West Basin Board of Directors Selects Officers for 2018

CARSON, Calif. – At the January board meeting, the West Basin Municipal Water District (West Basin) Board of Directors selected officers for 2018. Division V Director Donald L. Dear was named board president, with Division IV Director Scott Houston serving as vice president. Division II Director Gloria D. Gray and Division I Director Harold C. Williams will serve as treasurer and secretary, respectively. Division III Director Carol W. Kwan will continue as a board member.

“I’m honored to serve as board president in the year ahead,” said Dear. “Together, we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring water reliability for the West Basin service area as we expand our water recycling program through our Capital Improvement Program and consider a potential ocean water desalination facility as an additional potable water resource for the communities we serve.”

Dear has represented the Division V cities of Gardena, Hawthorne, Lawndale and portions of El Camino Village since his first election to the board in November 2000. He has a long record of public service, serving as Gardena mayor for nine consecutive terms before retiring in 2001. Since 2004, he has also served on the Local Agency Formation Commission and is currently first vice chair. Dear is also a widely respected, award-winning teacher who taught at Stephen White Middle School in Carson for 37 years. He is one-of-two West Basin representatives on the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors.

Houston will serve as vice president. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 2014 and represents Division IV cities of Culver City, El Segundo, Malibu, West Hollywood and unincorporated LA County areas of Del Aire, Lennox, Marina del Rey, North Ladera Heights, Topanga, View Park and Windsor Hills. Houston previously served on the City of El Segundo Capital Improvement Program Advisory Committee (CIPAC), where he evaluated infrastructure and capital improvement projects for the budget process.

Gray will serve as treasurer in the year ahead. A member of the West Basin Board since 2006, she is the first African-American woman elected to the Board in its 70-year history. Gray represents the Division II City of Inglewood, and portions of unincorporated LA County areas including Athens, Ladera Heights, Lennox and Westmont. She currently serves as a West Basin representative on the Metropolitan Board of Directors.

This year, Williams will serve as secretary. As Division I Director, he represents the cities on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Carson and portions of unincorporated LA County. His leadership includes serving as president of the American Public Works Association-Southern California Chapter, president of the City and County Engineers Association, and treasurer of the Los Angeles Council of Black Professional Engineers. He is also a board member of the National Water Research Institute, a member of the CalDesal Executive Committee and a member of the Los Angeles County Building Board of Appeals.

Kwan will serve as a board member in 2018. Elected to the West Basin Board of Directors in 1996 as the first female and Asian-American member, Kwan has committed 22 years of service to the District. In 2016, Kwan successfully secured re-election to represent Division III cities of Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, a portion of Torrance, and unincorporated Los Angeles County areas of Harbor Gateway.

Also appointed during the January board meeting were West Basin Chief Financial Officer Margaret Moggia as deputy treasurer and Board Secretary LaTonya Dean as deputy secretary.

The officers of the Board of Directors facilitate the appointment of committees and assignment of representatives to affiliate organizations, as well as the operations of West Basin.

West Basin is governed by a five-member board of directors who are publicly elected to represent 17 cities throughout its 185-square mile service area in coastal Los Angeles County. The District is committed to providing a safe and reliable supply of high-quality water to its communities.

For more information, please visit the Board of Directors webpages on http://www.westbasin.org/board-directors.

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West Basin Municipal Water District (West Basin) is a wholesale water agency that provides imported drinking water to nearly one million people in 17 cities and unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County. West Basin is an industry leader in water recycling, conservation, and water education. West Basin is currently implementing a Water Reliability program to reduce the agency’s dependence on imported water and develop drought-proof local water supplies. The program includes water recycling, water conservation, groundwater desalting and ocean water desalination. Visit www.westbasin.org to learn more.