good morning to all you viewers

just messing around with the software

found a clip of this little creature

and with you, thought I’d share

My best to you and yours, Lew

Yes indeed, the continued service of MERCED RIVER WATER under L11395 was to immediately stop and strict water replacement reporting was required.  This meant that the only groundwater well in existence at the time (Ranchito Drive Well #1) had to produce enough water for all outside Place of Use properties currently being served – which it supposedly had been doing with a few exceptions.

NOTE:  This monthly reporting to MID was one of the first things Pete Kampa stopped.  After complaints the Outside MIDPOU report has sporadically returned to the agenda packet.

<BELOW> OLD PHOTO OF ORIGINAL RANCHITO WELL #1 when it was still producing water for outside MIDPOU use.   This well FAILED during the massive drilling efforts by the district under the Kampa management plan to locate other sources of  water.  Currently the fence is down and “rehabilitation” is continuing while the new wells provide the “alternate source of water” for outside POU properties.

Properties like the commercial cattle ranch operated by Director Ross.  Ironically,  Ranchito Drive groundwater well #1 was created right around the same time the Ross cattle ranch mysteriously obtained district water service (after multiple denials) through use of a water meter reserved for another rancher who was entitled by written contract.   A contract, which itself, could not initially be found in district records but was produced by the aggrieved rancher and then subsequently confirmed.

Co-incidentally the Meeting Minutes on either side of that 1993 cattle ranch service installation were also missing.

 

GIVE ‘EM AN INCH AND THEY’LL TAKE A MILE!

[give ’em one groundwater well and they’ll reconfigure your surface water treatment plant into a groundwater substitution facility!]

OK, so mistakes of the past were covered with the one existing well, but what about the thousands of other acres outside the district service area that also wanted subdivision intended water on their property?  This is where the “mistakes of the past” are clarified into a “we demand more of your water”.   Water which that one groundwater well could not possibly produce.   So many speculative land development projects outside POU at the time all requiring assurances from the LDPCSD that water would be delivered for various purposes.

PROBLEM:  How to get those MERCED RIVER WATER entitled customers (in the LAKE DON PEDRO OWNERS ASSOCIATION residential subdivision) to AGREE TO PAY FOR UNRELIABLE AND EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE GROUNDWATER WELLS with which to expand the water service EVEN FURTHER outside the Merced Irrigation District Place of Use?

Answer:  You don’t ask them to finance such a proposal, you just misrepresent the plan for the wells and take the water on the sly and by the time people realized a switch had been made it would be too late—those new outside MIDPOU properties would be existing customers then.

Same idea as when many properties were provided water on the condition of annexation into the district.  What?  We’ll supply water like you were annexed already so long as you promise to annex within a year or so, even though you cannot legally annex?

But you must be annexed into the district to receive water service, right?  Well, not always.  Ask Director Emery Ross or his friend Poe who managed to snag three meters for one property using different APNs (Assessor Parcel Numbers) from adjacent properties.    Was the water shutoff for not later meeting the condition for service?  Of course not.  So much BS.

NOTE: Properties to which the Lake Don Pedro Community Services District had no legal duty or moral obligation to serve in the first place and Pete Kampa was aware of all this during his first tour as a LDPCSD employee 1993-1997.

OCTOBER 2014

RE-ENTER  PETER KAMPA and his KAMPA COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS limited liability company through a board orchestrated closed recruitment process for appointment as the general manager who could snag numerous government grants to construct very expensive EMERGENCY GROUNDWATER WELLS for the district.  (Yet another coincidence, cattle rancher and long time LDPCSD Director Emery Ross {another co-incidence of Gerrymandering so owners who paid nothing and could not receive water could never-the-less vote in district elections} was the one who called Kampa with that confidential GM vacancy information.  Ahhh,  Lake Don Pedro, home of “water war coincidences”)

