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4.30.10 It has been an interesting week and May looks to be eventful for the area as well. Tuesday was a meeting at the Scotia Inn regarding the recently annexed area of the former Eel River Sawmill site and the required Brownfield clean up project for the toxins left by years of industrial production. Not a single person from the community bothered to attend other than the property owner, Dennis Wendt, his engineer and a gentleman trying to open a motocross track at the site along with Interim City Manager Jim Stretch and Finance Director Stephanie Beauchaine and the consultants. Rio Dell "owns" that area with the annexation that was specifically for the wastewater treatment facility that we have all been told was critical to the town. There is more about the meeting at the post below from 4.27.10. Wednesday was a Planning Commission meeting regarding the Scotia Annexation, the annexations in Metropolitan and Blue Slide Rd., general plan element update and medical marijuana dispensaries. The commission voted 4-1 to ban dispensaries entirely with Alice Millington dissenting. The matter will go before the city council next Tuesday. Not a single person from the community managed to attend other than myself, my daughter and chief assistant and the spouse of a commissioner. It would appear that no one actually gives a darn about what the town does one way or the other. Perhaps that is why Rio Dell is the way it is? In any case, there is updated information at the Annexation page including videos from the recent meetings and the many handouts that are being distributed by both sides. There will be a meeting on May 11th at 6:30pm at Rio Dell City Hall regarding the annexation. Now would be the time to place any bets on whether or not anyone bothers to show up. Thursday included a meeting with Interim City Manager Jim Stretch regarding the annexation. If anyone has questions they would like to ask or are seeking information than you should contact Stretch at City Hall and schedule a time to speak. The same goes for Frank Bacik at the Town of Scotia. We will continue to post the information provided by both sides so that community members can decide for themselves what is in the best interests of their community. Friday involved a weird confrontation with someone named Eric at the top of the road leading to the Dinsmore Plateau site. We were told about that landing when we first moved in by locals as a fantastic view of the city and the surrounding bluffs, which it is. We have gone up there many times to take panoramic photographs of our area and there has never been a problem as we remain clearly out of the posted private property area. Today was different. When Steve and Marylynn were about to leave after taking some pictures, this Eric person drove up and told them that they were on private property and were trespassing so they had to leave. Steve was going to get in the car to leave when he told Eric that he needs to post a private property or no trespassing sign at the bottom of the road if it is private property as he had claimed (we always respect all posted private property signs!). Eric didn't appreciate the advice and claimed that he was calling the police as he was a personal friend of Police Chief Graham Hill. Steve and Marylynn waited for the police to arrive with a suspiciously agitated Eric who appeared to be very nervous about anyone being near the plateau property. *It should be noted that this property was recently owned by Jordan Pyhtila who was developing the lot with money being laundered from his large scale marijuana operation. He is currently serving six years in a federal prison for his activities. The city received $205,000 from Pyhtila for a larger water tank for the Dinsmore Plateau. A relative, Jean Pyhtila, is a member of the collective looking to open a marijuana dispensary in Rio Dell. Back to the story...RDPD Officer Bettencourt responded and was very helpful. Steve explained the ridiculous situation and that once he was told the cops had been called he just waited there for them to arrive; he then left the area as he was going to do in the first place. Interestingly enough, while he was waiting there for the police three large gravel trucks were coming and going up and down the road to the plateau. What is going on at the Dinsmore Plateau? Tuesday May 3rd will include a City Council meeting where an announcement of the new City Manager is expected. We will keep you posted. 4.27.10 There has been a lot of activity in the city lately with a real push towards annexation of Scotia. Take a look at the Annexation page to see the current events as well as all of the historical information going back to the first round of this in 2006. The financial analysis study as well as other studies are all posted for you to review. The city has stated an intention to use these old studies in their soon to be written annexation application so it is worth your time to review them. The financial analysis about the fire districts is particularly interesting. Tonight, there was a sparsely attended meeting at the Scotia Inn regarding the future of the former Eel River Sawmill site and the Brownfield project clean-up. There will be future meetings regarding this important issue that will hopefully draw at least some interest in the city since we have recently annexed that property. The city had applied for and received a $350,000 planning and assessment grant for the known toxic old sawmill site when the city had planned to put their wastewater treatment plant there. That is also when they changed the zoning on part of the property to Public Facilities, which the current property owner has said he didn't know about, which restricts usage to only a public purpose like a park, museum, treatment plant, etc. The owner wants to put a motocross track or some other type of private business there but can't do it. The meeting notes below go in to more detail about the motocross plan. In any case, the property is an identified Brownfield site and must be cleaned up before anything can be done with it. It was said that the owner should be able to apply for the same type of government grant money that the city had planned to use to clean up the site and hopefully that is true because the costs are going to be enormous. The zoning map and allowable uses handout is here. The planning commission meets tomorrow night at 6:30pm and will be addressing many important issues such as Scotia, Metropolitan, Blue Slide Rd. and the medical marijuana moratorium. Former Rio Dell Mayor Bud Leonard will be sworn in as a planning commissioner and he is an avid supporter of annexation and has advocated for it since day one. It is disappointing to see how little public participation there is from Rio Dell on this critical issue. Whether you are for annexation or against it, you need to participate in the process! 3.2.10 Tonight’s council meeting brought an overflow crowd of supporters for the Eel River Motocross Park business license application at the former Eel River Sawmill site owned by Dennis Wendt of Wendt Construction. Interim City Manager Jim Stretch explained the problem with the application is due to the zoning on that parcel which was changed to public purposes when the city was planning on building the wastewater treatment plant there. The only allowable purposes now on that property are public facilities like a school, park, museum, etc. which came as a surprise to Wendt. It was explained that the owner could apply to the city to have the zoning changed but there would be a number of fees and study costs involved in the lengthy process. Wendt stated his intent to go forward with the zoning change application in order to build the motocross park. After a recess, the council voted 5-0 to uphold the denial of the business license due to the zoning of the property.
