March 7, 2007 - Top Stories
The freeze that damaged many growers in January may have a ripple effect on the water district that gets most of its revenue from agricultural users.
The VC Municipal Water District board Monday adopted staff recommendations to cut back on 11 projects, to delay issuing certificates of participation (COP), to defer hiring several new positions and delay replacing some retiring personnel.
Fifteen percent of the district’s entire revenue comes from its ten largest ag customers.
In a report to the board Monday, the staff noted, “As an agency, our financial capacity and health is still very closely tied to agriculture and will be for some time to come.”
Estimates that citrus and avocado ranchers lost as much as 30-40% of their crops are not uncommon. The impact may carry forward one or two years for some crops.
The report said that it is difficult to see any eventuality where the district won’t lose some revenue, at least on the short-run. The full impact probably won’t be known for at least several months.
Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant and his staff emphasized that the positions and projects were not being eliminated, as each and everyone is or will be necessary at some point.
“What we were recommending was simply to defer moving forward until we get a better understanding of just how deeply and long lasting the freeze will have an impact on our ag water demand and our revenues,” Arant told The Roadrunner after the meeting.
Director Chuck Stone commented, “What the staff has proposed seems comprehensive and prudent, given the circumstances.”
The district will monitor water demand over the spring and summer to determine the relative drop in water demand.
Arant informed the board that “By the end of the coming summer season (October/ November), we should have a pretty good handle on how hard our growers have been hit.”
Under the resolution adopted Monday, the district will defer 11 projects of its capital improvement plan, totalling $4.1 million.
These include such projects as the Gordon Hill pipeline replacement and the Rodriguez Road pipeline replacement.
VCMWD will also delay issuing between $12 million–$15 million in COPs (COPS are a form of longterm debt) that would be used to reimburse the district for past capital expenditures and to help fund future projects.
It was felt that the financial uncertainty the district faces would be a factor in determining credit worthiness for the COPs. It would be best to wait until the financial effect on the district is more defined, the reasoning goes.
Also, as part of the recommendation, the district will delay hiring three new positions; it will hire a lower compensated position to replace the retiring assistant safety/code enforcement officer; it will delay replacing the vacated senior human resources analyst position; and it will hire a lower compensated engineering technician in place of the previously funded senior engineer position.
The discussion also covered some concerns with the long-term viability of ag in VC and North County.
The steep increase in wholesale water rates for this year, the ones projected for the next several years, coupled with the foreign competition from Mexico, could combine for a devastating blow to agriculture, and the water district, directors and staff agreed.
Although there have been many predictions over the years that rising water rates combined with other factors, such as NAFTA, would kill off agriculture in this area, it has turned out to be remarkably resilient.
However, some longtime observers feel that this last freeze may someday, in retrospect, turn out to be a watershed event for ag, one that might prove to be the tipping point that will accelerate the transition from crops to residential housing.
If that happens, Valley Center will obviously lose much beyond just the farms and their produce, it will lose all of the aesthetics associated with farming.
It will, say some, lose what makes Valley Center unique.
It’s Miss Valley Center pageant week and if you haven’t bought a ticket from one of the contestants, you still have time to do so.
Contestants are Jeana Boulos, Dominique Alto, Amanda Kaiser, Whitney Bisplinghoff, Kalyn Peirce, Ivory Martinez, Nicole Citrell, Katrina Brinkman, Alida Diaz, and Brittany Byler.
They are all getting excited for the big day, according to pageant director Debra Jockinsen.
“These young women have been working very hard learning their speeches, learning to walk in heels, and learning the dance,” she told The Roadrunner.
It will all come together when the community greets them at the 40th annual Miss Valley Center pageant, which will be held March 10 at the Maxine Theater.
Tickets cost $10 in advance or $15 at the door. You can buy tickets from the contestants or call Mrs. Jockinsen at 751-1051.
If you want to donate to the scholarship program you can also give her a call. Goods or services of any kind can be used as a way to show appreciation and to reward these young women and its a tax deductible donation.
The annual arts and music festival at VC Community Center is being moved to the fall.
The festival, which started about ten years ago, has been held in May, about three weeks prior to Western Days.
And that was the problem, according to Doug Johnsen, general manager of the VC Parks & Rec District.
