Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors discussed an agency reorganization plan Thursday that caught employees off guard when the meeting was agendized last week.

The plan, devised by an ad hoc committee made up of President Bill Condrashoff, Director Terence Moore and General Manager Gene Mancebo, includes combining construction and operations departments under one “Field Operations Manager.” It eliminates a total of four positions, though others are slated to be filled.

Employee representatives submitted letters of disapproval of the handling of the reorganization plan, which the board assigned to an ad hoc committee that no employees knew about. Moore said it would have been nice to be able to have the board meet in closed session to find an approach to budget woes and job reductions.

General Manager Gene Mancebo said at a “bare bones minimum,” they need to cut $300,000. He said the reorganization could not be discussed outside of an open session. But he said negotiations with employee groups on reduction of salaries and benefits made him believe they will be able to achieve that amount in cuts.

Mike Crisman of Camanche recommended the agency do a “time and motion study,” and he wondered about managers he called “the fat five” and what they would face in cuts.

Operations Manager Chris McKeage said the “fat five” had every intention of taking the same cuts as all employees, and had made that clear to Mancebo.

Employee Stacy Lollar read a letter of concern, saying that from research she had done, it appeared the reorganization “committee was created in secrecy,” was unethical, and failed to follow “meet and confer” requirements of the Employee Relations Act.

Condrashoff said he was trying to remember when the committee was formed. Board Clerk Chris Thompson said it was formed sometime after the August 26th board meeting.

Vice President Debbie Dunn said they were looking everywhere to cut money, and wanted to look at positions. Agency attorney Steve Kronick and employee attorney Suzanne Price were consulted.

Dunn said the ad hoc committee on reorganization “was created in closed session, and it was reported out of closed session,” but “sadly, no one was there to hear it.”

Moore said “we had to start it somehow, and the board decided that the best way to do it was with an ad hoc committee.”

Moore said they “needed to discuss reorganization with the general manager, and “there was no easy way to let employees know what was going on,” so they “had to let them know in the agenda.”

The council directed Mancebo to meet with staff on the plan and return to the board October 15th.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.