Fullerton’s Water Rep to Step Down

Amid Fullerton’s water rate debacle the City’s representative on the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California announced Tuesday that he is stepping down.  After representing the City of Fullerton for 24 years on the MWD Board of Directors, Jim Blake says he is done.

Jim Blake

It is rumored that Fullerton’s retired city manager Chris Meyer is looking to be appointed as Blake’s replacement but that will require a majority vote by the Fullerton City Council.   Since City Council Members Bankhead and Jones appointed Meyer as City Manager in 2002, there is little doubt that they wouldn’t give him the MWD nod as well.

However, with Fullerton’s water rates under scrutiny and an illegal tax being batted about City Hall for justification, you have to wonder how much of the water mess can be attributed to Meyer- not to mention the rest of the City’s countless woes.

An appointment of Meyer to the MWD Board might bring further outcry to City Hall, something the new Mayor might wish to avoid. Since August the Council members have been cussed at, cursed at, sworn up and down, and yelled at.  They are now being held accountable for their general lack of leadership by a campaign to recall three members, Mayor Pro Tem Pat McKinley, and members Don Bankhead and F. Dick Jones.

Many believe that the appointment should be filled by a current council member so that they can be held responsible by Fullerton voters for their actions on the Board.  Currently, Blake is answerable only to the Fullerton City Council.

If the appointment is to be held by a non-council member, then the process should be open to ALL candidates equally like any other council appointment to a commission or committee.

Whoever is appointed will be tasked with a massive budgetary shortfall that rivals Sacramento’s. The appointee will be asked for double-digit rate hikes and even more spending.  They need to know the water industry and even more about public policy and long-term investment solutions.  They need to know Fullerton and not just through the myopic eyes of service clubs.

Fullerton deserves an accountable and credible representative on the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

26 Replies to “Fullerton’s Water Rep to Step Down”

  1. Poor Jim Blake. Besieged, he retorts” Thats it, I’m out of here!”. “24 years of service and this is what I have to put up with? I’m just going to go and take my bloated pension that I dont deserve and live like a rich fat-cat off of the city coffers. Yeah, I dont have to put up with criticism over my poor performance, I’ll just go “retire”, live off of even more tax money from all of you stupid citizens of Fullerton, and the offer my wisdom as a consultant to the city at (again) ballooned price levels. The city needs my wisdom….” ( NO we don’t !)

    1. Jim Blake, as the City’s MWD representitive gets no pay, and no pension, and no benefits. And doesn’t even ask for mileage reimbursements. He could by and sell Tony Bushala, 100 times over, and still have a pile of gold. So get your facts straight.

  2. Jesus, why can’t this fat tub of flubber just go away and spend his $20k/month pension on cheetos or whatever instead of trying to scrounge some more stipends. What a maroon.

  3. Dear Mr. Sebourn,
    Thank you for posting this interesting bit of news. I tend to view it as a signal that certain special interests are worried that the present recall will succeed, and that an eventual replacment could, during the expiration of BLAKE’s remaining term, provide critical votes against those interests.
    The City of Fullerton is not as dependent as many other water-supply governments, because it has its own pumping rights. Those rights, and the pumping rights of quite a few neighboring cities and water agencies, are regulated by the OCWD — the Orange County Water District, if I recollect correctly. (It has been 17 years since I looked at this.) It is a “special act district”, and was not created by the processes of general law, but rather by special state legislation. It is ancient. And, during the recall times, the appointee to its Board was Jim Blake.
    Mr. Sebourn, can you find out if Jim Blake has been on that board all of this time… and will he stay on it, after he resigns from the MWD board?
    Best wishes, WSH

  4. It’s too bad the recall has not happened yet. Travis would be a great choice for that board. I understand it pays petty well to. I think it he members get Cadillac medical benefits and one hell of a stipen. Hang in there guys to the victors goes the spoils.

  5. Is that really a pic of Jim Blake, because it almost looks like a Photoshop smashup of T Rack and the Dickster (Ackerman)

  6. If our new Mayor puts this replacement appointment onto the council agenda she should craft the motion to include a limit on the total financial compensation of NO MORE THAN $1.00 PER YEAR for this and any other such post.

    There is absolutely no reason to pay anyone to serve on these part time honorary boards.

  7. Meyer? Who oversaw the illegal water tax and the systematic neglect of Fullerton’s water delivery infrastructure as city manager? Hurry up recall election!

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