MWD Taps Ex-Mayor to Lead Board

The state’s largest water district elected a new chairman of the board Tuesday, choosing an Orange County director who promised a more assertive board that would resolve long-standing disputes that have dogged the agency.

The 37-member board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a public wholesaler that provides water to nearly half of the state’s residents, elected Wesley Bannister, 68, a former mayor of Huntington Beach who has represented the Municipal Water District of Orange County on the board since 1993. Bannister will replace chairman Phillip Pace when Pace’s unprecedented third term as chairman ends Jan. 1.

Bannister persuaded board members from San Diego, Orange County and a handful of smaller water districts that he would retake some authority from district management, which has been criticized by authorities in Sacramento repeatedly over the last year.

In June, the state auditor found the agency had failed to establish an effective ethics program, didn’t follow its hiring and contracting procedures and had poor oversight over ratepayer dollars. State legislators have recently written letters to MWD saying the agency has not responded to the audit’s findings, and an investigation by The Times found the district spent $4.2 million on no-bid contracts without proper documentation.

Many board members said they should have been more aware of the agency’s practices.

“We’ve become almost a rubber stamp,” Bannister said. “We need to have the board back in charge, directing policy.”

Bannister won 51% of the vote, with unanimous support from San Diego and Orange County directors and no votes from Los Angeles directors.

His victory could shift power on key state water issues to the south, some directors said.

“The last chairman was elected with the big [water] agencies, including L.A. This time L.A. is missing,” said Timothy Brick, who represents Pasadena.

Carlsbad Mayor Claude “Bud” Lewis, an MWD director representing San Diego, said that city “will probably have more of a voice now.”

Bannister’s election with San Diego votes could mean an easing in tensions between the MWD and the San Diego County Water Authority, which has fought bitterly for water independence for a decade.

“We’ve got to put our house back together,” Bannister said. “San Diego really wants independence from MWD, and I understand that we should be supportive of agencies being more independent. We have to change our philosophy.”

Bannister persuaded San Diego directors not to try to resolve their differences with the agency by going to the media or the Legislature for a year.

Los Angeles representatives said they didn’t think there would be a big shift in power.

“Every year, L.A. voting strength has been getting smaller as the south has been getting stronger,” said David Farrar, a director representing Los Angeles. “But everyone votes in their own self-interest, and I don’t think that will change.”

Another long-standing issue that could be affected is a dispute between MWD management and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union that represents district workers.

In the months before the election, Bannister met three times with union officials, promising to re-engage the board in union relations.

“We’ve let management take over the responsibility for negotiating with the union,” Bannister said.

Several board members said Bannister’s courting of the union surprised them and won him the support of some who thought him too conservative.

“Two weeks ago, I was touted as the Orange County ultraconservative right-wing union hater,” Bannister said. “This week, I’m the guy who’s in the union’s pocket.”

Bannister has also pledged to be more aggressive in pursuing allegations of inappropriate behavior by board members and management. “I have a low tolerance level for people who do things that are not ethical,” he said.

He referred specifically to the report by The Times that a senior manager supervised a no-bid contract with the business partner of the manager’s wife. Over five years, the partner received more than $800,000 from that and other agency contracts.

“I wasn’t satisfied with the management’s response,” Bannister said. “It never came to the ethics committee. All I got was a letter telling me about it. I would have investigated it completely and found out exactly just what went on. These are the kinds of things we need to make examples of.”