Sierra County Fire Safe and Watershed Council
Minutes August 27, 2010
Roll Call/Introductions:  Board Present:  Nancy Finney, Gary Shelton, Laurenc De Vita, Robert Eshleman and Peter Hubner. Staff, Mike Freschi and Cindy Noble,
Public present, Ernest Finney, Jim Turner, Frank Stewart, Andrew Winberry, Linda Frost, Lauren Folsom, Arnold Olsen – USFS, Travis Day – USFS, Rick Clemo  and Tim Beals.

  The board did not Approve Minutes of May 2010, these minutes will come to the board at the September meeting along with the August minutes.
  Approve Agenda August 27th, 2010:  Gary Shelton moved to approve, Robert Eschelman seconded the motion, motion passed.

Public Comment: Linda Frost of Pearl Street in Downieville asked that the Fire Safe Council pay special attention to the needs of Downieville in light of the recent Pearl Street fire. She spoke of actual ridge top clearing around Downieville and hoped that this would become part of the next steps of the fuels reduction project. Rick Clemo echoed these sentiments and spoke of the worst problem being non- resident homeowners who do not take responsibility for their 100’ area around their homes. It is the law, public resources code 4291 and some discussion was had in regards to enforcement. Council staff discussed the fact that we had submitted a project for fuels reduction in Downieville and Sierra City to the California Fire Safe council and it was denied. Frank Stewart responded with the fact that our project was not funded for lack of funds but for the fact that we did not have enough matching funds. Council staff had never heard this information before and will check with Dan Lang of CFS.

     1. Board Member Reports: Board member Gary Shelton described the present situation at the UCSF field station on Hwy 49, which is an USFS lease similar to the summer home tracts. Shelton had recently attended a meeting at the field station and was appalled at the condition of the few buildings and tent sites. “It is a Fire Trap” agreed staff who had recently perused the area for confirmation. Arnold Olsen agreed to speak to the person in charge of the lease and council staff would make an effort to reach the new manager of the campus site.   

2. Staff Reports
a.    Title II – staff submitted a second RAC application for additional funds for “special projects” the amount was for $20,000.
b.    Sierra Nevada Conservancy – Staff will submit an application for funding the “permitting necessary” for the Downieville / Sierra City project. After Frank Stewarts comments earlier it was an easy segue into the need for matching funds in order to be competitive in the CFS process. We discussed the need for a homeowner contribution and their match of on the ground hours in the community.
c.    California Dept. of Conservation – staff explained that the RFP is out for watershed groups to submit Watershed Coordinator projects that could be funded under bond monies. Staff explained some of the finer nuances of the application and why we are a perfect fit for the money. Staff was directed to go ahead with the application and keep the board in the loop as this process develops.
d.    Tim Beals explained as best he could remember that some time in the past the county had applied for and received some monies for a Fire Safe project. It appears the project had never been started and the monies are still sitting with the county. Staff was directed to work directly with Beals to further research these funds.

3.    Consider a Resolution of support for the SNC Sustainable Sierra Nevada Initiative; a resolution was passed by the SCFSWC board to support the initiative.
4.    Jim Turner of SPI described the current situation at the co- generation plant in Loyaton. Laurenc asked how it could be that SPI did not know what the rate of pay was going to be when the 20 year contract recently came to an end. Jim explained that they just received the new rate that made it impossible for SPI to keep the plant running. SPI is trying to divert fuels to Quincy. And Turner added “he is trying to make everyone whole”. He has a lot of contracts out there and wants to believe that SPI will do everything necessary to get the plant up and running again. Beals responded, with the fact that SPI has not been especially communicative with Sierra County in regards to what is happening. Some of what the Eastern Sierra Project is built upon is the need for transferring fuels to the Loyalton plant so there is some worry on the part of the council as the E.S. Project is fast approaching.
5.    Eastern Sierra County Fuels reduction project: an update by Danielle Banchio RPF on the project read by Mike Freschi gave information on current status of the project.
Staff reminded the board that we have recently sent to them the necessary “Qualifications” of any bidder on a SCFSWC job and our hiring policy. It was explained again we will have no more than one qualified contractor per treatment type in order to keep this process manageable.  
6.    WUI map – Staff brought the Draft map for review we are still lacking noticeable information from the west side. Arnold Olsen directed staff to speak with Karri Carpenter at the Camptonville District office for additional information that would be valuable to this process. Frank Stewart commented that the council had made great steps in the mapping process and recommended that this map be a part of the discussion at the next Sierra County RAC meeting in support of our application. Frank also recommended that we add the map in a PDF form to our web site.
A five minute break was taken and the Board reconvened for a closed session.

