McFarland Community Issues & Events

Election Recount Results

The election recount took place tonight and the results remain the same as before. Actually, based on the new count Don Campbell wins his council seat by two votes instead of a single vote. Looks like Topete and his buddies lose their $1000. They have 24 hours to protest these latest results but hopefully they have learned their lesson by now and they will start to behave like civilized people and stop harassing city employees.

Sheriff Gang Unit

Some of you may have noticed that in the last few weeks there has been an increase in activity by the Kern County Sheriff Department in our area. I am grateful that our new sheriff Donnie Youngblood and his staff have done their best to act quickly and try to stop the gang violence before it gets out of control. While driving around town over the past few weeks I have witnessed two arrests and I was even pulled over by a sheriff who was working hard trying to track down someone that had stolen a vehicle.

Mr. Youngblood is asking for everyone's support in reporting any suspicious activity or tips that may lead to more gang member arrests. Please contact the local sheriff department at 792-2121.

Here is a copy of a memo that was distributed to McFarland city council members describing some of the work that has been done recently. http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/Sheriff+Memo.pdf

City Hall Protest

McFarland just can't seem to stay out of the news. Yesterday afternoon a group of people decided to protest the election results in front of city hall. Humberto Topete went into city hall yesterday to get an explanation on the process that needs to be followed to initiate another vote recount. He has until Monday to submit a letter of protest and a $1000 deposit, this is all that is required to start the process for another recount. Very simple.

After the process was completely explained to Humberto, later that day, he and his friends decided to stage a protest in front of city hall demanding another recount. I don't quite understand why it was necessary to stage a protest. No one has denied him and his friends the right to a recount. It seems that this guy has a difficult time understanding simple directions. This is what he and his Melendez groupies are like, they can't understand and follow simple processes. And they think they can manage this city?

I hope they decide to put up the $1000 deposit. If the recount fails to yield any different results, then the deposit will have to be forfeited and it will be used to cover the costs for the recount. Let's see if these guys are willing to gamble their own money on this, should be interesting. My bet is that they won't do anything and they'll continue to whine about it. They are very good at that and whining doesn't cost them any money.

http://www.turnto23.com/video/11265175/detail.html

http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=91B8EC0E-1E2D-48B3-B2FA-DD9474B647DE&gsa=true

Election Results

This was a close race, too close. But I'm not surprised that it was so close after we began to hear the lies that the 9th street group was telling people as they went door to door the last few days before the election. But that's past us now and they can't cause too much trouble with city matters.

Results based on the hand count.
Mayor:
Ken Rosson = 289
Hilda Osorio = 269

Councilmember:
Sam Cantu = 279
Don Campbell = 263
Humberto Topete = 262
Socorro Munoz = 234

Here is a letter from the company that oversees the election with their recommendation that the hand count be certified.

http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/MartinChapmanLetter.pdf
http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/MartinChapmanLetterMemo2.pdf

Election News

The local election has been receiving some press coverage over the last few days. Our current mayor Ken Rosson was interviewed along with Hilda Osorio. The differences between the two people are clear. Mr. Rosson is clearly more prepared and experienced, while Hilda appears lost. Having her elected as mayor would be a disaster for the city and McFarland would lose credibility. She would like to setup a police department in our city but doesn't mention how she would pay for one. Nice goal but a bit unrealistic at this time.

Bakersfield Californian Article
http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/2007_03_04+Election.pdf

Eye 29 News Clip
http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/_Cable-7_20070302_180552.wmv

Vote for Honest and Experienced People

This flyer was distributed throughout the city this past weekend. Ken Rosson, Don Campbell, and Socorro Munoz clearly have a long track record of being involved in our community and they are all long time residents. I would encourage voters to contact them personally and find out what great people they are.

http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/Experience+Flyer.pdf

You can also contact the other three people that the 9th street gang is sponsoring. Here is their contact information. I would also encourage voters to call these individuals and question them on their qualifications and experience. Ask them what their goals are and how they plan to achieve them. Then ask them where the money will come from to implement their plans. Find out if they truly care about this community and if they are willing to invest 20+ hours per week of their time.

Hilda Osorio, 661-792-9403, hildacarmen@yahoo.com
Samuel Cantu, 661-792-3545
Humberto Topete, 661-792-6830

March 6th Election

Citizens of McFarland, they are at it again. The "9th street gang", that group of poor illiterate souls that tried to keep Rafael Melendez in office, are attempting to fill three of the council spots that are up for re-election on March 6th. They pooled all of their resources together, found a few people that could read, and these are the top notch candidates that they are putting up for the election.

Hilda Osorio, Mayor
27 year old who has lived in McFarland for 2 years. Has never been actively involved in any of the political boards in our city.

Humberto Topete Jr., Councilmember
20 year old student with no political experience. Come on now. A kid?

Samuel Cantu, Councilmember
Brother of Manuel Cantu who was just recalled a few months ago and from what I hear isn't any smarter than his brother. So be prepared for more costly decisions from this guy if he is elected. I do hear that he is good at verbally abusing children at sporting events.

Here is a flyer that they have been putting out, which of course lacks any factual information.

http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/9th_Street_Flyer.pdf

Here is a rebuttal flyer that addresses the lies that they published and shows how confused and mislead these people are. They don't bother to do their homework and get all of the facts before making statements. I'm proud of the fact that our new council has been able to fix many of the mistakes made by the council that was recalled a few months ago.

http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/Rebuttal+Flyer.pdf

McFarland School District Management Study

The Kern County Superintendent of Schools conducted a management study on the McFarland Unified School District. The conclusions of the study were disappointing but not surprising. Over the past year the school district has gone through some difficult times with failed recall attempts, election fraud, and finally the election of two new board members that have been found guilty of misdemeanor charges. The district is having a difficult time recruiting people and reducing employee turnover. But who can blame potential candidates for being cautious about taking positions at this school district when the work environment is so chaotic.

Article in Bakersfield Californian:
http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/2007_02_08+School+District2.pdf

Management Study:
http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/mcfarlandsmall.pdf

Criminal Records for New Board Members:
http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/crim_case_detail_Arquello.pdf
http://s135462243.onlinehome.us/resources/crim_case_detail_Ortega.pdf

McFarland Christmas Parade

McFarland School Board Election

The local school board election is heating up with several flyers being distributed around town over the last few weeks.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Munoz.pdf http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Ortega-Arguello.pdf http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Rodriguez.pdf

I urge voters to proceed with caution and look carefully at who you are voting for in this election. For those interested in doing a bit more research on the crooked candidates that are running for office. Check out the Kern County Criminal Case website. Search for the following names:
Marin Ortega Jr., Court Case #BM688226C
David Arguello, Court Case #BM688226B
http://www.co.kern.ca.us/courts/crim_index_case_info_cal.asp

These two "correctional officers" were arrested for filing elections documents with false signatures and after posting bail are set to have another trial date on November 13th, just a few days after the election. Do these guys sound like good role models for McFarland school kids? No way. I think they should be put through a remedial reading program so they can figure out how to read a set of election petition instructions.

Compensation for Councilmembers

My wife received a couple of checks from the City of McFarland the other day. One is a $200 monthly payment for serving on the council. This used to be a $100 payment up until the Melendez administration came into office and decided to increase it. She also received another check for $100 for monthly reimbursement of cell phone expenses. This is another expense that we have the previous administration to thank for. Now I see why Melendez and his crew of liberal spenders fought to stay in office, I'm sure it was difficult for them to lose this source of income from the city.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/check1.pdf

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/check2.pdf

Notice of Violations

I spoke with a nice young lady at the Air Pollution Control District and she provided me with a list of Notice of Violations (NOV) that have taken place in the entire county over the past year. The AES energy plant in Delano appears to have a couple of violations back in September and October of 2005. NOVs aren't very uncommon among businesses that are regulated by the APCD, the violations become more of a concern when the business fails to make the required corrections to go back into compliance.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Notice+of+Violations.pdf

Laptop and Cell Phone Theft?

