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Another hair-brained scheme from Orme and Constantin – Finance Committee to discuss leasing our streets to pay the pension deficit. No, I’m not joking.

21 Sep

This Wednesday the city Finance Committee will be discussing the Unfunded Pension Liability. The agenda says they plan to “restructure,” but you know, the real dirt is in the reports, available at this link. 

https://chico.ca.us/sites/main/files/file-attachments/9-23-20_finance_committee_agenda_packet.pdf?1600381637

So, I wrote a letter to the paper about it yesterday. We’ll see if Speed Wolcott (if he’s even in town) can get it in before the meeting! 

Chico Finance Committee meets this week (9/23) to discuss “restructuring” the $146,000,000 pension deficit. Topics include a Pension Obligation Bond and “lease revenue bonds”.

Pension obligation bonds (POBs) are taxable bonds used to fund the unfunded portion of pension liabilities with borrowed money.  The presumption is that investments will pay the debt service. However, as with CalPERS, failure to achieve the targeted rate of return means the taxpayer is stuck with the debt service on the bonds.  And, we’re still stuck with the pension deficit. POB’s are a jump out of the frying pan, into the fire.

“Lease revenue bonds” involve municipalities issuing bonds (borrowing money) using their own city streets or buildings as collateral to pay down their unfunded pension liabilities. From the 9/23 agenda: “A lease revenue bond structure (leased asset required, such as streets or buildings) would avoid validation process [meaning, the voters] and could proceed on quicker schedule.”

Essentially, a city leases their streets to a special Financing Authority, which will pay the city their up-front money, and “rent” the streets back to the city, in order to pay off the bonds. (Forbes)

And the taxpayers pay the “rent”.  “The municipality will generally appropriate money during each budget session to meet the lease [rent] payment.” (Forbes) These appropriations come at the cost of public safety and infrastructure.

Lease revenue bonds are essentially pension obligation bonds, but can “proceed on quicker schedule” because there’s no voter approval.

A real solution for the pension crisis – ask employees to pay more.

Juanita Sumner, Chico CA

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New trend – California municipalities are “leasing” city streets to pay their pension deficit – a sneaky way to get a new tax past the voters

13 Sep

I was looking at Pension Tsunami

http://www.pensiontsunami.com/

and found this recent article from Forbes about how a city can make an end run around the voters by using streets and roads as security for bonds. You have to read it to believe it. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2020/09/02/forget-pension-obligation-bonds-two-cities-areno-jokeleasing-their-streets-to-fund-pensions/#3cf8ccfa2233

“They’re using a bond-issuing mechanism called ‘lease revenue bonds.’ We’re all used to cities paying for public works, stadiums, and the like by issuing bonds which are paid off by a dedicated revenue source — sewer bills, hotel taxes, etc. But lease revenue bonds are different.”

According to Charles Schwab, “Instead of issuing long-term debt, like general obligation bonds do, to finance improvements on a public facility, the municipality may enter into an arrangement that uses lease revenue bonds. Often a trust, not the municipality, issues bonds and generates revenues to pay the bonds back by leasing the facility to the municipality. The municipality will generally appropriate money during each budget session to meet the lease payment.”

General obligation bonds require voter approval, but as staff described in their sales tax measure pitch earlier this year, there are ways to get bonds without voter approval. This is just one way.

Here’s how it’s a tax – once they make this deal, they can just “appropriate money” during each budget session to make whatever payments the lender demands.  “Appropriate” is a Legalese for TAKE. If you look at the agendas for city council meetings you see an appropriation at almost every meeting. A “lease revenue bond” is how they officially pass their pension deficit onto the taxpayers – they borrow money specifically to pay their pension deficit, using city infrastructure as collateral, and then it’s OUR debt, not theirs. 

This is what Chris Constantin and Mark Orme were intending to do with the money generated from the sales tax measure they tried to put on the November ballot. They were going to “secure” bonds, using the sales tax proceeds they told us would go toward fixing streets to make the payments. You can watch Orme’s presentation regarding the bond at the June 23 meeting and Constantin’s emotional plea for the tax measure at the July 7 meeting here:

http://chico-ca.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2

Nobody brought that bond up during the council discussion. When members of the public raised the question Orme actually denied it – having made a presentation that is available on tape? They were trying to pull a fast one, and they knew it. Stone rejected the proposal, ending the conversation about a tax measure for now, but he never raised the issue of the bond. I would fully expect Chico City staff to try to pull out something like this in future, and we need to let council know it’s out of the question. 

