Getting a handle on effluent

By LOIS HENRY, Californian columnist
Jan. 6, 2010

When it comes right down to it, it’s all about effluent.

Seriously, dealing with sewage is just about the most fundamental building block there is to any civilized society.

In one of those illogical twists, however, the less effluent a city has, the more expensive it is to handle. The fewer people paying connection fees, the harder it is to raise capital to build large enough treatment plants to keep up with growth.

Drop in a few state and federal mandates that limit how close to capacity a city’s sewage plant can get, and you’re constantly up the old — ahem — effluent creek without a paddle.

Consequences can be severe, as Arvin discovered in the 1990s when it came under state orders to fix its sewage problem or else. Arvin’s solution was to outsource. It’s been in a successful, long-term contract with a French company, Veolia Water, since 1999.

“It may be a very unsexy topic, but dealing with that flow is one of the most important things we do,” Arvin City Manager Alan Christensen agreed. “When people flush, they have faith that we’re taking care of it.”

For more years than I care to remember, I’ve been writing about what a terrible monkey this has been on the backs of just about every small outlying city in Kern County.

Which is why I’m applauding Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s new legislation designed to help small towns have greater access to federal dollars to expand wastewater treatment plants.

The federal money is given to each state, which then loans it at low interest to municipalities through what’s known as the state revolving fund, or SRF for short.

Two big problems with the SRF have been that small cities often lack start-up money for design and environmental plans needed before they can even apply for a loan and larger cities snap up the bulk of the SRF money leaving only crumbs for their smaller brethren.
McCarthy’s bill would apply some very simple fixes.

It creates a “pre-loan” option for cities with populations of 50,000 or less to get money for the design/environmental phase.

Currently, through the wizardry of government finance, if a small city can scrape up the cash to do the design/environmental studies on its own and is eventually approved by the SRF, it is “reimbursed” for that start-up money, which it then has to pay back as part of the overall loan package.

That kind of helps with cash flow, I was told by Delano’s wastewater treatment plant project manager John Wankum. But getting all the money up front would remove the main stumbling block for most small communities to expand their plants on a consistent basis.

Delano is in the midst of expanding its plant with about $31 million of SRF money that it applied for in 2006.

“On the whole, it’s difficult,” Wankum said of applying through SRF.

Bakersfield opted to bond for the $234 million it needed to expand one of its two treatment plants rather than go through SRF, Public Works Director Raul Rojas told me.

When they used the SRF money before, he said, the state actually took some things out of the city’s plans that would have made the plant run more efficiently. The city had to go back in and reinstall items at a higher cost.

“It made things worse for us and cost us more money.”

An obviously much-needed feature of McCarthy’s bill would address that as well by requiring the Environmental Protection Agency, which administers the money, to give Congress recommendations on how to streamline the program.

His bill also sets aside 30 percent of SRF money for cities with populations of 50,000 and less and allows states to give special assistance to disadvantaged cities, through loan forgiveness or no-interest loans.

This is smart government. (No, McCarthy’s mom did NOT pay me to say that!)

This bill won’t cost us any more money. It won’t create any new levels of bureaucracy. And it addresses a real problem in a straightforward manner.

Hopefully it won’t be flushed away by partisan politics.

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com

No more "get out of jail cheap" for domestic violence

By LOIS HENRY, Californian columnist

Dec. 30, 2009

Back in September I ranted about absurdly low bail amounts in Kern County for certain crimes — crimes against women (who are overwhelmingly the victims of domestic violence).

I was particularly outraged that bail for violating a restraining order was only $10,000.
In the case of Robert Fuller, he wasn’t even charged that much when he was arrested and bailed out twice last summer for violating a restraining order by his estranged wife, Annette Sowders.

After he got out the last time, Sowders and her mother, Sharon Cannon, were shot to death, allegedly by Fuller, who’s now facing murder charges.

As a heartbreaking aside, Fuller and Sowders had two daughters, ages 8 and 5. They were in the house when their mother and grandmother were killed. The 8-year-old was the one who called 911. Great, just great.

Well, the local Domestic Violence Advisory Council didn’t like those bail numbers either.

