$28 million-plus in salaries and another $12 million-plus in pensions and benefits – why does our town look like SHIT?

5 Mar

The Enterprise Record, a propaganda rag that masquerades as a newspaper, ran the following op-ed the other day, as though it was a news story.

Caper Acres needs you

Renovation project a public, private partnership

By Dan Efseaff and Shane Romain

Humpty has not quite fallen, but Caper Acres needs to be put back together again. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men will not be enough, but the citizens of Chico will be able to, and we need your help.

About 60 years ago, members of the now Chico Women’s Club started hatching ideas for a children’s playground w ithin Bidwell Park. After 13 years of fundraising and construction, the efforts of the club with the support and generosity of the Chico community resulted in the official opening of Caper Acres.

Children walked through the castle-like entrance for the first time, the iconic fairy- tale themed playground transformed the world into a magical place where imaginations blossom. Generations of children have had that same experience over the years.

Caper Acres has lost some of the sparkle since its last remodel in the mid-’90s. Recent storms provided dramatic images of the destruction of the Crooked House, yet there’s been a steady crescendo as decayed and unsafe play structures are removed.

Now is the time to recapture that same community support and dedication to bring Caper Acres back to a place where children and their families can create lifetime memories. Your help is needed to make repairs and move forward with the renovation.

The city’s recent financial crisis and the loss of park staffing added to the challenges of the maintenance and critical upkeep of Bidwell Park. We must confront our aging infrastructure. The list is long: Roads, restrooms, trails, fencing and playground equipment that are either decades old or engineered for a smaller population are failing. While deferring maintenance can save money in the short term, the costs mount over time.

For example, our daily safety inspections and repairs of Caper Acres sometimes take hours each day, just to open the gates.

Updates to the park’s facilities will make them safer, more enjoyable, and more cost effective to maintain. The renewal also allows people of all abilities to enjoy this jewel. The new features will help capture the next generation’s imagination and prove to be practical from a cost and maintenance standpoint.

In 2013, the city Parks Division, Chico State University students, and local landscape architecture consultant Melton Design Group collected citizen input to improve Caper Acres, increase safety, and reduce maintenance costs. Public meetings with community members, interviews with teachers and students, moms and dads, citizens and staff, and most importantly, the children that enjoy Caper Acres, produced great ideas.

Multiple generations of Chicoans remember moments in the park presided by Humpty Dumpty and wanting to keep the dream of Caper Acres alive. The effort yielded a beautiful rendering of ideas in the Master Renovation Plan that the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission and City Council approved in 2014.

The renovation plan provides the broad concepts to improve drainage and landscaping, replaced damaged and impractical materials with low maintenance ones, add new features such as a zip line and a Monkey Face climbing structure, and much more.

While the city will provide some funding and staff to oversee the work, in reality the Caper Acres renovation is a community venture with broad support. The phase plan will help us match implementation needs with community resources that have been generously offered.

To make the plan a reality, we will rely on community donations. We have already begun some work. Over the last two years the Parks Division has been able to apply received donations toward the Caper Acres renovation. Those funds have been and are being utilized for a variety of items such as the repaired footings of the Bird Cage, added needed fall material, and removed the aged and hazardous Bunker Hill Mine.

How can you help with Caper Acres?

You can attend the Caper Acres Fantasy Fun Run on May 13. Join us for a volunteer day. Donate to the Parks Division. Buy a Caper Acres brick. Greet other park visitors and garner support. All of these types of efforts help us move forward.

As we embark on this journey, we will share milestones and provide opportunities for public input so that we can continue improving our efforts. We also report our progress to the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission. Interested citizens can get on our mailing list.

For more information and ideas on how you can get involved please email parkinfo@ chicoca. gov or call the parks office at 8967800. Dan Efseaff is the city’s parks and natural resource manager. Shane Romain is parks services coordinator.

I had to answer, so sent the following to the ER letters sections – the appropriate page for opinions such as the above.

According to publicpay.ca.gov, City of Chico Park and Natural Resources Director and Park Services Coordinator make  a combined $236,000 in total compensation.   That’s $118/hour, based on a 40 hour week, for two employees to tell us they don’t have enough money to maintain the park. (“Caper Acres Needs You”, 3/3/17) 

According to city Public Works Director Erik Gustafson, the Butte County “Alternative Custody Service” is available for $100 a day and has been used to clean restrooms, perform vegetation removal, and clear illegal encampments. I wonder why this program is not employed for clean-up and repair at Caper Acres. 

