About Cambria

CCSD staff presented a draft budget to the Board at last month’s Cambria Community Services District meeting for the 2010-11 fiscal year. At this month’s meeting (Thursday June 24, 2010 at 12:30pm) the Board will consider adoption of the budget by resolution. A revised draft is expected in the next day or two, but in the meantime here are some of the highlights from the May 2010 draft.

The Cambria CSD has two primary income sources: Property Taxes and  Utility Sales. These are supplemented by a variety of fees, assessments, interest income, grant funds and other income sources. By state law, income from utility sales is restricted to covering expenditures in the water and wastewater departments. Property tax income is deposited to the General Fund where it is used to cover expenses for Fire, Parks and Recreation, Facilities and Resources, Administration and Resource Conservation department costs. Although General Fund monies can be used to cover costs of the water and/or wastewater departments, that practice is far from best management and recent Board policy is that General Fund money used for Water/Wastewater expenditures be accounted for as a loan that must be repaid.

I’ll leave the analysis and opinion to those of you with greater facility with numbers. What follows are charts showing the ratios of spending in various categories. The numbers are from the May 2010 proposed budget as entered into a spreadsheet and checked for accuracy. To view the spreadsheet used, click here.

Total Proposed Budget Expenditures (All Funds): $ 7,453,214.00

Total Proposed Employee Compensation, Payroll Taxes, Benefits, Allocated Personnel Costs(All Departments): $4,561,801.00

Total Proposed Professional Services (All Departments): $277,180.00 (Total 2009-10 – $314,550.00, Total 2008-09 -$297,290.00 )

An item was posted on the website FedBizOpps.gov in the category “Opportunities” soliciting interested qualified vendors for Cambria’s “Geotechnical Feasibility Investigation Study”. The solicitation outlines what is expected of the company that gets the business and (as of today 5/5/10) includes 6 interested vendors from as near as Paso Robles and as far as Florida.

Check it out to gain some insight on the process. The on May 10, 2010, watch the California Coastal Commission hearing on the federal consistency determination (if it isn’t postponed for some reason.) Click here to link to the agenda for that meeting.

Washingtonwatch.com tracks the bills in Congress, along with estimates about their costs or savings, when available. They also provide earmark data like the request for Cambria CSD by Lois Capps for $2,000,000 for desalination. Visit the site and make your comments there or here.

This earmark request can be attributed (at least in part) to the work of our lobbyist federal advocate.  Our community has spent a small fortune on this part of the project. How much? Thanks to OpenSecrets.org, it’s easy to find out. OpenSecrets.org is a federal watchdog site that provides information on lobbying expenditures, searchable by client, lobbying firm, individual lobbyist, industry, issue, agency or bill. View the report on Cambria Community Services District here.

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February 7, 2010
Letter to Cambrians,
What are we getting for the $733,000?
The CCSD (the Army Corps of Engineers) has plans to drill up two ten sites and install several test wells at Santa Rosa Creek where it enters the ocean at Shamel Park, which is estimated to cost $733,000. This expenditure is likely to lead to a desalination plant, which will lead to further expenditures. (Estimated at over $21,000,000.) The testing will have impacts on the environment, as will the potential desalination plant. The “Proposed Negative Declaration” filed by the CCSD on January 4, 2010 (may be January 14, can’t tell from poor quality of posted document) woefully underestimates the potential and known environmental damages from the proposed test drilling.
I object to the testing, on grounds of the heart–the effects on the life, human, plant and animal. I also object on the grounds of the head, that is of the cost, when other solutions would cost less and with less negative impact.
Since the approximately 3800 residences in Cambria use about 75% of the water, the cost for the testing to each residence, if divided up would be $145.