Adjournment: Shelton, motion Finney second to adjourn to closed session proceedings at 11:37am., motion passed. The board reconvened to discuss the Staff compensation action and a final motion for adjournment was made Eschleman/ Shelton and passed at 11:50 am

Minutes submitted by staff
Sierra County Fire Safe and Watershed Council
Minutes August 27, 2010
Roll Call/Introductions:  Board Present:  Nancy Finney, Gary Shelton, Laurenc De Vita, Robert Eshleman and Peter Hubner. Staff, Mike Freschi and Cindy Noble,
Public present, Ernest Finney, Jim Turner, Frank Stewart, Andrew Winberry, Linda Frost, Lauren Folsom, Arnold Olsen – USFS, Travis Day – USFS, Rick Clemo  and Tim Beals.

  The board did not Approve Minutes of May 2010, these minutes will come to the board at the September meeting along with the August minutes.
  Approve Agenda August 27th, 2010:  Gary Shelton moved to approve, Robert Eschelman seconded the motion, motion passed.

Public Comment: Linda Frost of Pearl Street in Downieville asked that the Fire Safe Council pay special attention to the needs of Downieville in light of the recent Pearl Street fire. She spoke of actual ridge top clearing around Downieville and hoped that this would become part of the next steps of the fuels reduction project. Rick Clemo echoed these sentiments and spoke of the worst problem being non- resident homeowners who do not take responsibility for their 100’ area around their homes. It is the law, public resources code 4291 and some discussion was had in regards to enforcement. Council staff discussed the fact that we had submitted a project for fuels reduction in Downieville and Sierra City to the California Fire Safe council and it was denied. Frank Stewart responded with the fact that our project was not funded for lack of funds but for the fact that we did not have enough matching funds. Council staff had never heard this information before and will check with Dan Lang of CFS.

     1. Board Member Reports: Board member Gary Shelton described the present situation at the UCSF field station on Hwy 49, which is an USFS lease similar to the summer home tracts. Shelton had recently attended a meeting at the field station and was appalled at the condition of the few buildings and tent sites. “It is a Fire Trap” agreed staff who had recently perused the area for confirmation. Arnold Olsen agreed to speak to the person in charge of the lease and council staff would make an effort to reach the new manager of the campus site.  

2. Staff Reports
a.    Title II – staff submitted a second RAC application for additional funds for “special projects” the amount was for $20,000.
b.    Sierra Nevada Conservancy – Staff will submit an application for funding the “permitting necessary” for the Downieville / Sierra City project. After Frank Stewarts comments earlier it was an easy segue into the need for matching funds in order to be competitive in the CFS process. We discussed the need for a homeowner contribution and their match of on the ground hours in the community.
c.    California Dept. of Conservation – staff explained that the RFP is out for watershed groups to submit Watershed Coordinator projects that could be funded under bond monies. Staff explained some of the finer nuances of the application and why we are a perfect fit for the money. Staff was directed to go ahead with the application and keep the board in the loop as this process develops.
d.    Tim Beals explained as best he could remember that some time in the past the county had applied for and received some monies for a Fire Safe project. It appears the project had never been started and the monies are still sitting with the county. Staff was directed to work directly with Beals to further research these funds.

3.    Consider a Resolution of support for the SNC Sustainable Sierra Nevada Initiative; a resolution was passed by the SCFSWC board to support the initiative.
4.    Jim Turner of SPI described the current situation at the co- generation plant in Loyaton. Laurenc asked how it could be that SPI did not know what the rate of pay was going to be when the 20 year contract recently came to an end. Jim explained that they just received the new rate that made it impossible for SPI to keep the plant running. SPI is trying to divert fuels to Quincy. And Turner added “he is trying to make everyone whole”. He has a lot of contracts out there and wants to believe that SPI will do everything necessary to get the plant up and running again. Beals responded, with the fact that SPI has not been especially communicative with Sierra County in regards to what is happening. Some of what the Eastern Sierra Project is built upon is the need for transferring fuels to the Loyalton plant so there is some worry on the part of the council as the E.S. Project is fast approaching.
5.    Eastern Sierra County Fuels reduction project: an update by Danielle Banchio RPF on the project read by Mike Freschi gave information on current status of the project.
Staff reminded the board that we have recently sent to them the necessary “Qualifications” of any bidder on a SCFSWC job and our hiring policy. It was explained again we will have no more than one qualified contractor per treatment type in order to keep this process manageable. 
6.    WUI map – Staff brought the Draft map for review we are still lacking noticeable information from the west side. Arnold Olsen directed staff to speak with Karri Carpenter at the Camptonville District office for additional information that would be valuable to this process. Frank Stewart commented that the council had made great steps in the mapping process and recommended that this map be a part of the discussion at the next Sierra County RAC meeting in support of our application. Frank also recommended that we add the map in a PDF form to our web site.
A five minute break was taken and the Board reconvened for a closed session.

Adjournment: Shelton, motion Finney second to adjourn to closed session proceedings at 11:37am., motion passed. The board reconvened to discuss the Staff compensation action and a final motion for adjournment was made Eschleman/ Shelton and passed at 11:50 am

Minutes submitted by staff