Page 43 - Sonoma County Gazette January 2016

Occidental Waste Water Facility Needs Public Comment
The Sonoma County Water Agency, which operates the Occidental County Sanitation District’s (District) Wastewater Treatment Facility, is holding a community meeting at 6 p.m., Thursday, January 7 to review sewer plant upgrade alternatives and to discuss the option of trucking the District’s effluent to nearby treatment plants.
Water Agency staff will discuss the results of an alternatives analysis conducted by the engineering firm Stantec Consulting, Inc. The analysis considered several different treatment processes and recommends a technology. Staff will also discuss the option of trucking the effluent created by the Occidental community to Russian River County Sanitation District and Airport- Larkfield-Wikiup Sanitation Zone treatment plants.
The District currently discharges recycled water into a pond located at the headwaters of Dutch Bill Creek during the summer and to Dutch Bill Creek during the winter. Dutch Bill Creek provides habitat for endangered coho salmon. An order by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board District requires the District to stop releasing recycled water into the pond by 2018.
Ratepayers in the District pay $1,998 per “equivalent single dwelling” annually, which ranks among the highest rates in the state. Through its general fund,
the Water Agency subsidizes District operations by about $400,000 annually to prevent additional rate hikes. The District is currently examining feasible projects that will minimize rate increases while ending releases into the pond.
The meeting agenda and other meeting materials, including the alternatives analysis, will be posted online by December 15 at www.scwa.ca.gov/OCSD/.
Thursday, January 7 at 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Union Hotel in Occidental, 3731 Main St., Occidental
OPINION
Say NO to Palm Drive District Taxes
a budget deficit of $3.5 million which has been
called “problematic” and “these numbers don’t add
up” by the directors of the Palm Drive Health Care
District Board at their December 7, 2015 meeting.
The cash flow projections presented at that board
meeting were “too optimistic” according to Ray
Hino, CEO of Sonoma West Medical Center. Also,
when pressed by the public, Hino admitted that
the $4.4 million in loans or gifts to SWMC were
from the Smith family. Dan Smith is the President of the Board of Directors of SWMC. The PDHCD board is now realizing that they need more information on the exact details of Smith’s loans or gifts. If Smith “pulls the plug” the whole ship is going to sink with all of the passengers (taxpayers) on board.
By Gary Harris
Since opening on October 31, 2015 SWMC has
As a result of no positive income being produced by the hospital, a restructuring of hospital management occurred on December 16, 2015. In that restructuring several people were fired and some quit while others took on more responsibilities.
Since the taxpayers in the Russian River Corridor represent only 28% of the voters in the PDHCD, it is virtually impossible to affect change at the ballot box. Remember that the taxpayers in the Russian River Corridor pay 46% of the total parcel tax collected by the District. This really is “taxation without representation”.
If you are interested in the detachment of the Russian River Corridor communities from the Palm Drive Healthcare District, contact any member of TAUT (Taxpayers Against Unfair Taxes) or sign the petition for detachment at Sequoia Properties in Forestville or at Zephyr Real Estate in Guerneville. If you can help, please send an email to sequoia@sonic.net or call (707)887-7595.
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