Monday, June 11, 2007

And The Award Goes To...

To follow in the foot-steps of our great leader who rather look good than actually have any values or integrity, today’s posting is to recognize all that Ane Diester has done for the employees and ratepayers of El Dorado Irrigation District. Let’s take a moment to recap and award Ane for her amazing work and to highlight, in your own words, what she has accomplished since being hired.

Under the leadership of Ane Diester the District has:

1) Hired a friend to a high level paying position knowing his past criminal record. Once his past was brought to light paid him off with District funds.

2) Promoted another manager who she was told about having a past history of embezzlement. Then cried “poor me” when he actually got caught doing the same thing at EID.

3) Disbanded the Help Desk and outsourced the services to Progent. Costing rate payers more money and ignoring the purchasing policy of fair and equal opportunity.

4) Ignored and violated our MOU; a legal and binding contract between employees and management.

5) Allowed the District to be found guilty by PERBS for 60 reportable violations of the California Labor Law.

6) Spent millions of rate payer dollars on legal fees chasing after a law suite on the Tunnel.

7) Used rate payers’ funds to throw personal parties at her house for friends, paid employees with rate payer funds to do work at her house, and hired a personal assistant to drive her around and do her errands for her when she broke her leg.

8) Has allowed, and actively fosters, an environment of intimidation and threats against employees. Violating the District’s own Hostel Work Environment policy.

9) Continues to award employees for unethical and possibly illegal management practices.

10) Mistreat dedicated employees and has created an environment that has lead to moral being the lowest it has ever been in District history.

Let’s not forget that she has achieved all this while sporting a new car each year and getting a raise with each renewal of her contract.

If you are tired of the way things are at EID, and you want to take back the control over your work life from the likes of Ane Dieser, Deanne Kloepfer, Michele Weimer, Mary Lynn Carlton, Steve Setoodeh and Vicki Caulfield, than might I suggest one of the following:

LOW-LOW RISK OPTION:
Attend the next Association meeting. Start learning what your rights are and discuss with the Association what they are doing to actively change the environment at EID.

LOW RISK OPTION:
Go home tonight and email a friend or a coworker and let them know about this blog. Ask them to pass along the information to another friend. I realize most of us dislike SPAM mail, but this type of email, sent to friends and coworkers, will go a long way in letting the public know what is going on at EID.

MEDIUM RISK OPTION:
Contact a board member, a county supervisor, a state legislator, or a state governing agency and let them know about the illegal and abusive actions going on at EID. You are protected under the Federal and State Whistle Blower law. While this option will cause a few headaches in your life, the IT department has proven that you can prevail.

HIGH RISK OPTION (Only intended for the very brave):
Start saying NO! Say no to being threatened each and every day that you are at work. Let your supervisor and coworkers know that you will no longer tolerate being subjected to a hostile work environment and that you will no longer participate in their illegal actions.

Most of all I ask that you do something. For most people we tend to complain and grumble, but in the end we do nothing to effectively make a change in our life.

I leave you with a quote that I have used in the past:
No one in this world, so far as I know ... has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great massesof the plain people. H.L. Mencken

20 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, I for one will take your advice and begin to take more action!This is my first time posting but will not be my last.
Does anyone know if its true that they have paid substantial contracts with $49,999 checks to avoid revealing them to the board?

Anonymous said...

The more I read this blog site, the more upset I get. How can the Board continue to allow such kaos to continue at EID?
I would assume the Board feels that this blog site is just a "few" disgrunteled employees venting thier frustrations...but..it's not! Take a honest look at what is happening at the District!
If any employee had done any of the top 10 reasons why Ane should get an award, they would have been either put on leave, or fired!
This behavior is unacceptable any longer!
Have you, the Board, even bothered to note just how many lawsuits the District has had between the employees and the District since Ane has been manager?
Just how much money (public funds) are you going to allow Ane to waste before anything is done to control her out of control kaos?

Anonymous said...

