Sanitation district board member’s wife behaves badly

Mary Lucey is squarely to blame for the billing dispute and the subsequent fallout, including her own delinquent bills. She sits on the board, how could she not have alerted SSLOCSD that she hadn’t gotten a bill, as she claims? Instead of being responsible and setting an example, she withheld payment and even went so far as to say those 936 bills that were delinquent constituted a protest. The fact is, only four (4) people formally protested and as I understand it, the majority of those had paid their bill. The question never was whether or not the funds were owed. The question always was ‘how will the SSLOCSD collect it?”

IN 2012, when Tom Geaslen was chosen as OCSD GM (after being let into the office to look at files for several weekends before the board did their head-fake public process interviewing candidates from the dais as each stood at the podium) he was given the sob stories, as Mary told them, that Oceano should be getting revenue from under every rock that might be in Oceano. Including the San District and State Parks. Mary is on record saying she “was the director that pushed Mr. Geaslen to start paying more.” (As reflected in the SSLOCSD minutes of November 20, 2012). Mary also pushed Geaslen to try to get State Parks to turn over beach entrance fees and to have them pay for a new beach fire truck so Oceano could respond to incidents on the beach.

AS it related to the SSLOCSD billing, Geaslen asserted he would get more money from SSLOCSD because “we hold the check” and actually failed to pass through the revenue OCSD had collected for the San. Dist. He used the formula in which Wallace Group would charge to get to $60,000 a year, the problem with that is, Wallace Group is a private/for profit consultant and OCSD is an enterprise funded governmental entity and is restricted from charging more than it costs to do the service, for anything and everything it does.

Where Nancy MacNiel slipped off the track is when San. Dist. Superintendent, John Clemons, removed an $11,000 warrant from his boards approval packet a year ago May. MacNiel suggested at the last meeting that Clemons was a rouge employee. No Mame, he was doing his job as a manager, questioning the amount, looking for the proper itemization and an agreement that allowed the San Dist to pay that bill. He was doing the responsible thing, while the previous District Administrator was turning a blind eye to the inequity and allowing the other two communities to subsidize Oceano CSD’s charges.

The history on this item is four years long and Mary Lucey responsible. Oceano residents are now faced with paying their sewer bill twice a year verses six times a year (the amount didn’t change, the method of collection did).

What got lost in all of this was the fact that the amount WILL change beginning in July as the SSLOCSD held a rate increase hearing last March that was held under the 218 guidelines, only 38 people (out of 17,000 customers) protested. Your sewer rates will double over the next ten years.