Organization/Board

Kenneth Willis, Chairman

Kenneth Willis is President and founder of the League of California Homeowners (LCH). A not-for-profit corporation, LCH specializes in residential energy conservation and provides consumer help and information for home remodeling projects. LCH provides a unique resource center for contractor screening services both for consumers as well as financial institutions and utility companies.

Ken was first elected to the Upland City Council in 2000. As Chairman of the Public Works Committee, he helps oversee Upland’s water department. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors for both the West End Consolidated Water Company as well as the San Antonio Water Company. Mr. Willis also serves on the Policy Review Committee for the Inland Empire Utilities Agency. In 2006, Mr. Willis was elected Chairman of the Chino Basin Water Master Board.

In the 1980’s, Ken served as Vice-Chairman of the California State Water Resources Control Board and previous to that, served as Vice-Chairman of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board for the Santa Ana River.
For several years Mr. Willis served as Executive Vice President of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, a trade group affiliated with the National Association of HomeBuilders. During that time he was heavily involved in local, state and federal legislation affecting home building.

In addition to public duties, Mr. Willis is a founding director and continues to serve on the Board for the Upland Partnership for Child Development. He is also a founder and past board member to the Upland Youth Accountability Board.

In his formative years right out of college, Mr. Willis worked in city planning wherein he specialized in land use and zoning regulation. A graduate of California Polytechnic University, Pomona, Ken also holds an MA in Urban Studies from Occidental College in Los Angeles. Ken received post-graduate training in public affairs and policy development as a CORO Foundation Fellow (Los Angeles Class - ‘76). While serving in the U.S. Army, Ken spent two years in Vietnam with the 1st Air Cavalry Division and MACV. A California native, Ken lives with his wife Jane, and daughter Elizabeth in Upland, California.

Bob G. Kuhn, Vice-Chair

Bob Kuhn has been a resident of Glendora for over 30 years and served eight years on the Glendora City Council, most notably as Mayor in 1990-91 and 1993-94. He was a delegate to the League of California Cities, San Gabriel Valley Association of Cities, and Southern California Association of Governments. He is a member and past President of Foothill Transit and has served as President for the Independent Cities Risk Management Authority. Director Kuhn has been a member of the Glendora Planning Commission, the East San Gabriel Valley Planning Committee and alternate member for the Local Agency Formation Commission. He is also a member of the Foothill Presbyterian Hospital Men's Club. Director Kuhn is President of a Glendora based insurance agency.

James V. Curatalo, Jr., Secretary/Treasurer

President Curatalo was elected to the Cucamonga Valley Water District Board of Directors in November 1999 and currently serves on the Legislative & Public Affairs, Personnel and Water Resources Development Committees. He serves as the Special District Alternate Voting Member for the County of San Bernardino Local Agency Formation Commission. He also serves on the Fontana Union Water Company Board of Directors.

President Curatalo is a Battalion Chief with the Rancho Cucamonga Fire Protection District. His background and experience include fire safety, technical rescue, hazardous material incident management, and he has served as a training officer for his department. Prior to his employment with the Fire District, he was a contractor operating his own business in the San Gabriel Valley.

Charles D. Field, Member

Charles D. Field was voted to the Western Municipal Water District board in November 2006 and was seated in January 2007. Mr. Field is a retired judge of the Riverside County Superior Court.

Mr. Field, who was born in San Francisco, grew up in the Stanford and Los Angeles regions of California as well as in Washington, D.C. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Riverside in 1958, and a law degree from UCLA in 1963. From 1963 to 1990, Mr. Field practiced law with the Riverside firm, Best, Best & Krieger. He was a senior partner in the labor and employment section and served a full term as managing partner of the firm.

Judge Field was appointed to the Riverside Superior Court in January 1990 by then Governor Deukmejian. He was first assigned to the Juvenile Court, then moved to the Civil Division where he served until his retirement in August 2004.

Mr. Field was involved in a variety of organizations during his 40-plus year career including service on the UCR Alumni Association Board of Directors and the Board of Regents of the University of California. He was founding chair of the UCR Foundation and is past president of the Citizens University Committee. As an attorney, Mr. Field was a member of the Commission on Specialization in Labor Law of the California State Bar from Riverside County and was one of the founding members of the California Council of School Attorneys. He was a member of the Board of the Public Service Law Corp. or Riverside County and continues to serve as a board member of the Riverside County Law Library. Mr. Field served for more than 10 years on the board of directors of the Riverside Arts Foundation where he was chair for two years. For approximately 15 years, he was a member of the board of directors of The Press-Enterprise Company.

Mr. Field is married to Virginia L. Field, a retired UCR administrator, and they share five children and 11 grandchildren. He remains active as a private mediator and in University of California activities and serves on the board of several community service organizations, including the Riverside Philharmonic and the Mission Inn Foundation.

Paul Hofer, Member

Paul Hofer represents the Agricultural Pool. Mr. Hofer has served on the Chino Basin Water Conservation District Board of Directors since 1996, and is currently serving as Vice-President. Mr. Hofer is a resident of Ontario where he has spent his lifetime career as a farmer.

Geoffrey Vanden Heuvel, Member

As the owner/operator of J & D Star Dairy in Chino, California and a dairy industry consultant, Mr. Vanden Heuvel has been a business and community leader for nearly twenty-five years.

