• City Council Meeting June 30, 2021

Here are my notes from the June 30th city council meeting. 

1.1 Santa Rosa Plateau Nature Education Foundation (SRPNEF) Special Event Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

This item was discussed in more than one public comment and ended up being tabled until the next meeting. 

There was some confusing and troubling wording regarding this year's Brewfest that is slated for Marna O'Brien park in October.

In short, the city is "partnering" with Santa Rosa Plateau for this event. I'm in favor of this event, though I would like the language of the terms to be changed from what they were.

Link to event website

Here is what the city will be putting into the event: 

City participation would include, but not limited to providing the following and related services: 

1. Park Fencing 

2. Restroom and Janitorial Services 

3. Providing Security 

4. Trash collection bins and pick up 

5. Traffic Control 

6. Special event signage and traffic barriers 

7. On- Site EMT/First Aid 8. Parking and Shuttle Service if needed.

l support this event

It would be great to see this evolve into Wildomar's signature event. Most cities have yearly events that distinguishes them from their surrounding cities, and I see this as a great opportunity.

What I didn't like was the wording in the MOU. Particularly this part: 

2.0 ALLOCATION OF SPONSORSHIP FUNDS 

    2.1     The sponsorship funds identified in Section 1.1 of this MOU will be first applied toward costs and expenses incurred by the City in relation to the Event at the Park. City will provide Foundation with an estimate of the costs it will incur for each Event that will be applied toward the sponsorship amount 120 days prior to the Event based on an estimated attendance of 4,000 people. The cost estimate will include any and all costs incurred by the City associated with the Event, including but not limited to: permit fees, public safety staffing and services, temporary barricades or fencing installed at the Park, parking and traffic control costs, shuttle, sanitation costs including restroom stocking, portable toilets, trash receptacles and pickup and janitorial services. 

    2.2 If the cost estimate provided pursuant to Section 2.1 is less than fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) the City will allocate the remaining sponsorship amount toward Event marketing and promotion expenses. Foundation will present to City a marketing plan and budget for approval. If approved by City, the City will create a purchase order with Foundation to enable payments to be made to Foundation for approved marketing expenses. Foundation will submit an invoice to City detailing the Event marketing-related expenses incurred in sufficient detail so that City can verify the expenses were pre-approved. No more than one invoice will be submitted each month. City agrees to pay each undisputed invoice within thirty days. 

As I said, I support this signature event in the making, and I'm ok with the city spending up to $15,000 on it. 

Nice things cost money, and even if you aren't personally down with it, even if it's not something you personally are going to attend, that doesn't mean it's not a good event for the city to sponsor.

What I'm not ok with, and will not support is if the language above remains in the MOU. Staff time and the things mentioned in the list are costly enough, but still understandable. What is not understandable to me is gifting cash to the plateau, if there's any left in the $15,000 budget.

We shall see if it gets hammered out, I hope so. 

3.1 Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) Policy and Resolution Implementing (35 minute mark of the meeting)

The city is going to install 14 cameras throughout the city that will be used for investigative purposes. Seems like a great deal for under $40K per year and the start up costs are small too. Plus, this is year to year and a lease, we won't be buying the equipment that may well be out of date in five years, and it can be discontinued if so desired.

A slide from the presentation that showed the success in a local city.

I voted yes for this. 

I can hear the civil libertarians out there decrying this as an unconstitutional intrusion on our rights. Sorry, I disagree. It's the out of control civil libertarians that have greatly contributed to cities having their hands tied when it comes to urban campers. 

For the complete presentation and discussion please watch the video link below. 

3.2 Wildomar Active Transportation Plan

Here's my take. 

This is something that is forced on all cities to do. The work done by staff was top notch, but that doesn't mean it makes sense when looked at through the prism of reality.

80% of the people that responded to the survey said the current biking conditions in Wildomar are neutral or difficult. I'm not sure if you can read the options listed in the graphic, but high temperatures wasn't among the "challenges" options to choose from.

