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Extracted from Consolidated Report

This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.

Santa Cruz County Grand Jury • 2001-2002

Investigation of the Salsipuedes Sanitary District

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Findings 13 findings

F1 Page 145
An elected five-member Board of Directors of the Salsipuedes Sanitary District is responsible for budgets, employee issues, and long-term decisions. The board meets monthly, and each board member is paid $100 per month, contingent upon attendance of this meeting.
F2 Page 145
The District Manager takes care of other decisions and day-to-day coordination of work. The District Manager also serves as the secretary to the Board of Directors.
F3 Page 145
The district has two part time non-benefited employees and makes use of contract personnel for all other work. By comparison, the Santa Cruz County Sanitation District employs approximately fifty people: ten in the engineering department and the remainder in the operations department.
F4 Page 145
The District has technical people available on call to respond to emergencies that may arise. -2 Investigation of the Salsipuedes Sanitary District
F5 Page 146
The Salsipuedes Sanitary District charges its customers through an assessment collected concurrently with their property tax bills.
F6 Page 146
The District Manager has recommended for the coming fiscal year that the District maintain the lower fees established last year on a single-year temporary basis.
F7 Page 146
The District’s costs and charges are low in comparison with other districts offering comparable services.
F8 Page 146
The Salsipuedes Sanitary District passes along charges for individual efforts (e.g., from the District’s engineer or attorney) to the individual customer for whom the charge was incurred. The District offers the rationale that such charges are only incurred due to a customer’s specific need.
F9 Page 146
Correspondence prepared and signed by the attorney for the District is sometimes mailed out on behalf of the Salsipuedes Sanitary District.
F10 Page 146
In performing an inspection, the Salsipuedes Sanitary District does not assume responsibility for the correct and complete installation performed on the building sewer (i.e., the plumbing on the customer’s property). Rather, the District does what it feels is necessary to ensure the safe installation or modification of the customer’s tie- in to the sanitary system.
F11 Page 146
Customers connecting to the District are required to obtain a Santa Cruz County encroachment permit, which allows for breaking into the county sidewalks and road, if necessary. This permit is required even though it may not ultimately prove necessary to perform these operations.
F12 Page 146
Salsipuedes Sanitary District procedures state that, “all work performed in relation to and for connection to the District sewer system requires a specific permit in accordance with the District rules and regulations3.”
F13 Page 146
According to District officials, the Santa Cruz County Planning Department does not dependably notify customers of the need to obtain multiple permits. The District also reports that in cases where a sewage connection will clearly be required, the Planning Department does not consistently identify the need for a permit to be obtained from the Salsipuedes Sanitary District. Conclusions

Recommendations 3