Archive | September, 2013

Clerk feels her $135,000/year time is best spent hunched over her computer picking and choosing what goes into the minutes – that’s why the minutes are seven months behind

11 Sep

Well, my questions to the city clerk and staff regarding the production of meeting minutes has started quite a conversatin.  It’s gotten weird – with Stephanie Taber and Sean Morgan asking me to “back off.”  But here’s the answer I was waiting for, from Debbie Presson:

Hi Juanita.

 

I thought I would provide additional clarification regarding the preparation of minutes that is clearly my responsibility.

 

First, let me set the record straight, the Council action regarding minutes which carried 7-0 on November 7, 2000 was to “approve “action-only” minutes, with staff to provide summary detail when needed.”  This action was based on the fact that VHS videos (at that time) were available for check out the day after the meeting.  We then moved to DVD’s when that technology became available and then in 2009, started streaming the meetings and making all Council meeting videos available on the website so our citizens would have immediate access to the meeting information.  For citizens who cannot access the videos on the internet, we still maintain a DVD copy available for citizens to check out and take home to view.

 

So, yes… the City Council minutes are behind at this time.  Back in May 2010 through the first part of 2011, they also got behind when nine additional Council meetings were held in order to take in public comment for the General Plan Update.  Public input was critical to that process and therefore needed to be reflected accurately.  I had to watch those meetings over and over again in order to capture what each citizen stated for the record. 

 

The second note that I would like to make is that I do not pick and choose what goes into the minutes.  The detailed minutes were in many cases “verbatim” in order to capture anything related to the budget issues that the Council was grappling with at that time.  I began to provide more verbatim minutes when Council kept asking questions regarding the financial situation but was often told by the Finance Director that she didn’t have that information with her.  Detailed or verbatim minutes were solely related to those financial discussions and contained all the comments from all speakers related to the item, not just the items I wanted to see included.

 

I am honored to serve as the City Clerk of Chico and my duties surrounding the legislative history are very important to me.  I strive at all times to provide minutes that accurately reflect what actions were taken at each and every meeting and more importantly, what the video can attest to…. at any given moment.  As mentioned by both the Mayor and Stephanie Taber, there is no statute that provides a deadline or time line for the presentation of minutes to the Council for review.  Having said that, I am committed to getting them caught up as quickly as I can.  However, there are other things that are deadline driven and required by State law that will always need to be completed within the time frames allowed by law.  Those types of items by their very nature, take priority over the minutes.

 

I do appreciate your suggestion of annotated agendas where the motion, second and vote are indicated.  At this time, I am just trying to get the minutes caught up…. but should a backlog of minutes occur again in the future, I believe the annotated agendas would be helpful to those individuals who choose not to watch the videos.

 

Thank you for your comments. 

 

Debbie Presson  

I answered:

Debbie, you do pick and choose. I still have the e-mail exchange where I had that conversation in which Jennifer gave me erroneous information about the employee share, and you and Dani just “chose” to leave that whole conversation off the record. I wondered if Jennifer had asked you to strike it – is that allowed?  You’d put another question I’d asked in the record, so I knew I was at the meeting.  It was Sorensen who pointed out Jennifer gave me the wrong figures, and I had to ask you to add that. It’s pretty clear that you guys listen to the tapes and type what you want into the record.

 

I’ve seen the verbatim minutes. With a video for back up, I see absolutely no reason for verbatim minutes. 

 

It is my belief that you would better serve the public if you gave us the annotated agendas where the motion,  second and vote are indicated. That would be best for all the meetings, not just council. I think it is a terrible waste of expensive staff time to strain over an hour’s tape for 5 – 6 hours trying to pick and choose. 

 

Here’s why I choose not to watch the videos – all I want is the motion, second and vote, why should I have to sit at my computer, pushing the button, trying to find the exact moment of the motion, when you get paid over $135,000/year to take notes?  Why can’t the notes be available within a week? A month? That’s not unreasonable, other towns do it with less resources than Chico. 

 

Thank you for doing the job you are generously paid for, and I’d also like to add, you guys need to pay your own pensions and healthcare package. That would really establish some good will on your part. 

