California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
As part of Assembly Bill 1794 – authored by Assembly Member Cristina Garcia (D-Downey-58th Assembly District) – the Central Basin Municipal Water District (CBMWD) has initiated the process of expanding its Board of Directors from a five to an eight-member board. The new eight-member board will be comprised of five publicly elected directors and three appointed directors selected by water purveyors from the District’s service area.
AB 1794 sought to create a new governance structure to ensure CBMWD more effectively fulfill its responsibilities and is more accountable to the more than 1.6 million people it serves. Governor Jerry Brown signed the legislation and a companion bill, Senate Bill 953 by Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Long Beach-33rd Senate District), into law last fall. SB 953 codifies contract management policies the District currently has in place. The bills were a result of a state audit.
CBMWD ran afoul in December 2015 when a state audit revealed CBMWD was laden with inadequacies and questionable practices including: inappropriately using amendments to extend and expand contracts; hiring unqualified staff; violating state law by improperly approving the establishment of a legal trust fund without adequate public disclosure; engaging in questionable contract practices by avoiding competitive bidding; and, the loss of its liability insurance coverage. The audit also expressed a concern that the district has had six general managers since 2010 and the time of the audit. The audit states that the district’s board had failed to provide the district with stability in its general manager position.
The appointed directors will be selected from three categories: large water users, city users and an at large member. Large water users are the top five purveyors determined by the total acre-feet of potable and recycled water purchased. City users are those within the District’s service area who operate a public water system. The at-large member category will be open to all purveyors within the District’s 227 square-mile service area. Votes for the at-large category will be weighed by number of service connections.
Both elected and appointed candidates are required to meet certain qualifications, such as holding five years of technical experience on a public water system, and may not hold an elected office nor own more than 0.5% of a private company. Appointed directors will also be limited to serving no more than one consecutive term.
The appointment and election of board members is as follows: nomination ballots are due back to the District by January 24th and will be opened during a Purveyor Workshop the following day; following the opening of nomination ballots, the District will mail voting ballots on January 30th with a due date of February 21st; and, results are scheduled to be opened on February 22nd during a Special Purveyor Workshop.
“Throughout the process, Central Basin has been working cooperatively with the purveyor community and the Office of Assembly Member Garcia,” said Central Basin Board President Robert Apodaca. “The District is committed to conducting the appointment process in a transparent manner.”
