Beau Goldie put on his straightest face last week and told the Santa Clara Valley Water District board that RMC Water and Environment has been a fine consultant. The CEO’s job has hung in the balance recently, with the board reportedly conducting multiple performance reviews in closed session, and yet Goldie has been particularly bullish.
The CEO has aggressively defended RMC’s work for the past six months, despite internal allegations of improper billing by the company over the previous year and a half.
San Jose Inside has published several reports on the matter, touching on billing issues, the CEO's recent trip to Georgia and as questions surrounding Goldie’s decision not to divulge potential conflicts of interest with RMC: one of his deputies at the district, Melanie Richardson, is married to an RMC part-owner; and the firm was involved in a Monterey County corruption scandal.
None of these matters were disclosed this spring, when Goldie went to the board of directors for authorization to exclusively negotiate single-source agreements on a groundwater recycling plant, with RMC slated to receive the largest piece.
Despite Goldie and staff’s reassurances at the Oct. 27 board meeting that everything has been handled properly—chief financial officer Najon Chu reported not a single anomaly or irregularity in RMC invoices related to an East San Jose watershed project—the board referred the matter to its audit committee to take a closer look.
San Jose Inside had requested an interview with Goldie for nearly two months, and last Thursday the district consented on the condition it could video record the interview. An unusual request, spokesman Marty Grimes said the district wanted “to have an irrefutable, complete record of what is said.” The implication was that the CEO was concerned about being misquoted.
As it turns out, it’s the district that is now keeping the public from seeing a complete record of that conversation.
A little more than a half hour into the interview, Goldie was presented a document titled, “Written Notice of Recommended Disciplinary Action.” In the internal memo, dated Nov. 29, 2010, Marc Klemencic, a now-retired chief operating officer, details more than a dozen inappropriate emails that civil engineer Lisa Fleming sent to other district staff members from 2007 to 2009.
The messages, which appear to have been shared by numerous district employees, “contained profanity and nudity and derogatory commentary re: disability, race, sexual orientation, and sexual connotation.” Some of the emails even made fun of rape. Klemencic recommended a weeklong suspension and demotion for Fleming, but sources suggest she got off with a much lighter punishment.
District sources also say that Fleming was far from the only individual misusing her taxpayer-funded work email account.
Goldie refused to discuss the emails, calling them a “personnel matter,” and the district took the extraordinary step of redacting a five-minute portion of the video interview focusing on the inappropriate emails and the culture of the district. All that remains is a message that states: “Brief section removed due to confidential nature of reporter’s question.” San Jose Inside has challenged the district’s use of government exemptions to eliminate the entire discussion, but legal counsel Stan Yamamoto has yet to provide a response.
This screenshot shows the redacted portion of an interview with Santa Clara Valley Water District CEO Beau Goldie.
However, an audio recording of the interview, conducted with the district’s knowledge, features Goldie admitting that he managed many of the people who took part in the illicit email chain during his time as a deputy operating officer. According to records provided by the district, Goldie held that position from May 2004 until January 2009, when he took over as chief operating officer for five months before assuming the position of CEO.
Goldie quickly became agitated by questions about the emails, wondering how they were relevant to an interview about RMC. When told they could provide insight into the culture of the district, he disagreed.
“I think the culture of the district is such that we have policies and followed them and when somebody violates them, we take action,” Goldie said.
Sources say some district employees were forced into early retirement and others may have even been terminated as a result of the emails, but at least three individuals included in Fleming’s email chain were promoted not long after Klemencic’s November 2010 discipline memo.
Reuben Castro, a district employee since 2001, was promoted to a senior maintenance position in May 2011—just six months after Klemencic advised discipline for Fleming. Kristen O’Kane, a level II environmental planner at the time of the emails, was promoted to field operations unit manager in March 2012. Jennifer Castillo received a promotion—not in duties, but in title and pay only—from field operations to environmental services manager in April 2012.
Goldie fumbled over an answer when asked if promotions were the proper response for people involved in sending emails that included pornography and racist/homophobic jokes. He then added that he didn’t think any of the emails should be “career-ending.”
Other current district employees who were involved in the email chain include: Jay Lee, a senior maintenance worker; Chad Grande, a recently promoted field operations unit manager; and Joseph Aguilera, a field operations administrator.
The district maintains that discipline was handed out, and it’s possible that some employees were merely recipients. But staffers who spoke under the condition of anonymity, out of fear of retaliation, say that Goldie has a list of allies he has built up over his 31 years with the district, and some of the people involved in the emails may have received preferential treatment in the process.
“It’s a sense of entitlement, like, ‘We’ve been here so long we’ve got our fingers wrapped around this whole agency,’” says a source. “It’s like nothing can happen to them and they feel like they own the place because they’ve been there so long.”
Below is the redacted video interview with Water District CEO Beau Goldie. District spokesman Marty Grimes is off camera.
Real hard hitting stuff, Josh. Why don’t you leave 5 year old private personal maters alone and focus on the real issue. Click bait douchbag “reporter”
Tucker — what the media giveth then can taketh away. one day they help out our members by getting rid of Big Beau and the next day they point out racism here.
its their job
Jennifer Castillo is married to Santa Clara County lead Attorney Orry Korb. SJI should check into that conflict of interest more closely.
Who is Jennifer Castillo and what is her job that causes the conflict?
oh Beau has friends ask him about the worker(buddy) that drove, wrecked a $450k crane, no DOT investigation, just went to surplus. same with IT dept all the ethic violations, if david cahen would interview the techs, he would find out two names, fung, kamenjati, as crooked as the top staff.
Yeah, those (2) techs should be checked out for sure. They have their own “good old boys” network between them. Shady dealings. Mistreatment of employees, both staff and contract. Aggressive, vitriolic, out lashings of immaturity that they have been getting away with for YEARS!!!! Bad, bad people.
And if anyone reads the audit 2012 you will find that this behavior is rampant @SCVWD WHICH LEADS TO PSYCHOPATHS RUNNING AND MANAGING THE PLACE, THIS WAS COMMON IT it MEETING BE CALLED STONER, BY FF/GK SO NO SURPRISE WHEN THEY DID SOMETHING WRONG NOTHING HAPPENED.
https://pgoeltz.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/diversityaudit2012.pdf
YOU CAN TELL WHO IS CONNECTED, GEORGE TOLD IT STAFF I WAS THE PHARMACY NEXT DOOR, HAVE WITNESSES BUT ALL THROWN UNDER TABLE. OR WHEN gk TRIED TO PLAY DOCTOR AND TOLD WORKERS OF HIS IDEA OF MY DIVORCE, THAT I WAS BI POLAR(NOT) AND MANY OTHER PRIVATE ISSUES. WHAT HAPPENED NOTHING ME AND THE WITNESSES THOUGHT IT ALL UP. I HAD PERSONAL TALKS WITH GK, WHICH HE BLABBED TO STAFF. NOT ONCE DID THE UNION, ETHICS, HR, AFSCME DO ANYTHING. THIS IS JUST IT, IT’S MUCH WORSE IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS. AS THE AUDIT 2012 WILL TELL YOU, THE LINK IS ABOVE.
Hey PGoeltz, I don’t know who you are, but you sound a bit mentally unstable, please stay away from sharp objects. I am not a therapist, but you need professional help. I hope you find it and move on with your life.
@maxzeelooser you have all the facts, as a matter of fact are you not a member of NAMBLA, ” I don’t know who you are” MAX LOOOSER THAT’S WHAT GOOGLE IS FOR, OR DID YOU NOT FINISH SCHOOL? fyi MOVED ON LEFT SCVWD.
Well I do know who You are Max. A two-faced bible thumping, self righteous now-it-all. And u have a lot of nerve chiming in on this email chain regarding the IT managers considering you haven’t dealt with what ANONDAISY and myself dealt with under their management. Why don’t u look to God before accuse someone of being mentally unstable. A very unholy accusation. Your post was from 10:23am. What you don’t have work to do or did you type this up while sucking down a cigarette in the parking lot for the 4th time this morning. You ought to keep your uneducated opinions to yourself and stop being a cheerleader for an organization that is obviously not on the level.
