Bear Valley News and Views

By Phill Coffman

The Bear Valley Water District (BVWD) has announced a public meeting to be held on November 16, 2009 for the purpose of providing a status report on Tertiary Treatment Requirements in the NPDES Permit. This meeting will be a presentation by the District staff. Mr. Ken Landau, Assistant Executive Director of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region, will be in attendance.

The purpose of this meeting is unclear in that the BVWD has still not settled on a definitive design to address the deficiencies in our sanitary sewer system.  One must guess that the purpose is to scare the property owners with a litany of possible fines and penalties if we do nothing.

No responsible property owner would propose that we do nothing; however, no responsible property owner wants to sign a blank check for a system that the district has not even defined in terms of a workable cost-effective solution or an exact cost.

You’ve undoubtedly heard that design improvements in the current straw-man design offer substantial cost savings over what was proposed.

I was at the meeting that this approach was introduced. Was it the result of careful study on the part of the district? No!  It was disclosed that the proposed design, the one BVWD was in such a hurry to get on contract by Dec. 31^st, would not work! The basic problem was that the proposed filters would not result in adequate clarity (suspended solids and coloration) for the Ultra Violet radiation used for disinfecting the waste water to do its job ( it would not meet the turbidity and transmittance standard for UV).

This is the problem! The board has yet to develop a set of requirements that must be met to satisfy our needs! This will result in avoidable costs that will be experienced while perspective contractors hone in on a workable design by trial and error. This will inevitably result in schedule delays and costly overruns. To merely say our requirements are to meet tertiary standards is irresponsible on the part of BVWD and will result in an overly costly system for the rate payers.

Fortunately, our new district operations manager is a careful and competent professional who is looking for real solutions without just jumping at any proposal. A method of prefiltration with inexpensive activated Carbon filters may provide a fix to the previously presumed design and substantial cost savings may be feasible. Again, was it because of deliberate study and specification by BVWD?? Again No! It was discovered by the new operations manager and a perspective contractor that the design wouldn’t work but a fix might be available that could even save money. Luck is a poor substitute for deliberate action!

If the stakes weren’t so high, this would be the stuff of comic opera that you might see at a BVMF performance.

So what is to be served by the Meeting that BVWD has scheduled? I say nothing, and worst, it may limit our options in working with the State by causing them to “draw line in the sand” that may make it more difficult to negotiate a mutually satisfactory solution. At best, this meeting serves only to play a government agency against the interests of the rate payer by a lame duck board of directors!

 I, FOR ONE, WANT A BVWD THAT FIRST AND FOREMOST LOOKS AFTER THE INTERESTS OF THE CURRENT RATE PAYERS.

THAT’S YOU AND ME!!

 If you agree, please contact BVWD and request that the Nov. 16^th meeting be deferred until after the new board is installed and we get a handle on a cost-effective solution for our district problems.

gmbearvalleywater@sbcglobal.net

 By Phill Coffman

 All of the attention given to the issues of the proposed water treatment plant has more or less obscured some other very important facts about the BVWD.  I recently took a look at the finances of the BVWD and noted that there has been a rather alarming increase in district expenses over the last six years against rather flat revenues.  There has been a trend in the yearly average increase in Total Expenses of approximately $138,000 over the last 5 years. That’s an average of approximately 35 % per year growth in expenditures at a time when the CPI (Service sector) was flat to down at an average rate of 0.11%.  This has taken the district from a net income in 2004 of over $245,000 to a net Total loss position in 2009 of $375,869.

It must be noted that these figures include interest expenses and a FY 2009 write off of $388,613 for the pilot plant study.  However, even taking these interest and other expenses out of the mix, the rate of growth in the Operating expenditures trend has been approximately 19% per annum.  These figures testify that the leadership of BVWD is not exercising the kind of financial management necessary for a well run BVWD. At this simple rate of growth, expenditures will double in approximately 5 years. Revenues will be required to grow commensurately, and you know what that means!

IF YOU HAVE NOT VOTED YET, HELP ME MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

VOTE FOR PHILL COFFMAN FOR BVWD DIRECTOR

By John Dralla

Upon hearing that the election ballot for Bear Valley Water District (Sewer) Board of Director’s positions contained the instruction “Vote for Three” instead of the language required by California State Elections Code, “vote for no more than three,” we contacted the Alpine County Clerk and Counsel.  We’ve gotten word that the County Clerk is sending out a postcard today or tomorrow, which will clarify the instructions.  You may vote for ONLY ONE, TWO or UP TO THREE sewer board candidates.  There is NO REQUIREMENT to vote for three.

 WHY DOES THIS MATTER?  This is a landowner election.  Votes are weighted according the assessed value of your unimproved land, not structures.  As a practical matter, this puts a great deal of voting power in the hands of developers and lot owners who don’t pay their proportional share of sewer fees.  EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE.  If you vote for just one candidate, or at most two, you will have a greater impact on the election.

