Tom
Thursday, 20 May 2010 06:06
ACUSD Bands Get Big Honors At Forum Music Festival
Amador County - On Saturday, May 15th, the Amador County Unified School District Sixth Grade Honor Band and Jackson Jr. High Intermediate and Advanced Bands took a field trip to the Forum Music Festival in the San Francisco Bay area. In the morning, each band performed for nationally recognized adjudicators at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill. After the performance, an awards ceremony took place where the Sixth Grade Honor Band and Jackson Junior High Intermediate Band were presented with a Silver rating and the Jackson Junior High Advanced Band was presented with a Gold rating. “The Forum Music Festival and others like it are like standardized testing for Music,” explains the bands’ director, Christopher Tootle. “The bands are judged on concepts such as Tone, Intonation, and Technique, then given a rating that describes their progress on a national level for their age group,” he said. Tootle explained that “Silver and Gold ratings puts them in the top 10-20 percent of the nation’s student musicians. That is a phenomenal achievement!” The performances were followed by a trip to Six Flags, Discovery Kingdom to celebrate. Outstanding Musicianship awards were presented to Analysa Spears, 6th Grade Honor Band percussion; Will Newey, Intermediate Band baritone; and Ariane Clifford, Advanced Band flute. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Thursday, 20 May 2010 06:09
Ione PD Remodel Cost Rises With ADA Regs.
Amador County – The Ione City Council held a workshop with its new city engineer Tuesday and discussed upcoming civic projects, including the police office remodel, circulation improvements, and other work. City Engineer John Wanger of Coastland Engineering said a renovation of the police office inside of city hall grew in cost over the original estimate. That was due to the need to bring city hall’s public areas compliant to Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility requirements. Wanger said a “certified access specialist” looked at city hall and the police department plans, then the plans were changed to meet ADA specifications. Wenger said during the process of looking at ADA and the police department remodel, there were several meetings with City Manager Kim Kerr and Ione Police Chief Michael Johnson, so the engineer could get input and approval on changes to the plan. He said “the plan now comes into compliance with ADA, but it goes over budget.” To keep costs down, the engineer said the city can bid out portions of the work and complete the remodel in stages. Kerr said $60,000 was budgeted for the police department remodel, and the original quote was $30,000. Kerr said the city does not have to make the entire city hall building ADA accessible because it is not all accessible to the public, but the city must make it ADA accessible “from the parking lot all the way to the bathrooms.” Kerr said until they know the final numbers, staff did not want to spend a lot of money. She told the council that leasing space for a police department office “would not be cost-effective.” Wanger said the police department remodel project likely would take 30 to 40 days. Circulation improvement was also discussed, with a “Pavement Management System,” which the engineer also worked on. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Thursday, 20 May 2010 06:11
Ione City Engineer Brings Caltrans Experience
Amador County – Ione City Manager Kim Kerr introduced the Ione City Council Tuesday to its newly contracted engineer, to get to know him and learn about his work so far. She said City Engineer John Wanger has been “gathering information and working on various projects for the city,” and she wanted the council to meet him. Among projects he had looked at were a “Pavement Management System,” a Capital Improvement Program, and construction of bathrooms at the Ed Hughes Memorial Arena. Mayor Skip Schaufel asked the engineer “how many dealings” he has had with Caltrans. The mayor said Ione is “surrounded by highways,” and to get projects completed, you must have Caltrans place them on their 5-year State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) list. Wanger said he has worked with Caltrans in 4 different districts, including Amador County’s District 10, based in Stockton. He said as a city manager, he has “been the recipient of a bypass through the town” he worked for. Schaufel said Highway 104, and sidewalks along Preston Avenue and Church Street were priorities, as was the Ione Bypass. Schaufel said he has spoken with past city council members “who never got along with Caltrans, so they never talked to them,” and the Ione Bypass never made it to the STIP list. Wanger said he has made high-level contacts with Caltrans on past projects. He said: “I have had to talk to the district director because it had risen to that level, and I have had to talk to a legislator, because it had risen to that level.” Vice Mayor David Plank asked if Ione was the first city in Amador County that Coastland has worked for. Wanger said it was the first city, but the company has worked for the county in the past. He recommended Ione create a 5-year Capital Improvement Program, and he offered an 18 to 21 week schedule. It included a “project kickoff meeting,” gathering background information, establishing project parameters, prioritizing projects, “establishing funding parameters,” and completing a CIP document. The process would include meetings throughout, he said. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Thursday, 20 May 2010 06:13
Dunn Requests AWA Board Reagendize $900K County Bridge Loan
Amador County – Amador Water Agency Director Debbie Dunn last week requested that the board today reconsider a “bridge loan” it approved to correct a cash flow problem. Dunn then wondered why her request set off a series of e-mail exchanges, culminating in her e-mail Monday to the other 4 board members asking: “What in the world is happening here?” Dunn sent the first e-mail (Friday, April 14th) to General Manager Gene Mancebo and board President Bill Condrashoff, saying that after studying the Amador Transmission Pipeline’s “Series A bond agreement, it appears that the board may have taken a vote with information that is contrary to the agreement.” She said “unless there is a simple explanation that differs from what I am reading, I believe it prudent and feel obligated to request an item be added to the May 20th agenda to entertain a motion to reconsider these items and this decision.” The AWA board last Thursday approved seeking a $900,000 loan from the Amador County Water Development Fund to free up cash so the agency can make a payment on 2006 bonds that financed the Amador Transmission Pipeline. Mancebo shared Dunn’s e-mail with agency attorney Steve Kronick, and neither of them knew what Dunn was referring to as “information contrary to the agreement.” A follow-up e-mail from Condrashoff said Dunn was concerned the Pipeline bond payment was not due May 15th, as Finance Manager Mike Lee told the board. Kronick, in an e-mail to the entire board, said he consulted bond attorney Jim Boyd about the specifics of the 2006 bond, which Boyd worked on. Boyd wrote that Lee was correct on the payment date, and noted that the June 1st interest payment date is not the same as the date the agency must make its payments. The bond issuer typically wants “some lead time to make sure” the “payments can be made, particularly where there is no reserve fund.” The agency used “bond insurance” instead of “funding a reserve” on the bond. Kronick said he “copied the other board members in transmitting (Boyd’s) response so that they also could benefit from the information that he provided.” Dunn’s e-mail to the other board members said: “I noticed a couple of inconsistencies but I didn’t think it was that big a deal.” Her initial e-mail included a quote of the “Rules of Order” on procedures to make a “motion to reconsider,” and a copy of a page from the AWA Employee Handbook, with portions of it highlighted, including employee obligations, and the definition of the term “improper practice” by employees. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Thursday, 20 May 2010 06:24
Amador County News TSPN TV with Alex Lane 5-20-10
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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 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 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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Water
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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Transportation
