Tom
Wednesday, 17 February 2010 00:43
AWA Committees Meet Thursday
Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors has 2 committee meetings this week, both set for Thursday. The Public Relations Committee, made up of board Vice President Debbie Dunn and Director Gary Thomas meets 9:30 a.m. Thursday, and its agenda items include discussion of a “Media Policy,” the 2010 Amador County Fair Booth and the 2010 public relations committee Calendar. The committee will also discuss a “Marketing Master Plan,” a “Marketing Conservation Plan” and a “webpage competition.” Other topics on the agenda include “draft website revisions,” announcements and media releases and “quarterly newsletter topics.” Also Thursday, the Amador Water Agency board’s “Rules and Rates Committee” meets at 2:30 p.m. Members are Director Terence Moore and Director Dunn. Topics on the agenda, under the “Administrative Policy Manual,” include review of “policy 2025” and also review of “policy 2020.” Another item for discussion is “creation of policy/ guidelines for Vice President and alternate Vice President training,” and review and revision of water code regarding payment of participation fees.” They could also discuss “Conditional Will Serve” commitments, and the agency’s “Strategic Plan,” including draft wording for its “vision and core values sections.” Listed among the Rules and Rates Committee’s future agenda topics are policies on agency news releases, directors’ “communication to media,” “staff and management communications to media,” and records retention. Both committees meet at the AWA office on Ridge Road and the meetings are open to the public. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Wednesday, 17 February 2010 00:34
Amador County News TSPN TV with Alan Sprenkel 2-17-10
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Monday, 15 February 2010 08:32
AWA Considers Commitments, Finances in Ione, Tanner Study Approvals
Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors considered its commitments to future customers and its finances last week before approving studies of the Tanner and Ione water capacities. Acting Engineering Manager Erik Christeson said the Amador Water System has a typical peak flow of 2.6 million gallons a day, but this year’s peak was 2.2 million gallons. Christeson the agency has “over-committed our will-serves” by 226,000 gallons a day, and 3 million gallons a day is all they “can push through” the Tanner water treatment plant, which serves Ione and the Amador Water System. The system is permitted for a total of 3,384,900 gallons a day, which is a number that was used in issuing “will-serves,” which are promises, often conditional promises, of water service. President Bill Condrashoff said “since then we have learned we should go with the actual capacity.” Director Don Cooper said he wanted to clarify that “we are over-committed if all of those existing will-serves were built out.” And he asked if money was collected on the will-serves. Christeson said only 2, when Wildflower built a 2 million-gallon tank, and JTS Communities built a “booster pump.” Interim General Manger Gene Mancebo said most will-serve holders “have made a participation fee payment,” and the board has a reimbursement agreement with Wildflower and JTS. Cooper said 10,000 per “Equivalent Dwelling Unit” was $3.21 million, and one of his concerns was “stranded assets.” Director Terence Moore said it could be stranded assets, but funding for this study “has already been paid for with participation fees, and this is an appropriate use of these funds.” Director Gary Thomas said “for the past year, we’ve been looking at interim studies for this.” He said “we have to move forward,” and “our job is to provide water for the communities.” They have $3.2 million in will-serve commitments, Condrashoff said, but in the last 2-and-a-half years, “35 houses have cashed in their will-serves and built.” He said “growth didn’t come to pay for” the Amador Transmission Pipeline, whose customers now are paying for it. Condrashoff said the AWA cut $1.2 million from operating revenues last year and might have to buy capacity from Ione at $750,000. Thomas said he understood being “cash strapped,” but conservation at the prison and elsewhere is meant to enhance capacity, and with the interim study, they can find more ways to “eke out capacity and help all of the customers.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Monday, 15 February 2010 17:00
AWA Plans Special Meeting at Camanche Homeowners Association Meeting
Amador County – Amador Water Agency has announced 3 meetings this week, all set for Thursday, including a special board meeting to be held during the Lake Camanche Homeowners’ Association meeting. The AWA board of directors announced the special meeting for 7 p.m. Thursday to allow board members to attend the meeting and discuss AWA matters without a violation of the Brown Act. The agency discussed the Camanche water improvement district at its meeting last week, which is currently in the application process for upgrades. Financial Services Manager Mike Lee said the Camanche project application for a grant was still being processed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. District 2 Director Gary Thomas asked if the project is “slipping” and if it will “be further down the road” before it receives funding. Lee said “the state will give the most funding, and the USDA money