Longtime incumbent on Ojai Valley water board announces he will not seek re-election

Ventura County Star

A longtime member of the Casitas Municipal Water District board has decided this year will be his last in the position.

Russ Baggerly, first elected in 2004, announced he will not seek reelection in November, extending the filing period for the seat through Aug. 12. The regular filing deadline is Friday.

The district, which manages Lake Casitas and supplies water to the Ojai Valley and parts of Ventura, has a five-member board. In recent years, it has faced a long stretch of drought conditions and shrinking water supplies.

Three seats are up for election on Nov. 3. Of those, only one incumbent plans to run. Pete Kaiser, elected to the board in 2002, has qualified in the race for Division 3.

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Jim Word, on the board since 1997, stepped down early this year and his seat has remained vacant.

As of Monday, six candidates were vying for one of the three seats. Of those, four candidates have qualified to run.

In Division 2, David Norrdin had qualified to run for the seat left vacant by Word. Neil Cole also had pulled papers.
In Division 3, Kaiser and Jeff Ketelsen had qualified to run. Irene Henry had pulled papers.
In Division 5, Richard Hajas has qualified to run for the seat currently held by Baggerly.

Baggerly said he added up the years he has served on public boards, including the Ojai Valley Sanitary District, Casitas and the Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency, as he decided whether to run. After 16 years on the Casitas board, he said it was time to move on.

More than two dozen voters cast the ballots on Feb. 22, 2020, at the election office in the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura. The office was open on a Saturday for early voting in the primary.

"I have some other things I need to do," Baggerly said. He didn't offer details.

Looking ahead, he said candidates for the board will face challenges from the ongoing Ventura River adjudication lawsuit to implementing a comprehensive water resources plan.

In June, Casitas officials released a draft of the resources plan saying an assessment found the lake could be dry in the next six years if faced with continued drought conditions and higher temperatures. The plan looked at more than two dozen projects to diversify the water supply.

More:Casitas pulls out of mediation talks over Ventura River water adjudication

During the recent drought, Lake Casitas dropped to historic lows. With no imported water, Casitas has depended on local rainfall and river runoff. As of Monday, it was 42.6% percent full.

As storms charge rivers and creeks, the district can open a canal, diverting water from the Ventura River into the lake.

But after years of drought and a major wildfire, rainstorms brought a lot of ash and debris downstream over the couple years. As the water rushed into its Robles diversion facility near Ojai, a steady stream of sandy silt and gravel came, too, causing some temporary shutdowns.

Jesus Vazquez, of Ventura, fishes from a pier at Lake Casitas on Tuesday. This year's steady stream of storms has boosted lake levels past the "critical drought" threshold.

Last fall, the agency cleared piles of silt, sand and gravel from the diversion facility.

For more information about filing to run for a seat or to see the current list of candidates, go to https://recorder.countyofventura.org/elections/.

Cheri Carlson covers the environment for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0260.