HEADLINES

FEATURED ARTICLES

Even in Death, Cannell Full of Shit

by J. F. McGuire

Since the retirement and passing of Salton Community Services District General Manager Thomas Cannell in January of 2010 many of his best kept secrets have slowly oozed out from underneath the veil of secrecy and deceit that was the trademark of his decades long tenure as manager and board director. 

Of all those secrets that have come to light as of late, the one about the recently commissioned Thomas R. Cannell Wastewater Treatment Facility is probably the most relevant to the wellbeing of the population of the Salton City area.

From the very beginning of the procurement process the Board of Directors were told and led to believe by Cannell and the engineering firm of Krieger and Stewart that the new wastewater treatment facility they were designing and proposing would have an initial capacity of 250,000 gallons a day (GDP) expandable to 500,000 GPD with the simple installation of additional aerator pumps in the second pond that was to be excavated as part of the initial construction process.

Being that the old Salton City treatment ponds were at critical mass at 200,000 GPD coming in to it, and that it was leaking untreated sewage into the Arroyo Salada wash, as well as contaminating residential properties surrounding it, the Board of Directors voted to go forward with the construction of the new ponds which would be paid for with the remaining 5.5 million dollars that was left in the Sewer Construction Fund.  Little did the directors know at the time that they were being sold a bill of goods.

The original design, as was explained to the board by Cannell and Krieger and Stewart, would consist of one percolation pond that would have aerator pumps installed in it and have a capacity of 250,000 GPD, plus another pond that would be excavated and plumbed at the same time that would set dormant until its individual 250,000 GPD capacity was needed.  When that time arrived, the directors were told, all that would be needed to commission that second pond was the simple addition of some of the same type of aerator pumps that were to be installed in the first pond.  With the commissioning of the second pond the board was told that the total capacity of the new facility would be 500,000 GPD.

After the resignation and death of Cannell the magnitude of his legacy and its underlying deceit has come full circle. 

Contrary to what Cannell and Krieger and Stewart told the Board of Directors at the beginning of the procurement process, the new treatment facility was never designed to handle 500,000 GPD.  The reality of the situation is that the two ponds that were constructed never had a 250,000 GPD capacity each, for a total of 500,000 GPD, but rather their design capacities were only 125,000 GPD each for a total of 250,000 GPD, which happened to be only 25% more than the ailing old ponds were receiving at that time.

Conversations with, and documents received from the state water quality control board have revealed that Cannell’s and Krieger and Stewart’s promise of a 500,000 GPD capacity was all reliant on the addition of a secondary treatment process that would reclaim some of the wastewater flowing into the facility.  This fact was never mentioned to the Board of Directors either before or after the construction of the new facility was completed.

The first time that the board had ever been told about any requirement to build a secondary treatment plant for water reclamation was months after the new facility had been completed and commissioned.  In fact the board was always told that the 8 inch reclaimed water line that was installed to the new facility at the same time as the 12 inch waste line was for future use only.  The board was never told that secondary treatment would be needed to achieve the promised 500,000 GPD capacity.

These lies and perpetuated misconceptions have left the citizens of the district holding the bag, and what ever you do, don’t hold that bag too close because it is about to burst under the pressure of the raw sewage that is once again threatening to spill into Salton City.

From opening day of the Thomas R. Cannell Wastewater Treatment Facility it has been at near capacity, and as you read this that capacity has been exceeded to the point where the new district General Manager, Rosa Reagles, was forced to ask the water quality control board if the district could reopening the dilapidated and formally leaking old Salton City Ponds; ponds that 5.5 million dollars of taxpayers money was used to replace.  The stated request was to reopen the old ponds for emergency overflow use only, and not as a regular part of the daily sewer system.

And what about future sewage treatment capacity for when the 300 or so vacant houses become occupied and new ones get built?    Under the law when the districts sewage inflows reached 85% of the design capacity of the new treatment facility the district was required to inform the water quality control board about what the districts plan was for increasing capacity.  As of 6 months after that 85% threshold was reached the district has not yet advised the water board of any such required plan.

