MONTEREY, Calif.- "If the new general manager comes in, as good as he may be, he's going to be tainted by the culture and so were going to be back to where we started," said Peter Baird.
Back where they started was in the 70's when the special district was established by voters. But it wasn't until last December, that some of those same voters found out where a big chunk of their property tax dollars were going.
For the last 12 years Joe Donofrio managed 500 square miles and 16 employees, by the time he left he was making $375,000, benefits included.
To give you perspective, Yosemite's National Park superintendent oversees 1,200 square miles of land and 450 employees. He is making $185,000 benefits included.
"We're not talking about IBM, we're talking about a public agency," Peter Baird says he never considered himself an activist.
But when he heard how much Donofrio was making he figured he would show up to a board meeting, voice his concerns, write a letter to the editor, and go on with his life. But that turned out to be just the beginning.
"Once I got back to the office I had two dozen mesages and voicemails from people who shared the same view. I don't think the public had an idea of the amount of laxness and the amount of benefits that we're given to one individual," said Baird.
And when he started asking questions of the board, he says they weren't giving answers.
"In fact, the board has instituted a policy of not speaking with any residents, the board attorney had told the board members not to have any conversation with the residents," said Baird.
I was told the same thing when I requested an interview with the president and Donofrio back in December.
It wasn't until Donofrio retired and the new general manager, Jim Sulentich was hired, that I got the interview with board of directors president Jennifer Lagier Fellguth. She said she couldn't speak until now because she wasn't board president then.
Now that she is talking, she said all employee contracts are public, "Each time a new contract amendment was negotiated, that information was public. It was announced at public meetings...And at no time did anyone in the public come forward with any criticism or complaint or question. this has all been out there as public info so this is no big secret," said Fellguth.
But Baird says if it's there, the board doesn't want you to find it.
"Why is it necessary to invoke the public records request to get the information, and why does the district want to charge 45 dollars an hour to assemble that info?"
But concerned community members kept at it and gathered so much information about what they consider indiscretions by Donofrio and the board of directors, they made a website. "Fleecing Park Taxpayers" launches Tuesday with the idea that if the board of directors won't make information accessible to the public, they will, and some of it's not too flattering.
Like the allegation that Donofrio's daughter was living in district housing reserved for park staff. I learned that after my interview with President Fellguth, so I emailed her the question. She emailed back "get in contact with Joe Splane on that. The board does not pry into the private lives of our employees' grown children."
And in our interview, Fellguth vehmently defended Donofrio's raises, "What were some of these things that he did that were so great? Well have you ever hiked Palo Corona, have you ever hiked Mill Creek, have you ever hiked Kahn Ranch? In his tenure Joe brought in or helped us negotiate 12,000 additional acres, he also helped with fundraising that brought in millions of dollars to the district that allowed us to get these lands and make them available to the public."
But Baird and quite a few others don't care how good of a job Donofrio did, they say he was paid way too much. And the current board of directors are to blame, "This board should step aside...A new board has to step in to place," said Baird.
"They want a resignation of the board, what would you say to that? I would say given our electoral process, the fact that we cycle in and out, they will have a golden opportunity when we come up for election," said Fellguth.
Fellguth says a recall would cost over 300,000 dollars. There is another board meeting set for March 7th.
The taxpayer-made website: http://fleecingparktaxpayers.wordpress.com/
