Water District selects 2010 officers

The South Coast Water District Board of Directors has selected its officers for 2010, according to spokeswoman Linda Homscheid.

Elected in December were Wayne Rayfield, president, and Richard Gardner, vice president. Board officers are chosen annually in December and serve for one year.

South Coast Water District provides water and wastewater services to 43,000 residents, 1,000 businesses and more than 2 million visitors in South Laguna Beach, Dana Point and areas of north San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.

“It will be a privilege to serve this board, and I certainly want to carry on with the initiatives that began under Director Dietmeier, who so ably led the board for three years,” Rayfield said. “Those initiatives include our participation in the South Orange Coastal Ocean Desalination Project and rehabilitation of a district tunnel and sewer line that carries a million gallons of wastewater a day for treatment.

“Many challenges and opportunities will face the board next year, such as the need to conserve water and prevent sewer spills. It is important for the board to continue working as a team to address them. As president, I will do my utmost to promote and support that.”

Rayfield is a 15-year resident of Dana Point and long-standing water quality advocate. He was elected to the Dana Point City Council in 1998, reelected in 2002, and was mayor in 2005.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Rayfield to the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board in 2007. The following year, he was elected to the South Coast Water District board.

Rayfield serves on the boards of the Ocean Institute and the Capistrano Valley Symphony. He is also a member of the Dana Point Library and Ocean Water Quality subcommittees.

Rayfield retired from the World Bank in Washington, D.C., after 23 years of service and had directed the bank’s information and technology activities, according to Homscheid. Prior to that, he was on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin and directed the university’s Computing Center.

He is a graduate of Lehigh University and has a degree in engineering geophysics. He and his wife moved to Dana Point permanently in 1994; they have six children and 12 grandchildren.

Gardner has lived in Capistrano Beach since 1975 and has served for a total of 13 years on local water boards.

Gardner was elected to the Capistrano Beach Water District board in 1996. Three years later, he was appointed to the interim South Coast Water District board, following its consolidation with the Capistrano Beach Water District and the Dana Point Sanitary District. In 2000, he was elected to the South Coast Water District board.

Gardner has worked for several engineering consulting firms and is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara with a degree in mathematics.

He has three children and two grandchildren.

The remaining board members are directors Richard Dietmeier, Ingrid McGuire and Robert Moore.

Board members are elected at large and serve four-year terms.

Laguna Beach residents don’t serve on the South Coast Water District Board, Homscheid said.

“Since 1999, the city of Laguna Beach has had a contract with South Coast Water District to provide water and sewer service in South Laguna. In short, we are the city’s contract operator in South Laguna and not a governing body. Ultimately, the Laguna Beach City Council is responsible for the water and sewer service in the city of Laguna Beach,” Homscheid said.

“However, due to the critical nature of water and sewer service, the city of Laguna Beach and South Coast Water District formed the South Laguna Water/Sewer Advisory Committee in 1999. The Advisory Committee consists of seven members: two Laguna Beach City Council members and three South Laguna residents — all appointed by the Laguna Beach City Council — and two South Coast Water District Directors, appointed by the SCWD board.”

The Advisory Committee meets quarterly to review water and sewer issues pertinent to South Laguna. The committee chair is responsible for providing this information to the Laguna Beach City Council, Homscheid added.

Meetings are broadcast live on Cox Channels 30 and 885 and on scwd.org, where they are also archived.