Director Calvin Owens Resigns From The Newberry CSD

OMG files July 18, 2013

Rumor has it that the love isn't there anymore!

      Following a damning report from the county Grand Jury on the Newberry Community Service District (CSD), the battered CSD is being forced to clean-up its dirty laundry.  The latest casualty of that soiled laundry appears to be CSD director Calvin Owens.

      Rumor has it that internal and external pressure have been brought to bear upon Owens over irregularities.  He reportedly submitted his written resignation to the CSD on Thursday, July 11, 2013.  It is alleged to be effective immediately.

      Rumor has it that Owen's resignation will be officially announced at the next regular board meeting, July 23; but already a small grassroots campaign has been reportedly launched by his supporters for him to reconsider.  The support, in part, appears to be coming from fire department supporters who have previously benefited from Owens' personal conflict-of-interest votes on local fire department matters.

      Should the impetus behind his sudden resignation be a deal from an external source, it is highly unlikely that Owens could reconsider.

      Owens this year has been at the center of a controversy of misrepresenting a personal training expense as an authorized fire department expense.  The CSD board ordered Owens to return CSD reimbursement money that he had received.

      Page 17 of the Grand Jury's report makes a brief mention, "However, there was an instance when one cardholder made three separate fuel purchases on the same day.  Without documentation and further explanation, it is difficult to determine if significant travel for district business occurred on the same day, requiring multiple fueling, or if multiple cars, including personal cars, were fueled with the same District purchase card."

      Rumor has it that a member of the fire department, who was not identified in the G.J. report, allegedly used a CSD vehicle for personal use and used a CSD issued purchase card to make multiple fuel purchases in one day.  Where would so much fuel go?  A personal vehicle?  Personal gas containers?

      At a Special Board Meeting held on July 9, 2013, the CSD board stripped Owens of his CSD purchase card for fire department purchases.  Two days later Owens also submitted his resignation.

      Owens' resignation has come halfway through his 4-year term.  Owens acquired his board seat by default as only he and one other candidate registered as candidates for the two open director seats in the 2011 CSD board election.

      Owens' tenure as a director has been mediocre, barely functioning in the shadows as a hired water gun for the Seeley regime; and since Seeley's resignation last December, Owens has principally served as a seat warmer.

      It will be interesting to see if the board will replace Owens with one of the four candidates running for the three CSD board seats in next month's election.  By doing such, the remaining three candidates would be automatically elected / seated.

      The mailing of the preprinted election ballots could possibly be cancelled saving the district some election costs in postage and Registrar of Voters' labor.

      Resigning is probably best for Owens; but possibly not for the community.  As lame an asset as Owens has been to the board, there appears one even worse in the pool of election candidates vying for a director's seat.

      A couple of the election candidates do show some promise, but none appear to offer what the community truly needs.  That being a combination of common sense, the interpersonal skills to bring the board members together as a cohesive functioning body, and the vision to lead Newberry Springs out from being a pit in the desert.

      A strong corporate board of directors is best made up of directors that have strong expert backgrounds, such as one director in business accounting, another in legal, human resources, government, management leadership, stock market, and so forth.  Each bringing to the board table a high expertise in a field that the board can turn to, to build upon.  The CSD boards have failed in not being comprised of experts, but mostly unqualified wannabes with narcissistic egos.

      During the past quarter century, the Newberry CSD boards have done little to improve living conditions in Newberry Springs.  Some residents point-out that the standard of living has declined.

Click here to read, "Like," comment, or share on:

Follow us on Twitter and be notified of new stories:

• • • Home page: http://NewberrySpringsInfo.com