Plumas Eureka Community Services District

Plumas Pipelines

 

Fall Issue October 2007

Managers Message

Greetings……

I can’t believe it’s been a year already! Time sure flies when you’re having fun!

This past year has been a HUGE learning curve for me. Providing services to a small community is so much different than providing them to large cities. Although tough at times, I truly enjoy having direct contact with all of you in solving some of the more difficult situations that arise. A good friend of mine once said, “We do not have problems, we have situations that give us an opportunity to provide solutions”. A motto that I have come to embrace and work by.

Wastewater Treatment Plant

#7 construction was completed in May. We brought the system on line and are extremely pleased with its treatment ability. Preliminary testing has shown that we now remove 99% of the contaminates that enter the plant before sending the treated water to the Dynamite Hill Leach Field. The “old” treatment plant 7 process only removed 30% - 40% of the contaminates. As you can see, a huge improvement.

This past summer we provided an average of almost 500,000 gallons of water per day to Plumas Eureka customers. Our wells were able to keep up, but just barely. We are in need of another well to meet high demands

and are in the process of identifying a good site. The process starts by drilling a test well and running tests on it to determine if the site would be able to support a full scale well. We’re hoping to have the test well drilled by the end of the year and that would enable us to collect the information we need. REMEMBER, WATER IS A SPECIAL COMMODITY. USE IT WISELY!

We’ve added a new person To our operation & maintenance staff. His name is Gary “Shane” Frazier. He joined us in August and has been a big help in cleaning our greenbelt areas, painting fire hydrants, fixing fences, etc… He’s also being trained

in water distribution, water treatment, wastewater collection, and wastewater treatment. This training will allow him to become a State Certified Operator in each field and become an invaluable member of our operations staff.

As always, come by and see me if you have any problems (situations) , questions, or need information. Email works great too!

Have a happy and safe holiday season!

Frank

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GOOD JOB? Or WHO CARES?

Like it or not, the 3 seats on your CSD Board of Directors that were available for election will all be filled by incumbents because no one chose to run against us. My question to you is: Are we doing that good a job, or, don’t you care?

In the last couple of years we have continued to raise your water rates substantially. Wastewater rates have escalated drastically. We hired a new General Manager at a salary that should have shocked some of you. Our Fire Department is expanding its sphere of influence and we are currently considering annexations. We have committed over a million dollars to a new wastewater facility and expect to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new well and possible treatment facilities. In the coming months we will be looking at possible septic tank inspections, and wastewater connections to some of the older portions of the District. We will be engaged in a full scale recruitment drive for the Fire Department that might entail significant increases in the assessment and a solution must be found for maintenance costs of the roads under District control.

Again I ask you, “Do you care”?

The CSD has been very fortunate that well qualified people have come forward to help us with the budget process, and insurance advice, and other related areas. But we need people to commit to the long term. Two years from now, 3 four year Director terms will be up for election. Incumbents may or may not run, but that should not matter. Your interest in the future success of your community does matter. As I look back on the last 8 years, it has been a very demanding, but yet rewarding experience. One that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

I believe that your Board has done an outstanding job in facing up to the challenges that confronted us. Yet I worry that there has to be people out there with new ideas, concepts, and creative solutions who should be coming forward and offering their services. In these last 8 years I think I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times we had more than 4 or 5 people in the audience at Board meetings. The overwhelming majority of the time there is no one or perhaps 1 or 2 people and they don’t stay for the whole meeting.

Please take the time to attend Board meetings (2nd Wednesday of the month). Familiarize yourself with the issues. Both those under consideration at the present time and those that must be met head on in the coming months. A couple of hours a month is a small price to protect your property values. We need your interest and ideas and look forward to attendance.

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PEEHA
Plumas Eureka Estates Homeowners Association

Our general membership meeting was held on July

Tret 28th this year. The meeting and dinner was scheduled earlier this year to hopefully make it more convenient for those property owners from out of the area. Although attendance was less than confirmations received, approximately 70 dinners consisting of barbecued chicken, beans, salads, and dessert were served. Our thanks to Frank Motzkus, Community Services District General Manager, and Fire Chief Gary Castagnetti, for their attendance and informative presentations. Response from those attending was positive and all had a good time.

