Committee Chair:
Jay O'Brien

Committee Members:
Walt Boatwright
Joe Gluvers
Paul Harbert
Mary Harris
Jerry Wickham

A meeting of the committee took place on Thursday, February 15, 2001 at 3:00
PM.  The committee listened as Mike Phelan and Jay O'Brien described the
very difficult and involved procedures used to attempt to ascertain the
validity of 207 protest letters.  These were the letters we, as a committee,
had not been able to resolve from the "master" lists we were provided at the
beginning of our project.

It was clear that many of the 207 "problem" letters were difficult to
categorize.  Mike Phelan used several different sources of reference, and
spent considerable time attempting to give the committee as much information
as possible on each "problem" letter, so we could make a determination as to
whether it would be counted as valid.

After considerable discussion, the committee was still faced with a
mountainous task, if every "problem" letter was to be resolved.  The
consensus of the committee was to stop the count at this point, even though
the process has not been fully completed.  It was decided that the committee
would report back to the Board of Directors with the understanding that, if
the Board of Directors deemed it was absolutely necessary to validate the
exact number of protests that constituted the majority of ratepayers, the
committee would again convene to try to determine the finite number.  The
committee felt that such an overwhelming number of protests had already been
determined to be "valid" and "possibly valid", that the Board of Directors
would vote not to impose the 100% rate increase.

The committee also asks the Board of Directors, in writing, to declare that
the proposed 100% rate increase will not be imposed, based on the high
number of ratepayers and citizens who have voiced their disapproval.  The
committee understands that the exact number written protests may still be a
question.  But the committee felt that the number validated is very close to
the number the Board of Directors required to stop the increase.  If the
Board of Directors were looking for input from the public regarding this
proposed increase, they surely have enough at this point to make a decision.

The final number of "Valid" letters is 2026.
The final number of  "Possibly Valid" letters is 86.
The final number of "Invalid" letters is 217.
The final number of  "Possibly Invalid" letters is 128.

In summary, the total of all "Valid" and "Possibly Valid" letters is 2112.
The total "Invalid" and "Possibly Invalid" letters is 345.

The committee voted that Paul Harbert would prepare a statement to that
effect for review by the committee, to present to the Board of Directors at
the February 26, 2001 meeting.

Signed,

Paul H. Harbert
 

Preface
=======
The details below are NOT easy to follow, as they identify the
differences between categories of protests that are difficult to
define, and they detail breakouts of quantities identified in
interim reports. In those cases where a specific quantity of protests
was given to staff that was then broken up into smaller categories,
the original quantity is identified in the heading, for instance
the notation (4 of 14) is to detail 4 of a group of 14 given to staff
in a batch.

2019 probably valid protests
============================
These are the protests that a committee member has compared to the
customer printout from which we worked. Each of these was found to
have an address that matched an address in the printout, and the
name on the protest was found to substantially compare with the
name on the printout. The committee member also verified that each
of these were signed.

7 probably valid protests
=========================
Committee Chairman O'Brien, in sorting 207 protests to be given to
staff for review, found seven of them to be probably valid and without
duplicate protests. If the count continues, these will be reviewed
by the committee.

217 probably invalid protests
=============================
These are the protests that a committee member has identified as a
duplicate protest for a specific address. The name and signature
were not considered in making the determination.

4 possibly valid protests (4 of 14)
===================================
These are protests that were originally included in a quantity of 14
identified as "invalid: unresolveable addresses or names".  Committee
Chairman O'Brien requested staff to review these again, and GM
Phelan reported that he was able to identify 4 as valid accounts. If
the count continues, these will be compared to the printouts to
determine if they are valid protests or are duplicates of ones
already logged for the service addresses.

10 possibly invalid protests (10 of 14)
=======================================
These are the other protests that were originally included in a
quantity of 14 identified as "invalid: unresolveable addresses or
names".  GM Phelan reported that he was unable to identify these
ten as valid accounts.

18 possibly valid protests (18 of 105)
======================================
These are from the group of 105 protests given to staff as "addresses
to be resolved by staff". These were the 105 protests that committee
members identified as "no address" as they were not found on the
printouts. GM Phelan reported that he was able to find and identify
18 of these protests as valid accounts. If the count continues, these
will be compared to the printouts to determine if they are valid
protests or are duplicates of ones already logged for the service
addresses.

