The Twisted Twosome
A Monterey County Examiner Investigation
The Twisted Twosome
A Monterey County Examiner Investigation
Embedded Files
A Monterey County Examiner Investigation
Chapter 1 - Moss Landing Fire, the Calendar-less ones, and the Tale of two Missing Volleys (3/16/2023)
Chapter 1 - Moss Landing Fire, the Calendar-less ones, and the Tale of two Missing Volleys (3/16/2023)
Introduction
Introduction
On 1/3/2023 Glenn Church was Sworn in as Supervisor for District 2. Per his own words in an interview with the local League of Women Voters documenting his first 100 days, there was really no turnover system in place after over 150 years of governance with supervisors. In situations where assistants took over Supervisor roles it's easy, but for him, there was seemingly no format and no structure. A few weeks prior it seems he made contact and some information was exchanged and that was it. That statement was but one of a dozen or so in his 1 hour video chat that was extremely conerning for a man who was being handed over 1/5 of the responsibilty for a $1.8 Billion budget with theoretically, only small Christmas Tree Farm management experience.
On 1/16/2023, about 2 miles from Castroville CA, the headquarters for District Two, the Moss Landing Battery plant fires made world news. This was a multi-day fire that may have been the largest and longest burnnig fire for any battery plant in the world at that time -- and it became evident that the plant had beeen permitted for operation with no proper plume test models, worst case scenario consideration or proper emergency handling -- even though the Monterey County Permitting, Environmental Health and Fire Departments and Beureaus were all seemingly engaged in the approval process.
Photo credit: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/moss-landing-factory-fire-california-b2681336.html
photo from subsequent 2025 fire
On 3/16/2023, the first Town Hall was Scheduled to discuss the Moss Landing Battery Plant fire
A constituent in District two with a home in an elevated location that watched on in horror as the industrial and environmental disaster played out was eager to gain insight into what went wrong, who was going to take blame for it and/or who was going to take responsibility of such incompetent handling of such a major issue. The constituent had gotten notice of the meeting via a friend on social media a few days prior -- and on the day of the event he went in search of an online calendar for District 2 and could find no active websites or calendars for communication. This was 2.5 months after the new supervisor's inauguration and two months after the need to communicate wth everyone in a fast, transparent and dynamic manner was forced via a disaster.
Absent any online notices or calendar of events, he went to the Town Hall and found himself, a camera person from a news station, and a few others to be some of a few people there for an event that had been clearly cancelled.
The community center for the event had been turned into a disaster recovery zone for a flooding issue many miles away -- and what was obviously $10,000's in prep work for disaster handling was totally unused with little to no need.
One leadership concern was leading to others.
On 3/16/2023, after the Town Hall miss, the constituent penned an email. What he expected in return was a single response back with directions to a website and calendar for future reference. What he got back was a bit mind blowing and stunning simultaneously.
Misdirected instructions to a non existent website and calendar with extraneous information, a fragmented and unintelligible reply with closing punctuation suggesting it was not an early send, and a corrected reply no better with more extraneous information and 2 lost email volleys.
It really could not have gone any worse, with the exception that the young Policy Analyst on the cc most of the way through then showed everyone what a proper reply should have looked like -- making the experience fantastically educational but bizarre simultaneously.
Reading into the story via the emails themselves now, is the best way for you to find your way into a world that few knew existed until now.
March 16-March 17, 2023 - 6 Email Volleys
March 16-March 17, 2023 - 6 Email Volleys
from
to
Volley 1
From: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 6:02:21 PM
To: 100-District 2 (831) 755-5022 <district2@co.monterey.ca.us>; Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>
Subject: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
Hey Glenn et al.
I heard about the battery plant [town hall] last week. I put it on my calendar. Went out today to try to confirm on your two websites it's still on and found no calendar of events or comments.
Showed up at 530 to nobody.
Do you all manage a public calendar anywhere that would have events and updates?
I would presume one would have been on your website or a link to it?
What am I missing?
Thanks
Bryan
All I needed was a link to a calendar...
from
to
Volley 2
From: Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 6:11 PM
To: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com>; 100-District 2 (831) 755-5022 <district2@co.monterey.ca.us>;
Subject: RE: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
Mr. Canary:
We posted the cancellation on social media and our website on Monday, 3/13. In addition, Monterey County Dept of Emergency Management have posted the same.
We are sorry for the communication gap. This important event will be rescheduled once we are clear of the most important work to support our fellow residents through the latest weather crisis.
Thank you for contacting us.
