July 26, 2006 - Top Stories
The Rincon tribe last week hosted a strategy session of California gaming tribes seeking a united front against pressure to change the original compacts negotiated with the State in 1999.
Both Thursday multi-tribe meetings focused on casino gaming compact negotiation strategies with the State. One featured an appearance by former Gov. Jerry Brown, who is running for attorney general.
Rincon Chairman John Currier welcomed the California Nations Indian Gaming Assn. (CNIGA), July 20, for the meeting held in Harrah’s Rincon Casino and Resort. More than 70 tribal delegates, attorneys, and consultants participated.
The day before, Currier facilitated a working group meeting in the hotel tower. This included 45 tribal representatives, attorneys, and consultants of tribes seeking to preserve the value and intent of the 1999 tribal-state gaming compacts signed by more than 60 tribes, and those tribes seeking their first compacts.
Many tribal leaders, among them Chairman Currier and San Pasqual Chairman Allen Lawson, were adamant that tribes should be afforded all the rights to which they were entitled, such as 2,000 slot machines per tribe, as provided by the 1999 compacts.
Currier said, “The state of California has attempted to use an artificial cap on the number of permitted machines in the statewide pool as leverage to force tribes to renegotiate a deal the tribes have had in place for six years. Clearly, the state has unilaterally changed the rules, and in effect, is seeking a way to place a new tax on gaming tribes which already pay their fair share, as agreed to in the 1999 compacts.”
Rincon is one of six Southern California gaming tribes involved in a dispute with Gov. Schwarzenegger and a lawsuit over how the number of slot machines is calculated. The governor has threatened to try to revoke the tribes’ gaming compacts and given them a Aug. 8 deadline. Schwarzenegger believes that multi-station games, such as blackjack, roulette or craps, where up to ten people sit at once, exceed the slot limits set by the State’s gaming compacts.
Tribes such as Rincon are limited to 2,000 slots. The governor argues that each seat counts as a slot for purposes of licensing and figuring fees that the tribe pays the state. Rincon and its allies argue that since a single chip controls such games, they qualify as one game.
In his statement Currier said, “The fees for additional gaming machines should come directly back to the communities to deal with off-reservation impacts, such as environmental mitigation, transportation, police, and fire protection, among others. If the State has its way, these funds will not come back to the local communities, but get lost in the State General Fund and not be allocated for uses the U.S. Congress intended. Whatever you want to call it, in reality the State wants to tax tribes, but call it something else. We think this is like dealing from the bottom of the deck.”
The next day, Lawson, as CNIGA Vice Chairman, conducted the CNIGA meeting.
Brown, who is mayor of Oakland, was invited by Lawson to outline the former governor’s qualifications to become the next California attorney general. Brown observed that if elected, he will be the first governor to become the State’s chief lawyer. Brown said he has a long history of contact with tribal governments. As governor he signed the law creating the California Native American Heritage Commission.
Currier told Brown that “contrary to what some politicians express, gaming tribes do pay their fair share to the state, our communities and other tribes through the 1999 compacts, as well as pursuant to various separate agreements with local governments. Tribes, like Rincon, are going beyond ‘fair share’ by not only complying with the compacts, but also building fire stations and providing higher levels of fire and police protection in our local areas beyond compact requirements.”
CNIGA delegates also covered issues related to tribal-state compact negotiations, as well as considered reports on pending state and federal legislation.
Currier noted, “Rincon recently rejoined CNIGA after several years, as we want to help strengthen the organization and improve its effectiveness.”
CNIGA represents 68 gaming tribes in the state.
Tribal delegates were invited after the meeting to tour the new $4 million Rincon Reservation Fire Station.
Steve Mahady is doing the kind of work he always wanted to do. “I like to take the tough tasks and make them work,” says the new fire district administrator.
It took him a few years and a few jobs at other professions to get him there, but the new fire district administrator is right where he wants to be.
Fire administrator is the post that was created several months ago when the duties of fire marshal Joy Justis was split, to allow her to concentrate all of her energies on the fire marshal’s duties.
Before coming to the Valley Center Fire Protection District board a few weeks ago, Mahady had worked as a project manager for a construction litigation firm in Carlsbad. The company does forensic investigations of homes that have filed lawsuits because of faulty construction. Before that he was a paralegal for a law firm in Poway.
