What’s the REAL story on trash zones? First Nakamura says it’s to get trucks off the streets, then admits city needs revenues. County manager says the DUMP needs the revenues. Solution? Pick the tax/ratepayers clean!

12 Aug

Brian Nakamura is a classic bullshitter. When he wants something, he tries to get it by telling the public what he thinks they want to hear, and when that doesn’t work, he tweaks the story around to please the audience.

When he first broached the garbage issue, Nakamura cited the Climate Action Plan, and claimed he’d had complaints from citizens about too many garbage trucks trolling around our streets. “One of the things we hear all the time from our citizens is, ‘Why do we have so many trucks running all over our streets and what are the impacts?'” I asked him right away for the e-mails or names of folks who’d contacted the city – how about even just a solid number of complaints? That’s all  public information – but he never even answered me.  I quickly realized, there weren’t any complaints, that’s just something he made up as an excuse. I’ll call him a liar right here and now, and if he doesn’t like it, we can settle it down at The Plaza. Winner pays the use fee for the Plaza!

The county was already discussing franchise zones for garbage companies anyway. It had nothing to do with getting excess trucks off the streets, or repairing the damage these oversize trucks are doing to our streets and roads, or even making them clean up the spray of trash they leave along the roads leading to the dump. At least county CAO Paul Hahn was honest – he revealed that the dump is starving because the haulers are looking for cheaper tipping fees in Yuba City. He said the franchise agreement would guarantee haulers would use Neal Road Landfill, and the haulers would get a promise of no further competition! How nice for the county and the haulers. Of course there’s a franchise fee involved, and this will be passed along to the ratepayers. In other words, the county charges too much for tipping fees compared to surrounding dumps, isn’t able to support itself, and needs the government to regulate a solution forcing us to pay more. Problem solved!

Read the articles below. Back in May, Nakamura was chumming his “too many trucks” story.  But as of this last meeting, he’s changed his story – they want the franchise fees to fix the streets! Oh BULLSHIT Brian!

The city is supposed to use the gas tax receipts to fix the streets. As of Jennifer Hennessy’s last report before she left, gas prices and gas taxes continued to go up up up. But, she reported, the entire gas tax had been used to pay salaries!   And that’s exactly what will be done with any new revenues they get. The city of Chico is like a lot of people I’ve known – more money just gets them deeper into the hole. 

I’m going to call this “franchise fee” what it really is – GARBAGE TAX.

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Righting the ship

Council adopts new budget policies
By 
tomg@newsreview.com

This article was published on 08.08.13.

Nancy Henry (left) and Mary Kennedy bring their Tea Party messages to City Hall.

PHOTO BY TOM GASCOYNE
Related stories:
Budget blues
City staff explains the workings of the budget in the face of proposed sweeping cuts. CN&R, 06.13.13.

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After hearing an invocation delivered by an insurance salesman, a tribute to a local auto body shop, and the mayor’s emotional resignation (see “Musical chairs,” page 10), the Chico City Council unanimously adopted three budget policies Tuesday (Aug. 6) that will alter the city’s process of making decisions regarding revenue and spending.

In front of a packed house that included a couple dozen city employees wearing red T-shirts and harboring concerns about job stability and union contracts, the council voted to approve budget policies for the 2013-14 fiscal year, hire a consultant to look into generating temporary cash flow—called a tax revenue anticipation note—to help cover city costs between November and next April, and hire two police officers and retain two community-service officers who were slated for layoffs.

The new team of managers—Administrative Services Director Chris Constantin, City Manager Brian Nakamura and Assistant City Manager Mark Orme—has dramatically changed the structure of city government, reducing departments from 11 to five, laying off employees, and telling the council the city is broke after years of spending money like the proverbial drunken sailor.

The dramatic alterations have drawn the ire of both city employees and the general public, suspicious of their true motives and devotion to Chico, and their concerns were voiced throughout the meeting.

The first budget-related item of the evening was actually adopted during consideration of the consent agenda—those items, as the council agenda states, “considered routine and [usually] enacted by one motion.” In this case, the council pulled, considered and approved a motion to hire a consultant to look into creating a franchise agreement with the city’s two waste haulers—Waste Management Inc. and Recology.

Currently, the city of Chico has what is called a “fee agreement,” which generates $160,000 annually in revenue for the city. A franchise agreement could increase that revenue to as much as $1.5 million or more, said Nakamura. It would also set up specific routes for the two companies to lessen the number of repeat trips the heavy garbage trucks travel on the city’s streets.

“Most cities do have franchise agreements with their haulers, and it is more and more common,” Nakamura said.

But some members of the public questioned the move, noting Nakamura had dealt with the same consultant—R3 Consulting Group Inc.—when he was working for the city of Hemet.

“Consultants are hired to tell us what we want to hear,” said Mark Herrera, a member of the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission. “Why bother when our city manager has already gone through this?” Audience member Randy Coy added that, while the franchise will be a source of revenue for the city, waste-hauling rates will increase.

Nakamura explained that a franchise agreement is needed as a potential source of revenue for a city that may not be able to meet payroll in December.

