Amador County – An sewer line overflow last week in Ione has staff suggesting the need to replace the sewer main along the length of Preston Avenue, which could cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

Ione City Council received a report this week detailing the overflow, which leaked about 500 gallons of raw sewage onto a private property on Craig Street.

City Manager Kim Kerr said early Tuesday that the sewer main along Preston Avenue might be as old as the system itself, from the 1950s. It was known to have cracks, but now the intrusion of root balls has caused blocks.

The report said the city received a complaint Jan. 24 of a possible sewer collection system overflow off of Preston Avenue. PERC Water responded and determined a line at a “residence was overflowing raw sewage and it had flowed into an adjacent yard of a house on Craig Street.” The PERC crew determined the main was blocked along Preston Avenue, north of Waterman Drive, causing the overflow.

PERC cleared the blockage, and on Jan. 25, the city’s insurance provider worked with PERC and property owners to clean up the raw sewage that flowed into the yards. Unfortunately, the house where the sewer collection system overflowed is vacant and about 500 gallons spilled before detection and blockage repair.

Kerr said “no raw sewage entered any residents, just backyards.” She said it was the second back up in the last four months and there are reoccurring backups and overflows on this line that need addressing.

Kerr said City Engineer John Wanger “has researched the sewer main for Preston Avenue due to the reoccurring overflow issues we have had.” Wanger “determined that the sewer main needs repairs or replacement the length of Preston Avenue.” Wanger’s estimate to make the repairs was $225,471, if the city completes the repairs and/or replacement for the length of Preston Avenue.”

She said “if the project is broken down into segments, then the cost is higher due to multiple factors. Kerr said they will likely try to look at making replacements in stages.

Kerr said she would seek city council permission to address the issues “by having the city engineer prepare the specifications and issue the bid documents.”

The contract cost for the city engineer on the project was $21,745, which was included in the total cost of $225,471 to replace and/or repair the sewer main on Preston Avenue.

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Amador County – The Foothill Conservancy’s lawsuit to stop a plan to expand Pardee Reservoir and flood parts of the Mokelumne River is scheduled to be heard Friday.

The Foothill Conservancy is suing to stop a 20-year plan by East Bay Municipal Utility District that would expand Pardee Reservoir and flood three miles of banks along the Mokelumne River in Amador and Calaveras Counties. The suit seeks to overturn the Environmental Impact Report on which the East Bay MUD board of directors based its “2040 Water Supply Management Plan” in 2009.

Foothill Conservancy Executive Director Chris Wright in filing the 2009 lawsuit said the EIR included “one expansion option that would flood the entire Middle Bar reach of the Mokelumne River and up to a mile of the Electra Run above Highway 49.” He said the 2040 Plan “retained 4 alternatives for a new Pardee Dam, 3 of which would destroy the Middle Bar reach and historic 1912 Middle Bar Bridge.”

Wright said the Moke, which feeds Pardee, “is not the property of East Bay MUD, and they are not above the law.” He said the EIR fails under the California Environmental Quality Act by “failing to adequately analyze and mitigate the impacts on Amador and Calaveras counties from the new Pardee Dam.”

The suit alleges East Bay MUD “inadequately responded to concerns” and ignored testimony from public hearings in Sutter Creek, San Andreas and Oakland. The suit asks the court to set aside approval of the 2040 water plan.

Filed in Amador County Superior Court, the suit was moved to Sacramento Superior Court, where it will be heard Friday by Judge Timothy Frawley, who could make a preliminary ruling shortly thereafter, followed by a final ruling later this year.

The suit was filed jointly with “Friends of the River,” and “California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.” Sportfishing Alliance Executive Director Bill Jennings in a release with the suit called East Bay MUD “a municipal vampire” that has “spurned reasonable alternatives that would have assured its customers of a reliable water supply.”

John Tinkl of the Calaveras Community Action Project said a new Pardee Dam “would be a disaster for the region’s recreation, economy and scenic beauty,” and it “flies in the face of other options that could meet potential water needs but not harm” the region.

Wright said it “is only the second lawsuit Foothill Conservancy has filed in its 20-year history.” He said it “is such an important issue, and people care so much about this river,” they had to do it.

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SONORA – Tuolumne County Economic Development Authority announced last week the opening of its Small Business Center, through a $10,000 contribution by AT&T to purchase 10 laptop computers.

