Meet Special Districts Candidates

MEET AND GREET

The Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries will host a Meet And Greet event Thursday, October 16, 2014 at which the voters will have a chance to spend some time with candidates for several special districts that serve Costa Mesa.

HALECREST, 7-9 P.M.
The event, to be held at the Halecrest Swim and Tennis Club, 3107 Killybrooke Lane, will run from 7 - 9 p.m. and will be moderated by MESA Water District President Jim Fisler.

MOST CANDIDATES WILL PARTICIPATE

As of this writing the following candidates have confirmed their attendance at this event:
Orange County Water District - Wendy Leece and Shawn Dewane
MESA Water District - Ron Amburgey and Jim Atkinson
Costa Mesa Sanitary District - Arlene Schafer, Mike Scheafer, Bob Ooten and Brian Peotter.  (Chuck Perry has declined to participate)

A MORE CASUAL FORMAT

It's my understanding that the format will be more casual than other forums.  It will begin with fifteen minutes during which the candidates will mingle with the crowd.  The formal part of the meeting will then begin with an introduction by the hosts and Fisler will discuss Special Districts.  Then each candidate will have seven (7) minutes to introduce themselves and discuss anything they feel is relevant to their candidacy.  The hosts have suggested the following topics for each group:

For Mesa Water District Candidates - Drought, Water Bond and Water Supply

For Orange County Water District Candidates - Drought, Desalinization and Basin Water Replenishment

For Costa Mesa Sanitary District Candidates - Residential Trash Rates, Consolidation and the Organics Program.

NO QUESTIONS FROM AUDIENCE

There will be NO questions asked of ANY candidate from either the moderator or the audience.

MORE MINGLING
Following that portion of the meeting the candidates will adjourn to their tables and/or just mingle and answer any questions individual members of the audience might have.

OLD BARRY TO RECORD IT
I'm told Barry Friedland and his Costa Mesa Brief crew will be on hand to provide a video record of this event.

Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee Meets Again Tomorrow

ANOTHER FUN NIGHT TOMORROW
The next meeting of the Costa Mesa Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Dr. Richard Mehren and Vice Chair Steve Smith, meets tomorrow, Wednesday, September 3, 2014 at the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Community Center from 6-8 p.m.  You can read the agenda HERE.

PREVIOUS PACKED HOUSE
You may recall that the last meeting was heavily-attended and produced some probing, difficult questions from members of the public concerned about the apparent plan by some committee members to turn the Southeast Quadrant into playing fields.  Unfortunately, I missed the meeting because I spent that night enjoying Yellowstone National Park.  You can watch the YouTube video of the meeting by Barry Friedland on Costa Mesa Brief, HERE.

ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED
When you read the agenda you'll find that several items are scheduled for discussion by the committee.  Each will include opportunities for members of the public to comment in addition to the agendized Public Comment segment.  Here's a list of the dozen items scheduled for discussion for possible consideration in the Southeast Quadrant:
1 - Basketball/Handball Courts
2 - Trail Exercise Stations
3 - Dog Park
4 - Dry Land Wildlife Viewing Area
5 - Vernal Pools Preservation with Cables, Signage and Delineation
6 - Retain the elements of the Master Plan as it Reads Now
7 - Include a two-tier building that includes Interpretive Center and Terrace/Viewing Deck
8 - Improve Placentia Avenue with Cable and Post delineation
9 - Roller Hockey Surface
10 - Improve/Designate Bike Paths
11 - Concrete Path from NW Traffic Signal to SE Traffic Signal at Estancia High School
12 - Nature Center, Bird Watching Platforms

NOTE:  The following items were tabled at the August 6th meeting until a future date to be determined.  They WILL NOT be discussed tomorrow night:

• Baseball/Softball Facilities 
• Soccer/Football Fields
• Multi-use Athletic Fields
• Orange County Model Engineers Track Expansions/Improvements

NEW BUSINESS
In addition, under New Business, there are three items scheduled:

• Native Plant Nursery
• Field Trip to Riverside, CA - Riverside Live Steamers
• Future Meeting Dates 

The next meeting is anticipated to be held October 1, 2014

Political Puffery By The Mayor

THE "SIX P" APPROACH
Over at the Costa Mesa Brief YouTube site, publisher Barry Friedland has given us another very Professionally-Produced Pandering Piece of Political Pontification for his buddy, Costa Mesa Mayor Jim Righeimer.  Further on down in this entry I've provided a link to it so you can watch Righeimer spew his campaign mantra for 2:32, but before we go there, let's take his piece segment-by-segment for some perspective.

