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Rialto Water Officials Chewed Out Over Their Lavish Perks
A valve wheel on a set of water pipes. (Andrew Cullen/LAist)
West Valley Water District has a long history of turmoil. It serves about 80,000 customers in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. A few years ago, staffers mutinied against the five-member elected board. Things got so heated the local police had to come keep the peace.
The most recent upset comes in a State Controller’s audit. It says managers and directors ignored many financial controls and wasted money on fancy meetings and bloated salaries.
The board spent $70,000 on two official meetings at a wine country golf resort in Temecula. It wasn’t just the money that was a problem – meeting so far outside the district made it harder for citizens to attend and see what the board was doing.
The state Controller’s report was made public this week, but it was shared with the water district in mid-April, and shortly after several top administrators were fired.
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