Tuolumne Economic Development Authority Director Larry Cope said the business center will provide a private meeting and a conference training room for business consultants from the Business Alliance of Tuolumne County and other partners. He said AT&T recently awarded the Economic Prosperity Council, the nonprofit arm of TCEDA, with a $10,000 contribution to purchase 10 laptop computers and business software. The new center, along with the 10 new laptops, will be available for hands-on computer training for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Multiple consultants met with “350 new small business clients in 2010” and there “was a real need for professional office space for confidential client meetings,” Cope said. “Office space for consultants to meet with their clients was extremely limited,” and “this new small business center will solve that problem.”

Lorinda Forrest of Launch Point Consulting said having an office “lends credibility to our small business services,” and “a professional location with a phone, computer and WIFI access, and a space to spread out business and marketing plans.”

The Business Alliance of Tuolumne County formed last March 2010 to streamline business consulting services for four agencies in Tuolumne County, and provide a centralized phone number and website. Services are free to small business owners, startups, and entrepreneurs, including business and marketing plan mentoring, finance, human resources, website development and maintenance, bookkeeping, patents, publicity, and understanding county and city resources and regulations.

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FRESNO – Andrew Kerber, 22, of Chico pleaded guilty Monday in a Fresno court to violating the civil rights of congregants of Congregation Beth Shalom, a synagogue in Modesto.

Kerber faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Sentencing is April 8. The Justice Department announced the plea Monday. Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights, said the “department will continue to aggressively prosecute those who seek to violate the rights of their fellow Americans to worship freely.”

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, Benjamin B. Wagner said the “country was founded by people who sought to practice their religion without being harassed, threatened, or intimidated. It is our obligation to ensure that all Americans can be secure in the exercise of their First Amendment rights.”

According to court documents, on or about Feb. 2, 2006, Kerber and two other men, Abel Mark Gonzalez, 23, of Morgan Hill, Calif., and Brian Lewis, 23, of Modesto, defaced and damaged the synagogue.

Kerber admitted that the men spray-painted anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi graffiti on the synagogue’s exterior walls. Kerber further admitted that the men spray-painted anti-Christian graffiti on the exterior walls of, and caused other damage to, Our Lady of Fatima Church and School and the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, both located in Modesto. Lewis and Gonzalez pleaded guilty for their role in the offense on Jan. 14.

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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors on Thursday approved an extension to a water rate and financial plan study of the Amador Water System, which could lead to a rate decrease in the city of Plymouth.

The AWA board approved a $12,000 increase in the contract with The Reed Group, for the study which is about 75 percent complete. AWA Finance Manager Mike Lee in a report to the board said the “financial plan serves as a planning and management tool to ensure that the operations and capital improvement needs of the AWS can be met in a financial sound manner.” It also “ensures a fair distribution of cost services between various user classes.”

Lee said issues in the original scope of the study included considering the agency “debt service obligations in developing financial plan and water rate recommendations,” and considering tiers rates to help the agency meet conservation objectives. It also sought to “develop water rate schedules consistent with cost of service principles.”

The draft financial plan was reviewed during two workshops, then in August 2010 it was referred to the budget and finance committee. General Manager Gene Mancebo said Reed’s spread sheets are complete, but they need verbiage, and the study could take a couple of more months.

The study, when complete, could be used as the basis for rate changes in the Amador Water System, which includes systems in Jackson, Ione, and Plymouth. At least one of those changes was expected to be a decrease in rates.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said it should bring down the rates in Plymouth, which joined AWS with the completion of its potable water pipeline. Mancebo said the impacts and cost share were estimated in 2007, and Plymouth is “using less water than anticipated.”

“Their shared cost should go down,” based on low usage. Plymouth Interim City Manager Jeff Gardner said “it’s going to affect Plymouth positively,” because they overestimated the amount of water the city would be using.” He said: “Essentially, we think we will get a 10-15 percent decrease.”

Gardner said it will impact the city’s debt service on the pipeline, which is about $200,000 annually.

Plymouth’s cost and benefit analysis as a whole, done on each segment of the pipeline was re-estimated, Gardner said. The debt service cost sharing was built on a benefit analysis, showing Plymouth net share of costs would be 65 percent. After the re-estimate, Plymouth’s net share of costs dropped to about 60 percent.

