By DAVID ROSS
Recognizing that $64.5 million in needed capital improvements looms in the next few years, the water board Monday abandoned its traditional pay as you go strategy and begin ramping up rates by 4.1% in preparation for the major overhaul.
It followed staff’s recommendation and raised rates $29.06 per acre foot and $21.27 per AF for domestic and ag rates respectively.
This passes through increases being imposed in January by the Metropolitan Water District, the big agency that serves Southern California, and the San Diego County Water Authority, which directly serves the VC water district.
But it also covers inflationary costs and sustains “the buying power of the funds raised to cover local operating costs,” according to the staff report.
This choice of the ant over the grasshopper philosophy (in mythology the ant put food away for the winter while the grasshopper fiddled) did not come without some discussion.
“It seems to me as though we are raising rates because we can and not because we have to,” commented director Chuck Stone. “I always second guess and ask ‘Why do we have to ask for more money?’ ”
“The district faces about $65 million in capital improvements and that will involve paying debt service,” said Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant. “Do we need this money to balance the budget this year? No. But we do have increases coming down the road in maintenance, health benefits and capital improvements.”
The district’s master plan calls for $64.5 million, of which $33.2 million will replace old pipes; $15.1 million will build facilities for new customers (which will be paid for out of capacity fees collected from new development) and $16.2 million will improve reliability for existing customers. According to Arant, $49.4 million will have to come from water rates.
The district has usually passed on increased prices from its suppliers, although twice in the 1990s it absorbed the increases. But the portion of the rates applied for local costs hasn’t been raised since 1995-96.
There are districts that put off raising rates until they can’t avoid it, and then raise them 25% or 30% in one year, said Arant, referring to a neighboring water agency, Rainbow Municipal Water District.
“In the past when we have brought increases before the board we’ve been asked, ‘Why did you wait so long?’ Certainly you could defer this increase. There are districts in this area that have found ways to get along by not raising rates. But the old saying is pay me now or pay me latter.”
“I’m thinking if we could afford not to raise the rates now, even though its only three bucks, why wouldn’t we do it further down the line?” asked Stone.
Arant predicted that when the district finally begins its capital improvement program, which includes replacement of many miles of 50 year old pipes, that from $25 to $30 per acre foot will be added to the rates.
“Isn’t it better to do it gradually rather than hit the ratepayers all at once,” commented director Merle Aleshire.
Arant was asked when the district will launch its capital plan.
He replied that staff will begin to meet with financial planners in the next few months. He wants to include part of the project in next year’s budget.
Currently capital projects such as replacing pumps or putting in new reservoirs are financed on a “pay as you go” basis. When a project comes in under the budget the money left over is put into the capital improvement fund.
For $65 million in capital expenditures, that way of doing things won’t work, said Arant.
“If we go into a debt financing program we can’t operate like that.” Lenders will have to be shown that the district has a fixed revenue stream that can be applied to debt servicing.
“We won’t have the luxury of saying ‘We made a million this year we’ll put that in the bank for capital improvements,’ ” said Arant.
“It still looks to me like we’re doing it because we can not because we have to,” said Stone.
“Sooner or later we will have to,” rejoined Arant. “We don’t want to be like neighboring districts that have gotten into a lot of trouble by putting off paying for improvements.”
For many years VCMWD has kept its water rates among the four of five lowest water districts in the county. That may change, said Arant.
“We’re at a point where our capital expenditures are going to be more intensive. I look around and see other agencies whose rates are higher than us who have faced reality and are going through capital improvements. I think this board has done an excellent job of controlling costs, but there’s a fine line between controlling costs and ignoring costs.”
For Gary Broomell, the board president who’s also a farmer, the cost of water is still very expensive.
“I just looked at the Metropolitan Water District’s master plans,” he said. “If you think that water is expensive today, look at your bill in ten years. The Met is projecting that the costs of treatment, mandated by the federal government, will add 150 dollars onto the cost of every acre foot.”
All directors present (Randy Haskell was absent) voted yes, including Stone, who said, “Reluctantly, yes.”
Just Say No
At the end of the discussion of whether to try a 9/80 staff scheduling plan as an experiment for several months, directors voted to reject the idea.
GM Arant asked whether he should tell the employees’ organization that it was because the proposal was too complex.
“Tell them it’s rejected,” said director Merle Aleshire.
Arant persisted, and asked if he could explain the board’s reservations about the proposal.
“Tell them whatever you want. It’s rejected,” said Aleshire.
As part of the just completed meet and confer process with the employees’ organization, management had agreed to bring the proposal for a 9/80 work schedule to the board. The employees voted 55% in favor of the idea.
A 9/80 work schedule would give employees who took part a Friday off every other week. In return, they would work nine hours a day.
A committee of management and workers investigated the idea.
“Nobody has a pure 9/80, especially districts of our size,” said Arant. “The main driver is keeping enough people available for emergency response and keeping enough people available for customer service.
“The thing you don’t want to have happen is to have someone come in on Friday and say we can’t help you, you need to come back on Monday.”
Under the plan proposed by Arant, about a third of the employees would have been part of the program. None of them would have been people who dealt with the public, or inspectors, project managers or finance department employees. Department heads and the general manager would also not have participated.
The trail period rejected by the board was from February to September.
Arant noted that vacation and comp time scheduling would be critical if the program was adopted because every Friday a third of the work force would be gone.
Directors were not enthusiastic about the idea.
“I’d be willing to go along on a trial basis,” Broomell said.
Aleshire commented, “I have kind of a visceral reaction against these kinds of things. I don’t see how it helps the organization. And if it doesn’t help the organization there’s no point.”
He added, “I see it as overly complex, adding work load to the management, to hours worked, to bookkeeping tasks. I just don’t see the benefit of this program, I see it as something that is on a wish list of employee organizations.
“We compensate people very well. It’s always difficult to express opposition to an employee request, but I think that things are working extremely well and I’d like to see things continue. To me, it’s kind of ridiculous.”
Arant said that if the program took too much time to implement that would be a factor in evaluating it.
“If you get into the program it will be a lot harder to discontinue it,” retorted Aleshire.
Director Stone said he agreed with Aleshire’s philosophy but that he was willing to give the idea a trial.
Director Bob Polito agreed with Aleshire. “I think we are going to make the district more complex with minimal benefits.”
The board rejected the proposal 3-0-1 with Stone abstaining.
Step by STEP
On staff recommendation the board voted to keep STEP sewer charges for the Moosa Treatment Plant the same.
The board had previously directed staff to monitor costs of the STEP sewer, which is a pressure sewer collection system that stores effluent at each home that it serves.
Arant noted that last year the district collected more than it needed from sewer fees in the area that the STEP system serves: Rimrock.
“Our perspective is that it seems that the rate at which we have been increasing the fees and the fact that we are adding more residential units, seems to be working,” said Arant.
“It’s true that one reason that is the case is that we have had no major pump replacements. One replacement could change that. We’re starting to see the kind of performance out there that we’d like to see. At this point we don’t see the need for an increase.”
Modular Remodel
The board voted to award the contract for remodeling the Engineering Annex II (formerly the board room) to Blair Rasmussen Construction for $43,418.
The old board room will be remodeled into a conference room and offices for six engineers and an engineering manager.
The county Dept. of Public Works has begun major roadwork on a 6-mile section of Valley Center Road from the City of Escondido to Cole Grade Road in order to increase its safety, capacity and efficiency.
The work will be done in two phases under separate contracts. This $33 million project will include the following road improvements:
•Widening and realigning the road
•Adding a center median, bike lanes and graded parkways
•Adding a concrete sidewalk along portions of the road through town.
Work Hours: This project is approved for construction hours both during the day and at night. The contractor is required to comply with noise level restrictions at all times and notify nearby residents of planned nighttime work.
Day hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Night hours: Sunday - Thursday, 8:30 p.m. - 5 a.m.
DPW reminds residents to allow extra time to travel in this area and to observe the posted speed limit of 40 mph throughout the construction zone to maintain safety and to avoid double penalty traffic fines.
The Highway Patrol will be on site during much of the work to enforce the posted speed limit.
During the week of Dec 1 day, Yeager Skanska Inc., the contractor, will continue with construction preparation for roadwork. Yeager Skanska Inc. will:
•Mobilize and install construction signs
•Install erosion control measures
•Clear brush from work area
•Relocate the concrete barrier (k-rail)
•Mobilize equipment
Yeager Skanska Inc. is scheduled to set up traffic control. Starting Monday night, one lane in each direction will be open at most times.
By the end of the week, the existing southbound lane is scheduled to be closed and southbound traffic will be rerouted onto the existing inside northbound lane. For approximately three nights the contractor will conduct the following activities to set up the traffic control:
•Remove existing striping
•Restripe the road
•Remove concrete k-rail (during the day)
•Install directional signs
•Install reflective channelizers between northbound and southbound traffic
During the week of Dec. 7 day, Yeager Skanska Inc. is scheduled to continue construction prep work such as brush clearing and placing erosion control devices. Also, the contractor will begin excavating dirt on the west side.
During the week of Dec. 7 night, the contractor is scheduled to begin hauling dirt from west to east across Valley Center Road.
