ODESSA, Texas — Many seats are available for a multitude of positions in the upcoming elections.
Three of those seats just so happen to be for the Ector County Utility District. It's a race that will have a large impact on many people in Ector County.
Three of those candidates, Jesus Sanchez, John Kelley and Darrell Pando are running for a seat on the ECUD Board of Directors. Sanchez is running for Seat 1, Pando for Seat 3 and Kelley for Seat 4.
While they may not be politicians, each of them say they are unified in what they believe are perceived issues with ECUD, such as rising water rates.
"Today I talked to a woman and she says that not everybody's in the oil industry and not all of us get paid for those people do," Pando said. "We can't always afford a pricey increase. She was telling me, you got to think about the little people and and that's definitely what we need to.”
The trio are hoping that the ideas they come up with would be enough to lower the rates that the people of Odessa are dealing with.
“One of the changes I want to make is expand their base. ECUD always stated it's not their responsibility to furnish water for the citizens, their responsibility is to distribute the water," Kelley said. "I think they need to spread their base and get more clients hooked up to the water, and when they get enough, eventually they can bring the price down and make it a little cheaper for everybody.”
Something that all three are certainly unified in is that more transparency is needed between the ECUD Board of Directors and the people they serve.
“It's very important that all the community knows what's going on in ECUD. Where are the tax dollars are going? How's the budget being managed?" Sanchez said. "It's very important for that. Now we don't know where those taxes are being spent. If you ask for information, they won't give it to you.”
As mentioned before, the three men are not politicians, but this election race has brought them closer.
“I'd never met either one of them until they decided to run for the board, but we bonded and made a quick friendship," Kelley said. "We have a lot of the same likes, same ideas, and we both, all three of us, have common sense. I think we bring that to the to the board.”