Recently in Water districts Category

Lots of local government stories over the weekend, both by the Trib and even the Times, which featured a story about El Monte.

Valley County is hiking its rates for water users in Irwindale, Azusa, West Covina and Baldwin Park. Read more.

The owners of the indoor swap meet, Covina Mini Mall, finally came forward and agreed to fix 39 code violations. Read more.

Is horse racing dead? Not yet, but just about. Read more.

Monrovia City Hall will remove brush from public property, much to the relief of the residents, who were previously told it was the responsibility of homeowners. Read more.

The late Thelma Powell, whose husband opened Powell Camera Shop in Covina in 1952, was "one of those sweet little ladies," writes Martiza Velasquez. Read more.

Overhaul of the 10 and 605 freeway interchanges could start a year earlier than expected. Read more.

Public safety in El Monte could take another hit, only this time around, its the fire fighters. One of the city's four fire stations could be closed as a result of a growing deficit. Read more.

Meanwhile, the LA Times writes an overview this weekend of El Monte, its history, and how the city has been hit especially hard by the recession. Read more.

Monterey Park officials scratch head wondering why bus ridership is falling in their city as it climbs everywhere else. Read more.

Residents in Bradbury, Duarte, El Monte, Irwindale, Monrovia, Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino, Temple City and some Los Angeles unincorporated areas are being hit with a 56 percent water rate hike. Read more.

As some cities struggle to get their tagging under control, West Covina has been combating it with volunteer Glenn Kennedy, the police department and the hired clean-up company. Read more.

San Gabriel Valley's only pot dispensary closes up shop after a judge granted a temporary restraining order. Read more.

Montebello OKs metal recycling plant in an industrial area. Read more.

Newly appointed Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will come back home at 2 p.m. on Saturday and give a talk at La Puente High School titled, "Pathways to Success: Achieving Goals through Education." Solis was the first in her family to go to college and attend Cal Poly Pomona. Read more.

 Baldwin Park Mayor Manny Lozano cleared by District Attorney's office, which investigated a 2007 trip taken by Lozano to China.  Read more.

The San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District has a new Web site.

For those who care about water news, here is an update that some may find interesting:

At the first board meeting with Director Al Contreras taking over as President, the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal District board voted 3-1 to replace Tony Fellow on the board for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Fellow was the vice chairman and was Chairman Timothy Brick's right-hand man.

Fellow was replaced with Bill Robinson, who has served as 20 years on the Upper District but never on the MWD. Fellow served 16 years on the MWD, and has been on the Upper District for 18 years.

President Contreras said he wanted to give the other people on the Upper District a chance to serve on the different boards. But some think that the move just shot Upper District and the San Gabriel Valley in the foot when it comes to water issues.

As Brick put it, "This is all politics. But now Upper District will have to get in the back of line."

In the spirit of the New Year, this week's Leftovers column looked at the "Top 5" news stories based on reader comments and interest on the blog:

It's 2009 and there's no telling what tidings the new year will bring our local cities. But before we dive in, let's take a look back.

Here's a list of five stories that garnered the most comments and interest from blog readers in 2008 (in no particular order):

*In May, accusations surfaced that El Monte Mayor Ernie Gutierrez showed up at a sister city event drunk and shouting vulgarities. The allegations kicked up a whirlwind in City Hall, and criticism from residents who questioned Gutierrez's ethical standards as an elected officials. An in-house investigation cleared Gutierrez of the allegations.

But soon after, the mayor was arrested on allegations he was involved in a domestic argument with someone he was dating -- and not his wife. Charges weren't filed, but some City Council members expressed disappointment over the incident. Gutierrez eventually was removed from a commission over the arrest.

*Three Valleys Municipal Water District member Xavier Alvarez was found guilty in July of violating the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, which makes it a crime to lie about receiving certain medals.

He was sentenced to three years probation, and was fined $5,000 for falsely claiming to be a Medal of Honor recipient.

Alvarez continues to sit on the board and faces more legal trouble. He faces three felony charges for grand theft of personal property, insurance fraud and misappropriating public money.

*South El Monte Mayor Blanca Figueroa recently received international acclaim when her colleagues voted to ban her from working in her City Hall office past 11 p.m.

Figueroa has a habit of working late -- sometimes as late as 3 a.m. -- and some of her colleagues have accused her of living her in office.

She's denied those claims, but does admit to making the office her own. She decorates it with accolades, photos, beta fish, plants, a plasma television and snacks.

*A Montebello trash contract dispute that already was getting a lot of attention took an interesting turn when a group leaked documents detailing City Councilman Robert Urteaga's criminal history on the Internet.

