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Mariposa County Board Of Supervisors Meeting
Selected Highlights For December 12, 2006
 


Mariposa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Lee Stetson presents a
plaque to  Marjorie J. Wass, Mariposa Treasurer/Tax Collector/County Clerk
as she retires from the county.
 

Another retirement announcement this week as dedicated and longtime employee Marjorie J. Wass retired. She was the Mariposa County Treasurer / Tax Collector / County Clerk.
She told the Board of Supervisors that she had a "Good strong personal relationship" with them and that she never had a refusal from the board on any requests that she made.
 Marjorie thanked everyone she knew that was at the presentation, from the Board of Supervisors to fellow workers and then her family. She then sang the song "Yesterday" but inserted her own very special words that made you laugh and also think about times gone by.
It was a very special way to mark the end of her career with Mariposa County.
Keith Williams, Marjorie's replacement  has to "Step up to the plate"  she said now that she will no longer be around.

A representative for the California Department of Forestry had  good news to tell the Board of Supervisors and the residents of Mariposa County as now they will staff two engines in Mariposa County, one in Mariposa the other in Coulterville to help out with fires and other calls in the area. They will be a supplement to the Mariposa County Fire Dept.
The only caveat will be when CDF calls these units to other fires or emergencies in California then these units will go. But they hope to man the trucks at least 90% of the time.

The  Board also approved a letter to Yosemite National Park Superintendent Mike Tollefson supporting either a short term fix or for a major road reconstruction for the El Portal Road in Yosemite.
They noted how important this section of road is as Highway 140 and Highway 120 merge near that section of road that needs to be fixed.
According to our talks with park service personnel the earliest the roadwork will start will be next August or later.
To learn more about this situation:
El Portal Road Reconstruction-Pohono Bridge to Big Oak Flat Intersection
And:
Public Scoping Period For El Portal Road Reconstruction

On the Ferguson Slide the board would like to see  longer temporary bridges put in but Caltrans is still balking at this because of the cost involved with aligning another bridge on the Merced River to allow longer vehicles while they are still figuring out the permanent fix to get around the slide.
They are getting behind on coming up with a solution as Lee Stetson, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors keeps hearing that a solution is still weeks away.
He did say that Caltrans has said the cheapest method of a permanent fix would be to haul the dirt out of there at a projected cost of  $20M to the most expensive fix, a tunnel at projected costs of $220- $230M.

We will stand behind Caltrans as they have said a fix is three years down the road with a possible speed up in that time frame. They did a simply amazing job in putting in the two temporary bridges far faster than we thought was possible. The costs will more than likely escalate far higher than estimates as the cost of raw materials keeps increasing.		   As the Board met to learn about the Yosemite Airport Master Plan, a representative told Supervisor Bob Pickard in response to a question that the Airport already meets the minimum qualifications required by the FAA. He also noted that whoever drew up the Airport plans a few years ago also had done a great job as far as boundaries are concerned.
The rep also recommended to the board that they acquire more land in the vicinity to keep it as AG land so no houses could be built. He also was concerned about  tall structures being built near the airport in the future.
 Future projections show an increase in landings from 10,484 for 2006 to 15,370 in 2011.
He also mentioned that the airport will require more hangar space as pilots would rather have their aircraft inside a building that sitting outside in the elements.


The board was also going to approve an item with no discussion on it, except Supervisor Janet Bibby wanted it known that the Board signed an agreement with the unions representing the county workers that for all new employees a two tier system would be in place starting on January 1, 2007.
Under the old contract employees with the county that have worked 5 years and are at least 50 years old can receive 100% of their health benefits for life.
Now thankfully, to the good of the county pocketbook and our income taxes a new system has been put in place where a new employee must have 10 years of service with 5 of those years with Mariposa County to receive 50% of county contributions to their health benefits with an additional 5% for every year worked past ten years up until 20 years when 100% of the health benefit contribution would be paid by the county for that persons life.

Also there is a price cap on how much the county  will pay.
It will top out at $1,042 for a retired person with two family members
For instance a worker hires into the county at 30 years of age, puts in 20 years of work, retires at 50, is married with one other family member, would currently get $1,042 a month. With a male / female life expectancy in the mid 70's and going higher this is also going to be a burden on the county as years go by.

As a side note: This info on the benefits amount was only in the info packets that the board receives during the week on the upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting. The public can read it at the Government Center during open hours or pay 25 cents a page.
I mentioned to outgoing Supervisor Lee Stetson why these info packets were not uploaded to the web for the public to read. He proceeded to tell me that it was unimportant.
Apparently to some other more enlightened Board Of Supervisors who value that the public has a right to that information at their leisure, Amador County puts this info on their web site. Here is a link to their web site:
  Amador County Board Of Supervisors Agendas & Minutes 2006
But Mr. Stetson finds it unimportant that this info is readily available to the public.




 


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