Still septic




At the April 27 Calabasas City Council meeting there was discussion surrounding the nowinfamous On-site Wastewater Treatment Ordinance, or OWTS.

Those few residents with septic tanks have always supported the belief that everyone¹s system should be working properly. Yet the city’s punitive enforcement of this 40-plus page ordinance, followed by expensive and ongoing prosecution of city residents, is viewed by many as an outrageous abuse of enforcement power given the willingness of residents to submit to lawful and proper due process.

It was only proper that the council this night attempted to somehow fix the OWTS ordinance. Residents unanimously called for the ordinance to be “scrapped” and to start over when state’s OWTS codes are enacted later this year.

Council members did not agree, and instead offered an “amnesty” to non-compliant homeowners, which number a total of eight. After a lengthy and often confusing discussion, Mr. Bozajian called for a motion. “So moved” said Mr. Wolfson. There was a second and a 5-0 vote.

But what motion was actually made and passed? No one I’ve spoken to can figure it out.

Is “so moved” really a motion? Not according to Roberts Rules of Order, which states: “A motion is made by a member’s obtaining the floor as already described and saying, ‘I move that’ (which is equivalent to saying, ‘I propose that’), and then stating the action he proposes to have taken.”

Residents are in the dark due to the evident confusion of City Council members as to what motion, if there was one, was actually passed and approved. The city really needs to get a handle on what it is trying to accomplish because the present state of affairs is an uncomfortable disarray. Toby Keeler Old Topanga



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