1.6.10 Happy New Year! 12.29.09 The end of the decade is almost here! We are looking forward to 2010; recently Time Magazine ran an article about the decade from hell that is ending. Couldn't agree more! The country and the world will be feeling the repercussions from this disastrous decade for a long time to come. The health care debate is a good example of what is wrong in the U.S. government; there is no rational debate and attempt at a consensus which was the design of our political system. Instead, partisan hacks would rather see the country burn than find any compromise despite the harm to the general public. The current bill is a complete gift to the insurance and pharmaceutical industry; who have gotten exactly what they wanted and the public loses out yet again. The republican party is being controlled by the ultra-conservative "tea baggers" who are dictating far right wing policies and conspiracy theories. Moderates are being run out of their own party for daring to work with the other party to find compromises which is what the Founding Fathers envisioned as a balance to extremism on either side. The democrats aren't doing any better and have shown their willingness to sell out to corporate interests whenever they can; they are no longer the party looking out for the interests of the working class. The upcoming years should be interesting. In Rio Dell, we have been fortunate to have an Interim City Manager, Jim Stretch, who is willing to take on issues right away rather than accept the usual "we always do it this way" mentality that keeps the city from developing. The recent issue of the city Christmas party is a good example. Stretch received a flyer about the city employee party which was being held at the Riverlodge in Fortuna with a no-host bar and fully catered affair. The city had already paid a sizeable deposit for the location. Stretch asked about the funding of the party and discovered that the money came out of city funds and always has. The use of public tax money for a private employee party is not allowed unless the city certifies the event has some type of "public purpose" to justify its expense. The city is also providing alcohol to the attendee's at a party in another city at the public expense. The issue was immediately addressed and the two employee groups were very unhappy since this was the way they have always done their party and they felt no need to change. Stretch presented them with a choice; either the city declares the party a public purpose and does not allow any alcohol or the employee's contribute to their own party as most other local civic governments do. The issue was put onto the agenda for the 12.15.09 council meeting but the employee's agreed to fund their own party just prior to the meeting so there was no debate on the issue. The city is very strapped for cash these days and funding things like employee Christmas parties (not even held in Rio Dell) and paying for every city employee's water bill, just to name two examples, does not make people feel very good about the rate increases we have all experienced. The city has gone through a lot of crap this year with issues such as the former Public Works Director Jim Hale (discussed further below), the sudden departure of former City Manager Nancy Flemming, the arrest and conviction of local developer Jordan Pythila for money laundering and federal drug charges, etc. The proposed wastewater treatment plant will continue to be a big issue in the upcoming year. The council will be making some very important decisions regarding the direction of Rio Dell on issues such as the wastewater plant, which needs public involvement. Recently, the city approved the installation of the phrase "In God We Trust" to be placed above the city seal at the urging of council members Mike Dunker and Jack Thompson in response to a popular right wing campaign. During a meeting held with Stretch about the motto, it was discovered that Rio Dell doesn't actually have a city seal. We have a logo or two but no actual city seal. The long talked about project by Anthony Micheli to develop his 34 acres of property on either side of Blue Side Rd. just outside of Rio Dell (the property was recently annexed into Rio Dell at Micheli's request) may have come to an end. If you recall, the city bocci court was put in by Micheli and then city manager Jay Parrish with the intent to cater to his $400,000 homes in the exclusive development. The council and planning commission have held joint meetings concerning the project; including a field trip to the property to discuss Micheli's plans. For whatever reason, the plans continued to drag on until the housing market crashed and development of the whole project became unreasonable. Micheli recently applied to the city to have the property split off in such a way that he could build his own home on one of the river side lots and not develop the rest of the property until the market improves in the future. The planning commission had recently denied his application and the matter came up before the city council to either uphold or overturn their denial. The video of the discussion (in part I and the beginning of part II) has an interesting debate over who would be responsible for maintaining or opening that section of Blue Slide Rd (which earned its name with many landslides). The city planner, George Williamson of Planwest, contends that when the city annexed the property (at Micheli's request) the responsibility for that section of road went from the county to property owner. He stated that since Micheli owned both sides of the road, he was responsible for it. Micheli obviously argued that the responsibility would have gone from the county to the city in the annexation. The council eventually decided to uphold the denial and Micheli stated he would not be coming back with an alternate plan as the city had mentioned. The city of Rio Dell appears to have issues with developments and/or developers; just take a look at the May St. debacle with Myers Construction or the Dinsmore Plateau project with convicted money launderer Pythila. Pythila used his development projects to launder his drug money which is a much more common practice than you might think. There is a lot of money to go around it seems. Have a safe New Year's Eve! 11.17.09 Tonight's city council meeting was the first one under the direction of the new Interim City Manager Jim Stretch. His primary focus will be to help recruit and hire a permanent city manager to fill the position that has been vacant since the sudden departure of Nancy Flemming months ago. Up to this point the city has not been looking for a replacement city manager as far as anyone can tell; relying on Police Chief Graham Hill to fill both positions. Stretch is just beginning to get up to speed but already has some interesting ideas on areas of improvement, etc. The city held a Public Hearing on a zoning ordinance amendment regarding the maintenance and repair of sidewalks in Rio Dell. The city has received two claims fairly recently stemming from injuries received