Water hookup fees protested

Hillcrest area water issues are starting to boil over into Yuba City City Council meetings from an advisory ad-hoc committee set up to handle the contentious issue.

More than 100 Hillcrest area residents packed Council chambers Tuesday to hear more than a dozen people complain about the possibility of being charged several thousand dollars to either connect to the city's surface water plant, or fix the Hillcrest 2⁄3 water system.

One of them, Bob van Oosterhout of Cortez Court, brought a stack of what he said were 1,200 protest signatures gathered recently. More are on the way, he said.

"It seems to me that you have forgotten that you are working for the people," Van Oosterhout said.

Van Oosterhout and others also cited a long list of complaints about the way the city has handled Hillcrest water, the area's annexation several years ago and other issues.

Another resident, Donald Kessel of Pebble Beach Drive, said costs should be shared by all city residents.

"If we decide to choose surface water, it would be like paying a seven-year old retroactive reconnection fee at today's prices," Kessel said. "If we fix the system, we will actually be fixing the city's water system."

The meetings also brought Sutter County Supervisor candidate Sylvia Oakley to the podium. She said the city should consider hiring a mediator if problems cannot be worked out through the ad-hoc committee.

The Council had little reaction to what was an unagendized matter that was taken up during the public comment part of the meeting.

"All of us are looking for solutions to the problem," said Mayor Rory Ramirez. "We're looking for solutions that are as economical as we can make them."

Ramirez and Councilman Kash Gill are heading a Walton water ad-hoc advisory committee that has tried to come up with a solution to water-quality problems that must be fixed, according to the city.

After a few months of twice-weekly meetings, the committee is taking a break while engineers estimate local and citywide economic benefits that the Hillcrest 2⁄3 water plant delivers. Studies have been proposed but have to be approved by the Council.

Residents are upset over possibly having to pay between $5,800 to $7,460 per home for improvements. The city last year held meetings that proposed quick action after the groundwater arsenic exceeded federal limits of 10 parts per billion last year - limits that were tightened recently from 50 parts per billion.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter John Dickey at 749-4711 or jdickey@appealdemocrat.com.