20091104Vol I Rathdrum.pdf

ORIGINAL.BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION
OF BAR CIRCLE "S" WATER COMPANY,
INC. FOR AN ORDER AUTHORI ZING AN
INCREASE IN THE COMPANY'S RATES
AND CHARGES FOR WATER SERVICE IN
THE STATE OF IDAHO
CASE NO. BCS-W-O 9-02
BEFORE
COMMISSIONER MACK REDFORD (Presiding)
COMMISSIONER JIM KEMPTON
COMMISSIONER MARSHA SMITH
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PLACE:Rathdrum City Hall
8047 West Main Street
Rathdrum, Idaho
DATE:October 29, 2009
VOLUME I - Pages i - 35
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CSB REPORTING
Constance S. Bucy, CSR No. 187
23876 Applewood Way * Wilder, Idaho 83676
[phone] * [phone]
Email csb(gheritagewifi.com
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SI'N
1 I N D E X.2
3 WITNESS EXAMINATION BY PAGE
4 Kristine Metcalf Statement 2(Public)
5
Will Webberding Statement 46(Public)Commissioner Kempton 5
7 Susan Webberding Statement 7(Public)Commissioner Redford 88
Gena Schuette-Glander Statement 109(Public)Commissioner Smith 13CommissionerKempton1410
Jim Small Statement 1611(Public)
12 Chris Swanson Statement 18(Public)Commissioner Kempton 2313.Kay Eagan Statement 2614(Public)Commissioner Kempton 28CommissionerSmith301S
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(208 )890-5198
.1 RATHDRUM, IDAHO, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009, 7:00 P. M.
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4 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Good evening,
5 ladies and gentlemen. We welcome you here tonight. This
6 is the Idaho Public Utilities Commission. My name is
7 Mack Redford and I am sitting as the Chair on this case
8 and sitting to my left is Commissioner Marsha Smith.
9 Si tting to my right is Commissioner Jim Kempton. Jim is
10 also the president of the Commission. Also seated to my
11 right is our attorney and Scott will swear you when you
12 choose to testify..13 Let me explain a little bit about the
14 hearing. First of all, there has been absolutely no
15 decision made as to this case as to whether or not or how
16 much rates will be increased by Bar "s" Water. The
1 7 matter is in the matter of the application of Bar Circle
18 "s" Water Company, Inc. for an order authorizing an
19 increase in the Company's rates and charges for water
20 service in the State of Idaho.
21 Now, there has been a workshop held in
22 this matter previously a week or so ago and that was for
23 the purpose of answering questions by the Public
24 Utili ties Staff as regards the ins and outs of the case..25 Tonight is for the purpose of taking public testimony on
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1 COLLOQUY
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1 the issue of the requested rate increase. Since this
2 matter has not been decided by the Commission, we do not
3 respond to questions, but there are -- there is a member
4 of the Public Utili ties Staff here who will answer any
5 questions after the hearing is over.
6 Again, I thank you very much for coming
7 and have I left anything out?Yes, I'm going to tell
8 you how we do this, excuse me. When your name is called,
9 if you'll come up and stand in front of the podium and at
10 that time we will take your name and give you the oath
11 and it's at that time you can air your views as to the
12 pending application for the rate increase and so if
13 there's nothing else to come before us right now, let's
14 commence with the hearing and I will call the first
15 witness. Kristine Metcalf.
16
17 KRISTINE METCALF,
18 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
19 sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
23 BY MR. WOODBURY:
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Q Please state your full name.
A Kristine Metcalf.
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2 METCALF
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1 Q And spell your last name.
2 A M-e-t-c-a-l-f.
3 Q And where do you reside?
4 A 1837 West Dolan Road, Rathdrum, Idaho.
5 Q Okay, give your testimony.
6 A Okay. I pretty much find the increases
7 here to be very much exorbitant.I'm going through some
8 of these things, some of these fees and in a time in our
9 economy when people are not only either maintaining the
10 status quo, they're also taking decreases in their pay
11 and so forth, I find the rates terrible, especially when
12 you want to increase from 7,200 to $18,000 for
13 bookkeeping services, 8,850 to 10, 9S0, I don't think
14 those rates should be allowed. There are certain fixed
15 costs that I can understand, but for basic bookkeeping
16 services, I find those rates highly questionable.
17 Those are some of my main grievances.
18 Also, the amount of money that they want to adjust in
19 hooking up to other services, I definitely do not think
20 those costs should be passed on to the Bar or to the
21 association to supplement his new subdivision. Thank
22 you. That's pretty much what I have to say.
