Santa Clara Valley Water District trustees appear to be tone deaf.
It’s the only explanation we can come up with for two more boneheaded moves, especially in the context of the controversies that have been swirling around the agency.
After it was revealed that SCVWD CEO Stanley Williams hired board member Gregory Zlotnick for a $184,000, custom-designed position without seeking other candidates and without informing the board, trustees said they were angry.
They were so angry that they stripped the CEO of his power to hire unclassified employees.
Then, at the first opportunity, they said, “Eh, never mind.”
They’re going to let Williams go back to the old procedure – which means Williams has final say – to hire a lobbyist who will earn as much as $150,000 a year.
SCVWD Trustee Sig Sanchez said that he and his fellow board members weren’t clear on what role they would play in hiring unclassified employees after they stripped Williams of his hiring powers.
“There was some misunderstanding on the part of my colleagues as to what we originally intended to do,” Sanchez said. “There was a lot of discussion today about whether we’re trying to micromanage the district.”
It’s hard for residents to have faith the trustees who don’t know their own intentions, don’t understand their own actions.
When that’s compounded by the fact that trustees don’t have faith in Williams – demonstrated by their decision to strip him of his hiring powers – but don’t have the backbone to take any meaningful action as a result, voters have faith in this much: The water district is a real mess.
That episode is plenty of evidence of how tone deaf trustees are, but that’s not all.
Trustees are considering giving themselves a raise. They’ll vote on Oct. 23 on whether to boost their meeting pay by five percent. This would follow the five percent raise they gave themselves last year.
Although District One Trustee Rosemary Kamei says she’ll vote against the raise, as she did last year, at least one water district watchdog is predicting it will pass again this year.
“They’ll pat each other on the back. It’s going to get passed,” San Martin resident Bob Cerruti told reporter Cody McDevitt.
It’s up to us to let water district trustees that know we’re watching and that we’re frustrated by their consistent tone deafness.
Know the issues, attend meetings, talk to your neighbors, contact trustees.
If we don’t ask questions and offer advice, it doesn’t matter how tone deaf trustees are, because there’s nothing for them to listen to.
ACT NOW
The Santa Clara Valley Water District will hold a board meeting today at 9:40 a.m., at district headquarters, 5750 Almaden Expressway, in San Jose.
Contact the board at:
ww*****************@wa*********.org
