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It was another night of teeth gnashing at the board meeting of the Cameron Park Community Services District last Wednesday as barbs were traded in between staff reports and commendations.
Supervisor Ray Nutting received a commendation for his help with the weed abatement program and Rotary was thanked for providing new park signs.
General Manager Mary Cahill reported that the slide for the pool is almost complete and staff prepared a new schedule of swim fees. However, questions about the price structure sent the schedule back to committee for further discussion. The schedule will be brought back for approval in March.
Negotiations with the Golden Nugget Quilt Group are ongoing as staff and the quilting group work on an agreement to provide mutual indemnification for use of the community center building.
Contracts with three different law groups were approved despite objections to one of them — the Beigler Law Firm. Residents claimed that Beigler talked the district into an ill-conceived writ against the county and it had cost the district several hundred thousand dollars.
They wanted to know why the board wanted to continue doing business with him. Members of the board responded by saying that the lawyer only did what previous board members had requested and the contracts in question were not retainers but rather agreements covering what CPCSD would pay on an hourly basis if legal services were required. A report on the outcome of pending litigation between the county and CPCSD regarding the writ is expected at the next meeting.
A resident reported that he smelled marijuana being smoked at the Skate Park. Board members discussed the possibility of installing a video surveillance system at the park to control the problem.
I like the way you report the meeting Dawn, good job .
The District Board has some hard work ahead of them…the District budget for the upcoming year must be prepared and approved while in a year that District finances appear to be tight at best. In the current year, the District budget is balanced with the use of contingency funding. It may be necessary to do so again as the Community and Aquatic Center continue to not be fully self supporting as originally proposed. We are headed for some rough and rocky days with difficult discussions and decisions ahead. The process will be all the more difficult with Board member infighting and lack of prefessionalism and transparancy among staff.
Absolutely Concerned; if this board and staff do not get it together, God help us all. They are robbing Peter to pay Paul and that has been going on for years. The citizens of Cameron Park should be outraged at the thought of the staff wanting to raise the fees for pool use. When the prior board presented the plan for the community center, the center was to be self sufficient. The new G.M. has her work cut out for her along with the new finance person.
The problem Cameron Park has is a culture of no accountability. I have gone to Budget and Administration. Parks and Recreation, and Board meetings and have asked for a simple profit and loss statement from the Recreation Manager. All I get is blank stares. When I have filed public records requests to see the books all I get is the run around from our General Manager. Until we know what we are spending on each program and facility we will never know how to amend the budget to stop the hemorrhaging of our tax dollars. So far in the first six months of this fiscal year the Community Center has lost $128,000 and yet you go to meeting after meeting and nothing is ever said about these tremendous losses and consequently nothing is ever done to stem the flow of red ink.