23 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Just one question. I
24 wondered, are those the Staff comments you were looking
25 at?
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3 METCALF
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1 THE WITNESS: Yes.
2 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Okay, thank you.
3 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
4 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: I might also add
5 that all your testimony is being taken by a court
6 reporter and the testimony and the written comments which
7 we have received will make up part of the record.
8 (The witness left the stand.)
9 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: The next witness is
10 Will Webberding.
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12 WILL WEBBERDING,
13 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
14 sworn, testified as follows:
15
16 EXAMINATION
17
18 BY MR. WOODBURY:
19 Q Please state your full name, spell your
20 last name.
21 A William Conrad Webberding,
22 W-e-b-b-e-r-d-i-n-g.
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Q And your address?
A 18438 North Ramsey Road, Rathdrum.
Q Okay.
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1 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Go ahead, sir.
2 THE WITNESS: Mr. Turnipseed's venture
3 this summer was the Double "D" just next to us and it
4 feels like that he's got the money to do these ventures,
S but then all of a sudden now that's it's done wants to
6 raise our rates to pay for his ventures. In our economy,
7 we're struggling. His rates are way too much and when we
8 bought our five acres several years ago, he asked us do
9 what we can for curb appeal and we're doing what we can,
10 but it takes water and it's just the wife and I, no kids.
11 For nine months we never meet the water quota, but for
12 three months we go over and his rates are -- what he's
13 asking shouldn't be. Thank you.
14 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Thank you very
15 much. Commissioner Kempton.
16
17 EXAMINATION
18
19 BY COMMISSIONER KEMPTON:
20 Q Mr. Webberding, because -- am I correct on
21 the pronunciation?
A Uh-huh.
Q Thank you. Do you have idea about what
24 your average usage is?
25 A No, but the wife does. She'll be up next.
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5 WEBBERDING (Com)
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1 Q Okay.I would need that to -- let me ask
2 this question, then:When you go over the amount, is
3 that during a time that the meters can actually be read
4 or is this on an estimated basis?
5 A They read them monthly.
6 Q All weather conditions?
7 A Uh-huh.
8 Q And you've never had an estimate that you
9 know of made on your billing as far as just an estimate
10 simply because
11 A Just the three months, the summer months
12 that we go over, you know, because we're putting in a
13 lawn and it's new grass.
14 Q How big is your -- if I could ask, how big
15 is the area that you're watering?
16 A I put three-quarters of a mile pipe in.
17 Q But on the place that you're --
18 A Fi ve acres.
19 Q Okay, that's what I was wondering.
A But I figure there's two of it in grass.
Q Is it pasture?
A No. The back property was a quarry at one
23 time, so we can't build on it yet.
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.COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: That's all the
questions I have.
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6 WEBBERDING (Com)
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1 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Commissioner Smith.
2 COMMISSIONER SMITH: No.
3 (The witness left the stand.)
4 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Let's jump out of
5 order here a little bit and ask Susan Webberding to
6 testify.
7
8 SUSAN WEBBERDING,
9 appearing as a public witness, having been duly sworn,
10 was examined and testified as follows:
11
12 EXAMINATION
13
14 BY MR. WOODBURY:
15 Q State your name.
16 A Susan K. Webberding.
17 Q And the same address as the --
18 A Uh-huh.
Q Gi ve your testimony.
COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Go ahead,
21 Ms. Webberding.
22 THE WITNESS: Just a little bit to what my
23 husband said. We actually only have about three-quarters
24 of an acre in lawn. I go by the statement that they send
25 us every month and I had questioned some of their numbers
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7 WEBBERDING
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1 when we first moved in because it seemed like for two
2 people living there that the amount that they said that
3 we were using was very high. I just took their word for
4 it, so I basically look at my bill every month and I
5 don't go and compare notes to the last one of our usage.
6 In three months' time we used about $450
7 worth of water to water our lawn that we have and a
8 li ttle bit of a garden. The rest of the time throughout
9 the year you've got two people. We probably can't use
10 any more than maybe 3,000 gallons in a month with just
11 the two of us.
12
13 EXAMINATION
14
15 BY COMMISSIONER REDFORD:
16 Q Is there a water meter?
17 A Yes, there is.
18 Q And on your statement are you given the
19 amount of water that you use?
20 A Yes, we are and they have the previous
21 month and then the current month and then they separate
22 it and let you know your usage.
23 Q So what would you say your average usage
24 per gallon would be during the non-summer months?
