Staff robbed the airport fund to pay their pensions, and now Redding will get increased commercial service because they put money into their airport

16 Aug

Why is Mark Orme surprised that Skywest has cut service to Chico? Is he new around here or something?

I’ve attended the Airport Commission meetings on and off for a few years now. Their agendas read like a broken record – get commercial air service! And, there has always been an underlying fear that Skywest would bail out on us completely.  From my own and experiences I’ve heard about, it’s no loss. Skywest was awful, leaving people stranded in Frisco with no refund.

Jim, how about that story you told me about the fueling problem on your Skywest flight? That is a great story about how Chico airport is run – or not.

Orme reveals that the city’s plan to save the airport over the last year has been to encourage people to use Skywest. That’s the plan? These people are bigger idiots than I could ever imagine.

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine who is a tenant and plane owner at Chico airport told me the real problem – the runway at Chico airport is not long enough for the new jets they’re bringing in. The tarmac needs to be lengthened. Redding did such a project a couple of years ago, and I think it cost less than a million dollars. Now they announce on Ch 7, as Chico loses Skywest, Redding airport will be getting more flights. That’s because they lengthened their tarmac to meet modern needs. Chico instead pilfered the airport fund, which Orme reminds us, has been in the red for some time, to pay their CalPERS payments.

Chico Airport has suffered from a lack of management for over 10 years. I can’t remember when the airport had a full-time manager. The fund has been in the red for several years.  Now, they suddenly find funding to hire a manager? I’m just going to guess – this guy is a friend of Orme’s or Constantin’s.

Orme says it’s time to get over the loss of commercial air service. I agree. I think it’s long past time they started better serving their tenants and pilots who pay fees to park and fly out of our airport. Last year, according to staff, they lost 130 planes. 130 yearly parking fees.  I don’t know the dollar amount on that, but they were bumming about it. 

These people who are banging for commercial air service in Chico better get their heads out of their asses and think – they really think a commercial air liner is going to land on our pot-holed old tarmac, short, I don’t know, what, 100 feet? That’s a lot when you’re landing a jet people. And then there’s the fueling station – I’ll let Jim tell you about that.

Ride the Tiger?

15 Aug

The first question I would have for Reanette Fillmer is what’s a  CALPELRA Labor Relations Master (CLRM) ?

 

PEOPLE

RETURN TO PEOPLE INDEX

Reanette Fillmer

Consultant

t: 530.520.5775
f: 415.678.3838
rfillmer@publiclawgroup.com

Experience

Ms. Fillmer is a human resources consultant with the firm and has over 25 years of experience in public and private sector employee relations and human resources. Ms. Fillmer works with our public sector clients on a variety of human resources and personnel issues including: integrated disability management (FMLA/CFRA/PDL/ADA/FEHA), employee and labor relations, arbitrations and mediations, organization management, strategic planning, terminations, policies and procedures review, and recruitment. Her years of experience in both the public and private sector make her a valuable addition to the firm’s consulting team.

Related Experience

As a Human Resources Director with the County of Tehama, Ms. Fillmer oversaw all aspects of labor and employee relations including bargaining, mediation, arbitrations and PERB hearings, EEOC claims, contract interpretations, settlement agreements, and disciplinary issues. She also provided advice to all County departments regarding regulations and policies related to the Civil Rights Act, EEOC claims, ADA and FEHA considerations, workers compensation, recruiting standards, staffing and employee issues and investigations of complaints. Prior to taking a position with Tehama County, Ms. Fillmer served as the Human Resources Manager and Payroll Manager for the Sacramento Superior Court.

Community Activities

  • Member of CPAAC
  • Member SHRM
  • Member of Tehama County Employer Advisory Board
  • Past member of Board of Directors for CSAC EIA
  • Served on CSAC EIA Primary Workers Comp Committee
  • Served on Legislative Committee and the Benefits Committee

Certifications

  • Professional in Human Resources (PHR)
  • CALPELRA Labor Relations Master (CLRM)

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The “homeless problem” is not going to get any better – $1 million grant eaten by management salaries, county having trouble recruiting for the lower paid, “hands on” positions

10 Aug

I sent a note to District 3 supervisor Maureen Kirk, asking about the results of the $1 million grant the county received to beef up Behavioral Health services. I reminded her – Chico PD has complained that there are no staff to take care of people “who are a danger to themselves or others,” the police are in the habit of handing them over to nurses at Enloe Emergency Room. This is not only a problem for Enloe staff and other patients in the ER, it’s a financial problem for the hospital, who does not receive  any reimbursement for these “patients.”   Another problem is, once the police leave, hospital staff is not able to force them to stay, and they oftentimes just leave as soon as the cops are out the door. Problem not solved.

