September 11, 1996 The Agua Dulce Town Council has passed a resolution opposing both sewer and water systems. The charter precludes them from becoming a taxing agency.

What surprises me the most is that the Agua Dulce Water committee supposedly is a part of the Agua Dulce Town Council and follows their charter and guidelines. In the past, after a Town Council position was established, committees such as the airport committee, became an action committee to support the Town Council's position. A few residents wanted to sell the airport to the county and were not allowed to work on the action committee as it was counter to the Town Council's position. A later formal public vote, conducted as part of the primary election in March 1995, about 70% of the votes cast opposed the County purchase of the airport.

On the other hand, the Water Committee should be made up only of people supporting the decision of the Agua Dulce Town Council. As all the committee members would have the same goals it should work smoothly in public instead of the private meetings and petty wars.

The only conclusion one could draw is that there must be pro-sewer people on the committee pretending to be anti-sewer, and advancing their hidden agenda that opposes the public resolutions of the Agua Dulce Town Council.

This is clear by their reactions when people who are truly anti-sewer speak and they react with rudeness, claim they are disruptive, censor them by closing the meeting to the public and throwing them off the committee.

In the last issue of the "Country Journal", a throwaway advertiser owned by Lillian Smith, she states:

"The Agua Dulce Water Committee will represent the community at the September 30 meeting of the California Water Quality Board."

The real proof is in the paperwork submitted by this "rogue" group recommending raising of taxes, requiring new construction codes, and upgrading existing systems on sale, code requirements. It is basically parroting the UCR report mitigation's, exactly with no disagreement. This is not an anti-sewer position.

Lillian Smith turned in a paper to the Southern California Water Quality Board (SCWQB), claiming that it had been voted on and passed by the Agua Dulce Town Council and water committee, when this was a lie! Her lie was pointed out in a letter to the town council (Attached) which was ignored because of their inability to act, caused by the intimidation they receive from this pro sewer minority.

If anyone else had misrepresented Agua Dulce Town Council positions, they would have been tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail!

When Howard Carlip spoke up at the following Town Council meeting after Lillian's paper was delivered to SCWQB he read one section that she submitted about a new county code to require upgrading to new technology septic systems at the point of sale. This is even more extreme than what UCR asked for, and was never approved by the Agua Dulce Town Council. Howard Carlip inquired as to the costs from a reputable septic installation company and was told that it would be at least 10,000 dollars.

This is what Lillian Smith sneaked through past the town council and SCWQB assumes that the town supports!

This is clearly dangerous behavior on the Town Council's part and is one of the reasons that Howard Carlip and I met with Wendy Phillips to explain that there was no vote by the Agua Dulce Town Council on this and other issues. The Agua Dulce Town Council is the only group which has the right to represent the community and only while they observe their charter.

Lillian Smith's behavior is dishonest and misrepresentative.

I ask that a letter be sent to Wendy Phillips explaining that the Agua Dulce Town Council does not support this position at disavow Lillian Smith as the community representative.

A minority of the Town Council members such as Nolan Henderson, Julie Feuerhelm, and Lianne Swanson are so chummy with Lillian Smith that they will not confront her on her illegal activity. Too bad that this town council seems to act as a social club instead of a governing group that truly represents the will of the community.

This minority on the Council has gone to the extreme of breaking their charter which states that all meetings are fully open to the public. By voting to force me to leave the meeting because I am a resident of Acton and yet while allowing Frank Newcomb to stay, even after the town council was presented with evidence clearly showing that he too lives in Acton, is wrong.

Nolan Henderson later stated that they could bend the charter in this case and that Lillian could ask anyone she saw fit to serve on the committee.. As a lawyer he should have some ethics and should set a good example by following the law.

We shall see if he truly can interpret the law or if he's using his power to selectively push forward his agenda, which he has publicly stated on many occasions, to stall the SCWQB as long as possible by:

..."Give them nothing and to not show our hand until they do."
I feel that this is a reckless strategy and will only tic off Wendy Phillips and the board, and get us a sewer. Our strategy is to fight the UCR study as flawed, because it is! This will stop them from putting in a sewer forever, not just stall the issue for a few months. We will use good science as we have shown in my paper and Howard Carlip's papers and from our geologist's expert position on the true nitrate story. Lame lawyer tricks are transparent and show a complete naiveté to the truly complicated process of working with the government to achieve a win-win situation through cooperation, rather than a confrontational stance.

It seems feeble that a supposedly "experienced" lawyer does not know how government bureaucracies work. The Government has our money to push their agenda, they will be around forever, and they get staff gets paid even if our side runs out of money challenging them.

It's much better to cooperate and protect the ground water and get a compromise we can all live with. No sewer system is needed because the UCR report is wrong.!

Let's work together and put aside this nonsense for the good of the town

Charles Brink

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