Amador County – The governor’s budget proposal last week included a reported elimination of 100 percent of annual funding for 78 fairs in California, $32 million statewide including a $200,000 allocation to the Amador County Fair,

Troy Bowers, CEO of the Amador County Fair, said Friday that those who would be affected by the cuts include district fairs, considered agricultural state agencies, and also festivals, such as Lodi Grape Festival.

“We know that everybody needs to be part of the solution, and we fairs, we all knew there would be a reduction from the state,” Bowers said. “We all think that a 100 percent reduction is pretty heavy. So obviously, we are in the very early stages of this negotiation, and we’ll see where it goes.”

California Fairs have representation, the Western Fairs Association, “who will be advocating on our behalf,” and negotiating. “We know that there’s a huge need,” Bowers said. “It’s a huge problem and we need to be part of the solution.”

The smaller the fair, generally means the larger the allocation. Amador is ranked a 3 on the size scale of 1-5, with 1 being the smallest.

“Amador County Fair normally gets $200,000 a year from that allocation,” Bower said. “That represents about 25 percent of our operating budget.” He said the “serious reduction” will require a lot of effort, thought, and sacrifice, “but we’re ready for the challenge.”

“We’ll work hard to maintain the Amador County Fair as we all know and love it,” and people should know “there will be an Amador County Fair next year, and in 10 years, and for their children’s children. It may not look like it does this year, but it will still be there.”

Through facility rental year-round, Bowers said the fair generates “about $600,000 of our own, and that stays in the county. Sponsorships are a pretty good part of that too.”

Bowers said: “What I’m so grateful for is that we are not alone here.” The not-for-profit Amador County Fair Foundation is in its third year, and has a “mission to generate funds, through gifts of cash, or property to support the fair.” The Fair will have its third annual Valentines Ball Feb. 12 to support the Fair.

Last Friday, Bowers was headed to the Western Fairs Association’s 88th annual convention, which runs Jan. 16-19 in Reno. He said the “California budget will be topic one,” and “we should know a lot more by the end of the convention.” The convention ends Wednesday.

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Amador County – As Amador County Fair CEO Troy Bowers prepared last week to head to the Western Fairs Association annual convention this week in Reno, he had both bad news and good news.

The bad news was the proposed governor’s budget cut of 100 percent of state fair funding in California. But the good news was the Western Fairs Association has selected another former Amador County Fair director for induction into the Western Fairs Association Hall of Fame.

Bowers said it is a “huge honor for Amador County and for Susie Clark” of Plymouth, who will be inducted into the WFA Hall of Fame this year for her work at the El Dorado County Fair, the Amador County Fair, and the Western Fairs Association.

“She’s unique in that she will join her husband Ralph in the hall of fame,” Bowers said, noting that “they are the only husband and wife team that is in the WFA Hall of Fame.”

They will join Ciro Toma as the third member of the WFA Hall of Fame from Amador County. Bowers said Toma was formerly the only fair director to serve as president of the Western Fairs Association, until this year’s induction of Michael F. Treacy.

Susie Clark, according to the WFA Hall of Fame announcement, “has spent the last 25 years dedicated to the fair industry. She served as the CEO of the El Dorado County Fair, the Redwood Empire Fair and the Amador County Fair,” and “various boards and committees.”

The WFA said her “passion and enthusiasm for the fair industry, along with her innovative business skills, have proved to be extremely effective with individual fairs, committees, boards and the personnel she has taken under her wing.”

With three Amador County Fair inductees, Bowers said “we’re among the elite for sure.” Toma was inducted in the 1980s, and Susie’s husband, Ralph Clark also served as WFA president and was inducted in the late 1990s.

The WFA represents all fairs west of the Mississippi, Bowers said. This year’s other WFA Hall of Fame inductee, Michael F. Treacy, was a longtime CEO of Kern County Fair, and Jackson County Fair. He was also executive director of the Division of Fairs and Expositions, and “worked with other key industry players to acquire the $32 million general fund continuous appropriations for fairs” in California.

