On Tuesday the discussion surrounding the Bureau of Land Management’s Sierra Proposed Resource Management Plan seemed to be an item of contention for some of the Supervisors as it was learned that the County had missed the deadline to comment on the plan by a day. The plan provides direction and guidance for more than 230,000 acres of public land located primarily in nine central California counties including Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Tuolumne and Yuba counties.

On Monday night the Jackson City Council held a public hearing for the Community Development Block Grant Program. City Manager Mike Daly explained that the program, also known as CDBG, provides income that is used to support housing rehabilitation activities. The City generates income by previous CDBG housing rehabilitation loans being paid back by the borrower. The borrower must meet specifically targeted income guidelines before they can be approved for the loan.

Save Mart Supermarkets, based in Modesto, recently purchased 132 Albertson’s stores in Northern California, including the Amador County store. It was announced last week that the Sonora store will be closed this coming Saturday leaving the Sonora area’s 65 employees without jobs. According to Save Mart spokesperson Alicia Rockwell the Jackson store will remain open and will slowly be converted over to a Save Mart store. Customers will not see a big difference in the store for at least three to four months. Employees here are also safe, says Rockwell, the purchase agreement for the stores included the employee positions and each employees now a Save Mart employee. There are no major plans to change the operations of the Amador County store, with the exception of the change of name and product content.

Residents of Jackson and Ridge Road seem to be at odds at the moment over Casino traffic. The Jackson City Council, at their last meeting discussed agenda items at both the Board of Supervisors and Jackson City Council meetings, over traffic coming to and from the Jackson Rancheria Casino. The Ridge Road Coalition reported to the Board of Supervisors recently that while they were told that the Rancheria had directed all service deliveries, tour busses and employees to use the Dalton Road access off of Hwy. 88, casino patrons are continuing to use Ridge Road to New York Ranch Road

The BOS reviewed an addendum to their agenda and then took a position on Tuesday regarding Assembly Bill 1634. GSA Director John Hopkins and Animal Control Director John Vail explained the main direction of the bill.  The Bill would prohibit any person from owning or possessing any cat or dog over the age of 4 months that has not been spayed or neutered, unless that person possesses an “intact” permit. The bill would establish an intact permit fee in an amount yet to be determined by a local jurisdiction, and would then require the revenue from these fees to be used for the administration of the local jurisdiction’s permit program. The Bill would make a violation of these provisions punishable by a prescribed civil penalty. Hopkins pointed that many people are, or will be, opposed to this bill as it takes away “people’s rights or perceived rights.”  Hopkins then went over the fines and fees portion of the bill. The bill states that any person in violation of the law shall be fined $500 for each animal for which the violation occurs as well as for each applicable period of noncompliance. The penalty shall be imposed in addition to any other civil or criminal penalties imposed by the local jurisdiction. Because the local jurisdiction is responsible for the enforcement of this law that leaves the question of who is going to fund such a program and oversee its implementation?

Monday an environmental group filed suit against the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board claiming that tens of thousands of farms have been illegally exempted from laws requiring the monitoring and reporting of toxic water runoff. The lawsuit targets the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board's "ag waiver" program, which allows farmers to join coalitions rather than test their own runoff. According to the suit, millions of pounds of pesticides and fertilizers are applied to farmlands, later washing into creeks and streams and, ultimately, into the Delta. There, the toxins threatened fish such as the Delta smelt, environmentalists say.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has secured a grant from the Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration entitled “Statewide Driving Under the Influence (DUI) Reduction Effort.”  This grant will provide funding for DUI enforcement in an effort to remove impaired drivers from California’s roadways.  CHP personnel will be deployed on an overtime basis with the mission of apprehending impaired drivers.  In addition to enforcing DUI laws, officers will also enforce all other traffic safety laws such as, speeding, unsafe passing, and occupant restraint violations. Utilizing project-funded overtime, the CHP will conduct a minimum of 200 sobriety checkpoints, 45 DUI task force operations and deploy DUI roving enforcement patrol operations statewide. 

This week the city of Ione ceremonially swore in three new city council leaders; those being the top three vote getters in the recent election. Lee Ard, Jeff Barnhart, and Jim Ulm were welcomed warmly by Ione citizens, with a room full of onlookers extending all the way to the doorway.

The Jackson Planning Commission held their two year review of the New York Ranch Center, Inc. parking. When originally approved on April 18th 2005 the Planning Commission granted a request by the applicants, New York Ranch Center, Inc., to postpone the reconfiguration of their parking lot in accordance with their Planned Development for a period of two years. The purpose for the delay was to allow completion and occupancy of the remaining building to better determine the parking needs.

The Ione City Council announced today the selection of Kimberly A. Kerr as the next permanent City Manager.  Kim Kerr will start work in Ione on July 16, 2007.  Her employment contract with the City of Ione is now being finalized and will appear on the agenda for the City Council meeting of June 19th. Kim Kerr has been employed by the County of Humboldt since 1997 in various capacities and is currently the Risk Management Director and Deputy County Administrative Officer.