So apparently the Ed Scott for City Council Campaign put out a last minute campaign piece claiming a few odd endorsements for his bid for another shot at a city council seat.
As you can see above the endorsement from Mayor Deborah Robertson stands out the most. Just two years ago the Ed Scott for Mayor campaign was using mailers against Deborah Robertson saying that she misused tax payers money and was double dipping with her pension from San Bag. It was a heated race and mud was throw back and fourth but in the end Mayor Robertson came out on top.
We reached out to Mayor Robertson via text message and she had this to say after seeing this mailer.
“I stated to all the candidates that I would not endorse anyone. I’m there to work with the other elected officials the voters in rialto send forward.” Mayor Deborah Robertson
We met up with Ed Scott at the woman’s club candidate forum at the Senior Center and asked him about it and he said Deborah was a supporter and that the mailer was printed wrong. He claims to have the proper original yet has not shown any such evidence.
Here is video of the interaction Ed Scott on the mailer with Robertson Endorsement: http://youtu.be/Ryn67_5lIAk
Ed Scott what type of Proven Leadership does this show?
Don’t worry Ed Scott wont just use the mayor has a false endorsement he has been doing the same thing with other local leaders like Mayor Pro Tem Ed Palmer. He turned his Ed Scott for Rialto Mayor page into Ed Scott for Rialto City Council. He does this without removing old pictures and he gives you the impression that he has a lot of support. No he does not have wide support and it dwindles more everyday as he tries to lie, cheat and steal his way back into office.
On another note it appears Joe Baca Jr. is sneaking his own endorsement mistake. In his sample ballot statement Joe Baca Jr. says he is endorsed by a list of community members. (See Below)
We have heard that one or more of these people were not asked to be included in this statement. We have not heard that they don’t support Joe Baca Jr. but some people would rather not be labeled publicly as supporting one side over the other.
Join us and other strong community members as we are coffee and go over crime stats and upcoming events tie to our police department. Join us with Rialto PD’s top cop at Carrow’s on baseline.
On our city council update we left you hanging because TAB 7 was pushed off until the next council meeting so that it could be addressed at the Water Workshop tonight. Veolia apparently took on a contract they can’t deliver.
TAB 7 from the last council meeting is Veolia was required to provide 4000 meters at a cost of $460,000 water meters, but because they failed to check the contract they only want to provide 1600 meters at a cost of $390.000 why can Veolia pick and choose what part of the contract they can follow? Do the residents have the option of when to pay their bills?
What is this contract and what is this workshop for tonight? Veolia agreed to take over water and waste water services for the next 30 years and were tasked with conducting a major infrastructure overhaul of the city’s water delivery system and waste water removal system. They have already and will continue to levy major rate increases on Rialto Water customers and they have paid $40 million dollars to the city of Rialto for this utility take over. What they did is take your money and make excuses for being behind by 1-2 years on many projects because they claim that American Water (the cities first choice for a water servicer) wrote a bad contract that can’t be delivered on the originally agreed terms.
Veolia isn’t new to Rialto they have been around working with our waste water services for years. So they can’t claim ignorance to how Rialto is structured or set up. There are two major issues with the delay one is Rialto Water Services customers are already one full year into a four year rate increase schedule. Two if this process is delayed too long the interest rates on the loan that was taken out to make the capital improvements will eat into the money needed to afford these projects. Back in June at the first workshop Veolia upper management was asked by Councilman O’Connell in the meeting if they would cover this gap if the situation arose and they said NO.
Back at the first Water Workshop in June the city council found out that Veolia has been hiding behind a lame excuse of we didn’t write this contract. The community’s response to that is you signed it before reading it? What Veolia saw was an opportunity to take the rate payers for a ride and leave us with no other recourse. This contract was written in a way that city hall has thrown its hands in the air saying were stuck!!!!!!!
Anyone watching the news and all the problems with Los Angeles’s DWP is having with blown water lines knows that’s not where we want to be. The problem is everyone is acting like they are powerless to make Veolia do their job. Ironically a week after the first water workshop in June the city experienced a sewer back up that spilled into the streets. What is more irritating is that the Capital Improvement Projects not being completed and the massive rate increases is not the end of the problems with Veolia. Here is a short list:
Water meters are not being read they are being estimated. This means you are not likely to see any change in your water bill even though you’re cutting back on water usage.
