News Archive (6192)
Amador County – The Amador Water Agency Board of Directors in late June approved a $10.4 million budget, and looks to finalize an agreement with employees this week.
The Board adopted a balanced agency-wide budget of $10.4 million for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, but General Manager Gene Mancebo warned that “projections show some individual systems running in the red, including the Lake Camanche water system.”
Mancebo said the budget “assumes no increase over last year’s dismal water sales. Another blow to revenues is the closing of Preston Youth Correctional facility, which will cost the Agency approximately $120,000 a year in water sales and indirect impacts of the closure.”
To make up for reductions in revenue, the AWA Board reorganized its staff to reduce by half the number of agency managers, a plan which Mancebo said “will save about $300,000 this fiscal year.” He said “another $400,000 in employee concessions is anticipated to help balance the budget. Staff cuts and concessions are targeted to reduce labor costs by $1.8 million this upcoming year as compared to 2008.”
Mancebo said he “credited AWA employees for ongoing belt-tightening and concessions in wages and benefits.” He said “due to the recession in Amador County, the bottom has dropped out of revenue coming in to the Agency. At the same time, Agency employees continue to provide safe, high quality water and wastewater service to thousands of customers over hundreds of square miles.” He said directors will review the budget monthly.
The agency meets at 9 a.m. today and the agenda includes an agreement with employees and new hires. The addendum to the “AWA Employees Association Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) would save an estimated $385,000.
In the draft agreement, employees get a 2 percent “cost of living adjustment” for 2011-2012. Employee concessions include a furlough program, with 12 furlough days per employee. Furloughs as a “temporary cost-saving measure” in the agreement would require each represented employee to take up to 96 furlough hours of leave from work without pay between July 1 and June 30, 2012.
Also, effective July 1, the “Agency shall no longer contribute funds” to employee’s “Deferred Compensation Plans,” though the plans would continue on a voluntary basis. The Agency and the Association also “have agreed to eliminate the practice of paying out Compensatory Time Off and accrued vacations hours.”
The Agency’s concession in the agreement was “to change the advance written notice from 15 days to 30 days” in layoff noticing policy. New hires would be vested in 5 years, when benefits would adhere with negotiated benefits yet to settle in other MOUs.
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Amador County – TSPN TV this week launched a new program, the Mark Montgomery Show, in which regional business commentator, Mark Montgomery who is making his first crossover from radio to television with his show about small business in America.
Montgomery, a small business owner for decades, and Luke Wake, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation, recorded the first episode of the program Tuesday, and the hour-long show first aired Wednesday, and will repeat 17 times through the week on TSPN.
In his second year on KTKZ 1380 AM radio on Saturdays, Montgomery also talks about small business on the new Wall Street Business Network, 105.5 FM in Sacramento, which began broadcasting Jan. 3.
Montgomery said: “We talk about issues affecting small businesses in California and nationally, and it’s a fight.” He said his wife, April, coined the phrase that his is a “political variety show.”
As owner of Boss Time Management Systems, manufacturer of wire bound appointment books, which he started in 1986, he has become well acquainted with the landscape for small business. He also has owned a pet store, real estate stores and Realty schools.
Wake has been involved with Obama health care litigation, and environmental issues such as the “Elderberry Beetle,” that are costing jobs. Mark said Wake’s “knowledge level is fantastic and he knows things that other people don’t.”
Montgomery said “my purpose is to ultimately give a voice to small business” and be a “small business advocate.” He said “it’s a true fight and we are in a battle for our very lives.” He said the California business climate is “in a march to Socialism” and he is “looking to form a battle group that can stand up together as one large organization capable of fighting back” against unions, environmentalists, and the ideology of government, to “try to attract jobs back to California.”
Look for the Mark Montgomery Show 9:30 a.m. every day and 5 p.m. on weekdays. The show will also air 6 a.m. each Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. TSPN TV broadcasts on Comcast channel 7, and Volcano Vision channel 5, and streams live at TSPNTV.com. The “Mark Montgomery Show” segments are also available On Demand at www.TSPNTV.com
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Amador County – The Jackson City Council on Monday approved the purchase of a new police vehicle for the Jackson Police Department, using $32,000 in Indian Gaming impact funds from the Jackson Rancheria.
