Morro Bay, Cayucos Keep 'em Guessing

If you attended the joint meeting of the Morro Bay City Council and the board of the Cayucos Sanitary District on June 13, you may have witnessed history.

Unfortunately, none of the members of those two bodies let any one in the audience know it was or might have been a landmark meeting. It could be because none of them knows either. Or has an opinion about it.

However, with a little math, members of the audience could have estimated the cost of the "planning" to date for a new joint wastewater treatment plant at almost $2 million--all wasted.

What seemed clear at the Cayucos Veterans Hall was that once the meeting was adjourned, when another of their meetings would be held--or even whether it would be held--defied prediction.

This involves two neighbors in Morro Bay and Cayucos that have been meeting and working together for years under their Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) and who own and operate the present old sewage plant on the shores of Estero Bay in Morro Bay. They started out planning a new wastewater treatment plant about seven years ago and now each of the JPA partners may be going alone--if state officials allow it.

The "go alone" tact has been emerging slowly over the past three or four months (See: WWTP) but now — after the June 13 meeting — predicting when or whether they would meet again may be futile.

Toward the end of the meeting, some members of the audience saw what appeared to be happening and appealed for information.

"You have not addressed whether you are going to work together," Betty Winholtz, a former Morro Bay City Council member herself, told the Council and Cayucos board.

Richard Sadowski, a former employee of the Cayucos district (See: Guns) added, "Are you on board or not? Are we going to work together or not?"

Both the Council and the Cayucos board have hired consultants to develop preliminary plans for two separate wastewater treatment plants, which Morro Bay now calls a "water recycling facility" because, apparently, its main value would be to develop large quantities of water for use to invigorate the city's wells, which would provide the community's residents with an abundance of reliable and relatively low-cost water. Robert Enns, the chair of the Cayucos board, has said publicly that Cayucos doesn't need the water. The community has four privately-owed water wells.

One member or the audience on June 13, Marla Jo Bruton, wanted more regularly scheduled Morro Bay/Cayucos meetings "to keep the public informed."

The meeting turned out to be dominated by a discussion over whether the two bodies would continue to meet together monthly, as they have for years, or move to holding meetings quarterly or when the issues call for a meeting. The discussion stemmed from a staff report, which said: The JPA (agreement) "also states that either Governing Body may call a special meeting of the governing bodies of CAYUCOS and MORRO BAY on two (2) days written notice. While special meetings have been held over the years, they have been extremely difficult to schedule due to the large number of people (both elected officials and staff) required to have a quorum and staff the meeting."

Typically it has taken at least two weeks to schedule a special meeting. While staff appreciates that JPA meetings are an important avenue for both receiving public comment and providing a forum for information pertaining to the planning and development of a new Water Reclamation Facility, they also recognize that JPA meetings are not the only conduit for informing the public on these matters. Development of the new WRF is a regular topic at both City Council and Sanitary District Board meetings.

The City attempts to provide timely updated information on development of the new WRF on the City web site. In addition, there will also be public workshops and outreach associated with this on-going project that will provide knowledge and insight into the process.

Conclusion

Following discussion and consideration of this item, the Council and Board provide direction to staff.

With no definitive direction provided for the two staffs by the Council and Cayucos board, Council member Noah Smukler seemed to sum up: "Let's keep the JPA meetings dates monthly, but may have to go to quarterly" There was no vote — but also no objections — so it may or may not work in the future.

Belted Kingfisher Image on Banner by Cleve Nash