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Dedicated Leader | Champion of Education | Committed to our Heritage
 January 15th 2024
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District 4 readers,
I trust this message finds you in good health and spirits. I am reaching out with a heart full of excitement and gratitude to share a significant milestone in our journey – my recent appointment as the Chair of the Placer County Board of Supervisors for the year 2024.
Serving our community has been a truly enriching experience, and your trust has been the driving force behind my commitment to making a positive impact.
As Chair, my primary focus is on fostering collaboration, ensuring transparency, and representing the best interests of our beloved Placer County. I see this role not just as extra operational duties, but as an opportunity to work hand in hand with each of you to navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities that lie ahead. Together, we will continue to build a community that thrives, ensuring it remains resilient and responsive to the evolving needs of our diverse residents.
I would be remiss not to acknowledge the exceptional work of Supervisor Jim Holmes, the outgoing Chair. His dedication over the past year has laid a robust foundation, and I am honored to follow in his footsteps. Supervisor Bonnie Gore, who has been appointed as Vice Chair, deserves heartfelt congratulations. I look forward to collaborating closely with her throughout the year.
My mission is clear: I plan to hear from as many residents as possible before each board meeting. To help us feel safer in terms of public safety services, with infrastructure growth and its effect on economics. Most importantly I will respect our quality of life as Team Placer. I will act with a forward-thinking approach so we can plan responsibly. I believe in the power of collaboration, and together, we are the key to unlocking Placer's greatness.
Your continued support is invaluable, and I am genuinely excited about the possibilities that the future holds for Placer County. Let's work together to make our community an even better place to live, work, and thrive.
Thank you for being an essential part of this journey.
Warm regards,
Suzanne Jones
Chair, Placer County Board of Supervisors
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Board selects Supervisor Suzanne Jones as new chair for 2024
 District 4 Supervisor Suzanne Jones was chosen by fellow board members today to serve as the next chair of the Placer County Board of Supervisors for 2024. District 1 Supervisor Bonnie Gore was named as vice chair. The leadership gavel is traditionally passed during the first meeting of every new year and follows a rotation that provides supervisors with an opportunity to lead the board once during every four-year term in office.
“It is quite an honor to serve as chair of the Board of Supervisors and I’m excited to take on this new responsibility,” said Jones. “I am committed to serving the residents of Placer County and I am humbled to have been entrusted with this leadership role.”
Jones is entering the last year of her first four-year term and represents District 4, which encompasses all of Granite Bay, a portion of Roseville and portions Loomis, Penryn and Newcastle.
The role of the chair is to preside over board meetings and approve final board meeting agendas. The chair also represents the county at community events and is often the board spokesperson.
“My philosophy has always been to listen to the input I receive from county residents and understand their perspectives as those are the people I have been elected to serve,” said Jones. “As chair, I intend to emphasize community participation because that is how governance works best in my opinion.”
District 3 Supervisor Jim Holmes, who is the outgoing chair, passed the gavel to Jones after the board vote and Jones presented Holmes with a plaque in appreciation for his service over the past year.
As vice chair, Gore will be responsible for filling in as chair in Jones’ absence and will be in line for board chair in 2025. Gore has served on the Board of Supervisors since 2019 and just entered the second year of her second term in office.
“Important discussions will take place in 2024 around challenging issues like homelessness, affordable housing and economic development,” said Gore. "I am looking forward to assisting in a leadership capacity as we address these and other complex issues.”
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Placer County: Committed to Forest Health and Reducing Wildfire Risk for Residents
By: Kerri Timmer, Placer County Regional Forest Health
Our Placer County Board of Supervisors’ commitment to wildfire risk reduction and forest health began in 2006 with the creation of the Wildfire Protection and Biomass Utilization Program and strategic plan, and it has continued with the Board’s identification of forest health and wildfire management as a top land use priority in recent years.
In late 2022, after the county experienced the largest fire in its recorded history (77,000-acre Mosquito Fire), the Board identified the need for a science-based countywide project prioritization process to see all the wildfire mitigation work that’s necessary but with the ability to stage the highest-value projects first. The Regional Forest Health (RFH) team has contracted for the use of Land Tender, an interactive mapping and risk assessment platform, as a decision-support tool to help create that countywide plan. The Land Tender tool uses local data and stakeholder input to identify priority areas where forest treatment can have the best chance of reducing negative fire impacts on lives, property, and other assets we care about. Land Tender modeling allows landowners and managers to define planning zones and accelerate implementation of fire prevention and forest health projects, focusing on the most severe and immediate risks to our Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) communities and forested landscapes.