As for where the money is going to come from for increasing needed capacity, it is obvious, it will come from you the ratepayer who has collectively stood idly by while the district skimmed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sewer construction fund to reimburse the district office for construction related sewer construction office overhead in years where no such construction ever took place.

Open wide, its time to swallow!

(Note: All Salton Sea West articles verified through audio recordings of public meetings, official government documents, and / or 3rd party  sources.  Available upon request.)

Director Neal Assaults Public Speaker At Board Meeting

by Charles Mayhew

The following is the exact text of a letter submitted to the Salton Community Services District Board of Directors in regards to an assault that President pro tem Darreyl Neal perpetrated on a citizen that was publicly speaking at the Tuesday March 16th, 2010 Regular monthly board meeting.

TEXT:

March 24, 2010 

Salton Community Services District

Board of Directors

2098 Frontage Road

Salton City, CA 92275

Greetings Board of Directors: 

On March 16th, 2010 during a regularly called board meeting of the Salton Community Services District Board of Directors, the President pro tem, Darryel Neal, assaulted me as I was peacefully making a public comment about his behavior as an elected official.  The assault was facilitated with a round wooden stick approximately 2 inches in diameter and 3 feet long, with tape on one end and the center of it.

The assault took place when I was at the public podium and after I had been given the floor by the chair (the President, Darreyl Neal). While I was peacefully and calmly criticizing the Presidents' behavior as an elected official, and without him declaring me out of order or out of speaking time, the President spun around in his chair, reaching for something on the floor behind him.  When the President spun back towards the audience he had the weapon in his hand which he, in a menacing manner, abruptly pounded on the floor once and then leaned it on the desk next to him as he glared over the dais at me.

This assault was not only a physical assault, but it was also obviously deliberately intended to quell my free speech rights as a citizen, and as such it is my intention as a good citizen to seek justice in this manner in both a criminal and civil manner. Elected officials have no right either morally, ethically, or legally to physically threaten any citizen for peacefully petitioning the government for a redress of their grievances.  The ramifications of the California statute on assault is also very plain and unambiguous in this matter.

The Presidents’ illegal and unconstitutional behavior has also put the Salton Community Services District in a financially damaging situation that will only cost the citizens more and more money the longer they try to defend this indefensible behavior.  Accordingly I request the immediate resignation of Director Darreyl Neal as a first step in righting this injustice to my persons and to the Constitutions of the State of California and these United States.

This demand for resignation in no way abrogates any of my present and future civil rights to claims against the district nor should this letter be viewed as a claim for damages.  When a claim is filed it will be on the approved SCSD Claim for Damages Form and it will be filed according to the time constraints of the law.

Respectfully and in the best long term interests of the District,

James G. Barrett 

jb 

c: Robert Patterson

Channel Maintenance Fee

to be Waved this Year

by Charles Mayhew

After over two years of constant pressure from Director James G. Barrett, the SCSD Board of Directors decided not to collect the annual Channel Maintenance Fee this year.  This decision was the culmination of Director Barrett’s vigilant efforts to halt the district from overcharging channel maintenance property owners over $200,000 over the last 30 years.

However, by determining that the district has barely spent $2,000 of the over $500,000 that has accrued in the channel maintenance account so far, the door is open for the district to confiscate the remaining funds for use by the General Fund.   Director Robert Butler has repeatedly stated that he will not vote to spend any money on maintaining the channels.  He has also stated that the district could capture funds if the board decides that they are no longer needed for the purpose in which they were collected.  Director Butler has a long documented record of approving the frivolous spending of money on purposes other than what it was collected for.

The decision at the July 21^st, 2009 board meeting does not make it clear if the fee will be charged next year or what should be done with the half a million dollars that currently sits in the account.

Director Barrett’s position is well known, he believes that the collected fees should be returned to the owners of the assessed parcels because no maintenance has been, or will be done, on the channels.  He further argues that, because the current board and past boards have never made the required annual findings that are mandated in the channel maintenance contract, that most of the fees were illegally collected.

