The Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency governing board this week will decide on whether to appoint or hold a special election to fill the vacancy created by a longtime board member’s resignation.
SCV Water announced Thursday that Ed Colley, whose District 2 seat will be on the November ballot, has resigned, effective Aug. 7.
Colley, a retired captain in the United States Air Force, served for more than 20 years on local water boards. He also previously was an instructor for the William S. Hart Union High School District’s Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Valencia High.
In a news release Thursday, water officials said they would “discuss options for filling the vacant seat,” at their Aug. 20 meeting.
Colley’s district stretches from the intersection of Newhall Ranch Road and McBean Parkway in the southwest to the intersection of Davenport Road and Sierra Highway in the northeast, according to a map on the district’s website.
Colley was elected to a predecessor of SCV Water, the Castaic Lake Water Agency, in 2003, and stayed with the organization through its merger into SCV Water in 2018.
He most recently served on the board’s finance and administration, public outreach and legislation committees, and the Devil’s Den Water District’s board of directors.
“Ed’s knowledge, experience and passion will be dearly missed at SCV Water,” said General Manager Matt Stone. “He’s spent more than two decades committed to ensuring the residents of the Santa Clarita Valley have safe, clean water provided by a responsible, industry-leading agency, and for that we will always be grateful.”
Colley cited a move to Texas as his primary reason for his departure from the board.
Prior to working for the Hart district, Colley was recognized for his service as a space systems engineer, including on assignment in Germany.
His work at Valencia ultimately ended in Colley being awarded $114,427.88 in back pay and additional attorney fees following a wrongful termination suit against the district.
The Hart district terminated Colley’s employment after the Air Force reported to the district that required paperwork was missing, according to the 2021 appellate court opinion, which led to his decertification. The panel upheld the Superior Court judge’s ruling that the district “failed to establish the grounds upon which it terminated Colley.”
