CARD responds! with updates
12 FebHi Juanita,
I just wanted to let you know that based upon your conversation with our General Manager last week, you have already been placed on the notification list for upcoming Aquatic Facility Advisory Committee meetings. At this time, there are no meetings scheduled.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Thank you,
Jennifer Marciales
Executive Assistant
(530) 895-4711
Chico Area Recreation and Park District
545 Vallombrosa Avenue
Chico, CA 95926
Well, that’s funny, I hadn’t given Mr. Haynes my e-mail, I’d told him I’d send it. I sent it that day, in the automatic form they give you on the CARD website, because Mr. Haynes had not given me his e-mail either. It took this gal almost two weeks to get back to me – funny thing, after my letter had run in the paper, and on the very day I’d posted it on the blog. But oh well, at least she responded.
I did have a couple of questions, so sent her the following response:
Thank You,
I didn’t give Mr. Haynes my e-mail, thanks for the follow-up. I’ve been asking to be on this committee notification list since it was formed, and reports have been given of meetings but I never received notices of those meetings. Now you’re saying, despite designs having been made for this proposed center and talk of an assessment on property owners, there are no more meetings scheduled? I’ll be looking forward to notification of any future meetings, but I’ll be watching the board agenda too.
One question I have right now is, I would like to ask you for an exact figure on the designs presented for the aquatic center by Melton Design Group – the newspaper gave a ballpark figure of “$30,000 to $60,000”, but I’m sure you can give me a more specific figure.
I had originally called to ask Mr. Haynes about the assessment process, which he refused to discuss with me. Since that call I have found a copy of the engineers report dated fiscal year 2013-14, in which SCI Consultant Group give a detailed report regarding assessment of property owners. If I have any questions about that I’ll be sure to get back to you.
I’ve cc-d the news editors because I have either spoken to them about this issue or sent letters to the papers about it.
Thanks again for your anticipated cooperation, Juanita Sumner
UPDATE 2/14/15
Did I not make myself clear in my request? “I would like to ask you for an exact figure on the designs presented for the aquatic center by Melton Design Group – the newspaper gave a ballpark figure of ‘$30,000 to $60,000’, but I’m sure you can give me a more specific figure…”
She sent me the actual design proposals, with price tags, but did not answer my question about the cost of the proposal. I had to write back to her. I try to be nice, but sometimes I feel like these people are just messing with me.
UPDATE 2/18/15
Well, sometimes people aren’t messing with me! Although it took her several business days to respond, Jennifer Marciales finally got back to explain to me the figures I had seen in an article in the Enterprise Record. The $30-60,000 figure I saw was an estimate for the full designs, not the price for the proposals. She says the proposals were simply submitted by Melton Design Group, with prices tags for each proposal ranging from $30 – 60,000. I’m sorry, that makes sense now, but it didn’t make sense when the folks at CARD were acting so weird about sharing public information.
Thanks Jennifer!
There is a CARD meeting tomorrow night, with some interesting items on the agenda:
http://www.chicorec.com/documents/Board%20Agendas/2015/February%2019%202015%20Agenda.pdf
You find these agendas at the CARD website, under “CARD resources”, “board of directors”. I will not be able to attend tomorrow night, I have another meeting that is a one-shot, so I’m attending that. These CARD meetings are easy to attend, held at the CARD center on Vallombrosa, they start and end very promptly, I’d say, over by 8:30, tops. Everybody who pays taxes in the greater Chico area should attend these meetings once in a while.
Almost two weeks and no response to my request to be added to CARD aquatic center committee notification list
10 Feb
Contact CARD
Thanks for your submission.
| Contact CARD |
| Name * | juanita sumner |
|---|---|
| Email * | my e-mail |
| Comments or Questions * |
I would like to be included on the notice list for the Aquatic Center Advisory Ad-hoc committee. Please contact me at the e-mail address listed above.
|
The public needs to press CARD about how they plan to fund the proposed aquatic center
8 FebI was so shocked by the response I got from CARD General Manager Jerry Haynes when I called to ask about the assessment process, I wrote a letter to the Enterprise Record. I’m glad they ran it, but I’m wondering if anything will come of it. I had filled out a website contact form, asking to be added to the Aquatic Center Advisory Ad-hoc Committee notice list, but haven’t had any response. I’m not surprised, actually – when I’ve made other requests via that website contact form, it’s taken weeks for a staffer to get back to me. I’m guessing nobody checks it very often.
