Publisher’s note: This letter was given to the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors on June 2, with a copy given to CAO Pamela Knorr.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

For the past couple of years, I have been asking for the county staff and sometimes your board to fix certain county ordinances, policies, and fee collection programs. Your board and your staff have not adequately prioritized resolving these issues. Because of the significant time that has passed, I am going to document some of these significant unresolved issues now.

Outdated Claims Procedures Ordinance

The county’s claims procedures ordinance was adopted in 1958. This outdated ordinance violates state law in some instances and states that I am only to do payroll once per month. If I were to adhere to this ordinance, the county would be at significant legal peril. I wrote the former CAO and former county counsel about this problem in 2013. I was assured that this matter would be resolved. In June 2014, I informed the Executive Management Advisory Committee about this problem and was assured that county staff would work quickly to resolve this matter. This matter has not been resolved.

Board Adopted Tuition Reimbursement Policy Different than MOUs

The County’s Tuition Reimbursement policy adopted by your board and on your board’s website is materially different than the requirements in the MOUs with organized labor. As an example, the MOU with Local 1 that was adopted in November 2013 is more restrictive than board policy. This inconsistency wastes a lot of time, frustrates our employees, and is extremely unfair to our employees. In June 2014, I informed the Executive Management Advisory Committee about this problem and was assured that county staff would work quickly to resolve this matter. This matter has not been resolved.

Special District Developer Impact Fees

The county levies Developer Impact Fees for Special Districts pursuant to Government Code Section 66000 and our local ordnance. The county continues to levy these fees even though we are not in compliance with state law or our local ordinance. Nexus studies that are required by state law are long overdue in most cases. I informed the former CAO, the former County Counsel, and the entire Board of Supervisors about this significant problem in March 2013. I was assured that the County staff would take corrective action. In June 2014, I informed the Executive Management Advisory Committee about this problem and was assured that county staff would work quickly to resolve this matter. This matter has not been resolved.

EDH Sheriff’s Substation Developer Impact Fees  

The county levies a Developer Fee for an El Dorado Hills sheriff’s substation pursuant to Government Code Section 66000. The county continues to levy this fee even though the county has no plans to build this substation. The county has not updated its Nexus study as required by state law. On April 2, 2015, I informed the County Counsel and CAO about this issue. This issue has not been resolved.

I am hoping that your board directs staff to resolve these problems as quickly as possible.

Sincerely,

Joe Harn, CPA and auditor-controller

By Eric Holthaus, Slate

In the rush to decarbonize the world’s economy, there’s one simple, surprising technology that’s more important than any other: water falling down a hill.

Huge dams fitted with hydroelectric power plants may seem very 20th century. Their basic technology — falling water turning a paddle wheel — hasn’t changed much in thousands of years. But hydropower is by far the world’s No. 1 renewable energy resource, and it’s going to stay that way for quite some time, despite growing questions surrounding its reliability.

For places like the American West, Latin America, India, and Africa, an erratic energy future is already here.
Over the next 25 years, the vast majority of the world’s newly installed renewable energy will come via hydroelectric dams, mostly in the developing world, according to a recent U.S. Energy Information Administration outlook. (To be fair, the EIA has a history of underestimating the growth rate of nonhydro-based sources of renewable energy, like solar and wind.)

Since making electricity by water requires a steady supply, the world’s increasing commitment to hydropower bakes in significant risk should weather patterns continue to become more erratic. In general, global warming will result in more intense rainfall events as well as more intense droughts and a loss of mountain glaciers that feed rivers in many parts of the world. For some places like the American West, Latin America, India, and Africa, that erratic energy future is already here. And nearly everywhere, less reliable hydropower could lead to dirtier energy use overall, at least in the short term.

Read the whole story

Watching an Aces baseball game will help Austin’s House, the only emergency children’s shelter in rural Northern Nevada.

Only 300 right field reserved seats are available for $12. Six dollars of each ticket sold goes directly to benefit Austin’s House.

The July 7, 7:05pm game pits the Reno Aces against the Sacramento River Cats.

Austin’s House will be recognized with a pre-game on-field check presentation and a post-game group photo. To order tickets, call 775.267.6711.

By Geoffrey Mohan, Los Angeles Times

The drought is on track to dry up $2.7 billion in revenue and erase more than 18,600 jobs from the California economy this year, according to a preliminary report.

But that blow has been hard to detect because the agriculture sector is just 2% of the overall state economy and because farm employment has grown steadily in the last decade, a panel of experts told the state Board of Food and Agriculture.

Despite the drought, in fact, statewide agricultural employment grew by 3,100 jobs last year, with “stronger than expected” gains in the coastal and northern farming regions overtaking losses centered largely in the San Joaquin Valley, according to the UC Davis report.

