News Archive (6192)
ACTC ‘s Charles Field recommends putting tele-coms equipment out to bid
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Transportation Commission on Wednesday will consider seeking bids on teleconferencing equipment and furniture for the new Sutter Hill Transit Center, for a potential partnership with the Amador Community College Foundation.
ACTC meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday to consider staff recommendations, including authorizing invitations to bid to add teleconference and tele-presence equipment, along with staff training on-call assistance for the Center. The Commission will also consider a $7,000 change order to complete employee restrooms at the facility.
Executive Director Charles Field made the recommendations in a Dec. 8 report to ACTC, saying the Transit Center’s Phase 3 construction project is “close to schedule and slightly under budget. This means the project contingency fund remains in the range of $80,000 and it is somewhat safe for the Commission to consider budgeting up to $70,000 for teleconference and tele-presence equipment.”
In the report, Field said if ACTC “earmarks $70,000 in presently available contingency funds” for the equipment and furniture, the Commission “will be $17,000 short of the total cost estimated for the facility.” He said in a meeting with Amador Community College Foundation on Nov. 17, College Board members suggested that the may have up to $17,000 in funding available to help ACTC pay for the project. This would be in return for the College Board being given some priority for usage of the facility after it is completed.”
Field also recommended Commissioners authorize that the equipment be advertised for bids, and also to have ACTC staff “work with Amador County General Services on a more accurate cost proposal for furniture.” He said staff “can also solicit proposals from local cabinet makers for the custom dais, podium and conference room credenza.”
He said actual costs for the equipment and furniture “should then be known in time for the ACTC meeting on Jan. 18,” and it was “possible that the actual bids and costs could be lower than the amount estimated at this time,” or $87,000. He said staff understood that “this schedule also coincides with the time needed for the Community College Foundation to determine their strategy and position for possible cost and facility sharing.”
Field also recommended hiring Amador Electric to “adjust outside lighting circuits using available Proposition 1B Transit Security Funds.” He also recommended the Commission authorize staff to pursue a backup power generator with power conditioner using available Prop 1B funds. He also recommended possible landscaping invitations to bid using $45,000 in interest earned on Transportation Enhancement exchange funds from fiscal year 1999-2000.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Supervisorss OK a deed restriction on Pine Grove Town Hall
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Supervisors last week unanimously approved a 20-year deed restriction on Pine Grove Town Hall in order to get state reimbursement of $464,000 from Proposition 40 grants received through applications by the Amador County Recreation Agency.
Supervisors discussed whether the restriction would affect future use. Supervisor Chairman John Plasse said the contract contradicts itself, because the restriction seeks additional assurance that the terms of the agreement are being fulfilled. Supervisor Ted Novelli asked if it would affect the contracted use of the Hall by the Pine Grove Civic Improvement Club, and if the state could change the uses.
County Counsel Greg Gillott said when the county sought the grants it promised to use Pine Grove Town Hall for recreation activities in the future. He said community center uses are varied, and the agreement with the Improvement Club would fit that description, and the state “won’t be able to change our obligations once this is signed.”
The deed restriction allows an extension of grant funds past a Dec. 1 deadline. Supervisor Richard Forster said “we missed our deadlines because the state missed several of their deadlines,” and it caused everyone in the state to miss the dates.
Gillott said there is some flexibility in that Dec. 1 date. He said they needed the deed restriction as a requirement of the new contract for reimbursement, and the deed restriction will go away with the sunset date, June 30, 2031.
Plasse asked if our application includes dates and times for the facility to be open. ACRA Executive Director Tracey Towner said: “No. I was told that the less specific you are, the more latitude you have.”
Supervisors approved a resolution authorizing County Administrative Officer Chuck Iley to sign the deed restriction. The reimbursement contract expired June 30, the same day a state budget bill reverted back to the state all grant funds previously appropriated by Prop 40 that had not been spent by grant recipients before June 30. The Legislature then made the funds available to the projects for which they had been allocated.
