Hello Rialto Now readers hope everyone is doing well as we close out September and move into October. Our last council meeting had some high points and low points. First let’s start with the high points.
High points came in the beginning of the meeting when Rialto PD displayed the Rialto PD Breast Cancer patch that officers will be sporting on both their shoulders. The design and implementation of this patch was funded from donated work and money meaning no tax payer money was used for this program. You can buy one of these patches for yourself and the proceeds go to a charity called Michelle’s Place http://www.michellesplace.org a Breast Cancer Resource Center. Find the Pictures below for an example of the patch and how you can purchase your patch.
Another high point was the celebration of a well-known business and their 30 years in operation here in Rialto. Brothers Pizza is the best pizza joint around and that has to be attributed to the details that Maria and her staff put into every meal they produce. Brother’s pizza may have moved around the city having three different store fronts in 30 years but they never left Rialto. Below is a picture of Maria at the meeting next time you’re in congratulating them on all their success.
Now onto the Low Points, it began with TAB 1 when on the face it looked like the city was allocating money to a street widening project harmless right? Wrong TAB 1 was a attempt to take money from existing projects to funnel those monies into the Bud Bender Park rehab project. The money grabs consisted of:
Taking money from the painting of the community center project.
Taking money already allocated from CBG monies for the Maple street widening project.
Money left over from a community block grant that didn’t meet the council’s targeted goals for this year.
Councilman Joe Baca Jr. appeared to be the driving force behind this money shuffle and his colleges were not on his side. June Hayes, David Phillips & Parks & Rec Commissioner Joe Britt all spoke out on this issue. Councilman Baca kept referring back to major safety issues at the park and even stated that the park was not safe and full of criminal activity resided there. Two million dollars of CBG money has already been allocated for this project. David Phillips gave the council the live within your means speech and it worked because council moved to keep everything the way it was and look at ways to stretch the money and make the park safe. It’s just sad that we still have some that are trying to do a back door shuffle of money but it was nice to have Council Members like Shawn O’Connell & Lynn Hirtz that have the cities best in mind.
The next low point was TAB 2 which was Client First the cities IT company looking for the last year extension on their contract and to add a $14,000 a month project manager to the contract brining the third year just over $500,000 for IT services. The first issue was with the services the company was providing. This was in reference to lost content on the city website, lost emails for city officials and the complication of getting information to the general public. City council did extend their contract for the last year but didn’t take on their project manager. Instead they directed George Harris to put out an RFP and look for an outside project manager that is separate from Client First.
The last low point of the evening was city councils decision to change the Renaissance plan from a beautiful residential/retail/community center area to a big collection of Industrial buildings. So city council sold away your water company, jacked up your rates, shut down one of the last airport hubs in the region all to build more warehouse space and drown the city in truck traffic. If you would like to know what the north end of rialto will look like just drive down cherry and see what it looks like at Cherry & Valley. As it is now the trucks are unsafe they run lights and drive way to fast and it seems we are powerless to stop them. This is one low point with no upside.
Tuesdays City Council meeting is more than just business as usual. There are some major issues to address especially when it comes to some issues with spending.
Request City Council to Approve Resolution No. 6641 for a
Professional Services Agreement Extension with ClientFirst for One
Year for $33,000 per Month to Provide Information Technology Systems
Services and Support for $396,000 and an additional $14,400 per
month for Project Management Services or an additional $172,800 per
year, for a total not to exceed of $568,800.
The First issue is with the company Client First and their contract with the city to run the website and IT services. Right now we pay them $33,000 a month and they would like to increase that an additional $14,400 a month giving them a total paid amount over 12 months of $568,800. So that’s more than half a million dollars to run the cities website? As someone who visits the cities website regularly and often I don’t think we’re getting our money’s worth. The website has failures all the time site is down information drops off and is lost and if it happens on a Friday good luck getting it fixed until Monday. So if money is important to you we need to pay attention to this item.
Request City Council to Adopt Resolution No. 6642 directing staff to
analyze the proposed Revisions to the Renaissance Specific Plan.
So years later after all the warnings from those of us in the community the city council is finally hearing the bad news, well sort of. Even though those of us in the community have known that Target is a far gone conclusion the contractors and some on the council refuse to see the writing on the wall. Those of us that have been fighting for a little common sense in putting this project together were constantly ignored in the early stages of this project by Ed Scott, Joe Baca, Deborah Robertson and Ed Palmer. Now it looks like the city is finally finding out this deal isn’t a sure thing. At an Area Command Meeting Joe Baca Jr said to the group that Target is still part of this deal. We have heard from many professionals in this area of work that Target was out of the deal years ago. If you attend or watch this meeting from home or online watch this one and the spin zone that will ensue. Also pay close attention to the three phase plans it goes from a dream to flooding Rialto with truck traffic and warehouse’s.
