To the community,

As you may have heard by now, El Dorado County Supervisor Sue Novasel, cannot vote on, nor participate in planning for, the new Meyers Area Plan as well as the rezoning of the land in Placerville that will be used for the new county courthouse as the Briggs Family Trust owns the land and it is financed through Sue’s husband’s company.

Kenny Curtzwiler

First, we respect Sue. She’s a hard-working woman who clearly cares for her community. However, with the county’s and FPPC legal opinion that she cannot participate due to a conflict of interest, our community of Meyers has been left without an elected vote on the plan or any participation. She cannot vote or discuss the plan with the Board of Supervisors or discuss anything with staff. This is unsettling, to say the least. Worse yet, there is a second Fair Political Practices Commission investigation currently going on due to the 29 items on Form 700 Statement of Economic Interests that Sue left off of the original Form 700 that all candidates are required to fill out prior to being elected. Form 700 provides necessary information to the public about an official’s personal financial interests to ensure that officials are making decisions in the best interest of the public and not enhancing their personal finances. There is also the matter of trying to change over 77 deeds of trust with the Briggs Family Trust at the recorder’s office right after the election in order to be able to vote on the courthouse rezoning.

Also in the works is the transferring of responsibility of the senior center and 56 acre campground facilities that are currently run by the county over to the city.

During the entire campaign for District V supervisor all of the candidates stressed the point of waiting and putting on hold the Meyers Area Plan until we got a new supervisor that could represent us properly as Ms. [Norma] Santiago was termed out. No one wanted to have the decision placed in the hands of Placerville without the residents’ involvement. All of the candidates also stated they would be the voice of Meyers and represent us as a full time supervisor for District V. This came after many community volunteers have spent years trying to slow the fast-moving TRPA and El Dorado County train down so that the Meyers community has the chance – through a transparent, inclusive, and clear process – to help develop the plan for our own future that is based on the desires of area residents, not TRPA nor special land speculator’s interests and certainly not to be left in the hands of Placerville.

No community members ever wanted to stop the Meyers plan, as we know we need to grow and enhance our community. We just wanted to be involved in the decisions. We had high hopes that our new supervisor could help ensure the kind of process our community deserves. Now, we have an appointed supervisor from another district who comes from downtown Placerville, not Meyers and is involved with an election and does not have time for us. With no participation in the Meyers plan and now soon to be no responsibility with other county items located in South Lake Tahoe, what exactly are we getting from our elected supervisor?

I realize there is more to a supervisor’s position than just what we see here in South Lake Tahoe, but our main concern is with us and our lack of representation and decision-making at the county level with local concerns. I urge everyone to get both sides of the story on what is exactly happening with us and what we can do. There is currently a recall on Sue that is going on that was started with the recall of all the supervisors and I encourage that you go online and get the information on why and how this is happening. I also encourage you to contact Sue Novasel and get her side of what is happening, as well as an explanation as to why she failed to bring up all the conflicts of interest during the election. Ask specific questions and get specific answers about our lack of representation for Meyers. There is a lot of misinformation and false accusations being put out by representatives of the City Council about members of our community and guest columnists with the Tribune who are writing about the ramifications for those who get involved with the recall and they need to be put to rest.

Kenny Curtzwiler, Meyers