would be our share.” Interim General Manager Gene Mancebo said AWA received environmental questions, and consultants were working on the answers, regarding the project to improve the Camanche groundwater system with a new tank, well and piping. The Camanche upgrades are 3 parts, including a new connection pipeline, and building a newer, bigger storage tank. The plan included replacing its existing 100,000-gallon storage tank with a 1 million-gallon tank, or something smaller, depending on funding. AWA held a water rate workshop for Camanche Water District 7 in December, looking at possible rate increases to fix a “structural cash deficit.” Lake Camanche Village water and wastewater systems have not seen a rate increase since 2006. AWA has been working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on grant to add a water storage tank, at an estimated cost of $1.8 million. The AWA on December 31st approved a revised financial plan for the project, and planned a February public hearing. The agency has already spent about $100,000 toward the project, and staff said the “sunk costs” likely could be reimbursed through the grant. Also Thursday, AWA has 2 committee meetings schedule, including a 9:30 a.m. meeting of the Public Relations Committee, and a 2:30 p.m. meeting of the Rules & Rates Committee. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Monday, 15 February 2010 17:00
Developers Support Water capacity Study in Ione
Amador County – Ione Villages LLC representative Rob Aragon and his partners asked the Amador Water Agency board of directors for one last condition to be met in its drive to further develop Ione, and the board obliged, on a narrow, 3-2 vote last week. The board approved studies of increasing capacity in Ione and the Tanner water treatment plant, with Aragon and other developers getting their wishes. For Aragon, it was about trust. AWA Vice President Debbie Dunn said “Castle Oaks and Wildflower have gotten this far because there are conversations” with the AWA, and she thought their relationship was one of trust. She said the agency’s cash shortage had her worried about funding a $228,000 study. AWA President Bill Condrashoff said he was worried that the studies being funded by the Amador Water System would draw on internal agency loans to other water systems, which might then have to scramble to pay off the loans, at up to 7 percent interest, which on a million dollars would be $70,000. AWA Interim General Manager Gene Mancebo said the Amador Water System has a budget surplus and would not affect the other systems. Financial Service Manager Mike Lee said an internal loan could affect the other systems, but an external loan (in the form of running a line of credit) would not affect the other systems. Dunn told Aragon that the AWA has a bond payment coming up for its Amador Transmission Pipeline, which “was one of your conditions,” and she asked Aragon to come back when he had a “timeline” because she was not really comfortable approving the study. Aragon said “my timeline would be post haste, because it’s going to take time to understand.” He said they are not going get a developer to say: “well, we’re going to pull 50 permits in late 2010.” He said one of the conditions of the will-serves is “improvement to the Ione system” and he asked: “Can you tell me what that is?” He said a 4-6 month delay is a deal-breaker for him. Dunn later made a motion to approve both studies, but only after the AWA board approved its budget in June. The motion failed for lack of a second, and the board later voted to approve the studies, 3-2, with Directors Terence Moore, Gary Thomas and Don Cooper in favor. Voting against were Condrashoff and Dunn. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Monday, 15 February 2010 17:00
Constitutional Convention Proponents Suspend Efforts to Seek Ballot Measure
Amador County – Proponents of a constitutional convention in California have cited a lack of funding and public support as reasons to suspend signature-gathering efforts to place the measure on the November ballot. Reform California, an east bay coalition of reform, advocacy and business groups, said last week it has spent about $1 million towards gathering the 694,364 necessary signatures, but expected more donations. If the measure were to go forward, it would establish a statewide delegation of citizens, mostly from outside the political establishment, to propose various types of government reform. The coalition said our state government suffers from “drastic dysfunction” and our state’s founders gave us the ability to form a convention as a tool for reform. They said the California Constitution is 75,000 words and has been amended more than 500 times, compared to the US Constitution, which is 4,500 words and has been amended 17 times. The coalition initially gained major support but has suffered from internal disputes over what areas of reform should be addressed and whether delegates should have political experience. They have alleged that efforts have been stymied by some private signature-gathering firms it says are violating state and federal antitrust laws and the constitutional rights of the movement's organizers. The group’s attorneys sent letters to these firms outlining the alleged misdeeds in early February. “I was very disappointed to learn that the efforts to gain the public’s support for a constitutional convention have been suspended,” said Assemblymember Alyson Huber, 10th District representative and one of the many elected leaders backing the movement. “We must have a dialogue with the citizens of California in order to fundamentally shift they way we do business. I hope the legislature can find the courage to listen and act to implement the reforms our state so desperately needs,” she said. Bay Area Council CEO Jim Wunderman, whose group helped launched the effort, told the Associated Press that the effort would be dead unless it raised more than $3 million by March 1st. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Monday, 15 February 2010 08:33
