The usually sleepy race for the Kern County Water Agency board of directors perked up this month after a challenger filed papers to run for the Division 4 seat. Division 4 Incumbent Director Philip Cerro will face challenger Eric Averett in the November 8 election. Cerro, a longtime area farmer, has served on the board since being elected in 2014 and previously served 19 years on the Kern Delta Water District board. Since 2021, Averett has helmed the water division of Homer LLC, a private company that’s part of a large network of other companies that have been amassing water rights and developing private water projects, among other things, throughout California since the early 2000s.