Yesterday afternoon’s Nevada County Quorum Court meeting consisted of a hearing of reports and the passage of one ordinance as well as a pledge from County Judge Mike Otwell to a county citizen to work with him to improve roads. Video of the entire meeting can be seen above.
The meeting began with an invocation from Justice of the Peace Willie Wilson, a saying of the pledge of allegiance and a quick review and approval of the minutes from the previous meeting. Then the court began to consider the monthly financial report they had been given by County Treasurer Ricky Reyenga.
A brief exchange took place between Justice of the Peace Kenneth Bailey and Reyenga, as the former said a column of numbers, when added up, did not make sense to him. But Reyenga made clear that a set of cancelled checks were listed that had to be accounted for in that budget line but were not subtracted from the account’s total.
Next, a report was given by Prescott-Nevada Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jamie Hillery. She said with the fiscal year ending, the court could expect an annual report from the chamber. She also announced that a marker had been received that will be placed on the courthouse grounds above the time-capsule buried in last year’s sesquicentennial celebration.
“But I wanted to do something special with you or we can reveal that so hopefully we can set a time and get that put up. It's really nice and I'm proud of it.” she said.
She also said Trina’s Diner will have a ribbon cutting for its opening Thursday morning at 11:00 a.m. in the old Wolf Den restaurant.
County Extension Agent and Board Chair Stacey R. Stone said his agency had had its busiest month of the year, having ten children participate in an animal showing clinic at the fairgrounds and six attend a camp on judging livestock, 13 attend a district 4-H O’Rama. Stone’s office also assisted in setting up Wellness Day at the Senior Center, took a junior team and a senior team to Quiz Bowl competition with the junior team winning second place, the senior team winning third.
This weekend, Stone said, the extension office will make use of new wild hog traps that use a net. These would be available to local landowners.
Hillery added that the Nevada County Library had had a successful event with the Drive-in Movie showing this past Friday.
Wilson praised the organization of the dozer dedication ceremony last week in memory of “that very fine worker,” Wayne Gourley.
JP Herbert Coleman asked if the court had received a report on the county jail. “Do we know how it’s doing?” he said. County Treasurer Reyenga said, “Moneywise, they’re doing okay.” JP Patricia Grimes asked if the state was reimbursing the jail quickly for taking state prisoners. Reyenga said it was.
Under New Business, the court passed an ordinance to accept a state safety equipment grant for the Sheriff’s Department of $35,255.32.  After Reyenga said the grant would require no match from the county, the court set aside the requirement for the ordinance to go through two additional readings and voted unanimously in favor of passing it immediately.  Once it passed, Reyenga said an additional grant ordinance for state-provided safety equipment funds will be on the agenda next month.
Citizen Jeremy Jones said he had traveled through the county and found roads in need of servicing. Otwell pledged to meet with Jones later to ride in a county truck so Jones could point the problems out.
Another citizen complained about damage to ditches from rain storms which was causing flooding and standing water. He had been using his own tractor to repair his ditches. Otwell asked him to call his office and said, “I appreciate your help. You don’t have to, but I appreciate it. We’ll get out there to try to straighten it out.”