Fillmore City Council met October 28th at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. The Council honored Pearl Lee Broughton and the employee of the quarter, heard a presentation on Chloride Control, and prioritized improvements to support downtown businesses.

The Council approved a draft of the City's housing element to be submitted on October 29, 2008. There will be a public workshop explaining the housing element and soliciting public comments on the draft on November 18th. The draft will be under review for 60 days after submission. Modifications are expected. The housing element draft is posted on the Fillmore City website (http://www.fillmoreca.com/) in the Planning Department section.
The United Water Conservation District (UW) and the Santa Clarita Sanitation District (SCSD) presented the Chloride Control Concept. Phil Friess, Head of SCSD Technical Services Department, and Dan Detmer, Senior Hydrogeologist at UW, spoke. Friess explained that the Upper Santa Clara River stakeholders had developed a plan to meet the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board's Chloride Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). The Alternative Water Resources Management (AWRM) plan was based on TMDL special studies and includes requesting localized adjustments to the Water Quality Objectives.

Studies included an Agricultural Threshold Study, a Threatened and Endangered Species Study, an Anti-degradation Analysis, and a Groundwater Surface Water Interaction Model. The Ag study found that avocados were more sensitive to salt levels than strawberries and nursery crops. Avocados can be damaged if chloride levels reach over 117 milligrams/Liter. Studies showed that threatened and endangered species were less sensitive than avocados. Therefore, the SCSD is requesting Site Specific Objectives (SSO) for water quality in the Upper Santa Clara River area between Piru Creek and the Saugus Water Reclamation Plant (WRP). The Water Quality Objectives call for a chloride limit of 100 mg/L. SCSD, with the support of UW, will request a limit of 150 mg/L in the area between the Ventura/LA County line and the Valencia WRP, and will request a limit of 117-130 mg/L in the area (known as "Reach 4B") between the Ventura/LA County line and Piru Creek. 117 mg/L would be the usual limit and the 130 mg/L would only apply in times of drought, when the State water supply would have higher levels of chloride. Camulos Ranch is the only agricultural site within Reach 4B, and it would be provided with a separate water supply if the 117 mg/L limit was breached.

The Regional Board is holding a hearing on the SSO request in December 2008. Some improvements will be made regardless of the decision. The AWRM plan calls for a reduction in WRP chloride production by switching to ultraviolet disinfection methods. It also calls for the use of micro-filtration reverse-osmosis. The AWRM plan includes blending treated discharge water with groundwater and surface water to reduce overall chloride levels. If the SSO request is granted, water will be removed from the Santa Clara River at the east edge of the Piru Basin and returned to the river before the river flow enters the fish hatchery. An alternative plan calls for a brine pipeline from LA County to the Ventura County shore. Projections indicate that the former plan offers many advantages: discharge water would not be dispersed across county lines; river levels would remain high, and the aquifer would remain almost full. Mark Gentry noted that avocados have been suffering under increased salt levels over the past few years, and asked that the parties involved not only act soon, but be careful to ensure that the blending process works well so that the Fillmore area is not negatively impacted. Friess and Detmer assured the Council that Fillmore will benefit from the proposed changes and that Fillmore, which is in the Lower Santa Clara River area, will not be receiving significant levels of chloride from the Upper SCR area in any case. Studies are still in progress, so the Council will not yet endorse the AWRM plan to the Regional Board.
Bill Bartels presented the Council with various options for promoting downtown businesses. Channel 10 is already displaying "Shop Local" slides. Last weekend, the Railroad distributed 1,000 flyers. The Council decided to prioritize several more actions. Three 2-sided banners will be installed by the end of next week on the Railroad promenade, one at the corner of the parking lot. The banners will have arrows pointing to the train/shops/museums on one side and pointing to the shops/services/dining on the other side. There are 22 double-poles on Central Ave. between Highway 126 and Kensington Dr. The Council will spend $5000 to hang banners on ten poles evenly distributed along the way. The Council will spend $40 each to label twenty historic downtown buildings with plaques. The Council directed the staff to proceed with checking zoning, verifying engineering requirements, and developing designs for two 8'x12' panel signs to be installed on private land adjacent to Highway 126. The City hopes to place a sign on a hill east of Mountain View and on land east of Burger King. The signs would be supported by five posts set in concrete and cost $2000 for each sign and $2000 for installation. The signs advertise: Historic Downtown; antiques; specialties; museum; restaurants; winery; train rides; gun shop; services; ice cream; toys. An arrow on the signs will be labeled "On Central". City staff will proceed with a design for a walking tour painted line or footprints on the ground. The design will cost $150. The town kiosk will be upgraded to hold brochures in a weather-proof structure for $3000. The Council directed staff to find a more hidden location for the construction yard. All together the Council allocated $15,250.