The Park Commission has discussed more citations for illegal camping and other violations, “which could add to the park revenue…” while deterring illegal activities.  In 2016, 444 “warnings” were issued to illegal campers, while only 76 were cited. City manager Mark Orme explained to me that “one of the reasons for the high number of warnings is that, in many cases, the occupant moves on and removes items…”  Gustafson told me the city believes these campers are protected by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, which pertain to a person’s rights within their home.  

 Welcome to Sanctuary City. 

Juanita Sumner, Chico? CA

I had a little trouble finding these positions on the public pay website because the titles were mis-spelled in the story – the database is spelling sensitive, you have to spell it exactly  right. Whoever was responsible for this story added an ‘s’ to “Park”, I had to drop the ‘s’ before the database would spit it out. Look for yourself, it’s a shocking read. Then look  at our town – does it look like a town that pays out $28 million plus in salaries, with another $12.5 in pensions and benefits?

With a payroll like that, we should be able to eat off the streets, instead, we can hardly drive on them! 

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Here’s one of the main problems with Chico Unified School District – board member Eileen Robinson lives in la la land

2 Mar

This letter to the News and Review was written by Chico Unified School  District board member Eileen Robinson, one of the longest standing members of the  school board.  

Let’s do better

You drive your SUV to a 25-unit campground and select a site. You unload your tent, sleeping bags, supplies and your pet. You settle in for a time to visit with your fellow campers and share a campfire. You have two outhouses and two dumpsters to accommodate the most basic of needs.

Next scenario has you pulling and pushing your shopping cart or bicycle into one of 25 campsites. You unload your tent, sleeping bags, supplies and your pet. You are welcomed and settle in to share a campfire and some camaraderie with your fellow camp mates. This campsite restricts placement of outhouses or dumpsters to accommodate the most basic of needs.

In scenario one you leave voluntarily to return home after a few days of rest and relaxation.

In scenario two, government entities declare your circumstance a health and safety hazard and serve legal notice you are to return to the uncertainty of life on the streets of the community where you live.

I hope we will do better than this and find a new “campsite” where people find safety and comfort in numbers, and solace in an understanding community.

Eileen Robinson

Chico

Eileen, the reason we have so many transients on the streets is the failure of our schools to prepare children for the reality of the world – work or starve.  The school district is only  now bringing back classes in basic work training such as welding and shop.  For years they steered kids toward the performing arts and the cloudy world of “tech.” A lot of the transients I see repeatedly arrested are from local schools – they “fell through the cracks.”

I had to suffer an appearance by Robinson at a CARD meeting one evening, she was completely unprofessional, disorganized, and demanding.  She’s one of the longest  standing members of CUSD board, and  she needs to go.  Problem is, the public pays so little attention to the school board,  there hasn’t been a real board election in years.

Wake the hell up Chico.

Call CARD and ask if you can participate in their survey

23 Feb

I got a question from a reader about CARD (Chico Area Recreation District) and their plans to put a revenue measure before property owners, so I gave them the link to the district budget:

http://www.chicorec.com/About-Card/CARD-Resources/Public-Resources/index.html

I wish more people would pay attention to what CARD is doing. I’ve heard the excuses – sure, we’re all busy.  I been busy this week, up to my neck, I’m turning over a rental, so pardon me if I don’t have time for your whining.  I get up at 5 am to do this kind of stuff, try that sometime!  The stars are bright, the sunrise is brilliant, the morning air is fresh and the quiet will astound you. 

At least don’t stand there like a stooge while these bureaucrats pick you clean. Get off your duff, turn off the  tv, and stand up for yourself and your family. Write a letter to the CARD board and tell them to save their money – YOUR money! Tell them you won’t support another revenue measure, you want to see management pay their own benefits. Write a letter to one of the papers, but don’t just sit there waiting to be had.

Call the CARD office at 895-4711 and ask them how you can participate in the survey, see what they say, get back to me.

I sent this letter to the Enteprise Record yesterday. 

Chico Area Recreation District board approved $28,000 for consultant EMC to conduct a phone survey in late February, to vet the voters regarding a proposed revenue measure.

