Another question...Sewer Plant
Continuing with Anonymous 9:38 AM's questions...
"With regards to the water reclimation plant, what can be done to reduce the costs, we got denied for the grant we applied for. The LARWQCB is forcing us to build the plant, why doesn't the city sue for the funds to build it? "
This is a great question. There are still 3 or 4 other grants that we have applied for that have not been awarded yet. If we get denied, we might wonder why. Are we not worthy?
You also have an incorrect assumption here. The LARWQCB is not necessarily forcing us to build a plant. We are being forced to comply with their water quality standards. Are there tertiary treatment options that can be integrated into the existing plant? Maybe not but I think other cities have done it.
I know that Bert has thoroughly researched this issue but I still have questions myself. Questions about retention ponds, ignored development moratoria, package plants and interim improvements that I'm researching. I can't help it, I'm a technogeek.
Here are my ideas to reduce the costs.
First, my biggest concern is the cost of energy which is one of the largest components of the operating expense. The new technology will use 5 times more energy to treat the water. This is going to be a big problem for us. I think that there are some SCE rate guarantees but they will still be 5 times more expensive right out of the gate. The price of energy is in a lull for the moment - I think people started to conserve a little when oil went up 250% in the last few years - but the trend upward will continue. (That is a whole other issue but I encourage you to inform yourself about Peak Oil -just Google it.)
I have expressed this to Bert Rapp and he agrees. He has asked the DBO contractor to investigate the feasibility of using an alternative energy source and they have responded with some solar energy proposals that will help cut the energy costs.
My other idea is to operate and maintain the plant ourselves rather than a contractor . We would have to hire and train employees(6+ good jobs). Ventura College has a Waste Water Treatment certification program that we could take advantage of.
This would also save a lot of money. I'm not sure what percentage the contractor puts in their pocket and takes out of the community but it's a lot. Consider that right now we are paying a minimum of $1,500,000 expense with $600,000 of that for operators which now consist of three employees. Do you think that those employees are making $200,000 each? No, I didn't think so either. So, hopefully they are making a decent salary but a big chunk of that money(our tax $'s) is going to OMI(Denver, CO). By the way, the new plant will cost about $5,000,000 a year to operate.
This will be more difficult to accomplish but it's worth looking at.
I also have some other ideas on water softener/chloride reduction that I'll go into when I have more time.
Keep up the issue questions. I also want to invite any of the other candidates to respond with their own comments. If you are interested just send me an email to gaylewashburn@sbcglobal.net and I will get you a password and team member logon so you can create your own posts.
posted by Gayle Washburn @ 3:22 PM
35 Comments
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35 Comments:
Has anyone seen the mailer of Smedley and Hernandez? There seems to be a new PAC in Fillmore.
Its called "CITIZENS FOR A SAFER FILLMORE" AKA FRIENDS OF FILLMORE.
After watching last night's council meeting , do you feel represented ?
If you want change VOTE FOR WALKER/WASHBURN.
There are no other options.
CAUTION - ROGER CAMPBELL AND MICHAEL MCMAHAN ARE THE ORIGINATORS OF "PEOPLE FOR A SAFER FILLMORE".
Galye, I am glad to see that you have put a lot of thought into the sewer plant, You bring up some good points, however my assumption is correct, the LA Regional water quality conrtol board is the one that is making build the new water treatment plant as they are the ones that have the the water standards for this region. The water quality control board is comprised of 5 regions we happen to fall into the LAWQCB region, they are the ones that set the set the standards and thus they are the reason we have to build the new water treatment plant.
I thank you for looking into the 5 times greater expenditure of energy. I look forward to hearing what Bert's reply will be after researching it. I am also please to hear that there are 4 other grants being sought after. Hopefully we get at least two of them.
My husband and I watched the city council meeting in full length last eveneing on the tube. We are appalled on the demeaner and blatant disrespect of our council.This is crystal clear reason why Fillmore needs a change . Fillmore are you paying attention?
It seems odd that McCall or Hernandez didnt even speak about this issue on the referendum. This brings me to the word of the day.
TODAY'S WORD 10-25-2006
GREENHORN- noun
* INEXPERIENCED PERSON(S)
EXAMPLES:
1. DIANE MCCALL
2. CECILIA CUEVAS
3. STEVE CONAWAY
New question, RE: Crime a lot of the new statistics are showing that crime and excessive use of public services, gangs,etc.. are as a result of ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. In fact a city in LA has passed an ordinance stating that land lords have to prove the citizenship of their tenents if a complaint is filed. Thus, if there truly is a correlation between crime, gangs, and graffiti what are your plans to limit ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION in Fillmore in your effort to reduce crime?