Actually KAMPA & KOMPANY had a very clever plan-

1. obtain the grant money under the guise of preventing water loss for the subdivision because of a dropping lake level due to drought,
2. this required expanding GM authority during the drought emergency and utilizing a streamlined grant filing process, providing him access to over $1 million in district funds to leverage the grants, heck, one resolution even retroactively approved prior GM actions which had not been specifically approved by the board yet),
3. use those grant funds to construct as many groundwater wells as possible while money available, (other side of this coin was the simultaneous intentional failure to properly maintain, repair and replace critical infrastructure of the existing surface water treatment plant)
4. once groundwater wells were developed that “alternate source of water” could be provided to other outside MIDPOU properties by running it through the existing GROUNDWATER SUBSTITUTION PROGRAM used for Ranchito #1, and
5. start collecting revenue for essentially selling our  “new emergency groundwater” to property owners, speculators, land developers, etc.,  who have been trying for decades without success to obtain water service from the district.  This of course only produces a never ending cycle of drilling more wells for a never ending higher water demand as more properties are provided service…all conveniently paid for by the 99% of MANDATORY CUSTOMERS in the subdivision who do not require GROUNDWATER SUBSTITUTION FOR MERCED RIVER WATER TRANSFERS OUTSIDE THE PLACE OF USE!

 

NOTE: The “SO GOSIP” [SAME OLD GROUP OF SPECIAL INTEREST PEOPLE] have obstructed and thwarted district responsibilities and progress for decades by misdirecting the CSD’s legally intended purpose, along with that of its predecessor (Sierra Highlands Water Company) which was to serve domestic water to the Lake Don Pedro subdivision.  Not building a facade of a water empire in these rugged drought prone Sierra Nevada foothills based on unreliable and expensive groundwater wells. Absolute foolishness.

Heck, Pete Kampa even worked with some of those same thirsty land developers and property owners 20 years ago when he was first involved in further expanding OUTSIDE MIDPOU water service for land developers.  When he came back to LDP he had 20 years of experience and political connections with which to attempt the Outside MIDPOU expansion again – along with a supportive board of directors, one of which an icon for outside Place of Use water service.

Imagine, the  many years the LDPCSD was feeding misinformation and disinformation (fabricated records) to the LEGALLY ENTITLED MERCED RIVER WATER MANDATORY LDPCSD CUSTOMERS OF THE SUBDIVISION while official records  (like our original 1980 LAFCo  approved water service boundary map, the California Public Utilities Commission approval of the transfer of facilities and assets to the newly formed LDPCSD, the STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD official service area map, etc.) magically disappeared from our records never to be seen again……or used to question expanded district operations.

You know, much of this stuff was discovered after I left the board in 2014 and wasn’t available on the internet like it is now.  I ran across some paperwork the other day which evidenced I was trying to figure this mess out back in 2011.   So now that the truth is coming out, why is Pete Kampa permitted to continue such obvious attempts at deception and concealment?

WHY is Kampa permitted (by the board of directors and others) to post outdated and erroneous maps on our LDPCSD website?

WHY is he permitted (by the board of directors and others) to deny public access on the website to existing legitimate policy regarding this outside place of use service?    (Could Kampa believe such posting might possibly evidence his intentional circumvention of various regulations to achieve an “ALTERNATE SOURCE OF WATER” which he could sell outside the POU of water license 11395?)

Sure seems like fraud to me, but I’m just a mandatory customer of the LDPCSD who must subsidize this special benefit third party water service for land developers looking to turn a greater profit.  But gosh,  since public money will be financing special benefit water service which creates that increased profit margin for developers, shouldn’t mandatory customers of the subdivision receive a “piece of that profit pie”?

BELOW is the map I was provided at a meeting with MERCED IRRIGATION DISTRICT managers when I was still on our CSD board.

 

YET ANOTHER DOCUMENT INTENTIONALLY CONCEALED FROM THE PUBLIC BY PETE KAMPA

Just checked the LAKE DON PEDRO COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT website before posting and this important document is referenced with a link for accessing it, yet even after months of complaint, the link to the resolution STILL DOES NOT WORK! (8 out of 8 links do not work)         CHECK OUT LDPCSD NOTICE LINKS

This cannot  be a mistake or oversight.  Just another arrogant refusal to acknowledge that which KAMPA & KOMPANY sought to circumvent through the use of public funds to develop ALTERNATE SOURCE groundwater wells for third party special interest benefit?

 

 

Existing Ranchito groundwater well cannot supply any more uses than it currently supplies (outside MIDPOU)?

Gee, if only there was a way to produce more groundwater without having the intended beneficiaries pay for that special benefit created with public funds…….

What can you say?  Apparent success thanks to an accomplished deceiver with solid long term political connections within the California  water industry?

 

 

other:  Some storm last night huh?

