Beau Goldie made an unexpected—and extended—goodbye tour last week at the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s offices, and things got more than a little awkward.
Sources at the district said that the former CEO and 31-year district employee popped up three straight days last week, and that he was “acting strangely.” During his multiple drop-ins, Goldie reportedly violated district rules on unsupervised visitors and may have even attempted to influence staff direction on future work.
District spokesman Marty Grimes confirmed Goldie was present Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
“Other than to return a laptop,” Grimes said, “we understand the purpose of his visit was to say his goodbyes and express his thanks and encouragement to employees.”
Chief Operating Officer (COO) Norma Camacho expressed concerns about comments Goldie made to staff, according to an internal email sent Friday, and acting CEO Jim Fiedler apparently had to instruct Goldie to stop violating visitor protocol.
Of course, the hype of Goldie’s “retirement/resignation” was so contrived it’s possible he thought he was still running the show.
Since his last day on Jan. 15, it’s been reported that Goldie received a six-month severance package of more than $152,000, according to the Mercury News. Sick pay, vacation time and benefits bump that up to roughly $278,000, and that’s in addition to the $236,000 annual pension he’s expected to receive.
According to an internal email sent out Friday on behalf of COO Camacho, Goldie made staff and the board of directors uncomfortable with his lingering presence.
“Acting CEO Jim Fiedler reported there were concerns expressed by some staff, as well as the Board, that former CEO Beau Goldie had been in various locations throughout district facilities. He said he has spoken to Beau, and normal security protocol should be followed.”
Goldie’s discussions with staff allegedly included disparaging comments about the board, as well as giving instructions to staff working on recycled water projects.
The latter item is especially worrisome considering Goldie and his colleagues have been accused—by district employees—of conflicts of interest and violating rules in expediting contracts with RMC Water and Environment on an $800 million recycled water treatment plant.
In the final months of his tenure as CEO, Goldie remained steadfast that all contracts and district protocols were followed in relation to RMC work, which is owned in part by Tom Richardson, the spouse of district administrator Melanie Richardson.
However, San Jose Inside has published multiple reports, citing internal documents and emails, which suggest or explicitly state the opposite of Goldie’s contention.
One recently discovered document from April 2011, written by senior district counsel Leslie Orta, states that Melanie Richardson had a clear conflict of interest related to RMC while overseeing procurement for the district. It also states that she would continue to have a conflict of interest in her role in charge of watershed projects unless an ethical wall was created. As of last year, Melanie Richardson was still providing performance evaluations for district staff working on RMC projects.
In another memo from September 2014, Orta wrote that Goldie broke district rules in bypassing board approval to amend and increase contracts with RMC. The district has claimed that Orta’s opinion was incorrect in this matter, although that decision was made by Goldie and lead district counsel Stan Yamamoto, and they came to this conclusion without drafting a single document to clarify this legal opinion.
Meanwhile, the district is expected to carry out an independent audit of all RMC work, while a separate inquiry—authorized by Goldie—is currently trying to identify employees who blow the whistle on what they see as inappropriate conduct within the district.
According to contracts obtained through a Public Records Act request, an amended agreement signed last spring with special investigator Rebecca A. Spear authorizes up to $25,000 of work.
This story has been updated.
“Other than to return a laptop,” Grimes said, “we understand the purpose of his visit was to say his goodbyes and express his thanks and encouragement to employees.” He should have done all that before 1/15/16, his last day on the job. If he didn’t, then oh well, he can call them at home.
“Acting CEO Jim Fiedler reported there were concerns expressed by some staff, as well as the Board, that former CEO Beau Goldie had been in various locations throughout district facilities. He said he has spoken to Beau, and normal security protocol should be followed.” What’s so hard about telling Beau that he has 2 minutes to leave the premises or the police will be called to arrest him for trespassing, and instructing security to refuse him entrance in the future?
word, they have my picture at front desk just for spilling the beans, so why not golden boy
separate inquiry—authorized by Goldie—is currently trying to identify employees who blow the whistle on what they see as inappropriate conduct within the district.
Since whistle blowers are protected, there should be no investigation into identity of those employees.
An employee who exposes something that is illegal, and facts check out, should not have to be identified.
This is just like a little child who is deflecting their guilt onto someone else,
Ya know, it’s bad enough that Goldie just doesn’t get it; but that most of the Board of Directors doesn’t get it is absolutely unconscionable.
All the board should leave, they give each other golden hand shakes and pensions at our expense.
You sure like to pile on when someone is down. If I hear one more time that the District needs more diversity I am going to puke. Two of the three COOs are Latino. I would like to see qualified people running my water and flood protection, I could care less about their skin color. There is water to treat so we don’t become like Flint, Michigan and dams to maintain so they don’t fail like South Carolina. Make sure they hire the best and not meet a racial quota. This is nuts!
well they would fix the dams and creeks but have wasted millions on unneeded equipment, food, hearing aids, if the DA pulls purchase records you will see were the waste is, check IT fung, ashu, ravi and george k lying about how much was spent in the board room and taking the 70k tandberg VC system and much more claiming there is not that capability , when it has all be bought, if golden boy was not paid 500k for getting ready for the draught there would be money to fix things, there was money to fix things in the boardroom but gk cancelled all work so things would fail and now they want hd, problem is how many people watch scvwd 15 and they want to spend another 3 million for that? i can tear apart there wish list as the tech can also we already have the documents are public record, take note..
https://pgoeltz.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/santa-lara-valley-water-boardroom-audiovisual-modernization-project-engineers-report/
WELL THE EX CHAIR KREMEN IS NOW PARTYING IT UP, I NEVER THOUGHT HE WOULD HELP STOP THINGS I GUESS EVEN THOUGH HE FOUND HIS MATCH HE NEEDS 1900$ IN MASSAGES AND APPROVED TONS OF BAD PAYMENTS POO KEEPS FLOWING.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Former-Employee-Sues-Identiv-Alleges-Fraud-and-Improper-Spending-on-a-Government-Employee—364587281.html
Please see my screename…
If it was me, I would take the taxpayer $278,000 bonus and the $236,000 CalPers annual retirement gift and move to Cabo. What kind of deranged soul hangs around an office where nobody wants to see him? Maybe he needs to spend a little of his newfound fortune for a therapist.
I run two blogs, one on the SJWC and the other on SCVWD. Over the past three years I’ve been amazed by many of the actions by executives in the path the water follows in California, to the ratepayers. The issues have ranged from CPUC’s very favorable decisions. in favor of the utilities, including our water districts and utilities. Our local water suppliers blogs, http://sjwc-rate-increase.blogspot.com/ and http://scvwd-parcel-tax.blogspot.com/
Just the tip of the iceberg has started to emerge. Too many managers are hired because of who they know. ….. Not what they know. More investigating needs to happen in order to stop the unscrupulous actions by those in charge
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???