Tom

Friday, 09 April 2010 04:27

Pine Grove Scoping Meeting Outlines Hwy. 88 Improvement Project

Amador County – Regional transportation representatives gave an up-to-date overview of the Pine Grove State Route 88 Improvement Project before a large crowd of concerned citizens at the Pine Grove Town Hall on Wednesday evening. Neil Peacock, Program Manager for the Amador County Transportation Commission, said the proposal includes 12 different alternatives for route modifications at a price tag “not to exceed $40 million.” He said the “purpose of this project is three-fold: to improve operations, alleviate congestion and enhance safety.” All of the proposed alternatives include extensive road widening or the construction of new roads all together through forested, mountainous areas, which would affect existing structures and land parcels. Caltrans originally determined the need for the project a decade ago based on traffic and safety studies. In subsequent years, Caltrans completed a project study report and acquired federal funding from a variety of sources, including a $356,000 earmark from Congressman Dan Lungren to be used for project planning. In 2008, a cooperative agreement was developed making ACTC the “Implementing Agency” for project management while Caltrans still retains “Lead Agency” status and project oversight. “Big transportation projects take quite some time to come to fruition- that’s just a part of the game,” said Peacock. Peacock said the purpose of the meeting was not only to educate the public on progress thus far, but also to gather input on who should be selected for an advisory committee representing local interests who will “provide feedback to the technical experts in our consultant team.” Leslie Regos (RAY-GOES), ACTC Community Outreach Consultant, asked groups who represent Pine Grove or local interests to nominate one representative to join the Stakeholders Working Group because there are “pretty strict criteria for participation.” She said participants are expected to attend a number of meetings and devote non-paid time. She stressed that the routes discussed are just concepts. “Our job is taking all of those lines and building infrastructure that is reasonable from a community acceptance standpoint,” she said. Considering the length of the project so far, she stressed the importance that funding go into the “implementation of a solution.” She said “as much as we’d like to say cost doesn’t have as much weight in these solutions, it does.” Peacock said the project must abide by the rules and regulations of the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Protection Act. Project construction is not estimated to take place until 2024. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in Local

Friday, 09 April 2010 04:25

CA Conservation Corps. Assist in River Pines Clean Up

Amador County - River Pines is in the midst of a town-wide cleanup courtesy of the Amador Fire Safe Council and the California Conservation Corps. Amador FSC Executive Director Cathy Koos Breazeal told TSPN the cleanup is the result of a U.S. Forest Service grant for communities on the federal “at risk list.” It provides $110,000 for debris cleanup to preserve local watersheds and fire protection, with a required matching grant of $4000 in volunteer hours. Her agency applied for the grant last year and received funding last October. Breazeal said the River Pines Revitalization Association (RPRA) is “really trying to get their town back to the way it once was,” referring to the towns origin as a vacation resort in the 1920s. “All I did was engage the (Conservation Corps) and the townspeople began to pitch in,” she said. Beginning Monday, approximately 15 Corps and community members began the cleanup stage of the process. Homeowners who signed up ahead of time were asked to bring their trash to the curb and the volunteers travel block to block throwing the waste into dumpsters. Breazeal said the cleanup process will take approximately one week, at which point they will begin clearing defensible space around nearly 305 homes, many of which are built close together. Corps members are expected to help out on this and other area projects for the next six weeks. For every one year they work they get a year’s college tuition. Breazeal said the volunteers were also treated to a “historical and educational history of the town” by RPRA member Shirley Jones. “We are hoping that by doing all this it will give the townspeople more ownership,” said Breazeal. “There is a lot of personal pride in the town that we want to get back.” Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in Local

Friday, 09 April 2010 04:23

AFPD board Chooses to Hire Battalion Chiefs, Not Cal Fire

Amador County – The Amador Fire Protection District voted 3-2 Tuesday to make independent hires, rather than sign a contract with Cal Fire. Supervisors Louis Boitano, Ted Novelli and Chairman Brian Oneto voted for a plan offered by AFPD Chief Jim McCart to hire battalion chiefs, engineers and firefighters. McCart’s plan also will look at hiring on contract for Lockwood and Sutter Creek fire districts. The first hires will be at Battalion 10 in the Upcountry, and Battalion 20 in District 5. Novelli said: “I have nothing against Cal Fire.” He said Amador has some good firefighters living here, and if they have the opportunity to hire them, he supports it. He said “all agencies in the county have outstanding fire service.” Plymouth Mayor Patricia Fordyce said she was not sure about hiring Cal Fire. Supervisor John Plasse, voting against direct hires, said the Cal Fire proposal was for too short a time period, then it reverted back to a plan with no leadership. Plasse proposed the $300,000 could go to hiring retired CDF people on the “open market” with the direct-hire proposal, to oversee the AFPD. Supervisor Richard Forster voted against McCart’s plan, preferring the independence Cal Fire would offer. Forster told McCart: “If you want people to have faith in this, you need to come up and represent it,” not have someone from Sutter Creek representing it. Sutter Creek Fire Protection District board member Ron Watson said “we’ve had minor input.” Watson criticized labeling McCart an “administrative chief,” while he still works at incident scenes. Watson said people don’t care what the personnel are called. He said “we have fire experience, and you have plans put together by people with no fire experience.” Ione Councilman Lee Ard said Ione was staying out of the regional approach, despite City Manager Kim Kerr’s best efforts to get the city involved. Ard said “we would be crazy to get involved in this political issue.” He said Ione has the “complete structure,” with captains, fire marshals and a chief. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in Fire

