Archive | August, 2015

It’s time to press our elected officials about this water rate increase – Chico Mayor Mark Sorensen requests Cal Water rate hike be agendized for public discussion

27 Aug

I am on the notice list for the city council and so I receive the agenda about a week ahead of each meeting. Next week’s agenda had a huuuge surprise – Mayor Mark Sorensen has a request up to agendize a discussion about the Cal Water Rate hike.

“Friday, August 21, 2015 8:02 AM – I do hereby request to add to a future agenda a presentation and discussion of California Water Service Company’s rate cases filed with the California Public Utilities Commission, and the subject of district consolidation. Thanks! Mark Sorensen “

Pardon my surprise, but I’ve been including Sorensen in my inquiries about this rate increase filing ever since July 8, when I sent him the article from Market Watch announcing the application. But he never responded, so I didn’t have any idea what he was thinking.

I wish people would contact Sorensen now, immediately, and tell him we want the city to become an “Intervenor,” which means a formal protest of this rate hike. The county has become “a party,” which means they get notices of what is happening with this case, but in order to make a protest, they have to file for “Intervenor status.”

It’s easy enough to become a party, just file the paperwork. The paperwork for Intervenor is a little more complicated. A CPUC employee admitted to me that we’d be better off having our county or city counsel fill out this paper work. The requirements are vague, there’s a disclaimer that states if you don’t cross your t’s and dot your i’s correctly your application could get round-filed.

Write to the full council – send it through Clerk Debbie Presson, that’s makes it formal. That’s debbie.presson@chicoca.gov

Tell them we want a full protest of this rate hike, the consolidation, and the other items listed by the Office of Ratepayers Advocates, which were not listed on the notice sent out to Cal Water customers.  One thing they’re asking for is elimination of the 10% cap on WRAM. I sent that notice to Sorensen, as well as the notice from the city of Visalia, which has gained Intervenor status on behalf of their district.

It’s time to PUSH!

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Meet the New Boss – same as the Old Boss

27 Aug

Yesterday I attended the Finance Committee meeting Downtown, and found out the “salary schedule” plan Human Resources had hatched out of Reanette Fillmer’s head is as bad as I thought. I was surprised to hear Ass City Manager Chris Constantin say so. He says it will not only amount to automatic raises without review, but it will tie the city’s hands somewhat in negotiating salaries with new employees. He and Manager Mark Orme are passing along a negative recommendation to council. 

Fillmer’s little gal from Human Resources argued that it would set maximum salaries, but Constantin aptly pointed out – it sets up minimum salaries too, and they’re too generous to be competitive in our favor as employers. 

The committee – Mayor Mark Sorensen, Vice Mayor Sean Morgan, and council member Randall Stone – also rejected the salary schedule, but are recommending other changes to employee policy, regarding severance and other items. I don’t understand all of this stuff, but I hear interesting things. The severance package is important, according to Constantin, because “it’s not just about the employee getting money when they leave, it’s about them signing away their right to sue…” The stuff you hear at these meetings. 

I’ll tell you what I got out of that conversation – and yeah, this is just my best guess – the cops and fire department want automatic pay raises, and Fillmer was going to hand them over through this new salary schedule BS. I knew she was going to be bad news. Her sole purpose on council seems to be backing the public safety unions in their money demands. 

The next item involved the city’s purchasing practices. I remember listening to Constantin when he came here, telling us the various departments were just buying their pencils and paper and other supplies as they wished, some of them had caches of the stuff. At the end of the month they’d just present their bills to ex-Finance Director “Lucy Goosey” Hennessey and she’d pay what she could and turn the rest over to the red column. 

Apparently this is still going on. At one point Administrative Services (Finance) Director Frank Fields said, “we have to get it through to the department heads – you’re out of money, stop spending…” But, he still wants to raise the discretionary spending limit (what they can spend without permission) from $1,000 to $2,500.