Mayor Steve Conaway on behalf of the Council presented a proclamation recognizing Pearl Lee Broughton for her invaluable volunteer service to the Senior Center. She has been volunteering there since 1977, and said, "I have had fun all these years I've worked there."

Mayor Steve Conaway on behalf of the Council commended Acting Fire Chief Bill Herrera by naming him Employee of the Quarter for the April-June 2008 Quarter. Conaway mentioned the increase in firefighting volunteers and CERT program funding. Herrera thanked the Council for its support over the six months, thanked the City for equipment, and thanked the staff for their support. He accepted the award as an acknowledgment of the department rather than as an individual achievement. Four other firefighters were present for the honor. There are 70 firefighters in the department and 66 of them are volunteers, many from out of town.

The Council approved a change order for the River Park project so that a concession stand can be built sooner rather than later. The building is pre-manufactured and must be installed by a large crane. The building is supposed to contain electrical cabinets for the park. Installing it later would probably destroy lights, sprinklers, and disrupt electrical service to the park. The $42,000 change order cost will come out of the project's contingency money.

Traffic Engineer Mark Wessel of Interwest Consulting Group presented a progress report on the City Wide Traffic Study. The report covered only current traffic conditions. Most intersections scored well. The Highway 23 Intersection at the river will improve when a signal is installed. Northbound left turns at the Mountain View and Highway 126 Intersection are problematic, but cannot be fixed until volume increases to Caltrans's specifications. The E St. and Highway 126 Intersection is bad, but does not affect traffic much because there is hardly any traffic from E St. The only current significant problem is the D St. and Highway 126 Intersection. Traffic from D St. is significantly affected, but if volume increases to Caltrans's specifications (potentially as a result of added business park traffic) a signal will be installed. The report is intended to be used as a baseline for the rest of the study, which will include projections based on future development. The report relied on traffic counts from 2006 at some intersections and Fall 2007 on most intersections. The Council's November 25th Agenda will include consideration of whether the report should be updated with January 2009 counts at an additional cost.

Santa Paula has plans to expand into the Santa Paula/Fillmore Greenbelt area. Although these plans were discussed before the expansion was approved by Santa Paula voters, there has not been a meeting between Santa Paula and Fillmore on this issue since the approval, and an agreement has not been reached. Santa Paula has approached LAFCO regarding annexation, but LAFCO's policy is that encroachment into greenbelts requires the involved cities to reach an agreement prior to annexation. In view of recent difficulties in arranging a meeting with Santa Paula, the Council decided to send a letter to LAFCO detailing the cities' history with these plans, and requesting that LAFCO continue to adhere to its policy.

Mayor Pro Tem Cecilia Cuevas had written a letter to the California Department of Housing And Community Development about the potential impact of Measure I. She received a response indicating that Measure I would render the City's general plan internally inconsistant, would substantially restrain development, and would fail to comply with Fillmore's Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) and the State's housing element laws.
There were several public comments. Tom Dawson spoke in favor of Measures H and I. Martha Gentry reminded the Council that the nonprofit Fillmore Historical Society is holding its Fall Home Tour November 9th from 12 to 4 p.m., with a fine arts sale of local artists' work at the Depot. Ray Dressler called for the reactivation of the Vision 2020 committees, and presented a chart showing how much of City salaries is paid as benefits. He said that the salaries and benefits seemed reasonable. Mark Ortega invited the Council and the general public to the Senior Center's Open House, including refreshments and activities, on November 1st from 12 to 4 p.m. The Senior Center Board will be there to receive public feedback. Interim Fire Chief Bill Herrera noted that the Daylight Savings time change will occur on November 2nd. He offered safety advice for Halloween: use make-up instead of masks; wear bright costumes or mark costumes with reflective tape; avoid costumes that might increase the likelihood of tripping; use flashlights with fresh batteries; and be prepared for rain. He stated that children were four times more likely to be run over on Halloween, and that choking was a common occurrence on that night, so parents should review the Heimlich maneuver and check that candy is age appropriate. Scott Lee noted that no costumes will be allowed at Friday's FHS football game. Lee also mentioned the Lion's Club enchilada dinner fundraiser November 1st from 5 to 7 p.m. for $9. For information about earthquake preparedness, see http://shakeout.org.

The City is sponsoring a live broadcast after polls close on election day.

The Council approved an Addendum to the Program/Project Environmental Impact Report to the Business Park Master Plan and introduced an ordinance which would allow for specified types of business to be conducted in Business Park Section 2 without Conditional Use Permits. The ordinance would include pre-approval for light manufacturing in an area of Business Park Section 1.