The City of Jackson has reached a milestone in the update of its General Plan. After a decade of environmental impact reports, public input, planning commission review, a major multi-agency cooperative effort, and some legal roadblocks, the city’s Circulation Element and Land Use Element were finally adopted. At the city council’s meeting Monday night, council members heard from city staff on the few remaining issues left over from the council’s October 27th meeting, where a public hearing was conducted and several issues still needed clarification. Monday, the city’s planner, Susan Peters, clarified those issues to the satisfaction of the council, including some confusion over map overlays on private property. Peters reported that she worked closely with one concerned property owner to clarify and resolve that matter. Together, both documents will help to direct the continued growth of Jackson and both are considered “working documents” that can be updated as needed. The Circulation Element, which was last updated in 1999, is responsible for developing “a comprehensive circulation plan for all travel modes within the Jackson area, and to provide a strategy for financing preferred transportation improvements.” The Draft Land Use Element, which was last updated in 1981, serves to “establish a framework to direct the physical development of the City and to form the organization of the City’s environment.” Once the lengthy resolution had been adopted 4 to 0 Monday, with newly appointed member Pat Crew abstaining due to lack of experience on the issue, Mayor Pryor Escamilla appropriately declared, “Hallelujah!” Story by Jen Wilson (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Although the Jackson City Council race is too close to call, there’s one new position on the council that is not under scrutiny. At a special meeting Wednesday evening, the council appointed local business owner Pat Crew to fill the vacancy left by Andy Rodriguez’s resignation on October 6th. The city, which took applications for the empty seat through October 30th, and also allowed election candidates to apply, received seven applications, two of which were from candidates, Keith Sweet and Judy Jebian. The remaining applicants included Tony D’Arcy, Ron Regan, Pat Crew, Jim Laughton, and Thornton Consolo. A common goal stated by all applicants was a love of Jackson and Amador County and most felt that growth in the city should be moderated. Jebian felt that growth should be “carefully controlled,” and Consolo expressed his opinion that he is not against growth, but “big department stores” are bad for local small businesses. Each candidate came to the podium to make a statement and answer questions from the current council. The main concern shared by the council was each candidate’s time commitment. Most stated that they had flexible work schedules and would devote the needed time for council meetings, whether they were at night or during the day. Pat Crew informed the council that because of his established business and “great employees,” he would be able to meet any and all council commitments. Crew, who was chair of the county’s General Plan Advisory Committee, believes his experience “would give a unique and essential perspective on growth and land use issues.” Owner of Jackson Tire for over 36 years, Crew stated that there is “nothing more important than this city to me.” When asked how he felt about winning the appointment, he said he was “ happy to be chosen.” Crew’s first meeting with the council was this Monday, November 10th. Story by Jen Wilson (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

The Amador County Regional Planning Committee heard from regional financial czars last week, on November 6th. Larry Busby of the Central Sierra Economic Development District told the committee to dig up its 10-year-old economic strategies and plans for implementation, because they are still legitimate, still relevant. Busby and Ron Mittlebrunn, of the Amador Economic Development Corporation, both said economic development is not going to happen without housing for the people, and jobs will come from attracting industries. Both also said those old strategic plans are cookbooks for financial success. Busby said “try not to put all of your eggs in one basket, (because) if it fails, then you don’t have anything.” Mittlebrunn said he has worked to try to attract industries, which he has taken properly zoned areas that are sometimes nothing more than dirt and weeds. He said “they don’t like that – they literally run away.” But Martell commercial sites, with prebuilt roads, curbs, gutters, and building sites plotted out and ready to go, are attractive to businesses. Mittlebrunn said that Amador County has the attractive quality of life and two business parks, and he wondered if the county had 40,000 or 50,000 dollars to advertise those qualities. He said tourism is a very big part of economic development, when the “knowledge workers,” the high-pay workers and their families come and see the county. Those are the types of workers and jobs he said he tries to attract to Amador, but have proven “elusive.” Statistics show 16 percent of the Amador workforce commutes out of the county to work, and he believes most are going to those “knowledge worker” jobs. But Amador has grown. He said the Amador County Gross Domestic Product total 793 Million Dollars in 1997 and it grew by 48 percent in 8 years, to 1.5 Billion Dollars in 2005. Mittlebrun said there has been 41 Million Dollars worth of business expansions throughout the county, adding to the property value, while there have been 385 jobs created in the county since September of 1990. Story By Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

