Pacheco Stormwater District trustees expand 2025 election to four seats; county elections to manage contest

Pacheco Stormwater District trustees on March 24 approved a revised resolution ordering a landowner election on July 29, 2025, and instructed staff to change the document’s references from two seats to four to reflect the district’s option to expand the board.

The vote comes after review by the San Benito County Elections Department, which requested precise changes to the resolution so timelines and procedures conform to the California Elections Code and the District’s organizing statute, the Stormwater District Act of 1909. Anna (chief deputy, San Benito County Elections Department) attended the meeting and walked trustees through filing rules, candidate-statement options and cost examples for a landowner election.

Why it matters: This is a landowner election — voting is done by parcel — so procedural details such as the nomination window, whether candidates supply a ballot designation or candidate statement, and who pays for publication affect both who appears on the ballot and how much candidacy will cost prospective candidates.

The Elections Department packet and Anna’s presentation explained the filing period and options. Declaration-of-candidacy and nomination papers will be open during the published nomination period; incumbents may file earlier under the calendar discussed in the packet. Anna said the department will “walk you through the process when you come to our office,” and that officers will accept only original wet signatures for nomination documents.

Key procedural points covered at the meeting: - Election date called in the revised resolution: July 29, 2025. - The district’s resolution directs San Benito County (and Santa Clara County, where applicable) to provide election services and publicize the notice in a newspaper of general circulation. - Filing windows: trustees were told incumbents may file through May 2; non-incumbent candidates were explained an extended deadline in the packet that could go through May 7 depending on the nomination period language in the resolution. (The board and elections staff discussed the different deadlines and asked staff to reflect the correct dates in the final resolution.) - Candidate statements: optional. The elections clerk gave an example cost calculation for a candidate statement in a landowner election: a base fee ($250) plus a per-parcel charge (5¢ per parcel). Using a 259-parcel example, the clerk estimated a candidate-statement cost of about $262.95; that amount is payable at the time a candidate files a statement.

Trustees debated whether to call an election for only the two seats whose terms expire in December 2025 (held by Trustees Armando Alfaro and Paula Azcona) or to open up additional currently vacant seats so the election would fill four offices. After discussing timing and the many internal references in the draft resolution that said “two seats,” the board voted to approve the resolution with instructions that staff revise every reference to change “two” to “four” where appropriate and to coordinate final wording with county counsel before its distribution and signing via DocuSign.

Motion and outcome: A trustee moved to approve the resolution ordering and requesting county elections to conduct the election, with the modification to make four elective offices available and to have staff conform the resolution’s language accordingly; the motion was seconded and approved by the trustees present. The final resolution will be sent to the counties and notarized/signed per county procedure before the Elections Department’s publishing deadline.

What remains: Staff will update the resolution text throughout (changing references from two to four offices), confirm filing deadlines and publish the official notice through the county elections offices. Prospective candidates must file in person at the elections office with original signatures and may opt to submit a candidate statement (and pay the related publication costs) at filing time. The board also discussed whether to try to fill additional appointed positions at a later date or include them now; county counsel advised the board that the language can be changed and staff can reconcile rotating terms, and the board asked staff to work with county counsel to finalize text.

Ending: The trustees directed staff to submit the corrected resolution to the San Benito County and Santa Clara County elections offices in time for the counties to publish the notice of election; the district will circulate final filing dates and candidate instructions once county staff confirm the calendar.