Goleta 9-18

The Goleta City Council on 9/9 voted to increase its members’ pay from $363 to $400 per month, their second raise since the city’s 2002 incorporation. The pay increase will take effect in December, when at least one of the current council members will be gone, as Jonny Wallis is not seeking reelection.

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Goleta City Council candidates met in a forum hosted by the Santa Barbara News-Press on 9/10, answering questions ranging in topic from revenue neutrality to UCSB’s Long Range Development Plan. Incumbent Jean Blois is up for reelection. Former council member Margaret Connell, Planning Commissioner Ed Easton, and Don Gilman will also be running for the two open seats. (/goleta918)

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Eric Ford, the Goleta Water District’s current Chief Financial Officer and Administrative Manager, was selected by the Goleta Water Board on 9/9 as the agency’s interim general manager, replacing General Manager Kevin Walsh when he retires on 10/1.

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The Goleta Water Board voted 3-1-Director Harry DeWitt was absent-to approve a declaration acknowledging water levels in the district’s central basin aquifer as being 100 percent higher than the 1972 level deemed adequate by the SAFE Ordinance. Data collected by hydrologist Dan Wendell indicated that levels taken in 2004 were the same or greater than 1972 levels, but no mention was made that it was 100 percent higher.

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Because a Caltrans survey has determined that the bridge across Goleta Slough, leading from Sandspit Road to Goleta Beach County Park, is unsafe, it will be supporting a reduced load of only one lane of traffic for the next three months or so, until supports can be constructed. Caltrans has declared its intention to completely replace the bridge within the next five years. (/bridge918)

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The Goleta Pier Angler Center, a marine education center, opened on 9/12. The kiosk, which replaced what Goleta Parks Director Dan Hernandez dubbed an “eyesore” restroom, was designed to provide fisherman with info about regulations, suggestions for environmental practices, and fish identification cards. (/angler)