 

My best to you and yours, Lew  🙂

Although intentional misdirection of a public agency to the benefit of other third party interests is important and should be corrected, sometimes humor (or attempted humor as the case may be) can help make a bad situation a bit more palatable.

My best to you and yours, Lew

I seen no reason to waste a bunch of time documenting Kampa going over the results of his less than inspiring survey.

Following the approval of the Public Records Request Response Policy, a Debt Management Policy was also passed (required by newly enacted California law – differing from the former policy which assists Kampa in obtaining some other CSDA award – for of all things….TRANSPARENCY.  TRANSPARENCY?— Good Heavens.)

The final agenda Discussion and Action Item was: Discussion and Action on the water use Efficiency Project in response to the results of the Water Conservation Survey and IRWMP grant scope of work.

Thus far there have been 47 responses to this survey that has been running for months.  GM Kampa discussed different ways the grant money could be used including “rain water workshops” and a reimbursement program for those who make water conservation improvements on their property that meet requirements.

Kampa then addressed the survey and some activities that could be partially reimbursed with some of the $1 million dollars received for the program, including property water conservation evaluations, replacement of water fixtures and appliances, (like low flow toilets, hot water heaters, and high efficiency washing machines), grey water systems – although these had to be created with a permit,  etc.

Kampa went over some of the 47 responses and with what program possibilities customers expressed an interest in pursuing while cautioning there was only so much money which had to be used efficiently for maximum benefit.  Kampa said confirmation that owners actually made the improvements on their property had to be verified by the district.

COMMENT BY WES BARTON

How much money available? Originally $175,000 but now down to $87,000 which Barton believed was due to administrative costs.  Wes stated that is where Kampa (and some of his consultants) make a good deal of money with such programs.  Barton also pointed out that the money that was left could also go to other communities besides Lake Don Pedro.  Barton summarized by saying a large amount of money gets reduced through varied administrative costs and then what is left is split between LDP and other communities and said it certainly appeared to be just another scam.

Director Russ Warren suggested making sure the local schools received some money to replace their current toilets and urinals.

Kampa said he wished the money was available when it was really needed during the height of the drought for such things as grey water systems for irrigation purposes when irrigation was restricted.  (I believe Kampa’s private company also specializes in this.)

The Board ultimately approved Kampa’s recommended Action of:

Directing- “staff to negotiate a scope of work and contract with a third-party Program Coordinator and to prepare the Final Water Use Efficiency Program Description, Public Workshop Plan, Outreach and Marketing Plan and Incentive/Reimbursement Program Terms and Conditions”.

End of meeting.

Had rain last night but there’s some partial sunshine today—I can still hear “them” growing!  lol

My best to you and yours, Lew

 

#5. Still have a bad feeling about this one. I forgot….does Kampa actually agree to continue the information process for Wes Barton? I recall Syndie said she was instructed by GM to furnish it, but what about next month? The month after? I recall Syndie said it was her understanding that it would continue but then “handed” the question to Kampa – but did he agree to continue the process? Again, hope I am wrong. And then there was my dumb ass “asked and answered” question of the year….. Why would the GM/BOARD TREASURER restrict or cut off the only reliable source for customers to obtain accurate financial information regarding their CSD? Duh……good grief. Anyone care to take a wild guess at that one?  lol.

My best to you and yours, Lew

#4. Put this together rather quickly so the video could start uploading while I slaughtered some weeds for a fire break.  Is rain still on its way?

Will Wes Barton’s financial questions finally get answered or will this just be another long and drawn out process without remedy? Doesn’t an auditor basically double check the information furnished by the accountant, GM and Board Treasurer? Why is Kampa always referring to himself as “WE”. “WE” believe, “WE” thought, “WE”….whatever?   Is there a mouse in his pocket or perhaps his thinking of himself as both the GM & Board Treasurer has led to an identity crisis involving multiple personalities?  “WE” think the district’s financials are just fine…..nothing to see here folks….”WE” think it best if you just keep moving along –  “WE’ll” take care of everything……lol)

My best to you and yours, Lew

#3 – You think these meetings drag on? Whoa. Try listening to them over and over and over.

Kampa, naturally, does not answer a number of important questions which do not require any intense research and advance preparation to answer.  That’s the traditional excuse, it’s not on the agenda and the board/GM have not researched the matter and are unprepared to answer such explicit questions without advance notification so they can prepare.  wow.