That allocation is now being considered for cutting from the state budget proposed by the governor.

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Amador County – The Jackson City Council last week took a recommendation from its Sewer Rate Committee to look at options for the city wastewater system.

City Manager Mike Daly said the “main option now is taking some of our effluent and discharging it onto land, whether that is onto ranchland, or storing it until a wetter time of year, when there will be more dilution.”

The Regional Water Quality Control Board has a Basin Plan and “strongly discourages agencies from discharging into intermittent streams or otherwise impaired bodies of water – any bodies of water.”

Because Jackson Creek water is used for a potable water source downstream, after it flows into Lake Amador, the California Department of Public health has been vocal on the permit. Daly said the Buena Vista Road treatment plant for Oaks Community mobile home park near Ione uses the lake’s water for drinking.

Due to that, the city has been required to have a permit to discharge into a waterway, the Jackson Creek, and to renew it every five years. It was last renewed in 2007, and in 2012, Jackson will be required to meet state code which says that the city’s effluent discharge must make up less than 5 percent of the volume of Lake Amador at all times.

“That’s the driving force,” Daly said, looking at options for alternatives. City consultants Stantec, formerly ECO:LOGIC, recommended a preferred alternative in a report last July that would cost $7 million. That prompted formation of the Sewer Rate Committee, which discussed supplemental discharge of raw water into the creek, and “directly piping effluent to Lake Amador, so it doesn’t go into Jackson Creek.”

Jackson also looked into purchasing raw water from the Amador Water Agency and releasing it into the creek to dilute the effluent, but Daly said “there were lot of issues that were identified” by the AWA attorney, and “there appear to be other options that are more affordable.”

He said, assuming the city must cease discharge into the creek, they “must submit a water rights petition, to stop discharging into the creek.” The process has some documentation required by the California Environmental Quality Act requirements associated with that permit request.

Daly said there will be an environmental review of various options that have been proposed, and are under consideration for solving the Jackson “permit situation.”

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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency Board of Directors last week adopted a hiring freeze, and also reduced its own compensation, and removed all of its benefits.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo announced the moves in a release last week, saying the actions were part of “ongoing efforts to cut costs to meet reduced revenues.”

Mancebo said the “agency has been operating under an unofficial hiring freeze for two years.” He said the “temporary policy adopted Thursday ,formalizes the policy and aligns the water agency with Amador County government’s hiring freeze.”

The Agency has reduced staff by 20 percent since 2008, “through voluntary and non-voluntary means,” Mancebo said. “These positions are being held vacant, given the current economic and financial conditions facing the Agency.”

Under the new policy, the board will consider any proposal to fill job vacancies, “on a case-by-case basis,” Mancebo said.

“Board members also reduced their own pay and eliminated the directors’ benefit package”.Mancebo says. “The Board approved a maximum compensation for seven meetings per month for directors, down from 10 meetings per month. Reimbursement for the Board president will remain at a maximum of 10 meetings. Directors are paid $119.80 per meeting day.”

The reduction in benefits effectively dropped all health, dental and life insurance coverage for the five directors. District 1 Director Paul Molinelli Senior had already made a campaign commitment to refuse any compensation for his service on the board.

A voluntary water conservation notice remains in effect for AWA public water customers of Mace Meadow, Rabb Park, Pine Grove CSD and AWA’s CAWP Retail.

Recent heavy rains have filled water treatment plant storage ponds at Mace Meadow Golf Course, triggering an emergency contingency plan, as determined by the state.

To prevent the ponds from spilling, the plan requires the AWA to ask for voluntary water conservation.

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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency Board of Directors discussed its Strategic Plan in a brief workshop Thursday, and set about to study it, in more depth on their own, with a return to another workshop on the issue, possibly in early February.