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Tap, Tap, Tap…..

Most of you are probably wondering what a “Tap” is. A tap is a connec-The annual election of Board Members will be held tion to Plumas Eureka’s water system. Proposed Ordinance 98-C-2008 later this year and we have received interest from addresses taps in two areas. First is the “illegal” connection to the water several potential new members and would like to system. Illegal connections are any connections to the water system, add a few more candidates. Participating on the whether at the main line or at an existing water box connection point, Board does not require a great deal of time and is an that the user does not have PECSD’s permission to use. The second is an excellent way to become involved in issues affecting “Irrigation Tap”. This term is used to identify a water connection that is our community. Interested persons may contact used strictly for irrigation purposes and is not connected to the house any Board member for details. line. Irrigation taps should have a backflow prevention device installed so water can not accidentally flow back into the main water line and pos-The weather is definitely changing and many of our sibly contaminate our entire water supply system. As an example, the members will soon be heading for sunnier climes. Homeowner Associations have irrigation taps to water their greenbelt Everyone have a great winter! areas (no home connections). The HOA’s pay for the use of these taps at Thank you, the current irrigation charges. Irrigation taps are a “tricky” thing, so please Contact the PECSD office if you have any questions. PEEHA Board of Directors

Thanks,

Frank

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PEVHOA#7

Plumas Eureka Villas Home Owners Association #7— Cottonwood Drive and Poplar Valley Road

It is fall, the weather is much cooler, the leaves have begun turning and the pine needles are blowing around everywhere. It seems as if the summer went by much too quickly. We had a very quiet year as far as owner turnover goes. The units on Poplar Valley Road were painted but there were no other major projects this year.

The Annual Meeting was held on Saturday, July 21st and a quorum of owners was present, either in person or by proxy. Those present engaged in a good discussion regarding HOA dues and assessments as well as reserves and the current Board’s philosophy regarding these issues. These discussions occurred as part of the review of our Annual Report submitted by Bequette and Kimmel. Discussion was also held on landscape maintenance and the need for a report on the short and medium to long term needs and issues, including infrastructure such as replacement of analog timers/controllers, sprinkler head placement and piping. A report is being prepared and will be reviewed by the Board.

The Board also discussed spas/hot tubs on decks and concluded they should be treated like storage sheds and appliances and not allowed on decks. In addition, the Board wanted to remind owners that any exterior modifications to the homes or landscaping must be submitted to the Board/ Architectural Committee well in advance of the project starting.

If anyone has any questions, they can call Bob Conen at 530.836.4668. Have a good winter and see you in the spring. Bob Conen, President PEVHOA #7

 

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P E P S—By Renee Walker, President

This year your Plumas Eureka Preservation Society focused on maintaining our three gardens. PEPS was able to hire a gardener, Tyler Lee, to keep the weeds at a minimum while thinning, trimming, planting and spreading bark. The gardens look great and I know many of you enjoy the flowers as well as the herbs for your kitchen. The Ponderosa Garden has a new look. The huge pine tree that was in the garden was taken down this spring due to disease. Now we have a 4 foot stump that is ready to serve as something creative in the garden. Any ideas? Please call us with your inspiration!

In addition to that, we

planted a beautiful crab

apple tree and installed a

new sprinkler system.

Thanks to our members,

Bill and Sue Carrera, John

and Eileen Ludden, Janet

Grijalva, Betsy Schadrack,

my husband Larry and I and our gardener Tyler, the system was up and running in less than 2 hours. What a great crew!

This year’s Pine Needle Pick Up exceeded expectations. Over 100 residents participated and the piles were bigger than in previous years. The piles were picked up and dumped at the Dynamite Hill Leachfield. Our neighborhood is cleaner and more fire safe. Even though each resident contributed a modest $25 to help defray expenses, PEPS spent nearly $3,000 on this project. This expense has made us rethink the project, so look for a change next year. We welcome your suggestions on how to sustain this community project.

