Sonora -  …due to the numerous winter storm-caused electrical outages and PG&E’s estimated restoration for most of these outages by Thursday, March 24th, two warming centers have been identified as follows:

1. Soulsbyville area: Moose Lodge (off Highway 108, Soulsbyville exit)
20921 Longeway Road Sonora, California 

2. Twain Harte/MiWuk area: Word of Life Fellowship Center
 24630 California 108 Mi-Wuk Village, California

These warming centers will be open to accept people beginning at 8 am today.  Our local chapter of the American Red Cross will be opening and operating these shelters.  Please remember to bring any prescriptions or medical equipment you may need.

Stay tuned to your local radio station or mymotherlode.com for further updates on warming center openings and/or closings and other storm-related bulletins.

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Waste Management’s Cal-Sierra Disposal will make every effort to collect both waste and recycling carts.  However, waste collection is our priority, and we may not be able to service all recycling containers. 

Customers who have not received their regular service this week due to these conditions will be serviced double on their next scheduled service day at no additional charge.

For more information on local service and weather conditions, please contact Waste Management at (209) 532-1413.

Justin J. Caporusso
Communications Manager
Sacramento/Nevada Area
Waste Management
(916) 501-4280 – Direct
(775) 335-9705 – Direct

Sonora -The Tuolumne County Office of Emergency Services (OES) would like to inform Tuolumne County residents and visitors that the National Weather Service has posted a notice for periods of heavy rain over the Sierra Nevada and foothills of Central California Friday afternoon, December 17th, through Friday, December 24th.

Tuolumne County residents and visitors are reminded to prepare for this storm by:

• Reducing or eliminating unnecessary travel during the storm period;
• Having emergency supplies on hand: sandbags in flood-prone zones, food/water, flashlights, battery operated radio, live batteries, prescriptions medications, etc.
• Checking in on neighbors who may have special needs – in advance of the storm;
• Preparing for the potential of power outages due to wind, downed trees, etc.;
• Removing debris from gutters and drainage areas;
• Placing sandbags out before storms arrive in flood-prone zones;
• Checking to insure pets/livestock are safe, especially those that live outdoors;
• Listening to your local radio and television stations for changing weather conditions; and
• Please, call #911 only when it’s truly an emergency.

Sandbags Available

The following locations have emergency supplies of sand for use by residents at their homes and businesses:

• Columbia Airport, Airport Road (back of parking lot);
• Tuolumne Road Yard, corner of Birch and Baker Streets; and
• Groveland Road Yard, Hwy 120 and Wards Ferry Rd. (contact Groveland Fire for assistance).

The following stores have empty sandbags for sale:

• Twain Harte Hardware;
• Andy’s Hardware;
• JS West;
• Orchard Supply Hardware;
• Hurst Ranch Supply; and
• Tractor Supply.

Tuolumne County Fire, CalFire, Public Works, public safety, and law enforcement personnel are on standby and will remain so for the duration.

Where’s Gary?  He DID take this photo… Come on, Gary. Post some photos of yourself, will ya?!

Gary Sipperley is an action hero. He’s a Peace Corp volunteer, talented writer, friend, and uber citizen. What he accomplished last Tuesday from Ethiopia was a big win for him and Tuolumne County.

Gary was the editor of the Sierra Mountain Times (SMT) in Twain Harte when I ran for supervisor in 2005/06. When he asked questions, I saw wheels turning. Fast ones. He was not adversarial, but neither did he try to make friends or influence. He told the truth.

He’s become a favorite constituent.

He eventually left the SMT and awhile back joined the Peace Corp in Ethiopia, working to prevent HIV there. Like other Peace Corp volunteers, he exchanged a comfortable home here  for primitive housing and work of great significance. Although his work predominantly benefits the Ethiopian people now, last Tuesday he scored for us big-time.

About two years ago,  he contacted me to ask if there was a way to get his road plowed when it snows. His home is on a non-county-maintained, very steep road that is treacherous in winter. We tried the usual channels and discovered there is a way, but the cost and obstacles to achieving it were insurmountable.

Gary wouldn’t give up. He emailed, made personal visits, spoke before the Board, and emailed some more. He even emailed from Ethiopia. Tuesday, he prevailed.

Anyone who lives on a non-county maintained road in Tuolumne County knows how frustrating it is to drive unplowed roads in the winter. When our Board passed an ordinance allowing property owners to approve a parcel tax to bring their road up to county standards, maintain, and plow it in perpetuity, staff discovered that the advance work was prohibitively expensive. Since those costs can only be recouped when 2/3 of the impacted property owners vote to assess themselves and they might not choose to do so (the advance work alone including engineering is around $10,000)  , Gary couldn’t get past first base.

He politely and respectfully continued his campaign anyway.

The first time the Board considered his request, it didn’t look good. But we asked staff to make it work. And you know what? They did. Public Works Director Peter Rei, his staff, and Counsel Carlyn Drivdahl found a way. Here’s how it will work:

The county will establish a  trust fund to be used to cover the costs of determining parcel assessments to inform the property owners. Folks like Gary and his neighbors will deposit $1,500 in advance and gather signatures from 75% of the property owners on their road so the engineering can start and a measure to consider an assessment can be placed on a ballot. Based on the subsequent high likelihood of success, the county will go ahead. When it’s approved the advance will be added to and the trust fund repaid via their annual assessment.

