Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/149455
WEEKEND AUGUST 10-11 2013 select DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF 89/61 Weather forecast 10A www.redbluffdailynews.com Talkin' Tradition Ag Page 6A TV Mostly sunny Breaking news at: TEHAMA COUNTY $1.00 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 Upgrade means efficiency Air fees to be held over 1 year By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer The first year of Tehama County's air pollution impact fee collections didn't bring in enough money to warrant a mitigation program. The fees, which amount to $172 for new single family residential buildings and $0.40 per square foot of new retail space, went into effect July 1, 2012. The Air Pollution Control District collected a total of $8,953.26 in the fiscal year. As part of the program the county is to solicit Requests for Proposal every August on how to spend the fees on mitigation projects. On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors directed staff to delay the RFP process until July 2014, when more See FEES, page 9A City Hall ups Internet speed By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Courtesy photo Prior to changing out metering equipment at a multi-family residence, John Garcia, senior water systems maintenance worker at Red Bluff, completes paperwork that will be used by the Water Utility Billing Department to update account information. By JOHN FILLINGER Special to the DN As municipal budgets continue to tighten, many communities across the country are trying to stretch their resources and do more with less. At the same time, aging infrastructures and water shortages mean it's more important than ever to have progressive technologies such as Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) in place to support early leak detection. The city of Red Bluff is saving time and resources, while improving its customer relations through an AMR upgrade. Red Bluff was an early adopter of AMR technology, installing its first AMR system from Badger Meter in 1991 to improve water utility efficiency and worker health and safety. Before the AMR system, since most of its meters are located in pits, meter readers needed to bend down and lift each of the more than 4,000 pit lids during each reading cycle. Deploying an AMR system enabled Red Bluff to read its meters while driving by in a vehicle, saving time and alleviating worker disability issues due to back injury claims from repetitive lifting. Since then, there have been significant advances in AMR technology. To keep pace with progress, the city is upgrading its solution to a Badger Meter Orion CE AMR system. Hot Summer Nights dog adoption event The Tehama County Animal Care Center will be holding a dog adoption event Aug. 12-17. During the six-day Hot Summer Nights event the Care Center will have reduced adoption fees for all dogs in the shelter. All dogs and puppies will be available for adoption for $45 or less. Staff are hoping to adopt out over 30 dogs and puppies during this upcoming event. All dogs available for adoption are current on vaccinations, have been tested for canine heartworm and are microchipped. Additionally, all spay/neuter and rabies vaccination fees for dogs adopted during Hot Summer Nights will be paid for by Providing Essentials for Tehama Shelter — PETS. "We currently have over 30 puppies under 3 months old, in addition to adult dogs, and we want to get them all in to homes as soon as possible," said Center Manager Christine McClintock. "The PETS members, our staff and our volunteers have done a phenomenal job caring for these puppies and training the adults to be the next member of your family." See DOG, page 9A Water Supervisor Marvin Eckels said the partially deployed new system already has reduced total reading cycle time for its 4,800 meters from three weeks to about five days. Currently, 4,000 accounts are monitored using AMR technology and 800 are monitored manually. Once the remaining 800 manually read meters are replaced with new meters equipped with AMR technology, Eckels estimates total reading time will be as low as seven hours. In addition, the upgraded Red Bluff system is fully compliant with FCC Narrowbanding requirements for mobile radio systems. The first phase, which included See UPGRADE, page 9A The Red Bluff City Council authorized a 5year contract with Charter Tuesday to upgrade Internet speeds at City Hall. The upgrade will allow for a number of expanded police services, including the potential for video surveillance at one of the city's highest crime areas — Red Bluff River Park. It also comes at a substantial price increase. The city was paying about $200 a year for DSL service through AT&T, but will now pay $6,480 a year to Charter for its Business Bundle package. City staff estimates City Hall's bandwidth will be 50 times greater through the fiber-optic line than what it currently works with. The switch will allow the Police Department to meet the U.S. Department of Justice's security standard for the offsite backup of record storage. Previously the department's attempts to backup files clogged and slowed the city's Internet infrastructure. Police Chief Paul Nanfito said the increased bandwidth will further allow his department to move forward with a variety of new services including increased video surveillance around the city. Nanfito said he is working on a grant project, which would install realtime video surveillance at Red Bluff River Park. The increased bandwidth would also allow the department to tap into surveillance feeds at local schools. Other projects requiring increased bandwidth See CITY, page 9A Food-fund drive a success The coins, bills and checks were counted and $8,000 was turned over to the North State Food Bank to support hunger relief efforts in Tehama County. These Food From The Heart donations came from collection cans located in 137 businesses in Corning, Los Molinos and Red Bluff during the last two weeks of June. These funds will help to provide the eighteen participating Tehama County food programs with resources to assist local needy families. With Tehama County experiencing a higher rate of unemployment than surrounding counties, it is estimated that almost 19 percent of our local residents experience food insecurity, which means that they don't have dependable access to enough food to sustain a See FOOD, page 9A Courtesy photo Food From the Heart sponsors and supporters gathered at the new Tehama Country Visitors Center for food-fund drive wrap-up and presentation of $8,000 check to North State Food Bank for use by Tehama County food relief programs. Pictured, from left, are Orle Jackson, Tehama Together; Mike Baldwin, Community Action Agency; JB Stacy, Cornerstone Community Bank;Wallace Giroux, Knihts of Columbus; Candy Carlson,Tehama Together; Adam Kingsley, North State Food Bank; Daniel Dempsey,Tehama County Gleaners, Tom Jones, Food for the Hungry and Jessie Woods, Gold Exchange. GROWNEY MOTORS We Buy Used Cars paid for or not 1160 Main St. 527-1034