TAKING CREDIT WHERE...?
He begins by saying, "We've done a lot of things in the last few years here in Costa Mesa and I wanta tell you just about a few of them."  We are presuming that the royal "we", and that he's taking personal credit for all the things he's about to present... we continue...

SIMPLIFICATION BY SIMPLE MINDS
He then tells us, "The biggest issue to our city is obviously our budget.  In previous years we have spent over 35 million dollars more than we brought in." He conveniently neglects to tell you that the expenditure of reserves during that period was necessitated by the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression 80 years ago!  He and his buddies frequently use the term, "Blew through the reserves." - a simplification of a complex issue by simple, politically-motivated minds.  Those reserves were in place for exactly what happened - created by actual forward-thinking, conservative (not just in name only) civic leaders in the event of such an event.

OK, BUT...
Righeimer then proceeds... "In the last two years we've reversed this.  Last year we saved over 7.1 million dollars on our budget.  In the last two years, 13.4 million dollars."  He goes on to tell you how "we" did that, but neglects to mention the biggest savings came from disemboweling the organization by not hiring people!  He refused to let both the police and fire departments hire replacements in a timely manner and operates with a flawed perception of just how many public safety employees are necessary to actually keep this city safe.  Service levels dropped across the board.

A "MINOR ISSUE" WHEN COMPARED TO LEGAL COSTS
He takes credit for what he refers to as a "minor issue",  a modification of the handling of Workers Compensation claims - a good change that apparently will result in a $500,000 annual savings.  He may consider that "minor" when he and his pals cause the city to spend that much on legal costs in a quarter.

OUTSOURCING THE JAIL
He goes on to say, "We also worked extremely close with our Police Department to reorganize the City Jail, and that reorganization is going to save us 3.2 million dollars over the next five years."  When he says "worked closely" he means that they forced the Police Department to outsource the jail functions to a private firm to chip away at the municipal employee base that he holds in such contempt.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR
Then he tells us, "One other big issue we had was working extremely closely with the Fire Department to make sure they could be more effective, more nimble and save money."  He then takes credit for the new deployment plan created by Interim Fire Chief Tom Arnold that revolves around the acquisition and deployment of new Paramedic Vans and cites a savings of "over one million dollars a year."  What he doesn't tell you is that, even though we have those new magnificent pieces of equipment, they are not yet deployed because we don't have the staff to do it!  We have TWO deployed and four of those quarter-million dollar units sitting around, waiting.  Even when the department is staffed properly the current plan is to deploy only FOUR of them, with TWO in reserve.  Doesn't make sense to me.  And, the klinker here is that we don't have staff to do it, so the staff of the Fire Department is still required to work horrendous overtime hours - sometimes doubling their normal work schedule - in an attempt to provide safety to the city.

THE CRIMINALS AROUND YOU
He then says, "The other issues we have in this city is to make sure that we keep our city a safe city.  One of the things I always say is 'Crime is caused by who lives in your city and who you attract to your city.'  We've had a big problem with attracting people that weren't good to our city through the motels we've had here."  He goes on to tell us that, "We've worked extremely hard with those motel owners to make sure that they run a tight ship."

BLUDGEONING MOTEL OWNERS
What he doesn't tell you is that he has stated many times that those motel owners had a distorted view of the value of their properties, so he's used code enforcement, police calls and fire department visits to bludgeon them into lowering their expectations.  He's used new ordinances - the Nuisance Ordinance and the Excessive Use of Resources Ordinance - to squeeze those operators so they'll be more compliant when developers come calling.  Tuesday, at the City Council meeting, we'll see the results of those efforts with a proposal to turn the Costa Mesa Motor Inn -  one of those "problem motels" -  into 236 "luxury apartments" located on Harbor Boulevard, across the street from Home Depot and MacDonalds.  Earlier in the agenda we will see the Conditional Use Permit for another of those businesses, Sandpiper Motel, revoked.  It's kind of like watching hunters clubbing baby harp seals to death, for goodness sake!