“It was more of a stepping stone to get to the position where I am now,” says Mahady, who has a BA in public administration.
Born in Maryland, he moved around a lot as a child as part of a US Marine Corps family. But he’s been in California for a long time. He lives in Vista with his wife, Sandy, and their three children.
“I’m enjoying doing what I’m doing, particularly in the time that I’ve come in. There’s so much going on right now,” he says.
He likes the job because of its variety. “You never know what you are going to see. We have five members going up for election. We have the assessment firm we are working with to possibly put an election on the ballot next year. We are upgrading Station 72 on Lilac.”
They also just installed a computer network, which brings the station “up to this century,” in Mahady’s words. It provides better communication between everyone at the district, including allowing them to send each other e-mail. Some people, like fire marshal Joy Justis, are out of the office a lot, so e-mails make a big difference in communicating.
Previously the fire board meetings were recorded on tape. Now they are recorded on CD, which is easily available to the public and the press to review.
The digitizing of the office also extends to putting lots of documents on disk that would ordinarily be on paper. Of course, the paperless workplace is a goal that many companies have aimed at, including several that Mahady has worked for. Mahady will also soon put a district Web site up on the Internet. It will contain community-oriented information, safety information and tips.
When burn permits are again being issued the information on whether they are available that day will be posted on the Web site.
This all fits in with what Mahady was doing at his previous job, where he was operations manager..
Mahady’s goal is to bring the district up to the “state-of-the-art” as fire districts go. Of course, he has a lot of mundane, workaday duties as well. These involve payroll, and doing what the fire directors and fire chief ask him to do.
Mahady likes the tough jobs. “I like to see things through. The tougher they are the better,” he says.
He has nothing but the highest praise for the people he’s working with. “It’s an outstanding staff. It's nice to come to work every day. Anything you do is for the betterment of the community.”
He wants the people in the community to know that the staff is striving to improve fire protection every day. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a person work harder than the chief in doing those kind of activities.”
The fire district office, located at 28234 Lilac Rd., is open M-F 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. The public can drop by the office during those hours to obtain burn permits, to talk to Joy Justis about building inspections and to get plan checks.
“We get a lot of phone calls when people see smoke somewhere,” says Mahady with a smile. We at The Roadrunner can identify with that.
People will also occasionally drop by to get medical aid. One resident came by recently with a broken shoulder. That’s not encouraged. The best way to get medical assistance is to call 911. The ambulance will come to you.
Fire Station 72 on Lilac will soon get a new look.
The signature wood look of the fire station that was built mainly with local labor, when the district first was created in the 1980s, will be changed to stucco.
This is apparently the only way to deal with the station’s recurring, chronic mold problems, which have cost the district many thousands of dollars over the past few years.
Fire District Administrator Steve Mahady this week told The Roadrunner that the work on the fire station will happen very soon. “We’re waiting for the windows to be delivered. As soon as we get those we’re off to the races,” he said. The work should take from 3-4 weeks.
The work will consist of tearing apart the outside and putting up stucco in its place. The bathrooms will also be redone. It is expected to cost about $85,000.
According to Mahady, the wood exterior is separating from the building because of the mold. There have been apparently some health problems associated with the mold growth, although that has not come out at the public meetings of the fire board.
The work must be done carefully because firefighters will continue to live there during the construction.
“They will start on one side and then move to the other side,” said Mahady. “We may rent a motor home for a couple of days for the firefighters.”
Mahady and his staff might have to move out of the office for a time, “Although I kind of doubt it,” he said.
Temperatures in Valley Center over the weekend were the hottest that anyone in the area can remember for years and years.
How hot was it? Some local thermometers, before they melted, recorded temps of 111° or 112° . On Friday temperatures were 102°, on Saturday they rose to 112°. On Sunday it “cooled down” to 105° and by Monday it was back up to 109°.
Although hot weather often causes people who are not prepared for it to call 911, so far Valley Center Fire Protection District hasn’t had any of that kind of call.
The heat also hasn’t generated any crime wave, according to the Sheriff’s substation.
