Election Day looms in Eldorado
Related
Advertisement
1/11/2009 - 1/12/09
Eight candidates are seeking four seats on the Eldorado Area Water and Sanitation District Board in Tuesday's election. Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Ken and Patty Adam Senior Center, 14 Avenida Torreon, next to Vista Grande Public Library.Four board members will be elected.
- Incumbent James Jenkins is opposed by Lucian Niemeyer for one four-year slot, while John Hawkins is challenging incumbent Roberta Armstrong for the other.
- Incumbent Steve Wust, former county hydrologist, is challenged by William Bodle for a two-year term; Jerry Bradley and Tom Willmott vie for the remaining two-year seat.
James Jenkins: Jenkins brings career experience with technical training and manpower planning, both for the federal government and Caterpillar. This included developing and marketing customer training services in more than 65 countries. Jenkins' volunteer experience spans nearly 40 years, including three years with the Peace Corps; community planning in San Diego; and service in Pennsylvania on charitable, civic and municipal boards, including the American Red Cross, the local planning and land-preservation committees. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and has a master's degree in instructional systems. He and his wife, Ann, moved to the area in 2005, and he now chairs the land committee for the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, is a board member for the Dos Griegos homeowners association.
Lucian Niemeyer: Niemeyer graduated from the Famous Photographers School in Westport, Conn. From 1963-1982, he was connected with Volkswagen, first rising to the position of national sales manager of Volkswagen of America, then purchasing a VW dealership in Philadelphia with his brother-in-law. In 1982, he closed the dealership and sold its assets. From 1982-1987. he was involved with several businesses in the photographic field, in which he had a long-standing interest. In early 1987, his wife, Joan, suggested that Niemeyer go into photography full time. Together, they combed the Chesapeake Bay area in pursuit of creating the reference book, Chesapeake County, (Abbeville Press 1990), with text by Eugene Meyer. In 1994, Shenandoah, Daughter of the Stars, (LSU Press), with text by Julia Davis, came into the market, followed by Niemeyer's second wetland study in 1996, Where Water Meets Land, (York Graphics). Africa, The Holocausts of Rwanda and Sudan, was published by the University of New Mexico Press in 2006 and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Roberta Armstrong: Armstrong brings more than 30 years of experience in managing large public-sector projects (up to $20 million), as a long-term employee at the University of Minnesota and as a consultant managing large-system implementations at IBM. At the university, Armstrong managed a variety of support services, with a focus on computer systems supporting admissions, registration and financial aid. At IBM, she was involved in systems projects in higher education, for the Army and for private industry. Armstrong has a doctorate in psychology and statistics from the University of Minnesota, has experience with human resources and communications and brings an analytic background to help in understanding the water district's financial and system statistics. She and her husband, Al Webster, bought property in this area in 2003 and moved here permanently in 2007. Armstrong is an active volunteer with the Vista Grande Public Library, New Mexico Site Watch and Santa Fe Search and Rescue.
John M. Hawkins: Since 1987, Hawkins has owned and operated a full-service design and construction company, John Hawkins Design & Construction. He provided general contractor services for new construction, remodels, renovations and repairs including plumbing, electrical and carpentry services. Earlier in his life, Hawkins devoted time and expertise to building a successful prosthesis and orthotics company, overseeing the design of artificial limbs and developing appropriate therapies with the medical community. He worked directly with patients to design mechanical devices to improve overall patient quality of life. In 2001, Hawkins began actively advocating for water conservation and began installing water cisterns at construction sites, and has discovered and reported numerous leaks in the district's equipment over the past several years.
Stephen Wust: Wust brings an extensive technical, managerial, and business background to the board. He has a doctorate in geology from the University of Arizona and has conducted field geology in many parts of Western North America. He came to Santa Fe in 1990, and worked for more than 12 years at the New Mexico Environment Department in the areas of technical investigation, regulations and project management. More recently, he worked for five years for Santa Fe County, both as county hydrologist and director of the water utility. He is on the faculty at Northern New Mexico College in the environmental-science program and consults in the areas of water and geology. He and his wife, Lee, are small-business owners; Wust is responsible for the at-home manufacturing and all the bookkeeping. Wust is a 16-year resident of Eldorado and past president of Eldorado Community Improvement Association.
William Bodle: Bodle moved to Eldorado in 1998 from Vallejo, Calif., where he and his wife owned a car wash and gift shop for 14 years, employing 15 people. Bodle says he acquired considerable experience by doing his own payroll. Before that, he was a partner in a car wash equipment and supply firm for 10 years with 12 employees. Bodle believes he "could add much to the operation of the Eldorado Area Water and Sanitation District board. I feel that over the last few years, the EAWSD has too many 'experts' on the board and it's time we have people with sound business experience."
Jerry A. Bradley: For more than two decades, Bradley built a career designing geophysical prospecting equipment for government applications, including the U.S. Geological Survey. He retired to Eldorado nine years ago. Since then, his life has been focused on water and its applications, including gray- and black-water-treatment systems. Previously, Bradley served for five years on a small Colorado community water utility, the last two as board president. His stated interest in standing for election is to ensure Eldorado's water utility remains solvent and able to meet its revenue-bond payments.
Tom Willmott: Willmott's career experience is in the development and applications of computer systems for the control of chemical plants, automotive engineering and power plants, both fossil-fueled and nuclear. His education includes a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's in systems engineering. Now retired, he and his wife, Catherine, moved to Eldorado in 2006 from the Cleveland area, and his increasing concern about assuring the success of plans for the district has led him to volunteer as a member of the board.