Points of the heart

Thousands of sea birds depend upon the estuary for water, food and respite. The sand bar at the mouth of the creek creates a lagoon where many species of fish breed, which in turn feed birds, otters, wildlife and us.
Construction of test wells and a desalination plant will increase the levels of toxins on the beach, in the ocean, our air, and in our water. Toxic mercury from old mines would likely be released and becomes highly toxic when it comes in contact with oxygen. Leaks from equipment and pollution from their engines threaten our air and land.
Over the long term, should a desalinization plant be installed, a large plume of salt and at least 25 known carcinogens would be spewed out into the ocean, resulting in a dead area in the ocean and continued contamination. Sea water contains pollutants which would have to be counteracted by the process.
Reasons of the Head: Fiscal Irresponsibility of the Plan
The proposed desalination project is sized to allow for every household to use 18 units bimonthly. Our actual average per household use is about 9 units bimonthly. Why? Such excess production is costly.
CCSD hasn’t told us how much we can expect our water bills to go up. Because they will go up. A DWR estimate from 2003 on the cost of desalinated water may range between $1160 to $1,600 per acre-foot of water, much more than the current cost to pump from the creeks. Cambria uses an average of 60 acre feet per month, about 700 per year. One acre-foot is approximately 326,000 gallons, or 436 CCSD units. The average family uses about .19 acre feet per year. This translates into a cost of $58,000 to $128,000 a month for Cambria or a cost to the average household for water of between $29 and $64 per water bill.
I experienced a doubling in water bill while living in Santa Barbara in the 90s after they built a desalinisation plant. The plant is no longer in service due to high maintenance and operation costs.
Of course these figures are estimates. However, my conversations with a water engineer indicate that if anything they are underestimated, due to the cost overruns of such mammoth projects.
Fiscally Responsible Solutions
What makes the desalinization project even more problematic is that there are less costly solutions.
• 30% to 50% of water used by Cambrians could be saved by installing grey water systems in each home, at a cost of between $500 for a minimal system to an average of $4000. 1466 homes in Cambria could have the minimal grey water system installed for just the cost of the testing!
• expand the rebates program, about to run out of the measly $2000 allocated for Cambrians to install low water usage toilets.
• conduct water audits by a professional, which would including installing low-flow fixtures, establishing detailed water usage in Cambria, providing education about conservation, and maintaining an awareness throughout the community about the urgency for conservation. I would cost approximately. All residences in Cambria could be audited by hiring three auditors for three months which would cost approximately $24,000. If all residences in Cambria had up to date water friendly toilets and fixtures, we could save 40% or more of our water usage, without changing any of our habits!
• Look into developing ponds or storage tanks up Santa Rosa Creek. (Dr. Jim Brownell conducted such a study, available in the Cambria Library, largely ignored!)
• Install an updated wastewater recycling system. A local plumber estimated that the current system uses over 50% more water than an updated, ecologically superior system would require.
• Improving the sewage treatment plant to provide recycled wastewater (also known as reclaimed, tertiary standard, California Title 22, (‘purple pipe’) could save 2 to 3 units per month for each household.
In conclusion there are too many reasons, both of the heart and the head to go ahead with the costly text drilling at our precious Shamel Park or with the plan for building a desalinization plant with so many better solutions available.
Do not let fear or greed rule the day.
Sincerely,
Valerie Bentz
Cambria resident since 2000

At the last regular Cambria Community Services District meeting of 2009 the Board chose it’s new leaders. Bucking the usual tradition of selecting the Vice President to be the next president, Muril Clift nominated current board president Greg Sanders to continue in that role. Director Sanders didn’t refuse the nomination and was unanimously elected to serve for 2010 as the Board president.
Then Director MacKinnon nominated Director Chaldecott for Vice Chair, citing the logic of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. When there was no second to his motion, Director DeMicco nominated Director Clift for Vice Chair. His reasoning included ensuring the Executive committee becoming more balanced between the experience of Sanders and the fiscal responsibility represented by the recently elected Clift. It almost appeared that DeMicco’s motion would also die for lack of a second when Director Chaldecott quietly seconded Clift’s nomination.
Director Sanders responded “Always the gentleman, Peter.” It was hard to hear exactly what Chaldecott said in response, but the gist of it seemed to be that choosing Clift as Vise president would ensure some continuity, since he would be retiring at the end of 2010. Chaldecott’s term is up in 2010 and he apparently isn’t planning a run next year.
The president and vice president make up the executive committee of the Cambria Community Services District. This committee sets the agendas for the monthly meetings and provides much of the direction for what policies the Board will consider over the year.
Whether or not you agree with Sanders or Clift on individual matters, I think these two men will serve the community well in 2010. The monthly meetings are professional and usually run smoothly by president Sanders. Unlike other Board presidents, Sanders allows some latitude in time available for public comment and manages the action expertly. Clift has shown strong political acumen in his year and a half on the CSD and we will benefit from his ability to ask the right questions at the right time.
More on the rest of the meeting (which was packed for the Army Corps of Engineers presentation) in tomorrow’s post.

At the November 16, 2009 meeting of the Cambria Community Services District meeting, District Engineer Bob Gresens did a presentation on the costs of various potable water supplies for Cambria. If you missed the meeting and don’t have Charter Cable, you were out of luck on seeing the powerpoint. The Cambria CSD added the presentation to its website at least a week ago as an addendum to the November 16, 2009 agenda packet. It took me a while to find it there, but here is the critical page. (Download the full presentation here.)

There are a number of questions we should be asking, starting with the most important one: how much will it cost Cambrians to go from 90%  to 100% reliability from their water system?**(see below) Note that when the aquifers are completely recharged, we have enough water to meet current demand without threat of saltwater intrusion or habitat destruction.

