James Viellenave
Employer
- Retired environmental scientist and company CEO. Environmental consulting and waste management; environmental control and prevention; pollution cleanup and remediation.
Education
- BA – Geography, University of California Santa Barbara 1971
- MA—Geography, University of California Riverside 1973
Affiliations
- Director, Evergreen Metropolitan District
- ENN Hiking Group
- Society of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering
Skills
- Understanding the setup, operation and role of a Director, in special districts
- Startup and Directorship of small businesses
- Water and wastewater treatment, environmental controls
- Water rights, working with other districts to enhance efficiencies
- Interaction of utility activities in the county/city land use management process
- Mentoring of technical and administrative staffs
Why do you want to serve on the EMD Board of Directors?
To continue to serve the broad Evergreen Community with top quality water and wastewater services. I’ve served the Evergreen community through EMD for many years. I bring significant experience in the role of Director.
What are some of the challenges EMD faces?
EMD is in the midst of a long term strategic planning process that reflects a complex array of challenges arising from a regulatory roller coaster at State and Federal levels; climate change impacts including water quality and availability, wildfire, etc.; intermittent but volatile land use and growth patterns; and coordination among disparate public agencies, including Jefferson County, Evergreen special districts and the City/County of Denver, with their responsibilities for activities and assets in Evergreen, and serving the Evergreen community. I believe I can continue to provide leadership, oversight and guidance for EMD staff in this process.
Biography
I (with my wife Mary Ann) came to Evergreen in early 1975 to undertake a career in environmental science to prevent, cease, and remediate environmental pollution of soil and water and air. Since that time, I have helped start one wastewater district (former Evergreen Central/El Pinal) to install functional and legal wastewater handling for the first time; served as a director for a second district (North Evergreen/Hiwan Hills) to complete the paying off of bonds for its new wastewater collection system, and then led the merger of North into Evergreen Metro to save considerable annual costs to homeowners. I joined EMD and have served nearly continuously since 1976. My nearly 45 years of service in water and wastewater districts has used a wide variety of my skills, experience, and education in technical, political, cultural, economic and finance matters, and personal interaction with staff and the public. As an important part of Evergreen, EMD’s challenges are a mirror of Evergreen’s. I hope to continue to serve the community as we all work to meet the uncertain future and yet are able to retain as much as possible of Evergreen’s underlying character and beauty.
My two children (41 and 39) were born and reared in Evergreen. My wife and I now celebrate our 50th anniversary here. We hike and bike, we explore new places and camp, and play a version of golf from time to time.