They made a case to our local judges, who set bail amounts annually, and the judges listened.

Bail for violating a restraining order will go up to $25,000 starting Jan. 1, 2010.
That’s actually $5,000 more than was recommended by DVAC.

In making its case to the court for the bail increases, DVAC pointed out that Kern has had a higher domestic violence rate than the entire state of California since 2007, as laid out in a report by the Women and Girls’ Fund of the Kern Community Foundation.

There were nearly 50 incidents of domestic violence in Kern per 10,000 residents in 2008, according to the report.

And the Kern County Sheriff’s Office dealt with more than 4,000 domestic violence calls that year, up 17 percent from 2004.

Those stats, DVAC argued, make it imperative for our courts to deal more seriously with offenders.

Our judges instituted all the bail increase recommended by DVAC mexcept for corporal injury to a spouse, which will remain at $25,000.

Otherwise, the increases are:

Corporal injury to spouse with a prior, $75,000, up from $50,000.

Stalking, $100,000, up from $50,000.

Violating a restraining order, $25,000, up from $10,000.

Violating a restraining order with a prior, $50,000, up from $10,000.

I give the court an A-plus for that effort!

But DVAC isn’t stopping there.

As I noted in Fuller’s case, and a number of other restraining order violations I stumbled across, the bail schedule isn’t always followed.

Fuller was only charged $5,000 bail in one arrest and $7,000 on his second, when the minimum for each should have been $10,000.

Turns out a software glitch and data entry error were allowing countless people out of jail on much lower than the mandated amount.

The only reason that got fixed was Nada Yorke, former DVAC president, was helping me go over restraining order violation arrests. She spotted the error and got on the phone to figure out what the problem was.

To make sure that doesn’t happen again, she told me, DVAC will be doing a status check on the bail increases in March.

Recognizing there are other gaps in the system when it comes to restraining orders — serving them and enforcing them — DVAC created a subcommittee of law enforcement and court personnel that is studying potential fixes to be implemented in February.

“By December of 2010 we should have a very effective and efficient system in place to make sure restraining orders are being served as quickly as possible,” Yorke wrote to me in an email. “Some things will be fixed quickly and others may just need a change in agency protocols, additional staff training, and/or better communication between the agencies.”

Here’s hoping for a much safer 2010 for all victims of abuse.

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com

Water guy retires with a song in his heart

By LOIS HENRY, Californian columnist
Dec. 27, 2009

It’s hard to think of a better way to cap 30 years of tracking water than a “snowflake award” and a song about, well, water, of course.

And that’s exactly how Steve Lafond, a hydrographic supervisor for the city of Bakersfield, went out at the most recent California Cooperative Snow Survey’s annual meeting in November. He retires this week.

What? You’ve never heard of the Cooperative Snow Survey!? Nor the prestigious snowflake award!?

Neither had I, but I got an earful when I met Lafond and he played me a few of his water songs written, produced and performed for the exclusive Cooperative Snow Survey audience over the past 19 years.

The Cooperative has been in existence since 1929. It’s a group of about 50 agencies that track snow data and river runoff all over the state. That information is then used to make forecasts on water availability.

The Sierra Nevada provides about 35 percent of California’s usable water so it’s important to know what’s going on up there.

Since Lafond has long been the chief keeper of records for the Kern River, his role at the annual conference was to give a verbal report on how the Kern did over the past year.

That was a bit, um, dry (hee hee) for his taste. So in 1990 instead of reciting his report about cubic feet per second and peak Isabella Lake levels, he sang a little song.

In Bakersfield, it only rains at night
Those cotton fields, without a weed, are quite a sight
You’ll hear stories of mountains all around
You might see them as you’re driving through town
Four years of drought, and we’ve found out, about desert skies
A fluffy cloud can bring tears to our eyes

“They went nuts,” Lafond said in his mellow sandpapery voice about the audience’s reaction.

He was lucky, he said. He had a job he loved and bosses who let him have a little fun. At first, he was just trying to keep eyes open during the conference.

But his quirky performances quickly became a hit and a highly anticipated tradition.