Director DeMicco asked Gresens to show how he arrived at the numbers shown below and will likely do so in a utilities committee meeting. The information in this chart is incomplete or comparing apples with oranges and could be misleading if misunderstood. I encourage you to take it with a grain of salt (no pun intended). I look forward to hearing Mr. Gresens

Cost of Various Water Supply Alternatives

PRESENT WORTH COST SUMMARY OF POTABLE WATER SUPPLY ALTERNATIVES

**In Task Two of the District’s Master Plan (a.k.a. the Kennedy Jenks baseline water supply analysis)  the following conclusions were developed:
• The District’s current water supplies are marginal to inadequate to provide a 90 percent level of reliability (i.e., in about one out of ten years there may not be enough water for current customers, who will have to cut back on water use).
• The District’s current water supplies are inadequate to provide a 95 percent level of reliability (i.e., in about one out of twenty years there may be a severe water  shortage and current customers will have to cut back on water use).

The recurrence frequency of incomplete refill in the San Simeon Creek basin has been estimated at 1 year in 34. The return frequency for the same event in Santa Rosa Creek basin has been estimated at 1 year in 25 (Yates, 1991).

It also assumes “Public water utilities should have a water supply reliability of 90 to <100 percent, recognizing that the cost to achieve high levels of reliability may be difficult and expensive. Accordingly, alternative criteria of 90 and 95 percent reliability are presented.”

Based on the evaluation criteria presented in the previous section, the analysis  indicates  the projected ending groundwater level in the San Simeon Creek basin is expected to be above the minimum groundwater level criterion if the basin is completely recharged at the beginning of the Dry Season and the probability that groundwater levels will be sufficiently high at the beginning of the Dry Season to maintain the minimum criteria is near the 90 percent reliability objective but well below the 95 percent reliability objective, particularly in critically dry years.
Also, the expected production requirements from each basin is within its dry season water rights limitations. The results of this dry season evaluation indicate that all of the evaluation criteria except for the 90 percent reliability criterion during extreme critically dry years and the 95 percent reliability criterion are met for current water demands. Therefore, the District’s current water supplies are marginal to inadequate to provide a 90 percent level of reliability for current water demands and are inadequate to provide a 95 percent reliability level.

Additional analysis from the Kennedy Jenks study will follow. Download a version marked with my highlighting here.

The “opening act” at the December 14, 2009 meeting of the Cambria Community Services District will be Colonel Thomas H. Magness, IV, 58th commander, Los Angeles District, Army Corp of Engineers. According to Director Chaldecott, the Colonel will provide an update on the status of the desalination project.  Out of respect for his time, he is scheduled at the start of the meeting.

Some information is available, if you really look for it. There is a little information available about funding for Cambria’s project and some brief information about a $70,000.00 contract awarded to San Francisco-based Noble Consultants at the beginning of November,  chosen from a field of eight other interested parties. Visit this site for the  complete source. To read the October 30, 2009  news release issued by the Army Corps of Engineers about the award, click here.

The Cambria CSD recently approved a payment of $166,000 in  matching funds and is awaiting a decision on how much of the money we’ve already spent on desalination will count toward the 25% required matching funds. It seems unclear what amount this is a match for. As of October 16, 2009,  Estimated Recovery Act Funds Allocated of $950,600 and  Recovery Act Funds Obligated was $255,945  Download the excel spreadsheet here.

This project will not be inexpensive or easy or accomplished quickly. I look forward to hearing right from the Colonel’s mouth what the status of our project is.The meeting is Monday December 14, 2009 at 12:30 pm at the Veteran’s hall. I’ll post more agenda information once its available.

See you there!

The agenda for next Monday’s Cambria CSD Board meeting is now available online. Below  are highlights of the  agenda. The main item looks to be the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve EIR. The closed session agenda includes the performance evaluation of the general manager (plus 3 legal matters). Download the full agenda packet from the CCSD’s website.  More to come….

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS/PRESENTATIONS
Receive Presentation by CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry & Fire
Protection) on Emergency Medical Services and Fire Protection Services

REGULAR BUSINESS
A. Consider Adoption of Resolution 50-2009 Approving Certification of Fiscalini Ranch Preserve Master Environmental Impact Report (EIR);
Consider Adoption of Resolution 54-2009 Approving the Revised Community Park Plan; Authorize General Manager to Sign and File Notice
of Determination; and Consider Adoption of Resolution 56-2009 Approving a Contract Change Order for Morro Group SWCA
B. Consider Adoption of 2010 CCSD Regular Board Meeting Schedule

