Where do Grover Beach candidates stand on water rates, infrastructure and recall election?
Water rates, infrastructure projects and the recall of a sitting elected official were at the top of candidates’ minds at a League of Women Voters forum for Grover Beach mayoral and City Council candidates Tuesday evening.
The event, held at the South County Regional Center, featured three candidates for mayor — Mayor Pro Tempore Robert Robert, former Mayor Debbie Peterson and local business owner Kassi Dee — and District 3 City Council candidates Marsha Bolyanatz and Kathy McCorry, all vying for voters’ support this November.
When Grover Beach voters go to the ballot Nov. 5, the mayoral and District 3 seats will be up for grabs, with incumbent District 4 City Council member Clint Weirick running unopposed.
They’ll also get a chance to express their view of the city’s sewer rates through Measure G-24, which was created by Peterson’s citizens group GroverH2O and would set water and sewer rates at their 2021 levels after the council voted to raise them to pay for the Central Coast Blue project late last year.
Here’s where the candidates stand on some of the most important civic and economic issues facing Grover Beach.
What are candidates’ plans for budget, water in Grover Beach?
In general, the candidates had few differences when it came to a perennial election topic: city budget.
Dee and Roberts both said they supported the budget as is, but proposed prioritizing road, sewer and park maintenance.
McCorry said she wanted to see more pedestrian and bike lane funding, while Peterson said she’d like to set aside $1 million each year for street work and ensure the budget is understandable to most residents.
Bolyanatz said regardless of what the budget prioritizes, it will need to be thoroughly audited, placing an emphasis on ensuring matching grant sources had been secured before pitching a half-funded project.
Candidates put more distance between one another on the issue of water rates, which has been at the core of public discourse in Grover Beach since December, when the City Council voted to approve a new water and sewer rate structure that would pay for the since-canceled Central Coast Blue water sustainability project.
At its May 13 meeting, the City Council lowered water rates to the previous rate structure adopted in 2021, leaving sewer rates at the elevated rate adopted in December.
Robert said without the funding from the elevated sewer rates, the city will likely need a new rate study to figure out how it can pay to replace 60-year-old pipes across the city, while Dee said the city should work to support people impacted by the higher rates.
Both Bolyanatz and McCorry said losing the elevated funding would require some budgeting and prioritization of the most critical infrastructure.
Peterson, whose GroverH2O citizens group got the ballot measure on the ballot in the first place, said supporters of the measure are asking for “a current, up-to-date, socially, financially and environmentally sound, sustainable look at the options available to us.”
“We can go and review all of our funding so we can sharpen our pencils,” she said.
On the issue of water sustainability without the Central Coast Blue project in place, candidates were more varied in opinion.
Robert said while conservation efforts have been strong locally, experts will be needed to understand what’s feasible going forward — a sentiment echoed by Dee, who said she opposes relying on other cities through a joint powers authority like the one that governed Central Coast Blue.
Peterson also said expert advice was needed, but promoted a plan created by GroverH2O to supplement the city’s aquifer.
Bolyanatz said she wanted to see greywater used for non-drinking uses to conserve more water, while McCorry said she wanted to hear from experts.
Where do candidates stand on council member recall, making city clerk elected position?
The issue of water in Grover Beach will continue to have ripple effects — most importantly, on the status of current City Council member Dan Rushing, who is facing a recall in November from Peterson’s GroverH2O group.
Robert, Dee and McCorry all said Rushing acted with good intent when he voted to approve raising water and sewer rates to pay for Central Coast Blue using the information available to him at the time and shouldn’t be penalized for his actions.
“I’ve had the pleasure to sit on council with Mr. Rushing, and he is a very smart, bright young man that has made some very good decisions,” Robert said. “He makes one decision that people don’t agree with — and he’s not the only one that made that made that decision — and people want to crucify him for it. I don’t understand that at all.”
When asked whether or not they support the recall, only Peterson and Bolyanatz said they supported removing Rushing from office.
“It’s not just from what I’m hearing, not just one individual decision — it was the fact of not checking other cities or districts that had similar issues,” Peterson said. “It was not listening, and if you have to recall somebody to get them to listen to you, that worries people — do we have to go to that extreme for the people to be listened to?”
Peterson went on to say that she was concerned that the city spent $200,000 to challenge Rushing’s recall in court after city clerk Wendi Sims initially denied the validity of GroverH2O’s petitions.
In an email to The Tribune, city manager Matt Bronson clarified that the city has only spent $95,000 on the legal defense.
In the months since the recall campaign started, Peterson and GroverH2O have also begun to push for the city clerk to be an elected post. As a result, candidates were asked if they supported making the position elected.
Again, only Peterson and Bolyanatz said they supported making the position elected, with Peterson saying “nothing is more important than the democratic process.”
However, Robert, McCorry and Dee said they were satisfied with the clerk’s role as is, and said they didn’t see the benefit of making the change.
Water and recalls weren’t the only issue tied to GroverH2O’s activism at City Council meetings.
Due to continued disruptions by GroverH2O members during public comment, the City Council moved public comment to the end of meetings.
Dee proposed holding a public comment period at the start and end of the meeting to allow more access, which Peterson said she supported, along with removing the time limit.
Bolyanatz said the change should be reverted, and said online commenting needs to be improved, while McCorry said there should be more outreach opportunities between citizens and council.
Robert, the only incumbent council member, distanced himself from the decision.
“I wasn’t involved in that, but as mayor, I would bring it back again to what everyone else is mentioning — 15 minutes as it was before,” Robert said.
This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 4:02 PM.