We all know it's going to get parked on a shelf until it has to be updated some distant time in the future... where it will then go back on a shelf, again, for another generation, ad infinitum until the Earth falls into the Sun. 

Thank you Sacramento, nothing like forcing all the cities in the state to do expensive work that will never see the light of day. 

Since I knew that was the case, I didn't bother going into everything that didn't logically measure up but I did ask about something in the agenda packet, but not gone over in the meeting.

I mentioned that I was confused by the cost of the #1 Bike Project – Sedco Boulevard Bike Lanes & Roundabouts.

I took the position that even if we were gifted this money, I couldn't imagine voting for something like this. This was probably a pretty cool street before the freeway got put in, but why would we put roundabouts there (even in a report that is going straight to the shelf)?

I thought I was making a reasonable point that temps are too hot and distances too far in our part of the world to address WRCOG's stated goal of By providing more bicycle lanes and better connections between existing bicycle lanes, WRCOG jurisdictions can increase the viability of bicycling as an emission-free commute option.

Come on Emperor (WRCOG), you're as necked as a jay bird and I'm happy to point it out to you since everyone else seems to think that you're decked out in some highly bedazzled duds.

[CAPLOCKS WARNING]

NO ONE IS EVER GOING TO COMMUTE BY BICYCLE IN ANY PART OF SOUTHWESTERN RIVERSIDE COUNTY. NOT NOW, NOT NEVER [sic]. 

Therefore, the idea of creating "emission free commuting options" with bike lanes is flat out bogus. 

But my colleagues all disagreed with me, sort of.

None of them actually tried to refute my points about it being too hot here to commute by bicycle, or that the distances were too far for such a thing to even be considered in polite company. 

Instead they all seemed to praise bicycles in one fashion or another, but not one of them mentioned the point that this item wasn't about recreation, but about workers commuting by bike in hopes of reducing GhG emissions. 

So, I chimed back in with, "I love bikes, but it's 100 degrees here often and it's far from one street to another." Which brought a good laugh from those in attendance.

3.5 Position Classification Schedule Update (1:35:00 in the video)

This is where the the cart came off the rails a touch. 

The updated pay rates for city employees showed very generous compensation marks for all who work at the city, especially the closer to the top of the pyramid you get.

Mayor: I haven't verified the numbers, so I'm just asking the question [...] have you been able to check any of that, does it add up (referencing the above graphic)?
Robert Howell: Based on what we put in the budget plan for 22-23 it does, but however that number (regarding the assistant city manager salary) is high, but will be adjusted downward when we get to (indecipherable).

If you look at the numbers, our staff gets far more than their counterparts in the private sector (and believe it or not, they do have counterparts). I'm talking about comparable work, with comparable responsibilities and comparable education requirements.

The rest of the council doesn't see what I see, and that's ok.

Where things went off the rails is when counterarguments were nothing more than weak strawman attempts to belittle my points.

Maybe my points don't hold up, if that's the case, ATTACK THE POINTS, don't put words into my mouth.

I used a district manager of Home Depot as an example.

According to reputable sources on the net, they have a salary range of about $120K to $180K according to salary.com. Other sites like glassdoor and ZipRecruiter also offered figures on the position.

Please show me where the qualifications and requirements of this job are less stringent than the jobs in Wildomar. Having different opinions, even about city salaries, shouldn't be the cause for resorting to logical fallacies.

As a refutation of my points that our staff compensation nearly dwarfs what their counterparts make in the private sector, this was a offered: 

"We could go get the guy from Home Depot for $95K per year and we'd get crap service. He doesn't know what he's doing [when it comes to running a city]. The guy may be really good at separating paint, and ordering supplies but [won't know the finer points of running a city]."

My brain was melting.

Where did I even suggest to pay $95K? Or that I was talking about any particular position?

Did you honestly think I was suggesting that anyone from HD's paint department could run our city, or head any other department? Really?

I used the District Manager position for a reason, and not a local store manager, because I was looking for similar levels of expertise and responsibilities to illustrate a point. 

How is that lost on people? 

