Thanks for
reading our eNews! We're eager to hear from you.
Share your concerns and questions by email or call the office:
Fairfield Office (9-5, Mon-Fri)
Phone:
(707) 784-3031
Fax: (707) 784-6665
675 Texas Street, Suite 6500
Fairfield,
CA 94533-6352
Vallejo Office (9-noon,
Fridays)
Phone: (707) 553-5364
401 Amador Street
Vallejo, CA 94590
Benicia Open Office Hours (1st & 3rd Mon., 5-6:30pm)
Benicia
City Hall, Conference room 1
250 East L
Street, Benicia
Email Linda
ljseifert@solanocounty.com
District Representative
Catherine M. Ritch
Phone: (707) 784-2974 Fairfield or (707) 553-5364 Vallejo
Hours: Wednesday, 1pm to 5pm, Thursday - Friday, 9 to 5
(Friday, 9-noon in Vallejo office)
cmritch@solanocounty.com
District Representative
Roger D. Straw
Phone: (707) 784-2974 Fairfield or (707) 553-5364 Vallejo
Hours: Monday - Tuesday, 9 to 5, Wednesday, 9am to 1pm.
rdstraw@solanocounty.com
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Gree tings from Linda ...
What
I like most about writing this brief article is that it requires that I
step back and reflect on the recent weeks and also that I fast forward
to the coming weeks. We receive more and more constituent calls
all the time. Calls about Middle Green Valley, animal care issues,
garbage issues, road closures, health and social service eligibility
issues, foster care matters, housing, the Woodcreek Development, the
State Fair, the County Fair, the Fairgrounds redevelopment project, the
County budget, wages and benefits issues from the County Administrator
to our modestly paid clerks, census, grapevine moth, and other issues as
well. In some cases, you want to express your views or request a
meeting with our office, and in others to ask for our assistance.
We
enjoy serving you and want to encourage you to continue to contact
us. With virtually each of your phone calls, we also learn
something new. We like to think we are successful in addressing
your concerns so please let us know if your issue continues to needs an
advocate.
As some of you discern from reading the papers, the
Board has dealt with challenging and often controversial issues in
recent months. Everything from offering Early Retirement
Incentives [that can reap millions in savings and save jobs on the one
hand, but to unfair advantage for some long term employees on the other
hand] and whether to fund more start-up work on the Fairgrounds
development project [e.g., should the county be in the development
business at all and if so, should it invest so heavily in development
planning in this economic climate], to spending on the State Fair
Exhibit when jobs are at risk or to transferring our eminent domain
power to Solano Transportation Authority for future road projects that
have come forward on a board agenda. I continue to approach each
issue as a new challenge and to investigate the background and rationale
for the proposal before deciding upon a course of action. Some of
the choices are difficult and others not...please weigh in when you
can.
We continue to hold Open Office Hours at Benicia City Hall
the first and third Monday of the month from 5-6:30 PM. We planned
to take our office hours to the Farmer's Market for the summer-bring
our services to you-but Benicia Main Street has said No to our request
for space. So we will continue to locate at City Hall.
There
are some important issues coming forward in the next couple of months
and you may want to watch for them: Middle Green Valley, [which
passed Planning Commission scrutiny and will come to the board in late
June], Woodcreek Subdivision [at Rockville and Suisun Valley Road],
potentially more job losses due to budgetary constraints, and the
2010-2011 Budget which could call for further staff reductions.
As
a final note, Congratulations to the Benicia Historical Museum as it
celebrates its 25th Anniversary, to the Jesse Bethel High School Band
for its incredible performance in Hawaii, to our senior men and women
recipients of the Living Legend Awards, and to Robert Semple Elementary
School in Benicia which was named one of the top five elementary schools
in the county by California Department of Education.
Linda
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Solano County Budget
 Solano County Budget hearings are scheduled
this year from June 28 through July 2. The hearings will be held
in the Board Chambers on the First Floor of 675 Texas Street in
Fairfield.
This year the County faces another double
whammy:
- Declining local property and sales taxes
have created an $18.7 million gap between requested expenditures and
anticipated revenues; and
- The impact of the State budget cuts on
the County will not be known
until late summer or early fall. The State's budget is currently
out of
balance by $19.1 billion this year.
