This week the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors will consider renewed franchise agreements with both the Cedarpines Park and Green Valley Mutual Water Companies.

The Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company is a private, non-profit corporation which sells water to landowners in the Cedarpines Park community—the community members are also shareholders of the water agency. According to the agency’s 2014-2015 year-end financial statement, the water agency has 5,000 authorized shares of which 4,297 shares and 4,356 shares are issued and outstanding.

The Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company operates a pipeline system for the distribution of water in Cedarpines Park. According to the county’s director of Real Estate Services Department, Terry Thompson, the pipeline system consists of approximately 111,044 feet in county road right-of-way.

Both water agencies are currently operating under franchise agreements last updated in 2000. Those agreements are set to expire November 17, 2015.    ... read more

Cedarpines Park property owners are steaming mad over what they call excessively high water bills, mismanagement and outright fraud perpetrated by the Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company.

That anger, festering for nearly two decades, finally reached the boiling point in October 2011, when longtime property owners James Morrison and Cheryl Turpin filed a civil lawsuit against their local water purveyor. The suit alleges that the private utility's board of directors, by maintaining a nearly impossible to achieve 50 percent plus one quorum requirement to elect new board members at the company's annual shareholders' meeting, has denied other shareholders an opportunity to be elected to its board.    ... read more

RELATED MEDIA: 
The August 3, 2013 Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company Shareholder annual meeting was recorded. View the 1 hour 43 minute video

Residents of Cedarpines Park were breathing a sigh of relief this week over news that two of the community's water-storage tanks - after running at historically low levels during the summer's fire season - were being refilled.

But community activist Cheryl Turpin, a watchdog for decades over the activities of the community's mutual water company, questions why it took the involvement of shareholders to get water back into the reservoirs.

The push to get water back into the tanks began early this month, Turpin said, when she noticed the water level in the 40-foot-high Jobs Peak tank had dropped to 28 feet.

Overall, that report showed the company's six functioning tanks holding just 67.89 percent of their capacity. As a 37-year resident who's been through wildfires on the mountain, that wasn't good enough for Turpin.

"Sixty-eight percent represents less water than was in the tanks during the Old Fire, and almost all of that was used to fight the fire and save the community," she told the Crestline Courier-News.

FIXING PROBLEMS - Haifley said he had not undertaken to fix the mechanical problem at the Fern Crest tanks when he took office last October because he had numerous problems to correct first, involving water-system deficiencies cited by the state.

"Tank levels are always a concern," said Jerry Ringhofer, a division chief for the Crest Forest Fire Protection District, whose areas of responsibility include Cedarpines Park.

After Turpin informed him a few days ago of the decreasing level of water storage, he said, he and Chief Jon Garber encouraged Haifley to get the tanks full to ensure enough water for firefighting.    ... read more

Responding to what Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company (CPPMWC) General Manager Robert Haifley has called threats to company employees, workers have installed a four-foot-square plexiglass window in the company’s office on Crest Forest Drive, along with a security wall eight feet long and seven feet high.

"Over the course of the past several months I have witnessed an increase in the amount of incidents in which shareholders anger regarding their water bill, water service being disconnected, or the CPPMWC shareholder fees has escalated to the point where the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department had to be summoned," Haifley wrote.    ... read more

This is the second in a two-part series outlining grievances expressed by shareholders of the Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company against the company’s management.

Shareholders in the Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company (CPMWC), frustrated over numerous long-standing grievances with the company’s management, have taken their complaints to court.

Their lawsuit - filed last November and currently before a judge - alleges company directors have perpetuated themselves in office by maintaining an annual meeting quorum requirement impossible to achieve.    ... read more

Dozens of angry shareholders, furious over allegations of embezzlement and lax oversight, ousted the Box Springs Mutual Water Company board of directors at a meeting Wednesday.

Once shareholders determined that they had a quorum, they took over the meeting, bypassed the board and voted to remove the whole board. Renters, who couldn’t officially cast votes, also raised their hands in support of ousting the board. No one voiced opposition.

Property owners have been issued nearly 1,150 shares based on how much they own. At least a fifth of the shares " about 230 " had to be represented at the meeting to reach a quorum.    ... read more

The former general manager of the Box Springs Mutual Water Co. in Moreno Valley said he thinks the alleged embezzlement of $280,000 could have been prevented had authorities paid attention when he reported an earlier theft of money from the company.

Bruce Gottschalk worked at the company between 2004 and January 2009. He twice contacted the Moreno Valley Police Department in 2009 to report the theft of $31,000 by a former employee after bookkeepers auditing the company’s accounts alerted him. Nothing came of Gottschalk’s reports because of lack of information and cooperation from the water company, police said.

He said he also tried to warn the company’s board of directors, of which he was a member. In January 2009, Gottschalk quit his job and was forced off the board when he said colleagues became hostile toward him rather than investigate the theft.    ... read more

(This is the first in a two-part series outlining grievances that residents of Cedarpines Park have expressed in a lawsuit filed against the community’s mutual water company.) Long-simmering anger over the operation of the Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company (CPMWC) is coming to a boil, with shareholders attacking the agency, alleging criminal fraud and a filing a civil lawsuit currently being heard in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Led by long-time residents Cheryl Turpin and James E. Morrison, the unhappy shareholders say the company’s board of directors has rigged the annual meeting’s quorum requirement to deny shareholders the ability to vote for their representatives and to ensure directors will remain in power.    ... read more

The closely-knit board of Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company board has been able to keep control of the water company away from the will of the shareholders over the past 26 years through a requirement that 50 percent plus one of the shareholders was a quorum.    ... read more

Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company has scheduled its annual meeting and board election for Saturday, September 18, 1:30 p.m. at the Cedarpines Park Community Center located at 21827 Plunge Road.

The letter and Notice of Annual Shareholders’ Meeting Proxy Solicitation and Instructions from Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company (CPMWC) dated June 2010, indicate there are two vacant positions on the board.

According to Vice President Ron Albright, in order for the shareholders to conduct an election, a quorum is required. A quorum is 50 percent plus 1 of the shareholders in good standing present at the annual meeting or a completed a proxy form.

The candidates running for the board are Lynn Chen, Ron Albright, Sandi Segalla, Glen Dark, Paul Hartman and Suzanne Bowen.    ... read more

The Alpenhorn News discovered that a local Cedarpines Park resident has filed a lawsuit over water pipelines against the Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company (CPMWC), thereby stopping the water supply to the Cedarpines Park County Park.

The lawsuit, filed in the San Bernardino County Superior Court on November 5, 2009, claims that on or about August 2008, when the resident was in the final stages of preparing a parcel map to subdivide his property in Cedarpines Park, he discovered that CPMWC maintained a waterline beneath the surface of his property and that there was no easement or other right of way granted to permit or authorize it.

The local resident’s complaint says that CPMWC demanded that he grant an easement to them as a condition of the water company providing the county the approval or consent for him to record his parcel map.

Represented by Best, Best and Kreiger, CPMWC answered the resident’s complaint, denying each of his allegations and any liability.

The water company filed a cross complaint to obtain a prescriptive easement and to quit title.    ... read more

Planning of the annual meeting was the subject of discussion at the Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company meeting held on April 15.

One of the main topics of discussion was how to account for the proxy forms from those shareholders who could not attend, yet wish to have their vote counted.

"We need 50 percent of the outstanding shares, and a share that is not valid does not count," Albright continued.

Hachett said, "It's a business that we are all a part of."

Albright suggested, "Neighbors talking to neighbors so we can have a normal election."

Hachett said, "A team effort."

Board Chairman Perry Dahlstrom suggested, "We need a proxy statement, a multi-part form and two control numbers."

Albright said, "Let's look at proxy stock and see what is available."

Board member Bill Steiner said, "Showing what number was issued and quickly verifiable."    ... read more

Shocked gasps could be heard when shareholders learned that their board had approved a two-year contract with ECS Company, Inc. at a substantial increase at the Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company meeting on March 18.

Director Perry Dahlstrom reviewed the financials when shareholders asked for clarification on the money for administrative contract services. The January financials indicate $12,500 for administrative contract services while February financials indicate $20,500    ... read more

For many in the bass fishing community his name was at least familiar. To the agencies and corporations who had to face him in court, perhaps the memories were more vivid, if a bit unpleasant. Yet for those who knew him, worked with him, fished with him or counted on him, he was a great friend and ally.    ... read more

Patrick Joseph Marley, a respected attorney who successfully fought numerous mountain environmental battles in recent years, died Tuesday after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

A spokesperson for the Orange County coroner’s office confirmed on Wednesday that Mr. Marley, a resident of Cedarpines Park, had died at a hospital in that county.    ... read more

Tuesday's meeting of the Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company shareholders and board of directors was canceled only three hours before the 7 p.m. meeting. The stated reason was "Lack of a quorum" according to the notice posted inside the darkened community center building.

Shareholder Charles Williams had to shine his vehicle's headlights on the unlit building so the 40 or so shareholders that arrived to attend the meeting could see the notice.

The only other notice of the cancelled meeting was posted on the Internet at 4 p.m. Such a short notice seemed suspicious to the many shareholders who went out of their way to attend the worknight meeting.

It was anticipated that 100 shareholders planned to attend the meeting.

The agenda for Tuesday's meeting was only available less than 24 hours beforehand and only if you went to the water company's office.

Many members of the community are not happy with the consulting company that was hired six months ago to get the small mutual water company back on track.

It was stated by another shareholder that many CPP residents believe that fraud is involved with the Canyon Vista property and that was one of the items on the agenda under new business, along with an office reorganization update and rate increase informational update.

One person who arrived at the cancelled meeting said he had personally driven by three of the directors' residences and they were home, so a quorum could have been reached after all.    ... read more

RELATED MEDIA: 
FLYER  distributed by Shareholders and Posted on the CPP Community Board October 18, 2009

Recently, several customers of the Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Co. have complained to the water company and the health department after reportedly becoming sick after drinking the water from their faucets.

"The Cedarpines Park Mutual Water Company is failing their customers," the letter continued. "Their single product should remain constantly good to ensure user confidence. Because of the poor water situation, many customers are now questioning the overall level of:
1. Management/administrators.
2. Frequency of testing and maintenance of water, wells, tanks, pumps, valves, pipes and meters.
3. Lack of available financial records.
4. Possible misappropriation of funds and fraud.
5. Board members given shares and/or not paying for personal residence water.
6. Several employees cited for substance abuse while on the job.
7. Failure to take minutes at public meetings.
8. Not furnishing proper timely test results to users.    ... read more