September 11, 2012 – Today Magellan Strategies, a national public opinion research firm, released results of a survey of 240 likely general election voters in the City of Fillmore, California. The survey tested a variety of community-based questions, including what voters consider to be priorities the Fillmore City Council should be addressing. The survey was commissioned by Communities Building Together, Inc.

“The survey shows that Fillmore voters believe their community and their City Council can do better,” said David Flaherty, CEO of Magellan Strategies. "Fillmore voters desire change in government leadership and how city services are prioritized and provided.” The survey finds that a majority of respondents – across all demographics – are dissatisfied with the City of Fillmore Council. Among all respondents, only 31 percent approve of the job they are doing and 52 percent disapprove. Top issues for voters include the budget, the cost of water, growing the economy, attracting businesses, and creating jobs.

“Clearly voters would like to see Fillmore go in a new direction,” added Flaherty. “A majority, 53 percent, believe the City Council has been self-serving, taking advantage of their positions in power, and acting without any regard for the taxpayers and citizens of Fillmore. In addition, a whopping 78 percent disagree with the City Council laying off and replacing city staff with consultants, thereby increasing the size of the City budget rather than reducing it. More evidence of voter dissatisfaction is that 62 percent of voters believe the City Council has engaged in reckless spending and has done a poor job of managing the city budget. This is going to be a tough year for incumbent members of the City Council.”

The full topline results of the survey are included in this document.

Interviews for this survey were completed using both English and Spanish interviewers. The landline and cell phone sample for the survey was randomly drawn from a Fillmore, California voter file. The survey response data was weighted based upon voting demographics from past Fillmore general election cycles. Interviews were conducted between August 28th and September 3rd, 2012. Three attempts were made to interview each household in the sample. This survey has a margin of error of 6.2 percent at the 95 percent confidence interval. Any questions regarding the methodology of this survey should be directed to David Flaherty. He can be reached at (303) 861-8585 or dflaherty@magellanstrategies.com. For information on Communities Building Together, Inc. contact Roger Campbell at (805) 857-2785 or rognfillmore@aol.com.

About Magellan Strategies
Magellan Strategies offers a wide array of political data products and services to political candidates and organizations. Services include live, automated and online survey research, modeling, microtargeting and predictive analytics, enhanced voter registration databases, voter data analysis, demographic analysis, mapping, and redistricting data and technology consulting. Visit www.MagellanStrategies.com for more information about the firm.

Although it is still a few weeks away the Fillmore Lions Club is gearing up for their “85 Anniversary Celebration” by hosting a recognition of this event on Saturday September 29, 2012 at the Fillmore Historical Society, 340 Main Street. The celebration will be assisted by the Pleasant Valley Lions and Santa Paula Lions Clubs starting with a 5:00-6:30 PM reception and followed by a 6:30 PM dinner. Past District 4-A3 Governor, Chuck Cassy, Ventura Downtown Lions Club, will be the guest speaker. The Fillmore Lions Club was founded on September 29, 1927 and began what would be their eighty-five years of good service to the community of Fillmore.

Members of the Fillmore Lions Club are very visible in the community of Fillmore. For many of us they are most visible with probably five of their most “hands-on” projects; Highway 126 Cleanup, Annual November Enchilada Dinner, Christmas Parade, Fourth of July Fireworks Booth and the May Festival Bingo Booth! Long-time Lions Member, the late Henry “Hank” Carrillo, liked to tell the story of the Highway Cleanup crew meeting up with a customer of a local business along the Highway while the Lions were collecting trash from the Highway. The exchange, as Hank told it was, “It is about time they had you guys payback society!” The customer, as they say, was obviously not from around here, and was assuming the cleanup crew were court ordered miscreants collecting trash from the Highway as a way to payback their debt to society!

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Fillmore’s city manager Yvonne Quiring has resigned her office effective Oct. 1, after three years of service. Her last day of work will be Thursday, Sept. 13.

She is quoted as saying she gave notice to city council members during “the past few weeks” notifying her staff Thursday. Councilman Steve Conaway received notice less than a week ago.

