News Archive (6192)
AWA introduces an ordinance for the formation of a voluntary Community Facilities District
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors introduced an ordinance last week that would be used to form a voluntary Community Facilities District in the Amador Water System.
The Board voted 3-0 to introduce the ordinance needed to create the CFD and to approve an agreement property owners would sign. Director Paul Molinelli was absent and Director Don Cooper recently resigned from the board. The amount of the special tax and district boundaries are still being defined and will be presented to the Board at a later meeting.
Amador Water Agency General Manager Gene Mancebo said the CFD will “speed up revenue from developers” and “increase revenue to the Agency by collecting infrastructure costs from developers who plan to connect to the system in the future.” He said it benefits current ratepayers, because “future customers can pay their fair share today, instead of tomorrow.”
Participation in the Community Facilities District for the Amador Water System is voluntary. Property owners will pay a special tax which will be used to pay debt service on the Amador Transmission Pipeline. Property owners can also elect to pay a special tax toward future water treatment capacity improvements. Mancebo said: “In return for paying in advance, those in the CFD can’t be denied services based on lack of capacity.”
In public comment, Bill Condrashoff said it was “just another way to reserve water,” and a single project or “large developer could buy up all of the capacity and pay 1 percent a year until they are ready to build.” He said a 100-acre property with a single house could not buy 100 Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDUs) because the ordinance allowed it only for “unimproved property.”
Regarding a “theoretical landowner tying up all of the capacity in the Amador Transmission Pipeline,” AWA Counsel Stephen Kronick said there are two things that are certain in life: Death and taxes. And this is a third thing: “No developer is going to be tying up all of the capacity of the Amador Transmission Pipeline… It will be made evident when we move through the process” and the landowners form the CFD.
Kronick said two components of paying special taxes would allow CFD membership, for either the existing pipeline, or incremental expansion, and it was a misstatement by Condrashoff that landowners will get a “free ride” because each landowner will pay the full buy-in component when they get a conditional will-serve.
The accusation that it was unfair, for a house on 100 acres was not true, Kronick said, and “we would welcome their participation.”
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Caltrans plans statewide litter pickup day along highways
Written by Tom
Amador County – Caltrans maintenance field crews will participate in a statewide Litter Removal and Enforcement Day on Thursday, April 19 on three State Roads in Amador County.
Crews will pick up litter on Highway 16 in Ione from the Sacramento/Amador County line to Highway 124. They will work on 124 from 88 to 16. In Pine Grove, watch for workers on 88, just west of the Old Highway Connection to Martell. Work is planned on 88 near Sugar Loaf Drive to about McFadden Road; and in Peddler Hill, on 88 from Dew Point Road to Hams Station, covering areas with no Adopt-A-Highway sponsorship. In Caples Lake crews will work on 88 snow parks and the Kirkwood Inn area.
Litter will be stockpiled near 88 at the Old Highway Connection; near Dew Drop Road; and in a dumpster near the Kirkwood Inn area.
The activity is to enhance public awareness of the volume and cost associated with removing litter, trash and debris by removing litter along the highways and roadways. Caltrans urged people to drive slow in the “cone zones.”
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ACRA plans deep pit barbecue for Kennedy Mine fundraiser
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Recreation Agency announced it plans an Old-Fashion Deep Pit BBQ fundraiser at the Kennedy Mine Foundation. ¶ ACRA Executive Director Tracey Towner said the deep pit barbecue will be “just like the old days at Plasse’s.”
Towner said: “We are doing something different. This year, in partnership with the Kennedy Mine Foundation, the annual ACRA Kennedy Mine BBQ will have an ‘Old-Fashion’ deep pit BBQ, complete with a horseshoe tournament, live music, and prep night the evening before.” It will also have “raffle prizes galore,” a silent auction and will be pouring Noceto wines.
Proceeds from the barbecue will benefit ACRA, a joint power authority made up of the cities and county of Amador and service districts in the county. ACRA’s mission is to “maximize recreational opportunities for all residents of Amador County through sustainable planning, financing, facilities operations and programs.”
