Serving on a government board is a team sport. It demands leadership, compromise, and civility. Oceano has a Community Services District board member who is the antithesis of this and shows a pathological need for attention. To Charles Varni, it does not matter what sort of attention he is getting. Good or bad, as long as the spotlight is on him.
Take the recent criticism of him in New Times. In the Nov. 2 issue, the Shredder suggested that given that most of their issues began after Varni started, maybe he is the problem on the Oceano Community Services District (CSD) board (“Learn by don’ting“). Varni pounced on that and took the Shredder on in his commentary “Shredder is mean” (Nov. 9). The gaslighting he presents in the response is just too much.
Nearly all of his comments are countered by information you can get from watching the CSD board meetings.
First, he notes that the directors are a “liberal majority.” Oceano CSD is responsible for managing water, sewers, garbage, lights, and fire. What does being liberal have to do with those things? Republicans and Democrats probably agree that having safe water and sewer is a good thing for everyone—unless you want to use your position on the board as a “bully pulpit” for a political agenda.
Varni is the one who proposed the annexation to Grover Beach right out of the gate, then proceeded to attack the residents who spoke out against his proposal as “thugs, know-nothings, and bullies.” He wasted hours of meeting time changing the bylaws to weaken them so he could get what he wanted on the agendas. Varni is a leader against vehicles on the beach and a proponent for closure and redevelopment of the airport into shopping centers and condos. Varni has injected his views into a nonpartisan board. He called for debate and is now upset that the public shows up and engages in it.
Second, Varni’s antics led the Oceano CSD’s contracted law firm to resign. There was no pending “performance review” for that firm when they quit. What happened was as clear as day to anyone watching. Their attorney tried to stop Varni from violating the Brown Act, and Varni ignored him. This happened multiple times at two different meetings. No law firm is sticking around with a client who blatantly and publicly ignores its advice. It is clear that Varni—and the board’s inability to get a grip on him—is why the firm quit.
Third, Varni keeps complaining about a cover-up of embezzlement in the office. Three of the current board members knew about it and told the general manager to investigate it before sending it to the SLO County DA’s Office. The general manager did not cover up anything. Varni isn’t mad about embezzlement. He is mad because he didn’t know about it. Again, it’s all about Varni. He had to croon about doing the right thing, making closed session private matters public. Wrong, Mr. Varni. While you are talking about the theft and defaming staff, board members, and legal counsel, whoever did the stealing should send you a thank you note for giving them a head start against the police.
Fourth, Oceano’s General Manager Will Clemens kept the district running smoothly and kept meetings short before Varni got there. Varni has been grinding an ax against him and set him for several performance reviews several times before Mr. Clemens had enough. What was Mr. Clemens’ offense? Seems like it is just refusing to cater to all of Varni’s whims. It is interesting to note Mr. Clemens had the full support of every staff member and an overflow crowd of community members who showed up to support him at the last meeting. Oh, and what did Varni call these ratepayers, residents, and property owners of Oceano? “MAGA-mad locals” and referred to our citizens as dogs who answer to the call of a dog whistle. It is a very sad day for Oceano when we have people like this in a position to serve the community degrade its citizens this way.
Fifth, Varni called 911 during the Oct. 25 meeting. This was a joke. I was at the meeting, and if you watch the video, you see a crowd that is fed up but it’s nothing close to an emergency. Varni has no problem browbeating and verbally attacking women but calls 911 because he feels afraid. The sheriff’s deputies have better things to do than stand around watching Varni provoke people and then act threatened when these same people respond. Talk about “the little boy who cried wolf.”
Charles Varni is not cut out for this type of service. He tries to intimidate the female board members, chased away a skilled general manager and legal counsel, and forces the board to talk about whatever he wants to talk about. What happened to water service? He wants to eliminate anyone who disagrees with him. The writing is on the wall. If Oceano doesn’t give Varni the boot, then we only have ourselves to blame. Δ
Kellie Myrick has lived in Oceano for 64 years. Send a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Last-Minute Gift Guide 2023.