Friday, 09 April 2010 04:21

County Releases Details on Departmental Reorganization

Amador County – The Amador County Administrative Agency on Thursday released details on the recently approved reorganization of County departments as proposed by County Administrative Officer Terri Daly. “This is no longer business as usual; things have changed and we have to change with them,” said Daly shortly before the board approved the plan on Tuesday. The release says “the reorganization is the result of the financial situation of the County which has not changed dramatically since the mid-year budget update which was presented to the Board last month.” Daly said “we anticipate a $4.7 million shortfall in our General Fund for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, which represents about a 12 percent overall cut to next year’s budget.” The plan reduces 11 existing departments “who have overlapping or shared functions” into 5 units: Administration, Community Development, Health & Human Services, General Services Administration and Public Services. All 5 units fall under the supervision of Daly, who in turn reports to the Board of Supervisors. At Tuesday’s meeting, Daly anticipated the possible dismissal of 5 or 6 employees in management or mid-management positions as a result of the plan. She estimates the reorganization will save $500,000 in salary in the coming year. Daly said the key principles guiding the proposed reorganization are cost savings, eliminating job silos, creating a strong management team, instilling more flexibility into the organization and setting the groundwork for future growth and expansion. “With the Board’s approval of the reorganization, the department heads and I will immediately begin working on the implementation details. In the weeks ahead, much work will be required within each department to identify the appropriate departmental changes to find maximum efficiency and effectiveness within each unit,” said Daly. Three departments- Veteran’s Services, Probation and the Ag/Air UC Extension – are not affected by the change and will report directly to the Board of Supervisors. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in Local

Friday, 09 April 2010 04:13

Amador County News TSPN TV with Christian Toma 4-9-10

Published in Video

Wednesday, 07 April 2010 18:00

AFPD Board Discusses History Leading to Paid Fire Personnel

Amador County – The Amador Fire Protection District board of directors discussed work behind Tuesday’s historic decision to approve a hiring plan for the largest locally-based fire department in the county. Supervisor Louis Boitano said the board has discussed paying firefighters for 17 years. Supervisor John Plasse said heated and impassioned rhetoric was a good example of why AFPD board meetings, before this week, were never able to come to fruition on the issue. Plasse said he is “committed to a consolidation effort,” which “is important for the county.” The board voted 3-2 Tuesday to approve a Measure M spending plan offered by AFPD Chief Jim McCart. Plasse and Supervisor Richard Forster voted against the action. The plan was selected over a new proposal drafted by AFPD staff overnight. Critics called McCart’s plan the AFPD/Sutter Creek plan, for its strong support from Sutter Creek Fire District. SCFD board member Harold Gamble said the new proposal given to the board Tuesday was the size of document he would like to get in advance, but in a quick read, he said its plan to have a fire manager and a battalion chief meet once a month, would cause problems for handling daily issues. He said it would be better to hire battalion chiefs. Boitano agreed, saying the “ultimate goal” is to have a county-wide department. Plasse said he thought it “comes down to qualities and capabilities of those involved, and how well they can work toward consolidation.” Former firefighter and Upcountry Community Council co-chair Bob Curral said “if we don’t have a battalion chief, we’ll have a (Cal Fire) chief that is taken away during the California fire season.” Sutter Creek’s Ron Watson said consolidation in the county “should come from positive decisions, not threats.” Sutter Creek Fire Chief Butch Martin said he supports the AFPD plan of using local government, and “whoever you hire has to be in charge of the hired personnel.” Plymouth Mayor Pat Fordyce said she has met with Cal Fire personnel and found them “extremely professional,” but she did not know if Cal Fire was the answer for AFPD. McCart said “until Measure M came along, there was no funding,” and an old contracted with Cal Fire made AFPD’s $70,000 reserve disappear, when the state went to its “2 person per engine rule.” McCart said the money was AFPD’s reserve to hire firefighters. At the time, the AFPD board told him to let the agreement end without renewal, and he did that. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in News Archive