from falls on the sidewalks around town; one claim alone was for $3,000 in medical bills and eye glasses (the city deductible is $2,500 on their insurance). Section 6.18.5(J) of the local zoning ordinance says the homeowner of the adjacent property is responsible for sidewalk maintenance. This language is being changed in the proposed ordinance amendment to provide better legal protection for the city. The new ordinance says "maintenance and repair of sidewalk area shall include, but not be limited to, maintenance and repair of surfaces including grinding, removal and replacement of sidewalks, repair and maintenance of curb and gutters, removal and filling or replacement of parking strips, removal of weeds and/or debris, supervision and maintenance of signs, tree root purning and installing root barriers, trimming of shrubs and/or ground cover and trimming shurbs within the area between the property line of the adjacent property and the street pavement line..." Have you seen the current condition of the Rio Dell sidewalks? They are unbelievably bad in numerous areas while nonexistent in others, they are not ADA compliant in the majority of the area (including relatively newer sections like the corner of Ireland and Davis St.), some developers were even allowed to build new homes without putting in any sidewalks at all (makes you wonder how they passed the inspection now doesn't it). One of the problems with public hearings on important issues such as this one is the complete lack of access to information for the population. The agenda item provided the only notice that any zoning amendment changes were being considered but unless you had the time to go into city hall during open business hours then you had no information on what changes were being proposed. The city website has some of the city council packets online which provide the most complete information on agenda items but they haven't updated the site since mid-September. What good is a public hearing if the public has no idea what is being considered? The video will be coming as soon as Steve spends a great deal of time and effort trying to improve the sound as far as possible; bumping up the sound 12 decibles and running it through clarity filters. Numerous people, including myself, have told the council over the years that it was difficult to hear them; even while seated in the chamber. The microphones and sound system are often not used and pushed out of the way but even when the council members speak into them, there is no significant difference in volume. During public comments, a local resident asked if the microphones were really on (they were but they didn't make any difference). Stretch also addressed the poor sound quality in the chamber when he watches our videos on Access Humboldt. He said that he would be looking into any possible improvements that could be made to help with the acustics (Yeah!). The council will schedule a study session at a future date regarding the recent resolution approving adding "In God We Trust" above the city seal; the city needs to figure out what to do now that they approved the resolution. Both Council Members Jack Thompson and Mike Dunker offered to help pay for the addition of the motto during the last meeting (the video is available here). Perhaps the council should have thought about the details of implementing their resolution prior to approving it? Finally, the city council approved the 2009 holiday schedule for the city. City Hall will be closed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving. The Annual Tree Lighting will be December 3rd at 6pm. The city is holding a Christmas dinner at the River Lodge in Fortuna December 23rd (details to follow). City Hall will be closed Thursday the 24th and Friday the 25th of December for Christmas and again on December 31st and January 1st for New Years (employee negotiations pending for New Year's Eve as a paid holiday). 9.1.09 An update to the 7.9.09 referrence below to some anonymous source on the Times Standard page...Chief Hill informs me that the public works employee referrenced in the post was not fired by Public Works. We appreciate the clarification as the information about personnel matters is not publicly known. We would like to reiterate that the comment came from an anonymous source with a great deal more information about personnel matters and City Hall than what is publicly available but take it with a grain of salt and ask City Hall yourself. There are numerous people that have lived in Rio Dell for a long time and are very familiar with the interconnections. By special request, here is the link to the Rio Dell Building Department Fraud page and the Croynism in Rio Dell page for your easy access. Happy Reading! 8.9.09 I didn't realize it had been so long since we had updated this page, sorry! As usual, it is very busy around here. There is lots of stuff going on around us locally and nationally to pay attention to. The hottest topic going on right now in Rio Dell is the wastewater rate increase. There is currently a petition drive going on by multiple people opposed to the increase but it is unknown if they are anywhere close to the 50% plus one minimum number of valid signatures that are needed. The last city council meeting had a very good discussion of the rates and some of the concerns of the citizens. A number of those in attendance were going to visit the wastewater treatment plant last Friday for a tour and discussion of the issues. Anyone interested in seeing the current state of the plant can contact Public Works and arrange for a tour. The problem with the rate increase isn't really a debate about the need for extensive repairs to the system; everyone seems to agree that the current state of the plant is bad. The problem comes from a lack of trust in the city to utilize the additional money any more wisely than they have in the past. Randy Jensen appears to be doing the best he can with a very bad situation as far as we know but there are decades of shady business and questionable use of city funds that have created the apprehension felt by many. Finding out that every city employee receives free water and sewer in Rio Dell (up to the base allowance reportedly) doesn't really make anyone feel better about paying higher rates. The brazeness of running an unmetered water line to the personal property of the former Public Works Director is making more sense. Why not run the line? They're already getting free water anyway! The recently approved interim budget is available (kind of) at the city website. You have to look at the council packet for the 8/4/09 meeting and then scroll all the way down the page to view the budget (take a look at the check register on your way down). The recent developer of the Dinsmore Plateau project is going to be sentenced soon in a federal court located in San Francisco. The press release by the Department of Justice stated that Pythila and his "coconspirator" Jessie Jeffries had to forfeit the $945,000 promissory note that they received as payment for the Dinsmore property. We don't know who currently owns the Dinsmore property. Pythila and Jeffries pled guilty to maintaining a place to manufacture marijuana and conspiracy to launder money. 