Candidates running under the radar

Alicia Robinson

They are the elected offices people don’t usually pay much attention

to -- that is, until funny-tasting water comes out of the faucet, or

the toilet won’t flush.

In November, 15 people will seek directors’ seats on boards that

control how the water tastes and where the waste goes. You might not

know who the board members are, but you probably know their work.

“If we’re doing a good job, we’re off the radar screen,” said John

Withers, who has served on the Irvine Ranch Water District Board for

15 years and is seeking another term in November. “We are still

nonetheless involved in a very important and fundamental area.”

The boards are made up of elected members who control the budgets

and are served by staff members of their respective agencies.

How the water agencies work can be confusing to the casual

observer. If they were placed on an organizational chart, at the top

would be the Orange County Water District, which maintains the

county’s aquifer, and the Municipal Water District of Orange County,

which provides residents with any drinking water that doesn’t come

from the aquifer.

Those agencies provide water to some Newport-Mesa residents as

well as other water agencies, including the Irvine Ranch Water

District and the Mesa Consolidated Water District. The Irvine Ranch

and Mesa Consolidated agencies handle water services to many

Newport-Mesa residents.

There’s little campaigning done for seats on the governing boards

of such agencies unless they’re in some kind of crisis, but people

should care because the boards are often in charge of a whole lot of

money, UC Irvine political science professor Mark Petracca said.

The Irvine Ranch Water District, for example, has an annual budget

of about $74 million.

“These boards in some cases have taxation or taxation-equivalent

powers,” Petracca said. “They also control absolutely consequential

public services. The water just doesn’t come out of your tap on its

own.”

The board seats are attractive to candidates for a number of

reasons. For one thing, Petracca said, board members get a nice

supplemental paycheck from serving on the board, and it gives them

the opportunity to do professional networking.

While it’s easy to assume those less-than-altruistic motives, he

added, “people might actually want to serve.”

For some, being a board member is a matter of civic concern.

“I’ve been studying the water needs for well over a year and just

became more and more interested, because there is no more water,”

said Dan Worthington, a 10-year member of the Costa Mesa Sanitary

District Board, who is running for a spot on the Municipal Water

District of Orange County. “We need to figure out how to [make] do

with what we have.”

There’s apparently more interest in serving on special district

boards than one might expect. Withers said 22 people applied to fill

a vacancy on the Irvine Ranch Water District Board.

Incumbents usually have the best chance at board seats unless

people have complaints about their service, but you never know who

might apply. The Costa Mesa Sanitary District Board is the sole board

of its kind on the ballot, yet one open seat attracted three

candidates.

Among them is Martin E. Millard, whose father, Martin Millard, is

an outspoken critic of various services and officials in Costa Mesa,

who recently said the sanitary district needed more oversight from

the City Council.

The district provides residential trash collection, recycling and

liquid waste services to Costa Mesa and parts of Newport Beach and

the unincorporated county.