And the race is off
– somewhat. The first day to pull candidate papers was Monday
and so far, new names slightly outnumber incumbents who are
considering a run for political office.
And the race is off – somewhat. The first day to pull candidate papers was Monday and so far, new names slightly outnumber incumbents who are considering a run for political office.
The race for seats on the Morgan Hill City Council and the boards of the Morgan Hill Unified School District, Santa Clara County of Supervisors and the Santa Clara Valley Water District will be decided Nov. 2. The deadline to submit the required forms is Aug. 6, but if an incumbent does not file by that date interested candidates get a five-day extension.
The race won’t actually begin until one of the curious would-be candidates file their paperwork. Until then, here’s a look at who is interested now and could be representing Morgan Hill in the future.
Morgan Hill Unified School District
Four seats on the school district’s seven-member board of trustees are up for grabs this year and since Wednesday three new people have expressed interest in a bid for a trustee’s seat.
The incumbents: Bart Fisher, Shelle Thomas, Don Moody and Mike Hickey have been on the board since at least 2006 and have gone through several, painful budget cuts and the transition of a new superintendent in 2009.
Hickey, thus far, is the only trustee who will not seek re-election. The father of three has been on the board for eight years.
Fisher, a father of a pre-school age daughter, will run again for the seat he won in 2006. Thomas is still undecided after serving eight years on the board. Moody said he also is undecided about running again. The father of two was appointed in 2004 to replace a resigned trustee and elected in 2006.
An active volunteer and community member, Kirsten Francis Carr who last year was the Gilroy Garlic Festival’s president, is hoping to give a new perspective and creativity in dealing with the school district’s tough financial decisions. Carr is a mother of two children at Charter School of Morgan Hill and has lived in South County since 1996.
Brenda Cayme and Claudia Rossi have pulled papers and are considering running though phone calls to both were not returned by press time. Cayme is married to Robert Aguirre, a leader of Padres Unidos, a local group of Latino parents who advocate for an equal education for all students.
Morgan Hill City Council
If the election were today, who presides over the council meetings at City Hall would be between Mayor Steve Tate and councilwoman Marby Lee. Tate and Lee each hope to gain enough votes to win the title of mayor of Morgan Hill.
Michael Castelan of the former Poppy’s Fish and Poultry and Rick Moreno of Ricatoni’s Delicatessen are planning a bid for the council seats of Lee and Greg Sellers, who is not seeking re-election. Resident Kenneth Wayne Galloway also pulled papers. A phone call to his home was not returned by presstime.
Tate announced in January that he would run again for mayor to continue his work on the city’s new sustainable budget strategy. Lee, who is nearing the end of her first term on the council, made her announcement June 22. She wants to shift gears on how the city faces the struggling economy by spending money more conservatively and on needs she considers more vital, such as small business loans to help struggling owners.
Council candidates will run for four-year terms, and the positions are at-large, meaning the top two vote-winners among the field of candidates will be seated. Mayoral candidates will seek a two-year term.
Santa Clara Valley Water District
The newly constructed District 1 will elect its new Santa Clara Valley Water District board member this fall.
Wishing to remain in his seat on dais is Cy Mann, who was appointed in January to fill retired Sig Sanchez’s place as the at-large South County member. Mann is a licensed Realtor and has served on the Coyote Flood Control and Watershed Committee and several other committees at the district.
Outgoing District 1 Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage is also running for the seat. Gage is leaving the county board due to term limits and has had a long career in politics from his time as mayor and city councilman in Gilroy to serving on dozens of committees affecting county land, transportation, health, flood protection and conservation.
Roberto Sepulveda of Gilroy has also pulled papers to run for the seat, but was unreachable by press time. Incumbent Rosemary Kamei has not decided whether or not she will run.
Currently, there are no term limits, but by July 27 the board must make a decision whether or not to include a term-limit measure on the November ballot.
The water district board will function in the same way in November but following the passage of Assembly bill AB 466, seven elected members for seven districts will vote on water district policies. After voter approval in 1987, the Gavilan Water District annexed with the SCVWD and while historically it had five elected members and two at-large appointed members who represented North County and South County – the board will enact a board of seven elected members.
The redrawing of district lines did not come without controversy though. In March, after throwing out the recommendation of the redistricting committee the board voted to split South County into two districts leading to Gilroy’s city council threatening to file a lawsuit to rectify the move that joined the rural, agricultural-rich region with urban Palo Alto.
The board rectified the situation, according to South County’s mayors, by overturning the 11th-hour decision and voting in a map that groups Gilroy, San Martin, Morgan Hill and about 100,000 people from the Evergreen and South San Jose areas.
The election of a new Santa Clara County supervisor will be a showdown between former San Jose city Councilman Forrest Williams and Los Gatos Councilman Mike Wasserman. Williams and Wasserman were the top two vote-getters in the June 8 special election. The winner will replace Gage.
