Neda Iranpour, CBS 13
SUTTER CREEK — One of the biggest landowners in Amador County is trying to grow what he calls a “miracle drug” on his ranch, but is facing resistance from the city and county.
Robert Allen and his ranch are well known in Amador County — and even has a road named after him — but he says his ranch has potential ranging far beyond his animals.
No decision was made regarding the highly controversial marina-general store concession at Fallen Leaf Lake. The community services district board met last weekend and left the issue for the incoming panel, which should meet in about a month.
CSD board President Dana Clark said it would be “interesting to see” what happens with the hub of the small mountain haven located outside South Lake Tahoe at the gateway of Desolation Wilderness.
Clark wants all offers from entities wishing to run the operation to be “on the table” by the next meeting.
By Jeff Delong, Reno Gazette-Journal
The worst pollutants in urban runoff around Lake Tahoe must be cut by 32 percent over 15 years to meet goals for restoring the lake’s clarity.
Scientists and environmental regulators are preparing a system to track progress in reducing pollutants with the goal of making Tahoe at least 10 feet clearer.
“We need to be able to measure and account for the gains we are getting on the ground,” said Joanne Marchetta, executive director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
By Jason Hildago, Reno Gazette-Journal
Home values for the region’s luxury homes fared better than the overall housing market in the third quarter, with some areas even seeing price gains, according to Dickson Realty’s latest Luxury Trends Report.
South Lake Tahoe’s luxury home market posted the biggest jump in median sales price in the region, up 83 percent from the same quarter last year at $2.2 million. Truckee’s high-end market also reported an increase, with its $2.3 million median sales price representing a 33 percent jump. Reno-Sparks saw median sales price for its luxury homes rise to $1.15 million, up 13 percent from the third quarter of 2008.
By Kathryn Reed
Walking up to the parish hall, that distinct smell of Thanksgiving fills the cold autumn air.
Dave digs into his apple pie at St. Theresa on Nov. 23. Photo/Kathryn Reed
About 30-people deep are bundled up outside of St. Theresa’s in South Lake Tahoe. It was an early Thanksgiving for the hundreds who came to dine this Monday night. For most, it will be their only Thanksgiving meal this week. For even more, it will be their only hot meal of the week.
Last year Bread & Broth served 250 people. This year, enough food for 400 was prepared. Before 5pm, more than 200 people had come through the doors.
Dave thinks he may have been to all 21 of the Thanksgiving dinners prepared by the nonprofit. He’s at the church hall on most Monday’s when Bread & Broth serves a free hot meal to anyone who wants it.
“A lot of people don’t realize how integral this is to our lives,†Dave said
Grace Hall becomes one big family. Photo/Kathryn Reed
as he finished his apple pie. “I don’t think the appreciation is adequate.†This he said of those who partake in the meal.
Ed pointed to Diane Weidinger across the room and said, “She does a little better than anyone else when it comes to cooking a meal.â€
He talked about the “subtle nuances†of the flavors that filled his plate.
Turkey, stuffing, corn bread, a roll, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, juice, milk, coffee – it was a feast.
Tables are filled with all ages, couples, families, men and women. Some in need of food. Some wanting companionship more than a meal.
In the foyer are sweaters and other warm clothing for the taking.
Bread & Broth makes the evening special. Photo/Kathryn Reed
Mary grabbed a blanket that she was going to strap to her bike as she was about to ride in the dark to her quasi home at the Y. For now she’s with a friend, but he’s getting married soon and will be moving. She’ll be homeless again soon.
On the give-away table she looked for shoes for a homeless friend, but couldn’t find any.
She was chatting outside with Leslie. Leslie lives in a motel room near Stateline.
The two women raved about the meal and complained about the cold Tahoe night.
Hot meals are served in South Lake Tahoe for free every Monday at Grace Hall at St. Theresa Catholic Church and at Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church on Fridays. Both start at 4pm and are part of Bread & Broth.
To donate or volunteer, call Diane Weidinger at (775) 588.3993 or email dianeweidinger@yahoo.com.
By Ray Hagar, Reno Gazette-Journal
The Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority is facing a projected $1.6 million deficit for the current fiscal year, because of falling room rates and room taxes, as well as a decrease in revenues from its facilities, RSCVA documents reveal.
To balance the budget, about $1 million will be cut from the operations budget and a portion of the water rights at its closed Northgate Golf Club will be sold, said Ellen Oppenheim, RSCVA president and CEO.
The RSCVA board of directors voted unanimously to allow Oppenheim to proceed with the plan to balance the budget late last week.
