10 May 2013 Leave a comment
in and the unincorporated communities of Bloomington and Muscoy, Assemblymember-Elect Cheryl Brown, Ca, Chief Mat Fratus, Child Care Careers, Colton, davidsMarketing, Fontana, Grand Terrace, In & Out, Inland Empire, Josie Gonzales, Norma Torress, Rialto, San Bernardino, www.careervisionbyjamie.com, youth
Hello everyone with unemployment at still record high levels its nice to see local charitable organizations looking to bring the employers together with the unemployed.
Take advantage of these resources and tell Gloria from Seeds of Hope that we sent you.
Also check out this awesome organization that helps employ people for the Early Childhood field tell Kirsten their local recruiter we sent you over.
http://www.childcarecareers.net/
mailto:info@childcarecareers.net
(877) 222-6070
09 Apr 2013 Leave a comment
in Budget, Ca, Chief Mat Fratus, City of Rialto, Crime, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Flores Park Neighborhood Watch, In & Out, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Lazy, Nieghborhood Watch, paramedic ambulances, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Shawn O'Connell, youth Tags: government
Tonight is the City of Rialto’s Council Meeting. Below I have highlighted some of the items that will be on the Agenda Tonight.
We have 3 proclomations ranging from Public Safety to Earth Day.
PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS
Proclamation – National Public Safety Telecommunications Week.
Proclamation – Jazz Appreciation Month.
Proclamation – Earth Day.
This is on the Consent Calendar under Miscellaneous:
D.3 is spending another $5 Thousand to use full time referees verses part time referees becuase of a shortage of the part time staff. With unemployment still at all time highs why are we finding it hard to pay part time refs? Are we looking at all or are we simply taking the easy way out? www.facebook.com/InlandEmpireJobSeekers has about 10 job fairs listed in the Inland Empire I’m sure Rialto can find some part time refs there.
D.3
Request City Council to increase KCALS Officials Purchase Order 2013-0212
amount from $14,900.00 to $20,400.00 for KCALS Officials.
Looks like we will see some more work on how Elected Officals are paid for travel that always sounds good.
D.8
Request City Council to adopt Resolution No. 6247 revising Policy on
Reimbursement of Expenses of Elected Officials.
Now onto the Tab Items:
Tab 2 is a Grant that will allow us better staffing within our Fire Department. I am extremly happy with the Public Safety effort in Rialto to protect us while finding other sources of paying for that safety.
TAB 2
Request City Council to adopt Resolution No. 6240, 6241, and 6242,
Ratifying Acceptance of the FY 2012 Staffing for Adequate Fire and
Emergency Response (S.A.F.E. R.) grant from the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS)/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the
amount of $2,856,816.
http://www.ci.rialto.ca.us/documents/downloads/Regulare_Meeting_Agenda_4-9-2013.pdf
I think its vital that we show up to every single council meeting we possibly can. I have been MIA for the last 2 months but I try to watch them at home or on the internet. We must watch what is said and done becuase in the end we are the ones paying for the councils desicions.
One thing that I saw last meeting (via the Web) was how grossly we under estimated the costs of the In & Out Project. That project is now going to cost the city another $$600K+ because they under estimated the cost of the freeway sign and forgot to add in the cost of the Rod Iron Fence and Under Water Catch Basin for the project.
I want an In & Out but not at the cost of the taxpayers. I wish the city would have went to the leaders at the City of Highland Ca and learned how to build a In & Out without draining tax dollars.
03 Apr 2013 Leave a comment
in Ca, Chief Mat Fratus, City of Rialto, davidsMarketing, Inland Empire, Mike Story, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, Shawn O'Connell, Small Business, Uncategorized, youth Tags: henrietta mears, san bernardino valley, san bernardino valley college
Rialto Job Fair a Success
On March 27th 2013 Rialto held its first job fair of 2013 after holding one late in 2012 both were at the Cathedral of Praise Church on the Corner of Riverside Ave & Valley Blvd. The one in 2012 was ok but it was filled with schools looking for students, agencies like American Water with fake job openings (locally) and temp agencies. These are all good (except for the fake job openings) when people are not severely desperate for work. Schools mean more debt and temp agencies are not full time regular work.