Back when Melendez was still in office he claimed that he needed a cell phone and laptop to conduct city business. So the city went ahead and purchased this equipment for him. Now that he has been kicked out of office, wouldn't it seem fair for him to return these items back to the city? I think so. Several of our city officials have confronted him about this and he is now claiming that these items were gifts from the city and he is entitled to keep them. I wonder if this could be considered theft. We'll find out.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/060806_Cell.pdf

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/060806_NB.pdf

McFarland School Board Election

In the upcoming November election there are a few seats on the McFarland school board that are up for grabs. Here is a list of the people that are set to appear on the ballot for the school board election.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Election+Candidates.pdf

News Clips for August 15th

Here are some news stories that aired on our local television stations on the evening of the election. In one of these clips as I was being interviewed, the former mayor Melendez was behind the reporter making a scene and accusing me of lying to the community. I don't understand how he came to that conclusion since I simply used documents that were provided to me by the city. As I walked to my car that evening, Melendez had a small team of his groupies that were yelling at me and threatening me. They are such sore losers and they demonstrated how childish they are.

www.shafterchevron.com/resources/092106_Clip1.wmv
www.shafterchevron.com/resources/092106_Clip2.wmv
www.shafterchevron.com/resources/092106_Clip3.wmv
www.shafterchevron.com/resources/092106_Clip4.wmv
www.shafterchevron.com/resources/092106_Clip5.wmv
www.shafterchevron.com/resources/092106_Clip6.wmv
www.shafterchevron.com/resources/092106_Clip7.wmv

Proposed Action Items from Dennis Martin

Here is a good summary of proposed action items that councilman Dennis Martin shared with me. The list of issues and problems that our city is faced with are long but with the new council that we have in place I anticipate that many of these issues will be tackled in a more productive and professional manner. The top items on this list that really interest me are the reduction of lawsuits against our city and the AES Delano Energy plant.

The Delano Energy power plant is owned and operated by AES, a large global power company. When I drive to Delano in the evenings, just as I pass next to the Delano Energy plant I often have the urge to hold my breath due to the awful smell coming from this plant. I wonder what this smell is and if it is harmful to our residents. I also hear that Delano Energy may be out of compliance on some of their Title V air quality permits. This may justify further investigation. This energy company is also beginning to make plans to build an ethanol plant on the southern end of the existing plant. Before this new ethanol plant is approved I think the people in this area should make sure that the existing facility is operated responsibly and any air quality violations should be corrected.

Here is a link to the AES website:
www.aes.com

Here is a link to an article by KEDC that mentions plans for the ethanol plant:
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/091506_KEDC.pdf

Here is Mr. Martin's list of action items:
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Report+Card.pdf

A Brand New Day for McFarland

The recall results are in and Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano will finally be removed from office. This is a great new day for McFarland. Thanks to all of the people in the community that got involved in this effort. We look forward to working with all of you to make some positive changes in the community.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/081506_RecallResults.JPG

News Broadcast for August 3rd

Here are some clips of the stories that aired on our local news stations regarding the recall. Everything that comes out of Melendez's mouth is all a bunch of lies of course. He claims that all his trips were for city business and it didn't cost the city anything to have his wife travel with him. Well we have the documents to prove him wrong. I'm still amazed at how he continues to lie. Well tomorrow we'll find out if the people of McFarland believe him or not.

News - English (~9MB):
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/News_English.wmv

News - Spanish (~9MB):
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/News_Spanish.wmv

How to Get Rid of Your Recycling Bill?

Here is an interesting story shared with me by one of our McFarland residents:

"The very same day I received the blue recycling can early this year I called Sunset and asked them to pick up their can because I did not ask for their services nor did I want their can on my property. They stated to me after picking up the can that they would not bill the city for my address and in turn the city should not have reason to bill me. Eventually, the city sent me a bill not only for 3 months but 6 months. I then called Sunset back and their accounting department told me they did not bill the city for my address so I took that person's name with her permission. In fact, she encouraged me to tell city hall if they needed any confirmation they could contact her. I then went to the city and asked them to research this billing process an demanded answers as to why the city billed me. The clerk that I spoke with at the city insisted that she confirmed my situation with Sunset and in haste the clerk at city hall confirmed that the accounting manager at Sunset did speak with me and eventually the end result was that city hall reluctantly cleared my bill. After clearing my bill the clerk did inform me that the recycling bill will be added to my water bill as of July 1st and I will be forced to pay it now and also that Sunset will be delivering another blue can to my residence and once again I will have to ask them to come and pick it up further refusing their services. I wonder what their motives were in wrongfully billing me. I even wonder how many other residents were charged wrongfully. I hope this is helpful to anyone else.

Jesus G Ramos"

Last Minute Recall Flyers

On Saturday, Melendez and Cantu distributed a flyer to a select few parts of the community, me and several of my neighbors did not get ours, but we were able to obtain a copy of it. Once again they have produced a document that is full of lies and false promises. Their reasoning for why they chose to award the contract to Sunset Waste makes absolutely no sense and it would only make sense to people that are math illiterate. How sad that Cantu is a teacher and he couldn't figure out this one on his own.

I laughed when I read their comment where they give themselves credit for the increased home development in our city. Nearly every city in the county has experienced growth and these people can't take credit for any of the growth in our city. In fact, they have discouraged developers from wanting to develop in our city due to the restrictions that they try to impose on them for low cost housing. The housing in our city is already very affordable compared to other communities.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/9thStreetFlyer.pdf

On Sunday morning, we were able to distribute a rebuttal to their flyer. The response to this morning's flyer has been great. We have received several phone calls from people in the community that have requested copies of documents and evidence that we have gathered against these guys. Within hours we have provided copies to them and many of them have been amazed that the mayor continues to state that we are making false accusations. The evidence does not lie.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/081306_RebuttalFlyer.pdf

Vandalism on Cantu's Recall Signs

I drove around town this morning to find that all of the signs that were put up by Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano were vandalised. I just wanted to say that although I and several other people leading the recall effort do not agree with what was written on these signs, we in no way had any part in this act. We do not condone this kind of behavior and we regret that some people chose to do this.

Cantu's Recall Sign

Here is a picture of one of the signs that have been put up by the group of misinformed individuals that support Melendez. The best argument that they can come up with is that they feel R&F is charging us too much for our garbage service, so that is why we should be paying $4.50/month for our recyclable garbage vs the $2.25/month that R&F offered. They probably don't realize that the recyclable material has resale value and standard garbage does not. I also guess they didn't get to read a copy of the Grand Jury letter who found that our contract with Sunset Waste was "detrimental" to the citizens of Mcfarland.

What's with the mexican flag? Last time I checked, the City of McFarland fell well within the borders of the United States. But maybe what they are trying to suggest is that the administration of Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano is just as corrupt as any of the political organizations in Mexico and they are willing to accept bribes.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/IMG_0455.JPG

Summary of City Council Expenses

City Council Recall Flyer

Saturday morning we got up early and beat the heat to distribute ~1600 flyers to nearly all of the households in McFarland. It felt good to get out and inform people about the election, plus the excercise was great.

The flyer consists of a diagram in English and Spanish that advises people how to vote and fill in their absentee ballots. We also included a copy of the letter from the Kern County Grand Jury with a version that was translated into Spanish. The last page was filled up with statements showing only a few of the mayor's travel expenses. I wish we would have had more room for the rest of the travel expense documents but this flyer could have turned into a book. :)

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/071206+Council+Recall.pdf

Council Recall Billboards

Here is a picture of one of the billboards that has gone up to remind people of the recall election on August 15th. Several of these will be put up around town. Our sign supplier did a great job turning these around in less than a week, plus they gave us a really great deal on the price once they found out who we were trying to remove from office.

The pictures of the recycling bins were taken this morning and they were edited and placed into the final version of the billboard within minutes. The billboards were completed within a few hours after that. Incredibly fast!

City Council Recall Absentee Ballot

I received my absentee ballot in the mail today and I quickly filled it out and put it in the mail. I voted "Yes" to recall all three people on the ballot.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/072606_RecallBallot.jpg

Sample Ballot for Council Recall Election

I checked my mail this morning and found a nice surprise. A sample ballot for the McFarland city council recall election that is being held on August 15th. This was a wonderful reminder of the hard work and effort that our volunteers have made to help clean up this city and restore order. Note that there is a section where Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano were allowed to respond to our claims that they are doing a horrible job, but they didn't even bother to form a response to our statement.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/071506_SampleBallot.pdf

Draft Letter to Grand Jury

Here is a draft letter of a response that Melendez wants to try and send to the Grand Jury. He fails to give a good reason why he and his crew decided to accept Sunset's bid after the deadline. He states that Sunset has "considerably more recycling experience" and this is one of the reasons they were selected. I still don't believe that this justifies paying a 100% more for our recycling services and I doubt that most of the residents of McFarland care that Sunset Waste has more experience in this field.

