Reelected Helix Water District board members DeAna Verbeke and Kathleen Coates Hedberg were sworn in for a new term at a regular adjourned board meeting Dec. 7 in the district's administration office in La Mesa. The board then elected Verbeke to serve as president for the next two years.

	DeAna Verbeke

"The District's challenge during this period of rapidly increasing wholesale water rates is to keep our rates as low as possible and still maintain our $500 million of infrastructure and develop important new local water supplies," Verbeke said as she assumed her duties as president. "I am excited about meeting this challenge."

Verbeke has been a resident and property owner in Division 2 for 23 years. She has served as vice president of the Helix board for the past two years and on the district's Audit and Ad Hoc Water Rate committees. She serves on the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) Desalination Subcommittee and is a board member of ACWA's Region 10.

Verbeke is treasurer of the California Special Districts Association. She is a board member of the La Mesa Chamber of Commerce and vice chair of the East County Economic Development Council's Executive Committee. She is a 2006 graduate of the El Cajon Chamber of Commerce Leadership progam.