Gold Coast Champions
Approximately 30 young men, ages 6 to 14 years, filled the council chamber Tuesday night to receive a Proclamation, presented by Mayor Patti Walker, in recognition of Fillmore Youth Football League’s winning season. The boys are all part of the 2009 Gold Coast Youth Football Champions. Coaches Ram Medina, Val Pillado, John Ortiz and John Grove were present for the honor; Eddie Ortiz was not present.

Boys & Girls Club Donations
Also, a presentation of donated checks was made on behalf of the Santa Clara Valley Boys & Girls Club. Interim Chief Executive Officer Sheila Tate thanked the community for their efforts in raising funds for the Club, “The Boys and Girls Club Board, staff and members are deeply touched by the generosity of the City employees, Cops Running for Charity and the Ventura County Sheriff's Association. We are working hard to provide critical services to the children of this community and we appreciate the confidence and commitment that the City staff and Sheriff's Department have shown by their generous contributions. This is a great community and we are proud to be a part of it.”

Check amounts totaled $2,350; $500 from Cops Running for Charity, $600 from the City of Fillmore employees and City Council Members; and $1,250 from the Ventura County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.

Housing Element
Community Development Director Kevin CONTINUED »

FUTA / CTA / NEA Memo dated February 17th, 2010.
Bargaining Update #3.
In preparation for bargaining, the FUTA bargaining team examined the district documents that they submitted to the county. The team also poured over the detailed budget analysis provided by CTA. Our analysis shows a very different picture than the information that has been presented by the district.

One of the sound bites from the district site presentations is that FUTA is over 70% of the budget. While we recognize that salaries are a large portion of the district budget and that certificated is the largest employee group, we can not find any information that supports this claim. Our budget analysis shows that salaries for our bargaining unit are 43% of the budget. When we include statutory payroll benefits and health and welfare benefits for our bargaining unit, this equals approximately 58%.

We plan to meet with the district to begin negotiations on Tues Feb 23. Pertinent financial information has been requested from district. In order to represent our members at the bargaining table, it is imperative that we have all necessary financial data provided in a timely manner. Repeated requests have been made for documents including the three page document Mike Bush presented at the Feb 2nd board meeting during the budget update. Over the past two weeks, four requests have been made for this data. The district has failed to cooperate. FUTA has filed a grievance and is currently working with CTA legal services to file an Unfair Labor Practice since this is a clear violation of the law under the Educational Employment Relations Act.

We work for a non-profit organization. Fillmore CONTINUED »

Fillmore Unified School District

The District and FUTA teams met today. The District proposed to use the session to respond to FUTA’s many data requests, and to provide important information about how the ongoing state fiscal crisis has impacted the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and the 2010- 2011 school year. By law, districts are required to certify solvency for the current fiscal year and the next two fiscal years.

The District asked to begin negotiations on two time-sensitive items immediately:
Shortening the instructional year by 5 days, beginning in 2010-2010 with a corresponding 5 days of per diem reduction of the salary schedule. FUTA’s share would provide $390,659 in savings in 2010-2011; and

Modifying health coverage to provide that beginning in 2010-2011, the District will pay the cost of the lowest HMO single, two party, or family health plans. PERS now offers an alternative plan with 100% alignment to Access Plus, meaning no additional employee cost, no change in plan design and no change in doctors. FUTA’s share would provide $205,496 in savings in 2010-2011.

If these savings can be negotiated soon, CONTINUED »

Deputy City Manager Bill Bartels

Deputy City Manager Bill Bartels, submitted a letter of resignation to Fillmore’s new City Manager Yvonne Quiring, Monday.

In an interview with the Ventura Star Bartels stated that he had been considering the move for more than a year. Reflecting on his appointment to deputy, he thought it “the highest honor to have been paid in terms of municipal government [having] support of the council during that transition period.”

A consultant to the city for 14 years, and deputy for nearly three, Bartels was appointed interim city manager following the resignation of City Manager Tom Ristau last year.

Bartels also stated that his time as deputy “has been an incredible, amazing experience. It reaffirms my belief in municipal government.” He also stated that he “hoped that my service has provided stability and continuity during this period of change.”

He had high praise for the city’s new city manager.

Bartels has accepted a job offer to teach music part time, and will be busy managing the family ranch in Bardsdale which they have farmed for more than a century.

Both City Manager Yvonne Quiring and Fillmore Mayor Patti Walker expressed their gratitude for Bartels’s work, Walker remarking that she appreciated his “stepping in to the thankless job of interim city manager."

Once a Marine always a Marine was never more true than it was on Friday, February 12th at Britt Park in Piru at the meeting of the Piru Petroleum Club! I was invited to the meeting by Jerry and Lynda Edmonds to represent the Fillmore Gazette because it was a special day for not only the Piru Petroleum Club, but also for the 1st Marine Division Association and the Bodfish Chapter. As a veteran Marine it was also a special day for me and I was honored to be present!

