Support for Mel was Great
Thanks to everyone who helped with the barbecue for Mel Brenneise on April 11. We did wonderful and were sold out by 1:15, 2 hours before we expected to finish.
Thanks to all of the volunteers from the Morro Bay Police Department and Calvary Lutheran Church of Morro Bay. The community support for Mel was unbelievable.
Mel and Georgia are so humbled and grateful for the so many friends, family and others that came out to support them.
Pastor Jim Berg and Calvary Lutheran Church of Morro Bay
Doing the Water/Sewer Math
Responsible government requires an analysis of costs versus money saved. In the case of water treatment for Morro Bay, the projected costs for a water treatment plant now, prior to bid by responsible contractors, has been stated to be as little as $75 million, to as much as $120 million. These costs, of course, would have to be paid by those 6,500 or so users of water and sewer treatment facilities in Morro Bay and Cayucos.
We are asked to consider a $75 million project in order to save 850,000 gallons of wastewater — assuming that it will be just as potable as other current sources. That amount, 850,000 gallons is actually 2.6 acre feet.
Thus, assuming that state water is available at $1,600/acre foot, the assumed $75 million treatment plant would “save” (2.6 acre feet x $1,600 per acre foot), or $4,160 per day.
Doing the math of the daily cost of a treatment plant, including an assumption that the plant can be built for the lowest number of $75 million (all projections here use that number; if the actual cost goes to $120 million, all projections would have to increase by roughly 40%), interest at 2% from the State of California, and a 30-year amortization or pay back, the cost of the treatment plant is approximately $15,200/day.
Is it prudent to spend roughly $15,000 per day (or more) in order to save roughly $4,000 per day?
Stated another way, the treatment plant would provide the 2.6 acre feet at a cost of roughly $5,846/acre foot, more than three and a half times the cost of water from the State Water Project.
Not to be dismissed is the parallel consideration that the financing of the proposed plant will add roughly an ADDITIONAL $70/month to the water/sewer bills of roughly 6,500 people, or everyone who pays a water/sewer bill in Morro Bay and Cayucos on top of the amount of current monthly sewer/water bills.
If the resulting effluent from the new plant is drinkable and can be piped into our houses, the same as water from the State Water Project, then the $15,200/day cost could reduce 27% to roughly $11,000; and the new additional burden on everyone’s sewer/water bill would similarly reduce to roughly $51 added to each water bill each month given the above assumptions.
Obviously, if the effluent of treated water is only appropriate for agricultural use, it will have a substantially lower value, and the reduction would itself be lower.
While a projected $1,000/acre foot cost of water from the desalination plant sounds like a great deal, there is no information provided as to the likely cost of getting the plant permitted, the daily costs of plant operation including electrical power, and the extra costs to get the plant back into operation together with financing costs for all of those numbers if borrowing is required.
This information is needed in order to assess the validity of the $1,000/acre foot projection. To the extent that the $1,000 and $1,600 numbers are valid, the desalination is a screaming deal on its own merit.
For now, we need a much better handle on whether the cost of the treatment plant is closer to $75 million or $120 million; and we need numbers on the desalination plant both as to getting it into operation and keeping it in operation.
And, not to open old wounds, but our current treatment plant is licensed, and can likely be licensed going into the future. The Coastal Commission, in cooperation with our current mayor, does not totally control our fates, despite what some have said.
If the treatment plant cost actually rises to the $120 million number, the additional monthly cost for all sewer/water users will be $96/month in ADDITION to current water bills. Many monthly sewer/water bills would more than double.
James Bianchi, Morro Bay
Liked City Column
Dear Mr. Buckingham:
Thank you for writing an article on code enforcement. I thought it was very well done and written in a clear, concise, and interesting manner. It had just the right length and hit on the important points.
I think the key to making a difference is bringing back a staff member dedicated to code enforcement. Rules without enforcement are a waste of time, in my opinion.
So much effort goes into creating, debating, approving, and publishing laws; the same amount of time and effort needs to go into enforcement, or it’s all for not.
And a big part of enforcement should be education. I think we can all agree that if people understand the “whys” of rules, they are much more likely to follow them.
I was a plan reviewer for the County of San Diego at the beginning of my career. In the cubicle where I met with the public, I plastered the partitions with earthquake damage photos and used them as “props” to explain building code requirements.
Instead of arguing and haggling, there was a cooperative spirit and appreciation for the safety requirements in the building code.
Morro Bay is a great city that deserves a code enforcement staff member! I hope this can be accommodated in the next budget cycle.
Thank you for bringing this important topic to the public’s attention and soliciting input.
Sincerely,
Susan Dowty, P.E., S.E.
Vice-President
S. K. Ghosh Associates, Inc.
Van Nuys, Calif.
Who Dropped the Ball?
Let me first thank you for your attendance at the HAB meeting last night. I too hope that the owner of the Bayside Cafe continues to operate her successful business.
However, with all due respect, I was stunned to hear the California State concessions director state: “The original contract between the State and the City of Morro Bay, agreed upon over 20 years ago should have been (but was not) ‘put-out for bid every two years’… thus causing, “an illegal” act to occur.”
I worked for a large County for over 12 years and something like this would have been taken very seriously. The City of Morro Bay, holding the contract with the State of California to operate the marina, knowingly broke the law for over twenty years?
Additionally, the Harbor Department recently admitted that audits of waterfront contracts should have been conducted every 2-5 years and had not been for over a decade. What is going on here?
Why did this occur? Who dropped the ball?
Thank You,
Drew G. Jacobson, Morro Bay
Save Bayside Café
My husband and I were heartsick to hear that Bayside Café’s future is at risk.
We absolutely love that restaurant and frequent it at least once a month. It is our fervent wish that Bayside Café will continue as it is for years to come.
Its charm could never be replaced.
Kalila Volkov, Morro Bay