Camp Meeker

Recreation and Park District

Regular Meeting October 19, 2010

Board packet

I came in a little late and grabbed the comfy chair in the corner. Due to heating issues at the regular location, the meeting was being held at Anderson Hall. I suggest they always hold the meetings there. It’s a much more congenial environment.

Present were the entire board: Jeffry Fawcett, Michael Ming, Seth Murchison, Lynn Watson and Cathie Anderson. Joining them at the head table were accountant Cheryl Doran-Girard and attorney Malcolm Manwell. There were quite a few members of the public present, as well. Over ten, I would say.

Bodega Volunteer Fire Department

Business Meeting

October 12, 2010

Meeting called to order at 7:36 pm. 

Secretary Jim Grant was absent from the head table, leaving Treasurer Nancy Perucchi, Fire Chief Ron Albini, Secretary Laird Sutton and Secretary Maggie the Dog facing chairs occupied by the other regulars: Columbina Albini, Linda Albini, Vickie Watts and Steve Perucchi. Suzie Marshall joined us for the evening while the younger Albinis occupied the stage in the far corner, performing a silent homework duet accompanied by the soliloquies of a teenage girl annoyed at her younger brother.

Bodega Fire
Huge thanks go out to the Bodega Volunteer Fire Department for their magnificent efforts helping to contain the grass fire near the town of Bodega on the afternoon of Saturday, September 25. Many departments from around Northern California answered the call, as well, including inmate crews. Together, these heroes prevented the loss of a great deal of property and probably saved a life or two.


Our thoughts are with Firefighter Ben Hakala, a close friend of mine who was seriously injured battling the blaze. Last I heard, he was in critical but stable condition and telling people not to worry, because he was "One tough bugger." That you are, Ben me lad, that you are. Investigators now blame the fire on the very downed power line that took Ben down with it.


If you want to send donations or letters of support to either Ben or the BVFD, you can drop them at the station or mail them in: Bodega Volunteer Fire Department, 17184 Bodega Hwy/PO Box 28, Bodega CA 94922. Make sure to denote where you want your donations to go—Ben Hakala; General Operations; Building Fund; Other—and thank you in advance for supporting our wonderful volunteers, who literally put their lives on the line to protect us, our families and our homes.


Bodega Fire Photos from the Press Democrat

Bringing you the best in the west
West County Wire
Over and out

Occidental Community Services District

Regular Board Meeting

September 21, 2010

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 without Director Gerner (she announced last month that she was planning on leaving the Board and suggested Jeff Twedell as a suitable replacement). Directors present were Chris Martin and Johnny Gonnella, along with President Ron Lunardi and Secretary Missy Freeman. Also present were a simply unprecedented number of members of the general public. They got right into it as the meeting opened with their comments.

Bodega Bay Fire Department

Regular Meeting

September 14, 2010

Note to self: get to meetings on time and turn in the report sooner. A week is too long to wait. Just saying.

Budget shows some red ink

The first item on the agenda was the budget, a draft of which has been available for public viewing since June. I wasn’t yet in attendance, having arrived late, during the closed session for the fire chief performance review. I’m going to assume there was not much discussion on this item because it was the second reading. The appropriations limit is set at $2,189,625, but there doesn’t seem to be much danger in reaching that amount.

Harmony Union School District

Special Board Meeting

September 9, 2010

Changes of heart happen

Despite their decision at the previous regular meeting to table the discussion of buying a statue from Patrick Amiot until the next regular meeting, the Harmony Union School District Board held a special meeting last week. The only topic: the Amiot sculpture. There was quite a crowd gathered, as these things are measured. I counted more than ten members of the public present.

Harmony Union School District

Special Board Meeting

Thursday, September 9
5:15 pm, Tan Oak Room
(Stay right past the main office and go straight on back.)


The Board has decided that a special meeting to discuss the signage art proposed by Patrick Amiot and commissioned by the Harmony ARK is necessary to get a feel for public opinion on the matter and discuss further options. Come down and let them know what you think!

Also, I'm back! And…I've got cute little magnets that look like this and can go on your fridge or any other metallic surface! Drop me a line at jez@sonic.net or POB 512 Bodega Bay, CA  94923 with your snail mail address and I'll send one out to you. Limited supply, so get yours now!


Thanks, dear reader. Stay tuned to these pages and I will continue to bring you the best in the West! And feel free to tell your friends…
West County Wire
Over and Out

Vacation notice, etc.


Dear reader,


I am heading out to the playa for a week to enjoy the Burning Man art festival. I will be back on September 7th. My apologies for leaving you this way, but know that I plan to return refreshed and excited about this project and other endeavors in my life.


One item of business I've been meaning to address. It turns out that the third week of the month is very popular. Long story short, every meeting I plan to cover for the Wire takes place simultaneously with another meeting, so I will have to alternate them from month to month. It is unfortunate, but there you go. I don't schedule the meetings; I just try to attend them.


In any case, I will continue keeping you abreast of the best in the West.


West County Wire
Over and Out 

Harmony Union School District

Regular Board Meeting

August 19, 2010

Late again

I arrived late to this meeting as well. It looked like it lateness might be becoming a pattern for me, but in this instance, I might be excused. The District website had brought me to the school a week previous, and tonight I went to the announced location at what I thought was the announced time only to find the meeting was actually scheduled somewhere else a half an hour earlier than I thought. Other patterns were to emerge over the course of the evening, though, patterns within patterns like something from an Escher print. It turns out that working on local boards helps one develop a taste for small town politics. Or maybe it’s the other way around.

