Amador County – About 30 people attended a workshop Monday to look at ideas for replacements of Sutter Creek’s Main Street bridge.

Sutter Creek City Manager Sean Rabe said the workshop would get ideas of the type of bridge people wanted, so engineers could make more detailed renderings for Planning Commission and City Council consideration.

They discussed a concrete slab bridge, resembling the current bridge, and removing parking on the bridge to create 18-foot wide sidewalks for farmers markets, booths, or performers. They also requested renderings showing pedestrian views from the bridges.

Rebecca Neilon of Dokken Engineering said a truss bridge “would be more like the bridge that you had there before,” circa 1897. The design had two bridges with an eight-foot space in between, and a road median and trusses would keep traffic out of the creek.

Neilon said Dokken is “designing the bridge to not preclude the creek walk,” a future project idea, by giving it removable sections to add stairs.

The truss bridge would cost $1.3 million, built in two stages of two months each, with 9-foot tall trusses. To have a wider, single bridge, Neilon said the trusses would be taller.

The slab bridge would cost $1.2 million, built in two stages of four months each, and would need barriers of some sort to keep cars out of the creek.

Councilman Jim Swift suggested faux trusses on a slab bridge. He also suggested six-inch traffic curbs flush with sidewalks. Supervisor Louis Boitano said he liked the slab idea with faux trusses. Neilon said the faux trusses would still have to be big enough to keep cars out of the creek. Boitano said: “I’ve been here 57 years and I’ve never seen anybody drive into the creek.”

Rabe asked if they wanted the bridge to be invisible, as it now appears when cars park on it. Commissioner Robin Peters said the bridge essentially has “looked the same for the last 110 years, with no median, no trusses and no parade issues.” He said: “We need to be very cautious about making the bridge visible.” John Mottoros said it was a good point, but the bridge would not be invisible if it had three-foot curbs on each side.

Peters said Dokken should “divert its energy to bearings and railings.” Asked if the finish should match the city’s pedestrian bridge, Peters disagreed, saying: “We have the opportunity to use the rail as a minor focal point, and I’m not sure rusted steel is the look we want for downtown.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County - The Amador County Board of Supervisors presented a resolution Tuesday honoring John D’Agostini for 17 years of service to Amador County.

Numerous public officials and co-workers were on hand to show their appreciation for D’Agostini, who was elected Sheriff of El Dorado County on November 2nd, 2010.

The resolution was read aloud by Chairman Brian Oneto. It proclaims: “John is widely recognized and respected as one of the best narcotics officers to ever serve in Amador County.”

“It is indeed bittersweet that someone who has served our county so long…and so faithfully is departing,” said District Attorney Todd Riebe. “It is a testament to the kind of talent that this office and this county produces, and a testament to local law enforcement.”

Sheriff Martin Ryan said he is proud of what D’Agostini has accomplished with his “personal integrity and gifts.” He joked that “our plan to take over El Dorado County is working,” noting some former Amador County employees, including El Dorado County Administrative Officer Terri Daly, who have taken high ranking jobs in El Dorado County.

D’Agostini thanked everyone in attendance, including his coworkers, Sheriff Ryan, and his wife “for putting up with him.” He called Riebe a “truly good leader.”

The Supervisors also made comments. Ted Novelli said D’Agostini’s success is “a reflection of…the great camaraderie, great staff and people working day in and day out” at the Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office. John Plasse said “we know you’ll do us proud over there in El Dorado County.”

D’Agostini began his long local career in law enforcement as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff for the Amador County Sheriff’s Office in 1993. He was hired as a Deputy Sheriff in 1994, performing duties as the Chief Deputy Coroner, property crimes investigator, narcotics investigator, field training officer, COPS program officer and SWAT sniper. He was promoted to Sergeant in 2001. In 2003, he was hired as a District Attorney Investigator II, performing duties as a general criminal investigator, witness relocation and assistance investigator, Range Master, Armorer and ACCNET Supervisor.

D’Agostini begins his new role as El Dorado County Sheriff on January 11th, 2011.

Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Plymouth City Council last week appointed Finance Director Jeff Gardner to be interim city manager through the end of June, and Gardner said he hopes in that time it becomes a permanent position.

Gardner said Tuesday that he negotiated his salary with out-going City Manager Dixon Flynn and new Mayor Greg Baldwin, and the next step is taking over the position after Thursday of this week. Gardner said Flynn’s official last day is December 31st, but he will be out of town for most of the rest of this month, for the holidays. Thus, according to a contract he worked out with the council, Gardner will be acting city manager until December 31st, and then he will become interim city manager for the next six months after that.

Gardner said he actually is now acting city manager and finance director and will be fulfilling two positions for the city through his interim city manager contract. He said hopefully in that time the city council will decide to appoint him as permanent city manager.

He said he is looking forward to helping run the city, which has a lot of things happening. He said city representatives continue to work with a company on an agreement to run the Arroyo Ditch for the city. Also, today, (6 pm Wednesday, December 15th) the company Reeder Sutherland hosts a public hearing on its Environmental Impact Report for its Shenandoah Ridge and Zinfandel housing development projects.

The EIR is available online on the city’s website, Gardner said, and the comment period runs until December 31st. He was not sure when people would choose to comment, but he expected everyone would have a chance to comment on the project.

The city is “almost completely done” with its $3 million wastewater revitalization project, and Development Coordinator Richard Prima is working with the Regional Water Quality Control Board for a renewal and update on the city’s discharge permit. Gardner said the city’s permit was up for renewal, and since the system was expanded, the permit had to redone.

Prima is the former public works director from Lodi, where Flynn was the finance director and then city manager. Gardner said Flynn brought him to Plymouth and Prima has been a “godsend.”

The council plans to have a resolution honoring Flynn at its January 13th meeting.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Calaveras County - The Economic Prosperity Council of Tuolumne County (EPCTC) announced yesterday it had received a $10,000 contribution from AT&T to support the organization’s training program for small businesses, including those here in Amador County.

The Economic Prosperity Council will use the contribution from AT&T to fund the purchase of ten laptop computers and associated business software. The EPCTC with other partners, such as the Business Alliance of Tuolumne County, will provide training and economic development services to small businesses in Tuolumne County. This will help to advance the mission of the Economic Prosperity Council by encouraging entrepreneurship, job attraction, retention, and job creation in Tuolumne County.

The planned outcome of this contribution is to create and retain jobs by providing assistance and training to startups, small business owners, and other local businesses and to become more competitive, increase their sustainability, and profitability.

Larry Cope, through his role as Executive Director of the EPCTC, accepted this contribution on behalf of the organization. “Working hand-in-hand with our partner organizations can really make things happen”, said Cope.

One of those partners includes George Segarini of the Tuolumne County Chamber of Commerce who assisted the EPCTC in securing this funding for our business community. “We appreciate AT&T ’s recognition of our united efforts to cultivate success with our entrepreneurs and small businesses owners who help make up the fabric of our rural economy,” he said.

“Programs like this can make a real difference for small businesses – and communities,” said Eric Johnson, Executive Director of External Affairs for AT&T. “That’s why we’re proud to support the Economic Prosperity Council of Tuolumne County and their outstanding work to strengthen small businesses in our region.”

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Friday, December 17th is a big day at the Jackson Rancheria.

Starting at 9:45 am, there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new High Limit Room, followed by drawings throughout the day with chances to win promo play, gift bags and a custom leather jacket.

The annual holiday Turkey Drive begins at noon and continues until 8 pm at the General Store, located on Highway 88 and Dalton Road. Donors will receive a $10 dining credit for each turkey, with a maximum of two turkeys per person. All turkeys will go to the Interfaith Food Bank.

The Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel is located at 12222 New York Ranch Road in Jackson. For more information, call 800-822-WINN or visit JacksonCasino.com.

Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Calaveras County – The U.S. Forest Service recently announced that the Amador-Calaveras Consensus Group (ACCG) received the agency’s Pacific Southwest Regional Forester’s Award for “All Land Ecological Restoration.”

ACCG is a community-based organization that works to create fire safe communities, healthy forests and sustainable local economies. Their efforts have focused on reducing hazardous fuels in the Mokelumne River watershed, a common boundary shared between the Stanislaus and El Dorado National Forests.

The award, presented by Regional Forester Randy Moore, recognizes the group’s success in securing grants through National Forest Foundation to formally organize under a memorandum of agreement, and to facilitate support for on-the-ground projects that reduce hazardous fuel conditions and put local residents back to work in the woods. Other organizations that have contributed funds for this work include private landowners, Fire Safe Council, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Forest Service (FS), Calaveras Healthy Impacts Product Solutions, and the Calaveras-Mariposa Community Action Agency.