I wrote a rambling note to Supervisor Kirk, complaining that “sit and lie” and “clean and safe” have only driven transients out of the Downtown area and into the rest of town, especially the Vallombrosa and Mangrove corridors. She responded that she knew this was a problem.  She described the city’s strategy as “whack a mole.”  She’s right – they’ve whacked them underground, and they’ve popped up at the CARD center, and Rite Aid parking lot, and the post office annex, etc. That’s just my neighborhood, I can’t say what’s going on around town,  but I’ve also noticed the usual concentration out at East and Esplanade, near the new Raleys, is growing. They had a stabbing in the East Ave Raley’s parking lot a week or two ago, and one morning I witnessed a little hobo fight in the parking lot, where they congregate to turn in their recyclables.  At that time, it just looked comical, now I realize, those dirty old fuckers are packing – they pretty much have to if they don’t want to get stabbed and robbed by another one of their buddies. I told a city committee about similar incidents when I was a college student in Sacramento, and some of them actually made fun of me, acting as though I was making it all up. 

Kirk forwarded my inquiry to staff, and got this answer: 

We are moving along with program implementation in the ERs – Enloe included. We have many of the staff hired (though not all the staff – we are finding some challenges recruiting for the evening shift staff) – and will hopefully be interviewing a new group of candidates next week or the week after. Our IT departments are working together and are almost finished with setting up the secure internet connections in the ERs. Finally, we have completed site visits for Medi-Cal certification and are just waiting for State/Federal response. Our Crisis Manager is working with Enloe to begin setting up training for staff. I am hoping that program start-up (at least at Enloe) will begin in early to mid September. We are also working to get triage personnel in the shelters during this same time frame.
>
> In the meantime, we continue to provide the mobile crisis services at the ER as we always have.

Yeah, I’ll bet they’re having “challenges recruiting for the evening shift staff”! Who wants to do a job like that for $30 – 35,000 a year? Are we talking about people with any training? Well, they likely had to go to college and work long internships to get that training. They’re older people by now, maybe have kids? But they’re expected to do a  job like that, at night, for a salary that won’t even pay the rent. much less car expenses. And what about child care – who has a child care center open all night? Don’t say “the spouse,” a lot of people are single parents these days. On a salary like that, they’d have to be on food stamps to make ends meet.

I’d also like to respond to the comment the staffer made at the end. I won’t call her a liar, but the cops said there is no “mobile crisis service,” and that’s precisely the problem. The cops bring in these lunatics covered in their own excrement, and there they sit in Enloe ER, oftentimes until they become able to motor themselves out the door. Nobody picks them up after 5 or on weekends, that’s the precise problem, but the staffer denies it.  Denial is a major part of this problem.

I asked Maureen Kirk if she actually expected a $30-35,000 employee to deal physically with these people when the $100,000+ psychiatrist they hired won’t even be coming into the same room with them, but she hasn’t got back to me. Kirk makes about $58,000 salary as supervisor and also enjoys health and pension benefits, although I don’t know how much of  that she pays.   I asked her if she would take a night position at Enloe to deal with mentally disturbed street people for a lousy $30-35,000/year.  Maybe she’ll come over to the blog and talk to us about this problem. 

The short of it is, we still have a major problem here,  and it’s not getting any better.

 

 

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Is crime on the rise in Chico, or is police response at an all-time low?

3 Aug

I don’t know if there is actually more crime in Chico, or more problem reporting crime and getting the cops to do something about it. I do know, I see more “homeless” people around town than ever before, and I hear more complaining and anecdotes from people about petty thefts, vandalism, and generally unpleasant behavior. 

