services - Idyllwild Town Crier

Page 18 - Idyllwild Town Crier, July 17, 2008
By J.P. Crumrine
Assistant Editor
Pine Cove discusses Grand Jury report
Last month’s Grand Jury
report on the December
2007 Highway Fire and a
district policy to reimburse
customers for installing water-saving
appliances were
the highlights of the July
9 Pine Cove Water District
(PCWD) board meeting.
PCWD General Manager
Jerry Holldber discussed
both the report and
the actions he has taken in
response to the Grand Jury’s
recommendations.
“There were basically two
recommendations for Pine
Cove,” Holldber said. “First
was behavior in an incident
zone, and second, don’t use
personal vehicles to respond
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to emergencies.”
Holldber has already met
with his staff and discussed
conduct within an incident
safety zone, particularly identifying
the presence of fire
hoses. He has also issued a
new policy requiring using
district, not personal, vehicles
when PCWD is called to
any safety incident. He also
has ordered amber lights for
the district vehicles to ensure
that they are recognized as
public agency employees.
“I compliment the Grand
Jury. They did a thorough
and professional job,” he said
at the end of the discussion.
“It was a learning experience
for everybody and hopefully
it doesn’t happen again.”
PCWD President Tom
McCullough asked Holldber
to communicate to the
Grand Jury that the board
has reviewed the report and
through a motion, supports
the Grand Jury recommendations
and the general manager’s
response.
The second major subject
was the use of monetary
incentives (rebates) to encourage
using water-saving
devices. The principal appliances
the district will support
are low-flow toilets and
high-efficiency, front-loading
washing machines.
In addition, the board
discussed the benefits of hot
water recycling systems, gray
water reuse for toilets, rain
runoff collection systems,
and automatic irrigation
and house water shut-off
devices.
The hot water recycling
systems could save 2 to 3
gallons of water since now
when occupants need hot
water, they turn the tap and
run water through the faucet
until the hot water arrives
from the heater.
Rain collection systems
would be used to water property,
but McCullough wanted
to be sure the system would
reduce summer water use if
a rebate were offered.
The automatic shut-off
systems would be valuable
to eliminate catastrophic
water loss, Holldber urged.
However, McCullough raised
a question of responsibility if
the system failed.
“If we require or support
their use, who is responsible
if the system fails” he asked.
“And there will be more liability
if we require them
rather than suggest it.”
“I think all are terrific
ideas and we should pursue
them,” commented Director
Mike Esnard. “Another
source of ideas and best
practices might be islands
such as Bermuda and New
Zealand where fresh water
supplies are limited.”
In other water business,
Holldber reported that the
June water use was 3.5 million
gallons, about 100,000
gallons more than June 2007
and 600,000 gallons more
than May. For the first half
of 2008, total production
is 5.7 percent less than the
first six months of 2007.
And he confirmed that water
supplies remained in “good
shape” for this point of the
year.
He also told the board
that the remote weather
station and data collection
unit had been purchased.
This will be installed at the
Rocky Point communication
site.
By means of wireless
transmission, weather data
will be transmitted to the
PCWD office and shared
with the community on its
Web site.
“Probably, the third most
frequent question we get is
‘What’s the weather there’.
This will be the highest
(about 6,500 feet) reportable
weather on the mountain,”
he said.
J.P. Crumrine can be
reached at jp@towncrier.com.
GV dissidents struggle for board’s attention
By J.P. Crumrine
Assistant Editor
The Garner Valley Property
Owners (GVPO) United
met Monday evening
to discuss activities of the
group and its interactions
with the GVPO Association
(GVPOA) since its last meeting
on June 16.
GVPO United was founded
in April to provide an
outlet and opportunity for
dissenting views and transparency
of governing board
actions.
GVPOA’s financial status
was one of the principal issues
concerning the splinter
group and its members.
Steve Silen identified several
times that attempts to
engage the GVPOA board
in a sit-down discussion of
its financial condition have
been rebuffed.
Of all the information
that GVPO United has requested,
only the June financial
statement has been
received. Every property
owner has a right to this
material.
The request for copies
of invoices from GVPOA’s
attorney, Peters and Freedman,
was denied on the
basis of an attorney-client
privilege. Case law for California
Public Records Act
has supported the concept
that when and how much
does not violate an attorneyclient
privilege.
Silen has even quoted
the Davis-Stirling Act’s section,
which acknowledges
that invoices and payments
are not confidential material.
Davis-Stirling is the
law governing the creation
and management of homeowners
associations in this
state.
“This is our money,”
said Mike Johnson. “We’re
not asking these questions
to harass them. We started
this [GVPO United] to help
them.”
GVPO United leadership
firmly believes that GVPOA
will need additional financial
assistance before the year
ends. The June statement
reveals a cash balance of
$1,300 and accounts payable
approaching $19,000, Silen
said.
Finances were not the
only topics for which GVPO
United communicated to
GVPOA and encountered
closed doors or rejection.
Richard Billing contacted the
board about maintenance
and care of the Common.
James Martins attended the
July 12 meeting on Declarations
of Restrictions (DORs).
Committee composition and
openness were two other
important subjects in which
GVPO United met deaf
ears.
At the June 16 meeting,
GVPOA President Lair
Hoskot appeared to request
volunteers from the audience
to serve on multiple board
committees. Water was one
of those committees and
Ron Imel, Debbie Overman
and Jim Martins were among
the volunteers. Subsequently,
Hoskot and Director George
Garcia have said volunteers
were being recruited to attend
Lake Hemet Municipal
Water District meetings. Yet
there is still not a GVPOA
water committee.
With respect to the openness
of GVPOA meeting,
Hoskot appears adamant
that non-members, especially
the press, are unwelcome
and may not attend association
board meetings. This
attitude stands in contrast
to GVPO United’s attitude
of actively inviting public
coverage of their meetings
and activities.
Hochee believes he will
begin writing local papers
about the meetings as a
way of calling attention to
the excessive privacy that
GVPOA seems to covet.
Several other thoughts regarding
potential responses
that might instill better or
more cooperation between
the two groups also were
discussed.
Johnson has suggested a
more aggressive use of Section
1357.140 of the Davis-
Stirling Act. This permits 5
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