If your district is up in this election, you need to grill your candidates about the pension liability and how it will be paid.  Let the candidates know you’ve done your research, ask pointed questions. Don’t let them fake their way through another election. 

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Chico’s Unfunded Pension Liability – the 8,000 pound gorilla in the room that none of the candidates want to talk about

13 Sep

As Dave reminded us yesterday, “the 8,000 pound gorilla in the room” that nobody will talk about in this election is the Unfunded Pension Liability (UAL).

The UAL has been created and perpetuated by the tiny shares that employees pay toward their own pensions – they pay less than 15% but expect to get 70 – 90% in retirement. That only works if somebody picks up the other 80 – 90%. They expect us to be that somebody, and I’m saying, NO!

And while the city manager claims repeatedly that “staff” has not had raises “for years”, the new police chief just got $21,000 more a year than the old police chief. Chico police officers get automatic raises, they are on a “step increase” plan. They also get to “cash out” unused overtime, sick and vacation days on a formula that actually pays them more not to work. They also use these cash-outs to “spike” their salaries and therefor their pensions.  Look at their contracts here:

https://www.chico.ca.us/post/labor-agreements

Finance manager Dowell told me, in August 2019, that city employees pay between 9.75 and 15% of their pension cost, depending on their union group. See, the city manager negotiates these contracts with each group, and then the council just rubberstamps them. It’s time for council to do some of the negotiating. And that means, we have to hold a candle to their rear-end.

Other towns are actually cutting salaries, Chico is not only raising salaries but creating new positions – the new Public Information Officer and another management position for Public Works. This is like throwing gas on the UAL fire. Another thing that goes up automatically every year is the UAL “catch up” payment.  Finance director Scott Dowell just paid almost $10 million to CalPERS. And next year he says it will be over $11 million.

Here are questions for your district candidate:

  1. What is the UAL?  (answer: Unfunded Actuarial Liability, or pension deficit)
  2. How much is Chico’s current UAL?  (the last figure I have from Scott Dowell is $128 million, I believe it’s now over $130 million)
  3. How much money did Scott Dowell just pay toward the UAL in July of this year? (over $9 million)
  4. What are the various shares paid by different employee groups? (between 9.75 and 15%, depending on employee group)

These are terms any council member or candidate should know and understand, since they agree to all this stuff when they roll over the contracts every year. If they don’t, it’s a deal breaker as far as I’m concerned, they should not be in office.  The main reason we are currently in financial trouble is ignorance of these terms. 

So don’t let the candidates tell us what the issues are in this election – don’t let them distract you with pictures of bum camps and trash piles.  Tell them, the issue is the UAL, and who is going to pay it. 

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The view from the tinder box – Upper Bidwell Park just waiting for another dry lightening storm – where do you live?

6 Sep

Upper Bidwell Park along Hwy 32:  See the tiny pink tube – somebody was smoking something right on top of shoulder high dead grass surrounded by dead standing trees.

I sent the above picture to Mike Wolcott at the Enterprise Record. I told him it would be a good illustration for the letter I sent him almost a week ago about mismanagement and total neglect of Bidwell Park. He still hasn’t printed my letter – because he’s out of town, again. He  tried to tell me he spends most of his time at the ER but here’s the tell – when he’s gone, his staff print like 4 letters a day, leaving a big backlog, I’m guessing. Then when Wolcott comes back, there’s what I call a letters barf. Given the “out of the office” notice I got, I expect a letters barf on Tuesday or Wednesday of this next week.

In 2017 I sent a similar picture – of a cigarette that had engaged dry grass before, by some miracle, it just burned out – just days before the Stoney Fire mowed through the park, jumped Hwy 32 and threatened a home on the other side, leaving residents all along the canyon on pins and needles.

As they should be, really. Get ready for the next Big One folks, get your to-go bag ready and maybe buy yourself a “bug out” trailer to load your bigger junk. In fact, I’d load it in March, and leave it loaded until the first rains of Autumn, given the state’s neglect of public forests. It’s a regular tinder box out there. Just add an illegal camp fire, an off road vehicle, or, as we witnessed a few weeks ago driving into town, a dry lightening strike, and you have yourself a disaster.

