County leaders focus on positives at business gathering

Perhaps wanting to avoid giving indigestion to those who had just eaten eggs and fruit salad, Yuba and Sutter county administrators focused more on the positive and coming attractions than bad economic news in their presentations this morning to business leaders in Yuba City.

Speaking as part of the Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce's bimonthly business connection breakfasts, the two county officials still acknowledged the local and regional economy is battered.

"I can't stress enough how difficult a time it's been economically in the state of California," said Yuba County Administrator Robert Bendorf, who followed with an appeal for local businesses to work with governments on improving the situation.

In his speech before about 70 breakfast attendees, Bendorf highlighted improvements the county's made in recreation and quality of life in recent months. The list included new spray and skate parks in Linda and a new regional park on Highway 20 east of Marysville.

He also pointed to steps the county's made to help the local economy, by creating an advisory committee of business leaders and sending housing work to local contractors through stimulus funding.

Sutter County Administrative Officer Stephanie Larsen said her speech focused on the future, by pointing out a number of public works projects designed to create jobs and attract more jobs.

Those include a new interchange on Riego Road and Highway 99, improving the intersection of Highways 113 and 99, and preliminary plans for a new county courthouse and Yuba College extension campus in Yuba City.

She also described the recent successful mail-ballot election to improve levees and a November measure to change zoning for an area near Sutter as investments in the future.

"We all know we're in an economic downturn," Larsen said. "But we have a lot of things happening to allow us to take off when the economy recovers."

CONTACT Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com.