Fern Valley Water District Board Member Mike LaFata resigned at the end of the Board’s Feb. 20 meeting. He felt that his colleagues did not share his sense of detailed “fiduciary duty.”
During his 14 months as a director, LaFata mostly concentrated his attention on reviewing the District’s monthly expenditures, especially the credit card charges. In an interview shortly after his appointment, he acknowledged that he was unfamiliar with FVWD finances or how they compared with the Idyllwild or Pine Cove Districts, but he planned to focus on the warrants. “Whether it is construction, reconstruction or repair, I’ll understand these expenses,” he said.
His questions ranged from service contracts for FVWD vehicles to employee expenses. His level of detail seldom attracted mutual support or attention from his colleagues.
Several directors felt the expenditures for lunches, or some employee gatherings were valuable morale boosters. General Manager Victor Jimenez assured him that the District’s attorney had verified their legality.
During the time for the Director’s comments near the end of the meeting, LaFata announced that as a member of the District’s Budget Committee, he hoped to revise the financial system and rely almost exclusively on spreadsheets rather than the current accounting and billing software.
“I just wanted to validate the expenditures. I’m looking for things that seem irregular and want to be confident that expenditures are valid and appropriate and essential for the District,” LaFata said, apparently exasperated when his colleagues did not embrace his proposal.
“We should all work to do what’s best for the customer and many of the activities I see don’t reflect that and it’s disheartening to me,” he concluded and then gave his resignation letter to Jimenez.
He offered to remain on the Board “. . . as long as you need me,” but Jimenez explained that the District could not fill a position that was not vacant. In response to a specific question, LaFata then confirmed that his resignation was effective that day.
He was unanimously appointed to the Board on Dec. 7, 2023, succeeding former director Gary Erb. At that meeting, he expressed a desire to be involved in the construction program, I’m fascinated by construction,” he told the Board. “I know how things work. I’m capable of doing what’s asked.”
In other business, Jimenez reported that he had met with representatives from the California Employers’ Pension Plan Trust about the District’s retirement balances as well as their actuarial staff. In the next several months, the District plans to move about $550,000 within that general account to specific retirement accounts as well as adding $250,000 budgeted for this in order to move toward the goal of zero balances.
In his General Manager’s Report, Jimenez said “things are going well.” Streamflow continues to be the larger source of water, despite low rainfall.
The Board unanimously approved plans for a major renovation of the District’s office building. The Planning Committee, composed of Directors Jon Brown and Robert Krieger, met with Jimenez earlier in the week and approved the proposal.
“Bob and I combed over as engineers do and peppering Vic lots of little questions about thing to make sure all bases were covered. The only real change to the plans that came out of that was adding a exit door to the new GM office. Not strictly required by fire code, but also not a bad idea to have an exit on that side of the building,” Brown wrote in an email to the Town Crier.
The Board canceled its next regularly scheduled meeting for March 20 because of conflicts with directors’ travel. A special meeting was approved for Wednesday, March 26 at 9 a.m. to replace the March meeting.
