The decision to spend $1.5 million to place a term-limit measure
on the Nov. 2 ballot will likely be decided at Tuesday’s Santa
Clara Valley Water District board of directors meeting.
The decision to spend $1.5 million to place a term-limit measure on the Nov. 2 ballot will likely be decided at Tuesday’s Santa Clara Valley Water District board of directors meeting.
The board will discuss and recommend either two, three or four, four-year term limits on directors and decide to place it on the general election ballot.
It first considered term limits – of which the board has never had – in May 2008 when it requested information on the process. The deadline to send a resolution with a selected term to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters is Aug. 6.
Susan Siravo, district spokeswoman, said special districts in California have not traditionally been bound by term limits.
“The reason is they involve in-depth knowledge of special issues, where a lot of the projects we do are complicated and it takes a while for people to get to know them and understand the issues,” Siravo said. “Board members who stay a while have that knowledge, and it’s helpful.”
The district made an effort to solicit public comments on term limits since 2008, holding three meetings that were sparsely attended, one of which was in Morgan Hill. Of 14 total comments siphoned to the board, 10 were in favor of term limits and four were not.
Director Joe Judge of District 2 has held a seat on the board the longest since 30-year veteran Sig Sanchez retired late last year. Judge has been on board since 1986 and District 1 Director Rosemary Kamei is in her 17th year on the board.
The board also reviewed the term limits of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, which works with a three successive four-year term model, and the San Jose City Council, whose members are held to two, four-year terms. A now disbanded Board Legislative Ad Hoc Committee formed to discuss term limits recommended three successive, four-year terms.
The Morgan Hill and Gilroy city councils do not have term limits.
Along with heeding the terms of its directors, the water district will also have to pay to redo two placards on its headquarters’ dais. Instead of five district seats and two appointed at-large positions on the board, all seven jobs will be elected. In November, four directors are up for re-election or replacement – District 4’s Larry Wilson, District 1’s Kamei, North County’s at-large director Tony Estremera and South County’s at-large director Cy Mann. Board members have said their preference is 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.
The change materialized from Assemblyman Joe Coto’s bill AB 466 that was approved last year after direction from the governor in 2006.
Voters will also decide the directors’ rights to return to the board; either that they cannot return, they may return after any period of absence, they may return after one-full term or after two years.
The district provides drinking water and flood protection for about 1.8 million Santa Clara County residents. Its annual budget for fiscal year 2010-2011 is $315 million.
