The District is governed by a five-member elected board of directors.
The Board is responsible for formulating policy, reviewing, and approving the budget, setting rates, and long-range planning to ensure safe, continuous service to the District’s residents and businesses.
All regular meetings of the Board of Directors will be held at 6:00 p.m. on the third Monday of each month unless otherwise posted. Meetings are held at the District Office located at 900 S. Wadsworth Blvd. Lakewood CO 80226 and are open to the public. Meetings are also accessible via teleconference. Please see the latest Board agenda for teleconference sign-in details.
Board Members
Board members must be residents of or own property within the District. Board members serve staggered four-year terms, with elections held in even years.
Sean M. Wells
President
Board member since 2020 Term expires 2026
Sean Wells, J.D. is a Colorado trial attorney with 12+ years of litigation experience. Sean received his J.D. with a concentration on environmental and natural resource matters. Sean obtained his B.S. in Business Management from the Metropolitan State University of Denver. During law school, he was involved in various legal matters relating to water resources, including hydroelectric dam licensing and section 404 permitting under the Clean Water Act. Sean’s recent work experience includes representing special districts, non profit corporations and homeowners with construction disputes and professional malpractice claims. Sean’s practice includes complex geotechnical and structural design claims relating to expansive soils and related damages. Sean and his wife have been district residents since 2011. In his free time, you can often find Sean working in his garden, building a construction project or tending to his flock of egg laying hens.
James Ris
Treasurer
Board member since 2020 Term expires 2025
Jim Ris has over 40 years of engineering, project management, and marketing experience in environmental engineering projects. He has a BS degree in mechanical engineering and an MS in sanitary engineering from Georgia Tech. Before retiring from AECOM, he was a registered professional engineer in 5 states including Colorado. He worked with several international consulting engineering firms including Stanley Consultants, HDR, James M. Montgomery, and URS/AECOM. He has coordinated and participated in a wide variety of municipal, industrial, and mining projects with particular emphasis in regional facilities planning, water and wastewater treatment design, wastewater nutrient reduction, odor control, industrial chemical storage, and ozonation. In his role as a consulting engineer he completed water and wastewater treatment, pumping, piping and storage projects that ranged from $100 thousand to $100 million in construction for municipal, industrial, and mining clients. He has been a resident in the District since 2017.
Julie Jakicic
Secretary
Board member since 2022 Term expires 2025
Julie Jakicic is a non-profit professional with 13+ years of experience in project and program management. Julie obtained her B.A. in English, with a focus in Environment Writing from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA. For the last 8 years, Julie has worked at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, delivering best-in-class services to patients and volunteers and where she co-leads the Alliance for Sustainability, which envisions an environmentally-literate, action-oriented community that communicates, connects and advocates for sustainable, forward-thinking. She spends her free time hiking, trying new recipes and traveling. She has lived in the district since 2015.
Delbert M. Smith P.E.
Assistant Secretary
Board member since 2016 Term expires 2026
Delbert “Del” Smith is a registered Professional Engineer with over 25 years of experience in planning, design and construction of water resource projects. His experience includes evaluating environmental, aquatic, and wildlife impacts of existing and proposed water projects. Del is a member of Environmental Water Resources Institute (EWRI) branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and serves on the Board of Directors of United States Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (USCID). Del holds a BS in Engineering Science and an MS in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University. Del has been a district resident since 1992.
Sophia Ernst
Assistant Secretary
Board member since 2023 Term expires 2026
Sophia holds an MBA in Sustainable Systems, Environmental and Social Justice from Presidio Graduate School, She is a facilitator and learning designer with an extensive background in innovation and business process and systems improvement. Using her background in systems thinking and design, she brings teams to consensus, agility, and operational efficiency. She currently works in healthcare as a Senior Performance Program Manager. Previously, she worked with the City of Denver doing projects throughout the city and with Denver Water, RTD, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and Denver Zoo. Sophia loves being outdoors. She rafts, is learning to kayak, trail runs, gardens, and rides horses. She has rafted the Colorado River, Yampa, and Middle Fork Salmon River. Sophia has lived in the district since 2020.