Arcata city hall. File photo.


PREVIOUSLY

###

A slightly short-staffed Arcata City Council decided last night to wait to make a decision on which projects they’d attempt to fund with state money. 

The main item on the agenda was a public brainstorming on Arcata’s Community Development Block Grants application, when members of the public and the council could pitch projects the city could try and fund using CDBG money. City staff had a few ideas of their own; two heads from the community development department presented some paths forward for the city’s application. 

City staff said they were fairly certain they could secure $500,000 for the city’s low-interest small business loan program and $200,000 to work out a redevelopment plan for the Little Lake property on South I Street. Arcata consistently earns CDBG funding for their economic development programs; community development director David Loya has said Arcata is one of the best cities in California at winning those funds. 

But the CDGB application allows asking for funding for a big project in addition to smaller ones. The big question the council dodged was deciding if they’d chase $2.9 million for fixing infrastructure at The Grove, or the same amount for replacing aging water meters.

Both are important priorities for the city, councilmembers said. Sixteen of the 60 units at The Grove are currently unusable for one reason or another, and the Arcata House Partnership doesn’t have the money to fix them. But many of the city’s water meters — about 700 of them — are slowly going out, said finance director Tabatha Miller, and it’s draining the city’s coffers. 

When the meters reach a certain point, they quit measuring water usage accurately, often undercounting by a large degree. Miller said Arcata gets paid 30% less than it should for the amount of water used. Some of that is from leaky pipes or firefighting, but there are also a number of active accounts who aren’t billed anything. “We believe there’s usage,” Miller said, “but there’s nothing that’s being measured.” 

Arcata’s replaced a few of the faulty meters since the steel waterline replacement project began. Miller said a number of customers complained when their bills went up. 

“It doubled when their meter was replaced,” Miller said. “And in talking to them, what we’re finding is that they probably weren’t paying the right amount. When we ask how many people are in the house, what kind of house it is, what their habits are, it’s clear that they were underpaying.”

If Arcata secures those CDGB funds, it wouldn’t be enough to replace all of the dead meters. The city would need an additional $4-5 million that would likely come from either the state’s water fund, or from Arcata’s water enterprise fund. 

If the city replaces the meters, they may also be able to lower the water rates, which has been a contentious issue recently. If not, Arcata may have to raise the rates again in the future to offset the meters leeching from the system.

Whichever option the council prioritizes has a solid chance of earning funding, community development director David Loya told the council. They both score equally on California’s scoring rubric, although Loya said because Arcata has more experience completing past projects similar to the water meter replacement with CDBG funds, they’d probably have a better shot of getting that funded. 

There were only three out of the five councilmembers present at the meeting, and the ones there decided they’d wait until a special meeting on Feb. 26 to deliberate with everyone present. They’ll make a recommendation then on which option city staff should apply for.

Councilmembers Stacy Atkins-Salazar and Alex Stillman both said they liked the idea of fixing the units at The Grove, though they also understood the importance of fixing the meters, which Meredith Matthews leaned towards.

“There really isn’t any money in the foreseeable future for this project for housing,” Atkins-Salazar said. “Our [federal] government just isn’t prioritizing this. So if we don’t opt to do this, then there’s a chance — a very good chance — that it just won’t get done.”

Also…

The council decided to award a $2,500 contract to Bright and Green for reusable dishware, and also extended the local declaration of emergency.