Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors asked about curbing impacts of the Buena Vista Biomass Power plant on Tuesday, and ultimately decided impacts would be worth approving the permit and related documents.

Consultants discussed the Subsequent Environmental Impact Report, approved by the Amador Planning Commission, and answered questions. Supervisor Richard Forster, whose District 2 would house the reopened plant, asked for clarification of “Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction.” He said it appeared in several areas of the SEIR that the main issue of avoiding the Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction system was “because it was much more costly to install and operate.”

Consultant Doug Brown, who wrote the technical portions of the SEIR for his company, Ascent Environmental, said it “wouldn’t be appropriate to use the SNCR.” He said a comparison was made to a coal-burning facility in Illinois, but using SNCR in Amador, would not compare.

Gary Jakobs of Ascent said the system planned to be used at Buena Vista “will meet those very strict standards.” Forster asked if it “would not provide enough benefit” and was that, a reason for it not being used? Jakobs said there would not be a “substantial change in environmental conditions” with use of the more expensive system.

Forster said he found “it really hard to insinuate in an EIR” what the Center for Biological Diversity argued, that burning in a generator would be the same as open-air burning. He said the Power Fire released pollution in three weeks, was equivalent to more emissions in Amador County than had been released “in the last 10 years.”

Supervisor Chairman John Plasse pointed out a section of the EIR that said the Biomass Power plant would burn “residual” trimmings and would not use “merchantable timber.” Plasse said “an economically viable way to thin the forest” is “very appealing.”

Plasse said a reforestation process used after the Angora Fire was the same as proposed by the Buena Vista plant, and criticized by the Center for Biological Diversity. Plasse said “you can’t have it both ways.”

Supervisor Louis Boitano asked about Ascent’s findings on open burning, and reductions expected regionally, with opening the Buena Vista plant. Jakobs said The findings were based on conversations with the U.S. Forest Service.

He said the Forest Service undergrowth is largely burned, and if not burned, but left on the forest floor, you “do have the potential, for a catastrophic fire.”

Jakobs said the EIR did not try to address a new issue of whether biomass power plants are “carbon neutral,” and did not look at the “lifecycle of a tree” and the “sequestered carbon.” Jakobs said “we took a very neutral view to the issue of carbon neutrality.” He said all they wanted to do was “present the facts as best we can.”

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Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors honored out-going Chairman Brian Oneto with a plaque Tuesday, before he passed the gavel to new Chairman John Plasse.

Supervisor Plasse of District 1 was selected as 2011 board chairman, and Supervisor Louis Boitano of District 4 was picked as vice chairman.

Plasse asked to postpone the assignment of committees until the next meeting “so that I can better review some of the requests I’ve seen.”

The board approved a schedule of cancelation of meetings due to holidays for the calendar, and also assigned the administrative committee to look into the reduction of meeting days to two per month, as suggested by Supervisor Richard Forster.

Forster said Yolo County was meeting twice a month for reasons of efficiency, and if a county as big as Yolo could do it, Amador should be able to. He said one-, two- or three-item meetings in the past were wasteful of staff time, and county money and “it’s not very efficient.”

Plasse agreed, saying with one item or 20, the staff time, mailings and postings are still there. He said he would like to streamline things a little bit. Boitano said they can talk to Patrick Blacklock, former Amador chief administrative officer, now in that postition at Yolo.

County Planner Susan Grijalva said Tuolumne County now meets twice a month and “it works.” She said public hearing notices are $200 for the first legal listing, and $20 for each additional hearing. Boitano said it makes sense to line up all the public hearings on one day and meet as long as it takes.

Plasse said “from up here I see one heck of a lot of staff time being eaten up sitting and waiting for their item to come up.”

Chief Administrative Office Chuck Iley said new software to allow audio broadcast of supervisor meetings was nearing activation, and they would eventually move to webcasting.

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Amador County – The Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency announced an upcoming survey of homeless people in Amador County Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting in Jackson.

