2020 SLV Water Board Election
By Wendy Sigmund
Water is life. There is no other way to say it. Here in the Santa Cruz Mountains we are incredibly fortunate to have our very own watershed. It’s importance can not be under stated.
With that in mind we must consider carefully the upcoming election. The San Lorenzo Valley Water District has a board of five members. They serve a four year term. Two seats, of the five member board, need to be filled in this November election. It is our responsibility as members of our beloved community to vote to fill these seats.
A board for any organization can be good if they are all working in the same direction and it can be great if they all bring different skills and talents with them. In recent discussions with some of the candidates I saw a broad range of skill sets. They would all be good board members but we must elect a great board to address the many new challenges facing the district.
There is a crumbling infrastructure which many board members have promised to address for many years, yet not much has been done in that direction. There is the new problem of the environmental impact the fire has left in its wake. Fires are part of nature and healthy for an ecosystem but what this fire left us with is piles of ash still containing the contaminants of their former selves. Paints, solvents, glues, and other nasty stuff waiting to enter our watershed and then our drinking water. Then there is the problem of how we are going to pay for these repairs, and among other issues is should the rate payer assistance program (RAP) continue, which is set up in conjunction with the PG&E Care program to provide water to low income families,
In recent discussions with some of the candidates I was able get to know them a bit and get a sense of what they would bring to the board. Here is how it went.
I talked with Lew Ferns. He is from Southern California, graduating from the University of California Irvine. He worked in the biotech industry for over 30 years. As a biochemist he became an auditor for medical devices and he worked with the coroner’s office through the sheriff’s department.
He was appointed to the board, replacing Marget Bruce, where he served for 18 months as director. He began with SLVWD by sitting on the citizens action committee. After he remained engaged with the district and sat on the engineering committee.
In the 18 month as director he had discussions with Dr. Larry Ford to work on a way to update the outdated fire prevention plan in place by the SLVWD. The new plan called for a hardening of the infrastructure. Widening the fire roads to double so they could act as a fire break as well as a fire road, replacing outbuildings with cinder block walls rather than the old wooden ones, and creating defensible space around facilities. These plans did not come in time as we know, however one plan did. The district contracted with a company called Panorama which provided satellite time in tracking the fire as it was at full speed. It gave CalFire and local agencies satellite images which showed the direction, heat intensity and fuel in the path of the fire to allow resources to be allocated.
In discussing how Mr. Fern saw the rebuilding of the lost infrastructure; he advocated a mixture of high density polymer and Ductile Iron which is a steel coated inside and out to prevent rust. In areas with steep terrain and any opportunity to bury the pipes he advocated the polymer pipes and burying them at least 3 feet to prevent them from burning in another fire.
When asked about the pilot program of RAP, ratepayer assistance program, he had this to say, “We are a special district so all money collected from ratepayers has to be used in service of the ratepayers ability to get water. As such we can not use the money to supplement other users. However there are other sources such as county issued money from property taxes. When the project was launched it was projected to help one to two thousand people, but only 200 applied.” He continued by saying, “if we help people who have trouble paying their bill then it actually saves money in the form of workers not having to shut off the water and then turn it back on when the ratepayer did pay their bill.”
When asked about the environmental impact of the water district in general and the fire’s impact he responded in this way, “I am not an environmentalist, I am a chemist. I am interested in the beauty of the mountains. That is why my wife and I moved here. It is like being on permanent vacation in a log cabin in the woods. I want to preserve the beauty for future generations.” he continued, “The district has a good record and we are adding to the effort even if it takes more money and time.”
“My highest priority,” Fern stated, “Is the infrastructure. It has been talked about for years but little has been done. We lose 10 – 20 % of potable water through leaks. We have many workers whose full time jobs are addressing leaks.”
I also had a conversation with Tina Marie To. Tina would be the youngest board member She is a mother of a middle schooler. She no longer works and says she has plenty of time to serve on the board and serve this community, as she says, representing the working families of our community.
When asked about her election process she had this to say;, “I am not a politician, I never planned to run an expensive campaign. That is why I did not run a campaign statement, it was very expensive”. Tina went on to explain that she doesn’t have a campaign manager or run ads.
When asked about the RAP she says she is in favor of it. “Even with the district’s financial difficulties I would still support the program. People still need water.”
Continuing on the topic of finances she says she is not in favor of loans or bonds. The financial risk is too great. We must prepare for the next disaster instead of being strapped with the financial burden of paying off more debt. “I would much prefer grants unless there is just no other way.”
Tina is an environmental scientist. Her skill set that she offered to the board is in the form of addressing the problems the fire has created. “The fire will impact our watershed for years to come. The ash created from the VOC (melted pipes) will trickle into groundwater. That is why we must keep testing. The water treatment plant was mostly destroyed. The tanks and pumps need to be replaced but the treatment plant operated by utilizing good bacteria in the lines. The plant has been offline for awhile and the bacteria will be destroyed without water running through the lines. This will cause a whole other problem which must be addressed soon.”
Tina closes with this statement: “I am not a politician, I just want to help our community.”
In a phone interview with Dr. Gail Mahood, she discussed some of the problems facing the district. Mahood is a retired Stanford professor in Geology. As a scientist she has a different skill set for the board. She is currently on the SLV Water Districts Engineering Committee. While at Stanford, Dr. Mahood served as Associate Vice Provost of Graduate Education, Chair of the Faculty Senate, and Chair of the board that evaluates all faculty appointments and promotions. She was also a member of the University budget and strategic planning group and the Board of Trustees Land and Building Committee.
When asked why she believed she would be a great board member she had this comment, “I have scientific expertise with direct relevance to the District, including how geology and climate change affect the hydrology and biology of our watershed; groundwater issues; water quality (including post-fire contamination), and geologic hazards that could impact SLVWD facilities (landslides, earthquakes, floods, debris flows). My administrative experience included serving on the University’s budget and strategic planning group and the Land and Building Committee, which honed my skills in capital planning and multi-year budgeting. In numerous leadership roles, including Chair of the Faculty Senate, I ran effective meetings and brought people together on important, challenging decisions.”
At the time of printing the Santa Cruz Mountain Bulletin was not able to reach Beth Thomas for comment. She did provide a campaign statement which is as follows: “I first moved to the San Lorenzo Valley in 1979 and took up residence at the Quaker Center in beautiful Ben Lomond. Since then, I have raised four children in the valley and worked in education as a librarian for 27 years at the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District. Through volunteering for union duties, I found my political voice and completed my career as a Director of Education and Training at Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 where I also served in Senior Staff Management, Human Resources, and as a Chief Contract Negotiator. I am currently retired from union work and have a bookbinding studio in Ben Lomond, where I reside.
My interest in serving on the SLVWD Board began during the 2018 election and subsequently led me to participate actively in the district through meetings of the SLVWD Board and committees and as Chair of the district’s Facilities Committee. I am committed to supporting the progress of the last two years. Central to this aim is an emphasis on environmental stewardship and responsibility. Also important to the mission is to achieve fiscal accountability and improved communication and transparency with the SLVWD community ratepayers. Real progress has been made since 2018 and I will support that progress by moving it forward.
For more information on these candidates visit the website Friends of San Lorenzo Valley Water at www.friendsofsanlorenzovalleywater.org. There are many issues and candidates that we the people must decide upon. So please do your part in choosing: VOTE!