Horrible customer service. Veolia doesn’t seem to have a customer service supervisor Monday thru Friday because when they mess up your bill you have to wait weeks to receive a call back if you receive one at all.
Lagging on processing payments. Veolia is slow to check the collection bin at the city of Rialto Civic Center and processes payments very slowly; you will get a late fee.
Horrible water pressure. Since Veolia has taken over Rialto Water Services customers have noticed a major drop in water pressure.
Now is the time to get involved and engage. This is an election year and was in the thick of it. Now is the time to demand action and we have some resources for you.
You can Send us a Letter to the Editor to be published here to rialtonow@gmail.com
You can email Leslie Parrilla with the San Bernardino Sun at leslie.parrilla@langnews.com
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.
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.
Juvenile weapon related arrests down 60%, violent crime down 53%, property crime down 26% & overall Juv arrests down 40%. Why?… Because of the program Rialto Police implemented the Pride Platoon and the resurrection of the community policing program lead by Cpl Cameron Nelson. Come out tonight and see this awesome documentary. If you do miss out check back here and on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/rialtosnow for pictures and hot highlights.
Tonight is a very involved council meeting. It is full of proclamations & presentations, city council resolutions and even a back door sales tax. Below you will see the listed items we would like to highlight and a little better explanation of the meaning behind the items presented.
Presentations & Proclamations:
Presentation-EPA Superfund Job Training Institute-Council Member O’Connell
Presentation-2014 CIAA Softball Rookie of the Year Award to Jocelyn Hernandez-Council Member Baca Jr.
Introduction of 1st Class of Institute of Progress-City Administrator Story
Presentation-Fill the Boot 2014-Firefighter Ploehn
Presentation-RUSD Summer Lunch Program-Cindi Stone
Miscellaneous Items:
D.3 below is the city establishing Semi Truck routes within the city. What we would like to know is what does the city plan to do with the dangerous way they drive in our city. From speeding, running red lights and unsafe turns putting other vehicles in danger the city need to establish a way to take control of truckers before something bad happens to a innocent community member. With the massive amount of commercial space Rialto is allowing if we don’t act not this could turn bad real quick.
D.3 Request City Council to Adopt Resolution No. 6542 Rescinding
Establishing Truck Routes, and Establishing Truck Routes in
Conformance with the 2010 General Plan.
D.13 seems like a public access to internet services in the public areas of the city, but all it’s just an exclusive power grab from Time Warner to offer WiFi to their customers alone. Yes only Time Warner customers will have access to this internet.
D.13 Request City Council to Approve a Partnership Agreement with Time
Warner Cable Company for the Public WiFi Project.
D15 Is the second reading of the ordinance requesting the City Clerk offer more detailed meeting minutes. Lets see if everyone stays in their seats and votes for or against this ordinance last meeting one councilmember left his seat until the vote was over then he just came back. Lets hope everyone goes on the record on how they feel about this effort to properly record our cities business.
D.15 14-327 Request City Council to Adopt on second reading Ordinance No. 1542
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
Tab 2 is a adjustment to our waste collection fees. Not to long ago our city council made a massive mistake by giving waste management a 10 year contract where we have to give them notice 10 years in advance of canceling the contract. Now they want to charge you a tax opps I mean a fee to help replace the roads because trash trucks cause more damage to our roads than a car. So because you have to have trash services per a municipal code and now we are locked into a forever contract. Oh also your trash rates are going up too. Your only hope is that city council doesn’t approve the Rialto Road Tax
TAB2 14-203 Request City Council to Adopt Resolution No. 6546, Declaring its
Intention to Set a Public Hearing for July 8, 2014, to Consider Municipal
Solid Waste Collection, Recycling and Disposal Service Rates for Fiscal
Years 2014/2015 through 2018/2019, to Incorporate a New Incentivized
Commercial Recycling Program, and to Implement a Pavement
Maintenance Fee.
Below is a picture Councilman O’Connell tweeted out this week to get residents to the meeting. If you watch on TV email your council members if you attend live stand up and comment on what your city is doing on your behalf to you or for you.
