Ledger-Dispatch

By Jerry Budrick (jbudrick@ledger-dispatch.com= )=20

The Amador County Museum remains closed = after=20 extensive roof repairs earlier this year.

Photo by: Jerry=20 Budrick
Money was at the root of nearly all = issues=20 discussed at Monday morning's Amador County Administrative Committee=20 meeting.

With a county hiring freeze in place, decimation of = personnel=20 through retirement or resignation has begun to put a strain on various=20 departments, none more so than the Amador County Assessor's Office, = which has=20 had both a retirement and a resignation.

County Assessor Jim = Rooney=20 accepted the news that budgetary limitations will dictate that his = department=20 would be allocated only half a person to replace the two that have been=20 lost.

"You know we have a really tight budget," committee = Chairman=20 Richard Forster said to Rooney, "and everything is being=20 scrutinized."

Rooney told the committee that callers from places = like the=20 Bay Area are amazed that the county assessor answers incoming phone = calls.=20 Forster replied, "It's really good for managers to work at the counters = once in=20 a while."

Amador County Public Works was informed by the = committee that=20 there is so little money in the heavy equipment budget that it will have = to shop=20 for used vehicles to replace worn-out ones that have been used for = decades. A=20 loader that the public works department has had since the 1960s is in = need of=20 replacement, but a new one would cost approximately $150,000, more than = the=20 total amount in the equipment account, estimated by Auditor Joe Lowe at = around=20 $100,000.

With used loaders reportedly available in Central = Valley cities=20 for under $50,000, the committee authorized that amount for purchase of = an=20 adequate used loader, with fewer than 10,000 hours on its = meter.

The=20 recent to-do over a road closure permit for the Fiddlers' Jam in = Fiddletown=20 brought the issue of event permits involving public works to the = committee.=20 Again, it came down to a shortage of money. Public works used to loan = signs out=20 to nonprofit or community organizations, but damage and loss have dented = its=20 budget, driving the department to lean toward a stricter = policy.

The=20 Amador County Chamber of Commerce will receive far less funding than = originally=20 budgeted, splitting the $30,000 allocated to tourism with the Amador = Council of=20 Tourism. The budget had contained $25,000 for the chamber.

With = the=20 Amador County Museum still closed after completion of extensive roof = work,=20 Amador Historical Society representatives Dave Butow and Larry Cenotto = proposed=20 that the county begin to transfer responsibility over to the society. = Money=20 again stands in the way, in that additional work needs to be done on = interior=20 joisting and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.

"The = board=20 already took action to keep the museum closed until the property meets = ADA=20 compliance," said General Services Administration director Jon Hopkins. = "They=20 also decided to pursue a direction similar to the one in Fiddletown with = the=20 historical society there."

"The board made the commitment to get = the=20 building buttoned up and now we want to work with the historical = society,"=20 Forster said.

Responding to the retirement of Health and Human = Service=20 Agency director Tracy Russell and the impending retirement of Department = of=20 Social Services director Jackie Steele, County Administrative Officer = Terri Daly=20 proposed structural changes at social services. "They need some = management over=20 there," Daly said, "and they have some very talented people." The CAO's = proposal=20 would lift internal candidates into deputy director positions, one for = finance=20 and administration, the other for programs, of which social services has = upwards=20 of 250.

Forster suggested plugging Deputy CAO Kristen Bengyel = into the=20 position of director, at least for one year.

"I do have = experience in=20 behavioral health, as well as drug and alcohol," Bengyel = allowed.

With=20 the last word on the issue, Forster said, "This has to go before the = full board=20 (of supervisors)."

Jerry = Budrick