Rialto City Council Meeting 4-10-12

14 Apr 2012 2 Comments

by rialto-now in AFL-CIO, American Water, Budget, Ca, City of Rialto, Coffee Nutz, Currupt, davidsMarketing, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Family, Flores Park, German owned company, Grace Vargas, In & Out, Joe Baca Jr, Lazy, Lewis Properties, Mike Story, Nieghborhood Watch, Poor, Protest, RDA, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, Ron Pharris, Sheet Metal Workers Union, SOSRialtoWater@gmail.com, SWAT, Target, Taxes, The Circle Vision Quest, Uncategorized, Water, wwwstoprialtowaterratehikes.com

Pictured Below : was the representative from the county child abuse division Rialto had 1,285 reports of child abuse 10% were found to be true.

 

 

 

 

So the first meeting after the meeting where Rialto’s Water and Waste Water systems were sold down the river to American (German) Water. Lets just say I learned a little more about the RUA (Rialto Utility association) and it wasnt good.

First order of business was to raise your fines for late payment of water and waste water bills. Did you know that there is a 20% rate reduction for Seniors 65 years of age and older and Very Low Income residents. You qualify for the rate reduction if you fall into one of the following (this is gross before taxes):

  • 1 in household – 23,000 yearly income.
  • 2 in household – 26,000 yearly income.
  • 3 in household – 30,000 yearly income.
  • 4 in household – 33,350 yearly income.
  • 5 in household – 36,050 yearly income.

How do they pay for this program? With the 1.5% fine you pay if you pay your bill late. Now for some reason staff’s recommendation was to raise the rate to 10% because of the increase in water rates and also to fall more in line with other cities that charge 20-30%. They are operating under the assumption that more people will apply for the discount with the increase in rates.

One problem with this, why would more people qualify if it’s based on their income and not overall financial burden? Maybe because they are horrible at publishing what this city has to offer it residents, but that’s it. This is a hidden tax increase because the unused portion goes into the general fund so the city can allocate where the money goes.

So what did our elected officials have to say on the issue?

Mr. Ed Scott had an issue with the fact that it rolled over into the general fund but still voted for it.

Mrs. Deborah Robertson was wondering if it should be at 7-8% based on the reason staff was making the recommendation.

Mr. Ed Palmer was fine with the full 10% because we need to keep up with the jones even if it was un-nessicary we should feel good because we don’t pay 20% yet.

Mrs. Grace Vargas agreed with staff on the increase.

Mr. Joe Baca Jr. was also fine with the full 10%.

The way to get Mrs. Robertson to vote for it was to allow the income levels to be increased from Very Low to Low Income residents which follows as:

  • 1 in household – 30,000 yearly income.
  • 2 in household – 33,000 yearly income.
  • 3 in household – 37,000 yearly income.
  • 4 in household – 40,350 yearly income.
  • 5 in household – 43,050 yearly income.

So with this yes you should see an increase in enrollment if they were ever going to tell anyone. This passed with a 5-0 vote.

Next was the total amount the city paid to MDI Media for the development and implementation of community outreach sources (the sale of our utility) $15,000 was set aside and grand total came out to $66,205. Does anyone think that we received our moneys worth? For that kind of money I would have liked to see all the bids from all companies in some type of online format. Passed 5-0.

Next was the changing of the company that handles the street sweeping we reduced the times to once a month instead of twice and we low balled it so don’t expect to get any real street sweeping done anymore. Passed with a 4-1 Mrs Robertson voted no because she didn’t believe the new contractor would be able to fulfill the contract at the bid rate (she is right BTW). Want to know the street sweeping schedule? You can request a map at Public Works.

Next was the realization that we still are responsible for certain things in the waste water system and their not cheap so far 1.7 Million has been spent on one piece of equipment. Council added to throw another 112,900 at it. Vote 5-0.

Now before we leave the water issue for this post let me tell you how out of touch our city government (excluding Joe Baca Jr) is with the residents. Ed Palmer stated at the council meeting that in the 2 weeks after the vote to sell our water interests to German Water he recived 30-50 calls & emails supporting the water deal? He never stated if these were residents, how many were unions or workers of American Water he just took it as there are only 30-50 people living in Rialto and they all want it so it’s a good deal, really?

Im a firm believer that our current council is well planted in fantasy land and either don’t know or care about what the tax payers want. Either way its wrong and borderline criminal. They all think that another Walgreens (Pepper & Foothill), adding a Circle K store to the 76 station (Foothill & Riverside), a new repair shop on foothill, more Dollar General stores (location unknown) that Rialto is making serious economic progress forward. Walgreens and Discount stores in Rialto are just not safe, Rialto PD is not able to handle the stores and crime we have now, I can’t even shop in this city without being robbed or having shady subjects approach me and my wife. People sit on the curbs in our neighborhoods drinking and acting crazy, drugs all over, gangs control massive sections of the city, robberies and petty thefts, stolen cars, cars broken into and homes broken into. Read the paper or watch the news a lot crimes comited in the recent months in Southern Ca are traced back to Rialto. Brian Stow beating, gang injunction, massive crack raid, RIALTO: Suspended officer charged with making criminal threats.

Your council wants to sell your water interest for 30 million in payoffs, they are all old and wont be around to see this water contract expire. They say they need the 30 million to replace RDA funds attract development. What happens when that money is gone? What are they going to sell next?

What scarier is they are going to attend the big retail shopping center conference in Las Vegas in the later part of May to represent our city in attracting new business. What we need is a pimp to go with them and every time they talk to someone pitching a discount mall, liquor store, medical marijuana store, some type of dollar store or we will re-sell you the stereo equipment we just stole from your vehical store the pimp would slap them and redirect them to a more favorable option one WE THE PEOPLE would like to shop at.

So lets email our council and mayor and let them know what 80 people tried to tell them 2 meetings ago. No to German Water and Please bring REAL development to Rialto. Below are their contact numbers and email:

Ed Palmer – epalmer@rialtoca.gov, Epalmeratlaw@sbcglobal.net 909-874-2103 & 909-820-2518

Ed Scott – scotte@rialtoca.gov 909-820-2586 & 909-875-3717

Joe Baca Jr. – bacaj@rialtoca.gov 909-820-2509

Deborah Robertson – robertsond@rialtoca.gov 909-644-8520

Grace Vargas –  vargasg@rialtoca.gov 909-820-2520

Amahad Anasari (Public Works) – aansari@rialtoca.gov 909-421-4999

Mike Story (City Administrator) – administration@rialtoca.gov 909-820-2528

2 side notes State still controls some interest in the In & Out site thus that project is in limbo.

June 15th the new Circle K is set to open on Riverside & Foothill.

Also there will be an open house coming soon for the new fire station on North Riverside Ave.