County of Monterey Government News

Monterey County Elections Office and the Monterey County Free Libraries (MCFL) are joining efforts to offer Books and Ballots Week in South Monterey County, providing early flex voting centers at various libraries throughout the week. 

It was an extensive collaboration that enabled Salinas to open the first state-subsidized Homekey project in Monterey County in December 2020, initially housing over 60 people who either had no homes or were on the brink of homelessness.

Pressured by a projected $20 million deficit for the next fiscal year, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on Tuesday, Oct. 15, to implement a hiring freeze for positions funded by General Fund discretionary revenue, as well as establish guidelines for developing exemptions to the freeze.

County of Monterey Vacation Rentals Ordinances, which regulate vacation rental operations in inland unincorporated Monterey County, will take effect Oct. 14.

Ballots for the Nov. 5 Presidential General Election have begun mailing as of Oct. 3, and there are a couple of things Monterey County voters should know to get vote ready.

A now-vacant 94-year-old hospital building and a row of 12 occupied cottage apartments within unincorporated Carmel just off Highway 1 could become the site of Monterey County’s first “builder’s remedy” housing development, with construction of at least 127 units of very low-, low – and moderate-income apartments and townhomes.

Roosters were back on the agenda at the Monterey County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, Oct. 1.

MONTEREY COUNTY — Effective Oct. 1, 10 branches of Monterey County Free Libraries (MCFL) will be adjusting their hours of operation.

Effective Oct. 1, 10 branches of Monterey County Free Libraries will be adjusting their hours of operation.

Proceeding number A2207001 before the California Public Utilities Commission began on July 1, 2022 when California American Water filed an application to increase revenues from ratepayers.

Two weeks after the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 in favor of a new short-term rental ordinance, the board split down the same lines on Tuesday, Sept. 10, in a final approval of amendments to the county’s code.

A farmworker housing project in Pajaro got the green light from a majority of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Sept. 10.

Taking about 14 years of work, the County of Monterey is a step closer to having a short-term rental ordinance, after the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday, Aug. 27 in favor of draft versions that had been vetted and unanimously approved by the Planning Commission in June.

Monterey County Elections Department has assigned the letter “T” to the measure on the November ballot requesting a half-cent increase in the King City sales tax.

The United States presidential election has been getting a lot of ink as Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaign around the country. But there's a lot at stake locally as well.

Monterey County Environmental Health Bureau announced last week the relaunch of a mobile app that shares health inspection information for all restaurants, markets and food trucks.

For weeks this summer, the number of cases of Covid-19 in California’s large metropolitan areas were quickly increasing, as well as across the country, driven by a group of highly contagious variants dubbed FLiRT.

Monterey County District Attorney’s Office is warning residents of scammers impersonating law enforcement.

Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo has announced the release of the 2023 Annual Crop and Livestock Report, which recorded a production gross value of just over $4.35 billion, reflecting a 6.1% decrease from 2022.

A federal judge on Aug. 1 ordered Wellpath, the County of Monterey’s health care contractor in the jail, to submit a report by Aug. 16 outlining how it is complying with the terms of a 2015 settlement.

The County of Monterey and its health care contractor in the jail, Wellpath, continue to be “substantially” out of compliance with the terms of a 2015 settlement, according to a neutral third-party monitor’s report.

County of Monterey Parks and Lakes Division, Environmental Health Bureau and Water Resources Agency staff reported Monday that data and testing results from water samples taken in the wake of a massive fish die-off at Lake San Antonio were “inconclusive,” but that a possible cause of the incident could be due to a natural algae phenomenon spurred on by high heat, which lowered the dissolved oxygen concentrations causing the fish to suffocate.

On Monday, July 22, the County of Monterey announced that Lake San Antonio, which the county Parks division closed on July 10, will reopen Wednesday, July 24 at 6am.

Monterey County officials are closing Lake San Antonio to visitors Wednesday and asking all campers to vacate following a mass fish dieoff that county staff first noticed last week.