Hello Rialto Now readers and fans. If you were watching from the audience or watching on TV it looks like every council meeting will go on and on no matter how short the agenda may appear. This meeting had six tab items in total and even had one pulled and at 9pm they only moved through half of the tab items.
Consent Calendar
Two items were pulled from the Consent Calendar for seperate approval or vote.
C.1 the regular city council meeting minutes from the meeting January 13th 2015 had a seperate vote and Councilman Ed Palmer voted no. We plan to reach out to Councilman Palmer this weekend and find out why he voted no on these minutes and we will update so stay tuned.
E.4 was pulled to explain that the City Treasurer wanted approval from the City Council to allow a few select investments go beyond the 5 year maturity limit to retain maximum benifit and a larger profit.
Tab Items & Public Hearings
Tab.1 was approving the ability to move forward with the Lytle Creek Development project. the developers need approval from the City to present the anexation application to the Local Agency Formation Commission for San Bernardino County this project in its entirety consitsts of 4 neighborhoods. Neighborhoods two and three will be anexed to the city of Rialto and Neighborhoods one and four will remain in the county of San Bernardino. Now let me first say I am not a fan of this project it has destoryed Rialto’s Country Club Area & Golf Course as well as extremely reduced property values in the Country Club Area. Nonetheless the developer has spent years and money going through stall tactics and lawsuits to finally get to this point. It appeared that even though there were questions about the real intentions of the project it was going to be approved to recive county approval, that is until Councilman Ed Scott spoke up. Councilman Ed Scott stated that since the developer had not come to him and meet with him privatly that he wanted to table this vote for two weeks. So this will be the second time just two months into a four year city council term that Councilman Ed Scott wants to delay things because he is unprepared. Also why should a developer be having special secret meetings with City Council Members? I know Councilman Ed Scott took alot of money from developers to get elected and that is one of the many reasons that I feel uncomfortable with Councilman Ed Scott acting as the Gate Keeper to Development here in Rialto. Councilman Shawn O’Connell had no problem voting to continue the item for two weeks but did say that when he has a question on an agenda item he calls city staff prior to the meeting and gets answers verses dropping them on staff in the meeting and creating delays. Councilman Ed Plamer said that this action has been delayed for far to long and voted no on continuing the issue for two more weeks.
Tab.2 was to approve one of the many warehouses that will be dropped in the city of Rialto. Niagra Bottling Company wants to bring a $200,000,000.00 bottling and packing warehouse to the Renaissance plan development operated by Niagra Bottling Company. Below is a image of the many diffrent companies they bottle and create water for:
As you see they bottle water for alot of different companies and they have a history of giving back. Thier were questions if they would add language holding the city of Rialto Harmless form any actions this project would ensue. I was unsure why they said that until I began reciving phone calls apperently WVWD and City of Colton are suing Niagara becuase they are taking too much water from the Basin appreently. That dosen’t bother me much they need to get the water from somewhere so I can buy it from Costco. Makes me wonder though how can Niagara turn nasty IE water into what I love to drink???? Oh this is the Tab item where Councilman Ed Scott tried to make it sound like he was the only one that executives from Niagara Bottling reached out to. It wasn’t until Councilman Shawn O’Connell said that the Niagara Reps reached out to all of the Council and Mayor.
Tab.3 was yet another warehouse in Rialto and though its going to bring jobs its also going to bring problems like increased truck traffic large buildings that normally have empty streets that attract street racing, drug use/sales and opportunities for other elicit behaviors. What is even worse is that this warehouse will be giving extra sales tax revenue to………. ONTARIO!!!!!! Yes our city has been working on this project for almost 10 years and have yet to figure out how to work a sales tax benifit for Rialto but man o man we sure know how to send that tax money elsewhere. Maybe we need San Bernardino to come in and show us how to secure a tax base from warehouses.
Take what you wish from this weeks Council Meeting but I think its time we show up more often and keep their eye on the ball.
Can’t make the council meetings follow us on Twitter and get the high points of each meeting we cover.