A total of 517 job seekers and people were standing in line 10 minutes until 8 a.m. (started at 10 a.m.) and people were still coming after it was over at 1 p.m. There is a need in our community & together we can make a difference. The Cathedral of Praise volunteers; City of Rialto volunteers (including the HR Manager); San Bernardino Valley College Occupational Advancement Department volunteers; and the Director for the Applied Technologies Training, Economic Development and Corporate Training Division (San Bernardino Community College District) also one volunteer from San Bernardino Valley College Workability department .
This most recent job fair that was partnered by City of Rialto Human Resources and San Bernardino Valley College was one of the best job fairs I have been to in 3 years. It was full of diverse, interesting and quality employers looking for employees. These were not just jobs to get you through the basic bills, these were jobs you could work and retire from.
We were at the job fair and we spoke to employers. Here are a few of the many choices you had to choose from:
You also had Law Enforcement agencies like San Bernardino County Sheriff, Riverside County Sheriff, Fontana Police, Rialto Police & San Bernardino County Probation. Other public safety or security companies were Rialto Fire Department, Securitas, First Defense & Allied Barton. There were temp staffing agencies a couple schools and Avon & Mary Kay but overall it was well planned, few empty spaces and very well attended.
04 Jan 2013 2 Comments
in Andy Carrizales, Budget, Chief Mat Fratus, City of Rialto, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Flores Park, In & Out, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Megan Matson, Mike Story, mmatson@t-rockcap.com, Rialto, Ron Pharris, Shawn O'Connell, Table Rock Capital, youth Tags: politics
merchantcircle.com
Sun Editorial Staff:
The problems with Rialto and its budget are as follows.
Current council members and Mayor Robertson need to show us they are serious about working for the community and not just their own personal agendas. Joe Baca Jr. needs to focus on all areas of the cities not just parks. Mayor Robertson needs to figure out what she is doing and get back out into the community like she did when running for Mayor. She played a lot of us for fools by allowing us to think we would have an open line of communication with our Mayor if she was elected. Lets all hope that Councilman Elect Shawn O’Connell has the mental stamina to work in this council and see some positive forward progress. He is a man of strong character and has shown he wants to know and do the WILL OF THE PEOPLE. He has offered his home phone number 909-429-1138 his email address Shawn4Rialto@hotmail.com and he is even learning to use twitter to reach out to residents in every way possible Twitter.com/Shawn4Rialto. We must extend the Utility Users Tax in March, bring in new business to rialto, finish off half done projects and better utilize people in the community that have a desire to help make Rialto a better place to live.
The SB SUn article is below:
OUR VIEW: Talks to rein in costs in Rialto need to give way to action, and the sooner the better.
It’s been almost three years since the Rialto City Council was warned that the city was facing its own serious financial crisis, potentially on par with the disaster that led to San Bernardino’s bankruptcy.
But rather than begin an aggressive campaign to trim costs and address a current $7.6 million budget deficit, the city seems more focused on convincing voters to approve extending a utility user tax set to expire in June.
Meanwhile, the city continues to spend its reserves to maintain services at current levels.
That sounds all too much like the scenario that played out in San Bernardino, where city officials depleted reserves and began borrowing from restricted funds to keep up with costs rather than make necessary cuts.
The situation in Rialto is dire – with its reserves expected to drop to $7 million by July, the budget stands to take an $11 million hit next year if voters reject the utility users tax during a special election in March.
Extending the utility tax in Rialto, keep in mind, won’t resolve the city’s ongoing structural deficit, the result of a sluggish economy and escalating personnel costs. The utility tax is a stop-gap that for now prevents the city from digging a deeper hole.
To be fair, Rialto has found some ways to cut costs, such as leaving vacancies unfilled and partnering with nearby
police agencies on some special services such as SWAT and helicopter patrols.
Such cost-savings measures have not been enough to balance the city’s books, however. And, if voters refuse to continue paying an 8 percent tax on their utility bills, the city’s General Fund will take a huge hit. The $11 million in revenue generated by the tax accounts for 22 percent of the General Fund, the city says.
Leaders at City Hall have said they expect to begin negotiating with labor groups to further reduce personnel costs, and there is some talk about restructuring the organization.
Those talks need to give way to action, and the sooner the better.
Those who live and work in Rialto need look no further than nearby San Bernardino for a cautionary tale about leaders who wait too long to take action. Residents who will be asked to continue paying an 8 percent tax on their utility bills deserve to know how the city is going to cut costs before handing over anymore of their own money.
