Amador County – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials stood behind their decision to close Preston Youth Correctional Facility, despite strong objections from those leading and attending a special meeting of the Board of Supervisors on Wednesday evening.

Amador County Supervisors, joined by 10th District Assemblymember Alyson Huber and Calaveras County Supervisor Steve Wilensky, took turns questioning Scott Kernan, CDCR undersecretary, and Rachael Rios, Chief Deputy Secretary of the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).

Huber said this meeting was called because the last public meeting in the tiny Ione City Hall was hastily noticed, and it is “important for people to have the opportunity to weigh in.” She criticized the CDCR for not discussing their options with the public before making their decision.

“I’m convinced that a facility has to close,” said Huber. “I’m not convinced that it is supposed to be Preston.” Huber said the decision requires more thorough analysis of “recidivism rates, graduation rates and…repurposing.”

Kernan said the closure is “a population and money issue” based on $39 million in cuts to the DJJ and a total of $1.4 billion in cuts to the CDCR by the state. He said “we only get resources for the (ward) population we have.”

He said his department will try and reemploy as many employees as possible, but “it would be disingenuous to say staff will not be laid off in this process.” He said the area of layoff will be limited to Amador County, and the “details of reemployment won’t be realized until we sit down with the labor organizations.”

Supervisor Louis Boitano asked if they “take into account surrounding areas” in their decision because “this will kill Amador County.” Kernan responded that with “1.4 billion in cuts, that pain is spread all over. In every one of our closures, we’ve heard the same things.” Boitano said he believes “big urban and suburban areas hurt a lot less.” Plasse said this is “the quintessential double-whammy for a county of this size…after the auto dealership closures.”

Supervisor John Plasse reiterated concerns about closing the “top-scoring” facility, referring to Preston’s 90.9 percent compliance rate with the consent decree issued in Farrell v. Cate, a lawsuit related to DJJ facility performance. Kernan said the decision “is not about performance,” to which Plasse replied: “I’m not inferring that it is; I’m saying it should be.”

Kernan said they are actually advertising approximately 45 limited term positions, but those are mostly for the Ventura correctional facility, where they have had trouble finding staff. Jerry Cassesi said that “if it is about the difficulty of staffing Ventura, I’ve got an answer for you - close Ventura.”

Kernan said that “despite the public comments – and we heard them loud and clear – this decision is standing.” He said the “new legislature certainly has the ability to change the course of this.”

Huber recently introduced Assembly Bill 8, which would halt the closure for six months. She encouraged the audience to write letters, and said she has to get “120 (legislators) up to speed.” She said the bill includes findings she feels are “incontrovertible.”

The closure would affect over 400 staff and 218 juvenile wards. If it goes forward, it will take place June 30, 2011.

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Amador County – Ione City Council welcomed three new members Tuesday, who all spoke in support of Preston Youth Correctional Facility.

They planned to attend Wednesday’s public hearing on Preston in Jackson, and urged City Manager Kim Kerr to try to schedule an additional public hearing on Preston at Evalyn Bishop Hall. Kerr said Corrections Secretary Matthew L. Cate “offered to have a hearing here,” and she encouraged them to seek that hearing, saying it would allow for more comments.

Wednesday’s hearing hosted by Amador County Supervisors and Assemblywoman Alyson Huber, was scheduled for two hours.

City Clerk Janice Traverso on Tuesday led the new Ione City Council members in their oaths of office. Councilwoman Andrea Bonham took over as acting mayor (due to David Plank’s absence for a medical procedure).

Councilman Ron Smylie said he would like to “keep Preston open in some capacity,” and a state bill is seeking to have the state “maintain youth facilities at least six months.” He said “the more meetings we have, the more we can tell them that we want to keep Preston open.”

Councilman Daniel Epperson said Amador County is “already sending our juveniles up to Tahoe,” and he asked if youths were “being better served at the county level than at the state level.”

Epperson asked if Kerr had “heard anything from Governor Brown.” Kerr said Brown attended a correctional officers’ association meeting Tuesday, and Huber has been talking to him about Preston. Kerr said the corrections secretary is going to have to resign with the exit of the Schwarzenegger administration.

Kerr said employees based on seniority may find positions by transfer. She said the Pine Grove facility gets 70 percent of its population from Preston, so they do not know if Pine Grove Camp will also close, or if it will be reprogrammed.

Kerr said “there are a lot of unanswered questions about whether Preston is the correct place to close.” Bonham said Preston is “top heavy” with 445 employees and 219 offenders because “they do not transfer in more offenders.” She asked why the state would close its best facility. Kerr said it was due to lawsuits.

Ione Planning Commissioner Mark Hopkins said his employer, San Joaquin County plans a reentry facility to share with Amador and Calaveras counties, but numbers for employees and inmates are unknown.

