||| FROM CAROL ANDERSON |||
Dear EWUA Members,
Attending the recent EWUA board meeting the other night reminded me of being bullied when I was in kindergarten. I remember this big boy approaching me and kicking me in the shin very hard. I didn’t cry, but it made me very mad. Then this bully laughed and went around telling all his friends.
That is like what I am experiencing during this recall activity. Others have said that I have broken the law, lied about my access to the accounting information, and even made an incorrect excuse for why I was voted out of being Secretary/Treasurer of the EWUA board. I could cry, go through each accusation, and explain how they were wrong or misinformed. I’m not going
to do that!
I remember Michelle Obama’s speeches about going high when others are going low and spreading vicious rumors. I like her message and have chosen to do the same. Many have said they have read all the information on the www.recallwater.com site and don’t believe our message. They continue to say that Steve Smith plans to take EWUA private to take the members off
task. They worry more about what Steve might do, although he cannot do it.
The board majority is trying to take the members’ attention away from the real reason for the EWUA recall of Teri Nigretto, Jim Nelson, Leith Templin, and Mike Cleveland.
The minority board members — Ron Claus, Jim Cook, and I — are not trying to recall these majority board members because they won’t let us win any of our positions. We are trying to inform the association members about EWUA mismanagement, poorly managed finances, and lack of informed communication. We are trying to ensure that the members know what is
happening with their water system. Money is collected and spent with limited controls on tracking the expenditures and proper billing of the Rosario, Olga, Doe Bay, and now the Moran State Park water systems.
Proper tracking and billing of hours and expenses are imperative to managing a budget and billing customers properly. The EWUA accounting system needs to be set up to track costs and hours accurately, and it isn’t. As a trained project manager, accountant, and contract administrator, I have done this type of work for over forty years. I know well what happens when the money is commingled, misreported, and improperly billed. The board is currently not involved with how this money is spent. It is left up solely to the discretion of the General Manager, Dan Burke. This is ONLY one of the reasons why I feel strongly about recalling the majority board members.
The other reason is that the EWUA board should be communicating with the members. Interestingly, there has been a lot of communication with the members in the last month, but it is being done to lead them astray. At our recent board meeting, this was evident. Members are tired of all the information they are being bombarded with. EWUA president Teri Nigretto is now on her 6th letter to members with lies, mistruths, and loss-aversion tactics.
The EWUA majority members will not allow us to communicate to refute these arguments. They are spending the members’ money to send out these letters. The General Manager is being drawn off task by creating these messages to defend his actions and the majority board members, which is beyond his job description. The Board should tell him to stop this effort and
concentrate on managing the water system. There is no reason that he or his staff should be involved in the disputes within the board unless the entire board requests a specific action. He should remain neutral.
We, the minority board members, would like to see a board that is trained, well-informed, interested in adequately managing the General Manager, and actively involved in budget preparation and maintenance. The board needs to be willing to communicate clearly and honestly with the members. There needs to be less “confidential” information and more sharing. Their activities should include preparing a well-written set of by-laws and procedures that reflect good business practices, written clearly to describe actions when confronting various tasks. Good processes and procedures are imperative to managing an effective organization. These documents do not currently exist.
We eagerly anticipate the addition of board members who are committed to working as a team to foster the organization’s growth while maintaining the necessary controls for effective management. I wholeheartedly endorse the recall of Teri Nigretto, Jim Nelson, Leith Templin, and Mike Cleveland from the EWUA board.
For a more comprehensive understanding of our stance, I urge you to review the documents available at www.recallwater.com, which provide detailed accounts and evidence supporting the recall.
Let’s put an end to the disruptive behavior and instead focus on implementing sound business practices that will benefit us all.
Thanks for listening.
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Like many (most?) EWUA members, I am dismayed by the ongoing intra-board conflict and confused by the seemingly endless amount of conflicting information I receive almost daily from the majority and minority board factions and their supporters. Only today, I received an important looking USPS mailing from “Friends of EWUA” (which have never heard of and with no indication who the “friends” are) . The one-page insert simply urges all EWUA members to retain the four majority board members and to recall the three minority members. Yesterday, I received an email from Recall Water entitled “Important and Helpful Links,” providing links to an overwhelming amount of additional information. I cannot even guess how many prior communications I have received from both sides.
One of the links in yesterday’s Recall Water email, titled “What happens if the majority wins compared to if the Members win?” connects to a “Comparison of Outcomes” chart, which purports to categorically show 14 different reasons members would be best served by recalling the board majority. Viewed by themselves, they make a compelling case for recalling those board members.
The board majority should be anxious to publicly respond to each assertion in Recall Water’s chart, indicating what it believes to be factually inaccurate along with its reasons. This would, perhaps for the first time, provide members with a concise “one stop” summary of key issues as well as each side’s position on them. Conversely, if the board majority does not respond, members could reasonably infer that the assertions in question are all accurate. I hope the board majority will take advantage of this opportunity to provide EWUA members with both sides’ positions in one easily understood location.
George…The first item on the list of “Important and Helpful Links” you’ve received is a link to the final report of the forensic accountant the board hired after the General Manager denied essential access to the Treasurer of the association’s financial records. It’s worth a read.
In reference to a credit card controlled by the GM, the report states in part: “I noted $283,059 in charges on the card in a 2-year period (an average of $141,500 per year or $11,800 per month).”…” I noted that $42,000 of these credit card charges were in the “Suspense” account ledger of your accounting system, denoting that they were never posted to a budgeted expense line item. I noted thousands of dollars of charges to home goods stores like Costco, Pottery Barn, Etsy, Target, Home Depot, Amazon, and Bed Bath & Beyond.”
Some people may think this is a tiny little matter best left in the past. I beg to disagree.
The board, to the best of my knowledge, never dealt with this in any meaningful way, and today, the dominant board faction is distracting the membership by falsely claiming that the recall effort is focused on wresting the ownership of EWUA from its members and giving it to Steve Smith…nothing could be further from the truth.
Today IMHO, the dominant board faction needs to be recalled in order for a new board majority to provide the necessary oversight of the GM and the essential stewardship of the member-owners’ funds and other assets.
The letter from Acuity Forensics is something new at RecallWater.com (also in the email, as Fred points out). Their report and this letter explain well what went wrong and has been actively covered up by several current and past EWUA Board members.
Check out what Smith did at the Water District where he lived before. In my 50 yrs, using ES water, I have not seen a more honest and up front board. Jim Nelson and Terri, are on the top of this 90 yr old list.
Recall water:
1. Please stop defaming Dan Burke by accusing him of nefarious malfeasance. The bookkeeping mistakes have already been explained. Which of you has never made a bookkeeping mistake?
2. Everyone who is a member should ask themselves what is Steve Smith’s motive. He’s not a member of EWUA, he does not drink our water.
3. Please stop trying to bankrupt my water company!
Time to somehow set Eastsound water department to be combined with the Eastsound Sewer and water district.
No one will step up and admit they are wrong, money spent wrong or not tracked correctly by anyone associated with the water department.
Great, so let’s make sure it never happens again.
Good thing the situation was not me, because this community would have hung me dead. But the good old boy system continues.
Let’s fix it and become part of the district.
Or not and continue the ‘mafia’ bs.
I love it when people say ‘there is no bullying going on’ because the ones saying it are not being threatened, that should say something about those who are doing the bullying.
Want to change it step up and let’s change it.