Newly sworn-in directors Nai Hsueh and Barbara Keegan have tipped the Santa Clara Valley Water Board to reach a new benchmark, with three women on the board for the first time.
Hsueh and Keegan, who, with reelected director Richard P. Santos, were sworn in at the board's Dec. 11 meeting, join Director Linda J. LeZotte, on the seven-member board.
Nai Hsueh, a civil engineer, represents District 5, which includes the cities of Cupertino and Saratoga, parts of Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and west San José. As a former employee, Hsueh has 30 years of experience working for the Santa Clara Valley Water District on water issues, including large construction projects. During her tenure on staff, she rose from a junior engineer to the chief of capital programs. In her role, she designed a rolling five-year capital improvement program.
Barbara Keegan, a civil engineer, will represent District 2, which includes central and downtown San José, portions of east San José, and Willow Glen. Keegan worked for 19 years for the city of San José’s Public Works Department, where she rose to the level of division manager. Keegan subsequently became the city engineer and assistant director of public works for the city of Sunnyvale. She represented Sunnyvale on a collaborative to deal with land use authority adjacent to streams. She spent the last two years of her career at Santa Clara Valley Water District.
Richard P. Santos was reelected to represent District 3, which includes Milpitas, north San José, Berryessa, north Sunnyvale and north Santa Clara. Santos, a retired San José fire captain, is beginning his third term as a district board member. While on the San José Fire Department, Director Santos was elected as vice chair for 12 years on the San José Police and Fire Retirement Board and was a labor representative of the San José Firefighters local union. He was then and is still very active as a volunteer for community services and has spearheaded several civic activity fundraiser projects.
Detailed district boundary maps are available on the water district’s website at http://www.valleywater.org/About/Board_of_Directors/District_Boundaries.aspx.
The new board of directors established a process for filling the District 1 seat, vacated on Dec. 7, when Director Don Gage was elected mayor of Gilroy. District 1 includes Gilroy, Morgan Hill and parts of south San Jose.
The seat must be filled by Feb. 5, 2013. The unexpired term ends on Dec. 5, 2014. The board is seeking letters of interest by Jan. 11, 2013. Interviews of candidates are anticipated on Jan. 28, 2013 and if necessary, Jan. 29, 2013. Information packets has been posted at http://www.valleywater.org/About/DistrictOne.aspx.
