Calhouns Can(n)ons

And Now, Let's Hear From Our Other Guest . . .

The following is from Los Osos Technical Task Force member, Gail McPherson. The "dreamers" and the Tribune have recently been happily conflating the idea that disolving the CSD will be fast, easy, quick and poof! a few signatures here and there and the Sewer Plant will rise like Phoenix from the Tri-W site, the big, bad ogre Briggs will stop snarling and go away, all will be forgiven and like magic Los Osos' problems will disolve like morning mist.

In speaking with Paul Hood of LAFCO, that smiley-faced fairy tale is far, far from the truth. I do hope he'll come talk to the community at a CSD meeting.

What's interesting about some of the steps outlined below is the puzzling question: Why didn't the old CSD do those things, i.e. feasibility/affordability study, detailed comparison between systems, a vote on, say, the top two systems & sites (with accurate costs, no "hide the salami" deferreds), followed by a Prop 218-type vote once the full costs were known and so forth.? And, above all, why on earth did the Recalled-3 start pounding all that nice money into the ground before the election? Clearly, there were options. And instead of promoting more disinformation, why didn't/doesn't the Tribune ask those questions -- even now?

I know, the Tribune? Bwa-hahahahah.

If anyone wonders why we're in such a mess today, I would suggest taking a look at the steps NOW being taken and especially the order in which they're being taken. I think therein lies a few clues as to just what started this original train wreck. Nobody can say the old CSD wasn't warned. There were so many red lights and red flags going down that nobody could have missed the signals.
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YES, the CSD HAS A PLAN....BEFORE THE ELECTION AND NOW. And the TRI W project is dead. GET OVER IT.

TO SAY NO PROJECT, NO LAND, AND NO PERMITS IS EXACTLY RIGHT!
It's true...The dreamers can claim that because it was legally impossible before the election TO BUY LAND, DESIGN A PROJECT OR GET PERMITS. But a project plan was in place and is moving. After all, to gain the ability to represent the majority of the community, TO BUY LAND, DESIGN A PROJECT, GET PERMITS, and deliver an acceptable wastewater project, was the very reason for the recall. And stopping the successful delivery is the only goal of the ousted directors.

The new CSD developed a project report and plan long before the election. Workshops and town hall meetings, reports and display boards allowed the community to hear about the options that would be studied, and had copies of the proposal and costs for the Nelson pond project. The plan is the road map for delivering a project, and the same plan that the CSD has been implementing since the election.

The CSD efforts for a new project hasn't stopped, even as Briggs delivered the complaint for fines, which were ready to go even before the election was certified. Work was in progress even as the ousted board & dreamers lobbied the State and pressured them to pull the funding, and even before the CSD had a chance meet and discuss the implementation plan for the new wastewater project and its steps and process schedule.

The State gave the old CSD until September 20, with additional 90 days to just award the contracts. Construction never needed to start, except for the malicious need to create huge risk of financial damage to the community. Plenty of time was there for learning the outcome of the election before committing taxpayer money or locking in contracts and spending loan funding. Yet the start of construction 20 days before the election tells the motives was to deny the voters a say. The ousted directors made a promise of fiscal destruction if the community voted against their leadership. Just as voters’ objections were crushed for the last 3 years and a vote denied. The CSD ousted-3 worked against the best interests of our community to spend us into submission, obligating the rate payers to $10-$20 mil in debt before the election was certified. That promise was in THEIR election flyers. Surely that would either win them the election or preserve their project!

But they underestimated the resolve of the community. A dose of fear with $11 mil in fines- Won't that dissolve up any hope of a new out of town project? But even with all the assaults, the new board won the election, and with the promise of determination, directors and staff is working on the wastewater project. The Tri-W project is dead. The community can stop arguing against it now and put our efforts on compliance with water quality. The fastest path to a project is to let the CSD do their job. TRI W -It is GONE....dead, and we should bury it. Tri W is no more possible now than was the County project was after the CSD election in 1999.

While the old board tries to kill a wastewater project, the handful of ardent dreamers calling themselves- ironically “Taxpayers Watch” lead by Gustafson and Hensley, try to delay the CSD's progress. They have filed 5 lawsuits, and hope their efforts to date would bankrupt the CSD.

The CSD has stepped up efforts to get the new project off the ground. Dreamers emails indicate a hope the CSD won't have the funds to design and build the project. But they are failing. So now Dreamers hope the threats by the RWQCB of individual fines against citizens will boost their efforts to dissolve the CSD. That is their only hope to stop the potential success of the new CSD, who if not stopped will most certainly deliver a wastewater project.

