Fact Checking the Water Board President’s September 5 “Chat”
Claim #1: TCWD’s rates are comparable to those of the neighboring water districts that add charges to their customers’ property tax bills that TCWD does not.
Fact Check: The Watchdog has made an “apples-to-apples” comparison of TCWD’s water bills with those of the neighboring Santa Margarita water district (SMWD) and the Irvine Ranch water district (IRWD) based on actual water and property tax bills. The results tabulated below show that TCWD water bills are substantially higher.
Claim #2: The larger your water meter, the more water you could potentially use, so we must charge you more. If we didn’t, customers with smaller meters could successfully sue us under Proposition 218.
Fact Check: First, Proposition 218, does not mention water meters. It simply prohibits charges that exceed the actual cost of providing service to a property. Second, the TCWD does not actually follow its own rule: the 871 customers with 3/4-inch meters pay the same fixed meter charge as the 2,624 customers with smaller 5/8-inch meters. According to President Dopudja, then, the billing scheme he voted for exposes the district to litigation from the 5/8-inch customers.
Mr. Dopudja: For over one year now, the rate payers have overwhelmingly and emphatically expressed their dissatisfaction with the outrageous and unreasonable charges you approved on June 29, 2023. And you have had over one year now to do something, to provide some relief for the people you are supposed to be representing. But all they got from you was a nearly three-hour attempt at justifying the increased rates. Do you really expect to be re-elected as their representative in November?
Water Board President Grilled Over Bid-Free Consulting Contracts, Public Speaker Rule Change, and Promotional Video
Although no answers were forthcoming, that didn’t stop Robinson Ranch resident and recall volunteer Al Burnham from peppering water board president Stephen Dopudja with several pointed questions. “At the last meeting, when I asked to donate my three minutes to Sue Marucci, you arbitrarily changed the rule, stating that, because we are in an election cycle, it was somehow not appropriate,” said Burnham. Is that still your position, or would you like to change it?” “I am not going to respond now,” replied Dopudja. “If you feel this rule change was needed due to the proximity of the election, then why are you allowing MWDOC [Municipal Water District of Orange County, a wholesale water supplier to TCWD] to run a video of yourself on people’s Facebook feeds and the MWDOC website?” asked Burnham. “And why did you have a community chat forum so close to the election where you could promote yourself and your achievements?”
Burnham also brought up the bid-free consulting contracts that MWDOC awarded Dopudja’s firm, Dopudja & Wells Consulting Inc., asking: “On any contracts with MWDOC or any others, with or without competing bids, that I may not be aware of, did you personally have any financial gain or benefit from being awarded these contracts?” Burnham then handed in a written copy of his questions and comments, requesting an emailed response, and asking if they could be included verbatim in the meeting minutes. When he directed the latter question to the district’s legal counsel, Claire Collins, she told him she couldn’t answer it, then raised her voice: “Sir! Sir! Sir! Sir, your time is up!”
With only two people signed up to speak, why the nonsensical three-minute limit and the ban on donating time? Why does Mr. Dopudja seem so afraid of what people might say? Maybe he needs to brush up on the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing Mr. Burnham and Ms. Marucci the right “to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” and the oath he took to uphold it. Burnham and Marucci are to be commended for speaking up in the face of such hostility and rude treatment from people who seem to have forgotten who they are supposed to be working for.
PR Consultant Charges Bust the Budget Again
TCWD Waste Watch
A check for $8,690 paid in August to PR consultant Rockspark Communications brings the firm’s total charges to over $131k since being hired in December of 2022 to sell us on the big June 2023 rate hikes.
And the district’s principal accountant, Karen Warner, again reported that the “WATER FUND: Total General & Administrative” budget line item was in the red for the month of June.
“Ms. Warner reported that this line item was trending higher than budgeted due to the timing of insurance payments and increased public outreach costs.” (August 8, 2024 minutes of the Finance Audit Committee, italics added).
We continue to ask, how do these “public outreach” expenditures by a supposedly struggling water district serve the rate payers?
Meet the Reform Candidates: Mark Anderson and John Horst
Be Prepared to Vote for Change in November!
Be prepared to do your civic duty in November to fill the two seats with new members pledged to represent the rate payers and restore affordable water.
Be sure you are registered to vote. If you are not registered to vote at your current address, or you are not sure, you can easily take care of it online here (https://registertovote.ca.gov/). Look for your ballot in the mail after October 7, and educate yourself on the issues. Stay tuned to TCWDwatchdog.substack.com for the latest news on the campaign to elect new reform candidates and how you can help.
Help spread the word. We need to reach everyone in the Trabuco Canyon Water District in order to get out the vote in November. You can help by sharing this newsletter with your family members, friends and neighbors. Copy this link and email, text, or post it on social media: TCWDWatchdog.substack.com
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