25 A Maybe 3,000 gallons a month. It can't be
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8 WEBBERDING (Com)
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1 any more than that. I do two loads of laundry a week and
2 I shower every day. That's pretty much it.
3 Q How about in the summer months?
4 A Now, then with watering the lawn, I know,
5 I think the highest bill I had in one month was $IS9, so
6 if you take $15.00 away from that and then divide the,
7 what is it, 90 some cents per thousand gallon after that.
8 Q So about how many gallons of water do you
9 use, say, in July?
A It's probably close to -- I'm not very
11 good at math in my head.
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Q Double the amount?
A Oh, it's more than double, but I feel we
14 pay fair for it. You know, we pay for everything that we
15 use and we were told when we bought the property you need
16 to keep your, you know, good appearances. They want you
17 to have a nice place and have it looking good, so that's
18 what we've done is we've abided by the CC&Rs to keep up
19 our lawn and we don't have a problem with that, but now
20 that they're wanting to raise it so high, we're going to
21 end up probably having to take more than half of the lawn
22 out because we won't be able to afford it and with the
23 economy the way that it is, you know, we're barely
24 sliding by as it is and it really makes it rough.
25 Q COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Thank you,
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9 WEBBERDING (Com)
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1 Ms. Webberding. Do you have any questions, Mr.
2 Kempton?
3 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON:No.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you.
COMMISSIONER REDFORD:Thank you very
much.
(The witness left the stand. )
COMMISSIONER REDFORD:The next person is
Gena Schuette-Glander.
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11 GENA SCHUETTE-GLANDER,
12 appearing as a public witness, having been duly sworn,
13 was examined and testified as follows:
14
15 EXAMINATION
16
17 BY MR. WOODBURY:
18 Q Please state your full name, spell your
19 last name.
20 A Gena Schuette, S-c-h-u-e-t-t-e, 973 West
21 Dolan Road, Rathdrum.
22 Q Okay.
23 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Please go ahead.
24 THE WITNESS: Thank you. I'm here
25 representing myself, my husband and my son. We pay -- we
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10 SCHUETTE-GLANDERPublic
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1 have figured it to where we just pay an average of $100 a
2 month throughout the year every single month. Come July
3 and August we pay extra, so we take whatever credit is
4 gone at that point and we pay extra. Taking the
5 information over the last three years from my water bill,
6 I figured out what our average is and if this increase is
7 approved what our average would go up to and taking that
8 into consideration if this is approved, our water bill
9 will go up to $288.69 per month every month of the year
10 and this is just a family of three.
11 We have no swimming pool. We have no hot
12 tub. We do have about three-and-a-half acres of lawn and
13 we have spent a lot of money putting that lawn in and it
14 would be a great hardship on us to have this follow
15 through.
16 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: What do you figure
17 your -- not your average, but based upon the calculations
18 you've made be for your water in the summer months, take,
19 for instance, July or August?
20 THE WITNESS: Okay. Let's see I am just
21 looking at my August bill, my balance was $472.68, so
22 that would jump up to probably about, what, 12, 1,600 if
23 this is approved for that month.
COMMISSIONER REDFORD: For that month?
THE WITNESS: Uh-huh. My prior month was
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11 SCHUETTE-GLANDER
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1 July, my balance was $ 462.41, virtually the same, $10.00
2 difference, so I'm looking at the same there as well.
3 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Does it tell you the
4 number of gallons?
5 THE WITNESS: Yes.
6 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Could you please tell
7 me?
8 THE WITNESS: August was 489,000 gallons
9 and change. July was 478,000 gallons.
10 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: 479 and 480?
11 THE WITNESS: 489 for August; 474,000 for
12 July.
13 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Okay, thank you
14 very much.
15 THE WITNESS: You're welcome. I would
16 like to mimic what Kristine Metcalf had testified to. It
17 is tough times. Our business has dropped dramatically.
18 We work really hard. We have spent so much money making
19 our lawn beautiful to have that curb appeal that the
20 Webberdings talked about. We have to water it. If not,
21 it's going to die and I mean, just bringing in top soil
22 alone, everyone who lives in the neighborhood knows we
23 brought in, like, 160 truck, big truck, full of top soil
24 and laid all that grass seed, did all the work. We took
25 all the trees off the property. I would hate to see all
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12 SCHUETTE-GLANDER
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1 that work we did go to waste.I don't know what we would
2 do frankly, so...
3 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Commissioner
4 Smith.
5
6 EXAMINATION
7
8 BY COMMISSIONER SMITH:
9 Q Have you had an opportunity to look at the
10 filing the Staff made in this case, the Staff report?