And it’s not just about paper and pencils. There’s stuff in there about management being allowed to throw little soirees within certain amounts – and they do. The other day Mark Orme threw a little gala for Comcast. He got to use the big scissors and everything. Apparently Comcast just put some money into their infrastructure for a change, and that’s a reason to cut work and throw a party at the taxpayer’s expense. Maybe if I’d been invited my nose wouldn’t be out.  Maybe if this meant better Comcast service for me, my nose wouldn’t be out. 

This meeting was all about the State Auditor. The State Auditor determined that Chico was at high risk for financial collapse and put us on the red list. They were threatening an AUDIT, which I think they should still do, but will be satisfied  if they see that Frank and the boys  are putting some awesome overtime into talking about the budget. All they need to be doing is manipulating funds to make sure there are no deficits. They talked about that new ordinance at the last meeting I attended – whenever a fund is low they just steal money from another fund. It’s called “allocation.” Fields admitted there were severe  shortages in some funds  – one fund short by $6 million – but those deficits will be “allocated away.” In fact, some of them will be “allocated” to the Finance Committee meeting we just sat in yesterday. All those staffers – including the fire department employee who sat silently behind me through the whole meeting – will have their salaries for yesterday morning paid out of the funds discussed. 

So, yesterday’s meeting wasn’t about solvency, it was about pleasing the State Auditor and avoiding an audit. They sure are afraid to be audited, is what I’m hearing. 

Fields said as much about 100 times, he’s very “frank”. There were four items for recommendation in his report – three had to do with bookkeeping, but the fourth was just fluff – an ordinance stating that the city would use local vendors whenever possible, even  if they couldn’t beat prices from out-of-town vendors. Mark Sorensen said this idea was “ridiculous” because it would mean turning away a vendor who might be located “200  yards” out of the city limit. 

I think it’s counter-efficient. The bid should go to the lowest offer, unless that vendor is known  to be sub-par. But, Sorensen and the team recommended this be “redefined” by the city’s law consultants and brought back. I can’t imagine how much that is going to cost, for an ordinance the mayor has described as “ridiculous.” Then Fields said it didn’t matter – the auditor was only interested in the first three items. The local purchasing ordinance “clearly sends a message that the city desires to do business with local vendors.” That’s the same kind of feel-good crap people like Sorensen and Morgan complained about when the liberals were in charge.

Meet the New Boss – Same as the Old Boss.

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Visalia files formal protest of Cal Water’s recent rate increase proposal

26 Aug

Good news from Third District Supervisor Maureen Kirk – the city of Visalia has filed a formal protest of their rate increase case. Of course it’s a separate filing but at last the attack seems to be on.

PROTEST OF THE CITY OF VISALIA TO CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE COMPANY’S APPLICATION TO INCREASE RATES FOR WATER SERVICE IN ALL ITS DISTRICTS

I. INTRODUCTION Pursuant to Rule 2.6 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, the City of Visalia (“Visalia”) files this protest to the application of California Water Service Company (“CalWater”) for an order 1) authorizing it to increase rates for water service by $94,838,100 or 16.5% in test year 2017, 2) authorizing it to increase rates on January 1, 2018 by $22,959,600 or 3.4%, and on January 1, 2019 by $22,588,200 or 3.3% in accordance with the Rate Case Plan, and 3) adopting other related rulings and relief necessary to implement the Commission’s ratemaking policies. CalWater’s application first appeared in the Commission’s Daily Calendar on July 14, 2015, therefore this protest is timely filed.

II. ISSUES IN DISPUTE As a general matter, Visalia intends to address the reasonableness of the revenue requirements requested by CalWater in its districts in general, but in the Visalia District specifically, and the associated ratemaking mechanisms on behalf of all ratepayers. Visalia does not know at this time which specific issues it will focus its analysis. It is likely that Visalia will address issues similar to those addressed in the last water company general rate case, personnel, general office, capital, special requests, and, if applicable, rate design. Visalia may also address additional issues as its analysis proceeds.

III. PROCEDURAL MATTERS A. Proceeding Categorization and Need for Hearings Visalia agrees with CalWater’s categorization of this proceeding as “ratesetting” and need for hearings. B. Proposed Procedural Schedule Visalia does not have a schedule to propose at this time but does request that hearings be held at several locations in which Cal Water operates, and that Visalia be a location for a hearing.

