A newly elected Oakdale Irrigation District board member will serve as president of the panel, with directors voting in Tom Orvis to the leadership role.

The action came at the Tuesday, Dec. 5 OID board meeting, a session that saw installation of the newly elected board of directors members and also included a farewell to long-time board member, Steve Webb. Webb served for 32 continuous years as a director on the OID Board, Tri-Dam Project and Tri-Dam Authority.

The following new or reelected directors were installed on Dec. 5:

Herman Doornenbal of Escalon, who ran a contested race against Don Taro in Division 2 and won.

Newly elected Tom Orvis, who ran uncontested for Webb’s post in Division 3.

Newly elected Brad DeBoer, who ran a contested Division 5 race against Grover Francis for a vacated director’s seat that became available in July.

This is Doornenbal’s third term as an OID director. He previously served in 2009 and 2013. Doornenbal is a rice and almond farmer in the Escalon/Valley Home area with a custom farming business. His term expires in December 2022.

The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors appointed Orvis to the OID director position on Sept. 26 after no other candidate filed to run for the seat being vacated by Webb. He is a fifth generation Stanislaus County resident and lives in Oakdale. Orvis helps run his family’s cattle operation and farms almonds with his wife.

In addition to the OID board, Orvis is the Governmental Affairs Director for the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau and serves on the Stanislaus County Ag Advisory Board, Stanislaus County Planning Commission and the Stanislaus County Water Advisory Committee. His term expires in December 2022.

DeBoer was a partner in a small business for over 34 years and retired in 2016. DeBoer has also farmed and he continues to work on the family ranch, raising almonds.

Chosen as the vice president at the Dec. 5 session was Division 1 Director Gail Altieri. The OID board also includes Division 4 Director Linda Santos.