News Briefs from the March 5 Board Meeting
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March 7, 2024
Inyo County Risk Manager Aaron Holmberg on Tuesday presented the annual Safety Awards for “Most Improved in Safety.” The annual awards acknowledge continuous improvement in employee and facility site safety and help encourage such improvements throughout all county locations.
Two departments received recognition: Health & Human Services for improvements at the Wellness Center and the Agricultural Commissioner’s Office for improvements at the George L. Milovich Agricultural Maintenance Building. Wellness Center Program Supervisor Vanessa Ruggio and HHS Specialist Vivian DeLaRiva accepted the award from Holmberg and Inyo County Safety Coordinator Tehauna Tiffany. Doing the honors for the Ag Department were Ag Commissioner Nate Reade and Program Supervisor Rob Miller. The honorees all noted the teamwork involved and thanked their colleagues for their dedication.
A third safety award will be presented on March 12 during the Board’s annual meeting in Tecopa, which starts at 3 p.m. in the Tecopa Community Center.
NEW TO THE SCENE
The Inyo County Board of Supervisors officially welcomed several new employees to the County family on Tuesday.
Department heads introduced the following individuals, who each received a golden trout pin from Vice Chairperson Scott Marcellin: Assistant Chief Information Officer Abhilash Itharaju; Probation Rehabilitation Specialist Lora Terrasas and Probation Rehabilitation Specialist Jesus Garcia Martinez; and from HHS, Office Technician Malissa Creekmore, Prevention Specialist Caroline Hagopian, Office Clerk Sandra Garcia Hernandez, Program Services Assistant Barbara Southey, Residential Caregiver Adam Veenker, and Office Clerk Emma Williams.
GENERAL PLAN STATS
Inyo County Planning Director Cathreen Richards presented a General Plan Annual Progress Report to the Board of Supervisors for approval on Tuesday.
The annual report is required by law to record the County’s progress in implementing its General Plan. The County’s General Plan is a vision, Goals, and policy document that provides a sort of “roadmap” to
land-use and development within the County.
The report showed some promising trends. A total of 494 building permits were received by the Building and Safety Department in 2023 – 27 of which were for new housing units. According to Richards, that’s 11 more housing unit permits than in 2022 and the most the County has seen in the past 10 years.
The housing unit permits break down thusly: nine were for new single-family homes (five more than 2022), eight were for new manufactured homes (five more than in 2022), and 10 were for accessory dwelling units, or ADUs (one more than in 2022). Of these, nine Certificates of Occupancy were granted for completed projects – six for single-family homes and three for manufactured homes.
Upkeep and maintenance of the General Plan is a continuous process. The County implements the provisions found in its General Plan on a day-to-day basis in its many projects and strives to include the public in the decision-making process. The County’s General Plan and Amendments can be found at: https://www.inyocounty.us/services/planning-department/inyo-county-general-plan.
OFF TO SOUTHEAST INYO
Board member and staff reports on Tuesday came with the reminder that the Supervisors will be in Southeast Inyo for three meetings next week (the calendar of Board meetings is available at https://www.inyocounty.us/government/board-supervisors/meeting-calendar).
The Board will hold a special, joint meeting with the Inyo County Board of Education at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 12 at the Flower Building in Shoshone. Agenda items include a “State of the Schools” report and opportunities for improved collaborative service delivery in Southeast Inyo.
Following the Shoshone meeting, the Board will convene at 3 p.m. at the Tecopa Community Center, 405 Tecopa Hot Springs Rd., for its annual Southeast Inyo meeting. The next day, Wednesday, March 13, the Board will travel to Furnace Creek for a meeting at the Visitor Center starting at 10:30 a.m.
All three agendas will be available online the afternoon of March 7, at https://www.inyocounty.us/government/publications-reports-plans-proclamations/meeting-agendas-minutes.