Ahead of the November general election, the Southern California News Group compiled a list of questions to pose to the candidates who wish to represent you. You can find the full questionnaire below.
Read more Scott Miller, Laguna Hills City Council District 4 candidate, 2026 election questionnaire
Name: Donald J. Lank
Age: 74
Current job title: Retired Chief Employment Officer, Army Corps of Engineers / Postal Service
Incumbent: No
Other political positions held: VP Postal Letter Carriers Union
City where you reside: Westminster
Tell us what your No. 1 priority is for this office, should you be elected. (Please answer in 200 words or less.)
My No. 1 objective is protecting the ratepayer while preparing MCSD for the future. That means maintaining reliable sewer and solid-waste services, controlling costs, reducing the amount of waste going to increasingly limited landfill space, and making decisions with transparency and fiscal accountability. I want MCSD to plan ahead rather than force future residents to pay for problems we could address today.
What does this department do for citizens? What do you view as its most important role for residents, and why? (Please answer in 200 words or less.)
The Midway City Sanitary District provides essential services that residents and businesses depend on every day. These include wastewater collection through the sewer system and solid waste, recycling, and organic waste services. These responsibilities directly affect public health, neighborhood cleanliness, environmental protection, and our quality of life.
I believe the district’s most important role is providing reliable essential services at a reasonable cost to the ratepayer. Residents should be confident that their sewer system is properly maintained, their waste is collected reliably, and their tax and ratepayer dollars are being spent responsibly.
The board must also plan for the future. Aging infrastructure, diminishing landfill capacity, increasing disposal costs, recycling requirements, and the need to divert food and other organic waste from landfills present long-term challenges. Good planning today can help prevent costly problems tomorrow.
As a director, I would emphasize reliable service, fiscal responsibility, environmental stewardship, transparency, and accountability. MCSD should provide excellent service today while making sound decisions that protect residents and prepare the district for the next generation.
Your neighbors may not be so familiar with this office on their ballot. How would you promote more general knowledge of the district and the importance of its work? (Please answer in 200 words or less.)
Many residents may not be familiar with the Midway City Sanitary District because, when it is doing its job well, its services can easily be taken for granted. Yet the district provides essential sewer, solid-waste, recycling, and organic-waste services that affect every household and business it serves.
I would promote greater public awareness by making communication with residents more frequent, understandable, and accessible. The district should use its website, social media, newsletters, community meetings, and neighborhood organizations to explain not only what MCSD is doing, but why it matters and how ratepayer dollars are being spent.
I would also encourage directors to be more visible in the community. As president of my homeowners association and a Westminster commissioner, I have learned that residents become more engaged when public officials go into their neighborhoods, listen to their concerns, and explain issues in plain language.
Public education is especially important as we confront aging infrastructure, landfill capacity, recycling, and organic-waste requirements. An informed community is more likely to understand these challenges and participate in finding solutions.
MCSD belongs to the residents it serves, and residents should know what their district does, what it costs, and how decisions are being made.
What experiences and priorities do you bring to this role? What have you learned in prior leadership roles that makes you the person for the job? (Please answer in 200 words or less.)
I bring more than four decades of public service leadership, management, dispute resolution, and accountability to this role. During my 43-year career with the United States Postal Service, I ultimately served as a Headquarters Area Manager for Equal Employment Opportunity Dispute Resolution, with responsibility for programs supporting approximately 89,000 employees. After retiring from the Postal Service, I served with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District, as its Chief Equal Employment Opportunity Officer until 2022.
Read more Michael Liu, Midway City Sanitary District candidate, 2026 election questionnaire
Those positions taught me that effective leadership requires listening to people, examining the facts, managing public resources responsibly, and making decisions based on what best serves the organization and the people who depend upon it.
Today, I serve as president of the Springarden Homeowners Association and on Westminster’s Parks and Recreation and Traffic Commissions. Those roles have reinforced the importance of being accessible and accountable to the community.
At MCSD, my priorities would be reliable services, fiscal responsibility, infrastructure planning, environmental stewardship, and transparency. I would bring an independent perspective to the board and ask a basic question about every major decision: Is this in the best long-term interest of the residents and ratepayers we serve?
What will you do to establish trust with your community that you will tackle this job well? (Please answer in 200 words or less.)
Trust is earned through actions, not campaign promises. If elected, I will work to establish that trust by being accessible, transparent, prepared, and willing to explain my decisions to the residents and ratepayers I represent.
I will study the issues before every board meeting, ask questions when something is unclear, and make decisions based on facts and the best interests of the district—not personal relationships or political considerations. I will support making district finances, contracts, major expenditures, and policy decisions easy for the public to understand.
I also believe elected officials need to be visible outside the boardroom. I will continue meeting with residents, homeowners associations, businesses, and community organizations and listening to concerns before they become problems.
My years in federal public service taught me the importance of accountability, fairness, and treating people with respect, even when there is disagreement. My community service has reinforced the importance of listening and following through.
Residents should never have to wonder whom I represent. I will represent the public, protect the ratepayer, ask difficult questions when necessary, and be accountable for every vote I cast.
Bonus question: What is the best book you’ve read this year? Explain why you found it compelling.
The best book I have read this year is “How to Be a Dictator: The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century” by Frank Dikötter. Fun fact: the quote was from Nikita Khrushchev on replacing Stalin.
I found it compelling because it examines how 20th-century dictators created and maintained cults of personality and how institutions and individuals can gradually surrender their independence when power becomes concentrated around one person.
What stayed with me was the importance of strong institutions, independent thinking, and the willingness of individuals to question those in authority. Good government should never depend upon unquestioning loyalty to an individual. It should depend upon laws, established procedures, transparency, accountability, and people who are willing to ask difficult questions.
That lesson applies at every level of government, including local government. Public officials should welcome scrutiny rather than fear it, encourage differing viewpoints, and remember that the authority they exercise belongs ultimately to the public.
I found the book compelling because it reinforced something I have learned throughout my career: leadership is not about accumulating power. It is about accepting responsibility for how that power is used.
Read more Jeffrey Harlan, Irvine Ranch Water District Division 5 candidate, 2026 election questionnaire