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What are the issues leading up to November?

7 Feb

The top three searches this week, in order of popularity,  were

  • “torres shelter executive director brad montgomery salary”
  • “joe matz recology”
  • “water rate increase”

I was relieved to read that Chico city council gave the Torres Shelter the back of their hand last Tuesday, offering them the $277 collected by way of those new red-topped meters Downtown. That is a perfect solution for both the Torres and for naysayers who appropriately pointed out that the city shouldn’t collect money without specifying exactly what it will be used for.  It also tells us, point blank, what the community really thinks of the shelters – those meters have been available since August, and they’ve only collected $277? (compared to about $35,000 raised over roughly the same period by the non-charity News and Review). That’s a pretty clear message if you ask me – “Go Away.”

 A letter in this morning’s paper suggests that the Jesus Center and Torres should merge.  Good point. I had always thought there was a board of directors that ran the various homeless agencies in town, but no. They all have their own boards of directors, staff, etc. The Jesus Center has 12 paid employees, the Torres boasts anywhere from 8 to 16 – wow, that’s a lot of people being paid to serve the same hundred or so people a night. Maybe merger would be the best answer.  

I hope the search for Joe Matz, Recology, was out of curiosity over the trash deal the city is working out with the haulers. I had just inquired about the deal, and again Chico city manager Mark Orme assures me he has nothing to report. I’ll speculate here – they are fighting like, well, junk yard dogs, over this deal. The trash companies were given 5 years “notice”, so in that time  they can drag their feet, saying they are doing cost studies, etc. The city is asking for too much, and the haulers know the public will buckle under the rates  they will have to charge to cover all these services – street sweeping? Hazardous trash  pick-up? I told  Orme the public needs to be let into this discussion but as usual he will not respond to that request. I don’t know if he’s just stupid or doesn’t care what the public thinks, but county admin officer Paul Hahn already warned him what would happen when the deal rolls out – “phones ringing off the hook for two weeks…” 

 Of course people are pissed about water rate increases when we have been told that Chico came within half a percentage of meeting it’s water saving goals while other districts around the state are not even coming close. Farmers in So Cal are growing strawberries with water transfers while we are being told to rip out our lawns. Of course, doing their part to spread propaganda, the Enterprise Record sent Heather the Hack over to Cal Water’s open house to act as their mouthpiece. She’s a lawn feeder, that girl. No, she did not ask Pete Bonacich how much he gets in salary or why he doesn’t pay anything toward his benefits. 

I didn’t see any searches about the swimming pool tax, the school bond, or the sales tax increase, but as November draws near, I think the conversation is going to get pretty hot. 

Cal Water comes on strong with propaganda blitz in Visalia

29 Dec

I was not surprised that as soon as I found out about the city of Visalia’s plans to look into ownership of their own water system, I also found Cal Water has mounted a mis-information campaign.

Yesterday I posted Visalia Mayor Steve Nelsen’s letter to the Visalia Times Delta, explaining why the city is thinking about buying out Cal Water. Actually, I wouldn’t even call it “thinking about buying out” – how much would any of us know about that? Call a realtor? What?

The city is making a very legitimate effort not only to learn the facts but to get the public involved in the discussion. Of course, Cal Water intends to put their foot in the middle of the facts and grind the conversation out like an old cigarette butt. Independent Thought Alarm!

The first volley is underhanded and sneaky. Letters to the newspaper, not from Cal Water employees, but from employees of a popularly unknown company that serves Cal Water and other utilities by manufacturing and installing the infrastructure by which these utilities “serve” us.

You’ve seen that episode of “Twilight Zone” and you’ve seen the parody on “The Simpsons”. You know what Cal Water means when they say they “serve” people.

After Mayor Nelsen’s letter appeared in late November, these two letters turned up December 11.

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/opinion/2015/12/11/visalia-electeds-favor-water-takeover-lose-vote/77118758/

There’s no doubt in my mind that California’s tax-and-spend policies have burdened the middle class and driven business from our state. That’s one reason I chose to make Visalia my home; affordability when it comes to cost of living, and for the most part, responsibility when it comes to decisions made by our elected officials.

Unfortunately, recent actions by our local government could be construed as anything but responsible. Their move to start a takeover of our water system from Cal Water is not only reckless, but has also been done under the table and without public input. This is a mistake and it’s incredibly disappointing.