This problem is NOT confined to the little section of the city known as “Downtown,” but city council only discusses the problem within those boundaries.  “Sit and Lie” only applies to Downtown, for example.  

So I turned to my county supervisor,  Maureen Kirk. I wrote her a nagging e-mail about how the Mangrove Plaza/Vallombrosa Post Office area is becoming a magnet for panhandlers and drunks. They take positions right outside Safeway, oftentimes between the shopping cart bay and the front doors, with dogs, with all their stuff. They will actually walk out in front of supermarket customers to ask for money. They camp pretty unabashedly around the post office annex, tearing bricks out of the retaining wall  where they sleep at night and leave their belongings/garbage during the day. 

I’m waiting for Maureen to come back to me with an update regarding a roughly million dollar grant Butte County Behavioral Health received this year to beef up services for the mentally ill, including transients picked up by Chico PD. At meetings I’ve attended, the police have complained that Behavioral Health was underfunded, and after 5pm and on weekends, the police had nowhere to take folks who seemed to be a “danger to themselves or to the public,” except the ER at Enloe.

Imagine yourself in there at 1am with a screaming child, and there’s a guy laying on the gurney in the next slot, covered with his own poop and muttering obscenities. Or not muttering at all, looking pretty dead. A person who is believed to be “a danger to himself or to the public…”  They’ve used our hospital ER, which charges roughly $7,000/hour, as a drunk tank.

I knew Behavioral Health was understaffed – I’d looked at the salaries, and seen – the director seemed to be a revolving door position, often empty. The salary was only about $58,000/year, while other management were making in excess of $75,000/year salary. “Staff” consisted of interns making less than $10,000/year, with no benefits. These folks came and went, and I can’t believe that kind of staffing is conducive to anybody’s mental health.

When the grant came up on the agenda, it looked as though they were hiring a couple of senior doctors, both compensated at well over $100,000/year including salary and benefits. One of these doctors will only be available via computer link. The rest of the hirees – it looked like, the folks who actually have to deal with the day-to-day problems of the clients, were to be compensated less than $50,000, total salary and benefits. 

I don’t like the salary scheme, but at least the department is getting staffed. I dropped Maureen a note  asking, does this mean the center will be open 24-7 for Chico PD to drop off transients and other patients? She said she’d check on this and get back to me. I’ll be interested in hearing what she finds out, thanks Maureen. 

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San Bruno mayor asks for removal of CPU Commissioner Peevey for inappropriate relations with PG&E in probe of PG&E blast

29 Jul

A Marysville Water Warrior  friend of mine sent this  – no link, just an attachment. I hate that, but this is important news, that you will NOT see in the Enterprise Wretched, so I’m running it here. It’s from the San Francisco Chronicle.   Maybe you remember – Peevey was the guy I was asking you to write letters to.  You might also remember the post I made regarding the make-up of the CPUC – they’re all ex-employees of the utility companies. Read it for yourself:

 

San Bruno mayor calls for top official’s removal from blast probe

Jaxon Van Derbeken

Updated 3:56 pm, Monday, July 28, 2014

*

A Chief of Staff of California Public Utilities Commission president Michael Peevey (photo removed, sorry) advised a PG&E executive on ways to deflect a request to disclose public information. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle | Buy this photo (07-28) 14:44 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — The California Public Utilities Commission’s president should be removed as head of the regulatory agency in light of San Bruno explosion-related e-mails that show state officials are “subject to undue influence” by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the city’s mayor said Monday. Mayor Jim Ruane said the e-mails, including an exchange in which commission President Michael Peevey’s chief of staff advised a PG&E executive on ways to deflect a request to

disclose public information – and the executive replied, “Love you” – showed that state oversight of the utility “is corrupted.”

The utilities commission “has lost its ability to carry out its mandated function as a watchdog for the public,” Ruane said.

While the commission’s reaction was muted, PG&E said it was looking into whether the executives who wrote the e-mails had acted in an “ethical manner.” And the head of PG&E’s parent company apologized that a utility official wrote in an e-mail that he had “no respect left” for a state senator who represents the neighborhood where eight people were killed and 38 homes destroyed when a natural gas pipeline exploded in San Bruno in September 2010.

Large fine looms

Ruane called on Peevey to be removed both as commission president and as head of regulatory proceedings into whether PG&E should be fined more than $2 billion for safety violations related to the explosion.

