Tomales High School Grads
Tomales High School held its commencement ceremony at 8 p.m. June 8 in the THS gym. Over 50 seniors graduated, including 7 valedictorians and 2 salutatorians. Valedictorians, L-R: Casey Karlow, Stirling Weir, Coral Trimble, Chelsea Bowman, Brian Hollern, Isabella Oppen, Trevor Cushman.Salutatorians, L-R: Nick Caramagno and Steven Whitlock.
Salmon Creek and the Bodega Bay water system
Posted May 19, 2007 -------- There has been a well in Salmon Creek since the 1950s. The Bodega Bay Public Utility District operates the well now with a history of pumping running back 30 years.
As the District pumps from the well, the water level
of the creek drops. Or, that is one of the conclusions of a report prepared
by Prunske-Chatham early last year. The District operations chief Rod Huls
pointed out the District policy has been to greatly reduce the amount of
water pumped during the summer and fall months. The environmental report
said the overall level of water flowing to the ocean has dropped significantly
compared to what records are available prior to recent baseline studies.
That lowered water flow has greatly impacted the ecology of the Creek. The
salmonid population has nearly disappeared. Anecdotal evidence is replete
with large numbers of salmonid until the 1990s. The extent of the Salmon
Creek estuary is tiny compared to its size shown on 1874 (and later) maps.Click
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Next principal at Tomales High School is multi-lingual
Posted May 19, 2007 -------- Thursday evening May 17 the Shoreline Unified School District Board of Directors voted 7-0 to hire the multi-lingual Dino Battaglini to be the next principal for the 190-student High School. Battaglini last post was as vice principal at 2500-student Antioch High School.
Battaglini speaks fluent Spanish, a bit of Italian and his native tongue, English. Raised in South San Francisco by an Italian immigrant father and Argentine native mother he graduated from Santa Clara University, with advanced degrees from San Jose State and California State University, East Bay.
District Superintendent Stephen Rosenthal was enthusiastic about the new hire, seeing him as a good fit because of his language ability and his creditionals.
Battaglini will replace Trina Legacy who filled the post as an interim principal for the past two years. She is moving to the Sacramento area for family obligations. The position pays over $110,000 annually plus health insurance and other benefits.
Kerry Weir, Shoreline School District Board member and Bodega Bay resident, commented that having Battaglini come to was really exciting. She cited his native Spanish abilities and the rave reviews he received from Antioch High School. She said Shoreline District Superintendent Stephen Rosenthal visited Antioch High and was impressed with the deep and obvious respect Battaglini earned there.
Weir said, the Board was enthusiastic that he could bring an ability to communicate with parents in their native language.
Local man appointed to California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative Regional Stakeholder Group
Posted May 18, 2007 -------- Bodega Bay resident Richard Charter is a member of the Regional Stakeholder Group that will participate in the process of designing and managing Marine Protected Areas along the Sonoma, Marin, Mendocino and San Mateo counties’ coastline.
Over the past three years, the Fish and Game Commission has overseen a process to determine the Marine Protected Areas for the Central Coast of California. At the end of the process, commercial fishermen worried that half the reef areas most productive for marine life were protected leaving the fishermen with only a marginal ability to earn a living from the sea. Sport fishermen and other user groups were also skeptical but generally supportive.
Long-term experience with protected areas along the extensive New Zealand coastline have proved successful – improving fish populations. At first opposed, New Zealand fishermen are now wholly enthusiastic about the now abundant fishing.
The intent of the Marine Life Protection Act was to move the management of ocean ecology and fish resources out of the hands of politicians and into science-based programs.
Dr. Henry C. Fastenau, Diving and Boating Safety Officer, Bodega Marine Laboratory was also appointed to the Stakeholders Group.
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of the story
Union asks Bodega Bay Fire Board of Directors for 15 percent pay hike
Union asks for early renewal of contract
Posted Msy 16, 2007 -------- “Fifteen percent is about the average,” said Fire Chief Sean Grinnell when asked to characterize the union's proposed pay raises after Tuesday night’s meeting. The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Directors also included a joint session with the Russian River Fire District Board of Directors. The two boards met in a joint non-public session to review the performance of their shared Fire Chief and Executive Administrative Assistant.