I will be opposing the water takeover and supporting Cal Water. I will also be thinking very carefully about how I vote when our elected officials are up on the ballot; any councilmember who supports this won’t be getting my check next to their name.

Dylan Byer

Visalia

Wow, Mr. Byer, what a load of manure you’ve shoveled out here. You didn’t come to Visalia for the affordable cost of living, you came as an employee of Western Utilities Transformer Services. Glassdoor reports the average salary at WUTS in the mid $70,000 range, which is more than one and a half times the median income in Visalia. WUTS works for Cal Water and other utility companies, so it’s in their best interests to take public opposition out of the CPUC process. 

Please note that Mr. Byer does not offer any real information regarding this issue, but misinformation. He says this conversation has been had “under the table,” even though the mayor has written a letter to the newspaper about what’s going on a couple of weeks previous.

Here below is a letter from a woman whose husband is employed by WUTS. She threatens that just having a conversation and moving forward with a study is going to “indebt us for years to come.” 

Her grammar alone is enough to send anybody away screaming. How do you talk to people like this, with the childish threats? “water takeover”?

Ratepayers and taxpayers beware: The City of Visalia is about to make a grave mistake and we’ll be the ones who pay for it.

If City Council moves forward and conducts the study to take over our water system from Cal Water, it will indebt us for years to come.

In order to avoid poor service, higher rates and new taxes, join me and stand against the water takeover!

Rachel Telfer

Visalia

Published a couple of weeks later was the following letter, supposedly signed by 57 Cal Water employees, including Utility Workers union shop steward Juan Cisneros:

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/opinion/2015/12/24/city-playing-political-games-lives/77838706/ 

Why is the city playing political games with our lives?

Juan Cisneros12:02 a.m. PST December 24, 2015

Imagine for a moment that one morning there is a knock at your door. When you open the door, the people standing there tell you that they are from the IRS and that they are going to come in to determine how much your house and belongings are worth just in case they decide to seize them from you, but that you really don’t have anything to worry about.

http://ow.ly/d/492T

Of course, their assurance that you don’t need to worry would fall on deaf ears, not only because it obviously isn’t true, but also because you probably wouldn’t have heard much after “we’re from the IRS.”This hypothetical scenario became all too real for the 61 local employees of Cal Water, which has been Visalia’s local water utility since 1926. On Nov. 5, Visalia’s City Attorney sent a cold, emotionless letter to Cal Water notifying it that the city was going to conduct an appraisal of Cal Water’s property and business in Visalia ahead of possibly trying to seize them through eminent domain. City staff told Cal Water that it really doesn’t have anything to worry about.

Does City Council not realize that Cal Water is as much a part of the Visalia community as anything else in our city?A few weeks later, Mayor Nelsen asked in these pages whether Visalia needs Cal Water, and laid out his case for taking over the water system. Worse, he accused each and every employee at Cal Water of being unconcerned about Visalia’s residents and the well-being of the community.

Does Mayor Nelsen not realize that we are residents of Visalia? That we shop at local businesses? That many of us grew up here? That our children go to school here? That we work tirelessly every single day to make sure that everyone in Visalia has safe, reliable and high quality water service?

And just a few days ago, the city issued a press release saying they were going to delay consideration of trying to put Cal Water out of business. The press release made it clear, though, that the city was still going to complete the appraisal of Cal Water’s property and business in Visalia. And Mayor Nelsen all but said that the city hasn’t taken the option of a government takeover off of the table, just that they are going to wait a little while before making a decision. Perhaps the city was just trying to tell us, again, that we really don’t have anything to worry about.

Do City Council and Mayor Nelsen not realize that they are playing political games with our jobs, families, and lives?

Just as you would be rightfully worried if the IRS showed up at your house one morning, we are worried that the City Council is trying to put Cal Water out of business and, in the process, steal our jobs and livelihoods.

We serve this community because it is what we love to do, and ensuring you and your family have safe, reliable water service is what we are here for. We’d normally never ask for anything extra in return. This Christmas, though, would you indulge us with one small gift: Please let City Council know that there are no circumstances under which you will support a government takeover of the water system and that it should stop playing political games with our lives.

We truly appreciate your support! From our families to yours, Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Juan Cisneros, a Cal Water employee since 2006 and secretary/shop steward of the Local 205 of the Utility Workers of America, signed this letter along with 56 other local Cal Water employees.

So now we have the official hysteria campaign from Cal Water. The hyperbole is going to get so thick, you will need a gas mask. 

