Drain Carp Water Board

Nick Welsh’s Poodle column just about nails it on Carpinteria’s woeful water board. Except it’s actually worse. Just try to figure Fred Lemere’s campaign to hold on to his job as president of Carpinteria Valley Water District (CVWD) board. One week he takes out an ad in the Coastal View News declaring he will never advertise again, and next thing you know, there’s another big ad asking for our votes.

Moreover, most residents will remember that Mr. Lemere had his picture in the CVN just about every week, flogging for votes for Venoco’s Measure J, the initiative that 70 percent of the town rejected. Talk about bad judgement! Worse, he injected the water board (along with three other directors) into an issue which was none of its business. If anything, the CVWD board had a responsibility to oppose Measure J, on the grounds that Venoco’s project posed a likely danger to Carp’s groundwater.

It’s time that the folks on Carp’s water board take responsibility for years of mismanagement and for dishing out some of the highest water rates in the country. And it’s time for Carpinterians to stop complaining about their water bills and the water board and take some action by putting in some new people.