In 1998, he pleaded no contest to grand theft of personal property totaling $30,000, according to court documents.

Urteaga said his conviction dated back to his years as a UCLA student when he was 21. Putting himself through school, he took up sports gambling to make extra money. He said he was remorseful.

*Baldwin Park school board member Sergio Corona is serving three years probation for a misdemeanor charge stemming from his May arrest.

The board's youngest member pleaded guilty in October to resisting arrest and obstructing a police officer. He was sentenced to one day in jail, fined $150 and was ordered to pay $100 in restitution fees, she said.

Corona, 34, was Tased and arrested on May 22 after allegedly breaking the windows of a home on Sandstone Street while shirtless and sweaty.

Following the incident, Corona then faced a myriad of criticism from parents and City Council members, especially over initial police reports that said Corona admitted he had smoked methamphetamine and marijuana the night he was arrested.
Subsequent toxicology reports did not support those allegations and Corona denied the claims. He did, however, say he took "full responsibility" for the arrest.

Former Central Basin Water District Director Charles Trevino will be sworm in tonight as the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District director at its office in El Monte. The event is basically just for Trevino's supporters, friends and family. Trevino replaces long timer Frank Forbes, who served on the board for nearly 16 years.

Trevino, who resigned from the Central Basin water board in 2003, is the same candidate who stated he was prepared to raise up to $100,000 to get elected, acccording to a story I wrote on Sept. 27, 2008.

"Money is always a key factor in anything political," said Charles Trevino , who as of June collected $39,000 and is the top fundraiser among the candidates running for the El Monte-based Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District. "I am prepared to spend between $80,000 to $100,000 if I have to."

When the campaign records become available in January, we'll just have to see how much it really took him.

Few stories of interest spotted here and there:

Rowland Heights efforts for cityhood failed, for now. Read here.

El Monte hopes that its more than $43 million transit village will come to fruition. Read more.

Three Valleys Water Board Director Xavier Alvarez is facing three felony charges. His arraignment was postponed on Thursday. Read more.

After a year hiatus, the Covina Christmas parade returns tonight beginning at 6:30 p.m. Read more.

Moe still missing. Read more.

The presidency wasn't the only think at stake in Tuesday's historical election.

Here's a breakdown of some of the local candidates and measures that failed or passed:

*Measure CC, which would have changed Rosemead from a general law city to a charter city failed. Voters rejected it by a 63 percent to 37 percent margin.

*Former Assemblyman Ed Chavez took over Leon Garcia's seat in the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District. Chavez is the husband of former La Puente Councilwoman Renee Chavez, who was outsed in 2007.

*Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, will serve a second term in the 57th District. He walked away with 67 percent of the votes versus Baldwin Park resident Victor Saldana's 33 percent.

*Pico Rivera got its wish with the passage of Measure P, the one-percent sales-tax increase that officials say won't likely to take effect before April. Measure P is expected to bring in $6 million annually.

*A half cent sales-tax increase was approved by 71 percent of voters in El Monte. Measure GG will fund public safety and infrastructure as well as rebuild the city's emergency reserves.

Not enough for ya? For more on the elections, visit our special elections page here...

There were some suprising results out of the water district elections. Three incumbents were ousted from their seats:

Three Valleys Municipal Water District
John Mendoza Votes: 7,833 Percent : 55.52
JW "Fred" Lantz Votes: 6,315 Percent: 44.48 (Incumbent)

Mendoza was also running for Pomona City Coucil. Lantz served on the board since 2000.

Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, Division 2
Charles Trevino Votes: 15,615 Percent: 44.45
Clarence Wong Votes: 9,214 Percent: 26.23
Frank Forbes Votes: 7,138 Percent: 20.32 (Incumbent)
Arthur Munos Votes: 3,165 Percent: 9.01

Incumbent Frank Forbes, 84, sat on the board for 16 years. Trevino previously served on the Central Basin Water District and now works for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, Division 2
Ed Chavez Votes: 18,653 Percent: 53.04
Leon Garcia Votes: 12,221 Percent: 34.75 (Incumbent)
Lizet Angulo Votes: 4,297 Percent: 12.22

Leon Garcia, who was appointed to the board in 2005 and then was elected in 2006, was ousted by former Assemblyman Ed Chavez.

To get final election results, go here.

Central Basin and West Basin were happily married for 16 years. And then came the bitter divorce in 2006, followed by two lawsuits and likely the squandernig of thousands of rate payers dollars.