"Sunset had a financial incentive to maximixe diversion and recycling because it has invested millions of dollars". Well of course, that is why they are charging us twice as much. We are paying for their multi-million dollar investment.

I like the suggestion that he makes to the Grand Jury in the final paragraph, where he asks the Grand Jury to give him notice "before you issue a further letter of this type". Of course he doesn't want letters like these coming out, they demonstrate how he and his buddies Cantu and Santillano have failed. But these facts are bound to get out and it won't be long before the entire community is aware of it.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/071406_LettertoGrandJury.pdf

Delano Record Article on Grand Jury Letter

Last week the Delano Record published a great article on the Grand Jury letter that was sent to the McFarland city council. Most of the grand jury letter is quoted word for word and it speaks for itself.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/071106_DelanoRecord.pdf

Recycling Bill from McFarland Resident

A couple of months ago, all homeowners in McFarland received a billing statement for their recycling services. A creative McFarland resident was upset about receiving this billing statement for a recycling can that he doesn't utilize, so this person decided to submit his own billing statement to the City of McFarland for rent to store their recycling bin on his property.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/062506_BilltoCity.pdf

I have been told that many other residents have decided to protest this recycling bill by withholding their payments on it.

Letter from Grand Jury to Melendez

One of our McFarland residents filed a complaint against our city council with the Kern County Grand Jury. This person received a response from the Grand Jury regarding their investigation on the city.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/letter_062306.pdf

The following letter is much more interesting. It is a letter written by the Grand Jury and addressed to Rafael Melendez. This letter should be enough to convince people that Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano have failed. To summarize the letter, it basically states that these guys are doing a terrible job in running our council meetings and that the recycling contract that was awarded to Sunset Waste was to the "detriment of the citizens".
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/letter_062306_2.pdf

The Grand Jury seems to suspect that something strange is going on and they plan to recommend that the investigation continue into the following year. I smell trouble for these guys, something similar to what the mayor of San Jose is going through at the moment. Looks like he may have accepted bribes from a garbage contractor and he was arrested yesterday. I wonder if the Kern County Grand Jury will discover that these guys on the McFarland City Council were involved in a similar type of fraud. I wouldn't be surprised. What else could explain why Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano would award the recycling contract to a company that bid nearly twice as much for the same service?
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/arrested.pdf

Letter to FPPC written by Cantu

Here is a copy of a letter that was attached to Melendez's letter to the state attorney general (shown on post of June 1st). This letter was written by Manuel Cantu and in it he is complaining to the Fair Political Practice Commission (FPPC). He complains about the school board's decision to hire lawyers to stop the school board recall after discovering that many of the signatures on the recall petitions were collected illegally. He claims that the motive for hiring the lawyers to fight the recall stems from the desire of the board members to retain their health benefits package at all costs. Most of the letter is amusing, it's almost like what I would expect to read from a child trying to make an argument. The last sentence where he points out Mr. Kasiner's Oklahoma license plate number is kinda goofy. I'm sure this letter left a good impression on the folks at the FPPC. I can almost guarantee where this letter eventually ended up.....directly in the trash.

Letter to FPPC:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/060806/060806_CantuLetter.pdf

More expenses for Melendez

I received some more documents showing how Melendez is abusing his position to treat himself to expensive personal equipment. In the latest documents that we have received we find that he has spent ~$700 on a cell phone and $1000 on a laptop computer. Should the citizens of McFarland be obligated to pay for all of this? Just because this guy can't afford to purchase his own communication and computer equipment, why should we bear the burden of this cost? I guess the trips to Las Vegas and Korea were not enough to fill his ego and make him feel important.

Cell Phone Expense:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/060806/060806_Cell.pdf

Laptop Expense:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/060806/060806_NB.pdf

Another Trip to Las Vegas

It looks like Manuel Cantu is enjoying his last few weeks as councilman by taking another trip on the taxpayer's dollar. Looks like he attended some kind of event in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. Here are copies of expense records that I was given by the city.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/060806_LasVegasTrip.pdf

Measure "E" and Biosolids Issue

Last summer, I took a bit of interest in the biosolids issue. For those of you that aren't familiar with it, over the past year Dean Florez has been supporting an effort to ban outside counties from importing their sludge or biosolids into Kern County and applying it on our farmlands. This sludge consists of human sewage and industrial waste made up of hundreds of compounds, many of which are untested and cannot be scientifically confirmed to be safe. Our community (Delano, McFarland, Wasco) is basically becoming their dump yard. I will be voting "Yes" on Measure "E" and I urge our other residents to do a bit of research into this and hopefully you will come to the same conclusion.

Here is a website with more information regarding Measure "E".
http://www.keepkernclean.com/

I wondered where these biosolids were being applied and I had contacted a local agency for this information. They sent me some maps of the farms that are currently allowed to apply this stuff. Here is the information that I received from the local official.

"Biosolid Locations:
1. State Hwy 119/Enos Lane. SW Kern County RBM Inc.
2. Garces Hwy/ Corcoran Rd. NW Kern County Honeybucket Farms
3. Garces hwy/Scofield Rd. NW Kern County Honeybucket Farms
4. Gun Club Rd/Patterson Rd. NW Kern County USA Transport, Inc.
If you have further questions please call me at 661-862-8708.
Guy Shaw"

Along with the locations he also provided satellite maps identifying the locations. Note how 3 of these locations are located right in our backyard.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/biomap1.pdf
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/biomap2.pdf

Here is a copy of the article that sparked my interest in this whole issue. Last July, there was a story in the Bakersfield Californian reporting on some waste "ash" being dumped in Wasco and there were concerns over the contents of the "ash". I have family in Wasco, plus since Wasco is not that far away from McFarland I had concerns about this. The city council reviewed it but I don't believe that they ever came to a firm conclusion.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/072105_BakCalif_Wasco_Ash_Piles.pdf

Letter to Attorney General

Here is a copy of a letter that Melendez wrote to the California State Attorney General regarding the McFarland school board recall. After reading this letter I felt so incredibly embarrassed by the fact that someone like Melendez is representing our city. Besides being poorly written, it is packed full of lies. He points out that some of the signatures that were submitted were invalidated but doesn't quite describe all of the circumstances behind the illegal collection of the signatures. His wording in the letter also implies that the county granted an election even after they had invalidated the signatures that were collected illegally. This is false. The election was granted before one of our citizens informed the county of the illegal activities.

He also states that the county of Kern opposed stopping the election. This is false, once the county elections department was informed of the manner in which the signatures were collected, she cooperated with the district attorney's office in their investigation and the county elections office came out in support of stopping the recall.

Also, note that Cantu has written a letter in support of this. Once again he goes out of his way to support a cause that was undertaken by a group of corrupt people that are currently going to trial for their crimes. I can't believe that they also sent copies to Dean Florez and Nicole Para on this. We need to get these guys out before they embarrass us further.

At least I had a good laugh when I read the end of the letter where it was signed "The Honorable Rafael Melendez". Yeah, sure. I would change it to "The Dishonorable, Incompetent Rafael Melendez".

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/060106_LetterAttGen.pdf

City Council Recall Rumors

Someone has been spreading rumors and telling people in our community that the city council recall is going to be stopped. I just wanted to notify everyone that the city council recall is still set to take place on August 15th and nothing is expected to hold up this election. Everything is on track and so far there are a great group of candidates that plan to run for office.

Enterprise Zone for McFarland?

This week's issue of the Delano Record reported on an effort by the Delano city council to have their staff file an application to have their city listed as a California Enterprise Zone. A city that falls under an Enterprise Zone status is able to offer businesses a greater incentive to relocate or establish sites within those zones. Shafter and Delano are currently the only two local cities that are designated as enterprise zones. There are currently 42 designated zones within the state with 23 of these zones that are set to expire this year. Several communities are filling out their applications to try to qualify for these spots that are expiring and I think our city should be one of them. This program is designed to target economically distressed areas in the state and I think our city would definitely stand out considering it is an area with low median household income and high unemployment. Here are some of the benefits offered by Enterprise zones:

Businesses can earn $29,234 or more in state tax credits for hiring qualified employees that reside within the zone
Corporations can earn sales tax credits on purchases or $20 million per year on qualified machinery and machinery parts
Up front expensing of depreciable property
Lenders and banks that lend to businesses operating inside a zone receive a tax deduction on the interest income for their loans
Plus many more benefits...

