Pictured above (l-r) City Planner Manuel Minjares and Mayor Patti Walker. Minjares was awarded Employee of the Quarter.
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Pictured above (l-r) Community Services Supervisor Annette Cardona and Mayor Patti Walker. Cardona was Employee of the Quarter for April-June.
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Pictured above (l-r) Ginger Gherardi and Mayor Patti Walker.
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The City Council met July 28th, had many of its questions regarding FEMA flood maps and flood insurance answered by the Ventura County Watershed Protection District, conducted miscellaneous City business, and presented awards to staff.

Staff from the Ventura County Watershed Protection District (VCWPD) provided a presentation which addressed the need for Fillmore residents in certain locations to buy flood insurance before the updated FEMA maps are finalized and go into effect. The report provided updates on the Status of FEMA's Sespe Creek, Pole Creek, and Santa Clara River Flood Insurance Study, FEMA's Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps (DFIRMs), and the District's Levee Certification Efforts for the Sespe Creek Levee. The three main parts of National Flood Insurance Program are mapping (to identify flood hazards), floodplain management (building practices aimed at reducing flood damage), and insurance (reducing the economic impacts of flooding). Flood Insurance Studies are used to develop maps which set flood insurance rates based on potential flood scenarios (specifically, severe floods which are estimated to occur only once in 100 years). Rates are set by location, with higher rates for areas more likely to be flooded. Some mortgage-holders require homeowners to buy insurance if their houses are in high rate (i.e. high risk) locations. A letter of final map determination for countywide DFIRMs was issued July 7, 2009, but the Santa Clara River and Tributaries DFIRM letter of final map determination will not be issued until May 2010. The DFIRMs are legally effective six months after the final map determination letter is issued. Fillmore and VCWPD worked together after the initial maps were issued to use technical evidence to convince FEMA to reduce the projected amount of water flow, reduce the projected flood area (i.e. the floodway), and to re-certify the Sespe Creek levee. The levee was conceptually divided into two parts for analysis and certification. FEMA is expected to re-certify the first part by November 30, 2009. Construction will probably be necessary to enhance the second part of the levee, but studies are ongoing, and the final report including a proposed solution to the levee's alleged deficiencies will not be ready until September 30, 2009. Revised Sespe Creek DFIRMs are expected in September 2009. VCWPD staff explained that flood insurance would be available until the end of 2009 at a reduced rate of $350 per year. Fillmore residents within the designated floodplain might be required by mortgage-holders to pay $1700 per year if they wait to buy insurance and the levee is not certified. Even if the levee is certified, as expected, the price for flood insurance will rise to $850 per year after 2009. The Council directed staff to post a map showing the projected floodway on the Fillmore City Hall web site (www.fillmoreca.com). FEMA insurance experts will be in Fillmore on September 30, 2009, for a public workshop at 6:30 p.m. in the Veterans Memorial Building. Flood insurance is available through insurance companies. CONTINUED »

El Dorado resident David Roegner addressed the El Dorado Rent Control issue at Thursday night’s city council meeting. The Fair Rent and Home Ownership Initiative will be the only item on Fillmore’s November ballot.
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Fillmore City Council Chambers were packed last Thursday, July 23rd, for a Special City Council and Budget Workshop Meeting. Most of the audience was there to hear and comment on the Fair Rent and Home Ownership Initiative impact reports. The Council was legally required to either adopt the Initiative or put it on the November ballot. The atmosphere was tense as audience members whispered to each other about various speakers: “Is he on our side?” At one point, Mayor Patti Walker threatened to clear the room because a few who were apparently in favor of the Initiative were booing while people tried to speak. The Initiative will be the only item on Fillmore’s November ballot.

Manuel Minjares, Assistant Planner, presented the Planning Department’s report on how the Fair Rent and Home Ownership Initiative would impact the General Plan, Housing Element, Zoning Ordinance, vacant land, agricultural lands, traffic congestion, and existing business districts. The City, at the Council’s direction, had hired Management Partners Inc. to conduct a fiscal impact study. Andrew Belknap, Regional VP, and Jovan Grogan, Management Advisor, presented the fiscal impact report at the July 23rd meeting.