 

 

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The squeaky wheels still gets the grease – state regulators propose an end to The Moonbeam’s draconian water conservation policy

22 Dec

I found the story below on the Fox News website, picked up from Associated Press. A smaller, back page version ran in the Enterprise Record this morning. 

“The state’s overall water conservation target could drop to about 22 percent if all of the 411 eligible water agencies apply for adjustments, he said, adding that the moves come in response to some community leaders who complained that strict conservation targets assigned to individual communities are unfair.”

So what? you say, a drop from 25 to 22 percent. I don’t see that – I see a big old foot in the door. Mine, and yours, city council’s foot, Butte County Board of Supes foot, and other foots from all over the state. We got our foots in the door, and we’re pushing that door, and we ain’t quittin’ any time soon, Bruddah!

Chico cut water usage by about 43 percent right off the bat. But Cal Water set up unrealistic “budgets” – by end of summer, big trees all over town were dying. We kept watering our big trees, having seen our neighbor kill three large, 20 year old redwoods. Those redwoods stood dead next to my house for the entire summer – if they had caught fire, our house would have been a goner. The neighbor finally had them removed, it was sad to watch, and it cost him a pretty penny. 

One day I realized, the honeysuckle hedge that runs about 50 feet down our shared fence was dying because the new neighbor had turned off the drip line the previous owner had set up from his well. It wasn’t even Cal Water, but this neighbor was all on board with the restrictions and killed his yard pretty dead anyway. I realized, I wasn’t just losing a hedge, I was gaining a serious fire hazard, one that would cost money to remove just like the neighbor’s redwoods. I started watering it, regardless of Cal Water’s restrictions – I barely managed to save it. I kept my trees watered – mostly native oaks, but also the evergreens that have protected my house for 50 or 60 years. I was fined about $70 one month, our bill was over $100. 

We are not San Diego, who has no ground water but must depend on transfers from areas like ours, and steal ocean water. When will San Diego learn to live within their means? Southern California and the Bay Area – both with sketchy water supplies, dependent on transfers – flaunted the water restrictions, going over “budget” the entire time. Here in Chico, we were punished with onerous rates and fines even after we’d cut usage by 43 percent.

Fuck you Cal Water, my foot is in the door now, someday it is going to be in your rectum.

From Fox News:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/12/21/california-regulators-propose-relaxing-water-conservation.html

FRESNO, Calif. –  California regulators on Monday proposed relaxing water conservation targets that have required communities statewide to cut use by 25 percent during historic drought.

Communities in hot inland regions and those using new sources, such as recycled water and recently built desalination plants, could be eligible for reduced conservation requirements, said Max Gomberg, climate and conservation manager for the State Water Resources Control Board.

The state’s overall water conservation target could drop to about 22 percent if all of the 411 eligible water agencies apply for adjustments, he said, adding that the moves come in response to some community leaders who complained that strict conservation targets assigned to individual communities are unfair.

“For right now, drought conditions are persisting,” he said. “We’re proposing modest changes.”

California is in its driest four-year span on record, and officials anticipate a possible fifth year of drought. Weather forecasters say a strong El Nino weather system could drench the state, but one good year won’t be enough to rehydrate the parched landscape.

Gov. Jerry Brown earlier this year required communities throughout the state to reduce water use by 25 percent. State water regulators set individual targets for local agencies to meet, varying between 4 and 36 percent compared with 2013, but those targets will expire in February.

Brown recently extended his executive order, giving regulators authority to enforce conservation measures through October 2016, if California still faces drought in January.

Local community leaders have criticized the individual targets as unfair and unrealistic. In Southern California, local governments argued state officials should acknowledge huge investments in new supplies to prepare for drought.

This year, the San Diego region completed a $1 billion seawater desalination plant, the largest in the Americas. Orange County recently expanded wastewater recycling to produce 100 million gallons of drinking water daily.

“It has been difficult to tell our ratepayers that their investments in local supply projects have not resulted in providing the buffer against drought as intended,” Halla Razak, the city of San Diego’s public utilities director, wrote state regulators this month.

Some environmental groups oppose giving local governments credit for new supplies, saying it might discourage conservation.

The state water board will take public comment on the proposed changes for roughly two weeks. Gomberg said the state water board could hold a public hearing Feb. 2.

