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The Sheriff’s Posse of Sun City West wants to keep residents hydrated this summer.

That was one of the many topics at the organization’s May 19 general meeting, which included a new face and a rundown of a spring rescue from a lake.

First came the introduction of the new District 3 commander, Barry Roska.

"I have rather large shoes to fill, I understand that," Mr. Roska said of retiring Scott Penrose. "My goal is the same of yours, to ensure the quality of life in our community remains the highest in the Valley."

Deputy Tom Miller had positive things to say about the new commander.

"He’s one of the most upstanding troops you will meet," he said. "He did in fact choose to be out here."

Deputy Fire Chief Steve Penney also spoke at the posse meeting, sharing details about the joint effort to rescue a Sun City West resident who drove into the Trailridge Golf Course lake March 16.

"It is one of the deepest lakes in Sun City West," he said. "A lot of us were surprised by that."

He said the Sheriff’s posse aided the emergency scene by keeping residents out of the way.

"They asked us what we needed them to do," Mr. Penney said. "And they did a great job doing it."

He said fire officials were on the scene in about two minutes, and the firefighters had to think quickly to rescue the woman, who was under 12 feet of water.

"There’s a lot of quick decision making that has to go on," Mr. Penney said. "If something goes wrong, there can be catastrophic. The car could shift and it could be very dangerous."

He said a firefighter had to remove his safety equipment in order to successfully extract the woman from her vehicle, which now has the fire district changing a few things about its equipment.

"We’re retrofitting our life jackets with different equipment that will allow us to access it without getting tangled up," Mr. Penney said.

He noted that golfers continued to play, despite the emergency.

"We will never do that again, allow the gold course to stay open in that situation," Mr. Penney said. "We never realized that people would continue to play golf."

He noted water rescues have happened before in Sun City West.

"That’s nothing new, you know it happens," Mr. Penney said. "It’s not an everyday occurrence, but it happens. The lakes are not usually be that deep."

The posse will also partner with the fire district and the Sun Cities Salvation Army to create mobile "hydration stations" this summer for residents.

"Last year they (the Salvation Army) did it in areas where there were a lot of homeless people," said fire district spokeswoman Holli Sandeen.

For this summer, the organization will also offer aid to the Northwest Valley.

"We don’t really have that many transients in the area," said Salvation Army volunteer coordinator Kathy Kirschbaum. "But there are a lot of residents who may need water."

The organization is partnering with the fire district and posse of Sun City West, the fire district and posse of Sun City and the Youngtown Police Department to provide water to the community.

"They will give us 10 cases of bottled water, which we will share with the posse," Ms. Sandeen said. "We will have water at the stations and administrative offices, as well as in all the fire trucks and posse patrol vehicles."

She said that posse members who see a resident out in the community that might need water, they will pass it along.

When they run out of the supply, the Salvation Army will give them more.

"We hope to continue this throughout the summer," Ms. Kirschbaum said.

The program is slated to begin this week.

"All they are asking us to do is to keep a count of how much water we use each week," Ms. Sandeen said.

The Salvation Army is accepting water donations as well, at their Union Hills Drive and 107th Avenue location.

"We will be dispensing the water as long as we have the water to dispense," Ms. Kirschbaum said.