About District 4

Fourth District, Calaveras County, CA

Altaville | Angels Camp | Douglas Flat | Murphys | Vallecito

City Business

I spent the entire day on City issues. The City Council met at 8:30am in a conference room at Foothill Village to begin the preparation of the 2008/2009 City budget. This process starts with each department head presenting their draft budget to the Council. We ask questions about each line item, especially ones that show a marked change from previous years. Sometimes there is a clear consensus on proposed changes and the staff notes the Council's view. After we have reviewed every department's drafts, the staff totals up all the consensus changes and those items where more discuss will be required. The new draft budget will be reviewed at least one more time. The public is always invited to attend our budget workshops and a few actually do.

City business continued in the afternoon with a joint session with the City's Planning Commission. There were two discussion items. The first concerned how to prepare the City for the possible arrival of a "Big Box" store. We reviewed how other cities have handled the situation. Clearly some alternatives are better than others. The consensus seemed to be that the Planning staff should draft an ordinance that sets specific zoning requirements keyed to the specific size and character of the retail outlet. I favor an ordinance that excludes "Big Box" from the historic downtown area and identifies the area northwest of the 4/49 intersection for large-format stores. The ordinance should be tailored to be compatible with a County ordinance. This is very important to prevent a retailer pitting the City against the County to win tax concessions which I absolutely oppose.

After the joint meeting, the City Council held its regular meeting. The agenda was a fairly busy one with many different types of items. Most of the items were "bread and butter", meaning the basic issues that any governing body must deal with in a democracy. I am very proud of the seriousness with which our Council attends to these items. They may be small in the grand scheme of things, but they are very important to the individuals involved. Each citizen is entitled to the full attention of the Council and they get it.

If you would be interested in hosting a klatch (coffee, tea or soup), please use the "Write Lee" link to arrange a date.