Former MH mayor appointed to water district board

The six directors of the Santa Clara Valley Water District had to re-interview two of the candidates who signed up to fill an empty seat on the board, but Thursday morning they unanimously chose former Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy to fill the unexpired term. 

The seat was left vacant when former Director Don Gage was elected mayor of Gilroy halfway through the four-year term to which he was elected in 2010. Gage won Gilroy’s mayoral race in the Nov. 6, 2012 election, and subsequently resigned his seat on the SCVWD board. 

Kennedy, who served as mayor of Morgan Hill from 1991 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2006, will sit on the SCVWD board for the remainder of the term that ends Dec. 5, 2014, according to District staff. During interviews for the seat, which took place in open board meetings Monday and Thursday, Kennedy indicated he would not seek election to the seat at the end of the current term. 

Six candidates applied for the open director’s seat, and all six were interviewed at Monday’s meeting. In addition to Kennedy, the applicants were Gilroy farmer Ralph Santos, former Morgan Hill Council member Beth Wyman, South Bay Water Recycling intern Nicholas Ajluni, retired financial executive Patrick Waite and Gilroy vintner Tom Kruse. 

Kennedy, a mechanical engineer, is currently a land use and planning consultant. He serves on five nonprofit boards and is a member of the SCVWD Environmental Advisory Committee. He has served on the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation Plan committee. 

Over the years, he has been instrumental in advancing the long-awaited Upper Llagas Creek Flood Protection Project which is still in the planning stages. 

The six sitting directors took a series of votes following Monday’s meeting to arrive at Kennedy’s appointment, and were initially split down the middle between Kennedy and Santos.

In response to a motion to appoint Kennedy Monday, the board voted 3-3 with directors Linda LeZotte, Brian Schmidt and Barbara Keegan voting in favor. They also voted 3-3 to appoint Santos, with directors Tony Estremera, Nai Hsueh and Richard Santos voting in favor. 

The board then re-interviewed both Kennedy and Ralph Santos at another meeting Thursday. The first vote following the interviews was another 3-3 tie, with directors split into the same camps as Monday’s votes. Then, on a second motion, Hsueh voted for Kennedy. 

Finally, Estremera made a motion to appoint Kennedy which was passed unanimously, according to SCVWD spokesman Marty Grimes. 

Kennedy will sit on the District 1 seat, which serves Morgan Hill, Gilroy, San Martin, the Evergreen and Silver Creek neighborhoods of San Jose, parts of south San Jose and areas east of San Jose and Milpitas. 

The SCVWD provides drinking water and flood protection for 1.8 million residents in Santa Clara County. The District has a budget of about $285 million.