|
By Jean McLeod — Wednesday, January 28th, 2015
 A Proclamation was presented by Mayor Douglas Tucker to Officer Michael Zabarsky for going the extra mile to help a Fillmore family living in substandard conditions. Enlarge Photo  A Proclamation was presented to the Morris family for the Fillmore Area Transit Company’s (FATCO) 40 years of service to the community along with the many non-profits and sports events the family has sponsored over the years. Pictured (l-r) are Council Member Rick Neal, Mayor Douglas Tucker, Chappy Morris, Wm ‘Bill’ Morris, and Council Member Diane McCall. Enlarge Photo  The Fillmore Bears Pee Wee Division Pacific Football League received a Proclamation from Mayor Douglas Tucker. The team was noted for superior sportsmanship. Enlarge Photo There were four items on Tuesday's Fillmore City Council Meeting along with three proclamations. The first agenda item was a contract for a City App, second was parking enforcement on Central, next was approval of a "In God We Trust" display, and last was giving Commissioners a stipend. The first proclamation went to Officer Michael Zabarsky for going the extra mile to help a family living in substandard conditions. Another proclamation went to the Fillmore Bears Pee Wee Division Pacific Football League for their superior sportsmanship. Also, honor's went to the Morris family for the Fillmore Area Transit Company's (FATCO) 40 years of service to the community along with the many non-profits and sports events the family has sponsored over the years. Chappy Morris responded, "It’s been an honor to serve you." The Ventura County IT Services Mike Pettit and Kevin Coe, Deputy Chief Application Services, gave a presentation regarding the development of a City of Fillmore Mobile Application. With this new app residents with iPhones and Android Smartphones will have quick access to City services. Requests will automatically be routed to the correct department for proper handling regarding various things such as potholes, abandoned shopping carts, graffiti, code enforcement, VCAlert and more. The app will also provide a list of frequently called numbers, an events calendar and other important information and links. The bilingual app uses GPS coordinates to locate shopping carts (CartSnap), potholes, car accidents to can quickly respond. The cost is $8,000 ($4,000 iPhone App and $4,000 Android App) with annual maintenance cost anticipated to be $1,121. Other cities using such apps are Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley. The app is expected to be available in four weeks. The Council once again addressed the problem of parking on downtown Central Avenue. Parking is restricted on Central to two hour between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday with unrestricted parking lots at the rear of the businesses on both the east and west sides of the street. Police Chief Dave Wareham addressed the Council stating, "Without a doubt, there's a parking problem....some are cooperating, but some are not." Downtown Central has 50 businesses and only 53 parking spaces. Wareham told the Council the problem is basically two specific people who are not complying. He said when addressing one of the two people, they responded, "It's my right to park here and I don't care about my neighbors." Wareham reported that some tenants and business owners move their cars every two hours, sometimes returning to the same space they were they had previously parked. The cost to the City to regulate the situation is not a simple or inexpensive fix, approximately $40,000 to $400,000 for added enforcement. The Council suggested patrolling Central Avenue more often and looking into changing the zoning which would require new business have restricted parking. The Council will continue monitoring the problem. In April 2014 the Council discussed displaying the national motto "In God We Trust" prominently in the council chamber. At the time it was not decided where or what type of plaque would be displayed. After discussing both the cost and location it was decided and agreed upon having the motto painted above the dais. The last agenda item was deciding whether to start compensating commission members with a stipend. This would be for the three commissions: Parks and Recreation Commission, Film Commission, and Planning Commission. A questionnaire was sent to Cities throughout California asking if they compensated their commissioners. Thirty-eight of the 55 that responded said they do compensate their commissioners. Some that did were here in Ventura County: Camarillo, Moorpark and Simi Valley. Compensations ranged from $10 to $543. Some were a monthly stipend and others per meeting attended. Council Member Diane McCall who was on the Planning Commission for seven years, stated that being on that commission taught me more about Fillmore than she could have achieved on her own and what prompted her to be on the Council adding, "How do you put a dollar amount on that?" There were also discussions about some being compensated more than others. They all agreed the Planning Commission goes through a great deal of documents but struggled with the problem of implying one person’s time is more valuable than another's. Mayor Douglas Tucker stated, "I was on the Planning Commission and it takes a great deal of your time. I feel time is valuable....I would like an educational allowance...with well educated commissioners to serve the community." He suggested talking to the people on the commissions for their opinion. Everyone agreed on the educational allowance, $50 per month for the Planning Commission and $25 per meeting for the Parks