By Brian Hews<\/p>\n
Publisher | Follow X<\/a><\/p>\n April 26, 2026<\/p>\n The Central Basin Municipal Water District<\/a> Board will take up a review of its legal counsel and rising legal costs at its regular Monday meeting, placing a spotlight on decisions made during the district\u2019s 2023 leadership upheaval, as documented by Los Cerritos Community News.<\/a><\/p>\n The agenda includes a presentation on legal cost reductions and an ongoing evaluation of the district\u2019s use of outside counsel.<\/p>\n The review comes after a series of moves in late 2023 that reshaped the district\u2019s leadership and legal strategy.<\/p>\n At the time, then-President Michael Gualtieri (later resigned), Vice President Juan Garza, and Directors Martha Camacho-Rodriguez (lost election) and Thomas Bekele (later resigned) sought to place General Manager Dr. Alex Rojas on leave. According to sources familiar with the discussions, the district\u2019s attorney at the time, Bob Baker, warned the Board that such a move could carry significant legal consequences.<\/p>\n Rojas was charged in 2022 with multiple counts including money laundering, bribery, and embezzlement tied to his prior role at Bassett Unified School District. He has denied the allegations, and the case remains unresolved in Los Angeles Superior Court. Those present at the last hearing, with the case now in the hands of the judge, told Los Cerritos Community News that several final witnesses contradicted their earlier statements against Rojas.<\/p>\n But Baker said that Rojas\u2019 contract did not contain a \u201cmoral turpitude\u201d provision that would allow the Board to place him on leave.<\/p>\n Within weeks, Baker was replaced. In December 2023, Gualtieri, Garza, Camacho-Rodriguez and Bekele voted to retain Victor Ponto of\u00a0Burke, Williams & Sorensen LLP\u00a0as general counsel.<\/p>\n Then things moved fast.<\/p>\n Over the course of two meetings, the Board\u2019s leadership shifted, including the removal of then-President Art Chacon. Chacon and Rojas had previously overseen a financial turnaround at Central Basin, adding millions to reserves and improving the district\u2019s credit position, according to district financial records.<\/p>\n Central to the dispute was a requirement in both Rojas\u2019 employment contract and the district\u2019s administrative code mandating six out of seven Board votes to place the general manager on leave or terminate employment.<\/p>\n But, according to sources at the time, Ponto advised that a simple majority\u2014four votes\u2014was sufficient.<\/p>\n Relying on that interpretation, Gualtieri, Garza, Camacho-Rodriguez and Bekele voted to place Rojas on leave.<\/p>\n Weeks after the move, the Board appointed Ponto as acting general manager while he continued to serve as the district\u2019s legal counsel, placing the district\u2019s attorney in charge during a critical transition period.<\/p>\n Ponto\u2019s professional background is in law, not public agency water operations, meaning the district\u2019s top executive role was filled by an attorney rather than a water industry professional during a period of significant operational and financial pressure.<\/p>\n Shortly after, the Board moved to hire a new permanent general manager, selecting Elaine Jeng, then the City Manager of Palos Verdes Estates. The hiring process was brief\u2014lasting roughly one week\u2014and resulted in an unbudgeted salary of approximately $265,000 plus benefits, paid from district funds.<\/p>\n At the time, the district was effectively paying two general managers simultaneously\u2014Rojas, who remained on paid leave, and Jeng, who was brought in to replace him.<\/p>\n In the months and years that followed, Central Basin\u2019s financial position declined.\u00a0<\/p>\n District financial reports show unrestricted cash and investments increased after the sale of a district property, which Rojas oversaw, peaking at roughly $17 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n Following the leadership changes that brought in Ponto and Jeng, those reserves fell to approximately $8.7 million by early 2026\u2014a decline of nearly 50 percent. Over that same period, from late 2023 through February 2026, legal spending increased significantly. The Central Basin Board fired Jeng in February 2026.<\/p>\n Financial records obtained through a public records request and reviewed by Los Cerritos Community News show that more than $2 million has been paid to Ponto and his firm through February 2026\u2014an average exceeding $74,000 per month.<\/p>\n And the legal costs may not be done.<\/p>\n In 2025, the same Board majority that removed Rojas approved hiring an additional outside law firm to pursue litigation against him, expanding the district\u2019s legal exposure and adding a second stream of legal expenses tied to the same dispute.<\/p>\n The decisions made in 2023 are now showing up in the district\u2019s balance sheet.<\/p>\n The sequence\u2014change in legal counsel, reinterpretation of voting requirements, removal of a general manager, installation of legal counsel into an executive role, rising legal costs, and declining reserves\u2014has drawn renewed scrutiny as the Board prepares to review its legal services.<\/p>\n Ponto continues to serve as general counsel, and Garza is the only remaining member of the Board majority that voted to place Rojas on leave.<\/p>\n With the district now facing ongoing legal matters and preparing for potential rate adjustments in the coming years, Monday\u2019s review of legal counsel and costs could signal whether the Board intends to maintain or change its current legal strategy.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \tDiscover more from Los Cerritos Community News<\/p>\n Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Brian Hews Publisher | Follow X April 26, 2026 The Central Basin Municipal Water District Board will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-287610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}