ACRA’s projects had been allocated $1.2 million, and the balance remaining was $464,000. The county has already spent the funds for recreation facility remodels, and the agreement will complete the reimbursement.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Saint Patrick’s Church patrons mark the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Written by Tom
Amador County – The local Catholic community marked the “Celebracion a Nuestra Virgen de Guadalupe,” the “Celebration of Our Virgin of Guadalupe” with a procession on her Feast Day, Monday on Main Street in Jackson.
People gathered at Saint Patrick’s Church for the procession’s start, marked by church bells, and through downtown, with escorts fore and aft from Jackson Police Department vehicles. The feast day of the Virgen de Guadalupe, Dec. 12, is one of the most important dates in the Mexican calendar.
Jeannine Crew, secretary of St. Katharine Drexel Parish, said the procession is the traditional Hispanic way to celebrate the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patron Saint of the Americas, marked with songs and a float to reenact the apparition that occurred in 1531, when Mary, mother of Jesus, appeared to Juan Diego.
The procession always ends with mass and liturgy, asking for special intercession by the Virgin. Crew said Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness of the Americas and is an important example of how to follow Christ.
The procession was organized by Lourdes Cassillas; and celebrated with Father Roland Ramirez, the parochial vicar, and Brother Jaime Garcia, the parochial deacon. Riding on the float on the back of a pickup truck, Diana Santacruz portrayed the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Giovanni Cassillas portrayed the young Juan Diego, before whom she is said to have appeared 480 years ago.
Saints & Angels, on Catholic.org, noted: “According to Roman Catholic tradition, on Dec. 9, 1531, Juan Diego, a recently converted Aztec indigenous peasant, had a vision of a young woman while he was on a hill in the Tepeyac desert near Mexico City. The lady asked him to build a church exactly on the spot where they were standing. He told the local Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, who asked for proof in exchange.”
Miracles were said to ensue, including the healing of Diego’s uncle, and led to the conversion to Catholicism of millions of Mexicans. The Lady of Guadalupe told Diego to pick flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, and the Virgin herself arranged the flowers in Diego’s apron-like mantle. He took them to Zumarraga, who found the flowers were roses from his native homeland, miraculously bloomed in the Mexican winter. Mary’s image also appeared on Diego’s mantle, and the image is still on display at the Lady of Guadalupe’s Basilica, “the most visited Catholic pilgrimage destination in the world.”
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Jackson Council supports Huber bill to fix basic aid problem in Amador
Written by Tom
Amador County – Jackson City Council voted 5-0 Monday on a resolution supporting a bill by Assemblywoman Alyson Huber that would clean up the property tax shortfall in state Triple Flip and Vehicle License Fee Swap programs.
The resolution authorized Mayor Pat Crew to send letters of support for Huber’s Assembly Bill 1191, “proposed to rectify the property tax funding loss unique to local government jurisdictions in Amador and Mono Counties.”
City Manager Mike Daly said in February, County Auditor Joe Lowe notified jurisdictions “that a regular portion of the property tax revenue distributed to county government and the cities within Amador County was being shifted to the Amador County Unified School District due to a change in the classification of the district” as a “Basic Aid” district, from a “Revenue Limit” district.
Daly said that “fluctuations in local property tax revenues and enrollment can change the classification of a school district” from year to year, from Basic Aid to Revenue Limit. Basic Aid districts receive 100 percent of their funding from local property tax. A Revenue Limit district “is entitled to additional revenue from the state general fund in order to supplement the funds received from local property taxes to ensure a minimum funding level.”
In 1992, Daly said, California Legislature “shifted part of the burden of education funding to local entities through the creation of the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF). Each county ERAF Fund gets a portion of local property tax revenues, which are then allocated to Revenue Limit school districts. “Basic Aid districts are not entitled to receive funds from ERAF.”