They discussed some of the issues, and General Manager Gene Mancebo went through a top priorities list, for the various water and wastewater systems.

Director Art Toy asked about the Strategic Plan to “Develop a Replacement Reserves Program,” and why it was listed under a “target date” of 2013-2014.

General Manager Gene Mancebo said it was an analysis of the systems, and their pipelines, tanks, and pump stations, to see the life left in them, and the time left before they had to be replaced. It would set up financial plans, and funds to make replacements.

Mancebo said the original plan was to do the Replacement Reserve Program study internally, but because of limited staff time, and other priorities, it has been deferred. He said it was an inventory of all the infrastructure of the systems, and was a “huge undertaking.” It would determine “what we’re going to do and when we are going to do it.”

Mancebo thought the term “Reserves” was misleading, and Finance Manager Mike Lee suggested they call it “Capital Assets.” Director Gary Thomas said the action should be to “Develop Capital Assets.”

Chairman Don Cooper said the goal was to start to develop the program in 2013. Mancebo said “it will probably take multiple staff people, a couple of years” to complete.

On Cooper’s suggestion, the board agreed to make a deeper individual study of the Strategic Plan, and come back to discuss it with staff, possibly at the Feb. 8 meeting.

Mancebo went over a list of big issues, with potential financial impacts, which staff thinks are important. Engineer Erik Christesen said “it’s not a wish list, it’s things that will come back and bite us a lot more catastrophically.” One was an estimated $900,000 cost, to increase storage for the Buckhorn treatment plant’s backwash, known for a long time but never funded.

Cooper said they have had criticism from the public in the last two years for not assessing equipment or collecting money to replace it. Mancebo said some of the Strategic Plan items had funding, while others would not be funded until they were placed in a financial plan.

The list of top priorities by system included, the Ione and Tanner treatment plant capacities in the Amador Water System; the Gravity Supply Line in Central Amador Water Project Wholesale; CAWP Retail’s distribution pressure and fire flow capacity; Camanche Well 14 rehabilitation and wastewater storage; and wastewater treatment capacity in Martell.

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Amador County – At a workshop Thursday, the Amador Water Agency Board of Directors voted to make slight changes to the agency “Vision Statement,” which was revised by the previous board.

Board President Don Cooper said, part of the revisions still gives him “heartburn,” and that was the part that said, their vision was to “achieve affordable rates.” Cooper said, the board is preparing to ask customers to pay higher rates, “and I think we’re setting ourselves up for criticism”, because “we will raise rates.” He said the term, “affordable rates” does not mean the same thing to individual customers, because what is affordable depends on the finances of each person.

Cooper suggested removing that phrase “affordable rates,” and instead saying that, they wish to “achieve and maintain financial solvency, through responsible planning and management.”

Director Art Toy said his vision was to turn over the operation of the agency, to its professional staff, for the setting of priorities, projects and budgets, and take it out of the hands of the “amateurs.” He also noted that the Vision Statement did not contain a verb. Director Robert Manassero suggested the word “ensure.” And Cooper suggested changing a phrase, saying that they meet the county’s “demands,” to instead say that they, “meet Amador County needs.”

They also suggested and removed the term “transparency” from the Vision Statement, saying it was a catchall phrase, was part of state law, and was also included in the Mission Statement, which was left unchanged.

They voted 5-0 to approve the new Vision Statement, which gave as its purpose: “To ensure long term management of water resources, and systems to meet Amador County needs, and maintain financial solvency, through responsible planning and management.”

Director Paul Molinelli Senior asked about the Mission Statement addressing and protecting the environment, and why that should be included, because it was already “incorporated in law.”

Cooper said it was the duty of the board to “be good stewards of the water,” and it “helps bridge a relationship” between the agency and environmental groups, such as the Foothill Conservancy.

General Manager Gene Mancebo said there are certain laws they need to follow, and there is also a movement, that is not law but that looks toward protecting the watershed. He said “that’s just part of the movement where people are going,” to protect water quality.

