Part 3 Candidates Forum: Transparency, purchase
of sewer plant addressed
October 15, 2014
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Rebuilding public trust of the City Council, a 2010 multi-million dollar utility bond and what to do about the privately owned wastewater treatment plant were among the issues addressed by those seeking elected office at the September 24 Candidates Forum.
The six City Council candidates met with about 70 citizens at the Community Center for the forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters Ventura County and the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce.
Incumbent Councilmen Ralph Fernandez, an architecture instructor and Bob Gonzales, the city’s retired police chief, are seeking third terms; former two-term Councilman John Procter, Jenny Crosswhite a church pastor, John Demers, the COO of the Port of Hueneme and Ginger Gherardi, the retired CEO of the Ventura Transportation Commission, fielded questions submitted by audience members during the 90-minute forum.
The six are vying for three seats: Mayor Rick Cook decided to step down from council service after serving one term; elected in 2010, he previously served two terms, 1998 to 2006.
Moderated by David Maron, members of the audience were invited to submit questions for one or more of the candidates.
Transparency and reestablishing the public’s trust in the council was an issue raised for the candidates to address.
Demers said the way to rebuild trust between the public and City Council “Is simply to be transparent and accountable,” staging public forums to not only garner input but also to explain council decisions.
Accountability of spending is particularly important and Demers said that if elected he would ensure “to make the best use possible of taxpayer money... that’s our money, your money,” and his own.
Retired from the Navy after a 20-year career and in charge of many projects costing millions of dollars, Demers said, “I want dollars used in the most effective way possible.”
Crosswhite said “Listening to one another, honoring each other’s opinion even if you don’t agree,” must be the priority.
And whether “You’re working with the community,” other governmental agencies, nonprofits and city staff, “treat others with respect... “
Crosswhite said comment has been made on the lack of transparency and accountability of city government and all questions - whether asked of council or staff - should be answered
The key, she added, is “Honoring and valuing others’ opinions and ideas....”
Procter said the issues of transparency and accountability led to people asking him to return to council service.
“When I had been off the council awhile people,” including city staff members, “were saying, ‘do it again John, because we trust you... “
Said Procter, “I respect and welcome people to the dais,” to express their opinions and to publicly ask questions at council meetings, even if questions cannot be answered at that time.
If elected Procter said he would urge “Blue ribbon committees” to be more involved in city government and help examine issues affecting the city.
But overall, he added, when it comes to dealing with people, “A lot of it is simple human courtesy... everything springs from that.”
Sometimes the council can’t be transparent said Gonzales, who noted that he was familiar with the secrecy required of law enforcement.
But it wasn’t until he was first elected to the elementary school board that Gonzales said he heard of the Brown Act governing open meetings, “Things you can share with people and things you cannot... “
As his political career advanced Gonzales said, “I learned there are things that can’t be said because they are confidential personnel matters and lawsuits... there was an issue here not too long ago and to my surprise an attorney friend of mine found out the truth of what was going on.”
Gonzales said his friend said, “ ‘Wow! Too bad that can’t go public!’ I said ‘you’re absolutely right, too bad it can’t we’re bound by law to not release things... ‘ “
But when it comes to the public Gonzales said he often asks staff questions that he knows the answers to just so the public can be better informed.
Transparency said Gherardi, is definitely lacking and the public should be better informed on issues, how they are prioritized and decided in a way “more accountable so the public knows exactly what is going on in order to build back trust,” in council decision-making.
She said people coming before the council as well as city staff must be treated with respect and their opinions listened to and weighed.
And that includes how the council works with other agencies: since December the council and the Santa Paula Unified School District had been at loggerheads over parking overflow into residential neighborhoods that caused the council to approve a parking district that was modified from its original plan.
Several scheduled meetings between the council ad hoc committee of Fernandez and Gonzales and school officials to discuss the parking issue were cancelled, reportedly by the city.