Director Barrett explains further, that the Channel Maintenance Fee is the result of a contract between the district and all of the channel maintenance property owners.  Because of the districts annual overcharges and failures to make the required findings, or to do maintenance on the channels, he believes that the contract is being breached every year by the district, and that the people should get their money back.

The districts’ legal counsel stated that he will not research these channel maintenance issues unless the board directs him to do so.  The Board has yet to do so.  Meanwhile the General Fund has been siphoning thousands of dollars a year in earned interest from the Channel Maintenance Fund to pay for office overhead.  In all practicality the only office overhead that is being utilized is when the General Fund does the paperwork to skim 33% of the annual earned interest; government at its’ finest.

SCSD Board Conspires to Commit Fraud

by Charles Mayhew

Despite having no legal authority to do so the SCSD Board of Directors and General Manager Thomas Cannell have positioned themselves to commit a theft by deception on 1,834 property owners in the district to a tune of almost $40,000.

Director James G. Barrett has made every attempt to thwart this illegal activity but has been outnumbered by the other four directors that appear to think that the districts need for this money outweighs the rule of law for this rouge governmental agency.

At the May 19^th, 2009 Board Meeting Directors Palmer, Butler, Neal, President Medders, and district legal counsel Robert Patterson of BB&K sat stoically by as Director Barrett read a motion to repeal Board Resolution 87-3, via Resolution 2009-05-02, which the General Manager has been using to collect a $21/year Standby Fee on unsewered lots for over 20 years.  This charge appears on the yearly Imperial County Property Tax Bill, and has led to the imposition of more than $700,000 in fraudulent Standby Fee Assessments since 1987. 

Under Section 5471 of the Health and Safety Code, Section 54984.1 of the Uniform Standby Charge Procedures Act, Section 61124 of the Government Code as well as Section 4 of Article 13D of the Constitution of the State of California this is not allowed.

This fact has been reiterated to the Board recently through a district commissioned  engineering study on Sewer Standby Charges that stated, “The CSD (per governing statutes) may only charge those parcels which receive special benefit from the repairs, replacements and maintenance of the sewer systems.  Therefore, only vacant parcels which have access to the sewer system at this time will be assessed for those system facilities and maintenance items that provide special benefit to the properties.”

This engineering study by the firm of Koppel & Gruber was ordered by the Board of Directors, at a cost of almost $25,000, for the purpose of imposing an additional $10/year standby fee on properties within the district that are undeveloped but have sewer immediately available to them at this time. 

The four rouge directors, through their refusal to repeal a board resolution that they know  is illegal, have in effect conspired to approve a resolution at the June board meeting that will once again impose this fraudulent fee on these 1,834 properties for the tax year beginning July 1^st, 2009. 

Additionally, General Manager Thomas Cannell’s knowledge of this illegal behavior makes him culpable in this tort as he is the person that is ultimately responsible for forwarding the Sewer Standby Fee Assessment Request to the County of Imperial Tax Collector for it’s placement on the Tax Roll. 

Ignorance of the law can not be used as a defense by the these charlatans as the public record clearly shows that they have been thoroughly educated on the matter through the engineers report as well as the back-up material for the Resolution 2009-05-02 agenda item.

SECTIONS

And the Winner is...

SCSD Director

Bob

"der Fuhrer"

Butler

Salton Sea West's

2009

Turd

Of The Year

NOTICE

Coming in 2010!

See the Secret District Documents That They Don't Want You to See!

In early 2010  outgoing Director James Barrett will be releasing to the public, Government Documents that the District will no doubt try to prevent you from seeing.

Stay tuned for more details

EVENTS

Golf, Golf, Golf

Golf Park Update

At the May 19th, 2009 SCSD Board meeting the board voted to take water service at the Golf Course out of the districts name on June 1st.  The Board did however give the Golf Club the option of putting the water meter in their name until the districts golf course land lease with IID runs out in October of 2009.