Read the whole story

Public comments are being taken on draft Tahoe Basin Area Plan and Notice of Preparation of a draft environmental impact report/environmental impact study for the proposed Tahoe Basin Area Plan and Tahoe City Lodge pilot project.

More information about the Placer County plans may be found online.

Comments will be taken until Aug. 3 at 5pm. Address them to Environmental Coordination Services, Community Development Resource Agency, 3091 County Center Drive, Suite 190, Auburn, CA 95603 or cdraecs@placer.ca.gov.

Lake Tahoe Unified students made a big push Thursday to take the lead in the Tahoe Bike Challenge.

Parents and teachers lead students to school. Photo/Rebecca Bryson

With about 150 students pedaling 5 miles, that is 750 miles the kids have tallied.

Young cyclists gather at the post office in Meyers. Photo/Rebecca Bryson

The challenge goes through June 14. It includes groups and individuals.

At the magnet school on June 4 there was a bike rodeo with various events. Three stations were set up at the school, with the California Highway Patrol and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency participating.

The slow rider winner could ride their bike the slowest. This demonstrated  control. Photo/Michelle Ramirez

Motorists should expect to see thousands of bicyclists all around Lake Tahoe during Sunday’s annual America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride.

Northbound traffic on Highway 89 in Emerald Bay from Spring Creek Road to Vikingsholm Vista Point will be held to through traffic from 6:30-8:30am on June 7. The southbound lane will remain open.

There are no other planned highway closures for the ride, but motorists should be prepared to share the road with bicyclists on Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe, Highway 89 along the West Shore and up to Truckee and back (for 100-mile riders) and Highway 28 from Tahoe City around to the East Shore on the Nevada side, where riders will connect back with Highway 50 and ride back down to the South Shore.

Riders will start and finish at Lake Tahoe Hard Rock. The start is at 6am, with most riders expected to be done by 5:30pm. Event organizer Curtis Fong said he expects more than 3,000 riders for the 24th annual event.

Bicyclists will be instructed to travel in single file and motorists are reminded to obey the 3-foot buffer law when passing riders, according to Caltrans.

The Tahoe Tennis Classic is so popular that it has become a four-day tournament, July 30-Aug. 2.

Teams are already signing up for the 32nd annual event. The all doubles event (women’s, men’s, mixed) at Zephyr Cove Tennis Club each year features teams from across the country as well as those from the Tahoe-Truckee-Reno area.

Levels of play include:

Age group divisions (combined age)

100-plus Men’s Century

130-plus Men’s Super Century

Unrestricted Age Divisions

Women’s            Men’s                 Mixed

10.0 (A+)            10.0 (A)              10.0 (A)

9.0 (A)                 8.0 (B)                 8.0 (B)

8.0 (B)                 7.0 (C)                 7.0 (C)

7.0 (C)

The entry deadline is July 27. The fee is $70 per player for the first event, $30 for the second, and includes a player dinner party on that Saturday, a raffle, and a commemorative T-shirt. Everyone is guaranteed a minimum of two matches. All proceeds benefit the nonprofit Zephyr Cove Tennis Club Foundation.

Complete information about the event and an entry form are available online.

By Rick Gladstone, New York Times

The number of hungry people globally has declined from about 1 billion 25 years ago to about 795 million today, or about one person out of every nine, despite a surge in population growth, the United Nations reported Wednesday.

In developing regions, the number of hungry people has fallen to 780 million today, or 12.9 percent of the population, from 991 million 25 years ago, or 23.3 percent of the population at the time, according to the United Nations’ annual hunger report, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and theWorld Food Program.

Despite the finding that nearly 800 million people in the world remain hungry, the report described the progress made as a significant achievement.

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An accident on Highway 50 June 3 claimed the life of one person. Photo/Provided

A Southern California woman died in a single-vehicle accident near Glenbrook on June 3.

Darlene M. Hall, 75, of Skyforest was pronounced dead at the scene of the 8:35am accident on Highway 50. She was wearing her seat belt.

One of the two dogs in the vehicle also died. The other was taken to a veterinarian with serious injuries.

Hall was traveling west in a 2009 GMC Yukon when the vehicle went off the north paved shoulder and down a dirt slope. The vehicle struck several large rocks and boulders head on. The vehicle came to rest upright on its wheels.

Neither alcohol nor drugs is suspected as a factor in the cause of the incident. However, Nevada Highway Patrol troopers do not know what caused Hall to drive off the pavement.

Anyone who may have information related to this incident is asked to contact Trooper Chris Austin at 775.684.7381 or caustin@dps.state.nv.us.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report