A-TCAA Housing Resources Director Margaret “Beetle” Barbour told supervisors the survey will be conducted for 48 hours on Jan. 25-27, and flyers were circulating. She said “getting an accurate count of homeless individuals and families” will better enable A-TCAA “to develop a community-wide plan to end homelessness.”

The survey seeks to find out how many people in Amador County don’t have a home, and will be conducted at locations throughout Amador County, including the Interfaith Foodbank, the library and the shelter in Jackson. The surveys are also available at the A-TCAA Service Center in Jackson, at community centers, senior centers, hospitals, Amador Public Health, Behavioral Health and Social Services.

People currently without a home are asked to go to one of the survey locations on Jan. 25-27, to be counted. If people cannot come to a survey location, they can call 223-9215 or 223-1485, ext. 263 and A-TCAA will send a volunteer to meet at a convenient place. People are asked to encourage those who are homeless to be counted.

Barbour said a volunteer training session is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12 at the Amador County administration building in Jackson. The classes will train volunteers to become enumerators, to help out with the survey.

Barbour said “sheltered homeless tend to be families, most of them homeless just briefly and most of them pull themselves out of that situation with minimal assistance.” The statistics of unsheltered homeless, or “street” homeless, are what most people would consider the core social issue.

Barbour said overall, Amador County’s homeless numbers increased in 2009, compared to 2007, and “this was likely due to a new plan to use adult homeless shelter residents as enumerators.” She said “shelter residents were effective at locating homeless individuals in Amador County,” and they “also had a higher level of trust with the homeless population,” therefore making it “easier to interview more homeless individuals.”

The 2007 survey showed 51 people, including nine children were homeless in Amador, while in 2009, the total was 95 people, including 22 children. Barbour said “these numbers would have been even higher if (Housing and Urban Development) had not narrowed the definition of who is considered homeless. In a change from 2007, the survey in 2009 said that individuals and families that were considered “couch surfers” were no longer considered homeless.

To volunteer to help with the survey, call (209) 223-9215 or 223-1485, ext. 263.

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Amador County – About 40 people attended a noon ceremony as six elected officials said their oath of office Monday, led by County Clerk, Recorder and Registrar of Voters Sheldon D. Johnson.

Johnson was also one of those who was reelected, among 10 county officials voted back into office in the primary last June.

The 10 elected county officials were invited by Johnson to take their oath of office at noon Monday, in the Board of Supervisors Chambers. Six showed up for the ceremony, and Johnson said they agreed to say their oath simultaneously.

Many uniformed deputies of the Amador County Sheriff’s Department were among those in attendance, as Sheriff and Coroner Martin Ryan took the oath for his second term of office. Ryan was first elected in 2006, and took office in 2007.

Also attending was Assessor Jim Rooney, elected for his third term, who began his first term in 2003.

Auditor Joe Lowe also took his oath, and starts his third term. Lowe first took office in 2003.

Johnson is in his 32nd year in office, and his position also includes the position of Registrar of Voters, and the Commissioner of Civil Marriages.

Also sworn in was District 3 Supervisor Theodore F. “Ted” Novelli, who is starting his second term on the Amador County Board of Supervisors. His first term began in 2007.

Supervisor Chairman Brian Oneto of District 5, who passed the gavel to the new chairman of the board on Tuesday, also took his oath at the ceremony Monday. Oneto is also starting his second term, and took office in 2007.

Treasurer and Tax Collector Mike Ryan also took the oath, and starts his sixth term. He was first elected in 1991. Not attending were the Superintended of Schools, the District Attorney and the Superior Court Judge. Superintendent Richard F. Glock will start his third year as superintendent of the Amador County Unified School District. He took over for former Superintendent Mike Carey in July 2008. District Attorney Todd Riebe will start his fourth elected term, and was first elected in 1998.

Superior Court Judge Susan C. Harlan starts her fourth elected term, and was first appointed in 1991 by Gov. Pete Wilson. She was first elected in 1992.

