GHCSD Board discusses new organic waste pick-up, annual workshop

At their April 18 meeting, the Golden Hills Community Services District opened their public meeting with a report from Joe Torres on the first three weeks of the new three barrel pick up system required by the State of California (SB1383).

Torres reported that in the first three weeks he collected 51 tons of green and food waste. Torres said everything started on time. “Kudos to the people of Golden Hills,” said Torres.

Joe King noted that the Golden Hills CC&Rs will need to be adjusted to accommodate these changes and notify self-haulers that fines may come with non-compliance. John Buckley questioned whether or not the CSD can mandate compliance as it stands.

Veteran Steve Miles, a very active supporter of Honor Flight Kern County, appealed to the CSD board to support their efforts by donating the funds to send one war veteran to Washington D.C. to visit the war memorials.

The cost is $1,500 to send one vet and $1,200 to send a guardian/companion. The board voted to send one veteran and one guardian to Washington on the next Honor Flight Kern County trip.

As the result of the March 2 public workshop, several new ad hoc committees were assigned and it was suggested that it would be advantageous to have more than one a year. As a result of the discussions at the workshop, General Manager Chris Carlson is obtaining bids for the possible use of solar energy to power their wells. The CSD will start looking for revenue streams including grants and the CSD is looking into the possibilities of forming an affiliate 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Also suggested at the meeting was increased communication with the public in the form of texts, emails, NIXLE or some other format. This will be discussed at future meetings.

A new ad hoc committee had been set up to investigate the new state Firewise Program. It appears that it is currently in its infancy and is available only to small neighborhoods at this time.

Wendy Ward, coordinator for Kern County, suggested that CalFire could perhaps follow that model in the future. Currently fire insurance discounts are about 2%.

Committee members David Shaw and Danielle Green each took a neighborhood to start. It was suggested that neighborhood signs could be created so residents would know that people are doing it.

The board of the Golden Hills CSD meets on the third Thursday of the month at 6 p.m in the board room of the Community Service District located at 21415 Reeves St. and is open to the public.