Some Big Concerns From Your Road Committee…

An article in the Calaveras Enterprise concerning Calaveras County CSAs and LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission) came as a surprise and generated concern to your Diamond XX Road Committee members – Bob & Jeane – particularly the following quote, “Moving forward, Jennifer Stephenson, who prepared the report, told the Local Agency Formation Commission at a November 16 meeting that it would be more cost-efficient to establish a countywide CSA to maintain roads.”

$20,000 of your taxes was budgeted for the creation of this report on the status of CSAs within Calaveras County. Your Diamond XX Road Committee was not interviewed by the consultant nor were we informed that there would be a comment period and then a hearing.

Because we were alarmed about several of the conclusions this report made, we began seeking information from our Supervisor, Debbie Ponte, as well as from LAFCO’s Executive Officer, John Benoit. As a result of those emails we were able to find out LAFCO’s hearing date for this report is January 25 and we urge anyone with concerns to attend. There is also a current comment period ending December 29th. Comments can be submitted to: John Benoit (LAFCO Executive Officer), johnbenoit@surewest.net

Here is a link to the report: http://www.calaveraslafco.org/uploads/1/1/4/5/11454087/calaveras_csas_public_review_draft_downsized.pdf

This report leads you to believe that CSA’s are sitting on a pot of money rather than spending it on road maintenance. Yet, when our Road Committee looked back through correspondence with Public Works during the reporting period, the reason CSA #4 had almost $300,000 was because:

• FEMA had finally paid us for flood damage suffered in the flood of 2006.
• Public Works did not have the resources available to do the projects we wanted to have done that year.
• Some CSA funds were saved for the Stagecoach Bridge project (which we later we found out did not require matching funds)

While no factual errors were found in the report prepared by Ms. Stephenson, the report does not tell the whole story about road maintenance activity that was or was not taking place in the CSAs nor the reasons why.

In studying the recommendations made by Ms. Stephenson, we fail to see a benefit to Diamond XX residents for the following reasons.

• We fear that the compiling of our funds with other CSAs will remove it from the close scrutiny your Road Committee has applied to these funds for over a decade.
• More administration costs rather than road maintenance will be applied to our account.
• Our road fees may then be able to be raised at will by the county.

So, please read the report, comment if you wish, and attend the hearing Jan. 25, 6pm at the Board of Supervisors chambers.

Sincerely,

Jeane Kennedy

Bob Toynbee

Road Committee members