Eleven-year Yorba Linda City Councilman Gene Hernandez, who was recently chosen from three applicants for a coveted governing board position at the Yorba Linda Water District, is the third former council member to serve on the five-member panel.
Hernandez joins past eight-year council member Tom Lindsey as a director. Lindsey was appointed to the body in 2021 and elected to a four-year term in 2022. A former one-term council member, Mike Beverage, served as a director for 24 years beginning in 1992.
Three other former council members, 30-year veteran Hank Wedaa, 20-year member Mark Schwing and eight-year member Barbara Kiley, sought director positions but were defeated by incumbents, Wedaa in 2000, Schwing in 2004 and Kiley in 2018.
And eight-year council member Peggy Huang, who ran for a Congressional seat in 2020 and a Superior Court judgeship in 2022, was one of the three applicants for this year’s open position.
Interestingly, the Hernandez and Lindsey appointments were made to fill seats vacated by the winning candidates in the district’s most contentious election in 2016, when voters removed three incumbents from office, two by lopsided recall votes and a third who lost a fourth term.
Hernandez replaces J. Wayne Miller, who won the full four-year term in 2016, and Lindsey replaced Al Nederhood, who won a two-year term in the recall and resigned after his 2020 election to the county Municipal Water District.
The other recall winner, Brooke Jones, lost his seat in 2022 to Brett Barbre, who had served two years on the local board before his election to the county district in 2000. He also served the local district as assistant general manager and general manager until his 2022 resignation.
Four of the five currently serving directors were appointed to office. In addition to Hernandez and Lindsey, Phil Hawkins was appointed in February 2010 prior to his election in November.
Trudi DesRoches was appointed to office in 2020 because she was one of…
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