Our board is due to appoint a new director at the November 15 meeting. Will it be Muro or Stephenson, who garnered far more votes in the June election than any incumbent? Will it be Lingl or Rieger who did not campaign for election and rarely attended board meetings? Will it be the secretive Frank Mezzatesta, who did not put his name on the proxy, has told us nothing about himself, and refuses to give us his contact information or allow his real name to appear in the minutes of board meetings? (He appears in the name of a trust.) Here is how they compare.
| Steven Muro | Dave Steph-enson | Jim Lingl | Ron Rieger | Frank Mezza-testa | |
| Votes received for director in 2022 annual meeting | 204.71 | 203.1 | 32.61 | 32.13 | 0 |
| Asked to be on proxy for director at the 2022 annual meeting | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Submitted a biography for the 2022 annual meeting vote | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Responded to our questions about his qualifications and intentions | Y | Y | N | Y | N |
| Number of last 12 board meetings attended | 9 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| Will make his contact info available to shareholders | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Objects to shareholder access to his contact info and having his real name in Crestview board minutes | N | N | N | N | Y |
Before the June 2022 election, we sent the same questions to all five candidates and received responses from Ron Rieger, Steven Muro, and Dave Stephenson. (Click the links to read.) Jim Lingl and Frank Mezzatesta did not respond.
It seems to us that Lingl and Rieger do not really want to do the work required of a Crestview director in our challenging circumstances, and they have very little shareholder support. Mezzatesta seems to want the job only if he can avoid receiving input from shareholders and being accountable to them. (In that respect, he would be like Chooljian, Whitlock, and Off.) Muro and Stephenson have made their contact information available to all shareholders, are energetic and keeping informed on the issues, and are keeping open minds about Well #7 and Well #8 until the studies that have just started have been finished.
As we wrote here, this comes down to a question of whether we get the shareholders’ choice or Chooljian’s choice. Shareholders who wish to express their views to the board on Tuesday, November 15 at 4 pm should call or email the office to get Zoom credentials.
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Dear Editor,
These posts are getting dangerously close to libel. Contrary to your insinuation, the “secretive” Frank Mezzatesta, who has attended nearly every Crestview meeting in the last several years, is anything but. You will not find a more detailed description of qualifications for any potential board member than what he has made publicly available here: https://frankmezzatesta.com (a website that has existed for over a decade), and he’s on Twitter. His email is prominently advertised on his website, if anyone wants to contact him. That he doesn’t want to share his home address is completely understandable – even laudable.
Should you care to email him with any question (as he’s invited everyone in the world to do, and as I have done), you will find he is brilliant, informed, and creative. Moreover, you’ll find his comportment is that of the consummate gentleman, devoid of the histrionics that have littered this site and many Crestview meetings. That he did not run in the last election (a fact you failed to point out in your cynical note that he received “0” votes) is in no way indicative of a lack of understanding of the complex issues facing our mutual water company, or the intellect and steady character it will take to chart a course for water security in the future. He is head and shoulders more informed than some who ran for, or are currently serving on, the board.
If Frank Mezzatesta is being considered for appointment to CMWC’s board, we should count ourselves lucky. He’d be the perfect pick.
Cheryl Temple
Dear Cheryl,
We stand by our reporting. Mr. Mezzatesta did attend 11 out of the last 12 board meetings, and that fact is in our post. He has given no information about himself of any kind to Crestview shareholders, not even the link to his personal website, which you helpfully provided. He objected in a board meeting to having his mailing address or email from being on the Crestview shareholder list to which every shareholder is entitled by law. When he attends board meetings, he insists that his presence be recorded in the minutes as the name of a trust (of which he is presumably the trustee). Of course, we who do not know his name cannot find him online. He objected in Crestview meetings to allowing shareholders access to the recordings. As to your point that anyone can email him, we did that to interview him as a candidate before the annual meeting, and his response was that he would “decline at this time.” In fact, as far as we know, he still has not declared his interest in being a director. If he is appointed tomorrow, it will have resulted from a backroom deal. If he is not appointed, we will take down this post if he requests that.
BTW, the same chart that shows Mr. Mezzatesta got zero shareholder votes in the June election also states what you say–that he did not ask to have his name on the proxy and did not submit a bio for mailing to shareholders.
Editor
In a democracy the person with the most votes should win or in this case be be appointed. That would be the perfect pick.
Not complicated. If there is another opening it should be the person who had the second most votes.
People vote to have their voices heard. The board should listen to the votes.