Of course, neither agency had that number at their fingertips when I asked them how much it cost them to litigate over the past two years. At West Bast, General Manager Rich Nagel assured that the costs were "minimal," whatever that means. And at Central Basin, the costs are significant enough that they are asking West Basin to pay for attorney's fees.

Here is the most recent in their break-up:

Water districts remain at odds
By Jennifer McLain, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 10/29/2008 11:44:55 PM PDT

COMMERCE - A court order last week still won't bring an end to a bitter divorce between two water districts that serve nearly half of Los Angeles County.

The West Basin and Central Basin municipal water districts have waged war against one another after the two split joint operations more than two years ago, this time disagreeing over how much each should pay for employee retirement expenses.

Judge Robert Heff on Oct.20 ruled that West Basin Municipal breached a settlement agreement with its former business partner, Central Basin Municipal Water District.

Central Basin officials said West Basin owes their district $1.09 million in employee retirement expenses.

But West Basin said that number is about $350,000 too high.

"We believe the information provided by Central Basin to the court was inaccurate," said West Basin General Manager Richard Nagel. "We've been discussing with the board how to correct that step."

After the judge ruled, Central Basin said it wants legal fees from West Basin.

Nagel said the West Basin's board will have to decide whether to appeal.

West Basin and Central Basin from 1990 to 2006 carried out joint operations from a building in Commerce.

Just before the partnership ended in 2006, West Basin filed a lawsuit against Central Basin because the two parties could not agree what they owed one another, such as employee liabilities.

West Basin provides water to the

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advertisement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
western portion of Los Angeles County, from as far north as Beverly Hills to as far south as Rancho Palos Verdes, and as far west from Hermosa Beach to as far east as Carson.
Central Basin serves areas from Lakewood to Montebello, Willowbrook to La Habra Heights, including Pico Rivera, Monterey Park and Whittier.

Central Basin General Manager Art Aguilar said he hoped the recent court judgement would put an end to the ongoing legal battles with West Basin.

If fights continue, Aguilar places the blame on West Basin.

"To continue this is a waste of rate payers money," Aguilar said.

jennifer.mclain@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2477

www.insidesocal.com/sgvgov

Albert Robles was cleared of all charges he was facing for allegedly violating campaign codes, Airan Scruby reports.

Albert Robles serves on the Water Replinishment District of Southern California, and unfortunately shares the name with the former South Gate treasurer who was convicted to 10 years in prison of corruption.

Robles, 39, of the WRD, out of Lakewood, has served on the board since 1992.

Today I finally got around to a record's request that La Puente Valley County Water District has kept for me for about a month now. The request was inspired after I received a series of anonymous calls asking me to look into RC Foster, a contracting company that Valley County and other water agencies in the SGV has used for several years to build water clean up facilities.

I don't know whether there is a story there. I just asked for invoices, bid submittals, contracts and minutes, and still need to review the docs at one more agency.

Back to today. While going through the minutes, I came across a familiar name: La Puente Councilman Louie Lujan, who apparently got his start in politics on the La Puente Valley County Water District. I didn't realize that until I came back to the office and checked out Lujan's bio:

At the age of 23, he was the top vote getter among three candidates vying for two positions on the La Puente Valley County Water District in November of 1999.

In past stories about water districts, some have said that water boards are the springboard of political careers, while I've heard others say it is the landing pad. And then, there is that group that just get stuck there, and end up serving on the board for 20 years plus.

It seems that water politics is a mixture of both, although it would be an interesting story to see how the demographics, including age and gender, on our water boards, and city councils, have shifted today compared to 10 years ago.

Would you guys read that story?

Dolores Holguin, former director on the Valley County Water District in Baldwin Park, pleaded guilty today to one count of misusing public funds.

Investigators said that Holguin improperly charged personal expenses to the district, including meals, attorney's fees and telephone bills. She was ordered to pay back the district $6,200.

Deputy District Attorney Edward Miller said that he hopes the case serves as an example to public officials.

"It is a message that public officials are supposed to exercise the utmost care when spending the public's money, and if it is not an actual and necessary expense for their function, it is probably illegal," Miller said.

Jennifer McLain had a very interesting story that ran in today's paper about the Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster, which isn't a public agency but sure does get some very "public" benefits.

The Watermaster is a nonprofit, court-ordered agency that is afforded public benefits, uses public money and and does not have to adhere to state open-meeting laws.

While by traditional definition it is not a public agency, employees receive public retirement benefits provided by CalPERS and get public health benefits.

What do you guys think?

While driving this morning from Monrovia to the Garvey School District in Rosemead via Rosemead Boulevard, I noticed dozens of signs for both Charles Trevino and Clarence Wong, who are both running for the seat on the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District.

