One Good Man

 The other day I had a nice chat with Nathan Westphal. Nathan is the current President of the community group in my area called Residents Association of Greater Lake Mathews, RAGLM for short, and he has been a dynamic presence in our community. Nathan created and maintains the highly informative web site and on-line forum (www.raglm.org) that gives everyone in the community an opportunity to voice their concerns whether a RAGLM member or not.

RAGLM is a great organization that works to maintain a quality of lifestyle within the unincorporated areas of Lake Mathews, Gavilan Hills, Gavilan Springs, Mockingbird Canyon, and Woodcrest. Their motto is: "To keep the rural lifestyle, protect the open spaces, and to preserve the wildlife in our area known as Greater Lake Mathews." Their goal is to give our community a voice at the county level, and they have done an excellent job of it.

But Nathan Westphal is more than simply another community organizer. He has genuine concerns about many of the larger problems that face our county and state. Not just content to point out these problems, Nathan is one to take an active part in creating solutions for them.

A major problem within California and certainly within our county is water. Most of Southern California is served by a quasi-governmental agency, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) and it’s sister agencies the Eastern Metropolitan Water District (EMWD) and the Western Metropolitan Water District (WMWD). An elected board of directors controls each of these agencies.

Beyond the serious issue of water scarcity due to the drought, there are major issues of agency administration, water quality, and rates we all pay for the water we use. Nathan followed these issues with the WMWD very closely, and decided to run for a seat on the WMWD board of directors in this upcoming election.

The issues he finds with WMWD include (from his website http://nathanwestphal.com/):

Cost of Water:

The cost of water in our region is getting out of hand. Just since 2009, we have incurred two new charges on our bills (Water Reliability Charge, MWD Readiness-to-Serve Charge) as well as a new tier structure and pumping zone charges. In this same period, WMWD has built two new facilities as well as holding more than $14 million in customer reserves. I would ask if these charges are supposed to be set aside for emergency purposes, why then do we build elaborate facilities and continue to increase pay of employees? I will stand for the customers and fight these unnecessary fee increases to make sure your money is going where it is supposed to go and not just to the expansion of WMWD.

Restriction of Resources:

With ever expanding development in western Riverside County, it is imperative that we find new ways to deal with our already scarce resources. I believe that new developments should be held accountable to existing residents when it comes to resources. We cannot allow business as usual. We must stop planting high water use lawns in medians simply for cosmetic reasons. We need to partner with developers to find ways to develop smart ideas while continuing to expand our local economy. We cannot just continue to rezone and pack homes into areas already suffering from restricted resources. Currently, 'Will Serve' letters do not go through the board of directors for a vote, but get automatically sent upon request to new development. I would argue that will serve letters should be voted on by the board and will work hard to make this a reality.

Accountability:

Recently the board voted to give their GM a 2% pay and pension increase. The board just voted to increase sewer rates in the Murrieta area as well as adding an annual property tax in some areas to collect monies on top of the collections they already take in from ratepayers. Currently WMWD is working to implement a new ordinance to allow further restrictions on water usage, as they did in 2010. These new restrictions are more severe than the ones originally implemented by WMWD. Additionally, these new restrictions, as well as the previous ones, only affect residential ratepayers as commercial ratepayers are not subject to the same-tiered structure. Should we not all be treated equally? In August of 2013, when the Riverside Grand Jury recommended the board tie stipend decreases to rate increases, the current incumbent stated, "I do not make enough money to support my family. All the work we put in, we do not get paid for." Last time I checked this was a public service and not a career. Changes must be made at Western and I will fight to make positive changes without the prospect of increasing my own stipend or increasing rates.

Well, there you have it. Nathan Westphal has my vote. I am confident he has a thorough grasp of the issues and will fight to make a difference. On Tuesday, November 4^th I urge you exercise your right to vote, and if you are within the WMWD Division 3, please vote for Nathan Westphal.