Calaveras Supes To Dig Into Full Agenda
San Andreas, CA – The Calaveras supervisors face a chock-full agenda on Tuesday.
Already approved during a March 7 closed session was the final selection of a new Environmental Management Agency Administrator/Air Pollution Control Officer (APCO). The position was vacated late last October by Jason Boetzer, who took a position in Sacramento.
During the meeting the supervisors will memorialize their choice by passing a resolution officially hiring Bradley “Brad” Banner for the job. He reportedly brings over 30 years of related experience; the past 11 were spent as the Environmental Health Director for the Butte County Public Health Department.
Banner holds a bachelor of science degree in environmental health from the University of Washington and is a registered environmental health specialist with the State Department of Health Services. His compensation was set as the existing base rate of $58.81 per hour.
Sheriff Looks To Squeeze Midyear Money
Sheriff Rick DiBasilio returns to the board with the hope of squeezing more midyear funding dollars for his department, mostly from the general fund, which requires a four-fifths majority vote to pass. At the Feb. 28 meeting the board approved various budget adjustments but deferred action on the sheriff’s request for an additional $861,088.
Since overtime costs are exceeding budgeted amounts at a rate of $ 35,225 per month, interim CAO Manuel Lopez reviewed the request, agreeing that the sheriff’s department requires an adjustment of $375,000 for the five months remaining of the year. The sheriff is also seeking over $8,600 to cover some safety equipment purchases; specifically, ballistic vests and micro T-sights. He is also requesting appropriations of $10,000 and $75,000, respectively to cover dispatch and jail personnel overtime hours. Also requested is nearly $14,000 from the regulatory fee fund for tactical gear and monocular equipment.
The board also expects to pass a resolution allowing the county to receive emergency funding reimbursements from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) to repair county roads and infrastructure damaged during recent storms events. At its Feb. 28 meeting, public works updated the supervisors on road damage resulting in probable expenditures that exceed the county’s ability to fund without external aid.
Disaster Dollars For Storm Damage Repairs
Costs incurred for eligible emergency and permanent work are 75 percent reimbursable through FEMA, 18.75 percent from CalOES through the CDAA, with an approximate 6.25 percent local match on eligible work. Public works is recommending that the local match be made from the general fund. Current estimates for recovery are between $5.5 million and $5.7 million, which may result in up to $356,000 in local match over the next several years
Among the letters of support the supervisors are expected to approve sending is one to back a grant proposal to tap additional federal lands access program (FLAPs) funding for the long-planned scenic Highway 4 “Wagon Trail” project. Prospects look good since it was highly ranked for it and now has local match requirements leveraging county roadway impact mitigation (RIM) funds.
The board also plans to send letters of strong support to California Assemblymember Jim Frazier and Senator Jim Beall, backing the AB 1 transportation infrastructure funding and reform proposal. These communications note that Calaveras currently strains to maintain nearly 700 miles of locally maintained roads and a transit system serving rural and disadvantaged citizens with dwindling revenues.
In Other Business…
In other business, the supervisors will consider establishing two new “no parking” zones. One is along a narrowed section of Main Street in downtown Murphys, where a 140-foot segment of the road’s eastbound shoulder between the Union Public Utility District’s driveway and the west abutment of the Angels Creek bridge is reportedly too narrow to safely allow for both on-street parking and pedestrians.
Too, to prevent on-street parking from interfering with the safe passage of bicyclists accessing the Arnold Rim Trail Cedar Center Bikeway Connection, a no parking zone is proposed for both sides of Oak Circle from Oak Court to the western end of the bike lanes at the beginning of the cul-de-sac, a length of approximately 583 feet.
Among the proclamations slated to be made is March 30 Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day; April as Child Abuse Prevention and Alcohol Awareness months; also April 3-9 as Public Health Week. Tuesday’s meeting, following an 8 a.m. closed session with legal counsel, will open to the public in the supervisors’ chambers (891 Mountain Ranch Road).
