Month: September 2020

The last two weeks have been very busy with many people having questions and reacting to bad information. There are many areas of public policy that are being polarized and many areas of public information that are being politicized. These are very unfortunate things for good public policy and our society. I’m trying very hard to keep this from happening at the local level but there are others who don’t agree and are encouraging the divisions. Therefore, I’ll handle some things by two topic area so you can go to only your own areas of interest if you choose.

COVID – 19 and Related Matters

On Wednesday morning, September 16, I participated by invitation as a locally elected national leader in a White House conference call on matters related to the pandemic and our responses to it. High ranking administration officials provided us with updates.

Dr. Deborah Birx, a doctor coordinating the White House Coronavirus Task Force, informed us that she is on a tour of the United States pushing as much testing as possible to get valid information on progress and giving more information to the Governors of our states. That day she was visiting Bakersfield,

Dr. Jay Butler, Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that his department in conjunction with many others is preparing for distribution of numerous safe vacines as soon as they are approved and available, with a target date of October 15 to start. Each vaccine is somewhat different so record keeping and information is very important as many are not comparable with each other and some require multiple shots. Because of initial limited supply with demand very high only the most vulnerable would be the first to have it available to them.

Dr. Butler said his department will build state and local coordination to handle an adequate supply of vaccine by late Spring to be distributed in a fair and safe way. It will be available on a priority basis with those who benefit the most being the highest priority to receive it. The government is also concentrating on having sufficient accessory supplies also available, including needles and syringes. People will be encouraged to continue wearing masks and do social distancing until this threat is reduced to insignificance. The CDC began preparations for this in August and are well along the way to be ready as soon as these vacines are available and to handle the quantity needed to make America safe.

Dr. Butler said that because weather and fires are also a challenge at this time drive through vaccination clinics may be set up in many places. He stressed, perhaps because of the participants in the call, that local officials are very important in communicating the process and procedures. The CDC is putting the Play Book together now.

Administrator Pete Gaynor, of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), stressed that emergency plans are very important right now as, form the first time in American history, we have emergencies going on in every state and Washington, D.C. COVID-19. Responses are recommended to be flexible to Account for the type of emergency in each area, such as fire or weather disaster. FEMA is using virtual programs for response and claims in order to protect all workers from COVID-19 during these disasters. He urged that people visit “Ready,com” at FEMA for the readiness Play Book and also urged masks and social distancing during this time. He told us that the President visited Governor Newsome in Sacramento on Tuesday to urge him to use flexibility in his regulations due to the current disasters combined with the pandemic threat.

Admiral Brett Giroir, Assistant Secretary of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, spoke to the fact that September is Sickle Cell Anemia Month. This disease is very serious, especially for Blacks and Hispanics. He said that progress is being made in addressing it with President Trump being the first president since 1983 to specifically address this disease and that he has done so with tremendous assistance from the First Lady. He said that there is a new drug now approved by Medicare to deal with it.

Ms Diane Jones, Principal Deputy Undersecretary. U.S. Department of Education, stated that we need to carefully reopen our schools for kin person teaching. This is especially important for the very early years and college and university level students. He stated that college and university students are being specially educated on the importance of following caution suggestions regarding masks and social distancing,

A wrap up was provided by the White House staffer who mentioned a number of other things that have been on the national news since then.

City Council Budget matters

The COVID-19 pandemic response at the state and local level has potentially caused serious financial changes to the budget picture in Paso Robles and elsewhere. This potential has created some panic that is overstated and/or mis-stated to be communicated in a variety of ways. The most inaccurate has apparently been on social media.

Projections based upon available data indicate that the city’s income in fiscal year 20-21 may be down as much as 10% placing a tremendous burden on our ability to provide traditional services or potentially requiring a reduction in services. To that end the Council placed a proposal on the ballot so the voters can decide whether or not they want to have insurance against that and build the three most essential services, according to our annual Town Hall meeting, up to national standards if the reduction is less than anticipated. If the voters decide to reject that alternative we will have to respond accordingly.

The problem arose when one council member proposed reacting immediately without verified information and begin reducing services and staff in areas outside of the three most important. Miscommunication between the Council and the City Manager escalated the problem when large reductions were potentially initiated including some small ones in the three most essential areas of police, fire and roads. Because the one suggestion was to eliminate recreation and our library a fire storm of public outcry ensued.

At our Council meeting on September 15th a confusing motion was passed , with the Mayor and myself dissenting, to immediately begin reducing staff even though more valid financial information would be coming back to us in three weeks with the decisions up for discussion again.

