Amador County - Nearly 250 volunteers worked along and in the Mokelumne River from Pioneer to Lockeford in Saturday’s Mokelumne River Cleanup. This largest-ever group of cleanup volunteers picked up nearly 8,000 pounds of trash and recyclables on about 28 miles of river and reservoir shoreline, making the Mokelumne and Camanche Reservoir a healthier, more attractive place for people, wildlife and fish.

The cleanup was part of the annual Great Sierra River Cleanup and California Coastal Cleanup Day. “We were especially glad to see so many young people picking up trash along the Electra Run,” said Foothill Conservancy Executive Director Chris Wright. “We’d like to thank them, their parents, and their teachers and advisors, as well as everyone else who gave their Saturday morning working on our beautiful Mokelumne River. We hope everyone will take the next step now and support permanent protection of the river through National Wild and Scenic River designation.”

“EBMUD is proud to a part of this annual event,” said Kent Lambert of the East Bay Municipal Utility District.” We would like to thank the many sponsors who help with this event every year. Most importantly we want to thank all of the volunteers who give their time and energy to keeping California’s waterways safe and clean for everyone.”

“We were glad to see less trash at Electra this year than last,” said Conservancy Cleanup Coordinator Randy Berg. “People seem to be littering less, or cleaning up after each other. Either way, it’s good news. Maybe one day these river cleanups will be obsolete.”

 Foothill Conservancy has been holding Mokelumne River cleanups since 1991. This year’s cleanup sponsors also included the East Bay Municipal Utility District, Mokelumne Coast to Crest Trail Council, Mokelumne River Outfitters and Camanche Recreation Company. Business sponsors include ACES Waste Services, California Waste Recovery Systems, New York Fitness, Martell Safeway, Pine Grove Market, Martell Starbucks, and Munnerlyn’s Ice Creamery. The Great Sierra River Cleanup is sponsored by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and a number of businesses and organizations.

For more information, contact Randy Berg at 209-295-4900, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit www.foothillconservancy.org.

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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors last week asked its general manager to speak with Amador County about terms of a $900,000 Water Development Fund loan. The board also directed Finance Manager Mike Lee to get more detail on an outside loan, after Lee gave general bank details.

Lee said the payment due date is “three short months away.” He gave rough numbers from three banks. Bank of Amador had a 6-7 percent interest loan at a maximum of 10 years, Lee said, meaning “an annual payment of $125,000,” of which Central Amador Water Project retail system would be responsible for 75 percent, or $93,000.

UMPQUA Bank showed a 4-6 percent five-year loan with “an annual payment of $207,000,” and CAWP Retail responsible for $155,000 annually.

Wells Fargo Bank showed 6-7 percent, five years max, and an annual payment of $216,000, with CAWP Retail paying $162,000 annually. Lee said these were the typical numbers for unsecured loans, and “Bank of Amador said it may be able to be a little bit more flexible.”

Lee said the agency very likely would qualify for a loan, but it would need to go through a full financial review, which could change the numbers.

Vice President Debbie Dunn said she was “concerned about what we told the county” to get the $900,000 loan.

Lee said the loan was to fund the project cost to date – the “sunk costs” – of the Gravity Supply Line in CAWP Retail system. He said he told supervisors that when AWA received a federal grant and loan for the GSL, it would repay the county. Lee said it was the goal of the agency to have the USDA loan in hand before the December 31st due date of the county loan.

A Proposition 218 protest stopped a rate increase in CAWP, and put a delay on the USDA loan’s financing plan, due to a cash shortage for the agency.

Director Don Cooper said he would like to ask Supervisors for the additional $319,000 it would take to meet the full USDA requirements for grant and loan funding of the GSL. He said it would take $79,000 to get to the bidding stage, and an estimated $254,000 “to get back to the GSL starting line.”

Dunn said “this is not about the GSL, it’s about the loan.” Director Gary Thomas disagreed, saying “they are intertwined.”

Dunn said her vote for the six-month loan was based on agency finances, whether or not AWA received the USDA funding of $12 million.

Moore said as a rule with grants, the “sunk costs are paid first.” He said it was the agency’s debt and responsibility. Moore said he agreed with Thomas and Cooper that they should speak with the county.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County - Amador County Treasurer-Tax Collector Michael E. Ryan has announced that the annual secured property tax bills for the 2010-2011 fiscal year have been mailed. Ryan indicates that there are over 23,200 secured tax bills for ad valorem taxes and voter approved special assessments, with tax charges totaling in excess of $47.7 million.

If you own property in Amador County and do not receive your tax bill by October 8th, 2010, please contact the Amador County Tax Collector’s Office at 810 Court Street, Jackson, CA 95642, (209)223-6364, to request a copy of your bill. Please note that State Law provides that the failure to receive a property tax bill does not relieve the taxpayer of the responsibility to make timely payments to the Tax Collector’s Office.

