City Of American Canyon Online Community Forums

Just another classic example of why change in needed in American Canyon. For those of you who are unfamiliar, a recent report stated that AC is a huge water waster-losing up to 30% of its water supply by leaking pipes and water mains that are at the end of their useful life.

ANd who pays for this mismanagement of the water system? YOu do ladies and gentle, you pay in increased fees by I gather about 30% because to get 100% of the cities water needs, they need to bring in 130%(30%) being lost all together-

Now this was pointed out by Lori Luporini at a council meeting almost 2 years ago that I attended.

Was is handled? Not until recently, has it even begun to be address, by who- Bob Weil, the new public works director-

What city in its right mind losing 30% of its water for years, has no real plan to address it, and leaves millions in the bank at 1 or 2% interest ? Uh, hum, gosh, who would do that....well, hum, American Canyon? Yes, you got it ,and you win a 30% reduction in your water bill by figuring that out.

This would be the same city that approves public parks without restrooms- I guess to save water....

Weil is addressing this issue, because it's his job. His action items include locating the problem areas using hi-tech equipment and then replace or repair once they are identified. As he discussed at previous council meetings

The sewer lines you are discussing are over 50 years old and are failing. When they were installed, they were supposed to accomodate a couple hundred homes at best. No one had any idea the population would be in excess of >14K. Also keep in mind, they were being installed in an unincorporated part of Napa County, which was designated a dump area by the rest of the county.

Weil is addressing this issue, because it's his job. His action items include locating the problem areas using hi-tech equipment and then replace or repair once they are identified. As he discussed at previous council meetingsThe fact that someone has a job in this city does not necessarily mean they will perform the tasks that are needed. Weil is a can do and organized guy, that why he has gotten his arms around so many long neglected problems. The point is letting this go on for as long as it did is BAD MANAGEMENT ! And that Bad Management is put right on the backs of American Canyon Families in the form of higher water costs.

The sewer lines you are discussing are over 50 years old and are failing. The post never once brought up the sewer lines. That is a whole nother problem all together. But since you brought it up, you would have to say that the city certainly knew these sewer lines were at the end of their useful life over 5 years ago, when Ryder Homes applied for all these subdivisions that they later sold to Richmond and Lenar- and at that time, Good Management would have required impact fees that are substantial enough to do the work- and started to get the work done. But that wasn't done. In fact, just recently the council starting looking at their impact fees and the new city planner is working on it.

The bottom line is that if the citizens of American Canyon filed a class action lawsuit against the city for overcharging on their water bill due to the cities neglect to fix it's own water system which it knew about- most probably they just might prevail.

And as I said in the recent article in the NapaSolano post, this type of situation is exactly what we dont need!

WE certainly would not let a fire hydrant just run all day- isnt that what we are doing by losing up to 30% of our water?

The water projects are currently being worked on.

My other ?- how is suing the city going to help the situation?
for some people litigation is the answer to Everything.
As a business owner, would you like to be sued because someone got injured at your business? Sued because one person claims you were not ADA compliant? Sued because someone got injured at your home....Probably not.

The items were brought to the attention of the public works department and they are being addressed. Patience is a virtue.
If overcharging is an issue, then get the city to investigate, review and offer a solution to fix it.

Paul M. is right on!

If you folks want to know why AmCan resisdents are litigious, you need look no further that DON COLCLEASER and CECIL SHAVER.

During Redevelopment (which they came in LATE into - much like they accuse the citizenship on Wal-Mart), they made a template (model) for getting elected to City Council...

1) Find an issue people don't understand.
2) Make them afraid of it.
3) Point the finger of blame at who's responsible.
4) Sue the City to stop it.

My view is that they are getting what they deserve. What's good for the goose...

You want this to stop? How about some apologies for what's been happening these past 8 years. You broke faith with many people. People who volunteered for Lions Clubs, Boys and Girsl Clubs, Art Foundations, etc... the "glue" of our City that held many of us together socially... if not morally. Now that Cindy is on Council, you accuse her of doing what you did originally. Hmmm... sounds like hypocrisy "kicked up a notch".

The water main issue has been "buried" along with many good projects (like the Town Center) because this Council has no leadership and no sense of righteousness...just a sense of "I'm right". No vision except the same-old same-old.

We appreciate Mark's attention to what is really important.

I am not saying that litigation is the answer, but rather that it is irresponsible to allow the city to be in this position in the first place!

When the Grand Jury issues a negative report like they did about American Canyons water losses at 30% , that is VERY BAD INDICATOR!

When it is documented in the record that the city has known about it for 2 years and not addressed immediately, but rather allowed it to go on and on, that is a VERY BAD INDICATOR!

Of What? Leadership.

The fact it is being addressed now is important, and is a positive. But the liability of having out there overcharging for water for a couple of years or more could be a huge financial liability to the city and as a matter of public policy, there are attorneys that salivate at these cases, because they get attorneys fees paid if they prevail, which as I said, they probably would with a grand jury report as evidence!

Thus, if you look at it from this prospective, you realize that this was totally irresponsible and if this happened, what else has gone on?

And as Meadows guy says, there is history here. The more you look, the more you find...the more you find, the more you conclude that something is very wrong here.

Paul M
Just some FYI for you,the city has known about the loss of water for over 7 plus years, from what I understand. Sometimes the council is not given info from the city manager,He has been known to hide things that don't benefit him.He would rather have the money sitting in an account collecting intrest. I do know from talking with some of the city workers, they are told not to say anything,,, MAKES me wonder what elese is being hiden

That is the problem with secret societies, governments with secrets- if they cannot blab about it, then they usually shouldnt be doing it.

It is like these close session negotiations on property- who knows what the heck is going on- with public property, being sold, for a song at times in my opinion.

Why wouldn t the city workers be able to talk about what is going on in the city? What is there hide? I mean come on, we are talking about sewer, water, roads, lighting, public buildings, and so on- this is nothing to be secret about -it is what it is.