City of Salem's Creekside crony capitalism clown show continues

Whenever I think the Creekside Golf Course water rate giveaway attempt, a.k.a. IrriGate, can't get any sleazier and more ridiculous, it does!

Thanks to some good reporting by Tracy Loew in the Statesman Journal, we've learned "Creekside water deal off again." For those who haven't been closely following this Crony Capitalism Clown Show, here's a recap of the episodes to date, as told through my blog posts:

Scene 1: The Water-Wastewater Task Force (appropriate acronym, WTF) gives the Creekside Golf Course a requested $60,000 rate cut on its irrigation bill after the golf course owners say that otherwise they'll go out of business and 50 jobs will be lost. To make it look less like a sweetheart deal for just the golf course, the Task Force decides to cut the rate for all irrigators, losing $600,000. Ordinary water users will have their rates raised to make up the $600,000.

Scene 2: Salem Political Snark, a.k.a. Me, points out that Larry Tokarski, one of the two owners of the Creekside Golf Course, is linked to a major contribution to Chuck Bennett's campaign fund. Mayor-elect Bennett is a member of the WTF Task Force and, not at all shockingly, supports the giveaway to Tokarski's golf course.

Scene 3: A fellow civic activist shares information with me that shows City Councilor Steve McCoid had a cozy "pre-meeting" with Public Works Director Peter Fernandez (who the Task Force advises) where he suggested the $600,000 giveaway to all irrigators so Creekside could get its $60,000 cut. McCoid is a Creekside resident and golf course member, which raises ethical concerns.

Scene 4: The water rate giveaway to irrigators, and concomitant rate increase to other water users, is affirmed by the WTF Task Force. City Councilor/Mayor-elect Bennett now is spinning the Creekside rate decrease as necessary to make sure the golf course remains a basin for stormwater. (Next, I can imagine Bennett claiming that keeping the golf course open is important to keep Salem's gopher population thriving.)

Scene 5: I share a couple of letters to the editor in the Statesman Journal from people who wonder why their water bill should increase so Creekside members can continue to play golf, calling this a "sweetheart deal that benefits a well-connected real estate developer at the expense of the rest of the city."

Scene 6: Someone who listened to the audio tapes of the Water-Wastewater Task Force meetings points out to me that soon-to-be-gone City Councilor Warren Bednarz (defeated in the May election by Sally Cook, thankfully) twice admitted that he owned commercial irrigated property which would benefit from the 30% water rate reduction he voted "Yes" on. 

Which brings us to the latest episode of the Creekside Clown Show. Here's the September 8 Statesman Journal story, with my comments in red italics. 

A city water advisory committee has again backed off a deal cutting water rates for irrigators, including for the troubled Creekside Golf Course.

Believe me, the WTF Task Force wouldn't have done this if their crony capitalism hadn't come to light through media reports. Just imagine all the other crap that's going on in City Hall that we DON'T know about.

At the urging of city councilor Chuck Bennett, the committee punted the issue to the Salem City Council.

“It is going to be a political decision,” said Bennett, who also sits on the committee. “This gives the council a cleaner opportunity to address it in a political fashion.”

Freaking unbelievable. Mayor-elect Bennett admits that a water rate reduction for a golf course owned by one of Salem's largest special interest contributors to right-wing candidates is a "political decision." Maybe it'd be simpler if the Chamber of Commerce's Political Action Committee was given an electronic device where they could cast votes directly at City Council meetings. 

City councilor Steve McCoid proposed the irrigator rate cut in response to Creekside’s request for rate relief. McCoid is not on the water advisory committee but is a Creekside Golf Club member.

Conflict of interest! McCoid lives in the Creekside development. His home value will be greater if the golf course remains in business.

Golf course owners said that without city help they would close the business and develop the property, eliminating about 50 jobs and important wetland areas. But Public Works Director Peter Fernandez argued that it was not fair to cut a deal for one customer.

Sure, but how is it more fair that a deal is cut for all 670 irrigators? A special deal just for Creekside only would have cost $60,000. After his "pre-meeting" with Councilor McCoid, Fernandez went along with an extra-special deal for ALL irrigators that would cost other water users $600,000.

The proposal would reduce rates for all 670 irrigators, from $4.24 to $3.03 per unit (748 gallons).

Residential rates would be raised an average of 65 cents per month to make up lost revenue. It would save Creekside about $60,000 per year.