Hopkins said with its land use designation, he could see the state close Preston, let it sit, and then “come back, demolish it, and rebuild a new facility.” Councilman Lloyd Oneto said “that may happen, but it won’t happen tomorrow.”

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Amador County – The Plymouth City Council today (December 9th) will swear in new Councilman-elect Peter Amoruso, and will bid farewell to Mayor Patricia Fordyce and Councilman Michael O’Meara.

Among its first decisions will be deciding on how to fill a vacancy on the council, and replacing its city manager.

Plymouth City Manager Dixon Flynn said he has submitted his resignation effective at the end of the year, but will actually work his last day next Thursday.

Flynn said Wednesday that he had notified the council of his resignation before Thanksgiving, and due to the short notice, recommended Finance Director Jeff Gardner to be appointed as interim city manager. He said the council could then look to a more permanent decision at a later date. Gardner said he would accept the appointment as interim city manager, if it was offered.

The Plymouth City Council today will consider an interim city manager contract in closed session at the end of its meeting, and would announce any actions taken after the closed session. The agenda includes discussion and possible approval of a resolution approving such a contract.

Flynn said Gardner has been with Plymouth for 25 years, and only City Clerk Gloria Stoddard and grant writer Terry Cox have longer tenures with the city. Flynn said he thought the city would benefit from Gardner’s experience with the city and knowledge issues the city faces.

Flynn said decided to step down at the end of his third year as city manager because he is short on energy, getting older, and his memory is fading. He said stress of impending big decisions was better left to the younger Gardner.

Flynn said big decisions ahead include the Highway 49 and Shenandoah Road intersection, and whether it will be signalized or a “roundabout.” Also, local developer Bob Reeder is seeking a development agreement. Reeder has nearly 500 equivalent dwelling units planned as part of two projects that would be annexed to the city, but the economy has left an overabundance of houses and a shortage of buyers.

The wastewater system must meet some conditions to finalize permitting, and a decision looms on the Arroyo Ditch.

Gardner said with the water pipeline completed, and the sewer renovation nearly done, the city for the first time in 25 years will be open to new development.

Flynn said he was working part-time as city manager, but inevitably, worries about the job and problems the city faces are on his mind 24-hours a day. He said Gardner would seek to be a full-time city manager.

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Amador County - With the Holiday Season, there is traditionally an increase in the number of fraud attempts reported to the Amador County Sheriff’s Office. The Amador County Sheriff’s Office wants to remind all citizens in Amador County to protect themselves and their loved ones from these types of frauds.

On November 28th, the Amador County Sheriff’s Office received a report of suspicious circumstances where a citizen received a phone call that she thought was a phone scam. A male subject called and told her that he worked for UPS Special Delivery. The subject advised her that she was the monthly sweepstakes winner of $2.5 million and that he could deliver $55,000 cash in a black leather briefcase to her.

The caller asked her three questions: if she was American, if she was over 65, and if she had a valid California driver's license. The man said that, based on her answers, her tax obligation would be 1 percent of the total winnings, $25,000.

Fortunately, the citizen did not provide any personal identifying information to the caller, and instead contacted the Amador County Sheriff’s Office.

Seniors may be a special target of people who sell bogus products and services by telephone. Telemarketing scams often involve offers of free prizes, low-cost vitamins and health care products, and inexpensive vacations.

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Amador County – Sutter Creek appointed Natalie Doyle as interim city clerk on Monday, and will seek a new, permanent clerk, and weigh its options in doing so.

Staff will see if applicants come forward, after advertising the vacancy, or it could make code changes. City Attorney Derek Cole said not many cities in California have elected city clerks any more, and the council could change city code to make it an appointed position.

Councilwoman Linda Rianda said changing from having an elected to an appointed city clerk would have to be sent to voters to decide. Cole said the council must pass a resolution and have an election, with the next chance for that being June 2012.

Past City Clerk Judy Allen (who chose not to seek reelection) said the position is much more complicated than the council may realize, and the city clerk has duties from finance to “almost every department in the city.” She said by not having a full time city clerk, the city is having a lot of things “fall through the cracks.”

Mayor Gary Wooten asked if it could be handled by a half-time city clerk, and Allen did not think so. She said, as an example of a city clerk duty, that “all ordinances need to be codified, and they haven’t been done in the 12 years I’ve been here.”

Allen said going to city clerk conventions made her aware of the depth of duties. She said the council needs to think about what the city clerk does, and maybe they need to “rewrite this law or get rid of it, whatever it takes.”

Councilman Tim Murphy moved to reevaluate the position, “before we go out and look for a more permanent” action. He asked City Manager Sean Rabe to get a proposed set of revised duties for the clerk.

Councilwoman Sandy Anderson asked staff to get the resolution prepared, so they can be sure to have it on the ballot if they decide to seek a change.