The Planning Department’s report notes, “If the initiative serves to facilitate a conversion of the El Dorado Mobile Home Park from rental to resident-ownership, with no age restriction, then it should be expected that traffic will increase as families move into the mobile home park.” According to the Planning Department’s analysis, the initiative would not significantly impact vacant land, agricultural land, open space regulations, or any business district in Fillmore. Minjares explained that the Initiative calls for the creation within the General Plan of a new land use designation, “Mobile Home Park Exclusive”, and would alter the Zoning Ordinance. The Initiative would theoretically allow El Dorado to grow to 562 units (the maximum is now set at 412), but El Dorado currently has only 302 units and it would be physically difficult to add more. CONTINUED »

Our way of life in the “Land of the Free” is becoming less free every day; not because people force their wills upon us, but because we sit back passively and allow it to occur. We as a nation achieved greatness through a system of laws and traditions that encouraged independence, responsibility, morality, diversity, and the ability to succeed or fail according to our own accomplishments. The Founding Fathers recognized that to achieve such greatness freedom of speech was absolutely essential. Those who attempt to control or silence our freedom of expression endanger our basic rights as free men and women.

In the past year we have been treated to some pretty lively debates in the Editorial and Letters to the Editor sections of our local newspaper. Battle lines have been drawn. Sides have been chosen.

Many different opinions have been presented as to who is right and who is wrong. I would submit this to those who question who is right and who is wrong in such situations – it is never wrong for either party to express his/her sincerely held beliefs. In our country we are not required or expected to accept or reject one opinion over another. However, if only one opinion is allowed to be expressed with the opposing opinion silenced, we are deprived as a society from making rational and educated decisions. As Walt Lippman so aptly put it, “When all men think alike, no one thinks very much.” CONTINUED »

Between May 1 and June 30 unknown suspect(s) placed “skimmers” on credit card readers on the gas pumps at Valero Gas Stations in Fillmore and elsewhere. The information gathered is used for fraudulent purposes.
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The Ventura County Sheriff's Department’s Ojai Station Detectives are investigating the use of fraudulent credit cards. Between May 1, 2009 through June 30, 2009, unknown suspect(s) placed “skimmers” on credit card readers on the gas pumps at Valero Gas Stations in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

Criminals have been attaching “skimmers” to obtain account information and create fraudulent cards with the stolen account numbers. The “skimmer” reads all of the account information encoded on the card’s magnetic data storage stripe when swiped through the reader. In this case, the fraudulent credit cards are being used in Los Angeles County and other outlying areas of California and Nevada.

Valero Gas Stations are taking a proactive approach to combating the thefts by conducting visual checks of all the gas pumps throughout the day. When using your credit card at any card reader, look to make sure there is nothing else attached to the reader.

If you believe you might be a victim of identity theft by someone using your credit card, please contact your local law enforcement agency.

Heritage Valley Tourism Bureau will open its new office on July 31st.

The Heritage Valley Tourism Bureau (HVTB) lost a significant portion of its budget, but plans to proceed with marketing as usual by making cuts in staffing and rent. Its mission is to promote tourism in the Heritage Valley, which includes Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru, and Rancho Camulos. In April, the Santa Paula City Council voted to sever its relationship with HVTB by withdrawing financial support. Executive Director Della Reyes said that HVTB is undergoing an identity crisis as it reacts to Santa Paula’s $25,000 cut. HVTB’s fiscal year started July 1st.

HVTB currently has a budget of approximately $42,000, according to Interim President Kathleen McCreary. She explained that Fillmore is contributing $25,000 (Fillmore and Santa Paula had been equal contributors), the Ventura County Redevelopment Agency is contributing $10,000 on behalf of Piru, and the remaining funds come from advertising partners and memberships. Businesses can pay additional fees to become advertising partners and appear in certain advertisements. Reyes pointed out that Santa Paula businesses and organizations have shown that they value HVTB by renewing their memberships. Reyes explained that in a weak economy advertising becomes more, not less, important. The organization has increased its general memberships by at least 10% from last year. HVTB has reduced staff hours and will be moving to a new location.

Reyes’s hours have been cut from 30 hours per week to 18 hours per week. The HVTB office is currently open Tuesday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Reyes is optimistic about the change, but said that finishing all her work in just 18 hours per week is a challenge. CONTINUED »

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

Fernando Cervantes, 44 of Fillmore, was arrested on suspicion of molesting five female relatives under the age of 14, allegedly between 1997 and 2008. Five counts were brought against Cervantes on July 16th in Ventura County Superior Court. A hearing date has been set for August 28, 2009.