The Rails to Trails program is explained by americantails.org as the following:
Rancho Cucamonga as the lead agency, together with San Bernardino Associated Governments and surrounding cities, is developing a multi-purpose trail along the Pacific Electric Railway line. The trail links five cities across the west end of San Bernardino County, and connects to a 7-mile rail trail project in eastern Los Angeles County, creating a 21-mile east-west trail corridor. The trail is a source of great civic pride in Rancho Cucamonga, and is credited with improving health, the environment, and the local economy; increasing real estate values along the trail corridor; providing links between the trail and mass transit systems (Metrolink, bus); and promoting historic preservation through connections to historic landmarks and historical sign displays.
As stated in the excerpt from the article Rancho Cucamonga is the lead agency in the area with the oldest portion of trail and the most expansive. Rancho also does something else very well they maintian and keep the trail as safe as possible. Can Rialto create a safe place for residents to excersise? I have been bringing this up for the last few years as the City has taken grant money to get this project started and completed. Last time I brought this up to the Police Chief and his command staff at coffee with the cheif in October I was told that the area where the trail will go is much safer than it used to be. So I was interested in this was it safer? Also if it is safer how much safer is it? We went to Crimemapping.com to see how it laid out for the last two months and this is what we saw:
Now I’m not sure what you call safe but 245 crimes in just a 2 month span does not look very safe. Also most of these crimes are violent types of crimes assults, robberies stolen vehicles. So Since Rancho Cucamonga is the case study and the reason we are undertaking this endevor lets look at a simular section of trail and the area once again using http://www.crimemapping.com what does it look like?
It looks very, very diffrent same time period same type of area where the trail dumps off into the next city 47 crimes in two months. This is why when people want to workout they go to this trail its safe.
Now the next disturbing trend on this project is that this public trail will be the first to have access gates to our schools. Yes the public and children will be able to slip onto campus through an approved back door. I spoke to Russel Silva who was an unsuccessful candidate for RUSD School Board and he shared my same concerns about access gates on the trail. Speaking to School Board Member Edgar Montes he was in favor of the gates and didn’t see a major security issue?
Finally are we creating a fee path for criminals to further and easier victimize our community? Before the area had trash weeds and uneven ground making it more difficult to traverse. Now we are going to give criminals clear free access to homes back yards, ability to go from one city to the next and remain off the beaten path, easier access to schools and a new area to tag and sell drugs at.
Don’t believe me are you still buying the load of garbage we have been fed by those at city hall that agree with this project? Right now the walls of the construction site have large graffiti tags from one end to another. The construction crews see it everyday and don’t do anything, Mike Story has been advised 4 times by me (David Phillips) personally and I have called the graffiti hotline twice on this spot. I even spoke directly to the graffiti removal person over the phone and alerted him to the issue and nothing has been done. Here are some pictures of the tags from Cedar behind Rialto Middle School.
Rialto Police Department has said they will re-staff the bike patrol unit but this has happened before and the unit keeps getting shut down its almost the first thing to go. What we have here is a lot of people ignoring the issues to feed some self serving political agenda. Here are a list of the issues one more time:
Cost – The City Council would like for you to take their line that its grant money and not your money being spent on this project. That is untrue grant money is your money just in a different form. Also general fund money is being spent on this project now. We are paying people salaries to oversee and manage the work being done and this trail will need maintenance and repairs. Rialto does not have a strong suit maintaining public facilities.
Safety – Don’t let anyone fool you the areas that this trail will extend to are not nice areas. You would not sell your home and move into the area most of us wouldn’t even drive through. On top of that we are going to give additional access to two schools and further stretch safety measures. Not to mention this is prime drug trafficking area and it appears that the people tasked with completing the project cold care less about what the area looks like.
Since the city has been so dead set on this project no matter what issues people bring to their attention we need to make sure they deliver on what they promised. It’s time for campaign promise’s to be real life promise’s
Don Olinger was the second candidate to respond to our Q&A opportunity for the School Board, well kind of! Instead of answering our questions he choose to send us a prepared candidate statement. One of the communities biggest issues with the current board and the district is they don’t listen to the community. In our opinion Mr. Olinger clearly has that problem as well. With that being said we are posting his statement because their are some interesting nuggets inside.
Donald D. Olinger
Birthplace………Wabash County Indiana
Rialto resident since 1957
BA ……..Manchester University
MA………Indiana University
Post Graduate….Univ. of Redlands
Career: Rialto teacher and principal
Political: Two terms (8 years) on Rialto School Board
Three terms on West Valley Water District Board of Directors
Church: Administrative Council Chairperson & Board of Trustees
Military: U.S. Navy veteran
RIALTO SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE STATEMENT by DON OLINGER
1. My major focus is to restore the luster of the RUSD, once the envy of surrounding
districts. This can be done by first identifying systemic problems which cause major
distractions from the core purpose of public education. Shoring up the deficits can best
be accomplished with meaningful stakeholder involvement in a trust relationship setting.
This begins in the boardroom, which currently is not a happy place.
2. What goes on in the boardroom affects what takes place in the classroom and vice versa.
Electing competent, knowledgeable board members is essential to implementing recent
school reforms enacted in Sacramento. Common Core State Standards and a landmark
Local Control Funding Formula will start moving schools in the right direction. The LC Action
Plan must include increased funding for early childhood education, class size reductions,
more instructional aides, counsellors, and staff development. Chronic absenteeism, lack
of interest in school and a slowing of API scores will require new strategies.
Measure Y funds are modernizing aging schools. How the remaining $61 million author-
ization is spent will require close monitoring and perhaps reassessing priorities
along the way. Garnering public support for a possible parcel tax hike is essential to
providing our students with a safe, healthy school environment.
3. Despite some excellent programs like Parent University, community forums, staff
development, student services, etc. there is a “lack of confidence” perception by many
parents. What some consider poor decisions and inaction at the top echelon foster
even more discontent. Board meetings at times are contentious which give confusing
signals to staff in implementing policy decisions. I am pleased that the Board is trying
to ease tensions in a more emotionally satisfying climate.
4. The RUSD where my children received a good education and where I enjoyed a wonderful
career has the elements of a great district but lacks a the spirit and synergy which release
the best efforts of staff, parents and students. This requires a collaborative plan of action.
5. School districts compete for the best qualified employees including the superintendent.
The reciprocal is that applicants search for the best district. Attracting the most qualified
applicants require more than a good compensation package. They want to be in a place
where employees feel appreciated, free of petty conflict and where visionary goals can
be realized. One of the most salient roles of the Board is selecting the right superintendent.
This should be a serious assignment in tandem with a professional search team and
and all stakeholders. Excessive contract perks should be avoided.
6. Sometimes new leadership on the Board is necessary to make a desirable change.
Many parents and community leaders have urged me to return to the Boardroom. They
feel that my experience on school, water and church boards, a teaching career, commitment
to high standards, personal attributes and a fondness of the RUSD make me a unique
candidate for the November 4, 2014 school board election.
So it’s no secret that Mr. Ed Scott and I don’t agree on anything outside of our favorite football team. What I find appalling are his campaign signs “Proven Leadership”. What leadership? Do you pat the guy on the back that did everything in his power to drive rialto down the same road that San Bernardino now finds itself?
So since my last post about Mr. Ed Scott drove our numbers through the roof I thought it’s time to do a highlight of the Ed Scott Years. We will start with most recent Ed Scott blunders and let you decide if we want this type of “Proven Leadership” back in power in rialto:
Most recently we are finding out the most expensive of the Ed Scott policy issues the Outsourcing of Rialto Water to Veolia. Now Veolia was not Ed Scott’s first choice to have our water company for the next 30 years. We now know that Ed Scott’s water pipeline infrastructure project was a like a local unfunded mandate meaning he dumped it into our laps and later we found that the money was not enough to complete most of the projects. When the residents forced American Water from the deal the proposal was handed to west valley water district and General Manager Butch Araiza wanted nothing to do with the water deal. Now residents are left with ever increasing water rates and Veolia is allowed to walk away without completing what was their part of the deal. This deal was written leaving the city of Rialto with no ability to back out if the project is not completed. Yet millions went to local consultants??????
