Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 6-6-12 - Authir Casey Odland sits down with Richard Forster to discuss his new book "The Ex-Con & The Italian Princess".

Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 6-6-12 - Local band "Wicked Sisters" stops by the AMLive set to offer a sample of what can be found on their new album.

Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 6-5-12

• Amador County Supervisors approved 25 equivalent workforce reductions, pending a potential restoration of funds from the state.

• AWA directors seek outside assessment of agency financial systems.

• Education and career fair will help encourage local employment, small business development, and higher education

• RCRC supports AB1506, which would completely repeal the State Responsibility Area fire fees.

• Amador Supervisors OK layoffs, pending potential $1.1 million restoration of ERAF funding in the governor’s budget.  

Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 6-5-12 - TSPN's Tom Slivick talks with City Manager Sean Rabe for an update on Sutter Creek City Council budget update. 

Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 in a special meeting Monday to approve a resolution that would reduce the county workforce by about 25 full time equivalent positions.

The resolution would affect about 34 positions in 16 departments in the overall county budget, though some of those positions are already vacant, and others would be left empty by retirement and not refilled. The resolution was approved with a footnote to revisit the position changes after a potential restoration of $1.1 million in Education Revenue Augmentation Funds that at present is part of the Governor’s budget. It is part of $1.5 million in “triple flip” money that Amador County and its cities would get back if the budget is approved.

Supervisors passed the resolution with job cuts and layoff notices because the funding is not guaranteed. Supervisor Richard Forster testified before the state Senate and Supervisor John Plasse testified before the Assembly last week to tell of the toll on the county. The workforce reduction would be 29 positions, and about 24.76 full-time equivalent positions.

Forster said both budget subcommittees approved the budget, which now goes to a full vote. County Administrative Officer Chuck Iley said both passed the budget unanimously, and it should not be derailed unless it was politically affected.

Iley said there are certainly good arguments to include the $1.1 million in the budget, and good arguments not to. Supervisors voted to have Iley and county department heads work on a list of positions to restore if funding is restored to the county, but approved the layoff resolution.

Iley said reductions included one sheriff dispatch position that is vacant, one civil engineer position that is vacant, and two maintenance supervisor positions that are retiring and wouldn’t be replaced. The Public Health Director position is also vacant, he said, and the Health Services Director position would change the “chain of command” from administration to services.

A General Services print shop assistant would also retire and not get replaced, as would the University Cooperative Extension 4-H Coordinator.

Supervisor Brian Oneto asked if Iley could put the list together before the end of the month and fiscal year, if ERAF funds are restored. Iley said he has heard the board say what it preferred for cuts.

Oneto said he would favor moving forward as if they were not getting the money then change the budget when they learn if it is certain.

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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency Board of Directors at its early May meeting decided to see an outside assessment of the agency’s financial systems.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said the board “agreed to hire an independent accountant to evaluate the efficiency, checks and balances, and transparency of the Water Agency financial systems.”

He said the agency’s current accounting system was set up in the mid-1980s, and the “agency has also had significant turnover of staff recently, including a controller who was with AWA for 26 years and an 11-year financial manager. A lot of changes in accounting requirements that affect water agencies have occurred since that time.” The AWA Board directed staff to bring back proposals from accounting firms for review.

The AWA board also heard results of a Lake Camanche Village customer satisfaction survey. More than 750 surveys were mailed to water customers and 131 completed surveys were returned.

AWA office manager Karen Gish said overall, Lake Camanche customers gave the agency good marks for service and water quality. According to the surveys returned, she said “75 percent of customers who contacted the agency for customer service said they were satisfied or very satisfied with our office and field staff.” She said “66 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with overall water quality and service.”

70 percent of respondents said they were aware that a major well in the Camanche system was shut down for several months last year due to water quality problems, and water reliability ranked third in importance to customers after water quality and cost of water.

The survey also asked for customer comments and the most frequent comment was concern about the price of wastewater service in the Camanche area. Complete results of the survey are available on the agency’s website, or at the AWA office.

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Amador County – Five businesses and organizations and eight colleges will participate in an Education and Career Fair June 9 in Jackson, to help Amador County residents interested in employment, small business development, and higher education.

First 5 Amador Executive Director Nina Machado announced the Education and Career Fair this week, saying it will be hosted by First 5, Amador Child Care Council, and Brandman University. The fair will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 9, in the Margaret Dalton Children’s Center, at 975 Broadway, in Jackson.

More than five companies and agencies from Amador County and more than eight¬ colleges and universities are registered to attend the free event, which will help students and citizens explore higher education options, small business development, and employment opportunities. Brandman University will be providing light refreshments.

Machado said the fair “provides students and citizens the opportunity to network with employers representing Amador County businesses and with representatives from local and regional colleges and universities.” She said “students and residents are encouraged to attend the fair to learn more about current and future employment opportunities as well as regional higher education opportunities.”

Employers scheduled to attend are the Jackson Rancheria, Sutter Amador Hospital, and Mother Lode Job Training. Colleges scheduled to attend are Amador Community College Foundation, North Eastern California Small Business Development Center, Sacramento State University, National University, University of Phoenix, Brandman University, Emery Riddle University, and William Jessup University.