How could they not with such memorable lyrics as:

Put a snowball/In my pocket/For when a dry year/ Comes knockin’ (2007)

And...

Give me your sweet Kern River water/Or I’ll cut you in two/Just give me your sweet Kern River water/Your first born will do. (2003)

Through the years his songs touched on all the hot issues — endangered species, global warming, development, water banking, Isabella Dam integrity, keeping Kern River water in the county (Kern River/So clear and cold/Down from the mountain/Then you’re sold), and lots of songs about drought (Got an emblem/On my shirt/That says/“Drought don’t hurt”).

The music is all original, too, so don’t try humming these in your head to, say, the “Greenacres” theme song. It won’t work.

“I make a little fun from time to time,” Lafond told me of his satire. “It’s OK to make fun as long as you’re not mean.”

The South High graduate started in water in 1975 as a canal tender for Kern County Canal Company, which used to be part of Tenneco. Former City Water Resources Manager Gene Bogart brought him on at the city in the hydrograph section after the city bought the Kern River rights from Tenneco in 1977.

Lafond issued his first water master report in April that year and just finished his final one this November, making a total of 392 such reports, which is just the tip of the iceberg of his water record keeping tasks.

The 56-year-old Lafond is definitely a records guy. He remembers the names (correct spellings, too) of all his bosses over the years and the dates of special events, like the first time water went over the Isabella Dam spillway (1969), the best water year ever (1983), when computers were introduced to his department (November 1985) and on and on.

All these many years it’s been Lafond’s record keeping that’s determined outflows from Isabella Lake that feed farms in the valley.

His records keep the history of rights to nearly every drop of water flowing through the canyon, which are of keen interest right now as the city strives to convince the state that forfeited water rights by Kern Delta Water District mean there’s water available on the river.

The legal interest in his work has actually been a drain on Lafond.

“I’ve had a lawyer looking over my shoulder practically since I started,” he said.

He won’t miss the lawyers.

And now that he has his snowflake award (given to Cooperative Snow Survey members who’ve shown years of dedicated service), which he admits he coveted for many years, he’s satisfied it was a career well spent.

One thing’s for sure, Lafond will be a hard act to follow.

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com

More lumps of coal for PG&E

By LOIS HENRY, Californian columnist
Dec. 23, 2009

Just when I think I can’t possibly be more outraged by the insufferable antics of PG&E — Blam! They do it again.

Now, they’ve started charging “deposits” to people who are late paying their bills.

These aren’t deposits for reconnection. PG&E “volunteered” (after consumer groups last week demanded the California Public Utilities Commission require it) to stop charging reconnection deposits until March 2011 as a nod to this little economic meltdown we’re in.

On a related note, they’ve promised not to shut anyone off between now and Jan. 4 (the PUC had asked for a moratorium until Jan. 21). Their yuletide spirit knows no bounds.

The deposits I’m talking about are for people who are only late, not cut off. PG&E is getting its money, just not fast enough.

So, to recap: With one hand, they’re forgiving deposits for people who’ve been shut off, as they use the other hand to shove more people to the brink of shut-off through absurdly high (twice the average monthly bill) late payment deposits.

Wha...?

Aside from the pure crappiness of it, that just doesn’t make good business sense to me.

Why would anyone pay the stupid late payment deposit if they can just let their power lapse and restart it without incurring any extra fees?

And considering these customers ARE paying, even late, I’d think PG&E would do whatever it could to ensure they keep paying.

But then, I’m no biz whiz — the likes of which soaked Californians for overpriced power for decades then had us bail them out of bankruptcy when they couldn’t pay their own bills. Ugh. Just UGH!

PG&E defended the late payment deposits in a variety of ways, saying late payers put an extra burden on the system that is borne by timely paying customers.

And: “We’re not like a credit card company. We can’t charge late fees,” PG&E spokesperson Nicole Liebelt told me.

Uhhhh....deposit/late fee, potato/potahto.

She said the deposit is only incurred after a customer has three 48-hour shut-off notices in a 12-month period. The deposit can be spread out over time and you can get it back “with full interest” after 12 consecutive months of on-time payments.

