The Plumas County Board of Supervisors committed $1.5 million Dec. 17 to the construction of a public safety center in Greenville.
The 11,200-square-foot complex, on State Route 89 near the Wolf Creek Bridge in Greenville, is designed to house headquarters for the Indian Valley Fire Department, a Plumas County Sheriff’s Office substation and ambulance service quarters.
“This is a win-win for the sheriff’s office and everyone involved,” said Plumas County Sheriff Todd Johns.
The supervisors accompanied their funding approval with a pre-development and construction agreement between the county and the Indian Valley Community Services District. It includes a special use permit, to be issued by the county, and IVCSD’s commitment to regularly update county officials on funding sources and the progress of construction.
The public safety complex is expected to cost $6 million. The county’s $1.5 million share will be drawn from the county’s 2021 Dixie Fire insurance settlement, a total of over $4 million, said County Administrative Officer Debra Lucero.
Third meeting results in approval
It took three separate board of supervisors’ meetings spanning three months to finalize the agreement with IVCSD. Adam Cox, IVCSD general manager, presented a funding proposal to the supervisors Oct. 15. The supervisors postponed confirming an exact dollar amount and the source of the funding to Nov. 5.
During the supervisors’ sometimes-contentious discussion Nov. 5, then Board of Supervisors Chairman Greg Hagwood hesitated, suggesting the item was not properly agendized for action.
But finally, on Dec. 17, the supervisors had a draft contract between Plumas County and IVCSD, which they approved. They also formed a project oversight committee consisting of Supervisor Kevin Goss, Auditor-Controller Martee Graham, Interim County Counsel Josh Brechtel, and Lucero, the CAO. Cox committed to making quarterly reports to the supervisors on the progress of construction and funding sources.
IVCSD directors are expected to approved the contract at their next meeting,
Town hall complex
Plumas County lost three county-owned buildings Aug. 4, 2021, when the Dixie Fire overran Greenville: the sheriff’s substation, town hall and Greenville branch library. The plan for including the sheriff’s substation as part of the public safety complex leaves the town hall and library in limbo.
Cox, Goss and other Indian Valley leaders are planning a town center project that would house both, as well as a commercial kitchen and makerspace in a complex totaling around 15,000 square feet. The site involves most of the block enclosed by State Route 89, Main and Mill streets, and Franklin Alley. Designs are still in the planning stage, Cox told the supervisors Oct. 15.
The services district and Indian Valley Recreation and Parks District have applied for a $20 million Environmental Protection Agency planning and construction grant. At the same Oct. 15 session where he requested funds for the public safety complex, Cox also asked the supervisors for $1 million to prepare design documents and feasibility studies for operations and maintenance of the new town hall.
The board of supervisors delayed consideration to Nov. 5, when they again postponed substantive discussion of the town hall project. Hagwood, who has consistently raised doubts, called it “a completely different kettle of fish” from the public safety complex.
Although it appeared on their Dec. 17 agenda, Cox asked the supervisors to delay any action on his $1 million request to support rebuilding the Greenville town hall or the branch library. They agreed to table discussion until 2025.
PG&E settlement fund almost untouched
In addition to the insurance payouts, which will partially fund the public safety project, Plumas County also received a $7.8 million settlement from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for damages sustained by the fire, which the utility company has admitted to starting. The county’s PG&E settlement fund remains largely unspent.
The supervisors used $10,000 from the fund to finance a feral cat neuter/spay program in 2023. Supervisors Jeff Engel and Kevin Goss have been publicly adamant that the PG&E settlement monies be exclusively spent to support rebuilding within the Dixie Fire burn scar, primarily in Greenville.
