RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - The governance of the Rancho Murieta Community Services District might be at a crossroads, as evidenced by a special board meeting on Jan. 6.

The meeting agenda suggested that the board might consider disciplining or dismissing General Manager Mimi Morris during the closed session. Although nothing happened, it revealed that a serious rift that began months ago between General Manager Morris and new Board President Stephen Booth.

Morris read a prepared statement before the board withdrew for the closed session: “Today’s special, closed session appears to result not from any alleged deficiencies in my performance but rather from President Booth’s ongoing retaliation, discrimination and harassment.”

Booth didn’t attend the closed meeting due to instructions provided by district counsel Patrick Enright.

Booth was asked by the River Valley Times to respond and he stated, “I categorically deny that there has been any discrimination against her for any reason.”

When the board reconvened in public session, Enright announced that the board had taken no action. The board will hold its next meeting at 5 p.m. Jan. 15.

Special Meeting Agenda

The decision to hold the special meeting on Jan. 6 has its origins in the board’s organizational meeting on Dec. 6. Booth was leaving the country, so he asked Enright and Merchant to establish the Dec. 18 meeting agenda.

According to separate comments by Morris, Booth and Director John Merchant, the board originally planned to evaluate Morris in closed session on Dec. 18. However, after some board members expressed concern that they were evaluating the general manager too frequently, Enright requested it be pulled so it could be rescheduled, according to Booth.

The Jan. 6 special meeting agenda listed three topics to be discussed in the closed session. The first was “Public employment performance evaluation – title: general manager.” The second was “public employment discipline/dismissal/release.” The third was “Conference with legal counsel – anticipated litigation.”

Following the Jan. 6 meeting, The River Valley Times asked Merchant why he and Enright had added the second and third items about discipline and anticipated litigation to the special meeting agenda since it suggested the board might be firing Morris. (When her evaluation was a topic on previous agendas, the other two topics weren’t listed.)

Merchant said it was about covering the bases.

“Well, if you don’t put it on the agenda then you can’t discuss it,” Merchant said.

Booth said he had nothing to do with establishing the Jan. 6 meeting agenda. Merchant confirmed that was the case.

Morris’ Statement                                                

The first point Morris made in her prepared statement was that while the district is legally required to provide her with the opportunity to publicly respond to whatever supposed performance issues are being discussed in closed session, the district has failed to inform her of those issues.

Morris said the district was experiencing difficulties when she was hired in May 2023. Since then, Morris said, she has focused on rebuilding the district, from installing bright, energy-efficient lights to developing accurate and validated financial records and hiring highly competent professionals.

 “My goal has been to set the organization on an even keel, to help it be strong enough to effectively survive for decades,” she said.

Morris said that she has been successful. She said the majority of the then-board of directors agreed on Nov. 20 and provided a merit salary increase. Directors Tim Maybee, Martin Pohll, and Randy Jenco voted yes, while Booth and Linda Butler voted no.

 “However, in December, with the new board majority and the resulting election of Stephen Booth as board president, circumstances have significantly changed,” Morris said.

At that point in her statement, Morris recalled last April when she experienced a significant medical issue that required surgeries and procedures throughout the spring and summer. She said the district was required by law to provide reasonable accommodations, including the ability to work remotely when necessary.

Morris said Booth began questioning her need for reasonable accommodations at the August meeting. More recently, Morris said, he sent her an email confirming his “improper position” about accommodations. She said Booth also suggested agendizing a report on remote workers for the Dec. 18 board meeting but it was withdrawn before the meeting.

Booth was asked by the River Valley Times to respond.

“That is a blatant mischaracterization of what I have repeatedly stated,” Booth told the River Valley Times on Jan. 7. “I emphatically stated that I had no objection to her time off or her working remotely under medical advice.”

Booth said that after the medical restriction was lifted, Morris continued to work remotely. At the same time, she also allowed Mark Matulich, the director of finance and administration, to work remotely for much of the week. Booth said other directors shared his concern about the resulting lack of management presence in the Community Services District Office.

