Re: ‘Cities in a Water Fight’ by Dean Starkman (October 16, 2015)

Mr. Starkman,

I read your Cities in a Water Fight with great interest. It was presented in a fair and balanced report. However, there is the hidden motivation behind the municipal water takeover in Apple Valley. You touched a bit on it when you related the City of Rialto’s receiving $30 million in cash for contracting their services to Veolia. That is precisely the motivation of Apple Valley, whose net treasury position over the past few years has dropped by 47% and continuing due to other operations running significant deficits. These deficits are already being offset by Enterprise funds being transferred to General Fund without justification.

For some of us residents, we have been examining the financial actions occurring in our Town and have great concern about our future water quality in the hands of a free spending government. Our local paper walks on egg shells when it comes to the dealings of Apple Valley, and whether unintentional or intentional, it seems to hinder the ability of informed locals to really get the information out to the public, or to call for a public examination of the finances.

I know your paper was instrumental in exposing the financial corruption in the City of Bell, and just wanted to offer, if you have any interest in looking deeper at the Town of Apple Valley, we have citizens who would be happy to meet with you and assist in that process.

Thank you for you for your journalistic endeavor on this subject matter, and your attention to our offer.

— Leane Lee, Apple Valley