Department Head Pat Griffin of the
Siskiyou County Agricultural Department recently shared with the Board some of the
department’s accomplishments and challenges. The state of California is about
$125,000 in arrears on paying the County gas taxes. In a collaborative effort, the
department is sharing its GIS coordinator position with the Department of Public Health
and Community Development. The County remains at a reduced level for trapping services,
with one federal and one County trapper. Faced with increased demands for (dog) animal
control services in its own unincorporated area, the County discontinued free services to
the incorporated cities – including Montague, Etna and Fort Jones. There are efforts
underway among these cities to find funding to contract with the County so that it can
hire an additional officer to spend part of his time serving the cities.
Ordinances to authorize fees for agricultural licensing, inspections
and certifications and to increase fees for weights and measurement devices were passed.
In addition, an ordinance to address habitual buffalo escapement was recently passed. On a
positive note, Griffin advised that after discontinuation of funds from the state, he was
able to find alternative grant funding for noxious weed control.
With the exhaustion of a prior charitable donation, the spay neuter
program at the animal shelter has dropped to minimal funding levels. An ordinance to
increase license fees on unaltered animals was passed – directing a portion of those
fees to help fund the spay/neuter program. The ordinance also addressed potentially
dangerous dogs and animals at large. This year, a countywide effort has been made to
license dogs. The animal shelter is in need of replacement or re-model. However, there are
no funds available for this. Current capacity at the shelter is habitually full, with
about 30 animals being adopted each month.
I recently met with Department Head Brian McDermott of Public Works
to discuss the status of various outstanding projects in District 5. The pavement washout
on the road to Salmon River is a federal highway project. They have just advertised for a
contractor and should begin work in the spring. Replacement of the historic Ash Creek
bridge on the Klamath River has been sidetracked. The Bureau of Land Management
archaeologist has discovered additional areas of interest to look into. Brian estimates at
least a year until the environmental documents are approved – three years until
construction. This is a setback for the community serviced by the bridge, which found
itself in jeopardy this last summer with the China Back fire.
Contractors are working on the DIRT County road sediment inventory in
Scott Valley. They are on track and should have the inventory and ranking criteria
completed by June. This will assist in meeting the schedule imposed upon the County by the
North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board in their action plan for the Scott River
water quality total maximum daily load (TMDL) for sediment. The County will also be doing
a study on the effluent pond at the County airport in Shasta Valley.
The County Road Department is conducting a surface pavement condition
survey. This will be used to show that the amount allotted by the State for maintenance of
our roads is insufficient and will also estimate the amount required to bring County roads
up to standard. (Remember that property taxes do not fund our roads.) The $4.5 million per
year previously paid to the County under the Secure Schools and Communities Self
Determination Act, (intended to backfill lost timber receipts from federal harvest
restrictions,) as been discontinued. Efforts to provide for some sort of continuation of
the payments failed a few weeks ago in Congress. Fortunately, California Proposition 1B
funds are set to kick in with a one time $6.8 million payment. 40% of that should be
received now with an additional 15% each following year for four years. |
