Cambrian residents must have their voice heard and actively included in the decision making of the CCSD as they plan our future. Decisions affecting residents should be deliberated in open forums or town hall meetings. Although Cambria’s future is affected by the actions of the State of California and all its agencies and San Luis Obispo County, Cambria’s residents through the CCSD should define the course of our future.

How do Cambrians take control of our future?

First, every responsible Cambrian must stay informed or, even better, get involved in the monthly public meetings, ad-hoc committees and, especially the CCSD elections. CCSD board of directors needs to listen to Cambrians’ views on the status of the village and what CCSD should focus on. CCSD Board of Directors needs to listen to the community’s concerns about balancing their budget through efficient and effective planning and a tight rein on operating staff and expenses. The recent historic Prop 218 rate increase rejection is a profound example of how out of step the board is with the majority of Cambrians’ opinions.

Second, every responsible Cambrian should know some basic facts about our community. The following information is provided to give each Cambrian a basis of making the important, fiscally responsible decisions about how we can address all we want for this community. Among the information we should all know: the social makeup of the community and the present planning by the CCSD Board of Directors and its fiscal impact on Cambria. Each resident can then decide on their ability, or willingness, to pay for the plans of the CCSD Board of Directors.

What is Cambria?

Cambria is a wonderful residential, seaside community set within a Monterrey Pine forest. Residents and visitors alike recognize this village as a unique jewel in the string of towns along the California coast. Approximately 6,515 full time resident Cambrians enjoy living in a small village supported by a variety of shops, restaurants, service stations and commercial businesses which meet their day to day needs. Because of its setting on the southerly tip of Big Sur – Little Sur coastline, Cambria has become a travel destination for people from all over the U.S. and abroad. The tourist influx has given rise to the construction of numerous motels, bed and breakfast inns and vacation rental houses.

Who lives in Cambria?

The 6,515 residents (US Demographics 2000) include approximately:

• 1,708 persons (26.2%) 65 years and older – more than twice the National average;
• 3,724 persons (57.2%) 18 to 64 years old – close to the National average;
• 935 persons (12.8%) 5 years to 17 years old – two thirds the National average; and
• 248 persons (3.8%) under 5 years old – half the National average.
• Interestingly 1,262 persons (19.7%) 5 years and older are designated having disability status.

The U.S. statistics are:

• 12.4% – 65 years and older:
• 61.9% – 18 to 64 years old;
• 18.9% – 5 years to 17 years old; and
• 6.8% – under 5 years old.
• 19.3% – 5 years and older having disability status.

These numbers show a considerable skew to a more senior population. Many senior citizens rely on personal, corporate, union and federal retirement benefits which are usually fixed or very minimally indexed to an almost fictitious inflation number published by the Federal Government.

Cambria housing statistics are:

Owner-occupied housing units	2,153	55%
Renter-occupied housing units	784	20%
Vacant housing units	927	25%
(out of town owners -including vacation rentals)
Total	3,884

Bed and Breakfast Inns number approximately 50 and commercial businesses number approximately 175. The future of Cambria, a tourist destination, is also affected by the state of the California economy now facing recession and consumer fears. Exorbitant rate increases will adversely affect every business – restaurants, coffee shops, galleries, antique stores, laundromats, motels and inns.

Maintaining the village atmosphere and rural quality of life are hallmarks of our community heart. The sense of community that Cambria generates is evident by the number of non-profit organizations and volunteer outreach programs for seniors and children. Many of these programs survive with personal contributions and matching grants. Excessive rate increases with a punitive rate structure can chill the will to give.

What is Fiscal Responsibility?

Fiscal responsibility the obligation of the CCSD Board of Directors to undertake an ongoing, public process where they continually work to:

• Define the needs and wants of its constituency,
• Plan projects, analyze and determine the costs of each of the projects,
• Review the total aggregate costs of the projects, and most importantly
• Assess the ability of the community to pay for required or desired projects and the related ongoing operations and maintenance of the facilities.

Fiscal discipline requires decision making to include a three (3) point review – so as to be able to equate the revenues with expenditures over expected business cycles. In other words, a municipal budget is balanced if its income is equal to its expenditures. The budget must recognize and allow for a deficit in periods of low economic prospects. However, budget deficit periods need to be matched by a surplus in periods of high economic activity.

Performance budgeting, where operating efficiencies can improve aggregate fiscal discipline, should be implemented in periods of increasing expenditures.