Daly said two state legislative actions in 2004 changed how “state and local funding is collected and allocated.” The “Triple Flip” replaced “a portion of local sales tax revenue with property tax revenue to allow the state to call this a new revenue and repay” Schwarzenegger’s economic recovery bonds. Legislation also enacted the “VLF Swap,” which “reduced the Vehicle License Fee payable to cities and counties and again replaced this funding to cities and counties with property tax revenue.”
Daly said under both, “the property tax revenue used to offset the reductions in sales tax and VLF revenues to cities and counties comes from property tax revenues otherwise required to be allocated to each county’s Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF).” Where ERAF funds are insufficient to make Flips and Swaps, the new law requires a “Negative ERAF” apportionment to counties and cities. “In this case the state then backfills” the property tax of Revenue Limit schools with state General Funds.
Daly said Amador and Mono counties are the only Basic Aid counties that do not have a community college district or other school district to replenish ERAF funds.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Fire Council stakeholder session set on Pine Grove Conservation and Fire Plan
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Amador Fire Safe Council invited the public to attend a Wednesday, Dec. 14 public information and stakeholder meeting for its Community Conservation Wildfire Protection Plan for Pine Grove.
Amador Fire Safe Council Executive Director Cathy Koos-Breazeal said the Council was recently awarded a $50,000 grant by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy to develop a Community Conservation Wildfire Protection Plan for the greater Pine Grove area. The meeting Wednesday will be the second in a series of public information and stakeholder meetings that the Council will hold.
Breazeal said the Community Conservation Wildfire Protection Plan “includes the traditional aspects of a community wildfire plan with the addition of conservation elements aimed at watershed protection and forest health as well as protecting the community and its structures from the catastrophic effects of wildfire.”
She said: “Community risk assessments, evacuation routes, fire behavior and history are all elements of the plan,” and the recently completed Pioneer-Volcano Community Conservation Wildfire Protection Plan can be viewed on the Amador Fire Safe Council’s website.
Breazeal said “stakeholder input is a critical part of this project, so Amador Fire Safe Council will be collaborating with the public and incorporating their input into the plan.”
The Stakeholder meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14 at the Volcano Tech Center, 19888 Church Street in Pine Grove.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Wind-felled trees clog up El Dorado National Forest roads and trails
Written by Tom
Amador County – The U.S. Forest Service announced Monday that many roads and trails throughout El Dorado National Forest are blocked by trees felled last week by strong winds.
Public Relations Officer Frank Mosbacher said Forest Service personnel and visitors are reporting that many roads and trails in El Dorado National Forest are not passable due to trees that fell during recent high winds. As a result, travelers may find themselves on a road or trail that appears to be open but is impassable due to fallen trees.
Forest Supervisor Kathy Hardy said she is “concerned about the safety of forest travelers when they are traveling on any forest roads or trails.” She was “also concerned that people will attempt to drive around blocked routes and cause environmental damage. This week we are reviewing the situation and looking at our options. ”
Hardy says woodcutters with a fuel-wood permit can cut trees that are on the ground and blocking roads. The permits can be purchased at all El Dorado National Forest district offices. Currently, the seasonal closure of dirt roads and trails, due to wet weather conditions, is not in effect.
This could change with a major change in the weather or if too many routes are blocked by trees which cause unsafe conditions for forest visitors. Visitors should check the El Dorado National Forest Service website for seasonal road and trail closure information.
Delays in funding may have a long-term impact. Hardy said: “Our funding to pay for removing downed trees to open roads and trails is rather meager, to say the least.” She said Forest Service anticipates that “some roads and trails will remain blocked into next year and maybe beyond. Visitors will need to do their part in protecting forest lands by not driving around trees that are closing routes.”
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Amador County Planning Commission to host public hearing on temporary directional sign ordinance
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Amador County Planning Department last week gave notice that the Amador County Planning Commission will hold a Public Hearing Tuesday, Dec. 13 on county code amendment that would allow temporary off-site directional signage for businesses in times of economic decline.
The hearing will allow public “review and consideration of amending Title 19 (Zoning) of the Amador County Code establishing regulations and standards for temporary off-site directional signage for businesses in times of economic decline.”
