Amador County – The Ione City Council on Tuesday approved 3 and 4 percent pay reductions for all employees, including the police chief and officers and the city manager. The council voted 4-0 to authorize in a reduction of more that $50,000 total, with Councilwoman Andrea Bonham absent. The vote authorized City Manager Kim Kerr to signs letters of agreement with various bargaining units and unrepresented employees on negotiated reductions of wages. The agreements also include voluntary furlough, and reduction of pay through mandatory furlough hours through the end of the fiscal year. Kerr said that did not include her city manager position, though she also agreed to a 4 percent pay cut, as did Ione Police Chief Michael Johnson. Kerr will sign letters of agreement with Johnson, the Management and Confidential Unit for unrepresented employees, the Ione Police Officers Association, and the Service Employees International Union. The council also authorized Mayor Lee Ard to sign an agreement letter with Kerr for her pay reduction. The cuts were based on City Council direction to the negotiating team regarding each bargaining unit. Kerr in a report to the council said the IPOA offered a $17,522 savings with a 3 percent cut in taking 41 hours in voluntary furloughs between now and the end of the fiscal year, November 30th, 2010. They also offered waiving retirement and “premium holiday” payments for employees. The SEIU offered $113,272 in saving with a 4 percent salary reduction in taking 56 mandatory furlough hours off through the end of the fiscal year, along with waiving a month’s contribution to deferred compensation for nonparticipation in the city medical insurance program. SEIU also offered additional voluntary furlough on management approval, and a 50-50 split on retirement and holiday payments. The police chief, nonunion employees and the city manager’s agreements amounted to $25,384 in budget reduction. The police chief would have 41 hours in furlough time off through the end of the year, and nonunion employees would have 56 mandatory hours of furlough. The city manager would not have any reduction in hours. All of the reductions would amount to savings of more than $56,000. The Ione City Council will have a special meeting 6 p.m. Monday, November 23rd for a public hearing to discuss Community Development Block Grants for Planning and Technical Assistance. The hearing will include discussion of requirements and funding opportunities, and give the public an opportunity to offer feedback on potential uses of CDBG planning and assistance funds. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Ione City Council on Tuesday approved 3 and 4 percent pay reductions for all employees, including the police chief and officers and the city manager. The council voted 4-0 to authorize in a reduction of more that $50,000 total, with Councilwoman Andrea Bonham absent. The vote authorized City Manager Kim Kerr to signs letters of agreement with various bargaining units and unrepresented employees on negotiated reductions of wages. The agreements also include voluntary furlough, and reduction of pay through mandatory furlough hours through the end of the fiscal year. Kerr said that did not include her city manager position, though she also agreed to a 4 percent pay cut, as did Ione Police Chief Michael Johnson. Kerr will sign letters of agreement with Johnson, the Management and Confidential Unit for unrepresented employees, the Ione Police Officers Association, and the Service Employees International Union. The council also authorized Mayor Lee Ard to sign an agreement letter with Kerr for her pay reduction. The cuts were based on City Council direction to the negotiating team regarding each bargaining unit. Kerr in a report to the council said the IPOA offered a $17,522 savings with a 3 percent cut in taking 41 hours in voluntary furloughs between now and the end of the fiscal year, November 30th, 2010. They also offered waiving retirement and “premium holiday” payments for employees. The SEIU offered $113,272 in saving with a 4 percent salary reduction in taking 56 mandatory furlough hours off through the end of the fiscal year, along with waiving a month’s contribution to deferred compensation for nonparticipation in the city medical insurance program. SEIU also offered additional voluntary furlough on management approval, and a 50-50 split on retirement and holiday payments. The police chief, nonunion employees and the city manager’s agreements amounted to $25,384 in budget reduction. The police chief would have 41 hours in furlough time off through the end of the year, and nonunion employees would have 56 mandatory hours of furlough. The city manager would not have any reduction in hours. All of the reductions would amount to savings of more than $56,000. The Ione City Council will have a special meeting 6 p.m. Monday, November 23rd for a public hearing to discuss Community Development Block Grants for Planning and Technical Assistance. The hearing will include discussion of requirements and funding opportunities, and give the public an opportunity to offer feedback on potential uses of CDBG planning and assistance funds. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The USDA California Rural Development department recently wrapped up another project in Amador County with a November 2nd ceremonial turning of the tap for the new Plymouth Pipeline project. The Rural Utility Service of USDA is working on another $17.2 million in project proposals in Amador, according Public Information Coordinator Sarah Pursley. Just completed was the Amador Water Agency potable water pipeline to Plymouth, which “is now complete, and was done ahead of schedule and under budget,” Pursley said. There are a few administrative items being completed, and USDA expects water to be available to the residents by the end of the year. She said “not only will the city of Plymouth have a reliable supply of high quality water, but Sutter Creek will enjoy a new footbridge that was built to carry the pipe across Sutter Creek.” The bridge was dedicated September 4th. She said the pipeline benefits other communities along its 7.4 miles connecting Plymouth’s main water tank to the Tanner Water Treatment Plant in Sutter Creek. The increased pipe size provides an increased volume of water and better fire flows in Sutter Creek, Amador City, Drytown and Plymouth. The original estimated project cost was $12 million, and the estimated final cost is $10.8 million. Pursley said USDA Rural Development’s contribution was a $5 million loan and $4.25 million grant. The USDA is currently working with the AWA on a few applications for projects in the county. One is a new gravity supply line that would transport water to the Buckhorn Water Treatment Plant. Its estimated cost is $13.4 million, and Pursley said California Rural Development is $8 million loan and $5 million grant. Another project they are working on with AWA is a new water tank and distribution lines for the Lake Camanche Improvement District. She said the “project is estimated to cost about $1.8 million and USDA Rural Development’s investment will depend on funding available from other partners.” Pursley said through its “Community Facilities,” USDA is “working with the Amador Fire Protection District on an application for a new fire station.” She said the “proposal is to build a new station in Pine Grove on a site the district owns.” The new station would serve the Upcountry communities, she said, and the project is estimated to cost about $2 million. USDA Rural Development’s investment “would depend on the investments of other funding partners.” Pursley said it was likely that “funding for the new projects will come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Amador County Assessor Jim Rooney was voted by his peers to be executive secretary of the California Assessors’ Association, which puts him on track to be the group’s president in 2013. The announcement came as Rooney has increased his presence in the CAA, including working to get the association’s Northern California Assessors Association annual conference in Sutter Creek next year. Connie Breedlove, assistant to the current president of CAA, announced the vote to select Rooney in a press release Thursday. Ventura County Assessor Dan Goodwin, current president of the California Assessors’ Association in the release congratulate Rooney, saying his “election has Rooney on track to become President of the Association in 2013.” Rooney’s peers, “with unanimous approval, took the vote on October 28th, at the CAA’s Annual Conference.” It means Rooney will serve on the Executive Committee for the next 5 years, “with responsibility for guiding legislation and professional standards concerning property taxes, as well as promoting uniform practices among California’s 58 county assessors.” Rooney said he was “honored and humbled to be chosen for this position.” He said he “has always been a vocal Assessor who has tried to promote standards and legislation that are beneficial to the taxpayer.” For the last 5 years, Rooney has been a member of the CAA’s Legislative Committee, which Goodwin said “monitors legislation being considered in Sacramento, and recommends legislation that the association feels would be beneficial.” Goodwin said in “an interesting side note: the Amador County Assessor will likely be the Association's president in 2013, more than 100 years after the last Amador County Assessor was President of the statewide association.” Honorable Clarence Jarvis was President in 1912, over a span of 101 years. Goodwin said that year the annual conference was held in Jackson and it happened to be the same year that the wives of the assessors formed their own association, according to historical records, which Mr. Rooney also organized as the chairman of the CAA’s History & Preservation Committee. Rooney will be busy in the coming year, as he will be hosting the Northern California Assessors Conference in Sutter Creek from August 9-11, 2010. Goodwin said assessors from all parts of the state will be attending the conference and many have expressed interest in bringing staff to attend the conference in Amador County. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Employees of the Amador County Recreation Agency recently picked up a loan for the second season in a row from Kirkwood Mountain Resort. Not in the form of money or lift tickets. Instead, ACRA for the second straight season has borrowed Kirkwood’s Innova Discatcher disc golf baskets, and will be working in the near future on setting the 19 baskets in place at Mollie Joyce Park in Pine Grove. On Wednesday, ACRA program coordinators Adam Lindsey and Matt Nestor worked with volunteers to mark out the pin placements for the flying disc golf course. Nestor and Lindsey have gathered funds aimed at creating a permanent disc golf course at Molly Joyce Park, and Merzlak Signs owner Kam Merzlak is sponsoring tee sign maps for the 18-hole disc golf course. Part of creating the permanent course is fastening steel sleeves in the ground, in which to mount the disc golf baskets, which are heavy wire baskets lined with steel chains, which catch the disc. The games are scored like golf, with the lower the score, the better. The course was designed and laid out by El Dorado County professional disc golf pioneer Charlie Callahan, and local players, including Ione pro master Ray Birch, and amateurs Paul Dalmau of Pine Grove and Brandon Wedge of Sutter Creek. Nestor said the next step for the project is to give a budget to ACRA Executive Director Tracy Towner-Yep to auger holes in which to plant the basket sleeves. ACRA’s goal with the project is to build the county’s first permanent, year-round disc golf course with professionally sanctioned baskets. Nestor, Lindsey, and local players plan to host tournaments