City Manager Mike Daly said funds were approved by the Jackson Rancheria in its Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund program, which “has been the source of funds for the last three patrol car purchases,” and also a JPD motorcycle.
Daly said department records easily showed the nexus of impact by the casino on Jackson Police Department. Chief Morrison requested bids and advertised for bids locally, and the bid period ended with no bids received. Morrison received one bid package, which arrived late, from a Texas company.
Daly said we “did try to get quotes from the Northern California area,” but found it difficult to get quotes or to even get calls back from the region’s dealerships.
Daly said because no bids were received during the bid period, it allowed him to work directly with companies on a vehicle purchase, and got the company to lower its bid. Morrison said the bid includes delivery of the vehicle, along with siren lights and other features. He said as an emergency vehicle, it must meet federal emissions standards, though not California standards.
Councilman Wayne Garibaldi said they should recognize and give a thank-you to the Rancheria for approving the funding. Morrison said they plan to do a photo op with Rancheria CEO Rich Hoffman and all of the vehicles the tribe has provided.
Daly said the state controller has “taken a fine tooth comb to this program statewide.” Morrison said he wished the controller auditors had come to him because he literally had stack of paperwork several inches high from Gaming Distribution Fund records over the years.
The Council unanimously approved the purchase. The bid was for $32,539 for an outfitted 2011 Chevrolet Caprice, from Holiday Chevy-Ford, in Whitesboro, Texas.
Daly in the report said bid packets went to Holiday, and Chevrolet dealers in Fairfield, Elk Grove, Tracy, Stockton and Alhambra, with no bids received by the June 21 deadline. He said city code “provides that if no formal bids are received, the city manager is authorized to negotiate and accept written proposals in accordance with the provisions of the purchasing ordinance.”
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Supervisors discuss realigning $150,000 approved for the U.C. Cooperative Extension
Written by Tom
Amador County – Supervisor Chairman John Plasse attempted to move to reconsider a $150,000 approval for funding for the University Cooperative Extension office on Tuesday, saying the funds might be better used to staff the county Agriculture Department office.
But County Counsel Martha Shaver said she had made a mistake in previous interpretation of county code to reconsider board actions, saying that the reconsideration must occur on the day the decision is made. Plasse said that did not make sense, and that code should be changed.
The item was not on the agenda, and the new interpretation did not allow them to reconsider, as Supervisors did recently concerning a decision on Dr. Bob Hartmann’s contract. The Supervisors all said they were under the impression from county legal staff that the reconsideration was to be made before the next regular meeting, following the meeting in which the decision was made.
Plasse said the $150,000 “may be better spent at that front counter,” working on agriculture issues, and he would like to reconsider that approval. He said he made the decision to reconsider after talking with County Administrative Officer Chuck Iley on Monday. Shaver said a motion must be made to reconsider on that day of the decision. She said “I believe I was wrong before,” and she “thought it had to be brought up at the next regular meeting.”
Plasse said: “We need to rewrite that ordinance” and “it makes no sense that you would vote and then change your mind” on the same day. Supervisor Richard Forster said “this board has been presented” with interpretation that reconsideration had to be made at or before the next meeting. Supervisor Brian Oneto agreed.
Shaver said “if the board wants freer rein, it must change the ordinance.” She said it would be more appropriate to place the reconsideration on the next agenda. Plasse said he would “withhold signing the agreement” with U.C. Cooperative Extension.
Supervisor Ted Novelli said they should also address “the problem about reconsideration” procedures in the next agenda. Shaver said the agenda could include consideration of amending that ordinance.
The board follows Robert’s Rules of Order, and Shaver said they can change the time element to make reconsiderations possible “without a time limit.” She said it did not necessarily have to be in ordinance form, but it was in an ordinance now.