There will always be a limitation to the level of public resources ($) available. The community should focus on projects and services to areas of greatest infrastructure needs and social benefit. Priorities should be set for all expenditures. Public awareness and endorsement of the expenditures should be the goal of every public agency. Most pointedly, in a close knit community of 6,500 like Cambria, a public open forum should not be seen as an extraordinary request of the CCSD Board of Directors. Openness in planning and decision making is being practiced throughout California.

After the misguided and exorbitant rate increase in water and sewer rates proposed last year, was overturned by the successful Proposition 218 vote – a frank and open discussion of CCSD Board of Directors’ plans for our community’s future, in a series of public town meetings, is necessary. It is evident that the definition of the needs and wants of the community of the CCSD Board of Directors may have missed the mark and its assessment of the community’s ability or willingness to pay for their plans definitely missed the mark.

To prepare for those public town meetings, the CFRC would like to provide some information about the CCSD’s plans for our future. This information is all from CCSD documents and other official records of the district’s activity.

What expenditures are presently planned by CCSD?

The current Draft Master Plan describes these upcoming expenditures:

Projects	Costs	Timetable
Water Infrastructure:	$8,565,000	2008-2012	Master Plan
Wastewater Infrastructure:	$4,500,000	2008-2012	Master Plan
Total Infrastructure	$13,065,000

Future Projects in planning and permitting stages:

Desalination Project – Design, permitting, construction and start-up costs $15,000,000

Build Out Reduction Plan* $38,450,000 Purchase of building lots
Fiscalini Community Park Not available Concept design complete

Total Proposed Projects $53,450,000+

*Build out Reduction Plan Operating and Maintenance costs for over 850 lots would be $370,000 annually.

The total expenditures as now proposed are over $65,000,000 and growing.

At the end of the January 22nd CCSD meeting, staff discussed new sanitary sewer management plan (SSMP) regulations which could lead to millions in dollars of expenditures to rehabilitate the existing 79 mile sanitary sewer system. All these projects could lead to an average commitment of over $15,000 per household for capital expenditures and hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased annual operating costs.

Cambrians need to consider who will bear the cost of the huge expenditures presently considered necessary by the CCSD Board of Directors – None of which has been mandated by any state or county agency, or formally voted on by the residents.

These decisions have developed after many separate recommendations, discussions and decisions were made without informing the community of the entirety and scope of the total costs of these decisions when taken together. What every responsible Cambrian should be asking is whether these were properly researched, fiscally responsible and reflects the needs and wants of the community.

What else should Cambrians be asking?

Do we want the CCSD to be the largest landowner in the community, owning over 850 lots, knowing the huge capital financing and continuing annual upkeep costs?

Has CCSD explained what our rates would be when the desalination plant is included in our rate structure?

How much of this project has really been explained to the community?

Have alternate water supply opportunities been missed?

Who will benefit from this project?

Who expects the federal government to ignore the billions of dollars of annual deficits; the trillions of dollars of national debt, and recession give Cambria a grant of 75% of the cost of the plant?

How will Cambria with approximately 4,650 households (6,500 to 8,000 people) at build-out and 250 businesses afford known capital commitments of over $65,000,000 and hundreds of thousands of dollars more in annual operating and maintenance expenses?

Frank J. DeMicco

SloSpan will be broadcasting the January 22 CCSD meeting Friday (Feb 1)at 6pm and Saturday (Feb 2) at 9am on channel 21. An audio version can be downloaded from www.slo-span.org (scroll down the page to get to the Cambria section). If you couldn’t make the meeting, or couldn’t stay for the whole show, watch it on local access or download the audio.

AboutCambria.com is more than the conversation. It is a growing collection of resources, links, studies and agency publications that make up the suggested (and sometimes required) reading for Cambrians. Collected from far and wide in the virtual universe, presented in categories, most links include a description of what is available once you click the link.

My goal is to provide all Cambrians – in fact, all residents of small communities – an easy way to educate themselves on the issues our community is facing. In the coming weeks I will be featuring a different resource or topic as part of the “Cambria University” (or Cambria U.) series of posts.

Today’s resources focus is a basic overview of Resources Links page. To view the main page for resources, click here or you can use the link near the bottom of the right hand sidebar called “Resource Links”.

At the top of this page you will find links to other pages on AboutCambria.com including:

• a Document Catalog of documents available
• a page with Downloads with Fiscal Focus
• a page called “All About Water”

Below these internal page links is a list of links to other sites in the virtual universe, divided by category, each of which will be featured in a future post. Visit today.
I welcome suggestions for “courses”, issues, topics and/or resources you think Cambrians should be aware of.

I’d also like to invite you to consider becoming a Cambria U. “professor” – Cambria is filled with experts on Cambria. Share what you have learned, enrich the community. Let’s make history, not repeat it.