“We’re moving it to get more participation, more people,” said Johnsen. “It was conflicting with Western Days. We were so close that people would attend one but not the other, and with Little League opening around the same time, it was a problem,” he said.
The exact month for the festival has not been decided. A committee composed of people who have helped plan the event in the past is looking at possible dates.
“We were talking about doing an Oktoberfest thing, but Bates Nut Farm has so much going on during that time that we are now thinking about September,” said Johnsen.
Summer is not under consideration. “It just gets too hot then,” he said.
Meetings of the committee studying the arts and music festival will be announced so the public can attend.
Valley View Casino just announced the opening date of April 13 for the first phase of its over $114 million expansion project.
The completed project will include increased dining and gaming space, including an upscale steakhouse and lounge, an all-new buffet, increased slots and table games and more.
On that day the public can see the 62,000 square feet of new casino space including a fully enclosed, 7,500 square foot non-smoking casino and non-smoking bar.
Additions include an all-new Players Club, an Elite Lounge, a gourmet snack cart and a new guest entrance.
Valley View's buffet will be relocated to a larger, more upscale venue until it moves to its permanent location this fall.
The new casino floor will offer 1,300 new slot machines and ten new table games, including single-deck, double-deck blackjack and Pai Gow poker.
“Thanks to the support and loyalty of our amazing guests as well as the local community, in just weeks we will be unveiling our all-new casino,” Bruce Howard, general manager of Valley View Casino, told The Roadrunner.
“And there is even more on the way. This first phase of our growth is just the beginning of what we believe will be San Diego's finest gaming and dining experience,” he said.
The opening dates of a steakhouse and lounge will be announced in the coming weeks.
The rest of the expansion, including increased slot machines and table games, an all-new buffet, a 24-hour café, an ice cream shop, a homemade pastry and cappuccino bar, an event center and a cabaret bar with live entertainment will be revealed in a grand opening this fall.
Currently, Valley View Casino features 1,260 slot and video poker machines; ten table games ; an award-winning buffet; the Café de View snack bar; the Rearview Bar; a smoke-free casino section and new six-story parking garage.
For more information about Valley View Casino, visit valleyviewcasino.com or call 1-866-VIEW-WIN.
The VC Fire Protection District board voted Thursday night to retain the position of fire marshal.
Two weeks ago the board considered abolishing the position once the current fire marshal, Joy Justis, retires in April.
At that time the board had a presentation from Ralph Steinhoff, the county Fire Service Coordinator. He said that the County could take over most of the inspection duties of the VC fire marshal.
Justis and fire chief Kevin O’Leary said that often the County overrules the fire marshal on some issues. Putting all of the plan inspections into the hands of the County might simplify matters for builders and developers, they said.
The majority of the board seemed to lean in that direction, but directors Weaver Simonsen and Bill Palmer were very much against the idea.
Simonsen felt that the board would be abrogating an important local function and removing a measure of local control.
So the board voted to give it further study and make a decision at a special meeting, which was held Thursday.
Meantime, the board heard from several developers and builders who said that the local fire marshal performs an important local service. Several of those people reiterated that view Thursday night.
Even when the fire marshal is overruled by the county, having someone locally to answer questions about fire regulations is very helpful, they said.
The board voted to keep the position of fire marshal, and to begin going through applications that it has received for the position.
At 2 a.m. Sunday, March 11, Daylight Savings Time will begin, and clocks will “spring forward” just as each autumn they “fall back.”
This year, Daylight Savings Time begins earlier, on the second Sunday in March, and ends on the first Sunday in November.
Just as there is no good or demonstrable reason for Daylight Savings Time to occur at all, there is no actual reason for extending Daylight Savings Time, except that it will, according to some, “make people feel sunnier.”
The change is part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Some claims were made a couple of years ago that extending DST would save energy, but the U.S. Dept. of Energy has since then backed away from this notion.
Some people attribute the original idea for Daylight Savings Time to Benjamin Franklin, but what he actually said was, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”
The old schedule has been in effect since 1986, and other schedules were used before that, way back to the days of the First World War.
Arizona, Hawaii and the territories of Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa do not observe Daylight Savings Time at all.
For interesting discussions of the history of Daylight Savings Time and how it came to be adopted in this country, the reader is directed to Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time by Michael Downing or Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time by David Prerau.
The Valley Roadrunner
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Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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