Monday night, I attended the Atwater City Council meeting and after, I thought about what transpired during the meeting.
One of the items on the agenda created a lot of discussion and that was the environmental services related to the Bert Crane Landfill closure with a cost of $46,115. Jeff Rivero questioned the cost and Gary Frago wanted to know about the bids. They all seemed to want a lower cost for the project.
The city engineer, Joe Hollstein, explained the reason for the cost and also the reputation of the SCS Engineering firm of Sacramento.
So, after that I started thinking about an article I read in the Oct. 14 Sun-Star.
The city of Atwater pays the council members a car allowance of $700 per month and $750 to the mayor, which totals $3,550 per month or $42,600 a year.
Why that much? As a resident of Atwater, I believe this is an outrageous amount and think the residents of Atwater should get together to change this cost and abuse of taxpayer money.
I also believe we all should look into the abuse of the medical insurance payments they receive. If they don't take the medical insurance, they receive an in-lieu of insurance payment. Again why?
Two are teachers and probably have insurance through the state of California, the three are retired and most likely receive insurance through their retirement plans. The total cost for the insurance payments for the council members totals $67,000 a year.
The total cost just for the above two items totals approximately $109,000 a year.
So these are the same people that are questioning the cost of $46,115 for the landfill closure.
I agree with Richard Morrison's letter to the editor of Oct. 10, which states "they don't want the gas or medical coverage, they want the cash."
Ruth S. Oosting lives in Atwater.
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