Get Outlook for iOS
Why didn't she include links to the website and/or their online calendar ? Why did she reference other "important work" related to the "latest weather crisis" which, although large, was tiny in comparison to possibly contaminating the largest inland valley ecosystem on the West Coast with potentially permanent damage to enviornment and property values for all of us for life? Why didn't she just provide a link to the website so I had it for future reference and leave it at that?
from
to
Volley 3
From: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 6:49 PM
To: Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>; 100-District 2 (831) 755-5022 <district2@co.monterey.ca.us>;
Subject: RE: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
Hi Maryilyn -
If I understand you correctly, you updated your website on 3/13 somewhere and then you must have removed your update on your website? What website did you update? That seems odd?
The election website says "Please contact me on my new website". Could be more prominent but it's there. The new website has a county website link, about, newsletter, and a contact section. Not seeing anything about events calendar past and future or any place for that type of info?
Your website is the most valuable tool you have to communicate. Social media is okay too, but scrolling feeds to try to find info isn't always so great. if you and Glenn can't log in and update his website personally, creating a google doc or google spreadsheet you can link to from that with events you can update and leave available for reference statically would be a good way to go. ti's like creating a journal that then can be referenced back for years with a table of contents. much easier than scrolling social media.
thanks
b
Then it gets more weird . Church's $130,000 per year Chief of Staff, Marilyn Vierra responds at 8:14 PM with...
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to
Volley 4
From: Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 8:14 PM
To: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com>;100-District 2 (831) 755-5022 <district2@co.monterey.ca.us>;
Subject: RE: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
We no longer post on the candidacy website. Search Supervisor Glenn Church.
Marilyn Vierra
Chief of Staff
Supervisor Glenn Church
Monterey County, District 2
vierram@co.monterey.ca.us
11140 Speegle St.
Castroville, CA 95012
(831) 755-5022
Okay. So, I don't know about you, but when it comes to clear communication, I have a LOT higher expectations for a Supervisor making $185,000 a year ( more than Federal Senators and Congressmen make ) and a $130,000 Chief of Staff? What's she doing? What are they doing?
We are facing a potential Environmental Disaster of epic proportion, major loss of property values, potential stigmatization of community for years or life, seemingly no one in control of the Monterey County Permitting, Environmental Health, and Fire Departments, and now it's going to take me 5 email volleys to attempt to get a link to my Supervisors website for future updates?
Didn't the prior Supervisor have a website for date related communication? Didn't this new Superivisor and his Chief of Staff just take over a prior website? Or weren't they told what they needed between time of election and inaguration so they could hit the ground running?
What are these people doing?
Let's try this request again. Where will she go next if given a lead to run with ?
from
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Volley 5
From: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 9:48 PM
To: Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>; 100-District 2 (831) 755-5022 <district2@co.monterey.ca.us>;
Subject: RE: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
Hi Marilyn -
We sure are struggling with communication. I was on the new website. I don't see where you would have added anything or removed anything. I made that clear below but maybe it was missed.
Thanks
Bryan
< the next morning... >
from
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Volley 6
From: Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2023 8:03 AM
To: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com> < district 100 email had been removed from cc >
Subject: RE: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
Thank you for your concern. I misspoke re: the website. We posted the cancellation on our social media feeds. You may rest assured that those running our online comms are quite experienced.
To further clarify, this event is being coordinated by the Department of Emergency Management. Our office is helping with the facility and Sup. Church will be MC.
Obviously, we have been very busy with weather-related crises in District 2. The Castroville Community Center has served as an evacuation center. The meeting was cancelled due to these factors. I hope that you will be able to join us for the rescheduled event.
Marilyn Vierra
Chief of Staff
Office of Supervisor Glenn Church
Monterey County, District 2
11140 Speegle St.
Castroville, CA 95012
(831) 755-5022, ext. 8735
!?! "Rest assured that those running our online comms are quite experienced" !?!? Who is she or who does she think she is? Is she CIA trying to do mind control but forgotten to be mindful of her audience?
We had 6 email volleys that should have taken 2. On number 6 it was revealed that she mispoke in the 2nd one. It's impossible to deceipher what she was suggesting on the 4th one, and now, i'm supposed to "rest assured" that over $300,000 in annual salary paid by taxpayers for she and her boss was going to good use -- all while the spooks running their comms are in full control of a calender that doesn't exist?
Something is wrong with this picture. Then it got better for a bit...
from
to
Volley 7
From: Leonie Gray <district2@co.monterey.ca.us >
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2023 9:19 AM
To: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com> ; Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>
Subject: RE: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
Good morning Bryan,
I apologize for the miscommunication and that you did not see the post about the cancellation. We are working on finalizing Supervisor Church’s website (glennchurch.com) and will have the final version with an events calendar included up very soon. For now, we update our social media daily as does Monterey County.