29 Dec 2012 Leave a comment
in ARMC, Ca, Cancer, Centurion Security Patrol, Chief Mat Fratus, City of Rialto, Inland Empire, paramedic ambulances, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, SCAT, Shawn O'Connell, SWAT, youth Tags: Battle of the Badges, Blood Donations, comedy, media, Red Cross, rialto police department, transportation
25 Nov 2012 Leave a comment
in Andy Carrizales, Beatriz E. Valenzuela, Budget, Burglury, Ca, Centurion Security Patrol, Chief Mat Fratus, City of Rialto, Coffee Nutz, Crime, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Edward J. Carrillo, Family, Family Sports, Flores Park, Fun, Grace Vargas, http://www.guardianwatch.com/, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Josef (Joe) Britt, June Hayes, Layoffs, Lazy, Mike Story, Nieghborhood Watch, Poor, Protest, Public Safety, Rafael Trujillo, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, Rialto Rotary, Run Watcha Brung, Sarmad (Sam) Syed, SCAT, Shawn O'Connell, SWAT, Taxes, Twitter @IEBeatriz., youth
14 Nov 2012 Leave a comment
in American Water, Budget, Ca, Chief Mat Fratus, City of Rialto, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Flores Park, German owned company, Grace Vargas, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, June Hayes, Lazy, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, Water, wwwstoprialtowaterratehikes.com Tags: business, joe baca jr, politics
Seems like we should have had those meetings in October after all.
Because no City Council Meetings were held in October due to the Election we had a stacked calendar tonight.
They had the Utility Users Tax on the end of the agenda and choose to address that TAB item first. What that TAB item was for was city staff laying out the ground work for the workshop that will be held November 20th. What seemed the hardest was getting the council on board to attend the workshop, the biggest problem maker was Joe Baca Jr. I’m not sure if he was still licking his wounds from November 6th or if he really only cares about parks and that’s it but he had a scheduling conflict with that day and refused to adjust his schedule.
What the UUT (Utility Users Tax) is the 8% tax on all the utilities you use in the city of Rialto and amounts to a little more than 11 million dollars for the general fund. The way it was sold 5 years ago was a tax to help pay for Police and Fire operations looking back it was probably sold the same way Measure “V” was if you don’t vote for this the police and fire will suffer. I was young and not living in the city back then so I was listening to what my parents, in laws & friends were telling me about the UUT.
What’s scary now is they began floating the idea of raising the percentage to as high as 12% as a way to punish voters for not falling for their lies with Measure “V”. I don’t like this tax but if they are straight with the community and don’t raise the percentage because it means such a big piece of the general fund.
What also was annoying was the fact that things are changing with the sale of Rialto’s water and waste water systems to Viola and West Valley Water. The deal was for 30 million dollars, tonight it was brought up that there is an additional 5 Million the city can borrow, that we have to pay back. There was talk of your 100 percent increase in rates over 4 years would be more if they borrowed that money.
City Staff brought up bringing back the Per’s Tax. I’m not familiar with this tax but Council was scared to death of another lawsuit from our friends the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Apparently Howard Jarvis stopped Rialto from doing this long ago. If they bring it back and Jon Coupal wants to sue on a residents behalf I will be first in line.
Everyone kept saying we don’t want to raise taxes then talked about a new way to tax the community. Also Transparency is the buzz word right now all of the Council People want to provide it even though they have been hiding things from us for years. Even June Hayes RUA Committee member was blown away by the new talk of 5 million in available borrowed money.
Ed Scott tried to equate the 5 million to a homeowner who buys a house then finds out they qualify for more money and takes it. A homeowner can only take more money if the value of the house meets the desired loan amount. Also its not free money it does raise the interest and principle monthly payment.
So 5 million is what percent of 130 million its 3.84 percent almost a filth of the entire loan and when your talking millions that’s not chump change.
So lets re-cap:
*Water and Waste Water rates will go up for the next four years.
*Rialto wants you to possibly pay 12% on your UUT (up from 8%).
*Rialto pays 8-10 cents more per gallon than cities like San Bernardino that have higher sales tax than Rialto.
*Late fees were increased largely in part to Mr. Everyone Else Is Doing It Why Not Us.
So what should we do?
First off plan on being at the UUT Workshop on 11-20-12 at 6pm.