Finally, the issue generated separate statements from district representatives and city officials published in the Santa Paula Times: “It’s disgraceful to me,” said Gherardi, “to have a city council and a school board communicate through a newspaper... “
“Trust has always been a big thing to me,” and Fernandez said he always urged the community, “If you have an issue call me... you are the eyes and ears of the city if you don’t call how are we going to know what is going on?”
Now, the public must also be held accountable with an attitude that at one time reflected their belief that, “The council will handle it, I trust them...
“Don’t,” he cautioned the public, “get complacent,” and not communicate concerns and/or ideas to council members.
Communication leads to team building: “If that communication doesn’t happen there’s this belief that the council must be doing something wrong... that interaction is vitally important,” and must, said Fernandez, be continued.
Maron asked the candidates about the monetary status of the “$35 million utility bond” issued by the council in 2010 and what it has financed; he also asked candidates if they would support using bonds to purchase the privately owned wastewater treatment plant.
Procter, who was not on the council in 2010 said of the bond, “To be completely honest I’m not sure how it was spent,” and he would “rather not make anything up... “
When it came to the sewer plant Procter noted that when the council decided the issue in 2007, “Bonds were at a historic low level,” and although he urged that bonds be utilized, “a bad decision was made,” by a majority of the council to build the plant using the Design-Build-Operate-Finance model.
“Then later the contract with PERC was fixed for five years at a sweetheart sucker rate,” that Procter said has since been raised to more than 8 percent.
Said Procter, “We have to get back on track,” purchase the plant using lower interest rate bonds and have more control over the facility, its output and operations including potential recycling.
Fernandez said he was not sure if the new water tank on Steckel was financed with the bond, but such funding has been applied to projects and at times probably has supplemented other project funds.
“I don’t know the exact balance left in the account,” but remaining dollars could possibly be used for such projects as new pipes followed by street construction.
“It you combine those two things,” he noted, “You could kill two birds with one stone... “
Fernandez did not comment on the potential financing to purchase the sewer plant.
“It’s $55 million not $35 million,” for the bonds that Gherardi said had partially been used to service the debt of bonds issued when the city purchased the water company.
She agreed the money has been applied to needed infrastructure projects but city accounting leaves, “no clue how much is left,” in the account as “Little pieces come out here and there,” in finance reports.
“In terms of the sewer plant itself,” Gherardi said the city “definitely needs to look at bond funding... we could use general obligation bonds if there is enough capacity for that.”
“Maybe there’s $10 million to $15 million left,” a balance Gherardi said should be confirmed by the finance director.
Crosswhite said she would have to research the bond matter further but knows where she stands on the costs paid by citizens for the sewer plant: “We have to at least look into the possibility of financing the plant,” she noted, as “I can’t imagine what would be worse than 8 1/2 percent interest rate.”
Demers suggested combining existing bonds and a new bond issue “Could perhaps be the mechanism we could use to purchase the wastewater treatment plant.
“You look at the 8 percent rate we pay - that’s an outrageous rate! At the Port of Hueneme, a government agency, we have bonds and financing,” for hundreds of millions of dollars, “And financing is a fraction of that 8 plus percent we’re paying... we have to get out from under what we’re paying PERC and corporate lenders,” costs that Demers said is reflected in that “outrageous bill you get in the mail every month... “
Gonzales said the utility had been spent on various projects including the purchase of 1.5 acres of the Gooding Ranch to build the new 4-million gallon water tank.
He read of list of other projects that have fully or partially financed by the utility bond including water improvement projects and well rehabilitation.
“I believe there’s about $10 million left,” of the original bond, an amount that would have to be double-checked.
“Do I support bonds for the new,” wastewater facility?
“Yes, I do,” said Gonzales. “That’s why we crafted the contract the way we did with the five-year buyout, or it could have gone on forever... and we couldn’t buy it out.”
Gonzales said developers would also be paying money to the city.
The Candidates Forum can be watched six nights at 7 p.m. on Time Warner Cable Channel 10, Thursday evenings at 10 p.m.
The forum will be aired at 11 p.m. on October 20 only due to that evening’s regularly scheduled council meeting.
The forum is also available for viewing on demand at the city’s website.
