FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Dec. 19, 2002 -- Denis Bilodeau, Orange County Water District (OCWD) Division 2 Board Member, on Wednesday was elected OCWD Board President for 2003.
Bilodeau was elected to the OCWD board in 2000. Philip Anthony, Division 4 representative, was elected 1st Vice President and has served on the OCWD board since 1981. Brett Franklin, Division 8 representative and a Santa Ana City Council member, was elected 2nd Vice President and has served on the OCWD board since 2000.
Bilodeau is a project manager for TRC, an environmental engineering firm. He has previously worked for former Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer as his policy advisor and for the County of Orange Environmental Management Agency as traffic engineer. Bilodeau is currently an alternate board member for the Orange County Transportation Authority and member of the Orange County Water Task Force.
The new and returning directors were sworn in by Assemblyman Tom Harman from the 67th Assembly District. Kathryn L. Barr, Richard Chavez, Paul Cook, Jan Debay and Shawn Nelson took oath at the OCWD Fountain Valley headquarters and will serve on the board through 2006.
"Living in a coastal community, I know firsthand the importance of water," said Assemblyman Harman. "California will face difficult challenges over the next few years, but I believe with the visionary leadership of the OCWD board, we are in good hands."
The five board members inducted share a wide range of career expertise and civic service.
Barr, former mayor of Garden Grove, has served on the OCWD board since 1979, representing Division 1, which includes Garden Grove, Stanton and Westminster. Barr was recently reelected by constituents in Division 1 to continue to serve on the OCWD board.
Debay was elected to the OCWD board, representing Division 7, after filling a vacant seat on the board in 2001. Debay, a former Newport Beach mayor, represents Division 7, which covers Costa Mesa and parts of the cities of Newport Beach, Irvine, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Tustin and Westminster.
Cook, newly elected to the OCWD board, represents Division 5, which includes areas within the cities of Irvine, Newport Beach and Tustin. Cook is a Registered Professional Civil Engineer and Class A Licensed General Contractor in the state of California. He is the manager of engineering for the Central and West Basin Municipal Water Districts in the Los Angeles County area.
Nelson was recently elected to the Fullerton City Council and has been appointed by the City Council to serve OCWD's Division 10, which covers the city of Fullerton. Nelson is an attorney by profession and managing partner in the Santa Ana law firm, Rizio and Nelson. He is a civil litigator and represents small business owners and individuals in a variety of legal matters.
Chavez is also a newly elected Council Member in the city of Anaheim and was appointed by the City Council to serve on the OCWD board representing Division 9, which covers the city of Anaheim. Chavez, a retired firefighter with 29 years of service in both the city of Santa Ana and the city of Anaheim, is now a director of the Carino Program -- an outreach child abuse prevention program for "at risk" Spanish speaking parents.
Chavez has extensive involvement in the community with groups including: Big Brothers of Orange County, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Los Amigos of Orange County and the Eli Home for Abused Children.
OCWD's board is composed of 10 directors -- seven elected from cities throughout north and central Orange County, and three appointed -- representing the cities of Anaheim, Fullerton and Santa Ana. Each of the seven elected board members serve a four-year term; the three members appointed serve a length of time to be determined by the city council they represent.
To learn more about the Board of Directors at OCWD, log on to the Web site at www.ocwd.com and click the link to Board of Directors.
The Orange County Water District is a special water agency created by the California Legislature in 1933 to maintain and manage the huge groundwater basin under northern Orange County. The groundwater basin managed by OCWD supplies 75% of the water needs to more than 2 million residents in the cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda. To learn more about water, log on to www.ocwd.com.