Wow, that seems simple enough, but  try writing stuff like this in layman’s language and see how fast they lay their hand across your forehead – NEXT! I’m hoping our county counsel will do something like this, and this morning I sent a note to Chico Mayor Mark Sorensen and City Mangler Mark Orme, asking for some action on their part.

To: mark.sorensen@chicoca.gov, mark.orme@chicoca.gov
 
Hi Fellows, 
I’m forwarding this I got from Maureen Kirk – the city of Visalia has filed a formal protest of their water rate increase. It’s time for the city of Chico to look into this. 
You can check with Maureen, the county is thinking about filing also. 
I would file myself, but looking at these forms and having discussed the subject with a CPUC employee, I realize I’d need legal help that is already available to you. 
I don’t know how much you know about this rate increase. Cal Water is also asking for consolidation with the Oroville and Marysville and Willows districts, which have outrageous infrastructure costs due to many years of neglect of their systems. According to a separate protest filed by the Office or Ratepayer Advocates, Cal Water has made requests that are not included in the public notice, including but not limited to an elimination of the 10 % cap on WRAM. 
I can forward you the information from the ORA if you are interested. You can get more information from Maureen. 

Thanks for your anticipated attention to this matter, Juanita Sumner

Please send a simple note like the above to the Marks, ask them nicely to act on this rate increase. If we can get enough people to protest this thing, we have a very good chance of turning it back.

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Utility rates on the rise – good news, our county supervisors may be riding to the rescue

24 Aug

Today we got our PG&E bill. Do you read your PG&E bill?  It’s more interesting than your cereal box, certainly, but oftentimes raises more questions than it answers. 

I save my bills, partly to collect my Utility Tax Rebate, but mostly because that’s the only way a person would know how PG&E manipulates the rates. I know, but I still don’t understand. It’s complicated.

I don’t have to tell you that, I mean, you read your bills. Right?

I compared this most recent bill with the bill from the same period in 2014.  They’ve drastically raised Baseline and Tier quantities (the amounts you are allowed to use) while at the same time raising rates, so it’s hard to tell where it all settles.  I see my family used 150 less kilowatt hours than this same period last year – wow, good for us! But, here’s the thing –  that’s 150 kwh at Tier 4 (.33/kwh) – that would have cost me another $49.50 if I actually used it. So, I figure, I shaved that much off my usage, I’d see a significant difference in the total amount due.  But, my electric charge for this period is only $3 less than that same period last year, when I used 150 kwh more.

 I just don’t get that.

Hey, I finally did get  that Cal Water rate increase insert that had been casually left out of my latest water bill. If you didn’t get that insert, which was supposed to explain the latest rate increase proposal and tell you how you could participate in the CPUC decision, please call Cal Water Customer Service Manager Renee Thatford, at (530) 893-6380 and ask her to send you one. 

Although, the insert does not tell us everything Cal Water asked for in their proposal.  In the very defensive insert, Cal Water insists they are only trying to “ensure that water rates accurately reflect the cost of providing water service,” and that consolidation with the Marysville, Oroville, and Willows districts will “improve affordability“, but they don’t say, what costs or whose affordability.  What they are leaving out is their annual pension costs, and also that they were denied their last rate increases in some districts because they were too onerous for the ratepayers to bear. Now Cal Water is trying to hide costs for those districts in Chico!

And lastly, they say they will, ” develop administrative efficiencies.”  I will speculate that means, more money for salaries, benefits and pensions. Maybe somebody from Cal Water has a better explanation, I’ll be glad to run it.

“Reasons for Increase” 

  • 3.5% of the increase is for projected water supply costs
  • 96.5% of the increase is for water infrastructure improvements

I don’t understand that 3.5% “projected water supply costs” – we have our own water here, they should give us more itemization there. And then, notice how they’ve lost the “develop administrative efficiencies” thing already and gone straight to “water infrastructure improvements” – they need to itemize this stuff. 

And there’s a lot more that’s not in this notice. You can read the whole proposal at Cal Water’s office on MLK Parkway here in Chico, or you can send a written request for a paper copy to their San Jose Office. 

