Defying the recommendation made by a subcommittee formed to
study the possibility of changing its structure, the Santa Clara
Valley Water District board voted last week to ask Assemblyman Joe
Coto to submit legislation to codify strict and specific state
rules on how the board governs itself.
Morgan Hill
Defying the recommendation made by a subcommittee formed to study the possibility of changing its structure, the Santa Clara Valley Water District board voted last week to ask Assemblyman Joe Coto to submit legislation to codify strict and specific state rules on how the board governs itself.
Voting 4-3 at its Feb. 24 meeting, the board reluctantly agreed to the 11 rules as a condition for Coto’s sponsorship of a bill whose major thrust would be to provide for elections of all seven members starting next year. Currently, five members are elected by the public, and two are appointed by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
The new legislation, if it is approved by the assembly, would redraw the districts served by each member, and require all of them to be elected to the seat by the voters of their respective district.
Director Rosemary Kamei said her primary concern with the legislation is ensuring that South County will always have adequate representation on the board which manages the drinking water supplies and flood protection for the county’s 1.8 million residents. She said this goal is worthy enough to agree to the new state mandated rules.
“These are some good government reforms we can implement,” Kamei said. “I think people need to know what their representatives are doing.”
Some of the rules proposed in the legislation 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.
Specifically, 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.
Board Chair Sig Sanchez, who has served on the board for almost 30 years and who voted against the proposed legislation, said while these governance guidelines are not written down, the board already adheres to them. He said he supports elections of all seven members and most of the other provisions of the proposed legislation, but the board should be allowed to write its own policy.
“What’s happened to local control?” Sanchez said. “When the bill was sent to Sacramento it was a straight, clean bill that created seven equal board members. In Sacramento they added all these conditions, many we are already doing.”
Also voting against the legislation were directors Joe Judge, who is the board’s second-longest serving member for 23 years, and Larry Wilson, who has served for 10 years.
The board established a subcommittee to study the seven-member board legislation earlier this year. That subcommittee, made up of Sanchez, Judge, and Director Tony Estremera, recommended that the board request that Coto withdraw the legislation if he refused to remove the 11 policy changes.
In 2006, the governor signed legislation that would change the board to a five-member body and eliminate the two appointed seats starting in 2010. Since then, board members have indicated their preference to continue with seven members to ensure equal representation among the county’s growing population, and to draw districts that are independent of those served by the supervisors.
Supervisor Don Gage, who represents South County on the board of supervisors, said the district’s directors opened a “Pandora’s box” just by asking for what they thought would be a simple change. However, he said the new rules make sense, and should be followed whether or not they become law.
“I don’t have a problem with what Joe (Coto) is doing,” Gage said. “It sounds like good business sense to me.” He added that the water district board should also have term limits, which they currently do not have.
At the same meeting last week, the board decided to wait until March 10 to vote on whether to put the question of term limits on the November 2010 ballot.
The process of drafting, submitting, and debating the proposed bill approved by the board last week will likely last several months before it is approved by the state assembly.
Longtime district critic and San Martin resident Bob Cerruti said the proposed reforms are long overdue.
“I felt that it makes things a little bit more transparent to the rate payer,” Cerruti said. “They’ve got to be more out in the open.”
