Request for Administrative Hearing, Tulare County
Regarding: Snow removal, maintenance of roads.
The Responsibilities of County Government
The County of Tulare is responsible for maintaining the property
entrusted to it for the benefit of the people. Roads, buildings and
other infrastructure are maintained by the County as part of their
responsibility to the people, who remain the source of power
exercised by government in their names. This is the essential
principle of American governance.
The Board of Supervisors for Tulare County asserted the right to
limit the responsibility for road maintenance, thus lowering their
costs for what is legally deemed to be an essential service and
violating their obligation to maintain county property held in trust
for the use and benefit of the people of Tulare County.
Despite the acceptance by residents that this service is not the
responsibility of the County an examination of the statutes of the
State of California indicate that it is the obligation of the County
and should be provided at no further cost to tax payers.
Quote from the
State of California: “The
only statutory obligation is that a County is responsible for
maintaining it's property in a manner that does not constitute a
"dangerous condition" of public property as defined by
Government code Section 830(a), i.e. "a condition of property
that creates a substantial (as distinguished from a minor, trivial,
or insignificant) risk of injury when such property or adjacent
property is used with due care in a manner in which it is reasonably
foreseeable that it will be used."
The
violation is of long standing. Denying the obligation for
maintaining all County roads forced homeowners to provide for snow
removal themselves at a cost additional to the taxes paid to provide
that service. These monies should be refunded.
When
the actions of those entrusted with authority violate the statutes of
the State of California the process mandates that they be informed of
the violation and how the issue can be resolved. If that fails an
Administrative hearing is called.
Reasonably
foreseeable
It
is entirely foreseeable that roads will be used in all seasons of the
year. Homes, businesses, and commerce take take place in these areas
in exactly the same way they do in the more central areas of the
County.
Roads
that remained uncleared have placed families at risk of their lives
and denied the possibility of emergency services. Disabled
individuals have been put at risk of their lives. Elderly
individuals have also been placed at risk.
These
conditions have been perpetuated and justified by the County Board of
Supervisors by inserting the fallacious assertion they possess the
right to determine categories that allow them to deny maintenance to
some citizens. In Tulare County this violation of rights has been
perpetrated on residents and citizens living over 5,000 feet. The
failure to maintain roads is a violation of the power entrusted to
the Board of Supervisors and is is arguably grounds for their removal
from office if corrective action is not taken immediately.
That
County policy has been open to the convenience of individual
supervisors is proven by the fact that Supervisor Mike Ennis owns a
cabin at an elevation of 7,200 feet. The County of Tulare
substantially subsidized snow removal to his front door. The address
of that cabin is54738
Chinquapin in Sequoia Crest.
Repairing
the damage in the face of economic meltdown
Tulare County and the rest of California and the nation generally,
face a stark reality. The prosperity to which Americans became
accustomed is gone. As a family whose parent has lost their job come
together to ensure that what is essential continues while they
recover we in Tulare County must ensure services that are the legal
obligation of the County are carried out while the means to continue
to provide other, less essential services, are taken up as line items
in the County budget to be considered on a case by case basis. These
issues provide the opportunity to see these issues clearly.
For many years now the County Board of Supervisors have spent
money entrusted to them by taxpayers that did not carry out their
essential duties. Those involved in County government have
acknowledged that there is much waste that could be cut without
impacting services. To 'use up alloted money' new computer systems
are routinely ordered and other alloted money spent to create the
appearance that more is necessary.
This cannot be tolerated. Unnecessary expenditures, for instance
the raise the County Board of Supervisors voted for themselves last
autumn, should be rescinded and the money paid to them returned to be
used to provide essential services for the people.
(Information on the raise the Board of Supervisors alloted
themselves at the time the Federal Bailouts took place)
The County must continue essential services while cutting costs in
ways that do not compromise their obligations to serve and protect
all the people. Identifying essential services and providing them
reliably is a first step in that process. It cannot create
categories of service based on criteria unsupported by their
obligation to maintain County property and ensure the safety of those
using that property. It cannot provide special services for its own
employees.