Mr. Vanden Heuvel’s primary responsibility is managing a dairy operation which milks over 1,400 cows on two facilities, as well as maintaining an alfalfa farming operation in Blythe, California. Mr. Vanden Heuvel also does consulting on state and federal milk pricing issues for Milk Producers Council, a dairy producer trade association, where he is also a member of the board of directors.

Mr. Vanden Heuvel is very interested and involved in water issues. In 1994, he founded the Delta Restoration Coalition, a statewide group of urban and agricultural leaders dedicated to achieving a long-term fix for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. He then served on the Executive Committee of the Californian’s for Safe, Clean, and Reliable Water; Yes on Proposition 204 campaign. Currently Mr. Vanden Heuvel is a Trustee and a member of the Executive Committee of the Southern California Water Committee. He serves on the Bay-Delta and Colorado River Task Forces of the Water Committee. He currently represents agricultural groundwater users on the Chino Basin Watermaster Board. He serves as an elected director of the Chino Basin Water Conservation District and he serves on the San Bernardino County Flood Control Zone 1 Advisory Committee.

Mr. Vanden Heuvel is a founding board member of the Dairy Producers Environmental Foundation and played a significant role in the inception of the Santa Ana River Watershed Group. He has served as a director of the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce, as well as served on the Chino Unified School District’s Bond Oversight Committee. In the past he has served on the City of Chino Mobile Home Rent Review Board, The Chino Hills Municipal Advisory Council, and a variety of ad hoc committees dealing with issues as diverse as the purchase of a private water company by the county of San Bernardino, to advising the California Secretary of Agriculture about how to address low milk prices.

Mr. Vanden Heuvel is active in his church where he is an elder. He has served on the Board of Directors of Ontario Christian School where his children attend as well as serving as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Providence Christian College in Ontario, California.

Mr. Vanden Heuvel likes to read, sail and play softball in his spare time.

Mr. Vanden Heuvel and his wife Darlene have been married for twenty-six years and have four children.

Terry Catlin, Member

Representing Inland Empire Utilities Agency's Division 1 (Serving Upland, and a Portion of Montclair), Mr. Catlin is the Agency's representative to the Chino Basin Watermaster.  He is a 19-year Inland Valley resident and elected to the IEUA Board of Directors in December 1996, then was elected as Secretary/Treasurer of the Board in January 1997, and elected as Vice President of the Board in January 1999.  Mr. Catlin also chairs the Finance and Budget Committee, the Executive Management Evaluation Sub-Committee, and is a member of the Personnel Committee.  Mr. Catlin is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College receiving his B.A. degree in Chemistry, and his M.S. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Southern California.

Robert Bowcock, Member

Mr. Robert Bowcock has been appointed to serve on several Watermaster Boards by California Superior Courts since 1990. He currently represents municipal, industrial and commercial parties in the Chino, San Gabriel, Raymond, Mojave, Central and West Los Angeles, Upper Los Angeles River, Santa Clara and San Diego River Basin Judgments in California. Mr. Bowcock founded Integrated Resource Management, LLC in 1997 after serving as a Water Utility Manager in Azusa (1991-97) and Huntington Park (1987-91), California. Prior to that, Mr. Bowcock worked for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (1982-87), and as a United States Army Civil Affairs Team Leader designed and constructed water treatment and distribution systems for various federal branches of government in Southeast Asia and South America. He is a licensed California Grade V Water Treatment Operator and maintains various other water industry licenses and certifications. He routinely provides expert witness testimony to both state and federal courts and conducts research and writes reports for legal firms in the specific area of water resource management.

Jim Bowman, Member

Council Member Jim Bowman was first elected to the Ontario City Council in April 1986 for a two year term. He ran for elective office again in November 1990 for a four year term and was re-elected for another four years in 1994. Two of those years he served as Mayor pro Tem. Mr. Bowman did not seek re-election in 1998, choosing to devote this time to his career with the Ontario Fire Department. After retiring from the Ontario Fire Department he served one year for the City of Upland as Fire Chief (retired). When this temporary assignment was completed, Mr. Bowman could again serve the City of Ontario in elective office and was elected in November 2006 for four years.

Mr. Bowman has represented Ontario on many regional boards. He is a former Member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Convention Center and well as a member of the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission, the San Bernardino County Economic and Development Commission, and the San Bernardino County Emergency Medical Care Commission. He currently serves on the Chino Basin Desalter Authority, the Chino Basin Watermaster Board, the Inland Empire Utilities Agency Regional Policy Committee, the Southern California Water Committee and the Water Facilities Authority.

Jim has been a resident of the City of Ontario for 61 years and has four children. Jim is one of four family generations to graduate from Chaffey High School. He received a Fire Protection/Administration Major from Cal State University and a California State Teaching Credential in Fire Science and College Curriculum. Mr. Bowman was named Chaffey College Alumni of the Year and was inducted to the Chaffey College Hall of Fame in 1998.

Dedicated to the safety of the Ontario community, Jim is best known for his 36 year career in Fire Service. As one of the original paramedic coordinators in the county, he pioneered Public Safety/Fire Department Paramedic programs in the early 70's. He served the last 16 years of his career with the Ontario Fire Department and retired as Fire Chief.