--Editorial--
Water District Board member Mary Harris and her supporters claim she
isn't listened to by the other Board members. If this is the case, it
is simply because she is not credible. Perhaps the Board is tired of
her misleading and "out of context" quotations.
The most recent example is her statement at the August 18 Board
meeting. In her witch hunt attempting to get the previous Board to
return compensation they earned representing the District in 2002, she
quoted a Public Utilities code section restricting appointed directors
to "not number more than one-fifth of the entire number of directors."
The code section she quoted applies to Directors and Management of "Gas
Producers' Cooperative Organizations" covered by the Public Utilities
Code. The section she quoted restricts the number of non-elected
directors who may be appointed to represent the general public on the
board of a Gas producers' cooperative. The elected directors are
selected by and represent the gas producers.
The code section she quoted is totally out of context; it applies to
gas producers, not to the Water District.
You would think that an elected Director of a County Water District,
organized under the California Water Code, would know that it is the
Water Code that regulates the Water District Directors and Management,
not the Public Utilities Code.
Apparently Director Harris doesn't understand. Somehow she thinks the
Water District she was elected to serve should be regulated by a law
that applies only to producers of gas used for light, heat, or power.
Harris' statement at the Board meeting was as follows:
"As I was looking through the packets I found that two members had been
attending the same meetings. So I looked under the California codes,
under California Public Utilities Code, Article 6, Directors and
Management, on Public Utilities Code section 3101, 3110. At 3105,
'bylaws may provide that one or more directors may be appointed by any
public official or commission or by other directors selected by the
members. The directors so appointed shall represent primarily the
interest of the public. These directors shall not number more than
one-fifth of the entire number of directors.'"
Code section 3105 cited by Director Harris is in the California Public
Utilities Code, Division 1 - Regulation of Public Utilities, Part 4 -
Production and Transmission of Public Utility Commodities and Services,
Chapter 1 - Gas Producers' Cooperative Associations, Article 6 -
Directors and Management. See http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html
for California codes.
Besides the fact that the code doesn't apply, Harris didn't even quote
it correctly during the Board meeting, leaving out four key words and a
key sentence. Had she included what she opted to not quote, perhaps she
wouldn't have obtained a second to her motion from Director Robert
Blanchard.
Appropriately, Harris' misleading motion failed, 3-2.
Any 'gas' produced by the Water District Board of Directors is not used
for light, heat or power, thus it is not subject to regulation by the
Public Utilities Commission. Harris should learn that fact.
The water board doesn't oversee the
production of gas, well anyway, not gas produced as described by the
PUC.
The following letter was published September
11, 2003:
Don,
Thank you for your September 4 editorial exposing RLECWD Board member
Mary Harris' attempt to totally misuse a Public Utilities Code section
in her quest for me to return compensation I received for representing
the Water District during my tenure as a Director.
The section she attempted to use, as you said, has nothing to do with
the appointment of Directors to be representatives at meetings and
doesn't apply in any way to County Water Districts like RLECWD.
Either Harris was demonstrating her inability to comprehend the law, or
she was attempting to mislead the Board by partially quoting it out of
context. In either case, this is the kind of behavior, especially when
demonstrated by someone elected to office, that Rush Limbaugh uses to
characterize everyone in Rio Linda.
We who attended Joint Powers authorities' Board of Directors meetings
as RLECWD representatives during my time on the Board did so
appropriately and in accordance with District policies. We have nothing
to hide.
RLECWD Board compensation is reviewed every month and is a matter of
public record.
I am proud of our efforts to best represent RLECWD and to see to the
management, with neighboring water purveyors, of water drawn from our
region's aquifer.
I hope your article has driven a stake through Harris' witch hunt. It's
time that the water board gets back to its job of being a safe and
reliable water supplier and concentrates on its role in the control of
our area water supplies. Harris is distracting the Board with her
personal vendettas.
Jay O'Brien
Rio Linda