Simply put, Charles Varni is one of District 4 Supervisor Jimmy Paulding’s greatest failures.
Paulding had the golden opportunity to work with the Oceano Community Services District to facilitate a more harmonious relationship between the county and the district and improved collegiality among the board directors. Instead, he allowed his loudest and proudest surrogate to place the district in severe legal liability. Only after Varni caused the district counsel and the general manager to resign did Paulding call for civility in a weak-kneed letter to the district. And Paulding has remained eerily silent on the clear and egregious Brown Act violations Varni did.
And Paulding has remained silent on Varni’s criminal liability. With the board voting 3-2 to make Varni board president at last night’s OCSD meeting *after* they discussed Varni’s criminal misconduct as outlined in a detailed Brown Act complaint, it should be undoubtedly clear to everyone in Oceano and the rest of District 4 that OCSD is in serious trouble — and Paulding is nowhere to be found.
#WheresJimmy
I invite the author to evaluate exactly “who” is creating this perceived disarray. CSD’s and other governing bodies frequently change legal counsel and General Managers. In fact, Arroyo Grande is getting a new GM in 2024. Sometimes, the change can be very beneficial to the community. You don’t know until you try!
The Board of Directors did not decide to change legal counsel, Legal counsel has given notice and will be leaving once new counsel can be found for Oceano. They have done this because of certain directors’ blatant disregard for the Brown Act and ignore counsels advice when trying to prevent directors from violating the Brown Act. Which Director Varni completely disregarded and has now opened the district of Oceano to litigation as of this month for his violations of said Brown Act. This change was not beneficial because now they are going to have to spend more money for legal counsel even though the district is over budget by over 40,000 in legal fees already. Director Varni becoming the President of the Board was a direct slap in the face to the community members who have repeatedly stood up and voiced their concerns about Director Varni and his behaviors. It is also shows how little the other two board members that voted him on care for the community. I mean we are now facing litigation due to his actions, but they go ahead and decide to vote him as the head of the board. Its wrong and was the completely wrong call. It also shows the collusion among Suneson, Villa, and Varni. He already knew walking into that meeting that he was walking out as president and everyone else knew it. The three of the meet all the time together ( Which is collusion and illegal). What is find interesting is that Villa even voted him in because she has been overheard multiple times saying Varni intimidates her and has confronted her about things in the past year of him being on the board. Varni, Villa, and Suneson do not care about the community as a whole, only those that they like. Its a disgrace and I hope they all lose their seat in the next election in November 2024.
Excellent comment Brad Snook!
Agencies change majorities.
Legal counsel and General Managers/City Managers/County Administrative Officers and Legal Counsel’s serve at the pleasure of the Board/Counsel majority.
In the Oceano case, legal counsel was put on an agenda for performance review, taking the hint that the majority wasn’t happy with them, and resigned (that same law firm did the exact same thing when San Simeon CSD agendized their performance just after the Nov. election — they quit before they were fired). Oceano’s General manager’s performance had been reviewed several times; it appears he too quit before getting fired.
The law firm (or attorney who later joined that firm) had been in Oceano for a long time, while embezzlement occurred (https://www.newtimesslo.com/news/audit-rev…) and/or continued over the last 10 years (https://www.newtimesslo.com/news/oceano-co…).
Criticism of Charles Varni is misplaced, he won his seat with 57.19% of the at large vote. Oceano voters knew who they were voting for and what he stood for. What no one could know is that the GM and Legal Counsel would be roadblocks to small changes he put forth, with board majority support, and district management would not follow the districts own bylaws “to execute Board policy and to keep the Board of Directors informed” and “provide orientation for new Directors”.
A fresh start in Oceano is a long time coming.
Terrific report Kellie. He loves the attention and the division he is creating. It’s all about him. Pretty soon he will be coming to the board meetings with a gold crown on his head and a recording of Hail to the King playing.
I will give him credit for being involved with securing a grant for the elementary school field trips which is worthy. But I will not place him on high for doing so nor will compliment him for violating the Brown Act and yelling at the legal counsel who was trying to warn him of his actions.
Kerry