Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Seats Three New Directors

Two new directors representing the Central Basin Municipal Water District (CBMWD) and one from the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) recently became the three newest directors to join the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California Board of Directors. All three new board members were sworn in Monday, March 11.

The MWD board is comprised of 38 members representing each of the district’s 26 member agencies.  Each member agency is represented by one or more directors based on the assessed property valuation of its jurisdiction.

Robert O. Apodaca and Frank Heldman will represent CBMWD – based in Commerce – on the MWD board. They replace three-term director Phillip D. Hawkins and Leticia Vásquez-Wilson, who served as secretary of the MWD board. S. Gail Goldberg is the new SDCWA board member to join MWD succeeding Fern Steiner. Steiner had served on the board since February 2009.

Apodaca is returning to Metropolitan’s board for the third time. He was first elected to the CBMWD board in November 1998 representing La Habra Heights, La Mirada, Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs and Whittier. He is the current Central Basin board president.

A retired social services worker, Apodaca is a graduate of Woodbury University (Burbank). He has held several positions in the Los Angeles area: he was a field director to former Los Angeles City Councilman Art Snyder; the community relations and government liaison for the city of Los Angeles’ Project Heavy, an anti-gangs program; and, was a partner with A&A Communications. He also worked at the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers. He is currently a member of the Association of California Water Agencies, the San Gabriel Valley Protective Association and the California Contract Cities Association.

Heldman joined the CBMWD last month representing the district’s large water users in its southeast Los Angeles County service area. The large water users purchase about 78 percent of water provided by the district.

Heldman is director of operations for Liberty Utilities, a nationwide regulated water, wastewater, natural gas, electric and propane/air utility company with a regional office in Downey. Heldman has 32 years of experience in water operations for both municipal and private corporations. Prior to joining Liberty in September 2017, Heldman was the water utility manager for the city of Monterey Park for three years and assistant district manager for Golden State Water for 20 years. His experience in water operations includes securing competitive grant funding under Proposition 84, which provided funds for safe drinking water, water quality and supply; assisting with groundwater basin remediation; and managing staff for water treatment and distribution systems. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from the University of Phoenix and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Chapman University.

Goldberg retired in February 2018 after more than 20 years of city planning experience including eight years as the executive director of the Urban Land Institute in Los Angeles. She was the director of the Los Angeles City Planning Department from 2006 to 2010 and was responsible for directing policies and activities of the department, including the development, maintenance and implementation of the city’s General Plan and other special zoning plans. Prior to her position with the city of Los Angeles she spent 17 years with the city of San Diego’s Planning Department, where she was planning director from 2000 to 2005 and oversaw a process to update the city’s 20-year-old general plan.

Goldberg serves on the board of advisors for the University of Southern California’s (USC) Center for Sustainable Cities and USC’s Price School Masters of Planning Program. She has served as a trustee of the Urban Land Institute and as chair of the San Diego/Tijuana Urban Land Institute District Council. She holds a degree in urban studies and planning from the University of California, San Diego.