Complaining they are not able to maintain their facilities with a $5.5 million payroll, CARD wants to put a bond or assessment on property owners and take over the city’s developer impact fees.

The real problem is that non-management staff have been restricted to 27 hours or less per week in response to the Affordable Care Act. This has led to cuts in some programs and deferred maintenance for facilities like Humboldt Skate Park and Shapiro Pool. 

Meanwhile, management staffers continue to receive generous benefits, paying only 2 to 6.25 percent of their benefits package, out of salaries exceeding $100,000/year. An auditor reported their $1,758,200 pension deficit will grow by about $55,000 annually. The 2016-17 salary/benefits total of $5.5 million is $287,590 more than 2015-16, even after non-management staffers were restricted to 27 hours per week. 

Of a $7.8 million budget, over $4 million comes from property taxes, park impact fees on development, and homeowner assessments.  The agency spends less than $2 million on “services and supplies,” including maintenance of facilities.  “Capital Funding” is shown as a negative figure. 

Management over-compensation and deferred maintenance of facilities have led CARD to their current situation.    If you receive a call from EMC,  tell them you are not willing to further fund this agency.

“On the Waterfront” still rings true in many ways

16 Feb

Today I have a cold, so I am staying inside to watch movies on tv.  What luck – the old movies channel is playing “On the Waterfront” with Marlon Brando and Lee J. Cobb.

I know – it’s “just a movie” – but it tells the story of the unions and how they are corrupt by nature.  Based on a series of stories written by Malcolm Johnson for the New York Sun, OTWF dramatizes “the corruption and organized crime infiltration on the New York City waterfront… the inhumane treatment of longshoremen implicitly condoned by the unions, and the suspicious disappearance of anyone who spoke out against the system…”

As I sit at the keyboard I am listening to the “Johnny Friendly” character, played by Lee J. Cobb, explain to Marlon Brando’s “Terry” why his friend had to die,  how many people had died for the control of the waterfront jobs. As they speak around the pool table, Johnny is continually given reports of the thousands of dollars his minions have conscripted from the workers.

Later Karl Malden asks the workers why  they put up with the treatment from Friendly, ” what about your union?” The men cautiously tell the priest that anybody who raises any question about the treatment of the workers loses electricity in his apartment, “and then your lights go out..” “Name one place where it’s safe to talk without getting clobbered…” adds another man.

Did you know that in order to have a job with the Chico Police or Fire Department you are required to be to pay membership dues, whether or not you choose to be an actual member. You simply give up your right to vote in union matters, but you have to keep paying the dues that end up in campaign contributions at election time. The CPOA is routinely the biggest single donor in Chico elections.

This is a great movie, but here’s more information on the original stories:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/malcolm-johnson/on-the-waterfront/

Fueled by a dated system that does not always respond to market incentives or pressure, costs and surpluses of energy have both grown in California

14 Feb

More information on California’s “power glut”.

http://calwatchdog.com/2017/02/14/extra-electricity-no-price-relief/

Our local government just a cesspool with a revolving door

13 Feb

Read this story from the Territorial Dispatch – remind you of anybody?

http://territorialdispatch.biz/component/edocman/?task=document.viewdoc&id=315&Itemid=0

“Sutter County Community Services Director Danelle Stylos, 60, was arrested on Feb 1, 2017 by District Attorney Investigators for making false statements, providing false information, perjury and voter fraud. She was booked into Sutter County jail and released on $25,000 bail. “

I am immediately reminded of former City of Chico Finance Director Jennifer Hennessy.

http://www.pe.com/articles/city-678028-report-hennessy.html

Like Stylos, Jennifer Hennessy left her job right before the shit hit the fan.

The city of Chico, former employer of Temecula Finance Director Jennifer Hennessy, is facing a huge budget deficit that was covered up for months by city management, according to a Butte County Grand Jury report released late last month.

Hennessy was hired by Temecula in late March.

People screamed for Hennessy to be fired, arrested, tarred and feathered – instead, just like Stylos, she resigned and got a new job in another town. 

I think the major difference here was that Oakdale hired a sharper interim manager who really looked into the books and found improprieties.  Here, after a similar shake-up and several high-level forced resignations, Mark Sorensen and his council hired Brian Nakamura, a guy so up to his neck in his own problems, he decided to cut the losses and get rid of Hennessy to install his own friend, Chris Constantin, as finance manager. Constantin howled loudly about our “loosy goosy” finance management, but Hennessy was never charged with anything. 