Request the City Council/Rialto Utility Authority to Approve a Final
Construction Work Authorization in the amount of $390,246 to Rialto
Water Services for the Recurring Capital Project (Meter Replacements),
Concession Agreement Capital Recurring Project WA.
We will leave you with Tab 7. This is yet another way that Rialto Water Services (Veolia) is skirting the water contract and not delivering what was promised. From the CIP we were supposed to receive 4000 water meters for just under $500,000 yet for $390,246 were only getting 1600. Really Rialto how much longer are we going to put up with super high water rates with no return on our money?????
Hello Rialto Now Readers hos is everyone on this fine September day? Who went to Rialto’s Family Festival? Well we did and it was quite an amazing time 2nd only to National Night Out. There was literally something for everyone. There were 2 stages, over 50 vendors, kids fun zone, carnival style food court and police K9 demonstrations.
Rialto Police K9 Cars
With the election so close this event was full of people looking for your vote in November. From Rialto Unified School Board, City Council, Community College Board and even congress the vote stumping was in full force. We were able to put together a nice collage for you of some of the VIP action at the event.
Included in this photo are David Phillips, Joseph Williams, Deborah Robertson, Lynn Hirtz & Cheryl Brown
This event was full of cool and interesting vendors and they were spread wide and far. This event took over the entire Civic Center.
From the top running right to left we have Market Solutions Services, Russell Silva for School Board, Kiwanas Finger Print Station, Joe Britt for City Council, Mad Jakes Kettle Corn, It Works & Shred Fest.
These were not all of the vendors but just a taste. It was an amazing afternoon of information, resources and fun! Our hats go off to the City Clerk’s Office for pulling this one off.
Mayor Robertsons Trees of the Rialto Civic Center Map
Mayor Robertson still had her massive mini tent with seating and tables but she added some healthy games and a map of the many different types of trees and their uses. It was interesting and we can only guess that this was an attempt to silence critics of her hospitality booth last year. Many questioned the need for it or why it wasn’t a joint effort with the entire council? I too wait for the day when we can pool resources and work together to make a great representation of our local government. Maybe next year, with that being said the mayor was very nice and hospitable.
The City of Rialto’s next Garage (Yard) Sale Weekend is September 5th, 6th & 7th. No permits required if conducted during a designated Yard Sale weekend. If you have any questions or need additional information, please call (909) 820-2517.
A lot has changed in the last 2 years and one thing that changed was the need to pay and pull a permit for a yard sale on one of the four designated weekends throughout the year. What was refreshing to hear and see was a council candidate that made some statements about need changes that needed t happen to make the normal citizens life easier. One of those things were removing the need to pay for a permit. Councilman O’Connell came out and spoke to the residents and told them that the licenses were burdensome ( Here is a video of that conversation http://youtu.be/lBg9dr_Y6PQ ).
So long story short its important to know who your voting for and why. With this years crowd of candidates we need to make sure we know who is running and if they will be good for Rialto’s forward progress.
Visit this Facebook Event page and list your yard sale or find a local yard sale to shop from https://www.facebook.com/events/689679527773575/?context=create&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming&source=49
Our next Rialto Community Coalition meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 2, 2014 at 6:30PM at the Fire Station located at 1700 N. Riverside Avenue.
Since this is the beginning of the school year, and the Rialto Unified School District has expressed interest in collaborating with us, we need to take this opportunity to begin planning our next community action project in Rialto. You are needed now, more than ever, to emphasize the dangers and consequences of underage drinking and drug use to students (and adults) in Rialto… By the way, a couple of staff members from the Department of Behavioral Health will be attending our meeting to discuss effective policies, data collection, and media strategies concerning perceived norms and youth access to alcohol and other drugs. Our input and collective work will help in the development of a five-year strategic plan for “Environmental Prevention” in San Bernardino County.
Rialto is lucky to have a Chief of Police like Tony Farrar. Chief Farrar really wants to hear from you the community he is one of those gems in law enforcement that really cares.
So come out tomorrow August 12th at Coffee Nutz on Foothill at 8am and have some coffee with the chief of police and get some awesome updates on the Public Safety environment here in the city.
On Tuesday there was a public hearing to allow residents to voice thier concerns over a series of rate increases on home owner trash rates. The first set of rates were ANTICIPATED rate increases at the San Bernardino County Landfills & a reduction of compenstation Burtecc the cities contracted refuse hauler recives from shipping our recycling materials to China. The second was a highly contriversal Road Repair Tax that would raise money to do over $53 million in backlogged street repairs that the City and Council have refused to address.