Cervantes’ sons Francisco Cervantes, 22, and Oscar Cervantes, 21, both of Fillmore, were also arrested and charged with molesting the female relatives. Francisco is charge with molesting one female relative, allegedly from 2002 to 2008. And Oscar allegedly molested three female relatives from 2002 to 2007. Most of the alleged molestations took placer in the defendants’ home and some took place when the men would visit the victims during the holidays in the Lancaster-Palmdale area.

Fernando Cervantes is possibly facing a sentence of 75 years to life in prison if convicted of the crimes. Some of the victims were molested by all three defendants.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

Date & Time: July 17, 2009, 0630 Hrs.

On July 8, 2009, at approximately 2200 hrs. deputies from the Fillmore Station responded to a shots fired call in the 300 block of Clay St., in Fillmore. When deputies arrived they found that rival gang members had confronted the victim, a known gang member. The rival gang members shot at the victim as he was driving away.

On 7-17-09 at 0630, the Fillmore Special Enforcement Detail with the assistance of deputies and officers from the Santa Paula Police Department and Ventura Police Department, conducted search warrants at four locations in the City of Fillmore and one location in the City of Moorpark. This was in response to the gang related shooting that occurred on 7-8-09. The following persons were arrested as a result of the search warrants:

Valerie Sanchez, 06-07-1981
Charges: 11377 H&S possession of a controlled substance, 11550 H&S UI controlled substance
Juan Perez, 07-20-1986
Charges: 422 PC criminal threats (related to a prior incident)
Miguel Perez, 11-27-1983
Charges: 422 PC criminal threats (related to a prior incident), 11377 H&S possession of a controlled substance, 11364 H&S possession of pipe, 11550 H&S UI controlled substance, 186.22 PC, gang enhancement and a 14601 CVC driving on a suspended CDL warrant.
Ricardo Magana, 04-14-1984
Charges: 12020 PC possession of nunchaku.

Also Martin Gonzales 09-13-1984 was cited and released for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

500 block of E. Telegraph Rd. Fillmore, CA 93015
Date & Time: 07/19/2009 Approximately 3:00 A.M.
Unit Responsible: Sheriff Major Crimes Unit

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department responded to a residence in the 500 block of Telegraph Road reference a report of people fighting and several injured victims at the location. Deputies from the Sheriff’s Department’s Fillmore, Headquarters, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, and Moorpark Stations were dispatched to the call. Responding deputies were confronted with a large crowd and numerous victims. Due to the size of the crowd and large crime scene, officers from the California Highway Patrol and the Santa Paula Police Department responded to assist.

Multiple ambulances and County Fire units were dispatched to treat the victims. Eight victims were transported to four local hospitals and two victims were treated at the scene but refused medical assistance. The identities of the victims and their medical status are not being released at this time.

Anyone having information regarding this crime is asked to call (805) 477-7032.

Anyone wishing report information and remain anonymous can call Crimestoppers at 800-222-Tips (8477). Information resulting in the arrest and prosecution may receive up to a $1,000.00 reward.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

Location: 704 Ventura St., Fillmore
Date & Time: 7-9-09 / 4:30 p.m.
Unit Responsible: Fillmore Station Detectives

(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (W)itnesses, Address, Age
(V)Fillmore Chevron gas station, 704 Ventura St., Fillmore, CA.
(S)Rene Martinez, Santa Paula, 19

At approximately 4:30 p.m., deputies from the Fillmore Police Department responded to a call of a robbery at the Chevron gas station in the City of Fillmore. When they arrived, they learned a suspect, later identified as nineteen-year-old Rene Martinez of Santa Paula, had stolen two 18-packs of beer from the store. When confronted by the store employee, Martinez produced a handgun and threatened the employee. Martinez fled the area in a silver Nissan with three other men. The Nissan was registered to a Santa Paula address.

At approximately 4:48 p.m., officers with the Santa Paula Police Department stopped the suspect vehicle at 12th St. and Ventura St. in the City of Santa Paula. Martinez and three other men were detained during the stop. During the investigation, Martinez was positively identified as the robbery suspect. A handgun was recovered in the vehicle along with the merchandise, which had been taken.

Fillmore deputies arrested Martinez for 211 PC – Robbery and booked him into the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility, Ventura. The other men were not charged and were released.