Two community members filed a lawsuit Tuesday to remove Inglewood City Councilmember Gloria Gray from the West Basin Municipal Water District Board of Directors citing possible conflicts of interest.
Daniel Bookman and Conner Everts filed the suit claiming Gray is in violation of California’s Government Code Section 1099 because the city of Inglewood purchases water from the West Basin Municipal Water District. The lawsuit was reviewed by the California Office of the Attorney General who approved it proceeding in court.
Gray provided a statement to The LA Local in response to the claims, and said she hasn’t received any official notification about the lawsuit. She also said it has not been determined that she is breaking the law by holding both positions and pointed out that other council members also serve on other boards.
“Given the timing of this challenge, I believe there may be political motivations behind it, particularly during this election season,” Gray said.
Gray was elected to the water board in 2006 and has served there since. She was elected to the Inglewood City Council in 2023. The city gets the majority of its potable water from West Basin Municipal Water District. The board and the council, respectively, have influence over the rates charged and paid for water.
On Thursday morning, attorney Jim Sutton and Tyron Turner, a West Basin Water board candidate, held a joint press conference at Inglewood City Hall explaining their claims that Gray is not complying with the law.
Sutton represents the two people who filed the lawsuit and said the it was filed to force Gray to step down from the water board. The attorney said he expects the lawsuit to be in front of a judge some time next week.
“She basically sits on both sides of the same transaction: selling the water and buying the water. That is a clear and inherent conflict,” Sutton said during the press conference. “And more importantly, it is against the law for her to sit on both boards.”
Turner is running for Gray’s seat on the water board, and cited a family experience with poor water quality. He described how he bought water filters for his home because his children had skin irritations from the water.
“I’m here today to ask you to resign for your constituents. I’m one of your constituents,” Turner said to Gray during the press conference. “You can’t have one foot in City Hall and one foot in West Basin.”
The lawsuit comes after the California Office of the Attorney General’s preliminary review of the allegations and granted Bookman and Everts permission to file the suit on Oct. 7. That office reviews legal claims questioning eligibility for public office before they can be filed.
“I respect the attorney general’s decision and the judicial process, however, authorizing a civil lawsuit is not the same as a court ruling that I evaded the law,” Gray said.
The attorney general’s opinion cited that there have been several similar cases in the past legitimately questioning if conflicts of interest exist when a person serves on a water board and a city government that purchases from it.
“Given a city council’s power to obtain water for its constituents and a water board’s power to supply that water, the opinion reasons that a person serving in both offices could face divided loyalties from being on opposite sides of water-supply transactions,” the opinion reads.
