Editorial: Eichstaedt, Joly best for North Marin Water District seats

North Marin Water District voters are choosing two of its five directors on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Two veteran directors – Jack Baker and Stephen Petterle – are being re-seated without opposition. Two other incumbents – Michael Joly and Ken Eichstaedt  – have drawn challengers.

Joly, a longtime San Marin resident and retired investment banker who was first appointed in 2017, holds the board’s seat for Division 3, a swath that sweeps across Novato from Wildhorse Valley and part of San Marin to Highway 37. He is being challenged by Francis Drouillard, a bridge engineer who is active in local Republican Party politics.

Eichstaedt, an Olema resident who was appointed in 2022, is seeking election to the seat for Division 1, an area that stretches from the west side of Novato to district areas in West Marin.

He is being challenged by Mary Stompe, a longtime Novato resident and former director of a North Bay nonprofit builder and manager of affordable housing.

In Division 3, reelecting Joly is not a difficult choice. He brings to the office not only financial know-how, but the perspective of ratepayers who want to keep the district’s water supply sustainable and rates as low as reasonably practicable.

Drouillard says the district needs a “drastic” change in its approach to water supply. He says the district should consider building a new reservoir, possibly on Bolinas Ridge or Novato’s Mount Burdell area, He also favors exploring desalination, a change from a previous stance.

Joly says the district doesn’t need a new reservoir.

Eichstaedt is an engineer who has worked on water projects in the East Bay and San Francisco. He recently retired as Petaluma’s traffic engineer so he knows about the need to bring together technical engineering and public consensus, which can be a significant civic challenge.

He also provides West Marin with representation on the board, an important role as the district needs to build support for long-needed and costly water supply improvements in that part of the district that includes Olema, Point Reyes Station, Inverness and Marshall.

Stompe stresses that most of the division’s ratepayers are in Novato and Division 1 is far from being a “West Marin seat.”

She is a longtime activist and observer of local politics. Her husband recently retired after a long career with the district.

Stompe says that Novato ratepayers should not be subsidizing work needed in West Marin, and vice versa.

North Marin, she says, needs to come up with a strategy for a sustainable long-term water supply, warning that it may be over-relying on water imported from Lake Sonoma, a source she says is “oversubscribed.”

But Eichstaedt, particularly given his involvement and roots in West Marin, is what the board needs right now. For many years, the board has had West Marin representation. He acknowledges that most of the residents he represents live in Novato and he represents them, as well.

But the district has a lot of work to do to improve water-supply needs in West Marin. Eichstaedt has the professional expertise and knowledge of the community that will be helpful to the district as it addresses those needs.

In Division 3, Joly is clearly the best choice. His attendance record at board and committee meetings is a sign that he takes his civic responsibility seriously.

He’s a ratepayer who sees the district’s service and organization from a ratepayers’ perspective on a district board that has a fair share of retired bureaucrats.

He supports cost-saving regional measures to bolster the local water supply.

Joly says the district should remain open to working on a long-term regional approach to desalination, but says the district does not need a new reservoir.

Stompe agrees, but Eichstaedt says the desalination is too expensive to build and operate, “at this time.”

On the Nov. 5 ballot, the IJ recommends retaining Michael Joly and Ken Eichstaedt on the North Marin Water District board.