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Amador County – The Amador County Unified School District Board of Trustees voted to try to seek class size reduction funding last week, though the funds may not be there, and also discussed reducing its own membership.

The school board last week also heard a presentation on its annual “class size reduction application.” A staff report said that “as a condition for applying and receiving Class Size Reduction Program funds,” the School District trustees must certify statements on the application are true. The application was for funding for kindergarten through third grad class size reduction.

ACUSD Trustee Pat Miller said Friday that the funding for the program is not available for 20 to 1 student to teacher class size ratios, but the annual application was approved, in the event that the funds return to the program.

The application listed 1,176 students in K-3 clases, with one class having 20 students. Another 48 classes had between 21 and 24 students per class.

A public hearing was held Wednesday as part of the school board’s application for a “general waiver to reduce the board membership, from seven members to five members, to be selected by supervisory district.” The hearing was held “to comply with the Voters Rights Act of 2001.”

Miller said the hearing was one of several that must be held in the reduction process. He said the public hearing was opened, no one spoke to address the issue, and the hearing was closed.

The board agreed unanimously in August 2010 to reduce from its current seven members to a five-member board, with each board member elected from and representing one of the five supervisor districts in the county. The board has two vacancies now, as past Trustees Terry Porray, David Dutra and Karl Knobelauch did not seek re-election, and Janelle Redkey moved out of the county.

Trustee Rose Andrew-Oneto was elected in the November 2010 general election to take one of the vacant seats, and Trustee Lynnette Lipp was appointed to take another of the vacancies.

Miller said if the process carries through, including the other public hearings, then the board will become elected by supervisor district. It would take effect in 2014, when his current term expires. He said a division by supervisor district right now would affect the board now, as both he and Lipp are Jackson areas residents in supervisor District 1.

The board now representatives from all districts except District 3. Andrews-Oneto of Ione lives in District 2; Mary Walser of Sutter Creek is in District 4; and President Wally Upper of Plymouth is from District 5.

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Amador County – About 15 people attended an Upcountry Community Council fire committee meeting last week and heard a report on the new Community Conservation and Wildfire Protection Plan for the Pioneer, Buckhorn and Volcano area, drafted by the Amador Fire Safe Council.

Fire Committee Co-Chair Rich Farrington said Friday local fire volunteers, Chief Ray Blankenheim and Charlie Blankenheim were called out on an emergency, and missed some of the discussion last week, after a presentation by Jim Simmons, chief writer of the plan for the Fire Safe Council.

Farrington said Simmons, the former Cal-Fire Amador-El Dorado Unit Chief has “an incredible amount of expertise,” and the report, almost 500 pages, detailed hazards and made recommendations to make it easier to qualify for grants. The study shows where the forest is really overgrown, showing the need to “reduce those fuels” to reduce the potential for catastrophic forest fires.

Farrington said: “I think the wildfire plan is excellent,” but did not consider 20-year-old study of the hydrants, which in 1995 said the fire flow, or flow of water, was not adequate.

Farrington said he realized it could take 50 years to bring the hydrant system up to code, but he thought people would not mind paying a dollar a month toward that. He also thought County Supervisors and Upcountry water districts “would like to see that started.”

Fire brigades aren’t allowed to turn on hydrants unless there was a fire Upcountry, Farrington said, and the Amador Fire Protection Association wants the Amador Water Agency to provide a written policy of what they can do to test or repair the hydrants. He said with paid firefighters, they might be able to put in an hour a day working on the hydrants.

Simmons said an upgrade of all of the hydrants could cost more than $1 million, but services can help, including pressure testing. Hydrants then can be color coded with paint to show their flow. They can also check water storage tanks to make sure they are filled, and check to see that hydrant threads match fire department standards for connectors.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said the agency was working closely with AFPA on a program to check hydrant working conditions, to identify those that need maintenance, and schedule the work accordingly. It would also confirm existing hydrants that are out there.

He said Central Amador Water Project probably had 500 hydrants in its retail system alone, and AWA probably operated and maintained a total of 1,000 hydrants throughout the county.

He said AWA will meet with AFPA and report to the AWA board and UCC, and “we may have something written up more formally as well.”

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