Eye On Modesto

MID Board’s New Leadership Will be a Breath of Fresh Air

[CALIFORNIA-A-0021] Don Pedro Dam (Photo credit: waterarchives)

The Board meeting turned out to be as spicy as forecasted.  When the closed session was over and we were allowed in, we were met with a scowling Glen Wild.  Director Wild had his heart set on being the Board President but that didn’t come to pass.  While he had two years of experience on Nick Blom, Director Wild would have been Van Groningen’s lackey just as he has been for the last three years.   Besides we don’t need the old guard with their old obfuscating, covering-up ways continuing to run the Board.  Paul Warda nominated Nick Blom for President and Larry Byrd for Vice-President.  Both of those nominations were approved.

The Martino Graphics $49,500 bill was paid as expected but acknowledgement came from newer Board members of improprieties having been perpetrated by Management.  Joy Warren didn’t discuss the particulars, she only mentioned they were included in the handout (pages 116-130 in the pdf  from yesterday’s article.)    I pointed out that out of the seven specific areas the money was supposed to be spent, only one came close to the proscribed use and that was : Implementing a program to improve the image and credibility of the District with it’s ratepayers.  And, quite honestly, the $148,000 Allen Short spent with Martino Graphics did just the opposite.

Janice Keating, having been paid to speak on behalf of the water sale while pretending to be a private citizen (all the while being paid for her testimony)didn’t sit well with the majority of the Board or the public.  The money was actually spent on perverse lobbying efforts on the sale’s behalf.  Questions have arisen wondering if at least one of the “Community Columns” written in the Bee was bought and paid for.  Another question asked later “how many of those in the “paid employee category of Martino Graphics”  lobbied Bee Opinion Page Editor Judy Sly.”

Funnily enough, one thing that stuck in the craw of several of the Board members was the funneling of money through Martino Graphics to Carol Whiteside.  By laundering the money through Martino Graphics, Directors Byrd, Blom, and Warda weren’t aware Ms. Whiteside was “on the clock” when she invited them for breakfast.  The secret was shared by Directors Van Groningen, Wild, and General Manager Short. These three are responsible for at least $165,000 being spent on a clandestine  lobbying effort which failed.  I have little doubt this is among the many reasons Allen Short is being run out-of-town on a rail, albeit on a velveteen covered rail.  On this all we can all say is thank God he’s gone.  Now if only his two amigos would join him, but that’s just too much to ask.

An interesting revelation is how much “churning” attorney O’Laughlin has done.  He’s been requiring all Public Information Requests to go through him, and this just isn’t necessary.  At $300.00 per hour (from a prior Public Information Request) he’s been making out like a bandit with all of the time he’s claiming he spends on them, and without the overhead of a mask and gun.

I think the bottom line is the two problem children (O’Laughlin and Short) are on their way out the door and those  now in charge are determined these excesses won’t be repeated, not by their new hires or by current staff.

I was glad to see the Union receive its long-awaited raises, but someone has to explain to me how the head of Human Resources deserves a 34% raise especially when she’s getting another person added to her department.  Maybe because her department helped to take the survey?  Another interesting point is the result of a Public Information Request asking the amounts of the raises by position.  Attorney O’Laughlin said they had nothing on paper stating this information so there was nothing to turn over. Oh well, I’ve been intentionally misled by him before as have others making similar requests.  The vote was 3-2 with Van Groningen and Wild voting no.  But this was little more than political posturing since they had been unwilling to separate the union and the confidential employee  in votes.

It wasn’t easy for Larry Byrd to adjust his stance on abstaining from the union vote which he had  because of his son, and although the FPPC and a privately obtained San Francisco lawyer assured him it was perfectly legal for him to weigh in, he had resisted voting the last two times the issue came to the Board.  If he didn’t make the adjustment and vote,  the contract  would  have been held up indefinitely.

One continuing disappointment is the Board being unwilling to discuss how George Petrulakis racked up over $28,800 dollars in bills when he was facilitating only one meeting.  But I suppose that and other unexplained expenses will be swept out with the rubbish on December 31st.  We’ll give them a clean slate for the new year, but to paraphrase an old adage: Forgive those who have done the public wrong, but remember their names for future articles.