A WONDERFUL CITY... AND
He closes by telling us what a wonderful city we have, citing the weather, proximity to the ocean and South Coast Plaza, then says, "We just have to make sure that we continue to move forward and spend the dollars we have on infrastructure and parks - things that make our city a nicer place to live - and make sure that those things going forward continue to be funded.  That's what I want to do - that's what I'm going to continue to do here as your mayor here in Costa Mesa."

OK, BUT LET ME ASK YOU, MR. MAYOR
Well, OK, Mr. Mayor.  Your priorities are potholes and parks, not public safety - we get that.  Will those young families you're trying to attract come to a city where the two top elected officials are actually suing the men and women of their police department?  Will they move to a place where, in a fit of pique, the mayor refused to let the Chief of Police hire replacements for most of a year?  We have 28 vacancies - two more highly-skilled officers left Friday for other jobs elsewhere and nearly a dozen officers out with "injured on duty" issues.  As of Monday we will have fewer than 100 sworn members of the Costa Mesa Police Department able to work.  Subtract from that 31 members of the supervisory/command staff and, through the vindictive stubbornness of the mayor and his malleable majority, the CMPD will now operate with fewer than 70 actual officers on patrol!  Will those people feel safer knowing that? 

TOXIC WORKPLACE
Will they want to live in a city where the mayor has created such a toxic workplace for the municipal staff that they leave in droves - particularly in the police ranks?  Will they want to live in a city where Fire Department personnel are required to work horrendous overtime hours because the mayor and his council majority refuse to take a realistic view of the staffing needs of this city?  And, will they want to live in a place where that same mayor then chides firefighters about being greedy - referring to them as "$350,000-a-year firefighters", when those numbers reflected one member of the staff who worked more than 4,000 hours in a year, and were a direct result of THEIR edicts about hiring?

HEAVY-HANDED HEARTLESSNESS
Will those young, affluent families he says he wants to attract want to live in a city where the mayor and his pals illegally - and unnecessarily -  attempt to layoff nearly half the so-called "miscellaneous employees", causing one to commit suicide and a lawsuit that has lingered for almost two years?  How will they feel about a huge chunk of the municipal budget being spent on lawyers to defend their bogus schemes?

OOPS!
Their demands backfired a little when their developer-buddies began having a tough time getting their projects processed.  The staff has been so severely diminished that it's been necessary to spend thousands of dollars for technical support consultants to do plan check, inspections and other functions instead of being able to rely on city staffers - with knowledge and experience in our rules and policies to efficiently do the work.  Then, again, I believe that's the mayor's view of municipal government.  As I've said before, I think he wants to outsource EVERYTHING and leave only a City Manager (grandiosely re-titled "Chief Executive Officer") and a handful of contract administrators to oversee the outsourced operations.  No city employees, no employee associations to deal with - just "contracts" with pals and campaign contributors.

EXPECT MORE...
As we now enter the campaign season - in less than three months we will know who is actually going to run for the two open City Council positions in November - we will see more of this manipulation of the public by Righeimer and his cronies.  If you want to watch the clip I referred to, click HERE.  I could have embedded it in this post, but it starts automatically and I wanted you to read what I wrote without distraction.  You may wish to return to re-read what I wrote after watching...

Sparse Crowd Sees Organic Recycling Move Forward

OOPS!
Did you every wonder what happens when you throw a party and nobody shows up?  Well, that's kind of what happened Tuesday night at the regular meeting of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District Board.

BIGGER VENUE, MOSTLY EMPTY
In anticipation of a large turnout to hear the discussion of the proposed Organics Recycling plan and observe the vote on the issue, the Board moved their meeting to the Multipurpose Room at Sonora Elementary School in the Mesa Del Mar section of town.  As it turned out, the meeting could have been held in the cozy confines of the Conference Room at District Headquarters.

ONLY 8 RESIDENTS SHOWED UP
In addition to the Board members, District Staff, representatives of CR&R Environmental Services, Barry Friedland of Costa Mesa Brief (on hand to record the meeting) and Bradley Zint of the Daily Pilot, only 8 residents showed up and only three spoke to the Board on the issue.

BOARD APPROVES THE CHANGE
The short version is that the Board voted unanimously to move forward with the proposal.  The actual launch date will be determined later, but it is presumed to occur between November of this year and January of 2015.  Details of the actual "roll-out" will be fleshed out as they move forward with more informational town hall meetings throughout the year.

