LOYALTON - In the opening minutes of the Board of Supervisors continued meeting in Loyalton, on Tuesday, March 21, Supervisor Adams announced some good news for Sierra County residents battered by recent storms.

Following the disastwher declaration issued by FEMA on March 17th, the IRS extended the deadline for filing federal taxes for individuals and businesses within affected counties until October 16th. Moreover, Governor Newsom has announced the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) would also extend state filings until October 16th.

In other good news, County Forester, Danielle Bradfield, informed everyone about Sierra County receiving three grants from the USDA totaling $2.3 million.

Two of the grants funded by the USDA Community Wildfire Defense Program will support the update of the Sierra County Wildfire Protection Plan and project planning for fuel reduction efforts. The other grant supports Fire Safe Sierra County for fuel reduction efforts on 500 acres around Sierraville, while Sierra County’s required federal match, $75K, is only a bit over 3%.

Bradfield also requested a letter of support from the Board of Supervisors to the Tahoe National Forest requesting a waiver of matching funds for the Roadside Fuels Project. The county only learned of this $3.3 million in early February, so the grant had to come together quickly as there is a rapid implementation timeline. Projects have to be shovel-ready. The waiver reduces the match to just 5% ($165K). The Roadside Fuels Project will allocate $300K into the preparation of the Green Acres timber sale, as well as thinning along critical egress and ingress routes throughout the county. The project will start by treating 90 acres (roughly 5.5 miles) along Mountain House Road. Treatments along Ridge, Saddleback, Lavezolla, and Henness Pass Roads will follow. The Board asked Director Beals to investigate how much of a possible in-kind match could come through county road work associated with these corridors.

The Board unanimously approved Bradfield's request and thanked her for the excellent work she performed in securing the grants.

Though the county is required to match a portion of these grants, Bradford pointed out that for every $1 the county has spent, the county has received $23 in grant money for fire mitigation and fuel reduction.

Lea Salas next informed the Board there soon will be changes to the funding formulas through the Mental Health Services Act. While it still has to be voted on, Governor Newsom announced on Saturday his intentions to make reforms focused on homeless housing and splitting up how funds are spent. This reform could cause issues for smaller counties with small homeless populations which do not focus on housing for the homeless. As of January, Sierra County has only nine individuals classified as homeless, down from 12 in January 2022.

Updating the Board on the recent Planning Commission meeting following the implementation of the county's new short-term rental ordinance, Director Beals said the county has only received 14 applications for short-term rentals. One has been approved, three denied, and the rest are in review. However, a number of existing shortterm rental properties have not registered. Thus, Beals is working with the County Treasurer and Tax Collector Office to reach out to property owners to help avoid any enforcement issues.

Deputy Director of Public Works Bryan Davey told the Supervisors the county has incurred $315K in costs due to the recent storms. Most expenditures have been to the road department, including significant costs due to equipment breakdowns and repairs. $40K was spent on outside emergency contracts to remove storm debris and the Hansen Brothers opening up some secondary roads. The county operated the warming center on behalf of PG&E and distributed 500 gallons of fuel at Goodyear’s Bar for people without power on generators. Sierra County will get reimbursed for 75% of these costs as it is classified as a state disaster, compared to the 90% rate if a federal disaster was declared. Negotiations are happening between the state and FEMA hoping to resolve what would be a big hit to small counties. Davey gave special thanks to the road crews and county staff often working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week.

On the Human Resourcefront, Judi Behlke the Assessor’s Office, Auditor’s Office, Building Department, and OES are fully staffed. The Health and Human Services office in Downieville is hiring a Case Manager, Public Works still needs a Transportation Planner, and the Sheriff's Office needs three deputies and a dispatcher. The Loyalton library may be getting close to finally hiring a librarian with four interviews scheduled this week.

Mike Rahe, Rachel Hutchinson, and Andrew Mishler provided the latest news from the Forest Service. Hiring continues for firefighters and recreation technicians. Damage from the recent storms does not seem to be too bad but is causing delays in campground tree hazard operations.

The Forest Service's main focus over the next month is getting recreation sites staffed and ready to open as well as starting staffing and preparing for the work on the North Yuba River Watershed Project. Finishing up edits, they are still on target for publishing the final report by April 7th, feverishly working to allocate $120-$130 million in agreements currently moving through the system.

To help support arts and culture in Sierra County, the Board endorsed a letter of support for Musica Sierra’s Headwater application for $100K in funding to support local artists. Musica Sierra is a performing art non-profit based in Sierra County dedicated to building and fostering initiatives for enriching the cultural experiences of our region.

Musica Sierra is applying for funding to employ six Sierra County artists to create new works inspired by the Sierra Valley. The “Headwaters” project will bridge nature- based education with the visual and performing arts to promote land stewardship, honor heritage, elevate local artistry, and deepen civic pride in the region.

Supervisor Heuer introduced a letter of support for the Sierra County Land Trust's purchase of two properties in Sierra City to preserve open space and connection to trails which the Board endorsed. The two properties sit at the base of the Sierra Buttes and are considered unbuildable and difficult to access. While endorsing the letter of support and support for the Trust, several board members expressed concerns that the county is losing valuable real estate needed to support economic development around core communities and commercial districts. The Board endorsed the idea that the county should start looking to hold conversations with the USFS and other land-owning stakeholders about exchanging land to open up some development around our core communities.

Supervisor Roen introduced a last-minute emergency letter of support to exempt state and local officials from new rules under the Clean Air Act severely limiting the use of fire suppression materials. With the danger of wildfire continuing to grow, there is serious concern that if not exempted, firefighting agencies could lose an important tool in battling wildfires. Firefighters could potentially lose the ability to use fire retardants for 2-3 fire seasons.

Finally, the Board officially acknowledged the retirement of Tim Beals, Director of Public Works, Planning, and Transportation on June 2nd, 2023 by appointing Brandon Pangman to be the new Director of Planning and Bryan Davey to take over the Director of Transportation position.