Our changing community

By Ralph Wessel

Our community is changing.The same people have been in the director seats and have not adapted to the new enviroment.

The proposed Community service District would have interest in ALL items that affect Cayucos and coordinate them. It would be a place for all citizens to go for all concerns.

The present Boards have been selected and appointed by the incumbents only one has actually been elected in the last 10 years. This has led to an ingrown approach to all operations. I have not seen a financial statement; meeting notices are minimal at best. I believe that the people of Cayucos are due a greater input into the functioning of our community. Neither the Sanitation nor Fire District looks for input from the community.

In the past I have attended the meetings and felt that an iron curtain dropped when I entered.

At that time both districts required that they approve new roads that were built. If there was any controversy by the developers the County was inclined to "leave it up to the Fire Chief to determine the width of the road". This could result in road widths of 16 feet with no provision for parking.

I felt that that the responsibility of road design should be left to the County Engineers in all due respect, not to volunteer firemen or part time directors.

The fire district has their fire code manual that they should refer to for proper width and should not decide to allow a smaller road at the request of a developer. After much discussion and letter writing an agreement was reached.

I believe that Sanitation no longer requires their approval on roads and the Fire District refers to their Code books for support. Road design, based upon these requirements, is left up to the county road engineer.

This protects the citizens of Cayucos from a possible law suit if the required road design is not followed.

I realize that now this is a moot point.We probably do not have any more new roads to be built.

But I am sure that if we get a chance to review the operations close up we will find more updating and streamlining necessary.

Public input and review is necessary and will be sought by the directors of the new Community Service District.