Amador County – An overflowing crowd attended the only Amador County workshop scheduled for the East Bay Municipal Utilities District’s Water Supply Management Plan 2040 meeting Monday in Sutter Creek. Following a 15-minute presentation by East Bay MUD, dozens spoke of saving the Mokelumne River, which the plan proposes to harness by building a bigger dam and expanding Pardee Reservoir. Councilman Keith Sweet led public comment by reading a Jackson City Council resolution passed unanimously last week in opposition to Pardee’s expansion. Amador County Board of Supervisors Ted Novelli, Brian Oneto and John Plasse all attended. Chairman Novelli called the meeting a joke, as the crowd easily filled the conference room of the Amador Water Agency office on Ridge Road, and people stood three abreast in the aisle and atrium and another 25 people stood around the windows on the sidewalk outside the building, craning to hear the public comment. Novelli said this was the only Amador meeting scheduled and he called for more meetings in Amador. He also noted that the Mokelumne River originates in 3 counties, Amador, Alpine and Calaveras, and all 3 deserve public meetings. Oneto, while listening through the window, said: “It’s going to be a war.” Calaveras County Supervisor Steve Wilensky said he would “like to know how a community committee was put together without a single person from Amador or Calaveras counties?” He said 2 percent of the people in California live Upcountry, in the Sierra Foothills, while “65 percent of the resources” are located there. Wilensky said “You need us to look out for your water supply.” Novelli said he could not understand why a public meeting was held in Oakland, or in Stockton, which drew 5 people. The founder of Outdoor River Adventure Specialists, an international river rafting company, attended and spoke out against the expansion of Pardee or Bear River Reservoir and potential affects on the Mokelumne River. A contingent came in a truckload from Alpine County to speak against the plan, after reading about the meeting in the Friday edition of the Calaveras Enterprise. Pete Bell of the Foothill Conservancy also spoke against the plan, along with dozens of others from all three counties and elsewhere. The comment period for the East Bay MUD 2040 plan ends April 8th. To comment, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Plymouth City Council rejected a water rate study because of its cost last week, and asked staff to try to get a lower price on the work. Staff proposed Bob Reed of the Reed Group Incorporated do a water rate study, at a cost of $19,000. Consultant Richard Prima said Reed would look at establishing a tiered rate structure. Mayor Jon Colburn said he was “fearful that we might spend $19,000 and then decide that this might not be feasible.” Councilwoman Patricia Fordyce said a $15 dollar service charge should be dropped to $1 dollar. Prima said he didn’t “see the service charge being reduced to a dollar; maybe 2 or 3 dollars. Councilman Mike O’Meara said he would like to see lower water costs and Councilwoman Pat Shackleton said she would like to see the service charge and the rates both lowered, so all users can save money. Mayor Jon Colburn said the price of the study would equate to spending $38 dollars per Plymouth customer. He said the previous rate study should be used, and they could plug in new numbers. Prima said the last rate study by Reed used 2006 numbers, and this would use 2007 and 2008 data. Fordyce asked if financial officer Jeff Gardner could do the study. Gardner said Reed is a water engineer. Prima said he had not done such a study before but could probably do it, but he was not sure how quickly he could finish. Colburn said “we don’t care how fast you are, it’s how cheap you are” that matters. Councilman Greg Baldwin said he thought they should look at what other cities are doing. He said “it’s not rocket science; some of our staff can probably do that.” City Manager Dixon Flynn said he or Prima could likely do the study, but not in time to have it before the summer. Baldwin said he thought Reed’s talk of the new study meant “plugging in some numbers, not $19,000 dollars. If that’s the case, then we need to fire him too.” The council sent Flynn to talk to Reed about the work and lowering the cost. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County - The City of Jackson will be mailing out a notice this week on a proposed water and sewer rate increase. Due to a dramatic increase in their wholesale rates from the Amador Water Agency, and a failed attempt to raise the rates last year, the City formed a Water & Sewer Rate Committee this past January to analyze the AWA wholesale rate increases and water and sewer budgets. The committee includes Joe Assereto, Bill Condrashoff, Kathy duBois, Judy Jebian, Jim Laughton, Ron Regan, and City Council Representative Wayne Garibaldi. After reviewing budgets and the tiered wholesale water rate increase from the AWA, the committee voted last week to recommend increasing the city’s rates for both water and sewer. The decision to raise rates stems from two issues. The AWA wholesale rate increase will put the city at a projected deficit of nearly 180,000 dollars, and the City must conduct further studies of Jackson Creek and Lake Amador as potable water supplies due to State Department of Public Health concerns. The latter issue will cost the city an additional projected amount of 300,000 dollars. The city will raise both water and sewer rates in two phases. Effective February 1, 2009, water service charges will increase from 12.98 per month to 14.80 per month, with the average sewer bill increasing from 23.87 to 27.69, and then effective July 1, 2009, water service charges will increase by another 1.18 per month, with sewer jumping another 1.66 per month. Proposition 218 requires that ratepayers be provided with a written notice detailing the increases at least 45 days prior to the public hearing, which is in this case, can be no earlier than Monday, December 29, if notices are mailed today, Friday, November 14. City officials plan to hold the public hearing at their city council meeting on Monday, January 12, 2009 at 7 pm at 33 Broadway in Jackson. Jackson residents may protest the increase by submitting a written protest letter to the City Clerk of Jackson. For more information, call 223-1646. Story by Jen Wilson

