The Recall Effort Ends

Our efforts to recall Eastsound Water Users Association Board members ends. The recall seems unnecessary now that most of the original list of those to recall are not there. Four of the Board members who we believed were responsible for the many problems at EWUA have departed.

Board Members

We have great hope in the new Board members who we think will reverse the policies that led to the crisis that has engulfed EWUA over the last year.

The following individuals are no longer on the Board.

• Joe Cohen
• Clyde Duke
• Rick Christmas
• Scott Lancaster

They are replaced by

• Teri Nigretto
• Carol Ann Anderson
• ** Jim Cook

We starred the Jim Cook election as the prior EWUA Board failed to ask the Members to vote for three on the ballot. Instead, EWUA asked the Members to vote for a maximum of two of the four candidates and said that anyone who voted for more than two would have their ballot rejected.

However, there were three seats that needed to be filled by election. Jim Cook received the third most votes, and we believe that the new Board will recognize that Jim Cook was elected by the Members, albeit in a flawed election process.

The third open seat was caused by the prior Board, the GM, and Clyde Duke failing to report that the seat held by Clyde Duke had expired and should have been on the ballot. When we brought this to the attention of EWUA, they acknowledged the error and Clyde Duke agreed that his term had expired. He has graciously left the Board without contest.

Joe Cohen was elected to the Board last year. His term did not expire until 2025. However, Mr. Cohen has resigned. This creates an opening on the Board that will be filled by the new Board appointing someone.

The new Board now has the votes to cause EWUA to be run properly.

The current Board, as of November 16, 2023, is:

• Ron Claus
• Teri Nigretto
• Carol Ann Anderson
• ** Jim Cook
• Jim Nelson
• Mike Cleveland
• Vacant

General Manager

There are still several outstanding issues that the new Board will need to address. One of these is how to deal with the GM writing unauthorized checks to himself, as reported in the forensic report that can be found on the https://recallwater.com/ site. Will the Member money be recovered? Will the new Board allow a review of the other areas the forensic accountant suggested needs reviewed? Will the new Board cooperate with the law enforcement investigation? Will the new Board require a correction of the multiple demonstrably false public statements that have been made? Will the new Board retain the General Manager?

A Lot Of Work

The new Board has a number of things that it will need to work on. The President, Treasurer and the Secretary positions are all vacant.  The budget is due in December.

Any adjustments to the rates are due in December. We do not believe that there should be any rate increase. Instead, we believe that the Board should focus on recovering money that was taken from the Members without authorization.

The volunteer Board will have much to do over the next several months.

The Board receives no compensation. We thank the new Board for stepping in and volunteering to clear up a mess not of their making.

Proxies and Petition

We revoke the proxies that anyone gave to team RecallWater and will not reveal the names of those who signed them. These proxies are no longer necessary.

We will also not submit the petition asking the Board to call a special Member meeting for the purpose of a recall of the Board. We will not reveal the Member names from the petition either.

We thank all of you who trusted us with your proxy and who signed the petition. Your support and encouragement was and is greatly appreciated.

It was your signatures; it was your talking with now-former Board members and letting them know that things needed to change; and it was your vote that has actually caused the progress toward change. Thank you for getting involved. Thank you for making this a better community.