The committee first approved the deal on July 14.

Two weeks later it reversed its decision after Creekside owners balked, saying other irrigators shouldn’t get the same deal and demanding a bigger discount.

At its Aug. 11 meeting, the committee reinstated the decision after golf course owners said further calculations showed the deal actually would help keep the course open.

Give me a break. We're supposed to believe that a golf course with 50 employees is going to be kept in business because of a $60,000 water rate reduction? Creekside Golf Course says it is reducing its job force. So almost certainly they've already saved more than $60,000. Tokarski and Co. is just looking for an extra taxpayer giveaway.

On Thursday, the committee characterized those as “preliminary” votes.

Of course the WTF Task Force did. Thanks to reporter Tracy Loew, citizens learned about the Crony Capitalism they were trying to push through. After getting caught, naturally they're going to try to deny that they were serious.

Its rate recommendation to the city council now does not include the irrigator rate cut, although the cut will be presented as a separate option for the council to consider.

The committee based its latest decision partly on an hour-long presentation by Fernandez showing that 16 other irrigators use more water than Creekside.

“We have a whole group of folks here who I don’t think know what this does for them,” Bennett said.

Well, Chuck Bennett and Peter Fernandez don't know that actually the Creekside Golf Course is the #1 irrigator in Salem. So says a revised chart that was released today. Here's a Salem Community Vision Facebook page image:

Also, Mayor-elect Bennett is talking about the 670 irrigators, apparently. Bennett must not care that the hugely greater number of ordinary water users, which includes low-income people who are having trouble makings ends meet, would have their water bill raised to benefit those irrigators under the Bennett-McCoid-Fernandez water rate giveaway plan.

Fernandez said the Salem-Keizer School District is the city’s largest irrigator, using 10 times as much water than Creekside, and as such would be the largest beneficiary of the rate cut.

More conflict of interest! Chuck Bennett is a lobbyist for the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators. Mayor-elect Bennett shouldn't be pushing for a water rate reduction for the Salem-Keizer School District. 

“There’s been misinformation in the paper. Part of it is because everybody thinks Creekside gets all the benefit,” club member Kent Hunsaker told the committee. “We are a small part of that benefit.”

But Creekside is the reason an irrigator water rate reduction was proposed. That's a fact. The only reason Creekside is now a "small part " of the reduction is because the WTF Task Force was afraid giving a rate reduction only to the Creekside Golf Course would look like the special interest deal that it actually is.

But later Thursday, in response to the Statesman Journal’s questions about the validity of the calculations, city officials said the data is incorrect and the report will be rerun. It was not finished at press time.

Now it is! Fernandez and Bennett were wrong. Way wrong. I've been told that Creekside is the #1 irrigator. Here's Chuck Bennett's lame excuse for Fernandez's miscalculation, which includes one of Mayor-elect Bennett's insults directed at my Salem Community Vision friends, Susann Kaltwasser, Carole Smith, and Geoff James. 

Also at the meeting, the committee approved general rate increases. In 2017, water base rates will increase 2 percent, wastewater rates will increase 2.5 percent, and stormwater rates will go up 3 percent.

In 2018, all three rates will increase 3 percent.

Salem Mayor Anna Peterson attended the meeting but did not speak.

I bet she had her fussy face on, though! Peterson only has a few more months in office to get all of her Crony Capitalism/Special Interest/Chamber of Commerce-Suck Up's done.

The city council has scheduled a public hearing on the annual water rate proposal for its Oct. 10 meeting. Fernandez said it may schedule a separate hearing on the irrigator rate cut.

FUN! I can hardly wait to learn how many citizens other than Creekside members are eager to have their water bill increased to pay to keep the Creekside Golf Course open. (My best guess: none.)

Comments

[Jim Scheppke]

I would be willing to bet money that Mr. Fernandez won't "schedule a separate hearing on the irrigator rate cut." This issue has already done a lot of damage to Fernandez, Councilor Lewis, Councilor Bennett and especially to Councilor McCoid. Lewis and McCoid will be up for reelection in 2018. We won't forget that they tried hard to raise our water rates to benefit 290 rich golfers. The scheme was hatched by Councilor McCoid. Thanks to Tracy Loew, to you, and to everyone else who shined a light on these shenanigans. I think the good guys won!