Under the direction and supervision of Mr. Ed Scott Rialto residents were forced into a battle that the Federal Government should have waged but because Mr. Ed Scott wanted to sue the involved companies on the backs of the Rialto Rate Payers. Those rate payers were promised a refund, yet no real refund ever came. People that only paid the rebate for a short time received funds that were meant for the people who lived there before them. Others Like Anne moved to another house both in Rialto both in the Rialto Water Services area and was not given the total refund due to her she received a small portion. Even residents that could not take the Rialto the Ed Scott built and moved out were left with nothing even though Ed Scott promised they would receive a refund.
“Between the two deals, Rialto residents will get back about $9 million in a perchlorate charges they have paid on bills since 2004, Rialto City Councilman Ed Scott said. The surcharge will stop in December or January, which is when rebate checks will be issued to current and former residents, he said.” JANET ZIMMERMAN / STAFF WRITER Published: Oct. 26, 2012 5:41 p.m.
“Councilman Ed Scott, who is on the perchlorate subcommittee” By Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer Posted: 09/26/12, 9:00 PM PDT
Ed Scott & Jimmy Gutierrez had a very comfortable relationship so comfortable that it has been rumored that Jimmy is now Ed Scott’s attorney. Why is this another black mark on our former councilman? Jimmy Gutierrez was bleeding the city dry on attorney fee’s making $3.1 million one year as the part time attorney for rialto. Jimmy was brought to rialto by Ed Scott and was fed well while Ed Scott was on the Dias. It took forward thinking councilmembers O’Connell & Hirtz to take the contract out and find an attorney that is now saving the city $750,000 a year.
Ed Scott has been labeled as the councilmember that abused the cities week travel policy the most. It was so bad that it took the current city council a year and a half to undo the damage and set the ship right.
Last but not least let’s not forget that Ed Scott has tried numerous times to outsource our police department to the sheriff. The worst time was when we actually lost quality police staff because they didn’t want to be left to the uncertainty of having a job at the last minute. Ed Scott had one last hurrah when he began threatening to bring the topic of outsourcing back up and the residents formed a group named Rialto Residents for Rialto PD. They stormed the council meeting forcing Ed Scott to back down at the last minute and change his tone.
Rialto residents it is clear from this brief outline of some of the Top Ed Scott highlights that Mr. Scott is not the trusted or proven leader Rialto needs. The current council has found a groove and seems to be able to accomplish what needs to be done for the better of Rialto. If it isn’t broke don’t fix it.
The room was full of people looking for information on a wide variety of offices
Have you heard of the FELLAS? I had not until just recently, but I knew a couple of the members that make up this group. Some of the most powerful African American Men here in the Inland Empire make up the core of this group one of which now lives in Rialto. Some of the core members are Terrance Stone of Young Visionaries, Joseph Williams of The Youth Action Project (Rialto Resident) and Hardy Brown II of The Black Voice News.
It was powerful to arrive early and see these men in action and see the passion for the community they have. My group Flores Park Neighborhood Group was asked to be a co-sponsor of the event and help with administrative functions of the event. This Forum was the best multi candidate event I think Rialto has ever had. The diverse array of canidates as well as the information that was given was priceless.
The slection of rotation was interesting and seemed to work out well. If anything was accomplished yesterday it was showing off who was ready to start on day one if they won the majority of votes in November.
The powerful stand out were the following and why:
Lynn Hirtz Rialto City Council – Lynn came prepared and blew away the audience with her list of council accomplishments and background working in Rialto and commitment to make sure we didn’t shut down the airport for nothing that we will have a beautiful development in the Renissance area of Rialto.
Paul Chabot speaks with community members. Here he is speaking with a Sara Garcia a Representitve with Assembly Woman Cheryl Browns office.
Paul Chabot Congress 31st District – Paul came out explained that their are big issues here in the Inland Empire and he is the true voice of the Inland Empire. As a Naval Officer, Reserve Deputy and a small business owner he had the knowledge and passion to best represent the 31st.
Dina Walker RUSD Board – Dina Walker came out prepared to let the parents know they would have a voice with passion, knowledge and experince in implementing created policy. She even went as far as to tell people she wasn’t and expert in everything with left many feeling like she was going to be a straight shooter something that has been missing for years in Rialto.