There were many people speaking out against the rate increases and the tax but it appears the city council didn’t care and came in with thier minds made up already. One resident pointed out that factoring everything together the rates were increasing 30% and that was highway robbery. June Hayes a Utilities Commisioner said she was tired of the city nickel and diming the resdents she was speaking manily to the Road Repair Tax as she has a long close relationship with the cities trash hauler and its manager Riachard Nino who was in attendance but did not speak on this issue.
The study that Public Works Director Marcus Fuller used to draft this tax was a study done by the City of Redlands. Marcus Fuller stated that the study was done to show the amount of damage trash trucks caused to city streets. Mr. Fuller didn’t come right out about who did the study it was long time city resident David Phillips that pointed out that Redlands did the study and looked at the damage and then decided NOT to leavy this tax on thier residents. Mr. Phillips attacked the Road Repair Tax and pointed out the diffrences between Rialto & Redlands. Mr. Phillips asked the City Council to send Mr. Fuller back to the drawing board and get his hands out of the residents pockets.
Council asked Mr. Fuller if Redlands implemented this Tax on thier residents and Mr. Fuller said “no Rialto would be the first in the state of California to approve such a tax”. This isnt the first time Rialto City Officals have used Redlands as a template for Rialto policies. Earlier in the year the Beautification Committee used redlands business beautifications and advertising codes to draft thier plan for Rialto. The two cities are beyond different and should not be used as a template for Rialto City policies especially when it comes to taxing the community at large.
Mr. Fuller was asked if this rate increase was at Burttec’s request and he said no that this was being brought by the city alone. So what does Mr. Fuller do right after the vote to approve his illegal tax on residents? He runs outside to have a secret pow wow with Richard Ninos from Burttec. Hmm so why was it so important to have that conversation? Redlands is smart they have people sitting in council that want to be re-elected and a mayor running for a second time for Congress. They decided to not levy this TAX on their residents because they know that such an action would do considerable damage to their future political aspirations.
Both Ed Palmer and Shawn O’Connell were in full support of taxing the residents because they saw no other way of dealing with the massive amount of ignored street repairs. Mayor Robertson made no noteable comments on this issue. Joe Baca Jr. wanted to wait until after his re-election to vote on this issue and since that was not favorable he voted no, Lynn Hirtz looked at it in a different way. She saw the Road Repair Tax was nessicary way to begin tackling the mountain to road repairs but want to see if it was acctually going to bring in the expected revenues or be a failed method of dealing with the problem at hand. So she made a motion that they move forward with the 5 years of rate increses and approve the Road Repair Tax for one year so they could look at how the program was working and if it was needed. This was the favorable choice and this motion passed 4-1.
Outside after the public hearing many residents stood baffled by the lack of understanding and willingness to listen to the community. Residents asked Mr. Fuller outside of the meeting how much of thier money would it take to subside his hunger for thier pennies and dimes. Mr. Phillips asked Mr. Fuller if he should just sign over his paycheck every month (refering to the Public Works Directors constant money grabs and failed ability to properly bid contracts and waste tax payer dollers). Many of the residents outside the meeting were newer residents and had many questions and blamed actions like this on the reason why mistrust for elected officals was at an all time high.
So Rialto puts $1.5 million each year into road maintenance and this new tax will put out $600,000 the first year and by 2018 it will bring in $4.9 Million a year. As of today we are $53 Million Dollars in the hole with unaddressed road repairs that just isn’t going to cut it. This is like having a glass of water and throwing it at a raging fire its just not going to cut it.
The funny part is the city leavys this tax on the public without a vote from residents but they will be asking us in November to allow them to leavy a heafty fee on the Tank Farms in the southern half of the city that will bring in a reported $5-$10 Million a year. So we ask you here this poll Question:
So a while back Rialto gave Burrtec a 10 year contract to help them secure low interest loans to increase and upgrade their fleet. We were promised no rate increases for two years. In return they would take over our street sweeping at no additional cost to the city, cleaning of the catch basins and of course pick up our trash.
Less than one year later we are looking at rate increases & a special fee placed by our city.
The use of special “fees” comes from the governments requirement to take new taxes to the public for a vote. So governments all over the state had a simple answer to this problem of stealing money from the tax payers, they decided to call their TAXES “fees”. Governments also have another tactic that normally works out well for them, it is to exempt the Seniors and low income from paying the tax or “fee”, putting the entire burden on the young and working class.
So what is this fee all about? Apparently public works and the city just recently figured out that trash trucks are heavy and do more damage than a regular car. So what is their solution?
Did you know that 3 trash trucks come down your street each week?