We have other alternatives available to us to meet the crisis to keep existing service levels but we do not, under any foreseeable manner, have the ability to bring our service levels in police, fire and roads up to recommended standards. If the proposition does not pass we will probably not be able to do so in the near future under any circumstances. However, we will be able to maintain current services if we use other means available to us and if the projections aren’t too far wrong. This would mean dipping farther into our General Fund reserves to do so jeopardizing how many other emergencies we could handle should they occur. I believe the pandemic is a natural disaster for which the reserves were created to address even if this specific type of disaster wasn’t anticipated

If only a few people become affected by the current effort to reduce staff we can survive but recovery will be made much more difficult and citizen satisfaction will plummet. As long as none of the resignations or reductions in hours are from essential personnel who require special education or State licensing to perform their work we can stay safe and healthy even though more stressed. It is not the city I want nor, I believe, is it what most residents want. We’ll see where we are in November.

We’ll also have a glimpse of where we truly are in three weeks. The reason the current projections may be inaccurate is that they are based upon July’s figures was a massively irregular month with the loss of the Mid-State Fair for year over year comparisons. Many people object to so many tourists coming here and tasking over our city’s facilities and amenities. Few people realize that we wouldn’t have those facilities or amenities without the income derived from those same tourists. Tourists provide well over 10% of the city’s income and will provide even more if the local ballot measure passes in November. Statistically we know that tourists provide 40% of our sales tax income which is our second highest source of income. That is money our local taxpayers don’t have to provide in order to have many of the things we now enjoy.

Comment:

If re-elected I will also continue to bring in millions of dollars for our city and regional infrastructure, as long as the Federal Government continues to supply our standard allocation to California which I will also continue to work on. These are things that no one else on our Council, nor seeking a Council seat, has the required qualifications to do. Our Mayor has begun to step up to get those qualifications which he could achieve in another seven years. Together we must continue to keep Paso Robles in a positive position to get better and better.

There are many things happening and many concerns that people are expressing. Many of them are totally beyond the control of our City Council. Some things I can still address through my additional positions and responsibilities in our regional government, Regional Transit Authority or LOSSAN, the management agency of the Pacific Surfliner passenger rail corridor from San Diego to San Luis Obsipo. I also try to influence some decisions at the State and Federal levels of government.

At the moment all of my activity is within the city and the region.

The region is working hard to provide the means by which we can continue to improve our entire transportation network and infrastructure. That effort is pouring money into every jurisdiction in the region including Paso Robles. As the region’s President I’ve approved and signed the documents to deliver millions of dollars to the Paso Robles area including significant projects within our city limits. I’m also in process of completing the 20-year-long Highway 46 East divided highway safety project. My close acquaintance with the leadership of the California Transportation Commission and Cal-Trans administration have been extremely helpful in acquiring over $1 billion in grants to do this work. None of those grants have cost our local taxpayers any money over and above what they were already paying to the State and Federal governments in their normal taxes. What it did was bring a great deal of the tax money you’d already paid back to our area to benefit us.

On the transit front for the region, where I’m also the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, we’ve finally acquired the funds I’ve been fighting for in Washington D.C. to build our new regional headquarters and maintenance facility which should be completed by February 10, 2022. Our current lease on a site that is less than half the size is costing us $7,000 a year more than the loan payments to build the new facility. I signed three of those related documents just minutes ago. Everything is on track for when our current lease expires in February of 2022.

In the City we’re working diligently to reduce costs so that we can stay solvent and still deliver essential services to our citizens. We already have a system in place that lets those who live outside of the city have the opportunity to share our costs whenever they’re making purchases or staying here. They already pick up about 10% of our General Fund costs. Their absence is hurting our ability to give you the best services possible.

We are trying to deliver more and better housing in a responsible manner and in accordance with the law which gives all of us certain rights, including property rights. Some of the decisions in that area of planning and building are very misunderstood and make people angry when the land is being used in a way they don’t personally like. Unfortunately, it isn’t their land and the owner of the land has the same rights they do. As a Council Member it is my job to see that they get to use their rights without abusing them. Sometimes that is a very difficult and tricky part of the job. However, I will continue to do everything I legally can to protect our city and our neighborhoods.

A discussion should take place very soon as to what the best places to cut costs are. Some of our non-essential service areas produce more money than they cost and we have to consider that also. For our essential services we are not allowed to charge more than actual costs. However, those costs have escalated over the years just like everyone’s. In our case, regarding water, we had to upgrade our more than 50-year-old treatment plant to end the millions of dollars of fines the State was beginning to charge us for an inadequate system. The costs and repayment were calculated based upon historic use. After those rates were in place the State stepped in and forced us to reduce the amount we were able to sell by demanding water rationing and escalating the costs to our customers. We are still doing everything we can to keep those charges under control as much as possible.

Many people are very concerned about the way we treat each other. It’s easy to blame government because we never want to blame ourselves. However, the real answers are within ourselves. As government we must continue to provide for the health and safety of all people within our allowed sphere of responsibility. To do this effectively and responsibly we must retain all of the necessary means to do so in a responsible manner. All of us should be acting in respectful ways and be a civilized citizens. If we can do that and see that everyone obeys our agreed upon laws we will come through this in a wonderful way and help lead others to great solutions to the problems of our age.