Four new vice chairs for the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors, along with directors appointed to committee leadership posts, preside over their first sessions as the board holds its January meetings this week.

Board Chairman Timothy F. Brick announced his appointments of the vice chairs at the board’s December meeting.  The new posts became effective Jan. 1, which also marked the beginning of a two-year term for board Secretary Judy Abdo, who was elected to her post last month by the board.  Abdo, a former Santa Monica mayor and city council member, is a school administrator involved in various community groups.
The four vice chairs are:

• Anthony Fellow, a representative of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District and chair of the Department of Communications at the California State University, Fullerton;
  
  
• Marcie Edwards, representing the city of Anaheim, where she serves as general manager of the city Public Utilities Department;
  
  
• Carol Kwan of West Basin Municipal Water District, who serves as president of a Los Angeles-based, non-profit environmental organization and active in local Chinese chamber groups; and
  
• Joseph Parker, a 12-year member of the San Diego County Water Authority active in national scientific organizations and regional science fairs.

Brick also announced the new chairs and vice chairs of Metropolitan’s board committees as part of a reorganization plan unveiled at the December board meeting.

Encinitas Mayor James H. “Jim” Bond, who also serves on the Encinitas City Council and represents the San Diego County Water Authority on the Metropolitan board, chairs the Business and Finance Committee.  Los Angeles representative Aaron A. Grunfeld, an attorney specializing in securities and corporate matters for the firm of Resch, Polster, Alpert & Berger, is the committee vice chair.

The new chair of the Engineering and Capital Programs Committee is Gene Koopman, an Ontario dairyman long active in dairy producer organizations and a representative for the Inland Empire Utilities Agency.  John T. Morris, a city of San Marino representative who has served as a water resources consultant for more than 40 years, is vice chair.

The Water Quality and Operations Committee chair is Glenn A. Brown of Burbank, a registered geologist who serves on a court appointed Watermaster Team for the San Gabriel River.  The vice chair is David D. De Jesus of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District, who is also president/general manager of the private non-profit Covina Irrigating Company and adjunct professor at Citrus College.

Chairing the meetings of the Water Planning and Stewardship Committee is Los Angeles Deputy Mayor for Energy and the Environment Nancy Sutley.  James M. Barrett, a San Diego County Water Authority representative and retired Navy officer who directs the San Diego city water department, is the committee vice chair.

Attorney Jesús E. Quiñonez, a Los Angeles board member who counsels labor organizations on labor relations and government advocacy for the Burbank-based law firm of Geffner & Bush, chairs the Legal and Human Resources Committee.   Steven Veres, a San Fernando City Council member and district director for state Assemblymember Cindy Montañez (D-Mission Hills), is vice chair.

Compton Mayor Pro Tem Isadore Hall III chairs the Communications and Legislation Committee.  The vice chair’s position is held by Larry D. Dick of the Municipal Water District of Orange County, who had served as a board member of the Serrano Water District.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 18 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage, and other resource-management programs.