You see a trash truck is as heavy as 11,800 cars.
So your city staff (Marcus Fuller) recommends that YOU be taxed (Fee) as an increase to your trash rates to pay for street maintenance. It starts out low and then jumps in four years.
Now I have just a few questions for our city staff (Marcus Fuller):
Wasn’t there a way we used to pay for street repairs I think it was called our normal taxes? Did they go away without my knowledge?
Why is it the residents responsibility to pay for damage that Burrtec is causing?
Are the 18 wheelers that traverse all over the city being required to pay for the damage they cause?
Since the city has recently balanced the budget why are we once again looking into the residents pockets when Mr. Fuller has been successfully getting street repairs done for less than the projected cost?
What makes matters worse is Councilman Joe Baca Jr. was overheard after the council voted to set the public hearing back in May saying, “Should we be voting on a tax in a election year?”. Really? Is this fee or tax fair? Should we be doing our jobs in an election year? It is sad that there are still people working for us (Marcus Fuller) & people representing us (Councilman Baca) that clearly don’t seem to care about the bottom line of struggling families. Nobody except for the select few financially tied to the Water deal are making any more money. It is quite the opposite, families here in Rialto are making less and being asked to pay more.
How long will Rialto Residents put up with this type of governing? I am calling on all Rialto Residents to come to City Hall this Tuesday and let our council and city government know that if this is such a big concern, Burttec should be made to pay for THIER DAMAGE.
Below you will find the public notice and the table for the trash rate increases without the special fee. You have Burttec and the city reaching further and further into your pockets every year.
Public Hearing for New Refuse Collection Service Charges
The City Council has scheduled a Public Hearing for July 8, 2014, to consider changes to the City’s current rates for refuse collection service charges. These charges are established by the City and billed by its trash hauler (Burrtec) to cover costs for trash and green waste collection and disposal, and recycling services. more
A notice has been mailed to all residents and business owners regarding the proposed rates to accommodate increasing costs for service in excess of the Consumer Price Index, as well as the inclusion of two specific items: 1) an incentivized rate structure that includes commercial recycling services; and 2) a pavement maintenance fee (does not apply to senior or disabled accounts). For residential services, the proposed monthly rate increases estimated to occur over the next five years are identified in the following table:
So on Monday June 16th the City Council held a workshop to get a report of the first year of the water services contract with Veolia Water Services acting as Rialto Water Services. From the sounds of it this was something that Veolia did not want to publicized because on almost every account they are behind on the infrastructure improvements six months to one and a half years. Ullico is in charge of tracking and auditing the progress Veolia has made in the first year of the 30 year contract.
Marcus Fuller the Department Head from Public Works and Ullico worked very hard to turn a bad report into a better one but the city council, Mayor & Mayor Pro Tem all saw through the smoke and mirrors. Below you will see some of the slides Ullico presented to city council last week:
Here you will see that Veolia is one year five months behind on roughly 2 million dollars worth of improvements, eight months behind schedule on 3.6 million dollars worth of improvements & five months behind on 876 thousand dollars worth of improvements. Now Ullico wants you to give Veolia a break as they want to drag their feet and “get comfortable” with the contract they took on after American Water was kicked out of the deal by Rialto Residents and the Union that represented the water employees.
One major issue with giving them months and months to go over this infrastructure agreement is the 41 million will soon begin to be eaten up when interest rates increase. This means their will be less money to complete the long list of projects Former Mayor Grace Vargas, Former Councilman Ed Scott, Current Mayor Deborah Robertson and Current Mayor Pro Tem Ed Palmer all said were so vital to Rialto moving forward as a progressive city. Council Members told us these upgrades would be vital to major projects like the proposed Super Walmart & the Target Shopping Center that no longer has a Target store (Target has backed out). So what happens if Super Walmart goes in and the sewer system isn’t able to handle the bump in use? There was talk of the sewers backing up and spilling out into the streets.
Councilman O’Connell asked the VP of Veolia if the interest rates caused the money to be used up prior to completion of the listed projects would Veolia see those projects to completion. The VP of Veolia said no.
So Veolia can drag their feet and tie up these projects in paperwork and read tape while the clock ticks and you continue to pay massive increases to your rates with NO CHANGE. Even their field techs, people that live and work in this city are blown away and say that Veolia is doing nothing!!!!
The end result was a motion to have Marcus Fuller, Public Works Director meet with Rialto Water Services and Veolia to get a expedited time frame of when we can see projects beginning the construction phase. Marcus Fuller will report the outcomes in 90 days from the meeting date.
We have reached out to Veolia VP Lanita McCauley Bates and Rialto Veolia Manager Michael Greene when they respond we will update with their comments.
rialtonow 