Gary made it happen – he scored his goal.

Good job, Citizen Sipperley.  You’re a veritable action hero!

So now the question is, what will Gary take on next? He’s got another year or more in the Peace Corp, but before he left there were still improvements in Twain Harte he wanted to see happen. A bocce ball court, for one.

Gary may be in Ethiopia, but hey, it could happen.

If Citizen Sipperley can do what he did on Tuesday, a bocce ball court should be a cake-walk for him.

The Board is preparing a first-ever 5-year strategic plan to guide our direction and management efforts and would like your input.

We’ll post an online survey you can take between Jan. 26 and Feb. 23rd  (at www.tuolumnecounty.ca.gov) and hold a series of Board meetings in each supervisorial district to hear from you.

Meetings schedule

Specifically, the Board will ask you to answer a few questions:

1. What are the greatest needs in the County now?
2. On what services should the County place highest priority now?
3. What main issues should the County be planning for in the future?
4. How should the Board go about balancing future County budgets?

For more information, please call the County Administrator’s office at 209-533-5511.

I look forward to hearing from many of you in the upcoming weeks. Thanks for your help as we work together to make Tuolumne County better for our children and our future.

Some departments will be open on an emergency basis including public safety responders (Sheriff, Fire, and Ambulance services can be reached as usual at 911).

If you have an non-public safety emergency please call Sheriff’s office dispatchers at 533-5815 and they will contact the appropriate department head.

To view a press release with additional information, click here: http://portal.co.tuolumne.ca.us/ps/psft/V1177297525/Furlough_Press_Release.pdf

Closing down between Christmas and New Years Day is expected to impact the fewest amount of residents and will save approximately $4.4 million in labor and facilities operations costs.

Merry Christmas!

Some critical county departments will remain open (see below). Inconvenient? Yes! Necessary? For sure!

As I am sure you remember, this doesn’t mean a paid vacation for county employees. This means they will not be getting paid and most county buildings won’t be heated (or open) to save a signficant amount of money due to this year’s rough budget. Thanks to all employees (and electeds) who voluntarily gave up work days to stretch the county budget.

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County furloughs. What does this mean as far as availability of County services? When combined with the usual Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years County holiday days of November 26 and 27, December 24 and 25 and January 1, all County offices and services will be closed between November 23 and November 27, and between December 21 and January 1 with the following exceptions:

Emergency Services – Sheriff, Fire, and Ambulance

• Available as usual – 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• Office functions (e.g. Civil Division of the Sheriff’s Office) will be closed

 Snow Plowing

• Services will be provided as needed throughout scheduled furlough periods.

Health & Human Services

• Child Support Services – Open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on November 23-25; December 21-23 & December 28-31.
• Social Services – Open with limited staffing
• Public Health – Open November 23-25.

Behavioral Health

• Crisis Services will be available by calling 533-7000

Tuolumne General Medical Facility: Skilled Nursing Facility

• Available as usual – 24 hours a day, seven days a week

Fiscal Services – Clerk/Auditor/Controller, Treasurer/Tax Collector & Recorder

• Open November 23-25 from 9:00 am–1:00 pm
• Open December 21-23 & December 28-31 from 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Animal Control

• Open November 23-25, but closed on November 28.
• Emergency on-call available November 26 & 27.
• Open December 21-23 & December 28-31 & January 2.
• Emergency on-call available December 24 & 25 and January 1.

Office of County Counsel, District Attorney’s Office and Office of the Public Defender

• County Counsel – Staff on-call to handle unscheduled court appearances.
• District Attorney’s Office – Open November 23-25 & December 21-23 & December 28-31.
• Public Defender’s Office – Open November 23-25 & December 21-23 & December 28-31.

If members of the public have questions about office closures prior to the furlough days, they should call the appropriate department directly or the County Administrator’s Office at 533-5511. If an emergency need for service arises between November 23 and November 27 or December 21 and January 1, please call the Sheriff’s Department at 533-5815 who will contact the appropriate department staff on your behalf.

Before I go into bad news, I have to say that you are amazing! I’ve been working with leaders of the local safety net programs to make sure that critically important basic needs programs continue to feed, clothe, and house the increasing number of people impacted by the depressed economy. The Sonora Area Foundation came to one of our meetings and based on what they heard, put together half a million dollars (including $250,000 in matching funds). These went directly to some key providers to supplement their strained budgets. Now that’s more like it!

Back to ballet slippers. As I write, ATCAA is scrambling to put together a grant application for major stimulus bucks to provide computers, training, and jobs in our county. A major broadband grant was awarded to a local internet service provider. In addition, a project I have been trying to get funded since elected is on the ATCAA list likely to be funded by the federal government: live streaming video of Board of Supervisors meetings AND software that will make it possible for you to download staff memos and attachments to Board agenda items. Before meetings you will be able to read everything the Board has in front of them and afterwards, you will be able to listen and replay exactly what is said and done by every supervisor and every staff member. This will be a great advance of transparency in county government.