The two boards also discussed the Union proposal in open session. The Union Local 3051 covers safety personnel in both Districts. Part of the Union proposal is to bring Bodega Bay employees up to the pay levels enjoyed by Russian River Fire employees. Other parts of the proposal make the two district’s labor contract uniform. Chief Grinnell during discussions said he thought [the uniform contract] would simplify administrative personnel assignments. He said that a shift left unfilled because of circumstances could be filled with an employee from either fire district without starting a grievance process due to pay differences.
The current MOU (memorandum of understanding or labor contract) runs through June 2008. In closed non-public session during the Bodega Bay Board of Directors discussed the proposal. The Union proposal was also discussed by the Board’s Budget committee last Friday.
The closed session lasted over an hour. After the session, Board President Tony Anello announced the Board unanimously voted to ask the Union for more time to consider. Anello said, “This is not a dead issue. This is what we can do at this time. We have to look at the figures and consider our budget.”
A contingent of union employees attended the meeting in addition to the three employees on duty. During the closed session, the employee’s were in high spirits anticipating a possible pay raise. After the Board’s announcement asking for a delay in consideration, some employees left the meeting room obviously disappointed.
As the next item of business the board considered approving the preliminary budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2007-2008. The budget anticipates spending $1.7 million. The budget expects income of $1.63 million. A preliminary budget is a planning document required by state law. The final adapted budget comes later in the fiscal year after public hearings.
This preliminary budget included the Union’s proposed 15 percent pay raise. Granting the pay raise would put the District’s budget in the red by $77,500. The total cost of the pay raise to the District would be about $200,000. Future budgets would continue to run in the red since the District already taxes property owners at near the maximum rate. Last year the District lowered the tax rate a few dollars forgoing about $100,000 revenues. Using the current labor contract payroll rates the district will need a new additional tax within two or three years.
Prior to the discussion about the Union proposal, the board considered financing options for the new ambulance. It will cost just over $140,000. The Board agreed to a five-year loan financed by Westamerica Bank that will cost the District 4.1 percent. At the same time the Board opted to pay off the existing $101,000 loan for the ambulance that is being retired when the new ambulance arrives. That loan also included purchase of the District’s fire engine. The 10-year loan at 6.2 percent outlived the life of the ambulance. Paying off the old loan and securing a new loan rolls over the debt to the lower interest rate.
The Board also received bids for their new solar electric system. Bids ranged from $184,000 to $165,000. Both the high and low bids did not meet the bidding requirement of a 10-year business history. The apparent low bidder, SolarWorks of Sebastopol has a 20-year history of installing solar systems. Their bid was $168,000. The Board decided seek further clarification of the bid proposals. The District is still on track to qualify for a State of California rebate of $58,000. The Fire Chief will verify the SolarWorks bid qualifies for the State rebate program.
Major relief for salmon fishermen passed by House
Moves to conference with Senate
Friday May 11, 2007 -------- Late on Thursday, House of Representatives Democrats passed a bill — by a veto-proof 302-120 and with Republican support — to provide supplemental funding for agriculture disaster relief and combating wildfires (HR 2207). The money was included in the first version of the emergency (Iraq war funding) supplemental bill vetoed May 1. The money was not requested by the White House and has drawn a veto threat.
Heading into the House-Senate conference committee, the House will add to the war spending bill the agriculture spending package. The package includes $60 million for the California salmon industry, $500 million for combating wildfires, $425 million for a county payments program and $31 million to extend a milk subsidy program for a month.
House Appropriations Chairman David R. Obey, R-Wis., decided to separate the agriculture funding following Bush’s veto message on the previous (war spending) supplemental. Republicans criticized Democrats for including the extra money to “buy” votes on Iraq, but 80 GOP lawmakers voted for the stand-alone agriculture spending.
“The president seemed to suggest in his veto message that we didn’t have the courage to deal with the agriculture and other related issues alone, that we had to slip them in, so to speak, in the Iraq bill. And frankly, that got my dander up,” Obey said.