Before getting to the 48-hour notice, customers are noticed at 15 days and then again before the final notice. With all that lead time, she said, customers really need to contact the utility to work something out.

I have to agree with that advice, even though PG&E’s customer service track record is pretty abysmal.

I asked how long PG&E has been charging this late payment deposit and got a muddled answer about it not being a “state mandate,” but that the utility was “operating within state regulations to request the deposit.” Translation: they’re doing it because they can.

Funny word, “request.”

It implies a person can refuse, when, in fact, the two Bakersfield families that brought this to my attention were told to pay the late deposit or be shut off. And yes, that threat included Christmas Day.

Mindy Spatt, spokesperson for consumer advocacy group TURN, said they’ve been inundated recently with complaints about these late payment deposits.

At last week’s hearing, she said numerous 20- and 30-year customers testified to never having been late on payments until recent job losses made it impossible to keep up.

“Their (PG&E’s) response was to offer this temporary disconnection moratorium, which is totally inadequate,” Spatt said. “The right thing to do when people are late is to call and offer energy assistance or bill-paying options. There is no justification for these huge deposit charges.”

The Division of Ratepayer Advocates, within the PUC, came out with a report last month showing, among other things, that PG&E has a hair trigger these days when shutting people off.

Disconnection rates for PG&E customers, particularly low-income ratepayers, have increased more than other California utilities, most likely because of their ability to shut people off remotely through SmartMeters.

The report also showed that people paid and reconnected within hours or days of disconnection causing DRA to question “whether some disconnections are preventable.”

Yes, they are.

But only with a company that actually values its customers and strives to work with them instead of finding new ways to pound out another nickel just because they can.

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com

What to do
If you get a notice from PG&E that you’re in danger of incurring a late payment deposit, do NOT ignore it. Follow this advice from consumer advocate group TURN.

1. Contact PG&E immediately to try to negotiate.2. Point out all the ways you’ve been a good customer — history of payments on time, length of time a PG&E customer, etc.

3. Check to see if you are eligible for any special rates for low-income families, large families and others. http://www.turn.org/article...

4. Request energy efficiency assistance. The best way for PG&E to insure that you pay your bill is to help you to lower it. Ask them to do so.

5. Argue for either no deposit or a much smaller one.

6. Ask for payment arrangements for any outstanding balances and make sure they are reasonable for you. It’s better to spread payments over time than to agree to payments you can’t really afford.

7. Read more on negotiating: http://turn.org/article.php...

8. Contact TURN at (415) 929-8876 or turn@turn.org

Get more information from their website at www.turn.org

Tell the PUC how you feel by calling (415) 703-2782 or (800) 848-5580 or go online and file a complaint at https://ia.cpuc.ca.gov/cimsapp/

Shocking groundwater drop raises eyebrows and concerns

By LOIS HENRY, Californian columnist
Dec. 20, 2009

A battle is brewing among some of Kern County’s heaviest hitters, but you probably haven’t heard about it because it’s underground.

I mean, really, it’s under the ground — as in groundwater.

Don’t hit the snooze button just yet, because if it weren’t for the giant sponge full of water we’re all sitting on, good old Bakersburg wouldn’t exist as we know it.

Shortly after the present drought settled in, around 2007, the City of Bakersfield and two ag water districts noticed a sharp drop in groundwater levels west of town.

The drop coincided with increased groundwater withdrawal by the massive Kern Water Bank, which occupies 32 square miles mostly west of Highway 43 and north of the Kern River all the way to the California Aqueduct.

Members of KWB include the Kern County Water Agency’s Improvement District 4 (ID4), which supplies drinking water to a large swath of town, and a number of other districts, most of which are associated with Paramount Farming (owned by multigazillionaire Stewart Resnick).

In the world of water banking, KWB is the biggest gorilla in the house.

Then there’s the City of Bakersfield, which has a 2,800-acre water bank tucked up along the southeastern edge of KWB property, just west of Stockdale Highway. Rounding out the cast are Rosedale-Rio Bravo and Buena Vista water storage districts, which are not water bankers, but rely on groundwater near KWB.

