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Light Rain Sanitation looking to sue Facebook pages
Mulls defamation lawsuit against sites’ anonymous administrators
The Oceanside Sanitation District 7 Board of Commissioners voted to explore the possibility of filing a defamation lawsuit against certain Facebook pages at its Oct. 1 meeting. The vote was 4-1, with Commissioner John Mannone voting against the measure.
“It came about from … a lot of interesting propaganda about Oceanside Sanitary District 7,” said Chairman Joe Cibellis, who introduced the measure. “There are several pages, all of which are attacking Sanitary District 7, and its commissioners and families.”
Cibellis would not name the pages in question, but others have indicated that they are most likely Oceanside People Electing New Commissioners for the Community, Oceanside Sanitation Election — June 18, 2015, Oceanside Page Six, Oceanside Taxpayer Concerns and Oceanside Parents United.
Over the past few months, the pages have made various accusations of cronyism and nepotism in the Sanitation District, which claim that commissioners’ family members and friends have positions on the library and school boards. There are also negative statements about the workings of the sanitation board, which include criticism of board members for the delayed disciplinary action directed at former Supervisors Michael Scarlata and his son Charles, who collected retirement benefits as well as consulting fees from the district.
In July, the board approved a resolution, by a 3-2 vote, to suspend Michael Scarlata and review his contract as well as the state comptroller’s audit that concluded that he had collected $391,000 in questionable retirement funds. The resolution ordered him to stop attending sanitation board meetings and interacting with board members or sanitation employees. But Scarlata has continued to attend meetings as a member of the public, which he is allowed to do. A proposal last month to hire an outside legal counsel to review his contract failed by a 3-2 vote.