Delano Record Article:
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/052006_EntZone.pdf

How Jobs and Revenue Growth are stimulated in Enterprise Zones:

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/052006_growth_stimulated.pdf

Application for Enterprise Zone Status:

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/052006_EntZoneApp.pdf

California Association of Enterprise Zones:

http://www.caez.org/

I plan to bring this up at the next council meeting and see if this is something that we can come together and pull off before the deadline in September.

May 11th City Council Meeting

There was a very large turnout at the last city council meeting with several people from the community showing up to voice their opinions regarding the garbage recycling issue. From what I hear, it was standing room only, as citizen after citizen stepped up to criticize the councilmembers and the recycling service contract with Sunset Waste.

One person who owns a home and a rental property in McFarland described how she is being billed $15 for the use of one bin at her home and $60 for the use of one bin at her four-unit apartment complex. When she called Sunset Waste to inquire about why she was being charged so much more for the exact same service at the apartment complex the representative from Sunset Waste directed her to contact someone at city hall and hung up on her. For those that were not able to attend I will request a copy of the audio recordings and try to post copies of the recordings from the angry and frustrated people that spoke before the council.

I believe the recycling bill that was mailed out by the city a few weeks ago was a good reminder to everyone of the costly mistakes that Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano have made. As one person put it to me the other day in a symbolic manner, "They have just put the last nail into their own coffin". Meaning that now that people clearly see what price they are having to pay for the mistakes being made by these councilmembers, it is obvious why they deserve to be recalled on August 15th and they are only giving people more of a reason to support the recall.

Here is a copy of the meeting agenda for that day:
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/051106+Meeting+Agenda.pdf

Looking at the items listed for discussion under closed session one of them is related to a claim being filed by Melendez. I wonder what this is all about and if it will end up costing the city any more money.

City of McFarland Recycling Bills?

I was wondering if anyone else in town was surprised to see that the city sent out two bills this month, one for water and one for our recycling services for ~$15. We have had several people calling us today that are upset about receiving these bills. I thought that our last property tax bill already included a charge for the recycling services and I'm a bit confused about this bill. Is this an additional charge on top of everything else?

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/RecycleBill.pdf

So I wonder what would happen if we just didn't pay this recycling bill? Would Sunset just come by and pick up our recycling bins? Hmm..Maybe this is a thought worth pursuing. Many of our friends and family members have told us that they don't even put their recyclable material into these bins and they prefer to do their own recycling. Maybe we should boycott Sunset Waste and their services to send a message to the city council.

Delano Recycling Services

The Delano city council is on the brink of making the same mistake that the McFarland city council made by failing to consider offers from multiple vendors for their recycling services. A group of people from the Delano Chamber of Commerce is suggesting that the Delano city council make their bidding process for recycling services more fair and open it up to different vendors. Apparently no one on the council had bothered to look at the difference in the costs between Sunset Waste and R&F Disposal, even though R&F Disposal seems to be willing to provide the recycling services at a much lower cost. Here is a copy of the article published in the Delano record this week.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/042806Article.pdf

We also received a copy of a letter written to members of the chamber of commerce listing the top ten reasons why the city council should make their bidding process more open to multiple vendors. Along with the letter is a copy of a memo written by the Delano city engineer listing a price comparison between Sunset Waste, R&F Disposal, and Tule Trash. The price comparison shows that R&F is the lowest bidder in most of the service categories.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/CommerceLetter.pdf

City Council Recall Nomination Papers

The nomination papers for people that are interested in running for the mayor and councilmen positions on August 15th are now available at city hall. I have been told that the deadline to file the paperwork is June 1st so there is still plenty of time to pick up and complete these forms. I hope that we end up with a good group of honest people that are willing to run for office this time. I have included copies of some of the forms that are required to be filled out just to give people an idea of what to expect. Anyone interested in running should pick up original copies at city hall.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/CodeCampaignPractices.pdf
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/nomination.pdf
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/statguide.pdf
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/forlang1.pdf

I have heard some people in the community suggest that we should host an open forum where all of the candidates that are running for office, including the people that are being recalled, would be invited to sit on a panel and have people from the community come out and ask them questions. I think it's a good idea and I would be interested in hearing what others have to think about this.

Notice to Anonymous Person

I received a post the other day from a person who is claiming that there have been several lawsuits filed with the school district. This person lists some names of people and the lawsuits that are supposedly being filed. My request to this person is that you contact me directly and fax me a copy of the documents that you have obtained that support your claims. Also, I will require that you be willing to identify yourself and allow me to list your name on the blog as the person that discovered the evidence. If you agree to this, send me an email at rrodartejr@earthlink.net so that I can provide you with my fax number.

I think it is only fair to provide as much evidence as possible for everyone else to see and I think that you should have the courage to identify yourself as the person that is bringing up this issue.

April 13th City Council Meeting

On Thursday evening, the city council approved an election date for the city council recall. The date has been set for August 15th, 2006. We have been told that paperwork for people interested in running for this election will be made available at city hall in the next couple of weeks. This paperwork will need to be filed with the city by June 1st.

McFarland School Board Recall Stopped!

We just received some great news. The McFarland school board recall has officially been stopped! Another win for the good guys. Sometime this morning a Kern County judge decided to end the recall after viewing all of the evidence of how signatures were collected illegally.

Issues with Sunset Waste Recycling

A representative from Sunset Waste has been going around to some of the businesses in town attempting to get letters of recommendation from them. They approached one local business with their own letter of recommendation already prepared and typed up, when the owner was not available the company representative was requesting that employees at the business sign the letter. Seems like a very strange method of trying to solicit recommendations. I did a bit of research on them and it appears that they may be struggling to sign on more cities to their recycling contracts. I found some recent news articles that were interesting.

The City of Porterville found that they could handle their own recycling services at an estimated cost of $0.90/month for every household compared to the $4/month that Sunset Waste wanted to charge them so that Sunset could purchase new trucks. They had existing garbage trucks that were servicing the city and they could be used to lower the collection costs to its citizens. Does this sound familiar? Very similar to what we faced here in McFarland, but the Porterville council made the correct choice and decided to save taxpayer money and keep the services in house.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Sunset_Porterville.pdf

The City of Visalia decided not to extend their contract with Sunset Waste because they found that they could potentially profit from the recyclable material that they are currently not being paid for. It appears that Sunset charges us ~$4.75/month, then they turn around and still make a profit from the sale of the recyclable material that they pick up. What a sweet deal. At least with R&F we could have cut our cost down to $2.25/month.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Sunset_Visalia.pdf

Mas Magazine Article

Mas magazine published an article on the city council recall effort in this week's issue.

I like this quote from the article regarding the mayor's use of city money, "According to Melendez, it was understood he would pay the money back to the city, but residents are asking why it took the mayor so long to reimburse the funds." The reporter also refers to Melendez's use of money as "borrowing". I liked how the reporter summarized the key expenses along with the timelines, showing that over a year and a half went by before the mayor paid the money back.

Cantu once again demonstrates his faithful support of Melendez. He defends the mayor by saying that city money was used because purchasing the tickets for both the mayor and his wife at the same time provided a discount on the airfare. Give me a break. The mayor waits a year and a half to pay back the money and Cantu still buys into his story. Clearly Cantu lacks any common sense and this is why he should not be on the city council. He also makes a comment saying that the cost per container for the recyclable garbage contract with Sunset was less expensive than what R&F offered. Last time I checked, it was clear from reading the bid proposals that R&F was offering this service for half the cost. I hear that Cantu is a teacher, I hope that he isn't a math teacher.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/040606_Mas.pdf

McFarland City Council Recall Update

More great news! We were just informed that the city council recall petitions were found to have enough valid signatures for Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano. So it looks like we will be having another election in the next few months. Let's take advantage of this opportunity and clean up our city council. Looks like we still stand a chance at turning things around and undoing the 9th street gang's work.

