5 days Ago By By ARTURO BOJORQUEZ Editor
EL CENTRO – The Imperial Irrigation District will meet Tuesday to consider the election of a new chairman and vice chairman of the board as well as a treasurer and a secretary to the board. Imperial Irrigation District General Manager Jamie Asbury wrote in a memorandum to the board that the election of the board chairman and vice chairman complies with the Water Code and board policy. For the last two years, Director Alex Cardenas has served as Chairman of the Board, and John Brooks Hamby as Vice Chairman.
Sources close to the ID told the newsroom it is expected Director Gina Dockstader to become the next chairwoman of the board. Asked about the election of the new chair, no board member spoke on the record. Regarding the Treasurer, the board is expected to appoint Vivia Arellano to the job and Raquel Najera as the Board Secretary for calendar year 2025.
The board would also consider under consent calendar to adopt a resolution in remembrance of Director Alfred Singh – the first Mexican American elected to the board who passed away on October 27, 2024. Director Singh served on the board during the United States Bicentennial year in 1976 through 1978, representing Division 5. According to the resolution, Director Singh helped set direction on many key issues including the expansion of the Water and Power Departments operation without increase in personnel, continuing district operations under an austere budget reflected by stable power and water rates and increasing water conservation efforts as well as recovering for from devastating summer storms.
During his term, the IID constructed its first reservoir in January 1976 to regulate water from the East Highline Canal. The resolution reads that Director Singh served the district during a time when energy demand was rising and worked at ways to increase capacity to meet future needs at a time when the nation was contending the energy crisis in the late 1970s and the preservation of natural resources. Back then, the board of directors found solutions to fulfill the district’s obligation to provide water and power services, considering support for a desert nuclear power plant, and to receive energy for the first time from geothermal plants scheduled to for development in the Imperial Valley.
Singh was born in Fresno and moved to Calipatria, where he was raised, the draft resolution reads. He later attended California Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo, and served in the US Army during the Korean War, returning home to complete his degree in animal husbandry, later marrying, raising his three sons and a daughter in Holtville. Director Singh returned to his roots to farming Calipatria with his stepfather, Kakoo Singh, after serving as the youngest Imperial County Director of Environmental Health and later running for California State Assembly.
The resolution reads Director Singh was highly active in the community serving on Imperial County Democratic Central Committee, the Lions Club, and Los Vigilantes..
