SAN JOSE—Citing personal health issues, Santa Clara Valley Water District Director Dennis Kennedy has announced his resignation as representative of District 1 effective Nov. 4, 2015.
Dennis Kennedy was first appointed to the water district board on Jan. 31, 2013, and was elected to the District 1 seat on Nov. 4, 2014. He has been the board representative or alternate representative on several board committees including the Agricultural Water Advisory Committee, the Environmental and Water Resources Committee, and the Santa Clara Valley Water Commission. He represented the water district on the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority Board, the South County Regional Wastewater Authority and the Pajaro River Watershed Flood Protection Authority.
Dennis has served in a variety of capacities in public service and community organizations as well as in professional and business organizations. He retired in December 2006, after serving as mayor of the city of Morgan Hill for nearly twelve years. He was appointed to his first term in 1992. In 1996, he became the first directly-elected mayor, was re-elected in 1998, and again in 2000, 2002 and 2004.
A registered professional mechanical engineer, Dennis worked for IBM in Facilities Engineering and Management for 25 years. He was later employed by Parsons Corporation for seven years as a Project Manager focusing on industrial, transportation, facilities engineering and construction in Silicon Valley.
Dennis is an American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley senior fellow, a member of Morgan Hill Rotary, past president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, recipient of the Morgan Hill 2007 Leadership Excellence Award and past president of the Morgan Hill Sister Cities Committee. In 2015, he was honored with the Lifetime Community Spirit Award from Gavilan College.
The water district board of directors will soon schedule a discussion on a process for filling the District 1 position through appointment or special election. The board has until Jan. 4, 2016 to either appoint a new board member or to call for a special election.
Director Kennedy’s term was scheduled to end in December of 2018. Because his resignation occurred before he had completed the first half of his four-year term, the Board will need to hold an election for the District 1 representative in November 2016, regardless of how the board chooses to fill the seat.
District 1 encompasses the South County cities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy; the community of San Martin; the Evergreen and Silver Creek neighborhoods of San Jose; parts of south San Jose; and hills east of San Jose and Milpitas.