In April, the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency approved the ballot options that local ratepayers will now decide upon in November’s election, with six of the Division’s nine seats on the Nov. 5 ballot, two seats in three of the agency’s Divisions.
One of the seats on the ballot for the 3rd Division will be for a two-year term and one will be a four-year term, according to Kevin Strauss, spokesman for the SCV Water Agency.
The seat held by Ken Petersen, the appointee who replaced B.J. Atkins after his departure, will be a two-year seat due to the board’s April decision.
In addition to Petersen’s seat in the 3rd Division, the seats held by Beth Braunstein and Gary Martin in the 1st Division will be on the ballot.
The 2nd Division seat held by Piotr Orzechowski will be on the ballot, as will the recently vacated seat held by Ed Colley in the 2nd Division.
Colley announced his resignation last week.
There will also be a four-year term for the 3rd Division.
The filing deadline for the Division 1 and 2 races is Wednesday, according to Strauss.
In the First Division, so far there are three candidates listed on LAvote.net: Martin, the current president of the board; Dan Masnada, a longtime water systems engineer with SCV Water’s predecessor, the Castaic Lake Water Agency; and Paula Olivares, a newcomer to the board whose occupation is listed as an engineering educator from Valencia.
There are three candidates so far listed for the 2nd Division on the county’s election website: Nathan Bousfield, a utility planning specialist from Valencia; Ken Cooper, a senior director of engineering; and current board vice president Orzechowski.
Board member Kathye Armitage is seeking reelection to another four-year term in the 3rd Division; she is being challenged by Holly Schroeder, vice president of external affairs for DrinkPAK.
There are two candidates listed for the two-year term in the 3rd Division: the incumbent Ken Petersen, and Stacy Fortner.
The idea behind making Petersen’s seat a two-year term was to balance out the number of seats on the ballot for the nine-member board in 2026, according to water officials.