Right now, we’re breathing what I would call “cancer air”.   After failing to thin and maintain healthy forests as in the past, Cal Fire has taken a “wait and see” posture.  Meaning, wait for a wildfire, and then, no matter the consequences for air quality, circle the wagons around any expensive houses and just let the damned thing burn itself out. That’s what’s  going on in the Mendocino fires, they’ve admitted it.

According to inciweb – The August Complex was initially 37 different fires on the Mendocino National Forest that started on August 17, 2020. Many have been contained or have merged. Currently, the complex is 221,284 acres and 18 percent contained. Actual acreage is subject to change as fire activity progresses throughout the day.

Merged? 18 percent contained?

This policy comes from the top – Gavin Newsom. While he blames Global Warming, he has cut the budget for Cal Fire and perpetuated a policy of no forest management. By forest management, I mean cleaning up tree trash, thinning of native species, and removal of non-native species, opening up the forest for the growth of healthy, mature native trees. Drive up Hwy 32 – what do you see beyond the burn scars? A forest crowded with tiny, brushy trees. Private parties have logged their lots but failed to remove tree trash, stumps and brush.

Now drive to Tahoe. See the big trees, the open space in the forest. That’s the result of yearly cleaning and maintenance. Clearing done in summer and burning done in Winter, as it should be.

We need a more consistent forest management policy in California. Years ago a policy change left forest lands the responsibility of counties and towns instead of Cal Fire. See how this has worked out (picture above). The city of Chico will never have the resources to properly manage Bidwell Park. It will continue to be an eyesore and a fire hazard as long as the city controls it. And Upper Bidwell Park is a liability to communities all the way up Hwy 32.

For now, I continue to send pics like this to the newspaper and the city. 

 

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City continues to hold crucial meetings under cover of ConVID: Policing Review Ad-hoc Committee scheduled for Sept. 10, 1pm – get your WebEx ready!

5 Sep

 This whole COVID thing has been so ridiculously inconsistent, I can’t believe anybody with half a brain would take the government seriously. 

While we’re ordered to wear masks and avoid social contact, the college brings in thousands of kids from all over the country and puts them in dirty, old, crowded dorms? But, doesn’t quarantine, allowing them to go to parties and other locations all over town. You see them at Safeway Mangrove in little pods of 5 or 6, pulling their masks down to talk to each other, no social distancing, etc.  You see them walking around town in groups, no masks, no social distancing. And then the college staff and local authorities act surprised when they find an outbreak? And now they just send the kids home? 

Ridiculous.

Every day more cases, gee I’m trembling. You know why there’s more cases? Cause there’s more testing. I believe they need to include the number of tests submitted with each announcement of new cases. People are testing NEGATIVE, but you  don’t hear about that. My son was just forced to have a COVID test (negative) before he could be seen for food poisoning. A friend was forced to have a COVID test (negative) before Enloe would admit him in a case of heat exhaustion. 

And they’re being really secretive about the identities of the dead – since when is a death not public information? Whenever they do release information, as Butte County PIO Lisa Almaguer reports, these people are in assisted living facilities. 

This epidemic has confirmed what I already knew – hospitals and rest homes are filthy and full of neglect, of course you are going to catch something. I wouldn’t leave my elderly relative alone after the experience I had with my grandmother at Enloe Hospital. You want to stay alive? Don’t go to the hospital. And if you find yourself there, get the hell out asap. And if you really love Grandma, take care of her yourself, the county has nurses.

Tom Seaver died the other day – a great name from my childhood, he was Mr. Baseball. When they broke the story on the tv news the other day, the reporter said he died of complications from COVID. I looked online today, and I see conflicting headlines.

This story, from Sept 2, says he died “after battling dementia”, with no mention of COVID

https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/york-mets-legend-tom-seaver-dies-75-battle/story?id=72784148

This story, dated the same day, says he died of COVID in the headline and the first paragraph, but offers no other details about any testing, or how/when they found out Seaver was positive. There is a detailed description of the type of dementia Seaver suffered, “Caused by abnormal protein deposits that build up over time and disrupt normal brain function, the disease is particularly challenging to diagnose because its laundry list of symptoms…”  But no details about his supposed COVID infection?

