Recently the citizens of Lodi read in the local newspapers their wastewater rates are about to increase. How can we as citizens rationally accept any excuses justifying this financial condition? The one excuse offered by Wally Sandelin is a lack of attention to our checking account by city officials. When Sandelin uses the word ‘our’, he is referring to the communal wastewater checking account of the citizens of Lodi.

I think the evidence, the checkbook, was there all along, yet for some reason, the financial condition of the wastewater fund was silenced, held back from the public in a timely manner. We have to wonder who is it that is managing our city—is it the city council or the city manager? The city manager has a moral obligation to inform the citizens of the financial condition of the city, no matter the department or its condition in a timely manner. If he has been remiss in his communication to the citizens or offering leadership to department heads, he should voluntarily resign, or the city council should dismiss him so the council can at least appear diligent to the citizens. If he was (is) being held to silence by certain members of our city council, they must resign.

Or…

Considering the timing of the announcement of mismanagement on the part of our city manager, staff, and city council, which are acting as overseers, it makes sense. There is always the possibility the severity of the checkbook issues was known all along but city hall, including some on our city council, did not want to release the information or discuss it during the Measure W campaign. The appearance of being irresponsible during a time when they were claiming they could be entrusted to manage millions of dollars and the debt burden associated with a RDA was not in their best interest. It follows that someone will claim that an RDA would have allowed for the upgrades at White Slough and not created a need for higher fees, but we can all rest assured this type of claim is false too. This is made evident considering our city officials have difficulty managing revenues, understanding inflation, overseeing responsible maintenance, following state and federal mandates, and addressing the bond debt incurred in the 1990s.

This is another yet another example of how irrational it is to think our city officials can be entrusted to manage large sums of our money.

The wastewater irresponsibility appears to create two conditional scenarios: 1) if the city manager is remiss in his fiscal management and public informational duties to the citizens of Lodi, he should resign (or the city council should replace him); 2) if this was an elaborate scheme by the city staff and the city council to suppress information owing to Measure W, we as citizens must protect our funds and rights to be informed in a timely manner and move in the direction to replace them.

Perhaps it is time for an audit of Lodi’s financial condition.

Please click on the PDF file below that references the date and time when the wastewater issue was first brought before the city council. It is ironic the information and action plan were not brought to fruition until now—several weeks after Measure W.

03-31-09agnSSPACKET_wastewater.pdf (42 KB, 20 downloads)