Water Authority’s Confidential Consultant Contracts Surprised Board
“The San Diego County Water Authority is building a team of consultants but won’t explain the work they’re doing, even to its own board of directors. The Water Authority spent $167,000 on two consultant contracts since July 2019 without disclosing them to the board, which is composed of representatives from the region’s 24 water agencies. It also won’t say what a third contract that was approved by the,” reports Mackenzie Elmer in Voice Of San Diego.
“Board members’ dissatisfaction with the secrecy of the contracts some which were entered into under a rule that allows the general manager to execute contracts below $150,000 without board approval boiled over in a board meeting. One board member argued that a consultant was lobbying against her water district’s interests, and another couldn’t believe the board wasn’t alerted to the work the consultants were doing.”