Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/567089
Staffreport COTTONWOOD Thankstoirriga- tion improvements agricultural producers have implemented with help from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, many farm- ers remain successful despite se- vere water cutbacks during the drought conditions being faced throughout the state. A good example is Tehama County rancher Sam Williams, who participated in a Farm Bill project in the Anderson Cotton- wood Irrigation District in 2010. Williams is using 37 percent less irrigation water, due to improved irrigation water efficiency, and his fields have stayed lush and green despite 25 percent water curtail- ments in 2014 and again this year. Williams says that he has hardly been affected by the drought. DROUGHT Irrigation improvements paying off RED BLUFF Subscribers received late delivery of the Daily News Friday and some were scheduled to receive both the Friday and Sat- urday editions on Saturday morn- ing as a result of a printing press breakdown in Chico, where the paper has been printed for more than a decade. Printed copies of the Daily News did not arrive at the Red Bluff office from Chico until af- ter 8 a.m. Friday due to repeated press breakdowns at the cen- tral printing facility in Chico on Thursday night and into Friday early morning. This was the second time this week that press breakdowns in Chico caused late delivery of newspapers as far away as Va- caville and Vallejo. A mechanical team from the Bay Area was dis- patched Friday to discover and re- pair the problem. Distribution of copies The Daily News to local newspaper delivery carriers, single copy lo- cations and trucking companies for remote distribution did not commence until 8:30 a.m. DAILY NEWS Printer error causes late delivery By Heather Hoelscher hhoelscher@redbluffdailynews.com DN_on Twitter RED BLUFF The construction on Lincoln and Crittenden Street and Givens Road was discussed at the Red Bluff City Council meet- ing, Tuesday, where the Public Works department asked the city to move funds from last years budget to help complete the cur- rent projects and asked for addi- tional supplemental funds. The department is asking to put the money in the 2015/2016 bud- get to fund projects that were al- ready authorized in the previous year, Bruce Henz, Public Works Director, said. "We had money in the budget for those funds in last years budget. We award the con- tracts for the completion of those projects, but the funds were never drawn upon because the contracts weren't completed until this year." The Lincoln Street and Critten- den Street roadway improvement project was awarded in the begin- ning of the year, with the contract for this work awarded to Franklin Construction Inc. in the amount of $278,175. Additional work that was not seen in the previous as- sessment requires supplemental funding in the amount of $7,133, according to the agenda report. The Givens Road project con- tractor, Trinity River Construction Inc., had found unsuitable materi- als as well and an issue with the soil. The contractor gave Henz a change of order for an additional $88,440, that is on top of the orig- inal bid of $137,240. Of that origi- nal cost, $48,800 has gone to the new drainage portion of the proj- ect. This was funding by the Flood Protection Fund and not the Road- way Fund, according to Henz, leaving room for other contingen- cies. Also $80,000 of the original bid will be brought over from last years budget, he said. "I have sent soil engineers out there to test the soil," Henz said. "Because we found that wet mate- rial we are kind of just regrouping. Next week we will get the test re- sults and go forward with the con- tract once we find out what it is." The Public Works depart- ment is not asking the city for the change of order requested amount, Henz is in the process of reviewing this additional pay- ment request and will decide from the soil test results if that much money will actually be needed. The department is asking for an additional $15,000 for this con- tingency, Henz said. If it is not needed the department won't spend it. CITY COUNCIL Cityapprovesconstructionfunding By Julie Zeeb jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Zeeb on Twitter RED BLUFF Thanks to the abil- ity to utilize a helicopter the Tehama County Code Enforce- ment Department has been able to reach even more sites in 2015 than in 2014, when it was formed under Tehama County Environmental Health. "Last year we had about 270 properties and this year we've had 309 so far," said Code Com- pliance