11 A No, I have not.
12 Q Well, one of their attachments shows
13 average usage per customer. Would it surprise you to
14 know that in 2008 the water usage per customer in gallons
15 per month was 77, 572?
16 A That would not surprise me.
17 Q It seems, though, if yours is 489,000 that
18 you're using, yours is significantly more.
19 A This is peak season, summer, and like I
20 said, we do have three-and-a-half acres of beautiful,
21 perfect lawn with curbing around every tree and so that
22 wouldn't surprise me. We have to water it and I skimp on
23 the watering.I mean, if it rains, it turns off the
24 sprinkler system automatically. I have 30 zones to
25 water, not to mention a garden.
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13 SCHUETTE-GLANDER (Com)
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1 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Okay, thank you.
2 THE WITNESS: You i re welcome.
3 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Commissioner
4 Kempton.
5 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Thank you,
6 Mr. Chairman.
7 THE WITNESS: No other questions?
8
9 EXAMINATION
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11 BY COMMISSIONER KEMPTON:
12 Q I do, I have a question. You mentioned
13 that you just pay $100 a month every month?
14 A Yes.
15 Q Is that levelized? Is that a program that
16 the Company has is a levelized program?
17 A No, I've just done that upon myself, so
18 then, you know, like for example, I have a huge credit
19 here in April and basically my credit gets gobbled up
20 come July and so then, therefore, I owe beyond that and
21 so anything in excess I will pay at that time above and
22 beyond my $100 a month.
23 Q And does that work out pretty well for the
24 whole year to do that, $100 a month, or do you have a
25 pretty good tab at the end --
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14 SCHUETTE-GLANDER (Com)
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1 A For our family it does. I do level pay
2 wi th our gas bill, our electric bill and with the water.
3 I've just done that since we moved in and we moved in in
4 2002 and we put our lawn in in 2004, I believe.
5 Q Okay; so I can understand exactly on your
6 yard, on the lawn that you have, you have
7 three-and-a-half acres of lawn?
8 A Approximately, yes. It could be closer to
9 four. I'm not exactly sure. I've never measured it.
10 Q And that's, if I could use the term,
11 decorative lawn as adverse to any pastured lawn?
12 A It's decorative.
13 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Okay, thank you.
14 That's all I have.
15 THE WITNESS: You're welcome. Thank
16 you.
17 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: I have just one
18 other question.
19 THE WITNESS: Yes.
20 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: You don i t operate a
21 business out of your home, do you?
22 THE WITNESS: No.
23 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Thank you.
24 THE WITNESS: I do mow a lot.
25 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: I hope you have a
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15 SCHUETTE-GLANDER (Com)
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1 riding lawn mower.
2 THE WITNESS: Yes.
3 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Thank you very
4 much.
5 THE WITNESS: Thank you all for listening
6 to me.
7 (The witness left the stand.)
8 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: The next person
9 would be Jim Small.
10
11 JIM SMALL,
12 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
13 sworn, testified as follows:
14
15 EXAMINATION
16
17 BY MR. WOODBURY:
18 Q Please state your full name and spell your
19 last name.
20 A Jim Small, 17316 North Wrangler Road.
21 Q And Small is as it sounds?
22 A S-m-a-l-l. I'm just surprised on the
23 percentage of rate increase and I'm sure that they
24 haven't had a raise in nine years, I'm sure they're
25 justified for a rate increase, but what I would like to
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16 SMALL
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1 see is a breakdown of how they justify that percentage,
2 at least I would feel a lot easier knowing where the
3 money is going and where it's coming from and if they
4 could produce that and back up that percentage, then I'd
5 sure like to see it. Maybe they are justified to a point
6 of that. That's quite a rate increase.
7 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: It seems to me like
8 Ms. Webberding, I think, had the Staff comments and do we
9 have a copy?
10 MR. FADNESS: There's several on the
11 table.
12 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: You might,
13 Mr. Small, take what's over there and it should have
14 broken out the numbers that you're asking for and if that
15 doesn't satisfy you, why, you can certainly call the
16 Public Utilities Commission or you can talk to Chris over
17 in the red shirt and he can help you, but you Ire
18 certainly entitled to see those numbers.
19 THE WITNESS: Thank you. That's all I
20 had.
21 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Commissioner Smith?
22 COMMISSIONER SMITH: No.
23 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Commissioner
24 Kempton?
25 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: No, Mr. Chairman, I
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17 SMALL
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1 have no questions.
2 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Thank you.
3 THE WITNESS: You bet.
4 (The witness left the stand.)
5 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: The next person we
6 have is Chris Swanson.
