This candidate would help lead the Modesto Irrigation District to a bright new future

The change needed in leadership at the Modesto Irrigation District has been long coming. Voters east of Modesto in MID Division 1 can take a step in the right direction with candidate Suzy Powell Roos.

Because this utility provides life-sustaining water and electricity to much of our area, the MID has more direct impact on key parts of our lives than many realize. It’s critical that each MID board member have an unimpeachable commitment to transparency and fairness for all customers — nearly everyone reading this endorsement.

Most MID leaders understand this. Those who don’t end up fostering chaos and division.

It’s time the MID board loosen its handshake with the good ol’ boys leadership of days past and embrace a future that can be celebrated by all. Powell Roos represents voters’ best opportunity for that vision.

Her name may be familiar to area sports fans of one-to-three decades ago. Before marriage, Powell Roos built a reputation as one of Modesto’s greatest athletes, setting records in the discus and representing the United States on three Olympic track and field teams, in 1996, 2000 and 2008. She also obtained a degree in urban and regional development from UCLA, where she minored in business.

People might ask what Powell Roos has done to prove herself. Well, in her previous job, she became one of the best on the planet. The commitment and discipline required of a world-class athlete would be welcome on a board whose members too often sink in distrust of each other.

“I believe we’re in dire need of leadership change,” Powell Roos said in a Modesto Bee forum. “A more collaborative leadership style is needed. A unifying voice is needed as we face the challenges of the district.”

Her agribusiness credentials are solid — she and her husband own a wholesale nut tree nursery, and grow walnuts on their ranch. Powell Roos has worked hard to learn difficult issues facing the MID board, including protecting our water from state officials who want to send it elsewhere. And she wants rates to be fair to electricity and water customers alike.

Her opponent, incumbent Larry Byrd, is the epitome of a good ol’ boys club member.

Time for change with Modesto Irrigation District

Byrd regularly refers to himself in the third person. He is fond of bragging that electricity rates have not increased in his nine years on the MID board. He neglects to add that the board was constrained by legal advice and eventually faced lawsuits challenging rate inequities. The lawsuits accused the MID of charging more than needed for electricity and using the extra to subsidize farmwater; a judge agreed with those suing, and both sides await an outcome of the utility’s appeal.

But farmers are not necessarily thrilled with Byrd’s schtick. Faced with an endorsement decision, the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau did not select the incumbent, opting instead to sit this one out. That action speaks volumes about the trust they no longer have in Byrd, as well as deference to Powell Roos’ rising star.

In The Bee’s Sept. 15 forum, which can be viewed at modbee.com, Byrd bragged that despite deep differences, he would “never disrespect anyone on the board.” Seven days later, apparently thinking he wasn’t being recorded, Byrd disparaged a board member before a Zoom board session, and immediately after the meeting used a vulgarity in an apparent reference to others, a mistake likely to lead to an official investigation.

It’s time to thank Larry Byrd for his long years of service, and move in a different, unifying direction behind Suzy Powell Roos.

This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 4:00 AM.