THE FUTURE IS NOW
Board President Jim Ferryman indicated that he, personally, would prefer to stick with our current single can system, but times are changing and he felt it was better for the Sanitary District and its ratepayers to be out front on this new plan instead of being caught in the rush to find places to deal with our waste later.

BEST RATE - FOREVER
Board member Arlene Shafer concurred, indicating that it's better to be first-in with a good rate.  Based on the terms of the contract with CR&R, the Sanitary District will always have the lowest rate. Even if they negotiate a lower rate with other municipalities, our rate will be adjusted to match the lowest.

NO DECISION ON PAYING FOR IT
There was no discussion of the cost of this project, although there has been plenty of information made available at the four town halls held over the past few months.  According to Scott Carroll, General Manager of the Sanitary District, discussion of any increase in rates will not occur before early next spring.  Based on what we've been told in previous meetings, this program will cost an additional $500,000 a year and several options are available to the District to cover that cost, including possible use of reserves.  That decision will come at a future date.

NO AUTOMATIC "OPT OUTS"
Carroll was clear when he responded to inquiries by members of the public about being able to "opt out" of the program.  There is NO automatic "opt out".  There may, however, be circumstances that permit a household to have an exemption, but those will be handled on an individual basis.   The process for those evaluations will be determined as we move closer to the roll-out date.

WHERE WAS FITZY?
I was amused that, despite venting his prodigious spleen today with a critical essay as a "guest commentor" on another local blog, former Sanitary District Director Jim Fitzpatrick - apparently a very vocal advocate of plans like this one in the past -  failed to show up at this meeting.  His hypocrisy knows no bounds.

MORE INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS TO COME

Now the Sanitary District will proceed with more informational meetings and hammer out the details of the implementation of this plan.  For details on this program go the Sanitary District web site, HERE, and review the presentations available on the Home Page. 

Catching Up

VIDEOS TO WATCH...
Catching up on some interesting video now available to us for viewing after the fact.

COSTA MESA BRIEF CANDIDATE VIDEOS

Our "pal", Barry Friedland over at Costa Mesa Brief, captured the discussion by 2nd District Supervisorial candidates Allan Mansoor and Michelle Steel at the Newport-Mesa Tea Party confab last Thursday evening.  Each segment is just under 30 minutes long, but are certainly worth viewing - especially if you are searching for information to make an informed decision in the Primary Election in June.  You can watch the Mansoor segment HERE and the Steel segment HERE.  There are two other candidates running for that office, but apparently neither were invited to this event.  In fact, when I asked Tea Party Tom Pollitt about it earlier in the week, he had no clue

 about other candidates.  Then, again....

BARRY'S DOING A GOOD JOB
I must give old Barry credit.  He's providing excellent video coverage of important events in the City.  His coverage, for example, of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District Town Hall last month at which the proposed Organics Recycling program was explained, is quite good.  You can watch that one HERE.

HATCH ON CITY TALK
There's a brand, new City Talk segment available for viewing on the City website, HERE.  Host Dane Bora asks City Chief Executive Officer Tom Hatch a variety of questions about the current state of affairs in the city.  Viewing this clip will be thirty minutes well-spent.

In wrapping up the segment Bora asked Hatch a series of four questions.  The last one went like this:

Bora - "If you could grant one wish for Costa Mesa, what would that be?"

Hatch - "A more, ah, civil discussion about, ah, about, ah, moving this community forward.  We're doing some great things.  We have a lot of great people who care deeply and love this town.  Ah, we, ah, our tone and approach is, ah, is, makes it hard.  And, we have such strong opinions, and change is difficult and so, I hope we have more of a civil discussion moving forward." 

WHAT WAS HE THINKING?...
I've replayed that segment a couple of times.  I'm sure Hatch is correct - a more civil discourse could make it easier to move forward.  I found myself wondering just who he might have been thinking of as he haltingly uttered those words.  Was he thinking about the cadre of concerned residents who take time from their lives to study important issues, then present themselves before the City Council and other official bodies to offer their questions and views?

Or, might he have been thinking about some current elected officials who sometimes veer from the path of civility when addressing folks speaking to them, and other council members, as well?

Or, might he have been thinking about those of us who write critically about issues and events in The City?

Or, was he contemplating all of the above?

