Week of 01/30/23

I spend most of the week on a Beale Military Liason Council (BMLC) Civic Leaders Tour of Nellis and Creech AFBs in the Las Vegas area.  The tour’s purpose was to inform local elected officials and business leaders about the mission at both bases and their connection to Beale.  The more we can understand the mission at Beale and the air force in general, the better we as a community can support that mission.  On Tuesday night, we watched over 50 planes take from Nellis, participating in the Red Flag event.  We returned to Nellis on Wednesday, where we learned more about their missions, including JTAC, witnessed air traffic control, and learned about the Thunderbirds.  On Thursday, we visited Creech AFB and learned about the MQ-9 Reaper.  I even had the opportunity to take a seat in a simulator and fly a mission to locate and destroy a target.

On Monday, before leaving for the tour, county staff and I will meet with the Greater Sacramento Economic Council (GSEC) staff for a community visit and strategy session.  As it’s the fifth Tuesday, there was no Board of Supervisors or Yuba Water Agency board meeting this week.  Due to the tour, I missed a SACOG Land Use and Natural Resource (LUNR) committee meeting,  a Yuba Sutter Economic Development Corporation (YSEDC) board meeting, and an OPUD/County Liason meeting.

Tuesday is a Yuba Water Agency Board meeting.  A few highlights from the agenda include cash flow loans for local agencies for water supply and flood protection projects, a grant to the sheriff’s posse for a new well, and an update on the Agency’s Flood Risk Reduction division.  On Tuesday afternoon, I have a TRLIA board meeting where we will consider several actions to advance the Yuba River North Training Wall Project and a few other items.   Other board and committee meetings this week include a SACOG Strategic Planning Committee on Monday. We will look at opportunities and challenges for the year ahead in addition to other agenda items.

On Tuesday evening, from 5 pm-7 pm, the South Yuba Transportation Improvement Authority (SYTIA) will host a community meeting at the Wheatland Community Center (101 C Street) to talk about the East Wheatland Expressway Project and receive community feedback.  I have a separate meeting earlier in the week to discuss this project and the bypass with AKT development.

Additional items on my calendar this week include an Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) Leadership Listening session, an auto tour of underserved areas with Community Resource Project, and a lunch meeting.

On Friday, I leave for the National Association of Counties (NACo) Legislative Conference in Washington D.C.  In addition to networking with fellow supervisors from across the country, I’ll be attending informative sessions, connecting with federal agencies, and presenting a draft policy resolution to the NACo Telecommunications and Technology Committee urging support of Universal Open Access Broadband Networks with federal Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding.