Recall Initiated 

The short version 

1. The petitions to initiate a recall meeting have been submitted. EWUA must call a Member meeting for sometime between August 11, 2024 and September 30, 2024 where a vote on the recall of several Directors will happen.
2. We are demanding a neutral election inspector to manage the recall process be selected by mutual agreement. To date, EWUA has refused to participate in this selection.
3. EWUA is refusing to accept any proxy form not created by EWUA. The EWUA proxy form has a poison pill in it.
4. The Court will likely have to intervene to compel EWUA to cause a neutral party to manage the recall and to accept the proxies many Members have already signed.
5. You will need to pay attention to the proxy issues.

The longer version

On Monday, July 22, 2024, petitions calling for a Member meeting for the purpose of recalling four directors (and anyone they appoint) were submitted to Eastsound Water Users Association (EWUA). 

The petitions of those who wished to be listed as public supporters were submitted. The petitions of the dozens who wish to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation were not submitted, as they were not needed for the count. Those who are willing to be publicly recognized as supporting the recall effort were sufficient in number to trigger the Member meeting.

Within 35 days (after July 22 and before August 26, 2024), EWUA must send a notice to all Members designating the date and location of the special Member meeting. Along with the notice, EWUA must send a proxy form that Members may sign. If you have already signed a proxy form for RecallWater, please do not also sign the EWUA proxy form. Only one proxy can be active at a time. The notice from EWUA also needs to identify where and to whom to return their proxy form. You will need to pay special attention to the details regarding the conflicting proxy forms. Those who have already signed the RecallWater proxy form should not need to sign a new form. If EWUA demands such, it will probably need to be decided by the Court.

In order for the Member meeting to have a quorum, there must be at least 10% of the approximately 1,226 memberships participating, either in-person or by proxy. If there is a quorum, then the meeting will proceed. The agenda for the meeting will consist of determining whether Jim Nelson, Teri Nigretto, Mike Cleveland, and Leith Templin (and any appointee they may have made after July 22, 2024) are retained or recalled. If more than 50% of those in attendance vote to recall the targeted Directors, they are immediately removed from the Board. If there is no quorum or if the vote to recall fails, the targeted Directors remain on the Board.

According to the EWUA bylaws, the EWUA Board, including those who are targeted for recall, will set the particulars of when and where the meeting will be held. It must be sometime between August 11, 2024 and September 30, 2024.  We do not know when or where this will be. We encourage you to attend the meeting in person but to sign the proxy form used by RecallWater in case the meeting is set for a time you cannot make it.

State statutes do not permit candidates to participate in the election process. Those who are being targeted for recall cannot, by State law, manage the recall process. Nor should the employees of EWUA or of those being recalled participate. We have compelling evidence of criminal activity that will disqualify certain individuals from participating in the vote counting. We will insist on a mutually-agreeable, neutral party to manage the recall, with the exclusion of employees from the process.

The Petitioners have, through Directors who are on the EWUA Board, made motions at the June and the July meetings, formally requesting EWUA to name an independent party to manage the recall. The Petitioners have asked that the identification of the neutral party be done by mutual agreement. The EWUA Dominant Board Faction has voted down these motions and has, to date, refused to allow a mutually-agreed-upon party to manage the recall.

The EWUA Dominant Board Faction has also refused to accept the proxies that RecallWater has been distributing. The attorney for EWUA recognizes that the RecallWater form meets the statutory requirements. Yet, the Dominant Board Faction refuses to recognize the RecallWater form and the will of the Members who are seeking their removal from the Board.

We expect the Court will need to intervene to compel EWUA to use a neutral election inspector and to compel EWUA to accept the RecallWater proxies that the Members have signed. Unfortunately, we expect that the Dominant Board Faction will use Member money to oppose in Court the appointment of an independent inspector and to continue to oppose any proxy not created by EWUA.

There is one large difference between the current EWUA proxy and the RecallWater proxy. Anyone who signs the EWUA proxy form forfeits their vote, even if they attend the meeting in person. The only way to reclaim one’s vote is to rescind, in writing, the EWUA proxy. In other words, if you give your proxy to EWUA using the EWUA form, then EWUA controls your vote, even if you attend the meeting. Those of you who already signed the proxy making EWUA your proxy holder have lost your vote to EWUA, even if you attend the recall meeting. The only way to recover that is to rescind, in writing, your proxy.  

The RecallWater proxy form works differently. You retain your vote if you attend in person, even if you have signed a RecallWater proxy form. The RecallWater proxy holder only has your vote if you are not present. The RecallWater proxy is designed to only have someone vote for you if you cannot make it to the meeting.

The EWUA Dominant Board Faction is refusing to accept the RecallWater proxy form and insisting that the only valid proxy form is the EWUA form. We could ask everyone who has signed the RecallWater form to rescind that form and sign again using the EWUA form; however, that should not be necessary and it forfeits rights that we don’t think most people will want to forfeit. It appears that the EWUA Dominant Board Faction is trying to force people to use a form that most won’t want to use while prohibiting one that they have been willing to sign. Their requirement that you use the EWUA proxy form is a poison pill to reduce the probability of a quorum at the Member meeting.

We expect there to be a significant amount of confusion regarding the proxies and the recall process. Jim Nelson, Teri Nigretto, Mike Cleveland, and Leith Templin are willing to spend substantial amounts of Member money to contest, delay, and obstruct their recall. We expect that the Court will need to intervene in order for things to be done properly.

What happens if the recall is successful? We propose that the remaining Board Directors call for an early election and to fill seats by a vote of the Members. There are enough people who we believe are honest who are willing to run to fill all of the seats. We believe it should be a choice of the Members on who will clean up the corruption and that the seats should be filled by election rather than by appointment.

We want to ensure that EWUA is returned to its rightful owners – the Members. We, as fellow Members, want to ensure that EWUA Members, as owners of the Association, are heard and represented well.