The following pages have up to date information, and you can view even if you are not a member of the social media site:
(17) Supervisor Glenn Church | Castroville CA | Facebook
(17) Monterey County Department of Emergency Management | Facebook
(17) Monterey County, California | Facebook
Twitter.com/SupGlennChurch
Instagram.com/SupGlennChurch
Nextdoor – search Supervisor Glenn Church
Sincerely,
Leonie Gray (she/her)
Policy Analyst
The Office of Supervisor Glenn Church
Monterey County, District 2
11140 Speegle St., Castroville CA, 95012
Phone 831-755-5022, ext. 8738 | 831-837-9069
Email grayl@co.monterey.ca.us
Website glennchurch.com
OMG. That's all i was looking for to start with. That's a perfect response. The fact that they were 2.5 months into governing without a website is bizarre given the majority of their current site could have been created in about 2 hours for free on weebly or in a google site just as a bridge if needed. That not withstanding, this was a perfect response.
If that had come in before Vierra responded at all we'd never have known about Vierra. If Vierra had replied that way, we'd have thought she was fine and dandy.
Why did Marilyn Vierra answer as she did ? What compelled her to do that?
Notice what a straight forward answer looks like. Look at the lack of deflection to any other events or facts. Note the start with a simple apology. This is proper business writing.
Why did Church select Vierra to start with? Who is she?
Should Vierra be a Chief of Staff for a Politician with so little peripheral awareness?
Should Vierra be making $130,000/yr with so little understanding of simple and transparent communication skills?
Then it got worse...
The Case of the missing Email Volleys. (Where did 4 and 5 go?!)
The Case of the missing Email Volleys. (Where did 4 and 5 go?!)
When I looked at the email thread from Vierra again , something else stood out. Something was missing.
Below the email Volleys are being fed back to you in reverse chronological order so they'd match what you'd see if you did a public records request for her email to me on March 17, 2023 at 8:03 AM.
Where did Volleys 5 and 4 go?
from
to
Volley 6
From: Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2023 8:03 AM PM
To: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com> < district 100 email had been removed from cc >
Subject: RE: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
Thank you for your concern. I misspoke re: the website. We posted the cancellation on our social media feeds. You may rest assured that those running our online comms are quite experienced.
To further clarify, this event is being coordinated by the Department of Emergency Management. Our office is helping with the facility and Sup. Church will be MC.
Obviously, we have been very busy with weather-related crises in District 2. The Castroville Community Center has served as an evacuation center. The meeting was cancelled due to these factors. I hope that you will be able to join us for the rescheduled event.
Marilyn Vierra
Chief of Staff
Office of Supervisor Glenn Church
Monterey County, District 2
11140 Speegle St.
Castroville, CA 95012
(831) 755-5022, ext. 8735
from
to
Volley 3
From: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 6:49 PM
To: Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>; 100-District 2 (831) 755-5022 <district2@co.monterey.ca.us>;
Subject: RE: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
Hi Maryilyn -
If I understand you correctly, you updated your website on 3/13 somewhere and then you must have removed your update on your website? What website did you update? That seems odd?
The election website says "Please contact me on my new website". Could be more prominent but ti's there. The new website has a county website link, about, newsletter, and a contact section. Not seeing anything about events calendar past and future or any place for that type of info?
Your website is the most valuable tool you have to communicate. Social media is okay too, but scrolling feeds to try to find info isn't always so great. if you and Glenn can't log in and update his website personally, creating a google doc or google spreadsheet you can link to from that with events you can update and leave available for reference statically would be a good way to go. ti's like creating a journal that then can be referenced back for years with a table of contents. much easier than scrolling social media.
thanks
b
from
to
Volley 2
From: Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 6:11 PM
To: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com>; 100-District 2 (831) 755-5022 <district2@co.monterey.ca.us>;
Subject: RE: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
Mr. Canary:
We posted the cancellation on social media and our website on Monday, 3/13. In addition, Monterey County Dept of Emergency Management have posted the same.
We are sorry for the communication gap. This important event will be rescheduled once we are clear of the most important work to support our fellow residents through the latest weather crisis.
Thank you for contacting us.
Get Outlook for iOS
from
to
Volley 1
From: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 6:02:21 PM
To: 100-District 2 (831) 755-5022 <district2@co.monterey.ca.us>; Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>
Subject: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
Hey Glenn et al.