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Amador County – Republican Assemblyman Ted Gaines succeeded to the State Senate for District 1 including Amador County and 11 other counties last night, with a special election victory over Democrat Ken Cooley. Unofficial results showed Gaines won by 34,000 votes, and took 63 percent of the vote.

Amador County Registrar of Voters Sheldon Johnson announced unofficial county results, with 100 percent of the precincts having been counted and tallied as of 9:23 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 4) showing Gaines leading the vote in Amador County at 62 percent to 37 percent.

Gaines had 4,108 votes in Amador County, while Cooley had 2,448.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s website showed “semi-official results” from District 1 throughout the night Tuesday. Bowen’s site reported at 9:53 p.m. that with 63 percent of precincts reporting across District 1, Gaines led with 63 percent of the vote to Cooley’s 36 percent. That tally included 322 of a total 514 precincts partially reporting district-wide. It showed Gaines had 72,833 votes and Cooley had 42,365.

By 10:06 p.m., with 70 percent of precincts reporting, Gaines had 74,127 votes, and still held 63 percent of the vote, to Cooley’s 43,005 votes, a 31,000-vote margin.

By 10:22 p.m., Gaines kept the same 63 percent majority, with 83 percent of precincts reported, and 78,598 votes to 46,183 for Cooley, a 32,400-vote lead.

Gaines, the sitting District 4 State Assemblyman, held a presumed party line edge of about 11 points in District 1, whose registered Republican voters outnumbered Democrats by that percentage.

Another special election on Tuesday, limited to only Amador County, was a recall election of Lylis McCutcheon, a board member of the River Pines Public Utility District. After 100 percent of the precincts were reported Tuesday, the unofficial tally showed that 75 percent of the votes cast were in favor of McCutcheon’s recall, or 98 votes, versus the 32 votes against.

The other question in River Pines, her replacement, voters give the lone replacement candidate, Perry Hopkins a vote edge of 81-39 in favor, or 67 percent of the vote.

Registrar of Voters Sheldon Johnson said River Pines had 222 registered voters eligible to vote in the recall, and all of them had been sent vote-by-mail ballots. The initial tally at the closes of the polls at 8:02 p.m. showed the same number of ballots cast as when the Amador County election office tallied the 100 percent of precincts at 9:23 p.m.

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Amador County – The Amador County Fair Board at its last meeting selected the 2011 fair theme, with a familiar ring: “Dancing with the Steers.”

Amador County Fair Chief Executive Officer Troy Bowers said Tuesday that the new fair theme, and the fair itself will be the general and usual topic, of the fair board’s monthly meetings.

The nine members of the board include five who were announced late at the end of the Schwarzenegger administration as being reappointed. The re-appointees are Laurie Forster, Michael Boitano, Jeanne Deaver, Frank Halvorson, and Janice Howard.

Bowers said the board sets policy, oversees finances and approves the budget and expenditures, that I submit to them for their approval. They also “keep him in line,” he said.

The reappointments at the end of December were in the line of regular happenings for county fairs. Bowers said: “This is the natural lifecycle” of fair board membership, appointments and reappointments.

The positions include no payment and no salaries for these community minded people. The nine-member board, all appointed by the governor, includes Ciro Toma, Chuck Simmons, Robert Manassero and Marilyn Hoopes. Manassero and Hoopes both are in terms that expired Jan. 1.

Bowers said the way it works, board members serve until someone is appointed to the spot. The reappointment by the governor follows application to the positions online, at division of fairs and expositions on the state website. People send in the applications, which are reviewed by the appointment secretary, who will speak to various members of the community about the appointment and then make their decisions.

Bowers said: “We are thrilled,” and we “continue to have what I believe is the best board of any fair in the state of California.”

The board meets the second Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at the fair administration office. Meetings are open to the public.

Business at the next meeting will include selecting who will be serving as the new board president, and the board will appoint a new president and vice president. Robert Manassero’s two-year term as president has expired, Bowers said.

Fair board appointments are not the highest priority typically for a governor, so the appointments are normally made at the end of a governor’s term.

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