Feeling Graton by Jennifer Butler - April 2018
There is a new library in town
Modeled after the New York City Library, complete with lions! The free library is located in front of the Fanning residence at 9155 Grey St. Please come and visit, and, if you like take a book and/or leave a book.
Graton Community Services District needs you
I meet with GCSD Board President David Clemmer and Board Member David Upchurch to discuss the proposal of treating Occidental’s waste water as a means of generating needed revenue for GCSD.
The Graton Community Services District is a local government agency dedicated to operating and maintaining the wastewater treatment facilities in the unincorporated Graton community. The district is governed by an elected, five member Board of Directors who attend regular monthly meetings and serve as local decision makers with respect to the sewer district. Our dedicated members are David Clemmer President of the Board, Matt Johnson Vice President of the Board, David Upchurch Board Member, Karin Lease Secretary, Devon Drew Board Member, and Jose Ortiz General Manager Part-time contracted employee.
GCSD meets very 3rd Monday. These meetings are open to the public and board members have expressed that they encourage your attendance. 6:00PM to end at Graton Day Labor Center.
The background:
David Clemmer first started going to the GCSD meetings in 2010 when he became concerned over rising sewer rates and cost overruns of capital improvement projects. He started by just attending meetings and asking questions. In 2015 he was asked if he would be a member of the board and wanting to be more involved in the district he agreed to and became President of the board. He and other existing board members saw that expenses were greater than revenues, resulting in budget overruns in five out of six years and a reduction in operating reserves.
To achieve financial stability, the Board funded a management study. The objective of this assessment was to identify opportunities for improvement in the plan of organization, the operational and economic efficiency of the District, and develop practicable opportunities for enhancing the organization of the District to address its long-term financial, wastewater collection and treatment requirements, and asset challenges. The management study came about when the past GM informed the board that there would be a $450,000 deficit. Matt Johnson and David Clemmer became an ADHOC committee attempting to reduce the budget. GCSD Had been running in a deficit 5 out of 7 years in 2015 and depleting reserves. GCSD’s major funding is through property sewer taxes. Other revenue is generated by connection fees (which are charged per dwelling), grants, and low interests loans (paid back by rate payers) forgiveness loans. Graton qualifies as a small disadvantaged community with financial hardship.
GCSD Board has implemented many of the recommendations to improve its efficiency. Improvements include a partnership with a PG&E efficiency resource who collaborates with GCSD on where and how to save on Utility costs. Operators have reduced the usage of the aerator to decrease utility spending. The use of chemicals has been scaled back for treatment of waste water and they have adjusted the logic controls systems to perform at a higher efficiency.
Despite savings, the fixed rate does not have provisions for automatic adjustments to account for cost of operating increases, rising cost of treatment chemical, and gas and electric costs. In other words, in time there won’t be sufficient revenues to run the plant and comply with regulations. Unlike a large city where continued development provides an increasing revenue stream, GCSD has only seen marginal growth since its formation in 2005-2006. “We cannot sustain a balanced budget indefinitely” says David Clemmer and “we need to build some reserves” says David Upchurch. David Clemmer acknowledges that they “We want to run better and leaner as well as continue to look to the future”. Rates have not increased in 6 years. In fact in 2017 there was a savings passed to the rate payers when a bond from 1975 was paid off. This saved rate payers $30-$75 per year.
A proposed solution and why this is important:
Because the state requires tertiary treatment of waste water Occidental had to develop a plan to remove it instead of treat. Occidental was only capable of secondary treatment. The cost to become tertiary compliant was estimated at $6 million. This mandate went into effective 1/2018. Occidental now transports its raw sewage to a treatment plant in Windsor at a cost of over $600,000 annually. That’s 4 trucks a day that pass through Graton (on Graton Road).
