Spellman Town Hall 4-28-11 Re-cap

Spellman ‘Town Hall’ Meeting 4-28-11

Approximately 17 members of the Copperopolis Community came to listen to, and meet, Supervisor Spellman at his first Town Hall meeting in Copperopolis April 28, 2011 from 7-9 pm at Blackcreek Park.

Spellman came with an itemized list of three “barn burners” that he wanted to address. First and foremost was the “FEMA issue” regarding the new flood zone maps within Calaveras County.  Soliciting information from the crowd Spellman filled in the blanks where information was missing.

When asked how many lots are affected by FEMA’s new flood zone maps Spellman said that on 12-17-10 there existed 2100 lots in Calaveras County that “were in a designated flood zone.” Yet after 12-17-10 an additional 5000 lots were added to the maps, including many homes on Lake Tulloch. Spellman states that the definition of a flood zone is the key to the problem. FEMA defines a flood zone as “1 foot of water, 1 day a year, in 100 years on your property.” Also flood maps were once utilized for the process of insuring a home site that was in danger of flooding. “FEMA has rewritten what constitutes a flood zone” and those new guidelines require insurance if ANY portion of your property lay within the parameters of FEMA’s definition. Spellman warned of the ripple effect of these new maps citing lower property values, drop in the value of homes, and resale. Also mentioning the cost of “non essential insurance” to the home owner.

Spellman noted that Saturday April 30 2011 Dan Lungren will be at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds at 10:30 AM, pointing out that as a “previous Attorney General and a Congressman that sits on the Homeland Security Commission” Lundgren has the ability to effect change if enough residents of Calaveras County come out and voice their opinion on the FEMA issue.

Spellman did say that there was one “out” for the residents of the County that are affected by the new maps. The” Board of Supervisors can choose not to accept the FEMA flood maps.” He points out that this has inherent problems, but for only approximately 5% of the county that actually need flood insurance. Because if the Board “opts out” flood insurance cannot be provided by FEMA and the “open market price for flood insurance could be 3 to 4 times as much as FEMA flood insurance.” In finishing he said, “I will vote to not accept the flood maps. I don’t feel right saddling the other 95% with the expense... those who knowingly move to a flood zone should be responsible enough to cover themselves.”

Next subject was the O’Byrnes bridge. At this point Spellman shared good news that the steel fabrication process for the repair of the bridge was already underway, and the “bridge should be repaired shortly.” He also said that putting a guardrail on ‘Dead Man’s Curve’ on Copper Cove Drive was in the works and slated to be completed soon. “I believe that job has already gone out to bid.”

When asked if any local contractors bid for the new jail building contract. Spellman thought there was one, yet the “bid came in over 1 million dollars more than the bid we accepted.” At the BOS meeting April 26, 2011 Spellman stated that he would like to see the County establish an Acceptable Contractor List in an attempt to keep more jobs locally.

When asked if the $174 K the county received from California Department of Boating and Waterways combined with the 250k received from the USACE (US Army Corps of Engineers) for law enforcement on lakes would increase enforcement on Lake Tulloch, the answer was a definitive “No.” Spellman stated that those two incomes were for Law Enforcement on Lake Hogan, a USACE owned property.

The development slated for the end of Little John Road, Tuscany Hills, was touched on and concern was voiced about the possible construction traffic on the already poor road. Spellman said that there was to be a looping road that went behind Saddle Creek and came out on Little John Road near Copper Cove Drive, saying that it may relieve some of the traffic. Monty Crigler said he had his eye on that and Spellman conceded that “Monty is the Little John traffic watch dog.”

His final item…the Copperopolis Branch Library. While he says he is constantly looking for alternatives to insure that the library doors stay open, the fiscal crunch is only going to get worse. He did point out that in the 160k budget to run 8 libraries, one library resides within the city limits of Angels Camp. He questions the reasoning behind funding a City library from a County budget.

He closed by saying “I’m trying...I’m really trying. I’m getting beat up because I’m tipping over the apple cart.” He welcomed contact via phone, email, or at the weekly forum at Snaps, saying, “I’m not asking you to trust me blindly…I am fighting for you. I don’t mind getting beat up as long as you know I’m getting beat up on your behalf.”

By, Charity Maness

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