Scott Carol, Principal of Sespe Elementary, presents Sespe Cafeteria Supervisor Lou Hoover, also known as Grandma Lou, the Classified Employee of the Year.
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Migrant Parent of the Year Maria Ramirez, Ramirez was ill, but her daughter accepted the plaque in her honor.
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Migrant Student of the Year for FHS Senior Eduardo Gomez.
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Tuesday's Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) Board Meeting was ceremonious with awards handed out to staff and students. Awards included: Migrant Student of the Year, Migrant Parent of the Year, Administrator of the Year, Classified Employee of the Year, Student of the Year, Student Representative Recognition and Celebration of Migrant Speech and Debate Students and Coaches.

FUSD Board Member David Wilde presented Migrant Student of the Year to Fillmore High School (FHS) Senior Eduardo Gomez for his community involvement and exceptional leadership. Gomez, who participates in numerous sports including football, soccer, basketball, track and swimming, is also a member of the Police Explorers. He volunteers during events such as the Speech and Debate Tournament along with participating in activities like Family Conference, Engineering, Science and Technology Conference and State College Day. He is active in his church and does all this while maintaining a high grade point average. He plans to enter college and study Criminology after he graduates.

Migrant Parent of the Year honors went to Maria Ramirez. Ramirez is a member of the Migrant Parent Advisory Committee and Vice President of EIAC along with being a member of the Sespe School Site Council. Ramirez volunteers in her daughter's classroom helping organize supplies and this year she was a judge for the Migrant Speech & Spelling Tournament. Ramirez was ill and could not be there to accept the award. Her daughter accepted the plaque for her.

Administrator of the Year honors went to District Office Director Carol Barringer. Barringer has worked with FUSD for over 33 years starting as a teacher at Piru Elementary for 20 years, then Piru Principal for six years and Principal at Mountain Vista Elementary for three years; and finally District Director for the last six years. Barringer who lives in Santa Paula also has a daughter who also works for FUSD.

Scott Carol, Principal of Sespe Elementary, presented Sespe Cafeteria Supervisor Lou Hoover, also known as Grandma Lou, the Classified Employee of the Year. Each school day Hoover prepares the meals for 550 students and was honored for her ability to get things done.

The outgoing Student CONTINUED »

The Bardsdale Cemetery will hold it Memorial Day Ceremony on Monday, May 27th at 11AM.

Featured speaker this year is Carlos Martinez of Fillmore. Carlos has lived in Fillmore since 2007. He has done 2 tours of Iraq and a tour of Afghanistan. He is a graduate of Santa Clara High School where he played football. He joined the Army in 2004.and is presently a Sergeant, E5, When he is not deployed Carlos volunteers with Boy Scout Troop 406 and has helped them place the flags at the Cemetery.

The Rev. Bob Hammond will give the Memorial Service, special music will be provided by the Bardsdale Methodist Church choir.

Also assisting in the ceremony will be VFW Post 9637, Boy Scout Troop 406, Cub Scout Troop 3400 and Bob Thompson. The Boy Scouts will put out the flags on Friday, May 24th and they will be picked up by the Bardsdale 4H on Tuesday, May 28st.

The Board of Trustees of the Cemetery District: Scott Lee, President, Lynda Edmonds, Secretary, Rita Rudkin, Gabriel Asenas and Dick Diaz would like to invite the community to this special event.

Stephen R. Stuart and Dave Burkhart discuss sewer bill payment options with council Tuesday night.

The Council is wasting little time in filling the vacant seat left by resigning Council Member Brian Sipes. They will be accepting applications for the City Council seat this week. The deadline to turn them in the application is May 29, 2013 at noon. A staff report will be written up and a decision by the Council will be made at a meeting on Friday, May 31, 2013.

There were less than 10 people in attendance at Tuesday's Fillmore City Council Meeting, a surprise considering an agenda item that could have a big impact on most City residents and businesses. That item was a workshop about placing future sewer service changes as an assessment on the tax roll for collection instead of being billed each month. The Sewer Ad Hoc Committee spent a significant amount of time on possible ways to cut costs and came up with a range of different ideas. The billing change was one idea proposed in an effort to help the City's cash flow and cut the drain on City staff, by eliminating monthly notices or water shut offs, which require City staff work hours. "The big issue," according to Stephen R. Stuart, Fillmore Building Official and Code Enforcement Officer, "is the unpaid service charges are a burden to the rest of the paying customers."

Former Mayor Roger Campbell CONTINUED »

The City Council has reached a legal settlement for the recovery of delinquent water and sewer bills owed from Orange Blossom Villa and Fillmore Convalescent Center---businesses operated by former Council Member Eduardo Gonzalez and his wife. The issue has been one that has frustrated the City Council as Gonzalez continued to face mounting delinquencies on his account, yet the City Council was sensitive to turning off water service to many elderly residents who lived at the facility and over 100 employees who would likely be unemployed if the business were to be shut down due to a lack of water and/or sewer service.

The settlement, agreed to by the City Council at Tuesday night’s meeting, was reached with the owner of the properties, Kenneth Dunton as Trustee of The Kenneth V. Dunton Trust, who in turn, leases the properties to Gonzalez for the businesses. Dunton told the City that he had been unaware of the delinquencies until the City brought it to his attention a few months ago. The agreement calls for Dunton to make an immediate payment to the City of $123,776.08 to cover all City billings that had not been paid by Gonzalez for water and sewer service through April 30, 2013, and that Dunton would accept responsibility for all water and sewer fees from May 1, 2013 for the Trust and for an anticipated new lessee for the property. Dunton had proposed, and the City accepted, that the City waive late penalties and interest accumulated on the account similar to an “amnesty” program that the City provided to all local residents and businesses earlier this year for those who were delinquent and wished to immediately bring their accounts current. For Dunton, this represented a waiver of $80,288.38 in penalties and interest, although all of the City’s “hard costs” are recovered by the City in the agreement. Additionally, under the terms of the agreement, Dunton will pay $2500 to the City to recover costs incurred by the City in the collection process.

“The City Council is pleased to have this issue behind us,” stated Mayor Rick Neal on behalf of the Council. “It is an issue which we all felt strongly needed resolution, yet there was a recognition that Mr. Gonzalez did not have the personal resources to fully pay what he owed to the City, and we had a major concern over the possible relocation of some of our most vulnerable residents if we forced the convalescent facilities into a possible bankruptcy. We greatly appreciate Mr. Dunton stepping in to offer a resolution to this dilemma. It brings to a closure one more issue that this City Council has been tackling on our road to economic recovery, and I am hopeful of other financial issues being favorably resolved in the near future.”
Rigo Landeros
Acting City Manager

Grad Nite Live had its 'Giant Yard Sale' which netted us $834 . We now will continue to sell our "Tri-Tip sandwiches, chips and a soda at SUPER 'A' MARKET (available week-ends only) The seniors are selling the tickets now until the 7th of June - Graduation is the 13th of June. We will be having a CAR WASH (watch for the date) also we will be selling LEIS at the Festival. We are $8.000 short, and the checks have to go out by the 25th. help if you can. thanks Mrs Chaney.