Be sure to read that carefully – the Office of the Ratepayer Advocate has already filed a formal protest of this action based on the following complaint, including these “Requests not included in the Proposed Application”.  

II. ISSUES

ORA is still reviewing Cal Water’s Application, but has identified several issues that it intends to review and potentially address during this proceeding.

A. Requests not Included in the Proposed Application Should be Stricken

The application includes multiple requests that were not included in the proposed application. The Rate Case Plan states “[t]he application shall conform to the content of the PA (Proposed Application), as approved by ORA.”1 Pages 16-17 of the General

Report of California Water Service (dated July 2015) include the following new requests not included in the Proposed Application:

o Special Request: Eliminating 10% Cap on WRAM Amortization

o Special Request: Continued Authorization for Balanced Payment Plan

o Special Request: Permanent Credit Card Program

o Special Request: Temporary Metered Service Tariff

o Special Request: Public and Private Fire Protection Tariffs

o Special Request: Rule 15 Main Extensions Clarifications

o Eight Additional items were added to the Special Request regarding Memorandum and Balancing Accounts

As ORA was not given opportunity to perform a deficiency review on these requests, and these requests do not conform to the content of the Proposed Application as approved by ORA, they are outside of the scope of this application and should be stricken.

Maureen Kirk has got the county board of supervisors to support a formal protest of this action too. For more information, write to Maureen Kirk, 3rd District Supervisor, at mkirk@buttecounty.net, and ask her how you can  help. 

 

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$taff seems to be setting up a scheme by which they can raise their own salaries without council oversight – read it for yourself

24 Aug

There’s a city Finance Committee meeting Wednesday, 8:30 am. There is a ton of interesting stuff in the agenda, including what looks like pay raises for the police and fire chiefs. 

Click to access 8-26-15FCAgendaPacket.pdf

As usual, it’s loaded purposely by the clerk so that it can not be cut and paste, you will have to troll through the whole thing yourself, like I did. 

Frankly, the reports are so thick I don’t quite understand them, but I did see copies of a pay chart and a budget that were chock full of stuff you people should know about. $taff is also recommending policy changes that should not be swept by the public in an 8:30 am meeting. It looks like they are setting up a scheme by which they can bypass council and the public and give themselves raises. 

$taff and Council just finished telling us what great shape the city is in financially – why does the budget show a $7 million General Fund deficit?  The figures are confusing – on one line it says there’s $12 million plus in the sewer fund – on another line it’s shows a $3 million deficit. And the Park fund looks tapped – somebody better tell Tom Lando, cause he’s told CARD he will try to get money for the Aquatic Center study out of the city park fund. 

That reminds me – Lando and other CARD board members have been having “Intergovernmental” meetings with members of city staff and other agencies. These meetings are not noticed on the CARD website. I’ve been asking for months to be added to the notice list. First Steve Visconti told me I’d be added but never did, and now I’ve got new director Ann Willmann giving me the dis. She told me she’d add me after the July meeting and now they’ve had another meeting for which I have not been noticed.

I don’t care if I called her a human potato – I’m not taking that back, she deserves worse. She can call me what she wants, but as long as she accepts salary and benefits at the expense of the taxpayers, I’d like to see her do her fucking job.

NOTE: Willmann finally got back to me yesterday, excusing herself for being out of the office Monday. She said, “In regards to your question, the Board’s standing committees are consistently listed on the Agenda for the Regular Board Meetings.  This allows the Committee members to report to the Board and provide information if there was a Committee meeting.  However, all Committees do not meet monthly.  The only Committee meeting that was held between the Regular Board Meeting in July and the August 20, 2015 Regular Board Meeting was the Finance Committee.  We are aware of your request to be notified of upcoming Intergovernmental Committee meetings as well as AFAC meetings, and we will notify you when we have meetings scheduled for either of those committees. ” 

Yes, the worthless wad of Brown Act allows them to list stuff in their agenda that may or may not be discussed at the meeting. It also allows them to have sub-quorum meetings (not enough members of the committee to vote) without noticing the public at all.

