Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis received notification this week from the U.S. Conference of Mayors of his appointment as a member of the Mayors Water Council.

The council works as a USCM task force with a focus on issues impacting how cities provide water and waste water services, and protect water resources for citizens and the local economy.

Lewis will serve on the council with 27 other mayors from across the United States. He was chosen based on his “expertise in providing for water services and water resource protection” in the Puget Sound area, according to Miami Mayor Manuel A. Diaz, the current president of the USCM.

A major task before the council will be to develop positions, where necessary, on federal legislation, regulations and policy, and propose resolutions on water-related matters for consideration by the USCM Environment Committee.

Lewis also is serving with the nation’s mayors on the Mayors ’08 Action Forum on Infrastructure. The Mayors Action Forum on Infrastructure is the second in a series of mayoral forums in key cities around the country intended to challenge the next presidential administration to invest in America’s cities and metropolitan areas.

Recommendations from this forum and four others will be presented to the next president of the United States during the critical first 100 days of the new administration.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,139 such cities in the country today. Each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor.

For more information on the USCM visit www.usmayors.org.