Quiring’s 3-year tenure as city manager has been highly controversial. A year after being hired Quiring faced two open letters of no confidence signed by 32 of 37 city employees.

Quiring is reported to have been hired by the City of Davis to assist Davis City Manager Steve Pinkerton as Assistant City Manager/Administrative Services Director (Human Resources), effective October 1, 2012.

Mr. Pinkerton is reported to have said, “I am thrilled that she was willing to relocate to Davis.”
According to the Davis Vanguard (davisvanguard.com), "The city's press release indicates that she also served as the Deputy Director of the Housing and Redevelopment Department for the City of Stockton. This would seem to be her point of contact with Steve Pinkerton but also a potential connection to that city's bankruptcy."

Conaway and Dean coming into the finish line during a practice run. (Conaway in blue/white leathers).
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Close up of how close the racing is. Conaway leading Dean by inches after 1 mile of racing.
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Christian Conaway traveled to Calgary Canada this past week to compete in the International Gravity Sports Association 2012 Winsport Canada Cup World Championship event. The race was held at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, site of the 1988 Winter Olympics. Conaway races Street Luge and Classic Luge.

The course was 1 mile long and contained 2 sweeping corners and 4 hairpin turns. The course had two speed bumps which also added a level of complexity for the racers. Race speeds exceeded 58 mph.

Conaway qualified with the 4th fastest time down the course in both of his disciplines. In his first heat race while leading the remaining 4 racers Conaway drifted out of a corner and made contact with the hay bales and was dismounted from his luge. He was able to recover quick enough to finish in the 3rd position to allow him to advance to the next round of racing. Interestingly when he jumped back on his luge he did so with the luge backwards and managed to finish the heat to advance to the Semi Finals in which he took 2nd place in the heat.

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With the recent layoff of roughly 50% of Fillmore City employees and the City’s diminished capacity to provide service, the Veterans Memorial Building (VMB) Board is questioning the City’s ability to deliver on the services they need.

The service contract with the City was originally entered into about twelve years ago due to VMB fluctuating employment needs. The facility sometimes needs workers to set up tables, cook in the kitchen and do various task when it is rented out; but bookings are not consistent, making it difficult to maintain employees. The City, at the time of the contract agreement, had full time employees available and could provided most of VMB’s service needs. One City employee, Annette Cardona, is knowledgeable of what a services are needed and what to charge customers. But Cardona may be leaving as an employee at the end of the year, and with only half of the City staff available it is questionable how well the VMB can be serviced.

The land where the VMB stands was donated by the Shields Family and built in 1952 to recognize our veteran’s service. It is a Special District authorized in the California Veterans Memorial Code and has the largest non-sectarian hall/ballroom in Fillmore along with a large banquet room, kitchen, lobby and basement where rifles and flags used for funerals and Memorial Day Parades are stored along with other equipment.

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The Fillmore Unified School (FUSD) Board met on Tuesday to a standing room only capacity. In attendance were members of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) to receive an award along with a representative of the local 4H Clubs and the head of the migrant program who gave a presentation on student improvement during the summer.

Last week the FFA members attended the Buyers Banquet and on Tuesday the FUSD Board presented them with an award for their outstanding achievement at the 2012 Ventura County Fair. In attendance was Salvador Lopez, Ricardo Aparicio, Hailee Smith, Chris Berrington, Brooke Aguirre, advisor Joe Ricards and receiving the award on behalf of the members was Alexus Galassi.

In all, 35 FFA Fillmore students participated this year receiving 31 awards and recognitions, winning first place in every category entered, with the exception of sheep. FFA Member Brooke Aguirre read the names of the other award winners and their categories; Novice Swine: 1st Jaylene Ortiz, 2nd Alexis Rodriquez; Advance Swine: 1st Marc Zavala, 2nd Felicity Zavala, 3rd Ryan Calderon, 4th Yasmine Luna, 5th Andrew Perez, 6th Kaileigh Carpenter, 7th Tina Wheeler, 8th Sierra Blankenship. Replacement Heifers; 1st Sam Wokal, 2nd Macie Wokal.

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