WEST POINT — The VAW (Vinemont Antioch West Point) Water Board officially denied the legitimacy of a petition from local poultry growers to remove board’s members on the grounds of discrimination Tuesday.

Following its regularly-scheduled meeting, the board’s attorney Rusty Turner issued a written statement that declared that the petition did not meet requirements of the board’s bylaws.

Sighting a technicality, the statement alleged that the petition could not be considered because it did not specify any single individual making the charges against the board.

More seriously, according to board member James Graves, some of the signatures were falsely signed.

Graves was quoted as saying that some of the signatures belonged to people that were now dead and others appeared to be in the same handwriting.

The board also sited the petition’s lack of contact information for the signatures, stating that none of the names could be verified properly.

In addition, according to Turner, the petition was illegitimate because it called for the removal of the whole board, while there were no procedures in place to replace the whole board at one time. He said the bylaws were designed for the removal of only one board member at a time.

“It’s nothing but sour grapes,” stated board member Zane Hill. “Some of the poultry farmers are mad at the board for raising their rates and they are trying to run us off by this petition.”

Notably, the board told the farmers that all future communications on the matter would be handled through the board’s attorney.

Chairman Gordon Pigg declined to comment on the matter following the meeting.

As promised, the petition was not on the agenda at the public meeting, indicating that the matter was likely settled in an executive session, not open to the public.

That presented a problem for Pat Klein, who said he attempted to get on the agenda late last week but was denied.

Klein claimed that the secretary that took his call had promised to put him on the agenda but Pigg had apparently removed it.

“You told us that if we called ahead by a couple of days that we could get on the agenda,” Klein said to Pigg.

“It’s more or less a discretionary thing,” said Pigg, who moved to put Klein on the next meeting’s agenda in February.

Following the meeting, which a total of nine farmers attended, several arguments broke out between farmers and board members.

In the aftermath, Klein told The Times that recent statements made by the Water Board that they were just passing along a rate increase of 83 percent were untrue.

He said that 50 percent of that increase occurred over a five year period and most of it was absorbed by the system.

Klein also claimed that the real reason the prices had gone up was because the board could not follow its own budget.

According to his calculation, which he said he got directly from the board, the board members had overspent on their own personal expenses by $7,599.68.

He pointed out several other expenditures that were over budget, totaling them out to more than $51,000.

Shawn Whittle, VAW outside manager, responded to Klein’s claims, telling The Times that all the budget numbers were simply projections and that it was impossible to predict exactly what costs will be.

Various farmers at the meeting also lodged complaints about the increased costs of meters, services, fees and the fact that a copy of the board’s statement was not made available to them.

They vowed to be at the next meeting when Klein will be on the agenda.

“It’s not just the high prices. I would just like to feel like to feel that when we say something they will at least listen,” said Morris Williams, a chicken farmer. “I don’t want everything my way. I just want a fair shake.”

The controversy between the board and the poultry farmers erupted last year when the VAW Water Board removed a descending rate for large water consumers and increased the overall rate to $5 per 1,000 gallons.

According poultry growers, that change as much as tripled their water bills.

The board claims that the rate farmers were paying was actually less than the system paid to get it to them, forcing others to pick up the cost.

The poultry farmers have since initiated a state-funded project to switch to well water, a move that could cost the system more than $300,000 a year, according to the farmers.