to raise money to build out the permanent course, including purchasing new baskets. Molly Joyce Park Superintendent Pete Staple, also of ACRA, and the group mapped out the layout of the course Wednesday, in the effort to put in the basket holders. Hand crews from the Pine Grove fire camp helped clear part of the park of weeks and will be working this burn season on helping clear fairways for the course. The work will help with fire hazards at the park, which was deeded to ACRA by Fred Joyce on February 5th, 2008, on condition that the park be maintained for public recreation use. The baskets on loan from Kirkwood are built to specifications sanctioned by the Professional Disc Golf Association. Kirkwood loaned the basket to ACRA last year, in an attempt to have a permanent, year-round disc golf course at the Kennedy Mine, but problems led to its removal. The baskets will be used at Molly Joyce Park until ski season ends at Kirkwood. For information, call ACRA at 223-6373. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Ione City Manager Kim Kerr sent a comment letter this week to the Amador County Transportation Commission asking it to change its approach in updating the county Regional Transportation Plan. Kerr said Tuesday that a recent public input meeting raised questions and concerns for staff and the Ione City Council. Kerr wrote on behalf of the council in a letter dated Tuesday to ACTC Commissioners. Kerr said the city understood the commission “is just beginning the process” of updating the Regional Transportation Plan and “Regional Blueprint.” She said the projects “set the stage for extensive transportation improvement projects across the county, including the Ione Bypass,” or “West Ione Roadway Improvement Project.” The letter asked that “work plans for both of the projects include sufficient coordination and input” from “all 5 cities and the county.” She said Ione has concern that ACTC planned that “the primary forum for land use agencies to provide input on the policies and funding priorities would be as part of the two 24-member public stakeholder groups.” Kerr said “Ione is concerned that this process will not lead to effective decision-making and will not provide an appropriate seat at the table for the land use agencies in the county.” Kerr noted that Ione just completed its first General Plan update in 27 years, and similar updates are under way or completed throughout Amador. She said the city council was worried that “stakeholder groups’ decisions will not reflect adopted or pending policies for the various jurisdictions.” She said: “Doing so could create a very negative disconnect between” ACTC’s new documents and “local general Plans, resulting in regional plans that do not reflect the land use and circulation decisions of the local, implementing agencies.” The letter asked if the city would become ineligible for certain funding if the new the Regional Transportation Plan included “policies or improvement projects that are inconsistent with the city’s General Plan.” Kerr said “such a process runs counter to the intent of a general plan as identified in state law.” The letter said “the city is advocating for a process where local land use agency staff assist ACTC staff with the development of the Regional Transportation Plan and Blueprint based on individual land use and circulation decisions.” It also asked that the ACTC direct staff to use the “most recent land use and transportation policies” from cities and the county in the RTP, instead of “simply updating the project list in the 2004 RTP.” Kerr said: “Doing so will help to ensure that the RTP is consistent with the local general plans, and not vice versa.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador Water Agency discussed its Upcountry Gravity Supply Line last week, and a USDA Rural Development publicist said the project might be a likely candidate for federal recovery funds. USDA Public Information Officer Sarah Pursley said the Rural Utility Service department is “currently working with the Amador Water Agency on a few applications for projects in the county.” Pursley said there is a “project for a new gravity supply line that would be used instead of pumping water uphill to the treatment plant” in the Upcountry at Buckhorn. She said the “project would potentially create a significant savings for the district,” with “reduction of energy costs related to pumping the water uphill, and no longer subject to energy rate increases.” It would also “increase the reliability of service.” Pursley said the current proposed cost of the project is about $13.4 million, and RUS is “currently looking at an investment of around an $8 million loan and a $5 million grant.” She said AWA is also working with RUS on a new water tank and distribution lines project for Lake Comanche Improvement District. This project is estimated to cost about $1.8 million. Pursley said “It is likely that the funding for the new projects will come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” District 3 AWA Director Don Cooper at the board meeting last week asked staff if they “need to do a rain dance” for the Gravity Supply Line. AWA Finance Manager Mike Lee said environmental documentation, with notices and public meetings must be carried out, possibly starting in January. AWA Interim General Manager Gene Mancebo said they are “waiting for RUS to say they are satisfied with the Draft (Environmental Impact Report),” then AWA can schedule meetings. He said “in order to complete the environmental documents, they need a public meeting and the board needs to approve a mitigated negative declaration.” AWA attorney Steve Kronick said federal and state governments must approve the plans under National EPA and California Environmental Quality Act laws, and one USDA OKs the GSL, AWA will circulate it for 30-day public review and comments. Kronick said they must evaluate comments. It also involves regulated time frames. Cooper said board talk about the GSL “can make it sound like it is happening tomorrow, but in reality we could be looking at 30, 60 or 90 days.” Kronick said with a mitigated negative declarations, AWA is “not obligated to respond to comments, but a lot of agencies choose to answer those comments anyway.” He said sometimes the issue brought up could cause reason for an EIR, or they “could find adequate mitigation.