Morris also said she believed that Booth’s discrimination related to her medical issues stemmed from her efforts to ensure that the board acted in compliance with the law at the August meeting.

Specifically, she discussed the district’s obligations under California law and its prior agreements to provide water for those who helped fund the water treatment plant expansion, which paved the way for additional development.

“My statement was that even with no further development, the district needed to comply with its legal obligations to increase the overall resiliency of the water system, which was met with outrage and hostility by the anti-development board members who do not want to save water but instead wish to maintain the myth that there is not enough water to sustain development,” Morris said.

In response, Booth told the River Valley Times: “I categorically deny that there’s been any discrimination against her for any reason, number one. And, number two, my position with regard to the will-serve letters, availability of water and the pending water management plan is all well established in the record. I’m just not going to comment further on that additional falsehood other than to call it false.”

Morris said Booth publicly retaliated against her at the Nov. 20 board meeting after a closed-session deliberation of her performance (which included a pay raise). She said that Booth made several false accusations.

During the Nov. 20 meeting, Booth said one of his reasons for opposing Morris’s pay raise was the delay in completing the audits. While he “believed” that she and Mark Matulich, the director of finance and administration, were making progress, Booth said, they were also spending time on initiatives not important to the board.

Booth then expressed his concerns about the general manager’s adherence to state and federal laws, citing either her actions or inactions as problematic.

“I think there is a tendency to sometimes provide less than accurate and honest information,” he said at the Nov. 20 meeting.

In her prepared statement, Morris said that Booth’s comments had been defamatory. “They also were inappropriate for an open session to the extent that a member of the public with extensive administrative experience chastised you.”

Asked about his comments at the November meeting, Booth explained the background was the October meeting. That’s when Morris and then-President Tim Maybee proposed enhancing her compensation by more than $100,000 over two years. Booth said he was successful in pulling the proposal off the October agenda but it came up again in November.

“I was adamantly opposed to any increase, again, because of the process that we have in place that wasn’t being followed and because I did not believe that the GM’s performance was up to par,” Booth told the River Valley Times on Jan. 7 referencing the November meeting. “And I did give a very brief explanation of my objections in open session because I was appalled that the matter was being brought up again for board consideration.”

Morris said Booth continued to retaliate after she complained in writing about his conduct to Maybee and Enright on Nov. 21. Booth said he didn’t know about her complaint until Enright emailed him just before the Dec. 18 meeting.

Morris said in her statement that Booth’s retaliation continued at the Dec. 6 board meeting, when he removed her as a representative to the Regional Water Board. Booth said he had made that tentative committee reassignment in October. It was to take effect after the new board was seated.

Morris went on to say that later in the day on Dec. 6, Booth attempted to agendize multiple topics for the Dec. 18 meeting that demonstrated his attempt to attack her. One proposed topic was requesting a report about all remote workers, which was  “a thinly veiled effort to oppose my legally mandated accommodations.”

Although Booth did recommend that agenda item, he asked Merchant and Enright to structure the Dec. 18 agenda. Merchant said Enright later removed that item from the agenda.

Morris said she notified the district on Dec. 9 that she had retained an attorney. After her attorney corresponded with the district, the items of concern were removed from the Dec. 18 agenda, Morris said.

Booth told The River Valley Times that he did not recall when district counsel informed him that Morris had retained an attorney, although it was before the Dec. 18 meeting.

That’s because Enright added an agenda item to discuss anticipated litigation to the Dec. 18 closed session because of her complaint against Booth. Enright also asked Booth to recuse himself from that session, which he did. Enright also told Booth not to attend the Jan. 6 special meeting because of the complaint.

Morris also said in her prepared statement that Enright informed her attorney on Jan. 3 that he had instructed Booth not to communicate with her.

“While I appreciate the acknowledgment that President Booth’s behavior is improper, such restrictions will most likely make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for me to do my job,” she said.

Booth told the River Valley Times that Enright has instructed him to go through him or Merchant if he needs to share information with Morris. Asked if he could work with Morris in the future, Booth told the River Valley Times that he didn’t care to comment.