Your Amador County property tax information is available on-line. To view your tax information, visit www.co.amador.ca.us, click on “Online Services”, and then click on “Property Tax Information (Tax Information Search)”.

For additional information, please contact the Tax Collector’s Office at the address or telephone number shown above. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

El Dorado County - Based on safety concerns by area residents, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Mother Lode Field Office is issuing a temporary restriction order prohibiting the discharge of firearms in Kanaka Valley. The restriction is in effect while a long-range management plan for the area is developed.

Kanaka Valley, located near Pine Hill Preserve in western El Dorado County, was brought into federal ownership in February 2010 through a cooperative acquisition process with the Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, American River Conservancy and BLM. This 695-acre property links existing public and state lands into a continuous corridor.

“We have been holding a series of public meetings to develop a long-range plan for Kanaka Valley,” said Bill Haigh, BLM Mother Lode Field Office manager. “During those meetings, residents expressed safety concerns about shooting on the public lands. The temporary closure will give us time to address those concerns in the long-range plan.”

The access point to the public lands is located on the narrow county road, Kanaka Valley Road. Neither appropriate visitor resources (signage, fencing, parking, trails etc) nor an activity plan to guide these activities have yet been developed for Kanaka Valley.

There is high potential for visitors and neighbors to Kanaka Valley to be injured by stray bullets or confusion about the locations of property boundaries, public roads, established trails and other public ways, he explained.

The next meeting will be October 7th in Rescue for the community-based management plan of the Kanaka Valley. The meetings will run from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Rescue Union School District Board Room. For more information, contact Lauren Fety, BLM biological science technician, at (916) 941-3133, email Kanaka Valley Planning This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or go to the BLM Mother Lode Field Office website.

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 Amador County Fairgrounds Event Rental

Amador County – Amador County’s Registrar of Voters announced the opening of a nomination period this week related to the recall effort of a member of the River Pines Public Utility District board of directors.

Registrar Sheldon D. Johnson announced Thursday the opening of the nomination period for the January 4th, 2011 special recall election against Lylis R. McCutcheon, a director of the River Pines utility board. The nomination period opened Monday, September 20th, and will close on Thursday, October 21st.

Johnson said “nomination documents may be obtained form the Amador County Elections Department” at 810 Court Street in Jackson during normal business hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The filing period ends 5 p.m. October 21st.

Johnson said: “Candidates must be registered voters of the district” in River Pines, and the “election of a successor will be contingent upon the recall” of Director McCutcheon.

The district serves water and wastewater customers in both Amador and El Dorado Counties, on Highway 16E in River Pines and on the El Dorado County side of the Cosumnes River.

For further information, call the Amador County Elections Department at 223-6465.

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 board of directors spent time Thursday explaining why its means of repaying a $900,000 loan from Amador County was on hold.

Supervisor John Plasse asked what action by the agency placed the Gravity Supply Line on hold, along with a USDA grant and loan.

AWA Board President Bill Condrashoff said they were doing budget work and realized “we don’t have the cash to go forward at this point.”

Plasse said AWA authorized Finance Manager Mike Lee to seek the loan, with its repayment based on the USDA grant, but now board action has put the grant funding in jeopardy, giving him “great pause – and even more pause when you say you want to come to me for more money.” The agency discussion Thursday included looking to get another loan from the county.

The board said the GSL is also on hold due to a Proposition 218 protest of a Central Amador Water District rate increase. The rate increase was part of the GSL financial plan, in support of the loan repayment structure and basis for the USDA loan of $8 million, to supplement the project’s $5 million grant.

Director Terence Moore said “Prop 218 is not the end of the road. We can very well go out with a new rate increase tomorrow.”

The agency board voted 4-1 to direct staff to meet with the county and discuss renegotiation of the loan, and ask the county to consider amending the terms of the Water Development Fund loan repayment, which is due to be paid December 31st. They will also look at details of bank loans.

Vice President Debbie Dunn voted no, saying it was compounding the problem and sending the general manager to the discussion “unarmed.” She thought it was important to approach the discussion knowing the “risk level,” so AWA can “understand financially what this is going to do to us.”

Director Don Cooper said the discussion would simply see if the AWA can renegotiate, or if it needs to seek an outside loan.

Robert Manassero in public comment said “December 31st was never the right date because the recession was here.” He said they should talk to the county and try to “get a loan that would be more reasonable than a six-month loan.” He said the AWA should “not want to burn any bridges with the county.”

Cooper said they owe it to the rate payers to talk to the county and see if there are any changes that can be made that can be beneficial to the county and the agency.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.