When did the City of Fillmore start being concerned about our hard earned tax dollars? Triple dipping consultants is being fiscally conservative with our money? Seems that priorities are kinda skewed.
re:anonymous10:50 the question is only bait...dont bite!
I know that it is a loaded question, one that no politician is willing to answer least of all BUSH, but the city in LA did, while contraversial, it is a fair question, if ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION is at the heart of crime then why not address it. I know that the main reason I want to move from California is because this state is doing nothing to stop our ER from Closing, our schools from being the 4 from the bottom, meaning we are 46 out of 50 states, from what used to be #1 or 2. If crime, rape, etc.. can be greatly reduced by getting ride of illegals than why not talk about it. I think that we need to. I think that it is a shame that when a CITIZEN needs assistance the government asks "are you a legal resident?" and if the answer is yes then sorry you deserve any assistance. So again while this is a loaded question I feel that this is a question that a representative of ME needs to answer, in fact I would like to see all the candidates have the B---ls to answer this question
Thats great , maybe you can ask that question this evening at the forum. Im curious to see all questions and answers from all candidates. Im especially anxious to here about the triple dipping consultants that Fillmore employs. Oh but remember Conaway and Smedley are very worried and protective about our taxes. Ha ha, that just hilarious, and my cat has compassion for mice!
Hey anonymous 10:50/5:11
Does the city in the LA area have a name?
In a nut shell , Smedley has made it quite known he is Not in favor of the people having a voice in our government. That is a real threat to our democracy!
Did the Friends of Fillmore Pac regroup to Citizens for a safer Fillmore?
Anyone else outragged on the decision of the counsel?
citizens for a safer fillmore must be the same group. did you check out the return address...roger campbell's po box. too bad they are going to tarnish laurie hernandez with their dirty tricks.
yes the city has a name this a quote from a local newspaper "Escondido Considers Ban on Renting to Illegal Immigrants
" look it up on the internet. And yes it was a very contraversial decision by the city council. And no they did not create a law the ordinance from what several sources in the news and the two of the city council members interviewed reported is that the ordinance only enforces laws on the books at the state and federal level, that no one ever seems to enforce.
No actually I am satisfied in their decision. It will save the tax payors thousands on a special election to only do the same thing. Overturn the NFSP, thus we are now back to 894 with no plan in place to ensure that piece mealing does not occur. What a shame, I think that instead of a referendum forcing us to revert to the general plan they should have created one that forced the city council to reduce the number of homes to 480. That would have been a better use of time.
Sorry,The city has fund,would't a special election already be paid for? or ear marked just for that?speaking of saving our money...does anyone know if our out of town city staff use our gas cards?Or if Roy is a consultant does he pay rent at city hall? I'm not sure how that works.If he is a consultant,do we pay his retirement+fee,or does sun-cal pay his fee? please I'm only asking not attacking OK
Anon even if the city had millions to pay for special election don't you think that this is a complete waste of the city's revenue? I would rather see that money spent on lets see, parks, the schools, increasing our police force, infrastructure, etc... there are so many better ways to spend that money then a special election. As a tax payor my hope would be that any special interest group that states that they are fighting for us would see this and try to keep tax payor expenditure to a minimum, that is unless they are only in it for themselves. As for travel expenses the state law from the EEOC is that an employer is only required to pay for the travel expenses of an employee only after they have clocked in. while this may not be an exact quote of the law or regulations, in essence once an employee has gotten to work then they drive to another work location the employer must pay for a fair amount of reimbursement for their mileage. An employer is not responsible for an employees mileage from home to work or from work to home, unless there is an agreement between the employer and the employee, i.e. a mileage stipened or car allowance. With regards to Roy Payne, he would be a fool to have the city pay for his mileage, he is an independant contractor, thus can write off on his taxes his car, gas, mileage, repairs, meals, etc... This is one of the only writes off that is worth anything, if the city pays for his these things he then would loose the tax write off. He has to file a 1099 as an independant contractor thus needs all the tax help he can get. Then again going back to my earlier point we all do. I am sick of taxed. We get taxed for everything and for what the 4th worst school system in the country, roads that are in dire need of expansion or repair, a commuter system that no one uses?
Hey anonymous 10:50/5:11/3:41
Slowdown, wipe the spittle off of your computer monitor and settle down. Escondido is 45 minutes north of San Diego, I used to live there. Here is a very nice article out of the North County Times. Please note the bodyguards for the city council member, I wonder who is picking up the tab? Please also note all of the organizations lining up for lawsuits.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/10/05/news/top_stories/3_00_0010_4_06.txt
http://www.nctimes.com/articles
/2006/10/05/news/top_stories
/3_00_0010_4_06.txt
You will have to rebuild the link.