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel got into the holiday spirit recently in giving $15,000 to food banks in Amador and Calaveras counties. Jackson Rancheria Casino Vice President of Marketing Ron Olivero presented ceremonial checks of $7,500 each to Kathleen Harmon of Amador Interfaith Food Bank and Jeannie Hayward of Calaveras Food Bank. Carol Cook of the Casino marketing department said the “much needed funds” were the result of a recent promotion in which Jackson Rancheria pledged to donate $1 for every 25,000 points earned by Dreamcatcher’s Club members during a promotion period. The Jackson Rancheria Casino’s “Dreamcatcher’s Club” includes a reported 750,000 members, who accumulate points when they use their card at the casino. The Rancheria also has a “Shop Jackson” promotion, giving Dreamcatcher’s Club cardholders discounts at dozens of Jackson businesses. Harmon said the gift from the Rancheria goes toward Christmastime activities. She said what they work very hard at engaging the community, and some “donations are earmarked toward Christmas outreach.” Harmon has begun the annual turkey drive for needy families, asking shoppers at Safeway last week to purchase turkeys for the Interfaith Food Bank. Harmon said the “community is bringing turkeys that we can give out here,” at the Food Bank. She said Food Bank volunteers and its truck “were at Safeway last week because they were the ones that had them on sale.” They planned to do another turkey drive this Friday, with the help of members of the Amador County Board of Supervisors, but she expected to get rained out and she was not going to ask supervisors to work in the rain. Supervisors were going to help them load the truck on Friday. Harmon said the Food Bank this year is trying to get 1,000 turkeys to give to families in a “Thanksgiving Box” – a full meal for individuals and families who qualify. She said donations are still needed, in the form of shoppers purchasing turkeys for the Food Bank. She said “grocery stores want to be able to see that their customers are served with turkeys,” so Food Bank cannot purchase birds. Harmon said “Food Bank still needs the community involved because we are serving 4,000 people a month.” She said they are “still short 150 turkeys,” to get 1,000 birds this year, up 200 from what they gave out last year. The Interfaith Food Bank gets requests from families and individuals for thanksgiving dinners. She said they hope to serve them to “anybody that is income-qualified that asks for a thanksgiving box.” Local churches have adopted the community’s large families, and will give out 24-pound birds for family of 14 or more. Interfaith Food Bank is at 12181 Airport Road in Jackson. For information, call (209) 267-9006. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Ione City Manager Kim Kerr sent a comment letter this week to the Amador County Transportation Commission asking it to change its approach in updating the county Regional Transportation Plan. Kerr said Tuesday that a recent public input meeting raised questions and concerns for staff and the Ione City Council. Kerr wrote on behalf of the council in a letter dated Tuesday to ACTC Commissioners. Kerr said the city understood the commission “is just beginning the process” of updating the Regional Transportation Plan and “Regional Blueprint.” She said the projects “set the stage for extensive transportation improvement projects across the county, including the Ione Bypass,” or “West Ione Roadway Improvement Project.” The letter asked that “work plans for both of the projects include sufficient coordination and input” from “all 5 cities and the county.” She said Ione has concern that ACTC planned that “the primary forum for land use agencies to provide input on the policies and funding priorities would be as part of the two 24-member public stakeholder groups.” Kerr said “Ione is concerned that this process will not lead to effective decision-making and will not provide an appropriate seat at the table for the land use agencies in the county.” Kerr noted that Ione just completed its first General Plan update in 27 years, and similar updates are under way or completed throughout Amador. She said the city council was worried that “stakeholder groups’ decisions will not reflect adopted or pending policies for the various jurisdictions.” She said: “Doing so could create a very negative disconnect between” ACTC’s new documents and “local general Plans, resulting in regional plans that do not reflect the land use and circulation decisions of the local, implementing agencies.” The letter asked if the city would become ineligible for certain funding if the new the Regional Transportation Plan included “policies or improvement projects that are inconsistent with the city’s General Plan.” Kerr said “such a process runs counter to the intent of a general plan as identified in state law.” The letter said “the city is advocating for a process where local land use agency staff assist ACTC staff with the development of the Regional Transportation Plan and Blueprint based on individual land use and circulation decisions.” It also asked that the ACTC direct staff to use the “most recent land use and transportation policies” from cities and the county in the RTP, instead of “simply updating the project list in the 2004 RTP.” Kerr said: “Doing so will help to ensure that the RTP is consistent with the local general plans, and not vice versa.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.