On 1/18/2024, trouble-making trustee Don Otto
announced his resignation. Woo-hoo! Public pressure from the
good people of Palomino Valley has proven effective, and justice has
prevailed! It was a beautiful thing to see. Sadly, the trail of
destruction he left in his wake is still being felt. Why? Because we
still have another Otto conspirator in the cabal to deal with - Tom
Baker. He is the proverbial "head of the snake."
The good news is that we have accumulated more than
enough votes to have a recall election of the troublesome Tom Baker.
Again, congratulations to the good people of Palomino Valley!
Bad News
The bad news is that Tom Baker - fully aware that a
recall election would cost the GID $31,000 (per the Washoe County
Registrar of Voters) - stubbornly refused to bow out, as Don Otto
did. Baker has done Palomino Valley a tremendous disservice by
clinging to his throne. Palomino Valley certainly could have used
that thirty-one thousand US dollars ($31,000.00) of tax dollars for
road improvements. What a stupid waste. What a shame.
When you come upon a Baker supporter, ask him or her
what Baker has done to improve the PVGID. Ask how our roads are
better since he implemented his regime? Demand specifics, and
do not accept Baker-generated propaganda. Ask them for tangible
proof. Ask them how they benefit by supporting the regime? Inquiring
minds want to know.
Registrar of Voters Argument
Statement
We will now address the arguments made by Tom Baker,
opposing his recall. Here is an image of the statement as provided
by the Registrar of Voters: We chose not to re-type it, lest there
be any accusations that the text was altered:
Let's do some fact checking and challenge falsehoods
in Baker's statements. We have already laid out our arguments in
favor of his removal in the first page of this
website, so we will not repeat much here.
One of the first things you will notice is Baker's
repeated use of the pronoun "I". Nine times. "I did
this." I did that." So what, you may ask? Did you notice that
he did not credit the other elected members of board for anything?
He took sole credit for actions that actually hurt the PVGID,
which only strengthens our argument for his recall and removal.
Some of Baker's absurd comments:
"I have decades of heavy equipment
experience..." That's what Don Otto said, and recall
the mess and destruction he caused to our valley. Yes, Mr. Baker
owns a backhoe. And? What's your point? An estimated one out of
eight people in Palomino Valley also own heavy equipment. Look
around your neighborhood and you will see backhoes, tractors, skid
steers, and more. These are commonly found machines that we
routinely use on our rural properties. None of us are claiming that
the ownership of a machine parked in our back yard qualifies us to
be president of the PVGID and the 92 miles of roads that they
maintain. Weak argument. Try again.
Speaking of roads, one of Baker's now
famous & laughable "statements of ignorance" during a public
meeting include the ludicrous statement that all roads maintained by
the PVGID in Pal Val should be treated "equally." In case you
just moved to the valley, you might not know that that the
primary roads leading into the valley are Ironwood, Whiskey
Springs, Rangeland, Grass Valley, and Axe Handle roads.
Winnemucca Ranch Road, is not a PVGID-maintained road, so that is
not included in this discussion.
Primary roads, in case Baker was not aware of this
universally accepted protocol for road maintenance, receive the most
maintenance simply because they are the most heavily used roads. A
third grader would know this. Why doesn't Baker? Maybe he does.
Maybe, as we suspect, he was asked in a closed door session (in
violation of open meeting law) by one or both members of the cabal,
to discard the PVGID's longstanding road maintenance protocol and
adopt a "new" method. A new method under his new regime would help
his buddies with their roads in the short term, but would
ultimately fail due to its obvious unsustainability.
Sure, every resident would love to have his or her
road graded to perfection on a weekly basis. With 92 miles of roads
maintained by a 2-man crew, operating within a limited budget,
though, how is this possible? It is not.
"...I was threatened by three employees..."
Threatened? Really? How lame. What happened was that the
vindictive actions of Baker's cabal created a hostile work
environment - not only for the contract workers, but for the
operations manager as well. They're only human. As humans,
especially as Americans, we do not (thank the Lord) live under kings
or tyrants, we can only take so much abuse for so long. The three
workers drafted a declaration statement that was read aloud at the
4/20/2023 public meeting. It addressed their grievances. As
expected, Baker did not take kindly to their words nor did he react
well to them. Maybe he forgot the text of the First Amendment in the
Bill of Rights in the US Constitution which states:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government
for a redress of grievances.”
Regimes do not take kindly to subjects who express
such thoughts before the king. Instead of accepting constructive
criticism (as we all do sometimes in life) in a humble manner and be
willing to learn, he promptly doubled down in a knee-jerk reaction
and went to war against a seasoned group of knowledgeable people who
had served the PVGID and their community for many years. It was a
shameful and disgraceful display.
Baker wasted no time in trying to remove the
Operations Manager. After several months of public outcry, 4 of the
5 board members agreed to keep the OM. A few months later, Baker
spearheaded the termination of the contract of the long-serving
administrative assistant who had extensive institutional knowledge
of the PVGID's financial and administrative functions. The
bookkeeper had resigned earlier in protest, and her replacement
resigned as well, leaving a administrative vacuum. Chaos
ensued and the PVGID was left afloat without a rudder for months
afterwards. Read (or re-read) the
earlier original page
of this website for the details. Baker's reckless actions had
unintended consequences that are being felt to this day.