Here is a copy of the notice that we received from the city clerk:
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Petition_Certification2.pdf

School Board Recall Election Halted

Great news today! The Kern County Superior Court has decided to halt the election on April 4th while the court determines whether or not to disqualify the election completely. This is one step closer to stopping the 9th street gang's effort to take control of the school board and fill it with a bunch of idiots and criminals.

Here is an article that was published in the Bakersfield Californian.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/032906_BakCalif.pdf

McFarland Sex Offenders

I came across a Megan's Law website that tracks sex offenders in the state of California. I did a search for sex offenders in the city of McFarland and three people came up on the search. The light blue squares on the map are the locations in town that they have listed as their residence.
http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/

I would encourage people to run this search and be aware of who these people are.

School Board Recall Flyer

A flyer is being distributed to advise the community to vote against the school board recall election that is taking place on April 4th. The goal of this flyer is to inform people of the type of candidates that are trying to replace our existing board members. We hope that this flyer will encouage people to ask tough questions and determine the true intentions behind this recall effort.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/032306+School+Board+Recall.pdf

Criminal Records for School Board Candidates

We were doing some research into the background of some of the candidates that are running to replace the current school board members. All of the information posted here is taken from a Kern County website that lists criminal records and court hearing dates.
http://www.co.kern.ca.us/courts/crimcal/crim_index_def.asp

Emma Garnica apparently has quite an extensive history of charges against her. We were able to find 4 different items including charges for:
1. Driving under the influence of alcohol.
2. Two separate instances of possession of illegal drugs.
3. Driving without a license or registered vehicle.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Garnica_Oct13_1998.pdf
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Garnica_Sept3_2002.pdf
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Garnica_March20_2003.pdf
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Garnica_Jan25_2006.pdf

This person thinks she knows what is best for our school district and our children? It looks like she is in need of some personal counseling. I believe that a record like this says a lot about the character of a person and I would say she is unfit to make decisions that may affect our students. I think that our community should hold our city leaders to a higher set of standards.

For Marin Ortega and David Arquello we found records showing that they have a hearing date on March 21st regarding the charges that they face for illegally collecting school board recall signatures.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Ortega_March6_2006.pdf
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Arquello_March6_2006.pdf

More Unethical Behavior from Melendez

Apparently the mayor was quite intimidated by the recall effort. I found out a few weeks ago, that he was trying to disrupt the recall process by approaching the employers of people that were assisting in collecting signatures. Melendez was actually bold enough (and stupid enough) to contact the employer of a former city councilman that was supporting our recall to complain to the employer that their employee was out collecting signatures to recall him. What the heck is this guy thinking? The poor guy truly believes that he has the power to get people fired or have them reprimanded for acting on their political beliefs. I have heard stories that this guy has a large ego and is on some kind of power trip but now I truly believe it.

March 9th Council Meeting

I was reading through the council agenda and two items caught my attention. One of the items brought up was the issue regarding the operation of the wastewater plant. Apparently, the $400k contract with Severn Trent has not worked out as well as the mayor said it has. At the January council meeting Melendez defended the contract and even went as far as to say that no other city around us could operate their wastewater facilities at such a low cost. Well if you read the agenda excerpt it appears that city staff has concluded that operating the wastewater plant in house would be more cost effective. So if we have such a good deal with Severn Trent, why are we once again shopping around for another solution?
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/030905+Meeting+Agenda+Items.pdf

Another item that was placed on the agenda was a proposal to modify the fee collection process with R&F. Former city administrator, Anthony Lopez, recommended that the process should be changed so that R&F conducts their own billing and we stop collecting fees through the property tax billing. Here is a copy of Mr. Lopez's reasoning for why the city should stop handling the billing. I wonder though, why isn't Sunset Waste being asked to conduct their own billing? Reading through this proposal it is clear that this is simply a personal attack on R&F and Lopez does not have a clear grasp of what a great position the city is in to be collecting the garbage fees upfront through property taxes. The claim that we are subsidizing costs for customers that don't pay their garbage fees is false. A property owner that doesn't pay his garbage fees would have a lien placed on his property and the city would eventually recover any lost fees through a tax lien sale. This is a very rare occurence in McFarland if you research tax lien sales in Kern County. Also consider what would happen if someone doesn't pay their garbage fees once R&F does their own billing. In that situation, R&F would not be obligated to pick up garbage at these sites leaving trash to accumulate and create an eye sore, potentially decreasing our property values.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/031406_Lopez_Recom.pdf

Here is a rebuttal to Lopez's recommendations.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/031406_Rebuttal.pdf

Submission of Council Recall Petitions

Another key milestone in the recall process has been completed. The recall petitions were finally submitted to the city clerk this afternoon. We were told that the minimum required number of signatures to approve a recall election is approximately 620 for each person. It looks like our volunteers have collected more than enough. Next step in the process is to wait for the city clerk and county elections office to verify the signatures. We should have some type of response within the next 30 days.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/031006_PetitionReceipt.pdf

Estimated number of signatures for each person are as follows:
Melendez ~765
Cantu ~665
Santillano ~700

We would like to thank all of the people that hit the streets to collect signatures and all of the people that supported this effort by signing.

School Board Election Ballot

I received my ballot for the school board election and as I started to read through it some of the names were very familiar. Note how two of the people running to replace the current school board members are people that were recently charged with a crime by the district attorney. These people are David Arguello and Marin Ortega. Both of them are correctional officers, how ironic.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/Recall_Ballot.pdf

A third person named Emma Garnica was also running to replace a school board member. She appears to have a criminal record for drug possession. This is all public information from the Kern County website.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/EmmaGarnica.pdf

People of McFarland, why are we putting up with this kind of behavior? We came so close to having our school board being taken over by people with these qualities. Let's wake up and make a better effort to stop this from occuring in the future. I hope people take the time to investigate who these people are and what local leaders they support so more people can begin to see the light.

I would like to thank all of the wonderful people that put in long hours to fight this school board recall attempt. You have done a great service to our community and our students.

School Board Recall Fraud

A story was reported today on KGET 17 news regarding the effort to recall some of our school board members. The district attorney has decided to file charges against six individuals for fraudulent activity while collecting signatures. This school board recall was supported by councilman Manuel Cantu and the people from the 8th street group, a gang of illiterate people that are Melendez supporters.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/030706+School+Board.pdf

The Three Amigos on the Road Again

Here are some more documents that I came across for another trip that Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano took back in May 2005. I'm not sure what the city gained out of this trip, but I know it cost us at least $2,466.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/ICSC_Trip.pdf

McFarland Playgrounds

I visited a playground in Wasco this afternoon. These are pictures of Barker Park next to the Parks and Recreation office in Wasco. Looking at this nice playground, which is only one of two such playgrounds that Wasco has, I began to wonder to myself why McFarland doesn't have something like this available for our children.

My hope is that if we elect good, honest leaders that are able to spend our money wisely and make good financial decisions we could eventually help the Parks and Recreation district build facilities like these. We could have built a park like this with the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been wasted by Melendez on his personal trips and expensive lawsuits.

Audio Clip - California Waste Management Meeting

Another complaint that the mayor and his buddies Cantu and Santillano have is that R&F Disposal was at fault for a $10,000 fine that was charged to the city for not being in compliance with a recycling program. Here is an audio clip of the former city administrator, Anthony Lopez, speaking before the California Integrated Waste Management Board. Mr. Lopez specifically states that the sole responsibility for the city not being in compliance falls with the City of McFarland and not with R&F Disposal. Our own city administrator admitted that R&F was not at fault for this fine, so why do the mayor and council keep insisting that it was? Why did these guys use this as an excuse to reject R&F's proposal to pick up our recyclable garbage at half the cost that Sunset is charging us?

Interesting thing though, Cantu doesn't even own a home in McFarland yet he finds no problem voting on a measure that increases taxes for all other homeowners in our community.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/califwaste.mp3

Delano Record Article - February 16th

Cantu finally decides to speak to the press. Unfortunately, he used this opportunity to tell a bunch of lies.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/021606Record.pdf

Lie#1. Once again he complains that the City of McFarland loaned R&F $300,000 for the purchase of two trucks. I think it is amazing that we have elected a councilman that won't bother to do some simple research and read the agreement that the city has with R&F Disposal. The agreement clearly states that the loan is from the Kern County Waste Management department. The agreement must be too difficult for him to read and understand, after all it does have words with more than three syllables in it. Well maybe one of our citizens will be kind enough to read it to him.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/R$26F_agreement.pdf

Lie#2. Cantu supports the mayor and states that Melendez "has always paid the city back" for his wife's expenses. Yet, the mayor only bothered to pay the city for some of these expenses until the end of December 2005. Almost a year and a half after the mayor took his wife to Washington D.C and used city money for her expenses. I'm sure the fact that we exposed the mayor's behavior at the December 8th, 2005 meeting had nothing to do with him making a payment to the city.