 If you have already filled out the ballot, or have already mailed it. Call 530-694-2281, Barbara Howard, Alpine County Clerk, and you will receive a new ballot. 

 Phill Coffman is running at the request of several Bear Valley residents.  He’s an engineer by background and highly qualified to represent us in a fair and unbiased way.  Please join me in supporting PHILL COFFMAN.  See Phill’s full statement at www.bearvalleyhomeowners.com

If you would like to join this growing list of Bear Valley property owners who endorse Phill Coffman for BVWD Director, please leave your Name in the Comment box below. Also please register for this web site to get additional information affecting your property in Bear Valley.

********* ENDORSEMENTS *********

(As of the time of this Posting)

Richard Banas

Bill and Kathie  Bort

Bob Burns

Bonnie Burdett

Dee and Gayla Cook

Elizabeth Coronata

Jon and Anne Cross

Michael Denicola

Ed and Mickie Diekmann

John and Gloria Dralla

John and Sherri Fenstermacher

Bill and Marianne Gagen

Dr. Herbert and Tanya Goodman

Barbara Goodrich

Randy and Gloria Hanvelt

Ann Hicks

John Hinchey

Sean and Lynn Hogan

Dr. Johan and Eileen Hultin

Susan Imig

Arthur and Daniella Karo

John Michael Korn

Jim Knutti

Bob and Judy Kuechler

Larry Mulcaster

Dr. Mary R. Newburger

Dr. Brad and Ginny Parkinson

Sonald and Dawne Rossi

Don and Marilyn Ruch

Robert W Ruehle

John and Barbara Shine

Jack W. Shuck

Dr. Morley Singer

Tom and Joyce Stillman

Cary and Peggy Stover

Chuck and Robin Taylor

Roger Test

Brian and Leila Thurston

Martin and  Jill Wegenstein

 by Barbara Goodrich

 The Bear Valley Water District (sewer) is having an election for 3 of its 5 seats on the Board of Directors.  The election will determine who makes the decisions for us regarding tertiary treatment requirements and rate increases.  The sewer election matters, and it matters a lot.  This is different from the Prop. 218 sewer protest that got so much press last month, when half plus one of the ratepayers could protest and stop the planned rate increase.

 Each property owner within the sewer district will receive a ballot in the mail sometime between October 5 and October 24, 2009.  It’s a landowner election, and it’s probably different from any other election you’ve seen in the U.S. in the last two centuries.  This election is not one person/one vote.  It’s not determined by ratepayers.  It’s not decided by registered voters.  Rather, it’s set up so that property owners are the voters – they don’t have to be ratepayers, residents or registered voters — and their votes are weighted according to the assessed value of their unimproved property, which basically means that the weight of your vote is based on the property tax value of your land (but not the structure on it).  The weight of each vote will vary widely from household to household.  As a practical matter, the election is structured so that developers with unimproved lots have huge voting rights, even though they pay very little by way of sewer fees.  It means that new homeowners have a much bigger vote than long-time homeowners because, due to Prop. 13, the assessed value of their land is much higher than long-time owners.  It means that owners of vacant lots who pay no sewer fees can have a big impact.  It means that a lot of residential property owners will have to vote in order to have an equal voice with developers.

 How does a non-incumbent – someone trying to effect change — effectively compete in an election like this?  The short answer:  With great difficulty and overwhelming odds against him. 

 The total number of votes which can be cast per candidate is 67,484,682.  Two developers, who together paid approximately 6% of the sewer fees in the last fiscal year, have approximately 24% of the vote.  Chances are, their self-interest is different from the interest of residents who are actually paying most of the sewer fees and will pay for a tertiary treatment plant.   It will take at least 70 residential voters to offset those 2 developer votes.  YOUR VOTE MATTERS.

 There are 4 candidates running for 3 seats.  You are entitled to vote for up to 3 candidates.  Unfortunately, the county clerk wrote misleading instructions that say “vote for three.”  YOUR VOTE WILL COUNT MORE IF YOU VOTE FOR FEWER THAN THREE CANDIDATES.  

 Please read the candidate statement of Phill Coffman elsewhere on this website.  He’s a retired senior executive from a major aerospace company and a registered Professional Engineer (retired) who can bring technical expertise to an organization that desperately needs it.  Phill has owned a home in Bear Valley for 42 years and he’s served on the Planning Commission, CSA #1 board, Grand Jury, and BVRI and Bear Valley Music Festival boards of directors.   I believe Phill Coffman is the right candidate at the right time. 

 Please join me in supporting PHILL COFFMAN.

• Don’t use all three votes.
• With PHILL COFFMAN on the Board, we can change BVWD.

Sept. 30, 2009