Questions like: how do you get the ARSENIC (which is common to all the wells) out of the groundwater production before serving to the public? How can our district purchase over $3,184 worth of MERCED RIVER WATER from the MERCED IRRIGATION DISTRICT yet pay only a $147 electric bill to pump it out of Lake McClure?  Yet during the same time period have a $1,001 bill for ground well #2 electricity?  How could KAMPA as the GM AND BOARD TREASURER actually have been paid about $60,000 over what he told the board his  compensation was over that of his normal monthly salary? Why are dollar amounts bouncing around different accounts in district financial entries?  (Easter is coming up…..is it like hiding eggs?)   On and on it goes…..but the GM says….no questions or answers now, we’ll continue this to next month…..then the next emergency, critical matter, news, etc…takes priority while everyone attempts to digest another KAMPA-GANDA CAMOUFLAGED PAPER DUMP IN THE AGENDA PACKET OR ELSEWHERE.   This is unreal.  But is it unusual?   Is such nonsense just amplified with the increasing authoritative jurisdictional layers of government?  Or is the LDPCSD an exceptional case in its own weight class?  Do other SPECIAL DISTRICTS run like this?  If so might be a clue as to why the Little Hoover Commission has entertained a discussion on the proposal of ending them within 10 years?

YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT AT WORK?

Yes and no.

Our local public agency (and the way it was designed to function) was hi-jacked by “special interests” under the guise of responding to a drought emergency and surreptitiously pursuing the creation of an “alternate source of water” (groundwater wells with grant funds) so as to EXPAND THE GROUNDWATER SUBSTITUTION PROGRAM and continue selling this touted “emergency water” outside the permitted area of the water license under which this district has always operated.

The LDPCSD was, is, and will continue to be exploited by this for-profit management company and its president and our current “remote GM”who was quietly returned to the Lake Don Pedro CSD in an effort to CONTINUE THE SAME OUTSIDE MERCED IRRIGATION DISTRICT PLACE OF USE SPECIAL BENEFIT WATER SERVICE TO THIRD PARTY LAND DEVELOPERS (TO WHOM OUR DISTRICT HAS NO LEGAL DUTY TO PROVIDE WATER SERVICE IN THE FIRST PLACE) JUST LIKE HE WAS DOING TWENTY YEARS AGO WHEN HE STARTED HIS INFAMOUS CAREER IN WATER!

 

(long sentence.  almost like a frustrated exhale.  but you already knew that? yeah?  think I’ve heard this stuff before too.)

My best to you and yours, Lew

(YAWN) – OK, here’s #2. Speaking of which, sure seems like customers of the Lake Don Pedro CSD have been receiving a lot of #2 since October 2014, yeah?   Not so “lol” is it?

My best to you and yours, Lew

Saturday, March 25^th, 2017 -Foggy & rainy day in LDP.

Wow.  Sure has been a long time since typing on the old Dell laptop in WordPerfect.   I will have to find one of my “home made templates” for the “F key commands” in order to find my way around the program again.  The battery charge lasts about 5 minutes which negates using the laptop remotely without AC power but it still works so, as someone who has suffered from PACKRAT SYNDROME my entire life – I’ll keep it until it won’t function at all!  lol  (Still handy for jotting down ideas and such.)

GREAT KEYBOARD

Yup, I do like this old keyboard on the laptop, feels good.  The keys are normal size and very smooth functioning.  The tablet keyboard is just too small – lots of mistakes touching two key pads at once which is frustrating and my finger-pad diet just isn’t working – lol.   The desktop is OK but should probably be replaced as 6 of the most frequently used key decals have completely worn off and others are following in kind.  This sometimes makes it difficult to locate my finger position with a simple glance, but again, it works so why mess with it just because of some negative appearance issues and slight inconvenience?  Waste not, want not!  (Wonder if there is an easy way to cannibalize the keyboard from the laptop or somehow “jump wire” it over to the desktop?  lol)

WHAT TO DO?  90+% sure now.  97% sure…..100%.

I am having had a bit of a dilemma regarding an incident I thought about posting over four five months ago when it occurred but did not yet am considering going to posting it with this first video presentation for the Monday, March 20^th, 2017 meeting.  (If you are reading this I obviously decided to post, if not, this intro will join the countless other blah blah blahs not published.)

