Fallen Leaf Lake residents vote in 3 new board members
By Susan Wood
Based on semi-official results reported by El Dorado County Elections Department officials Tuesday night, Fallen Leaf Lake residents will get mostly a new board in the coming months.
More than two-thirds (321) of the 461 registered voters cast ballots for Thomas Barber to replace former board member Dana Clark, Wanda Kownacki taking board member Eric Thaden’s seat and Thomas Bacchetti taking over where former board President Mike Kraft once sat. More than 80 percent opted to recall board members Thaden and Kraft, the latter resigning Aug. 20 as president amid a report of him not qualifying to be a registered to voter in the Community Services District.
Kraft has become a controversial figure with a segment of the community. He led a movement to oust longtime general store and marina concessionaire John and Ruth Rich. Since then, Rob and Sandy Wirth have taken over the hub of the lakeside community. For more than a year, CSD meetings have been punctuated by perceived threats, standing room only attendance, shouting matches and has led to a divided community.
When all is said and done, board member Jennifer Thornton will be the only familiar face on the board, as Terri Thomas decided to move on as well. Thornton has been on the board for less than a year.
Board clerk Patsy Miller resigned at about the same time as Kraft with no public explanation. A new clerk will be appointed by the incoming board. Choosing officers of the board is on the Sept. 4 agenda for the district.
In his resignation, Kraft said he’s “disheartened” about the “selfish” nature of some citizens of the village at the base of the Desolation Wilderness near South Lake Tahoe.
His successor, Bacchetti, told Lake Tahoe News he looks forward to the opportunity.
“One thing I’ve looked at over the last year is how important it is to make sure we take care of the process and make sure everyone knows what’s going on,” Bacchetti said, adding how the CSD board shouldn’t “go off and do whatever it wants.” He believes the outgoing board failed to do that.
Bacchetti, an arts administrator, noted how the lake represents the one constant in his life over the last 45 years.
Phone calls to Kownacki and Barber were left unanswered.
The district turmoil also prompted a review of the elections code from El Dorado County. A question arose as to the eligibility of board candidates and registered voters if they don’t permanently reside in the district.
“(Residency) is where they claim their homeowner tax exemption,” Green said.
Simple answer to a complex question by El Dorado County Counsel. The response of “where they claim their homeowner tax exemption” doesn’t take into consideration residency for renters and the homeless, a troubling problem throughout the nation. These are often the forgotten voters…..albeit they probably don’t reside at Fallen Leaf Lake!
Susan,
Your comment “He led a movement to oust longtime general store and marina concessionaire John and Ruth Rich” is misleading and does not include the facts that resulted in entering into a contract with Fallen leaf Resort (Rob & Sandy Wirth).
There were several facts that led the CSD board to unanimous board decesion to bring Fallen Leaf Resort on and not accept the offer from Fallen Leaf Landing (John & Ruth Rich). First the money, Fallen Leaf Landing offered minimum annual payment to the CSD was $75,000.00. Fallen Leaf Resort offered a minimum annual payment to the CSD of $110,000.00. This is a $35,000.00 annual increase to the CSD. This is a 47% increase over Fallen Leaf Landing offer, any professional business man would have to seriously consider this option. Secondly, Fallen Leaf Landing refused time and time again to offer an open book policy to the CSD for the operation of the Store/Cafe & Marina. Fallen Leaf Resort had no problem with this request and actually felt it would be a good idea so the board and Fallen Leaf Resort could work together financially in good faith. These two items alone coupled with the fantastic reputation of the Wirth’s was a compelling business (that’s right the CSD is a business) reason to go with Fallen Leaf Resort. Their cooperative attitude is great and they are truly a pleasure to work with. Not to mention what they have done with the community area. The Wirth’s with help from community volunteer’s have made the community area look better then it has in years.
During my time on the board there were many, many issues that the board had to approach Fallen Leaf Landing with. Generally speaking working with them to get things corrected was difficult at best. Fallen Leaf Landing was also reluctant to accept the terms and conditions of the contract as written (available for viewing on the CSD web site) and requested the older version of the contract which did not give the CSD the tools it needed to work with Fallen Leaf Landing.
On another note, there were many people in the group of folks that supported Fallen Leaf Landing that were not very nice. Threats, bullying tactics, and misleading communications to the community were plentiful. One member of this group actually approached me during our Labor Day picnic and said “we rather perfer the country club model, then we can keep people like you OUT”. My family has been present at Fallen Leaf Lake for over 80 years, I was deeply disturbed by this bold statement.
