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THURSDAY Flamenco To Redding Open Preview Pastimes Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 4A SPORTS 1B JULY 18, 2013 DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Sunny 103/70 Weather forecast 8B TEHAMA COUNTY DAILY 50¢ T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 City balks on water treatment vote By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer The Red Bluff City Council took no action Tuesday to address a series of failed tests this spring that showed the city's water supply had a potential for harmful bacteria. Public Works Director Bruce Henz had asked the council to authorize him to seek bid proposals for equipment that would allow future injections of a chloride solution to treat the city's wells. Councilman Clay Parker made a motion to authorize the proposals for equipment estimated to be around $23,000, but failed to receive a second from the remaining council mem- bers. Parker said he did not want the city to be in a situation where the water becomes a danger to the public, knowing the council was aware of a potential problem and did nothing about it. Councilman Rob Schmid said the problem was exaggerated by the media, which perpe- trated people thinking the water was going to kill them. "You people don't know, we have the best water in the state," Schmid said. Red Bluff has one of the last municipal water supplies in the country that is not treated in any way. In April and May eight out of 37 monitoring samples tested Crossing closures By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer A series of Union Pacific Railroad projects will close roads for 2-day periods in five separate spots across Tehama County beginning Monday, July 22. The closures affect the railroad crossings at 5th Street (July 22-23) in Tehama, Gerber Road (July 29-30) and San Benito Avenue (Aug. 5-6) in Gerber and Hooker Creek (Aug. 5-6) and Bowman (Aug. 7-8) roads in Cottonwood. The roads will be closed to all vehicular traffic at 8 a.m. the first day and are scheduled to reopen at 5 p.m. the second day of work. Tehama County Public Works received a request from Union Pacific in June, notifying the county of the work. Dates were chosen to avoid conflicting with the first week of school of Evergreen School District in the Cottonwood area. Public Works Director Gary Antone said his department is working to get the message out as best as possible so drivers know to avoid the areas on the designated work days. "There's a lot of inconvenience that's going to be there," he told the Tehama County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. During the Bowman Road closure the alternative route using Hooker Creek Road will create a roughly 14-mile detour. positive for total coliform bacteria, an indicator there is potential for harmful bacteria in a water supply. One of the tests showed the presence of fecal coliform, but it was not confirmed in a follow-up test. Those failed tests led to the California Department of PubSee WATER, page 7A Raises for city managers get council nod By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Daily News photo by Rich Greene Five railroad crossings in Tehama County will be closed to vehicular traffic in the coming weeks, including this location at San Benito Avenue in Gerber. Because of the nature of the work, emergency vehicles will not be able to cross either. Each project will involve Union Pacific installing a protective barrier across the roadway at the edge of the work zone. Union Pacific will install new track structure and reinstall concrete crossing pads. The county is responsible for the road closures and patching new approaches to the crossings. Union Pacific will also be reconstructing crossings within the city of Red Bluff. No schedule has See CROSS, page 7A A full year before the next election Rob Schmid announced Tuesday he would be running for re-election to the Red Bluff City Council and even gave his platform — to remove guaranteed raises from employee contracts. Schmid made his announcement during City Council discussion regarding the raises for five management positions. The raises, ranging between 2 percent and 3.5 percent, were for the city manager-attorney, police chief, fire chief, finance director and executive assistant to the police chief. The council passed the raises 3-1, with Schmid voting against. Councilman Clay Parker said all of the city's union employees had already received raises in their own contracts and it was not fair to single out a few managers, whose positions required council authorization. Mayor Wayne Brown said everyone on the list deserved their raise and especially praised the work of City Manager Richard Crabtree for saving the city money since being hired. The raises for all five positions were included in the 2013-14 fiscal year budget. Schmid said that budget will decrease the city's reserve from $660,000 to $330,000 by the end of the fiscal year. He asked Finance Director Sandy Ryan what the reserve will look like by June 2015 after more guaranteed raises are included. Ryan said the reserve may be nearing zero at the point. Crabtree said no one could have any idea what sales tax revenues may look like at that time. Schmid called the raises for management "preposterous" in these times. He said if citizens were more informed there would have been more there Tuesday night speaking up against the raises, therefore he had to speak up for the taxpayers. One person who was there was community activist Pat Johnston. She said the city should be spending the money to fix problems instead of giving raises and when local government complains how broke it is, the talk of raisSee RAISES, page 7A Youth, county to benefit from Lassen event Glenn County takes best of show at State Fair The team that built the bee-themed Glenn County exhibit for the Counties Exhibits Competition at the State Fair, the Salvagno family, celebrated their 10th anniversary of building Glenn County's exhibit at the California State Fair. Although they have won Silver and Gold awards in the past, Glenn County has never won the Best of Show Award. Salvagno family member and designer of the exhibit, Terrie Barr, was near tears as she accepted the Golden Bear trophy on behalf of the county. Tehama County did not enter an exhibit in this year's competition. In 2012 the county was awarded a Silver Award for its exhibit. 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 The 2013 Counties Exhibits Competition includes two new awards: Best of Division for Community Built Exhibits and Best of Division for Professionally Built Exhibits. Although the builders from the communities may be experts, they do not build exhibits for a living. Additional results include Best of Division – Community Built Exhibits – Lake County; Best of Division – Professionally Built Exhibits – Placer County; Best Content Award – Amador County; Best Marketing Presentation Award – Glenn County; Best Craftsmanship Award – Tuolumne County; Best Agricultural Presentation – Yolo County; Best Design Award – Sacramento County; Best Use of Special Effects/AnimaSee FAIR, page 7A The Lassen Volcanic National Park Foundation will present Summer Fun at the Kohm-Yah-mahnee Visitors Center Saturday, July 20, to help fund at-risk youth camping programs and other activities supported by the Foundation. The festivities include cocktails and a silent auction starting at 5 p.m. followed by dinner, a live auction and stargazing. "Proceeds from the Summer Fun event and our online auction go towards preserving the natural and cultural resources of Lassen Volcanic National Park, including funding youth camping grants," said Kristen Gray, the foundation's executive director. This year, the foundation awarded grants to 27 organizations that serve youth who would not otherwise have the chance to experience camping. Schools suffering from lack of funding, group homes, foster care agencies, mentoring groups and urban youth were among the applicants for Daily News file photo grants. "Providing funding for this initiative is one of the most important things we can do for the next generation," said Foundation Chairman John Koeberer. Koeberer enjoyed the park as a child and, like See LASSEN, page 7A Are you feeling stuck? Not sure what job you'd enjoy? Discover your true calling! The Job Training Center is proud to present "Elevations", a workshop and online assessment to help you regroup, gain focus and develop a plan of action. Saturday, July 27 from 8am to noon at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Red Bluff. Cost is $40 per person. Full scholarships available. 529-7000