The signs would be allowed to be located in the unincorporated areas of Amador County. The notice noted that a staff report will be available online for viewing at AmadorGov.org, and is typically posted by the Thursday prior to the meeting.
The report will be available in the “Agendas and Minutes” section of the website, and the report “contains further information and any recommended conditions in the event the project is approved.”
A paper copy can be reviewed at the Planning Department and, if desired, be purchased for 20¢ per page to cover copying costs.
Planning Department staff in the notice said the code amendment request “has been found to be categorically exempt” from the California Environmental Quality Act, “pursuant to Section 15061 of the CEQA Guidelines.”
The notice said the Planning Commission will hold the public hearing to consider this application in the Board of Supervisors Chambers at the County Administration Center, 810 Court Street in Jackson. The hearing starts at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, December 13 or as soon thereafter as it can be heard.
Letters of comment received prior to preparation of the Staff Report will be included in the Staff Report and mailed to each Planning Commissioner as part of the Staff Report.
The notice said that letters received after the Staff Report has been prepared will be copied and provided to each Commissioner at the meeting. However, be advised the Commissioners, due to time constraints, may not be able to give those letters submitted after the Staff Report is prepared as detailed a review as those received earlier and it may be to your benefit to attend the hearing and summarize your concerns orally. Letters will not be read aloud at the Public Hearing. The Staff Report is generally prepared on a Tuesday before the meeting.
The notice said that “if you do not comment at the public hearing or send written comments and later decide to challenge the nature of this proposed action in court, you may be limited to raising only those issued you raised at the public hearing or have given in written correspondence delivered to the public entity conducting the hearing at, or prior to, the Public Hearing.”
For more information contact the Amador County Planning Department at (209)223-6380.
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Amador Transit reports nearing the end of installing a new accounting system
Written by Tom
Amador County – In its last meeting, the Amador Regional Transit System board of directors heard from its manager that the transit system is in the middle of updating its accounting system.
Amador Transit Manager Carla Meyer said the new system, Quick Books, will give accurate, up to the minute accounting, and change a system that is duplicitous and prone to error. Meyer, who took over Amador Transit a year ago, said the old accounting system would have separate entries in the ARTS system, for the accountant and at the county. She said the department is now funneling all of those systems into one version of the budget, in Quick Books.
Meyer also reported that errors were found, as expected in data reporting methodology of the current reporting and tracking system for bus ridership. She said the finding showed Amador Transit is now below the 10 percent “minimum fare box ratio” as required by the California Transportation Development Act.
She also found that dedicated disabled bus routes are erroneously included in the Fair Box Ratio, though those routes are exempt from the requirement. She said she and staffer Maggie Amarant have found the errors, and must “go back to previous years to make those adjustments.”
The ARTS board approved a new contract amendment with accountant Hal Weber, which Meyer said was identical to the Amador County Transportation Commission’s contract with Weber. Commissioner Richard Forster asked if Amador Transit was careful not to lose the value in the contracting with Weber’s minimum 4 hours charge per work. Meyer said she coordinates with the ACTC office, and they always have him for longer than 4 hours.
The contract change was for up to $12,500, but it was not guaranteed, Meyer said, and Amador Transit will save money by not being at the county auditor’s office. They will have to-the-minute accounting, though they will not save in the first year as Weber gets up to speed.
Commission John Plasse said: “I don’t see it taking as much time as it is taking” as he has set up several businesses with Quick Books, and advocated for the change. Meyer said she has two employees working a lot of time on the conversion, but once it is in place it will not be as much time and cost.
Commissioner Keith Sweet asked how many hours it was estimated to take “to bring this funnel down to its final drop.” Meyer said there would be an update in late November, then the finish depends on whether more work is needed.
Plasse asked if the contract would stay on budget with its allowance that “additional assistance may be requested on an as-needed basis,” and whether it needed new verbiage to indicate that. Meyer said it does fall under the $12,500 contract, and she felt comfortable with the verbiage.
The Commissioners removed a three-year renewal clause from the contract.
