Probe Targets Capistrano Water District : Investigation: Grand jury plans to question board members after charges of impropriety in firing of general manager.

The Orange County Grand Jury plans to question Capistrano Beach County Water District officials, possibly in relation to the recent firing of the district’s general manager, board members said.

A grand jury official contacted the secretary of the district on Thursday and said all five board members would be interviewed, collectively and individually, by the jury foreman starting at 10 a.m. May 4, said Jim Hayton, a director elected to the board last November.

The jury official did not indicate the focus of the inquiry. However, the city of Dana Point and a county commission already are studying the Capistrano water district and the possibility of consolidating it and six other water-related special agencies in Dana Point.

But Hayton said he believes there is a connection between the inquiry and recent public charges by fellow board member Addison DeBoi that three district directors conspired secretly to fire former General Manager Dennis Erdman last month in violation of public meeting laws.

“That is what DeBoi has been saying, that we conspired to fire Erdman,” Hayton said. “It didn’t happen, but that is what he has been telling everyone.”

Although he said Erdman’s firing may be the focus of the grand jury interviews, DeBoi denies he ever contacted any juror.

“I have absolutely nothing to do with this,” DeBoi said. “But there is no doubt that the law was violated in the process of firing Erdman and hiring (interim manager) Donald Mischka.”

Erdman acknowledged that he had written to the grand jury the day before he was fired but declined to comment on the contents of his letter. He said he had no knowledge of a grand jury investigation.

Erdman, who was first named general manager last July, said he believes the district is in a state of crisis.

“There are lots of issues that could be candidates for a grand jury investigation at Capistrano Beach County Water District,” Erdman said. “The directors have been neglecting to address important issues with regard to systems maintenance. Addison (DeBoi) has said publicly that he believes the recruitment of Donald Mischka was done . . . in contravention of the law.”

Ginger Reed, a board member of the Orange County Grand Jury Assn., said jury members will not comment on investigations.

The Capistrano Beach County Water District provides water to about 8,000 customers in Dana Point Harbor, the Capistrano Beach section of Dana Point and a small part of San Clemente.

In the wake of recent stories about alleged improprieties at the Santa Margarita Water District in Mission Viejo, Capistrano and other water-related special districts throughout South County are being studied for possible consolidation by the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission and the Dana Point City Council.

Capistrano district board member Bonnie Streeter said she also was told Thursday of the grand jury’s plans to question district officials. “We got no indication of why they want to talk to us. We have to assume it is because of Addison’s charges,” she said.

DeBoi also has alleged at recent public meetings that Streeter, Hayton and director Ross Carpenter met secretly and agreed to hire Mischka, who works in Kern County. After first agreeing to take the job, Mischka later backed out because of disagreements among board members.

Streeter admitted that she and Hayton traveled to Rosamond, near Lancaster, to talk to Mischka, but said they had done nothing illegal. State law prohibits elected officials from meeting and reaching agreements in private.

“We met Mischka at a conference in Palm Springs and asked for input on some of our problems in Capistrano Beach,” Streeter said. “We went up to Rosamond because we were invited up there. We did nothing wrong.”