Incumbents Expected to Return in Early Voting

Based on early returns, Castro Valley voters returned incumbents to office in the sanitary district and school board in last Tuesday’s election. 

CVSAN

With less than half the votes counted countywide as of the weekend, Castro Valley Sanitary District (CVSan) incumbents Timothy McGowan, Dave Sadoff, and Daniel Akagi were leading challengers Kenneth Owen, Joseph Grcar, and Darshan Saini by two-to-one margins or more. In an unusually hotly contested race for the district, the challengers campaigned as a ticket and shared campaign signs around town.

Incumbents had promised continued good service with relatively low rates, while challengers attacked what they saw as wasteful board spending. As an example, they singled out the cost of the district’s new Operations building on Castro Valley Boulevard and Center Street.

McGowan has served on the board since 2004, Sadoff since 2011, and Akagi since 1995. 

Voters cast ballots for three candidates in the CVSan race. Vote totals for the CVSan board as of last Friday’s update were 8,219 (or 30 percent) for McGowan, 6,559 (24 percent) for Sadoff, 6,096 (22 percent) for Akagi, 3,077 (11 percent) for Owen, 2,182 (8 percent) for Grcar and 1,391 (5 percent) for Saini.

SCHOOL BOARD

Castro Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) Board of Trustees president Mike Kusiak seemed headed for an easy re-election to the governing board in Area 5 over challenger John Chung, the District’s only contested seat. Friday evening’s vote count update showed Kusiak with 1,696 votes, or 72 percent, over Chung’s 667 votes, or 28 percent. 

It is difficult to compare the number of votes counted to the total number cast in previous elections. CVUSD’s Trustee representation was broken up into five separate districts in 2023. Before that, all voters could cast ballots for all Board Members. 

Kusiak saw transportation and meeting all students’ needs in a diverse district as important issues. He also wants to examine the locations of the two middle schools and their effects on outcomes and transportation costs.  

Chung had wanted to look closely at student mental health needs in a post-pandemic world and also make sure students were still safe and secure since the district ended its relationship with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office several years ago. 

Two other CVUSD members will also return to the dais. Incumbents Dolly Adams (from Area 1) and Lavender Lee Whitaker (Area 2) ran unopposed and were re-elected. Under state education law, unopposed school board candidates do not have to appear on the ballot.