This letter was first published in the Rio
Linda Elverta News on July 6, 2006. Reference links follow the letter.
To: Candidates for RLECWD General Manager
Are you considering accepting the position of General Manager for
the
Rio Linda/Elverta Community Water District?
If so, The NEWS wishes you well. However, we are concerned. We are
concerned about you
and we are concerned about our Water District.
We want to welcome the
next GM to settle in and become a long-time, supporting member of our
community. We don't want a new GM to move his/her family here and then
become disenchanted and leave us. We want you to stay.
We
feel
it is important that any prospective new GM should view the public web
pages, such as those we reference, that tell the story of what became
the "Reform Board" that has
caused an exodus of valued employees, has caused the remaining
employees
to form a
formal bargaining unit to protect themselves from the Board of
Directors, and is the direct cause of very low morale
of the District staff that the new GM will have to resolve.
We feel it is important that the prospective new GM should be aware of
what has been reported about the actions of the remaining "Reform
Board" members, Mary Harris and Darrell Nelson.
We are also concerned about the planning and implementation of the
upcoming Elverta Specific Plan development that may double the number
of District customers. This project alone has the potential to provide
large benefits to the District if properly managed. We
anticipate that the new GM will
effectively pick up the reins of the project and run with them.
We feel that there is potential for the Board, as it is constituted now
(July, 2006) to turn the District around, especially if the right
person is found and selected to be the next General Manager. However,
with the potential for the "Reform Board" to regain seats at the
November election and resume its control of the Board, we feel it is
important that the
next GM not be blindsided because the history of the present situation
was not explained. Three of the five Board members will be up for
election in November.
We will document the history for you via references to web pages.
Most of the web pages we will cite for you have been on line for
several
years. We stand ready to support and document what is related in the
web pages we
reference, as they contain the facts.
Please follow the links below.
The Rio Linda
Elverta NEWS
First are
links to our articles covering the District during the tenure of the
"Reform Board", followed by a suggested
reading list. Be sure to follow the links we have provided for
you in the reading list. Links to our home page and a Water
District related article index page follow the reading list.
REFORM BOARD
The "Reform Board" was covered by The NEWS, as related by
these articles in this order:
2004
NEWS ARTICLES
December
16
Water District "Reform Board" sets agenda
December 23
Water Board debates News reporting
2005 NEWS ARTICLES
January 20
Water
District: Attorney questioned by Reform Board Member
January 13
Former
Water Board Members recognized for their service
March
10 Water District hires additional attorneys
March
24 Water District Anticipates Litigation about employee and
retiree health benefits
April
28 Water District approves "Bait and Switch" in attorney's
contract
May
12 Community Comment
July
28 Secret document leaked (from Water Board
attorney)
July
28 Water Board kills employee and retiree health
benefits
August
4 Water District & Town Hall meeting - Editorial
August
4 Water Board attorney changes his story
August 11
Water Board Meeting August 15
August 11
Open Letter to the RioLinda/Elverta Community Water District
Board of Directors
August 11
Water District retirees get inflated health benefits?
August
18 Presented to the Water Board on August 15th
August
25
Water District Employees organize
October
6
Rio Linda Community Water District receives Financial Reporting award
October 20
Water Board Director Harris gets her wish?
November 3
Water District hit with another lawsuit
November 17 Water
District deals with yet another lawsuit
December 8
Reform Water Board legal costs mount
December 22
Water Board seeks replacement Director
2006 NEWS ARTICLES
January
5 "Reform Board" has its day in Court
January
12 Reform Water Board cost scorecard
January
26 Water District to Choose new Director
March
2
Water District appoints new Board Member
April
20 Water District Madness - Can you believe
this?
April
20 Zack Arbios is new Water Board member
June
15 Reform Water Board scorecard $73,187: cost
continues to mount
June
29 "What's in the paper is false?" (Mary Harris quote)
READING LIST:
2001 Recall
The genesis of the "Reform Board" was during a failed Recall effort in
2001. The NEWS reported on
September 13, 2001, that only
1700 signatures
were collected of the 2007 required, and the Recall effort failed.
This link is to the "Recall the Water
Board?" web page used by the
three Board members being recalled to tell the story.
In the "Recall the Water Board?" web page are many links to references.
Links to the "site map" are at the top and bottom of the main web page;
please review the
site map as it has many additional links of interest. If you don't read
them all at this time, don't miss these:
Darrell
Nelson - Especially the "liar" thread.
Darrell
Nelson - Selling names and phone
numbers
Jerry
Wickham - Saga of the sign supports ("five dollar
bracket", says Nelson)
Mary
Harris - This all started with her rate
increase protest
Mary Harris
- Be sure to read about her fictional
stories
2002 Election
This page covers
the misstatements and irregularities during Harris' campaign to be
elected. Mary Harris did not comply with the
election laws. Copies of her filings with the Registrar of Voters are
included for your review.
KCRA-TV Channel 3
incident
Don't miss reading this about the misinformation
given to KCRA-TV that was broadcast March 1, 2004, based on interviews
with Mary Harris and her friend Charlea Moore. KCRA later expressed
regret. Here's the first article in
The NEWS; links are at the bottom of the article to subsequent
articles reporting on KCRA-TV's ultimate "regret".
FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT
AGAINST
DISTRICT BY CHARLEA MOORE
Here's our March 2003
article covering the lawsuit referenced by KCRA-TV on March 1,
2004. There's a link
in that article to a following article; a link there takes you to the
April article describing the costs to the District. Don't miss the link
at the bottom of the first article to the motion asserting Moore gets
water from the District (she doesn't). And here's some other related
history.
RIO LINDA ELVERTA NEWS LINKS:
Home page: http://rlenews.com
Index of NEWS articles relating to the Water District: http://rlenews.com/rlecwd.html