Land Tender is already being used by partners in and around Placer County, including USDA Forest Service, Truckee Fire Protection District, and Pacific Gas & Electric Company, meaning we can share data and better align priorities across different land ownerships. The Land Tender process does not take the place of localized planning and project prioritizing. County staff will continue supporting individual organizations in furthering their local project goals. But in addition to individual community wildfire protection plans or Firewise Communities efforts, Placer needs a countywide plan that addresses goals and priorities at the large landscape scale, which often involves our state and federal partners. This is where Land Tender comes in.
For anyone interested in knowing more about Land Tender, we will be holding community forums across the county in February/March of 2024. We will provide a demonstration of the program and collect community input on critical assets and priorities for protection to be reflected in the plan. Forum dates and locations will be announced in the coming weeks.
For further information Join us on Thursday, Jan. 18, at 10 a.m. for the Placer County Fire Safe Alliance meeting. Come learn about Placer County’s Sustainability Plan and how it relates to wildfire mitigation. Click here for the meeting invite.
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Placer County Secures $500,000 in Land Conservation Planning Funding
The Placer County Office of Economic Development is thrilled to announce a significant milestone for Placer County in the realm of land conservation. Placer County has been awarded a planning grant of $500,000 from the Department of Conservation through the Sustainable Agricultural Land Conservation Program (SALC). This initiative is a crucial step in safeguarding our region's agricultural heritage and conserving our prime farmland.
This achievement aligns with the broader statewide effort to conserve agricultural lands. The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) has recently allocated an impressive $116.8 million to support such initiatives across the state. This significant investment is aimed at bolstering rural economies and advancing climate action goals.
Collaboration and partnerships were essential to securing the SALC planning grant funding. So many partners are dedicated to the conservation of Placer County’s agricultural landscapes and your efforts to secure this grant were greatly appreciated.
We built a brand new newsletter to share updates about SALC. Sign up for that newsletter below.
To learn more about the SALC grant, please visit the California Department of Conservation's website by clicking here.
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2024 Community Arts Grants are Open
The Arts Council of Placer County (ACPC) will award grants ranging from $250 to $5,000 for programs and projects that:
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- Are implemented within Placer County between May 1 through December 31, 2024.
- Fulfill ACPC’s mission to promote and advocate for all arts across Placer County to enrich and help develop the artistic culture of our region of Northern California and beyond.
- Drive racial equity and social justice.
- Nurture social connections, promote community pride and identity, and boosts tourism by providing authentic experiences that draw visitors to the community and have a positive financial impact on Placer County.
- Fall within/conform to the categories, criteria and requirements listed in the link below. Click here for more information.
'We won't stand for it': New Placer County initiative aims to crack down on retail theft
 A new campaign by the Placer County District Attorney’s Office hopes to combat retail theft by raising awareness of a county-wide initiative designed to catch and prosecute thieves.
Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire unveiled new posters Wednesday that he said businesses can put in their windows. The posters read, in part: “This business is protected by Placer County’s retail theft initiative.”
“They are absolutely designed for the would-be thief to know, walking into a business in Placer County, that we won’t stand for it, that they will get reported, suspects will be arrested, and they will be prosecuted,”
Gire said the signs promote his office’s recently formed Retail Theft Vertical Prosecution Program. Created in October 2023 through $2 million in state grant funding, the program consists of a group of three people – a deputy district attorney, a district attorney investigator and a crime analyst – who are dedicated to investigating retail theft crimes.
“To have a dedicated team start to finish increases, one: efficiency,” Gire said. “It really allows the attorney, the investigator, the crime analyst to know the cases inside and out. And it allows those same people to know sort of the organized retail networks that are operating within our county and outside of our county so that we can try and cast as wide a net as possible to catch thieves that come into our county.”
Gire said the team got to work immediately after receiving the state funding. Existing retail theft crime cases were transferred over to the team. Gire said the work the new program is tasked with goes beyond catching and prosecuting individual thieves. The program is also designed to discover larger theft rings and, ideally, take them down. Gire said significant progress has been made in just the last couple of months.
