Escondido resident Gary Arant, the 36-year general manager of the Valley Center Municipal Water District and before that GM of the Rincon del Diablo Water District, died Thursday, July 16, after several years of battling cancer. He was 75. Arant wrote several perspicacious columns for The Times-Advocate about municipal matters, submitting them to his steel-trap analysis and I considered myself lucky to print them. Arant devoted 53 years of public service to Californiau2019s water industry, including 36 years to VCMWD. He retired from the district on December 29, 2025. In recognition of his remarkable career and enduring contributions, the Districtu2019s <a href="https://www.times-advocate.com/?post_type=oht_article&p=57233">[…]</a>