Ad Hoc Citizens Committee to Council: Quit Ripping Us Off!!
Lou Ponsi of The OC Register authored this article on how the Fullerton Ad Hoc Water Rate Committee has unanimously decided to tell our esteemed City Council that the illegal 10% tax on our water bills should be stopped. Brave? Well, yes – for Fullerton.
To his credit, Ponsi omits the usual obligatory counter-argument floated by the Fullerton Establishment to defend the indefensible – whatever it may be. This could be because he even can’t find anyone to defend the unsupportable tax on a utility that goes to pay for the very pensions and perks of the City Councilmembers and staff themselves.
But of course Lou does not delve into the blatant stalling tactics of City Manager Joe Felz who has temporized, stalled, and delayed doing the right thing in order to wring yet another year’s $2,500,000 ill-gotten gain out of the Water Fund and the water rate payers.
What about contacting the Attorney General’s office about this illegal water tax? And keeping the media pressure on?
I know this has nothing do do with the post but I wanted to post a link about a documentary coming out later in the year called, “A Sister’s Call,” Rebecca Schaper’s Documentary about finding her Schizophrenic Brother. It’s very powerful.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/12/a-sisters-call_n_1422056.html
Right on! Where’s my brownies?
Ya, where are the brownies? The dozens doughnuts I thought I was going to dig in to were all swallowed up by Goodwrench & co.
My special brownies were aweeesome hehehe…I could sure use some h2ooooohhhhhhh sheit!
Oh no, I’m sure Mr. Felz is a man of very high character.
But, before dragging his foot, he sighed.
Yeah; shifty eyes and all…
I’m wondering if the water rate adhoc committee will take the bait on the do-it-yourself (DIY) audit Felz is orchestrating in two weeks. The staff threw two Red Herrings resulting in a 5-5 tie on the question of a formal audit: 1) the alternative is to privatize the water department resulting in higher water bills; and 2) a specialized audit with the required detail would cost +$100K. Yet the city’s annual “comprehensive audit” only costs $35,000. Either the city’s annual audit is not detailed enough or a comprehensive audit of the water department would be so bad that the facts it would uncover would force the question of the city being able to competently manage it. Who can solve this code?
1. Who conducts the annual “comprehensive audit”? “Best practices” call for an independent auditor (I use “auditor” in the general sense, not in the sense of using an individual), not an in-house finance wonk. HOWEVER, even if an independent auditor is used, prudence says to re-evaluate their performance on a regular basis. If Fullerton has used an independent auditor, and has used that auditor for many years (more than 3 or so), that’s not good
2. Has Fullerton ever been given an award for its “Comprehensive Annual Financial Report” (CAFR)? If yes, when was the last time? If no, that’s very telling
3. If memory serves, Bell’s auditors (independent hires, not city wonks) got a big piece taken out of their glutes because they missed a lot of stuff
4. Frankly, it could be more costly to audit thoroughly enough to sort out this apparent mess than it is to audit “as usual”.
5. Spending $100K to identify problems/answer questions in a manner that adheres to GASB (Government Accounting Standards Board) rules is (personal opinion) far better than the $350K+ that Rincon’s “touching” (I quote McKinley) cost Fullerton
6. To repeat a cliche, an in-house audit is far too much like having “the fox guard the hen house”…
Of course, any audit should be outsourced, that’s what came to my mind immediately!
If Dick Jones can sit up and have the audacity to ask if the 10% water in lieu tax is legal, while the useless Atty, just sits there like his thorax was ripped out, not saying anything, and everybody in the big leather seats except 1 person has glazed over eyes when the water tax is mentioned, and defers to an unpaid adhoc committee for answers to this important issue, then, most likely zombies who look for brains would pass by these dingbats and its doubtful they would be able to understand the big words or know the multiplication table so yes, outside audit from another company is needed, and they can pay them from the general fund.
Geeze, the citizens of Fullerton need their own attorney to fight for them against the games the worms play.
Rubber stamp & ink pad, “Geeze, the citizens of Fullerton need their own attorney to fight for them against the games the worms play.”
