DSRSD Board Vacancy: 4 Candidates To Be Interviewed Soon

DUBLIN, CA — A new representative for the vacant Dublin San Ramon Services District Board Division 5 will be appointed at the Tuesday, Feb. 2 board meeting.

Two members of the public applied for the position, which represents Dublin residents east of Hacienda Drive. Any applicants must live within the boundaries of the district and the board short-listed five candidates. Four finalists from that pool will be interviewed during the meeting, which is set to begin at 6 p.m.

The finalists include Arun Goel, who most recently ran for mayor after serving on the Dublin City Council. Goel, a civil engineer, has also served on the planning commission and said in a statement that his background in hydrology and hydraulics, and experience as a county flood control design engineer makes him a good candidate, according to a DSRSD statement.

"My background is complimented with experience in fiscal responsibility, budgetary planning, and strategic vision planning, including managerial and union experience," he said.

John K. Koltz, a retired civil engineer, previously worked at Zone 7 Water Agency, and comes with 24 years of public utility experience and 16 years of work in the area of water and wastewater design, according to the statement.

"Hopefully, the combination of public and private experience has broadened my perspective and allowed me to patiently listen to my peers and the public, while maintaining my competence in support of the planning, engineering, operations, and maintenance of a municipal utility," he wrote.

Kashef Qaadri, a scientist and cloud architect, recently completed a bid for city council. Now, he's seeking the Division 5 because he's managed budgets, hasa background in environmental research that's spurred him to take an interest in watershed management and has health care experience that's led him to understand types of contaminants.

"I would spend my time and energy to understand the threats to the water supply and seek opportunities to advance water supply protection, affordability and sustainability," he wrote.

Samir Qureshi, a sales operation executive, also ran for Dublin City Council. He believes his analytical and financial background will be valuable to the board.

"I feel that having to manage large teams with complex business issues will also be a great fit to help with any business-related challenges that the Board members have to manage," he wrote.

The chosen candidate will play a role in overseeing water treatment and distribution for some 188,000 people in the area. The nonpartisan office sets policies for DSRSD, oversees the hiring and operations of the DSRSD general manager, and appoints officers.

Candidates advanced to the final round if they received at least one vote from a board member at an initial Jan. 19 meeting. Candidate Dean Barnes, an information technology manager who was short-listed, advanced but dropped out, said DSRSD spokesperson Sue Stephenson. Applicants Glen Foley and Razi Fasni did not receive any votes after they skipped the meeting, she said.

The public has an opportunity to vote for DSRSD candidates, but the Division 5 seat was vacant after no candidates sought to run for election.

Divisions 1 and 3 were also on the November 2020 ballot, but only one candidate in each division sought the office. Those candidates were appointed and sworn in Dec. 15.

The link to watch the meeting will be available here 72 hours in advance of Tuesday's meeting. Learn more about the Division 5 candidates here.