On July 21st, the county’s negotiating team and the Tulare County employee’s union signed a tentative agreement for a one-year contract with a 3% raise. The agreement had to be approved by the union members and the Tulare County Board of Supervisors (TCBOS) before the new worker’s contract became official. About 350 county employees voted, […]
This is part one of a two-part series on CEMEX gravel mines drying up neighboring wells. Is anyone grateful for the drought? CEMEX is. Founded in Mexico in 1906, CEMEX, one of the world’s largest building material suppliers and cement producers, runs operations all across the globe. It is conveniently blaming the drought on the […]
Last year was a good year for agriculture in Tulare County. In fact, it was the best year ever, according to the 2013 Tulare County Annual Crop and Livestock Report, presented to the Tulare County Board of Supervisors at its July 8 meeting. The county’s total gross production value for 2013 was $7,809,626,000, an increase […]
On Monday July 7, Tulare County employee negotiators and Shelline Bennett, the lawyer representing the county, returned to the negotiating table. All the employees’ hard work, outreach and testimonies paid off as the county offered a one-year contract with a 3% raise. The county employees then made an undisclosed counteroffer that Bennett was supposed to […]
On July 14, construction of the California High-Speed Rail began in Fresno with demolition and ground-clearing operations as part of Construction Package 1. This is the first length of track to be laid in the state, stretching 29 miles from Avenue 17 in Madera to East American Avenue in Fresno. Ceding space for the line […]
Tulare County employees turned up the heat last week on the Tulare County Board of Supervisors (BOS), conducting a protest march outside the council chambers and taking their message to Sacramento. During a special evening session of the Tulare County BOS on June 24th, the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) Local 521 organized a march […]
The National Weather Service (NWS) is predicting an El Niño for later this year, but don’t expect it to end our drought – or even have much of an impact. The NWS has called for a “moderate” El Niño Watch, which means it is unlikely to significantly change our rainfall. “I would say it does […]
For a second consecutive year, Visalia will have a balanced budget. On Thursday, June 26th, the Visalia City Council held a special meeting to review and approve the city’s budget for fiscal years 2014-15 and 2015-16. After Amy Sing and Renee Nagel, from the finance department, presented the budget council, members took turns sharing their […]
The Visalia City Council approved the configuration and preferred building elevation for the new Fire Station 53 to be built at the southeast corner of Atwood and Walnut Avenue. The 7,000-square-foot facility is estimated to cost a total of $3.24 million, which will be funded through Measure T, the quarter-cent sales tax measure approved by […]
Tulare County employees, represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Tulare County management are engaged in heated negotiations. If the two sides cannot agree on a contract by June 30th, the represented employees will have the option to call a strike. The SEIU is asking for a three-year contract with an 8.74% raise. Their […]