Well, there you see, she’s said she’s aware of my request to be notified. But, if more of you don’t start paying attention, it’s not worth my time to bother with this crap. 

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Marysville City Council votes unanimously to formally oppose Cal Water rate case – let’s try to get the city of Chico to do same

20 Aug

From our friends at Marysville for Reasonable Water Rates

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marysville-For-Reasonable-Water-Rates/176321489194208?fref=nf

MARYSVILLE IS LOOKING AT AN EXTRA $846 CAL WATER CHARGE PER HOUSEHOLD/BUSINESS

PLEASE SHARE!!!!!!

First the good news: The Marysville City Council voted 5-0 for Intervener Status in this General Rate Case for Cal Water. That means the City will formally oppose the rate increase. FINALLY the Marysville City Council is taking a strong stand. 

The numbers just didn’t add up in Cal Water’s presentation before the council. They never do. (Like they constantly say the average water bill in Marysville is $39.) The audience and the Council questioned it.

Mayor Samayoa asked some very pointed questions. The Mayor called them on the numbers not adding up. Power Point slides were not matching the words coming out of their mouths. Let’s just say….coming to Marysville does not mean that you are in PO-DUNK, USA. We are not as stupid as they would like us to be.
During the Cal Water presentation they explained that every ratepayer in Marysville will be looking at an extra $846 charge for infrastructure. They tout that they have been serving Marysville for over 80 years. Where has the money gone? To those huge million dollar salaries for their executives? To support the San Jose Corp building? To the Cal Water Shareholders? Obviously not into our pipes and infrastructure.

This $846 charge will be per household/business. It will not pay for a drop of water. It is to pay for repairs and upgrades that should have been done over the past 80 years.

Councilman Simmons asked a very good question. He asked if the other cities that Cal Water is proposing to “combine” with Marysville (as one unit to establish rates) do not meet their conservation quota, does that mean that all of the cities in that unit will be penalized (WRAM etc)? Cal Water did not answer with words. Councilman Simmons’ question was met with silence. So, the answer would be YES!! If another city has major repairs or updates, that would impact the rates in Marysville.

Marysville needs to fight back. We cannot leave that fight up to the City Council. The people have to finally get lathered-up and speak-up. A Formal Complaint to CPUC will take the signatures of 40 plus ratepayers. Are ya ready to sign?

We will begin gathering information for the steps to take back our water system. Stay tuned here for updates.

Wouldn’t it be great if Mayor Mark Sorensen and the Chico City Council would take a stand too? 

Write to Mayor Sorensen at mark.sorensen@chicoca.gov and ask him to agendize this discussion. 

When will the crime problem stop getting worse and start getting better? The evidence says it’s still getting worse

19 Aug

This morning, riding bikes in a markedly deteriorating Bidwell Park, my husband and I found evidence of car break-ins at the parking area there at the gate above 5 Mile, where Centennial hits Chico Canyon.

I was shocked that a person had just driven right up and parked on top of an obvious crime scene.

I was shocked that a person had just driven right up and parked on top of an obvious crime scene.

 

From the piles of glass, it looked like at least four cars had been violated.

From the piles of glass, it looked like at least four cars had been violated.

As my husband was snapping the photos, a neighbor came along with her large German shepherd. She asked us what was going on. We pointed out the glass on the ground, and she seemed shocked. I don’t think she would have noticed it if we hadn’t pointed it out to her.

I was shocked that people would just drive up and park their cars at the scene of the crime and wander off down that trail.

I’m not reporting this to Chico PD, because I don’t know any of the details, and I would assume that the owners of the cars would report it.  But, I’m reporting it to you, and I hope the word gets out.

I’m not going to assume anything, except that several cars had their windows busted out in this spot. I’m guessing it wasn’t a rash of people locking their keys in the car. I’m also guessing that it happened at the same time, quickly, because the glass looked all the same, as though it hadn’t been laying there very long. I’m no Columbo, but I’ll guess if you park there the chances are pretty good your car will be broken into, I think that’s a pretty safe guess.

