Teresa Alavarado made it official Thursday, when she filed papers and paid the $1,430.31 fee to run for the vacant District 2 county supervisor seat. San Jose Inside just happened to be checking up on Registrar of Voters records when Alvarado and her campaign manager, Peter Allen, walked into the office.

Alvarado joins Patricia Martinez-Roach and David Wall as the only candidates to pay the filing fee, which then places the candidates’ names on the June 4 ballot. Wednesday is the deadline to file papers for the race to replace the disgraced George Shirakawa Jr..

San Jose Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen announced Wednesday that she would stay in her current role and focus on the 2014 mayor’s race rather than run for the county seat. Meanwhile, many expect Cindy Chavez, CEO of nonprofit Working Partnerships USA and formerly the top exec at the South Bay Labor Council (SBLC), to join the race. As a former vice mayor of San Jose, Chavez has credentials. But her actions in this past election cycle have now come under question after reports by San Jose Inside found that she played a key role in converting nonprofit foundation funds to SBLC activities.

Beau Goldie, CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, announced in an email to staff last week that Alvarado would take an unpaid leave of absence during the race.

“Teresa Alvarado, Manager of the Office of CEO Support and District Communications, is taking an unpaid leave of absence, effective March 13,” Goldie wrote. “Tuesday the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors set June 4 as the date for a Special Election to fill the District 2 vacancy. Teresa has declared her candidacy for the seat. I granted her request for a leave to prevent any possible perception of a conflict of interest or misuse of public resources while engaged in a political campaign.”

The Water District chief also warned his staff in the email about any unlawful attempts to help Alvarado’s campaign.

“I would like to take this opportunity to remind staff that as district employees, we do not lose our individual rights of political expression simply because we work for a public agency. However, it is unlawful for a public employee or an elected official to use district resources to support or oppose a candidate or a ballot measure.”

Program Administrators Mala Magill and Marty Grimes will fill Alvarado’s acting communications manager position in the meantime, while Program Administrator Karna DuQuite will serve as the acting manager for the Office of CEO Support.