Water Board Member to Lose Seat After Moving Out of District

Bruce Milne could soon lose his seat on the powerful Metropolitan Water District board of directors after he unwittingly moved a few blocks to a new home in San Dimas and out of the district he represents, officials said Wednesday.

Milne represents the Three Valleys Municipal Water District on the MWD board, which oversees the nation’s largest water district.

But Milne has had to tender his resignation from the Three Valleys board that serves customers in the East San Gabriel and Pomona valleys after the move.

Henry Barbosa, president of the Three Valleys board, which accepted Milne’s resignation Wednesday, said he expects the board to replace Milne on the MWD panel with one of its other elected members.

“According to the law, our appointee to the MWD doesn’t need to be a member of our board,” Barbosa said. “But I expect the preference will be for one of our own elected members.”

Milne, an employee of a water industry equipment manufacturer, was out of town on MWD business and unavailable for comment Wednesday.

His resignation and decision not to seek reelection in November was forced by a state law that requires water board members to reside in the district they represent, said Richard W. Hansen, Three Valleys’ general manager.

In January, Milne moved a few blocks in San Dimas and mistakenly relocated about one-half mile beyond the boundary of his Division Four district that includes most of Glendora and parts of San Dimas, Hansen said.

Milne did not learn that his move was a problem until he was alerted by the water district in April. He then had 180 days to move back into district or relinquish the seat, Hansen said.

Since Milne’s first election to the Three Valleys board in 1988, the boundaries for his division changed with the 1990 census, Hansen said. “He only moved a couple of blocks but it put him in District Six and he couldn’t move back.”

Three Valleys is a wholesale provider that funnels water to 11 local water companies, which in turn serve 500,000 people. It is one of 27 agencies that make up the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which has taken the lead in cleaning up ground water pollution in the San Gabriel Valley.

Three Valleys board members could appoint an interim replacement for Milne or wait until the November election. But it is likely that the panel will wait because at least two candidates, one of whom is former Glendora Mayor Bob Kuhn, have filed for the seat, Hansen said.