PLEASE VOTE

In roughly two weeks, citizens of Mariposa County will start to set
the course of government in this county for the next four years.
There is no competition in District 5 as retired Sheriff Jim Allen
has no competing candidate to overcome. His years in the Mariposa
County Sheriff's Department should prepare him to be an effective
Supervisor. There are, however, active races in Districts 2 and 4.
In District 2, since there are two candidates, the issue will be
decided in June. But in District 4, there are four candidates, each
of which requires consideration, and, because, the quality is good,
there will likely be a run-off in November.

I have known all of the candidates quite well for some period of
time, and have worked with each in one capacity or another. I,
however, no longer live in District 4 and do not wish to make a
recommendation in the race. It is up to the residents of District 4
to make the decision. I would rather set some parameters for making
your decision. Each brings differing sets of skills to the office
for one is an incumbent who still operates in the private sector,
another has served Mariposa County well in a Planning Capacity and is
from the private sector; yet another is Deputy Superintendent of
Yosemite National Park. He is a longtime member of and has a long
record serving in the community, and the fourth, having grown up here
as the well liked son of a pioneer family, is a professional fireman
in Merced living here, who understands Mariposa quite well. Each
brings special talents to the Board and seldom do you have such a
hard decision to make.

One issue which should NOT enter into the process is the attempt by
a developer from outside the county to influence the election in
order to strengthen his position. I do not think that this will
influence any of the candidates except to bring a new understanding
as to the nature of the developer. One candidate was offered
donations by the same developer which were returned, as they should
have. I often have been confronted by attempts to influence
decisions from outside the county. They seemingly do not have any
respect for the integrity of our government nor those who serve in
it. Eventually they will fail.

There are issues to be discussed and decided in this election. I
will try to underscore the various serious problems and opportunities
that we face as a county, and you can judge each candidate against
this most important list.
There are more than 12 million dollars in unfunded mandates caused by
retirement and health care benefits which reach far beyond the
ability of our economy to meet. But it isn't just retirement and
health care that is the issue. Outside influences from mainly state
government and the legislature has placed extreme burdens on all
local government. There is hardly a county in California that is not
feeling the lack of leadership from Sacramento. There are also the
legislative demands which often only reflect unnecessary
environmental philosophies not based on actual needs but only the
need to gain political control. The demands of the Solid Waste
Management Board and lack of legislative examination of quality
alternatives caused us to adopt an expensive solution to the
management of solid waste within the county. While there may have
been better solutions proposed, they could not be considered and/or
accepted. The Public Works Department has been operating the Solid
Waste site to the best of its ability in spite of what may be
overwhelming odds and future debt to be retired.

Prop 13 has to share some blame for the problems we must face. On
the surface, controlling property taxes is a good thing, but what
resulted was a state government political cadre that found other ways
to support the need to grow government. Prop 13 was promoted and
sustained by a group of apartment owners in Southern California. It
became obvious that the measure was causing a short fall in state
revenues. The actual benefit to home owners was little considering
the other measures that were imposed. The split of property taxes
favoring the educational system left many small counties with
inadequate revenues to even support basic services. In Mariposa
County, only 25% of the property taxes that you pay stay with the
county. Most of the balance goes to the state to return as funding
based on school attendance, which is declining. Do we get as much
back as we send?
A question that needs answering. Supervisors in the past have tried
to bring the ratio into a more reasonable split but with no success.
This is a fundamental item that once again needs addressing if
possible.

The county government is faced with a desire to have adequate fire
equipment for the Volunteer Fire companies. In spite of the fact
that near 80% of the fire responses are for medical aids, none the
less having appropriate fire equipment for volunteer companies to
respond with is a top priority. If we do not take care of this item,
the State of California eventually will and charge the cost back to
the counties at a much higher rate then we are now paying for County
Fire Services. This is an issue that must be broadly discussed and
the taxpayers of Mariposa County must know the alternative costs of
either taking care of the issue locally or contracting with the State
for the service. The enhanced retirement benefits that the state
grants to fireman at age 50 would become a large part of the cost of
doing business. Each candidate must know the options and be prepared
to discuss them publicly.

There are a number of reasons why there are many delays and costs
associated with the planning and permitting process in Mariposa
County. Shortage of staff is a problem. I observed the Planning
Commission holding a public hearing on an important project recently.
The quality of staff work was excellent. Part of the problem stems
from manipulations of approved projects by a previous Planning
Director. But taking six months to review a simple project
modification is far too much time. We have a limited supply of
investment capital and interminable delays far beyond the statutory
time allowed must end. The erosion of investment capital harms the
economic life of the county. Candidates for the office of Supervisor
need to understand the Planning process, the General Plan, the lack
of consistency with Title 17, the zoning document, and the cause of
the delay. Their first priority is to bring our codes into
compliance. Even the Planning Commission has called for this to be
done immediately with no results. The staff of the planning
department is perfectly capable of undertaking the task without the
addition of a very expensive consultant who is part of the problem.

There are more issues which need addressing which are hard core,
down to earth, problems. Items such as the "Field of Dreams", road
maintenance, loss of $500,000 in State Grants to the Sheriff Dept.,
private road maintenance associations, local transportation, Historic
preservation, economic development, signage, formation of an Advisory
Committee for the Mariposa Town area and Specific Plan update,
finishing of the Recreation Department facilities including the
Mariposa Amphitheater, and on and on. These and the above items
need discussion by the candidates. The best you can do is VOTE.

Leroy Radanovich

Leroy Radanovich Email:
Leroy Radanovich

To Read More By Leroy Radanovich:
Leroy Radanovich's Mariposa Life Archives

To learn much more about Mariposa County along with
historical photos:
A signed copy of "Images of America" - Mariposa County,
By Leroy Radanovich can be purchased at his web site:
Radanovich Galleria & Books





This is a early day photo of the Mariposa Mine in
Mariposa County that is mentioned in the article to
the left by Mr. Radanovich.

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books






Mariposa in 1920

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books





Mariposa County Courthouse written by Leroy Radanovich and
Scott Pinkerton is a book about the oldest courthouse in California that is still in use today.
The book is signed by Leroy Radanovich.
To purchase the book:
Radanovich Galleria & Books






Mariposa in 1860

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books