The San Lorenzo Valley Water District on Tuesday, March 21, filed a Notice of Appeal in the Terry Vierra conflict-of-interest case.
The case now heads to the Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose, which observers say usually takes two years to process appeals. All legal expenses in the case continue to be paid by district ratepayers.
Appellate attorney Michael Colantuono filed the document ahead of a March 24 deadline, to keep the district’s options open. Lawyers now will take several months preparing briefs in the case.
Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge John Gallagher on March 17 rejected requests by Colantuono for a new trial in the conflict-of-interest case.
Gallagher had ruled Dec. 13 that Vierra, as a water district director, had violated state conflict-of-interest laws when he participated in water district decisions in 2010 that resulted in the payment of $12,006 in real estate commissions to his wife and his real estate firm.
The water district had rejected a settlement offer last August.
It was unclear this week whether the water district directors had actually voted to proceed with an appeal.
One water district board member, Bill Smallman, said this week he agreed with Judge Gallagher’s decision to reject the request for a new trial.
“I will continue to vote against the appeal, ” he said. All other board members declined comment.
Board president Gene Ratcliffe told the audience at a March 16 board meeting that “We have not requested an appeal,” in response to a direct question from a ratepayer whether the district has decided to appeal the case to a higher court.
When pressed, Ratcliffe said, “Once that motion has been heard, then we would be in a position to take action.”
After Ratcliffe’s comments, ratepayers questioned the rising legal bills.
Bob Fultz of Boulder Creek, asked when the legal bills will stop: “We have this case out there with all this money that’s being spent, with no defined end in sight, until either there are enough rulings along the way that somebody gives up, or maybe its gets all the way to the Supreme Court, at which point it stops.”
The motion was heard on March 17 in Superior Court in Santa Cruz, and Gallagher threw out – repeatedly saying simply, “objection sustained, not offered at trial” – all 11 requests by Colantuono that Gallagher vacate his December decision and order a new trial with new evidence.
The appeal was filed three days before a court deadline, and one day before the water board was to meet in closed session, ostensibly to conclude an annual performance review of district manager Brian Lee. The court case was not on the published agenda.
Gary Redenbacher, lawyer for plaintiff Bruce Holloway, a retired engineer who lives in Boulder Creek, praised Gallagher’s March 17 ruling: “He sustained every one of our objections to Vierra’s attempt to introduce new evidence.”
Holloway reacted by posing two questions: “Can the SLV water board recognize a conflict of interest glaring in their face, and will they put the interest of the public over their own and their friend’s? The answers are no and no.”
Colantuono, of Colantuono Highsmith and Whatley of Pasadena and Grass Valley, was hired by the water district to pursue the appeal. Vierra attended Friday’s hearing, as did district manager Brian Lee and water district director Charles Baughmann.
In court last week, Colantuono told the judge the district “may well be liable to cover” the $9,000 judgment against Vierra, and may be required to pay his legal bills.
