Dale, Herman are finalists for vacant Rainbow MWD board seat

Cari Dale and Lisa Herman are the two finalists to fill the vacancy on the Rainbow Municipal Water District board.

The Rainbow board meeting Tuesday, Jan. 23, included interviews of the seven applicants for the Division 3 seat who were present. The board narrowed the decision to Dale or Herman, and the Tuesday, Feb. 27, board meeting will likely result in the appointment of one of those to fill the seat.

“Those two really stood out,” Rainbow general manager Jake Wiley said.

Miguel Gasca was appointed to the board as the Division 3 director in February 2017 to fill a vacancy and was re-elected in 2018 and 2022. Gasca has moved to Reno, Nevada, and at the Tuesday, Dec. 5, board meeting he announced that was resigning from the board effective Sunday, Dec. 31.

Rainbow staff posted the notice of the board vacancy and requested that interested persons provide their name, address, contact information and a brief background of their education and experience no later than noon Jan. 15. Division 3 is the central part of the Rainbow Municipal Water District service area and includes the Gird Valley and Pala Mesa.

Twelve applications were submitted.

“I was pleased because we had a ton of really qualified great candidates,” Wiley said. “We were thrilled to see this level of interest by the community.”

Five of those applicants were not present Jan. 23, while the other seven were interviewed.

“We were really, really pleased,” Wiley said.

Dale moved to Fallbrook in 2001 and was working for the city of Ontario at the time as the city’s assistant utilities director. In 2007, she took a position as the assistant general manager of the Carlsbad Municipal Water District, and she became the water utilities director for the city of Oceanside in 2010. Dale retired from the city of Oceanside in 2022 and is now the director of water resources for Hoch Consulting.

Herman and her husband moved from Temecula to Fallbrook in 2020 due to their desire for a more rural environment. They have 75 Reed avocado trees but are not commercial farmers; Herman practiced law professionally. The family moved to Temecula in 1985, and Herman served on the Rancho California Water District board for 28 years before resigning due to her move to Fallbrook.

The applicant who is appointed will serve until the end of 2024 if she is not re-elected to the seat. The seat itself has a term which expires at the end of 2026, so if the applicant runs for re-election in 2024 and is re-elected, she will serve until 2026, but may also seek a subsequent full four-year term.

In the event of a 2-2 deadlock Feb. 27, a special election may be held to select the new board member. If the Rainbow board does not fill the vacancy or call for a special election by Feb. 29, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors will make an appointment for the seat.