Alvarez, Solomon debate West Basin, incumbent Kwan gone
Two of the three candidates seeking a single seat on the West Basin Municipal Water District (WBMWD) board of directors agreed during an Easy Reader-sponsored streaming debate on the future of a proposed desalting plant, and each was critical of current district leaders.
Douglas Solomon and Desi Alvarez squared off in the hour-long Oct. 12 Zoom event. Carol Kwan, who has been on the board since 1996, declined to appear, citing her dislike of one of the other candidates.
Solomon and Alvarez addressed a variety of issues, which are summarized below:
El Segundo desalination plant
Alvarez: “The Environmental Impact report (for the proposed plant) does identify deficiencies in the plan but does not solve them. There would be adverse impacts on marine life; the discharge will create a dead zone in an important area and it can be better done. The cost of desalination has come down, but it has not come down to a level where it is affordable water. There are a lot of better alternatives.” Alvarez called for better conservation and direct use of wastewater reclamation, noting that “the district does a great job of that but it needs to do a lot more.”
Solomon:“The board should not have certified the environmental impact report. It was inadequate and places a large burden on those who live in the area. Its power use will be a major contributor to ozone depletion. It will require debt service…and makes no financial sense. The basic technology (of reverse osmosis) has not changed that much.”
Board Compensation
Solomon: “I think board members deserve some kind of compensation for quorum meetings that run at least an hour. What is not okay is that they have been using their per diem for taking phone calls from staff, for attending community meetings that have nothing to do with water, and for running around the country to attend conferences. It’s not the issue of per diems, it’s where they spend it. It’s the money they take from water rates to spend on charities, chamber of commerce luncheons, Hong Kong alumni association lunches.
“Overall, the compensation for the board (for a budget the size of the district’s) is not that large. But there are those who take advantage of the per diem for travel to conferences, the lavish use of money to fund their outreach efforts at various community groups. They can be cut way back and go a long way toward setting an example. We forget that not everybody in the South Bay is rich.”
Reducing Water Rates
Alvarez: “There are many ways to reduce water rates. It’s important for the WBMWD to reduce their rates because they are a primary driver in the cost of retail water that we pay. Their justification seems to always be , ‘Well, our rates are always going up.’ (Rate reduction) has to be done at the retail level, and part of that is you’ve got to make sure that at the wholesale level, those water rates are controlled. There’s a lot of room at the district to do that.”
Alvarez was critical of multi-million no-bid contracts being approved by the current board: “Operational contracts should be bid. “
Solomon: “District overhead is unconscionably high and should be dramatically reduced. Water rates are right in the middle but we should be able to drive down our costs by at least 30 percent, and that will directly drive the prices down. We need to focus on environmental justice, and some water subsidies to low-income members of the community (are appropriate.)”
Current board members behavior
Solomon: “After I win I think I’m going to make board meetings a little difficult. I think the board (members have) used their position to increase their personal brands. The money spent (on) organizations which West Basin belongs to, the charitable money they give, it’s more to building their brand than anything to do with bringing us clean water, conservation, of doing recycling. I worry about the conflicts of interest built into the system of regional water districts and the MWD.” Sometimes decisions not in the best interests of WBMWD are made because the (parent) Metropolitan Water District (MWD) wanted something different. I worry that this system of conflicts of interest (results in) some different decisions.”
Alvarez: The board could be doing a much better job. They should be focusing on their mission, which is to ensure we have a safe, reliable and affordable water supply. They do not need to be spending money on the self-promotions Mr. Solomon referred to. They are not managing staff and the operation to the level that should be.. A change in the board is needed, and that may require a change in management, also.
Term limits
Solomon: “The fact that there are not term limits is just scandalous. The board members are not putting in the work. They show up and don’t know what they are looking at for the board meeting. I would see a limit of two (four-year) terms. Let’s get people in who want to do the work, who want to contribute, want to make changes. I want to look at every bit of operations; I do not like the no-bid contracts. Without term limits, the board just isn’t interested in this.”
Alvarez: “I’m a firm believer in term limits. Ultimately the only way to make change is to move things through an organization, and an organization gets stale when people are there for a very long time. Everybody requires fresh blood. It allows somebody to bring in a new perspective. It brings in new ideas, it doesn’t have the continuation where people just get into a rut, become very comfortable, not thinking ahead, nor being proactive.”
Other issues discussed ranged from ground water injection, to importing Northern California supplies, to climate change. The entire debate can be viewed at debate2020.easyreadernews.com. ER