Wednesday, 07 April 2010 18:00

Supes vote ACTC Lead Agency on signal retrofit Project

Amador County – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved to make the Amador County Transportation Commission the lead agency for a new program that allows emitters on emergency vehicles in order to alter and pass through traffic signals. Officially known as the Amador County Signal Preemption Retrofit Project, the state grant application was made as part of the broader ACTC Highway Safety Improvement Program. ACTC Executive Director Charles Field said his agency applied and was approved for a $465,000 grant last year, and authorization of the funds is expected during the 2011/2012 fiscal year. Approximately $51,000 in local matching funds are required. Field said ACTC’s application was one of 113 accepted out of 475 grants submitted. Specifically, the project will “modify the signalized intersections in Amador County to include emergency vehicle preemption systems and provide ‘emitters’ for participating emergency vehicles.” The infrastructure upgrades would apply to all intersections within the county and all vehicles at participating emergency response agencies. Amador County Undersheriff Jim Wegner gave an idea of the costs involved to upgrade and retrofit some vehicles in his department. Those costs include $71,000 “to equip hardracks on vehicles,” $33,000 for installation and $500 or less for permitting. Wegner said one of the specifications for this grant was a fallback on individual agencies to come up with a 10 percent match for each vehicle. “If our numbers our correct, and there are no more outside costs, we can do approximately 80 vehicles in the county,” said Wegner. Field said Wegner is proposing GPS technologies not considered in the original application, but these technologies are “superior, quicker to install and far cheaper.” He said “whoever you direct obviously has to work hand in hand with the Sheriff’s Department.” He said an additional $30,000 would be required to pay Dokken Engineering if ACTC were chosen as the lead agency because “ACTC has not been in the business of building things.” There would also been an additional $2,000 to $5000 in administration costs. On a side note, Wegner said vehicle maintenance is not cheap because “we crash into a lot of stuff.” Field said some of the costs will be split according to a shared signals agreement with Caltrans. After a short discussion, the board approved a motion to make ACTC the lead agency on a 5-0 vote. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in News Archive

Wednesday, 07 April 2010 18:00

Sheriff Says He Would not Lower Police Service in Sutter Creek

Amador County – Mayor Gary Wooten gave thanks to Sheriff Martin Ryan and Undersheriff Jim Wegner for a presentation they gave Monday to the Sutter Creek City Council. He said “it’s the city council’s responsibility to protect city residents,” and he is proud of the Sutter Creek Police Department and he supports “them all the way.” He later thanked the sheriff and undersheriff for their work, and said he did not want the presentation, but requested it after being pressured by some residents. Planning Commissioner Mike Kirkley said he had only had asked that the city look into the possibility of a Joint Power Agreement with the city of Jackson. Kirkley said “the only way you’re going to save money is with a lesser level of service,” but most people will not support that. He said the city has been “going in the red before the economic downturn,” and for “3 years in a row, the police department has been over budget by $150,000. Kirkley said the council has been “squandering” its reserves. Wooten said he took offense to that, saying the reserves have been small, but were not squandered, in his 10 years in office. Kirkley said the “city had $500,000 in reserves 10 years ago, and now is about $1 million in the hole.” During public comment, local businessman John Motto-Ros said he likes the city police department, “but the problem is, how do we pay for it?” He said he would give up full-time service if required to save the city money. Kirkley asked Sheriff Ryan if he would “consider a lower level of service.” The sheriff said his proposal was based on what his 35 years’ experience in law enforcement told him was the best thing for the city, which would be to “replicate what you have now,” with a 24-7 “physical presence,” including patrol cars on the streets. He said the “appropriate model for Amador County is to have a strong county sheriff’s office and strong local police departments.” He said it “has worked all across California.” Several people spoke in support of keeping the police department, including Jeanie Pinotti, and Martin Consolo. Consolo said “you have a huge investment, and you want to keep that.” That included equipment and training. He also said that a contracted police force would not handle things like record-keeping in the way that the city police department would handle them. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in News Archive

Wednesday, 07 April 2010 18:00

Plymouth Man is Arrested Sexual Assault on Minor

Amador County – A Plymouth man was arrested April 1 for sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl during her sleep, according to a release from the Amador County Sheriff’s Department. Based on initial interviews of the victim’s parents that morning, a Sheriff’s Deputy determined that the incident occurred in the City of Plymouth on the evening prior. The Sheriff’s Office said “the fourteen year old victim advised Detectives that on the evening of March 31, 2010 Anthony Joseph Garibaldi, 38, of Plymouth orally copulated her as she slept.” The victim reported that she woke up as Garibaldi was performing the act. The release said “the victim reported the crime to her parents who notified the Sheriff’s Office.” The release said “Garibaldi was interviewed by Sheriff’s Detectives and was subsequently arrested and charged with oral copulation of a minor under the age of sixteen.” He is being held in the Amador County Jail with bail set at $50,000. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in News Archive

Thursday, 08 April 2010 08:35