November 13, 2024
By Brian Hews
It was well-known that Martha Camacho Rodriguez would lose her Central Basin Water District 1 seat in last Tuesday’s election so the new CB Board majority of Juan Garza, Camacho Rodriguez, Nem Ochoa, and Joanna Mareno, violating the Brown Act with no objection from Burke, Willliams, Sorensen General Counsel Victor Ponto, removed Art Chacon as president, and appointed Camacho Rodriguez as the now-Lame Duck President.
Recently appointed (not elected) to represent water purveyors inside Central Basin boundaries, Ochoa and Moreno did not waste any time violating Government and Central Basin Administrative Codes at the board meeting, illegally voting with Garza, even though Garza has $50,000 state tax lien that the FTB slapped on his home related to his business, Six Heron, LLC and was a well-paid crisis consultant with La Luz del Mundo Church, well-aware that its leader was about to get convicted of heinous crimes including sex trafficking and having sex with minors.
And the Ochoa/Moreno votes could be pay-to-play.
Moreno is a civil engineer in the city of Vernon. Vernon has its own recycled water plant and wants to negotiate a deal with Los Angeles but must be released from its contract with Central Basin. Sources are telling LCCN that Moreno was appointed to the CB Board, with the help of some current CB Board members, to facilitate Vernon’s release from its contract. Adding to the intrigue, Moreno will term out in February 2025.
Ochoa is the GM of Golden State Water, a very large water purveyor serving several cities in Los Angeles County and the state. Sources are telling LCCN that Ochoa has been promised James Crawford’s Metropolitan Water Board seat in exchange for his votes.
Not finished with their Coup, at the same meeting, the four also “fired” GM Dr. Alex Rojas and installed their own puppet management. The vote violated a 2015 California State Audit mandate and CB’s Administrative Code, both requiring six votes. President Chacon and Directors Jim Crawford and Leticia Vasquez-Wilson did not attend the meeting, so only four board members were present.
Even the Whittier Daily News called the four out for the illegal vote, but as usual, the reporter left out crucial information to stay close to his questionable sources, omitting the 2015 California State Audit mandate that required six votes from his article.
In an email, GM Elaine Jeng later memorialized the illegal actions taken by the board. Ignoring the Brown Act, Government Code, and Central Basin Administrative Code violations, Jeng wrote in the email, “Directors: At yesterday’s special board meeting, the Board acted on the following items: Terminated General Manager Alex Rojas; Removed Director Chacon as the President of the Board, installed Vice President Camacho Rodriguez as the President of the Board (position of VP is vacant).”
The removal of Chacon violated Article 3.3 of CB’s Administrative Code, which states the president has the final say on board agenda items; Chacon was neither consulted nor approved the agenda.
Jeng continued her email, [The Board] “Directed staff to amend Administrative Code speaking to agenda authority and bring back amended language at the next board meeting.”
Jeng was referring to a vote to amend Article 3.3, removing the agenda approval authority from Chacon and any future Central Basin president. That vague amendment would conflict with all public agencies in the state; presidents, mayors, and heads of public agencies all have the final approval of their public meeting agendas.
The amendment only stated it would “streamline agenda preparation,” with the board directing staff to “prepare a resolution for review in November.”
Garza Camacho, Ochoa, and Moreno then put their cronies in high-level finance positions with Jeng writing, [The Board] “Named the positions General Manager, Finance Director, and Treasurer to be the names on the District’s financial accounts.”
Alarming for anyone watching the finances of water agency, Central Basin Board Meeting or Admistrative and Finance agenda reports have shown that cash on hand has dropped over $3 million since February when they fired Rojas, as reported by LCCN.
No financial reports have been submitted since August, so the cash position of Central Basin is unknown.
A few weeks ago, LCCN exclusively reported that Garza and Camacho Rodriguez had taken thousands in committee meeting stipends after General Counsel Ponto was put in charge.
According to CB’s Demand List – a listing of checks written to vendors – since February 2024, appointed Director Juan Garza, who is a loyal ally of Ponto, cashed the biggest checks, taking $2,656 in Feb; $3,246 in March; $2,655 in April; $4,722 in May and $1,475 in June for a total of $14,754 for five months for attending meetings.
Garza also took a monthly car allowance of $397, a total of $1,985, and $200 for his cell phone, a total of $1,000. All told, Garza took $17,739 in five months for meetings, car, and cell phone, averaging $3,500 per month.
Like Garza, Camacho-Rodriguez saw her meeting payments skyrocket after Ponto took over. Camacho-Rodriguez totaled only $323 in Feb, but for the next four months, she was paid $1,399 in March, $1,632 in April, $3,497 in May, and $2,097 in June for a total of $8,858 for five months.
Camacho-Rodriguez also took a monthly car and cell phone allowance like Garza. All told, she took $11,843 in five months for meetings, a car, and a cell phone, averaging $2,400 monthly.
The now Lame Duck Board President Camacho-Rodriguez presented her committee assignments and put herself on all three committees, then paid back Garza, Ochoa, and Moreno’s voting, putting them on two committees.
Chacon was left off all committees.
LCCN sent questions to all board members for comment, along with an email to David Schickling, who is Nem Ochoa’s boss; no response as of time of publication.
