Spellman Forum Update for 3-10-11

Supervisor Spellman held his weekly forum in Copperopolis on Thursday afternoon at Snaps Coffee House in Town Square.

When asked what, if anything, he could do if the Governor’s proposal regarding transfer of responsibility of low level CDRC inmates to Counties passed and Calaveras County saw an influx of 78 inmates that could possibly be released into the community that does not currently have the funding to deal with the “100% recidivism rate” that the Sheriff predicts, his response was quick and concise, “Public protection is number one in my mind.” He adamantly supports public safety as a number one issue and went as far as saying, “if departments need to be shut down to (insure) protection of the public” so be it. Pointing out that without public safety, no other departments really matter. Recently at a BOS meeting Spellman stated that he, Tofanelli, and Wilensky voted 3-2 to not cut funding to the Sheriff Department.

The topic of whether Board members were “adversarial” came up and Spellman said, “It’s the 3-2 votes that make the paper, but there are a lot of 5-0 votes that make a positive difference in our communities.” Saying that the votes are based not only on what is best for the constituents represented by each Supervisor, but also by the Supervisor’s political view, and what is best for the County as a whole.

Discussing his becoming “accustomed” to public verbal attacks, Spellman, though concerned about the negative affects it may have on his family, states, “if I am lambasted too much (I am concerned) that it will deteriorate my ability to be effective.”

Earlier in the week Spellman had asked the CAO if the man responsible for releasing Waller’s documents would be chastised. He questioned whether it was “appropriate to chastise one man when multiple people were involved in the decision to release the paperwork.” He was told his line of questioning would have to be handled by County Council Jim Jones.

Updating the residents on his request for information from Auditor Rebecca Callen regarding:

1.       What % of overall budget revenue is received from District 5? How much is going back to District 5 in goods and services?

2.       % VLF and gas tax from District 5?

3.       What is the dollar amount in the budget for snow plow and related equipment?

To date he says there has yet to be any answer.

With recent budget cuts Spellman publicly questioned the creating of two new positions within the County, an assistant to the CAO and associated office personnel. He stated that these positions are “not recently vacant positions…they are newly created.”

Supervisor Spellman is available to the residents of Copperopolis (and his District) each Thursday at Snaps Coffee House in Own Square from 2:30 to 4:00 pm or via email at dspellman@co.calaveras.ca.us.