When the rains finally fell a few months back, I thought, “This is a pretty good way to wrap up 2021.” Then on December 27th, we had the mother of all storms, knocking out power to over 30,000 households, nearly 60% of the County. Not a nice way to wrap up 2021 at all.
But if I have learned one thing in over 30 years of public life, it’s this: there’s no keeping Nevada County down. Within hours, we’d declared a local emergency, which was soon followed by the State’s emergency declaration. Our first responders activated the Emergency Operations Center, deploying resources to help stranded residents, clear roads, and work with PG&E to remove downed power lines and trees. We are still responding to the crisis, but we are committed as a County and a community to recover stronger and more resilient than before.
Looking back at the last quarter, I am proud of the progress we’ve made on so many of our objectives:
- We’re clearing obstacles to make broadband more accessible with a countywide programmatic environmental impact report that will expedite the work of internet service providers connecting more homes to the internet. And the California Public Utilities Commission awarded two grants totaling $8 Million that will result in 527 new connections.
- We hit a major milestone in creating more affordable housing, with over 300 new units since 2017 and over 100 more coming in 2022. And this past quarter, we celebrated the completion of the Lone Oak senior housing project in Penn Valley.
- Our campaign to end Veterans' homelessness served 37 vets with only a few remaining to house. We also halved the homeless population in Truckee, housing 24 people. And newly renovated, the Odyssey House provides new beds for residential mental health treatment.
- Working with our Sheriff’s Office, we ramped up enforcement of unpermitted cannabis while also working with responsible growers to sensibly expand the industry.
- We’ve all seen the negative economic impacts of the pandemic. That’s why we awarded $2 Million in Community Resiliency grants funded with American Rescue Plan Act dollars to 32 community organizations hard hit by the pandemic but have plans to come out of this more capable of serving their communities.
- Our work is recognized statewide. The California State Association of Counties honored us with four Challenge and Merit Awards for our innovation in budgeting, internship programs, emergency sheltering, and our Rapid Response Team.
As we start the New Year, I look forward to continued progress on all fronts in 2022. You know why? Because we are “Nevada County Strong.”