HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Comment Godon 5-19-09
Dear Board Members and General Manager.
I will be unable to attend the board meeting tomorrow eve due to work
commitments. Therefore I am posting the following thoughts via email for
your perusal:
I. I am most pleased at the positive direction the PUD has taken
under new management. A most refreshing change. And, I am most
supportive of all this and want to provide my input and observations with the
purpose of being a positive force in the continuation of this direction.
2. I fear that I expressed my feelings regarding the recent
General Manager raise too strongly and not soon enough. It seemed to have
the result of creating defensiveness rather than openness. In retrospect I
can see why that would have happened. While I feel that my perceptions
about it have validity, the timing and manner of their expression defeated
the intention. For that I apologize.
3. A question about water rates. Are rates set to pay for the
water delivery only or do they include a percentage for infrastructure
maintenance, repair and upgrade? In the past, water rates have been
increased (I believe) to cover costs of infrastructure. So, I wonder if
having rates set to include a carve out portion that is set aside for the
infrastructure portion would make the most sense.
4. I recently received in the mail, as a separate mailing, a very
elegant pamphlet on water quality from the district. A pretty colored photo
on the front and printed on expensive slick and glossy paper. I imagine it
cost the district a pretty penny to print this and mail it separately to each
rate payer. I imagine that the law requires some sort of report such as this
one. What came to my mind was; why couldn't this report have been sent out
on line, published on the PUD website; in other words, paperless, no cost to
send or print? I believe the TOWN has gone paperless and will no longer be
sending out via mail their reports to the citizens. I am interested in your
thoughts on this possibility for the PUD. (also a great conservation
measure)
Respectfully, Rolf Godon
Michael Holley
From: Michael Holley
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 2:26 PM
To: 'Rolf Godon'
Cc: Joe Aguera; Jeff Bender; Ron Hemig; John Hillstrom; resutton@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Your Letter
Rolf:
Thank you for your letter. Let me take this chance to address your questions.
With respect to your guestion regarding future water rates: The District has hired a rate
design consultant and is currently working to evaluate several potential types of water rate
structures. All of the potential water rates being considered have a fixed charge component
designed to pay for the ongoing cost of infrastructure maintenance. The next Board workshop
on this matter is scheduled for June 3rd at 6:00 PM. Your participation and input at that
meeting would be welcomed and appreciated.
With respect to your questions regarding the Water Quality Report: As you surmised, the
annual water quality report is mandated by the State of California and is required to be sent in
hard copy form to all of our water utility customers, so the option to go "paperless" is not
open to us. Further, as this report contains significant technical content, we look for ways to
make it more inviting and easier to read for our customers. This may translate into "slick and
glossy" but our goal is to entice people to read the report and not just toss it out. As far as
the selection of the actual paper goes, we always try to get the lowest overall cost for the
District. We did use a 15% post-consumer fiber content (recycled) paper on which to print the
report. The cost to print the report was $3,600. The costs for papers with a higher recycled
content were prohibitive.
MDH
From: Rolf Godon [mailto:rgodon@pacbell.net]
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 7:32 PM
To: Joe Aguera; Jeff Bender; Ron Hemig; John Hillstrom; resutton@sbcglobal.net; Michael Holley
Subject:
Hello all---please open the attached letter and I wish youall a productive meeting tomorrow.
Regards, Rolf Godon
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