| Riverside County battling $71M budget gap |
| Riverside County supervisors on Tuesday will continue their efforts to close a $71 million deficit by making mid-year budget adjustments and discussing how future cuts will be shared across departments.
Tuesday's report is the first in two years that has no additional losses to the discretionary revenue, according to the summary by executive officer Bill Luna.
Revenue for the $609 million discretionary general fund is “not expected to increase significantly over the next couple years,” he noted in the report.
The mid-year status update and adjustments come as county supervisors begin shaping the 2010-11 fiscal year budget. [Article] |
| by Erica Felci, Desert Sun. 2010-02-08 |
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| County supervisors to conduct midyear budget review |
| While Humboldt County is seeing a healthier general fund than expected, officials continue to keep their eyes out for state cuts that could mean losing millions of dollars.
The Board of Supervisors will hear from staff Tuesday on a midyear budget review, which acknowledges the county's $3.87 million general fund balance as of October. According to a staff report, this is a much better number than what staff had projected -- less than $1 million.
”This positive performance was due in large part to the efforts of multiple county departments to cut back expenditures,” the report said. [Article] |
| by Donna Tam, Eureka Times-Standard. 2010-02-08 |
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| SB County to apply stricter regulations to ConRep clients' housing |
| How did seven men wind up living together in a house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Upland?
Officials with the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health, who oversee a program that all of the men were involved in, said it was by word of mouth and that their clients locate their independent housing on their own.
"There is no paper" listing potential housing, said Richard Louis, assistant director of the department. "These are clients who have been in a treatment program for years and years and years. They become friends. One person finds a place and others can move in with him. It's word of mouth. We do not provide addresses."
In 2009, seven patients of the state Forensic Conditional Release Program, or ConRep, moved into a house in the 300 block of South Bixby Way. [Article] |
| by Lori Consalvo, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. 2010-02-08 |
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| Tehama County looks to triple drug court capacity |
| The Board of Supervisors will consider Tuesday morning whether to use a federal grant to more than triple the Tehama County Adult Felon Drug Court system.
The system, funded entirely by the state, was implemented in the county in late 2007 as a way to reduce repeat offenses by referring non-violent convicts into sober living houses, treatment centers and support groups like Narcotics Anonymous and drug testing as often as five days a week, according to county documents. Participants in the program are also paired with child care, employment training, transportation and housing.
The program has been capable of serving 15 people at a time for 14 months each, but if approved, the funds - nearly $1.3 million, including a county match of just $16,000 - would be used to increase the program's capacity to 50 people. [Article] |
| by GEOFF JOHNSON, Red Bluff Daily News. 2010-02-08 |
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| Yuba County D.A. investigator charged with embezzlement |
| A Yuba County District Attorney's Office investigator has been charged with embezzling from the office.
The charge against John Paul DeWoody Jr., 49, was filed Thursday in Yuba County Superior Court by the state Attorney General's Office.
DeWoody, a former Yuba County Sheriff's Department employee, was not booked into jail but was given a notice to appear Feb. 23 in Yuba County Superior Court for an arraignment, said District Attorney Pat McGrath.
According to the complaint signed by Deputy Attorney General Clifford E. Zall, DeWoody embezzled money between July 1, 2006, and May 31 of last year. The exact amount of the alleged theft was not specified. [Article] |
| by Rob Young, Grass Valley Union. 2010-02-08 |
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| Cristallago draws interest from developers around the lake |
| LAKE COUNTY – Many people around the county are watching to see what the Board of Supervisors will decide about a large housing and resort project in north Lakeport, including some other developers involved in local projects.
The Cristallago project will be back before the board at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, at which time supervisors are expected to vote on the Sierra Club Lake Group's appeal of the project's final environmental impact report, which the Lake County Planning Commission certified this past October, as Lake County News has reported.
The actual merits of the project are scheduled to go before the Board of Supervisors in March.
Cristallago Development Corp. – which includes developers Matt Boeger and Mark Mitchell – envision the development including up to 650 homes, 325 resort units including a hotel, an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus signature golf course, a commercial development and open space on 860 acres along Hill Road. [Article] |
| by Elizabeth Larson, Lake County News. 2010-02-08 |
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| Butte County Water Commission wary of Delta plan |
| OROVILLE -- A conservation plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, including plans for a system of tunnels and/or canals to bypass the estuary, raised questions from the Butte County Water Commission last week.
Paul Marshall, operations and planning manager for the Department of Water Resources, mapped out the current status of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan.
During the presentation, water commissioners asked what the plans mean for Northern California, specifically whether a new system around the Delta would open up ways for more water to move from north to south.