Lie#3. Cantu states that one of Garza's children used city money on a Washington D.C. trip. None of Garza's kids have ever traveled with him to Washington D.C.

February 9th City Council Meeting

Hi,

This is Julie and I'm curious how the council meeting went? Any thoughts? I was busy collecting 25 more signatures and my husband had a late meeting at work, I'm hoping the Mayor didn't make more false claims and accusations like he did at the last meeting...

Article in Bakersfield Californian

Here is a copy of an article that was published today in the Bakersfield Californian. The mayor's quotes don't make any sense.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/020606_BakCalif.pdf

Korea Airfare for Mayor's Wife

We finally received a document that shows how much the city paid on airfare for the mayor's wife on the Korea trip, exactly $1,252. This plus the other documents with expenses that we have shown on this website easily add up to approximately $2,200 that the city has spent on the mayor's wife. Or should I say this is the amount that we, the citizens of McFarland have paid up to this point. And for those of you that attended the last council meeting, recall that the mayor defiantly said that he would continue taking his wife on these trips. We'll have the audio clip posted on this website next week.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/korea_airfare2.pdf

Also, another interesting thing. The mayor, his wife, and the city administrator each received a $600 check from the city to cover their hotel and meals on this Korea trip. Wouldn't the mayor and his wife share a hotel room, why was it necessary to give each one a check? Adding all of the expenses for city officials on this Korea trip, I estimate ~$6,800 was spent for the entire thing. What do we have to show for this expense?

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/korea_hotel.pdf

Contract with R&F Disposal

I received a copy of the agreement with R&F disposal and I wanted to post a copy of it for everyone to view. Last month, a group that supports Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano's decision to sign a contract with Sunsent Waste circulated an anonymous flyer explaining to us why it was the correct thing to do. Well the flyer was full of misleading statements and I hope that people will read this contract and compare it against the anonymous flyer that was posted to this website on January 6th.

Key items that I would like to point out from the contract that dispute the claims that were made in the anonymous flyer.

1. Page 1 describes the 5% franchise fee that the city keeps from all of the revenue generated through R&F's services. The author of the flyer complains that we are paying too much for our regular garbage service compared to Delano, but they don't mention that the monthly fee that R&F charges includes this 5% franchise fee with an additional $0.75 billing fee that all goes back to the city. If these guys on the council are so concerned about our garbage costs why don't they vote to remove these fees.
2. Page 2 shows the terms of the permitted 5% increase in service fees. The author of the flyer complains that R&F can increase our fees at their own will by 5% per year. The author of the flyer is an idiot that doesn't understand that the 5% increase is only permitted if the consumer price index (CPI) increases by 5%. If the economy experiences an event that causes the CPI to increase by 10% in one year, R&F is still only limited to increasing their rates by 5%.
3. Page 3 clearly shows that Kern County loaned R&F the $300,000 interest free loan for the purchase of two trucks. The author of the flyer was claiming that the city loaned this money to R&F and that the past city administration was going out of their way to do special favors for R&F.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/R$26F_agreement.pdf

Now you have to ask yourself, why wasn't the author of the anonymous flyer willing to stand behind his words and print his name to it? I'm sure this person knew that they were misleading the public and that he would not be able to handle the critisicm.

Another Request for Public Documents

Here is a copy of another public record request form that I submitted to the city on Friday. I don't know why I bother, I suspect that the finance officer is supportive of the mayor, I don't expect her to be too eager to disclose all of the expense records that they have.

Documents that I requested this time are:
1. Proof that the mayor has reimbursed the city for his wife's travel expenses. (2nd request)
2. Expense records showing how much the city paid for the mayor's wife's airfare (2nd request)
3. Current R&F wastehauler agreement. This will be posted to the website to provide evidence against the lies in the anonymous flyer that was circulated around town.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/012706+Request.pdf

Letter from a concerned McFarland resident

A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call from a concerned McFarland resident named Jessie Ramos. He shared his concerns and desire to have our community come together to elect good leaders. Over the past two months, my wife and I have had the opportunity to speak with many other great McFarland citizens, like Jessie, who truly care about our community. At his request, I am posting a letter that he has written to the editor of a local newspaper.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/jramos.pdf

South Korea Airfare

Despite our repeated requests for paperwork showing the amount the mayor spent on airfare for himself and his wife to travel to Korea, we have not received anything. But this document shows how much the city administrator's airfare cost, roughly $2,500. I would guess that this is roughly the same amount that the city paid for the mayor's wife.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/korea_airfare.pdf

Viva Las Vegas!

Looks like the mayor and councilman Santillano took a nice, expensive trip to Las Vegas for 4 days! Check out the $300/night room that the mayor billed to the city. They stayed at the New York New York hotel and spent nearly $2000 just on the hotel rooms alone. But I'm sure it was money well spent for the good of our city and our people.

http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/lasvegas.pdf

Questionable Travel Expenses?

We just received some of the documents that we had requested from the City of McFarland. The document below shows that the city paid $600 to cover the mayor's wife's (Lorraine) lodging and meals for a recent trip to Korea. It also shows an American Express statement for a city credit card that was charged for $432 to pay for her plane ticket to Washington D.C. I didn't know the city offered such nice travel benefits for family members of city officials.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/expense/amexstat2.pdf

This is just a preview of what we have received so far. There are over 100 pages of documents to review. Stay tuned.

The $200 Letter from the City of McFarland

Last month I submitted a public records request form to try to obtain financial statements and records listing what the city has spent on the mayor and his wife for travel expenses. Here is a copy of a letter that I received from the city attorney in response to my request. To summarize the letter, the city attorney is simply telling me that I have to obtain all of these documents directly from the city finance officer. Was it really necessary to have an attorney that charges more than $200/hr write a letter to me to tell me this? This is exactly the type of wastefulness that we are trying to end. No wonder our legal costs have increased so much, these people at city hall can't make any decisions that simply require common sense. Couldn't the city administrator have typed up a letter like this or simply call me?

http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/letters/letter.pdf

By the way, last week I was told that my documents would be provided to me on Wednesday, January 18th. Today I was told that the finance officer would be calling me next week. The countdown continues and now about 38 days have passed since I submitted my request.

Delano Record Article - January 19th

Here is a copy of an article that was published in the Delano Record on January 19th. The primary subject was our recall effort.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/articles/012006Record.pdf

Recall Petitions Are In!

If anyone would like to sign the recall petition or obtain a blank set of petitions to collect signatures, feel free to call us or send us an email. Requirements for people that would like to volunteer to collect signatures are:

1. Person collecting signatures must be a registered voter in the City of McFarland.
2. Person collecting signatures must sign the bottom of the petition stating that they are the sole person that collected signatures for that particular petition. The person must not allow anyone else to distribute their petition and collect signatures on it.

rrodartejr@earthlink.net
(661) 330-2290

Reimbursement of Mayor's Wife's Travel Expenses

A couple of weeks ago I received the following message from a county official who is looking into the mayor's inappropriate use of city money for his wife's travel expenses.

"Mr. Rodarte:
In regards to the Mayor Melendez and his travel expenses for his wife. As of December 20, 2005 the Mayor has repaid the City of McFarland for his wifes travel expenses.Thank you for bringing this to our attention."

I think it is interesting how quickly the mayor decided to pay after I confronted him about it at the December 8th council meeting and after he was questioned about it by Jose Gaspar from Eye 29 news. 12 days after we brought this to the community's attention he decided to pay it back. I think I should put a copy of the video clip for the news broadcast on this website. What a great idea!

But I still wonder how much money he was trying to get away with. Well stay tuned. As soon as I get the documentation on his itemized travel expenses I will post them to this website. That's if the city ever decides to give me the documents. I wonder why it is taking so long for them to provide me with this documentation, it's been more than 36 days already. I bet it's those pesky guys from the previous administration messing with those computers again. Hmmm...

