Ojai Valley News Blog

Oct. 4, 2012

by Jim Logan, OVN correspondent

It’s no stretch to say that the most under-the-radar public agency in the area is the Ojai Valley Sanitation District (OVSD). You flush and forget about it. But with 7,500 sewer connections sending a daily average of 1.7 million gallons of waste to its treatment plant, the District provides a critical service that safeguards the public health and protects the environment. The OVSD directors serve four-year terms. They set policy and look after the District’s fiscal health. The pay is $150 per regular meeting and $75 for subcommittee meetings. Unlike other special districts in Southern California, there are no benefits. For the OVSD, one issue looms larger than any other: the potential for regulations that could force the district to spend tens of millions of dollars to upgrade its treatment facility. With the OVSD still paying off the $28 million it spent to upgrade the plant in 1997, taking on another such project is seen as an economic nightmare— one that would be passed along to ratepayers. The situation comes courtesy of the Los Angeles River Water Quality Control Board, which is responsible for protecting water quality primarily in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. In July, the LARWQCB issued a report that pinned much of the excessive algae problem in the Ventura River on the Sanitation District’s wastewater treatment plant along North Ventura Avenue in Casitas Springs. The algae is fed by nutrients, such as nitrates, nitrogen and phosphorus. The sources of the nutrients are many, including horse and cattle operations, street runoff, farms and septic systems. The wastewater treatment plant was singled out because it’s the big dog on the block. It takes that daily 1.7 million gallons of wastewater, processes it and then pumps it as clean water into the river. OVSD’s permit allows it to discharge water containing up 8 mg of nutrients per liter— what’s known as Total Minimum Daily Load (TMDL) — although the plant averages 3 to 4 mg after the plant upgrade. The LARWQCB, however, is expected to propose a maximum TMDL of 3 mg per liter or lower. If it does, the District could be on the hook for as much as $15 million in plant upgrades, General Manager Jeff Palmer told the OVN in July. The LARWQCB initially was set to issue its proposed regulations in October, but objections and squabbling among the roughly 80 cities covered by the agency have delayed an announcement into at least November. The OVSD is split into seven divisions, with a director for each. The OVN spoke to the candidates for the Nov. 6 election, except where noted, about the issues and their positions. Division 1: Extends roughly from Oak View to the north end of Ventura Avenue. George Galgas Galgas is facing his first re-election fight, having been elected in 2008. He’s lived in the Oak View area since the 1960s, and he said he’s made keeping rates fair and stable a priority in his term. He’s particularly concerned about the rates paid by mobile home owners, many of whom are retired and living on fixed incomes. Galgas has five mobile home parks with a total of 267 spaces in his district. A number of park residents have appealed to OVSD for a break on their rates. Galgas is sympathetic, he said, but the way the rates are structured by the state Legislature, it’s an uphill battle. As it is, every customer gets the same bill, although Galgas argues that mobile home residents should be treated more like renters, since they don’t own the land their homes sit on. “We’re still working to see if we can possibly get them some relief,” Galgas said. “That’s something I’m striving for, and in my heart I know where they’re coming from.” A retired masonry contractor whose community service earned him the title of “Mr. Oak View” in 1988, Galgas has also pushed to make the treatment plant more energy-efficient to reduce its “astronomical” electric bill. The District worked with the Ventura County Regional Energy Alliance to reduce the plant’s energy use. Looking ahead, he would like to see the district explore the possibility of using solar power at the plant. William Stone Stone is a familiar face around the OVSD. He was the District 1 director for 14 years before deciding not to run for re-election in 2008. “My company was changing owners,” he said, “and I had a lot of things going on and I really didn’t feel like I could give the time I needed to devote to it. But now there’s some issues coming down that I really want to be involved with. I’ve had a little vacation so I’ve got some fresh ideas.” At the top of his list is “maintaining the aging collection system.” The District has miles of sewer pipe, and Stone said that if it’s not maintained properly, OVSD could be on the hook for problems it didn’t create, such as when storm water overwhelms the system and causes sewage spills. “It’s something we’ve got to be pretty aggressive about so we don’t get stuck with a bill for something that’s not totally our doing,” he said. A retired maintenance supervisor for a communications company, Stone and his family have lived in the Valley Vista neighborhood along North Ventura Avenue for 25 years. The view, he said, gives him a good perspective. “I can look out my window and see the treatment plant,” he noted. If elected, he said, he would be “the voice of the constituents.” District 3: Covers Mira Monte and pockets along Creek Road Pete Kaiser Kaiser has made a career out of public service. Before being elected to the OVSD Board of Directors in 2000, he worked in law enforcement and later managed Ventura County’s programs for recycling, composting and hazardous materials collection. He has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning with an emphasis in sustainability and renewable resources. Kaiser, who also serves as a director on the Casitas Municipal Water District, acknowledges that the LARWQCB’s potentially stricter regulations is the No. 1 concern at the Sanitation District. But he said the treatment plant is already doing a solid job — something the state agency should keep in mind. “We already have an extremely clean facility,” he said. “We’re fine-tuning our operations to where we’re putting out unbelievably clean water … almost to a distilled-water sense.” Beyond the prospect of new regulations, Kaiser said the District will need to take a hard look at requiring many households with septic systems to connect to its sewer lines. The LARQWCB identified septic systems as significant sources of nutrient discharge into the Ventura River. Given that it would likely be expensive for homeowners, it’s a controversial subject — one Kaiser said would need to be approached carefully and mindful of the impact on the District’s customers. “We have to be aware of doing our part to maintain low user rates,” he said. “There’s been a lot of damage in this economy. … We understand how hard it is on families and business.” Jeff Ketelsen Keltelsen, who has run unsuccessfully for a seat on the OVSD Board several times, did not respond to interview requests. Division 5: Covers most of Meiners Oaks Russ Baggerly Baggerly, who has been on the Board since 1996, is one of two directors running unopposed. He said the OVSD has prepared as well as it can for new nutrient-discharge limits. But the situation also presents opportunities on other fronts. “The return of the TMDL issue is going to raise a lot of interesting issues for people [with] septic systems, horse owners and ranchers,” said Baggerly, who is also a director for the Casitas Municipal Water District. “But I don’t think it’s going to be catastrophic. If we all work together we can reduce the nutrients going into the river.” Like Kaiser, he would like to examine how septic owners could get connected to sewer service. “We need to figure out how to get people to move from septic to sewer,” Baggerly said. “We think we have some pretty good ideas about that. The reason why typhoid, cholera and all the diseases associated with unsanitary conditions are not around anymore is that sanitation system.” District 7: Covers much of the east side of downtown Ojai. William Murphy Murphy is the newest director on the OVSD Board, having been appointed in March 2010 after the death of Bill Lotts. He was elected to the post in November 2010. Like his fellow directors, he’s keeping a wary eye on the LARWQCB’s coming regulations. “If they’re not given careful consideration, they could actually come out with a limit that is technically unattainable, or a level that would drive agencies to [spend] tens of millions of dollars” on upgrades, he said. A retired Navy pilot, this is the first public office he has held. He and his family moved to Ojai a little more than four years ago when his wife accepted a teaching job at Thacher School. “I’m happy to serve on the Board. I’m happy to give back to the community. We’re working hard to make sure things don’t get out of control. That’s the big thing in this day and age.”