SAN MARCOS — Tanis Brown of Lake San Marcos was appointed this month to fill the Vallecitos Water District board of directors Division 5 seat, representing the areas of San Elijo and Discovery Hills.
The board of directors appointed Brown at its Sept. 17 meeting from a pool of five candidates. She will fill the seat left vacant by former Board President Tiffany Boyd-Hodgson, who retired in August. The term for the seat runs until 2028.
The board reviews proposed development projects and sets water rates for developers in the Vallecitos Water District, which provides water services to approximately 100,000 people in San Marcos, Lake San Marcos, and parts of Carlsbad, Escondido, Vista, and nearby unincorporated areas.
Brown can serve through 2026, but must seek re-election to the seat in the November 2026 General Election to serve the remainder of the four-year term.
Brown has lived in San Marcos since the 1970s and is the president of the San Marcos Historical Society. She was part of the first graduating class of Cal State San Marcos and has been heavily involved with the city’s Community Services Commission, the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce, and the Cal State San Marcos oral histories project.
“What I’m trying to share with you today is that my life in San Marcos has revolved around the community and the different agencies that I’ve been lucky enough to serve on,” Brown told the board. “I think that all of the opportunities that I’ve had to serve in the city kind of prepare me. I go to meetings, I read the agendas, I do my homework, and I show up and I ask a lot of questions.”
Other candidates for the vacancy included Henry “Wally” Simpson, who also ran against Boyd-Hodgson for the Division 5 seat in the 2024 election, as well as Rob Danes, Allison Stanton, and Guy Balogh.
“I recently ran against Tiffany [Boyd-Hodgson] in the November election, where my 4,000 votes were not quite enough to defeat the incumbent,” said Simpson. “During my campaign, I met many great residents of District 5.”
Board members expressed their appreciation for all the candidates and encouraged them to remain involved in their communities.
A motion to appoint Simpson to the seat failed in a 2-2 vote, with Jim Pennock and Jim Hernandez in favor and Craig Elitharp and Jennifer Kerschbaum opposed. A subsequent motion to appoint Brown passed 3-1, with Pennock opposed.
“I think one candidate was head and shoulders above the others, and that was Tanis Brown,” said Elitharp.
Brown was sworn in immediately after the vote was taken. Her first board meeting will be on Oct. 1.