They are running against incumbent Frank Forbes as well as Arthur James Munoz.

What signs are you starting to see pop up?

This weekend I wrote a story about the motivations of local candidates to get on water boards. Of the candidates I spoke to, each said that they have a desire to give back to the community and they are interested in water.

Others were a little more skeptical. Some said these candidates likely want to advance their political careers. The stipends, travel allowances and medical benefits don't hurt either.

Resumes of current candidates for the Water Replenishment District of Southern California and the Upper San Gabriel Valley, San Gabriel Valley, Three Valleys and Central Basin municipal water districts include former assemblymen, school board members and council members.

Upper District candidates Trevino served on the Central Basin Water District, and Clarence Wong served on the WRD board. Trevino resigned in 2003, and Wong ran but failed to win a second term.

Former Assemblyman Ed Chavez ran unsuccessfully in 2007 for the Mt. San Antonio College Board of Trustees, and is now running for Upper District. So far, he has raised nothing for the water race, although records show that he loaned himself $14,000 for the school board race.

He could transfer the money from that committee to his current run, according to state campaign finance laws.

Central Basin candidate Phillip Hawkins, who has $22,766 in his coffers, is a former one-term assemblyman who has been on the board since 2000.

Ed Vasquez, also running for a seat on the Central Basin board, is a former Montebello councilman. Vasquez raised $18,904, according to reports. He is married to current Montebello Councilwoman Rosie Vasquez.

These obscure boards are rarely noticed by voters but are in charge of budgets that often are larger than those in our city government's. Plus, these boards are responsible for managing for a vital, declining resource.

One aspect that the story doesn't get into is where the money is coming from. The story was already long enough, and I figured the money trail will be worth a story of its own. Look for that later this week.

Do you vote based on name recognition?

Well, Water Replinishment District of Southern California candidate Linda Fuentes, whose maiden name is Unruh wants her name to appear on the ballot as Linda Unruh-Fuentes. She is married to Chuck Fuentes, Pico Rivera's city manager.

But according to reporter Mike Sprague's story:

"That makes her opponent, Albert Robles, unhappy. He can't change his name to escape the stigma of the same-named former South Gate city treasurer who was sentenced to 10 years in state prison on corruption charges."

There's quite a long list of candidates running for seats of our local water boards for the November election. Who are these people and why are they running? I'll have more on that later, but feel free to chime in if you've got any background on these candidates.

Central Basin Municipal Water District

1. Hawkins, Phillip D.
2. Martuscello, David
3. Montalvo, Rudy
4. Pesci, William
5. Silva, Yvette L.
6. Vasquez, Ed

San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District

1. Inocentes, Mason Buchanan
2. Reichenberger, Joseph
3. Vasquez, Leticia
4. Wong, John

Three Valleys Municipal Water District
1. Lantz, Fred

Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District

1. Brown, Royall K.
2. Chavez, Ed
3. Forbes, Frank
4. Garcia, Leon
5. Lizet, Angulo
6. Mendoza, John
7. McIntyre, Andrew M.
8. Munoz, Arthus James
9. Robinson, William "Bill" R.
10. Trevino, Charles
11. Wong, Clarence

The bio for Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District candidate Andrew McIntyre was changed after I posted this entry. It no longer states that he was a member of the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority, but instead that was replaced to the San Gabriel Valley River Water Authority.

Background
Andrew McIntyre was born and raised in West Covina. He attended South Hills High School and later went on to graduate from the University of Southern California (USC) where Andrew received his degree in Public Policy Management & Planning.

Commitment To Our Community
San Gabriel Valley River Water Authority
Citrus Valley Health Partners Foundation, Board of Directors
Covina Historic Society, Chairperson
Covina Rotary Club
West Covina, life long resident

Experience
Andrew is currently the Water Resource Manager for the Canyon Water Company. He is directly involved in the daily management and oversight of all water resources required to insure an adequate supply of high quality water.

Remember this post? Well, here is the biography for Andrew McIntyre, who is running for a seat on the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District:

Background

Andrew McIntyre was born and raised in West Covina. He attended South Hills High School and later went on to graduate from the University of Southern California (USC) where Andrew received his degree in Public Policy Management & Planning.

Commitment To Our Community
San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority
Citrus Valley Health Partners Foundation, Board of Directors
Covina Historic Society, Chairperson
Covina Rotary Club
West Covina, life long resident

Experience
Andrew is currently the Water Resource Manager for the Canyon Water Company. He is directly involved in the daily management and oversight of all water resources required to insure an adequate supply of high quality water.

Here's the problem: McIntyre never worked or sat on the board for the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority.