Dear Council Members and City Staff,
Due to the vital nature of our Water and Sewer funding and critical need of our Water and Sewer infrastructure, I ask that Council and the City work to create the following:
1) A committee which oversees all aspects of the Water and Sewer Enterprise Funds and infrastructure similar to a Water Board in terms of public accountability, transparency, financial reports, regular cost allocation studies, and management of infrastructure upgrades and repair;
2) Public presentations every two months which include P&Ls for the funds, infrastructure repairs, infrastructure upgrade timelines and water toxicity reports; 3) A separate website where citizens can look at infrastructure needs, repairs, funding sources, allocation studies and other important water and sewer related documents. An example is here: https://www.sweetwatersprings.com Item number 8, the Status Report on Water and Sewer, is a document which describes Sebastopol’s water and sewer system but does not give any financial information such as the financial health of the Water and Sewer Enterprise Funds or a timeline on needed repairs and how much the repairs will cost. In addition, where is the report that shows how much water Sebastopol has sold to commercial water haulers since July 2024? In addition, it appears that the first billing cycle of the new rates was not done properly.
Ratepayers were over charged by $13,000. It is unclear if the billing system works with the new rate tiers.
This is unacceptable.
Ratepayers need advocates and transparency. Ratepayers need a group of people who are advocates to ensure proper billing, that money is being spent only on water and sewer, that money is collected from commercial water haulers, to mandate that Sebastopol’s drinking water is not toxic, and to make sure that infrastructure is funded and on schedule for timely repair.
As Dante is transitioning to retirement (Thank you, Dante for decades of service!), now would be the time to implement a Water and Sewer Committee. Dante has incredible knowledge of our water and sewer systems. We should have a dedicated group of City Staff, Council Members and Citizens helping to port this knowledge into public information and a work plan.
Now is the time. Don’t wait as Dante is a valuable expert on our water and sewer system.
Thank you, Kate Haug