After a marathon political process in Sacramento, a decision was finally made to address the state’s water needs. State legislators agreed last week on which of the many proposed water bond measures would be considered by California voters in November. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed legislation last Wednesday to put a comprehensive $7.5 billion […]
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors has received approval for a $1 million state grant to provide quality drinking water to qualified schools in the county. The Tulare County Office of Education staff, under the leadership of Superintendent of Schools Jim Vidak, played an important role in securing this grant. There are at least 20 […]
Not all Tulare County rank-and-file employees got a signed contract at the end of negotiations July 21. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Bargaining Unit 2, comprised of more than 200 county maintenance, construction and custodial staff, is still working without a contract. SEIU bargaining units 1, 3, 6 and 7 just finished five months […]
This is part two of an ongoing series about CEMEX, water and wells going dry in Lemon Cove. Read part one here. At the end of 2013, a row of Lemon Cove homes along the Stillwell Mining Project, owned and operated by CEMEX, started to see the underground water levels drop. By January, several of […]
At the July 29th Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisors Phil Cox, Pete Vander Poel and Mike Ennis heard arguments both for and against reversing the planning commission vote to deny the proposed 162-home Elderwood Heights development just west of the City of Woodlake. However, with Supervisors Allen Ishida and Steve Worthley not in […]
At the July 21st Visalia City Council Meeting, the council voted to levy a fine of $29,556 on Abigail Trevino’s residence in southwest Visalia for code and law enforcement violations. According to Tracy Robertshaw, neighborhood preservation manager, Trevino’s case is the exception. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, home owners comply when they get their first […]
On July 21st, the county’s negotiating team and the Tulare County employee’s union signed a tentative agreement for a one-year contract with a 3% raise. The agreement had to be approved by the union members and the Tulare County Board of Supervisors (TCBOS) before the new worker’s contract became official. About 350 county employees voted, […]
Visalia Neighborhood Preservation Manager Tracy Robertshaw and the Visalia Parks and Recreation Commission have been busy making Visalia a better place to live. Last year, Robertshaw presented an ordinance to ban shopping carts that has been a huge success. During the last city council meeting, she put forth an ordinance banning repeat criminals from using […]
During its July 15 meeting, the Porterville City Council appointed Adrian Monte Reyes to fill the spot left open after Councilmember Pete McCracken’s passing. The city’s charter required the council to agree upon and appoint a replacement within 30 days of a vacancy; after 30 days, the mayor could have directly appointed a replacement. The […]
The Environmental Health Division of Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency is forming a stakeholder Community Temporary Event Committee in order to continue improving communication and outreach to community and business stakeholders and to help develop strategies to further meet their needs. Environmental Health held a series of outreach meetings last year to hear and address the concerns of […]