COBB AREA COUNCIL
PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday June 15, 2023 at 6:30pm
In Person and Online Participation Available
Minutes (Approved 7-24-2023)
CALL TO ORDER at 6:42pm
Roll Call
Present: Cathy McCarthy, Chris Nettles, Darlene Warner, Mel McMurrin
Absent: Jake Strickler, Joe Shneider
Pledge of Allegiance
Approval of Agenda
Motion by Chris, 2nd by Robert Stark. All in favor, Agenda approved.
Approval of Minutes (As Amended)
Motion by Chris, 2nd by Paul Duncan. Minutes approved as Amended.
[Amendments: Public Comment by Tom Slaight wording correction; Adjournment Motion at last meeting was made by Chris, not Cathy. Determination made a Motion is not necessary in order to Adjourn, per Rosenberg’s Rules of Order.]
Short Announcements
Robert Stark – Bingo every Saturday night at the Mountain Lions Club. Free food to take at the front door.
Austin/PEG TV – will be doing setup at meetings to bring community together. Little Red Schoolhouse does not have the internet bandwidth. Internet speed needs improvements. Recordings of meetings will be available on PegTV website and County YouTube channel.
Public and Board Comment on Non-Agenda Items (3 mins./individual)
California Allen, Cobb Area County Water District will be taking care of the pipeline under the Rainbow Bridge, not the road itself. Geothermal Commission (Pyska and Simon) will be contributing the financial difference for the work to the road submitted by Rees Winkleman. Cory Draper offered to pay for repair, along with Calpine sharing the cost. Open Mountain (Bottlerock Power) will be at our July meeting.
Robert Thomas – able to get through the log deck at the ACI and was able to “rehome” the chips; post-fire there was lots of energy in the product; would like to see this and biochar blended together, working with SLCFD on food composting. Asking for support from SLCFD and CAC. 707-928-8082. robertthomas@R2company.com.
Supervisor’s Comments- Jessica Pyska
Thanked PEG-TV for providing audio/video. Thanked Cathy for her presentation to the County BOS. CLERC has asked every MAC to come do a presentation now that Cathy/CAC has “set a high bar.” Budget hearings wrapped up this evening, adopting a $380M budget, not all discretionary. Hazardous trees – IRA Grant application submitted to BOS 6/27/23 to offset OES 25% with the full support of Congressman Mike Thompson. A few million have been set aside to start work, and for when project is accepted by CalOES. Bottlerock work – thanks to CLERC, North Shore Fuels, CalFire, Paul Duncan, and timber operators. The Risk Reduction Authority (Pyska is Vice-Chair) along with the County’s Climate Resiliency Officer, has applied for $649K grant. This will be building in capacity, diversity, equity, and inclusion in our programs. Priority is assessing vulnerabilities in developing our Climate Action Plan (CAP), implementing specific actions identified in our local Hazard Mitigation Plan, providing for enhanced public education and awareness of natural hazards, and increased public understanding of disaster preparedness. The CAP also includes a County-wide Evacuation Plan, as well as a Climate Adaption plan. The Climate Resiliency Officer is funded via a grant through the Jumpstart program. We are mandated to update safety element. Pilot project will be the Soda Bay corridor. Next Monday the County is adopting Juneteenth (June 19th) as a County holiday. There will be no BOS meeting next Tuesday, and County offices will be closed.
Fire Season Update – Paul Duncan
Middletown Days is this weekend and will be in the parade. By the 19th staffing will be at 1 Engine per Station, by July 1st will be at 2 Engines per Station. Boggs landing zone clearing is almost complete. Operation Force Multiplier extinguisher and hand tool distribution will be Sunday, June 18th from 9am to 3pm at Station 60. Highway 175 repairs – flaggers will be 24/7, anytime there’s single-lane traffic during peak fire season, there cannot be lights, it must be manned. Highway 175 bridge work (by Hardester’s) is supposed to begin 6/15 – 6/16, per Jessica. Burn permits have been suspended – unless there is an urgent need to burn. This needs to go to Paul and must articulate the need to burn and have an inspection first to obtain an exemption permit.
Treasurer’s Report- Chris
Operating Budget Balance at May meeting $22,050.61
Transactions since 5/18/2023
General Fund: Received $0.00
Paid from General Fund: 835.36 – rent at Hub $500, electric bill for Hub $230.43, Zoom $104.93
Blackberry Cobbler Festival Fund
Received: $1,825 in vendor fees
Paid: Square fees $71.11, Payable app $8.25
Net addition to Festival account: $1,753.89
Current Account Balances
$ 11,797.63 General Fund
8,753.89 Blackberry Cobbler Festival
0.00 Cobb Resource Hub (no currently restricted grant money)
2,417.62 Emergency Preparedness Fund
$ 22,969,14 Operating Budget Balance (6/15/2023)
$ 48,082.63 Small Business Loan Fund (originally from S.F. Home Loan Bank grant)
$ 71,051.77 Net Assets (30-day increase to net assets of $918.53)
Approve/Disapprove Letter re: Cobb Mountain Water’s decision to cease maintenance of Rainbow Bridge- Robert Stark
This is still in progress – no action taken. Question by Jessica regarding Lions Club/Friends of Cobb funds balance and meetings: funds balance is approximately 61K; there are 6 members that meet once per year.
Committee Reports (3 minutes/individual)
Firewise Communities – Magdelena, Cindy, Glenneth, David, Laurie
Inez – PG&E removed 3 trees in 2 days in the Rainbow-Estates neighborhood; there’s a new Firewise sign on Rainbow Drive.
Glenneth – Daniel/CERT teams are in-process of getting activated.
Chris – Magdalena reports that some Firewise communities have signed up for an AmeriCorps team.
Communications Committee – Darlene
Starting to see an increase in the number of weekly check-ins. New repeater is still at the “Hill” location; still planning to move it to “Mountain” location in July. Approximately half of the GMRS radios have been reprogrammed. Have 3 new GMRS licensed users, and Boggs leader is back. CAN is chasing down the source of the static being heard on the radio. Mel commented to be sure to leave radios on, turn to alert channel. All hours volunteering with CAN count towards Firewise hours.
Forest Health Committee – Eliot
No report
Economic Development Committee – Chris
Meets last Tuesday of each month. Next meeting is June 29th at 6pm at the Hub.
Blackberry Cobbler Festival – Cathy
Vendor applications are available, email cobbareacouncil@gmail.com. Sponsorship request letters have gone out; received verbal notice that Calpine will be sponsoring this year (first sponsor). The festival is Saturday, August 26th, from 11AM until 4PM. Next meeting is July 6th at 6pm at Cobb Mountain Pizza.
Next Meeting: July 20, 2023
Adjournment at 7:34pm by Chair, Cathy McCarthy
Respectfully submitted,
Darlene Warner, Secretary
