Contractor loses position for illegal practices, Cambria hires him

January 16, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

Less than two years after Charlies Grace settled a lawsuit with the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office for illegal business practices and false advertising, Cambria hired his company Grace Environmental Services to install water meters.

Prosecutors filed a civil suit in 2021 against Grace and his private company regarding their management of the San Simeon Community Services District. In a June 2023 settlement agreement, Grace agreed to pay a civil penalty of $75,000, and to stop working for the district.

Late last year, Cambria put out a request for companies to bid on upgrading 3,500 water meters. Grace then submitted the lowest bid for the project, $217,000.

Even though multiple members of the public asked the board not to select a known bad actor, the Cambria Community Services Board voted to give the contract to Grace’s company at its Jan. 9 meeting.

“Take the message from the court and do not hire him in Cambria,” Christine Heinrichs wrote the board. “The district has several items other than hiring a known bad actor, at any price.”