Two new to Forest View
By: Nicole Osborn, Tri-Lakes Tribune
05/30/2006
Rich Crocker and Jeff Walker, both former members of the Forest View Acres Water District Board of Directors, returned to serve the board for another term.
Crocker and Walker joined the board May 2.
They, along with Eck Zimmermann and Ketch Nowaki were the only applicants for the four vacant board positions in the 2006 May election.
Crocker moved to the area in 1994 after he and his wife decided it was time for him to end his Army career.
Crocker served on the board of directors from 1998-2000.
He is a registered civil engineer in Colorado and holds a master's degree in civil engineering with a major in water treatment, hydrology and hydraulics. He is also a certified Colorado water treatment and distribution operator.
He said he hopes his experiences with maintenance, contract administration, capital planning, civil engineering and water treatment are useful for the district.
Crocker said he ran for the board position for a few reasons.
"I see the need for oversight of the FVAWD operations and maintenance planning, long- and short-range capital project planning and development, evaluation and inventory of existing conditions and water system modeling," Crocker wrote in a letter addressed to the board of directors. He said these are the aspects of the district he would like to work on instead of the financial and administrative aspects of the district.
He said he is glad to see progress is being made in the areas of operations and maintenance of the district's infrastructure since he began working with the board in January.
Crocker also said he ran for the position because he sees a need for communication with past board members about some unresolved issues in the district, including the alleged embezzlement case - in which a former worker who was independently under contract with the district allegedly stole as much as $625,000 from the water district - and recall which he thinks has "produced an atmosphere not conducive to good communications." He said he hopes to bridge this communication gap.
"If I learned anything (from) my past board experience, it is that we need to have reliable, competent support, demand proper documentation from our professional help, vigorously question and check their activities and hold them accountable for their work," Crocker wrote in a letter of introduction to Forest View Acres Water District residents.
Walker moved to the area in 1995 with his wife. He said they moved to Palmer Lake because they wanted somewhere out of the way and woodsy, but wanted to have access to Colorado Springs.
Walker said people asked him to be on the water board and that in looking at the people on the board now, "there really isn't anyone with a knowledge of the district's history."
Walker served on the board from 2000-2004.
He said he thinks he can bring a hands-on knowledge of how the system works as well as information about the history of the district.
Walker said there are a lot of things the board needs to work on, including fixing infrastructure. Walker added, however, the district does not have the finances to do so and there is too little communication between everyone involved in the district - the residents, management company and the board.
"I'd like to see what I can do to get people to work together," he said.
He said what happened in the past is over and now the district needs to move on and fix it's problems.
Walker said despite the many changes the district has undergone in the past couple of years, there are some things that have stayed the same and this is "at least something to work from."
Capital improvement projects and ensuring the safe delivery of water to residents of the district will be the primary focus of the board of directors, said board president Barbara Reed-Polatty.
