Kenneth Kipruto |
A censure motion against Western Municipal Water District (WMWD) Board Vice President Gracie Torres will come up for a vote on Wednesday December 21 following its postponement earlier this month after the board voted to give her more time to review the allegations against her and prepare a response.
The board members met on December 8 to, among other things, discuss the possible censure of Torres. In a prior meeting on November 16, the board had discussed an agenda item that constituted the first step in deciding whether or not to bring a censure motion against Torres for publicly criticizing staff and falsely accusing them of violating meeting laws and procedures.
“Director Torres publicly criticized staff and legal counsel’s job performance during the board meeting; calling attention to grammar errors, misspellings and scrutinized the work performed by the reviewer of the work repeatedly. These comments adversely impacted staff,” a board packet dated November 16 says.
Other instances highlighted in the board packet include a meeting on November 2, 2022, where, “Director Torres falsely accused staff of violating the Brown Act even after legal counsel advised there was no such violation, prior to the board meeting”, and a February 17, 2021 closed session where Torres purportedly told the General Manager, “Thanks for mansplaining to me.”
But Torres says the censure motion against her was only brought after she questioned a potential Ralph M. Brown Act violation during a board meeting held on October 5, 2022. That violation, she says, is now under probe by the District Attorney.
Torres had questioned the failure of the board to post the meeting’s agenda on the agency’s website in accordance with the Brown Act’s requirements.
“For sharing my valid concerns, I am being retaliated against which is a continuing pattern of the harassment I have received from Director [Brenda] Dennstedt during my first term on the board,” Torres stated. “It is my duty as a board member to be transparent with constituents and ensure the Board is following the law that governs us as elected officials. We cannot afford to play politics with ratepayers’ hard-earned dollars.”
Section 54954.2 of the Brown Act stipulates that before a regular meeting, the legislative body of the local agency, or its designee, shall post an agenda containing a brief general description of each item of business to be transacted or discussed at the meeting, including items to be discussed in closed session, at least 72 hours before the meeting.
“The agenda shall specify the time and location of the regular meeting and shall be posted in a location that is freely accessible to members of the public and on the local agency’s internet website, if the local agency has one,” the Act states in part.
Official Action
Vice president Torres brought the issue to the attention of Dennstedt, WMWD General Manager Craig Miller, and Jeff Ballinger, the general counsel of the water district, on the evening of October 2, 2022. She again brought her concerns to Dennstedt, Miller, and Ballinger during the open session of the October 5th board meeting, raising the issue of voting on agenda items that had not been properly posted per the Brown Act.
Torres said her concerns were ignored and the Board took official action by taking votes on all agenda items. Pursuant to the Brown Act, Torres submitted a formal “cure and correct request” to the Board of Directors on Monday, October 31, 2022. Instead of acting on her request, an item to censure her was introduced.
During the December 8 meeting that was to determine Torres’ fate, a group of supporters turned up at the venue to rally behind her, terming the censure motion a “witch hunt” fuelled by racism. The supporters, who included former assembly member Jose Medina, demanded a chance to air their views on the motion.
Initially, the Board’s president had declined to allow them to speak, but was advised that it was important to let them do so. Twelve people were eventually allowed to address the meeting, with most of them opposing the motion.
Eventually, the censure motion was pushed to December 21 after Ms Torres asked for more time to review the associated paperwork.
The IE Voice reached out to WMWD President Dennstedt for comment. She had not responded by publication.