ACRA meets its mission by providing free after-school care, art classes, special events and sports leagues. It also improves and maintains more than 100 acres of parkland and plans for the sustainable development of future facilities. It also brings outside funding to the county by attracting visitors and through grant writing and management. It evaluates local recreation policies and connects the public to local recreation opportunities.
The ACRA Kennedy Mine Foundation annual fundraiser is Saturday, May 19. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 per person. For more information, call (209)223-6349.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Amador County – Amador Fire Protection Authority’s board of directors will meet Thursday and give reports from their jurisdictions on plans for use of Proposition 172 funding, and accounting of the use. The board will also discuss consolidation and whether to hire an outside consultant, as well as their boards’ views of consolidation.
The AFPA board meets 4 p.m. Thursday in the supervisors’ chambers in Jackson.
Amador Fire Protection Authority board members are Jackson Vice Mayor Connie Gonsalves, Jake Herfel of the Jackson Valley Fire Protection District, Supervisor Ted Novelli, Hal Gamble of the Sutter Creek Fire Protection District, Ione Mayor Ron Smylie, Plymouth Vice Mayor Greg Baldwin, and John Asmus of the Lockwood Fire Protection District.
The board’s agenda includes selection of its 2012 Chairman and Vice Chairman.
Also, the issue of Proposition 172 funds, is on the agenda for discussion and possible action “relative to a plan for appropriate uses of subject funds,” with a “report from each member relative to suggested uses for Prop 172 funds should they be available for distribution to AFPA agencies.”
The board’s agenda also addresses Proposition 172 accounting, with discussion and possible action relative to a letter from Amador County Board of Supervisors regarding Proposition 172 accounting.
Fire department consolidation is also a topic for discussion and possible action “relative to hiring an outside consultant and whether consolidation should be forced or managed.” The board will get a “report from each Member relative to their respective Board’s position on these matters.”
Also on the agenda is a discussion and possible action relative to a presentation of an annual audit identifying uses of Measure M funds by each Member to ensure compliance with the purpose of Measure M. The board will also get an update on a defensible space and setbacks workshop held by the Board of Supervisors April 10.
The AFPA board of directors meets 4 p.m. Thursday, April 19 in the supervisors’ chambers in the County Admin Center in Jackson.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Amador County – The Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort last week donated $50,000 to five local non-profit organizations.
The funds are from the 11th annual Giving Season promotion during which Jackson Rancheria matched donations made by players to the Giving Season charities.
This year’s recipients are the Amador County Recreation Agency, Amador County Senior Center, Calaveras Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity of Calaveras, and Interfaith Food Bank. Each organization received $10,000.
Jackson Rancheria CEO Rich Hoffman said: “Each of these organizations does great work in our local communities and we are honored to be able to support them in their efforts.”
The five local non-profit organizations received a total of $50,000 from Jackson Rancheria’s 11th annual Giving Season promotion, marked by a ceremonial giving of checks last week. Tracey Towner of ACRA, Lynne Standard-Nightengale of Interfaith Food Bank, Laurie Webb of Amador Senior Center, Anna Gates and Jeannie Hayward of Calaveras Food Bank, and Frank Meyer and Myron Kelso of Habitat for Humanity Calaveras accepted the checks from Hoffman and Rancheria Director of Entertainment and Events Ron Olivero.
Hoffman said during the 11 years of the Giving Season, the Rancheria has donated more than $450,000 to local non-profit organizations through this one promotion alone.
Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort is located in the Sierra foothills town of Jackson and is owned by the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians. The federally recognized Indian tribe is a sovereign government, dedicated to developing projects that not only enhance the tribe’s ability to remain self-reliant, but also reflect a commitment to be a good neighbor.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Amador County – Ione City Council on Tuesday decided that moving the Ione Railroad Depot from its current location was the preferred preservation plan in an effort to avoid demolition of the Depot.
Ione City Manager Jeff Butzlaff recommended approval of moving the depot so the city can try to secure funding pledges for the work, and present a work plan to abate lead at the site and move the Depot. The work plan and funding sources or pledges would then be presented to the Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the property, to ask for a time extension for the site’s abatement.