Examples of Baker's continual harassment of
employees:
- Unwarranted Surveillance -
As was explained earlier in this website, a
surveillance camera, complete with audio and video, was aimed
directly over the desk of the Shawn Kelly, Operations Manager, in
the PVGID's office. Why? This question has been asked several times,
with no satisfactory answer given. We still await an answer.
All the totally unnecessary IP cameras in the
PVGID's equipment yard can be viewed online by those who have
password access. Who has access? Don Otto, who resigned in January
and no one else, except his friends and family who he - with no
authorization - shared the access codes with.
- No Shelter For You -
Since Day One, the PVGID's yard lacked a shop /
service building in which equipment could be maintained and
repaired. Employees had to work outside, enduring harsh Nevada
weather conditions with which we are all familiar. It was miracle
that anyone chose to stay in that job with those primitive and
brutal working conditions. The next time you work on your back in
the snow under your vehicle outside in the winter wind, think of
what those employees had to endure.
Prior to the installation of Baker and his cronies,
the OM put forth the idea to the former board of having a shop built
in the PVGID's yard. After reviewing the details and weighing the
pros and cons, the board approved the building, and gave the green
light for it to proceed.
Enter the new regime. One of their first orders of
business was an attempt to bring the building process to a halt.
Why? Out of vindictive spite. More unwarranted harassment of the
employees. Fortunately the prior approvals could not be over-ridden,
and the building proceeded. An insulated metal building now stands.
It is, and will be, a Godsend to current and future employees who
work for the district. No thanks to Baker's cabal who tried to stop
it.
"..the GID was being 'run' by the employees
and not the duly elected trustees." What an odd, cynical way
to view members of your team. Clearly, Baker does not understand the
concept of team work. Recall how he likes to use the pronoun "I."
A lot. It's all about me, the head of the new regime.
Unlike the elected trustees who show up once per
month at meeting time, cast votes, and go home until the next
meeting, the contract workers spend many hours during the month on
various assignments and tasks. Some are routine and recurring, while
some are new projects assigned by the board. So much work was being
performed by the administrative assistant that it nearly became a
full-time job. Over the years, she gained knowledge of all
matters pertaining to the Palomino Valley General Improvement
District. She wanted to continually learn, in order to perform at
her level of excellence. She became an encyclopedia of knowledge who
could be called upon at any time to answer a question or to do
research. She always did so gladly and willingly. No one who knows
her can testify to the contrary.
While she was living in PalVal (since 2001) and
later in North Carolina (mid-2022 to the present), she worked
remotely from home. Nothing new there. She still retains vast
knowledge of the PVGID that she acquired over the years. She
remains a valuable asset that Baker carelessly tossed aside.
Sadly, Baker was clueless as to the width and depth
of the roles that the administrative assistant and others played
while working for the team. Worse, he did not care to know.
That explains why, early on, he balked at being corrected with
factual information that contradicted his frequent, erroneous
statements. He not only rejected the wisdom and guidance that was
provided, it got to the point where his dark side came out. His
kneejerk reaction was to rid his kingdom of those who dared to
correct him. He held them all in utter contempt. His claim that the
employees "ran" the GID is partly true. Yes, the contract workers
and the OM worked as a team to conduct the day-to-day business of
the GID. They were the oil in the machine and kept the organization
running smoothly, and in accordance with NV statutes - no small task
since Baker continuously ignored them. They did not, however, have
any voting power.
As is the case with nearly all elected boards, the
staff provides the board with the information they need in order to
make informed decisions.
"I decided to make the necessary changes to
bring the GID into compliance with Nevada law." This is
undoubtedly the biggest pantload of sophistry that Baker has laid
out to date. To paraphrase a great statesman of the 20th century:
I do not think it is possible to have spoken
the opposite of the truth with more precision.
Baker came to the board with zero knowledge. Baker
broke rules. Baker routinely violated GID polices. Baker ignored and
violated Nevada's open meeting laws on numerous occasions. Now he
has the unmitigated gall and sheer audacity to claim that he is
making changes to bring the GID into compliance with Nevada law? He
has insulted our collective intelligence with this in-your-face
gaslighting. It is nothing short of OUTRAGEOUS!
"The website was owned by her husband."
False. Had Baker taken a minute out of his day to speak to the
administrative assistant he had so abruptly terminated, he would
have learned that the website is
the property of the PVGID. They own the domain name and pay for the
server hosting fees. The husband set it up in 2011 and ran it for
ten years, voluntarily, at no charge and with no credit. He did it
as a service to his community.
The time came where he asked for a small monthly fee
for his work. The board agreed and he was paid through his wife's
business. When she was terminated, as a consequence, so were his web services.
Yet another unintended consequence of Baker's hasty and rash actions.
We were informed by the web designer that he used
a now-obsolete web design
software that is no longer supported by Microsoft. It worked then, and still
does now, but unless someone owns that software, they won't be able
to edit the website; they would have to create a new one from
scratch.
Did Baker presume that the webmaster would work free
of charge, considering the fact that he rudely and abruptly fired his wife? No one works for
free. Or do they? Stop by Baker's body and paint shop on Right Hand
Canyon Road and ask him if he'll do free body and paint work for
you.