The outcome of the 10th Assembly District race between Democrat Alyson Huber and Republican Jack Sieglock still lies in the margins. Sieglock currently leads by only 1,025 votes, with thousands of vote-by-mail ballots yet to be counted. Huber told the Stockton Record that she hopes uncounted absentee and provisional ballots may tip her over the edge. “I don't think anyone is surprised that it's a close race. Maybe six months ago, people didn't think it would be this close. They thought it would be a safe Republican seat,” she said. Huber, an El Dorado Hills attorney in her first bid for public office, outspent her opponent by huge margins, with reported campaign totals just below 1.4 million dollars. Most of those funds came from labor unions and teachers groups in support of Huber or against Sieglock, who took the majority of his contributions - 50,000 dollars - from the California Medical Association. Although her opponent has expressed little concern over an upset, one Sieglock campaign manager said “things could go either way.” Sieglock’s lead was anywhere from 9 percentage points to 25 percentage points in San Joaquin, El Dorado and Amador counties. Amador County voted predominantly for Sieglock, 54.55 percent over 37.50 percent. But Huber led by 12 points in Sacramento County, a more populated area where many votes have yet to be counted. Registrar officials estimate there are still approximately 200,000 pending votes in the four county area. Officials will continue to tally up unprocessed votes. The election must be certified by December 13. Story by Alex Lane

Amador County -The election office said Thursday that it still has just over 1,400 ballots that could be counted in Tuesday’s election, which could have an impact on some of the tighter local races in Amador County. Debbie Smith, elections supervisor for the Amador elections office, said that 261 provisional votes came back from polling places Tuesday. The provisional votes were cast when the voter possibly did not have an absentee ballot to surrender at the polls or for other reasons. Smith said that the elections office also received 1,142 ballots by mail before the cutoff time to vote but after the other absentee ballots had been processed. Those ballots had not been processed and added to the total vote counts. Those remaining ballots total 1,403. She said the elections office was in the process of verifying signatures for the remaining absentee ballots left to tally. She said that the tallying might take place sometime today, Friday, November 7th. The 261 provisional ballots must be checked to see if they are valid and whether they will be tallied, to add to vote counts. The tightest finish Tuesday was in the Plymouth City Council race, where three seats were available to six candidates. Incumbent Councilman Greg Baldwin was 2 votes shy of third place, with 179 votes to third-place winner, Maria Nunez, who had 181 votes. Mayor Jon Colburn took the most votes, receiving 240 and Councilwoman Patricia Shackleton was second with 214 votes. In another close 3-seat race, incumbent Jackson City Councilman Alfred A. Nunes was 6 votes behind the third place finisher Marilyn Lewis, who took 730 votes to Nunes’ 724. Keith Sweet was second in vote numbers with 795 votes and Wayne Garibaldi led the count with 1,190 votes. Story by Jim Reece

Amador County District Attorney Todd Riebe announced the arrests of ten people in connection with an undercover investigation of alleged unlicensed contracting. Last Thursday, investigators posed as homeowners and invited bids on home improvement projects at a sting house in Jackson. The multi-agency operation included investigators from the Contractors State License Board, Jackson Police Department, Amador County Sheriff’s Office, and the Amador County District Attorney’s Office. Among those arrested was Bruce “Buddy” White of B&G Heat and Air, whose contractor’s license is currently suspended and who has a pending criminal jury trial in Amador County Superior Court involving alleged diversion of construction funds and embezzlement by a contractor. Each count of contracting without a license and unlawful advertising is a misdemeanor and is punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a 1,000 dollar fine for the first offense. All contractors who perform work that is valued at 500 dollars or more including labor and materials must be licensed by the Contractors State License Board. To report unlicensed contracting activity or someone committing fraud, call the Contractors State License Board SWIFT Unit in Sacramento at (916) 255-2924 or the Amador County District Attorney’s Office at (209) 223-6444. Staff Report

The Amador County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission considered the vision statement of the county’s draft general plan Wednesday. County Planner Susan Grijalva reminded them that they were not making decisions but only directions for staff on work to be done and brought back to the joint meeting after the first of the year. The board and commission decided to set aside requests for changes to land designations until after deciding on General Plan policy. Grijalva said if not, they would be deciding land use issues and then working policies around the decisions, which is not usually done. The board and commission also voted to stop taking requests for changes, after several more were received, despite the cut-off date of July. They voted to not take any more requests after Tuesday. Supervisor Brian Oneto said he liked the old vision statement better than the new one, saying the latter was too broad. He said “the pie in the sky is nice, but we live in a real world.” Oneto said economics, resources and production were not being addressed in the vision statement, but belonged there. He did not understand the term “sustainable local economy.” Commissioner Andy Byrne said it meant an economy that is viable in the long term. Oneto argued for changing the term to vibrant, and the board and commission agreed. Byrne disagreed, saying he thought vibrant sounded short-term. Oneto asked to change the term “use and protect” to “manage” to describe the handling of the “county’s wealth of natural resources.” He also asked to change the word “conserving” to “managing.” Oneto also wanted to change one goal, C-10, which was to “reduce the environmental effects of farming and ranching activities.” Chairman Richard Forster suggested the goal instead be to “Support the efforts of farmers and ranchers to be environmentally friendly in their business practices.” Oneto also asked why there was a goal to “reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions from automobile travel,” and he wondered why and how they would do that. Forster said “we will do that, otherwise the attorney general will sue us like they did the city of San Bernardino.” The meeting was continued to next Wednesday, November 12th, from 8 am to 1 pm in the supervisors chambers. Story by Jim Reece.

