Rafael Trujillo Exits Stage Left But May Be Waiting In The Wings

Rafael Trujillo is a name you may know but may not be able to remember where from. Prior to September his greatest claim to fame would be a former aide to numerous State and Federal elected officials and a member of the Rialto Parks and Recreation Committee. He has tried to run for every local office that is available to him and has always fallen short. He has even used political favors to try and get appointed to Rialto City Council but not even that worked.

It wasn’t until a seat came open on the West Valley Water Board that Rafael found his way in. This September Rafael was appointed as a Director of the water board. He still had to cross a hurdle that he has yet to successfully win an election where the people had to choose him. He failed to win one of three seats on the water board even though he worked hard to tarnish the reputation of the only incumbent seeking re-election Alan Dyer.

At the November 5th meeting Rafael hinted at the future for him even though he had already lost the election? What pray tell can be his future when he lost the election?

On top of all this Rafael was given a glowing recommendation of his time on the board three whole months. Below is Rafael’s speech after he was given his Resolution for his three months as a water board director.

Here are our problems with this:

  • Two board members left with this election Betty Gosney and Rafael Trujillo. The resolutions were done on different meetings Mrs. Gosney the outgoing President and 13 year veteran did not get her resolution and was called a racist. Rafael Trujillo revived his with a unanimous vote for only three months of service.
  • When President Clifford Young gave Rafael Trujillo his award Mr. Young gave Rafael time to speak yet he didn’t limit him to the same three minutes that he limited all other speakers to.
  • Rafael refers to issues he was passionate about but fails to remember his passionate issues when accepting his public resolution.
  • The West Valley Water Board continues its witch hunt on Mr. Dyer and if they find enough dirt to remove him from his seat you can guarantee that Rafael will be there waiting in the wings.
  • Are there people on the board feeding Rafael information from closed session meetings? Everything having to do with the Boards illegal informant is done in closed session and Rafael seems to be well versed in what has been going on.

We write all of this not because we dislike Mr. Trujillo or to cause him grief we simply want to get our elected officials to work on the peoples behalf not their own.

West Valley Water Caught Playing Favorites

WVWD Fav

Would you believe that temporary appointed Water Board Director Rafael Trujillo who only served a few months on the Board will Recognized, Honored and Commended for his time on the water board but Betty Gosney the long time elected board member will get no such recognition? Well it is true. As you can see below that Rafael Trujillo will be recognized at tomorrows West valley Water Board Meeting. Some people are saying that Clifford Young has worked behind the scenes to be a puppet master of other people and it looks like it has worked out for Rafael with yet another recognition for following another persons agenda without thinking for himself.

The two resolutions look very different and speak to the tone the majority of the board was acting when each resolution was penned.

Here is the one for President Betty Gosney:

Adopt Resolution No. 2015-18 Commending President Betty Gosney for More than 12 Years of Dedicated Service.

Here is the one for Appointed Director Rafael Trujillo:

Approval of Resolution No. 2015-20, Recognizing, Honoring and Commending Rafael Trujillo for Outstanding Public Service as a Board Member.

So from the get go the Board majority penned resolutions that should have sounded the same yet are much more different when it comes to wording and perceived tone. Another question is why were these two resolutions made separate of each other? It would be inappropriate to deny President Gosney her Resolution and give one to Appointed Director Trujillo. President Gosney who had served on the West Valley Water board for 12 years has underwent a lot of attacks and game playing by a majority of the board especially Vice President Clifford Young. So after the lastest round of attacks and political games that were played President Gosney asked if Clifford Young’s signature could be left off the resolution which is her right. Clifford Young did not like being left out and he knew ahead of time so he invited Irma Flores to the meeting to call President Gosney a racist for not wanting the only African American member of the board’s signature on her resolution.

Now remember we called Appointed Director Trujillo a rubber stamp for Vice President Young and originally Appointed Director Trujillo seconded the motion to approve President Gosney’s resolution for service. He changed his mind after Clifford Young instructed his fellow board members to not no on this resolution.

Personally I have always thought it was silly to give resolutions on behalf of an entire body to a specific person or group. Many times most of the elected body of any city or board have no idea who they are recognizing or even agree they should be recognized.

Below is the entire body of the Water Boards agenda tonight.

