Members of the Santa Clara Valley Water board are using the
words
”
transparency
”
and
”
accountability
”
quite often on the dais as of late – though since the mess they
made in April of the redistricting process, those words are not
often used by the public to describe board decisions.
On Tuesday – up against pressure for more responsibility – the
board approved a plan 5-2 to place term limits of three four-year
terms on the Nov. 2 ballot and in an effort to clean up their
image.
Members of the Santa Clara Valley Water board are using the words “transparency” and “accountability” quite often on the dais as of late – though since the mess they made in April of the redistricting process, those words are not often used by the public to describe board decisions.
On Tuesday – up against pressure for more responsibility – the board approved a plan 5-2 to place term limits of three four-year terms on the Nov. 2 ballot and in an effort to clean up their image.
The decision was based on the Santa Clara County Supervisor term limits, who have the same limitations. If approved by a majority vote, it will be the first time the board has had term limits.
Term limits will ensure board members can’t spend a lifetime on the board and it will also support new ideas and fresh perspective on water issues.
The water district sells water wholesale to retailers around the county serving about 1.7 million customers and it employs about 800 people.
The board will submit its resolution to the Registrar of Voters, which has estimated placing the measure on the ballot will cost $1.5 million. If passed, term limits will begin Dec. 3.
The board also recommended that a member can return to the board after a one-term absence.
Director Patrick Kwok of the Palo Alto area district made the motion to skip one full term, “to keep it consistent with the county,” he said, instead of a previous recommendation to allow a members to run again with no grace period.
Board president Richard Santos, Tony Estremera, Kwok and South County’s directors Rosemary Kamei and Cy Mann voted in favor of term limits. Larry Wilson and Joe Judge voted against it.
Incumbent Mann, who was appointed to the at-large seat in January following Sig Sanchez’s retirement, will face off against Supervisor Don Gage for the District 7 job.
Wilson has served the board since 1986 and will not seek re-election. Kamei is in her 17th year at the district and will not run for the District 1 spot again, but may consider a bid for Morgan Hill city council, according to a district source.
The other two seats that will be decided Nov. 2 are the newly formed District 7, which goes from Palo Alto to Los Gatos and District 4, which covers Campbell and the Blossom Hill area of San Jose. So far, the only person who has pulled papers for District 4 is incumbent Tony Estremera who is currently North County’s at-large director.
The board was required by law to re-align the county’s districts into seven regions each with an elected director; previously, five directors were elected and two were appointed from within the board’s purview.
The board has faced several claims that has damaged its integrity, including grand jury reports that have suggested board president Santos has supported projects that were a conflict of interest and that spending by the district has been elusive.
The ethics of the board was questioned again during what became a political tool: the process of redrawing of the county’s districts in April.
A specially formed redistricting committee met over a period of 15 weeks since January to rifle through 20 maps that were done with input from the community and other invested parties. Led by former District 1 county supervisor Susanne Wilson, the committee presented its top three maps April 27, though the board would end up drawing its own map in the 11th-hour and adopting it April 29.
Based on support for two districts in South County from Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro and Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate, the region was split with Gilroy linking to Palo Alto in a banana shape and Morgan Hill lopped in with much of San Jose.
The line-moving was done to secure a seat for Mann, according to the mayors who immediately retracted their letters of support and publicly apologized for the misguided effort. The city of Gilroy even approved filing a lawsuit against the board, though nothing came further from that decision.
Pinheiro and Tate then asked that the board support the map, known as Map S, that the committee recommended. But, in another shot to the South County’s confidence in the board, its members voted 5-2 May 14 in favor of Map Q that keeps Gilroy and Morgan Hill together but lumped it with a large portion of South San Jose. The leaders preferred that South County was linked to Los Gatos not the Evergreen area.
The board’s final decision was based in part on a survey posted on the water district’s website for two days before Map Q was voted through. The unscientific survey that few people participated in found that Map Q was superior.
The deadline to file papers to run for a seat on the water district board is Aug. 6. Contact the Registrar of Voters at 408-299-8683 or e-mail re*******@********ov.org.
