COMMERCE >> The Board of Directors for the Central Basin Municipal Water District, which has come under fire in recent years for questionable ethical decisions, approved a new policy Monday designed to increase confidence in the district.
In a unanimous vote, the district decided to hire a law firm to investigate ethics complaints, even anonymous ones, received from a yet-to-be establish hot line.
The law firm, which will be hired for three years but can’t be fired or re-hired for a subsequent contract, will decide what to do with complaints received.
It can refer them to the Administration and Ethics Committee that will be comprised of Directors Phil Hawkins and James Roybal, board president, the general manager, the Fair Political Practices Commission, or the District Attorney.
The law firm should be hired by the end of January, General Manager Kevin Hunt said. Annual cost is expected to be $1,000 for the hot line and $40,000 for the law firm.
“This is something that clarifies to the general public and pumpers that we do have a way of overseeing what this board is doing,” said board President Robert Apodaca. “It’s long overdue. I commend the general manager for proposing it.”
Mark Grajeda, general manager for Pico Water District, called the action a step in the right direction.
“These are steps by Kevin Hunt to show (water utilities) and the public this agency is working hard and the board is trying to turn itself around,” Grajeda said.
“Without this, the board would have the ability to take actions that may not be ethical,” he said. “Now, staff will have the ability to contact this law firm and question those actions.”
For example, former state Assemblyman Tom Calderon, D-Montebello, had a $12,000 a month consulting contract with Central Basin until February 2013 but now faces federal charges of money laundering. The district received a subpoena from the FBI in 2013 as part of the investigation into Calderon.
His brother, Ron, a state senator from Montebello, faces bribery charges in a massive federal corruption case.
The district also has come under fire for paying $16,000 to a woman injured in a 2010 car crash involving Director Art Chacon.
Central Basin’s former insurance carrier, Association of California Water Agencies Joint Powers Insurance Authority, also paid $63,000 in a workers compensation settlement to Chacon, who claimed an injury he suffered in a car crash occurred when he was on the job.
The vote came the same day the board in closed session reviewed a state audit of the district that is expected to be released publicly on Dec. 3.
The audit was ordered after four state legislators requested it, saying Central Basin has lost credibility with the communities it serves.
Critics point to the fact that while water sales continue to decline, the district’s fees have more than quadrupled from $15 per acre foot in fiscal 1992-93 to its existing $70 per acre foot.
In addition, the district has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees — sometimes as much as $200,000 in a month, they said.
