A flier in the Valley Springs News (Sept. 7) stated that “if Darren Spellman is recalled, there will be a huge push to include Rancho Calaveras back into the Valley Springs Community Plan.” There was no explanation as to why this would happen except that Spellman’s predecessor, Russ Thomas, “insisted that Rancho Calaveras be included into the Valley Springs Community Plan.” The reasoning seemed to be that since the recall is just Thomas supporters making good on a threat, any candidate running to replace Spellman will be Thomas’ puppet, if elected, and try and get Rancho in the plan. This might be news to some of the candidates.
What I remember Supervisor Thomas insisting upon during the Caltrans grant-funded community plan update was the process, which, ultimately, led to the exclusion of Rancho from the plan boundaries. Thomas called the grant for the Valley Springs Community Plan (VSCP) update a “boon” for the community and also said, “The Board (of Supervisors) doesn’t have the time nor inclination to micromanage.” His “conclusion” was “to abide by what the community wants as expressed through the community meetings and charette process and we shouldn’t be changing it (Valley Springs News, Nov. 18, 2009).”
However, thanks to the Tofanelli Committee, what was expressed during the process was changed, but, even so, the changes did not put Rancho in the community plan. The grant-funded map and the committee map both exclude Rancho Calaveras. On June 1, 2010, the Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of making the Tofanelli Committee map, which preserves the existing boundaries, the preferred alternative for analysis in the general plan update environmental impact report. Thomas and two other supervisors voted with Tofanelli in favor of his committee’s map in deference to the fact that Valley Springs is in District 1, which Tofanelli represents.
It would appear the District 1 supervisor will have the greatest influence over the final configuration of the VSCP boundaries and not District 5 Supervisor Darren Spellman or his successor. The flier is clearly an effort to distract voters from the real recall issues which are Spellman’s record and conduct.
Muriel Zeller
Valley Springs
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