87 possibly invalid protests (87 of 105)
========================================
These are the remainder of the 105 protests given to staff that were
identified by committee members as "no address". GM Phelan reported
that these are not valid service addresses; some are not even in the
boundaries of the district (Sacramento, Elk Grove). If the count
continues, the committee will review these again.

58 possibly valid protests
==========================
These are protests identified by committee members as having names
that did not match the names on the printouts. These were given to
staff for review. GM Phelan reported that he had only reviewed
a portion of the protests, and his results were inconclusive. If the
count continues, the committee will ask staff to continue the
investigation of these protests.

5 possibly valid protests (5 of 36)
===================================
Committee Chairman O'Brien, in sorting 207 protests to be given to
staff for review, found 36 of them to meet the criteria to be
classified as "duplicates". That is, protests had been logged on
the printouts by committee members for the addresses shown on these
36 protests. Committeemember Harris stated that the addresses could
be wrong or misinterpreted by the committee and she requested the
36 be given to staff for lookup of the name on the protest. Thus,
the 36 "duplicates" from the 207 were given to staff for review. Of
the 36, GM Phelan reported that the names shown were found on 5
accounts at addresses not shown on the protests. If the count
continues, the committee will review these again to determine if
the protests were intended for the other address and then to
determine if a protest has already been logged for that address.

31 possibly invalid protests (31 of 36)
=======================================
These are the remainder of the 36 protests given to staff that
were identified by Committee Chairman O'Brien to be "duplicates".
GM Phelan reported that the names on the protests were not found
on other accounts. If the count continues, the committee will review
these again.

1 possibly valid protest
========================
This is an unsigned protest. Committeemember Harris has recently
obtained an affidavit from the person whose (business) name appears
on the protest, and Committeemember Harris wishes the protest to
be counted, even though it is unsigned. The committee will not
reach consensus on this protest, and if the count continues, and if
this is the deciding protest, the Board must adjudicate this protest.
 

              SUMMARY OF PROTESTS
============================================
   2026 Probably valid     217 Probably invalid
   86 Possibly valid     128 Possibly invalid
 ----                    ---
 2112                    345

              2112 Potential valid
               345 Potential invalid
              ----
              2457 Total protests

Number of protests that would constitute a "majority": 2118
(GM Phelan's statement says there were 4235 services on 1/22/01)
 

Caveats should the count continue:
==================================
Committeemember Boatwright has stated that if the count continues
and a majority of valid protests is not found, he must convince
himself that each disqualified protest is, in fact, invalid.

Committeemember Harris has stated that if the count continues and
a majority of valid protests is not found, she will personally
contact the 345 who have submitted protests that were disqualified.

Committee Chairman O'Brien has stated that the 13 protests
identified by the District as "late or other problems" when turned
over to the committee were stamped in on December 5 with numbers
2443 through 2455 inclusive. He has stated that he will identify
these for additional review, and he contends that at least two
should be disqualified as they were filed after the deadline.

Committeemember Harris has questioned the change in total protests
from 2455 to 2458 to 2457 as the count progressed and multiple
valid protests were identified on the same protest sheet. If the
count continues, she may wish resolution of this inconsistency.

Committeemember Harris has questioned the integrity of the protests
and the count of the protests while they were under the control of
Committee Chairman O'Brien. If a count continues, Committee
Chairman O'Brien wishes a complete recount and validation of all
protests, by the serial number stamped on February 5, as an audit
of the process while it was under his control.
 

Recommendation to the Board:
============================
Based on the committees meeting February 15, 2001, Committeemember
Harbert will prepare the committee's recommendations, and after
review by the committee, present them to the Board on February
26, 2001.
 

Prepared by Jay O'Brien, Committee Chairman, RLECWD Director
Committee Members: Jerry Wickham, RLECWD Director, ratepayer
                   Walt Boatwright, ratepayer
                   Joe Gluvers, ratepayer
                   Paul Harbert, ratepayer
                   Mary Harris, ratepayer