On November 12,2007, this site was created. The original intention of AboutCambria.com was to provide a way for people to share information about water and sewer rates among the forty or fifty folks who had come together to protest the rate increase of the fall 2007. That first post was titled “Why Did You Protest The Rate Increase?”
The look and direction of the site has changed somewhat over the last couple of years. The focus has broadened to include more than just water and sewer rates and the activities of the CCSD. There is still much more to include here and I hope that Cambrians are able to get the information they want and stay informed about the decisions their community leaders are making on their behalf.
I encourage you to take a stroll through the last two years. At the very bottom of every page are links to each month of the last two years. Simply click the month and all the posts from that month will be listed as links. Find something fun? Leave a comment and I’ll re-post it for all to read.
The last two or three moths here have been rather quiet, mostly because I was very involved in organizing the recent Day of Action on Climate Change with the Cambria Climate Action Group (including being the webmaven for Cambria350.org) and I have a new job. I am working part-time for an arborist in Morro Bay. I’m still getting the hang of the five-day per week job and plan to get back to more writing here at AboutCambria.com now that I’m not busy with the Cambria350.org anymore.
Thank you to all of you who have contributed your thoughts, writing and support over the last two years. Special thanks to those few folks who have helped this site (and me) survive financially. It’s still a struggle and even the new job may not be enough to keep us afloat, but I have no immediate plans to stop trying or to stop keeping my eye on the CCSD, CCHD, county and state leaders and bringing you the information you need to make better decisions about who you elect and how you participate in creating a better community.
See you Monday at the CCSD meeting (12:30pm, Veterans Memorial Hall). Agenda posted here when it’s available.

P.S. You can still donate to the cause. Just click on the little guy right below this post!

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The agenda packet for the Cambria Community Services District meeting for this week is a hefty 368 pages. Download it from the CCSD website.

The agenda has a new preamble explaining the legal rules and restrictions of the Board. I applaud this change for a few reasons, but mainly because it may help “regular” citizens understand better what actions the Board can and cannot take at a meeting, relative to the published agenda.

This agenda is prepared and posted pursuant to Government Code Section 54954.2. By listing a topic on this agenda, the District’s Board of Directors has expressed its intent to discuss and act on each item. In addition to any action identified in the summary description of each item, the action that may be taken by the Board of Directors shall include: a referral to staff with specific requests for information; continuance; specific direction to staff concerning the policy or mission of the item; discontinuance of  consideration;cauthorization to enter into negotiations and execute agreements pertaining to the item; adoption or approval; and disapproval.
Copies of the staff reports or other documentation relating to each item of business referred to on the agenda are on file in the Office of the District Clerk, available for public inspection during District business hours. If requested, the agenda and supporting documents shall be made available in alternative formats to persons with a disability. The District Clerk will answer any questions regarding the agenda.

This week’s agenda includes the usual pledge of allegiance, report from closed session, public comment periods near the beginning and end of the meeting, sheriff’s report, etc. Also this week:

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS/PRESENTATIONS
Cambria Forest Committee Member Galen Rathbun, Presentation of “County and State Codes, Related to Habitat and Fire Protection in Cambria”

MANAGER’S AND BOARD REPORTS

1. GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT
2. DISTRICT ENGINEER UPDATE REPORT ON DESAL PROJECT COSTS

REGULAR BUSINESS

A. Consider Adoption of Resolution 51-2009 Approving Amendment to Settlement, Mutual Release and Covenant Agreement with Joshua Brown and Cathie Brown
B. Consider Adoption of Resolution 53-2009 Approving Agreement Between the CCSD and Granville Homes, Inc., for Conversion of Two EDUs toSingle Family Residential Allocated to 5860 Moonstone Beach Drive (Moonstone Inn) Property
C. Consider Adoption of Resolution 50-2009 Approving Certification of Fiscalini Ranch Preserve Master Environmental Impact Report (EIR); and Consider Adoption of Resolution 54-2009 Approving the Revised Community Park Plan

The closed session agenda is rather full,  too.

A. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – ANTICIPATED LITIGATION Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 54956.9 (2 matters) Barbara Owen, Claimant; Cybernet Consulting, Inc.
B. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – EXISTING LITIGATION Subdivision (a) of Section 54956.9 (1 matter) Landwatch/C Hawley San Luis Obispo County vs CCSD and DOEs 1 through 25 (inclusive), Army Corps of Engineers and DOEs 21 through 30 (inclusive) Real Parties in Interest CV-09-00928 GAF (RZx)
C. CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS
Agency Designated Representatives: General Manager Employee Organizations: IAFF, Local 4635, Cambria CSD
D. CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS
Agency Designated Representatives: General Manager Employee Organizations: SEIU, Local 620, Cambria CSD

See you Thursday starting at 12:30pm at the Veteran’s Hall.