CAP board incumbents to return with 3 newcomers
The Central Arizona Project will enter a new and challenging year with two familiar names reelected to its governing board and three newcomers.
Incumbents Alexandra Arboleda and Ben Graff were among the top three vote winners for five seats on the Central Arizona Water Conservation District board in last week’s election. Yelenia Aguilar and Amanda Monize secured two of the other open seats and by week’s end, Barbara Seago appeared to have enough votes to round out the field.
The five positions up for election this year represent Maricopa County.
The 15-member board oversees operation and maintenance of the 336-mile canal that delivers Colorado River water from western Arizona to the Phoenix and Tucson areas. It also sets water rates for customers including cities, and collects property taxes in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties. It sets policy for the district, which has had to cut deliveries because of the Colorado’s supply reductions during a 20-year drought.
CAP is among affected water suppliers that will hash out conservation and shortage-sharing agreements between the federal government, Mexico and the seven states that use the river’s water. It will start the new year with both new board members and a new general manager, former U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman.
Arboleda, a water and natural resources lawyer first elected in 2016, will return to the board as this year’s top vote winner. In response to a preelection questionnaire from the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association, she said, “Forging a sustainable path forward that protects the Colorado River and balances water conservation with economic growth and fiscal responsibility is a top priority.”
Graff, a land-use attorney and former member of the Arizona Board of Regents, also returns for a second term. He has worked on previous water-saving deals including Arizona’s 2019 Drought Contingency Plan, and said the Colorado’s water supply is “the most pressing challenge facing Arizona’s future.”
Board members Jennifer Brown, Jim Holway and Mark Lewis opted not to run for new terms on the unpaid board,
whose members serve staggered sixyear terms.
Monize and Seago were among a slate of candidates who ran on a platform aimed at taxpayer and farmer protection and agency accountability. Beyond water deliveries, educator Monize said, “The greater duty falls on the board’s ability to levy taxes and set rates for said water delivery.” Seago is a software engineer who said she has helped keep dues from being raised during her time president of a homeowners association.
Aguilar is a business development manager for a company that works to provide drinking water on the Navajo Nation and other underserved communities, and has served on the Osborn school board in Phoenix.
Brandon Loomis covers environmental and climate issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Reach him at brandon.loomis@arizonarepublic.com or follow on Twitter @brandonloomis.
Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at environment.azcentral.com and @azcenvironment on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.