Four out of the five seats on the Amador Water Agency Board of Directors are going to be filled by newcomers, leaving 10-year veteran director Terry Moore as the only holdover on the board.

In District 1, Bill Condrashoff defeated appointed incumbent Madonna Wiebold. In District 2, former Ione Mayor Gary Thomas unseated two-term incumbent John Swift. In District 3, Don Cooper outdistanced Joe Bonini for the seat being vacated by Dave Thomas. In District 4's three-way race, Debbie Dunn garnered more votes than either appointed incumbent and 20-plus-year water board veteran Paul Scott or Sutter Creek City Councilman Brent Parsons.

"This is a unique situation," acknowledged AWA General Manager Jim Abercrombie. "Normally, we have one or two new board members."

Moore said that a change in the law governing public agencies had created the four-seat upheaval. In the past, when a board member was appointed to fill a vacancy, the appointment would be for the entire duration of the the departing director's term. Now, appointed board members must file to run for the seat at the next general election.

"Cooper and Thomas were running for four-year terms," Moore explained, while Wiebold and Scott were running to fill the two years remaining on the terms to which they were appointed. This added up to the rare four-seat election. Both Condrashoff and Dunn will be up for election in 2010.

This was an election filled with passion and tinged with controversy. In the past year alone, the agency had endured controversies over water assessments, pipeline costs and water rates.

"I was disappointed and saddened to see the negative materials that came out at the end," Abercrombie said. He was referring to the unsigned mailer sent to voters, attacking Condrashoff and Dunn, both of whom were elected on Tuesday and both of whom took Tuesday's results as a clear message.

"People want more oversight," said Condrashoff, part of a subcommittee looking into proposed water rate increases for the city of Jackson. "The voters really seem to want to have a change. This restores the confidence in the system."

Dunn, a Ledger Dispatch contributor and upcountry activist, embellished that. "Upset on three out of four incumbent positions should stand as a strong indicator of how the people feel about the last four years," she said. Dunn's comment recognized the fact that District 3 incumbent Dave Thomas didn't run.

"I couldn't believe all three incumbents went," exclaimed Scott, who was elected four times, from 1986 until 1998, then appointed last year. Scott's brief explanation of what he thinks happened was, "The public thinks we're power-hungry and we're building an empire. The only place the public could go was to eliminate the board."

Condrashoff agreed with Scott. "I was a little surprised," he said. "I really didn't expect all three incumbents to be taken out, but the voters were aware of the need for change."

"The three-person race in the Sutter Creek-Pine Grove District 4," said Parsons, "certainly created some complicated dynamics, but the undeniable fact was that more voters wanted Debbie." Keeping his spirits high in defeat, Parsons conceded, "My wife says I didn't try hard enough, but with that kind of spread, I could have knocked on every door and lost, maybe by even more."

Change was a theme both locally and nationally. "It's not impossible that this is tied to the national movement for change," Abercrombie ventured. "Maybe we're just seeing a desire for new leadership."

"Things are going to be different," promised Condrashoff, who expects there to be more discussion by the board on topics that come before them. "When's the last time you've seen anything other than a unanimous vote by the board?"

"I'm proud of what the agency accomplished over the last eight years in District 2," said departing board chairman John Swift. "The (Amador Transmission) pipeline project was a major one for the entire county," he said, "and it wasn't easy to get it done. I'll hold my head high."

"It's going to be challenging," Abercrombie predicted, "and it's going to be a big learning curve." He anticipated AWA attorney Steve Kronick preparing large quantities of educational material for the new board members, informing them of the legal issues involved in board participation, water rights and the complexities of employment, among others.

"We'll be sending them to California Special District Training," Abercrombie said. "We'll be trying to make the transition as smooth as possible."

"When Heinz (former AWA Director Hamann) and I came on board 10 years ago," Moore recalled, "we had three sage members to give us some guidance." This time around, Moore will have to be the sage one.

In an example of his sagacity, Moore observed that, "A lot of people think the agency functions like a private company, making a profit."

Barring any challenges to the election results or unforeseen delays, the new board of directors can be seated at the first AWA meeting in December.