The resignation of Morongo Valley CSD Board Director and Acting President James Whitney was announced last night at a makeshift meeting of the Board’s Community Relations Committee. Whitney had issued a controversial statement earlier in the week regarding the cancellation of the board’s monthly meeting scheduled for last night, the second cancellation in as many months. Whitney was the subject of a recall election, along with Director Michael Emory and former Board President Jennifer Henning, who resigned from the board on April 19.
To keep community members informed of ongoing issues after the second MVCSD meeting was cancelled due to lack of quorum from the absence of standing President Whitney and Fire Commissioner Michael Emory, the Morongo Valley Community Relations Ad-Hoc Committee met last night in place of the regularly scheduled meeting in Covington Park’s multi-purpose room.
The MVCR Ad-Hoc Committee, comprised of MVCSD board members Christina Gorke and Johnny Tolbert, started the meeting with the announcement of standing President James Whitney’s official resignation “due to budget concerns,” which was met by applause by the 40 to 50 attendees. This stands as the second resignation of the three board members under scrutiny from the Morongo Valley Recall after President Jennifer Henning’s resignation last month.
Tolbert said, “Now if Director Emory does decide to resign from the board, that is a storm we do not want to deal with. That’s me and the Chief (Brakebill) and probably Director Gorke going down to San Bernardino and kissing a few butts, or else we’ll lose our authority to do anything. If you only have two board members, you can’t do nothing.”
Gorke said, “If we get to the point of June 18th and we haven’t selected new board members, it’s gonna go to county supervisors. Either she’ll select for the district or take recommendations, or the district will have to hold a special election for those two positions. Good side is that’ll be going to the voters, downside is that we’ll have to pay for that special election when budget is a large issue.”
When asked whether the embattled legal acquisition of Best, Best, and Krieger will still be representing the CSD, General Manager/Fire Chief Brakebill reported attempts to reach them, only to find out BB&K has blocked the CSD’s number. Tolbert then confirmed, “We have a letter from BB&K saying they have officially resigned as our legal firm effective tomorrow, May 18th.”