and Recreation, and Film Commissions' with a limit of two meetings per month. An item that was approved by a simple voice vote was a FY 2015-16 Budget Development Guidelines that Finance Director Gaylynn Brien presented the Council. The guidelines encompassed four main policies to be used going forward. (1) The City will adopt and maintain a balanced General Fund budget by ensuring that annual operating expenses are held to levels within annual operating revenues; (2) The City will maintain a prudent reserve in the General Fund balance to be used to respond to catastrophic events. This reserve amount as, a percentage of budgeted expenditures, will be established by the City Council as part of its action in adopting the budget; (3) The City's water and sewer enterprise funds shall be self-supporting such that fees for operating services will be maintained at a level adequate to cover all operating expenses and infrastructures needs; (4) One time revenues shall not be used to fund ongoing operating program expenses. Any such revenues shall be used to pay for one-time expenditures, if authorized by the City Council, or placed in the appropriate fund balance; (5) One-time expenditures that result in long-term cost savings, efficiencies, or both will be considered money well invested. The Council also passed and approved by a simple voice vote, a resolution showing their commitment to sustainable energy and declared their goal to conserve energy consumption and achieve Platinum Tier Level Status. The primary objective of this Energy Policy is to implement best energy management practices across all departments of the city and "lead-by-example" setting short, medium and long-term goals for reducing energy consumption, increase use of clean, renewable energy, and reduce annual electricity consumption by 20% (compared to 2006 use) by 2020. |
|
By Ventura County Sheriff Department — Tuesday, January 27th, 2015
Attempt to Locate Burglary Suspect
 The Sheriff’s Office is requesting the public’s help in identifying this suspect. Anyone who can help identify the suspect from the attached photographs is asked to call Det. Mulrooney at (805) 646-1414. Enlarge Photo  The Sheriff’s Office is requesting the public’s help in identifying this suspect. Anyone who can help identify the suspect from the attached photographs is asked to call Det. Mulrooney at (805) 646-1414. Enlarge Photo During the early morning hours of 12/01/2014, an unknown suspect entered two different self-serve laundry locations in the Ojai Valley. The suspect pried open numerous washing machine coin boxes and then stole the coins stored inside. Security video shows the suspect is a mid-twenties Hispanic male. During the investigation, Ojai detectives learned that a similar crime was committed in the City of Camarillo on November 5, 2014. A review of the Camarillo security tape revealed that the suspect in the Camarillo theft appears to be the same suspect as the Ojai thefts. The Sheriff’s Office is requesting the public’s help in identifying this suspect. Anyone who can help identify the suspect from the attached photographs is asked to call Det. Mulrooney at (805) 646-1414. Nature of Incident: Attempt to Locate Burglary Suspect |
|
By Anonymous — Monday, January 26th, 2015
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is warning the public of a recent series of phone scams in which the caller claims to be a member of the CHP and asks for payment for missed jury duty, outstanding fines, or an outstanding arrest warrant. The CHP said the callers typically instruct residents to purchase re-loadable cards and call them back with the numbers to the cards. Similar scams have been reported to other law enforcement agencies as well. “We appreciate the public for bringing this issue to our attention, and we want to warn others to be vigilant and never give out personal information to someone you don’t know,” said CHP Coastal Division Chief Reginald Chappelle. The CHP does not call community members seeking payment under any circumstances. In addition to never giving personal or financial information to an unsolicited caller, the following tips are recommended: |
|
By Anonymous — Monday, January 26th, 2015
VENTURA COUNTY, CA - Since mid-December, the State of California has seen 59 cases of measles. Ventura County has now reported 5 of those cases. One of our measles cases had reason to be in City Bank in Camarillo, at 430 Arneill Road for much of the day from Monday, January 12 through Wednesday, January 14, 2015. Any person who entered the main lobby of the bank on any of those days who is not immune to the measles virus has some potential risk of acquiring measles. Most people have immunity to measles. "Probably 95% of the population is immune to measles because they had 2 MMRs, their childhood measles shots," said Dr. Robert Levin, Health Officer for Ventura County. A 2-shot series starting on or after the first birthday is protective. At this time, 91.6% of all children entering kindergarten in Ventura County have had 2 MMR shots and are thus immune to catching the disease. There are schools in the county with a particularly low rate of MMR immunization. One private school on the east end of the county has a measles immunization rate of 67%. Most public schools in Oxnard, on the other hand, have a measles immunization rate of 100% The Communicable Diseases division of the Ventura County Public Health, a department of the Ventura County Health Care Agency, says that anyone who was in the bank on one of those three days who develops symptoms of measles should call their physician, tell them they may have been exposed to