 

Sincerely, Juanita Sumner

This is a catharsis – FINALLY the city clerk drops that “have a wonderful day” bullshit and talks straight – I’ve been waiting for this through years of phony ass-kissing and superficial conversation.   I don’t hate Debbie Presson, I hate phony people, and she doesn’t present her true face, she uses that sugary coating as a defense mechanism, so nobody will tell her to cut the crap and do her job. Well, I’m telling her, damn the feel-good torpedoes. 

 

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Marysville for Reasonable Water Rates rally postponed – but there’s good news

9 Sep

I got this notice from Connie Walzchak of Marysville for Reasonable Water Rates, saying that the rally originally scheduled for Sept 21 will be postponed, date to be announced. I will also postpone any plans I was making for the 21st – I want it to be in concert with the Marysville rally.

But this is not bad news – she sent along word that their formal complaint had been served and the wheels of bureaucracy are in motion. I know, they grind slow, but they grind. I hope this will come to something good. You can support this move by writing to the CPUC yourself – here’s one link:

http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/puc/aboutus/Divisions/CSID/Public+Advisor/

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION-PLEASE READ AND SHARE
CAL WATER HAS BEEN SERVED
RALLY HAS BEEN POSTPONED!!

The Formal Complaint that was filed in May to CPUC regarding the California Water Service proposed increases for Marysville has made it’s way through the CPUC Docket Department and Cal Water has been served. See below:

To: Defendant, California Water Service Company (U60W) and to Thomas F. Smegal, Vice President, its representative:

Pursuant to the provisions of Rule 4.3, the Docket Office of the California Public Utilities Commission hereby officially serves the following legal documents on defendant in the referenced proceeding:

I.INSTRUCTIONS TO ANSWER NOTICE AND CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE FILED SEPTEMBER 4, 2013:
E-Filed: Instruction to Answer
PDF (525 KB)
E-Filed: Instruction to Answer
PDF (643 KB)
II. COMPLAINT C.13-08-017 FILED AUGUST 14, 2013 IN TWO PARTS:

E-Filed: Complaint
PDF (16667 KB): E-Filed: Complaint: PDF (12484 KB)

III. NOTICE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT (See, Word document on Attachment Line, above.)
All References to Rules are to the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure. The weblink is available at: http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/Practitioner/Library.htm

Please call if you have any questions

Regards,
Martin M. Nakahara
Senior Legal Analyst
‘ 415-703-2291 (Direct)
‘ 415-703-1929 (Office)
* martin.nakahara@cpuc.ca.gov

Cities up and down California and across the U.S. are fighting back against Private “For Profit” Water Companies. This movement is gaining national attention. Our Formal Complaint has grabbed the attention of several State Officials. Their offices waited for our complaint to go thru the process at CPUC and have requested a copy of it directly from CPUC. Something has to be done to protect residents and businesses from the “out of control” spending by the Private Water Companies (like Cal Water).Ratepayers can not continue to fund their disregard for budget control. Ratepayers can not continue to shoulder the burden of rate increases at a whim.

With the mountain of work ahead of us to proceed with this Formal Complaint (meetings etc), it has become necessary to POSTPONE the rally that was scheduled for September 21st. We are humbled by the residents and businesses that have volunteered to help with the rally. Thank you. Thank you to Brenda at Copy City for printing and donating the flyers. Marysville thanks you!! We will be using them in the near future (with a date change).

WE, YOU, OUR CITY needs to continue to show our solidarity!! Please continue to display those signs with pride. You have every right to SPEAK UP and STAND UP!! With the number of hits and views on this site, we know that you are on board Marysville!!

FOR SIGN REQUESTS send an email to:
Marysvillewater@yahoo.com

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!
FIGHT BACK MARYSVILLE!!!!

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Caper Acres Volunteers meeting postponed until September 16

9 Sep

There had been a meeting scheduled tonight for those interested in issues surrounding Caper Acres closure, but due to an emergency it’s been postponed until next Monday – Sept. 16 – 6:30 pm, same location – Faith Lutheran Church on East First Ave. 

I will try to keep you posted!

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Asleep at the wheel – minutes and videos missing from city website – why can’t the clerk produce the minutes in less than seven months?

