Briefly

CDF bolsters firefighting personnel
Citing an already “extraordinary” fire season, CDF Fire Chief Bill Sager announced this week that he’s adding 30 firefighters and two additional fire lookouts to Butte County’s firefighting team.

The additional help comes from Governor Davis’ Fire Action Plan, which was unveiled last week and allocates extra firefighters in areas prone to major wildfires. Sager said that especially this year Butte County qualifies for that distinction.

He noted that there have already been more wildfires in Butte County than there were last year by this time and forecasted that worse is yet to come.

No-dissing-the-supe clause may be rule of the past
A clause asking loyalty of Chico school board members to the superintendent may be on its way out.

Wording in the superintendent’s contract stating that, because of the “unique personal and professional pressures on the superintendent,” board members must support him publicly and privately—essentially taking up any issues with his performance in closed session only—has been in place since the ‘80s.

But the clause bothered some community members, who feared that the requirement could keep the public from knowing of any important concerns trustees may have with the superintendent.

Superintendent Scott Brown now says he’d rather just ditch that “troublesome” section of his contract altogether, and board President Scott Schofield agrees. “As a practical matter, it doesn’t really need to be in there,” Schofield said. “It just raised too many red flags for people.”

Also, this time of the year is job evaluation time for Brown, and Schofield said trustees have been meeting and “the consensus is that he is doing a good job.”

Soon, they’ll settle on a new version of Brown’s three-year contract, publicly approving any raise in pay or other changes. Right now, Brown earns $124,025 a year.

City puts the kibosh on yard sale signs
Posting yard and garage sale signs around town has been causing more problems than one would think—so many, in fact, that the City of Chico announced this week that it’s starting to enforce a long-dormant ordinance that prohibits posting signs on buildings, trees, and light poles.

City workers have been spending too much time cleaning up the unsightly signs (usually for yard sales, cars for sale, lost animals, etc.), the city announced. So, its code enforcement officer could start issuing citations for violating the ordinance—some of which might come with a fine.

You’ve been warned.