Nothing you write ever surprises me Josh (not meant as an insult BTW) A lot of our local leaders act like alcohol fueled frat boys, and like frat boys (actually, some are frat brothers) they keep the power and control within their own little cliques. So it’s no surprise to me they’d be telling sex jokes, passing around nudies, and chasing women outside of their marriages. Heh, funny though, us CS guys and you journalist guys never got that “Free pass” on our grades. We were too busy doing homework for any actual party time.
Really unfair isn’t it? Some of these guys never do any actual, real work… They get to live the “American Dream” of a 9 to 5 job with a good retirement while their underlings have to pull extra hours till they burnout. Times are a changing… It’s like the story of the Alpha Beta’s and Pi Delta Pi’s against the Lambda Lambda Lambda’s, and Omega Mu’s.
Keep winning for the Tri-Lambs Josh. Thanks buddy.
To bad you guy’s weren’t around for the Clinton sex scandal, of course you might interview Hillary about that!
This guy’s name reminds me of the song “Jim Dandy”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyEgrWw0Xog
Go, Beau Goldie! Beau, go boldly!!
Good one.
WATCH RACISM, ETHICS VIOLATIONS AND CRIMES, IS INGRAINED IN THE UPPER MANAGEMENT! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUxKAoGozCs watch kamenjati give a speech at a retirement party attended by Beau,( WHO REMARKED ABOUT GK SPEECH….. these jokes were common @SCVWD PEOPLE LAUGH BUT IT’S THE NORM EVEN AFTER CLASSES AND AUDIT SAYING IT WAS WRONG. https://pgoeltz.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/diversityaudit2012.pdf READ THIS AUDIT THEY ARE SHOCKED THERE IS NOT MORE LAWSUITS.
It seems the “finger pointers” and the media would have much bigger fish to fry, with regard to issues at the issues at Santa Clara Valley Water District, then to point at, and report on those who allegedly took part in the ‘controversial email chain’. It is blatantly obvious that these employees are being played as pawns, and being made scapegoats of. I am disgusted at the unconscionable mishandling of the entire issue. I would encourage said accusers and media to focus their attention on any real malignancies at the SCVWD and leave the benign issues alone.
It seems the “finger pointers” and the media would have much bigger fish to fry, with regard to issues at the Santa Clara Valley Water District, then to point at, and report on those who allegedly took part in the ‘controversial email chain’. It is blatantly obvious that these employees are being played as pawns, and being made scapegoats of. I am disgusted at the unconscionable mishandling of the entire issue. I would encourage said accusers and media to focus their attention on any real malignancies at the SCVWD and leave the benign issues alone.
> I would encourage said accusers and media to focus their attention on any real malignancies at the SCVWD . . .
DISGUSTED:
Now is your chance to be clear.
Give us your list of real malignancies at the SCVWD”.
“Any ‘real’ malignancies”….I was very explicit. It is quite possible and likely inevitable that none exist.
It is hard to believe that so much time, energy, and ultimately money is being invested in such pettiness. Sadly, it is the world we live in. It is imperative that our collective energy and resources be focused on issues that really matter…that matter to all of us, and not to just a few.
I don’t have any more time to give to this. I am thankful for the opportunity to do so. I volunteer at both a homeless shelter and a rescue organization for animals. These organizations work on behalf of those who have real needs…real issues…issues that really matter.
THE IT MANAGER HIMSELF USING DISTRICT EQUIPMENT AFTGER HOURS SPEWING HIS HATE
https://vimeo.com/59821595
MARCH 8TH 6PM YOUR NEXT RMC ALTHOUGH ONLY FEW MILLION,,, FOLLOW TAPES FROM 2011 ALL FABRICATIONS https://pgoeltz.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/santa-lara-valley-water-boardroom-audiovisual-modernization-project-engineers-report/ WHY NO MANAGERS FIRED FOR WASTING PARTS, TAXES, LYING???