Controversy Erupts At Mesa Water District
A report today from the Surf City Voice, the Huntington Beach news source that focuses on that city and water issues in general, tells us of a controversy involving Mesa Consolidated Water District Director Trudy Ohlig-Hall - widow of former Costa Mesa mayor Donn Hall - and the General Manager of that organization, Paul Schoenberger.
According to John Earl, operator of the Surf City Voice, there is a secret meeting being held this afternoon at the District headquarters to discuss alleged misconduct by Hall. You can read Earl's report HERE.
NO COINCIDENCEI don't know any details of this situation - I received notification of the meeting after it began - but I can tell you that I don't for one second think this is a coincidence... not when Jim Righeimer's protege', Ethan Temianka, is running against Hall for her seat on the MCWD Board.
GOVERNMENT TAKEOVERWord around town is that the Righeimer-led cabal is attempting to take over both the MCWD and the Costa Mesa Sanitary District, blend them together then fold both organizations into the City, bringing with them their estimated $40 million in cash reserves.
"RIGGED" INVESTMENT OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
This takes on extra meaning when you realize that the current council majority recently increased the number of members on the Costa Mesa Investment Oversight Committee, many of whom are part of Righeimer's group, including members of the MCWD Board. It's my understanding that they have plans afoot to recommend to the council dramatic changes in the way our municipal investment pool is managed - and not necessarily for the better.
MORE TO COME...I'll discuss the races for both special districts in the near future and, perhaps, talk more about this apparent takeover of all Costa Mesa government entities.
Labels: Ethan Temianka, Jim Righeimer, Paul Schoenberger, Trudy Ohlig-Hall
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 8/29/2012 04:32:00 PM
16 Comments:
I'm voting for her. She does her job well.
Well, with this happening, and the incident with the water board people, and the investment oversight committee, we see now that Riggy has indeed, stacked the city with his flunkies.
We have an oligarchy on the council now.
Wendy Leece fights against it for us the residents,
God bless her!
It looks like that's not enough for Riggy and
Co.
Only a dictatorship will do for him.
this is no coincidence. we know riggy got followed home by the PI on purpose(for his purposes) and now we are supposed to believe a water commissioner abused employees a few days later? How, in reality, could that happen? My rooster crows and the sun comes up, no coincidence.It is clear the employees there at water and Riggy at the city set this all up! What other explanation is there? One would have to believe they actually happened independently and how could that be? God Bless Wendy. and a "secret" meeting? That is a violation right there. It needs to be posted, duh. Let's boycott water use from them, there is plenty in the stores.
Fitzpatrick has said as much himself. The fix is already in. The water district is a gold mine as is sanitation. The looting continues.
i can see having water take over sanitation since I think they are basically a contract org. and don't have many employees. but stop there. No way let the city take them both over. Don't think that can happen though. I love the water company, they gave me conservation hints and my bill went way down and they always answer the phone live. i spend more on my cell phone than water, actually twice as much on phone. i went to a meeting at water about ten years ago and i couldn't understand that lady commissioner when she talked and she seemed hostile to others back then. i have never seen her name on a ballot though. are they voted in? your article says a guy is running against her so it seems so. are you sure they are not appointed?
moon believes Fitz? that's a change.
This is very interesting. Poor old Trudy is acting exactly like Jim Fitzpatrick does at the San District yet, somehow, when she does it, everybody wants her to be disciplined! What the heck? Jim does this crap every single day but then he cries that it’s a personal attack, vendetta or a no-bid trash contract issue. Nah, it’s really just a personality disorder. Jimbo doesn’t get along with any normal people, just the ego maniacs on the Council.
Just substitute Trudy’s name with Fitzpatrick’s in the article and see if it makes sense to you. It’s the same behavior…..
“Her (Fitzys’) often annoying habit of belaboring or nit-picking a budget point to death causes some other board members to accuse her (Fitz) of micromanaging, something she (he) says is part of her (his) job of looking out for the interests of Mesa Water’s (CMSD) rate payers and that she (he) will never apologize for.”
Nope, never going to be any apologies from Jim Fitzpatrick because gosh darn it, he is the most brilliant unemployed man alive, isn’t he? NOT!
Protect the San District and the Water District…keep the Council loving candidates out of there or we are all SCREWED!!!
read the link to surf city. sounds like an opinion blog rather than "news". no back up documents,numbers thrown around, a lot of speculation, and a clear bias. read a couple other stories as i scrolled through. same bias, lack of concrete facts. speculation. sounds like the author has an agenda against all water boards. interesting to see that Ohlig emailed an apology for her actions yet the conclusion is that others at water are doing this to her secretly. how is that? she is the one who apologized. of course you have to read carefully and strike out all the speculation. then it reads: director has abusive interaction with employee, district is investigating. it should.
investment oversight committee meetings are open to the public. next one is tuesday sept 25 at 3:30 rm 1A. they are not broadcast or taped, so you have to come in person.
there is a desire to expand the "misson" scope of the committee. the only step taken toward that end on tuesday was to recommend a name change to "finance advisory board". any changes we make have to be approved by the city council.
Marge, yes, the two agencies can be combined, and taken over by the city. There is 40 million dollars there that the city wants to get their hands on.
Beware of new contracts though, as our rates will most likely go up if new members get elected and set up a new contract with say...Athens. We have the best rates around right now. Fitzpatrick wants to bring in his buddies and that contract will most likely cause a rate increase.
thanks jw, good you know so much about both districts, their money, the city's plans to take them over and how we have best trash rates even if they are higher than elsewhere by 7 dollars a month. genis might be for takeover since she lost water election but she would need two more votes.
I'll pay that extra 7 bucks a month in exchange for the good service we receive - doesn't a 96-97% approval rating mean anything? Riggy and his cc union are gunning to get their hooves on both water and sanitation depts - another reason they will not tell you as to why they want this Righeimer "charter".
so the council wants to outsource services and share services with others but there is no doubt they now want to take over the two districts. that makes no sense. it is a big lie from someone and guess who?
They want their claws in the 40 million the sanitation district has in funded pensions! Guess who ?
let's see. someone wants to run for office. If they are Republican, the opposition says it is a "takeover". If they are not Republican then their motives are pure even though by running for office they are also trying to take over the seats. LOL. The entire council and water district boards are republican so nothing to take over, already happened.
Post a Comment
<< Home