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Appointments to the Technical Customer Advisory Committee
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The Technical Customer Advisory Committee (TCAC) was established in 2006 to assist in and facilitate public review and discussion of Water Authority policies, plans and programs. The TCAC was established as a professional/ technical group of volunteers to represent the five core functional areas of operating a water and wastewater utility. This group is intended to provide outside expertise in best practices and private sector applications for continuous business improvement.
At the August 2020 meeting, the Chair announced that there was a vacancy on the committee in the category of Resource Economics and that an online application was posted for customers who may be interested in serving on this technical committee. Board members were informed that if they know of anyone interested that they should apply on the Water Authority’s website. In addition, a notice was placed on the Water Authority website’s front page.
Qualified nominations were compiled and forwarded to the Chair, who through this communication is forwarding the nomination to the Board for confirmation. Mark Begay recommended for confirmation. Below is a summary of the nominees’ background.
Mark Begay
Mr. Begay is a retired Chapter President within the Navajo Nation representing the Village of To’Hajiilee, where he served two 4-year terms in this role. Mr. Begay also served as as To’Hajiilee’s water system operator for approximately 20 years. Mr. Begay has worked tirelessly as an advocate for the To’Hajiilee pipeline conveying To’Hajiilee’s water through the Water Authority system. This project recently received funding from the Water Trust Board and is scheduled for completion in 2022.
John Fleck
Mr. Fleck is a former science journalist turned academic. John Fleck’s research and writing has focused on issues of the Colorado River, a water source supporting over 40 million people in the United States and Mexico. As a Professor of Practice in Water Policy and Governance in the University of New Mexico Department of Economics and director of the university’s Water Resources Program from 2016-2021, he taught graduate courses in contemporary water policy issues, modeling, and technical communication for water managers. He is now the Writer in Residence at the Utton Center, University of New Mexico School of Law. He is the author of the books Water is for Fighting Over and Other Myths About Water in the West, an exploration of solutions to the Colorado River Basin’s water problems, and co-author of Science Be Dammed: How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained the Colorado River.
CURRENT MEMBERS:
|
Member |
Category |
Term Expiration |
|
Ron Schwarzwalder |
Water System Operations |
Jun-20 |
|
Jingjing Wang |
Resource Economics |
Dec-22 |
|
Vacant |
Customer Service / Stakeholder Engagement |
|
|
Robert Fowlie |
Water System Engineering |
Jun-21 |
|
Erwin Melis |
Water Resource Planning |
Jun-21 |
|
Vacant |
Non-profit Water Management Advocacy/Education |
|
|
Tess Houle |
Landscape Architecture |
Mar-22 |
|
Deborah Dixon |
Financial/Business Management |
May-22 |
|
Paul van Gulick |
Water System Engineering |
May-22 |
FISCAL IMPACT:
None