Local activist Jessica Allen questioned the need for the franchise agreement as well.

“People in Hemet are very unhappy,” she said. “Why would we follow the same path?”

The council then voted unanimously to contract with R3 for $14,500 to explore the possible franchise.

Constantin then advised the council that the city has $3 million less in “spendable” cash than last year, and that the Chico Police Department payroll is 2 percent over where it should be at this time. Meanwhile, the Fire Department payroll is 11 percent over what it should be, in spite of some savings from the reduction of staff at Fire Station 3 at the Chico Municipal Airport.

The two new police officers, who will attend six months of training before hitting the streets, will be paid for in part by cutting 270 hours in current overtime pay, a hit Police Chief Kirk Trostle accepted as part of the city’s economic reality.

“We’ll work with what we get,” he said.

Constantin told the council that budget changes made in June hold staff more accountable to the council and the public. “This puts you in the driver’s seat as far as where spending actually goes,” he said. “This isn’t the last time we’ll see policy changes. This is an ongoing project.”

Progress continues in pursuit of waste franchise agreements for city of Chico, Butte County

By ASHLEY GEBB-Staff Writer Chico Enterprise Record
Posted:   05/03/2013 12:04:09 AM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

A Waste Management truck unloads trash at the Neal Road landfill on March 30, 2011.(Jason…

CHICO — The city of Chico and Butte County are both inching closer to forming waste franchise agreements to regulate regional waste haulers.During a Local Government Committee meeting Wednesday, county and city officials discussed their progress and potential timelines for moving forward. While the county wants to consider a contract by late summer, the city of Chico hopes to have something in place in the next few years.

“There’s still a lot of unanswered questions,” said Linda Herman of the city’s General Services Department, as she noted things are moving forward more so now than ever.

While franchise agreements have been discussed in all of Herman’s 15 years with the city, it was during the most recent permit renewal in 2011 that the discussion intensified and it’s been building ever since.

The county and city are working with the same consultant, which has identified zone options and exclusive operational agreements. Both residential and commercial hauling are considerations.

In a zone option, hauling companies would be given specific areas in which they could operate and residents would no longer have a choice in service providers. Another option is an exclusive agreement in which one hauler would have rights to an entire area.

The driving force behind the desire to find an alternative method is to reduce truck volume, both from an infrastructure and environmental perspective as dictated by the Climate Action Plan.

“One of the things we hear all the time from our citizens is, ‘Why do we have so many trucks running all over our streets and what are the impacts?'” Chico City Manager Brian Nakamura said Wednesday.Waste haulers are supportive of a change because they recognize increased efficiency with zones or exclusive agreements, Herman said. Other benefits include guaranteed revenue and longer-term security.

For citizens, franchise agreements can offer increased services, regulated rates, less congestion and consistency, she said.

No changes will be coming to the city until after a lengthy public process with public input, a bid process and contractual agreements, Herman said. Any number of options are available, including sticking with the current permit system.

Two waste haulers — Recology and Waste Management — currently operate in the city of Chico through permits, which are approved every five years. The existing permits will expire in June 2016, and the goal is to have a change in place by then, Herman said.

Butte County is farther along in the process and looking more toward zoning, said Chief Administrative Officer Paul Hahn. The county has been broken down into equal areas so no haulers lose clients, and negotiations are underway regarding customer service standards and other operational points.

“It’s not just conceptual,” he said. “We have approved ideas and approved zones.”

The hope is to bring the actual contract to the Board of Supervisors by late summer, he said.

“The county’s main goal in this is to make sure the haulers bring their trash to the Neal Road landfill,” Hahn said. “We want that measurable solid waste for a variety of reasons.”

Not only does the landfill need a certain amount of waste to be fiscally sound, but it also allows it to pursue more waste-to-energy opportunities, he said.

What the county would like to see is for the city’s haulers to agree to bring their waste to the landfill.

A difference of opinion

9 Aug

Earlier this month, the News and Review ran the following Letter to the Editor from Linda Hathorn:

‘City manager sing-a-long

(Sung to the tune of “That’s Amore”)

When the moon hits your eye

Like a big piece of pie …

Nak-a-mura

When your city’s in the red

And you can’t get ahead …

Nak-a-mura

When the parks all get closed

If they’ll open no one knows …

Nak-a-mura

When you’re taxed to the max

And the workers get the ax …

Nak-a-mura

When the assets all get sold

And Chico’s out of gold …

Nak-a-mura

When the jobs all get cut

You’ll find one that is not …

Nak-a-mura

Please feel free to add a verse

It won’t even hurt your purse…

That’s amore

Linda Hathorn
Chico

 

To which Stephanie Taber responded:

Ditty wasn’t amusing

Re “City manager sing-along” (Letters, by Linda Hathorn, Aug. 1):

How insensitive and cruel. The ditty shows the ignorance and lack of information demonstrated by a member of the general public.

Brian Nakamura was hired to bring the city of Chico back from the brink of insolvency. How many City Council meetings, Finance Committee meetings, and Economic Development Committee meetings did she attend over the last six years? How did she arrive at her nasty little ditty—have help from the likes of Bob Mulholland or perhaps Ann Schwab or perhaps former City Manager David Burkland, or our tell-the-truth-and-nothing-but-the-truth former finance director, Jennifer Hennessy?

