All three incumbents hope to get re-elected to the Oceano Community Services District board of directors in November, but at least one political newcomer hopes to unseat one of them.

The filing period for the three open seats in the Nov. 4 contest closes at 5 p.m. Friday all the incumbents — Bill Bookout, Vern Dahl and Jim Hill — have filed for re-election.

Political newcomer Mary Lucey of Oceano has also filed papers to run for a seat on the OCSD board.

Unless someone else in Oceano files papers prior to the deadline, Bookout, Dahl, Hill and Lucey will all vie for the three, four-year OCSD board seats when voters go to the polls in November.

Lucey became a property owner in Oceano in 1999, relocating from Venice Beach, and is running for OCSD because she has pride in her community and wants it to be the best it can be, she said.

“I’m the type of person who will study a project, understand the barriers and strategically overcome them in a unified way,” Lucey said. “With my experience and loyalty, I will work toward making Oceano the best we can be together.”

Prior to moving to Oceano, Lucey worked for the city of Los Angeles for 12 years as a policy analyst in the Community Development Department.

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If elected, Lucey said, she wants to stop OCSD directors from being able to sue the district, and wants to end what she sees as using increases in district water and sewer rates as a crutch.

“I feel the water rates (in Oceano) are high because we have exhausted so much money on bad studies and surveys, and poor contract negotiations, legal fees, lawsuits and more,” she said. “Raising rates is the easiest way of generating revenue. I feel it should be the last resort.”

Lucey believes the board should adopt a resolution that makes a director have to resign from the board if he or she “takes legal action against the people of Oceano,” she said.

Bookout, who recently sued the district and lost, was first elected to the OCSD board in 2004, and said he’s seeking re-election because he also wants to better the community and accomplish more for Oceano residents than is being done now.

“Community drainage has and is a big issue for me, and seeing (to it) that our residents don’t have to pay for others’ mistakes prompted me to run,” Bookout said.

If Bookout is re-elected, he said, he will make community enhancement a top priority — doing more street sweeping throughout Oceano and developing a community park on the east side of the community.

Dahl has served on the board for the past six years and said his top priority if re-elected would be to continue working to provide district residents with the “best possible service at the lowest possible price.”

“To achieve this, we need a stable, efficient and well-run district,” he added. “This is an ongoing process and has always been at the top of my priority list. I am always working closely with staff, other agencies and elected officials to ensure that the district funds are wisely spent.”

Hill was also first elected to the board in 2004 and decided to seek re-election to “build on my first-term accomplishments,” which he lists as advocating for all Oceano residents, improving the community’s quality of fire protection, eliminating district financial waste, and assuring fair treatment for all residents when dealing with the district.

He said his top priorities would be providing high-quality and cost-effective services to residents, protecting Oceano’s water sources, and improving the district’s aging infrastructure.

August 7, 2008