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Management Incentive
Program ... and Salary Adjustments
 The debate around "MIPS"
brewed since I joined the board. MIP stood for Management
Incentive Program and was a program instituted in 2005 to provide
bonuses to the county's upper management. These bonuses were
provided in addition to annual Cost of Living Adjustments. When I
joined the board, I advocated for their elimination and finally in
late March, the Solano County Board voted 5-0 to eliminate the program.
However,
by a vote of 3-2, the Board also voted to institute a step program for
these same department heads and managers with the result that some will
be receiving increases in 2010-2011. As your Supervisor, I question
the wisdom of this strategy of not reducing management pay while laying
off direct services staff, cutting community contracts, and asking
County citizens to do without. |
Community Service
Grants
 Each Board member has a "discretionary" fund that can be
used to support various county projects. Projects funded this past
year with the District 2 funds include:
- Rebuilding Together received $1000 to help them renovate the
Vallejo Veterans Memorial Building in an event that saw over 200
volunteers come forward to help.
- The Jesse Bethel High School
Band in Vallejo was awarded $500 to assist them to travel to Hawaii for
the 30th Annual Hawaii Invitational Music Festival in April 2010.
- Fighting
Back Partnership in Vallejo received $1000 to expand the number
of Neighborhood Watch groups in Vallejo.
- Benicia CAC received
$1000 to expand its senior lunch services.
- Cordelia Fire
Protection District received $500 for the purchase of a rescue
stretcher.
- The California Native Plant Society received $500 for
sustainable plantings at the Forrest Deaner Native Plant Botanic
Garden in Benicia.
- Finally, Benicia Community Arts is scheduled
to receive $500 on June 8th, for much needed scholarships for children
to participate in this year's A LOT OF ART program.
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Big News for Green
Valley Residents
 The Middle Green Valley Specific Plan,
Environmental Impact Report and Developer's Agreement is scheduled to be
heard by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, June 22 at 2 p.m.
The plan was approved 3-2 at Solano County Planning Commission on
May 20. Documents are available
for review online. Please contact our office with your
comments and concerns at 784-2974.
In other news, the Solano
Transportation Agency (STA) will be moving and replacing the City of
Vallejo waterlines which provide service to the Green Valley
residents. The new lines will connect Vallejo's existing waterline
at Suisun Valley Road, then extend westward for nearly three miles
along Rockville Road to just east of Paseo Arboles in Green Valley where
it will connect to Vallejo's existing water line. Rockville Road
will remain open at all times during the summer construction although
traffic control will be in place. Moving and replacing the 80 year
old water line is estimated at $2.9 million and will be replaced with
no direct expense to the Green Valley residents. Funding will be
provided by STA. |
Solano County Fair -
Early This Year, June 23-27!
 Mark your calendar and
plan to attend this year's Solano County Fair, scheduled early this
year, for June 23 - 27 at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo.
The
Board of Supervisors took action in March to encourage Solano's seven
Cities to set up exhibits at this year's Fair, promoting Solano County
as a great place to live and visit. Each city is expected to
have a designated space to be as creative as they desire to
showcase their city's amenities. Other more "local" features will
be part of the fair's new look.
The fair will be without horse
racing this year. Commenting on the Fair's decision not to pursue
racing dates in 2010, General Manager Mike Paluszak stated, "This was a
very difficult decision for members of the Fair Board, management and
staff, but also one that has been studied, discussed and contemplated
for several years. ...The Board had the tough choice between their
love of horse racing and the realities of declining attendance, revenue
and horse population industry-wide, as well as our own aging racing
facilities. In the end, they made a pragmatic and courageous
decision...."
The fair needs your participation and
support. This year's event promises more rides and exhibits and
some great entertainment, so please take your families and enjoy a day
of fun at the Solano County Fair. |
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Countywide
Climate Action Plan
 Solano County's General
Plan requires the development and adoption of a Climate Action Plan
(CAP) by June 30, 2010. County staff and consultants are working
hard to develop the plan in consultation with a Focus Group composed of
interest groups and stakeholders. The report is in draft stages
and is open for comment. For more information, click below.
