Jackson – The 2040 Plan reportedly goes for final approval by the East Bay Municipal Utility District board of directors at the end of October, and Foothill Conservancy’s Katherine Evitt urged the Amador County Board of Supervisors to send another comment letter on the plan. Evitt raised the issue during a discussion of public matters not on the agenda Tuesday, and the board agreed to put the issue on a future agenda for discussion of a letter to East Bay MUD (mud). Evitt said at a recent East Bay utility meeting on the 2040 Plan, the board was presented with 5 different dam options at Pardee Lake. She said Foothill Conservancy members asked the East Bay utility board to analyze all 5 of them. Evatt said 2 of East Bay MUD’s own board members actually suggested at the meeting that they pull Pardee Dam from the 2040 Plan. She urged that a comment letter be sent before their approval meeting, October 27th. Supervisor Louis Boitano suggested they could possibly deliver the letter at the East Bay MUD barbecue on October 2nd, for which he has already “broken tradition and RSVP’d” that he would attend. Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Kristin Bengyel (Bengal) reported that she had received an update from Supervisor Richard Forster, who was attending an Association of California Rural Counties meeting. Forster reported that Senator Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) was trying to get an exemption for small counties for the state’s attempt to defer gasoline tax payments. Bengyel said the state was trying to defer that payment of fuel taxes to counties for 6 months or more. Chairman Ted Novelli said the state “lost 2 dedicated firefighters,” and his heart went out to their families. Novelli said he was given daily updates by Amador Fire Protection Authority Chief Jim McCart, around 5 p.m., on different fires around the state. Novelli said: “I just hope the governor keeps on replenishing our funds.” He said California is unique in that all the small, rural county fire brigades went all over the state to assist with fire control and battle big fires. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.