PORTOLA - Portola Mayor Dan Wilson is facing a recall election stemming from a controversy over increased water and sewer rates for the city's 2,100 residents.
In supporting rates that more than double monthly residential water bills, Wilson "refused to consider the concerns of the people of Portola," recall proponents said in their petition seeking to oust the mayor from office.
The 309 valid signatures they collected are more than enough to place the issue on a ballot, said Leslie Tigan, Portola city clerk.
She has recommended that the city council schedule a mail-in election for April 14.
The city council approved the rate hike in July to cover the cost of operating a new $6.2 million plant providing treated water from Lake Davis to city residents.
Portola has not used Lake Davis for drinking water since 1997, when the California Department of Fish and Game poisoned the reservoir to eradicate northern pike in the first of two chemical treatments. That chemical treatment failed, but a second one in 2007 eliminated the invasive non-native fish from the reservoir in eastern Plumas County.
Portola relied on well water during the 14-year interlude but that water no longer meets federal arsenic standards.
State officials promised to provide treated water to Portola but the commitment did not include operations and maintenance for the plant, which went on line this summer.
Without the rate increase, the city would have faced bankruptcy in three to five years, Wilson said.
He denied ignoring the concerns of Portola residents and said he had, "and will continue to have, the best interest of the citizens in mind in all decisions, even the difficult ones."
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