DOWNIEVILLE - Despite the treacherous road conditions, all Supervisors made it to Downieville for the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. Chairman Dryden made a point to recognize the outstanding work that county staff and CalTrans have been doing to keep the roads open and safe for travel.

The main business of the day centered around our recent weather events. Director of the Office of Emergency Services (OES) for the county, Tim Beals, presented a resolution proclaiming a local emergency due to severe storms commencing February 21, 2023, following the statewide declaration made by Governor Newsom. This proclamation allows the county to tap into emergency resources to tackle the problems created by the storm. When the state declares an emergency as it has done in 13 counties, each county has seven days to respond. Chairman Dryden noted that US Congressman Kevin Kiley’s office and District 1 State Senator, Megan Dahle, had both reached out to encourage Sierra County to make a proclamation, and she informed them that it was already on the agenda. Sierra County was ahead of the other counties in quickly bringing this proclamation forward. The Board unanimously approved the resolution that must be reapproved every sixty days.

The proclamation of a state of emergency only allows funds for public works and does not extend to personal or private damage. As the cleanup from the storms is not budgeted, the state of emergency allows the county to get the work done immediately. The state will reimburse 75% of the costs. To extend funds to help private citizens, FEMA would have to declare a state of emergency. FEMA looks at each storm as a separate event, whereas OES sees the whole two weeks as one event, so they are working to come to agreement on how these recent events will be categorized.

Director Beals said that this series of storms rivals anything he has seen since the 1970s. He praised the work of county staff, CalTrans, and PG&E for all their hard work and cooperation. Collaborating with PG&E, the county opened a warming center in Downieville at the community hall staffed with county volunteers handing out blankets, batteries, water, snacks, and coffee. He estimated that 150-200 people had come through the center in the last three days. The county is offering gasoline two hours per day at Goodyears Bar to residents who remain without power. As long as people bring a certified gasoline container, they can get up to 10 gallons of gas which the county will later bill back to residents. Transitioning from the recent weather events, he noted that the county is now preparing for possible severe flooding from the impending rain coming this weekend that could see snow levels rise to 8000’.

Sheriff Fisher briefly commented that despite the extreme weather his office had not received too many calls for service, complementing residents for heeding advice and staying home and off the roads.

With many people either unable to get to the meeting or lacking phone and internet service, the Department Managers’ reports were brief. Lea Salas informed the Board that the Department of Healthcare Services had miscalculated their formulas and overpaid the county so they would be taking back $324 from the county. She also mentioned that some counties had been overpaid by more than $25,000 so Sierra County was fortunate. Salas also mentioned that they were requested by the schools to make presentations at each of the county schools around drug and alcohol prevention before graduation as they have been finding mini liquor bottles in school trash and are concerned about this growing trend.

Reporting out from activities on the Forest Service, we learned that they are happy to finally be filling some important positions so they can have sites staffed five days per week. The Green Acres project is ready for implementation and the North Yuba Project is on track to complete its final EIS report by mid-April.

The Board then unanimously approved two appointments to positions that have been vacant for a long time. They approved Greg Johnson to fill a vacancy in the Downieville Fire Protection District and appointed Jamie Shiltz to sit on the Sierra County Children and Families Commission (First 5).

Before convening to a closed session, Tim Beals unloaded the biggest bombshell of the day. After 50 years of service, Director Beals announced he would be retiring effective June 2nd, 2023, handing his official notice to the Board. Knowing that this day would come at some point, the Board gave effusive praise for his long-standing commitment to Sierra County and spoke of plans to honor his service sometime soon.