ACCG has facilitated the hiring and training of a hand crew made up of Me-Wuk tribal members as well as a non-native crew. Both crews have been working on implementing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) for Glencoe, doing fuel reduction projects on BLM and private lands. In addition, the all-native crew has successfully completed fuel reduction work on several cultural resource sites on the Calaveras Ranger District, in a way that brings indigenous stewardship practices back to these ancestral lands.

Much of the woody material generated by these projects will be processed to make animal bedding, fence posts, firewood, or to generate electric power. These small efforts have given a much needed boost to the spirits and economic welfare of local residents and small businesses. In fact, the unemployment rate in the West Point/Glencoe area of Calaveras County recently dropped as a result of this program.

The effort began nearly two years ago, when Calaveras County Supervisor Steve Wilensky gathered a group of public agencies, private landowners, Me-Wuk tribal representatives, environmental groups, small business owners, and interested citizens together. The idea was to try to develop mutually beneficial solutions to problems of extreme fire danger, overgrown forests, threatened water quality, and persistent unemployment in the small communities of the eastern portion of the Mokelumne River watershed.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – In the first meeting of its new makeup, the Amador Water Agency board of directors voted unanimously Thursday, December 9th, to spend close to $70,000 to proceed to bid as soon as possible on the Gravity Supply Line project.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said bidding could start in April 2011, and if approved, construction of the GSL could begin late next summer or early fall.

Mancebo said: “Once construction bids are opened, the agency will have a firm cost to share with customers prior to considering a potential rate increase and weighing the cost versus benefits of the project.”

Three Central Amador Water Project districts must also approve financing for the final project, which the AWA board approved in March. The GSL is a gravity-fed raw water pipeline to CAWP’s water treatment system in Buckhorn.

Mancebo said the GSL is “designed to greatly reduce the impacts of rising electricity costs on CAWP’s budget.” The AWA board’s March approval allowed the agency to apply to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a $5.1 million grant and a low interest, 40-year loan for $8.3 million to pay for the GSL. The loan payment would be offset by a reduction in energy costs.

Mancebo said he was hopeful that actual construction costs will be lower than initial estimates, citing other recent public works project bids that have come in as much as 50 percent below original engineering estimates.

He said AWA staff will begin a series of Upcountry meetings to share information with CAWP ratepayers in January.

In a report to the board, Mancebo said the AWA board halted work on USDA conditions for the grant and loan for the project, due to concerns over the cost. Staff brought back a timeline and list of the conditions, and reported that for less than $70,000, consisting of “existing staff time,” the AWA “could bid the project and meet all conditions necessary prior to the start of construction.”

He said staff “will continue to refine financial plans with the budget and finance committee,” made up of President Don Cooper and District 4 Director Robert Manassero. Staff also plans “a future workshop on the financial plans with the entire board.”

Mancebo said on November 17th that AWA staff held a quarterly meeting with the CAWP wholesale districts, well represented by its board members. They unanimously said “they wish to proceed with spending $69,630 to get the GSL out to bid,” so a firm construction bid cost could be determined.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County - 10th District Assemblymember Alyson Huber is seeking support for a bill she introduced last week that would halt the planned closure of Preston Youth Correctional Facility.

Assembly Bill 8 was the first piece of legislation Huber introduced after taking the oath of office for her second term. Shortly after its introduction, Huber said the bill “would prohibit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities from closing any youth correctional facility during the six-month period following the effective date of the legislation.” It also directs that activities levels at any facility will remain at effectively the same levels as when the closure of Preston was first announced.

The closure will affect over 400 staff and at least 200 juvenile wards. Most of the wards would be transferred to nearby facilities in Stockton. The closure will also impact city and county revenues, businesses, school revenue, and potentially reduce the value of area homes.

At a special meeting called by Huber and the Amador County Board of Supervisors last week, Huber urged the capacity crowd in attendance to “write letters, make calls” and “do what it takes” to urge the legislature to approve the bill. She said the bill includes findings she feels are “incontrovertible.” Word spread Monday among concerned citizens that Huber seeks at least 2000 letters in her office to protest the bill. She plans on taking these letters into committee when she presents her bill in the coming weeks, a tactic she has used when introducing several past bills.

Said Huber last week: “This bill will put a temporary halt to the process that CDCR seems intent on barreling forward without clear regard of the impact of the decision. It will give the Legislature and Governor the time necessary to look deeper into how CDCR is making decisions about how to meet the needs of a dwindling youth offender population and a shrinking budget.”

Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.