By Cheryl Murakami
People are looking for green when it comes to lodging — especially Californians and those traveling to the state.
Kelly May of the California Green Lodging Program was one of several speakers at this month’s Green Lodging Workshop.
May told the nearly 50 people in attendance about the state’s program which was developed by the California Integrated Waste Management Board to provide travelers a green option for their lodging needs. The California Green Lodging Program recognizes that environmentally aware travelers seek to patronize businesses that reduce pollution, waste, water usage and energy consumption. The program is operated by the Department of General Services as part of the State Travel program. State employees are encouraged to explore green lodging options when on state business.
May gave the following reasons to choose a green hotel:
Average-sized hotels purchase more products in one week than 100 families do in a year. These hotels want at least 50 percent of those purchases to be environmentally preferable products.
Waste generation can be as high as 30 pounds per room per day; as much as 80 percent of these materials can be recycled.
Hospitality industry spends $3.7 billion a year on energy. Electricity use accounts for 60-70 percent of the utility costs of a typical hotel. Green hotels introduce consumers to energy-efficient products and practices that will reduce energy consumption, therefore lowering energy costs.
Two percent of California’s food waste comes from the hotel and lodging industry (112,000 tons per year). This food waste can be composted and/or donated to charities.
Typical hotels use 218 gallons of water per day per occupied room. Water-efficient fixtures can reduce water and sewer bills by 25-30 percent.
The Nov. 17 seminar was the second in a series of sustainability workshops presented by the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce, Green Business Cooperative. The workshop series was created to further the goal of the Green Business Cooperative to establish the Lake Tahoe Basin as an environmental business powerhouse and world sustainability leader.
David Hansen, director of engineering for Embassy Suites South Lake Tahoe, hosted and moderated the event.
Four presenters discussed how lodging properties could make their operations and properties more sustainable. Speakers provided advice on how to discover simple measures that can be implemented at a lodging property for little or no cost, to make your organization more green.
Christopher Minnes, general manager of 968 Park Hotel in South Lake Tahoe, familiarized attendees with the characteristics of a green lodging property and offered advise on how to be a greener hotel today at little or no cost. Minnes defined green tourism as aiming for quality, not quantity and suggested that green tourism measures success not only by the number of visitors, but also by the length of their stay, how money is spent, and the quality of the experience.
968 Park Hotel and Embassy Suites are California Green Lodging program certified hotels. There are 200 hotels in the program and another 100 waiting to be certified. The California Green Lodging program provides a database of certified green lodging properties throughout the state at: http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/EPP/greenlodging/.
Rick West of NuTek International talked about ozone laundry systems. An ozone laundry system reduces hot water usage by 95 percent, cuts total water usage by 30-40 percent, reduces drying times by 30-60 percent, requires no softeners and improves linen life by 20 percent. An ozone laundry system substantially cuts energy usage and reduces gas and utility costs.
Chuck Smith of Genesis Solar suggested that a shift has occurred in public awareness making green practices or sustainability increasingly consumer driven. Smith discussed alternative energy systems for lodging and commercial properties and offered valuable resources on rebate and incentive programs that could substantially reduce a projects cost.
For more information on the Green Business Cooperative, go to www.tahoechamber.org. Click on the Green Business logo on the home page or call (775) 588.1728. The workshops are free and open to anyone.
Cheryl Murakami is a member of the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce, Green Business Cooperative.
Publisher’s Note: The pilot and owner of the plane, Gary Lampert, died in the crash. Lampert had registered the plane using his Zephyr Cove address.
By J.M. Brown, Santa Cruz Sentinel
WATSONVILLE — The pilot of a single-engine airplane died Saturday after crashing into an apple orchard off Freedom Boulevard near Corralitos Creek.
The plane was near Watsonville Municipal Airport at 5,000 feet when the pilot declared an emergency at 1:25 p.m., stating his engine was on fire, authorities said. The pilot told air traffic controllers in Oakland he would try to land at the Watsonville airport, but that was his final transmission.
Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, originally said the plane’s tail number was N7JX, though a different number is painted on the plane. Gregor originally described the plane as a home-built, fixed-wing experimental Lancair Legacy, but later said the FAA was uncertain the make and model information was accurate.
By Barbara Barte Osborn, Sacramento Bee
Geologists from two national engineering firms will begin mapping the recently identified Polaris earthquake fault near Truckee.
Martis Creek Dam – plagued by seepage as well as the fault – has been deemed one of the riskiest of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 610 dams nationwide and is the subject of a long-term study and remedial efforts.