The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the findings of a grand jury report that criticized hiring and management within the Building and Planning Departments. The majority of the report centered on the controversy surrounding Stephanie Moreno, a former Amador County Supervisor hired in 2006 to oversee the two Departments as head of the newly formed Community Development Agency. Moreno’s actions became the centerpiece of recent Supervisors meetings and raised questions about both the Board’s hiring procedures and her credibility. Supervisors voted to pay Moreno 89,300 dollars after her attorney claimed he could prove sexual discrimination accusations she had made against certain Supervisors. Moreno was criticized in the report for “confrontational behavior”, “lacking the technical skills and sufficient related experience to successfully perform her job”, and mismanaging county funds, among a number of other accusations. In total, the jury made 17 findings that target either Moreno or the Board of Supervisors. By 2007, several employees working under Moreno began to publicly object to her authority, including firing several employees and her lack of experience with anything related to planning or building. Consultants hired by Moreno herself discovered missing records and evidence that officials sometimes signed off on substandard construction. Moreno also reported directly to the board, bypassing the normal chain of command through the county's chief administrative officer. Among the accusations made against the Supervisors were a failure to conduct a background check, and a failure to “clearly define the reporting relationship of the position.” The grand jury that created the report is comprised of citizens appointed by Superior Court Judge John Martin to oversee government operations. A majority of the Board members defended their actions and backed Moreno. Supervisor Tom Tyron, who agreed to the support the Grand Jury findings, also filed the original complaint against Moreno and was one of her biggest critics. Story by Alex Lane.

By Jim Reece -

The Amador High School and Argonaut High School skiing and snowboarding teams will have teams this year. Volunteer Coach Scott Keith said the teams will again be raising funds to pay for the season, come winter. The teams will be on probation because of an incident involving alcohol at the state meet last season. Also, the entire team will not be allowed to go to the state tournament this season. Instead, only qualifying team competitors will be sent to state.

By Jim Reece -

The Amador County Service Employees International Union had an emergency vote this week and elected to have voluntary unpaid furloughs at the end of the year to avoid layoffs. SEIU Local 1021 Representative Mike Fouch said Amador County called an emergency meeting this week with union officials. “We were told by Amador County that if we did not do a voluntary furlough, they would be forced to have layoffs,” Fouch said. Terri Daly, County Chief Adminstrative Officer said she was not in favor of layoffs, but she said she needed personnel cuts. Her only option to do that, without talking to the unions, was with layoffs. “I cannot unilaterally employ furloughs,” Daly said. “It is ambiguous whether there is a provision for that in most of our labor contracts.” Instead, she offered furloughs to all county unions, all 500 county employees.

Fouch said SEIU members met Tuesday and “It was a pretty heavy vote for the furlough.” He said 75 percent of the county workforce would take the voluntary furlough somewhere between December 22nd and the first week of January, with seven workdays off of work, saving the county around 650,000 dollars. The majority of employees would be on furlough, but not safety personnel and some ineligible state mandated positions. Fouch said furloughs would prevent the layoff of 15 or 20 employees. He said the county called a meeting with the union and said it was needed to meet the budget. This came even after 24 people took the early retirement offered by the county, with some voluntary furloughs saving another 200,000 dollars. “It was definitely unexpected, when we had been told for months that what we had been doing to balance the budget was working,” Fouch said. SEIU represents about 340 Amador County employees. “Nobody’s happy to be in this type of situation when you think everything’s great and the holidays are just around the corner,” Fouch said. The union has another meeting to give the county the results of the workers’ vote. He said the state budget passage still stands ahead “Hypothetically, there could still be state layoffs,” he said.

Local sign expert and AM Live Host Kam Merzlak was just recognized by the Jackson City Council for his “ongoing support and involvement in the local community.” Merzlak received the prestigious Mayor’s Recognition Award from Jackson Mayor Rosalie Pryor Escamilla at Monday night’s meeting. Merzlak is heavily involved in multiple local organizations and events, including the Historic Jackson Business Association, or HJBA, the Economic Development Committee, the Oro De Amador Planning Committee, and the Amador Chamber of Commerce, as well as for his assistance with the “For Kids, By Kids” Fishing Derby and his heavy contribution in this year’s State Fair county booth winning two medals. And, according to Merzlak, he’s just getting started. “I still have a couple of tricks up my sleeve for the city of Jackson,” hinted Merzlak.