Some Valleyites have proved themselves to be real iron men. Tirso Ruiz reported that he and a bunch of “old guys” played ball over the weekend in the sweltering heat. No casualties were reported.
If you’re looking for a place to cool off on weekdays and Saturdays, try the local county library. It’s actually designated as a “cool zone,” a place identified by a blue sign with a cool-looking polar bear. The public is invited to come in and cool off. Ironically, says branch librarian Sandy Puccio, “It seems the hotter the weather the less business we get.”
August 17, 1 p.m. the library will hold Popsicles and Pop Music. This is co-sponsored by SDG&E and the County’s Aging & Independence Services. It includes a concert in the community room featuring the Valley Center Orchestra. Of course, you also have to listen to a spiel by an SDG&E spokesman on how to save electricity during hot weather.
Probably the area where the hot weather is having the most impact is in water usage.
According to Valley Center Municipal Water District Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant, “Our water usage is WAY up! On Saturday we had flows of almost 140 cubic feet/second (cfs), which we haven’t seen since the early 1990s.” This approached being the upward limit on how much water SDCWA can deliver.
Typical water flows in the district are from 100-110 cfs. “This is a dramatic increase on what we normally see,” said Arant.
For June the flow was 90 cfs. Last July the average flow was 99.3 cfs. This month the flow has been 107 cfs, about 10% higher than last year at this time.
Even with the extreme conditions over the weekend, the San Diego County Water Authority was able to meet local water demands. “However, if something had broken in the system we might have had to ask customers to cut back,” said Arant.
Last week the district sent an advisory e-mail to its 180 largest customers, all agricultural users, warning that it was experiencing high flows and might have to ask them to reduce use by five or ten percent.
“We’re on the ragged, ragged edge,” said Arant. “It’s like a racecar going 200 mph. If something goes wrong, like a flat tire, it’s a disaster.”
Let the games begin!
Seats have opened on a variety of local boards that serve the communities of Valley Center and Pauma Valley.
Aug. 11 is the deadline to file to be a candidate for these boards. Most require that you travel to the Registrar of Voters office in San Diego to get papers and file. The office is located at 5201 Ruffin Road, Suite I, San Diego. Call them at (858) 565-5800 or toll free at (800) 696-0136 if you have questions. Office hours are 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday -Friday. A few local agencies offer the papers, but you still need to file them in San Diego.
VC-Pauma Unified School District: The seats of Henry Van Wyk, Lori Johnson and Barbara Rohrer are up for election. As of Monday, all three had picked up papers. Pediatrician Doug Dechairo also picked up papers, but has not filed.
VC Planning Group: Seven seats are open for this advisory council to the Board of Supervisors. As of Monday, one person, Susan Simpson, an appointed incumbent, had picked up papers.
Valley Center Municipal Water District: Three seats are up for grabs in this district, which includes VC and parts of the I-15 Corridor. Incumbents Randy Haskell, Div. 2, Gary Broomell, Div. 3 and Merle Aleshire, Div. 5, are up for election. So far, no one has filed or picked up papers. Pick up filing papers at the VCMWD office at 29300 Valley Center Rd. Office hours are 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. M-F. To see if you are a resident of any of these divisions, call Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant at 749-1600.
Yuima Municipal Water District: Two seats are up for election. Incumbents are Bill Knutson in Div. 4 and Doug Anderson in Div. 1. No one has picked up papers or filed.
Valley Center Fire Protection District: All five seats are up for election this year. Two are two-year terms. The rest are four-year terms. One person, Oliver Smith, an electrical engineer who is also on the VC Planning Group, has picked up papers.
VC Parks & Rec District: The seats of Tom Bumgardner, Eric Jockinsen, and Fran DeWilde are up for election. The Parks & Rec. office has a few filing packages that you can pick up. Call Tiffany at 749-8852 for more information.
Pauma Valley Community Services District: Three seats are up for election is this district. Incumbents are Ronald Stewart, William Taylor, and Richard Meyers. Filing papers can be picked up at the district office, located at 33129 Cole Grade Road. You can call the district at 742-1909.
Pauma Municipal Water District: Two seats are open on this governing water district board. So far, no candidates have filed or drawn papers.
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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