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San Diego County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
Smart Voter Political Philosophy for Tim Stanton

Candidate for
Board Member; Otay Water District; Division 5

[photo]
This information is provided by the candidate

OBJECTIVES IF ELECTED I will:
1. stress that rate payers are the owners of OWD. I will be sure to look at every expenditure and require reporting of GM approved expenditures to the Board for concurrence or rejection.

2. challenge OWD decision to provide health care to employees after retirement. Few agencies provide this benefit and some have taken it away. I would the support the San Diego Taxpayers Association pension reform.

detailed at http://www.sdcta.org/PensionReform.

3. oppose spending millions of dollars in Mexico for a desalination plant. Rather, the district should support the project being funded by the CWA which will create jobs in San Diego.

4. move to open all committee meetings to the public, and create a system that allows ratepayers to know how each director has voted on an issue, not bury it in the minutes.

5. seek to assure rates are not used to reallocate wealth - tier 3 rate is 100% more than tier 1. City of San Diego tier 3 is only 21.7% higher than tier 1. The OWD rate for tier 3 is $4.92 per unit and the City of San Diego is $4.398 per unit.

6. support County Policy on urban limit line - no sewer in Jamul.

7. oppose OWD providing water service to the Casino.

PHILOSOPHY

My fundamental philosophy has always been that the RATE PAYERS ARE THE OWNERS of the water agency and all decisions should reflect how the decisions impact the owners. A DIRECTOR SHOULD NOT CONSIDER BEING ON THE WATER DISTRICT BOARD HIS OCCUPATION. This is a volunteer activity to provide service to the rate payers not an occupation.

  • Directors should CONSIDER MONEY TO BE LIMITED and not approve projects because they like them and have YOUR money to spend.
  • Directors should CHALLENGE ALL EXPENDITURES as if it was their personal money and it was hard to come by, as it is for most of us.
  • Directors should QUESTION EVEN THE SMALLEST EXPENDITURE just as we all have to do when we are making purchasing choices. We do not always purchase what we want we purchase what we must have and can afford.
  • Directors should TRULY CREATE TRANSPARENCY by making all committee meetings open even when not required by the law.
  • Directors should CREATE A PERFORMACE SYSTEM FOR THEMSELVES that allows the YOU to see how they vote on every issue. This would be a simple table so YOU do not have to search through the minute to know how YOUR director voted.
  • Directors should NOT USE RATE STRUCTURE FOR REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH by charging YOU more for water and another group less for water. We should all pay based on the cost of the water delivered to us.

I have worked for several elected water boards and have personally observed how many board members and staff do not consider the rate payers as the owners of the water districts. Many board members have the philosophy that they are elected to do what they want, to do what satisfies their agenda and their pet projects. Pet projects such as:
  • Desalination plant in Mexico versus one in San Diego
  • Recycled water in the Rancho San Diego area of OWD
  • Conservation Garden
  • Hiring public relations firms to sell YOU on the Board

I have also found that many do not read the agenda memos and staff reports before the meeting and so do not understand the details and how to question staff for you. A BOARD MEMBER SHOULD NOT BE SAYING THAT HE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ANY OF THE CONTRACTS UNTIL THE WATCHDOG CALLED" When the General Manager has authority to spend $50,000 on anything he wants the Board Member should know what that $50,000 was spent on.

REASONS FOR BECOMING A CANDIDATE

I am running for the Otay Water District Board, Division 5, because I believe the Otay Water District Board does not have your best interests as ratepayers in mind. They spend district funds on their pet projects such as delivering recycled water in Rancho San Diego, a conservation garden, and a desalination plant in Mexico, to name a few.

In financially tough times they award health care to employees as a retirement benefit while other agencies are tightening their belts. They won the Grand Golden Fleece award from the San Diego County Taxpayers Association for 2012. SDCTA stated that "...ratepayers have seen their water rates soar more than 40% ...in recent years and the District's unfunded liability will increase by more than 90%...."

They hire public relation firms to make them look good to you at your expense.

There are numerous contracts issued at or under $50,000 each that the Current Director for Division 5 is quoted at San Diego Education Report: Otay Water District saying that he didn't know about any of the contracts until The Watchdog called.

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 23, 2012 11:41
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