Of course, Nakamura ended up leaving Chico as suddenly as  he appeared.

https://www.newsreview.com/chico/so-long-nakamura/content?oid=13622217

But Nakamura has a track record of relatively short stints on the job. He’s held 10 positions in the past 21 years.

“Looking at Brian’s employment history, he has this cycle of two or three years. That was a concern that we had,” Gruendl said.

Well, it didn’t take two years for the city of Rancho Cordova to figure Nakamura out, and he was forced to resign.

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/07/01/rancho-cordova-city-manager-resigns-after-negative-performance-evaluation/

Nakamura, a guy who always manages to land on his feet, wasn’t unemployed long.

http://spp.ucr.edu/media/2016_mpp_nakamura.html

Of course, former mayor Gruendl left Chico less than a year behind Nakamura in a shitstorm over his substance abuse, landing a high paying job in San Mateo County.

https://www.facebook.com/scott.gruendl

So, this man who used to scream about Chico being his “home town” until it was disclosed he had been in rehab a couple of times without telling either his Glenn County employers or his city of Chico constituents is now working for a county health department, specializing in re-hab? I  guess it takes an expert. 

These are the kind of people who work in “public service.” 

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Cal Watchdog: California’s utility companies have been involved in a power-plant building spree, even though Californians have significantly cut their electricity usage over the same time period. And they’re allowed to raise rates to cover the cost, whether we need these plants or not.

11 Feb

Thanks Bob for this article detailing the way power companies are allowed to operate against the best interests of the California ratepayer:

http://calwatchdog.com/2017/02/07/lack-competition-leading-costly-electricity-glut/

“Companies are granted an electricity monopoly for a particular region, then are guaranteed a hefty rate of return for the infrastructure investments they make.”

“This price system, critics say, results in unforeseen consequences. A recent investigative report found that California’s utility companies have been involved in a power-plant building spree, even though Californians have significantly cut their electricity usage over the same time period. In three years, the state is projected to be producing 21 percent more electricity than it needs, without counting the growth in rooftop-solar applications, reported the Los Angeles Times.”

 

Chico Unified: we want more money or we hurt the kids…

8 Feb

A couple of weeks ago we read an article in the Sacramento Bee detailing the failure of the California State Teachers Retirement Fund – CalSTRS. Here’s the latest from Cal Watchdog:

http://calwatchdog.com/2017/02/03/pension-funding-catastrophe-threatens-california-schools/

Yes, as Chico Unified School District finance director Kevin Bultema told me, ” The increase PERS and STRS costs are certainly a challenge for the district’s operations budget and will need to be addressed with either increased revenues from the state or cuts in CUSD’s program expenditures in the future.”

I hear “we want more money or we’ll hurt the kids…” What do you hear? 

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The bums aren’t the only problem with Bidwell Park

6 Feb

I haven’t given up on Bidwell Park yet. I had to respond to a letter writer who complained to the Enterprise Record that the city was removing too much plant material from the park. David Little complains that he’s getting so many letters about Donald Trump, its taking him a week to post the average letter to the editor, so I’ll post it here:

On December 27 I contacted the city of Chico to report an extensive transient camp in lower Bidwell Park. City manager Mark Orme thanked me and assured me that the city would follow up “at this specific site”.  

Over the next month I continued to find and report illegal campers in the same area, watching city staff chase them from one spot another, piles of trash left behind that included bike parts. Some sites were scattered with city-provided plastic bags full  of fecal  matter, whether from dogs or humans I wouldn’t know.  

Massive stands of non-native berry vines are tunneled into, dead limbs are arranged to conceal the campsites. Some of them appear to have been used for years. They are kept just out of sight of main trails and the road by the intense tangle of non-native and  dead vegetation. 

After a frustrating month of reporting these sites,   I was relieved  to see city crews have removed enough vegetation so that  campsites will be visible from the road for Chico PD. 

The city must continue to remove non-native, overgrown and dead vegetation from Bidwell Park. It’s not just about the bums – our big oak trees are in trouble, being smothered out by invaders like Himalayan blackberry, English ivy, privet, and vinca.

Unfortunately the park is in serious trouble after these storms. On a bike ride yesterday I saw sections of the south road that are falling into the creek. Dead trees laying across the creek cause the water to spread out toward the road, undermining the pavement. 

