Bert Rapp
City of Fillmore, Public Works Director

Bert Rapp, Fillmore's long time Public Works Director, has resigned from the City of Fillmore. Below is his resignation letter:

December 16, 2010

Yvonne Quiring, City Manager
City of Fillmore 250 Central Avenue Fillmore CA, 93015

Dear Yvonne;

I am submitting my resignation as the Public Works Director for the City of Fillmore, I request that my last day of employment with the City be February 25, 2011 and I plan to take vacation days from January 24,2011 to February 25th. I am honored to have served the greatest City in all of Ventura County as its City Engineer/Public Works Director for the last 19.5 years. I have accepted an offer of employment with the Ventura River County Water District as their General Manager, they are a small water district serving about half as many customers as the City of Fillmore water enterprise.

What I will miss most about Fiilmore are the wonderful people, individuals that give of themselves for the betterment of the community. People tike Gene Wren who faithfully led young boys to manhood through the Boy Scouts or Scott Klittich who continues Gene's work today. And Sara Hansen who tirelessly works to keep Fillmore clean and beautiful. When Rotary donated the beautiful clock for Central Avenue, Sara Hansen, Bill Dewey and Linda Nunes helped pick rocks to protect the clock and directed how they should be placed so they would look nice. And within a month those rocks saved the clock from a runaway car!

On the west side of town people like Doug Wilhelm work tirelessly clean up litter and graffiti. There are dozens more of these dedicated persons who have adopted their corners of the City and keep them clean and take care of them. In North Fillmore Max Pina works at the police store front bringing peace, stability and hope to the residents. Ralf Reese never stops serving and just recently restored a beautiful 1800's buggy and is helping preserve and restore Rancho Camulus. Can anyone's life be the same once they knew Chappy Morris Senior? He was a very special person. For every person I have mentioned there are a 100 more that are equally special. Fillmore would be a poorer community without the contributions of these faithful volunteers.

One of the most enjoyable things to do in Fiilmore is to walk the tree lined streets and greet the people working in their front yard or relaxing on their front porch. But you better watch out for the traffic jam on the bike paths on warm summer evenings as moms and dads push their baby strollers in the refreshing westerly trade winds that make life so pleasant in Fillmore.

Fillmore has rivers and mountains that physically restrict the size of the town and will help keep it the last best small town in California with beautiful vistas of the mountains and agriculture. I will miss the hard working employees at the City and Fillmore's wonderful citizens.

Very Truly Yours
Bert J. Rapp, P.E.

Raelene Chaney from Grad Night Live addressed the Council in regards to an evection notice sent out by Fillmore City Manager Yvonne Quiring.
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The December 14th City Council meeting with the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Fillmore Redevelopment Agency was standing room only and with the meeting continuing past midnight as item after item was presented. The scheduled agenda included; the use of the Fillmore High School track to Fillmore residents, the bids on the Two Rivers Park baseball diamonds, the swearing in of the new City Council members, the vote by the new Council for mayor and mayor pro-tem, recognition of the outgoing Council Member, Grad Night Live storage space, and the El Dorado Mobile Home Park conversion.

The many in attendance were the El Dorado MHP residents who came to voice their opposition to the proposed Parks conversion. Also a number of the residence objected to the Park becoming an all age park.

The proposed conversion will remain a manufactured housing community, with the existing Residents having the right to either buy their lot or remain and rent their space. Residents who do not exercise the option to purchase their lots and instead exercise the option to continue renting their spaces are protected from economic displacement by statutory restrictions on rental rates after the conversion date. Government Code Section 66427.5 (f) limits the amount of rent increases for Residents that can take place upon conversion. For low income households, the monthly rent may only increase to market levels as determined by appraisal, and then only over a period of four years. These conditions did not sit well with the residents and they questioned much of the legal jargon and its true benefits.

The MHP has 302 spaces, 293 of which are CONTINUED »

Looking for a unique Christmas Gift for an active-duty service member or Veteran? Help support an Eagle Scout project and honor those who have given their service to our country with a brick specially engraved with their name and service branch. Each engraved brick will be placed in Bardsdale Cemetery’s “Walk of Honor” as part of Sean’s Chandler’s community service Eagle Project for Troop 406.

To build this Walk of Honor, Sean and the other Scouts will remove the aging asphalt walkway near the flagpole and replace it with bricks, many engraved with the names of veterans from our community. The primary goal of Sean’s project is to give Fillmore area residents the opportunity to honor those who have served our nation. To complete the project, a plaque will be installed at the base of the flagpole honoring all veterans.

Each brick purchased, will be inscribed with the name of the service member to be honored and can also include the emblem of their specific military branch. Any active-duty or retired service member, living or deceased is eligible to be honored. Honorees can be anyone worthy of tribute and need not have been interred at Bardsdale Cemetery nor have been a resident of Fillmore.

Engraved bricks are 4” x 8” and cost $40.00 each. The proceeds from these sales will be used to help cover the expenses of this project. The deadline for ordering bricks is January 15th, 2011, this will allow time for the bricks to be engraved and installed by Memorial Day 2011. To receive order forms or additional information contact Sean Chandler at 524-5058 or email walkofhonor@gmail.com

www.refresheverything.com/sespeauditorium or text 73774 message 104492. Keep on voting!

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On 12-15-2010, at about 0618 hours, City of Fillmore patrol units were dispatched to an injury traffic collision near the intersection of Central Ave and Ventura Street (SR-126). Patrol unites arrived a minute later and found that a pedestrian was lying on the eastbound lanes of the highway just east of Central Ave.

The preliminary investigation revealed that a 1995 silver Buick Regal sedan, driven by Jose Onofre, 27 years old from Oxnard, was driving eastbound on Ventura Street in the #1 lane approaching Central Ave at about 45 M.P.H. The traffic signal was green for east and westbound traffic.

Pedestrian Jason Respo 57-years-old from Fillmore was walking south across in the west Central Ave marked crosswalk with a red traffic signal for north and southbound Central Ave traffic.

Driver Onofre did not see the pedestrian until the collision. The front of the vehicle collided with the left side of the pedestrian. The impact caused fatal injuries to the pedestrian and Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Exact cause of the collision is still under investigation.

Location: Central Ave and Ventura Street (SR-126), Fillmore, CA
Date & Time/ RB#: December 15, 2010 at 0618 hours / RB# 2010-30200
Unit Responsible: Fillmore Traffic Investigation Unit
(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (W)itnesses Address Age
(Party #1) Jason Respo Fillmore 57
(Party #2) Jose Onofre Oxnard 27
Officer Preparing Release:
Deputy Jerry Peterson
Approved By:
Deputy Jerry Peterson
805-524-2235