Amador County – Operation Care last week announced the appointment of its new Executive Director Tammie Crabtree.

Board President Linda Zender said Operation Care’s board formally appointed Crabtree, who in the past four years has been dedicated to her positions with the organization as Program Manager, Deputy Director, and most recently, Interim Director. Crabtree enters her fifth year with the organization, after serving as interim executive director since July 28. She has been at Operation Care since 2007.

Zender said: “During this time, she met with virtually every client of Operation Care, whether survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault, families of victims, individuals attending support groups, or teens attending violence prevention workshops. This in-depth knowledge of the needs of survivors gives her valuable insight required for future planning.”

Zender said: “We are very proud of Tammie’s work, and pleased to announce her appointment as Executive Director.” She said Crabtree “has proven that she can manage business and financial issues, while still holding on to the compassion for our clients.”

Zender said Crabtree has “successfully managed the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing program for Amador County, a $300,000, two-year grant through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.” Through the program, 62 men, women, and children were assisted with rent, financial classes, and other life skills, allowing them to remain in their homes or to obtain housing for an average of 15 months.

Zender said Crabtree “was also the catalyst behind the Purple People awareness campaigns during Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October,” the last four years, as purple life-sized cut-outs were placed throughout the county, each with a different real-life story.

Crabtree said “although we live in a beautiful county with many caring and giving individuals, we are not immune from the harsh reality that Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault happen in our community to our neighbors, our families, our friends.” She said “although each one is different, every man, woman and child that finds themselves walking through our door are looking for the same thing; guidance, compassion, understanding and quite often a shoulder of support.”

As Executive Director, she plans “to provide the leadership for continued quality services and information for the citizens of Amador County.”

This fiscal year, Operation Care housed 27 adults and 17 children in safe shelter, totaling 1,278 bed nights. Advocates helped 52 victims with temporary restraining orders, and provided crisis intervention to 30 sexual assault victims. Staff provided transportation 783 times for domestic violence victims to get to safe shelter, appointments, court, or other locations.

The non-profit Operation Care has been providing services and safe shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault for more than 30 years.

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Amador County – The Upcountry Community Council in January will host Amador County Planning Director, who will give a presentation on the county’s short designation of a “town center,” and how it may be applied to Buckhorn.

Lynn Morgan, Chairwoman of the UCC said the “primary focus of this meeting will be to get our questions answered about the future Buckhorn Town Center, which will be designed within the amended County General Plan.”

She said Susan Grijalva, director of the Amador County Planning Department will join the Council “to help answer our questions, so I expect our meeting will be thorough.”

The Council will be revisiting a previous topic in the Buckhorn Town Center discussion. Grijalva is scheduled for a 45-minute presentation, which includes time for questions and answers, as allowed with all agenda scheduling.

The agenda includes a county update from District 3 Supervisor Ted Novelli.

The agenda noted that “all items on the agenda “may result in a consensus opinion from Upcountry Community Council,” which has no elected members, other than the chair and vice chair. The meetings are open to anyone who cares to attend.

The meeting is set for 6-8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9, at the Veterans Memorial Hall on Buckhorn Ridge Road in Pioneer.

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Amador County – The City of Jackson had two significant grant announcements over the past week, and is working on a third. ¶ City Manager Mike Daly said on the heels of the Marcucci Lane Slab Bridge Project completion, an $885,000 project funded by the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, Jackson has received more good news related to applications and other grant funded projects ready to begin.

State Housing and Community Development announced that Jackson has been awarded another round of first-time homebuyers grant funding in the amount of $700,000. This is the fifth round of funding the City has received from this program, bringing the total amount awarded to over $3.7 million.

The program provides financial assistance to income-qualifying households for the down-payment required to purchase a home in the City of Jackson. The City has assisted with 20 loans dating back to 2004. Details on the application process will be developed once the City has received its official notice of award and all pre-award requirements have been completed.

Daly said another grant award announced this week was the initial phase of the Transportation Enhancement Act funding for the Kennedy Tailing Wheel Preservation project. California Transportation Commission approved funding for environmental and preliminary engineering for the project, which will reconstruct a structure around Tailing Wheel Number 4 and make other improvements at Kennedy Tailing Wheel Park to improve the interpretive signage, construct access improvements and enable all visitors to better appreciate the significance of these iconic structures that remain from the hard rock mining days in the region.

The City has organized a “Save the Wheel” committee to work on local fundraising projects to raise the matching funds required for this $596,000 grant, which includes construction of the structure. The new building will replicate the structures that originally housed each of the four tailing wheels, but will have one transparent side to allow visitors to see the tailing wheel from the outside. The City has a special “Save the Wheel” website linked on its homepage where more information can be obtained.

One other grant activity occurring soon is the replacement of more than 30 streetlights with energy efficient LED lighting. The City received a $24,000 grant from the California Energy Commission as part of the Recovery Act funding for this project.

Daly said the LED lights will be installed on Mission Boulevard, Placer Drive, Gordon Place and portions of other neighborhoods. In addition to paying all of the costs for purchase and installation of these lights, this project will create over $700 per year in energy savings for the City of Jackson.

Jackson city offices will be closed Friday, Dec. 23 and next Friday Dec. 30 for furlough days, Mondays, Dec. 26 for Christmas, and Jan. 2 for New Year’s Day.

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Amador County – The Interfaith Food Bank Executive Director Kathleen Harmon has retired from her position after 13 years, and will take over as the next Executive Director of the Amador Community Foundation, at the first of the year. It will be in a dual role, as she will also remain as director of the Food Bank until it transitions into its new director.

Harmon said Wednesday she has retired from the Food Bank to go back to the challenge of marketing and development and grassroots development. She said she will be leaving an amazing organization and looking forward to the Amador Community Foundation becoming that same amazing organization under her leadership. She said she is a developer and is looking forward to helping develop the Foundation.

Harmon takes over after Tina Hurley, who took over the position from Shannon Lowery in January 2011. Harmon said it was time for a leadership change. She has been on the Interfaith Food Bank Board of Directors since it was being formed, when the original grant was awarded to build the facility.

As executive director, Harmon said she took the Food Bank from a $35,000 annual budget organization to a $3.6 million corporate structure that does an amazing job of feeding people in Amador County,” with corporate cash and food donations.

She said Food Bank has 210 volunteers and distributes 3 million pounds of food a year, with 1.6 million pounds of donated food. “We do this because the community makes it happen,” Harmon said, and she just hands off the baton. “There are lots of hands and feet that makes it happen.”

In April, Harmon was selected by Assemblywoman Alyson Huber as the California Women’s Legislative Caucus Assembly District 10 Woman of the Year. She was honored, in part because she “advocates for her agency at the state and federal level while she oversees fundraising, food procurement and distribution for 4,000 people each month with an all-volunteer staff.”

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