First the council discussed the threat from Portlock International, the owner of Castle Oaks Golf Course, to sue the city over the new tri-agency waste water agreement between the City, the State and the Amador Regional Sanitation Authority, ARSA.  At the May 8th City Council meeting representatives from Portlock raised concerns about the new agreement and the company’s position because although they are impacted by the agreement they are not party to it. Currently, Portlock purchases water from the city to put on the golf course. That agreement expires December 31st  2013.  Portlock was originally given 15 days to have their legal team review the agreement and the result is the company is “uncomfortable”  with new agreement. Portlock has now officially threatened litigation against the city in writing and the City Council felt the pressure last night. The city has already been sued twice by Portlock. The council and staff was hoping to resolve the issue with Portlock in advance of this coming Thursday’s deadline issued by Portlock for inclusion in the agreement. A special meeting will be held at 4pm today to address this issue.

Next frustrations boiled over during a controversy regarding the Howard Park Caretaker Agreement Contract. According to the agreement the city of Ione pays up to $250 per month for the bill and the caretaker is responsible for any overages. There is a wrinkle in the agreement now as the caretaker has received notice from the utility that there is currently a $3,000 dollar balance which came to light when the caretaker attempted to have the power put into his own name. The bill has been going to the city and according to the caretaker he has never received any notices from the city that there was an unpaid balance on the account. The council did have some issues that the city’s Administration had never sent a bill stating there were any overages. City Councilwoman Andréa Bonham Ridogna requested a meeting be set up where physical copies of the bills would be available and reviewed by the city attorney, caretaker and others to work toward a solution. City councilman Jeff Barnhart then packed up his things and stated that his frustration was such that he was leaving the meeting concerning this agenda item and “the shoddy way the city handled the whole ordeal”. The issue and outcome of the meetings will be reported back to the city council. This in now put back into staff’s hands for the moment.