Orange County Grand Jury
• 2008-2009
• Agency Response
Board of Directors Shawn Dewane President Subject: Mesa Consolidated Water District Response to the Grand Jury Report,*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 7 findings
F1
District Secretary contracts are somewhat lax and in some instances non-existent, thereby creating VICTORIA L. BEATLEY a perception of bias in the selection of candidates, especially in the selection of Treasurer/Auditor board members from other member agencies to provide professional services. BOWIE, ARNESON, WILES & GIANNONE Legal Counsel
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Government Code section 1090, the water districts should promulgate rules requiring professionals seated on their boards of directors to formally disclose to their organizations any contracts they are pursuing or have attained with member agencies. The water districts should also adopt more encompassing rules regarding the selection of professional consultants. (F.1, F.2)
F2
Some board members are conducting their professional practices with member agencies and use their elected positions to promote their competitiveness.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Each water district should develop a specific code of ethics, hold training sessions and monitor its enforcement. (F.3)
F3
Codes of ethics among districts are quite varied. Some are very comprehensive and some do not exist other than to reference state laws.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Water board meetings need to be scheduled at times that would generate First Vice President Division I maximum public attendance. (F.4) JAMES F. ATKINSON Vice President
F4
Water board meetings are frequently scheduled for times that discourage public attendance.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
COLEEN L. MONTELEONE appointment process should be used only in exceptional circumstances. (F.5) Interim General Manager/ District Secretary
F5
JAMES F. ATKINSON Vice President appointed, not elected to their position. Division IV TRUDY OHLIG-HALL Vice President
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
other board members of any other offices including seats on boards of member agencies that he or she holds. (F.6) Water Districts should consult their legal counsel to advise them (a) whether there exists an incompatibility of offices when a board member holds multiple offices at the same time. (F.6)
F6
circumstances could create an appearance of a conflict of interest unless the COLEEN L. MONTELEONE person recuses himself on an issue by-issue basis. Interim General Manager/ District Secretary
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
Water districts should adopt self-imposed term limits for their members, not to exceed three terms of service. (F.7)
F7
There are no time limits for how long individuals can serve on any water district board in Orange County.
No recommendations for this finding
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.