Or how about the citizens of Fullerton RECALL the “dingbats”.
BUT, ya’ll better make damn sure that courageous, independent thinkers with a brain that works, or even a 1/2 a brain that works gets elected in their place.
It appears the water department is doing some serious work on Rosecrans between Gilbert and Centraloma.
They are digging up the area where a contacror installed cabling for Adelphia Cable.
This substandard cable installation was brought to the attention of city administrators and management and was left to cool-off and subsequentially swept under the rug.
If my memory serves me, i think there was some kind of investigation with respect to some of this in street cable trenching.
I would suspect that the East bound side of Rosecrans from Gilbert to Euclid will need to be replaced at a cost of about $10 million and NOT FROM WATER DEPT FUNDS.
“Fullerton and Laguna Hills had the worst rates of crashes that involved underage drinkers.
The statistics, compiled by the state’s Office of Traffic Safety, come from 2010 and count only crashes in which somebody was hurt or killed, no fender-benders”
“Fullerton police Sgt. Jeff Stuart said. It also has about 50 bars and restaurants licensed to serve alcohol in its downtown core. The city hopes to get state grant money to target underage drinkers, Stuart said.”
April 11, 2012 Updated: 10:07 p.m.
Text: Next Article »
O.C. among worst for alcohol-fueled crashes
http://www.ocregister.com/news/cities-348774-crashes-among.html
LS Thanks for posting that. I just posted it in another article.
Read the article and then tell me what’s wrong with this picture.
#23 by Lifesaving Service on April 11, 2012
When Union Leaders and their thugs, finished DESTROYING American private industry, they moved to Public Unions. In the USA only about 6% of private industry is Unionized the rest were killed very effectively.
European Governments are under complete control of Unions. Thats why they are called Nanny States.
#24 by Lifesaving Service on April 12, 2012
Wanted to post this while it still applies.
Fullerton CA on City-Data website
#4 on the list of “Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females in occupations: Other office and administrative support workers including supervisors (population 50,000+)”
#7 on the list of “Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females working in industry: Machinery, equipment, and supplies merchant wholesalers (population 50,000+)”
#14 on the list of “Top 101 cities with the largest percentage of people in homes or halfway houses for drug/alcohol abuse (population 50,000+)”
#21 on the list of “Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females working in industry: Repair and maintenance (population 50,000+)”
#21 on the list of “Top 101 cities with the most Other Asian residents”
#25 on the list of “Top 101 cities with largest percentage of males working in industry: Hardware, plumbing and heating equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers (population 50,000+)”
#28 on the list of “Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females in occupations: Engineers (population 50,000+)”
#29 on the list of “Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females working in industry: Motor vehicle, parts and supplies merchant wholesalers (population 50,000+)”
#31 on the list of “Top 101 cities with the largest percentage of people in homes for abused, dependent, and neglected children (population 50,000+)”
#52 on the list of “Top 101 cities with the largest percentage of people in residential treatment centers for emotionally disturbed children”
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Fullerton-California.html#ixzz1rq0Uc7hA
from your stats, it seems fullerton is a feminist town. maybe this is why Meg Whitman , the enterprising capitalist, kicked off her campaign to become california’s governor in fullerton.
I still have a lot of trouble figuring out and Researching this City.
Found this had to share.
One thing you always knew if you lived in Fullerton, NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES MAKE THE POLICE CHASE YOU. EVER! PERIOD! The are famous for provoking atlercations with people as an excuse to beat them. You learned early on when they stopped you, smacked you, pushed you to the ground or grabbed your arm to be as complacent as possible. They wanted to provoke a reaction from you. This has happened to me more times than I care to remember, and I’ve never been arrested!
Let me tell you that this goes back years. I spent much of my youth right there in the downtown Fullerton area, this has always been a problem. Going back 15 yrs you would alway hear stories of the police brutality against citizens. One of my best frieds was nearly beaten into a coma when we were 17. Again, stop resisting as two men held him down while a third beat him with a nightstick. His crime was being homeless in the city of Fullerton.