BUSINESS MATTERS Consideration of:

1. Approval Resolution No. 2015-18, Adopting the Rosenberg’s Rules of Order as Official Parliamentary Procedures for West Valley Water District Meetings.

2. Approval of Resolution No. 2015-19, Appointing Shanae Smith as Board Secretary Confidential Assistant Reporting to the Board of Directors and Two (2) Assistant Secretaries.

3. Approval of Resolution No. 2015-20, Recognizing, Honoring and Commending Rafael Trujillo for Outstanding Public Service as a Board Member.

West Valley Water Board Swears In New Members & Changes Rules

On Thursday December 3rd West Valley Water District ushers in a lot of change. With the coming changes the cloud of controversy that hangs over the sitting board remains.

The first order of business will be to administer the oath of office for the three board members that were elected in November. The three people include Greg Young, Alan Dyer and Donald Olinger. Greg Young was one of the three people that current Vice President of the West Valley Water Board was supporting which lays a layer of uncertainty over his seat on the Board. One of the people Greg Young replaced (Rafael Trujillo) appeared follow Clifford Young’s lead even when it led to potentially violating the Brown Act as well as possibly misappropriating funds and hiding information that the public inside closed session that should have been heard before the public. Alan Dyer the only sitting incumbent won re-election but not without being under extreme scrutiny by Clifford Young, Linda Gonzalez and the private counsel that is being paid public funds to investigate Mr. Dyers residency and secretly report back to the Water Board in closed session. Don Olinger is a common name in the city of Rialto as a former teacher, school board member and a former West Valley Water Board Director. Given the latest antics that the current board has underwent Mr Olinger has his work cut out for him.

The next major item on the board agenda is a change from the Roberts Rules of Order to the Rosenberg Rules of Order. Now you may say who cares what system they use. Well I would caution you to hold that thought it was Clifford Young who asked for this change and as he stated in the first meeting of November he is not at all happy with the increase of public participation that his actions have garnered lately. If you look below we copied some of the areas of the Rosenburg’s Rules of Order sections for you and the one that stood out the most was “a five-member body with a few members of the public in attendance” Clifford Young wants to use a system that works with low public participation.

If one is chairing or running a parliament, then Robert’s Rules of Order is a dandy and quite useful handbook for procedure in that complex setting. On the other hand, if one is running a meeting of say, a five-member body with a few members of the public in attendance, a simplified version of the rules of parliamentary procedure is in order.

Below it talks about these 21st Century rules have found a welcoming audience. How is this possible if its used to lower public attendance? We see the writting on the wall and more public elected boards will be doing what they can to get better control of what the public is ALLOWED to participate in.

These rules have been simplified for the smaller bodies we chair or in which we participate, slimmed down for the 21st Century, yet retaining the basic tenets of order to which we have grown accustomed. Interestingly enough, Rosenberg’s Rules has found a welcoming audience.

Finally this is the best part for Mr. Clifford Young he wants to be able to silence people that speak against him and his tactics.

The chair should always ensure that debate and discussion of an agenda item focuses on the item and the policy in question, not the personalities of the members of the body. Debate on policy is healthy, debate on personalities is not. The chair has the right to cut off discussion that is too personal, is too loud, or is too crude

It is unfair to ask someone to bottle up their passion for a given issue but when it comes to elected power and water issues nobody seems to want to play fair lately.

Join us:

WEST VALLEY WATER DISTRICT

855 West Base Line Road, Rialto, CA

BOARD MEETING AGENDA

Thursday, December 3, 2015 – 6:00 p.m.

West Valley Water Board Directors Not Prepared At Regularly Scheduled Meeting

On November 5th 2015 the West Valley Water Board held their regular meeting with their new 6pm. Even though the meeting time had changed the way the board acts towards vendors, staff, media and rate payers has not changed. Our staff was not in attendance mostly due to schedule conflicts and partly was we didn’t want to poke the tiger too much. The meeting from what we heard was well attended when compared to past meetings yet Vice President Young and Director Gonzales were upset to the point of bringing it up multiple times that we were not in attendance. The early part of the meeting things seemed a little tense.

Board Vice President Young, Gonzales & Trujillo were not prepared for this meeting. Time and time again they were asking to have business items tabled many into the last meeting of 2015 which was six weeks from the date of the last meeting of the 2015 year. At one point Board Director Linda Gonzales states that she works 8-5 and doesn’t have time to look over her board packet material?????? When did it become the rate payers responsibility to make sure you had enough time to do your job? Why did you run for a Civil Service position if your not prepared to put in the work? Director Gonzales didn’t have time to read her board packet but she had time to hobnob with various elected officials and complain about her dislike of the food they provided her.

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Join Paul Chabot for Coffee & Conversation November 19th

Join Paul Chabot for Coffee & Conversation November 19th

Second was they spend so much time fighting former General Managers and politicking from the dais that they are not paying bills in a timely fashion leaving space and bills unpaid which is beyond unfair. If you have a dispute over the costs have the client come to a meeting and ask your questions and them come to a majority consensus and pay what the vendor has coming to them. Vivian Moreno a Riverside Based activist asks the board why they act like the West Valley Water District doesn’t know what they are paying. Both President Gosney and General Manager spoke up after Mrs. Moreno asked them why they didn’t know what they were paying. President Gosney said that each bill came with a list of items for which the total bill represented.

The boards lack of direction and the constant fighting with vendors and ratepayers seems to be blowing up in their faces. It has already cost ratepayers a board director as President Gosney decided not to seek another term as a water board director. Vice President Young has asked that the 15 percent rate increases that are scheduled to be on the next two years be added to the last meeting of 2015.

Stay tuned for more on this as the saga seems far from over………………..

 

Video

Coffee with Congressional Candidate Paul Chabot

College and Career Fair will be held at the Rialto Community Center

The City of Rialto and the Rialto Unified School District, College and Career Fair will be held at the Rialto Community Center. This event takes place Saturday, November 14 from 11:00am to 3:00pm. For more information, please contact us at (909) 820-2540.City of Rialto Rialto Unified School District

Job flyer

West Valley Water Board Vice President Young Lashes Out At Board CFO

On November 5th 2015 the West Valley Water Board held their regular meeting with their new six o’clock time. It became clear as the Board of Directors moved through the meeting that this was not going to be a nice evening. Apparently Vice President Young felt he was not getting the information that he requested in a timely fashion. According to his statements he has been denied the right to obtain needed information on a regular basis so he decided to have an emotional breakdown at a public meeting.

Vice President Clifford Young took the opportunity to rip into the West Valley Water Board CFO Rachelle Clayton in the meeting accusing her of withholding information and bringing her near tears. His rant spilled over onto other staff members as he asked for a performance review of General Manager Tom Crowley on the December 17th Closed session agenda. Vice President Young has caused many staff to play musical chairs with their work positions in an effort to remain off of Vice President Young’s radar those have said that are close to the West Valley Water District

 

Vice President Young is upset with people questioning his tactics and is taking it out on staff, rate payers and vendors for the District……

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Rialto Police Department Experiences Highs and Lows This Week

Photo that rialto Police Placed on their Facebook Page to announce the passing of K9 from Rialto PD

Photo that rialto Police Placed on their Facebook Page to announce the passing of K9 from Rialto PD

With K9 programs that offer Canine Officers that are skilled in tracking and stopping dangerous criminals as well as locating drugs and firearms on a downward trend in the Inland Empire it is vital that the agencies that still use this very successful program be given kudos for the work they do. If the City of Rialto would have outsourced police operations to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department all those years ago Rialto would not have a lot of what we now have but most notably for this story there would not be a K9 program. The sheriff’s department disbanded their K9 program except for bloodhounds that work search and rescue which is a great service but when your looking for an armed suspect nothing compares to a German Shepard or Belgian Malanois that has pure speed and strength to subdue the ugliest of bad guys. These dogs also provide a great benefit of locating drugs and weapons from bad guys. The last time we spoke to Officer Anderson he told us that the K9 officers in Rialto get called all over Southern California to assist other agencies when a K9 Dog is required and what is cool about that is Rialto gets to bill that agency for the cost of sending that officer to the given call.

iecn photo/yazmin alvarez Rialto Police Departments Glen Anderson watches on as his K-9, Gilley, enjoys taking a bite out of Redlands Police Chief Mark Garcia during a fundraiser Aug. 30.

iecn photo/yazmin alvarez Rialto Police Departments Glen Anderson watches on as his K-9, Gilley, enjoys taking a bite out of Redlands Police Chief Mark Garcia during a fundraiser Aug. 30.

