A stabbing took place on Sunday, September 16th at a home in the 800 block of Hume Drive, Fillmore. At approximately 1:50am a 19-year old man engaged in a fight with an unknown partygoer and was stabbed on the right side of his abdomen. He was taken to Ventura County Medical Center with minor injuries. The victim is not cooperating with authorities, and deputies are searching for the stabbing suspect.

Fillmore Unified School District

This fall semester a number of Fillmore Unified School District students have a better understanding of algebra and geometry due to the success of the Math Bridge Academy (MBA) offered this summer. The eight classes, held at Fillmore High School (FHS) June 13th thru July 11th, were designed to prepare grade 6-12 students with the math skills needed to succeed academically and be better prepared for the work place.

Jennifer Weir, Summer School Principal, presented the accomplishments the participating 199 students achieved. Mary-Allyn Garcia, one of the participating teachers who teaches 5th grade at San Cayetano, addressed the Fillmore Unified School Board with what she felt was achieved commenting the summer session “….gave me an opportunity to see where the student were going….by the end we saw everything come together.” Jeremiah MacMahon, a FHS geometry teacher who also taught at MBA, added that the students who participated are doing very well and MBA was a huge help for those student that had repeated the math classes. There was a total of eight teacher and three student tutors who made up the MBA program. Raquel Aguilar, one of the student tutors, said everything was well prepared and she received all the supplies needed. Marlene Carbajal, also a student tutor, said she felt like a role model to the students and that tutoring helped her keep her own math skills sharp.

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A 39-year old Oxnard man died Monday in a fall while painting wind machines in an orchard in Bardsdale. The accident occurred at 6:15am near the intersection of San Cayetano Street and Pasadena Ave. Jose Romero was pronounced dead at the scene due to blunt force trauma

The September 11, 2012 Fillmore City Council open meeting began with recognition of those who put the extra effort needed to keep the Aquatics Center in proper order, a recap of Public Safety’s Annual September 11th Observance and Drug Enforcement Agency Take Back Day. Other agenda items included a report from the Police Chief, a proposed winter closure of the Aquatics Center and announcement of the new City Attorney. But what was of greatest concern to many of Fillmore residents was the abrupt announcement by the Council that City Manager Yvonne Quiring has resigned and the Finance Director will also be leaving in a few weeks. Council Member Steve Conaway was not in attendance.

Two important staff positions are being vacated in the coming weeks with the timing less than two months before the November 6th election. Three City Council seats are up for election and those elected will need to get up to speed quickly, making this a bad time for a departure of these two vital positions.

Quiring, who served as Fillmore’s City Manager for three years, will be leaving to take a job as Financial Director and Assistant City Manager in the City of Davis. Quiring gave three weeks notice of which two weeks are paid vacation and will be starting in Davis on October 1st. Financial Director Glenda Jay has chosen to retire and will be leaving on November 3rd. Jay explained her departure is due to concerns that she secure her retirement which could be effected by the November 6th election. She believes the tax initiatives on the ballot will fail and as a result it would have a negative impact on her retirement.

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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."