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Former California National Guard Master Sergeant admits to $1.5 million in false claims
Written by Tom
Los Angeles – The California National Guard’s former bonus and incentive manager has entered into a plea agreement Monday in which she admits to submitting $15.2 million dollars in false and fraudulent claims to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of Central California in a release Monday said the plea agreement was filed in federal court in Los Angeles charging Retired Master Sergeant Toni L. Jaffe, 52, of Citrus Heights with making a false claim against the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron May of the Major Frauds Section said for over 15 years, Jaffe “was the bonus and incentive manager for the California National Guard. As part of her plea agreement, Jaffe has admitted that beginning in at least the fall of 2007 and continuing to on or about October 6, 2009, she routinely submitted false and fictitious claims on behalf of her fellow California Guard members.”
May said: “Jaffe admitted that she submitted claims to pay bonuses to members of the California National Guard whom she knew were not eligible to receive the bonuses and to pay off officers’ loans even though she knew the officers were ineligible for loan repayment. According to the plea agreement, Jaffe admits responsibility for $15.2 million in wrongfully paid bonuses and loan repayments. An audit of the full loss amount is ongoing.”
U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. said the “deliberate misappropriation of tens of millions of dollars of federal government money is unacceptable, and those responsible for stealing federal money through fraud will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Birotte said: “We hope this federal case sends a clear message that we will continue to safeguard federal funds against fraud and abuse, whether it occurs within the California National Guard or elsewhere.”
The incident occurred in January 2009, May said, “when Jaffe submitted a fraudulent claim on behalf of a California National Guard officer resulting in the payment of a $20,000 Critical Skill Retention Bonus to which he was not entitled.”
In the U.S. Attorney’s release, Major General David Baldwin, Adjutant General for the California National Guard, said the state Guard “has been fully cooperating in this investigation from the beginning. We applaud the U.S. Attorney’s decisive action in this case.”
The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and a fine of $250,000 or two times the gross gain or gross loss. The maximum sentence also includes three years of supervised release. May said “as part of her plea agreement, the defendant is also required to pay restitution to the United States, which is currently estimated to be $15.2 million.”
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Amador County Fair offers advanced “e-tickets” to save fairgoers time and money
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Fair announced this week that it now is selling “e-tickets” online, with which people cans save money and time.
Karen Spencer, fair publicist said for people with “kids who can’t get enough of the carnival rides at the Amador County Fair, now is the time to save money on advance-sale wristbands.” She said anyone who has stood in line for an hour to buy Destruction Derby tickets the day of the event will appreciate the convenience of ordering a reserved seat on-line.
The Fair has a number of opportunities that make it a bit more affordable and save time when you buy your Fair and Carnival tickets early using their new e-ticket system. Purchases can also be made through the Fair office.
In addition to selling discounted Fair admission and carnival rides, advanced purchases can also be made for the annual Wine Tasting event on Friday and the Grandstand events. Seating for the Destruction Derby, which is often a sell-out, will be all reserved seating this year, Spencer said. General admission seating is offered for the Truck Pulls on Friday and there is reserved plus general admission seating for the Rodeo on Saturday.
People can save on the cost of carnival rides by purchasing discount tickets or wristbands in advance. A $20 coupon purchased by Wednesday, July 27 can be exchanged for an unlimited ride wristband, good for any one day, that can be used from noon to 7 p.m., or a sheet of 24 tickets. During the Fair, ride tickets will cost $1 each and rides take three to five tickets each. Wristbands purchased during the Fair will cost $30.
Carnival hours are noon until the Fair closes each day, except Thursday when limited rides will open following the Kids Parade. The carnival also provides one complimentary ride ticket for kids who participate in the parade.
For more information and to order tickets, see the fair website, www.AmadorCountyFair.com, or call (209) 245-6921.
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Jackson to give the bulk of this year’s TOT funds to Jackson Business & Community Association
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Jackson City Council voted 3-1 to diverge from a committee recommendation and give the bulk of its Transient Occupancy Tax promotions funding to the Jackson Business and Community Association, with the intent to keep in the city the tax money that was collected on room rental in Jackson. All five applicant groups, however, did receive some funding.
