As smoke from a controlled burn moved from Nevada City to a wider area of Western Nevada County, members of local Facebook Groups started to ask the other members about the location of a potential fire. “Anyone know about the fire we are smelling and seeing,” asked someone named Terra. Locals were showing an increasing amount of concern after receiving no warning.

The Fire Safe Council has been investigated for fraud (or at least gross mismanagement of taxpayer dollars) for years. District Attorney Jesse Wilson has started looking into how bad things are.

Bioggio Pizarro, who saw the fire, said, “there was smoke pouring out of Sierra Motor Sports.”

Why did they sign the agreement with the City of Grass Valley and put out the original notice of July 1st to begin with? As a lay person, I knew the operative date for the new tax was October 1st.

Still no independent forensic audit of OES grant contracts and Fire Safe books

In order to reopen a fire station that has been closed for 16 years, the Higgins Fire District Board is pursuing a property tax.

“If the justification for this 4th attempt to raise funds is to cover their funding shortfalls, recruit new firefighters and buy new equipment, it is a sleight of hand to claim that the main purpose of this new tax is to reopen a fire station because of its appeal to property owners.”

The Nevada County Board of Supervisors should be most interested in how the CliftonLarsonAllen contract was procured by County senior staff. The contract entered into without Board approval exceeded the $50,000 threshold which triggers Board action, yet County staff still contracted with CLA without Board approval.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office and the Grand Jury’s reports spell out the need to determine whether the “non-profit” programs being financed by millions of taxpayer dollars are making a valuable impact or are a waste of taxpayer money.

The Office of Emergency Services and the Auditor-Controller have an ongoing duty to monitor the contracts with Fire Safe to make sure Federal and State grant money is accounted for. The buck has to stop somewhere. It is squarely with the County and OES.

Grass Valley City Manager presented the proposed general sales tax measure as a half-percent sales tax within the City limits which he said would fund fire resiliency and vegetation management. The proposed sales tax, if sent to the voters as a measure on the ballot in March 2024 by the city council, would generate about $3.4 million dollars for the City’s general fund per year.

The Grass Valley City Council held a special meeting for the public to voice concerns and ideas related to wildfire risk.