Jess Martin Park well, license-fee revenue highlight supervisors’ meetings

By Joe Naiman

Funding for a well at Jess Martin Park and revenue from vehicle license fees highlighted the February meetings of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

Other actions included a consultant contract for landfill and burn-site engineering services; acceptance of grants for bioterrorism preparedness and a grant to detect West Nile virus and other diseases in animals.

The supervisors directed the CAO to add the proposed changes to the county’s 2005 legislative program.

Also Feb. 1, supervisors reappointed Joe Hutchinson, Steve Vandewall, Race Paddock, Thomas Ruzich and Thomas Chapman to the Lake Cuyamaca Recreation and Park District board. All five terms expire Feb. 1, 2009.

The Feb. 8 meeting included appropriations of $330,000 to drill a well at Jess Martin Park. There is no water available at the 9-acre park, and money from a Proposition 12 grant and the county’s general fund will provide a safe and reliable source of drinking water. Prop. 12, a parks bond, was approved by state voters in March 2000.

A well will be drilled and installed on a county-owned parcel across the street from the park.

During the Feb. 8 meeting, supervisors filled four seats on the Julian Historic District Architectural Review Board. Wayne Moretti was appointed to Seat 3 for a term expiring Jan. 2, 2007, while James Degenfelder, Juli Zerbe and Peggy Steadham were appointed to seats whose terms expire Jan. 5, 2009.

On Feb. 9, supervisors also accepted of a Fish and Wildlife Commission grant to detect West Nile virus and other diseases in animals in San Diego County. Money from the grant will help purchase equipment for the county’s Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. The grant will allow the Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures to upgrade its laboratory facilities to biosafety levels 2 and 3 to allow for safe handling of the lethal pathogen responsible for West Nile virus as well as other lethal pathogens such as plague, tularemia, rabies, herpes B and anthrax.