According to three candidates running together for three seats on the San Lorenzo Valley Water District (SLVWD) Board of Directors to be contested in the November election, the best way to guarantee change in the way the district conducts business is to elect all three as a slate, who will, if successful, have a majority on the five member board.
All three candidates, Lois Henry, Steve Swan, and Bob Fultz are very familiar with the workings of the SLVWD and have a unified message for their campaign, with the top priority of restoring trust and transparency between the ratepayers, or “customers” as Swan prefers, and the SLVWD Board of Directors.
“If you really want change, this is only way it’s going to happen… If you like our approach to changing the direction of the board and how it functions, then just vote for all three of us,” Fultz said about the slate, explaining the hopeful board majority is something of a guarantee that the changes they promise will be implemented.
The Press Banner interviewed the three candidates together, accompanied by the slate’s single campaign manager, Barbara Nahrwold, who together explained the basic priorities and platform of their campaign- with little differences between the candidates on the issues they believe need to be addressed.
The three candidates are all veterans of organizing ratepayer protests to increases in water bills approved by past and present SLVWD board of directors, one in 2013 and another in 2017. Both ratepayer protests were unsuccessful in overturning board approved rate hikes, falling short of the required 50 percent plus one of ratepayers sending back the “protest postcard” by the deadline. But in the process of protesting the rate hikes, the three candidates found they had much in common.
Lois Henry, 79, following a 30-year career as chief executive officer of the Watsonville Hospital Federal Credit Union, served for eight years on the board of directors of the Lompico Water District from 2008-2016, right through the merger with the SLVWD in 2016. For her leadership through a difficult time for the district, Henry was honored as the “2013 Board President of the Year” by the California Special District Association, a professional support organization for local special districts.
“I have a lot of experience, I’m able to mend fences with people, I will listen, and hopefully never lose my temper…and I believe in serving the community,” Henry said. As CEO of a credit union, Henry emphasized her experience with financial analysis and reporting.
Stephen Swan, 65, currently a software program manager for Cisco, has had a long career in Silicon Valley start-ups, with experience in coordinating and licensing global manufacturing of new, high-tech products, as well as managing teams of engineers, manufacturing and marketing experts for a variety of tech companies.
Swan, a resident of Ben Lomond for 40 years, ran for the SLVWD board in 2012, and lost by fewer than 200 votes. Swan said his interest in the running for the board has been motivated by rate hikes totaling more than 67 percent between 2013-2017, without a corresponding number of capital improvement projects getting completed, and with misplaced priorities of paying for public relations and legal fees by the district that have not improved service to customers, according to him.
“A different set of eyes looking at the (district’s) finances is really going to help bring the sort of transparency that the Grand Jury is talking about, that we badly need,” Swan said. “And unless changes are made, we can only expect more of the same.”
Bob Fultz, 60, is currently an independent consultant for high-tech companies as well as serving as chief financial officer and head of product development for a new start-up company in Silicon Valley. Having been “intimately involved” in the financial processes of different companies, including raising money, preparing investor reports and paying taxes, Fultz emphasizes the deep background in finance and financial reporting that he, as well as the other two candidates, can bring to the board of directors
“I think it’s going to be very helpful for the board to have this kind of financial experience and background…and I think there is a different way to present the information to make it easier for the community to understand it,” Fultz said. A 30-year resident of Boulder Creek, Fultz served for four years as a Trustee for the San LorenzoValleyUnifiedSchool District, and ran unsuccessfully for the SLVWD board in 2014.
“At the end of the day, even with a majority on the board, if you don’t have the community behind you for the projects you want to do…it’s going to be very difficult,” Fultz said, and explained the importance of new approaches to disclosure and making district’s financial and project information more accessible to public.
After restoring trust, transparency and civility with the ratepayers, the next priority for the slate of candidates is to compile a complete and detailed inventory of the infrastructure, facilities and equipment owned by the district- including age, lifespan and replacement cost of facilities system wide.
All the candidates agreed such a complete inventory of facilities and capital improvements was promised four years ago, but remains essentially undone. Swan noted that 73 percent of the projects in the current capital improvement plan have been on the list since 1997, and ratepayers have no idea what the priorities should be or what current cost of replacement would be.
“We need a much more detailed idea of what’s leaking, what’s aging, and what’s likely to blow up in the next earthquake,” Fultz explained. Swan said such an inventory will lead to a much more detailed, “fact-based” process to develop a facilities and capital improvement plan that will provide investment options for the community.
“We want to do nothing less than shift the culture of the board. We want to settle the lawsuits, engage the community, hear from everybody, and come to the best decisions based on listening to everyone,” Fultz said.
