Feuding Officials to Try to Agree on Water District Bill

Officials with cities and water providers throughout the eastern San Gabriel Valley will meet today in an attempt to resolve their differences over a proposed reorganization of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District.

The purpose of the meeting, to be held at the water district’s Claremont headquarters, is to reach agreement on a bill sponsored on behalf of the district by state Sen. Ruben Ayala (D-San Bernardino).

Ayala’s bill, which recently cleared the Senate Agriculture and Water Committee on a 7-0 vote, would expand the district’s board of directors from five to seven members and permit elected officials from other agencies to serve simultaneously on the water district board.

The bill was proposed by Three Valleys administrators in November after three retail water agencies serving the southern area of the district threatened to secede. Serving as water broker, Three Valleys buys water from the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District and sells it to retail water companies and city water departments in the eastern San Gabriel Valley.

Bill Opposed

However, the bill has met vehement opposition from Claremont and La Verne officials, who have branded the plan “bad government.” Those on both sides of the issue agree that debate on the bill is divided along geographic lines.

For years, an internal feud has raged between the district’s “southern” water providers--serving Pomona, Walnut, Diamond Bar, Rowland Heights and parts of the City of Industry--and the “northern” agencies, covering Glendora, Claremont, San Dimas, La Verne and sections of Covina and West Covina.

Water retailers for rapidly growing areas in the south have complained that although their customers provide 60% of the district’s revenue, they are represented by only two board members. As a result, the southern water providers charged, some taxpayer money has been spent on projects that only benefit the northern agencies.

However, opponents of Ayala’s bill have said the problem of representation could be remedied by reapportioning the district to give more clout to the southern agencies. They argued that the addition of two board members is a needless expense.

“The degree of control they could have by expanding the board is really esoteric,” said La Verne City Councilman Craig Walters, who testified against the bill earlier this month before the committee in Sacramento. “It’s not real clear-cut that they would have any more power with seven.”

Added Claremont Mayor Judy Wright, who also testified against the bill: “If the district is reapportioned with five (directors), the south would have a 3-2 majority. Why do they need seven?”

Pomona Mayor Donna Smith testified on the other side of the issue, trying to convince committee members that the board expansion is necessary.

“The district encompasses a very large area,” Smith said in an interview last a week. “I don’t believe the representation would be adequate if we redistricted with five (directors).”

Senate Bill 1742 must get through the Senate Ways and Means Committee and the Senate floor and clear a similar gantlet in the Assembly before it can reach Gov. George Deukmejian to be signed into law or vetoed. Ayala, for one, hopes it doesn’t have to get that far.

Although Ayala said he is willing to continue supporting the bill, he said he would prefer that the water district’s northern and southern agencies resolve their differences without state legislation.

But given the long-simmering dispute between north and south, Three Valleys General Manager Richard W. Hansen said it is doubtful that officials will come out of today’s meeting with an amicable agreement.

Walters said La Verne is willing to compromise on some issues, but the “question of interlocking directorates is not negotiable.”

Smith said she will participate in the meeting, but will only agree to a compromise if the interests of her area are protected.

“What I have to do is represent the southern agencies and say, ‘Is it good government for us to pay 60% of the bills and not get adequate representation?’ ” Smith said.

Even if the northern cities accept the board’s expansion without permitting interlocking directorships that would allow elected officials from other agencies to serve on the water board, such an agreement would still require legislation since it would involve a change in state law, Hansen said. It is highly unlikely, he added, that the southern agencies would be willing to give up expansion of the board or interlocking directorships.

Hansen said he is at a loss to explain the strident opposition to the reorganization plan.

“We had five public hearings and there was almost no public input,” Hansen said. “The only people who spoke against it were (from) the City of Claremont.”

Hansen said the proposal for a seven-member board was the result of a consultant’s study. The seven-director system most closely aligned with the boundaries of cities and the service areas of retail water providers, he said.

If approved, the bill would realign directors’ divisions to have two board members representing Pomona, one representing Walnut (including Diamond Bar) and one representing Rowland Heights. To the north, there would be one director for Glendora, one for Claremont and La Verne and one for San Dimas and Covina.

More controversial than the proposed expansion is the provision to allow concurrent, or interlocking, directorates. If passed, the bill would amend state law to permit elected officials such as members of city councils and school boards to serve on the Three Valleys board.

“The main job of this board is to be objective and fair and if you’re tied into a city council or a water district, I don’t think you can be completely open-minded,” Walters said.

Even Ayala is less than enthusiastic about the concurrent directorship provision.

“I don’t support the philosophy that says that some individual is so indispensable that he ought to serve on more than one elected board,” Ayala said.

But proponents of concurrent directorships said the provision does not mean that well-known local politicians will seize control of the water district board. Instead, they said, it simply gives voters a broader range of experienced candidates from which to choose.

“It’s even more democratic,” said James Lundie, manager of the Pomona water department. “It’s the American way.”

Three Valleys board member Doug Miller argued that the practice of having public officials serve on more than one board is widespread, citing as examples the Southern California Assn. of Governments and the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO).

Ayala said he agreed to carry the bill at the request of the water district. The measure probably will be approved by the Legislature in some form, he said, but he was less confident that the provision allowing officials to hold two elected posts simultaneously would make it to the governor’s desk.