Newsbits: CARD hosts public aquatic center meeting tonight; Council votes to apply for “Intervenor” status in Cal Water rate case

16 Dec

I am staying home this week, because I’m tired of having this dam-ned cold. I’m going to beat it, but that means house arrest with a heating pad and the ginormous size bottle of generic aspirin.

I won’t be able to attend the public meeting CARD has scheduled tonight, but I did get some news from Director Ann Willmann.

Dear Juanita, 

There were 29  people that signed in at the first public workshop. The reports provided by the consultants are the notes from the meeting. There is a sheet included with comments from attendees. There were only a few comments as most of them came through the interactive process that was reported through the documents provided. There will be a final report to the board of directors in early 2016 that will include the information gathered through these workshops. 

 In regards to the upcoming meeting notice, there is a notice on our home page of our website with a large picture. Additional advertising took place via a PSA to other news agencies, an email newsletter to our current customers as well as an email to past attendees. Our goal is to have public participation in the process and I appreciate your feedback regarding available documents. In the near future back up documents will be posted on our website as part of future agenda packets. I have requested the addition of the Shapiro Pool info to the feasibility page.

 Thank you, Ann

I believe the reports she’s talking about have been loaded on the website, I have not had time to check.

I didn’t make it to last night’s council meeting, but watched online. The item regarding the Cal Water rate increase came up after 9:30, and went so fast I wasn’t sure what I heard. I listened to it again today, and I think they voted to apply for “Intervenor” status. This whole thing is worse than trigonometry class – you’re afraid to ask a question because it might just get more confusing.

It sounded at first like council attorney Vince Ewing was recommending “Party” status, saying there was really no difference between “Party” and “Intervenor,” that they are used “interchangeably” in the rules. Then he seems to shift, recommending “Intervenor” status. That’s what Sorensen must have heard too, cause that was the motion I heard – “Intervenor” status. That passed  unanimously.

Merry Christmas Council, I was afraid you were going to load my stocking full of horse puckey again this year.

Ewing also recommended the city file for legal/attorney fees to be paid by the CPUC. See, I told you this guy was way more qualified than me to be doing this kind of work. He is a bright young man with oodles of expensive schooling and he looks really sharp in that suit.

And now, I will leave you for my Max Fleischer cartoons and a cup of hot lemonade.

Council, CARD board up to no good – Lie Cheat and Steal!

14 Dec

Tomorrow night Chico city council will discuss applying for “Intervenor” status in the Cal Water rate increase application filed last July (CPUC rate case A.15-07-015). I’ve already let them know how I feel, time for you all to do same. 

You can reach them via the clerk, debbie.presson@chicoca.gov

You probably read, the city is under fire in a few directions. According to a study, our employees are among the highest paid in the state. Our desk clerk’s salary compares with cop salaries in the Bay Area, which is an item of concern to more people than just me. If I were a cop in Oakland, and I knew some ditzy bitch who sat on her ass in an office all day was making more in salary than I got paid in total compensation, that would piss me off.

Not to say, cops don’t get paid plenty nice. This whole salary thing is completely WHACKED.

Council is denying Jessica Allen’s claims that they violated the Brown Act, which I think stems mostly from behind doors contract talks. Allen complains the agendas aren’t clear, and she’s right. I get so tired of asking these self-satisfying $taffers to explain stuff – the explanation is usually even more confusing. Like the time Chris Constantin came to one of my Sunday CTA meetings at the library, brought the wife and everything. I thought it was cute the way they got into their rag bag trying to dress down for the common folks. Constantin was very uncomfortable. He was trying to tell me that they needed to wave the two-week sunshine period for the new police contract, saying they needed to get that signed asap to start saving all this money! It was a total load of bullshit, the police budget is bigger than ever now. Of course you might not be able to check on that, because they don’t save the old budgets or contracts on the website. Good luck finding those anywhere. 

We are dealing with liars and cheats,  who steal. Reminds me of the great days of WWE!  I miss Eddie Gurerrero.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lPA050q-GY

Lie Cheat and Steal! Like CPOA!

Tomorrow they will be putting the screw to landlords and tenants when they pass two ordinances that throw out landlord rights and curtail renters’ rights. They will be tweaking the Disorderly Events and Noise ordinances to cut the notice time for property owners. Meaning, by the time you get your mailed notice – and that’s if the county has your correct mailing address on their tax rolls – your tenants could have had a second “event” and you will be summarily charged with any “costs” the police and fire departments decide to rack up in trashing your house. 