Later in the morning my husband took me to a North Chico hardware store, and overheard the cashier telling the customer ahead of us that he should never leave valuables in his car, and always lock it up when he was going to be away from it for any amount of time.  Car break-ins are becoming common all over town.

We heard a lot about the “carjacking” over on Vallombrosa.  I’m not sure what separates “carjacking” from “car theft,” unless it’s the fact that the victim actually made contact with the thief, chasing the car as it sped off. In one early report, I heard the car was left running in front of her house, unattended. Later it was said the keys were left in it. She said she just went into the house to get a few things, etc. I hate to go all Jack Webb on you, but the cops have the discretion to cite a person for leaving their car keys in the car, and I’m pretty sure the insurance company takes a dim view of that kind of behavior. Leaving a car running unattended is a threat to public safety.

Wake Up People!

The car broken into across the street from my house had a purse left laying right on the seat in full view – her window was smashed so fast a woman looking out a window across the street didn’t even see it. She just saw a man walking away.   A friend of my kid’s left his IPOD on the seat of his car at Bear Hole, in full view, and his wallet under the seat. His window was broken out and both were taken from his car.

I think this is a matter of professionals who know how to get into your car quick, know what to take and how to cash it in. I’ve heard some interesting chatter about various ways thieves break into cars, but for the “smash and grab,” they’re not after the car, they’re after valuables they  can carry away in a backpack.

So, you think you’d see people walking around with little hammers or something – those would be heavy and hard to conceal. And pretty damned incriminating. There’s a funny little trick these thieves use – tempered glass from broken automobile spark plugs. They’re called “ninja rocks”, and as of 2003, the California penal codes lists them as “burglary tools.” But they’re alot easier to conceal, and probably just about as easy to discard on the run.

Want to see how fast it happens? Watch this video:

and here’s Part II, where he busts a toilet with a sledge hammer – this guy is a scientist!

I’m guessing these are common around Chico. I’m guessing many of the “street people” we see weaving their way through town and along Chico Creek are professional criminals who find the homeless highway a very convenient getaway, going from town to town, stealing as a way to make ends meet.

The cashier at  the hardware store told the man ahead of us, “we need to clean them out.” There was something sinister in the young man’s face as he said that.  I remember Lloyd Brown – beaten to death by two drunken Butte College Students who discovered him sleeping in an alley. I don’t want that kind of campaign.

The cops have gotten raises, and the city is talking seriously about hiring more cops. The county Behavioral Health Department got over a million dollars in grants to deal with the mentally ill, and have recently closed escrow on a new Chico Behavioral Health Center. Why are we still having this problem with “street people”?

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I’ve had enough of David Little’s bullying

15 Aug

NOTE: I’ve closed comments on this post because last night I got a mail box full of pictures of obese police officers. Unfortunately, they were all real, but none of them were Chico cops so I didn’t see the point. That wasn’t the subject of the post – David Little edited my opinion because he didn’t like what I thought of his actions. That’s not good editing, I’ve written to too many other papers where the editor had a difference of opinion with me, and said so, but printed my letter verbatim. 

But, sorry for the baby temper tantrum – I’ll go on writing letters to the ER, we’ll see if Little will continue to print them, and how.

The Enterprise Record printed a letter with my name on it two days ago, but it wasn’t the original letter I sent them over a week ago. Here’s the letter I sent.

On Thu, Aug 6, 2015 at 7:29 AM, juanita sumner wrote:

In October of last year, right before a city election, I asked the city clerk and council why the campaign reports were no longer available online. Reports that had been easily available for years had suddenly vanished,  the current filings had also disappeared.   

The clerk responded [read her full response at chicotaxpayers.com ] ,   “There is no regulation requiring the documents to be uploaded to the City’s website unless an agency has implemented mandatory electronic filings (Gov. Code § 84601(d)). ” She acted as though I was harassing her.  The reports were restored to the website briefly, but disappeared again sometime after the November election. 

In her response to my inquiry, the clerk said that the city was going to have a new system “up and running by the first of the year”, but here we are again, with the reports in disarray. The old system worked beautifully right up until October of 2014. 

