Tom
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 07:37
ACTC Brainstorms Mental Health Transit Issues
Amador County - The Amador County Transportation Commission brainstormed public transportation issues last Wednesday during a report on transportation needs from Nina Machado, Chairperson for the Social Services Transportation Advisory Counsel. During public comment, Machado said she gathered input on transportation issues during a recent Behavioral Health meeting. She said much of the feedback complimented the way ARTS has improved in working with the public, but there is still a need for “alternative ways to help people with transportation.” She said “evenings and Saturdays continue to be a challenge for transit dependent individuals.” She said many low-income clients are excited about a recently approved $3 ticket for all day travel, but were wondering if they could exchange these in route for $1 and $2 bus vouchers issued to clients of Social Services. Machado said they “don’t want to give out cash” to their clients and a simple voucher exchange would be the best alternative. Supervisor and board member John Plasse said it would be a good way to increase ridership. The board unanimously approved a motion by Plasse to have bus drivers accept the exchange. Machado said other suggestions included a stop at the Jackson Public Library, which was removed a while back during route reductions due to budget cuts. She said the route from Lake Camanche to Ione that serves the family learning center is working very well for participants and they wanted to thank the commission. She said a discontinued route that ran from the Shenandoah Valley to Ione learning center is “still greatly missed.” In general, she said, routes from Ione are “really limited.” Machado said the Amador Learning Center currently has to borrow vans from the Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency to compensate for limited ARTS routes, but these vans only hold seven individuals, which requires “multiple trips or staggering participation on different days.” She suggested using additional vans purchased through Behavioral Health with Mental Health Services Act money for the Sierra Wind Wellness & Recovery Center, but the company which runs the center cannot afford the $6 million liability insurance requirement. She said we have vans that “aren’t being used because we can’t get insured for a $10,000 policy per year.” Plasse said the County previously donated use of those vans on the agreement that the Center find its own insurance policy. The commission approved a motion to have staff research the issue and add the item to the next regular agenda. Machado said she will gather more input on transportation needs at a Behavioral Health Steering Committee meeting on June 8. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Local
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 07:35
Ione CDBG Grants Include Business Study For Downtown
Amador County – The Ione City Council last week started this year’s Community Development Block Grant application process. City Manager Kim Kerr said Tuesday the city could apply for $100,000 to work on Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility requirements. Work could include streets around town and improvements to the Ione police station in City Hall, which needs both interior and exterior work. Councilman Lee Ard said Kerr and City Planner Christopher Jordan will be putting together a grant application package, to be submitted in the fall. The grants could include one toward economic development of Main Street and ADA compliance. Ard said the 2 or 3 different CDBG grants have maximums potential values of $40,000 going up to $250,000. Ard said the council doesn’t know which grants it will apply for, and the Tuesday public workshop was not well attended. He said: “We usually don’t get a lot of input.” Kerr and Jordan will work on the ADA grant “for a few months so it’s a quality project,” and it will be submitted in August or September. He said they have to do the City Hall upgrade to make further repairs which should have been made in a 2003 remodel. The project “didn’t bother to make it ADA compliant,” Ard said. The second phase will put in ramps on the back side of City Hall, and finish the bathrooms, which are “sort of ADA compliant.” Ard said Ione applied for another grant with the help of Caltrans, “and we are in the 1st or 2nd position.” Another grant would “start an economic analysis for downtown to see what kind of businesses people in town will shop at,” and gather information, so the city can “make sure we go out and recruit the right kind of businesses.” A “heavy duty economic analysis” will track credit card usage by Ione cardholders, using no names, only resident locations, to see where local people spend their money. “They will actually tell us what businesses will do really well, based on the spending habits of citizens,” Ard said, adding that “Livermore, Pleasanton and Davis are 3 cities that used this type of study to revitalize their downtown.” He said “it’s a $60,000 analysis, so it’s not cheap, but definitely a quality product will be the end result.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Local
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 07:33
AWA Deadlocks On Will-Serve Fee Action
Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors deadlocked 2-2 last week on peripheral action on a proposed ordinance that would change “will-serve” fees. The board in its meeting 2 weeks ago had discussed an ordinance that would change the will-serve policy, and agreed to “memorialize” a flawed draft ordinance at that meeting by reading it into the record, while also setting a workshop on the ordinance for this week. The vote last Thursday would have made all pending will-serve applications subject to the new policy, if and when a new policy ordinance was approved by the board. Agency attorney Steve Kronick reportedly left the earlier meeting without knowing the board’s ability to pass the peripheral action. Later, he recommended wording for a motion, which would “apply to any application for a conditional will-serve commitment pending as of the date of the motion or thereafter and any new application for such a commitment submitted on or after such date.” Director Terence Moore said Kronick found flaws in the draft ordinance, and making the peripheral action would “just be compounding our errors.” Moore said: “I think we need to have a workshop before we make any changes to the ordinance.” The board on May 13th discussed ordinance changes and agreed to set a will-serve ordinance workshop this Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to noon. Director Gary Thomas said after changes were discussed, the topic was exhausted and the workshop was set, then people interested in the subject left. Thomas said the board later resumed discussion on the ordinance, leading to reading the draft changes into record, which he called an “injustice” to people who were interested in the issue. One was Rob Aragon of Ione Villages 1 LLC. He said during public comment last week that the board appeared to have stopped talking about the will-serve issue at the May 13th meeting, then discussion ensued on the topic after a break. He said “maybe it meets the legal test but it doesn’t meet the moral test,” and he said it was not an example of “transparency” in government. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Published in
Water
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 07:32
Ione Developer Criticizes AWA's Draft Will-Serve Policy Changes
Amador County – Long-time Ione developer Rob Aragon delivered a letter to the Amador Water Agency last week criticizing the legality of proposed fee changes for the agency’s will-serves commitments to potential water customers. Aragon, representing Ione Villages 1 LLC and the Building Industry Association, delivered the board a letter from attorneys saying “the agency may not adopt” an ordinance changing its will-serve fee payment because the ordinance violates state law. Attorney Paul C. Anderson in the letter said: “Fees imposed on residential development, such as the Castle Oaks project, may not be collected ‘until the date of the final inspection, or the date the certificate of occupancy is issued, whichever occurs first.’ ” Anderson said early payment of fees is not necessary to “reimburse the local agency for expenditures previously made.” AWA Vice President Debbie Dunn asked what was in the letter, and if the board should make an answer. General Manager Gene Mancebo said the board should let legal staff answer the letter. The board’s suggested ordinance and amendments would change policy on will serve commitments and payment of participation fee. It would require a 10 percent fee payment at the “Conditional Will-Serve phase.” It also included a 25 percent payment “when a final map is recorded,” with credit for the previous payment. Additional 25 percent payments would follow over the next 3 years. Under current AWA will-serve policy, fees are typically not due until the owner applies for a building permit, sells the lot or requests service. The fees are meant to “buy into an existing water system and cover costs for capacity impacts,” Mancebo said. The changes are meant to “cover agency costs of reserving water supply and infrastructure for property owners who hold will-serve commitments indefinitely,” as “there is no time limit to a will-serve commitment.” Aragon and Plymouth developer Bob Reeder, said at the May 13th meeting that the proposed schedule for paying fees was “unrealistic based on typical development/financing scenarios,” and the “initial 10 percent payment was arbitrary and did not represent actual AWA costs for providing a will serve commitment.” A public workshop on the ordinance was scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday (May 26th) at the AWA office. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Published in
Water
Monday, 24 May 2010 06:05
CALFIRE to Conduct Prescribed Burns Near West Point
Amador County - The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) will be conducting a prescribed burn in the Lily Valley area east of West Point. The proposed 290 total acres included in the Winton-Schaads Prescribed Burn project slated for Spring 2010 will be divided up into smaller, approximately 20-40 acre, areas which will be treated starting as early as May 20, 2010 with burns possible through mid June. One to two CAL FIRE engines along with personnel from Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) will conduct the burns. This under story burn will treat bear clover, small conifers, brush and grass and will help protect the communities of West Point, Wilseyville, and Lily Valley as well as protect timber resources and the Mokelumne watershed. A prescribed burn is a managed procedure of fire ignition in an area that has control lines in place, as well as, crews and equipment in strategic locations. A prescribed burning project is the result of extensive pre-planning involving studies of the vegetation types, fuel loading, weather patterns, topography, values at risk, and fire history. An environmental analysis is made for each project, along with mitigation measures to address any foreseeable impacts that may be caused by the fire. The prescribed burn project will start with a small “test burn”, as a final check to ensure that conditions are within “prescription”. If conditions are favorable, then the firefighters will begin ignition around the perimeter of the project allowing a low intensity slow burn to consume fuels within the project. Local Unit Chief, Mike Noonan, states that if the fuel moisture, temperatures, humidity and winds are favorable, the burn will proceed as scheduled. If not, the project will be rescheduled. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Monday, 24 May 2010 06:04
Snow Closes Emigrant Trail to Memorial Day