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8 CHRIS SWANSON,
9 appearing as a public witness, having been duly sworn,
10 was examined and testified as follows:
11
12 EXAMINATION
13
14 BY MR. WOODBURY:
15 Q State your full name and spell your last
16 name.
17 A My name is Chris Martin Swanson,
18 S-w-a-n-s-o-n, and I live at 19332 North Ella Road. I
19 li ved in California before I came up here. I farmed on a
20 f ami 1 y farm sin c e 1975.
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COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Here or there?
THE WITNESS: There where there's real
23 farming, not this so called garbage around here. Sorry,
24 just bragging. 1976 we faced, well, '76 and '77 we
25 faced, a drought. On our place we had three deep wells.
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18 SWANSONPublic
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1 The water table is about 150 feet, wells sunk down to 265
2 feet. At that time three wells comprised of one at 75
3 horsepower, one at SO horsepower and one at 30, let's
4 call it, it's old, but highly efficient. Then we had
5 three what we called return systems. What I'm saying is
6 at that time to run those three wells was about $1,500 a
7 month. Then Southern California Edison in all their
8 wisdom over the years and oh, about 24 years later, all
9 of a sudden, that mark goes up to about $7,000 a month,
10 the cost of increase, okay, to run those same wells for
11 the same water output.
12 I also lived in a place called Cambria,
13 California where I had a summer home there or vacation
14 home, weekend home, whatever you want to call it. They
15 had water restrictions. They were water poor in that
16 area. You were allowed to use 60 units. Each unit was
17 750 gallons and was tied to the sewer system. You went
18 over that and you got hit with a sledgehammer bad, so you
19 were allowed to use about 45,000 gallons and that 45,000
20 gallons would run you $100 and, of course, that included
21 sewer which was about 40 percent of the price and 60
22 percent water. If, like I say, you went up to -- if you
23 used 100 units, things would go up pretty high. Anyhow,
24 since we were weekenders, it never bothered us, but
25 people that lived there, I mean, they were sharing shower
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19 SWANSON
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1 water or bath water darn near.
2 Our water bill here, I don i t have the
3 exact number, I've seen the bill a couple of times and
4 like I say, we're running between 175, probably 225,
5 something in there.It's high, but I stuck my foot in a
6 bear trap.I went hunting for it. We i ve got probably
7 about an acre-and-a-half of grass around there, keeps the
8 dust down, gives the local animal population someplace to
9 go play in.It gives my dogs something to do besides
10 rolling around in the dirt and it makes sure that I'm not
11 out doing drugs because I'm spending about two hours
12 mowing the son of a gun.
13 We also have extensive landscaping and
14 I've put drip irrigation around to each one of those
15 li ttle plants. All in all it i S pretty nice and makes my
16 wife happy, keeps me busy. We use a lot of water, no
17 doubt about it, but what the hell else am I going to do
18 wi th five acres? Am I going to water jungle or, excuse
19 me, forest or am I going to grow a rock garden?
20 That land is mine to do with what I want
21 and if I i ve got to -- you know, if I want to maintain it
22 the way it is, I'LL have to pony up the cash, but as I've
23 stated here, what I had to live through in California at
24 that house and at farming, I pulled a lot of water out of
25 the ground and anyhow, I just don i t see where if I'm
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20 SWANSON
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1 going to be paying close to $500 a month or, you know,
2 between 4 and $500 a month --
3 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: That's in the
4 summer?
5 THE WITNESS: Yeah, in the summer. In the
6 wintertime everything drops down like a rock, but I don It
7 see where the energy is being used to pullout all this
8 water and especially when I live kind of halfway on a
9 hill and there are times when in the past, okay, like
10 last summer I go to my faucet, you know, say about 6: 00
11 0' clock in the morning, I leave and get to work by 7: 00,
12 there's been times when I can see the water molecules
13 falling out of the faucet, not a stream, but anyhow, I
14 think the lines are inadequate up there towards me.
15 Maybe with the new pump and what the Turnipseeds have
16 spent their money on will work, but I still water my lawn
17 at 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. in the morning so I do have
18 adequate water pressure for my lawns and I don't over
19 water.I'm a farmer. I don't waste money and I don't
20 waste water despite what L.A. thinks.
21 I fed them buggers for long enough they
22 ought to appreciate me, but like I say, what am I
23 supposed to do with five acres, just leave it natural?
24 Half my place is still in forest. I knocked down things
25 just to give myself a view because I come from flat land,
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21 SWANSON
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1 I like to look out, but I don't like the wind.I hate
2 the wind or I'd be out here on the prairie someplace.
