Commentary: Proposed special district merger is just a `beauty pageant’

It’s been said that the safest way to double money is to fold it in half and put it away.

However, no money has been saved thus far in the proposed merger of Mesa Water and the sanitary district that was never asked for by the sanitary district or ratepayers.

Mesa Water alone has already spent more than $330,000 in pursuit of the non-binding “beauty pageant” measure on the merger, whose process actually began in March 2015, well before it was discussed openly with the sanitary district.

This is an outrage for a public entity whose stated third strategic goal is transparency. There is a longstanding method for vetting, managing and executing special district mergers: work through Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), not the expensive and already clogged ballot box.

The California Coastal Commission’s recent 9-1 vote on Banning Ranch should serve as notice about how to handle public projects in our area.

To date, none of Mesa Water’s board meetings are available via live streaming or audio/video on the Internet. Operating in the dark or when the public is not present is not being transparent.

As Laurene Keane rightly asked, “Is this a bribe for our vote?” We may even wonder if a refund would ever materialize anyway. After all, this measure’s very language was already reduced by 80% under court order.

We are going to have to start replacing our brittle, decaying and defunct (it’s no longer produced) asbestos pipe infrastructure in the near future.

I know of at least one resident who is already using only filtered water because of specific concerns with the pipes’ conditions and possible asbestos contamination. As a reminder, Mesa Water spent $500,000 on rebranding just 3 years ago. We should not be giving away money when we know we need to plan on paying these critical infrastructure debts, whether it’s for myself, my children or your grandchildren.

As this merger is simply unasked for and unneeded and both districts function well as they are, I challenge one of the chief architects of this measure, my opponent, Jim Fisler, to a public Lincoln-Douglas-style debate or series of debates on Measure TT.

The voters and ratepayers of Mesa Water deserve to hear all the arguments surrounding the issues. After all, combined with the sanitary district’s spending, just the discussion of a merger has already cost the public over a half million dollars.

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ALEX REICH is a candidate for Mesa Water District director in Division 2.