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A truck and a house along Pleasants Valley Road in Vacaville are decimated from the Lighting Complex Fire.
Supervisors introduce ordinance to place sales tax hike on ballot Todd R. Hansen
THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
FAIRFIELD — The Solano County Board of Supervisors, on a 4-0 vote, introduced an ordinance Tuesday to place a one-eighth cent sales tax increase on the June 7 ballot. Supervisor Jim Spering had to leave the meeting before the item was presented. The general transaction and use tax, if approved by a majority of voters, is expected to raise $9 million annually for the primary purpose of wildfire safety needs, according to the county. The measure includes a citizens’ oversight committee with annual independent audits. Sill to be decided, however, is how the ballot measure language will read. Supervisor Erin Hannigan said she wants language that includes that some of the funds would be used for improved public access to
open spaces. She argued Vallejo residents would not otherwise benefit from the tax. “I want to include something about access to open spaces,” said Hannigan, further HANNIGAN stating that the language needs to be explicit and not implicit. Board Chairman John Vasquez intimated that because it is a general tax, “there is a lot of flexVASQUEZ ibility” in how the funds can be used, suggesting the use could be massaged to meet both open space and wildfire purposes. And that is what bothers the self-described taxpayer advocate George Guynn Jr. of Suisun City,
who again called on the board to make it a special tax with a specific use. That, however, would require two-thirds voter approval. Guynn said otherwise the public “is gambling” on the supervisors, now and in the future, to use the tax as intended. “We need a wildland hazard reduction program,” David Stevens, an English Hills resident, who recounted the death of a friend in a 1990 wildfire he said changed his life. Stevens said since then he has been working on ways to protect the communities in which he has lived from wildfires. He also said he believes all Solano communities will benefit from the wildfire tax. It has been noted in the past that even if Vallejo would not benefit directly, it would benefit from having other resources drained in order to respond to future fires. The ordinance, including proposed ballot language, will come back to the board March 22.
The look of Solano agriculture tourism continues to raise heat Todd R. Hansen
THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
FAIRFIELD — Susan Turpin and her late husband looked at a vacant 25-acre piece of property on Morrison Lane as a blank canvas for their retirement home and business. Nearly four years later – with the primary residence under construction – that property and Turpin’s plans to build a 4,738-square-foot barn-styled event center, with a footprint more than 8,000 square feet, and a secondary dwelling is at the center of a debate that goes far beyond whether that project is right for that location. There were a host of neighbors who told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that the project was wrong for the site, but there were others who said the project fits into the agri-tourism vision of the Suisun Valley Strategic Plan and that Turpin did everything that was asked of her by the planning staff, which recommended the project. “It is anticipated that the event barn will host weddings, community events and private gatherings. The event barn includes a main event hall space, commercial
kitchen, dressing rooms, restrooms, storage and covered porch seating areas. The site would accommodate up to 150 (people) per event,” a staff SPERING report states. The county Planning Commission approved the project, a decision that was appealed to the Board of Supervisors. “I think we are putting the cart before the horse,” MASHBURN said Supervisor Erin Hannigan, who does not think the project follows the intent of the Suisun Valley plan in that Turpin’s inclusion of agriculture elements – namely a lavender and herb farm – seems to be secondary to the primary desire for an events center. Hannigan also noted she has a close family friend who lives on Morrison Lane. Turpin said she plans to have the farm in place before the event center opens.
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Supervisor Mitch Mashburn took the horse-and-cart analogy a step further, arguing it seemed to him the county has failed to do a lot of things to be prepared for the kind of agri-tourism buildout in the valley. Mashburn has long believed the county’s enforcement codes lack “the teeth” to be effective, but also noted the county has yet to complete a noise ordinance and suggested a lot of the infrastructure needed – especially improvements on “old country roads” like Morrison Lane – is also lacking. Opponents noted traffic and noise as two of their primary concerns, but also argued the project fails to live up to the Suisun Valley vision of having tourism attractions that support the agriculture, and not the other way around. They called on the board to deny the project. But Supervisor Jim Spering disagreed. He said the project should not be killed, but rather any concerns should be mitigated with conditions placed on the use permit – conditions such as limiting the number of events per year and how many people can attend
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See Tourism, Page A8
Some U.S. governors are taking broad steps to discontinue school masking, saying the pandemic precaution is outweighed by widespread vaccination, lower transmission and the need for unimpeded instruction. Governor Ned Lamont late Monday recommended that Connecticut end its mask mandate for schools and daycares on Feb. 28. New Jersey, where more than 1-in-9 residents is a public-school student, will end its order next month for 1.3 million in kindergarten through high school. Similar moves may come soon in New York and California. “We’re not going to manage Covid to zero,” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said Monday. “We have to learn how to live with
Covid as we move from a pandemic to the endemic phase of this virus. We are finally nearing this inflection point.” Masks in schools have been among the most politically charged Covid policy issues as officials attempt to balance public health with growing cries for normalcy. Parents, teachers and politicians have debated whether masks cause more harm than good for children and whether mandates overstep government authority. New Jersey’s schoolmask mandate will lift March 7. In Connecticut, mayors and school superintendents will be able to make decisions on masks themselves to reflect local conditions, Lamont said in a news conference. “We’re in a very different place than we were six months ago,” See Masks, Page A8
Supervisors stay in house to find county administrator Todd R. Hansen
THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
FAIRFIELD — Veteran county employee Bill Emlen has been selected to be the next Solano County administrator. He starts his duties March 27, the day after current Administrator Birgitta Corsello’s last day on the job. Her contract expires at the end of April. The vote was unanimous, according to an announcement released after a closed session Tuesday afternoon. Emlen will be paid about $292,000 a year, the same salary paid Corsello. Another commonality between the two is each was the director of the Department of Resource Management, then promoted to assistant county administrator. “In the decade that he has been here, Bill has proven that he is a prob-
lem-solver and therefore, in this new capacity, the board and I look forward to working with him on the challenges and opportunities facing the county in the next coming months,” Chairman John Vasquez said in the statement. The board narrowed down a pool of applicants to nine candidates and then to six, from which Emlen was selected. Emlen worked nearly 14 years for Davis, including serving as the city’s Community Development director and as the city manager for more than four years. He was hired by Solano County about 10 years ago. “I am truly honored to be appointed by the Board of Supervisors to be the next county administrator. It is a privilege to take on this role in a great organization See County, Page A8
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