Marshall said the plan doesn't affect water contracts and "shouldn't affect the way you get water." [Article] |
| by HEATHER HACKING, Oroville Mercury Register. 2010-02-08 |
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| Marin supervisors used personal touch to distribute $612,000 |
| Marin County supervisors distributed more than $612,000 from a discretionary fund over the past 19 months to a wide range of charities, civic and community groups and pet projects.
After the Marin County Civil Grand Jury criticized the dispersals in 2001, supervisors began issuing detailed lists of the allocations. In its report, the grand jury wrote: "The existing process is not a healthy one. Alliances are created and favors curried by reason of such payments."
Each supervisor is permitted to allocate an average of $100,000 per year in community service money without seeking the approval of fellow board members. The maximum allowable allocation, established by the supervisors themselves, was reduced by 12 percent in 2001 and by another $50,000 in 2008. Supervisors occasionally under-spend during a given year and roll the money over so they can spend more in future years. [Article] |
| by Richard Halstead, Marin Independent Journal. 2010-02-08 |
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| 10-step outline to fight hunger |
| The authors of a new report on hunger have 10 suggestions for getting more eligible people to take part in San Diego County’s underused food-stamp program.
For five years, the region has ranked last among two dozen major American centers that participate in the hunger-relief program. Last year, San Diego’s percentage of eligible residents enrolled in the federal food stamp program was 35 percent. Philadelphia’s was 93 percent, according to an advocacy group that tracks the data. [Article] |
| by Matthew T. Hall, San Diego Union-Tribune. 2010-02-08 |
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| Fatal citrus threat approaches county line |
| Ventura County citrus growers are bracing themselves for what could be the most dire threat their crops have ever faced. The Asian citrus psyllid, an invasive insect that can transmit an incurable, fatal disease to citrus trees, has been steadily making its way north from Mexico for months and was most recently discovered just 20 miles from the Ventura County line in Van Nuys. [Article] |
| by Marlize van Romburgh, Pacific Coast Business Times. 2010-02-08 |
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| Area bail bondsmen sue county sheriff |
| Local bail bondsmen have filed a lawsuit against Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown and others, alleging that the defendants prevented jail inmates from making free phone calls to the bond companies and subsequently hurting the bondsmen’s business.
The suit, filed Jan. 7 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, names as defendants Brown, sheriff’s Lt. Mark Mahurin, and Securus Technologies and Evercom Systems, corporations that provide the jail phone system. Mahurin is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the county jail’s phone system, according to the document. [Article] |
| by Samantha Yale Scroggin, Santa Maria Times. 2010-02-08 |
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| SB County sheriff reflects on first year |
| In his first year as San Bernardino County sheriff, Rod Hoops hasn't had to lead a department shakeup or champion sweeping policy change.
"The organization was in great shape when I became sheriff," he said.
But in more subtle ways, Hoops has begun to adapt to the 156-year-old institution.
He said he's committed to turning over more day-to-day decision-making -- as it relates to personnel and budget -- to individual stations and divisions that stretch across the nation's largest geographic county.
"Too often things are done here on this floor," Hoops said late last month, from his office at San Bernardino headquarters. "I want people to feel a little less stressed."
He's cut the overtime budget by more than 50 percent per pay period, allowing the hiring of 25 new deputies. Without the new class of recruits, the department was nearing vacancies in 150 sworn positions. [Article] |
| by PAUL LAROCCO, Riverside Press-Enterprise. 2010-02-08 |
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| SB County sheriff reflects on first year |
| In his first year as San Bernardino County sheriff, Rod Hoops hasn't had to lead a department shakeup or champion sweeping policy change.
"The organization was in great shape when I became sheriff," he said.
But in more subtle ways, Hoops has begun to adapt to the 156-year-old institution.
He said he's committed to turning over more day-to-day decision-making -- as it relates to personnel and budget -- to individual stations and divisions that stretch across the nation's largest geographic county.
"Too often things are done here on this floor," Hoops said late last month, from his office at San Bernardino headquarters. "I want people to feel a little less stressed."
He's cut the overtime budget by more than 50 percent per pay period, allowing the hiring of 25 new deputies. Without the new class of recruits, the department was nearing vacancies in 150 sworn positions. [Article] |
| by PAUL LAROCCO, Riverside Press-Enterprise. 2010-02-08 |
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| New jail tops agenda |
| For the second week in a row, a study session comprises the bulk of the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors' agenda for its regular meeting.