467 kilos of marijuana were grown on their property by their own confession. Pythila is likely to face 72 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release. Some of this laundered money was used to increase the size of the water tank on Dinsmore in order to accomodate the development that was being proposed. Local residents we have heard from have said that it came as no surprise to anyone who was familiar with Pythila. In this small community, what did the city know or suspect when they accepted that money? State politics are dismal with the governor and the legislature recently approving a budget that virtually eliminates the basic social safety net during a time of an economic disaster. People are losing their jobs right and left along with any health care that they might have had. 2 million more people are signed up for food stamps than last year and the state recently shut down the Healthy Families insurance program for children. The federal government is trying to work on health insurance reform but they are facing incredible tactics by the insurance industry, pharmaceutical companies and right wing Republicans backing the profit margins of corporations above the Americans suffering and dying without adequate health insurance. The talking heads are spouting the most insane lies (i.e. "Obama Death Review Panels") but the crazier the lie, the more their constituents eat it up. They are fueling the most extreme members of society who already believe that since the President is black, he must have been born in Africa and there is an enormous conspiracy going on that started 44 years ago. Whoa! The most fiscally and morally responsible plan is to develop the single-payer government option, similar to the VA or Medicare. Take a look at the insurance policy your federal legislators enjoy. Allowing Americans to suffer and die to increase the profit margin for the corporations that have already brought down the United States economy with their greed is reprehensible and truly sick. 7.10.09 The story behind the resignation still isn't known publicly but information doesn't stay quiet for very long in a small community. A closed door session of the city council was announced for Tuesday July 14th at 5:00pm to appoint an interim city manager and consult with legal counsel about the now three potential cases that Rio Dell is "significantly exposed" to. The announcement lists the government code section 54956.9(b) as the legal basis for their closed door meeting. That code simply says that a council can hold a closed door meeting to confer with their counsel whenever the attorney determines the city might get sued. You can read the whole thing yourself at Find California Code. The city is considered exposed to litigation for its own actions as well as those of its employees (acting within the scope of their employment). We don't know for sure what the three potential lawsuits involve but we do know that the council doesn't have the money to keep ignoring the law and then paying to defend their actions or the actions of city employees. The citizens of Rio Dell have already paid enough for the croynism and shady dealings that have been business as usual here in the past. It is long past time for the majority of Rio Dell citizens, who are hard working decent people, to stand up and insist their local government follow the same laws that apply everywhere else. 7.9.09 Nancy Flemming turns in her resignation-effective immediately! What an interesting turn of events; particularly after not reporting out any actions at all for the last six months worth of "performance evaluations." I don't know what goes on behind the closed doors but there has been tension readily apparent at the council meetings from Jack Thompson towards Flemming as well as fellow council member Mike Dunker. Could this be the micromanaging council member that Dunker was referring to in his quote to the Times Standard? Only the council members know for sure. We have heard a few things from various people about the disfunction in city hall, such as; Flemming wasn't able to do the day-to-day work of managing a city so she hired a number of consultants to do the work and on the flip-side we've heard that she came into a corrupt cronie system that fought against any changes from an outsider. The truth might be somewhere in-between, I am not sure. What we do know is that Rio Dell has let corruption and cronyism run rampant for decades; from the days of prohibition and the mob that we have heard about from old-timers to former mayor Ghirladucci (of Humboldt Creamery fraud fame) to the current batch of good ol' boys that run the city like their own personal kingdom. There was a fascinating post by an anonymous source on the Times Standard website that is obviously from someone with more info as to the inter-connections here (we have no idea where they have gotten their information from or whether it is accurate); "Yes Stephanie is married to policeman John Beauchaine and Graham Hill hired his brother in law Kevin Harrelsen after he was fired from public works and ex Mayor Ernie Canaday got his recently fired son in law Jim Hale his job and Mike Dunkers son works for the city public works and it goes on and on. And the good ole boy network goes on. There is a developer who built about 8 houses all in one area and they all look alike and were built without putting in paved roads and underground utilities and got by without being classified as a subdivision. How do these things happen. Building inspector apparently is another good ole boy. And dont forget the council hiring Jay Parrish illegally and all of the legal services involved in defending what they knew was wrong. No wonder the water bills have to be so high to pay for everyones lawsuits." I thought it was hysterical that one of the cronies actually posted their belief that we wrote that. That is written by someone who obviously has been around here much longer than us and has very close and personal knowledge of the nepotism. Thank you to whomever posted the information. I have heard most of this but not all of the names, thanks again. We will have to see what happens now. We just received the accounting reports that we had requested and will post them as soon as possible. 6.18.09 School is out for the summer! It is hard to believe the year is half over already but here we are. There is a lot of worry going on concerning the various economic crisis'; California, federal and personal. The state is almost bankrupt and proposing to cut the basic safety net of our society at the very time that it is needed most by increasing numbers of people. It is short sighted and will cost a great deal more in the long run; for example, eliminating public defenders. We are still required by the Constitution to provide a defense and would have to hire more expensive private attorneys. This has already been tried in the past in other counties around the state and they found it cost significantly more money. Eliminating Healthy Families coverage will prevent scores of children from getting any preventative care and will wind up in the more expensive emergency room. There is a balance that needs to be found between increasing revenue and decreasing expenses. The deficit is simply too large to address completely by cuts. The opposition to any sort of new revenue based on ideology is dooming the state to a much larger crisis. We have become held hostage by a minority of legislators that would rather stick to their ideology than find a compromise for the common good based on the facts. Politics used to be about negotiation and compromise, that is the basis of the two party political system. The Founding Fathers believed that the compromises