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Planning and Building Department, Cannabis Division and Chief Administrative Office, recommending the Board approve and authorize the Chair to sign Letter of Termination for Agreement for Services 4314 with Planet Labs, Inc.
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FUNDING: Commercial Cannabis Tax. (General Fund)
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
On December 10, 2019, the County executed a three-year Agreement for Services with Planet Labs, Inc. for geographic information systems to provide updated satellite imagery of the County for the primary use of identifying illegal cannabis cultivation, in an amount not to exceed $491,827.
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The purpose of the Agreement was to combat the illegal cannabis grows in the County by actively identifying and monitoring cannabis cultivation operations. The imaging was to be available to staff without the need to visit each site, reducing time and increasing the volume of cases that staff could handle. In Humboldt County, satellite imagery provides the necessary information to determine indicators of cannabis grows that it utilized in their enforcement program and civil fines and penalties collected from violations also vastly exceeded the cost of both services and staff time. Staff from the Sheriff’s Office, Planning and Building, Information Technology, and the Surveyor’s Office reviewed proposals for this service and recommended the agreement.
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Staff has evaluated the efficacy of this contract for the preceding year. Although Planet Labs, Inc. has provided services consistent with the Agreement, due to the physical landscape of the County and the cannabis cultivation methods used locally, imagery has not been useful for identification or monitoring purposes. The data received thus far may be somewhat useful for County operations in general, but is not useful for the purpose originally intended and does not provide sufficient resolution from which to identify cannabis plants with the necessary certainty. In addition, the fines from enforcement of illegal cannabis...
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