Candidate for
Director; Golden Hills Community Services District

I've lived in Golden Hills for 16 years, and I've watched boards come and go. It's time for this board to go.

I have the courage to make the tough calls.

I have the three kinds of sense to make the right calls:

Technical sense, to understand the complexities of water delivery. Business sense, because the CSD is a business and needs to be run like one to deliver the best product for the lowest possible cost to the user. Common sense, to tie it all together.

I'm Assistant Research Director at NASA-Edwards, and that job involves several million dollars and a couple of hundred engineers and scientists. I manage one of our largest contracts, and oversee our internal R&D program. I also have a BS degree and an MBA. I can read both engineering reports and financial statements and understand what I'm reading.

I have experience with governance and public service.

I served on the Tehachapi Board of Education for 5 years, 2 as president and 1 as vice-president. I helped to rewrite the board policies and am very familiar with the California government code. I dealt with large budgets and hundreds of staff, not to mention experience with controversial issues.

I co-founded and am currently vice-president of Eastern European Adoption Coalition, a non-profit corporation dedicated to education and support of adoptive parents of orphans from Russia and the former Soviet Union. In the last five years, we've helped thousands of parents and orphans find a new life together. It's a lot of work, but I haven't made a cent doing it.

Our current board members collect $100 per meeting in "director's fees". Some members collect $300 or $400 per month. That's pretty good pay for public service. I will vote to eliminate these fees.

I have a very simple agenda.

First, our water is too expensive. You can argue how our rates compare to other areas, but that's mostly irrelevant: we don't live in those other places. We live in Golden Hills, and we pay too much. I have studied our budgets and local issues in detail. I am convinced that we can eliminate waste, reduce spending, and accelerate debt reduction, WITHOUT losing services.

Recently there was an attempt to enact automatic rate increases. It's time for a change in thinking: we don't need automatic increases. We can do more than hold the line on rates: we can reduce them. I will NEVER vote to increase rates, or impose any other kind of tax on users.

Second, we need to lower our District's level of debt and maintain a reasonable surplus for emergencies. It's YOUR money we are collecting, and I will manage it wisely.

Third, we need to work on "quality of life" issues, such as code enforcement, and safety, including posting of speed limits, stop signs, and increasing traffic enforcement.

It's time for a change, but I can't do it alone. We need to elect a board that will take action, and manage wisely: Ed Kennedy, Bob Yocum, and me.