AN EARLY NIGHT TOMORROW?  WE'LL SEE...
Tomorrow's City Council meeting, which gives the appearance of being relatively brief, may surprise us.  Much depends on how many speakers take the time to exercise their right to address concerns with the council - even though Mayor Jim Righeimer continues to fine-tune his obstructionist moves to keep that from happening.  I'm predicting a departure by 10:25 p.m.  We'll see.

Planning, Budgets, Charter And Tea Partiers

A BUSY WEEK AHEAD IN COSTA MESA
It's going to be another busy week in Costa Mesa.  Four important meetings on four consecutive days... Whew!

PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA
Monday, February 10, 2014, the Costa Mesa Planning Commission will hold its first meeting of the month in City Council Chambers beginning at 6:00 p.m. and has a full agenda, HERE:

• Code Enforcement Update, HERE.
•  Public Hearing#1 - A request for first and second story additions at 3384 Wimbledon Way, HERE.
•  Public Hearing #2 - A request for major changes at the Wild Goose, 430 and 436 East 17th Street, HERE.  This has been requested to be continued until February 24, 2014.
• Public Hearing #3 - A 36-unit development at 2023, 2025 and 2027 Placentia Ave. HERE.
• Public Hearing #4 - A Conditional Use Permit to sell wine at 3315 Hyland Avenue, Suite H, HERE.
• Public Hearing #5 - A Conditional Use Permit to sell distilled spirits at 3313 Hyland Avenue, Suite #A6, HERE.
• Report on G&W Towing CUP status and recent noise complaint, HERE.

CITY COUNCIL BUDGET STUDY SESSION
On Tuesday, February 11, 2014, the City Council will meet in Council Chambers at 4:30 for the Mid Year Budget Review, HERE.  This meeting will include a discussion of the use of the $7.1 million surplus, actual revenues and many other subjects.  There are eight (8) attachments that are worth a look.  Click on the item to link to the attachment:
1. Analysis and Recommended Uses of the FY2012-13 Surplus
2. Mid-year Budget Report Summary—General Fund 
3. General Fund Revenue Chart
4. Budget to Actual Analysis—General Fund Revenues
5. General Fund Total Expenditure Chart
6. General Fund Salary & Benefit Chart
7. Budget to Actual Analysis—General Fund Expenditures
8. Contingency Funds

If you take a few minutes and scan those charts you'll find some interesting information.  For example, on #8 you will see that almost 70% of the Contingency Fund has been depleted, and how.

 Under #7 you'll see a department-by-department list of how much of the budget for salaries and benefits have been used during the first six months of the fiscal year.  For example, the CEO's Office has only 40.28% remaining while the several segments of the Police Department have significantly more than 50% remaining.

CHARTER COMMITTEE MEETS WEDNESDAY
On Wednesday, February 12, 2014 the Costa Mesa Charter Committee, facilitated by Drs. Kirk Bauermeiser and Mike Decker,  meets again to continue its relentless slog toward the creation of a Charter document that the City Council will find acceptable.  The meeting changes venues this time and will meet beginning at 6:00 p.m. in Conference Room 1A - a much cozier venue than the Emergency Operations Center, which is not available.  The agenda may be viewed HERE.

Specific items on the agenda are:

• A Review of the Minutes, HERE.
• Meeting Summary and Review of Norms, HERE.
• COIN, HERE.
• Conflict of Interest, HERE.
• Form of Government, HERE.
• Pension Timeline, HERE.
• Proposed Charter Language, HERE

A BUSY NIGHT FOR THEM
A look at this agenda gives me the sense that it will be a long meeting and it's likely that they won't finish all the items on the schedule.  The clock is ticking since they hope to have a final document ready to present to the City Council by the end of this month.  We'll see.

TEA PARTY MEETING
And, for you rabid partisans, the Newport Mesa Tea Partiers hold their monthly meeting on Thursday, February 13, 2014 at the Halecrest Swim and Tennis Club, 3107 Killeybrooke Lane from 6:30 - 8:30 and will feature among the speakers the grand pooba himself, Scott Baugh, plus Second District Supervisor candidates Michelle Steel and Allan Mansoor.  I will not be at this one, but I suspect Old Barry Friedland will have his Costa Mesa Brief camera on hand to film the event and post it on his YouTube site.

Sanitary District Wants To Hear More...

