Check’s in the Mail

CHECK’S IN THE MAIL… Squid loyally checks the sea snail-mail box daily, hoping to find a postcard from Rocky the rockfish or Flapjack the octopus. Usually, alas, it’s just full of bills.

Sometimes, instead of a bill, there’s a role reversal. In the case of Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, 80 people or business entities received a check from the district in the past 11 years, but never cashed it. Presumably it went out with the recycling, sight unseen.

Squid only knows about the uncashed checks because government code requires MPWMD to publish a list of said checks, and the list ran for two weeks in the back of the Monterey County Weekly. There, Squid found some familiar names: Quality Inn Monterey is missing $100, while Carmel Wayfarer Inn has had $2,580 on the line since 2014. Some individuals are sitting on a lot of money (such as a 2016 check for $1,232 to Samit Patel) while for others, like former Seaside mayor Felix Bachofner, it’s just a little ($4.81, dated 2017).

But most surprising of all is that California American Water, MPWMD’s chief antagonist – the district is pursuing a public buyout of the private water utility company – also has an unclaimed check dated 2020. Maybe the piddly amount, just $5, made Cal Am officials think it wasn’t worth their while, but Squid can’t help but hear the slow drip of money down the drain.

Well, just down Cal Am’s drain. If the checks remain unclaimed, MPWMD gets to keep the cash.

PAST DUE… Speaking of who gets to keep the cash, Squid oozed over to Monterey County Superior Court the other day and got caught up in some big numbers. Specifically, by allegations from Deacon Construction LLC against Cannery Row’s newest establishment, Tipsy Putt. The new sports-bar-meets-indoor-miniature-golf-course concept opened in February in the space that was formerly Cannery Row Brewing Company. In the year leading up to the much-anticipated opening, Deacon had a construction contract for $1,278,914 – Squid’s seen the contract language in black and white, because it’s attached to the company’s court case.

On July 30, Deacon sued Tipsy Putt, alleging the bar has failed to pay nearly half of the contract amount, $599,561.25 (plus interest). On its website, the 40-year-old, Sacramento-based construction company claims it “is relationship-oriented and views projects from a stakeholder’s perspective.” Squid is unsurprised that perspective has limits – like paying bills due.

The team at Tipsy Putt declined to comment, but maybe they’ll try to imitate MPWMD’s style as noted above: Check’s in the mail. It might be cheaper than going to court.