The Utility Service Board accepted the resignation of Leslie Valadez as its secretary Monday night and replaced her with former USB board member Marilyn Chittick. The USB also announced that the annual pay for this position will be $3,800.
Valadez submitted her resignation letter on November 21 and the following is her letter of resignation.
“I would like to explain to the board what happened at yesterday’s meeting, and why it happened. I had something unexpected come up for this past Friday. I came in to the office an hour early to make sure packets where done before I left, as I did not expect to be back. At the time, Stacy had NOT turned in a claim register to me. I did come back later in the day, after lunch and saw her email. In an effort to give the board a complete packet, I forwarded the Excel workbook that has the claims. In my email to the board members, I clearly stated that the claim register was for the billing office. Monday night, I gave Mike Reeder and Rick Gunyon their printed packets.
“It wasn’t until the board started to discuss claims that I noticed Rick Gunyon has colored claims. ALL the packets that were printed did NOT have any colored ink on them. I had used the big printer in our office, which does not do color, in order to have the packets done before I left. You will notice that the packets I emailed are also in black and white, because our scanner doesn’t scan in color either. Normally, I would have used the printer and scanner in the HR office, which was closed on Friday when I was in an hour early.
“These are not excuses for the confusion, just a simple explanation. Rick Gunyon printed ALL the claims in the Excel workbook instead of only the Billing office claims. He then proceeded to make the comment that it was not the first time he had received the wrong claim, but it was the third. I can only recall one, for which I apologized. Had Rick looked and gone by the packet I had handed him, there would not have been any confusion. I have also noticed that my recordings of the meeting must not be done properly since Rick has made his own recordings.
“Due to the lack of professional respect for my position, shown indirectly several times by Rick Gunyon, I am no longer interested in the position. Minutes will be turned into Mike Kelley as soon as I have time to work on them. Please rest assured that my feelings have not been hurt, and I do not need a protected work environment. I simply have no tolerance for those who try to make others seem incompetent in order to mask their own. It seems alarming that someone in the IT committee doesn’t know how workbooks and spreadsheets interact.”