COVID is testable, you can prove it, but they offer no proof of the allegation that a 75 year old man with a serious underlying health condition “died of COVID“. This is our media – a propaganda machine. 

Furthermore, it just seems completely suspicious that we have a huge election coming up in a couple of months and all the Democratic challenger has in his game bag are accusations about Trump’s handling of the “COVID crisis.” 

But the city of Chico continues to use COVID as an excuse to hold closed meetings. Right now probably the biggest issue on people’s minds (the biggest REAL issue) is Chico PD and how they are handling the mentally ill. There have been so many complaints about excessive force and the lack of de-escalation training that council recently instituted the Policing Review Ad-hoc Committee. I just received a notice about their upcoming Sept. 10 meeting. (They don’t send a link, but you can find the full agenda at the city website)

This committee, created during the COVID shut-down,  is Mayor Ann Schwab, Vice Mayor Alex Brown, Council member Kasey Reynolds, Margaret Swick (Concerned Citizens for Justice), Cory Hunt (Justice for Desmond Phillips), Rob Berry (Chico First), Police Chief Matt Madden,
Sgt. Omar Peña,  Officer Jim Parrott (President Chico Police Officers’ Association, he also ran the pac for CARD measure A).

And here’s how they expect the public to participate:

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: This meeting is being conducted in accordance with Executive Order N-29-20. Members of the public
may virtually attend the meeting using the City’s WebEx platform or by sending an email to the following email address.
To provide email comments, please submit an email with the subject line “PUBLIC COMMENT ITEM”, sent to
policepubliccomments@chicoca.gov during the meeting, prior to the close of public comment on an item. The public is
encouraged not to send more than one email per item and not to comment on numerous items in one email.

WebEx public participants may use the following information to remotely view and participate in the Policing Review Ad Hoc
Committee meeting online:

Event Name: Policing Ad Hoc Committee Meeting 09-10-20 1:00 PM
Date/Time: Thursday, September 10, 2020 1:00 pm
Event URL: https://chico.webex.com/chico/onstage/g.php?MTID=e487f2594765d9f41904515dfed05bd42
Event #: 146 809 6713
Password: Policing9/10
Call-in #: 1-214-459-3653 Call-in Password: 146 809 6713

When I attempted to use WebEx to “attend” a  finance committee meeting I had technical problems that necessitated a call to the clerk and a conversation with a super idiotic IT employee, who kept telling me I’d wasn’t on the right website. Once we established the fact that I was, indeed, on the right website, he had to give me a clearance code to access the meeting (see the “Call-in Password” and have that ready). By the time I was finished with the idiot, the first item had already been discussed and voted on. Thank you, IT idiot.

Rob Berry complained about similar issues with his first use of WebEx – I’ll give you his advice – log in at least a half hour early (I was only 15 minutes early) and stay in touch with the clerk staff at debbie.presson@chicoca.gov or dani.rogers@chicoca.gov 

And I’ll complain here – even after the clerk announced to the committee that I was having real difficulties accessing the meeting, chair Randall Stone went ahead with the meeting anyway. 

So, I will try to watch this meeting – 1 pm on a week day, right in the middle of the average person’s work day. Oh well, that’s what it takes  to be vigilant folks, you have to tell your boss you need an hour and a half off to participate in a city meeting!  I’ll be sure to ask the clerk if this meeting will be taped – they don’t record all the meetings, you have to ask. 

All this talk of “transparency” and “sunshine” – if nobody’s watching, what the hell does it matter? 

 

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City of Chico is management top-heavy, and it shows

31 Aug

Well, I don’t know if the needle giveaway happened at Humboldt Park yesterday. I had a stack of chores yesterday morning, including fix my bike, so I didn’t make it over there to check. I looked at various social media sites today, and there was no mention of it, so I’m  going to guess it just went away. We’ll see.

My bike looks great, and I’m getting the new tires today – all the freaking way from Holland. I guess they love old bikes in Holland. 

I probably won’t ride my bike in Bidwell Park.  What a mess. Tents still line the waterways, along with the requisite trash piles. We’ll see how long it takes council to be good on their word, and whether this new police chief – $20,000/year richer than the old police chief – will clean them out. There’s also a discussion scheduled for tomorrow’s meeting about a “sanctioned campground” at the Silver Dollar. We can’t let them take the fairgrounds, make yourself heard on Chico Engaged.