The mayor made his comments outside the commission’s San Francisco office, in a press conference that officials called after obtaining the e-mails in a lawsuit settlement with the utilities commission. In one e-mail exchange last year, Carol Brown – Peevey’s chief of staff – suggested to PG&E official Laura Doll that the company fight a public-information request related to a safety seminar that the commission was planning to hold. Brown said PG&E could send a “sweet note” deflecting the request and then “wait for them to throw a fit.” Alternatively, PG&E could answer “any simple question” but refuse to answer others, Brown said.

Doll replied in an e-mail, “Love you.”

In another e-mail, Doll invited Brown to “get together or just have a phone call to talk about Mike’s (Peevey’s) potential remarks at the safety symposium.”

PR tip

Another e-mail exchange showed that Peevey himself critiqued PG&E’s public relations strategy when it was indicted on federal criminal charges in connection with the San Bruno case earlier this year. Peevey told a PG&E executive that the company’s handling of the news was “inept.”

San Bruno officials said Peevey’s critique was improper, given his role as arbiter of the still-unresolved regulatory case against PG&E. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, joined Ruane in calling for Peevey’s removal from the case.

“He obviously has a bias,” Speier said in a statement. “If Mike Peevey wants to be a consultant to PG&E, then he should resign.”

Peevey, a former president of Southern California Edison Inc., will complete his second six-year term on the commission at the end of 2014. He was originally appointed by former Gov. Gray Davis and was reappointed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Gov. Jerry Brown has the power to replace Peevey as president. Brown is on an official visit to Mexico, and his office did not respond to a request for comment.

Complaint against PG&E

In addition to calling for Peevey’s removal as commission president, San Bruno officials filed a complaint with the state agency against PG&E for “knowingly and intentionally attempting to illegally influence the outcome” of cases related to the 2010 disaster.

The city also asked for the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the utilities commission and PG&E, “so the public can once and for all be confident that the actions of this public agency will no longer be subject to undue influence by PG&E.”

The utilities commission said in a statement that it “takes seriously all allegations of bias and rule violations and will evaluate the motions when filed by the city of San Bruno.” PG&E President Chris Johns sent a letter to San Bruno officials and the utilities commission saying the company is “absolutely committed to conducting ourselves in an ethical manner at all times. I want to assure you that we will review the e-mails involved in this matter to ensure that this high standard was upheld. If it was not, we will take appropriate action.” Karen Paull, chief counsel of the utilities commission’s watchdog arm, the Officer of Ratepayer Advocates, said there are strict rules against informal talks between state officials and utility executives during enforcement proceedings such as the San Bruno case.

“If you allow back-channel communications, like we have seen in the e-mails, you cannot have a fair process,” Paull said.

Apology to Hill

The head of the utility’s parent company, PG&E Corp., issued an apology Monday to state Sen. Jerry Hill for comments a PG&E executive made about him in a January 2012 e-mail to a utilities commission official. The executive, Brian Cherry, PG&E’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said in the e-mail that “I have no respect left” for Hill, D-San Mateo, who has frequently criticized the company and the utilities commission since the San Bruno disaster. PG&E Corp. CEO Tony Earley told Hill in a letter that Cherry’s comments “do not in any way reflect the company’s point of view and are unprofessional.”

“While we may disagree at times, I have always appreciated your passion and even-handed approach on many policy issues affecting the communities we are all fortunate to serve,” Earley wrote.

Hill said he appreciated the spirit of the letter.

“I think Tony Earley means well and wants to make changes,” Hill said. “But it’s difficult because of the size of the bureaucracy and the long-standing historical culture that needs to change.”

