Editor:

As the governing board of Discovery Bay, the directors are supposed to be leaders. A fundamental leadership competence starts with the character of an individual. Personal character is the heart of leadership effectiveness. The ethical standards, integrity, and genuineness of leaders are extremely important.

With strong personal character, a leader is never fearful to be open and transparent. In reality, the more people can see inside, the more highly regarded a leader will be. Without individual character, leaders are forever at risk of being discovered.

This area of strong personal character is not at all evident in the majority of the CSD Board members. I found this type of character devoid in the Lakeshore HOA Board as well.

This started out with my trying to get the CSD, Southwest Water and Lakeshore HOA to do the right thing, which at the time would have been turning off the South fountain in Lakeshore to stop raw sewage from being airborne for all to be exposed to. Why was this so difficult for three people to do?

Treated in a condescending and uncaring manner, I became very concerned that there was more going on with this situation than the CSD, Southwest Water and HOA wanted anyone to know. As it turns out, I was correct.

The responses I received from the manager of the CSD and the Lakeshore HOA president were less than helpful. I then went to other agencies, all in an attempt to find someone who would turn the fountain off. In addition to health concerns expressed by the state investigator, it was abhorrently negligent to allow that fountain to run nearly six days following the spill, knowing that the lake was grossly polluted with human waste.

The CSD was playing Russian roulette with this community's health and for what? To get the huge amount of Coliform bacteria down before being found out? Shame on them for that! That type of behavior is downright criminal.

As indicated in the investigative findings, this health hazard was created by three non-caring individuals in charge who couldn't get on the same page to shut off a fountain in a polluted lake. This is unbelievable to me. I still do not know why this was allowed to go on, as my e-mail questions have not been answered by Mr. Koehne.

Reading the unfavorable investigative reports returned by the RWQCB, Hewitt Engineering and Southwest Water, I can only express a complete and utter lack of trust in the abilities of the CSD Board, Mr. Koehne, Southwest Water and the Lakeshore HOA president, Mr. Tabarini. Considering the incompetence displayed by these three, there is sure to be some serious liability down the road.

With all this being said, how can anyone honestly think these people should remain in their present positions? They have shown themselves to be arrogant in their disregard for being forthright in providing information to the public they're elected to serve.

One of the CSD directors and audience members requested creating an emergency response plan and establishing an independent review committee as a means of being prudently prepared if this happens again. Sounded like a great idea, seeing as how an independent committee would be impartial.

There was mention that there is a May 2009 deadline for such emergency plans to be in place. In light of this recent calamity, it would be in the CSD's best interest to formulate this plan sooner than later. Before you vote for any of these individuals involved for anything, please think about it.

Jennifer McKay

Discovery Bay