Report
to the Board of Supervisors:
Additional
background and resource material (including a comment form) can be
found on the Solano County website:
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Mothball Fleet lawsuit
settled - obsolete ships to be gone by 2017
 In March, Representative George Miller and
the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) joined
environmental groups and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board in
announcing settlement of a lawsuit brought against MARAD. After
years of delays, all sides agreed on a speedier process of removing the
decaying hulls of the "Mothball Fleet" anchored off Benicia in the
Suisun Bay.
We are pleased to report that efforts to bring scrap
recycling processes to Vallejo's Mare Island are becoming and more
likely with each passing day. The permitting process is underway
and more and more ships are being towed elsewhere when the Vallejo
economy could benefit from the jobs that would become available.
"We
hope that some of this economic activity, with the dismantling of the
ships, will take place in the Bay Area," Rep. George Miller said. Miller
added that the local ship recycling applicant, California Dry Dock
Solutions (Allied Recycling Defense), is "going through the
permitting process, and there seems to be some encouragement" for their
participation.
So far, eight ships have been towed to San
Francisco for cleaning and then to Texas for scrap recycling. The
worst 20 of the ships will be cleaned, towed and dismantled for
recycling by 2012. The remaining obsolete ships will be recycled by
2017. In addition, MARAD is moving quickly to get rid of the
piles of hazardous paint chips from vessel decks and, by September of
next year, will have cleaned all peeling paint from the exteriors of the
25 worst ships while in dry dock.
Michael Wall of the Natural Resources Defense Council,
said "Getting these ships cleaned up and removed is a huge victory for
our environment and the people of California....The ships already have
shed more than 20 tons of heavy metals into the bay, including lead,
zinc, copper and cadmium. If they are not cleaned up, they could lose as
much as 50 tons more."
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Veterans Town Hall
Forum in Benicia
 Our second Veterans
Town Hall was held in Benicia in April.
I want to
thank Ted Puntillo, Deputy Secretary for the State of California Veterans Service
Division for joining us as well as representatives from:
- Employment
Development Department
- Solano County Veterans Services
- Veterans Affairs Health Services
- Social Security
- Department of Veterans Affairs, Oakland
- U.S. Veterans Cemetery in Dixon
- Congressman George Miller
- Congressman John Garamendi
Special thanks to all
the volunteers who helped in so many ways, especially those who made
lunch for the 100 plus veterans that attended. If you are
interested in attending our next event, please email our office and we
will add you to the mailing list. |
Photo Gallery: Public
Art in Solano County
 Did you
know ... In 1995, Jay McManigal and Gloria McManigal McBreyer
compiled a booklet of photographs of art in public places throughout
Solano County. We have scanned the contents and posted it here.
New public art has
appeared throughout the county since then. If anyone is interested
in doing an updated compendium or has photos of other county public
art, forward your photos and we will add them to the collection. |
Solano Highways
Operation Study
 On February 10, 2010, the STA board adopted the Solano
Highways Operations Study.
Previously called the "I-80/I-680/I-780Corridors Highway
Operations Study & Implementation Plan", the study analyzes the
performance and safety of Solano County's interstate highway corridors
and recommends a variety of operations improvements as well as visual
guidelines for landscape and hardscape treatments.
This study
analyzes current and future congestion trends along our major highways,
and identifies priority transportation projects that will achieve
Solano's Comprehensive Transportation Plan goals. The overall goal
is to "Develop a balanced
transportation system that reduces congestion and improves access and
travel choices through the enhancement of roads".
The plan
was developed cooperatively under the direction of the Solano Highways
Partnership (SoHIP) consisting of representatives from STA, MTC,
Caltrans, and the cities of Benicia, Dixon, Fairfield, Vacaville and
Vallejo. The study presents operational improvements and
recommendations for a long range Intelligent Transportation System
including ramp metering, closed circuit television cameras, vehicle
detection and highway advisory radios, and takes us through the year
2035.