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Placer Supervisors approve $175,000 in defensible space grant funding for qualifying eastern Placer County residents
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AUBURN, Calif. -- The Placer County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the acceptance of $175,000 in grant funding for the development of a Defensible Space Fuels Reduction Program, aimed at assisting low-income senior and disabled residents in eastern Placer County. The program will provide qualifying residents with assistance to improve defensible space around their homes and properties to reduce the risk of loss of life and property in the event of a wildfire.
The funding is made possible by the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation’s Forest Futures program, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting people to valuable resources. Eligible participants must reside within the boundaries served by the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, in the eastern portion of Placer County. This program will be similar to the county’s Defensible Space Fuels Reduction pilot countywide program, which has served 60 residents across unincorporated Placer County since 2022.
The $300,000 allocated to the program through the current fiscal year has been spent. At its Tuesday meeting, the Board of Supervisors indicated that the countywide program will continue to be supported alongside any available grant funding. The countywide program is expected to resume at a later date. "This funding is a lifesaver for some of our most vulnerable residents who would otherwise be at greater risk from wildfire," said Placer County District 5 Supervisor Cindy Gustafson. "We are deeply grateful to the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation for their generous support and dedication to improving lives and protecting our environment. Their partnership makes this vital program possible. “By empowering our most vulnerable residents to protect themselves against wildfires, we are building a safer, more resilient community for everyone in Placer County,” said Gustafson.
To learn more, visit the Placer County Defensible Space Fuels Reduction Program webpage, here.
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Placer ‘Red Sand’ event to raise awareness of human trafficking and impact on children.
Families and organizations throughout Placer County are invited to join the Placer County Children’s System of Care, Probation Department, law enforcement and other partners in raising awareness of human trafficking through the “Red Sand Project.”
January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and as part of the Red Sand Project staff will pour red sand into sidewalk cracks at a county location, representing victims of human trafficking who “fall through the cracks” every day.
The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is one form of human trafficking and is the sexual abuse or exploitation of a child, for the financial benefit of any person or in exchange for anything of value. While all children are at risk for CSEC, predators will often exploit and purposefully target children with vulnerabilities, such as those who have experienced abuse or mental health issues and more. The Children’s System of Care is one of many community partners, including education and law enforcement, who compose the local CSEC coalition working to address this issue in Placer County.
Click the Link below for more details.
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Loomis Costco Expected in April
 The Loomis location is expected to stand on a 149,500-square-foot lot with 781 parking spots at the southeast intersection of Sierra College Boulevard and Brace Road. This Location is set to open its doors in April 2024. This expansion marks a significant development for the community, bringing the renowned Costco shopping experience closer to local residents.
General Plan & Housing Rezone Program Update
There are significant opportunities coming up this year – with State-mandated rezoning for housing and the commencement of a new General Plan for the entire County.
To stay updated on these critically important processes, Click to learn more about the General Plan and the Housing Rezone Program.
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PLACER COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Learn more about the Board of Supervisors, including information on upcoming Board of Supervisors meetings.
Learn more about Supervisor Jones
Municipal Advisory Council (MAC)
Placer County Resources
Support Your Chamber of Commerce
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Placer County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) Loomis Office 6140 Horseshoe Bar Road, Suite D Loomis, CA 95650 916-652-2400 (Non-Emergency)
South Placer Fire District 6900 Eureka Rd, Granite Bay, CA 95746 (916) 791-7059 southplacerfire.org
CAL Fire Nevada-Yuba Placer 13760 Lincoln Way, Auburn 95603 530-889-0111
California Highway Patrol - Auburn Area Office (220) 9440 Indian Hill Road Newcastle, CA 95658 (916) 633-3344 (Non-Emergency)
Placer County District Attorney’s Office 10810 Justice Center Drive Roseville, CA 95678
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"The People are the Key to Placer's Greatness!"
Board of Supervisors Mission Statement:
To act as the legislative arm of county government and provide responsive leadership, governance, effective oversight of county services, and involve citizens and communities in processes that determine and enhance Placer County's future.
What Questions, Comments, Suggestions do you have...
Contact: District 4 Chief of Staff MichaelSpelis@placer.ca.gov ♦ (916) 719 -2955
District Representative FUdvarhely@Placer.ca.gov ♦ (530) 906 - 3120
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