The Ione City Council directed staff on Tuesday to look at a restroom project at the city horse arena and also at a environmental analysis of the 12-year-old Howard Park Master Plan. The latter direction had the intent of getting the project up to par with the California Environmental Quality Act. The council directed City Manager Kim Kerr to look at getting funding from the Amador County Recreation Agency for recreation and also seeing if those funds can be applied to the CEQA analysis of the Howard Park Master Plan, which was created in 1996. Kerr said that ACRA has 100,000 dollars in state proposition money for use in parks and recreation. She said the city at first wanted to use the funding to make upgrades and remodel the Evalynn Bishop Hall, but they saw that the costs in doing so were more than could be covered by the 100,000 dollars. Kerr instead urged the city council to direct her in looking at the costs of various projects at Howard Park, and finally to look at getting the ACRA funding for the total environmental study of the Howard Park Master Plan. She will talk with ACRA Executive Director Tracey Towner-Yep to see if the funds can be used in that way. Kerr said it was the best approach “because a CEQA analysis would give us the whole park.” She said CEQA is “always the first piece…” and is the “whole basis of everything now.” The council discussed putting a permanent restroom facility at the horse arena in Howard Park. Kerr said the priority should be the bathrooms at the arena, which she said also needed storage. Mayor Andrea Bonham said the bathrooms were needed, noting that “the nicer we make the arena, the nicer it will be for us to rent it out.” Kerr requested and the council directed her to get costs and specifications then bring back the options for a council decision. She said Howard Park Issues such as parking, drainage and Manzanita trees would be among the issues analyzed in the CEQA study. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

The Ione City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday for its regular meeting and will hold a public hearing for its new, state-required conflict of interest law. Those affected by the new law would be “elected officials, members of boards and commissions appointed by the city council, consultants and city employees holding designated position.” The law will cover 17 different jobs areas on the city payroll, all who would be “subject to reporting requirements under the conflict of interest code, and shall disclose financial interests.” Those designation positions would include the city manager, attorney, clerk, treasurer, police chief, fire chief, accounting technician, building inspector, public works project manager, fire captain, assistant fire chief, police sergeant, chief wastewater operator, street and park maintenance supervisor, engineer, planner and finance director. The conflict of interest code is required to be adopted by the Political Reform Act, which requires the code for all public agencies. Attachments to the code described consultant contract requirements, in which the consultant would have to file a statement of economic interest if the city manager finds that a consultant will make a number of government decisions to “approve a rate, rule or regulations; or Adopt or enforce a law.” It also covers permits, licenses, applications, contracts, plans, designs, reports, policies, standards and guidelines, or in doing a job for the city that falls in the areas of designated positions that require disclosure. All city officials and designated employees are required to do full disclosure, reporting “all business entities and non-profit organizations in which they have an investment or in which they are a director, officer, partner, trustee, employee or hold any position of management.” They must also report all interests in real property; and all sources of income, including gifts, loans and travel payments.” Three designated positions had special disclosure requirements listed, for fire captain, street and park maintenance supervisor and accounting technician. Story by Jim Reece.

An employee of Mule Creek State Prison in Ione was one of six state employees honored Wednesday for their commitment to increasing contracts to California State businesses and companies operated by disabled veterans. Robin McCune, of Mule Creek’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, was awarded the Advocate of the Year Bronze Medal by the State and Consumer Services Agency, or SCSA, in a ceremony at Sacramento State University. According to the SCSA, McCune helped facilitate research on how to expand and improve the use of the disabled veterans business enterprises Web site content by transferring the data into user - friendly formats. McCune succesfully merged databases so staff could distinguish vendor information by goods or services. The ceremony and subsequent awards come as the result of a direction by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 that his administration do at least 25 percent of its purchasing and contracting through certified small businesses and at least 3 percent with disabled veterans business enterprises. The State Agency Recognition Awards honored employees for their innovation and outstanding service in working to meet the governor’s goals. In the words of SCSA Secretary Rosario Marin, “our Governor knows small businesses are a vital resource to state government and the California economy and has raised the bar for departments and agencies to expand the role of small firms and disabled veteran businesses doing business with us." Story by Alex Lane.