Citizen's For Solutions -- Posted by YermoCSD on Saturday, January 13 2007
Citizen's For Solutions Group Forms
In July of 2006, with the temperature well above 110 degrees, the community of Yermo was hard hit with a serious water delivery problem. The privately owned Yermo Water Company had many infrastructure failures, resulting in the community being without drinking water for several days. Thanks to the emergency assistance of San Bernardino County 1st District Supervisor, Mr. Bill Postmus and his Representative Aide, Jesse Flores, the community was delivered Emergency Drinking Water and offered assistance if required.
What came from this unexpected event was the formation of the Yermo Citizen's For Solutions Commitee.
Formed after the heavily attended community meeting at Silver Valley High School, this group will address the notification of emergency information to local residents during such events if required. Headed up by community volunteer Ms. Debbie Shields, a dedicated group of local citizens leads the effort to better communicate information as required. Already this group has formed a strong link with the Community, the Yermo Volunteer Fire Dept. and several State and Local Agencies. With these efforts in place, any future emergencies will be more easily addressed and a better line of communication will be established.
The Citizen's For Solutions can be reached at their e-mail address yermo_cfs@yahoo.com or visit their Website at http://mysite.verizon.net/resotz21/yermocfs/
The photos below are of the Community Meeting held at Silver Valley High School in July of 2006. In attendance were about 100 local citizens to hear from and respond to the officials from the State of California Public Utilities Commission, the County of San Bernardino Dept. of Public Health, the San Bernardino Local Agency Formation Commission and the local manager of the Yermo Water Co.
With the assistance of the Silver Valley Unified School District for a large enough meeting room, the Yermo CSD planned, organized and hosted the meeting.
Below, Mr. Marvin Hardy, local Yermo Water Co. Manager, replies to questions from the audience. Seated at the table are, (from left), Mr. Michael Turpe and Ms. Kathleen Rollings-McDonald with L.A.F.C.O., Mr. Sean McCarthy with S.B. Co. D.P.H. and Mr. Mohsen Kazemzadeh of the California P.U.C. Moderator is Yermo C.S.D.Board Chairman, Michael Henderson.
Below, officials familiarize themselves with the CSD boundries and limitations.
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The outcome of this gathering has been a marked improvement in the water delivery service by the Yermo Water Co. with a great deal of cooperation by the many parties involved. There are still a lot of water company infrastructure areas to be addressed, but the community will continue to receive better service. Since this involvement by all of the above agencies, the State of California has flagged the Yermo Water Co. as it's #1 Priority for Infrastructure improvement requirements.
Yermo CFS Assists in PTA / PTO Organization
Recently, the Citizens for Solutions group has undertaken a new sightline. At this time, there is no active Parent Teacher Association, (PTA), for the youth of Yermo School. On Jan. 10th, the CFS used their meeting time to join together Yermo School parents, Administrators and interested parties to assist in the re-establishment of the Yermo PTA or a new Parent Teacher Organization, (PTO), for the advancement of local school youth activities. In attendance were members from the Silver Valley Unified School District, including the Principal of Yermo School, Ms. Gretchen Jacobs, and several parents of students. This promises to be an ever evolving and active group in our community.
There was a good turnout for this 1st group discussion
CFS members discuss ideas
CFS group leaders Virginia King(l) and Dania Cordero(r) listen to group input
Yermo School Principal Gretchen Jacobs joins in the discussion
Other attendees were supportive of the ideas exchanged
