The Jackson Planning Commission met last night and one of the items before them was the review of the Conditional Use Permit for K. Hovnanian Forecast Homes Temporary Model Home Sales Office.  On November 20, 2006 the Planning Commission reviewed the businesses request for a conditional use permit to operate their temporary model home sales office in Pine Meadows subdivision on Scottsville Boulevard. At that time the office included signs and flags, which many nearby residents said were not appropriate for a residential neighborhood.

Part of what makes our part of the state of California beautiful is our local scenery and wildlife, however because of a crisis at the Department of Fish and Game the protection of our wild and scenic animal life is now in question.

The Ione City Council met Tuesday night to discuss a full agenda. The meeting began with an acceptance of the consent agenda and public comment. At this time Mule Creek State Prison Warden Richard Subia informed the council members that Tuesday morning the Board of Supervisors had voted to create a community block grant program that will allow those residents who lived around the Mule Creek State Prison with wells that tested high in nitrates the ability to get a direct hook up to access for water from the city of Ione.

On Thursday the Plymouth City Council held a special meeting to discuss their budget. Plymouth’s finance director, Jeff Gardner, began the presentation by reporting that the AWA costs for this year were significantly less than what they had budgeted for because the city has over budgeted for the item the last couple of years.  Gardner said the bill was cut in half from last year. Council Member Pat Fordyce then brought up a specific concern of hers regarding the AWA’s employees. She said she took issue with the fact that water agency employees eat while on the clock when they are attending to Plymouth calls. Gardner told her it was water agency policy to allow on call employees time to eat while on the clock and that in the contract between Plymouth and the agency the city is obligated to abide by water agency standards.

Amador County and the State, through CALFire and the California Youth Authority, have reached a mutually beneficial barter program- youth authority muscle, for Amador County Public Work’s asphalt. The program, approved Monday morning by the County’s Administrative Committee provides for cleaning and clearing of roadsides, ditches and general roadside maintenance by Pine Grove Camp crews in exchange for county crews providing asphalt paving to the parking lots at the California Department of Juvenile Justice’s Pine Grove Camp.  The Pine Grove Conservation Camp is located east of Pine Grove on Aqueduct Road. The camp houses about 110 wards ranging from 17 to 25 years of age with personnel from two state agencies staffing the camp.

The Amador County Integrated Solid Waste Management Agency will soon be recognized for achieving a major milestone, compliance with Assembly Bill 939 and exceeding the 50% waste diversion, according to Solid Waste Program Manager, Jim McHargue. AB 939, also known as the Integrated Waste Management Act, addresses the growing problem of California’s increasing amount of solid waste and more importantly where to put it. Signed into law in September of 1989 the Bill restructured the state’s approach to solid waste management and integrated a waste management hierarchy consisting of first and foremost source reduction, then recycling and composting, and finally environmentally safe transformation and land disposal of the waste.

Main Street in Ione is expecting a face lift in May according to Mayor Jerry Sherman. Cal Trans will be doing a series of improvements on Main Street that begin at the Preston Avenue Bridge and continue down Main Street to Hwy. 104. Cal Trans will make upgrades to the drainage as well as making improvements to the street. Mayor Sherman said that while Cal Trans reported that they would begin the upgrades sometime in May he has yet to have them nail down an exact date. “I just hope it’s not in the 2nd weekend of May,” he said as it is the weekend of Ione’s Homecoming. He said this year’s Homecoming event will be bigger and better as railroad speeders from all over Northern California, Nevada and Arizona will attend. He also said that a trolley car will run the tracks. Sherman said they even hope to allow people the opportunity of riding in the speeders, but only if all the insurance issues are worked out.

There could be problems on the south side of Camanche Lake for residents of more than 200 mobile homes on the CalaverasCounty side of the lake. East Bay Municipal Services District, which owns and operates the lake, and the land on which the mobile homes are located  may be writing the homes and their utilities out of the company’s upcoming long-term plan. East Bay MUD has been working on the plan, called the Mokelumne Watershed Master Plan since February 2006. The plan is reevaluating land management policies and reevaluating land uses for all properties owned by the utility as consultants for the district compare the costs and environmental impacts of different alternatives, according to a letter from the district to tenants and lessees. One alternative mentioned in the letter is the elimination of the mobile home parks as a "general increase in protective measures related to water quality." 

The next item to appear before the board was part history lesson as the board learned about a long time family name that is not very well known in Amador County.  A proposal was received form the United States Board on Geographic Names to name an unnamed Summit in Amador County, Trembath Mountain after the Trembath family who migrated here form England in the 1800’s. The summit is located approximately 5 miles north-northeast of Amador City. Rick Sanders, a descendent of the Trembaths, reported to the board that he is requesting to name the mountain in honor of his ancestors Benedict and Ann Trembath who immigrated to Amador City in the 1870’s.

Ione has a New Police Officer, retired CHP Officer, John Kellogg was introduced to the Ione City Council Monday and was sworn in to office by Janice Traverso. The city of Ione has not had a completed audit since 2003, this is not only bad for bookkeeping it may also cause the city to potentially lose future monies in the form of loan funding because of the lack of financial audits on record. The City had been using the same audit firm for many years and this firm has been continuously missing deadlines to provide the city with the audit reports.