Letter: Contact your TOAV representatives (July 1, 2015)
Residents, taxpayers, business owners and all others in the Town of Apple Valley seriously need to access and dialogue with their elected representatives. Years of viciously attacking Ranchos Water with less than factual information and omission of information is wrong. They continued to do the same with the public who address them, acting as if they sit upon a throne dictating their mandates.
Now, they have knowingly jeopardized their cost of water through their own negligent actions and Ranchos has terminated the town’s discounted rates. The town refused time and again to meet and discuss the water issues with Ranchos Water, who offered repeatedly to meet and discuss the issues.
When it came to conservation time, the town has deliberately failed to exercise any reasonable effort at conservation, and turns the table upon Ranchos in an attempt to garner bad press for Ranchos, because the town is desperate to get public support for their intended eminent domain action.
The town’s conservation plan to address 22 acres at James Woody Park and 15 other parks, and more than 28 acres of golf course, bragged of removing turf (noted in square feet), but in reality only amounted to a total of 0.86 of an acre. Less than some residents removed individually. Further they claimed an across the board irrigation reduction of 30%, and at one park only a 50% reduction, while the mandated residential irrigation reduction was restricted to only 10 minutes three times a week, which for my small lawn amounts to just about an 80% reduction on irrigation.
Essentially the town was deliberately attempting to thwart the Ranchos reduction statistics in an effort to effect significant fines, a punitive act on the town’s part, and jeopardized their significantly reduced rate which benefited only those utilizing James Woody Park (Since 2004), and the Golf Course (Since 2010). The town’s actions were more childish than the stated 2,000 kids whose services they impacted.
— Leane Lee