9 Sep

I’ve been trying to follow the efforts of a group called “Truth Matters Chico”, ex city employees who are asking sticky questions.  One thing that’s come up as a result of their chain rattling is that months of minutes and videos are missing from the city council website.  I mean, we can’t even see what measures were passed or failed, who voted how, nothing. A news reporter gets a story up in 24 – 48 hours – sometimes less – why can’t the clerk’s office get the minutes posted in less than seven months?

If you go to the city website, follow the links through “minutes and agendas,” you will find that there are no minutes posted pasted February (clerk Debbie Presson promised that the Jan/Feb minutes would be posted by today).  Minutes can take a lot of forms – some cities even use court reporter machines to capture every single word.  Our minutes, lately, have just been simple reports about the business that took place at the meeting – what issues were discussed, what actions were taken, who voted how. 

If you want the play-by-play, you used to be able to watch the video online.  Suddenly the video feed is acting up, not only in the archives, but I’ve had trouble watching the meetings live.  It says to update my browser, etc, but my browser has been updated. For one thing, why am I able to view some videos but not others? The website used to work great, what’ the hitch?

While the video is good to have for the clerk to check in cases of doubt, or when you want to watch a hearing, or listen to the councilors’ reasoning behind a vote,  the video can also be onerous to wade through when all you want is the motion and the vote. This simple information  ought to be available within seven days of a meeting, as far as I’m concerned. We need the minutes to be posted promptly and consistently.   In Willows you get it within 30 days, and you can view old minutes years back.

http://www.cityofwillows.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={DAE0F6FE-EC82-4EE8-BFB7-971C8E0CD12D}

Wow, their reports are pretty thorough. Check out their school district minutes:

http://www.willowsunified.org/Board-of-Trustees/Agendas–Minutes-2013-14/index.html

But we wait seven months?  I e-mailed Gruendl, Sorensen and clerk Debbie Presson, and here are their replies:

From Sorensen:
Juanita: 

 
I just successfully watched several of the different videos in that date range at the following location:
 
One note: If you’re using some other browser, try Internet Explorer. I notice that Google Chrome (which is what I normally use) does not work reliably with Granicus. 
 
The January and February minutes were just approved at the last Council meeting and must not be posted to Granicus, yet. You can see those minutes under item 2.3 on the Sept 3 meeting agenda:
The next batch of minutes for approval should post with the 09/17/2013 meeting agenda, and once approved by Council, would then be posted in Granicus….. 
Here Presson informs us she’s just loaded the January and February minutes:
Hi Mark and Juanita.
 
I just uploaded the minutes of January 24, January 29, February 5 and February 19 and they should be available for viewing under “Minutes and Agendas”/City Council/”View Meetings Online.”  I found that the videos are available as well.
 
As Mark mentioned, I am working on the completion of the rest of the minutes. 
 
Have a great weekend.
And Gruendl chimes in:
I hope that Debbie and Mark were able to answer your question as well as you can see these dates. I would only add that the city will be updating Granicus so that any browser will work for video streaming as others have had this complaint, as well as Apple operating systems have trouble with Granicus and the update will address all of these issues (I hope, it is technology after all and it never seems to do what it was intended to do).
 
My response:
(Please forward to the entire council)
 

Thanks Scott, Mark, Debbie,  for your response to my question,

 
I have had trouble, on and off, over the past few months viewing videos on the city website, and I’ve had trouble watching the meetings live. I’ve been told repeatedly I needed to update my browser, I’ve updated when appropriate, but I’ve still had the same problems.   This is really new – for several years, that website worked almost without a hitch. Sometimes it still works without a hitch. 
 
Why suddenly it doesn’t work with Google Chrome? Since when? 
 

As for the minutes, why does it take so long to post these? Look at the city of Willows website here:

http://www.cityofwillows.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={DAE0F6FE-EC82-4EE8-BFB7-971C8E0CD12D}

What I am asking for in “minutes” is a summary of the actions taken, what exact motions were made, who voted which way, did they pass, etc. We’re not getting verbatim minutes, so I’m wondering, why does it take seven months to post the minutes? 