Christina Gangier Congress 35th District – This young firey passionate young business woman is ready to take Washington by the horns and advocate for the Inland Empire. Her big focus was job readiness of our youth and older unempolyed. She refereenced her work with preparing people to be able to use technology to obtain careers not just jobs. She unlike her opponetnt Norma Torres will not forget who she represents and promised not to have special interests tapping her on the shoulder while she is advocating for the IE.
The elected hopefuls that were in attendance:
Rialto City Council: Lynn Hirtz, Joseph Britt
Rialto Unified School Board: Lillie Houston, Russel Silva, Dina Walker
Congressional District 35: Christina Gagnier
Congressional District 31: Paul Chabot, Pete Aguilar
Valley College Board Trustee: Joseph Williams
San Bernardino County Schools Board: Hardy Brown II
Rialto Now was started because we saw two big problems:
1.Local media refused to give Rialto the coverage it deserved.
2.Local elected officials ran around like nobody was watching their dirty dealings.
We can say that hundreds of people visit this page every week and we have seen major changes in the way elected officials are held accountable. Another big issue we saw that needed attention was our growing problem with drug and alcohol use especially in our young people. We banded together with the Rialto Community Coalition and working with the community policing Cpl. Cameron Nelson & Mental Health Services Program Facilitator Michael Townsend Rialto has made major strides in making positive change in our communities overall health. One major outside player in helping us get up to speed on resources to help support a healthy community is Paul Chabot. Paul Chabot is a leader with Drug Free California, Inland Valley Drug Fee Council & Drug Free Rancho Cucamonga. Paul has been a front line advocate to keep drugs away from our children as well as a working in the military and in law enforcement laying his life on the line for people he does not know.
So what happens when he decides to run for Congress? His opponent decides to take a million dollar hand shake from the democrat party and attack Paul Chabot with lies that he hates children and schools. Then he has the gall to write an op-ed in the Press Enterprise about his ability to work with both sides. Well Mr. Aguilar have you forgotten when your Quality Life Department at City Hall almost shut down a bake sale for the popular No Kid Hungry campaign? Here is what happened and the stress that this mayor’s city put on local people trying to help hungry kids:
Hey guess what??! After having the bake sale for 7 years, and the last three years alone at Ed Hales Park in downtown Redlands…the City of Redlands has just turned us down citing that city parks are no longer allowed to sell “merchandise”. I am beyond angry. Never mind the fact that the WEEKLY market night occurs all the way through State Street and there are dozens of vendors that sell food and merchandise all along the street and everyone passes through Ed Hales to eat food. I am absolutely speechless. So now I have no location.
Oh…but they will give me a park permit, I just can’t sell anything.
Absolutely livid.
It’s official. The City of Redlands will not allow our event at our usual location of Ed Hales Park. This is pretty disappointing. I now need to work quickly to secure a new location, especially within the next couple of days because I have 1000 flyers that are due to be printed and distributed at next weekends Take the Cake Bake Off and they will need to be edited with a new location.
Location update: I received a reply from the property manager of the Redlands Mall but…approval had to be requested from someone in Dallas and unfortunately he did not reply today but apparently will be reminded tomorrow. Although not tec…hnically approved, I was getting a good impression from the property manager. Downside and gamble…I’m taking a risk by approving my 1000 flyers to be rush printed by Saturday morning with this location so I can distribute them at the Take the Cake Bake Off this Saturday. Lets hope this location sticks. For those that know the area, it is the corner of Orange Street and State Street where it is a semi-covered veranda on the outside of the mall. Very high visibility for those on Orange and those entering State Street. This better work!!!
Redlands mall said no. I authorized our flyers yesterday taking a gamble…lost that gamble. Feeling officially defeated and ready to throw in the towel.
From Toni Momberger regarding our inability to get approval from anyone on securing a location for the bake sale: Kristina Hernandez at the Redlands Daily Facts is working on a story about this. If anyone wants to comment. Contact her by email at kristina.hernandez@langnews.com
Please feel free to contact Kristina if you would like to share your opinion, or are familiar with our past events, have been a volunteer, etc. Please share too.