Mimi Arata said “it is kind of embarrassing to have our agenda put out by Lorraine Davis,” and said it should be a city task.

Wooten asked when the city’s website was going to be back online, and if it could post the city council agenda and packets. Rabe said the city website is now operating again, and he is working with the site developer to post the agenda packet to a separate site for download. Rabe said: “We need to know who wants access to that website.”

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Amador County – The Sutter Creek City Council on Monday approved several responses to the 2009-2010 Grand Jury report that are due by the end of the year, along with a contract extension for related finance work.

Among the responses due December 31st was one to a finding that suggests Sutter Creek sewer enterprise funds were transferred to the general fund, “once in the amount of $24,250, another in the amount of $220,000.” The report said there was “no evidence that either of these transfers were paid back, as required” by the state Constitution.

A draft response was approved by the council without discussion Monday. It said: “Due to ongoing issues within the finance department, this issue has not been addressed by the new finance director.” It said the “finance director will research and respond to this issue by the first meeting in January.”

New Finance Director Joe Aguilar also received an adjustment to his contract adding $18,000, which the council approved after discussion.

Mayor Pro Tempore Tim Murphy said the “scope of work is clearly defined” and is related to audit recommendations and Grand Jury items, which are “not being taken care of quickly enough,” and Aguilar is “already overextended.”

Councilwoman Linda Rianda said Aguilar “can’t get to day-to-day items” because of the work he is doing. City Manager Sean Rabe said Aguilar is constantly finding more problems that must be addressed.

Aguilar said bank statements are tied up in the accounts, by “variances” that date back to July 2009. He is “basically redoing work that should have been done in the prior year.” He said he did not do that work, “and can’t vouch for it.” He did not mean that it was in error, but it was still work that needed to be done.

As an example, he said one accounts payable lists $100,000 owed for June to the Public Employees Retirement System, but that was not actually owed. Aguilar said “other accounts accumulate amounts, and we don’t know why it’s occurring, and we won’t know why it’s occurring until we do this reconciliation.”

The council approved the contact change, and directed staff to bring back the necessary budget amendment for approval.

Councilwoman Sandra Anderson said: “We’re doing what the public and the Grand Jury wanted us to do, which is to find bigger problems.” She said “we’re still saving money,” once “we get this cleaned up.” Murphy said he would recommend funding come from contingencies, and the council agreed in making the direction.

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Amador County – Former Amador County Administrative Officer Teri Daly has been promoted to the same role in El Dorado County.

Daly resigned from her duties in Amador after accepting the position of Deputy CAO for El Dorado County last May. On Monday, the El Dorado Board of Supervisors announced they have promoted her to replace Gayle Erbe-Hamlin, who resigned from the head CAO position three weeks before.

Daly’s primary duties will be to oversee and prepare the county’s budget, a strong similarity to her years serving Amador County. El Dorado County, which is roughly three times the size of Amador, has made some drastic budget cuts and faces more in the upcoming fiscal year.

Daly began as Amador County CAO in 2007. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Stanford University and a master’s in business administration from San Francisco State University.

“I appreciate both the opportunity and responsibility the Board has given me as CAO,” said Daly in a prepared statement. “I am prepared to help the Board confront the challenges ahead, and eager to help plan and build a future for El Dorado County.”

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Amador County - With the start of the new legislative session, Assemblymember Alyson Huber has introduced a bill that would halt the planned closure of Preston Youth Correctional Facility. AB 8 was the first piece of legislation Huber introduced after taking the oath of office for her second term as the representative for the 10th Assembly District.

AB 8 would prohibit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities from closing any youth correctional facility during the six-month period following the effective date of the legislation. It also directs that activities levels at any facility will remain at effectively the same levels as when the closure of Preston was first announced.

“The proposed closure of Preston came with no justification or consideration of the effects on the employees, wards or surrounding community. The process by which Preston was selected for closure remains unclear despite numerous public hearings and requests for information,” said Huber. “This bill will put a temporary halt to the process that CDCR seems intent on barreling forward without clear regard of the impact of the decision. It will give the Legislature and Governor the time necessary to look deeper into how CDCR is making decisions about how to meet the needs of a dwindling youth offender population and a shrinking budget.”

The introduction of AB 8 comes only days before the next scheduled public hearing on the planned closure of Preston Youth Correctional Facility. The hearing is being held on December 8, 2010 at 5:30 pm at the Amador County Board of Supervisors Chambers in Jackson. Representatives from CDCR will be present to answer questions. The public is invited to attend the hearing to voice their opinions on the slated closure and discuss what impacts the closure will have on Amador County.

The text of the bill will be available online soon at www.leginfo.ca.gov and copies will be available at the hearing.

For more information, call (916) 319-2010 or visit www.asm.ca.gov/huber.

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