Fallen Leaf Lake board members resign

To Fallen Leaf Lake Community Members,

After a lengthy conversation with David Livingston {El Dorado County counsel], it became very clear that I am unable to legally participate in the voting process at Fallen Leaf Lake. Per the Fallen Leaf Lake Community Services District “By-Laws” [see below], I must be registered to vote within the district in order to serve as a board member. Because I am unable to legally do so, I am resigning from the Fallen Leaf Lake Community Services District Board.

In parting, I would like to make a couple of comments. Fallen Leaf Lake has always been a very big part of my life. My family has been present at the lake since 1926 and we have always felt privileged to be ableto enjoy such a beautiful and wonderful place. Many, many of the people I have known over the years at Fallen Leaf Lake have been quite special to my family and myself. In order to preserve the beauty of Fallen Leaf Lake I spent countless hours and several hundred dollars of my own money to establish the first and only mandatory boat wash system and program in the state of California. I did this to ensure the physical beauty of Fallen Leaf Lake is kept intact for future generations.

Over the past two years, I have experienced a side of Fallen Leaf Lake that I am truly disheartened about.

It was my feeling that by simply being a member of our community the people at the lake had a special bond. Apparently this is not the case. Our community is divided, it is my belief that there is a portion of our community that wishes to control the community area for selfish reasons. This group does not seem to have the entire community, the CSD’s financial interests, and/or the public at large in mind. The fact that the board had accomplished so much in such a short time while being constantly criticized and even threatened is disturbing to stay the least. Within the last 1½ years we have seen the resignation of our interim General Manager Lee Vestal, our board President Dana Clark, our concessionaire Rick Firkins, our board Vice President Terri Thomas, and as recently as this morning our Secretary Treasurer Patsy Miller.

You can ask any of these people about their time involved with the CSD board and they will tell you that the criticism, harassment, and threats they received were if not the entire reason for their resignation at least part of their reason. There have been many people that have treated myself and others with disrespect, arrogance, aggression, and they have shown a sense of entitlement that would be unflattering to anyone.

This has been an organized assault on the board and people supporting the boards decision regarding our new concessionaire, the meetings, petitions, straw votes, letters, and emails [with no recipient list so the CSD was unable to reply to recipients] were circulated trying diligently to regain control of the community area. Many of these email and correspondences included inaccurate, false, and misleading information in order to sway the recipient’s views on issues. On several occasions these actions were done disrespectfully and even in unethical ways.

I have lost friends that I have known for years based on rumors and correspondences that have been circulated about me with no fact to back them up. These rumors and correspondences were circulated with the intent to discredit me personally.

As I have said in the past, the community area is not for controlling it is for sharing with everyone, this includes the entire community and the public at large. I wish our community and the public luck in being able to share and enjoy Fallen Leaf Lake in harmony with each other, at this time I am unsure if this is possible.

Sincerely,

Mike Kraft, CSD president