Watch the video, perhaps I'm plumb loco, or perhaps I just have different opinions that, if you want to argue against, how about let's go apples for apples and just attack what I actually said and not something that sounds close to what I said? 

I ended up interrupting two of my colleagues when they tried to rephrase my points into something ridiculous. Both were on Zoom, and perhaps it's time to no longer allow that option unless someone is truly on vacation or laid up in the hospital.

I do owe an apology to my colleagues for not allowing them to intentionally mischaracterize my points in attempts to make thier points stronger. I should have exercised better decorum and addressed it when it was my turn to speak. Lesson learned.

Public Comment of the Night 

The prize goes to Veronica Langworthy when she called us out for only having 2 of the 5 members of the council actually at the dais. 

She pointed out how all five members were basically cheek to cheek "in close proximity" at a ribbon cutting for Stiiizy (Wildomar's first cannabis retailer) just a few days earlier, but used Governor Newsome's emergency covid rules to continue using zoom instead of attending in person. I have to agree with her. 

Veronica Langworthy:  "[...] all five of you were at the opening of that business, in person, very close and no partitions between you... jus' sayin'."                                          

Veronica made a great point.

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The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

– Dolly Parton

Wildomar Rap is neither rain nor rainbow, more like condensation on the outside of a glass of iced tea on a hot day.

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• Love Your Neighborhood

Have you heard about the three city challenge called Love Your Neighborhood?

I'm not sure how they're going to determine who the "winner" is considering that there are big differences in the population numbers of Wildomar, Lake Elsinore and Canyon Lake, but the real winners will be the residents when countless bags of litter and debris are removed from their city streets. 

Before you mention the apparent short notice, I'll mention it for you... though I first heard about this six weeks or so ago, that's still short notice for a community event of this magnitude. 

So I'll be playing the covid card here. A lot of things are still way out of kilter due to 2020, and eventually that "reason" will not work. 

We can worry about better timing for next year's 2nd annual Love Thy Neighborhood event. 😁

Here's what Love Your Neighborhood is about

It's about tapping into Wildomar's community spirit in an effort that will help make our city a little nicer to live in. 

No one is claiming perfection is on the horizon, but if we all took a few moments, an hour or two, and cleaned the weeds out of the sidewalks or swept the gutters, that would be an immeasurable improvement for many areas.

Important Links

Event Webpage: 

www.Lake-Elsinore.org/LoveYourNeighborhood

Sign Up Form: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/47868eaee3f14c6e9fb99a523f652625

The official event is from 8am to 1pm, but you can choose any hours really, even if all you have is fifteen minutes, that would be something. 

I asked Councilwoman Bridgette Moore for a quick thought about this event

"Volunteerism is an investment in our community. 

You can make a difference in our community in one hour of picking up litter. Meet new people and make connections."

Also, if you don't have any time for this event but would like to help with removing litter from our roadways at another time, please look for the Facebook group called Wildomar Beautification Volunteers.

Mayor Dustin Nigg made a quick promo video for the event, take a look.

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When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.

– Buckmister Fuller

The beauty of Wildomar Rap is that it's never wrong.

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• WCE Bankruptcy Update and Reentry Fee

I'm sure that you've heard that WCE has filed for bankruptcy. There was a press release from WCE on May 24th.

LINK TO PRESS RELEASE

If you're saying, "Yeah, but what is WCE, I've never heard of it?" you might as well exit this blog now, or, if you do want to know more, click on the key words at the bottom of the blog. 

But, Since I'm a sooooper nice guy and all, I'll give you a basic primer: WCE is short for Western Community Energy. It was adopted by the Wildomar city council in 2018 and went into effect in Spring of 2020. The only way to keep your original power company (SCE) was to opt out of WCE. 

That wasn't some diabolical plot, it's mandatory for such schemes to be "opt out" instead of "opt in". 

If that rankles you, look no further than the misguided blue team in Sacramento that has been ruining this state with their one-sided stranglehold for more than a generation. If you voted for them, you voted to be "opted in".

