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Volume 171 • Issue 39 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
Friday, April 1, 2022
City takes reins on Main Street events Andrew Vonderschmitt Staff writer The city of Placerville’s Community Services Department will take the lead on seven events approved for Main Street in a change to how downtown events are managed and sponsored. “The main goal with the city as a sponsor is to have authority over the manner and participation of each event,” said Director of Community Services Terry Zeller at the March 22 City Council meeting. “And also ensure that events have continuity from year to year whether or not a co-sponsor is able to continue to
co-sponsor.” With the city of Placerville sponsoring each Main Street event the logistics will be the responsibility of city staff — providing liability insurance, labor to secure road closures, on-duty police officers and any other necessary labor to close and then re-open the thoroughfare before and after the event, according to Zeller. Co-sponsors will be expected to handle advertising of events, which would be reviewed by city staff. Set up, tear down, booking vendors, hiring operational staff and designation of operational staff would be the responsibility of the
co-sponsor as well. In February 2020 the City Council approved seven events that would necessitate Main Street closures. Staff was directed to bring back a draft agreement that would establish terms for co-sponsoring street closure events on Main Street. Councilwoman Patty Borelli asked for clarification on whether the approved list would be set in stone. City Manager Cleve Morris noted the approved list was not part of the vote before council members. “What we’re approving tonight is the agreement,” he said. He added that the El Dorado Winery Association’s Winederlust event was
2022 Main Street events June 2: Car show June 11: Wagon Train Days July 16: Motherlode Beer and Music Festival Sept. 24: Oktoberfest Oct. 31: Trick or Treat Nov. 25: Festival of Lights Dec. 4: Hangtown Christmas Parade not expected to return in 2022 and that another event, to be sponsored by Kilt and Cork, had applied to n
See Events, page A2
County forms new Wildfire Resiliency Office Eric Jaramishian Staff writer El Dorado County has created a Wildfire Resiliency Office, which will implement a countywide wildfire protection strategy. A wildfire resiliency and vegetation management working group, which was established in September 2021 to determine lessons learned from the Caldor Fire and to recommend fire-defense strategies, brought the concept to the county Board of Supervisors March 22 as a solution to help the county formulate a singular effort to perform fire-resiliency efforts. “Although there are many efforts going on in the county that are valuable, we really don’t have a single process for establishing priorities and coordinating those projects across all disciplines,” said El Dorado County Fire Safe Council Chair Ken PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
Pimlott, who is also part of the working group. The new office will operate under the Chief Administrative Office and consists of a program manager, a fire safe coordinator and staff to work on applying for the state’s Hazard Mitigation
“The public is being informed with all of these messages but they’re not understanding how it all relates together into one fire-safe county.” — Ken Pimlott, El Dorado County Fire Safe Council Chair Grant Program. The goal of the office is to prioritize and coordinate countywide protection strategies. Other responsibilities of the office would include coordinating wildfire and vegetation management projects, keeping updated with building code changes, facilitating program priorities for the county vegetation management ordinance and managing funds that come from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. The county hopes to receive more than $10 million from the grant program, which would help offset costs for home fire mitigation n
See wildfire office, page A9
Photo by EID Ranger Jaramia Bond
El Dorado Irrigation District’s Jenkinson Lake, pictured March 17 from the Stonebraker boat launch, is looking pretty full lately as it is holding about 80% of its capacity.
Water supplies ‘sufficient’ n Flumes burned by
Caldor Fire expected to be repaired mid-April
Michael Raffety Mountain Democrat correspondent “We have sufficient supplies this year,” Operations Director Dan Corcoran told the El Dorado Irrigation District Board of Directors March 28. Though dry conditions have prevailed the last three months, “The residual effects of December precipitation have continued to benefit runoff and base flows in watershed streams,” Corcoran wrote in a report to the board on 2022 water supplies. Caples Lake is at 82% of capacity as of March 22 and Silver Lake is 46% but will top off by the time all the alpine snow melts. Echo Lake is 6%. It also will rise later. Lake Aloha is 70% and Jenkinson Lake was 81% full as of March 22 but had since added at least another 1,000 acre-feet. Folsom Reservoir is 55% full and the U.S. Bureau of
E OAKS SENIOR CARE VILLAG
Reclamation has shifted out of flood control and is keeping more behind the dam. EID will use its local resources, including a 100% full Weber Reservoir, whose water is released and captured by EID and its new $42 million submersible pumps in stainless steel tubes in Folsom Lake. EID also has 17,000 acre-feet of water rights in Folsom Lake that flow through the 22-mile-long canal and flume system, then runs through the powerhouse and is captured later in Folsom Lake. That flume and canal system also will provide 3,000-5,000 acre-feet of water that can be diverted into Sly Park’s Jenkinson Lake later in the season. With the unseasonably warm weather, February water demand from EID customers increased 21% over February 2021. March demand is expected to increase about 19%. However, Project 184 carryover storage remains above average, especially since the new concrete construction of three canals burned by the Caldor Fire is not expected to be complete until mid-April. The time frame
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for the project was set back by the huge snowfall in December that followed an 11- to 12-inch October rainfall. The Stage 1 Water Alert will remain in effect for 2022, Corcoran wrote. In answer to a question about water quality being affected by runoff from the burn area, Corcoran noted the alpine reservoirs produce improved water quality in the canal system. Director Alan Day said a 30% reduction in water consumption has already been “baked in.” Day requested a one-page summary of declining water consumption over the last decade. This would be used in case the state should come up with a statewide conservation requirement regardless of an agency’s and would help the district request exemption. General Manager Jim Abercrombie said the district may get information from the state and will keep the board abreast of any developments. Meanwhile he would work on this one-page summary.
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