Glick target of RMWD recall

It appears that Director Bob Glick of the Rainbow Municipal Water District (RMWD) will risk the chance of being recalled through a special election.

The Citizens Committee to Reform Rainbow Water (CCRRW) said they have collected “over 650 signatures, many more [than] the 462 required for an election.” According to Bud Swanson, spokesman of the committee, “the signatures will be filed with the County Registrar of Voters on Thursday, June 9.”

Glick was appointed to the board to replace Director Paul Christensen. According to RMWD records, the first meeting Glick attended as a director was the September 1, 2004, regular meeting.

One of the issues the group states citizens are unhappy with is a lack of communication between them and Glick. When reached for comment, Glick stated that remark is untrue and, in fact, he had just finished talking with a constituent over the telephone.

Another point CCRRW presented in their press release was “[Glick] did or said nothing about RMWD forcing residents, starting last year in Division 5, to install costly and often-unnecessary backflow devices.”

Glick responded by saying he was not on the board at the time that decision was made.

Matt Hickman of RMWD said the original decision to install backflow devices was made in May of 2000 and was updated in September of 2003. Both of these dates are prior to the date Glick was appointed. The minutes from the May 11 regular meeting say the directors voted to “cease enforcement of all backflow installations until an Ordinance has been put in place.” All directors present passed the motion; Glick was absent.

CCRRW claims “Glick is also criticized for making the motion at the board meeting on January 5 to expand RMWD’s master plan to provide water and sewer service east of I-15 for new developments, such as Pardee Homes.” The group also states that Glick’s position on annexing the Pardee property has switched.

Glick stated that he has “no recollection” for moving to make such an expansion and was not on the board when it decided to look into annexing the Pardee property; therefore, his opinion has not switched.

RMWD records show the only motion Glick made at the January 5 meeting in reference to the development near the I-15/SR-76 intersection was “to proceed with the study.” It was in reference to Item 18, titled “Discussion and possible action to authorize general manager to provide a supplement to the water and wastewater master plans for the east side of the I-15 corridor to be paid for by the developers.”

The motion failed with a 2-2 vote; at that time, the Division 4 seat was vacant.

Approving “to give the general manager, his longtime personal friend, a $4,000 merit raise to $136,000

and a new contract with no ending date” is another complaint CCRRW lists.

According to the minutes of December 8, 2004, this was a unanimous decision made in closed session. Glick recalled that this was the general manager’s “first and only” raise since he began with the district in June of 2002.

When asked for a response to the recall effort, Glick expressed, “I thought I could do some good, but it’s been nothing but fighting since I got there… I had no idea what I was stepping into.”

Directors Larry Sundram and Jack Griffiths were elected to the board through the general election this past November. Director Russ Hatfield was elected in March through a special election.