At their February 9 meeting, Olivenhain Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to support President Ed Sprague’s appointment to Special District Risk Management Authority’s Board of Directors. Mr. Sprague was appointed by SDRMA’s Board of Directors to fill the vacancy left by Bear Valley Community Services District’s John Yeakley.

Mr. Sprague stated: “Avoidance, mitigation, or acceptance of risk is at the core of the vast majority of decisions we make as a board, and determining the acceptable and unacceptable consequences of those risks is an integral part of our deliberations. Assisting special districts throughout California in making these decisions is a monumentally important task of which I’m excited to be a part.”

SDRMA is a public agency providing a full-service risk management program for California’s local governments, including workers compensation and liability insurance. OMWD, a charter member of SDRMA, benefits from the below-market rates and special incentives that SDRMA offers. With only one lost-time injury in nearly ten years, and one of the lowest experience modifiers in the utility industry, OMWD continues to take advantage of SDRMA’s safe workplace discounts, thereby saving its ratepayers thousands of dollars annually.

In addition to having recently begun his second term as OMWD’s President, Mr. Sprague currently serves as Battalion Chief with Carlsbad Fire Department and fire service instructor at Palomar College. He has made a career-long commitment to safety and risk management as a firefighter since 1986. Mr. Sprague’s experience developing oversight standards and risk management assessment programs across several public agencies, combined with 14 years of leadership experience, will be invaluable to SDRMA as it navigates challenges faced by the risk management industry.

Likewise, his commitment to special districts and their constituents is unparalleled. Mr. Sprague recently completed the CSDA Special District Leadership Academy, and received in November 2010 the Recognition in Special District Governance certificate from the Special District Leadership Foundation. Additionally, since he assumed OMWD’s presidency in 2008, OMWD has been named a District of Distinction by the Special District Leadership Foundation and received the California Special District Association’s 2010 Innovative Program Award for the “Holding the Line” cost-cutting program.

Mr. Sprague’s service on the SDRMA Board of Directors follows in the footsteps of the previous director of OMWD’s Division 5, the late Harold Gano, who was instrumental in the founding of SDRMA’s predecessor, the Special Districts Workers Compensation Authority.