I guess the first question in explanation of this <previous> dilemma would be:

Why did I not mention this “mysterious incident” back in October of 2016 when it happened?

Good question and I clearly recall seriously considering doing just that but believe some misguided sense of “fair play” or compassion for another human experiencing exceptional personal and/or business stress – even if an adversary, prevailed. 

I believed posting that information at the time would be “piling on” unnecessarily – especially in light of the fact I had already quite clearly voiced my genuine distrust for KAMPA & KOMPANY and their activities within the LAKE DON PEDRO CSD on this website many times.  I recall, when considering the time line of events, thinking the incident may have been a simple stress reaction, albeit irresponsible, to KAMPA COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS llc having recently lost the Los Osos CSD account.  Obviously I had no idea as to what, if any, precipitating variables may have been involved.  After all, I wasn’t there and neither were any viewers except those involved: Pete Kampa, his passenger, possible witnesses to the incident and the law enforcement officers handling the matter.  However, now with retrospect of other subsequent events and hearing Mr. Barton’s concerns, perhaps I was wrong and should have have just thrown it out there with everything else and permitted viewers to determine for themselves if relevant to our LDPCSD business?   I still believe I did the right thing with what was known at the time, but if not, please accept the following as correction for that error in judgement.

INCIDENT REFERENCED LAST MONDAY

The incident to which I am referring, or rather the ramifications of that incident, were briefly mentioned by Wes Barton during Public Comment last Monday.  (ie, Kampa’s drivers license status; driving to the LDPCSD by himself again; our district insurance coverage; and the GM employment requirements necessitating two days/20 hours per week per the contract with Kampa Community Solutions, llc, aka, KAMPACS.)

The “incident particulars” as described above no doubt makes what happened crystal clear to many viewers but there may be some who are not connecting all the dots.  I do not know if this matter has already been adjudicated or not but now appreciate the potential negative influence it may have had, or is having, on Pete Kampa and his performance as GM/Board Treasurer at the LDPCSD and will therefore post links to that past online information for viewer edification.

Here are two different reports of that incident from local online news sources:

MyMotherLode

Union Democrat

OK, with those out of the way, perhaps some of the information relayed during Public Comment will make more sense.  So here we go, first installment of the March 20^th, 2017 LDPCSD Monthly Board meeting.  (NOTE: I will not be doing “word for word” of the entire meeting this time because it just takes too much time and valuable storage space, however, recordings will be retained for possible future reference.)

 

Oh yeah, regarding the McCloud CSD comment, here is a link to a previous LAKEDONPEDRO.org post:

LAKEDONPEDRO POSTING ON McCLOUD

My best to you and yours, Lew

Thursday, while traveling south on Merced Falls Road just outside Merced Falls, I saw something I don’t recall ever noticing before – the Lake McSwain spillway flowing!

Yup, noticed something white on the horizon and took a short detour to discover  it was indeed whitewater.   Thought I’d grab some quick video of this beautiful sight after so many years of drought (of course it may not be so beautiful down river for those with flooding issues). Some of the scenery landscape along the river sure makes more sense when you consider what this area must have looked like before the two Exchequer Dams and the McSwain Dam interrupted the natural flow during extremely heavy flows.

My best to you and yours, Lew

 

PS: Starting on some of the highlights of the Monday, March 20th, 2017 LDPCSD Monthly Board meeting.  (Apparently other programs will still work with the backup process running in the background – just a little slower than it already is)

PETE KAMPA refusing to “straight up answer” a serious and legitimate question about the groundwater arsenic and whether it is removed with the treatment plant filters (recently “emergency repaired” for +/- $300,000) or diluted with pumped lake water (as previously stated was the process) is outrageous.  [What good are KAMPA & KOMPANYS “special benefit groundwater wells” during a drought if there is no lake water to dilute the groundwater arsenic level for safe consumption per health department standards?] 

There was no detailed research or investigation required to answer this simple question which has apparently received different answers depending upon who asked and when.

Why the evasive statements and/or refusals to answer?  The arsenic content of that “alternate source” groundwater production that PETE KAMPA & KOMPANY have been pushing since October 2014 (and later developed with substantial grant funds which could have been used to repair/replace our failing primary infrastructure) is a very important issue, as is, how that arsenic is ultimately removed.  Yup, very important to those of us who consume the only product of the LAKE DON PEDRO CSD, other than grief and frustration that is.   🙁