Kleinfelder and AMEC-Geomatrix will be paid $250,000 for their part of the continuing study of the dam in Martis Valley, which lies between Truckee and North Lake Tahoe.
By Kathryn Reed
Why did three councilmembers want Jacqueline Mittelstadt fired?
Why did they fight to keep Johnny Poland off the streets?
Those questions and the ones below remain unanswered.
On Nov. 11, Lake Tahoe News sent an email to the city manager of South Lake Tahoe and the five councilmembers elected to represent all of the residents of the city. A deadline of 5pm Nov. 17 was given. With the budget and union negotiations going on, some leeway was given.
However, Councilmembers Kathay Lovell, Bruce Grego and Hal Cole never responded. Those are the three who initially voted to begin dismissal hearings against then City Attorney Mittelstadt and wanted to appeal the arbitration panel’s decision that said Poland should be reinstated to the SLT Police Department.
Although the agreement between the now assistant city attorney and the city says both sides are to be silent on the issue, answering some of the questions presented would clearly not pose a breach of that agreement.
At some point the council needs to decide if the public which it represents and whose money it spends has more of a right to know what’s going on with that money and behind closed doors than a couple of employees caught in the crosshairs. Though, perhaps the silence indicates the majority’s decision. The electorate, which will have a chance to vote in three new members next November, will get its chance to speak then.
Mayor Jerry Birdwell said via email, “Thank you for your email. Your questions are good ones and I hope you will have more success getting them answered than I have. I have been asking the City Manager most of these same questions for some time now, but I get no satisfactory answers from Mr. Jinkens. The citizens of South Lake Tahoe are entitled to know how their money is being spent.
“In June I openly asked for his resignation, and at this point I think the City Manager needs to be fired because he routinely, willfully ignores requests for information for councilmembers, the public, and from reporters.”
Lake Tahoe News sent Birdwell a follow-up email asking him to answer the questions directed toward members of the council. He said he would. He never did.
I asked for all answers to be in writing. Birdwell and City Manager Dave Jinkens complied with that request. Councilman Bill Crawford left a voicemail.
Here are the questions that were sent via email to the six mentioned above and all of the answers provided:
1. How much money did the city spend on Johnny Poland:
a) Payments to him and the costs for his benefits while he was not working? Please breakdown the figures, ie, salary, health, retirement.
Crawford: “Regarding the cost of Johnny Poland’s situation, I haven’t any more information than you have on that.”
b) What back pay is owed to him? Does this include interest? If so, how much?
c) The $75,000 Jinkens mentioned in April that was spent up to that point — please breakdown where/how the money went/was used.
d) The $30,000+ the attorney was paid to fight the issue in EDC Superior Court; does that include all of her costs? Or does the city still owe her more?
e) How many hours of city staff time, including at the police department, went into the Poland case? Please break it down by department.
f) What dollar amount do those hours add up to?
Jinkens: City cost to appeal the decision of the “Hearing board” to the Superior Court on a Writ of Mandate as the date of my request to staff was $35,131.18.
Note: The legal advisor for Mr. Poland and my office agreed before proceeding with the Hearing Board referenced below that either party could appeal a decision of the Hearing Board to the Superior Court. This agreement is what was relied on when the decision was made to appeal the ruling of the Hearing Board.
There were also costs incurred by the City before the matter went to trial to settle the case outside of court through a re-entry agreement for Mr. Poland, but I do not have the specific costs for these legal services that are part of the total legal bill from LCW.
City Legal Costs Associated (LCW) with the Notice of Discipline up to and including the hearing before the Hearing Board (three member panel):
The administrative process for handling disciplinary hearings against police officers is spelled out in State law and by agreement through existing memoranda of understanding, POBR Peace Officer’s Bill of Rights), and the City’s Personnel Rules.
The process within the Department and in accordance with the rules is time consuming for all parties and costly. Whether or not a decision is ever made to appeal a disciplinary action to the Superior Court, the cost of the existing disciplinary appeal process is time consuming and expensive for all parties. The existing appeal process that is part of existing memoranda of understanding and our Personnel Rules needs to be revised, streamlined and simplified for the benefit of all parties to get a timely decision. In order to amend the City’s disciplinary and appeal process, agreement between labor and management on the specific changes must be made after meeting and conferring in good faith in accordance with State law.
Billings from Liebert, Cassidy and Whitmore (LCW), the law firm that represented the Police Department during the appeal of Mr. Poland from a decision of the Police department to terminate him from 2007 on until the time of City’s appeal to the Superior Court are estimated to be $78,210.34.