Talk about exhausting…how about this new update…
Out of nowhere I got a call from the city’s Quality of Life department today. They want to try to accommodate us by letting us have the sale not at Ed Hales Park but, wait for it….in the street directly in front of the park. This would require blocking off a section of street to have the event. This street encroachment is not covered under th…e park municipal code they’ve been citing therefore would be allowed. I have a tentative meeting on Monday with a rep and a city engineer to work it out. Nothing finalized but it looks like we’re going to be back at Ed Hales…sort of. My head hurts just thinking about it but it is a step back in the right direction.
Oh boy did I cause a stir. An article about our location situation came out today in the Redlands Daily Facts (front page!). The Quality of Life director immediately contacted the reporter…the reporter then called me…then a revised story was issued online. Needless to say, I’m done arguing over their poor communication and politics, but in the end our location is now 100% approved at Ed Hales Park.
Who’s ready for a bake sale?!
It took the community members 18 days and a miss print of 1000 flyers to finally get the spot they had used for years before 2014. If Mayor Aguilar can’t handle a bake sale at a small downtown park what makes him thing we can trust him to stay on track in Washington. It is time to call Pete Aguilar to stop the party politics and games and run a campaign that is on the issues. Below is Paul Chabot’s website for his campaign I urge you to give this man your vote and tell your friends about Paul. If you would like a yard sign we have those for you just email davidsmarketing@aol.com with your address and we will get you a sign.
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 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.
So those of you using water services its time to listen up. It appears there is a “Public Hearing” scheduled for tomorrow in regards to the financial performance of Table Rock Capital & the performance of Veolia as our water & waste water provider. What you didn’t know? Well that’s because someone at city hall doesn’t want you there. The meeting was hidden in the city calendar with no title unless you click the highlighted date. Even then it only states that its a special council meeting. Then you must dig through the confusing agenda procedure to find the agenda (here is the link) https://rialto.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
Oh and don’t worry everything is very confusing and hard to understand so here are the last minute bullet points we were able to pull out.
The spending is and was out of control, money is going into local consultants pockets to the tune of around 8 million dollars.
RUA reserves were depleted to the tune of 3.4 million dollars.
Your rates have gone up to cover infrastructure costs yet no improvement have been made and the ones that have been scheduled have been delayed again.
Veolia has spent your money moving into a new building and delayed doing their jobs.
Veolia claims your customer service problems are minor and not an issue.
The main reason for this agreement was to have the money to shut down the airport for a Target Shopping center is a thing of the past as Target has been out of the deal for years.
From all appearances we are stuck with this deal until 2042!!!!!!!!!!!
City Clerk Barbara McGee refused to honor the communities petition.
Table Rock Paid 1 million more than necessary to remove American Water from the agreement.
Does anyone have the presence of mind to call Table Rock Financial and Veolia on the carpet for what they have done and not done? Are you tired of paying more money for below par service and a company that has worst customer service than the Ca. DMV? Well tomorrow you have the right and ability to have your questions answered or air the horrible customer service that Veolia really provides the customers in Rialto.
Rialto Network staff are the Customer Service liaisons between the Citizen’s of Rialto and Time Warner Ch. 3 & AT&T Ch. 99 for Cable issues and can be reached at (909) 421-7235.
April’s last council meeting looked uneventful from the outside, but after a closer look we were in for a bit of a ride. Here is a breakdown of what The SB Sun, Daily Bulletin and Press Enterprise seem to refuse to print.
