Almaden Resident

News

Kamei ready to educate public about water district during term

By Monica Heger

While the water district race did not make any headlines, it was a nail-biter nonetheless. Incumbent Rosemary Kamei of the Santa Clara Valley Water district's board of directors won re-election by a narrow margin on Nov. 7. She took 50.86 percent of the vote; only a little more than a 1,000 votes separated her and opponent Ram Singh.

Kamei will serve a four-year term as a director for District 1, which includes a portion of Almaden Valley.

Kamei said now that she has been re-elected, she wants to spend some time educating the public about the water district and the board's role.

"There's just a vast segment of the population that doesn't know what a director does," Kamei said. "It's hard to get attention when it's not a high profile office. There isn't a drought; there's no flooding occurring. There's nothing major happening in terms of water resources."

Singh said while he was disappointed with his loss, he was glad to receive as much support as he did. Singh based his campaign on reducing the water rate.

"I ran for a cause. I thought the water district board needed input from somebody who understands the issues," said Singh, who teaches water resources engineering at San Jose State University.