Auburn, Calif – Directors of the Placer County Water Agency will welcome a new member to the board on Dec. 8 when District 5 Director-elect Ben Mavy is sworn into office.
Mavy, an investment adviser who resides with his wife and children in Applegate, edged incumbent director Otis Wollan on Monday (Nov. 24) when final results were tallied from the Nov. 4 general election. Mavy garnered 9799 votes to Wollan’s 9744 votes.
District 5 is the most geographically diverse district in PCWA’s countywide boundaries, stretching from the foothills above Auburn to Lake Tahoe and the Nevada state line.
Mavy will be the sole new director on the five-member governing board. District 4 Director and 2008 Board Chairman Mike Lee and District 3 Director Lowell Jarvis were returned to office without competition. The seats of District 1 Director Gray Allen and District 3 Director Alex Ferreira were not up for election this year.
Outgoing director Wollan, who has represented District 5 for 21 years, congratulated Mavy in an e-mail following the final Nov. 24 election count.
‘Ben, I want to congratulate you on your strong finish and your victory, and wish you well in your four-year term,’ he wrote. ‘You will find this work to be a very high level of community service, with a steep learning curve and many challenges, but serving in this capacity is quite rewarding.
‘The staff at PCWA is very capable and professional and I’m sure they are ready to work successfully together with you. Don’t hesitate to call if I can be helpful to you in some way. My best to you and your growing family. Be well.’
Elected in 1987, Wollan, a Colfax resident, has served five terms on the PCWA board. He has been a homebuilder, writer, facilitator, and project manager, and also served as the first coordinator of the American River Watershed Group.
During his years in office, he focused much attention on watershed stewardship, water use efficiency and the development of sound water system infrastructure.
‘Otis has made a valuable contribution to the agency,’ said Board Chairman Mike Lee. ‘He has tremendous knowledge of his district and the watershed and has had a vision of what the water agency needed to become.’
‘Philosophically, conservation has always been very important to him,’ Lee said. ‘He has also been fiscally responsible. He knew that Placer County would be growing; he has been very supportive of the American River Pump Station.
‘Otis has always recognized that water is a precious commodity; he’s been very strong in our education and conservation efforts. He’s had great influence on our policy over these past 21 years.’