What’s being done must be done if the city is to survive the financial devastation that has been brought upon us by the current and former liberal councils. If you have better solutions, pay attention, attend meetings and speak up.

Stephanie L. Taber
Chico

I know nothing about Linda Hathorn other than she’s an employee of CUSD.  For all I know she’s part of Ann Schwab and Dave Guzzetti’s smear campaign on Nakamura. Unfortunately, this smear campaign seems to have some merit – I’ve found the same stories when I’ve searched Nakamura’s past.  He’s a carpet bagger, that’s for certain, and he’s left a steaming pile of doo-doo wherever he’s gone.

I bet a lot of people don’t realize how many issues Stephanie Taber and I do not agree on. This for example. I find this a very amusing little ditty. I could have written it myself, and I may write a few more verses. 

Stephanie has a lot of faith in Brian Nakamura, I don’t. I’ve read up on what he did in Oregon City and other towns. Get a load of this article from 2004 – can of worms, read it all.

http://www.lodinews.com/news/article_ed5fb0ba-75a7-5b19-ba63-518549aacceb.html

First of all, as of 2004, all the Nak wanted to do was get back to his hometown of Lodi! Just dreamed of it! What the hell is he doing here?

Second of all, he’s accused of a $600,000+ deal that benefited his friends – wow, that seems to be a pattern with this guy. We really should check out this consultant he hired to gloss over the garbage franchise scam he’s trying to pull. A deal like that puts a man in a position to take a bribe, and we wouldn’t want that to happen to The Nak!

In Hemet, a lot of people blame their current crime problems on the slash job Nakamura did on their police department. Instead of bringing in new hires at lower salaries, he just cut, cut, cut, raised administrative salaries like he did here, and left. 

Another pattern in Nakamura’s behavior, is when he gets accused of something, he runs. When he was accused of something in that $600,000 consulting deal, he left. When Hemet found out he was trolling around for jobs in other cities (including Chico) behind their back, HE DENIED IT! That’s lying. I just can’t abide with a liar. 

So, while I admire her drive in digging into public affairs, I don’t let Stephanie Taber pick my friends. We can work together without agreeing on everything. 

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Proposed liquor restrictions – a case of force over reason

6 Aug

As usual, the authorities gravitate towards the force of law, rather than reason, to solve a problem. It always exacerbates the problem rather than quell it.

Consider the proposed alcohol restrictions, such as closing downtown establishments early and denying new establishments a license to serve alcohol. Not only does it hurt business, it totally dodges the actual problem: heavy drinking by young adults mixed with violence. If people can’t go out to restaurants and bars (where there is security) then there will be more house parties and underground raves. If police want to control the abuses of alcohol and make sure the scene is safe, I’d think they’d want to steer the party scene to all the downtown establishments where they know what and where everything’s going on. But it seems they want the opposite. Maybe they’re itching to put on the riot gear and roll a tank.

And the question of liquor licenses for retail markets? If you close one drinking fountain but leave the other on, it makes the line twice as long. Please, council, use reason.

Casey Aplanalp, 

(Thanks Casey!))

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“Super Troopers” starring Chico Police Chief Kirk Trostle

5 Aug

I attended the first Internal Affairs discussion a couple of weeks ago regarding Kirk Trostle’s request to fabricate a city licensing procedure for bars and restaurants, based on land use regulation, or “zoning.”   This is one of those conversations where almost nobody is saying what they really mean.

As I reported earlier, various people in the discussion have different motivations. The bar owners are all pretty afraid to express themselves. They seemed to be mouthing a line for the city’s satisfaction – don’t bite the hand, and all that.  The committee members, Sean Morgan, Ann Schwab and Tammi Ritter, were all in their separate corners on this, with Schwab doing her best Annie Bidwell impersonation, Ritter seeming to be dragging her feet against over-regulation, and Morgan acting like the moderator of this debate, trying to make sure everybody gets in on the conversation, even if the conversation goes on in perpetuity.

Chico Police Chief Kirk Trostle started this conversation, originally wanting an ordinance to go before the public, requiring bars, restaurants, and “any business having to do with liquor”, to pay a fee, based on square footage of the establishment, that would go to the police department.  When Lori Barker  popped his ACE ordinance balloon, telling him it would be an illegal tax on alcohol, Scott Gruendl came to the rescue with an order that staff come up with some kind of zoning regulation that could be applied with no input from the public. 

Yes, this would also generate fees – Mark Wolfe from the planning department said such an ordinance would add “$5,000 – $6,000” to the licensing procedure for each business. I asked where that money would go, but nobody answered. I noticed, Kirk Trostle stiffened up and his face turned red. I didn’t make any friends at the cop shop that day. 