measles, and ask to come in to the office for a measles titer. Tell the receptionist before your arrival that you should be put directly into a patient room to have your blood drawn so that you won't expose other patients waiting to be seen in the waiting room. The symptoms of measles include cough, runny nose, reddened eyes, fever, a rash and often, tiny sores in the mouth. A person with measles may only have a few of these symptoms. "Most people with measles feel quite sick, as sick as someone feels with the flu," said Dr. Levin. Measles is a very contagious disease and entirely preventable. While not as deadly as Ebola, for instance, it is 5 to 15 times more contagious. People who contract measles are contagious for 4 days before they develop the rash and for 4 more days after they develop the rash. For those who were in City Bank in Camarillo on the days referenced, they are at risk of developing measles for up to 21 days following exposure. For example, someone who was in the bank on Wednesday the 14th of January is at risk of developing measles until February 4th. For information on a Public Health clinic near you if you are in need of immunizations, please call: 805-981-5221; for a Ventura County Health Care Agency Ambulatory Care clinic near you, please call: 805-677-5110. |
 The Students at Mountain Vista Elementary thanked Superintendent Dr. Adrian Palazuelos and the maintenance staff for the school court’s new blacktop. Enlarge Photo By Jean McLeod — Wednesday, January 21st, 2015
The first Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) meeting of 2015 was attended by two new Board Members, Sean Morris and Scott Beylik, and contained Governor Brown's Budget Proposal, FUSD's Audit Report for FY 2014, the new School Site Plan requirements and the Class of 2014 Analysis. The meeting began with recognition of the students who participated in the Content Filter Testing at the Ventura County Office of Education. Fillmore High School (FHS) students Gray MacMahon, Billy Tran-Wyche, Luke Myers and Fillmore Middle School students Sam Guzman, Liam Howard, Brandon Antonson and Victor Jimenez received certificates for their part. The goal of the testing is to gain a safer digital environment for students. Assistant Superintendent Martha Hernandez gave a presentation on the Class of 2014. She reported that 192 students graduated FHS along with 50 from Sierra High School; which was that school's largest class ever. The demographics given on race were 224 Hispanic, 26 White, 1 Asian, 2 Black, 1 Multiple. FHS also lost 28 students that transferred out of the district, leaving before or during their senior or junior year. Sierra High School lost 12 that transferred to another school with 6 more transferring to FHS. There were 34 students that met UC/CSU requirements, but unfortunately 141 students did not. More bad news CONTINUED » |
|
By Anonymous — Wednesday, January 21st, 2015
 Above, the City of Fillmore City Council/Successor Agency held a joint special meeting with The City of Fillmore Film Commission, City of Fillmore Planning Commission, and City of Fillmore Parks & Recreation Commission on January 15th, below. The meeting addressed Preventing Discrimination and Harassment Training. The training was presented by the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority. Enlarge Photo |
|
By Anonymous — Wednesday, January 21st, 2015
 Martin Luther King Day wqas celebrated in Filllmore with a Day of Service Park Clean Up. PACT (Providing Accessible Clothing To Teens) is pictured above, taking clothing donations for youth under the age of 18 years based in Fillmore. The project was started by a group of Fillmore High School youth who wanted to give back to their community. Dozens of volunteers worked to clean-up Two Rivers Park. Enlarge Photo |
|
By Anonymous — Wednesday, January 21st, 2015
Pump-track draws bikers from out-of-town
 The new bicycle pump-track was full of adults and kids alike over the weekend. Some came from as far away as Valencia to use Fillmore’s new track. Some heavy equipment was working the track on Monday, but that did stop the bike enthusiasts from riding the course. After a rain the track must be completely dried out before use and needs attending about once a month, clearing rocks and weeds. Enlarge Photo |
|
By Jean McLeod — Wednesday, January 14th, 2015
 El Dorado Mobile home owner Charles Richardson told the Council the park subdivision would price the cost of his unit and others out of the sellable market. Enlarge Photo There was standing room only at the first Fillmore City Council Meeting of 2015. The four hour meeting had a number of items, some were continuing such as the El Dorado subdivision, the leasing of the Fillmore Senior Center and increased improvement of Fillmore's Energy Action Plan. Others were new items; addressing future demands for potable water, and renewal of the Waste Discharge Requirement Permit. The first item addressed was the question of renewing the lease of the City's multi-use building known as the Senior Center to the nonprofit Fillmore Senior Center Inc. (FSCI). At the December 9, 2014 Council meeting former Council Member and President of FSCI Patti Walker addressed the Council claiming the English speaking classes arranged by the City had encroached on areas used by the seniors. FSCI themselves have offered Spanish classes, but not English. Walker also remarked on FSCI's displeasure with the Council not waving the rental fees for events such as Bingo. On December 17, 2014 the City received a letter from former Council Member Gayle Washburn who threatened a lawsuit citing that lease discussions had been