The north park road is a big mess from not just car traffic  but the garbage trucks the city sends in once a week to empty the trash cans. The city crews used to go in with a pick-up truck, but the city says they save money by using Waste Management. Really? 

This is gross mismanagement. It started years ago  under a “liberal” majority, but continues full speed ahead with a “conservative” majority that spends all our budget on salaries and benefits, and tells us we must pay more if we want the type of services generally expected out of a city with a $100 million budget and management paid upwards of $200,000 a year with 88 – 91 percent of their benefits paid by the taxpayers. 

Silly us! We, ourselves, are to blame, we let this happen.  The longer we let it go on, the more we are to blame.

I’ll continue to take pictures and post them here, send them to ER Hot Shots, and maybe even to the city council. You do same.

Hello?

CARD makes some changes in their plans for a phone survey, now scheduled for late February

4 Feb

Since I wrote a letter to the Enterprise Record telling people to watch for a CARD survey in late January or early February, the ad hoc committee that was formed to make arrangements with the consultant has called for a few changes. For one thing, contrary to what the consultant told the board at the meeting I attended, the survey will now include a question about “ a potential revenue measure,”  according to GM Ann Willmann. The consultant had told the board, there would be no mention of CARD, no mention of a revenue measure, just a vague discussion of what kind of activities people were interested in. 

At least now they will be more honest, but I’m guessing there will be no mention of their $1.7 million pension deficit, expected to grow by roughly $57,000 a year. This needs to be part of the discussion. They also need to answer for years of neglect at various facilities,  such as Shapiro and Pleasant Valley pools. They need to explain the decision to buy the rot-riddled and non-ADA compliant money pit known as Lakeside Pavilion. They need to explain what happened at DeGarmo Park, the flooding of the play field, the failure of the playground facilities, ten’s of thousands poured into repairs at that park since it opened. They need to be more up front about how they fund management pensions at the expense of other employee’s hours and benefits and deferment of maintenance to their facilities. 

They seem to be very defensive about the aquatic center. I didn’t even mention that in my last letter. They just want to avoid the questions I’ve raised about their pensions and other silly expenditures.

Phone survey for CARD planned for late February

By Laura Urseny

lurseny@ chicoer. com @ LauraUrseny on Twitter

CHICO >> During the week of Feb. 20, hundreds of Chico households will be getting calls, asking for a few minutes of time to answer some questions about recreation.

The survey is sponsored by the Chico Area Recreation and Park District, which wants to know residents’ feelings about recreation and CARD itself.

“ We’re rea lly tr y in g to determine what people know currently about CARD, how CARD is doing, what they would like to see in parks and facilities in the community, and how they recreate,” said CARD General Manager A nn Willmann on Tuesday.

Last year, CARD’s board of directors budgeted up to $ 38,000 for a contract to EMC Research of Oakland for the survey. EMC hopes to get at least 400 responses.

The survey will also ask a question about “ a potential revenue measure,” Willmann said.

That revenue measure was the catalyst for this survey and much of what happens in 2017. EMC Research did a similar survey for the Chico Unified School Distr ic t , which was able to put a successful bond measure on the November ballot for district improvements.

CARD has been considering building an aquatics center, which has been part of its master plan for years. The closure of C A R D – op er at e d S h ap iro Pool in 2016 pushed up the significance of the proposed center.

CARD has not had the money to build it, but has discussed a way to raise money for it, and possibly other CARD priorities. The board has been talking about a tax, choosing between a set per- parcel tax or a “ benefits assessment” tax on property owners based on property valuation.

Regarding the survey, Willmann said the board expects to get a repor t from EMC in March. After that, CARD will look at doing a public relations campaign to help the community better understand what CARD does and determine what the community wants in regards to recreation.

Another sur vey could follow the campaign to gauge its impact, and then CARD would determine whether to proceed with a revenue measure.

Willmann said the survey will include questions on the proposed aquatic center, but not ex tensively.

“ It’s about all forms of recreation, not just will CARD build a pool.”

Willmann said information culled from the community interaction may also be used in the general plan update, which is going on currently.

CARD’s board budgeted $ 28,000 for the sur vey, and a total of $ 80,000 in regards to the steps leading up to deciding on the revenue measure.

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