Questions stall desal forum
Mayors want meetings put on hold until Collins investigation is complete
Herald Staff Reporter
Monterey County Herald
06/15/2011
Sidetracked by controversy, representatives pitching a regional desalination project on the Peninsula have postponed a community forum scheduled for today.
And the two Peninsula mayors on a key committee for the project raised doubts Monday about the "viability" of the management firm hired to plan the water project.
Today's meeting was meant to discuss details about the Regional Water Project, but California American Water spokeswoman Catherine Bowie announced Tuesday that the meeting was postponed "until further notice."
She said it will be rescheduled after results are released in the ongoing investigation of Stephen Collins, former Monterey County Water Resources Agency board member, and his consulting contract with the project's engineering firm, RMC Water and Environment.
The postponement came at the request of mayors Chuck Della Sala of Monterey and Sue McCloud of Carmel.
"We are concerned that the focal point of the public meeting will be the RMC contract as opposed to providing and gathering information about the Regional Project," the mayors wrote in a letter to project partners Cal Am, the Marina Coast Water District and the Water Resources Agency.
Della Sala and McCloud represent Peninsula mayors on the regional project's advisory committee, which was to sponsor the forum tonight.
"The information that has been made public to date causes the Mayors' representatives of the six Peninsula cities to have great concern about the ongoing viability of the contract with RMC," the mayors wrote.
They urged that any further costs by RMC "be absolutely minimized to the essential until the investigation is done and a decision can be made as to the continued ability of RMC to perform as the Project Manager."
Collins resigned from his position on the county water board after it was disclosed that he was paid $150,000 by RMC last year to conduct work for the regional project while also representing the county on the project.
The Monterey County Board of Supervisors said recently it was turning over its investigation of the issue to the District Attorney's Office.