I wish other people would call CARD, or attend a CARD board meetings sometime, and ask about this committee. Here’s the link:
http://www.chicorec.com/CARD-Resources/Board-of-Directors/index.html
Here’s my letter sent to the ER, run a couple of days ago:
On December 18, ER reporter Laura Urseny wrote, “A proposed aquatic center is part of CARD’s (Chico Area Recreation District’s) master plan and has been discussed for more than a year.”
“A CARD subcommittee of board members and the public hoped to trigger large contributions from the community, but it looks like CARD will have to take the issue to the voters for a tax measure to pay for the facility.”
“General Manager Jerry Haynes suggested and the board agreed to bring in consultants to talk to the board about ways to proceed financially with a center’s development.”
I called the CARD center recently to find out more about this proposed tax measure. A man identifying himself as General Manager Jerry Haynes denied any mention of any assessment or tax in any news article. He further denied that the CARD board had any such plans, or had even discussed it.
When I asked him if I could be placed on the notice list for the Aquatic Center Advisory Ad-hoc committee mentioned in the January 21 board agenda, he first denied the existence of such a committee and said there were no such meetings planned. He finally admitted that new board member Bob Malowney had been named to this committee, but still denied there were any meetings planned.
I am simply trying to learn more about the process by which CARD will “take the issue to the voters.”
San Jose Mercury News: Fix CPUC NOW!
4 FebRead this story at
The links below work – click on “MORE: PG&E, OTHER PUBLIC UTILITIES” and get more up-to-date stories regarding the San Bruno investigation and other utility news.
Mercury News editorial: PUC may require Legislature’s intervention
The California Public Utilities Commission has not come clean on the extent of its improper relationship with PG&E. Not even close.
So should former PUC President Michael Peevey, who is under investigation by the attorney general’s office — but we’ve given up expecting him to do the right thing. Same for Gov. Jerry Brown, who continues to defend Peevey despite his unethical conduct.
Florio admits to inappropriate conduct but maintains that “any objective review of my voting record at this commission will demonstrate that I have shown no partiality to PG&E or any other regulated utility.” Not really. What did he do to influence what showed up on agendas for a public vote?
In January, new PUC President Michael Picker said he wanted the agency to be more transparent, accessible and responsive to the public. Even though he hasn’t been president for long, releasing his own email interactions with all California utilities would demonstrate the type of leadership that’s been lacking for a decade.
Evidence of improper and unethical conduct continues to ooze out of the PUC, email by email, like seepage from a cracked pipeline. Let’s not wait for an explosion. Fix the agency now. If members can’t prove themselves worthy of public trust, clean house. If the PUC itself or the governor won’t do it, the Legislature needs to step in.
Houston, we got a problem…
1 FebThese campaign dollars are petty amounts. But now, the perception of patronage is real. Now donors are winners. Now the door has been opened for future councilors to follow this dubious example.
The issue at stake is about principles, and principles are not petty.
— Dave Kelley, Chico
Why is CARD being so secretive about the aquatics center?
29 JanToday I called CARD, and simply asked, what is the process for putting an assessment on property taxes. The woman who answered the phone handed me over to new CARD director Jerry Haynes. Haynes replaces Steve Visconti.
Haynes immediately asked me where I’d heard about an assessment. Well, I’d been going to meetings the last couple of years, I told him, and they’d been talking about it in the Enterprise Record.
Haynes doesn’t waste time – he got right in my face, telling me there was no such mention in any newspaper article. This guy is very aggressive.
So, I asked him about a consultant that had been discussed – he said the consultant was to help them update their general plan (see in the ER story below, he says the consultant will tell them how to proceed with financing the aquatic center).
Then I told him, I’d seen an item on last week’s agenda about appointing board members to the various committees – the first listed was the Aquatic Center Advisory Ad-hoc Committee. First he denied the existence of this committee, then he denied that they had been having or planned to have any meetings in future. I repeated my questions about the agenda item to him at least three times before he interrupted me, blurting out “Bob Malowney!”
This is why I don’t make phone calls, but I get nowhere with CARD via e-mail. Steve Visconti told me again and again he’d put me on the notifications list, but later he also denied there were any meetings, even when there were reports of such meetings listed in the agendas. This whole thing is surreal.
Haynes got really agitated at this point. I told him I was also frustrated, it is so hard to get information about this aquatic center, but whenever I write letters to the paper about it I am accused of passing misinformation, even lying. I told him, “but you see here how hard it is for me to get the right information…” He started raising his voice, he said, “Please listen to me!” but his tone didn’t say “please,” it said, “look you little so-and-so!”. I responded that I’d e-mail him. As I was saying Thank You, he flat hung up.
If you don’t believe me, call CARD yourself and ask about the Aquatic Center Advisory Ad-hoc Committee. Be nice! Record your conversation, I wish I had.
UPDATE: Here’s an excerpt from a story the ER ran in December, full story here – look at the headline in the link. When I quoted this story to Jerry Haynes he denied everything in it:
A proposed aquatic center is part of CARD’s master plan and has been discussed for more than a year. For this meeting, several plans with different attributes were going to be discussed, with costs ranging from $10.8 million to $18 million.
A CARD subcommittee of board members and the public hoped to trigger large contributions from the community, but it looks like CARD will have to take the issue to the voters for a tax measure to pay for the facility.
The board happily accepted an offer from members of the subcommittee, including a swim association, to pay for a feasibility study on the center.
General Manager Jerry Haynes suggested and the board agreed to bring in consultants to talk to the board about ways to proceed financially with a center’s development. As far as mounting a successful public education campaign, that should be up to the swim group and its supporters, the board agreed.
In a phone call yesterday, CARD director Jerry Haynes denied everything in that article. Maybe Laura Urseny needs to check her notes.
Campaign reports: Chico citizens for responsible government – what do Mark Sorensen, Andrew Coolidge, and Reanette Fillmer have to hide?
28 Janhttp://www.chico.ca.us/city_clerk/campaign_disclosure_files/currentyearcds.asp
The only person listed behind this is an Elk Grove lawyer. Only a few big-money donors. This is what you people elected! Enjoy!
CARD still moving toward assessment for Aquajets swimming center
28 JanI’m sorry I have not been following the latest activities of Chico Area Recreation District – CARD. This morning I’m noticing – Laura Urseny didn’t cover the last meeting either. I see I will have to get out that poker again.
The CARD board announced their intention to put out an assessment ballot. Last week they assigned board members to committees – including an aquatic center “ad-hoc” committtee – meaning, they don’t have to announce those meetings to the public, or keep particularly good notes.
One thing I will do today is call the CARD office and ask them point blank about the assessment – how will it be done?
I notice, Ed Seagle is out, replaced by Bob Malowney, owner of the yo-yo store Downtown. Seagle, unfortunately, was the only board member who seemed to have any sense of propriety on the aquatics center, being very honest about lack of support in the community, the cost of such a venture, and the sad fact that “these things never pay for themselves.” Malowney is pro-aquatic center, I think that’s why he ran.
When my kid’s hockey league took off, they had to get sponsors. As the long-time owner of a successful local business, I’d like to see Bob Malowney take out his check book and fund the studies that are now being funded by CARD, but he has made no such offer. Jan Sneed, another aquatics supporter, is not poor either – she could easily afford to write a check for $10,000 or more. So could a lot of the proponents of this center, but they keep their purse shut, expecting us to foot the bill for their kids in Aquajets.
For that matter, why isn’t Aquajets doing more to fund this proposal? When I attended the early meetings, it was all Aquajets parents and grandparents, the Aquajets manager (who gets a paycheck), and some folks from the school district (the proposed pool will be on CUSD property, the existing pools are owned by CUSD but are supposed to be maintained by CARD). There is no support for this pool from the general community, but the Aquajets people are just standing there with their palms up. They don’t even have anything about it on their website. When writing about this, Laura Urseny coquettishly refers to them as “a local swim organization.”
Meanwhile, Pleasant Valley and Shapiro pools have been neglected into the ground for years, while the money has gone into pensions and benefits for which CARD employees pay NOTHING. Only about 33 management employees get those fully-paid pensions and benefits – last year the board voted unanimously to cut the rest of the work force – the folks who actually provide the public with services – to 28 hours or less to avoid paying for Obamacare. They had to cut programs as a result, the rec supervisor saying they’d cut 200 kids from one popular program, and were left with two part-time employees to supervise the other 300 kids.
I’ll get back to you on the assessment procedure.
Ain’t no sunshine!
25 JanBelow is the original proposal from the Chico Police Officers bargaining unit to the city of Chico. This was posted on an agenda, because of our “sunshine” ordinance, but was later removed, I was told by a city councilor, at the request of the CPOA. Apparently, the public didn’t react too well to their demands – I had posted the link here – and the cops didn’t like the criticism. They removed the proposal below and put up a new diatribe with “explanations.” If Michael Jones had not saved this particular document, we wouldn’t have it.
I also have the city’s counter proposal, but I’m having a devil of a time cut-and-pasting it. The proposal below also included a cost analysis chart which I posted in a blob at the bottom – some of the figures wouldn’t even cut, make whatever you can out of it. The total cost of this proposal over three years, estimated by the CPOA, is more than $5 million. There are no savings.
I have not had time to compare this to the new proposal they buried as an attachment to an old agenda on the city website but I’ll try to get to that again. I also have the city’s counter proposal. I’ll try to get those posted soon.
This is not my job. This is the city manager’s and the assistant city manager’s job. Those guys get paid about $200,000/year each, plus benefits and pension. They don’t want the public to know this stuff. Pay attention. Constantin has already remarked that he wants a sales tax increase for public safety, the gauntlet is down. He also said he doesn’t think the cops are overpaid. Look over this proposal and tell me what you think.
Chico POA Proposal – September 24, 2014
The following is a proposal for a successor MOU to the one expiring 12/31114 between the Chico Police Officers’ Association and the City of Chico. This proposal is intended to begin the bargaining process and introduce several ideas that the POA believes can create a better environment within the City of Chico Police Department, specifically the Departments ability to retain and recruit police officers.
When possible, the current MOU provision that would be affected is listed. Wording is NOT final and will be edited to reflect any changes prior to submission to the City in formal bargaining.
1. Three year term ofMOU: 111115-12/31/17. 1.3A
2. Salary. 5% increase effective 1/1/15, 1/1116 and 1/1/17. 5.1 and Exhibit B
3. Longevity. Add four new longevity step increases of 4% at the following length of time of employment with the city: 10 years, 15 years, 20 years and 25 years. New Article 5.12 “Longevity Pay”
4. Pay Step Addition and Adjustment. 5.1C a. Add a Step H at 5% salary increase. b. Add a “training pay” step equivalent to $18 per hour.
5. Cash out Holiday Time Banlc Reinstate policy of allowing employees to cash out unused holiday time bank hours each year. 6.2
6. Vacation Cash Out. Allow employees to accrue vacation above the maximum caps and to cash out any unused vacation accrued above the caps at the end of each calendar year. 6.5
7. Holiday Hours. City shall provide ten hours of Holiday Time Bank pay for holidays. 6.1A
8. OT Pay for Holidays. City shall pay employees overtime rate for working holidays. 5.2 and 6.1
9. FICA and Dental to be paid by City. 6.3 J+tvY\ ~ z, Qv£A;1vuf C{(tf8t u: ~ a. City shall pay the 1.45% of FICA that has been paid by employees since 1/1111. 6.8G
b. City shall pay the entire employee portion of the dental insurance (or allow the employee to opt out of coverage).6.3 and Exhibit C.
10. Call Back Pay. Increase the call back minimum pay to four (4) hours. (3 currently). 5.5
11. Shift Differential. 5.9 a. Increase swing and graveyard shift differential pay by 5%. b. Shift differential to be calculated into base pay for overtime pay rate calculations.
12. Adopt and/or publicize the ability to put OT earnings directly into deferred compensation. 6.6E
CPOA Initial Proposal Estimated Costs/Savings Initial Proposal – 9/ 24/ 14 2) 5% Increase 3) Longevity 4a.) Additional “H” Step 4b.) “Training Pay” Step 5) HTB Payout 9a.) City Pick-Up of FICA 9b.) City Pick up of Dental 6) Vacation Cash Out 7) 10 Hours Holiday Time Bank 8) OT Pay for Holidays 10) 4 Hours vs 3 hours Call-Back 11) Shift Differential 1/1/15 – 12/31/15 1/1/16 – 12/31/16 1/1/17- 12/31/17 Total $ 447,360 $ 922,968 $ 1,438,726 $ 2,809,054 $ 222,622 $ 286,354 $ 364,010 $ 872,986 $ 328,847 $ 369,216 $ 385,040 $ 1,083,103 $65,637 for full-time FTE vs. hourly employees currently paid outside of CPOA From $200,000- $300,000 per year plus taxes/benefits $ 89,454 $ 90,136 $ 91,174 $ 52,954 $ 52,954 $ 52,954 Unknown- will take research to see who is at cap for the year Currently a “Use it or Lose it” Benefit Currently Coded as Straight-time- more research needed Need to look at individual timecards for analysis Need to look at individual timecards for analysis
Chico Taxpayers Association 