Water District Seeks Ruling on 2 Vacant Seats on Board

Las Virgenes Municipal Water District officials have asked state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp to break a stalemate over a pair of appointments to their agency’s governing board.

Water district directors voted 4 to 1 Monday night to ask Van de Kamp for a ruling on whether Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich has violated the law by delaying appointments to the water district director seats for divisions 3 and 5.

Directors asked Antonovich two months ago to appoint incumbent directors Harold Helsley and Ann Dorgelo to new four-year terms after county elections officials canceled elections in both divisions.

Elections Canceled

The election for Helsley’s seat was called off after officials discovered that neither he nor his opponent collected the proper number of signatures on their candidate filing papers. The election for Dorgelo’s seat was canceled after officials found that her opponent lacked the proper number of signatures to qualify as a candidate.

Water district officials contend that Antonovich violated county procedures and state law by not acting on the appointments by Oct. 28.

Helsley and Dorgelo were listed for appointments on the Nov. 4 Board of Supervisors agenda, but Antonovich unexpectedly removed the names at the start of that day’s board meeting.

Automatic Appointment

Afterward, an aide to Antonovich said that Dorgelo’s appointment was expected to be automatic because she had been a qualified candidate, but that Helsley’s fate was still undetermined.

Helsley was described by the aide to be “near the top” of a list of about five nominees for the appointment.

Water district spokeswoman Diane Eaton said Tuesday that Las Virgenes officials hope to make the appointments themselves if Antonovich has forfeited his chance to fill the two posts.

The district provides water and sewer service to a 120-square-mile area between Woodland Hills and Thousand Oaks.