Dennis Mills for CCWD Director District 4

Dennis Mills for CCWD Director District 4

Dennis Mills for CCWD Director District 4

Completion of CCWD Candidate interviews

The Copper Gazette hopes the interviews with the CCWD candidates was enlightening and will help you, the voter, make an educated decision come election day on who you would like for representation within CCWD.

Thank you Dennis Mills - District 4, Paul Stein - District 2, Terry Strange - District 2, Russ Thomas - District 4, and Bertha Underhill District 3 for participating.

Interview with Bertha Underhill - CCWD Candidate District 3

Why are you running for the CCWD Board?

 For the last 5 years, CCWD, under the direction of the General Managers and Board, has been in a downward spiral with its financial and policy decisions - $3 million Headquarters Building, UNCONSCIONABLE 2013 Rate Increase, for starters.

What are your qualifications?

 I have served 2 – 4 year terms in 2001 to 2009.  Left, of my own volition, and watched CCWD self-destruct.

What, if anything, will you do to protect our water rights?
 The 1^st logical act, for protection of water rights, would be to rehire the Water Resources Specialist, whose job was eliminated by a past General Manager at a very critical time in CCWD’s operation. 

Interview with Scott Ratterman - CCWD Candidate District 1 - declined interview

I want to thank you very much for providing me with this opportunity. However, I am sure your readers are more interested in hearing from the candidates that serve your area of the county. I appreciate you including me but I will not be able to provide responses as I am concentrating my efforts in the San Andreas, Moke Hill and Valley Springs areas.

 

Thank You,

 

Scott Ratterman

CCWD Director

District One

Interview with Paul Stein - CCWD Candidate District 2

Answers Provided by Paul Stein, Candidate for CCWD District 2

Why are you running for the CCWD Board?   

As a member of the CCWD Board, it will be my goal to protect Calaveras’ valuable water rights, our environment, and bring strong fiscal certainty and accountability to the Board. I will work to ensure that a realistic and responsible infrastructure maintenance plan is created, so residents will never again face unexpected and skyrocketing water prices. I believe my vast experience in public policy and my career in aquaculture spanning over three decades makes me the most qualified candidate for this endeavor.

What are your qualifications? 

After receiving a bachelors degree in Aquatic Biology from the University of San Francisco, I spent two decades developing and operating Kemoo Trout Farm on the Middle Fork of the Mokelumne River. I’ve lived on the river, raised a family, and been part of the West Point community for nearly forty years. A two-term Calaveras Supervisor of District 2, I represented the Board on each water related joint power authority. I was elected president of the Mountain County Water Resources Association (MCWRA); president of the Calaveras/Amador Mokelumne River Association (CAMRA); president of the Mokelumne River Association (MRA); and was a founding member of the Upper Mokelumne River Association (UMRA). Appointed Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, I served as a voting member of the Cal-Fed Bay Delta Authority.

I’ve attended virtually every CCWD board meeting over the past two years and am fully informed of the complex and vital water issues that must be addressed with experienced wisdom and foresight. I believe no other candidate has the breadth of experience, political contacts, or land use entitlement expertise relative to water that is essential for this position. 

What, if anything, will you do to protect our water rights?

  We must protect our vital water rights without compromise.  In this critical moment, we have the perfect opportunity to solidify and perfect our water rights by developing infrastructure for the agricultural potential of Calaveras County.  I know the intricacies of Calaveras’ bountiful water rights better than any other candidate. Calaveras is one of the 27 original counties formed when California became a state in 1850 and as such has been endowed with several hundred thousand acre feet of water on three main tributaries: Mokelumne, Calaveras, and Stanislaus. These water rights are reserved for use in the County by the State Water Resources Control Board. To utilize these rights the county must demonstrate a need for beneficial use; some of the ways to perfect water rights is through projected residential development in the General Plan, or through demonstrated agricultural product demands.

Interview with Dennis Mills - CCWD Candidate District 4

Why are you running for the CCWD Board?

I have been a rate payer of CCWD since 1987. Over the past twenty
years, how many missteps has CCWD taken costing the rate payers
millions? This includes building a new office, defaulting on bonds,
losing lawsuits, risky investments, revolving door managers, etc. I
continued to live here but had to leave the county, as so many others
have done, to secure a career. I am now retired and think we can do
better.

What are your qualifications?

I recently retired from a very successful national corporate career.
I am trained in problem solving techniques such as ISO9000 and
CQI/TQM and Six Sigma. I was the developer of training courses for
customer relations skills and technical disciplines. As the western
states training coordinator, I not only trained those syllabuses but
taught others how to do the same.
I am a certified mentor and facilitator, which has been valuable in
teaching others how to duplicate success. I was responsible for
profits with a nearly $40 million yearly budget and line item
accountability. I am not a politician; I come from the private sector.

What, if anything, will you do to protect our water rights?

I will work to set in motion the means to show everyone we will be
able to fully utilize our water rights based upon our current and
future needs. With the drought, we could easily be out muscled and
lose further rights to larger agencies or the state where they can
show greater need. To protect what we have requires the directors to
work with staff to clearly identify current and future uses and show
we can support those uses with the distribution systems we have in
place now or are planning to improve. I will work to develop a
positive rapport with other entities that serve the public.
Currently, CCWD has a reputation of being “inept” and “a bully” when
talking with other agencies about their negotiating skills. An
attitude change is in order. We have to be better negotiators.

CCWD Candidate forums for District 3 and 4

A big thank you goes to the candidates, Dana Nichols for moderating and the great staff at the the PATV studio.

Albert J. Segalla, President

Calaveras County Taxpayers Association