 

In past, you councilors have been allowed to peruse the minutes forever, striking comments, revising stuff. Is this still the case? If so, why? 

 

Finally, I know there is a closed session discussion regarding contracts tonight, so I want to remind you council members – you’ve laid off people, cut positions, and cut services. You’ve sat watch over the illegal and vindictive closure of Bidwell Park – that’s your legacy.  Now it’s time to cut pensions and benefits – tell employees they have to pay for their own packages. You need to remember that this city spends somewhere around $10 million paying for pensions and benefits for people who make well beyond the average wages for private sector taxpayers. Scott, you’ve complained about the $900,000 “lost” to the defeat of Measure J – that’s ridiculous, in the face of the money you’ve handed to city employees in the way of pensions and benefits. You don’t like criticism – do a better job!

 

Sincerely, Juanita Sumner

I had to add that last bit about the contract talks, because I think it relates. They’ve made excuses about being short of staff – because they’ve laid off the worker bees. Now they have the nerve to tell us the work can’t get done, but they continue to collect their awesome (and I mean that in the sense of “mind-blowing”) salaries. 

 

I’ll keep us posted.

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Yeah, the park is still closed

6 Sep

I was on my way to the Economic Development committee meeting last week, late afternoon, and as I exited the park onto Vallombrosa Way,  getting off my bike to thread my way through a group of fat-assed park walkers standing directly in the gateway, a woman arrived at the locked gate in her car and just sat there, staring.

 

“Why is this closed?” she demanded.

 

The other women, all of who seemed to have small credenzas taped onto their behinds, just stared back. I took my opportunity. “It’s closed because they spent all the park money on their $48 million unfunded pension liability…” Before I could finish that, she had shook her head and driven away. I don’t know if I was giving her too much info, or whether it truly disgusted her, but she left.   We’ll see what kind of outrage that sparks. 

 

How soon we forget.  Caper Acres Volunteers will be having a meeting on Monday at the Faith Lutheran Church on East First, 6:30 pm. They met last week with park management, Dan Efseaf and Ruben Martinez, as well as Lise Smith Peters, the volunteer coordinator, and we’ll see if there’s any fingerprints on their foreheads. I think they were told they could either join the regular Park Volunteers, or they could form a non-profit. Abigail Lopez seems pretty determined, but if I were her, I’d take a harder line with $taff, and join me at City Hall to picket the contract talks. We’ll see.

 

I asked Dan Efseaf about the park donation fund, he gave me the number of that fund so I could look it up. This is not a task to take lightly – drink seven cups of coffee and load your pockets with bread crumbs to leave you a little trail by which to get yourself out. I haven’t done it yet. But you may remember, when I looked into the Downtown Parking fund, I found they use over half of that to pay salaries and benefits, mostly for workers who don’t have anything to do with Downtown Parking. They pay for an entire police position out of that fund, over $100,000, and no, that cop is not “dedicated” to Downtown. He could very well be sleeping off a good beating over behind the Christian Science Reading Room on Palmetto. 

 

Oh yeah, we get some quality for these salaries, don’t we?

 

At last week’s Park Commission meeting, Efseaf mentioned repairs and maintenance needed at Caper Acres. Apparently, this is their excuse for closing Caper Acres – it’s “badly in need of repair,” and they don’t have the money to do it. Really? But they had the money to raise Efseaf’s salary by $20,000? And pay all but 4% of his pension? 

 

Efseaf lists some specific projects in his e-mail below, and makes vague references to more repairs. No cost estimates? What the hell does this guy do all day? Any workman could give you a cost estimate, come on Mr. $93,000 a year! Hey, I got an idea – why don’t they contact the contractors and other public volunteer organizations who did the Nico Project, who re-built the Crooked House from the foundation up, who rebuilt the tree house slide, etc. Local contractors like the Ritchie Brothers. I’m wondering if those people, given past experience, would work with city staff again. 

 

Dealing with our city staff is like dealing with a Repo Man – you have to be alert, all eyes and ears, and quick on the grab. “What’s right” doesn’t have anything to do with it – you have to be persistent, and you can’t ever be rude or the slightest bit belligerent, no matter how they treat you,  or they’ll use it as an excuse to cut you off.  It’s not a game for them, it’s a matter of money. They’re pretty damned ruthless, don’t forget who you’re dealing with. Egg stealers.

