This issue featuring A Weekend Away.. in Valley Scene Volume XXXVII No. 10 • 18 May, 2017
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Tulare Bio-Gas Project Gets One More Chance from New BPU Dave Adalian A stalled bio-gas project will get at least one more review from Tulare’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU)despite the Board’s denying the company behind the project a second 12-month discount on its rent. Instead of another year of reduced payments--at a loss of some $53,000 for the city--Colony Energy Partners received a one-month reprieve on a scheduled rent increase for city-owned property on Paige Avenue, and another shot at selling its project to the Board during that body’s next meeting on May 18.
On Borrowed Time
As early as 2012, Colony Energy Partners, a group of investors with several alternative energy projects, approached City Hall with a plan to turn waste from
several sources into fuel. Later, with the idea Colony might ink an agreement with the city to harvest its waste in an extension of the original plan, company officials signed a long-term lease that allowed them to pay a reduced rent until the project was underway. The clause covering the discounted rent payment that ran out last year. In May 2016, the former BPU, which has since been replaced, agreed to extend the period of reduced payments for a year. The extension, Colony said at the time, would allow it to complete negotiations with the city on the $20-million, two-decade deal. Then talks stopped and controversy began.
Where They Left Off
The controversy hasn’t ended, and both the old and new BPU have met
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Devin Nunes. Courtesy/Devin Nunes
Nunes Mum on Town Halls, Russia, Flynn, Trump Congressman Devin Nunes may be in some seriously hot water. With an ethics probe looking into his handling of classified documents, calls for him to resign his position as Intel Committee chair from both sides of the aisle, and cries from constituents for his attention, Nunes has gone quiet. That roaring silence is leading to a lot of rumor, speculation and even a serious challenge at the polls next year.
White House Visits
Visalia Transit operates routes from Farmersville to Visalia. Courtesy/Visalia Transit
Potential Transit Problems May Not be Problems After All Nancy Vigran Farmersville has been undergoing a lot of roadwork on its main streets. Included is a bus turnaround on South Farmersville Blvd., along with a bus stop intended for Visalia Transit Route 12 buses to accommodate seniors from a local apartment complex. Currently, Route 12 moves along Caldwell Ave. from Mooney Blvd. in Visalia, and further along Visalia Rd. into Farmersville and on to Exeter. Travel along Route 12 outside of Visalia has recently been considered on the chopping block by Visalia Transit, according to Farmersville City Manager John Jansons. “And the concrete is barely dry,” he said, of the South Farmersville Blvd. bus turnaround.
In a meeting between Jansons and Visalia Transit officials last week, however, he learned there is a possibility that Route 9 may take up the slack. Ridership along Route 12 east of Mooney Blvd. has been sluggish, officials told Janson. If Route 12 to Farmersville and beyond is eliminated, Route 9 along Walnut Ave. will continue to run and may conceivably make the loop down Farmersville Blvd. to pick up passengers, on demand. In other words, Janson explained, if an individual requires bus service, they would simply need to call in and would be told when the next route bus would be able to pick them up at their stop. There are other on-demand, or as-needed services in Tulare County. Exeter’s Dial-A-Ride has served its
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In March, the career politician from Tulare found himself the center of national media attention when he announced to the press he had gone to the White House to brief President Donald Trump on what Nunes said was evidence conversations by Trump and his associates had been “incidentally collected” in classified intelligence reports during the
Dave Adalian period before Trump took office. That was on March 22. It then became clear Nunes had actually obtained the reports during a secret visit to the White House grounds the night of March 21, from a source he refuses to name but who he termed a “whistleblower.” The New York Times, however, reported the source of Nunes’ information were two White House staffers, one of whom, Michael Ellis, a lawyer with the White House Counsel’s Office, was previously an attorney for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence which Nunes chairs. Taking classified information to the president instead of sharing it first with his fellow committee members immediately caused a storm of criticism for
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Devon Mathis’ Chief of Staff, Sean Doherty, Fired Sources close to Sean Doherty reported that he was fired as Assemblyman Mathis’ Chief of Staff on Friday, May 5. Doherty told two sources that he was fired, not by Mathis himself, but by the Assembly Rules Committee. Mathis was elected to California Assembly District 26 in November, 2014. The Assembly Rules Committee allegedly rarely fires staffers, happening only about once a decade and only for serious violations. A source familiar with the rules committee was skeptical about Doherty’s story. “I just don’t think rules is involved in personnel matters. It doesn’t smell right.
Catherine Doe It’s not usually their job.” Debra Gravert, Chief Administrative Officer Assembly Rules Committee, said in an email, “Personnel matters related to Assembly employees are confidential. In addition, Assembly employees are “atwill” employees who serve at the pleasure of the Assembly, and their employment may be changed or terminated without cause at any time.” Gravert continued, “All Assembly employees are employees of the Assembly and are under the control of the Assembly Rules Committee.”
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