There’s an old journalist’s trick used by every reporter at one time or another to track down information from public agencies. It’s called a Public Records Act request.

A public record request is a formal request for information based on the California Public Records Act, approved by the Legislature in 1968 and signed into law by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. This important public protection begins by declaring that “access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state.”

Under this law, “access to government records has been deemed a fundamental interest of citizenship.” It emphasizes that “maximum disclosure of the conduct of governmental operations (is) to be promoted by the act.” By promoting prompt public access to government records and thus transparency of agency actions, this law is “intended to safeguard the accountability of government to the public.”

Of course, it is not just journalists who use this law to access public information. Any member of the public can make a request for information and has the right to obtain it (with certain limitations), if such information exists.

So when Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment (SCOPE) members attended the short Valencia Water Co. shareholders meeting on Jan. 25 – it was all over in about 30 minutes – and then made a public records request for all of the financial or other information provided to the Shareholder’s Committee, we fully expected we would get some information. After all, these gentlemen are overseeing a $73 million stock investment on behalf of the taxpayers of this valley.

Background

As readers will undoubtedly recall, in December 2012 in a lightning-swift action orchestrated behind closed doors, the Castaic Lake Water Agency illegally acquired Valencia Water Co. from Newhall Land-Lennar Corp., its former owners. The purchase was illegal because CLWA’s enabling act does not permit it to operate as a water retailer outside of specified boundaries as described in their act. The reason for this is to guard against a water monopoly in our valley.

The deal took place over the winter holidays with only 24 hours’ notice to the public. It cost the taxpayers $73 million, and we had no say in this purchase.

The purchase contract set forth, among other things, the provision of water to 30,000 housing units in Newhall Land-Lennar projects on the west side of our valley. There was a huge public outcry against this action, and litigation to unwind the deal is still tied up in court, putting Valencia Water Co. in limbo.

The Valencia Shareholder’s Committee is a committee of CLWA set up to oversee its legally dubious acquisition of Valencia Water Co. It is made up of five CLWA board members: Bill Pecsi, Jerry Gladbach, R.J. Kelly, William Cooper and Tom Campbell. The information is provided to the committee by Dan Masnada, who has now been hired as a private consultant to CLWA. Each board member receives about $200 for attending these short meetings.

Meetings of the Shareholder’s Committee are not held regularly, and in fact no shareholder meeting had been held since July 20, so one would of course expect that some report regarding the financial state of the water company would be provided to the committee at the January meeting. One would also expect that the committee members would ask for such information.

Overseeing a $73 million public asset with no information?

But at the January meeting, no written information was available to the public. Only sketchy verbal information was provided to the committee members who did not ask for details.

In response to SCOPE’s Public Records Act request for financial details on this $73 million public asset, we received only two paragraphs regarding valve maintenance program and rip rap.

We did not receive a monthly budget report – something routinely provided at City Council meetings, school board meetings and every board meeting of the directors of Newhall County Water District about their agencies. We did not receive financial reports, a balance sheet, a check registrar or any other financial information.

And apparently neither did the CLWA Shareholders Committee members.

The question is, why?

Do they have so little concern for the taxpayers’ money they are supposed to be overseeing? Do they not think a $73 million investment needs oversight? Or are they hiding something from the public?

It seems to me that everyone in this valley should be asking about this serious breach of duty by these board members. What in the world are they doing on behalf of the public for their $200 meeting stipends?

This is also a prime example of why everyone is this valley should be worried about the current proposal to make this same agency, CLWA, a water monopoly controlling all of the water in the entire Santa Clarita Valley. With this lack of transparency, who knows what would go on with our water?

Lynne Plambeck is president of Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment and an elected member of the Newhall County Water Board. Her opinions are her own.