TMC: Thirty Miles of Corruption

RIVERSIDE COUNCILMAN PAUL DAVIS GET’S SMART..

Councilman Paul Davis made the call to State Controller John Chiang’s office in order to initiate an audit this past Wednesday morning.  At City Council this past Tuesday, questions just seemed to abound in the audience, and when the answers to questions  just seemed not to be right, it just generated more questions.  The more questions that were asked specifically two Council member Davis and Soubirous, just seem to cause blow back by City personnel.  But why?  In July 2009 the rate for a single family dwelling was $14.94.  By July 2014, the rate was to be $28.55 + CPI (Consumer Price Index).  That evidently was not enough to cover increasing debt by a utility the public owns, and should actually get a divident in my eyes.  But who was running the store?  Because since it was not enough, Public Works had to pose an increase beyond $28.55 + CPI.  Councilman Mac Arthur motioned to pass the increase to $30.98 this July 2014, a $2.43 jump.  Many in the audience at City Council called out for a “recall.”  From 2009 to 2018 the sewer rate will jumped $16.04…quite remarkable!  Why did this happen?  Answers didn’t seem to fit logically into the template of rationality and the audience knew it..

The answers that were given was that CSD’s (Community Service Districst), such as the Jurupa Valley, Edgemont, Rubidoux and Highgrove were not paying their fair share.  The Sewer equipment needed to be upgraded because some of it went back as far as 1940.   Also, the recession, population growth rates, Federal requirement and as Councilman Adams suggested a “miscalculation.”  Of course, the one we know, is debt service from all the bonds taken out against the sewer.  Bonds that should have been used for the very sewer upgrade they are asking for.

The most significant points Council members Soubirous and Davis inquired about, how did the City of Riverside reach this pinnacle point of desperation?  In other words, how did it all happen?  Residents pay a sewer fee in order to maintain, repair and replace sewer related items.  If the fees were adequate over the years, maybe more than adequate, that the City borrowed/loaned/advanced monies to other City projects etc. etc., in the midst, did they inadvertently leave are sewer system to the back burner?  Therefore, are these rate hikes really necessary?  It seems to me, that someone was negligent at overseeing the property of the public.

While Councilman Gardner attempted to say that maybe we won’t need an audit, because we have CSD (Community Service Districts) revenue, reclamation water sales, rate hikes and more bond sales…   Councilman Mac Arthur said nothing was done for many years, but motions for rate hike increase, does Mayor Bailey motion to second?  Rate hikes are necessary in order for bond sales to occur.  Both Gardner and Mac Arthur did not address Davis’s comment of bringing John Chiangs office for an audit of the sewer accounts.

The Membrane Bioreactor is it really necessary?  The reclaimed water as a result is looked at as a commodity and a revenue source!  Therefore, shouldn’t the residents receive a divident or a lower sewer rate as a result of  this?  Isn’t a Membrane Bioreactor indicative of being part of a City’s Purple Pipe Program?  This is another question which we hope the State Controllers Office will have an answer for.  What are we paying for?  Did the City of Riverside sneak in the purple pipe project into the sewer master plan to get around Proposition 218 formalities?  If this is the case will the City of Riverside be set up for another Proposition 218 violation? I’m certainly beginning to feel as many in the community feel, that there “corruption” within the City of Riverside.

Remember, we are a City which owns are own public utilities, we own are water rights, we own the sewer.  So why should we pay for the purple pipe apparatus, whereby reclaimed will be sold at a profit and the taxpayer won’t directly benefit?

Some years back when Utilities Director Dave Wright was in charge, they tried to place a new charge on the taxpaying residents for the water reclamation program also known as the Purple Pipe Program.  The program never went through because there was never a direct benefit to the resident, a proposition 218 possible violation, and residents are wondering if this program was sneaked in the new Sewer Master Plan Project.  Tom Boyd mentioned at City Council that once the water reclamation is completed that we will be able to generate a revenue source from it.  Here’s a link to an article from Loudoun Water, which mentions the Membrane Bioreactor and it’s relationship to reclaimed water and the purple pipe.

Secondly, what appeared to be quite discerning, was when Davis questioned what appeared to be discrepancies in posting of accounting entries.  Whereby the post entry date was done first then the input date was done later, whereby it should be vise versa.  Further, there were several months between the entries which didn’t appear to comply with normal standard accounting.  According to Davis there was a significant number of backdated entries, not just one or two.  CFO Bret Mason explained it was a practice of closing the books for the fiscal year.  Fired former Construction Contracts Administer, Sean Gill brought this issue questioning how the city does contracts.  TMC did a story on this whereby checks were made fromFederal CDBG funds before expiration of those funds, then placed in a desk until they were needed.  Below is a document which appears to be post dated.

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“The city fired me when I tried to make people aware of their corruption. Its been going on for years. Brad Hudson, Siobhan Foster and Tom Boyd all deserve to be fired for their corruption along with half of the city council. People think Bell is corrupt, I hope they keep digging into the City of Riverside.”  Sean Gill, commented in the Press Enterprise back in May of 2011.

At a finance committee meeting on Wednesday May 14, 2014, Councilman Paul Davis asked the question at to why the staff seems to always go nuts every time we ask a question?  This is probably very telling.  Staff is not use to being ask relevant questions in TMC’s eyes and may construe this behavior indicative with interfering with city staffs work or creating a hostile work environment..  Thus, we now see two councilman who ask tough questions and are now being investigated.  Who are the suspects at the crux of this investigation?  Councilman Soubirous asked at this meeting that a Workshop Committee be formed, for the record, to look into a forensic audit by the State Controllers office.  Again, the appearance of this idea made everyone nervous.  If everything is on the up and up, why should anyone be nervous?

Residents in their district and all over the City of Riverside are calling the Councilman Heroes!  This is a big deal, National News Agencies are being contacted, and are keeping a close eye on the City of Riverside.  The majority or the residents will back up the forces of good which will challenge the forces that exist in the City of Riverside.  Many residents simply feel intimidated to challenge the forces of the City of Riverside, as many feel they will be targeted by Code Enforcement indirectly for frivolous charges, which will cost individual residents financially to much to fight.  That’s how the City wins.  More to come on this.

UPDATE: IS HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR RHONDA STROUT, A.K.A. LUXURY GIRL, LEAVING HER POSITION AT CITY HALL?

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CLICK THIS LINK TO VIEW THE HUMAN RESOURCES BROCHURE.

TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE!  TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED.  I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO ACLU.  NOW TAGGED LOCAL BLOGGERS OR LOCAL MEDIA?  RATED ONE TWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS..  TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH ZELLERBACH’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, AND PROSSIBLY POSSIBLY ON FILE WITH THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE’S POTENTIAL SLAPP SUIT LIST… WE WILL HAVE TO ASK GREGORY ABOUT THAT ONE ( OUR PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO CONTACT HIS PEOPLE)… AGAIN, THANK-YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT!   COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS!  EMAIL ANONYMOUSLY WITH YOUR DIRT OR FOR CONTACT!   THIRTYMILESCORRUPTION@HOTMAIL.COM