You can download Draft I-80/I-680/I-780 Corridors Highway
Operations Study & Implementation Plan Materials (07-08-09):
* Draft Executive Summary, (4.7 mb)
* Draft Full Study text, (8.0 mb)
* Draft Appendices, (3.8 mb) |
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Appointments
& Volunteers
Citizens Serving Solano District 2
 I am pleased to
announce several appointments as follows:
Green Valley resident Jim Campi,
reappointed to the Suisun-Fairfield-Rockville Cemetery District where he
has served for over 20 years. During this time, he also served as a
director and president of the California Association of Public
Cemeteries, dealing with legislation that affects cemeteries throughout
the state and helping smaller cemetery districts with policy and
procedures.
Vallejo resident
Viola Robertson has been reappointed to the Equal Employment
Opportunity Committee, where she has served since 2000. Viola has a
long and distinguished background in Benicia, serving those in need as
Executive Director of the Benicia Community Action Center since
1995. Prior to that, she served in various capacities at the Solano
County Economic Opportunity Council. Viola is a committed
volunteer who has dedicated her life to helping those in need.
Green
Valley resident Grant Kreinberg has been reappointed to the
Solano County Animal Care Advisory Board. Mr. Kreinberg was
recently appointed to fill an unexpired term, and now will serve his own
term. Kreinberg is a 21 year resident of Solano County, and has
been a dog and cat owner for many years. He is a strong advocate
of spay and neuter programs, and a supporter of animal rescue
organizations. He has a soft spot for German Shepherd dogs.
Additional vacancies:
Alcohol & Drug Advisory Board, Area Agency on Aging, Solano
Partnership Against Violence. If you are interested, we invite you
to contact us. I ask that applicants for District 2 seats live in
the district, which includes Benicia, approximately half of Vallejo
(area south of Tennessee Street to Oakwood Street and south of Georgia
Street as well as the waterfront including Mare Island), the Cordelia
and Green Valley area of Fairfield, and the unincorporated areas of
Green Valley and Home Acres. If interested, please call or send an
email or letter to us addressed to Supervisor Linda Seifert, Solano
Board of Supervisors, 675 Texas Street, Fairfield, CA 94533.
Applications will be received continuously until the vacancies are
filled.
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Get to know your Solano
County
Solano County
Health Rankings
 Did you know that ... Solano
County ranked 28th among California's 56 counties in overall health
outcomes and factors?
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently
collaborated with the University of Wisconsin Population Health
Institute to develop health rankings for each state's counties.
Here
are a few other detailed rankings. Solano ranked:
- 9th
for physical environment
- 21st for social and economic factors
contributing to health
- 30th in clinical care
- 42nd in
health behaviors
- 38th in morbidity
Recently
reduced State funding has contributed to a reduced level of services in
Solano, and we can expect that less funding for preventive services may
result in a higher number of hospital admissions.
These County
Health Rankings are a key component of the Mobilizing Action Toward
Community Health (MATCH) project. You can learn more about Solano's
and other counties' health rankings at Mobilizing Action Toward
Community Health. |
Where We've Been, What
We're Doing
 You may all be noticing that our newsletter is
getting longer and longer - and so we decided to dispense with this
feature in the future. If you enjoyed the information that we
provided in our activities listing, let us know....
For what its
worth, we participated in Solano County Ag Day [where 2800 third graders
learned about agriculture in our county], toured the Reserve Fleet, had
an insider's tour of Travis Air Force Base, visited a third grade class
[coloring contest winner] and a high school [academic decathalon],
presented awards at the First Annual Living Legacy Awards Event,
attended meetings with our non-profit partners, met with our Assembly
and State Senate representatives, held numerous meetings with
constituents, attended many many board meetings for multiple
organizations, and attended many charitable and non-profit events that
support our community and the people that live here. |
Factoids...and
Interesting Info
 Odd Stuff we come across in our work ...
- Did
you know that the average American consumes 44 pounds of sugar per
year; 54% of America's sugar comes from beets, the rest from cane.
- Government
Computer News named www.transit.511.org one of 10 great
government Web sites nationwide for 2009. It's a one-stop source
for transit information, offering online trip planning as well as route,
fare and schedule data for dozens of transit operators throughout the
Bay Area.
- In a Solano County parent survey around school
readiness activities, taking children to the library was rated as the
least frequent activity for the third year in a row. It fell
behind playing indoor and outdoor games, reading stories, practicing
counting and singing songs. What message does that send?
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