YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 7, No. 33
Including Surrounding Communities
Council looks into SMAC payments by Rick Lemyre Staff Writer
Community Services District legal staff is examining a pair of board members’ attendance at Sheriff’s Municipal Advisory Council (SMAC) meetings and whether payments they received from the CSD were proper. CSD Board policy states that directors may receive $100 stipends for attending meetings conducted under the Ralph M. Brown Act open meeting law, or that have been previously sanctioned by the CSD Board as a whole and for which a written report is filed. Qualifying meetings include regular CSD Board meetings, special subcommittee meetings, and county-level gatherings of representatives from all
the advisory councils that advise to the Board of Supervisors on items of community interest. The SMAC is a group of business people, staff from Reclamation District 800, citizens and other persons with an interest in Discovery Bay. The group was set up by Sheriff Warren Rupf in 2005 “to provide an open discussion and an exchange of information” about the Discovery Bay area, Rupf said. Its members were informally selected, according to Rupf, “representing a good cross-section of the community as best we could figure it out.” Rupf said the CSD Board was invited to participate in the meetings after he ended the practice of assigning deputies to
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Staff Writer
The Discovery Bay CSD Board has approved raises for four of the town’s district staff, agreeing to bring the salaries up to a “low” hourly rate based on the California Special District Association’s (CSDA) guidelines. The topic of salary increases was first brought before the board a year ago by General Manager Virgil Koehne, who has been vocal in his frustration over the board’s reluctance to approve the staff raises as well as a benefits package. “I know this is probably a hot topic for the board,” said Koehne at the Aug. 5
States of the school Lawmen
get leg room
The Discovery Bay Sheriff’s annex will soon open its doors, ushering in a new era in the town’s law enforcement.
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Photo by Richard Wisdom
tudents at Old River Elementary School in Byron got a chance to visit their favorite states without leaving the blacktop, thanks to members of the Discovery Bay CSD Board and General Manager Virgil Koehne, who put paintbrushes to pavement recently as they beautified and freshened up the campus for the new school year.
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see SMAC page 22A
“ You’ve sold your case … We’re going to give them a raise; that’s what it’s going to be.
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CSD President Ray Tetreault regular CSD meeting. “But staff has in the past gone out to look at CSDA numbers … and every year they put out a salary rate that a lot of us have based on similar positions, and according to their survey all but one position is below the “low” average of salary surveys. I would like to recommend increasing the base salaries.” CSD President Ray Tetreault said he was inclined to bring the raises along, calling it “a pretty good bump.
August 14, 2009
THIS WEEK
CSD approves staff pay increases by Ruth Roberts
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“My first thought was to maybe wait for the new GM, but that’s going to be a good four to six months. But we’re not talking retroactive?” “I was thinking retroactive (to November),” answered Koehne. “Think again,” said Tetreault, who later agreed to a retroactive date of July 1. Treasurer Dave Dove was in favor of bringing the salaries up to the “average” level, but Tetreault said the salary levels could be examined and
Weigh in!
reestablished, if necessary, by the new GM. “We’re going to approve the dollar amount of the low rate that is established,” said Tetreault. “The new GM could say it’s not high enough or whatever … but this (current increase) will at least bring them up to what we perceive as acceptable.” Although the board approved the staff raises, 5-0, it steered clear of addressing Koehne’s previous request for staff benefits. “A lot of them (other similar districts) have full benefits, and I realize the board will not go there …” said Koehne. “Well, a lot of those see Increases page 22A
Schools get I.T. infusion A high-tech gizmo called Thin Computing is making the Byron school district a highefficiency operation.
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Room for improvement
The Heritage gridiron warriors aren’t satified with last season’s merely respectable results.
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INSIDE Calendar ..........................23B Classifieds ........................14B Cop Logs ..........................16A Entertainment ................10B Food .................................12B Health & Beauty ............... 8B Milestones ......................... 6B Opinion ...........................15A Sports ................................. 1B Talk About Town ..............5A WebExtras! ....................... 1B
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