Because so many seats were left empty, the few that attended questioned what the City was doing to try to get Signal Hill’s residents to attend such meetings.
The event was hosted by the Signal Hill Public Works Department and the City on Jan. 27 at 6pm in the Signal Hill Community Center.
The purpose was to gain public feedback on what steps the City should take to ensure that enough money will be present to use on water costs in the years to come.
Members of the Signal Hill Water Department Subcommittee, Director of Public Works Steve Myrter, Public Works Management Analyst Travis Brooks and Deputy City Manager Daniel Bartelson spoke for the majority of the meeting.
The subcommittee analyzed the current cost of water and water equipment management. At the end of that analysis, data displayed that there will be a rapid depletion in the City’s reserves as it tries to keep up with water demands in the years to come.
If the City does nothing, then, by 2019, money used for Signal Hill’s water supply and management will be at minus $1.77 million, according to Brooks.
During Wednesday’s meeting, the subcommittee suggested two ways the City can increase water rates to prevent the water budget from falling.
The first option suddenly increases the cost of water by 18 percent in the first year, then gradually increases 4 percent to water costs in the following four years.
This method would increase water fees steeply in the first year. Then the following four years would provide enough money to fund the City’s water operations and equipment management.
The other option would be to evenly increase the water rate at 8 percent across a five-year span. This method would result in higher fees for water at the end of five years.
However, it would provide the City enough money to spend on regular water-management operations.
According to Brooks, whichevever method the City chooses, the typical monthly bill of a residential family in Signal Hill will be low compared to neighboring cities.
However, during the Q&A session near the end of the meeting, the few residents that attended were curious to know why such a small number of people attended the meeting.
Marc Solomon, one of the four residents of Signal Hill that attended, questioned the methods used by the City to spread the word about meetings. He said that not enough work was done to try to get more residents to get involved.
“You have to be more active when telling people about these meetings,” he said.
Signal Hill City Manager Charlie Honeycutt said that notices about public forums can be found on the City’s website, cityofsignalhill.org .
He also said notices can be received via an online notification service called eNotify.
After the Q&A session, the presentation noted that a Signal Hill City Council hearing on the issue will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 9, as of press time.
“Next, we go back to the [Signal Hill] City Council,” Myrter said. The City will then pick a date when residents can go out and vote on which water rate increase method they would like best.
