Grover Beach City Council members threatened with recall attempt 

Upset at the Grover Beach City Council for voting to raise water and wastewater rates to help fund the city's portion of a water reclamation project, a group of residents is organizing a repeal of the vote and wants to recall three council members.

A Grover H2O spokesperson, former city Mayor Debbie Peterson, told New Times that the group is made up of city residents who are passionate about their water rights.

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• File Photo By Samantha Herrera
• HIGHER WATER RATES A grassroots movement called Grover H2O recently began collecting signatures for an initiative that aims to stop the new increase in city water and wastewater rates. Some of the group's members protested last year against the City Council's vote in favor of the increase.

"We will circulate a petition for a ballot measure to repeal the rate increase, manage recalls, and run candidates who we feel are going to be more responsive to the people of Grover Beach," Peterson said.

During the Jan. 8 City Council meeting, Grover H2O member Lesley Mar served Mayor Karen Bright and Councilmembers Zach Zimmerman and Daniel Rushing with an intent to recall them. Mar also served the council a notice of the intent to try to repeal the new rates.

"I have copies of an initiative measure for the purpose of a repeal ... in order to reestablish the lawful schedule for water and wastewater rates in efficiency, immediately prior to its adoption," Mar said during public comment. "It is a testament to the principles that uphold our society, freedom of speech, civic engagement, and the understanding that through discourse we can shape a just and more equitable future."

On Dec. 11, 2023, the City Council voted 3-2 to increase water rates by almost 20 percent over the next four years to help fund Grover Beach's portion of the Central Coast Blue water reclamation project, with Councilmembers Clint Weirick and Robert Robert dissenting.

The cost estimate for Central Coast Blue—which aims to recycle wastewater and inject it into the groundwater basin to create a more sustainable water supply for Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach, and Grover Beach—recently increased from $55 million to $93 million due to inflation and other factors.

In repeal paperwork, Grover H2O states that that Central Coast Blue makes claims it can't back up, such as being a future drought-resistance project and seawater intrusion buffer. The initiative also states that Grover Beach citizens don't want to be responsible for funding the future growth of Pismo Beach and Arroyo Grande.

"These outrageously high and destructive increases pay Grover Beach's 36 percent share of the Central Coast Blue Joint Powers Authority that includes Arroyo Grande and Pismo Beach and has tripled in cost to over $99 million," the initiative states.

Peterson said for the initiative to be put on the ballot, it would need 500 signatures from supportive Grover Beach residents. That measure would then need at least 50 percent plus one of the city's registered voters to vote in favor of it.

"Then it will repeal the water rate increase, and we can go back to the rates we were paying before the council increased them," she said. "This recall is for us citizens to remove our elected officials from office before they face another election."

The recall notification against Zimmerman states that he "refuses to investigate lessons learned from the experiences of other county communities faced with unaffordable proposals by the same consultants, disregards the right of his constituents to affordable water, thinks it's fine to double water prices without knowing the end cost."

Zimmerman told New Times in an email that he stands behind his decision to raise water and wastewater rates.

"I certainly have my concerns about the CCB [Central Coast Blue] project, cost being primary among them. However, on balance, through hours of research and conversation with myriad experts and our local civic partners, who have been working on this for many years, I felt that moving forward was, and remains, the best choice," he said. "I would add that this is an election year, so allowing residents to decide at the ballot box in November would appear to me the best use of city and taxpayers' resources."

Grover H2O's recall notification against Bright states that "Karen Bright's wastewater plant will dump South Grover property values and force unacceptable impacts on the people of Grover Beach and upon our environmentally sensitive coastal zone."

In an email to New Times, Bright said that local businesses are the backbone of the city and providing a secure, sustainable water supply gives Grover Beach the ability to accommodate for more residents and tourists to keep those small businesses going.

"During the past seven drought years and up to the major rain event in 2023, residents continually came to council demanding we do something to alleviate the numerous water restrictions that affected them. Grover Beach has worked for four years to maintain the lowest water rates in the county. Once the new rates are in effect, of the 12 water purveyors in the county, Grover Beach will have the third lowest rates in the county," Bright said. "The city will continue to provide low-income utility assistance. In order to continue to pursue affordable housing projects, we must meet the water requirements necessary to serve those needing housing."

The recall intention notifications needed at least 60 signatures each from Grover Beach residents to qualify for the next step, which is circulating the petition. Peterson said they had so many people interested in signing that they had to start turning them away.

"For signatures at this point, we have 109 for Mayor Bright, 96 for Zach Zimmerman, and 94 for Daniel Rushing," she said. "They can come back and sign later once it's official and the city will be officially collecting them in order to place them on a recall ballot."

Grover Beach Assistant City Manager Kristin Eriksson told New Times that the city is aware of the initiative and recall efforts, but they had not received any filing fee or proof of service to the respective elected officials as of New Times' press time. However, when the city does receive those items, officials will review the notices with the city's attorney, David Hale, and ensure the requirements are met.

"Should a recall petition be approved, it is our understanding, based on voter registration information provided by the county of San Luis Obispo, that a recall petition for Mayor Bright and Councilmember Zimmerman, who were elected at large and appointed to a vacant at-large seat, respectively, would require 1,946 signatures from registered voters in the city," Eriksson said. "A recall petition for Councilmember Rushing, who was elected to a district seat, would require 514 signatures from registered voters within District 2." Δ