Battle Over Control of Novato Water District Continues

In the October article Marin County Qualifies Measure to Stop Agency From Outsourcing Jobs, Phil Tucker of the California Healthy Communities Network/Tide Center said “We have uncovered millions of dollars in unreported costs that will be borne by the ratepayers.”

In addition to citing unreported costs, Tucker also talked about Veolia Water’s environmental record, and spending aimed at influencing Novato district board elections.

Veolia Water responded to those accusations in a letter to the NewsBlaze editor Veolia Water Responds to Criticism of Control and Environmental Record.

Then, two weeks ago, Jim Kyriakakos, a Veolia Water employee had his say, in the “Novato Advance.” Veolia is not the way to go, Novato

“As a soon-to-be-ex-employee of Veolia, I feel sorry for Novato if you let them have your sewage-treatment plant.”

Jim Kyriakakos

Kyriakakos forecast loss of local staff, shortstaffing, lack of maintenance, terminally slow response to problems, and buck-passing.

Responding again on behalf of Veolia Water, James Good used nearby Richmond as an example of good stewardship by Veolia, saying they saved the city $75 million and improved the city’s environmental record.

The battle appears certain to continue, in the streets and in newspapers.

Alan Gray is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of NewsBlaze Daily News and other online newspapers. He prefers to edit, rather than write, but sometimes an issue rears it’s head and makes him start hammering away on the keyboard.

Content Expertise

Alan has been on the internet since it first started. He loves to use his expertise in content and digital marketing to help businesses grow, through managed content services. After living in the United States for 15 years, he is now in South Australia. To learn more about how Alan can help you with content marketing and managed content services, contact him by email.

Technical Expertise

Alan is also a techie. His father was a British soldier in the 4th Indian Division in WWII, with Sikhs and Gurkhas. He was a sergeant in signals and after that, he was a printer who typeset magazines and books on his linotype machine. Those skills were passed on to Alan and his brothers, who all worked for Telecom Australia, on more advanced signals (communications). After studying electronics, communications, and computing at college, and building and repairing all kinds of electronics, Alan switched to programming and team building and management.

He has a fascination with shooting video footage and video editing, so watch out if he points his Canon 7d in your direction.