SAN JOSE—Today, the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors unanimously voted to appoint John Varela, to fill the District 1 seat vacated in November by Dennis Kennedy. He was sworn in today.
Mr. Varela has lived in Morgan Hill for 38 years. He has served as mayor and council member of Morgan Hill. He has been an entrepreneur in the solar/clean energy, bio-fuel and toy industries. He volunteers with several community organizations and is co-founder of South Valley Angels, an organization helping people start small companies. Mr. Varela sits on the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and participates with the Silicon Valley Chamber Coalition Regional Economic Development Initiative. He participated and chaired “Vision Morgan Hill,” a series of community meetings offering residents an opportunity to participate in how tax dollars are used. He represents South County as an advisor and board member to Joint Venture Silicon Valley.
In his application letter, Mr. Varela said, “As a former Mayor and City Council member, I bring a unique skill set and successful leadership style to the Water Board.”
According to the California Election Code, since Mr. Kennedy had completed less than half of his 4-year term, the District 1 seat must be put up for election in November 2016, to complete the last two years of Mr. Kennedy’s 4-year term.
The board interviewed five of the 21 applicants who submitted application packets for the board seat. The other four applicants who were interviewed were Richard Constantine, Tom Cruz, Erin Gil and Jeffrey Cristina.
District 1 includes the cities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy; the town 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.