In less than a year WCE went belly up.

Was it bad luck due to Covid, coupled with the State allowing unpaid bills to be treated like junk mail? 

Maybe.

Was it an unwise decision to have the city join WCE, where even the county flatly rejected the notion when it was presented to them, not to mention the other 12 member cities of WRCOG (the impetus behind WCE)? 

I'll hazard a "yes" response to the above question... obviously! 

There were six Riverside County cities that opted their residents into WCE.

During the June 9th city council meeting there was a WCE update. 

If you listened to that meeting, it was reasonable to conclude that all the WCE customers were going to be returned to SCE as if they never were part of WCE.

That's what appeared to be the verbatim quote by WRCOG's interim director, "for those of you that are WCE customers going back to SCE, we worked very hard so that you go back in at the standard rates, it's as if you were never part of WCE."

Under the circumstances, what more could one ask for, I was satisfied.

What could be clearer than that?

"As if you were never part of WCE"

But, as always, there are plenty of flies for what little ointment there may be in a given situation.

This topic was being discussed on Facebook and I gave out inaccurate information that I heard at the city council meeting (or thought I heard). 

Here is a screenshot of the exchange. Not sure if it's legible or not, or if it's interesting or not. You decide.

Here is a larger version of the slide from the meeting that was mentioned above... still not sure if it's legible on your device or not.

I hope the above graphic is legible. It was part of the presentation during the city council meeting. What was not gone over in detail was a "reentry" fee, which is clearly listed in among the bullet points.

The last bullet point says, Initial indications are that SCE rates with the reentry fee will still be below WCE's rates with recently adopted rate increases.

What is it that I'm reading? 

The whole point of WCE, as it was sold anyway, was LOWER RATES.

Imagine that, SCE rates, including a yet to be determined reentry fee, will be lower than WCE's rates... I guess that's a way of selling this as "good news"?

Below is the email that I wrote seeking clarification:

Residents are discussing the return to SCE and I happily let them know that we were told during the presentation that all customers will return to SCE as if they’d never left, as we were told in the meeting.

 

Then a resident suggested that I look at a slide that was part of the presentation that had six bullet points (attached). The speaker didn’t go over the last 4 bullet points which specifically said that returning WCE customers would be paying a reentry fee.

"There will be a reentry fee that SCE will charge to returning customers."

 

That was not made clear.

 

I want to gather all the facts before drawing conclusions, but a reentry fee is not compatible with "for those of you that are WCE customers going back to SCE we worked very hard so that you go back in at the standard rates it's as if you were never part of WCE."

 

Will there be another WCE update at the next city council meeting? 

This was the response I got from the presenter of the WCE update at the city council meeting. 

I'm not naming him because he's the interim director of WRCOG, and had NOTHING to do with this fiasco. He had it dropped in his lap when the former director suddenly developed retirement fever and stepped down. 

In terms of the transition, we were referring to the rates.  WCE customers are going back to Edison at Edison’s standard rates, which are they same they would be paying as if they never left.  That was an unknown for a while since SCE is allowed to charge them higher rates under the regulatory process and we worked with SCE, CPUC, and others to have customers go back at the standard rates.

 

SCE is allowed by law to recover their costs for bring WCE customers back to SCE.  We don’t know what those costs will be.

 

The procedure for recovering those costs is that SCE must first bill WCE for those costs.  We believe we can address them through the bankruptcy process but that is to be determined.  Our other option is to seek State funding, which we are currently working on.  If neither of those two are successful, there is a possibility that SCE could seek to recover those costs from the customers. 

 

We anticipate that process could take 3 months, 6 months or even longer.  For right now, saying it is as if they had not left SCE is a correct statement.

My apologies for not being clearer in my presentation to the City Council.

So why am I writing this?

First and foremost is to get the word out. 

Again, if you're among the number that has never heard of WCE, take another blue pill and go back to sleep.

For the rest of you, I'm very displeased that the WCE update was done in such a way as to allow for confusion on the matter of how much this is going to cost people that had NO INTEREST in this in the first place.

