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Caltrans announced that Karla Sutliff has been appointed as California’s chief engineer – the first woman to be appointed to the position.
As chief engineer and deputy, Sutliff is responsible for all engineering aspects of the department’s construction projects statewide from their design through the completion of construction.
She will oversee a program of more than 9,000 employees and an annual budget of $1.8 billion.
Sutliff has been with Caltrans for 26 years, and over the past 11 years, she served as the chief over several Caltrans divisions, including Design, Traffic Operations, and Project Management. She also filled the role of Acting District 8 (San Bernardino) Director in 2008.
Sutliff graduated from the University of California at Davis with a bachelor of science in civil engineering and is a licensed civil engineer.
The chief engineer position was created in 1974. Prior to that, the position was called State Highway Engineer. Here are the persons who previously held those titles:
A. B. Fletcher 1911-1923
R. M. Morton 1923-1927
C. H. Purcell 1927-1943
G. T. McCoy 1943-1959
J. W. Vickrey 1959
J. C. Womack 1959-1967
J. A. Legarra 1967-1971
R. J. Datel 1971-1975
C. E. Forbes 1975-1980
W. E. Schaefer 1980-1990
R. P. Weaver 1990-1997
R. Coleman 1998-2000
B. Felker 2000-2003
M. Leonardo 2004 (Acting)
R. Land 2005-2011
R. Pieplow 2011-2012 (Acting)
Attorney General Kamala Harris reported Tuesday that 2,000 firearms were seized from individuals legally barred from possessing them, including persons determined to be mentally unstable and those with active restraining orders.
“California has clear laws determining who can possess firearms based on their threat to public safety,” said Harris. “Enforcing those laws is crucial because we have seen the terrible tragedies that occur when guns are in the wrong hands. This program is an important part of our law enforcement work and I thank all of the agents who work so hard every day to keep our communities safe.”
In 2012, 33 Department of Justice agents used the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS) database to identify individuals prohibited from owning guns, including convicted felons, individuals with active restraining orders, and those determined to be mentally unstable.
In total, DOJ agents seized 2,033 firearms, 117,000 rounds of ammunition, and 11,072 illegal high capacity magazines. These numbers include seizures conducted from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, 2012.
The majority of firearms were seized during two six-week sweeps.
The first statewide sweep targeted individuals prohibited because of mental health issues and the second focused on people with legally registered assault weapons who were later prohibited from owning them.
In 2011, Attorney General Harris sponsored legislation to increase funding for the Department of Justice’s APPS program through the use of existing regulatory fees collected by gun dealers. Senate Bill 819 passed in June 2011 and became law on January 1, 2012.
The APPS database cross-references five databases to find people who legally purchased handguns and registered assault weapons since 1996 with people who are prohibited from owning or possessing firearms. The database was completed in November 2006, and the first statewide sweep was conducted in 2007.
Since Attorney General Harris took office, there have been three statewide APPS sweeps. The Department of Justice leads these efforts with the support of local law enforcement agencies.
California is the first and only state in the nation to establish an automated system for tracking handgun and assault weapon owners who might fall into a prohibited status.
A comprehensive U.S. Forest Service report released Tuesday examines the ways expanding populations, increased urbanization, and changing land-use patterns could profoundly impact natural resources, including water supplies, nationwide during the next 50 years.
Significantly, the study shows the potential for significant loss of privately-owned forests to development and fragmentation, which could substantially reduce benefits from forests that the public now enjoys including clean water, wildlife habitat, forest products and others.
“We should all be concerned by the projected decline in our nation’s forests and the corresponding loss of the many critical services they provide such as clean drinking water, wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration, wood products and outdoor recreation,” said Agriculture Under Secretary Harris Sherman.
Sherman said the report offers “a sobering perspective on what is at stake and the need to maintain our commitment to conserve these critical assets.”
U.S Forest Service scientists and partners at universities, non-profits and other agencies found urban and developed land areas in the U.S. will increase 41 percent by 2060.
Forested areas will be most impacted by this growth, with losses ranging from 16 to 34 million acres in the lower 48 states. The study also examines the effect of climate change on forests and the services forests provide.
Most importantly, over the long-term, climate change could have significant effects on water availability, making the US potentially more vulnerable to water shortages, especially in the Southwest and Great Plains.
Population growth in more arid regions will require more drinking water. Recent trends in agricultural irrigation and landscaping techniques also will boost water demands.
“Our nation’s forests and grasslands are facing significant challenges. This assessment strengthens our commitment to accelerate restoration efforts that will improve forest resiliency and conservation of vitally important natural resources,” said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell.
The assessment’s projections are influenced by a set of scenarios with varying assumptions about U.S. population and economic growth, global population and economic growth, global wood energy consumption and U.S. land use change from 2010 to 2060. Using those scenarios, the report forecasts the following key trends:
- Forest areas will decline as a result of development, particularly in the South, where population is projected to grow the most;
- Timber prices are expected to remain relatively flat;
- Rangeland area is expected to continue its slow decline but rangeland productivity is stable with forage sufficient to meet expected livestock grazing demands;
- Biodiversity may continue to erode because projected loss of forestland will impact the variety of forest species;
- Recreation use is expected to trend upward.
Additionally, the report stresses the need to develop forest and rangeland policies which are flexible enough to be effective under a wide range of future socioeconomic and ecological conditions such as climate change.
The Forest and Rangelands Renewable Service Resources Planning Act of 1974 requires the Forest Service to produce an assessment of natural resource trends every 10 years.
The Forest Service manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world.
Forest Service lands contribute more than $13 billion to the economy each year through visitor spending alone. Those same lands provide 20 percent of the nation’s clean water supply, a value estimated at $27 billion per year.
State Controller John Chiang on Tuesday said a review of the California Department of Parks and Recreation’s payroll process revealed managers and employees violated state policies and keyed in payroll without proper documentation or authority, creating the risk of abuse, fraud and overpayments.
“The deliberate disregard for internal controls along with little oversight and poorly-trained staff resulted in improper payouts to Parks’ employees,” said Chiang. “When security protocols and authorization requirements so easily can be overridden, it invites the abuse of public funds.”
The California Department of Parks and Recreation has been under increased scrutiny since this past summer, when the agency was found to have hidden away more than $50 million in park funds at a time when dozens of parks around the state – including Anderson Marsh State Historic Park in Lower Lake – were proposed for closure, as Lake County News has reported.
The discovery led to the resignation of Parks Director Ruth Coleman and the dismissal of three senior parks employees.
Gov. Jerry Brown subsequently ordered a full audit of the agency, and the state Department of Finance implemented new procedures to reconcile and confirm balances between the Controller’s Office and the governor’s budget.
Much of the Department of Parks and Recreation’s payroll problems that Chiang’s office discovered were related to “out-of-class” compensation, which Chiang said is a type of pay for employees who perform duties far outside the scope of their position.
This type of pay may only be used in limited circumstances, for a specific number of days and with documentation supporting the additional pay.
The review, which looked at the agency’s payroll processes for the period of July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2012, found that management circumvented rules and regulations regarding employees who were working out-of-class by keying in payments without receiving the proper approval or providing needed documentation.
During the period of review, 203 individuals received out-of-class compensation that totaled approximately $520,000.
Without sufficient documentation, the controller’s auditors were unable to determine how much, if any, of the payments were lawful.
However, the auditors did find that employees were paid out-of-class in excess of the number of days an employee may work out of class under state policies and collective bargaining agreements.
Some employees apparently performed back-to-back out-of-class assignments. One individual worked one such out-of-class assignment for the 120-day limit, then moved to another out-of-class assignment for an additional 120 days and then moved back into the original assignment, Chiang reported.
Twenty employees who were prohibited from receiving out-of-class for more than 365 days exceeded that time period, receiving an additional $46,000.
The review also found improper access to the payroll system. Last summer, the media reported on a number of unauthorized leave “buy-backs,” in which employees were inappropriately paid the cash value of their accrued vacation or other leave time.
The controller’s review found that approximately 90 percent of those unauthorized leave buy-backs were keyed by two Department of Parks and Recreation managers who used the payroll system without approved access.
In another finding, auditors determined that Department of Parks and Recreation employees who were out on disability leave were inappropriately given credit for the personal leave program.
The program requires employees take a 5 percent pay cut in exchange for eight hours of personal leave program/furlough credits per month.
The controller recommended Tuesday that Department of Parks and Recreation personnel remove all personal leave program credits from employees who received disability pay and were not subject to the 5 percent pay cut, or the personal leave program credit.
Finally, the review revealed that eight of 19 temporary intermittent employees who are limited to working only 1,500 hours per year exceeded that amount, resulting in $11,272 in extra pay.
Two of 16 permanent intermittent employees received approval to extend their work hours beyond the 1,500-hour limit; however, they exceeded the number of hours approved in their extensions at a cost of $548.
Eight of 340 retired annuitants working during the review period exceeded the limit of 960 hours per fiscal year at a cost of $5,810.
The controller recommended that the Department of Parks and Recreation set up a system to alert the employee and the employee’s manager when the employee nears exceeding the maximum number of hours per year they work.
The controller called upon the the Department of Parks and Recreation’s new management team to pursue reimbursement from employees who received compensation to which they were not lawfully entitled.
Chiang’s office plans to revisit the agency’s payroll process at a later date to ensure they are implementing this and the review’s many recommendations to strengthen internal controls over the payroll process.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lakeport city officials are repairing a water leak on Giselman Street, according to a Tuesday morning report.
The Lakeport Police Department reported that Giselman Street between Hillcrest Drive and Sayre Street will be closed to all traffic until 11 a.m., and then be subject to controlled traffic from 11 a.m. to noon while Lakeport Public Works staff repairs a water leak.
Motorists are advised to use an alternate route.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Emergency Food and Shelter Program Local Board met recently to distribute funds to local programs offering emergency food and shelter assistance.
Board Chair Jo Bennett reported on Monday that the board met on Nov. 29, at which time it distributed $40,592.
Those funds must be spent by March 31, 2013, Bennett reported.
Allocations to cover food were made to North Coast Opportunities, $14,767; Lake County Office of Education, $3,375; Community Care, also known as C-Chap/HIV/AIDS, $3,250; Lake Family Resources, $3,150; Lower Lake United Methodist Church, $2,375; Clearlake United Methodist Church, $2,250; and Lake County Vet Connect, $1,675.
Sunrise Services received $4,750 to match people with housing, and $5,000 went to Salvation Army for utilities.
Bennett reported that Lake County has been allocated these dollars for distribution through a local board process.
After notification of the local board decisions, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program National Board sends funds directly to the agencies, so no money actually passes through local government, she said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at