On August 6, an anonymous writer, using EWUA resources and identity, sent an email to all EWUA members. This is a point-by-point response to that desperate spin to save the positions of the dominant Board faction and to, yet again, take your focus away from why the recall is happening.

Response to Anonymous Propaganda in EWUA’s Name

Anonymous emailer in red.

Responses by Mike Parnell, a member of the RecallWater.com team and on behalf of Farm to Market LLC, in black

Anonymous emailer: Jim Cook and Carol Ann Anderson, two of our sitting Board members, have been coordinating with opposing counsel to sue you, the membership. They have been sharing protected documents and filing content with the court that supports their recall effort. We found out about this last week when we were called to court for a surprise hearing.

Response: There is nothing accurate in the opening paragraph. Cook and Anderson have had no communication with Carla Higginson, counsel for Farm to Market LLC in its suit against EWUA for violation of Member rights on how it conducted the 2023 election of directors and how it manipulated the results afterward.

Cook and Anderson have not shared any protected documents with the Court. You can read the affidavits, both filed with the Court here. https://bit.ly/rw-AndersonAffidavit and https://bit.ly/rw-CookAffidavit. The affidavits were filed with the Court to correct inaccurate information that had been provided to the Court by Director Jim Nelson, in EWUA’s name and without consulting the full Board.

The Court hearing was not a surprise. The motion was scheduled on July 15, 2024 for hearing on July 30th. This is more time than the Court rules require.

Anonymous emailer: Please review this short video of our Association’s legal counsel, Rochelle Doyea of Cairncross & Hempelmann, speaking to Judge Loring about this matter in court. We apologize in advance for how unsettling this content may be:

Response: The law requires EWUA to produce, to any requesting Member, the contact information of the Members of the Association. See RCW 24.03A.210(4).

A membership corporation or its agent shall maintain a record of its members, in a form that permits preparation of a list of the names and addresses of all members, in alphabetical order by class, showing the number of votes each member is entitled to cast.

RCW 24.03A.215(1), (2) Require the Association to allow any Member to inspect and copy these records.

Anonymous emailer: Farm to Market took the Association to court last week to compel the Association to hand over more confidential customer information and answer other unrelated questions. What’s strange about this is that we are still waiting to hear back from on the Court’s summary judgement heard on July 3, 2024 which could dismiss this case entirely.

Response: As can be seen from the motion to compel filed by Farm to Market LLC, no confidential information was requested. Also note that the Court will not cause EWUA to produce any information that the Members do not have a right to know.

Anonymous emailer: What’s also odd is that there has never been a dispute about the facts in this case. We should have had three candidates on the ballet and we had two. We provided a reasonable remedy by appointing the third vote-getter from the election, and Farm to Market is suing us because Mike Parnell simply doesn’t like that solution. Mike is also a part of the recall water team.

Response: Farm to Market filed suit in November 2023, prior to the end of the election. Director Jim Nelson signed four different statements or motions with the Court, each giving a different date for when the Board appointed Jim Cook to the Board. Nelson has given the dates of November 15, 2023, December 5, 2023, January 9, 2024, and January 16, 2024. What this letter does not report is that Jim Cook was prohibited from voting after he was appointed until after Leith Templin was appointed to the Board. See the affidavit of Carol Anderson to the Court. https://bit.ly/rw-AndersonAff

This is an intentional manipulation of the results of the election and a violation of the Member’s rights.

Anonymous emailer:

WANTING MORE DOCUMENTS

“Discovery” is an official part of any lawsuit and that process allows both sides of a case to ask for information. The idea of discovery is that it helps each side prove the facts about a case. You may find it alarming to know Parnell has asked for over 49 interrogatories and 18 requests for production of confidential documents seeking a wide array of information, most of which are unrelated to the 2023 director’s election.

Response: You may view the discovery requests here.

Interrogatories 1 – https://bit.ly/rw-FtM-Questions1

Interrogatories 2 – https://bit.ly/rw-FtM-Questions2 EWUA had published under the byline of “The EWUA Executive Committee.” These questions were designed to identify who this might be. The response was that there was no “executive committee.”

Motion to Compel – https://bit.ly/rw-MotiontoCompel

Reply to Response – https://bit.ly/rw-FtMReply

Everything was related to the lawsuit and the claims made by the EWUA dominant Board faction. They are claiming that they “substantially complied” with the intent of the bylaws after the election. How they did or did not do so is a proper subject of discovery.

Anonymous emailer: In compliance with our discovery obligations, EWUA has produced 116 documents related to the 2023 election and subsequent Board meetings and communications as demanded. We asked the prosecution to sign a protection waiver for all your confidential information before we handed over sensitive files, but neither Farm to Market nor their counsel will sign an agreement and we’re not sure why. Part of this week’s hearing was about steamrolling over that protection agreement.

Response: The dominant Board faction has refused to produce multiple records and refused to answer multiple questions, even though they were not remotely related to anything that might be protected. See the motion to compel here. Motion to Compel – https://bit.ly/rw-MotiontoCompel

Anonymous emailer: This confidential information demanded includes:

The names on your account
- Response: Required by law RCW 24.03A.210, 215
The emails on your account
- Response: Never requested
The addresses on your account
- Response: Required by law RCW 24.03A.210, 215
Your home and cell phone numbers
- Response: Never requested
Your property information
- Response: Required by law RCW 24.03A.210, 215
Your water usage
- Response: Never requested
Your EWUA account number(s)
- Response: Required by law RCW 24.03A.210, 215
Who you voted for in previous elections
- Response: Never requested.
The address of any other homes you may own or live
- Response: Service address and mailing address were requested. No request was made for any other properties.

See the discovery request links above to verify.

Anonymous emailer: In support of our case, our attorney Rochelle Doyea wrote the following:

The breadth of discovery sought by Plaintiff is wholly inappropriate, and Plaintiff has provided no clear justification for why it served nearly 70 discovery requests in a case where the issue is narrow and the material facts are not in dispute.

Response: We are in agreement that the election was flawed. We disagree that the dominant Board faction substantially complied with the bylaws. We believe that the dominant Board factions violated the Members’ rights by refusing to halt and correct the election after they realized their significant errors and, then, by preventing Jim Cook from voting after they had appointed him to the Board. The discovery requests are very appropriate in addressing the manipulation of the post-election results by the dominant Board faction.

Anonymous emailer:

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING

We believe that this court case is being leveraged to assist the recall efforts put forth by sitting Board members Ron Claus, Jim Cook and Carol Ann Anderson. Carol Ann Anderson announced their collective intent to recall 4 board members only 67 days after she took office as an EWUA director, and from that date, they have been disruptive to the business. They have made personal attacks on many of our hard-working employees and our volunteer directors. In short, they have spun the Association into a state of chaos and none of it is benefitting the membership.

Response: Who is the “we” that opens this paragraph? Whoever it is portrays themselves as speaking for the Association that includes the three directors who are being attacked here as well as the many Members who are in favor of the recall.

Carol Anderson was elected Treasurer of EWUA on December 5, 2023. Carol Anderson was denied access to the records, just as Treasurer Tenar Hall had been denied access to the records. Anderson initiated a recall effort after it became evident that she was unable to perform her duties due to this obstruction.

No one associated with the recall effort has made any attacks on any of the field staff associated with the Association. They are good, hard-working individuals who are critical to the day-to-day operations.

The better question to ask is, “Why did Treasurers Carol Anderson and Tenar Hall, along with Jim Cook and Ron Claus, feel they had no other option than to participate in a drastic, unusual action like a recall campaign?” They felt they were forced to do this because the dominant Board faction (DBF) has been willing to forfeit their integrity rather than allow proper oversight.

Those who are associated with the recall have focused their complaint against Jim Nelson, Teri Nigretto, Mike Cleveland, and Leith Templin who have all breached their fiduciary duty to the Members in multiple, ongoing ways. The evidence is detailed on RecallWater.com

Anonymous emailer: This is the second time two of these three Board members have violated their obligation to their members and broke both our bylaws and Washington state law to aid their recall efforts. Our attorney informed the Board as a whole about the laws they are beholden to as directors after the first time they submitted documents in favor of Farm to Market, and Board President Teri Nigretto asked them to step down at the next Board meeting as a result, but they declined. So this second violation was done with the full knowledge that they were not only harming the Association they swore to protect, but breaking known state laws.

Response: Claus, Anderson, and Cook have violated no bylaws and no state law. Rather, they have done their duty of pointing out the problems at EWUA and documenting the violations that they have observed. They have done this at great personal cost, both emotionally and financially.

The fiduciary duty of loyalty that each director has is to the Members they represent, not to the other directors who are failing in their responsibilities.

The fiduciary duty of obedience is not to the Board but rather to the bylaws and laws of the State.

Filing a statement with the Court to correct the record to reflect what actually happened is exactly what an honorable director should do to protect the Members. Thank you, Carol Anderson, Jim Cook, and Ron Claus, for being honorable directors and representatives of the EWUA Membership.

Anonymous emailer: What’s clear after reviewing all of their complicated documents posted online and in social media is that they appear to be seeking majority control of our Board of Directors. They desperately want to control the company and feel that suing us and slandering anyone in connection to stopping them is the way to get it. What’s not clear is what action they may take or not take once they do get control.

Response: The statements made by Claus, Anderson, and Cook are not complicated. They are very short and very readable. Find them on RecallWater.com

Anonymous emailer: We know that some members of the recall team wanted to use member funds for a real estate project that had nothing to do with our company mission and would put us into extreme debt. Part of the recall team’s efforts seem to be a retaliation for not allowing that project to happen.

Response: This is nonsense and a grasping at straws. The recall is happening for all of the reasons listed on RecallWater.com.

Anonymous emailer: As Board President Steve Smith wanted to convert our member co-op to a privately-owned company where outsiders could buy into the investment and take control of the organization. We have heard from 5 individuals who were approached by Steve with the idea of taking the company private and soliciting their participation. That would fundamentally alter the business, changing it into something we don’t believe the membership wants to happen. But because they have been using such incredibly deceptive language and creating outright lies, they unfortunately have done a good job of obfuscating what is really going on. They simply want control.

Response: This is a straw man argument that has nothing to do with the recall or the lawsuit. EWUA is a private, nonprofit, Member-owned cooperative. It cannot be sold without over 600 EWUA memberships voting to sell. See https://bit.ly/rw-private for details.

Anonymous emailer: Fundamentally, we believe that Board members who are breaking bylaws and state laws, and spending your money to sue you should not be in control of our little water co-op, do you?

Response: We believe that the directors in the dominant Board faction are seriously failing in their oversight responsibilities, spending Member money to oppose calls to conduct elections properly, and spending Member money to defend themselves against a recall. Such directors should not be in control of the Board, overseeing the GM, nor representing the Membership where many of the Members are in favor of their recall.

Anonymous emailer:

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP IT

From the beginning of this unfounded attack, we have been trying to maintain our professionalism and carry out the job of defending the organization and its members as you have empowered us to do. We have guarded your private information and tried tirelessly to resolve this matter through the right channels and in the most ethical and professional way possible, but what we have learned is that the opposition will not stop until they get control.

Response: Control is determined by the Members as they vote for who will represent them, unless that process is violated. And, that process has been violated by the dominant Board faction who is desperate to maintain their positions and control.

Anonymous emailer: This situation has gotten so severe that we are reaching out to you, our members, for help. These unfounded and unnecessary attacks are drawing our attention and financial resources away from our main objective, to keep clean drinking water flowing, and the amount of time and energy required to fight off these hostile attacks is just too much for us to handle by ourselves. So much of this fight is about protecting the organization’s integrity, your personal information and the power you have as a co-op member – so in the spirit of a member-owned co-op, we are asking you for help.

Here are some things you can do:

Cast your own votes. There is so much misinformation out there but there is one thing that remains consistent. All of the recall documents lead back to a form urging you to turn over your member rights via an online proxy. Be aware that a signed proxy means the proxy holder has all of your powers as a member for 12 months or until you send a signed letter to revoke it. That means any votes that come up in the future, like taking our member co-op private, or investing in a real estate scam would be a snap if the wrong people had enough proxies.