So, back to that giant sucking sound, which Rosedale-Rio Bravo, Buena Vista and the city fear is the sound of their groundwater being pumped away by KWB.

There’s no doubt groundwater levels are dropping all over the valley as the drought continues, and all the players listed above agree it’s happening here too.

But the city is wondering why the sudden, steep drop is already greater than the one we experienced in the mid-1990s after five years of drought.

“These are huge drops,” city Water Resources Manager Florn Core told me. “We’ve never seen this before and we don’t know why it’s happening.”

Things still aren’t so bad that he’d recommend rationing, however, as many other California cities have done — even though he has said the city will begin discussions to look at developing tiered water rates to “encourage” people to conserve. (But that’s another rant.)

Among Core's concerns is whether these groundwater drops could permanently
damage the aquifer. If too much water is sucked out, the land could
compress and that storage space would be lost forever.

Jim Beck, Kern Water Agency general manager, and Jonathan Parker, KWB general manager, assured me there’s no chance of that.

Measurements, they both said, show there has been no subsidence because of groundwater recovery operations.

They, like anyone in the water business, are concerned about dropping groundwater levels, but there is no cause for alarm, they said. It’s just the drought.

“The only way to stop it is to stop pumping,” Parker said. “If we do that, with the drought and lack of state water, participants don’t get water, including ID4, which is the water wholesaler to the City of Bakersfield.”

Core said ID4 supplies only a fraction of Bakersfield's water needs.

Things got downright down and dirty over this issue in February 2008 when Rosedale-Rio Bravo and Buena Vista commissioned a report that said, among other things, KWB was taking more water than it needed, it was degrading water quality in the aquifer and — here come the fightin’ words — that it hadn’t put as much water into the bank as it had claimed.

Not true, Parker said. “This is water that otherwise wouldn’t be here and was brought here specifically for this purpose.”

I asked how much water KWB needs and Parker said that depends on participants’ requests. He did say that, other than one district in Kings County, all KWB-recovered groundwater stays in Kern County.

The Rosedale/Buena Vista report called for KWB to change its operations or prove that it wasn’t causing these problems. That 65-plus page report begat a 44-page response report (plus appendices) from KWB and a flurry of memos and letters back and forth.

Tempers flared, but not to lawsuit level (at least not yet). Concerns are still high, however, said Core and Eric Averett, General Manager of Rosedale-Rio Bravo.

Side note: Averett was the longtime manager of ID4 for Kern Water Agency until taking the reins of Rosedale-Rio Bravo about two years ago.

“The water in the project area (KWB) is below our levels, so the gradient changes and our groundwater moves toward the project,” he said. “We’re still trying to seek some course of action that would allow the project to operate and us to feel comfortable that they’re operating within acceptable parameters.”

Does that mean KWB is operating in an unacceptable manner now, I wondered?

“Let’s just say we’re very concerned with continued operation at its current level.”

I asked Core what the next step was and he said the city will be meeting with Kern Water Agency after the first of the year.

Some uncomfortable questions could come up. Such as: Can any water bank, no matter how large, truly sustain “hardened” water needs such as orchards and vineyards (or, ahem, cities like Tejon Mountain Village?) considering drought and state water uncertainties?

And, how much sway will Mr. Richy Pants Resnick have on these discussions when his lands don't even overlay the groundwater basin?

Hmmm. We should all keep an ear to the ground on this one.

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com

Unique outreach builds family

By LOIS HENRY, Californian columnist
Dec. 16, 2009

At first blush, I would have said I had met Denise Brock countless times before.

A gravel-voiced, former drunk and drug addict who found God.

Uh-huh. And that lasts about as long as it takes for them to get whatever it is they want and they’re right back to their old ways.

Hey, that’s not just me being my usual skeptical self. Denise will tell you the same thing.

“Drug addicts and drunks, we’re chameleons,” she told me sitting in the tiny, immaculate apartment she shares with her 14-year-old daughter, Taylor. “If you have something we need, we’ll fit in.”

When she starts listing all the recovery and half-way houses she’s flunked out of, it goes on a while.