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Amador County – The Amador County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday announced the arrest of a Volcano couple in relation to a burglary in Pioneer in July, with help from the Nevada County Narcotics Taskforce.

The Amador Sheriff’s Department said Doris Patricia Anderson (also known as Doris Feise) age 45, of Volcano, was arrested Dec. 29 while driving a 1987 BMW that was taken from a home in Pioneer on July 7, 2010. Her estranged husband, Richard Gene Anderson, 46, of Volcano, was also arrested at his home, where a lawn tractor stolen from the Pioneer burglary was found in his possession.

Both Andersons were being held without bail due to charges of probation violation, and both have pending charges related to residential burglary and/or possession of stolen property.

The July 7 burglary of a home in a secluded Pioneer area, included theft of a “significant amount of property,” the Sheriff’s Department said. Items included several firearms, televisions, the lawn tractor, a 1983 Chevrolet pickup and the BMW. No viable suspects were identified at the time.

On Dec. 21, Amador Sheriff’s detectives were contacted by a potential burglary victim in South Carolina, reporting that a home of her recently deceased stepmother may have been burglarized in Volcano. The report included theft of a vehicle.

Also Dec. 21, ACSO detectives “received information from the Nevada County Narcotics Task Force that several suspects from Nevada County were traveling to Amador County for the purpose of burglarizing an unoccupied residence.”

Based on the information from Nevada County, Amador Sheriff’s detectives “were able to link the suspects in Nevada County to the burglarized Volcano home, and a 1987 Mercury Topaz stolen from the same residence.” Further investigation connected the Nevada County suspects, to the BMW stolen from Pioneer in July.

Nevada Narcotics surveillance in Nevada City led to Doris Anderson’s arrest in the BMW, and when arrested, Anderson “was found in possession of credit cards, personal identifying information, documents and records belonging to the deceased Amador County resident.”

Property stolen from Amador County burglaries was later recovered in Grass Valley, and the Mercury Topaz was discovered abandoned in brush, near Ponderosa Way in Volcano.

Amador detectives are in the process of identifying additional stolen property and suspects, and obtaining arrest warrants for specific suspects in both Amador and Nevada counties.

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Amador County – Girl Scouts Cookie Season has officially begun, and will help raise funds and teach future leaders among the 29,000 Girl Scouts in 18 counties of the Sacramento region. Girl Scouts officials said the 2011 cookie selling fundraising season officially begins Jan. 14.

Jennifer Lemos of the “Girl Scouts Heart of Central California,” based in Sacramento, said the annual cookie sales season runs Jan. 14 through to March 20.

The cookies are $4 per box, and this year’s flavors and features include eight different labels. They are: Thin Mints, Carmel deLites, Peanut Butter Patties, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Shortbread, Lemonades, Thanks-A-Lots, and the newest cookie, Shout Outs, a Belgian-style caramelized cookie.

In another change this year, Lemos said, the Thanks-A-Lots cookies will have a new “green” packaging which “will eliminate 150 tons of paperboard” from the recycling stream.

Girls Scouts was founded 99 years ago, in 1912 and Lemos said it is “still the leading authority on girls’ healthy development, and builds girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place.”

The local council, “Girl Scouts Heart of Central California,” is headquartered in Sacramento and serves nearly 29,000 girls in 18 counties in central California.

Lemos said: “Through Girl Scouting, girls become leaders in their daily lives and prepare for their bright futures.” She said the cookie sales program “provides an important ingredient for leadership by helping girls develop five key skills” of “goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics.”

After paying the licensed baker, all proceeds from the Girl Scout Cookie sales program stay within the local council area to help support troop activities and provide essential services to membership. Lemos said the program is one of the few youth programs in the country that “allows girls to make a decision, on where a portion of the profits are applied.”

For information, go online to girlscoutscc.org.

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