Padgett quits water board

Vernon Padgett Dr. Vernon Padgett abruptly resigned from the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District board of directors last week, district officials announced.

Padgett, who announced his resignation following the Sept. 13 board meeting, was the director of Division 3, which includes Calabasas and the nearby unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.

Padgett claims that his resignation was based on a difference of opinion regarding the pouring of reclaimed sewer water into Malibu Creek. Allegations surfaced, however, that Padgett had harassed a district employee and was about to be censured by the board.

“Despite conversations I had with him and letters to him (regarding the harassment), he persisted with this alleged harassment,” said Charles Caspary, water board president. “He resigned prior to the board’s discussion on the censure matter.”

Padgett, who’s declined to give his exact age but is said to be in his 80s, also announced that he had a hearing impairment.

But Padgett said the main reason he quit is because he became frustrated with the contaminated water in Malibu Lagoon. He said the water being discharged into Malibu Creek from the Tapia sewer plant in Calabasas mixes with pollution from septic tanks, trash and birds and helps break the lagoon sand berm, which allows the polluted lagoon and creek water to reach the ocean.

“I resigned because I thought the water district was not doing what it should be doing,” Padgett said.

Allegations that the Tapia discharge breeches the lagoon began surfacing in 1997.

“If the question is, does Tapia water cause the lagoon berm to breech, it does not because we (do not pour reclaimed water into) the creek between April 16 and Nov. 15 specifically to avoid that, and we have been successful,” said Dr. Randall Orton, the water district’s resource conservation administrator.

Padgett admits that the water from the Tapia facility is “drinkable,” but thinks that the water should be channeled around the lagoon directly into the ocean.

“It’s the amount of water that comes down, not the quality of the water,” he said. “I think (the water district) ought to take on the responsibility of doing things necessary to prevent the polluted water from the lagoon to breaking the berm and flowing onto Malibu beach.”

Dennis Gillette, a board member on the water district’s sister agency, Triunfo Santitation District, said that at a Sept. 1 Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control board meeting in Agoura Hills, Padgett expressed agreement with the Las Virgenes policies.

“He’s being totally inconsistent,” Gillette said. “He was in agreement (with the board).”

Padgett began sparring with fellow board members over the matter of high water rates when he was elected in 1998. He was credited with helping reduce rates for the district’s 65,000 customers by 10 percent. Later, Padgett took up the fight against the district’s annual parcel tax levied against landowners. He also complained that the Rancho Las Virgenes Composting Facility in Calabasas had been operating inefficiently.

Padgett was reelected in 2002. His current term expires in Dec., 2006. He served briefly as water district board chairman before resigning the post in Jan. 2002.

When asked whether he brought up his concerns about the polluted water during board meetings, Padgett said, “I didn’t bring it up in detail . . . They tried to make excuses and point fingers. I didn’t get very far there. I wasn’t able to convince them . . . They weren’t paying much attention to me down there.”

The district has three options to fill Padgett’s position for the remainder of his term. They can accept applications to appoint a member to the board, allow the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to make the appointment, or schedule a special election.

Padgett is a retired physician who served as a naval medical doctor in World War II. He lives in Calabasas and ran unsuccessfully for city council earlier this year.