Bob Fultz Response to Question #2:

2.  Please list in order of importance the current issues you would prioritize as a member of the Board.

It is not possible to separate issues “in order of importance”, as that is not how being a Board member works. There are a number of critical issues that urgently need addressing, and our work is a constant balancing act among them. In no order of priority,  critical issues the district faces are:  Operating expenses increasing at multiples of inflation which are not transparent to the community based on lack of historical disclosure and real multi-year (e.g., more than 2) budgeting and which drains urgently needed cash away from infrastructure improvements; Normal infrastructure improvements at a level commensurate with its age; Catch-up infrastructure improvements not done by previous boards; CZU infrastructure replacement and upgrades; Water security for Bracken Brae, Forest Springs and, if willing, Big Basin; Catch-up deferred maintenance, particularly on tanks (all but a handful of our steel tanks are well beyond the time to recoat them to keep them from deteriorating and also not done by previous boards; Aligning our strategic plan with current realities; Fire hardening of all facilities (largely funded by grants); Enlarging our financial reserves as a hedge to enable us to respond quickly to future disasters, as we were able to do in the wake of the CZU fire; Santa Margarita groundwater remediation--but not injection wells (ASRs); Changing our water rights to be more efficient in our use of, particularly, winter water which will only benefit the environment and fish; and Maintaining the protection of our special environment, including but not limited to the robust implementation of our new Integrated Pest Management plan and a continued ban on the use of glyphosate on District property (both of which I supported in the past).  It is the responsibility of the Board and Directors to focus on the big picture and implement budgets and policies that reflect the policy preferences of the community, as expressed in their choices of Directors based on their explicit campaign positions, to keep the District moving forward on all of these issues and other business before us.