that would be required would provide a balance between strong opposition parties. They were absolutely right but we have lost that ability along the way. The supermajority that is required to pass the budget allows a minority of hard line ideologues to hold the state hostage as they recently did in the last budget negotiations. The city doesn't know how much money is really at risk because accurate information from Sacramento is impossible, it is changing daily. Already, the city will not be able to repair and renovate Fireman's Park because of the loss of state money. The city has put in an application already for 2.3 million dollars in stimulus money to go towards the wastewater treatment plant, it is unknown if the city will eventually qualify. The state may take additional money from the local governments but that is still up in the air. The Safe Routes to School grant is still going forward and work is supposed to begin this summer at the schools on Center St. There will be significant changes to the frontage of the school, sidewalks on most of Center St. and speed bumps. There will be some restrictions on parking but the city didn't describe what that meant. There will be bike trails provided from Davis St. as well. The school board has been working with the city to plan the changes and it should provide better safety for the kids. The city has told us that they will give us a copy of the audit reports that we requested in our Freedom of Information request but not the information about any investigations. We haven’t heard back from them yet about how much the copies are going to cost but as soon as we get them, we will post them here. The citizens of Rio Dell paid for the audit reports and it is reasonable to think that they might like to see it. The constant closed door actions regarding the City Manager and the Director of Public Works without any reportable actions in all this time is interesting. Wonder what’s going on behind closed doors? When does a subdivision, or any development for that matter, not need a written building permit application? When it’s in Rio Dell by the looks of it. The building inspector for Rio Dell, Arnie Kemp of Kemp Inspection Service, was recently under oath testifying in a hearing to renew an existing restraining order we have against him (it was denied). The following was the testimony provided under oath:
Kemp: Yes, but I don’t know what they are, and most of the inspections I’ve been doin’ by your house, there is no written records. They are for subdivisions. Wolff: There’s no written records of the building permits? Kemp: No Wolff: Okay. Building—just a note, building permits are required to be in writing.
5.23.09 We hope everyone is having a good Memorial Day weekend. It has been particularly busy recently as we go into the end of the school year. There has been a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes at City Hall that is palpable to the rest of the city but little information is publically available. For whatever reason, Public Works Director Jim Hale has reportedly been on paid administrative leave for many months now. Randy Jensen has been filling in and is doing a good job from what we hear. There have been no actions taken by the City Council as far as what is publically reported at the meetings. There are rumors of an investigation but that hasn't been confirmed despite its likely being funded with our tax money. The other issue going on is the eternal employee evaluation of City Manager Nancy Flemming. This has become a standing agenda item with no action taken for months now. We have heard that the two things are interconnected but again, there is no information coming out of City Hall regarding this. The recent council agenda listed a closed door item of consultation with legal counsel regarding the cities "significant exposure" to two pending lawsuits. The item lists government code 54956(b) for both cases; which is related to special meetings and the 24-hour noticing requirement. Subsection 54956.5(b) (which is what I assume they meant since there is no 54956(b)) says that the special meeting is considered an "emergency situation" involving "matters upon which prompt action is necessary due to the disruption or threatened disruption of public facilities, a legislative body may hold an emergency meeting without complying with either the 24-hour notice requirement or the 24-hour posting requirement." This sounds pretty significant and the public should know more about this "threatened disruption of public facilities." This may be related to the above mentioned public works investigation but I don't know for sure. Take a look at the council meeting video from April 21st and pay particular attention to the discussion (at two separate times on the tape) about a previously undisclosed project of photographing city documents that are old and deteriorating. Council Member Jack Thompson and former Council Member and City Manager John Lane were in City Hall on a Saturday copying these documents for the records. The other council members were unaware of their project and members of the public were concerned when they saw people in City Hall on a Saturday. Council Member Mike Dunker makes a very good point about the ethics requirement of disclosure for this kind of a project. Considering past experiences with the city and missing documents, I think there is a valid reason to be suspicious of any "project" involving city documents. The city has two pending lawsuits and a reported investigation going on so it may not be the best time to be secretly messing around with the documents. A scanning project of old documents is a worthwhile endeavor that could be done during the open work day hours. Another area of concern is the hiring of the wife of the building inspector by city hall and their access to city documents. We have posted plenty of information in the past demonstrating the illegal electrical permit that Arnie Kemp signed, the Structural Engineers report about the clear health and safety violations with our home that were ignored by Kemp and the city and the Grand Jury report. The city choses to continue using Kemp and taking on the liability for the rest of the Rio Dell taxpayers but now his wife is working within city hall; under the "finance department." City Hall is way too small to realistically think that there are separate departments and they don't all have some access to all of the files. There is reason to be concerned; considering past actions particularly. During the lawsuit over the illegal hiring of the mayor as city manager; documents and tapes disappeared or never existed. The deposition of City Clerk Karen Dunham best refers to the missing job application or resume of Jay Parrish among other things. Again, in consideration of the lawsuits and investigations there is a valid reason to be concerned about what is going on in city hall. We have heard from others and they are equally concerned for their own reasons. 