Yesterday I read Natalie Hansen’s interview with Councilors Brown, Schwab and Huber about social media. Brown is full of shit – I not only email them, I make comments on Chico Engaged. Brown has NEVER responded to even the most polite emails.  I believe she believes any disagreement is “impolite”.  I believe they all look at the sender before they read, and if you’ve criticized them or disagreed with them in past, they just skip your comments. Brown can prove me wrong by reading the Engaged comments out loud. The councilors should have to do that, not the clerk. But Brown has her own agenda, her mind is wrapped up in a Zip-lock bag to keep out any dissenting viewpoints. 

So I write the occasional letter to the editor.

The city of Chico is now being sued by a jogger badly injured in 2017 when a huge tree branch fell on her in Lower Bidwell Park. She was trapped for 30 minutes and had major injuries.

The suit alleges the city does not budget for tree maintenance in Lower Park, which is “traversed by tens of thousands of people every year.” The plaintiff was using an established path, alongside “various recreational amenities, including picnic tables and barbecue pits.” According to the suit, many staffers knew the tree, hanging over South Park Drive, was dangerous, but not only failed to prune or remove it, they didn’t bother to place signs or barricades to keep people away from it.

In 2017 the city budgeted about $45,000 toward “Park Tree Maintenance”.  This year $57,500. For perspective, my family paid $10,000 to have 16 dead trees removed from our property. Bidwell Park has thousands and thousands of trees, many of them dead or dying.

While staff claims to have been cutting positions and costs, the city manager recently hired another management position for Public Works, at $125,000/yr, plus benefits. He created a new management position – Public Information Officer – and is asking council to approve another full time management position – Homeless Coordinator.

Meanwhile staff is “considering” a fire suppression plan after homes were threatened near Annie’s Glen.

Our city is management top-heavy and it shows. The park is horribly neglected.  We need timber cruisers and heavy equipment operators, but we get people who sit in meetings all day.

Juanita Sumner, Chico

 

 

 

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The battle for Chico: NVHRC loses in court, but seems to be winning on the battlefield; meanwhile, condition of Bidwell Park has the city in another lawsuit

29 Aug

Well, I was glad to hear about a victory in the lawsuit against the Northern Valley Harm Reduction Coalition, also known as “the needle exchange people”. Which is a misnomer because they don’t exchange needles, they just hand them out.  These idiots have been handing out needles, every Sunday, to crank and heroin junkies without asking them to bring back their used needles. As any rational adult would expect, these used needles are turning up in places where transient drug addicts congregate and shoot their drugs. It used to be a few needles here and there – but you’ve seen the pictures of NVHRC staff handing people whole boxes of needles. Now you see the results whenever you go to the park, any creek, parking lots, school play grounds, etc.

A group of local public safety advocates went to court and got a judgement against NVHRC, an order to cease and desist the handout, and another order to pick up needles at various known campsites in town. I thought it might send a message through the transient community, that Chico is getting tired of them. I wanted to believe it would be the beginning of a change.

But I tried not to get too excited, cause you know the thing about lawsuits, is you have to enforce the decision. It’s on the plaintiff. That’s why I never threaten to sue anybody, there’s a lot more to suing somebody than most people realize.

One local gadfly wrote last Sunday (8/23), “In a ‘stick it in your eye’ gesture, NVHRC has set up their tents in Humboldt Park right on schedule.”  He included this picture.

Image may contain: outdoor

“If you thought the lawsuit was the end of anything, you are wrong. It is the beginning. Hitch yourself up and get ready to fight for your community, one issue at at time. We WILL reclaim our heritage, our parks and waterways will be clean and safe, and we will fill our city with signs of beauty, not blight and the deplorable human condition of drug addiction. Being addicted is not a crime, but just about everything else associated with drug abuse is.”

But, am I reading this right – they aren’t passing out needles?

According with the lawyer associated with the plaintiffs,  “If they are not handing out needles it is legal. But handing out drug paraphernalia may not be. I would like to see them explain what the legit purpose is for tie offs and cookers…especially when packaged with Naloxone.”

We’ll have to watch and see.

