south tahoe public utility district

Over one hundred community members will gather on May 14 as the League to Save Lake Tahoe organizes the year’s largest single-day, hands-on citizens science effort to capture a snapshot of the water quality health of South Shore streams feeding into Lake Tahoe.

“By participating in the 16th annual Snapshot Day, volunteers are building on years of data gathered in these streams to provide valuable data information we can use to help protect Lake Tahoe,” said Jesse Patterson, deputy director for the League to Save Lake Tahoe.

Mountain Resort reporter Ashley Lindner interviews Lisa Herron with the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and John Thiel & Lynn Nolan with the South Tahoe Public Utility District.

Due to the recent crisis of lead contamination in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, South Tahoe Public Utility District is providing information regarding water sampling procedures and the possibility of lead contamination in our local distribution system.

STPUD's priority is to provide reliable and safe water distribution to their customers efficiently and cost effectively. The District has been focused on safeguarding our resources for more than 65 years.

Potholes in our streets are a popular discussion item in Tahoe. Some potholes are simply holes in the asphalt paving, while others are actually low spots located over a utility pipeline. This summer, several articles have addressed potholes at various lengths. The South Tahoe Public Utility District (District) would like to provide some information concerning the “utility” potholes. There are multiple types of “utility” potholes:

1. Manhole structure on sanitary sewers (stamped STPUD)
2. Manhole structure on storm drain sewers (usually slotted)

The Tahoe Chamber announced the nominations Tuesday for the 2015 Blue Ribbon Awards. There were 150 nominations received from the community for their annual awards program that recognizes exceptional South Shore businesses for excellence in service, entrepreneurship and experience among other areas.

After an extensive search and interview process, the participants for the next Leadership Lake Tahoe program have been announced. Leadership Lake Tahoe is a 10-month program that covers key aspects of the South Shore community so participants have a better understanding of their home and may further develop their leadership skills.

Jenay Aiksnoras, Lake Tahoe Yoga & Zephyr Cove Elementary School
Amber Aneloski, The Getaway Café
Veronica Arriaga, Harrah's & Harveys
Morgan Beryl, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
Brian Bigley, Kirkwood Mountain Resort
Alison Bourquin, Design Workshop

When Governor Jerry Brown told the residents of the state to cut back their water usage, he had the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) tell each region how much to cut back. That benchmark in South Lake Tahoe was 20%.

For the past three months, residents have cut much more than that. In May, water use at South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD) was down 34%, followed by 24% in June and 27% in July. This is on top of the 27% reduction in water use that the district's customer have accomplished since 2007.

Get inspired to transform your home’s landscape into a mountain oasis at the 8th Annual Conservation Landscape Tour on Wednesday, August 19 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. This year’s theme is discovering the many approaches to Tahoe Friendly Landscaping.

As one can imagine, Donielle Morse has been very busy lately. As the Water Conservationist specialist for the South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD), Morse spends her days informing, teaching and keeping up on the new state water mandates.

Drought or no drought, water conservation is necessary and its the reason South Lake Tahoe is faring better than most communities in the West. Since 2007, local water users have cut back 27% of their annual water usage.

In order to ensure motels and hotels being used as long term housing were kept decent, safe, sanitary, and affordable, the City of South Lake Tahoe has created a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) ordinance. At Tuesday's City Council meeting, the first reading received unanimous approval and support.

The ordinance gives the lodging community guidelines to follow if renting out units more than 30 days.

Safe and habitable units will be made available within the next twelve months once the design and maintenance standards are approved at the next council meeting June 16.

Hoopa and Salyer, two bear cubs who have been at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care since the end of December, left their winter home Thursday and are now headed to the Hoopa Indian Reservation near Eureka, CA.

Salyer was just 24 pounds when he arrived in South Lake Tahoe from Salyer, CA, and Hoopa, who was found at the Reservation, was 25 pounds when she arrived.

Most people elected to special district boards receive no compensation to oversee the agencies that provide services such as water or local park maintenance.

But some district directors receive annual salaries approaching $20,000 and health benefits for a position that has few requirements besides preparing for and attending meetings.

Of the nearly 1,000 special district board members in the capital region, about 70 percent received no compensation, The Sacramento Bee found in an analysis of 2013 salary data recently released by the California State Controller's Office.