City Manager Mike Daly said the TOT tax, as set by a 2002 resolution puts 2 percent of the tax toward “business promotion, economic development, and downtown revitalization.” Last year the city placed $30,000 of that toward economic development. The Measure E Advisory Committee, San Lukowicz, Paul Molinelli Jr., Tom Peyton, and Keith Sweet met last week to review this year’s proposals. (Atul Patel was absent).
Daly said five requests from local groups sought a total of $41,500, and the committee recommended putting $30,000 toward the requests, and keeping $27,000 for economic development.
Vice Mayor Keith Sweet said the committee unanimously voted to recommend Daly’s recommendation, giving $12,000 to Jackson Business and Community Association; $6,000 each to Amador Council of Tourism and Amador Chamber of Commerce; $3,500 to Amador County Arts Council (now called Amador Arts); and $2,500 to Main Street Theatre Works.
Sweet motioned to approve that, but it failed in a vote, with Sweet and Mayor Connie Gonsalves voting yes, and Councilmen Pat Crew and Wayne Garibaldi dissenting.
Crew said the “fundamental conflict” at the Measure E Committee meeting was that the “money was raised in Jackson and the bulk of the money should stay in Jackson.” He asked Sweet if that was a fair statement, and Sweet agreed. Sweet said it was the first time that the Measure E Committee “actually debated with the members of organizations in attendance.”
Crew said the “Revitalization Committee supports us, and the Chamber has other funding resources that we don’t.” Crew said “all of these groups do a great job, and I support them all myself, but only one of them has Jackson in its name.”
He recommended an alternative distribution of the funds, giving $14,000 to the JBCA; $7,000 to the Tourism Council; $4,000 to the Chamber; and $2,500 each to Amador Arts and Main Street Theatre. The council voted 3-1 to make that distribution, with Sweet dissenting, and Councilwoman Marilyn Lewis absent.
Daly said the $26,737 to be used for economic development could address projects in need of funding such as the “creek walk project, the façade improvement grant program, the gateway sign project and placement of plaques on downtown buildings with historical information for visitors.”
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Jackson City Council urges East Bay MUD to drop its plans to expand Pardee Reservoir
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Jackson City Council on Monday voted unanimously to urge East Bay Municipal Utility District to drop its plan to expand the Pardee Reservoir and to adopt other alternatives for getting water.
The Council voted 4-0 (with Marilyn Lewis absent) to reaffirm their opposition to the plan. Vice Mayor Keith Sweet requested the resolution, saying the “city has been a leader since 2009 in protecting the Mokelumne River,” and he wanted to have the City Council present this resolution to East Bay MUD Wednesday night “in this very room.”
East Bay Municipal returns to its Water Management Program 2040 tonight, hosting a public scoping meeting 6:30 p.m. today in the Jackson Civic Center to discuss the part of the plan that would enlarge the Pardee Dam, causing the potential flooding of the Mokelumne River and loss of the 1912 Middle Bar Bridge.
Sweet said the city should lead the way again, as it did in 2009 with a resolution of opposition, which was followed by similar resolutions of opposition by Ione, Sutter Creek, and Plymouth city councils. City Manager Mike Daly said other agencies followed with opposition of the Pardee expansion, including Amador County, ACRA, the Historical Society, Congressman Dan Lungren, Assemblywoman Alyson Huber, and members of the local Miwok community.
Mayor Connie Gonsalves said Sweet could present the resolution to East Bay MUD on behalf of the city, and Sweet agreed.
The resolution, in part, said the “city of Jackson urges the East Bay Municipal Utility District to drop the proposed Pardee expansion from its 2040 water plan; adopt higher conservation, rationing and recycling levels; and partner in the expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir instead of expanding Pardee Reservoir.”
East Bay Municipal is returning to environmental impact evaluation after an April court ruling in Sacramento Superior Court, in favor of Foothill Conservancy and other groups to get more impacts analyzed.
Sweet and Daly in a report said East Bay MUD “has taken no action to remove that expansion” of Pardee from its plans “and on June 28 the EBMUD board approved an updated Urban Water Management Plan that includes potential expansions of its reservoirs on the Mokelumne River.”
