By Brian Hews
Cerritos resident Jay Gray jumped into this year’s campaign for Board of Directors in the Central Basin Water Board in District 5 for one main reason. “It is time for a real change in the way the district is being managed, and it starts at the top by electing a new person into the job.”
Gray, 50, is a lifelong resident of the area having moved to Cerritos with his family from Norwalk back when he was in elementary school. He is a former graduate of Cerritos High School and he and his wife currently have three teen age daughters who attend his alma mater. He is also one of the first students to have ever attended Frank Leal Elementary School in the ABC Unified School District and is a current member of that campuses school site council.
Gray has been a leading voice in Cerritos during the past several years, and frequently is seen addressing the city council on issues pertaining to infrastructure issues. This is his first attempt at public office.
Gray told Los Cerritos Community Newspaper that he decided to run for Central Basin Water Board after reading about “possible corruption” allegations and law enforcement inquiries on the daily operations at the agency. “We have contracts that are given to individuals based upon political connections,” he said. “It is important that we get people who are not at the end of their political careers, or politicians who want to use the office as a stepping stone, to truly represent the needs and to protect the taxpayers,” Gray emphasized.
“We need someone who is going to be aggressive in protecting the public’s money,” Gray said. He also pointed to a series of investigative articles done by the Los Angeles Times as an “indicator” that “something is definitely wrong” with the “way the Central Basin Water Board is being managed.”
Gray said he advocates “transparency” at the Central Basin Water District. “For too long it has been a mystery of what happens at Central Basin.”
“I want to bring a new era of leadership to us rate payers and customers,” he said.
Sounds like we need change, and the right person to be elected is coming forward.