Hot words in Hillcrest controversy

The Hillcrest water controversy consumed the Yuba City City Council for two hours Friday with no final decisions made.

Opponents of a plan to connect Hillcrest Water System users to city surface water prevailed, securing 2,048 valid protests, with 2,000 needed to block the switch.

"In my mind, there is a legal and moral obligation that we don't put the Hillcrest Water System customers, their health, at unnecessary risk, but we need to know what is the economic impact that we are carrying," said Mayor Rory Ramirez, who was chastised by critics.

The mayor announced he would step down as chair of an ad-hoc committee of Hillcrest residents on the water issue.

"My concern is what we have done to this community," said resident Phil Treanor. "Mr. Mayor, you have managed to cast a pall over the entire council with your antics during the ad hoc meetings."

Other council members voiced dismay about the impasse.

"How long can we, as a city, bleed this system?" Councilman Kash Gill said.

"They're fine with as-is, but we cannot be fine with as-is," Councilman Tej Maan said.

Yuba City proposed a $19.80 monthly surcharge for 4,000 residents to pay for a storage tank and part of a 30-inch pipe connecting Hillcrest to the city's surface water plant.

The connection and surcharge was proposed after Hillcrest well water showed arsenic levels higher than federal standards allowed during part of last year.

"It was hard water, but it wasn't bad water," resident Dolores Barnett said. "I drank it for 17 years, and it didn't kill me."

Lynn Horn argued the cost of the switchover should be spread over the entire city.

"Everybody in Yuba City should have the same exact water at the same exact price," Horn said.

Supporters of the surface water switch expressed their frustration as well.

"We were given the opportunity to solve our water problems ... but unfortunately, it didn't happen," said resident Michael Payne.

"Because of you, everyone in (Hillcrest regions) 1, 2, 3 has lost," he said toward opponents.

Holly Stout, a surface water user, supported the city getting rid of Hillcrest as soon as possible.

"I don't want my tax dollars to fund their water," Stout said.

A last-second comment at the podium telling Hillcrest residents to "see if (opposition member) Elaine Miles will pay" an increased bill from a private utility operator drew shouts from connection opponents.

There was also an issue of who said what in Punjabi.

Gill claimed that Punjabi documentation on Murky Water, the Web site opposing the water connection, read that the rate increase was for water meters and residents would have to pay extra money if there was a surface water shortage.

Connection opponent Surinder Bains asserted that Gill and Maan appeared on Punjabi-language television and said Hillcrest water "wasn't good enough to take a shower in."

Tony Galyean, who lives in Hillcrest Region 1, asked the city to consider going forward on connecting just Region 1 to the system.

A breakdown of the region-by-region vote showed 45 percent of Region 1 residents protested the switch.

Michael Colantuono, the city's Proposition 218 attorney, said the council could switch Region 1 only without another protest hearing if the city could do the switch at equal or less cost than the $19.80 proposed for all of Hillcrest.

The issue will continue on as the city decides its next move.

"I'm not up here waving flags of victory," Horn said. "We won the battle, but we haven't won the war."

"We've all lost," Gill said. "This whole community has lost."

Three options

The City Council on Friday:

• Directed staff to find out if private utilities are interested in taking over Hillcrest.

• Said it wanted to examine Hillcrest's financial deficit and possibly stop adding surface water to the system.

• Said it would explore connecting only Hillcrest Region 1, which, when separated from Regions 2 and 3, did not have a majority protest.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Robert LaHue at 749-4713 or rlahue@appealdemocrat.com