The CSD is focusing all their work on the project plan, and the process to deliver a wastewater project that addresses the needs of the community. Yes, the plan they still insist CSD doesn’t have. The one presented featuring ponds or the oxidation ditch technology in the negotiations with Blakeslee and the State. The PLAN that the State can fund and the water board must permit, because it DOES meet the regulatory requirements.

The Tri W loan was too high a risk for the State, and I believe they must be relieved to have terminated it. There is litigation, but a new loan application is being drafted, and the State will put the safeguards in place the old loan never had. And that is ok, because it protects us too. Now the "process" has to be followed to assure a 218 vote, and will assure we have a wastewater project that is legal and acceptable.

That means the CSD has to produce a facility report. That report was in an unofficial draft form before the election. The next step is to take the report and elements of the 2001 report through a feasibility study. Here the CSD must give other technology and processes a fair look. That means to put the PLAN up against the other alternatives, to assure we are selecting the best value. To do this we identify the possible land sites for projects, and put a cost table together. The State requires this for the loan, and it is needed for CEQA, and measure B. But could this be accomplished before the election? Of course not.
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Why don't we have land?
I know I am likely repeating myself, but IT IS AGAINST THE LAW FOR THE CSD TO BUY LAND, OPTION LAND, OR DESIGN A PROJECT WITHOUT THE PUBLIC PROCESS BEING FOLLOWED.
It was and still is a ridiculous demand by dreamers who know it is impossible, yet give misinformation that the supporters of the recall should have purchased land and designed a project before the election. The process for developing a project must follow the CEQA laws. The funding is actually dependent upon the CSD following a legal process within the loan application. (A process the old CSD fudged over and over and one that could not begin until after the election).

YES The CSD has a plan, and is well into motion because they have all the existing project reports and studies. The CSD will use them in developing the wastewater project. The CSD has elements of the 2001 facility report and the LOTTF alternative report that contains the pond plan that the State reviewed. The plan was the basis of the compromise for funding that was later rejected, but water board staff agreed we could save $25 mil.

The plan is a roadmap to for the CSD to follow the legal process to deliver a wastewater project. More will be presented to the public in the public board meeting and workshops, now that funding and fines are in the legal arenas.

So with the question of a plan answered, as well as land and permits, the defeated directors shift to “dissolving the CSD”. They accused the CSD of causing the debt, and say the new CSD promised no fines, and no loss of funding.
That is another one of their twisted lies.
The Save the Dream election documents actually promised
1. YOU WILL BE FINED!
2. YOU WILL LOSE THE LOAN!
3. YOU WIL BE DISOLVED AND THE COUNTY WLLL TAKE OVER!

Recall proponents said, while that might happen in a divided community, if we work together we can prevail. Either way, the new CSD would defend the community. Fear was not a good enough reason to accept bad government, the fatally flawed unsustainable and unaffordable project, or Dreamers corrosive politics.

The DREAMERS worked very hard to bring their promise to fruition both before and after the election. E-mails to regulatory agencies and other documentation reveals the dreamers group was begging for help to assure fines and loss of funding. In spite of the state agencies requirement for objectivity, obligation to work with the new legally elected CSD members, with the authority to exercise discretion, and with the responsibility to protect the taxpayers of the State, the dreamers tried to make good on their promises. (The apparent influence or electioneering with help from the state is particularly disturbing).

As the prior minority board and later the new CSD explained the possibility and the process of fines, and the funding requirements to the public, they were told they were naive. They educated the community, and described the wide range of options and discretion available in the water board policies, only to find they would never consider exercising that power.

The new CSD and this community always knew the fines and funding risks, It had been hammered on them for 7 years, and yet they made these commitments:
1. Work to deliver an affordable and properly sited wastewater project.
2. Work to avoid or mitigate fines to the best of their ability, and defend the community against abuses by the RWQCB.
3. To work to preserve the funding through project amendments possible before construction, and through negotiations for an amended project and compromise after:

a. Willingness for compromise and to provide the legal authority through a 218 vote and passing measure B project approval.
b. To apply and reapply for loans and grants, and provide necessary surety
c. Conduct affordability studies, and apply for loans, grants and funding instruments that assure a wastewater project is completed.
4. To defend and protect the community based on a code of conduct, and their oath of office.

The CSD is working to fulfill those promises, and others made in the 'first 100 days -contract with Los Osos', because THIS CSD HAS the legal authority to deliver a project. This CSD is the only agency that CAN LEGALLY deliver any wastewater project.

Not the county, the state, not the RWQCB, or bitter ex-directors or their supporters. The CSD holds the authority.

The TRI W project is dead. GET OVER IT. It is our hope that all interested parties will recognize this reality, and stop their divisive actions, and work with the CSD to deliver a legal and acceptable wastewater project.

Don't say Move Forward...say MOVE ON>>>>>!

Gail McPherson
Los Osos Technical Task Force
805-534-1913