4.25.09 It's hard to believe that April is almost over already. We have been getting summer like weather intermixed with high winds and freezing temperatures. Hopefully, May showers will come and fill up the reservoirs with much needed water. School will be coming to an end soon and we are looking forward to our youngest son graduating from Stanwood A. Murphy 8th grade in Scotia. The school always does a very nice ceremony in the historic Winema Theatre and party at the Scotia Inn. There is a special election coming up on Tuesday May 19th regarding multiple budget propositions. The Sacramento Bee has a good write-up of the ballot issues and you should have gotten your voters pamphlet in the mail by now. There will only be one precinct in Rio Dell for this election; Monument Middle School is the polling place as in years past. A low turn-out is expected but these are budget items that will affect every taxpayer one way or another for years to come. Please take the time to educate yourself about the issues and vote! You can't complain about the government if you aren't willing to do your part and vote. We have a link on the front page to an article written by former Sergeant Kayla Williams who served as an interrogator for military intelligence in Iraq and participated in the torturing of detainee's. It is vital that people take the time to read about the situation from those that were there rather than the talking heads who are doing their best to manipulate the public for their own partisan self-interest. We owe at least that much to the soldiers fighting this created war in Iraq. They get to pay the price for the actions of their superiors right up the chain to the President of the United States aka Commander in Chief. If America is going to remain a nation of laws as created by our Constitution then we need to follow the evidence where ever it may lead. We can only hope that President Obama, a former Constitutional law professor, will allow the investigation to go forward no matter where it goes. No one is above the law (in theory). That is true nationally as well as locally. A family home located at 1030 Riverside Dr. burned down on April 13th. The family is safe but they have lost pretty much everything. The cause of the first fire was an unattended pan on the stove. View the video and pictures here. Later that night, a second fire began and finished off what hadn't burned the first time. We have pictures that show the damage after the first fire and then after the second fire; we will post more soon. Since my last post regarding city hall the council has continued to have the closed door session agenda items: "2009/0421.16 To consider appointment, employment, evaluation of performance, discipline/dismissal/release of public employee (Government code 54957)" and "2009/0421.17 Public employee performance evaluation - City Manager (Government Code Section 54957)." There have been no reported actions taken regarding any personnel matter that we are aware of. Be sure and take the time to read the minutes that are finally being posted at the city website. If you continue to scroll down the very lengthy document then you will get to the minutes for prior meetings that are being approved by the council. The sewer rates are going to be doubling with the new wastewater project. Rates are estimated to go from $48 to $96; according to the city's own statements. Total costs for the project are anticipated to be $16.7 million by current projections. The city is looking for any grant funding or stimulus money for the project but that is an unknown at this time. It was also noted at a recent update to the council that one of the formal objections to the annexation of Metropolitan currently before LAFCo was filed by the property owner of the land we are hoping to use to irrigate the treated wastewater on, Mr. Mazetti. The city states that the discussions with the property owner have been "positive" but the filing of an opposition doesn't appear to be very positive. 4.8.09 There was a closed door session of the council held last night prior to the public meeting. The topic listed on the agenda was 2009/0407.01 To consider the appointment, employment, evaluation of performance, discipline, of a public employee (Government Code Section 54957). In addition to the councilmembers and the city attorney David Martinek, there were a number of "suits" present that looked like they could have been attorneys or accountants. There was no reportable action taken at this meeting or at least none that was disclosed as the law requires. After the conclusion of the meeting, I had a chance to ask City Manager Nancy Flemming about the fact that the minutes posted online don't mention any reported actions taken by the council in closed door sessions as required regarding the Public Works Director who has been absent for a number of months. Flemming stated that there have not been any reportable actions to date. The law requires public disclosure of personnel actions taken in a closed door session "to appoint, employ, dismiss, accept the resignation of, or otherwise affect the employment status of a public employee in closed session...shall be reported at the public meeting during which the closed session is held" (Gov. Code 54957.1(a)(5)). *it should be noted that the failure to publicly disclose actions taken in closed door sessions was a part of what got the city into trouble with the illegal appointment of Jay Parrish as city manager. Last nights City Council meeting was well attended with some there specifically for the special presentations of citizens awards from the Police Chief and Mayor. The awards were given to two men who came to the assistance of Officer Bettencourt when she was assaulted by a mentally ill person; Brett Barsanti and Seth Sturdevant. Four young boys also received awards for actions taken that led to the arrest of an unregistered sex offender who accosted them at the river bar in 2006; Daylyn Mela, Chase Alameda, Bruce Gendreau and Brandon Gendreau. There was also a proclaimation given to local veteran Kyle Chittenden who served honorably in Iraq and is now back home. The scheduled update to the infrastructure projects by Winzler & Kelly didn't occur as they were unable to make it to the meeting apparently. The public hearings regarding the proposed ethics policy and also the appointment of a building official did not elicit a single public comment. Council member Mike Dunker made a reference to an old ethics policy for Rio Dell but that "nobody could find it." We really appreciate the information that we are given in confidence. While we can't post information that isn't corroborated in some way, the information often gives us a direction to pursue. We continue to hear the same information by different people; it is pretty safe to say that a lot of people know at least some of what is going on around here. If a person has information they want to share, please contact us or an appropriate agency such as the District Attorney or the FBI Dept. of Public Corruption. Even small town cronies can be brought to justice, although it can take a long time. Don't forget the inspriational story of the investigation and prosecution of a local building inspector in Brookhaven New York (read more here). On another semi-related topic, the Ferndale Enterprise has been putting their articles about Humboldt Creamery online for the public to read. Former Rio Dell Mayor Rich Ghirladucci is suspected of manipulating the books during his tenure as CEO; although they are still piecing together the puzzle. 