Mark Wolfe also reported that when council ordered him to come up with some kind of marijuana ordinance, he kept track of his time and that of his limited staff. He said they used at least $30,000 worth of staff time on that sinker. I asked him to repeat that figure. Ann Schwab later made fun of me, saying, essentially, that $30,000 is nothing. I hate to tell her, but most of the families in this town live on very little more than $30,000, and many live on less. She makes $80,000+ in a fluff position at the college, a salary that is stapled onto your college kid’s butt. Then she has the nerve to take a salary of around $7,000 from the city of Chico, plus a $21,000 insurance package.  

Ann, you need to step down, you are completely out of touch. Or, at least, please stop wearing shorts to meetings with open front tables. Don’t make me take a picture of what those ham hocks of yours look like under that table. 

But, I digress. 

I told the council I thought they were simply duplicating the duties of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. This really got Trostle’s back up, sheesh he was pissed off. He said, the ABC “has staffing levels from the 1950’s,” claiming they have only two agents for sixteen counties. I’m sure that’s what he said, I wrote it in my notebook right then and there. 

I sensed a case of “Super Troopers.” “Super Troopers” is a very off-color and tasteless comedy movie about a medium sized New England town in which the local police compete with the state highway cops for revenues. Yes, there’s sex, drugs, and inappropriate stuff all the way through, I do not recommend this movie to stodgy buttheads with no sense of humor (“who’s up for mustache rides!”).  But the plot line is still good: the police lie, cheat and steal to get rid of the state troopers all together so they can get their hands on all the law enforcement budget. 

So, I wrote to the ABC office in Redding, where Trostle claimed there’s only two guys sitting around a phone. I just told the guy what I’d heard at the meeting, and he came back with this:

Dear Ms. Sumner,

I apologize for the delay in returning your email.  The Redding District Office covers nine counties (Butte, Glenn, Tehama, Shasta, Lassen, Siskiyou, Trinity, Plumas, and Modoc).  The Redding Office staffing levels in July of 2013 were 3 Agents, 1 Licensing Representative, and 2 front office staff.  The Redding District Office is a satellite Office of the Sacramento District Office.  In July of 2013 the Redding District Office was overseen by a Supervising Agent from the Sacramento District Office.  That Supervising Agent was overseen by a Supervising Agent in Charge who was based out of the Sacramento District Office.  Additionally, ABC has two Special Operation Units, one for Northern California and one for Southern California.  These units are available to assist District Offices with enforcement efforts, whether problematic locations, special events, or assisting district offices with handling complaints of ABC licensed locations. 

 If you have any additional questions, please let me know.

 Paul 

530-224-4830  

I thought about forwarding this to the council, Trostle, etc, asking for some explanation. What do you think? I think it’s “Super Troopers.” 

 

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Did you know – firefighters are pigs too? Ever try to pull a shoat off a teat? Good luck. Might have to get rid of the sow too.

2 Aug

I went to the Airport Commission meeting the other night, but I been so busy since then I have not had a chance to sit down and post about it. As usual, I went to the meeting for one thing and ended up learning all about stuff I thought I didn’t care about.

I’m like a dog sometimes, when I am after something, I don’t always notice other stuff. I wanted to hear about the airport budget, the other agenda items didn’t interest me. I thought the first item – the closing of the airport fire station, #3, had already been hashed out, beaten to death, stuck a fork in and turned over twice. I forgot – the Airport Commission didn’t even get asked for their two cents during that entire conversation. Boy, hell hath no fury like a bunch of old guys who get passed over on an important decision.

It sure doesn’t seem like anybody puts any importance on this commission. They only have quarterly meetings. The council meeting at which this whole thing was set in motion was back in June, when council told all the department heads, including the fire department, that they needed to take 10 percent off the top of their budgets. The Airport Commission met in April, and wasn’t even noticed, apparently, for the council meeting in June.  It was left to the department heads to decide what to cut, snip snip. There really is no “Airport Department.” Chief Beery brought the airport into the fracas when he made a tactical decision to tie it to the railroad  tracks by closing Station 3, loudly insinuating that we would lose commercial air service because of the closure. Later, under intense criticism,  he reneged on that threat, suddenly remembering that the Federal Air Administration would be satisfied with one guy and a utility truck.

From the reaction the commission had last night, they don’t even read the newspaper. In fact, one commissioner complained loudly that “you can’t believe what you read in the newspaper.” Well, at least you could read it, and then check it out for yourself. These guys all spoke as though they’d been out of town the last few months.  Commissioners Gosling and Sanger just kept going on about how upset they were to be passed over, BT Chapman complained aloud that there is no real airport manager.  They all agreed they should write a letter to council about their feelings – well, look out for the Airport Commission, these guys are a pack of pistols! They be bad!

$taffer Debbie Collins and Ass City Mangler Mark Orme informed them that the decision had been made, they were just being “kept in the loop.” Orme and Chief Keith Carter, sent as a substitute pinata for Chief Beery, kept telling the commission it was a budgetary decision, as if that was supposed to be comforting in some way. 

Carter informed us that this decision did not even meet the 10 percent cut asked for by city management. When Commissioner Sanger asked him, childlike – “what if the city orders you to keep Station 3 open?” Without a pause, Carter replied, “We’d close Station 5.” “Where’s that?” responded Sanger. I wanted to throw my notebook at the old fart. Get the hell out of the kitchen Old Man!

