In San Lorenzo Valley water races, Measure U fails, Layng and Largay head to board of directors

Tuesday, Dec. 3, 6:00 p.m. — Alina Layng and Bryan Largay, who ran as a slate, won the two open seats on the San Lorenzo Valley Water District. Meanwhil,e Measure U, the controversial ballot initiative that proposed capping increases to flat rates on water utility customer bills, failed.

County Clerk Tricia Webber’s office said Tuesday’s update was the last and the results are now official. There were 136,505 ballots cast countywide.

Layng and Largay had 35% and 32% of the vote and 64% of voters had rejected Measure U, which was crafted in part by Bruce Holloway, who also ran for at seat on the water district’s board. Holloway earned 15% of the vote in the board of directors race, while former board member Bill Smallman finished in third place, with 18% support.

The water district’s 8,000 customers hoped this election could bring some stability to a utility that has, over the years, grown a reputation for tense politics and scandal. 

The utility has had a revolving door of interim general managers and has operated without a finance director for over a year. Before the district appointed John Kunkel on Oct. 28, board members had been “play-acting finance director and GM,” according to appointed board member and candidate Bryan Largay, who said board members were writing checks and handling “all the substantial matters” that would fall under the domain of general manager. 

The marquee problem for the district is how to fund the $50 million in infrastructure repairs left behind by the CZU wildfire, the most important of which is a pipeline that would allow the water district to return to sourcing water from the surface of the San Lorenzo River watershed. Since CZU, the district has pumped its water from a system of wells, an increasingly precarious method, especially as overpumped groundwater has become an issue statewide. 

Largay and Alina Layng, both appointed over the summer to fill vacancies on the board of directors, entered the race as a slate. Largay has served as conservation director for the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County since 2012, and Layng previously served on the district’s environmental and engineering committee. 

Smallman launched his campaign hoping to return to the same board he was forced off of in 2019 after he made homophobic comments on Nextdoor. After the board voted to ban a specific herbicide, Smallman wrote that users of the product were “really stupid and lazy, and probably gay.” He later apologized and doubled down on his comments, saying he was trying to “poke fun” at ranchers. Smallman would later resign. 

Holloway, who made headlines earlier this year by suing Santa Cruz County over its proposed use of Measure K’s sales tax revenue, told Lookout he decided to run only to give voters another option. He referred to his campaign as a “bashful candidacy” and couldn’t say whether he was running for the seat in earnest. 

Holloway is also the architect behind Measure U, the ballot initiative aimed at removing certain flat charges on customers’ water bills until 2049, and capping the annual increase to other flat water bill fees at 2%. Holloway said the initiative is a direct response to the water district’s effort to lock in “steady money” by increasing its flat fees and reducing its water rates.

He called the taxing structure “regressive” as it doesn’t account for income, property value or family size. 

The water district argues that the flat fee increases are necessary to secure the tens of millions of dollars needed to update and repair its water infrastructure. If passed, the measure could cost the district $1.5 million in its first year.  

An impartial analysis of the measure by the district’s counsel stated that if Measure U passes, the district “would need additional funds from other sources to continue providing safe, clean, and reliable drinking water.”

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