Our community, like many others in California, is facing some daunting challenges as we develop long-range, globally conscious solutions to managing our water resources, and reducing our energy consumption and waste production.

AboutCambria.com is

• about issues currently facing our community.

• a way to get caught up and keep up how we are going to resolve challenging issues and improve our community.

• a place for Cambrians to exchange information, background, ideas and analysis

• a public forum for conversation and central plaza where you can easily find facts, documents, history and links to essential, relevant sources.

We are not just individual Cambrians, but a community of friends and neighbors. Cambrians past, present and future.

˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜

Why now?

Recent action taken by the Cambria Community Services District has stimulated community involvement and concerns about the CCSD as well as Cambria’s future. In September of 2007, the Cambria Community Services District sent out notice of its intention to raise the water and sewer rates in the small California town. Two months later, after an unprecedented campaign to raise awareness and gather community support (begun by a determined Tina Dickerson), the CCSD Board of Directors were forced to withdraw the new rate schedule. A small group of dedicated Cambrians used Proposition 218 (now a state constitutional amendment) to have 2266 verified protest letters submitted to the CCSD. For a protest of rates under Prop. 218 to succeed, at least 50% plus 1 of the affected ratepayers must protest the increase. Some local residents were amazed that so many Cambrians were on the same side of an issue.

Now the board and community are faced with the challenge of finding a compromise rate schedule acceptable to residents and sufficient to meet the infrastructure repair and water and sewer service delivery needs of the community of about 3500 full-time residents and many local businesses. The group of people involved in working on the protest is an informal group calling themselves Cambrians for Fiscally Responsible CCSD. They are a collection of bright, intelligent people motivated by their connection to this town. Some have lived here nearly all their lives, some have arrived more recently.

To one degree or another, I venture to say, the group members view the desalination project (or any new water source that would bring growth) with some trepidation, but also recognize the moratorium on new connections and increasingly common, budget-busting surcharges are not the best answer (by any measure) to Cambria’s chronic “water shortages.” Clearly, our work has kept us too busy to come up with a more poetic moniker. But our numbers continue to grow and we continue to meet the third Wednesday morning (9am at Moonstone Beach Bar and Grill) and the first wednesday evening at 6pm at Rabobankto discuss issues facing this community and formulate solutions for the problems facing Cambria. We invite you to join us.

Our immediate focus is ensuring the fiscal responsibility and organizational transparency of the local Community Services District. Cambria is an unincorporated village in San Luis Obispo County. Public Services, governing, and enforcement responsibilities are divided between SLO County government (building permits, criminal law enforcement, roads, business licenses, etc.) and the Cambria CSD (water and sewer service, waste management, parks and recreation, etc). Added to the mix are numerous laws and agencies with their own agendas and requirements for the area including: State of California, Regional Water Quality Control Board, California Coastal Commission and the Federal Government.

[93428]

National Environmental Services Center | 1-800-624-8301 | www.nesc.wvu.edu
Providing drinking water, wastewater, and solid waste services are important functions for small community governments. This self-assessment guide, designed to be used by decision makers in small communities, is structured to identify areas where improvement can be made in the management of environmental services. It is intended to identify broad areas where training is needed. It covers general areas of system operations, finances and administration, and environmental personnel management. It focuses more on those areas where decision makers are most likely to be directly involved.
Questions will elicit simple yes, no, don’t know, or not applicable responses.
Answers that are colored indicate areas where training or additional information may be needed to help improve environmental services. The guide assumes that the community has municipal control of their wastewater, drinking water, and solid waste systems. This assumption will not be true for all communities, so not all questions will be applicable to all communities. However, even in cases where the community does not have municipal control of a particular service, for example when a service has been contracted to a private company, there may still be some questions that are applicable in that section.
Examples of types of officials who will find this guide useful include small town mayors, town managers, town clerks, county commissioners, and member of governing boards or committees for water, wastewater, and solid waste services.
Small community officials using this guide can contact the National Environmental Service Center (NESC) to provide training and assistance when areas where improvements could be made are identified. NESC can provide assistance in a number of ways including providing targeted training, providing educational materials, or referring local decision makers to other organizations who also provide assistance or training. To get assistance from NESC, call 800-624-8301 and ask to speak to a training specialist.
This material is reproduced with permission from the National Environmental Services Center. Due credit is given to NESC for any these materials.
Read this now: selfassessmenttool4decisionmakers.pdf

Read the agenda for the upcoming CCSD meeting by clicking here.