Remember our ex-Board members, Al Vargas and Dick Akin?
Maybe we should elect them back into office?
At least they kept a watchful eye on Ane's wasted spending sprees!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

In Ane's mind, she believes she is the most intelligent human on earth; is never at fault; is untouchable; is the most connected; and the most powerful. We have all heard stories of certain famous people that have gone down in history as being notorious. When comparing these individuals’ arrogant and tyrannical personalities to our GM, the characteristic similarities are astounding.

Too bad the EID Board could not foretell the future a little over five years ago before the Ane regime. At that time, EID constantly appeared in the Mountain Democrat as being run by a bunch of imbeciles. Now the paper pendulum has swung the opposite direction with very little to no public comment. This lack of publishing by the Demo continues to support Ane's knowledge and background of playing the news media, while helping her lead the Board members and their constituents on a personal guided tour through LALA Land at EID.

As long as the Board continues to support the GM situation, the EID core foundation will continue to crumble. What’s it going to take to bring the Board to its senses? Let’s get real! If the District ever gets the chance to reinstate itself as a real life organization run by real caring and dedicated people, the credibility cleanup will take years. Maybe this is what the Board is afraid of, or they just don’t want to take the time and deal with it during their terms. This would mean they’d have to get their hands dirty.

To the person that mentioned Ane's puppets, yes, she is a master at entertaining and performing, an expert in dog and pony shows, and using the magic of smoke and mirrors. Maybe she should apply as Ringmaster at Barnum & Bailey’s circus.

Anonymous said...

Oh..You can believe that Ane is intelligent! How else do you think she can put incompetent people in higer management. By doing this, they can take the downfalls for her!
She tells them to do something which can be a bit shady, but then if the supervisor/manager implements it and gets in trouble for it, she claims she didn't tell them to do it that way! And of course, it's your word against hers!
What I don't understand is how people can get so money hungry that they will allow a dictator like Ane to control them and make them her little puppets! Unbelievable!

Anonymous said...

If I remember correctly, some time back, didn't Ane charge alcohol on the District's credit card at a dinner event?
Granted, she paid it back, but not until she was caught!
If Ane is intelligent as she thinks she is, she knew quite well that she was not allowed to charged alcohol on a Distric's credit card!
Isn't it amazing how much Ane is getting away with?

Anonymous said...

You know all I see here is a bunch of complaining. How about some facts that can make a difference. How about doing something that can change the situation, complaining about how shady Ane is and how she puts incompetent people in high positions won't do it! What is she doing that is illegal or unethical? That can make a difference.

Anonymous said...

I see that there are many facts in this blog that shows what Ane is doing is illegal or unethical!
If you read the last blog put out about her awards, most of those are illegal!
You don't think that hiring employees to clean your house and park cars for a party and paying them on District time isn't illegal?
What about about the 60 violations she just did for the IT Department?
Hiring a personal driver to drive her around when she broke her leg?
Her hiring ex-cons is definitely unethical! We all know she knew about their backgrounds!
Her firing practices have a lot to be disired too! Her fireing practices have a lot to do with personal vendetta, not work ethics!
What about her promotions to people just about ready to retire? That's illegal!
Believe me, there is a lot more out there and it WILL come out! Be patient!
Ane still continues to break MOU policy almost daily!
EID is in the worst shape ever!

Anonymous said...

Using ratepayer and PERS funding to subsidize wasteful spending and personal gain is illegal like spiking salaries to increase PERS retirement checks and having private partys using overtime staff and district vehicle to transport and take home party goers. And it's illegal for a manager to try to persuade employees to vote a certain way, like against Director Frasier the last time he was elected? Someone said the GM had employees clean her house during company time before a party and wasn't a manager fired for using district resources-employees, vehicles, equipment on company time to build a walkway or something like that at his home? Remember when Director Norris paid back money for something in an El Dorado Hills election the Board approved. It flopped and was shaky and a bad Board decision to start with. There's got to be more...

Unknown said...

Just a Thought...
could it be possible all this spending might be a prelude to privatization?
Bloat management to increase spending.
Private co. comes in cuts spending. yay!heroes
Long gone managers are somewhere else with a big kickback!