Jaxon Van Derbeken is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com Twitter @jvanderbeken

Good news for Marysville – CPUC judge recommends lower rate hike for them, but still no word for Chico

26 Jul

It really makes me frustrated that the local media isn’t covering the Cal Water rate increase. Here’s a story from the Marysville Appeal Democrat, regarding the Marysville rate case, which is separate from the Chico rate case. I have no news on the Chico rate case. When I asked David Little if he could find out more information on this rate increase he responded, “I don’t know if we’re doing anything on Cal Water?” [sic]  

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/puc-to-consider-cal-water-rate-hike/article_4406288a-12f1-11e4-9d88-001a4bcf6878.html

PUC to consider Cal Water rate hike

Posted: Thursday, July 24, 2014 12:08 am

By Eric Vodden/evodden@appealdemocrat.com

 
An administrative law judge issued a proposed decision this week that keeps intact a California Water Service Co. three-year rate increase in Marysville.Judge Robert Mason’s decision reflects a settlement agreement between Cal Water and the state Office of Ratepayer Advocates calling for a 10.16 percent rate hike this year.

 The 93-plus page decision also follows settlement agreement recommendations of inflationary rate increases in Marysville of from 1 percent to 5 percent in 2015 and 2016.

The decision, which addresses proposed rate hikes in water systems operated by Cal Water throughout the state, must still be considered by the state Public Utilities Commission. The commission will take up the proposed increase on Aug. 14.

Cal Water spokesman Justin Skarb said if the PUC adopts the agreement, new water utility rates will become effective a few days later. The company has said it needs the increase to keep up with increased costs and state-mandated capital improvements.

Under the proposed decision, a typical residential customer in Marysville using about 9,724 gallons of water per month will have charges totaling about $43.65, up from $39.36.

The increase, stemming from a company’s 2012 application, was initially expected to be completed in time to be imposed last Jan. 1. Since it wasn’t, customers will see a surcharge on their bills to reflect the “under-collection of revenue” since Jan. 1, Skarb said.

“To lessen the impact on customers, the surcharge will be spread out over a period of 12 months, and is likely to be less than 25 cents per unit of water used by customers,” Skarb said in a statement. “Those figures could change, however, if the commission does not adopt the proposed decision, or otherwise modifies it.”

The settlement agreement between Cal Water and the state Office of Ratepayer Advocates last November effectively ended a public campaign in Marysville by residents opposed to the hike. Yuba County supervisors, the Marysville Joint Unified School District and the Marysville City Council also opposed the increase.

The 10.16 percent increase for 2014 is below the 14.1 percent increase recommended by the Office of Ratepayer Advocates. It was believed the increase would fall somewhere between the 34.8 percent Cal Water was asking and what Ratepayer Advocates was recommending.

The increase also includes funds needed for the $2 million relocation of water mains along portions of Highways 20 and 70 to accommodate Caltrans’ ongoing roadway project.

CONTACT Eric Vodden at 749-4769.

I think Marysville got a good decision because they made a very loud protest, as did Oroville. They were actually named on the documents as a “party,” and they got regular updates on the case from the CPUC. I don’t even know how to register myself as a “party.” When I tried to talk to the folks in Sacramento, they told me that if I wanted to be taken seriously and be heard at all by the commissioners (or even their receptionists),  I’d have to drive to San Francisco to attend meetings, pay out of my own pocket to stay overnight because the meetings went on over days, sometimes over the weekend. Otherwise I could just sit home and wait for the rate increase notice, retroactive to January 2014, in my bill.  I had no posse behind me, no group willing to make phone calls, spend hours searching and networking for information, attend meetings or help to write or sign letters. 

Chico has been pretty limp-wristed here. There was a big hoo-rah in the beginning, back in March 2013, when a packed room of pissed off jerks greeted the CPUC representative who monitored the hearing. Oh yeah, you guys gave little Darwin a real pants-ful. And then you folded up and went home and hung your testicles on the wall next to your Mickey Mouse badge and cap gun.

Just lately I’ve seen a letter about WRAM – well, how do you do? Let’s get together and write a formal, group letter to the CPUC before they make their final decision. I’m willing to book the library room to work on something, let me know if you’re interested. 

If we don’t make some kind of noise, we might actually get the 38 percent increase Cal Water proposed to begin with. Cal Water rep Justin Skarb acts as though Cal Water is being shorted here, that we’re just getting oodles of free water. We have to tell the CPUC about the notice we got – read here – about $1.5 million just for salaries, pensions, and benefits, and another $395,000 for “quality employees“, whatever the hell that means:

“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

 

Remember, this is a proposal, the CPUC still needs to make a decision. 