Anonymous 10:41.
FYI
Independent Contractors have to file a W-9 with the people who have hired them.
They receive a 1099, in which they file with their Annual 1040’s.
Gracy while I apprecitate your clarification I stated that he needed file a 1099 I did not state to whom, I made a wrong assumption and would like to apologize, in that I assumed that it would be interpreted that when he files a 1099 it is with the IRS and the State along with his 1040.
Anon 6:50 thank you for the clarification and the link, while it is a shame that the city council needs to have body guards that I am sure the city is paying for, I feel that it is a neccessary evil. If it saves money to the city on crime enforcement, prevention, public programs, etc... then it is well worth it. To spend a little and save a lot is sometimes a neccessary evil. But someone has to put their foot down with this ILLEGAL IMIGRATION situation, and god know our politicians in Sac and DC are not doing enough. While I understand the Illegal immigrants plight, I strongly feel that they need follow the laws of our soveriegn country and apply to come here. I can on and on, but will not. What I want to know, is if escondido is the tip of the ice berg and Fillmore will be the next link in the chain of reform.
This illegal stuff sounds like a bait.
You did say this.
"He has to file a 1099 as an independant contractor"
It looks like gracy might have caught your mistake
Petty, what about the ILLEGALS any one other then a stupid anon person willing to talk about it, come on I know at least some of you feel that same way. Driving wages down, closing emergency rooms, making our classrooms the 4th worst in the country, taking social services away from those that need it and are legal citizens, etc... use the anon I think that is why Gayle included it.
Come on these people are hungry.the city does not mind.They pay sales tax. The big government does not mind either,they collect social security $$$ they do not give back.Our schools dont mind either,it's $$$ for them too.Thier people do not mind,they can exploit money from them as well.BUT If I hire them, the Government will make money from me from the fines,say 10,000 bucks worth! You see, they all know the game,and you better not screw with it!!! So why should a Fillmore political candidate say a word about it ?
One more...why is this under sewer plant??????????????????
You mean if you hire and pay cash.Then the government will act! You know the song,, MONEY..KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY STACK!(pink floyed)
Anon 545, Good points, but the federal treasury department according the LA times, Washington Times, and several policitians (yes I know politicians are the most reliable sources ;o)) estimate that even taking into consideration the SS payments, sales taxes, and other aspect of the revenue that ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS bring to the US the estimates are 20 Billion in losses at the federal level, and 10 Billion just in the state of California. Schools are being dummied down due to english as a second language, and that the school systems in the foriegn country are teaching a much lower level, if the students go to school, and thus are dummying down our schools with the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND program. Then look at the crime levels, I have to say the day without an illegal immigrant was great according to even the Fillmore Gazette, what crime was reported to be down 30% the traffic was hugely better, etc... Then look at social services, they do not have insurance and feel that the hospitals are the their doctors office, thus are causing them to go bankrupt, the list just goes on and on, and for what so you can have cheap labor, YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I WANT TO SCREW WITH IT, IT IS COSTING THIS COUNTRY ITS EDGE OVER THE REST OF THE WORLD, AND A HELL OF A LOT OF MY MONEY EARNED TO PAY FOR TAXES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Money paid under the table lets look at that, if an Illgeal Immigrant is paid an average of $30,000.00 as reported in the LA TIMES that they make on average and all of this is under the table, it can be equated to a legal tax paying citizen earning $45,000.00 a year the difference is the $15,000.00 in state and federal taxes that is lost, now take into consideration that there are an estimated 4 million illegals in California and you do the math that is 45 billion in lost revenue to the state and fed. But wait it gets better the second largest component to Mexico Gross Domestic Product, only behind oil revenue, is money sent to Mexico by ILLEGAL and yes Legal Immigrants from the US, at an estimated 230 billion a year that could be spent in the US.
Please do not get me wrong, I understand their plight, they are trying to get a better life for themselves and their families, but the US has laws and is a soveriegn country, thus they need to adhere to our laws.
Ok I have heard ALL of this before. Even with your gloom & doom stuff. You are right DC does nothing.FYI The US makes TRILLIONS
We give 100's of BILLIONS to Countries that don't even like us.
In some cases,we purchase OIL from them! Now look at where we stand in the world.We are the great white house. Everyone else is (countries) the workers.That is we are the BIG BOSS.We can't deport millions,we can't blame OUR problems on them,frankly I don't blame them,I would do the same thing(live @ my rich uncle's house)
I know how you feel.There is nothing you can do.The big rich one, that's us, can not look cheap on the world stage.I WILL beleive that we are retooling at this point,we will make it work.You should be more upset with how DC just gives our money (mucho) away.I know, the neighbors wont leave,the ,water,sewer,trash,SCE,
all of the bills are going through the roof.What are you going to do?