I heard about the battery plant [town hall] last week. I put it on my calendar. Went out today to try to confirm on your two websites it's still on and found no calendar of events or comments.
Showed up at 530 to nobody.
Do you all manage a public calendar anywhere that would have events and updates?
I would presume one would have been on your website or a link to it?
What am I missing?
Thanks
Bryan
6 Email Volleys had been truncated to 4. Volleys 5 and 4 were gone from the thread.
They Vanished completely -- and the thread from Vierra now read as if they had never transpired. Instead, it read 1, 2, 3, 6 or 6, 3, 2, 1 if reading in reverse.
Anyone making $130,000 a year surely knows how to maintain email threads subject to FOIA and public records requests, right? Do you think it was an accident? Could it have been an accident?
Certainly we all know how it can happen, but all of us who use email for work know that is something that should never be done, right? And we use protocols to make sure we don't do that kind of thing, right?
As someone who uses email exclusively for all business deals, to track many things simultaneously, email strings to me are sacred. Once in writing it must never be futzed with -- and my experience in the past has been HORRIBLE with people who intentionally or even accidentally lost track of some volleys in a thread.
Those that respond off thread or start new threads instead of keeping a string of communication intact are comparably bad (or worse), but none of that transpired here. we just lost two volleys here. < foundring1 -- insert foreshadowing music here ...>
You don't need my records to prove this loss of data...
You don't need my records to prove this loss of data...
Do a public records request:
Vierra to Canary: Thursday, March 17, 2023 at 8:03 AM >> shows volleys 1, 2, 3, 6
Gray to Canary: Thursday, March 17, 2023 9:19 AM >> shows volleys 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7*
Gray via the District 100 email address had been removed from Volley 6, thus she was not aware Vierra had made reply #6 and modifed the thread.
Marilyn Vierra simply "lost" volleys 4 and 5 or she removed them intentionally. I believe the removal was intentional as it fits the writing style she exposed and future interactions with her, but all I can do is speculate.
Which is acceptable?
Or was Vierra's Email setup on autoresponder via AI when it first came out with no supervsion?
The Swirly in return...
The Swirly in return...
In highschool in the 1980s there was a bully prank played on physically small people in locker rooms by physically larger people. They were given "swirlies".
Smaller people would be picked up, turned upside down, their heads would be inserted into (clean) toilets and they would be flushed. The theoretical result was to stand them up with a wet head of hair that had been spun a little into a swirl from the woosh of the toilet. This was an altenative to a "group weggie" metered out for some just or unjust reason as well.
What transpired next with Church and Vierra was a metapharical version of that. A lot of information was dumped on them and some serious email swirling transpired I had no intentions of making or doing it on that thread or at all -- but it became something I felt needed to transpire to make sure if and when any future FOIA requests for that thread were made -- it and they would show they had been given "constructive notice" of my background and what I was going to be attempting to discuss with them in the future.
Volleys 8 through 12
Volleys 8 through 12
<unpublished for now. make a public records request if you want them>
Volley 13-ish (because she still wasn't done abusing me!!)
Volley 13-ish (because she still wasn't done abusing me!!)
from
to
Volley 13-ish
From: Vierra, Marilyn <VierraM@co.monterey.ca.us>
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2023 8:03 AM PM
To: Bryan Canary <bryan@bryancanary.com> 100-District 2 (831) 755-5022 <district2@co.monterey.ca.us>;
Subject: RE: Battery Town Hall / Missing public Calendar
Mr. Canary, I made a MISTAKE. I twisted nothing and have operated only with the intention to clarify information and then the said mistake. Your communication today exhibits stunning myopia and a total lack of sensitivity to the devastating consequences of our recent weather crises on the most vulnerable members of our community.
Marilyn Vierra
Chief of Staff
Office of Supervisor Glenn Church
Monterey County, District 2
11140 Speegle St.
Castroville, CA 95012
(831) 755-5022, ext. 8735
An Email String that ends accusing me of "stunning myopia" and a "total lack of senstitivety" was WAY out of order...
An Email String that ends accusing me of "stunning myopia" and a "total lack of senstitivety" was WAY out of order...
So, by the end of my first email thread with Monterey County District 2's Vierra Marilyn and Church Glenn, I had about 13 email volleys which should have ended with 2.