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Amador County – A Placer County Supervisor Jim Holmes testified last week on behalf of the Regional Council of Rural Counties and in opposition to the so-called State Responsibility Area fire fees.

Amador County Supervisor Richard Forster also testified on the topic in San Diego last month, on behalf of the RCRC, on which he holds a board seat.

Jehan Flagg of the RCRC said the State Responsibility Area (SRA) fees are “a burning topic that’s near and dear to most California rural county residents,” and “this issue will not be going away any time soon.” RCRC and its 31 member counties support AB 1506.

Flagg said the SRA fire fee was created by a legislative budget trailer bill, Assembly Bill 29X, which was passed in 2011. The SRA fire fee is being implemented by regulations at the California Board of Forestry, due to the directive from the Legislature in AB 29X.

Flagg said: “That’s why Amador County Supervisor Richard Forster was testifying on our behalf, to try and tell the regulators that SRA fees are a bad idea regardless whether in law or regulation.”

Flagg said AB 1506 does not redirect SRA money from fire prevention to pay salaries and benefits for new state workers. In fact, AB 1506 would completely repeal State Responsibility Area fire fees.

The annual fee would charge $150 per habitable structure on lands that are within State Responsibility Areas, and it could affect an estimated 800,000 property owners and 31 million acres throughout the sate.

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Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors on Monday approved about 25 full time equivalent positions for layoff notices, but held out hope the governor’s budget would be passed and return about $1.1 million in Educational Revenue Augmentation Funds.

The ERAF Funds are not guaranteed, and Supervisors decided to plan on the funds not being restored, and move toward workforce reductions to reflect the budget deficit it expects the next fiscal year.

Supervisor Chairman Louis Boitano said they should wait until the governor signs the budget. Supervisor John Plasse agreed, saying the governor owns the “Blue Line” power to cross out items from the budget late. Plasse said in spite of the difficult decision, the county has always budgeted wisely, and he would “hate to deviate from a historically proven fiscal prudence.”

The ERAF funds could be returned to Amador County if the governor’s budget passes the Legislature as it is now. Supervisor Ted Novelli said he and Supervisor Brian Oneto went to the Capital to talk to local representatives about the Triple-Flip funds.

Oneto talked to Sen. Ted Gaines’ representative last Friday. Oneto said it was not like they were asking for special funds because it is money that was due to go to Amador County.

Plasse said he felt the county’s commitment to its lobbyist on the issue was money well spent. Supervisor Richard Forster said Service Employees International Union, California State Association of Counties, and the Regional Council of Rural Counties all assisted.

Forster said they should confirm all of these layoffs by the end of the month. County Administrative Officer Chuck Iley said he is working on a revised list of employees for layoff notices, if the county gets the ERAF funds restored. ¶ In public comment, Steve Bristow, SEIU business agent suggested the ERAF funds go to restore lost positions. He also encouraged support for law enforcement and 9-1-1 services, which SEIU does not represent.

Katherine Evatt urged Supervisors to protect jobs and suggested staggering employee days off and keeping county offices open five days a week.

Forster said they have had three workshops and people were taken off of this list, and they saw the need to put employees back on the list. He said not all department heads met the budget reductions they called for to meet the deficit.

Novelli said we do not want to lay off anybody, but we need to keep Amador County afloat. He said layoffs would have a ripple effect across the county.

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Amador County – The Department of the Interior announced last week two rulings for California tribes seeking casino trust lands, including the affirmative decision for the Ione Band of Miwok Indians’ pursuit of a casino land trust in Plymouth.

Acting Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, Donald “Del” Laverdure announced last week that the land was to be acquired in trust for gaming purposes under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act’s Equal Footing Exceptions.”

Laverdure said the Ione Miwoks’ “gaming application received a careful and thorough review, allowing us to determine that it met the stringent conditions set out” by the Act. He said the “Ione Band has demonstrated both a modern and historical connection to the lands it sought to have paced in federal trust, as well as reasonable temporal connection between the date the land is acquired and the date the tribe was restored to federal recognition status.”

He said the Ione Band has not held lands in trust by the U.S. government, but owns 40 acres of non-trrust land near Ione, used for residential purposes. Laverdure said in his decision announcement that the 750-member Ione Band “submitted an application in 2005 to have “228 acres of land acquired in trust for a Class 3 gaming operation near Plymouth.” He said in 2006, the Interior Department “determined that the Band constituted” a “restored tribe” and “that it’s application satisfied” the Gaming Act’s “restored lands exception” because it “had once been under federal jurisdiction but was effectively treated as a terminated tribe by the Department for many years.”

He noted that in 1994, the Interior Department “reaffirmed that the Ione Band of Miwok Indians was federally recognized, renewing the government-to-government relationship with the tribe.” The “action effectively restored the tribe for purposes under IGRA.” Laverdure said the Ione Miwoks’ decision “marks the first Indian gaming application completed under IGRA’s restored lands exception since September 2008.”

Laverdure also announced a decision to disqualify an application for the equal footing exception by the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians of Lake County, California seeking a gaming facility near Richmond, 80 miles from tribal headquarters in Lakeport. The denial was made because the Scotts Valley Band “could not demonstrate it had a significant historical connection to the site.”

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