IID board vote rescinds that never existed agreement

EL CENTRO — For months three directors of the Imperial Irrigation District have maintained there was no project labor agreement to rescind because the vote taken Dec. 1 was vague, unclear and ambiguous.

Now, with the district facing a lawsuit involving the overturning the PLA and facing possible violations of the Brown Act the board of directors on April 16 took formal action to rescind the agreement, apparently whether it existed or not.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Bernardino/Riverside Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, Imperial County Building and Construction Trades Council and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 47.

Director JB Hamby the decision to draft a resolution to rescind the Dec. 1 vote was recommended by IID’s attorney in the suit.

Hamby said the resolution was needed to make sure all of the IID’s “ducks were in a row.” Nevertheless, he maintained there was no PLA in place, even though the resolution the directors approved refers to voiding and rescinding previous action.

Director Norma Sierra Galindo who has recused herself from

PLA matters, said the word rescind implies the agreement was in place because if it had not been in place there would have been nothing to rescind.

She said IID directors were told to vote on the resolution to rescind the action in open session taken by the previous board on Dec. 1.

She said what the three directors were doing was cleaning up the Brown Act violation in open session when they previously voted on the agreement in closed session.

“It’s very complex and highly unusual,” Hamby said of directors having different opinions on the lawsuit.

“There is a gray area in the law when you decide (what to do) and what is the case law,” he said.

Back in December attorney Katherine Turner, with the law firm of Sutherland & Gerber, said the original Dec. 1 vote had several Brown Act violations, including conflicts of interest being disclosed and the action was discussed in closed session without proper notice to the public.