RE-TOOL I feel our weakest services
are snapping under this presure.
GOOD! toss all the dead wood off!
Then we will be stronger,more streamlined,with more money in our pockets.
Like a big tree with dead branches
the owner was worried... he didn't have the money to remove them.Worried all the time(not good)
Then winter came..a big snow storm
came.The big tree was covered with
snow.All the dead branches snapped!
all of them. Come spring...the big
tree did not die...tree sprouted,
grew bigger,better than ever,at very little cost to the owner.
All I'm trying to say is don't worry.YOU may think it cost alot.
in the grand scale of things it
does not.What would you rather do...Fix OUR known problems,or
Start a fight with your neighbor?
Remember your neighbor is in YOUR
house and has enough money to give
230 Billion away.
we give that amount to hundreds
of countries that dont like us.
Not just one, HUNDREDS (do the math)
What's in it for us?They vote NO to
ANYTHING we ask of the UN.
Guess how much we give the UN?
Dont get me started!!!
For some of you...
I feel Fillmore is not the place for you.Really southern califorina
may not be.California,NM ,AZ ,CO TX,Neveda,Oh forget it!Pick a state! NEW HAMSHIRE There that doesn't even sound Spanish or Indian how many can you name?
Now look at where we stand in the world.We are the great white house. Everyone else is (countries) the workers.That is we are the BIG BOSS.We can't deport millions,we can't blame OUR problems on them,frankly I don't blame them,I would do the same thing
Interesting perspective. so how does the US stay the big cheese when they are dumming us down, and we are loosing our edge to China, The Euro, etc.. In order to stay at the top we to make sure that we do what it takes to stay there, even the romans missed out on this fact. Look at history every great civilization has fallen, and to me this is the starting point, the dumming down of our schools, please understand I am not making a condescending statement, just one that is proven with our current test scores in California as well as the US compaired to other countries.
Also, the GDP figures do not include the money spent for social programs, schools, loans to their countries, medical assistance and the list goes on and on, total amount spent probably around the trillion mark, but no one can estimate it other than to say far to much, and far to little for us the us citizen. Try it and see what happens, if you are legally hear the hospitals will send you the bill and expect payment, if you are illegal than it is a write off. If your child excells in school they are held back by a child that never attended school or is four years behind your child in their education. The list simply is like the energizer bunny it goes on and on. The point here is to keep the US the best, strongest, wealthiest, freeist, most advanced country in the world. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS are eating away at everything, from our revenue, expenditures of our taxes, expenditures and increased insurance premiums because they drive illegally, and yes do not have insurance, driving wages down, etc.............................................................................................................................................
is this what you actually want for yourself, your children, and the future of the US
My Friend, thank you for your suggestion I will take under consideration, but you missed the whole point, it seems as though la raza or la mecha got you into their retoric. The piont is while we can appreciate and respect our history the fact remains that this is a soveriegn country, the states of California, Texas, heck all of them applies for and were granted statehood. The US did not take them, The Spanish american war and the Mexico american were won by the US, please name any other war other than Kuwait in which a country that won a war did not take the lands that occupied as a result of winning the war. Even Russia took Hungry, Romania, etc... after WWII while they kept their name they were part of the USSR, until they were released under gorbachov, during the Reagan presidency.
Not to mention that after the mexican american war, SANTANA the leader of Mexico signed contracts and legally binding documents for the sale of California Texas and New Mexico to the US, so not only did the US win the war, but instead of just taking the land they purchased it from Mexico. So again we can respect and acknowledge the history of these great STATES of the United STATES, they are part, by our ancencestorial history, of the soveriegn country of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Ok guys , you both make very good points. I think we paid 10 bucks for the land. but its late.I'll try to respond on friday.
PS I dislike la racist and mecha
they are a disease to ALL people.
sewer plant was why I'm commenting: Hernandez claims she could obtain grants for the new sewer plant at the recent candidacy forum. She said if we "create enough influence" in our public officials she could do so. On the same night Director of PW, Bert Rapp, gives his workshop on the sewer plant. He said it is nearly impossible to obtain grants for a sewer plant although the city is teaming up with other cities in a collaborative effort. The man knows how to obtain grants. He's a genius and definitely not a liar. Does Hernandez even know what's going on? straw grasping indeed for a doomed to lose candidate. Other candidates admitted Rapp knows what he's doing and they were impressed with his capabilities regading the plant. Where has this woman been? I thought she was the insider born and raised in Fillmore.
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