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4.30.02 M.U.D. race is important The Metropolitan Utilities District is a diverse operation that supplies much of the Omaha area with both water and natural gas. Its board of directors must manage not only for today and tomorrow but for next year and next decade. One example of the advance thought and planning that's required is the construction of the Platte West water filtration plant, in the planning stages for 30 years. Past boards wisely have tucked away money to get the plant started. This could cushion current and future ratepayers when the bill comes due. When looking at a candidate for the board, a voter should expect several qualities: technical expertise or the intellectual capacity to gain it; an ability to comprehend the larger picture plus a vision of where the district should be headed in the future, along with the ability to get it there; and an abiding concern for the ratepayer, large or small, business or individual. Five candidates are running for the board from within the city limits of Omaha this year. All have various strengths and weaknesses when measured against those standards. The four we believe are best qualified are John S. McCollister and Timothy Cavanaugh, the two incumbents, and Carolyn T. Green and Sally D. Kammerer. McCollister, head of a manufacturing company, brings enormous perspective and technical expertise to the job. He has been on the board since 1979 and has immersed himself in the intricacies of natural gas and water -- marketing, supply, standards and the million-and-one facts, realities and strategies an M.U.D. director should understand. His base of experience and his field of knowledge are invaluable to the board and to ratepayers. Cavanaugh is finishing his first term, having been appointed to the board in 1999 when his father, a 15-year board member, died. Cavanaugh brings to bear his 21 years with the Omaha Police Department and a dedication to improving the security of the gas and water systems in the atmosphere that has prevailed since the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks. He shows a real awareness of the necessity for long-term planning and has begun to develop the kind of technical know-how a board member should have. Green has an agile mind; we are confident she would be quick to grasp the details necessary to do justice to the board position. She has demonstrated leadership and managerial skills in her job as associate executive director of Girls Inc. of Omaha and in her 14 years with the Omaha Housing Authority. She has suggested that the board, with its many long-time members, needs rejuvenating. She is one person who could do it. Kammerer is offering voters the years of experience gained as head of Midwest Business Equipment and from her knowledge of management and personnel matters. She would press for more interaction and communication between management and workers, she said. And a primary interest is in securing the safety of the city's water supplies and storage facilities. The M.U.D. board of directors is important to everyone in the Omaha metropolitan area because of the reach and scope of its water and natural gas systems. Voters would set up a good race for the fall election by selecting Sally Kammerer, Carolyn T. Green, Timothy Cavanaugh and John S. McCollister this spring. |
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