 

The entire park is a disaster. They’re trying to squeeze us, and they’ll do anything. They say they don’t have the staff to open the gates for us, but yesterday a giant garbage truck was trolling through the park. This used to be done by a guy or two guys in a city truck – you have to walk in and manually remove the bag. There’s no use to have a big garbage truck in there, and Nakamura himself has said these truck damage city streets, so what’s he doing sending them in there, with the park closed four days out of seven, to collect garbage sacks? 

 

This is mismanagement, pure and simple. And taking a salary for NOT doing your job is embezzlement as far as I’m concerned. 

 

Park manager Dan Efseaf’s e-mail answers to my questions posted below:

Ms. Sumner,

My contact information is below.  Here are some brief answers to your questions, let me know if you need anything else:
1)  What is that fund number?
I believe the fund number is 050-000-46001/xxxxx-000-3990, where the x’s represent the cost centers (one for Caper Acres, Park Improvements, Infrastructure, intern, trails and vegetation management).  This is also our 7th year participating in the Annie B’s Community Drive and they will accept donations on the City’s behalf at http://nvcf.org/index.php?q=donate&list=c31. Each donation will receive a partial match.
2) …specific “infrastructural needs” and “projects” at Caper Acres, and I would like to know exactly what infrastructural projects he’s talking about, and I wonder if I could get a cost estimate on those projects/repairs.
Caper Acres has many infrastructure needs (the roof to the restroom leaks, the wood footings to Locksley castle are rotting (or have been removed), Bunker Hill requires considerable maintenance to meet playground standards, fencing, irrigation, etc.). 
We do not have a cost estimate right now; however, the Caper Acres Master Management Plan that I mentioned will kick off this fall.  After obtaining input from the community the plan will assess and prioritize needs.  The plan will provide a cost estimate for each feature or repair.  The plan will be completed in 2014, but input will start this late fall (probably with one of the Committees).
 

Sincerely,

Daniel Efseaff | Park and Natural Resource Manager

Public Works Department | City of Chico

 

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Koyaanisqatsi! The Meagher has turned on the Mayor!

4 Sep

Did you happen to see our mayor, Scott Gruendl, on tv last night? Gruendl actually called a press conference before last night’s council meeting, to complain about how people have been complaining!  Seems the heat is getting too hot for Gruendl, he’s getting a little hysterical.

On the Channel 7 news website, Gruendl claims there’s been violent threats made toward Brian Nakamura, and insinuates others. Randall Stone jumps in with a story that does not include time, place, or names of those who supposedly wanted him “punched in the face.”

Gruendl also says people are trying to “paralyze” our local government – with requests for minutes? Well, at a meeting I attended recently, they said the minutes were months behind. Debbie Presson’s staff has been cut down to Dani, who isn’t worth the rubber foam in those crutches we’re paying for. They aren’t covering all the meetings, and when they do, they don’t transcribe the minutes for months. They offer instead ONE TAPE of the meeting, that you have to go Downtown to get, for 24 hours? – when I tried to use these, the local news reporters already had them, I’ve had to wait for them for a week only to have to take them back the next day. This is no way to keep the public informed, and those people requesting those minutes are not doing anything out of line. Didn’t I tell you all, a few months ago, there’s a trend in cities all over California right now, telling citizens they’re taking too much staff time with their requests for public information.  I knew Gruendl would jump on this wagon. 

Gruendl is out of line here, and so are the other five councilors supporting him in the news conference.  That’s right, FIVE. Schwab is conspicuously absent here. Looks like Ann is walking out on The Gang.  And guess what she’s taking with her – a little bag of money name o’ Kelly!

By the way Scott, you look like Hell! Is it okay to say that, because I’m just being honest. You look like a plate of Death lately. Take a vacation somewhere sunny, would you? You look like a ghoul.

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Where’s $taff these days? Desaparecidos!

