Elections to local water boards are often somnolent affairs, with incumbents coasting to re-election unopposed. But this year’s contest to represent West Marin on the North Marin Water District board is shaping up to be unusually competitive.
Ken Eichstaedt, an Olema civil engineer with extensive experience working with water systems, has been filling a vacancy on the board for a year and a half. He is now seeking a full four-year term representing ratepayers in rural Novato, Inverness Park, Olema, Point Reyes Station and Dillon Beach—an area called Division 1.
Mary Stompe, a Novato resident with an accounting and business background, is a former Petaluma city council member and retired executive director of an affordable housing development for seniors. She has served on several Novato and Marin County advisory commissions and currently serves on the Marin County Civil Grand Jury.
Mr. Eichstaedt filled the board position that became vacant after Jim Grossi, a Novato civil engineer, died last year. At the time, Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, who himself has served on the board, encouraged him to apply. Ms. Stompe also applied for the post but was passed over.
Division 1 is the only division that includes West Marin; the others represent sections of Novato. West Marin has historically had strong representation on the board, and it is important for that to continue, Mr. Eichstaedt said. Mr. Rodoni’s family has lived in West Marin for generations, and Mr. Grossi came from a prominent multi-generation West Marin dairy family.
“West Marin needs its own representative who understands the different problems and challenges West Marin faces,” Mr. Eichstaedt said. “We have 2.5 million-plus visitors annually and have limited and aging water resources.”
Ms. Stompe says she would represent the entire district. “Novato and West Marin are equally important to me,” she said. “I’m a volunteer with the Point Reyes National Seashore and have spent a lot of time in West Marin.”
Both candidates agree that the list of infrastructure improvements on the coast is extensive. The water treatment plant on the former Coast Guard property will soon need to be upgraded, and aging redwood water tanks need to be replaced.
Both agree the district must seek state and federal grants to pay for such improvements because the district has maxed out its ability to take on new loans, and modest rate increases would not cover the costs.
Mr. Eichstaedt is the only member of the board with water engineering experience. “I know this district,” he said. “I know where the redwood tanks are. I know the pump station just down the road that gets flooded during rainy season. I even know the 4-inch asbestos concrete pipe that comes across the Green Bridge that’s going to get replaced.”
Ms. Stompe doesn’t have engineering experience, but her campaign website touts her as “uniquely qualified” due to family ties. Her father managed the Marin Water land department for 31 years, and her husband has managed water treatment and distribution for N.M.W.D. for nearly three decades.
Ms. Stompe also emphasizes that she would bring gender diversity to the all-male board, which hasn’t had a woman director in two decades.
“Good boards need more than engineers,” said Ms. Stompe, a certified public accountant. “They need financial experts, human resources experts, real estate experts and more.”
To hold onto his seat, Mr. Eichstaedt will need strong support from West Marin, which is home to only 20 percent of Division 1 ratepayers. The rest live in rural Novato, where Ms. Stompe’s mother-in-law has served as mayor.
Mr. Eichstaedt knocked on doors in Novato last weekend, while Ms. Stompe visited West Marin to tour the Point Reyes Station treatment plant and inspect the district’s storage tanks and wells.
She has been endorsed by the North Bay Labor Council, the Marin Women’s Political Action Committee, Marin Realtors and the Marin Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers, or CO$T, where she serves on the board.
Mr. Eichstaedt has received endorsements from three of his four fellow board members and Eric Lucan, who represents Novato on the Board of Supervisors. Also backing him are the Marin Democratic Party, Mainstreet Moms of West Marin, Assemblyman Damon Connolly, and Jerry Meral, an Inverness resident who served as deputy director of the California Department of Water Resources under former Gov. Jerry Brown.