3 Like I say, this rate increase is more
4 a raise, yes, but not rape. 119 or 73 percent is beyond
5 the call.I wish I could have made that kind of money
6 when I was farming, I'd have been happy. Just like my
7 wife, she used to work for a CPA firm and they had a big
8 meeting and they said yeah, this year we've got a 40
9 percent profit margin. What, 40 percent? It's lucky I
10 wasn't in that room, I'd have his throat in my hand. 20
11 percent, that's pretty cool, I like that, that's a good
12 number. 25 percent, that's even better, but 40 percent,
13 no, huh-uh, don't like that, so anyhow, yeah, I don't
14 have anything against a rate increase, but I think this
15 is going a little bit too far, and like I say, the amount
16 of water that we're talking about for the amount of
17 horsepower being used to drag it out of the ground and
18 putting up with from time to time no water at all, let's
19 see, I think that's happened three times since we've been
20 there and we moved there in 2003 and there have been
21 three times when anyhow, we've had to look at a faucet
22 that turns and nothing comes out.
23 Okay, that happens, no big deal, but like
24 I say, I still have to water my lawn.I'm not after, you
25 know, Good Housekeeping or Martha Stewart's affections.
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22 SWANSONPublic
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1 I just want to keep the dust down and have a lawn that
2 people drive by and say okay, that's nice or that's okay.
3 I don't want them looking at a bunch of brown spots out
4 there and the doggone birds out there dying because they
5 can't find anything to eat. Anyhow, that's where I
6 stand. Thank you.
7 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Commissioner Smith?
8 COMMISSIONER SMITH: No questions. Thank
9 you.
10 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Commissioner
11 Kempton?
12 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: I have a couple of
13 questions.
15 EXAMINATION
16
17 BY COMMISSIONER KEMPTON:
18 Q Mr. Martin, what type of grass do you have
19 on your place?
A Fescue. I water it every day. I put --
21 each unit gets 20 minutes and I've got one drip system
22 that runs for an hour.
23 Q And so that gives you about how much
24 water?
25.A I haven't the slightest idea, but anyhow,
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23 SWANSON (Com)Public
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1 the emitters run into, oh, jeez, over 100.I bought a
2 bunch of those things.
3 Q So it should be something a farmer would
4 know.
5 A Yes, he would, if he gave a rat's rear
6 end.
7 Q Okay, and so Mr. Martin --
8 A Swanson.
9 Q -- last rate case filing that was done was
10 back in 1989. What would you say the inflation was
11 between 1989 and 2009?
12
13
14
15
A Are we going to base it on cost of living
increases?
Q Your choice.
A You know, everything is tied to what the
16 power company asks because this all rotates around power.
17 I don't know what it costs the Turnipseeds to check or
18 have the water checked and the proper chemicals put in it
19 to make it safe if there is a problem. Like I say, I
20 haven't the slightest idea. It isn't a question of how
21 much should they ask for since then, it should be tied
22 to, you know, either cost of living or it should be tied
23 to whatever the power company's begging or actually
24 holding you up for. Like I say, I'm not even going to
25 venture a guess. I haven't lived here long enough. All
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24 SWANSON (Com)
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1 I know is back in California they robbed you and when I
2 came up here I was like, wow, this is cool. I can
3 actually turn on an electric motor here without dying or
4 feeling somebody reach into my back pocket and stealing
5 my wallet.
6 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: I don't have any
7 more questions.
8 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Well, thank you
9 very much, Mr. Swanson. We appreciate your testimony.
10 THE WITNESS: Okay.
11 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: You might want to
12 pick up as you're leaving or any time
13 THE WITNESS: Yeah, I was a little late on
14 that.
15 (The witness left the stand.)
16 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: We've run out of
17 wi tnesses. Is there anyone else that would like to
18 testify? Yes, ma' am.
19 AUDIENCE: I guess I would like to make a
20 few comments.
21
22
23
24
25
COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Good.
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25 SWANSON (Com)
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1 KAY EAGAN,
2 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
3 sworn, testified as follows:
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY MR. WOODBURY:
8 Q Please state you full name.
9 A Kay Eagan.
10 Q Spell your last name.
11 A Eagan, E-a -g-a -n.
12 Q Okay, and your address?
13 A 1325 Dolan Road.
14 Q Okay.
15 A We have been a resident here just for
16 seven years. I guess I'm just feeling that this rate
17 increase seems just a little high, in fact, a lot high.
18 We're here only six months out of the year. We do have
19 property in California that we have been trying to sell,
20 but everybody knows what the housing market is like
21 there. We have approximately one acre of lawn and I have
22 probably an acre-and-a-half, maybe two acres, of dryland
23 pasture. I have two horses and in the summertime I do
24 irrigate that somewhat, but not religiously.
