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March 11, 2017
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COMPLAINT
July 23, 2018
The July 23 Agenda, page 2, item 6c states: Discussion and possible action regarding: Announce notice of vacancy for Interim/Temporary LMRFD board Member open position; interview possible interested candidates and vote for Interim/Temporary LMRFD Board member scheduled for August 27, 2018 Regular Meeting. (Cass)
The attached Agendas & Minutes from October and November 2017 clearly show that LMRFD precedent in appointing a person to fill a vacant Board position is to announce the vacancy in the current month agenda, and then follow through in that month's meeting with an interview of possible candidates and a vote. In Rick Sherwood's case it carried all the way through to swearing him in, approving him as a signer on the bank account and electing him to be the Board clerk! Cass’s inclusion of the August 27 date is unprecedented and confusing, as it has never been done for any reason before. One was left to presume perhaps the swearing in portion of the appointment would be delayed until the August meeting for some obscure reason. As it turns out, it appears to be a deliberate ploy to delay/prevent seating someone she does NOT want on the Board while holding the position open for someone she DOES. Cass’s statement as recorded in the July 23 Minutes indicates such. “We are putting it back out there, so if there’s more people that are interested, because I know there’s at least 1-2 more people interested.” This is unheard of in the history of the LMRFD.
I presented my written qualifications and intent to the Board at the July meeting, more than has ever been required or done previously, and Cass knows I am as qualified as anyone can be for the position. I stated my interest in the position at the June meeting. Another interested party appeared at the July meeting as well. There was no valid reason to delay appointment of one of us at the July meeting.
The Board has been handicapped for nearly a year, as attempts to fill vacancies result in candidates being disqualified or resigning within a short time. It takes months to get a new Board member up to speed on what is going on in the LMRFD so they can make good judgment calls on behalf of the taxpayers. To deliberately word the Agenda item in order to delay appointment for another month because of personal bias is unacceptable in an elected official.
This blatant display of prejudice and bias on Debora Cass’s part, using her position of power to pursue her own personal agenda, makes her unfit to serve as Chairperson of the Board. As a taxpaying resident of the LMRFD I am calling for her resignation from that position.
Respectfully,
Ellen Reh-Bower
Here are the pdf files of the complaint (I had to change the yellow highlighting in the complaint to RED as there's no highlighting option in this forum) and the two previous board meeting minutes referenced:
2018-7-23-Ellen-Reh-Bower-Complaint-about-Cass.pdf
June 13, 2018
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Christine, your "yellow highlighting changed to RED"didn't come through in the Minutes. The discussion about appointment of a Board member begins at 43:08 on the video. Thank you for taking your valuable time to document these meetings for the taxpayers of the District!
March 11, 2017
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Ellen, you're very welcome! And I don't have the highlighted minutes. Just checked the video:
https://forum.highdesertdirt.com/mohave/2018-july/
They're discussing that Theodora is not eligible because the County takes half a year to process a property annexation into the fire district. About 43:38 they talk about filling the vacancy and it's so hard to understand.
But from the minutes:
Director Cass stated, “we are putting it back out there, so if there’s more people that are interested, because I know there’s at least 1-2 more people interested.”
Debbie Cass MUST go!
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