Within the ongoing lease is a 2-year time limit to complete the abatement, by May 3, or Union Pacific will abate it through demolition and bill the city. The railroad company owns the property and the city owns the Depot.
Butzlaff said the Council clarified the intent that they preferred to relocate the Depot from Union Pacific property to the nearby city corporation yard. With the plan in place, Amador County Historical Society and depot advocates can better represent the project to donors and benefactors with a clear plan in place. ¶ Estimates were $40,000 to $50,000 to move the building and clean up the site. Or they could leave the Depot on the site and Union Pacific would demolish it at a cost estimate of $50,000, billed to the city.
Butzlaff said it was the Council’s intent to try to save depot, do abatement to remove asbestos from the building and lead paint from the building and grounds. The move would give the city more time for more comprehensive rehabilitation of the Depot that will be needed.
Once the is Depot offsite, there will be ongoing efforts by a committee to raise money to fix the Depot. Butzlaff said the Council is urging cooperative effort between different groups in the community. Once moved, the city can have more control over that preservation effort.
The groups seeking to save the Ione Train Depot, including Amador Historical Society, wanted a definite plan in place to encourage the financial wherewithal or commitments to be able to show Union Pacific a plan is in place and funding is secured. The company would only give an abatement extension with those in place.
Butzlaff said the City general fund situation has significantly deteriorated, or been revealed for what it has become, and timing couldn’t have been worse. Now it is just a question whether the groups can find the funds or formal pledges of funding over a certain period.
Full abatement will cost about $8,000 on the facility.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
AWA defends its criticism of a lawsuit by local residents
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador Water Agency last week defended its criticism of a lawsuit by local residents as wasting agency money.
During “public matters not on the agenda,” Bill Condrashoff criticized AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo for telling local media that a lawsuit by Ken Perano and Ken Berry was wasting ratepayers’ money.
Mancebo said the lawsuit was unnecessary and could have been avoided if Berry and Perano had come to him to talk about the issues. He said the suit will cost the agency thousands of dollars. They also wanted a workshop, but the agency did not get a list of specific items of concern, and “without that we would be working in a vacuum.”
Condrashoff also noted that the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association had sent a letter of disapproval regarding AWA’s Proposition 218 policy resolution approved in February. He urged the AWA board to not approve a first reading of an ordinance that could be used to establish a voluntary Community Facilities District in the Amador Water System, because of the Jarvis letter.
AWA Counsel Stephen Kronick said he had reviewed the Jarvis letter and noted that the Association is about 50-50 on winning and losing Prop 218 lawsuits, having filed 11 cases and lost five. Kronick said the fact that Jarvis has alleged a violation does not mean that AWA’s Prop 218 policy is in violation, and there is no recorded case that addresses their allegations. Condrashoff noted that Jarvis Association wrote Proposition 218. The law allows for public protests to stop rate increases for public utilities, and the agency established a form by which ratepayers could submit a formal protest regarding the rate increases.
AWA board President Gary Thomas said he really believed Berry and Perano should have come to the agency to discuss the issues.
Berry said: “I don’t have to come up here and humiliate myself. He said the agency’s only purpose for requiring your own Proposition 218 protest form was to pursue rate consolidation, supported with “fairy tales about giving more information.” Berry said “the people are going to beat you by your own crooked rules.”
Kronick said he reviewed the lawsuit by Berry and Perano, over the reporting of use of restricted funds relative to Government Code 66013. Kronick said he found the AWA substantially complied with the law, and the suit focused on “nitpicky items” that could have been addressed without a lawsuit.
Kronick said a workshop was requested but a workshop wasn’t needed to address these items.” He said they could have sent a letter or called Mancebo and gone over the items in question with him.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Ione’s engineer submits a work-plan to the state for sampling at the city’s sewer pond
Written by Tom
Amador County – Ione City Council on Tuesday heard that a work plan for samples at its wastewater effluent storage pond has been submitted to the state and awaits approval before the work can be done.
Consultant Winzler & Kelly Senior Project Manager Mary Grace Pawson gave a brief report dated last Friday saying their team conducted work toward support of the city wastewater treatment plant compliance project.