25 I'm feeling that the timing on this seems
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26 EAGAN
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1 to be so bad given the fact that people are concerned
2 about their retirement accounts, whether they're even
3 going to receive the retirement money that they were
4 banking on. People are losing jobs. The cost of living
5 is going up so high.I just feel like the President is
6 killing us with his cap and trade. That means that all
7 of our energy bills are going to skyrocket. Our gasoline
8 is going to skyrocket and it just seems at this point in
9 time that this would be a very unfair rate increase.
10 It seems interesting to me, also, that Mr.
11 Turnipseed has the other Bar "T", I think it's called Bar
12 "T", development and perhaps he's feeling that he needs
13 the rate increase because he needs to develop that water
14 system and that seems a little bit unfair to me to do
15 that off the backs of his current customers that have
16 been paying their bills for their years' usage that have
17 been supporting, basically, the water system and the
18 water company for him. I just want to say that I just
19 feel that it's unfair and I would like to see this rate
20 increase be cut down considerably. That's all I have to
21 say.
22 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Commissioner Smith.
23 COMMISSIONER SMITH: No questions. Thank
24 you.
25 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON:I have one.
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27 EAGANPublic
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1
2
EXAMINATION
3 BY COMMISSIONER KEMPTON:
4 Q Ms. Eagan, do you know about how much your
5 monthly bills are? You may not have data there, but if
6 you know just
7 A I don't have it. I know that we're paying
8 in the summer months probably 125 to $1S0 a month. I
9 don't know what the gallons are. I'm sorry, I don't, but
10 you have to remember, too, that five, six months out of
11 the year we're not even here.
12 Q That's 125 to what?
To $150 a month.
And that's in the summer months?
In the summer months, correct.
Was it one to one-and-a-half of dryland
17 that you have there or is it two?
13 A
It's one-and-a-half, probably under two,
19 acres of dryland pasture. It's a five-acre parcel and so
14 Q
20 almost half of it is just natural.
21
22
23
24
25
15 A
Rough?
Rough.
And you have horses on the --
I have two horses on the one-and-a-half to
two acres, but I might just mention that if I don't have
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16 Q
18 A
Q
A
Q
A
28 EAGAN (Com)
Public
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1 that dryland pasture that's edible for them, I'm going to
2 be paying a lot more for the hay and the alfalfa that
3 I'll need to replace it with and the cost of that has
4 skyrocketed, too, so welcome to north Idaho.
5 Q The dry land, is that a fescue that you're
6 using on that or is it an orchard grass?
7 A It's a combination of orchard and fescue,
8 but it is dryland pasture, although it doesn't do well in
9 the Garwood area without a little bit of irrigation.
10 Q And so when you're sprinkling on it, where
11 are you getting the pressure for the additional pasture
12 area? You don't have to use any auxiliary pressure, you
13 just go ahead and turn it on?
14 A That's correct.We put a few of those
15 frost free water outlets near the back so that it reaches
16 out there and oh, once a week I'll give it, in the
17 summertime I have to give it, a good watering, but we're
18 always conscientious about our watering. We water at
19 night. My husband has the sprinkler system set to go
20 every other day in the summer at night, of course, and
21 we're just real conscientious about our water use
22 overall, we always have been.
23 And you're doing that watering just out ofQ
24 a frost free hydrant, three-quarter-inch pipe?
25 That's correct, with a big sprinkler head.A
CSB REPORTING
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EAGAN (Com)
Public29
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20
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1 Low reach in a circular fashion will reach about 75 feet,
2 so I try to just do it at night and do it just once a
3 week and try to keep that at a minimum, too, but it does
4 need to be irrigated.
5 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Okay. I have no
6 further questions. Thank you very much.
7 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
8
9 EXAMINATION
10
11 BY COMMISSIONER SMITH:
12 Q I just wondered, when you are gone for the
13 six months, do you disconnect your water service or do
14 you leave it connected?
15 A No, we leave it connected. We were told
16 that you shouldn't disconnect it, that that causes
17 problems. We, I believe, send an automatic $15.00 a
18 month and occasionally it doesn't even -- I don't know if
19 they have a minimum or what, but --
Q They do.
A I think that's how we arrived at the
22 $15.00 a month.
23 COMMISSIONER SMITH: That's what it is
24 right now. All right, thank you.
25 THE WITNESS: You're welcome. Thank you.
CSB REPORTING
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30 EAGAN (Com)
Public
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1 (The witness left the stand.)