Response: The anonymous emailer is accusing the recall team of what the dominant Board faction is actually guilty of. The EWUA proxy form requires the proxy to be rescinded in writing in order for the Member to act for themselves.The RecallWater proxy form specifically allows the Member to retain their right to vote if the Member attends a meeting in person or votes in an election of directors.The suggestion that a real estate scam can occur when there is proper oversight is nonsense, is revisionist history, and is a scare tactic with no basis in fact. The fact that there is no oversight happening now is what could allow a scam to happen now. Today, how would we know a scam is happening when no one is permitted to look at the records and Treasurers are removed from their office when they ask to see the books?
Anonymous emailer: Get involved. We need help organizing and getting truthful information into the hands of our members. The recall team has been generating an ocean of misinformation, twisting our words and damming our actions at every step. We need volunteers to help us with all sorts of tasks in the coming weeks so please jump in by calling (360) 376-2127 or stopping by the office.

Response: The three minority directors who are a part of the recall effort are certainly not asking you to call the office and volunteer to oppose the recall. It is improper for staff to take sides in this issue and use Members’ money and the name of the Association to oppose the recall.

Anonymous emailer:
Come to our office or call a Board officer to ask what is going on if you have questions. We will take the time to get you the answers you need.
Tell other members and water users what’s going on. It’s time to pay attention and get informed, and not to dismiss this chaos as simple infighting, or just a bunch of island drama. This is a real concern that informed members and our staff have and we need your help to spread awareness.
Consider the source when reading online posts and in social media comments, and consider their motivations. Look at the players and see if there are any commonalties or coordination between them. Notice if they are using any familiar tactics to drive alarm and panic. We as employees have our own take on the situation and would like you to talk to us before you believe what you read online, no matter how many times it’s repeated.

Response: “We as employees?”

This letter comes from an anonymous “Eastsound Water Team” using Association letterhead, return address, and email list, using information that EWUA has argued is confidential.

The three directors who are supporting the recall object to this hijacking of the Association’s name and resources as well as paying an employee to write such a biased appeal to the Members in order to protect the dominant Board faction.

The recall team repeats that it has no complaints with the good, hard work of the field staff. We emphasize that our complaint is with the four directors who have failed and refuse to perform their oversight responsibilities.

Anonymous emailer:

We, the people keeping your water flowing, are a very small group of dedicated long-time islanders trying to protect our precious resources, serve our community’s best interest, and guard our membership from outside attacks. We have struggled through months of baseless and untrue accusations, completely lacking merit. We’ve been working hard to hold the line on your behalf, so it is with humility that we make this call for your support. Will you answer our call?

Last, you can count on the recall team spinning this message to you, our members, within minutes after it being sent. Our facts will be questions, our individual characters will be diminished and a wave of contrary propaganda will be launched. Revisit this email if you happen to get caught up in that retaliatory firestorm. The truth will still be here.

Thank you for taking the time and for being an Eastsound Water user. We hope to hear from you soon.

Humbly yours,

The Eastsound Water Team

Response: Things that this email from the anonymous “Eastsound Water Team” does not mention.

- The petitions calling for a Member meeting were submitted July 22, 2024.

- Notice of the meeting location, date, and time must be sent to all Members within 35 days of receipt of those petitions.

- A neutral election inspector must be named to manage the recall process. This is a necessity because the officers of EWUA and the staff who work for them are clearly biased against the recall and cannot be the persons responsible to manage the recall process.

- The neutral election inspector should be the recipient of the proxies that must be sent with the notice to all Members and the recipient of proxies that have already been signed by the Members.

- The dominant Board faction has refused, by vote at the June and July meetings, to allow a neutral election inspector to be named.

- The dominant Board faction has been given until Friday, August 9 at noon to meet their fiduciary and legal obligations. Otherwise, the Court will be asked to compel the dominant Board faction to do so.

- As evidenced by this letter, the dominant Board faction and anonymous “Eastsound Water Team” intend to use the Association name and Member money to oppose their recall.

- We actually agree with the dominant Board faction on one point. Members should get involved. You should take the time to understand the facts. You should review the evidence. You should attend the Member meeting, if you can. If you cannot attend in person, you should give someone your proxy.