Sorry to be rude. People think it’s such a lofty ideal to serve on one of these commissions, that they expect to be served like royalty at a table. These old gasbags just sit and wait for Debbie Collins to send them stuff – they don’t even attend meetings, read agendas?  This commission just serves as a badge of mismanagement at the airport. 

The commission spent an hour flapping it’s wings over this, even though Collins and airport facilities manager Kim Parks reassured them repeatedly that the station would remain open with one staffer and a utility truck and that is all the FAA requires for commercial flights. The commission just wouldn’t be satisfied.   At one point they demanded to see the e-mail correspondence between Collins and the FAA.  I frankly don’t blame them – Collins handles them like a bunch of escapees from a rest home. She was bitchy with me when I asked her about complaints about Northgate Aviation – said she has had plenty but wouldn’t show them  to me or tell me how many, of what nature, from who.  This woman is effectively our airport manager, the head of the stinking fish.  Nakamura didn’t even show up, sending Orme in his place. 

Laura Urseny’s story this morning reports that the firefighters’ union had something to do with keeping the station open at all , as if they are responsible for saving the station!  No, they made the decision to cut Station 3, from three firefighters and two trucks to one guy with a truck.   Now, from what Collins told us the other night, it will really mean no difference in service. None of the three that were there had medical training. They have special training in putting out airplane crash fires, but would still have to call for help from surrounding stations. So, nothing’s really changed – they still have a guy out there who can call for help, and that’s about all they would have done before anyway.  But the union was trying to play us, having Beery announce that this would threaten commercial air service. I will not forget what happened last year when council asked the fire department to cut their budget and Beery immediately closed Station 5  – union president Ken Campbell went door-to-door in the surrounding neighborhoods, lying to the neighbors and telling them to write to council. Bob Evans called Campbell on the carpet at the next council meeting, and Campbell admitted to telling people that council had ordered the station closed when it had been Beery’s decision. 

What got left out of this whole conversation is the pensions. We pay about $10 million a year in pension payments for our employees, over half goes for the cops, and almost that amount goes for fire. Paying their own pensions out of their outrageous salaries would solve the problem without closing any station or cutting any positions. But our fire department are greedy little shoats, who won’t let go of the teat.

I had gone to that meeting to hear about the airport budget, but  this ridiculous little howl took the entire first hour of the meeting. I don’t know if Orme was ever able to give the report, I had to leave to go to my kid’s hockey game.  But I got it from him the next day and will share that later. 

 

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Hit me, beat me, make me read the employee contracts.

1 Aug

We have our regular Sunday meeting coming up this weekend, and I’m trying to get some stuff together for a good conversation about the employee contracts. The contracts are all up in December, so we need to start talking about them now. Council will be discussing the following contracts at next Tuesday’s meeting:

2.3.

CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATOR (Gov. Code Sec. 54957.6.) Negotiator:  Brian Nakamura, City Manager Employee Organizations:  Management Employees, Confidentials, Public Safety Management Employees, Chico Police Officers’ Association, Chico Public Safety Association, International Association of Firefighters, Service Employees International Union (Trades and Crafts Unit), Chico Employee Association, WPEA/Local 39

They should be posting information for us as the talks continue, but I’ll bet we’ll have to bitch for it.  The current contracts are available on the city website, on the Human Resources and Risk page, under “Labor Contracts”, here’s the link:

http://www.chico.ca.us/human_resources_and_risk_management/labor_agreements_home.asp

I’ll tell you right off the top – they’re HORRIBLE to read. No lie, they really suck. “Whereas City and CPOA have memorialized their agreement regarding matters within the scope of their representation…” 60 pages, the first 10 of which include title pages, table of contents, and definitions. Then stuff like The CPOA Time Bank – “The CPOA Time Bank is established for use by CPOA employees for the sole purpose of performing or conducting CPOA business without loss of pay…” Wait a minute – what? 

Here’s what’s worse from my standpoint – $taff loads documents in such a way that I cannot cut and paste.  Instead of giving a link and hoping people wade through all that SHIT, I want to take out bits and snatches of interest to discuss here and at our meeting Sunday, but that means, I have to open both screens and go back and forth and type it. That just makes me so mad – my time is worth something, and I just get so frustrated sitting at the computer doing stupid stuff like that. But, I can’t think of any other way to get people to pay attention than to put the outrageous words right in front of their  faces.

I’ve always wrestled with the concept of  “CTO” and “STO”. CTO is “Compensatory Time Off in Lieu of Overtime Payment“, STO is “Selective Time Off in Lieu of Overtime Payment“.  This is an exercise in accounting.  “CTO shall be accrued at a rate of one and a half hours for every hour of overtime worked.” So, they can choose to take an hour and a half of time off for every hour of overtime worked.  Sounds fair, and good for the city, right? But something sounds weird about “Payment for unused CTO …Employees may request payment for a maximum of forty (40) hours of unused CTO…The maximum amount of CTO that may be accrued and utilized at any time shall be limited to 200 hours. Employees may choose to leave CTO in place into the following calendar year. Payment for such hours will be made at the Regular Pay in effect at the time.”  

