Amador County – Amador County Grand Jury Foreman Vince Murdock delivered the jury’s final report to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, focusing on the investigation into alleged misconduct by Jackson Valley Fire Department Chief Thom Reed. The investigation came after a number of witnesses and JVFPD volunteers reported Reed responded to calls and endangered others by performing his duties under the influence of alcohol. The report find that “78 percent of witnesses were aware of the JVFPD Chief being under the influence of alcohol while attempting to perform his duties” and the knowledge of his intoxication “was widespread.” Murdock said he is “appalled by the number of people who gave false or misleading testimony.” Perhaps the most damning conclusion of the Grand Jury was that Reed, as well as the Chief and Captain of the Ione Fire Department, Operations Manager of American Legion Ambulance Service, Assistant Fire Chief of the Jackson Valley Fire Protection District and the Chairperson for the Jackson Valley Board of Directors gave “false, misleading, or inconsistent testimony.” “People didn’t say anything about it and when they were finally given the chance they misled us,” said Murdock. Among the myriad of other violations, the Grand Jury found there had been no Operations and Procedure Policy in place for the JVFPD since at least 1992; the JVFPD “took no action after receiving a complaint concerning the consumption of alcohol by the individual in question while on calls”; “neighboring emergency service departments took no action after receiving complaints concerning the consumption of alcohol”; and the Jackson Valley Board of Directors “is in violation of the Brown Act.” Supervisor Richard Forster echoed the sentiments of others on the board. “What you are doing is somewhat of a thankless job,” he said. Forster’s wife spent almost a year on a previous Grand Jury. Forster said District Attorney Todd Riebe is “proceeding with common sense to resolve this matter.” Murdock thanked Riebe and his office for their openness and help through the process. Supervisor John Plasse said “the opportunity to have citizens step back and critique the various aspects of government is an important one.” The Grand Jury report recommends that Reed and the Chairman of the Jackson Valley Board of Directors be removed from office. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador Water Agency Board of Directors approved its 2009-2010 budget last week, with a possible layoff of 4 employees and proposed rate hikes across all agency systems. General Manager Jim Abercrombie said rate increases were not as big as initially approved in 2 systems. The Amador Water System customers will have an 8 percent increase, a hike below an already approved 12 percent increase, that would have come into place in July. Martell wastewater customers originally faced a 25 percent rate increase, but with reductions in budget spending, that was reduced to a 15 percent increase. Abercrombie said the budget included proposed 8 percent rate increases in all other systems. Those hikes would be subject to Proposition 218 notification guidelines and public meetings. That includes proposed 8 percent rate increases in the Central Amador Water Project retail system in the Upcountry; Camanche water and wastewater systems; LaMel Heights water system; and 10 small wastewater systems that make up Wastewater Improvement District Number 1. Each would be subject to public meetings and Prop 218 guidelines. Abercrombie said 2 temporary employee jobs will be lost, and he will be speaking to the 3 employee associations to come up with an idea for cost savings, to the equivalent of 2 other positions. The total to be cut is about $100,000 dollars, he said. He was planning to start meeting with employees today and hoped to start implementing cuts or measures over the next month or 2. Those may include reduced work hours, furloughs or contract changes. He said AWA has had 3 vacant positions and “over the last 3 years came in with flat budgets” as it anticipated the recession. He said the agency “noticed the slowdown in new businesses and saw that the economy was turning, and we knew that the recession could impact the agency.” 2 vacancies occurred in engineering and 1 occurred in construction and the positions went unfilled. Layoffs will affect 2 temporary engineering positions and could affect one staff engineer, and one permanent clerk. Abercrombie said the staff engineer position was a quality control job that meant efficiency to the last to AWA pipelines. He said Plymouth’s pipeline has had ½ of 1 percent change orders, and the Amador Transmission Pipeline was similar. He said he hopes to attain those efficiency cost reductions elsewhere. He said as the agency tightens the belt, it becomes more important to realize the AWA is “an agency that deals 100 percent with health and safety issues.” Abercrombie has “been charged to implement the budget and report back on how we are doing it.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Ione Community Preservation Project was discussed last week at the Ione City Council meeting. City Manager Kim Kerr said a community committee recommended that the city council set up a non-profit organization with a separate elected or appointed board. The committee also wished that “there would be an ex-officio seat on the board for a member of the city council to be on that board.” She said there were 15 people at the meeting, all interested in being involved. The committee met in early June and recommended the city set up its Main Street program as a non-profit organization, Kerr said, with a separate Board of Directors, elected or appointed by the organization’s members. They also recommended that the City Council have the committee create its Articles of Incorporation. In public comment, Jack Brotherton said he thought there would be a non-voting advisory committee that governs the nonprofit organization. Kerr said “there may be one, but it will have to be set up by the non-profit’s board, or they may elect to do something else.” She said the ex-officio seat is a requirement of the city council, to act as a liaison to the board from the city council, as a non-voting member. Brotherton thought the council should have some non-voting membership on the board. Kerr said the ex-officio member would be that. She said there is no organization yet, so the city has given it no money, and there will be no agreement between the 2 bodies until the nonprofit organization is formed. Kerr said the organization’s board will “technically” be a “public meeting,” and would be best run as such. She said staff will bring in an expert to professionally train the board members. Kerr will work with City Attorney Kristen Castanos on guidelines for articles of incorporation, and e-mail those to the committee. The articles would delineate the board make-up, appointments, and how members would be elected. The community preservation program could potentially have a total of $284,775 dollars from two closed 1980s CDBG grants, which the city council may spend as it sees fit. $25,000 could be in the façade program and $75,000 is in the “Main Street Program”, with another $4,775 dollars to set it up. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – This Thursday, the Amador County Democratic Central Committee will host Dr. Ami Bera, one of three candidates vying for the 3rd Congressional District Seat currently held by Congressman Dan Lungren. Bera is competing with fellow Democrats Gary Davis, an Elk Grove City Councilmember, and Bill Slaton, a member of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District Board of Directors. Bera sites his professional experience as a teaching physician and former Associate Dean for Admissions at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, and his experience growing up as the son of immigrants as the inspirations behind his run for congress. “This country offered (my parents) the opportunity to give their children (my two older brothers and me) a chance to be anything that we wanted. It is this dream that constitutes what this country means to me and why I have decided to run for Congress,” writes Bera on his website. The Amador County Democratic Committee will host Bera as a guest speaker. Bera will discuss his campaign and his plans for winning the June 2010 primary. There will be time for questions following Bera's presentation. The event takes places June 25th at 7pm at the Amador Senior Center, 229 New York Ranch Road in Jackson. Regular meetings of the Amador County Democratic Central Committee are held on the fourth Thursday of each month at the Amador Senior Center and are open to the public. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – In related news, Congressman and 3rd District Representative Dan Lungren announced today his endorsement of Republican candidate Meg Whitman for Governor. “Meg Whitman possesses both the leadership experience and innovative spirit needed to lead California back to prosperity,” Lungren said. Whitman, a 30-year California resident, has developed a reputation as “one of the world’s most respected business leaders,” according to her campaign website. She has been involved with the strengthening and rebranding of a number of companies, including Ebay, Proctor & Gamble and FTD. Whitman became a billionaire while helping eBay grow to 346 million users. Her past political experience includes working as National Finance Co-chair during Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and as National Co-Chair for McCain-Palin 2008. She has called for sharply shrinking California's work force by laying off more than 30,000 state employees, far more than the 5,000 proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger. “As badly as I feel about the 30,000 or 40,000 people that will lose their jobs, I feel even more badly for the millions of Californians who are paying higher taxes, who are looking at a state that is not working,” Whitman said. Whitman and State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner are against Proposition 1A, which sets state spending limits but trigger $16 billion in extended tax hikes, and Prop 1C, which allows $5 billion in borrowing against future lottery proceeds. Whitman said she is honored to have Lungren’s endorsement. “For three decades, Dan Lungren has served Californians with distinction in Congress and as our attorney general. His commitment to public service is unparalleled as is his integrity and staunch support of conservative ideals,’’ Whitman said. “Her strong values and her vision for creating jobs and curing our state’s out-of-control spending give me great confidence in her ability to fix our broken state government and grow our party,” said Lungren. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors last week got what they asked for – the brutal numbers involved in having zero percent rate increases for fiscal year 2009-2010. Option “A” of, one of 3 options staff gave the board, would cost 17 employees their jobs in order to realize 0 percent increases. It would also cause a $118,000-dollar deficit in contingency funds of 4 systems including Martell and general wastewater, and Camanche and LaMel water. Option “B” suggested 4 percent increases across the board in all AWA systems, along with 14 job layoffs. It would also cause $114,000 dollars in deficits in those same 4 systems. Option “C” recommended a 15 percent increase in Martell wastewater rates, and an 8 percent rate increase in all other systems. It would also cause a $164,000-dollar deficit in the 4 contingency funds, and would require the layoff of 4 AWA employees. Finance Manager Mike Lee gave a presentation on Option “C”, and the board asked questions. Director Bill Condrashoff asked if they would also go through Options “B” and “A”. He pointed out a $30,000-dollar error in a Camanche system, in the budget, and he wanted to go through the Martell budget line items to see if there were any problems in it. Lee adjusted a percentage rate, and it lowered the budget numbers in a few areas. Condrashoff also asked why the details of budget items were not shown. General Manager Jim Abercrombie said the board asked for the budget “at summary level.” Condrashoff directed Lee to adjust the wastewater system budget, in effect reducing it by $27,000 dollars. Abercrombie said “you would be removing about half of an (plant) operator.” Board Chairman Terence Moore said “I think we’re getting nowhere fast,” and he “cut to the chase,” and asked to “see how many votes we have to pass Option “C,” so they could recommend changes and have staff go and revise that option. Director Gary Thomas said he was likely to vote for Option “C,” but was not yet satisfied with the numbers. Moore said “we’re going to micro-manage this thing to death.” They did agree to drop the Martell rate increase from 25 to 15 percent, Director Debbie Dunn said. Moore reminded the board that it would still face hearings for rate increases. Thomas said he needed to “justify the numbers.” The Option “C” layoffs would include 2 temporary engineering positions; a customer service tech/utility clerk; and a staff engineer. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County - State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced Thursday that the Amador County District Attorney’s Office will get $460,000 in grant funding to fight workers compensation and insurance fraud. In total, nearly $30 million in grants will be awarded to local county district attorneys.Neighboring San Joaquin County will receive $580,000. “Because fraud drives up the costs of workers' compensation insurance, we must continue to be vigilant in our battle with those who dishonestly and illegally take advantage of the system,” Poizner said. According to Amador County District Attorney Todd Riebe, the funding will be used to oil the mechanics of a complex operation, including stings, public outreach, salaries, documentation and offsetting clerical work. Riebe said there are 1 and ½ investigators assigned to these cases. “We don’t have a problem spending the money,” said Riebe. California counties apply annually for the grants, which result from assements determined by the California Fraud Assessment Commission. Applications are reviewed by the Workers' Compensation Grant Review Panel based on prior year's performance. “We were one of the few counties that didn’t get a huge cut in funding because of the reputation of our program,” said Riebe. Funding from past allocations has been used effectively toward a number of arrests and convictions. The workers' compensation fraud unit of the Amador County District Attorney's Office investigates insurance fraud cases in Amador, Calaveras and Placer counties. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Sutter Creek Planning Commission will resume discussion of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort today, with a presentation from City Attorney Dennis Crabb. The 6 p.m. meeting today will discuss a development agreement and a fiscal analysis of the Gold Rush Environmental Impact Report, as the commission works to get a recommendation, or non-recommendation, to their governing body. At a later meeting the commission will see staff recommendations on how to minimize grading and maximize oak tree removal; issues last Wednesday that the commission deemed as part of important last steps. Commissioner Mike Kirkley said “ultimately the City Council will decide” on Gold Rush. He said Gold Rush “is out of proportion in relation to the size of Sutter Creek.” He thought “it needs to be remodeled drastically.” Commissioner Frank Cunha pointed to the model the city used for Gold Rush: the Greenhorn Golf Course community in Angels Camp. The circa 1996 project has sold all of its lots “and it’s still not built out.” Cunha said he wanted “no mass tree removal” and to look at increasing tree retention. He did not “think anyone can look at a property across from the Martell triangle and say it is never going to be developed.” He said the best approach is to find the best use of the property. Chairman Robin Peters said they should modify the Gold Rush specific plan to limit grading to roads, the golf course, and individual building sites. He said they should look at the project parameters and find the best way to allow growth while saving the small town appeal described in the city’s general plan goals. Peters said: “It’s all about the general plan consistency,” and he is “perfectly happy with minimizing tree removal and grading in other projects in the city.” Commissioner Robert Olsen agreed. Cunha said “golf courses are going under,” and this one “could fold in 5 years.” Cunha said “we need to make sure as a commission that people want to live there.” He said the golf courses being “bulldozed are the ones that were mass-graded.” Peters said in his mind, oak tree preservation and minimizing grading “are fundamental issues” when considering recommendation. Cunha said today’s meeting should not discuss the “conditions of approval,” until the commission discusses that general plan consistency issue of trees and grading, and other areas within the Gold Rush specific plan. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

El Dorado County - El Dorado County Sheriff Jeff Neves announced Friday his decision not to run for re-election to a third term. As the 2010 race heats up, with five other candidates in the running, Neves, 55, said he will step down after this term to spend more time with his family. Narcotics official and 15 year Amador County law enforcement veteran John D’Agostini formally announced on June 13th his run for the position. “I’ll bring a different culture and personality to the position that I personally feel will be more effective,” said D’Agostini. He’ll be up against four other strong candidates: Stan Perez, a former chief of the CHP’s valley division; Bob Luca, an El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office Investigator; Larry Hennick, a retired 32-year veteran of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department; and Capt. Craig Therkildsen a veteran of more than 25 years with the department. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Region - The latest statistics released by property research company MDA DataQuick reveal that Sacramento-region homebuyers closed escrow on 3,420 new and existing houses in May, marking the 14th month in a row of sales increases. Median sales prices rose once again in the five area counties, spreading optimism amongst realtors looking for a profitable summer buying season. Amador County’s median in May was $209,500, up from $180,000 in April and down 29.5 percent from May 2008. Sacramento County showed the biggest improvement for the region, with prices climbing dramatically by 9.4 percent from $160,000 in March and April to $175,000 in May. Rising median home prices indicate an upward trend statewide. DataQuick statistics show a slight median rise in the six-county Los Angeles region, including San Diego, for the first time since July 2007. There was a 12.3 percent rise from April in the nine-county Bay Area. DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage attributes the abrupt May rise to a sales mix reflecting fewer hugely discounted bank repos and more higher-priced homes. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.