done in closed session, saying it was a Brown Act violation. There were also accusations that the Council had not disclosed the date and time when the lease discussions had taken place. Council Member Rick Neal answered the accusations informing those present that the discussions were always announced with all the other agenda items and that lease issues are always done in closed session to which City Attorney Tiffany Israel added that a lease is a real estate item and must be discussed in closed session. During Public Comments Jean Westling, Joanne King, Gayle Washburn, Gloria Hanson and Patti Walker spoke to the Council to plead with them to reconsider the lease, but not all were conciliatory in trying to win over the Council and went so far to call the move by the Council a "hostile takeover." City Manager David W. Rowlands reminded those in attendance of the six to seven months of discussions regarding the lease and that the City is not eliminating any adult activities or closing the doors. There are plans for a future Adult Advisory Board which will take about seven month to put together a program. He then added, "We're looking to improve on the programs." Council Member Rick Neal commented that when the City first took over the Equestrian Center everyone seemed against it. But after the program was in place he received many emails stating what a great move it was and how happy everyone is with the changes. Council Member Diane McCall responded, "The City isn't looking to close the Senior Center, we're looking to enhance it." All Council Members agreed they are excited about this change and that it is a good time for the City to help enhance those programs and a chance to be a united front with everyone going forward. Council Member Manuel Minjares told those present, "We by no means want to take away programs. It is our wish to move forward with improving existing programs." Mayor Doug Tucker added, "Our seniors are a strong asset...it is not a hostile takeover. We want to partner with the Senior Center. Our intentions are very positive. We want to see classes continue." Minjares then made CONTINUED » |
 On Sunday, Adrian Moreno’s family planted a cross on the Grand Avenue murder site in his memory. Enlarge Photo By Anonymous — Wednesday, January 14th, 2015
 Adrian Moreno Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of a dear son, nephew, grandson, friend and wonderful human being. What is a one year memorial anniversary supposed to be like? How do his family and friends honor his memory when his life was taken from him and his murderer is still not known, or in prison? As the family and friends of Adrian Moreno, who was tragically and unexplainably shot on January 11, 2014 in Fillmore, we have asked ourselves these and many more questions, and will continue to do so for many years to come. We join those parents and families who have lost a loved one to the senseless act of gun violence. Like these families, however, we must be present for Adrian every day. We do not forget him on holidays, birthdays, vacations, parties, concerts, school night … weekends, or weekdays. Adrian Moreno loved life. As an 18 year old, recent high graduate, he was about to pursue a college career in music production, he was/is a karate brown belt, played baseball, football and ran cross country in college. He was/is the admired and caring oldest brother of a 15 year old sister and a 6 year old brother. Hundreds of friends came to his funeral memorial to pay their respects. He is remembered fondly for his kindness, intelligence and ambition. Like the many families who have lost a child, we must also ask why this happened and what we can each do to prevent another family from losing their child to gun violence. In 2014 there were over 51,000 incidents in the U.S. involving gun violence, resulting in 12,544 deaths, which include 2,339 teens (12-17) killed or injured.1 Since January 1, 2015 there have been 551 incidents. Each of us has a responsibility to these teens and adults killed by gun violence to report suspicious behavior to prevent a death before it happens. Like the citizens of Washington who this December, passed initiative 594, which requires criminal background checks on all firearm sales and transfers in the state, including gun shows and the internet, we must purse the same actions in each of our states. We must take to the streets and show our passion for the lives of our children and families, and to show our communities and the world that we care about the fate of our families and society. This is how we honor our lost sons and daughters. This is what our lost sons and daughters, and those that are alive to remember them would want us to do. On January 11, 2015, we will remember Adrian Moreno for the remarkable person that he was, and will honor him along with all those lives like his which were lost to senseless gun violence. We will let him hear us talk about his acts of kindness, goals, and challenges with friends and family. He will be with us as we eat our meals, laugh, cry, become angry, tired and ultimately end the day exhilaration of another day ahead. He will be with us and we will celebrate his life forever. A $22,500 reward is being offered for information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person (s) responsible for this crime. Rewards funds are generously donated by the City of Fillmore, the law firm of Floyd, Skeren & Kelly, LLP, and the Fillmore Unified School Teacher’s Association. Or if you would like to remain anonymous call Crime Stoppers at 805-384-4730. For more information and to make donations please visit www.adrianmatters.com. |
