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Steven LaMar, an Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) Board of Directors member, was elected to a two-year term as president of the statewide Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) last week. He succeeds outgoing ACWA President Brent Hastey, who serves on the Yuba Water Agency (YWA) Board of Directors. Pamela Tobin, who serves on San Juan Water (SJW) Board of Directors, was elected vice president. LaMar and Tobin will assume their new positions in January.
The election of LaMar and Tobin took place at ACWA’s 2019 Fall Conference & Exhibition in San Diego on Dec. 4 as part of the convention’s agenda for the four-day conference. The remainder of the association’s 37-member Board of Directors is comprised of the chair and vice chair of each of ACWA’s 10 regions, the chair of each of ACWA’s 13 standing committees, the immediate past president, and the vice president of the ACWA / Joint Powers Insurance Authority. ACWA is the largest statewide coalition of public water agencies in the country.
LaMar has served on Orange County’s Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) Board of Directors since 2009 and is currently IRWD Board President. ACWA members elected him as association Vice President in 2017 for the 2018-’19 term. LaMar is past chair of ACWA’s Federal Affairs and Headwaters Task Force, and has also served on the board of several other water-related organizations, including the National Water Resources Association (representing 17 Western states), the Southern California Water Coalition, CalDesal, and the National Water Research Institute.
Replacing LaMar as ACWA Vice President, Tobin has served on the Sacramento area’s San Juan Water District Board of Directors and on the Regional Water Authority/Sacramento Groundwater Authority Board of Directors since 2004. She has been active in ACWA as a Board member and Region 4 Chair, belonging to the Federal Affairs and Local Government committees, as well as on the ACWA-Joint Powers Authority Board of Directors and Liability Committee. Tobin works as a Realtor and property developer with more than 30 years of experience as a business owner.
The conference headlined with a theme of ACWA: Partnerships in Action. In addition to electing a new president and vice president the agenda also included the presentation of several 2019 awards including the Steve Hall Scholarship Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Huell Howser Best in Blue Award. Also awarded was the 2019 Emissary Award.
