Here’s a letter Waterwrights.net received on Wednesday, August 29, 2018. We waited a day to get permission to reprint.
Dear Westlands Board of Directors, Landowners and Growers,
After six years of serving on your behalf as a Director on the Westlands Water District Board of Directors, it is time for me to step aside and allow the remaining Directors and their General Manager to select a new person to replace me. This letter will serve as my resignation as Director effective immediately.
Unfortunately, my tenure at Westlands has been tenuous. It has been an uphill battle to be heard by the establishment in an attempt to direct our district in a more collaborative and progressive direction. This effort has resulted in an ongoing effort by some to find flaws in any activity I partake in Westlands or in other water districts I have interests in. The ongoing scrutiny on me and my family has impacted our ability to farm and operate as all other growers are able to do in Westlands. The rumors and accusations directed against me both inside and outside the Boardroom I simply will no longer accept.
Westlands has a long history of encouraging its landowners and growers to manage their own use and access to various water supplies. That has been a privilege and a challenge. Due to my many years farming and working with Westlands, first on behalf of Congressman Dooley, then as the Public Relations person, and now on the Board of Directors I have gained a vast knowledge of the history and workings of the District. My goal has always been to help Westlands growers and landowners as well as staff figure out solutions to moving water around the District in the most efficient way possible. In these efforts, I have always obtained my own legal counsel in addition to the internal requirements of Westlands, for which I have been more than happy to comply. I have also willingly recused myself from any situation that had any remote possibility of a conflict of interest.
As the mounting challenge to get enough water supply to Agriculture persists, I think I can be more effective serving the broader community away from the Westlands Water District Board of Directors and working with individual farmers on solutions with their neighbors. As was said back in 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2016, we are not going to get anywhere fighting over the scraps. We have to be working on big sollutions together as a single group. I hope to help growers get to that broader solution.
Sincerely,
Sarah Woolf