Then, “Selective Time Off” – Employees who work overtime “may accrue Selective Time Off in lieu of overtime or CTO…STO will be accrued at the rate of two hours for every hour of overtime worked.”  When an employee doesn’t use that STO? They can have it converted to CTO and get paid for it. But here’s what’s changed – they used to get paid for TWO HOURS when they’d only worked one. Even though they were paid at the regular rate instead of overtime, they still ended up with an extra half hour of pay. That sounds petty, but it really adds up. Now the formula says, “Number of STO hours divided by 2, multiplied by 1.5, equals CTO hours”. In other words, they’re getting paid for the hour they actually logged, at overtime, which seems fair to me if indeed it was an overtime hour in the first place. 

My concern is, they can roll these hours over, year after year, through pay increases, and end up getting paid a higher salary for hours worked years previous. I don’t know if it actually works that way, you read it and let me know. All I know is, these guys as much as double their base salaries with overtime, “other pay” and “special pay” and it’s all here in these contracts for any dummass who wants to read it.

Me, I fell asleep while typing and accidentally closed the contract page at least twice. My family has gone out to clean the garage because I kept reading snippets aloud and asking “does that make sense to you?” or “is this crazy or what?”

I’m going out to clean the garage. 

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When will they get some proper management at Chico Airport?

30 Jul

I’m blowing off this morning’s Internal Affairs discussion on liquor licenses because I’ve already heard what Kirk Trostle has to say: “I want more MONEY!”  I also got a kick out of the editorial posted this morning – it’s a – MAY- zing how many things me and Dave Little agree on, for two people who’d rather eat a Dodger Dog than be civil to one another. 

I will be taking in the Airport Commission meeting at 6pm, however. I know, 6pm, and no hors d’oeuvres or nothin’, that is gauche. 

But tonight, Brian Nakamura is going to give the report I been dying to ask for – where the airport gets it’s revenues and how it’s spends them. 

The airport is so neglected, it’s ridiculous. And when they do pay attention, it’s “we want service to Disneyland.”   Nobody seems to realize what an incredible manufacturing area it is, and how much it would mean to our city to get some big employers out there. In the old-old days, a manufacturer wanted to be next to the river, not only for hydro-power, but for transportation – raw materials in, processed goods out! Then it was the railroad tracks. Today, it’s the airport. We have one, but we have not set it up as a very good business zone. In fact, a friend of mine who owns a small manufacturing operation at the airport tells me constantly – Chico is business hostile. “They treat anybody who wants to start a business like they’re some kind of ‘Sugar Daddy’.” 

The biggest problem at the airport is Maria Rock, who owns the fueling station. The city spent hundreds of thousands of dollars protecting Maria Rock’s business from Danford Jay, an airport business owner who says he was given a verbal go-ahead by the city to open his own fueling station, but later told the Rocks have the exclusive rights.  Airport users complain that the Rocks run the fueling station a la Gomer and Goober, but staffer Debbie Collins told me she write these complaints off as “anecdotes” and refuses to act on them. 

We’ll never know if their daughter, city attorney Alicia Rock, had anything to do with it – who cares – the whole thing was inappropriate, and just another symbol of the mismanagement of our town. 

So, I’m  going down there  tonight, I’ll fill you in. 

And don’t forget, First Sunday meeting, August 4, Chico library, 9am. 

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The cars keep going faster all the time. The bums still cry “Hey buddy have you got a dime?!”

27 Jul

I went to the city Economic Development committee meeting this week unsure whether these meetings should continue. In past, this has been nothing more than a monthly justification for Shawn Tillman’s employment. His reports were pretty desperate attempts to make himself look busy. His $88,000/year salary was being paid out of the RDA successor agency.  Well, he didn’t show up this past week, and I’m wondering if he got the sack (good riddance). Brian Nakamura was given the task of note taking and he scribbled busily in a notebook just like mine the whole time. I would give $5 to see his notes.

At the last meeting in June, Tillman announced the meetings were unrecorded because the clerk’s office no longer had a staffer to take notes. No tape recording, nothing. At that point, I felt the meetings should be discontinued, but I wondered, how will the public be able to keep tabs on what they’re doing with all these local consultants and business agencies? If these meetings discontinue, and there’s no reporting of their activities, just what kind of deals with they be swinging with the Chamber of Commerce, the DCBA, and whatever local businesses, behind the public’s back?

We already have the “Mayor’s Business Council,” or something like that. Last year I tried to get in to those meetings – not only Ann Schwab but Mark Sorensen held me out by the forehead. Sorensen wouldn’t even tell me who else was involved, but Ann said it was Butte College, Chico State and PG&E! Well, I guess they do qualify as “local businesses.”

Now Sorensen seems to want to take the Economic Development committee behind closed doors by making the meetings at irregular times and dates, at different locations around town, with little time to notice the public. When Gruendl insisted, although half-heartedly, that the meetings needed to be scheduled consistently and noticed in advance, Sorensen said he doesn’t want consistency “to become a strait jacket.“

Sorensen seems to be trying to keep people like me out. At this point Chamber director Katie Sweeny remarked that she didn’t think it was that important to get the public into these meetings anyway. Gruendl had to explain to her about that pesky Brown Act.