Copy of Flyer Distribution

To inform any new visitors to the blog, I thought I should add a copy of the flyer that we distributed to the entire community a couple of weeks ago. This lists most of our complaints against the mayor and the two council members that follow him. We distributed close to 1500 flyers and I hope that we have sparked enough interest in these issues that people will begin to ask tough questions and investigate these issues for themselves.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/flyer/FlyerDist.pdf

Blog Abuse

Ok, it looks like some people have been abusing the blog site and posting comments under other people's names. If you people can't prove your points without having to resort to these kinds of tactics then I guess I'll just have to treat you like the children that you are and moderate the comments.

Recall Petition Approval

Good news today. It looks like the mayor and city administrator were not able to find anything wrong with our blank recall petition. They denied our first draft because it was only written in English. We got it right on the second try with our bilingual version. Here is a copy of the approval letter.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/letters/PetApproval.pdf

City of McFarland Financial Statements

On December 12, I requested several documents from the city including financial statements for the last five years and documents listing travel expenses for city officials. Here is a copy of the form I submitted to the city.
http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/docreq/DocReq.pdf

I wasn't surprised when city officials told me that all they could provide to me was financial statements up until the end of the fiscal year in June 2003. The mayor took office sometime in March 2003 and I guess for some reason they are unable to find their financial statements for the rest of the fiscal years from this point on. I wonder if they were even completed at all. They also haven't provided me with any documents listing what the city has paid out for the mayor's travel expenses.

Looking at the financial statements that they were able to provide, it appears that the city was making steady progress. Net income was growing in the range of ~$200-300k per year before the mayor came in. Net assets for the city nearly doubled from approximately 6 million to 12 million dollars over a 3 year period. So I wonder why the current mayor's administration is unable to provide these statements to prove to us that they are improving our city. Could they be hiding the fact that they are squandering the surplus left by the previous administration? Hmmm....

http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/docreq/fs2001.pdf
http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/docreq/fs2002.pdf
http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/docreq/fs2003.pdf

Anonymous Flyer on Recyclable Garbage Issue

I came across a flyer that is being recirculated around town. The flyer appears to be written by someone who is supporting the recycling contract that was signed with Sunset Waste and it basically amounts to being a personal attack on R&F Disposal and the previous city council.

The flyer was circulated in Spanish and we had it translated into English:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/garbage/Flyer_Spanish.pdf
http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/garbage/Flyer_English.pdf

Key Points that the anonymous author attempts to make:

1. McFarland residents are paying $17.25 per month per home for garbage and green waste service. Delano residents are paying $14.00 per month per home for the same service. The author claims that McFarland residents should be paying less than Delano residents because of the simple fact that McFarland has less residents. The author's logic here is so simplistic that I am convinced that this person has never owned their own business or taken a basic course in economics.

My response: Any business or organization with a larger volume of sales has more room to adjust and drop their pricing because the larger sales will offset a good portion of the lost profit margin. So because the company that services Delano can count on revenue from over 45,000 residents it can afford to take more risk and reduce their pricing. Where a company that has to rely on only 9,000 residents needs to be more careful and be more conservative to make sure they don't price their services too low. Also, the author failed to mention that the City of McFarland gets a 5% franchise fee from R&F. So in reality we actually pay ~$16.39 and the city keeps the rest.

Another thing, why does the author assume that this justifies the council's decision to approve a service contract that is twice as expensive as the one that R&F proposed? Are they implying that this is a good manner of punishing R&F because they charge a bit more than Delano for our regular garbage service?

2. The author states that the contract that R&F has allows for 5% annually increases in their service charges and they have a contract with the city that will allow them to increase our rates.

My response: This is totally misrepresented and shows the author's lack of experience in negotiating service contracts. The 5% increase is a consumer price index (CPI) that is built into the contract to protect the company against years when our economy experiences large rates of inflation and when energy prices rise. The 5% is a maximum cap. So if our economy experiences a CPI increase of 10% in one year, R&F can only increase their service rates by 5%.

3. The author complains that the city awarded a 20 year contract to R&F.

My response: Most businesses that invest a significant amount of money expect long term contracts. No competent business person would invest half a million dollars and sign a short term contract of less than 10-15 years unless they had guarantees that their investment would yield a good return in that short period of time. The city council just approved a 40 year lease option on the community center. Consumers typically sign off on 15 and 30 year mortgages. Does a 20 year contract really sound unreasonable? Maybe for someone that has never put their own money on the line with a large investment.

4. The author complains that the city loaned $300,000 to R&F for the purchase of a fleet of trucks.

My response: The $300,000 was actually an interest free loan from Kern County. The county provided this loan to R&F along with a grant for free trash cans during the time when the county decided to shutdown the Delano-McFarland landfill. The shutdown of the landfill had a negative impact on R&F's costs, R&F petitioned the county for assistance and their effort was rewarded. The city of Delano also received some grants from the county for this same reason. The loan disbursement is being administered by the City of McFarland. Proof of this can be found in this following page from the 2003 financial statements for the city. It clearly shows that Kern County Waste Management (KCWM) loaned $300,000 to the city for this purpose.

KCWM Note Payable:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/garbage/finstat.pdf

Bottomline on this flyer, it is a bunch of garbage! No pun intended. I understand why the author was ashamed to print their name on this.

Audio Clip from December 8th Council Meeting

I received a set of micro-cassettes with the audio recording for the December 8th council meeting. I am posting a clip with one of the highlights from the meeting.

1. The mayor admits that he is using city money to pay for his wife's travel expenses. He states that he believes he is entitled to have us pay for these personal expenses because he spends a lot of time from home serving our needs. Sounds more like he is serving his own needs.

2. Councilman Manuel Cantu stands by the mayor and makes comments suggesting that the mayor's behavior is acceptable because McFarland is like a multi-million dollar company with lots of money to spare.

3. Toward the end of the clip the mayor makes a statement that the council approves of his use of city money for personal travel and the audience in the council chamber speaks out in protest.

Link to audio clip in mp3 format:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/audio/clip1.mp3

If anyone would like to receive a free copy of the complete recording of the entire meeting on CD just send me an email at rrodartejr@earthlink.net. Make sure to provide your name and mailing address.

Delano Record Article, December 22nd

Just wanted to share an article that was published in the Delano Record today. I was interviewed over the phone for this article. I also specifically asked the reporter Bob Cane to call Mayor Melendez and get his side of the story. Interesting how the mayor and the two councilmen didn't even bother to defend themselves.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/articles/122205Record.pdf

Community Meeting Notice

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have reserved the Mouser Center for a community meeting on Saturday, January 14th at 12pm. This is the Saturday right after the next council meeting. We will be placing an ad in the Delano Record and passing out flyers in the community to notify people.

Potential Items for Agenda:
1. Open discussion on previous council meeting
2. Update on Recall Status
3. Review of Recall signature collection process
4. Any other items that come up...

Notice of Intent to Recall

I just wanted to provide a status update on our recall activities. We served the mayor and two councilmembers with Notices of Intent to Recall at the last council meeting on December 8th. To comply with the recall requirements we had to publish a copy of the Notices in the Delano Record. The Notices appeared in the December 15th issue of the Delano Record. I have included a copy of the Notices in the link below. The Notices are signed by 23 people, only 6 of which are my family members. So this is a nice wake up call to the mayor that he does not have 100% support from the community and we all don't support his "vision and goals", whatever they may be.

As part of the process, the mayor and two councilmembers are given 7 days to respond to our statement in the Notice of Intent. Well the deadline has passed and none of the three people even bothered to respond to our statement. So our official recall petition forms will not have any official statement from them. I'm sure these guys needed well over 7 days to come up with a 200 word statement to defend themselves. The mental strain was probably too much to bear and they just gave up.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/intent/PubIntent.pdf

McFarland City Budget

I went to city hall this afternoon and we were provided with some records of the last budget that was proposed for the 2004-2005 fiscal year. I wanted to upload a copy of what we received for everyone to view. You will notice that the 2004-2005 budget is a proposed budget and it looks like it was not approved. Our city's fiscal year begins in June, so technically we should have had an approved budget more than 6 months ago for the 2005-2006 fiscal year. What the heck are these guys doing? How is it possible that they haven't been able to approve a budget yet? These people are just plain clueless. You'll also notice how their proposed budget for expenses is approximately 2.2 million higher than it was for the prior fiscal year. That's a nearly 66% increase over the prior year! While at the same time they expected our revenue (income) to increase by only 12%! All of this occurred under mayor Melendez's watch.

