Illicit Take-Over of Central Basin Board Meeting Led to Hiring of GM

IS THIS OK? From (l-r) three appointed (not elected) Central Basin Directors Juan Garza, Jim Crawford and Thomas Bekele with VP Martha Camacho. The group, with advice from attorney Victor Ponto, reconvened a previously adjourned meeting and then voted to hire Elaine Jeng as GM. VP Camacho reconvened the meeting without using proper parliamentary procedures.

August 13, 2024

By Brian Hews

Questions are swirling around a June 24 Central Basin Board meeting concerning the hiring of current Interim General Manager Elaine Jeng that involved a mid-meeting adjournment and whether a subsequent reconvening was properly made under parliamentary procedures.

Called upon for his advice, the mid-meeting adjournment was tacitly approved by CB Attorney Victor Ponto which would have made the reconvening illegal, rendering any actions taken after the adjournment null and void.

On the June 24 board agenda, among other things, was item 9F which called for a vote to hire current interim General Manager Elaine Jeng.

One month earlier, Jeng was unlawfully added to the May agenda by Appointed Director Juan Garza and VP Martha Camacho without the required 72-hour notice, a violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act.

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Central Basin Board of Directors Violated the Brown Act at Meeting

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Four board members voted to hire Jeng, despite the illegality of the agenda item including Vice President Martha Camacho and directors Juan Garza, and Thomas Bekele.

One week later, Central Basin received a “demand to cure” letter from a law firm that called out the illegal hiring and demanded Jeng be added legally to the June agenda.

Acknowledging that they violated the Brown Act, the group, along with attorney Victor Ponto, placed Jeng – this time with proper notice – on the June agenda.

But between the May and June meetings, Director Thomas Bekele announced he was retiring. It was documented by the CB staff on May 22, with paperwork sent out to nominate a new Director to replace Bekele on May 23. His resignation is on video.

But Bekele, an ally of Garza and Camacho, disputed his May resignation statement and illegitimately attended the June meeting to cast his swing vote to hire Jeng.

When the item to hire Jeng was reached, CB Board President Art Chacon stood up and announced he was adjourning the meeting, saying, “We have an illegal vote because Thomas Bekele is here, who resigned weeks ago. I am adjourning the meeting.”

Fireworks erupted with VP Camacho yelling several times, “You don’t have the authority to adjourn the meeting, and you’re out of order” until Chacon finally walked out. The Board Secretary asked CB attorney Victor Ponto “for the record” if Chacon had the authority to adjourn the meeting.

Ponto stated, “He has the ability to adjourn the meeting, but we have a quorum. Let’s take a recess and discuss.” Listen to Ponto’s statement below.

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After some time, VP Camacho and Board members Garza, Bekele, and Crawford entered the room, with Camacho saying, “We are reconvening this meeting.” Absent was Chacon and Director Leticia Vasquez.

The Board Secretary quickly asked Ponto, “For the record, legal counsel, is it ok to continue an adjourned meeting.”

After saying Chacon “had the ability” to adjourn the meeting an hour prior – which would have prevented a reconvening – Ponto stated, “Yes, the meeting could continue.” Listen to Ponto’s statement below.

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But then Ponto inserted a caveat into his statement, ‘If there is any doubt or question about the validity [of the meeting continuing], then that ‘individual’ can go to court. and seek clarification.” Vice President Camacho called the meeting to order and quickly moved on to item 9F to hire Jeng.

But in her haste to hire Jeng, VP Camacho, who has never acted as President of the CB Board, did not properly call the meeting to order under Robert’s Rules of Parliamentary procedure.

Any public board meeting that is adjourned must be called back into order using a “motion” and then a “second” by one of the board members.

VP Camacho should have said, “I move we open the meeting,” and then one of the board members should have stated, “I second.”

But that did not happen with VP Camacho starting the meeting without a motion.

If a person would “go to court,” as Ponto said, and dispute the reconvened meeting, there would be serious questions about whether the meeting was official, rendering anything after Chacon’s adjournment unofficial, including the hiring of Jeng.

If the court ruled Jeng’s hiring void, any actions taken following her hiring, such as approving contracts or firing employees, would be unenforceable because Jeng was never an official agent for Central Basin.

The likely outcome, according to one attorney who frequently consults with LCCN, but wants his name withheld to stave off attacks from certain CB Board members and their cohorts said, “If it went to court, the judge would end up in the middle and ask the board to start the meeting again from the beginning.”

In an email, Garza told LCCN, “Mr. Ponto said President Chacon had the ability to adjourn, if he followed the adjournment procedures as laid out in [sic] robert’s rules of order.”

But Ponto did not say “if he followed the adjournment procedures as laid out in Robert’s Rules of order.”

Ponto originally said, “He has the ability to adjourn the meeting, but we have a quorum.”

Told that is all Ponto said, Garza wrote, “Because Mr. Ponto stated that President Chacon has the ability doesn’t mean he concurred that the meeting was adjourned at that point in time.”

Garza later wrote, “Take it to court and we’ll let a court of law decide.”