The South Coast Water District board hired six-month interim general manager Betty Burnett for the permanent post, succeeding Mike Dunbar, who retired after 25 years with the district.
Her contract will be considered at an upcoming meeting, president Wayne Rayfield said in a statement Tuesday. Burnett, who has worked at the district in multiple jobs since 2001, was selected from among 42 applicants, he said.
She previously worked for a law firm in Orange, specializing in work with water, sewer and public transportation agencies. She also led legal and regulatory efforts that led to the 1999 consolidation of the Capistrano Beach and Dana Point water districts with South Coast.
Burnett will oversee an 80-year-old district that now provides water and sewer services to 40,000 customers and 2 million visitors between South Laguna and San Juan Capistrano. The district is undertaking its largest ever capital project, a five-year effort to replace a sewer pipeline in south Laguna’s ocean bluff tops.