Pawson said the team “participated in a conference call with the Council’s wastewater subcommittee” and “confirmed that the alternative analysis effort will include a review of land application/effluent storage needs.”
She said the Winzler & Kelly team also “coordinated with the Regional Board on the required anoxic sediment sampling in the percolation ponds,” and submitted a draft work-plan for the sampling effort to the Regional Board for review.
City Manager Jeff Butzlaff said the work-plan must be approved by the Regional Water Quality Control Board before the sampling actually takes place. The samples will look for contamination at the bottom of the pond.
Pawson said the “Regional Board has confirmed that, while they have not required a work-plan for the sampling effort, they will endeavor to review the draft workplan by April 23 so that we can capture any concerns or comments before the field work is completed.”
Butzlaff said it was pretty clear that the city would not be meeting the May 30 deadline for delivery of a Report of Waste Discharge to the Regional Board. He said Ione faces the reality of possible fines, and lost two months in the process. He said fines “could befall us” if the city does not show significant progress by May 30.
He said meeting the May 30 deadline would have been aggressive at best. He thought it would help if the city had substantial work done toward meeting the goal, but the good news is that in the two months lost before finally engaging Winzler & Kelly, there was a lot more public involvement and “a better understanding of the public as to what we were doing and why,” and it was time well spent through this community process.
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Firesafe Council sets Greater Pine Grove wildfire plan meeting
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Amador Fire Safe Council invited the public to attend the next formational meeting of the Greater Pine Grove Community Wildfire Plan, set for Thursday, April 26.
The Amador Fire Safe Council announced the meeting this week, saying the public is encouraged and invited to the next “stakeholder meeting for the Greater Pine Grove Community Conservation Wildfire Protection Plan.”
Amador Fire Safe Council Executive Director Cathy Koos Breazeal said the Conservation Wildfire Plan “assesses the risk of wildfire in a particular community, incorporating fire history, population base, assets at risk, fire protection, evacuation routes, animal evacuation assistance, and a myriad of public services.” A map, available at AmadorFireSafe.org shows the area covered by the plan.
She said all Conservation Wildfire Plans are developed with input from community stakeholders, as well as state and local fire agencies. A “community stakeholder” is the public, and as residents and business owners in the area, they “have critical and vital input in the development of these plans.”
Koos Breazeal said stakeholders can say how they want to see wildland fire protection provided here, and what assets are important to them.
For an example of a Conservation Wildfire Plan, see AmadorFireSafe.org, listed under “Fire Plans.”
The meeting is 7 p.m. Thursday, April 26, at the Pine Grove Town Hall.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Bill to repeal State fire fees will have a hearing before the Assembly Appropriations Committee
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Waste Management & Recycling plans its annual Clean It, Green It clean up day across Jackson on Saturday, April 21.
Amador County Waste Management & Recycling Department Director Jim McHargue said the Clean It & Green It Celebration “promises to be a fun-filled day at Detert Park for the whole family.”
The “Clean It” portion of this event is the City of Jackson’s annual litter clean-up from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will be provided a free BBQ lunch by the friendly staff of the Bank of Amador.
The “Green It” fair is a celebration of Earth Day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Many local businesses and community organizations will be participating in the fair, which will include demonstrations, special projects, and other activities intended to increase awareness of positive “earth-friendly” habits, recycling and energy use.
McHargue said the theme of the entire event is intended to compliment Earth Day activities throughout the world and music will be provided by the hot local band, Stephanie Farrell and the Wild Katz.
An E-waste Collection will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Busi Parking Lot (behind Mel and Faye’s Restaurant) on Highway 49. This is a safe and environmentally friendly way to recycle all of your old electronics with 100 percent of all donations benefiting the Argonaut High School Science Club.
Items accepted include TV’s, monitors, computers, computer peripherals, cell phones, printers, copiers, fax machines, audio/video equipment, microwaves, and more.
McHargue said to “come on out and enjoy a Green Day at the Park. The primary supporters of the event are the city of Jackson, Bank of Amador, ACES Waste Services and Amador County Waste Management Department.
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