I’d like to thank Randall Stone for raising this issue to the public. I’m very concerned that neither the Mayor nor  the Editor think this is any of the public’s business. 

This problem lies in the charter – the clerk works for council, not the voters. I’m with Jim Matthews – the charter needs to be changed to make the clerk an elected official so that person is answerable to the voters. 

Juanita Sumner, Chico

I was starting to wonder what had happened to it when David Little got back to me the following Monday:

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2015 09:01:19 -0700
Subject: Re: letter to editor
From: letters@chicoer.com
To: juanita sumner

Regarding the line “I’m very concerned that neither the mayor nor the editor think this is any of the public’s business,” that will be deleted from your letter for print unless you can show me precisely where that was said. At least in the case of our editorial, you are drastically changing our words.

David Little, editor
Chico Enterprise-Record, Oroville Mercury-Register
400 E. Park Ave., Chico, CA 95927
Telephone: 530-896-7793
Twitter: @ER_DavidLittle

Why is this guy such a creep? Please note, I didn’t use anybody’s words. I didn’t put quotation marks around that line, he did. It was not a quote, it was my opinion. That’s what the opinion page is for.

I’ll say here, the letter Stephanie Taber wrote criticizing Randall Stone has mistakes. For one thing, she refers to Todd Boothe’s public Facebook page as a private e-mail, saying Stone had disclosed a private e-mail. That’s a lot different than what Stone had done – alert the public to a vicious and demented member of the police department who was behaving very inappropriately on a website that could be seen by anybody who searched his name. 

But I’ve been through this with Little before – he’s not a journalist, he’s a propagandist. Here he doesn’t like my opinion, so he edits it. Or, in this case, forces me to edit.  I didn’t want his edit, so I had to rewrite my letter.  I apologized to the asshole and sent a rewrite – and later I felt really cheap. 

I’ll never write another letter to the Enterprise Record. I’ve had enough of David Little. He’s a bully who uses his position to further his and his friends’ agendas.  I don’t read the Enterprise Record anymore, there are so many better newspapers locally and throughout the state. Channel 7 (KRCR) even carries stories that the ER misses on a regular basis, check out their website here:

http://www.krcrtv.com/

One of the worst things about the ER is Topix. Little announced a few years back that because of rude remarks and personal attacks, Topix was being closed to folks who do not have a google, twitter or facebook account. Did the ugly attacks stop? No. They’ve kicked Rick Clements off a couple of times, only to let him back on – I’m going to throw this out there – Larry Wahl is a very good friend of Rick Clements. 

People don’t like the way I talk – at least I don’t spread misinformation. Little ran a letter weeks ago from a woman who said I called Chico PD officers “fat.” I asked Little to ask her to “show precisely where that was said“, but he didn’t answer me back. 

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Cal Water is not being honest with ratepayers regarding new rate increase – write to your county supervisor!

14 Aug

NOTE: If you received your Cal Water bill this week, it says there’s a insert enclosed explaining the new water rate increase application. There was no insert in my bill. This could be a problem for Cal Water, there is a legal noticing process with time limits. If you didn’t receive the insert, please send an e-mail to the Public Advisor’s office – that’s Claudia.Portillo@cpuc.ca.gov  Please tell her the bill said you were supposed to receive the notice, but it’s not included. Please cc Third District Supervisor Maureen Kirk at MKirk@buttecounty.net

There is good news on the water rate increase – Third District Supervisor Maureen Kirk has contacted the California Public Utilities Commission and is investigating the process by which a person “becomes a party” to a rate increase case. A “party” will received e-mail notices from the CPUC whenever any motion is filed or anything else happens on that rate case. That’s really nice, compared to what I tried to do – call them up and ask them for the information. They acted as though I’d called the White House to order a pizza.

One of these days I will post the list of “actions” ratepayers can take regarding a rate increase and the series of chutes and ladders by which we are required to file the action.  Watch out for the slide! I really appreciate Supervisor Kirk going to the trouble to do this. 

