A Local Water Board Paid An Employee Not To Work There. Now He’s On The Board.

Five years ago, the Sweetwater Authority paid one of its engineers $175,000 to drop a lawsuit against the water district if he agreed to never work there again. Now, the engineer, Hector Martinez, is one of seven board members in charge of running the district. He also has ties to a former board member who, years earlier, was paid in exchange for leaving the district’s board. In 2014, the district paid to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit Martinez filed against Sweetwater, which provides drinking water to National City and parts of Chula Vista. Martinez claimed the district didn’t give him a promotion in 2008 because he is Hispanic.