Water woes include lack of teamwork
By DANIEL LOPEZ, VIRGINIA HENNESSEY and JIM JOHNSON
Herald Staff Writers
Updated: 01/15/2010 08:40:19 AM PST
A lack of cooperation among agencies and local interest groups to seek sound solutions is to blame for Monterey County's long-standing water problems, said the final report issued Thursday by the 2009 civil grand jury.
"Cooperation is crucial to the success of the multiple, integrated projects required to fix the problems," the report stated. "Monterey County is faced with overpumping on the Carmel River, seawater intrusion, water contamination and severe water shortages," the report stated, adding that old and leaky distribution systems make the problem worse.
The grand jury report takes issue with other institutions and agencies in the county, including state prisons in Soledad, the county's Emergency Medical Services Agency, Natividad Medical Center, the county Health Department, a countywide anti-terrorism group, the city of Pacific Grove and Chualar schools.
The institutions and agencies mentioned are required to respond to the report, but the grand jury has no real power to enforce its recommendations.
Water was a key topic in Thursday's report. The issuance of a cease-and-desist order to California American Water in October by the state Water Resources Control Board, calling for pumping reductions in the Carmel River water supply, heightens the need for implementation of the grand jury's recommendations, the report said. Cal Am is the Peninsula's water purveyor and the river is its primary source.
The grand jury said seawater desalination is essential to making more water available in the county.
Three proposals that involve desalination were evaluated by the grand jury.
The Monterey Regional Water Supply Program is more cost-effective and environmentally responsible than the other two plans; a large desalination plant in Moss Landing and a desalination facility in north Marina, the report said.
The regional project, which would include a desalination plant, recycled water, storage of Carmel River water during the winter and other sources, appears to have the most support among local agencies, the grand jury found.
Cal Am, the Marina Coast Water District and the county Water Resources Agency are negotiating a potential water purchasing agreement under the regional project.
Soledad prisons
For the second year in a row, the grand jury expressed concerns regarding conditions at the state prisons in Soledad. The jury cited overcrowding at the Correctional Training Facility and a lack of vocational and educational programs at Salinas Valley State Prison.
Lynda Dunn, director of the Monterey County Office for Employment Training, said Thursday she has been told 60 to 70 teachers are being laid off at the two Soledad prisons.
The report said visitor conditions are an issue at Salinas Valley, where families are forced to park unsafely on the shoulder of the road overnight to ensure access the next morning.
The jury said both prisons are secure but illegal possession of cell phones by inmates is a continuing problem that could lead to escapes.
Emergency medical services
The jury issued a scathing judgment of county's Emergency Medical Services Agency, saying it was failing in its taxpayer-funded mission to provide training and equipment to the county's paramedics and first responders. The report said the agency is spending a fraction of the money it has collected since a 1988 vote approved a $12-per-parcel assessment for its services.
Of the $1.6 million the agency took in during fiscal year 2007-08, the report states, it spent only $625,000 in training and equipment. It carried over more than $1.8 million to 2008-09.
The jury said the lack of training is straining the agency's relations with emergency responders and educators at Monterey Peninsula College. It found a lack of regard and accountability between the agency and the EMS Council, a group of emergency services representatives and community members charged with oversight.
The jury said the Board of Supervisors was aware of the problems but had not made it a priority to fix them.
The report recommends that the county improve emergency care by putting in place a fire-based paramedic program and establishing a trauma center at Natividad.
Hospital administrators have resisted the idea as too costly. But the jury said the numbers of patients being air-lifted to San Francisco Bay Area hospitals well exceeds the number needed to support a trauma center under state guidelines.
Health care integration
The jury found fault with the fledgling effort to integrate Natividad Medical Center and the county Health Department.
The jury said progress has been slow and cooperation "sporadic" among members of a team coordinating six core integration initiatives that include technological integration of patient information and consolidating management of the county's ambulatory clinics.
The initiatives were developed as an alternative to the proposed merger of the two entities into a Health Services Agency.
The grand jury found the core team missed deadlines on the initiatives with little accountability. The jury recommended the county spend more on technology to integrate patient records so the rest of the initiatives can proceed and that the team set and meet realistic deadlines.
Homeland security
The grand jury called for greater transparency from the local Anti-Terrorism Body, a group funded by the Department of Homeland Security to help plan for and purchase equipment for first responders.
The grand jury found that the group "does not operate transparently in the spirit of California's open-meeting laws."
The report said state guidelines call for the group to be comprised of a public health officer, city and county fire chiefs, a city police chief and the county sheriff.
Its meetings are closed to the public, and though some subcommittee meetings are open, their agendas aren't posted in advance and public opinion is not invited, which the grand jury concluded violates the Brown Act's open-meeting provisions.
After studying whether security might be a concern in opening the meetings, the group decided that the nature of the anti-terrorism body's discussions did not warrant an exemption from open-meeting laws.
Pacific Grove fees
Pacific Grove drew criticism from the county grand jury for its plan check fees, which it said are sharply higher than neighboring cities.
The city should "demonstrate that the building and plan check fees are justified" in keeping with the state attorney general's opinion that fees should not exceed the cost of providing service.
For a 1,400 square-foot home, Pacific Grove's fees are $4,325 for plan checks and $5,766 for permits, a total of $10,091, the grand jury said.
Pacific Grove charges 31 percent more than Salinas, 36 percent more than the city of Monterey and 50 percent more than Monterey County, the report said. The figures were compiled in June.
The report said the grand jury "repeatedly asked for a cost justification," and said the city staff would only say that fees "generate enough revenue to pay for only about two-thirds of the cost of providing services."
Chualar schools
After investigating the hiring and layoff practices of the classified employees of the Chualar Union Elementary School District, the grand jury concluded that the district did not maintain a proper re-hire list.
To remedy the situation, the grand jury told the district to update and maintain accurate records, to comply with the state education code and its own labor agreements, and to rehire improperly laid off employees.
Staff writers Claudia Meléndez Salinas, Julie Reynolds and Lane Wallace contributed to this report.
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