Sweet and Daly reiterated Foothill Conservancy’s concerns, including that the plan would inundate the Middle Bar Reach, from Highway 49 to Middle Bar Bridge, which would be inundated or removed, “cutting off a critical fire and emergency services connection between Amador and Calaveras counties.”
It would also flood and destroy a kayak and raft “take-out area,” many “historical and Native American cultural sites” in that reach, and any “potential for commercial whitewater rafting” there. It would also flood the new $1 million BLM “Big Bar River Access Facility currently under construction at the Highway 49 bridge.”
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Sierra Pacific Industries opens mill production in Sonora
Written by Tom
Amador County – Sierra Pacific Industries announced last week that it has begun production at its Sonora sawmill with 100 new employees hired, and it also expanded its mill at Chinese Camp, creating 26 new jobs.
Sierra Pacific Industries and the Tuolumne County Economic Development Authority released a joint announcement July 7 saying that “production has begun on SPI’s retooled Sonora sawmill – employing 100 workers. A second shift is expected to be begin later this summer – adding approximately another 30 jobs.”
In addition, “SPI’s Chinese Camp fencing mill is expanding its operations and has created 26 new jobs bringing total employment there to 115.”
SPI area manager Ryan Land said SPI continues to “invest in the future of our community, our forests and mills. Our multi-species forests include pine, fir, and cedar and are sorted and processed by either our Chinese Camp fencing mill or at our new state-of-the-art facility in Sonora.”
Land said the “unique ability to utilize a variety of wood species and log sizes has allowed SPI to retool and expand here in Tuolumne County.”
SPI spokesman Mark Luster said: “Retooling this mill will help California meet its own demand for wood products, rather than importing lumber from faraway places with lower environmental standards. The time has come when more of the lumber needed in this state can be produced in California’s mills.”
According to Larry Cope, Director of Economic Development at Tuolumne Economic Development Authority, “the creation of 126 full-time family-wage jobs will bring the total of SPI employees at Standard and Chinese Camp to around 215.”
Cope said “even bigger news is that these 215 full-time mill jobs will increase peripheral jobs in areas such as logging, trucking, and supplier firms. By using an industry standard multiplier, these new jobs will have a total economic effect of 1,000 to 1,200 new jobs.”
Luster said SPI “is a third-generation family-owned forest products company based in Anderson, Calif. The firm owns and manages nearly 1.9 million acres of timberland in California and Washington, and is the second largest lumber producer in the United States.”
SPI is “committed to managing its lands in a responsible and sustainable manner to protect the environment,” Luster said, “while providing quality wood products and renewable power for consumers.”
Cope said the Tuolumne County Economic Development Authority promotes Tuolumne County, including the city of Sonora, “as a dynamic business location and provides business with essential information needed when locating or expanding business in the Sierra-Mother Lode Area of California.”
He said the Authority’s “mission is to facilitate a local economy that is innovative, resilient and diverse, by assisting in business formation, developing a skilled workforce, supporting local businesses, and attracting innovative companies to Tuolumne County.”
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BLM announces fire restrictions on public lands in the Mother Lode
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Bureau of Land Management on Monday issued fire restrictions on public lands managed by the Mother Lode Field Office.
Effective July 1, BLM implemented fire restrictions on public lands managed by the Mother Lode Field Office. This includes BLM-managed lands in Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tuolumne, and Yuba counties – about 230,000 acres. The fire restrictions will remain in effect until further notice.
BLM Battalion Chief Brian Mulhollen said the restrictions are needed due to dry fuels and fire danger throughout Central California.
“A wildfire under these conditions could pose a serious threat to public land visitors and resources, and adjacent private lands and communities”.
Mulhollen said “all campfires and barbecues are limited to designated fire rings in designated campgrounds. Portable stoves with gas, jellied petroleum or pressured liquid fuel are authorized with a valid California campfire permit, but the public is asked to be extremely careful with their use and carry a shovel and water at all times.”
Other restrictions forbid operating internal combustion powered tools or motorized vehicles off of established roads or trails; smoking, except in a vehicle or building or designated areas; certain shooting; and all fireworks. For more info on fire restrictions, call (916) 941-3101.
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