City Council Proclamations:
Proclamation-Water Safety Month Mayor Robertson
Proclamation-Fair Housing Month Mayor Robertson
Proclamation-Earth Day 2014 Mayor Robertson
Proclamation-Mormon Helping Hands Day 2014 Mayor Robertson
Proclamation/Certificates of Appreciation-Rialto Amateur Radio Club Council Member Hirtz
Certificate of Recognition-Mallory Saldana Council Member Hirtz
Oral Communications:
Judy Roberts, David Phillips & Diane O’Leary from the Rialto Community Coalition spoke in regards to the assistance they received during their highly successful Don’t Go There Substance Abuse Prevention Event on April 4th. Coalition members were with Michael Townsend from Central Valley Prevention and thanked Eisenhower High School Principal Scott Sparks and his wonderful staffs for thier help with this event. In addition thanks went out to Rialto Police and Fire for their help with their perspective community outreach and participation in this event and help they give to the coalition. They recognized the two council members that attended the event Councilmember’s O’Connell & Baca. They also reminded people that the coalition is always looking to grow their coalition and invited the community at large to attend on the First Tuesday of each month from 6:30-7:30 pm at the fire station on North Riverside Ave. To see the video of their presentation and see the faces of the people that lead this coalition visit http://www.facebook.com/rialtocoalition
High Intrest Tab Items:
Tab 2
Request City Council to Conduct a Public Hearing to Consider and
Approve the City’s 2014-2015 Annual Action Plan and Substantially
Amend the City’s 2013-2014 Annual Action Plan.
This tab was a overall look at the cities expenditures for the CBDG (Community Development Block Grant) where the city funds various programs. Some are city sponsored others are run by local non profit organizations and groups looking to offer services to the community here in Rialto. These programs vary from Rialto Police Pride Platoon that has reduced crime among our youth by 45% to sports programs for young children from low income families.
One program had a last minute change to its funding the National Council of Negro Women Buthune Center wanted $30,000 to train youth to find seniors that qualify for the senior home rehab program. This Pilot program did not offer council adequate numbers and this funding was reduced and changed.
Tab 3
Request that City Council: (1) Introduce by first reading
Ordinance No.
1542
, entitled “AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF RIALTO, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING SECTION 2.07.010 OF THE
RIALTO MUNICIPAL CODE REGARDING THE CITY CLERK’S DUTIES
IN MAINTAINING THE MINUTES OF CITY COUNCIL
PROCEEDINGS,” and (2) Request the City Clerk to revise the minutes
of proceedings of the City Council and its related agencies dating back
from June 25, 2013, to include the details required in the proposed
Ordinance.
(ACTION)
ORDINANCE NO. 1542
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIALTO,
CALIFORNIA, AMENDING SECTION 2.07.010 OF THE RIALTO MUNICIPAL
CODE REGARDING THE CITY CLERK’S DUTIES IN MAINTANING THE
MINUTES OF CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS
This tab is a continuation of last meeting where Councilman O’Connell took issue with the way the Council Meeting minutes were being recorded. Apparently for the last 11 months the City Clerks office has been reporting the minutes in an Action form meaning the vote only is the only thing recorded (Action 4-1 or Action 3-2) the Clerk no longer took note of comments made at public hearings, statements made by elected officials prior to a vote or any possible dirty dealings that may have taken place there. Yes I said dirty dealings Councilman O’Connell eluded to missing statements to when apparent favoritism was given to one contractor over another or asking the city administrator to Poll the council on a whole on specific issue to see where they stand. If these things did happen they would mean that someone has some hard questions to answer.
One thing we found beyond interesting is Councilman Joe Baca Jr. seems to disappear once this tab item is brought forward. Why would he just leave? Was there a conflict of interest? Or was this a Councilman up for re-election that refuses to get involved in hot button issues? We are going to be reaching out to Councilman Baca on this issue and we will be reporting back to you when and if we get an answer.
This is not a complete list of everything that happened at the council meeting. For a complete list of events please visit http://www.rialtoca.gov
As you see they bottle water for alot of different companies and they have a history of giving back. Thier were questions if they would add language holding the city of Rialto Harmless form any actions this project would ensue. I was unsure why they said that until I began reciving phone calls apperently WVWD and City of Colton are suing Niagara becuase they are taking too much water from the Basin appreently. That dosen’t bother me much they need to get the water from somewhere so I can buy it from Costco. Makes me wonder though how can Niagara turn nasty IE water into what I love to drink???? Oh this is the Tab item where Councilman Ed Scott tried to make it sound like he was the only one that executives from Niagara Bottling reached out to. It wasn’t until Councilman Shawn O’Connell said that the Niagara Reps reached out to all of the Council and Mayor.
rialtonow 