Project Brochures
Brochures about the project were mailed during the week of Nov. 17. If you did not receive the brochure in the mail, they are available at the following locations: Valley Center Library, School Administrative Offices, Bates Nut Farm, Harrah’s Rincon Casino, and Valley View Casino.
Destree Lazo,
Collaborative Services
Email: DestreeL@CollaborativeServices.biz
For day-to-day inquiries about the project, or update requests, call the
Project Hotline:
(619)232-2640
Great minds think alike, it seems. Just as two VC women have been trying to get the fire board interested in a district-wide “Reverse 911” program, the Board of Supervisors are considering the idea for the entire county.
Several weeks ago Lynne Peterson and Audra Johnson, both of VC, approached the fire board about this system, which can warn specific areas about fires, earthquakes and other disasters.
Working separately from the two women, Supervisor Greg Cox (board chairman) and Sheriff Bill Kolender have introduced a proposal that was to be discussed at the Tuesday (Dec. 2) meeting.
“The evacuation prompted by the October 2003 fires have demonstrated the need for targeted emergency notification of the residents of specific communities ranging over a large area of the County in the case of a major disaster,” says Cox’s letter to the board.
Reverse 911, also called telephone notification systems, are being touted as “the next level in public safety.”
The proposal being considered this week would direct the county Chief Administrative Officer to explore the feasibility of buying and implementing a Reverse 911 system for the county that could integrated into the existing County Alert Service System.
CASS allows small groups of up to 200 medical personnel to be notified during a crisis. It isn’t suitable for large-scale notifications.
The CAO would be directed to explore both public and private funding sources to support the system and to report back to the board within 120 days with a recommendation.
Reverse 911 is used in Chicago, Indianapolis and Santa Barbara. The system allows users to deliver messages appropriate to the situation, from small events to major disasters or even terrorist attacks.
Obdulia “Luly” Marini, has written a book about how you can change your life to make it what you want it to be.
She knows from personal experience. Her book Changing Places, Journey of the Heart, describes her personal journey from the age of 4 in Mexico, to age 17, when she emigrated to the United States.
She feels that during her journey God led her.
At one point, when she was getting ready to apply for a passport at Nogales prior to crossing the border she was told that it would take two years plus a proof of residency.
She went in with $5 and got her passport in less than four hours.
“God was good to me all the way. Not because I was good but because, maybe, he felt sorry for me.”
Not everything was easy. When she first got a license to drive a school bus the children laughed at her and said, “How can you drive a bus when you don’t speak English?”
On the back of the self-published book are written these words: “No book has ever been written, no story ever told, that so powerfully demonstrates that you can change places with who you want to be, with where you want to be, doing what you want to do.”
Hyperbole aside, the book has made a big impression among the people that “Luly” works with every day as a school bus driver for the Rincon Indian Reservation. This is her second year at that job. Before that she had her own cleaning business for 23 years and also worked at the Poway school district as well as driving a bus for Greyhound.
“A lot of people know me because I cleaned for a lot of people,” she says.
“They read it and tell me: ‘I want more!’ ” she says.
Another read the book, gave her a hug and said, “I cry for you! I cry for you!”
They will get more soon, as the author says she is working on a book that takes her from age 17 to the present. It will be titled Changing Places: Journey in America.
“I decided to write it [the first book] after I arrived here,” she recalls.
At first she was prompted to write after experiencing problems with management and harassment at her first job.
“But then I decided to start at the beginning.” She began making notes for the book in 1978. It took her about three years to write. “When I write the second one it won’t take as long,” she says.
The book was translated from the original Spanish, where it was written in a personal, conversational style.
It was hand-written and translated into English by a friend. Later her grown daughter helped her put the parts together. Her publisher, International Promotions, made her condense the book, by about half.
If her book has a theme, Marini says it is “Not to hurt people. To be more cautious about what you and say and what you do regarding children. Think about those children before yourself. Be nice to each other.”
In one chapter, she and her brothers and sisters share a small house with another family, so that 15 people are living under one roof.
The other family, slightly more “affluent” making fun of the poorer children and pressure them to leave.
As she gets older, and her mother loses her health, she has to take care of her younger siblings, basically working like a “slave.”
Her sister, who tried to argue her out of writing the book because it has many sections about her (such as one entitled “My Sister’s Anger and Hateful Tricks,” eventually told Luly “You had it in your heart. Now it’s in your book.”
* * *
Luly Marini will have several book signings in the near future.
This Saturday 1-5 p.m. she will be at the VC Library during its one year anniversary celebration.
On Dec. 14, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. she will have a signing at the Controversial Bookstore in San Diego, 3021 University Ave.
Family Christian Stores in Escondido also plans a signing, but at a time to be announced.
You can buy a book personally from the author by calling 743-5110.
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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