Placer County District 5 Newsletter

Happy New Year Best Wishes to you and yours in 2020! It is hard to believe we've not only entered a new year, but a new decade as well. 2020 is shaping up to be another busy year for Placer County. Before I share with you some of my plans and priorities for the new year, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the District 5 Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) members who go above and beyond to serve their communities. These volunteers take time out of their lives to facilitate your input into County government. I rely on these local leaders to gather more feedback than I can gather on my own through one-on-one conversations. MAC members not only attend meetings, but they spend extra hours each month reading materials and talking with neighbors and colleagues.

A HUGE THANK YOU to all of the MAC members below:

Donner Summit: Patricia Malberg, Chris Park, Stewart Wells, and James Wiggins

Foresthill: Chase Dowling, Larry Jordan, Susan MacIntosh, Gail McCafferty, Bree McCollam, Sharon Page, and John Peters

Meadow Vista: Jeff Alameida, Susannah Johnsrud, Malcolm Lipson, Laurie Sweeney, and Michael Walker

North Auburn: Larry Farinha, Anthony Haddad, Dave Hungeford, Mike Lutzker, Steven Nichols, Mark Watts, and Greg Wilbur

North Tahoe: Megan Chillemi, Don Fulda, Katherine Hill, Sandy Kern, Nicole Lutkemuller, Stacie Lyans, Rebecca McFadden, Eugene Roeder, and Maggie Steakley

Squaw Valley: Alisa Adriani, Vladimir Bazjanac, Mark Calhoun, John Johnson, Andrew Lange, Stacia Lange, and David Stepner

Weimar-Applegate-Colfax: John Gagnon, David Johnson, Alan Shuttleworth, and Dianna Suarez

Supervisor Gustafson speaks to a special joint meeting of the Squaw Valley MAC and North Tahoe RAC on August 1.

If there are issues you'd like to learn more about or thoughts or ideas you'd like to share, please attend your local MAC meeting. A link to all the District 5 MACs can be found HERE and you can also see the upcoming MAC meetings listed below on the right-hand side.

Kay and Don Whitaker met with Supervisor Gustafson on Dec. 5 and gave her a tour of Ceronix in Auburn

As we look ahead to 2020, I wanted to share with you some of my priorities as your District 5 Supervisor.  

MEETING YOU: I will continue to focus on meeting with as many of you as possible throughout the great communities in District 5. My schedule stays busy with regular MACs, Auburn Chamber Meddlers, and service club luncheons. Every time I'm given a tour or invited to an event, I meet wonderful people that are doing fantastic work for this place we call home. Please continue to invite me to your businesses, non-profits, and events and also join me at any of my "Chat with the Supervisor" events. You can find the calendar of upcoming chats below as well.

In 2020, I will also continue to work with other local elected and appointed leaders on emerging issues in our communities. These leaders have the true pulse of their community- whether they serve a city council, a special district board, or on a MAC. I enjoyed getting to know many of them in 2019 and look forward to working them even more closely in the new year.

Supervisor Gustafson with Gail Scoville and Judy Friedman who both serve on the Tahoe City Public Utility District Board of Directors.

PUBLIC SAFETY POWER SHUT-OFFS, FIRE INSURANCE, AND FOREST HEALTH: Much of my time in the past nine months has been spent on these three issues. They affect your health, property values, and way of life. I will continue to work with Placer County staff, our partner agencies, and others to advocate for solutions to address these very challenging issues.

Two weeks ago, I participated in a "listening session" held by PG&E in Auburn. Because you took the time to reach out to me and my staff to share your stories from the power shut-offs, we were able to convey these to PG&E to help them better comprehend the full effects of the situations.

In 2019, I championed county-wide surveys on both the public-safety power shutoffs and fire insurance issues so we were better able to hear from all of our residents and businesses. Also under my urging, our Board of Supervisors sent letters to state officials encouraging increased action to help our citizens. I will continue to work with our CEO's office, Public Information Office, Office of Emergency Services, and our fire departments and districts to gather more information and advocate for you.

To help you safely deal with power shut-offs, our Board temporarily suspended permitting fees for generators until July 2020. We want you to properly and safely hook up a generator to prepare for future power shut-offs and this allows you to go through the proper permit process without worrying about costs.  

Tied together with fire insurance and power shut-offs is the efforts the county is taking on forest health. Last year, I supported allocating county resources to be proactive with the tree mortality issue. I will keep supporting efforts to properly manage our forests, while also advocating for additional state and federal funding to assist the county in maintaining healthy forests.

Supervisor Gustafson participates in a Listening Session hosted by PG&E on Dec. 20.

HOUSING: We are in need of increased housing opportunities for our workforce and young families throughout District 5. I will continue to work with county leadership to expand options for housing including: supporting the county taking the lead on the Mercy Housing project at the Placer County Government Center; supporting the county taking the lead on a project at the Nahas/Dollar Hill property; encouraging accessory dwelling units (ADUs); and streamlining the government permitting process.

TRANSPORTATION: I will be collaborating with city, county, and state officials to create solutions and secure funding for roadway improvements, trails, sidewalks, and transit. That includes things like the Highway 49 Rehabilitation Project which began in summer 2019 and will upgrade pedestrian and bicycle facilities as well as improve existing pavement and drainage. Also, in 2019, the Board of Supervisors approved a two year-pilot program to provide FREE transit on the TART System in Eastern Placer County. I will continue to look for innovative programs like this to help address our transportation issues.

Supervisor Gustafson joined other agency partners in the Ribbon Cutting on the new Truckee River Bridge in Tahoe City on Dec. 16

TRANSPARENCY AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT:  Being a good steward of your tax dollars is of utmost importance to me. I will work with county staff to ensure we are transparent and accountable for how your tax dollars are spent.

I will work to ensure you are engaged as much as possible. Whether it's through county-wide surveys or one-on-one meetings, it is important for myself and my staff to understand your thoughts and concerns.

Supervisor Gustafson speaks with the Highway 49 Business Association on Nov. 20 in Auburn

As I said at the beginning, it's going to be another busy year for Placer County! Other important issues cross a wide spectrum-from public safety to homelessness to land use decisions to public libraries and so many more.

I  also look forward to continuing to support upgrades to some of our county facilities-like the new Health and Human Services facility in North Auburn, the new crime lab, and new Tahoe Sheriff's Sub-Station. With these upgrades, county staff will be better able to serve you.

Please reach out to me or my staff anytime you notice other emerging issues that deserve our attention.

Thank you for your support of my first nine months as your Supervisor. I look forward to continuing to represent and serve you in 2020.

Happy New Year!

- Cindy Gustafson, District 5 Supervisor

Contact information:

 175 Fulweiler Ave., Auburn, CA 95603 

Supervisor Cindy Gustafson: cindygustafson@placer.ca.gov

District Director Lindsay Romack: lromack@placer.ca.gov

District Aide Kelly McCaughna: kmccaughna@placer.ca.gov

www.placer.ca.gov