Second call, email and ask him in person if given the opportunity. Him I mean Joe Baca Jr. who for some reason refuses to attend the UUT workshop on 11-20-12 he claims to have plans. So do I Mr. Baca my parents will be in that week from out of state yet I will be there and I am not a paid member of the city of Rialto just a concerned resident.
Joe Baca Jr.
Email: Bacaj@rialtoca.gov
Phone: 909-820-2525
Second attend the Council Meeting on 11-27-12 because there they will make the final vote to officially sell off the water and waste water, vote on whether to put the UUT on the ballot in March and at what percent and its the last day for Ed Scott, Mayor Grace Vargas and Deborah Robertson’s last day as a council member so there may be some interesting exchanges at this meeting.
Tomarrow I will Re-cap the rest of what I stayed for.
06 Nov 2012 Leave a comment
in Budget, Ca, Chief Mat Fratus, City of Rialto, paramedic ambulances, Public Safety, Rialto Fire, San Bernardino County’s regional dispatch center, youth Tags: firefighter paramedic, paramedic ambulances, paramedic units, transportation
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Published: 04 November 2012 03:10 PM
“I’m still going to send a paramedic to every call,” Chief Mat Fratus emphasized. “But I’m not going to send multiple paramedic units to every call.”
Beginning Monday, Nov. 5, dispatchers will assign only a paramedic fire engine to minor medical calls in Rialto. The aim is to keep the three Fire Department ambulances available for more serious emergencies, including heart attacks, strokes, injury traffic crashes and violent crimes because studies show that saving time reaching those calls tends to save lives.
Other agencies around Inland Southern California will track the new program in Rialto and assess its effectiveness.
The heart of the new system is San Bernardino County’s regional dispatch center, where call-takers have undergone more than 18 months of re-training to enable them to question callers more quickly and thoroughly.
“If you know more accurately what the problem is, you can more accurately assign the proper units,” said Rick Britt, director of the Confire communications center.
And the dispatching happens fast. Based on the new training, dispatchers ask specific questions in a specific order, beginning with the caller’s address and phone number — so if the call gets interrupted, they can still send firefighters or police to the correct location.
Then, the caller is asked the nature of the problem. If it’s a medical situation, the dispatcher immediately sends the nearest available paramedic fire engine.
If the patient’s not breathing, the dispatcher begins offering CPR instructions. Dispatchers also have a list of instructions for callers reporting, for example, suffocations, or attempted suicide-by-hanging.
And for all serious-injury or illness calls, an ambulance or additional fire engines will be dispatched.
“My dispatchers are the true first responders because they stat helping the caller immediately,” said Britt, whose staff serves 12 fire agencies, including San Bernardino County Fire Department and municipal fire departments ranging from Barstow south to Colton and from Redlands west to Rancho Cucamonga.
At least some of those agencies will be studying the results of Rialto’s experiment.
“What I’m picking up from the chiefs is that they’re all interested in it,” Britt said. “They want units available for the serious calls that require them.”
Traditionally, fire departments have sent two paramedic units to each 911 medical-aid call, regardless of how minor the injury or illness. In Rialto, a fire engine and an ambulance were dispatched. In other communities, the mix varies – sometimes two fire engines, or a fire engine and a paramedic squad, for example.
Fratus is confident that the so-called Medical Priority Dispatch System will work. He implemented the same system in San Bernardino, where he previously worked as Deputy Chief. His responsibilities included emergency medical service for that city’s fire department.
By cutting down the number of paramedic units sent to minor incidents in San Bernardino, response times to the most critical medical emergencies improved by roughly 30 percent, he said.
Britt’s dispatchers took the process one step farther, becoming the 169th emergency communications center to obtain full accreditation by the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatchers.
“My chiefs wanted us to be accredited before they take the risk in liability and modify the response,” Britt acknowledged. “There is some risk to it.”
By cutting back on the number of units assigned to a call, the door is open to criticism and legal liability, he said. But he believes the risk is minimal to patients and taxpayers. Under the new system, dispatchers have been trained to triage calls, in much the same way newly arrived patients are triaged at a hospital emergency room, he said.
“You only have so many (paramedic) units to put out there,” said Britt, who emphasized that officials simply want to avoid dispatching multiple fire engines to calls where they’re not needed. “In days of shrinking budgets, you can’t afford to do that anymore.”
"The Circle Vison Quest" by Eugene Panis
rialtonow 