This week's meeting was primarily dedicated to an update of the county's general plan update process. Next week the board will receive a detailed accounting of progress on the new jail complex facility and some of the anticipated challenges the county still faces in building the $56 million project. [Article] |
| by Claudette Langley, Calaveras Enterprise. 2010-02-08 |
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| General plan gets infusion of new blood |
| Brenda Gillarde, has stepped into the role of general plan coordinator and will shepherd the process through completion sometime in 2011. Enterprise photo by Claudette Langley
With only two days on the job, Calaveras County's new general plan coordinator experienced trial by fire as she was introduced at a study session on the plan Tuesday.
Planning Director George White kicked off what turned out to be a lengthy and intense session by introducing Brenda Gillarde, who stepped into her role Friday and said she has already made Calaveras County her new home. [Article] |
| by Claudette Langley, Calaveras Enterprise. 2010-02-08 |
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| Officials unsure of who will enforce levee order |
| STOCKTON - State officials say the county should take the lead on coordinating removal of encroachments, including a private swimming pool, on or near a north Stockton levee.
But county officials say they're not sure they have that authority.
Meanwhile, it's been five months since the state's Central Valley Flood Protection Board decided those Bear Creek encroachments - trees, walkways, patios and the pool - must be torn out, following the recommendations of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Each month that passes puts hundreds of homeowners in the Twin Creeks subdivision closer to mandatory flood insurance, as well as thousands more south of the Calaveras River, where the board has yet to even begin addressing a larger and more complex set of encroachments. [Article] |
| by Alex Breitler, Stockton Record. 2010-02-08 |
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| Fresno Co. employers who cheat workers targeted |
| The number of workers cheated out of their wages has surged in the recession -- and now prosecutors and investigators are gearing up to go after unscrupulous employers.
The Fresno County District Attorney's Office is working with legal advocates to identify the most egregious cases. Each one that they flag will be sent to the Sheriff's Office or local police department with instructions to investigate, said John Savrnoch, chief assistant district attorney. [Article] |
| by Robert Rodriguez, Fresno Bee. 2010-02-08 |
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| PG&Eto attempt harnessing power of Pacific Ocean |
| EUREKA -- The Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is weeks away from submitting an application to the federal government for a first-of-its kind project to test wave energy devices off the Humboldt County coast.
The pilot project could be a proving ground for the large-scale production of energy from waves, but a host of environmental and economic concerns will have to be addressed before that can happen. At a public meeting at the Veteran's Hall Tuesday night, a working group made up of representatives from PG&E, state and federal agencies, commercial and sport fishing interests, and surfing and environmental groups outlined the promise and potential effects of new technologies.
PG&E expects to submit a pilot project license application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by Feb. 26. It will ask to test three to four different types of wave power generators in an area 1/2-mile wide and 2 miles long about 3 miles to sea roughly west of Arcata. The intense wave activity off the Humboldt coast, and the chosen area's proximity to a working harbor like Humboldt Bay, make it an ideal test site, said PG&E Senior Program Manager Bill Toman. [Article] |
| by John Driscoll, Eureka Times-Standard. 2010-02-08 |
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| Local Governments Turn to Product Stewardship to Fill Bottomless Budget Hole |
| Local government leaders are backing a legislative effort that calls on product manufacturers to plan for the complete life cycle of their creations.
Like the mythical Greek character Sisyphus, who is forced to roll a boulder up a hill for all eternity only to watch if fall back down, local government has made a Herculean effort to divert half the waste stream through recycling, only to see the amount of garbage sent to their landfills increase.
Twenty years ago, AB 939 put the onus on local government to reduce landfill by 50 percent by 2000 and imposed a fine of $10,000 per day for noncompliance. Cities and counties, at great cost, vigilantly put into place recycling, education and reuse campaigns.
Some of that effort paid off, according to the California Dept. of Resources Recycling and Recovery. Diversion from landfills has increased seven-fold since 1989 when 42.4 million tons of stuff a year was buried. However, despite waste management’s collective 47 percent alternative disposal effort, in 2003, 40,276 tons was still going to waste. [Article] |
| by JT LONG, Public CEO. 2010-02-08 |
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| Supes set to cut TB program |
| Sewage disposal, reducing medical services and putting information at the public's fingertips are topics on the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors' Tuesday agenda.
The board will consider adopting a policy on the use of off-site easements for sewage disposal and guidelines for dividing land.
The board in August tasked its Public Resources Committee with reviewing boundary line adjustments and use of off-site easements for sewage disposal.
The four-page policy discourages subdividing to create new parcels for private sewage disposal. It also offers guidelines for allowing easements. [Article] |
| by Staff Report, Ukiah Daily Journal. 2010-02-08 |
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