The employees of South Tahoe Public Utility District are making donations to Christmas Cheer and Live Violence Free this holiday season. For the past month, staff has collected donations of food, toys, and more than $200 in cash for Christmas Cheer. They have also generously given of themselves filling wish lists for 15 families of Live Violence Free, who they hope to make the season a little brighter.

“I like participating because I know that these gifts go directly to the community” said District employee Matthew Mendoza.

Twenty-one days after the election, the final results have now been certified by the El Dorado County elections department.

The closest race was for the three open seats for South Lake Tahoe City Council. The top vote getter was long time local Wendy David who had 18.05 % of the vote with 1727 residents feeling confident she'd represent them well. Coming in second was incumbent Tom Davis who received 1461 votes, or 15.52% of the vote. Austin Sass moved ahead of incumbent Angela Swanson and ended up with 1318 votes to Swanson's 1289, just .31% difference.

The nomination period for the 2014 Blue Ribbon Awards ended on Friday, October 10 at noon. TahoeChamber’s prestigious awards program that recognizes exceptional South Shore businesses received over 175 nominations for eight separate award categories. The finalists and winners will be announced at the 7th Annual Blue Ribbon Awards dinner and ceremony on November 13 at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe. Tickets for the awards ceremony are now available for purchase at www.tahoechamber.org.

The Nominees:

The South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD) is organizing a Board Candidate Forum for Wednesday, October 8th at 6 p.m. in the District Board Room.

The Forum is open to the public and is an opportunity for the community to come and hear statements from each of the five candidates running for a seat in November: Chris Cefalu, Andy Chapman, James Jones, Shane Romsos and Duane Wallace.

With the filing deadline now passed, the list of candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council and City Clerk, South Tahoe Public Utility Board and the Lake Tahoe Community College Board of Trustees is now known. These positions, along with the El Dorado County Supervisor for Area 5 will all be voted by local voters on during the November 4.

Voter will be voting for three City Council members, the City Clerk and City Treasurer on the November 4th ballot in South Lake Tahoe. The filing period opens on Monday, July 14 for all interested City residents who are interested in running for the open seats.

The terms of Council members Angela Swanson, Tom Davis and Brooke Laine will end this fall as well as that of City Clerk Susan Alessi and Treasurer David Olivo.

Several agencies are coming together on Saturday, June 21st for the first Wildfire Safety Expo in South Lake Tahoe.

The threat of wildfire is extremely high this fire season due to record drought conditions in the West. To provide information on creating home evacuation plans, preparing for fire, creating defensible space, the expo has been created.

The expo will be held in the TJ Maxx parking lot from noon to 3 p.m.

Kids’ Fishing Derby at Indian Creek from 9 AM – 1 PM.

Sponsored by Alpine County Fish & Game Commission, South Tahoe Public Utility District, Alpine County Chamber of Commerce and Alpine Kids. Food provided by Alpine Kids. Look for markers off the dirt road towards the dam.

Fish delivery 10AM

Rates for South Tahoe Public Utility customers need to be raised "in order to be prepared for fire, prevent sewer or recycled water spills into the lake and meet law requirements on new meter installation," according to South Tahoe Public Utility District G.M. Richard Solbrig. He provided explanation of the three challenges to the district in a presentation to Tahoe Douglas Rotarians on Friday, January 31.

Group Four of the Leadership Lake Tahoe Program - David Landry of Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Peter Lavallee of South Tahoe Public Utility District, Nick Exline of Midkiff and Associates, Shell...

A loose connection caused water from a 10-inch line to run into Cold Creek and slowed traffic along Pioneer Trail Monday afternoon, according to South Tahoe Public Utility District officials.The co...

(Editor's note: The following ran in the January issue of the Tahoe Mountain News. The second part of the series that examines public agency salaries for managers is in the February issue, on newsstands now.)

Here are the latest salaries and benefits available for the South Lake Tahoe Public Utilities Commission, the South Lake Tahoe City Council, El Dorado County Board of Supervisors, the Douglas County (Nevada) Board of County Commissioners, the Lake Tahoe Unified School District board and the board of the Douglas County School District.