The bad news is, the process is not much easier for a county supervisor than it is for a regular citizen. The paperwork they’ve been sending Supervisor Kirk is nothing short of onerous. When I asked the CPUC rep if we needed a lawyer to fill this stuff out, he denied that, but suggested we get our county council to do it.  

I suspect like this man who was sent to “help” us is just another flakcatcher, but I’m going to study all the stuff he sent us. By the same process we can file a formal protest, but  that’s another pile of onerous paperwork. 

What I know about this rate increase case is that they are proposing to merge our district with Oroville and Marysville, where the rates are already so onerous, Cal Water has had trouble raising them further. They want to spread them out across a larger district, make us pay for long-needed improvements to those city’s infrastructure. That might be nice for Oroville and Marysville ratepayers, but most of them are protesting this hike anyway.

But this morning Supervisor Maureen Kirk sent me some really good news – the Office of Ratepayer Advocates has already filed a protest on this latest rate increase. It includes “Requests not included in the Proposed Application”.  

II. ISSUES

ORA is still reviewing Cal Water’s Application, but has identified several issues that it intends to review and potentially address during this proceeding.

A. Requests not Included in the Proposed Application Should be Stricken

The application includes multiple requests that were not included in the proposed application. The Rate Case Plan states “[t]he application shall conform to the content of the PA (Proposed Application), as approved by ORA.”1 Pages 16-17 of the General

Report of California Water Service (dated July 2015) include the following new requests not included in the Proposed Application:

o Special Request: Eliminating 10% Cap on WRAM Amortization

o Special Request: Continued Authorization for Balanced Payment Plan

o Special Request: Permanent Credit Card Program

o Special Request: Temporary Metered Service Tariff

o Special Request: Public and Private Fire Protection Tariffs

o Special Request: Rule 15 Main Extensions Clarifications

o Eight Additional items were added to the Special Request regarding Memorandum and Balancing Accounts

As ORA was not given opportunity to perform a deficiency review on these requests, and these requests do not conform to the content of the Proposed Application as approved by ORA, they are outside of the scope of this application and should be stricken.

Furthermore, I just received my Cal Water bill yesterday. On my bill it says, “Please review the enclosed bill insert about Cal Water’s required General Rate Case filing…”  But hey, there’s no such insert in my bill. And, I’m assuming, if there had been, it wouldn’t  say anything about that list above. I’ll have to call them today and also drop a line to the CPUC advisor and anybody else I can cc. 

Please write a note to Third District Supervisor Maureen Kirk, thank her for her efforts on our behalf, and ask her what you can do to help. That’s MKirk@buttecounty.net

If Kirk is not your supervisor, you might also write to your own supervisor and ask them  to give Maureen any help they can.

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Norman Elarth: “they will speak of uncontrollable external cost increases, rather than overcompensated and underfunded employees”

8 Aug

From the Chico Enterprise Record:

Policies help conceal false allocation of resources

Aquatic centers, solar power, new sports arenas around Sacramento, etc. Many are seeking the notoriety, above-market compensation, or even the cheap entertainment that becomes available by taxing the workingman. The question is why our politicians want to destroy our wealth by investing in entertainment and doubly expensive electricity, particularly since businessmen will not increase production and employment until workers are capable of paying down debt and increasing expenditures.

Unfortunately, while democracy and capitalism are both succumbing to government overspending, public greed, and the faulty allocation of financial resources, the problem is amplified by the leaders of government and its related entities. In order to maintain their power, they must increasingly provide a free lunch even more grandiose than the public can stomach, and hence we often find that their policies are shrouded in falsehood and deceit.

Thus, while our school board obscures the cash bonus and cumulative 9.2 percent raise given to our teachers, they completely hide the additional 4.3 percent of their salary that we will be paying into their pension fund for the years 2014 and 2015 combined. Another 4.3 percent will be added next year under Assembly Bill No. 1469. Their poorly managed total compensation for 10-months work will be about $60 per hour.

When cities and water and power companies help bankrupt our workers and the elderly with increased fees and rates, they speak of uncontrollable external cost increases, rather than overcompensated and underfunded employees.

— Norman Elarth, Chico

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