Two meetings in two weeks, Council has got a full agenda for next Tuesday, with continuations of discussions from last Tuesday as well as new items such as two new employees. 

http://chico-ca.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=343

Ironically one item is approval of the Butte Interagency Narcotic Task Force budget. After he gives that report council will approve a $170,000/year salary for the new chief and he will be sworn in. Another item is approval of a NEW management position for Public Works at $125,000/year plus benefits. Here’s another irony – especially if you’ve seen the RV that’s been parked at the CalTRANS Park and Ride for about a week – they are updating the abandoned vehicle code to be consistent with Butte County and the state. Just now?

Something new is that they put those salaries right in the agenda, wow. Another new thing is they name names in suits brought against the city. A woman is suing the city of Chico for negligence, so I looked it up in the court case index. Something new there – the documents are available to read.  So I read it.  This woman lived my nightmare – she was jogging on a trail in Bidwell Park and a huge tree limb broke and fell on her. She had pretty major injuries, and laid under that tree limb for 30 minutes before help arrived. The fire department had to cut her out of that mess. She had various broken bones – leg, scapula, wrist – and this is the part I had to look up – her leg was partially “de-gloved.” Look it up for yourself, but watch out, there’s a picture.  She could have bled to death. 

The suit goes on to describe the setting – the condition of Bidwell Park. I remember taking this up with Mark Orme a few years ago, and all he had to tell me was “be careful when you are in the park.” That’s it? No warning signs, no closed trails, no removal of dangerous branches? There’s not even a sign saying, “you enter Bidwell Park at your own risk”, but that’s the truth. 

The woman made a claim to the city but was summarily denied, so she was forced to sue. 

Welcome to the City of Mismanagement. Who you gonna call? 

Here’s a hint  – don’t call the guy who used to work for PG&E.

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Orme, not council, will choose new police chief

14 Aug

City manager Mark Orme, who denied to me recently that he runs our town, should be announcing his pick  for new Police Chief today. Yes, Orme, a guy who was hired by people long since gone, not elected by the voters, will be choosing our new police chief. As of the Ch 7 news this morning, he was down to three candidates from the six announced earlier this week.

Orme claims he will rely on feedback from a “Community panel” – wouldn’t you think that means interested local folks, Chicoans who care? No, Orme chose his “vast array of this community”, all members of the government. Sheriff Kory Honea, District Attorney “Mark” (hey, Natalie, can you proofread your junk?) Ramsey, “police chiefs from neighboring cities such as Redding and Yuba City, non-sworn Chico Police department employees, and a representative from Chico State Univ Police Dept. were involved.”

In the press release, Orme didn’t name all of them, and here’s a question – how many of them live in Chico? And no introduction to the public? He’s not even naming the candidates. 

I’ll tell you why – back in 2015, Orme was vetting candidates for chief, here’s what I found out about one of the guys he was thinking about hiring:

Did illegal ticket quotas hasten Gesell’s exit?

Charges included an illegal speeding ticket quota, spending taxpayer money on vacations and other priveleges for his family, and lying to this employer about seeking other jobs. He was also under fire for the police shooting of an unarmed man.  When all this became public in Chico, that candidate ended up being abruptly dropped from the process, and was later asked to resign from his position in SLO. 

Here’s what Melissa Daugherty had to say about him:

https://www.newsreview.com/chico/chief-concerns/content?oid=17230361

She added a very important point – Chico is just a jump-off for police chiefs to spike their salary for retirement benefits.

“In all seriousness, it’s going to be interesting following this. One of my main concerns with Gesell is that he’s a career cop who is almost 50, which means he’s nearing that formula where he can retire at 90 percent of his highest salary for the rest of his life. Chico’s last two chiefs cut out at that magic number. What would stop this guy from doing the same?”

Right now I think the public is more interested in this hiring than ever. I don’t remember when the public has been so interested in a public process. But Orme apparently has not engaged any community groups, no Chico First, no Stand Up For Chico, just bureaucrats. 

Orme told little Natalie the Reporter that “having the council interview candidates is another way to engage with the public’s interests. If they were voted into office, not only did I get a community panel, but I have community representative giving me feedback.” 

Do you really feel represented by this council, which is split almost down the middle in coming up with a “policing policy” for this town? Do you feel represented by Mike Ramsey, who has declared every single officer involved shooting in Chico “justified”? Does Kory Honea represent you? 

“All of those perspectives…will help me in my deliberations in choosing the chief.” Orme said. 