Meanwhile back in the soup kitchen, we approved a draft budget in June – that was good, but it wasn’t all good. In order to do that, significant cuts were made in some existing services. As the economy fell, we reduced the budget accordingly. By the end of June, we had cut over 100 positions (in the last year, both vacant and filled, including privatized services like Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice). That’s a lot of local jobs and services and we’re still not down to where we will have to be to maintain a balanced budget when the state passes its budget. After we learn the extent to which the state will take local revenues, we’ll be able to adjust again and adopt a final budget. The news from Sacramento is not good. We anticipate a raid on your tax dollars that now go to Roads and other general fund departments, not to mention reductions in all the Health and Human Services departments.

The Library Department in District 3 alone took a huge hit. The Pinecrest and Mi-Wuk Village library branches have closed and it is only due to the commitment and generosity of community members that Mi-Wuk will re-open their building on a limited basis as a community center/private lending library for the next year. For now, the Tuolumne and Twain Harte libraries are safe. The WOW bookmobile’s time on the road has been cut and its regular driver’s position eliminated. We are looking into reinstating her ½ time as a result of interest from several service clubs in keeping that service going. Amazing! Our draft budget keeps Recreation programs functioning until the end of September. We’re figuring out how to keep youth centers open beyond then and reopen pools next summer. Talks are proceeding in Tuolumne and Twain Harte with community members and groups who are interested in helping that happen. That’s amazing too.

The Board is mindful of the priorities many of you expressed in my Listening Sessions: Public Safety and Roads. We haven’t cut a single filled Sheriff’s Deputy position and hopefully will not. Fire services are intact at last year’s level now, but as you know that isn’t saying a whole lot. Solving the Fire coverage issue is on our list of serious issues to address when we get the budget approved. Public Works’ Road budget is at risk to be raided by the state, perhaps by as much as $1.5 million a year. If that happens, the funds the state takes are the ones available to fix potholes and do snow plowing. Not good.

On the bright side, as the state is taking away money, the federal government made stimulus funds available (no matching dollar requirements) for us to purchase two new transit buses. These trolley buses, purchased with the federal government’s money, were looked at by some as a very frivolous expenditure in the present economy, but they were actually a better deal than regular buses. They cost slightly less than regular buses, cost the same to maintain, and will replace two of our aging fleet that needed to be retired. All that and tourists are supposed to like them better too! Ballet slippers again.

Incredibly, the state government at the time of writing, has not approved a budget. We’ve reduced the county budget significantly in anticipation, cutting whatever we can in advance and steeling ourselves for what is inevitably to come. From everything I have heard, “local government” will bear the burden of most of the cuts. I beg to differ. Local government will survive – it’s real people who will suffer. And that’s a pity.

Please call if you have questions or comments about the necessary budget cuts we will be making. You can contact me at 533-5525. I may not have a lot of good news for you, but if you’d like to meet with me in your community, my District Office Hours are:

August

• Weds., Aug. 5, 2009, 10:00 – 11:30, Tuolumne Museum, Carter Street, Tuolumne
• Weds., Aug. 12, 2009, 10:00 – 11:30, Twain Harte Community Service District, Twain Harte Drive, Twain Harte
• Weds., Aug. 19, 2009, 1:00 – 2:30, Mi-Wuk Village Community Center and Private Lending Library, next to the Post Office

September

• Weds., Sept. 2, 2009, 10: 00 – 11:30, Tuolumne Museum, Carter Street, Tuolumne
• Weds., Sept. 9, 2009, 10:00 – 11:30, Twain Harte Community Service District, Twain Harte Drive, Twain Harte
• Weds., Sept. 16, 2009, 1:00 – 2:30, Mi-Wuk Village Community Center and Private Lending Library, next to the Post Office

Like you the county is dancing in new ballet slippers, but still hungry. That’s just wrong.

Are you concerned about proposed county budget cuts that may impact Tuolumne Recreation, Library, Youth Center, and other important services? Do you have a creative alternative for the county to consider?

The Tuolumne Township Citizen’s Group will host an informational meeting tonight with Teri and County Administrator Craig Pedro to review next year’s budget and the proposed service cuts necessary to make sure the county’s budget remains balanced.

Tuolumne County Budget Town Hall Meeting
Monday, June 8th, 2009, 7:00 pm
Tuolumne Veterans Memorial Hall

Tuolumne County Administrator Craig Pedro will discuss the economic conditions that led to the crisis, answer questions, and present a best-guess estimate of anticipated revenues from the state (a general prediction given ongoing state budget discussions). He’ll also share his proposed draft 2009/2010 budget – including cuts – to be considered by the Board of Supervisors the following day.

Teri is seeking serious, creative, and community-supported ideas on how to continue some at-risk programs. Community volunteer coordinators will also attend and hand out information on their efforts to extend safety net services and enlist volunteers to help out.

Please join us for this important opportunity to be part of the solution for Tuolumne, District 3, and the county.

For more info, contact Teri at 533-5525 or email info.