Calhouns Can(n)ons

Time For Another EIR

(A "Viewpoint" from CSD Board Member Chuck Cesena.)

In addition to the election of candidates to our local Community Services District Board, early November will bring another important event in the history of Los Osos. The county will be releasing the draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the sewer project. The last EIR, approved by later-to-be recalled board members who now call themselves Taxpayers Watch, gave us the TriW project in the middle of town. Do we want to risk a return to that possibility by voting for candidates with direct ties to Taxpayers Watch?

Much has been said lately about the current board being hostile to the other governmental agencies and about our handling of the district’s financial matters. Let’s look at the facts regarding our relations with other agencies:
· Given the divisiveness present in the community and the willingness of Taxpayers Watch to litigate our every step towards a revised project, our Board supported returning the project to the County through the passage of AB2701,
· In the months immediately after the recall, our Board negotiated with Assemblyman Blakeslee and the State Water Board staff and agreed to a compromise that would have continued work on the collection system and moved the treatment plant east of town. This effort was also torpedoed by Taxpayers Watch. Six million dollars later, this is the project the County is now proposing,
· Our Board, not just Director Sparks, supported the 218 assessment vote and the County project development process.

Yes, we have continued to litigate the Cease and Desist Orders that could force individuals to stop using their existing septic systems even if no sewer project is ever built. We just happen to believe it is wrong for the government to punish individuals for the failure of government at all levels; local, County and State.

Regarding our financial acumen:
· Audit after audit has determined that the commingling of funds from various district accounts, which was a practice started well before the recall, made it impossible to state with certainty the “color” of the money being used for reserves or to pay District bills. What can be stated with certainty is that no District funds were ever used to pay for anything except legitimate District expenses.
· Our Board cut expenses in every area we could. Our largest “unbudgeted” expenses have been Taxpayers Watch dissolution efforts at LAFCO and litigation; we can’t control that. If anyone has placed the District on a path to insolvency, it is this group of recalled board members.
· The low bidder for our water rate study, endorsed only by Director Sparks, was the consultant who previously delivered a flawed rate study that left the District short $500,000 in needed revenues.

The District’s bankruptcy is the direct result of needlessly starting construction on the TriW project three weeks prior to the recall election. The State’s loan was good for another three months. The recalled Board gambled with our town’s money and we have all lost. The good news is that recent arbitration decisions have limited the resulting contractor’s claims to about one third of the original amounts.

It was expensive to stop the TriW project, a project that didn’t even survive the County’s fine screening analysis. That project was so flawed that neither the County nor Coastal Commission objected when our Board withdrew the EIR’s Statement of Overriding Considerations (SOC) in 2006. The SOC were the reasons given by the recalled board for choosing the TriW project over the environmentally preferred and cheaper options identified in their own EIR.

Which brings me back to the fact that another sewer EIR is about to be released. If you watched the County’s Technical Advisory Committee meetings you know that Karen Venditti is the only CSD candidate who asked meaningful, thought provoking questions of the county consultant. She supported the County process, but with accountability. The Taxpayers Watch backed candidates usually just nodded their heads and accepted everything, no questions asked. The thought of a CSD Board dominated by their allegiance to the recalled board members makes me very nervous, especially with another EIR about to be released. Karen Venditti is clearly the choice on November 4.

Chuck Cesena