There is no word about how much this bankruptcy will cost or who will ultimately pay for it. It will be many months before it gets through the courts. 

One thing you can count on is that creditors will not just roll over on this saying, "Aw shucks, bummer that WCE fell like a house of cards on a windy day... just forget about the money we put into it."

We can always hope for the best, that the courts will produce a ruling that will safeguard the innocent folks that had nothing to do with any part of this short lived nightmare.

But "hope" is never a good strategy to live by, so I don't personally factor such things into my planning... we shall see.

Last, if this blog raises some eyebrows among my colleagues, my responsibility is to the residents, and I'm not going to blink even if that means I put myself in some rather uncomfortable cross hairs. 

Below is the video to the city council meeting. This item begins at 36:30 of the video.

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What is this "complete truth" that is spoken about? What is a "complete truth" to begin with? 'Truth' is not divisible. A half truth must eventually become a whole falsehood.

– EG Marshall (CBSRMT)

Wildomar Rap isn't divisible and rejects all attempts therein.  

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• Memorial Day 2021

Beautiful skies and perfect temps greeted those in attendance for Wildomar's annual Memorial Day remembrance event.

The names of the five from Wildomar that lost their lives, serving our nation, while wearing our nation's uniform. Nathan Bouchard, Fernando Hannon, Justin Hunt, Daniel Ray Parker and Eric Seaman.

More than a dozen motorcyclists from both the VFW and American Legion attended.

The service included an opening prayer by Gracepoint Church's Reverend Wink Davis. A welcome message from Mayor Pro-tem ben Benoit.

Wildomar Mayor Pro-tem.

Presentation of colors followed by the pledge of allegiance led by State Senator Melissa Melendez, and a beautifully sung rendition of our National Anthem by Jeanna Oliver. 

Jeanna Oliver as she sang our National Anthem.

The keynote address was delivered by the incoming VFW 1508 Post Commander, Charles W. Golden III.

Good words to keep in mind all year long.

"We as a nation must always remember, we must remember the price that was paid for our liberties. We must remember the debt we owe those who have paid it and the families they left behind."

  

—Charles W. Golden III

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“A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?”

– George Washington

Wildomar Rap salutes the guardians of the liberties of our country. Past, present and future; thank you.

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Press Release: WCE Bankruptcy

Below you will find the press release from Western Community Energy, and then if image isn't easy to read, below will be the text of the release.

POWERED BY THE COMMUNITY

3390 UNIVERSITY AVENUE, SUITE 200 | RIVERSIDE, CA 92501

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 24, 2021

Media Contact:

Elisa Laurel

951-206-4498

elaurel@wrcog.us

www.westerncommunityenergy.com

WESTERN COMMUNITY ENERGY FILES FOR CHAPTER 9 BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION TO RESTRUCTURE ORGANIZATION’S FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS

State mandates related to COVID-19 and increasing power costs due to state renewable energy requirements cause WCE to seek Chapter 9 Bankruptcy protection and reorganize finances.

RIVERSIDE, CA – On Monday, the Western Community Energy (WCE) Board of Directors approved a resolution declaring a fiscal emergency and authorized its legal counsel to move forward with the filing of a Chapter 9 Bankruptcy petition to allow for the restructuring of WCE’s financial obligations.

Several external contributing factors have impacted WCE’s financial situation since the program was implemented at the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic in April 2020.

In August 2020, California experienced an unprecedented heat event, which resulted in substantially higher power needs and a spike in the cost of energy. 

Although WCE had secured 90% of its electricity needs for the summer of 2020, the heat storm exhausted the projected supplies prematurely. 

An additional $12 million in energy costs were incurred throughout the 2020 summer season due to the unanticipated warm weather. Additionally, a tightening of the requirements of the State of California for Resource Adequacy (RA) created a shortage in the market, significantly increasing the cost of regulatory compliance.

