Collins Takes the Fifth, Despite Marina Coast's Efforts To Obtain Full Testimony in Cal Am Suit

Steve Collins' criminal defense attorney, Daniel Clymo, tried to save him the hassle of driving to San Francisco Thursday morning for a deposition. 

"Mr. Collins will be asserting his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent to any questioning regarding his involvements with the Monterey County Water Resources Agency, Marina Coast Water District, RMC [or] Cal Am Water," Clymo wrote in an email to B. Tilden Kim, an attorney representing Marina Coast. 

"Is there any way informally we can avoid having Mr. Collins drive to San Francisco to repeatedly invoke these rights?" 

Clymo's request, which was rolled into Marina Coast Water District's subsequent motion to delay the deposition because Collins wouldn't be talking—was denied by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow. 

So it was that Collins and Clymo sat in the law offices of Richards, Watson & Gershon this morning, with Collins declining to answer any questions, based on a pending criminal case. 

To back up: Collins was subpoenaed by California American Water, the plaintiff in a lawsuit against Marina Coast and the county. This all goes back to the bitter fallout when conflict-of-interest allegations against Collins—that he'd been paid $160,000 by RMC, a desal project contractor—emerged and the project tanked.

Marina Coast has insisted the old project agreements are still valid; Cal Am counter-sued in January, and today's deposition was conducted as part of Cal Am's lawsuit. 

Knowing Collins wouldn't talk, Marina Coast filed a motion to ask the court to delay his deposition until the criminal matter was resolved and he would be able to answer questions.

"His thought process in taking the actions shown would not be revealed, nor would the identity of other officials who encouraged or discouraged him from taking those actions," according to Marina Coast's motion.

"Accomplices, if any, would remain anonymous."

Cal Am and the the County fought back, arguing Collins' testimony was effectively irrelevant. 

Depositions of others—former Marina Coast attorney Lloyd Lowry, Marina Coast payroll clerk Kelly Cadiente, and former GM Jim Heitzman—are expected to provide enough proof a conflict of interest existed, according to Cal Am's motion. 

Excerpts of an Oct. 23 deposition of Lyndel Melton, the RMC co-founder who officially hired Collins as a consultant, indicate that other county officials were aware of the arrangement.

"Curtis [Weeks] knew that Collins was working for us. We'd had those conversations," Melton said in the deposition.

He goes on to discuss the consulting business Weeks and Collins were partners in: "[Weeks] explains to me about how he and Steve Collins have formed a business relationship, or were forming a business relationship, that had been approved by county counsel, and he used Charles McKee's name specifically." 

Cal Am's attorney Robert Moore went on to probe Melton about who authorized the initial hiring; Melton says he doesn't know, and never asked. But he knew the directive came from some combination of Weeks and/or Heitzman. 

But RMC's role expanded from that of an engineering consultant to a project management role, Melton said, "when we were asked to bring Steve Collins on board."

At the time he was hired and paid $160,000, Collins was repping the county in the three-party team pushing for the defunct Regional Water Project. The California Public Utilities Commission is yet to issue a decision on the validity of a legal settlement between the county and Cal Am.