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Supervisors OK Fiddletown Schoolhouse sewer holding tank
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Supervisors on Tuesday approved installation of a sewer holding tank for an on-site disposal system at Fiddletown Schoolhouse.
Michelle Opalenik of Amador County Environmental Health told Supervisors the holding tank would be cheaper than running a line to a community leach field. The leach field line would cost about $16,000, with more than $15,000 of that going as a connection fee to the Fiddletown Community Service District. She noted that the tank would need annual inspections by Environmental Health.
Supervisor Brian Oneto asked for that cost. Environmental Health Director Michael Israel said it would take about two-and-a-half hours of staff time per year, and 25 minutes of drive time for specific visits. The department estimated annual inspection costs at $211 a year. Supervisor Chairman John Plasse said inspections by staff would be part of a driving loop, and not a two-way trip, unless for emergencies.
A 1,000-gallon tank was proposed by the Fiddletown Preservation Society’s engineer, designed for a maximum 12 events per year and 25 people per event maximum. Opalenik said the numbers came from the applicant, and it was important to use numbers because there is a finite capacity to the tank. She said she would recommend at least a 1,250-gallon tank, and the larger it was, the fewer times it would need service. She said: “We would just encourage them to have as much emergency storage as they can.”
Opalenik in her report said Alice Kaiser, president of Fiddletown Preservation Society, called the projections generous, and “use of the Schoolhouse, at least initially, will be much less than this.” Kaiser told supervisors they plan to host funeral receptions, birthday parties and small music concerts. She said: “We’d like to make it available to the public.”
Oneto motioned to have the capacity bumped up to 24 events per year and 25 people average per event. He thought it would be more viable with larger capacity to have more people and more events. Oneto said he would pay the tank fees of $576 out of his discretionary funds, if the annual inspection fees were waived. Opalenik said Environmental Health would not oppose that, and the board approved the motion, 5-0.
Oneto in his motion asked Fiddletown Preservation Society to work with Environmental Health to come up with an adequate size for the tank. Kaiser said her group would be able to pay for the tank.
Supervisor Richard Forster said the Land Use Committee considered the applicant’s numbers on the tank and preferred not to waive the fees, but he knows it is a small group. He said he appreciated Oneto paying the fees with his discretionary funds, which keeps the department’s budget whole.
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National Weather Service and Amador OES host volunteer spotter training Thursday in Jackson
Written by Tom
Amador County – The National Weather Service in Sacramento and Amador County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services will be conducting Weather Spotter Training for Amador County residents on Thursday, Dec. 15.
The training enables adults to become volunteers for “Project Skywarn,” which helps keep local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service. The training is free.
Amador County OES said: “Storm spotters play a valuable role in the severe weather warning process. The National Weather Service relies on visual observations from spotters to provide critical information that would otherwise not be available to forecasters. Spotter reports are combined with data from Doppler radar and satellite pictures to provide a complete understanding of severe storms and their impact on the public.”
The training starts “with a review of severe weather safety tips and severe weather operations at the National Weather Service. Basic storm spotter training will include visual indicators of strong winds, hail, tornadoes, lightning, fire weather, flooding and thunderstorm formation.”
The Weather Service will demonstrate how “reports are used in the weather warning process and identify some critical elements” spotters need to know. The presentation will discuss the forecast process and how volunteers help “issue the best possible warnings to protect the public from severe weather.”
Training will help attendees learn about severe weather experienced in the area. “The development of storms will be discussed, along with visual clues which may indicate the weather is about to turn severe,” OES said. Instructors “will also go over safety tips to allow citizens to be well-prepared for the occurrence of storms” and communication of weather reports to the National Weather Service will be explained. Spotter reports will help Amador County be better prepared when severe weather occurs.
Spotter guides, cloud charts and severe weather pamphlets will be provided to potential new weather spotters.
The training is set for 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15 at the Amador County Administration Building in Jackson. For more information or to RSVP, contact Amador Sheriff’s OES at (209)223-6384 or email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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