Number 1 is the proposed location of the new stop light. Number 2 is where the city is looking to extend the existing road median. MC is where the 4th Mc Donald’s will be and the GAS is the proposed location of the Food 4 Less Gas Station
Hello Rialto residents if you didn’t follow us on twitter ( http://www.twitter.com/rialtosnow ) on Tuesday night you missed a couple interesting agenda and consent calendar items. Below we have them listed out for your reading enjoyment.
Consent Calendar D. 10
So normally consent calendar items are rarely ever discussed the consent calendar is meant to approve a block of items that have minimal importance, low dollar amount or lately a way to slide an item by the public without any response from your elected officials. The only way these items are discussed in the open is if they are pulled by one member for separate consideration or a separate vote meaning someone has a issue, question or problem with any particular item.
So on this occasion there were three items pulled for separate consideration. The first two were uneventful and took minimal time D. 10 was not so easy. Councilman O Connell was the one that placed this item on the agenda and Mayor Robertson pulled the item. So what was D. 10? D. 10 was a request that council direct the clerks office to provide detail minutes versus ACTION minutes. What’s the difference? The difference is action minutes merely report the overall final vote 3-1, 4-0 ect. Over the last 6 months the Clerk has given the city ACTION minutes only. So when the Mayor was accused of giving preferred treatment to one security contractor over another. their is no record, or the funny way the money from the sale of our water company for 30 million dollars has been allocated and many other examples.
Mayor Robertson issue was that the city council was directing one elected official to do something? She went on about different branches of government and not over stepping boundries. It sounds good right council cant direct the City Clerk to do something right? Well if our City Clerk was only a City Clerk it would be that way. Our City Clerk is also a Department Head she makes a nice yearly salary department heads report to the city council and mayor as well as the city administrator. Councilman O Connell came prepared for the item to be pulled because he came with a power point that really drove the point home about why he was concerned about the ACTION minutes. There was a lot of back and forth where even the City Clerk tried to blame her lack of reporting on the moving of her offices, lowered staff and being ill. The city attorney said that the way this issue was handled was if the city had a Municipal Code directing what type of minutes were to be generated which Rialto does not have, so they fall back to state law which states that ACTION minutes were the bare minimum. The outcome was the City Attorney would draft a Municipal Code that would direct the Clerk to produce more than ACTION minutes. So this one is TO BE CONTUNIED……
Visit our twitter account and get a picture of Barbara McGee’s body language during the Councilman’s power point.
Agenda Tab 4
Welcome to Rialto the Home of Liquor Stores, Indoor Swap Meets & Mc Donald’s fast food chains. On Tuesday the City Council made this more of a reality. Apparently on the corner of Cedar & Foothill where the Verizon Store is and the empty video rental building is will now house Rialto’s 4th Mc Donald’s chain. But wait there is more that very busy and dangerous shopping center is also getting a Food 4 Less Gas Station Yay?????? But wait there is more to make matters worse the city is extending a median on Cedar North of Foothill & putting another stop light between Linden and Cedar on Foothill???????
Neighborhood Watch Liaison for the Flores Park Neighborhood Watch addressed his concerns on Tuesday that the city was spending a total of $150,000 on a project that is only going to make traffic worse not better yet Flores Park Can’t get 1 single stop sign in front of their park to slow down traffic and help the RUSD traffic guard assist the children across this dangerous street. Council Members were un moved by the pleading from the community because the new gas station and Mc Donald’s brings in revenue. So I guess street safety is only important as long as the city can make money off it. The sad part is that this new Mc Donald’s is less than 50 feet from a Head Start Pre School that is already flanked by a wienerschnitzel so much for healthy Rialto. Anyone that uses this area already knows its a mess inside the shopping center traffic wise now that the city is going to force people to turn south onto Cedar which will be further backed up by an additional light on Foothill is a recipe for a disaster.
As to Flores Park and their desire for a stop sign on Etiwanda no one on the council seemed to care. Especially Public Works Director Marcus Fuller who increased the speed limit on Etiwanda by 15 MPH from 25 MPH to 40 MPH. When asked why he stated that 80 percent of the people were speeding on the street so they increased the speed to accommodate the speeding public. There seems to be no law preventing turning our local streets into legal drag strips. Both Cactus and Cedar that run parallel to Etiwanda have speed limits of 50 MPH just 15 MPH shy of a freeway. Flores Park said the will continue to push on the issue and look into legal avenues to force the city to offer protections for our neighborhoods and community streets.
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