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Supervisors consider using pandemic cash for water, sewer, broadband Todd R. Hansen
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Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file (2020)
Firefighters fight a burning house from the Lightning Complex Fire along Pleasants Valley Road in Vacaville, Aug. 19, 2020.
Solano to spend $1.2M to connect fire agencies during wildfire response Todd R. Hansen
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FAIRFIELD — Solano County supervisors voted Tuesday to spend nearly 62% of state wildfire prevention and suppression funds on radio equipment to help the various fire agencies talk to each other during a disaster response. The county dedicated $1.17 million of the $1.9 million total for the equipment, and voted to approve all the projects, which Supervisor Jim Spering said is “laying the groundwork for what we are doing for wildfire prevention.” “Time is of the essence for us because we have a . . . potentially significant fire season ahead of us,” County Administrator Bill Emlen said. However, the Vallejo and Benicia fire departments, and the East Vallejo Fire Protection District, will still not be connected to the new radio system. Currently, there are three systems being used, and Benicia and Vallejo are part of the East Bay Regional Communications System Authority and are not on any countywide system. “In order to provide for radio interoperability for all fire agencies, it is recommended to expand the inventory of public safety radios which are compatible with
the digital system (800). These dual band radios will provide access to both currently used systems, VHF and 800. . . . The result will be the majority of unincorporated fire protection districts and cities (will be) able to communicate on multiple frequencies, with the exception of the East Vallejo Fire Protection District and the Benicia and Vallejo fire departments. In order to transition Benicia and Vallejo from (the East Bay Regional Communications System Authority) onto the 800 system, further analysis and investment will be required,” the staff report states. Supervisor Monica Brown was concerned, especially, that Benicia was not part of this given the recent port fire. She was told a larger effort is being made to include those agencies, and that the radio equipment Benicia and Vallejo use is compatible once the communication connection can be made. Benicia, for example, needs a new tower. Brown was concerned, however, that funds have not been identified for those needs. The board was told it will take three to six weeks to have the equipment delivered. Another $400,000 will go toward equipment for a vegetation reduction program; $200,000 for design work at the Falls School
site; $120,000 for a used water tender; and $10,000 for a pilot signage program, the staff report to the board states. The funds, part of a budget trailer bill by Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, must be used for “fuels reduction, alert warning systems, fire preparedness and public engagement and education.” The effort to reduce vegetation that fuels wildfires continues. The county is working with the Solano Resource Conservation District to establish a countywide Fire Safe Council. Green Valley has a fire safety council, and Pleasants Valley is working on one. The goal is to then develop a Community Wildfire Prevention Plan. “There is community interest and demonstrated need to move forward with both a chipper program and an annual fuels break effort to better prepare for wildfire season each year,” the staff report states. The $400,000 will go toward the purchase a dozer for completing fuel breaks, as well as other equipment needed to cut back vegetation and for chipping. The county purchased the Falls School site on Rockville Road in 2021 to secure the property for the existing Cordelia Fire ProtecSee Wildfire, Page A8
FAIRFIELD — Infrastructure needs – water, sewer, drainage and broadband – were presented Tuesday to the Solano County Board of Supervisors as possible uses of federal pandemic relief funding. The board approved eight water, sewer, drainage projects for $7.29 million, and $500,000 for a countywide broadband study that will focus specifically on identifying projects for underserved communities and areas of the county. The final vote on the actual allocation of those funds will come to the board at future meetings.
INSIDE County board allocates $4.9M for Solano small business, workforce needs. Page A8 Solano experiences rise in Easter weekend Covid-19 case numbers. Page A4
The actions also requires shifting about $5.13 million in unallocated American Rescue Plan Act funds to the infrastructure bucket to cover the additional expenditures. The board had put $2.16 million in that category. In other presentations, the board approved: n $151,000 to connect eight Rio Vista residences from at-risk well See Water, Page A8
Supervisors earmark more pandemic relief for Solano smallbusiness recovery Todd R. Hansen
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FAIRFIELD — Solano County supervisors were all in to providing $5.42 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to support small-business recovery – including $4 million toward a small-business revolving loan program. “The team intentionally embedded approaches aimed at closing equity gaps in business, as well
as helping businesses pivot their operations to become more resilient,” the workgroup report to the board stated. “The team conducted a literature review of best practices and policy recommendations, as well as analyzed employment and business data. In addition, over 50 organizations were engaged in the design process to ensure See Relief, Page A8
Russia warns of nuclear tensions as US, NATO officials meet Tribune Content Agency K H A R K I V , Ukraine — Ukrainian officials pleaded Tuesday for more weapons as the U.S. and other Western defense ministers met in Germany amid Russian warnings that the threat of nuclear war “should not be underestimated” if NATO nations keep arming the embattled country. Speaking on Russian TV after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said, following a visit to Kyiv, that the U.S. wanted Russia permanently “weakened,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Washington of escalating tensions. “I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it,”
Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images/TNS
A Ukrainian soldier sits on a armoured personnel carrier driving on a road near Sloviansk, Ukraine, Tuesday. Lavrov said. “NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.” Russia expanded its assault on southern and eastern regions of Ukraine overnight, saying it killed
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500 “enemy personnel” – a claim that could not be verified – as Ukraine cited fresh attacks on civilians as well as military sites. Moscow said it hit military targets in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, where routine bomb-
ings in residential zones have made civilian funerals a part of everyday life. “Russian troops have launched an offensive in all directions,” said Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Arestovych said that Russians were zeroing in on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in the east in the Donetsk area and Kryvyi Rih – Zelenskyy’s hometown – in the south, near Kherson. The British Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Russians had also overtaken the city of Kreminna, in the Luhansk region, though Ukraine did not confirm the city’s fall. In the central Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, regional officials said two missiles struck Tuesday, killing at least one person.
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In Kherson, which was the first city of note to fall to Russian fighters early in the war, Russia has scheduled a vote this week on the creation of a so-called independent Kherson People’s Republic. The move, which Zelenskyy called a “sham referendum,” would follow a longterm Russian strategy of fomenting unrest in the eastern region of Donbas,
where pro-Russia separatists have already declared breakaway republics in Luhansk and Donetsk. Moscow cites “liberating” ethnic Russians as among its motivations in launching its invasion of a neighboring nation the size of Texas. The war, now in its third month, has left mass graves and rubble in cities See Tensions, Page A8
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