News Briefs from the August 6, 2024 Inyo County Board of Supervisors Meeting

News Briefs from the August 6, 2024 Board of Supervisors Meeting 

SERVICE RECOGNIZED 

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday conducted its quarterly awards ceremony for employees who have reached  service milestones of at least five years.

Employees honored for reaching service milestones in the second quarter of 2024 were: • Lars Erickson, 25 years, and Guadalupe Orozco, 5 years – Probation

• Jeff Roberts, 10 years – Information Services
• Alisha Hanson, 5 years – Assessor
• Danyel Dondero, 5 years, Greg Waters, 5 years, and John Kinney, 5 years – Public Works • Fabiola Isidro, 5 years, Maria Martinez, 5 years, Jennifer Sargent, 5 years, Andrew Wilkinson, 5 years, and  Sheila Turner, 5 years – Health & Human Services
• Lidia Schultz, 5 years – District Attorney

COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PROTECTION PLAN COMPLETED 

Inyo County Wildfire Preparedness Coordinator Kristen Pfeiler presented for approval the final draft of Inyo County’s updated Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), which she explained was developed with widespread  collaboration and community input over many months.

According to Pfeiler, the update was written by consulting firm SWCA Environmental Consultants – which also  recently completed CWPPs for the 40 Acres and Independence communities – with guidance from a core planning  team of local and regional stakeholders that included community organizations, Tribal partners, and local, state, and  federal agencies.

Pfeiler explained that CWPPs allow communities to plan and prioritize projects that can make a difference in  protecting homes, residents, and responding firefighters in the event of a wildfire. These CWPPs consist of a  description of the wildland urban interface (WUI) and the fire environment, a risk-hazard assessment and analysis,  mitigation strategies, and project implementation, tracking, and monitoring strategies, she said.

In coordination with SWCA and Whitebark Institute, Inyo County’s Office of Emergency Management held three public  workshops to gather input in addition to soliciting feedback through an online survey. According to Pfeiler, roughly 90  community members spread across all five supervisorial districts provided comments.

Next steps include creation of an action plan across the County which delineates roles/responsibilities, funding needs,  and establishes timetables for completing the highest priority projects using the recommendations and risk profiles  from the plan.

The CWPP is available for download at https://ready.inyocounty.us/pages/cwpp and the accompanying tools can also be found on the Ready Inyo website:

• Story Map: https://ready.inyocounty.us/apps/4f9a0c13271946c2902023be680fff3f/explore
• Community Risk Explorer: https://ready.inyocounty.us/apps/5bb86870ce944b128d5454b5a70c8920/explore
• CWPP Project Tracking Dashboard: https://ready.inyocounty.us/apps/1de241346e334ca5a412add216df4918/explore

LONE PINE SIDEWALK PROJECT WINDING DOWN 

The Board of Supervisors received updates on two major projects from Public Works Director Mike Errante on Tuesday.

Errante reported that the Lone Pine Sidewalk Construction and ADA Improvements Project is nearing completion, with just  some minor details left before Public Works can receive a Notice of Completion and invoice the State for reimbursement  from the Active Transportation and State Transportation Improvement programs.

The project was awarded to Speiss Construction of Santa Maria in September 2023 at a cost of $1,888,094.48. Work  included rehabilitating portions of sidewalk along Willow Street, Bush Street, Jackson Street, and Locust Street, as well as  re-aligning water lines on Bush Street.

Errante noted that Eastern Sierra Transit Authority will be reinstalling a bus shelter that had to be removed in the next 9- 10 weeks.

HVAC replacement work on the first two floors of the historic Inyo County Courthouse is also nearing the finish line, Errante  said, with completion expected by the end of August or early September. He added that work on the third floor will be able  to progress up to a point before having to be postponed until the rooftop A/C units arrive in December.

Bishop Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc. of Bishop was awarded the construction contract in February of this year at a  not-to-exceed amount of $2,391,380. A 2021 block grant from Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District will fund a  portion of the project.

News Staff