County News 2010

Responders who play a critical role in containing and recovering from an animal disease outbreak have an opportunity to take a free training course in August. Registration is limited to 150 people.

Pete Vander Poel, the District Two representative on the Tulare County Board of Supervisors, was elected today chair of the Tulare County Association of Governments, or TCAG, for the next two years.

A group of Green Acres Middle School students are learning the value of community service this summer.
 
A dozen students will spend at least two weeks beautifying their campus by repainting baseball dugouts and door safety lines, removing on-campus graffiti, cleaning the school’s multi-purpose room, and assisting the school’s custodian. This is just one project funded by a Step Up Service Learning Grant, a Tulare County Board of Supervisors-funded program that aims to support service-learning projects that address gang activity and youth at-risk of joining a gang.

Ivanhoe, a small unincorporated community in north Tulare County, will receive a $200,000 boost to repair and renovate the community’s only youth center.

Chairman of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors Steve Worthley, who represents Ivanhoe, said officials with United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Department informed Tulare County this week about a $200,000 grant award in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds.

The $200,000 grant award will be used to repair and renovate a building recently acquired by Tulare County, which will be operated by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tulare County as a youth center. The funding will be used for construction of a games room, classroom, computer learning center, art room, “Kids Café,” and kitchen. A new heating and air conditioning until will be installed and insulation and structural improvements will also be made.

 “This funding will serve as a tremendous benefit to the community of Ivanhoe,” Chairman Worthley said. “Tulare County will continue to strive to provide positive activities for our youth.”

Gavin Iacono has been promoted to the position of Deputy Agricultural Commissioner by Tulare’s Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer, Marilyn Kinoshita.

Iacono, formerly a District Supervisor with the Ag Commissioner's office, will assume his new position June 7, 2010.

Gavin will be in charge of one of the department’s most-demanding positions that include fruit and vegetable inspection, quarantine compliance, export inspection, insect detection, vertebrate pest control, crop statistics, and the glassy-winged sharpshooter control program.

Tulare County's Draft General Plan Update 2030 60-day public review period closed yesterday, May 27, 2010.

At least 30 letters that contain written comments have been submitted to the Tulare County Resource Management Agency (RMA) - the county department in charge of drafting and circulating the document. The RMA plans to review, consider and provide responses to these written comments in a proposed Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) on this project, as required under law. 

Nine Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency (HHSA) phone numbers will change starting June 1, 2010.

Due to unusual cold and snowy conditions, the campgrounds at Balch Park and Mountain Home will remain closed this Memorial Day weekend. Snow in excess of four feet in the campgrounds and ice has prevented the opening.  The ponds at Balch Park and Hedrick are frozen over.

Normally the campgrounds open two weeks prior to Memorial Day Weekend.  Opening has not been delayed like this since the early 1990’s.

The logic and accuracy testing is done over a period of many days before an election.  For the June 8, 2010 election, the testing will take place between May 18th and June 1st  2010.   There will be a public test where political parties and the public are invited to observe the testing and this will take place on Tuesday June 1, 2010 at 2 p.m. in the Elections Office located at Government Plaza, 5951 S. Mooney Blvd. Visalia, CA.

Tulare County officials announced Tuesday that Measure R, a half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2006, has boosted transportation funding for the county by 400 percent and doubled the amount of road projects started in its first three years.

Supervisor Phil Cox said Tulare County has been able to leverage Measure R to obtain an additional $150 million in state and federal transportation funds. Leveraging is the ability to use local project funding, such as Measure R, to bring in additional and larger amounts of funding.

“Measure R is proving to be a tremendous benefit for Tulare County’s taxpayers,” Supervisor Cox said. “This additional state and federal funding, which would not be possible without Measure R, has doubled the amount of road projects expected.”

Representatives from Tulare County’s Resource Management Agency will make at least four stops in the next two weeks to discuss and provide information about the Tulare County General Plan 2030 Update.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Steve Worthley said the purpose of the meeting is to inform and educate Tulare County’s cities and unincorporated communities about the General Plan 2030 Update. Chairman Worthley attended a General Plan Update meeting on May 19 in Traver and plans to attend the May 25 meeting in Dinuba.

Tulare County obtained more than $92 million in road project funding from the state, officials with the Tulare County Association of Governments announced.

The California Transportation Commission (CTC) today approved $83 million for the widening of Highway 99, between Goshen and Kingsburg, and $2.3 million for the widening of Road 80, between Avenue 328 and Avenue 342. The CTC also approved $7 million for three Caltrans operations and rehabilitation projects in Tulare County.

Rita A. Woodard, Registrar of Voters, is reminding all Tulare County residents that the upcoming Primary Election will be held on June 8, 2010.

• The last day to register to vote for this election is May 24, 2010.

• Voter registration cards are available at locations throughout Tulare County.  To obtain a mail-in registration card, please call (559) 624-7300 or 1-800-345-VOTE (8683), a toll free hot line.  If you prefer, you can also register online at: www.sos.ca.gov

Phil Cline, Tulare County District Attorney, and Bill Wittman, Tulare County Sheriff, invite you to the free Child Safety Fair. This event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 22 at the Visalia Adventure Park, 5600 W. Cypress Ave. in Visalia.

Two unincorporated Tulare County communities will host Step Up anti-gang events this week.

The Second Annual Step Up Goshen & Unite Summit will be held from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 13 at Goshen Elementary School, 6505 Ave. 308 in Visalia. The second event, the Traver Step Up Family Fun & Resource Fair, is scheduled from noon to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 15 at Traver Elementary School, 36736 Canal Drive in Traver.

International credit rating agency Fitch Ratings refigured its U.S. Public Finance Ratings, giving Tulare County an across-the-board improvement of its capital improvement and pension obligation bond ratings.