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Furthermore…

24 Jul

I couldn’t have timed my letter to the Chico Enterprise Record better – Stephanie Taber wrote a complementary letter to the News and Review, printed today.

Re “Who you gonna call?” (Letters, by Jane Martin, July 17):

Chico taxpayers provide police officers with a generous salary package including overtime starting after eight minutes, 10 minutes of paid time to put on and take off “protective clothing,” compensated call-back time, court time (even if canceled), and telephone standby time (three-hour minimum).

“On-call” is compensated at $100/week or compensatory time off. Salary compensation also includes: 5 percent differential if working out of class, alternative assignments earn a basic pay increase between 5 percent and 10 percent and a 5 percent bonus for a bilingual assignment. There is also additional compensation for POST certification: 2.5 percent (intermediate officer) or 5 percent (advanced officer).

CPOA’s basic compensation package includes worker’s compensation and long-term disability. There is medical, vision and dental coverage with minimal employee compensation. The life insurance policy provides full salary coverage. There is a $50/month payment for membership in a qualified health and fitness program with no requirement to show attendance. There is also a uniform allowance of $900/year.

Police officers also serve because of tradition and honor, but they get paid handsomely for it.

Stephanie L. Taber
Chico

 

I remember the letter to which Stephanie is responding – I remember getting a big laugh out of it:

Who you gonna call?

Re “Take note, union president” (Letters, by Stephanie L. Taber, July 10):

Once again Larry Wahl has his paid staff person, Stephanie Taber (a political appointee with handsome benefits we subsidize), write a letter attacking law enforcement.

Yes, our military troops and police officers are public employees. And I have no doubt that they complain about their level of pay, too, for the service they render. They serve because of tradition and honor and love of country. But military personnel injured on base in the U.S. or in a war zone are provided services and compensation, possibly for life. All first responders in harm’s way should be guaranteed basic services now and in the future!

It is interesting that Ms. Taber does not mention that she and Mr. Wahl are both local public employees with nice salaries. When citizens suffer serious car accidents or have their homes broken into, they call 911 for help from law enforcement. We don’t call Larry Wahl or Stephanie Taber. So what do these two do to earn their fat paychecks and benefits? Do they put their lives on the line?

What hypocrites—always attacking law enforcement. If Wahl or Taber hears someone breaking into their house at 2 a.m., who do you think they’re going to call? A private security firm in the Yellow Pages or 911?

Jane Martin
Chico

 

I don’t know if Jane knows, Larry Wahl was about as cop friendly as you could get when he was on council.  He voted for all those fat contracts. He admitted to me that he signed the MOU that linked salaries to “increases in revenues but not decreases…”   He apologized, his voice cracked – he said he didn’t understand it.  I just let him tell me that, I didn’t have the nerve to ask him what his reading comp score was in high school. It was a three sentence memo, just as clear as the nose on your face. 

He also proposed the steps promotion plan, saying it would curtail the salaries – instead it seems to work as automatic promotion for these guys. They get automatic raises. There’s supposed to be a performance review, but it’s not spelled out. I’ve seen so many fat, unhealthy cops, I can’t believe there’s any such performance review. Let’s see Peter Durfee jump over my back fence a breath ahead of  my nippers. 

I also have to laugh at her comparing Larry and Stephanie’s income with the salaries these cops are taking home. The smallest salary I’ve seen is about $63,000, that’s starting. That’s also about $23,000 a year more than the median income. And then there’s the health benefits and pensions – they expect to get 90 percent of their highest year’s salary, at 50, for the  rest of their lives, and they don”t expect to pay more than  9 percent. And we had to yank that out of them, kicking and screaming.  That indicates to me some sort of mental dysfunction on their part. 

I don’t want to talk about what cops are worth, or how dangerous their job is – how can we go on paying these salaries? Are their heads made of wood, or what? Can they do math? What are we supposed to do for more money – start pulling cars over on Hwy 99 and shaking down the out-of-town drivers? 

I’m just glad Stephanie Taber is out there. She reads the paperwork, compares what they say with what they  write down. I wish we had 10 more like her. 

 

 

 

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Look at the police contracts and who signed them before you vote this November

24 Jul

Here’s a letter I sent off to the Enterprise Record the other day.

