ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Fresh Start for Water Agency

The trustees of the Santa Margarita Water District have taken appropriate first steps to restore some trace of public confidence in their troubled agency. It has been rocked to the bottom of the well by revelations about executives who were reimbursed for questionable gifts, limousine rides and hotel stays--to mention just some of the perks--and who recommended payments to the very contractors and consultants who were their benefactors.

Now, says the board of directors, a code of conduct will be established for district employees and new guidelines will be drafted to set per diem limits on meals. The guidelines possibly will ban alcoholic beverages during business meals, among other things.

Both the code and the guidelines are good because they can help the agency set employee standards--an area that clearly has been as wild and undeveloped as some of the rugged land served by the district.

The board also has hired political consultants to attempt to refine the agency’s rough-hewn image. That may take some doing, for there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Most of the necessary course corrections come down to common-sense changes. It’s simply a matter of setting expectations for appropriate conduct.

The two managers in question, General Manager Walter W. (Bill) Knitz and his assistant, Michael P. Lord, both have been asked to abstain from making further recommendations on contracts pending an investigation by the Orange County district attorney. The investigation centers on whether the executives recommended decisions affecting those who gave them gifts in excess of the limits set by state law. The FBI has also said it will investigate.

The board has already suspended the spending privileges of Knitz and Lord, and the “stand clear” directive on recommending contracts is OK, so far as it goes. Ultimately, however, if board Chairman Don B. Schon wants to follow through on re-establishing confidence in the district, the two executives probably will have to go, regardless of the outcome of the investigations.