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Thursday, 20 May 2010 06:19
Mike Boitano - Mosquito Abatement, Ag Issues 5-20-10
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Friday, 21 May 2010 02:57
ACTC Approves Stakeholder Working Group For Pine Grove 88 Corridor Project
Amador County – The Amador County Transportation Commission on Wednesday approved a stakeholder working group, designed as a way for public interests to provide input on the ongoing Pine Grove/Highway 88 Corridor Project. Neil Peacock, Program Manager for the Amador County Transportation Commission, said the project proposal includes 12 different alternatives for route modifications at a price tag “not to exceed $40 million,” and the stakeholder group will “provide feedback to the technical experts in our consultant team.” Peacock and other representatives from ACTC and Caltrans explained the most recent project plan to approximately 140 concerned or interested citizens at the Pine Grove Town Hall on April 7. At that meeting, multiple area residents expressed concern over who the group will include, including Gary Reinoehl, who said past projects have subsequently altered the amount of representatives to include fewer citizens in the participation process. In a memo to ACTC Wednesday, Community Outreach Consultant Leslie Regos said the stakeholder group will be “in addition to the general community meetings” and “serve as the ‘voice’ of the Pine Grove community-at-large and be responsible to reflect the full range of values and interests that is embodied in the Pine Grove community.” The working group membership will consist of six community groups, four businesses and five agencies. These include the Pine Grove Civic Improvement Club, Pine Grove Town Council, Upcountry Community Center, Aces Waste Services, Amador Fire Protection District, the CHP, Caltrans and Pine Grove Elementary. Regos said other groups, including the County, Sierra Club, Amador Water Agency, Foothill Conservancy and Kirkwood Ski Resort, will “be consulted through one-to-one communications as part of the CEQA/NEPA project development process.” Regos said the stakeholder group “is formatted to equitably represent the diversity of interests in the Pine Grove community, while ensuring the total group size can be effectively facilitated within the project schedule.” She said the group will “screen out the unfeasible alternatives and build agreement on a feasible set of alternatives that can be carried forward to environmental evaluation and conceptual design.” She called consistent participation “critical” as a way to “alleviate backtracking and revisiting of information.” The stakeholders were selected by Regos, and Peacock said she “will be authorized to proceed with her recommended process upon approval of the consent agenda.” ACTC unanimously approved of the agenda. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 21 May 2010 02:59
AWA Discusses Dunn Letter Admonishing Staff
Amador County – An apparent discrepancy on the due date of a $1 million loan payment led to a flurry of e-mails between Amador Water Agency board members and staff, starting last Friday (May 14th). Board Vice President Debbie Dunn started the chain of events by asking about a due date on a payment for a bond that funded the Amador Transmission Pipeline project. 2 members of the board criticized Dunn for sending an email that apparently accused agency staff of “improper actions” by sending a copied page of the AWA staff handbook with portions of the text highlighted. Dunn on Thursday said “we have to make decisions based on great information” from Finance Manager Mike Lee. She said the due date for the loan payment apparently changed from May 30th to May 15th, making approval of a loan from the county under a short time limit. Directors Terence Moore and Gary Thomas both said it was clear to them that funds must be sent on May 15th to a bond trustee, then paid toward the debt by June 1st. Dunn said in looking at the agency’s finances with a calculator, she thought the agency could have had the funds to make the ATP bond payment by May 30th. Dunn said that date was changed by staff from the 30th to the 15th, and it changed the way she voted. Lee said the agency now has $470,000 in cash, which he called uncomfortably low, and that included the $900,000 loan from Amador County. Dunn said: “We ought to hand (the county) $200,000 today.” Dunn said she thought the board made a decision based on a wrong due date for the bond payment, and she sent the e-mail to General Manager Gene Mancebo asking for clarification, and attaching a page from the employee handbook. Moore told Dunn: “You actually accused staff of improper practices,” adding: “I think your whole e-mail exchange is possibly in violation of the Brown Act.” Thomas agreed, saying Dunn seemed to be attempting to fulfill one director’s goals.” President Bill Condrashoff called it “a misunderstanding that went 2 ways to the extreme.” Lee and Mancebo said future questions should be taken straight to Mancebo, who said he did handle the request to make the agenda item, but passed the bond payment due date question to Kronick, who sent a bond counsel’s comments on it to the whole board. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 21 May 2010 03:00
AWA Wires Late Payment on $1M ATP Bond
Amador County – Amador Water Agency Finance Manager Mike Lee told his board Thursday that a $1 million bond payment was a few days late but the agency was not in default. The board last Friday approved a loan from the county to help make the bond payment for the Amador Transmission Pipeline, which was due May 15th to a trustee, but had not been wired to the company by Thursday (May 20th). Agency General Manager Gene Mancebo said missing the payment could have triggered “remedies” for a default, and he reminded the board of documents the attorney prepared for them about what those remedies are. Board President Bill Condrashoff asked if the agency was in default. Lee said he told the bond trustee Monday that “we were juggling some funds” and would wire them to her, and “she said fine, and there would be no default.” Lee said the money would be wired to the New York trustee Thursday, and received by today. Lee said without the loan, “we wouldn’t have had enough to send the wire.” Vice President Debbie Dunn said the “payment is a big deal” and equal to “10 percent of our budget.” Dunn said last week “was the fifth time in the last 6 months that the day before a big decision, huge pieces of information show up, change or disappear.” She said the payment due date changed from May 30th to May 15th, although AWA Directors Gary Thomas and Terence Moore said they were well aware that the payment due date was May 15th, for the agency was to pay the $1 million. Dunn said the apparent date change “affected my decision,” and she said the same thing happened when they made a “$20 million decision” on the Gravity Supply Line. She said the GSL “changed on the day of the decision,” and “got smaller” for the same cost. Director Terence Moore told Dunn: “You’re out of order. You’re trying to justify it Debbie, and I’m not buying it.” Dunn sent an e-mail that Moore said accused staff of “improper practices.” Moore said: “I don’t ever want to see a letter with a highlight indicating improper practices by our employees.” The next Amador Transmission Pipeline payment will be $500,000, and is due to the trustee on November 15th. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 21 May 2010 03:02
Sutter Creek Audit Shows Potential Irregularities
Amador County – City Auditor Ralph Murcello reported good news and bad news Monday on the Sutter Creek’08-’09 city audit of financial statements. He said revenues were $863,000 above the city budget, but expenditures were $820,000 over budget. Sutter Creek, like many cities in California, was in bad financial shape. Murcello said finance problems led to being “faced with refunding of an entire grant award,” and it was “amazing” that the city “doesn’t have any long-term debt.” He said some irregularities or overrides of spending controls occurred. One was an apparent loan of “$200,000 to a developer in the form of a non-interest-bearing loan,” done without paperwork, but only using a “verbal agreement.” Another irregularity was the city manager and a private company entering into an agreement for an expansion of the wastewater treatment plant, done without competitive bidding. Mayor Gary Wooten said the $200,000 was not a loan but was spent to exercise and keep alive an option on a land purchase agreement, involving the Nobel Ranch. City Manager Rob Duke said “it would be acceptable to the IRS” for the city to buy the ranch, to be used as a spray field. He said IRS requires that for the city “to buy land, there has to be a public purpose.” He said in the 11th hour of the purchase agreement, Gold Rush Corporation came in and said they would purchase the land from the city for $3.15 million. Duke said “there was no loan.” He said “we weren’t in a contract with Gold Rush,” and the city bought the land to build a golf course and spray field for disposal of treated wastewater from the city’s treatment plant. City Treasurer Cathy Castillo said there “was circumvention of internal controls,” and it “doesn’t matter if it was deemed an emergency.” Wooten said the actions were “management overrides of internal controls,” and “it was necessary to get the deal closed.” Murphy said the $200,000 “is an accumulated total paid to extend the escrow” for the Nobel Ranch land purchase for city spray fields (now part of the Gold Rush project’s golf course spray fields). He said: “It sounds like we dropped the ball on this but we didn’t,” because “all 5 of us on the council were aware of this.” This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Friday, 21 May 2010 06:01
Kristin Bengyel - New Health Director 5-21-10
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Friday, 21 May 2010 05:57
Amador County News TSPN TV with Alex Lane 5-21-10
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Thursday, 20 May 2010 06:14
Air Quality Study Ranks Schools Nationwide Based on Pollution Levels
Amador County – An extensive new study titled “Toxic Air and America’s Schools,” and conducted by USA Today reveals that several Amador County schools rank in the lowest third nationwide where industrial pollution and toxic chemicals in the air threaten the health of students. USA Today says it used the government’s “most up-to-date” EPA model “to track the path of industrial pollution and mapped the locations of almost 128,000 schools to determine the levels of toxic chemicals outside” over an eight-month period. The result is a ranking of 27,800 public, private and parochial schools across the nation. The lowest ranking school for air quality in Amador County was Independence High, which fell into the 23rd percentile. The air is worse at only 29,290 schools across the nation. Amador High and Sutter Creek Elementary fell into the 33rd percentile, or better than 41,992 other schools. Argonaut High was ranked 34th, beating out just 43,244 schools with worse air quality. On a good note, many local educational facilities were also ranked in the top percentiles. Pioneer Elementary ranked at a County high of 92, North Star Independent Study ranked 91st and Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp ranked 90th. Many other local schools fell into the high 80’s. USA Today said the study revealed “potential problems” that were “widespread, insidious and largely unaddressed.” Scientific data shows that children are particularly susceptible to elevated levels of toxic chemicals. After the study revealed Ohio as one of the states within the highest number of low ranking schools, the Ohio EPA “concluded the risk of getting cancer there was 50 times higher than what the state considers acceptable.” USA Today said the U.S. EPA has “all but ignored” examining air quality in school areas, despite investing millions of dollars into new pollution models. Barbara Boxer, Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, vowed Tuesday to “do what I have to do” to make sure children get the protection they need. She said she would be raising the issue during confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama’s next nominee to head the EPA. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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