A new roof for the Amador County Museum in Jackson could be reality this year, weather permitting. The county has advertised for bids on the structural reinforcement and new metal roof for the nearly 150-year old museum building. The bid will be awarded on Oct. 2 with the intent to complete construction this building season. Also at the museum, after a recent evaluation of the many trees on the museum’s park-like grounds, it was recommended that one tree be removed for safety reasons. The tree is located at the front of the museum parking lot and overhangs Summit St. across the street from Jackson Elementary School. Also in Monday’s discussion, County Administrative Officer Terri Daly recommended that new lieutenant positions added to the Amador County Sheriff Department be classified as “exempt” positions – or ineligible for union membership. Daly noted that the lieutenant positions have management responsibilities and are considered exempt in other sheriff departments in the region. CAO Daly also clarified starting salaries for sheriff deputies as starting at $45,873 per year, with 5% increase in six months. 

 

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At Monday’s Amador County Administrative Committee meeting, Supervisors Louis Boitano and Richard Forster were briefed on a couple of issues related to Amador County history: the County archives and the County museum. Recently,county staff had raised concerns about document shredding at the former Amador County courthouse where county archives are now stored. Amador County Superior Court Executive Officer Hugh Swift assured the supervisors that all documents older than 1911 must be retained in paper form, and that the court policy is to keep all records back to 1950 in paper form, to the extent possible.

The Amador Unit of the California Highway Patrol is reporting several collisions over the weekend. Saturday afternoon Officer Brian Hagemann responded to a solo vehicle collision on Jackson Valley Rd just south of Hwy 88. Officer Hagemann’s report states that 18 year old Destinee Wiggins of Valley Springs was northbound on Jackson Valley rd when she entered a sharp curve. She drove into the opposing lane and then overcorrected running off of the roadway, overturning and striking a fence. She was not injured in the collision.

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has scheduled three workshops to gather additional input on the Integrated Regional Water Management program as funded by Propositions 84 and 1E.  These workshops will present program concepts for the IRWM Program Guidelines and solicit public input on those concepts. The state Department of Water Resources is hoping to receive early, specific input and provide a clear understanding to interested stakeholders regarding the current status of the IRWM Program Guidelines.

A recently released study from the Centers of Disease Control says that a child born in the United States in 2005 can expect to live to nearly 78 years of age(77.9) – that’s a new high – according to the report released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report from CDC′s National Center for Health Statistics is based on approximately 99 percent of death records reported in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for 2005, as well as documentation of the latest trends for the leading causes of death and infant mortality.

Highway 49 just south of the Amador County line in Calaveras County was described as a battle field last evening after a single vehicle rollover. The collision occurred around 6:05 pm in the curves as a Honda Passport drove toward Amador County. Once on scene, fire personnel called for five ground ambulances, three of which responded from Amador County, and 2 helicopters for airlift from Sutter Amador Hospital. Stretchers for the five victims lined the north bound lane of traffic. None of victims spoke English, further complicating rescue efforts. The collision caused traffic backups for both northbound and southbound until nearly 8 pm. The accident is under investigation by the San Andreas Unit of the CHP.

Sunday evening around 5:30 a single vehicle collision was reported on Hwy-49 just north of Drytown. A red SUV was described as rolled over in a ditch on the side of the roadway. When emergency vehicles arrived on scene they found an abandoned vehicle with the driver already out of the vehicle.

Saturday afternoon a motorcycle versus pick up truck accident ties up traffic on southbound Hwy-49 in front of the Jackson Creek Plaza. According to witnesses on scene, the pick up truck was pulling out of the shopping center as the motorcycle was traveling southbound on the Highway. The two collided sending the motorcyclist to Sutter Amador Hospital. The collision is under investigation by the Jackson Police department.

The September 13th Amador Fire Protection Authority Meeting was one of serious debate about the future of fire protection in the county. The main topic of the meeting was a proposed ½ cent sales tax that the state would give back to the county to better fund the county’s fire facilities. Indeed, there was little argument as to whether there was need of increased funding; the general consensus amongst the city fire chiefs, volunteer fire fighters, Cal-fire representatives, and city and county representatives present at the meeting was that the county is in desperate need of improvements to the existing infrastructure, namely a full-time, paid fire personnel program with a detailed chain of command. The November 2006 election saw the narrow defeat of Measure L, which would have tagged ¼ cent of the county’s sales tax for fire.

The Amador Fire Safe Council announces that there may be help for homeowners adjacent to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands concerned about fire safety. The Folsom office of the Bureau of Land Management announces a new variance program for these home owners. The program applies to homeowner living adjacent to a BLM property and offers eligible for a variance.