Tribune
Calistoga
Independently owned and published in Calistoga for Calistogans since 2002
April 3, 2015
uMudder event
1,100 women take on muddy
obstacle course
Below
t Across the bridge
Lowell Eddington first across
the Golden Gate
3
uSoftball team wins
Softball and baseball teams
play strong on diamond
50¢
12
City settles with unions except for police
n CPOA remains under imposed contract
By Pat Hampton
Tribune Publisher
The city council will be asked
to approve the details of new contracts with the fire department,
public employees, and unrepresented employees next week.
City manager Richard Spitler
said the final contracts will be ready
for Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“Proposed changes to the Calistoga Public Employees Association (CPEA), Calistoga Professional Firefighters Association (CPFA)
and Memoranda of Understanding
(MOU) are not completely done
yet,” responded Spitler by email.
“As typical of labor negotiations
the wordsmithing gets tedious. I
expect to have it done by Friday
when we release the staff reports.”
In 2011, the city eliminated
funding for 14 positions and reduced salaries by 15 percent. Employees agreed to pay 10 percent
of their health care premiums and
to match their retirement costs.
Two years ago the city settled
with all but the Calistoga Police
Officers Association union for a
two year contract that brought a
three percent raise.
Those 2013 agreements expired
Dec. 31, 2014 but negotiations continued past the expiration date.
“As to the police union, we
continue to negotiate,” said Spitler.
“We are operating under the MOU
that was in effect in 2012 with the
imposed measures.” Spitler said.
The firefighters agreement covers three employees, the public
employees group has 17, and the
unrepresented (department heads)
has 12.
MUDDER OF ALL WEEKENDS MAKES BIG SPLASH
“At this date we are not ready
to bring forth a new MOU from
this group (police and dispatch),”
said Spitler.
The previous agreement included that the city conduct a
Classification and Compensation
Survey to look at small cities and
salaries and job duties to see how
they compare to the Calistoga pay
scale. Some $50,000 has been allocated for the study to be completed this year.
Gov. Brown orders
25% reduction in
water usage as
drought continues
Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday ordered cities and towns
across California to cut water use
by 25 percent in his first mandatory water restrictions.
The directive comes more than
a year after Brown asked for a 20
percent voluntary cut in water use
that most towns have failed to attain.
The state will partner with local agencies to remove 50 million
square feet of grass — the equivalent of about 1,150 football fields
— and replace it with droughttolerant landscaping.
Calistoga already offers a cashfor-grass program as well as a toilet replacement program.
“As Californians, we must pull
together and save water in every
way possible,” Brown added.
Photo by Pat Hampton
The first-ever-in-Calistoga Pretty Muddy event was a day-long romp through mud obstacles and frolicking with friends.
Here’s mud
in your eye!
Judge reduces
attorney fee
claim of $2.7M
n $2.7 million request
reduced to $587,000
By Pat Hampton
Tribune Publisher
By Pat Hampton
Tribune Publisher
Groups of women 100 strong were given the signal to start running
and head for the first obstacle in Saturday’s Mudder of All Weekends
just for women.
The event drew 1,100 participants said Carolyn Denaro of the
chamber. It was billed as a weekend for girlfriends to get away for
a few days and enjoy playing and shopping together and taking spa
treatments.
There were large groups of Calistoga women tackling the very
muddy obstacles from a slide ride to a muddy crawl that turned every
See MUDDY page 2
Kelly Barrett Coudert loved the muddy day.
A judge has reduced the $2.7
million in attorney fees claimed by
a Grass Valley lawyer who represented Grant Reynolds in several
lawsuits against the city.
Napa Superior Court Judge
Diane Price’s tentative ruling was
issued March 26 on the claim by
William McKinnon that he chalked
up $2,799,189 in costs and attorney fees while representing Grant
Reynolds in his litigation with the
city over proper water discharge
from the city’s reservoir to maintain downstream habitat for fish.
McKinnon filed the claim for
See McKINNON page 6
n