OJAI VALLEY : 7 Candidates Vie for Water District Seats

Finding a balance between the amount of treated sewage discharged into the Ventura River and the amount sold as reclaimed waste water is a major issue for seven candidates seeking seats on the Ojai Valley Sanitary District board of directors.

District voters will determine on Nov. 6 who will fill three four-year terms on the seven-member board.

The sewer board is faced with new plant filtration regulations that will cost nearly twice the district’s $4.2-million 1990-91 budget to implement.

Stanley Greene, outspoken president of the environmental group Citizens to Preserve the Ojai, is making his first bid for political office. He is seeking the director’s seat currently held by Ojai Mayor Nina Shelley.

Greene, 61, who owns an air-conditioning and heating service, is running against Billie M. Powers, 73, an Ojai building contractor and former city planning commissioner for 12 years.

Ted L. Cartee, 48, an Ojai computer systems engineer and former science teacher, is challenging incumbent James B. Kerwin, who has served on the board since 1985 after three years as a director of the former Oak View Sanitary District. Kerwin is a retired construction supervisor for Southern California Gas Co.

Joseph W. Zorskie, 50, of Meiners Oaks, a computer programmer and former physics teacher, is challenging incumbent Marvin L. Hanson, 54, a hydrographer with Ventura County Flood Control who has served on the board since 1985.

Incumbent William E. Lotts, 66, an Ojai electrical contractor, is running unopposed for a two-year term. Lotts was appointed last year to replace Frank McDevitt, a former Ojai councilman who left the area. Shelley, appointed to the board in 1985 to represent the city of Ojai, decided not to seek reelection.