You don’t think that happens to good landlords and tenants? How about the time my tenant had less than a dozen friends over to watch a sporting event on tv. When they went back to their cars out on the street at about 11 pm, talking and joshing I’d imagine, the neighbors called the police. Chico PD came over and broke it up, then told the neighbors it was a “gang bang.” Yeah, my tenant was Mexican, and I imagine so were some of his friends. The cops told him his friends couldn’t mill around on the street like that. Well, okay, they’d said. And the following weekend he invited them back over to watch  tv again – you should have seen this tv, it was HUGE. When you put out the bucks for a tv like that, you want to be able to invite your friends.

My asshole neighbor, Pat Brown, who had better have his left on the ready if he ever shows his face to me again, called the cops a second  time. At this time, a week later, neither Mr. Asshole Brown, who had our phone number, nor the cops had bothered to notify us of the first incident. The party was broken up again – again, a bunch of guys yakking at their cars on a public street at 10:30 or 11 pm. This time we got an angry phone call at 7am that next day, from Asshole Brown. He was so loud at the other end of the phone I could hear him in the next room. Then he backed down, he actually apologized, cause you know, he’s the kind of neighbor who acts in anger, because he’s an asshole,  and then wakes up the next day grovelling for forgiveness. 

Maybe he realized, if we went asshole on him, he would be at the asshole end of a lawsuit. So would Chico PD, they already have enough claims of racism against them. 

My husband tells me, don’t worry about this ordinance, we have so restricted our tenants’  in our leases – in fact, today I’m writing up a new addendum. According to this new party ordinance, a “gathering” is 20 or more people. I will have to add a legal addendum restricting my tenants from having gatherings of more than 15 people. Hey, if the cops can do it, I  can do it and will.

Right now I got an Avon Lady. Wow, you know those Avon parties can get swinging out of control.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RcXH4nq2PY

This is an attack on renters’ rights, but I’m with my husband – let the renters come out and fight it for a change. Old Juanita has other irons on the fire right now. 

Wednesday (Dec 16 7pm) brings another public meeting at the CARD center to discuss plans for the aquatic center. CARD director Ann Willmann tells me they will not be including any discussion of Shapiro Pool or the cost estimates to fix it, which are not posted anywhere on their website either. I’ve had it with Willmann, she needs to goooooo. 

Aquatic center proponent Jan Sneed was re-elected to the CARD board with 9,000 votes.  If every one of those voters wrote a check for $1,000, we’d have almost enough money to build the least expensive design that’s been discussed so far. Those estimates go up to $28 million, but wow, wouldn’t $9 million be a start? 

 Willmann has a son on Aquajets, maybe she should open her purse. She could easily spare some money out of her $120,000/year salary, especially since she pays nothing toward her benefits or pension. CARD currently sits under a pension deficit of more than $1.2 million. None of their management pay anything toward their pensions, but expect to receive 70 percent of their salary in retirement. 

And they bitch about the street people with their hands out! 

Hold your purse strings tight, there are scum bags on every corner here.

 

 

 

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City of Chico and County of Butte have applied for “party” status in Cal Water rate increase case – doesn’t “being a party” to something imply you helped pull it off?

9 Dec

I finally got around to writing a letter about the city and the county filing for “Party” status in the Cal Water rate hike. I don’t want to be mean, but you probably feel same – when somebody is a “party” to something, that usually means they helped pull it off. If Chico city council and Butte board of supervisors want any respect out of me (especially after that juvenile remark Doug Teeter made about the protests of his raising his own salary), they need to get off the pot and fight this rate increase.

Here’s what Kern County supervisors were up to while Butte County supes were mulling over their own pay raises:

https://chicotaxpayers.com/2015/09/23/kern-county-supervisors-vote-to-formally-oppose-cal-water-rate-hike-what-are-our-local-elected-officials-doing-about-it/

I post my letters to the editor here in hopes some of you will do same:

Cal Water has applied for another rate increase, as well as consolidation of Chico District with Oroville, Willows and Marysville (CPUC Rate Case A.15-07-015). This consolidation means Chicoans will pay for long-needed repairs in those other districts because the CPUC determined that previous rate hikes proposed for those districts were too onerous. 

These rate hikes are really related to Cal Water’s pension liability, which they will not discuss without a court order.  Cal Water management employees receive “defined benefits” plans for which they pay nothing out of salaries exceeding $100,000/year. 

