News Archive (6192)
Wednesday, 10 February 2010 17:00
The Amador Trolley Debuts in Jackson-Sutter Creek Route
Written by Tom
Amador County – A contingent of media from the Mother Lode, including crews from TSPN, rode the new Amador Trolley around Jackson Tuesday to mark the new dedicated bus line that will link the county seat to the business leading Sutter Creek. Amador Regional Transportation System kicked off its 2 new natural gas-powered trolley bus lines earlier this year, and with a media day and open house hosted local news organizations on parts of its loop, that will link various routes between Jackson and Sutter Creek. ARTS Director James Means sent system publicist Terry Grillo and ARTS board of directors member David Plank on part of the new trolley-style bus, with local newspaper and radio reporters, and TSPN News Director and Anchor Alex Lane took the route, with cameraman Tommy Fox documenting part of the trip with an interview with Grillo, and Means, for a special Out And About segment on the new trolley route. The new trolley routes are dedicated express routes between Jackson and Sutter Creek. The trolleys launched February 1st, operating 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. weekdays, with each trolley running on about a 70-minute round-trip loop. Means helped acquire the 2 custom-built trolley bus coaches in December from, Riverbank Oakdale Transit Authority, a small public transit district. The busses came at no cost to ARTS, through a federal program and the California Department of Transportation. The trolley interiors are wood and polished brass, and each trolley carries 27 passengers. The trolleys will run between Jackson and Sutter Creek 9 times a day. The trolleys run on Compressed Natural Gas (or CNG), and diesel fuel. Means in December said the trolleys were originally purchased by Riverbank for $506,000. Before the Amador County Transportation Commission approved transfer of ownership, Means already had arranged with the nearest CNG facility, to take the vehicles there for regular refueling. The Rancho Cordova facility is 32 miles away. Grillo said ARTS has a long-term goal of placing a CNG station in Amador County. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Wednesday, 10 February 2010 17:00
Rancheria Releases 25th Anniversary Commemorative Chips
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Jackson Rancheria Casino released the first of five 25th anniversary commemorative chips on the casino’s Founder’s Day, February 9th. The first of the five $5 chips features Margaret Dalton, who was the first Tribal Chairperson of the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians. She served for 30 years until her death last year. The Tribe has declared her birthday, February 9th, to be Founder’s Day. Each month for the next four months a new chip will be released, each featuring one of the logos used at Jackson Rancheria over the past 25 years. The chips are available at face value at the tables and the Main Street Cage. An exclusive case for the commemorative chips will be available as a gift to Dreamcatcher’s Club members on Monday, March 29th. Club members just have to earn 1,000 points that day to get the case. For more information, call 800-822-WINN or visit www.JacksonCasino.com. A TSPN TV Report This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County – The Ione City Council last week hired a Santa Rosa firm to serve as the city engineer. City Manager Kim Kerr recommended Coastland Civil Engineering in a memo to the city council and Mayor Skip Schaufel. Ione Councilman David Plank said Wednesday that new City Engineer John Wanger was already working on some projects, including a redesign for the city police department. The project will redesign the existing Ione Police Department space inside City Hall, and create a new interrogation and holding area, and a safer intake area, Plank said. The council last week authorized Kerr to finalize a contract with Coastland and return to the City Council for final approval. The city released a request for proposals for city engineering services last October, and Kerr said the city received 7 responses. A review panel helped identify 3 firms for interview. The panel included James Pollack of Lee & Ro; City Planner Christopher Jordan; Kerr; and Gene Mancebo, interim general manager of the Amador Water Agency. Kerr said the search focused on city engineer experience and any city public works department supervision. Last month, city staff interviewed Coastland, Bennett Engineering, and Interwest Consulting Group. Kerr said: “All three firms were highly qualified and could provide the necessary services to the city.” Based on the interviews, staff recommended John Wanger, president and chief executive officer of Coastland. Kerr said the contract with Coastland includes a rate not to exceed $145 per hour for city engineering services and project, and a higher rate, not to exceed $175 per hour for non-city projects, with “no charge for mileage from travel to and from the city of Ione.” Kerr requested authorization to finalize and sign the contract with Coastland, upon approval by City Attorney Kristen Castanos. Wanger has operated as a principal engineer since Coastland’s inception in 1991, and oversees all company operations and long term planning. He has more than 26 years of private and public works experience including overseeing city engineering services for six municipalities. Coastland has offices in Santa Rosa and Auburn, and currently provides city engineering services to the cities of Willows and Piedmont. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Wednesday, 10 February 2010 17:00
