Newly elected OID leaders cut out of significant decisions

Irrigation leaders will take up important business Tuesday – 2016 water prices, starting a lawsuit, evaluating General Manager Steve Knell, and deciding how board members should behave – rather than waiting a couple weeks for newly elected board members to be sworn in.

“It’s like they’re trying to put as much through as possible before we’re seated,” board member-elect Linda Santos said Monday.

She and Gail Altieri stunned longtime incumbents Al Bairos and Frank Clark, respectively, with double-digit wins in the Nov. 3 election, but they won’t be sworn in until the first week of December and won’t start voting until the Dec. 15 board meeting.

Asked whether weighty matters should be considered by board members accountable for such decisions in coming years, Knell said most items on Tuesday’s agenda are routinely dealt with this time of year and he’s simply following the usual pattern.

Santos said she’s concerned that the board is “hurrying through” a vote on next year’s irrigation rates. “This is going to affect everyone,” she said, predicting “tremendous outcry when people get their bill” because the district has not fully explained proposed charges.

A staff report notes that the board last year adopted a fixed charge but held off on implementing an additional volumetric charge based on amounts used. OID then provided “mock volumetric billing” this year so people could get an idea how much they’re using and adjust accordingly.

The report lists a formula for proposed charges but includes no examples showing what customers might expect on bills for using various amounts.

Bairos and Clark, ousted after serving nine and 14 years, respectively, “will be making decisions and walking away,” Santos said.

Just before the election, Altieri posted an alert on her Facebook page that the board was scheduled to privately discuss Knell’s performance on Election Day.

“If they vote to extend Knell’s contract or give him a big raise, that could tie the hands of incoming board members,” she wrote, asking people to complain. “We can’t let these men usurp the public’s will by giving Knell a secret sweetheart deal,” she wrote.

Santos shared similar concerns that day before the board members went behind closed doors; they announced upon emerging that they had taken no action, and the same item appears again on the closed portion of Tuesday’s agenda.

“We don’t know if they’re secretly hiding something, perhaps like a new contract,” Altieri said Monday.

The board also will discuss in private unspecified possibilities of both suing someone and being sued, the agenda said; state law requires vague descriptions of such conversations but does not mandate that they identify people or entities in question.

In addition to 2016 water rates, the board in open session will consider amending water service rules, setting various charges for its domestic well customers, and whether to revise guidelines for how board members approach their jobs.

For example, the proposed policy outlines how board members should communicate with the public, with other agencies and with reporters.

One guideline recommends that board members “inform the general manager as soon as possible about concerns you have heard from your constituents.” Another suggests that board members check with the general manager before talking with the media.

“Why would outgoing board members be discussing board guidelines?” Altieri said.

Santos said, “Thinking with common sense, people obviously are not happy with what they’ve been doing. We need to put the brakes on, slow down a little, let the new people come on the board and see if we can work together to come up with something that everyone can live with. But that doesn’t seem to be the thought.”

Knell said most of Tuesday’s items “get done this time of year.” He said he schedules routine items for board discussion and consults with board chairman Steve Webb on weighty matters.

Although OID delivers more water at cheaper prices than just about any other district in California, Altieri and Santos capitalized on voter dissatisfaction with the old guard, which struggled with public relations. Problems included infuriating some growers by changing terms of an almond company’s annexation, and the board members’ habit of dining at taxpayers’ expense while conducting no public business.

The board also ignored federal election law by not resizing voting districts after the 2010 U.S. census. The imbalance was easily seen two weeks ago, when 1,655 people voted in the Division 1 race won by Altieri, while less than one-third that amount – 429 – voted in the Division 4 campaign won by Santos.

Also, two weeks before the election, OID announced a $5.75 million water sale to Fresno-area buyers. The district claimed a collaborative victory for fish interests and OID’s bank account, while Santos and Altieri accused leaders of forcing farmers to cut back while plotting in secret to sell the excess at season’s end, with no public discussion or vote in Oakdale.

Both women had campaigned for transparency and accountability.

“I know I’m going into a snake pit,” Altieri said Monday. “I’m up for it. Let the fun begin.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Newly elected OID leaders cut out of significant decisions."