The Cambrians for a Fiscally Responsible Cambria Community Services District (CFRC), the group of Cambrians who organized the rate protest campaign, will be making a presentation to the board. If you can attend the meeting, please do. The agenda indicated the Board plans to adopt a resolution approving the 2008 Board Goals and Objectives – which will affect every ratepayer and Cambria resident.

Other Business includes the retirement of Don Villeneuve and approving the Vacancy Appointment process, recind the surcharges as of the January/February bills and a review of the long-term water supply alternatives. View the agenda for complete details.

[ 93428 ]

From last Thursday’s Cambrian:

Rate increases: Cambria ratepayers made history in November when they defeated the services district’s proposed rate increase for water and sewage-treatment service. Cambria apparently was the first substantial community to defeat such an increase under provisions of the state’s
Proposition 218, approved by state-wide vote in 1996.
The hikes could have raised some customers’ bills by 400 percent or more, although the average increase reportedly would have been far less.
The Cambria Community Services District scrapped the proposal after nearly 57 percent of ratepayers submitted valid vote letters objecting to increases.

Read the rest of the article here

[93428]

CCSD has for years fixated on desalination as the next, best opportunity for a new, supplemental water supply for Cambria. The decisions of this and prior Boards have jeopardized the future of Cambria. Their decisions have put us on a path to developing the most expensive and unsuccessful technology for a new drinking water source. Desalination is an amazing technology. Forcing non-potable water through fine reverse-osmosis membranes at high pressures purifies the water to drinking water standards. However, the high pressures require high cost energy to run the plant pumps. The membrane filter process yields high concentrations of salt laden contaminates, difficulty in cleaning the membranes, and raises great concerns for discharge of the filter waste to the environment.

Is desalination California’s answer to the drought?
Northern California just endured its driest winter in 20 years. The state’s population is growing by half a million people a year. New dams are controversial. Although 10 years ago there were none, today 20 desalination projects are on the drawing board in California’s coastal areas from San Diego to Marin County. Filtering salty ocean water into drinkable fresh water is expensive. And environmental challenges loom. But groundbreaking on several facilities may start within two years. New technology has cut the cost of filtering ocean water in half since 1990. Still, the process, which uses large amounts of electricity, can cost at least three times as much as other ways. In large part because of high costs, none of California’s 20 proposed projects is under construction. San Jose Mercury News_ 6/3/07

Desalination, with a Grain of Salt – Pacific Institute June 2006

“The potential benefits of ocean desalination are great, but the economic, cultural, and environmental costs of wide commercialization remain high.”

Less than 10% of desalination in the US is for desalination of seawater. The remaining capacity is primarily dedicated to desalinating wastewater and pure water for high-quality industrial purposes.

Of the plants constructed, many have not lived up to the expectations of cost of construction or operating efficiency. Tampa Bay built for over $100 Million has been fraught with difficulties due to “serious management and technological failures.” Changes valued at over $29Million (25+% over-run) have yet to yield an operating plant – six years late!

California experience is no better for municipal systems. Santa Barbara’s RO plant was decommissioned as it never operated commercially and proved to be an expensive burden. They decided to use other sources “more fully”. City of Morro Bay’s RO plant is intermittently used as an emergency source. Marina Coast Water District’s RO plant was idle at the time of the Pacific Institute report. Santa Catalina Island’s RO plant is inactive.

Who is moving ahead with their studies, even in light of all the adverse results to-date?

Large municipalities or water districts with deep pockets. Marin Municipal Water District; East Bay MUD/SF Utility Commission/Santa Clara Valley Water District; EBMUD; Monterrey Water and Sanitary District; City of Santa Cruz; California Water Company; LADWP; Long Beach; Huntington Beach; Orange County; San Diego/Orange County…

What are our Alternatives?

Recycled Water

Recycled water or tertiary treated water can be used for landscape and agriculture irrigation as well as groundwater-recharge, which would benefit the environmental concerns at Santa Rosa Creek and supplement the groundwater levels in San Simeon well field. The State Water Board and Coastal Commission place recycled water reuse as its highest priority of sound water supply management after household conservation. California Water Code Section 13511 states “The legislature finds and declares that a substantial portion of the future water requirements of this state may be economically met by beneficial use of recycled water….Use of recycled water constitutes the development of “new basic water supplies” as that term is used” in the water code.

Surface Water Supplies – State Water Project via San Luis Obispo County

The Bay News (Morro Bay and Cayucos) January 10, 2008 states: ”Of the (SLO) County’s 25,000 AF entitlement, only 4,830AF are actually under contract…Under the latest State apportionment of water San Luis Obispo could have gotten 6,250AF. (Which means that 1,420AF is availablefor sale). The County wants to sell the excess water allotment to the Central Coast Water Authority(Santa Barbara)!!! CCSD should immediately open discussions with SLO County to reserve rights to a new water supply by means of a 1 year water reliability agreement. All SLO County property owners have paid for our portion of the state water on their property tax bills for decades. Sale of our water to Santa Barbara, while we plan to pat $Millions for a new expensive, water supply is irresponsible!!!

