WHO LEAKED CONFIDENTIAL PERSONNEL FILES AT HELIX WATER DISTRICT?

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

 

By Miriam Raftery

November 1, 2016 (La Mesa) – Someone with access to confidential files at Helix Water District violated state law and district policy by anonymously mailing part of a board candidate’s personnel file to East County Magazine.

We will not violate privacy rules by publishing the contents.  However, we did speak with the candidate, Louis Tejeda, who gave permission for us to disclose the leaking of his confidential record: a notice of proposed disciplinary action sent 21 years ago, when he was an employee of the district.

Tejeda told us he believed the proposed disciplinary action letter was sent in retaliation after he filed a racial discrimination complaint against the district, which the district found without merit.

“They disciplined me for filing a complaint. That’s illegal,” he contends. ”I filed a legal action against them as well.” He said the case settled but a confidentiality clause in the settlement agreement prevents him from disclosing the terms.

We contacted Helix Water District regarding the leaking of Tejeda’s personnel file.

“We appreciate your bringing this issue to our attention. Personnel files are confidential and are not a public record,” Lisa Stoia, director of administrative services,  told ECM in an e-mail. “We will be investigating this matter.”

Board secretary Sandy Janzen told us that "...the Helix Water District has received no requests for access to Mr. Tejeda’s personnel files in the past year.  We have no reason to believe anyone has or even could access Mr. Tejeda’s personnel records.  All district personnel files are strictly confidential—and are kept securely in locked file cabinets."

Who might stand to benefit from tarnishing Tejeda’s reputation—and have access to decades-old confidential district employee files kept under lock and key, is unclear.  But Tejeda has been an outspoken critic of management and board members—and Tejeda says he believes someone perceives him as a threat if he wins election.

Tejeda is running against three opponents for a seat in Division 1:  incumbent board member John Linden, as well as challengers Dan McMillan and Aaron Zajac.    

Besides differing with his opponents’ positions on the campaign trail, Tejeda has also criticized the district’s general manager, Carlos Lugos, for approval of construction projects that Tejeda claims were not built.

In addition, he has been a vocal critic of board actions, notably over an appraisal of land sold for a proposed sand mining project in El Monte Valley.Tejeda does not oppose mining, but has contended the land was sold too cheaply.  

His past lawsuit and personnel issues may potentially also have alienated someone else on staff currently or previously, who retained a copy of the two-decades-old district personnel record.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

Comments

Who Leaked Confidential

In fact, those records are so old, I would guess Mr. Tejeda leaked them himself for the free publicity! Talk about unethical!

I don't think so.

He seemed genuinely shocked and upset to know that media had his confidential files and did not want the content made public.

It's time

It's clearly time that a new Board majority needs to be installed that will ensure that the lack of ethical standards
put on display here by HWD is not tolerated. This disregard serves to highlight how many other things that likely need attention. We need more Board advocates for the rate payers not just the employee's at HWD.