General (17)
Susana Barrios
From:Stephanie Mercadante <burglin.stephanie@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, August 25, 2026 6:24 PM
To:Public Comment
Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] On Behalf of Georgia Price, District 6, Councilmember Natalie Meeks
Warning: This email originated from outside the City of Anaheim. Do not click links or open
attachments unless you recognize the sender and are expecting the message.
For public comment on August 25, 2026:
For months, City employees have raised concerns about water quality, excessive flushing,
operational failures, and mismanagement.
No one listened. Not City leadership, and certainly not this City Council. Anaheim activists have been
raising these concerns publicly since March. In April, Craig Parker stood before this Council and
assured residents the water was safe. Also in April, Utilities General Manager Dukku Lee announced
his abrupt retirement. In June, Keith McDonald and Pete Garcia were removed from their
management assignments. In July, Dukku Lee retired.
Then Craig Parker stood before the Public Utilities Board and had the audacity to declare the water
issue "closed."
Six days later, Disneyland, City Hall, Angel Stadium, and thousands of Anaheim residents DID NOT
HAVE WATER.
So much for this matter being "closed,” Craig Parker.
In August, Jake Hester, the City's water engineering manager, quietly resigned.
Also in August, Richard Salas abruptly resigned. Salas was involved in decisions concerning
repeated flushing before compliance testing.
And also in August, Water Superintendent Pete Garcia was escorted off City property and is
reportedly no longer with the City.
That is a remarkable number of key people disappearing from Anaheim's water division in a matter of
months.
And now we are days away from September, yet this Council still isn't asking why.
As a reminder, your job is not Council Communications "show and tell." Your job is to govern this
City.
So when the Mayor tells residents "our water is the safest," I have a simple question:
Why are so many of the people responsible for this operation running for the door, being
reassigned, resigning, or being escorted out?
Maybe it's time to acknowledge that the whistleblowers were telling the truth.
But the most disturbing question remains:
Why has the City still not conducted a credible investigation into their allegations?
Oliver Pacifico with the State Division of Drinking Water reportedly said there were "no findings."
How do you reach "no findings" without interviewing the City employees who actually made the
allegations?
Was Mr. Pacifico given the complete story?
Was information withheld?
Was inaccurate information provided by Craig Parker?
Those questions deserve answers.
This isn't an administrative faux pas or typo on some excel spreadsheet.
1
THIS IS OUR DRINKING WATER.
And after what happened on July 28th, an incident we will now affectionately call “No Watergate”
continuing to ignore these allegations is simply unacceptable.
Your continued silence raises a serious question about whether this Council is fulfilling its
responsibility to oversee this City.
Investigate the allegations. Interview the whistleblowers. And do the job Anaheim residents
elected you to do.
2