Rosemary Kamei is expected to be named chair of the Santa Clara
Valley Water District board of directors when it meets Tuesday, she
said.
Rosemary Kamei is expected to be named chair of the Santa Clara Valley Water District board of directors when it meets Tuesday, she said.
It will be the third time in the chair seat for Kamei, a Morgan Hill resident who has been on the board since 1993. As one of seven directors, she represents District 1, which includes South County. Sig Sanchez, a Gilroy resident, is director at large.
Although the directors will have a discussion before voting on who will be chair and vice chair, Kamei is the likely appointee to take over chair Tony Estremera’s duties, while Joe Judge, District 2 director, is likely to succeed her as vice chair, she said.
“It’s pretty ceremonial,” Kamei said. “Vice chair is nominated to be the chair.”
Chair and vice chair positions are elected by the board at the first meeting each January, according to an agenda memo. Kamei was elected to serve as vice chair through the end of 2007 following former director Gregory Zlotnick’s resignation in July 2007.
The first woman elected to the board, she was the chairperson in 2002 and in 1995.
Kamei said she was looking forward to “some really good opportunities” with her new position, which calls on her to organize the meeting agendas, names committee members and conducts meetings.
“There are other duties, such as when there’s a need to represent the district, the chair is the one” who does it, she said. “I think it’s really important, it’s really a privilege.”
Kamei went to Washington D.C. in November to meet with Rep. Jerry McNerney and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to lobby for funding for the Upper Llagas Creek Flood Control project, which is estimated to cost $105 million, 60 percent of which would come from the federal government. Although Congress included the project in the Water Resources Development Act of 2007, it has not appropriated any funding in the current, 2007-08 fiscal year, to the project.
“It’s something that we’ve been working on closely, that hopefully will continue to seek funding,” Kamei said.
