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Saturday, May 03, 2014

Want Water? That'll Cost You.



I received the following email with additional information concerning the public meeting, Tuesday, May 6 at 6:30 pm. at the Community Center.  A grassroots group is exploring the possibility of buying out Golden State Water Co. and making it some sort of publicly-owned, non-profit municipal water company.  If you live in the area that Golden State Water serves, you will have noticed your water bills are higher than the customers being served by the CSD water district. So, if you're interested, you might want to attend the meeting and learn more      


Hello Friends and Neighbors,

Tired of high water rates?  Here is the detail for the speakers at the meeting on Tuesday, May 6th at 6:30.  Five hard working experienced professionals from Ojai and Felton have volunteered to share what their communities have done to take control of their water infrastructure.  This is the first time they have appeared at the same place at the same time so there will be a lot of good information and time for questions.  They are driving in from Felton and Ojai to help us understand the process that they went through.  Their objective is to be helpful to shed light on what our future may hold and how we in Los Osos can make the best choices concerning Golden State Water.  They have spent several years gathering information, going through the process and working with their communities to get people to come together.  We hope for a great turnout on Tuesday at the South Bay Community Center so we can hear what they have to say.  Anyone that can video this meeting please contact me.
Please pass this along to anyone you know that is a Golden State rate payer or is interested in what is happening with water services in Los Osos and surrounding communities.

Have a great weekend,

Denise Robson

LOS OSOS FLOW
  Meeting Agenda May 6, 2014



INTRODUCTION LOS OSOS FLOW STEERING COMMITTEE, Tom Wright, Retired professional
3 MINUTES

GUEST SPEAKERS:

FELTON FLOW
JIM GRAHAM, STEERING COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVE:  Felton successfully bought out their private water company, Cal AM, and got lower rates.

What they had to do and the obstacles to buy-out their for profit water company: 10 min, 10 min Q&A.

OJAI FLOW

PAT MCPHERSON, - STEERING COMMITTEE CHAIR.
Retired co-founder and VP marketing of an international electronics engineering and manufacturing company in Carpinteria, past board member of Santa Barbara County Federal Credit Union, Chair of Sustainable Ojai’s Solar Power Group, Former Board member of the Ojai Valley Defense Fund, former secretary of a mutual water company in the Sierra’s, and a community activist.

Introduction: 5 MINUTES

RICHARD HAJAS, STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER
Over 30 years’ experience managing the operations and finances of local water agencies. Managed the operations of the Casitas Municipal Water District (Casitas) as Assistant General Manager and served as the General Manager of the Camrosa Water District in Camarillo for 15 years. Most recently provided budgeting, planning, and rate design consulting services to the Meiners Oaks Water District. Richard wrote the Ojai FLOW feasibility study that was used to gather signatures and later as the model by Casitas.

What Ojai FLOW has done in preparation to buy-out Golden State operations in Ojai: 30 min, 10 min Q&A




LOU TORRES C.P.A., STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER
Certified Public Accountant and Tax & Business consultant in Ojai and past Treasurer of both the Rotary Club of Ojai West and Rotary Club of Ojai West Foundation, Inc. which is a not for profit organization.

Ojai FLOW Structure and reporting requirements: 10 min. including Q & A.

RYAN BLATZ J.D. STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER

Local attorney, grew up in Ojai, and experience organizing volunteer groups. Instrumental in establishing Class Action Status for a damage suit against the Golden State Water Company.

Discuss Multi-million dollar Class Action suit against Golden State:  15 Min, 5 min Q & A

WE NEED YOUR HELP.  MAIL DONATIONS AND QUESTIONS TO LOSOSOSFLOW P.O.BOX 6931 LOS OSOS CA 93402
WEBSITE: LOSOSOSFLOW.NET,  FACEBOOK: LOSOSOSFLOW,  VOLUNTEER DONATE
      (Funds from donations are to be deposited into the account of Los Osos Flow, a political action committee.  Funds are used
for community reach out, education, research &  printing costs.  All expenses are subject to approval by Los Osos Flow committee members.)

4 comments:

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

I'm in the CSD water zone but I am going to this anyway. Ought to be fascinating! Too bad the CSD is too broke from the bankruptcy to be a player though.

Churadogs said...

I'll be attending. Can't see how this could work without raising fees even higher to pay off a purchase, if that results. and if high fees are the problem now, . . . ?

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

Yes, the purchase price is the big problem, not to mention all the money needed for attorneys and permits, etc.. So how do the fees get lower—ever? Who has the money to buy this thing, were they envisioning a company like S&T Mutual? What if you are too stretched to buy a chunk of the proposed water company—it's not like the cable company where you can opt out! OR is somebody rich going to be the benevolent owner? Or a few of them? Is Golden State going down without a fight?

Churadogs said...

Dunno. I don't see how this was ever done anywhere. Unless the water company in question was going broke and had a firesale/loss price? Well, we'll see this evening. .