Emergency over mussels urged

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• Effort to keep mussels out of Nacimiento Lake enters maintenance phase

  Effort to keep mussels out of Nacimiento Lake enters maintenance phase

  The effort to keep insidious quagga mussels out of Nacimiento Lake is entering a new phase, and the San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department is seeking $106,000 to retain the engineering firm that has guided much of its efforts for another year.

  While continuing its prevention work, the county is also making the transition “into the operation and maintenance phase,” according to a staff report from county water resources engineer Courtney Howard to the Board of Supervisors.

  Public Works wants TJ Cross Engineers to continue to be part of that. Supervisors have placed Howard’s report on their Tuesday consent agenda, which is where they put items they do not intend to discuss.

• Officials pause on mussels action

  Officials pause on mussels action

  County officials have delayed action on awarding a $106,000 contract to a consultant helping it deal with invasive quagga mussels at Nacimiento Lake until they can meet with a five-member group charged with overseeing the lake.

  The Nacimiento Commission will meet Feb. 23, according to Dean Benedix of the county Public Works Department.

  The group was bypassed as county officials sought to award a $106,000 extension to a contract with TJ Cross Engineers.

• Capps asks local ranchers, growers for input on farm bill at Jan. 30 event

  Capps asks local ranchers, growers for input on farm bill at Jan. 30 event

  Central Coast ranchers and growers have been invited to Cal Poly on Jan. 30 to tell U.S. Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, what their priorities are in the upcoming federal farm bill, which Congress expects to consider this year.

  The bill will set farm and food policy for the country, and will have a significant impact on the local agriculture industry, Capps wrote in a news release.

  Capps also will speak with representatives from the San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau and County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office.

• Dan Walters: California bullet train feud echoes old conflict

  Dan Walters: California bullet train feud echoes old conflict

  It's doubtful whether members of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, who voted this month to pursue an alternative route through Kings County for a north-south bullet train, have ever heard of the Mussel Slough Tragedy, even though it was a seminal event in the state's history.

• SLO County supervisors tackle mussels, mental health and California Valley

  SLO County supervisors tackle mussels, mental health and California Valley

  Correction: The lead sentence of this story has been edited to fix a missing word.

  The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors dealt with mussels, psychiatrists, and law enforcement and fire protection in remote California Valley, among many other matters this week.

  Its most headline-grabbing actions were turning down a medical marijuana dispensary in Oceano; authorizing work to begin on design for a new terminal building at the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport; ordering county staff to strengthen an ordinance that would protect people against attacks from menacing animals; and receiving updates on both pension reform and state efforts to shift responsibility for prisoners to counties. But supervisors also took other actions at their daylong Tuesday meeting. Among them: