The past year was a big one for resignations, promotions and elections of Sacramento city officials. Twelve personnel changes took place at City Hall involving elected and appointed leaders and city staffers in 2010. A major change was in the city manager position, which was replete with drama and press conferences. When former City Manager Ray Kerridge resigned in March, the city was wrestling with a host of issues. The Sacramento County Grand Jury had released a report in January saying the city may have broken state law Proposition 218. Utilities fees from ratepayers must correspond to the costs of delivering the utilities services, the law states.  At the same time, the city was dea

Angelique Ashby was officially sworn in on Tuesday as the new city councilwoman representing the areas of Alkali Flat, Gardenland/Northgate, and North and South Natomas. The District 1 council seat was vacated by nine-year City Councilman Ray Tretheway, who lost his race against Ashby in June. Ashby, 35, is a first-time council member. Her father, Patric Ashby, gained permission from City Clerk Shirley Concolino to read the new councilwoman her oath. Ashby repeated the oath’s phrases after her father, which include a pledge to “well and faithfully discharge the duties” of her new office. She then took her seat at the City Council’s dais, or stage, and made remarks to the packed room at

The Sacramento City Council agreed on Tuesday night to shell out as much as $350,000 in general fund dollars to correct past violations of federal flood management laws. City officials have acknowledged that Dan Waters, a Community Development Department staffer and the son of outgoing City Councilman Robbie Waters, broke Federal Emergency Management Agency rules when he provided 35 building permits to a developer in a Natomas flood zone last year. Councilman Waters recused himself from the vote on the “corrective action plan” Tuesday night, while the eight other members approved it. Fong said that it was important to support the action plan to send a message to FEMA to ensure that the

The three outgoing Sacramento City Council members were swarmed by a crowd of city staffers and well-wishers Tuesday night. The City Hall lobby was abuzz with chatter as roughly 100 people turned out to say goodbye to Council members Ray Tretheway, Lauren Hammond and Robbie Waters, who are all leaving their seats later this month. Waters and Tretheway lost their re-election bids in June, while Hammond did not run for re-election. Angelique Ashby, who won the District 1 City Council race, will replace Tretheway starting next Tuesday, according to Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno. Waters’ District 7 seat will likely be transferred later this month to Darrell Fong, the frontrunner in

The Sacramento City Council will decide later this month whether to bill at-fault drivers in collisions requiring an emergency response. The city has released its draft ordinance for charging fees for emergency services. The fees for emergency responses would charged to all at-fault drivers, including residents and non-residents. Fire Department responses to car wrecks would include a range of fees. On the low end, the city would charge $435 each time the department responds to an accident. A major wreck, meanwhile, could cost at least $2,000 in fees. Council members are expected to discuss the ordinance at their Nov. 23 meeting, said special projects manager Mark Prestwich. City staff

Supporters of outgoing Sacramento Councilman Ray Tretheway gathered in North Natomas on Monday night to celebrate Tretheway’s nine consecutive years on the City Council. Tretheway, who was first elected in 2001, lost the District 1 re-election race in June to his opponent Angelique Ashby. He will leave his City Council seat in late November, but will keep his position as executive director of the Sacramento Tree Foundation. More than 100 people turned out for Monday night’s event held at the North Natomas Library. District 1 includes North and South Natomas and downtown’s Alkali Flat. “We are knitted as a community,” Tretheway told his supporters and constituents Monday night. “There’s

The Sacramento City Council’s Tuesday-night discussion made it clear that the investigations of the city’s development department are not over. Seven council members spoke at length about the Oct. 6 audit, which found that the Community Development Department broke city and state laws. Council members also indicated that they want to claim the money that the department failed to charge developers – a sum of more than $2.3 million, according to the audit.  Councilman Steve Cohn was absent from the meeting, and Councilman Robbie Waters recused himself from the discussion of the audit’s findings. Waters’ son, Dan, is a former employee of the department who was involved in an earlier investi

New budget cuts will cause the city’s popular 311 call service to shut down for all requests except emergencies for two Fridays per month, according to city officials. The budget cuts result from the new contract for union employees represented by Stationary Engineers Local 39. As part of the union’s deal with the city, each member of Local 39 must take 88 hours of furlough time in the 2010/2011 fiscal year, and 96 furlough hours in the following fiscal year. Some of the union’s members work for 311, and they will be on furlough the two Fridays each month, according to city spokeswoman Amy Williams.  The call center’s new schedule with furloughs starts Sept. 17. “We are unfortunately as

Sacramento’s city auditor is exploring the idea of creating a whistle-blower hotline for City Hall. City Auditor Jorge Oseguera told the city’s audit committee on Tuesday that he was talking to City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office about the idea. The audit committee is composed of City Council members Lauren Hammond, Robbie Waters, Ray Tretheway and Steve Cohn. Whistle-blower hotlines are “a common topic right now in the auditing community,” Oseguera said on Wednesday. The plan is in its early stages, Oseguera said, and no details have been established yet on how the hotline would work or when it would start operating. In a Tuesday e-mail, Teichert said she could say only that the pl

A group that presses for a designated camping space for homeless people in Sacramento opposed on Tuesday the City Council’s decision to move the open public comment section of council meetings to the end of the meeting. About 18 supporters of Safe Ground Sacramento stayed until the end of Tuesday’s City Council meeting to oppose the controversial decision the body made last week. Before last week’s decision, open public comment was heard by the City Council at the beginning of weekly council meetings. During the open public comment part of council meetings, Safe Ground Sacramento supporters regularly urge the city to reserve a space in which homeless residents can camp. The city enforce

Angelique Ashby Announces Series of Community Forums Throughout District One It's become common, often expected, for politicians to have goals for the first 100 days in elected office. But what about goals for the 100 days prior to taking office? On Monday, Angelique Ashby commemorated the 100 day countdown by unveiling Community Connections, a series of district-wide meetings seeking ideas, thoughts, input and experiences related to the challenges and successes throughout the region. Ashby was elected to Sacramento's City Council on June 8 with 51% of the vote in a dramatic three-way race, unseating incumbent councilmember Ray Tretheway after nearly ten years in office in District One

Residents will need to attend Sacramento City Council meetings later in the evening if they want to speak about issues that are not on the weekly council agenda. The City Council changed its meeting rules Tuesday night to move the open public comment section to the end of the weekly meeting. Currently, the public can speak at the beginning of the meeting on any issue that is not related to the City Council agenda. Council members were split on the issue and voted 5-3 to alter the time of the open public comment section. Mayor Kevin Johnson and council members Kevin McCarty and Ray Tretheway opposed the change. Councilman Steve Cohn was absent from the meeting. Johnson and Tretheway said

Councilmember Ray Tretheway hosts free movies nights in Natomas area parks on Saturday evenings in August. Saturday, August 7th North Natomas Community Park Cagney Way & Crest Drive Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Saturday, August 14th Witter Ranch Community Park 3790 Poppy Hill Way Charlotte’s Web Saturday, August 21st Two Rivers Park 3201 West River Drive UP Saturday, August 28th Regency Park Community Park 5500 Honor Parkway The Princess and the Frog Movies start at dusk (generally 8:45 p.m.) Games and fun will start at 7:00 p.m. Bring your blankets, snacks and flashlights. Donations for local schools will be accepted and provided to Natomas and Twin Rivers School Districts. Con

The 39 medical marijuana shops in Sacramento are on their way to becoming legal. The Sacramento City Council voted 8-0 to draft regulations for current pot dispensaries to legally operate with city permits. Councilman Ray Tretheway was absent from the meeting. Notably, Councilman Robbie Waters, who formerly served as a Sacramento County sheriff and city police officer, voted in favor of a path toward legal and regulated medical marijuana shops. Waters noted that he had originally approached the issue from a “cop view.” Michelle Heppner, a special projects manager for the city, explained after the meeting that the City Council intends to allow 39 medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacrame

A proposed measure to tax Sacramento property owners to pay for youth job training was derailed Tuesday night. Councilman Ray Tretheway removed the proposal from the City Council’s agenda, which means that it won’t be placed on the November ballot. Tretheway told reporters after Tuesday’s meeting he removed the plan from the agenda because council members were not interested in advancing it to the ballot. The City Council faced a Tuesday night deadline to move the proposal onto the ballot in November. “I think that the respect for the process trumped what I believe is a chronic problem of lack of resources and investment in our youth.” Tretheway said he thought his colleagues were conc

K Street. The very mention of this once-thriving street-turned-derelict-pedestrian mall sends people who’ve watched downtown’s progress, or lack thereof, into fits. Everyone has an opinion, an accusation, a conspiracy theory or a pet peeve about it. And everyone has got a cure-all, that one big project that will change EVERYTHING. Tuesday night, the City Council will meet to vote on which of the two teams of developers proposing projects for the 700 and 800 blocks of K Street should be given an exclusive right to negotiate. This is a big deal, with tens of millions of dollars in one case, or, in the other case, hundreds of millions of dollars involved. More important, it is a test of wh

The final Sacramento City Council election results did not yield any last-minute statistical miracles. Furthermore, a Sacramento city clerk’s predictions about City Council runoffs proved true: The leading two candidates in Districts 5 and 7 will compete in a Nov. 2 runoff election. The county elections office finished counting ballots from the June 8 election on Wednesday. Candidates Jay Schenirer and Patrick Kennedy will run for the District 5 seat, while candidates Darrell Fong and Ryan Chin will square off in District 7. Incumbent District 1 City Councilman Ray Tretheway lost his battle against challenger Angelique Ashby — just barely. A City Council candidate needs at least 50 per

 The Sacramento City Council has rejected Mayor Kevin Johnson’s effort to ask the city attorney to write official language for his new strong mayor measure. Shortly after 11 p.m. at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, five council members said they would vote against the drafting of the measure. With five council members in opposition, Johnson’s request to the attorney to draft the language did not have the required number of votes. The five council members saying they opposed the drafting of the language around 11 p.m. were Kevin McCarty, Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Ray Tretheway and Bonnie Pannell. The council meeting was still in session at 11:15 p.m. Check The Sacramento Press for fu

Sacramento's PRIDE 2010 kicked off with Dyke Night, an evening of music and entertainment on the west Capitol steps to lead into the new location of this year's festivities on Sacramento’s Capitol Mall near between the Tower Bridge and the Capitol building. Here are some moments: Two women in the audience respond to the performers on stage. Allyn Pharo and her dog Sterling. The crowd filled the lawn in front of the west Capitol steps. Aurora (top and bottom) played to the crowd. Emcee and Organizer Hilary Hodge keep the pace going throughout the evening. Tina Reynolds, Equality Action Now, gave folks an update on Prop.8. Dancers from Hot Pot Studios (above) moved their bodi

Though the election results aren't yet officially certified Councilman Ray Tretheway called Angelique Ashby late Thursday afternoon to congratulate her on winning the race for District 1 of the City Council. As of 3:43 P.M. Ashby held 51.1% of the vote, with Tretheway only holding 41.8%. A candidate needs 50 percent of the vote plus one to win a City Council race. There are still 12,000 mail-in and 4,000 provisional ballots to process but there is no way of telling what portion of them will be relevant to this election. Tretheway doesn't see them making a difference, "I don't think a few votes are going to change anything. So I wanted to let her know as soon as possible that I congratula