Fallen Leaf Lake is for everyone, young, old, skinny, fat, black, white, etc… Fallen Leaf Lake should welcome everyone with open arms, it is NOT a priviate country club as some people would perfer.
I sincerely hope that El Dorado County and State of California take the situation regarding the ability to legally register to vote at Fallen Leaf Lake seriously, the majority of the people that voted ignored the written law so they could get what they want, I consider this selfish and irresponsible. Ironically the people that respect the written law did not vote, this was the right thing to do legally until clarification from the State or County was provided. The California Secretary of State Voter Fraud Division manager gave me the codes which outline the requirements to participate in voting with in Fallen Leaf Lake, these are noted in my coorespondance to the Fallen Leaf Lake community dated August 5, 2010 (also available on this web site and the CSD web site), these codes came directly from the Secretary of States office.
Our community is in crisis, a decesion is needed from the State or County to clarify these requirements or there will never be fair voting at Fallen Leaf Lake.
Mike Kraft
Mike,
Thannk you for your comment. Lake Tahoe News has never taken a side as to who is right or wrong with everything that has and seemingly will continue to go on with this tiny South Shore community — especially with Saturday’s agenda including the likely resignatin of the interim general manager. All of Susan Wood’s stories about the Community Services District have been unbiased.
Perhaps you would like to reread the Sept. 23, 2009, article: https://www.laketahoenews.net/2009/09/fallen-leaf-lake-marina-operation-negotiations-fall-apart/ which states you removed yourself from negotiations. Look up stories on LTN from February that support what was written in this election story.
Yes, Fallen Leaf Lake should be for everyone — whether they have a house there or not. Just like the city of South Lake or town of Truckee are for people who live and visit these areas.
Yes, the voting needs to be figured out. With more than 400 names as registered voters and many in one house, it’s hard to believe they fit the criteria. It would be interesting to see where else they might vote.
Fallen Leaf could begin to heal now that a new board has been decided. Mike, maybe you would like to be part of that process instead of continuing to cast stones. You accuse others of being mean and nasty. Sometimes it’s the mirror on the wall that speaks the truth.
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher
There can be little doubt about how loudly the Fallen Leaf Community has spoken in the recall election. Your article and other recent statements by the former CSD President,Mike Craft, indicate that the recall was about the change in the concessionaire at the Lake. To the contrary, I believe that most of the supporters of the recall like the Wirths and want them to succeed. The recall really was about disappointment in the processes of the CSD Board, and its apparent lack of interest in listening to what the majority of the community had to say. Since they could not succeed at the ballot box, certain unnamed opponents of the recall now have challenged the residency qualifications of the new Board members and perhaps the registered voters as well. While the challenge will eventually work its way through either an administrative, legislative or legal process, it should be noted that the voter registration procedures and the CSD board member qualification requirements have been the essentially the same for the last 20 years. These procedures have resulted in a fair and balanced process over that time
Larry Calof.
Mike Kraft and Eric Thaden never negotiated in good faith with Fallen Leaf Landing and never intended to. It was apparent long ago that they had turned a deaf ear to the community (that’s the C in CSD) and were following their marching orders from long ago. The CSD may be a business, but the stock holders are the community and we have finally made ourselves heard.
Ironically, while Mr. Kraft puts some favorable numbers out to support his decision to oust Fallen Leaf Landing, if he had been willing to negotiate we all could have gotten what we wanted.
As to the question of who gets to vote at Fallen Leaf, another bit of irony is that Mr. Kraft resigned as some sort of acknowledgement that he (therefore so many other people at Fallen Leaf like him who strongly disagree with him and have voted to recall him) is not eligible to vote at Fallen Leaf because he is not a full time resident. He came to this shocking realization only in the face of his impending recall? The CSD board has always had it’s share of year long residents as well as multi-generation family summer residents, each of whom value Fallen Leaf just as dearly, but in different ways and want to be heard. The ability to negotiate has been the cornerstone of decision-making on previous boards, but on this last board the system got hijacked.
Many thanks to the people who tirelessly pursued the democratic process that lead to this righteous conclusion.
Fallen Leaf Lake is for everyone, young, old, skinny, fat, black, white, etc… Fallen Leaf Lake should welcome everyone with open arms, it is NOT a priviate country club as some people would perfer.
TRY TELLING THAT TO THE ONE WHOM THINK THEY OWN IT,I GOT NEIGHBORS WHO OWN A HOME OUT THERE,THE SNOBS TELL EVERYONE IT’S NONE THEIR BUSINESS IF YOU DON’T OWN PROPERTY OUT THERE.
Mike Kraft is a total MOMO and deserved to be recalled.