2 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Is there anyone
3 else that would like to testify? Well, hearing none, I
4 thank you all for coming and sharing with us and believe
5 me, your comments are well taken and all your comments
6 will go to make up the record in this matter. Once the
7 final hearings are done with the Company, we will, of
8 course, render a decision and you will be notified of
9 what the result is and again, thank you for coming. We
10 all appreciate it very much.
11 AUDIENCE: Can we add written comments?
12 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Yes, please.
13 AUDIENCE: Okay, because I feel like you
14 haven't really heard from a lot of families. I'm a
15 family of five. We do about three to five loads of
16 laundry a day.
17 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Gene Fadness is
18 si tting right here and will give you the information
19 again.
20 MS. SCHUETTE-GLANDER: I would like to add
21 something. It seems that Marsha believed that our water
22 usage was in excess. We are not the only family that
23 have a property out in this development that's park-like.
24 There are other families and I would like that to be
25 noted that we, too, only water at night. We never water
CSB REPORTING
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31 COLLOQUY
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1 during the day and we are very conscientious about it and
2 I just wanted it to be noted that we're not the only
3 family that's park-like. I would like to invite you all
4 to come out to the development and look at it, look at
5 all the properties with lawn. We all take a tremendous
6 amount of pride in it and the soil is absolutely
7 horrible.I mean, you can't walk in it, it's horrible,
8 and like the gentleman said before, you've got to do
9 something with it or it's going to be just a dust bowl,
10 so most of us have done lawns in the development. Thank
11 you.
12 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Would you encourage
13 your neighbors if they feel such to send in written
14 comments or e-mail?
15 MS. SCHUETTE-GLANDER: Yes, I have done
16 that. There is another neighbor that she was going to
17 come tonight, but she's home sick with a fever, so she's
18 one that couldn't come and the other one is a family of
19 five, and like mine, typically, they should be home in
20 bed, so it's a development full of families with children
21 that are home and I'm here to represent basically those
22 that have so many children in their family.
23 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: The public comment
24 deadline is November 6th.
25 AUDIENCE: Where are those to be sent?
CSB REPORTING
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32 COLLOQUY
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1 MR. FADNESS: On this form there's a
2 website or you can mail them in, there's a mailing
3 address.
4 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Commissioner
5 Kempton has something else.
6 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Just a point,
7 before I left the office I took a quick count of the
8 number of e-mail comments that have come in, there's only
9 ten and eight of them are adverse to the proposition, one
10 is favorable and the other is neutral, but what I'm
11 trying to say is if there are more people that want to
12 comment, time is short and what we need to work on is
13 data.
14 MS. SCHUETTE-GLANDER: Right.
15 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: We know when you
16 say that I'm angry and I'm not going to take it anymore
17 that you're angry and you're not going take it anymore,
1S but the problem is if we don't have data to work with,
19 then we can't make reasonable adj ustments that follow the
20 statutes in what we have to make as far as decisions
21 being fair, just and reasonable between you and the
22 utility, so that's just a point I'll make because the
23 question has come up about additional wri te- ins and I'll
24 guarantee you that every e-mail that comes in on these
25 cases we read.
CSB REPORTING
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33 COLLOQUY
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19
20
21
22
23
24
25
1 MS. SCHUETTE-GLANDER: I appreciate that
2 and I will pass along the message and I would like to ask
3 everybody here to pass along the message to their
4 neighbors. Thank you so much.
5 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Thank you. Well,
6 if there's no one else that would like to offer any
7 comments, we'll -- do you have any comments, Commissioner
S Smith?
9 COMMISSIONER SMITH: I'm j ust waiting for
10 you to say we're adjourned.
11 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: We're adjourned.
12 (The Hearing adjourned at 7:55 p.m.)
13
14
1S
16
17
CSB REPORTING
(20S) 890-5198
34 COLLOQUY
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20
21
22
23
24
25
1 AUTHENTICATION
2
3
4 This is to certify that the foregoing
5 proceedings held in the matter of the application of Bar
6 Circle" S" Water Company, Inc. for an order authorizing
7 an increase in the company's rates and charges for water
8 service in the State of Idaho, commencing at 7: 00 p.m.,
9 on Thursday, October 29, 2009, at the Rathdrum City Hall,
10 8047 West Main Street, Rathdrum, Idaho, is a true and
11 correct transcript of said proceedings and the original
12 thereof for the file of the Commission.
13
14
15
16
co(d~-I.~uc~~(T--~
Certified Shorthand Reporter #187
17
18
19
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CSB REPORTING
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35 AUTHENTICATION