Last month, at the Altadena Community Center, there was something unusual at the annual meeting of the Rubio Canon Land & Water Association: security guards.
Pictured: the water district's
warning was put just above
the water bill drop slot last week.
Last week, the water association put out a message warning that "a purported shareholder of Rubio is spreading false rumors and innuendo regarding the business and operation of Rubio and its directors and employees." The urgent message also says that "this individual is also reportedly going door to door requesting signatures on petitions ... Should you feel harassed or violated by this individual in any manner, you should contact local law enforcement."
The object of all this attention, water company staff say, is Richard Vartanian, who has mounted a crusade against the water company after it dismissed his wife, Elvira, a 30-year water company employee. Vartanian said that, now that she no longer works there, he is free to say what he thinks about the water company and the members of its board.
Restraining orders sought
Part of his crusade includes delivering demands to board members' homes and, water officials say, trying to enlist support from shareholders one-on-one at their homes.
Some board members sought and received a temporary restraining order against Vartanian in March. The guards at the March 21 annual meeting were to turn him back if he showed up in violation of the restraining order.
According to Lillian Woods, the water company's director of operations, Vartanian's crusade has introduced an element of fear among the staff. "Everyone here feels threatened," she said, "He possesses firearms so we're very scared."
Vartanian said that board members who sought the restraining order were "lying," and and that he did not act in a threatening manner when he hand-delivered his letter to their homes: "This is an illegal, frivolous use of the court's time to bludgeon me into silence."
Vartanian is convinced that the water company is a hotbed of malfeasance and cronyism, and he wants to get the message out.
"Let me say this: what precipitated this -- them letting [Elvira] go -- freed the shackle on me," Vartanian said. "I wanted to do this for years."
Going after the directors
One of Vartianian's major complaints is that the water company board's secretary-treasurer Austin "Wes" Weston, a board member for over three decades, has been a resident of Medford, Oregon, for many years. Board president Janet L. Fahey told the audience at the annual meeting that Weston remains on the board because he has an invaluable background about how the Rubio Canon water system works.
Vartanian shared with Altadenablog copies of a letter he said he had mailed certified to all five directors on March 2, detailing his complaints. The letters "request and demand your individual letters in reply" (emphasis original) on a list of about 50 questions, with many words and phrases underlined, bolded, in caps, or some combination.
A typical question (emphasis original):
4. Please inform and confirm to us:...(d) that YOU Board Members are 100 percent certain that your monitoring of hired "Management" will uncover any wrong doing, inappropriate actions, misdeeds or violations of the Law by hired "Management" should any ever occur, or have occured ... (h) that YOU Board Members are NOT duped by, or are Dupes of, the hired "Management."
The letter also asks for, among other things, detailed pay records for members of "hired Management", in which cities, counties, and states they reside, and why the board does not reflect the diversity of the community.
When the board hadn't responded within five days after the letter was written, Vartanian sent follow-up emails to Board President Janet L. Fahey, vice president James W. Granke, and Weston, demanding their resignations, and demanded that a reply to the March 2 letter be received at an East Altadena Drive address no later than March 15. In the event such a letter was not received, Vartanian wrote that he would contact California Attorney General Kamela Harris and local media "on behalf of the shareholders."
Vartanian shared with Altadenablog a boilerplate response dated March 14, on Rubio Canon letterhead and signed the "Board of Directors," which he said did not address any of his questions. The recipient of the letter and the address had been blacked out in the copy he showed us.
(When asked over the phone Thursday if he had contacted Harris and the media since then as promised, Vartanian refused to answer, saying he would only conduct face-to-face interviews from now on.)
Vartanian said that he found board members' home addresses through "the public record -- I looked at them on the public record."
Investigation provoked dismissal
Lisa Yamashita-Lopez, operations manager at Rubio Cañon Land & Water Assn., said that Elvira was let go following an investigation. "Because of the findings we came upon, we offered her a nice exit plan with benefits and she decided not to take it, " Yamashita-Lopez said. "She was highly compensated, well taken care of, and had many perks. She was offered a generous package, and she chose to go this route."
Even though Vartanian was barred from the water company's annual meeting, several audience members addressed his concerns, particularly the presence of Weston on the board (although Weston did not attend the meeting). According to Yamashita-Lopez, "the vocal people were all [Elvira's] groupies that she waived late fees [for] every month."
Woods said in an email that the water company felt compelled to create the warning notice to customers on their website, and a sign on the front of the its Sacramento St. headquarters. They will also be sending it out with the monthly bills: "Basically we had the attorneys draft that," Yamashita-Lopez said. "We've had more customers coming in complaining that he's going to their homes, harassing them. "
Vartanian personally delivered copies of his various letters and emails directly to the home where we produce Altadenablog. We are also shareholders of Rubio Cañon Land & Water Assn. While our address can be found in public records, we do keep it confidential. When asked how he got our home address, Vartanian said that "I think we got a list of water company customers .. from work that my wife had brought home, because she had done work from home ... she didn't have a chance to turn it in -- they knew she had it."
Several hours later, Vartanian called claiming he had found it through internet records.
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