NOTE: RED FONT EMPHASIS BY LEW ___________________________________________
MINUTES Regular Board Meeting
January 17 2006
3. PUBLIC COMMENT: Millie Beranek –Spoke to the Board on the issue of Mr. Ross’ unsigned resignation. See the attached statement identified as Attachment A.
Emery Ross – Mr. Ross addressed Director Giles statement on the water usage for the Dumas property. He explained that he and his friend Ronnie from Black Oak had fixed Mr. Dumas’ leak on his property.
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AGENDA ITEM 7. NEW BUSINESS: (Discussion/Action)
A. Resignation of Director
Director Emery Ross submitted his resignation January 4, 2006
7. NEW BUSINESS: (Discussion /Action)
Resignation of Director – Due to the length & variety, all statements read at the Board Meeting by members of the public, will be shown as attachments to the minutes if a copy was given to the secretary. They will be identified as Attachments “A” & “B” 1 through 4, with the name of the speaker on each copy.
Emery Ross – See attachment B-1
Vicky Keefe – Ms. Keefe stated the election showed the rate payers wanted Emery Ross on the Board. She emphasized that the Board needed to work with the new directors & if there is a problem, it should be addressed, so the new director shouldn’t feel a need to resign his position. She also wanted to let the Board know that she; like 85 % of the people in the area have a gun for protection as law enforcement sometimes is not available for half an hour or more.
Ruth Smith – Ms. Smith had a couple of questions. Why is an unsigned letter qualified to kick him (Emery Ross) off (the Board)? She stated she attended last months meeting & every time a question was asked the Board, every Director looked to the GM for an answer. She expressed her displeasure with that. She stated they should have said they didn’t know, find the answer & get back to the people who asked the question. She made the accusation that the GM had a bad cold at the December Meeting and as a consequence she contracted it from him. She stated that she is still fighting this cold. She stated anyone who is ill should stay home.
Clem Brown – He stated that the whole business with Emery Ross has gotten a lot of people upset but they had to work & couldn’t be here to voice their displeasure. His question was, “How can a Manager, declare a vacancy on this Board, on his own? Can he simply declare all your seats vacant, for whatever reason he didn’t like you?” He stated that the potential criminal prosecution of this Board & its Manager for violations of the State Election Laws certainly does not strengthen our position in the negations with the Merced Irrigation District. He informed the Board that they & the Manager have given us all a black eye in dealing with trying to get a firm water contract. He informed the Board & Manager that he didn’t think this was the last they were going to hear about it, no matter what they do today.
Frank Beranek – See attachment B-2.
Bill Kinsella – Expressed that he wished the Board to reinstate Emery to the Board. He said his concern was with the letter the GM sent to Mr. Ross. The letter was addressed to the Board but answered by the GM. He wanted to know if a Board Member gave the GM the authority to write the letter and if so who approved it?
Betsy Ross – See attachment B-3.
Bill Behr – He told the Board they were not treating handicapped persons as the law requires. He said the Board had taken a cry for help & turned it into a punishment. He stated he didn’t know why the GM had so much control over the Board, & he was going to talk against every Director on this Board to everyone who came into his store. Said the Board should put policies & procedures in place to handle future situations like this.
Victor Afanasiev – Statement by Mr. Afanasiev read by Millie Beranek. See attachment B-4. After M. Beranek read Mr. Afanasiev she went on to make a personal statement. She informed all present she fully accepted the responsibility of relaying the information which she received in a conversation with Sally Punte. Said Ms. Punte had spoken to her about Emery Ross having a hidden handicap. She (Ms. Beranek) wanted it understood she had not known about this prior to the conversation with Ms. Punte. She (Ms. Beranek) didn’t think it should be mentioned here today. Ms. Beranek informed everyone that she believed that Mr. Ross was a victim of the Board, because of the Directors not liking his behavior in the December Meeting. She stated that Mr. Ross gave a cry for help & Mr. Kent dropped the ball. She hoped that at this meeting the Board of Directors could & would decide they had a way out, & take that way to stop the District from spending thousands of dollars.
The Public Comment portion of the meeting was closed.
President Duste´ read the Resignation from Emery Ross. She acknowledged receipt of the Letter of Resignation. Due to the questions raised on the Letter of Resignation being unsigned she asked District Counsel, Ray Carlson to address that issue. He responded by saying that a resignation need not be signed, it could be oral. Mr. Carlson said we need to look at the facts, “He (Mr. Ross) came in & delivered the letter. If someone else had delivered the letter it would be a different set of facts, then whether the resignation was operable or not would be an issue. But Mr. Ross delivered it, it says what it says, and it doesn’t have to be signed. The Government Code says the office becomes vacant on a resignation. It doesn’t say it has to be a signed resignation or a written resignation, therefore it can be oral, it can be written, it can be signed & it can be unsigned. As the District does not have a policy on resignation, then Government Code determines how it is dealt with. According to Government Code the resignation doesn’t have to be signed”. He further stated this might be a good time for the District to look at developing a policy. If the resignation had been turned in and stated that it would be effective at a later date in time, then clearly he could have cancelled it any time up until the effective date of the resignation.
Bill Behr – asked to speak again. President Duste´ allowed him to speak. He stated that Mr. Ross had set up some conditions that he wanted met, & if they weren’t met, Mr. Ross was going to turn in his resignation. The
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conditions were; (1) He needed the Board Members to not talk about his medical problems, (2) He needed them to not talk about his disabilities. Mr. Behr stated that because Mr. Ross didn’t receive an acknowledgment that in
saying we will not meet those conditions, Emery was forced to give the Board a written resignation. Mr. Behr said, “I don’t think that was correct. I think the Board should have looked at his first request & said we need to review this request and see if there is anything founded in it.” Then I think somebody should have approached Emery and said, “You have something here & we need to review what you are telling us. Please be patient it may take some time.” This was not done. Emery did not get any feedback by anybody telling him they would not ignore his handicap, they would not ignore going into his medical records, & would not ignore the conditions that Emery had placed before the Committee. He stated that he thought Emery’s resignation was written to get some feedback from the Board. He reiterated that it is illegal to hold his handicap against him and to look into his background.
President Duste´ answered Mr. Behr by stating that no one on the Board knew any thing about Mr. Ross having a handicap, or about his medical record.
Discussion ensued. Director Gile asked the District’s Counsel to clarify the Board’s position on accepting or rejecting Mr. Ross’ resignation. District Counsel stated we have to abide by Gov. Code §1770 C. The only option the Board has is how it fills the vacancy created by Mr. Ross’ resignation. They can ask for a ‘Special Election’ or it can be filled by appointment. Discussion ensued.
President Duste´ made the motion to fill the vacancy created by Director Ross’ resignation by appointment.,
Director Gile seconded the motion.
Unanimous. Motion Carried.
President Duste´ directed Staff to post a “Notice of Vacancy” & ask for Letters of Interest or Resumes.
Director Punte requested the record show that she had requested the Board require Resumes and not Letters of interest.
Ms. Walz asked the Board if former Director Emery Ross’ resignation was unexpected and did anyone know what the reason for his resignation was? President Duste´ stated it was unexpected however the Board felt it to be inappropriate to speculate as Mr. Ross had not stated a reason for his resignation.