More homes were sold for the fourth straight month compared to last year in the Sacramento and Amador County areas, according to Dataquick, a statistics gathering service. In fact, July sales were the highest for a month since June 2006. There were 1,200 more sales in July than the same month last year. It appears that prices have now dropped to a level for buyers to start returning to the market, including first-time buyers who have good credit, jobs and some cash to put down. August is generally the month when inventory peaks. Houses on the market are down over 21 percent from the same time last year but the rate of decline has slowed considerably and will take an inventory level south of 10,000 to stop the decline in prices. According to Dataquick, the median asking price for the homes currently on the market is 299,000 dollars.

Amador County – City Manager Dixon Flynn last week suggested Plymouth City Council “take another look at its Transient Occupancy Tax.” Flynn, in his bi-weekly report, said the city’s TOT is at 6 percent, earning Plymouth $77,000 dollars a year. He said Jackson recently raised its TOT to 10 percent, and San Francisco’s is 14 percent, with another 3 percent voluntary. Flynn said travelers go to places where things are happening, and “Plymouth is a tourist destination,” adding that “we need that additional income.” Mayor Jon Colburn said the new RV park at the Jackson Rancheria Casino Hotel & Conference Center is “cutting into” the business at 49er Village trailer park. Colburn said the Rancheria has no TOT tax, and it is hurting the 49er Village. Raising the TOT in the city would further hurt them. He said “(49er Village owner) Chuck (Hayes) paid over $800,000 dollars to the city for TOT tax and has not gotten anything for it.” Flynn said one thing that would attract people to Plymouth is better streets. He said the city might also look at hiking its business license tax, which is $20 dollars a year, or $40 a year for professionals. He said Amador County has no business license tax, while the state minimum is $50 dollars. Also in his report, Flynn said he received estimates for paving, including Highway 49 from Main Street to the “Chinese building” for $15,000 dollars; Locust Street for $25,300; Empire Street for $12,000; and Sherwood Street for $5,000. The quote included road striping at $11,800 dollars, for a total cost of $159,100 dollars. City Attorney Steven Rudolph said the city must go out for formal bids on the paving, or any job spending over $5,000 dollars. Vice Mayor Greg Baldwin thought the striping was high; and Colburn said they might get a better deal through Amador County. In other business, City Finance Manger Jeff Gardner delivered 2006 annual financial reports, and told Flynn that 2007 and 2008 reports could be complete in the next 14 days. Flynn said the reports were needed to get federal grants. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Plymouth City Council last week took steps to end a 3-year contract with a goat herder for weed abatement at the city sewer plant spray field. The city council voted to advertise a request for proposals for handling the weed abatement. City Manager Dixon Flynn said “we are seeking a proposal from anyone to keep weeds abated, with any means.” He said herders normally pay to keep their goats on irrigated grazing fields. A contract with Bushwackers, a weed abatement company, was signed in April 2006 and expires at the end of this month. Flynn said the contract called for Bushwackers to keep 400 goats on the property, but “they’ve been running about 100 goats.” The city pays the company $2,500 dollars a month, or $30,000 dollars a year to keep the goats there on the property, off Old Sacramento Road. Flynn said city staff moves fences, makes sure the goats have fresh drinking water, keeps the fences clear of weeds and feeds the guard dogs 3 times a week, in addition to paying for the goats. A Bushwackers representative said the number of goats at the property was lowered from 400 to 100 because the city had stopped irrigating the fields, where treated wastewater is disposed of in the city sewer system. Mayor Jon Colburn asked why they were not spraying. Flynn said the water is too low in the reservoir, which is almost dry. He said sewer consultants for the city, Amador Water Agency had a goal “to get the pond as low as possible, to zero for September 30th,” so that the pond will have capacity for winter. Flynn said a couple of options were brought by city staffers. One used a borrowed wide-wheel-based 4-wheeler with a mower and was able to mow the steep hillsides. He said buying a new quad and a new mower, the total package would cost the city $11,000 dollars. City maintenance manager Selby Beck said he could use the existing city 4-wheeler and “our mower and do it for nothing.” Flynn said a city engineer’s employee, Matt Osfelt and his brother are goat herders, who said “they would be willing to pay to have an irrigated pasture for their goats.” Councilwoman Pat Fordyce asked about damage to sprinkler heads from 4-wheelers. Flynn said the wider wheel base allows the driver to look down, see and avoid sprinkler heads. The council voted 4-0 to advertise for a weed abatement contract. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.