Amador County – Amador Water Agency last week defended its criticism of a lawsuit by local residents as wasting agency money.

During “public matters not on the agenda,” Bill Condrashoff criticized AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo for telling local media that a lawsuit by Ken Perano and Ken Berry was wasting ratepayers’ money.

Mancebo said the lawsuit was unnecessary and could have been avoided if Berry and Perano had come to him to talk about the issues. He said the suit will cost the agency thousands of dollars. They also wanted a workshop, but the agency did not get a list of specific items of concern, and “without that we would be working in a vacuum.”

Condrashoff also noted that the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association had sent a letter of disapproval regarding AWA’s Proposition 218 policy resolution approved in February. He urged the AWA board to not approve a first reading of an ordinance that could be used to establish a voluntary Community Facilities District in the Amador Water System, because of the Jarvis letter.

AWA Counsel Stephen Kronick said he had reviewed the Jarvis letter and noted that the Association is about 50-50 on winning and losing Prop 218 lawsuits, having filed 11 cases and lost five. Kronick said the fact that Jarvis has alleged a violation does not mean that AWA’s Prop 218 policy is in violation, and there is no recorded case that addresses their allegations. Condrashoff noted that Jarvis Association wrote Proposition 218. The law allows for public protests to stop rate increases for public utilities, and the agency established a form by which ratepayers could submit a formal protest regarding the rate increases.

AWA board President Gary Thomas said he really believed Berry and Perano should have come to the agency to discuss the issues.

Berry said: “I don’t have to come up here and humiliate myself. He said the agency’s only purpose for requiring your own Proposition 218 protest form was to pursue rate consolidation, supported with “fairy tales about giving more information.” Berry said “the people are going to beat you by your own crooked rules.”

Kronick said he reviewed the lawsuit by Berry and Perano, over the reporting of use of restricted funds relative to Government Code 66013. Kronick said he found the AWA substantially complied with the law, and the suit focused on “nitpicky items” that could have been addressed without a lawsuit.

Kronick said a workshop was requested but a workshop wasn’t needed to address these items.” He said they could have sent a letter or called Mancebo and gone over the items in question with him.

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