The public takeover of the water system serving the Monterey Peninsula appears far more certain following Tuesday’s election, which also delivered a possible blow to the proposal for a new desalination plant.
In two races for seats on the board of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, voters delivered resounding victories to two candidates who ran in part on their skepticism about the continued ownership of the local system by California American Water.
Early reporting shows Karen Paull secured 5,096 votes, or 59.1 percent, to defeat Rudy Fischer in Division 4, which encompasses Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove, Del Monte Forest, and parts of Monterey and Carmel.
Amy Anderson defeated Gary Hoffmann, an appointed incumbent, with 6,055 votes, representing 67.9 percent of the total in Division 5, an area that includes Carmel Valley and most of Carmel.
Paull and Anderson ran with the support of Public Water Now, an advocacy group that arose to challenge Cal Am’s operation and ownership of the local water system. In 2018, Public Water Now rallied voters to pass Measure J, requiring the water district to pursue a public buyout from Cal Am. (A chief architect of Measure J, George Riley, also won a seat on the MPWMD board in 2018, and resigned from Public Water Now after he began his new elected role.)
The process of claiming public ownership is lengthy, complicated and far from assured even with a clear mandate from voters. The water district board has already completed several steps in the process including a finding of financial feasibility and, on Oct. 29, certifying an environmental impact report. (Hoffman was the lone vote against that most recent step.)
Sometime next year, the board is expected to make Cal Am an offer for its system, which the water utility has said it would reject. In the case of a rejection, the board will have to decide whether to go to court and proceed under the rules of eminent domain. To do so, a supermajority of at least five out of seven board members would be required.
With the addition of Paull and Anderson, the board is significantly more sympathetic to a public buyout than before. Boardmembers Riley and Alvin Edwards are virtual shoe-ins for a public buyout. County Supervisor Mary Adams tends to vote with them, and Carmel Mayor Dave Potter also joined the pro-buyout bloc on a recent vote. The two board members who were seen as most skeptical of the buyout option, Hoffman in Division 5, and Jeanne Byrne in Division 4, are gone. Boardmember Molly Evans who ran unopposed for reelection in Division 3, will be stepping down to move to New York for a career opportunity. Her open seat will be filled by appointment or in a special election.
Parallel to the struggle over ownership is the fight over a new water supply for the Monterey Peninsula, with Cal Am pushing for a desalination plant and opponents backing the alternative option of expanding the region’s water recycling plant.
The expansion project has better chances of moving forward thanks to the results of the election to city council in Del Rey Oaks, where Mayor Alison Kerr was reelected with 75 percent of the vote, and two candidates for city council, Kim Shirley and Gary Kreeger, who ran on a progressive, pro-public water slate with Kerr were leading in their four-way race. Shirley leads with 401 votes, followed by Kreeger with 363 votes; Planning Commissioner Scott Donaldson is just seven votes behind, with 356 votes as of 10pm, and incumbent Kristin Clark is trailing with 248 votes.
A shift in the council majority means Del Rey Oaks could now break the tie that is keeping the water recycling expansion project in limbo at the board of Monterey One Water, on which the city of DRO has a seat currently occupied by John Gaglioti, who has consistently voted in support of Cal Am.