Amador County - The Mormon Emigrant Trail, located in the Eldorado National Forest between Jenkinson Lake and Highway 88, will not be open to through traffic Memorial Day Weekend due to snow, the Forest Service announced today. Snowdrifts, as deep as five feet near Highway 88, continue to block the popular forest road. The Forest Service does not plow the road and it may remain closed into the middle of June. “The blessing of a good snow year will cause some inconvenience for travel through the high country. It’s important for people to help spread the word that this route is still closed,” said Acting Eldorado National Forest Supervisor Duane Nelson. “In the past, people have missed the road closed signs or believed the GPS devices in their vehicle when it told them to take Mormon Emigrant Trail, only to be stopped by snow. At best, they lost some valuable time, but in some cases they spent a very uncomfortable night in the cold.” Travelers are invited to check the Eldorado National Forest website for recreation related information: www.fs.fed.us/r5/eldorado. Visitors may also receive important road information on Twitter by joining the Eldorado National Forest twitter: Eldorado NF. And, visitors can check with the nearest ranger station for road and campground information. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Monday, 24 May 2010 06:07
Sutter Creek Council Likes Tough Audit Report
Amador County – Sutter Creek may not bring back City Auditor Ralph Murcello next year, but it won’t necessarily be because of a tough report he made last week on his annual audit for the fiscal year ending in 2009. Finance Committee member and Councilwoman Linda Rianda said Friday she liked Murcello’s report, as did the other city council members last Tuesday. She said no one on the council “wants to do things improperly.” Much of what the auditor brought up were old issues, but Rianda said she wanted to “make sure those concerns will not be concerns in the future.” She said “financial concerns that came up a number of months ago were acknowledged by the council, were addressed and are being addressed.” She said she made a spread sheet, identified each issue, and looked for what to do to make sure it was not an issue again for the city. Rianda said the city likely would not use Murcello next year, but it was at the auditor’s own suggestion. He told the council that typically, an “entity does not like to use the same auditor for more than 2 or 3 years,” while he has been auditing Sutter Creek for 5 years. Rianda said: “He’s been really helpful on giving us recommendations on some things we can do to improve,” and he has “offered to help the city” and sent the city “copies of what other cities have done.” Murcello in a report with his annual audit last week told the council some practices in other cities to fight financial hard times. He said some cities are making all employees “at will,” (as is also done in other states) and also creating “a new tier for employees hired after July 1st.” Other options are contracting employees and no longer giving paid vacations, as done by the city of Vallejo, which has been in bankruptcy for 2 years. Murcello said cities establish a reserve for economic hard times, such as Carmel, which socks away a portion of its Transient Occupancy Tax. He said cities also have been doing away with the “luxury” of the office manager position. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Monday, 24 May 2010 06:08
Wooten Says Sutter Creek Sky iIs Not Falling
Amador County – Sutter Creek last week took an audit report in stride, with Mayor Gary Wooten saying “the sky is not falling,” and Councilwoman Linda Rianda deflecting accusations of inaction. Rianda said the Finance Committee of herself and Vice Mayor Tim Murphy had an “entrance” meeting in January with City Auditor Ralph Murcello, who had already begun the 2008-2009 annual audit. Rianda said she “went over those financial concerns that he raised,” and told him to “look into these” and “let us know what you find, or if you find anything to confirm the concerns, or what we need to do to eliminate the issues.” He brought up one particular personnel issue in January, which was handled at the time, Rianda said. She couldn’t reveal more information, but said most issues Murcello brought up were issues the finance committee was already aware of, already discussing and trying to rectify. Rianda said: “Contrary to accusations, we did not ignore the issues that came forward.” She said Finance Director Jeff Gardner and Assistant City Manager Sean Rabe “were supposed to be working on tightening up financial control issues.” Rianda said “there wasn’t good oversight by the council to ensure that those policies were followed.” She said remedies would include “doing more public reports so that people know what we are doing on our projects.” She wants to use spread sheets to report major ongoing projects, showing completion dates, “when it was approved by the city council, and any monies involved.” She wanted to prevent decisions from being made incorrectly, saying: “As projects come to the city for approval, I want to make sure they get on our project spread sheet,” which will “keep it public what projects our council is working on.” Murcello spoke of $200,000 that appeared to be loaned to Gold Rush Ranch developers (“on a handshake”) to purchase Nobel Ranch. The council last week defended that as money spent to extend escrow on the purchase of the land for a golf course and spray field. Murphy said all council members were aware of the spending. Rianda said the city has recouped all but about $50,000 of those funds. Rianda said it was “one of our biggest problems,” where the small town atmosphere allowed the council “to do things with a handshake.” She said now they must “make sure it goes through the approval process and that everyone in the city is aware about it.” She said the small county, small city, small agency practices of the past, and “just the way Sutter Creek used to do business” doesn’t work. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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