Last night I began blogging and partially completed this when I clicked “SAVE DRAFT,” or so I thought. Some of you received it last night… before it was finished.

So here then, is the complete post. Last night’s post is indicated by blue ink and italics.

BOS to meet 2x next week

The BOS will be in session both Monday and Tuesday next week.

On Monday the 5th of January at 12:00 noon, Supervisor Dick Pland and Supervisor-elect John Gray will be sworn in and the Board will conduct its annual election for Chair and Vice Chair. The Chair is traditionally rotated by District and this year District 3 (that’s us) is next in line for Chair and District 1 (Supervisor Bass) should be Vice Chair. The normal rotation got disrupted with the passing of Supervisor Jim Peterson (District 3 was skipped while I got a few years under my belt), but if all goes as planned, we’ll get back on track this year.

If you’d like to join us, please do. It’s a very short meeting and a good opportunity to meet our newest Supervisor.

Our first regular meeting of the year will follow on Tuesday at 9:00 am. There are some interesting items on the agenda. Among them:

• Consideration of a draft revision of the Board of Supervisors Committees, Organizations, and Partnerships Handbook. Staff has proposed streamlining some Board committees to improve efficiency and productivity. We want to ensure that our committees are still relevant and that they help us accomplish the business for which you elected us. Several committees are proposed to be eliminated, others are proposed to be restructured.
• A staff report on progress toward meeting 2008 Board goals. Despite a constrained budget, we’ve accomplished quite a bit of what we laid out at the beginning of 2008. The Union Democart thought so too (but hasn’t posted the published editorial online yet).
• A draft of our first-ever County of Tuolumne 5 Year Plan. County administrator Pedro is seeking Board direction on approving, removing, and prioritzing plan components. Board discussion and direction will be reflected in the draft’s return – likely on the 13th – for final approval.

There’s more on the agenda – you can check it out at our Board of Supervisors’ Agenda page. The Board Clerk will provide copies of staff reports for all agenda items, if requested. Call 533-5521 for more info.

Not on the agenda but something I’ve requested Public Works to address during Oral Comment (at 9:00 am) is the snow plowing situation, particularly in District 3. If you are concerned about cars still parked on the streets, particular problem areas, or other, please let me know. Because it’s not on the agenda, we won’t take public comment, but can get it on an upcoming agenda if there’s interest.

Unfortunately, we don’t yet have live or archived online streaming video of Board meetings, but thankfully KVML AM 1450 features live audio streaming of Board meeting, as does www.mymotherlode.com.

Have a great weekend and Happy New Year!

The Board elected me to the Vice Chair spot so I’ll be watching Supervisor Pland very carefully to be able to follow in his capable footsteps next year.

The following are my Board Committee assignments in ’08:

BOS Planning, Chair
Public Protection, Vice-Chair
Recreation/Library, Chair

I will also serve as a regular delegate to the following groups:

LAFCO, Mountain Counties Water Association, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, Tuolumne County Narcotics Team, and YES Council.

I was appointed by Supervisor Pland as an alternate delegate to the:

Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs, First 5, Tuolumne County Transportation Council, Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau, and the Yosemite Gateway Partnership.

A number of these are new committee assignments to me and I look forward to learning more about them.