Wes Bannister Elected Chairman of Metropolitan Water Board of Directors.

LOS ANGELES -- Representative of Municipal Water District of Orange County elected to guide Southland's premier water agency

Wes Bannister was elected today as chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the major water importer and wholesaler for 18 million people in six counties.

Bannister, a Huntington Beach resident who is one of four representatives of the Municipal Water District of Orange County on Metropolitan's 37-member board, was elected to a two-year term on the first ballot.

He will take office in January 2005, replacing Phillip J. Pace, a representative of Central Basin Municipal Water District, who has served as chairman of the agency the past six years.

"I am highly honored to have been elected to this important office by my colleagues," Bannister said. "Metropolitan is an outstanding public agency with an international reputation in water resource management, and I look forward to continuing that position.

"With the continuing, critical drought on the Colorado River, Metropolitan will face some difficult times in coming years as our region's major supplier of supplemental water. But I have every confidence that this excellent board of directors and staff, working with other federal and Western states officials, will maintain a reliable water supply for our region's 18 million people and $600 billion economy.

"The water transfer option negotiations in California's Central Valley, and the Colorado River storage project with Southern Nevada Water Authority, that the board approved today are examples of the innovations that Metropolitan pursues to meet its mission," Bannister observed.

Bannister, president of Bannister & Associates Insurance, has served on Metropolitan's board, representing MWDOC, since January 1993. He was a 1990 Republican candidate for state insurance commissioner, and a 1992 Republican nominee to the Electoral College.

Active in local and state politics and community affairs, he served as mayor of Huntington Beach in 1989, while serving a four-year term on the city council. He is a graduate of the University of Houston with a degree in political science, after which he served in the U.S. Army Artillery, receiving an honorable discharge in June 1967 with the rank of captain (reserves).

At Metropolitan, Bannister has served on the executive committee; as vice chair of the asset, real estate and infrastructure policy committee; and as a member of the legal, claims and personnel committee, the audit subcommittee, the ethics subcommittee, the budget finance and investment committee, the communications, outreach and legislation committee, and the Diamond Valley Lake and Lake Skinner oversight subcommittee.

Bannister serves as a director and is a past-president of the Orange County Water District board of directors. He also sits on the governing committees of the Association of California Water Agencies/Joint Powers Insurance Authority and the California FAIR Plan.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 18 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage and other resource-management programs.

NOTE: Digital photo available upon request.