Ensuring Essential Services
There are eight separate communities in the mountains east of
Porterville, in the supervisorial district of Mike Ennis. The cost
of services forced on residents by the Board of Supervisors provided
to these communities are outlined below. The cost for providing the
service of snow removal for one year for all areas is
Pierpoint & Camp
Nelson 4,426 Foot
Elevation – No charge for snow removal
There
is no additional cost for snow removal at Camp Nelson or Pierpoint.
Each of these communities are directly accessible off highway 190.
Therefore there is no additional expense for snow removal through an
access road.
Camp Wishon
McIntyre – McCoy
Cedar Slope - 5,797
Foot Elevation
$80.00
a year for a cabin
$40.00 a year for a lot
Cedar
Slope is directly on Highway 190 so there is no extra cost in
accessing the community from Highway 190.
Alpine Village -
6,500
Foot Elevation
$32.00
a year – Cabin
$10.00 a year – Lot
Alpine
Village is approximately 3.1 miles off Highway 190 over Redwood Drive
necessitating the clearing of the road to reach the community.
Sequoia
Crest – 7,000 – 7,200 Foot Elevation
Cost
of snow removal
$42.00 a year – Cabin
$12.00 a year – Lot
Sequoia
Crest is accessed via Redwood Drive, as is Alpine Village. It is
approximately 3.1 miles beyond Alpine Village.
Ponderosa
- 7,200 Foot Elevation
I
have not been able to get the figures for the cost of removal but
have been told that the County does not remove snow in the community.
Ponderosa is directly off Highway 190
Representatives
from the eight property owners associations to ascertain what they
pay for snow removal. I contacted the Tule River Reservation Board
of Directors regarding the maintenance of roads.
These
expenses are included, reasonably, as a tax funded expense for
residents in these two communities. As we proceed up the Mountain
this changes. Here is what residents pay at different elevations and
distance from Highway 190.
Naturally,
communities at higher elevations experience more snow fall and are
thus in need of more snow removal.
Snow
not removed from streets and roads constitutes a dangerous condition.
While this measure is general in nature another factor that must be
considered is the additional obligation of the County to provide
services for such specific needs as disabilities of handicaps. The
County of Tulare receives Federal funding to provide services to
disabled individuals and this is deemed to be an obligation. These
are separate factors but each must be considered.
The
statute from the State of California does not provide latitude for
maintaining County property in a hazardous condition. I construe this
to mean that all roads owned by the County must therefore be cleared
and doing so is obligatory on their part. If it is an obligation then
it is not optional and must be paid for through taxes already paid by
residents. Please let me know if you have another view.
The
Costs
Pierpoint
& Camp Nelson – 4,426 Foot
Elevation
There
is no additional cost for snow removal at Camp Nelson or Pierpoint.
Each of these communities are directly accessible off highway 190.
Therefore there is no additional expense for snow removal through an
access road.
Cedar
Slope – 5,797 Foot Elevation
$80.00 a
year for a cabin
$40.00 a year for a lot
Cedar
Slope is directly on Highway 190 so there is no extra cost in
accessing the community from Highway 190.
Alpine
Village - 6,500 Foot Elevation
$32.00 a
year – Cabin
$10.00 a year – Lot
Alpine
Village is approximately 3.1 miles off Highway 190 over Redwood
Drive.
Sequoia
Crest – 7,000 – 7,200 Foot Elevation
Cost of
snow removal
$42.00 a year – Cabin
$12.00 a year – Lot
Sequoia
Crest is accessed via Redwood Drive, as is Alpine Village. It is
approximately 3.1 miles beyond Alpine Village.
Ponderosa
- 7,200 Foot Elevation
I
have not been able to get the figures for the cost of removal but
have been told that the County does not remove snow in the community.
Ponderosa
is directly off Highway 190
The
official who is in charge of ensuring that services are delivered as
mandated by statute and in keeping with the needs of residents is
Mike Ennis, County Supervisor. Ennis owns a cabin located at:
Michael
T & Diane Ennis
54738 Chinquapin
in Sequoia Crest
It
is my view that the County is obligated to provide snow removal to
all communities on the Mountain with roads owned by the County. I
invite discussion of this issue as the first in a series of such
discussions. Please use Comments to begin this dialog.
No response received
