Modesto Bee Article

Garth Stapley Reports
last updated: November 4, 2009

By unanimous vote, Stanislaus County supervisors on Tuesday:

• Agreed to lay off three more workers and eliminate 22 vacant jobs, leaving the county with 3,965 employees, down 639 from two years ago. Discretionary revenue and the county's general fund are at their lowest points in five years, and officials expect to be $20 million further in the red in the next fiscal year starting July 1. Leaving Jan. 2 will be two social workers and a medical investigator, all employed by public health programs that must be cut by $1.4 million.

• Accepted $1.45 million in federal Homeland Security grants. The money will buy a mobile morgue for the coroner's office, increase "communications capabilities" and develop emergency plans "specific to agriculture."

• Agreed to pay the International Rescue Committee $662,500 in federal money to help integrate refugees through June 2011. The money will help about 490 refugees overcome language and cultural barriers and prepare them for jobs.

• Hired Granite Construction Co. of Watsonville to build storm drains, curbs, gutters and streets in Empire. The project's first phase is bounded by Yosemite Avenue and E,

I and Second streets and will cost about $3 million in community block grants and county redevelopment money. The total includes paying Nolte Associates of Manteca $199,500 for construction management and inspection services. A Nov. 24 public hearing is scheduled to create a taxing district for maintenance costs.