I wish more taxpayers would read the city police contract, available here

http://www.chico.ca.us/human_resources_and_risk_management/documents/CPOA_MOU.pdf

before they jump on any ill-conceived attempts to raise local taxes to fund the cop shop. 

 

Police employees pay nothing toward their medical or dental.

 

Police employees pay only 9 percent of their pension, which amounts to 90 percent of their highest year’s salary at age 50.

 

In addition to workman’s comp, the city pays for “long term disability insurance.” This premium is treated as a “post tax” payment so they don’t have to pay income taxes on it. 

 

Contracts force all “permanent and probationary employees” to “be dues paying members of CPOA or shall pay a service fee to CPOA.”  Furthermore, “city agrees to deduct CPOA dues or fee from employee pay.” The Supreme Court just ruled this practice illegal for home health care workers. 

 

For years we’ve been threatened by our own police to either pay up or be left to the wolves.  Our ex-city manager Tom Lando once said, “the police department is always trying to get it’s foot in the door for more money.” I am not willing to pay more to self-interested tyrants. Like the editor says, it’s time for us to learn to take care of ourselves. Join the Chico Taxpayers Association in protesting the contracts that have brought us to the brink of bankruptcy. 

 

 Juanita Sumner, Chico 

 

What can we do about it? We need to elect better people to city council. Scott Gruendl and Mark Sorensen have both signed the contracts that give these employees all this bling. They don’t think there’s anything wrong with the contracts. They both have similar contracts at their publicly-paid jobs. Gruendl makes over $100,000 a year at Glenn County, and I’m guessing he does not even pay the nominal 9 percent toward his benefits and pension – ask him yourself. Sorensen gets about $90,000 a year as city manager of Biggs, plus the usual benefits, and I’ll guess he’s not paying 9 percent either. Ask him.

Do me a favor, ask these jackamoes a few questions about these contracts before you give them your support.

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Australia ends “useless and destructive” carbon tax

17 Jul

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/07/17/Australia-repeals-its-hated-carbon-tax

 

I first heard about this on PBS’/Deutsche Welle World Journal. You never hear this kind of stuff on the American networks. 

Nothing like this will happen in California as long as we are stuck with the Democratic Party. California has become a sink hole for the liberal politician who knows just how to squeeze the public teat. 

Here in Chico, it would be nice if we could get some city representation that worked toward practical goals that resulted in a lower cost of living and more jobs for constituents, instead of jumping on every feel-good salary scheme that comes down the pike. I’d like  to see some bluster behind a letter to Jerry Brown and other state heads, telling them their taxes and their onerous regulations are killing jobs and ruining families. Like Tony Abbott said, these taxes hurt families, and they don’t help the environment. 

That’s something I’d like to see from one of our city council candidates – a letter to the governor, asking for some relief from these onerous taxes and regulations. What I think I will hear first is a call for an increase in the sales tax to fund more police. We’ll have to see what happens. 

 

 

 

 

Saturday morning bluster

12 Jul

I’m still on vacation, I guess, but of course I can’t help look at the news, it’s compulsive. 

I was really glad to hear that the Supreme Court says public sector unions can’t collect fees from home health care workers who object to being affiliated with a union.  These people, usually paid minimum wage, were made to pay “fair share dues” to unions. I don’t know if this ruling applies to anyone else, but it sure opens the door.  In past the city of Chico has been made to collect “fair share dues” from cops whether they wanted to be union members or not. I’ve always wondered, how many cops in Chico are unwilling to follow Peter Durfee? But have to pay anyway? I hope this ruling has wide reaching effect. 

I’m glad to see Brian Nakamura gone, but now we have Orme, I don’t know if that’s much of an improvement. I read a memo Mary Fitch provided on Truth Matters, written by Orme to staff, telling them they shouldn’t be discussing salaries and other matters among themselves, and I have to say – the guy is a little jackboot creep. I always picture him in one of those brown Nazi uniforms, with the cute little bill cap.

They made a big deal about Orme taking a $9,000 lower salary. Excuse my French, or German actually – Big Fucking Deal. He still got a raise over his Ass Man salary, which was alot higher than the salary he was pulling in Hemet (Remember Hemet!), and about $30,000 more than former city mangler Dave Burkland was getting.

