YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 19, No. 25
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School opening delayed
Henry The Canada Goose
Cleaning up the creek
by Dawnmarie Fehr
Local Brentwood author pens first children’s book about love and acceptance. Page 5
Correspondent
Summer Lake in Oakley has been waiting a long time to have its own elementary school, and due to the extended rains this spring, it will have to wait a little longer. Originally scheduled to open next month for the 2019-20 school year, Summer Lake Elementary School (SLE) will not be ready in time. The district came up with a plan to house Summer Lake’s students on the Iron House Elementary School campus until the new site is ready. That date is still undetermined. “There’s been a lot of missed days of work due to rain, and we had some see Delayed page 22
Be A Big Break Docent Photo by Tony Kukulich
B
arry Margesson retrieves a plastic bottle as he works to clean up a portion of Marsh Creek along the Marsh Creek Trail in Oakley, Saturday, June 15. The annual effort was sponsored by the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District and the Friends of Marsh Creek. A second team worked To view a video and a slideshow of the event, visit a location in Brentwood. www.thepress.net/multimedia
Fire board examines funding options by Tony Kukulich Staff Writer
An effort by the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD) to secure additional funding took a step forward on Tuesday, June 18, when district officials were briefed on research related to residents’ attitudes on fire service and fire funding. Recently completed for the district by public affairs firm CliffordMoss and EMC Research, polling indicates the public’s perception of the district’s funding problems might be changing, as a slight majority of respondents support a benefit assessment. “I am cautiously optimistic,” said ECCFPD Fire Chief
“ I am cautiously optimistic. It’s good to see that our community values the services that we provide.
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Fire Chief Brian Helmick Brian Helmick. “It’s good to see that our community values the services that we provide. More importantly, I’m encouraged that there is growing awareness of the need for more resources to improve 911 emergency response times and attract and retain qualified professional firefighters.” ECCFPD operates three stations and estimates that a minimum of six stations are required to provide an adequate level of service for residents. At an estimated cost of $4 million a
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year per station, the incremental funding need is approximately $12 million per year. With about 45,000 parcels in the district, ECCFPD’s goal is to raise $300 per year, per parcel. Attempts to increase funding were voted down in 2012, 2015 and 2016. The district is researching a benefit assessment and a parcel tax, and there are important differences between the two measures. “The district only has two viable mechanisms,” explained Helmick. “A parcel tax goes to all voters and it takes a two-
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thirds majority to pass. It’s very unrestricted. You can use it however you want. The other mechanism we have is a benefit assessment. The voters are the property owners of our jurisdiction. It takes a 50 percent-plusone voter threshold for it to pass. We have to define a specific benefit to each parcel within our jurisdiction, and that is the amount they are charged.” Of the 691 respondents, 53 percent said the district has a great need for additional funding, and a majority of those polled supported a benefit assessment. Even a slim majority of support for the benefit assessment may indicate that voters have turned a corner with regard to fire district funding. see Funding page 22
County Openings www.thepress.net/news/webextras
A variety of citizen advisory seats are available in Contra Costa County.
Big Break Regional Shoreline in Oakley looking for volunteer docents. Page 5
Major League Hopeful
Former Freedom pitcher and farm team player working toward his dream of major leagues. Page 15 Calendar................................23 Classifieds.............................19 Cop Logs................................13 Education................................4 Entertainment.......................9 Food..........................................8 Milestones............................11 Opinion..................................14 Sports.....................................15
Parks Survey
www.thepress.net/news/press_releases
East Bay Regional Park District is conducting a survey and asking for public feedback.