Garcia to update county leaders

 Calaveras County Public Works Director Tom Garcia will give a review Tuesday of the department’s accomplishments during his first five months as head, as well as its goals for the future.

Garcia, who came to the county in May from a job as transportation engineer in Folsom, has been forced to institute unpopular new fees to close shortfalls as the department watched state tax grabs and shrinking county revenue dry up funds.
   

A traffic signal at the intersection of highways 12 and 26, a decade-old code compliance case and a plan to make manufacturers responsible for disposing of their products rounds out the day’s agenda for the Board of Supervisors.

Preventing traffic backup at the intersection of the two highways was identified by the board recently as the No. 1 priority in the countywide Road Impact Mitigation program.
   

Though the proposed project was once considered a “interim intersection improvement,” that has changed. As the staff report notes, “future project funding for infrastructure projects is uncertain so this project will be developed as a stand-alone solution to the traffic conditions.”

Now, a $422,784 contract with an engineering firm to study the conditions at the intersection is up for approval. Funding for the project comes from a $350,000 award from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Countywide Improvement program, with the difference coming out of RIM funds.

The firm will study the options — both with signals and without — do design work, conduct environmental studies and hold community meetings.

A month after the board voted to give Copperopolis residents Munroe and Lorraine Maguire extra time to clean up a variety of code violations on their property, including piles of yard waste and weeds, a motion to impose a $5,000 fine is back before the board. The couple also faces $1,184 in administrative costs.

The property has been under the watch of the code compliance unit since 1998. The slow progress illustrates the county’s focus on voluntary compliance over enforcement, as well as the unit’s low staffing, say supervisors and code compliance officers.

Even if the board imposes a fine Tuesday, the Maguires can avoid it by cleaning up the site within 120 days.

The California Stewardship Council will make its case to the board again Tuesday after a decision was postponed last month.

The council wants the board’s support for California Assembly Bill 283, which would shift the burden of recycling and disposing products from local governments to manufacturers — or from taxpayers to consumers.

The switch, which received full or qualified support from the majority of the board in October, is an attempt to make manufacturers more waste- and environment-conscious.

The board is expected to approve without debate joint agreements with the Calaveras Unified School District and the Feeney Park Foundation to share facilities and lease agreements with White Pines Park and the Calaveras County Water District.