The recall results have been announced by the Election Inspector. Ron Claus, Carol Anderson, and Jim Cook were recalled. They are no longer directors at EWUA. The members retained Jim Nelson, Teri Nigretto, Mike Cleveland, and Leith Templin. The four directors have asked the Court to punish those who had asked for: 1) an election…
The Member meeting to vote on the recall or retention of all seven EWUA Directors happened on Saturday, September 28, 2024. The Election Inspector and his assistants are validating and tabulating the approximately 450 proxies and ballots right now. They will announce the results once they are confident that they have it correct. We do…
Privacy of Vote Is your vote in the recall election private? Thankfully, yes. This was a major point of contention in the negotiations between the two sides in the recall election. We strenuously argued for privacy while the dominant Board faction (dBf) sought a public vote. This is our understanding of the process. If you…
Election Inspector Questions After receiving the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the Election Inspector had the following questions. The Board is divided on how to answer the questions and, as a result, both the dominant Board faction and the minority faction are providing their own set of answers, with the inspector left to decide how to…
On July 22, we submitted petitions calling for the recall of four directors. With little evidence that the recall was being taken seriously, we went to Court asking for four things: A neutral election inspector; The Members to be allowed to use the proxy of their choice; For proxies that are held in the name…
On September 11, 2024 Randy Gaylord wrote a letter to the editor about the water controversy. This was posted as a letter to the editor on The Orcasonian. Following the letter there was a comment added by someone claiming to be Mike Douglas. I called the only Mike Douglas that lives on the island that…
||| FROM STEVE SMITH ||| In the theater of life, reputations are the costumes we wear—the finely-tailored suits or the threadbare cloaks that define us. A person with a sterling reputation is akin to a celebrated actor, bathed in the spotlight’s warm glow. We applaud their virtues, admire their deeds, and weave narratives of integrity…
||| from MICHAEL RIORDAN ||| The word “fiduciary” has been bandied about recently on Orcas Island, especially with regard to two recall efforts at Eastsound Water Users Association. One group states that the majority of the EWUA Board of Directors is not fulfilling its fiduciary responsibility to the members to represent their rights and…
||| FROM RANDALL GAYLORD ||| Members should be sure to vote in the Eastsound Water recall election even though this election lacks checks and balances we are accustomed to for removing public officials from office. When a recall of a public official is made, the Prosecuting Attorney prepares a ballot synopsis and sends it to…
Reasons to Disqualify the Retaliatory Petitions The petitions against Ron Claus, Carol Anderson, Jim Cook, are invalid for multiple reasons: The dominant Board faction has initiated retaliatory recall against the minority directors for the purpose of revenge and to confuse the members. The reasons cited in the submission letter and that used to solicit…