Amador Council of Tourism Preps for European Vacationers
Amador County – The Amador Council of Tourism on Thursday discussed its upcoming 49er Treasure Trail, and also heard a report on possible future European vacationers coming through the Mother Lode. Maureen Funk gave a short presentation on the 49er Treasure Trail event at the Jackson Revitalization Committee meeting last Thursday night. Funk said the tourism council has struck a deal with the Ledger Dispatch for 2 full pages of ads in the paper, and a couple of spaces remained for sponsorship. She said TSPN and Hometown Radio were also giving ad deals. Funk said the Amador Council of Tourism is looking for a location to hold its March 11th meeting, the last before the 49er Treasure Trail event, March 27th and 28th. Funk also reported on her trip to the “Go West, Sacramento” travel show the first week of February. She said the Amador Council of Tourism and the Gold Country Visitors Association partnered to have a booth at the show, and had many European travel agents attend. She said European agents “depend on these offices to line them up with unusual trips,” after standard runs to San Francisco and the Bay Area. Funk said “after you’ve been there and done that, we’re another alternative.” She said European travel is very different from America, and it is thriving. She said she and another booth worker at the show had appointments all day for 2 days, and she “developed relationships with 40 people,” including travel agents and even some journalists who had been to Amador County that day, and needed information. Funk said she also got a stack of business cards at the show and she “will be following up with the agents, so Amador County will benefit from this.” Another travel show for Amador Council of Tourism was planned for this past weekend, hosted by the Los Angeles Times. The ACT office last weekend moved into the new Transit Center on Valley View Way in Sutter Creek. For information, call (209)267-9249 or e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Online see www.touramador.com. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Monday, 15 February 2010 08:35
Jackson Rancheria, Revitalization Committee Resume ''Shop Jackson'' Drive
Amador County – About 60 business owners and employees attended the 2nd “Shop Jackson” campaign kickoff meeting Thursday at the Civic Center. Mayor Connie Gonsalves led off the meeting of the Jackson Revitalization Committee by introducing its members. She said the second installment of the “Shop Jackson” Program plans to use Facebook for publicity. Gonsalves introduced the recent $5,000 winner of the Shop Jackson grand prize, Realtor Kellee Davenport. Martha Perez, seller of the winning ticket at her Jose’s Restaurant, said she had told her employees how important it would be for the restaurant to have given out the winning ticket because of the publicity they would get from the award. Councilman Wayne Garibaldi said Jose’s had given out approximately 45 percent of the total Shop Jackson drawing tickets. Robert Mees said the next step for the Shop Jackson campaign was to re-sign members and get new member sign-ups. Part of that, he said, will be to ask for $50 gift certificates to the businesses. He said if enough of those are gathered, they will be able to give them away in a bulk of 20, worth $1,000 in gift certificates, at the next drawing. The other gift certificates would be given to other prize winners. Mees said the benefit is that it brings shoppers to the businesses in Jackson, and when the shoppers cash in the prizes, they fill out a form, that can then be used to direct-market to those existing customers. Membership for the next Shop Jackson program has deadlines in February and June because of the Jackson Rancheria’s Arrow Magazine publishing deadlines. The magazine goes to the Jackson Rancheria’s 500,000 active Dreamcatchers Club Cardholders. Shop Jackson participating businesses can capitalize on the “thousands of casino visitors and local Dreamcatcher’s market.” The Rancheria has 300,000 monthly visitors and more than 26,000 Dreamcatchers live in Amador and Calaveras counties. Mees said members get distribution, promotion and exposure at event in the county, and a map identifies all participating businesses. The deadline is February 25th for Spring Promotions, including Dandelion Days, 49er Treasure Trail, and the Sutter Creek Duck Race. June 1st is the deadline for Summer promotions, and the raffle drawings are in September. Garibaldi said the Jackson Revitalization Committee is looking for volunteers for a “Shop Jackson” steering committee. For info, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call City Manager Mike Daly at 223-1646. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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