“Hiring a police chief is the most important hiring decision the city manager will make,” Mayor Ann Schwab said, saying she was pleased that “a wide perspective of the community” was considered in the interview process. 

Let’s face it – Orme runs our town, council just sits there waving their hankies. This takes all the pressure off council at election time, and Orme isn’t elected, he does not have to answer to the citizens. They protect each other, and to hell with the public.

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AB109 just a revenue source for the county – how’s that working out in your neighborhood?

12 Aug

Well, after that post I made yesterday, including news that Butte County jail is a “COVID hot spot” and my suspicions that they are releasing infected inmates into the community, I found this piece in Cal Matters today:

https://calmatters.org/justice/2020/08/california-prisons-early-release-coronavirus/

“Desperate to control the outbreak at California’s overcrowded prisons, state officials opened the gates to thousands of prisoners like Scull, including many before their scheduled release date. “

The reporter speaks to an ex-inmate from San Quentin – a guy convicted of carjacking and robbery – who ended up in a motel room in LA. So how many of these people are headed for Chico? And since when is carjacking not a violent crime? 

And like I also suspected, the support and supervision system for these releases is thin to non-existent.

“I had friends out there protesting saying, ‘Let them all out.’ I said, ‘You don’t understand. There’s no system outside that can handle this,’” said Judith Tata, executive director of the California Reentry Program, which provides parole and pre-release services to inmates at San Quentin. “We have people who are transient when they’re arrested. They’re mentally ill, have substance abuse issues and we’re releasing them early to no social services.”

Tata said her program got letters from people in prison asking for help connecting with services on the outside, but by the time they could respond, the men were already out.”

This is how Butte County inmate John Conway ended up along a road outside of Downieville, now accused of shooting three people, one of whom died. 

Butte County needs to stop participating in AB109 transfers.  I wrote a letter to the editor about it – let’s see how long it takes Flash Read to print this one. 

A man who’d been released from Butte County jail is suspect in a Sierra County killing.  Arrested three times over 2019-20, charges including battery, criminal threats and auto theft. Butte County court dismissed charges in two cases. In January the court gave the man a “split sentence” – part jail time and part “community supervision,” despite at least two failures to appear for previous court dates.

Just six months later he appeared along a Sierra County road with a gun, accused of shooting several people, one dead.

Several grand juries have found our jail inadequate. Overcrowding leads to releases, including prisoners sent here through AB109. In 2011  256 “transfers” were sent to Butte County from state prisons, almost half of them under “community supervision”.  A 2014 report said 56% were rearrested, many for new offenses, including “a non-trivial increase in the number of failure to appear charges.”

AB109, The Public Safety Realignment Act, “transfers responsibility to local counties for supervising specified offenders released from State prison.” A 2011 report shows Butte County received over $3,000,000 to initiate the program. In 2015, the county received over $40,000,000 to expand the jail, but earlier this year, the sheriff revealed he has not taken any bids, blaming costs up due to the Camp Fire.

County budget reports show the AB109 money goes almost entirely for salaries and benefits – of $3,145,402, only $838,061 went toward “one time costs,” including “facilities remodeling”.

AB109 seems to be nothing more than a revenue source for the county to pay salaries and benefits.  How’s this working out in your neighborhood?

Juanita Sumner, Chico

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Yes, you can fire your city manager

2 Aug

The city of Marysville just fired their city manager on a 3-2 vote of city council. 

http://territorialdispatch.com/articles/2020/0731-Brown-Firing-Improper/index.php?ID=8619

I’m not saying this was a good decision on the part of the Marysville City Council, the point here is, it’s doable. And, they can do it “without cause“.  While I feel there is plenty of “cause” to fire our city manager, it’s not necessary.

Of course there’s the severance package – Brian Nakamura got a full year’s salary to walk away. For Orme that would be a little over $200,000. But I think he’s made one poor recommendation to council after another. He told us the Paradise evacuees were a burden and a year later we found out they gave us a windfall in sales tax receipts. Now he wants a mask mandate – while some say this is a state requirement, others have pointed out that the  governor has no such power, the mask mandate is a recommendation at best. But Orme has recommended using our local cops to cite folks not wearing masks. But no citations for illegal campers or folks handing out needles for them to shoot up in the park? 

Orme has turned our town upside-down. Time for him to go. And, as I’ve said in past, he can take his little toadies Constantin and Dowell with him. 

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