GCSD To Vote On GM Contract Extension Ahead Of Board Transition

Published Nov 9, 2026 10:57 am

Photo by: Yuris Daudish

Groveland, CA — Three current Groveland Community Services District Board members fell short in their re-election bids and will be replaced at the start of the new year.

As of the most recent ballot count on Friday, newcomers anticipated to win the seats are Bruce Thompson, Donald Felts and Bruce Dudley. In fifth through seventh place are the incumbents, John Armstrong, Robert Swan and Robert Turney Sr.

The only two returning members on the board, whose seats run through 2028, are Janice Kwiatkowski and Nancy Mora.

GCSD General Manager Pete Kampa’s current contract runs through June of 2027. A proposal at this Thursday’s meeting (current board members still in place) would extend the contract through 2030 and make it more difficult to remove him from the position in the immediate future.

Meeting documents seem to indicate that some current board members are concerned that there could be big changes coming when the new members take office.

At the last meeting in October, outgoing Board President John Armstrong requested that the district revisit Kampa’s employment agreement to “recognize the satisfactory performance of the General Manager, support continuity of the District operations and stable leadership, and to provide a fair opportunity for the evaluation of the General Manager after the election.”

There would also be a new provision that the board cannot terminate the GM without cause during the four-month period immediately following the date that elected directors take office after the election. The provision contains a 12-month severance payout if the board proceeds with a termination without cause. The 12-month severance payment would be greater than what would otherwise apply to a termination without cause outside of the four-month transition period, which is a payment of six months. The board would still have the ability to terminate the GM “for cause” at any point under the revisions. The new contract would not include any salary changes (pays $222,560 annually).

The full proposal can be found here.

Thursday’s meeting also includes a closed-session performance evaluation of Kampa, special recognition of several employees, and a vote on a Memorandum of Understanding related to funding a Me-Wuk Heritage Mosaic.

Thursday’s 9 am session is open to the public at the Groveland Community Resilience Center on Ferretti Road.