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2A Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011
Indian Valley Record
Council discusses proposed recall of mayor
Diana Jorgenson
Staff Writer
djorgenson@plumasnews.com
Although neither the wa-
ter/sewer rate increase nor
the proposed recall of Portola
Mayor Dan Wilson was on the
Aug. 10 agenda, discussion of
the two topics took up nearly
hall the meeting.
The public comment period
provided the community an
avenue for feedback on recent
events. Community member
Pare Gill led: "What will be
the cost to the city and to the
citizens of Portola if a recall is
enacted and a special election
follows?"
City Manager Leslie Tigan
responded, "$8,000 to $10,000."
Citizen and local Realtor
Earl Morrison sought infor-
mation on behalf of the citi-
zens group and asked how
much water came from Wil-
low Creek Springs. He re-
quested that the information
be presented in "acre-feet" to
be consistent in format with
other information they were
reviewing and that the city re-
port figures going back 10
years.
Tigan promised to get exact
figures from Todd Roberts of
Public Works and to convert
the figure to acre-feet.
Next, resident and fellow
Realtor B.J. Pearson asked to
receive information about
two programs available to the
public for financial help with
paying water bills. He re-
quested to know the program
names and the requirements
for receiving benefit, as well
as the fund balances avail-
able.
Citizen Bob Morton, who is
at each and every council
meeting, commented on the
recall intent, and particularly
addressed the issue of the
council not listening to the
people of Portola.
"In my opinion, this is way
wrong. The City Council has
actually been begging for
comments about the water sit-
uation as far.back as six
months ago."
He believed that the council
took the second vote to imple-
ment the rate increases be-
cause the "ad hoc committee
did not make a compelling
enough argument to delay it
any further."
He felt that they had made
the right decision and object-
ed to the inference that Wil-
son was an obstacle to reach-
ing council members Curt
McBride and John Larrieu,
who made the motion and the
second to implement the in-
creases.
"I don't see any action by
the mayor that should be sin-
gled out as him being the
head of any group trying to
) •
subvert the city or to take
over its government or to im-
press his opinions on people.
That's just my opinion and
I'm not for the recall," Morton
commented.
Larry Douglas expressed
his feeling that all three coun-
cil members should be re-
called, if any. "It's my feeling
that rescinding the rate in-
crease is the top priority."
Although Douglas was one
of the signers of the request to
circulate a petition for recall,
he had since changed his
mind and parted ways with
the citizens group. "I disagree
with their priorities, strategy
and intent," he said.
He felt that Wilson had fol-
lowed his own convictions,
but that the attitude of the en-
tire council, including Wil-
son, had to change.
"The viable alternative is to
cut costs," Douglas said, tar-
geting city wages and pension
benefits in the process.
In 200 words or fewer...
Portola Mayor Dan Wilson
responded formally to peti-
tioners lobbying for his recall
last week. Recall protocol re-
quires that his response be
fewer than 200 words•
"1 have not refused to
consider the concerns of the
people of Portola. On the
contrary, my focus has been
to make sure that all resi-
dents have a long-term, reli-
able, safe source for drink-
ing water and a sewer sys-
tem that will fit the needs
for years to come. Budget
cuts have been implement-
ed, particularly in payroll,
but state mandates continue
to be an issue in increasing
the costs of city govern-
ment. Changes to the water
rate structure and rates pro-
mote conservation and are
responsive to the state of
California green standards. I
do not want to postpone
the financial responsibility
to future generations.
"As to the ad h0c commit-
tee, I did form it and I did
disband it, as I did not think
it was acting in the best in-
terest of the citizens. I pre-
fer that future discussions
be heard by the entire City
Council and taped for the
PUblic.
"1 have no personal agen-
da. I have spent countless
hours learning the reality
of city government and the
issues in providing water
and sewer utilities. I have,
and will continue to have,
the best interest of the citi-
zens in mind in all decisions,
even the difficult ones."
The petition filed with the
city stated the following as
grounds for circulating the
recall petition: "You have
refused to consider the con-
cerns of the people of Porto-
la regarding the water and
sewer rate hikes. You pa-
tronized the people, calling
them 'disgruntled citizens
who refused to listen to
facts or reason.' You offered
EPCAN food distribution as a
viable and ongoing option
for those hardest hit by the
rate hikes. You have offered
no other options or ideas,
choosing instead to ignore
the question of affordabili-
ty. You thwarted the efforts
of the ad hoc committee
you formed, and used a
technicality to bring the is-
sue to vote without the
foreknowledge of the peo-
ple of Portola. Even after
the vote, you refused any
sort of compromise or show
of good faith. You have
failed to respond to the citi-
zens' needs and wishes and
are refusing to work in their
best interests, thus creating
an atmosphere of mistrust
that has permanently affect-
ed your ability to work pro-
ductively for the city."
Council member Juliana
Mark put in her "two cents'
worth." "I see both sides of
this. I see the community
and understand their finan-
cial struggles, l understand
the decrease in occupancy
and the potential for further
loss if rates increase. I also
understand Mayor Dan's com-
mitment to the city."
She commended Wilson
for making the public's
health and the city's budget
priorities.
"Both of these are good
things and I do commend you
for standing on that," she
said, "I also commend the
community for looking fur-
ther into possible ways to off-
set the rate increases."
Mark said she hoped there
was a way to reconcile their
differences. "I think the recall
is focusing on the wrong
thing. You're investing a lot
of energy into a recall. You're
investing a lot of money when
spending money is actually
what our issue is. I would like
to ask the community to con-
sider that. I would also like to
ask Mayor Dan if he would
consider holding off on the
rate increase."
She asked him to consider
not implementin~ the rates
for two months; saying that
the community might find out
"that there's no other alterna-
tive but to raise the rates."
Wilson reminded Mark that
she could put anything she
wanted the council to discuss
on the agenda.
In a follow-up phone call to
Mark for clarification of her
remarks, she was asked if she
was requesting that Wilson
reinstate the ad hoc commit-
tee, since that is the only spe-
cial privilege he has as may-
or. Mark said no, she thought
that while the committee had
proven useful in coalescing
the citizens into a working
group, she thought that full
council participation was
more useful at this point.
Asked why, then, had she
pinpointed Wilson with her
request, she responded that it
was because he had been tar-
geted for recall, but she ad-
mitted it was a question that
should have more properly
been directed to the council
as a whole.
Public comment continued
with an observation from Bob
Nally, a former Portola resi-
dent now living in Reno who
tapes council proceedings and
airs them on television. "Do
you really believe that people
are leaving Portola because of
the water rates? Because, seri-
ously, I want to know where
they are going to get it cheap-
er."
Nally said water rates in
Reno were double that of Por-
tola's and while he could see
that people might leave Porto-
la because of a lack of jobs, he
did not see how water rates,
which were probably higher
where they were going, could
cause them to leave.
Mark, whose business in-
cludes renting U-Hauls,
agreed that the lack of jobs
was the main reason people
moved, but increased costs
might just be "the straw that
broke the camel's back" for
those struggling to hang on.
Gill suggested that reports
from the citizens group be
made a regular part of the
agenda so that the public
could follow what was going
on with less room for confu-
sion and frustration. She also
suggested a completion date
be targeted for the group's re-
view of alternatives to in-
creasing water rates.
Council member John Lar-
rieu broke into public com-
ment at this point, saying that
this was not on the agenda.
"We're getting away from
public comment and into dis-
cussion and it's not legal to do
that."
One final public comment
came from resident Kim
Tibbedeaux. He said he felt
fortunate that he had a job
with the railroad which
would allow him to absorb the
rate increases but expressed
concerns for the future: "I am
more concerned about attract-
ing people and jobs to Portola
or we will be getting into a
worse situation than we are
in right now."
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