As part of Noozhawk’s Nov. 3 election coverage, we are publishing Q&As with board candidates for some special districts and education districts, including the Goleta Water District.
Candidate answers may have been lightly edited for spelling and formatting, but are otherwise presented as they were submitted.
The Goleta Water District is an independent special district governed by a five-member elected Board of Directors.
The general manager and staff members oversee day-to-day operations of the district, such as repairing and maintaining pipes, pumps, wells, water meters and other infrastructure; water quality testing; and customer service (billing, conservation, applications for new water meters).
Separate special districts oversee treatment of wastewater from the water district system: the Goleta Sanitary District and Goleta West Sanitary District.
Goleta Water District board members approve the district budget, including maintenance and capital improvement projects, approve water rates and charges, and are in charge of policy decisions like water supply planning and conservation strategies.
Recent board policy and budget decisions include: approving large, multi-year rate increases for residential and non-residential water customers; updating a permit to sell recycled water to interested agricultural customers; and saying no to the state’s proposed water tunnel project, along with several other local water agencies.
Candidate Lauren Hanson
Noozhawk: Why are you running for the Goleta Water District Board of Directors?
Lauren Hanson: I am running to continue the good work I’ve done with my Goleta Water District board and staff colleagues. In my time in office, we have worked every day to ensure that the district is a steady, capably run agency serving safe, reliable water to everyone in the Goleta Valley.
We are preparing for the future in the most environmentally and economically sustainable way. We maintain lower water rates than others on the South Coast. I am running to continue doing this vital work for our community.
Noozhawk: What personal and/or work experience would you bring to the organization?
Hanson: I bring the experience of being elected to the district board in 2008 and working immediately to strengthen multiple areas — developing better ways of managing our water supply portfolio, of interacting with the community, of encouraging conservation, of running a lean, efficient operation. The positive changes that have come about have taken time, but are clear and necessary and important.
I also bring my perspective as a 20-year resident of the Eastern Goleta Valley, and my personal activity over many years as an environmentally-conscious citizen. I was born and raised in another beautiful place, Hawaii, and am keenly aware of the responsibility we all share to protect and preserve our earth’s resources, water being one that I care about most intensely.
Noozhawk: What do you see as the top issue facing the district right now, and how would you address it?
Hanson: For a complex operation like a water district, there are always multiple, pressing, interconnected issues to address. The key is knowing how best to weigh and prioritize and coordinate actions.
The South Coast faces water quality challenges from the effects of recent years’ wildfires that ravaged the Lake Cachuma watershed. There are water supply issues coming from the federal government and the state.
Limited resources need to be deployed for critical infrastructure. Rates need to continue being lower on average than those of other area agencies. The balancing of these and other priorities, in this very unsettled time, is my focus. That involves working with board colleagues and District staff, listening to community members, analyzing detailed reports and making sometimes-hard decisions.
Noozhawk: The current board of directors recently approved water rate increases of 11% this year, 9% in 2022, 9% in 2023, and 9% in 2024. Why did you vote to approve the rate increases?
Hanson: Considering a rate increase at any time is an example of a hard decision to make. This year, in this uncertain time, it was particularly hard. I voted in the board majority on rates and believe that vote was necessary.
For me, it came down to fulfilling my most fundamental responsibility as a board member — to assure the continued, reliable delivery of good, safe water to everyone in our community.
Our board received a comprehensive cost-of-service study that showed us the rising costs before us. Much of this cost we do not control — the cost of water from the federal government and from the state, for example.
The district already has the leanest staffing — that means the fewest employees per thousands of community members. It works from a tight, get-the-job-done budget.
Our board voted to approve approximately one seventh of the short- and long-term infrastructure projects the district’s staff evaluated. We opted to do only those projects of the most urgency, and those required by the state or federal government — the projects absolutely necessary to maintain the level of service our community expects.
We reserved the right, in 2023, when a re-fi opportunity becomes available, to consider restructuring borrowing, which could have a positive effect on rates. We also continue the district’s long-time policy of working to assist any customers who are having financial distress.
It was very important to our board majority that even with this increase, our overall rates remain well below others on the South Coast, and importantly, that includes for the Goleta area farmers carrying on the Goodland’s agricultural heritage.
Noozhawk: How do you think the agency handled the financial and water supply challenges of the drought?
Hanson: The district responded to the drought with ingenuity and grit, and as a result, we are well positioned to handle future extreme droughts or other significant water supply emergencies.
An in-house team developed forecasting capabilities that were crucial for guiding water supply decisions. There was a major overhaul (that “old-timers“ said couldn’t be accomplished, but was) to how the district extracts and distributes water from our local groundwater basin, making it possible to rely solely on that water source for a life-sustaining supply in an extreme emergency.
This engineering and operations accomplishment, which past administrations at the district had not done, is hugely important for our community’s readiness. It was part of a drought response effort that was done efficiently and economically.
As important, of course, was the incredible way the people of the Goleta Valley came together in the shared effort of water conservation. The district is an “essential service provider” of a lifeline service. The women and men of the district did that job through our region’s most harrowing drought to date, and continue doing it now, every day, for the people of our community.
Click here for more information about Lauren Hanson.
Click here to read more stories in the Noozhawk Election 2020 section.
Noozhawk has published election Q&As with other Goleta Water District board candidates including:
