Sticker shock. Twice in as many weeks, Nestle Waters North America project manager Bruce Lauerman has said he is suffering “sticker shock” from the bill he recently received from Chaffee County for $114,000 to compensate the county for staff and other expenses related to processing Nestle’s application for approval of a water harvesting project here. Lauerman said that at the beginning of the process, he was given an estimate from the county that the tab could be around $30,000 to $40,000.
Kaput. Chaffee County’s computer servers have had enough. The huge volume of submittal documents related to Nestle Waters North America application for approval for a proposed water harvesting project in Nathrop have overloaded the computer servers that host the county website, ChaffeeCounty.org. County Planning Director Don Reimer explained that server space reached its limit on Tuesday, May 5. County staff were working to clear space on the server by finding and removing obsolete items. Once space is cleared, final written submittals and reports will be posted to the website for public access.
You’ve got mail? As of May 5, County Planning Director Don Reimer estimated Chaffee County citizens had submitted “somewhere on the order of 375″ written comments on the Nestle application. Reimer said there have only been two projects that he’s been directly involved with during his seven-year tenure with the county that have generated similar levels of interest: Land use code updates proposed by the planning commission in late 2005 inspired a few hundred comments, and the initial hearings the county held on the Friend Ranch golf community development generated several dozen comments. Poncha Springs took over the Friend Ranch project application after deciding to annex the 600-acre, 550-unit residential development to the town.
Numbers. Nestle SA: $16.61 billion in net profits in 2008; 265,000 employees worldwide.
Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber and Schreck (Nestle legal counsel): 245 attorneys, 450 employees in 12 offices around the US. Billing rates for legal counsel range from $275 – $750 per hour; average hourly rate $340, median $325.
Chaffee County: 2009 budget, $22 million; 186 full-time equivalent employees, mean salary, $39,000.
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A very interesting site. I have been working in the water business for
20 years and have dealt with Bruce Lauerman previously. I was not impressed by his and ultimately Nestle’s performance. He seems to be the perfect person to piss everyone off like he did with me. Maybe he’s an agent planted by Coke… lol.. It sounds like Nestle will take a lot more than it will contribute…… don’t sign..the deal… the tiny amount of taxes are not worth it… you are already having a problem collecting a 100 g’s from a company that has billions.. If you would like to hire me as a negotiator I would be happy to do it for minimum wage. Keep up the good work, Sincerely, David L. Applegath, Vice President H2COOL WORLD WIDE WATER CORPORATION 604 314-0055 davidfreedom@yahoo.com h2coolwater.com