I still had NO LINK FOR A DISTRICT 2 CALENDAR FOR FUTURE EVENT NOTICES AND TRACKING, I was far more concerned about $300,000 in salary going to "County Leadership" that was totally lost in the sauce, and according to Vierra,
I had Myopia
I was insensitive to a weather event for the most vulnerable members of our community
New Problem:
We live in one of the most "affluent" counties in the country. This reference to the "most vulnerabilty members of our community" are likely NOT property owners themselves, but in fact tenants of Land Owners who should be caring for them , as much or more so than the county. So what else am I missing?
The County doesn't own any land that they are renting out directly to Disadvantaged Communities or Individuals that should not be inhabited due to inherent risks of flooding or concerns, right?
Are we Paying our Supervisor and his Chief of Staff to Landlord for county interests too?
Are the property owners on land that should be taken over by immenent domain because spending $500 Million on a levy might make no sense to most of us?
Who are these "two new county leaders" and what are their real goals for District 2?
Concerns about Church's Campaign Disclosures become far more relevant...
Concerns about Church's Campaign Disclosures become far more relevant...
One thing I did NOT know at that time I executed the email swirly on Vierra and Church was that Glenn Church the Christmas Tree Farming small business guy was NOT REMOTELY just that at all, but we had little way to know the limited facts he had provided and others he had removed from the public domain prior to his campaign.
It turns out, there were some signifcant omissions or half suggstions about relevant commercial history made by Church and and those supporting him that were really quite signifcant in hindsight...
Church failed to disclose he owned $12M+ in real estate with 45+ commercial tenants.
Church failed to disclose he was in LLCs with direct partnerships with Real Estate Brokers.
Church had failed to disclose he was an S & P 500 company consultant and seemingly had been for many years
Church failed to disclose he had been engaged in a business selling over $1 Million a year just in mulch all over the state
Church failed to disclose his 1 Million/year mulch business may have been based out fo what is now the Waste Management Controlled land fill where he seems to sit on the board in some way or another
Church failed to disclose prior positions on various Commercial Boards that would have been of interest to those voting for him, until after he was elected, as is permitted but illogical.
Church failed to disclose he had taken his business website for his multi decade landscaping and consulting business offline in 2017 without any apparent sale or transfer that would make sense.
Church failed to disclose his wifes extensive website that detailed her career as a professional writer had been taken offline in the 2014 time frame for some reason now unclear OR her job as a contributor and Editor with the local media for decades.
Church did or did NOT know or disclose the fact there were over 150 "Church's" licensed as Real Estate sales people or Brokers in the State of CA , some/many of whom may in fact be related to Glenn Church, given his 160 year old ties to the state.
Church did NOT disclose his Great Great Grandfather actually ran for Supervisor in the 1860's too. He mentioned his father in the 1960s but somehow the older one seems to have gone unmentioned on the campaign trail.
Other...
There's more, but that should be enough to get everyone thinking a little differently about what is needed from politicians for disclosures prior to all future election processes.
Had I know all that prior , I may not have supported him nor voted for him. If I had, I certainly would have asked a lot more questions about positions related to BIG AG, and I would have also had far HIGHER expectations for he and his Chief of Staff than I did during the email dust up above and subsequent interactions where I gave him benefit of doubt about commerce, finance and law that was not due.
I also would have approached presenting a 40 year real estate brokerage and legal lobby fraud to him a lot differently than via a swirly.
Alot differently indeed.
Another larger fire due to permitting and oversight frauds ?!
Another larger fire due to permitting and oversight frauds ?!
And would you be surprised to find out there was another far LARGER fire that transpired in Moss Landing after the first one? it's impossible to imagine how or why these competent leaders could have allowed that to happen, right? I wonder what could possibly have gone wrong?
Grok, Investigative Correspondent ooX, characterized the next catastrophe as follows:
"The fire at Vistra's Moss Landing 300-MW battery energy storage facility erupted on January 16, 2025, forcing the evacuation of over 1,200 residents, closing Highway 1, and sending a massive plume of toxic smoke across Monterey Bay, visible from miles away. It burned for days, releasing hydrogen fluoride gas and particulate matter containing heavy metals like nickel, cobalt, and manganese. Subsequent testing revealed elevated levels in nearby soils and the Elkhorn Slough estuary (a sensitive wetland home to endangered species), sparking long-term environmental concerns, health complaints (respiratory issues, headaches, metallic taste), and calls for stricter permitting and setbacks for such facilities."
Summary
Summary
The next chapter is going to pick up with the next line of emails which transpired prior to the fire above. In it , more overt evasive email handling is presented that makes it hard to imagine this first round was an accident . At the time of the next volleys, none of what was shared above about Church's prior history was known either, so I was still flying blind but searching for something more for sure.
< Chapter 1 - the end>
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