Ironically, Sorensen had criticized the wheeling and dealing that went on in the Sustainability Task Force, by which a $399,000 grant from PG&E was divvied up between several members of that committee, but I guess he forgot to send that complaint to the Grand Jury.

I was shocked at Sorensen’s behavior at last Wednesday’s meeting. He seemed to be trying to ditch the public from these meetings. Instead of following Nakamura’s suggestion, and having these meetings quarterly to save staff time, Sorensen and Gruendl came up with this plan to meeting monthly with various businesses, at their locations. Gruendl kept making it clear, since he’s up for re-election, that these meetings need to be noticed to the public – but it was funny how he and Sorensen kept coming up with ways to get around the Brown Act. “If we’re meeting outside our jurisdiction (Chico), there’s no Brown Act violation…” and stuff like that.

Sorensen and Gruendl want to keep the meetings monthly, and Sorensen doesn’t seem to care whether the public is involved or not.

After that $399,000 pie from PG&E was divvied up right in front of him by Schwab and her friends on the STF, you’d think Sorensen would be a little more appreciative of Sunshine. But he’s a local businessman, just think what kind of deals he can cut in this committee that will benefit his bottom line!  He was on the old RDA “citizen’s oversight” committee, which was totally running under the radar, a group of local business owners having meetings without public notice, and giving input regarding the spending of RDA funds directly to council. When I complained about the lack of public oversight on this committee, staff and council admitted it was illegal and disbanded it.

This committee is all full of rhetoric about helping Chico become “more business friendly” – “we’re creating bridges for people to move along as they build momentum and mass…”  “create venues for people to network...” What a pile of silly bullshit that is. Sounds like the Chamber of Commerce’s job. Katie Simmons gets a salary, which is partially paid with a grant from – you guessed it – the City of Chico. Then there’s the Downtown Business Association. These entities get money from their members, as well as city grants, to help businesses get started, navigate the governmental pitfalls,  all kinds of workshops and presentations to help them stay abreast of the changing regulations and business trends.  As Scott Gruendl rambled on describing his grandiose plans for the New and Improved!  Economic Development Committee, Katie Simmons kept reminding him that the Chamber does all the stuff he was babbling about – including an ongoing series of  “Budget 101” workshops with city manager Brian Nakamura.

http://www.chicochamber.com/news/lunch-hour-city-manager-725

The website says these presentations are exclusive to chamber members, but all you have to do is e-mail or call Katie Simmons and ask nicely if you can attend. She gets money from the city every year, out of our tax dollars, she’s pretty cooperative if you approach her the right way.  I have not been able to get to any of Brian’s lectures, but I went in when Chief Kirk Trostle was having a Q&A and that was very informative.

Sorensen is a funny guy. One minute he’s all yakking about sunshine and the public and yadda yadda, but when it’s his project, the public is not that important. I think the Economic Development committee should just be canned, but I sense Sorensen and Gruendl have something else in mind.

Meanwhile, throughout the meeting, right outside the windows, the Downtown circus was in full swing. At one point, a man approached the windows wearing nothing but a pair of ratty underwear, then climbed into the trout fountain to take a bath. A group of men stood across the street on the sidewalk along the plaza, talking, every now and then somebody would approach, and one man would walk over and open the trunk of a car parked along the street, motion the person over, stand behind the open trunk lid for a moment, then shut the lid and walk back to the group as the newcomer departed down the sidewalk. Cyclists rambled across the concrete plaza as though it was the skate board park, occasionally jumping the concrete curbstones and bouncing along the sidewalk.

And the beat goes on.

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Ann Schwab and Kirk Trostle out to protect their own bottom lines – liquor ordinance just a revenue grab

25 Jul

In between gardening and putting up tomato sauce and peaches, I spent yesterday going back and forth to city meetings, a special Internal Affairs meeting at 8am and “economic development,” or at least, talking about it, at 4pm.

The Internal Affairs discussion was about what amounts to a money grab being attempted by Chico PD chief Kirk Trostle. Trostle, as you may recall from an earlier post,  was trying to get the ACE (Alcohol Compliance and Education) ordinance on an upcoming ballot, and told me at a Police Advisory Board meeting that he hoped it would result in at least $100,000 worth of (new) fees with which he could hire another officer. But, he admitted, the officer would not necessarily be dedicated to alcohol compliance or problems, he wouldn’t guarantee that.

Well, at a subsequent meeting, city attorney Lori Barker shot it down, informing Trostle that the “fee” amounted to a “tax”, and the city is not allowed to tax the sales of alcohol. So, Scott Gruendl moved for staff to work on an ordinance that would allow the city to collect some sort of fee without it being construed legally as a tax.  What a creep that guy is, a regular goniff.

Mary Goloff, Ann Schwab and Scott Gruendl are attempting to dress it up as the city’s plan to handle our “community alcohol problem.” Goloff and Gruendl are up for re-election, and Schwab is not only on the defense lately, she’s looking out for her interests at the college and her Downtown business.

