Change has come to the White House and to our local CSD Board. In his acceptance speech in Chicago tonight, President-Elect Obama told the crowd that winning the election wasn’t the change seek, but winning the election presents the opportunity to affect the changes we need (or something very close to that.)
Cambria’s voters expressed their belief that the CCSD Board and the community could benefit from fresh minds and hearts. With nearly 80% of the votes counted (so this is not OFFICIAL yet), the top three vote-getters among the seven CCSD candidates are Muril Clift, Frank DeMicco and Allan MacKinnon. From the unofficial tally provided by the County Clerk-Recorder:
Clift, DeMicco and MacKinnon are all on the record as supporting the recently approved Water Master Plan, including the limit of 4,650 connections, buildout reduction and desalination as a supplemental water source. So, even though there will be one almost-new and two brand-new directors, the longer term goals set by the current directors are not in danger of being destroyed or even substantially revised.
I feel safe in saying there WILL be some changes on the horizon. The newly elected directors will be seated in December, with a new Board President and Vice-President to be chosen in January. Historically, the director who serves as VP one year is chosen as President the next year. If that tradition continues, look to Director Sanders to be President of CCSD in 2009.
Now that the election is over and you know who will be on the Board, you might want to go back and read some of the posts that have run here during the last few months or visit KTEA-FM.com to listen to the candidate interviews or the Rabobank forum.
AboutCambria.com and AboutCCSD.com congratulate the directors-elect and look forward to what is ahead for our little village. It’s a positive testament to our community that seven people were willing to dedicate their time to serve on the CCSD Board. It is a position with negligible pay that is often thankless. The long hours can be contentious, exhausting and dull– simultaneously.
Directors Cobin and Funke-Bilu have worked hard on behalf of the community for many years, but Cambria wants some new energy. And they don’t want to toss out hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of work to solve the water issue or force us to start all over from scratch. Change has come to Cambria. So has a new stability.
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Last 5 posts by Amanda Rice
- Gail Robinette Chosen to Complete DeMicco's Term as CCSD Director on Unanimous Vote
- California Coastal Commission Unanimously Denied Army Corps Desal Tests
- Cambria CSD Agenda for November 27, 2011 Meeting Includes Water Conservation & New Tank Project
- Sunken Oil Tanker Off Cambria's Coastline Will Be Checked Again Soon
Thank goodness.
I can smell the fresh Cambria air here from Denver, CO.
It has been an exciting nignt and morning for me as i watched the national election returns in the evening and awoke to the results of the polls of my community in Cambria.
How bittersweet that the CCSD has new breath and life, as one of the reasons I chose to move away from Cambria was to escape the unchecked practices and accountability lacking climate of this entity.
I’ve been following the water situation of Cambria since my parents were contemplating their move here over 26 years ago. They relocated and so did I, a few years later on November 1, 1988.
As the CCSD board has changed and morphed over the years the question of water, whose coat tails my parents and I jumped on 26 years ago (and it was not a young issue then) is still perplexingly always addressed yet never answered amidst rate hikes, unsatisfying (and sometimes rude and dismissive) community meetings, board changes, public frustration and continual need of a solution.
I have always prayed for many aspects of Cambria and do I now hope, that with fresh blood, that there might be a clear, practical and economical way to solve our water issues once and for all or will I be writing a similar note 26 years from now?
When I called my Realtor in Denver to get the information on what bills I would be responsible for in my newly purchased loft, she ran down the laundry list of the companies and the average amounts for the services. I steeled myself for the water portion of our conversation. Susan’s voice took on an apologetic tone when she said that in the months I might use more water than others the bill could be as high as $12.00. Oh, gasp!
Of course Cambria does not have the advantage of melted snow pack but I know there is a solution. It might not be one single answer but it’s there and I pray our newly configured CCSD board will finally find the key to our water dilemma in the community that I left 20 years to the day that I arrived.
My Cambria house is still unrented but at least I’m no longer the one who must explain to the unindoctrinated out-of-town inquiries, the confusing aspects of our ‘water un-works’. It is left to the capable professionals of Monika and Lesli at Don Bricker Property Management (Phone 0177) and for that I am grateful.
Many thanks to Amanda Rice for AboutCambria com and other individuals who are finally holding the feet of CSSD to the fire of accountability. Let’s continue to speak up and make our voices heard so Cambria’s water situation becomes a solution and we can move on to other things that have long waited their turns.
In the mean time – Anybody want to rent a cool ocean view home?
Best of success to us all and God bless us all. It’s a new dawn.
Amanda’s comment:
“So, even though there will be one almost-new and two brand-new directors, the longer term goals set by the current directors are not in danger of being destroyed or even substantially revised.”
Amanda I hope that the three newly elected directors will think for themselves when they consider decisions made by the current board. New information will come their way which could be the basis for substantially revised plans. Such as financing for the build out reduction plan. There is no current financing scheme so without one we don’t have a completed plan and without a plan we do not have a legally required growth mitigation for a desal facility as required by law.
What about the currently proposed test well drilling plan on two public beaches? This is no slam dunk in spite of what the current board and tribune would have you believe. There is no drilling plan, no environmental clearance and no plan to explain where a staging will occur on a county beach and a state beach all heavily used by the public. When the public cannot find a parking space due to being co-opted by the CCSD there may be some re thinking. There are concepts of Environmental Justice the CCSD seems to have failed to consider.
When all the information is presented open minded directors can and might substantially revise desal plans and all prior board decisions can be revised as well if new information is presented.
So let’s not close the door on open thinking.
I completely agree with you, Mickie. I based my assumption on what the candidates said during the campaign. I believe 100% that the men we elected are thoughtful and intelligent – and can be counted on to seek out and use any new information to the advantage of the community. I trust that they will work to overcome the issues, when possible, and to know if ever it’s time to stop trying and start looking for a solution that IS feasible.
In response to Mickie, the one candidate who opposed desal gets crushed, and you still dont get it that Cambria wants and needs desal??
Al candidates made their positions clear on whether or not they supported desal and the WMP. Those who supported it won big. The one who didn’t got trounced.
I read that as a referendum on desal, and desal won big.
As to Mickie’s concerns about the BRP financing plan, is this debate about money? Do you think feigned lack of money will be adequate to make your moratorium into a permanent ban?