The Sierra County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, January 17th, in Loyalton began with a moment of silence for Jerry McCaffrey, and esteemed member of the community and ex-Supervisor, who died earlier this month.

Moving forward to Committee Reports and Announcements, Supervisor Adams voiced his concern over a new California law requiring every county to have Mobile Response Team ready to respond to any disaster or emergency anywhere within the county in less than two hours. With substantial financial and logistical burdens being placed upon rural counties by this law, Adams will be raising the issue with the other members of RCRC at the organization's Board of Directors meeting this week.

In other news, Supervisor Dryden reported on a meeting she attended, along with CEOs from 10 other counties, held recently by Assemblywoman Dahle. During this session, it was clear Sierra County is far from alone in dealing with critical staffing shortages. All participants ranked their inability to fill job vacancies as one of their most pressing problems.

During the U.S. Forest Service reports, all four of the District Rangers with responsibility for lands within Sierra County said their pile burning activities have ended for the season.

During the Department Managers Reports portion of the meeting, Tim Beals, Director of Planning and Building, was pleased to tell the Board that the recent storms appear to have caused minimal damage to Sierra County's infrastructure. Thus, he sees little chance the county will be applying for disaster/emergency relief funds. Beals also spoke about the county having received certification of compliance for its vehicular equipment from the California Air Resource Board (CARB). However, with stricter CARB emission standards due to come into effect in 2024, many of county's older vehicles, including snow-removal equipment, will become non-compliant and need to be replaced.

Meanwhile, Brandon Pangman, Deputy Director of Planning and Development, told the Board about Sierra County receiving a $500K grant from the State of California for planning and designing broadband infrastructure throughout the county.

The Local Agency Technical Assistance (LATA) Fund, part of the $6 billion allocated for broadband development throughout the state by the passage of SB 156 in July 2021, is the source of this grant.

The LATA program provides funding to set up the "last mile" broadband connecting homes and businesses with local networks.

Two technology firms contracted with the Golden State Connect Authority (GSCA) will produce a "shovel-ready" plan and design, including pre-approval of the planning permits to begin the work. Telecom companies would then apply to leverage part of the $2 billion public funding to implement the infrastructure. The GSCA is an affiliate of the Joint Powers Authority organization formed under the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) in 2021. Establishing "broadband for all" for the 39 rural counties that are members of RCRC is the task at hand for the GSCA.

According to Barbara Hayes, Chief Economic Development Officer for RCRC, this is excellent news for Sierra County since locals will be in the driver's seat on the road to implementing broadband infrastructure across the county.

As for actions, the Board voted unanimously to appoint Tony Commendator to the Board of Directors of the Sierra County Fire Protection District #1. The Supervisors also appointed Duncan Kennedy to serve as a member of the Sierra County Water Resources Committee.

In their final action before going into Closed Session, the Board approved the extension of leave without pay for an employee of the Assessors Office in order to facilitate retention of a valued staff member.