Of course, you know I’m going to tell you that Denise has changed, which is true, she has.

But why?

Yes, she opened her heart to God. Yes, she gave up her fear, her distrust and her dislike of herself.

There’s more to the story.

“I wouldn’t be this person if it weren’t for Flood.”

That’s Flood Bakersfield, a scrappy little ministry with big ideas, big personality and a really big heart.

Full disclosure here, I know the founder of Flood, Kim Albers, very well. I used to meet her at 4:30 a.m. several times a week with a group of other ladies to run. Here’s what I learned about her — Kim is open, honest and tenacious as H-E-double toothpicks.

About three years ago, her church required its parishioners to get out into the community and change lives. It wasn’t Kim’s first choice.

“I absolutely believed my good works were done at the end of a pen by writing a check,” Kim told me. “I was comfortable doing that.”

But as a group leader, she couldn’t sidestep this duty. She was already helping to sponsor concerts at Jesus Shack so she joined an ongoing Saturday night outreach there called “Celebration” to help feed and minister to street people.

“I had never spoken to a homeless person before that, I’m embarrassed to say.”

It was really uncomfortable, but three months into it, she found herself getting to know people, understanding their troubles and even helping a few here and there.

It wasn’t long before the Saturday nights became weekday excursions for her, finding people and building relationships. Celebration outgrew Jesus Shack and Kim eventually created Flood Bakersfield which partners with Garden Pathways and is a member of United Way.

They still hold Saturday night outreaches at 23rd and P streets where people can get a hot meal, a bag of groceries and hear the message about Jesus — or not.

“There are plenty of places in town where you can get a meal and be told you’re supposed to love Jesus,” Kim said. “We have the Biblical teaching available, but that message isn’t our first line of encounter.”

She challenges all her volunteers, who come from a variety of mostly affluent churches, to really learn about the people coming to the outreach. The No. 1 job for all volunteers is to learn the names of five attendees.

That is the first and most important stepping stone to creating real relationships.

That the simple act of calling people by their names created such a feeling of belonging that people came back, relationships grew and lives were changed.

When Kim called Denise by name, when she remembered Taylor’s name, that made a difference, Denise said.

“The people of Flood, they come to meet us,” she told me. “They don’t make us come to them.”

Once she made a commitment to change her life, Denise started volunteering at Flood and making connections that would have been impossible before.

“When you’re an alcoholic and dope fiend, you don’t interact well with other people,” she said.

That was two years ago. Now, she’s working on a degree in communications at Bakersfield College and is employed in the horticulture department. And Taylor has been back living with her since Christmas Day 2007.

“Before, you never knew what she was going to be like,” Taylor said of her mom’s drinking. “Now, there’s a light inside her and I know it’s going to stay like this.”

Denise had been doing OK, as far as it went, with three children of her own and five stepchildren. After a divorce she was working as a backhoe driver in the oilfields and about to buy a four-bedroom home.

A DUI in 2002 cost her her license. Without that, she lost her job and life quickly went down hill as she tried to sell meth to make money. In 2006, she stole a camper truck and she and Taylor drove around in it for a few days before it broke down in Bakersfield and she was caught.

Over the next year she wobbled between jail, halfway houses and living on the river drinking and doing drugs. In 2007, she said, she realized church was more than sitting in a pew. She opened her heart and reached out a hand and Flood was there.

Because Kim had built a relationship with Denise over time, Kim knew she was ready to have Taylor back and helped with that process.

“You can’t do that for a stranger,” Kim said.

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com

If you would like to give to Flood:

Flood’s ongoing need is for groceries which are distributed every week at the Saturday Night Outreach. The groceries meet a gap in services for those without utilities, refrigeration or a stove to cook.
Boxed crackers
Peanut butter
Canned meats (pop tops are best)
Canned fruit or plastic fruit cups
Chili
Ravioli
Top Ramen
Cup O Noodles
Food donations can be dropped off on a Saturday Night at Garden Community Center 23rd and P St. between 5-7pm or at Flood’s office 1121 34th St. M-Th 9am-2pm.

