A piece of proposed legislation working its way through the
California assembly could give South County voters better
representation on the Santa Clara Valley Water District board of
directors, and make the board more independent from county
influence.
A piece of proposed legislation working its way through the California assembly could give South County voters better representation on the Santa Clara Valley Water District board of directors, and make the board more independent from county influence.
Assembly Bill 466 was originally submitted by 23rd district Assemblymember Joe Coto (D–San Jose) to codify a list of reforms for the public agency into the Santa Clara Valley Water District Act, a state law. The bill’s main thrust is to provide for all seven board seats to be filled by the voters, undoing a provision scheduled to take effect at the end of this year that would reduce the board to five members representing districts that are congruent to those of the Santa Clara County board of supervisors.
Having unanimously cleared two assembly committees, the bill is now ready for a floor vote. An aide to Coto said the bill has to pass out of the assembly and into the senate by June 5, and expects it to make that passage without significant opposition, though more amendments and changes could be added.
Currently the board consists of one director elected every four years in each of five districts, plus two directors who are appointed by the Santa Clara County board of supervisors. Coto’s bill, to which a number of assemblymembers and state senators have signed on as co-authors, would amend the District Act to require the water district to be redrawn into seven electoral districts that are equal in population. Voters from each district would decide who their director would be, and the appointed seats would be eliminated.
It is likely that District 1, which encompasses South County and is geographically the largest of the current districts, would be reduced in size if the bill passes.
Board member Rosemary Kamei, who represents District 1, said the setup proposed in Coto’s bill would provide adequate and long-lasting board representation for the region.
“I think it would be good for South County. It would create smaller districts, which would ensure that a South County resident is on the board,” Kamei said.
Sig Sanchez, who has served on the water district board for nearly 30 years, said “philosophically,” he would prefer a five-member board to make the body more efficient and because most governing boards consist of five members. However, he said, “for the benefit of South County,” he supports AB466 because it gives local residents a better chance at having a representative on the board.
In 2006, the governor signed a bill that changed the structure of the board. Unless AB466 passes, the current law would reduce the board to a five-member body by the end of this year. The two appointed seats, currently occupied by Sanchez and Tony Estremera, would be eliminated. Under that law, the current terms of two board members – Kamei and Larry Wilson – will expire in January 2011, with elections scheduled for Nov. 2, 2010. Elections for the other three seats, occupied by Patrick Kwok, Richard Santos, and Joe Judge, will take place in November 2012.
Under AB466, the appointed seats would still be eliminated, and the process of dividing the county into seven electoral water board districts must be completed before the 2010 elections, when four seats would be up for grabs. The first elections for the remaining three seats would be held November 2012.
One who hopes to take the seat representing either the new or existing South County district is Supervisor Don Gage, who will be termed out of his current position at the end of next year.
He also said a five-member board would be sufficient, as the county manages a $4 billion budget with only five supervisors, but he agrees with other reforms in the terms of AB466.
“We have a budget that’s more than 10 times as large as the water district’s and we do just fine,” Gage said. “The more people you have, the more difficult it is to get things done.” He also noted two more directors would add expenses, including the redistricting process and more in per diem stipends and benefits packages.
Water district spokeswoman Susan Siravo said redistricting would cost about $100,000, and would take up to six months.
She said effective representation on the water district board requires specialized knowledge, and different projects vary across the electoral districts and between northern and southern regions of the county. Furthermore, the position of a director is not a full-time job as that of a county supervisor is, and the directors do not have their own support staffs as the supervisors do.
“Making smaller districts would allow each director to have more time to spend on each project in their area,” Siravo said. “The projects and the policies the board has to look at are very complicated, and the directors end up spending their personal time getting themselves educated (on those projects and policies).”
The SCVWD serves about 1.8 million with water supply and flood control services in Santa Clara County. It has an annual budget of $411 million and employs about 850 people.
Currently board members receive a stipend of about $260 per meeting, up to 10 meetings per month. They are also eligible for benefits packages that include medical, vision, dental, and life insurance. Siravo said last year that the district paid a monthly average of $1,292.01 in premiums for board members’ insurance plans.
Coto submitted AB466 in March at the request of the board, who voted 4-3 in favor of the submittal. As a tradeoff with board members who wanted to keep the body at seven members, he added a list of terms on how the board can govern itself. Some of those seem to address points of controversy that have plagued the board and its public image, and even sparked a critical grand jury report, in recent years.
One of the new rules states that board members must wait at least one year after they leave the board to seek employment in the district. In 2007, the district was criticized when its former CEO Stan Williams hired then-board member Greg Zlotnick to a newly created full-time job.
Other rules in Coto’s proposed legislation require more transparency in district finances, openness in staff communications to the board, disclosure of relationships between board members and lobbyists, and restrictions on board members’ interference in the bidding of projects.
Sanchez, Judge and Wilson voted against the submittal of AB466 in March.
Kamei, who has served on the board since 1993 and is considering running for Gage’s supervisor seat in 2010, described the terms of AB466 as supportive of “good government.”
