Councilmember Ken Palmer kicked off the council comment
period by reading and then discussing two editorials, one recent and one from
1991, about agreements between the city and the water district.
Palmer referred to the history of the district pushing
Solvang toward the state water project in the early 1990s, which, he said, cost
$50 million and still no one knows if it was a good investment or not.
Now, 18 years later, Solvang is still trying to get its
hands on a drought-resistant water supply, Palmer said. He said he hopes
partnering with the water district to establish new river wells works out, but
that “will not prohibit me from sharing any knowledge I have accumulated since
1991.”
Palmer said he would spend all the council comment
periods for the rest of his term — about 18 months or 36 meetings — discussing
water history, bypassing an offer made by Mayor Jim Richardson to make the
issue an agenda item at a future meeting.
Richardson said the council and water district hosted a
water workshop about the river wells, the public voiced concerns, and now it
was time to move forward amicably for everyone’s best interests.
“We are on a new playing field,” Richardson stated. “We
are going to go forward with this (agreement). We’re going to trust ID1, but
we’re also going to be cautious with any paper work … There will be no more
distrustful comments to ID1 — period — from this dais; I won’t allow it.”
He said the council has heard all the concerns, and now
it needs to move forward to establish the wells.
After the council comment, the council voted to accept
the 2009-10 budget as part of its consent agenda. The
council received its balanced budget on June 8 with a projected total $6.4
million in revenue covering the projected $6.4 million in expenses.
Though some program funding had to be held for the next
fiscal year, Solvang’s budget is sound, and it was even adjusted in
anticipation of the state raid on property tax of $160,000.
Also in its consent agenda, the council voted for the
city attorney to cooperate with the League of California Cities to challenge
the constitutionality of any seizure of the city’s street maintenance funds by
the state.
Councilmember Ed Skytt, who is
the council representative on the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments,
said that group also passed a resolution on June 18 to oppose any attempt by
the state to remove gas tax money from local jurisdictions.
Other
council news
The council heard a report from Solvang Parks and
Recreation Director Fred Lageman who asked the
council to clarify its policy of free usage of the Solvang Veterans Hall.
Currently, the Veterans Hall is offered for free use to local nonprofit
organizations, though some complications have arisen about set up and clean up
costs for large groups and potential “piggy-backing” of other groups utilizing
the free use of the hall.
Councilmember Joannie Jamieson
said her concern about the free use comes from a recent event there by the
American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. She said certain conditions of
free usage of the hall were not followed, and there was alleged alcohol
consumption in the parking lot. She was also concerned about the city losing
money by covering the costs of hall usage for larger groups.
City Manager Brad Vidro said
staff will refine the rules about the free usage and bring the item back to the
council for action in the future.
Reach Lauren Crecelius at
lcrecelius@syvjournal.com.