San Marcos, CA – At a regular meeting today, Betty Evans and Hal Martin were sworn in as new directors, and by unanimous vote, incumbent Director Jim Hernandez was elected 2013 Board President. Director Betty Ferguson will serve as Vice President.
Betty Evans, Division 1 Vallecitos representative, is a 31-year resident of San Marcos, where she has been a community leader and former member of the City of San Marcos Council from 1992 through 1996. During her tenure with the City of San Marcos she was an advocate for the closing of the San Marcos Landfill, proponent of formulating policy on affordable housing, revitalizing the San Marcos Creek development and Richmar areas, and San Marcos becoming a charter city. As a council member she also served on the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), North County Transit District and the League of California Cities as well as few other subcommittees. Many of these achievements were built on a foundation of community involvement, which included co-founding Residents for a Rural Richland, Citizens for a Safe San Marcos and contributing to local Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, the Jr. Women’s Club, site improvement committees at local middle schools and high schools, Grad Nite and the San Marcos Historical Society. With a BA degree from California State University, Northridge, she is a former preschool and elementary school teacher at San Marcos’ Richland Elementary School and Woodland Park Middle School. She and her husband Greg have two children, and they live in the Twin Oaks Valley.
Vice President Betty Ferguson, Vallecitos Division 4 representative, was first elected to the Vallecitos Board in 1978. She is a retired real estate broker and planning and land use consultant who owned her own business for 20 years, Betty was the first San Marcos City Clerk and former member of the San Diego County Planning Commission. She is the District’s past representative to the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA), past Chair of the SDCWA Engineering and Operations Committee as well as past Vice Chair of the SDCWA Water Planning Committee. Betty is a former delegate of the Encina Wastewater Authority including past Chairperson, former member of the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) Board, former member of the of the ACWA Region 10 Board, and former delegate for the National Water Resources Association. Betty has served on all District Committees. She is past President and current member of the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce and City of San Marcos Creek Task Force. She lives in Lake San Marcos.
Hal Martin, Vallecitos Division 5 representative, has had extensive community service as a City of San Marcos Council member from 1996 to 2012. His tenure with the City of San Marcos included representing the City Council on the San Marcos Fire Protection District and the League of California Cities, where he served on the statewide environmental board for the League from 1996 to 1998. Additionally, Martin was an alternate for the North County Transit District, North County Dispatch Joint Powers Authority and SANDAG. Martin’s time with SANDAG included serving on the transportation subcommittee, borders committee and the regional prosperity committee. He was also appointed by SANDAG to the Joint Agency Negotiation Team on Consolidation, the Joint Airport Advisory Committee and the Source Point Board. Martin has also been active with the San Marcos Boys and Girls Club for more than 15 years. He spent two years as the club’s president and chairman. Prior to his election to the City Council, Martin served with the City’s planning commission from 1991 to 1996 and as a director for the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce for three years. Martin is a professional photographer and has owned Focus on U Wedding Photography in San Marcos since 1990. The San Marcos Chamber of Commerce named him “Business Person of the Year” in 1996. Hal Martin has lived in San Marcos the past 21 years.
President Jim Hernandez, Vallecitos Division 2 representative, was first elected to the Board in 2010. Prior to being named Board President, his tenure has included time served as a member to the District’s Public Awareness/Personnel Policy Committee, an alternate to the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) Joint Powers Insurance Authority, member of the ACWA Region 10 Groundwater Committee and delegate to the Land Agency Formation Special District Advisory Committee. After a career in the United States Marines, the 40-year San Marcos resident attended Palomar College while working locally. He continued his education at California State Polytechnic University (Cal Poly, Pomona). The local architect and small business owner expanded his community service as a member of the San Marcos Planning Commissioner for 14 years, past president of the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce, Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos and Palomar College Foundation. More recently he has been a community volunteer on various San Marcos city community projects such as the Water Ways Taskforce, Ridge Line Ordinance, Creek Street Specific Plan, Chairman of the University District Specific Plan and coordinator to placing the San Marcos Boulevard Christmas Lights. Jim and his wife Barbara have been married for 23 years and have 4 children and 2 grandchildren.
Evans, Martin and Hernandez are joined by Board Vice President Betty Ferguson, Division 4 representative, and Jim Poltl, Division 3 representative, to form the Vallecitos Water District Board of Directors. The board meets at 4 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of each month at the District’s Administration, Maintenance, and Operations facility – 201 Vallecitos de Oro in San Marcos.