ANOTHER LARGE CROWD...
Last night the Costa Mesa Sanitary District held its regular monthly meeting at a larger venue, the Neighborhood Community Center, in anticipation of a large crowd.  They were correct.

ANOTHER 40
More than forty people gathered to hear the deliberations of the current scheme to change the way we recycle so-called "Organics" - green waste and food scraps.  There were two items on the subject on the agenda and, between the two, a half-dozen individuals rose to speak about them.

MANY NEW FACES
I saw many familiar faces in the crowd tonight, but some new ones, too.  I've attended both of the workshops designed to provide information to the ratepayers and each one had a good turnout.  More than 100 people have attended those meetings, plus the meeting last night.  However, during her turn at the microphone, resident Beth Refakes reminded the Board that the turnout was still well short of their survey number last year, and suggested further outreach meetings to reach more ratepayers.  Some would-be politicians attended, but stayed only long enough to be seen, then left.

MORELLO, AGAIN, TWICE
Resident Phil Morello, an owner of Westside rental units, spoke twice and continued to express concern that some of the details of the change had not yet been sufficiently fleshed out.  He also expressed concern that the Costa Mesa Sanitary District was interested in being the first district to use this new technology/methodology.

FLO'S FOR THE CHANGE
Long-time resident Flo Martin addressed the Board, expressing support for this change.  She told of using a 3-can system at another home she owns on the Central California Coast, indicating that not only was it NOT inconvenient, but that the community took great pride in their recycling efforts.

 WAITING A MONTH
After hearing all the speakers and discussing the issue among themselves, the Board decided to shove the decision on the new process off until their meeting late in February.  In the meantime, more workshops would be held, hopefully in different parts of the City, so more ratepayers can hear the story and offer input.  That meeting will likely be held on February 25th at a venue to be determined.

I'VE HEARD THE PROGRAM...
I've heard the presentation - twice.  I've asked questions and heard others concerns and the responses to them.  Yes, there are still some nagging details to be addressed, but none should be deal-breakers.  This change, which puts the Sanitary District at the forefront of new waste handling technology, marked what certainly appears to be an inevitable step.  The state is mandating severely greater percentages of recycling - from 50% to 75% - and no more landfills will be permitted.  This change will cost just over $500,000 per year to the district - and, thus, to the ratepayers.  The Board will have to decide how to cover those costs.  Current surplus could be used to smooth the transition for a few years.

...AND THE RATE GUARANTEE
We are guaranteed by CR&R Environmental Services that we will have the lowest rates.  If they bid this kind of project to another city or district at a lower rate, the CMSD will receive that rate, too.


I UNDERSTAND THE TRUCK TRAFFIC...
Concerns were expressed about the number of truck trips throughout the city.  That question was finally answered to my satisfaction.  Instead of a 9-truck fleet picking up our trash now, there would be 10.  Six will pick up the regular trash and four, the Organics.  The increase in truck miles would be about 10%.

...AND THE "MULTIPLE CARTS" ISSUE
Still unresolved is the need for multiple "carts" on trash day.  It is most acute in multi-unit situation - like Morello's - but those will be handled on a case-by-case basis.  AND, people can simply opt out of the program and continue to handle their trash the way they do now.  That seems impractical in the long-term, but it's possible under this system.

COSTA MESA BRIEF ON THE JOB
Old Barry Friedland was on hand last night to tape the meeting.  You'll soon be able to watch it at Costa Mesa Brief on YouTube, along with the previous workshop.  He's doing a good job and his videos are worth a watch if you have the time.

MORE OUTREACH SCHEDULED
I'm glad the Board chose to do a little more outreach.  I hope people will view the presentations that are available on the District web site, HERE and HERE.  I also hope they will attend the future workshops and/or send their questions and concerns to the General Manager, Scott Carroll.

THE BOARD SHOULD GIVE THUMBS UP NEXT MONTH
Based on what I have been told so far, I think this step is inevitable and worthy of doing it right and being among the first to take advantage of this giant technological step - even if it means I have to change the way I scrape the debris off my dinner plate.  The remaining unresolved questions are going to be addressed, hopefully to everyone's satisfaction.  I expect the Board will vote to approve this new step and the contract involved the end of next month.  If they soften the impact on each ratepayer by using some of their reserves to do so, all the better.