Monetary donations can be mailed to:
Flood Bakersfield Ministries, Inc.
1201 24th St. B110-229
Bakersfield CA 93301

Flood is a 501©(3) independent non-profit organization striving to establish meaningful relationships with those in crisis in our community.

Flood partners with Garden Pathways to train mentors to build one-on-one relationships with those who regularly attend the Saturday Night Outreach. Call 32-FLOOD or e-mail kim@floodbako.com for more information.

Phone: 661-32-FLOOD
Website: www.floodbako.com

State government out of this world

By LOIS HENRY, Californian columnist
Dec. 13, 2009

There just aren’t enough hours in the day to absorb all the ludicrosity (yeah, I made that word up) that abounds in California state government.

I’m back on the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), which has taken over operation of county courts in the last decade. And which came up with the brilliant (dripping sarcasm) idea of closing those courts one day a month in order to save money this year.

Now, I see they’ve been busy giving out raises to some of their 900 employees while continuing to pursue a $2 billion computer system and they’re pushing ahead with new courthouse construction.

Let us pause for a moment to mull the idea that the AOC was created to bring greater efficiencies to county court operations. It now has 900 employees, while our courts are closed one day a month, cases are backlogged and if we could fill our vacant judgeships, there’s no staff to run a courtroom.

Oh yeah, that smells like California style “efficiency,” doesn’t it?

Pause over.

A few other AOC tidbits that make me go, “Hmmmm.”

Courthouse maintenance contractors were recently discovered by an AOC employee to be unlicensed. These contracts were in the $15 million to $18 million range, so proper licenses should not have slipped by in the details.

Considering AOC has insisted on keeping direct control of its construction projects, the license fiasco leaves me wondering if they’re up to the task.

The question has direct bearing on Kern — the AOC recently announced it would build a new 40,000-square-foot courthouse in Delano for $42 million.

That’s more than $1,000 per square foot.

When I asked about that, AOC spokeswoman Teresa Ruano, told me a courthouse isn’t a run-of-the-mill office building.

“You have to have security features, blast walls, separate hallways for courthouse personnel, holding cells,” she said. “With two prisons so nearby, we’ll need to accommodate a holding cell capacity that’s much larger than in other areas and that’s just part of what a courthouse handles.”

OK, but $1,000 a square foot still sounds stratospheric, especially if the land is donated by other public entities, which is likely.

Kern County Superior Court Judge David Lampe, and other judges, agree something is amiss at AOC.

They’ve banded together to form the Alliance of California Judges and are calling on the Legislature to set things right by putting into law a trial courts bill of rights, which the Judicial Council was supposed to do when the AOC was created.

The bill of rights would draw boundaries around the AOC’s authority.

The Alliance also wants an advisory group to oversee the AOC and for “whistle blower” protections to be extended to AOC employees.

Lampe is also demanding to know what legal authority the AOC had to move $68 million out of the trial court trust fund and use it for its computer project.

But it’s the AOC pay raises, detailed in a Daily Journal article, that really ticked off the judicial world.

In a few cases cited in th article, AOC employees received 10 percent raises.

“At the same time, they asked judges to take a voluntary 5 percent pay cut and give it back to the AOC,” Lampe said.

Most of our local judges instead donated 5 percent of their pay to a fund used for Kern’s courts.

“Now you can see why they did that,” Lampe said.

The AOC responded to the Daily Journal article saying that most raises weren’t that high (why, the majority of cost-of-living increases and “merit salary adjustments” were only in the 2 percent to 5 percent range), they only had a small number of promotions and the overall growth of the agency was 3.35 percent in fiscal year 2008-2009.

They didn’t dispute the part of the article that showed overall AOC payroll had increased 6 percent in that same time frame.

Oh, and the article quotes an internal AOC memo from director William Vickery saying that because merit raises were smaller than past years and employees weren’t given an additional cost-of-living increase last fiscal year, they would get three extra paid days off.

Sputter!

Someone call NASA because clearly these people are from another planet.

Cost-of-living increase? Extra paid time off?

How about: Take your furlough and pay cut like the rest of us and be glad you have a job!

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/
home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com

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