Also, note how they had to budget $65,000 in the general fund for legal fees which were not even required in prior years. Also, an additional $65,000 in legal fees under the sewer fund that was not required in prior years. Why are we incurring legal costs related to the sewer system? I wonder if they were just trying to spread out the legal costs over several funds so that they don't stand out too much.

McFarland City Budget
http://home.earthlink.net/~rrodartejr/mcrg/budget/Budget.pdf

December 8th, City Council Meeting

We had a great meeting last night. Several of us had an opportunity to voice our opinions before the council. I stood up and gave a recap of some of the issues that people had brought up at our informal community meeting a couple of weeks ago. The council tried to address some of the items but I found that many of their responses were not credible and they attempted to cast blame on the prior city administration. Two of the most astonishing things that I discovered at this meeting are that our city financial records appear to be in a state of chaos, where computers are lost, records can't be found, and somehow that has prevented us from creating a budget for the past year. Yet, the lack of a budget somehow has not stopped them from approving large expenditures. I guess our city's checking account has money that magically appears in it every month. How can we trust these people to manage our city? Most responsible, successful people that I know are able to manage their income and expenses to live within their means. Apparently, these people think that as long as the checks keep clearing we should be OK.

My favorite of the night though was the Mayor's outright statement that he believes he is entitled to have the city pay for his wife's travel costs on all of his business trips. He thinks that because he travels so much and spends so many hours away from home on city business that we should be compensating him by paying for his wife's expenses. This is outrageous! Before running for office he was well aware of the fact that the office of Mayor does not provide a salary or compensation, it is strictly voluntary. Yet, here he is telling us that he deserves this perk because he works so hard for us. According to him, he will be reimbursing the city for his wife's travel expenses, but my feeling is that he has finally realized that he has been caught and is now trying to find a way out to cover himself. I loved the story that was broadcast on Eye 29 later that same evening, he was questioned about this and he clearly lacks any credibility.

We finally served the mayor and councilmen with our Notice of Intent to Recall forms. So the recall process is officially underway. Thanks to all the people that supported and signed our paperwork. Each Notice of Intent required 20 signatures, we collected 23 just to play it safe. Although we easily could have collected 50 for each candidate. For those of you who called us requesting to sign it but didn't get an opportunity to sign it, don't worry, you will have another chance once we begin recirculating the recall petitions.

Anyway, last night's meeting was fun and a bit entertaining. I think next time I will bring my soda and popcorn to watch the show.

Community Meeting

We had a small group of McFarland residents get together last Sunday afternoon at the Mouser center patio. I would like to thank all of the people that came out and expressed their opinions. We all had an opportunity to discuss and share information about the progress that our city is making, or should I say lack of progress. Overall, it appears like everyone is unhappy with some of the decisions that our council has made, some of the excessive spending that has been taking place, and the overall direction that our city is heading in. Here is a quick summary of some of the items that were brought up:

Garbage Fee Increase:
A petition to protest the expensive contract that the city signed with Sunset Waste is being circulated by Eden Valdez. As of Sunday there were approximately 300 signatures collected. Interesting thing though, the petition was signed by councilman Cantu's own father and his in-laws. Cantu voted in favor of the contract with Sunset Waste. We expect a larger turnout at the next council meeting to express our concerns with fee increases.

Community Center Lease:
Everyone seemed disgusted with the poor negotiation of the community center lease and the fact that the city will still have to pay for the demolition to prepare the site. Also, some concern expressed over the new community center that was supposed to be built on the parcels of land by Vineyard Estates that were recently sold off for estate homes. What ever happened to this project? What are we going to use to replace the existing community center?

City manager vacancy:
Current city manager, Anthony Lopez, is supposed to leave his post at the end of December. Who will replace him? Who will be recruiting and hiring our new administrator? I pointed out that the mayor hasn't demonstrated that he is intelligent enough to oversee the hiring of an accomplished, degreed professional and I am worried about who they will select as a replacement. Also, what kind of professional would want to work for a council like this?

City Financial Health:
Why don't we have a budget for 2006? Why is the city reluctant to provide their profit and loss statements to people that have requested it? What are they trying to hide? Maybe the fact that they have squandered the cash surplus that our previous city manager left for us.

Lawsuits:
Since Melendez was elected our city's legal costs have increased significantly. The city is currently being sued by R&F Disposal. Last year Melendez drove out an outstanding city manager who he couldn't get along with. The city manager agreed to leave if the city would pay the remainder of his employment contract (~$100k). Melendez, being the bright business man that he is, decided that the city should fight this request and hire expensive lawyers, rather than reach a reasonable compromise. In the end, the city manager won an award 3 times the size of his original contract because it was clear that he was the person that was being treated unfairly. Plus the city incurred the additional legal fees to fight this. Just to think of the wastefulness and the good things that could have been done for the community with that money. Makes me wonder how the heck this guy got elected. Way to go Mr. Mayor!

Planning for Growth:
New residential projects are being approved but what about schools? With the increase in homes being built we need to begin planning and coordinating with the school board to build schools to avoid overcrowding.

Expenses:
A new $700 cell phone for the mayor? An all expense paid trip for the mayor, his wife, and the city administrator to travel to Korea, with a spending stipend for his wife? Travel costs for the mayor and city administrator to personally travel all the way to Sacramento to pay a $10,000 fee that the city owed for lagging behind on implementing a recycling program? Was it necessary for both of them to personally go to Sacramento for this?

Violation of City Ordinances:
There seems to be a lack of enforcement of city ordinances. Trucks parking off streets in areas that create safety hazards, farm animals being raised in residential areas.

Overall it was a very successful meeting and a good starting point for our next course of action. We all expressed a desire to make significant changes in our city leadership. We agreed to meet again and the next meeting has been scheduled for Saturday, December 10th, 12pm, at the Mouser center. This time we will be meeting inside the Mouser center rather than in the patio area. All people who genuinely care about the future of our community and are interested in restoring order are welcome to attend.

McFarland Community Issues & Events

Monday, March 26, 2007

Election Recount Results

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Sheriff Gang Unit

Friday, March 16, 2007

City Hall Protest

Friday, March 09, 2007

Election Results

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Election News

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Vote for Honest and Experienced People

Sunday, February 18, 2007

March 6th Election

Friday, February 16, 2007

McFarland School District Management Study

Monday, February 12, 2007

McFarland Christmas Parade

Saturday, October 21, 2006

McFarland School Board Election

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Compensation for Councilmembers

Notice of Violations

Friday, September 29, 2006

Laptop and Cell Phone Theft?

Sunday, September 24, 2006

McFarland School Board Election

News Clips for August 15th

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Proposed Action Items from Dennis Martin

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

A Brand New Day for McFarland

Monday, August 14, 2006

News Broadcast for August 3rd

Sunday, August 13, 2006

How to Get Rid of Your Recycling Bill?

Last Minute Recall Flyers

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Vandalism on Cantu's Recall Signs

Friday, August 11, 2006

Cantu's Recall Sign

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Summary of City Council Expenses

Friday, July 28, 2006

City Council Recall Flyer

Council Recall Billboards

Saturday, July 22, 2006

City Council Recall Absentee Ballot

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Sample Ballot for Council Recall Election

Friday, July 14, 2006

Draft Letter to Grand Jury

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Delano Record Article on Grand Jury Letter

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Recycling Bill from McFarland Resident

Friday, June 23, 2006

Letter from Grand Jury to Melendez

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Letter to FPPC written by Cantu

Friday, June 09, 2006

More expenses for Melendez

Another Trip to Las Vegas

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Measure "E" and Biosolids Issue

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Letter to Attorney General

Sunday, May 21, 2006

City Council Recall Rumors

Enterprise Zone for McFarland?

Friday, May 12, 2006

May 11th City Council Meeting

Saturday, April 29, 2006

City of McFarland Recycling Bills?

Delano Recycling Services

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

City Council Recall Nomination Papers

Notice to Anonymous Person

Friday, April 14, 2006