Both the city of Chico and county of Butte have applied for “Party” status in this proceeding.  “Party” means, they will receive e-mail updates on this case. “Intervenor” status means a formal protest. 

When I looked into applying for Intervenor status, I found this is an onerous process that requires legal counseling.  You have to write your application in legal format, and the smallest error will send it to the round file.  They even expect you to appear at hearings in San Francisco, at your own expense. 

 I’m not a lawyer and don’t have money for the expense related to this process. City and county staff are qualified and more than adequately compensated for this kind of work. 

If you think your water bills are already high, wait til this rate increase kicks in. Write to your city council and board of supervisors now and ask them to stand up to this rip-off.

If the city is sincere in helping us fight this Cal Water rate hike (A.15-07-015) , they need to apply for “Intervenor” status

7 Dec

I didn’t watch the last council meeting on tv, but the newspaper mentioned they’d voted to apply for “party” status on the Cal Water Rate increase case (Rate Case A.15-07-015). That’s really not much effort on their part, I’m very disappointed. A “party” can very well be supporting the rate increase. In order to formally protest, you have to get “Intervenor” status. The news story said they might be considering that, but it was pretty lackluster. We need to put a shine on their behinds with some letters/e-mails, get on that will you People.

It’s like watching your child learn to walk. You don’t want to praise or criticize too freely, but it’s hard not to be impatient with these people who expect to get the kind of salaries they get.

http://publicpay.ca.gov/Reports/Cities/City.aspx?fiscalyear=2013&entityid=79

Would you look at those salaries and comp packages – Mark Orme gets an $82,000 package, in addition to his $225,000/year salary? How can a person who takes that kind of compensation be sincere in helping us out of our financial problems? Mark Orme doesn’t care about our water bill. 

But, according to the $taff report for last week’s meeting, he does care about this bill

 

DSC08174

 

 

 

 

 

This is a summary of the city's Cal Water charges for July 2014 - yeah, that's $29,000 for a month of Cal Water.

This is a summary of the city’s Cal Water charges for July 2014 – yeah, that’s $29,080 and some odd cents for a month of Cal Water. The total check was almost $35,000.

This bill is what I'd call a "pant loader".

This bill is what I’d call a “pant loader”.  There’s Chris Constantin, spending our money.

How does the city use so much water?

 

Each address where the city uses water has separate billing. Here's a $440 bill for irrigating medians out at Cal Park. For one month!

Each address where the city uses water has separate billing. Here’s a $440 bill for irrigating medians out at Cal Park. For one month!

 

Here's the bill for the lawns along one side of Lower Bidwell Park.

Here’s the bill for the lawns along one side of Lower Bidwell Park.

 

DSC08186

Here's the bill for irrigating the medians at Forrest and Springfield. A few months earlier I had called in to report those sprinklers were running all over Forrest Avenue and $taff acted like they didn't even know they had sprinklers on Springfield Drive.

Here are two bills for irrigating the medians near Forrest Ave and  Springfield Drive. A few months earlier I had called in to report those sprinklers were running all over Forrest Avenue and $taff acted like they didn’t even know they had sprinklers there.

 

Hutchinson Greenway?

Hutchinson Greenway?

 

Here's the water bill for all those showers at the Taj Majal fire station on Manzanita. One year the gas bill from showers at the cop shop put the police overbudget.

Here’s the water bill for all those showers at the Taj Majal fire station on Manzanita. I once listened to ex-finance manager Jennifer Hennessy report that the gas bill from showers at the cop shop put the police over budget. 

 

Wait a minute - here's the other half of that bill - over $1200/month to shower a bunch of guys who might put out a fire once a week?

Wait a minute – here’s the other half of that bill – over $1200/month to shower a bunch of guys who might put out a fire once a week?

 

I have other bills for this period. Last year I asked to view the city’s PG&E and Cal Water bills for this period, and took pictures with my little digi-cam. They would have charged me per page to have copies – don’t go for that, they include stuff you don’t need, blank pages, and charge you for it. This digi-cam was one of the best investments I’ve ever made. 

These bills are for 2014, when we already knew we were in a drought and Cal Water was making dire warnings of rate increases, water rationing, punitive fines, etc.  I’ve seen the city waste water on landscaping for years – look at the beds at City hall on a dry day, you will see water run-off. I saw stains from water run-off all around the flower beds when I went to a meeting last week. I’ve turned off my sprinklers over a month ago, the city is still running sprinklers on their flower beds, what, every day? 

To see this kind of waste on the part of our city leaders  when Cal Water is threatening and fining homeowners for watering a postage stamp lawn is very discouraging.

I would like to go down and get the bills for the same period this past July/August, but I don’t know when I will have time. I’ll try to do it soon, before they throw them out. They’re throwing stuff out hand-over-fist down there these days, nothing like a paper trail to get you in the rear end later.

 

 

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Cal Water being generous with ratepayers’ money

29 Nov

From today’s Enterprise Record:

Water provider brings blessings to families

On behalf of the families who are living and changing their lives at our Esplanade House Program, the Community Action Agency would like to express its appreciation to California Water Service for its generous donation of $3,000. Because of their commitment to community, our families get the opportunity to receive holiday food baskets.

Many of our families have been separated from their extended families during the holiday season. The joy brought by simply providing a holiday meal is immense. Our families are amazing as they work to overcome poverty, addiction and mental health issues while increasing their self- sufficiency and bonding with their children.

Thanks again to Cal Water for blessing our families over the holidays.

— Thomas Tenorio, Chico

Tom Tenorio is with Esplanade House. As much as I feel we need Esplanade House, I have not liked the management for a long time. I think they squander money on salaries that could get more families in, but that’s difficult to assess since they don’t post their salaries and they get very defensive when you ask.

I’ve seen Tenorio at meetings. At the Local Governments Committee meeting he made a little speech that didn’t say anything, just made the meeting longer, about what a great community we live in.

Does he have any idea what he’s talking about? Does he realize, that $3,000 came out of our bills? Does he pay his own water bill? Does he have any idea what the Esplanade House pays for water?  Does he think for 30 seconds what water rates are doing to families right now? The utility companies are impoverishing whole communities to pay pensions for people who make salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Having met Tenorio on various occasions, I’d say, he’s carrying a bowl of jello between his ears.  He’s another one of those snout-nosed trough dwellers who gets a salary for “caring” about the poor, but doesn’t have any concern for the people who pay for all this generosity until they end up on the street. 

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City of Chico discusses filing for ‘Party’ status in Cal Water rate increase case; let’s encourage them to go all the way and file for ‘Intervenor’ status

25 Nov

The agenda for next week’s city council meeting (Dec. 1) includes a proposal for the city to file for “Party Status” in the rate increase case filed by Cal Water last July.  Here is an excerpt from the report:

California Water Service Company (Application No. 15-07-015) California Water Service Company (“Cal Water”) filed an application with the California Public Utilities Commission to increase rates and consolidate the Chico district into a proposed “Northern Region.” This memorandum seeks City Council authority to become a party in the pending application.

Cal Water provides water service to the City and its residents. Cal Water is requesting water rate increases for years 2017, 2018 and 2019. The proposed increases are 19.1%, 1.6%, and 2.8% respectively.

The proposed rate increases would impose a significant burden on the City, as a customer of Cal Water. The rate increases would also impose an undue hardship on City residents. As a Cal Water customer and on behalf of its residents residing in the Chico district, the City has an interest in minimizing the proposed rate increases.

In addition, Cal Water is seeking to consolidate its Chico, Oroville, Marysville and Willows districts as the proposed “Northern Region.” The proposed consolidation affects City and its residents because the City is one of the districts to be consolidated. If consolidation is granted, Cal Water requests rate increases of 20.3%, 1.7% and 2.4% for years 2017,2018 and 2019 respectively, for the combined Chico and Oroville districts within the Northern Region. lf consolidation is granted, the City, as well as Oroville residents, will shoulder an even higher burden than that which is requested in Cal Water’s general rate increase.

Although Butte County has joined as a party, the City’s specific interests are not adequately represented. The City’s participation will be relevant and beneficial to the proceeding.

CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATION It is recommended the City Council direct staff to file a Motion of City of Chico to Become a Party

“Party Status,” unfortunately, just means the city, along with the county, are on the notice list of events in the eventual raising of our rates. In order to make a formal protest, they must file as “Intervenors,” but I can’t seem to convince them of that.

Please write to council and the supervisors and ask them to take that further step. Be nice – you get more flies with honey than vinegar. 

