Pre-meeting: Willits + Brooktrails
Groundwater | Water bills | ALL pre-meeting | Gerald Ford
Tan oak and redwoods
It is good for your health to inhale and breathe in the earthly musk of a redwood biome.
Steep ground and darkness beckons—
This snapshot taken on the edge of Ohl Redwood Grove in Brooktrails could be anywhere.
Coast redwoods, known to dendrology buffs as Sequoia sempervirens and the tan oak tree known scientifically as Notholithocarpus densiflorus could be two of the Redwood Belt’s most important members.
For those of us who are able, we are blessed to be able to walk among such wonders of the universe as a redwood forest.
Sunday, April 10, 2022
NEWSBOY contents
City Council pre-meeting: Groundwater use plan
Brooktrails pre-meeting: Disputed water bills
Presidential quote
Hello readers and welcome new subscribers!
Find your briefing in this edition of what is happening when Willits and Brooktrails meet this week.
A document that is supposed to govern the city’s groundwater system is the big item coming from City Hall.
Brooktrails has no substantial policy decisions on the agenda unless you are one of the parties arguing over water bills.
—Zack Cinek
City business
WHAT: City Council Meeting
WHEN: Wednesday at 6:30 PM
WHERE: https://meet.goto.com/710403773 or 1 (408) 650-3123 Code: 710-403-773
Willits City Council
Council members will consider a renewal of remote meetings for another 30-days.
Council members may discuss this matter as they did last month, but there was no hurry then to rush into in-person meetings.
A salary schedule for city employees and raises for swimming pool staff is also up for approval.
Building Official Davey Bowles will present council members with a recommendation that they adopt a resolution that says they intend to adopt a future ordinance to begin enforcing Senate Bill 1383.
…SB 1383, California’s short-lived climate pollution reduction strategy became law on January 1, 2022. The City of Willits received a five-year waiver on January 2, 2022 for many of the requirements. The purpose of this Resolution is to notify CalRecycle of where the City of Willits is not in full compliance with SB 1383 potentially alleviating the City of violations or fines. The Resolution also announces the City’s intent to adopt an ordinance in the near future.—City of Willits
Groundwater system—will it pass?
Going back to last fall, the city was set for a hearing to approve environmental documents for its groundwater system.
That hearing was then postponed by the city with two changes to the project in response to concerns:
A well containing arsenic was to be stricken from plans.
An operational use plan would be written.
The city now has an operational use plan and the project documents no longer include the well with arsenic going into Wednesday’s meeting.
As it is permitted by the state, the well can be used for up to 400 acre-feet annually or about 130 million gallons, a report from Consulting City Engineer Rod Wilburn stated.
That figure is about 10.9 million gallons monthly.
The city says that it will test for arsenic quarterly, more frequent than testing every three years like the Division of Drinking Water requires.
Records show that a neighboring well taken out of the project contained arsenic and a city-operated well on Commercial Street where untreated water is sold also contains arsenic.
The groundwater system located on the valley floor is a second water supply for the city.
Willits’ regular water supply comes from reservoirs.
Willits’ operational use plan would outline under what circumstances the city can turn on the groundwater system.
Emergencies when reservoir water is at risk.
During annual water line flushing.
When maintenance work is happening.
Testing and exercising of groundwater equipment.
Supplementation of reservoir water in event of a major fire.
What the report is saying is that Willits’ use of the groundwater would, in theory, be held to the 400 million gallons of “estimated annual production” unless an emergency required more.
The plan at this time does not identify a specific threshold for when reservoir levels drop to a certain level the system would then be used, for instance.
Groundwater monitoring is also part of the document.
The city plans to work with the Mendocino Resource Conservation District which manages Caltrans’ land holdings set aside for mitigation of the Willits Bypass.
THINK ABOUT IT: In one section of the operational plan the city talks about when they would use the system—meaning emergencies and maintenance related needs.
In the next section of the document, the city talks about how much volume the project is allowed—400 million gallons.
The city’s annual consumption or production of treated water from its reservoirs was 693 acre-feet in ‘21, 718 acre-feet in ‘20 and 818 acre-feet in ‘19 a chart from the city stated.
To compare, Willits sold 11 million gallons of water in 2021 to water haulers from a well on Commercial Street, records obtained from the city stated.
Previous coverage:
Brooktrails
WHAT: Board of Directors
WHEN: Tuesday at 7 PM
WHERE: 24860 Birch Street and remotely at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7794192028 or 408-638-0968 Code: 7794192028#
Brooktrails Board of Directors
Directors will hear an appeal regarding water service discontinuation at 1759 Hawk Lane and 1861 Primrose Drive.
The cases don’t have much in common except that the property owners are seeing water use driven up by others and not themselves personally.
So it says in write-ups attached to the agenda.
A resident of 1759 Hawk Lane refuses to pay for a spike in water use that occured during a time when he and his wife were in the hospital.
On Primrose Drive, water service was shut off and a resident of that address is asking for it to be turned back on.
However, the owner of that property who has apparently paid the water bill before, says the tenant is a squatter.
You should know…
On last meeting’s agenda, the district talked about revenue for the fire department.
In summary: Fire department margins are tight and money from the county unreliable or absent.
Board members gave direction for the township to begin drawing up a new or increased assessment for the fire department.
At that time, the proposed amount of fire tax would increase by $51 to $150, according to a report from the district manager.
Board member Ralph Santos said that many retired and fixed-income people living in Brooktrails are feeling the rising cost of living at the grocery store and gas pump.
“Unless they change…they are not going to go for next to $51 on property tax,” Santos said.
In addition, a public hearing for a garbage rate increase is set for June 14, 2022.
Solid Waste of Willits cited the price of diesel fuel as its reason for needing a 1.98 percent rate increase.
—Revisit these matters in “pre-meeting coverage” published March 21.
Presidential quote
38th US President Gerald Ford
August 9, 1974
Swearing-in speech
Even though this is late in an election year, there is no way we can go forward except together and no way anybody can win except by serving the people's urgent needs. We cannot stand still or slip backwards. We must go forward now together.
NEWSBOY
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Mailing address: 75 N Main ST #121, Willits, CA 95490
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