Anonymous said...

Is this America or a “Day on the Beach” experience somewhere out-of-the-country?
To those of us ordinary employees, it is clear EID’s conscience has vanished, while the Board lumbers in a perpetual state of unconsciousness. The atmosphere is dark and foreboding. Paranoia runs rampant resulting in covering behinds and covering-up. Trust, respect and confidence have disappeared, being replaced with suspicion and callousness. Ordinary employees are no longer valued and are only pawns in a strange chess game guised as reorganization to sustain the GM’s intended state of confusion.

There is a known phenomenon where organizations take on the personality of their leader, and EID’s leader goes into tirades often, bangs on office doors, shouts at the top of her lungs, and pushes people around. The most recent episode occurred in the presence of the ordinary working staff in Finance, requiring Mr. Cumpston to direct personnel to exit their work stations and move to the other side of the building. It seems he may have been concerned about their safety, but more likely trying to keep a lid on an already explosive situation. This is not the first time and won’t be the last that the GM has exhibited irrational and violent behavior. Who knows what a person is capable of when they explode.

Those unfortunate to become victims of her holocaust are held in contempt and considered guilty until proven innocent. Some are sentenced to house arrest known as Administrative Leave that may go on for days or several months, with or without pay. Verdicts may lead to the firing squad with personal escorts out the door, or others must endure harsh working conditions that lead them into early retirements. All while our Board sleeps and the casualties continue to mount.

It appears the entire Board has chosen to ignore our cries for help in what constitutes a hostile work environment, with employee safety concerns. This attitude and lack of concern leads to no other choice than pursuing a recall of each member of the Board.

Anonymous said...

The FM director is not here to do nothing but outsource our EID. If yor voice is not heard everything form project 184 to the plants is in jeopardy. Why let EID build this add on building? Cut upper management will improve morale and save millions in tax payers money. Looks like 184 is not going to ever achive income as in 2003-2005. So who is going to give up staff to keep this project alive? Or will this be outsource too?

Anonymous said...

Does the Finance deptartment management team recieve awards every year? Is this not for the excellence in accounting for which auditing and approving expense statements is something they do not look at? How can employees mis use funds if they have a audit trail that begins with the departments heads? What about HTE and the approvals for payments everyone sign off on these too. Their are many of us that believe HR and Finance have an agenda to promote up and out and they use bad tactics to deploy these methods.

Anonymous said...

HAs the GM and board ever met with the lobbyists at Ane's home? Who paid this bill?

Anonymous said...

How come Ane was given a chance to payback her credit card charges, and Karen Theroualt and others were never given this option? Who caught this improper credit card charge, and did the board approve it? Is this favored treatment? I'll bet it is. What happened to Janet Pollard over this? Seems like the Board is going to have its hands really full on how everyone approved these charges in HTE, EID's audit approval process for all purchases, signed off by all dept heads for Ane and others. How come Ane was not placed on the Beach for transaction?

Anonymous said...

Have any of you noticed that when you attend a meeting or a review with the FM director that while your in the room he takes a call and speaks a different language that makes you feel uncomfortable?
Which one of us is next to hit the road?

Anonymous said...

The current Board is protecting Ane for some unknown reason. The way to get Ane out of her current position is to vote for new Board members! When election time comes around, get everyone you know to vote against our current Board members.
For some time now, I honestly thought that the Board was just kept in the dark, but with this blog site, and the truth is out, why aren't they stepping up to control the kaos that is happening at EID?

Anonymous said...

I'm a relatively new EID ratepayer. I'm also a drinking water professional having been in the business for nearly 30 years. The level of service I've received as a customer of EID so far has been great. Which is truly amazing in light of the blogs I've read.
Ane Deister doesn't recognize that for an organization to maintain a high level of customer service you need dedicated employees. Nothing kills that dedication quicker than lousy employee/management relations.
I can only help the employees of EID (and myself) by getting more involved as a ratepayer.

Anonymous said...

How come Ane had a security system installed at her home with EID funds? Did Finance approve this too...