Morro Bay, Cayucos Meetings Cancelled
Summary: At a time when Morro Bay and Cayucos, partners under their Joint Powers Agreement (JPA), have been going through one of the most important and biggest controversies in their history — how to replace their jointly-owned Wastewater Treatment Plant — four meetings in May, July, and twice in August were cancelled, denying residents the opportunity to learn more about the facts surrounding the plant's future and what MB/CSD are planning to do to convince the California Coastal Commission that the old, existing plant in Morro Bay should upgraded, and why the Coastal Commission staff has said no way that will happen.
The hub of discussions about community issues in Morro Bay and Cayucos has proven in recent years to be meetings of the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA), which is a partnership between the city of Morro Bay and the Cayucos Sanitary District in the operation and ownership of their Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), located on the shore of Estero Bay in Morro Bay. But what if those discussions were suddenly cut off?
That 50-plus-years-old plant that the state has ordered replaced because of the polluting it does to the Bay, is now the center of the most burning question the two communities face, not only because how much a new plant will cost (no one knows yet) the average person whose home is connected to a sewer line.
But what other invaluable benefits could come from a well-designed sewage plant, like the production of clean, safe water, which promises to be less costly and more reliable than the state water project. Contemporary sewer plant technology is producing real miracles that keep money in the pockets of water and sewer users.
All this and more is discussed, debated, and reported on by the Morro Bay City Council, its city staff, and the board of the Cayucos Sanitary District (CSD) — enabling residents to inform themselves like nothing else could — at the regular monthly JPA meetings in either Morro Bay or Cayucos.
To say a great deal is at stake in what the JPA does about a new plant is a classic understatement. But just as important are the opportunities to participate in those meetings (through public comment), ask questions of those conducting the meetings (Morro Bay mayor Bill Yates or CSD board president Robert Enns take turns), analyze what is being said by the Council, CSD board, and their staffs, and sometimes even setting the record straight so that residents are better able to say what they want in emails, letters, and phone calls to MB/CSD members — and to the California Coastal Commission, which will make the decision on the new plant.
Those opportunities to attend JPA meetings were removed five times over the last seven months — but more importantly three times during the past two months when a momentous decision was pending before the California Coastal Commission about how and where a new plant should be built. (Hearing_Postponed) The critical JPA meetings scheduled as the Commission decision about the plant loomed on the horizon were set for last May 10, July 12, August 9 and August 23, and all were cancelled.
The sewer plant — the much-debated nitty gritty of what the Coastal Commission was going to require and why — was tops on the agendas of many residents who have attended the JPA meetings over the past year as the plant got larger and larger in prominence.
Turns out the Coastal Commission staff issued its highly-anticipated final report on July 27 (which would require the new plant to be built at a different location than the existing plant on Estero Bay — even though MBCSD were and still are determined to see what they call an "upgrade" of the old plant) and that staff report is a sure bet to get the support of the Commission), prior to two JPA meetings in August — two meetings that could have been utilized to debate the report, suggest what MB/CSD could do and hear ideas that the MB/CSD and their staffs were contemplating.
In fact, city manager Andrea Lueker even reported to the Council on July 20 that she had been told by Dan Carl, a top Coastal Commission staff member, that the final Commission staff report would reject MB/CSD's insistence that the new plant be built where the old one now stands. (Upgrade Dead) (Given common staff decorum, what Carl said had to be a sure bet about what the Commission would rule.)
So MB/CSD could have taken advantage of the scheduled August 9 JPA meeting (or scheduled a new one had it already been cancelled) to fill in residents about this revealing development, discuss what the next move by MB/CSD might be, hear what residents felt about it, and maybe, just maybe, hear some valuable ideas about what to do.
But an even more glaring JPA meeting cancellation came when the Commission staff issued its final report on July 27 and MB/CSD cancelled scheduled JPA meetings on August 9 and 12, missing opportunities to reschedule them before August 9 to delve into that final report and allow residents to weigh in to learn more about what it meant.
The "de jure" meeting of the Commission to consider its staff report and rule on what the new plant must consist of was scheduled for August 9 and a special JPA meeting (moving up the scheduled August 9 meeting - remember the JPA meeting for July 12 had been cancelled) could have been scheduled to prepare the community for that historic meeting. But cancellation ruled the day. Or five crucially-important days of cancellations.
Instead MB/CSD filed a long list of criticisms of the staff report and, in order to provide time to respond, the Commission staff requested postponement of the August 9 de jure heading. It was granted. No date or place has been set for the postponed meeting.
Morro Bay city attorney Rob Schultz was asked to comment on the questionable meeting cancellations and responded with legal requirements for such meetings, arguing what the JPA did was legal (which is not relevant to the issue at hand), the decisions to cancel the meetings because, as many staff expressed it, there was "no business to conduct." He referred the request for comments to city manager Andrew Leuker, who said:
"I believe Rob replied quite well and I will add that the last meeting, which I am sure you are aware was a special meeting, was scheduled in order to discuss the results of the Coastal Commission hearing on August 9th. Since the August 9th hearing was canceled and there were no other time-sensitive items, the special JPA meeting was canceled."
But the MB/CSD's long list of criticisms, which triggered the postponement, could have been a prime topic for discussion at a JPA meeting following August 9. MB/CSD criticisms have never been discussed by the JPA, even with September now here. In her response, she invited people to come on in to her office and talk it over one-on-one.
A JPA meeting is now scheduled for Thursday, September 13, at 6 p.m., at the Multi-Purpose Room, Community Center, 1001 Kennedy Way, Morro Bay.
All the cancellations just might generate a few comments at that meeting (if it comes off) from long attendees of JPA meetings.