Camp Meeker

Recreation and Parks District

Regular Meeting August 17, 2010:

The wonders of parliamentary procedure,

or Robert's v. Brown

The last item of new business concerned District parliamentary procedure. It was scheduled for 10 minutes on the agenda, but the ensuing discussion went on for much longer than that. Like most small town politics, it amounted to a tempest in a teapot with only slightly more than ego at stake.

The issue originally germinated at the beginning of the year, when four new board members joined Cathie Anderson, who has been on the board for 25 years or more. In the process, Jeffry Fawcett became the board president and Gary Helfrich was made a bystander. 

Camp Meeker

Recreation and Park District

Regular meeting

August 17, 2010

Agenda Packet

I arrived 15 minutes late to find the room full, or at least near to it. Turned out it was full of partisans ready for combat, but I’m getting ahead of myself. (And by full, of course, I mean 8 people including the four-person board and the young lady in the back room with a coloring book.)

By coming late, I missed the water system operator report, the report on the Tower Bridge repair and Director Fawcett’s discussion of the Camper Meeker Commons. I did not, however, arrive so late that there was any time for much of significance to have happened with these three items of old business, so I'll just pick up where I came in.

FAQ

Yes, folks. There have been questions, and questions have a way of demanding answers. The West County Wire realizes you have many blog choices on the interweb and we thank you for choosing us!

Bodega Volunteer Fire Department

Regular Monthly Business Meeting: 

Big Event and the Art and Wine Festival

The meeting, possibly the last one held in McCaughey hall, was called to order at 7:38 pm. In what will likely become a recurring theme, and one that reinforces the necessity and utility of this, my little West County Wire blog, I was the only guest in attendance (not counting the children of the Chief, who came with their mother, who is also organizing the Big Event). The Chief even asked if I had brought some new business with me, or maybe a public comment, but no. I was just wearing my reporter’s hat. (Though I did offer some typo corrections for the minutes. I know. I’m just a do-gooder, what can I say?) We sat in two shallow arcs facing the table with Treasurer Nancy Perucchi, Chief Ron Albini, Secretary Jim Grant and Secretary Laird Sutton seated behind it. After the minutes were accepted, the Chief started things rolling with the past month's incident report.

Bodega Volunteer Fire Department, 7:30 pm
Bodega Bay Volunteer Fire Department, 7:30 pm

Tough choice, but this month we're going to have to go with Bodega. The Big Event is coming to this small town on August 15, with a parade at 10 and barbeque, live music, raffles, beer and wine for the rest of the day. Next month, I'll hit Bodega Bay and from then on I'll alternate between the two. Stay tuned for the BVFD report!

Camp Meeker
Recreation and Parks District

PUBLIC HEARING

The Board will take and review public comment on Proposed Resolution No. 2009-011, which will to over-rule protests and confirm the report on water charges and delinquent water charges for the year 2010-2011. This special meeting will take place on Sunday, August 8 at high noon at the District office, 5240 Bohemian Highway.

In keeping with tradition,

mistakes were made

Sometimes my keen reporter senses tingle and they lead me to chase down a hot story that was hidden in the gloaming. Other times, they lead me to a bright open field with a bunch of people standing around going, “What kept you? We knew all along.” I’m afraid that this particular story was in the latter camp. The secretive sounding “event” mentioned at the July meeting of the Camp Meeker Recreation and Park District which I found so mysterious turns out to have been reported in the Press Democrat on November 24^th, 2009, the day after it happened.

Camp Meeker fire danger index remains moderate despite the loss of the dam.

Camp Meeker
Recreation and Park District
Regular Meeting Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Remember when I said that there was always something to talk about at Camp Meeker Rec and Park meetings? Well, this meeting was no exception. The meeting began with two comments from the public, who were out in force. The board chair, Jeffry Fawcett, walked through the door and did a double take, remarking, “Full house tonight!” He was the second one to make that same comment. There were four people present not representing the district and one of them had business at the meeting.

Bodega Land Trust

The West County Wire is mainly concerned with the meetings of quasi-governmental agencies like water boards and fire department boards, the kinds of places where a decision might be made that could directly impact the quality of your life in West Sonoma County. West County Wire is dedicated to the premise that you have a right to know what these decisions are and how they come to pass.

Camp Meeker

Recreation and Park District

Hot Topics: Restoration, budget and ice cream

Tuesday, 7/20, is the next monthly meeting of the Camp Meeker Recreation and Park District. The agenda is posted at the meeting site, next door to the Fire Station; past agendas are also available as pdfs on their website. The current agenda is not as substantive as last month’s, but there is still more meat than gristle on that bone.

Upcoming:

Camp Meeker 
Recreation and Park District

Third Tuesday, 7pm

agenda archive

Welcome!

…and thanks for visiting the newest addition to the news! I looked around recently and discovered that no one was covering the important local meetings in and around the West County, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. As the saying goes, if you don't like the news, go out and make some yourself!

And that's just what we are going to do. Not make news as in be our own headline or create stories ad nihilo, but rather make the news available to the people that it will impact directly. Matters decided by our local officials can raise our taxes, change the quality of our water, increase traffic and decrease services. Make sure you know what those decisions are and how they affect you.

You can check out calendar for the times and places of the meetings we will cover. And if you don't like the news I'm making, come out and make some of it yourself!

Peace,

Jeremy