Why can’t Cambria have the same benefits as every other coastal community? Is it the CCSD or San Luis Obipso County who has failed us?

Who are the beneficiaries of proper and timely planning? – Morro Bay (1,313AF), Pismo Beach (1,100AF), Questa College, County Jail Complex, California Men’s Colony, Oceano CSD, Avila CSD, and SLO Coastal School District.

Who has no benmefits of State water – Cambria!

Well Supplies

CCSD has failed to optimize the usage of the Santa Rosa well field and the San Simeon well field. Safe yield as determined by the State of California and agreed to by the State Fish and Game are a total over 1,600 AF. Our withdrawal permits total 1,230AF and we have never used more than 820AF (1988).

CCSD needs to reevaluate their decision making regarding the use of our valuable well fields. CCSD should be petitioning the State and the Fish and Game for further definition to the pumping regimens, be more cooperative and pro-active in their dealings with the State and County to utilize our full allotment of water supply.

Frank J. DeMicco

The Cambrians for a Fiscally Responsible CCSD began meeting at Moonstone Beach Bar and Grill in September 2007, just after the Cambria Community Services District (CCSD) proposed a rate hike and sent a letter to all ratepayers. Over the next six weeks, the number of people volunteering to help fight the new rate structure grew. The Discussion and organizing of who would lick envelopes and who would make phone calls and such was more often punctuated with questions we couldn’t answer:

If the CCSD was in such dire straights, why had it been 15 years since the last increase? How much does it really cost them to deliver water and takeaway and treat the wastewater? Should business ratepayers be held to a different rate structure than residential? And what about the water shortage and the extreme surcharges? Just what does the CCSD need so much money for, seemingly all of a sudden? Would revenue from water bills be paying for the water system infrastructure or the Build Out Reduction Plan? Do the rates really need to be this high?

Still, we kept our heads down, for the most part, and focussed on stopping the new rates. In the end, two League of Women Voters members validated 2266 protest letters – greater than the 50% plus one required by Prop 218. And the end, it turned out, was not the end.

Locals continued to meet each week, wanting to ensure the hard won protest wasn’t is vain. Over the six or seven weeks of the protest campaign, it became increasingly obvious that rates needed to go up. We started looking at what the basis for the rates should be. Like anything involving government regulations and bureaucracy, determining the basis was (and still is) a very complex beast. Guided by the CCSD’s Water Master Plan, the Black and Veatch Rates study, Budget reports from the CCSD and professional experience, the group set to work preparing to participate in the development of a realistic budget and rate structure. Of course, nothing in “real life” is isolated. The financial needs of the CCSD depend on the policies and planning the board gives to the general manager to implement and policies are highlighted and detailed in the urban water management plan and the water master plan, which we have also been studying.

But in order for us to collaborate and participate, we have to let CCSD know we want to be included in these processes. To that end, we have requested time on the January meeting agenda. That meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 22 at 12:30pm at the Cambria Vet’s Hall.

93428

From the LA Times:

Note: This plant is remarkably important – but not for direct potable supply or population growth control.

 

Orange County sewage will soon be drinking water
A $490-million plant will clean effluent to state standards, then inject it into the groundwater basin for further filtration.

By Dan Weikel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 2, 2008
As a hedge against water shortages and population growth, Orange County has begun operating the world’s largest, most modern reclamation plant — a facility that can turn 70 million gallons of treated sewage into drinking water every day.

The new purification system at the Orange County Water District headquarters in Fountain Valley cost about $490 million and comprises a labyrinth of pipes, filters, holding tanks and pumps across 20 acres.

Almost four years after construction began, the facility is now purifying effluent from a neighboring sewage treatment plant run by the Orange County Sanitation District, a partner in the venture.

The finished product will be injected into the county’s vast groundwater basin to combat saltwater intrusion and supplement drinking water supplies for 2.3 million people in coastal, central and northern Orange County.

But before that can be done, state health officials must certify that the reclaimed water meets drinking water standards. Officials expect the approval to be granted before opening ceremonies Jan. 25.

“Our sources from the delta and the Colorado River are becoming unavailable,” said Michael R. Markus, general manager of the water district. “This will help drought-proof the region and give us a locally controlled source of water.”

Read the rest of the article at the Los Angeles Times