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Dear Stakeholders:
New Ordinance is Cash Cow for City The ordinance passed last night by the City Council would permit some customers to be billed as soon as February. Ian Pietz said that the ordinance takes 30 days to go into effect. Then it allows for 30 days to begin billing after receiving water. There are 800 homes that are North of Lincoln and West of Walton receiving surface water periodically. They also would be the first to have meters installed. Ian Pietz has also said that no construction is needed for Region 1 (900-1,000 homes). It seems they then would be the next to receive surface water. That means that 1,700-1,800 homes could be billed with no construction needed to deliver surface water to them. In September 2007, Ian Pietz said that if Regions 2/3 were put on surface water that all capacity of the enlarged water treatment plant would be exhausted. The unsolved mystery is how will the remaining 2/3 customers and the un-built but planned, 124 homes be served without further expansion of the already recently enlarged water treatment plant which was a $24 mil project that was financed with the sale of bonds (debt). THE COST OF THIS IMPROVEMENT WAS NOT PASSED ON TO THE YUBA CITY WATER CUSTOMERS. If at first Hillcrest plan doesn’t succeed Try, try again, says Yuba City City CouncilNovember 24, 2008 11:50:00 PM - By John Dickey/Appeal-Democrat Yuba City is poised to start work on connecting 4,000 Hillcrest households to city surface water after opponents failed to defeat a water connection surcharge Monday. Veto of the nearly $20-per-month surcharge would have required just over 2,000 Proposition 218 protest ballots. But opponents could only muster up 807 protest votes: 634 in Region 2/3 and 173 in Region 1. The City Council voted unanimously to introduce an ordinance for the water surcharge after hearing the results from City Clerk Terrel Locke. "This is put to bed now, the city can move forward," said Mayor Rory Ramirez in his last meeting with the council. But opponents may not let it sleep just yet. They are considering whether to file a legal challenge to the city's sur-charge, which they are calling a tax for an improvement, said Elaine Miles, a Hillcrest resident who has spoken against the surcharge. "The issue is not surface water, the issue is the fairness of this tax," said Miles. The project also has to be designed and put out to bid. If bid offers are above the amount of the surcharge, the city would have to repeat the Proposition 218 process a third time. Some opponents said they were against a Hillcrest area-only surcharge to pay for the pipes and storage tanks to hook the area up to city surface water. A major pipe will be upsized beyond Hillcrest needs to handle water for future development, but the city said it is paying for the added cost of the piping. "I say this cost should be borne by all of the city, and not just this one area," said Suzanne Connelly, a Hillcrest resident. Others were happy to pay the surcharge, saying it would be less than the costs of water softener salts, bottled water and appliance replacement. "I just feel it would be a much better choice," said Deb Fahs, who lives in Region 2. The city has been proposing a surface-water connection to replace the Hillcrest groundwater source. Hillcrest water is high in arsenic and requires extensive treatment — something the plant is not designed for, and which reduces the plant's water output, according to the city. At one point the city issued a notice to residents about the high arsenic levels. City officials said at Monday's meeting that one of the Hillcrest wells had to be taken out of service because it collapsed and was "pumping gravel" with production of 10 percent of normal. Some surcharge foes questioned the city's maintenance of the Hillcrest water plant. Monday's hearing could mark the beginning of the end of the controversial Hillcrest water issue which has been battled out in meetings since 2007. Monday's Proposition 218 hearing was the second one for the city after a previous attempt failed overall but passed in Region 1, prompting another try after some claimed they were misinformed. Hillcrest residents could see the surcharge on their water bills by the summer of 2010, a month after the connecting pipes and storage tanks are completed, according to city officials. Numerous wells, drilled by and serving both commercial and residential properties, exist in Sutter County and throughout the Central Valley. Those private parties who are interested in securing water from their wells invest in maintenance in order to keep them functioning. When and if they begin to falter, owners either invest in major repair or replacement in order to keep the water--_that is still down there and available_--serving their needs. Crumbling wells in Yuba City appear to be indicative of maintenance failure or failure to plan for the inevitable need for replacement. The City should take the appropriate steps to make certain that the water that is available underground _will continue_ to meet the demands of water customers, rather than crying "Wolf" or pretending it is powerless to follow the lead of the private-sector well owners. - Bob Mackensen
City trying to sell Hillcrest plant
Water tie-in to 1,000 homes
in Region 1 still on fast track The City of Yuba City has started shopping around its Hillcrest water plant after residents turned down a proposal to connect to municipal surface water. But a smaller tie-in that would ship water to 1,000 homes in Region 1 is still on the fast track. Utilities Director Bill Lewis is hopeful he can meet the City Council's goal last month of a Region 1 meeting within 30 days. The Utilities Department has been working on getting the project and its costs outlined so a timely City Council session can be held. No date has been set. "I'm trying to meet the council's deadline of 30 days," said Lewis. The council asked city staffers to look at a tie-in for that area alone after Region 1 residents did not veto the city's surface water connection proposal. Overall, the city's proposal was turned down last month by a majority of Hillcrest Region 1, 2 and 3 property owners and utility customers. The City Council on Tuesday will consider a resolution to apply for low-interest loans from the California Department of Public Health. The loan would cover the costs of reducing arsenic concentrations in Region 1. While the city is studying a plan to connect Region 1, which is located east of Highway 99 in unincorporated Sutter County, it is also shopping the Hillcrest water plant around. Letters went out Tuesday to eight water utility companies asking if they had an interest in purchasing the Hillcrest water plant, said Lewis.
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