Additionally, the Governor of California issued an order during the COVID-19 pandemic, implemented by the California Public Utilities Commission, mandating that no customers could be disconnected due to non-payment of their utility bills. Over the last year, delinquencies averaged ten times higher than pre-Pandemic industry standards and have cost WCE millions of dollars in added cost burden.

“The ongoing impacts of COVID-19 severely limited the organization’s options moving forward and

forced today’s action,” said Todd Rigby, Chairperson of WCE.

 

“Chapter 9 protection gives us the opportunity to restructure the organization and reorganize our finances. We look forward to working with our legislators, the Governor, and other parties to identify a pathway forward for WCE.”

Customers of WCE will not experience any service disruptions as a result of today’s actions and WCE will continue to keep customers updated as more information becomes available.

POWERED BY THE COMMUNITY

3390 UNIVERSITY AVENUE, SUITE 200 | RIVERSIDE, CA 92501

WCE has engaged the law firm of Weiland Golden Goodrich, LLP, to help the organization through the Chapter 9 process. Goodrich specializes in bankruptcy proceedings and has a combined 135 years of experience in managing Chapter 9 petitions. 

The Chapter 9 petition has been filed with the Federal Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. Following the filing, WCE will proceed through the bankruptcy process to work with potential lenders, creditors and regulators to adjust WCE debt and operations and protect the interests of its customers. The process is estimated to take approximately six months.

###

About Western Community Energy

Western Community Energy (WCE) is a joint powers authority, consisting of the Cities of Eastvale, Hemet, Jurupa Valley, Norco, Perris, and Wildomar, and was formed for the purpose of developing a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) Program that purchases energy on behalf of its residents and businesses to offer a cost competitive alternative to electricity rates. A CCA provides the community choices when it comes to energy mixes and programs, while providing local control over rate setting.

For more information, please visit westerncommunityenergy.com.

Work to form WCE began in 2016, with the development of a Feasibility Study that examined the viability of moving forward with a CCA by looking at the energy markets and the costs associated with purchasing power on behalf of its customers. As a result of the findings that a CCA would be feasible, WCE was formed as a new program.

WCE aims to provide its customers:

 Competitive, often lower, electricity rates

 A cleaner, more efficient energy supply

 Consumer choice, consumer protection, and local control over rate setting and programs

 Local jobs creation and local power resiliency

 Opportunities to develop future complementary energy programs such as net energy metering, energy efficiency retrofits, distributed rooftop and community solar, electric vehicle incentives and demand response technologies

 New renewable power development

About Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) Programs A CCA is a model that allows communities to aggregate its power and then purchase to meet the needs of its community, offering an alternative choice in the market—often the only alternative to sourcing power from the investor owned utility (IOU). CCAs can provide the communities they serve with competitively priced, clean energy choices while reinvesting revenues into projects and programs that support the local economy.

--------------------------

OPINION

Note: When I went to the WCE website at 6pm Monday, May 24th, I saw no mention of the press release.

This was first on my radar in February of 2018. Here were my take away quotes about it. 

"Since there seems to be savings to the rate payers, and an easy way to opt out if things change, I can't image the point of not exploring this further."

"The thing I want to know is, if this is better than peaches and cream like it's described, then why aren't all the local cities beating a path to their door? Why the deliberation? Why does it sound like WRCOG would be sanguine if they could "amass five to six cities" when their organization has eighteen?"

-Joseph Morabito, Wildomar Rap Feb 2018

It was next mentioned in February 2020. by this time, 15 months later, it's of little consequence to point out that I was less than sanguine about WCE, but there is a link to the video of the 50 minute item, plus opinions of the time at this link.  

Blog Link

I don't have anymore info than you read above.

I'm not sure what to make of it at this point, but I'm a firm believer in transparency and I wanted to get this press release to the people, in an easy to read form, at the earliest point possible.

If you have questions, please use one of these options.

E: info@WesternCommunityEnergy.com
P: (866) 356-4175

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An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.
– Benjamin Franklin

Wildomar Rap hears that menudo is a great cure if you forgot to take your ounce of prevention the night before.

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