8 months ago
“A Tazer isnt always enough to stop somebody” -Sellers (after he saw the tape)
News Report on Kelly Thomas Beating, July 27, 2011http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WD_UWMYm_8
Not run?? Thats goes against my good guy instincts you know…
In many small towns in America the police “are.” the troublemakers.
They were just kids.
Things change when Dad and Fellow Citizens Have Cell phone Cameras, The Internet, Blogs and YouTube.
It gets very expensive, and not even just moneywise.
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/04/12/mayor_offers_apology_only_after_video_surfaces.html
O my I guess other city councils are getting their behinds chewed by angry citizens…..
Like I have always said, it is never too late to do the right thing. I never intended to convey willful self-serving procrastination. Failure to lead appears to have spread to the southern section of the corinthian leather seating area. Is there a remedy? Is there a doctah in house?
I recently had a co-worker of mine tell me that a hispanic friend of his got beaten up by some FPD officers at Hillcrest Park. They were simply playing around in the early evening hours about 10 years back, when a patrol car pulled up on them, two cops got out and started woopin’ on this poor guy.
Obviously this goes back to the Chief McKinley days of ‘abuse the citizens’, (especially if their Mexicans).
Making more enemies as usual!
FULLERTON WATERTAXGATE!!! I dont remember seeing this here
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Will tax issues undermine Sharon Quirk-Silva’s campaign for the 65th A.D.?
The very popular Friends for Fullerton’s Future blog ripped Quirk-Silva this week when she issued a bold press release to her pals in the liberal blogosphere stating that she was going to request that her colleagues on the city council suspend the illegal 10% water tax. She even helpfully explained why the new 6.7% number was a load of manure. But then she flip-flopped, when she refused to agendize the suspension of the illegal 10% tax on our water. Fail!
But the illegal Fullerton water tax is not the only tax problem Quirk-Silva is saddled with. She has been a public school teacher in the Fullerton School District for 24 years, according to the Daily Titan. Quirk-Silva is going to be forced to support Jerry Brown’s tax increase ballot measure.
http://ocpoliticsblog.com/will-tax-issues-undermine-sharon-quirk-silvas-campaign-for-the-65th-a-d/
Sounded so FISHY I had to post, They put such an ugly picture of her on their Newspaper website of this article, makes me wonder (CAL STATE UNIVERSITY FULLERTON). Her sitting next to McSatan, the one leader who beats the shit out of Fullertons young and less fortunate reminds me of how sad Public Education is.
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“Quirk-Silva said she turned in her candidacy papers on the last possible day. She waited so long to run for Assembly because she felt she had to focus her efforts on helping the city of Fullerton in the aftermath of the Kelly Thomas -Daily Titan CSUF
incident.”http://www.dailytitan.com/2012/03/fullerton-mayor-hopes-to-take-assembly-seat/
http://www.dailytitan.com/2012/03/fullerton-mayor-hopes-to-take-assembly-seat/
Same link as above
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“I’ve been a long-standing advocate for curtailing the abuse of these agencies … They consume currently, as of last year, 12 percent of all revenue state-wide,” Norby said.
Norby said he thinks the money spent on the agencies should not go to public services, but should support public education.
“I’m perfectly happy and willing to work with members of any party for equity and stability and the excesses in state government, especially when it comes to using public money to subsidize private economic activity,” Norby said.
Quirk-Silva said that while Norby has more campaign funds, she is a hard worker.”
Sharon Quirk-Silva, Mayor, City of Fullerton 4:30 Minutes.
Published on Mar 6, 2012 by TWCLocalEditionWest
Fullerton Mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva talks to Time Warner Cable Local Edition host Leslie Leyton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kYzGdXYqeE
Quirk Silva..Loretta Sanchez 2.0-the lame version..has never had the ability to do the right thing,she just pretends to , and hopes no one notices. We tax payers do, also notice your lies and your fake nasty swipes at the other candidates, that are far more qualified then her-she is an embarrassment-and should be treated so.