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Triunfo dispute escalating As a candidate for the Triunfo Sanitation District (TSD) board, I take issue with Ventura Regional Sanitation District Manager (VRSD) Mark Lawler's Aug. 14 T.O. Acorn letter where he contends that conflicts of interest identified between the VRSD and the TSD are "erroneous" and "were discredited two years ago." The 2006-07 Ventura County grand jury investigating a complaint regarding the governance, management and financial administration of the TSD found the appearance of a conflict of interest between the VRSDTSD relationship. In this report, the grand jury noted the following: •The same accounting firm performed both the VRSD and the TSD annual audits. •Both the VRSD and the TSD use the same law firm for legal counsel •A board member of the VRSD also serves as a board member of the TSD. •The general manager of the VRSD also serves as the general manager of the TSD. The grand jury made a number of recommendations based on their investigation, including a call for an all-elected TSD board of directors and a review of aspects of the VRSDTSD relationship that has given rise to the appearance of a conflict of interest. Mr. Lawler's contention that no conflicts of interest exist is disingenuous. The very fact that he wrote this letter as the "general manager" of the VRSD while also serving as the general manager of the TSD is certainly indicative of the inherent conflict of interest that exists with the dual roles he serves for both organizations. As the custodian of TSD funds, the VRSD failed to properly place $3.1 million of TSD monies in an interestbearing account —which took 30 months to bring to the TSD board's attention.
Let's also not lose sight that some on the TSD board, including my opponent Ron Stark, continually refuse to allow an allelected board of directors—a recommendation called for by the grand jury and by many members of the community, including TSD board members, Janna Orkney and Supervisor Linda Parks. |
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