Today marked the first time the 1st Marine Division Association's Bodfish Chapter has met at a different location in over 40 years when the Chapter was formed by the late John Loomis and approximately five other veteran Marines in the 1960's! The 1st Marine Division Association is made up of active, retired and veteran Marines and Fleet Marine Force (FMF) Navy Corpsman. The Bodfish Chapter was at their first Campout, of what is hoped to be the first of many future Campouts at Britt Park.

The Bodfish Chapter Campouts began in the 1960’s at the CONTINUED »

The day after a heavy winter rain, the Sespe Oil field is shown steaming from an underground “hot spot”, a thermal anomaly, according to Ron Oatman, spokesperson for the Ventura County Fire Department. This picture was taken January 23rd by photographer Jeff Muth. Geologists and firefighters have surveyed the area, located in the Sespe Oil field, an active landslide zone with a history of shifting for more than 60 years. Pockets of gas, tar and oil lie several hundred feet below its cracked surface. Cracks along the landslide’s slope allow oxygen to enter the earth, and those natural hydrocarbon materials (gas, tar and oil) to “seep out” of the fine-grain shale. Underground combustion is a possible result, and could be as deep as 100 feet. Since 1987, high heat levels have been recorded in the area as many as five times. “Hot spots” are not uncommon in areas around the world with high concentrations of hydrocarbons. Temperatures have been registered in the low 800’s, about a foot below the surface. Firefighters have cleared brush, and cut a fire line around the area as a precautionary measure. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management owns the acreage (near the Sespe Oil Field), and leases it to Seneca Resources Corp. The rugged, steep terrain is devoid of buildings and equipment, and gated off from public access. The 3,000 acre Sespe Oil Field, producing nearly 50 million barrels of oil since its discovery in 1887, contains more than 300 oil wells, of which 210 are active.

School board member David Dollar was presented “the Power of One” award at Tuesday’s meeting.

FUSD Board President Tony Prado announced at Tuesday's, February 16 Board Meeting, that David Dollar was selected as this month's Power of One honoree for his seven and a half years of service to the Fillmore Unified School District.

Prado presented Dollar who is retiring as a School Board Member March 1, 2010, with a silver clock encased plaque. “Thanks for all your time and effort you put in,” praised Prado.

Dollar served on the board from December, 2002 to 2010. Prado said Dollar's successor will be appointed to complete his term until November's election. Applications are being accepted for the position until March 1 at 4:30 pm. Dollar replied, “Thanks to the community for this opportunity. We have some very strong administrators from the top down.” He specifically mentioned Superintendent Jeff Sweeney, Assistant Superintendents Katy Hadley and Mike Bush along with Bev Jones, Human Resources consultant, as well as the rest of the board members.
In light of the current state and local fiscal crisis the district and teachers have agreed to reopen negotiations. Theresa Marvel, President of the Fillmore Unified Teachers' Association questioned the board concerning the districts decision to hire an attorney. “It is the prerogative of the board to have or not to have an attorney for advice,” said Prado. Items in the talks include salaries, and extra pay, health benefits for retirees, early retirement, class size, summer school, salary schedules and extra pay assignments.
School Board member Liz Wilde reported that she attended a collaboration meeting between Fillmore Middle School and High School instructors. She sad they exchanged ideas and methods of instruction techniques. “I was pleased to see the collaboration discussions,” she said.

Superintendent Sweeney said that the district has learned that the Piru School Charter proponents have CONTINUED »

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Fillmore, CA - On February 9, 2010 at approximately 11:15AM a severe weather system packing intense periods of rainfall and thunderstorms passed over the City of Fillmore resulting in a period of concentrated rainfall and treacherous lightning conditions rarely experienced in the Santa Clara Valley. Over a three hour period approximately 6 lightning strikes touched down in Fillmore, two of which occurred in residential areas.

The two lightning strikes that impacted the City of Fillmore occurred simultaneously striking a 480 Volt Edison power pole located at A Street & First Street and a 50-foot palm tree located in the 1000 Block of Sespe Avenue. The strike that occurred in the area of Sespe Avenue was believed to be a “positive” and more powerful strike resulting in both a shockwave and transfer of approximately 1 billion volts through the tree into the ground and surrounding structures. Force from the strike shattered neighborhood windows and damaged a block wall laced with rebar. Palm frowns from the tree were found nearly 150-feet from their origin after being jolted with electricity. No further injuries or damage was reported at the conclusion of the incident.

The last documented lightning strike to occur within the City of Fillmore was in 2000 when a palm tree located in the 800 block of North Fillmore was struck by lightning and caught fire.

Fillmore residents are reminded to seek refuge during inclement weather and let this serve as a reminder that Californians are susceptible to the same dangerous weather conditions many other states experience on a very regular basis. These conditions are rare, however they are real and are armed with the potential to injure citizens and damage property.