All of the K9 Police Handlers are great guys but Officer Anderson stood out to me as one of those special Officers that was a great representation of the K9 program and the Department as a whole. So when I opened up my Facebook and saw the message below I was sad to see the passing of a great Canine member of Rialto Police Department:

Today, as a Department and as a community we mourn the loss of our K-9, Gilley. Gilley was a Belgian Malanois who served along side his partner and best friend, Officer Glen Anderson, together they kept the citizens of Rialto safe. Gilley served our community, and all of his law enforcement partners for eight outstanding years. Gilley served as a Patrol, Narcotics and SWAT Canine. His impressive eight year stats are as follows: Gilley located and recovered over 108 pounds of methamphetamine, 380 pounds of marijuana, 131 pounds of cocaine, 51 pounds of heroin and seized over $2 million dollars in cash. Additionally, Gilley saved the department countless man hours during searches for suspects and evidence. Gilley will truly be missed by us all.

**** Update ****

K9 Gilley was injured during a swat operation and when he was taken to the vet it was found that Gilley had a tumor on his heart which was causing fluid to collect around his organs which led to his death according to Captain Randy Deanda at the November 10th city council meeting.

**** Update *****

iecn photo/yazmin alvarez Chewy, Rialto Police Departments Narcotics Unit K-9, enjoys a few belly rubs from children.

iecn photo/yazmin alvarez
Chewy, Rialto Police Departments Narcotics Unit K-9, enjoys a few belly rubs from children.

Last time we talked to Officer Anderson he told us that Gilley was on the older side of life and that his work days were almost to an end. So even though we knew he wouldn’t be here forever it makes us sad to see the time come at all. We will truly miss Gilley but now its time to help the foundation that makes our K9 program possible The Friend’s of Rialto K9 is a foundation that makes Rialto’s K9 program and you can help by donating to help because this will be the second dog they would had to have replaced in the last 12 months.

On a positive note our most recent K9 Officer/Canine team that have just been together as of July of 2015 won a 2nd place award at this last weekends K9 event hosted by Riverside Sheriffs department. Dane Stordahl & K9 Bunker were awarded 2nd place award for ‘article search’ during Saturday’s (11/07/15) Riverside Sheriffs K9 trial. In a statement released by Councilman Shawn O’Connell he gave praise to the Officer/K9 team:

It is amazing when you consider 61 dogs participated and you’ve only been partnered with Bunker since July 2015. On behalf of the City of Rialto, I appreciate the hard work and dedication you have shown this department and our city. The Rialto Police Department family should be very proud.

San Bernardino Police Fail To Pursue Violent Animal Abuser Caught On Video

WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO

A male and female subject were seen on Surveillance Video arguing on October 12th at about 12:40 pm then the male took his anger out on an innocent victim a small dog on a leash he was walking. Below is the statement we were given by the main witness on the incident:

“So our office is on 9th and Preston in San Bernardino across from the recycling center, we always get homeless people and what not roaming around and arguing. Yesterday there was a guy screaming outside our door. As we looked at the window my employees and I watched this guy take the leash of the dog bundle it up and swing the dog in the air and slam it against the fence. We all ran outside and one of my guys chased the guy down the street but couldn’t catch him. The lady was in tears and very upset with what happened. We took the lady to her grandmothers house on Golden ave and 27th. I called SBPD to report animal cruelty and they tried to come up with every excuse why they couldn’t come out until I kept telling them I have it on video I know where the woman is. I told the dispatcher I can get one of their I.D.’s from the recycling center they just came from. So all she could say was OK. Well will get someone out as soon as possible but nobody ever arrived! Then the dispatcher calls after 11pm at night asking if we still need their assistance!”

According to the witness the whole thing started because the female apparently caught her boyfriend looking at another girl and when he was confronted this was his reaction. We asked the witness if this was the normal response of San Bernardino Police she said:

“Yes any time you call them they NEVER show up. That intersection is infamous for car accident, they refuse to come out unless someone is seriously injured.”

So it appears that San Bernardino Police failed to see what everyone else has seen:

  1. This male has some serious anger issues.
  2. No matter how mad you get abusing an animal is not OK.
  3. That there may be a larger issue with Animal Abuse going without proper investigation.
  4. That evil is thriving in San Bernardino because everyone is more worried about paying special vendors than dealing with the issues at hand.

With the election of School Board Members and City Council Members coming up in a few weeks it is vital to make sure people that have the communities best interest in mind are placed in the seats that make final decisions. Now you may be asking why are we writing about this on Rialto Now? Well San Bernardino is our next door neighbor and if you think that the bad guys will be comfortable just tearing apart San Bernardino you are sadly mistaken.

Video

Local Community Advocates Stop Water Meeting In It’s Tracks

WEST VALLEY

On Monday October 12th West Valley Water Board held a “SPECIAL” meeting to address issues that arose from the October 8th regular board meeting. We covered the “SPECIAL” meeting in a previous post to give the public a better idea of what was going to take place at noon on a Monday workday. At the meeting we saw a powder keg of emotions and Electioneering going on while the Water Board of Directors went into an early Closed Session meeting to come to an agreement to fire their current legal counsel from the firm Redwine and Sherrill and to proceed down a path of a dangerous General Public Agenda that from the talk in the crowd was ripe with violations of the Brown Act the very set of rules that dictates how elected boards are to be run and handle themselves. This meeting never made it past the first item on their public agenda.

Here are videos of people that choose to address the Water Board prior to their closed session:

The water Board legal counsel was not invited into the closed session we found out later it was because there had already been a decision to fire him and his firm possible Brown Act violation #1

The first general agenda item was listed as Appointment of Special Counsel. Many in the crowd had an issue with the vague nature of the item in question and once the public began speaking out it was more clear what this “SPECIAL COUNSEL” would be tasked to do. This special counsel was apparently going to be given marching orders to put a negative shade on two people currently running for the water board. Clifford Young the Vice President of the Board had a very angry look on his face and his comments and body language were very aggressive. I spoke on record about the costs of hiring an attorney just to sully the reputation weeks before an election of two people seeking seats on the board and asked how that was fair to the rate payers. I also spoke to Mr. Young and his aggressive posture and the message that was sending to the audience.

After I spoke Mr. Young got up and proved that he was out to cast negative shade over current Board Director Alan Dyer and Former West Valley Water District General Manager Butch Arizia who is running for one of the three seats open for this election. See the whole video below and watch it to the end where West Valley Water Board President Betty Gosney sets the record straight further showing the Vice Presidents true intentions.

Even though the attacks on Mr. Arizia were proven false still on social media the group out to take total control of the Water Board still post these types of statements:

Demwomen Sbc In December 2012 the West Valley Water District. Board members Betty Doshier Gosney
Earl Tilman,Jackie Cox,Alan Dyer, Don Olinger,
Approved a 75% increase on the water bills in our community

Bloomington, Rialto,north Fontana south Fontana. This was during a recession that hit the community, causing hard-working people that year 2012 to now, that are losing their homes and businesses going belly up!
This information is in the WVWD minutes December 2012.

You may call 909-875-1804 to get a copy of the minutes,pulled from the file these minutes dated December 20,2012 resolution 2012-23 article 21.

This meeting had about 20 local residents out asking a lot of good questions and the two words of the day were TRANSPARENCY & BROWN ACT VIOLATION. Mr. Young was affected by these mentions of the Brown Act and the potential violations that existed within the make up of the Special Meeting Agenda that he started to call out the people making the accusations and the people he was speaking too should know their Brown Act pretty well they all have had to abide by it pretty recently. These people were former Councilwoman Lynn Hirtz, Councilman Shawn O’Connell and Private Investigator Thompson all had words of caution for the board if they choose to proceed. Here is video of the rest of the board not falling in line with any more poor decisions and further Brown Act violations.

The list of potential Brown Act violations are listed here:

  1. The meeting itself and the timing of the meeting.
  2. The appearance of more than two Board Members meeting and deciding on the issue of firing the current legal counsel.
  3. Putting out information at a board meeting that would harm or sully the reputation of a fellow board member or other person running for a board seat.
  4. Calling for a vote on allowing the General Manager of the Water District to find alternate legal counsel for the Thursday regular meeting without it being on the agenda or calling the meeting a emergency meeting.
  5. The attempt to hire a person that would only report to the board of directors.

If you look at the agenda for tomorrow little has changed except the Confidential Assistant that will report only to the Water Board has gone from a public item to a Closed Session Item.

The meeting is tomorrow at 3pm at 855 West Baseline Road it appears this one will be just as exciting as Monday.

Video

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