4.7.09 A big Thank You to the reader who recently sent us some tips regarding an investigation that appears to be going on concerning the Public Works Department and the City Manager's office (possibly others as well). We receive many tips and information but remain careful about posting information that is not supported by some evidence. The minutes posted by the City from meetings held in January corroborate the info provided to us. Take a look at the cities website and the posted City Council agendas; the documentation includes the minutes from prior meetings that are being approved under the Consent Calendar. Take a look at the posting for 2-17-09 Agenda, the minutes attached (keep scrolling down) from a couple of special meetings are fascinating. The auditors that the city has used seem to have identified areas that need further investigation; these areas coincide with information floated around City Hall and Rio Dell for awhile now. On 1-25-09, I wrote about the recent suspension of Jim Hale from the Public Works Dept. that stemmed from a confrontation at the local Shell station (see below); that would appear to be the "tip of the iceberg." In the minutes from the 1.20.09 Special Meeting, "Mayor Woodall stated that during a conference call with Justin Williams from Mann, Urrutia & Nelson, CPA's (the City auditor) it was suggested that the City Council consider engaging their services to conduct a 'special audit' for the purpose of investigating certain findings from the annual audit." There was also discussion of internal complaints regarding misconduct that needed to be investigated; this resulted in the city adopting the recent whistleblower policy. "Councilmember Dunker then asked if the focus of the 'special audit' was to change the behavior of the public works department as a whole or target against a particular employee." The minutes of the 1.29.09 Special Meeting include a comment from councilmember Jack Thompson that sharply criticized the City Manager and the "refusal of the City Manager to exercise her powers and duty (responsibility) granted her" and "the City Council has known of some of the stated charges for over two years yet did not take appropriate action under the responsibility to the citizens of Rio Dell by ordering the City Manager to investigate the rumors and report back to the council." These are some very serious allegations against Nancy Flemming and the City Council members. It should be noted that, if true, the alleged misconduct didn't begin with Flemming's tenure but would have been going on for a long time now; under the "leadership" of former city manage/mayor Jay Parrish, acting city manager Graham Hill, former mayor Bud Leonard and prior city manager Eli Naffah (this also includes the timeframe that Jack Thompson was on the City Council previously). I noticed that there was never a public report of any personnel action taken against Hale in any of the minutes, as required by government code 54957.1(a)(5). Personnel matters are to be discussed in closed session to allow for the privacy of employees but any action taken is required to be reported immediately. The City of Rio Dell is planning on implementing an Ethics Policy that is long overdue. The terms "ethics" and "Rio Dell" are rarely used together and the city has a long standing reputation of being anything but ethical. The establishment of an ethics policy is an important first step in trying to get past the long history of cronyism and nepotism that has controlled the city up until now. However, the policy is only words on a piece of paper unless it is enforced and valued by both City Hall and the citizens that are ultimately responsible for holding the elected officials accountable. If the city continues to ignore the complaints of citizens and employees along with the evidence handed to them on a silver platter then the same misconduct alleged will continue and more. 3.22.09 The conflict between council members that has been evident in the budget study sessions and other recent meetings is a demonstration of the different beliefs towards the future of Rio Dell and its budget priorities. There is a difference of opinion regarding the value of creating political and personal connections with cities and legislators outside of the immediate area. Council member Thompson doesn't appear to see any value in the League of Cities where small communities come together as a group to have a louder voice in politics. The issues of the small towns are often overlooked as the larger population centers receive the majority of the funding. The council has been skeptical of the League and have questioned council member Dunker in the past about the meetings. However, now that Dunker has stuck it out for six years he has risen to the level of President of the Redwood Empire Division and is finally in a position to bring greater recognition to Rio Dell and form the political connections that may help our small town. Thompson has talked about not going to these meetings where legislators can be addressed face to face and instead just make a few phone calls. The isolationist approach neglects to recognize the importance of personal contact where politics is concerned. Is that legislator going to be more sympathetic to the council member standing in front of them pleading their case or the council member holding on line #1? That being said, the council needs to come to some sort of compromise that will allow them to prioritize the meetings with consideration of the budget. There are limited dollars to cover expenses so priorities must be set and we hope that the value of successful networking is not overlooked. There are a lot of funding options opening up to small communities in the Recovery & Reinvestment Act that cities across the state will be fighting for. We need every advantage that we can get in order to secure opportunities for our community and putting a personal connection between the legislators and the town gives us that possible edge. It might not be completely fair, but that is how the politics game is played. The council members need to work together in a more constructive manner with mutual respect for each other. Dunker has already expressed a willingness to work with the other council members and prioritize which meetings are the most important for him to be present at. The council needs to recognize the value of the position that Dunker is in now with the League of Cities and then work to maximize the possible benefits to the community rather than turn their backs on the rest of the state. 3.19.09 Steven L. Wolff: Busy busy busy! I just wanted to stick up for our local council member Mike Dunker. Some of the city council here in Rio Dell, California seems to take his representation of us as the President of the Redwood Empire Division of the League of California Cities for granted. For shame! Isolationism is bad! Get rid of the isolationists and maybe we won’t have a population where 65% of us are low-income. Rio Dell needs representation now more than ever if we want to have any hope of bringing grant money into the area. Mike Dunker is the only one who stood up for the law in the recent game of nepotism involving Jay Parrish. We want him standing up for us as a city, and for the law of California and the United States of America! 