Schwab has been hung out to dry, stripped of her former stately power. Lately she seems constantly to have been crying about something, and tears up at the slightest criticism or correction. She’s fallen back on her job at the college – an administrative fluff position that adds another $80,000 + in salary and benefits to tuition – and is desperate to show herself as champion for the college. She also needs to worry about her bike store – Downtown business is in trouble, and she has taken the tack of blaming the bars and other liquor-related establishments. She says “the university is doing what they can do.” Well, she sure knows who butters her bread.

She also made some questionable statements regarding liquor licenses, how they’re issued, and what happens when a business sells a liquor license. “Once a permit is issued,” she piped up, sounding like a character from “Th Music Man,” it’s ISSUED!” She went on to describe her nightmare scenario: a place could start out “respectable and low-key,” but that business might fail, and be sold to somebody else!  “It can change to PITCHER NIGHT  with no approval from council,” she concluded, setting her lips firmly and looking around the room for an “AMEN!“

(…and that starts with ‘P’ and that rhymes with ‘T’ and that stands for TROUBLE! Right here in River City!)

Well, just like that pile of hooey she rolled out in support of Measure J, her statement above doesn’t turn out to be exactly true. Officer George Laver, who seems to be the guy in charge of liquor at the cop shop, informed all of us of the actual function of the state department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. It turns out that “conditions can be placed by the ABC – such as hours of sale of alcohol and other specifics…” And, even if the business comes under completely different ownership, the new owner cannot make “significant changes to the business model” without a hearing from the ABC that includes input from the cops and other local agencies.

In fact, Laver went on to describe a “very good working relationship with the ABC.” The ABC allows local agencies to have input and set conditions, and according to Laver, Chico PD and the city of Chico have been “very successful” in getting what they want out of the ABC.

Later, the owner of the Winchester Goose also corrected erroneous statements Ann made. First, he told everybody that the ABC has a very complete process for input,  everything needed to make a complaint or check on a business’s license is on their website.  Ann had also bitchily asked, in direct reference to the Winchester Goose,  “why would anybody put so much investment into a business without getting the liquor license first?” The guy from the Goose told his story – last November, he’d received “the green light” from Chief Trostle as well as the planning commission. It was only recently that they’d been talking about denying his license, after he’d already spent a bunch of money. Ann hates being corrected, she’s testy and combative with anybody who disagrees with or questions her. But she sure didn’t have anything to say in response.  As usual, her eyes turned red and got watery, she just sat there like a spoiled brat being called on the carpet. 

Everything Laver said confirmed that the ABC is competent and willing to work locally.  But, Chief Kirk Trostle seems to have a different view of the ABC, which he says, “is working with staff levels from the 1950’s…just pushing paper.” He says there are only two agents for 16 counties.

Well, I just dropped off a note to the Redding office, which Laver described as being so cooperative, and asked them about  that. I’ll keep you posted.

What both Schwab and Trostle want is more control than the ABC is willing to give them in making demands upon businesses that sell alcohol. According to Laver, a local land use permit process would allow the city “to create whatever kind of language you think is reasonable.”

For example, the ABC says stop serving at 2am, Schwab and Trostle want it over at midnight. They want serving to stop at 10pm on certain holidays, historically troublesome dates like Halloween and St Paddy’s. Laver reported, in past, they’ve just asked the problem establishments, like Rileys, to stop opening up with cheap booze at 6am, and they’ve complied. But Trostle and Schwab just want to be able to demand. They don’t want to work it out, they don’t want to discuss.

I think they want to be able to demand more money out of businesses, using this ordinance as a wedge, but that’s just my guess.

There are two camps here that want this new permits process – those who are freaked out about Chico’s perceived reputation as a druggy town that kills college kids with booze, and then there’s Chief Trostle, who wants the money. This is a revenue grab, plain and simple, a shakedown. Ask the guy from The Screwed Goose.

Later yesterday I went to the Economic Development committee meeting, and that was a hoot too, I’ll fill you in later. Now I am off to get some pasta dough going, with which I am going to serve homemade tomato sauce with dinky meatballs.  Ciao Babeee!

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Ask a stupid question…

23 Jul

The other day the Enterprise Record ran a pretty stupid editorial about the airport fire station closure. “Our view: In the best of a bunch of bad options, closing the Chico fire station at the airport makes the most sense.” 

Spoken by a person who obviously has no clue to the economic importance of the airport or how mismanagement out there is killing us financially.

Later in this piece, the editor mentions, almost as though he doesn’t really mean it, ” If he (or the future chief) is looking for other places to save money, perhaps firefighters can pay their own share of their pensions, rather than having the city pay the employee share. “

Today Editor asks, “Can the public have a voice in city budget?”,  suggesting, “The city could ask before it cuts. It might be surprised by the answers.”   Editor implies that we’d be okay with some of these cuts if we knew how much these services “cost”. What he fails to figure into “cost”, is the “employer paid member contribution,” aka, “the employee’s share.” 

What a dumb question – “Can the public have a voice in city budget?”   Better to ask, “WILL the public have a voice in city budget?” The next question would be, “Will the council listen?” 

The answer to both of those questions lies with the public.

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