The Board also gave the Golf Club its' 30 day notice that the districts $700/month maintenance agreement with them will terminate on July 1st.

At the March 2009 Monthly Meeting of the SCSD Board of Directors a motion was passed which will allow the expiring land lease with the Imperial Irrigation District to expire. 

What this means is that after October of 2009 the district will no longer have use of the IID owned lands upon which the Golf Park, Nature Trail, Salton City Dry Camp, and Johnson's Landing are located. 

This will not effect the Boat Launch or the eastern third of the public parking area as this is land that the district leases under a separate contract with the Bureau of Land Management.

Word has it that a local developer is in negotiations with IID to acquire its own lease of the Johnson's Landing properties and to expand the occupancy size of the RV Park located there.  How this expansion will affect the current residents of the park is unclear.  And since the park is a "temporary occupancy" park, the residents are not protected by certain State Laws concerning evictions from Mobile Home Parks.

Fire Department Buys Brush Truck

On September 4th, 2007    the SCSD Volunteer Fire Department took delivery of a Brand New "Brush Truck" that will be utilized to fight fires in off-road areas that are inaccessible by normal Fire Engines.

The cost of this truck was approximately  $53,000. The  United States Department of Agriculture donated $30,000 to the cause and $20,000 was utilized from the 2007/08 Fire Department Budget that was previously allocated for vehicle acquisition The other $3,000 came from a capital reserve account that was established a few years back from the sale of Borrego Springs Bank stock.  There is currently around $55,000 left of the General Funds' portion of  that stock sale.

Thanks again to all the Volunteer Firefighters for your time and devotion to a truly noble cause! (more)

More to Follow!

Every Drop Counts

Protest Held

by Torri Barrett

January 1^st, 2008 was the first day of many more to come for the Every Drop Counts Protest founded by Mr. Rick Davis of Salton City.  Mr. Davis wants to let Sacramento know that the people of Southern California don’t approve of the State’s plan to dry up almost 60% of the Salton Sea. 

The State’s “preferred plan” is to make a small saline lake at the north end of the current sea and a salt marsh at the south end, drying up everything in the middle. This would leave the residents of all of the communities surrounding the Sea victims to what ever has been dumped into the Sea over the last 100 years as the winds would kick up the dry lake bottom thus polluting the air with all manners of substances including selenium a highly toxic substance.

At 11am sharp over 100 concerned residents poured 100 gallons of clean water into the dying sea to protest the States inaction and empty promises.  Petition gatherers also passed out petitions demanding that the Lawmakers restore the Sea ASAP. 

Mr. Davis a long time resident of the area started the idea that Every Drop Counts when it became obvious to him and many others that the politicians in the rest of the State don’t care about this dying ecosystem that is so vital to so many species of migrating birds as well as its’ human inhabitants.  

Every Sunday Mr. Davis will be pouring 7 gallons of fresh water into the sea.

Click to see photos 

NEW WEBSITE FEATURES!

Director Agenda Packets-

Have you ever wondered what backup information is used by Directors when they  vote on an agenda item?  Well wonder no more!  As a courtesy to the public, Salton Sea West will be posting EVERYTHING that  Directors see in their Agenda Packets online, FREE!

Click here to see all of September 15th's info

Did You Know? -  

Short, Sweet and to the Point Blurbs about District Shenanigans Click to View

Quotes of Note- They said what?!

Read and HEAR for yourself the latest quotes from around the district

Click here for  the latest sound bites

Approved Budget for 2009-2010

Click here

(Note: Six days after the SCSD Board approved this budget, The State announced that it would be borrowing 8% of the districts 2009-10 taxes. This amounts to about $24,000 less in General Fund revenue, resulting in a General Fund deficit of approximately $23,500.)

"Statement of Economic Interests"

Directors Form 700- 

Click here

Approved Budget for 2008-2009

Click here

2006-2007 SCSD Audit 

Click here

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