ballot, appointing an interim council person, holding a special election in March.
Senum’s statement is below:
“First of all I would like to say thank you to our city hall staff. You have all done a tremendous job navigating these turbulent times. I know it has not been easy.
In the course of the last 4 years, we have weathered broad sweeping and damaging PSPS events, the threat of catastrophic fires, massive home owner insurance policy cancellations, loss of businesses, tax revenue, and rising global turmoil.
In spite of all of this, I have had the great pleasure of finding creative solutions such as the Goat Fund Me, mentoring the Future of Nevada County group, annual city-wide cleanings, and of course, most recently, converting our street parking into outdoor dining…. To name a few.
As a council we have made great strides with the Sugar Loaf Trails project, a possible Solar Farm at the Old Airport, the development of a parking garage behind the National Hotel, the completion of our city’s wireless ordinance, the lovely street makeovers, and the list goes on.
There have been bumps in the road along the way, none that have caused any irreversible harm, but it did garner a lot of conversation.
Of course, one such topic that has recently been raised is around the mask mandate by the Governor. While I originally supported the original Stay at Home orders in March, the Governor has now lost my support.
In addition to that, I want to make it clear, that while I approved the city council’s approval last week of the Governor’s Mask Mandate, with an emphasis on honoring those with Exemptions and encouraging those who struggle with masks to wear a plastic face shield. I have received many complaints from the public that business owners, employees, and the public, are not honoring these exemptions and are targeting and shaming an already traumatized public, as well as local, mom and pop businesses who don’t follow the guidelines. Because of this, and because the overwhelming data, I cannot support the mask mandate or any continued lockdown, or the threat of returning to Stage 1 or 2. The economic, and psychological and emotional damage we are enduring completely outweighs any of the benefits.
Also, because of this, and since my recent Facebook post regarding the overreach of the Governor, I find it imperative that I continue to make a stand. Last Sunday, on July 5th, I received a letter via our League of California Cities rep from the Governor, stating that if our city and county did not comply with these directives, we will face dire consequences, jeopardizing our eligibility for state funding. I am deeply disturbed that our Governor continues to hold us over a barrel.
I find it appalling that the hundreds of individuals who have reached out to me have been regularly ignore by their representatives; citizens and business owners who are in crisis, individuals who are losing their businesses and homes, their jobs, their savings, and life, as they know it. None of this is being considered. How can we ignore women, for instance, who have been muffled and raped and are now being re-traumatized when having to wear a mask? How can we not consider the repercussion of sending our children in to a type of prison-like setting when returning to school? How can we not consider the loss of customers due to those who do or don’t want to wear a mask when entering a business? What happened to our compassion, empathy, and inquiry?
It must be stated, that our county and elected officials, and heads of county departments, can expect a massive legal backlash because of all of this.
And to wrap this up, Swedish professor and Doctor, Dr. Lennart Hardell who wrote a letter on my behalf to the city council regarding the impacts of radio frequencies on our bioelectric bodies last October. Dr. Hardell is famous for his research and convincing the WHO that Agent Orange is cancer-causing agent, and those who use it should be charged for crimes against humanity. Interestingly, in the World Court, there was one question and one question only that determined whether or not a decision maker was guilty of a crime against humanity, and this question was, What Did you Know By When?
This is the standard, myself, community members, legal teams, and citizens around the world will be holding our current leaders to. And when it comes to our actions around Covid-19, you will need to face this very same question: What did you know by when?
And while a majority voted me in last February, I will kindly decline my position on the council for the 2020/24 term. And while I am not stepping down, I am stepping up. I feel I can be of best service to humanity by focusing my energy on extending my reach to a broader audience, to individuals who are equally concerned by these same issues and questions, around the world.”
Reached for comment via email, Senum stated “I have bigger opportunities that will be far more impactful.”
And where is your compassion for people like my husband who is recovering from a bone marrow transplant after surviving leukemia at 62? He and I are completely isolated in our home because of those who do not honor the science of this illness and the protections masks have been proven to provide. This illness will kill him. Period. Also, open businesses cannot survive if their employees get sick and half of their customers cannot patronize them because they and/or their customers do not follow science based practices that protect all of us.
Kathleen,
You are absolutely correct concerning not only yourself and your husband but all others who do not want to become ill by using the effective, proven worldwide protocols.
Yes, Reinette, you’ve implemented some creative programs.
But the damage you’ve done, putting vulnerable people’s lives at risk, certainly outweighs the good.
You’re open to unproven scientific theories, yet you reject the overwhelming agreement of the medical community on the efficacy of wearing a mask to prevent disease transmission.
I hope you’ve enjoyed your 15 minutes of fame.
Good riddance!!!
Hopefully her supporters will “resign” too.
While standing under a bridge you would never ask some pedestrian for advice on which nut or bolt could be removed; you would ask an engineer. Searching for other opinions would be nuts.
When attempting to get opinions on healthcare you would ask a Physician. Searching for other options would be ….. nuts!
We spend 12 years in college, pass countless tests and board examinations and work 50-100 hours a week for decades taking care of patients. Listen to your Doctor, they have the correct/evidence based opinion for you. If you dont like the opinion that is fine, but dont spout off non sensical, non evidence based claims just because you are not adult enough to follow a guideline layed down by Physicians.
Thank you for resigning. This saves the good citizens of Nevada City spending a lot of time and money getting you recalled. Now you can rail against the police, complain about high speed internet and smart meters, rant about our governor and the advise of medical experts, continue calling citizens in town bad names with insulting adjectives, and believe in conspiracy theories that you post on social media without insinuating you speak for all of us as our elected official. Thank you for at least having the good sense to realize your time is up.
Obviously the lady has a problem with Governor Newsom, who has been handling the enormous stress he must be under quite admirably. I wonder what party this mask denying, Ex-City Counselwoman affiliates with? Shameful and willfully ignorant! Bye, bye!!
“The economic, and psychological and emotional damage we are enduring completely outweighs any of the benefits.”
Really? Even when the “benefits” to adhering to the mask-wearing guidelines are the reduced risk of getting sick and ending up with decreased organ function, or dying? Or causing someone else to go through that? This is not about any one individual. It’s about all of us.
While Reinette and I have differing views on some subjects and similar views on others, I have always appreciated her positive attitude towards debate, her willingness to happily listen to others viewpoints which may differ from hers, and her general positive demeanor. Sadly, such traits are often times lacking in our society. Good luck Reinette.
Good riddance. No one complains when adhering to other health mandates like “No shirt, No Shoes, No Service”, “Smoking 20ft away from a building” or “Employees washing their hands after using the bathroom” and yet a simple mask has caused so much controversy when it’s meant to save lives and stop the spread of the virus. If the virus doesn’t have a human host to go to it will die out but so many people have made this political or about the constitution when it’s about the safety of our community and our town being able to stay open and not endure another shutdown. If everyone did their part, we could move past this without as many lives and businesses lost and come together as a community instead of this state of division we are in.
Reinette sounds more like a Trump-zombie every day – can’t helpbut woinder if she also thinks climate-change is a hoax, or not worth the economic cost to try to slow it down… don’t let the door hit you on the way out…
I am hopeful that as part of the acceptance of Ms. Senum’s resignation from the Nevada City City Council, the City Attorney makes it abundantly clear to her that she may not make any representation that she has any role as a leader in the community as she spouts off her flatly incorrect views on the use of face coverings to combat COVID 19.
There can be no confusion going forward. She does not speak for Nevada City, it’s leadership, its business community, or most of its citizens, and she should be legally enjoined from doing so.