Upcountry Community Council Takes “Very Informal” Look at Special Districting
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Upcountry Community Council has been “very informally” looking at the possibility of creating a special district in the Upcountry. The group’s new co-chair, Lynn Morgan said the largely unstructured Upcountry Community Council members must still study how that process works. But Morgan said this week that with the economy as it is, she “didn’t want to make it seem that the UCC would be charging dues for anyone who lives in the Upcountry.” They will look at having a workshop in the summer to educate its attendees on having special districts. Morgan said the group would like to contact the head of the Amador County Local Agency Formation Commission about hosting a presentation for UCC this year. Morgan said forming a special district is a long process and “as far as I know doesn’t take any less than a couple of years.” Morgan was selected co-chair about 6 months ago for the Upcountry Community Council, which has restructured its makeup. She said the UCC began as a collection of housing areas, with elected and selected representatives. That was set aside in August 2009 when Morgan and UCC incumbent Co-Chair Bob Currall took lead of the group, and founding member and past co-chair Debbie Dunn stepped aside. Dunn at the time said her duties on the Amador Water Agency board were too much work, and she also told council members that she supported turnover in the UCC’s leadership. Morgan said the group at the beginning identified certain housing tracts, and members were elected to be on the council. But they are less formal now, and “sort of invite anybody who comes” to be a part of the council. She said if people live in the Upcountry or are concerned, they can attend. There are “no council members on the council itself.” Morgan said the group “plans to have interesting presentations at meetings this year,” and want to have a presentation on preventing elder fraud. They also have been watching the Gravity Supply Line issue, as “most of us up here are on wells,” and the fire suppression is a major issue. Some neighborhoods have 25,000-gallon tanks, she said, but most, like Morgan’s neighborhood in very eastern Pioneer, only have wells. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County - The Amador County Board of Supervisors granted approval this week to draft a letter of support for regional efforts to bring full broadband internet access to rural areas in the foothills region. Howard Stohlman, Chief Information Officer for Calaveras County, asked Supervisors to support a plan he is helping to coordinate called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Round II Middle Mile Broadband Project. The lengthy title refers to efforts by the Central Sierra Economic Development District, which represents Amador, Alpine, Calaveras and Tuolumne counties, to seek ARRA funding to expand regional broadband connectivity. Once received, the money would be distributed by the District to private companies to fund the extension of fiber-optic infrastructure up from the Stockton area so that broadband service can eventually be distributed among foothill counties via microwave transmission in Phase III. Stohlman asked the Supervisors to join in issuing a resolution of support and/or becoming anchor tenants, which would list them as participants in the grant application. Anchor tenants can also include organizations like schools, hospitals or the Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency, which at the same meeting presented an 18-month, $250,000 study to gather information on how rural counties can gain 100 percent coverage for high speed internet. Stohlman said “the idea is that those anchor tenants would be allowed bandwidth access at a considerably lower price.” District 2 Supervisor Richard Forster said he is concerned about “jumping over midrange or smaller providers that are competitive in the market.” Stohlman said the end result of all this will be a robust 3G broadband network that can be used by the private sector, not a publicly run network. Eric Shippam, a representative of Mother Lode Internet in Sonora, said that once infrastructure is in place, interested parties have discussed a “stipulation that participating companies’ reach an agreement for operations that…keeps competitive pricing low.” He said the concept of having counties participate as anchor tenants “ensures viability.” He said the economic impact of such a project will be good for the region and will add “over 100 new construction jobs at union wages.” Shippam said there is still much to be worked out between private service providers “as far as everyone working together.” Forster made a motion seconded by Supervisor John Plasse to become anchor tenants as well as draft a “letter of support for a local network that is sustainable to all internet service providers.” The motion passed unanimously. Stohlman said the approval was needed as soon as possible because the ARRA application must be submitted online by March 15th. He said funding could be as much as $30 million, but depends on how many counties participate. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County – The Ione City Council last week appointed a new member to the Ione Park & Recreation Commission. Mayor Skip Schaufel selected Susan Priest to replace Commissioner Lance Lively, who asked not to be reappointed. With the vacated seat, the city advertised the vacancy and received notes of interest from Karl Knobelauch and Priest. Priest submitted a letter of interest, and the city also received a verbal notice of interest, from Karl Knobelauch. The newly selected chairman of the Amador County Unified School District Board of Trustees, Knobelauch was found to be ineligible for the seat because he lives outside city limits, said City Clerk Janice Traverso. Priest in her letter of interest to Schaufel and the City Council said: “I think it is very important for communities to have park facilities and recreational activities for residents.” She said she is retired and has worked with Sacramento County “as an accountant for the Parks & Recreation Department.” She was also Chief Financial Officer for the Public Works Department and the General Services Department, so she is “familiar with the activities of those departments and the interaction they have with parks.” City Manager Kim Kerr said the Ione Park & Recreation Commission “is composed of 5 members who the mayor appoints with approval of the city council, to serve terms of 2 years.” Schaufel recommended that Priest be appointed to the commission effective immediately. Priest’s term expires in September 2011. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors Thursday will consider $228,000 in analyses for the Ione water treatment plant and the Tanner water treatment plant. Staff in a memo recommends board approval of $134,000 through the end of the current fiscal year to study the plant in Ione, and another $94,000 to study Tanner in Sutter Creek, to be spent in 2010-2011. Staff recommends approving a contract with Stantec Consulting. The AWA Engineering Committee – President Bill Condrashoff and Director Terence Moore – could not reach an agreement on a recommendation for the full board, after the agency issued Request For Proposal packets to 6 companies in August 2009, and only 2 companies responded. Operations and Engineering departments were authorized by the AWA board to analyze the 2 companies, Stantec and RBF, with Stantec leading the rankings. AWA Engineer John R. Griffin in a report to the board said the “agency retained a design consultant for the design of the Regional Tanner” water treatment plant, “planned to be built to approximately 8 million gallons a day in Phase 1 with an ultimate capacity of 20 million gallons a day.” It would “replace both the existing Tanner and Ione water treatment plants.” Griffin said the goal of the interim study “will be to evaluate the water treatment supply and storage needs of the Tanner and Ione service regions.” It will also “ascertain if improvements to the agency’s existing Ione and Tanner water treatment plants may provide a practical means to increase treatment supply capabilities in these service regions until the Regional Tanner water treatment plant project is constructed.” Griffin said the study would “also review the remaining useful life of the existing Tanner and Ione (plants) and analyze the optimum time” to bring the new regional plant on-line. The 2 companies’ RFPs had only a $1,500 difference in price, Griffin said. One of the companies was already under contract, he said, as the design consultant for the regional Tanner water treatment plant. AWA Interim General Manger Gene Mancebo said the agency originally hired Stantec to design the regional plant at Tanner. The company began design and specification work for the regional plant, and AWA halted their work “at least a year ago, maybe longer,” because of the economic downturn. Mancebo said now the approach is to see if the agency can expand the existing facilities and try to stretch their capacity. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Wednesday, 10 February 2010 01:01
VA Narrows Down Locations for New Regional Veteran's Facility
Written by Tom
California - The U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs has narrowed down the list of potential sites for a new, centrally-located regional healthcare facility in San Joaquin County to serve veterans in surrounding counties, including here in Amador. The new facility would be ideally located to suit Amador County, which has one of the highest populations of veterans in California. American Legion Post 108, located in Sutter Creek, is the third largest of its kind in the state. Amador County Supervisors and many local veterans are endorsing the idea of a nearby hospital with easy freeway access for tens of thousands of regional veterans. The VA sent out notifications last week rejecting some proposals for hospital locations while keeping others, a move that has upset backers of rejected sites who say the decision was hasty. Two proposals still on the table are a 20-acre plot near St. Joseph’s Medical Center owned by the Grupe Commercial Company and 56-acres owned by Arnaiz Development Company close to Interstate 5. But San Joaquin County Veterans Services Officer Ron Green said the VA made a “cavalier decision” when it turned down a county-government backed facility next to San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp. The proposed site was at the center of the year-long push to bring a hospital to the county. San Joaquin Supervisor Leroy Ornellas wrote in a guest commentary to the Manteca Bulletin that he and fellow supervisors “were astonished at this revelation.” He said the location passed environmental reports for a healthcare facility. The board offered the land at $1 a year. “The VA could have broken ground within weeks, putting people to work and providing a much needed punch to our local economy,” he said. The VA said site selection is part of a long, data-driven process based on population, partnerships, transportation, land costs and the availability of hospital staff. If approved, the new facility location is expected to be open by 2015. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Amador County - The prospect of robust broadband internet access throughout the Mother Lode was the main topic of conversation at the Amador County Board of Supervisors meeting this week. Supervisors ultimately supported efforts by the Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency (ATCAA) to continue its Central Sierra Connect program to seek funding for a variety of projects including adding more Neighborhood Information Centers at libraries and other public sites, expanding telemedicine and improving the region’s “Infonet” websites for on-line “information and referral” services. ATCAA recently completed work on an 18-month, $250,000 project to gather information on how rural counties can gain 100 percent coverage for high speed internet. The study included surveys, determining community access and potential prices and was funded through the California Emerging Technology Fund. Project Manager Michelle Shelton said the survey indicates that only 45 percent of households in Amador, Alpine, Calaveras, Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties have access to high speed internet. In Amador County, she said “speed and reliability are bigger factors than the service itself.” The push for expanded high speed access is a top priority of the Obama administration and considerable funding for the cause was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus bill. Shannon Mosher of ATCAA said they can now “provide local service providers with a detailed mapping report in order to help them find funding on their own.” Local providers like Mother Lode Internet in Sonora and Golden State Cellular in Jackson are among the companies that have expressed a strong interest in working together to provide local service. Shelton said the cost for bringing service into the county through a major provider like AT&T would be “prohibitively expensive.” She said only local carriers have so far applied for funding. She said each county contributed time and funding to the project, and each will be able to develop more detailed plans for future projects using the data collected. Supervisor Louis Boitano said he personally places a high importance on the ability for rural residents to have Internet access. He said he has twice put discretionary funds towards the purchase of new computers in the Upcountry Community Center. A community forum hosted by Volcano Communications to discuss this five-county project was held Tuesday night. More information is available online at www.centralsierraconnect.org. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Wednesday, 10 February 2010 01:10
Registrar Certifies Petition for Sutter Creek Referendum on Gold Rush
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Registrar of Voters Sheldon R. Johnson last week certified a petition challenging a resolution by Sutter Creek regarding the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort. Johnson announced that “after the proponent filed this petition, I verified the required number of signatures by examining the records of registration in the county, current and in effect at the respective purportive dates of such signing, to determine what number of qualified electors signed the petition.” Of the 468 “unverified signatures,” Johnson verified 177 signatures, of which 163 were “found sufficient,” 12 were “found insufficient,” and 2 were withdrawn. Johnson received 6 requests filed by signers to have their signatures removed from the petition. Johnson certified the petition on February 4th. Deborah Smith of the elections office said Tuesday the office stopped verifying and checking the signatures after verifying the adequate number of 159 signatures needed to place the referendum on the ballot. The petition included 102 sections, and each section contained “signatures purporting to be the signatures of qualified electors of this county,” Johnson said. Smith said the elections office had notified Sutter Creek by fax that sufficient signatures had been verified to certify the referendum. Smith said city officials had not yet picked up the petition, which was attached to copies of resolution Number 09-10-16. She said the issue can be put to a vote at any date within 88 days of an announcement by the city, but it is up to the city to determine the date for the election. The Sutter Creek City Council must decide if the referendum becomes part of the primary ballot in June, or there regular ballot in November. Bart Weatherly, one of the proponents of the referendum, a member of Preserve Historic Sutter Creek, said he did not want a special election for the referendums they sought against 2 resolutions approved by the Sutter Creek City Council. One resolution approved the Specific Plan for Gold Rush, and the other amended the city General Plan, with regard to the project. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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