The CSD Board has postponed the installation of water meters, like the one above being shown last year by General Manager Virgil Koehne, for at least one year in an effort to save residents money.
The board passed the motion 4-1 at the June 17 regular CSD meeting, Director David Piepho casting the dissenting vote, saying that postponing the installation will cost residents more money in the long run. The board will revisit the project in June or July of 2010.
Under the provisions of a new statewide water conservation mandate, all residential properties are to be operating with water meters by 2024. In Discovery Bay, 1,600 of the town’s roughly 6,000 homes have operational meters, and another 300 must be on line by 2010 to meet government mandates. The remaining 4,200 homes must be on meters by 2024.
General Manager Virgil Koehne, however, said he believed the board’s decision to wait on installing the rest of the new meters – despite the 15-year window – sends the wrong message to the public. “I believe that it (postponing the program) says to the community that we don’t care about water conservation,” said Koehne.
“I don’t think we are saying ‘go ahead and run your faucets; we don’t care,’” said Director Shannon Murphy-Teixeira. “I think the message is that we are trying to take care of the people who live here.”
Lakeshore resident Bob Mankin, whose home is equipped with a new meter, said he, like Pipho, believed the postponement of the remainder of the water meters would end up costing residents money in terms of their water bill. “I’m going to save $150 this year,” said Mankin, who lives in the Lakeshore development. “It (the new meter) will pay for itself in a year. Saving a buck today isn’t going to save in the long run.”
Discovery Bay’s residential property owners are currently charged a flat rate for water based on lot size. As homes are converted to water meters, homeowners will receive regular water invoices from the town and will no longer be billed on their tax statements.
In parallel CSD business, the board at the same meeting also agreed to amp up efforts to bring the town’s large water users current on their bills. A large water user is defined as a commercial business or other non-residential user such as a landscaping company or homeowners association. Of the 93 large water users in Discovery Bay, two of the businesses owe a combined total of more than $70,000 in outstanding fees.
“The reason they are seriously delinquent is because when they got their (new) bills, they balked about the high costs, so we went back and spent some time analyzing to see if we did something wrong,” said Koehne. “Since then, one of the users has worked out a payment plan with us and the other has just received a new bill, which they are reviewing.”
In late May, the town issued letters to the last of the 13 large water users targeted for new meters, giving them 30 days to get the meters installed. The users have the option of installing the meters themselves or letting the town install them. Either way, if the meters are not on line by the end of July, the town will install the meters for those users, and bill them for the service.
It is nice to see the current Board taking control of the town and not just keeping their seats warm.
Kudos to the new Board for taking this step.
“Get over it” is right, water meters = water conservation. This decision will cost us more than money; it will cost us the health of the Delta. Discovery Bay West already has these meters and a prudent, pragmatic, and conservative board that represents “all” of Discovery Bay would have followed the GM’s advice and started the phasing in of meters in Discovery Bay proper.
The current water assessment is regressive taxation and I can’t support that.
But I must agree with one thing said here, it is time that the large water users pay their fair share, which they are not doing, and the new board isn’t doing enough to penalize or push this corrective action forward quick enough. It should have been handle long before now. I can’t see how you can cheerlead for a board that allows a single user to owe our town 70,000$ without shutting off the water. I wonder how many bills a resident could go without paying before the town shut off the water.
Maybe all of Discovery Bay should stop paying their respective bills until that 70,000$ is collected.
I would also like to say that placing all the blame on the GM is just flat out playing politics and it’s no wonder those of you (or just one person under different names) placing all the blame on his shoulders do it on the internet, where you can remain nameless and attack from the shadows. Our GM wears far too many hats and does the best he can considering that fact. I would like to see someone wear that many hats and do a better job.
I guess you missed the point. Installing water meters before the state mandated deadline is the responsible thing to do. It also saves the homeowner money in the long run. There are more people than just the GM who recognizes this fact. You are obviously not one of them. The GM has been methodical in some leading edge programs like the sludge drying program and the wetlands. I applaud him for those efforts.
Meters for large water users only come up on the radar recently because of delinquent accounts building up on the couple cases mentioned. If it was an issue before, why is there no record of it being discussed before this year?
I'm glad it has come up and wish it had sooner, but your timelines are incorrect and your comments have the sound of desparation of somebody needing some brownie points. Perhaps if the previous Board wasn't hamstrung with brain-dead, frivolous litigation they could have gotten to more of the town's real business.
Why is anyone you disagree with either kidding or misinformed? Maybe people just have different views based on experiences and beliefs.
The GM has demonstrated his personal agenda to move the homeowners’ water meter program along far faster than necessary while dragging his feet on the large water users. The GM didn't do this on a whim; He's been methodical process about it.
The point is, that the old “Sometimes you need a blowout to know it’s time to check your tires” Board did not take on these issues with the GM; the new Board is doing just that.
That's good to see.
The GM doesn't set policy. Didn't with the old Board and doesn't with the new. Every decision such as this must go to the Board for a vote. "Personal agendas" suggest the GM was just implementing programs on a whim.
A statistically proven fact that water meters result in water conservation as water is billed based on usage rather than flat rate. People will work harder to keep their bill down through effective conservation. This responsible concept is lost on some, apparently.
Hopefully you'll still be here supporting those same Directors when water bills of large users increase by 10-20x and the verbal backlash gets rolling. Restaurants, the marina and the yacht club will come under new financial pressure to raise their rates to their customers.
The old pay me now or pay me later.
The GM's personal agenda has gone on for too long and now the CSD Board is giving the GM and staff direction, the way it should be.
Taking the emphasis away from additional costs to homeowners and onto the large commercial users that have not been paying their way seems like an easy decision, but without the newly elected Directors it would never have happened.
It is good to see Staff work under the direction of the Board rather than the other way around.