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Lance Robertson
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Longtime EWEB Commissioner Susie Smith retires

Longtime EWEB Commissioner Susie Smith announced her retirement from the utility's Board at the conclusion of Tuesday night's regular meeting.

In announcing her retirement, Smith cited other priorities as well as her belief that the EWEB Board would benefit from the new ideas that a new commissioner would bring to the position. She will leave the EWEB position immediately.

Smith has been the "at large" representative on the EWEB Board since May 1990, when she was appointed to fill the position vacated with the resignation of a previous board member. She was then elected to the position later that year, and was re-elected in 1994 and 1998. During her tenure she has twice served as president and vice-president of the board.

Smith has a longtime interest in environmental, natural resource and energy issues. Last year she was appointed by Gov. John Kitzhaber to the State Water Resources Board. She has also served on the board of the Solar Energy Association of Oregon. As an EWEB commissioner, she has served as the Board's liaison to the utility's Energy Resource Plan Citizen Involvement Committee and to the utility's Water Working Group, a citizen group that addressed issues concerning Eugene's future water supply. Smith is the Environmental Services Manager for the City of Springfield.

Smith's term on the EWEB Board would have expired at the end of 2002. Current EWEB Commissioners Sandra Bishop and Peter Bartel are running for Smith's at-large seat in the May primary election.