The City Manager retained the services of an independent labor attorney (Linda Tripoli) to provide independent legal advice when Mr. Poland appealed the intention of the Police Department to terminate him to the City Manager. The independent legal counsel was intended to ensure that a separate legal review was done on the facts of the appeal and Law before the City Manager rendered a decision on Mr. Poland’s appeal. The cost of these services is $6,386.16
Cost of Court Recorder (1/2 paid by City, balance paid by Mr. Poland) is $2,555.00
From the information I have to date the approximate total sum spent by the City for legal services regarding matters relating to Mr. Poland to be $122,282.68
Note: Police Department management in the past years has also used on a consultation basis the services of police labor lawyer specialist Marty Meyer who may have provided the Department with some advice during the course of the early IA, but I do not have details in this regard at this time. Such advice would now if needed be coordinated through the City Attorney.
Back Pay: The back pay calculation is currently being worked on by Finance, Human Resources, the City Attorney and Mr. Poland’s legal counsel. It should be noted that Mr. Poland has been paid administrative leave since January 2009, and that the back pay will be reduced by his W-2s for other employment during the period he was off work with the City. Mr. Welty, his legal counsel, is to provide the W-2 to the City Attorney to help to calculate the proper payment.
Staff Time: Staff in the Police department did not keep specific records on how much staff time was spent by them during the disciplinary and appeal process. I know that they spent a lot of time on the IA and during the appeal. When the matter came to my office on appeal I spent many hours during the appeal hearing and reviewing the background information and reports on the matter, but I too do not know the exact number of hours spent.
I am told that Penal Code Section 832.5 requires that every law enforcement agency in California have in place a procedure to investigate complaints against peace officers. As with certain State mandated functions the City is reimbursed for certain costs but I do not yet know what that may be in this instance. The Police Department investigator in this case performed the investigation in accordance with his normal routine duties, not overtime so there is no additional PD cost.
2. When will Poland be back with the department?
3. What steps are needed to ensure he is ready to be back on the streets?
4. What is the police department and/or the city doing to prevent something like this from happening again?
5. Regarding the city attorney issue, how much did it cost the city regarding the Jacqueline Mittelstadt issue?
a) How much compensation in terms of salary/benefits was she paid while she didn’t work? Please breakdown the expense, salary, health insurance, retirement.
b) How much staff time and therefore money did it cost the city?
c) How much did the city spend on outside legal counsel?
6. What is going on with the complaint filed by Christine Vuletich against Patrick Enright and Jacqueline Mittelstadt?
7. What is the city’s policy for handling complaints from one city employee against another?
8. Why was Mittelstadt originally hired to be city attorney and Enright assistant city attorney?
Crawford: Why was Mittelstadt city attorney in the beginning? Because it was felt, and I agreed, she would be better in the courtroom on her feet than Enright and because of his experience in redevelopment people thought he was better fitted for that, which is probably also correct.
9. At the time of hire, did the council believe Enright was qualified to be city attorney? Why or why not?
10. What makes Enright now qualified to do the job?
11. When Enright is out of the office (vacation, sick, etc.) will Mittelstadt have the “power” of city attorney or will she have to defer to the city council in order to make decisions at that level?
Crawford: I assume she would represent the City Attorney’s Office if Enright can’t make a City Council meeting. Someone should be there.
12. How did city staff and elected officials first find out about Mittelstadt’s ongoing legal issues in Southern California? And when?
13. What bearing did that knowledge have on the council’s Sept. 3 decision to proceed with dismissing Mittelstadt?
14. What happened between Sept. 3 and Nov. 3 for the majority of the council to change its mind and want to keep Mittelstadt employed?
Crawford: Mittelstadt, the turning point on that on not continuing to try to fire her was Whitmore did a very poor job in his presentation. It seemed he was deceptive and wasn’t telling the truth about the complaints. He just failed. And, also, Jacqueline’s attorney, he made Lovell look foolish when she said there was going to be a lawsuit anyways.
15. What type of background checks, reference checks, etc. were done before hiring Mittelstadt and Enright?
16. Is there a standard policy for hiring any staff member? What are those? And how do they differ for city attorney?
17. Any comments from anyone?
Crawford: One member of the City Council said (Mittelstadt) was a poor manager of office. I don’t know how you determine that after two months.
Jinkens: I hope this matter better addresses your previous questions. Due to my commitment to respond to you (Nov.20), I am providing you with the best information I have to date on this matter based on the work of staff. The handling of police disciplinary matters is time consuming and expensive. We need to ensure that those complaints against police officers are fully and completely investigated, protect the rights of police officers during the administrative process, and develop a more streamlined and less time-consuming and expensive process for the benefits of all parties.