Chico City council can be reached by way of the clerk’s website – 

http://www.chico.ca.us/city_council/home_page.asp

Third District Supervisor Maureen Kirk was the first one to respond to my request, she went through a really onerous and ridiculous filing system to get on the Party List right away. Then she asked the board to do so.  She even went to a Chico city council meeting and sat there waiting through a long agenda to make a case for the city to do something.  I sat at home in my snuggies that night, yelling “Go Maureen! Yeeeee-haw!” into my computer screen.  

The CPUC rep that contacted Supervisor Kirk even admitted it would be good to have a lawyer’s assistance in filing the paperwork. I don’t even know if an individual can file for Intervenor status, that’s really a job for the entire board of supervisors. 

Reach them here: 

http://www.buttecounty.net/boardofsupervisors/Home.aspx

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Getting ready to finish my letter to the CPUC – have you written yours yet?

11 Oct

I’ve been working on my protest letter to the CPUC. I always start by gathering information, below is my notes mess.  I think I’ve got enough peanut butter and jelly, time to mash it all into a sandwich.

I was talking to an old friend, a guy who’s owned a popular business in town for years, and who bought an old apartment house for his home.  Sure he’s got a water bill. But he had no idea, expressed real shock – Cal Water pays dividends to their investors. In fact, their shares became so valuable back in about 2011 that they did what is known as a “stock split” – they divided their shares all in half, not only because they wanted to have more shares to sell, and therefore raise the price through demand, but because the individual share price was “ either too high or are beyond the price levels of similar companies in their sector.”  See below.

I was just looking over the list of Cal Water salaries – their “low” salaries are over $70,000/year. And, so far as I can tell – go ahead and chime in if I am wrong Jenny – Cal Water employees pay little or nothing toward their pensions or benefits. 

So, if Cal Water really needs money for infrastructure improvement, as they say, I would say it’s in the best interest of the investors and the employees if they both come together to find the money between themselves before they turn on the ratepayers again. They are about to kill their Golden Goose. Cities all over the state are talking about eminent domaining their water companies, including Marysville.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=483886418437712&id=176321489194208

I’ll be working the notes below into a letter to the CPUC when I can  get to it. I’ll post it here when it’s done.

  • public advisor’s office
  • name and contact info, 
  • proceeding info,
  • grounds for protest
  • effect of application on protestants – higher rates for water lead to degradation landscaping, lowering of property values, onerous costs for removal of dead trees,  and higher energy bills
  1. despite lowering our consumption, our bills have doubled, even tripled. 
  2. degradation of landscaping and property values
  3. degradation of rental value 
  4. dying trees cause a safety hazard and will cost thousands of dollars to remove safely
  5. loss of protection from sun means higher energy bills for ourselves and our tenants
  • reasons why application may not be justified – employee costs and investor dividends are too high to justify increasing rates
  1. Employee costs.  Notice from 2013:  “Based on water usage patterns in your area that have decreased significantly since Cal Water’s last filing, if the CPUC approves Cal Water’s proposed application, rates would increase the typical residential customer’s monthly bill by $9.37, or 29.4%, in 2014; followed by additional increases of $1.76, or 4.3% in 2015; and $1.83, or 4.3%, in 2016. Most costs of operating the water system are fixed, regardless of the level of usage. With lower water usage in your area, rates then have to be increased to cover the fixed costs.”“Cal Water is proposing this change in rates due to  the following factors:
    • Cal Water is requesting $556,000 to retain the same level of employee health care, pensions, and retiree health care benefits for General Office personnel, the costs of which have increased faster than inflation.
    • Cal Water is requesting $423,000 to retain for district personnel the same level of employee benefits described above
    • Cal Water is requesting $415,000 for the allocation of General Office operation expenses
    • Cal Water is requesting $395,000 to retain quality employees in the district
    • Cal Water is requesting $163,000 for water infrastructure improvements between 2013 and 2016

    “Approval of the proposed rates would allow Cal Water to continue to maintain the system of water supply sources, pipes , tanks, fire hydrants, and equipment needed to provide safe and reliable water service.”

  2. salaries – http://www.salarylist.com/company/California-Water-Service-Salary.htm

California Water Service Salary

California Water Service average salary is $90,849, median salary is $88,004 with a salary range from $77,340 to $115,848.
California Water Service salaries are collected from government agencies and companies. Each salary is associated with a real job position. California Water Service salary statistics is not exclusive and is for reference only. They are presented “as is” and updated regularly.
3.    Dividends paid to investors. 

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