Out Loud: IWD …

Last August, Idyllwild Water District customers ousted two directors, one long-standing, in an election in favor of two new candidates for the IWD Board of Directors.

Obviously, you spoke that you desired change. And maybe you felt a great success in that action, and trust that all is in good hands now.

You would be wrong about that. You see, the remaining three directors — President Jim Billman, John Cook and Michael Freitas — formed a bloc against your two new directors. They, along with GM Tom Lynch, decided the two newcomers are enemies.

Against the Brown Act, and the California Public Records Act, they refuse to give information to June and Steve. They refuse to allow Steve into a closed-session meeting claiming “pending litigation,” and they ridicule and harass the two in public.

All will continue in this vein unless either there’s a recall or legal intervention. In the meantime, what IWD customers can do to help the situation is attend the meetings (the third Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m.).

June and Steve both had the courage to run against an old-boys’ group and now they need the courage to hang in there and keep fighting for you.

So why don’t you find the courage to get behind them and not leave them stranded at those board meetings?

Only about five people attend now. Do you know what that bloc did at the last meeting? Put a clock on the wall to limit speech  — without a vote. Neither Steve nor June were made privvy of that until they arrived at the meeting.

The GM said in an email it was because public comment had become “unregulated.” Give me a break!

Becky Clark, Editor