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Speakers who voiced opposition outnumbered those who supported the Golden Hills Sanitation Company's application for certification by the California Public Utilities Commission at an unusual public hearing Wed., Oct. 21 at the Tehachapi High School gymnasium.

 “I don't want to pay for service I don't want and don't need,” said 30-year Golden Hills resident Ed Lorenz.

“We have an operating plant,” said Janice Hagen Armstrong, president of Smart Growth Tehachapi Valleys. She recommended the certification be granted as long as the rates stay as they are, the residents have the option to hook up and the sanitation company be “price sensitive.”

Approximately 200 people attended the hearing, which was conducted by Administrative Law Judge Bruce DeBerry of the California Public Utilities Commission.

Forty people spoke during the two-hour session while a court reporter recorded everything they said.

The hearing was unusual in that DeBerry came from commission headquarters in San Francisco to Tehachapi to conduct it. In 30 years on the commission, he said, “It's the first sewer case I ever had as a proceeding. We have lots of water cases.”

He said there are about 13 sewage companies regulated by the CPUC in the state of California.

“The purpose of the hearing is to receive your comments so the commission can consider those in rendering a decision,” Judge DeBerry said in his opening remarks.

He said the sanitation company originally filed an application in August 2008 to come under the authority of the California Public Utilities Commission, which by law it is obliged to do.

The application alarmed residents of Golden Hills who are on septic systems that work just fine and who were concerned about forced hook-ups and high rates.

The sanitation company has 168 hookups in Golden Hills.

Amended application

The company recently filed an amendment that took several concerns off the table.

“It's not about increasing rates and expanding service territory,” DeBerry said in his remarks. “Those subjects are no longer part of this application.

Sara Myers, an attorney representing the sanitation company before the Public Utilities Commission, said the application is specific. It is a license to operate as a sewer service, she said, and approval of the application by the commission would bring it under the commission's authority.

Myers said that approval of the application will not change the service, increase the rates, expand the service territory and will not require property owners to hook into the system.

Ed Kennedy, speaking as chairman of the sanitation committee of the Golden Hills Community Services District, said the company allowed illegal discharges onto Golden Hills public lands this year.

“The system cannot be allowed to expand,” he said.

Kennedy said that less than 1 percent of the septic systems in the district have problems.

No problems

Sharon Cornelison said she has had to pump her septic system just once in 26 years.

“The problems are in an area that never should have been allowed to be developed,” she said.

She expressed the desire to keep sanitation under the authority of the Golden Hills Community Services District.

“I don't feel profits should be earned by someone I don't know,” Cornelison said. “I don't feel I should pay to build, pay to maintain and for a (company to make) a profit.”
Chuck Donnel said the installation of a sewer line would destroy oak trees.

“Let's maintain our sovereignty and not give it to someone else,” John Foster said.

Glenn Bauman told DeBerry he wanted to know what would happen if the sanitation company owners decided not to continue to operate the plant.

“That's uncertain,” DeBerry said. “The commission tries to find a purchaser.”

Bauman said that because the company is operating at a fiscal loss, “it would be difficult to find an entity to take it over.”

Standby status

Dennis Tope said he was happy to hear he would not be charged a standby fee but “if they get the license they may give us standby status.”

Liz Fox, presenting a historical perspective, asked those present to remember the misery that resulted from septic failures 15 years ago.

“Our memories grow dim,” Fox said. “Those who lost their homes need to be remembered. The CSD failed us years ago. I do hope Clint and the company have success so people in the future are not buying a pig in a poke.”

Milt Wetzel called for a plan from the CSD.

“People need to be solution driven,” Wetzel said. “They (community services district and the sanitation company) ought to be able to come up with a compromise that suits everybody. If the PUC denies the application, there is no plan.”

Judge DeBerry will write a draft decision and submit it to the other commissioners, after which the five-member commission will vote on the application.