Amador County – Tempers flared at the Amador County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday when outgoing members of the Amador Water Agency board of directors raised questions about the process of repaying a loan owed by their agency to the county.

On May 13th, the county agreed to extend a loan of $900,000 to the AWA to be repaid no later than December 31st, using grant money the agency expected to receive for its Gravity Supply Line project. The AWA has not yet received any funding, as it must work on a financial plan for a related federal loan attached to the grant.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo recently met with board members to determine if the county would be willing to extend the maturity date of the loan until August 31st, 2011 because AWA anticipates it will not receive the USDA grant until next summer.

Bill Condrashoff, speaking as AWA board president and as “a public servant,” said the “agreement takes away the ability of the AWA board to make prudent decisions.” Condrashoff and AWA Vice President Debbie Dunn, also in attendance, were the two dissenting votes on the issue when it was discussed by the AWA board. He said he is “not going against the vote (of the AWA board) because…it’s what they needed to do to get the money,” but criticized the decision anyway and said he “wants to put it on record why our board was split on some of these decisions.”

He said there is “no guarantee that the project will go forward and the grant will be obtained,” and repeatedly said they “need to memorialize the loan and figure out the amounts.” He said the county is “trying to ensure the water agency goes for the grant.”

Supervisor Richard Forster said the county is only “trying to ensure repayment of our loan,” and Supervisor John Plasse said: “We’re not tying your hands or forcing anything.”

Supervisor Ted Novelli, visibly upset, told Condrashoff: “We’re not forcing you to do anything. Pay the loan that you took out from the county. It’s that simple. It ends everything.” Novelli later told TSPN that Condrashoff was “undermining” the decision of the board by “talking as the AWA president and then coming to us to shoot down his board’s decision.”

Novelli, the former District 3 AWA director, said the “GSL discussion has lasted four decades. It’s nothing new to the people upcountry.” He urged it be “presented in such a way that people were educated as to why this is a necessity.”

The board voted 5-0 to extend the loan repayment date until August 31st, 2011. Plasse said he is “willing to allow more time” for AWA “to get its finances in order.”

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