Our park remains closed most days, trees are going untrimmed and the park roads are becoming completely riddled with potholes. One day a week a Waste Management truck, provided with a key, drives through the park collecting trash. Fritz McKinley, before he became  desaparecido, told us the garbage trucks were the number one destroyer of streets, and Brian Nakamura claimed that was why they needed to pay more franchise fees, but here he gave them the contract to empty trash cans on the vulnerable park road – this man’s words and actions never added up right. This to save, what, salaries and benefits for two staffers? Probably both paid less than $60,000/year. According to “indeed.com,” the average Northern California garbage truck driver makes $30 – 37,000 a year, and that’s union scale. Benefits – well, the garbage companies are required to pay workman’s comp and SSI, I presume, but that will not amount to $50,000 a year for the rest of your life. I’m guessing they are on taxpayer subsidized Obamacare, or go to the ER and then can’t pay, like all us other indigents. 

Peter Durfee thinks his job is dangerous – let’s see that fat pig out behind a garbage truck five days a week, I can’t believe he’d last more than a day out of his air-conditioned fully equipped cruiser. 

I wonder if everybody heard the story of how we got stuck with Nakamura in the first place. Remember how Hemet reacted to the news that Nakamura was leaving for Chico – they were surprised, and a little miffed, because as he was promising loyalty forever to Hemet, he was scooting up to Chico behind their backs to apply for the job here.  The news was leaked here in Chico – according to Tom Gascoyne in his story in the N&R, “this reporter head about it from a local business owner…” I heard it was Budd Schwab, in a conversation with Gascoyne at Duffys. I have that on reliable sources, so that’s what I believe.  Both of these men are regular Duffy’s dwellers, and I have a couple of moles at Duffy’s. Budd leaked the news to Gascoyne, and who knows who else, Hemet got really pissed at Nakamura, and, here’s what nobody will admit – we had to hire the motherfucker because he threatened to sue us. 

And now here we are. Mark Sorensen left holding a bag of dog doo. At least that’s funny.

It has really come home to me how much  trouble the city is really in, since I tried to get my Utility Tax rebate. In past this has been a 45 minute task – drive down to the city, take the stuff in, stand while they check every page of my bills, add it up – but I’d walk out with cold green cash. This year the woman told my husband they’d have to keep the paperwork for review, but she said they’d “cut a check” the next day. Long story short, it was about  three weeks of bitching at Chris Constantin, who put me off, put me off, telling me the check had been cut and sent when it really hadn’t. I finally got it Friday. I don’t know how much of Constantin’s time I took with my chain rattling, but do the math – that boy is expensive. I felt like an old rich broad who’d hired an escort. My $53 rebate must have cost them at least a few hundred dollars.

 Have you been following the conversation on the “move your ass off the sidewalk” ordinance? One citation? And Idiot at the ER says this is working? Go to Gen Kai restaurant and have an order of tekka maki at a window seat – we got a transient problem people, and Chico PD is doing NOTHING. I told Kirk Trostle, the problem is not limited to Downtown, like the conversation has been. I told him about incidents I’d seen at Rite Aid – including a man in a big 4WD truck who got so frustrated with a transient who was wandering the parking lot, he punched the drunkard through the window of his truck as he was exiting the parking lot. I watched the whole thing, I couldn’t blame the driver. I told Trostle I’d watched a clerk sell an intoxicated man a bottle of booze at 10 am, and as far as I know, there’s been absolutely no investigation. I felt for the clerk – the man was in his face, demanding. The clerk just wanted rid of the guy, but that’s against the law. 

Trostle is still trying to make a special zone out of Downtown – it’s on the Planning Commission agenda for next week – trying to make Downtown restaurant owners pay all these extra fees, as much as $5,000 per business, directly to Chico PD.  It’s just a revenue grab, it’s not going to do anything about our very convoluted “drinking problem.” 

Meanwhile, the cops just admitted, they’ve been on an 18 month “hiatus” from breaking up homeless camps in the park, the channel, etc. I’m getting sick of these fatasses and their slovenly refusal to do the jobs they are overpaid for. Trostle and Durfee, just keep it up boys – you’ll have the entire town up your ass before you know it.

Well, back to work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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