Complaint against water board members not to be pursued by D.A.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney's office has closed its files on a conflict of interest complaint filed by a former San Antonio Water Company board member.
San Antonio Heights resident Ken McNeil filed the complaint with the D.A.'s public integrity unit in September against two current board members.
McNeil accused Ken Willis and Tom Thomas, who are also Upland councilmen, of violating conflict of interest laws.
The city of Upland owns 68 percent of San Antonio.
McNeil's complaint stated that Thomas and Willis signed a water service agreement with the city of Upland on behalf of San Antonio prior to the agreement's approval at a public board meeting. McNeil said that the agreement benefits the city, therefore a conflict of interest may have occurred.
However, the unit has concluded that no criminal charges are supported by the evidence provided by McNeil, according to a letter sent to McNeil and board members.
"In my mind, it's black and white that they have conflict of interest in this agreement and I'm wondering why the district attorney feels otherwise," McNeil said.
The signed agreement is dated December 2008, but the board did not ratify the agreement until February 2009.
San Antonio General Manager Charles Moorrees said it was his error that the agreement was signed before it came up for approval during the board meeting. But, since San Antonio is a private company, there is no need for anything to be redone.
"Because of the fact that it went through advisory committees which was reported by most members of the board, I had mistakenly thought it had gone to the board when it hadn't," Moorrees said. "My error caused this confusion."
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