While the council meeting for April 11, 2011, is going through the process needed to be put on line and the time it takes, I thought I might add something.
I witnessed a public outrage which offended me.
Now I hear the very same rumors you all do.
But nowhere on the record is there proof of what I keep hearing.
Now this council has made it clear if only some of the citizens would listen.
This city is in a financial meltdown.
So, some of you are all running around in an uproar, pointing fingers at this council.
Well I hate to tell that minority, but if you want to start pointing fingers, you may wish to start with the last council and administrator and go back decades in time.
I can go back in the record and it is clear as day.
So, why don’t all those questioning, go and look for yourselves.
This council only has one choice being, to get this city into compliance with the law.
And this is what you are seeing.
Any council worth its weight in gold demands accountability in its staff.
That is what you are seeing.
But when I witness a citizen, use the honor of being a vet to attack a person’s very constitutional rights; it seems that vet forgot the oath of office he took, being to protect that very constitution, for that vets personal political agenda.
So I understand this city is not going to know what, if anything they can do until the budget process gets rolling along.
That is where it is all going to happen and facts will be the deciding factor.
It is all going to boil down to what we can afford, not what we want any longer.
Cody
21 comments:
The man has been showing signs of senility for months now. He can't keep his hands off of ladies and has called one of our seniors a vulture when she went up to their house to pick up food, fer chrissake. Excused it by saying he was being funny. Lousy, mean-spirited sense of humor he exhibits.
George should have shut him up the minute he stopped addressing the Council as a whole and singled out one of them for his verbal abuse.
Whatever you think of someone's opinion it doesn't mean you have to attack their character. That goes both ways - for Council Member Pruitt whom I have also witnessed attacking people and also for Mr. Lamont. But Cody - just as Tiffiny has the right to freedom of religion (thus the no salute during pledge of allegiance) does not Mr. Lamont have the same right to freedom of speech? Vet or not a vet I think that applies.
I do agree on the what we can afford part. There are lots of things we all want in life, I could list off a half dozen right now! But we're limited on what we can and cannot have. I would hope people realize we're all in this together and making choices and taking stands doesn't have to be done by taking potshots at someone either on TV or around town as we all know how the rumor mill runs in good ol' CL.
He is showing signs of dementia, not character.
Voice in the wind.
I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
When you enter military service you take this oath and it is for life.
This statement debased the very foundation that our military stands for and discredited it, along with all vets.
Then on the flip side I guess it is easier to think one is, than to be a true American.
Cody
Just so everyone knows:
In its original form it read:
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
In 1923, the words, "the Flag of the United States of America" were added. At this time it read:
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
In 1954, Congress added the words "under God," creating the pledge we say today:
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Interesting, isn't it? No Flag, no no God, no argument...
Statements and actions define your character.
The guy spoke his mind and exposed the fact he's a bigot.
Are Brad, Lance and the two Jeff's any different?
Cody,
During the presentation the power association rep said generally the amount BPA charges the utility makes up 50-60% of a residential customers bill. Any idea what the rate and transmission charges are that CL pays?
My understanding is the "argument" usually revolves around "pledge".
I think Brad clearly stated his and the New Face's understanding of city finance with "there's no budget problem, our city's supported by its utilities".
City services are to be supported by taxes.
Why do we go to the effort of separate lines on the utility bills for water, electric and cable?
Because people insist on knowing what they are paying for those services individually. Don't we have just as much right to know what we are paying for our government services?
Adding the cost of government to utility bills results in a bloated, inefficient, unresponsive bureaucracy because it hides the true cost of government from the public. Does anyone have any idea of how much of their water bill goes to support the city government?
An example
Before we had all of the "time saving" devices like computers, radio meter readers, bill printers and other modern equipment, how many people did it take to manage and operate City Hall, the Port and all of the utilities?
12 people?
To MANUALLY read, record, calculate, create bills, receive and record payments, produce agendas, record meeting minutes, on and on and on. How many people does it take to operate these two government agencies now?
40?
Why?
As there has been no official setting of the rates, in accordance to the law, I would need the kwh numbers paid to Bonneville for the unit price. But for the year ending December 31, 2009, found in the Public Utilities Commission Stat book, the total operating expenses that were reported to the PUC are;
Purchase = $498,086
Transmission = $125,662
Distribution = $523,012
Customer Accounts = $63,947
Customer Service & Information = $4,242
Administrative & General = $167,229
For a grand total of $1,382,178
Now without full disclosure we do not know what has been factored into these expenses which may not be allowed under the law.
But here is something of great interest.
The total revenues received for electric light are $1,703,227.
Leaving a surplus of $321,049.
Now remember that in accordance to the law, this money cannot be spent on other municipal purposes.
As a matter of fact in accordance to the law, the city has legally defined options to use these surplus funds for.
To lower the rates for the next rate cycle, to go towards generation of alternative energy or to use it to lower property taxes.
So have your rates went down, are we generating alternative energy, or have your property taxes went down?
Then for all we know, that distribution expense may also reflect the 10% gross revenue fee, that was illegally adopted, which would violate the law, as that revenue is being spent on other municipal purposes.
Now consider all of this illegal taxation, we the rate payers have been subjected to for over 25 years that is on the record and just how much does this city owe each and every one of us rate payers?
Think about that!
Demand a rate study as I have and compliance with the law.
Now back to the upload of the meeting and the loss of my internet speed.
Cody
Cody,
I don't believe a rate study would be in accordance with ORS 225.210 which requires "Rates set in accordance with estimates of annual expenses". A rate study looks at what other utilities in the area are charging as part of the process.
Qwest has lowered their rates for DSL. Don't know if you can get it were you live but 7Mbs is about the same rate as .5Mbs from the city.
Anonymous
I apologize as you are probably not from the utility world.
Let me try to explain this to you, but I appreciate that you have been listening.
If you read ORS 225.230, Rates set in accordance with estimates of annual expenses.
This is where a rate study would begin.
It will not look at external factors for our electric light utility.
The purpose of this rate study would break down, debt, revenue, expenditures’, depreciation and the health of the infrastructure.
It would look at the upcoming year for cost projections for the purchase of electricity, the transmission and distribution charges, the cost to maintain and operate vehicles, supplies, tools, wage increases and such.
It would also determine the state of the reserve to cover any emergencies, should they occur in the upcoming rate year.
But concerning looking at what other utilities in the area are charging, remember we are not a public utility. We are a municipal utility and as the statute of law you referred to states; “Rates set in accordance with estimates of annual expenses". Does not mean what other utilities charge, It means the rates are to be set with the estimates of the annual expenses of this electrical light utility. This is known as a rate study.
Concerning DSL, I now have 10 mbs from Century Link on my desktop.
I also have over 300 channels of digital TV and my cost is around $10.00 more than the city charges for that embarrassment in this age.
Comparing what I have against the City is like comparing the Flintstones to the Jetsons.
And I have yet to go down since I dropped the city 3 years ago.
So if you are referring to the time it takes to upload the council meetings realize that when I capture the council meetings they run around the 14 gigabyte file size or larger to begin with.
I then have to compress them to get them in the range of 4 giga byte or larger.
This takes very little time with my computer.
Then comes the time, to start the upload of the final video file.
Instead of throttling back my upload speed, I give it all the bandwidth I can.
Now when you speak of the mbs as you did you are talking about download speed.
I am uploading which uses both to insure packet delivery.
Now I have as high as you can get today in our City, without being on a fiber backbone, but this still takes a very long time with this large of a file.
Then when the upload is finished Google puts it through their copyright infringement check.
This takes time.
But I am doing the best I can, without having to buy a server, get a dedicated internet connection, program a web site and expend all that money from my pocket for something the city should consider doing on their own. As I have invested enough to get this far.
Anyway your questions were very, very good.
This is what it is all about.
Thank you.
Cody
Now that the council meeting is uploaded and going through the copyright verification, I saw one statement that stood out in an anonymous reply.
I am sorry I missed this, in my rush to get the meeting uploaded and on line.
I appreciate this entire reply.
But one point stood out when I read it;
“Why do we go to the effort of separate lines on the utility bills for water, electric and cable?”
“Because people insist on knowing what they are paying for those services individually.”
“Don't we have just as much right to know what we are paying for our government services?”
Yes we do anonymous, read ordinance 123.
Look at how long this ordinance has been in effect.
Now think how long that this ordinance has been violated by our very City officials.
So do as I did and demand that the City comply with our very laws, to fulfill and uphold the requirements of Ordinance 123.
Now this will not answer all the questions we have, but it is a step in the right direction and all the red tape and discussion has been dealt with by our forefathers.
Now it is time to begin following our own laws.
Cody
Thanks Cody I would have missed this if you did not do this for us.
As shocking as this meeting was the most the most discusting thing I saw was our former mayor.
How pathetic was that and so hypicritical.
Had he still been Mayor and anyone had acted as he did he would have been slamming his desk in a screaming rage and making threats.
Unless of course it was one of his click. As would would have gave them the floor.
But it is nice to see them fighting for once instead of those of us wanting only what is right.
Prov. It is fair for one to suffer whatever one has caused others to suffer
Can you post that ordinance
Why, oh why doesn't Lance just shut up? The meeting would take half the time if he would just stop trying to do what the Hole in Fence Gang want him to do - throw a wrench into anything and everything. He has gotten paranoiac, too, or did anyone else hear all the suggestions and comments that everyone else is colluding without him?
I so agree - listen to him at 3:25:00 and on about all he wants out of a Public Works head. I thought it was a great fix for us. I thought Lance was for less government, but he sounds like less government means an employee who does his job!
I'm confused after watching this. Who is the mayor? George, Kevin or Tiffany? I think they ought to let George do what he was elected for - lead.
Well I know for a fact Brad aint the mayor. Is it possible he could behave like he knows what's expected during a council meeting without BS there to hold his hand? Or does someone need to get all red-faced and start slammin' that gavel for him to understand? Tiffany, George or Kevin can slam it, makes no difference to me.
Oh, and Pissing in the Wind...continue...upwind preferably.
Dear Piss:
Gotta totally agree with you on that. He is perfectly capable of running a meeting - his way. He even lets everyone (read Lance and Sandra) talk as much as they need to fully express themselves. He certainly does not need the lectures from Lance or the comments that she seems to think are under her breath or Kevin to act like a master-at-arms. So if he makes a mistake in procedure what-the-hell is the big deal?
What? Was he was elected to run the meetings according to Brad's "procedure"? LOL
"I'm the Mayor, I'll make or second any motion I want....."
No?
Then maybe he was elected to make more insightful "hole in the fence" analogies?
No?
Maybe he was elected to sell more trinkets he makes to the city or to help former Port employees get even with the Port?
Maybe he was elected to chase pipe dreams like "we own the freeway"?
Maybe to payoff total failures like BS? (by the way BS, a light is required on your bike after dark, even if you are the former CA of Cascade Locks. Be careful, I hear someone in town has the deputy's direct cell #)
God, you guys are losers. Go start a referendum or a recall or ........something.?...?
What the hell have you all accomplished? Got Brad and Lance elected and paid off Bernard? Woohoo, you're awesome!
How did George get elected anyway? I thought you needed a broke down car in front of your house to get elected to anything in this town.
Did anyone else find Shawn thoroughly pathetic?
The guy is standing there admitting that he doesn't do anything. He takes in the fire permits? The Chief can do that. He sends letters to citizens regarding their garbage? Actually no, he stated that one of the secretaries do that for him. He talked about riding along with other departments like we should pay him for that. He even begged for a part-time floater position because he worked for the City for the past 6 years and that he helped dig when the water main broke (with no clue that had he been injured that our workers' comp would not have covered him) like that guarantees him lifetime employment.
The only thing that guaranteed his employment was his wife's vote for BS on the Council. $32,000 a year to paint fireplugs?
I actually felt sorry for him and wondered why they let it go on and on and on, except maybe to make the point obvious to even the Hole in the Fence Gang.
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