Our famous and delicious “Soup’s On” dinner and general meeting is scheduled this year on Thursday, October 25th. Mark your calendars and be sure to buy tickets early. This is a fun evening to share with your friends and neighbors. The location is Longboards Bar and Grill. PEPS members make and serve the soups and desserts and Longboards does the rest. Door prizes are awarded and there’s always an entertaining song performed. Come and enjoy the warm and friendly atmosphere with us. Tickets will be on sale soon at only $15 per person. Watch for the signs “planted” in the flower barrels at the mail box clusters.

PEPS is always looking for new members, in general to serve on the Board. At present, we have 144 members. We would love to see our members become more active in helping with our projects or serving on the Board. Whether you’re a full time or part time resident, you can become an active member of PEPS and we encourage you to do so. Our most recent active members are Shirley Agnos, Hilda Machado and Donna Lage. We welcome you! Board meetings are held monthly (except July and August) on the 2nd Wednesday and we invite all members to join us. PEPS yearly membership is $10 per person. The money we raise enables us to fund projects and maintain our three community gardens. If you are interested in joining, or becoming more active, please contact any Board Member listed below.

Renee Walker 836-4119
Mary Peters 836-0684
Eileen Ludden 836-4550
Mary Blaylock 836-1887
Geri Esola 836-1785
Janet Grijalva 836-1062

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Information From The Board…..

On November 17, 2004, the Plumas Eureka Community Services District held our first Goals and Objectives session. All of the Board Members and numerous members of the community were involved. Our intention was to create a vision and a direction for the District for the future. At the end of the session we had developed a list of 13 Goals with numerous objectives attached to each one. Since that time the Board has been working toward accomplishing these objectives on the way to reaching our Goals. We feel this an effective way for our District to stay on track to provide the vital services needed by our community.

Our Mission Statement is “To effectively and efficiently provide community services needed or desired by the residents/eligible voters of the District and authorized by California Government Code 61600. And to continuously provide the following services to meet the existing and potential demands of the District’s service area: 1) An adequate supply of quality potable water. 2) The proper collection, treatment and disposal of sewage. 3) To provide fire, safety and life protection. 4) Any other service deemed appropriate under the District’s charter, authorized by the District Board of Directors and funded by the residents/ eligible voters of the District or Plumas County.”

Below is a summary of some of the successes we have had:

• Updated weed abatement ordinance • Began negotiating with Johnsville for fire protection • Begun updating older water hydrants to current standards • Improved 911 dispatching services through Plumas County Sheriff • Improved public telephone book listings • Improved equipment for Medical Response rig, for fire fighting • Finalize cross connection control program • Set thresholds on capitol funding/depreciation • Finalized District Policy manual • Produce informational flyers for inclusion in billing invoices • Produce a fire recruiting brochure • Improve employee benefit and retirement packages • Publish goals and objectives and make them available to local residents • Develop an e mail list of customers for communication purposes • Negotiated contract with Plumas Eureka State Park for firefighting services • Made contract fire fighting services available to Johnsville residents • Investigated need for improved services to low income residents • Develop funding reserve for costs of 2008 sewer discharge permit renewal • Investigate need for third well and locate sites for drilling of test wells • Completed upgrade of wastewater treatment plant #7 on Sequoia Circle As you can see, the list is quite impressive. This is only a summary of some of the more significant successes we have accomplished. We are quite proud of how far we have come with the Goals and Objectives. In order to see our complete list of Goals and Objectives, visit our website at http://users.psln.com/pecsd. We are planning another Goal setting session for the early spring. If you would like to be involved in this important planning for our District, please notify the District Administrative Manager, Teresa Cunningham at 836-1953.

Signed,

Larry Walker, Board Member and Goal Setting Administrator



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PECSD Board Member ‘Corner’ - This is a visit with Vern

I wanted this visit with you via this article because I have not seen most of you at our Board Meetings, which are held on the second Wednesday of the month starting at 9 AM.

Did you know that your Board of Directors has a Mission Statement? This is a statement about how to meet the demands of this community. And we also have a list of goals and objectives that are reviewed at every Board Meeting.

Each Board Member has accepted at least one goal to personally work toward. Of the several goals we are working on, the goal I accepted is “To ensure that the best quality of life here in the Plumas Eureka Community Services District.” You can help me to accomplish this by answering or commenting on the following questions:

• Do we need to develop recreational opportunities for our District: And if so, what kind. • Do we need a community hall or shall we continue to use the Fire Station for functions? • How do we develop a sense of community among residents and eligible voters? • Are you concerned about fire safety? If your answers to any of these questions is “yes”, will you get involved to help us achieve this Goal? I may be reached by phone at 530.836.4673 or via e mail at vern@psln.com, or you may drop off your response at the District Office. I look forward to hearing from you. Signed, Vern Wiemeyer, Board Member

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Fire Department Cooperative Efforts

You may remember the Plumas County Vision 2020 Project conducted a few years ago. One of the top concerns expressed in the Mohawk Valley was the perceived need for the “...eventual consolidation of emergency services, especially fire, with equitable taxation.”

The good news is that your Plumas Eureka Fire Department is now working much more closely with the Graeagle and Whitehawk Ranch Fire Departments. These efforts were initiated and implemented by various department members led by the local Fire Chiefs—Gary Castagnetti of Plumas Eureka FD, Steve McNamara of Graeagle FD and Cliff Romig of Whitehawk Ranch FD. Each department Board of Directors fully supported these efforts.

Two major, cooperative initiatives have been implemented this year:

1) Joint Training has been conducted weekly this year, on Wednesday evenings. The first monthly drill is called a “meet and eat”, where recent emergency responses are reviewed and critiqued so that everyone can learn from the call. This training night includes dinner, hosted in rotation by each department. We hope this improves our working relationships. Thanks go to our Auxiliary members for their help in providing dinner when we have hosted this drill.

The second Wednesday evening drill is focused on emergency medical services continuing education, and rescue training. The third and fourth drills are focused on fire suppression training, both technical and hands on.

2) We have also implemented an “automatic aid” response program. As of this Spring, each department is jointly paged by the Plumas County Sheriff’s Dispatch for every emergency call. A response matrix was developed that calls for certain equipment and personnel to respond to different types of calls.

Some calls, such as medical aid, are handled by the local department only, with the other departments standing by. If the local department does not respond to the page within a few minutes, a second page goes out and the other department automatically responds. We are all fully volunteer fire departments, and there may be occasional times where firefighters are not available in one area.

Some calls, such as structure or wildland fires, require immediate response from all departments. This assures a faster response with appropriate resources. This does NOT eliminate the need for more volunteer firefighters. All three departments have continuing recruiting needs. More on that in a future edition of Pipelines.

We are very happy to report that both of these new programs are working very well. There have been numerous examples this year of improved emergency service to all of the communities with little or no cost increase.

What’s next? This November the Whitehawk Ranch residents will vote on the question of being annexed into the Graeagle Fire Protection District. Eventually we will be considering that question also—do we create one Mohawk Valley fire department? There are other areas such as the downtown business area of Blairsden and the community of Johnsville that are not in any fire district. Further annexation is something that requires a Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) study be funded, and issues such as equitable tax rates be addressed. Eventually the community would need to approve.

For now we are happy to report that we are working very closely together, with more changes coming. For example, we are working on making our Standard Operating Guidelines essentially the same. We are also considering forming a Mohawk Valley Fire Corps program as an umbrella group to help with non-emergency support activities that help our fire departments. Our Auxiliary, for example, might work under that umbrella, with expanded support activities. More on all of this in future Pipeline editions

Please feel free to contact Fire Chief Gary Castagnetti at 836-0532, if you have any questions.

Submitted by; Assistant Fire Chief Tom Forster

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From the Plumas Eureka Community Auxiliary

Happy fall from the Plumas Eureka Community Auxiliary (PECAUX). The days and nights are pretty cool, but we have had a hot summer.

Our two Pancake Breakfasts a year went quite well—they are held the Saturday of Memorial and Labor Day weekends. We usually rely on the good weather, however this year we had a power failure from 1 AM to ??, the volunteers got the generators going and with many industrial electric cords later—we were ready to serve by 8 AM. ‘These breakfasts, memberships and donations are what generate the funds needed to support our Fire Department.

A “special thank you” to our loyal volunteers that have been on board for many years.

We were saddened by the sudden unexpected death of Patsy Johnson, Auxiliary President and Treasurer on September 4th, just shortly after our Pancake Breakfast. Patsy provided dedicated time, effort and service to the community thru her diligent work on the Board for the past two years.

We are currently seeking interested individuals to help out by joining the Auxiliary Board. Please contact Muriel Aman at 836-2864 to become actively involved.

Submitted by Muriel Aman and Sue Carrera

 

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This n’ That from Teresa

In case of whatever

Sometimes we notice things at homes here in the District as we are making the daily rounds. Mostly it’s a malfunctioning irrigation system. But it doesn’t matter what it is, can we get in touch with you if there is something we need to notify you about!? In other words, do we have your phone number? If you don’t think we do, then give us a call or send us an e mail and let us check. And speaking of e mails………….

New e Mail’s for the CSD

For those of you that pass by the Fire House, you may have noticed the satellite located at the end of the building. That’s our new Hughes Connection! Our e mail addresses have changed—the main e is ‘me’ at teresa.pecsd@hughes.net, Frank can be reached at frmotzkus@hughes.net, the Fire Chief can be reached at gcastagnetti@hughes.net and Lew can be reached at plumasguy@hughes.net. Also, we are still working on our e mail list for our customers. This information is for the CSD only and will not be passed onto anyone else, we are up to 200 e mails out of almost 650 customers (I think we need a few more e’s).

Our website address remains the same as Hughes is not up to that point as yet. Our website fellow left us back in May and we now have our own Lew Prince maintaining the updates on the site, and he has updated all the past minutes to the site.

And speaking of minutes, it is policy that copies of the minutes are not available to the public until after Board approval at the next Board Meeting. However, if someone wishes to read the “not yet approved” minutes, you can call the office and set up a time to come in and read the document. But you may not copy it or remove it from the premises until it has been approved by the Board.

Fire Department Recycle Site

Thank you to those that continue to donate to our Department via the recycle area, we have expanded to receive recyclable plastic containers as well as aluminum cans.

Project Santa

We have a new donation box located just outside my office, for Project Santa Claus. We have been a drop zone for this local charity for over thirteen years!! Donations were a little thin last year as we only called three times for pick ups. Perhaps we’ll do better this season. What to donate? Monetary donations are always good because right after Christmas, the staff of Project Santa Claus goes shopping at all the clearance sales. You can also donate new clothes, toys, games, toiletries, music CD’s and movie DVD’s, etc. Age range is birth to teen and the Project Santa Elves also make up goodie packages for the elderly, so think of them too when you’re shopping for donations to Project Santa.

JUST A REMINDER….

The tree lighting ceremony and Santa’s visit is scheduled for Saturday November 24th at the Fire House. Bring your friends and relatives and kick off the Christmas season with Santa, carols, and holiday cheer!

Sweatshirts too!!

We have added sweatshirts to our stock of Fire Department tee shirts and caps for sale here at the Fire House, just drop by or call if you are interested.

Door Bell

Quite often, people stop by the office after I have left for the day, we have now installed a door bell outside the door and if I’m gone, but Frank is still here, he’ll be happy to answer the door.

Every one have a great Holiday and Fine New Year.

Teresa

See you next time!!

 

PLUMAS EUREKA CSD 200 Lundy Lane Blairsden, CA 96103

Address Service Requested

Toll Free: 1-877-377-1953 Phone: 530-836-1953 Fax: 530-836-2963 Email: teresa.pecsd@hughes.net Web site: http://users.psln.com/pecsd

Providing services since July 1, 1993


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