San Benito County supervisors unanimously appointed three members to the five-member Tres Pinos Water District board Tuesday.
The three members – Rod Hughes, Jeanette M. Maroney and Bobby Zaucha – will serve respective four-year terms to start Dec. 7.
When the elections office failed to receive papers for any candidates for the three open seats on the Tres Pinos Water District board, the elections office staff sent out a notice seeking applications for an appointment to the board. Under the elections code, in the event there are not enough candidates for the water district, the supervisors can appoint people to fill the open seats.
The deadline for the appointment applications was Oct. 31, with Maroney, Zaucha and Hughes sending in their applications. A fourth applicant applied after the deadline.
During a public comment period, two residents contended that other applicants should be considered for an appointment. One member of the public said that one of the three appointees – who had been on the board previously – did not have good meeting attendance.
Granger said the supervisors could not consider other applicants unless they delayed the item to a future meeting. The supervisors were concerned that if they delayed a vote until after Dec. 7, the water district would have only two members and would not have a quorum with which to do business.
Supervisor Margie Barrios supported moving forward with the appointments, noting that all potential candidates failed to pull papers. Supervisor Anthony Botelho agreed.
“I think the most responsible thing is to move forward and then if someone else wants to run, they can pull papers in two years,” Botelho said.