Coordinator Julie Ben- son. "This is the first year we've used a helicopter for code en- forcement. It allows us to get into the more remote areas that you can't just drive by. Some of these people we have reached have been (growing out of com- pliance) for years and getting away with it. Having the heli- copter has been really benefi- cial." The main reason for the he- licopter was to be able to reach out to the larger gardens in the more remote areas, Benson said. There are about 100 postings that are in remote, difficult to reach locations, said Environ- mental Health Director Tim Po- tanovic. The most remote ones the department has visited with the helicopter have been out in the area near the western county line, closest to Platina. "You'd definitely have a terri- ble time reaching them by car or even by foot if you had to do it that way," Potanovic said. "It takes us 30 minutes versus what used to be three hours some- times to get to one location and with the helicopter you can hit a bunch of sites in half an hour that by vehicle or foot it would take days to do it all. It's a lot more efficient." Typically, the department is finding anywhere from 30 to 60 plants or more at each site and is seeing other problems such gar- bage and the diversion of stream or alteration of a stream bed, Po- tanovic said. In those cases, the department notifies the Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife. There have been sites that have 70 plants or more and those are usually turned over to law enforcement as that would be a criminal matter although the department has handled a few of the bigger ones at times, Ben- son said. While it does cost more for the helicopter it is well-worth the cost, Potanovic said. "The helicopter is very time efficient and it is very cost ef- fective," Potanovic said. "Ground movement and flight time are more expensive than gasoline, but we get more results." Part of the department's re- sponsibilities include posting abatement notices when there are violations of ordinances, including the marijuana ordi- nance, which underwent a great deal of change in 2015. In March, the Board of Supervisors voted to allow only indoor grows. "The outdoor was banned unless the person registered by April 1, 2015 and was 100 per- cent compliant with county rules," Benson said. "We had about 220 people register prior to the date and if they were in compliance they could have an outdoor grow through the end of this year's growing season." Growers can have 12 plants or fewer, a six-foot-tall opaque fence completely surrounding the grow, a 100-foot setback from all property lines and may not grow within 1,000 feet of certain locations, including schools, churches, child care fa- cilities, youth oriented facilities, parks and school bus stops. A good number of those who registered were compliant, Po- tanovic said, more than half by a rough estimation. The big- gest violation he found was the number of plants people had followed by the lack of set back from property lines. TEHAMA COUNTY Co de E nf or ce me nt a bl e to reach more remote areas COURTESYPHOTO This Rancho Tehama site is one of many marijuana grows spotted from a helicopter by the Tehama County Code Enforcement Department. Community.....A4 Lifestyles........A8 Classifieds......B9 Opinion............A5 Sports.............. B1 Weather ........ A10 INDEX The Redding Veteran Resource Center is set to come to Red Bluff the third Wednesday of the month. PAGEA8 LIFESTYLES Reddingcentertovisit local veterans here Tehama County Democrats' Labor Day Picnic is set 11a.m. to 3p.m. Monday at Woodson Bridge River Park. PAGE A4 COMMUNITY Democrats to hold Labor Day Picnic Unemployment down to 5.1 percent in August, but hiring slows; uncertainty over Fed action on rates. PAGE B6 ECONOMY US jobless rate falls to a 7-year low Now fired oil and gas regula- tors reportedly warned gover- nor in 2011that granting of oil permits violated law. PAGE A6 IMPERILED AQUIFERS Brown accused of waiving oil safeguards DROUGHT PAGE 9 PRINTER PAGE 9 CODE PAGE 9 FUNDING PAGE 9 ยป redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, September 5, 2015 $1.00 AN EDITION OF THE CHICO ENTERPRISE-RECORD Good morning, thanks for subscribing Frank JEAN BARTON A visit to Mt. Hood's Timberline Lodge Farm B3 CELEBRATION Latham and Thomas tie the knot Community A4 Grow?Ranchorride? Readaboutlocalandnational Ag, rural, ranch and rodeo news and commentary. VISIT REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM/ RODEO DOYOU RODEO? Volume130,issue206 7 98304 20753 8 P/sunny High: Low: 86 57 PAGE A10