Position Paper

By Bill Morison

Three local water and wastewater districts have voted to consolidate their operations to achieve efficiencies of scale, reduce costs to customers and provide improved service to the communities of the South Coast. The three districts are Capistrano Beach Water District, South Coast Water District, and Dana Point Sanitary District.

The three Boards of Directors have actively met for a period of many months to bring these three agencies together. They have unanimously agreed that this consolidation is the best solution for effective and efficient service to the community.

The City of Dana Point has sought, instead, to force the three districts to become part of the city, and have produced an active application to do this. We believe that such an action would do nothing but reduce the effectiveness of the ecommunity's water and sewer service.

Why do we say this?

First, because the City authorities have absolutely no experience running vital water and sewer services, whereas the three districts have decades of knowledge.

Second, the City has numerous other problems to deal with. As a result, we believe that these important services will become lost in the maze of complex issues the City is dealing with.

Third, the City's plan is to create an advisory council for water and sewer, which would be simply another layer of bureaucracy between the citizens and the city council.

And lastly, because thousands of citizens live outside city boundaries and would not have the ability to vote for the council that sets their rates and service levels. They would be effectively and unfairly disenfranchised.

We urge local citizens to support the three-district plan, not the city plan. Capistrano Beach customers will be the clear beneficiaries.

Keep Costs Low and Service Excellent

The local water and sanitary service agencies which serve the coastal community have decades of experience dealing with vital utility services. They have learned how to meet the needs of local customers in an efficient and satisfactory way.

By combining their experience, expertise, facilities and staffs in a consolidated district they will not only be in a position to provide excellent service, but they will be able to save money by deploying their personnel and facility resources in ways to obtain the most efficiency. Any redundancies will be eliminated, and the best procedures and equipment will be utilized on a consistent basis by all three districts.

A single Board of Directors will oversee the activities of the new consolidated district. They will be elected from each part of the community, so that all interests are represented at the Board table. Costs will be fairly and equitably distributed, so that the customers from each area receive the benefits of the investments they have made, and will pay only the costs each area incurs.

We look forward to an era of best service, reduced costs for all customers, and an efficient and well-managed organization serving the South Coast's needs for water and sewer service. Capistrano Beach customers can be assured of a fair, balanced and cost effective administration of water and sewer operations.

Improve the Water and Sewer Facilities (Master Plan)

Many of the facilities within the Capistrano Beach Water District have been in use for decades, and some have simply outlived their useful lives. To deal with this issue, the Board of Directors has called in engineering experts to evaluate which facilities are still in operable shape and which should be replaced.

These engineering findings have been gathered into a document called the Master Plan, which is an evaluation of the facilities which we have now, and a roadmap to follow to improve them. The Board of Directors has unanimously adopted and supported this play. We believe that it will result in better service, fewer leaks and breakdowns, and lower costs in the long run.

To finance the upgrade and improvement of the District's facilities called for by the Master Plan, the Board has arranged a low-cost loan and the use of available subsidies and grants to produce a workable and affordable financial plan. As a rsult, rates will not have to be increased for a period of at least five years, and after that, only modest increases will be called for. Of course, the directors of the newly consolidated district will have future influence over these matters, but your present directors have written in strong assurances that Capistrano Beach consumers will be protected in this matter.

We believe that the Master Plan is an essential element in good utility planning, and will bring an era of improved service and efficiency to Capistrano Beach Water District customers.

Develop the 30 Acre Parcel Solely for Capistrano Beach Sanitary Customers

Many years ago, prior to a consolidation with the Water District, the customers of the Capistrano Beach Sanitary District purchased a 30-acre parcel of coastal property. This property has been carefully kept intact by the current district.

It is the policy of the present Board of Directors that this valuable parcel should be used solely for the benefit of these customers. We believe that many interests would like to take over and develop this land, in particular the City of Dana Point. Indeed, we believe that this is one of the key reasons why the city is interested in taking over the District. There is no question of its great value.

Therefore, it is the firm policy of your Board of Directors to assure that this land is used or developed, and that the revenues which result should be applied solely to the interests of those who paid for it. Your Board of Directors has built strong assurances into the consolidation agreement with the other water and sewer agencies that this will be the case.

We are actively considering various development opportunities for this property. One is to use some of the area for essential sanitary district facilities. But there are other opportunities including leasing it or using it in other valuable ways. Our sanitary district customers can be assured that they will be the beneficiaries of any profitable uses to which this property is put.

Keep Area Beaches Clean and Safe

Some people have erroneously and falsely accused Capistrano Beach Water District of failing to maintain the required high standards of operation of a public utility agency. We want to make it absolutely clear that this accusation is simply untrue.

Capistrano Beach Water District operates under rigorously controlled reguations. Its activities and operations are tested, monitored, and reported to County and State agencies on a regular basis. Literally thousands of tests must be performed every year and hundreds of reports generated to prove that the product of the agency is safe and healthful for the community and the environment.

We are guardians of the community's health and well-being. We take this mandate with the utmost seriousness. Nobody has yet produced any real evidence that this is not the case, and the Board and the staff stand firmly and proudly behind its record of safe and healthful operation.