2 Sep

I was afraid our meeting yesterday would not be too well attended – I was afraid the gang would abandon me to take their tubes out to the Sac! But, we still managed to get a little group together, with a couple of new faces, and we had a very lively conversation.

I try to run these meetings orderly. Yes, I try to take charge, I’m the one who signs out the key. Yes, that lays the weight of responsibility on me, so I get to boss everybody around.

Hah! In my dreams! These meetings are a running yakfest. Yes, we interrupt each other, talk over each other, and even break into separate conversations among ourselves because the other guys are talking about something we’re not interested in.  But we have real conversations, and we exchange information, even if it’s just hearsay or suspicion. We exchange our fears and anxieties about  what’s going on in town. 

It started out pretty boring  with my report about the meetings I’ve attended. I realized, every detail of every meeting wasn’t important – I mainly wanted to tell everybody how council and staff were trying to “reorganize” the meetings. We  talked about the new format for the Economic Development committee, and why these meetings need to continue to be in the public.

I also tried to interest the group in joining the Marysville For Reasonable Water Rates folks in their September 21 rally, but that just didn’t seem to catch anybody’s interest. Sometimes I think I’m moving among boiled lobsters. Maybe I can make a stack of their boiled carcasses to climb out of this pot?

Unfortunately, sometimes the conversation just goes down the toilet, and yesterday’s meeting spiraled into an argument over Brian Nakamura. The ladies who came in yesterday were really concerned about what Nakamura is doing Downtown, but they didn’t seem to have any specific details. They just know, they don’t like him laying people off while he enjoys an inflated salary. They sense some sort of cover-up Downtown, but they don’t really have the goods on anybody. I can’t help it – I share their sense of dread, and I know a lot more stuff than either of them.

Others in our group support Nakamura,  trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’ll agree on one point – cuts needed to be made. The main sticking point for me, is how he came right in here and enriched himself and his friends out of our coffers, taking a $50,000 raise for himself and $30,000 raises for two guys he brought in. One friend of mine justifies these salaries by saying, essentially, it’s what other similar jobs are paying around the state. We have to offer these salaries to get quality people – apparently a guy from Gilroy turned us down because we didn’t offer enough!  That’s what people are paying these days!

Well, that’s what they told us about the price of the housing they were building when they tied their salaries to revenue increases but not decreases. We screamed that the new housing they were permitting was too expensive – they said, “that’s what people are paying!” As if, that made it okay? And of course, our city manager’s salary went from around $60,000 to over $190,000.  But my husband’s and other construction wages stayed the same, and if he wanted more, he could just get in his truck and drive.

I can’t justify these city management salaries. They have ruined the economy in our town. Those salaries have raised the price of everything from eggs to housing, without bringing in better jobs or raising wages in the private sector. That is the truth, I don’t care what you think of “Save Chico Now.” I have to laugh at people like Tami Ritter, who answer criticism of their poor job performance by telling people it’s not nice to complain! “Eat your shit with a smile, or I’ll smack you!” is what I get out of Ritter.   Tami, if you insist on surfing the public trough, you better be ready for the raw sewage.  I predict you will be eating it within the next 365 days.

I got plenty to complain about. I use the park, almost daily, to commute, and it’s becoming a total disaster, has been falling into disrepair for some time now. The road is getting dangerously pot-holed – yes, from the huge garbage trucks that drive through lower park at least once a week to pick the black garbage bags out of those cans. The park maintenance crew used to do that, but they’re desaparecidos – the disappeared ones.

A huge tree limb that should have been cut just fell across the entrance we use to get in. Somebody cleared it after a couple of days – not the tree crew – they’re  desaparecidos!  I don’t feel the trees throughout the park are safe, I think they need to put a giant skull and cross bones over the entrances – ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK – OUR PARK IS UNMAINTAINED!  Meanwhile, Ruben Martinez has enjoyed at least one $30,000 pay raise and Dan Efseaf’s salary has gone up about $20,000.  They’ve done that by getting rid of all the workers who actually do the work – desaparecidos!

So, I will say, I am in agreement with Save Chico Now, and the ladies who came in yesterday – we’ve got a pile of stinking fish Downtown, and the head of that pile is Brian Nakamura.

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