1.25.09 The agenda for the 1.6.09 Council meeting included "2009/0106.17 Employment Status-Public Works Director" under the closed session items. Personnel matters such as employment status are not discussed in open session so there was no information as to what this was concerning. We have since received information about an altercation at the Rio Dell Shell Station between the Public Works Director, Jim Hale and a long-time Rio Dell resident which resulted in a 30 day suspension for Hale. Reportedly, Hale threw the first punch at the 62 year old resident and his wife joined in the melee'. The fight was allegedly recorded on the security video at the gas station which is now in the custody of the Rio Dell Police Department. The resident was told by the police that the video does not show who threw the first punch but they have so far been unable to view the tape themselves. The antagonizm has been building between Hale and the resident after the conclusion of the recent infratstructure work to the water lines and installation of new water meters throughout the city. The resident worked for the contractor installing these lines and meters. Reports started coming out that one of the two water lines run to the Hale residence was left unmetered (we have heard this claim from multiple people that worked on the project). There was allegedly a metered line run to the house and a second line running to an auxillary building without the meter. This was described by Hale to the crew members as a "test line" to check the water quality. The plans for the major infrastructure work should show all of the lines that were installed along with the new meters and the existence of an unmetered testing line at the Hale property should be disclosed in these plans. The city could put to rest any allegations about this water line by showing the plans which would include information about the need for a "testing line" on private property. The 1.6.09 Council meeting included a public hearing regarding the proposed Business License Ordinance (Ordinance no. 259-2009). The ordinance was not readily available for the public to review prior to the meeting. It is impossible to hold a public hearing of any value if the public doesn't have access to the proposed ordinance. I asked the city if the proposed ordinance was currently available at the city website so that people could read it. City Manager Nancy Flemming stated that it should have been posted already and asked City Clerk Karen Dunham to confirm if she had posted it. Dunham stated that she had been unable to post the ordinance due to her computer being updated. The updates must be very extensive as the ordinance is still not posted to the website as of the 25th. While looking for the ordinance at the city website, I noticed that there was very little current information posted. The page for City Council Agendas & Minutes hasn't been updated since the 12.2.08 agenda was posted on 12.17.08 (the majority of agendas appear to have been posted well after the meeting so they are of very little use). December 9th was a busy day for updates as the agendas for meetings held in Oct., Sept., Aug., and July were posted. The Planning Commission hasn't had an agenda posted since Feb. of 2007. The website appears to have no mention of the recent General Plan updates or the proposed zoning map changes. The most recent posting that I can find anywhere on the site is a job opening for Utility Worker I (posted 1/23/09). It should be noted that posting documents and updates to an existing website is very easy and typically is done by the support staff. 1.2.09 Happy New Year to All from The Wolff Family! It is hard to believe that another year has passed by so quickly. Hope everyone had as nice a holiday as we did. There are a number of changes coming in the new year that affect everyone in Rio Dell and Scotia. The talks to annex Scotia to Rio Dell have begun again now that the bankruptcy is concluded. Now is the time to express your opinon to City Hall. The biggest question will be who gets to pay for the infrastructure improvements that are desperately needed. We have a change in the structure at City Hall as well. Julie Woodall takes over as Mayor from Bud Leonard who was voted out in the recent elections. His seat is being taken by Jack Thompson, who has been the head of the Planning Commission. Melissa Marks will serve as Mayor Pro Tem. Is the all women leadership at City Hall finally going to end the good ol' boys network that has prevailed here for so long? The recreation center in Scotia is having a very difficult time right now and the community may lose a valuable asset if a solution can not be found. The recent change in ownership of the former Palco rec center to the school has triggered new legislation that means the gym would have to comply with modern regulations at a significant cost. There is also new legislation about the pool drain system that went into effect at the same time. The effect has been to close the facility to both the school and Body Works customers. This is the start of the basketball season and the swim team was about to begin practice. There was a recent meeting held at the school by Principal Janelle Lamp and attended by 2nd District Supervisor Clif Clendenen, Rio Dell City Manager Nancy Flemming, Rio Dell City Council Members Mike Dunker and Marc Barsanti and a number of community members and school parents. There was discussion of a number of options for both the short term and the long term viability of the center. Flemming and Clendenen are both going to explore public options for the center including some type of partnership. The long term goal of the group is the formation of a community center that would be open and available to all of the community. This would be a huge benefit to everyone here and we all need to find ways to help make this happen. We will post future updates on the situation and meeting times as they become available. Contact Janelle Lamp at the school for additional information or to offer your assistance. The city is continuing to work towards a new sewage treatment center at the Eel River Sawmill site in the annexed area of Metropolitan. The time for your comment is now. There will be significant costs for the residents in addition to the anticipated benefits. This is another issue that the local community, as well as the surrounding communities, need to be paying attention. Has anyone else had trouble with their new water meter? We recently had a public works employee come out to check the meter that was recently replaced by digital. We asked if there was a problem and were told that some of the new meters might be broken from the wet weather. At the same time our community is going through many changes, the country is having its own significant problems. Things are likely to get worse before they get better. We have a lot of damage to repair and it is asking a lot from any new administration. I think that the Justice Department needs to be looking into some type of action against members of the current administration for their acts against the Country. It is possible that other countries will try to bring a suit in the World Court for crimes against humanity. We need to re-establish the rule of law in America which applies to everyone, even Presidents. Our Consitution has taken a lot of damage over the last 8 years and I am relieved that a Constitutional law professor will be in charge. Steve and I are currently studying the law as we finish our college degrees and it is appalling to us that we have gotten so far away from what made us a great Country to begin with. The best story on the Bush administration can be read at Vanity Fair. It is in chronological order and is entirely made up of direct quotes from those that worked in the White House at the time. This is a must-read for every person. I think we are only at the tip of the iceberg as far as finding out what has been done behind the scenes and the disatrous consequences. May we all have a great 2009, both personally and as a country. |