The Fountain Hills Sanitary District has announced the replacements for two members of its board of directors who recently retired.

At a meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 21, the board decided to appoint Clayton Corey and Jeff Lessig to seats being left vacant by the retirement of Director Jerry Butler and Commission Chairman Bob Thompson.

Corey is professionally a senior manager IT Infrastructure Automation for CVS Health. He received a bachelor’s degree in information technology from the University of Phoenix (2010), and an MBA from the University of Phoenix (2012). He also received a Lean Portfolio Management Certificate, Scaled Agile, Inc. (2022).

Corey currently serves as a commissioner for the Town of Fountain Hills Planning and Zoning Commission. He has also served as a board member for the Fountain Hills Dark Sky Association as well as the International Dark Sky Discovery Center. He was secretary for Fountain Hills Sister Cities (2018-2019) and president for the Fountain Hills Leadership Academy in 2016.

“The services the sanitary district provides to our community are essential, and thus the quality of our service, adherence to policies, financial stability, and environmental stewardship should be at the forefront of our agenda,” Corey stated in his application to the Sanitary District. “And as a member of the board of directors my goals will be to work as a partner, alongside each other board member to ensure we remain focused on our core priority of wastewater treatment and ensuring everyone in our community has a positive experience with the Fountain Hills Sanitary District.”

Lessig retired in 2020 from a career in the golf industry. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Bowling Green State University.

He formerly served as general manager at several area golf clubs including We-Ko-Pa at Fort McDowell, SunRidge Canyon in Fountain Hills and Indian Wells Golf Club in California. He also served as director of golf at Verde River Golf & Social Club.

Lessig maintains membership in PGA of America and serves as national director, District 14, which includes Arizona, Clark County, Nev., Oregon, Washington and portions of Idaho and Montana. He is also Communications Committee Chair for Arizona Alliance for Golf.

He has also served on the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau board of directors and was Southwest Section PGA, president. He chaired the Fountain Hills/Fort McDowell Tourism Bureau and served as a high school baseball pitching coach at Fountain Hills High School.

“I have been a resident of Fountain Hills for 25 years. I was the original general manager of SunRidge Canyon Golf Club when that community was first developed,” Lessig said in his application. “At that time, I recall reclaimed water being sprayed onto open land and discussions about the new course being a ‘solution to the effluent problem’ in Fountain Hills.

“I also serve as Communications chairman for the Arizona Alliance for Golf, an organization formed to speak with a unifying voice for Arizona’s golf industry that delivers $4.6 billion annually in economic impact while using just 2% of Arizona’s water.”

The two new directors will be sworn in at the Sanitary board meeting in January.

Butler announced his retirement in October with Thompson making his announcement in December. Thompson told The Times that since the district had received four excellent applications for Butler’s seat, it was decided to appoint to fill both vacancies at the same time.